#ALSO MY GENETICS MAJOR BESTIE HELPED ME WITH THIS

[eddiethehunted]

why is google docs correcting my fucking DNA sequence

edit: STOP TELLING ME IM WRONG I GOT 100% ON THIS ASSIGNMENT

[obscurecharactershowdown]

Round 5

[image ID: the first image is of Oopsy Bear, a green care bear. on his stomach is a drawing of a red heart, a smiling yellow star, and several colorful lines behind the star implying it's soaring through the "sky". the second image is of No Significant Harassment, a shadowy figure standing behind a sleeping pink-red, fox-like creature. their green hands seem to be holding up the floating creature. end ID]

Oopsy Bear

HE IS MY FAVORITE CARE BEAR AND NOBODY KNOWS ABOUT HIM BECAUSE HE WAS ONLY IN ONE ITERATION OF THE FRANCHISE AND THEN THEY NEVER SHOWED HIM AGAIN. I love him so much it’s unreal he’s just a sweet little guy he’s clumsy and doesn’t have any belly badge powers like the other bears… His tummy is blank and he DRAWS ON IT he will give himself different silly belly badges. He’s also besties with a robot that used to be working for the villain. Please. Please. Please. Please 

No Significant Harassment

They're just a silly little guy. A jokester. Significant harassment if you will. Anyway, a more in depth run down: They're a city sized supercomputer built by a Buddhist adjacent society to figure out how to transcend the 'Great Cycle' (semi-metaphorical cycle of death and rebirth) in a safer way than the previous method (submerging oneself in the 'void sea' which is a mysterious golden liquid that dissolves whatever it touches). Despite being built for this express purpose NSH never really shows a pressing interest in ascension, even cracking jokes about those who are still looking for a solution. Whether this is due to indifference, dislike of, or humor to cope with being unable to ascend is not clear and really up to interpretation. Example: NSH: I wish them super good luck in that endeavor. How is it going to happen? Have the overseers gnaw through bedrock until their entire can crashes down in the void sea? BSM: Please be respectful when speaking of the Void Sea. Grey Wind, where did you hear this? CW: I really shouldn't say. He's going to attempt some sort of breeding program. Thought you might want to know. NSH: Haha with the slimers, lizards and etceteras? Surely the answer was in a lizard skull all along! He's very flippant, but does care very intensely for those close to him. NSH: Moon? It's me again. NSH: I do not know if you are receiving these. Please signal in any way you can. NSH: I need to talk to you. I need to know you're okay. NSH: … NSH: Its difficult for us to assist you over this distance. NSH: Even more difficult for us to do anything in the midst of these tantrums. NSH: Were going to try everything that we can. NSH: Just hold on a little longer. (Context for previous convo: They genetically engineered a super organism of a slugcat (the species you play as in Rain World) to help reset his coworker/sibling after her collapse and restart her systems. He was so desperate to fix her that he accidentally messed up the slugcat's (Hunter) genetic code and as a result it became riddle with the Rot (relatively similar to aggressive cancer) :( which parallels his other coworker/siblings condition who also has the rot. ) He canonically uses he/they pronouns too! Nonbinary swag! NSH has major internet troll vibes. He has sent a data pearl of "something distasteful" to his neighbors on several(?) occasions and causes chaos. If he had access to the wider internet he'd probably be an influencer So…yeah! Vote NSH this website likes the allure of heavy machinery and stuff like that so… there you go. Kind of a blorbo. End post.

[firstkanaphans]

Ahh I totally agree with you that Sand and Ray give off major childfree vibes and more just being the fun uncles!! But you got me thinking, and now I have a whole headcanon in my mind - I hope it's okay if I babble in in your ask box about it for a second? 😅

So something that I sort of see happening is (and, this probably happens accidentally, knowing Ray haha) that Ray connects with a kid during his community service time. I know OF played up the whole "Ray is not the best at wrangling kids around" for comedic relief, and while I do agree that Ray probably feels overwhelmed having that much child-responsibility, I can sort of see him faring better in a one-on-one setting!

I like to headcanon that during one of his community service stints Ray meets a child who's been known for getting into trouble/acting out, and he finds out the kid has similar traumas as his own from growing up (i.e., having a parent who had alcohol issues and/or having lost a parent and feeling like its their fault, etc.) And it's one of the few times that Ray is the one person who knows exactly how to interact with a kid when no one else does, because Ray was once that kid too and he sees himself in them🥺

And even when his community service time ends, I like to think Ray actually voluntarily continues to go to that one community service program once in a while to keep in touch with that one kid (sort of like a very unofficial Big Brother mentor thing, if you're familiar with the program?) and provide a non-judgmental listening ear to them whenever the child needs it. And maybe it's sort of a healing thing for Ray, like a subtle but major turning point for him in his journey with sobriety outside of his relationship, and maybe it helps him forgive himself too for everything he feels guilty for?

And also because Ray is the way he is haha, he'll probably keep it super lowkey/secretive at first that he's now going to volunteering stuff out of his own volition. I feel like he'd think his friends would tease him about it or something, or maybe he's not quite sure why he's going back himself so it makes him a bit defensive. But then one day Sand finds out, and he falls for Ray just that much more 🥹

Agh - so sorry for rambling in your ask box ad nauseum! I just couldn't get the HC out of my head and was hoping to share with someone. (Also, if any fic author wants to write this I'd give my first born for it probably) Please feel free to ignore, and I hope you're doing well! Can't wait for your next AkkAye fic 😍

Bestie, I think you just wrote it! But yes, headcanon accepted! I love this and I think it's very in-character for Ray.

Something I didn't mention in that last ask is that even once Ray is sober, I see him as the type of person who wouldn't have a lot of faith in himself to stay that way. I don't think he would be interested in having a biological kid because alcoholism is genetic, but I also don't think he'd be interested in raising a kid—regardless of genetics—because he would be worried that should he fall back off the wagon, he would be leaving a child behind just like his mother left him.

But I love the scenario you presented and I agree that a situation like that would likely help with both his sobriety and his self-confidence. Ironically, I think Ray would be better with kids than Sand would. I mean, he's basically a big baby himself 😂

[vergess]

Hello there! I apologize for the late hour, but I was just wondering if you have any headcanons or speculations about Besk, the twins' deceased mother from I Was A Teenage Exocolonist. I already heard back from @exocolonistfeelings and @arionwind , but I thought a third opinion would be good for my curious brain 😅

Oh, you never need to apologize for sending me asks about my Favourite Subjects, don't worry! Unfortunately, I had already gone to bed by the time this arrived D:

So, before we begin, this post will have spoilers for:

MAJOR: Robotics job storyline.

MAJOR: Dys and Tang friendships (duh)

MAJOR: Delusions run/achievement

MAJOR: Barista job storyline.

Marz friendship (minor)

Doctor job (minor)

Prolific parenting ending (minor)

Life on Earth achievement (minor)

It will discuss the following stressful subjects:

Suicide

PTSD

Depression

Psychiatric abuse

Child abuse

Substance abuse (alcohol, psychiatric medication)

Cult indoctrination and abuse

Human extinction

And finally, Besq has a character profile in the game data, but it's never used. The profile informs us that she:

Was named Arabesque;

Was female;

Died at age 32;

Was born in Early Quiet;

Was ~12 years younger than Instance, ~7 years younger than your parents, and the same age as Anne, Tirah, Al and Bernie.

Combined with details from the Twins, Marz and Instance, we can develop a very complete timeline of her life.

And it's nasty.

But let's start a little lighter.

Like Ari, I am a definite "Arabesque And Instance Truther." For a while, I honestly considered that Instance might have been the other genetic donor for the twins. Tangent's resemblance to her is particularly noticeable.

So, I figured they were besties, and maybe exes, but in that way you get with queers where no one is sure if they dated or not even though they definitely both lived together for a while and had sex.

Until I started plowing through all the endings, I was under the impression that when Tangent talked about bonding during her transition it was because Instance is also trans. That seems not to be the case (if you become a geneticist or a doctor or something, you develop a more perfected transition technology and it's used specifically for Utopia and Tangent, but not Instance or Vace).

So I was honestly under the matching impression that when Arabesque needed a genetic donor for her Depression Baby, she went to her "Friend" rather than going to the genetic banks, possibly because she knew she would not pass any meaningful examinations. Medicins aren't good at it, but they are trained to look specifically for depression in mothers. With the entire colony hinging on reproduction as aggressively as it does, I truly thought she would have been caught by even the most basic screening.

Of course, as a psych herself, she could easily just lie about everything and get a donor sample.

And that seems to have been the case because of 2 things.

1) Tangent implies she checked her genome against Instance's at one point around year 14 and found no significant commonalities suggesting relationship.

2) If you do Prolific Parent after picking menstruation/breast growth in adolescence (and maybe also null?) and have a female partner, you help the colony develop XX-to-XX fertilization so you can go around knocking up other people too. (Again: 40 children!!! You must be stopped!! Literally! The colony has to stop you from having more children!!).

So, if Instance is indeed cis, the tech wouldn't have existed yet for her to be the other donor.

At this point, I now believe Tangent looks like Instance because she was going to come out looking in some way undesirable to Besq. Was Tangent going to look like her genetic dad? Like Besq's ex? Like Besq herself? (I suspect it may be the latter)

Whatever the case, it seems Besq went full Designer Baby on that shit, and used her Bestie 'Tans as a model.

Bestie, exes, singular point of psychological support in perhaps the most horrific possible torture chamber.

~*~Just Girly Things~*~

As Ari mentioned, it was wildly irresponsible for the cult to designate one singular person as the entire emotional support system for hundreds of people living in a heretofore unknown and unknowable stressor, knowing that they might kill their entire families in the process, thereby rendering their entire movement extinct, and possibly the entire human race if the Earth ending is to be believed.

Really sit on that. Think about the horror that the adults, capable of understanding what they are and what they're doing, are going through every single day.

And every single one of them relied exclusively on a single woman to process that trauma, even as she had to process her own trauma without anyone to trust.

And even then, even then, she lives years on the strato. She survives over a decade of a kind of psychological torture that I cannot even begin to understand.

Now brace yourself, because it's time to payoff on that timeline comment.

Arabesque was 16 when she boarded the Strato as their designated trauma therapist.

She spent her entire adult life in hell.

The twins are 1 year younger than Sol. Besq is mentioned in Marz's high friendship event as being alive, but already heavily drinking, when the twins are turning 5. She dies shortly afterwards.

For the twins to be turning 5, the ship has to have been traveling for just under 16 years. She dies on or around her 32nd birthday. Only four years out from the wormhole.

Unironically and without reserve, Arabesque's inconceivable resilience is responsible for the survival of the human race. Without her there to soak trauma up like a sponge for 16 years of isolation, there is 0 chance that everyone else on the Strato would have had the emotional competence and resilience themselves to make it to Vertumna, let alone establish a colony.

And I don't give the cult any benefit of the doubt in this one, by the way. Modern therapy is great, but it's not the only system for developing emotionally resilient groups. It's specifically terrible for small groups that live together.

This is something that anyone trying to create a planned community of any kind should know on day one. It's unbelievably irresponsible to do what they did.

They didn't need a therapist; they needed social hobbies. They needed a knitting circle, a sewing circle, a banjo band, a bonsai club, three mutually exclusive tabletop rpg groups, a teach-what-you-know art class, a choir, a peer-support therapy and study group, and a dozen other small-group hobbies to foster strongly interconnected emotional group bonds.

That or they needed a religious system. Those are basically the two options. But honestly the cult is alarming enough as it is, so hobbies!!

They did NOT need to make a child bear that burden, and certainly not by herself.

What the Strato needed, and the cult should have provided, is what their children got. A wide variety of small activities that contribute to the overall longevity of the colony while building friendships.

And we only got it because Besq lived long enough for everyone else to survive, and then died spectacularly.

Because of her death.

The severe shock of finding that she hung hung herself in her office, between appointments, completely breaks the "therapeutic" strategy the cult imposed on the colony. Unlike every other job with a possible death in the game, Besq is never replaced.

It takes 20 years and a complete restructuring of the social system of the colony before it's even possible for another therapist to emerge, and only rarely!

Meanwhile, even Congruence struggles under the weight of managing the automated therapy protocols when Besq dies. It's mentioned frequently in certain playstyles that Congruence's therapy is fine for what it is, but it doesn't work nearly as well as a real, trained therapist. Vace describes it as confusing and monotonous. Sol simply describes it as "not as good."

It's a mostly automated system. The handful of excerpts we get from it suggest a very basic CBT regimen. That makes sense, since CBT's non-holistic approach makes it especially easy to self administer. However, it also severely limits the kinds of problem CBT can treat.

And even still, Congruence almost dies the same way Besq did. Only, if Congruence goes, so does the rest of the colony.

That's the end of the Robotics storyline.

After a shockingly similar ~16 years, the strain of mental health for the entire colony, combined with constant trauma, breaks Congruence. An AI many hundreds of thousands of times faster than a human, who regulates everything in the colony, who was designed to self-repair for millennia.

Congruence is the human equivalent of the Overseer, and she lasted exactly as long as Besq did under that strain, while doing significantly worse than Besq did.

Speaking of CBT's inherent limitations: Tangent seems to favour the Psychodynamic approach if she becomes a therapist.

However, Tangent's psychodynamism stands out specifically because of her willingness to use medical and technological intervention alongside it. This is relatively uncommon in our world, if only because psychology (therapy) and psychiatry (medication) are two different fields with totally different demands and licensures.

But even in cases when a psychologist and a psychiatrist share a practice and work together, the ease and readiness with which Tangent approaches those additional interventions is fascinating.

It suggests to me that Besq was likely also a psychodynamist, but a non-medical one.

This is also fun, because it plays well with the theme of reuniting the twins. Instance says outright that Tangent takes after her, while Dys takes after Besq. (Instance saying this is a large part of why I think they were exes rather than unresolved, because it seems like a sort of 'history repeats itself' statement, since it's specifically in the context of 'why Dys and Tangent can't love each other.')

TI is only when Tangent combines the dynamic, holistic approach of Dys (and psychotherapy) and with the the rigid, numerical approach of Instance (and psychiatry), that Tangent overcomes the hurdles her mother failed.

Tangent's happiest lives come from reuniting with emotionality, trauma, and soft skills through Dys, and through the echo of their mother Besq.

Her happiest lives come when she surpasses the horror she inherited when her mother's all-too-human strength finally failed.

And I think that's part of why Tangent is often so... accepting of her early death (she never lives past 60). And why even in the best endings, she doesn't have children of her own, though she donates genetics to a few.

She achieves her goals simply by surviving her trauma instead of being consumed by it. Her legacy is the health and happiness of humanity as a species, not herself or her bloodline. She's very much the mirror image of Dys and the Gardeners, in that way.

There is one other kind of mental health intervention in the colony without Tangent, though. If Congruence's workbook therapy doesn't help, then there's Instance's meds.

When Arabesque dies, Instance devotes herself wholeheartedly to creating self-regulating psychiatric drug implants. In the Barista job ending, Tangent talks about how she and Instance have perfected the technology and Tangent uses it herself to manage her depression, anxiety and paranoid delusions.

If you do a Delusions run, you get a few more tantalizing hints about that.

After Besq's death, the entire colony develops a SEVERE stigma around mental illness.

When Sol presents with delusions (which CBT is especially bad at handling), no modern therapies are attempted. What happens instead is a horrific combination of futuristic medicine and medieval psychology.

Instance begins with bed rest.

That doesn't work. It wouldn't work even on bog standard psychosis. In the fashion of "The Yellow Wallpaper", being put on bedrest runs the risk of making Sol worse.

If Sol continues to express delusions, Instance moves on to heavy antipsychotics. Because the implant is not yet ready, Sol can fake taking these meds.

But it doesn't matter if you do. You'll eventually be caught, and forcibly medicated in a way you "can't avoid." This is never specified, but is specifically not an invasive procedure.

The antipsychotics cause a horrible reaction, whther voluntary or forced. You become almost catatonic, and are trapped in a permanent hallucinatory dream state with your various lives overlapping in your hearing and sight.

So, Instance, your parents (if alive), and the colony council decide to perform an experimental cyberpunk lobotomy on you. This is suggested to be either a prototype or early version of the implant, as it involves invasive surgery, a long recovery time, the suppression of neurochemicals, and massive personality changes.

When I say there's stigma, I am not fucking around. That's their response to nonviolent, nonthreatening delusions in a child.

And as a natural consequence of this absurd behaviour around modern psychology, the colonists avoid anything and everything that looks even vaguely like modern therapy, with the exception of Congruence's AI CBT.

However, because of Besq's tireless work, the colonists are also generally psychologically healthy enough the "inferior" AI therapy is sufficient.

That means the colonists are healthy enough to more or less self-regulate. Combined with the close quarters and heavy labour demands, a system naturally emerges that prioritizes social-bonding through shared hobbies and work.

I don't think Besq killed herself with that in mind. I can't imagine she planned it that way. I think by the time she got pregnant, it was already much too late for her to have any hope of survival.

But the fact remains: Besq set the colony up to survive, in the most horrific way possible. Tangent's obsession with killing herself so that the colony can survive is very much inherited.

Oh also! I'm pretty sure she named Dys that because he (as the "planned" pregnancy) was her Depression Baby.

There's this thing people do, sometimes, when they're extremely depressed, where they have a kid and obsess over it, because as long as the kid is alive and loves them, then they have a reason to live, etc etc. It's really a horrific pattern, because if the parent(s) don't get help for their psychological issues, it almost always leads to all kinds of child abuse.

It can overlap with post-partum depression, too, which just makes it worse, feeding in to the sense that the only value in your life is your children, or vice versa.

As a psychiatrist and psychologist herself, Besq would have been aware of that. I think on some level she knew she was setting herself and her children up for torment. But it was that or just give up and die already.

I very much believe she had Dys specifically as a way to manage her own dysthymia (major depression) long enough to eke out a bit more survival.

I think her peculiar behaviour towards her children also reflects that. The few times we hear about her aside from Instance, Besq is consistently both drunk and doting. If you've ever read Homestuck, Besq has a very Mom Lalonde energy of desperately trying while utterly failing in no small part due to her substance abuse.

And given that the only other people her age she meets for the rest of her entire life are:

Aunt Anne, the All-Mother

Tirah et al, the most distressingly well adjusted polycule on or off earth

Al and Bernie, the literal fucking dictionary definition of picket fence monogamy

All of whom have kids aready or are just starting to have children (remember, Dys and Tang are the youngest in the group). All of whom are happier and better adjusted than you. In spite of the fact that you were the one doing the adjustments.

With all that, a depression baby starts to sound like a very appealing last ditch effort. After all, as long as she's careful not to hurt the kid herself, then when she does give up and die, at least she knows the creche will keep them safe. And Anne is so happy, so loving.

All Besq needs to do is stay drunk enough not to hurt herself, sober enough not to hurt them, until she's finally done. From the perspective of someone who went through what she did, it must have seemed like a kindness.

Given them a bunch of happy memories of her when they're too young to understand why she reeks of illicit alcohol and doesn't spend time with any adults. Then, when she's too tired to continue, just off herself so she can't hurt them with her self destruction, and let Anne and the creche clean up the mess.

When you're far enough down in the depression, that logic checks out. The idea that your absence could be worse than your presence is unfathomable.

Also, since Besk's birthday is immediately after Dys and Tang's, I have to assume the reason Dys is so weird about birthdays is that Besk made sure to live just long enough for their 5th birthday (the photo Marz has), and then killed herself on or immediately before her own.

That, uh... that would for sure give your kids a weird complex about birthdays, to the degree that your son hates people more if they give him cake, and your daughter refuses to eat any sweets at all.

So yeah, that's about that.

I suppose I should mention her Ex from Earth, the one that comes up in her suicide note. But honestly? She was 16 when she left. I'm not exactly shocked that she idealizes some boy she left back home. Even without the trauma of everything else that happened in her life immediately after leaving him and which never ever ended which would necessarily conflate his existence with the last time she felt joy?

It's not that weird for a 16 year old to have a strong crush, and then wax nostalgic about it as an adult. I mean, most people are willing to make a bit of fun at themselves for how silly and obsessed they were as a teen riding high on that first rush of "oh my god I have sex/romance/whatever feelings now."

It's just that, unlike most people?

When Arabesque says 16 was the best her life ever got, she's right.

[crabbybun]

there are different kinds of GMOs please stop acting like you know what you're talking about LOL

You have clearly never met me.

If there’s one thing I love to do, it’s read.  If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’swriting research papers.  The fact that Ihave anxiety and read random Wikipedia articles to cope means you just gave mea challenge.

To start, I have a pretty loose definition of GMO.  Considering that, since the time humansdeveloped agriculture, we have been cross-breeding plants & animals to fitspecific needs/solve a problem/create a specific taste/etc. – thereforealtering their genetic makeup – I consider most of what is consumed by humansociety to be a GMO.  To split hairs now,to essentially say that the new technology we develop to continue to do whatwe’ve been doings since early civilization, is now somehow “bad” without anyclear evidence to back it up just smacks of hypocrisy to me.  Like, if you actually do research, you’llfind out stuff like we used to use X-rays and Radium to genetically modifyplants but yeah it’smodern biotechnology that’s killing us.  

To address your assertation – of course there are differentGMOs.  The definition of “organism” iskinda broad to begin with.  According toWikipedia [fuck whata professor says; it’s a good place to learn broad knowledge of a topic, if youhave critical thinking skills] it’s very close to the technical legal term“living modified organism” and if that isn’t the broadest thing I’ve ever heardof idk what is.  And while the term GMOdoes not generally refer to organisms that have had genetic material added tothem to change them, transgenic crops have geneticmaterial added to them, not “chemicals”of any sort.  

[That’s another pet peeve of mine – the crusade against“chemicals” by the pure life groups. Nothing has ever sounded more like pseudo-science than that crap.]

However, the fact that there are different GMOs doesn’t makethe supposed “controversy” over their safety any less inane.  I’ll freely admit that, despite my terriblyunderdeveloped digestive system, I am a major foodie and I don’t reallydiscriminate in what kinds of food I’ll eat. That means that I’ll look at all the vegetarian & vegan dishes thatpeople make – and even some gluten-free ones for my Celiac bestie.  A friend from high school found me onFacebook and she had gone way raw vegan by that point so…I have been around the“GMOs are unsafe” discourse the most.  

The first genetically engineered plant is reported in 1983 –a tobacco plant resistant to a specific kind of bacteria.  Genetically engineered animals go back evenearlier.  That means that the scientificcommunity has been studying GMOs for at least 35 years.  That’s a lot of time to study; that could betwo generations worth of people to look at!

And in that 35 years, they haven’t found any real dangerwith GMO crops.  The Library of Congressnotes that the scientific consensus is

“indicating that there is no evidence that GMOs present unique safety risks compared to conventionally bred products.” 

This study looked at 10 years of GMO cropsafety.  Anotherliterature review consisting of 6 years of studies came to roughly the sameconclusion.  And a decade of EU-funded GMO research says 

“The main conclusion to be drawn from the efforts of more than 130research projects, covering a period of more than 25 years of research, andinvolving more than 500 independent research groups, is that biotechnology, andin particular GMOs, are not per se more risky than e.g. conventional plantbreeding technologies.”

Note: these are from several places, not all American.  Is that enough for you? What about the American Association for the Advancement of Science who says 

“contrary to popular misconceptions, GM crops are the mostextensively tested crops ever added to our food supply” 

and while 

“there areoccasional claims that feeding GM foods to animals causes aberrations…althoughsuch claims are often sensationalized and receive a great deal of mediaattention, none have stood up to rigorous scientific scrutiny.”  

The AMA agrees and their Council on Science and Public Health found that 

“bioengineered foodshave been consumed for close to 20 years, and during that time, no overtconsequences on human health have been reported and/or substantiated in thepeer-reviewed literature.”   

Yes, I agree with the Food & Agricultural Organization ofthe UN that any new plants that wecreate have to be studied for adverse effects,but considering the testing that GMOs go through in most developed countries, Idon’t really worry about their safety when they come to the market.  The idea that GMOs are, in fact, extensivelytested for safety on a regular basis is reinforced by this article in theJournal of the Royal Society of Medicine: 

“The European Food Safety Authority and each individual member state have detailed the requirements for a full risk assessment of GM plants and derived food and feed. In the USA, the Food and Drug Agency, the Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service are all involved in the regulatory process for GM crop approval.”  

The same study also finds that: 

“goods derived from GM crops have been consumed by hundreds of millions of people across the world for more than 15 years, with no reported ill effects (or legal cases related to human health), despite many of the consumers coming from that most litigious of countries, the USA.”

So let’s just lay it out there: science says GMOs are safe –so safe that even Bill Nye had to change his mind about them -and there is now an absolute mound of science to look at.  

However, one of the things that bugs me about the pseudo-sciencethat keeps bunk like this around is that it’s detrimental to the science takingplace on a large scale with this.  Our globalpopulation is rising quickly, and we need to address the challenges that gowith that.  Plant genetics could hold thekey to things like global food security, for instance.  Climate change threatens how we doagriculture now and GM crops could be a lifesaver.  We’re losing fresh water for crops and GMcrops could be adapted to that.  Tbh I’vefound that a lot of this bunk is rolled up in privilege that doesn’tacknowledge the fact that GMOs are helping out in needed areas of theworld.  This article in Genetics magazine talks about adapting GM ricefor resistance to floods in places like Southeast Asia or India, and how drought-resistancecorn can help in Africa.  This articlefrom the National Academies Press discusses how genetic modification can simply affect the yield of crops.  

There’s a lot that can be done for a lot of people that canbetter their daily quality of living, and that is worth a lot more to me than abunch of pseudo-science ignoramuses standing in the way of progress.  It’s kind of a racist argument, to me.  Not to mention that your idea of “there aremany different GMOs” – insinuating that some may be dangerous – is as dumb asan anti-vaccer saying “well there are many different kinds of vaccines so onemay cause autism!”  Much like that argument,there is ample evidence to suggest GMOs are safe.  Considering that pretty much everything youeat was engineered to be that way, y’all just better learn to deal withthat.  

Every carrot you eat is a GMO

Every orange you eat is a GMO

Get tf over it already.

[shuaffeine]

The questions are pretty interesting . Here are some... i'll save others for some other time. It 's quite long . Here it goes : 1,2,3,9,11,12,13,14,18,19,20,24,28,32,37,39,41,43,44,47,49,50.

ahh thank you for the long list! sorry it took some time to get through and finish them ;A;♡ here comes a long list of answers, with more under the cut!

send me some bts asks!

1. How and when did you get into BTS?early 2015! a junior of mine from our choir recommended I Need U, and i completely fell in love with the song and m/v plotline! (I still remember the way she screamed everytime JK shows up lmao she’s a cutie) although i’ve listened to their previous releases (Boy in Luv was my first song by them) i only really got into them after INU.

2. Did you make new friends thanks to BTS?Yes! All the nice lovelies here on tumblr I could meet and get to know because of them, but in real life there are quite a few acquaintances that became my friends because of bangtan ♡

3. Has Bangtan influenced your life in any other way?a lot, actually. with the way I look at life (joon’s hyyh: on stage ments wow) and the way I listen to music are just starters, but they definitely played a part in shaping my current view of the world in general. (i still think humans are shallow but humanity might still be saved somehow)

9. Your favourite AGUST D and RM track?…………………………………………….how does one choose, though?from RM, probably Life. I really enjoyed the lyrics for this onefrom AGUST D, most likely So Far Away. again with the lyrics, but also because I like the arrangement of the song and I relate to the lyrics a lot. sometimes, though, if I’m feeling like I’m back in high school with all the rebellious soul resurrected in me, Agust D is my jam.

11. Is there any BTS song that has a special meaning for you?Whalien52. on the surface, the song seems to be just about the 52Hz whale, but I see it as a cry for help from someone who’s just out of place in their world.

12. Your favourite live performance?I’m torn between INU+Run or Perfect Man, both in 2015 MBC Music Festival….. I would also mention First Love and Stigma in Wings Tour Seoul though, but I only watched it through fancams……

13. Your bias?yoongi ♡

14. Your favourite ships/interactions?OT7 interactions are life tbh, I just really like the dynamics between all the members I can’t possibly choose just one.

18. Which member matches with your personality the most?i’m probably a mix of yoongi and taehyung - an unlikely combo but it really depends on my mood or situation. 

19. Who do you think would be your best friend in BTS?jungkook? i game a lot and am competitive as hell, and probably because he’s the closest to my age.

20. Which member caught your attention first?jimin! he first caught my attention in MAMA2014 (guilty as charged rip) and that was really how I got to know some of the members’ names at first.

24. What immediately comes to your mind when you think of Yoongi?min cutie is too soft these days my heart can’t handle his presence

28. What immediately comes to your mind when you think of Taehyung?leica. leica leica leica. (also he’s such a qt omg)

32. Rank the rap line in terms of favourite rap style!1. yoonnamseokI can’t rank them because their styles are slightly different? like yoongi carries so much emotion, hoseok’s flow is insane, and namjoon the power force. they fit together so well i can’t rank them in any way.

37. What variety show do you want BTS to be featured in?idk if this counts as variety, but Fantastic Duo or I Can See Your Voice? I really wanted them to come on Knowing Brothers and they did, but other than that I’m not sure :/ maybe Master Key, since I’m also watching that right now xD

39. Have you ever been to a fansign or concert of BTS?……no :’) I would have gone to Wings Tour in Sydney if it hadn’t been on week 12 and we were scheduled an exam revision workshop which ended up being cancelled and i was about to commit muRDER

41. Did you ever join a fansite’s birthday project?unfortunately no, I could barely support my fangirl life as it is with all the official content churning out like no one’s business tbh

43. Do you talk openly about BTS in front of friends and family?YES HAHAHAHA my bestie got into k-pop again because I replayed bangtan songs waaayyy too many times in front of her, although it’s a bit unfortunate that she eventually got into Big Bang and Got7 more :’) my brother, though, is the only person who can stop me from talking anything bangtan (because I don’t want to get hit by him lmao)

44. If you were given the chance to say one sentence to all of them, what would you tell them?thank you for existing in this universe of ours, and I’m thankful to be born in the same timeline as you boys ♡

47. Do you prefer Hip-Hop BTS or the more Pop-ish BTS?depends on my mood!

49. What kind of concept would you like to see in the future?virus? HAHA when DNA came out, ms. janwong was the target of this genetics major’s triggered moments. “What are they coming out with next? Virus?? Penicillin can’t kill the virus is it so they’re attacking the DNA? gdi PLS STOP TRIGGERING ME” basically something like that xD

on a more serious note, I would love for them to come out with a soft, R&B/urban concept for a whole album, although it might be impossible lol

50. Your thoughts on BigHit?I think they’re a legit and just company (unlike TShit) as the members have continually expressed their delight in the way the company runs, etc. They seem to be really close as well, and I really hope that behind the scenes, they are truly like a family.

[misssophiachase]

Friday on my Mind

Happy Easter everyone! Even if you don't celebrate, please enjoy my little themed drabble collection for the occasion (four parts, one each day of the Easter weekend starting with Friday). Also hope the Easter Bunny comes to visit. Inspired by Shania Twain's song of the same name.

Caroline, Katherine and Bonnie are invited to spend the Easter weekend in country England with the mysterious Mikaelson family, not expecting the beautiful surroundings nor the arrogant brothers they meet along the way.

That Don't Impress Me Much - Part 1

Surrey, England

"Woah," Bonnie murmured as they approached the foreboding, grey bricked mansion in all its glory. "When you said Easter egg hunt Katherine, I kind of thought we'd be in some little park, not at one of the Queen's many country estates."

"Esther Mikaelson may be a billionaire and the owner of the art gallery I manage but she isn't the Queen of England as far as I'm aware," Katherine snorted, looking out the window slightly in awe herself.

"Are you sure?" Caroline checked, regarding her best friend curiously. When Katherine had invited them to the Mikaelson's annual Easter weekend celebrations she hadn't expected this, none of them had. Each coming from small-town beginnings it was a little overwhelming.

Caroline, Bonnie and Katherine had been best friends since growing up in Virginia. After graduating they'd all studied at Columbia together only to move to overseas five years later. A promising job offer for art history major Katherine at the famed Mikaelson galleries had sent the girls to London. Given their close ties it seemed almost impossible to part ways at that stage.

The move had been beneficial to them all as it turned out, Bonnie scoring an entry level position at a local engineering company and Caroline a political internship at Westminster. It had been difficult financially at first but the girls didn't care about their tiny apartment in Aldgate East as long as they were all together.

"When Esther Mikaelson invites you to her family Easter you don't say no," Katherine added. "Come on you guys, you promised you'd behave."

"And we fully intend on it even if it's nothing we've ever experienced before," Caroline murmured, her eyes fixated on the family residence.

The cab they'd caught from the train station stopped at the entrance and they busied themselves removing the bags before a well-dressed porter appeared and shooed them away. Caroline was beginning to realise this was probably only the beginning of their weekend. It wasn't like she didn't appreciate good service but Caroline liked to do things herself, it was the way she was brought up after all.

"You'll be staying in the East Wing," he informed them in a toffy accent as they entered a rather impressive entry hall. Caroline looked upwards, overcome by just how high the ceilings were but she was pretty certain the house tour was only going to get better as they found their way to their weekend accommodations.

Upon entering her picturesque room with a grand four poster bed and large bay windows overlooking the impressive grounds below, Caroline had already worked out that it was about the same size of their meagre apartment in London and with her own adjoined bathroom on top of it. Caroline had always been a suspicious person by nature, call it the political graduate in her, and wasn't quite sure why they'd been invited there but she knew there had to be some motive.

The housekeeper had informed them of the tea party taking place in the back garden and left them to dress. Caroline opened her case, suddenly self conscious about what she should wear and was beginning to think she hadn't packed suitably. She inspected her choices critically wondering whether to put on the blue or green sundress with the white cardigan. It almost felt like she was going to be in the Queen's company with cucumber sandwiches sans crust and those pet corgies or something.

"The blue," a voice suggested, obviously sensing her dilemma. "It brings out your eyes." Caroline looked up into the warm, brown eyes of her best friend. "They don't bite, well at least I hope they don't."

"What are we doing here, Kat?" Caroline asked earnestly.

"Why do you always have to think there's some motive?"

"I work in politics, what do you expect?" She drawled, smoothing her blonde waves as she said it. "It's my job to be completely cynical about absolutely everything."

"She's my boss, Care," Katherine began, moving towards the bed. "I'm just trying to make a good impression and what better people to help me do that than my two besties?"

"Well, since you put it that way," Caroline grinned, pulling her in for a much needed hug.

"Hey!" Bonnie interrupted from the doorway. "What about me?" 

It wasn't long and they were all embracing and Caroline had changed into her blue dress before they made their way through the winding halls and into the stately backyard. It was immaculately groomed, much like the rest of the house and grounds. They could make out a group of people gathered on the lawn, champagne glasses already in hand.

"Katherine," Esther greeted the three girls warmly as she took in their appearance. Caroline was just glad there was no obvious frown in her direction especially given how much effort she'd put into her outfit. "It's so lovely to see one of my star employees here and with your lovely friends." Caroline wasn't sure if she really was that sweet or she was just that insincere by nature. Her instinct figured it was the latter. "You must come and meet everyone, including my family."

They were immediately swallowed into the circle and given flutes of champagne and offered pretty trays of finger food. Everyone seemed rather friendly but Caroline couldn't miss the three brooding guys standing nearby. The two brunettes were attractive without question but it was the blonde with the crimson lips and dark, blue eyes that captured her attention. He too seemed rather taken by her appearance at first before his gaze diverted back to his companions.

They made their way through the crowd, making small talk with family friends and eventually meeting Esther's son Finn, his wife Sage and their three children as well as daughter Rebekah, husband Enzo and their two sons. Caroline had to admit they were all genetically blessed but she was hardly surprised. These people seemed to have it all, money and looks, but even Caroline knew there was more to life than that.

"You must meet my other sons as well," she suggested, ushering the girls towards the group of well-dressed males in summer suits. One of the brunettes she introduced as Elijah was incredibly serious and the most formally attired while the other brunette sported an unbuttoned shirt and cheeky grin (much to his mother's obvious ire). The blonde remained disinterested during the introductions which was a change from his initial glances Caroline thought. She didn't have any intention of making an effort with his smug ass.

The afternoon tea continued but Caroline could swear the blonde was staring at her although he'd avert his gaze if she even dared to look in his direction. "What's with the brothers?"

"I have no idea," Katherine offered. "This is my first time meeting the siblings. As far as I know Elijah is some hot shot investment banker, Klaus a brooding artist and Kol is a playboy."

"A playboy?" Bonnie asked curiously. "Is that his official title?"

"I'm not sure if that's his professional title," she drawled. "But that's certainly his reputation."

"Katherine," Esther enquired, interrupting their conversation in the corner of the garden. "I'd really like to introduce you to my youngest son Kol properly, I think you two would have so much in common." Katherine raised her eyebrows, obviously not so convinced by her assessment. Caroline couldn't miss the shock registered on her face, even she knew Kol wasn't the guy for her feisty friend.

Caroline snuck a look at the blonde she'd been trying to ignore noticing his crimson lips curved into a smirk. He may of been some artist but his social graces left a lot to be desired. She had every intention of keeping her distance over the weekend given Klaus seemed like trouble and she certainly wasn't interested in anything he had to offer even if he was gorgeous.

Full chapter here - Saturday Night’s Alright  coming soon!

[kellyp72]

Beyond the Hype: The Science behind developing healthy eating habits

Americans’ thinking about food has shifted dramatically over the past 2 decades. With major changes to the food industry (think the introduction of GMOs, the mainstreaming of organic foods, the popularity of celebrity chefs, and the growing number of documentaries about our eating habits – e.g. “Super Size Me”, and the problems with the industrial food complex), a growing number of people now think that eating healthy is important.

However, although many of us want to eat healthy, or think that we are eating healthy, the evidence says otherwise. In fact, most Americans do not get the recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables and consume waaaay more sugar and saturated fats than they should.

Despite the shift in thinking about the importance of healthy eating, clinical studies show that there is still a major obesity problem in the US and the UK (and in many other parts of the world that didn’t have an obesity problem 2 decades ago). Diabetes, heart disease, and other diseases linked to poor diet and eating habits are also still on the rise.

A big part of the problem can be linked to our habit of eating more highly processed foods than unprocessed or minimally processed foods. Until the 1960s, most people associated “eating out” with going to a relative’s house to eat. Fast food was still a novelty, mostly catering to travelers. Beginning the 1970s, fast food establishments and advertisements increased exponentially, and the food industry stepped up a practice that has now become so routine we don’t even notice it anymore: constantly enticing us with ads for unhealthy, highly processed convenience foods.

A bombardment of convenience food ads is now the trend in virtually every major city in the world.

The more insidious problem, though, is this: some of the foods that are being promoted as “healthy” are now understood by most scientists, wellness advocates, and health professionals to be the causes of chronic illnesses like arthritis, heart disease, and cancer. Some examples of “healthy-not-healthy” foods are canola oil (which is genetically modified and highly processed), dairy foods (which can lead to chronic inflammation), and processed meats, including turkey and chicken (which several studies have linked to cancer).

What if you’ve been trying to eat healthier but can’t seem to break your unhealthy food habits? What if you eat pretty healthy already but want to make some small improvements to your diet? What if you know someone who has a very unhealthy diet and wants to improve his or her eating habits?

First, don’t bother beating yourself up. It’s not going to help you change your habits in the long term. And trying to shame others about their unhealthy eating habits doesn’t help either. In fact, shaming will make them more likely to engage in unhealthy eating out of the guilt you are heaping on their shoulders.

There is a science to eating healthy that can help you develop better habits or make small improvements. Here are 5 things you can do to accomplish those tasks.

Don’t deplete your self-control energy. When you have less metabolic energy during the day, you are going to have a harder time exercising self-control (this applies not only to eating, but to other types of behavior, too). How do you make sure you have a steady supply of self-control energy throughout the day? First, eat breakfast!!! Eating something in the morning, preferably a full, healthy, non-processed food meal (even if it’s just a boiled egg and piece of toast with nut butter and low-sugar jam) will not only give you the start you need without the crash that a coffee-only breakfast will produce, it will help regulate your metabolism (e.g. if you are trying to lose weight, eating regular meals every day helps). One other way you can avoid depleting your self-control energy is to sleep. Most people need at least 7 hours of sleep a night for their bodies to complete the process of self-renewal and healing that helps us function at our best. Put simply: sleep deprivation leads to poor impulse control. However, too much sleep is just as detrimental to your health as not enough.

Delay gratification. As Columbia University psychologist Walter Mischel’s “marshmallow experiment” with children in the late 1960's showed, delaying gratification, or in other words, exercising self-control, is a cognitive and emotional skill set that one can learn (though it’s easiest to learn if you begin as a child). Developing the ability to delay gratification, which is a kind of stress management technique, is not just a skill, however. It's also a major determinant of success in life (even more so than environment, upbringing, or wealth). Delaying your consumption of an unhealthy food will also “trick” the mind into not wanting it. Of course, this doesn’t happen overnight, but with practice, it becomes easier for your body to stop craving unhealthy foods.

Slow down your eating. How many times have you mindlessly rushed through a meal, only to realize soon afterwards that you ate too much? Eating too fast prevents the body from recognizing when it is full and makes the work of digestion much harder. It also causes bigger fluctuations in your glucose levels, which can lead to metabolic syndrome (a cluster of conditions leading to chronic illnesses). Aside from slowing down, you can also take a break in the middle of your meal. To develop the habit of eating more slowly, try putting down your fork or spoon after every bite, or making a conscious effort to chew each bite at least 10 times. This also helps with digestion, as chewing produces more of the saliva needed to stimulate your body’s ability to break down and absorb the food you consume.  

Allow yourself to cheat. Even the healthiest eaters cheat once in a while (they may not always realize it, though, as foods marketed to them as “healthy” may contain unhealthy levels of fat and sugar). Cheating sensibly and in moderation is ok and actually helps with motivation. Think of it as a reward for good behavior: if you manage to eat healthy for a week, you can eat a less healthy meal or snack on the weekend. The key to enabling this psychological process is to be strategic: plan when and where you’re going to eat that cheat meal, or snack, and focus on a particular cheat option. In other words, restrict your cheating to one burger, or a slice of cheesecake, or a (small) bag of chips. Don’t binge on all 3 at once, in order to enjoy the cheating without going overboard.

Make it easier for yourself to cook at home. It’s easy to rationalize eating out by saying you don’t have time to cook. I’m sorry, to say, but this is a lie you tell yourself!! First of all, virtually everyone is too busy these days, so that’s no longer a valid excuse for anything and everything you don’t feel like making time to do. And the fact is, you make time for the things that are important to you, whether that may be zoning out on your instagram feed, playing video games, or spending an hour on the phone with your bestie. Like cheating, cooking is easiest and works out best for your healthy eating agenda when you plan ahead. There are numerous ways you can make it easier for yourself to cook at home, many of which I write about in my book (click the image on the right to read a preview, borrow, or purchase it on Amazon.com). One way is to designate part of one or two days a week to prep, cook, or partially cook meals. Chop a bunch of onions, cook a pot of rice, boil a box of pasta, chop a slew of veggies, cube some chicken or turkey, peel some shrimp. Freeze in small containers, then when you come home from an exhausting day at work/in school/schlepping kids around, all you need to do is throw a few things together with some spices, sauteeing in olive or coconut oil, or make a quick soup with the aid of a pressure cooker or power cooker. Alternatively, throw some veggies and meat in a crock pot with spices and let it all cook while you’re away. Our recipe page has a few other ideas for quick meals, or you can download the meal planner when you sign up for access to our free resource library.

When it comes to developing healthy eating habits, self-control is key. But it’s also fragile. With a little strategy and planning, though, you can make a big difference in how, and what you consume. Your body will thank you for it!

What healthy eating strategies do you use? Use the comment box below to share your own tips. I’d love to hear from you!

[buddysystemla-blog]

It’s been a week since we got back from our writers’ retreat in Mexico. And wow, I miss it. It’s been getting increasingly stressful to be in the U.S. especially for qpoc (been feeling a collective depression among my circle for about a year now due to current events happening in both private and public spheres) and while running away from your problems to a country with its own issues that you are conveniently free of having to deal with is not the solution, it is important to unplug, take a break, and recharge. 

My mom lives near La Bufadora in Baja California and loves having me and my friends come visit (I know, I am blessed). And while Bela and I live together, Iman, our main story consultant, lives in Oakland so it can be hard for all 3 of us to get together for some quality, focused work time. Which is probably why our story still had some major holes in it. We were desperately needing to move forward with other elements of the game so I used our little issue as an excuse to go down and pay mom a visit and call it a writers’ retreat. Our friend, Mark, also tagged along.

We spent our time having great conversations, great wine, amazing food, taking in the views, going on hikes, exploring, and making art. We even took a dip in a natural hot spring on the beach... We also managed to do some work! We wrapped up our outline, characters, and game flow!!! HECK YEAH!

Once we started really diving into all of the layers of Nyah’s story something weird started happening...the story started to mimic our lives and our lives were echoing the story. A meta loop. We’ve established that Nyah is missing her mom, and in the demo it is implied that her mother is dead. For the full game we decided we wanted to give more life to Nyah’s story and less tragedy so Nyah’s mom is NOT dead- but, she’s tired, stressed, and single, making it difficult for her to give Nyah the love and attention she deserves.

Iman and I had a lot of conversations about our relationships with our own mothers who are also single and while they have very different narratives and barriers that they face, they are both holding onto trauma that has been passed down to them and that they have passed down to us. 

It was interesting to have these conversations while staying at my mom’s house. I won’t speak for Iman and her relationship with her mother but I have a lot of painful memories when it comes to my mom, and some of them aren’t my own- they’re hers. This is a subject I think about a lot: The pain of our mothers and how we come to carry it. 

My mom left my family when I was 6 and has been on her own since then. Jumping from one place to the next, she continues to run away from any attachment or connection to people and places. When I was a kid I hated her, but now I think I just hated the fact that she was never around. When we would spend time together she was angry and violent and had expectations I never felt I could meet. I was embarrassed by her accent (she’s first-generation Japanese) and her otherness and preferred her to be away so she wouldn’t draw more attention to me (I changed schools a lot and they were always predominantly white). Now, I accept her distance from me when we’re not together and I tolerate her overbearingness when we are together and I’m just happy she’s in my life at all. Getting her to talk about her past is like pulling teeth, but with the help of my sister, we’ve been able to learn about her childhood and how much pain she’s been silently holding onto. While it’s a heartbreaking process, it helps me love her more and forgive her for the pain she put me through as a child. 

I only know what I experience. I will never know what it feels like to be a black American woman.  I gather there are many more heavy layers of trauma, systemically and genetically, passed down to black women than I will ever understand. Iman has been so generous in being able to go to these places for the sake of this project. Nyah’s story is the tip of this iceberg.

As a young person, it is not so easy or obvious to hold space for your mother. And frankly, I don’t believe that should be expected of you. I believe a child’s job is to explore and grow. But let’s face it, there are a lot of forces at work that make it difficult to do that. Nyah is in that place. She is having a hard time understanding why her mom is being so mean. She feels alone and uncared for and doesn’t know who she is or if she matters. She is trying to source all of those needs from her mother who is not able to provide them for her. She is frustrated and sad when a mysterious figure, Papa Legba, answers her cries and brings her to a place called The Crossroads where she is no longer alone. Will Nyah find her way back home? And will it be different this time?

This is a story about Nyah finding her light, making it grow, and using it to break cycles.

I’m really excited about this story and the potential for a game to be meaningful for femmes of color. I think it is really important to have a game that features ZERO white people. I really want everyone to fall in love with Nyah and root for her perseverance. She is our love-child. 

I also want to add how grateful I am to have strong femmes in my life like Iman to talk with about these things (we realized on this trip that Iman is my oldest friend, we have known each other for 15 years!) and to be able to create a love-child with my childhood bestie. That’s what BUDDY SYSTEM is all about <3

[thedramafilesblog-blog]

Appearing before the Dramacourt: Hwarang: Poet Warrior Youth Eps 11-12 (We decided to combine these two eps because there wasn’t much happening in ep 11)

***If this is your first time browsing The Drama Files, please read The Rules section first for our reviewing and rating system***

Issues:

Whether Han Sung and his brother’s issues were realistic?

Whether having a bracelet be a symbol for recognizing the King is less than ideal?

Whether the way rumours spread is portrayed accurately?

Whether coming from a “good family” equals better treatment?

The Rule(s):

Not really. It feels like it came out of nowhere and the viewers were blindsided.

Again, not really. What if it fell off your hand and then someone else picked it up? They could just as easily make a claim to the throne.

Yes. It’s very accurate and realistic. If you stand in a hallway in high school and watch, its exactly how rumours spread.

Apparently.

Application:

RedRosette J: Again, episode 11 was a whole bunch of filler, so we felt that it wasn’t worth doing a whole post on it. Basically what happened was that Sun Woo and Ji Dwi spent some quality bromance bonding time, Sun Woo and Aro finally ended up on the same page about liking each other, and the pointless princess tried to assassinate Aro. Oh and someone started a rumour that the King was within Hwarang. The episode had a 30 second recap at the end that summed up the important points of the entire episode and if you don’t have time to watch the whole thing, I recommend watching that because its basically better than wasting your time watching pointless filler.

Okay then. This is happening. 

Why is this super adorable?

They’re basically besties now

Yup this is happening

That Pointless Princess is the worst assassin ever!

Shit just got real.

RedRosette J: Episode 12 was basically all the characters dealing with the aftermath of the revelation of the King being inside the Hwarangs. It was quite slow and I had a hard time staying focused. There was a lot of Taehyung in this episode and I’m not going to lie, in comparison to the actor playing his brother, his angsty acting was quite cringey. (Sorry Taehyungie) We do see Soo Ho and Ban Ryu hanging out a lot and actually being friends at this point I think, so that’s nice. I’m not even going to touch that whole Soo Ho carrying the Queen thing with a ten foot pole. *sigh* What is the point of this crush? Is it to make viewers cringe? Because that definitely happened! Perhaps the biggest thing in this episode is the Chief Instructor figuring out that Ji Dwi is the King and Sun Woo also starting to figure it out. Nothing else really happened. The plot always seems to develop so slowly in this drama….

Jubiemon J: I’m going to be talking about both of the episodes. I was talking to RedRosette and I was like . . . hang on, we’re more than half way through the drama, but why do I feel like nothing much has happened? I don’t recall seeing tons of bromance scenes either. Just a few here and there. I thought it was kind of stupid/funny that the princess was saying how she was hunting for deer, if I remember correctly. Like please . . . These two episodes weren’t super memorable. I watched them a few days ago and I don’t remember any scenes that made me go WOW. I think the only part that I do remember is Hansung and his older brother’s little fight and the reason that I remember it is not a good one. That conflict came out of nowhere and it made it seem like Hansung’s character suddenly lost his mind or had some hormonal fluctuations that caused him to lash out like that. Yes, as much as I like BTS’ V/Taehyung, his acting for those scenes was cringey. It didn’t help him that the older brother had better acting skills; that just made Taehyung’s acting seem even more unpolished. I’ll cut him some slack because this is his first major acting gig and the writing of the scenes didn’t help his character either. The conflict sort of blew out of nowhere. Taehyung, though, was good at his aegyo acting when he pretended to hurt his foot.

Do Ji Han keeps slaying us every week!

I feel like we really need a label for these two now

Yup. This is 3/5 of the Dream Team

She’s like superrrr prettyyyy

When the cat is out of the proverbial bag

Boi put that smile away before you hurt somebody!

Issue 1: Whether Han Sung and his brother’s issues were realistic?

RedRosette J: So this came out of nowhere for me. Jubiemon and I were talking about this too. It initially seemed like Han Sung was okay or accepting of Dan Se and the whole ‘Half-Bone’ or whatever situation. Even if the inferiority complex was supposed to develop over time, it wasn’t obvious to the viewers because a) the character didn’t have much screen time and b) when he was on screen he was on for like a second and that too for being cutesy. There was no time in between for us to see that the character was having these issues with his brother. Not to mention, Dan Se disappeared for like half of the drama and was suddenly re-introduced to us last week or something. I’m sure the issues are realistic; it makes sense that Han Sung would feel inferior to his athletically skilled brother considering the pressure that he was under as the ‘True-Bone’ or whatever to be the perfect son and all that. However, it’s the way that the issues were conveyed to the viewers that was problematic. Maybe a revision of the script is in order?

Jubiemon J: I mentioned this in my previous paragraph, so I’ll keep this part short. I agree with what RedRosette said. Han Sung and his brother’s issues weren’t realistic because of a mix of poor character development from writing and perhaps Taehyung’s inexperience with acting. I say the latter point f0r these reasons. Do Jihan doesn’t appear in that many scenes, yet he manages to translate his character’s conflict with his family well onto the screen. I can feel his inner turmoil. Another side character, Yeo Wool, does a good job of being the voice of reason and arguably the “Fool” that we see in Shakespearean plays. Even with the poor writing, if Taehyung were more experienced in acting like the two actors, he could have been able to show the little bits of annoyance/frustration with his responsibility as a “pure bred”.  I do think he executes the aeygo, playful scenes much better, probably because that’s more like the fan service he does or more like his on-screen personality as a BTS member. I hope he does take some acting lessons in the future if he wants to pursue acting later on.

We go from cute…

To more cute…

To super cute…

To what is this???

Where is this coming from??

Issue 2: Whether having a bracelet be a symbol for recognizing the King is less than ideal?

RedRosette J: This made absolutely no sense to me. How were they supposed to figure out who was King if the only thing that people had to go on was the bracelet which, as in this drama, kept switching owners? It seems like a very silly way to figure out who is King. They need a tattoo or an obvious birth mark or something. Also, for a guy trying to be inconspicuous, why would you go around wearing the bracelet with the King’s mark on it? That makes absolutely no sense at all. -_-

Jubiemon J: Yes that bracelet symbolizing the King was quite . . . silly. Anyone could have made that bracelet if they could spot the design. Sigh.

Seriously??

Issue 3: Whether the way rumours spread is portrayed accurately?

RedRosette J: This I found to be very accurately portrayed. This is exactly how rumours spread in high school…or anywhere really. Someone gets a hunch about something and tells someone else who tells someone else and so on and so on. Before you know it, everyone already knows and its absolute chaos. These guys are also quite a gossipy bunch for warriors.

Jubiemon J: I think secretly we all like a bit of gossip and drama, so if there’s something juicy and scandalous, most people will talk about it. Word of mouth is powerful. Gossip spreading isn’t something that only happens among girls, I think. Guys can be just as guilty, so I’m kind of glad that this drama showed how guys can get into the gossip.

Issue 4: Whether coming from a “good family” equals better treatment?

RedRosette J: Apparently this is a thing in this drama. Everything is based on your family background and all that so I guess it makes sense in this drama world, but in reality, I’m not sure if this is a thing exactly. Maybe if you were a celebrity, people might bend over backwards for you, but a “good family” doesn’t really mean much in today’s reality. But then again, it’s a very complicated topic and would depend on the society you live in and the ideals and norms that it ascribes to. Either way, this drama is all about dem genetics!

Jubiemon J: I think this problem of “good family” getting better treatment still happens even today. I agree that it might depend on where you live, but I think this is something that is prevalent. Maybe in some parts of the world it’s worse than others. Even over here, if your family is well-connected, your job prospects are far better. Let’s say you go to a luxury retail store and you’re dressed like you are rich/come from a good family, you’re likely to get better customer service. Over here, a good family might get your foot in the door somewhere, but it’s not detrimental if you come from an average family. It might be harder for you compared to the one with all the fame/wealth, but at least in Canada, there’s a sense of meritocracy. Yes, in this drama though . . . it’s all about the bloodline.

True friends don’t care about your genetic background

Conclusion: Appeal Dismissed.

Rating: 2 = Yell At The Writer (Sorry but a lot of things could have been dealt with better in these episodes)

  File No: Hwarang: Poet-Warrior-Youth-Eps-10-and-11 Appearing before the Dramacourt: Hwarang: Poet Warrior Youth Eps 11-12 (We decided to combine these two eps because there wasn’t much happening in ep 11)