#also i had no desire to figure out wtfs going on with the pattern on odas shirt so thats what u get.

[oursidae]

someones probably definitely done this before but i couldnt resist

inspired by this post

[darkpoisonouslove]

“Revenge of the Trix” Thoughts

Diving into this second special and I have to say that I am actually quite excited to see how this will go. It was fun comparing the first special to season 1 even though I kinda expected to be angered. But good news! I wasn’t. Not so much at least and I really hope that pattern will continue.

- I am not quite sure but I think they changed the timeline a little bit. Though, if it means I get the festival of the rose or that battle with the witches in Magix, I am down! I doubt it but I will hold on to my hopes until they get dashed!

- I am still puzzled by Faragonda’s remark about the “powerful forces here at work”. What does that mean? Who is she talking about? She can’t be wary of Daphne so what the hell is happening? Was she concerned at the possibility of Bloom having Dragon Fire? I really hope they will explain some of this. But I like that they added the fact that Daphne was the princess of Domino. It wasn’t in the original of this scene and I am glad they changed that.

- Okay, without the bike rescue and the way the dialogue in that scene is reworked, the Riven and Darcy stuff is way more disturbing than it used to be! She straight up spelled him without any connection being made outside of that and it just looks way too creepy. Not to mention that it does a disservice to Riven’s character as well because if Darcy never rescued him, he has no other reason to be meeting her other than “I don’t care about my friends, just about being great”.

- Spring break? Wow! We really sped through that school year.

- Was that montage from Gardenia in the original? I don’t quite remember that but it is cute as hell! And to end it with Mike and Vanessa hugging while happily watching their daughter? I will go sob now if you’ll excuse me. Beautiful.

- Wait, she’s dreaming of the night Mike saved her from the fire (instead of, you know, the fire in the flower shop)? And by the looks of it, in this she doesn’t know that she’s adopted like she did in 4kids season 1... I am actually in trepidation over this next scene.

- Well, that scene went better than I thought it would. But she really didn’t know about being adopted. I am just glad that she didn’t get mad they hadn’t told her the truth. It would have broken my heart. And they are her parents anyway.

- Omg, Bloom is asking all the right questions! I cannot believe it! I am absolutely ecstatic that they changed that part because now it is really making sense (I had given up on ever saying that in regards to Winx Club again so I vote my decision to watch the specials “fucking spectacular”). She connected the dots about getting her powers from her birth parents! I have been so salty about her not asking that in season 1 but they fixed it! Imma go happy sob again.

- Faragonda is showing her stuff now? Of her own volition? Nice! I just don’t think the “Daphne lived in a lake” thing makes sense. Didn’t her soul go there after her body was destroyed by the curse of Sirenix? That is different! And considering Faragonda’s past with the Company of Light, that is not all that she knows about Daphne so she’s kinda lying.

- Now that she saw the crown, does that mean that they don’t get to waste time going to Domino even though her powers were inside her all along? I really, really hope so! And the way Daphne presented the crown to her could be taken as symbolism about Daphne passing it down to her now that Bloom is the only living heir to the throne of Domino. That was a cool detail and a great change imo (especially if they aren’t gonna go to Domino).

- Well, Lucy’s PoV was kinda made more... understandable, I guess? Like, the wording was better... right before the very end of that argument between her and Mirta. That was somehow meaner than what happened in s1. But I actually like the change to the scene with Mirta casting her spell to spy on the Trix. I think it makes more sense than the way it was done in s1.

- How does she know there is an archive in Cloud Tower when she has never been there? I think this scene suffers from the changes. And it is also really convenient that she decided to break into CT just in time for the Trix to trick her. I think those scenes were backwards in s1 and it was after the Trix saw her in CT that they came up with their plan which was better because it didn’t look so staged. Also, “What are friends for?” Yeah, right, Sky. Friends. Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure. And you weren’t totally on a date.

- That scene with the Specialists was pretty intense considering its length. Since when is Brandon being the cautious one? While Timmy is like “Sure I’ll help you commit major offense against school rules, no probs”? I could take Brandon’s behavior as a best friend’s worry and Timmy’s as a friend’s desire to help out but it still seems a bit out of place. I am just glad that Sky is taking care of the tactics instead of just throwing himself at it.

- And there is no defense system or anything here. I can’t tell if that’s good or bad. It was kinda random when it popped up in s1 (never to be seen again, mind you) but it seems a bit illogical for the school to not have some kind of protection (especially if it has powerful spells inside). Idk.

- I am stunned by Sky’s absolute dumbassery that is bordering on being an asshole (and even tipping right into it). What does it matter if she’s a witch? She is still the same Bloom she was before she learned it, wtf, dude? (Not to mention that this pisses me off greatly because it implies that all witches are pure evil.) I just can’t understand why Bloom didn’t wonder how she has a fairy form then. She can turn into a fairy and that is pretty solid proof that she isn’t a witch. Why didn’t she question it?

- Awww! I love how worried Winx are for Bloom! And I think they’re skipping classes (and risking to get in big trouble with Griselda) to go look for her. True friendship!

- What is she doing sleeping in the bushes? And why doesn’t she just try to fly there? You know, get some proof for herself that she’s a fairy since she has the wings and all?

- Why is Stormy just setting random patches of grass on fire? I agree with Darcy, it can be dangerous if she sets the whole forest on fire.

- “Why would we be so cruel? For giggles.” XDDD

- They changed Mirta’s powers to transforming emotions into energies? That is kinda cool but isn’t that what all magic does?

- The Dragon just swept the Trix away? Is that what happened? It looked like it just fucked off into the sky without doing shit but I digress. But aww at the way Tecna scooped up Bloom so carefully! It was adorable!

- If I were Bloom, I would leave Sky a very angry message and he’d have to give a real good apology for me to take him back. The moment she appeared to be something he didn’t expect, he pulled away from her. That is not someone you want to be in a relationship with. I just wish Bloom would figure out that she can do better. If he shallow like that, you don’t need him, hon. (But hey, don’t blame Kiko! And that wasn’t bad advice! If you want to talk to someone, you should fucking call them! That was good advice.)

- Oh, no! No, no, no, no! Please, not the Day of the Royals! I beg of you! Though, it will have to happen because that is what makes Bloom go back to Gardenia where the Trix corner her. But what will happen with the Diaspro story? Bloom knows that Sky is Sky. Though, he still didn’t tell her he was engaged so I guess there can be drama over that. Ugh, why?

- “That’s a relief”? Fuck you, Sky! So her not being a witch is what makes or breaks this relationship - actually, pardon me, THIS FRIENDSHIP according to his own definition - and not, you know? Her goddamn personality maybe? Damn, what a fucker. Seriously, he is so much worse than in s1. Bloom should really stop wasting time on his sorry ass and go snatch Diaspro for herself instead. Why does he have a picture of Diaspro btw? He does not really care for her... like, at all. Not that he cares for anyone, apparently.

- Oh, so now he loves Bloom? Also, great going, Timmy! Yeah, just suggest breaking off a royal engagement. Without even asking what the political situation is. That is not the best idea. I mean, there was the possibility that Eraklyon needed that marriage. Which, of course, they don’t but still. It ain’t that simple. (God, I hate giving Sky an excuse but this really is a complicated situation. Though, he could have just told Bloom about the arranged marriage instead of lying to her.)

- She could have just waited instead of going for the option of getting them all in trouble. It was only one day. But at least Winx tried to talk her out of it instead of being right there with her in the impulsiveness. And yet, they still decided to support her like friends do. That is cute!

- “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.” Ya think? And yes, being around Erendor and Samara is definitely not a great experience.

- Ooh, she saw Sky directly with Diaspro! Damn, that changes things. And I hate to admit it but it makes more sense because at least now she has a solid reason to jump to conclusions.

- Oh, no! She thinks it is the Trix again. Honestly, I just wish she would have seen Sky for the lying piece of shit that he is! It would have saved so much trouble. I feel bad for Diaspro, though. She just got attacked without having done anything to deserve it. Shocking, I know. But none of this was her fault.

- Sky really did that with Riven? I thought he would be more mature than Riven but nope. He is really campaigning for asshole of Red Fountain. I know Riven started this but Sky has previous offenses against both Bloom and Diaspro so he takes the cake.

- Codatorta was very quick into action. It was kinda impressive. I see that the conflict between Griffin and Faragonda is non-existent here. “I see it’s not just my students who can behave badly”? This coming from Griffin? That has the exact opposite tone of her line in the original. It’s kinda like “Well, we’re in this together because obviously neither my, nor your students know what the hell they are doing.” Though, it can still be taken as a subtle dig as in “You thought you had the high ground when you sent me back the Trix but look at what your fairy has done!”. That actually sounds more like it, though her tone of voice was still a bit too soft for a confrontation.

- Hey, no nightmare monster? But does that mean that the Trix don’t get expelled from CT?

- Aww, I wish she wouldn’t just leave her friends behind! And that montage of memories. (But what the heck is Tecna doing at that fountain? Get down from there, Tecna! I thought you were the reasonable one!)

- How do the Trix know Bloom is from Gardenia? It sounds like they are the bestest of friends with her instead of mortal enemies.

- Awwwwww! Mike and Vanessa keep being so supportive! I love it!

- I actually think I like how they reworked this scene! Icy dropped them in the portal thingy (whatever the hell it was) to force Bloom to transform and lower her guard at the same time and I think it made some more sense than the original did.

- “Our ancestral witches”? That sounded kinda weird. I was just about to say in my conclusion for this special that they dropped the Daphne storyline halfway through this but I see they haven’t. I am pleasantly surprised! And Bloom actually learns that she is her sister (which for some reason was missing from the 4kids dub) as well as all the stuff about Domino. Well, all in very vague terms but still.

- I actually prefer the original way they plucked the fire out of her. It was more jarring while here the animation was just a tad bit too smooth for what it needed to accomplish.

- Oh, and here her fairy form just vanished after they took the flame? I love that! It was the one thing that instantly told me that she still had her powers in s1 because she still had her winx for a while after they took it from her. But here it disappeared the moment the Trix took off with her power. I am curious to see if it is actually gone. Though, I can understand how believing she doesn’t have it anymore can get in the way of her transforming because magic comes from emotions.

This was actually better than I thought it would be and I went in with some expectations because of the first special! I am so pleasantly surprised! The plot carried well throughout this one as well and I supported about 95% of the changes they made from the original storyline which is a lot more than I expected! There was a thing or two that didn’t make much sense, but overall, this was pretty logical! My nitpick would be with the title of this special because the Trix weren’t all that central to it and there was no revenge whatsoever here. I would call it more of a hunt, really. So that would’ve been better if it had been something else having to do with Bloom since she remained at the front and center the whole time... And that didn’t annoy me at all. Wow! I kinda wish they will rework all the seasons into specials now if they can make me like Bloom (though, I admittedly had my moments of that in s1 as well. It is just that the later on we go, the more I can’t stand her). Now I am hyped about the next one and I really hope I won’t be disappointed because it will be such a shame after the good work in this one. (Oh, and the rest of Winx didn’t have much role in this one but I was actually so absorbed in the Bloom storyline that I didn’t notice until this very moment. Man, these specials are really working a miracle here!)

[sometimesrosy]

Do you think we will ever get a bellarke kiss? i know we got plenty of other confirmations, but it would be nice for it to be spelt out for me? i want endgame without a shadow of a doubt, is that too much to ask?

I actually believe that The 100 is around 25% ABOUT Bellarke and I believe the end game of that story is romantic fulfillment, because their relationship is NOT platonic. A platonic soulmate pairing is Sherlock and Joan, not Clarke and Bellamy. They yearn for each other and are jealous when the other is with someone else and long for something more, mutually. They are MUTUALLY PINING, which is an awesome story, imo. 

It can be hard to tell what KIND of story a person is telling, and so our task as the audience, if we want to follow along and be on top of the story instead of just sitting back and enjoying the rollercoaster ride is to figure out what the story is, what genre it is, what tropes they’re using, what archetypes, what themes, what style... what TYPE of story.

A lot of genre stories are very simple and not surprising, a soap offers melodrama and mix and matching relationships, an action show offers big fights and exciting adventures and a victory to reach for, romances offer love and consummation and if a tragedy pain and loss and if a comedy or romantic genre happiness and unification of the couple.. Right? 

So what the hell story are they telling HERE? It IS a post apocalyptic science fiction action adventure survival show, and so we have science fiction tropes like spaceships, AIs, mad scientists, and we have post apoclayptic tropes like quests for redemption, birth and rebirth, scavengers and warriors, mutants, savages, and we have battle scenes and sword fights and gun fights and kidnappings and rescue missions and death.

There is an OBVIOUS Bellarke storyline, and it is OBVIOUSLY (not a delusion) a love story. It IS about their partnership, a soulmate relationship, her head to his heart, their NEED to be together, she is the hero but he is the key, her need to redeem him his need to save her.  Their feelings are not platonic, which precludes romance or sexual desire or longing, thus the jealous watching while one is with someone else romantically or sexually.  BUT the question is, what KIND of romance is it??? We know already it’s a slow burn, but are we getting our established relationship? It’s what I want, but what I want is not relevant to what story they are telling. I suppose I shouldn’t have to tell you that what YOU want isn’t relevant to what story they are telling, either. This kiss and confirmation you want? It doesn’t matter. Us wanting something to happen doesn’t mean that’s the story, doesn’t mean that’s what we’re getting. That’s the kind of interpretation that leads to people deciding Lxa was the hero and Clarke her reward and Bellamy the villain, or Spacekru were the stars with Echo (WTF!? That doesn’t even make any sense,) the new hero and Clarke was the villain. Or ignoring Marper and Mackson because you ship Minty, when Marper and Mackson are also beautiful? And ignoring the actual story and the actual heroes leads to being disappointed when our wants don’t happen the way we want them to. Also, my opinion about what is going to happen isn’t relevant to what is going to happen, either. I am an observer, looking for textual clues for what story is going to happen. Now I’m a GOOD observer, and I spend a lot of time double checking my theories against the text and against logic and literary analysis thought, but I am still only putting the puzzle pieces together trying to make it fit the story they are telling.

I will say that the theory I have found MOST useful in puzzling out the story is Jungian Literary Theory. 

Jung is also an influential force in myth (archetypal) criticism. Psychological critics are generally concerned with his concept of the process of individuation (the process of discovering what makes one different form everyone else). Jung labelled three parts of the self:

Shadow – the darker, unconscious self; rarely surfaces, yet must be faced for totality of SelfPersona – the public personality/mask (particularly masculine)Anima/Animus – a man’s/woman’s “soul image” (the negative that makes a composite whole)

A neurosis occurs when someone fails to assimilate one of these unconscious components into his conscious and projects it on someone else. The persona must be flexible and be able to balance the components of the psyche.

Mythological / Archetypal: A mythological / archetypal approach to literature assumes that there is a collection of symbols, images, characters, and motifs (i.e., archetypes) that evokes a similar response in all people. According to the psychologist Carl Jung, mankind possesses a “collective unconscious” (a cosmic reservoir of human experience) that contains these archetypes and that is common to all of humanity. Myth critics identify these archetypal patterns and discuss how they function in the works. They believe that these archetypes are the source of much of literature’s power. [x]

The Shadow-Persona-Anima/Animus is a particularly good fit for The 100 AND Bellarke. Bellarke ARE the Anima/Animus. In fact, we have seen again and again the dark/light, yin yang symbolism to make us subconsciously connect them as two sides of the same coin, dark and light... and they take turns being the dark and light. If they are the anima/animus, then that means they need to integrate the other (which we saw between seasons 4/5) and it also means they need to be together which we’ve seen in seasons 1-6, and which need has only gotten BIGGER as the seasons have passed.

Oh when I consider this approach more fully, I think that Octavia is the Shadow to Bellamy’s Persona... the girl under the floor, rarely let out, and once free (after losing her animus [lincoln] going out of control and becoming a tyrant that destroys the world until the persona asserts itself and feelings/pain/emotion is balanced once again with purpose/ethics/doing what is right.) You know what? I’m shocked that no one has really delved into the Hades/Persephone/Demeter allegory of Dante/Clarke/Abby. I went with Dante’s Inferno as the allegory I explored... maybe because I didn’t start doing my Jungian analysis until season 3 and they showed us that Blake illustration of Dante’s Inferno, and I took the knock upside the head the show was giving me and went OH YOU MEAN IT’S AN ALLUSION!!!!

I think this show is, well, a mix and match of different influences, and I like that. I like that we get The Divine Comedy and the bible as well as Greek mythology as well as Game of Thrones and Battlestar Gallactica and Tangled and The Beauty and The Beast and Penelope and Odysseus as well as Elizabeth and Darcy. I like that shit. The mythic/archetypal stories can be seen in ALL those references. Bellamy is Han Solo and Clarke is Princess Leia. See I love that shit.

I think in some ways, this show is about healing and becoming whole and making peace with your darkness and choosing to be better and rebirth and redeeming humanity and hopefully in season 7, although it is by no means certain, the healing of the earth itself. It’s about trauma and how we struggle to come back from total destruction, because that’s what post apocalyptic fiction is about and one of the reasons we consume it... because we can see our OWN rebirth in the dramatic, fictional rebirth (and why I hate post apocalyptic fic where the guiding principle is that humanity is doomed and there’s no point.) 

Oh wait. You asked about Bellarke and I went into jungian literary analysis and Dante’s inferno and post apocalyptic fic... Okay so here’s the thing. I can not GUARANTEE you that you’ll get a kiss. Because a KISS isn’t the point. The point is UNITY, together, the head and the heart, becoming WHOLE. This is why they could end every season with Clarke and Bellamy together and victorious, but together in a different way, and still with more story to tell... because...wait... each season there has been a DIFFERENT mythic tale of the anima/animus coming together. If the show had ended at season 4, it would have been the sun/moon, always longing, never together. If it had ended at season 5, it might have been binary stars, aligned and moving in the same direction. Now in season 6, we don’t get the ending of our story. We’re still in the middle of it, but Clarke and Bellamy have actually come TOGETHER, and it is in an intimate, romantic way, with that fairy tale “true loves kiss bringing her back from the dead,” aka mouth to mouth aka “the kiss of life,”... when we know that mouth to mouth was not necessary to CPR, but it WAS necessary to the romantic trope of true love’s kiss.

See, this all brings me back to my ORIGINAL analysis on Bellarke after Hakeldama in season 3, when everyone thought Bellarke was dead and CL was the endgame story, and I went, no wait. They are the head and the heart and they can only do it TOGETHER and the main idea is bringing together the opposites/enemies/yin and yang to create a coherent whole that means that Clarke and Bellamy HAVE to be together that’s how this story works. Bellarke is endgame. I don’t make the rules.

Of course I was not aware that it wasn’t considering ONLY romance to be “together,” and the hands metaphor was used instead of fandom’s desire for a kiss, and there are other archetypal light/dark head/heart/ yin/yang king/queen stories than just the simple romance that shippers want. Not that there’s anything wrong with the simple romance. I think season 1 WAS a simple romance for them. It was enemies to friends to lovers... but without the resolution of the lovers part when they decided to drag it out into a slow burn that COULD, if we got to the end of it, be the most fantastic epic love story on tv. 

I’ve faced so many years of people telling me I was delusional, I have double checked my theories and compared the development of the bellarke relationship to canon, to romantic conventions, to archetypes, to allusions, to other ships on the show. I’ve watched and charted the relationship growth for all six seasons, and the thing is, yeah they sometimes pull back and they always put obstacles between clarke and bellamy and if I saw the direction going ELSEWHERE, that’s what I would go with, because I am more attached to the story than to my WANTING it to give me my ship. But they are NOT portraying Bellarke as platonic, and they are NOT portraying B/E as endgame, but as a romantic obstacle, family, spy/master, and a “right for now” romance, rather than a Ms. Right romance. And Echo’s story is not being portrayed as her being fulfilled by her relationship with Bellamy, but by rediscovering who she is and reclaiming her life from the people who would use her, who stole her identity. Echo’s story seems to be going in a feminist direction about female empowerment and not needing no man, while Clarke and Bellamy’s story has gone in a “yes I can do it without you but I don’t want to and I need you in my life because I love you and I won’t let you go.” Bellarke’s story has only gotten MORE romantic, culminating this season in that true love’s kiss/back from the dead... which leaves us season 7, to ratchet the epic love story up one last notch. 

Which notch? Consummation. So yeah, I think they’ll “kiss,” because the togetherness has steadily gotten more and more romantic every single season and I honestly can’t see what else could come between true love’s kiss and  endgame except a season worth of story about how they get from “I can’t lose you, I need you,” to endgame romantic physical and official “we are married and in love” status. But you know, i’m not one of the writers just an observer with some literary analysis.  My fave is jungian, but i like the others, too. Except maybe the first one, historical/biographical, because I don’t think that works at ALL unless you understand the text for itself outside of historical biographical context which would be a secondary analysis, and I think fandom prefers hist/bio but never bothers to understand the story being told for itself before deciding it means all sorts of things about context. oh my god rowena stop talking and just post. 

[casually-inlove]

Hi! I love your analysis and i want to know your opinion about he tian and jian yi jealous How did you think they gonna react if they see xixi and Mo with others o maybe if xixi and Mo have a good friendship, did you imagine he tian and jian yi watching them jealous?

UPDATED: added the Jian Yi bit I missed.

Gosh, you guys make me embarrassed lol. I honestly never expected these kinds of posts to get positive feedback. But I’m very excited that you enjoy reading it so thank you so much!

Back to your question. Firstly, as preamble, I’d like to state that I do not consider jealousy an entirely healthy sort of reaction nor do I endorse it in any way. A little jealousy is natural, but extreme jealous outbursts are truly unbecoming, nor do I want to romanticize them in any way.

(This is gonna be long, so better grab a chair).

Now when it comes to He Tian, I truly believe that feeling jealous will be a new and entirely unnerving experience to him. Looking back at his past experiences and childhood traumas, it’s quite obvious that he’s somewhat disconnected and detached from his own feelings. This is most evident in the emptiness that fills his life: he has no real passion (save for basketball maybe), no close relationships (until he meets MGS and co, and still he’s not open about himself yet), no deep ties to his family, and he practically stripped himself bare of any personal possessions. Hell, with all the money he has, his apartment is empty and all his stuff fits nicely in just a couple of cardboard boxes. So bottom line, He Tian isn’t used to getting attached to things or people, consciously or subconsciously he ends up avoiding it. That, of course, can be traced back to the puppy incident which basically splits itself into three points: 1) the puppy he came to love and care was gruesomely taken away from him 2) his brother, the person who He Tian trusted the most, betrayed him 3) He Tian was weak, so he had to entrust something he loved into another person’s care, and thus it ended up in a disaster, because he couldn’t protect the puppy himself.

Now that he is becoming more and more attached to MGS, I’m pretty sure that some of his deep-rooted fears will intensify, particularly the ones that relate to his past inability to protect something he cherished. On the other hand, He Tian clearly wishes Mo well. It’s evident from the way he went out of his way to find him a well-paying job at the photography studio, and even tried to compliment Mo on being industrious and finally looking like somebody. I do believe that He Tian is somewhat familiar with Mo’s reputation, at very least he probably heard the rumours and we know for sure that he had been checking the detention board. So he probably knows that in fact, MGS doesn’t have that many friendships outside his henchmen. With that said, I believe a part of He Tian would want to be supportive of Mo building healthy connections with other people.

And that’s where He Tian’s inner conflict will come into the light because he’ll be faced with his deep-running internalized fears that he may not rationally understand battling his desire to be supportive and selfless. Considering that He Tian’s upbringing probably caused him to shut off his own emotions, this is going to be very hard for him. The novelty of it, the inner turmoil of conflicting feelings, his inability to adequately process and express his emotions – all of it will likely put a strain on He Tian. While I don’t see him throwing a jealousy fit (he just doesn’t seem like the type, besides as I mentioned, he ultimately wants to be good for MGS even if he doesn’t always know how), I could see him getting crabby to the point Mo notices and wonders wtf is going on. Or, more likely, I could see him becoming extra-clingy, invading Mo’s personal space or y’know, going all “excuse me, let me borrow Little Mo for a sec”. What I do not see is He Tian being downright nasty about it and fending off anyone who comes into close vicinity of Mo. Absolutely not.

As for ZZX, I believe that as of right now he’s taking Jian Yi a little bit for granted, however, once Jian Yi gets kidnapped, his attitude will change. We know that ZZX is somewhat annoyed by Jian Yi’s antics. It just happens that our lovely airhead fits the bill of a boy who cried wolves. OX scattered these moments throughout the narrative, like when Jian Yi does that careless hide-and-seek thing making ZZX worry for nothing. So I expect that as the story goes on, ZZX will be taking him with a grain of salt.

Obviously, ZZX worries for him. And I think we’ve noticed something like distrust mixed with maybe some airs of disapproval when Brother Qiu gave Jian Yi a lift on his bike. The face that ZZX makes doesn’t look like one that endorsed Jian Yi being so careless around a stranger.

There’s also a strip from the earlier short comic series (it takes place after Jian Yi reappears), where a drunk older Jian Yi apparently ends up leaning against a very imposing stranger, to ZZX dismay at that. ZZX, who had previously pushed Jian Yi off, now quickly rectifies himself and tugs Jian Yi away from another dude. He’s silent but yeah, you can see it written all over his face: ZZX does not approve Jian Yi hanging around older men, haha.

Anyway, back to my original point. I think that post Jian Yi’s return, ZZX gonna treat him with greater care, precisely because he had lost him once. Those feelings of loss and inability to prevent it will probably cause ZZX to act low-key possessive like he did in that strip. Sure, he’s worried about his safety, but I cannot help but feel that ZZX feels a bit inadequate when he sees Jian Yi get close to someone older… and bigger? If we go waaaay back to the first kidnapping attempt, we see that in the aftermath ZZX feels down allegedly because he wants to grow up and become strong in order to protect Jian Yi. Perhaps that is why he appears slightly pissed when Jian Yi ends up close with someone ZZX can’t take on?

As for ZZX and Momo… well, I just don’t see them giving off couple vibes. They are probably gonna spend their time in rather comfortable silence. For Momo ZZX is someone who doesn’t annoy him with endless chitchat, and for ZZX Momo is someone who doesn’t indulge in silly ideas. So no, I don’t imagine them spending time next to each other would somehow bother Jian Yi or He Tian. It’s just not that type of bond.

EDIT

Apologies to the anon who asked the question. I seem to have misread it a bit. I usually answer these things when I’m back from work and by the end of the day, I’m thoroughly braindead and confusing 3’s for 8’s, lol. Again, my apologies.

So the question was actually about how would Jian Yi react to seeing ZZX with other people, not the other way around.

I do see Jian Yi as someone prone to jealousy. In fact, I think we can safely assume that Jian Yi displays some signs of anxious attachment style. Attachment styles are, by and large, the behavioural patterns that define our habits of building and maintaining long-term and short-term relationships. Anxious attachment forms in children when the parental figure vacillates between being there for them (caring, feeding, being emotionally supportive, etc) and being either distant/absent, or insensitive and otherwise not providing them with attention and care. The child thus undergoes greater levels of distress, because the parent is unpredictable, and the child doesn’t understand what to expect and whether they will be cared for or left on their own. As they grow up, they start displaying such behaviours as being clingy or smothering, since they subconsciously believe that the only way for them to survive is to cling close to their attachment figure, often both in the emotional and physical sense of it.

Now from what we know of Jian Yi, his father was absent from his life, while his mother seems to be frequently missing. We have seen tell ZZX that some auntie is picking him after kindergarten. Some flashbacks also show him being lonely and apparently alone at home. There’s also a scene where a young Jian Yi is weeping and coming up with an idea that “mother doesn’t want him anymore”, which are also quite telling.

From the narrative, we learn that it is ZZX who becomes a significant attachment figure to Jian Yi. Hell, during the kidnapping, Jian Yi isn’t thinking about seeing his mom again, he’s thinking about ZZX. Apart from clinginess, people with an anxious attachment style may indulge themselves in constantly testing whether their partner worries about them. Now I’m not saying that Jian Yi is manipulative in any way or that he plays games with ZZX, however, he does often want his attention/approval, like when he does that pounce thing or when he half-heartedly tries to play hide-and-seek in an inopportune moment. Also, quite clearly Jian Yi doesn’t like being separated from his boyfriend, lol.

Typically, jealousy in people with anxious attachment manifests itself from their own deep-running insecurities. Insecurity makes people become very critical about themselves, so they may often have these lines of thinking: “you are so desperate/needy/selfish, of course, he/she will be annoyed by you” and thus they may often feel unfulfilled because they tend to suppress their need for affection. These suppressed feelings, in turn, may result in short anger outbursts and some distrustful or controlling behaviour. We have seen bits of both when Jian Yi had to deal with a love-letter from a girl who had a crush on ZZX (what’s her name again?).

How Jian Yi would behave if he became jealous: likely he’ll become emotionally withdrawn due to deep-seated insecurities, might fluctuate between emotional outbursts and clinginess. Will he be nasty to the other person? No, not very likely. However, he did display the so-called behavioural jealousy (the set of defensive measures against the perceived threat of a romantic rival): he agreed to help the girl deliver the love-letter on condition that she’ll never approach ZZX again.

So yes, I do see him being inclined to some jealous behaviours, but again not towards Momo x ZZX. As I said, there isn’t anything remotely romantic about them spending time together.

[thesinglesjukebox]

LOUIS TOMLINSON - MISS YOU [5.45] 3rd try is the... charm?

Maxwell Cavaseno: While foolish critics fondled the prattishness of current day Liam Gallagher and Primal Scream pastiche as some kind of return to form just because he had a good year on Twitter, leave it to the prophet of the zen-sunni anarchist of laddishment defined as "The Tommo Way", one Maestro Louis Tomlinson, to actually bother with coming up with a song that channels the Oasian spirit. The rock bits are all corrosive grafts to the point of Frankenstein artificiality, but whereas prime Oasis sounded like the pieces of Lynyrd Skynyrd's plane's torched remains superimposed over Paul Weller statuettes at times, "Miss You" is the false memories of those Good Time Gents xeroxed and 3D-printed out, Trevor Horn style, into blasts of anxiety disguised as escapist hoots. Louis feels attached to violent bungee cords outside of his control from the demands of the present, desire to "move on" into the future and the regrets of the past, and for all the easy charm of the sneery "Shit" reflex, you get the sense he would really like to keep up those swells of abandon for more than a few moments. [8]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: A post-breakup celebration complete with concomitant feelings of bitterness and regret. Louis Tomlinson channels 2000s pop rock and Oasis to forge a song well-suited for a bygone era's Teen Movie and obligatory soundtrack tie-in. The strings are hokey but self-aware: a cartoon rain cloud that follows Louis as he attempts to drink away conflicted feelings. The whole situation may be trope after trope, but it can feel less lonely and disheartening when you align your experiences with familiar, well-trod territory. [7]

Scott Mildenhall: It's great to have to Freefaller/The Noise Next Door/Son of Dork back, it really is, but what on earth is going with Louis Tomlinson's accent? Perhaps he just has to do what he can to get his voice through a song unscathed, but here it flits between classic, Robbiesque mid-atlanticism ("all of these thoughts", "tune"), an approximation of "standard" southern ("dancing" is halfway to Bextor), and a weirdly exaggerated version of his own northern speech (witness the same vowel in "worry", "love" and "coming" in the bridge, which does not sound quite like how he says it when talking). In the final case, it's almost as if they wrote in that particular vocalic thread in an attempt to accentuate his tediously misguided #toplad persona. Better yet, it might all be a purposeful display of linguistic performance made to explode the myth of singular authenticity. So let's just pretend that it is. [4]

Alex Clifton: Louis Tomlinson is such an enigma; I could never quite figure out his place in 1D, and I'm not sure anyone else did, either. Zayn was the hot one, Niall the songwriter, Harry the wild card, and Liam was... well, whatever Liam is. But Louis? Who knows, other than the first one to become a dad. Fittingly, this is the most generic 1D solo debut. Even "Strip That Down," a real corker, could've only come from someone as self-important and un-self-aware as Liam. Louis ticks all the post-boy band boxes here--he swears! he drinks!--and doesn't actually sound bad, but I still can't tell you anything about Louis-the-person. In other words, it's exactly what I expected from him. [4]

Isabel Cole: In the absence of any ability to even pretend to be a little bit objective about my fave Direction/fellow Capricorn sun Gemini rising with Mars in Sg/iPhone background and lockscreen since 2013/biological son whom I, personally, raised to semi-manhood with my blood sweat and tears, how about full transparency instead? Three points off the bat for the sheer base pleasure of hearing Louis Tomlinson sing with false brightness "everything is fucking great" with that accent, happier to be swearing on his song than anyone in pop since Avril snarled her exhaustion with all the ssshit that you do; one point for the #mood of spending the entirety of an ostensibly fun night out glued to your phone, two points for the #big mood of "just one more pint or five / does it even matter anyway"; one for the knowledge that he is finally making the loud dumb guitar-punching fake pop punk of his beautiful idiot heart; two for finding myself genuinely affected by the bridge - I remember that, too, when I was his age, marveling over how suddenly the rules can change, how you have to unlearn the entire way your life has oriented itself around the person you can't even be with alone now; docked two points for not living up to the promise of "No Control"; bonus point for "lads." [8]

Joshua Copperman: "Miss You" is a bizarre listen from the top -- a dry guitar VST shares space with real-life violins, martial drum loops, gang vocals, and a glossy, compressed acoustic strum. Also, auto-tuned ad-libs. That's all before the lyrics, which sound like "Not Over You" was combined with the sappiest parts of Divide, then sprinkled with curse words, and then sent through Botnik. I'm assuming Julian Bunetta didn't know how to work with Louis after crafting successes for Niall, so Bunetta just decided to do everything at once. Therefore, we get an album's worth of misguided ideas in one song, but by some miracle, it's just WTF enough to work. To paraphrase another Directioner, it's absolutely ridiculous, but I'm into it. [7]

Katherine St Asaph: How is Louis from One Direction making better Pink songs than Pink? [7]

Austin Brown: Oh, so he's decided to be the pop-punk one? That's...a choice. Somehow this makes me appreciate the fluidity of post-reunion Fall Out Boy's EDM integrations far more though--the genre gestures scattered throughout (strings, auto-tuned adlibs, background choral vocals, etc) feel more like badly disguised bids to expand Louis's market share, and who needs any of this when Hey Violet is around? [4]

Anthony Easton: Bratty vocals, but not in ways that I haven't heard a million times before, made even more obvious by the terribly reductive guitar playing. [2]

Alfred Soto: While his 1D mates have gotten undue credit for using power chords and arena-ready drum patterns, Louis Tomlinson aims for spice: he adds violins and some rubbish about dancing on tables. As if. [3]

Ashley John: Louis is earnest in the only scrubby, scuffed up, anthemic way he knows how to be. "Miss You" steals just the right amount of pop punk sandpaper grit to toughen up an otherwise precise pop song into something else. He's genuine and apocalyptic in the same lines, barely delineating a Tuesday night from the vast, hopeless forever. This song sounds like the stride he's been waiting to hit. [6]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox ]

[cassianandor]

DRAMARAMA: Who is Hyungwon? A theory

[Mark Lee’s voice] It’s a long ass ride

A very nice acc I follow on twitter talked about their theory that Hyungwon is a grim reaper in the storyline of Dramarama. At first, I agreed with them because of all the aesthetic and HW being talk as fuck like Lee Dong Wook’s character in Goblin. So let’s talk about tvN Goblin. Monsta X is probably the biggest fans of this drama since it was airing (btw, Lee Dong Wook is under the same company as them, they probably cried when crossed paths with in at Starship). Jooheon has been talking about dramas a few weeks ago, they did that hilarious skits in Monsta X Ray 2, the boys renacted the scenes from Goblin at: ISAC, Meet and Greet; Shownu did a CF as goblin himself, Kihyun sang Beautiful by Crush (from Goblin OST) at KCon Mexico (just hyping my boy rn lmao), etc. So yeah, big fans. 

Back to HW’s role in Dramarama, I don’t think he’s a grim reaper. I think he IS a goblin, similar to Gong Yoo’s character in the tvN drama. 

Hyungwon appears in the first Protocol Terminal Scene in a formal suit, which looks like a bit of vintage. His whole figure seems to be out of place and time. In Goblin, Kim Shin (Gong Yoo) leads an eternal life as a goblin due his desire for revenge, which very soon he realizes it’s more a curse than a blessing. He uses his endless time to help people (at least in the past as they show us) find their right path in life, giving advices about things that are about to go wrong in their lives so they can correct it. The goblin also has some skills: it rains when he’s sad,he can make flowers bloom, he can make gold, he can see the supernatural like ghosts, grim reapers, etc. 

In these pictures, we can observe some things:

As I said, Hyungwon always seems out of place. Minhyuk and Changkyun and in casual modern clothes in the first picture above, those that people wear these days. In the second picture, Changkyun’s head is in Minhyuk’s shoulders in their second picture together released, and CK’s eyes are closed. His solo picture is faded, different from MH’s that is pretty focused on. Same thing happens to Wonho and Shownu’s picture together; WH’s side is almost completely fading away (the second one where they’re together). Also: Chankyung and Wonho are the only ones with their eyes closed in their photos with their partner. That could indicate that: a) their picture partner (or themselves) is dead and they’re struggling to deal with it (could be bc of guilt); b) they’re going to die and need help. Fields are commonly used in cinematography to represent passage to afterlife, ethereal dream-like scenarios. MH and CK’s story isn’t very clear, but when it comes to WH and SH’s, you can see them in a kendo gym (apparently. there’s wood swords beside them and they’re in almost full kendo uniform), then in Shownu’s solo picture he’s alone, still wearing the kendo uniform and probably still at the gym, with a sorrowful expression. They could be brothers, or just hoobae and sunbae (I don’t know the honorifics in kendo, sorry).

Kihyun and Jooheon are kind of a different story. They seem to be in the same boat, you could say. Behind their picture with Hyungwon, you can see a car with the front almost completely destroyed. It seems like they both were in the car when it crashed. Hyungwon in the middle, still in suit, looking at his watch. Again, at first glance one would say he’s definitely a grim reaper but wait, I’ll bring it back a bit later. Back to KH and JH, they’re not fading away, not even in their picture with HW (there’s a bit of some white fog around Kihyun but it’s small and idk if it’s just a filter effect?). In all of this, HW seems to be running out of time; he is seen holding a hourglass in one of the first teaser pictures, he’s looking at his watch in the picture below, looking impatient, and his solo picture actually comes paired with a picture of a hourglass. It could also be the case of the scene in the picture above HW, KH and JH. In Goblin, the female lead’s mother is run over by a car and she’s dying, but she prays for help so the goblin saves her. It could be a similar case with KH and JH, and maybe the others too.

In Jooheon and Kihyun’s second picture together (without Hyungwon), they’re on a road (probably the one where the accident took place), heading in opposite directions. It’s possible they have different opinions about something related to their possible death, or about what happened before the accident. They don’t seem to be in good terms. KH’s black and white picture could mean that he’s the one that died, or chose not to survive (I can’t see if his eyes are closed it’s too damn blurred) by not accepting help from the goblin but Jooheon made a different choice (his picture is colored, and he’s looking at something).

In the hourglass photo, in the right bottom you can see all the boys’ logos half highlighted (they’re probably near death) except Hyungwon’s. If he was indeed what I said, the fact that that indicate he isn’t alive it’s actually because he already died, coming back as a goblin. As matter of fact of him not being human, he doesn’t fit the pattern of life and death, that seems to be the theme of all these pictures. 

@ hyungwonope, on twitter, also mentioned that you can see their individual logos highlighted on the right column. However, in the pictures which contain Hyungwon, his logo isn’t highlighted at all. You can notice that they don’t seem to acknowledge Hyungwon in the scenes. One of the beliefs in Korean mythology is that dokkaebis (goblins) also have the ability to become invisible to humans (by wearing a hat, but myths are always being modified), and actually there’s a lot of different types of dokkaebis. In Wikipedia and in other sites I’ve looked into this topic, there’s possible options: a) nat dokkaebi (they appear during daylight and usually interact with humans, even befriending them); b) chonggak dokkaebi (know to attract humans). But the question still stands: who is Hyungwon? What does he wants, what are his intentions? Does he wants to help them? What does they mean to him? Of course he could be like Kim Shin from tvN’s Goblin; however for all we know he could also be: a) Cham dokkaebi (a mischievous dokkaebi) B) gae dokkaebi (an evil dokkaebi). He may seem harmless in the teasers, but we all know this shit can be unpredictable.  

To me, he seems to be looking for something that involve the six of them. Maybe one of the boys is the key to a issue he wants to resolve (like in the drama, Kim Shin needed a bride to pull out the sword of his chest so he could finally die); all of them seems to play an important role in his situation. In Goblin, Samshin (goddess of childbirth) says that goblins can be found anywhere, but nowhere; that could explain about the different scenarios he’s with all of them; he’s timeless. In the video released (the pic above is from it), you see the 6 boys in front of Hyungwon, who is looking at the ground as if he is ashamed of something, passing him by as if he isn’t even there. They deviate from him though, suggesting they know he’s there. This video is the only released piece of info about Dramarama that actually puts them together in the same environment, looking like they’re actually from that place they’re at; the pictures separated by duos have contexts completely different one from another.

He could be a grim reaper, of course. If you look, it fits. What I say that support myy theory is: a) grim reapers are known, in Korean culture, to wear all black and with a hat in their heads (the very first stories about them dates from the dynasties eras, so they were pictured using the Joseon era traditional hat; of course HW could appear with a hat in the MV or in other scenes though); b) it’s known by everyone in the fandom, as I said in the beginning, that they’re huge Goblin fans, and there’s this joke about Hyungwon being the Grim Reaper because he’s tall (as fuck) and wears black most of the time (he was wearing a goddamn black hat in Monsta X Ray 2 at the beach). I think it’d be a bit obvious that this is his role in this era, but it could be the right theory, who knows. As I also said up there, grim reapers are only invisible to human eyes when wearing a black hat (at least in the Goblin drama, which is what we’re discussing), and the boys do not seem to notice Hyungwon’s presence and Hyungwon is not wearing a hat. I don’t remember if goblins could become invisible to humans in tvN’s Goblin (it has been some time since it ended and my memory is shit, lemme live), but as he has a lot of powers, this could be one of them. Or it’s just part of the concept aesthetic.

To conclude it, here’s a scene of Goblin where Kim Shin (Gong Yoo) visits the graves of his dead friends, people who died while he had to continue to live. His expression is similar to Hyungwon’s in the picture above. In the Protocol Terminal video teaser, Hyungwon is seem using modern clothes (wtf is that jacket but HW would look better than me even if he was wearing a potato sack). I don’t think the clothes would fit a reaper, but that could also be a misleading scene. Koreans are the masters of misleading editing, if you watch kdramas and see the previews for the upcoming episodes you know what I’m talking about. It’d be an interesting concept to follow because they could explore different storylines inside one plot. Anyways, can’t wait for this comeback that is feeding my conspiracy theorist and art hoe ass so damn much. I miss Goblin btw

[yesbothways]

Below Her Mouth:  What could have been made better

I wrote a long post about what I liked in Below Her Mouth.  Here’s what I think could have been better.  This is chock full of spoilers:

I could be wrong, of course, but I think the greatest improvement that could have been made to this film would have been redeveloping Dallas’s storyline.  The casting was really ideal, and the chemistry between the two leads just massive.  But I don’t think many viewers will find Dallas particularly identifiable or likable.  It’s hard to genuinely root for a character when you can’t figure out how to like who they are or trust them.

First off, I do appreciate that Dallas goes through a transformation as a character.  She starts out and then lands in her former girlfriend’s bed, and their two encounters go very differently.  You also get the two scenes of Dallas looking at her own face in the mirror.  The first time, she seems to be wondering why the hell she doesn’t have feelings about someone else and about her break-up, and the next time, she’s realizing how deeply she does care about losing her love affair with Jasmine.  Whereas she dismissed her former girlfriend and belittled her feelings before, she affirms them later and says she’s sorry with genuine sadness over having hurt someone.

I love it when two characters have something together and lose it, but then we see how they were authentically changed by what they had together.  That’s the shape of a genuine love story in my book.  The process of transformation that takes place goes beyond having the person and being happy then not having them and being sad, which is rather shallow.

However, I don’t really want to see a woman treat other women badly.  Or to then have some mysterious shift catalyzed by sex lead her to value one, specific woman for… reasons.  That’s the kind of bullshit I see in stories about men, who pursue women, have sex with them, and then treat them like shit until they “fall in love.”   I don’t believe it then either.  You either treat people well in general or you don’t.  I may be missing some thread of LGBTQ culture that would make this relatable, but I kind of think that women who love women are just different than men.  So I didn’t recognize this woman or her struggle.  She was kind of a dude in a way that I just didn’t buy.

(Her crisis of drinking and backtracking through her past patterns didn’t resonate with me, even though I was trying pretty hard.  The scene in the strip club genuinely confused me.  She was having some kind of sexual relationship before she got a girlfriend… or something.  Not clear what that was saying about her character.)

We get a couple of little details that would help explain who Dallas is.  She says she hated being a child and doesn’t seem to miss the home she left in Sweden at all.  She says of her two parents, “I wanted them to love each other more.”  So, we get the slightest whiff of a person who grew up as an outsider in their own house, such that leaving for another country wasn’t even felt as a loss, and also of a person who lived in an environment with very little emotional intimacy, passion, or connection.  So you’d have a character feeling unable to connect to people, unable to envision or desire intimate relationships, and someone wondering, why the hell am I like this?    

That could definitely work as a storyline.  But it would work much better if Dallas already felt troubled or shitty about how her past relationships had gone.  Like if her friend had been like, wtf is wrong with you?  And she was like, I don’t know, but also actually cared.  Her being dismissive of women and emotionally devoid made her simply not being an asshole into her character development.  And I’m just not quite sure that’s a story worth telling or relevant to women’s experiences in general.

However, the story of someone being emotionally closed off and unavailable figuring out how to open up is definitely worth telling and also desirable to women.  That does put pressure on the way the filmmakers represent relationship between Jasmine and Dallas to establish their connection as unique in terms of not only physical but also emotional chemistry.  But I think this creative team could have pulled that off.  She could have been a loner, instead of a jerk.  

A lot of people, like me, basically hate the climatic “chase” scene when Jasmine rushes out and Dallas catches her, and then they become lovers.  I think that’s because nobody trusts that Dallas understood Jasmine uniquely well.  Why should we?  We’ve seen her treat other women badly and have sex with a lot of women (four in a film that’s pretty damn small).  She seems cavalier.  Do I believe that Jasmine wants Dallas?  Yes.  That’s well established.  Do I believe that women can communicate subtly and well and interpret mixed messages?  Absolutely.  I mean, I have both been a woman and also pursued women myself, so that’s a thing I recognize.  Do I believe that Dallas would know how to read Jasmine?  Nope.  It looks like she was just putting her on the spot more than once to have to say no to see if she could get laid.  And the story was right on the cusp of being so much deeper.

There’s this common issue in wlw stories where an already queer woman gets portrayed as this kind of idealized fantasy of someone who will “make it happen” for a woman who wants to be with women and feels trapped in heteronormativity.  That’s not a fantasy worth continuing to replicate.  For one thing, it’s not very useful to women in real life.  I have tried to convince women not to passively wait for what they want to come and find them.  Then I have fucking Twilight selling the delusion that you can make no choices and still get everything you could ever want.

I like that this film tried to shift back and forth between Jasmine and Dallas’s storylines.  That could have made them seem like equals.  Todd Hayes, who directed Carol, says that the best love stories are presented from the perspective of the more vulnerable party.  And he talks about how he created a subtle shift in Carol from Therese’s perspective to Carol’s perspective as that changed in their story.  And I think this film almost tried that.  But Dallas’s storyline and her vulnerability would simply have needed to be reworked.

[kkukkung]

v lorge ask compilation below

some of these asks date back like??? a few months??? dsdjkfhk... they’re ordered from newest to oldest i’m so sorry... messy messy

Ur blog is the plush jooheon is going like 😯😷😨😷😷 😵😫😱 to

it... is......... honestly i think jooheon is the member i’d get along w the least irl?? i can’t explain it but?? mb bc he’s a libra? also the fact that hyungwon received that huge shrimp plush n held it like a foetus is so :’’0000

annie tumblr is gonna censor ur whole blog cause ur gay

Good.

so... shart is ur New fav word now huh, guess that ges into my dictionary now...

shart made a comeback from 2016 me’s vocab and i don’t even know how it happened? :(

Sjdnkwldwnnw u ruined that punch scene in shine forever,, I can't watch it without thinking about your "my meat, me" gif 

the best gif i ever made??? gkjkjf sorry i rly am the most irrelevant person on this damn website? also that rly was my first thought when i watched the mv.... or maybe second thought after thinking “god i wish shownu would punch me like that”

changkyun is really so happy recently, he smiles so much and his eyes crinkle, its the cutest thing i have ever seen like ??!?! i want to protect him, just roll him up in a blanket and show him memes on my phone

he is!!!!! his happiness is my own happiness?? and when he smiles ur right he goes like >__< he’s rly the cutest boy alive? and this ask is so relatable esp the last part... if ck were my friend irl i’d just text him memes all day???

pls deactivate

relatable

I'm so soft rn. How can I FUCKING tell them how much I love them. Like I want to grab wonho's sweet squishy face and give his forehead a big SMOOCH. These boys deserve so much and I want to convey that to them in person but I CAN'T. And if I had the chance I'd probably ugly crying too hard to say anything.

this ask is so cute??? and i understand the dilemma like... idols are ppl who give & receive so much love every day expressed in 28347982 different ways so it’s hard knowing how to rly... Let Them Know just how happy they make u thru their existence alone? crying with u anon

yikes wait what happened w jinyoung?? i thought he was one of the few unproblematic ones...

[diff anon] jinyoung was on a tv show where he was playing a past love interest or something and he kisses the actress who's only 14..

i.... won’t comment on this bc i don’t want to stir up old drama but :/ aah i see... thank u for letting me know!

i started talking like you and another person who has similar typing patterns to you and now all my friends hate me bc of slorp and spicy

sdfjkghksdfkjfgkjds im rly sorry this happened to u... at first my friends were resistant but after a while they started picking it up as well thru exposure so... infect them jksfjjkgf... also add shart to the menu i guess? :/

Kihyun's kink is making people flustered. On the gifseft he's like "There's so many things I can do with my mouth, let me show you honey." He will grab your neck firmly yet delicately while he invades your personal space. Keeping eye contact is troublesome, this new proximity tastes as dangerous as the underlying promise of what will come next. But Hyungwon never figured it out since he backed out, breaking the siren's spell.

(response to this gifset i think? jshdfkjff) BLEASE... im writing a hyungki fic right now as we speak ✍️📝 anyway i like this characterisation of dom!kihyun bc irl he would be very dominant ??? and in fics he’s always the bottom just bc he’s #smol 🙄 but i mean he’s ?? so aware of his own sex appeal sometimes so he’d be like a switch/top/power bottom imo

you're right, you aren't into vore. More like in slorping and smorching knees/feet, and other nsfw things.

tbh im only fake horny :/ im a romantic deep down.. want to watch the sunset with lmh....... accidentally drop my bag of skittles on the dirt and he eats them up like a vacuum cleaner jksfdhkjgfkjfdhjgfjhjks

Annie, i feel like you'll understand me. Whenever I see Minhyuk, i feel a mixture of extreme lust, great anger and a desire to have my head bashed in because he's real and nothing else matters anymore. It's really.... not what i wanted in life 

another #relatable ask... i want to take minhyuk out on a candlelit dinner date but like.... at kfc and we’ll both be touching each other’s cheeks with our greasy hands like animals... like raccoons scavenging for trash in a dumpster

'kihyun stans are foot fetishists'' UHM!!! this is tru i would slorp kihyuns whole foot in one go

i don’t rmbr writing this but skjdfhfgsdkjgjk it... it really is true huh...

hi annie, i just wanted to ask you what your take on wonho's personality is? ive read your tags before and how you say he is very romantic in how he presents things, and i thought that was interesting!

aaa, i think i’ll write a proper post on this later bc it’s also something that interests me a lot... until then i’ll just say that i think he’s indeed very romantic and loves pleasing people... his driving force is rly Love u know... love for people (family, members, fans), for his job, for music, etc... he’s very soft and imaginative and sometimes that comes across as a kind of childish innocence?? more on this later

i wanna kno more abt the customer whos coming in more lately,, i lov regulars that come in at my job - it's such an interesting half relationship

hgfjjjsk this ask is from a month ago n i think i was talking abt that customer who asked me if i wanted to die but in a casual way?? jsfdkh i work at a tobacco store so this guy asked me if i smoked n i was like “uhm no i don’t” so he went “what? are you afraid to die?” and i stood there like... kind of dumbfounded for a sec jksfhg but he’s a nice guy n very cool... nvr seen his eyes b4 bc he always has rly dark shades on n he buys the cheapest cigarettes n leaves. but most regulars i get are like chinese international students spending their parents’ money on cigs and some sweet old men who always want the same smokes... there’s this one old man who always wears matching vintage suits n pairs it w a fancy hat n once he complimented my outfit and i was thrilled?? also some creeps come n chat me up while im working sometimes which is a bit :/// but mostly i like my job and it’s interesting interacting w regulars! thank u for this ask n im sry if this was like super boring lmao

idc what it says about me but Minhyuk rushing to eat chicken bones off the fucking floor brought him from 'would play Mario Kart and share nachos with' to 'would play Mario Kart and share bodily fluids with' levels

i want to Die.................... when he tried to eat those half-eaten chicken bones off the ground....... that was the moment that solidified his image as a Dirty Dirt Man in my head like he’s a Real Gremlin... i said it for fun b4 but it’s... a real thing. he’s actually Disgusting skjdfhjdkf... also anon u sound like a gremlin too??? join our big gremlin family???

wtf is "That" ????? and why is it related to kihyuck ?? - knowing ur tags it should be something gross, but u said it in such an onimous way; annie, i am scared.

i genuinely don’t rmbr what this was abt djgjs i write a lot of tags that don’t make sense even to me like a few weeks later?? sjdfjhkjsk i’m sorry... gotta start answering these in time so they actually have any kind of relevance... 

"That kink where you just want to be crushed....just like pulverized. Asking for a friend" Bless this tag

again.. don’t rmbr writing this tag and don’t rmbr the post i wrote it for but um, yeah, sounds like smth i said jkfdgsjfdjk im so sorry...

i just had a dream where minhyuk showed up, called me sexy and then left???

fun fact whenever ppl tell me abt their dreams here it’s always to do with minhyuk doing something weird??? also God I Wish That Were Me...

why do u say jooheon is def experienced tho? he legit said he never had a girlfriend in his life and it's clear seeing him interact with women, he has no idea what to do? unless you mean gay experiences, that's probably very true

THE LAST LINE OF THIS ASK JKDHKJD.... um i think joobs is experienced bc i actually think he’s sorta smooth? he’s pretty flirtatious w female hosts on the shows mx appears on like... w jimin on asc and w seulgi on idol battle likes... i don’t mean experience as in a lot of idk.. sexual experiences (if anything he’d b the type to be v devoted to someone if he was dating them i think) but i feel like he does know how to present himself in a certain... attractive light especially in front of cute girls? idk if i’m saying this right... 

ur minhyuk tags are so fnny and hella relatable im dying n 😂😭😂

my minhyuk tags: slorp... asterisk asterisk asterisk x10... nut... gremlin dirt man... nut nut... nutting... dksjfgkj but thank u?

but you ARE funny lol I laughed so hard at that bird/Shownu reference

gfjkgjkjk u can tell how old these asks are from the things they’re referring to... but nevertheless thank u sm im sry im a mess... at least im a funny mess to a select few ppl... thank u for enjoying my messy blob... i lov u

no exit ep 5 was a mess but wonho was lookin reeeal cute w those glasses tbh

???? what the fuck, where they serious about that fuckin Mathew the tiger??? If yes, then again, wtf??

jdsfjksk i still can’t believe Those Episodes of no exit rly happened...

i love your tags so much especially the ones where you imply that minhyuk's actually an alien "# he rly doesn't know what to do w his arms he hasn't possessed a human body in so long" lol

HE RLY IS AN ALIEN... like he’s obviously attractive n was popular in school n smart n funny n cute but sometimes he does the most unexplainable things n it makes me rly wonder if he’s human??? he’s so fucking weird u kno i love my alien gremlin dirt man... take me for a ride in ur ufo...

You @ wonho: :( sweet baby u deserve everything good You @ minhyuk: literally slorp my p**** you fucking snake

SHUT UP...

i started using slorp too help

this ask was sent 3 months ago... i can’t believe i’ve been saying slorp for three months...

um..... i luv u???smorch

smorch u back??? big sloppy smorch that leaves u disgusted???

Hey Annie, would you mind a short description of the Monsta X No Exit Chanel+ video?

i’m sry abt how late this is jsfdjkg but if anyone’s still interested... yeah the no exit video where they explained the hypnotism was p much just bts of jooheon and shownu getting hypnotised... and it kind of legitimised it ig bc joobs said he was concentrating super super super hard (and hypnotism only works when ur focusing that much??) n so did shownu... my ch+ actually expired recently so this is just from what i rmbr hfdjsdjkh if anyone else can contribute pls do! otherwise i will get a renewal soon and after that i could do a better summary if you’re still interested! sorry!!

Um...why are jooheons vocals slept on...what the fcuk he's so??? Nice to listen to??

tbh why is jooheon such a golden boy... literally good at everything... can sing dance (one of the best dancers in mx??) and rap.... compose... write lyrics... play 328974 diff instruments... cute n sexy at the same time.... what the fuck

I'm trying to figure out what your censored tags are but apparently my vocabulary of nasties is pretty limited

im glad??? pls don’t read the next part of this ask compilation ksfhkgsd

!!!nsfw asks... spare urself please...!!!

uhhhhhh for the nastea ask comp... kihyuns p*thy eating lips??? true, but whats the most to least best at eating out ranking order?

1. kihyun/wonho

2. shownu (would try v hard??? earnest man??)

3. hyungwon (idk i think he’s gotta be Good somehow i mean look at his lips??)

4. jooheon

5. changkyun

6. minhyuk (can’t find clitoris :/)

I would like to hear more about kihyun's p**** e**ing lips tbh 👀... please elaborate

idk what to say but i feel like the way he moves his lips sometimes is ??? erotic jskfdhkgjfdj and same w wonho... also the lisp has some relevance 2 ***** eating idk there’s a tie there somewhere...

I FEEL DIRTY WATCHING KIHYUNS BODY ROLLS ON WEEKLY IDOL I WOULD **** his **** at fucking lightning speed

rmbr when we thought sexy!kihyun Peaked during beautiful era w the return of the black hair but now he’s running around w a blindfold n showing off his new shredded body at any given moment.. yeah

(in reference to minhyuk probly not knowing where the clit is) minhyuk: *reaches into the back of your throat and flicks your uvula* "hows that feel babe? ;)"

reading this took years off my life i hate u

I disagree.Minhyuk is probably the most kinky out of monsta x.He just doesn't show it like every other expert in the field 👀👀

mmm i think hyungwon could be a Freak? jskdhfkg but ur right minhyuk is definitely someone who’s up for like... experimental stuff :/

[oranges8hands]

It's Morphin Time! (Power Rangers review)

spoilers for Power Rangers (2017)

side note: I only watched a few episodes as a kid so I’m not going to pick up on inside jokes/won’t be pointing out comparisons. // I’m white and not autistic so when taking about representation keep that in mind  // cw (lite): rape culture, suicide

much more enjoyable than the original breakfast club.

property damage

that was... a lot

and I’m not even referring to the big battle at the end; arguably they could have played it differently (and I mean that on both a watsonian and a doylist perspective) but Big Boss Battle, I give those passes, (superhero) movies tend to think they need them. (and are only so-so wrong.) But before that (and superpowers in general) we have: a damaged school/cow, a car chase at the school, a car accident, a mine blasting, a car chase at the mine, and a car-meets-train accident.

and while we see, yanno, happy survivors at the end, I’m wondering if they are going to address the major damage done to the town.

good thing they have masks. and knew to ditch out of there while still in celebration mode.

this was small town america, dependent on mining and fishing. (which - interesting choice of location because it made the movie very compacted, and it also stressed a lot of the push-pull of teenagers and their struggles. this should definitely become a theme as the franchise goes on - the desire to leave with the duty to stay and protect)  

I know! use all that fucking spent gold Rita left behind!

I mean the jewelry store can at least provide receipts but what’s the mine gonna say? “yeah, that chunk of arm definitely came from Shaft 37″

speaking of - they are so damn reckless!

so reckless!

and I mean it’s kind of great because a) how fitting for teenagers in general, like this movie is 95% of the time going “they are teenagers!” (with all the middle finger to mortality and boneheadedness and earnestness and finding your place/friends/family that comes with it), and b) because it comes in various forms to fit the specific characters well, and c) its great tactic for skipping over the whole “wtf superpower freakout”

but also - thank bob they got some magic healing stones cause they all almost die a few times before the whole superhero gig even kicks in. that car chase at the mine (both the recklessness and the loyalty of helping each other) is an excellent establishing intro to them cause wtf power rangers

like arguably the least reckless is Billy, who is introduced as bribing a kid to drive him over so he can blow up a mine in the growing dark that almost kills another kid (how did Trini survive that fall with barely a bruise? magic). and he’s the LEAST reckless. 

the real question - did he just happen to learn how to disable the tracker before this, has he actually done this before, or did he learn how before Jason came over that night?

but I say least reckless because the majority of his recklessness comes from love/loyalty - the mine visits originally for his dad, everything else for his friends

but we have Zack - taking care of a terminal ill parent and so his things are about pushing limits, that more, more, more (or out, out, out) feeling, being wild, flirting with that “death wish” - because that’s a way to act out his fear, that’s a way to be out of control in a controlled way (he can’t control that, but he can control this), that’s a way to say fuck you to death, that’s just part of his personality of ‘I’m gonna touch it’

100% he is the person who presses the red button that says ‘do not press’

also its funny that he just hangs around the mine; full assumption on my part but it fits if his mom got sick from the mine, and he - to avoid finding out if she dies during the night, if the last of his family is gone - visits the root of it

Jason: I think there’s arguably a few ways of looking at it:

the growing pressure of familial/town obligations of being the golden boy are too much, and he‘s acting out to blow off steam

how he touches his knee made me wonder if he was getting an injury, and (sub)consciously wanted to get out of playing more football, either because he’s afraid of damaging it more or because he thinks it’s better to get kicked off on purpose than have it fail him/have to leave for something he can’t control

small town football stars are the weirdest mix of celebrity/adoration* and teenager, and some people don’t handle that well and turn to other means to get that attention, and adrenaline

* adoration that is temporary and/or dependent on their skills

some combo of the above

but anyway he’s “dumb stunts” reckless, and brings other people (and cows) into it, and his arc as leader means figuring out a balance for that, bringing them to necessary danger but not getting them killed

Trini is “outsider” - and the movie supplemented that with actual queerness (more on that below); like she runs from the group, she questions whats really bringing them together (are we friends?), Rita pinpoints that as her weakness, her character arc/turning point is when she immediately tells the others. and her recklessness is towards the self, esp her body - like she trespasses into the mine to practice stretches/meditation, the train run (IIRC she’s the one whose like “eh, hope we make it”), she uses her powers to get away (did she know she could make that jump before she did it because her powers became apparent in less the ‘destructive of an item’ way and more like Zack’s in which it was pushing physics?)

I think its arguable she’s had issues with drugs. like the movie stresses three years for her (her growing distance/quiet coming with her sexuality questioning), and her mom just happens to have a pee cup on standby? that’s a long time period to keep testing a kid who never shows up as positive. I mean maybe her mom’s just reacting in more and more extreme measures and this is the latest version... also the way her dad intercedes with her mom’s questions, I wonder if that’s his natural role in the family or if that came out of therapy.

I really don’t think she’s presented as suicidal in the film, but I think there’s an underlining implication that can be read where AU this superpower thing didn’t happen she goes in that direction (she is isolated by her “other” status within her family, by being the new kid at school, and so on)

Kimberly is self-destructive; its thoughtlessness and impulsiveness (and meanness) coming out to swallow her and take who she can with her. cutting her hair, diving at night at the quarry, her “revenge porn” (and way more on that below), even breaking into Jason’s room to tell him about why she was in detention  

there’s no “is it superpowers??????” which I immensely appreciate; it’s “something weird is happening and we need to figure out what.” 

they killed Billy. and yeah, happy they bought him back, but they still killed him.

and since I hadn’t actually watched the trailer all the way through, and I feel like a Power Ranger died in the original series (no clue if that’s accurate), and Billy’s Black and on the spectrum, yeah, I thought it was going to last. 

his death was used for Zordon, Jason, and Kim’s character arc

I understand it was so each of the other four could carry him together, but the Jesus pose is still in way too many superhero and/or teenage protagonist movies

yeah yeah he was the heart of the team I get it; still could have done it without his death. or frankly Jason works, since he’s the leader (and its interesting that the heart of the group and the leader of the group are two different people) and everyone pulls together for the leader. but again, no death works

it made no sense that she killed him and left the other four alive. also I’m assuming she was powering the ropes to keep them in place but did it completely drain them of power? cause as we saw earlier, they can breathe underwater

David Christopher Bell pointed out that since The Dark Knight, villains need to a) not just kill the heroes but break their spirits and b) get caught as part of the master plan. and while the latter is the “reason” behind the scene - she needs to find the location, she somehow knows Billy knows (like she somehow knew Trini felt like an outsider) - the former ended up feeling like the motive for the scene. 

actually she hits a couple more on the list - we don’t actually know her motive for turning (beyond “feeling like an outsider”) and the narrative treats her like she’s “unhinged” for no reason.  

weirdly Zordon is not part of her motive? like him being “alive” is barely a sidenote to her

representation

well done Black Autistic Hero! like Billy uses the actual term (which is already more than a lot of characters do), he exhibits behaviors of it (speech patterns, special interests, joke recognition, touching, stimming, etc), and he’s a friggin hero (and no one questions his capability to be one)

so Jason is the main; he has more screen time, his emotional arc is devoted the most space, he & his are the the inciting incident - a. his introduction into detention is the opening change that starts the story and b. his dad brings Rita out of the water (though maybe she could only be brought out after the gems are found?) - and he’s the leader of the team. however, Billy serves as the heart of the team, and the movie (usually through Jason, non-negatively) points out several times that he is behind finding the gems, and he’s the one who brings Jason to the mine. so Jason is the main but if they had tweaked the script a little Billy would have been.

Zack is not stereotypical/usual. (first off he’s played by an actual Asian actor, ba dum tss). but he’s poor, small family, while he wasn’t given a romance he didn’t come across as desexualized, he exchanged just pure slugging it out punches with Jason (instead of the “all (East) Asian (men) know martial arts” trope), he’s not nerdy or an airhead (the two extremes for school tropes), he loves his mom and outside of caretaking we also see them enjoy each other (high five over their chess game), he’s super f-ing reckless (let me just jump on this speeding car wtf Zack you didn’t know you had powers at that point), when established they speak Chinese together they don’t suddenly switch to (accented) English because that’s too many subtitles for an American audience

Trini: queer Mexican girl. like, I’ve seen the arguments for both sides of this - on the one end: she’s questioning (and feels so alone in it) so it fits she doesn’t have a label for herself, and on the other there’s been a growing trend of movies getting points for the tiniest overt queerness. because this is an introduction into a franchise and she’s a main character and the crew/cast are vocal about it and while she didn’t have a label it was connected to her arc (outsider status/isolation -> group friendship), I felt more on the ok end of it, though I would have definitely liked at least a little more vocalization. And this is definitely dependent on how they deal with it going forward, and I also agree with people who think it was not enough, especially since they chose to have her character in the early stages of questioning her identity and while that’s a legitimate storyline it’s not the only one. 

a really good solution would have been to have Zack say he’s pan or bi.

more queer rep always

like, did you watch him? (flirting mode towards everyone: activated)

it means we see someone with a labeled identity and someone questioning, and it enriches the scene between them, and it gives more weight/overtness to her sexuality (aka the movie itself isn’t shying away from labels, this specific character is cause she’s still figuring it out) 

the start of queering them all. all of them.

Kim is played by a biracial (Indian & white) actress. I can’t really speak to how that fits into the romance trope - she’s not white (the “Girlfriend Role” works differently for WOC), but Asian women are hypersexualized (the gratuitous bra shot, with Jason looking on without her knowledge)... basically I’m not familiar with how Indian women specifically fit into this conversation and it’s really not my place to say. I personally felt they erred too much on the romance for her, because the scenes with her and Jason together felt much more tied to Jason‘s arc* than hers or both of theirs, and she felt sexualized in the movie in a way the rest of them didn’t, so overall I wish they kept it a little more subtle than they did. but again not my judgement to make in terms of representation.

* the hallway walk, the quarry scenes... those feel like the Manic Pixie Girl/Girlfriend Role (”let’s run, right now”) and since her arc was a little less clear than the others it feels like the problem with that stems from the romance, even if it didn’t necessarily.

However let’s talk about her backstory, the biggest twist in a movie I’ve seen in years.

raise your hand if you thought she was getting the ‘sexually assaulted and fought him off and former friends/mean girls attack her for being a slut’ story. *raises hand* and instead she leaked her friend’s nude to a dude with a sex-shaming comment (who spread it to the whole school and/or besides to the dude Kim sent it to the school). PLOT TWIST.

except lemme say - this is a huge violation. HUGE. leaking nudes is not just a mistake or a bad choice, its a violation and it affects the leaked person for the rest of their life and its a well deserved criminal offense. (at least Jason’s ankle monitor suggests there’s some kind of police punishment that came with the huge amounts of damage he did - though talk about a light sentence good thing you’re a football player/white dude - but her punishment is just detention?) and I definitely need a lot more on the redemption arc beyond ‘stops being a mean girl who doesn’t recognize her actions for as damaging as they are until the consequences are shoved into her face’, esp because she’s only partly sorry. She’s sorry about what she did, yes, I believe that, but there’s also several instances (like when their cafeteria dishes melt, or the car gets smashed) where she smirks when they get in trouble. (That she’s the victim in this situation.) And with that, the narrative smirks at them too, because they’re mean girls and they cut her out; except she’s in the wrong! she completely violated Elizabeth! they’re allowed to be petty/mean back to her! It’s implied she basically leaked the nude because ‘why not,’ she deserves to get some shitty treatment back at her!

one of the main rules was “don’t use your powers for personal gain.” IDK if this is going to come up in the franchise, but if it does I’m assuming - if it’s not the whole group -  it’s going to be either her or Zack. Zack because of his sick mom (external force), her because of her personality (internal force).

eta: in a convo with clari-clyde she pointed out that Jason tells her she’s not a bad person when yeah, she was a bad person. ("i would‘ve liked it better if jason said, you chose to be a bad person, but you can also choose to be a good person. you can make poor bad choices, building on that bad choice. or you can start making good choices, and start transforming yourself.”) and I agree.   Kim didn’t do a mean thing, she is a mean person (the photos just being the latest and a REALLY BIG DEAL), and the narrative both understands that weight (her self-hatred/angst is about it) while treating it as less damaging than it is (how it somewhat tries to victimize her, and by virtue of getting the stone/superpowers.) once we learn Kim’s backstory her power walk (after cutting her hair) back into detention takes on new meaning, and not in a good way; she’s apologetic in the scene with Jason, but we don’t really see evidence of that in her treatment of her actual victims. (its the common redemption arc of tv white dudes - the idea that feeling bad is enough to redeem them, as opposed to them actually doing something to redeem themselves.) and one of the reasons her arc fell a little flat to me is because her backstory (leaked nude) and her end result (being a power ranger) are really not connected, both in context and through the group. everyone else’s arc was interwoven into them becoming a group, while her arc was interwoven with Jason only.

and in addition to that, Jason “forgiving her” gets tied back into their romantic undertones (removed kiss or not), so that it comes across more as “I like you, therefore you are not a bad person,” instead of acknowledging she was actually a bad person, but she can make actual steps into changing that.    

Zordon & Alpha 5 downloaded the English matrix and can converse fine but “teenagers” is the one word to throw them off. which a) suggests Zordon and his group/people don’t distinguish that grouping - which makes sense, the term is only like a 100yrs old, but more importantly b) is beautiful shot at Marvel. I mean, I don’t know if that’s why they did it, but after that Civil War nonsense I’m reading it as one anyway. feel free to join me. 

music - a little uneven. like for the majority of the film it was unobtrusive, with “HandClap” during the training montage brought into the narrative with Billy and Alpha 5 clapping, and then at the end there was the tv theme song (fair enough) but it cut off quick, as did the other (loud) song during those scenes too, and the one after the other nature of it was abrupt sounding.

I liked the training montage.

ok, so Jason can fight, we see that (dodge the bully’s fist), plus he’s an athlete. and Kim is an ex-cheerleader (and apparently recreational diver), aka an athlete. (athletes in football and cheerleading tend to have: body strength, quick pattern recognition, inclined towards multitasking & teamwork, can take a damn hit, etc.) we see Trini doing a stretch routine and taking out Zack in the pit and both she and Zack are suggested to have some parkouring. Billy is probably the least experienced, esp when it comes to fighting (and notable he’s the one that gets the basic boxing/punching routine), but he runs around a mine and like the others seems to be a good swimmer. so it comes across as less unbelievable that they can pick this up, esp because for the most part their fighting strategy is to hit the dirt monsters until they fall apart and we see them practicing (over and over again) the specific move that took Rita down. (also I was literally thinking ‘what, they can suddenly move as one with no training’ and then the final evolution of their robot trips. I’ll give the movie some leeway on how they can control the dino bots so well - plus handwavy they’re plugged in and figured it out - because of that trip.)   

they also show injuries.

ok except for Kim and Jason’s shirtless scene, the camera (and clothing department) treated them like teenagers, like they shouldn’t be needlessly sexualized for (adult) audiences. it’s fucked up that this is special enough to note, but its definitely special enough to note. (and they still did the ‘guy looks at half-naked woman without her permission’ thing, which is not ok, yes not even to the same girl who leaked the nudes.) there was Rita - she shows more skin the “prettier” she gets, her outfit at the jewelry store was esp “where did she get this?” - but at least she wasn’t playing a teenager. (and I don’t remember her actions towards them being sexualized, but I may just not be remembering it. eta: she definitely does have the sexualized vibe going with her adult victims though.

it was a fair job with the product placement and shoutouts (like Bumblebee and Ironman/Spiderman - those are franchises it can be assumed their audiences know).

like Jason, you fucked over your football scholarship/college options, your family probably has to pay for the school damages, you have a police (though possibly just juvenile) record... they’re allowed to question your decisions. and your dad still ends up giving you a chance to have a car again. (after you smashed two in less than a month.)

this was a mix of parental awareness and not. like Billy’s mom* is there greeting (and noticing the school social group differences) at the door, but not that the missing (smashed up) van may be his fault. Trini’s parents are aware if ineffectual/ridiculous. we just get a glimpse of Jason’s mom and sister but we spend time on his relationship with his dad (whose paying attention to his kid and tries to rescue him), but he still sneaks out of his house (with ankle bracelet) and is gone past his curfew at least twice, if not every day of training. Zack’s mom is trying to keep track (checking if he’s going to school) but (assumed) doesn’t know he sometimes spends nights away from home (assumed after giving her her pills.) unless I’m totally blanking, we don’t know about Kim’s family, though she goes swimming at the quarry at night and cuts her hair etc without recognition. and they all spend at least one night (though is bonfire night and them meeting at the bleachers the same night?) away from home. and they all spend almost two weeks coming home with bruises/etc. 

* ok I thought he said both parents died in the car accident when he first tells Jason but then later he just talks about his dead dad so was that his mom or his guardian? (I’m trying to remember if he shouted ‘her name’s Trini’ with a relationship term at the end.)

they had some really great moments but: Trini and Kim fighting over the last bite. Jason slapping the bully (that was so fucking cutting.) Billy on the spaceship. Zack and his mom hanging out over chess. Trini with her brothers. etc etc.

so the time jumps - the gems keep them alive and put them to bed, but they don’t do things like fix the van.

I’m so glad Trini immediately tells the group about Rita’s deal, and the narrative doesn’t even try to have some possible betrayal shit, and Jason’s speech (we suck, but we should do this anyways) was a good choice

all the death and injuries are close up, within the group. even with big battle the ‘helpless citizen’ was shown through Jason’s dad. the group itself receives extensive (if sometimes recklessly self-inflicted) damage.

boob armor. (Trini’s brothers could have guessed Yellow was a girl considering that.)  

the actors did a good job, esp Billy’s

??? I always forget obvious stuff when I do these.

overall, I liked the movie more than I thought I would (ok not saying too much), and it had some great moments, but Billy’s death esp was cheap, there was some incongruent scenes that affected the rest/tone of the film, and the final fighting battles - esp in the dino bots (though let’s be real: I want one) - was a little ridiculous. but the movie did a good introduction, and it felt like it recognized teenagers in all their stupidity and grace, and I’ll definitely give the next one in the franchise a try.

[lexxikitty-blog1]

Switchblade by Carsen Taite Series: Luca Bennett Bounty Hunter: #3 Read: April 2016 Rating: 3.5 Stars

The last book in the series (at least as of this date). I've had something of a running theme in my reviews, barring the one for the short story, about how much having read the short story did or did not impact my ability to read the books that came before it. Since the short story is the last thing, currently, published in the series. Well, things kind of built. First book wasn't that impacted. Sure, things were a lot different than the world the short story lived in, but, for all I knew, the events in the first book occurred years before the short story. So any differences could be pushed aside. Second book? Less easy to push things aside. Especially since the relationship, whatever it might have been would be had been, was a huge question mark in the second book between the two people who were lovey-dovey in the short story (okay, they weren't, but they were a definite couple). Spent most of the second book in a kind of 'get on with it, I know the relationship you two are going to have . . . stop being morons' haze. Third book? It wasn't the romance, per se, that I had an issue with, it was the mystery/action part. Because I knew what would happen, since it had already happened for me - from having read the short story. 'Come on already . . come on . . . WTF? That's not how it was described in the short story. mmphs.' So - my ability to enjoy the third book was greatly undermined by having read the short story before I'd read anything else. So. Luca Bennett came from a crap background. A broken home. Without any real desire for the work, she went to the police academy. Meet someone named Jessica Chance there. They both graduated. Were friendly towards each other. They begin their training with two experienced partners - Teresa Perez (with Jessica), and Larry Brewster (with Luca). An incident occurs, both Brewster and Luca are shot. Perez is pissed at Luca. Luca says fuck it and leaves the police force. All of this occurring before the first book in the series. She becomes a bounty hunter, licensed private investigator, and fuck-buddy with Jessica Chance. First book involves a good mystery. On again, off again fuck buddy status with Jessica Chance. And a relationship between Luca and a lawyer named Veronica 'Ronnie' Moreno. Second book involves an interesting enough mystery. Weirdness with Jessica Chance. Relationship between Luca and a federal agent named Diamond Collier - who Luca had apparently hooked up with in the past during a case that gets talked about in the series, but never actually detailed fully. Meanwhile Jessica Chance has hooked up with a doctor. Third book. Ronnie's turned up for Luca's help. Her brother, a cop, is in trouble. The only reason I can fathom Ronnie turning to Luca is because Luca had worked with her in the past (and she can't turn to the police - they are the ones investigating her brother; and she can't turn to . . . apparently anyone else - apparently having grown up in the area gave her access to no other living person in Dallas except her family, and Luca Bennett - and she only meet Luca when Ronnie moved back to Dallas). Otherwise . . . going to a bounty hunter to hunt down a fugitive is one thing. Going to a bounty hunter to help your brother, who isn't missing I remind everyone, is . . . confusing. A conspiracy involving drugs, which may or may not be fake; and really really stupid cops - seriously, no one questions the fact that a newly promoted vice detective lives in a 'good' area of town, in a 'nice' house, and drives a newish corvette? What, do they need the cops to wander around handing out flyers saying 'we are corrupt, heh heh heh' for anyone to notice? (Why yes, I say to myself, people did notice - hence - stupid stupid evil corrupt cops). So. I ran through the list of the relationships in the series for the important point of now saying - everyone who had popped up at any point in the series and had any type of physical relationship with Luca, turns up in this book. Ronnie's here, Jessica's here, as is Diamond Collier. Luca's been on something of a growing path - one involving forcing herself to recognize her feelings. And yet . . . well, it's hard to break patterns/habits, eh? Oh, and almost forgot - the flirty Nancy Walters is also in this book as well. She does everything short of pouncing onto Luca and humping her. Everyone seems to like making disparaging remarks to Luca, but they all sure want to hump her. Teresa Perez had kind of been built up in my mind, from the short story and the first book, as being this smart woman who despises Luca. Other than running around with a, figurative, sign on her head in this book, she didn't exactly seem to be as smart as I'd expected/been lead to believe (view spoiler) I distracted myself and I am rambling so I'll boil things down - there's a good chance I would have rated this book at least 4 stars if not for how I screwed myself by reading the short story before the books in this series. At the moment I figure I'd give it 3.5 stars. And probably raise the rating up to 4 at some point relatively soon. Maybe. April 27 2016

[wiremagazine]

BLUE LIPS  & "DISCO TITS" TOVE LO STAYS HIGH

By DJ FR8-O | Photos courtesy of Island Records & Mighty Real Agency

As a man, I don't think there's anything more physically excruciating than a bad case of "blue balls." For any females reading this, that's basically what happens when we get all worked up sexually only to be cut short before we're able to let our horses out of the stable, if you know what I mean. Up until now I figured this was one of those phenomena that only those of us with a Y chromosome could understand, like peeing while standing up or ghosting after the first date. As it turns out, there are some women out there who do feel our pain, or at least one does. Blue Lips is the sexy new album by Grammy-nominee Tove Lo, and I'm pretty sure the title isn't referring to make-up tips. It's also a continuation of her previous set, the highly acclaimed Lady Wood. I'm starting to sense a pattern here.  

The titles of some of these tracks alone already tell you that this outspoken artist isn't sugarcoating anything for the masses. And why should she? Her massive, 5x-platinum #1 debut "Habits (Stay High)" and the triple-platinum follow-up "Talking Body" didn't hold back the raw honesty behind the emotional obsession and sexual attraction that we're all too familiar with. And now she's one of the recording industry's most-wanted collaborators, clocking projects with the likes of Coldplay ("Fun"), Nick Jonas ("Close"), Years & Years ("Desire"), Broods ("Freak Of Nature"), Adam Lambert ("Rumors"), Flume ("Say It"), and Alesso ("Heroes").

Blue Lips picks up right where Lady Wood left off, launching the set (after a rather pointless minute-long intro) with "Disco Tits," a sonically laidback dance track oozing with Tove's signature sexual aggression. "I'm sweat from head to toe. I'm wet through all my clothes. I'm fully charged, nipples are hard, ready to go," she chants in repetition like a mantra. After a couple more dance-y ditties, the Swedish singer-songwriter dials up the denial with the bittersweet "Don't Ask Don't Tell" and the lonely desperation of "Stranger." The first half of this concept album closes out with a problem that's running rampant all over this country of ours..."Bitches." As if reading the minds of anyone with half a libido, she proudly sings "Bitches: I don't trust 'em, but they give me what I want for the night."      

The second half of the session – kicking off once again with another WTF minute intro – explores the darker side of love and sex. Rapper Daye chimes in on the dreamy electro-ballad "Romantics" just before our girl admits her habit of repeating "Cycles" and the "Struggle" that comes with loving a distant partner. And just in case we thought the badass bitch we all know and love had turned soft on us, she closes the chapter with "Hey, You Got Drugs?," an anthem for anyone who has ever been jonesing for a good hit of ass-crack in the middle of the night. Like a love-junkie's confessional, the chorus pleads "Just need a pick me up. Only for tonight. Don't tell anyone I was with ya."

Between her career-catapulting debut, Queen Of The Clouds (2014) and the unstoppable sophomore hit Lady Wood (2016), Tove Lo has sold over 3 million albums worldwide. That's enough to keep any new artist satisfied for at least a night or two. And although Blue Lips' title may imply that our mistress hasn't quite gotten her rocks off yet, don't be surprised if by the end of this 44-minute session with her, you find yourself craving a cigarette.

If you're a recording artist, producer or musician and would like your work featured in TOP TRAX, hit me up at abarrios@wiremag.com.

This was originally published in Wire Magazine Issue 05.2018

[sometimesalwaysmusic]

HARD SCIENCE

Hard Science is the performing alias of Arturo Brisindi, who earlier this summer, put out his debut full-length called “Dreaming in Stereo”. A multi-modal artist, Hard Science combines audio and visual aspects in live performances and harkens back to a sound in the 80s when analog synths were all the rage. Give his record a spin and catch his upcoming set at Pressed Cafe on October 19th.

VITALS

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hardscienceav/

Web: http://hardscience.ca/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/le_douche/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hardscience

Latest Release: Dreaming in Stereo (Album, June 2017)

Upcoming shows: Thursday, October 19 - Hard Science, Jack Moves, Markian. 8PM. Pressed Cafe, Ottawa ON.

SA: How did Hard Science as a project come to be? HS: In a way, this project really dates back to my creative renaissance - around 2008 when I got back into analog synths. I had taken a bit of a hiatus for three or four years, instead focusing on playing drums in my band at the time, My Dad vs Yours, and helping to run a recording studio. That year I picked up my trusty Roland Juno 60 and Jupiter 4, and so began my journey into vintage synth obsession. 

But if you want to get technical, I would say that Hard Science as an entity really began when I actually started using the name in 2012. I was just starting to perform live techno with my modular synth and had just started getting into video. Before then, anything I did outside of My Dad vs. Yours was a bedroom project that I’d mostly keep to myself, or share with a very select group of trusted friends. 

Hard Science is me, whether it’s synth-pop, live modular techno, video, interactive installations, all of my creative work falls under the Hard Science umbrella. It has been a work in progress and is constantly evolving. 

SA: What bands, musicians or artists would you cite as the biggest influences on your sound? HS: There are so many artists and bands that have shaped who I am creatively and beyond. But for this album in particular, I think some of my biggest influences include Air, Boards of Canada, Röyksopp, early Washed Out, Com Truise, Twin Shadow, and Neon Indian. 

I think you’ll notice a common theme among most of these artists. They all employ sonic qualities that produce a heavy sense of nostalgia, specifically those of the 1980s. That sort of thing is a consistent influence on my sound and aesthetic. This might sound really hipster of me to say, but I’ve been obsessed with the 80s…since the 80s. 

SA: Thus far in the project's lifetime, what has been your biggest success? HS: In all honesty, I think the biggest success in this project’s lifetime is the release of Dreaming in Stereo. It’s weird to admit, but there was a time when I wasn’t even sure that I was going to release it. There were a lot of twists and turns in the making of the album – a lot of stepping away to do other things and coming back to rework. It took me almost 10 years to complete the album, but I feel good about it, and I’m really happy that it’s finally out there. 

SA: On the other hand, what is the biggest challenge you have faced, and how have you dealt with it? HS: The biggest challenge for me with respect to this album was getting over my own self-doubt. I knew there was appeal for the music I was making. I knew that, despite it being a somewhat niche album, there was an audience for it, but something inside of me just kept convincing myself that nobody would like it. I really struggled with the idea of putting it out there in the open for everyone to hear. I feared criticism and rejection. I think this is pretty common among artists.

I tried to really focus on what people who had listened to the album were telling me. I focused on friends whose tastes I trusted, and who I knew would be completely honest with me. I also had an intense desire to leave something that I was proud of behind as part of my legacy. I think as one gets older, you start to think a lot more about your place and contributions to this world and our culture, and how you want to be remembered. 

SA: How do you approach the song-writing process? HS: My approach to songwriting is to start with a blank page. I usually sit at my Juno 60 and play around with different chord patterns, melodies, and sounds. Often times I try to shape a sound on a synth and build a song based on that. If I’m satisfied and feel whatever I’ve done warrants working on any further, I’ll record it. Once I’ve got a solid foundation, I’ll either try to figure out other parts, like a chorus or bridge, or just focus on the one part and build on it by adding bass, drums, melodies, space echo, or whatever. 

These days I’ve been working on short loops. I’ve got a mini project where I make short animated loops on my computer. I accompany each video with an audio loop of its own. For the purposes of this project, the pieces are meant to be 10 to 15-seconds long, but I plan on revisiting them in the future. You can check them out on my personal Instagram page (@Le_douche).

SA: What are your thoughts on the Ottawa music scene? HS: If I’m at a show these days, I’m usually working or performing. I will say that doing live video and being a part of Switched On Synths has exposed me to some top notch music and has allowed me to work and share the stage with some incredibly talented artists. There is no shortage of talent coming out of Ottawa/Gatineau. 

SA: You recently played the Outdoor Electronic Music Festival (OEMF) at the Parc des Portageurs. What was that experience like, and what does it say about the electronic music scene in the region? HS: I love that festival. I make a point of going every year, whether I’m performing or not. It’s about the only thing I look forward to at the end of the summer. Kerry (aka VJ Daisy) and Michael Caffrey, the organizers, have an amazing thing going. This year was awesome! The weather was terrific, the crowd started forming pretty early too, so I had a good amount of people by the time my set started (I went on first), and those rocks make for a really great projection surface for the visual artists. 

This festival has been going on for years, and I think that says a lot about electronic music in Ottawa/Gatineau. Although very small and niche, those involved are dedicated and passionate about it, the music, and the experience. I’ve gotten to know a lot of people who make and play electronic music, either through OEMF, Switched on Synths at House of Targ, Possible World events, and through the Ottawa Synths Facebook group. There are a lot of incredibly talented people in our midst and I’m hoping that more and more people start to recognize it. I hope that more labels start forming, more venues and promoters start putting on electronic and experimental shows. I think we’re just starting to scratch the surface and I’m really happy to be a part of it. 

SA: I feel as though certain songs off your debut album would feel right at home on Stranger Things, and you've spoken about your love for '80s inspired synth sounds. How do you create music that inspires such different emotions, and ushers back to such an era? HS: There are a few factors for me. First, I am a child of the 80s. And although I was probably too young to really grasp much of what was happening around me, what I did absorb really stuck, mostly in a glorified, fantasy sort of way. I am a very nostalgic person, and like most people, my nostalgia is triggered by music and sounds. I often try and incorporate that nostalgia into my own music. It all comes down to the equipment; the synths, the drum machines, the tape echoes, the gated reverb, and the recording techniques. All of those things really shape my sound, literally and figuratively. 

SA: You have the chance to sit down for a meal with three musicians, dead or alive. Who are they, and why?  HS: 1. Chuck D (Public Enemy) – My very first favorite band was Public Enemy, back in 1989. I was 10 or 11. I was completely ignorant of his politics, but Chuck D’s lyrics had an effect on who I am and how I see the world. He exposed me to the struggles and the perspective of black people in America at a very young age. It would be amazing to sit down and chat with him about politics, life in the 1980s NYC hip hop scene, Flavor Flav (wtf?!?!) 

2. Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) – What can I say? I love Pink Floyd. One of the main things that drew me to them was Roger Waters’ storytelling. It would be pretty cool to sit down and pick his brain over a sandwich. 

3. Bob Moog – Though he’s not a musician per se, he revolutionized music in a way that I feel is unmatched. It would be an absolute honour to speak with him about his work. 

SA: What comes next for Hard Science in 2017, and beyond? We wish you all the best, and good luck! HS: At the moment I’m going to focus more on playing shows. I have a show lined up in October at Pressed Cafe (details are still being ironed out). I’m also going to be focusing all of my time on improving the visual component of my live shows. So right now I’m in full on video mode, working on my analog video machines and my software video programs creating as much content as I can. It’s actually the first time I’ve tried to come up with dedicated, premade video for my own music. I’m really excited about it! I’ve also spent a lot of time over the last year chipping away at my next record. I like to have more songs with vocals, so I will be hitting up some friends to see if they’d be up for lending their voices. I already have a few who have expressed interest! Other than that, I’d say most of the music has been written and just needs those final touches.