#2021 AMAs Artist of the Year

[angstics]

i finally articulated my opinion on my "is gerard way doing drag" question. my definition of drag is when a person impersonates, exaggerates, or appropriates a mode of gender expression. drag can be artistic or political (or both). drag can be an identity. drag and transgender identity are confused as the same thing. for some, it is. what is considered cross dressing can also be considered drag. it's important to note that drag is essential to queer culture, and how the us government harasses queer people through cross dressing, and now anti-drag, laws. we wouldnt be here talking about pop artists doing drag without drag performers and nonbinary-trans-gnc people.

to some people, a self-identified man in a female-identified dress is drag. "cross dressing" depends on cishet norms. queer people, especially nonbinary-trans-gnc people, have called to dismantle the assignment of gender to clothing. under that lens, a man in a dress is just a man in a dress -- for it to be drag, context and intent matters. that's how you get women doing female drag, or androgynous people doing what gerard way's been doing this last year on tour.

in asking "is gerard way doing drag?", im assigning importance to the topic. does it matter? within my understanding, drag is about intent and context as much as gender presentation. intent and context is what makes something important. therefore: understanding why the question is important solves it.

male music artists have a long history of cross dressing and doing drag. there's a good chance plugging any dude into a search engine with "drag" or "skirt" will bring something up. bowie, queen, nirvana, manic street preachers, placebo. here's a list. newer artists: lil nas x, harry styles, anthony green, pete wentz, young thug. some are impersonating female caricatures, some are masculinizing female clothes (long, ill-fitting, straight). some, like molko and lil nas, wear feminine clothes without exaggerating or masculinizing. gerard is in that same grey area.

male music artists have a long history of cross dressing and doing drag -- photos: "i want to break free" mv by queen (1984) / placebo in london (oct 1998) / lil nas x at audacy beach festival (dec 5, 2021) / fall out boy at rock for people (june 17, 2022)

all that history is why it was so weird when kerrang called gerard's riot fest "dress and heels" "a compelling show of contrarian anti-rock star eccentricity". it is not anti-rock star, at least not as described. it may be compelling, contrarian, and eccentric, but no reviewer really cares to analyze why. the closest they get is by identifying non-binary connection (them.us) and its relation to the "minefield that is American gender politics today" (latimes.com).

fans were struck by way's outfits for a lot of other reasons.

1. we have to get it out of the way that they just looked hot -- gerard is perpetually attractive, skirts are pretty. easy equation.

2. he has a long history of gender nonconformity. more on that in my #mcr queer studies tag. gerard is a 45 year old famously androgynous person who doesnt do labels, aligns himself with gender nonconformity (2014 reddit ama, 2018 advocate article, 2015 he/they tweet), and doesnt seem to care to be known as a man.

3. the tour outfits were well-fitted. many were crafted by skilled designer marina toybina and her team. which leads to ->

4. the outfits were very casual and very feminine. as mentioned, most men opt for masculine, ill-fitting skirts. which is to say they are NOT showing leg and they are definitely not showing ass. gerard doesnt steer clear from shortness or tightness or movement. he also dresses in ways people dress day to day -- the miniskirt is as casual as the shorts as casual as the jeans. there's some discussion to be had about what casual means -- he could be imitating expected presentation or just using basics, like his frequent shirt and pants.

the miniskirt is as casual as the shorts as casual as the jeans -- photos: firefly music festival (sept 23, 2022) / uncasville (sept 1, 2022) / eden project night 1 (may 16, 2022)

5. there was variety. many outfits, many types. he wasnt just doing pure femininity. some looks were high concept, some low concept. some gendered, some genderless. some feminine, some masculine. it was playful. its honesty evident in its fluidity yet cohesiveness. expanded in the next points ->

6. they incorporate elements of masculinity and gender neutrality concurrent with the feminine. his aggressive, energetic performance style often doesnt mind what people are seeing when his skirt lifts or shirt droops. he has little to no make-up -- if he does, it's stage and not glam. the closest he gets is the agender black swan look at boston night 1, the stage contour at wwwy night 3, and dubious lipstick at firefly. he also maintains the same hairstyle: barely styled, not straightened-curled. pinned a few times, gelled back some other times.

he has little to no make-up -- if he does, it's stage and not glam -- photos: boston night 1 (sept 7, 2022) / when we were young night 3 (oct 29, 2022) / firefly music festival (sept 23, 2022)

7. the character outfits weren't caricatures, like green's sleazy hooker or queen's uptight housewives. gerard's characters were appropriated but not exaggerated. cheerleader, nurse, manson girl, jackie o, princess diane, st joan. all figures of pop culture. he wore them as they were. even comparing green and way's similar white-green cheerleader costumes there's a difference in presentation. green wears long leggings, way wears shorts. green's costume is based on a stranger things character, way's is a custom remade vintage outfit. green exhibits the masculinization of feminine clothes which way subverts. this comparison highlights what makes way's outfits different, and therefore exciting to talk about.

green exhibits the masculinization of feminine clothes which way subverts -- photos: saosin in garden grove, ca (oct 27, 2022) / mcr in nashville, tn (aug 23, 2022)

8. and when he played with masculinity, it was in a way that was dubbed "boydrag". the new jersey night 2 casino singer look was a dramatic caricature that heightened masculine features until they were pure style... the defintion of camp. he had a mustache -- thin like john waters or a confirmed bachelor, and drawn on with eyeliner. he had a suit -- a pink-gold, glittery woman's cut jacket with a glittery bowtie and pleated shirt. the dramatic flair is accentuated by the black eye make-up, the frank sinatra "my way" cover, the drum tag: "the house always wins".

the defintion of camp -- photos: new jersey night 2 (sept 21, 2022) 1 / 2

when i asked which outfits others considered drag, all replies identified the casino singer and jackie o as drag and the rest as "just clothes". this relation made me understand why the rest couldnt be drag despite all the connections i talked about above. the jackie o outfit doesnt exaggerate the source like casino singer, but the source itself is both highly dramatic and highly gendered. cheer is gendered but not highly dramatic, st joan dramatic but not highly gendered. diane is gendered and dramatic, but not highly. the list goes on and on. it's a fine line. especially cheer could tip into drag for me.

but the source itself is both highly dramatic and highly gendered -- photos: mcr at riot fest (oct 12, 2022) / jackie kennedy onassis (jan 3, 1971)

if drag is understood in this way, simply wearing gendered clothes isnt drag. the look itself has to be about the performance of gender, however that may be presented. that’s the importance of classification. we can see what the artist is doing.

[jmdbjk]

Episode 5: WELCOME!

Beyond the Star, produced by HYBE Media Studio

BTS continues to break records with Butter and Permission to Dance.

Whereas Dynamite was intended to be a feel good song for the fans during trying times, Butter was a little more intentional. BTS did not think they would release another single after Dynamite and the BE album but the pandemic was wearing on so out of many songs that they were sent to consider, they chose Butter. Namjoon rewrote most of the rap and the rest, as we keep saying, is history.

Butter broke Dynamite's Youtube premiere record of peak concurrent viewers with 3.9 million as well as other viewer number records.

Butter debuted at #1 on the BBHot100 and charted at #1 for 10 non-consecutive weeks. "Smooth like butter" became the catch-phrase of the summer of 2021.

And FINALLY, BTS heads to Los Angeles at the end of November 2021 for their first performances with a live audience. The world is still trying to emerge from all the covid restrictions but this is their chance. The U.S. has opened the doors and they go for it.

They will be one of the first artists to perform at the brand new SoFi stadium.

They are going to give it their all because things are still uncertain. Performing concerts with live audiences, being able to perform physically after such a long break and the fear or dread of NOT being able to perform again with an audience was the biggest thing weighing on them. Yoongi seemed optimistic and Namjoon said he hoped so but was afraid of having his feelings hurt again.

They realize their bodies are aging and that before the pandemic, as we know, they were driving their bodies into the ground physically with their grueling schedules.

It was 2 years between performances with a live audience ��� Love Yourself/Speak Yourself in Seoul, October 2019 to PTD LA, November 27, 2021.

Watching them prepare, as a group, for a major concert is awesome. These behind the scenes are very precious because they now know what it feels like to go through the motions of a live performance WITHOUT an audience.

The quality of their preparation and rehearsals increased. They had time to talk about the performance and production. They changed some things that they previously did during concerts. They said their energy levels were even higher than ever.

(PTD concert remix of Fire needs to be released this year. Just sayin.)

After they finally perform in front Army, they have mixed feelings. Relief, excitement, trepidation that this might be the last time. It was still a time when they didn't know if they'd get to perform again after PTD LA. One thing we learn is that they realized if they didn't get to perform once back in Seoul, that would be it for three years because of enlistment. Enlistment was the wall they faced every single day.

But as we know, the Seoul shows did go on in March 2022 and the Las Vegas shows in April and we also know how the rest of 2022 went.

We see them enjoying some free time in Los Angeles while in-between concerts, something they never got to do before. I think they made the free time a requirement when doing concerts. Their bodies needed to rest.

We see them win AOTY at the AMAs.

It is more serendipity because Namjoon mentioned a little bit before in this episode that he'd thought about quitting until he realized they belonged on that stage and knew that's what had to happen. Jin says the previous 2 years were a time for them to reorganize themselves and they were able to release Dynamite, Butter, Permission to Dance and reach even more overseas fans and make their concerts even more exciting.

Jungkook says they were not expecting to win AOTY at the AMAs. Winning Artist of the Year at the AMAs enabled them to view it as yet another door opening to their future.

Holding sold out concerts in huge stadiums, performing at the top of their game, winning huge awards at western award shows, these things legitimized them being asked to represent their country at the UN and other global and international diplomatic conferences.

I know... they were asked to do this BEFORE they won the Artist of the Year at the AMAs, and BEFORE the PTD shows, and it is because of what they'd accomplished before those things, but it further drives the point home that BTS will continue in the future to be a big player in the music industry worldwide and they already know this.

Jungkook says they aren't sure what the future holds yet but ignoring what's happened is not an option.

Tae says they want to remain the artists who impart a positive influence.

They have finally realized what their purpose is and they are realizing the influence they wield.

[lesbiansloveseokjin]

day 520/548 of seokjin’s military service

this selca was posted on 211122, the day of the 2021 AMAs, with the caption:

ARMY heart

(trans cr: Faith @bts_trans)

Artist of the Year win:

Favorite Pop Duo or Group win:

Favorite Pop Song win:

BTS performances from that day:

BTS Episode filmed that day:

the boys went live after the AMAs:

interviews from that day:

Red Carpet interview

Access Hollywood

Spotify

ET

People

bonus post from Becky G from that day:

How it started ➡️ How it’s going ❤️ @/BTS_twt

[cardboard-aliens]

KEN RECEIPTS POST

Collection of articles and interviews regarding Ken Levine. I originally had these on a different post, but it was an addition on someone else's post and I felt bad giving them a notification every time I updated it LOL

(Click the source post for updated links, because gamers will not stop interviewing Ken so I always have more to add.)

Interviews and News Articles:

A look inside BioShock Infinite’s troubled development: talks about constant cuts, shifts, and reboots, how due to poor management there was no playable version of BioShock Infinite a year out from launch, how the team had to pull a year of crunch to finish the game with some people pulling 12 hour shifts (and then they try to make the crunch sound cute by saying married couples that worked there could have lunch and dinner together)

The final years of Irrational Games, according to those who were there: Article that mentions how belligerent Ken was in the work place, to the point 2K had to mandate sensitivity training, and that external firms were brought in to address the issue.

GDC '08: Ken Levine on BioShock's 'stupid story': article where Ken talks about BioShock's development and needing to cut down and rewrite the game's story a year out from launch, very much like how Infinite's development went.

Ken Levine: scripting Elizabeth "is the most complicated thing" in Bioshock Infinite: where they admit the e3 demo was mostly scripted and cutscenes and that there was a lot of ambitious stuff they wanted to do dynamically, but as we can see in the final product, got cut due to the reasons above

BioShock Infinite artist almost resigned over game's depiction of religion: an artist having to threaten to quit to get Ken to rewrite offensive parts of the game, along with the fact it doesn't sound like Ken knows how to write characters lol

Ken Levine and the Infinite Idaho: LONG article about a fanboy busting a nut over Ken, but if you scroll down to the section called "Breaking the arm off" or ctrl + F "Nate Wells" there's a section about how a lot of people quit during Infinite's development, including the Art Director for Infinite (and BioShock, along with being Jack's VA) Nate Wells, after Ken cut hundreds of hours of work on Shantytown because it was "ugly"

Ken Levine Defends BioShock Infinite’s Most Controversial Scene: (this website hates my VPN LOL) Interview where Ken defend's Daisy's death, by comparing her, the black slave, to Andrew Ryan, a white capitalist, while plugging his oppression creates oppressors and saying Elizabeth is the only character in the franchise to break the cycle of abuse

Faith In Rapture – Ken Levine Shares Thoughts On Creating Authentic Diversity: first half of an interview where Ken talks about Tenenbaum's autism saying "Because of her autism, it never cracked through" in regards to her empathy towards the little sisters

Conflict In Utopia - How Relationships Are At The Heart Of Ken Levine's New Game: second half of the interview, where he goes back to abuse is an inescapable cycle and that Elizabeth is the only one to over come the cycle of abuse--and she's the heart of the BioShock franchise which is 🤡💀🤡

We are Ken Levine (@iglevine) and Andres Gonzalez from Irrational Games. Ask Us Anything: AMA to promote BaS- I linked to the exact part where Ken tells people not to make Elizabeth porn because she's his daughter- despite the fact he's advertising a DLC where her boobs are even bigger and she moans over music.

TheBioshockHub Interviews Ken Levine! | Ken Talks Bioshock, His Inspirations & More (2020/2021): Interview with Ken where he say's he didn't know Ayn Rand was politically relevant and that he didn't read Atlas Shrugged until after BioShock was out, forgetting Daisy and her VA's name, and continues to reiterate how the BioShock franchise is supposed to be about how abuse is an inescapable cycle--unless you're his favorite character Elizabeth, and admitting he knew this would be his last part of the franchise and that he wanted to neatly tie the story up (🙄we know how neatly that went)

BioShock Remastered - Director's Commentary: another reference of Ken saying the BioShock franchise is Elizabeth's story, and BaS was about making her the heart of BioShock.

The Next Video Game From BioShock’s Creator Is in Development Hell: Talks about Ken's bad management as he sinks his new game exactly like how he did Infinite, but this time he pushed away everyone who kept that game afloat

Why everyone’s laughing at BioShock’s Ken Levine: Article where Ken said he figured out "how to write good characters" but it was just the basic way everyone writes characters.

Bioshock Infinite's Elizabeth shaped by Ken Levine's experiences: BONKERS article where Ken compares Elizabeth, a fictional character, to a REAL WOMAN he dated who was being abused and then said "but my OC is a better than her."

Thegamebriel Interviews Ken Levine the creator of bioshock: Interview with Ken where he notably compares BioShock 2 to someone "dating your ex girlfriend" and says he didn't want to play the game.

BioShock Infinite: 10 Years Later (ft. Ken Levine): An interview Ken did where he says he was "Upset" about BioShock 2 because he didn't see any games happening in the future of Rapture.

Ken Levine on BioShock: The Spoiler Interview: Interivew where Ken mentions a story idea where the main character was a cult deprogrammer, and talked about the kidnapping those guys would do; referencing "deprograming a lesbian" as an example of that work. He back tracks saying that was not something you would do in the game, but it makes my skin break into hives out that he mentioned it at all.

Looking Back On BioShock With Its Creator, Ken Levine: Another source of Ken only reading The Fountainhead and not Atlas Shrugged, and that he only discovered Rand's work mid development of BioShock. He also states that BioShock is not meant to be a criticism of Objectivism.

BioShock Creator Moved Away From the Franchise Because He Felt ‘Trapped’: Interview where Ken says it was his idea for BioShock to become a "Call of Duty blockbuster" and then immediately jumped ship on the franchise to make Judas. Which just looks like a bootleg BioShock game.

SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS:

Tweet where, when gay marriage was legalized in America, Ken said "but what about the Lutece twins?".

Ken retweeted an edit of Elizabeth holding a Ken body pillow.

Years later he retweeted edit of the same image but with Austin Wintory editing his face onto Elizabeth's.

Tweet were Ken defended transphobe and anti vaxxer Gina Carano when she got fired from the Mandalorian.

Tweet where Ken defended Elon Musk.

Tweet where Ken says BioShock: Rapture isn't canon because he hasn't read it.

Facebook post where Ken share a photo of a kid flipping him of so his friends would defend him.

Ken Seeing this Verge article that criticized Elizabeth saying:

and then saying on his facebook:

(which is. entirely missing the point. because he made elizabeth brutalized eye candy. her character is entirely defined by men.)

An old post, that I believe is from the scrubbed Irrational games forum (Furthest back I can trace it is to this post), where he explains Elizabeth's fragility and stealth gameplay was not stereotypical and sexist.

Photo of Ken from a print PC Gamer feature called "The New Game Gods" with a PRETTY questionable quote.

Youtube video of Ken and Troy Baker yelling at Courtnee Draper to get "authentic" acting. She's egging them on but it feels SUPER uncomfortable.

[thatsnothowyoupronouncemyname]

A Chris Wood Deep Dive

This post will take a deep dive into The Vampire Diaries and Supergirl actor Chris Wood (CW) and why he is not as nice a person as many would like to believe.

Trigger warnings: this post discusses racism, homophobia, misogyny, domestic violence, abuse, and police brutality.

**Disclaimer: I do not endorse the gossip sites and their administrators mentioned in this post, nor do I claim that the information presented here is 100% accurate and confirmed to be such. This post is made up of publicly available information. Sources are linked.**

Part I: Cheating

1. Here are blind items, courtesy of the blog Crazy Days and Nights (CDAN), run by an entertainment lawyer (?) under the nickname “Enty”, from the past couple of years that allege CW has been cheating on Melissa Benoist, his wife of three years, starting not long after the two of them began dating. The latest blind also claims that he was “trying to move onto other people” while still married to her, and even attempting to submit information on himself to gossip sites.

September 2022 (revealed here)

June 2022 (revealed here)

July 2017 (revealed here)

There are others that show that he hasn't been committed to his marriage and that they were likely to get a divorce. 

November 2021 (revealed here - where Enty also had a blind about Melissa potentially coming out in the future)

June 2021 (revealed here)

In case you are doubting how trustworthy Enty and his blind items are- it is a gossip blog, so most definitely not 100%. He has posted blind items before that ended up being verified, while others were never proven to be true.

However, with regards to CW, Enty posted a blind item in late October about the Almost Famous Broadway musical, in which CW appears as Russell Hammond, a main character. Prior to the company’s appearance on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Enty claimed that despite the appearance on late night television, the show wasn’t doing well and would be closing after Christmas. It was then announced December 19, 2022 that the show would close January 8, 2023 (Broadway shows usually close on Sundays). Originally, the musical was advertised to have an open-ended run (which is the norm, unless the show is brought to Broadway explicitly as a limited engagement), so there is a distinction to be made between a show ending its run after a while (like The Phantom of the Opera in the upcoming year) or being closed, mostly due to low attendance and grosses that are not enough to recuperate the money invested (like Almost Famous, K-POP or Ain’t No Mo’ in the most recent cases). Enty’s insider information was correct - it wasn’t public knowledge. So, it could be said that this is another case of “where there is smoke, there is fire”. I cannot claim with full certainty that he has been cheating, but there are many indicators that point towards these rumors being based in fact.

2. He'd dated at least four of his co-stars, all of whom were leading ladies on the “almost network” TV shows he appeared in.

First, there was AnnaSophia Robb, whom he met on the set of the Carrie Diaries. They dated for a while between 2013 and 2014.

Then, he was linked to Nina Dobrev, who led the The Vampire Diaries from 2009 to the end of season 6 in 2015. CW appeared on TVD in season 6 (2014-2015), and there were a number of pictures and claims that the two of them dated. Though, it has recently been confirmed by a former make-up artist on the show during a Reddit AMA that CW’s relationship with Nina was purely PR. 

In 2016, he dated Hanna Mangan Lawrence, his co-star on the series Containment, which was also produced by TVD boss Julie Plec.

And lastly, CW met Melissa on the set of Supergirl. The two started dating in early 2017 and got married in September 2019.

In the video below (which will play an even more significant role in a second), CW said he “was playing hard to get” when offered a role in Supergirl without an audition by then-showrunner Andrew Kreisberg (more on him later). Finally, he did end up taking the role and moving to Vancouver for filming, partly because he apparently knew "he'd meet his future wife and the mother of his children" on the show.

At that time, throughout 2016, he was in a relationship with Hanna. CW’s twitter fans noticed that Hanna moved to Vancouver with Chris around August 2016 before he started filming Supergirl and the two were seen together there some time later, in November 2016, according to Twitter, so about three months into CW’s time filming. They appear to have broken up in December 2016, some two weeks after Hanna’s last post of CW, though the break up was only reported in early January 2017. So CW’s “hunch” about meeting his future spouse occurred when he was in a serious relationship with someone else. Sounds like a nice, faithful guy, right?

Part II: “First and last” 

In 2020, CW was invited to appear on Kevin Smith’s “Fatman Beyond” podcast. As you might know, Kevin (the writer/director of the homophobic movie Chasing Amy) directed multiple episodes of Supergirl, and is good friends with both Melissa and CW. He himself once captioned an Instagram photo with her in 2019 by saying that “[Melissa’s] boyfriend is also [his] boyfriend”, and also posted on IG to congratulate them both on expecting their first child. This proved to be a “lucrative” friendship for CW, as it was Kevin who gave him the voice role of He-Man on Netflix’s animated Masters of the Universe reboot. In the podcast episode, Kevin told an anecdote when him and CW went to see Melissa in her Broadway debut as Carole King on Beautiful in the summer of 2018.

When Kevin emphasized that this performance was, in fact, Melissa’s debut, CW interrupted Kevin to yell that her turn on Broadway was her "first and last". Even Kevin seemed confused for second (at about 42:13), pausing what he was saying to ask, “Is she not gonna do it again?” with genuine interest, at which CW quickly backtracked by saying that he was only kidding.

I get that he was joking, but I think most people would agree that it was a shockingly poor and tasteless joke to randomly throw in there, unprompted. In fact, Kevin told this whole story to highlight how CW was "crying joyful tears" over the fact that his then-girlfriend’s long-held Broadway dreams came true. Why did he feel the need to say this immediately after confirming this was her dream, and one that he apparently shared with her, at that? Yikes.

In that same video, Kevin Smith mentioned that he mispronounced Melissa’s last name for some time as “Benoit”, until CW enlightened him with a joke as to how to correctly pronounce it. Apparently, CW likened the pronunciation of “Benoist” as something that rimes with “moist” (which is true, but he admitted that the joke was of sexual nature at 41:01 of the above video). And while this, too, was an obvious attempt at humor, my impression is that he seemingly has a pattern of making jokes in poor taste about his partner to others, which is definitely not an admirable quality.

Part III: A republican past

Recently, CW was known as a prominent supporter of the Democratic party, most notably tweeting his support for Joe Biden and the Black Lives Matter movement over the course of spring and fall of 2020. 

Apparently, his frequent tweets did not go unnoticed and a person who knew him when he was still in high school in Dublin, Ohio, reached out to the gossip website “Blind Gossip” to tell a story about CW’s affiliation back when he was younger. The resulting blind item from 2020 was perhaps the most shocking piece of information I discovered while doing this deep down. Essentially, it claims that CW used to be "super conservative" and alleged that he and his friend routinely stole dozens of lawn signs supporting John Kerry, the democratic presidential candidate running to unseat incumbent president George W. Bush in 2004. The person who spoke to Blind Gossip claimed to have seen the stolen signs in CW’s car. Obviously, the theft of yard signs is a crime. So if this is true, a 16 year-old CW was not only a thief, but also a passionate supporter of George W. Bush. With regards to Bush, I don’t have to detail while he was a terrible president guilty of war crimes - if you are not entirely aware of his catastrophic tenure, you are welcome to google it and read through thousand pieces of evidence that will make clear why supprting should be condemned.

At this point, I have to make it clear that there is no further evidence to corroborate this story other than a person's submission who has seen the stolen signs and to whom he confessed the theft. As I said with CDAN, the trustworthiness of gossip sites is questionable at best. Nevertheless, the blind is eerily specific, and the theft of lawn signs is definitely not uncommon in Ohio or the U.S. in general during presidential elections, so this very well could have happened. But we will likely never know for sure.

 Part IV: Performative activism

In spite of his youthful days of Bush-inspired theft, CW is a very vocal Democrat now. Yes, I know that people can grow and mature, and they can very well change their political affiliation over time, but I guess not everyone becomes a passionate democrat after stealing to benefit the GOP years before. Maybe the more liberal ways of Los Angeles genuinely rubbed off on him, or maybe his change of heart was merely motivated by the wish to be perceived as progressive in order to fit into Hollywood. Who knows the truth in his case?

1. Anti-racism

During the 2020 George Floyd protests, he actively advocated for the Black Lives Matter movement (which is great), tweeting his support quite frequently. He even called out and shamed others that posted literally anything else, like the publication Variety for continuing to report entertainment news like they always do (though merely a few months before, in mid-February, when reports of the pandemic had already surfaced and COVID-19 was rapidly spreading outside of China, he was more than happy to repost the news that featured him from these entertainment sites).

He also filmed himself calling representatives, posted an open letter to the president of Elon University (his alma mater), and took photos of himself holding books on the topic.

I wholeheartedly support BLM and anyone who seeks to proactively fight against systemic racism in the US and elsewhere. Except, CW posted a couple of weird tweets that were really not helpful. There were some in particular that clearly centered himself instead of BIPOC voices in an attempt to celebrate his own wokeness, like this one tweet where he gleefully patted himself on the back for tweeting the phrase “Black Lives Matter” 4 years prior.

Since then, he doesn't post about anti-racism and BLM anymore. To be fair, he rarely posts anything other than updates on his career, but he has also become very silent when it comes to activism, even with respect to his own mental health awareness campaign. That makes it seem like he wasn't actually committed to unlearning his racial bias, raising awareness against police brutality as well as white supremacy, and campaigning for Black liberation and equal justice. As others have pointed out before, he probably only spoke up at a time when he thought calling out injustice would benefit his image and only followed suit when he saw hundreds of famous people participate in the outrage sparked by George Floyd’s murder.

And the reason why his self-congratulatory attitude in 2020 rubbed me the wrong way was precisely this: he never seemed to committed to actually doing the work of becoming actively anti-racist, and instead lauded himself for being woke years prior to the events of 2020, even though he himself posted this tweet when the protests first started following Floyd’s death:

This first tweet from that time makes two things very clear: one, that he was absolutely not “woke” when it comes to racism, because otherwise, he wouldn’t have tweeted something like “I can’t believe this is happening” when speaking about police brutality against Black people. If he was, in fact, as woke as he claims in 2016, he wouldn’t have said something like this in 2020. Those who actually educated themselves on systemic racism were, though enraged and disappointed, probably not surprised by another instance of the violent policing of BIPOC in the US - it is an incredibly sad truth that such deplorable acts of violence happen every single day, but of course he doesn’t know that, because he is a white man that is afforded the extreme privilege of ignoring the everyday realities of being BIPOC in the US. Him saying “we shold have moved on from this hate by now” only shows how blind he was to the institutional and permanent nature of racial injustice in his own country.

Second, his rage is nothing but performative. He only speaks up about such topics when he can establish himself as a champion of social justice, but between these highly publicized and scrutinized incidents of racialized violence, he is most definitely not doing anything to unlearn his own biases or to actively participate in these conversations.

2. Condemning Mon-el’s misogyny

Then there's also him describing his sexist, slave-owning Supergirl character as a “puppy” in November 2016 (photo credit goes to @/avvatrice on Twitter) and then again at the infamous 2017 San Diego Comic Con (SDCC), insisting that he may have some less than savory views but doesn’t mean any harm or malice. Said character was not only a former slaver and a raging misogynyst, but he also turned out to be Supergirl producer Andrew Kreisberg's self-insert. Yuck.

Only after Kreisberg was fired in November 2017 and the details of his sexual misconduct were published, did CW write a little twitter essay fully acknowledging that his character, who was given lines that matched Kreisberg's own sexist, disturbing words and views in real life, was a misogynistic, small-minded piece of sh*t.

Photo credit goes @/avvatrice on Twitter.

To be clear, I do not blame CW for the abysmal way his character was written, that’s fully the writers’ fault. But I do blame him for downplaying and romanticizing the character’s unsavory, disgusting qualities for over a year, attempting to portray a sexist, lying white man who fled a planet full of slaves as a harmless “puppy”.

3. Homophobia

In June 2019, CW's mental health awareness campaign IDONTMIND (IDM) released two t-shirts for pride month. So let's see some of his past with the LGBTQ community.

To start with, this is in line with what many companies and campaigns routenely do when Pride month comes around every year, a practice called “rainbow washing”. This refers to cases when organizations “disingenuously use Pride branding for their own gain or to give themselves a deceptive air of liberalism and allyship”. Technically, IDM is a non-profit, and all profits of the campaign support their umbrella organization, Mental Health America (MHA), which qualifies as a 501(c)(3) organization in the US. CW himself was appointed to the board of directors of MHA in 2019, departing from this role in 2021. Nevertheless, the practice of rainbow washing is not solely reserved to for-profit corporations, as it is not just about aiming to bring in more money from those sales, but also about creating the impression that the organization is, in fact, accepting and welcoming towards all orientation and lifesytles.

The reason why IDM’s efforts to raise money for MHA (and the Trevor Project, according to their now-deleted IG post back then) is noteworthy here as a potential example of rainbow washing, is the history of its founder with the LGBTQ community, which the collection was meant to support. A history which is not exempt from allegations of homophobia.

First of all, there is a video CW made with his friend best friend and IDM co-founder Edward Schmit that taps into harmful stereotypes and is centered around mocking gay men. The whole skit is about two men having a pillow talk, speaking in a manner often dubbed as “gay voice” as a way to caricature gay men. Straight men mockingly imitating this speech is not just overtly homophobic, but is also a subtle type of misogyny, since it’s making fun of someone who is “sounding feminine”. They perpetuate the myth that whenever a man has qualities that are traditionally assigned as “feminine”, they must be gay and simply not “manly” enough.

There's also this compilation of him essentially doing the same in different settings, for roles and skits. How he approaches the topic of homosexuality and portrays queer men shows how he doesn’t shy away from tapping into these stereotypes instead of seeking to portray such characters as anything other than mere caricatures that are nothing but comic relief.

And then let’s not forget SDCC 2017 and the cast’s (Melissa, CW, Mehcad, Jeremy, David, Odette, Katie) infamous singing interview, where some of them, notably including Jeremy Jordan and CW, outright mocked the fans for shipping Supercorp.

When asked about Supercorp in the same interview, Katie McGrath defended the fans (at 7:15 of the video):

The great thing about what we do is, like any art, anyone can read into it what they want.

Upon hearing this, CW immediately felt the need to chime in and practically mocked Katie’s comment (at 7:38):

Sexuality is all about others’ perceptions of yours, right? That was sarcasm!

While Katie sought to validate fan’s feelings and interpretations of the show, CW’s facial expressions throughout the entire time they were speaking about Supercorp and his subsequent comment reek not just of some misplaced arrogance that his character wasn’t the hit he thought it would be, but also of the homophobia he wasn’t able to hide away. It’s clear he felt threatened by the incredible response to Kara and Lena’s storyline that massively overshadowed Kara’s forced and problematic relationship with CW character. It is also evident that the fact that many people saw a romantic connections between two, supposedly straight female characters, really bothered him - after all, it was “Karamel” that was supposed to be in the limelight, while any romantic undertones between Kara and Lena were unplanned. CW’s character was brought to the show with the purpose of becoming the lead’s romantic interest, but instead, many fans fell in love with the chemistry between Supergirl and Lena Luthor. To him, it must have been disappointing to lose the attention he thought he would get to a queer ship, leading to this obviously homophobic comment at SDCC.

Interestingly, in January 2020, when it was announced Jeremy Jordan would return for a few episodes in season 5, a fan asked Jeremy whether his character Winn and CW’s since-departed former slaver “were married” in the future. In response to the people who were seeimingly shipping his character with Jeremy’s, CW tweeted this:

His response, particularly the quip “chemistry=too strong”, makes me think that he was either similarly sarcastic here about people shipping two supposedly straight, same-sex characters as he was back at SDCC, or, he was suddenly okay with the fans doing this if it was his character they were shipping and getting the spotlight from the viewers.

Overall, as these examples show, CW’s attitude towards the LGBTQ community is contentious at best. So it was understandably suspect when IDM released Pride merch a mere two years after the SDCC disaster. CW was all too happy to participate in the bashing of queer fans during that San Diego interview, and this attempt to appear supportive of the community was meant to absolve him from and make people forget about his history of belittling LGBTQ people, which he has never acknowledged, while presenting him as a benevolent ally with a charity that fully supports everyone under the rainbow umbrella.

Part V: Work ethic

Most recently, CW starred as Russell Hammond in the musical adaptation of the 2000 film, Almost Famous (AF). Russell is one of the three lead characters, and since CW was the most senior and well-known from the three performers playing those roles, he has been the one to receive top billing most times (even though Anika Larsen, a Tony-nominee, and Drew Gehling were in the cast, too, both of whom have more Broadway credits as well as name recognition in theatre circles and also play principal roles in the musical). In the beginning, he was all over the musical’s social media pages, too, though more recently, he has been featured less and less, and there was even an instance when on a cast photo, they tagged his understudy, Van Hughes, instead of CW, even though he was the one in the picture (the tag was later removed, and then CW was tagged in it).

This could have easily been an oversight on the part of whoever is running AF’s Instagram, but, as some have pointed out, they could have possibly shaded CW for skipping out too many shows, most notably also the one on the day that photo was posted. By my count, he missed about 18-19 shows - and most of these during the week before the company was scheduled for a nationwide televised performance.

In a SiriusXM interview with Casey Likes (the recording of which I can’t find for the life of me), CW explained that he doesn’t have a lot of memories from opening night, which is still more than what he can recollect from the final preview from the evening before, as he was on heavy medication. Apparently, he had been sick for the last few previews before the company’s performance on The Tonight Show, for which he did show up (and ended up getting a lot of negative buzz for butchering the only line in the song he had). One fan account of his, formerly @/chriswoodnetwork on IG (notorious for cropping Melissa out of every picture, generally ignoring her and posting throwbacks with his former girlfriends), claimed at that time that he was on vocal rest, which is in line with what he said himself.

However, those approx. five performances before the Fallon appearance and opening night weren’t the only times he was out for. According to the twitter accounts @/BroadwayCovers and his understudy, Van Hughes, he missed an additional 7-8 performances in November, particularly five in a row before coming back for the company’s appearence on CBS’ Good Morning America on December 1. He was also absent at least four-five more times in December.

These are the CDAN blinds that discuss how unreliable he has proven himself to be as a lead member of a Broadway company that claim that his absences should be attributed to his lack of commitment and questionable work ethic:

December 26, 2022

December 22, 2022 (revealed here)

December 8, 2022 (revealed here)

November 29, 2022 (revealed here)

What’s more is that it is highly likely he got this role thanks to the connections of his wife (though this, once again, cannot be fully verified). One the one hand, in the SiriusXM interview, he mentioned that after Colin Donnell, who played Russell during the musical’s San Diego run, had to bow out of the production due to scheduling conflicts, he joined a company for a workshop and did not have to do an actual audition for the part. On Twitter, @/PotionClass (here on tumblr @magicpotionclass​) pointed out that one of the producers of AF was also the one to invite Melissa to lead Beautiful on Broadway back in 2018, and that the musical’s writer (and the original film’s director), Cameron Crowe, is repped by the same agency as Melissa.

While I believe he was in fact sick prior to opening night, the subsequent absences either prove that he is simply unfit to do eight shows a week on Broadway or confirm Enty’s claim that he only wants the fame (which is why he never misses a TV appearence) without the hard work.

Part VI: Standing up for victims of abuse?

One other point of criticism that has been brought up against CW recently is him working with people who are connected to Bl*ke Jenner (BJ), Melissa’s first husband who abused her both physically and verbally, causing permanent damage to her eye by throwing a phone in her face. In this regard, I generally say that actors don’t always have the luxury of picking who they do and don’t want to work with - Melissa herself is currently working on a show produced by Julie Plec, who was accused of racism, treating Black actors and their characters badly, and maintaining an evident racial bias in the production of her shows; while Katie McGrath’s new series, The Continental, will star Mel Gibson, a known antisemite and abuser. So, I was gonna go easy on CW for working with Daniel Sovich on AF. Sovich, an actor/musician, and member of AF’s company is good friends with BJ. Working with him is not CW’s fault, because he clearly wasn’t the one who brought Sovich to the musical and there is only little evidence that they are even friendly.

However, I recently discovered that it was Robert J. Ulrich who served as casting director for the Thirtysomething sequel pilot in early 2020, in which CW was cast in a leading role (though the project was never picked up). It is therefore likely that CW was cast in that role by Ulrich himself at a time when he was already married to Melissa and BJ’s abuse was made public by her. As these pictures show, Ulrich is a good friend of both BJ and Sovich.

Additionally, it was also revealed that he is working with Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B Entertainment, on the development a feature film. It is well-known that Pitt was accused of abusing his former wife, Angelina Jolie, and their children. Particularly in this case, I believe it would be more than possible for CW to try to work on this feature with any other producer who is not a violent domestic abuser.

That makes it a total of three times in the past three years that he’s worked with either people directly connected to the man who abused his wife, or someone who has been accused of doing so with their own family. To be honest, these three instances make me question his support of his wife in the wake of her speaking out, as well as his public commitment to stand up against the abuse of women and

...”not work with those who continue to build toxic work environments.”

That particular comment did not age well.

Part VII: IDONTMIND making mistakes

1. Anxiety

Lastly, I want to mention two more things in relation to CW’s campaign, IDM. In the fall of 2020, IDM launched a new collection titled “Anxiety - Own Your Feelings”. The items in the collection (two sweatshirts, two baseball hats and a tee) were made with the graphic “anxiety” printed with an elegant, cursive font.

The collection immediately received backlash for romanticizing mental illness and using it as an aesthetic/fashion statement to sell merchandise. After even mental health professionals commented to state how harmful and foolish this idea was, IDONTMIND posted the following statement in the comments:

As you can see, they did not apologize for putting out such a collection and essentially attributed the backlash to a matter of opinion and taste. Needless to say, they went on with the launch of these products and sold them as planned, even if they were discounted some weeks later. After the above statement was posted, CW himself seemed to respond to the backlash with this (since deleted) vague “notes app” post on Instagram that did not take any accountability whatsoever or apologize for offending many people, instead trying to tell them they should just forgive him and IDM for the blunder:

Clearly, neither CW nor any of the team behind IDM was concerned with the whole incident, since they chose to sell the collection anyway instead of admitting their mistake and pulling these products.

2. Run IDONTMIND & TWLOHA

The second thing I wanted to include concerns IDM’s Run IDONTMIND program that they launched in May 2021. May is Mental Health Awareness Month in the U.S. and the program aims to encourage people to run a 5k, 10k or half marathon during those 31 days in order to raise money for IDM and their work in mental health awareness. That sounds like a cool thing, right?

Well, the problem is that they basically stole this idea from another mental health organization, To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA - if you’ve never heard of them, please check out this amazing non-profit!), a charity founded by Jamie Tworkowski in 2006. Curiously enough, TWLOHA was created sixteen years ago when Tworkowski designed a shirt which he sold in order to allow a friend to get the mental health care she needed. TWLOHA grew from here into a well-known charity that aims to spread a message of hope and help to people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicidal thoughts. Since their inception, they tried to raise money and awareness by selling shirts and later other types of merchandise that look unique enough to jumpstart everyday conversations about the meaning behind them - over ten years before CW founded IDM with the exact same “business model”.

In 2013, TWLOHA launched the annual event “Run For It 5k”. Every spring, they designate a day when the followers of the movement can complete a 5k to raise awareness for TWLOHA’s work. Prior to the event, TWLOHA usually sells a t-shirt with that year’s graphic and a finisher’s medal, among other things.

Besides Run IDM being an eerily similar initiative, in 2022, IDM even started selling shirts and medals just like TWLOHA always does (though TWLOHA’s medal comes for free if you buy the shirt for $30, while IDM originally sold it separately for an additional $20).

In many ways, IDM seems to be copying TWLOHA - their Journal also bears a lot of similarity to TWLOHA’s blog; they share the same business model, and now IDM is organizing essentially the same events.

Back in 2017, in an interview with TVInsider.com about his new campaign, CW was asked how he came up with the concept of this initiative, to which he said:

“...Then this fell into my lap, this little pocket of stigma awareness surrounding mental health that I felt wasn’t being approached in a way that I felt would be the most successful.”

...”because people wear shirts that say nothing phrases all the time, and by having a meaning behind it, the hope is that something simple like “Hey, I like your shirt, what does it mean?” people can then say “Oh, it’s actually a mental health awareness campaign.” And now we’re having a conversation, now we’re talking about mental health, which is the whole thing is that everyone’s terrified to open up about.”

In this interview, he presents IDM as a brand new idea to fight the stigma surrounding mental health awareness, a topic that he, in his own words, sought to approach “in a way that would be the most successful”. Needless to say, other campaigns with the exact same approach, like TWLOHA, already existed for years before he ever launched his own campaign. So, despite what he said in this interview, his idea was nothing revolutionary and only copied what other organizations while already doing. This doesn’t mean IDM is not doing good work and helping people, but CW definitely should not claim that he was the one who came with the idea to defeat the stigma by selling shirts that spark conversations about mental health.

Part VIII: The rest

There certainly are more rumors and topics to discuss than these, however, I found some of them on forums and blogs as they were mentioned by fans, so I chose not to include them unless I could find other sources for such claims.

What this deep dive was meant to show is that his “nice guy” image is likely just that - an image. Granted, there are many, many people in the industry who are much worse than he is. But this doesn’t absolve him on any of the less than nice things he did and comments he made over the years. He certainly doesn’t deserve the devotion of his fans and I hope some of them will recognize that his squeeky clean image is nothing but a facade that masks some of the ugly truth.

[x--daughters-of-darkness--x]

MÅNESKIN Shares 'Gossip' Music Video Featuring TOM MORELLO

Italian rockers MÅNESKIN have released their new single "Gossip" featuring a guest appearance by RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist Tom Morello.

Fierce with a rapid, infectious and hammering guitar hook, MÅNESKIN's latest offering continues to reaffirm the group's status as a genuine force in rock and roll. The single is taken from MÅNESKIN's upcoming album "Rush!", which is set for release on January 20.

Regarding their collaboration with Morello, MÅNESKIN's Damiano David said: "Tom Morello's enormous experience allowed us to take cues on how to work on tracks without overthinking. We can't thank him enough for joining us on this track. It's an honor for the whole band!" Ethan Torchio added: "Tom Morello brought some RAGE to MÅNESKIN!" Thomas Raggi said: "Tom is one of the greatest musicians that I've always listened to and learned from. Playing with him is a dream come true. It's an enormous gift and a personal highlight of this incredible year." Victoria De Angelis commented: "The song originated from a riff which Thomas had written some time ago and which we had been holding onto for a long time which we kept developing. Then the icon Tom Morello joined and brought something extra to the classic uptempo MÅNESKIN cheerfulness."

MÅNESKIN is a critically acclaimed four-piece-rock band that began busking on the streets of Rome as teenagers, and now just a few years later, are a razor tight group of captivating musicians widely hailed for being at the forefront of driving a worldwide resurgence of rock music. The band has 320 certifications, including 48 gold, 253 platinum and 18 diamond. The past year has seen the band reach over seven billion streams, while surging to No. 1 in numerous countries and across the global charts of multiple digital platforms (including the No. 2 TikTok song of 2021). The band's meteoric rise has continued straight into 2022, as they performed on "Saturday Night Live", were hailed by the Los Angeles Times as "America’s New Favorite Rock Band," won "Best Alternative Video" at the VMAs, "Top Rock Song" at Billboard Music Awards, "Best New Alternative Artist" at iHeart Radio Music Awards, various wins at national award shows in Japan, Spain, Poland, Hungary, and Finland, as well as over 19 nominations globally, including the Brit Awards, NME Awards, Kerrang! Awards, Swiss Music Awards and more. They are also the first Italian artist to have won the "Best Rock" award at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2021.

This summer has seen MÅNESKIN contribute a distinctive rendition of "If I Can Dream" for "Elvis", the major motion picture and No. 1-charting soundtrack. Their Max Martin-produced single "Supermodel" has recently surpassed 238 million global streams, appeared in the Top 20 APC in 17 countries, and remained No. 1 on the Billboard Alternative chart for five consecutive weeks. The band continue to reaffirm its triumphant status in 2023, with their recent Grammy Award nomination for "Best New Artist" and AMA Award for "Favorite Rock Song". Simultaneously, the band's reputation as the leading new generation must-see live rock act builds each and every time they take the stage.

[edhelwen1]

I posted 1,447 times in 2022

That's 468 more posts than 2021!

255 posts created (18%)

1,192 posts reblogged (82%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@spoonyglitteraunt

@sleepymccoy

@bixbythemartian

@holycatsandrabbits

@cassieoh

I tagged 1,377 of my posts in 2022

Only 5% of my posts had no tags

#art - 293 posts

#literally me - 289 posts

#guitar - 197 posts

#update - 196 posts

#learning - 193 posts

#my songs - 187 posts

#assassins! accidental matchmakers - 135 posts

#comic - 72 posts

#good omens - 58 posts

#pinkpiggy93 - 58 posts

Longest Tag: 131 characters

#he likes to hang out with siobhan and mei because they will each talk about their interests and never stop the others from doing it

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Guitar update: in a groove

I played my songs today. I really love them.

I also tried to play the last book I was given for Christmas; Songs of the 2000s. This book is MASSIVE. Like... My music stand cannot handle its size. (Insert innuendo?) So I decided that I would not play it today.

I just didn't have the spoons.

I'll try again tomorrow.

I played more songs from my app.

I really need to learn how to do a bar. My fingers just don't want to, and so many chords require it.

Oh, I thought you might like to see my capo.

See the full post

32 notes - Posted January 5, 2022

#4

Book Cover Reveal!

I am beyond thrilled to introduce you to the book that my husband @ericdesmarais​ and I wrote last year (2021). Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers is an urban fantasy romance, and it will be available in bookstores (and e-bookstores) September 15, 2022!! You can pre-order it now. Here’s the link to its Goodreads page, in case that helps.

When we got the contract for the book, there was only one artist that I wanted for the cover. I was extremely nervous asking, but gathered my courage and I’m so glad I did.

We asked the incredible artist @pinkpiggy93​ to draw the cover for us, and we were absolutely blown away by her work. So much so that I’ve asked her to do the cover for the spin-off that I wrote that will be coming out in spring 2023.

Without further ado, here is the cover:

Summary: 

Kennedy Fairfield just graduated in the class of 2002, and is now trying to find her purpose in life, or at least a job in her field. When she saves Jason Johnson, the leader of a secret Community of supernatural people called Aetherborn, from an attempted assassination, they embark on a whirlwind epic romance and adventure.

For Kennedy and Jason to discover why people are disappearing in time to save her friends, they'll have to face teleporting assassins, grumpy wizards, gossiping hags, mafia robots, and secret military groups, all in the city of Westmeath, Ontario, which has more secrets than residents.

The first book of four in The Gates of Westmeath series.

I hope you’re as excited as I am about the upcoming release of this book! If you are, please share this post, pre-order it from your local bookstore, tell your libraries, and vote for it on the Goodreads lists!

Here are the links to pinkpiggy93's socials and Patreon:

- Instagram link: http://www.instagram.com/pinkpiggy93

- Tumblr link: https://pinkpiggy93.tumblr.com

- Patreon link: http://www.Patreon.com/pinkpiggy93

You can follow our blog JenEric Designs for further updates, and scroll through the tags for more information on the book. Feel free to AMA!

42 notes - Posted May 15, 2022

#3

Hello, my name is...

And I'm addicted to Heartstopper.

No, I don't want to be cured, thank you very much.

I made these hair clips.

Heartstopper leaves with Nick and Charlie's greeting.

See the full post

91 notes - Posted August 7, 2022

#2

Most meet-cutes don't include assassins. Most love stories don't involve becoming a superhero. Then again, Westmeath isn't like most cities.

Kennedy Fairfield just graduated in the class of 2002, and is now trying to find her purpose in life, or at least a job in her field. When she saves Jason Johnson, the leader of a secret Community of supernatural people called Aetherborn, from an attempted assassination, they embark on a whirlwind epic romance and adventure.

For Kennedy and Jason to discover why people are disappearing in time to save her friends, they'll have to face teleporting assassins, grumpy wizards, gossiping hags, mafia robots, and secret military groups, all in the city of Westmeath, Ontario, which has more secrets than residents.

The first book of four in The Gates of Westmeath series.

Physical copy: https://49thshelf.com/Books/A/Assassins!-Accidental-Matchmakers

Ebook: https://books2read.com/u/mv1e0z

Cover art by @pinkpiggy93

192 notes - Posted September 14, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

What's that book, next to The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood in Chapters, Indigo?

Oh, just the book Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers by me and my husband @ericdesmarais !!

You can get your copy here!! https://49thshelf.com/Books/A/Assassins!-Accidental-Matchmakers

Cover by @pinkpiggy93

197 notes - Posted September 17, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[kithtaehyung]

kim seokjin | butter @ amas 2021

[jeonjan7]

BTS x AMAs.😍

My handsome boys.😍

Congratulations for winning.🏆🏆🏆

1. Artist Of The Year

2. Favorite Pop Duo/Group

3. Favorite Pop Song

So proud for you guys.👏🏻

Got ARMY behind us.💛🌟

[btsarmyline]

Look at these two 🥺🥺🥺🥺

[voxyldy]

11.21.2021

[PHOTOS]

.@BTS_twt RM and the members delivered speech as the ARTIST OF THE YEAR!! Jungkook clenches his heart, too nervous to continue talking, while the others tease him! 😆 Last pic shows ARMYs in background. History is still in making by BTS! 💜👏 #AMAs  #BTSxAMAs  #ARMY

Source: Kpop Herald

[sherwynphilip]

⚠️ History made as BTS becomes 1st Asian in history to win 'Artist of the Year' @ AMAs

2021 American Music Awards (211121)

BTS has just won their very first Daesang at an American Awards show, winning 'Artist of the Year' at this years AMAs. And with this, they have just made history as the very first Asian act to ever win a Top Category at any American awards show.

BTS edged out Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Drake, The Weeknd and Olivia Rodrigo for the night's top award.

BTS swept ALL 3 categories in which they were nominated, becoming this year's most awarded artist at the AMAs.

🏆 Artist of the Year

🏆 Favorite Pop/Rock Duo or Group

🏆 Favorite Pop Song (Butter)

BTS' first AMA nomination (and win) came in 2018 for 'Favorite Social Artist.' With tonight's clean sweep, they've won ALL their AMA nominations since their first award three years ago.

BTS has now won 9 AMA trophies overall:

2018

🏆 Favorite Social Artist

2019

🏆 Favorite Duo or Group Pop/Rock

🏆 Favorite Social Artist

🏆 Tour of the Year

2020

🏆 Favorite Social Artist

🏆 Favorite Duo or Group Pop/Rock

2021

🏆 Artist of the Year

🏆 Favorite Pop Song (Butter)

🏆 Favorite Duo or Group (Pop/Rock)

The American Music Awards aired live on Sun., Nov. 21, 2021, on ABC from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET.

#BTS #방탄소년단 #BTSx2021AMAs

Congratulations, BTS! You make ARMYs so, so proud. 👏👏👏

💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

BONUS:

Cardi B representing all ARMYs tonight 😊

video source: @AMAs

[rainbowkookie]

NO, I’M NOT OKAY AND I KNOW YOU’RE NOT OKAY TOO !!!!!!

[lettertolife]

"FOCUS ON...?" AOTY BTS @AMAs 2021

So Our Boys swept the AMAs and now are the First Asian act to Win Artist Of The Year award in AMAs. YAYAYAYAYAYAY 😍💜

I became an Army this year (Yeah even I question myself on being this late 🙁) after Grammy's and honestly I got into their music later, I became an Army solely based on their interviews and random YouTube videos. These Seven men share such warm bonds with each other and overall that it overwhelms me 🥺 The first thing that stayed with me was the relation these men have among themselves. They all have different equation with each other yet they value each relation equally, which is very rare to see in such a huge group. Slowly I got into knowing them and in their music and there is no going back. Anyway this was My First Award Ceremony of BTS and I had also actively participated in voting so I was very excited for the Awards. In my country the awards (Red carpet) was broadcasting at 5 Am. So I only slept like for an hour and fifteen minutes. I caught the red carpet, My Universe Performance, Best POP DUO/GROUP Award, Best POP SONG award but I'm so unfortunate that fatigue took over and I slept through The Artist Of The Year Award and only woke up when Becky G had finished her award speech🤦🏻‍♀️ But fortunately I caught the iconic BUTTER performance. Anyway moving on from my bad luck, The Boys claimed the AMAs for themselves.

From the moment they stepped on the Red Carpet, American Music Industry knew BTS was here. The Cheering was crazy, deafening and everything amazing. As soon as the Loud Cheering started the Hosts were like "Oh BTS is here" and I couldn't have been more proud of our ARMYs💜. They kept the thunder going and at the end it felt more like BTS concert than AMAs😂🙈 but other than this what caught our attention was...

"FOCUS ON"

When the Boys won the AOTY Award and started giving their acceptance speech, Our nervous & excited Jungkook kept using the word 'Focus On' (and before he could finish his speech Jin jokingly pulled him away from the mic) and even after the Awards the BTS live was also named as "FOCUS ON". ARMYs have been left intrigued as to What the "FOCUS ON" implies, is it some sort of a tease to their next album or solo?. or it could be a simply BTS Hyungs teasing their Maknae for being nervous during the acceptance speech.

Of course one of the reasons why Jungkook was tugged away before he could finish his speech is that BTS had exceeded their time limit and Wrap Up sign was flashing for them but as a Baby ARMY and ARMY in general I would like to believe that BTS is teasing us about their upcoming adventures.

Apart from this, Our Boys enjoyed the event. They were completely immersed and enjoying their first on stage performance of MY Universe with Coldplay and also they were performing in front of ARMYs after 2 years and you are my universe was their first song to us 🥺. Suga gave his acceptance speech in Korean and I was brimming with happiness in that movement. The Boys couldn't believe that they won that award and it was visible by their chaotic & adorable movements on stage while the Acceptance Speech for AOTY award. During RM's verse in BUTTER the Boys turned the Stage in Purple colour indicating their never ending love for us and honestly I'm still teary from that.

I LOVE YOU Bangtan Boys💜

I hope you always succeed in all your ventures and keep loving yourself as well as us and be this innocent and adorable forever. And I wish I can attend your Concert soon🥺💜

These are few favourite clips from today's event. And some beautiful photographed moments from todays event.

I'VE COMBINED THE CLIPS INTO THIS VIDEO HOWEVER CREDITS TO THE ORIGINAL UPLOADER OF THESE CLIPS.

ALSO THE KIM BROTHERS STOLE MANY HEARTS!

[bts5sosqueen]

HUGE CONGRATS to the boys for having nothing short of an awesome night at the AMAs! They won Favorite Pop Song, Favorite Pop Duo or Group, and ARTIST OF THE YEAR!!!

I’m definitely a proud noona tonight!

[p4st0ral]