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kyotakumrau · 4 years ago

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2021.02.16 1st talk session of Meguro Rock-May-KanGIG at Zepp Yokohama

Zepp Yokohama is a such a nice venue, I really hope we will get to see dir play there live properly!

The concert recorded at Meguro RockMayKan was great! The setlist surprised me quite a lot (especially encore!!!)! And I think that was the smallest stage I ever saw dir on!😆 the footage definitely deserves a separate entry and I don't want to spoil anyone if they go to next events.

After the concert film screening staff quickly prepared the stage, bringing two long tables and four chairs, they also placed a water bottle at each seat.

Punctually (thank you for not repeating Nagoya's situation😆), at 3:30 Fujieda came on stage and started with greeting everyone, and asking us to greet the band members with applause.

After a moment of uncertainty (even as my heart was almost set it will be Kyo) Die came on stage with Kyo after him.٩( ˆoˆ )۶

They both looked super classy. Die had a dark grey suit with a long jacket, his usual award winning hair and wore sunglasses.

Kyo had a black jacket (with a round Chanel pin) and shirt, green hair, he wore glasses (not sunglasses).

When they sat (Kyo stood in front of the chair first until Fujieda gestured them to sit) F asked them to introduce themselves.

D: ども、Dieです

K: 京です

...and then F announced 'today is Kyo's birthday!' and a birthday song melody began to play😆

Kyo turned on his murder face glaring at Fujieda who happily observed 'oh what's this song?'😂

The soft Happy Birthday melody got then a guitar joining in and Takabayashi came on the stage carrying a small strawberry shortcake (with a chocolate message おめでとう京さん) which of course he placed in front of Kyo.

We couldn't sing but we clapped.

Kyo snatched a strawberry and popped it in his mouth. He gestured 'throat slashing' looking at Fujieda😂

And then ate another strawberry🍓😂

F: the song was made by Die.

K: (only interested in the cake) Could I get a fork?

(staff went to get him one)

F: how do you feel? (about your own birthday)

K: I don't care.

The fork arrived and Kyo literally dug in right in the middle, scooping a huge piece he put whole in his mouth.

Fujieda wisely left Kyo to his cake then and started talking about RMK footage. Die said they had hard time deciding on a tour or events like this in COVID situation. They also mentioned the secret show in 2009 was held in RMK.

Next Die talked about how nice it was to rehearse and play together with the band, first time since March, he was happy about the show, creating sound together as 5 people.

F: did you finish eating K?

K: yup

(there was last 🍓 left (out of 4 big ones), he ate about 25~35%?)

F: then tell us about recording the RockMayKan show!

K: the place was very narrow.

F: anything else?

K: Not really.

But then he added more, that as it has been a while it felt like the first day of the tour.

F: was there anything that was difficult? Was a struggle?

K: when recording I can do it at my own pace, I can do one song when I want, but that day it was back to performing over 10 songs all at once, it was tough, hard on my throat, energy/stamina wise.

But at the same time it was exciting, meet with other members, play music together, that was nice.

F: 2019 was filled with shows, it was busy, then things changed. So after a break to see an audience again got me nervous, in a good way.

Next F said had would like to talk about the release of Oboro.

D: what do you want to know?

F: so the song is not out yet, any hints?

D: it's gonna stay a secret for a bit more.

F: the 2nd track is TDFF？

D: (interesting letters ???didn't catch exactly) it's a powerful song.

F: how is Oboro for you Kyo?

K: quite fresh/refreshing

F: really?!

D: especially the video

...but then Kyo just burst with a whole speech how Fujieda always ask something and when he gets an aswer he didn't expect he doesn't react well, just says what he wants, is not listening to what Kyo says and... it went for a while😆

Next F moved to the topic of the merchandise and asked the band members which items they like.

K: the big badge, before the big pick was huge, shouldn't the badge be like this size (showing about 20cm with his hands). It bothered me from when I saw it. Isn't it just normal?

in the end they agreed it's just 'a bit big' 😂

F: how about for you, D?

D: the rubber key chains?

F: they got sold out very quickly, sorry to fans about that.

D: they are cute. And I like the wristbands too. The color combinations are nice.

T: the badge has the old band's logo, it brings me back

D talked about old times when artists made stickers like that, with logos, to put on their equipment, they worked a bit like business cards, he said he still have some at home.

T picked the rechargeable heat pack.

K: so it's to be used instead of heat packs? (ホッカイロ)

F: uh, it's already warm.

D: huh? Show me? (F passed it to him) it's like a phone that gets hot when charging.

Next they moved on to fans questions. ("~~" is a question from fans they read)

K (unusually picks the first question super fast): "what's your favourite cake?"

K: Well, the strawberry shortcake is good, but this one doesn't have strawberries inside, just some jam, it should have strawberries inside too.

(F so dead😂😂😂)

F: "what's your best or bad memory connected to birthdays?"

K: at a concert somewhere, it was quite long time ago, I got a present all wrapped and in a bag from a silver accessories brand I liked, so nicely wrapped, I opened it and it was empty, isn't that really strange? I looked at the attached letter and it said the person is keeping the item for themselves. It annoyed me so much, the worst bd memory ever.

☹️

F: how about you D?

D: it's not exactly bad memory, but many band members have birthdays in February, in the past when we were still giving each other presents Toshiya and I had to think what to get for 3 people, it was always tough. We stopped that at some point.

T: "any memory/story about China Town?"

D: I like China Town

T: do you go often?

D: sometimes. But only to my favorite restaurants. (?? Talked more about the stadium?)

T: do you usually order the same thing?

D: Mabodofu, the spicy version

(then I think he said something like there's no point in overdoing spicyness, it's not healthy??)

K: I don't know which restaurants are good so I get annoyed. I don't know what decides it's a good one or not.

F: I don't go, but I'd like to.

then they talked about the types of Chinese food and food they tried when in other Asian countries.

K: when we were touring in the US I ordered Chinese abd it was terrible, it was all bad. The egg soup was all clumpy, so bad.

D: "any stories about RockMayKan?"

D: honestly I don't have good memories with this venue, when with a previous band we played together with more senior bands and they took over the dressing room, we couldn't use it, and we also had to greet all senpai musicians.

K: remember when Shinya sat on the lockers? Like on top of the 170cm lockers?

D: was it in Nagoya?

K: he's done his make up there, like a cat or something

D: Shinya climbed a locker and made a space for himself there

K: He's not exactly human. Normally you would not even consider climbing a locker...

D: we usually did our make up on the stairs, didn't use changing room. When we played at RMK as dir for the first time I saw 'this is the changing room!'

He also talked about how the hair spray used by all the bandomen would stink up the whole place 😂

F: "what do you usually wear to sleep?"

K: just underwear. Doesn't matter if it's summer or winter I want to feel the towel like fabric, I use towel cloth for my bedding, I want my whole body to feel it so there's no point in wearing pajamas.

D: at home...wait you mean my home or my family house? At my parents' I always wear the pajama my mum got me, currently the Mickey Mouse one. I only have that one there.

K( with sudden interest): can you draw it?

D: it's about this big, quite big print. The one I wear at home, it wasn't sent by my mum.

K: not Mickey one??

D: that's Nightmare Before Christmas.

K: Disney theme?

D: this one has a face in the front.

K: do you change characters (for pajamas) every year?

D: this year it's Nightmare.

Next was something they wanted to say to F. K chose to comment on his haircut, because it's asymmetric K is bothered that it will end as an uzumaki in the back. They talked more about F's style.

F: "I'd like you to tell us about your costumes you wore for RMK show".

D: I wanted something motovating so red colour.

K: I had no special reasoning, just what I wanted to wear then.

D: "have you gotten any food delivery?"

He said he only got it once or not much, I think he said he's not fond of shops that don't do it properly, but when recording it's good???

F: Shinya said he orders Uber almost everyday.

K: I only got Uber once.

F: what did you get?

K: Burger King. I quit McDonalds. After eating Burger King I can't go back to McDonalds.

They talked about sizes of burger here?? Whooper versus Junior Whooper?

F: So McD is not good?

K: the meat taste is different. McDonald now tastes like trash.

F: what about the Mc fries, when they get a bit soft.

K: not only a bit. Gross.

D: in the US we usually also have some American staff, when we had some time and we went to eat out, it was funny, American staff went for sushi, Shinya went for McDonalds.

F: was it last time?

D: no, quite some time ago.

F: when did you eat McDonalds the last time?

D: I also don't eat it, it's been some time already.

They talked more about the food, some restaurants D liked in the US (didn't catch the name🙃 but in Sacramento?), then F talked more about event schedule and the time was over.

Last comments from the band members:

Die: From today the new series of film screening starts, thank you for coming to the first day. So well... the band is working on the new album while coming to the events at the same time, we're working on creating a great album. Please come amd enjoy the events.

Kyo: I don't have a special thing to say. Many of you will be coming to few or many events and will end up with many t-shirts, you can do whatever with them, even use them as a doormat, there are many ways to use them, no problem for the whole year.

#dir en grey #kyo #京 #die #目黒鹿鳴館gig #爆音会 #attempt at live report

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glassesandkim · 4 years ago

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I would like to say my piece here about schmico, grey’s anatomy, and the fandom and it’s really for my own self-indulgence and benefit. I’m not asking for you to agree with me or even begin to understand what I’m going on about. I don’t even think half the things that I think about for this fandom exists on an important level. I fully believe in just ~vibin’~ to your own tune when it comes to participating in fandom spaces.

so this post is gonna be my way of getting stuff off my chest so i can continue to ~vibe~

First thing I’d like to address is: I know. I know the Nico Kim that I love and adore is not the Nico Kim in canon. He is who I hope he is in canon. But there’s not much to combat or support that he is or isn’t. He really could be who we’ve made up in fanon for him and at the same time, he really couldn’t. Grey’s created this character that is as blank as a dried piece of toast. So forgive me if I spread a bit of spicy jam here and there so I can swallow this bland shit down a little easier.

So when people come to me to say, “Y’all are delulu and out of your mind to love this guy this much.” PLEASE, I know. This isn’t news, honey. I am well aware.

But I will continue to justify, romanticize, and put this boy on a pedestal for as long as his existence in canon continues to remain arbitrary and vague. And it makes me very biased to a fault but I have put too much time and energy into this character NOT to be.

And then you might ask, why have I put so much of my time and life (THREE YEARS!!!! I’VE BEEN IN THIS FANDOM FOR THREE YEARS!!!!!!!!!!) into this character that has all but said maybe like a PAGE of dialogue at most?

Because I was conned into it. Because they marketed the shit out of him when Alex Landi got the part. And I, as a casual viewer of Grey’s since I was in high school (I’m in my late 20s now, dawg) and of Asian descent was promised representation. Not just Asian rep, but queer rep.

So naturally, I got extremely attached. It's not everyday a major Western mainstream prime time medical drama chooses to create a character as unique as Nico's.

I spent so much time here. I was here when fandom decided Nico would call Levi “babe”. I was here when we all clowned that Nico didn’t know Levi’s first name. I was here when Josh died and the fandom went up in arms with pitchforks and stakes against Nico. I was here for all of it. I've seen it all.

And unfortunately, seeing it all, makes me tired. Grey’s is time and time again proving to me that they don’t give a shit about the development and well-being of their existing characters at all. The show only cares about collecting diversity points and performing their wokeness to the general masses. (I talk a lot about how grey's is plot-driven vs. character-driven.)

I will still get frustrated and annoyed at Nico’s lack of character development. But I mostly just laugh at the fandom nowadays. I know you guys want to fight the fight, tell everyone Nico is not toxic!!!!!! But bros, friends, lovers, it’s a tried and tired fight.

Grey’s wants us to think Nico is a Bad Boyfriend. It’s as clear as the stench one comes across when they step on dog shit. That’s why I think it’s useless to fight people about Nico. Grey’s gets amnesia all the time. Grey’s forgot the whole season and half they invested in creating a loving boyfriend for Levi and up and changed Nico’s personality to fit a new narrative (that they, quite frankly, failed to even follow through because of covid and other filming hoopla hula hoops they’ve had to jump through that I’ve been informed of and which I simply don’t care for).

So all this ~schmico is endgame!!! we deserve it!!!~ Binches, I have better things to fight for than schmico endgame. What’s the alternative? Levi lives in Jo’s closet forever? They’re going to be together in the end no matter what. Nobody on that show cares enough about Nico OR Levi to set up new relationships and stories for them. So don’t fret, my friends. They’ll be together in the end. It just comes down to the question of what stupid story they’re going to come up with for them to be together. (And might I argue that they already are together???)

Speaking of the bogus story they’re going to write for schmico: you bet my rice eating, Chinese-speaking ass, that it’s not going to be a story written from a queer and poc perspective. It’s going to be some gag-worthy straight het story but made gay. (How many times do I have to hear, "I hope Nico comes out to his parents!!" NO, HE DOESN'T! Do you know how VIOLENT coming out is sometimes?? It's not a solution to Nico's problems with Levi. It's an introduction and invitation to problems over being queer -- but why would I expect anyone, let alone Grey's, to understand that prepetuating these types of stories is inherently damaging to queer people? They wouldn't know. The cishet fandom wouldn't know. Because no one is writing grey's in a queer, poc centric way.)

Which drives me to the next point: you know why Nico doesn’t get character development even though he showed up at the same time as Link? Because of ✨racism ✨. Because Link is a more conventional character (read: white) that is easier to write because nobody on this show knows how to write an Asian character anymore, let alone a gay Asian character. So of course, nobody wants to touch that shit even with a pogo stick. (Argue with me that Cristina exists and I will tell you, yes she did, but they RARELY touched upon her cultural and ethnic background. Also it was the early 2000s. Cristina was as ground breaking as it got for us Asians back then.)

And then because Nico isn’t developed enough, we have the weird phenomenon of people shipping everyone and their dog with Levi and it’s like, y’all know you got played by the racism game, right? You are hostages to this system that has taught you that white men are more desirable and deserving of story and humanity than a poc character who is instead, reduced to nothing but sex appeal and if he’s not doing well on that front, then he’s useless.

How many times does Levi say: Nico is so hot! Sex with Nico is so good! He’s a roman statue!

All!! the!! time!! Nico's worth to Levi’s character is to be the sex object that Sets Him Free.

Which plays into the sexualization of Asian people which all comes from, you guessed it! Racism! (Levi really compared Nico to a fucking lifeless slab of stone.)

(Side note: I do think talking about how racism plays into Nico’s character and the fandom space is important and probably a separate post. I’m happy to write my opinion piece on it if it’s something people want.)

But anyway, those are just some of my qualms with schmico, grey’s anatomy, and the fandom. I do not expect anyone to fully agree with me and I’m not asking the fandom to change or apologize or whatever. I’m just already grateful if you took the time to even read this post.

I’ll leave with some parting advice: fandom is what you make of it. We won’t all agree with everyone’s hot takes, but that’s the beauty of it, yeah? So I chose to create this version of Nico Kim that brings me IMMENSE joy. Like, A LOT!!! I love this fandom for these reasons. I’m grateful everyday for the friends I’ve made and the works and creations I’ve created and I’m honoured to be able to consume other works made by fellow fans.

I might hate a lot of things about grey’s and schmico, but I really owe a lot of myself to this fandom.

#know that i'm always angry but i know how to have fun lol #schmico::::

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rens-room · 4 years ago

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just some d gray man thoughts:

not me restarting a long show with a million things on my watch list...

I forgot how cute allen is.

and how much his red arm disturbs me (I have mild sensory issues).

actually a lot of things in this show trigger my sensory issues but its Fine we are gonna ignore it.

I also forgot how unbalanced allen’s innocence activated arm design was before crown clown.

I just wanna know who would actually trust the millennium earl, who looks at that man and says ah yes I trust you to bring back my dead loved one no strings attached.

allen: I’ll never break my arm again me: we heard that lie before

whenever I see lenalee i have to remember she is not in fact, hatsune miku.

I got so used to lenalee with shorter hair. the chin/shoulder length was really cute.

road gives me toga vibes, or rather I guess toga gives me road vibes because I think dgm is older than bnha.

miranda is always a mood.

dgm gets points for having an interesting healer. as in the healer’s power is to reverse time. it’s less cliche and darker because it’s not a magical cure-all, actions still have consequences.

the following is said with love: kanda literally has no brain cells.

the black order science division? do you mean lenalee’s fanclub!

this show is so dark compared to other long running/popular shonen of the time and I think it’s fun.

fuck funimation for only having the first half of the original available for free. like I’m rewatching so i remember everything so hallow hurts me even more! so why! do you only have half of it!

(second half)

tyki was set up as such a terrifying antagonist and its amazing.

did we ever find out who/what the heart is? I’m not caught up on the manga but would love an update (spoil away).

gotta love shonen- when the backstory starts, you start grieving because you know the character is about to die.

I love kanda so much. not a single braincell in that man but at least he’s pretty.

the fallen exorcist arc catches me by surprise every time. I really like that the show explores the dark side of innocence and the order.

I made it to the opening that starts with crown clown- you don’t understand how ready i am to see it activated again! I think it’s my favorite innocence design.

having said that, lavi has the coolest power in general. maybe second to tyki’s ability to phase through anything.

I feel bad for krory fans, he does not get a lot of screen time. same for miranda.

if allen is “loved by god” as komui put it, I don’t want to be loved by god lol.

I like the asian branch more than the european branch sorry.

bak chang reminds me of kunikida from bungoi stray dogs.

innocence HATSUDO!

torn between not liking lenalee for being so emotional (emotional people/characters just aren't my thing) and remembering she is the only one who emotes/grieves like a normal human being.

allen walker, opacity set to 62%

bitch if you're transparent, you don’t go towards the giant scary disintegration demon.

haha kanda wasn't in allen’s important people visuals.

who thought naming allen’s upgraded innocence crown clown was a good idea? I can’t say it without messing up the pronunciation or order at least twice.

everything hype happens in the second half which is behind funimations paywall which is BULLSHIT!

is the asian branch having everything retractable/hide-able a result of the second exorcists going berserk and destroying everything?

is the reason the asian branch has no active exorcists because of the failed second exorcist project lol?

jasdero and devit are two halves of a whole idiot. and I love that for them.

how much of lavi’s “fun and frivolous” is in his battle strategy? what if he’s really strong but doesn't fight seriously to maintain his personality?

why is there so much foreshadowing?? I already have so many questions from my first watch through, I dont want more!

after reading so many evil bookman fanfics I like him less in canon. the bookman clan and rules seem really harsh.

lavi: I fucked up. I have feelings now. friendship is illegal and all i want is to protect my friends.

lavi stop having emotions, remember friendship is illegal!

not kanda showing up in edo like a total badass and turning the tide of the battle singlehandedly.

skin’s sparkly gold form reminds me of a beetle. I don’t like beetles.

actually, he looks more like golden scissors with the loopy things on his back.

who hasn't had a fun one on one battle with tyki and traded verbal blows?

DGM: has character named Cross. has another character who’s power involves a giant cross. doesn’t make them the same character.

cross is such a whore. and no that is not a compliment.

the noah’s ark arc is supposed to be three hours...it’s a solid 18 episodes, which is waaaayyy longer than three hours.

why would you give kanda the key?? he’s the one with the least braincells!!

kanda: I’m gonna take on a Noah all by myself because I have no sense of self preservation and secretly do care about you guys.

the kanda vs skinn bolic fight was destined to happen because one of them loves sweets and another hates them (also both of them have a tendency to not wear shirts under their jackets and are idiots!).

why is tyki so sexy?? like why??

happy rainbow murder room!!

the noah’s ark arc is the best animated arc of the original anime.

is lavi a natural redhead? imagine if he changed his hair color with his names lol.

LEnaLEE LEE count the “le”s lol.

own your vampire aesthetic krory! you got this!

I forgot dgm used The Power of Friendship, but somehow it’s less annoying in this show than other shonen.

blood based/blood related powers are so freaking cool!

at first I thought it was weird allen acted as the leader, but then I remembered kanda doesn’t do people, lavi is only in the black order on a technicality, krory is new, miranda has Anxiety™, and lenalee probably doesn’t go on as many missions/does more work at the black order headquarters than in the field.

if you think about it, bookman kinda set lavi up to get fucked by his emotions. having a friendly personality means he has to take on the role of ‘person who cheers other people up’ and ‘person that reassures that everything is going to be ok’. kinda hard to do that and remain objective/emotionally distanced at the same time.

not me completely forgetting about lavi vs road and lavi’s backstory. just let my son be happy please.

did road know about allen and that’s why she liked him or does she just like him in general.

chaozii you absolute FUCKING IDIOT stop being a moron.

and on this episode of noah’s gone wild, we have tyki but with spiky tentacles!

how did I forget how much I loved this show?? it’s so good.

not to my future self- skip the first part entirely, just watch the second half and hallow.

allen focus! save friends now, identity crisis later!

I love how the arc entrances are numbered, I think it’s a cute detail.

don’t you love how allen finds a home for the first time, and then is basically forced to leave it.

tiedol is a great dad. kanda accept his love.

Lvellie is the biggest bitch in this show. I swear I hate him more than the noah.

get you a man like Link who introduced himself with pie.

the first level four is so disturbing and creepy.

komui looked better with the long ponytail.

(hmu if you like dgm pls I need friends)

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les-belles-infideles · 4 years ago

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What happened with Kora @princesshamlet: A start at contextualizing the events of the past week

While I am writing this because Kora expressed that they would like it if someone would post something contextualizing what happened, I do not speak for them; my opinions and perspective are my own. I think the general response has been wildly disproportionate to their actual words and actions. Let me know if you have questions about anything or if my writing style is hard to read and I’ll do my best to clarify.

Tl;dr: Last fall, Kora, a new Supernatural fan, started rewriting Supernatural to be more racially diverse and to more overtly address social issues such as homophobia and misogyny. They continually asked for feedback, particularly from POC, and received overwhelmingly positive responses.

Earlier this week, Kora posted something that unintentionally played into ideas that harm trans men. They were horrified to have hurt people, immediately apologized and made an effort to learn more about the issues involved.

Yesterday, some of Kora’s friends cut them off, presumably over the abovementioned. Some people read Kora’s Supernatural rewrite and were offended by portrayals of various ethnicities; Kora tried to learn from these criticisms and apologize for them. People organized to spread bad-faith, extremely hostile claims and Kora left Tumblr.

Background:

- last fall, Kora started watching Supernatural, and posting about it, including making some popular reaction videos and an elaborate summary of the events of season 16 as of mid-November. They got really attached to Cas as a character and DeanCas as a ship.

- Kora made a post along the lines of “what if I drew Castiel as Indian?” and got encouraging responses, so they made a drawing. A lot of Desi people left comments saying that they really liked the drawing and that the representation was meaningful to them, so Kora started posting and reblogging a lot more about recasting Supernatural to be racially diverse.

- Kora accumulates a lot of ideas around how they wish Supernatural had been, and starts casually writing it up into a story. It didn’t even have a title for the first few chapters, but it quickly amassed a small, enthusiastic following.

- I started reading it at first mostly as a way of getting to know Kora, who was at the time a new friend irl (they didn’t mean to give me their Tumblr; I had followed them for Hamlet and Star Trek posts and then recognized them when they posted a selfie) but wound up getting pretty invested. I started watching Supernatural despite the fact that I can pretty much never commit to finishing a TV show.

- Kora’s general strategy was to post ideas on Tumblr and get input before including them in the fic, particularly regarding race and ethnicity. Plenty of people gave them feedback -- I remember one really long conversation where people swapped headcanons about what music a Mexican-American Dean Winchester would have liked growing up.

- iirc, they actively collaborated with multiple Latine fans of the fic on one chapter that foregrounded Mexican-American culture. These fans are credited in an author’s note.

- they received substantial encouragement from Supernatural fans of color for how they were writing the fic, and afaik no negative feedback.

- they also used the fic as a way to discuss and joke about their personal experiences with misogyny, repression, and homophobia, including writing Dean Winchester as undergoing a character arc involving working through and overcoming severe homophobia. When we called recently, they described going from homophobic to not homophobic as “the best character arc a man can have.”

- afaik they had beta readers or at least people to run ideas by for most chapters.

First incident:

- earlier this week, Kora posted a somewhat poorly-worded vent post about Dean Winchester’s misogyny in Supernatural canon.

- I think I reblogged it because I don’t have super high standards for my SPN blog and yeah, afaict Dean said some pretty gross things in canon? I’d seen a lot of people talk about it, particularly Asian women, it’s clearly a thing.

- several people expressed hurt at the post’s wording, which could be read as bigoted against trans men.

- Kora immediately apologized and started looking for ways to learn more about trans men’s issues (afaict, mostly asking friends and going through the trans dean tag)

- they messaged me about it (Tuesday 4/13/2021), and I took a closer look at the post and explained how in isolation it looked harmless, but some of the rhetoric fit into wider patterns of transandrophobia, i.e. part of the impetus for this post was Kora being surprised that some of their trans male friends project onto Dean, since he’s a pretty bad role model for gender -- I pointed out that one way trans men are marginalized within queer movements is by people perpetuating the idea that we’re more misogynistic than cis men (which makes no sense), and their post could be read as playing into that trope (that reading had occurred to me when I first saw the post, but I had initially dismissed it because Kora and I had been spending a lot of time talking about gender and I never felt that they distrusted me or saw me as a threat).

- they made another hasty apology post, quoting my message to them.

- I encouraged them not to worry too much about what strangers online thought about them, but they were very insistent that they had hurt people and needed to learn and make amends.

- I think what happened next was that the conversation sparked a larger discussion about transandrophobia in the Supernatural fandom? I’m not sure about this though, I was off Tumblr most of Tuesday and Wednesday. I saw a few well-written posts refuting the idea that it was misogynistic to headcanon Dean as trans. I did not see anyone claim it was misogynistic to headcanon Dean as trans, but again, I wasn’t looking.

The Discourse™:

- yesterday, Kora started getting a lot more and a lot meaner messages.

- a large part of their social circle cut them off all at once, saying they felt unsafe and that Kora was transphobic. Kora did not/was unable to receive further clarification, while actively seeking the chance to learn more and repair harm done.

- someone made a dedicated hate tag for them.

- a new group of people read their Supernatural rewrite, and were offended by their portrayals of race and their writing about homophobia, and additionally mocking their writing style. The tone was often extremely mean-spirited.

- Kora responded to and apologized for some of the concerns around their portrayal of race, and refuted some of the bad-faith readings of their depictions of homophobia.

- Kora made an effort to understand what they had done wrong but a lot of the posts weren’t very specific.

- some of the claims got fucking wild. A lot of them involved taking stuff out of context. I think w*ncest got brought up at one point???

- Kora wrote another apology and took a break from Tumblr, on the advice of another friend.

- I spent like a day gearing up to write this because I vastly underestimated the speed at which Tumblr discourse moves.

#i know this would be a stronger post if I linked to posts addressing the issues in question #but I kinda just need to post Something at this point #supernatural #spn #princesshamlet discourse #discourse cw #ask to tag #tooth speech #lore

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aion-rsa · 3 years ago

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How F9 Brings Back Justice for Han and Asian Inclusion

https://ift.tt/3hakkfH

This article contains F9 spoilers.

One thing is for certain about the Fast and Furious film franchise—it has been a wild ride. Other aspects of the Fast Saga are less certain. Although the F9 title definitively labels the latest film as the ninth installment, it’s actually the 10th film. Or the 11th. You could even say the 12th if you include the short film. It depends how you want to count it. For a franchise laden with car chase clichés, the Fast Saga makes a lot of long, winding detours.

Consider how these movies treat death. Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) set the precedent by ‘dying’ back in Fast & Furious (aka Fast & Furious 4) only to return in Fast & Furious 6, working for the other side. Coincidentally, at the end of that film, there was a major reveal about Han (Sung Kang). The character was introduced in the third film in the series, The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift, but dies about three quarters of the way through the film. Yet he then reappears in the next three Fast and Furious movies, which were set before Tokyo Drift. The circumstances of his death were clarified in Fast & Furious 6. Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw killed Han. Now those events have been clarified even more in F9, thanks to returning director Justin Lin. As it turns out, Han didn’t die at all.

F9 is the fifth Fast and Furious film directed by Lin, and by design, Han Jue’s story arc is the central thread for all five Lin installments. Tokyo Drift was Lin’s first Fast film, as well as the franchise’s sharpest turn. It was almost an entirely new cast in a new setting. Lin stayed on to direct the following three installments. To keep Han’s story going, he shifted gears and jumped back in time. Just like with Star Wars, Fast & Furious through Fast & Furious 6 comprised a prequel trilogy, so the order in which the Fast Saga films were released doesn’t match the story’s timeline. The second film, 2 Fast 2 Furious, is followed chronologically by the fourth, Fast & Furious. The next two are in order: Fast Five followed by Fast & Furious 6. Then comes the third release, Tokyo Drift where Han dies. Fast & Furious 6 and Tokyo Drift take place more or less at the same time. Even the beginning of Furious 7 overlaps with the final events of Tokyo Drift.

After stepping away from the franchise for its seventh and eight films, Lin is back in the driver’s seat in F9, which is why Han is also back. However, Han has always been riding with Lin, even predating his involvement in Fast and Furious lore…

High School Han

In 2002, Lin directed the critically-acclaimed Better Luck Tomorrow. That film also starred Sung Kang in the role of Han. It was a story about four overachieving Asian teenagers who start selling cheat sheets and subsequently fall into the gangster lifestyle of drugs and crime. It was loosely based on the murder of Stuart Tay. Tay was an Asian teenager who was killed by his fellow high schoolers when they thought he would betray a computer heist they were planning. The murderers were college-bound with Ivy League potential, and the story was branded as “the honor roll murder” by the Orange County register. In Lin’s interpretation, Han is one of the murderers.

Widely hailed as a benchmark film for Asian-American representation, Better Luck Tomorrow won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance where it was rigorously celebrated by Roger Ebert, which led to MTV acquiring it.

When Lin took on Tokyo Drift, he wanted to add a cool Asian character into the mix. He tapped Kang to reprise the role of Han, albeit an incarnation of Han that was tailored to the franchise. The Better Luck Tomorrow Han is young and brash. Han is a teenager, although Kang was 30 he first played him. In Tokyo Drift, Han is older and wiser, a mentor to the film’s protagonist Sean (Lucas Black). Nevertheless, there are connections that make the character whole. The Better Luck Tomorrow Han is a chain smoker. In Fast Five, Han’s girlfriend Gisele (Gal Gadot in her first feature film). She attributes Han’s constant need to occupy his hand to being a former smoker. Tokyo Drift was only four years after Better Luck Tomorrow but the character of Han aged considerably.

Why Han Matters

The Fast Saga currently ranks as the seventh highest grossing film franchise in the world. And unlike the other top-earners, these movies were arguably the most diverse and inclusive from the onset. While the MCU has Black Panther and the upcoming Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Star Wars introduced Finn (John Boyega) in its third trilogy, those casts remain predominantly white. In fact, the top 25 top grossing global franchises are all led by white casts. Fast and Furious is the exception. This makes Han the most prominent Asian character in a Hollywood franchise in the world.

What’s more, Han is cool. Until very recently, most Asian Hollywood roles were stereotypical or tokens. Han a richly developed character, even if Better Luck Tomorrow is disregarded. In Tokyo Drift, he’s a wealthy elite street racer with his own garage packed with awesome cars, attached to a club where he’s surrounded by gorgeous women. That was an unprecedented role for how Asian characters were presented in mainstream Hollywood entertainment in the 2000s.

Han’s relationship with Giselle is also extraordinary. While there is a long cinematic history of white men hooking up with Asian women, it was extremely rare for an Asian man to kiss white woman in Hollywood cinema. Han and Giselle become an item in 2009 with Fast & Furious. The following year, it was a huge deal for Jackie Chan’s interracial kiss with Amber Valletta in The Spy Next Door.

Jackie claimed it was his first onscreen kiss and he was already well past a hundred films to his credit at that time, although most of them were China-made. Han got to snog Wonder Woman onscreen before anyone else, including Chris Pine, and if that’s not cool, what is?

Lin carried another actor over from Better Luck Tomorrow. Jason Tobin played Virgil Hu, Han’s cousin and another one of the murderous teens. Virgil is the biggest punk of the gang. In Tokyo Drift, Tobin plays Earl Hu, one of Han’s friends and a master mechanic. Is the Hu surname a coincidence? Not likely for Lin. Tobin also appears as Young Jun in the Bruce Lee inspired TV series Warrior, where Lin is an executive producer alongside Lee’s daughter Shannon. Again Tobin plays a punk gangster. Tobin reprises Earl in F9.

Beyond Hollywood inclusion and representation where Han really matters is global box office. Hollywood was another COVID casualty. During the pandemic, the United States was dethroned as the biggest box office in the world. As of right now, China claims that title. Perhaps this is one reason F9 premiered there first, as well as in other Asian regions along with the Middle East.

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It’s been out for over a month and has already grossed $203 million in China alone, plus an additional $8.8 million in the other markets at the time of the U.S. premiere. Thanks to this, F9 is already the fourth highest earner in the world in 2021. It is right behind Godzilla v Kong, but both of them are trailing behind two Chinese blockbusters that most American are completely unaware of yet, Detective Chinatown 3 and Hi, Mom.

The Fast Saga’s rise has a lot to do with its international appeal, culminating with winning over Chinese audiences. It was under Lin’s steady hand that the franchise became a global player. Adding Han brought Asian representation to an already diverse cast. Tokyo Drift passed an international milestone where the film made more outside of the U.S. in the foreign markets—$33.9 million more. This disparity widened with each successive movie, so by the time Fast & Furious 6 rolled around, the international earnings accounts for nearly 70 percent of the total box office, and the door was open to that lucrative Chinese market.

Furious 7 was the first of the franchise to be shown in China and blew up there with a record-setting $390 million take, earning the title as the biggest non-Chinese film in the country at the time. That helped to elevate the worldwide box office past $1.5 billion, with over 76 percent of it coming from international earnings. The Fate of the Furious did even better, breaking its own record as China’s top-earning foreign film with $392 million, and the international box office accounted for 81 percent of the worldwide take.

Lin is smart to bring Han back. And if he really wants to appeal to that Chinese market, he’ll boost Virgil Hu’s role in F10. Han is Korean. Hu is Chinese. Tobin has appeared in Chinese films previously, including Jackie Chan’s Rob-B-Hood so the Chinese audience is familiar with him.

Justice for Han

At the end of the previous installment, The Fate of the Furious, Shaw is awkwardly accepted into Dom’s cookout. Fans of Han Jue and the franchise were outraged. How does Han’s murderer become part of the club? This triggered the Twitter movement #justiceforhan. Now that we know Shaw didn’t murder Han, it’s up to Lin to decide what happens in F10, which he is slated to direct next (it still doesn’t resolve Shaw’s acceptance at the barbecue because Dom’s gang still believed Han was dead then).

Perhaps it’s all some grand scheme by Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell). With the Fast Saga, so much is uncertain, even Han’s name.

For F10, a confrontation between Han and Shaw seems inevitable, especially with F9’s post-credits cameo showing Shaw. Perhaps the next film will finally give enough closure for Shaw to earn his seat at the table, or for Han to banish him from it.

At the end of F9, when the car drives up to fill the empty seat at the barbecue table, it’s uncertain who the driver is. Maybe it’s Jakob (John Cena), Dom’s newly introduced brother in F9. Maybe it’s Shaw coming back for seconds, or maybe Brian O’Conner (although reviving the late Paul Walker digitally again would be tacky now). Maybe it’s even Giselle (sure, Giselle ‘died’ in Fast & Furious 6 but if Gadot came back, just think of how many tickets they’d sell). Fast and Furious is full to twisty turns, like any good car chase. But with Lin in the driver’s seat, Han is sure to get the justice he deserves.

F9: The Fast Saga opened only in theaters on Friday, June 25.

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forgotten-daydreamer · 4 years ago

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"The Last Airbender" honest commentary by me

-> I remember I watched this once, when I was something like 12, and I think my mind FORCED me to forget about it, and now that I'm 20 I feel the urge to watch it again. I saw clips on YouTube so it's not like I know nothing at all, but very very little. I'm honestly scared. I'll point out the things that I like too, if I find something like it. So... bring it on.

---

What is that gibberish in the background even supposed to mean? As someone who studies Japanese I am deeply disappointed. "But A:TLA's words are in Chinese!!" yes. But, for those who don't know, Japanese imported them as kanji so I can recognize them even if I don't speak Chinese, for these characters are written in the same way, even if pronounced differently. Or, well, I could recognize them if this gibberish meant anything. But it doesn't.

Not a fan of the prologue written onscreen as Katara reads it aloud (I suppose it's her?) to be honest. Especially when it's in... English. At this point why not changing that ugly gibberish into the English translation of the words? It would've made more sense, even if it doesn't.

Katara and Sokka sure are very... huh... White. Watching the racism and whitewashing jump out is too painful. Damn, I'm already upset with this movie and I'm only 2:35 minutes in.

A:TLA Sokka would never raise a finger on his sister- never in a million years. This dude straight up grabbed her arm! Not. Cool. Dude.

"I thought about Mom, isn't that strange..?" no Katara, it really isn't. She's your dead mother, it's not strange to think about her. That sentence just seems forced, it's got nothing to do with what's happening.

Okay, Sokka following his father's teachings is actually accurate, nice one.

I take it back. Sokka, what the actual fuck- why would you break the ice right under your feet?? A:TLA Hakoda would be very disappointed.

Oh, look, Aang's white too. How surprising.

Katara, the kid just woke up from a coma, stop asking him a thousand questions, cut Aang some slack!

Acting skills sooo not on point. Maybe the actors are actually good, and maybe it's just the dialogues that are... off. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and see how it goes.

I apprecciate the effort of trying to make Aang's tattoos look "cool" but next time, please don't.

This camera work is giving me a headache. The angles keep changing rapidly with no reason, and sometimes the camera's too close to the actors... Who did this?

Are Katara and Sokka the only white people in their village? I'm... confused.

"I am Prince Zuko." uh???? Where's your scar? Come on, that is literally one of the main points around which his story revolves, you can't just not put it there. I'm so upset.

Oh... that's the scar? Dude, I have a worse scar on my knee, I'm not even joking.

Of course Katara and Sokka's grandma is white, makes sense. So there's three white people in this village while everyone else is Asian, from what I saw. So it's okay to cast Asians as extras but not as the main characters? Holy shit, this movie is so problematic already.

Zuko, for fuck's sake, stop yelling. Aang's right in front of you, you two are, like, three inches apart. Stop screaming!

Firebenders need firepits to draw fire from..? Just bring a flamethrower with you next time, it'd be more efficient than your attacks anyway...

I'm not even 11min in and I want to stop already. I can't endure another 1:30h of this. I'm not strong enough.

"[Our mom] would have fought!" she didn't, that's the whole point. She surrendered to protect you, Katara, and the others. I get that the producers changed the story a little, it's normal, but- you can't change these things.

These dialogues... I want to rip my ears off. So little logic, so little pathos, such a poor timing- I want to cry.

Okay, this Iroh seems pretty similar to A:TLA's, thank goodness they didn't mess him up too much.

That is NOT how you pronounce Iroh!! I was a fool to think that there was one character that hadn't been completely ruined in this movie.

Nice nod to Hama, not bad.

Grandma casually has a map next to her when she needs it... Okay, I guess.

The scene on the ship- I'm speechless. Negatively speechless. I want to wash my eyes with bleach.

I love how Zuko just watches Aang fly away, like- "oh, there he goes". A:TLA Zuko would've jumped into the freezing ocean and swam toward him if he had to.

I can't get over their pronunciation of Aang. Ahng? Ohng? What is the reason behind this- why did they change it? He's literally the main character, you just don't do that.

With all due respect, the CGI is bad. I get that this movie is kinda old, but... No. There are older movies with better special effects. Low budget, maybe? I don't know.

"Souuka and I-" it's Sokka. Not Souuka. Sokka.

Zhao is hateful and annoying, which is accurate. I miss the ugly sideburns though.

Iroh calmly sipping tea while Zuko kicks ass- spot on, I can't deny that.

I hate Sokka so much. He's completely out of character, too annoying, uncharacteristically angsty and so boring. How can someone completely mess up a cool character like him?

"There is earth right beneath your feet"... oh my God, for real? Wow, how did they not notice that sooner...

"It's time for you to stop doing this!" reminds me of that one vine with the kid that yells "whEn wiLL yOu LeArN tHAt yoUR aCTioNs hAve ConSeqUEnceS!?", I don't know why.

Katara pushes a Firebender. She pushes him. He could burn her to a crisp and she- okay, you know what, I'm just going to ignore it.

Again with the firepits, I can't even-

It takes six Earthbenders to lift the rock the size of a chair..? And they also have to make a little dance to do that..?

The extras in the background don't even move- guys, at least pretend to dodge or be afraid, or cower backwards, don't just observe while you stand still looking as if you were glancing at the horizon.

Literally everyone in this movie is portrayed by Asian and Middle Eastern actors except for the main characters... Who allowed this, who said that this was okay? Seriously, who. Please, fire this person.

If Aang can't bend the other elements, what was that on Zuko's ship? Were the fire, the rock and the water acting up because Aang was there? It makes no sense.

"Avatars can't have a family." are you sure? 'Cause Roku did, even Wan (and Korra, after Aang) in a way, and many other Avatars too, I'm sure. That's not why he ran away, not at all.

Again with the fake Chinese characters... I mean, I think they were trying to imitate Chinese cursive writing, but... The lines are so straight, so stiff, so clean- there is no way that authentic cursive looks like that. Have you ever seen Japanese cursive? The characters are unrecognizable, but the lines are fluid and curved, not like that.

The scene with Katara and Aang practicing by the river confuses me because- I don't see any water being bent. Is it just me? I'm serious, maybe I just didn't see it..?

Ozai asking about Zuko and acting mildly concerned and almost caring is off-character. It makes it look like he feels guilty, when A:TLA Ozai does not. Also, let's say that this Ozai feels guilty, why doesn't he just welcome his son back, then? But he doesn't, 'cause he indirectly says so, so it makes no sense.

More gibberish. Please, stop. Don't do that again. I beg you.

"-sentenced to Agni KEE." goddamn it. Agni KAI. Not KEE. KAI! Why is that so hard for these people to say things right?

I still don't see any Waterbending. Are they just moving randomly? Are the practicing without actually bending the water..?

Oh, alright, now there's water moving, that's better. Still, so many movements for a little stream of water being lifted in the air- almost like that dance the Earthbenders did earlier. Seems excessive.

Is that monstrosity supposed to be Appa? Why is his face so- human? Oh Spirits, forgive them!

Again with this "I can have no family." thing- did the producers even watch the whole show or just read the summary of Wikipedia?

You know what, the Blue Spirit mask is accurate, in a way. Old masks used to have wigs attached sometimes, so it's not as bad as it seems. His stance though- that's a big no.

Zuko's swords don't actually hit anything most of the times he swings them around- just saying.

"What is this?". Ugh, Zhao, Aang's an AIRbender. Get it? AIR. So he is moving the AIR. I mean, you know he's an airbender, why are you acting surprised that he can redirect the wind?

Yue's white too... I checked online, and I discovered that the actress has Mexican origins: this has nothing to do with Asia and the Middle East so I personally consider this as a desperate attempt to include diversity- as if there were no actual Asian and Middle Eastern actors out there, but fine, I guess. What was I expecting at this point? Oh, I also know that this actress is Asami's V.A. which doesn't change much but since I like Asami I'll pretend to like this Yue too, a bit.

Extra™ moves to create a 10ft tall tornado... Okay, Aang, you're the boss.

Pakku is white too, hm? I don't know what to say anymore. Should I just stop pointing out this cast is so, so wrong? Probably. Will I? No.

Sokka's face when Yue tells him her hair's white because she was stillborn- that is the only realistic face he's done so far. Also, Yue's acting is not that off, and I actually like it! She's better than others.

More waterbending without water. Budget cuts.

I take that back, Yue is basically smiling when Sokka tells her that the Fire Nation is there, like, come on! Yue, I believed in you...

The dialogues are so fake, nobody talks like that! I'm sure that this is among the reasons why the actors seem incapable of doing their job- I'm sorry for these people, maybe the poor performance is not entirely their fault.

I'm trying to figure out what's up with Zuko's hair, and I'm not talking about the fact that it doesn't grow where the scar is, that's normal. What bothers me are those spikes he has on the front and on the back- or whatever they are. I am confused. Better than ponytail!Zuko, worse than all the other haircuts he had in A:TLA.

Zuko's actor is the best one in this movie so far, in my opinion. He's believable. He yelled a lot in the beginning, but now (1:12h in) he's not that odd.

How to understand when a scene has been not thought through: when characters don't do something that normal people would do. Zuko throws fire at Aang when he tries to escape, and then he just stands less than ten feet apart as Aang hides- he watches him, he stands there like "okay, I can't attack you now because the script says I'm not supposed to". Then do not include him in the shot! Or, at least make him say something- no, he just stands there and watches as his enemy is literally three seconds away from him. He could reach him with a little leap, without even running!

They showed Azula for a split second in the Agni Kai scene and then Zuko mentioned her once. Is that all? I hope to see her more, even a little something. Not including her would be a huge waste.

I don't ever want to see Appa again. So ugly he's scary. Who is the person that created the CGI for our amazing flying bison that we fell in love with? This isn't Appa, it's... Something else, something terrible.

The scene where Yue passes out when Zhao kills the Spirit- the secondhand embarrassment is real there. I had to look away, it's so bad.

This Zhao is maybe the most out of character person in this movie, and it's hard to beat Aang and Sokka so that sure is something...

If they say "Souuka" one more time I'll cry. I'm serious. I'll do it.

Alright, alright, the scene where Aang saves the day is pretty cool, I liked it, despite the questionable CGI.

Why do Katara and Sokka keep Aang upright by gripping his upper arms so tightly? That hurts! There are different ways to do that, less painful and more efficient.

Ozai looks like he has no idea of what he's talking about, he looks like me when I read maths.

There she is, Azula!! Wait- are we seeing her again?

...okay, we're not.

---

What can I say... Disastrous. No cabbage man, literally only five seconds of Azula, everyone is out of character, bad casting, bad pronunciation, gibberish wannabe Chinese characters, odd CGI... Everything is wrong.

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peterpanswendy · 7 years ago

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Unpopular Opinion: I think the new Magic School Bus show is actually okay

Listen up, Walkerville: The 90s are over.

In the weeks leading up to the release of the long-awaited Magic School Bus reboot, I have seen a LOT of negativity. Now the full season has dropped, I’m seeing even more disappointment, with many claiming that it has "ruined their childhoods”.

Okay, yes, it’s clear that they were making a show on a Netflix budget two decades after the craze as opposed to a PBS budget in the heat of the initial craze, BUT THEY DO SO MANY THINGS RIGHT. Or at least they’re trying.

I consider the Magic School Bus to be one of the biggest, most important parts of my childhood, and it left a huge impact that still resonates strongly years after the fact. Honestly, I take it perhaps a bit more seriously than a woman nearing 30 should.

So please believe me when I say that the new show is not so bad!

Here are three pieces of evidence:

1. They don’t try to fix what’s not broken

At its core, the original Magic School Bus cartoon is about Ms. Frizzle, an eccentric teacher with a magical school bus who takes her class on crazy field trips that simultaneously teaches them science and holds the key to solve whatever issue the kids have that particular day. At the end of each episode, the producer would clear up any scientific inconsistencies during a phone call segment. While it made science easily comprehendible to young audiences, it contained pop culture references (quotes and impersonations, celebrity voice actors, some jokes) that only older audiences would really get. It had wit, it had class, it had an endless number of really, REALLY awful puns.

In “Rides Again”, this hasn’t changed. Each episode follows the exact same pattern as the predecessor, and they poke fun at this in Arnold’s speech at the beginning of the new episode. They know it’s predictable.

Ms. Frizzle is still voiced by a popular comedienne. The theme song is still sung by a popular musical artist in their heyday. Heck, the opening theme is basically an (updated) frame-for-frame of the original. The science is there, the bus does its stuff, and oh, are the the puns still as bad as ever.

Oh, and celebrity guest stars?

Bojack Horseman, the first black female astronaut, and the former Dr. Christina Yang of Grey’s Anatomy? Not bad for a first run if you ask me!

2. Sometimes change is for the better

I dunno about you other 90s kids, but when I was in elementary school, NONE of my classmates dressed like any of the kids in the original show. Pleated skirts and saddle shoes? Initial jerseys and backwards hats? Matching vests and pants with Mary Janes? COLLARED SHIRT DRESSES AND HIGH HEELS?! Yowza! The characters were originally designed in 1989 with the release of the book “At the Waterworks”, and the show stayed pretty faithful to Degen’s original art style...so yeah, the styles were dated coming out the gate.

Okay, yes, I am sad Arnold lost his curly hair and that Tim and Keesha’s skin lightened in tone, but overall, I LOVE the redesigned class! They look like believable modern kids. Tim especially benefits from the updated look. (I do wish they had made Wanda look a little more tomboyish and Keesha a bit less sweet, but anything was better than what they were wore back in the 90s.)

Now, the cast changes: Out with Valerie and Phoebe, in with Fiona and Jyoti. As I mentioned earlier, the show knows it’s repetitive. They needed something to change it up, and I think this was an okay way to go about it.

First: The Friz. Practically, and I know none of you 90s purists want to hear it, Kate McKinnon is more relevant in this day and age than Lily Tomlin. As a character, Fiona maybe relies on the bus a bit too much, but she brings a believable joy to the novelty of the bus’s capabilities that Valerie often took for granted. Honestly, I think they handled the “changing of the guard” really spectacularly - heck, they worked it into a story about Invasive Species. That was darn clever and caught me delightfully off-guard!

As for Phoebe, she was just the soft-hearted animal-loving “new kid” and, I feel, didn’t really contribute as much to the class dynamic as say...literally everyone else except Tim. Jyoti is the non-whiny, adventurous new girl with the tech and industrial design knowledge that brings the show into the 21st century. (Plus some Southeast-Asian representation!) She’s a much more exciting character, but I don’t really know who her foil is. Anyway, she’s smart and adorable and I’m glad she’s on board.

(Slight tangent: Wanda seems to have taken on Phoebe’s attribute of being an animal lover and conservationist. Yes, Wanda did like slightly unconventional animals in the original show - remember Bella in “Hops Home”? - but she wasn’t necessarily for preserving them in their original habitats. Do recall that she was the main proponent for clearing out the abandoned lot in “Meets The Rot Squad”, not to mention the eccentric habitat she believed was best for Bella. New Wanda still loves animals like fish and rats, and gets arbitrarily attached to them and tries to force her ideas of what’s best on them, but dang, I did not expect her to suggest field trips to preserve animals. Where’s the thrill-seeking? Where’s the reckless adventure? I can see why they needed to transfer the love of biology to someone, and Wanda was the logical choice, but like, man...I miss her edge. Maybe she matured over the summer break.)

BACK ON TASK. The kids have more or less dropped their catch phrases....with the exception of “CARLOS!” Now that they’re in their second year in Ms. Frizzle’s class, they have a stronger sense of agency during field trips. Heck, they even got to pick a location once! With a less experienced Frizzle in the driver’s seat, the kids really get to run the show...which I think is really neat!

3. They throw the old fans plenty of bones

Weatherman. Keesha directing. Arnold’s obsession with rocks. Phoebe going back to her Old School. Ralphie’s horrified face when he finds himself inside a classmate’s nose, a bodily location everyone (except Jyoti) has been once before. Janet being a snobby little bitch with a blog...who’s still a total coward. Is it just me, or did the writers include a bunch of throw-backs to the original show? I unapologetically love every single one of them.

Also. ALSO. I don’t know if any of y’all took a close look at the credits but...in the Additional Voices there’s three that really stand out:

Amos Crawley: Arnold’s original voice actor (before Danny Tamberelli). Lisa Jai: Wanda’s original voice actress. Stuart Stone: Ralphie’s original voice actor.

Wow.

I ask you, WHY WOULD THEY SPECIFICALLY GET THEM BACK IF NOT AS A LOVE LETTER TO THE ORIGINAL?

The new show’s not perfect. There’s not as much banter between the kids, and their personalities seem a bit watered down compared to the original (and unexpectedly less sarcastic)...but it’s not BAD. I’d love to hear a kid’s opinion on it, honestly. I know the kid in me can’t wait to see more!

In conclusion, haters gonna hate, the new Magic School Bus is good, and darnit, Netflix, I want more! Make of it what you will.

Thanks for reading!

#magic school bus rides again #magic school bus #msb #rant

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rolonoise · 7 years ago

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Shadow Warrior (1997) Review

Who wants some Wang? Over the summer I played through Shadow Warrior and all of its’ expansions using the Shadow Warrior Redux port available on Steam. It’s finally time to write about that experience.

Shadow Warrior was 3D Realms’ successor to Duke Nukem 3D. While Duke was a Hollywood badass, Shadow Warrior’s hero is an over-the-top Asian badass with callbacks to Hong Kong action films and Japanese ninja shows.

Shadow Warrior was less successful than Duke 3D, probably due to releasing so close to Quake which made it appear dated by comparison.

The Introduction I first purchased Shadow Warrior Redux last year, but I struggled to get into it. Duke Nukem is eminently accessible. Hardcore, but accessible. I’m going to spoil things now and say that I ended up loving Shadow Warrior. It’s Duke Nukem dialed up. Less accessible, more hardcore, and in the end satisfying as hell.

My first attempt at Shadow Warrior left a mixed impression. The standard shuriken weapon felt under-powered, it was hard to melee the enemies. I stuck with it; learning to use the basic weapons, find new weapons, and how beat the elite ninja with the instant death attack. The game made me git gud and after that things started to get pretty damn enjoyable. But after that I got stuck looking for a switch. So the first impression was a mixed bag. I stopped playing and took a long break from it. As I wrote earlier, I finished Shadow Warrior and every expansion over the summer. After a few months hiatus I started a new game, stuck with it and had a blast. It takes longer to get into then Duke or Doom but it is great.

The Levels Shadow Warrior has a lot of content to get through. Levels are themed around Asian city streets, rural valleys, mountain tops, temples, and isolated bases. Most levels are highly complex and key hunting is a major feature. Duke Nukem’s abstract realism is kicked up a notch, giving the sprawling levels a strange and almost dream-like quality to progression. The juxtaposition between urban realism, abstract countryside, ancient temples, high tech bases, and mystical weirdness works to create the feeling of a pleasantly bizarre adventure. It’s like stumbling through a shifting dreamworld. Sometimes levels appear to be linked with a strong connecting storyline, and other times you’ll find yourself catapulted into a bizarre new environment with no idea how you got there. Again, a strange but pleasant experience.

The levels are complex and lots of fun, but you need to keep your eyes open. There were perhaps three or four moments in the game where I felt completely lost and play ground to halt for five to ten minutes.

Gameplay I mentioned the shuriken felt under-powered earlier. That’s because the shuriken is not Shadow Warrior’s iconic weapon. High level play depends on the rocket launcher and grenade launcher. Both are satisfying and dangerous. The grenade launcher has a massive blast radius that you’ll need to get used to, and is used for clearing out rooms. The rocket launcher is for dealing large amounts of damage to single enemies. Perhaps appropriately, Shadow Warrior will put you into a kind of zen state where you end up leaping across the level blazing away with machine guns and bombs, clearing out unexplored chambers with high powered grenade launchers, blowing up tankier monsters with rockets, and finishing off the stragglers with shotguns and railgun blasts.

Generally the weapons are a lot of fun to use and when you’re in that zen state you’re in one of the best shooting experiences in FPS gaming. Story and World Shadow Warrior (1997) rides the early 80s to mid-90s wave of badly dubbed kung fu parodies and ninja shows, which were the only thing most westerners knew about China and Japan at the time. It was accused of racism when it came out and it can be hard to argue against that; but despite the puerile parodies Shadow Warriors’ approach to Asian culture at least seems to come from a place of love, even if not one of respect. The developers were clearly fans of anime and Asian action cinema, they just weren’t interested in making a serious or sensitive story line. Nor does Shadow Warrior need a serious storyline or a deep look into a new culture - it’s pure gameplay with a paper thin plot and a massive amount of penis jokes. Everyone’s mileage may vary, but I’d advise any shooter fan not to miss out on Shadow Warrior because they don’t like the faux Asian styling.

The plot is simple: you are Lo Wang, kung fu badass and former bodyguard to of the head of Zilla Corporation. Lo Wang is betrayed by Zilla. Lo Wang embarks on a quest for vengeance. Body parts fly and anime babes who don’t fit the art style respond to Lo Wang’s clumsy pick-up lines with automatic gunfire.

Sometimes Shadow Warrior slips from silliness into cringey childishness, but it’s mostly silly fun. Lo Wang is a dumb character but he’s also a really distinct character. It’s like the game as a whole.

There’s something oddly mischievous about him. He giggles with glee when the explosions start. He’s a complete wise-ass who’s having so much fun that in the end I found it hard not to get attached to him. As downright stupid as Shadow Warrior is sometimes, I couldn’t help crack a smile when using a phone caused Lo Wang to make a silly prank call.

Hello, is Big Bottom there? First name Iva. Iva Big Bottom? Heeeheeeheee!

Conclusion Shadow Warrior is an ultra-violent, grossly offensive and ridiculous load of nonsense – and I loved it.

Shadow Warrior doesn’t give a damn what you think about it. It is what it is; a hardcore experience designed by a team of weirdos with a lot of experience making FPS games. It was made in 1997 for experienced first-person shooter fans, mixing late 90s architecture with early 90s design sensibilities.

I felt genuinely sad when I finished it and all the expansions. Someday I’ll return to Shadow Warrior and re-join Lo Wang the giggling idiot ninja.

I recommend Shadow Warrior. EDIT: I did encounter a rare but recurring bug in Shadow Warrior Redux where the mouse stopped responding. The first expansion pack also has some glitchy sky textures near the end (although this might not be the port’s fault). Neither were deal breakers.

#shadow warrior #build engine #90s fps #lo wang #who wants some wang #review

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frankenbaby · 7 years ago

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When are we going to move past this?

I saw the photo of Zazie Beetz as Domino last night, and I absolutely loved it. I thought, this girl looks glorious!! And I loved the design so much. The vitiligo giving a reversal of white pigmentation on a woman of colour suits the name domino way more than the black on white of the comics. I've always enjoyed the comic character, but this felt fresh. I felt really good about this design, and naively expected that people would share these feelings. Once again, I put too much faith in people. I believed the best and got the worst. The comments were full of thinly veiled racism, some outright racism and a lot of "she shouldn't have a 70's Afro", "she should look like the comic!" and "I hope that they kill her off so that the REAL Domino can come along in the sequel." All idiotic comments, all frightened little white boys that can't handle progressive change. But it was that "REAL Domino" comment that really stuck with me. It remained so much of the Jesse Eisenberg Lex Luthor Jr backlash. It just further solidifies the idiocy of the purist and elitist mentality of certain comic book fans. They believe a character has to look exactly like the comic counterpart. Which in itself is pure stupidity, since it's NOT the comic, it's a separate version inspired by the comics, as all comic adaptations are. It is also impossible to make a character look exactly like a comic book character when costumes and appearances change and evolve constantly in comics. And these fairweather "fans", who get most of their comic book knowledge from wikis, Best-Of graphic novel lists and cartoons, their naivety screams at us. Because for long-term comic book fans, redesigns and big changes were just par for the course for such a long time, that even the vaguest hint at source material was enough to excite us. We long accepted that Hollywood couldn't, or wouldn't directly adapt our comics, so we went along for the ride. Like Singer's leather clad X-Men, Keanu Reeve's American, black haired Constantine, Perlman and Del Toro's cocky, kitten obsessed, lovesick Hellboy, Sam Raimi's organically webbed Spider-Man amongst many others, we were accustomed to change and despite a few bitter comments here and there, we accepted them, because we were grateful we were getting them at all. Comic to screen "accuracy" is still fairly new. And these accuracies are still tenuous at best, but to the Layman, sure, Marvel are 100% comic accurate with their movies (they're not, but that's another conversation). So if Marvel can do it, why can't Fox? My question is, if Fox can have so much success with so many changes, why are Marvel so afraid to do the same? Why did we get Peter Parker in what felt more like a Miles Morales story? Why couldn't we have an Asian ancient one? But I'm getting away from my point. You see, I've been a fan of superheroes since before I can really remember, since I was the kid running around in a homemade Batman costume with ears that could never stay standing, the kid who got his mom to attach a cape to his Superman pyjamas so he could leap off the furniture trying to fly. I've followed and loved movies, especially superheroes, for decades. I still don't feel spoiled. I'm not jaded and greedy. I am so thankful that I get to live in a time where I can go see an Antman movie, were Wonder Woman is breaking cinematic records, and where movies like Aquaman are on the horizon. I don't get mad that Thanos' design looks a little too campy, I'm happy that artistic license allowed a director to somehow make the most original and yet most comic accurate Batman to date, I'm happy that the same artistic license allows elements from several decades of stories to be incorporated into the Avengers storylines. I'm grateful, not because it could be worse, but because it's already pretty damn good. And it gets hard to feel happy about how good we've got it when you wish to wade into an ocean of likeminded people and find yourself in a vat of acid. Because people just can't accept change. They have to have it their way or no way at all. If they can't enjoy it, nobody can. And to hell with these people. Damn their narrow-minded, racist, sexist bullshit. I'm done responding. I'm done arguing. I want to turn down the volume on these idiots until their voices disappear. Because I'm all for free speech, but I am not here for hate. I will not support or condone their ignorance. They can speak as freely as they want, but I'm done listening. I just want to enjoy my movies and live my life. I'll be up here on the bridge, walking straight over the trolls as the river rises around their feet and eventually sweeps them away.

#deadpool #deadpool 2 #domino #zazie beetz #racism #ignorance #fanboys #trolls #positivity #dceu positivity #fox positivity #x-men positivity

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knightofbalance-13 · 7 years ago

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Volume 4 Commentary Counter to Counter

https://rerwby.tumblr.com/post/161522494149/rwby-volume-4-commentary-play-by-play

Yes, like anyone whose opinion matters wants to hear the whiney, egotistical creator of the third rate, cliché, poorly written version of RWBY bitch about how the people who are actually talented and capable of producing a product that has more to offer than Gen RWBZed.

I’d say the whole volume was a fuck-you shot to the fans but

But you know you’ll get called out on your bullshit seeing as the ratings for Volume 4 are above Volumes 1 and 2 and the only negative things we’v e heard outside of RWDE is a couple of minor issues qand the usuqal “Yang doesn’t get enough screentme.”

And you’re not one to talk: RE:RWBY is just a giant Fuck You shot to the real RWBY and just writing in general.

I’m leaning towards believing this since Salem was one of the first things conceived for the show, so her team would follow. Makes you wonder if Miles was always gonna have his “crazy” Tyrian though or if that came later. I doubt it because I don’t believe Monty would make characters as boring as Hazel and Watts right from the start.

Gee, it’s almost as though those characters have been on screen for a total of five minutes a piece and thus not enough time to be developed and thus you are being a nitpicky douche for making judgements so earlier so you can bitch.

Yeah it’s not breaking news to say that they did the opposite of what would be a good idea. Mentioned in the commentary, but in more detail in the special features, is the fact that CRWBY had a rough start to the volume due to the new production pipeline, which continued for several episodes.

You know, the most common compliant with Oscar was he didn’t get enough screentime to develop his struggle with Ozpin and thus moving him up to Episode 4 is an improvement over the original plan of 7. Of course, it’s not breaking news for RWDE to sabatoge the show just to complain more: That’s like a third of their Modius Operande.

And at least RWBY is original: the one creative license to your name isn’t even an attempt at being original with you badly copying and pasting RWBY onto a screen with what little you do change to make it objectively worse.

Wondering how they would have fit 4 whole monsters in that fight, but I guess that’s why they ended up splitting two bad guys between teams instead.

Oh but Re:RWBY, you just said they don’t do good ideas so that should have happened!

Yeah, see what your bitching does: invalidates what little you have to say nice to show you flip flop like a limp pancake.

Just saying that I believe this. They said that Roman originally played a smaller part in Volume 1? How was this possible? Insert more villains.

And this is worth jackshit...how? is it a crack at the writers? if so, it’s even worse than normal. Is this an observation? Then this belongs under the category of “No shit, Sherlock.”

So Weiss fought a Grimm in her trailer it turns out. Idk how to feel about that. In a way it makes sense because, as we’ve seen with Winter’s summons, the Schnee summons are light versions of Grimm. It makes little sense though when you consider that the Geist inhabits inanimate things and therefore the armor isn’t a natural feature of the Grimm.

Gee, did the fact that she could summon the fucker not tip you off?

And the very commentary points out that the Geists are named after what they inhabit (AKA Petra Geist) so it seems like whatever they inhabit because a Grimm by extension.

Iunno what fatal flaw to focus on here. Is it how this makes it sound like Jaune’s god damn weapon model design was THAT important that Kerry noticed? That it implies melting Pyrrha’s armor down was a last-minute thought? That the plot hole of Pyrrha fucking disintegrating and therefore leaving no armor or cape for Jaune was made entirely because Kerry liked how a shield looked?

Hey RE;RWBY? Know what a storyboard is? Obviously not considering you would know that a storyboard is made RIGHT AFTER they basic writing and thus NOT LAST MINUTE.

So instead of losing it for a reason they just lose it for the sake of it. Cool.

Sort of how Pyrrha can’t understand what jaune was going through in volume 1.

Or how Neptuen and Sun got thrown out of the fight in Voume 2.

Or how no one noticed how old Cinder was in Volume 3.

Or any number of innumerable so-called “plot holes” that shoud have logically booted you out of here a long time ago.

The name kind of gave it away without any other hints

Not really: I never got it. I just thought it was a word for betrayal.

Wow. The people working on this show were seriously so disillusioned that they thought Pyrrha’s relationship with Jaune earned that kind of reaction. Not even gonna mention how the existence of the recording makes no sense, especially since Pyrrha signs off on it. Why would she do that on a generic fighting guide. I can’t believe how attached these people were to the Alpha Hets.

Or, you know.... IT WAS A CHARACTER THEY GOT ATTACHED TO. KIND OF LIKE THE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WHO CRIED WHEN SHE DIED.

And why does their sexuality have anything to do with how their suffering causes pain in people capable of feeling empathy? Are you saying that people should care about people if their heterosexual? Or are you saying that they only cared about Pyrrha because she was heterosexual?

If A then you are a heterophobe and thus any you say about sexuality should be immediately disregarded. if B then that's offensive to at least Lindsay and Arryn who are LGBT and work at RT.

can’t say anything more than what’s been said on this.

Except maybe a list of what they did right and what they did wrong OBJECTIVELY like a REAL critic would do?

She seemed pretty cruel to me lol. They need to have Salem do more before they announce these kinds of intentions, because now they’ve just given us a preconceived notion and they won’t have to write it that way.

Gee, it’s almost as though Salem is the fucking BIG BAD and thus the GREATEST EVIL IN RWBY. And considering she was protecting CInder from her colleagues taunts and was gently pushing Cinder to improve, she has the motherly side as well. She has done enough: You just wanna bitch considering you cannot grasp the concept of a Big Bad.

This might be the stupidest thing I’ve ever read.

Considering this is the author of Re:RWBY and “Alpha Hets”: That’s a lie.

ANd they do this type of thing in anime all the time. It’s even a real life ocurrance so a commonplace and even factually correct is the stupdiest thing you’ve read? Guess you don’t read much then.

Wow! Joel and Burnie, two voice acting veterans who formed RT, are invested in their roles? Don’t get too shocked by actors who actually try, guys!

Well, you heard that right Miles, Kerry, Linsday, Barbara, Arryn and Vic: You all suck and you should all quit your jobs because one person is an ingrateful little shit.

Blah blah magical mystical Asia land

1. So does that mean the entirety of Avatar was “Blah blah magical Asian land”? Good to know Re;RWBY.

2. gee, I wonder who the creator of RWBY was? Oh right, Monty Oum, an Asian of four nationalities. So uh, pretty sure your the racist here.

Can you imagine if we had to see RNJR somehow not notice Qrow like twenty feet away from them? Thank god he sat in that pub across the street.

Ever heard of a cloak or disguise? Also, you’re bitching about them doing something right again.

I mean iunno that scene didn’t scream emotional to me but I also have daddy issues so

Well that explains the misgyony and bias against males. Also: we get it: you have about as much of a soul as Flowey. You don’t need to remind us.

Makes you wonder if by the time of their conception, Faunus were a thing or if Monty was just making up furry OC’s.

And we should give two shits... why?

Jfc guys went kinda overboard there. Didn’t look like 100+ when I watched it.

CRWBY: *Does hard work*

Re:RWBY: *Bitches about hard work not meeting their expectations*

Good to know this is fine: I’ll start publicly launching the reasons why you suck as a writer directly at you form now on.

That’s about what I guessed yep. Now is there a reason for it to be Neptune? To show that Weiss grew past her affection towards him? Or because it was the first person who came to mind? Who knows.

Number 1. Because it shows character development. Oh wait, I’m expecting a RWDE poster to understand good writing. Sorry, big mistake there.

I remember when capes were in Kingdom Hearts. Then they realized they were too much work so they removed them to avoid continuity errors and such. It was a smart and humble move, because the capes looked cool. I guess Tyrian’s jacket was just really that awesome though.

Any problems with Tyrian’s jacket? No? Then this is a bitch to bitch point.

Just gonna keep reminding us of that huh guys?

And you’re just gonna keep bring it up huh?

well that is a legitimately very interesting fact

And now you provide one...

Best decision they ever made, thank god. I love the idea of Miles being all modest and going “ah yes time to be mature.”

Who wants to bet they’ll ruin this soon?

The RWBY writers struggling with exposition?

There it is: Less that and more making it not sound like exposition.

And it was made known that Miles conceived one of the worst parts of the entire story. And he just copied it from a Grimm Tale.

Not gonna mention how everyone (including YOU) said Miles mad eit up on the spot and got totally contradicted?

And it’s (SHOCK) RWBY takes inspiration from Fairy Tales.

Also: I didn't know Miles wrote in the Maidens.

Isn’t this why you, like, direct your scenes? To avoid miscommunication like that?

Did he say it was bad or just shocked? Oh wait, you won’t tell us because it might contradict your bitching.

Apparently the animation crew’s passion is graphic design.

Aren’t you a fan of Studio Trigger? Wouldn't that be obvious?

Again, directing.

RWBY chibi, Camo Camp, mentoring the new writer for Red Vs Blue.

They had a lot on their plate.

Idk how to feel about this but it is kind of disturbing that Miles would be so quick to make that joke.

Wanna know what’s more disturbing? SHowing zero empathy and an absolute lack of self awareness. Wanna know what that looks like? Look in the mirror.

guessed everyone who knows of overwatch’s existence

No shit Sherlock.

That probably would have made some sense.

And I’m guessing that here they said they didn’t have time and you choose to ignore that for the sake of bitching right?

So Lancaster gets shot down completely, cool. Cool thing of a creator to do. How dare we imply Ruby and Jaune are close after all they’ve been through.

Gee, it’s almost as though a certain part of the fandom will send death threats and verbally abuse and terrorize the crew for heterosexuality.

Yeah I bet Miles loved Tyrian.

And I bet that’s an insult.

Pretty sure Sun’s torso is a tube with the new models.

Yes, that clearly rectangular shape is a cylindrical tube.

God, what is left for Qrow to reveal? We got his weapon’s forms, his Semblance, his transforming thing, what else? Tbh my bet’s on Ozpin’s cane. They planned for him to use the cane but decided against it because of their artifact bullshit.

Salem’s origins, the history of the Headmasters secrets behind Ozpin, bandits, Raven, STRQ.

And said bullshit was planned whereas the Maidens whom you’ve said nothing about wasn’t. Yeah, between your failure at writing, your failure at basic empathy, your failure at self awareness and your failure at basic fact comprehension you just spent all this time making a complete ass of yourself.

#rwde bullshit #re:rwby

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5hfanfiction · 8 years ago

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Too Close To Home - Chapter 1

Chapter 1 “Camila, look over here”

“Camila, here”

“Camila, to your left”

It’s all a blur at this point. I can’t even hear what they’re saying as it all mix altogether that my ear can’t register from their non-stop shouting, making my ears numb. I’m used to it now anyway.

After four years being in a girl group called Fifth Harmony and almost a year of solo career, I’ve gotten used to the annoying shouts and the overwhelmingly bright flashes when going through the red carpet. You would expect the red carpet to be wonderful and magical but seriously, they could make you blind and deaf at the same time. It’s more towards looking presentable for the viewers than the actual guests of the award show.

After a minute or two of annoying flashes and clicks in front of me, I was finally dragged to the venue for the AMAs. I squaring my eyes, adjusting to the dimmer light compared to what was going outside. Seriously though, isn’t the lighting on the red carpet enough for the photographers? There are lights there for a reason.

The last time I went to this particular award show was when I performed That’s My Girl as a member of Fifth Harmony, the last award show performance I did as a group with 4 girls.

It felt different. Refreshing in a way. Liberating to so many great extent, but also feeling a little bit uneasy, knowing that the four of them are actually going here too. The last time I saw them was actually when we were in Miami, performing for the iHeart Radio. I don’t know if they would be cordial with me or hate me.

Not only that, this is the first award show I’ve come since the breakthrough. For PCAs and VMAs, I didn’t go because I was too busy working on the album. And partially because I wanted to avoid them, knowing that they go to every possible award show.

We stopped talking altogether when I publicized my resignation. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to, it was because I felt guilty to actually start a conversation with them and neither of them tried to reach her. I guess they’ve moved on without me. Even Dinah.

We didn’t end it on a bad note. We actually talked about it since April, before the release of 7/27.

I told them that I couldn’t take it anymore. That the music that we were making wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

The fact that they’re trying to sell our bodies for money was also a factor as to why I quit.

They were taking over our lives, dictating what we should do and who we should date. When I first came to X-Factor, it was because of my passion towards music, and probably One Direction. I wanted to create music that people can relate to, a song that hits people at an emotional level, not a song about how we are trying to seduce our partner to skip work and just work from home.

They didn’t understand at first. They thought I wanted to be the center of attention. To be the first to go solo just like Zayn.

I mean, to a certain extent, I guess they can see it that way. But it wasn’t about attention, it was about how the songs we were making being too dense and impersonal. I’m surprised that Lauren hasn’t said anything.

I’m a very passionate person and I would rather sing a song that means a lot to me in a small crowd than a catchy songs that they didn’t even write to the whole world. Those songs were literally destroying my passion towards music, so I quit before they take over my life completely.

They understood towards the end. They showed nothing but support and were actually happy for my single when I was with still with them, Bad Things, unlike the first song I did which was I Know What You Did Last Summer.

But still, we haven’t contacted each other. They were moving on as a group and I was moving on on my own.

Not only that, the emotional whirlwind between Lauren and I were just too much for me to handle.

We got attached too fast and we were still young. we still are. I’m only 20 and she’s still 21.

Our ‘relationship’ caused so much tension on the group. We fought non-stop that the others had to choose sides. We also couldn’t stop holding onto each other that it was borderline obsessive.

She became both the pain and the medicine. She held the cutter and the bandage. She was like a drug. As much of a cliche as that was, it’s true. She made me addicted to her, making me crave for her. But she’s hard to get. Too expensive for me to get on a daily basis, only occasionally when I’m lucky. She was that.

We became dependent towards each other. Our moods complements each other so well, which should be a good thing but since we fight a lot, it was more anger than happiness.

We were unhappy and although I loved her, I just couldn’t take her cowardice anymore. It was tiring and I don’t want a relationship where the other doesn’t even want to show that we’re together.

—

“Camila, can you not stare at me when we’re doing interviews? the fans might catch on that we’re together or something,” she scoffs, showing that the idea of us was getting on her nerve, as if we weren’t together, which was untrue.

“What do you mean? We are together,” I exclaimed, irritated that she doesn’t want me to be hers publicly. In front of everyone but us, we were merely best friends.

Don’t get me wrong, I do understand that fact that she doesn’t want to be labeled or come out of the closet just yet. But the fact that she’s mad at me for looking at her for mere seconds, the fact that i look at her because she looked beautiful and i can’t keep my eyes of her is restricted is so unfair.

It’s always on her call.

She can stare at me all she wants when I talk in an interview or sing on stage and I wouldn’t be mad at her. Actually, my reaction would be quite the opposite. If she looked at me, I feel lighter and beautiful.

But when I do it, she’ll start bombarding with all these accusations and questions. Let’s be honest, is it wrong to look at your loved ones for more than 3 seconds? If anything, it should be a right to do so. it shows affection and tenderness. And besides, have you seen Lauren Jauregui, who wouldn’t stare at her?

But she doesn’t want to hear any of it. She’s annoyingly stubborn most of the times. If she thinks she’s right, she’ll hold that thought till the end of the world, making other possibility come out of her other ear.

Heck, she still says, “Clothes is…” when talking.

So ironic how she’s basically biased at that extent, believing in what she only believes in, not even considering other possibilities, but complains how the world are too biased and discriminating.

“Don’t you get it? The fans are trying so hard to decipher that we are more than friends. It’s annoying to feel scrutinized for everything we do. Stop staring at me, it’s weird. Oh, better yet, don’t even look at me.”

So I did.

I stopped staring at her like she was my world. I stopped looking at her direction. I even stopped talking to her.

She stopped being my world. She used to be the center of it. Now, she’s merely a side character that passes through.

She was a lesson, teaching me to never fall for Lauren Jauregui ever again.

She didn’t understand how her words hurt. She made it so clear that the idea of us being together officially to the public makes her want to vomit. That I’m weird for feeling that way towards her.

So, I was just trying to save ourselves the trouble from the inevitable break up by breaking the connection altogether earlier, saving us from more fights in the future.

She seems to want that anyway.

The only problem was that we were still tied together professionally and it still hurts knowing the first person you gave everything to start dating her childhood friend whom she calls her platonic soulmate every time i met them back when we were together.

Not only did they start dating, Lucy get to do something I had been craving to do since I started having feelings for Lauren, which was come out together, publicly.

—

I sighed. I shouldn’t be reminiscing about my relationship with Lauren. That was on March last year and it has been more than a year.

I sat down on my seat which was right infront of the stage. I looked around and saw that Fifth Harmony’s seats were literally behind me.

I sighed. Of course they want us to be near, they wanted drama and in the eye of the public, we were basically 'fighting.’ Which wasn’t true, all those letters were orchestrated by the labels to publicize my breakthrough. They said drama makes people interested but I don’t get it, my profession was to sing, not to perform a fake beef between me and my friends.

But I couldn’t say anything. They threatened my career if I said anything. So I didn’t.

My train of thought were interrupted when I saw them walk towards their seats and me.

They all wore red dresses. Of course the management want us to wear the same colored dresses. They’re still trying so hard to make me tied to them.

Ally wore a short dress, that goes to her knees, showing her tiny calves. Normani wore a classy dress that is more maroon than red, her cleavage showing but still doesn’t show much skin. Dinah wore a jumpsuit that has a long v cut on the neck. They all looked wonderful but wait. Where is Lauren?

She’s probably late as always. After we broke up, she started going to the events late. She partied a little too much.

They saw me staring at them and smiled. At least the fact that we ended on a good note was confirmed.

I stand up and when they were close enough, I hugged them. Ignoring the clicks and flashes going out our way.

We talked standing up, not caring about our seats at that point. It’s pretty awkward looking at the back while talking. And since this is a classy event, I don’t it was acceptable for me to sit backwards.

They genuinely congratulated me for my new single and my upcoming album that is yet to be released soon.

I congratulated them for their successful Asian Tour during March and their new single.

We talked animatedly, as if i never left and that’s when I saw her. She was walking towards us. Her eyes training on mine and I can’t seem to break the contact, too captivated by her eyes.

I noticed that there was someone beside her. It was, of course, Lucy, her fiancé.

….

A/N Sorry if there’s any notable grammar mistake. Wrote this when I was in Maths Class..

Ironic how I found the ability to write something in a class where they major in numbers.

And yes, I am a lazy bum who doesn’t want to study Maths. At this point my teacher doesn’t care anymore.

Hope you like it.

#UPDATE #series #non AU #camren #angst drama #submission #Too Close To Home

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enemymine2000 · 8 years ago

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Fandom rambles: Destiel

Random disclaimer: I am late to the party, but I'm only just now trying to catch up on Supernatural. I have binge-watched as much as I could the last couple of months and right now I'm at 11.17, so roughly only a season left to finally catch up with y'all. Therefore I don't actually know what's going on in canon right now, apart from the random gif-set or meta. I don't tend to spoil myself willingly (too much). Random dislcaimer to the disclaimer: I tweaked the programmed fall of Castiel a little bit after I finally caught up with the show. (YEAH!) Meaning I added “a bit” to the text, but my argument still holds despite Chuck being kind of a douchenoodle. I also clarified some of my ramblings, while I added to others. Wild ETAs appear, but since I couldn’t catch them all, I haven’t identified them all. So basically I re-wrote some of it without actually changing my hypothesis.

That being said…

In my mind Destiel low-key exists in canon. It's not only the fact that it is always especially acknowledged in the more meta episodes – as much as I love Sam's fascination with the subject. But simply the way the show is actually written.

There was the line spoken by Sam, while Dean had his focus completely on bringing down the Leviathans, that went something like: “Are you looking at porn or are you exclusively into dicks now.” The casual viewer laughs it off as a nice pun on the name of main villain Dick Roman, but underlying is Sam's acknowledgment of the fact that his brother very well might not be totally straight either.

Random discourse on sexuality: I'm totally straight, so all I know is second-hand knowledge and stuff you read and hear over the years of existence. But what I know is that bisexuality does not mean that you can't have a predominately type or gender for that matter.

So us only seeing Dean's female conquests doesn't automatically negate any chance of him being bi. As well as him obviously favoring female Asian porn.

I mean, come on. I'm a straight woman, but I prefer to watch male gay porn. Doesn't make me a gender-bent homosexual. (Please, no wank on the nonchalance I display. Everyone does themselves, I do me.)

Sam practically always takes the chance to tease Dean about possible male/male relations when it arises. Mostly in connection to the Winchester Gospels/Supernatural fan fiction they come across and practically always in regards to Cas.

Little brothers always know best, I'd say.

So I take that as as much verbal confirmation we'll ever get, unless the show mans up and gets The CW to back down on their “please, no homo for main characters”-policy. Which, come on, Supernatural got an early renewal for season 13, they could really start to give us a treat.

Anyway… It was established very early on in the Cas' storyline, that the angel Castiel and the Righteous Man, Dean, share a most profound bond. Something beyond everything Castiel feels for anyone else, except maybe Chuck himself – but that is practically his operating system and doesn't really count as changeable feeling. I heard even Lucifer still loved Daddy dearest deep down in his blackest of hearts and by Chuck he really tried not to. So operating system it is.

Castiel having that deep of a bond with Dean is not part of that. In fact it even interferes with all orders he gets from Heaven in his first two seasons.

He is not meant to get attached, but he is and it slowly but surely changes his basic programming. He comes to love humankind in a way that practically no angel since allegedly Lucifer has done. He starts to understand them on a basic level even while still being a celestial being roughly the size of the Chrysler building.

Castiel falls without actually falling from Heaven. And even when he later gets caught and reprogrammed by Naomi, his attachment to Dean wins over his new orders. This bond runs deeper than his connection to Heaven and even his faith in his father, the two fundamental pillars of his very existence. Nothing should be able to beat that, but his connection and feelings for Dean do. Again and again.

Which is something that in my opinion can't be stated enough. The angel Castiel was a good soldier. The leader of his garrison. He was trusted and in return he had blind faith in the cause of Heaven.

The soldier fell because of one human man.

No matter his role in prophecy, at the end of the day Dean is nothing but a pathetic, weak human man. Functional alcoholic with enough issues to pay the bills for all of New York's psychiatrists. (I've heard there are a lot of them.) A guy, who as much as he loves his brother, he doesn't even fully trust him. Not enough to tell him that he is screwed up after his stint in Hell anyway. And it gets only worse as the seasons progress.

A man who doesn't even believe in God's plan when confronted with the proof of its existence. Ironically by meeting Chuck himself, but hey, a God does what a God has to do, right.

And here it is, something I think is highly overlooked when it comes to the discussion of whether or not Destiel might be real, going canon or what-not. The fact that Chuck not only knew about Castiel falling, but it was part of His very own plan. Castiel needed to fall for the Winchester Gospels, which were practically the Word of God – without anyone knowing at that point, okay, but still – to play out as intended. (ETA: As much as the Apocalypse in Supernatural had been engineered by leader-less, bored angels, its happening has been foretold for close to 2000 years, I guess from the prophecy of John until today, so even without the Winchester Gospels a Righteous Man was foretold to break the first seal, so there always needed to be an angel to raise the Righteous Man out of Hell - innocent soul after all. For the ultimate fight in the Apocalypse the Angel Breeding Program always watched over the bloodlines which would bring forth the perfect vessels for Lucifer and Michael and always needed to make sure to keep the vessels alive as long as there was no replacement/next generation ready. Meaning of course somekind of guardian angel. Lucky Cas, he just was doomed from the start, when the bored upper echelon jump-started the Apocalypse program. Because of course he was chosen (? - programmed?) to raise the Righeous Man, who just happened to be Dean freaking Winchester, Michael’s perfect vessel. The Upper Echelon and The Angel Breeding Program obviously were never good in keeping each other informed. Which is why Chuck hadn’t expected Castiel to be there, despite the Winchester Gospel - the amended version of the original prophecy. When Chuck still was on top of everything Heaven, those mistakes simply didn’t happen and therefore even God himself could not foresee Castiel taking an active part in the Apocalypse - with the rebellion so to speak. But Chuck definitevly foretold, aided and abetted even, the rebellion and hoped to himself to stop his own program, for it was not meant to go off that early. And he really couldn’t have his angels running roughshod over his plans, especially while He still enjoyed his creation. As a nice little compensation for stopping the unstoppable, Chuck rebuild Castiel after Lucifer was back in the cage. But the angel was already infected with the Winchester-virus and still screwed, which at this point Chuck must have known, even when he still didn’t overly care for his “son” and whatever would happen with Heaven going forwards.)

So since Chuck in Supernatural, despite all his flaws, still is an all powerful and omniscient being, it de facto was God's Will for Castiel turning his wings on Heaven for Dean's sake. (ETA: Him knowing and not changing things in this case means “God’s Will”. We can not assume not knowing, since Chuck turned up for “Supernatural - The Musical”. We know he did not care until it was actually kind of too late - if it wasn’t for the Winchesters - and threatened His own being for once. So if He knew and did not change things, it implied His Will, even if only by omission of doing something else.) He might not have known about the clusterfuck Heaven produced due to jump-starting the program, but he did not change the course history would take after by running an anti-virus program against human emotions through Castiel when he rebuild the latest version he had transformed into. The version that going forward had the free will to go against Heaven and therefore laying the groundwork for the literal fall of all angel-kind. (Something that He still, to the best of my knowledge has not fixed. So all angels still depend on the stairway to Heaven, Cas is so far gone down the human route, he practically is human inside. So whatever clusterfuck “of cosmic proportions” happens next, I blame it on Chuck for not taking the time to reorganize Heaven before He made of with Amara to wherever.)

Heavily flawed Dean Winchester - ah well, even Chuck couldn't plan out all details in advance. But the Winchester line was part of the Angel Breeding Program and therefore always meant to produce Michael’s, but with an infusion of demon-blood also Lucifer’s. And there must have been a point in history, where it was obvious to look to Dean when it came to the Righteous Man. I mean, the Upper Echelon were not one day like: “Let’s jump-start Apocalypse, who is the most likely candidate for breaking the first seal in Hell right now.” They must have known to watch for Dean, before he was taken by the hellhounds. To observe, how long he would hold out. They must have planned to have him being the Righteous Man from the moment he made that damn crossroads deal. Them not intervening on his behalf is evidence enough for that. Dean Winchester was Michael’s perfect vessel. The only possible candidate at that point. Adam was not a product of the Angel Breeding Program, therefore not on their radar until the Winchester brothers discovered his existence, which was after the Apocalypse had started and Dean had already declined various attempts to have him become Michael’s meatsuit. The Angel Breeding Program was desperate, for the Apocalypse was to far advanced to delay the ultimate fight much longer and in the Upper Echelon’s need to have something happen, they missed the fact that it’s always good to have a spare. Which normally would have been Sam, but alas, demonblood infusion. A goner for Lucifer as far as they were concerned - and hence probably the only reason they were so desperate in having him stop consuming demonblood. He was too far ahead schedule for Heaven’s liking. So, having Dean be the vessel while also be the Righteous Man was not well thought out, but the Upper Echelon hazarded the consequences. They send Castiel to raise him after the First Seal was broken and kept him on his case, so the vessel would not be gone before it was its time to be used by Michael. Practically a 2-1-deal for Heaven, right? Only Dean’s main flaw is to go against the machine and beat the odds or die trying. Therefore he corrupted Castiel and formed him to be the Cas we all know and love.

All in Chuck's plan, by planing the Apocalypse and not changing the program once it was started by Heaven - although, maybe he did. We call Chuck’s books “The Winchester Gospels”, but are they still gospels, when God himself wrote the script? He sure didn’t care about everything enough anymore, but he still kind of liked just being with his creation and he definitively is a stronger being than all others, except Amara. So he could have simply changed some things to keep his creation going without outright stopping the Apocalypse - which was meant to happen anyway by him, just not that year - but in favor of Team Free Will. Or maybe he really did not care either way and had already his room prepared and was willing to wait there for whatever as long earth itself continued to exist - well, and Amara was not freed, I’m pretty sure that would have been an instant deal-breaker. Either way, Chuck’s plan. Either by action or inaction.

But, you say, what does that all make Dean and Cas necessarily into a gay romance thing. Nothing at first. But then you must also remember that Cas is a celestial being first and foremost. He is only a he, because Jimmy Novak's body turned out to be his perfect vessel. Angels are basically genderless and as Cas himself once said during his first couple of seasons, they don't judge based on gender or sexuality. It simply is what it is.

That also makes the point moot some might offer up, that Cas only ever seemed to be physically attracted to women.

For starters we have way too little data. Cas has had a boner watching hetero porn (in reaction to the babysitter or the pizza-man we don’t know) and in a pinch acted out on what he saw with Meg. That was not attraction, that was simply a life and death - try to distract them - situation. Meg being attracted to Cas is another thing altogether. But to quote Jensen on whether he ever thought about Jared in a sexual way: “Who wouldn't want to tap that!”

So the whole Clarence-schtick starts. Cas not being in his right mind at the time makes everything we might see from him, before he regains his sanity, moot. Consensual issues and all that jazz. Even for celestial beings.

Remains the one line about him having been willing to give it a try before Meg sacrifices herself. Again with the “Who wouldn't want to tap that.”

Cas genuinely came to care for that demon, who had been willing to go against everything demons stand for and help out an angel. Said demon inhabiting a nicely build body and obviously being good at kissing is not a turn-off either.

But most importantly, both knew that it would have taken a miracle for Meg to survive the coming minutes. It was their way of comforting each other and saying goodbye.

The next one we are being shown is April. Cas has now truly fallen in every imaginable way. Heaven's Gates are closed, he is without his grace and thus purely human and on the run from literally every angel there is. And all are on earth, he can't see their true faces anymore and he feels he has to protect the Winchesters by staying away after what has happened with Hael, who pretended to be on his side only to turn around and use him for her own gain.

April appears to be human and nice and one thing leads to another. Not necessarily to be taken romantically. I mean, take a look at the situation and try to imagine living it yourself.

At this point Cas is as human as he can possibly be emotionally. He is on the run, running on empty, injured and doesn't know whether there will ever be a safe place for him anywhere. He doesn't even know, where he belongs to anymore. He will always be angelic at heart – literally an eternity of being one will not be so easily erased – but he is truly human now. The Gates of Heaven are closed, so even if he somehow got his grace back, he would still be trapped on earth. Should the Gates of Heaven open again, he would not be welcomed due to his role in the Fall and his time as Godstiel.

His live is in danger from practically everyone now – humans are so much more fragile and complex as angels – his only allies are the Winchesters who are always in trouble one way or the other and really don't need all angelkind on their case too. He is hurting on all levels and there is just this one little beacon of hope called April. Doesn't hurt that she is attractive and he inhabits a hot-blooded male body, which obeys a simple programming. Eat, sleep, procreate. Repeat.

The only true interest on an emotionally level Cas shows to a woman is during his Steve days. But then again, he is new at this whole being human thing. He desperately tries to blend in and Nora seems to be genuinely kind to him.

He misreads her intentions though, for he simply doesn't know better. Nuances of human interaction are still too much to handle for the former angel. Not too forget, that he is disappointed in Dean for turning him away from the bunker.

What would you do if you literally had no one else and would wanted to fit in? You either despair or you would try to find new friends. In this scenario, you would accept the apparent invitation for a date and go with the motions. (We literally see him imitating others in that very episode, where he to goes with the motions without understanding the subtext of the interactions.)

IDean's appearance in “Steve's” town throws an emotional wedge into Cas' new life. Despite him still going through the motions, his pain is palpable. He misses being Cas, he misses Dean and it hurts him, that Dean seems to be so nonchalant about the prospect of him dating. Enter the Rit Zien, the “mercy-killer-angel” Ephraim, who comes after Cas.

That concludes the data. At least as far as I'm currently aware. Three females (at least in body) and a porn video (maybe).

Again, Cas as an angel simply has no appointed gender. No appointed sexuality. He simply does not care about such concepts. It is what it is at any given moment.

But his heart, well, that is another matter. The strongest emotions he feels when it is Dean. The strongest bond is to Dean. Dean is acknowledged in canon to be his ultimate weakness and also strength in nearly every episode Cas makes an appearance.

So saying that Cas not only loves Dean, like he would love all humankind (Chuck programmed that into his angels too), but is in love with him is not a stretch. It simply is stating a fact.

So back to Dean's point of view. There is way more data to be had canonically. But also a lot to be left to the imagination.

We hear a lot more about Dean's conquests than we do actually see them. Whenever Dean has a night in the town, so to speak, it is more alluded to the fact that he picked up a random woman than actually shown. So it could very well be, that some random men might be among the conquests.

I again might want to remind you, that Sam is completely calm about the prospect of Dean being with men. He never even hints at being uncomfortable with the thought.

I mean, I don't know about your family, but my brother, as cool and modern and open-minded as the little shit is, would still be left speechless for once if he suddenly got confronted with his sister turning to the other side. He would snap out of it very fast, but he still would have his moment of reevaluating me and our relationship, trying to figure out where he might have missed hints and stuff like that. And than the bastard would probably humorously ask if he could leave me and his girlfriend alone in one room. As I said, he can be a little shit. I love him regardless.

We see nothing of that sort from Sam. Meaning he had that moment sometime off screen, probably way back in the brother's past. Knowing John Winchester, probably not when the old man was around, but had left his sons somewhere in a motel by themselves.

Well, I've heard teenaged boys are horny as fuck and no adult supervision and only a little brother to think about… Who knows how many conquests Dean had in those dingy motels while being left behind to look after little Sammy. Who knows, maybe Dean even had to do some stuff of the sexual kind, just to keep questions at bay and Child Protective Service off their backs. (I mean come on, John was sometimes gone for weeks and two underage sons left in dingy motels without parental supervision sure raises questions and causes problems. Keyword being “dingy” here – low-lives are to be expected, societal outcasts and all the crop of the worst. And they were not so far of the grit as to have noone care either. The boys went to school, so had to probably meet the guidance counselors frequently and as much as humans are flawed, at least a couple must have cared that these boys were permanently moved around and left in motels. You get where I'm coming from.)

Dean was drilled from 4 years old to do literally everything he can to keep Sam safe. You know he would go down on his knees to blow someone if that is what it takes.

So, I think Dean thinks sex is sex, no matter the gender. No hindrance on the matter of Cas occupying a male vessel for him.

Emotionally is a different matter altogether, but that’S not because of some big gay revelation but because everything and everybody Dean loves dies. He learned that when he was 4 and his mother burned. He learned that again and again at the knee of his father, while he was taught to be Daddy’s perfect little soldier. Don’t feel for those people, just come in save them or gank them, when they are monsters. It is the family business.

Imaging living that life! Being responsible for your younger brother like a parent, being a soldier instead of a son for your father and just slightly more than a passing glance for those you meet on the road. The only one who cared for Dean’s emotional well-being was Bobby (and later that guy on that farm for wayward boys). That is not enough to learn normal human responses and emotions.

Case in point Dean chosing the family business because he saw Sam in his father’s car, when John came to take him away from that farm, instead of saying “screw you, I’d rather go to prom with my girl”. Because that would have been a normal teenage response to being left behind and then actually liking where you end up. Teenagers are self-centered. Dean is not. He is Sam-centered. All his relationships (romantic and otherwise) show that over the course of the show and it only started ro gradually change once Dean could shift some of his focus away from Sam and onto Cas.

Lisa and that girl on that farm are the only ones, Dean is shown to have allowed in deeper. But still not deep enough. He left the girl basically for Sam. He did the same with Lisa. Oh, with Lisa he says, it’s because bad things tend to follow him home and it will never stop, so he not only leaves her and Ben, but actually has himself erased from their memories. But it’s more that he can’t open himself to them fully. He can’t let them in and just assumes, they wouldn’t want in anyway with all the creepy things that wait there. He never even tells his brother that he loves him, instead having the “bitch, jerk”-ritual. No, Dean tends to keep it casual, because that is what was drilled into him by his father. The very father who lost his wife and couldn’t deal with it other than to seek revenge until the very end. No matter the consequences. Even if those were the lives of his sons. The very father, who had another son, which he also could not let in. Because what you love dies, so better not commit to such an emotion. At the other end of this we have emotionally constipated Dean, who never learned to love anybody except his brother, who lets in Cas. He trusts Cas, when he can’t even trust his own brother. Even when ruled by the Mark of Cain his trust lies with Cas. He asks him to take him down when he loses control. It is Cas he asks to care for Sam, when he can’t anymore, when he gets ready to meet his fate, when he carries the soul-bomb to Amara. The guy who says he does not do chick-flick moments has those with Cas en masse, but with no one else. Even Sam. Case in point, the aforementioned wish for Cas to put him down, when Dean still denies for a couple of more episodes getting worse to Sam. Or when meeting Cas (at that point possessed by Lucifer) in the bunker, telling him about his special connection to Amara, when he didn't tell Sam anything beyond “I met her and we didn't kill each other and that's how I landed a mile away from Baby in a field”. It took again a couple of more episodes for him to admit that to Sam and probably only because he knew he needed to, otherwise he would ruin their chance to banish the Darkness.

Dean showing his emotions for Cas in coming through for him, trusting him with his inner most thoughts and secrets, is practically his way of shouting his feelings for his angel from the rooftops. And the world, demons and angels and everything in-between, takes notice.

In conclusion:

Destiel is already canon. But it is a frustratingly slow burn. Maybe we will never been shown them as a couple for various reason – doesn't fit into the narrative, destroys the flow of the show, or the execs at the network don't want something like that on the screen – but it already is.

And the actors already play towards it.

Misha's blatantly baiting of the bond, heart-eyes and all, shows that as the actor who has to portrait Castiel, he knows and understands the love his angel feels towards that damaged human. And the exasperation that Dean has not yet acknowledged it openly, when the whole universe is already aware, but that is Dean Winchester for you and what is he to do…

Jensen stating that he does not see Destiel shows how Dean can not (yet) acknowledge the emotional bond beyond friendship. As an actor he simply can't allow for fannish what-ifs and headcanons. Dean has to keep a certain amount of distance. He is hurt by all the losses in his life and he will not admit to feelings for Cas, if there is the slightest chance of the angel getting in danger because of him.

That certainly would make sense from a director/writer's point of view. Maybe Misha has been told that Destiel is a already thing, while Jensen has not been told the same, to keep that vibe of uncertainty which gives so much motivation for the characters and so many plots for the show.

Maybe everything I wrote is total beeswax and Destiel is all in my head. But at least you'll get now some of the reasons, why I ship them.

#Supernatural #Destiel #meta #my thoughts on the matter #just rambling #because of the recent fandom wank #late to the party #story of my life

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rosievillodas · 7 years ago

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If you like food, then this post on what to eat at Walt Disney World is for you!

The most important thing for me to plan for, on a Walt Disney World vacation is where I’m going to eat!!!

I love food. And although I’ve heard that the food at Disneyland (California, can’t wait to go there again) is better than at Walt Disney World (Florida), I’ve still heard pretty good things about the options at the latter (Walt Disney World).

There are so very many food options at the Walt Disney World parks. With the Epcot Food and Wine Festival coming up in a few days (August 31-November 13), the food loveliness will only get better during this time. I’m dying to take a trip just to taste all of the goodness. But alas, I’ll just have to settle for what I had in July.

On my latest trip to Walt Disney World I got to try some of the foods on my WDW Food Bucket List. Here’s what I had and some of my thoughts:

Disney’s Polynesian Resort-

Capt. Cooks

Capt. Cooks is what they call a Quick Service or Counter Service restaurant. This simply means you get on line, order your food and then eat at your table. All of the menus at “The Polynesian” (as they call it) are inspired by Hawaiian Flavors mixed with an Asian fusion. It’s the only place on WDW property (outside of Epcot’s Japan pavilion) where you can get sushi. (I didn’t try the sushi though).

Aloha Pork Sandwich

I had this the first day we arrived. Yum!We were staying at the Polynesian Resort (where Capt. Cooks is located) so we had some lunch as we waited for our room to be ready.

This is a sandwich with pulled pork on a pineapple-coconut bun with cheddar, Asian slaw, cucumbers, and tomatoes. It came with fries. The pulled pork sauce was sweeter than I anticipated. The slaw gave it a nice crunch and and balanced out the sweetness of the sauce. Overall it was a good sandwich.

Pork Fried Rice

I had this on another day when we took a park break. This was traditional fried rice topped with slow-roasted pork. It was the same pulled pork that they use for the Aloha Pork Sandwich. But, I actually liked this dish better than in the sandwich. The pulled pork and rice was delish. I devoured it!

Pineapple Lanai

Dole Whip Soft Serve Swirl

Ok, so I had heard tons of Disney fanatics go on and on about the Dole Whips at Walt Disney World. So I made it my mission to try one and judge for myself. There are only 2 places on WDW property where you can get them; Aloha Isle at Magic Kingdom or Pineapple Lanai at the Polynesian Resort.

I got the Dole Whip with vanilla soft serve swirled in. So. Very. Good.

I think next time though, I’m just gonna do the Dole Whip Swirl (sans Vanilla). I may even try the Dole Whip Float! (Although I’m not that into floats).

Side Note: I tried a similar soft serve Pineapple ice cream at another amusement park in Pennsylvania and it was terrible. It had some weird after taste. Yuck! Nothing like the Dole Whip I had at Pineapple Lanai.

‘Ohana

On our last day at Walt Disney World we had breakfast at ‘Ohana (a very difficult place to get reservations) also located at the Polynesian resort. Delicious. So good in fact, that I didn’t get many pics of our food. We were very hungry and at it all!

Mickey Waffle

Stitch Waffle

Pineapple Coconut Bread

‘Ohana- Means Family and family means “nobody gets left behind!”

They served the following Family Style:

Pineapple Coconut Breakfast Bread

Scrambled Eggs

Pork Breakfast Sausage Links and Hawaiian-style Ham topped with Pineapple Compote (This was gone by the end of the meal. All. Of. It.)

Island Styled Fried Potatoes (Home Fries w/ unique seasoning)

Seasonal Fruit

Mickey & Stitch-shaped Waffles (Disney’s waffle batter is so good! Cooked of course.)

POG Juice (Also called Lilikoi, Aloha Juice, Jungle Juice) It is made of Passion Fruit, Orange and Guava Juices. All around YUM (And I’m not even a big fan of Guava)!

‘Ohana breakfast is a character meal served family style. This means that they bring all the food to your table and you can take what you like from there. Characters come out to greet you and your kids at your table (Mickey, Pluto, and Lilo. And you meet Stitch just before you are seated in a special area). Characters also happily visited with adults with no children. They had just as much fun! You can take pictures with them and have them sign your autograph book or anything you’d like them to sign.

Kona Cafe

We had Breakfast here and will definitely come back to try their dinner menu. Here’s a couple of things we ordered.

Mickey Pancakes

I was expecting the ears to be attached to the head. So, I think this is kinda cheating. 🙂 But nevertheless Karis (8yrs old) enjoyed them. Yes, this is a kids serving of Mickey Pancakes. It was huge and totally Shareable.

Tonga Toast

I’ve heard so much about it, I had to try it for myself.

This is a Banana-stuffed French Toast rolled in Cinnamon Sugar and served with a Strawberry Compote as well as Maple syrup on the side (not pictured, sorry, but the compote was good) and your choice of Spiced Ham, Bacon, or Sausage.

I tried it and it was delicious. I wasn’t wowed by it like many others. But I did enjoy it. Rich, my husband, however LOVED it! He finished his breakfast and then devoured what was left of the Tonga Toast. For me it might have been the banana that I wasn’t a big fan of. But give me bread, cinnamon and sugar and I’m there!

Have you tried it? If not, please do try it and tell me what you think! Did you like it?

P.S. The flower is edible!

King Kamehameha Club

This is the Concierge Lounge for guests staying in a Club Level Room. It’s pricey to stay in a Club Level Room, but we love all the yummy food and drinks included in the cost of our stay and feel like it saves us a bit of money on food. All you care to enjoy hors d’oeuvres, snacks, drinks, wine, and beer. Every Morning they have a continental breakfast spread, midday they had light snacks and sweets, in the evening they have light bites, and later at night they have desserts. Each Deluxe Resort has a Club Level Lounge with a food spread specific to their theme (for the most part). Here’s what I had in the lounge at our resort:

POG Juice

Delicious! Regular Disney goers love this juice that can only be found in a few places on property. Disney’s Polynesian Resort and a similar drink like this at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park and Lodge. And guys, they had it on TAP! Yes, please.

Seared Tuna

Look how pretty it is. Yum!

I saw cast members assembling some of these hors d’oeuvres. They are meticulous and take great pride in presentation. And if you know me, you know how much I believe that love is in the details! Suffice it to say, we felt very well taken care of during our stay.

Crab Deviled Eggs

Better than any Deviled eggs I’ve ever had!

Fried Dumplings

Crispy on the oustide, soft and tasty on the inside. I think I had a 2nd helping of these.

Chicken (with some kind of sauce) on a Skewer & Pulled Pork (I think)

I forgot what they called each of these. All I remember is that they were both so very good.

Key Lime Tart

All i have to say about this is… OH. MY. GOODNESS. Changed my life. (I might have lost count as to how many of these I had.)

Carrot Cake

Meh. Basic.

Nathan liked and licked the frosting off of that cupcake though.

There are even more places to dine at Disney’s Polynesian Resort that I never got to:

Kona Island

Tambu Lounge

Sam’s Grog Grotto (Trader Sam’s Tiki Terrace)

Oasis Bar & Grill

and more…

Stay tuned to Part 2 of What to Eat at Disney. Coming soon!

So what do you think about what we had? Have you ate at any of the above places? Have you tried anything that I should try? What would you like to eat at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort Restaurants? I’d love to hear from you!

Rosie V.

Here's a post on What to Eat at Disney Pt. 1. There was so much good food at Walt Disney World! If you like food, then this post on what to eat at Walt Disney World is for you!

#Disney #orlando #tips #vacation #vacation planning #walt disney world

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