#and maybe the rest of the latam countries

[cosmicfelines]

I have heard the new Valorant agent Tejo's voice lines in LATAM Spanish and they're glorious.

He straight up says "parceros" never thought I would hear that in a videogame. I love his Antioqueño accent he sounds like a Paisa. He sounds like a dad.

I freaking lost it when I heard him say "que huevonada" and the mythical "No den papaya".

Combine it with other phrases like:"no la vayan a cagar", "colgó los guayos", "que boleta" and "nada mal cucho" and it just makes him perfect.

He even calls Brim "cucho" in the Initiate.V25 trailer if the "parche" is ready.

A true Colombian indeed.

I just need Valorant to make a banner or animation of him drinking hot chocolate with cheese in it for it to be complete.

Like I was so into it that I was fully expecting him to drop a casual curse word. As we would say here in Colombia, les quedó una chimba (hard to translate but it means that it's very cool).

Also his name means a traditional game of Colombia where you have to throw these metal disks at small explosive targets inside a wooden box full of clay. Which matches really well his ability kit. It's a very popular game not only in the older generations, people play it at parties and BBQs if there's one set up. Very typical to see people playing it while drinking in open space bars.

Also love that reference to his voice actor who also did Thanos in the LATAM Spanish dub. "Soy inevitable/I am inevitable"

[twopoppies]

Spanish accounts talking about the subject

Translation:

"It doesn't seem fair to us that there are fans justifying this. It is discrimination. Why can't they have the same opportunity as the rest of the fans? They are not to blame, they are not stalkers, and Louis has also been sick in other countries and has gone out, which is why... Has no sense. Furthermore, according to other fans, they have suffered attitudes and comments that leave much to be desired, and we would dare to say that they are "xenophobic." Latam fans always make Louis feel very good and it is not fair that there are these differences between them.

We should support each other and not justify this kind of thing. Enough."

The managers are screwing up very badly, it has happened with other artists, they make us feel undervalued, we are not animals that cannot behave, I love Louis very much, he is a fair man for his xenophobia, racism and even aggression.

Hi, love. I’m sharing this, but it hasn’t hit my dash and maybe everything on Twitter is in Spanish, so I don’t see it. But my inbox is full of upset fans.

I can only say that i hope everything is okay because this seems so out of the ordinary, and I have to imagine Louis will address whatever is going on. ❤️

In reference to this

Edit: I’m only seeing one report from a single fan saying that the hotel Louis was at didn’t allow photos, so his team wasn’t allowing it (per management orders). But they said everyone was very kind towards her. I’m not sure what’s going on, but I hope this is just something that’s been blown out of proportion.

[crisalidaseason]

Armin x Latine!reader headcannons

This is for my siblings from latinoamerica, gringos dni if you're racist and xenophobic. Also, US latinos are welcome as long as you don't give your unsolicited opinion about my portrayal of latine people (I was born and raised in latam, in three different south american countries, I know a little about our life style)

He probably met you through Connie or Sasha, (those two would definitely be from latam). Maybe on a small get together, where Armin could interact more with you. I genuinely think the two of you would bond over musical taste and arts since Armin knows a variety of them.

He would be one of the few people to genuinely want to listen your country's typical music. And it's so funny to see him do micro dances having no idea what the lyrics mean.

Would probably learn a bunch of cuss words before even learning the greetings of your native language. And that's solely because people from latam have a thing for teaching cuss words. You can't help but find Armin's accent extremely cute when he's saying something outrageous in your language.

Will not be able to handle your food, but try his best to enjoy it. You have to take it easy on the seasoning whenever he wants to try a certain dish you're preparing. Talking about food, It's sweet how he makes the effort to participate in the cooking process.

When you invite him to a celebration in your family home, you prepare him days in advance. Knowing how chaotic things can be, you don't want him to be overwhelmed by the loud drunk tios, the tias all over Armin, trying to feed him, the screaming and crying little primos and primas.

Once he's there, the poor boy is kidnapped by your mother and tias and after hours of trying to keep up with their gossip in a completely different language (at some point you were tired of translating) you and him end up sleeping in a large bed with a bunch of kids because the party goes on forever.

Oh, and let me tell you, Armin gets pissed at he machismo during the party. Everyone is asking you to serve him a plate and he's like "I can fix my own plate". Also super mad when he sees only the women cleaning and doing the dishes. Thankfully you know better than date a guy just like your relatives and Armin helps you and the other women clean.

He never cared much about the soccer world cup before because his country was never huge in those things, but booy he loved seeing you and your other latino friends rooting for a random latinamerican or african soccer team playing. You partied as if it was your own country there.

"The rules is, never root for colonizer countries. The rest is game" you told him. "Even argentina?" he asked.

Explaining Armin the strange out of pocket beef with Argentina was fun. You never understood it, but it was tradition at this point.

"Look, we can trash talk Argentina, but you can't" you warned him once "Argentina is for the latinos to roast"

Prejudice is a no no, so expect Armin to get overly defensive of your people towards xenophobic bitches. Like this man is making his life mission to use his white boy privilege to roast and humiliate racist and xenophobic fuckers. Using his cracker heritage as historical reparation.

[alarrytale]

As someone who lived there, Louis or even 1D in general have never been as popular there as the rest of latam. It doesn’t surprise me there’s more empty seats than usual, he’s not losing fans. Harry is the inly one I can really see selling out a show but he definitely wouldn’t make as much noise as a Bad Bunny. The Coca Cola Music Hall last time was appropriately sized for a show there. I hope this doesn’t mean he won’t go there again.

Hi, anon!

So Puerto Rico is different from the rest of latam when it comes to 1D's popularity? I would have thought that Louis and his team had a decent overview, at least, over where there was demand for him or not. So they can pick and choose which countries to visit on tour. They've done enough data mining to know. Maybe the demand is as expected?

I think it's very hard to tell if he's losing fans or not. (Well, he is, but he's also gaining here and there). I'm not sure if it's status quo or if he's just got a less engaged fandom. There is discontent they need to try and solve. I don't have much faith that his current team is able to do it.

I also am unsure what he'll do for his next album and the tour of that one. Will he even attempt to go to Asia? Will he downsize? Or will he try again? Who knows.

[piduai]

Men travelling to SEA is heavily associated with sex tourism too. I've heard stories about men going there just to fuck minors (barf)

i think it's a bit of a different issue, sex tourism (loaded ghouls passing borders in order to pay for the right to rape impoverished women and girls, sometimes boys) is definitely a thing that has gained immense popularity in the last few decades, and sea countries are star destinations for that, but it was more about the imperialist mindset of making enough money in your own home country to retire and live like a king in one of the countries whose economies your own people destroyed.

it's disgusting though, in the last decade wife shopping has also been on the rise. americans or western europeans travelling to southeast asia/eastern europe for a "submissive asian/slavic wife", meeting women there, promising them visas in their own rich countries, marrying them and taking them home and deeming themselves their lords and masters. the woman typically doesn't speak the language and has no kin or friends in the new country, so her husband can do to her whatever he wants. it's sickening really and i wish these men, and the rest of the sex tourists, were asked for their purposes when entering the country and shot on sight.

to be honest i think the retirement thing is something rather unique to the japanese. i'm not saying it def does not happen ever, but i find it hard to imagine a wealthy muscovite choosing to pass their last years in mine or any other post-soviet country that is still suffering the consequences of the russian conquest. bri'ish "people" living as expats in india is definitely a thing, but i feel like it's young ones "on spiritual journeys" who go back to their holes after a few years anyway, not a mildly successful ex businessman pension aged fart's first choice retirement plan. frenchoids don't go to algeria, spaniards don't go to el salvador. oh but i did hear about americans retiring in latam countries. as mentioned though for the japanese it happens, i mean it's definitely not all over the place nor THAT often, but it's anecdotal enough for even me to know a real life example. maybe because sea countries are overall popular tourist destinations? the philippines, thailand, vietnam, indonesia are known for their beaches and resorts and laid back lifestyles. old bones seek warmth and relaxation. maybe the tropical climate is also what lures americans into puerto rico... after all "moving close to the sea" IS a retirement fantasy for many people all over the world and has been for hundreds of years. but again this is all but speculative, maybe i'm wrong and it does happen often with other colonizers too idk.

[skepticalarrie]

About Niall, I follow an account that gives spoilers of future shows in México and they being correctly so far with so many shows, for Niall they said he will be in Mexico in September so maybe around those months is the LATAM tour. I just keep hoping he will announce it soon.

Yeah?! Oh that's really good news, I hope it's true! Although Mexico is still North America so it's unfortunately a lot of artists do it as an extension of the US and don't tour the rest of the latam countries. But you made me hopeful, anon 🤞

[lara635kookie]

My Opinions on Dream Academy:

The Contestants:

Top 10:

1. Sophia:

THE IT GIRL. She's an ultimate ace. She sings, she dances, she can do it all. There's nothing she can't do. Everything you can think, Sophia can do. She cooks and she is so well-spoken, articulated and sophisticated(maybe because her dad is a well-known filipino politician and her mother is an actress), definitely leader vibes. She is so caring and kind with everyone and it's just so talented! Sometimes, I even wonder if she's human! Sophia Elizabeth G. Laforteza, real human beings got to have flaws! Why don't you have any???

2. Lara:

She serves vocals, and dance, and visual, and VOCALS. She just has so much attitude. I don't know how to explain it but she has an aura, a whole vibe around her that just makes you want to watch her more. She just seems so confident(see what I did there) and she just looks like a sassy boss ready to run the world. She deserves all the good things in the world!

3. Daniela:

She can do it all! She can sing well and dance almost flawlessly. Definitely competing with Megan for Main Dancer position. Having said that, I knew she was popular and talented, but she never really got much my attention. I feel neutral about her. My only problem with her is that, no:She does not represent latam. Katseye does not have a member that represents Latin America. That would have been the case only if Samara from Brazil or Celeste from Argentina(or both) made it to the final lineup. "Latina" is not just some label you can go and identify yourself as. In the latin community there is a general consent when someone can be considered latino or not and Daniela does not meet all the requirements. You don't need to be born in a latin country but If you don't know how to speak portuguese(brazil's official language), french(haiti's official language) or spanish(all the other latin america's countries official language) in a higher level than what Daniela gives, don't have a close connection to latin america(parents or grandparents) and never been to one latin america country and don't know and understand their culture and at least a few of its deepest aspects from UP CLOSE and their story with collonization, legacy and the current overall situation of the continent and reality of the people who live there, you're not latino. Simple as that(and as far as I'm concerned, it works like that for basically anywhere in the world, with little variations). Daniela's level of Spanish so far seems to be the basics of the basic. Me, a brazilian, native portuguese speaker, that watched many spanish speaking shows like Violetta, Soy Luna, Bia, Soy Franky, Kally's Mashup, Club 57, etc, I seem to have a better spanish than her. Also, Daniela knows Cuban music and dances from her household...What about Venezuela? Has she never been to any of those countries? Not even once? Music and dancing styles are only two aspects of the culture, what about the rest? What does she know about it? And knowing about the USA's education system, specially in regards to geography, I wonder if she can even point out Cuba and Venezuela on a map. And y'all can't blame me for being skeptical about it. Everybody knows USA are made fun of and seen as an international joke because of how dumb their education system is and how low the overall citizen knowledge is(some americans themselves recognize it). I know there are stupid people everywhere in the world, but USA is something else. Just watch "* type continent here * according to Americans" and "What is the dumbest thing an American has ever said to you?", you'll be surprised. I know we can not generalize and not all Americans are like this, but you can't deny there is a reason why USA has that kind of content made about them the most. It is a real problem and I hope they can fix it soon.

Back to the latina topic, take a look at Rachel Zegler, Jenna Ortega and Anya Taylor-Joy for example. Rachel Zegler doesn't represent Colombia and Jenna Ortega doesn't represent Mexico but Anya Taylor-Joy represents Argentina(according to most people). That because unlike Rachel and Jenna, Anya Taylor-Joy speaks fluent spanish and lived in Argentina until she was six years old and still travels there from time to time. Rachel and Jenna have latino parents. That's it. That's all. Unlike Anya, that is not enough to make them fully latina.

"Oh but in the US only being descendent already counts and..." Exactly. In the US. In the latino countries, that are the ones that should be taken into account because they are the latinos, if someone like Daniela says they are latina the real latinos will laugh at her. Just because you have the "stereotypical latina look" that doesn't make you latina(which is proven that now that being latina is considered "trendy", a lot of girls try to copy the superficial latina look of what they think latina girls look like reinforcing sterotypes of what they think being latina means and people comment "gosh you are so latina")because in latin america, "latino" is not an ethnicity:Latinos comes in all packages:White, black, brown, due to collonization and the mix of europeans, indigenous people, asians, black people, etc. What Daniela does is the same thing as a brazilian girl whose parents moved from Japan to Brazil and speak japanese fluently but the girl is born in Brazil and thinks she's so japanese just because she has a japanese appearence, speaks basic japanese, watches anime and listens to j-pop. Same thing with Daniela thinking she is latina just because she "looks" latina, her spanish skills so far are ordinary and she knows some latino songs(you can't speak FOR them if you can't speak TO them in a higher level).

The term "Latino(a)", a shorter version of "Latino Americans", was first used in France to refer to people from Latin America. Other countries that speak languages that came from Latin(Spanish, portuguese, french, Italian, romanian, catalan, etc) aren't called "latinos" because they already had denominations of what their people were called before, for example Portuguese people are called Lusitanian, not Latino. So the original concept of the word is "any individual BORN in any country in the american continent that speaks a language that came from latin is latino." But the USA only considers the spanish speaking(aka hispanics) countries latino. So even though Brazilians(lusophones) and Haitians(francophones) speak portuguese and french respectively and are very much in the american continent, the United States Law doesn't consider us latinos, when we clearly are and basically all of the other latino countries consider us latinos too. So forgive us for not wanting to conform to what americans think we are. Sometimes, the rules and standards the US set for themselves aren't a thing in the whole entire world, can y'all believe that???(y'all use fahrenheit, feet, miles, pounds instead of the much easier celcius, centimeters, meters, kilometers, kilograms, etc that basically the whole entire world uses)(and address football incorrectly as s*ccer, which is where I draw the line lol). Shocking for the center of the world, USA, the only America that exists because the name isn't United States (states that are united as a country) of (the continent) America(some basic geography and history lessons would really do some americans good). In Brazil, we have memes that joke that being considered latino in the US is the easiest thing in the world:Have at least one of your great grandparents born in a hispanic latin america country(bonus points if it's Cuba, Mexico or even their own territory Puerto Rico because they are pretty much the only ones the average american knows because they are the ones closer to the US), speak three words of basic spanish, tan your skin and call it a day. Congrats, you're latino now. Some americans really think they know better what being a latino is than latino people themselves. You don't. Thank u, next.

And before anyone says I'm a disguised hater, I love all the woman mentioned, just some of them don't represent latin america as much as they try to force it upon people, and actual latinos(not just from Brazil and Argentina but also from Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, Uruguay, Nicaragua, Haiti, etc) have the right to not feel represented by them. The latino's point that Katseye does not have latin america representation is valid because it is considered true by latino people and what latinos consider latino and not what USA citizens consider latino. Because I can assure you they are different. Daniela is considered latina only in the US. She wouldn't be considered latina anywhere else. For us, she's only American.

See this to understand:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by + alguns trechos (@trechosalguns)

To sum it up:You don't know the language to a higher level, you've never been on the country and you don't know more than the basics of their culture, you can't claim it, it doesn't matter how many relatives you have from there, which is the only thing Daniela showed to have so far. I mean, you CAN claim it, but don't expect the people from the country to feel "represented" by you.

That being said, there is nothing wrong with being "just" American or only having one nacionality. I recognize Daniela's talent and I think after the group ends she will be able to establish herself in the industry as the next big soloist. I can see her pulling off something similar to what Selena Gomez or Camila Cabello do in terms of music.

4. Yoonchae:

Of course, they needed a korean but Yoonchae and Sophia are two that I think could be more successful in a kpop group(I would love Sophia to join Gehlee Dangca and Elisia as the filipinas of kpop). I do think the group needed east asians, I'm just surprised any korean girl would apply to this reality show instead of just applying to be a hybe or any other agency trainee and be probably more successful in a kpop group. Like Nayoung for example. According to the judges she wanted to be eliminated to be a soloist, which is probably true, now that she is participating in Girls on Fire. If she got in, she will probably be a soloist in Korea after it ends. Theories say that Hybe always wanted Yoonchae because she is younger and fits more the korean beauty standards than Nayoung, but Nayoung was more popular among the public, so they invented this whole soloist thing to kick Nayoung out. Others said that they always wanted Nayoung on the group to debut Yoonchae on either a kpop group with Hinari, Ua, Karlee, Mei and Marquise or another kpop gg who would have like New Jeans vibes, but Nayoung wanting to be a soloist frustrated their plans and they had to go for Yoonchae. I never believed any of those, because they just don't make sense to me. I did have Nayoung as a favorite and barely noticed Yoonchae before mission 3, but I like her. She's nice and her entrance was predictable. Her place was basically guaranteed but she deserved anyway.

5. Megan:

My fave since the show started. She was my pick since the very beginning. She's an icon, she's a legend and she's the moment. Her dance will slay on the group(and I imagine her raps too since I think Manon and her will be the rappers, it's a position that fits them the most comparing to the other members, maybe Daniela will rap too). She has everything and I love her with all my heart.

6. Manon:

She is a visual and a decent dancer. I think her husky voice is very unique, just kinda unstable and a little bit shaky most of the time. But she has the time to train it and she has improved a lot in comparison to the start of the show, same thing with her lack of facial expressions in performances, which is understandable because she was a model and has a very mature look, which is probably why she always had more of a serious face and overall vibe. Speaking of her model career, I hope it's still a thing after her debut. She passes me some Naomi Campbell, Winnie Harlow and Anok Yai vibes and I think it would be a very profitable industry for her to keep being successfull in the US after the group ends. Usually reality show groups have a temporary contract of 2-5 years, which is a good amount of time to Manon to guarantee her future after the group is over. I can't picture her as a soloist(at least for now), but I think she would slay as model(both photos and runway) and I can definitely see her potential as an actress with proper training as well.

My biggest fear towards Manon on the group was the same as Yoonchae:Her being kinda isolated/left aside by the other girls. Yoonchae because of the language barrier and Manon because she seems to be more of an introvert and reserved kind of person. Compared to Manon, Samara seemed closer to Yoonchae, Megan and specially Sophia and Lara during the show. The only girls I can think of that Manon was very close with are Nayoung and Iliya(who revealed on Tik Tok she was the only one that voted she wanted Manon on the group with her). And because of Manon's personality seemingly being a little bit more closed, which is understandable since Manon was the second oldest girl in the show(Nayoung being the oldest and Iliya the third oldest). However, the most toxic part of her fandom kept inventing she was hated by some of the other girls because of this, trying to build a victim narrative to favor Manon. As someone who is part of both Manon's fandom and Samara's fandom, I can say both are the ones with the most toxic fans(at least the louder ones), but I think Manon fans are still a little bit worse than Samara's because Manon fans are usually solo stans. Most of them like Manon and Manon only.

(This is actually a lighter one, I say way worse ones, that are so heavy I don't even know if can mention)

Meanwhile, Samara's fans usually also liked Sophia, Lara, Emily, Lexie, Ezrela, Nayoung, Iliya, Mei, Karlee, Celeste, Megan and Yoonchae(mainly, but I saw a few supporting the other girls as well). If you go to Instagram, my point will be proven. All the girls who commented on Samara's post saying goodbye to Dream Academy were treated nicely by her fans. Meanwhile Adéla, who said she congratulated all the Katseye members in private and not everything needs to be on the internet to be true and to have happened, when she went to congratulate Manon on her Katseye post on Manon's instagram, most comment replies were hateful(and Samara fans are the most toxic ones? Alright, I'll pretend I believe you). Some Manon fans need to decide themselves. You call her out for not congratulating Manon online, and when she changes her mind about it and does it people don't like either? What do you want from the girl man? Adéla hates Manon because she didn't post a photo with her? She didn't post a photo with Yoonchae either! And that could have a number of reasons:maybe they aren't that close, maybe Manon and Yoonchae didn't want to for some reason and that's fine! There were even people saying they would, quote unquote, "k*ll Mei's short ass" because she didn't congratulate Manon right away and only said "congratulations" in japanese with a fire and heart emoji. They don't need to congratulate her right the second she posts! And if they just want to like the post and not comment anything, that's fine too. It doesn't mean they hate her!

("I don't mean any harm to Celeste" gurl who said Celeste hates Manon when they are clearly friends and told Celeste to stay mad)(Toxic Manon stans keep Samara's name out of their mouths challenge lmao)(Some of them have this victimising paranoia that all of the other girls hated Manon that just doesn't make sense! They have no evidence to back it up! Manon is beautiful and talented, she doesn't need victimhood!)(This inexcusable mentality is not healthy and I'm sure Manon and any other girl wouldn't like her fans attacking their fellow contestants and friends using her name)(Y'all don't see Samara or any of the other girls fans for that matter doing this as much as they do)(If everyone thought like that, we would be doomed)(For example, Daniela and Lara started to follow Samara on Instagram a while after the show was over, just because something isn't done imediately it doesn't mean it's fake, it doesn't mean they hate Samara, some ppl should stop making assumptions based on no proof)(They act like Manon is the most hated girl from the show, which is just not true)(And it's ironic since a good part of the other girls haters were Manon fans) ("Why did you comment on * insert random contestant name * and is commenting on Manon just now?" Maybe because the other contestant post was reccomended first? Y'all don't know how Instagram works? There are a countless of possible reasons, this doesn't prove they hate Manon)

My other problem is that some Manon fans, specially the ones on twitter(I refuse to call it X) couldn't just celebrate Manon's debut without mentioning about how Samara was "a loser who would never be successful because she got rejected by Now United and Dream Academy". Have y'all never heard about black solidarity? The fact that people constantly confused both girls for the other(even in official midias) shouldn't separate the fans more. It should unite both fanbases to fight back together to stop this kind of thing from happening. You don't need to put Samara down to praise Manon and vice-versa. But something I hate about both fandoms are the rivalizing of both girls. The two fandoms that should be united the most against racism(because I've seen racist comments attacking both girls, Samara just a little bit more because she is a black latina and Manon is a black european) are the ones fighting the most! It wasn't supposed to be like that! I mean, look at these photos:

If they hated each other so much they wouldn't even be able to stand the other being close too them. Samara wouldn't look happy for her along with the other girls. In the video below Manon is jokingly doing the choreography of Break Free for Samara and Sami is laughing:

https://youtube.com/shorts/mUi5_Yu4mUg?si=GDHzqKWPgQuX4bVo

And people swear on their graves they hate each other solely based on the fact they don't follow each other on Instagram lmao. People just because you don't follow every single person you know that doesn't mean you hate them, sometimes you're just not that close/intimate to them or their content enough to follow them and that is totally fine. You don't need to follow anyone if you don't want to.

Another accusation is that Samara hates her because of the video Manon walks in Marquise and Samara's direction and Marquise passes through her to go hug Sophia and Samara passes through her to go hug Yoonchae. First of all:It's most likely she was going for Marquise, which Manon seemed to be a little bit "closer" with in comparison to Samara. Second:Manon didn't seem to be that close to any of the eliminated contestants. Third:She hugged Emily and Ezrela duo and then Samara and Marquise duo before going to hug the other Katseye members. Fourth:Even if she was close to Samara and Marquise, Sophia and Marquise were one of the closest friend duos of the show and Samara seemed quite close with all the asian members, but specially Nayoung, Ua and Mei. So Samara is undoubtedly closer to Yoonchae than she is to Manon. Fifth:If they didn't want to hug Manon again, they are in their right. They don't need to hug Manon or any other contestant if they don't want to. Maybe they aren't that close to a certain girl or maybe they feel uncomfortable with hugs/have a sensibility to physical contact and y'all should respect their choices whatever its based on.

Sixth:People got an specific take of the live finale out of context to make Samara look like "the villain" once again(are we even surprised at this point?). Samara goes for Yoonchae first but SAMARA AND MANON HUG RIGHT AFTER THE YOONCHAE AND SAMARA HUG. Then Samara is hugged by Lara, Sophia and next by Daniela. Then the host dismisses the eliminated girls. Megan is the only one who didn't got to hug not just Samara but also Ezrela and Marquise as well because she spent a lot of time conforting Emily.

After Marquise and Sophia's very long hug, Sophia and Samara hug while Marquise and Manon hug. Then Marquise and Daniela hug and the host asks the eliminated contestants to leave.

Emily is hugged first by Lara, then Megan while Manon is conforting her(couldn't see if they hugged but probably did) and hugged last by Yoonchae. I was surprised because Megan didn't left Emily's side, even when they weren't hugging. I didn't knew they were that close but they are two very good dancers so it makes sense. I found that very cute.

Ezrela is hugged first by Daniela and then by Lara. She talks a little with Yoonchae and Sophia while holding hands before the time the host gave them to say goodbye was over.

I think the girls clearly needed more time to say goodbye. Maybe they could have done it after the show to release later. I didn't got to see the ENFP girls Emily and Sophia hug(and as a fellow ENFP I didn't like it), my antifragile girls Samara and Megan hug, my dancing duo Emily and Daniela hug, etc. And I wanted to hear what they talked to each other too! Anyway, you can't have anything you want in life, am I right? That's all on Manon, let's move on.

7. Samara:

The girl had it ALL:The visuals, the dance, the public and SPECIALLY THE VOCALS(she always passed me some Beyoncé, Rihanna and Tyla vibes)(remember that it's my personal opinion, I'm not comparing). Even Sophia said Sami had one of the best voices she's ever heard:

(And the fact that this interview happened AFTER the controversy, speaks volumes, we all need a true friend like Sophia in our lives)(I think Sami and Soph's friendship are one of the cutest of the show, when Samara couldn't dance Break Free because of her knee injury Sophia's parents commented on one post about it wishing her to get well soon and calling her "Sam", it was so wholesome)(I like that popular saying that goes:"If there are 10 people at a table, a na*ist arrives, sits and no person gets up and leaves, there are 11 na*ists at the table." You can't tolerate the untolerable. It applies to any kind of prejudice in today's society. People are known for the company they keep. If Samara really was such a terrible person, then all of the other girls would be too for still being friends with her, therefore indirectly supporting her actions)

I feel like Hybe was sorta kinda testing if they would push her to debut. They knew she was going to be popular because she is brazilian, arguably the most engaged public of all time(there isn't compilations of brazilian crowds in shows for nothing)(also Brazil is on the top 10 countries that consume k-pop music and the overall market of the genre the most along with South Korea, Philippines, Thailand, Japan, China, Indonesia, USA, Malaysia and I don't remember the last one but it is either Mexico, India or Canada at least it was like that last time I checked) but she also had the talent and the experience, since she trained with Now United. I particularly think they thought on pushing her to debut after she carried antifragile team b on her back(will come back to that later) since a short while later they allowed her to dance Back For More with Kai and shortly after some desperate toxic stans thought it was unfair to the other girls and tried to bring her down using her Tik Tok likes. (People have to understand reality shows are unfair, yes, some more than others but there will always be unfairness to it, even if little, and on one like this, it wouldn't be different. People vote for nationality. Samara, Celeste and Sophia had the skills, but take Universe Ticket as an example:Vanesya wasn't ready to debut but still ranked high before being eliminated by the judges because of the indonesian public votes. So of course the girls from smaller nations, nations that don't consume hybe content that much and girls that have too "common" and "uninteresting" nacionalities/ethnicities/backgrounds according to the public will come behind. To keep people invested, they need a story.)

Anyway, the videos Samara liked were taken out of context by people who don't even speak portuguese. Because not just brazilians but native and portuguese speakers overall(People from Portugal, Angola, Mozambique, etc) know there is nothing wrong about the videos. I watched the videos and there is nothing special about them at all, really.

Also, just because she liked something, that doesn't mean she agrees with EVERYTHING that is being said. Not everything in life it's so black and white, people. Sometimes she only partially agrees, agreeing only with specific parts. And Brazil is known for having a very dark and acid sense of humor. With anyone and anything. Including Brazil and brazilians themselves. "Oh so I'm allowed to mock/tease/make fun of Brazil and brazilians then?" Yeah, you can if you want to but Brazil will fight back HARDER. Like this:

(The brazilian humor can be heavy sometimes. We are the type of society that overall believes looking at our problems positively with jokes or in other ways of comedy make them less painful to bear. The famous "laugh not to cry". As the people were saying from the indian videos:"You shouldn't disrespect this country's culture if you don't know it, don't understand a thing about it and never been there" but I guess it only applies to certain specific cultures out there and not actually all cultures like some tend to preach)(Of course there are always exceptions to the rule, but overall brazilians are considered the cleanest people in the world. The average adult brazilian takes 2/3 showers a day and approximately 14 showers per week, habit inherited by our indigenous people. This kind of joke is nothing personal to India. We joke about it with other places too, especially european people, mostly french people, that they invent the best perfumes so they don't need to take showers. Just because we joke about it, it doesn't mean we actually believe it's true)

Besides, the indian video that shows a guy seeing indian food could be doing a social commentary on hygienic and sanitary questions of street food(which I interpretated that way because Brazil and India share a little bit of similarities in that sense) and how some foreigners feel about different foods, judging them by their appearence. It's not enough to assume she hates India or thinks of India as a gross country. I follow a brazilian woman on Instagram who is married to an Indian guy. She says that those street foods are like 1% of India, and some indians themselves like to joke about it(I myself I've seen a few people not only from India but also from Bangladesh do much "worse" jokes)(don't worry, in Brazil there is also many gross looking food and we also make fun of them, like Cuscus Paulista). So just because Samara liked this video about it, it doesn't mean she doesn't acknowledge the good parts of Indian food.

Samara:* Likes a video about a guy not liking SOME, not all, indian street food, who could be very well doing a social critic, another with a guy who looks like he's indian, at the very least south asian, "mocking" indians(that people don't even know the context, maybe he was exaggerating to entertain the people around) and something that isn't a indian recipe and everyone can tell, and that's the fun about it *

"OH MY GOD she despises all of indian culture, you anti-indian, xenophobic and racist!"

Samara:* Likes explanatory content with historical information about the context of the Israel and Palestine conflict that is not taking any sides *

"Wanting to be informed about geopolitics and a relevant topic about what's going on in today's world is being a pro-war, islamophobic sionist/zionist! You should be the one getting bombed and dying, not palestinian children!" (Samara follows Kehlani on Instagram, who is clearly an active pro-palestine celebrity, if some of y'all have bothered looking further instead of just believing doubtful sources you would know)(Karlee posted many stories in favor of Palestine yet she commented and liked Samara stuff after she left the show and is still following Samara. If Samara really was pro-Israel, Karlee probably wouldn't do that)(The US wants to ban Tik Tok from the country once again because according to them the app is making young people anti-Israel, so if some of y'all will invent lies at least be cohesive and coherent about it)

Samara:* Likes harmless stuff on Tik Tok about the bible and an Instagram post of the christian church she is a part of listing, based on real numbers and facts, countries that are dangerous from christians to visit(yes, there are places out there where christianism is prohibited and/or christians are a minority/oppressed like Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan, Russia, Sudan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, China, Afghanistan, Nigeria and so on)(that's historical, every single religious group had/has some persecution)(but I guess some of you guys never heard of B*ko Haram, Al-Q*eda, Al-Sh*baab, Talib*n, Ham*s etc)(being aware that islamic and other religions extremist groups exist doesn't mean she believes every muslim or non-christian is a terrorist)(what's harmful is those groups ideologies that they are superior and christians and people with other beliefs are inferior, not the religion itself)(disagreeing with those groups, that is something most muslims and non-christians themselves do, doesn't show islamophobia or intolerance, it shows common sense)(the post never disrespects any of those countries, it only says that if you are a christian you should think twice about going there and be extra careful if you do)(all the facts of the post were right, since when stating facts is religious intolerance? As a roman catholic who likes history, I don't call school "christianphobic" "anti-christianism" when they teach about everything it has done in the past)(every religion is valid, being fanatic about it isn't, and that was what the post was doing:Warning and pointing out countries you have high risk you might encounter those groups who will harm christians and anyone they want to if they feel like it)(the problems are with people from those groups specifically and not the whole entire country but the groups are still in those countries which might affect a possible trip so she's right in worrying about that and thinking about it ahead) because she is just a regular christian from a regular church like the majority of the brazilian population (most of the brazilian population is roman catholic but there are also an expressive number of protestants and Samara is from a protestant church and while similar, the persecution that catholics suffer and the one protestants go through have their differences) *

"Look at her, she is a conservative, extremist, conspirationist, intolerant, anti-chinese, anti-russian, religious fanatic Bolsonaro supporter! Shame on you, monkey bitch! Come back to the favela where you belong!"

(Yeah most people were being hypocrites just projecting their own prejudices on her and using it as an excuse to perpetuate them without not even looking for further information to confirm if the allegations were real. According to some of these people twisted logic, it's only wrong when Samara "does" it, but they can go do the "same", or "worst", to her)(And she didn't even do anything, which just makes these people look even more stupid than they were before, if that's even possible)

People, make it make sense! Some things are just thrown in the accusations out of nowhere. Stop hating on a black latina girl for no reason(and somehow the racist xenophobic is her)(and before anyone says I'm "pulling the race card", if the accusations were proven to be true, then people would be right for calling her out on her mistakes regardless of her skin color, but as her fans and members of her family already explained the situation I don't see any other reason to hate on her besides prejudice. Her mom is right:She did nothing wrong. She does not have an issue. She is not problematic. Accept and get over it.)(It's okay if you don't like someone but at least be respectful about it, just ignore their content and leave them alone, it's more simple than it looks like). Just because Samara was complimented directly and individually about her dance, charisma and stage presence by Kim Chaewon of Le Sserafim herself, danced with Huening Kai of TXT(by the time the only girl that met another member of hybe that wasn't le sserafim) and was the third most voted as "girl you want the most in the group with you" with 9 votes by the other contestants(lost to Sophia with 14 votes and Daniela with 12 votes), it doesn't mean her popularity was a threat to your fave. I mean, it kinda did, but spreading rumors and fake news based on invented lies about her is a real low blow, people should have focused more on their faves instead. People didn't even searched for the traduction of the videos and made assumptions based on nothing. So It's sad Samara didn't get to debut because people couldn't understand portuguese and imagined things.

Hybe clearly did with her the same thing they did to Garam:Tried to poorly clean her image as much as they could until they could kick her out. Because even if the girls are not wrong, they can't have a member who had any kind of polemics before, even after their reputation is cleaned. That's shown in Hybe releases after that:They posted a video that Samara and Lara were hugging and Lara seemingly whispered "I love you" to her:

https://youtube.com/shorts/b9xl67OR_OA?si=qPzW21RZSpFZnloY

And they partnered Samara with Ezrela in mission 3(they carried team wannabe together) which seemed to make them become closer because before that they didn't have much interactions and after it they even spent thanksgiving together after the show was over:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0Chj-tOydx/?igsh=MXFtZzYwdGpvNDVvdQ==

Samara also said that about Ezrela in the same interview Sophia said the phrase above about Samara:

(And they were also seemed very close at the live chat before the finale but people swear Samara has something agaisnt indians and Ezrela dislikes her, unbeliavable)

https://youtu.be/YSDZfOD4JnY?si=l81La_tg40keuNPD

So any of the girls showed any dislike for one another. Maybe some girls weren't that intimate, because there were 20 girls people, of course you're going to be closer to some of them more than the others, but all of them never showed anything but respect and admiration for one another.

Samara had good votes. (Even if the whole world against us we still gave Sami good numbers, that's how powerful we are hahaha)

As you saw, she surpassed both Megan and Ezrela in number of votes, and Manon won her in early voting, but Samara had more live voting. She didn't got in because of the judges that gave Manon a higher score as you can see:

I fully believe they had the lineup ready before the finale. Most reality shows usually do. I watch them already having that in my mindset. Or do you think it was a coincidence to have three girls from each team(Girls Don't Like Girls and Dirty Water) debut and Samara and Manon being on the same one? Hybe wanted to fool the brazilian audience until the very last second, because they know the engagement we have and how dedicated we are as a public(the meme "Brazil Mentioned" is real ppl)(Brazil has the best memes lolol)(Look at Vincent Martella:He was with 385 thousand followers on Instagram, a photo of him with a shirt with "I'm famous in Brasil" viralized an brazilians made him have currently 5,6 million followers, surpassing Tyler James Williams, who is not very fondly of Brazil and Brazil is not very fond of him either because Everybody Hates Chris is a classic in Brazil. In Brazil, everyone watched it. And the minority that didn't, they at least know about it's cultural impact on Brazil. So Tyler is considered ungrateful in Brazil for not liking that we love the series so much according to brazilians. And Vincent actually showed love for Brazil and what happened, happened. That's the power of Brazil).They wanted to fool their whole audience actually, going all like "Which black one we'll pick, 'cause y'all know she's here just so people don't accuse us as racists, because even if they were untalented we would get one of them because of their skin color, but two is already too much". Sadly that is how the world works people. We gotta get used to deal with it for now and fight so it can change in the future. Although it didn't work that much, since most latinos were accusing Hybe of xenophobia against them ever since Celeste's elimination, what only grew even stronger after Samara's elimination(proving once again my point about latinos non-acceptance of Daniela as a latina. For most latinos, Daniela represents the US and the US only).

(People try to force Gisele Bündchen, the one and only ubermodel, one category above super model, which as a category created for her, the woman who was the highest paid model for 15 years, as a german or a french woman; people try to force that Pelé isn't the football eternal king and pioneer that changed the sport forever and made it what it is today when he is the only player that has three world cups having the same amount or more world cups than some countries out there; people try to force Adriana Lima as old and ugly just because she is aging just like everyone else because she is a human being and still look gorgeus, just older; and I could go on all day. People really hate it when brazilians are the best/good on something. Sorry but we are the fifth biggest country in the world, we have a big population, great athletes and artists, and that is not changing)(Every country has something good and bad about themselves and we shouldn't debunk or belittle them but aknowledge their good and bad points in a respectful and honest way)

I mean, as someone who watched a lot of reality shows, I know there is always the insanely talent and popular girl that doesn't debut because "superior forces" don't want her there. Kaeun and Chowon from Produce 48, Chanelle from R U Next, Kawaguchi Yurina from Girls Planet, Bae Haram from Universe Ticket and now Samara from Dream Academy makes it to the list.

Brazil was the one that made the prettiest edits on Weverse and the posts about Samara were overall the ones with the most likes on Instagram during the show(Sophia's posts were the most liked overall on youtube). Dream Academy lost followers on Insta when they eliminated Celeste and lost even more when they eliminated Samara, that is the real latina power right there. We perpetuated the SoLaSa term invented by the filipinos, which makes an allusion to the word "star" (Sophia, Lara and Samara had THE CHEMESTRY, it's sad they didn't got to debut together) which was a voting strategy to help Samara because most brazilian fans voted for all the girls in team wannabe, which made Ezrela and Emily surpass Samara in mission 3 rankings, Ezrela staying in 4, Emily staying in 7 and Samara in 8. Ezrela and Emily were already quite popular so with the help of brazilians they surpassed Samara and as Ua's performance in Wannabe was not her best one, she got eliminated. So basically the strategy was:Sophia and Lara are going to end on top 2 anyway, so let's vote for them and Samara to try to get Samara in third. Voting for these three would stop lower ranking girls to surpass Samara. Some Manon fans tried to force SoLaMa (which is funny because it looks like the portuguese phrase "só lama" which means "just mud" and like, we know they meant Manon but it was poorly elaborated and executed because "Ma" can also stand for Marquise).

Of course, I don't hate Manon. I am happy for her and all the girls because they all deserve it. However, in terms of talent Samara was one of the most talented ones, definitely an all-rounder. She gave a better performance than Manon in all performances(specially Dirty Water). Manon is great, Samara is just better. And all of the girls are talented, some girls are just more talented than others, like Sophia and Lara, which is normal. As someone who is in both fandoms, I can say Samara is a better dancer and BY FAR a better vocalist than Manon. So I believe she would have been chosen instead of Manon if it weren't for the controversy because she is a better performer than Manon and did better on the performances that were being judged. Of course I wanted her to debut and I would switch Manon for Samara if I could. Or also keep Manon and switch Daniela for Samara because we would actually have proper unarguable latin america representation and the US would still have Lara and Megan to represent them(but of course they needed a contestant who was just american and half of the group representing the US, half of them representing Asia and one of them representing Europe, how global is that again? Lolol I'm just kidding, take it as a joke people). Anyway, I believe everything happens for a reason. If the girls who are there debuted, that it's because that how it's supposed to be. I am not bitter/salty about it because the other girlies are doing good and the lineup is solid, so I will keep following the other girls on their separate paths because hating on the group or on any girl won't change anything and I hope all the girls are successful on their journeys.

8. Ezrela:

Seeing her and the other contestants smile through the pain was so hurtful. I wish them all the best and a bright future! Hybe needed people of color politically. For the black girl, I do think they were leaning towards Samara at first, but then switched to Manon after the controversy. Before the live finale, Samara always ranked higher than Manon, so it was a no-brainer to figure it out. However, Lara was the indian girl from the start. And I think Ezrela was aware of that. Lara also always ranked higher than her and Ezrela was smiling so much at the finale after being eliminated. Like, I know she is the kind of person with a positive attitude, but Samara and Emily cried and while Marquise didn't cry, she seemed less happy than Ezrela. I admire Ezrela a lot. She is just a fortress, she was just so strong. She was conforting Emily with a smile on her face, Ezrela you're going places! Marquise also conforted Samara when Sami was giving her speech, but in a more discreet way than Ezrela but kudos for both of them for their strength. I would switch Daniela for Ezrela if I could. They are both aces, I just like Ezrela a little bit more. And Ezrela offers Australia/Oceania representation so if they switched Manon for Samara and Daniela for Ezrela, the group would be more global. But again, the lineup we have is not bad. Ezrela said she was the artist that she wanted to be. She seemed fulfilled for everything she learned and proud of Lara and the other girls. She is so mature, I love her and I know she'll make it big.

9. Emily:

Our Main Dancer! One of the girls with the best visuals! I feel like the show tried everything to make her stand out. Putting her with popular contestants on mission 2(Sophia, Lara and Yoonchae) so she could automatocally pass forward with her group without needing to rely on votes like Samara, Megan and other girls did, on mission 3 putting her with a not so popular member(Ua) and a member with a unfairly stained reputation(Samara) so Emily could be benefited once again. Of course, nothing of this is her fault, but she is an american girl that fits basically all of the US beauty stands after all. Because of that, they tried to push her until the last minute but her popularity didn't play in their favor. Don't get me wrong, I love Emily, but I'm not the only one saying this. A lot of people also concluded the same as me. The only thing Emily was kind of lacking was vocals. Her vocals aren't bad, they just could be better. I can see her being very successful as a choreographer, a dancer or even a member for another group. The sky is the limit for her!

10. Marquise:

I didn't know Marquise that much tbh. She didn't stand out to me. What I knew is that she was close with Sophia, Samara, etc. For me, she has always been "the thai girl with red hair". I do find her pretty but back then her skills were outshined by the other girls for me. I do think she was helped in mission 3 when the judges chose to keep her instead of Celeste, who ranked higher. Celeste ended up in 6 and her in 10. Nayoung ranked 3 but allegedly wanted to be a soloist so they had to keep Yoonchae, who ranked 12 because they needed a korean, Ua was 13/last place so she would be eliminated anyway. So the judges eliminated Celeste because according to them Marquise's performance was better, which I do not agree. Yes, I wanted Celeste to participate on the live chat with the girls and see her at the finale doing All The Same(she would look good in both Dirty Water and Girls Don't Like Girls) but at the same time, it was clear that both Celeste and Marquise weren't a want in this group. Both were being used to attract public from Argentina and Thailand, so at the end of the day, whoever they decided to keep for the finale, it wouldn't make a difference.

[milfbro]

reading Orientalism by Edward Said is very enlightening on one hand, specially with finding out the root of certain texts in the study of orientalism like there were not that many books on the subject in the 1700s and they can basically all be traced back to one guy etc

but also so frustrating because despite the fact that orientalism doesnt exist as a field of study anymore it's tropes remain, AND! That orientalism has changed in the last 30 years. It's morphed again. We no longer view the orient as a place detached from the world of material politics where the struggle is mainly religious in nature, we (including my country in the west because latam is in the sphere of US influence) view the 'orient' as a military might, an evil satanic enemy that needs to be materially destroyed to death. This is the ghost of Muhammed back to haunt the USA in the figure of Bin Laden, Saddam, Gaddafi, Bashar, the Ayatollah, and in ISIS, Hamas, Al Qaeda, Taliban... It's ALL tropes dating back to pre 18th century Europe when they found out that muslims were not all inherently satanic heretics and false christian prophets (but just 'chose' to be, because Europe cannot get over itself. Actually in the intro he mentions that this insistance of superiority over the rest of the world may be the single trait that actually defines Europe as an identity which is funny af thank you Said).

We no longer view the Orient in proximity to the West but as a boogeyman with their Evil Immoral religion, that is literally just stuff christians are making up and projecting onto them, to justify the very mundane invasion and destruction of their people and culture

It's interesting how the 'West' has a pendulum that goes from 'the orient is satanic' to 'the orient is a bunch of poor passive people that need our guidance and our dictatorships to thrive' and never seems to operate outside of this binary because they either need to justify war or justify attempts at beaurocratic domination. Never just give the East the right of self determination that they keep saying countries are supposed to have.

Anyway I haven't finished the book so who knows maybe he does mentions this in the end. He was alive for 9/11 after all

EDIT: also the idea of viewing the middle east as just the birthplace of christianity and talking about it rhetorically just as a place in the past was almost obliterated from the rhetoric. They use it to justify war, sure, but the rhetoric is about the current political enemy and not the east as an idealized past. Also the idea that India has anything to do with Europe's distant past (with sanskrit) is absolutely Gone from the rhetoric. Isn't that interesting

[macaroni-rascal]

I was too tired yesterday to do a recap but then again, I have so. many. thoughts., so let's do this.

I didn't watch the jr men free, I bailed as soon as I heard Michael Buble. I like Adam Hagara the most of this batch of boys, something about his fundamentals gives me hope that he can only go up from here. The rest will probably get lost in their nations' deep fields, which is a shame.

The jr women were a veritable jewelry box full of the most precious gems and I can't wait to see them sparkle over the next decade or so. They were hands down the highlight of the weekend for me. And overall they had age-appropriate material, which I really appreciated.

The jr dance FD event was way messier than the RD and far less inspired. Kiliakov Jr. is a very good skater but his parental units belong in jail for this Duchesnay knockoff, I've only ever heard that stupid flute against my will. The winning Americans moved and skated really well, but it was to the melody and not the beat, which defeats the whole purpose of ice dance. Another egregious example of this elsewhere is Gauthier/Thieren's Woodkid. Nevertheless, it was nice to see skaters from different schools all do so well and have good basics. Btw, who knew the Canadian jr field was held together only by the strength of Noah's knee ligaments? Poor kid, I hope he can recover because Jordyn is so phenomenal.

Ava and Yohnatan are such diamonds, their skating makes me so happy and I hope they have a smooth transition into senior in a few years. Jaz and Kiki have amazing chemistry, but Oakville has been sending out these jr pairs that lack half the elements and it's been so nerve-wracking to watch. Idk, maybe send them to Milton a couple of times a week to get jumps? Also, ouch, what a rough skate for the little Flores sis, it all looked so painful. But omfg, the Georgians. I didn't think anything could be worse than their short, but I've seen their FS and their exhibition now and all I can say is WTF. Russia will round up its gay people but then send skaters out with the gayest programs imaginable with sense of zero irony. She can sort of pull off the theatrical dress but his outfit would blend in nicely behind a set of prison bars, which is where it belongs. That silly collar will haunt my dreams. And the little tiara? What if she flies head-first into the boards? Truly no sense of self-preservation whatsoever. Just a hot mess. And their ridiculous exhibition really took me out. Why was she dressed as an elf card dealer and why were her boobs around her neck? Did we really need to see this boy in his unmentionables? So many choices, so little sense. I loathe a gimmicky exhibition or program in general - if you're not H/B or Kurt or somebody like that, stay home.

Speaking of the exhibitions, I didn't bother with most of them, but the only ones who were able to pull off being playful without being cringe were Sara and Niccolo. G/F's exhibition looks like something C/B would do as a competitive program. And if I hadn't cancelled G/P already over their other material, this country-ass Woody and Bo Peep exhibition would've been it for me. But this is the same team that skated to Evita during an economic downturn when Paul comes from LatAm colonial money, so my expectations of them are so low as to be subterranean. And Ilia tripping on that stupid hat tells me that he needs to learn the first rule of ice dance: NO HATS!!! None - no elaborate headgear, no easily detachable hair accessories, no hair pieces heavier than the skater's head, nothing! Rules #2 and #3 are, naturally, keep your ass off the ice and don't mess up the twizzles. That's it. You'd think there'd be more to it than that, but no. A skater might think they're being innovative by putting excessive shit in their hair, but they're actually being dumb (as an example, watch Bobrova/Solovyev's OD in Vancouver and how their sailor hats kept sliding into their eyeballs). Btw, Ted saying that Kevin had an uncharacteristic meltdown in the free had me cackling - Theodore, that was exactly on-brand for Kevin, where the hell have you been? If anything, his recent consistency has been the anomaly. Smfh.

I guess the senior events will have to be a separate message lol.

I'm going to take your word on all of this, Fashionista Nonny, because I didn't watch any of the juniors, and I rarely, if ever, watch any of the gala. So I am going to defer to you and just say I agree with you across the board because I trust you implicitly.

[officialtayley]

(long rant alert) next year is just terrible. honestly can't believe that second year of promoting the album (mind you and it's not just another album but literally first one in 6 years????) is supporting swift on 50 fucking shows, and doing a random festival in us, and 3 more festivals in latam/mexico. like no headlining shows at all then? cuz i guess if there were for the first half of the year before eras it would have been already announced, and after that i guess the whole september/october will be for resting. maybe a lil fall tour but again probably in the u.s. in the places they had already been. fucking mess. i just REALLY really hate that they do this supporting for taylor. i mean it's cool they are friends, but i really doubt it would be any siginifically change their careers/popularity. no need to do 50 shows - someone on reddit counted that their own TIW headlining tour is just 49 in total... anyways most ppl dgaf about openers, at best some ppl will just respect them (i mean no talking during their set etc.) but very few will actually go back to their music esp after taylor's 3 hours set... they haven't been in mainland europe since 2017, some places even since 2013 (and i'm talking about almost 60mil population's italy or almost 40mi's poland). asia got nothing. mexico got 0 headlining shows. even fucking perth or adelaide did not get anything which sucks for aussie fans who can't afford travelling whole country). also they toured a lot during s/t tour, then al they did fine ik they skipped latam but there were personal (and maybe financial) circumstances leading to this decision, but now there are no excuses?? does it have anything to do with their contract expiring after aus/nz tour as hayley hinted? do they have any problems with booking headlining shows without label? i just can't find any reasons for that

i don't think not having a label would be an issue because it's not like their team will be leaving them (other than their label team) and also they're one of the biggest bands yknow? its only much smaller artists that tend to have more issues with that stuff. they'd easily be able to book headlining shows and these other shows were already planned anyway. i don't really know what they're doing with touring and it frustrates me too for several reasons, but i can imagine their contract ending would be the reason because they really don't have to try so hard to sell themselves to book shows plus they have a booking agent, they're with UTA and CAA. so who even knows

[flourescencia]

Anthony Bourdain having visited both Nicaragua and Panamá but not Costa Rica is heartbreak and tragedy for me specifically :-(

[statementlou]

why do you reckon the fitf tour north american venues are so much smaller than the european ones? ive noticed louis is playing in a lot of non-major cities (what he called “secondary markets”) so that’s part of the reason but even in the major cities like la and nyc he’s playing much smaller venues than the europe ones. do you think this was a deliberate choice? or maybe he couldn’t book bigger ones bc promoters didn’t think he could sell them?

LTHQ are absolute masters of data mining;* all the pre-Walls promo was clever little things that required us to give our locations to access it and let them see where engagement was and in what numbers and plan accordingly. So while Louis has himself said, I want to go to secondary markets because they don't always get people coming there, and there is likely an element of trying to fill in gaps from last tour a bit, some of the reason for those locations could be that they know something we don't- IE that there are people there who want a show! I assume they're still using those metrics and gathering new ones and booking him in the right size venues for whichever locations (last time they ended up being a bit small for a lot of US shows but the delays caused by the pandemic changed things a lot I think, I'm guessing they did their best with all the weird shuffling); you'll also want to take into account the fact that they will almost certainly be announcing more dates after they sell the first round of tickets tomorrow- I bet we'll get those pretty soon, like second nights in various locations. And there are a lot of US shows that are closer together than a lot of places; like in LATAM (and Europe) he'll play one show per COUNTRY you know, and here in the US they're driving casually from one to the next because they're denser (like Cincinnati and Cleveland are just a few hours drive apart). So that's one reason for smaller venues. But also, it's an outdoor arena tour! (So fun!) So I'm thinking size is perhaps not the only factor in the choices. I bet one of these cool outdoor arenas is the mysterious US venue he already has his eye on for the year after next's AFHF.... Anyway I didn't look at capacity everywhere or anything though but at least near me he is playing venues 3 to 4 times bigger than he did on Walls tour, so while they may be smaller than Europe if you're right- they are not small. Anyway while we're on the topic, did everyone see how today on the Rolling Stone stream when they said he was touring until Nov Louis looked straight into the camera and smirked and said "if that is the end"? Lmao. Anyway we should be getting the rest of the world dates soon, maybe some for before the US dates, probably some in the empty month (August) between US and Europe, and I guess definitely more after the UK too! When he said that, I was wondering if he'd do the same thing as Walls tour and go from smallest to biggest shows, starting with the US and ending with LATAM, but I guess we will see soon enough...

(*real data mining that is not stalking or whatever some people seem to think data mining is)

[kaimaciel]

hi i'm just curious do you think that Portugal is related to others country than spain i mean if you count rome relationship with Portugal as an adoption (even if the relationship was estranged does it make the romance countries as a family (the italien brother of course but also France (and maybe romania) and there andorra i headcanon spain and andorra sibling like Monaco and France but i don't know for andorra and Portugal (there also Al-andalus ) and there his kids from the communityof portuguese language country ( adopted or not idk but seem to be a chaotic but lovely bunch either way) (and azores and madeira) or do you see Portugal family three as just iberia, spain and the lussophone country ? (And maybe rome) (btw is Uruguay his favorite nephew ?) (Sorry if it's too long i was curious about his family three and ended up rambling)

I think countries' blood ties don't work like humans, they are related by culture and love rather than blood.

The Romance family is a family through the Roman Empire, but they are not all brothers. I like to think Portugal and Spain are brothers, and the Italian brothers are more like distant cousins, same with France and Romania.

Andorra I wouldn't say is Portugal's brother, but it's definitely related to Spain.

Al-Andalus I hc as a foster father of the Iberian brothers.

The rest of the Lusophone countries, they are all brothers and sisters to each other, but not all of them are Port's kids, namely the older ones like Angola and Mozambique, they are adopted family. Macau is an adopted son since he was given by China and then returned.

I think Port considers the Hispanics from the LatAm his nephews, though he's not very close to most of them since he doesn't know them very well. His favorite is Uruguay, who actually got to live with him and Brazil, with Argentina and Venezuela as a close second.

[villainsandvictimsalliance]

encanto opinions? please do share👀👀

Okay, let's see.

Not so good things first :

I didn't like the Latam version, being honest. The songs were off, and so were the voices. Which is a shame because I thought the latine version would be better since... You know... The characters are from Latam after all.

The soundtrack was good, but it was not what I was expecting. Maybe because I had heard it too much on social media before watching the movie, so it kinda felt a little more flat than expected. Except from some songs that are masterpieces by themselves.

Some changes were a little sudden. That's something I was already expecting, because most Disney movies are that way.

The story was rather basic. I don't mean it in a terrible way, but in terms of it being simple and yet functional, necessary to our world.

And I could argue that it was kinda basic in terms of characters too. The conflicts were more by opposition, a good move often used in children media because you don't want to make it over complicated sometimes. Still, I'd have love to see them getting more complex.

It's gonna be totally weird seeing people trying to grasp the way Latines talk. You see, I don't know much about the common Spaninglish (Spanish x English) people around USA speak, but people down here speaks very differently. In fact, some young people even invert the common Spaninglish. We could speak a whole phrase in Spanish and then add a "bro" or "man". We steal English words and terms and we use them in the middle of Spanish phrases. So yeah... It's gonna take a while to get used to it.

Good things now:

The designs were beautiful. The whole concept of the characters and the world, it was pretty accurate. I love the diversity of shapes in the characters.

I also loved the different dynamics and personalities. It really captured part of the way things are around Latam. It was easy to relate with the gestures and habits of each character, and I even cried watching the end because I miss my grandma so much. It was great.

I really like how there are not villains, except for the people who killed Pedro. You all can do your own research on the topic, but violence in Colombia is a heavy thing. The story was very touching, and I cried watching it because sadly, in Latam we all known or have lived through the type of corruption and violence that marks a family for the rest of their lives. It could have been our grandparents, or some friends of the family, or some relative who went to live on another country around here... Even if it's only the news, we know about it.

Ah, it was so funny to listen to Carlos Vives! I love that they played the original songs in Spanish. And Dos Orugitas totally wrecked me. I know also a few cases of good men dying in hands of violent groups, so let's say I cried for them too. For the families left behind and the mothers who didn't have the luxury of breaking down.

It's funny because the size of the Madrigals is nothing compared to most families in Latam. It is a mess to try and remember every relationship and many times relationships are super complicated, so watching the kids complaining was super fun too.

Because most representations of Latam families abroad focus on things like drugs and every bad stereotype, it feels good to finally have a South American representation speaking about other things. One of my favorite things was Bruno's superstitious behavior. We do the things he does all the time! People on Latam are heavily superstitious, and it's not rare at all that the families twist a story to make it more spooky like Camilo did. Many people in Latam are storytellers by nature.

The best part of the story is who it speaks about family reconciliation. Communication is a heavy problem for families in Latam. There are many taboos, many ways you should behave if you want to be accepted by your family, and it is mostly driven by the tradition of the grandparents and the parents who follow them. It's totally common that younger people and kids try and fix the cracks of the family by openly choosing confrontation instead of keeping the head low, not muttering a word. If everyone could agree to communicate and change, things would be easier.

The comedy was on point. So we're the dramatic moments. And there were so many details, so many micro gestures and ways of treating your family and traditions about parties or even the town. This movie is really about the roots, the basics, the tiny things making a whole.

Encanto is a 8/10 for me. I'll laughed my ass off every time I heard Maluma on the screen. I cried too in the end. So it was a good movie.

[estrel]

Honestly maybe the spanish dubbers saw how the rest of the season plays out and just thought "okay, if we change one single line we can tie up about half of these loose plot threads and make a more coherent story" and that would be valid of them to do that. Latam hellers confirmed

pfffsdfhsd i wish, because that’d be an absolute power move. however, i think it had more to do with them getting an earlier version of the script. i’m interested to see the dubs from other countries and also the future episodes 15x19 and 15x20, though..... We’ll See

[noircartoons]

god, reading 'bout culture from the rest of latam for some character hcs and everytime i see someone go "what's some good/bad rep from your country?" "dunno, dont even know any fictional character from here" i feel the need to make this character from this country. hell, this is why i pulled an atla on ella&jayden and made the rubberhose characters and city all be this mix from the countries over latam. the characters speaking spanish and portuguese, even having different spanish accents, the backgrounds being an harmonic blend from towns on several countries, the slangs and foods and music and dances being blended as well...it ends up making them vague, but it's not only because it fits the rubberhose format, but lets everyone see themselves a bit. maybe people from argentina can see some food they eat a lot in the backgroung, maybe some people from cuba can spot aspects of their city in the bg, maybe people from venezuela can reconize a drink, maybe people from brasil can reconize a dance, maybe people from colombia can reconize a slang. and it's not much, but it's something. it feels nice to see things people usually don't point out about your culture on a cartoon, it feels nice to feel seen for once. i know how much this would mean to me, to watch a cartoon and see myself in the way they speak, to see a friend in the way they dress, to see a family member in the way they cook and what they cook, to see my home in the streets they walk so casually. and i hope it can mean just as much to all the latines watching the cartoon, who i hope feel appreciated when their culture is shown with so much beauty and care and love, who i hope feel seen when they see their day to day lives shown for once in animation, and who i hope watch this cartoon and see it as a love letter. because that is what it is, a love letter to all of the cultures in this beautiful continent, a love letter that says "i see you, and i will make everyone see you as well".