theeangeltimes

[theeangeltimes]

some current favorites 🫧

Kiss of Life

I thank the heavens that I went on twitter and saw someone I follow retweet their Midas Touch teaser because I have now fallen absolutely in love with KIOF! They had been on my radar since I listened to Sugarcoat by Natty, but it wasn’t until now that I actually put in the time to listen to all their music and watch all their MVs (whose premises are always good, I especially love how they’re always getting back at some creepy guy lmaooo). They’re great! Midas Touch and Nobody Knows are exquisite songs and the members are all so incredibly talented and likable. I even love watching their YouTube content, which I normally don’t care about when it comes to most kpop groups.

They’ve given me hope for the future of kpop 🙏

kaavikiwi on YouTube

I stumbled upon Kaaviya’s (gorgeous name btw) channel while looking for a Victoria’s Secret Angel inspired makeup tutorial and was instantly enamored. She’s very entertaining and her content is so nice and calming. Motivating, even. She mainly does fashion and beauty videos, along with vlogs. Such great vibes all around, love her!

the Claidi Journals series by Tanith Lee

Tanith Lee has officially become my favorite author with this series. I’m currently making my way through Wolf Queen, the third book. Lee’s books are just so creative and inspiring. I can feel my creative well being fortified whenever I read her work, lol. She’s an absolute master at worldbuilding and I find myself loving and resonating with all of the protagonists from the books I’ve read of hers.

adult coloring books + alcohol-based markers

Looking for a way to not be on my phone as much, a way to decompress, and another way to express my creativity, I landed on getting into adult coloring books to kill three birds with one stone. The first book I’ve been making my way through is K.Y. Craft’s absolutely beautiful Myth and Magic, which is comprised of illustrations of fantastical women and creatures. And what has made this experience even more enjoyable is how it’s fulfilling my childhood dream of owning alcohol-based markers. I used to be OBSESSED with artist youtubers who used Copic markers when I was little. So while these aren’t Copics, it’s close enough, and has been so fun!!!

#favorites #faves #current favorite #kiof #kiss of life #youtuber #beauty #beauty youtuber #tanith lee #coloring #coloring books

[theeangeltimes]

Some Brief Thoughts on Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir S5 // SPOILERS!!! 🐞

This past week I finally got caught up with the entirety of Miraculous Ladybug after hearing about how the show FINALLY gave us some interesting stuff after the mediocrity that was season 3. Two years late, yes, but it’s because season 3 really had me believing that perhaps I was too old to enjoy the show now. However, season 4 + 5’s highlights showed me that there is still a lot to enjoy from this series.

Not that this context is necessarily needed, (I just kinda wanna gloat hehehe) but I’ve been a fan since the show’s first season was still airing. Like, back when you could only watch the latest episodes in English if you watched it subbed and when all the non-French fans still called Cat Noir Chat Noir and when the idea of Gabriel Agreste being Hawk Moth was still just a mere fan theory. So I have quite a bit of emotional investment in this story and have been anticipating its reveals and everything else it has to offer for the good part of a decade.

And so I’ll say this:

• the show should have ended here at the end of the Hawk Moth arc rather than dragging out the butterfly miraculous being missing and seemingly appointing Lila as the next main baddie

• Adrien should have found out that Gabriel was Hawk Moth and Gabriel should have found out Adrien was Cat Noir before his death

No other villain’s reveal and existence will be able to have the same shock value or emotional payoff that Hawk Moth had, especially not Lila’s of all people. How is anything she’s going to do or any secret of hers going to live up to a missing wife being kept in some creepy capsule in a secret basement, unknowingly being the father of your enemy, and your child being a sentimonster of your creation??? (Which don’t even get me started on how much I HATE the fact that they made Adrien, Felix, and Kagami sentimonsters…) Plus, five seasons containing 26 episodes each on top of multiple movies/specials is a good run, I’d say. They should have just let the show end with only 5 seasons. It has run its course!

And speaking of how long this show is, it being confirmed that everything that we have seen happen has taken course over roughly 9-10 months is INSANITY.

Perhaps I just need to sit tight and see if the showrunners will have me eating my words in the next season(s), I really hope they do. (Although, I am not looking forward to the whole Avengers-esque superhero squad bs. I don’t like drastic change and I definitely don’t like those kids {except for Luka, Kagami, and Felix 🫶}.) I mean, there’s still so many big questions we still need answers to in regards to the Agrestes and Tsurugis plus there is technically still time for Adrien to find out about his dad, even if Marinette promised to not let him know. AND—most importantly—we still have time for Ladynoir revealing their identities to each other!

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #cat noir #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #gabriel agreste

[theeangeltimes]

Vampire Academy Books 1-3 Re-read Thought Dump

For the past several months, I’ve been working my way through a re-read of one of my favorite book series, Vampire Academy.

I first read it four years ago when I was 14/15, so it’s been a loooong time and I’ve forgotten quite a bit of it. Plus, now that I’m older and more intelligent/perceptive/critical, my opinions have changed quite a bit and I’ve picked up on more subtle things in the story this time around. In this blog (for my own sake, lol), I’ll be sharing some of the new stances I’ve developed on aspects/characters in the first three books of the series, Vampire Academy, Frost Bite, and Shadow Kiss (as those are the only ones I’ve re-read thus far). AND THERE WILL BE SPOILERS, so beware!

── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──

• Lissa + roselissa’s friendship kinda fvcking suck.

I’ve never been the biggest fan of lissa and she honestly kind of always rubbed me the wrong way, but during my first read I never really thought too much about it and could never put my finger on what exactly it was that bothered me about her. But now I know!

Their friendship just feels so disproportionate in the sense that it feels like Rose would and has done literally EVERYTHING for Lissa, but Lissa wouldn’t do the same. Like Rose is literally training to spend her future dedicated to Lissa and risking her life to protect her. She also took Lissa away from the academy, putting her herself in jeopardy to keep Lissa safe AND even let Lissa feed off of her while they were out in the human world by themselves despite that being seen as utterly degrading by their society. And let’s not forget how she knew that Lissa’s use of spirit was wreaking havoc on her mental well-being and would probably drive her to insanity or even suicide, yet she let Lissa keep on using it just because it made her happy…

But when Dimitri was left behind in the cave after the mission in Shadow Kiss, Lissa wouldn’t even tell Rose that she would at least ATTEMPT to heal Dimitri or bring him back to life even though Rose was distraught and begging. And then she had the nerve to get mad at Rose when she found out that she and Dimitri had a relationship and Rose didn’t tell her about it. Like, what???

And there’s other ways she’s rubbed me the wrong way but I won’t mention them because I feel like I don’t have enough proof to truly support my argument, but I’m still right! ☝️

Lissa is also just sort of a bland character. And I normally like quiet kind smart girls, but there’s just something that falls flat about her for me.

And speaking of the bond…

• The use of the bond was a very clever storytelling device. So while I do find it mostly annoying, I also appreciate it.

• Adrian is a fvcking CREEP!!!

I truly, TRULY, do not understand how I liked or even felt bad for Adrian at all when I first read this series. He’s a creep, and the way that Lissa (see? another reason why Lissa sucks) and Richelle Mead try to gaslight both us the reader and Rose into thinking that deep down he’s some great guy pissed me off so much. And it makes me feel insane when I look at how the fandom as a whole tends to love him and defend him and act like Rose is this major evil bitch, because HOWWWWWW???

It’s bad enough that he is constantly flirting with Rose since she’s underage, but even if she was a grown ass woman, it would still be gross; Rose tells him over and over again to leave her alone and stop flirting with her, and yet he persists. And also makes sexual comments to/about her. And always tries to ~playfully~ coerce her into giving him physical contact like hugs. And also bugs her in her dreams even though, once again, she tell him not to. Like there’s no way she can escape his creepy ass and nobody steps in for her to tell him to fuck off and leave her alone. It’s blood-boiling to me.

And, spolier: from what I can recall, more layers of shittiness are added to his character as the series progresses and even more are added in Bloodlines (unpopular opinion, but oh well). The only good thing that mf has done is fund rose’s trip to kill strigoi Dimitri.

And speaking of her getting money from Adrian…

• I genuinely do not feel bad for Rose asking Adrian for money.

Like why in the world would I care that a woman does something kind of bad to her harasser? Especially when she’s a teenager who’s in a terrible space mentally?

The whole exchange reinforces how Adrian is a total creep. As I previously mentioned, Rose was not only in mental/emotional turmoil due to Lissa’s use of spirit, but she was also reeling from Mason’s passing, the strigoi attacks and their casualties, and Dimitri turning strigoi. And yet he was still bugging her about dating him.

• The dhampirs (especially the women and girls) are greatly oppressed and thus far no one has even really acknowledged that except Ambrose, and he doesn’t even truly relay just how bad their oppression is.

The Moroi (as a class) exploit the physical abilities of dhampirs and more importantly the fact that the dhampir race cannot go on without Moroi and coerce them into dedicating their entire lives to being their guard dogs. The only other choices that dhampirs really have when they’re adults other than becoming guardians is to become “blood whores,” single mothers who live on communes (which is pretty much always conflated with being a blood whore by most people in their society), or being alone and vulnerable in the human world.

And it’s completely normalized (the primary way that dhampir a are reproduced, in fact) in their society for Moroi men to have casual relationships with dhampir women, impregnate them, and then leave them to raise their children on their own while they go and settle down with a Moroi woman instead. PLUS, guardians having serious romantic relationships is looked down upon, so those are pretty much out of the question.

And what makes it worse is that they can’t even liberate themselves from Moroi completely unless they’re willing to have the dhampir race die out completely since interaction with humans is not a real option.

To make matters even worse, Moroi could have been fighting alongside dhampirs to protect themselves from strigoi, and the fire users can very easily kill strigoi without even coming into physical contact with them, but no. The moroi were too damn lazy and thought of themselves too highly to do so. Which is why I’m glad that Moroi have started advocating for Moroi to begin fighting as well and that becomes a big theme throughout the novels.

• Moroi (as a class) are evil oppressors, continued

The whole feeder system is very flawed and exploitative, in my opinion. The fact that we briefly see in the books a few times that the feedings cause a mental deterioration for the feeders after a while is the main reason why. In Shadow Kiss, the way that rose and Christian were sitting there calling Alice (the elderly feeder who seemed to be experiencing some sort of psychosis) ~craaaazzzyyyyyy~ yet Christian still proceeded to feed on her definitely made me side eye him.

Surely there could be a more humane system put into place, like age/service limits for feeders or something.

*side note: I don’t think we ever figure out how Alice knew about how the strigoi were coming? I could very well be wrong though, I’ll have to see if Richelle provides answers in the following books.*

• Despite how outspoken and confident and strong and brave Rose may be, she has ZERO self-preservation or self-worth when it comes to herself and the dhampir race as a whole.

To see her repeatedly talk about how it was both her and every other dhampir’s duty to protect and prioritize Moroi and become guardians and repeat that stupid “they come first” mantra and dedicate her entire life to training just to protect her friend has honestly been painful. Like, girl, STAND UP!!! None of you were put on this planet just to give up your life and be 24/7 bodyguards to some people that likely see you as inferior to them!

However, I do think this aspect of her makes her character more real and complex. Rose may seem like a rebel to the people around her because she often gets into trouble and is sassy and ran away, but in reality, she isn’t one at all. Her worldview is actually quite traditional. She has internalized all the norms in her society without a second thought and doesn’t begin to see things differently until she starts interacting more with the world outside of St. Vladimir’s and is upon the brink of adulthood. She even says herself “Why was everyone suddenly challenging something that I’d held as absolute truth my entire life?” in Shadow Kiss.

I’m very excited to see how both Rose and her world continue to evolve and grow with the next three books. I don’t remember the society and characterization of these books being so rich and complex, Richelle Mead did an amazing job creating a compelling and thought-provoking world. So while I may not think that these books are literary masterpieces like I once did, I appreciate them in a new, deeper way.

#vampire academy #vampire academy books #ya books #rose hathaway #adrian ivashkov #lissa dragomir #anti adrian ivashkov

[theeangeltimes]

some thoughts on dhampir commodification

one of the most interesting threads in va is the way dhampirs are valued almost exclusively for their bodies: it’s repeatedly reinforced in the series that the only way dhampirs can participate in moroi society is by becoming guardians or doing sex work, and both types of labor mean giving over their bodies to the service of royal moroi. there are dhampirs, mostly women, who opt out of this, but they’re still expected to use their bodies to have kids who will become guardians or beget more dhampirs (e.g. mason’s mom chose to be domestic and worked with humans, but she still sent her son to guardian training at st. vlad’s and lost him to strigoi). dhampirs who don’t want to become guardians, do sex work or devote their lives to raising more dhampirs have to self-exile and live among humans. they have to cut themselves off from the culture they grew up in, and are seen as disgraces who abandoned their duty by the people they left behind.

dhampir women who live in communes and/or do sex work are usually given the deragotory label of “blood whores” and receive the brunt of social stigma, even though the current system would collapse without their labor: moroi exploit them for sex and use their kids to bolster guardian numbers while denying them full rights and personhood. and dhampirs are prevented from forming any kind of class solidarity because of the way guardians are taught to look down on commune dhampirs.

even though the guardian-or-sex-worker dichotomy largely affects dhampir women, it’s also in place for dhampir men: ambrose didn’t want to run off or become a guardian, so he became a sex worker, indicating that “guardian” “sex worker” “runs away” are the three limited options for all dhampirs. (instructors at st. vlad’s fall under the “guardian” umbrella because they’re guardians or former guardians who teach novices.)

guardians aren’t immune to having their romantic/sexual lives commodified by moroi, especially royal moroi: there are two examples in the series of a royal moroi pursuing a romantic/sexual relationship with a dhampir, adrian with rose and tasha with dimitri, and both relationships are transactional. adrian gives rose money on the condition she give him a romantic chance (after trying to leverage gifts and personal favors into touch and sexual attention), and tasha makes an offer for dimitri to be her guardian, with a sexual relationship and bio kids as a side “arrangement” after he starts working for her.

and within moroi society, there’s the way dhampirs’ place in the public sphere is segregated (dhampirs sitting in the back when the queen visits st vlad’s) and their private spaces are controlled: dhampir instructor/guardian housing at st. vlad’s doesn’t have kitchens while moroi instructor housing does etc, and it’s another way that dhampirs’ standard of living and comfort is put below moroi’s.

[theeangeltimes]

Best of 2022 K-Pop🏹

This year’s kpop releases have been VERY hit or miss (emphasis on the miss) for me this year but I still managed to scrape together a list of very great songs that came out and that I thoroughly enjoyed. These aren’t all of the releases I liked this year, but they are the best of them.

WHEN I MOVE - KARA

Several 2nd Gen girl groups have made their long awaited comebacks this year, and this was simply the best one (and this is coming from a Girls’ Generation supremacist). The song and music video are so glam, although that rap is definitely a blemish on this otherwise amazing song. They even managed to be one of the very few kpop groups to utilize an antidrop without it disappointing me.

BEAUTY INSIDE - NINE.I

A new token 4th gen group to add to my like list! Beauty Inside is another well done antidrop and has such pretty production. I can see this song aging very well and being very nostalgic for me in the future.

Heart Burn - Sunmi

This is quality FAWKING music! I never thought that we’d see Sunmi being in her Fleetwood Mac era, but here we are, and I couldn’t be happier. Also the visuals of this era were utterly GORGEOUS!

INVU - Taeyeon

Not everyone is intelligent enough to see the beauty in this song, but I am☝️ It’s just a very pretty and atmospheric song with beautiful vocals and production. What is there not to like?

Dilemma - APink

I genuinely don’t get why so many people hate the chorus because I love it, especially the horn! I think the horn is very pretty. This is mermaid music from beginning to end so I am disappointed that the music video didn’t have them as mermaids or something, but I’ve coped and moved on.

Don’t Stop - ATEEZ

This song was way too good to just be a random little single, especially considering the fact that it’s better than any of the other songs ATEEZ has released this year (other than Cyberpunk). It really exemplifies the strengths of ATEEZ’s music; the well utilized adlibs and vocal layering, production that has a lot going on without crossing into obnoxious territory, and an insanely catchy chorus.

O - VERIVERY

The guitar and melody and production overall of this song are just intoxicating. Also, I’m pissed no one told me that VERIVERY has some GOOD ass music. For years I just brushed them off as just another 4th gen boy group, but no, they have a very great catalogue that I highly recommended everyone check out. Especially their song From Now.

ParadoXXX Invasion - ENHYPEN

Ok so the rest of this list isn’t ordered, but these last two entries are in fact my top two favorite songs of the year. THIS IS WHAT REAL BOY GROUP MUSIC SOUNDS LIKE! I can’t get over how much I love this song from beginning to end. I even love the music video and choreography to death too. I haven’t been this excited about a group release since I don’t know when. Enhypen has very quickly become my second favorite 4th generation group after ATEEZ. They’re hitmakers, I tell you☝️

Brand New - Xiumin

Brand New is easily the most kpopiest kpop song we’ve gotten in a LONG LONG time. As an EXO-L, I suppose I am very biased, but I think even if I wasn’t one, I’d still think this was the best release. It’s pure effervescent fun! I listen to it on loop all of the time even though it’s been out for 3 months now. Xiumin really did what he had to do and I couldn’t be more grateful.

#kpop #ateez #kara #nine.i #taeyeon #sunmi #verivery #xiumin #enhypen #apink

[theeangeltimes]

Ranking and Rating We Are the Future Covers

Sooo this may seem like a weird first blogpost, but it’s the only blog I’ve been able to write without my writer’s block getting *TOO* much in the way and I need to do something to keep myself on my self-enforced break from twitter. So this is what we’re getting!

It’s also somewhat fitting to me since We Are the Future by H.O.T. is a song that I for some reason associate heavily with winter. I think it has to do with the fact that, to me, Dreams Come True by S.E.S. is a similar albeit far superior song and Dreams Come True is basically synonymous with winter to me. And, well, it’s winter time, is it not?

Before we get into the ranking and rating though I feel like I should talk about my complicated (that’s being dramatic) feelings about We Are the Future; I feel like it had the potential to be an amazing song but was ruined by the switch-ups of its sound throughout the track. Lots of people may think switch-ups—or whatever the technical term is—is a newer phenomenon within kpop, but it’s really not. H.O.T. did it here, Click-B did it in almost all their songs back in the 90s/00s much to my chagrin, and Girls’ Generation of course did it with I Got a Boy in 2013. And there’s probably several other examples I can’t think of right now.

Anywho, here is my ranking and ratings of We Are the Future covers done by boy groups, ranked from worst to best 🏹

VERIVERY

It pains me a bit to put VERIVERY dead last on this list because I really do love me some VERIVERY, BUT THEY WEREN’T EVEN SINGING??? They just lip-synced to the original. The styling and dancing were good though so I give them a 5/10.

Wanna One

They did original production of the song and it really slayed at some parts but at others it was just mediocrity. AND there was not one, but TWO of the raps AKA the worst parts of the original. BUT, Minhyun sounded very pretty as per usual and overall the group did good. I give it a 6/10.

Monsta X

Their voices sounded soooo pretty on this cover and I loved the original production, I wish I could hear the studio version of this. Plus, you know that Monsta X’s fine asses are always gonna put on a good show so performance wise it was also great. *However* whoever it was that put those illy arranged bandanas on Wonho and Shownu’s head is one of my enemies…

8/10, good job boys!🫶

TVXQ

They get a ping knocked off for including the rap, but they’re TVXQ so they’re still this high on the list🤭

Changmin and Jaejoong’s voices sounded particularly pretty over this instrumental and I’m obsessed with how Jaejoong just shows up out of nowhere to sing the bridge and then leaves. Major slayage, if you ask me! 9/10!

(NOTE: in order to watch tvxq’s performance, you have to go to its segment in this compilation. Annoying, I know, but I couldn’t find a video of it alone)

EXO

If I were a petty person, I would knock off a point for the fact that this cover is NOT LONG ENOUGH and has no studio version that I can stream to my heart’s content. Nobody on this planet understands and loves this cover the way that *I* understand and love this cover. The production is pure euphoria, BaekXiuHan sound like angels (and I wish we had gotten more trios with the three of them because gosh do their voices compliment each other nicely), and there’s no wackass rap!!! In conclusion, exo are gods and this cover is 10/10💋

#we are the future #verivery #wanna one #tvxq #monsta x #exo #h.o.t #Youtube

[theeangeltimes]

About ⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆

she/her.

writer.

loves: pop/kpop, romance, films, books, feminism, and fashion.

#gif source: https://pin.it/4797kOI