#2017-2019 also makes sense to me because | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

azpb535 · 2 months ago

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I’m new to pazzi and had to do a deep dive because their story seems so cute!!!

Also, I love reading people’s theories/timelines and had to came up with my own. It’s hella long and detailed!!!

I don’t think I’ve seen one this detailed so I thought I would share if anyone is interested!

2016 | I think, Paige liked Azzi from the start (love at first sight lol) because

1. During the North Tartan Summer Jam, there’s a video of Paige watching Azzi's basketball game. Azzi’s club Fairfax Star was playing against Paige's club North Tartan, and at that time Azzi was playing 2 age groups up.

2. In their 2019 overtime video, Paige mentioned that they had been friends for three years. Meanwhile, in the slam interview, Azzi seemed to have remembered meeting Paige during U16 tryouts. This makes me think that, Paige liked Azzi before Azzi even knew her.

2017 | During USA U16, Paige and Azzi started to become good friends. I’m leaning toward them being in a homoerotic friendship… Paige liked Azzi but Azzi didn’t know she liked girls. Here’s why:

1. During the slam interview, Paige mentioned that they had “this insane chemistry.” When you like someone, sometimes you become hyper aware of them (it's like your body can sense them), which probably made their on court chemistry great, as you can see in videos. I've had this happen with crushes - it's literally hormones!

2. In a video from U16, when they were receiving their metals, Paige does this "thumb rub" to Azzi. Also, they were the only two people to keep holding hands too. Personally, I would only do that to someone I liked or was with.

3. They were always sitting next to each other on the bench/in pictures and Paige was always talking Azzi's ear off

4. During that summer, Azzi liked an Instagram post captioned, "Paige trying to show off to Azzi" or "Paige trying to get Azzi's attention" and it was Paige shooting while Azzi was working out behind her. It's giving, highschool crush, when you try showing off and acting cool in front of them.

5. The Snapchat “crush” video, Paige posted on TikTok was most likely from this time, because the song/sound was released then. Also, the headband Paige wore in the video was the same one she wore in Azzi's 2017 birthday post to her.

6. Paige was commenting on Azzi's old instagram posts from before they met, which is something I did when I was younger and had a crush on someone.

7. I don’t think, Azzi knew she liked Paige because she was tagging guys (over her heart) in instagram posts (which I used to do with my crushes/gfs/bfs). Also, when Azzi talked about them meeting, she would say things like, "we were kind of forced to speak on the flight home because it was so long" and "Paige kind of showed up and stayed, and was always there" (it's not giving crush). Azzi didn't even remember they were bus buddies during the USA games.

8. In one of P’s teammates' vlogs, Paige says, "shout out to my best friend Azzi," which caused her teammates to crack up. Their reaction made me think, paige and Azzi were dating or fwb. It was too “big” of a reaction for them just being friends... they could have known Paige had a crush on Azzi though.

I could see Azzi starting to crush (whether she knew it or not) on Paige because:

Azzi made a bday post (on her main feed) for Paige saying how much she missed and loved her…which she’s never done for any of her other friends. At this point, they would have only known each other for a few months. This is where the first “💗” shows up too. It’s their thing, and Azzi has it in her Instagram bio now. Many homoerotic friendships are deep (highkey codependent), and have characteristics of dating/being in a relationship.

2018 | Personally, I think they were still just friends but Azzi was starting to like Paige back:

1. During USA U17, Azzi and Paige were attached at the hip, always laughing and joking with each other. They would, like, tap each other's head (Paige did it to Azzi in a recent game) To me, it looked like a flirty/loving gesture. When I was younger my crush would poke me and hit me with books 😂

2. During the 11th annual North Tartan Summer Jam, Azzi and Paige's AAU teams were playing against each other. The game was filmed, and in one clip, Paige looks at Azzi (can't see Paige's face) and Azzi blushes and scrunches her nose (something she does when Paige looks at her). It's giving baby gay crush. She did the same thing during USA U17.

3. There were rumors that Paige got jealous when Azzi got “to close” with her other AAU teammates, so she definitely liked her. This kind of jealousy can be common in homoerotic friendships too.

4. During the summer, Azzi went on a cruise with Paige's family (p's aunt posted pictures). Also, her aunt called Azzi her niece which is cute, but gives off just friends (the fam might not have know they liked each other though) because I would not want family members using "family titles" for someone I was dating. Note: I don't think her aunt meant "daughter in law" because they were so young and had only be in each others lives for about a year.

5. Azzi went to Montana to help Paige out with her charity camp. Paige attended Azzi's sweet 16. Azzi's brother posted a video from the party. With how much they hung out with each other, they def liked each other (whether they both knew it or not).

I could see them crossing lines during this time. However, I could also see this happening later like during quarantine.

1. They called each other "their other half" on instagram, which is giving dating. Most people in relationships call each other "my other half." I could also see them just being friends and possessive over each other, especially if they were in a homoerotic friendship. I had two friends in hs, who weren't dating, but clearly liked each other, and they would say my "other half."

2019 | I’m conflicted and could see them still in a homoerotic friendship/crushing on each other, but could also see lines being blurred and them being fwb. Here's why:

1. Azzi went to Paige's championship game in March and wore Paige's jersey (photo of them and Azzi was in P’s teammates vlog). I'm conflicted about this because I would wear my friend's jersey (similar to Paige wearing Nika and Dorka's jersey). However, in high-school, I think it was more common to wear your crush or gf/bf jersey than friend’s jersey. I could be wrong though.

2. When Azzi tore her ACL/MCL in April, Paige flew to be with her before surgery (Azzi posted a video). Also, during the Slam interview, Paige even started tearing up when talking about the injury and Azzi said that "she knew Paige felt somewhat, what she was feeling," showing that the relationship was deep.

3. In July/August, Azzi and Paige made tiktoks at Azzi's grandparents house in Minnesota. They also went to the state fair and made their joint tik tok account. I feel like the joint account could be like a couples account but also a friend account. I made a YouTube channel with my best friend.

4. Paige also visits Azzi after her USA Basketball 3×3 tournament and her LA trip for ESPNW. I don’t think there was a reason for her to go see Azzi which makes me think they were fwb.

5. In the overtime video, Azzi called Paige “like 1,000 siblings.” I would never compare my partner to a sibling, which is making me lean towards homoerotic friendship. Also the vibes were very best friend coded.

6. the splash sister narrative was going around but they didn’t play into it. It would have been a great marketing opportunity though, which makes me think they were fwb. Although, if they were secretly crushing on each other, I wouldn’t use sister either.

6. They hung out more during the winter than in previous years. During December 2019 and January 2020, Paige created the HUDL recruitment videos for Azzi. Paige was at Azzi's first game back from her ACL tear too. There was a video of her in the stands and they filmed more tik tok together. Basically they saw each other like every month! That's a lot of flying. Maybe they were causally dating 🤷🏻‍♀️

2020 | This was an interesting year for them. I think, they were fwb or in a situationship. I could see them still being in a homoerotic friendship too (those can get toxic trust me lol).

1. It appeared (from the public eye) that Paige was dealing with comphet. For example, she was acting more flirty, in videos, with her guy friends like Jalen. Also, the way she dressed in some videos and pictures gave that impression.

2. She was flirting online with vinnie. However, on the flip side, maybe she was just doing that for clout because vinnie had a large following. Also, in the TikTok Paige made of vinnie, Paige included the 💗 which she only uses for Azzi. This could have been intentional.

3. Azzi was posting flirty comments on a few guys’ posts. Also, Azzi was commenting on Jada’s posts a lot, and Jada was calling Azzi "big head" and "love you 💗” which was a P&A thing. Yes, Paige called Azzi “big head” in a snap chat video (in 2018?), like Monica called Quincy in love in basketball, Azzis favorite movie. I don’t think anything was going on between Azzi and Jada though, the comments seemed intentional and Jada was much younger than Azzi. Maybe P&A, got into a fight. It could be jealousy/petty behavior, common in homoerotic friendships - I've seen it lol! Also, they didn’t really hanging out as much in the winter, like they did in 2019.

4. In March / April 2020, SLAM released "All Eye on US" | Hopkins High School Series. In one video, Paige was wearing Azzi's picture on her shirt. She also had a collage of photos (almost all with Azzi) next to her bed, which is giving dating.

5. From April to July, Paige stayed with the Fudds. In some of the tik tok / youtube videos Paige's facial expressions gave away that they were more than friends (iykyk). If they were just friends, I think lines def got blurred during this time and they became fwb.

6. Azzi would FaceTime Paige at 1:00 am; even though, in an article around this time, she said she liked to go to bed early. Also, she visited Paige for her birthday to tell her she was going to UCONN. The extent to which they went out of their way to see and talk to each other is too much for just friends.

7. When Paige went to UCONN, she had Azzi as 💗 in snapchat. I only do that to people who I'm in a relationship with. That's why I feel like they were in a relationship or close to one. I think something happened and Azzi was mad at Paige because she stopped commenting on her posts, like that one anon said. I believe this happened after Azzi committed to UConn too. To me, it feels like a break up or friendship break up (common in homoerotic friendships… that shit hurts lol), especially because streets was saying Paige was partying and seen with other girls.

2021 | I'm leaning towards fwb (not exclusive) / situationship

1. UCONN students were spreading rumors that Paige was seen with black curly haired girls.

2. In the winter/spring of 2021, Azzi was commenting flirty things on different guys' instagram posts (like this one football player). Also, interestingly, in an old article, Azzi said she was looking forward to her senior year because she wanted to go to football games with her friends… but in a recent article, she said she didn’t like football when asked about it. Just found that interesting.

3. Students said Azzi was casually dating someone at UCONN (I think a football player 👀) from 2021 to maybe spring of 2022. Not sure if they were exclusive.

4. Part of me thinks that they stayed fwb, while talking and seeing other people, because Paige could not stop staring at Azzi in their slam video. She was down bad. However, if I stopped being fwb with someone, but still liked them, I would look at them longingly too. It’s the “you want what you can’t have look.” Maybe they were in a situationship end of 2021.

2022 | exclusive fwb (lowkey dating)

1. Azzi liked Mack, her friend, TikTok comment - "girlfriends are on this app" which made me think Paige and Azzi were more serious/together. I could see that comment being an "Azzi menace" thing, like stay away from my girl, even if we aren't technically in a relationship.

2. Also, during that summer, Azzi was commenting flirty things on Paige's posts, and they were posting each other more. She made a whole post (on her main feed) for Paige’s ACL tear, nobody else did that.

3. Paige was also posting things like - "my girlfriend when she sees an old person sitting alone" and she posted a picture of a man holding a ton of flowers on a train, saying "what i'm trying to be like."

4. During games, Paige and Azzi were always sitting together, had some part of their bodies touching, and joking around. The way Caroline reacted to some of their interactions made it clear that something was happening too. Also, during first night, Paige was staring Azzi down. Could not keep her eyes off of her. Also, UConn students once Azzi came to UConn, Paige wasn’t seen out with girls as much, and that eventually stopped.

2023 | dating!

1. During 2023, we got some of the best content! Thank you ICE! The lives really gave us a peek at their relationship. AKA. Paige caught with her hands around Azzi's waist and Azzi caught with her hand on Paige's cheek (gays being gays). Also, they disappeared for a little bit. Probs made out in the bathroom (just sayin 😂). I think, Amari’s live was very telling too. Paige kept coming back to Azzi, leaning on her and playing games. Azzi’s “better not” comment when someone commented “Paige, someone’s going to take you out to breakfast.”

2. In the Sue Bird video, Paige and Azzi could not stop staring at each other. I know they hold good eye contact, but this felt different. It looked softer.

3. Paige cannot hide her expressions and got all nervous when seeing comments like - "Paige and Azzi go together real bad" and "Azzi and Nika with their boyfriends."

4. Azzi added a "P" for Paige to her family heart ornament. I would only do that if I was in a relationship with someone.

5. They basically flirted with each other all throughout the overtime podcast - "i'm not afraid of the dark... good because I am" and "we don't lock our door at night." Key word “OUR.” From my knowledge they weren’t roommates at this time 🙊

6. They were very touchy feely that summer. There was a 2v2 video from Azzis camp and Paige was all over Azzi. I think she also called Azzi babes - "shoot babes." Also, tim posted a video of them napping together and their legs were intertwined. I don't be doing that with my friends. Do you???

2024 | In a relationship/basically married! Small recap: final four hug, draft pics, cruise gate, Paige cheesing at her phone, Bueckers family cabin trip (Azzi was there), NYFW, US Open, Azzi flying to Montana for two days, Y'all's Kid (lowkey think they kissed in that live too), staring at each other at the mystics game, twinning at the Lynx game, Paige's mom spending Christmas with the Fudds. and so much more!

Just waiting for that launch!!! 🙏

#azzi fudd #paige x azzi #paige bueckers #pazzi

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elodieunderglass · 8 months ago

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It's not really my business, but honestly it feels like it would be advisable to hire a copyright lawyer. Like I don't feel like you're in it for the money, but it might be gratifying to have the guy milking your idea at least have to formally acknowledge you. I think I'd do it just for the peace of mind to know if I've been "legally" wronged or not. Either way, hope you continue to inspire, and live out a peaceful life.

(In reference to this post about the guy who pretends to have invented “Elder Teletubbies,” specifically how he is now kickstarting DnD minis of them.)

Ha, well, it’s all a little tricky I think. I might, hilariously, post on the r/legaladvice Reddit (even though they’re all cops lol) because the only thing I want here is for him to stop selling my “transformative work,” and ideally to stop pretending he invented it (which might be difficult as he appears to fully believe his work is creatively independent.)

I think if anything, my post counts as protected commentary or a transformative work of BBC’s Teletubbies, and I think it’s stinky to profit on that stuff in general (like I’m 190% okay with buying LotR fanart on stickers ! but I wouldn’t dream of trying to publish a fic with the serial numbers filed off. Why?)

I think ultimately I’m not a grifter, I’m a grownup, and I think it’s several levels of eye roll to sell fanart of a tv show on this level. I would be embarrassed to touch money made on that. I’m too fucking scrupulous and artisanal. I have toyed with a silly original novel for funsies since 2019 but keep saying things like, “oh, people will think this is too similar to something else that already exists” as if a silly original novel I write for fun has to somehow pass a Bar of Originality higher than anything salary-writers aim for.

I’m also pretty anti-intellectual-property myself in that leftist sense where I don’t believe people should be acting as if creative works are, like, oil. Like the resource extraction angle of intellectual property freaks me out, I don’t think getting super high-horse and snotty about Magical Brain Property is entirely compatible with the artisanal temperament I personally got going on here. I am like snufkin about this, simply smoking a pipe and making a flower crown saying “poor fools! Producing works for market, and serving as the guard dogs of the market, lest their work lose value if it becomes more common!” I do not have a high horse. I am not going to post 6900 words about the importance of defending fucking… Mickey Mouse. I buy those lotr stickers on Etsy! I do have a horse, but it’s a pretty low horse.

If it was his own work I would not care about this guy doing this in the least (apart from loftily calling it stinky - but hey, nerds are common and nerds are stinky, it’s not rare) IF he wasn’t STEALING FROM MY ANTI-COMMERCIALISATION DREAM TO DO IT.

That’s the bit that PISSES ME OFF too much to ignore: that and accepting compliments for being original like 😌 yes my twisted mind did this idk lol.

Like if you asked him point blank about the artistic choices he’d be like idk my twisted mind just sees the Teletubbies this way teehee! but if you ask ME why, for example, the adult Teletubbies live in the forest I’ll explain that in 2017 I was at a major life crossroads and this dream was ABOUT that. It was goodbye to my identity as a foreigner from the pine forests, and full steam ahead to settling permanently in the fucking shire (where the baby teletubbies on the bbc show live). It was about going back to work having had my first child, and saying goodbye to my various career dreams for myself (famous scientist! Published author!) as I chose instead, finally, the responsibility of working humbly as a public servant for the actual good of society. It is about witnessing the wild and saying “I am not of it, but it is my job to be its witness and voice.” That’s why the adult Teletubbies are dancing in my native forests while I’m watching them from the English hills. This guy doesn’t know that he just vaguely heard “spooky forest cryptid” and didn’t develop it at all, I do more work than that with FANFICTION in my time off!!!

So it’s really about nebulous stuff and ethics and not something worth paying a lawyer for I think!

But thank you so much for this, I think the thing that gets most perennial about it is the TOTAL GASLIGHTING of the “outside world” of the rest of the internet like, fully believing they invented this, and they DIDNT. They’re so wrong on the internet and they don’t know

#adult Teletubbies

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freckliedan · 7 months ago

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could you expand on your thoughts why you think dan and phil havent always been monogamous? super curious! i kind of get the same vibe.

i'm happy to expand on it tbh! it's something i think and talk a lot about with my friends.

i'm hesitant about going in depth because i've found that's when people find it okay to say deeply shitty things to me, a polyamorous person, under the guise of academic debate/it just being a difference of opinion. but i'm also not going to let the possibility of that stop me?

ANYWAYS.

quite honestly the biggest thing for me is just. taking dan and phil at their word? even when parsing something true through them saying things in silly ways that's the easiest way to be right about them.

we noticed and believed in the underlying truth in their gay jokes before they were out. people are willing to entertain the bondage and mpreg and various other horny jokes as containing some kernel of truth. more people than literally any point in time are willing to believe there's some substance to dan's career-long mentions of gender.

but for whatever reason (mononormativity) the comments about them being attracted to/flirting with/being interested in other people get written off as 100% joking and funny because they're the most monogamous people ever & because they get jealous easily. and that just? sucks.

i think they've always been committed. like, phil brought dan home to meet his parents at their very first christmas together type committed. planning to spend the rest of their lives together from 3 months into the relationship committed.

but also like? that coexists with the fact that dan wasn't able to come out to himself as gay until the lead up to basically i'm gay. 2018 or maybe 2017, i think. @freckliephil or @phulge has brought up the idea to me before that part of why they didn't label their relationship to us in 2019 may have been because they were still in flux with labeling it for themselves.

dan has also always had commitment issues due to how he saw his parents' relationship function/due to his home life growing up and i'm NOT going to elaborate on this one but it is so obvious.

(consider this whole post informed by conversations with aries and roper btw).

i think the idea that dan and phil were secure in their connection but not in a place where they had to (or could, on dan's part) ascribe labels to it in the early years is realistic?

and i think their commitment and security can coexist with the idea of like. "i think it's hot seeing you kiss other people for attention at parties and come home with me". + i genuinely think the fantastic foursome explored each other's bodies on the italy trip. etc.

i definitely think there would've been huge stretches of monogamy, and i do think that there was jealousy before they found their footing and felt comfortable in their commitment. (different rant, but i think most of what gets read as jealousy these days is them dong a bit/possessiveness).

but i think there's also always been points in time where they were either theoretically or in practice fine with having sexual experiences with other people. that wouldn't've really been possible during their deep closet era, and i don't think it was COMMON beforehand.

but i also think that it's definitely something possible after they came out.

i think people hear me say this and assume i'm degrading the incredible and beautiful love and commitment dan and phil share. that i'm reducing queer men's relationships down to sex only.

but like. i'm not fucking doing that! the people making those assumptions are doing that! and saying a lot about how they view non monogamy too!

i'm saying i think they're so secure in their love and relationship that they're literally completely unbothered and not threatened by potentially having an open relationship. devotion is not only present in monogamous relationships.

WAD makes sense as a point of post coming out timing for another open period in their relationship to me. quite honestly i could see phil being the one to suggest it to dan? 2019 thru the close of WAD was dan's self actualization era.

growing up in the context of a single committed relationship does things to you psychologically. your identity formation happens side by side with another person and even if the relationship isn't controlling and toxic you can really lose sight of your individuality, if you're not careful. this is even easier to have happen if you share all of your friends, live together, AND work together. ESPECIALLY if you're significantly closeted in some way.

i know this because i've also lived it. believe me when i say dan NEEDED to figure out who he was as an individual. we saw him do that in several iterations artistically/careerwise. but we also saw his interest in experiencing queer culture in ways he missed out on when he was young and closeted.

so i think dan actually WAS on the apps, when he was touring WAD. i wouldn't be surprised if that was phil's idea, even. a "don't worry, go see the world, we've been open before, i'm not worried you won't want to come home to me, nobody's gonna match your freak like i do". i think phil would've had the option too but probably would've taken it less.

and i think it's like. like they're best friends! it's something they would've been talking about with each other. i think it could've been foreplay to them sometimes. i think it could've been what catapaulted dan into his top era. (this is a seperate essay from drs. frecklie, frecklie and phulge as well).

most importantly we think dan came back from the first leg of WAD having completely exorcised his fear of commitment and. wait i have to find a specific message. nevermind you're getting 3 screenshots without any further context

anyways. i can't find the specific point where we said this so it was maybe an in person conversation but the rest of the idea is that experiencing other options resulted in dan coming back from WAD and proposing. and phil proposing the gaming channel return right back. we 1000% said this before phil mentioned that he's the one who suggested the gaming channel return i just can NOT fucking find receipts on that because we largely voice message.

this has been an entire ramble that touched on a lot of different subjects but. yeah. dan and phil aren't polyamorous in the "both dating another person as a couple/other people as individuals" sense nor will they ever be. but there's sooo much room between that and strict monogamy.

and a lot of that in between is in perfect alignment with the ways they've talked about their lives over the years and is yet another extension of them having a level of trust love and intimacy in their relationship that most people will never experience. so

thank you for coming to my ted talk.

#jam replies #jam posts #anon #polyamory #analysis #meta #this is ok to rb but i'm not putting it in the tags bc people love to be shitheads #jam thoughts #freckliephulge

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pixelplayground · 23 days ago

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hi, i'm a little embarrassed to say it but nobody likes what i publish. i have more than 2k readers but in the end there are always 2 or 3 who follow me by liking or sharing my posts. i spend time creating interiors or lookbooks that may be liked but in the end it is not so. i would like to ask you for some advice to improve, to understand where i am going wrong if i don't bother you. i like what you publish.

Hello @valerysims,

First don’t feel embarrassed about arbitrary internet numbers. I know the world makes it feel like social media = validation but I promise you that your worth as a person is not tied to numbers on a post. Second, I checked out your blog and think you have a good number of likes to follower ratio! I have a little over 40K followers, and as you can see I get a fraction of that amount in likes per post on average. (I’ve also been around literally for a decade so please don’t burden yourself with comparisons, many of those followers came to me when I was posting sims 3 downloads, and when I was very active in the 2017-2019 period. Many of those people are now inactive/left the sims so it’s meaningless).

As far as content, I would recommend that you play this game for you and try to think less about what others want to see or what’s trending or will get likes. I hate so much how even simblr has been infected by the influencer mindset. I wish the community would go back to remembering we’re nerds playing virtual doll houses and would celebrate non-conformity more. I know it’s hard to resist, but I think people can sense when you are passionate about what you’re making/posting versus trying to create content that keeps up with the trends.

Back when I started doing coastal in 2017, I did it because I adore the architecture style, and it was around the time that Cats & Dogs was released so we now had the perfect world setting to compliment and exploration of this style. I wasn’t thinking about making it a trend, I always build and decorate for me and what I want to see in my game, and back then it wasn’t that popular. I had a phase of being really interested in modern farmhouses/low country builds and spent time doing that — they don’t resonate with me the way they did so I moved on and that’s ok. You don’t have to do anything that no longer interests you. Along the way people followed me because I guess they liked it, but a common sentiment I receive from followers is that they can see how much time and love I put into my builds, and I think that’s what resonated most to find an audience as it were.

It's the same with CC creation, I never learned how to make CC because I want lots of followers, monetization, or exposure. I had to learn to make the items I could not find back in the day, and now that style is trending, so I don't have to create so much to fill gaps and execute builds the way that I like.

Find joy in the act of playing the game, posting pics etc. whatever it is that you love most about the game, and you may find a niche there. Don’t pressure yourself to have to post X times per week if you’re not feeling it. Work on finding out what you’re passionate about and share that passion with your followers — usually the audience will follow you from there.

Also, I open this post to others to share their input. Some people I think are killer social media marketers, and I've never felt like I have that skillset. I feel like I gained a following accidentally rather than setting out with that goal in mind.

#replies #pxl answers #simblr #simblr community

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felassan · 4 months ago

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Article from Bloomberg by Jason Schreier, under a cut due to length.

"New ‘Dragon Age’ Game Faced Turbulent Development The studio head of EA’s BioWare says ‘Dragon Age: The Veilguard’ received nothing but support from EA throughout its lengthy production cycle EA’s BioWare label hopes to find redemption with the release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard Today we’re getting in-depth on the new Dragon Age game A new age for dragons In late 2020, when Gary McKay took over as studio head of BioWare, the Electronic Arts Inc. subsidiary best known for making big roleplaying games, the climate was dire. BioWare, which is headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta, had released two critically panned games and was facing turbulent development on a new one — while trying to cope with a worldwide pandemic. “We needed to shift how we were thinking about building our games,” McKay told me in a recent interview. BioWare, founded in 1995 and purchased by EA in 2007, had won over millions of fans with hit single-player RPG franchises such as Dragon Age and Mass Effect. But a 2017 entry called Mass Effect: Andromeda was widely panned, and the studio’s next game, the 2019 multiplayer shooter Anthem, flopped both critically and commercially. Both games had also gone through brutal development cycles that drove many BioWare veterans to exit the studio. At the end of 2020, studio boss Casey Hudson was planning to step down and called McKay to ask if he would take over. “We had a few conversations over the course of the next month around the people and the culture,” McKay said. BioWare’s next big project would be a new game in the popular fantasy Dragon Age franchise. But the game, which had been in development for years, was facing turmoil and had been rebooted from a single-player game into a live-service game with a heavy multiplayer component, which EA had been pushing across many of its subsidiaries in the late 2010s. Hudson, too, was interested in multiplayer games and had been the lead visionary on Anthem. Some employees jeeringly referred to the next Dragon Age as “Anthem with dragons,” which worried fans after I reported on the game at Kotaku. Enthusiasts of the series wanted another single-player game, not a repeat of BioWare’s biggest mistake. When he took over, McKay began to feel similarly. “We were thinking, ‘Does this make sense, does this play into our strengths, or is this going to be another challenge we have to face?’” McKay said. “No, we need to get back to what we’re really great at.” In the months that followed, McKay met with leadership across BioWare and EA and ultimately decided to reboot the next Dragon Age a second time, pivoting back to single-player."

The choice was obvious in many ways. Anthem had flopped while EA’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, a single-player action-adventure game, had sold more than 10 million copies, helping prove to the publisher that not all of its games needed to be online. BioWare games were popular because of their focus on character dialogue and player-driven narrative decisions, which did not mesh with multiplayer gaming. “Once we made that decision, a lot of things started to fall into place,” McKay said. In the years that followed, he would go on to consolidate more of the studio’s projects, shutting down an attempt to reboot Anthem and selling off the rights to the online game Star Wars: The Old Republic to a separate studio. The goal, McKay said, was “focus.” BioWare then spent the next three-and-a-half years developing what would become Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the fourth game in the franchise. Out this week, the game has received mostly positive reviews and so far topped charts, although EA has not yet revealed sales numbers. Some things went right during development. McKay said they “had the game end-to-end playable” earlier than any previous BioWare product, allowing them to spend extra time iterating. A reorganization at EA, which split the company into divisions called EA Games and EA Sports, allowed Dragon Age: The Veilguard to receive more support from internal teams that might otherwise be stretched thin, such as research and data insights groups. “That gave us an extra boost in terms of the support and focus from the company,” McKay said. But the development of Dragon Age: The Veilguard still faced plenty of obstacles. The pandemic led BioWare to shift to hiring remotely, which McKay said made for cultural challenges. The game slipped past its original target date, although McKay wouldn’t say how much extra time it needed. “I’m never going to call it a slip,” he said. And it went through significant scope changes over the course of development. Then, last summer, BioWare laid off 50 people, including veterans with decades of experience. McKay told me the reduction, which arrived during a period of widespread layoffs across the video-game industry, “was all about focus at that time.” “When you have a really large team, you’re always compelled to keep everybody busy all the time,” he said. “When you have a smaller team, you have the right people in the right roles at the right time, some incredible momentum is gained at that point.” The stakes are high for the release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Fans and pundits have worried that a third failure in a row might have devastating results for BioWare. McKay wouldn’t comment on the specifics of what would make the game a hit in their eyes. But said he has felt supported by EA Entertainment & Technology President Laura Miele. The game is so important to BioWare’s future that the company brought in its second team, which has been incubating a new Mass Effect, to help out during the final stretch of development. The Mass Effect team played a major role in finishing and polishing Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Other companies across EA, such as its Motive studio in Montreal, also supported the game. Now, the company will look to see how players react to the next Dragon Age — and, McKay hopes, “bring BioWare back into the conversation as a top game studio.”

[source]

#dragon age: the veilguard #dragon age: dreadwolf #dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #da4 #dragon age #bioware #video games #longpost #long post #covid mention #mass effect #mass effect: andromeda #mass effect 5 #sw:tor #anthem #(this is from nov 1. but i'm still looking through backlog piles of headlines from the time i was hiding in the spoilerbunker so this post #is late)

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machveil · 5 months ago

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Captain John Price is next on the chopping block. another birth year and headcanoned age post because I love digging shit up on the CoD operatives

let’s get our facts straight:

Price was a Lieutenant in 1996 (age N/A)

Price served as a Captain from 2011-2017 (age N/A)

1996 is 15 years prior to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Act 1 - Blackout is dated as 2011, Act 3 - Gameover is also listed as 2011

Task Force 141 began activity in 2019-present day

huge information, his dog tags in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare list his *potential birthday as 01-11-1953

*from what we know about given birth years from my Kyle “Gaz” Garrick analysis, we always check plausibility when given a birth year

so… we have a solid date [celebration]! let’s confirm what we know and do some math ( ^_^）o自自o（^_^ ）

according to Price’s dog tags (huzzah) he was born 1953. as a Lieutenant, Price is 43 years old off the bat. Price is 58-64 while serving as a Captain in 2011-2017

when TF141 started activity in 2019 John was 66 - present day (2024), that would make Captain John Price 71

headcanon time because holy crap, I would not have wagered that personally—

let’s go over the headcanoned ages I’ve done for Simon “Ghost” Riley, König, and Kyle “Gaz” Garrick briefly before I continue. respectively, for each of these men, I will list their ages in 2019 - when TF141 started activity: 34-35, 31, and 27

Price is 66 in 2019… maybe it’s just me, but that seems wild - like, it checks out and makes total sense, but still! admittedly, I’m not a huge Price fan - don’t get me wrong, I still like him. since I don’t actively write for him I’m fine with him being headcanoned as born in 1953, it’s just wild having an actual age to put to his face haha

I think I’ll still see him as in his late 50s to early 60s, but plausibility wise… I’d say his in-game dog tags check out

#don’t shoot the messenger #he’s aged like fine wine #price #john price #captain price #price headcanons #price cod #price call of duty #cod #cod headcanons #call of duty #hit post

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rhysdarbinizedarby · 1 year ago

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Couch surfer in his 30s. Oscar winner in his 40s. Why the whole world wants Taika

**Notes: This is very long post!**

Good Weekend

In his 30s, he was sleeping on couches. By his 40s, he’d directed a Kiwi classic, taken a Marvel movie to billion-dollar success, and won an Oscar. Meet Taika Waititi, king of the oddball – and one of New Zealand’s most original creative exports.

Taika Waititi: “Be a nice person and live a good life. And just don’t be an arsehole.”

The good news? Taika Waititi is still alive. I wasn’t sure. The screen we were speaking through jolted savagely a few minutes ago, with a cacophonous bang and a confused yelp, then radio silence. Now the Kiwi filmmaker is back, grinning like a loon: “I just broke the f---ing table, bro!”

Come again? “I just smashed this f---ing table and glass flew everywhere. It’s one of those old annoying colonial tables. It goes like this – see that?” Waititi says, holding up a folding furniture leg. “I hit the mechanism and it wasn’t locked. Anyway …”

I’m glad he’s fine. The stuff he’s been saying from his London hotel room could incur biblical wrath. We’re talking about his latest project, Next Goal Wins, a movie about the American Samoa soccer team’s quest to score a solitary goal, 10 years after suffering the worst loss in the game’s international history – a 31-0 ignominy to Australia – but our chat strays into spirituality, then faith, then religion.

“I don’t personally believe in a big guy sitting on a cloud judging everyone, but that’s just me,” Waititi says, deadpan. “Because I’m a grown-up.”

This is the way his interview answers often unfold. Waititi addresses your topic – dogma turns good people bad, he says, yet belief itself is worth lauding – but bookends every response with a conspiratorial nudge, wink, joke or poke. “Regardless of whether it’s some guy living on a cloud, or some other deity that you’ve made up – and they’re all made up – the message across the board is the same, and it’s important: Be a nice person, and live a good life. And just don’t be an arsehole!”

Not being an arsehole seems to have served Waititi, 48, well. Once a national treasure and indie darling (through the quirky tenderness of his breakout New Zealand films Boy in 2010 and Hunt for the Wilderpeople in 2016), Waititi then became a star of both the global box office (through his 2017 entry into the Marvel Universe, Thor: Ragnarok, which grossed more than $1.3 billion worldwide) and then the Academy Awards (winning the 2020 best adapted screenplay Oscar for his subversive Holocaust dramedy JoJo Rabbit, in which he played an imaginary Hitler).

Waititi playing Adolf Hitler in the 2019 movie JoJo Rabbit. (Alamy)

A handsome devil with undeniable roguish charm, Waititi also slid seamlessly into style-icon status (attending this year’s Met Gala shirtless, in a floor-length gunmetal-grey Atelier Prabal Gurung wrap coat, with pendulous pearl necklaces), as well as becoming his own brand (releasing an eponymous line of canned coffee drinks) and bona fide Hollywood A-lister (he was introduced to his second wife, British singer Rita Ora, by actor Robert Pattinson at a barbecue).

Putting that platform to use, Waititi is an Indigenous pioneer and mentor, too, co-creating the critically acclaimed TV series Reservation Dogs, while co-founding the Piki Films production company, committed to promoting the next generation of storytellers – a mission that might sound all weighty and worthy, yet Waititi’s new wave of First Nations work is never earnest, always mixing hurt with heart and howling humour.

Waititi with wife Rita Ora at the 2023 Met Gala in May. (Getty Images)

Makes sense. Waititi is a byproduct of “the weirdest coupling ever” – his late Maori father from the Te Whanau-a-Apanui tribe was an artist, farmer and “Satan’s Slaves” bikie gang founder, while his Wellington schoolteacher mum descended from Russian Jews, although he’s not devout about her faith. (“No, I don’t practise,” he confirms. “I’m just good at everything, straight away.”)

He’s remained loyally tethered to his origin story, too – and to a cadre of creative Kiwi mates, including actors Jemaine Clement and Rhys Darby – never forgetting that not long before the actor/writer/producer/director was an industry maven, he was a penniless painter/photographer/ musician/comedian.

With no set title and no fixed address, he’s seemingly happy to be everything, everywhere (to everyone) all at once. “‘The universe’ is bandied around a lot these days, but I do believe in the kind of connective tissue of the universe, and the energy that – scientifically – we are made up of a bunch of atoms that are bouncing around off each other, and some of the atoms are just squished together a bit tighter than others,” he says, smiling. “We’re all made of the same stardust, and that’s pretty special.”

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We’ve caught Waititi in a somewhat relaxed moment, right before the screen actors’ and media artists’ strike ends. He’s sensitive to the struggle but doesn’t deny enjoying the break. “I spent a lot of time thinking about writing, and not writing, and having a nice holiday,” he tells Good Weekend. “Honestly, it was a good chance just to recombobulate.”

Waititi, at right, with Hunt for the Wilderpeople actors, from left, Sam Neill, Rhys Darby and Julian Dennison. (Getty Images)

It’s mid-October, and he’s just headed to Paris to watch his beloved All Blacks in the Rugby World Cup. He’s deeply obsessed with the game, and sport in general. “Humans spend all of our time knowing what’s going to happen with our day. There’s no surprises any more. We’ve become quite stagnant. And I think that’s why people love sport, because of the air of unpredictability,” he says. “It’s the last great arena entertainment.”

The main filmic touchstone for Next Goal Wins (which premieres in Australian cinemas on New Year’s Day) would be Cool Runnings (1993), the unlikely true story of a Jamaican bobsled team, but Waititi also draws from genre classics such as Any Given Sunday and Rocky, sampling trusted tropes like the musical training montage. (His best one is set to Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears.)

Filming in Hawaii was an uplifting experience for the self-described Polynesian Jew. “It wasn’t about death, or people being cruel to each other. Thematically, it was this simple idea, of getting a small win, and winning the game wasn’t even their goal – their goal was to get a goal,” he says. “It was a really sweet backbone.”

Waititi understands this because, growing up, he was as much an athlete as a nerd, fooling around with softball and soccer before discovering rugby league, then union. “There’s something about doing exercise when you don’t know you’re doing exercise,” he enthuses. “It’s all about the fun of throwing a ball around and trying to achieve something together.” (Whenever Waititi is in Auckland he joins his mates in a long-running weekend game of touch rugby. “And then throughout the week I work out every day. Obviously. I mean, look at me.”)

Auckland is where his kids live, too, so he spends as much time there as possible. Waititi met his first wife, producer Chelsea Winstanley, on the set of Boy in 2010, and they had two daughters, Matewa Kiritapu, 8, and his firstborn, Te Kainga O’Te Hinekahu, 11. (The latter is a derivative of his grandmother’s name, but he jokes with American friends that it means “Resurrection of Tupac” or “Mazda RX7″) Waititi and Winstanley split in about 2018, and he married the pop star Ora in 2022.

He offers a novel method for balancing work with parenthood … “Look, you just abandon them, and know that the experience will make them harder individuals later on in life. And it’s their problem,” he says. “I’m going to give them all of the things that they need, and I’m going to leave behind a decent bank account for their therapy, and they will be just like me, and the cycle will continue.”

Jokes aside – I think he’s joking – school holidays are always his, and he brings the girls onto the set of every movie he makes. “They know enough not to get in the way or touch anything that looks like it could kill you, and they know to be respectful and quiet when they need to. But they’re just very comfortable around filmmakers, which I’m really happy about, because eventually I hope they will get into the industry. One more year,” he laughs, “then they can leave school and come work for Dad.”

Theirs is certainly a different childhood than his. Growing up, he was a product of two worlds. His given names, for instance, were based on his appearance at birth: “Taika David” if he looked Maori (after his Maori grandfather) and “David Taika” if he looked Pakeha (after his white grandfather). His parents split when he was five, so he bounced between his dad’s place in Waihau Bay, where he went by the surname Waititi, and his mum, eight hours drive away in Wellington, where he went by Cohen (the last name on his birth certificate and passport).

Waititi was precocious, even charismatic. His mother Robin once told Radio New Zealand that people always wanted to know him, even as an infant: “I’d be on a bus with him, and he was that kind of baby who smiled at people, and next thing you know they’re saying, ‘Can I hold your baby?’ He’s always been a charmer to the public eye.”

He describes himself as a cool, sporty, good-looking nerd, raised on whatever pop culture screened on the two TV channels New Zealand offered in the early 1980s, from M*A*S*H and Taxi to Eddie Murphy and Michael Jackson. He was well-read, too. When punished by his mum, he would likely be forced to analyse a set of William Blake poems.

He puts on a whimpering voice to describe their finances – “We didn’t have much monneeey” – explaining how his mum spent her days in the classroom but also worked in pubs, where he would sit sipping a raspberry lemonade, doodling drawings and writing stories. She took in ironing and cleaned houses; he would help out, learning valuable lessons he imparts to his kids. “And to random people who come to my house,” he says. “I’ll say, ‘Here’s a novel idea, wash this dish,’ but people don’t know how to do anything these days.”

“Every single character I’ve ever written has been based on someone I’ve known or met or a story I’ve stolen from someone.” - Taika Waititi

He loved entertaining others, clearly, but also himself, recording little improvised radio plays on a tape deck – his own offbeat versions of ET and Indiana Jones and Star Wars. “Great free stuff where you don’t have any idea what the story is as you’re doing it,” he says. “You’re just sort of making it up and enjoying the freedom of playing god in this world where you can make people and characters do whatever you want.”

His other sphere of influence lay in Raukokore, the tiny town where his father lived. Although Boy is not autobiographical, it’s deeply personal insofar as it’s filmed in the house where he grew up, and where he lived a life similar to that portrayed in the story, surrounded by his recurring archetypes: warm grandmothers and worldly kids; staunch, stoic mums; and silly, stunted men. “Every single character I’ve ever written has been based on someone I’ve known or met,” he says, “or a story I’ve stolen from someone.”

He grew to love drawing and painting, obsessed early on with reproducing the Sistine Chapel. During a 2011 TED Talk on creativity, Waititi describes his odd subject matter, from swastikas and fawns to a picture of an old lady going for a walk … upon a sword … with Robocop. “My father was an outsider artist, even though he wouldn’t know what that meant,” Waititi told the audience in Doha. “I love the naive. I love people who can see things through an innocent viewpoint. It’s inspiring.”

After winning Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award for JoJo Rabbit in 2020. (Getty Images)

It was an interesting time in New Zealand, too – a coming-of-age decade in which the Maori were rediscovering their culture. His area was poor, “but only financially,” he says. “It’s very rich in terms of the people and the culture.” He learned kapa haka – the songs, dances and chants performed by competing tribes at cultural events, or to honour people at funerals and graduations – weddings, parties, anything. “Man, any excuse,” he explains. “A big part of doing them is to uplift your spirits.”

Photography was a passion, so I ask what he shot. “Just my penis. I sent them to people, but we didn’t have phones, so I would print them out, post them. One of the first dick pics,” he says. Actually, his lens was trained on regular people. He watches us still – in airports, restaurants. “Other times late at night, from a tree. Whatever it takes to get the story. You know that.”

He went to the Wellington state school Onslow College and did plays like Androcles and the Lion, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Crucible. His crew of arty students eventually ended up on stage at Bats Theatre in the city, where they would perform haphazard comedy shows for years.

“Taika was always rebellious and wild in his comedy, which I loved,” says his high school mate Jackie van Beek, who became a longtime collaborator, including working with Waititi on a Tourism New Zealand campaign this year. “I remember he went through a phase of turning up in bars around town wearing wigs, and you’d try and sit down and have a drink with him but he’d be doing some weird character that would invariably turn up in some show down the track.”

He met more like-minded peers at Victoria University, including Jemaine Clement (who’d later become co-creator of Flight of the Conchords). During a 2019 chat with actor Elijah Wood, Waititi describes he and Clement clocking one another from opposite sides of the library one day: a pair of Maoris experiencing hate at first sight, based on a mutual suspicion of cultural appropriation. (Clement was wearing a traditional tapa cloth Samoan shirt, and Waititi was like: “This motherf---er’s not Samoan.” Meanwhile, Waititi was wearing a Rastafarian beanie, and Clement was like, “This motherf---er’s not Jamaican.”)

With Jemaine Clement in 2014. (Getty Images)

But they eventually bonded over Blackadder and Fawlty Towers, and especially Kenny Everett, and did comedy shows together everywhere from Edinburgh to Melbourne. Waititi was almost itinerant, spending months at a time busking, or living in a commune in Berlin. He acted in a few small films, and then – while playing a stripper on a bad TV show – realised he wanted to try life behind the camera. “I became tired of being told what to do and ordered around,” he told Wellington’s Dominion Post in 2004. “I remember sitting around in the green room in my G-string thinking, ‘Why am I doing this? Just helping someone else to realise their dream.’ ”

He did two strong short films, then directed his first feature – Eagle vs Shark (2007) – when he was 32. He brought his mates along (Clement, starring with Waititi’s then-girlfriend Loren Horsley), setting something of a pattern in his career: hiring friends instead of constantly navigating new working relationships. “If you look at things I’m doing,” he tells me, “there’s always a few common denominators.”

Sam Neill says Waititi is the exemplar of a new New Zealand humour. “The basis of it is this: we’re just a little bit crap at things.”

This gang of collaborators shares a common Kiwi vibe, too, which his longtime friend, actor Rhys Darby, once coined “the comedy of the mundane”. Their new TV show, Our Flag Means Death, for example, leans heavily into the mundanity of pirate life – what happens on those long days at sea when the crew aren’t unsheathing swords from scabbards or burying treasure.

Waititi plays pirate captain Blackbeard, centre, in Our Flag Means Death, with Rhys Darby, left, and Rory Kinnear. (Google Images)

Sam Neill, who first met Waititi when starring in Hunt for the Wilderpeople, says Waititi is the exemplar of a new New Zealand humour. “And I think the basis of it is this,” says Neill. “We’re just a little bit crap at things, and that in itself is funny.” After all, Neill asks, what is What We Do in The Shadows (2014) if not a film (then later a TV show) about a bunch of vampires who are pretty crap at being vampires, living in a pretty crappy house, not quite getting busted by crappy local cops? “New Zealand often gets named as the least corrupt country in the world, and I think it’s just that we would be pretty crap at being corrupt,” Neill says. “We don’t have the capacity for it.”

Waititi’s whimsy also spurns the dominant on-screen oeuvre of his homeland – the so-called “cinema of unease” exemplified by the brutality of Once Were Warriors (1994) and the emotional peril of The Piano (1993). Waititi still explores pathos and pain, but through laughter and weirdness. “Taika feels to me like an antidote to that dark aspect, and a gift somehow,” Neill says. “And I’m grateful for that.”

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Something happened to Taika Waititi when he was about 11 – something he doesn’t go into with Good Weekend, but which he considered a betrayal by the adults in his life. He mentioned it only recently – not the moment itself, but the lesson he learnt: “That you cannot and must not rely on grown-ups to help you – you’re basically in the world alone, and you’re gonna die alone, and you’ve just gotta make it all for yourself,” he told Irish podcast host James Brown. “I basically never forgave people in positions of responsibility.”

What does that mean in his work? First, his finest films tend to reflect the clarity of mind possessed by children, and the unseen worlds they create – fantasies conjured up as a way to understand or overcome. (His mum once summed up the main message of Boy: “The unconditional love you get from your children, and how many of us waste that, and don’t know what we’ve got.”)

Second, he’s suited to movie-making – “Russian roulette with art” – because he’s drawn to disruptive force and chaos. And that in turn produces creative defiance: allowing him to reinvigorate the Marvel Universe by making superheroes fallible, or tell a Holocaust story by making fun of Hitler. “Whenever I have to deal with someone who’s a boss, or in charge, I challenge them,” he told Brown, “and I really do take whatever they say with a pinch of salt.”

It’s no surprise then that Waititi was comfortable leaping from independent films to the vast complexity of Hollywood blockbusters. He loves the challenge of coordinating a thousand interlocking parts, requiring an army of experts in vocations as diverse as construction, sound, art, performance and logistics. “I delegate a lot,” he says, “and share the load with a lot of people.”

“This is a cool concept, being able to afford whatever I want, as opposed to sleeping on couches until I was 35.” - Taika Waititi

But the buck stops with him. Time magazine named Waititi one of its Most Influential 100 People of 2022. “You can tell that a film was made by Taika Waititi the same way you can tell a piece was painted by Picasso,” wrote Sacha Baron Cohen. Compassionate but comic. Satirical but watchable. Rockstar but auteur. “Actually, sorry, but this guy’s really starting to piss me off,” Cohen concluded. “Can someone else write this piece?”

Directing Chris Hemsworth in 2017 in Thor: Ragnarok, which grossed more than $1.3 billion at the box office. (Alamy)

I’m curious to know how he stays grounded amid such adulation. Coming into the game late, he says, helped immensely. After all, Waititi was 40 by the time he left New Zealand to do Thor: Ragnarok. “If you let things go to your head, then it means you’ve struggled to find out who you are,” he says. “But I’ve always felt very comfortable with who I am.” Hollywood access and acclaim – and the pay cheques – don’t erase memories of poverty, either. “It’s more like, ‘Oh, this is a cool concept, being able to afford whatever I want, as opposed to sleeping on couches until I was 35.’ ” Small towns and strong tribes keep him in check, too. “You know you can’t piss around and be a fool, because you’re going to embarrass your family,” he says. “Hasn’t stopped me, though.”

Sam Neill says there was never any doubt Waititi would be able to steer a major movie with energy and imagination. “It’s no accident that the whole world wants Taika,” he says. “But his seductiveness comes with its own dangers. You can spread yourself a bit thin. The temptation will be to do more, more, more. That’ll be interesting to watch.”

Indeed, I find myself vicariously stressed out over the list of potential projects in Waititi’s future. A Roald Dahl animated series for Netflix. An Apple TV show based on the 1981 film Time Bandits. A sequel to What We Do In The Shadows. A reboot of Flash Gordon. A gonzo horror comedy, The Auteur, starring Jude Law. Adapting a cult graphic novel, The Incal, as a feature. A streaming series based on the novel Interior Chinatown. A film based on a Kazuo Ishiguro bestseller. Plus bringing to life the wildly popular Akira comic books. Oh, and for good measure, a new instalment of Star Wars, which he’s already warned the world will be … different.

“It’s going to change things,” he told Good Morning America. “It’s going to change what you guys know and expect.”

Did I say I was stressed for Waititi? I meant physically sick.

“Well…” he qualifies, “some of those things I’m just producing, so I come up with an idea or someone comes to me with an idea, and I shape how ‘it’s this kind of show’ and ‘here’s how we can get it made.’ It’s easier for me to have a part in those things and feel like I’ve had a meaningful role in the creative process, but also not having to do what I’ve always done, which is trying to control everything.”

In the 2014 mockumentary horror film What We Do in the Shadows, which he co-directed with Jemaine Clement. (Alamy)

What about moving away from the niche New Zealand settings he represented so well in his early work? How does he stay connected to his roots? “I think you just need to know where you’re from,” he says, “and just don’t forget that.”

They certainly haven’t forgotten him.

Jasmin McSweeney sits in her office at the New Zealand Film Commission in Wellington, surrounded by promotional posters Waititi signed for her two decades ago, when she was tasked with promoting his nascent talent. Now the organisation’s marketing chief, she talks to me after visiting the heart of thriving “Wellywood”, overseeing the traditional karakia prayer on the set of a new movie starring Geoffrey Rush.

Waititi isn’t the first great Kiwi filmmaker – dual Oscar-winner Jane Campion and blockbuster king Peter Jackson come to mind – yet his particular ascendance, she says, has spurred unparalleled enthusiasm. “Taika gave everyone here confidence. He always says, ‘Don’t sit around waiting for people to say, you can do this.’ Just do it, because he just did it. That’s the Taika effect.”

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Taika David Waititi is known for wearing everything from technicolour dreamcoats to pineapple print rompers, and today he’s wearing a roomy teal and white Isabel Marant jumper. The mohair garment has the same wispy frizz as his hair, which curls like a wave of grey steel wool, and connects with a shorn salty beard.

A stylish silver fox, it wouldn’t surprise anyone if he suddenly announced he was launching a fashion label. He’s definitely a commercial animal, to the point of directing television commercials for Coke and Amazon, along with a fabulous 2023 spot for Belvedere vodka starring Daniel Craig. He also joined forces with a beverage company in Finland (where “taika” means “magic”) to release his coffee drinks. Announcing the partnership on social media, he flagged that he would be doing more of this kind of stuff, too (“Soz not soz”).

Waititi has long been sick of reverent portrayals of Indigenous people talking to spirits.

There’s substance behind the swank. Fashion is a creative outlet but he’s also bought sewing machines in the past with the intention of designing and making clothes, and comes from a family of tailors. “I learnt how to sew a button on when I was very young,” he says. “I learnt how to fix holes or patches in your clothes, and darn things.”

And while he gallivants around the globe watching Wimbledon or modelling for Hermès at New York Fashion Week, all that glamour belies a depth of purpose, particularly when it comes to Indigenous representation.

There’s a moment in his new movie where a Samoan player realises that their Dutch coach, played by Michael Fassbender, is emotionally struggling, and he offers a lament for white people: “They need us.” I can’t help but think Waititi meant something more by that line – maybe that First Nations people have wisdom to offer if others will just listen?

“Weeelllll, a little bit …” he says – but from his intonation, and what he says next, I’m dead wrong. Waititi has long been sick of reverent portrayals of Indigenous people talking to kehua (spirits), or riding a ghost waka (phantom canoe), or playing a flute on a mountain. “Always the boring characters,” he says. “They’ve got no real contemporary relationship with the world, because they’re always living in the past in their spiritual ways.”

A scene from Next Goal Wins, filmed earlier this year. (Alamy)

He’s part of a vanguard consciously poking fun at those stereotypes. Another is the Navajo writer and director Billy Luther, who met Waititi at Sundance Film Festival back in 2003, along with Reservation Dogs co-creator Sterlin Harjo. “We were this group of outsiders trying to make films, when nobody was really biting,” says Luther. “It was a different time. The really cool thing about it now is we’re all working. We persevered. We didn’t give up. We slept on each other’s couches and hung out. It’s like family.”

Waititi has power now, and is known for using Indigenous interns wherever possible (“because there weren’t those opportunities when I was growing up”), making important introductions, offering feedback on scripts, and lending his name to projects through executive producer credits, too, which he did for Luther’s new feature film, Frybread Face and Me (2023).

He called Luther back from the set of Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) to offer advice on working with child actors – “Don’t box them into the characters you’ve created,” he said, “let them naturally figure it out on their own” – but it’s definitely harder to get Waititi on the phone these days. “He’s a little bitch,” Luther says, laughing. “Nah, there’s nothing like him. He’s a genius. You just knew he was going to be something. I just knew it. He’s my brother.“

I’ve been asked to explicitly avoid political questions in this interview, probably because Waititi tends to back so many causes, from child poverty and teenage suicide to a campaign protesting offshore gas and oil exploration near his tribal lands. But it’s hard to ignore his recent Instagram post, sharing a viral video about the Voice to Parliament referendum starring Indigenous Aussie rapper Adam Briggs. After all, we speak only two days after the proposal is defeated. “Yeah, sad to say but, Australia, you really shat the bed on that one,” Waititi says, pausing. “But go see my movie!”

About that movie – the early reviews aren’t great. IndieWire called it a misfire, too wrapped in its quirks to develop its arcs, with Waititi’s directorial voice drowning out his characters, while The Guardian called it “a shoddily made and strikingly unfunny attempt to tell an interesting story in an uninteresting way”. I want to know how he moves past that kind of criticism. “For a start, I never read reviews,” he says, concerned only with the opinion of people who paid for admission, never professional appraisals. “It’s not important to me. I know I’m good at what I do.”

Criticism that Indigenous concepts weren’t sufficiently explained in Next Goal Wins gets his back up a little, though. The film’s protagonist, Jaiyah Saelua, the first transgender football player in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match, is fa’afafine – an American Samoan identifier for someone with fluid genders – but there wasn’t much exposition of this concept in the film. “That’s not my job,” Waititi says. “It’s not a movie where I have to explain every facet of Samoan culture to an audience. Our job is to retain our culture, and present a story that’s inherently Polynesian, and if you don’t like it, you can go and watch any number of those other movies out there, 99 per cent of which are terrible.”

*notes: (there is video clip in the article)

Waititi sounds momentarily cranky, but he’s mostly unflappable and hilarious. He’s the kind of guy who prefers “Correctumundo bro!” to “Yes”. When our video connection is too laggy, he plays up to it by periodically pretending to be frozen, sitting perfectly still, mouth open, his big shifting eyeballs the only giveaway.

He’s at his best on set. Saelua sat next to him in Honolulu while filming the joyous soccer sequences. “He’s so chill. He just let the actors do their thing, giving them creative freedom, barely interjecting unless it was something important. His style matches the vibe of the Pacific people. We’re a very funny people. We like to laugh. He just fit perfectly.”

People do seem to love working alongside him, citing his ability to make productions fresh and unpredictable and funny. Chris Hemsworth once said that Waititi’s favourite gag is to “forget” that his microphone is switched on, so he can go on a pantomime rant for all to hear – usually about his disastrous Australian lead actor – only to “remember” that he’s wired and the whole crew is listening.

“I wouldn’t know about that, because I don’t listen to what other people say about anything – I’ve told you this,” Waititi says. “I just try to have fun when there’s time to have fun. And when you do that, and you bring people together, they’re more willing to go the extra mile for you, and they’re more willing to believe in the thing that you’re trying to do.”

Yes, he plays music between takes, and dances out of his director’s chair, but it’s really all about relaxing amid the immense pressure and intense privilege of making movies. “Do you know how hard it is just to get anything financed or green-lit, then getting a crew, getting producers to put all the pieces together, and then making it to set?” Waititi asks. “It’s a real gift, even to be working, and I feel like I have to remind people of that: enjoy this moment.”

Source: The Age

By: Konrad Marshall (December 1, 2023)

#rhys darby #taika waititi #next goal wins #our flag means death #hunt for the wilderpeople #interview

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the-100-days-of-junkan · 2 months ago

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Day 98

What’s better than this, girls havin fun by Oxidize

That’s right our final piece in the fanfic marathon is once again from Oxidize! A fact that surprised the fuck out of me when I found it out, given the drastic difference in tone between this and Burning Lungs.

It’s also a Chatfic! Which like, how the fuck do I draw that?? I’ll tell ya! I didn’t! What I actually did was I made art inspired by the fic rather than actually based off of it. Does that sentence make sense? No fucking idea!

But you all know what this is. It is THE fic, the one that started everything off. Until I found this story my connection was Junkan was thinking it was a no good, toxic as hell ship, but also something that could be pretty funny if you played it as “Junko derails her entire plan because she thinks Mikan is hot.” And when I say prior to this fic I’m talking like, 2017-2018. Since that joke was based on a convo that was had in a server I’m no longer apart of and have no plans of returning too, which I left in 2019. 2019 was a real blank year for me and Junkan from what I remember.

Anyway, there is just a little build up to this fic, but it isn’t Junkan related so I’ll try to keep it short.

So once upon a time I had just gotten into Danganronpa, conveniently I also discovered AO3, a treasure trove of stories about girls kissing. This was at first used for me to read as much Tokomaru as possible, something which would totally have no massively scaled effects on me as a person such as say, my egg cracking and me realizing I’d be happier as a woman. But we all run out of fics eventually, and it didn’t take many insomnia fueled binge reads of the Tokomaru tag for me to run out of stories. So what did I do? Get addicted to Chat Fics!! What the fuck else would I do, right? I just looked up Danganronpa and Chatfic and went to town, I initially avoided them on my Tokomaru binge because when it comes to ships, I’m pretty much always going to prioritize a fic where they’re the focus rather than a fic where they have like, 5 paragraphs of screentime. I would see a Fic, check the tags to see if it had Tokomaru, and if it didn’t, I moved on. And funny enough given current events, if it had a ship like Junkan, I also skipped forward. Oh how the fucking times change.

I got addicted to these for like, a month or two I think. I would find one, start reading, and couldn’t fucking stop reading until it was finished. I just loved seeing the stupid antics the different classes would get up to, moreso when they interacted with eachother. I vividly remember laughing my ass off at one storyline where a few of the characters get lost in either an ikea or a costco? Hard to remember but god it was funny. These fics could change tone rapidly, had their own series of tropes and plotlines that’d recur throughout different ones, one fic got really fucking dark out of nowhere and it was jarring as hell, they were amazing. I kinda miss the days when I read them in such excess, I always kind of wanted to make one but also god no I could never.

If there was one perk to these Chatfics, aside from more Tokomaru, it was that it definitely broadened my horizons for what ships I was interested. Prior to this I liked Tenmiko and Tokomaru, that was about it. But through these chatfics I got into stuff like Irumatsu, Celesgiri (Fell off of that though), and most importantly and relevantly, Ikuzono.

So I of course, would eventually go on a quest throughout the Mukuro x Sayaka tag on AO3, sometime during early 2020. And unfortunately that was a significantly rarer pair to find fics for, especially for me at the time who was a lot pickier and only looked for Fluff on most days.

So of course, I see this fic, and I almost skipped forward when seeing the Junkan Tag. But then I read the rest of the tags, emphasizing that it wasn’t gonna be abusive. So I thought “Fuck it” and went for it.

And thus the second domino fell.

Ironically while reading it I wasn’t focusing on the Ikuzono parts, helped partially by the fact that the relationship wasn’t established yet. But the Junkan? It wasn’t the deepest thing I had ever read at that point. It was like most Chatfics, silly, goofy, probably a little out of character, the usual stuff. But this felt different, it was something I had no experience with, and why would I? Up till now I was under the impression that Junkan was one of the most bottom of the barrel ships available in Danganronpa. Y’know cause I was like, only 2 years past my teens so my brain was still made of soup.

But this was god damn adorable. Mikan was sweet and adorable, Junko was silly and showed nothing but support and love for Mikan. She calls her a Cinnamon Apple! And the fact that I’ve never stolen that nickname is a fucking crime!

There isn’t really a lot to talk about in terms of what actually happens. Junko does cute stuff with Mikan, Junko dropkicks Hiyoko in the head because she’s bullying Mikan, and Junko gets in detention, resulting in antics. It is just a really cute, pleasant fic that makes me really happy to read.

As you can tell that makes doing art based on this, as chatfics don’t lend themselves super easily to visuals. The best I could do is the aforementioned Junko dropkicking Hiyoko while Mikan watches, but it’s been a few years and I don’t have hatred in my soul for Hiyoko anymore.

So I opted to make something inspired by the vibe of the fic instead! And also add in some 2000s energy! Because I have an obsession with the 2000s aesthetic, and it has as much of a violent grip on me as Junkan.

To capture that 2000s energy I tried to make this look like an ancient, shitty photo taken off of a flip phone. Cause I love flip phones, and hate Smart Phones. Which is why there’s a third version of this art that was purely an excuse for me to draw a Flip Phone. I don’t care if a chatroom like this realistically wouldn’t exist on them at this point in time, I hate Smartphones and I will be petty about it.

Adding to the attempt at making the photo feel aged as shit I also tried to recreate the red eye that could be sometimes found in old photos from this era. As for the designs, ya’ll probably noticed by now that I drew Mikan similar to how I did for the Burning Lungs art. That’s because ever since I found out this fic was made by the same author, I’ve just kind of headcanonned that this fic is takes place sometime after where Burning Lungs would have ended, which I assume would have involved the two getting together.

Now, the keen eyed reader will probably realize that wouldn’t make sense because Mukuro and Sayaka were already together in Burning Lungs. Whereas in this fic they aren’t together at all. And you’re right, that is in fact a big flaw with me considering these to take place in the same timeline.

But also. Look at the past 97 fuckin days. And all the other shit I drew while these were posted. It is safe to assume that when it comes to details that conflict with something I’m really into, I am just a little willing to ignore those details.

So Mikan gets her cute little bandaids, her itchy sweater which I imagine Junko would really enjoy cuddling into by this point, and a small detail that was only noted for a moment during Burning Lungs, but a chipped tooth as well. It was really nice gettin’ to draw this version of the characters again! Even if I still lack a lot to talk about with this piece, I simply hope ya’ll enjoy it!

And with that I think I’ve told all there is to tell in terms of how I got into this ship. Only took me 98 fucking days to explain it all properly, and backwards no less! Almost like this wasn’t thought out super far in advance or something! I feel like I should have more to say here but really, I kinda just, don’t? Hope ya’ll have enjoyed the Fanfic Marathon! As I’ve said before I really wanna show more love to the writing community for Junkan in the future, both for currently available fics, and the fics that have yet to be written!

For now though, there are only 2 days left. And I have hopefully saved the best for laugh in terms of my own personal contributions. Ya’ll ready for another comic?

As always, Reblogs, Comments, and Little Notes in the Tags are appreciated!~ They always make my day!~

#danganronpa #junkan #junko enoshima #mikan tsumiki #junko x mikan #tsumiki mikan #shipping #junkomikan #enomiki #enoshima junko

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emsdevs · 1 month ago

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Oh Darling Overview

This is just a brief little overview of my general thoughts/plan for the Noah and Mateo AU. After I post this, I'm gonna fix the masterlist so it's in chronological order and makes a little more sense. I'm gonna add the link anyway tho 😝 ALSO if this raises any questions about Nico and Ängeli's relationship or about the boys, PLEASE ask me!! I'm happy to elaborate and will likely be adding to this post anyway as the story continues! 🩵

masterlist | Oh Darling AU Masterlist

Nico and Ängeli:

Nico and Ängeli/reader are the same age.

Ängeli isn’t from New Jersey, but she went to school there and stayed after she graduated because she was with Nico at that point.

They met the summer that Nico got drafted. They were 18. (2017)

They started dating at the beginning of 2018.

They got married at the end of June 2019. They were 20.

They had one ceremony in the States with Ängeli’s extended family, friends, and the team, and they had a second ceremony a couple of weeks later in Switzerland with Nico’s extended family and friends from home.

Kids were not in the plan when Ängeli got pregnant, but they had talked about the fact that they both wanted kids.

As mentioned in one of the chapters, when they found out they would be having twins, they decided that was enough kids for them. Obviously, that changed after a few years.

The twins were born on April 7, 2021, making them almost four right now (Feb 2025).

Baby Elena (uh-lay-nuh) was born on Nov 19, 2028.

Most fics take place a little bit in the future, but I am working on doing more when the kids were a little smaller.

Nico feels a lot of guilt for missing so much of kids’ lives because of hockey.

Noah:

The shy twin.

A teensy bit shorter than Mateo.

Much more quiet and reserved than Mateo.

Easily a Mama’s boy.

Has some kind of weird connection with Luke Hughes. Luke can bring Noah out of his shell the same way Mateo does. No one else can do it, at least not as well as Mateo and Luke.

Also loves his Uncle Jonas. He sneaks Noah extra chocolate during their summers in Switzerland.

Is a dinosaur lover. A little nerd in general (lovingly)

Follows Mateo in everything. Gives Nico and Ängeli puppy dog eyes (straight from Nico, cope and paste) hoping he’ll be let off the hook when they get into trouble because he was “dragged” into it.

The comforting big brother.

Mateo:

The outgoing twin.

23 minutes older than Noah.

This kid has never heard of slowing down.

Papa’s boy til the end. His Papa is his favorite person.

His second favorite person is Jack Hughes. They match each other’s energy.

Also loves Uncle Timo. Timo is quite the instigator when it comes to Mateo’s schemes and outgoing personality.

Strangely is kind of attached to Curtis Lazar. He likes that Curtis low-key bullies Luke a little bit sometimes because Mateo can get jealous of Luke spending time with Noah.

Had a space phase for a little bit. Ended up being into cars instead.

The protective big brother.

Elena:

Constantly babied by the boys

Secretly loves it

Timo is her favorite person. In. the. World.

Aside from Nico (#daddy’sgirl)

LOVES baking with her Mama

Is the twins’ shadow

At least until she gets a little older

Easily the sassiest of all the kids (Jack taught her well. Nico hates it.)

taglist: @heartsforjh @devilinpradaheels @puckmedude

join the taglist

#em’s writing #nico hischier #oh darling au #nico hischier x reader #nh13 #new jersey devils #njd #nj devils #nhl #nhl x reader

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ask-serendipity-sky · 1 year ago

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1108: Facts and observations

•Day 0

1108 started on the 8th of November of 2015.

Jimin uploaded a video of him and Jungkook to twitter:

On the 26th of January 2016, Jk uploaded a small snippet of a song he was covering.

•Day 100

And on the 15th of February of 2016, Jk uploaded the entire song Nothing Like Us and noted to listen to the lyrics as they were expressing what he wanted to say:

In Korean culture, parents celebrate 100 days after a child is born. This is to indicate that the child made it through the first vulnerable phase in their life. In the same manner, the 100 days are celebrated by Korean couples.

And this is what Jk had to say 100 days after the 8th of November of 2015:

There's nothing like us There's nothing like you and me Together through the storm There's nothing like us There's nothing like you and me together, oh

•Day 366 (1 year)

On 08/11/2016, a year later, Jimin posted another video of them:

•Day 732 (2 years)

On Oct. 28, 2017, Jungkook treated Jimin to a trip to Tokyo. It was because of this trip, that Jungkook released gcfTokyo on Nov. 08, 2017.

youtube

A fan used the images in the video and was able to determine the hotel and room jikook stayed at. It was room number 1108.

The video also used the song There For You by Troye Sivan:

Boy, I'm holdin' onto something Won't let go of you for nothing I'm runnin', runnin' just to keep my hands on you There was a time that I was so blue What I got to do to show you? I'm runnin', runnin' just to keep my hands on you

Day 811

On the 26th of January 2018, in a Japanese fancafe, Jimin gifted Jungkook a drawing of a set of champagne glasses and a bottle. Note the details of the glasses.

•Day 900

On the 25th of April 2018, a day before the 900 day milestone, Jimin had a vlive where it was obvious he wasn't alone in the room. He kept looking to the side, laughing shyly and explained:

After he said this, you can hear someone whisper, "Jimin."

Day 1000

On August 3rd 2018, Jk posted a selfie while they were all filming BV3:

During BV3, jikook were able to look around the city alone, and have a boat date under the moonlight.

Day 1013

As you all may know 10:13 is also known as Jimin ssi, or Jimin time. It only makes sense that this day would be special to jikook too.

On the 16th of August 2018, Jimin tweeted a series of 3 tweets:

Jungkook was the only member that appeared in the photos with Jimin. It is also interesting to note the 2 butterfly temporary tattoos he had on his hand.

This is the same time when they had the photoshoot with the inflatable unicorn:

The next day, Jimin uploaded a tweet with the caption "Love Ya", and one of the photos was him and Jk.

•Day 1141

On the 22nd of December 2018, when fans uploaded their selfies on fancafe, the fans let Jk know that Jimin had uploaded his own:

This prompted Jk to type "JIMINNNN" and he signed off. He later uploaded a song that he stopped at 1:18:

You take my mind away When you touch me that way This place, your face It gets hard to breathe I know you're feeling me now You're all I see Almost like we're dreaming

•Day 1394

On the 1st of September 2019, Jk made 2 tweets. One in which uploaded a snippet of Decalcamonia, which he also ended on 1:18:

•Day 1500

On the 16th of Dec 2019, Jimin posted a good night tweet:

The time he uploaded this was at 1:50.

•Day 2300

On Feb 22, 2022, Jk uploaded a story on insta where he is in a car, listening to So Good by Joan. The story was labeled 23:08 even though he uploaded it at 1:24 am.

You and me Got a lotta tension, not even to mention Ooh, that night, just two weeks ago It was half past ten Thinking about living, suddenly when you walked it You took my breath away

•Day 2315

On March 10, 2022, during the Permission to Dance Concert, Jimin used the 2315 numbers and stated the following:

2315 days had passed since November 8, 2015.

•Day 2545

On the 26th of October 2022, Jk uploaded a photo of himself while he was in Qatar. He uploaded the photo at 11:08 Korea time and, 5:08 Qatar time.

•Day 2643

On the 2nd of February 2023, Jimin answered a question on weverse at exactly 23:08. The question is now deleted.

•Day 2684

During Jungkook hosted a series of lives on White Day, 14th of March 2022. His first live was started at 8:11 pm:

During these lives, Jk changed to various outfits and had an extensive playlist. One of the songs that was included was There For You.

•Day 2855

On the 1st of September 2023, Jk hosted a short live to thank the fans for being present with him during so many birthdays. He ended his live quickly and it lasted 8:56 minutes:

My impressions

Based on Korean customs, celebrating different day milestones is typical in a Korean couple.

While some may think that jikook started dating on the 8th of November 2015, I think that's when they decided to be intimate with each other.

I feel like a jikook kiss had already happened since the last time Jimin asked Jk for a kiss publicly was in September 2015 for Jk's birthday. From there, one can only think that things proceeded quite quickly.

I think that in recent years, we have observed less mentions of 1108 because of BTS' popularity and so many fans expecting something from jikook.

It's possible that jikook has decided to not make these milestones known like they did before, but every now and then, they still reference that number. Who knows when they will do it again.

But who is counting, right?

#jikook #jimin #jungkook #1108 #Spotify

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seasurfacefullofclouds1 · 2 months ago

Note

hi, I read around your blog a bit and there’s just this thing that’s been bugging me. from your perspective, louis has moved on/made peace with whatever he had with harry around 2019, so then why does he still have to deny larry every 4-6 months or so? can’t he ignore or blacklist the questions like h does? because from what i’ve seen, bringing up larry doesn’t just faze the current larries in any way but also bring in new ones. I just can’t wrap my head around it.

sorry for bothering you, there’s a handful of remarks by you that I agree with a lot so I wanted to hear your opinion, someone rational

Louis denied Larry once during Faith In The Future World Tour, during the G1pro interview. He also mocked the chicken Parmesan question on Twitter.

So that’s twice in 2 years.

From 2017 to 2021, Louis really didn’t talk about or was publicly seen with Freddie. FITF album had a dedication to Freddie, and we saw in the Sirius XM radio interview (31.1.2020) that he was asked whether he would miss Freddie while on tour, and Louis said, “He has to understand that I’m a musician and that’s what I do.”

Each time that Louis has done a Larry denial, he has mentioned that the conspiracy behind “Larry” is disrespectful to his family and loved ones.

Unlike Harry, Louis has a son. Parents will understand the need to protect their children from online trolls— in this case, hundreds of thousands of cruel people. Even if it is difficult to do, Louis feels that he has to try, but obviously he feels helpless and frustrated by his inability to make any progress.

“Louis doesn’t have a son. Freddie’s real parents. Freddie the child actor. Freddie the stunt baby. Babygate. Louis’ sisters use Freddie for publicity. Do Louis’ grandparents know he doesn’t have a son?” These are words casually thrown around social media every day. Imagine Louis trying to explain to his nine-year-old child why people believe this, and then having to explain “Larry” to him?

I think Louis has become increasingly frustrated with how “Larry” affects his personal life. When it was just him, Louis could tolerate whatever bullshit he was faced with on his own. Without a doubt, he could sense the tension and controversy in the air at the Los Angeles concerts when Freddie was in the audience. He knows how the internet reacts to Freddie spending holidays or vacation with the family.

“So don’t show Freddie.”

Honestly, is this a normal request? To ask Louis to curb normal family interactions because of a disrespectful, rabidly entitled fandom? Louis and Freddie are being punished because his fans can’t stop reading mlm fanfiction?

All throughout Louis’ first world tour, Larries brought blatant Larry paraphernalia to the concerts. They shoved Larry phone cases in his face, threw rainbow flags on stage to goad him into fulfilling their fantasies, made huge AIMH signs and flags. They sang No Control, If I Could Fly, What Makes You Beautiful, and Harry’s solo songs (Sweet Creature) during lulls at his concerts (intermission, or when he stopped because someone needed help) and outside his tour bus. The Larry logic for this confrontational behavior was, “He wants us to.”

Obviously, Louis didn’t want it and he doesn’t. He has told his point of view clearly and firmly.

I don’t think the right question should be, “Why does Louis have to keep denying Larry?”

The rational question to ask is, if Harry has empathy after seeing what Louis and his family have had to go through for the last 14 years, why wouldn’t Harry deny Larry so Larries could move on?

Because it takes courage.

#Larry #Larry denial #Larry Stylinson #louis tomlinson #harry styles #freddie tomlinson

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dearweirdme · 7 months ago

Note

https://www.tumblr.com/dearweirdme/757802362042761216/httpswwwtumblrcomdearweirdme7577272183235706

Hey, I’m the one who sent you the ask the other day about taekook’s dynamic evolving. I did read your response aswell as some of the other anon asks responding to my ask and just wanted to say everything I said was from my point of view and not influenced by any other person’s thoughts. I was aware that my opinions were not going to be met with approvals because i know that tkkrs see things very differently but I just thought i’d share.

I decided to use my own life experiences because before I kinda got distant with my bestfriend, I also highly doubted the ITS talk because I couldn’t understand how they could claim taekook grew a little distant in such a short amount of time and the way we all still saw them physically affectionate and close to each other just didn’t make sense to me then but I understood how things like that could happen after what happened with my bestfriend. I am aware that sometimes too we project without realizing it but the difference between me now and the me I was before the whole thing with my bestfriend is that now, I understand that sometimes, you don’t have to have an argument or fight or issue with someone you are really close to for distance to creep in. Sometimes the distance creeps in because of circumstances not necessarily in our control like life events, physical distance from each other and stuff like that. People sometimes very naturally grow apart without having any issues with each other and that is what I meant. My bestfriend and I are nothing like we used to be before but we still love and care about each other so much and will be there for each other if needed. Sometimes it is impossible to understand certain things unless we personally experience them. I could be wrong but I just see now how things like that are possible and this is something I couldn’t see or understand before because I had never experienced it or knew anyone who had.

About Jk and Jimin’s living situations that I mentioned earlier, these are some pictures I found.

https://x.com/koongelic/status/1497134143192600577?s=46

https://x.com/koongelic/status/1496106980360208385?s=46

https://x.com/jjksonyeondan/status/1477296197178114049?s=46

Some of these pictures are taken in Nine one. You can compare to Namjoon and Jimin’s apartments. When you add these to the timeline of Jikook sharing a car right until mid 2021 when Jimin bought the apartment, plus Jimin mentioning that he was with Jk at 4am on his birthday back in 2020 and jikook arriving late for the radio interview back in 2020 when all the members were out of the dorm already, it makes sense. Namjoon also spoke to Jk about a coffee shop that was infront of “their” house during one of their lives and there is a coffee shop right infront of Nine one which people guessed he was talking about.

I think the members shared rides depend on how close they live to each other, for example, Yoonjin have shared a car for the longest time because they live 5 minutes from each other so I guess it is convinient for one car to pick up members who live close than sending individual cars. Minimoni have been sharing a car since mid 2021, taekook too have shared cars since they don’t live far from each other and back in 2019 when Jk first had his first apartment in Hobi’s apartment complex (which he has now given to his brother) he shared a car with Hobi for sometime too.

I feel like the ITS talk is forever going to be a very confusing topic for so many people and I can honestly see why some people would have doubts about it as I did too until I came to realize that human relationships and dynamics are very complex. Nothing is a one size fits all and as much as many people try to think they know everything, there is always some context or information we are missing which might put things more into perspective. I guess so many think that distance could only come with two people having fights or disagreements and that when this distance comes, there would always be noticeable physical distance as well but this isn’t always the case because sometimes we just outgrow certain people at certain points of our lives or just naturally grow apart from them maybe because we are on different wavelengths or just cannot relate to each other anymore as we used to. My bf and I got distant because we were both on very different wavelengths and in completely different spaces that we couldn’t relate to each other anymore. Does this mean we lost the love we had for each other, no but that emotional bonding which came from being able to completely relate to and understand each other just isn’t there as much. Maybe one day we would get back on the same frequency as I believe Taekook did and only get closer than ever. Same thing happens in romantic relationships too and even marriages when at certain points you just feel yourself getting so distant from your partner that it almost feels like you don’t really know each other anymore.

Anyways, just thought I should mention that I didn’t mean anything bad with my previous ask and just wanted to explain things further but we don’t have to agree on things because as I said, I could be wrong and also sometimes it is impossible for people to understand things if they haven’t personally experienced them. Thanks for being so nice in your response and I appreciate the concern❤️

Hi again!

I think the problem some have with this, is that while you say you are a newer fan, you also make it come across as though your ideas have not been influenced by others. As a newer fan (and I am also relatively new, nothing wrong with that) we do rely on certain influences from others. The points you used before to argue your case, come from a certain side of fandom.. and we can see that, because we've seen it before. Now to you, those might seem neutral takes, but they are not. When you say for instance "I remember..." while talking about something that happened in 2018.. you don't actually remember that time and what the vibe was like.. you remember watching the footage and the vibe you felt during that time. There is a difference there that should be acknowledged. When you talk about all the rides Jkk shared.. you most likely remember people (accounts, blogs) mentioning that, because you cannot have witnessed it yourself. And I don't mean to say that Jkk sharing rides wasn't true.. I mean to point out that you are biased (as am I ofcourse) and that Tkkrs who were around during 2016 have a different recollection of how the vibes were. From what it looks like to us is that you do not weigh Tkkrs opinions and accounts as heavily as you do accounts of other sides of fandom. Having multiple angles is important, but when we show reasons as to why we disagree.. all too often our ideas are just set aside as 'delusional' when the actual footage is literally just there.

I do understand what you mean when you talk about people drifting apart naturally without there having been actual issues. The thing with the ITS talk though, is that it's heavily implied that there was an issue that they had to work through. It's even said that things were almost back to how they used to be. It implies that a certain level of friendship should be met, which is weird. I think the ITS talk was something they used to make sense of why things looked weird before, and why they were about to change.

I think there is a lot that point to Tae and Jk still having been close on many different levels during 2016-2020 and beyond. A lot has to do with the looks of understanding they shared, but things like that are hard to point out with a single picture or vid. A few examples of what I feel speaks to their continuous closeness though:

2016:

youtube

2017:

Not an indication of closeness perse, but certainly one of attraction..

youtube

Borrowing this from Kayla (@taekooktimeline).

Jk rushing past people to walk next to Tae and holding his hand.

youtube

2018:

Yoongi's text to Tae and Jk and the way they all responded to that..

youtube

Tae himself saying that Jk listens to him when he's troubled and gives advice.

youtube

Jk wanting Tae to room with him in Malta and the way they sleep.

youtube

2019:

Besides the obvious closeness in the season greetings footage, this is quite something to say about someone.

youtube

This very confusing live in which it does become clear that at least Tae thought they were sharing a room. And during which it also seems Tae did not actually leave.

youtube

Also... a very strong year for physical closeness and magnetism.

Jk pointing at Tae.

youtube

2020:

As far as bodylanguage goes.. this cannot be more obvious. This is not two people being distant but still feeling close enough to cuddle. This is Jk being protective and comforting to Tae.

youtube

Overall, I think 2020 shows a care and connection between Tae and Jk that is undeniable. Jk's awareness of Tae and the way he was feeling is huge. The whole year leading up to the ITS talk shows moments of connection. Of them clinging to each other. It's absolutely possible that something felt off, because of the way Tae had been feeling... but that had nothing to do with their closeness I believe.

#gosh this got long #taekook #taekook analysis #reasons why they were not distant

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taylortruther · 1 year ago

Note

Did it feel like her songs about Joe were starting to get redundant? By the time Midnights came out I was surprised we were hearing another two songs about the breakup/make up period in the beginning, another song about the beginning when they were falling in love, another three songs about how the relationship is great if the world stays out of it, another song about the Afterglow I-thought-he-cheated moment, and another song about how it wasn't supposed to work but it did. It really struck me that the Joe parts of Midnights were dedicated to not giving us any kind of update or really new information. It was all either about their beginnings again or 'everything's perfect except for the media nothing to see here.' She found a couple new angles on it, like Mastermind, but she was mining the same ground she'd been sifting through for four albums already. At the time it struck me as odd that she was deliberately avoiding any real update, but I thought she was just committed to privacy and refused to go into any other part of their relationship that wasn't already known (which is entirely her right). But obviously it turned out to be much more complicated than that and the mysterious gap makes perfect sense now.

i noticed the beginning was really fertile ground for her, but it didn't really strike me as unusual or concerning. the 2016-2019 period of her life was HARD. it was obvious, to me, she was probably processing that stuff all the time because for her, it never went away.

additionally, folkmore's fictional narratives and midnights' reflections on the past still reflect her mental landscape at the time of writing (tolerate it, coney island, bejeweled, champagne problems, hoax say hello.) so i'd argue she was treading new ground and writing about some of their issues even if it wasn't strictly autobiographical.

plus, as super fans, i think we get caught in the minutiae and don't see the big picture. let's pull back and look at the story her albums told about their relationship, in stages:

2016: joe and taylor meet and fall in love 2017: reputation is released and, among other things, it's about joe being sexy and wonderful and not caring that she was "crazy" or cancelled 2019: masters situation happens also 2019: lover is released and it's about taylor recovering from the cancellation, fighting her demons, admitting she self-sabotages, but we also get songs implying they want to get married! makes sense, it's 2-3 years of dating now. we also, notably, get a song about her wanting to step back out into the world! 2020: pandemic! sorry, daylight! also 2020: folklore and evermore are released and are about, among other things!, how she fears her life is too big for joe to handle but she is still planning a future with him (peace, the lakes, which both feel more present to me.) makes sense, they have obviously talked marriage and KIDS, things are getting very real. but, to your point, evermore in particular reasserts that they were lucky to find each other in the beginning (clm, lss, evermore.) 2021: renegade discusses joe's shit - we now understand that he has his own struggles and clearly describes a very recent/present conflict ("timing") 2022: in midnights, we get songs about the early honeymoon phase (lavender haze), and about how he is still a respite from it all (sweet nothing, mentions a recent trip to wicklow.) 2023: ylm drops (written in dec 2021), we also get the alcott - both implying conflict and a couple trying or failing to reconnect. makes sense, it's been like 6-7 years! couples go through shit!

...no, this isn't the WHOLE story. but it feels like a satisfying one, and not one where she was simply recycling topics. to me anyway.

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midnight1nk · 6 months ago

Text

WOTFI 2024 PREDICTIONS

Another year, another war.

WOTFI is just around the corner and this means a new arc!

Who will be our opponent this year?

Well, the most likely answer would be Marty, returning from WOTFI 2023. I mean, it was pretty obvious that would be him from the get-go in the episode 'We Must Kill Mario'.

This, personally, was a great episode that had some good foreshadowing and I love the dynamic between Four and Karen — I thought of it as 'SMG4 🤝 Karen ➡️ single parents who are just born to be parents'

...which made me want a dynamic between Three and Karen, single moms who would kill for their kids.

Anyway, back to WOTFI, it makes sense for Marty to be the crew’s opponent timeline-wise. Looking at the calendar, we are expecting a WOTFI roughly sometime in October, based on the dates of previous WOTFI’s:

2011 - October 29

2012 - October 21

2013 - October 13

2014 - October 24

2015 - September 27

2016 - August 15

2017 - October 7

2018 - October 6

2019 - November 2

2020 - August 22

2021 - September 18

2022 - October 15

2023 - October 28

Assuming this arc would be 7 episodes and this being the first one, it lines up with our prediction. (Though, it may be subject to change depending on how many episodes it would actually have.)

What you may not know is this episode not only foreshadowed Marty’s return but the plot for WOTFI as well.

There is much more than meets the eye…

Join me as I go over the episode 'We Must Kill Mario' and discuss my predictions for WOTFI ‘24!

⚠️ But before we dive in though, I do want to put a disclaimer that while this is a theory, I want to be respectful to the crew behind SMG4. ⚠️

I don’t want any of my theories to influence/forcefully change any intended plans for the future so please don’t harass anyone working on the show just because whatever I said wasn’t true. It’s just a reminder to be kind and respectful. If they somehow see my post, uh hi, keep doing what you do and I hope for the best! ❤️

Now with that out of the way, Let’s-a Go!

CHANGE THE CHANNEL

The episode starts off in Karen’s house with her kids flipping through the SMG4 channel while she makes them dinner. In the scene where Zack, Cory, and Katie are fighting over the remote, we get a clip from the episode 'SMG4: You Made Mario Do This' when Marty was preventing the construction of the castle because he felt underappreciated for his hard work.

['SMG4: You Made Mario Do This' // timestamp, 2:15 ]

IT’S TO DIE FOR

In the next scene, Karen poured “Smarty’s Spaghetti Sauce” on the pasta.

…I mean, do I really have to spell it out here? If this cardboard cutout was able to run Casino Paisano before he and Mario went to jail, then it shouldn’t be a surprise. What is curious though is that somehow Marty, while on the run, has his face plastered on a Goober Eats bag in 'SMG4: Super SMG4 Wonder', owns a whole airline named “Marty Airlines” in 'Mario’s Plane Trip', and now has a pasta sauce brand in here. All with no one noticing anything.

['SMG4: Super SMG4 Wonder' // timestamp, 0:57 ] ['Mario’s Plane Trip' // timestamp, 0:13 ]

There is an ‘S’ put in front of his name, but the point still stands. Now, I wouldn’t say that this is “unusual”. It’s the SMG4 universe, after all, you can literally start a business and this is completely normal. Just some food for thought.

TAKING THE JOB

Back to the episode, Karen receives a call from the corporation that offers her a job — and when I mean ‘offers’, I mean ‘convinces her to take the job'. According to her former “boss”, it was a hit request on an international terrorist who has escaped from prison and is currently poisoning innocent people, who we later learn to be Marty. The “boss” also stated that Karen may know him. Karen initially refuses since she has abandoned that line of work for her kids, until her “boss” elaborates that if she doesn’t take the request, more lives could be lost, including children. Like her children. With no choice, she takes it.

But, who is this corporation?

Based on what little we have, I can determine this corporation may be affiliated with the government or something similar in power status.

They can keep tabs on all their agents, even if they quit, just as Karen did.

Apparently, they are able to get word on the people who interacted with them but not enough to know their personal lives (the corporation is seemingly uninformed about her kids.)

They are open to receiving requests from third parties.

They don’t take hits for kill’s sake, they prioritize people’s safety.

However, they don’t want any witnesses when taking the hit so they would kill IF they have to. For Karen, they trust her enough to know it won’t come to that since she is a professional, qualified agent.

Other than that, we don’t exactly know. There is a possibility that WOTFI could reveal who they are. But it also lead to Karen having her secret past revealed as well, potentially losing her job(s).

[side ramble: if that were to happen, it would be great if Three hired Karen to come work at his café. He needs the extra help after all, and Karen would be able to have more appearances in the series. I know it's not going to happen but hey, a guy could dream.]

TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW

Karen catches Four eavesdropping on their conversation and after some convincing, the two decide to work together. They head down to the basement where Karen keeps a stash of her weapons and demands Four to tell her everything he knows about Mario.

Well, first off, I don’t think Mario can be killed except if it was through manipulation of his code due to the cosmology lore. Of course, the real target isn’t Mario but it does bring up the question:

How do you kill Marty?

In the episode 'SMG4: You Made Mario Do This', it has been established that Marty is practically invincible since he was able to stand a nuke for memes’ sake. Water may have slowed him down but it wasn’t enough to outright destroy him. We don't know if he can be destroyed, not even Mario knows — the guy who created him. Likely, for WOTFI, one of the crew’s objectives would be that they have to find Marty’s weakness to defeat him.

['SMG: You Made Mario Do This' ]

Then again, cartoon logic exists.

THE “SPAGHETTI APPRECIATION” CLUB

Karen and Four go out to tail Mario and stumble upon a cult working on the distribution of the sauce. Confused about why Mario would be here, they continued on through the warehouse… Until Four accidentally alerted the cultists of their presence.

[another side ramble: Four, you can’t just say you used to have a deviantART account and not drop the link, dude.]

After an intense between them and the cult, they were able to find Mario and realize that yeah, Mario’s being Mario and had no idea he was even in a cult.

Pure of heart, dumb of ass ❤️

That was when a dying cultist and a jar of “Smarty’s Spaghetti Sauce” revealed that the poison mentioned earlier in the episode was the sauce itself. It also was a horrifying revelation that Karen used the same sauce on the dinner she just left for her kids.

Like I mentioned before, Marty is somehow able to have a pasta sauce business. Not only that but recruit a cult who worship spaghetti to work for him.

The cultists that were in the warehouse are dead but it doesn’t mean it was all of them. Indeed, later on in the episode, more cultists came into Karen's house to fight. For all we know, Marty has multiple distribution plants in the Mushroom Kingdom so perhaps Marty would bring more as part of his army for WOTFI.

AN UNEXPECTED REUNION

Karen, Four, and Mario rush back to her house and were able to stop her kids from eating the spaghetti just in time. However, they’ve faced an unexpected guest: Marty.

Four and Mario immediately recognized him, but Karen was confused as to why a cardboard cutout was with her kids. That was when Four tells her about WOTFI 2023 — which I dubbed ‘The Notebook Arc’ — and how Marty stole Three’s notebook.

[i really have to stop making these side rambles: i absolutely loved it when they referenced WOTFI '23 :) ]

Then, Mario wonders how Marty managed to escape from prison, allowing Karen to piece together that Marty was the real target all along.

Wait a second, wasn’t she there in WOTFI '23? His face was literally all over the casino, how did she not know about Marty?

She was there but it’s likely that she assumed as everyone else did: Marty was just a cardboard cutout. A mascot. How much damage can he really do?

A lot, apparently. He was clever to take advantage of his appearance so that no one would suspect a thing.

Marty greets the familiar faces and reveals his motive behind his poisonous spaghetti sauce: after the events of the Notebook arc, Marty swore revenge on Mario after our local funny man escaped from prison and abandoned him for spaghetti.

“The one person I trusted the most has left me behind for… SPAGHETTI! Now I’ve escaped! …And it's time for… everyone to suffer like I have! At the hands… of the one thing YOU love the MOST.”

This will definitely be his motive for WOTFI 2024, this time going against Mario due to betrayal. Marty said it himself that he would be back, after he escaped with the help of a helicopter from being cornered by Karen.

WELL PLAYED

Even after Marty managed to escape from Karen, she felt relieved that her kids were safe, thanking Four and Mario for doing so.

This leads me to suspect that Karen will have a big role in WOTFI. Thematically, it makes sense since she has yet to carry out the request and would likely give the finishing blow, defeating Marty once and for all. Well, until the crew could find a weakness, of course.

.・-: ✧ :--: ✧ :-・.

And there you have it: my predictions for WOTFI 2024, all based on the episode 'We Must Kill Mario'! As this arc is just starting, it might be likely we will get to see more hints about Marty’s plan for revenge or anything related to the plot of WOTFI.