#and honestly it gets a bit obvious that post-production didn't get enough love or money when it's not part of the concept

[imminentinertia]

Yes and amen and thank you.

Also brand endorsements is where the big money's at, possibly to a greater degree in Thailand than a lot of other places, but three of BOC's big names are managed by Venture for that bit, not by BOC itself, which says something about BOC's priorities.

Saint Suppapong wrangled quite decent CGI and lovely action scenes into The Sign because he bloody well wanted to and forked out for it. That wasn't cheap, and allegedly it didn't have other sponsors at the time of going into production, but take that with a grain of salt.

So all in all, where there's a will and some good connections and/or some money in your own account there's often a way.

If I can correct one detail, @chaos0pikachu - The Paradise of Thorns isn't a BOC production, it's GDH 559 (which is under the GMM umbrella, as it happens, but it's not the ever-grinding show machine GMMTV is)

genuine question about thai television industry: where the hell does Be On Cloud get money to make shows with such high production quality? if they can do this, why don't other thai ql leaning studios make tv shows on this level? is it just well chosen sponsors? good equipment and filming team in their possession? what makes them different

[teenandbeyond]

Levi Ackerman x M.Reader

Edit: This can honestly be read as Gender Neutral I didn't really use he/him in this. Originally this was a female reader, but I realized Fem.Reader was kind of dominating my one-shots a little, so I changed it, I'll post a FemxLevi if y'all want, no problem (Female is a little easier to write, anyway), I'll just write a different scenario.

Edit 2: Dom. Fem Reader x Levi is written after all this time. Here you go if you're interested! Anatomy is hardly mentioned.

Levi is one of the best characters of this show other than Armin, Hange, Sasha, Jean, Connie, and Erwin. So I'm doing it.

Part 2. Part 3

⚔Hero⚔ (AOT or SNK)

Warnings: Lime-y, slight angst, cute?, Cursing, MxM relationship, non-canon but more towards the end of the series, the height difference has more of a gap than my grades

Somehow you got Levi as a boyfriend, you've started to slowly reconnect him to his emotions, but there's still something missing.

☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆

"Levi, don't doze off in the chair again," you warned while writing a shopping list.

"Mm..."

"You're dozing off, aren't you?"

"..."

"Levi, we have a fucking bed for a reason, please use it--"

He dozed off in the chair.

You sighed, a fond smile taking over your face as you carried him to the bed, placing a cover over him.

"Hopefully he doesn't wake up before I get back," you gently kissed his forehead, grabbed your shopping list, and left the house.

Sometimes you still weren't used to the different environment, you were born in Wall Sina, but as you grew older, you realized you didn't fit in there. The first time you saw someone work hard was when you met a non-corrupt military officer, he worked hard to protect those higher up. You wanted that, to work hard for something, rather than sit around and get served.

When you were 19, you ran away to wall Rose, with only a fat satchel of coins on your hip. You've been working ever since, only more recently, five years ago, you became a teashop owner, you can guess that's how you and Levi met.

You went to the stands that had what you needed. Crossing off each thing accordingly.

1. Brooms (But not with weak straw, Levi broke the brush part from sweeping too hard.)

2. Flowers for the shop

3. Levi's tea

4. That one cleaning product Levi loves more than me

5. Sugar

6. Liquor

You made the journey back home, easily carrying your items, due to much of your life working hard, you'd gained quite a bit of muscle.

"Hey, look who went shopping."

You peeked around your stuffed bag, a group of three men looking at you.

Ah, those were the guys who tried to rob you last week, but Levi scared them away.

"No 'humanity's strongest soldier' to protect you now, huh?"

You sighed, "All of us are middle-class, why are you trying to steal from me?"

"More money, duh-"

"Shut up!"

You rolled your eyes, deciding you weren't going to deal with this, and started to walk around them.

"Hey! Don't ignore us like that, you bastard!"

The 'leader' made you drop your items, unlike the day they first saw you, your intimidating physique was more obvious. You glared.

They made me drop Levi's things, you could care less about your alcohol and flowers at the moment.

"I-I..ahem. I want you to give us all the money on you!"

You raised a brow, crossing your arms, "I went shopping, idiot. Why would I have money left on me to give you?"

When going shopping, you only take enough money for the items plus a little extra just in case. You wouldn't tell them about the extra, of course.

"Take his stuff then, boys."

"Boss, he's taller than us..."

"And bigger than he was last time..."

"Not by much! Just get--"

"This is so unnecessary..."

You turned around, your dark aura instantly brightening like a puppy greeting its owner, "Levi!"

The men paled, "I-it's Levi...humanity's strongest soldier!"

Levi narrowed his still sleepy eyes, "Wait, don't tell me it's the same brats from before."

You crossed your arms with a pout, "Yeah, they were bullying me again."

"No!"

The 'boss' hurriedly organized the shopping items at your feet and nervously smiled, "We were just...uh...helping him."

"Yeah! Nothing else!"

"I swear, if you mess with [Name] again, I will break--"

"We won't!"

They ran off.

Levi blinked, before wheeling over to you in his wheelchair.

"Sorry, Levi, did we wake you?"

"Yes, I saw you out the window," Levi went to grab the brooms.

You kissed the top of his head, "Nope, you're not carrying anything, I'll meet you inside."

He listened and went back into the house with a cute yawn only you got to see.

☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆

After putting everything up in their proper places, you made Levi some tea and brought it to him after sitting him on the couch.

Although he tried to play it off, his eyes were eager, he never really got used to drinking tea with sugar. This is why he loved you, he hadn't even noticed he was out of tea until you told him you'd gotten more.

You rested your head next to his leg, smiling up at him.

He glanced at you, before sipping his tea, "Why do you have that stupidly cute smile on your face, [Name]?"

"Because I love you, Levi."

"...Mm."

You snickered to yourself, he still tried to play off when he got flustered.

"And I love when you're happy, it makes me happy."

"I...love you, too."

Levi also loved that bright smile that always appeared on your face when he said these three words, although you had been dating for four years, he hadn't actually said those words back until you were 3 years in. But if he'd know back then that he'd get a smile like that for saying them, he would've sooner.

"You saved me today, my hero."

"Please, you could've easily handled them yourself."

You nuzzled into his stomach, "Yeah, but it was cuter for you to stand up for me. I'll beat them up next time."

"There better not be a next time, they're fucking irritating," Levi took another sip.

You laughed.

Levi loved that about you too, your laughter, and he loved that he could so easily bring that out of you, joy.

You met eyes as his lips broke away from the cup, "Levi?"

"What, brat?"

You scoff, "I'm not that much younger than you--I just wanted to remind you of how beautiful you are."

"[Name]--"

"You are--"

"I only have one eye, I'm missing two fingers on one hand, and my leg--"

You sat up, "You should know by now that means nothing to me, you're still--"

"--a burden. I'm a burden to you."

Your eyes widened at this claim...Levi really thinks that, that he's a burden?

"Levi..."

"Be realistic here, [Name], if you want to go anywhere with me, you have to push me in a wheelchair. You had to make a ramp for me. You have to carry me everywhere. I'm a burden."

"Levi...Levi, no," you placed your hands on his cheeks, "You keep saying 'have' or 'had'...I do these things because I want to, not because you're a burden or an obligation. I want to be with you, it doesn't matter if you're in a wheelchair or injured, if I want you, those parts come in the package. I know you like independence, but Levi, I love taking care of you, it's not a burden to me, I love you."

"We can't do normal couple things--"

You smiled and kissed his nose, "We're far from normal people. Normal is boring anyway."

"I can't do anything for you--"

"You always make me happy, that's enough, Levi. Trust me."

He looked away as you kissed his brow, "I'm practically emotionally dead--"

"Well, that's what you have me for, to revive those emotions in you."

"..."

You frowned, you gently wiped away the beginnings of tears, you wouldn't speak of it though, "Have you really been thinking this way all this time? You've been keeping this just bottled up?"

His silence answered it for you, you ran a hand through his hair, "Oh, Levi. I'm so sorry I didn't notice sooner."

"You're insane, [Name] [Last Name]."

"How so?"

"Because you're crazy enough to think I'm...beautiful."

"I'll be crazy then. I might not convince you to feel that way, but, damn it, Levi, you're so indescribably beautiful," you kissed behind his ear.

He found himself shivering as your breath tickled his neck.

You quietly chuckled, "You're so cute."

"That's not fair..." Levi muttered to himself.

You pulled away, "Hm? What's not fair?"

How easily you can rile his virgin-ass up. He's already sexually frustrated as is.

Why hadn't you had sex? Well, first you had to get past Levi's wall. Then you weren't really focused on that, you just liked being with him, sex wasn't a must for you. It didn't matter much to Levi much either, until recently...he craved...to be...closer.

But he couldn't muster up the bravery to tell you. Yes, Levi Ackerman, 'humanity's strongest soldier', who's fought and killed titans, lost many, lost parts of his body...can't ask if you can go to the next step. He didn't even know if he could do those things with you.

"Levi?"

"What...what makes me beautiful to you?"

You smiled, "How strong you are, mentally, physically, emotionally. You've been through so much, but you're still here...Your depth, your intelligence, your protective nature. And even the times you're just, Levi and break down, you're no less beautiful to me," you gave a soft laugh, "Man, that's not an easy question Levi, it's hard to name specific things that make you beautiful when there's so much about you that makes you so...gorgeous to me. We'd be here all day, but I don't mind if--"

"No thanks, you talk enough."

"I think that makes you beautiful too, you don't mince words."

Levi mustered up the courage to look you in the eyes and say, "Then why haven't you touched me?"

You were confused, "Huh? What do you mean? I always kiss you, hold your hands, hug you, cuddle,--well, sometimes, you're still too cool for those at times--"

"I mean...more...intimately..."

You paused, taking a second before realizing what he was implying.

"Oh...OH! Well, sex isn't a requirement in a relationship for me, I was more focused on the other things in a relationship, especially since you didn't seem interested...at least...I thought you didn't."

His cheeks tinted pink, "I don't think I could anyway. I'm disabled."

"And?"

"What do you mean, 'and?', my legs don't function normally."

You couldn't help but laugh, before cutting yourself off, "I'm not laughing at you, I'm sorry, it's just...Levi, just because you can't use your legs, doesn't mean we can't have sex. That's not a problem."

"...Oh."

"Is that something you still want to try, now that you know you still can?"

He bit his lip, "I've never..."

You assured him, "You don't have to rush and make a choice now. We could always talk about it another day, I'm not going anywhere--"

"I want to. But I'm not good at initiating that type of thing."

"You don't have to."

☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆☆*: .｡.

"[N-name]!" Levi shuddered as you kissed down his shoulder, his shirt loosely hanging off of it.

"Yes, Levi?"

"M-ah~"

You chuckled at his reaction to what you'd just tried. You honestly hadn't expected him to be this submissive, but at the same time, you could see why. Either way, you didn't mind.

"Levi, take off your shirt for me."

He did without hesitation.

"You know, you look beautiful like this."

His face was red, his breathing already heavy, his eye looked needy.

You kissed both his eyelids, "Your eyes," you kissed the end of the scar that ended near his lips, "This scar," you grabbed his wounded hand, kissing each knuckle, making eye contact, "And even this hand. Where you see flaws, I see beauty, Levi."

Fuck, he loved you. His hero, saving him from himself.

"I love your legs too," you moved lower, your knees on the ground, "Want me to show you?"

[sanstropfremir]

I absolutely LOVED reading your kingdom review. You gave me such an insight in things I never even considered, especially since our rankings are so different from each other. The Boyz was my favorite, the narrative was about RTK. How they felt bad for having to compete against their friends but eventually the groups only lifted each other up and it helped TBZ grow into the group they are now through the hardships and mental dilemma, falling into the next challenge right after they reached the top. It should have been more obvious though, I agree, it wasn't really visible for anyone who didn't know. I was wondering how you felt about the dancing in general? my reason for not ranking BTOB high was lack of choreo (and Peniel's verse), same goes for SF9. Mostly because I don't feel the hype when watching, it doesn't keep my focus on the stage. As a baby-performer myself, my goal is to make the viewer curious about what's next. is that the wrong way to look at it? that's what I've always been told, building the tension up and down to create focus. would love to hear your feedback on that! thank you so much for sharing, we need more reviews of people who actually know what they're talking about.

i'm glad that you got some insight from it! like i answered in the previous ask im here to hopefully bring some more depth and understanding for people that care and are curious!

you unintentionally proved my point about tbz’s performance: that is way too complicated! even the most talented solo dancers i can think of would have trouble distilling that down to something readable in 100 seconds, much less a group of like, a dozen people! the introductory stages are meant to show us the character of the group and their abilities in the most concise way possible, it's not the stage to do deep philosophical and emotional introspection. for a full stage? absolutely, go hog wild! but for this stage it was too ambitious and ultimately was ineffective to anyone that isn't a fan of them specifically. 

by dancing in general do you mean like, every group? i put most of my opinions on the dancing where i had them in each of the individual rankings but honestly? unless there is something that really stands out positively or negatively, a lot of ‘average’ kpop dance looks the same to me. i know it’s not, obviously, and if pressed i probably could do a more serious breakdown, but dance is only one element of performance. it has equal weight with all the others in my mind, and therefore i notice when it is either 

very good

does something unique

very bad, or

interferes with another element

which is the same as how i evaluate every element, if that makes sense. 

hmmmm. i thought about this a lot in the shower and turns out i had more opinions that i expected so i'll put them under a cut.

firstly, i don't think lack of choreo should be penalized or considered an ‘incomplete�� performance. at the end of the day, these are bands, and a part of their brand/product they sell is the music. complex choreo does not need to be attached to that to make it a successful performance. also, btob did have choreo. any movement on stage is technically choreography. but this terminology can cause confusion so usually non-dance choreo is referred to as ‘blocking.’ but they also did include the song’s original point choreo at 1.41. the blocking in their performance was well thought out and suited the arrangement, by placing spatial emphasis on each part of the song that needed it. obviously it comes down to personal taste if the performance is ultimately ‘successful,’ because all art is subjective, but just because something isn't as visually complex as something else doesn’t mean it doesn't have the same level of thought. think of it like this: one is a super clean-lined post-post-modern grey/white living room, and the other is a kitsch goth basement. both share interior design principles and have obvious care put into the space, but they are vastly different styles that appeal to different tastes.

part of the job of production designer/AD is to decide what gets emphasis. a question you're always asking yourself is ‘is this important to the story that we’re trying to tell?’ and btob/their AD made a very smart choice with their introductory stage because it says a lot about them and their abilities in a short amount of time. that stage said ‘our foundation is strong, we have the training and experience and confidence to be up here and not rely on visual tricks.’ because they know they physically cannot do the things the 4th gen groups can; they're a decade older and they only have four members, it's just not feasible. something you learn with experience is the power that specific and pointed emphasis holds, which segues into my answer to your last question. i don't necessarily think that ‘building hype’ is the wrong way to perform something, but i do think it is a flawed way to approach creating a performance.

i think that ‘hype’ is flawed concept at its core, and one that focuses on the idea that there’s always being something more, something next, beyond the work itself. now there’s nothing wrong with playing with tension within the internal structure of a piece, that's exactly how constructing a narrative happens. however, the flaws come once we extrapolate beyond the boundaries of that individual work. the idea of ‘whats next’ implies that you have to constantly be promoting, have a sequel coming, building hype etc so people will keep engaged with your work. which is deeply capitalistic in nature and operates on the assumption that art exists purely as a product to be sold. and in order to keep selling you need to keep making a bigger and better and more spectacular product. and this is not the case at all. marketability is not the essence of art, it merely a factor of creating it under this insufferable system. kpop in particular suffers from this because the industry is specifically fabricated to produce capitol. we can have discussions all day about idols and their artistic integrity but at the end of that day, they are all cogs working with a system that was specifically made up by essentially one person to be culturally exported and to just print buckets of money. so in following that train of thought, there is a constant attitude of bigger and better because shock value (whether positive or negative) gets social media attention and therefore it sells. and it has become exponentially easier (and also seemingly required) to make things that are bigger and better than ever before. i remember being blown away by the projection floor at the sochi 2014 olympics because something of that scale and complexity would never have been possible without literally having the funding of the olympics. now that technology is easily accessible to anyone with an amazon account and the time to learn how isadora works. in comparison, it took 2400 YEARS for just the job of a ‘theatre designer’ to be even become a job at all.

because of kpop’s fan culture it is especially prone to ‘hype’ behaviour. in general with the accessibility of the internet and social media, everything has turned into a competition, and who can generate the most buzz ‘wins’. but ultimately that has taken away the general public’s ability to recognize that you can enjoy something quietly and you can enjoy something slowly. that the enjoyment of something doesn’t need to be all exclamation marks and keysmashes and trending hashtags on twitter. there is value in a work engaging in an emotion within you that is not just excitement. most of the artists and companies that i consume the work of i don’t do so because their work makes me excited, i do so because i liked the experience of engaging with that work. several years ago i saw the eternal tides by legend lin dance theatre, which you can watch a really short clip of here. that is not slow motion, that is actually how slow the dancers are moving. and 90% of the show is performed like that. and its two hours long. and it was one of the most incredible performances i've ever seen. if i ever get the chance I will go see another one of their shows again, not because i care about how they can top that experience i had, but because i know they can produce that experience, and that is enough to make me want to seek them out again. the speed of the internet has also loosened the general public’s understanding of just exactly how long creating a performance work can take. the lead dancer in the eternal tides was with the company for eight years before she and the piece were ready enough to be performed. large scale operas, musicals, and plays often have a year or more of pre-production before they even get to rehearsal. smaller theatre companies workshop new pieces for years at a time. performance is hard and it takes time. you can eliminate some of that with sheer amounts of money and people, which is what the kpop industry has done, but it speeds up the cycle of consumption to a degree that is not sustainable, especially for companies and creators who do not have that kind of access. performers and performance makers often don't put enough trust in their audiences. if they like what they see, they will come back. they dont need to be constantly bombarded with content at all times.

now that i’ve said a bit about why i think hype is a flawed concept, let's bring it back to kingdom. sf9 did something very interesting with their stage in that they actively chose to limit their dance time. and this plays very well off the performance film stage that taeyang did a couple of weeks ago. taeyang is talented and confident (for good reason), and his solo was incredible. but when it came to the intro stage, instead of trying to one-up the solo stage, the group instead said ‘well people are going to be looking at us because taeyang is insanely talented, so let's show them that we ALL have the confidence and the attitude to be up here.’ no need for flashy theatrics, they had the foresight to do something that would make them stand out from the rest of the groups. even if i was just casually watching the stages without doing any analysis on them (like i did for rtk), i would still be able to distinguish them because they had the stones to stand around for half their stage time. now i recognize them and would like to see what else they can do. same principle as what btob and also what ikon did. there is a fine line between anticipation and hype that gets equated in media consumption nowadays, but the two are not the same.

i think the tldr on this is that you dont need to ‘build hype’ or ‘go all out’ to make an interesting work. just focus on telling the narrative that you want to tell, and the people that recognize that will come. i could have a lot more things to say about peoples shrinking attention spans and the constant stream of information that we consume on a daily basis that devalues the labour done by artists in the eyes of the public and promotes hustle culture that is burning out and damaging creators at a rate that is both exponential and frightening, but that’s probably for another time, because this is SO LONG

[a-private-place]

So, it's been a really really long time since I last posted here. I just kind of... started saying a lot of the gloomy stuff on my main blog

I'm sure there's a good chance the few of you still around kind of forgot you were following this (not as in you forgot about me, as in just we tend to forget stuff when it goes of the radar for years). So no obligation to stick around or read all this, though you're welcome to if you want. Really in many ways this was always just a journal that had the advantage of maybe someone hearing it

As for what's been going on and why I'm back, I'll put most of it under a break, but here's the summary. Things are going much better for me, but I'm still suicidal and depressed because that's just probably how I always will be. It is better though

The stuff I'm about to post isn't exactly horrible stuff or anything, it's just things that are a little more honest about how I'm feeling than I want to share on my main blog. I just... as much as I'm myself there, I can't take letting the mask slip enough to say it, and I've decided here... fine, I need to say it so here will work

If I happen to discreetly mention this on my main blog, and you know me directly that's fine. I just can't bring myself to be totally open in that space, I'd be happy enough to have the people I know know this stuff

Anyway... man I suck at keeping it short, here comes the break though

Well, a few years ago with a lot of help from my dad financially (which if I'm honest I feel guilty about), I found this wonderful place 50 miles from anything in any direction, and because of that it was only $90k, which I could barely afford

It's this amazing former hotel in this town of like... 150 people, and it needs a lot of work but the worst of it tends to be like... the basement door is a mess, huge gap under it that's an insulation nightmare, and I've found a few mice that I have to take far a way to release that that's the number one suspect for where they get in

I don't really have any money, so fixing stuff is gonna fall on me, but... I don't know what I'm doing and it's hard to get started. I'm slowly working on it, but I'm nowhere near as productive as I'd like

I took up woodworking a bit before I got the house, I like it a lot. I actually have a huge commission (physically, like it's like 4 feet tall when most of the stuff I do is 8 inches) which has been done since the start of the year, but I've kind of felt too depressed and guilty about how much money I probably should ask for it given the time to took. The commissioner's been really cool though, ideal person to deal with and honestly really helped make the piece great

This isn't it, this is actually a pretty old piece from before I moved, but I don't have a picture of the commission on my desktop so here's an example

I ended up having to let my mom move in with me. I'm not exactly happy about it, but most of the time I manage to put the past out of my mind and then it mostly works. Managed to help her get disability so that's how the bills are covered now that my money all ran out (she spent the last of my money before that happened an my account got closed like $500 in the hole, so... yeah)

Got her horrible trailer totally emptied, still going through stuff here which is hard because... I'm bad at it. I'm good at emergency clean up, just stuff the total trash into a dumpster, and everything else you bag or box fast as can be to give another pass. Haven't been able to make myself do that second pass

It was a nightmare if I'm honest. I got photos, you probably don't want to see them. The place was so badly damaged we didn't get a dime, we got an agent kind enough to ask a contact who repairs stuff to take it as is for free, and that's it

Pandemic didn't effect me cause I never leave my house anyway and I'm in the middle of nowhere. I found out that I've been living like I'm in quarantine my whole like, so that part didn't bother me, but might tell you why I'm so messed up. I don't know

Had enough room that a friend of an acquaintance on here was kicked out during the pandemic and I offered them a place to stay. I won't say it was a bad move, because morally it was probably the right thing, but a year later they're still here. Turns out despite driving cross state their driver's license has been expired 8 years, they're almost more of a fuck up than I am, and... they still don't have a new ID to apply for housing assistance with cause... I don't know, it sucks

As for me, I'm still really depressed a lot of the time, suicidal most days like I used to be. Still can't make myself get a job, mostly cause of the insomnia, and I haven't made the commission end of the woodworking come together yet

I feel pretty horrible about not having an income, really worthless and like a leech, and honestly what I'm really wanting most days is to get this place cleaned up enough (and the person I let live here moved on), and invite this friend I really like who has kind of similar problems stay here. Then I want to get my hands on a gun and blow my brains out, leave the place to her and get my worthless self out of here like I feel would be best

It's fucked up probably, but that's how I feel most days. Oh, and before you say the obvious, I'd love a therapist, but I can't be driving 50 miles for one and all the online ones say I'm too depressed to work with. So uh... just know while that's not great it's stable and I'm still here after many days of feeling that

Worry that I'm feeling that way if you want, probably the wise call, but don't worry about me being in immediate danger

Anyway, bad as that all probably sounds, this is the best I've ever done in my life. Things are more stable than ever before, I have more friends online than I ever used to, I kind of almost have one singular skill for once. It's messed up and I often feel like I don't deserve it, but in some ways I'm one of the best off people in the US right now, which sucks that everyone else is on such shaky ground. Thing is though, I've got no mortgage, and because of that the disability just covers the utilities and groceries (though it's been tight covering my cat's chemo these past few months, it was pretty ok before that)

Well, if you read all this I hope you're doing ok yourself. Good chance we don't know each other really, only like one or two people from my main knew about this one, the rest of you were strangers more or less but I appreciated you

I'm... I'm tired a lot, like an unreasonable amount, but if you ever need to talk, just shoot me a message. Once I'm awake enough I'll be happy to respond. I'm not good at much, but I can listen

Really hope you're doing alright whoever you are. Probably more to come, though... I haven't slept all night and this took longer than I expected and I don't want to slap down some of the feelings that made me want to come back here. I need... I don't know, the right frame of mine

Oh yeah, also been doing Irish the past few years on duolingo. I'm not really able to speak like a child yet, but uh... know a few things in it

Take care