#and i've revisited each video so many times already

[fryday]

i actually can't believe that we got a second instalment to what is now possibly the mukbang series, a half-hour storytime from the pholiday villa itself, and a 3-part clothes swap video with truly coma-inducing amounts of gayness, all in the space of 9 days. we live in a world that is so beautiful

[bengiyo]

Hello 👋

All of your favorite horniest sex scenes?

Hello! I've been busy, so this has taken forever to get to!

I don't always need the guys to bounce around on each other and gyrate enthusiastically for it to out as horny. Oftentimes, I find myself more drawn in by the building desire between the characters, and the explicit acknowledgement of release. I like when the sex feels like it's also revealing something to us about the characters. I've highlighted many of these before, but it's fun to revisit.

Ghost Host, Ghost House Episode 4 Couch Scene

I will never get over this scene, and especially the director's cut of it. These guys knew they liked each other almost instantly, and it was so rewarding to see them reach a place where they could express that. Bonus points for discussing the logistics of gay sex.

This show has been on Gaga and YouTube for a while, but it's also now available on Viki!

La Pluie Episode 6 Floor Scene and Episode 7 Bed Scene

I liked this scene so much that I wrote about it. Again, there's a lot of anticipation between these two, and you can tell how far it's built up because Patts has to dial it back down when Saengtai wants to stop. It's especially important to me because Saengtai does blow Patts in the next episode. If you're on iQIYI, there's an extended cut of that at the end of the video lists.

Mood Indigo: The Post-Funeral Scene

These two are so horrible for each other, but damn are their sex scenes compelling. Theirs are the kinds of scenes only possible between two people you know can never work long term. I was so glad that we got back to Haruhiko in Playback, and the first thing he did was blow Rio in a car. If you haven't seen the Novelist, and you're itching for hornier BL, it's right there.

The End of the World With You "You're Soaked"

From the same team as The Novelsit, we got to experience baby's first fuckboy in this incredible show. Again, I love when we get scenes with couples who aren't ready to work, because they're allowed to have raunchier sex. They get to amp the intensity of the physicality because they need to give a reason why someone was so caught up and missed the warning signs. I actually love the car scene later as a more romantic intimacy scene, but we're focusing on horny here.

Jack o' Frost Birthday Sex

A common theme here with the Japanese offerings is that people are allowed to have more interesting sex scenes right before they split. This is true even in Jack o' Frost. We get a really great oner from the leads that precedes their breakup and Ritsu's accident. I think this might be my favorite of this list because the actors have to build the entire scene together since there aren't any cuts.

Gameboys 2 Bed Scene

Cairo and Gav are one of my favorite pandemic couples we got on screen, and I was quite relieved for them when they finally got to have this moment. We also confirmed they switch, and I love that.

Wedding Plan: Namnuea Showing Off His Stamina

No list for me would be complete without including them. I really loved seeing two gay men go at it after clearing out all of their misunderstandings. They had already had sad goodbye sex. It was thrilling to see them having enthusiastic, athletic sex. This also leads directly to one of my favorite emotional payoffs for a closeted character of all time.

Kiseki: Dear to Me Reunion

The second couple stole this show, but damn if I didn't love the way these two played out sex across multiple years between their characters. These two really suffered, and I really love the way Taro Lin and Hsu Kai captured the changes between these two as Bai Zong Yi grew and matured. This really was a solid sex scene.

Love Class 2: Sungmin and Joo Hyuk

I just really wanna thank them for reassuring me that if Korea wanted to, they could deliver.

Sleep With Me Jeans Scene

I am not a lesbian, but I share their beliefs. This scene was so good. I loved that these two, who have different kinds of disabilities, were able to have a very fun sex scene. I really like when it's clear both characters want to be there.

Only Friends: Boston and Top in the Car

Despite my eventual disdain for this show, I was impressed with Neo and Force for giving this incredibly selfish sex scene between their characters. This entire scene is about injured egos, and it's a standout scene from this show. We won't discuss the rest of the show here.

Thanks for the ask!

[chiliconsharls]

“𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐞”

2.8K, explicit, post China Sprint

Read on AO3 or bellow the cut

He’s still fuming even when the roar of all engines has shut off. Absurd move, and for what? Fucking out of the podium and pole again. He yanks the balaclava as he seizes the ‘55’ of the garage, each step he’s taken has slowly made the anger subside but still sits in his gut like lava.

Everyone turns to him with their eyes wide and unblinking and Charles breathes. So, they’re waiting for a scene. A screaming match or maybe blows but it’s not the stuff he and Carlos are made of— apparently. He bites his tongue in his mouth when Carlos comes, eyes deep and gone.

“What the fuck was that?” Charles repeats himself, but his tone is far lighter than he intended it.

“Not right now, okay?”

And just like that, he flips the switch. Just like that, Charles’ fire dies and he thinks anyway. He thinks whatever. He thinks good riddance.

Because it’s always been like this with Carlos. Always half-measures and stolen glances and mixed messages and never enough. He should’ve known better than to hope their last year would’ve been different.

If anything, this might just prove to be the worst one yet.

By the time he’s done with the media circus, smiling in the absurdity of his frustrations, he’s ran out of fuel to keep him fired up, and when Carlos approaches him –fucking finally– he’s only greeted with a tired, heavy sigh. “I have to speak to the stewards because of the shit with Alonso, listen—if I was too aggressive—”

Charles taps his chest and through the layers of fabric, he can still feel the heat coming off Carlos, the steady pumping of his heart and the hard carcass that surrounds it. “It doesn't matter. I've been there, too, haven't I?” he relents and it's pathetic. He knows.

But Carlos squeezes his fingers and looks at him puzzled, as he's often done lately. Half-here, half-somewhere else. One foot out, Charles remembers.

And he doesn't say anything else before he disappears from his grip again, Charles also doesn't stick around to listen.

Instead, he replays the sprint idly in his mind after he's showered, revisiting all the missed twists and turns and convincing himself that his fight with Carlos didn't fuck up his chances for a podium. Maybe it did, maybe it didn't. What counts is tomorrow, anyway.

But then a flash and he's pushed out of the track like nothing but a bug and his head is spinning and it's a hundred degrees but his gut is boiling with more than just that. His heart is racing for more than just racing. Fucking see me, I'm right here.

I'm yours to push and shove.

He doesn't have to open his eyes and look down to know what he knows already. His shaft's hardening as he lies and overthinks, great. It's not the first time he's gotten hard after a fight on track, it's not even the first time he's gotten hard after a fight on track with Carlos. But it'd been a while, and it'd been a while since the race, too.

He bites his lower lip and eyes his problem. His cock is nestled only somewhat uncomfortably inside his briefs. He could leave it there, he's only halfway into hardness. But then it's also just 10 p.m. in Shanghai so he's got a few more hours to kill before he's ready to rest. Social media seems like a good idea for a minute until he watches one too many videos of the race and his minor issue goes right to considerable.

It's starting to itch, the fabric. But when he moves his hips a little bit the constriction provides friction and Charles' interest is piqued, then. Fine, he'll stoop lower. It's one sprint video that leads to interviews with bullshit excuses that make Charles lose himself in brown eyes like he's done for the last three and some years that then lead him to a myriad of Sainz footage and he's gone.

And Charles could call him up, could get the whole actual show. But Charles was weak enough already to turn down his apologies when Charles very much deserved them, Charles was weak enough already to just let him fucking push him over, he'd been weak enough lately.

This was still weak, of course. But it was at least between him and God. Did he mention he was the bigger man earlier already?

He throws the phone to his side when Carlos' smile begins spinning in his head after three or so photos. It always took so much of his face, but Charles noted that it didn't matter because his laugh was contagious. A lot of aspects of Carlos were like that, could make you feel whatever he wanted in just a flick.

Charles palms himself, just a press of the heel of his hand to his bulge and he breathes heavily. Inhaling deep as his teeth trap his lower lip. He turns over and pushes a pillow between his legs, just to keep the pressure subsided.

Except that Carlos' fingers earlier linger on his, in his mind, and Charles eyes his hand like it's foreign to his body. He's washed off, it's been hours already; there's no trace of Carlos' smell or his heat at Charles' fingertips but it doesn't hurt to imagine. It doesn't hurt to rub himself softly, index finger moving from his clavicle to his chest to his navel until Charles breathes heavily again before he pushes down the briefs and ends the charade that he's wishing this away. He squeezes the pillow harder between his legs to keep his cock from flinching at the cold of the dead darkness of his room. The nearly dead emptiness of the life he carries. And his finger draws faint circles on his body again. Aimless, odd-shaped figures across his arm and his torso and his shoulder just like Carlos would. Touch and graze him like Charles was made of the most precious marble.

And kiss him. Carlos would kiss him breathless. Would kiss him like his life depended on it, would kiss him like he'd fight him on track. Like he did today.

This is all that I've got— can you take it?

Charles bucks into the messy lump he'd already made of the pillow as a yes echoes in his head, chanting, nearly. Yes, I can fucking take it. You want to fight me harder than the rest? I'll meet you halfway there. I'm no coward. Crash into me if that's how bad you want it. We'll give them a bloody show.

He grunts when his tip grazes the silky fabric of the pillow just slightly enough to sting and he comes to think that maybe he ought to just get on with it and use his hand, instead, but the rough friction is good. The rough friction reminds him of calloused, big hands, tanner than his. Musky smells and hairy wrists that always manage to twist right how Charles needs. It's unbearable, really. How perfectly they piece together.

And now Carlos wants to fight me.

All because they have left us in these ruins.

It's not my fault they didn't pick him.

He whimpers as his rhythm picks up, back arched as he's shifted to topple the pillow that's now under his belly. He no longer worries about the cold because his many efforts now got him glistening in sweat and panting, just like he was inside the car earlier.

Riled up because of Carlos fucking Sainz, albeit in two entirely different ways. Or were they? Wasn't their predicament the entire cornerstone of Charles' current frustrations?

They couldn't love each other, they could never love each other. They couldn't even have each other, because they didn't have a say in that.

And they couldn't hate each other, either. They couldn't go at each other's throats.

Well, at least that's what I thought. But he didn't give a shit about that, did he? Maybe that could mean…

“Merde,” he moans when he starts rocking his hips easier because he's started leaking. The moist spot he's made gets slicker with each roll of his hips and soon he just thrusting wantonly into the misshapen lump.

He supports himself a little on his elbows on the mattress, back arched just enough to make room for him to thrust back in, and so he repeats in a frenzy dance. He imagines himself squeezed into nothingness like the pillow, and bucks harder, relentless. Carlos wouldn't lose the pace, not at least until the very– very end. But he wasn't Carlos. He was only the mess Carlos had made of him, whimpering and moaning into his mattress and about to come untouched like a fucking teenager.

I bet he's smiling. I bet this is what he's wanted all along. To see me lose my damn mind like this.

He curses and he can nearly taste the bleach they used to clean the sheets; his tongue dries in the cotton as he lets go of the fabric, and adjusts himself a little. Legs a little spread, this time just pressing on his knees and he moves his hips in circles. Charles breathes at the slight change of pace but his mind provides more reasons to keep him going. Flashes of Carlos meaty lips dropping wet kisses all over his back before he claimed him, the way his bushy eyelashes would flicker before he came, mouth slacking in a soundless ‘o’ that Charles always needed to stick his tongue into.

Carlos' breathy laugh and silly jokes and big hands, crowding all of him both in public and private. Did he even know? How easily can I be undone under his fingers? He picked up his pace again as frustration started filling him once more.

“Charles?”

Yes, he'd fucking say. Sharl all soft like nothing's ever been wrong in the world. Like they're not caught up in the shittiest situation. Like Charles isn't absolutely dreading the end of the season. Like Charles doesn't lo–

He freezes when a hand wraps around his nape and Charles feels like an exposed wire, ready to electrocute. But the hand holding him knows him all too well, and it is as firm as it is tender. So Charles breathes and leans back into it.

“Vai avanti,” Carlos whispers in his ear and Charles wants to kick him out, kind of. He also wants to turn around and kiss the living daylights out of him.

It's always a bit complicated after a race, anyway. Carlos is the one he has to beat all the time, no matter what, but he also needs to have Carlos do good.

And they can't fight, so they don't fight. They make love instead, which is its own kind of fight, if you ask Charles.

He moves slowly — slower than he was a second ago— and the hand at his neck is so hot suddenly the pillow is too cold and rigid and Charles is no longer interested in it. He twists his face to see him, but the room is pitch black and the angle isn't right anyway.

“Carlos…” he whispers. It's not a plea, he wouldn't call it that. He's still got some dignity left in him.

But Carlos answers like he's made to answer, and Charles reflects on how bad he's been to him for the last two or so hours, until he reflects that he's in fact been soft. They both have.

“Shh, keep going. I got you,” Carlos says, and the hand around his neck rolls down his spine slowly to sneak under and wrap around him and Charles moans louder this time because it's what he's wanted the whole fucking day, since that stupid stunt he pulled.

Touch me the way it fucking matters.

“Venga, amore,” he prompts again, in the weird mix of Spanish and Italian he can muster, just towering over Charles somehow. Here and there and all around and Charles is dizzy in lust and something as intoxicating. He pushes himself up, pressed fleshed against Carlos, who's still gripping him loose and Charles knows this is what he'll give him this time. Just this, not more.

You get one piece of me this time. You'll never have me whole.

Charles loves a good challenge.

But he wasn't aiming to win this particular battle, so Charles just moves against the hand holding him firmly, Carlos rubbing his thumb on his tip so the precum would make the grip pleasant while Charles lost himself to the sensations and soon he was bucking erratically into Carlos' fist before spilling his release all over it.

Carlos supports him through the wakes of his climax, holding him to his chest as he stands just right near the edge of the bed, dropping soundful kisses on Charles' shoulders that make him shudder while he's still coming down from his high, Carlos still milking him through.

After the lights have stopped sparkling, Charles finally looks up at him. “I’ve been texting you,” Carlos says at the side of his face, but he sounds amused.

Charles half shrugs, before turning around fully, arms thrown over Carlos' shoulders. “I've been busy.”

“Clearly.” Carlos' right hand is sticky on his hip.

“How did you get in here?” Charles inquires, after he finally gains some clarity.

“Asked Nicolas for a spare key. Told him that if he's gonna tell the media you and I kiss then he might as well help me give it a shot,” Carlos says but there's a trace of amusement in his tone.

Charles still frowns. “Seriously?”

“‘Seriously’ did I ask him for the key or ‘seriously’ did he tell the press we kiss on the mouth?”

Charles rolls his eyes because he didn't really care that much about the answer. The world wasn't burning, so, who cared if his manager joked on international TV about something that may not be a joke? Who cared if Carlos outed them to his manager in response?

He leans forward slowly and drops a kiss on Carlos' lips only to realize he still smells like gas and sweat and tastes like their energy drinks. “Are you still dirty from the race?” Charles blurts, almost absentmindedly.

Carlos slaps his cheek in response and it makes a slick sound cause it's still covered in cum. “You're one to talk about being dirty.”

He chuckles, head falling on Carlos shoulder and trying not to giggle too much but the embarrassment is slowly getting to him. When he stretches his neck again, big brown eyes are looking up to him like he hangs the moon every night.

It's hard to imagine this is the same Carlos that would force him out of the track. The same Carlos that will fight tooth and nails this year to prove Ferrari that they should've chosen him instead of Charles. But, then again, they were all different people once the lights went off.

Charles could never begrudge him.

“Wanna take a bath with me?” he offers. “You can do your hair routine on me so I can have amazing hair after a race like you do,” Charles adds, playfully.

“Anything for Lord Perceval,” Carlos jokes in the same nature.

“You know it isn't personal, right?” Carlos asks after they sit in the tub for a while. His fingertips are drawing circles on his scalp and Charles lives, however long this moment lasts, in a world where none of that matters.

For this fleeting, miniscule moment, he's just having a bubble bath with the most beautiful man he's ever been near.

“I know.” Does he wish it was? Does he wish Carlos wasn't lying?

“It's not easy, though. It's not what you and I are used to,” Charles says, honest, too. Carlos is the longest teammate he's ever had so comparisons are dull. But, still…

Carlos stares at him unblinking as he does, and his eyes sparkle with sadness and wonder alike. It's a weird mixture that only Carlos can pull off, Charles reckons. “I'm afraid we're heading into territory that's gonna have us outside of what we're used to, amor.”

Was it a threat or just a bad omen?

“I can't say I won't be aggressive again for the rest of the season. You know why this one is more important than most to me, Charles— but… but I can promise that I'll come back to you still after. And we'll sort it out.”

The corner of Charles' mouth draws up as he looks at him. Yes, he knows. Ever since Carlos joined him, three years and so ago, Charles has known.

The only place Carlos would ever serve him is the bedroom and the only way Carlos would ever be gentle with him is like this.

[dunedragon]

Finally played through all the BN games and 100% each one! I haven't had a chance to go complete the mirror versions yet, but I have finally experienced it all! Here's how I felt about each! (Opinion Ahead)

Battle Network 1: A very classic experience, great groundwork for lore, short, simple, and fun. To friends, I jokingly call it "Mt. Moon the video game" in terms of maps. If you aren't used to old RP dungeons then I can see this game getting irritating very quickly for people. I liked it a lot and want to revisit it again now that I've cleared the other games.

Battle Network 2: The most memorable experience due to how batshit the story was. Most of my "wild" BN examples come from this game, absolutely great. I remember absolutely NOTHING about the gameplay though. I do remember the cyberpunk background for the main town's internet and I'm sad they didn't do this in future games (or other areas in this game for that matter) it made the digital world feel like a world.

Battle Network 3 (Blue): My FAVORITE storyline game. This places it into the top game out of all 6 games for me. The post game has a lot of content, lots of lore, Hub REALLY gets to be apart of the story here, I love it. The downside is I found it the most difficult to 100% because it really challenges you up to where a lot of super post game time trials are just resetting for RNG. Not great.

Battle Network 4 (Red Sun): A SLOG. I think someone casually playing through the story and putting the game down would have a better time of it, but coming right after Battle Network 3, it was painful to play through once, let alone three times (or more for others who didn't have a google spreadsheet to help.) The upside is, the game is empty enough that 100% completing the game is pretty easy, just EXTREMELY time consuming and mindnumbing.

Battle Network 5 (Team Colonel): I didn't really like the darkchip storyline much, so that extended here as well. I found the story passable, much better than 4, but I wasn't really engaged. Gameplay wise though, I really enjoyed how the Liberation Missions challenged how I previously approached chip building. It really pushed me to learn how to build better decks, and since I was already familiar with tactic-style gameplay, I had a lot of fun. Tactics games aren't for everyone though, so I can definitely see how Liberation Missions alone can be a game ruiner for others.

Battle Network 6 (Gregar): Love the story. I love BN2's wild plot, but BN6's grounded plot is equally one of my favorites. What makes this game great is the gameplay is REALLY refined in this game. Every chip feels viable, there's so many ways to play. Fighting enemies feels great, though it can take a while for it to feel challenging. I love how every time I lost a fight, it didn't feel like I was cheated. I could see where I messed up and could try again to get better. While BN3 is my top story, this game has my top gameplay.

I think the biggest thing to note is I could feel a noticeable difference in tone between BN1-3 and BN4-6. While the last half of the games touched darker subjects, the tone felt lighter and and hopeful and the world was truly about Humans and Navis working together. The first 3 games told lighter stories, but the background world felt more dystopian through the lense of a 10 year old. There were small notes you'd catch a wiff of to tell the world isn't what it seemed, but in the dark there was a hopeful flicker of light for the future.

It makes sense, each half of the series has its own production story and lead writer. It's very interesting to look into. I can't say which is better, I think it really just depends on a person's tastes. It's interesting to see how many people differ on which game is their favorite, but I feel like a lot of it is because each game really brings something different to the table. I'm really thankful the Legacy Collection gave me a chance to get into these games.

[mrs-monaghan]

OMG Tae did way worse than I expected 💀💀💀

Slow Dancing - #3 on Billboard's Global Excl US. Jimin did #2 because of that Morgan whale

#4 on Billboard's Global 200 this week! - JM #2

BB 200 - Tae - #2 100K album, JM #2 164K.

BB 100 - Jm #1, Tae - #51 💀💀

the way most popular member charted below than Suga is crazy lol. Even Jimin's all hated Bside SMF ate it up so bad (#30 BB). This is answer to his rabid stans than internet popularity doesn't give you a shit irl. First outchart supposedly unpopular rapline before getting Park Jimin's lowest numbers lmao

Before I comment on this I would just like it to be known; I AM NOT A V ANTI!!!!!

This isn't a disclaimer. I am only stating this because of the asks I've go10 shitting on him. I will not be posting those. I don't blame anyone but myself. I know I have allowed people to vent about him here before and I was definitely among the people getting pissed at the JK name dropping but I'm pretty chill these days. So V's antics don't bother me and also there is something about binging all that Layover content continously that just reminds you that V is not the monster people paint him out to be.

If you haven't had the time i recommend this video. It was my favourite and I quite enjoyed it.

He is funny and honestly I also wanna say adorable 😂😂

Sure, the way he treats those around him could use some adjustment. But those around him seem to love him just fine so who I'm I to be mad at him, you know?

Now that that's out of the way, let's indeed talk numbers. I've said multiple times the 2 most popular members are Jimin and JK. Not V and JK. We've seen this before but sure, let's revisit the topic.

So a friend of mine who quite enjoys keeping tabs on numbers did the following math:

September 9th Streams, Thailand percentage compared to overall Streams:

Seven: 17,6 %

Slow Dancing: 29,6 %

Like Crazy: 8,7 %

So this is the amount of Streams Thailand had for the Maknae line Main Tracks on September 9th, Compared to worldwide Streams.

😁

Maknae Line, Main Track Streams Debut Day. Global vs USA vs Thailand

Debut Streams "Seven":

Global: 15,99 M

USA: 2,064 M (12,9 %)

Thailand: 1,3 M (8,13 %)

*

Debut Streams "Like Crazy":

Global: 6,6 M

USA: 0.997 M (15,1 %)

Thailand: 0,165 M (7,5 %)

*

Debut Streams "Slow Dancing":

Global: 6,14 M

USA: 0,388 M (6,3 %)

Thailand: 0,970 M (15,8 %)

These are the Streams for each Main Track's Debut Day. Global vs US vs Thailand

In conclusion:

-USA and Thailand looooooove JK. BUT Seven is charting in 71 out of 72 (wow) eligble Spotify countries. So it's a bob and a hit globally.

-USA loooooooooves Jimin. Thailand, not so much 😬

-Thailand absolutely looooooves V. USA, not so much.

But we kinda already knew this no? Alot of vermin are in Thailand, Vietnam and Philippines, etc. SouthEastAsian is Taekook domain statistically speaking. But the thing is, its still mostly V they prioritize. SEVEN experienced global success coz JK appears to be a fan favourite everywhere. So that helps him even when the SouthEastAsians decide to mostly support V.

So assuming these calculations are correct, which they should be since they are from Spotify Global, (feel free to go do your own) I really don't understand how it was concluded V is the most popular member. And there is many more countries to choose from, my friend only used Thailand coz its one of the countries that stream the most.

People assuming V is the most popular coz of his followers on IG, Guys, Instagram is only one app. V solos n V biased Armys can convince themselves that he's the most popular but numbers do not lie. Chapter 2 has shown that that, is not the case at all. I mean if you've been on twitter you've seen V hasn't even been able to beat Suga in certain categories and records. Like anon said.

The purpose of my post is not to say V isn't liked. That would be a lie. I'm just saying if anything JK is the most popular BTS member. And that's on fax 💯💯💯💯 with Jimin being a very, very, close second. And I know by saying this I am beating a dead horse atp but if Jimin had go10 the push JK did they would either be head to head or he would have surpassed him. So imagine what a big deal it is, that Jimin is doing so well right now and he didn't even get that huge company support.

US album sales were 3K according to Billboard, thats like 30k singles. China did 800k 😱 Asia loves V. US however, which is where it counts for Billboard, do not. Billboard sabotaged all Asians after Jimin won, which means if JK hadn't go10 radio play he never would have won. So, without radio play, V was never going to get that number 1. Those who aren't dillusional already knew this. So we aren't surprised

[evebestthinker]

I find it hard to see Corlys and Rhaenys as a powerful couple of equals in the show. I always laugh when the actors talk about their deep love and partnership. What I actually see is Corlys repeatedly dismissing Rhaenys's counsel and opinions. The only time Rhaenys seems to wield any real influence is when Corlys is absent. It’s strange how the fandom tries to sell this "great love" by saying things like, "Yes, he's flawed and made mistakes, but he feels ashamed. Look at his puppy eyes when he sees his wife's pain." Meanwhile, it's as if they forget that Rhaenys is in pure agony because of him—he's the root of almost all her suffering, aside from the council’s decision.

I've often criticized how these characters were adapted for the screen, both as individuals and as a couple. In my view, the portrayal of Corlys and Rhaenys up to the middle of the first season is the closest to their book counterparts. It hints at the united and powerful couple they should have been, though even then, it's far from a perfect adaptation, with many changes I don't like.

In the series, I've always seen them as two strong people individually. Their impact comes from their own charisma, their union doesn't add power beyond what they already have on their own.

For instance, when Eve and Steve said that Corlys and Rhaenys had been each other's rock throughout the last season, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. From episode 8 onwards (and for the six years prior, off-screen), Rhaenys is clearly on her own. She even says, "I must stand alone," because that's exactly what she's been doing the whole time. The idea of them being each other's rock fell apart long before season two, but like many other things, it's just been ignored. I honestly thought this season would revisit that dynamic and explore it further, but instead, it’s just another piece of drama they introduced and then dropped.

So I agree with you, the idea of partnership that Steve and Eve talk about never really comes through for me, especially from the second half of the first season onward, up until Rhaenys's death. When every major decision or crisis shows them in disagreement and growing apart—literally—how am I supposed to believe in their partnership? Just because Corlys comes back humbled? Are we supposed to believe that's enough to show he views Rhaenys as his equal? He continuously makes decisions, knowing the risks and the pain they'll cause her and his children, and when the consequences catch up, he feels embarrassed and so what?

This dynamic could have worked once, but it's basically how their marriage is in the show, he's such a disappointment and failure as husband, he has nothing of the real Sea Snake who always puts family first, in the show Corlys only pririotizes his needs. And at the same time Rhaenys toils in the service of Corlys, accepting situations she doesn't like only because in this fucking show women are portrayed as submissive to their husbands and incapable of holding a grudge for more than two seconds: they always have to accept the way things are for a greater scope.

I'm honest I didn't expect this from them, it does not reflect what we see in the books and it's a pity because Steve and Eve would have done very well with their on paper characters, but this is what we've been given.

I personally ship only their book versions and use the show's scenes purely for aesthetics, like making videos or gifs, but I think that people must be free to like or dislike things related to a tv show , to have their own opinions on topics of the show and to be free to ship whoever they like for all the reasons they want

[jezmmart]

#AMaY Commentary

Wanted to give a little commentary on the #AMaY project but needed a couple days breather haha. This mostly focuses on how I created each day with the full hidden final image in mind, but I also talk a bit about like "Why Amy???" on a personal level at the bottom.

So firstly, worth revisiting this old popular music video if you have the time, it was pretty viral back when it came out. This will become relevant shortly - not a huge deal if you don't want to watch it, but the reason I'm bringing it up will spoil said music video a bit so yeah, mentioning it and encouraging a watch now without context.

So yeah, #AMaY! It really came down to the wire on finishing it due to work, and I had to eat into my 2-week comic buffer that I'm now due to rebuild to keep up in the end.

It was basically the result of just REALLY enjoying drawing Amy and joking with friends and such to the point of being like "do I really enjoy drawing her that much that I could do a whole month of it? I think I could". Wasn't wrong!

I didn't have any set prompt list in mind, my idea was just to draw what idea grabbed me on the day. Then, inspired by various things I've seen do this but particularly that aforementioned music video which does the same reveal at the end, I had the idea of "what if I make it so they all make a picture of Amy when connected up". I had already sketched out this idea for the first day:

But started over after having this moment of inspiration.

What I didn't factor in is how this sort of effect is MUCH easier with simpler, larger pictures. I really should have just done her head or something, then most of my backgrounds could just be vague geometric shapes but didn't realise the practicality of it until it was too late, which is why we ended up with so many backgrounds of strange patterns and twisty pipes and such that I would try to mask by putting in additional patterns and pipes and whatnot as red herrings that were lower contrast than the ones making up the Amy picture.

I drew out what the final secret picture was going to be across a grid representing the days in the month, then each day I would start with a canvas of one square and figure out "now what sort of background can I turn this into, and what kind of Amy would belong in that background".

Naturally I had some ideas I was already leaning towards - goth Amy was one of them. When I looked at this portion of the image, the only sort of background thing I could see was some kind of cartooney medieval tower with a rim at the top. From there I realised the skirt could be bushes or walls around some dramatic graveyard hills, the creases in the skirt could be a path as long as Amy is positioned to hide the fact that they aren't actually connecting in the context of the hidden image. In some cases where it wouldn't make sense for a background element to suddenly stop, I instead used foreground scenery, such as the gravestone directly behind Amy here, to turn the element into the shape I wanted. These pipes that are going behind metal panels in the Chemical Plant background in order to turn them into eyelash shapes are another example:

Then when I got the idea to turn the lineart of of hidden Amy's skirt rim and chest into long wispy spirits escaping from the earth or something, it was just a case of adding a bunch more random ones of those to the rest of the background with lower contrast so they don't stand out as much as the important ones do. The one in the foreground also does the job of cutting off the path that makes up the tiny bit of Amy's leg lineart. Within the context of the graveyard background, the path continues, but at the zoomed out view, it can't be distinguished at a glance.

This was the kind of thought process that went into the more elaborate backgrounds. Naturally there were some where the Amy idea COULD come first, because what was required of the background was so simple I was kind of free to turn it into anything - or just take a day off and do simple geometric backgrounds.

(Again though, you can see here that I did all the circles as red herrings to imply that the little blob in the corner is another one - but the corner one is a deeper colour than the others).

And of course there were some days where I just COULD NOT think of anything that wouldn't be completely conspicious, so I just made Amy take up as much space as possible so I only had a few background lines to deal with, trusting that the grand context of the final hidden image would solve it in the end.

The final note is that I didn't JUST draw from these segments - I was steadily building up the full collage as I went, so I'd always have a "bleed" area I'd draw into with the existing surrounding days to make sure that the final result DID all connect up.

So yeah, that's the broad strokes of it!

To end on something more philosophical, I did sort of end thinking to myself as I spent all these hours drawing her - "Hey though, what is it about Amy? WHY do I love drawing her so much? Why is this one my blorbo?"

Humour me as I get all deep about cartoon pink hedgehog but I think it comes down to a few factors.

Let's address the elephant in the room first - unless I'm specifically looking to evoke her canon-self, I draw her with a more anthropomorphic sexy figure compared to the blobby, noodle-limbed body she has in the actual series, don't I. You see, in Sonic Adventure 2 there was this one promotional 3D render of her where they gave her one heck of a rack and also once I was on the internet as a teenager and partaking in the fandom, I saw other fanartists do the same with thighs to match. This was all during a vulnerable time in my development and it all made me a little unwell about Amy permanently, I think. Like, that cute haircut, the knee-high boots, the shiny short-skirted dress, this is all stuff that looks really attractive when you slap it on a human body!

Sonic himself is like... peak character design. There's a reason he's lasted so long and holds such mass appeal as a cartoon character. The only way to improve on that perfection is to make a girl version, and that's pretty much what Amy is. So no wonder she's so fun to draw!

And tailing off that - as an aspiring femme NB person who has not always been so, I do think I've always had a particular interest in the hyper-feminine aesthetic, which Amy has in spades. I think that's also a big part of her allure to me as a character. Much like how I live a lot of my feminine interest vicariously through my pin-up art, dressing up my OCs in cute clothes and such, I think that extends to Amy as well; a kind of obsession with the youthful hyper-feminine aesthetic that I just never got to openly enjoy in any real way earlier in life because I hadn't figured all this NB stuff out yet. I just love cute girly pink stuff!!!

That'll do it I think. I could probably waffle on about each individual day's art if I really wanted to but this is long enough as is. Check out the alt text if you like as I often mention easter eggs and costume details in those to try and make sure those with eyesight issues are getting the same experience as those without.

Thank you again one and all for enjoying or at least putting up with the month!

[More: #AMaY | Art Insight]

[notalkingbusiness]

The Book of Carol & The Heroine's Journey - Part 3: The Ascent

The only way is up! The Ascent is where our heroine gets her happy ending.

Carriger's major beats for The Ascent include (1) the heroine succeeding in her search and creating a new or reborn familial network, and (2) the heroine negotiating and compromising for the benefit of all.

Let's think about how these beats could be used in The Book of Carol.

(1) Success in the heroine's search results in a new or reborn familial network.

The beat we're all waiting for! The moment when the heroine reunites with her loved one - the moment when Carol reunites with Daryl.

I think it's really important for us to pay close attention to how Carriger talks about this beat: the heroine's familial network is reborn when she reunites with her loved one. In other words, there's a spiritual shift in the heroine's relationship with her loved one. A deeper and more profound connection is forged. The heroine's relationship with her loved one changes for the better. We can't say that Carol's had a full Heroine's Journey if her relationship with Daryl remains unchanged - we need to see emotional growth.

This reunion has been a long time coming, both in-universe and in real life. It feels like we've been waiting an eternity for Carol and Daryl to reunite so it's absolutely critical that this scene blows us all away. It should feel overwhelming, like a great tidal wave of emotional catharsis.

Emotionally rewarding reunion scenes place a heavy emphasis on physicality. These scenes are richly detailed, and every touch is imbued with deep significance.

The Terminus reunion is a great example of a reunion done right and it's a masterclass in physicality. There are so many physical details in this reunion, too many to catch the first time around. With each rewatch you can appreciate all of the different component parts of the reunion: Caryl swaying together, the delight on Carol's face when Daryl picks her up, Daryl cradling Carol's head, Daryl resting his head on Carol's shoulder and Carol's fleeting touch of his face before he pulls away. You're struck by how these two can't get enough of each other; they always want to be closer. They can't stop drinking each other in and you don't want to stop drinking them in either.

Scenes like the Terminus reunion have a high rewatch factor because they're emotionally authentic: these scenes inspire us to keep revisiting them because they feel true to the characters, and we feel good watching them.

Reunions like these are the gift that keeps giving for fandom. How many gifs, videos, metas, and fics were born from this scene alone?

We all love the Terminus reunion because it's so physical and unequivocal. Caryl's mutual joy and relief is plain for all to see.

We need another wholehearted reaction from Daryl when he reunites with Carol in TBOC. His reaction should reflect the scale of Carol's journey: it needs to be big and it needs to break new ground.

We need both words and actions - we need strong physical and emotional responses from Daryl and Carol.

We need something that's going to be forever seared into our collective memory.

We need to see something which leaves both the audience and Carol with no doubt as to where Daryl's heart lies.

Reader, we need a Caryl reunion kiss.

(But you already knew that.)

Like I've said previously, if TBOC is taking Carol's emotions seriously, she's going to be emotionally vulnerable throughout her journey. Daryl can only give Carol the reassurances she so badly needs if he's in touch with his emotions.

I want to see Daryl restored to his emotionally intelligent self - I want to see the "man of honor".

I want to see Daryl being brave for both of them in an emotional capacity.

Not much fazes Caryl, they could fight their way through a sea of walkers before breakfast, but showing how they really feel? Talking about their feelings?

Petrifying for the pair of them.

Daryl was brave in taking the first step and telling Carol he loved her. He needs to be brave again in TBOC. He's got to initiate the kiss. He's got to show how grateful he is to have Carol in his life. He needs to show her just how much he loves her.

You've probably thought about Caryl's reunion a lot. Everyone will envisage Caryl going canon differently, but I'm sure we can all agree that the kiss should be heartfelt and sweepingly romantic. For my part, I want to see a kiss like the one described in The Princess Bride: “Since the invention of the kiss, there have only been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind.”

We can only get "a kiss to leave all others behind" if McReedus are allowed to capitalize on their amazing chemistry, if the show allows them to just go for it.

On Romance is Dead: The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of the Romantic Comedy, writer Scott Meslow notes: "There is something so delightful about watching two people fall in love. Especially if it's two actors who have chemistry. And I think chemistry is all important [...] it needs to be two people who seem like they actually like each other [...] Not to be corny about it, but that's a special effect that you can't replicate on a computer. That is real people having a real interaction on screen and you can feel it."

Meslow may worry about being corny. I have no such qualms - McReedus' chemistry is a special effect that you can't replicate on a computer. That's why the copycat Caryl beats in DD didn't work for anyone; you can't create chemistry by algorithm. You can't swap out characters/actors/storylines and expect us to feel the same way we did about Carol/Caryl. Not when we've been watching something unique and remarkable developing between two characters and two actors for over 150 episodes.

I want to see and feel that realness Meslow talks about when Caryl reunite. I want something unforgettable for Caryl and something where McReedus can shine. I want a reunion scene that we're going to watch over and over again because it's *perfect*.

I'm hoping Norman makes very expressive choices because Carol needs to see Daryl's emotions unmistakably playing out on his face.

Personally, I think it would be really powerful to see Daryl cry, either upon Caryl's reunion or when he finally has a heart to heart with Carol. And I do mean actually cry, rather than just being tearful.

We've seen Daryl close to tears in the "No Sanctuary" and "New Best Friends" reunions, but I don't think he's properly cried in front of Carol before. As video essayist Pop Culture Detective highlights in Boys Don't Cry (Except When They Do), it's extremely rare for men to cry in a healthy way in film/TV: male vulnerability has historically been met with shame and contempt. I want to see Daryl cry not because I want to see one of my favorite characters upset, but because I think he deserves to experience the whole emotional spectrum. Thus far we've only seen Daryl cry during/after majorly traumatic incidents (usually after witnessing horrifically violent deaths) and I think that's a real shame.

I want to see Daryl's happy tears, his tears of relief, his tears of emotional catharsis. If it's okay for Carol to cry, then it should be okay for Daryl to cry too. In fact, Daryl crying in a healthy way would actually be validating for Carol because it's testament to how safe she makes him feel. Daryl can cry in front of Carol and not feel ashamed because he can be vulnerable in front of the woman he loves.

Some scenes in TWD stopped me in my tracks. I'd be sitting there thinking, "Look how far they've all come!" In those moments, I'd feel weirdly proud of these fictional characters who'd changed for the better. I'd like to get that same feeling when watching TBOC as we witness Caryl enter a new era of emotional vulnerability and intimacy.

Caryl's passionate reunion would end all ambiguity and be the start of something new. I've placed a lot of emphasis on the moment of canon here, but it should go without saying that we're going to need carefully crafted follow-through. The writing needs to be just as strong as the performances. I'm craving strong dialogue - let Carol and Daryl finally use their words to explain how they feel about one another. Let them talk about what they want for their future together.

Carol and Daryl want to be together in every way - their romantic arc should include sexual intimacy (although I think we'll have to wait until S3 for that). TWD was always quite modest when it came to showing sex on screen so I'm not expecting anything too crazy, but we do deserve parity with the other big ships (Gleggie and Richonne). There's obviously less time to play with in the spinoffs, but I still think a really rich and rewarding romantic arc is possible if TPTB use their time wisely. Carol and Daryl becoming sexually intimate is a big deal and the story should treat it as such. Carol and Daryl always kept some degree of emotional distance from their previous sexual partners, they've always held themselves back and they've never really allowed themselves to be emotionally vulnerable in a relationship. I want to see Caryl's sex scenes handled respectfully and sensitively, I want these scenes to feel emotionally authentic for Carol and Daryl. Naturally, we should also get fun call backs to Caryl's iconic sexual/romantic references from the flagship show, e.g. Daryl goes down first.

A romantic arc for Caryl would be like a kiss of life for Carylers. It would be a triumphant moment for all of us - something unequivocally good for Caryl fans everywhere. We deserve a win. Carol and Daryl deserve a win too.

Caryl's romantic arc would also push back against the abuse hurled at Melissa, Carol, and Carylers. Many Carylers have received hate from other parts of the fandom and this abuse is steeped in deeply harmful misogynistic, sexist, and ageist rhetoric. This hate goes beyond ship wars. It points to something very insidious about how women are treated, how they're supposed to be invisible and undesirable once they reach an arbitrary age threshold. I want TPTB to prove just how wrong those people are. I want them to celebrate Carol and Caryl. I want them to show a heroine who loves and is loved in return. I want them to proudly showcase their leading lady. I want them to call out the misogynistic abuse thrown at Melissa/Carol/Carol fans. I want them to elevate Melissa's voice so we can have a fantastic heroine's arc for Carol.

(2) The heroine negotiating and compromising for the benefit of all.

As you'll know by now, the heroine is not concerned with glory/revenge/retribution. She just wants to get her loved one back and move on with her life. Carol's probably not going to be negotiating/compromising with the people who took Daryl, but she could use her diplomacy skills with Daryl's new friends in France. I didn't watch S1 of the spinoff, but I understand that some of Daryl's new friends were trying to get him to stay with them rather than go home. It should be abundantly clear to Isabelle & co. that Daryl has no intention of staying in France when they see him reunited with Carol. They'll be sad to lose a friend, but Carol could soften the blow by offering them a sweet trade deal with the Commonwealth. Isabelle just wants what's best for her people, right? Strengthening the bonds between communities would help Isabelle's people enormously. I much prefer the idea of two women coming together to help each other than a woman expecting a stranger to come in and fix all of her problems for her. I haven't heard great things about Isabelle, but I'm really hoping she's given more agency and dignity in TBOC. There's absolutely no narrative need to pit Isabelle and Carol against each other. As our heroine, Carol can empower Isabelle AND bring Daryl home. She can find a solution where everyone wins.

Final Thoughts on The Ascent

Ultimately, The Ascent is gearing up towards the heroine's happy ending. We need to ask ourselves, what does a happy ending look like for Carol? What do we want for her after TBOC?

Simply put, Carol's happy ending is having Daryl by her side. It's being with him in every sense of the word. It's being free to express her love for him.

Carol wants new adventures with Daryl, and I want to see those adventures on my screen.

Years ago, Carol and Daryl talked about running away together. I hope, after they've returned home and reunited with their family, they are able to do just that.

Let them explore the world on their own terms.

Let them explore it together.

Let them be equal and loving partners every step of the way.

And there we have it! We've covered all the major stages of the Heroine's Journey.

My aim in writing these metas wasn't to be overly prescriptive, but to show that TBOC could have an amazing arc for Carol/Caryl. We just need TPTB to prioritize emotional authenticity and elevate their heroines (both on screen and bts).

They've got one chance to put Caryl and Carylers back on track.

Let's hope they take it.

[mecachrome]

for an incredibly new f1 follower, what would you recommend for getting up to date with teams and racers and performances and history? apart from dts lol

oh that is a good question!!! i don't think i'm even the best person to answer this but honestly i think it all comes naturally if you pick a specific thing/team/person you're interested in and set out to learn more about that topic, because everything is so connected and with time you can fill in those knowledge gaps pretty quickly :') more under the cut:

dts is imo perfectly acceptable for learning names and faces for the first time and basically creating a vague outline of a given subject (i've said it's like using duolingo for learning a new language lol), so if you watch it and are like oh—i'm interested in charles or mercedes or learning more about technical regulations or whatever, then you can just dive deeper into that via wiki / youtube / podcasts + published media + old race archives and build up from there!

otherwise i think the main thing is just to start watching the actual races when the season gets underway, and in order to properly appreciate them then also read up on + watch videos about the technical/strategy side of the sport as well. back in the day i used to really like chain bear and i still always recommend it to anyone who asks! after that i would just seek out like... a community/server/place where other people are discussing news real-time; this could be meeting people on tumblr and twitter, but personally i'm subscribed to r/formula1 because it's the most active composite source of f1 news and Discourse. if you're reddit-averse i also just keep a big list on twitter with a bunch of random data accounts, official driver/team accounts, journalists, etc. that helps me keep up with the season in a tidy fashion—though honestly f1 journalism is so unserious that you don't really need to do that because most journos regurgitate the same three quotes in slightly different formats, so if you want to follow One Guy who won't disseminate bs info i'd recommend chris medland. or just general sport publications like autosport, motosport.com, the athletic if you're already subscribed to it (pretty lacking for f1 though since it's american lol), etc... some sites like the-race are very contentious though so i'd say just tread with caution!!! on the data side i personally enjoy fdatanalysis and f1telemetrydata (i've also used f1-tempo to do my own telemetry analysis but idk if that's useful). but again i'd highly recommend the subreddit since it keeps everything i just mentioned in one place anyway 😭

other media recs:

f1tv, if it's available in your area, has pretty much everything you need to follow f1 in its entirety. i hate to shill for paid media but i genuinely think it's good; you can watch every f1, f2, f3 session real-time, as well as go to the archives and revisit old races for each series from most seasons. it also has technical shows and a whole host of minidocs with bite-sized info that are probably less sensationalized than dts. if you don't have f1tv though then a lot of decent content is cross-posted to the f1 youtube so honestly the official channels are all pretty good for keeping up with the sport.

podcasts: if you're an auditory person then podcasts are a great way to deepdive into f1 history. personally i believe that 80% of men running f1 podcasts should be legally barred from ever having an opinion on motorsport, so i don't listen to that many, but i do enjoy the official f1 podcast beyond the grid (i listen to it on spotify but you can also find full transcripts on the f1 site) since, you know, they get official personnel on and i appreciate the wide range of personalities interviewed—from drivers to tps to various types of engineers. i've also heard good things about shift+f1, the race, and engine braking, but i haven't checked them out so i'd recommend just looking podcasts up yourself and seeing what vibes with you! though some podcasts are just like... I'll eat this because you're interviewing my guy but i would never watch/listen to you otherwise. (cough pit stop...)

books & autobiographies: again if you want to dive more into old f1, then you can always read a book!! i read jenson's autobiography life to the limit earlier and was very endeared, it's a super breezy but charming read ❤️ adrian newey's memoir is also a decent overview of a clearly brilliant and accomplished mind, i enjoyed the technical details and found his early career path especially interesting.

docus, movies, tv: there's also plenty of f1 media outside of f1tv, so you can always check those out; f1 movies aren't necessarily that accurate or frankly good but sometimes it's fun just for the Vibes and the love of the sport. for ex rush (2013) covers james hunt & niki lauda's rivalry, netflix has a schumacher (2021) doc, the brawn gp miniseries ft. jense came out last november, just things like that... some current individual drivers also have their own random miniseries so you can always seek those out, for ex i watched maxv's anatomy of a champion the other day just for the fun of it LOL.

i don't know whether any of this is helpful... but maybe other people can reply with their own recommendations!!!

also if you're interested in f2, f3, etc. then honestly just follow feeder series on whatever platform since they cover everything pretty well; feeder_series on twitter, r/f1feederseries, plus they do interview podcasts on youtube/spotify so i like watching those to keep up with young drivers. you can also watch chasing the dream for succinct f2 narratives; it used to only be on f1tv but it gets uploaded on youtube now so it's fairly accessible. lmk if you have any other questions or something specific you'd like more info about!!!

[docilepillow]

2024 February Media Post Thingy : Featuring Movies Also

I've never really liked doing editing " do-overs". i think if this was like a normal year with no leaping ( As of starting this post a couple of minutes ago ( 4:51 PM ) , i only just learned that this year was a leap year? Just goes to show how little i pay attention..! But yea, on topic, on topic, i don't look back to edit these kind of thought pieces after i write them, it'd feel odd to do so, ,and january's post was a mile and a half to write , so, after finishing the Big Thing for this year, i'm starting the writing on this on the 28th so i dont have to finish it all in one sitting this time. I'm not sure when i'll drop or pick up on it, and its not like, done Live with the month, so the actual timeline of things won't be completely perfectly accurate, but anyways : the things covered here are in rough sequencial order, mostly focused around New Media i've tried this month, with an added blurb about anything ive revisited this year at the very end. I'll try to add a blurb about everything, but no guarentees. Also, i said i'd have more screenshots to share, but i forgot again. A significant number of games here were also on 3ds which i have no good way to get screenshots for. planning is hard This month was heavily characterized by the absolutely wonderful time i had for my birthday and the days surrounding it, because wow, am i in love with my boyfriend! after many, many months spent long distance, i'm extremely glad to say that the first few days of this month were absolutely heavenly, and i do absolutely "get" all the lovey dovey emotional stuff that surrounds it. While he was over, we got to watch a whole bunch of different movies and such, and most of the video game focus was directed towards one big game, being God Of War Ragnarok, which is an absolute behemoth of a triple a game and also one aattached to the very sentimental god of war that i've also shared with him in the past ( they're some of his favorite games of all time, and he's especially knowledge on Norse stuff, so it's cute to listen to him ramble about it whenever actual mythology stuff comes up. Its absolutely adorable the way his voice lights up..! ) So, you'd expect the first piece of media i got through this month would be God of War Ragnarok, after all the time i've spent hyping it up already, while it's still fresh in my mind as of typing, And i'm on a massive, sentimental tangent on it, But...! TRUMP VS ILLUMINATI < Least Romantic Movie I've Personally Made Out With Someone Over >

theres not all that much to say on this movie as the title'd show, actually, and, obviously, the movie's a complete joke, through and through ( the titular protagonist isn't even the real deal, he's just a clone of the guy who lives on mars for whatever reason as the last human alive (?) ); and it's so ameturishly put together that i'm almost certain the entire scripting process of it was put together by looking at the title of the movie and quipping in a discord call brainstorming for a couple of hours, but it's absolutely great for virgining couples beccause you'll want to watch the movie for a bit, a bit that's been going on for i want to say little over three quarters of a year, but then, when you actually get to watching, it, you'lll both decide unilaterally to make out sloppy style instead of watching the movie, wow!

by the way, most of the movie is just weird little stock models talking at each other for what i rememeber being 50 or so minutes. i dont tihnk this is a good movie buut i thought itd be funny to bring up because in a shirtless daze after watching it i had the mortifying realization that this shitty movie was gonna be on the top of my media diary if i chose to go through with it . so here it is ! ! ! CATS & DOGS < tulpa movie >

idk what to blurb about this movie i think its entertainment value comes from the varied" WHAT DOES THIS IMPLYYY " moments in the movie and how like

excessively silly it is im not sure if it was this movie in particular but i have a very specific anecdote of this movie as a child before my parents divorce where i was actually Forced to watch it for some reason with my dad and with an anecdote like that the only thing i can think to say about it is that i think i actually enjoyed it more then Wonka theres some puppetry with the cat villain in this movie thats actually pretty endearing actually. its a decently entertaining spy movie. DOCTOR STRANGE

not having a title for this one isnt like reverence or anything i still watched this with my boyfriend in our little place and it was very enjoyable, and, in particualr, this was actually the first movie i watched of this list that i actually wanted to seek out to watch, actually! i've never been an mcu guy ( And, if you expect my movie reviews to professionalize, with like, research on the actors anything, you're dead wrong, i think , also. i think when it comes to assosiating characters with their actors or whatever celebrity or director or whatever, i just. .dont do that. i can see why normal people do but i dont have that built into me. so if i refer to a character it'll be for their character. ) i think this is a good movie i think this is a neat movie i think this a very pretty movie and i like mister stranges arch alot and i think it was really well characterized and enjoyable and id watch this movie again sometime maybe. im not a live action head but i think this movie just looks cool and is well presented in general. i think as an asshole mister strange is very watchable which is unusal for me cus i wince whenever characters do a thing thats like regrettable like noooo dont do that like an autistic weirdo but that wasnt really a problem with me for this movie i think its cool how this prick gets grounded by the fantastical shit in the movie and i think his little mini arch over the movie really stands out as a good character piece. thats all i have to say about it as someone who doesnt super hero movie this movie movies really good and stands on its own. i think its cool. i think this is a very enjoyable movie. i think people should watch it if theyre on the fence on it beingg mcu bc i dont think its like thoose other movies at all. im repeating myself. w/e Alot of early febuaary is characterized by movies bc i want to make it clear that the main game i played in that arch of time was God of War, and there were very much Not Media things that were more pressing for my time. lol VIDEO GAMES!!!! VIDEOVERSE < Most Heartwarming Eboy Game >

the docism i picked for this game sounds demeaning but thhis game is absolutely worth i think everyones time and if theres a game from febuary i'd make as a general reccomendation to my friends, it'd be this one, i think! it's an absolutely heartwarming narrative about an early 2000s era internet community that's being shut down, and its very resonant to at least Me, as a wii u / 3ds era fan

though it kinda melds that kinda stuff with a more early internet aestetic , which i think the combo works Really Well in terms of like vibe alone. the game is very naked with how it presents an early internet community and id describe it as being like hypnospace outlaw but without you the player being in the seat of like an internet moderator. Like you can moderate in the game a little bit but it's much less of a focus compared to the being in a game community with your friend aspect

this games a very well executed narrative about this emmet guy ( in the image above this one, he's on the far left of the screen ) and playing it as the first non GOW game of the week was definitely a choice i made that made me kinda sappy and clingy ( since its very much about the internet anxiety of losing a bunch of friends you care about due to dumb internet social media crap, which feels pretty well timed with this whole tumblr drama going on. also, as someone in a long distance relationship, the romance thing in this game also is pretty relatable in parts )

idk! its a very short game. i played it on deck and it was a very short but sweet pair of game sessions. i think if u like what you see here i reccomend giving it a shot if you're looking for a visual novel . ithink it is cute. if you like cute things this game is for Cute PRINCESS REMEDY IN A WORLD OF HURT < cute em' up where nobody has to die ! >

i actually falsely appraised this as gameboy color style when its supposed to be dos evokative. i knew i was missing something.

this is a free top down shmup game from steam about a cute healer girl! the game has really cute writing and is about an hour long. i think the writing makes it worth giving a try if you have an afternoon! the final boss is litearlly a guy with Every Disease that also has a refrence to ff6, so me being charmed by this game was kind of a given. Oops! I think more people should look at this game! it's worth it !

also, since everyone in the world of hurt has some kind of injury for you to remedy, some of the ones that get picked out are pretty amusing, also. its usually structured around " heres the problem with me " dialogue and " thank goodness im better " dialogue. this game is also for the gays because u can marry whoever you want after the credits. Yay! SUPER MONKEY BALL 3D < worst game icon ive ever seen for a video game award >

the games just kind of mediocre and the only reason i downloaded it is bc it was on 3ds and i just want to point out the games icon is Just a low resolution picture of ai ais face on a white bg. i think thats funny but the games so easy that thats pretty much the only novelty you'll extract of it if youre a monkey ball fan. oops .

something like this ive spent longer trying to find this games home menu icon then thinking about the game after playing it sorry i dodnt think this game is worth that just kind of sad

MEGAMAN XTREME

no reverence for this either pretty much all the games thatre gonna be talked about thatre on 3ds were just me looking through hshop slightly interested in something to do while waiting for my bf to wake up for more gow

all i can really say is that this game is a gameboy demake of the x games thats just slightly worse and going in with that expectation is correct but also its just Really annoying sometimes is very much a game where the levels are short and easy and the boss fights are kind of choppily designed and difficult and i think finishing this game was kind of more of an act of stubbornness then anything. theres this one boss second to last from sigma thats just killing this boss that spams 4 nearly undodgable spammy fast projectiles while you're on two tiny platforms over death spikes and i think that kind of speaks for how much id reccomend this ( not at all ) i think this is the angriest ive been at a game in a bit actually remembering it . i think i said a funny misnomer about it but i dont remember. something about this contributing to why mega man fucking died or something. im realizing i didnt actually consume alot of good media this month took a break writing this on leap day and umm FIRE EMBLEM WARRIORS ( The 3ds version ) < POPCORN VIDEO GAME >

as someone whose never played a dynasty warriors type game this was actually a little less boring then i was expecting it ? you'd assume picking the switch or wii u version would be more ideal, but, as someone whose favorite console is the 3ds , and considering it'd take less time to download to my system, i ended up picking this version. it actually runs pretty well and my only real complaint is that the character i wanted to play as is thuroughly stuck into the post game ( Celica from FE echoes ).

functionally this is kind of just a game that exists to be a stim device while you're in like a voice call or something but at that its pretty good from what ive played. used minerva for most of it and it wasnt too hard but not especially annoying either. its okay. i never got to unlock celica though ( bummed out ) and its not bad at all for somemthing i pretty much only played to pass the time between when my BF was awake to watch me play god of war, which it succeeded at. ive played every FE naturally available on the 3ds. TOM AND JERRY WILL WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY

huh what happened howd this happen

guh MARIO MAKER 3DS

game i actually owned legitimately that i forgot i did. technically since the games are going down in a month from now this is my way on reminicing on Maker in general , but i mostly just reflected back on itt as a cute wii u memory and that cute packet that comes boxed with the game. the 100 or so challenge levels in this are neat but not Especially special. kind of existed to pad out the games i've tried and finished this year so far to an even 15. its not bad or anything, it did remind me of a few interactions i didnt know about before. maybe sometime before maker 2 goes down ill finish making that super world i started on when the game was new... putting all my thoughts togetherrrrr GOD OF WAR RAGNAROK

Igod of war ragnarok is pretty cool. for context, im pretty sure the first game of the i wanna say ps4 " duo " of norse GOW games are the two video games that both started me on my ps4 journey recently and got me and my boyfriend together? which i think is very sweet its also very unexpected cus other then being a soft mythology nut i dont see how id get into these kinds of games naturally, considering i'm less genre savvy when it comes to i guess " modern-style " story focused 3d adventures. Considering i'm a nintendo head, these could count as some of the only super duper gamerhead games i've ever played? though i don't know if it means anything when i say that . i think this game definitely needs the groundwork of the first gow to stand up, but, thats not a bad thing, its a very well thought out start to end NARRATIVE, and its a really good one at that. lots of well thought out character interactions and setpieces,a friend of mine described it as a universal ride-style game , and , in terms of linearity, it kind of IS that, but in like the most postive way i can think of in terms of the kinds of games i play , this is probably the drop-dead most prettiest game i've ever looked at from start to finish ( When it comes to detail and realism, i mean. .i think its very pretty to just look at the environments n stuff ) god of war ragnarok is pretty cool. for context, im pretty sure the first game of the i wanna say ps4 " duo " of norse GOW games are the two video games that both started me on my ps4 journey recently and got me and my boyfriend together? which i think is very sweet its also very unexpected cus other then being a soft mythology nut i dont see how id get into these kinds of games naturally, considering i'm less genre savvy when it comes to i guess " modern-style " story focused 3d adventures. Considering i'm a nintendo head, these could count as some of the only super duper gamerhead games i've ever played? though i don't know if it means anything when i say that . i think this game definitely needs the groundwork of the first gow to stand up, but, thats not a bad thing, its a very well thought out start to end NARRATIVE, and its a really good one at that. lots of well thought out character interactions and setpieces,a friend of mine described it as a universal ride-style game , and , in terms of linearity, it kind of IS that, but in like the most postive way i can think of in terms of the kinds of games i play , this is probably the drop-dead most prettiest game i've ever looked at from start to finish ( When it comes to detail and realism, i mean. .i think its very pretty to just look at the environments n stuff ) ( I have screenshots of the game on my ps4, but as i'm a day late to uploading this in the first place, i'm too lazy to both fetch them with my capture card and upload them to an image sharing site, so here's a picture of Jalla, a cute cow critter you get to ride in the game thaat made me very happy . )

I've heard of games that take up entire segments of people's lives for months , and while i've played lots of " longer " games, gow despite being shorter then something like SMT 4 is definitely one of the first games i've played thats been defined like that to me. i dont wanna say too much on the plot because i think these games are worth playing back to back on their own merits, though for me the experience definitely was raised above by , you know, sharing it with the love of my life, haha. its very cute to listen to someone visibly light up when talking about a game and its definitely my boyfriends infectiousness for the game that motivated me to keep coming back to it and dig for all the little details, even if i play 3d games like this like a game's journalist.... but yea god of war is really good i dont want to spoil anything on it but even if you haavent played the past games but have a ps4 and an appreciation for storytelling, i'd definitely reccomend it. Surprisingly cozy, heartfelt story on parenting and war and lingering regret n junk. also i like mimir alot hes silly and brok theres alot of characters in this i like alot

if you know you know TERMINATOR 2

oh yea i watched terminator 2 also very gripping very cool top moms in media for sure i can see why this is a classic movie it abosluely rocks and i was technically present for the voice call where they watched the first movie but i wasnt paying attention to it at all whoops thats technically the last of the new media i did but i also tried out a pokemon X nuzlocke and i replayed king of cards which was really fun and i remembered how much i liked madam meeber

the nuzlocke was a disaster but i actually did do it so winner

im sure there was other stuff too but im tired of typing and i forgot CLICKING SEND!!!!!

[sussoro]

hi, we have questions for indi and yourself! for indi: 3, 30, 38. and for you: e, g, h. <3

hi, ri! i hope you're doing well 💖 i've said it to you already but, once again, sorry for the late reply (tumblr stop-eating-notifications challenge, lol).

ohohoh these are all such good questions! 👀 here you go:

3. "how do they put themselves to bed at night (reading, singing, thinking)?"

fun fact #1: indigo has always been a night owl, first and foremost, so she tends to go to sleep at ungodly hours (much to orion's dismay, sjksjk) if she ever goes to sleep at all. right after the breakup with seven and all that media shitstorm, she used to lull herself to sleep after spending the night at some club dancing, drinking, doing drugs, hooking up with strangers and trying to drunk text/call seven (not a great spectacle, tbh). i headcanoned that rowan — after witnessing a particularly bad rock-bottom moment — decided to help her in blocking seven's number and social media accounts. at present time, though, i'd say that indigo puts herself to sleep in a couple of ways: a) if she's not tired at all, she will take her notebook to write songs and whatever is going through her mind at that moment; b) fun fact #2: aside from singing, indigo loves dancing as well (she literally doesn't know how to stand still and how to not be a menace) so, when she is so tired that her brain is all fuzzy, she likes to watch dance practice videos on youtube to relax;

30. "who do they most regret meeting?"

her parents, lmao. jokes aside, i don't think she ever regretted meeting anyone (yep, not even seven). indi is a social butterfly and a very flirty gal by nature, so it's really easy for her to make friends and having one-night stands, the real problem is who will still be at her side through the good and the bad. as i said, she doesn't regret meeting seven but, if given the chance to do things differently, she probably would fight for him more/relish their relationship more before everything went down the drain (she won't take back the fact that she voted him out of the lead singer spot because, to this day, she feels like it was the right choice, marketing-wise).

38. "what memory do they revisit the most often?"

i think it's the night where her and seven got each other's initials inked on their inner wrists. it was the first of many tattoos for her and it was a very special moment (despite everything that happened, and the fact that indi is really petty, she didn't remove/conceal the tattoo).

e. "are they someone you would get along with? would they get along with you?"

honestly? i don't think so, sjkjsk. i am an introvert person, who literally has to psyche herself up in order to talk to people i don't know that well, and i usually prefer to listen to others instead of commanding a crowd with my talking. i genuinely believe that we could get along if we really wanted to, but we have very different lives and interests so it won't be an ever-lasting friendship, i'm afraid *squeaky noises*

g. "what trait of theirs bothers you the most?"

oh, the childishness for sure. i literally cannot stand people that are actual adults on paper, and then act like five years old children. i'd also say the unhealthy coping mechanisms (drugs + alcohol).

h. "what trait do you admire the most?"

indigo's social butterfly skills are something that i wish i'd have most of the times (i made my peace with being an introvert a long time ago, so no worries. it's mostly a "what's this? silence? c'mon brain, get your shit together and come up with some hilarious conversation topic!" type of thing, sjksjk). i'll throw in the "she can actually sing" bit too, lmao.

again, the gift of summary skipped me completely when i was born and, if you reached the end of this, i will be eternally grateful.

[moe-broey]

Honestly I'm a bit relieved we don't have PMD2 remakes like. Not even cause I'm a hater (though I am VERY partial to the og sprite work, they really killed it w that). No, the reason is because I'm autistic and there are simply Too Many Things actually, esp in quick succession lately LMFAO like. I do not have the brain room for it.

And like as silly as it might sound, I've been REALLY overwhelmed and frustrated by it. I'm upset that I moved on from SV so quickly, I haven't even touched the Engage DLC despite having it, I haven't touched Engage in general actually. I feel like Fire Emblem esp takes up A Lot of brain space. I'm really upset that I Almost got really into SuMo again but kind of immediately was distracted by other things and I have art projects that have been left hanging bc of it.

Something weirdly specific is like??? Bc I make a lot of fanart and a lot of it takes the form of comics and focuses heavily on interactions and dynamics between characters, something I've REALLY been struggling with is like. I feel like it takes a lot of studying a character and getting to know them to really capture their Voice, how they talk, how they think, how they feel and how they react to things, outwardly and internally. That's a deep process for me that takes a lot of time and thought.

I feel like I can't quite express it all the way, like it's stuck, but like. Really picking apart the SV squad and trying to learn each of their mannerisms vocal quirks and general vibes about how they Are. Feeling abruptly uprooted from that to do it all over again but with a huge roster of brand new characters. Also really wanting to revisit older characters that are near and dear to me that I do feel I know very well.

And also like??? A very sudden distraction and almost instant loss of interest is like. Hell on earth hell on earth. Like as much as I fucking miss SV already and as much as I really wanted to keep working on my projects about it (had a whole AU going and everything) literally I Could Not get myself back into it even if I tried really really REALLY hard. And that is SO upsetting????? It's such a specific thing.

Hhhghgh got. Distracted thinking about PMD LMFAOO making that a separate post tbh but like. Main point is replaying it a bit reminded me of the importance of being able to slow down and really sit with a game. It's characters and story and what it has to say. And even now, I'm already getting the Hell feeling of needing to chase whatever can grasp me and hold me. When will I stop chasing my own tail??? When does it end??? Will I ever be able to finish my projects???? Will I ever be able to play a video game like a normal person?????? I'm launching my own ass into 2013. Not even in a woe nostalgia type of way, but in a I really just had Two Interests and that was it way. I'm blowing this whole building up.

[alsjeblieft-zeg]

484 of 2023

List 5 things that have happened in the last 7 days. (They can be anything at all, anything that’s happened involving you, or your family, friends, partner)

I had an appointment with the work doctor and she made me hopeful for a better tomorrow.

we sold some items online.

I did some groceries in a Polish shop.

I saw a fairly handsome tram driver today. WTF is wrong with me lol.

met some of my favourite workmates.

If you found out your ex had a new partner, would you be upset?

Why would I? Actually, I would be happy if he did. I really want nothing but his happiness.

How many friends do you have, whose name begins with G?

One. Used to be two lol.

Do you like anyone atm? What if you found out that someone else liked them too?

Too late, I've already claimed him as my husband.

Have you ever had sex in someone else’s bed/bedroom?

Does a hotel bed count?

Have you ever had sex on your bedroom floor? How about your living room floor?

No and no. Most of our bedroom space is occupied by our bed, and our living room has a tile floor.

Where is one place you’ve thought about having sex, that might be considered unusual?

I never think of having sex, unless in a pure 'ew' way.

Have you ever received a compliment about any of the clothes you’re wearing?

Yup, several times. Which is weird lol.

When you kiss someone, do you like to play with their hair?

Ew, kissing. I don't even like kissing.

Why did you hug the last person you hugged?

Because I can. Just told him I love him while doing so.

Do you ever find it difficult to put your thoughts/feelings into words?

All the time. My verbal expression is terrible.

Have you ever loved a song to begin with, but then you listened to it so many times that you ended up getting sick of it?

Yeah, quite a few times. Took me years to revisit it.

Time for some questions about you and your significant other/crush. What is something you like, that he/she doesn’t like?

Science. He finds it incredibly boring. Also, cinnamon. And going out.

What is something he/she likes, that you don’t like?

Video games, movies and seafood. Football. Steak.

Something you both like?

Having our personal space. Sitting next to each other while each of us does his own thing. Comfortable silence. British sitcoms. Fries.

Something you both dislike?

Chocolate lol. Drama queens. Romance.

Do you regret sleeping with anyone?

No, I don't. Why would I.

Did anyone comfort you the last time you cried? What was your reason for crying?

Too many questions like that lol, in every single survey. Too much is too much okay?

What if you had a baby with the last person you kissed?

Biologically impossible lol.

What’s the weirdest dream you can ever recall having?

I don't know, my dreams are always about trains, empty landscapes and cities, abandoned buildings and all, so pretty dark. Maybe the weirdest one was that I jumped off the train.

Is there anyone that likes you, other than the person you love/like/are with?

I have no idea. Even if someone does, no one told me about it lol.

Did you wake up in someone’s arms this morning?

Nope, my husband was at work already.

What was the last thing you spilled on yourself?

Coca Cola, and the worst thing was that I was wearing white that day.

How long have you had the shirt you’re wearing?

I'm not wearing any shirt.

Do you ever brush your hair before you go to bed?

My hair is too short lol.

Have you ever lied to the person you love/like?

Not consciously. There's no point anyway, he can read people really well.

Who is the 9th contact in your phone? Have you ever hugged/kissed that person?

Burger King, obviously lol. You kidding me right?

Has anyone ever told you that they needed you? Do you think they meant it?

Yeah;, I know he meant it.

If the last person you kissed told you they loved you, would you believe them?

Of course. He doesn't say such things often, though. He rather shows love through his actions.

How did you feel when you woke up today? What was the first thing you thought about?

Okay, but I don't remember what I was thinking about XD

Do you still tell your parents that you love them?

Yeah, why wouldn't I? Maybe not too often.

Have you ever said “I love you” to someone you weren’t going out with?

Yup, I say it to my friends all the time.

Random fact about the person you love/like?

His father was born in the UK.

Have your parents ever disapproved of anyone you had a relationship with?

No, they were just not too happy with the fact I like guys.

Anything else you would like to say, to finish?

Thanks, bye.

[theji]

Things Yizhan Made Me Do

It's BXG Day today! 🐢💛

To commemorate the occasion, I thought of making a list of 13 out-of-character things that I've done since falling into the fandom. (OK I'm a bit late I meant to do this sooner, the day is ending soon in a couple of hours).

1. Start a blog

And a public one, no less. I had a blog when I was in my teens but that was private, like a personal diary. My day job already involves writing so off-work I would usually like to indulge in mindless activities. Now, here I am, maintaining a Yizhan blog. I have not even used Tumblr prior to this but I'm enjoying it now, rambling about our fav boys. Writing is not a chore if it's about them.

2. Join a fandom

I joined a boy band fan club once upon a time, some 15 years ago, but I was never as invested in it as I am now with Yizhan. Back then it was just buying some merch, attending their concert/autograph sessions, listening to their songs. Apart from work, dog mum duties, personal relationships, other hobbies like kombucha brewing, most of my free time is now spent on the fandom. My Netflix account is crying. There is just so much to do and catch up on (I'm not complaining). I also enjoy interacting with and learning from other bloggers here. Antis are no fun and some industry news/developments/hate messages are upsetting but ultimately, you curate your own fandom experience. And I choose positivity and rationality.

3. Indulge in RPS

I don't ever 'ship'. What is 'ship'? 😆 I was always a dutiful audience, just enjoying whatever drama series and moving on after that. I started with CQL like most people and I didn't even notice/like GGDD until much later. Didn't even set out to 'ship' anyone but now I'm a self-professed turtle. SZD is SZD, and anyone can see something special between them if you keep an open mind. I wrote about my SZD reasons here previously. That said, GG & DD are individuals, each with their own successful careers. They come first, the ship comes second. That I'm very clear of.

4. Use Chinese apps

Gosh, my phone and tablet are now full of Chinese apps. I used to have only WeChat cos I needed it for work but now I have Weibo, Oasis, Douyin, WeTV, MangoTV, Youku, etc. Some of them are not even available in the app store so I had to find alternative sources to download them. haha..I even have paid membership for some of these apps. And now, browsing Weibo daily becomes a routine. If you wish, you can just get stuck browsing Weibo for a long long time. It's entertaining.

5. Read fan fic

I only started about 6 months ago but now I'm hooked and fics are largely the only thing I read these days, apart from news. But I only read Yizhan or WangXian fics (p.s. calling for fic recs of other pairings!) I know some might have different feelings about fan fics but to me, I really just see them as fiction, with characters (and sometimes traits) bearing similarities to GGDD. Similarly, I separate the platform from the incident so I have no problems going to A03 despite GG's incident. I just enjoy seeing the characters named XZ/WYB having happy endings in many different timelines and universes. While most of the fics I read are explicit (by design), I don't use them as tools to play out certain fantasies or to think of GGDD in a sexual manner. In fact, I really hate fics that have little substance and just go into the explicit parts without plot development. I like those with interesting premises too, like one I read recently where XZ is a serial killer and WYB is a police officer investigating the case but also in love with him. I do have plans to share my list of fav fan fics some time down the road so keep an eye out for it!

6. Willingly read Chinese

Yes, Chinese may be my mother tongue but I don't use it much in daily living unless I have to. I also find it tedious to read Chinese cos the characters are just so squashed together. If I have a choice, I will always pick English. But now, I read so much Chinese from my daily weibo browsing. I even read fan fics in Chinese! Who am I? On the plus side, I think my Chinese comprehension and translation skills improved. I also picked up some internet lingo used by Chinese netizens, which are pretty interesting like doi, 🐮🍺, 🖍. My all-time fav is yyds.

7. Act like a cougar

In real life, I have always maintained that younger men are childish. At least those I have encountered. But look at me now, fangirling over two younger men (I am closer in age to GG, but still..). I even jokingly call them my 'China Boyfriends'. I look at them very respectfully most of the time.

8. Buy merch

Seriously, once you start, you can't stop. At least that was what happened to me, although I'm still quite selective when it comes to supporting their endorsements. I usually go for consumables like food, cosmetics vs collectibles cos I'm more practical. Also, GG says to support their merch within reasonable means so that's what I'm doing. Just buying things that I'm interested to try and not because it has their faces or names slapped on it. In a way, this suits me cos I like trying new brands and stuff anyway.

9. Keeping a Yizhan archive

Photos, weblinks, videos, songs, fan fics list..my phone is full of these things now. I think my Yizhan photo gallery is only second to the folder with my dogs' pictures. But how can you resist when we are blessed with new pics of them almost every week?

10. Camp for livestreams

I'm lucky I live in the same time zone as the boys so I don't have to wake up in the wee hours of the morning just to watch something. But that's the thing, being in the same time zone sometimes make me feel like I HAVE to watch that thing live because, why not? Why wait? Not shy to admit that I once watched a live programme in the middle of work but I made sure I finished what needed to be done. I think so long as we don't let these livestream schedules run our lives, there's no harm in camping for them.

11. Watch c entertainment

I am one of those who used to pass over Chinese productions, simply because it's a Chinese production. Not in a scoffing manner but I'm just genuinely not interested in them nor the celebs. I was more of a US/UK production kind of person, occasionally Korean/Japanese. Now, I'm learning to enjoy them although I just watch those with GGDD in them. No energy to follow other Chinese celebs anyway. The other programme I'm contemplating watching even if it doesn't have them in it is Who's the Murderer (GG was only in one of the cases) cos I like the premise. On the flip side, now my sis and partner keep making fun of me cos to them, all I do now is "watch China shows". That is so not true. Or is it?

12. Write fan mail

I wrote a letter to GG once. A long-ass letter. I hope he read it. That's all I'm gonna say. 🙈 hahahahaha

13. Desire to visit China

China was never on my list of to-visit places. Just wasn't interested. I have been to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou a few times in the past for work but even then, I never felt the urge to revisit for leisure. Now, I wanna visit GG and DD's home town, visit Chongqing to see the graffiti wall with Bobii Zanbii on it, eat mala hotpot and try out their sauce recipe, attend BXG events, dine at the CQL restaurant... Watching TTXS also made me realise that there are many beautiful places in China with natural landscapes and all that. I used to be clouded by my disdain for the regime and some behaviour of its citizens but now, I recognise that the country is separate from the regime or a smaller group of poorly behaved citizens. China is a beautiful country and I would love to visit some day. I will fly over immediately on my own if someone gives me tix to ADLAD!!

Well, I hope some of these things resonate with you. Feel free to share the OOC things that Yizhan made you do.

Once again, Happy BXG Day! 🐢💛🐆🐇🐷🌶🦁🍑🐶🍍🛹🎋

[hegodamask]

I think you've already talked about this before but I couldn't find the post on your Tumblr, so I was just wondering what your process was for making animated gifs. Like what methods you use to make them, what software you use, etc? Also, what parts do you find most fun or difficult or challenging? I've started making some animated gis, and while I don't know if I'll ever be nearly as prolific as you are, I was interested in learning more about them.

Oh hey! Thank you!! I don’t think I’ve ever gone through the process of how I make gifs in detail before, mainly because I don’t use Photoshop so I just assume my advice won’t be helpful to anybody. I don’t know how helpful this will be to you, but I’ve done a little step by step walkthrough of how I make a gif with a few general pointers thrown in. I was gonna try and keep it brief but it turned out much longer…..sorry.

I’ve put what I find most difficult and fun at the end, so you can just skip to that if you want.

As for the rest, here goes….

So, background: I taught myself how to make gifs using Serif Photoplus X2 because we used their products in highschool. Then a few years later, I updated to Photoplus X7 (made hardly any difference though). Serif doesn’t even make the Photoplus range anymore (they still sell X8 but it’s rubbish and crashes a lot, and their new product Affinity doesn’t even let you make gifs!). I’ve tried to use Photoshop in the past and everyone says it’s better, but I’m stuck in my ways like the stubborn old woman I am.

Anyways, when I want to make a gif I start off by capturing screenshots for the frames. I’ve always used GOM Player and their “Burst Capture” option to do this. GOM Player lets you choose the format your images are saved as and where you want the frames saved to. I have a special “captures” folder for temporarily storing the files in. So for example, these are my frames:

A good general tip for making gifs with any software is to use the best quality video you can find. Most of the stuff I make is with 1080p or 720p quality. I find it helps when it comes to colouring and making the gif look clearer.

Once I have my captures, I copy them into my animation “canvas” (or SPP file) which has a base colouring I’ve already made on it. It’s kind of like a PSD on Photoshop. I select my captures and drag them onto the canvas which looks like this:

The canvas is 1080p, the same as the captures but everything will be resized later. I originally captured 100 screenshots here, but I’ve decided to use only 40 in the end because I want to make a 540px width gif. If I used all 100 frames for a 540px gif it would end up being way over the 3mb limit and it wouldn’t work on Tumblr.

Now this is where the time consuming work comes in for me. Once my captures have been copied into the SPP file, they actually become layers which I have to turn into gif frames (if that makes sense). So at the moment they look like this

But I don’t have any actual frames yet at the bottom of the screen. So what I do next is go to the layers tab at the top of the screen and click “hide layers”, making them all invisible

Then basically what I do next is create a frame at the bottom and assign an individual capture to it by clicking the little grey square (making it visible again). So as you can see, my first frame is for my first capture/layer. The next frame will be the capture/layer on top of that.

So yeah, that means I create each frame individually. It’s veeery time consuming but you get quicker at it the more you do it (it’s also faster to do on a laptop touch pad rather than a mouse.). 

Once I’ve created all my frames, I reselect the colouring layers at the top so they’re visible on every frame. It should look like this

Next, you need to crop your gif and resize it. I want my gif to be 540px by 270px so I put 54.00 and 27.00 into the crop feature to get it accurate. This allows me to crop the canvas into the right dimensions.

Once I’ve cropped the canvas, I then go to the Image tab at the top and click “Image Size…” and set the image size to 540px by 270px. I usually ignore the Print Size bit.

540px is the best size for a full width Tumblr gif, anything bigger or smaller will make your gif look blurry. This gifset is a good guide for making sure Tumblr doesn’t blur or crop your gifs.

My gif is almost ready to be exported. But I want it to look clearer, so I sharpen all the layer/captures (yes, individually again). I have no settings for sharpening, but I find using the standard “Sharpen” effect under the “Effects” tab is enough. 

Once I’ve sharpened everything, I get to the colouring and exporting which is the biggest challenge for me. Photoplus’ options for exporting gifs are limited, so the only decent export options are these

“Web-safe” and “Ordered” makes the gif look like this

“Optimized” and “None” makes it look like this. Okay, but the background looks low quality and patchy

“Optimized” and “Error Diffusion” is the only one that to me, looks the best quality. That’s probably why it produces the bigger file size too (the gif below is 2.78mb)

But there’s other downsides to Error Diffusion which I’m still trying to figure out to this day.  Like how it makes parts of the gif “glitch” (that’s the only way I can describe it) or look extra fuzzy. The only way you can fix it is by playing around with the colouring. And by “playing” I mean adjusting and previewing until you want gouge ur eyes out :)

I think that’s why I like giffing The Terror so much, because the film they used has a grainy texture to it, making it easier to hide all my Error Diffusion sins. Though there’s been many times I’ve posted something and hoped no one’s noticed all the mistakes. 

Some general tips for colouring

Unless you’re going for a certain effect, emphasise on the colours that are already in the shot. In my gif  above for example, I turned up the blues and cyans.

Use Levels or Curves instead of Brightness and Contrast.

Zoom in on your gif to spot any Error Diffusion glitches.

Be mindful about whitewashing POC, especially if you’re following the pastel gif trend.

Look at how other people colour their gifs and use PSDs for reference but don’t rely on them too much.

Colouring can increase or decrease the gif file size. If you need to get below 3mb, try toning down super vibrant colours. If the shot you’re giffing is dark, make it a bit darker. If it’s light, make it a bit lighter. 

If all else fails, just make the gif black and white.

Reading all this back makes how I make gifs look like a nightmare lmao. But I’ve been doing it this way since like, 2012 and i love it. I started out making very bad Star Wars and Lady Gaga gifs but as time has gone on and I’ve gotten better, I’ve found I enjoy making things for smaller fandoms much more. I like that if I want a certain set or edit on my blog, I can just go and make it (with varying degrees of success) instead of waiting for someone else to do it.

You appreciate the work that goes into making a movie or show when you make gifs too. Like, you notice subtle little things in the actors performances or something the cinematography is trying to convey. You get to revisit a scene in detail and then share it with everybody else and if you’re lucky, watch them scream in the tags get some nice comments.

There’s lots of other stuff I like about making gifs but I’ve rambled on far too much so I’m just gonna shut up for now. But I think I’ve covered all the important stuff. I don’t know how much of a help I’ve been (there’s still stuff I don’t understand myself) but if there’s anything else you want to know just drop me a message. Good luck with your own gifs!! I’m sure you can do  a much better job than me!

[alicemitch09writes]

hello once more 🍃 i'm revisiting your blog again in remembrance of your ulma series + spin-offs with suna, and here i was pleasantly surprised with forever person epiphanies!!

i've sent asks in the past praising you for your writing and storytelling, and here i am again. somehow, i always find myself coming back here, and that must be a testament to how good you are, because your work has always left a lasting impression on me. so here's me commending you and showering you with compliments all over again 😅

i'm unsure how to put it into words, but witnessing how everything fell into place for atsumu in forever person epiphanies just.. felt right. unpacking how he truly felt was a hard pill to swallow. he still has his hang ups over it, but somehow it doesn't feel sad. yn might have moved past the chapter in her life when she had loved atsumu, but he takes it in stride. he continued to show support and happiness for both her and suna. it just feels.. right. even if it isn't love in a romantic sense on yn's end, there's still that love shared between them nonetheless. seeing them continue to care and be involved in each other's lives just felt so pure.

it reminds me of how ulma ended— it was bittersweet, but overall there was hope. it leaves you feeling happy. of everyone's character arcs in this series, i felt proudest seeing how atsumu had matured throughout the years. though there were many nails in the coffin for him with how he continues to feel towards yn—and subsequently, suna—it made me happy seeing him evolve from it.

there's just something so wonderful about your writing that keeps me coming back. anyone could have written this story, but because it's you who did so, i always walk away from your stories feeling profound and thoughtful in some way. you've outdone yourself time and time again.

those excerpts and final letter at the end? don't even get me started with those. yn really bore all of herself to atsumu in those letters. i don't know how to best describe it, but it was brimming with raw emotion. it felt very.. cathartic. she did not spare him a single detail in all her accounts of him— even the bad memories.

ps. the last time i revisited your blog for ulma, i was greeted with oli. now, i'm being greeted with fpe 😅 the world of atsumu and yn will never not be one of best i've ever read, regardless of their story being a fic or not. the lives of everyone involved will always be homey. there's a sense of candidness and familiarity. there's so much more i want to say, but it feels like words won't suffice. as always, thank you for sharing your writing with us! i really do appreciate your work. you have a great mind 💖

sorry for practically leaving an essay in your asks! now if you'll excuse me, i would like to catch up with your other works hehe. please stay well and take care of yourself!

(had to rewrite this ask because i'm unsure if the previous one went through due to my crappy connection, so apologies if there are doubles! also fixed this rewrite a bit, so disregard the first one if so ✨)

omo! thank you so much for the words, sweetpea!

truth be told, the three little foxes series still has a very special place in my heart that i just can't seem to forget all too easily. it's one of my most successful fics, and i'm just really grateful that the lot of you enjoyed it!

this story has all my heartaches growing up - especially as a middle child, along with my feelings about certain topics, and it's an exploration of youth through a jaded adult's eyes who had to remember certain traumas.

before i even finished/conceptualized oli, i had already through of 'fpe' and gave it a thought. at one point, i jokingly thought to make it yandere but scraped it (mostly bc, im uncomfortable with it) because it really felt like a disservice to the atsumu i thought in my head and the canon atsumu.

i spent a great deal of research on atsumu's character - from rereading the manga, rewatching clips, and watching this one video essay. to really get to know him and figure out how i would like to work on his story. ofc, there'll be angst bc it's my specialty hehe~

tbh those letters were a complete accident. i planned on just one, but then someone mentioned wanting to read all 14 of them. so i thought, okay why not. i felt a bit cringe writing them, because i recalled confessing to MY first love via a letter.

thanks so much for the compliment on my writing! tbh, i'm still super insecure with my writing, especially because i know i can write, but with how the world is right now and my mental state, i feel like i'm wasting it. most of my writing is mostly inspired, borrowed then paraphrased by a lot - fics, books, anime, series, movies, etc, but i mostly try to keep the core of it. if that even makes sense.

thanks again sweetpea!

i'm currently working on sakusa's fic next and have left some clues in 'forever person epiphanies!' ;D

until the next time~