#AND a bad girls club viewer lmao

[chryblossomjjk]

even if my name was natalie nunn…

[heronpoxed]

Everyone is on fire about Tara and that's deserved!!! The hate I see the most comes from the self-insert/fic crowd. And the arguments are how they would have been better old ladies and handled Gemma and "fixed" Jax. LMAO. Lol even. It's petty jealousy.

I think she was set up, as so many love interests are in crime shows (skyler from breaking bad), to be hated because while the viewer loves the aggression and the world building Tara pointed out how insane and dangerous it all was. Jax isn't so hot and cool anymore once the club and Gemma aren't praising him. Once Tara actually shines a light on how self absorbed and pointless the whole outlaw setup is. Selling guns and later drugs isn't a "mission", it's not being an outlaw. It's just crime for money without any redeeming qualities. As was the clubs behavior towards women and their own children, while yelling "family and brotherhood above all else".

Anyway. Tara was right. And I am very sorry she had to die for Jax to finally realize it. She really wanted the best for him and saw him as a good man.

I’ve only ever read one SOA fanfic that was written in 2013 which is more like a love letter to Tara and her & Jax’s teenage years than anything else (its rlly good. It’s called Beginnings if you’re interested in reading) so I have absolutely no idea what the SOA fic crowd is like lol.

You’re right about this too. Tara was set up but I’m connecting this one to misogyny too. If reasonable female characters weren’t notoriously hated - no matter which relatively older show we’re talking about - we wouldn’t be thinking that they were set up. Hope this makes sense. I get the attachment to the world-building because the setting and the world of the story is the first thing that a consumer sees. In the case of Sons of Anarchy though, it was clear from the very first episode that the current club life wasn’t a right way to live. That was the whole point of Jax finding John’s manuscript; that was what got Jax determined to get the club out of the gun running business right? But i guess the attachment to the world made everyone ignore the whole point of the show and ultimately hate Tara because she never let anyone forget that.

That’s one of the reasons why I don’t want a spin-off/sequel with Abel and Thomas (something that many fans want sm). Tara and Jax didn’t sacrifice everything - including their lives - for their sons’ well-being only for them to get back to SAMCRO. It would mean that all of their sacrifices were for nothing!

Good point on the club’s behavior towards women and their families. The way they are with women is absolutely horrible which makes no sense because all of them would go to war for their significant others but then treat them with sm disrespect at home? I guess that comes down to their ego and toxic masculinity.

Tig, Chibs, Opie, Bobby ALL OF THEM had children yet they never cared lmao. All Chibs could talk about during the entirety of s3 was ‘his girls’ yet he never mentioned either Fiona or Kerrianne in later seasons. As much as Tig loved his kids, his way of life got Dawn killed and he was so extremely devastated!! I can’t believe that after Dawn’s death he never for even a split second questioned his choices regarding his life and the club.

I also hated that Opie’s children gradually started disappearing. i feel like not giving him any storylines with his kids in later seasons dehumanized him in a way. But i’ll never be sure if it was intended that way or not.

All of this collectively comes down to inconsistent writing. To me at least. I don’t know why screenwriters are always adamant on leaving so many loose ends and not digging a bit deeper into stuff like this.

And to answer your last point. Obviously Tara was right and I’m sorry that it took me watching this show twice to realize it but in my defense, I was 15, stupid and didn’t speak good enough English :’)

[sophsun1]

I hope you don’t mind me sending you this ask but I finished with 5x07 (i am trying to go slow through these last episodes because while this season sucks, i am not ready to let it go). First about 5x06, i died at that moment where Emmett is waxing Carl. Also I need Emmett to go back to throwing his amazing parties because this new queer guy job, is not it. The things Brian said at that store were so right even though as usual it was rude. That brad pitt wanna be knock off, needs to leave. Oh my god, first of I am offended on Brian’s behalf because c’mon, he looks 1000x better. But also my gosh this story line is dumb. The ending was sad, but the whole ‘proper couple’ thing kind of annoyed me because weren’t they already that?? And now 5x07: i don’t know if it was here or not but I can’t stand Monty and Eli, im sorry i know it’s random but they’re so annoying. I feel bad for Justin but this whole marriage thing he’s now after is just weird, like c’mon you’re 21/22. Their break up hurt. I think this one hurt the most out of all (except the ethan one), Brian’s ‘youre making me nervous’ HURT! But also the part where Justin already had bags packed and ready. Fucking hell writers! I did though enjoy that he told Jen and Deb that Brian didn’t do anything wrong. And Jen’s ‘i wish you worked it out’ was so cute!!! I wish we hot waaaay more Jen/Brian scenes. The Brain and Michael scene hurt though. Seeing Brian have that smile right before Michael said ‘he left bc of you, who wouldnt’ and then his smile dropped and you see his eyes search Michel’s face. PAIN!!!! Gale, you will pay for my therapy! And the ending?!?!?! You ate my sunshine???? GIRL! I WANT TO CRY ALL OVER AGAIN! Also the bet is so fucking dumb. Please tell me this dude/storyline disappears in the next ep like the posse storyline did. But it was funny how Brian kicked him out of the club

Hey anon!

Of course I don't mind!

I love hearing people's reactions to watching the show for the first time and their descendent into anger at the brutally terrible story arcs this season offers up lmao.

Oh that bargain basement Brian Kinney, I cringed so hard... THE WORST PLOTLINE EVER. IT'S EMBARRASSING ON EVERY LEVEL. They really tested Gale, Randy and the viewers patience and yes, Britin's 100th breakup was again weak and just recycled issues that they had kind of worked through before and now Justin wants to be like Ben and Michael?

They were already a normal couple, that was the whole point of their relationship, they were unconventional and didn't bow down to society's expectations of them but that didn't mean their love was any less real. Somehow the writers threw that out the window and made Justin into a homemaker at 22!!!

The one thing I've always loved about their breakups is that they have never spoken badly about the other, or set out for revenge or been petty. In fact it's been the opposite you can see the love and respect for each other shine through unlike Mel and Linds for example.

God you are my sunshine playing over them as they walk away, PAIN!

What a way to stick the knife in from Michael, saying the one thing Brian fears the most the people he loves will ultimately leave him😔

[ukaiknowsbest]

Review: Tamayomi

[will contain spoilers]

Lately I have been pretty bored with the recent developments in Daiya no A and Oofuri. New Shonen anime stuff just don't appeal to me, so I bit the bullet and watched Tamayomi for at least one episode a day.

Like me, people would normally think "HOW TF ARE THEY GOING TO PLAY BASEBALL? AREN'T THEY WEARING SHORTS??? IS THIS JUST FANSERVICE?? OMYGOD"

But I did it. I watched the whole thing. 12 episodes.

And I enjoyed it.

THE SETUP/PLOT

pretty standard fare

Pitcher Yomi Takeda accidentally reunites with her childhood friend who's actually a nationals-level in middle school catcher when they both end up in the same highschool.

School: former powerhouse located in Saitama, now baseball club is almost non-existent. Yomi and a few other will try to revive the team from scratch.

Basically Shin Koshigaya is a brand new team where they struggle to look for new members and majority are first years.

They have to face other stronger teams even when they have a few members and some decent players.

Demographic is SEINEN (like oofuri, last inning, one outs, etc.)

CHARACTERS

Yomi Takeda as Main character and pitcher- skilled, resilient, funny, hardworking, does a lot of research which enabled her to perfect her form and hone her breaking ball. She keeps improving in a good pace too.

Tamaki Yamazaki former childhood friend of Yomi. Is a decent catcher in middle school. A bit well known. Good communicator.

Yoshino - team manager and coach. srsly she is a boss. She's not infallible but she tries her best.

and other decent players with adequate skill

For a sports anime they have decent cast. This is probably the closest we can currently get of a story where the girls are just focused on the sport, do their own strategizing/planning/training. All of them are cute but also serious about what they do.

There's no boys here so there's no talk about het-crushes and other distractions. It's a clamfest babyyyy.

I've seen a little of Major 2 (the one abt the son and his coed team) and I couldn't stand it because it was just slice of life in sportsy undertones.

There is also decent communication among all the players. It's pretty refreshing to watch. The catcher is well rounded and the pitcher is good. Everyone talk things out and there is not a lot of drama.

FANSERVICE

Wearing shorts to a sport that involves a lot of making contact with the ground is just illogical lmao.

Their school uniform skirt is pretty short

A little bit of their manager prodding the thighs of each person she meets but with good reason (she can tell how much muscle/exercise a person does just by a little prodding). It's a trope thing.

That's all. There are no panty shots, unnecessary locker room nudity, boob action, see through sweaty shirts. Most of the cringy things I've seen in other girls sports anime aren't present.

Eventually I even forget that they're wearing shorts or that it impedes their performance. It seems like it doesn't matter much to the characters so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I don't know if like the hugging or holding hands is considered fanservice. In my experiece we ladies just act like that irl. What they do is nothing out of the ordinary.

REALISM

3/5. They wear shorts and dont tie their hair up. The baseball part seem pretty decent though. The pacing of the story and matches was like watching IRL Koshien. It's all very clinical and straightforward.

Plus they include a lot of interesting baseball stuff which I haven't seen happen in early stages of other shonen anime like: specifically training the pitcher in other positions, showing what fielders yell to each other, letting other relievers start to reserve their ace (ppl can yell DnA did this but remember Tanba was injury boy throughout Act 1).

COMPARISON TO OTHER BASEBALL MANGA

based on technicality Tamayomi is prolly one of the top among baseball anime/manga I have seen.

Last Inning

Oofuri

Tamayomi

Daiya no A

Now don't chase me with pitchforks because of this ranking just yet. The fact that Shin Koshigaya coach's decisions and reasonings for plays and lineups are discussed makes the show at par with Last Inning and Oofuri. (we dont see DnA kataoka talk abt this sht like..ever)

Moreover Tamayomi has similar vibes to Oofuri/Big Windup but less dramatic. I do not think it's good for beginners too (especially with just 12 episodes). You need to have prior baseball knowledge to understand what the characters were doing.

However, this show is probably the most no-fuss baseball anime/manga I have watched. It does not rely on hype like DnA and it also don't have heavy topics like Oofuri and Last Inning. It's not wacky like One Outs and it's not uber slice of life like Cross Game. It's just baseball.

My minor complaint is that they don't give numbers when talking about things like pitching speed tho. It would've been more realistic if actual numbers were dropped XD

ART/ DESIGN/ANIMATION

A.k.a the thing most viewers complain about.

Character design is subpar. Everyone's faces are almost the same. You can tell who's the character not by face but by hair and height. Personally I don't mind this. I don't really look for realism in most things I watch. And I think the hair designs are cool.

Lots of people drop this show because of bad animation. There are shots/scenes where it's like I'm watching fanmade AMV's in nicovideo/youtube from the early 2000's. Pitching motions and Batting motions look like character movements in rpg games.

It's not really a problem for me though. I think it's charming for some reason. I don't mind it. A lot of people do but I'm not them.

CONCLUSION

NGL I wanted more. 12 episodes is too short. I hope a better animation company picks this up. I'm rewatching the whole thing because I enjoyed it a lot. I'll even check out the manga if I have time.

If anyone's interested here's my tamayomi livetweet thread

This is one of the closest thing I could get to what a decent girl sports anime looks like. If the character designs, art, animation and the uniforms were just better this show would have gone pretty far.

Compared to Shonen types of manga this was relaxing to watch, especially before bed. I'd honestly recommend it you wanna watch smth that doesnt involve a lot of feelings and drama but still feel like watching an actual sport.

Girls are fun. Finally.

[personal notes under the cut]

I get that people reading this would think I'm being too optimistic about a show they considered shtty but I kid you not, I dropped Bakuten (boys gymnastic's anime) coz even with it's wonderful animation i thought it was boring af.

I have dropped so many prettily animated shows coz i just cant get into the characters nor the story.

I've also said before in my Two Car review that I am actively avoiding shows with popular VA's. Idk much abt female VA's in anime, therefore watching Tamayomi was the perfect solution for me.

The reason I like tamayomi so much is that it gave me the same feeling of watching Summer Koshien 2021. I just think an anime that made me remember that kind of feeling was cool.

I'll rewatch hanebado next. wish me luck.

[timingmatters]

Okay so its been long enough that i ranted and watched elite that idc for it anymore lmao. The shitty writing pissed me off, i ranted about it, and was ready to move on. But something that alarmed me happened today. Like seeing first hand the real life negative effect the messages of the series sent to people.

Its about Patrick’s character. Now i have a lot of issues with him, including the lowkey racist vibes he had towards Omar all season that were never addressed. But more than that, this is about consent. Since ep 1, Patrick tried BLACKMAILING Ander to fuck him to help Omar. After Ander told him multiple times to back off he still fully touched his dick until Ander physically pushed him off and left. This was ep 1. Now, we can rant about Ander and even Omar’s reactions and the drama. But this isn’t about the drama. Is the message of consent being shown in the series. Since ep 1 Patrick’s motivations, directly stated by him, is that saying no to him (including sexually) is a problem for the other person because he always gets what he wants. While the drama and Ander + Omar’ actions caused them to break up, it was directly bc Patrick kept trying to manipulate them both with sex and kept pushing even after he was told no. Not only in the first ep, but even when Ander tried to say they couldn’t have sex anymore because Omar didn’t want to be open anymore. He still kept pushing. He got MAD about being told no sexually.

I talked a lot about the writing from a plot perspective and the drama. But today im here to talk about consent. I wanted to be done talking about this season, but I just saw a post on fb with over 30k shares and likes talking about how they wanted to be Patrick in the club scene with Ander on the first episode (where he kept touching Ander even when Ander was like “mhmmm… lets not” multiple times). While ik the Omander relationship has been fucked by the writers, i still see comments about how Patrick and Ander could have been so good bc they are hot (and this comes directly bc a lot of viewers now don’t care for the plot, even less for the queer characters and the writers are aware, so all their storylines are incredibly sexual and viewers watch it for the sex and how hot it is). I have seen a lot of praise or wanting to behave like Patrick bc is hot. When his character has a horrible view on consent. And a lot of people are romanticizing it. Hell, i have seen feminists share it bc “it was so hot” and no talk on how rapey Patrick’s behavior is the more you think about it. His whole storyline was him being mad he was told “no” sexually in the first episode. People tend to not look at consent as hard when it comes to queer men vs girls in media (and ik girls are the primary victims of assault in real life, but online we don’t talk enough about consent within the lgbt community, including girls. We don’t talk enough about consent with wlw either). And i hate that Elite didn’t necessarily portray Patrick as the good guy, but they never addressed that kind of behavior either.

Same with Cayetana. Her and Phillipe (Philippe? I have seen different wording lmao and i dont watch with subs so idk💀 i forgot lmao). They are a couple this season and a lot of people ship them. So many vids online of their relationship. So many edits of their sex. And i have not seen people talk about how he literally tried to assault her and then said she was leading him on. At the very least, unlike with Patrick, that behavior was called out and addressed in the series, but it was still overlooked fairly quickly. This season of Elite has really bad messages regarding consent and normalizes really bad behavior, and it succeeds in doing so because people online are going with it. Thee storylines and behaviors were not written to start conversations, but rather for drama driven by sex. And for such a heavy sex show, the consent is off a lot.

It just made me really uncomfortable seeing so many people online talking about how hot these situations were and completely overlooking and being fine with how these situations lacked consent so much.

I feel like i was repetitive a lot, but alas is 5am and i’m writing this because i saw the fb post being shared about how hot the Patrick and Ander scene was in s1, when it borderlines (i think even explicitly IS) assault. To put your mouth on someone’s genitalia after they clearly said NO more than once, even if they hesitated a little or said it jokingly, is still assault and i got pissed at people praising it so i wrote this xxx

[angelhummel]

I am not a woman of my word, I tell ya what

So I started watching s6 after all. Well, parts of it...

Anyway I thought I’d just post my thoughts like I normally do for the rewatches. Although there are not many thoughts at all.

When I started watching, I was like wow. It’s good to not really feel invested in this at all because s6 is so pointless and also didn’t happen. But then Darren’s acting in That Scene blew me away, and Kurt’s breakdown in the bathroom- tears. Well not tears but something. ...A little something. 

I’m sure someone’s already made this meta connection but Kurt telling Rachel about how he was the only one who showed up to their spot reminded me of s3 when Kurt’s the one who convinces Blaine to go to glee practice and they meet up with Artcedes and everyone comes in after that and they’re all together. 

But also Artie is just... in film school, still. So he’s there. Ah well guess he didn’t feel like going out in the rain 

At one point Sue refers to Kurt as “Middlesex” which is, surprise, another jab at his gender presentation and sexuality. Oh and she says he smells like a nursing home. Just a fun little taste of the oh so hilarious insults to come :)

Although even Jane sounded tired of what she was saying. Her voice was just so calm and chill. Not the usual crazy rage of a Sue insult tornado 

Let It Go is actually a really good song for Rachel to sing at this point in her life. It’s very fitting. I mean I left the episode playing while I went to the bathroom, but it sounded really good from down the hall.

Wow that’s it for Loser Like Me. Moving on!

Yay Jane and Roderick are finally here. Happy days are here agaaain

I love Mercedes’s verbal smack down of the Tea Party people. And Tina’s one line outburst. But the funniest part is still Sam running into Quinn and her laughing like that. Unscripted moments > scripted moments on this show any day

Speaking of which. You know how someone edited the cartoon Hunchback of Notre Dame movie to completely remove the gargoyles to make it less wAcKy? Anyway someone make an edit like that for Glee where you just take out all Brittany lines 

Anyway more importantly, Unholy Trinity hot. Me gay 

All of the songs in this one are so fun, and I love the new characters, and the fact that Kitty is back. Am I actually warming up to s6?? Weird... 

I love when Blaine gets angry. I mean people already demonize him for having any emotions or feelings in the first place so he might as well be angry. No one can do anything about it 

Homecoming has great new characters, amazing songs, even made me laugh a few times. Normally when I think s6, I think Santana’s awful rant, the crazy Klaine locker, Myron, Dalton fucking burning down for no reason??? But hey parts of it aren’t so bad. I’m making progress 

Anyway that’s Homecoming. On to Jagged Little Tapestry 

Klaine duet. Not my one of my favorites but it’s still Klaine so... one of my favorites. I love how soft Kurt looks in the flashback. Little Dalton bbs

I love how you can tell that some of those pictures on Blaine’s phone are Chris and not Kurt. Probably some bts pics, which I love, because one of my pet peeves is when they use promo pics/stills for actual photos lol

“We all left glee club with a better understanding and appreciation of all kinds of music” me @ everyone about Glee

Okay I highkey hate Becky but the “Shut up I know!” delivery to Tina made me laugh 

Oh great, more scissoring jokes. That’s totally what I was missing 

They even say “I would hate us if I didn’t know us” well yep. I hate them. But I do know them lol. Ah well. Their duet mash up is probably one of my most played Glee songs. So there’s that

Santana proposes in the choir room and says it’s going to make all the single people upset lmao. Also she loves Brittany because they... don’t improve one another. Yeah it shows. God I fucking hate Brittana sorry not sorry 

God Santana literally reads as psychotic here. Kurt barely even said anything bad and she looks like the fucking Kill Bill sirens are going off ffs. I reeeally hate her this episode oh my god. It makes me hate all of s6 

Also can we please stop pretending like Brittany is a math genius. I’m over it. I’m tired. I’m tired of Brittany full stop. She’s the worst 

Tv writers have a straight guy and girl know each other for one minute and like make eye contact and expect viewers to be falling over themselves invested in this couple (Finchel) and I’m like ...yawn. But also Jane and Mason have one duet together and I’m like 💖💜💕💞💝🥰💖💜💕💞💝🥰💖

“I think because we’re so close” Rachel shut up I’m still not buying it

“Did they really say that? That I helped them?” God Kurt I love you. You help everyone 

“This isn’t about who I want to go to bed with. It’s about who I want to go to bed as” al;fklsdafjds nice line. I’m also making my peace with Coach Beiste being trans. They actually did a good job I think? The storyline just started and the rest I haven’t watched in 4 years so idk

Sooo all in all of 6x01 I watched maybe... 15 minutes of it. Basically any scene with Kurt or Blaine in it (except them watching Rachel’s pilot, or the Warblers number) and also watched the Sam/Rachel stuff. Everything else? Fast the hell forward. 

6x02 I watched almost all of. Just skipped some Sue stuff. 

I was ready to only skip through That Scene in 6x03 but I remembered all that Becky crap so I skipped most of that. Probably ended up watching about half an hour all together, so the majority of the episode. I consider that a win. 

Overall, Homecoming is the only one I actually really loved. Gotta move it waaay up on my Glee ranking list lol 

[sgtsavoytruffle]

Nobody really wants to help someone who is pleading for help until after they’re dead. That’s humanity. Step back and look at what you have become.

This is just an observation on humanity, in general. One political side in the US is justifying actual violence and bullying, through words and actions and it’s getting bad. At this rate, it only gets worse. The amount of hatred being directed at others through words and actions in real life will reach a breaking point when people decide that they have had too much of the bullying, violence, political coup attempts, etc. The ego on the left is going to be the thing that pushes the society over the edge. I mean, there was a political commentator on msnbc that on the air said, “Republican looking voters should be targeted and destroyed at voting events,” and guess what... people are being targeted in public now. Don Lemon, of CNN (which most people know is propaganda now anyway, but they still have a target audience) says on tv, “White males are the number one threat in this country.” ... And these dangerous and violent opinions are being presented as if they are fact, on tv. And Democrats are laughing about and openly endorsing this. It’s getting bad. But nobody is acknowledging that these views are being pushed to those viewers that take the talking tv idiots’ violent and openly racist personal opinions as facts. Nobody is targeting “Democratic looking voters at voting stations with violence.” That would be racist, but the other way around is cool. And yet that entire side is calling for and going through with this violence and hurting people. At some point, it will become too much. These children on the various liberal media networks don’t want unity: They want ratings and views and clicks, and (not so secretly, more like gleefully) for their own personal viewpoints to be carried out by a party that endorses domestic terrorists like Antifa, amongst other violence that is becoming more widespread. These people aren’t inclusive. It’s pretty fucking exclusive. And they already have everything. But it’s not enough. The ego is their ultimate downfall. Democrats don’t hate Trump. They hate that he is messing with their slush fund of corruption that goes unnoticed by all their minions. Most can’t even tell you why they hate Trump. They just know they do. They have been told to hate Trump, and do so. Where were all the Republican riots in the streets and property damage during almost a decade of Obama? There weren’t any. Is any of this shocking to you? The point is, if the right is really as bad as the left would have you believe, there would have been. White men were being hunted in the streets when Trump was elected, and stripped of their clothing and treated like animals, but you never heard about this because the news wouldn’t report it. It didn’t fit into their narrative. It was happening though.

Most people are too afraid to even acknowledge this kind of stuff. I’m not afraid. I don’t care about likes or numbers. With the way it’s going, it’s not going to be getting any better before it gets much worse.

Everyone these days is either blind or completely brainwashed. Brainwashing people is not hard. Just look at religion. And Democrats. Usually where there’s one, there is the other. People are fools. LaLa Land. They’re all clubs. You want in? You want to get paid? It’s easy. Just go along with it. Feeding frenzy. Conformist idiots. Incapable of thinking for themselves. Group mentality. Antifa. Real hatred and violence is always easily found here. Accusing others of communism while embracing “socialism.” Brainwashed bandwagoners. Lmao. “Jussie Smollett is innocent.” Oh... He’s not. Well, he is anyway, “lol.” Stay tuned to CNN for more propaganda with Don Lemon. “The biggest threat in this country is white men.” - Don Lemon... as he sexually assaults.. white men.. and tries to settle out of court. Lmao. Fools. Hypocrites. Aristocrats. Democrats. Why are the middle class flooding out of Democrat-run towns like NY, Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia... California. Because these places are being consumed by their “progressive” ideas. And the crime and poverty is skyrocketing. These places are “sanctuaries” for violent criminals as well, and this is the part that nobody likes to acknowledge.

The end is closer than you think.

And that statement has absolutely nothing to do with religion. We are not alone in the universe. Remember that. Remember laughing about it, and thinking it sounded crazy. Humanity is fucked. Pray to your god, lol. He isn’t there. What is there is beyond your comprehension. Your god is Santa Claus for adults. The ultimate irony, of course, is that is shows just how juvenile humanity actually is. Some even include X amount of virgins with it. So, perverted juveniles, if you want to get laid when you’re dead, too. Again, any version of this is from humanity is bullshit. Not everyone needs a “holy” book to tell them to be nice to nice people, and to punish criminals. But that’s not even a thing anymore. Check out NY. If you’ve ever reblogged or tweeted an Amber alert, and you support sanctuary cities, you’re a hypocrite, and part of the problem, because you are supporting keeping many bad people on the streets, and some of these very people are taking these women, girls, children, etc. I didn’t say all. Some. Sure. Don’t believe that? It’s called denial. Keep up the good work. You suck.

In the end, all the little groups and cliques and parties and prestige and politics and power and beliefs and lust and money and sex and love and hatred that consume you mean absolutely nothing.

In the end, we’re all fucked. We’re all puppets, tangled in string.

Too bleak, you say? Lmao. What fucking planet are you living on? Population, alone, will consume us all.

I’m only a messenger of the obvious. I honestly don’t give a fuck what you think about me. You’re wrong. You are a brainwashed conformist, getting off on bullying and violence and your ego. You are incapable of thinking outside of the box that contains and consumes you. The hatred and “revenge” that consumes you will ultimately do just that. As you are making millions of dollars. That’s tough stuff. Tough, tough stuff. But appearances are everything to the clique. Again, I don’t care what you think. You’re too far gone. The group mentality of hatred is there for anyone to see. But most people remain blinded and silenced by conformity. You are incapable of abstract thought. Pray to your god about money, lust, sports, lol, whatever. Nobody is there. At least, not what you are thinking of. You are only praying to yourself. Worshipping yourself. Again, brainwashing people is not hard. Especially when they are idiots and conformists. That’s any religion, regardless of the denomination. Sharia Law, or otherwise. Religion is nothing more than brainwashed ego. Brainwashed conformists, which is most people, anyway.

I won’t be silenced.

Step back and look at what you have become. The feeding frenzy of hatred that consumes you, as you claim to be victims. You are the bullies.

Think about what you are doing. What you are saying. Who you are defending. Hillary Clinton? Everyone knows she’s a saint. Because she’s a Democrat... Interesting stuff. Pelosi. Nadler. Schumer. Maxine Waters, lol. Etc. These people look and act like ancient evil robots, and are defended without excuse. Why? Because they are Democrats. And your momma told you so. They’re all as dirty and corrupt as a heaping pile of shit. Open the borders, just don’t try and stay with any of them. They all have walls, and security teams, and power. The truth is right there for anyone to see it. But you’re all blinded by their power over you.

“But there were some who resisted.”

[miasswier]

miasswier’s ultimate glee ranking: no 25

25: Diva

Written by: Brad Falchuk Directed by: Paris Barclay

Overall Thoughts: The entertainment value in this episode is fantastic. Part of why it’s so high up in my list is because I genuinely feel it’s one of Glee’s strongest episodes. Something you will already know if you’ve read my previous reviews is that something I greatly value in an episode is how obvious it is that Glee is an ensemble show. Here, we get four fantastic storylines, all of which are given equal screen time. I love when Glee does this, because 1) it means the show isn’t entirely focusing on Rachel and 2) it gives every viewer a little bit of something. Don’t like Kurt and Rachel? That’s okay, because they’re only 25% of the episode. Tired of the Blaine/Tina stuff? All good! It’s just 25% of the episode. Plus, from a subjective point of view, I enjoy all the storylines this episode. Also, no newbies, and no Finchel drama.  So extra bonus for that! Oh, and also, the music is fantastic.

What I Like:

As already mentioned, this episode is divided up into four stories, and they all get equal screen time (or, at least they do a good job of making it seem that way). Unlike “Dream On”, though, which also followed a similar format, this episode manages to include many of its protagonists throughout the stories. I mean, Blaine, Tina, Kurt, Rachel, Brittany, Santana, Sam, Emma, and Finn all get the spotlight, and Sue, Artie and Unique get some moments too. Compare that to just Will, Bryan, Rachel, Jesse, Tina, and Artie with a little bit of Shelby in “Dream On”. It just makes for a stronger episode.

THE MUSIC. I’ll talk about that more later.

Kurt calling Rachel the fuck out, and putting her in her place. As I’ve mentioned before, it can be exhausting sometimes watching Rachel just get everything handed to her time and time again, so its nice to see her lose every now and again.

Rachel is the one who apologizes to Kurt, and not the other way around. Although I do have issues with that final scene between them, I do really appreciate that they didn’t make Kurt apologize for making Rachel see she is not the only talented person in the world. Even though the scene completely revolved around her and making her feel better, Rachel was still the one who said she was sorry, therefore admitting that Kurt was right to knock her down a peg.

In a similar vein, it’s refreshing to see Rachel acknowledge her flaws, and for once actually vocalize that she has a serious problem of putting her ambition before her friendships. It sucks that this doesn’t stick and that by the time she does achieve fame she becomes exactly what she was so afraid of becoming – and unapologetically so.

Kurt is so epically sassy in this episode oh my god. One of my all time favourite Kurt Hummel episodes. The way he so easily destroys Rachel, and her legion of sycophants makes my life.

There’s only like, one scene with them, but I always thought Kurt and Adam were cute.

I really appreciated that they included Rachel telling those two guys that Kurt earned his spot at NYADA just as much as they did. Like I already said, it’s nice when she actually manages to put her friendships above of her ambition.

Emma’s giant-ass wedding to-do list.

“I know Will trusts me, but I’m a Libra. I can’t do this.”

Finn helping Emma out with her wedding stuff, and Emma helping Finn out as well. They make a good team, those two!

The scene at the end where Brittany tells Santana that she isn’t going to break up with Sam. Glee has a really serious problem when they write love triangles, and that is that very often they take away the agency of whoever is being “fought” over (Exhibit A: Jake, Ryder, and Marley). They do that here, but they do include a scene where Brittany takes her agency back. She makes a decision, and she stands by it. Even though season four Brittany drives me up the fucking wall, you can already see the hints of maturity she will gain by season five.

Although most of her actions are questionable in this episode, it is cute that Santana wants to take the job with Sue just to be closer to Brittany.

Sam sticking up for Brittany and their relationship (even if I don’t really understand why given how the events in “Naked” unfolded).

Blaine is the fucking cutest. Don’t even talk to me. When Tina calls him a “precious Tiger Beat shrinky dink” I almost died because what a fucking accurate description of Blaine Anderson.

His little smirk after “Don’t Stop Me Now”, plus his continuous repition of “um, guys can be divas” is the fucking best.

Sam saying he won’t hit a girl always makes me laugh cause like, lmao, bitch thinks he can beat Santana fucking Lopez in a fight.

Tina’s sassy “Don’t even worry about it” after absolutely killing “Hung Up”.

Tina winning the Diva-Off and Brittany shouting “She never wins anything!”

I actually think the Emma and Finn kiss made for excellent shock value.

Tina is in both my likes and dislikes of this episode. As you may have gleaned from past reviews, I’m basically the only person on the planet who actually enjoyed Tina’s take-charge attitude season four onward, and in a lot of ways felt it very merited. I mean, her reaction to seeing Santana show up yet again? It’s fair. She sat in the back of Glee for three fucking years, watching Rachel win solo after solo (and the few she didn’t get go to Mercedes, Santana, and Kurt), and barely complained. Now, it’s her turn. It’s her senior year. And who keeps getting the spotlight? A fucking sophomore, and a girl who doesn’t even attend the school anymore. It’s totally fair that she’s annoyed. It’s fair that she wants to be the girl who kicks down the door and gets what she wants. I think she was completely in her right to act the way she did in this specific regard. However…

What I Don’t Like:

… I hate that the thing she is taking charge of is her desire to be in a relationship with Blaine rather than her desire to be the star of the glee club. Again, I am probably one of the only people who wasn’t annoyed when they first introduced the Tina crushing on Blaine storyline, but by the time I was finished with this episode, I was done. They turned it from “this is something that happens so we want to showcase that” into “I deserve the love of this gay man because I did something he never asked me to do”. Blaine didn’t ask Tina to look after him, and therefore its kind of ridiculous that she would be so upset that he didn’t fall into her arms because of it. Also, she’s acting like he told her to go fuck herself once he got better, which isn’t what happened. He thanked her. He helped her pick out a song. He can be seen very clearly enjoying her performance of “Hung Up”. So why the hell did Glee make Tina act like she somehow deserved his romantic love? She knew he was gay. He literally just reminded her that he was gay and would never be interested in women in this very episode. I hate that they went in this direction with this story, because honestly? It could have been one of their sweetest, most relatable storylines. I mean, who hasn’t fallen in love with someone who can’t love them back? But instead they acted as though Blaine was the bad guy even though Tina literally rubbed vapo-rub on his chest while he was fucking asleep (to this day I have to look away when that scene comes on because it makes me genuinely furious). So like, on one hand I can appreciate what they were doing with Tina’s character, but on the other hand I simply cannot support her behaviour in this episode. It’s absolutely appalling, and the fact that Blaine not only apologizes to her, but asks her to be his date to Will and Emma’s wedding, effectively rewarding her for her terrible behaviour? God, it pisses me off. I’m so glad he blows her off to make out with Kurt in the next episode.

On top of all of that, Tina also makes both homophobic and transphobic comments in this episode. It’s so annoying to dislike Tina in an episode that I otherwise enjoy so fucking much, because she’s legit one of my favourite characters. I just really hate how they dealt with this whole thing.

Sue’s racist comment about Santana’s mom.

Santana and Sam basically taking Brittany’s desires out of the equation by fighting about her via song, as though Brittany dating Sam wasn’t enough indication of who she was going to chose.

While what I said in the above section about the Kurt/Rachel end scene still stands, it has always annoyed me that Rachel threw such a massive fucking pity party after losing literally one competition to her best fucking friend that said best friend – whose entire goal in this episode was to knock her down a peg – has to build her back up and basically say “fuck everything I said before, you’re the most amazing person ever and the world should revolve around you always”. At least he didn’t apologize.

That comment Rachel makes about all of her confidence being built on beating Kurt in “Wheels”. See, this is why I have such a hard time with Hummelberry. What kind of fucked up friendship is built on the foundation of “All of my confidence comes from the fact that I am better than you” like what the literal fuck?!

This isn’t a huge one, but I think the episode would have had stronger shock value if the Finn/Emma scene came after “Girl on Fire”. I think ending on that note would have left the audience with the biggest shock. Having a whole other scene and musical performance after just kind of softens the blow.

Songs:

Diva: Starting off strong with a fantastic group number. Unique kills it, of course, as does Tina. When they first revealed who would be singing this song, I thought Brittany was an odd choice to include, but she honestly sounds fantastic. My only wish is that you could hear Blaine more than you can. Also, I find Kitty and Marley kind of hilarious in this performance, because it’s so obvious that they are not on the same level as the other four. I don’t actually know why they felt the need to include them.

Don’t Stop Me Now: An awesome song, and an awesome cover. It also makes me incredibly happy that Blaine chose this particular song to prove that guys can be divas. It’s not just him that’s the diva, it’s Freddie Mercury as well. Such a fantastic choice.

Nutbush City Limits: This is the only song I’m not so crazy about. I think Santana sounds a bit odd in this song, like its just slightly out of her range and she’s straining a bit too hard to reach it. Also, I know this song is technically considered Rock, but it has a bit too much of a country vibe for me.

Make No Mistake (She’s Mine): I’m not a fan of the actual lyrics of this song, as the two singers are literally fighting about someone who is clearly cheating on both of them. That being said, Sam and Santana sound absolutely fantastic together, and I really enjoy the flow of this song.

Bring Him Home: Another strong song. I think Kurt was way better than Rachel, but that’s just me. My only frustration is that Rachel gets the final note. It feels like she always gets the last say in these things.

Hung Up: This is probably Tina’s strongest solo in the entire course of the show. She absolutely kills it, and the performance is amazing. It’s too bad that there’s such shitty motive behind it, but seriously, this song is amazing.

Girl on Fire: A really strong vocal performance, with a mediocre visual performance. Why was Glee so obsessed with having people sing in the auditorium and in the choir room? The end of it is good, with her finally leaving McKinley behind and going to New York, but the beginning is so lackluster. It’s disappointing considering what an amazing cover of an already amazing song it is.

Final Thoughts: I know there seems to be a lot of negatives in this review considering how high up this episode is on my list, but honestly, its one of my favourites. Obviously there’s stuff I don’t like, but the stuff I do like far outweighs the stuff I don’t. Plus, it’s just a strong episode, even from an objective standpoint.

[lightsandlostbells]

Druck episode 1 reaction

I’m really enjoying Druck so far! My ideal remake would be to start with a new script and story, for sure, but this one seems very in line with Skam’s principles and style. I found myself looking forward to upcoming clips.

Clip 1 - Jonas gets on a soapbox

I really love that they revamped Jonas’ opening monologue to something that is apparently relevant to German teenagers and potentially lays out some of the themes covered in the show, and that it kept the rough, raw look of the visuals.

THEY LOOK. AGE APPROPRIATE. Thank Godddd

One of the things with Skam France and Skam Italia is that a lot of people reacted by saying, “wow, they’re all so beautiful” and internally I was like nnnnnnnoooOOOOO that’s not the point but I didn’t want to be a dick about that. 

Lol at the same song playing when Leonie walks across the yard being the same song in the Skam Italia trailer. According to Wikipedia, “Bad Girls” has also been used in Skins, Gossip Girl, and 90210. It is to teen drama shows what “Hallelujah” is to sad crying scenes.

Well I immediately bought this Isak (Matteo?) having a crush on Jonas, just saying.

As far as cutting to Matteo similar to how Skam France showed Lucas … I preferred this because it’s not giving away Matteo’s feelings. Lucas definitely had a vibe that ~Something More was up that the audience should suspect. This wouldn’t have pinged me, as a new viewer, that Matteo has a secret that Hanna doesn’t know. Like I could have bought he was just bored of watching his friends make out.

Clip 2 - Hanna and Jonas in the bedroom

So Hanna and Jonas have great chemistry so far! They definitely have that easy, established couple feeling and seem comfy with the physical affection.

Youth by Daughter is such a Skam song that I’m sort of shocked it hasn’t been used already.

I was hoping for another glimpse of Matteo but I will accept his love of memes.

Is the Hero Party Druck’s version of Russ? Sounds like. Is it a party where people dress up as superheroes?

Clip 3 - Amira’s introduction

Um, YES. Good job, Druck.

This scene was a brand new spin on an existing clip! This is really what I want to see - taking the old material and making it fresh and distinguishable.

So the theater kids were changed into a refugee welcome group, and of course they assumed Amira was a refugee. I liked that they established this specific commentary.

The girl from the club gives Amira a little smile after she explains the purpose of the group as if to be like “we help people like YOU” and Amira’s just like yep … not this shit again.

Amira! Loved her immediately. She and Hanna probably just did their homework in companionable silence after this encounter, but it’s already pretty cool that the Sana character is the first one of the girl squad established (other than Eva/Hanna).

There’s a sign for a party in the background, is that the Hero Party?

Also, I like Hanna making a self-deprecating joke about herself being the one who needs tutoring. 

But honestly, how lovely that Amira got to share this moment with Hanna and even make a joke about white Germans. Because you know plenty of white people Would Not Get It.

Aside from his cultural obtuseness, I’m kind of fond of that dude and his giant hair.

Clip 4 - Matteo gets a ticket to the love nest

Well this remake just came out and said what I thought was always implied, that the reason Jonas doesn’t want Matteo to be alone is because of his family. I don’t mind this dialogue being forward since “weird family” could pertain to a lot of things, not necessarily serious (I don’t know what the exact words imply in German). Like, his family could be really into hunting for cryptids. It’s vague enough not to take it too seriously.

Listen, while I love Hanna and Jonas so far and think they have terrific chemistry, I could totally ship Jonas and Matteo. Jonas just seems really fucking excited about Matteo coming with them.

Where the fuck did Matteo come from???? It was like he teleported. We saw right over Hanna’s shoulder before he appeared and no one was there.

Though I see he took a pic of them while they were chatting that he posted to IG, lmao.

I kinda like this casual loungey, come up and sling an arm over your shoulder Matteo. He definitely seems the most chill of the Isaks so far.

ALSO they did the whole thing of Matteo watching them leave, HOWEVER this is why it works for me here more than in Skam France: they don’t show his face. They don’t make it seem like he has a secret. I definitely think you can infer that, but I also think you can infer something more simple, such as how it’s symbolic of how he’s the third wheel in this relationship. I think OG Skam did that best by having Isak trail after them, but this wasn’t too OTT. 

So it looks like we’ll be getting the full cabin episode, not just a weekend?

Clip 5 - Party

The title card being for Monday is a pretty big mistake, though I saw that the official account responded to it and apologized.

Hanna singing as she’s getting dressed is a really nice touch. We all have our getting-ready-to-go-out anthems.

Mia is already feels more like Manon than Noora, in that she’s a got more of a softer, sweeter initial vibe. I did like that they showed her watching Hanna get dragged by Leonie and deciding to cheer her up. And that they had her clarify that she had to leave (for some unspecified reason) because it was always kinda funny that Noora made a dramatic first impression and then disappeared into the night, leaving Eva wondering “who is that mysterious yet sexy stranger...”

Vilde (Kiki?) giving an actual description of Sam makes sense, like damn, there could be a dozen Sams in that club. And having the mix-up still happen is a bonus.

But most importantly, obviously, is that Kiki thinks girl Sam is extremely hot. Look, one of these remakes has to deliver on gay Vilde. Don’t keep dangling the carrot and then taking it away. plz.

I LOVE Amira and this seems like a major change in characterization from Sana? Not that Sana was allergic to fun, but I have a hard time seeing her show up at parties without her squad. Amira is actually present at parties and dancing - alone, it looks like - which is something I wondered about Imane in Skam France. What made Imane want to get in on Daphne’s party? If they go with another “the girls are planning to throw a party” plotline as a way to do russ, then it’s a decent setup for Amira to actually be seen partying. But I really hope that they take this shift in characterization to greater depths and don’t just kind of adapt Sana’s dialogue and personality around Amira. I really want to see a distinct character develop, and this is a good start.

I instantly want to see more of girl Sam and I kinda love that she’s the character with the distinctive lipstick on this show.

Kiki being like “you both have the same name, you’re both black, we get it, super funny” and asking them to leave - damn, congrats on making the worst first impression of the Vildes? Even if I get that she’s upset at the moment.

Penetrator (?) Sam seems a bit dorkier and less like a douchebro. But maybe I just feel that way because he’s posing with his cat on Instagram.

Liked that they put in Hanna sitting in front of the mirror taking off the makeup, her hair messier, as a contrast to the fun sexy getting ready scene. Just some quiet reflection of the bummer kind. That’s always how it feels after a party that turned out to not be so fun. At attempt was made to be social … and the attempt had limited success.

Changing Hanna’s parent from a mom to a dad (assuming there’s only one parent around) is a small yet potentially interesting change. Especially because conventionally, relationships between daughters and mothers are considered to be tighter than relationships between daughters and fathers, though this is by no means universal. I’m quite excited to meet Hanna’s dad and see how the parent-child dynamic plays this time around.

General comments:

From what I can tell, some of the Druck actors are in their teens and some are in the 20-22 age range. Because overall these do seem to be younger, inexperienced actors, I’m more inclined to be lenient on their performances than the other remakes. I think this is fair - Skam France and Skam Italia cast older actors to play teenagers, and in the case of Skam France many of them had already been in movies and TV shows (not sure if it’s the same for Skam Italia), so I do have higher standards for their acting. If they are going to sacrifice authenticity, then it better be for the sake of talent, otherwise what’s the point?

I mentioned this in a Skam France post too but I find it distracting that the clips end with a title card, even though they might not be able to do anything about it. It’s just a little reminder that you are watching a TV show and it takes away from the immersive experience.

One thing I noticed on Instagram is that a lot of the characters seem to have pictures of them when they were babies/little kids. That’s pretty typical for people to post on social media, it was just common enough that it caught my eye. (Hanna/boy Sam/girl Sam/Kiki, if you want to look. Cuuute).

I saw some people thought Matteo was too obvious in his feelings for Jonas, but while I thought the chemistry was there, I personally didn’t feel that it was too distracting.

On that note, I’ve been thinking about whether it’s OK to show characters other than Hanna’s (Eva’s/Emma’s) POV and I think what generally works for me is:

a) does this shot reveal something that our main girl couldn’t pick up on from the rest of the context of the scene 

b) does this shot reveal something that the audience shouldn’t yet know 

c) is this shot taking over our main girl’s big emotional moment. 

If so, not a good idea. Basically I think what works for me is brevity and ambiguity.

The reception to Druck seems to be very positive so far, going off the tag’s content. I think the enthusiasm is support for the idea that many Skam fans aren’t 100% opposed to the remakes as long as they feel like the show captures the spirit of the original series.

However, it would have been interesting to see what the reception would have been if Druck premiered first - is it that Skam France was more polished than some people preferred, and Skam Italia had some aspects from the casting and the trailer that turned people off, that Druck seemed like a strong alternative? Or if Druck premiered first, would we be more cynical about it? (I think this could have been true to a degree, but there are also some changes, like Amira’s introduction, that might have intrigued the fandom.)

I am feeling good about this show but I’m also trying to keep my expectations in check, lmao. If I expect it to completely revamp the Skam S1 storyline I’ll probably be disappointed; however, what I hope for it is at least some minor changes in characterization that create distinct, consistent personalities and that they write the script forward from these changes rather than contorting the story to fit them, if that makes sense.

I think calling it Druck is in itself a good sign, in that it seems more indicative of wanting to create a clear identity outside of a Skam remake and appeal to German teenagers. “Skam” is not a word that means anything to French/Italian viewers unless they know the original show.