#also I remember looking at some of the reviews and being like ''wow that sounds amazing but why is it so weirdly poetic''

[thethingything]

I absolutely feel you, I have samples coming of five different zoologist perfumes and its absolutely tragic they're so expensive.

if you're looking for a cheap(er) brand, my favourite so far is Imaginary Authors, and their full bottles are $95. at the moment a city on fire is my staple perfume, I even got a full bottle. (their packaging looks like a book its fantastic)

- 🪲

oh I remember you mentioning Imaginary Authors last time and I meant to look into them but forgot. that's definitely a more affordable price if we end up liking some of them.

City on Fire sounds really nice from the description on Lucky Scent, and I'm kind of tempted by Saint Julep and Fox in the Flowerbed too. also, I love the more unusual notes they have listed on some of them, like first kiss and stardust

[lvndrfucks]

Hiiiii I love your writing smm and you’re one of the only people writing for the wallows 😭😭 Do you think you could do a Braeden or Cole fic where the reader’s the new photographer for the band and one of them starts having feelings for her? Thank you!!!💕

˚ ༘ ೀ⋆ you’ve been hiding in plain sight｡˚📹 ࣪𖤐💋

You’ve only had one job in your life and you wouldn’t trade it for the world. You were lucky to get an opportunity like this, knowing how many would kill to be in your position. But it was also the fact you were doing what you loved with the people you loved supporting you.

You were first introduced to the Wallows members during a photoshoot. Nothing crazy, just a basic background and the boys being themselves. Despite the seriousness of the photos, they were always cracking jokes. You couldn’t help but laugh a few times with them.

“I feel like I’m doing those Kohl’s family photo shoots,” Braeden said. “Can we pose like that?”

You chuckled a bit. “Go for it.”

They lined up close together, putting their hands on each other’s waists and stared into the distance. You laughed while getting the shot.

“Okay. Why don’t we take a break and then we’ll bring in the bench prop for the next portion.” They nodded at your instruction.

While you were reviewing some of the photos on your laptop, you noticed one of the boys approaching.

“Hey. I was just wondering if I could look at how the pictures came out so far.”

“Yeah, of course.” You moved over to let Braeden view the screen.

“These are amazing,” he spoke after a moment of silence. “The lighting and everything is like perfect. How long have you been doing photography?”

“Well, I started in high school. Just taking photos for yearbook and stuff. Then, in collage, I got my Bachelor’s in Fine Arts. I didn’t get hired until two years ago,” you explained. “I’ve also done a few concerts and events.”

“Wow. Thats impressive,” he complimented. “Do you mind if I see your other work?”

You nodded. You decided to show him the photos you took from a festival at the start of your career. It was the first time you’d ever been to an event so wild and full of energy. You felt lucky to had been given the opportunity.

“Wait, is this Lollapalooza,” Braeden questioned.

“Um, I think so. I don’t actually remember.”

The further he scrolled, the more excited he became. “Oh, my God, it is! Look, there I am!” He clicked on one of the photos that showcased him singing on stage with the rest of the band.

You laughed slightly. “It was so long ago, I didn’t recognize you guys. What a crazy coincidence.”

He smiled, agreeing with you. “These photos are sick, though. You’re really talented.”

“Thanks.” You looked down after feeling your face start to warm.

“I don’t know if this seems appropriate or not, but we’re going on tour soon and we could really use a photographer. I don’t want to steal you away from your job or whatever, I just think you’re the perfect person we’re looking for.”

You must’ve heard between the lines because all you could pay attention to was the fact he called you the perfect person.

You were speechless at the offer and told him you’d have to think about it. It sounded like a dream, but you didn’t want it to backfire in the future and ruin what you’d built up so far. It took a lot of time to think over and you consulting your friends about it. In the end, you were sure you made the right choice.

The concert had just ended. Everyone was still high on adrenaline and congratulating each other on another successful show. You were packing up all your belongings when Braeden walked towards you.

“Hey, did you make sure to get my good side?” He made a model-like face that made you laugh.

“All your sides are good,” you replied playfully.

He grinned. “We were thinking of going out for some drinks. You should come with.” You hummed unsurely. “Come on,” he urged. “It’ll be fun.”

“Fine. But I’m gonna change really quick.”

“That’s fine. I can wait and we can ride together.”

As much as you got along with Dylan and Cole, you and Braeden seemed to have a different relationship. You two often complimented each other so much that it was borderline flirting at this point. On plane and car rides, you both always sat next to each other and have shared hotel rooms before. There was one incident of having to share a bed because all the other rooms were booked. Neither of you complained.

You enjoyed the company of Braeden and how you felt around him, but you couldn’t help but wonder if it was more than friendly behavior.

Back on the tour bus, you put your camera equipment away and changed. Braeden was waiting in the small living room area when you stepped out. He looked up from his phone when he heard you.

“Uh, you look great. Very, very pretty.” He let out a small nervous laugh.

“Thanks, handsome.” You smiled and patted his chest. “Come on. Let’s get drunk.”

The music was loud inside. There were flashing lights on the dance floor and bodies everywhere. You and Braeden held hands while maneuvering around to find the others. For safety reasons, of course.

The others were already occupying a booth in the corner. You and Braeden managed to squeeze in, your bodies pressing close to each other. You could feel his chest against your back and he kept one arm behind you on the back of the booth.

Shots went all around, which you weren’t very fond of. Braeden laughed at your cringed face in disgust as you downed the drink. He left briefly to order something else.

“So,” a smirk painted across Isabella’s lips, “you and Braeden showed up together?”

You rolled your eyes, knowing where the conversation was going. “Yes. Just like you and Dylan and everyone else showed up together.”

She threw her hands up in defense. “I’m not saying anything. Just pointing out a fact.” You nudged her shoulder with a smile.

Braeden returned with two drinks in hand; one for you and one for him. You thanked him and clinked your glasses together.

The next hour or so consisted of laughing and drinking. In that time, your head was already buzzing and you were swaying in your seat. You gasped suddenly hearing the music change.

“I love this song!” You patted Isabella’s arm. “Let’s go dance! Please!” She laughed and nodded.

Braeden moved out of the way to let the both of you out. He wasn’t that drunk, wanting to keep an eye on you. And everyone else. He watched you and Isabella start singing along to the song, jumping around with everyone else. There was a faint smile on his face that he didn’t realize was there.

He felt someone pat his back. Dylan gave him a knowing look.

“Are you gonna make a move or stare like a creep?”

“I don’t know if she likes me like that,” Braeden told. “Yeah, I guess we flirt and stuff, but don’t friends do that?”

The whole table stared at him.

“Dude, no,” Cole said. “Have you heard how she talks to me? One time she yelled at me for drinking her Dr. Pepper. When you did, she said it was fine and bought more.”

“Trust me, she likes you,” Dylan concluded. “Go over there, man.”

Braeden looked down in thought, then nodded to himself. He chugged the rest of his drink and stood up. The boys cheered behind him.

Braeden said something in Isabella’s ear you couldn’t hear. She nodded and walked back to the table. She gave you a thumbs up over her shoulder.

“Is it okay if I cut in?”

You nodded at his question and felt your body draw closer to him. There was small hesitancy in his movements when all of a sudden, his hands gripped your waist. You raised your brow before draping your arms over his shoulders.

“Can I tell you something,” he asked.

You gulped. “Of course.”

At first, he didn’t say anything, like he was trying to find the right words. He looked into your patient eyes and decided: fuck it.

Braeden surged forward, his lips landing on yours. A few seconds later, he pulled away. He awaited your reaction. Your mouth slowly upturned before tugging him towards you.

hera speaks!

tysm for the request and i hope you like it <3 i’m working on a few more and some of my own, but requests are always open !!

[genderfluid-insomniac]

A/N: I got this idea from @blacklace1993

Confession ///Wukong x Lawyer!reader oneshot

“Sun Wukong!” you screamed and banged on the temple gate, checking your phone and texting MK a thank you for giving you the address to the mainland temple where he and Wukong usually trained. This was your 15th time trying to get ahold of him so you could talk about the countless emails you sent him about recent court cases and legal matters he had. You were beginning to understand why his old lawyer gave you a crazed look and then a pitied gaze before wishing you luck on your new job. Silence rang through the air after a minute passed and you banged on the doors again, looking at the time and knowing he was absolutely in there since the lights had been on before you announced your presence.

You banged three times against the ancient hardwood and groaned. “Sun Wukong I know you’re in there! I’m going to stand out here till we talk about those cases and false trademarks you claimed,” you said with an exhausted tone and leaned against the door. That seemed to do the trick since you heard footsteps and then the loud creak of the door opening, snapping you out of your thought bubble and yelping when you started falling backward. However, the rough fall never came and you felt two warm soft arms wrapped around your torso to stop you.

It took a second before you looked up and caught your client’s gaze; a similarly tired and put-out expression in his golden eyes. Your mind went blank when you remembered how handsome he looked and how his personality always somehow swept you off your feet, like how you both first met in your office to introduce yourself after having to physically go over to his island with the help of a local dock resident named Sandy. You had a speech prepared and then you saw him. I guess there was some truth in his self-imposed as the “handsome monkey king” and you could tell he knew it by how flustered you were at first before composing yourself again.

Wukong helped you up and sighed loudly, looking at you with an expectant expression and cocking his head smugly. “Are you still stunned by my looks? Wow, you look like you just woke up,” he said and leaned on the doorway trying not to laugh. You shook your head and took a deep breath in, trying to quell your anger, and clenched up your fists for confidence and push down your shyness. “I’m here to review all the cases you’ve missed and I’m not leaving until we talk about this,” you said firmly and continued to lecture him. “It’s my responsibility to make sure you don’t get taken to court or sued and you don’t seem to get how concerned that makes me,” you said and emphasized how important your job was not just for a living but for him.

He gained a shocked look when you expressed concern for not only yourself but also for him since he often disregarded the legal system. It struck him differently than the other times you’ve scolded him; maybe it was because you expressed your own genuine concern or his budding feelings that have been growing during every interaction. Both of you were about to say something when a boom of thunder crashed and in the distance between the mountains waves of rain could be seen in the valley like fog rolling in.

A second passed almost in slow motion as you felt tiny drops of water hit your head and face, slowly wetting your clothes and blocking out the sound with each clap of thunder. Before the downpour could drench you you were pulled in by the great sage and held against his front just as the rain hit the door. It took a bit for you to realize you were pressed up against him and also saved from the repercussions of being in the harsh storm. “T-Thank you for pulling me in.” you quietly said and relaxed into his hold as you both slowly backed up.

He shut the door and unwrapped his arms around you, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly and looking away with a slight blush. “No worries and for the record I didn’t know you cared that much about it. I’ll admit your determination and dedication to your job is impressive,” he said and walked back, sitting on his couch and patting the spot next to him. You flushed while muttering a thank you and walked over to sit next to him, freezing at his compliments and smiling bashfully. The rain hit the windows of his temple and provided comforting background noise, many thoughts going through your head and trying to continue your scolding that he needed to address his legal issues.

“You know I don’t purposely try to avoid you. It’s just I don’t fully understand why people need to talk to me so much to make things with my image or why people would be so worked up about small damages to the city. However, your persistence makes me think you like me more than you let on~” he teased with a smirk and leaned close, grinning when he saw the bright blush grow on your cheeks and humming as he waited for your answer. You opened your mouth to say something and couldn’t find a response, averting your eyes from his gaze and murmuring. “And if I do? Would that be so bad?” you said quietly and took a glance to see a flustered Monkey King with a pink blush matching his mask.

“Not at all since I might feel the same as well,” he said cheekily and cupped your face, glancing at your lips and waiting for your consent. You closed the distance and kissed him softly, feeling his tail coil around your waist and pulling you onto his lap. You lightly hit his chest and pulled away since you were running out of air, panting and resting your head on his chest as he ran his fingers through your hair. “You know I could make it up to you since I’ve put you through so much stress. Would you like that, sunshine?” he teased and used his finger to lift your chin so you could meet his gaze, wearing a suggestive smirk and giving your body a once-over.

You blushed deeply and felt heat go straight to the core, gripping his shirt tightly and your mind creating many lewd scenarios. “Please,” you whispered and feeling his cock harden beneath you, squeezing your thighs together and whimpering when his hands trailed down your body to your ass. You rolled your hips to get some type of friction only to get stopped by Wukong firmly gripping your hips. “Now now~ I said I would make it up to you and that means that all I need to do is lay back and let me take care of you,” he said and scooped you up, walking to his bedroom and setting you down on the edge.

Wukong looked at you hungrily and shimmied down your pants and panties, licking his lips and seeing how wet you were. “Someone seems eager for me to eat out their pussy~” he said and nipped the inside of your thigh, lifting your legs over his shoulder and kneeling just below you. He continued to lick your pussy and thrust his tongue in and out, coaxing more moans and whimpers from you. Feeling your walls tighten around nothing as he ate you out and listened to the delicious sounds you made all thanks to him. You scrunched up your face and mewled as Wukong felt you orgasm, drinking it up like it was ambrosia straight from the Heavenly Realm. Flicking his tongue at your slit, smirking when he saw your beautiful reaction fueled by pleasure.

He kept going until he heard you choke in a moan when he ran his tongue across an edged surface, abusing it as he sucked on your bud. His fingers digging into your thighs as if you were going to disappear any minute and moaning into your cunt hearing how much you loved what he was doing. Feeling your walls constrict and your fingers in his hair tighten, crying out when he drank all the slick you gave him. Your orgasm hit you in waves and all you could see was white as Wukong kept pleasuring you, eventually coming down from the high and letting go of the tight grip you had on his fur.

You panted harshly and ran your fingers through his fur, rubbing comforting circles on his cheek and fully relaxing. He slowly lowered your legs from his shoulders and laid you both down on his comfy bed, wrapping his tail around your waist securely and nuzzling his face into your neck. “How about you spend the night since I doubt the storm is going to let up and I think I’d rather cuddle with my gorgeous partner? We can worry about that legal shit tomorrow,” he said and yawned, kissing your cheek and cuddling into your chest.

[hoonzluv]

HEART’S ECHOES - NISHIMURA RIKI

chapter 5: goody-two-WHAT?

yn sat alone in the study room, surrounded by books, papers, and notes. she had reserved the room for the tutoring session but felt a bit nervous. even though she had told her teacher she was happy to take on the task, she wasn't entirely sure how it would go.

suddenly, the door opened, and ni-ki walked in, his backpack slung over one shoulder and a carefree expression on his face.

"hey," he said with a light smile.

"hey," yn replied, trying to sound more confident than she felt. "how are you?"

"i'm good, i guess. a bit tired from classes, but good. you?"

"i'm good too, thanks. so, what do you want to study today?" yn tried to keep a professional tone, wanting the session to be as productive as possible. "i have these papers for us to go over." she pointed to a stack of neatly organized notes. "these are my class notes. i also have my personal notes if you need something more specific."

ni-ki sat down across from her, pulling out a notebook and a pen from his backpack. he seemed a bit lost, like he didn't know where to start. "uhm, well, i think what i'm struggling with the most is math. i don't get any of the stuff from the last unit."

"perfect, let's start with that," yn said, sifting through her papers until she found the math notes. "i've got everything we've covered so far right here. if you point out what you don't understand, i can help you better."

as yn spoke, ni-ki found himself staring at her for a moment. he'd never really paid much attention to her before, but a few days ago, when they were texting about the session, he had seen her profile picture and realized how pretty she was. now, seeing her in person, he confirmed it. yn was strict and structured, sometimes a bit stubborn, but she had a dedication and passion that he was starting to admire.

ni-ki flipped through his notebook, showing a page full of equations and messy notes.

"it's this part about derivatives. i don't get when to use which rule, and i always mess up the steps."

yn looked at the page and nodded. "okay, let's start with the basics." she grabbed a marker and began writing on a whiteboard mounted on the wall. "there are three main rules you need to know: the power rule, the product rule, and the chain rule. i’m going to explain each one, and then we'll do some exercises together."

“wow, you’re such a goody-two-shoes, ynki teased, grinning at her. “always so prepared and organized. how do you do it?”

“oh, it’s easy,” she replied with a hint of sarcasm, “just years of practice being responsible while others slack off playing with balls.”

ni-ki’s grin faltered for a moment, feeling slightly offended by her comment. “yeah, well, not all of us are perfect,” he muttered, trying to brush it off.

as yn explained, ni-ki paid attention, though he occasionally scratched his head in confusion. she made sure to go step by step, pausing to check that he understood each concept before moving on.

"does that make sense so far?" yn asked after explaining the first rule.

"kind of, but i still feel a bit lost," ni-ki admitted.

"that's okay, it's normal at first. let's practice some examples together." yn wrote an equation on the whiteboard and asked ni-ki to try solving it using the rule they had just reviewed.

ni-ki took the marker and started writing, hesitant at first but growing more confident as yn gave him little nudges of encouragement.

"exactly, that's correct." yn smiled when ni-ki finished the equation. "now let's do another one, but this time using the product rule. remember, the key is to identify the parts of the function and apply the rule correctly."

the session continued this way, with yn patiently guiding ni-ki through different problems. after a while, she noticed that he was starting to grasp the concepts better.

"how do you feel now?" she asked after they solved several exercises together.

"better, definitely. i think i'm starting to get it," ni-ki said, smiling slightly.

"i'm glad to hear that." yn returned the smile. "we can review this as many times as needed. i also have notes on other units if you need help with something else."

"for now, i think this is enough. but i'll definitely need more help with math and maybe with chemistry too."

"perfect, i'm here to help with whatever you need." yn gathered her papers and organized them again. "next time, we can focus on chemistry if that works for you."

“yeah, that sounds good. thanks, yn."

"you're welcome, ni-ki. see you at the next session."

as ni-ki left, yn felt an unexpected relief. he first session had gone better than she expected, and although there was still a lot of work to do, she was confident they could achieve good results together and so she will be able to have one more thing in her extensive school record.

prev - m.list - next

note from now on the chapters will be based on different weeks because i need the story to progress... this stressful to do but i enjoy it XD

©  hoonzluv all rights reserved. 2024.

[hoshibatake]

FREEDOM – Reality and Freedom/Chapter 1

Previous chapter

<End of flashback. In the real world, Trickstudio>

Subaru: ...so I called out to Anzu as soon as she arrived.

Subaru: I said: “Yaho☆ So you’re that transfer student who we’ve heard so much about♪”

Mao: You came on too strong.

Hokuto: And then he started to demand money from her.

Mao: You came on way too strong.

Mao: I’ve heard this story countless times, but it really was a pushy and absurd first meeting～. You must’ve been at a loss, huh, Anzu?

Mao: ...Hmm? You were feeling a little lost on your first day, so it actually helped?

Mao: Oh, right. The three of them, including Makoto, showed you around the academy, didn’t they?

Mao: That sounds so nice. A true highschool experience. I was in quite the fix back then. I was caught between my student council job and Trickstar.

Mao: A lot has happened since, but that was probably the toughest time for me, because I was so inexperienced back then.

Subaru: But those times were also the most fun, weren’t they? When we were hoping that things would change, and when things were changing dizzyingly fast.

Subaru: No, actually, I’m always having the most fun! No matter what kind of trouble we’re facing, I believe we’ll always get through it if we’re together♪

Subaru: ...Wow, our trip down memory lane took us all the way back to when we met Anzu. Ukki～’s pretty late, isn’t he?

Subaru: I wonder where he could be dawdling. Maybe he got lost?

Mao: No, no. There’s no way he got lost now, after coming here so many times.

Hokuto: That’s what’s worrying me. I hope he didn’t wind up in some kind of trouble.

Hokuto: Hm? I just got a notification for a text.

Hokuto: ...Fumu. It’s a message from Yuuki. Apparently he overslept and only just woke up.

Subaru: O～oh, so he just overslept. I’m glad nothing bad happened, but that’s unlike Ukki～, huh?

Mao: If he just woke up, that means he’s at the dorm, right? If we wait for him to arrive, we’ll be here until nighttime. Let’s move our review meeting to a different day. We still have some time, after all.

Subaru: I agree～. Since Anzu is here too, let’s go grab a bite to eat☆

<At the same time, in Makoto’s dorm room>

Makoto: ...We’ll have the review meeting on another day, huh? I messed up. I’ll have to apologize the next time I see the others.

Makoto: *yawn* Oof...♪ It looks like I passed out while I was still logged in to FREEDOM.

Makoto: What was ‘I’ doing again? Uhm…

Makoto: Oh, right. ‘I’ was about to leave Trickstar.

Makoto: Wait, that sounded a little strange. My avatar in the game is the one who is leaving Trickstar.

Makoto: What to do… I vaguely remember that although joining or leaving a unit is easy, there are conditions to rejoining a unit.

Makoto: ...Yup. It’s written here in the guide. After leaving a unit, you need to wait at least 24 hours and get the approval of all existing members to rejoin.

Makoto: If my avatar quits, it’ll make things easier, but maybe I’ll try continuing like this for a bit longer. I’ll just see it as a challenge with extra restrictions¹.

Makoto: Because we’re only really Trickstar with the four of us...♪

Makoto: Alright. Let’s see how FREEDOM is doing～

Makoto: ...Wait, huh? His clothes changed…

Makoto: Huh? I don’t see my avatar… Where did he go? His coordinates aren’t being displayed…

Makoto: ���Gwaaaaah!?”

Makoto: That scream sounded like ‘me’.

Makoto: I hear footsteps. I have a bad feeling about this, but I should go check it out…!

Makoto: “Waaah, where am I～!? Somebody help me～!”

Izumi: “Yuu-ku～n, don’t worry! I’m here to save you♪”

Makoto: “You’re the one I’m running from! Uurgh, I can’t let him get me!”

Izumi: “Oh, so you want to play tag?♪ Alright, then. I’ll chase you anywhere.”

Izumi: “L-O-V-E! I! Love! Yuu-kun! L-O-V-E! I! Love! Yuu-kun!”

Izumi: “Let’s live happily ever after with just the two of us, in a place where no one else can reach us...♪”

Makoto: Whoa! This must be a bug, right!? I need to force-quit the game!

Makoto: But why did Izumi-san show up all of a sudden?

Makoto: It seems like he can’t see me, so he must be an avatar too. Or is he an NPC?

Makoto: The residents’ appearances are determined by their jobs, so that means…

Makoto: I’m not sure about the logic behind it, but the Izumi-san I just saw seemed like he was based on that terrifying incident that happened at Yumenosaki.

Makoto: It would be a little scary if even small details like that have been included in the game… Huh? I wonder who just messaged me.

Makoto: It’s from Isara-kun… I see. Because I’m in a location that hides your coordinates, he can’t come talk to me directly.

Makoto: Huh!? My avatar has left Trickstar? Oh. So that’s why his clothes changed.

Makoto: I don’t remember making him quit. Is this a bug too?

Makoto: Once the criteria are met, he’ll be able to rejoin, but… Now he can focus on city-building, so in a way this is actually convenient.

Makoto: …

TL note:

The word Makoto uses here is 縛りプレイ ‘Shibari play’. It has two meanings: either ‘rope bondage’, or ‘playing a video game with self-imposed restrictions’. Obviously Makoto himself means the second one here, but given the fact that the next scene contains heavy references to the incident where Izumi kidnapped Makoto, this might be another, more meta reference to that.

Translated by me, proofread by Altea (@icaruswasthesun on Twitter)

Next chapter

[saturniandragon]

Adra's Project Wingman In-Depth Review: Per Mission Experience and Commentary

(Caution: extremely long read. Please have snacks ready)

Project Wingman! Or so I've heard it more described as "a love letter to the Ace Combat franchise." Another arcade flight action shooter game similar to Ace Combat, and if I remember rightly, designed and developed by Ace Combat fans. Again I've spent years and years avoiding spoilers, although inevitably I began hearing a few things about it; it's like Ace Combat, it's set in alternate history, you can carry up to 4(!) different types of ordnance, and it's orange. So I guess like NFS Most Wanted (2005). Like Ace Combat 7 of course, I'm playing with my Xbox controller.

Which brings me to the first... quirk of the game. The menu interface. You control a cursor on the screen with your left thumbstick, and you have to carefully position it to the menu buttons that you want to access. The left thumbstick doesn't cycle through the menu buttons, you have to control a cursor with your joystick. Which I find to be a little on the negative side and I decided to just use my mouse to navigate the menu. Makes me wonder if this is a side effect of Project Wingman being developed as a PC game first and console second.

The last time I was met with this kind of UI controls was in the 2019 game "Observation."

However I am very impressed that the menu background isn't just a static image or a repeated video. It looks like a real time 3D rendered scene with planes flying above the treeline. Also what looks like a massive airship or a mothership trailing slowly across the sky. My hype level is up by 3 notches. I can't wait to start playing.

No fancy animation or a CGI video as the intro. Just a text that briefly tells the story about the game's world. Very much like David Szymanski's "Iron Lung" game. Seeing Sector D2 is not a massive game studio and just an indie developer, it's perfectly fine. And what I learned is that Project Wingman's universe is alternate history Earth that experienced some kind of massive natural disaster or calamity that changed the world forever, and new nations start to rise from the ashes. The game takes place 400 years after the event.

First briefing screen. Wow this orange tint really reminds me of Ace Combat Zero briefing screen. And I can also see the map of the Project Wingman world in the background. The continent of America has changed, not dramatically, you can see the general shape of the continent, but the west shoreline has practically split off from the rest of the continent. And a glimpse of what used to be Japan, China, Philippines and Indonesia, now reduced to just a few main islands, presumably the remains of the cataclysm mentioned earlier.

Apparently our protag is a mercenary pilot who goes by the name Monarch (as in monarch butterfly, I assume), who is a part of Hitman team, under the mercenary organization known as Sicario. And our client is the Federation? Is that a country, or a union like the one in COD Ghosts? Either way it brings me back to Cipher and Pixy, who were also merc pilots. In PW, apparently we're fighting a group of pirate pilots.

First mission, destroy some kind of research material that was deemed unsafe and fell into a group of merc pirates. A few ground targets, ships, and a few air targets. Alright, no big deal. My Ace Combat experience is more than enough for this.

I'm actually impressed with the voice acting. I've heard how difficult it is to voice act in a game or a movie that doesn't sound too cringey or too monotone. The guy doing the briefing actually does sound like he's done it probably a thousand times. I wonder if they hired a professional VA or just someone from the internal dev team.

Plane hangar. They give you 2 starter planes to choose. A T-21 (apparently a trainer plane that resembles MiG-21), and T/F-4 (a trainer plane that resembles F-4). I was going to use the Fishbed but the Phantom has slightly better stats, even though I'm bored with Phantoms, so I chose it. UGBL as secondary weapon, pretty standard.

First flight. Operation Red Current. AWACS Galaxy on station and OH MY GOD I HAVE A WIZZO. AND SHE HAS DIALOGUE LINES. The last time I had a wizzo was Ace Combat 2, but he just had generic repeating dialogues like missile lock/alert and stall warning. Your plane does form vapor clouds at Mach 1, something missing from AC7, so I loved that. Once again, for a small dev team, the voice acting is well done.

First set of ground TGTs clear. Ronin moving in. "Cordium" cargo? Never heard that before. They say it's too unstable, Federation orders to just clear it BOOM. MASSIVE EXPLOSION like an FAEB just went off. Mission complete, question mark? Another flight called Master Goose comes in the AO, flashing as friendlies. I don't really trust this but hey, I'm just a merc, not paid to ask questions.

If they turn out to be a fake squadron like the 8492nd, I'm gonna be... Well I don't know what I'm gonna be.

And there's a civil war in the Americas. Country of Cascadia being invaded by the Fed for natural resources. Our client is Cascadian Air Force now I guess. Is this like Belka trying to annex Ustio in AC0?

You know what, I'm too excited to have a wizzo. I'm gonna get another Phantom that isn't a Phantom (F/E-4). Big surprise, all of the SP weapons are available for use right away, no need to buy them separately. I like this game already.

Can I just say the explosions in PW from STDMs are so dramatic. Way more dramatic than AC7, it's like they hired Michael Bay. Not a bad thing though, it's giving PW identity. So it's not just a "Ace Combat we have at home"

Mission 2, all going well, fighting Fed border patrols until a massive airship came practically out of nowhere. At least this one doesn't have drones, just SK.27s and F/C-15s. A couple MLAAs later and it's down, but then no explanation as to what we just shot down. Oh well, at least we're with Cascadian AF now.

Mission 3. Rowsdower AFB. Once belonged to Cascadia now seized by the Fed on their conquest to expand their military (ala Belka), we're on a mission to take it back. Ooh, new aircraft for purchase. SV-37. I genuinely thought I unlocked a Flanker early in the game but it's just the Swedish dorito (Viggen). And it has MLAGs, if MLAA is Multi Lock Air to Air then I guess MLAG is this game's version of 4AGM. Only single seat though, I still want to hear more of Prez's dialogues. Maybe later.

Crosstalk squadron appeared, 5 Super Hornets. Grun Squadron flashbacks from Zero, anyone? Oooooh there's a health bar on the bottom of the screen for each enemy craft. I loved it. Wasn't much hassle fighting them, and we landed in Rowsdower.

Honestly I'm kind of impressed that as a band of pilot mercs, we have our own AWACS. Anyway next mission, aid Cascadian national guards from being overwhelmed by the Feds.

Two new aircrafts. CR.105 and SK.25U. I thought CR.105 is a Foxbat at first but it's delta wing design with no canards or tail surfaces. But its speed rating is off the rails, so I guess partly inspired by the Foxbat.

I'm buying SK.25U for Mission 4. Two seats and a boat load of A2G hardpoints. I sure hope there isn't any mission update where we suddenly have to fight an entire air force! (Thank fuck there isn't)

Really this game has the Frogfoot when Ace Combat 7 doesn't? Come on PA.

Next mission, Cascadian capital of Presidia. The Feds have taken over the city. Cover retreat of Cascadian armed forces. Multirole mission with tendency towards A2A. MG-31 and F/C-16 now available for purchase. Not sure if I trust a flying brick with wings for this mission, so Viper time. Guess I have to leave out Prez for this one.

Mission 5, over Presidia. WOW THIS CITY IS SO COOL with all the low hanging clouds. Though what's with all the needle towers/structures all over the city?

Thought we were done but the Feds sent out not just one or two other massive airships but FIVE of them to try and keep Presidia in their hands. I thought I shot all of them down but Mission Over text?? Did I fail??

Debriefing says Status: Success but Stardust said Presidia fell anyway. I guess it's supposed to be that way.

So far into this game, I'm developing the sense that Project Wingman is largely inspired by the classic PS2 AC titles (aka The Holy Trinity), I guess more towards Zero. The orange tint, no checkpoint system, the absence of aircraft tree, aircraft parts, merc pilot protagonist, but they also incorporate some modern QoL features like flares.

I think I would appreciate something present in AC but not present in PW; lock range indicator. You know the HUD in AC, just to right side of the pitch ladder, is a slider with a chevron that indicates the distance required for your ordnance to lock.

Mission 6, attack the Feds from the other front by crippling their energy production sites at Apodock Fracture, apparently in Yellowstone. Also they've been hunting for some material called cordium? Is that what caused the massive explosion in the first mission?

Two new aircrafts, Super Tomcat and Fulcrum! Two of my favorite aircrafts. But I had to choose the Tomcat because I miss Prez (cmon man I've been all alone in Ace Combat for years). Fucking hell it's expensive though. Better be worth it.

Yep they're hunting for cordium. We're ordered to destroy their containers. Fucking hell the SAMs in this mission are fierce, I got hit 3 times and was down to 23 health. And two more of those fucking Fed airships?? Just how many of these things are there??

Alright, mission completed. Almost. New blips on the radar, VX-23s and SK.37s. Federation Peacekeepers. Engagement Not Advised written in large text on my screen. I hammered the throttle and fly just meters away above the ground to avoid missiles and head to the return line. Reminiscent of the first time you face Yellow Squadron in AC04.

Crimson Squadron. Fed's top ace in Cascadia.

(I learned late that you have infinite flares in this game)

Mission 7. Cascadian Coast Guard seized a Fed battleship/cruiser off the coast of Cascadia. Just me and Hitman 3 this time. We're to provide air support although I kinda don't want to fly the SK.25U just to have its LASM. New aircraft for purchase called the... Accipiter. Whatever the hell that means. Apparently based on the Harrier. Not enough cash to purchase. Back to the Tomcat.

Think I forgot to read the weather report for this mission because it's stormy as fuck and the clouds are violent. I'm not sure who has the bigger balls to fly through such extreme turbulence, me or Monarch. It's actually very scary from cockpit view, everything shaking up around you and you hear the creeking and clanking from the plane's aluminum panels like they're going to break off at any moment. Oh well it's just an anti ship mission with a couple of air targets THE FED SHIPS HAVE RAILGUNS ON THEM WHY AM I FIGHTING MINI STONEHENGE AT SEA

Ok that's over now. New mission that's purely air to air mission. Take down Fed logistic planes while also avoiding shooting down civilian airliners. Weather cloudy. Two new aircrafts, Super Hornet-C and Flanker-B. But I'm still having way too much fun in my F/D-14.

Also I just learned that the seemingly random clicking noises when I'm flying is just a noise indicator of my missiles fully reloaded.

Mission 8, Briggs Mountain Range. Wait why is that civilian airliner the same as the Fed airship that I've downed multiple times before?

Doesn't matter. STDMs, HVSMs and MLAAs. One by one shooting down Fed Globemasters. Conservative with MLAA use because I totally didn't restart this mission because I accidentally shot down a civilian airliner. Then the true airship arrives. Airship Gladeus with two F/S-15s. The fucking AAM pods on the Gladeus are a nightmare to hit tbh, but mission done. More importantly no civilian casualties.

But I begin wondering, is there like multiple paths in this game like Ace Combat Zero? Like Knight, Soldier and Merc paths that are determined by whether you shoot N.TGTs or not. That's my goal for my second playthrough.

Mission 9. Raver mountains. Covert mission to take out SAM sites so we can push without losing planes. F/C-15 is now available for purchase.

But you know what, let's take the Accipiter for a spin. What was the last Ace Combat game that lets you fly a Harrier? None. Well, Assault Horizon, but that's not a true AC game. Woah, what is this, CGP? A shotgun gun pod?? Flechette rounds?? I don't fucking know how it works but I wanna try that shit out.

Alright, near CIWS units. Time to try CGPs, and... it's disappointing. Although I think my expectations were a bit too high. Well at least they didn't lie about it being a short range weapon.

And of course I did the tunnel runs in this place to destroy the containers. I'm an Ace Combat vet after all, tunnel runs are my bread and butter.

Mission 10, now the real deal. Solana Comms Array and the adjacent airbase... without Cascadian air force to help us. It's alright I guess, Monarch is already a one man army as he is. Or one man air force.

But I'm this far into the game and I still haven't found Project Wingman's equivalent of QAAMs. Maybe there will be a "HASM" (High Agility Standard Missile) or something. I guess it's time to try the Eagle for a spin.

And my thoughts? So worth buying the Eagle. Missed out on Prez, but when you attach second and third slots with MLAAs, you get 6AAMs in game. Awesome stuff. Fed is crumbling.

Mission 11, Bering Strait. Another purely A2A mission. The most expansive A2A battle ever committed, he says? We'll see to that WHOAA THIS IS LIKE THE MAYHEM MISSION FROM ACE COMBAT ZERO ON STEROIDS

And of course Crimson squadron shows up with a fuck ton of reinforcements. Totally reminding me of Schwarze squadron battle. But I'm not going down without a fight.

55 fighters, 3 SK.37s and 2 VX-23s downed by one humble F/D-14. I tried getting a close look at a VX-23 but couldn't make out what it resembles. My best guess is that it's probably something like Chengdu J-20 but couldn't see the fine details. Is there like a PSM mechanic in this game because those guys were pulling 90 Gs every now and then

Feds have issued retreat. Crimson 1 insists on staying, Crystal Kingdom order stands. Eventually Crimson obeys, and retreats the whole squadron.

If anything Ace Combat or movies have taught me, I predict Crimson is going to go berserk within the Feds. He's gonna think the Fed is too weak and just holding him back, he's gonna take Federation's most outrageous aircraft and weapon and use them to set a personal score with Monarch. I'm calling it.

I love Prez's reaction after Crimson retreated. Like yeah bitch, you better fucking run! I love her.

Alright, mission 12. Feds is absolutely crumbling after their airforce got decimated by Hitman. Multirole mission with heavy tendency towards A2A. Something about oil rigs facilities at sea.

It's railguns again, the same one that Fed ships were firing at me on previous mission with the Eminent Domain. Hitman 3 said something, why is this rig more heavily guarded than the comms array?

Mission update came up. Unknown target marked on my HUD, but I'm not firing yet. I fly close to the unknown to try get a visual but it's too damn dark to see anything, even with gibbous moon. Then something happened.

"Project Wingman is away."

What the fuck is that?? Project Wingman?? Something rapid just took off from one of the oil rigs. It's way too dark on my screen to see whatever it is, but it's roughly triangular AND IT'S SHOOTING RAILGUNS BACKWARDS AT ME WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THIS THING

Apparently piloted by another merc named Frost? Monarch shot it down with HISMs and STDMs. Frost ejected but said something about releasing data pod. I suspect this is a Federation superweapon undergoing research. That will explain the amount of AA defenses all around it although of course the game's debriefing doesn't tell me anything.

Mission 13. There's a new Fed superweapon, an airship fleet by the name of Task Force 1. It's resting in a port, we're to destroy it before it's unleashing hell, I suspect. Although something about Kingdom of Sawaiiki, one of Fed's states, will probably get in the way.

Maybe I should expect neutral/N.TGTs.

Two new aircrafts. F/S-15 and... what the hell is this? "Chimera"? At the front it resembles Su-57 nose, but the way the wing blends into the body is a bit like F-16XL's cranked delta wing, and it also has a V tail like YF-23 (maybe that's why it's called Chimera). And it's 285k to purchase, I don't even have 100k credits. Why is this available to purchase right now?

Whichever the case I can't buy either of them. I'm going with the F/C-15, I'm gonna need its MLAG.

I think this mission is where the game can do with some optimization, because my frame rate was down from 80+ to 40 near the docks where there are a fuck ton of targets. But I don't want to compare this to Ace Combat 7 because this is a game from an indie developer. I'm sure they did what they could for optimization, and I'm not gonna blame them.

Mission itself was pretty standard. Nothing super interesting although the part where Hitman 2 had to radio out a long announcement to Kingdom of Sawaiiki that we have no beef with them, and telling Galaxy afterwards that it costs "2 bucks per word" is pretty funny. I love these conversations.

Mission 14. Grimwood coast, provide CAS for ground troops and prevent Feds from regrouping. But expect bad visibility he says from the forest fire nearby. I'm gonna gamble and take the SK.25U.

Oh shit, I guess we're working with firefighters as well now. I hope I don't have to protect them at some point because I'm essentially flying a tank. That has 40mm/65mm HE ammo for its main gun.

I forgot to say but the MLAGs in this game are phenomenal. The multilock ability of a 4AGM and the range of an LAGM? Slow reload speed but I'm sold. Who needs an A-10 anyway right

Feds in Grimwood have surrendered. They burned the forests for nothing. Also I keep hearing allies calling Monarch "The Crown" now, and in earlier sorties I also hear something along the lines of "how dare you take the name of a king as your own", "not all kings are just."

I'm developing the feeling that this game is fantasy medieval action adventure but with jets and airships instead of swords and magic. No hard feelings on that, I'm a huge fan of The Elder Scrolls series. So I'm looking forward to see how much this game plays into the mythological/medieval theme. Maybe like Ace Combat Zero, with how Cipher and Pixy did the aerial equivalent of jousting? We'll see.

Also there's this level of detail and touch of realism, that I think has never been done in Ace Combat before. When an enemy jet whizzes past you above Mach 1, you can actually hear the sonic boom from their wake. That's awesome.

Mission 15, Cascadian city of Prospero, the largest trade center apparently. Get rid of its air superiority elements and secure the airport. SK.37 is now available for purchase, yet I'm still under the required price for it.

I do have to comment on the way planes are painted in PW, or at least the default skins that you use. It's like plastidipped or cerakoted or something, like how guns are these days. Nothing really spells practical camouflage/camo pattern. But hey, maybe that's just how Monarch wants to look in the skies.

Liberate Prospero they say but they didn't say the Feds would be so desperate that they would LAUNCH 50 NUCLEAR CRUISE MISSILES JUST TO PREVENT CASCADIA FROM GETTING TO PROSPERO. THEY JUST BELKAN'D THE SHIT OUT OF THIS CITY. DID THEY JUST OPEN UP A VOLCANO FROM THE GROUND?

Hitman 3 just said Calamity. Is this what happened 400 years ago before the events of this game?

Fucking hell.

Mission 16, instant continuation from previous flight. Only me, Prez, Diplomat, Comic and Galaxy now. No idea if anyone else is alive. Flew over Rowsdower, no response.

Fuck, new blips on radar. It's the merc Frost from earlier. AND MASTER GOOSE FROM MISSION 1. I FUCKING KNEW THEY SHOWED UP TOO CONVENIENTLY

"You fired up? Come shoot me down." Yeah bitch I'll shoot you down in that fancy bitchass superplane you're flying. And don't you dare copy my boy Pixy's line from Ace Combat Zero.

(Just kidding, I love the devs for having her voice actor say that)

Fucking hell, I thought a swarm of MQ-101 drones was bad, but I never thought I'd be on the receiving end of an ADMM where each individual missile is a QAAM.

Stardust again. Contract to fulfill you say? Fuck you man, there's nothing else out there now. Everyone's got our number, even Diplomat and Comic's real name. Sicario is only 4 man band now, 5 if you count Prez.

Kaiser seems convinced after Stardust offered something to us. Whatever that is. Meanwhile I guess we're regrouping on an abandoned highway as a makeshift base.

2 months later.

Mission 17. Brite Fortress. One of the safe havens outside the whatever the fuck is happening out there.

I sold my Harrier to get some cash back. I'm done with the Super Tomcat. It's time for SK.37. It's only got AA hardpoints but I need to fly something else. Oh and an MGP. I've never used MGP in Ace Combat before but I'm gonna try this one.

Woah, what is this? AOA limiter? Replaces flares? Doesn't say what it is.

Alright, Brite Fortress. Railguns and airships as usual. At this point I've been desensitized to them, because I learn that the Feds is just Belka/Erusea hybrid. As in, a superweapon maniac.

Aw shit, they have a massive tank/train/land cruiser. This thing doesn't have any A2G weapons, but it has MGP. 4 of them. And AOA limiter, more like AOA unlimiter. Let's you pull off PSM-esque move while holding down L3 and turning sharp. I like it though, it replaces your flares but it doesn't restrict you to low speeds and a complicated QTE like Ace Combat 7, and you can perform it anytime as long as the indicator is ready.

Mission 18. Aw shit, we're back to Prospero now? I really don't want to.

Yeah, figured. Crimson showed up again. VX-23s and SK.37s again. But now I can at least match their crazy AOA maneuvers.

My first try I nailed AOA limiter module pretty quickly. If used right it's essentially a "teleport to enemy's 6" button. Well I didn't use it right. Got shot down.

My second try. If Crimson is calling it personal then so will I. I will spam this AOA limiter if I have to. Even Diplomat is absolutely fed up with Crimson's shit, telling him to shut the fuck up and turning off his radio. Learned that, other than spamming AOA, you have to firewall the throttle, make sure your speed never goes below Mach 1 even when turning. Got hit by a missile once, but this time I downed them. All 8 of them.

Crimson laughing maniacally on the radio as his plane falls. What a waste of pilot, Comic, I agree. But I'm feeling that won't be the last.

Mission 19, back to Presidia. Take out Federation's naval force.

VX-23 is now available for purchase. It is like Chengdu J-20/Lockheed F-22 hybrid. Well, more like F-22 with the wings swapped positions. Can't buy this one either even if I sell my SK.37. And I love this thing already because of its AOA limiter.

Naval force destroyed. Presidia is next.

Mission 20. Now I could really sell my SK.37 now to get the VX-23, I wonder if I should do that...

Fuck it. Yolo.

Presidia is liberated. Feds are surrendering. War is over. And then...

"KINGS"

....

No.

No, Sector D2. Please, don't.

Don't make Crimson 1 pull a Pixy on me for the ultimate mission.

I called it earlier. He's gone off the rails. He took the Fed's superplane and nuked everyone in Presidia with it except Monarch. Probably intentionally, to set a personal score with me.

But I'm not scared. Well, until he fired railguns on all directions, launched Project Wingman's equivalent of ADMM, and released force fields ala Arsenal Bird/Alicorn. When I thought this game would be like Ace Combat, I didn't think it would be "Ace Combat, but 150% more fucked up."

I employed the similar strat from before. Lock the third person camera at his plane, firewall the throttle up to Mach 2 and spam the AOA limiter. He's got 3 health bars in that superplane that's probably powered by cordium. If previous missions didn't emphasize on how orange this game is, well, this final showdown does.

Everything is orange. The skies, the ground, the sun, the missiles, the railgun trails, my HUD, half the time I couldn't tell if my missiles hit him or not because my interface was loaded with directional missile proximity indicators. Thank fuck the health bar is still perfectly readable.

"You signed this deal a long time ago." WELL I DIDN'T SIGN UP TO FIGHT YOU SPECIFICALLY NOW DID I. But you've decided that it's personal so bitch, COME THE FUCK AT ME.

"I'm Cascadian. You think I take joy in killing my own countrymen?" SO WHY THE FUCK DID YOU DO IT IN THE FIRST PLACE. YOU LET YOUR OWN PRIDE CONSUME YOU AND THOUGHT THEY'RE ACCEPTABLE LOSSES IN YOUR OWN PERSONAL BEEF WITH ME. FUCK YOU.

I danced with him in the skies for probably a good 15 to 20 minutes just trying to land one or two hits on him. A deadly aerial dance that involves jet fuel, multi lock missiles and nuclear railguns.

Three health bars depleted. My camera is still locked onto his PW.MK1.

"No, not yet..."

Then all my HUD element disappears.

He's not dead yet. Two health bars now on the bottom of the screen, one for Hitman 1 and one for Crimson 1. Fuck, I have to fight him again. I grazed my VX-23 on the railgun trail and took some damage. But I still have my wings. I can still fly.

Another 10 minutes of fighting. I'm gonna fucking joust him now like Pixy. Dozens of STDMs, hundreds of railgun projectiles and thousands of 20mm Vulcan rounds.

His last health bar is depleted.

...

But my camera is still locked onto his plane. The corpse of his PW.MK1 flailing through the clouds and trailing flames.

Why am I not seeing a chute?!

"Monarch..."

God damn it, Crimson, eject! Eject now!

"When you hear the thunder..."

There's no time for speeches, damn it! Eject!

"When the storm comes for you..."

Dying will not solve anything! Fucking punch out, god damn it!

"Remember me."

...

But he was a fighter pilot to the end.

Remember him, Monarch.

Because it's just you left.

No one else. No Prez, Galaxy, Diplomat, Comic,

It's just you.

As a final send off, I leveled out my VX-23 to the horizon, pointing towards the sun, and fly off into the distance.

Contract completed.

---

Project Wingman, completed. Wow. What a game.

The story, the gameplay, the graphics, the sounds, voices, visuals, everything.

I can tell it's all been made with passion and love. And it really is... a love letter to the Ace Combat franchise.

It may as well be an Ace Combat game on its own.

I never mentioned it, but the OST is also phenomenal. Especially on Mission 11. On par with Ace Combat. Maybe even better, for an indie game. Especially the credit song, the leitmotif that's been playing throughout the game since Presidia. I'm calling it Monarch's theme.

Wow, just wow. I nearly shed a tear.

You know I once read a quote, I don't remember if it was from this game or something else, but

War doesn't decide who is right.

Only who is left.

10/10. Phenomenal game. Sector D2, you are legends. Absolute fucking legends, you hear?

There are so many people backing this game on Kickstarter, on the order of hundreds. Maybe thousands. All their names are in the credits.

And it was all so worth the money you all have invested in the development of Project Wingman.

And for me, it was worth the money I spent on buying this game.

Enjoy your victory while it lasts, Monarch.

You may not have a throne, or anything left in your world.

But you are the king.

As for me, I'm gonna play the game again and try to understand the lore better. It seems that I have a tendency to hyperfocus on the task/quest/gameplay at hand. Probably gonna turn down the bgm and sfx a little bit so I can hear dialogues better.

[muirneach]

okay. neil time. my official review: guys oh my god he is so good i love him so much. but much more gushing below:

im not retyping all that + setlist. he really did not speak like at all. before fuckin up (i think idr) he DID say ‘my producer died. we’re all gonna die by the way. just something to keep in mind’ which like. okay lol. and then every few songs he would say, and i quote, “hows everyone doin”. we’re doing great neil. but i respect it. anyways the man can play a hell of guitar for someone who is 78. i was just standing there being like my god. thats neil young and he is playing guitar. he’s real and he is so good. phenomenal stuff!! i can tell he was just havin fun with it lol. the horse was also very good. they were friends all having fun!! i want to be more insightful than this but literally like. he’s good guys. he did some really good solos. and i love him. good setlist 👍 losing end i feel like was surprising? but lots and lots of everybody knows which is always good. both the electric and the acoustic sets were wonderful. and i don’t know if it was the sound mixing or what but his harmonica sounded absolutely magical. i like harmonica but i have NEVER heard it that beautiful before.

pics i took lol:

this sign… i could cry. welcome back neily :) also i loved the nya village i had seen pics of it but i didn’t know what it was all about. wow the guy just loves to find his way into my envsci heart. imo it really really felt like the times contrarian come to life because it was a bunch of tables with different themes and they were giving away seeds and talking about agriculture and all that. and i loved that it was very local to toronto (/whatever city he’s in ofc). like they had local alternative magazines and their environment stuff was about here. i loved that level of care. this paper was the only thing i got there and now he lives on my bedside table :)

there was a family of goslings before the show and the moon was out and also there was a severe thunderstorm watch and the show almost got postponed but luckily it didn’t even rain so all was good. oh also its victoria day so people light fireworks and we couldn’t hear them because neil was blasting but we could see them it was nice

oh and lastly. him. typically when i take concert pictures they always suck because they make the performers look so far away even if i have good seats. and like thats true here but honestly i was so far away from the stage that he was so tiny anyways. no jumbotron which is a shame but that is par for the course from neil ‘dont even THINK about filming me’ young. i had a great time tho like i definitely saw him. he’s been playing a lot of small venues but lets remember that toronto goes ALL OUT for that old man and this was a sold out 16k seat venue so i cannot complain i literally got to attend a concert from my all time favourite old man. disbelief honestly. i love u neil!!

[mrslittletall]

Cooking Mama 2 Review

People wanted it, so here I am typing up my Cooking Mama 2 review:

So, first thing first, the game is a clear improvement over the first. You still have a lot of recipes to cook up in little minigames, but they got rid of the "change recipe" mechanic, which was a good thing.

Because while it was fun to discover the recipes, it also meant that a lot of recipes were starting the exact same and you were doing the same steps over and over again, which got repetitive quick. They also started to add some sweets and baked goods into the recipes, which were completely absent from the first game, so that was nice too.

You simply unlock recipes by doing well on the available recipes, so unlocking all of them was not hard. And after you have all recipes, you can go to a new mode where you can feed Mama and your friends and family and cook the recipes without help in one go. Failing a mini game starts over (this time Mama won't fix it for you).

I liked this mode, it was a lot of fun to see how well you could do without warning what the next step would be.

So, now on to the mini games. They actually brought back a few mini games from the first game, but most of them were new or improved. The cutting minigame for example, in the first one to dice an onion you had to half it, then do another mini game to slice it and then another mini game to dice it. That is now all in one step. They also added an indicator to the "fry something" minigame and are showing you where you forgot to peel something.

For some recipes there are completely unique minigames, for example the pizza has you roll out the pizza dough by being a pizza artist (I failed this one so often when I tried to gold medal) and the Ravioli recipe lets you cut out the Ravioli and stuff.

There were some mini games that I found pretty hard. The first one was "let it cook until it is in the green area". If you had too little heat, it would be undercooked, too much and it would boil over. You could stir to get the heat down, but wow, it was hard to get it correctly.

The second hard mini game was a simon says style where you had to put ingredients in the bowl in the correct order and it was shown to you really quickly. Most of the time it was pretty easy, but sometimes there were five or six thing to remember and that was when it was getting hard! I totally get why Jaiden struggled with the Mango pudding…

The graphics of the games were fine, like in the first one. You now can customize Mama and let her wear something else and have different colours for your kitchen appliances, so that was fun. The sounds were typical DS quality and I have to apologize to the music of the first game.

That actually wasn't royalty free music! The second game uses it too in a remixed version, so it was totally composed for the game. It has the same charming piano melodies as the first game, but is nothing to write home about.

I played until I gold medalled every recipe with Mama and got at least a medal from everyone I could feed. Oh, and there was a third mode where you could compete in some minigames and see how much of a record you manage. I played that too.

So which recipes did I struggle the most with?

Cream puffs, strawberry roll and ravioli.

The cream puffs had this damn mini game where you had to remember six things and I failed it so so OFTEN! At least the rest of the recipe was easy, so when I finally got it, it was over for the cream puffs!

The strawberry roll had a brutal mini game where you had to get eggs fluffy. That was far too hard for the time you got. I needed to practice a lot.

And the ravioli? Well, had a noodle machine mini game where you could really mess up easily and Mama was VILE on this one, even one mistake and she wouldn't give you a gold medal… Mama, whyyyy…

Anyway, it was an enjoyable game overall. Improved the first game in all points and the food looked legit very tasty and I even felt like I want to see and try some of the recipes myself.

Oh, I need to tell you about my favourite recipe ^^ Sweet potatoes. Sounds simple, right? Just bake them!

NOPE! The game has you bake them, then you spoon them out and make pulp, then you fill the spooned out sweet potatoes with the pulp, then you put egg yolk on the sweet potatoes and bake them again and that is the finished product!

[burntheworldtwice]

Live Thoughts on The Last Voyage of Demeter (Spoilers)

So I know very little of this movie outside the plot. I know it is much anticipated. Reviews are decent. But I didn't want some critic tainting my opinion you know? So I smoked a bowl, made a broke girls charcuterie, and am diving in.

-First of all who doesn't love a good Dracula tale?

-This is moody. Love that. Definitely recommend being in the dark by a fire if possible. its giving Victorian child and I personally am a victorian child so this is just swell

-I wish we still rode horses. Its a power move. Cop pulls up in a car ugh boring cop GALLOPS up on a horse. Mad respect.

-OMG its the guy who went after Oppenheimer for that shit senator. What's his name......David Dastmalchian. Im sorry hold the phone. DASTMALCHIAN is his dad Machiavelli. I'll be honest y'all im not a fan of his face. He looks weasly and honestly a bit threatening but that may just be the roles I've seen.

-Corey Hawkins out here showing LOOKS. Saving LIVES. CHILD LIVES. What. A. Gem.

-Whats in the box? WHATS in the box? WHATS IN THE BOOOOOX?!

-Why must children be so enthusiastic? So young and full of hope. Even on a fucking Russian ship in the 19th century.

-This cheese is really fucking good.

-Awe isn't this cute. "Crew in high spirits". Dancing around and shit. Did you know that many sailors were gay and that's why everyone thinks the Navy is a bunch of pussies. The more you know :)

-Is that Aaron Paul? LOL

-This really is pretty I must say. And the use of sound is just **Chefs kiss** I love when a movie employs sound as a means of expression.

-She needs a transfusion who's fucking blood is heh using is that his blood? The count is awake! yipeeee.

-I really need to watch some BTS for this. A lot of CGI and sets. Like did they do it Life of Pie style. I'll have to goole that..

-Ruh row. Bats outta the cage. NOT THE FUCKING DOG WHYYYYY KILL THE KID. Ugh why is it always the dog :((((

-HUUUCCKKKK

-Rabies? Men are so simple minded.

-Damn Drac is not looking good. Like worse than Voldy pre cauldron sesh.

-This kid is really taking on some emotional trauma. And little Woody Newman is just a cutie. He reminds of Gavauche (idk if that's spelled right) in Les Mis.

-"A boat without rats such is a thing against nature." That's a tattoo right thurr

-I am LOOOOVING the horror. The gore is so well done. Beautiful like Saving Private Ryan... If youre into blood..

-I could listen to Liam Cunningham read a Ikea instructions manual.

-I don't know if its intentional or not but I can't figure out the timeline of this movie. They mention a cove and it being over two weeks to England. But I can't tell how the time is passing. Could also be high but hey who knows.

-I know Rotten Tomatoes poopood this but I'm having fun and Draculas a dick lmao mimicking his victims. Damn bitch. Oh good strings. I love a good horror

-Why do we find it so hard to believe in things we can't understand? I realize the human brain seeks answers and solutions rather than more questions, but what if the answers and solutions are right there we just refuse to believe it?

-LMAO "I have a very important job for. you Toby. It's a lot to take on, can you handle it?" Hands over a spyglass. "Will you shine my shit for me dude?" I was talking to my wife about this but like I don't remember ever being this curious as a kid. Like demons on board? Nah Im staying in my room. Meanwhile this kid just wandering around the belly of ship.

-RUN TOBY RUN

-He got a knife. Tough kid here.

-Wow he's going full Jack Torrance with the door here. But who needs an axe when you have your face???

-NOT TOBY. Like I know everyone dies and all but damn. Also can Dracula apparate. Or is it like AS IF YOU COULD OUT RUN ME. Im a little behind on my Dracula lore. Oh he might live with these backwoods infusions.

-Okay I just haven't paid attention on the captains log. My B.

-Olgarin was bit... and infected? But Anne and Toby were fed on... and aren't? I'm going to have to think about that. Going up in flames was a fun drama though!

-I feel like maybe don't open the spooky box. And this man just rowing out to sea blindly believing in his faith. Did the Prince of Darkness fly out there? or. Yep. He a winged mother fucker.

-I like Dracula just whispering sweet nothings before he feeds.

-Are his burns not fucking horrifically painful? Im in pain looking at him. I know burns and that shit sucks for forever.

-Can Dracula manipulate the weather? I feel like I really need to brush up on my Dracula now. Foggy as hell. Dracula knew yawls plan come on.

-Women always out here making the greatest sacrifices.

-Why is Dracula synonymous with the devil? I like to think of Dracula like Jason Segal in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

-THe smothering with the wings was like kinda dope. Won't lie.

-I'm so glad they're trauma bonded now.

-I think I would of made a great light house keeper. Chill up in the rain by a fire. Watch the ships. Ambient lighting. My kinda gig to be frank.

-That ending sunrise. Wow. Almost poetic.

-NONONONONOOOO please tell me there's not going to be a sequel. Please dear god just let it end.

-Fuck.

[kithtaehyung]

Hi Ryen 💕💕

I feel like I haven't dropped by in a while but I promise that I've been enjoying everyone's chaos on here, it's all so incredibly entertaining lmaooo.

3tan summer cookout sounds so so good! I'm such a sucker for them being together with the whole gang and those kinds of questions being asked 👀👀👀 The tension is so nerve-wracking but so so good. And Yoongi being a menace with everybody around is just.... yeah, I'm already speechless, I don't know how I'll be when I read it. Also really looking forward to seeing Shiv again!

Also I started reading 3tan in the summer. I even vividly remember reading sundress season while I was at the beach. So I have a feeling that it will make me miss those days and long for summer to come faster.

Thinking back to the first time I read 3tan is always so fun though, I always say that it inspired me to make my blog and actually be active on here and that's completely true. It fully just blew me away and sucked me in immediately. It's like a whole separate comfort world to me and I love it with all my heart 🥺🥺🥺

Also I listened to your ryenfm update a while back and you just confirmed my thoughts that you're one of the coolest people ever. (A bit of a belated) Congrats on everything and I'm so happy for you!!! I hope despite being so busy you still find time to take care of yourself too. Sending lots of love 💞💞💞

IVI💞 my love, so sorry for being incredibly late to this ask! i was in the zone writing summer bbq and this got buried in the meantime.

everyone here and on the fic blog is gd hilarious. chaotic. wonderful. thirsty, too, can't forget that one lol. and I GOT UR REVIEW FOR SUMMER BBQ AND CAN I JUST SAY... CRIED. you're so lovely with your commentary and that one just made me super happy for some reason. like you just added another layer of summer to the whole thing and i read it a good amount of times already. gotta respond with my own screams soon enough!

you read sundress season at the beach? wow. that sounds like the perfect scenario.. damn. and it's funny that you said what you said here, bc your review p much reflected it. glad i was able to capture the essence of nostalgic summertime<3 3tan did start in the summer, after all.

i'm so happy you made your blog. bc not only are you making me feel loved, but you're spreading all that love and encouragement to others and i'm sure you are making countless people happy. that's something special, and you have a very, very big heart. i'm always gonna remember you as kiwi and as ivi. both are precious to me.

AHHH you listened to the update?? thank you so much! i am.. not that cool but thank you LOL i just like trying things and i make an effort to not let too many opportunities pass me by anymore. it's busy af over here, but i think i'm finding some time to myself, too. going for runs definitely helps with clearing my head!

[haljathefangirlcat]

i know nothing about 1899 except that aneurin barnard was there, but i've heard of the cancellation and i'm sorry for you <3 this extremely capitalistic culture of any tv show getting cancelled after just one season if they don't get the same ratings of a MCU production is insane

Aw, thank you for your message. <3

And yeah, I totally agree. Especially in this case. See, the thing that makes me so *froths at the mouth* about this is how arbitrary and dumb it all sounds.

Like. 1899 was being written by Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese, the same people behind Dark. Remember how I used to (and still do) wax poetics about that? XD Anyway, like Dark, it was also shaping up to be a complex mystery show with a gloomy atmosphere, well-placed mythological references galore, and morally ambiguous characters who made questionable life choices and whose stories were probably going to be revealed little by little. So, Netflix basically already had proof that a show like this made by these people could succeed before they even began releasing the episodes, right? And when they actually did release the episodes? 1899 stayed in their top ten shows for weeks. People immediately started posting comments, analyses, theories, fanworks. They were engaging with it and clearly wanted more. And official reviews were generally great, too! Like, "this is one of the best shows of 2022, can we have more German stuff plz" great!

And yeah, this show was a lot more slowburn than Dark had been. And some people didn't like that, I guess. Personally, by the end of the first (and now, only) season I wasn't even entirely sure I could trust anything the characters and the narration had said about themselves anymore... or that I'd even had exactly the firmest grasp on either of them through the whole thing, lol. But that very obviously wasn't the result of screenwriters trying to outsmart the audience and keep us in the dark as much as possible for randomness!!!1 shock value!!!1, it was clearly setting up something much bigger that needed a slow, careful build-up and trusting the audience to have the patience to see it done properly -- the amount of detail and care put into it was honestly insane, and I and many others were more than willing to see all the puzzles pieces be put in their respective places one by one. Because, hey, surprisingly enough sometimes audiences like being trusted instead of being hit over the head with a big sign saying Viewers Are Morons and/or wowed with shiny but empty spectacles and "witty" quotable one-liners!

And yeah, okay, it was probably a lot more expensive than Dark had been, too. But... had the execs at Netflix really not taken that into consideration BEFORE okay-ing the entire project?! There were characters of... what, six different nationalities? All played by actors of those nationalities to make sure their portrayal was accurate? All followed by people whose entire job was making sure the dialogue they were going to be handed in their different native languages was accurate and not stilted, awkward garbage?! And that's without even counting The Volume, the technology they were using to film scenes set on the ship's deck and at sea to make everything feel more realistic, which was the same thing used on HOTD to film flights on dragonback and apparently worked well enough to make some of the actors actually sea-sick during their first scenes with it. I mean... did nobody at all look at all that before shooting started, check the numbers, and go, "wait, no, actually we are not willing to spend that much money on an international series/scifi series/original project that's not an adaptation or a sequel to anything/something that most likely won't start any trends on TikTok or get any outraged kids screaming on Twitter, so how about you tone it down a little"?

Seriously... why give your audience a taste of something so creative and well-crafted only to yank it away because, whoops, you didn't really take enough time to think about it and understand that what you had on your hands wasn't actually the kind of thing you wanted? Why take two people who had already proven their skill and their passion (and likely also their willingness to actually treat their cast and crew well, given that one of the actors from Dark agreed to work with them again in 1899 and others publicly showed their support for the new series) and then pull the rug from underneath their feet? And that's not even counting what a great time the rest of the cast and crew all seemed to be having from the interviews and the behind the scenes stuff...

I guess what stings the most -- besides, you know, being left hanging on a cliffhanger that was obviously going to lead to a much bigger mystery that for once I could actually be pretty confident would get a satisfying resolution while interrogating human nature itself in fascinating ways while getting there XD -- is that people like that, ready to come up with big, fun, interesting ideas like that and to assemble great casts and crews like that, giving plenty of talented and hard-working people their time to shine on such amazing and heartfelt works, don't exactly get Big American Platform Able To Pick Up Or Drop International Projects On A Whim budgets every day. And when they do, and they're even lucky enough to get it a second time... they get discarded, apparently. Tossed away regardless of their talent, passion, great ideas, good relationships with their colleagues and respect for their public. Right in the middle of creating something else that could have turned out to be wonderful.

... and then people like me, who'd love nothing more than to stick with them to the end and fawn over them after seeing them stick the landing again, are left with truncated stories that will never give them the satisfaction of a good ending (how rare have those become, anyway?) and the grim knowledge that they probably won't see anything else like that in a long, long time. Because "anything else like that" won't likely get picked up by the people with the money needed to give it the shape it deserves, or even if it does, it will be picked up and then someone will go, "whoops, didn't think this through, sorry, let's pretend that just didn't happen!"

Sorry for the rant, I really did appreciate this message. I guess this whole vent *gestures upwards* had been building up, too. XD

[runimanio]

2024 Game Clear #21 The Legend of Korra

Not the show, the digital only 2014 video game by PlatinumGames and published by Activision that was delisted in 2017 that I bought in 2016 for very cheap but has sat in my steam account unused for 7 years because my laptop at the time was so bad it couldn't handle this game somehow!

It's also very important for the ATLA lore because we learn that Iroh became a filthy capitalist during his time in the spirit world

So this is an interesting one because this game got absolutely demolished by reviewers at the time, just checking the reviews on the wikipedia page some outlets were giving this game 2's and 3's. I remember a lot reviews remarking that it was this cash grab stain of the franchise... which feels very weird to me because i think this game is better then the Avatar games that came before, and certainly better then whatever that Gamemill slop that came out recently... I almost wonder if reviewers thought they were reviewing a full priced game because sure I could see them taking issue with the lack of content under that context but the game launched for $15 US.

I do have a fair amount criticism: The game starts with your bending blocked which uhh isnt the game putting it's best foot foward, some bosses are spongy and no subtitles track is always annoying, there's also not much enemy variety for a 4 hour game that's not a big deal i don't think. Not platinum's finest work but it's decent 6 out 10 that's worth a look if your a fan. You just might need to do some digging to get it these days (please don't buy a old steam key for $7000) and I can't get mad at a korra game that lets me parry a guy off his motorbike and do a fist of north star style ten thousand fists on him.

The game does a good job looking and feeling like the show, the proper voice actors are here (though admittedly it's mostly just Korra and Jinora) every level has animated cutscene that look like the show, I'm pretty sure I recognized some of the level music being pulled straight from the show so it's sound like the show too. You can feel pretty powerful using your bending to wipeout everyone around you.

There's also a plot! I don't really have much to say about it really, it takes place after season 2 and it's really just kind of one of those "all your old enemies are bad" video game plots, not in the "Amon is randomly back" but you gotta find out why there a bunch of Equalist, Triple Threat Triad and dark spirits goons attacking you. it's pretty basic but I like the new villain design at least

Last thing I gotta say that's more of a tangent but I have a memory of a couple of reviewers holding up the Naga chase segments to make a dig against Sega being like "Wow they made a better sonic game then Sega in minigame" and now that i've played it... It's just Temple Run???? like lane changes and swipe turns in all? Guy if you want a Sonic auto runner you can play one right now! in 2014 even! very silly time

[weed-ols]

Reviewing Every UKISS Release: By Unpopular Demand ~ CONTI UKISS

Welcome aboard this hell ride, Kiseop! You're not getting off until 2019, and even then you're never really gone before throwing yourself back into the fray in 2022! You're here for forever now!

The hard and pitiful struggle era is over, they've discarded the good and cute boy image, and are now into their edgy woman-hating bad boy period because that's actually what was kind of in at the time. Gone are the perms, bowties, and sweatervests, and enter confidence-bestowing guyliner, entire bottles of hairspray to hold their aggressive sideparts, and attempts to look brooding

CONTI UKISS - 3rd Mini Album | 2009.11.06

So I don't remember when this dropped, but I do remember that I started listening to them shortly after they released this. Now, I wasn't too young to be on the internet, but too young to find browsing forums interesting, however I do remember my sister and brother both being into them, and their friends at school too. I think if you go check some old LiveJournal pages, this is around the time they really started popping off.

Kiseop is now in because NH thought having another flower boy would help boost their popularity, and you know, in typical NH fashion, they give him like 2 seconds of singing, and tell him his job is just to dance and look pretty. My gosh, did he ever look pretty, so pretty that even little almost-a-tweenie me picked him out to be my new delusional celebrity crush. Who needs lines when you look that pretty? Mind you, I still was very normal about them at this time. I liked ManManHaNi, but I didn't love it to the point of being not-normal about them. That happened around 0330, if you care.

We're also now entering the Quintessential UKISS Sound™ era, which is really just what a lot of pop music at this time sounded like - lots of stylistic autotune, the heavy dance beats, lyrics all about partying and/or angry love songs. This entire mini album basically encapsulates that late 2009-early 2010 pop sound, and I love that for them.

ManManHaNi, as we know, saved their careers not once, but twice, and will probably continue to be their lifeline until we all turn to dust, and maybe even after that. So yeah, I have a very love-hate relationship with this song because I'm very grateful that it was their big break and memorable enough to keep them around for so long, but like I'm also just really sick of hearing it.

Intro | YouTube Music 6.2k | Spotify 5.6k

Even though it has that autotune sound, it still sounds out of place because of how lowkey the music is lol

"shawty" #2

"Shake ya booty left and right" great one liner by Xander

Very well balanced intro, it actually does feel like a more-than-two-person collaborative effort between Soohyun, Kevin, Xander, Eli, and I think Kiseop who gets to whisper-sing "shake shake shake it shake it"

It could be Kibum, but I'm 99% sure it's Kiseop from how soft the voice is

Is this the precursor to Rock Ya' Body?

7.5/10 I liked it, but it's not a wowing banger like Pump Pump or On Fire.

ManManHaNi (Audio) | YouTube Music 12M | Spotify 1.38M

If I'm being honest, I don't even think it's possible for me to give much of a coherent opinion on this

Like I said before, I'm always a little happy to hear MMHN because you know, it made my boys famous and saved their careers, but like I'm also super sick of this song

Deadass this is on none of my playlists other than my Complete UKISS Discography one because it has to be

Okay I have the JP version on a couple, but that's because I actually bought their 2016 compilation album, and I'm sure as hell gonna get my money's worth of it

The opening evokes some visceral feeling I can't quite name

"Bad girl", "crazy girl", what have women done to you boys??!?

Also lol things UKISS have called me in one song - baby girl, bad girl, crazy girl, yeougateun/foxy girl

Since I basically never listen to the plain audio of MMHN, and usually only hear it when I watch their live shows and whatever, I was actually expecting to hear Hoon for the third verse, so imagine my surprise when I hear Kibum

"Love's final round" such an iconic line, thank you, Soohyun

The random cat noise during Eli's rap always takes me out

"You make me pissed off!" literally pops into my head randomly all the time, Eli's one liners never disappoint

I guess it's the 4th verse, but yeah the verse right after Eli's rap is sooo cursed

Someone on Twitter did a compilation of it a while ago, and there's like 6 different versions of it

I do like it though, the rhyming is cute, and Dongho, Kiseop, and Kibum do all have vaguely similar voices - soft and weak-sounding

Both of Xander's rap verses are also uniquely cursed, courtesy of that same Twitter user, there's like 6-7 different people who've done it

Anyway, standard "UKISS break up song where they also kinda hate women but lowkey also still sound a little in love" song

Unsurprisingly, a Soohyun and Kevin duet with features by Eli and Xander, and a featuring feature of Kibum, and Dongho and Kiseop were there

For real, how do you put a guy into a group and then only give him one word for his debut

Uh 7.25/10 I don't actually know because I don't even think I can fake an objective rating for this. It's a catchy and fun aggressive dance song, I don't know what else to say. The autotune makes it difficult for Soohyun and Kevin to have these standout vocal moments, and they obviously sound great, the rapping is kinda cringe but also kinda iconic, people were present, I don't know I've heard this song a million times against my will.

ManManHaNi (MV) | Official MV 1.1M | Fan Upload 1.8M

Why was the official one only uploaded 2 years ago?

I actually don't remember if we all just watched the fan upload or if there was another official MV because I haven't watched this at all in like 10 years

Love that official MV only goes up to 720p give us low budget please

And the 720p is giving 360p, perhaps a very generous 480p look

Was this shot on the same famous expensive camera they used for Shut Up!!

We've also abandoned having a plot for this MV it's just them dancing and trying to look hot (or in Kiseop's case, just actually being hot)

The stupid blurry-to-focus shots are sending me

Oh these outfits are legendary, peak 2009 bad boy looks with unnecessary bondage gear, hair so styled they could survive a typhoon, pasty your-lips-but-actually-too-cool-toned lipstick, and guyliner so thick that raccoons are jealous

The pants, the boots, it was hot it was fresh it was 2009

This is such a dramatic hairstyle, and I like the colour

This was actually so chic for the time though - the super long bangs covering one eye, the streaks, so 2009

Kiseop, looking amazing as always in the back with the quintessential bad boy flower boy hair

And Soohyun with a very standard 2009 male idol hair, but a little edgier

Blond is not Eli's colour, I'm sorry but I hate that they made him blond so much from 2009-2013 because I think he looks best with dark hair, or that red hair from PaNiC!

And I'm also not a fan of the hairstyle he had from 2009-2010, he looks best with it styled away from his face because then his eyes get emphasized

Xander is rocking a tall wannabe-slightly-off-centre pompadour

Dongho has what I've seen described as a 'baby bonfire' (and it's even red!!!)

I'm gonna go off on a rant real quick, but I actually hate Full Blondie!Kevin so much

I don't know what it is, but he's only had one full blond look that I didn't hate when they did the Love On U MV

I hate his blond hair in MMHN, I hated it Alone, I'm not counting the blond/caramel highlights from 2014~2015, and I hate his blond hair right now

Something about it makes me react like an aggressive possum

It washes him out a lot, especially if the colour is super light like in MMHN, and the lipstick (or lack thereof) isn't really doing him any favours

At least this blond look is styled to not show off the hairline because speaking as someone with a similar skin tone and large forehead, blond roots make us look like we're balding

Moving on, the shoulder dance is so iconic

The heel bouncing, the 'ripping my heart out of my chest and throwing it away' choreo, legendary I tell you

This is such a funny shot and I think it's because the lipstick is making him look like sick Victorian child

The random shots of Kevin in the car are killing me like why is it yellow? Could NH not get like a cool red car, a sleek black car, or what?

He's not even driving what are you doing where are you going

I like his silver jacket though I wouldn't wear it, but I like it

Also, Kevin's heavily styled hair just flapping around while they dance because it's so long, but also not even losing its shape is great

Oh, I really unironically love these outfits I'm a sucker for suits/suit-adjacent looks

Kevin's sparkly blue dress shirt is great, and the sublte blue details everyone has

Eli and goofy hats, almost as iconic as Eli and terrible one-liners

Isn't this the same alley set they used when they filmed Quit Playing? It also kinda looks like Love On U too

Love that the direction here is clearly 'look brooding'

Kibum posed the hell outta that shot, good for him

Can't make out their expressions, but Xander and Kiseop look like they're serving something

Soohyun and Kevin are making me laugh, as always like why are you both trying to look cool by the wall

I love Kibum's random scarf so much like you don't understand

It's so random, so out of place, and he's working the hell out of it to look brooding and cool

And so with the fashion zeitgeist at the time we were really accessorizing everything with anything just because we could

"YEOUGATEUN GIRL" you will always be famous

More peak emo bad boy flower boy idol shots

I love how this MV is also clearly low budget too, but feels less cheap than its predecessors just because they spent all the budget on clothes, hairstyling tools, Kibum's scarf, and the car they only used for like 3 shots

There's about 3-4 sets used here - the warehouse set where they shot most of the group dance, did some solo shots against the white brick wall, and probably the car scene too; the wood panel room where they did the other solo shots, the white backdrop for the rest of the group dance, and they narrow alley that I think actually might just be a part of the warehouse set

7.25/10 There's not as much to make fun of compared to the other two, and not as much to cringe at. Yes I cringed at Blond!Kevin, but that's personal beef and not an actual sin, and honestly, it just feels like such a 2009 boy group MV. No plot, just dancing and solo shots where they attempt to smoulder with varying degrees of success

ManManHaNi (Stages) | Highest viewed stage 772k Music Core

Like the MV, I don't think I've watched any of their music stages for MMHN in years (not including the MMTG stage, and concert stages, obviously)

So I tried to find the earliest stage of this, and what I got was an Inkigayo one dated 091108, so let's do that one first then the HD MuCore one

Firstly, this choreo was made for Dongho, like he's so effortlessly arrogant it's amazing

Secondly, I love the opening choreo of them just kind of rolling their necks and fixing their clothes it's so fitting

It's only 480p, but bear with me. Love 5/7 of these outfits I'm a huge fan of the military-esque top, and tell those don't look like something a boy group would wear nowadays

I like the weird culotte-cut pants because this is the transition era between baggy 2000s pants to the skintight look of the 2010s

Thank you stylists for giving the right people the sleeveless tops

It's all sooooo late 2000s bad boy - the black/gold colour scheme, the random embellishments like they were just attacked by a craft store, the dramatic visual kei-inspired hair, the gloves, the boots, the thick guyliner, I love it

Unfortunately, they still have those pasty lips :/

That part is so aggressive it's so 2009 that was trendy

Love love love his jacket it's absolutely gorgeous, and I bet they blew the entire comeback budget on it

The camera dude zooming in on Kibum every time they do the MMHN bit before quickly zooming out is sending me

I like his top too - less embellished than Kevin's but still a very stylish military tunic

I like the less blond look, but still don't love it. I'm also kinda torn on whether I like his outfit or not since I love the epaulette and chains, but I'm not a fan of the vest

Same thing with Kiseop I like the aiguillette and gold lining, but I think the cut of the top is just bland

Xander's is borderline because it's so overly-embellished that it compensates for the simple top

Why do they all look mildly frightened here

Also, I think Xander and Kibum are both wearing some kind of weird black/gold cloth around their waist? Or maybe it's from their tops? I don't know but it's flapping around

Not the camera pulling away when Xander does his fox sign why do you hate me

Kevin is particularly committed to this shoulder shimmy of MMHN like it's not that the others are slacking, but he's just doing it super aggressively

It's definitely live, you hear Soohyun and Kevin loud and clear, the rapping was live, Kiseop and Kibum were quiet but live, and the only part I think was lipsynced/had a super loud backing track was Dongho's bit but that's like a single word

On to the MuCore one so I can actually judge the dancing a bit more and see perhaps more than 8 pixels

It's not important but I like the starting shot on the disco ball

The bondage outfits!!!!

Dongho's slightly off-the-shoulder jacket is such a good design choice like I don't know if they tailored it to do that, or taped/pinned it or what, but it emphasizes the shoulder shimmies soooo well

I don't know what they did to Eli's hair I don't think his bleach would've washed out to that colour so quickly, and it's just such a weird colour

Actually love the "grabbing my heart and throwing it away" choreo

You can see who has good back flexibility and who doesn't lol

I'm surprised Eli didn't go lower because he's crazy flexible in his back as we saw in We Are Dating; not surprised about Kevin we know he can fold himself into a suitcase; Kiseop's pretty good from what I can see, not surprised about Dongho, Kibum, and Xander

Actually maybe Eli just didn't go low because he's not as committed to the bit as Kevin and Kiseop

Okay, I'll be fair it's equal parts flexibility and core strength, and I'm still not surprised by who's uber committed

ELI WHAT ARE YOU WEARING

Also oh my god his eyes are huge here

Dongho, Kiseop, and Kevin all serving face here, good for them

Tell me this choreo wasn't made for Dongho he's absolutely killing it

Soohyun looks a little pained

I know they need a wide stance for the heel bounces, but can we talk about how wide Kibum is? Love that for him

Another one of my favourite bits of MMHN

Circle formations in dances are always fun to do and interesting to watch

Kevin wags his finger a lot it's pretty funny

"YEOUGATEUN GIRL" come on camera guy just zoom in on xander for his moment

Looks like Soohyun's about to shove Dongho aside

And an unflattering mid-transition shot of Kevin

Camera guy is struggling to pick who to zoom in on for the final chorus

You know, I felt like I knew the MMHN dance from all those concerts and shows, but it turns out there's chunks of choreo they've simplified or just straight up discarded over the years

There's a whole bit with all the non-Soohyun members after Xander's last rap where they're just doing a bunch of dancing I've never seen before?

Again, footwork isn't super complex, but there's a lot of formation changing, a lot of entering/exiting circles and back into a line

When they do the leaning circle thing when Soohyun's singing "ddeo-olla", that actually requires a lot of core, glutes, and lower back work

The shoulder shimmies during the chorus would need a lot of core muscles too because their alignments are all fairly straight (or at least it should be)

It's also so weird to see them attack the choreo with so much aggression, like yeah they usually commit to MMHN choreo anyway, but there's just that extra snap they had for the music stages

Guess performing it a couple hundred times a year sucked the fun out of it, huh?

But overall, lots of improvement from Talk To Me

Kevin and Kiseop still stand out as the best dancers with the most committment and ease of movement

Dongho is another standout, mostly due to how well-suited he is to the choreography, and by this point he was a pretty competent dancer

Soohyun is a bit harder to tell because he has less dancing parts, but he's never disappointed me

Xander, Eli, and Kibum all blend in well, which again, is a virtue in group dancing

They all look so confident and comfortable on stage, and they're all much better at working the camera, it's kinda crazy to see how much they improved from Not Young

Singing here is live too, clearer than the Inkigayo one, though that might just be a mic/video quality thing

7.75/10 enjoyable to watch, no back pains from cringing, and they're committed to the concept.

Just as a bonus, here's some more costumes they wore while promoting MMHN because I think that's the most important part of a comeback lol

Love the jacket colour it's so pretty

And the tight pants so with the times

Not the recurring trash bag material

But the all-black look is so bad boy

Not the suit tops paired with the golden trash pants

There's a lot going on with those jackets

Peak 'attacked by a Michaels before the music show' look

The random feathers, ruffles, embroidery for god knows who, chains galore, the randomly recurring houndstooth pattern, fringes because why not, I love it

OK! | YouTube Music 368k | Spotify 29k

I actually do like this song, like unironically it's on some of my regular playlists

This is a Kevin song featuring Soohyun, Xander, Eli, Dongho, and Kibum + 4 words from Kiseop, bless his heart

NH really hired him for his looks and gave him nothing

Never bothered to look up the lyrics until now, so I thought it was just a dance song, but I was wrong

Rare anti-simp song that also isn't anti-woman, truly impressive for the time

It's basically just them going "oh I was such a stupid doormat who let my girl walk all over me but now I freed myself and I'm sexy free and single and out to party"

Also an ongoing theme of being like a beggar to this girl

Normally, especially after looking at the lyrics, I would advocate for this to be a Soohyun-centric song because his voice has that bitterness that suits the concept

But I think with the brighter music and the self-deprecating lyrics, Kevin's sweet voice really does suit this better

Like he really does give the right balance of bitter remorse and optimism

Kevin and Kiseop splitting lines is so very dear to my heart

Even though the autotune kills some of this, I've always felt that their voices complement each other very well

Keep a pin in that because I'll be coming back to harp on this later many many times

No funny Eli one liners, but we got some great ones from Dongho and Xander

"I can go to club again" Yeah it makes sense with other half of the line being guilt-free, but something about the way Dongho says this is sooo funny

"I don't love you no more it's time to gotta go" Thank you, Xander

Also, this song talks about getting drunk at the club, and how many of them could even drink at this time? Weren't you guys just at the Mickey Mouse Club?

7.75/10 The autotune, while a stylistic choice I understand, really dampens their voices, but overall I really like this song - it's fun, catchy, bright, and with some silly one liners, which is all I could really ask for

So, I actually have two fun facts for today because the first is really short, and the second is less fun and not even that unknown, just kind of fascinating.

Around this time, I think either during or right after their MMHN promotions (not sure, but definitely in this timeframe because Kevin still has that cursed blond hair), Kiseop was in a variety show about ulzzangs. They bring in Soohyun as a guest for an episode, and they're supposed to try to shock each other by exposing secrets, and Soohyun just loudly and semi-proudly declares that Kiseop and Kevin borrowed his laptop, and when he got it back, he found porn.

And Kiseop, my boy Kiseop, just goes "yeah that's true", and I want you to keep a pin in that because it'll come up again next album.

The next not-so-fun fact is oh my god they've done so many different versions of MMHN. They have the original Korean version, the Japanese version, a blended Korean-Japanese version, and then all the different lineups. What I've learned from collating this information is MMHN requires just two people to work, and here are the lineups I'm aware of:

Xander, Soohyun, Kibum, Eli, Kevin, Dongho, Kiseop | 2009-2010

Soohyun, Eli, Kevin, Dongho, Kiseop, AJ, Hoon | 2011-2013

Soohyun, Eli, Kevin, Dongho, Kiseop, Hoon | 2012

Soohyun, Eli, Kevin, Kiseop, Hoon, AJ | 2013-2014

Soohyun, Eli, Kevin, Kiseop, Hoon | 2014

Soohyun, Eli, Kevin, Kiseop, Hoon, Jun | 2014-2017

Soohyun, Eli, Kiseop, Hoon, Jun | 2017

Eli, Kiseop, Hoon, Jun | 2018

Soohyun, Kevin | 2020

Soohyun, Hoon | 2021 (I don't know if there's a full version of it)

Soohyun, Hoon, Kiseop | 2023

Soohyun, Hoon, Kiseop, Eli, Xander, AJ/Siyoon | 2023

Soohyun, Hoon, Kiseop, Xander, Siyoon | 2023

Soohyun, Hoon, Kiseop, Eli, Xander | 2023

Why the hell is their lineup so unstable? It's like once a few years pass, they have to change lineups. Also, insane that Soohyun has only not been in one version, and Hoon has only missed one since joining.

Oh, well I guess the real fun fact is that they've had 3 songs where all 10 have performed it at some point - Not Young, MMHN, and Without You, hilariously.

So we're closing off their rookie era now, and into...actually, I'm not sure what to call 2010 as. Their success years? Don't really know, but I'm excited we're coming up on Bran New Kiss where I have a whole essay prepared on the vocal line because I think they're absolutely fascinating.

UKISS Era - Cringe Rookies - Complete!

[smugraccoon137]

Supergirl Season 1 Episode 5 Review and Thoughts

K: Sounds like a woman that knows what she wants

…Do you know what women want Kara? Sounds kinda fruity

K talking about Lucy: She's gorgeous, she's smart, she smells nice. Hell I want to date her

Kara what the fuck

Poor Alex and her lesbian ass being left alone with Maxwell lord handsome bachelor man

Wow I hate the concept that a girl listening to a dude's romantic problems puts her in the friendzone. That makes no sense. My demiromantic ass does not relate at all

Ew not Maxwell coming onto Alex

Also what part of the government does anything to help people?? Girl what planet are you on

Ahhh the irony of Kara getting friend zoned by James and then Winn getting friendzoned by Kara

Fucking Lucy Lane calling out James’ crush on Clark

I do like this moment where Kara realizes that Lucy is just as vulnerable as she is. I appreciate that cus there's nothing worse than girls deciding they’re enemies just because they like the same person. 

Okay not to laugh but I was not expecting Maxwell Lord's back story to be “When I was a kid my parents organs melted” lolol

 K: I don't know anything about romantic love

*Me taking notes for my autistic headcanon*

I had to look it up. That kid does not look 12. When did children get so tall??

Episode 5 the first time Kara faces the moral dilemma of not being able to save someone:

I personally love stuff like this and its something we don’t talk about a lot anymore. But used to be a big part of coming of age stories geared towards boys. Usually a kid or young man who doesn’t understand the value of a life until he takes one away from someone. And then subsequently is overwhelmed by the gravity of their actions. For some reason we just don’t talk about that anymore?

But anyways! We don’t really talk about how this affects Kara beyond the fact that the man who dies low key leaves her a mystery. One that seems to tie back to Maxwell Lord. I hope that we do in the next episode, because again this is something very worth talking about. Especially in the grand scheme of a super hero’s journey. I remember during The Batman animated series, and in the Justice League animated series that when something of that scale happened.

It was of importance, because it showed that our heroes can’t save everyone. That when someone dies, even a stranger, they feel a deep responsibility to that person. Because it is their job to protect the people in their city. They are connected to each and every one of us. And yes its a massive savior complex, but its unusual to find a Hero without one. Its a part of why they don the mantel most of the time. And especially with Kara’s history with being sent to protect her baby cousin, you’d think that that would directly be projected onto National City.

But yeah I hope we talk about it more. Instead of just “It wasn’t your fault Kara” and moving on lickety split. This is a good moment to talk about Kara so I hope the writers use it.

K: So you can have it all?

C: Of course. Just not all at once or right away

Just a line I liked and obviously a bit of foreshadowing

I can dig Maxwell as an antagonist. A man too smart for his own good. Supergirl as a person is this massive mystery right on his front door. And isn’t it just a part of the whole super hero thing to have someone obsessed with discovering your true identity?

[dailyaudiobiblechronological]

3/9/2023 DAB Chronological Transcription

Numbers 33 - 34

Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible Chronological, I'm China. Today is the 9th day of March, welcome. So great to be here with you today. Today we continue on in the book of Numbers with chapters 33 to 34. And we continue on in the Christian Standard Bible for this week.

Commentary

So today we start off by reading the Wilderness Travels reviewed and so we read all the places that they encamped. And I remember reading these years ago and kind of thinking, okay, I'm just curious about the value of this. Why is this something that we need to know? One I will say after going to Israel a few times and seeing like when you go to the wilderness and then you're like, oh my gosh, there's literally like nothing, nothing. Like for real nothing here. Still nothing. Like they haven't even built like a gift shop or a bathroom here. There's nothing. Well, I mean, they've built some things, but for the most part this panoramic view is just the wilderness desert. And so you're trying to imagine people living in here. Anyways, and so hearing some of these names and like, okay, some of these sound familiar. And so when you go there and you, oh wow, they were here and they traveled from here and then you kind of see all the distance that they went. There's value in that for sure. And I think too when God had Moses write down all the starting points and then where they went from, I don't know if you've ever journaled in your life, I did a lot when I was younger. I know the value in it, so I really should pick it up again. But to go back throughout your life and look at those journals and remember where you were at one point of your life and to think, okay, wow, I was here, wow, I was really crying out. Like, for me I can read my journals and be like, man, I was really crying out friends that were life giving that around my age and loved the Lord and were kind of in the same place that I was because I didn't move out of my parents house after high school and went to college. Like I stayed home and was trying to figure out what I was going to do and so that became pretty lonely. And then I had the desire to be married. A lot of my journals were crying out for that and just praying and just writing down prayers. And so years later to go back and look at all those and to see one, how much I've matured and my understanding of the Lord, but then also how Lord, like you were faithful to answer every single one of these prayers and I think there's just so much value in that. So to read where they were and where they are now is or sorry, where we are now in the story, there's value in that and you can see growth and you can see one step forward and a few steps backwards. I don't know anyone who can't relate to that. Everyone can relate to that and then also just the hand of God being so faithful and merciful throughout our journey because there's times where we have outed and times that we've either threatened to walk away or really did walk away and maybe we've come back or maybe we're slowly coming back. But I think there's so much value in reading this and so all we're literally reading from place to place, from little town to little town, they all had value in it. There was things that the Lord did in every single one of those little encampments and even if it was just okay we follow the Lord today. We saw Him by cloud by day and pillar fire by night, like we're attesting to that he's faithful and that he's following us or that he's leading us and we're following Him again. I think there's so much value in that.

Prayer

Lord, I thank you for your word that encourages us to journal where we are and where we are going, and if nothing else, once that we can put it on paper and just allow our brain to think about each word that is coming to mind and to be cognitive of what you're doing in our hearts and our lives. But then also too so that over the years we can look back and see your hand and see wow Lord, I didn't even see that you were doing this back then but I see it now and I'm grateful. And so I pray that we would be a people who cherish the things that you do even if it's just the day to day, the mundane faithfulness, and I thank you that even that is just so profound and so generous to us. I thank you for Your word that is just steadily reminding us of Your love and Your care for our hearts, in your name we pray, amen.

Announcements

Dailyaudiobible.com is our website, that is the home base where you can see what's happening here in the community so be sure to check that out. We have some cool things happening in the store. We have restocked our hats and the trucker hats and the beanies and so if you missed it the first round that they came out we've restocked them. So go make sure that you get yours before they are gone again. They are limited time once they're gone. I do believe they are gone. So if that is something that you love to have. It's a great conversation starter, too. I always love seeing people's hats. Like, if I see something that kind of looks like something else that I know, I kind of like looking at that person's hat. And you're just, like, walking in a grocery store, like, all the time. Like, my grandpa's a big Michigan fan, so anytime I see the M emblem, I'm like, Go blue. And they're like, what? Okay, how do you know that? And I'm like, well, my family is from Michigan, and so it's just a conversation starter, but anyways, go blue. Sure. But also, talking about a community reading the Bible together is definitely a conversation starter, for sure. So if you would, like, go check those out. If you have prayer requests and things that we as a community can come alongside of you and encourage you and pray over you, you can call in at 800-583-2164. If you listen through the app, you can send your prayer requests in through there as well. Those get sent in and played at the end of every day's podcast. And that is all for today. I'm China. I love you, and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer Line

Hi DABC, this is God's Child. First of all, I called last year, and I requested prayer regarding some mental health struggles that I was dealing with, particularly in regards to sexual identity thoughts. And I mentioned that I was in a really bad place, and I ended up reaching to a therapist, but the cost of the therapy, I couldn't keep up with the payments and so forth. Not that I was not paying for it, but I couldn't afford it any longer, and so I withdrew from therapy. And now that the thoughts have escalated to the point where sometimes I just feel completely helpless and hopeless, and oftentimes it feels tormenting. And so I ended up reaching to a counselor who advised me to get beyond the mentorship of a pastor or someone that can walk me with me through this. And I mentioned also last year that I don't know anyone close to me that I can share this information with, so I've been dealing with this on my own. So anyway, I'm just calling in to ask for your prayers, and hopefully the Lord would help me find someone that can pray with me and walk me through this. So thank you all so much and God bless you. Good night. Bye.

Greetings to you, my DABC family. I've been a member of DAB for, I don't know, maybe four or five years now, and it has been my pleasure, my honor, it's been my strength, my joy, my place of refuge, along with just knowing the Lord, of course, and all of you. I wish I could see your faces. This message is for Joy from Mexico, who called in a couple of days ago and sounded very young. Didn't give her age, of course, but she sounded like a young lady and I related to what she had to say, but I heard her with my aged voice, my aged ears. And so let me say to you joy, hold on. Just hold on. Keep smiling, keep walking, keep moving. Keep moving forward. Have an expectation for what God will do. You kept saying that you were afraid going forward, you've broken up with your boyfriend and you're good with that. I'm not so sure if you really are good with that, but that's a good thing. It means you're being set free for something bigger, something greater, something better. The joy of the Lord truly is your strength. Pull up on it. Read the word. Stay with the DAB family, absolutely. That's where you'll find a lot of strength and encouragement. But I just wanted you to know, darling, it will be fine. You'll be great. It'll be good. You just have to keep walking. No life is without trials and tribulation or even tears. But still, the tears can be sweet. So let me pray for you, Lord, will you protect this young lady as she moves forward in Jesus name? Just cover her, Lord, with your grace and your mercy. This is walking in the light in Tennessee saying, Amen. Amen. And amen. Love you all. Good night, good day, good afternoon. Wherever you are, be blessed. Amen.

Good morning, DABC family. This prayer is for hopeful in Wyoming. And I just pray for your safe travels and that everything goes good while you're in South Africa and working on your masters. And I just pray for your influence and what experiences you will have and what you will bring to those kids in the orphanage and safe travels for your mom. And I just wish you the best on this journey in your life.

Hi, my DABC family. This is a New Envision growth out of New York. This message is for Joy. I forgot where you said you were calling from, but you sounded very distraught. You just broke up with your boyfriend and I'm going to be honest with you, when you said it, I said Hallelujah. Because I know that God is going to be making room for who he has for you. And right now, who he has for you is Him. You are going to be okay. Like you said, you do have joy. You are joy. And therefore you're going to be just fine. Trust me. I know that he is a peace. He is the calm and the storm when we feel unwanted. And I come against a spirit of rejection and abandonment. God is everything that you need. But something tells me that you know that already. So just continue to dwell in the arms of our loving Christ Jesus so that he can be whole. And that when the man that God has ordained for you comes to you whole, the two holes become one. Also know that you have people praying for you all the way from New York, bye.

Hi there family. My name is Theo from Portsmouth, Virginia. I usually don't call in a lot, but the holy spirit just prompt me to call in today. And I want to pray for two individuals. I want to pray for the young lady who felt like her boyfriend just broke her when she felt alone. And also I want to pray for Tanya, my fellow seven city family member. She is in Suffolk, Virginia and I live here in Portsmouth, Virginia. But I just want to pray for them two individuals. First of all, heavenly Father want to say thank you Lord for just having the opportunity to boldly come before your throne. And we would just want to pray for the individual. Heavenly Father the young lady who feels alone. Lord God that she's not alone she have You, Heavenly Father and just consecrate her touching from the top her head to the solar feet that you are all she's need and you have someone help make for her. And I just want to pray for Tanya, pray for her daughter who's in the midst of just converting back over to Christ and just kind of just feeling the effects of dealing with crystals and all those things and out of you. But Lord touch her, lead and guide, direct her back into the fold of Christ or heavenly father because we are claiming it in Jesus name and also tying up you was praying for your marriage. Also you pray for your marriage. Heavenly father, continue to show her what to do or heavenly father in this marriage because we know what you have put together, you will not bring, you will not break, you have any father so just have your way. I love you guys dad see family, I pray for you guys and I just love this community and just got to continue to have your hands upon this ministry and I love you guys. Walk in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.

[thescrapbookingscientist]

Biweekly Media Roundup

- Trigun (Anime) - Ah yes a new hyper fixation for the month, I’ve been watching both the OG series and Stampede after being enticed by spoilers of some alien activity, something I had completely forgotten about from when I originally watched it back in middle school. I like both for different reasons, and desperately want to do a comparison of what aspects do and don’t work for each adaptation given the themes each is trying to convey. For a quick thought I would say that OG does a great job of fleshing out it’s world and central cast as interesting/likable concepts while Stampede is doing a good job expanding upon the stories philosophical arguments and humanizing (haha) the main villain. At  the moment I do prefer the original, both for it’s more likeable world and how that lends itself to the “All people deserve a chance as people will improve when offered kindness” message, but to be fair to Stampede it’s far from a finished product and it’s most recent episode has been it’s most solid yet, so we’ll see where it goes. Really hope the theory that Roberto is Milly’s father comes true, I miss her.

- Sense 8 (TV) - Finally finished Sense 8, debating on whether I’ll write up a full review ranking each characters storyline from best to worst. It definitely had it’s issues but I’m glad I watched it, the sci-fi concept was pretty unique, the various international locations and fun framing made it quite nice to look at, I appreciated the focus on the wide spectrum of sexualities, races, and identity, and in general it just had a fun cast of characters with various interesting plotlines. That being said, the main thing I’ll remember about it for awhile is how in the finale, my sister commented how surprising it was that the 2.5 hour special hadn’t featured a single sex scene in a series notorious for them, only for it to end with a 10-minute-long sex scene featuring every major character in the show intercut to look like one giant orgy, with the final shot of the entire series being a pan over to a used dildo. Wow. No notes, what a fitting end.

- Next In Fashion (TV) - “Watching” is strong word for what I’m doing with this, which is fast forwarding through to see the completed outfits at the end. Still, I do enjoy seeing what kinds of fashion people create when given specific prompts, it’s fun. I basically never agree with the judges though.

- Ranking of Kings (Anime) - Hey boy it’s me the haunted mirror from your childhood. Drink this potion made from your liquified dead father boy, It will grant you magical powers, believe me boy I would never lie to you. 

- Gintama (Anime) - Yup.

- Welcome to Demon School! (Anime) - Weekly dose of wholesome fun, does a great job at making me love every single character.

- Last Week Tonight (TV) - We’re back! The story on AI awareness about killed me, I think more company's should employ robots that try to convince customers to leave their wives for them. 

- The S Classes That I Raised (Webcomic) - Yup.

- Persona 5 Royal (Video Game) - Very funny to me that no less than 5 of the ladies confident storylines revolve around rekindling their connection with a close female friend. It’s like the writers were like hmm, so what is something women love in which they’ll base their entire lives around? I got it. Other women. Like based my dude but there are other women-centric stories out there. Also, if you’re gonna feed me all these wlw you gotta stop cockblocking me in my attempts to date Yusuke.

As usual I’m also keeping up with The Greatest Estate Developer, Land of the Lustrous, The Vampire Dies In No Time, and Buddy Daddies.

Listening to: I Really Want To Stay At Your House cover by Lunity, Brutal by Olivia Rodrigo, TOMBI by Kvi Baba, My Kind by Hilary Duff, This Is Not a Party by The Wombats, Odds Are by Barenaked Ladies, Nothing is Going Right by Meiyo, Snakes by PVRIS, The Sound by The 1975, Rule #4 by Fish in a Birdcage, They’re Only Human cover by Annapantsu, Kiss Me, Son of God by They Might Be Giants, Still Feel by Half-Alive, My Eyes by Neil Patrick Harris