#I'm not necessarily a fan of all of these songs but I respect those of you who are

[fuckyeahizzyhands]

Rachel Leishman interview with Con O'Neill 22.11.2023

Rachel: Hi, Con. How are you?

Con: I'm very well, Rachel. How are you?

Rachel: I'm doing great. To start, so you've now joined the canon of I guess my favorite thing in TV is when people sing La Vie En Rose, because I loved when it happened in How I Met Your Mother and now it happened in Our Flag Means Death. And I was crying through both times. And so getting to kind of have those emotional moments that I didn't even care that the song didn't even exist, I was just happy it was happening. So getting to have those moments where you have those emotional kind of songs and journeys on a show that is outrageous and fun and quirky what for you as an actor is the joy of getting, you know, get to dive into something like that with a character like Izzy Hands that has had such a kind of arc, especially in Season Two.

Con: I knew he was going to go on a journey in Season Two because David had told me and I will be eternally grateful to him and his brilliant writers because they didn't make it sentimental. They didn't suddenly turn him overnight. They gave him a journey that I could work through emotionally and not feel like I was jumping ahead of myself or I was having to cheat. The song itself... had you asked me for a song for Izzy to sing, I would never, ever have picked La Vie En Rose. And now I can't think of any other song Izzy should sing. So again, that's down to David and also to all those people, my partner and Jenna, who's a friend of mine who just played PF in London, who helped me learn the French, which was excruciating for everyone involved.

Rachel: When I interviewed David, I said to him, I was like, you should be in jail for making me care so much about Izzy Hands throughout this whole season and then just put me in so much pain by the end because it was just such a beautiful arc from beginning to end this season. And I can only imagine as an actor the joy of kind of getting to dive into something that kind of rich, because...

Con: It is joyful, but it was incredibly lonely. I found myself spending a lot of time on my own, a) because a lot of the scenes are on my own, and b) if I wasn't filming, I was learning how to walk in that fucking leg, or I was sword training or I was working out or I was learning French or I was recording. It was a very solitary experience doing this season and I loved every minute of the work, but it was challenging on a whole other level that I didn't really think about until I found myself in the middle of it. And, yeah, I'm glad we did it and I'm glad we respected the character that we've created in Season One.

Rachel: And it is... I like, I really enjoyed because I think Taika's performance as Blackbeard especially. I love how kind of different it is because I'm a big fan of his work in general, but I do think it's very different from everything that I've seen from him. And I love the dynamic between Blackbeard and Izzy because that is something that I think as much as Steed and Blackbeard drive this show, without Izzy's love for Blackbeard, I don't necessarily think that relationship would be as strong as it is. And when you guys kind of have the arc you do in Season Two still cool to kind of have that final moment that we end up getting throughout in this show, for you two as actors to kind of in a comedy, get to have that emotional sobbing moment. You're comedians, but you're crying like having this kind of death scene on a beach. What is it for you two as actors and friends to kind of come to that moment where you're like, hey, we're still actors at the end of the day, but we're going to be sobbing on a beach over these two characters?

Con: You know what? I love working with Taika. I love acting with Taika. And Taika is a world renowned Oscar winning writer director actor, but he doesn't nearly get the plaudits he deserves as an actor. And the death scene in particular, I was dreading it because it's massive. And we were going to shoot it in the last week, at the start of the week, then the middle of the week, then the last day was going to be the morning of the last day. And then it ended up being the last thing we shot in the entire shop. And when you're filming something like that on the ship with hundreds of crew and the whole cast, and we're getting towards the end of the day and there's a lot of energy, and then suddenly it was just me and him. And if he hadn't given that to me, I was fucked. But he just held me in it and everything else disappeared. And we just trust the writing and we just do it. And he's a fucking awesome scene partner. There's a lot of good actors in that show, a lot of fucking great actors. But in that moment, I've never felt more collaborative and more trusted and more held than I have in probably my entire career.

Rachel: And you said collaborative. A show like this is kind of the joy of it, is that there are so many characters and it is such a collaborative show as a whole. And I think that's why fans love it as much as we do, because it's such a family unit. And for you as an actor, what is the kind of draw for you to a show like that that is so much a group of actors and comedians that are all kind of together, all on set, working as a unit?

Con: I'm a sporting actor. It's what I do. I like to work with an ensemble. It's how I do my best work. And the cast are sharp, witty, intelligent and also wonderful actors. So it's a no brainer for me. But also the show's... show is about love, and it's about queer love. And it's a show we should have been making a long time ago. It's a show that appreciates its audience and it's a show that is kind and none of our violence in our show is ever ever aimed at anyone for their gender or their sexuality. And we should be making queer of shows like this more. And that's what drew me to it. And when I saw... I was on set, when the boys in the first season, when they filmed the 'you wear fine things well' scene, and I watched it being shot and the beautiful performances and the beautiful dialogue and the way that it was being shot was exquisite. And I suddenly realized not only were we in this pirate show, but we were also in a romantic, queer love story that wasn't going to not be romantic. And I thought, there we are. That's it. That's what people are going to plug into.

Rachel: Yeah. Thank you so much for talking with me. This show means so much to me and people that I know and love. So thank you for talking with me.

Con: My pleasure.

Rachel: And I want more seasons of it. I love it so so so much.

Con: Thank you so much. Rachel.

Rachel: you have a great one.

Con: Take care. Bye bye.

[winwin17]

Don't mind me, I'm just here to ramble about the frequent misinterpretation of Legolas.

In a lot of fan content, I tend to see him get portrayed as a feminine, scatterbrained diva or something along that line. He's depicted as girly and overly dramatic. It's not like I haven't been entertained by the memes about Legolas and his hair products or stuff like that, but hear me out - just because he's pretty doesn't mean he's girly or shallow (equating those two things is another separate issue altogether).

The thing is, even though he's pretty and has perfect hair, he's actually quite masculine, and his actor even has quite classically masculine features (face and physique). What's more, Legolas is an elf. Elves don't need beauty products, and I doubt most of them would care much for them anyway. They're naturally like the most beautiful creatures. Both the dudes and the ladies have long hair, so in that context, that feature doesn't necessarily suggest girlishness to me. Anyway, this is basically to say that I don't care for the self-absorbed, appearance-focused, girly diva interpretation of Legolas I see in fan content. There's much more to him than that.

The movies unfortunately gave Legolas his reputation as a Captain Obvious, which does him a disservice in bringing out this depiction of Legolas as a ditsy, dumb guy with an empty head. (It probably wasn't the intention, but it's a byproduct nonetheless.) Besides being portrayed as a Captain Obvious, another disservice done to him by the movies is the emphasis on Legolas as a cool action guy, superhero level, and maybe even invincible. But book Legolas is actually more human(?). That is to say, he gets scared and downhearted and cries just like all the rest of the Fellowship. While it's true that even in the books he does tend to maintain a more optimistic, lighthearted disposition than the others, he's still imperfect. He's still a person with hopes and fears and dreams and feelings, and he's not beyond forgetting the words to songs. ;p Yes, he cracks jokes, but he also does "not wish to go to Moria," and he grumbles when he has to be blindfolded in Lorien. Pretty relatable on many levels.

None of this is meant to be a book purist's rude degradation of movie Legolas, but just to lament the way I personally feel he is so misinterpreted and misrepresented. Legolas isn't shallow or one-dimensional. He's brave, he's strong, he's caring, and he's open-minded enough to take risks and make connections that are unconventional. He's respectful to his leaders, he's passionate about saving the world, destroying the Ring, and rescuing Merry and Pippin. He's helpful and committed to the Fellowship even though he doesn't have to be. He's compassionate towards people he doesn't have to care about.

So while we have characters like Boromir who are so frequently misunderstood and misrepresented, let's have some justice for Legolas, too.

[mysteriawrites]

hello friend 🩶 interested in trying out your anime idol matchups!

appearance: afab ; 155 cm / 5’1” ; hourglass to pear shaped ; very pale (burns easily) ; baby-faced, button nose, single dimple on right cheek when smiling ; big green eyes, long eyelashes ; hair is naturally wavy and light ash brown almost always styled with bangs, literally yesterday i cut it from mid back length to a pixie cut ; i bleach and dye my hair often but it is currently my natural color ; 5 piercings in one ear, 4 + an industrial in the other, and a navel piercing.

personality: distant, generally respectful of others but not necessarily kind/sweet, somewhat apathetic, logical, intelligent, calm under pressure, extremely independent, confident and self-secure (sometimes arrogant), blunt, pretty sassy/snarky, not very ambitious, a moderate risk-taker. broad sense of humor, playful w/ friends, very teasing, mischievous, realist that leans optimistic, a natural troublemaker/rulebreaker, comfortable with confrontation, a bit combative with authority and those who irritate me but is generally easygoing, surprisingly low impulse control.

hobbies: video games (tactics, RPGs, visual novels), anime, drawing (mostly digital), painting, baking, cosplay, writing, reading (fantasy, suspense/thriller, psychological), caring for houseplants, home/decor DIY projects, hiking, jogging, thrill-seeking activities (adrenaline junkie).

fav color: dark forest green OR sage green.

fav animal: cats in general, especially tigers. however, i'm often associated with frogs (and i love them a lot).

aesthetic: grunge.

fashion style: casual to alternative. more on the masculine side (rarely wears dresses/skirts, but i do love short shorts), color scheme is black/gray/muted green. i like to wear fishnets, flannels, graphic tees, leather jackets, bomber jackets, torn leggings/pants, combat boots, high top sneakers. socks are either black or very colorful/patterned. i enjoy wearing sweatpants and hoodies when lounging at home.

one random fact: i am so easily motion sick that i can get sick in a car or on the swings within a few minutes.

Hihi thx for requesting i hope u like it.

An: for anyone who doesn’t know pripara lore basically young girls and boys are gifted a special object that grants them passage to a magical idol world and transforms them into their ideal idol selves.

Name: Raven

Franchise: Pripara

Idol Type: Cool

How you became an Idol: At first you wanted to be in a band not become an idol. You had been practicing for years and wanted to make it big, but not for fame or money. It was the thrill of being on stage that you were after. The heat of the spotlight on you, the booming of the music through the speakers, and best of all the adrenaline from the cheering fans there to enjoy what you had to offer. Sadly it was hard for you to join any music groups that vibed with you. One day while practicing (instrument of your choice) you noticed a piece of paper stuck to it: It was a pripara ticket with your name on it. You went to the local prism stone and entered the world of pripara where you were completely transformed into the ideal version of yourself. You booked your first performance and the crown loved the new take you brought to being an idol. This marks the beginning of your rise to the top!

Brand Name: Emerald Spear

Your Choords:

Your Songs:

An: Hope you like it i tried to make the choords fit ur style and aesthetic but there were so many that i thought were just so epic that i added them in (also because ur a mutual and you’ve given me so many good matchups in the past i gave you a few extra songs)

[tartrat]

Lights out drop 2 review I guess

Im not good at giving reviews but here are my thoughts on paparazzi and the legacy songs because I don't own JD3 or 4 as well as other general thoughts i might have. Spoilers for paparazzi i guess.

Paparazzi: I always forget how slow this song is and i was listening to it this morning before the drop went live. Anyway I actually really like it, the outfits remind me a lot of Gaga especially the hero/villain costume from the movie part. Moves were a bit confusing at first (I only got superstar on my first try there.) but theres this sort of elegance and class to them during the red carpet section and then the sort of monstrous movements during the movie section were fun, although a bit hard to get down at first.

Hot For Me: The dance is great, i was hoping for the song to be a bit better. I don't really have much else to say.

Dance All Nite: Out of the three legacy songs in this drop, this is the best and fits the theme of the season better with all the neon in the background. I did mess up the second last gold move on my first attempt though. All around a solid map.

We R Who we R: I never knew that this was the "Hot and Dangerous" song, like i knew that it was Kesha who said it but didn't know the song lol. Its sort of lost on me like i don't know what the map is trying to say or what the general theming is. The coach is obviously a punk but then the people in the back at the rave section are normal, I think. Then there is the random fire that happens in the background. Its fun but i wouldn't go out of my way to do it often

My ranking for the new songs is:

1 Todo de ti

2 Paparazzi

3 Don't Rush

and for the legacy songs

1 Circus (Extreme)

2 Dance All Nite

3 Part of Me

4 Hot For Me

5 We R Who We R

I wouldn't necessarily say that wrwwr is the worst legacy song just more that its the weakest. I think that JD 4 has some of the worst or weakest maps in the series, i really only care about So what and Gold Dust from that game. In general JD4 is overated.

I also want to know who is stalking Eva Chase and the other Lady Gaga Coaches who are seen on the cork board. Initially i thought that Louise Dials would be the coach you could see her in the top right corner of the background in the season rewards. It could be Night Swan after the events of the escape in telephone or someone else whos hunting them down in relation to the event and noticed how Eva, and possibly Felicia evaded capture.

I think after Poker Face releases in JD2025 thats the majority of Gaga's hits covered in the series. I think what remains is Edge of glory, Perfect Illusion, and i guess Shallow (though that might be awkward), before they go for her other popular songs that aren't as big. I really hope they do Americano or Replay at some point even if its just during a season.

I'm now excited for the next event. then after that it'll probably be another celebration event akin to last year's 2024 event. I can see Night Swan being the legendary avatar for that. Its so funny because i believe that a majority of the fandom who came in from JD 2023 wouldn't have survived prior as the seasons from 2019 - 2022 were just the three new songs and legacies and then radio silence for a month an a half, with the only rewards being from the world dance floor which were always kind of weird I don't know how we managed with those basic avatars for so long, much prefer the new avatars). and then 2022 only had 2 seasons but at least they got 8 songs each. I can't really remember but i think back during the 2018 era the exclusives and legacies were just dropped at random times, like i even remember when Sax and Mi Gente leaked and was left wondering when those would release and it wasn't until like January and April respectively or something like that.

Side note its so funny how you can see some leakers complain about fans complaining about leaks. Like obviously people are going to be upset that you've been parading around leaks, people want to be surprised and make their own theories and not just be told what exactly is going down. Like all the games from JD2021-2024 have been leaked so far and i think as a direct result of that the previews have been shortened down to 30 seconds, or songs getting cut or replaced (Darkest hour still fits better than Eurythmics because it feels more like Leda's thoughts, I'll defend darkest hour and the Night Swan Prologue until i die). I think at this point the leakers are just getting off of the reactions of those who are annoyed, and we can't ignore them as it feels like they are purposely making themselves known. Best thing i can akin the leakers to is Trisha Paytas, like we all try our best to ignore her then she does something insanely weird to draw our attention back to her. I know that the leakers have had their own fair share of respective drama as it comes up on my YouTube home feed from time to time and i try to ignore it. its been going on for years i don't think it'll stop any time soon as they just find new ways to get info.

Anyway the seasons have been great this year (minus Don't rush) and im excited to see what comes next, lets just try to be positive.

[septembersghost]

What do you think is the actual deal between Harry and Taylor? Because they seem to be each other's muses- and with the lyrical back and forth that's been going on, EVEN AFTER A DECADE- it can't be nothing. They give off major soulmates vibes (musical-wise) and even relationship-wise (although they could also be star-crossed lovers) with such shitty timing everytime 😂 i've supported joe and taylor for years, but I've got this inkling in my mind like someway and somehow, H and T might still find their way back to each other. Joe just seems meh :/ tbh.

i almost feel like i shouldn't answer this because it's a bit loaded, but it's 3:30 am so why not 😅💕

i'm going to first defer to my friend @cowboylikedean who said:

"they can be soulmates, but not romantically. Consider: their whole relationship has been leading to a friendship which was always destined, but needed a contextual foundation that only an ill defined on again off again/only communicating through sex then song could create. Consider that. Joe is Taylor's forever person. doesn't mean Harry has to be nobody."

we don't know if they've forged a friendship behind closed doors or not, and whether we ever know anything about that is up to them. their interaction at the grammys was warm and familiar, which at the very least speaks to their feelings of respect and kindness towards one another as artists and people. taylor's support for him was clearly genuine (though you could say that of her support for basically everyone in that room). i think it's really important and meaningful to acknowledge that there are a vast array of dynamics that can be considered a soul connection - not only romantic, but familial, platonic/friendship, artistic, those can all be transcendent and vibrant relationships too. i personally feel there's a soul element and connection within their music that needed to exist as a spark to get them where they are today. (had they not been what they were to each other, what would their careers even look like? what would 1989 be? what would hs1 be? etc) and they were also, in many ways, peers when they were together, and in unique positions of fame at a young age that most other people couldn't understand. their timing was consistently wrong/off, but that connection in their hearts and art still came through clearly. to me, it's part of the invisible string - they had to meet and have that complicated on/off thing and have love for one another to be on the paths where they were supposed to go, in different ways, and to be able to stand in a room together where they're both succeeding and both feeling gratitude for what all of that meant.

i think it's a disservice to joe to...not pay attention to what taylor has explicitly said about him, and why that relationship is so different and profound for her. i've seen a LOT of commentary lately about him being boring and not "getting" their connection, and it strikes me as somewhat unfair because we don't see it, we're not privy to it, and we shouldn't be, that is very much by their design. (she did say romance isn't dead if you keep it just yours!) but because someone like h is sparkly and charismatic and a musician, and joe is somewhat more reserved and less obviously visible and an actor, there's this sense that we "know" him less, which can easily seem less interesting, but keep in mind that how any fan sees him and how taylor herself sees and describes him are totally different. he's home to her, he's that gorgeous dream to her, he's the daylight to her, and that's what matters. he's who she's built her life with and found her peace with for many years now, and vice versa. h hasn't found that yet, but i hope he does. but that doesn't necessarily mean harry has to be nothing to her. whether that's fondness and recognition of their influences on one another and gentle nods to the past, or whether that comes in actual friendship, i think it's really important and valuable to acknowledge that the soul connection can happen and NOT be romantic, or initially be romantic/sexual and then transform into something else later, and it's no less of a cosmic pull. in one way or another, they'll always be connected, even if it remains in lyric and melody - and that's also always going to keep having a life of its own.

[spaceorphan18]

Glee Musical Retrospective: Vogue (The Power of Madonna)

Sung by: Sue Sylveester Original Artist(s): Madonna

Okay... one of the most pivotal moments of the show -- right here. Look, while we'll get into the lose story connection in a minute, let's be real for a moment... The purpose for doing this is entirely for Ryan Murphy to be indulgent. This song really has no purpose except for the fact that Murphy wanted to redo an iconic music video in his own way.

And you know what? That's not a criticism. Glee is shedding its need to have the music adhere so close to the narrative and push in on doing things for the fun of it. Is that indulgence good all the time? No, not really. But this was such a fun, inspired, and brilliant performance, you can't help but smile at the ridiculousness of it.

This music video is a delight, and I'm glad that Glee just gave in to its creator's whim.

Story Analysis

The definition of the word 'vogue' is as follows...

Noun. popular acceptation or favor; a period of popularity; the leading place in popularity or acceptance Verb. to strike poses in campy imitation of fashion models especially as a kind of dance

The whole thing about 'vogue' is to be at the height of admirable popularity in the moment. Madonna was when she created the song. And Sue Sylvester wants to be in the episode. I also think there's a big fourth wall break, too, where the show was coming into the height of its popularity. It was very in vogue to be a Glee fan back in 2010 -- the show knew it was cool, and this was kind of capitalizing on that.

So, while this performance doesn't necessarily move any story beats along, it does make commentary on Sue and on the show as a whole.

I love the lengths the show goes to make this performance seem like it's something being done in the Glee world. It's Kurt's vision (with the help of Mercedes) to do a multimedia project. He has Artie direct it -- and my god, why didn't Artie put this on his resume?

(Fun fact - legendary director David Fincher did Madonna's original video, so Artie being able to recreate this is kind of amazing.)

And... it speaks to Sue's character. She wants to be the one admired, feared, loved, respected, empowered, revered, and anything else that keeps her at the center of the conversation. She wants to be the one in vogue. And I think in this meta moment, she is.

I have a few questions though --

Who thought of this song? Was it Kurt or Sue? Or even Artie? I think this song speaks to Kurt's story, too. The beginning of the song speaks to pain and heartache -- and letting it all go to enjoy the moment. I think this speaks to his personality, what inspires him, and what his aspirations are.

What were the in universe reactions to this? That's the thing about the song, though. As neat as it is to see -- there really aren't any direct story tie ins. Sue's story gets played out in other ways. And yes, this lets Kurt and Mercedes have an opportunity to join the Cheerios. But it's a shame that no one in universe even makes a comment about this video. Ah well.

The thing about this one, overall, is that while it's a big set piece of the episode, and while it does speak to both Sue and Kurt's character (and the show as a whole) - there isn't a whole lot to break down? It's funny, because I think this song is one of those things that Glee might be remembered for - but it's so kind of detached from the narrative, it makes it this interesting little side beat.

But - something to note - because this was such a hit, the show does take a turn into this direction. The show is going to push more into the spectacle of the song they've picked for better or worse, whether it's important to the narrative or not.

Technical Thoughts

Just gonna bullet point all of this...

They went out of their way to recreate the music video as much as they could -- watching the original video as they shot.

Jane does an excellent job with the song. You have to give her some bonus points, too, for making it funny on top of being an homage.

(Though if you notice - they do not make Jane do the heavy lifting dancing that Madonna does in her video. Probably for the better.)

The line 'Will Schuester - I hate you' and Kurt's reactions might be one of my favorite comedy bits from the entire show.

Speaking of Kurt -- the kid was made for this kind of classic Hollywood look. He's so good in this. (Sorry Mercedes - she's great, too, but Kurt just pulls so much focus.)

Fun fact - apparently, Naya and Heather did hand work in this, and Heather was the one in the cone bra.

They used their usual group of dancers -- and everyone in this video is just so good.

Hats off the the editors - they did a phenomenal job cutting this to be nearly identical to the original video.

I honestly don't have a ton to say about it -- it's a great performance, and you can see just how much the entire team put into making it something special.

vs. The Studio Version : There's an added two minutes to this version, though it doesn't really feel like it? The beginning is much longer, and the chorus is repeated a few more times, but that's about it.

vs. The Original Version : Well... now is your chance to compare and contrast! How did they do? Really well actually. ;) (Also - if you put it into youtube, there is someone out there who did a side by side comparison.)

[popculturebuffet]

4th of July 2024 Special: An American Carol Review (Comission for WeirdKev27)

Happy forth all you happy people! It's that time of year again to fire up Le Grill, spend time with your loved ones and blow shit up constantly and for those of you who want some explodey boom boom pow sticks I have a friend who might be able to help you with that

For me though this fourth is a special occasoin: See for the last two years Kev has pitched reviewing An American Carol, a career destroying right wing comedy from David Zucker, the guy who co directed such classics as Airplane! and Naked Gun, and who became an old man yelling at clouds for being peace loving commies apparnetly and had this film not come out in 2008 , i'm sure it would've been stuffed with jokes about how "COMEDY IS DEADDDDDDDDDDDDD". I swear every time a comedian I respected says something like that I die a little on the inside.

So naturally I put this off as long as I could as it sounded bad and worst like something that'd give me maybe just a little to riff on but mostly a cloud of "that's not funny". I eventually caved as Kev.. is a good guy. He's paid for a LOT of reviews, helped me in tight spots, and a LOT of his ideas for projects were straight fire, like covering the blue beetle episodes of brave and the bold, the various duck retrospectives or most recently footing the bill so I could finally finish my life and times retrospective. So while he is also a greasy motherfucker for putting me through this movie and I will not let him live it down, I couldn't say no.

Good news, this film DOES give me a lot to talk about. It's not the xerox of a xerox of zucker I was expecting: i'ts a full on zucker film and I credit the about five jokes that worked to that style. The bad news... is this film is the worst movie i've ever seen and every moment of it was pain to sit through. And I fact checked that to make sure it wasn't just recency bias: I looked at the films i've seen on letterboxd, where I spent my early days marking down EVERY film i've seen. I thought about it against films I truly HATED and coudl've held the crown at one point: Anger Management, Are We There Yet?, Little Fockers, Let's Be Cops, License To Wed, Biodome, Scooby Doo Return to Zombie Island, Muppet Wizard of Oz, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and MANNNY more I don't necessarily hate with a good chunk of my being but still aren't GOOD. All of these.. and none is as painful to watch, as execrutiating, as insulting as this film. This film is bad, Kev should feel bad, and David Zucker should feel godawful for making this film. Not for being conservative, I mean i'm not a huge fan of being conservative but it's his right, just for making a film this insulting, one sided, petty, gross.

An American Carol is one long dig at Micheal Moore portraying him as a slovenly egotistical asshole who no one likes because David Zucker has a hate boner for documentaries, while also shoving down your throat the message that

But without any of that charm and irony: it's just a long screed that says "well if you don't support the war the terrorists win" and makes up the argument liberals think the war in afghantistan was fake and the taliban isn't real which.. no... no we do not. We think the Iraq War was a mistake and done soley for Bush's ego and own agenda. It's like if you were trapped in a twitter argument with a conservative for an hour and couldn't just.. block his ass and move on with your day, you HAD to engage. It's like if one of my surlier conservative uncles wrote a movie. This film.. is terrible. It sucks dirty ass in thunderstorms. It is not good and what few good jokes it has are drowned out by his bullshit. If it were an ice cream flavor it would be pralines and dick. So unfortunately, we have ot break down WHY under the cut. And trust me if nothing else this film is FAR more batshit than you could ever fathom featuring patton's ghost mowing down the aclu who are zombies, songs on liberal indocrination, and Kevin McDonald playing with micheal moore's literal dead ass. Follow me under the cut. .you've been warned.

The movie follows Micheal Moore. For those who weren't around when he was a big name, Michael Moore is a doctumentary film maker, mostly known for being loud, bold and for getting huge success and acclaim for his 2004 documentary Farenheight 9/11, a documentary I haven't seen but now really want to, partly because it was a such a big deal even me, a children at the time, knew it existed so it's curious. And partly because it pissed off David Zucker SO badly he made this entire film as a rebuttal, and this film is such a pissy and petty attempt at a comeback I almost feel obligated to watch the thing that pissed him off out of pure spite.

Part of that spite comes out of how spiteful the film comes off towards Moore: The film depicts Moore as a documentary film maker with a massive ego who most of the world ignores because no one gives a shit about documentaries. Zucker comes off as REALLY fucking despising documentaries, taking every opportunity to make a joke about how no one watches them and no one likes documentary film makers and gives Moore a desire to break into features because of this. Now taking shots at how little america cares about documentaries? That's fine. It's added by the fact Moore DID want a best picture nomination and didn't get it, so I get trying to go that way.. but he instead does it so damn often, acting like fucking everyone hates documentaries and liberals only watch them because their teachers assign them, that I'm convinced David Zucker really just hates fucking documentaries and wanted to vent about it.

The problem is that he's using a real person to do this. Michael Malone's only diffrences from Moore is that he's a giant asshole, he's not married, and his films are all about hating america instead of systemic issues with it. By making your mouthpiece for what you hate about liberals "A real person but he sucks more because I hates him", it makes you come off like a whiny bitch who is mad this guy said mean things about the party you work for and thus is making every mean spirited joke you can.

Zucker spends the bulk of the film's run time taking shots at moore: His stand in can't get women, wants to direct a feature because no one likes documentaries, his only fans are liberals who are portrayed as sheepish assholes, and in the gag he repeats the most

Scott Steiner is less subtle with his fat jokes and he spent a good two minutes talking about the Dudley Boys FATTTTTT ASSSSSESSSS. The whole film has Moore eating constantly, being kinda gross with it and always obsessed with food. The fat shaming in this film is incredible. And i'm not against fat jokes: i'm chubby myself and if made in good enough faith or in bizzare enough instances they can work. But there's a line between "Making fat jokes because your fat or making them so cartooniishly nuts" and "a school yar bully picking on someone for being overweight" and this film is about 50% that.

Also just for the record: moore was married and had been since 1991 when the film came out and only divorced 5 years after this film, and is clearly just horny so Zucker can insert fanservice in slot b. As for the feature thing i'ts very clear Moore is happy doing them and got good success: Farenheight 9/11 was a MASSIVE success despite Micheal Esiner not wanting to release it and Moore and sex monster Harvey Weinstien having to reveal Touchstone was being petty about it. Moore was a known quantity and a minor celebrity. People knew who he was and saw his film. not every doc is going to be this big cultural thing but enough have been for him to come off as tone deaf. It's one thing to make a joke about something you know is true or distort it for the funny it's another to just.. lie for the whole film for a joke tha'ts nonexistent. Not only that MOORE MADE A FEATURE FILM. Canadian Bacon, a satire of the us and John Candy's last film. It didn't do well and he clearly decided he preferred documentaries. If you wanted to take a pot shot at him take a pot shot at him wanting an oscar because commercial success means nothing or something. When you start making up shit to make your point, you've already lost. Moore as far as I can tell at least tried backing up HIS points.

And you CAN make a statment with political comedy. John Oliver does it every week, 30 Rock once did a whole episode making a children's baseball team a metaphor for Iraq, and the Boondocks was full of clever satire, both of the rich that run the country and even of things most wouldn't tackle, like the massive hype train around obama that was overblown a bit. South Park makes a sport of it and while it dosen't ALWAYS work, some things like Douche and Turd hold up brilliantly. Doonesbury, one of my faviorite comic strips, does great satire. It may not be why i'm there (I love the large cast) but he weaves it in well using great character work.

Those shows though.. make an actual point. Oliver uses comedy to lighten the moon, the boondocks usually had a thesis for it's episodes and what it was targeting, south park always does. They think it out, make a point, while still making jokes along the way. Here it's clear Zucker didn't really think out his points or what his opponent had actually said. Gary Trudeau clearly thinks through his stuff, what who he's going after has done and gloms on it.

Zucker.. zucker just has the very broad point of "WE NEED TO FIGHT WAR BECAUSE TERRORISTS ARE A THREAT EVEN IF YOU BASTARDS DON'T THINK SO" and that Moore is HELPING them by objecting to the war.

He dosen't have any nuance to his take. The Zucker Brothers best comedies had some nuance: Airplane is a zany farce but there's an art to the joke. And while some of that art IS present here, it's drowned out by constantly trying to scream at the left and make conservatives feel better about their opinions. It's hard to enjoy Leslie Neilsen casually coming back from running after two people with a sword with blood on his blade when it's followed by General Patton killing a bunch of zombies from the ACLU who are demonized for... wanting to make sure we don't cross lines when torturing prisoners, imprison people indefinitely or by accident, or put the ten commandments in public court houses.

Yeah we'll come back to that, trust me, but you see my point: every bit of doofy absurdist glory.. is drowned out by a one sided argument with no empathy for the other side: Leftists in this film are portrayed as either attention seeking fuckwits, naive students, professors whose heads are still in the 60's, or literal zombies. They even dunk on George Clooney. First they have him played by Kevin Sorbo, then they imply they only cover topics that are "in the past" said topics are the nazis, mcathrisim, and racisim... all things that either still exist in some form (Racisim and Nazi Doctrune) or are still relevant as things like them still happen (Mcathrisim). The whole reason we have films covering the issues of the past... is because we keep repeating it. Trump plans to go after all his enmies if he wins again, is a white suprmacist and is extremley prejudiced. All of this is relevant and was at the time too: Racisim was still a thing in 2008, white supremacy existed. You can hopefully see at this point WHY watching this film is so agonizing: it's having a billgerent far right a hole scream in your ear for 93 minutes about how much you suck without being able to rebut because it's a movie, all while every point he makes is somehow dumber than the last and what points he does are drowned out by stupid, all while he calls you the biggest most naive son of a bitch who ever lived for daring to questoin war.

And the neccesity of war.. is the core of the film. Moorelone is hosting a "Ban 4th of July" rally. His nephew, whose in the military, objects to this when he finds out but was only coming to invite him to his fourth of july party. Moore is depectied as hating the troops.. which... is so factually inacurate, just going to the wikipedia page for Farenheit 9/11, something that took me all of a minute, shows Moore not only supports the troops but had the mother of a soldier who died in the doc and dedicated it to those who died in the september 11th attacks and the war.

Something the film dosen't grasp is you can hate war.. AND still be sympathetic to our troops. Our troops are not war mongering jackasses. Their, for the most part (As no group is perfect), well meaning people who want to help protect the country. Being military is something I can get behind. The comic strip doonesbury is what helped me get this view, and not only is it mostly liberal, it has tons of military as characters from one of the main cast BD who served from the Vietnam war to iraq before loosing a leg, to his best friend Ray, to Melissa, a vet overcoming the trauma of command rape and now a senator. Trudeau is liberal.. but isn't above showing opposing view points or showing the military.. as people. BD is a conservative, if thankfully the pre-trump kind, and a bit of an asshole, but his service is honored and the effects of coming home wounded on him are one of the series best character arcs.

People like me and Gary Trudeau objected to the war.. because it was for the wrong reasons. The Afghanistan war was just.. ineveitble. Al-Queda killed millions and were not going to stop and did it on us soil. We had to act. But Iraq.. is just bush using a horrible attack on our soil to justify a war he wanted his dad didn't finish. I'm not against proudly serving our country, but I am against an old man and the older man with a hand up his ass and thier various cronies sending those patroitc men and women to possibly die for a war that caused more problems than it solved. Afghanistan was necessary.. Iraq was the real problem.

Unsurprisingly, Zucker never brings up Iraq because it'd mean his argument would have to have "gasp" nuance! Oh the tribulation. His argument relies on the idea that the war on terror was necessary, but ignores the fact it could've been fought diffrent. That torture isn't necessary. That it's okay to not want a war against a country that was no threat to us (If still fucking awful), so civillians and our own military personnel don't die. It's something the right keeps horrifically forgetting: there are civilians. Civllians exist. It's how we got translators over there. War has a high bloody cost and has to be done only when necessary. I would LIKE for things to be settled peacefully, but in a world where most are out for their own self interest, that's not always an option. Sometimes war is a necessary evil.. but it's never a GOOD thing and it's okay to want it to end at some point. It's not okay to scream at people who don't want to just throw wave after wave of our own men at them.

So Kevin accidently walks into rock bottom as some comedy terrorists offer to bankroll his film and in this films eyes he's too stupid to realize the obvious. This terrorism subplot is tacked on as hell, both to hammer home the message that "terrorism is real" which

And opens the film with some antics the only one of which is funny is a workplace accident video about suicide bombing, which is such a dark concept it works. it's not the best, but it almost convinced me the film was good before it spent the next ten minutes screeching "GET IT I DON'T LIKE THAT MICHAEL MOORE GUY VERY MUCH. YA GET IT. YA GET IT YET. YA GET I DON'T LIKE MICHAEL MOORE"

The terrorists just feel kinda jammed into this movie, which is the feeling of a LOT of set pieces in this film. The film is trying to be a takeoff of a christmas carol.. but crams in a lot of shit besides it. Which in most films Zucker did worked. The plot was a thin framework to cram in jokes. Here this somehow has both too much plot, with the christmas carol a plot and the terroism b plot that crash together at the end that are only linked thematically, with tons of side trips and some ACLU zombie hunting. We'll circle back to that, trust me it's somehow even more nonsensical than it sounds. Yes that's possible.

So after half an hour in which micheal also meets with his agent whose played by James Woods who dosen't show up in the rest of the film for understandable reasons

And goes to an award show where he meets the terroists we get to his hotel room, where he idolizes Kennedy. The real Moore was an FDR fan, but at this point we can assume the only facts Zucker knew about Moore were "he's a liberal, I don't likes him, he's from michigan and

So John F Kennedy comes out of the screen to berate moore for forgetting the part of his "ask not what you can do" speech that advocated for war and decides he'll be visited over the next day or so by three spirits. Well in theory. In practice he's stalked by the Ghost of Patton for several days and the other two come in at the very end. Honestly.. you could've just done one. I woudln't of blamed you: while the three spirits thing is neat, if you just wanted one guy for both budget reasons and because he already fit as narrator, and because you could afford Kelsey Grammar more than you could John Voight or Country Music Man, there's no shame in that. There's a LOT of shame in this film, but simply wanting to do one spirit because the character fits the various scenarios better is fine by me.

So Moore spends the next day or so being haunted by Patton's ghost. He's played by Kelsey Grammar as I said, who dosen't really fit patton physically.. but he was conservative and agreed to be in this thing, so he was good enough and he DOES honestly give this film his best. Most of the acting is pretty meh and whoever they could get. Kelsey really is trying.. and that's with the fact he thought the film was too broad. The guy is fucked politically, but I give him credit for being one of the only two people who gave a shit.

Our lead... really dose'nt. Kevin Farley is the brother of chris farley and agreed to do this because "leading paycheck" and "he probably conservative." i'd assume. He is just .. loud. obnoxious and I don't fully blame him as he has nothing to work with, he dosen't do anything to convince me he'd be BETTER with less garbage material. Leslie Neilsen, likely doing a favor to and old friend and Kelsey Grammar kinda throw that into tier and Kelsey's role is crap, but he's at least trying as if the film wasn't and Nielsen is funny as always if not given enough to do.

So Patton takes Micheal to various set pieces, which i'll break down as we go as this is really just the film: Micheal goes to a set piece, ocasinally interacts with the b plot, goe sto another set piece. It FITS the formula of a christmas carol.. but also feels like that framework didn't fill the film enough so Zucker sticks in some random bs.

So we start with Malone at a war protest, with Malone declaring all war bad and advocating for peace talks, something that dosen't really work, but SHOULD be tried first. Patton takes him to see Neville Chamberlain... who is portrayed as a boot licking sycophant bending over to the nazi's who have plans to invade. All Kev had to do was show me Chamberlains' tv tropes page to call bullshit, all Zucker had to do to rethink this gag was go to wikipedia but at this point i'm not convinced he knew it existed and fi he did assumed it had some ancient curse that would turn him into a newt.

They also have Moore NOT KNOW WHAT A NAZI IS, as pointed out before but bears repearting. HE DOSEN'T KNOW WHAT A NAZI IS.

Patton takes him to see protests of world war II, using it because Pattonw as in that war.. and because Zucker dosen't want to use Vietnam, where we fucked up, or the Gulf War, which directly lead to the iraq war, so he uses the one where we yes, indeed HAD to fight because Hitler was indeed pure evil and a genocidal racist, homophobic, anti semetic and so many other things monster who was thankfully too dumb to actually win.

So when Micheal holds to his view no war is justified

Patton takes him to the present... where he now has slaves because the civil war never happened. SO we get a very UNCOMFORTABLE scene of David Alan Greir talking about how Micheal Moore rarely beats him. Slavery is bad, the civil war was necessary..

You also didn't have to embarss david alan grier with this bullshit. The guy did read the script I assume, but i'm sure he also assumed it'd get edited.. right.. right.. only to come to set dressed up as a slave and having to use a sterotype voice. Also Gary Coleman is here. He sure was here.

Patton next follows MIcheal to a campus rally claming they only watch his films because "their teachers told them too" and "he's the only liberal who can't get laid on a college campus"

He was popular and young idealistic liberals would eat that shit up. On the second part.. this film has weird obession with getting Michael Moore laid and i'm not here fo rit.

So it's here we get the indocrination song which has the biggest "i'm mad at my grandkids" energy of any musical number in film history. Seriously he , via Patton, accuses the college professors of having never left 1968, of brainwashing kids, and of "this is what their teaching your kids" instead of maybe that college is the first time a lot of young people get out of a conservative echo chamber. The internet's lessened that, thank god, but sometimes kids are opened up to the idea that maybe just maybe a lot of america's history sucks and the country is racist or that maybe we DIDN'T need an extra war to go with our war because Bush had daddy issues. I'm just.. so baffled by this "brainwashing" narrative when i'ts really just "your grandkids don't call because your an asshole pop pop" or "No dad, marrying a cat is not the same thing as two people of the same sex marrying each other"... that last one might've been just me. The song is catchy and COULD have had a point: that sometimes young people are a bit too gung ho in their actvisim and don't see the bigger picture. They often do, but sometimes when your a teen or in college, something i've gone through, you don't see the black and white of people's pollitics, why they might've voted that way. I've had many a conservative who were nothing but kind good people who just happened to vote for bush. Being conservative dosen't make you an asshole and sometimes it's easy not to see the shades of grey. Granted sometimes it also leaves you arguing with your dad over issues that feel obviously in your corner but they just can't accept, I may have issues, but sometimes people can disagree with you and not be a douchebag and that's hard to accept when some parts of the right are so fucking awful. It's a kind of empathy zucker wholly lacks in this film, the ablility to maybe see WHY liberals object to the war instead of

So we move on to an interview Moore has that day.. with bill o'reily.

Yeah sexual harasser, right wing asshole Bill O'Reily interviews Malone and Rosie O'Donnel... who is made into a 911 truther and nut. We get a way too fucking long sketch about her film where the christians are doing everything Al'Queda did GET IT BECAUSE TERRIOISTS ARE BOMBING. ALSO I ASSUME EVERY PERSON IN AFGHANISTAN IS IN AL'QUEDA BECAUSE I'M RACIST. When really O'Donnel is just really critical of the catholic church, pointing out their sex scandal and pointing out a lot of the supreme court is catholic. It's loud and reactionary.. but she's not wrong the catholic church is fucked up. Zucker is wrong to try and blame islam as a religion for a radical terrorist group, fuck him, which shoudl go without saying at this point but I need to say it to keep my sanity. If this review's been a bit more unhinged that's because every time I get a seconds respite in this flim, Zucker would throw out MORE bullshit that was obviously wrong but would then linger for several minutes.

Oh and as insult to injury O'reily says Moore is "more dangerous" because "People buy what he's selling".

So next Moore finds out their doing auditions for his film. The main terrorist...

Wants press passes he easily gets to bomb a Trace Adkins concert. If it sounds like the terroist film bombing plot is just kinda there.. it is. It absolutely is. It's just there to fill time and give us a climax when the climax.. should be Moore realizing the "error" of his ways. Again, flexible when it comes to a christmas carol adaptations, but come the fuck on. They gave you a pretty easy outline to follow and the runtime is not that long.

So Patton takes Moore to the past for the first time, to see what may of broke him. like a christmas carol he had a failed lost romance. Unlike it... it wasn't at all his fault. He left to go to college for a semester before dropping out, and came back to find his girlfriend dating his best friend and his best friend having joind the military. This is supposed to be why he hates war, but.. in that same flashback.. he already does. He already hated war, he already was on his way to being who he is now. It's just another chance to take pot shots at Moore's character by making him look like a looser.. which dosen't work because his girlfriend cheated on him with his best friend who in his eyes betrayed their ideals.

Next is christmas july present, which is July 4th, where every one of his nephews kids hates Moore for never helping them with their medical bills.. which is fair but again WE GET IT. YOUR VERSION OF MICHEAL MOORE IS AN ASSHOLE. It's also one of the few funny jokes in the film.

Speaking of which, in the background, Leslie Neilsen has been narrating this film... to these kids... who were there. one of whom is atticus schafer from the middle and steven universe.

The narration bits.. are entirely tacked on and feel like Zucker wanted to get more Leslie in there, but couldn't convince him to do any of the henious shit. We do get a really great bit where, when the aclu song happens, everyone in the wraparound pauses in confusion but otherwise it's just kinda there. Neilsen gets a better cameo they should've just stuck to playing himself having been cast for Moores movie, running after two actors with a saber and coming back with blood on it before saying he dosen't do documentaries. We needed more of Leslie but at the same time i'm greatful they kept his hands clean. If not his sword.

So then Patton bursts in with an army of soldiers. he gives moore a helmet and takes him to the courthouse to fight the "real enemy", the ACLU. The ACLU are zombies because Grammar begged for the scene to be rewritten so he wasn't mowing people down for their belivies. The ACLU's crime is wanting them not to torture terrorists, give them actual rights, and for taking down the ten commandments. Dennis Hopper shows up in his final fiml role to try and teach micheal moore war is fun.

I said all of that as plainly as I could.. so you could fully grasp what the fuck just happened. All the take that's in this film are bad, but this one is horrific. Saying the ACLU is bad.. because they wante people to have human rights and don't want cops to randomly search bags because someone is of color. Yes these are enemy combatants, but it dosen't give us the right to jack bauer them to get info or commit general war crimes, a lot of which did happen. And in general given all the good work the ACLU do and how much of it is helping people of color and queer people, it comes off mildly racist to peg them as monster sneeding to be put down. Also Patton shoots a terrioist he wasn't sure was one exploding them because Zucker apparently thinks it's okay to shoot someone if you THINk they've done something wrong or their the aclu. As for what this has to do with the plot

So Zucker took TIME out of the film to have patton mow down the ACLU because they dare to ask we not torture people.

The good news is we're almost free as this film is way shorter than it felt, not helped by me having to pause it a LOT to take in what shit i'd just witnessed.

So Patton hasn't reached Malone because none of his tactics make any sense and it's clear Malone is a selfish asshat so he fosts him on George Washington, whose there for a minute, talks about freedom and does nothing of consequences before being confronted by the angel of death, played by trace adkins who shows him the future.

It's here we get one of the film's most obnoxious sequence which in a normal film would be it's worst, but we just saw patton murder the aclu so , that bar is a bit high to clear. So Christopher McDonald is in this..

Along with Zachary Levi, which given later revelations is'nt super suprising. They are going through the remains of those who died and find Micheal Moore's ass. They then proceed to talk about how fat he is, use his hat to mock him and put his dead ass on

Michigan was nuked thanks to Moore and hollywood is now Osamaland and moore is praised as helping their cause

What do I even say at this point I haven't already? Objecting to war dosen't mean supporting terrorist groups!

So i'm almost free of this mummy's curse as Moore realizes terrosim is real, and after getting slapped by Patton, JFK and Bill O'Reily, who sadly isn't a ghost but just likes slapping Michael Moore. So he goes to his ralley where Jimmy Carter's somehow got us troops to surrender, don't ask, and Moore says turns out war is good for you ti's good for me, and gets rescued from the insuing angry mob by vetrans and taken to the Trace Adkins concert. He's informed by the two comedy terriroists their boss is going to bomb the place, they dont' want to die and Moore gets on stage and the film bungles the christmas carol thing as Moore, at least this version.. . isn't a bette rperson. he's still an ass he's just.. pro war now? He finds the terroist, he wins the day.

So Moore goes off to wish his nephew off.. and kill his children with slapstick because again, he hasn't changed. Zucker is so petty he can't do the one thing a christmas carol does best: have a person change for better. One of the most famous parts of it besides the three spirits, which you also botched. moore makes a biopic about jfk, and i'm thankfully free. FREE DAMN YOU FREE.

This film sucks. I try to see the good in most things I review: It's usually easy because I usually review good stuff, but even when ti's bad or mediocre I like to try and find what's good. All this film has.. is a few good gag. It's a hateful rant rejecing the idea not all wars are necessary, it's mildly racist, extremley stupid and EXTTTTTTREEEEMLLLLLLLY pety. And you know the funniest thing? the film... didn't provoke moore. When Jay Leno played a clip, one of the JFK bits not one of the most insulting things, he just brushed it off and said "I hope it was funny" That's it. Moore honestly didn't give a shit and if he saw the film, he never bothered to react. It's the best way to beat a bully a lot of the time: you don't give them the attention they clearly wanted. It's funnier than the whole movie: that Zucker spent an entire movie yelling in the man's ear and he just..ignored it. All of this.. was for nothing. And that at least.. makes me smile.

Thanks for reading, happy 4th and to all our men , women and nb's in the armed forces.. thank you for your service.

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

You say the kindest thing is to refrain from telling stories about his relationships, but he wants us to do that no? He wants his fans to think he has a girlfriend and talk about it, otherwise why be so public with taylor. And you also said it's not kindness to assume they're dating just because they were out together. But twice now they held hands so to me that's harry saying he's now with taylor. I mean unless I'm wrong about all this and he's really with her and we should respect his privacy and not talk about his relationship than yeah I can see that point but I'm still of the belief his girlfriends are pr stunts/beards.

Here's the links to them holding hands in case you didn't see, these weren't really shared on Tumblr.

https://twitter.com/hsdaily/status/1697262326150574145?t=x0QfylRGzWsUOgWf2jBSGw&s=19

https://twitter.com/hsdaily/status/1696233666051981348?t=YW61dJr5ZsLYptifWquWYA&s=19

So there's a couple of things here. First is the principle - I think maybe you misunderstand me. I think it's really important not to confuse the idea that the kindest thing to do with strangers is believe what they say about themselves, with the idea that the kindest thing to do with strangers is to figure out exactly what you want them to do and then do it. Those are very different ideas.

I think the sort of scrutiny that you're doing - they're doing this, so I think that means this, and therefore they want me to do that. I don't think that would ever be a kind way to interact with a stranger (which is OK - there's no obligation to be kind).

I think the disinterested, boundaried and therefore kind way to interact with Harry, would be to put most value on statements like 'nothing good has ever come about talking about my personal life' and 'I don't think I have ever dated anyone' - and not pay much attention to his personal life. It's not how I interact with him. It's not how a lot of people interact him. There's no obligation to act towards him like that - but I do think it'd be the kind way to interact with him.

**********

The other aspect of this is the idea that Harry wants his fans to think he has a girlfriend. In general, I am very sceptical of the idea we know how Harry thinks and feels. But I think there's nothing we're less likely to know about - than how he thinks and feels about fans.

To say he's doing X therefore he must want his fans to think Y - is very much to make this song about us. Fans are not necessarily at the centre of Harry's public performance of himself (or at what he allows to be seen). To assume that because he's holding hands with Taylor Russell, then he must want fans to think certain ways - is to put us at the centre of his world and we're not.

To draw this point out a bit I sometimes see fans say things like 'It's so insulting that he expects us to believe this'. Again - maybe he doesn't. Maybe he doesn't care what you think (he probably cares about what you do, but he's not as interested in fans' minds as a lot of discourse would assume).

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

for a second I thought maybe the collabs are because (aside from him probably wanting them) he didn't nearly have enough time to do his own things but that doesn't make sense because

pretty sure a lot of those songs were already made, he just needed to sing them and create/learn the choreography &

yes they're all English and created by other people (not a criticism just an observation) but those could've still been solo songs? Like them being English singles doesn't mean they needed to be collabs

I'm not sure why I had that original thought lol.

I think maybe it's the label's influence (the American label). something to do with the marketing and introducing him to different audiences in America. Plus It's not like JK would be opposed to working with different artists he finds cool.

I am hesitant about his album though. The tracks might not all be collabs but at this point I don't think any of the songs are gonna feel like him at least the him prior to chapter 2. And I think they'll all be English (which isn't necessarily a bad thing because English songs can be meaningful, but I don't think they'll go for that. Hope I'm wrong)

I would've said differently before I discovered 3D and Seven were part of the album, but now I think this is the case.

They want his name out there and known across America as much as possible before military and before he'll literally be absent for almost 2 years.

But then that makes the whole thing so confusing!!

Well, collabs have the obvious advantage of getting fans of the other artists to listen to Jungkook's songs as well, and possibly becoming fans. I think it also helps Western audiences accept Jungkook, since he's already been "accepted" and "vouched for" by American artists. It gives him more credibility? If it was just Jungkook, maybe his solos would be regarded as side projects, and maybe his streams and records would be seen as the BTS fever effect. But with popular artists credited to his songs, I think that confers Jungkook a certain degree of legitimacy, and maybe shows he's interested in reaching a broader audience and in really building a name and career for himself. I can see the pros of the collabs. At the same time, those can quickly become cons if Jungkook just becomes the dude who only does collabs and can't succeed on his own. So far, all of his solos that charted well and had radio play have been collabs - L&R, Seven and 3D. Now that people know who he is he definitely needs to establish himself solo.

Regardless, he did a poor job choosing the collabs. It's obvious that the alternate version of 3D's better than the main one, and the reason why 3D isn't doing nearly as well as Seven is that, apart from Seven being his anticipated solo debut and having a trendier, and I'd say more tasteful, sound, even Armys didn't like Jack Harlow. The fandom itself isn't responding very well to the song. The MV was lackluster compared to Seven, which had made every Army's Y/N fantasy come true, and if the first song about sex shocks people, the second one is just more of the same. Worst of all though is probably Jack's feature. The lyrics are terrible and sexist, he's not a particularly liked rapper, many fans (like me) are only streaming the solo version and the solo and alternate versions doesn't even combine on Spotify. The way Big Hit lets BTS collab with problematic or not very well respected artists is insane. It's like they'll take anyone and don't even bother understanding what fans want. There are tons of respected, liked and very popular artists that would love to work with BTS and they chose Jack Harlow? They could've fucking asked Cardi B (who is problematic too but generally well liked), and she probably would've said yes. They could've brought back Megan.

The thing is that I don't think Jungkook even knows or understands that Jack Harlow ain't shit. He likes him, but not that many people seem to, which actually surprised me because I thought he was a big name. It's Big Hit's job to at least inform Jungkook of that or suggest other artists. With Latto the problem (aside from the racists tweets that I either misinterpreted or everyone chose to ignore) was more that no one knew who she was and he helped her career more than she helped his. However, since she's an up and coming rapper, it's a much more interesting feature, introducing him to a more specific type of audience and also showing that he's serious about music because he noticed her talent and chose to work with her even if she's less known.

The point is, people loved Seven, including Army, and mostly liked Latto, but the response to 3D has been very lackluster, and Jack is a big reason why. I wonder if Bad Decisions wouldn't have done better with different people, even if the song is Benny Blanco's.

I also think the 3D MV was a huge mistake. I saw someone on Reddit say Jack Harlow's parts give Blurred Lines and it tracks. I watched the MV yesterday and even Jungkook's parts aren't great though. The choreography is poorly shot and Jungkook's dancing doesn't look that good, the dance practice video is miles better. After Seven, which was a huge production, with a beautiful, famous actress and Jungkook being the goofy lover boy, the 3D MV is so low effort. It killed the hype for the song. And Jack dominates the track too much, it's ridiculous. I like the alternate version quite a bit, but Big Hit and Jungkook need to be smarter. I think Jungkook lacks self-confidence and is too humble to realize he's better on his own. He still has this mentality of "the more the merrier, I'll take anything", when he should've listened to the alternate version and realized the feature needed to, at least, be shorter.

As for collabs in other artists' tracks, those are an easy way of having more songs and getting his name out there, since he doesn't need to look for the songs or perform them. He just does a bit of work in the recording booth and that's it. Hybe doesn't even need to promote the songs much either, since that falls more on the main artist. However, again, it's not just about having more songs and exposure. His image matters, the kind of discography he cultivates matters. He needs to be choosier. He can't just take anyone, which at this point feels like what he's doing. It gives less "I'm a pop star" and more "I'm just a nobody from Korea who will take anyone who will help me and isn't big enough to attract more high profile names". I don't know how to express that in a non cruel way. This is really the vibe I'm starting to get, despite Jungkook carrying all of those songs and being so big already.

I don't know what to expect of his album, but 3D didn't help build up anticipation for it. I don't even know if 3D will debut on the top 10 of the Hot 100 and Army is way less excited about Golden now. At least Seven is still going strong. I remember when Seven dropped. 3D only had a week's notice which didn't help, but when Seven dropped the timeline was insane. The horniness was off the charts. The explicit version, as cheesy as it was, had everyone grabbing their hair. When 3D dropped, the reaction was much smaller, and a lot more negative. Visuals matter a lot, and 3D didn't have them. Jungkook also showed everything with Seven, so flashing his abs and talking about sex isn't going to shock people anymore.

Anyway, it's a shame, because I like the solo version of 3D a lot, the choreo is much better than Seven, the performance is better too, and I love Jungkook's vocals so much in the alternate version. I pray he does that high note live. I don't even mind the lyrics. 3D needed a much better MV and no Jack Harlow. I won't even complain about Latto anymore, since, in comparison, she fit Seven better, had less screen time and lines, and helped the song be better, and not worse, received. Maybe I'm biased because I only know what's happening in kpop spaces, but...

Thanks for the ask! Sorry for the rant...

[kingdomoftyto]

Just for fun, since I mentioned them in the tags of that other post, I'm gonna rank the musicals I got to see this year (mostly just as an excuse to gush about them all). Note that the scores will solely represent my personal taste and do not necessarily reflect the quality of the shows themselves.

This is gonna be a long post.

In chronological order for when I saw them:

Turnabout: An Ace Attorney Musical 9.5/10 A young lawyer fights a corrupt system to save his clients from death row, and also there are ghosts involved. This is a completely fan-made, full-length musical adaptation of the first entry in the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney series. A better adaptation of a video game than basically every game-based movie ever made, combined. The writers nailed it, the composers nailed it, the performers nailed it... It's one of my new favorites, and a must-watch for any fans of the games. It's funny and heartwarming but with real emotional depth at its most climactic moments. Also, spoiler alert: these lawyers are gay. Favorite song: "Alone"

SIX the Musical 6/10 (You see what I did there? lol) A conversation between the six wives of King Henry VIII as they determine which of them was done dirtiest by this dirtiest of men. (For those unaware, two of his wives were famously beheaded, two more were divorced, and even the one he supposedly loved died young.) This show is... more of a concert than a musical? The songs themselves are all bangers, if I'm honest, but the "story" is pretty cheesy and shallow--mostly just an excuse to give each of the wives a reason to sing their stories--hence the low score from me. Definitely worth giving a listen, though, if you're a fan of female pop singers, since each wife's song is in the style of a famous artist (Beyoncé, Avril Lavigne, Adele, Rihanna/Nicki Minaj, Ariana Grande/Britney Spears, and Alicia Keyes, respectively). Favorite song: "Get Down"

Wicked 10/10 The now-classic prequel to the Wizard of Oz, telling the story of the Wicked Witch of the West before she became so feared. One of my perennial favorites, with extra bonus points for the tickets being my birthday present this year. Not the first time I've seen the show live, nor even the first time I've seen it at this particular theater, but it was a great performance nonetheless. Really made me think deeply about the themes of antifascism and apathy this time around. Favorite song: "For Good"

Beautiful: The Carol King Musical 6.5/10 A biography of singer and songwriter Carol King. The songs were all famous hits that she'd composed, written, and/or sung, and it was a fascinating look into the life and career of a woman I'd never even known the name of before. Also an educational look into the music industry of the 60s and 70s--she composed for a lot of famous black artists of the time! Biographies aren't my thing--and especially not ones with toxic relationships as large focal points--but it was much more fun and interesting than I expected. As it is, though, between it being a jukebox musical and a historical mid-20th-century piece, I can't personally rate it any higher. Great music, though, regardless. Favorite Song: "It Might As Well Rain Until September" (not the best SONG in the show by any stretch, but the most memorable story beat for sure! It's the song that she composed as a teen that got her her first big break)

Beauty and the Beast 7.5/10 The Disney classic. And one of my absolute favorites from Disney, which is why I maybe had too high of expectations for the live version, haha. I was personally a little let down by some of the effects--the puppeteering was good, but a little abstract sometimes. It was still just as fun and lovely as you'd expect a Disney show to be, but I remember coming away from it thinking that it was definitely aimed more at the kids in the audience. Worth it, but not among my favorites of the year. Favorite song: "Human Again" (a song so good I still can't believe it was cut from the movie!)

Chess 10/10 A sociopolitical drama about two chess grandmasters--one Soviet and one American--set against the backdrop of the Cold War. I'm obsessed. This musical has LAYERS--and I don't just mean within the musical motifs, although that is also true! The main character, despite his best efforts not to pick a side, becomes an unwilling pawn himself in all the political scheming. And alongside the competition and the international tension, there's a love story that becomes the emotional core of the play. It's tragic, heart-wrenching, and tense as all hell, but an absolutely underappreciated musical that I hope will get more widespread attention as a result of this performance at the Muny! (Oh yeah, and the music is a collab between Tim Rice [of Jesus Christ Superstar fame] and ABBA?? Basically it's the most 80s thing ever conceived.) Favorite song: "Where I Want to Be"

West Side Story 7/10 You know West Side Story. It's Romeo and Juliet but with a gang war in 1950s New York. This was the first time I'd ever actually seen it, and I'm glad I finally got around to it. Not really my thing, honestly--seen one Romeo and Juliet, seen 'em all, frankly--but even I can recognize the choreography was incredible. This show has a LOT of elaborate dancing by today's musical standards (also not my thing), and by far the best part of the show was the knife fight scene on the Muny's giant turntable floor. That part was so mindblowing that it bumps the overall score up a couple points on its own. Favorite song: "America"

Little Shop of Horrors 9/10 A poor, unlucky florist gains fame and fortune by befriending a bloodthirsty alien plant. Hilarious, a little dark, and with more depth and earnest emotion than most people probably expect from something so silly and camp. Possibly my single favorite musical, so, automatic win. This production gets a little bit of a demerit for the really odd design of Audrey II and the immersion-breaking puppetry that went along with it, but they earned most of it back when a 30-foot-tall Audrey II actually WALKED OUT FROM BEHIND THE BACKDROP and loomed over the performers while they sang the finale. It was terrifying and awesome and I was absolutely yelling and applauding. Favorite song: "Somewhere That's Green"

Rent 8/10 A year in the life of some artist friends living through the height of the AIDS epidemic. It's a beloved piece of queer history and rightfully so--the tragedies hit hard, and the celebration of love and life hits even harder. I'm personally kind of ambivalent about the show. I have my criticisms, but I recognize its cultural importance and I'm not fool enough to deny that a few of the songs are among the best from all of Broadway. (Yeah yeah, I know all of the words to "La Vie Bohème", alright? The music's amazing.) This production was kind of neat, too--definitely enjoyed it more than I did the movie! Favorite song: "La Vie Bohème"

Sister Act 8.5/10 A lounge singer witnesses a murder and is forced to become a nun at a nearby convent for witness protection. She's not very good at laying low, so hilarity ensues. I'd never seen the film it's based on, so I had NO idea what to expect from this show going in, but I actually kind of loved it. It was consistently hilarious, the characters were all extremely charming, and the emotional beats in the second half were lovely and heartfelt. I love that the ending not only has such a strong message of found family, but also that there is no pressure at all on the lead character to actually join the religion, even though she's welcome to visit the other nuns anytime. If anything, it's more of a story about appreciating their differences! Plus, the show's got a singing Pope. What more could you want? (...oh snap, and I forgot this is another Alan Menken musical. No wonder the songs are all so good!) Favorite song: "Bless Our Show"

Beetlejuice the Musical 7/10 A teenage girl, feeling alone and invisible after the loss of her mother, finds out that her new home is haunted by ghosts. She enlists their help in scaring her father's weird business partners, but one ghost is a little more, uh, wacky? insane? ...unhinged than the others. In my opinion, this musical was intended to be watched by fans of the movie, but either way it works alright. It's a little awkwardly structured at times thanks to Beetlejuice's constant Deadpool-style fourth wall breaking--I could do without so much of that, personally--but most of the songs are solid enough and it's still very funny, with the kind of perfectly cartoonish characters that only Tim Burton could have produced. Despite any shortfalls it might have, though, I have to give this one extra marks for genuinely bringing me to tears in its second act. I was not expecting it, but I'm dead serious. Yeah. There's really good storytelling about grief and healing in the "tally me banana" musical. I know. Favorite song: "No Reason"

HONORABLE MENTION because I didn't see this one as a live show or as a major online premiere or anything, but it WAS the first time I'd ever watched it (plus this rounds out the list to a nice dozen!):

Legally Blonde the Musical 9.5/10 After getting dumped, a woman gets into Harvard Law to show her ex that she's worthy of his love, only to realize that being a lawyer is more fulfilling anyway. This musical effing rules. It's even better than the movie it's based on, which was already good. It's SO funny from start to finish, every single song is catchy as hell, and it's empowering and feel-good and even a little cathartic at times. There's a song that includes a dog barking on cue, there's an Ace Attorney-style courtroom scene where the clue that breaks the case is how gay the witness is, and there's an actual love story in the back half that manages to be sweet and good despite all this chaos. I'm so sad that I missed out on seeing this one live at the Muny by a single year. :( Oh well, I'll catch it next time...! Favorite song: "So Much Better"

P.S. labeling all of those as my "favorite" songs is such a lie, lmao. My favorite song for some of these changes with the wind. I encourage anyone who's read this far to check out ALL of these musicals in their entirety, because even the ones that weren't my favorites were still really good and a blast to see!

[ketchup-monthly]

🎶 and ✅️ for the fanfic ask meme? :)

hehehe! into the fray i go again! thank you!!

🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately?

-i dont necessarily listen to music when i write, like maybe i'll have some music going in the background because i need at least a low level of noise at all times or i'll go insane, but i know rn i'm listening to jazz radio on pandora because my brother put it on like 7 hours ago and its still going. i'm a huge fan of the classical composer Holst and his suite The Planets, and i'll listen to that when im writing or need to focus on whatever it is that i'm doing (Jupiter was my school song in high school and is actually one of my favorite classical songs because it's very lovely)(link here bc i have to share it)(this is a link to a playlist of the rest of the suite)

-i mostly just have the tv on if im writing at home, and then i'll usually put something like s1 of Lois and Clark, Green Lantern: the Animated Series, Tanked, some random cooking show, or Mysteries at the Museum. or whatever my youtube recommends. depends on how im feeling each day and how much i'll need to actually focus on my fic.

-i do listen to music when im driving for work, and currently im working my way through The Crane Wives and The Orion Experience's albums (i already finished Waterparks)

✅ What's something that appears in your fics over and over and over again, even if you don't mean to?

-Hal and Barry's cat, Goose. she's an orange kitten and Wally is allergic to her.

-kissies. lots of halbarry kissies

-guy gardner is really good with kids and also he has a dog named shark who is a retired k9 unit. also he watches soap operas and romance movies even tho hes totally aroace

-idk if its something that people even notice in my halbarry fics, but hal is jewish. tbh i think i mean to include it more but totally forget

-kryptonians are fucked up. so are speedsters. so are lanterns.

-hal is old-man core. he just is. its amazing and i love him. he also has a bad leg and has to use a cane sometimes bc he got an injury that healed very wrong when he was a young lantern

-also wally and kyle are basically always like...9 and 7 respectively in my fics about the halbarry family because idk. fun ages. theyre still little but they can talk and think. idk when they'll get older

-this is more in my aus that i haven't written but hopefully will eventually, but giving bruce's kids to literally anyone else. i have an au where the only kids bruce keeps are dick and damian and maybe duke. i have another where duke is trained/fostered by alan scott and his husband, and another where duke is trained/fostered by midnighter and eventually apollo. the au where the only kids bruce gets are dick and dami and duke is the same one where all the other batkids are taken in by various gotham rogues. i have aus where tim is trained/taken in by dinah lance and her mom dinah drake, kon is adopted by alan scott, roy is adopted by dinah and his her sidekick instead of olivers, billy is adopted by lex luthor, kon stays with lex luthor and is raised by him along with lexs daughter who is kons half twin, billy is adopted by clark and hal and sorta guy and the rest of the red lanterns that i like, clark is found by the gls when hes a baby and is raised by kilowog, etc etc etc. bestie i have so many aus and i could talk about them for ages (edit: i also have one where jason is adopted by john constantine and etrigan the demon without jason bloods knowledge)

-sorry most of those were about halbarry and their family lol. im writing a lot of that this year

thanks for the ask!!! <3

[sofarsoundsne]

Interview with mzzltvv

Could you introduce yourself and who influences your music? "Music is like my air, always carrying me through everything and lifting me up. It took many years to finally take all my songs and create music professionally. I believe music is one of the most powerful tools that can tap into people's hearts and souls; it is my dream that this music connects and unites people. A huge challenge I've faced thus far is hiding my identity and appearance. Music can be associated with some attractive or seductive appearance; and while I love and respect that, I hope to go a different route with my music, hence the hidden appearance. Hoping this will help listeners feel beautiful with themselves when listening to the music, instead of having another image in mind.

My music is influenced by life, not necessarily a particular artist or genre. I feel that all sounds could be music. I grew up with many cultures, so my musical palette was always evolving. It is so great to connect with songs from 100 years ago, but then also with songs released a week ago. Generally, I draw inspiration from a combination of genres; although, I would say that African, Middle Eastern, and Latin music tug at my heart strings more than other regionally affiliated music."

What are the hits you are most proud of? "Well, I'm most proud of my first song "A Happier Song", which has not been released yet. It may never be released, but it started my journey as an artist and undoubtedly transformed my life."

Who are currently your three favourite artists? "Post Malone, RAYE, and Tyla."

What’s happening or do you hope will happen in your music career? "Life can be crazy and challenging, and I have poured myself into my songs to express those experiences. If this music positively impacts or inspires listeners to feel something through the songs, that would be a huge accomplishment. The fans that have reached out and shared their love for the music are so appreciated and really give me the courage to keep moving forward. I hope to keep up the momentum for them. I just love music so much that if I could just write, compose, perform, and vibe with fans and friends for years to come… That would be a dream."

What song do you think our followers should be listening to right now? ""Nonesense (Psalms my Guard)" for sure. It was a really fun song to make and it kind of came together naturally. It was pretty wild because the beat was made before the lyrics and melodies, and it really pushed my song writing and composition. I wanted to share variations in my voice and emotions and I feel we really nailed it for this song."

[heartbeatbookclub]

2, 21, 27

(this is for the writing asks in case u couldn’t tell)

(me seeing this ask in my inbox after reblogging the post again)

2. What are some common elements of stories you are tired of seeing? What would you avoid writing about?

That's a good question. I don't typically think about stuff I dislike in a story, hmm...Well, I've already talked about a good bit I dislike in popular interpretations by the DDLC fandom, but a big thing I don't like that I don't think I've mentioned is the tendency a lot of writers in the fandom have to simplify or soften the harsher elements of DDLC to something more easily understandable.

That's not exactly a surprising thing in my opinion, but it's still annoying, typically. Like you can describe these things, like "Sayori has depression", or "Natsuki has a bad relationship with her dad", and people toss these ideas into their fic based on that without forethought of how that might impact each characters' reaction to things, at least beyond a surface level.

These serious issues impact each character's personality in incredibly complex ways which make them each compelling, but more often than not, they're either used for some kind of torture porn, or they're more or less a background element to whatever story they're trying to tell. It frustrates me to see, because within + especially, they're written incredibly well!

In general, I guess my biggest pet peeve is stories that don't respect the idea of "suspension of disbelief". I'm a bit of a stickler for stories that feel grounded in some kind of reality, or at least being consistent in that respect. Broadly speaking, I don't use this as a hard and fast rule for everything (I'm willing to give exceptions to fanfiction that I like in spite of it for one reason or another), but typically that's what annoys me most in a story that isn't outright bad.

I typically avoid writing things I'm not passionate about, or things I don't feel comfortable with. Not necessarily that I don't feel comfortable with the subject matter, more that I don't think it's my place to write it. They say write what you know, and if I have to do a shitload of research to be sure I'm doing it right, I'm probably not going to write about it.

21. How do you come up with titles? Do you use placeholders or tend to change your titles when writing the first draft?

I will be the first to say that I'm TERRIBLE with titling things. I have like 15 separate Untitled Documents in my Google Drive, all of varying subjects, all of varying length & quality. I have a document right now just titled "ddlc fics" and it's where I keep a bunch of separate outlines and drafts for concepts I have. The same goes for works of visual art--my portfolio has like 5 separate "untitled"s.

I'm a very spontaneous kind of writer. I get an idea which stops me dead in my tracks, and I have to do something for it. I open up an untitled document and just slap some words onto the page. Sometimes I do placeholder titles just for the sake of being able to find it later, often I just leave it until I can think of a more proper title.

Typically this doesn't pan out, hence the lack of titles, though I often like the result of the writing.

I'm a huge fan of one word titles. Rather than trying to put together a full sentence or some clever wordplay, I can just assign one word to a fic which entirely defines the vibe. I'm a big fan of language, and one of my favorite things is how single words can carry so much meaning.

I usually only title things when I intend to publish/finish them. More frequently, concepts just get little fragments which I never publish anywhere. Maybe I'll put some of those somewhere visible.

27. Do you have playlists for your wip? What are some of the songs in it?

Not typically! I sometimes will put together a specific soundtrack fitting to certain vibes within something I'm writing to then post in the fic (I used to do this more often), but it depends on my dedication to the vibe & the songs I have available for it.

The one other fic on my AO3 currently makes use of this to great effect, or so I'm told.

I don't typically actively listen to music while writing, because it distracts me & makes it more difficult to clarify my thoughts. Writing is the one thing I don't typically do with some kind of background noise, actually!

If I do, it's usually something really chill and low volume, just for the vibes. Usually it involves classical music, or vaporwave, or just my "mellow tunes" playlist.

Here's some from there.

I have a lot of music I could recommend people, really, but that's not what this blog's for... :>

[thisaintascenereviews]

Archetypes Collide - Self-Titled / Currents - The Death We Seek

It's true what they say that when you get older, your tastes in music kind of "slow down," so to speak. You're not listening to as much new music, and you're stuck listening to a lot of old favorites, but in the last few years, it's been necessary. I've been revisiting a lot of my old favorites, because of COVID and trying to find some kind of solace in the madness that our world has presented us with. There was a period of time where I didn't listen to anything new, but that changed at the end of 2021 when I spent some time catching up on releases from that year, plus a bit of 2020, and throughout the last couple of years, I've been getting into new releases. Things have slowed down now, but that's partially because I haven't found anything I care that much about. When it comes to consuming music (as well as writing about it), I'm more selective now. I'm only listening to what catches my ear, and not what I feel like I have to listen to, let alone write about, as that's why my postings are very sporadic now. I've also noticed another trend, especially lately -- I'm listening to music that's a lot more "generic" than I'd like to admit. Not that it's bad, but I've been listening to stuff that's more straightforward, fun, and catchy, versus weird, unique, and off the wall. I used to love music like that, and I still do from time to time, but I like stuff that I can have stuck in my head more so these days. A lot of my favorite bands and albums have that in common, but it's because those songs and albums are so iconic and catchy, it's hard to forget them.

Today I wanted to talk about a pair of records briefly that I feel very similarly about, and they both fall into the realm of "generic" hard-rock and metalcore that doesn't necessarily do anything I haven't heard before, but works pretty well for what it is. I've been getting into a lot of hard-rock and metalcore that's rather generic, but the hooks and breakdowns (if there are any, that is) are quite strong and they keep me coming back to the album. Two albums came out this year that took me a few listens to really get into, but I've been enjoying them quite a bit since their release. Those two albums are Archetypes Collide's self-titled debut and Currents' The Death We Seek. These two bands are quite different, as the former is more of a hard-rock meets metalcore band, whereas the latter is a djent / technical metalcore band, but both bands are similar in the sense that they're nothing necessarily special in their respective genres. That's not to say they aren't good, but there are other bands that do what they do better, although they are very good at what they do. Both of these albums are catchy, fun, energetic, simplistic, and somewhat memorable, all things considered. They do what they do well, and for fans of metalcore and hard-rock, that's honestly all you need, really.

Archetypes Collide released their debut self-titled album this year, and if you want a record that takes a lot of influences from various sub-genres of hard-rock and metalcore, you'll probably really enjoy this. I hear elements of Linkin Park, Bring Me The Horizon, Wage War, Breaking Benjamin, and even labelmates I Prevail (whose newest album True Power I've grown on quite a bit, too; I'll have to review that album again, and talk about how I've grown on it, but I do enjoy the album a lot more now), specifically nu-metal, hard-rock, alt-metal, metalcore, and even some pop-rock here and there, specifically with hooks and melodies. In other words, there is a lot to enjoy, and if you enjoy most mainstream styles of rock, you'll find something to like in this 41-minute album that never feels too long or too overbearing. Fans of the various kinds of hard-rock and metalcore that are popular right now will find something to like here, but I will say that on their next record, they do need to find something that makes them stick out a bit more. They can make the Linkin Park and Bring Me The Horizon worship work just fine on this record, because it's their debut, but they need to step up their game if they really want to make an impact.

As for Currents, however, this band has been around for the last decade, give or take, and this is my first experience with them. Known as a djenty / technical metalcore band, this record reminds me a lot of stuff like Erra and Northlane, but they have a few tricks up their sleeve that keep me coming back to this record, as well as make them stick out somewhat. Their vocalist, for starters, is very strong and honestly carries most of this album, but the breakdowns on this record are great, too. A lot of them sound alike, but they're really damn good, nonetheless. The Death We Seek is also only 41 minutes, so, it's very short, and it never feels like it's too long, but like with Archetypes Collide, they definitely need to develop more of a unique sound, because as cool as their sound is (and they do have some interesting guitar riffs throughout the record), it doesn't stick out as well as other bands. In terms of djent bands, there are better bands, but the only real major djent records we've gotten this year are the new Periphery album (which is good, but it's very long and self-indulgent), and the new Veil Of Maya record (which I didn't really care for, because it's even more generic than this), so it says a lot when this is the best record in that vein we've gotten this year.

I feel very similarly about both albums, despite them being relatively different, at least in the sense that these are generic records that are catchy, fun, and short, even if they don't necessarily reinvent the genre, or anything close to that. That's not why I like them, though, and that's the point of this double review. I wanted to highlight how albums like this work a lot more for me now than they did maybe a few years ago. It could be due to the fact that I'm more selective with what I listen to. I'm not listening to every single generic metalcore band anymore, so I'm not sick of this sound, or I'm not listening to 20 different forgettable bands in that vein. It's also probably due to just enjoying catchier music these days, and just wanting to enjoy music more than analyze it. I'm a music fan first, and while I won't say these two records are the best I've ever heard, I enjoy them for what they are. That's all I need. I can enjoy these albums for what it's worth, and while I can admit they're generic, they don't hinder that enjoyment. I'm just not looking for music that's very weird or inaccessible anymore, because I don't come back to that kind of stuff a lot. If you're a metalcore fan, I'd recommend checking these out, you might find a couple of your favorite albums of the year.

[lgcnayoung]

"accepting that we will always be filmed..." nayoung slowly repeats after haru, and it sort of lights up a bulb up in her head. that makes sense, because there's nothing else she can do about it. maybe not enjoying paparazzi, necessarily, but at least not being apprehensive or angry about it. if she's not doing anything wrong, there won't be anything strange that the cameras can capture. ( though what they want to twist.... that's another story that she won't discuss right now because it's such a black hole of a topic. ) "that's a good way of approaching it. i knew you'd be good to discuss these things with. you're the expert after all," nayoung chuckles, "if only out of seniority, sun-bae-nim."

there's so much unknown with what is to come, and nayoung doesn't want to ponder too much on what can possibly come. when it comes to it, he's already indicated that he will always be an open ear and shoulder, willing to listen. after future dreams, the rush and all the built-up anxiety disappeared, and now she realized that the grass wasn't much greener on the other side- she still doesn't know what is to come, and what all of their respective roles were going to be in the group, and all that out of their control. all in the managers, the company, and potential fan's hands that would dictate everything. what a strange feeling. but they all knew this coming in to being an idol anyway, through all the years of training. it's not really up to them, is it?

"you learned the guitar!?" nayoung gasps, and bops him lightly on the arm. "that's great. i'm jealous. also, everyone loves it when their favourites have multi-talents... maybe you can even appear on variety shows and show off a song that you practiced really well- while singing! are you at that point yet? i can never tell." with these great spans of time between catch ups, and phone lock-outs during the show, 'starting to' do something could mean actually starting a few days ago, or months ago. "but that would be cool if you wrote something for us," nayoung chuckles, though it's highly likely that it'd have to be ballad and not a rock song since that would likely go to fabula. it's hard when their concept hasn't been fully established yet, and may veer all over the place within the next few years."

"no! ugly! screenshots!" she declares, although she's pretty sure she has a stash of haru's somewhere too, but she sends those to him from time to time. "unless you send them to me directly only, but not to the public," the girl laughs, a pained expression slowly disappearing. it's all in good fun, and she knows that. it goes both ways either way. "but thank you. honestly thank you. for keeping me level-headed because i was two steps away from probably losing my marbles," nayoung nods, her eyes smiling as she knows that he's been putting in effort to lift up her spirits with all of her anxious moments today. and she hated doing that. not seeing her good friend in so long and then dumping this all on him. "i really do appreciate this."

PREVIOUSLY.

“i know right?!” haru agrees instantly, voice pitching up a tad because he empathizes with the other, as he recalls past memories of being woken up with a camera in his face. “there have been a few times that has happened to me yeah, and during future dreams, it was a really strange feeling knowing you’re almost always being watched by the cameras. it’s like there was a voice in my head, constantly poking me annoyingly as a reminder to be cautious of the cameras no matter what i do.”

it was stifling, really, the more he thought about it– and in hindsight, he really didn’t like being monitored so much but at the time, he was too pre-occupied with self-doubt and trying to focus on improving himself instead all while meeting the deadlines and expectations the show set for them to care about it as much. “did you at least get used to it over time though? at some point, i kind of just accepted that i’ll always be filmed and can’t do anything about it,” he adds on, remembering how eventually he stopped thinking about it too, the longer they filmed. “i think i was kind of in over my head then though. my brain was always a mess,” he laughs.

“honestly… i wasn’t that busy with my own jobs then.” haru’s words are slow as he contemplates how to answer because he can’t really say he has a so called ‘good’ reason for not appearing. sure, he did have some jobs here and there but his next major gig wasn’t starting until the summer so before that it was just some agito schedules that were pretty much already finished in advance.

it was also kind of hard for him to admit to someone else he just didn’t feel like he deserved to be on the show as a mentor of all things, but that was more of a personal issue he had with himself. with nayoung though, he finds it a bit easier to be honest however. “with both yushin hyung and jiho hyung confirmed for it already, i thought it’d be overkill to have all three of us there and i wanted to focus on self improvement or something, you know? i wanted to learn more so if i had a chance like that again then i would be more prepared,” he finally settles on answering with. “i did start learning the guitar though! i hope one day i can play it when i sing covers or maybe compose songs. it’d be cool if i wrote something for agito– or even your group,” he adds on with a playful grin, hoping to lift the mood again.

“i guess i should delete that post i was going to make with those screenshots then…” haru is joking, obviously; he never had anything prepared but nayoung would probably figured he wouldn’t actually do it anyways. “hey– i know it probably sounds hypocritical coming from me but if you were actually lacking, do you think you would be chosen to debut?” it is kind of ironic for him to be saying this now but as someone who had been in nayoung’s shoes before and felt the exact same way too, he kind of feels he’s qualified to say this now; even if he hasn’t fully accepted his self-worth, he can at least acknowledge he’s grown since then (and honestly, he wishes someone had told him this).

“it’s okay to want to improve–and you can and will–and it might not be something you can easily accept or tell yourself and mean it but just remember that there is some part of you that people believe is ready to debut.” haru’s smile grows wider and hopefully looks more assured. “but if you want, you can confide in me any time. i promise i can be serious sometimes too,” he jokes, unable to stop himself from trying to lighten up their atmosphere once more. “our paths will probably cross at some point right?” haru knows the chances are kind of slim but it’s not impossible - plus if there’s no opportunity at all, at least there’s the year end shows.