#I'm not sure I like the newer version more than the old one but o well!

[sothischickshe]

trick or treat!!!

Thank you sweetie 😘😘😘

OK, how about the new beginning to the fic I'm supposedly editing?

Gertie’s truly is a shithole. Abrasively bright bulbs dot its ceiling, providing an ambience nobody is looking for of a bar while glaring nude upon his pummelled pupils. Near half those fixtures are busted but the fact offers only barest relief: that pervasive glare off high gotta be almost worse on the corneas at his shadowier spot than from any island of intense luminosity he bypassed when selecting this outlying spot along the bar. Considerable cobwebs, plus every stain across the close-by clutch of once-cream tabletops, are distressingly easy to catch sight of in this position anyhow.

Vision now sweeping rapid, Rio’s reminded how none of the interior doors entirely fit their frame; journeying for the bathroom’ll involve huffing and froing along that cluttered back hall come fall… This forms a further frustration for forward-fucking-looking, with the year steadily burning onward.

In distracted irritation he huffs deep, subsequently imbibing the upholstery’s reek. As perpetual, it’s of stale tobacco mixed with some pickling fishiness despite the fact he’s never clocked a soul smoking nor eating inside.

Yeah, Gertie’s gotta be at least two or three rungs below your classic dive. A flop, that might be. In more ways than the one though it remains convenient — no trait worth sniffing scornful over — being only a block and a half up from his own bar makes it a handy location to slide upon when not in a particularly, hm, conspicuous mode.

(and for comparison, here's how it started.)

Trick or treat me(me)!

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Getting hot under the collar and in the kitchen and on the pool table and...

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Aug 2024 Week 3

Ongoing Series - Thai

Monster Next Door (Thai Thurs Gaga ) eps 3-4 of 12 - one of the things I'm enjoying about this show is the fact that the introverted super shy uke is having hot fantasies, and the extroverted seme is having the sweet fantasies. It's another way this show is highlighting God being the world's greenest flagged seme BL has ever produced. (And he's being given stiff competition this year - trend alert.)

Anygay: God is so cute and so not cool and so in love and all the consent asking word salad coming out of this boy. I LOVE him. 

Diew: It’s ep 4 so I’ve decided we can talk face-to-face.  God: So how many children do you want? 

The teaching him to play basketball bit, where God politely asks to hold his hand, is so freaking adorable I can’t.

I'm thinking of calling this show the anti-Mame pill.

Blue pill? Red pill? GREEN pill!

My Love Mix-Up Th (Fri YT) ep 11 of 12 - We gotta talk. I do like this version, but it’s starting to feel lackluster. Perhaps it always was by comparison to the bright sparkle uniqueness of the original. Perhaps I didn't notice because I was distracted by G4. But now I gotta say it's become a bit disappointing and even my love for G4 can’t seem to bind me to this. Frankly, this show is making me want to watch either the Japanese version, or My School President. It’s never a good sign when a currently airing BL makes me want to stop that and go rewatch an old one I’ve already seen.

NO SINGING.

Meanwhile, the "locked on the rooftop" trope! I haven’t seen that one in years. Cool. Also cute kisses. They learning. 

This Love Doesn't Have Long Beans (Fri iQIYI) ep 7 of 8 - I can’t believe this is ending next week. But also I can. And I have thoughts.

I really love SailubPon. They might be one of my favorite newer pairs on the scene right now. But I just don’t believe in these characters or this couple. I don’t feel like they are going to have a lasting relationship. It feels like they’re just using each other for sex and distraction, and that’s how the script to set it up, and as a result they’re never gonna make it as a couple. As soon as the sexual fire between them burns out, what do they have to build a relationship on? Frankly? That would be fine if this were a modern love drama, and not a BL. But this IS a BL.

Putting the health code violators aside, I really do believe in the secondary pair, but they haven’t been given enough bandwidth to develop as a couple. There’s no way they’re going to adequately resolve Methas and JJ in the final episode.

At this juncture, I’m mostly finding this show annoying. Which in itself is annoying, because I wanted to love it.

Why is it that Thailand, the land of the best food in the world, king of BLs, struggles so hard to produce the restaurant set BL of my dreams? I’m really pissed about this.

That said, the Methas & JJ stuff is killer. Loved JJ running away. So good. Plus the age old decision - love or money? 

Battle of the Writers (Sun YT) ep 2-3 of 12 - The issue was me and I've managed to get hold of this show again. The story within the story is so ridiculously badly written I'm going spare. I’m not sure if the outside show is not ALSO badly written. That said, I do love how the 3 writer friends are all shipping our leads. It’s VERY silly. Meanwhile, cohabitation trope is a go. 

I like the side couple too. Stern Daddy + lost puppy is a very cute dynamic, I hope we get more than just crumbs. I actually am enjoying this show now. Ep 3 kinda derailed into this weird chimera novel that they’re all writing together and I’m finding that bit the least interesting, but I adore the domestic components which I think may turn out to be TutorYim's strength (if they're allowed to lean into it). 

Addicted Heroin (Thai Tues WeTV) ep 1 of 10 - Man I hope this gets some kind of distribution at some point. It was a pain to find and watch. But I enjoyed it. The focus is more on the seme in Thailand’s version. Which I don’t mind since that's rare in BL, and it’s more August on my screen. It’s all round softer than China’s version but still feels very familiar. I know some fans are struggling with it, but not me.

Sunset X Vibes (Sat iQIYI) ep 10 of 12 - I like that Sam’s crafty business espionage has paid off. Them teasing Sam & Yo really had me belly laughing. It was so funny.

Legitimate question. Would one put perfume on one’s cheeks in Thailand, as one does on wrist or sternum? Because of the sniff cheek thing? Scented face powders?

I do feel like with MosBank & SailubPon scorching up our screens, we’re being spoiled by some of Thailand‘s best high heat pairs at the moment.

I Saw You in My Dream (Weds Gaga) ep 5 of 12 - It remains kind of sweet and cute. It's also calm and slow moving. Oddly it reminds me of La Cuisine in its style and execution (if not content). I’m enjoying it more than I thought I would.

The Trainee (Sun YouTube) ep 7 of 12 - I don’t know. I’m getting bored.

Love Sea (Sun iQIYI) ep 10fin - Fort’s acting during the break-up was truly great. But I feel for Rak. It’s rough to learn that someone else is playing a long game with feelings while you were playing a short game with d**k.

Ultimately this is probably a solid 8/10 show but I’m mad I wasn’t madder at it, and I'm mad I was so bored throughout. So it gets a 7/10 and let us not speak of this again. I’d like to simply forget about it. Trash watch.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Sugar Dog Life (Japan Sun grey) ep 1-2 of 10 - OMG a uni student who looks young and a... COP! GAH. The subversion and kink of it all. I had to go grey to get it and I hate everything about what I had to do. But ya know what? Fucking worth every single repeated crash-causing advertisement.

I love it. The grumpy lonely little student cook and the cheerful mature police officer. What a fabulous dynamic. Is the cook looking for a boyfriend or a Daddy, and do we care if it has the same result? It is filmed VERY manga style camp. I’m a little nervous about that, but this means it’s also very fluffy and so damn sweet. It made me squeak with the cute. I’m gutted this didn’t get distribution.

Ironic that Tawada Hideya is in a new BL while Sunspot is re-airing.

Cosmetic Playlover (Japan Tues Gaga) eps 3-4 of 8 - Ah, the gays are doubting the bisexual again. How familiar. I like how this one is paced and moving through time, even if the relationship seems to be going comparatively slowly by contrast. I love the way Sahashi is always looking at Natsume, even when they’re in conversation with someone else. Ah yearning. I think the conflict was kind of inevitable, given the two personalities of the protagonists, and I like that. (No manufactured angst here.) But I still hope they can repair the breach and I’m still interested. Frankly this is so classically Japan - I don’t know what story beats it’s following and I’m not entirely sure where it’s going, but I kinda like that unpredictability. Makes me think it could go into "must you, Japan?" territory but fingers crossed.

I Hear the Sunspot AKA Hidamari ga Kikoeru (Japan Weds Gaga) ep 9 of 10 - I'm enjoying it very much. I could do without the girl character. I know she’s more interesting than most (this is Japan after all), but she’s not really for me. It’s the complexity of the connection between the leads (and why they like each other) that’s being executed so brilliantly in this show (and in the manga, FYI). Both actors are so on point with their roles and the nuanced emotions required of these characters that every time it’s only them interacting I'm riveted. I could do without the rest of the cast tho.

Seoul Blues (Korea Fri? YouTube) ep 1 of 8 - I have a confession to make, I’ve been watching this whole series as it goes along. But this is the pair I absolutely like the most. I’m not sure I would necessarily recommend any of the installments, and I’m not sure how this one is going to go, but I’m VERY invested in this particular couple. They are so pretty!!!! This is a true friends-to-lovers struggle. I like that a lot. (Reminds me of I Cannot Reach You but a different dynamic.) Did I mention how pretty they are? And we already know they gonna kiss well. I bet the uncut version is stellar.

Meet You at the Blossom (China) - It's no one's funeral, turns out! Reports are in - not only are there kisses but it ends happily with wedding plans. So I'm eating crow, binging the fucker, and live blogging. I'm enjoying it. Ya'll know I adored Chinese BL before censorship. It has a certain unhinged quality I very much apreciate (and is the reason I'm so tolerant of the Thai pulps) that I think will marry well with Wuxia's effervescent and ever-present tropes. Watch me suffer here.

First Note Of Love (Taiwan Mon Gaga) eps 1-2 of 12 - About a singer with stage fright and his timid fan starring Charles (H4 the puppy one) and Michael Chang (the youngster in My Tooth Your Love), plus side couple featuring a Thai actor Jame (Koh in Gen Y) and Liu Min Ting (of Guardian fame). What a damn team. With their powers combined they are...

fine.

This is a fine BL. The fight scene was fun and I like the meet cute. I’m not sure about the chemistry of the leads, but I think they’ll probably do okay. I admit I’m struggling a bit with a singing and the music. Are you surprised? I think I like it enough, but I’m not wowed.

Takara's Treasure AKA Takara No Vidro (Japan Mon Gaga) ep 7 of 10 - Oh! Out of the blue attack kiss. What IS this show? I don’t get it at all. Bah. I guess they’re dating now. It’s… so odd...

It's airing but...

4 Minutes (Thai Netflix/Grey) - A rich boy at uni suddenly gains the supernatural power to see four minutes into the future. I have a source, but I've decided to hold off and binge if it ends okay, since it's only 8 eps. I depend upon y'all to tell me if it's safe.

8/16 The Last Time (Thai Fri YT) ? eps - Convoluted story of loss and possible reincarnation or something. Again delayed? Not sure what's going on with this one but the continued push-backs do not bode well.

In case you missed it

The Time of Fever AKA Unintentional Love Story 2 (Korea movie) trailer IS COMING IN SEPTEMBER!!!! (Yeah this is gonna sit here until then).

Next Week Looks Like This:

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

Still Coming This Month!

8/22 The On1y One (Taiwan Thurs Gaga) 12 eps - announced in 2023 this one has a high school set stepbrothers trope and is reputed to be high heat. From Taiwan! It's made for me. Based on a novel Mou Mou from the Your Name Engraved Herein folks, so it could go dark. Still, I'm very excited.

8/22 The Paradise of Thorns (Thai movie) theater release - Jeff Satur is back but this does not look like a BL (the gay lover's death is the inciting event). More in Goodbye Mother vein. Looks dark and dramatic. He opposite and extremely well known actor Toey Pongsakorn who has never done gay before.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

WHY IS HE SO FINE?

I truly belly laughed. Sam & Yo did not go in the direction I expected, but this scene alone made me not mind that they curtailed the suffering Sam was rightfully due. (SunsetXVibes)

Tall boyfriend armpit, anyone? (Monster Next Door)

The two extremes of BL in one show (Long Beans indeed).

(Last week)

Streaming services are listed by how I (usually) watch, which is with a USA based IP, and often offset by a day because time zones are a pain.

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs

Sigh, Tumblr in its infinite wisdom doesn't like too many tags.

[liugeaux]

Greatest Boxed Set Ever (Prepping for Vol 20)

Sure, I just talked a bunch about the incoming Greatest Songs Ever Vol 20, and I highly encourage you to read the linked blog (I'm kind of proud of myself). This post will be much more esoteric and odd.

That post referenced a fictional collection of CDs named the "Greatest Boxed Set Ever", and this post is that idea taken a step closer to reality. I've already talked about the 2 CDs I made in the early aughts to celebrate my narrow view of our musical world. Using the existing list of Greatest Songs Ever and that same NARROW scope, I've curated a 6-disc boxed set of tracks that, had I continued to make Mixed CDs, would have been volumes 3-6.

It's a weird alternate reality version of my established Greatest Songs Ever, that will lead directly into Vol. 20. I'm sure it sounds confusing, but as I established in that last post, I'm doing this for me, so these are my rules. **shakes fists maniacally at the sky**

Before we can create discs 3-6, we have to establish what tracks were on discs 1 and 2. Finding out what those were, was much harder than I imagined it would be. I somehow lost my copy of the original Greatest Songs Ever disc 1 and most disc drives have a VERY hard time reading 20-year-old burned CDs with heavy printed stickers on them.

I had to enlist the help of the only other person I knew who still had a copy of Disc 1, Lesley Keyes Colwell. With her help and an Xbox 360, the device that could read the discs easiest, I gathered the original tracklists for Discs 1 and 2. Below are the original tracks from what young Sergio (age 17-21) thought were The Greatest Songs Ever.

Disc 1 - Release Date - 2000-ish

Counterfeit - Limp Bizkit

Bones + Joints - Finger Eleven

Desperately Wanting - Better Than Ezra

Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana

Adam's Song - Blink 182

Is Anybody Home? - Our Lady Peace

Typical Situation - Dave Matthews Band

Machinehead - Bush

Counting Blue Cars - Dishwalla

Papercut - Linkin Park

Everlong - Foo Fighters

When I Come Around - Green Day

Mr. Jones - Counting Crows

Drive - Incubus

Mudshovel - Staind

Save Yourself - Stabbing Westward

Shimmer - Fuel

1979 - Smashing Pumpkins

First things first, I'd stand behind every one of these songs. Choosing Limp Bizkit as track #1 is much more trollish than intended, but I love all this music, so no complaints here.

Disc 2 - Release Date - 2004-ish

I Believe in a Thing Called Love - The Darkness

A Certain Shade of Green - Incubus

Next to Nothing - Breaking Benjamin

The Best Deceptions - Dashboard Confessional

Bellevue - Fingertight

Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns N' Roses

You Oughta Know - Alanis Morissette

The Anthem - Good Charlotte

Under the Bridge - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Iris - Goo Goo Dolls

Far Behind - Candlebox

Run-Around - Blues Traveler

Interstate Love Song - Stone Temple Pilots

Wait and Bleed - Slipknot

Rain - Audiovent

Scars - Papa Roach

4 A.M. - Our Lady Peace

Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) - Green Day

Again, no regrets about any of these. Actually, a couple of them (Fingertight and Audiovent) are hyper-deep-cuts that deserve any and all attention they can get. There's a reason these CDs stayed in my Truck's rotation.

Here's where it gets weird. Discs 3-6 were never actually created. So, I've combed through my existing list and carefully curated 4 more discs that could fill out the rest of the box set. I gave myself a few parameters to work within. The songs had to be in the genres I listened to during my youth and be released within my lifetime (basically 1983-current). Each disc is given a release date based on the disc's contents to create a faux release cadence similar to a "NOW" collection. The songs can't have been released after the artificial release dates. This will make the songs on the discs progressively get newer as we venture through them.

This may make more sense once I start listing discs, if not, I promise it makes sense in my brain. Also, each CD cannot exceed 80 minutes because that's the length of a standard CDR format disc. With that out of the way, here are discs 3-6. I even threw together some fake disc art. I can't believe I found that weird-ass font again.

Disc 3 - Release Date - 2005-ish

Sugar, We're Going Down - Fall Out Boy

Time Ago - Black Lab

High Voltage - Linkin Park

Weight of the World - Saliva

Killing in the Name Of - Rage Against the Machine

At the Stars - Better Than Ezra

My Happy Ending - Avril Lavigne

Crush - Dave Matthews Band

Wonderwall - Oasis

Downfall - TrustCompany

Daughters - John Mayer

The Beautiful People - Marilyn Manson

The Dolphin's Cry - Live

No One - Cold

Brian Wilson - Barenaked Ladies

Hey Man, Nice Shot - Filter

Tribute - Tenacious D

I'll Be - Edwin McCain

Okay, here's the first disc where I see some cracks. That TrustCompany song might have been crowned prematurely, and both the Saliva and Live tracks probably should have been rethought, but overall, it's still a strong list.

Disc 4 - Release Date - 2006-ish

Man in the Box - Alice in Chains

All Downhill From Here - New Found Glory

Harder to Breathe - Maroon 5

Pressure - Skindred

Only Happens When It Rains - Garbage

Joan - Butch Walker

Kickstart My Heart - Motley Crue

Makedamnsure - Taking Back Sunday

Stop This Train - John Mayer

Complicated Questions - Finger Eleven

My Own Summer - Deftones

Fade to Black - Metallica

The Sharpest Lives - My Chemical Romance

Dreams - The Cranberries

Bright Lights - Matchbox Twenty

I Remember You - Skid Row

Mr. Brightside - The Killers

More Than Love - Los Lonely Boys

Live Forever - Oasis

Disc 4 is solid and includes an unprecedented 19 tracks. The only hole is the Los Lonely Boys song. Not that it's a bad song, it's fine, and might even deserve its spot, but the initial reason for its inclusion is super-dubious. That doesn't matter because once a song is enshrined, it CANNOT be un-enshrined.

Disc 5 - Release Date - 2013-ish

My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark - Fall Out Boy

Volcano Girls - Veruca Salt

Synthesizers - Butch Walker

Her Words Destroyed My Planet - Motion City Soundtrack

Gravemakers & Gunslingers - Coheed & Cambria

Everybody Talks - Neon Trees

Innocence - Halestorm

CrushCrushCrush - Paramore

Tears Don't Fall - Bullet For My Valentine

Thinking of You - Katy Perry

Car Radio - Twenty One Pilots

Open Your Eyes - Guano Apes

Little Black Submarines - The Black Keys

Watch Over You - Alter Bridge

Friday I'm in Love - The Cure

Weatherman - Dead Sara

Second Chance - Shinedown

So What If You Go - Adelitas Way

Kiss From a Rose - Seal

Just like the canonical blog posts, there's quite a date gap between Disc 4 and Disc 5, but that's fine. This is the first disc representing more modern songs, so there aren't really any regrets here (at least not yet). The closest is that Adelitas Way song, but then I listen to it and I totally agree with 2013 Sergio.

Disc 6 - Release Date - 20...um...23?

Shut Up and Dance - Walk the Moon

I Think I'm OKAY - Machine Gun Kelly Feat. Yungblud & Travis Barker

Here To Mars - Coheed & Cambria

New Horizons - Flyleaf

Roman Holiday - Halsey

Drown - Bring Me the Horizon

How About You - Staind

The Jester - Badflower

Thinking Out Loud - Ed Sheeran

Dreams - Van Halen

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

?

Oh no, where are the last 10 of Disc 6? Good question, it's the theme of Vol 20! That's right, I have built all these fictitious discs with the sole purpose of justifying the theme of Vol 20. Do you feel dumb yet? I hope not, I put a lot of work into this weird fever dream, so try to enjoy yourself.

Since these discs are basically full of rock tracks that I would have chosen had this project continued as a Mixed CD adventure, Vol 20 continues that idea. 10 new Greatest Songs Ever in the vein of the original aughts-era disc releases. Yeah, I get that I'm the only person this appeals to, and I get that anyone just now familiarizing themselves with my list will think I'm insane, but let me throw this out there. If you've made it this far and you're still reading ... you either understand the nature of this project and "get it" or you deserve to be confused.

With all of this "on wax," the next step is finally typing out the post for Vol. 20. It'll be out soon, I promise. Until then, please enjoy the ongoing Youtube playlist that is, THE GREATEST SONGS EVER!

[lesserfandomappreciation]

There be a lil bit of voltron reference in this request, what whole happen or character reaction if Lion-o, Tygra, and Panthor meeting a human who is a resurcher just collecting plant data and just generally not a very good fighter but grate a defense and medical

( I like the galra uniforms and clothes, I think their neat )

Alright so you didn't specify which version of Thundercats so I'm doing a generalized combo of both the old and the newer one that ended too soon.

Human Researcher s/o (Thunder Cats)

General

S/o was minding their business. S/o was happily staying well within their own lane. Collecting samples. Setting up camp for the night. A few last minute notes here and there before calling it.

Shocked furries with swords appearing out of nowhere in a metal ship was none of their business, but the group was intent on making it s/o's business.

The only two types of people the Thundercats have ever met are furries or scalies. The naked (thankfully clothed), tailless primate is a new one for all of them.

Lion-O

Lion-o is recklessly curious and curiously reckless. Once he has gotten semi-passed them being human, he is going to involve himself in their research. What are they doing? Why are they doing it? What does that do?

Semi-passed. It's never not going to be fascinating to him that there's an entire different species of people he's never heard about before. Everything they do is astounding.

There are parts of research that he gets, especially if its technology-based, but otherwise he's got no idea what they're talking it. This is not a problem though. When one is staring lovesick like a love-struck kitten as his crush rants about their research, there's little else going on in the brain. Lion-o will gladly gave with heart eyes as they talk about different types of plants.

Protective. S/o is not going anywhere near combat. Recklessness will cause them to sometimes be in combat as Lion-o doesn't always plan accordingly, but the entire time he is glued to their side. No body is touching them.

Tygra

Humanity? Fascin- is that research data on plants? My, how... interesting. Care to share notes?

Tygra is a nerd. Chronically. Canonically. A chunk of his curiosity is going to be interested in what they are, but it is massively overshadowed by the sheer glee of being able to talk to someone who knows what the hell he is talking about. They are sharing notes. They are sharing theories. If he's not training or spending time with friends he is for sure in their lab, either chatting or partaking in the research or both.

Yes. I did say their lab. Tell me right now Tygra, prince of all nerds, wouldn't make space for them on the ship to continue their research.

Also protective like Lion-o but takes more of a dutiful knightly protector role rather than a "don't be here" approach. Ego causes his arrogance to make him believe - nay, know - that he can protect them from anything in battle.

Panthor

"Why are you so.... fleshy? Aren't you cold?" Unlike Lion-o or Tygra, Panthor does not care about the science part of s/o so much as the anatomical puzzle in front of him. He's old. He's seen a lot of shit. Scales. Fur. Maybe some feathers. Whatever the hell the Elephant folk have. This person is squishy but there's still some hair, are they bald on everywhere but their head? Why-?

His love for them stems more from wanting to keep this squishy weirdo alive rather than science. This person has no idea how to survive and while he didn't pick them to join the team, they're here so he might as well make the most of it. Cue the training montage!

Yes. Training. Protective as he is, unlike the brotherly duo of reckless 1 and reckless 2 Panthor recognizes that he's not always going to be there, and there will be times they are in danger. Hell, sometimes they might be targeted. Having a weapon couldn't hurt.

[sanstropfremir]

would love to hear ur thoughts re. these street woman fighter's performances and who you would personally vote as the "better dance crew" in how they interpreted each other choreos and the song.

this was for their first elimination round (ep4) and it was interesting to hear from the judges + why they gave the points they did. (i'm not entirely sure if you're watching the show's episodes. they are roughly 2 hours long. so if you would like more context, pls let me know! i wrote brief comments underneath each one as well as the winners [spoilers ahead!]. assuming you are not: for this mission, each crew is paired with another crew and they have to choreograph one of the soloist songs. songs were "split" into two parts: part one [would be one song] and part two [another song]; one crew would choreograph one part and follow the other's crew choreograph for the other part.)

1. boa - eat you up (want choreo) + better (ygx choreo). dance crews: ygx vs want

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCfK_qWAhM0&ab_channel=MnetTV

winner: ygx. boa gave 151 pts to ygx and 49 pts to want (the biggest gap in points between crews), sharing that although want choreographed eat you up, ygx was more cohesive (pointing to how want wore hats and it was messy). additionally, ygx had better stage presence and was able to capture the camera more. also, because ygx is the only crew to have a b-girl and use it in their routine, the judges applauded want for doing the best they can.

2. cl - doctor pepper (wayb) + hello bitches (prowdmon). dance crews: prowdmon vs wayb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEEpZ9SrvaE&ab_channel=MnetTV

winner: prowdmon. judges shared that doctor pepper's routine is a trademark of wayb and that they should have been the standout. however, they felt like prowdmon did it better.

3. hyuna - crazy (4minute) (coca n butter) + i'm not cool (hook) + lip and hip (hook). dance crews: hook vs coca n butter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1ikpPKEA30&ab_channel=MnetTV

winner: hook. the two dance crews are VERY different in terms of style. coca n butter is described to be more hip-hop while hook is definitely more reflective of the current/newer trends. (when hook was first introduced in the show, they were known as the crew who was famous only for tiktok dances.) the judges shared that hook was more fun and interesting, given their stylistic choice of wearing the pink wigs. whereas it seemed for coca n butter, they felt like something was lacking (they showed something but it didn't feel they did.)

4. jessi - what type of xx (lachica) + nununa (holybang) + gucci (holybang). dance crews: holybang vs lachica

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtZzI11oyqc&ab_channel=MnetTV

winner: lachica. (this was the only battle where both crews came in v close pts. whereas for the other crews, there were huge point-gaps.) judges had a hard time choosing, sharing that for lachica they were more detail-oriented while holybang had better teamwork.

-

imo, i agree with the judges' choices. though i would have to say i think wayb did their routine (doctor pepper) better than prowdmon. they stood out to me then, but when it came to the second part (hello bitches), prowdmon was better. i loved lachica's performance - it was v clean + reminded me of something a kpop group would do (which like, the crew largely works with kpop acts like chungha, boa's better, etc. so it makes sense).

-

this was LONG. thank u if u do read it and post! i miss the kingdom "era" when u would post weekly reviews. the two are v different but this new mnet competition show is the only one i'm invested in. i'm not sure if it's big internationally? i know it is v popular in korea right now. while i've only seen i-fans talk about the show as it relates to chaeyeon (want) because she's an idol. - swf (streetwomanfighter) anon :]

omg this is so long and well organized, forget me writing reviews anon you should do it!! i'm not currently watching the full episodes but i've been catching the few clips that pop up in my youtube recommended occasionally, so i definitely don't have all the context but i'll take a crack at it!

ok so my assumption/from what i can tell, they have a bit of leeway to alter the competing group's choreo as needed to better suit numbers and formations. i also went and found the individual versions of these because why did they make them so small on the split screen, don't they know i'm old and wear glasses. also: MNET FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY STOP MOVING THE FUCKING CAMERA. WE DO NOT NEED SCROLLING VERTICAL BOOM SHOTS OF THIS. just keep the same lens at eye level it's really not that hard. this is like, one of the worst possible ways to shoot dance it is SO annoying. ok i'm done bitching about that let's go.

1. boa - ygx vs want i agree with the big point gap on this one, and i think want made a couple of choices that were not cohesive enough, and obviously they also got set up to fail by ygx. actually i think both groups made choices that were not particularly good, but ygx had more of the skills to back up what they were doing than want did. breaking is very difficult and requires a lot of upper body strength and a higher centre of gravity, which are two physical traits that are less common in women. personally i wouldn't have tried to break to better because although boa songs do have more of a beat than other idol music, it's still not at all the right type of music for breaking. it's gotta be fast, breakers rely on speed, because it's all about momentum; they're literally throwing themselves around the stage. here's the final from battle pro 2019 for example. the music is basically beats only; heavily lyric based music, like idol music, is bad for battling in general because there isn't a lot of consistency. i have more to say about this but i'm getting off track. basically by choosing to handicap the other team (because they don't have a bgirl at all) they shot their own bgirl in the foot because the song is too slow to properly show off her skills. i applaud want for making bold choices, like the hatwork and attempting the breaking, but ultimately when combined with their styling the performance looks disjointed. also they have some formation cohesion issues that make it look a bit like they'e struggling to keep up, even with their own choreo.

2. cl - prowdmon vs wayb i agree with the judges, i think prowdmon bodied the wayb choreo. i actually thought that was their choreo at first. they have the best presence that i've seen of all the groups and the performative "hard bitch" attitude fit in with their genre setting. wayb had several mistakes and synchronization issues that in my opinion made them look sloppy in comparision to prowdmon, who were sharper and had two more people to put into formations. 3. hyuna - hook vs coca n butter ok personally i don't like either of these choreos, but i'm agreeing with the judges here, i think hook's was the mildly more engaging. i can tell that they're very young and do mostly short form tiktok content because i see a lot of eye catching moves, but i don't see a lot of strong connective tissue between those moves. they have good ideas but they also really struggle with putting people into formation and balancing it out well. it doesn't help that they're a seven member crew going up against a four member one, so they have three extra people to figure out what to do with. there's a lot of empty space where there are members waiting in position for a group formation. it also doesn't help at all that they (mnet) appear to just be rawdogging the songs together without any kind of mixing, which is a huge detriment to groups that have to choreograph for two in their section. i'm not cool and lip and hip have two totally different feels and kudos to hook for at least trying to get them to at least visually be cohesive when mnet is go girl giving us nothing sonically. coca n butter has much more of an old school hip hop style, so putting these two up against each other was (probably a random lot draw) an interesting choice. personally i would have been more interested to see hook against want with the boa tracks and ygx against coca n butter with the hyuna tracks. however, i think the reason why coca n butter's stage felt like it was lacking is because they tried to emulate hyuna, without having the stage presence or the weirdness of hyuna. it feels like they're trying too hard and there isn't really any personal character in the piece, versus with hook, who embodied hyuna's weirdness a little more authentically and took a completely different direction. 4. jessi - lachica vs holybang lachica took this one easily, although their formations were a bit wonky for nununana, they covered it fairly well and i think they managed the best transition between songs (between nununana and gucci). they were sharper with good stage pictures and had a good gimmick with the double fringe on the gloves and hats. holy bang had some issues fitting their extra person into the what type of x choreo, but they did well with their own choreo. however, like with coca n butter and hook, because lachica took a new visual spin, this felt too derivative of jessi, so it wasn't that interesting for me to watch. i do think they are one of the groups on the stronger end of skills and presence. --- as far as visually what performances i liked the best, since would this even be a writeup by me if i didn't talk about design, here's a quick breakdown:

prowdmon - got some rudimentary setpieces, got a theme, got some fun variations on a uniform look; excellent for what i assume was limited budget capacity and also it's a dance crew show.

lachica - great continuity of effect in costuming with the fringe, and using the gloves as a mouth/lip effect was one of the most interesting choices of these routines.

hook - the pink wigs and the black latex on the checkered floor was a nice gimmick that was a bit of a nod to hyuna's weird without being too derivative. i'm not expecting a whole lot because these are dance crews but i think this was a decent amount of styling effort.

want - they made a bold choice with the hats and even though it didn't quite pay off for them i still respect it.

coca n butter/ygx/holybang/wayb - ygx and wayb did basic hip hop type styling and while it's absolutely fine, it's just boring. holybang went for a directly inspired jessi look, and although yes bodysuits, overall it wasn't that interesting either. coca n butter get props for doing a costume change and actually incorporating that into the choreo but it feels too much like it's trying to be hyuna weird with the caution tape strapped over their tits and asses.

---

as a final note/question to you, my lovely invested swf anon, what's the format of the show? are there stages like this every episode to review? if these were from the fourth one only, is there anything worth me reviewing in the first three? i'm not particularly interested in the aggressive competitive nature of the show and editing so i don't particularly want to watch the full two hour episodes, but if you think it's worthwhile for me to review stuff then i will. otherwise if there's a set structure (like with kingdom) i can seek out the stages specifically and review them if i know what i'm looking for.

[qlownbun]

2, 4, 7, and 9 for one or both of ur pokemon boys !!

TY FOR ASKINGGGG since they're both from pokémon i'll speak more generally for some of these i suppose-

2. how old were you when you discovered your f/o’s content?

i was way into pokémon in elementary school, so i'm not exactly sure how old i was, but i was probably like... 5 or 6 when i first discovered it. when i got to middle and high school i only lightly dabbled in some of the games, never got too attached, but now i'm 20 and back into it again which is kind of a huge nostalgia trip HIUGYF

4. who was your first favorite character when you initially got into your f/o’s source content? was it your f/o from the very beginning?

when i was a kid i was in love with ash ketchum oIJHUGYU he was probably my first f/o ever (unofficial ofc bc i didn't know selfshipping was a thing). i got out of pokémon before n showed up in the anime or games unfortunately and adaman is a newer character so they're fresh f/o's.

7. are there any specific scenes/chapters/moments of your f/o that you find yourself going back to revisit more often than any other?

for n, i really just love any moment of him interacting with pokémon, he's so gentle and kind hearted it makes me melt every time. as for adaman, i like the scenes where he praises me in the game oHUIGY

9. if your f/o has been represented in more than one way (i.e. in a book AND a movie, in a movie and then recasted for a reboot later, etc.), which version of them is your favorite?

OHHH THIS IS HARD. n has been in the anime, game, and manga so this is tough... i think he's beautiful in the game (which i have yet to actually play myself once i get my hands on my DS) but i really like him in the anime. i just think hes a sweetie pie and i think he's ironically funny like why are you ranting about the human-pokémon coexistence problems you see the 10 year olds are just having fun HUIGYFT

[byebyeskylark]

So I want to get in on the Batfam (I'm looking for new people to love & the Batfam yknow seems to be lovely/angsty enough to qualify) anyhow, what shows / movies / cartoons / fanfics / comics do you recommend as a starter pack? I know this is a big question :/ Shows, cartoons, and fanfics are what I'm most likely to devour.

Hoo boy, I’m not sure I’d call it a starter pack? But here’s what’s on my shelves.

Cartoons

Batman the Animated Series and its associated animated movies (Mask of the Phantasm, Batman & Mr Freeze: SubZero, Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman):

Iconic. Timeless. Outstanding. Many dislike the style change of the fourth season (also known as The New Batman Adventures) but I like it and a lot of the stories in that one.

Batman Beyond: It took me a while to come around on this one. I was about 13 when it came out and couldn’t stand that Bruce was alone in his old age. I get it now. Putting that aside, there are some really interesting and really funny episodes, and I love it overall. (See also, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker)

Justice League: This is an honorable mention as it has no Batfam interactions due to the infamous Bat Embargo of the time. But one could consider some League members as extended Batfamily, and it’s great. Also contains the epilogue for Batman Beyond.

[Keep in mind that BTaS, BB, and Justice League do not follow the comics. Perhaps the biggest divergence is a version of Tim Drake that mimics Jason Todd’s story line and the absence of Jason, Cass, Damian and pretty much anyone else newer than Tim]

Young Justice: Batfam cameos are small in S1 and S2, but great. Haven’t watched S3 yet, as I refuse to pay for yet another streaming service. Fingers crossed they bring it to Netflix like Titans.

The Batman: I watched this purely because I saw a gif here on tumblr of Batman pulling a blanket over Robin. It’s not a bad show overall, but made for a much younger audience with some really odd revamps of villains.

Batman/Superman: Public Enemies: Great dialogue between Superbros

Batman: Gotham Knight: This is a segue from the Nolan films, but I love these vignettes, in particular Working Through Pain

Shows/Movies

Adam West Batman (and its movie): Campy doesn’t begin to describe this show. It is a very specific version of Batman, but one of my besties and I just finished watching the whole series over a few years of wine nights and I think it’s worth it. I will cherish it always for Giant Alfred, Eartha Kitt, Yvonne Craig, and Bruce Wayne’s racehorse, “Waynebow.”

Batman & Batman Returns: Tim Burton is not for everyone, but I grew up with these and I still love them, particularly Batman Returns. They heavily influenced BTaS and are known for showcasing villains as much if not a little more than Bruce/Batman.

Batman Forever and Batman & Robin: Every couple of years I get drunk with my bestie and scream at these trainwrecks. I used to hate on them, but I realize if these hit you at the right age as a kid you probably adored them. Also, I have a theory that Bruce Clooney telling Alfred “I love you, old man” in Batman & Robin is perhaps the only time Bruce Wayne has ever said the words “I love you” on screen, directly to the object of his affection.

The Nolan Trilogy: I really like these, but it’s pretty much just Bruce and Alfred. I hope we get an ensemble Batfam film someday.

Fanfics

Here are the authors I’m subscribed to on AO3:

@audreycritter, everything she’s written on the Batfam. Start reading now.

@unpretty, fantastic Batfam fics live under her work Sorrowful & Immaculate Hearts

@cerusee, wonderful but especially if you love Jason Todd

Also a fan of @incogneat-oh @caramelmachete @jerseydevious  @oh-mother-of-darkness @lemonadegarden and I’m sure other folks who would be easier for me to find if I ever tagged anything on this blog o’ mine :-/

Comics

Confession time: I love superheroes, but I do not love comics. There are some outstanding pieces of art out there, and I have my indie favorites, but the mainstream stuff turns me off. It’s not a form of storytelling that I find very effective. Having said that, here are a few Batman titles that I’ve enjoyed:

The Long Halloween

Batman: Haunted Knight

The Gates of Gotham

Kingdom Come

The Dark Knight Returns (Miller’s a weirdo but Carrie Kelley is great)

Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth (might not make as much sense if you don’t read the Planetary stuff before it–which is great–but so fun I had to include it)

[do NOT read Batman Beyond 2.0, it will ruin whatever love you have for Batman Beyond. I should have listened to my local comic shop people]

Those are the shows, movies, and comics I like the best, but I’m just one persnickety person. Also, the great folks I listed under Fanfic are probably much better resources for comic recs than I!

[flockofdoves]

this isn't true actually, libgen and zlibrary are two separate things! there's a lot of overlap in people uploading stuff to both of them, but while libgen does have all sorts of books on it, its focus in its mission is more on nonfiction. there are a lot of times i've found things on zlibrary but not on libgen and vice versa

libgen is absolutely still one of my top recommendations for anyone looking for zlibrary alternatives though.

but also, while its horrible that this has happened, fortunately at least for now zlibrary's .onion site is still active (i believe it might have smaller file size limits for the time being though?). this was already my main way of accessing zlibrary, and i'd highly recommend it, because they have a lot more books available on it than on their normal site, where they sometimes take down books after copyright strikes

you can access this by downloading tor and then going to http://bookszlibb74ugqojhzhg2a63w5i2atv5bqarulgczawnbmsb6s6qead.onion/ and making an account

while libgen and zlibrary are pretty much always my first steps when it comes to pirating ebooks, below the cut i'll put some other resources too!

this custom search helps you search through a lot of different ebook piracy sites at once (it doesn't include libgen or the tor version of zlibrary though, and since both of those are so reliable, this is never my first step)

irc is another way to find ebooks, the old guide i used to use is no longer available, but skimming through it right now this one seems decent (although i feel like when there's plenty of free and open source irc clients out there theres no need to use proprietary software like mIRC imo)

obviously, you also can torrent things, and there's plenty of guides you can find out there about that. the only thing i'll say is that my VPN of choice (for piracy and security, although it might not meet your needs if you're trying to access region-blocked content) is mullvad, and that i'd recommend qbittorrent as a torrent client

if you torrent things, and if you prefer it over using the tor version of zlibrary, there is a project to mirror zlibrary that you can torrent from

if you haven't seen a book uploaded for free online, you can buy it and deDRM it so that others can use it too! this is a great resource for that (side note: if the type of ebook you want to deDRM has to be opened in adobe digital editions, make sure to not open a book in a version of adobe digital editions beyond 2.01!!! it makes it almost impossible to deDRM if you've ever opened your license to that ebook in a later version, here's a direct download link to the windows version, here's a way of using it on linux (haven't personally tried this), and unfortunately can't find the old mac link i used and don't wanna link to some random other site w/o testing it first, but i'm sure its out there (its a 32 bit application though so won't work if you have a mac os newer than mojave)

and also here's some non-piracy things that still might be useful depending on your goals

project gutenberg is a great way to download books already in the public domain

archive.org's open library lets you borrow digitized versions of physical books they have in their collection

check if your local library has an ebook program like overdrive! if you do this, i highly recommend using library extension as a quick and easy way of seeing whether you can access any book you look up online in any public library or overdrive catalog accessible to you

also, use calibre to sort your downloaded ebooks! its a great free and open source program!

did you hear that zlibrary has been taken down and the domain seized by the us government? i feel sick...

💀