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speckledfiction · 7 months ago

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BG3 Modern Music Taste Headcanons

I've seen a few iterations of this post going around, and I thought they were all very cool, but none of them quite approached it the way I would, so I thought I'd give it a try myself.

Astarion - So, if Astarion has been a vampire luring people out for his master for two hundred years, he's been listening to the equivalent of club music that whole time. I bet he's got some very weird nostalgia picks, stuff that hasn't really passed the test of time well enough to be generally remembered, but that he listened to two hundred times in 1923 or whatever. He seems like he's got really diverse taste, but actually it's just that he lived through all of it. Like I want you to go to this page and click the sample and imagine that Astarion cannot resist gently bopping his head along to it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downhearted_Blues

He also knows all the contemporary club hits, and has Extremely Strong Opinions on them. And then he'll pull out one you really wouldn't expect him to like (say, Kids by MGMT) and say "You know, I came around on that after the 50th time I heard it". Given his age you'd expect him to like classical music, but he hates most of it because Cazador likes it. On the other hand he does really enjoy a bit of smooth jazz. I think he probably likes a lot of opera, partially from living through it and partially because there's no way Astarion doesn't like the most melodramatic music form ever invented. And he must have strong musical theatre opinions too. I bet he likes Sondheim, especially Sweeney Todd and Company, and I bet he says he hates Andrew Lloyd Webber but if you check his music app he's listened to Evita an astonishing amount of times.

Surprising pick: Faithless - Insomnia. I think he'd like dance music that you can really get lost in, because the dissociation (positive) would be appealing.

Wyll- I think Wyll and Astarion probably share a lot of jazz taste, since that was what Ulder liked to play around the house, and Wyll's taste is extremely shaped by his dad. Davis, Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, etc. At some point after he finds out Astarion's a vampire Astarion can admit he's seen them all live, and Wyll will be insanely jealous.

I suspect Wyll enjoys headier rap/RnB - Kendrick Lamar, Tyler the Creator, Frank Ocean, JPEGMAFIA, MF DOOM, etc. I think he might be a little bit shy about stuff that's too overtly sexual, but maybe I'm being unfair. I feel like he might like Lil Nas X also, but I could be persuaded either way on that.

And then I bet he likes a lot of indie folk and rock that's heavy on feelings. Your Sufjan Stevenses, your Laura Marlings', your Hoziers' quite possibly. (And I'm sure contemporary Wyll would think Morrissey is a dickhead, but I bet he still sings along when "There is a light that never goes out" comes on the radio or his shuffle playlist.)

Surprising pick: Showtunes, and stuff like Singing in the Rain, movie musicals.

Gale - Accuse me of being mean if you must, but Gale is a videogame soundtrack man in my mind. Possibly even a vapourwave man. He strikes me as the type who likes to have instrumental music on when he's working, and likes it to be something familiar that almost becomes white noise, and I bet he loves a good lofi Zelda beats to study and relax to on youtube.

He and Wyll probably have some overlap in the indie rock feelings corner, though I bet Gale also likes a lot of classic rock, because one of the big musical influences in his life is Elminister, and you know Elminister is the most dad rock guy ever to live. So Gale's over here bopping his head to When the Levee Breaks and Sympathy for the Devil and tracks such as these. He might even like Rush. (It's okay Gale I still love you.)

Surprising pick: Gale is really into math rock, because he thinks the technical side of it is super cool.

Shadowheart - Shadowheart was raised in a cult that venerates loss and absence. There is zero way she was ever allowed to listen to music beyond Gregorian chants. And while she's still a Shar worshipper, she's fucking bought in on that. She's out here insisting that Deum Verum is the only real music.

Now, after she gets free of Shar, she's going to be reconsidering a lot of things, and also she's going to be a complete sponge, which means a lot of her music taste is going to be influenced by the others. So expect her to pick up indie folk from Wyll and Gale, dance music from Astarion, and so forth. Astarion is probably the person responsible for introducing her to Taylor Swift, in an offhand kind of way, and then Shadowheart is going to take that and run with it. She just is. I bet she ends up liking BTS, too. She's so definitely a kpop kind of girlie. And then when someone introduces her to anime (another thing forbidden by Shar) she's going to get really into jrock too. (She'll never like math rock, though, much to Gale's disappointment.)

I think once her musical tastes expand a bit and the algorithm figures out what to recommend her she also gets into Hayley Kiyoko and Rina Sawayama and Chapelle Roan and Japanese Breakfast.

Karlach - Karlach being into heavy metal is a predictable answer, but I don't know that it means it's the wrong one. Honestly my actual best guess is that what she ends up liking a lot is whatever her local scene's equivalent of punk/post-punk/heavy metal/straight-edge is. Basically whatever the local teens are playing in some grungy bar that's insanely loud and wallops you around the head with a ton of bass. She probably even played one of those basses.

Actually, really niche pick, but if there's a trad music scene in whatever contemporary city she lives in, I could see her being into that too. Karlach feels like someone who's very grounded in her community, and a lot of traditional music is about getting together and playing with others, so I think it would fit.

Now, Karlach hasn't really been able to listen to music in Avernus, so whatever her favourite tunes are, I bet they're ten years out of date. I think she probably has fun catching up with how things have changed once she's free.

She and Astarion might bond over enjoying dance music that you can feel in your bones, and she and Wyll might bond over him introducing her to the rap and RnB artists that he likes. Karlach doesn't pay any attention to the lyrics, alas, but she loves a bit of good flow. (And she does enjoy all the dirty bits, she's going to love contemporary female rappers. She will laugh at every dick joke.)

Oh and then secretly she loves to listen to music that makes her cry. Could be Taylor Swift, could be Sufjan Stevens, could be Andrew Lloyd Webber, could be something I'm not thinking of, but you know it's hidden away in a playlist she never shares with anyone. For when she needs a feelings jam.

Oh and for some reason I think Karlach is the number one Queen fan in the group. She just loves Freddie a whole lot.

Lae'zel - Githyanki society doesn't seem like it has a lot of room for fun, but it does have a whole lot of emphasis on "we're the best civilisation ever", so I bet Lae'zel has been raised on a lot of whatever Githyanki war marches and propaganda songs are. She tries to get the others to listen to it, but they just do not get it.

She is at first very scornful of non-Gith music, but the others will bring her round bit by bit. She probably likes math rock when Gale explains it to her, because she does actually appreciate things that are cleverer than she expected them to be, and I bet she finds a similar way into jazz and some classical music. She would be impressed by the cannons in the 1812 overture, you know?

If Karlach introduces her to heavy metal she'll definitely love that too, I think she'd really enjoy Rammstein and Gwar and bands that are all about on-stage spectacle.

I think my out there pick for Lae'zel is older singer-songwriters - I was thinking Johnny Cash, but Bruce Springsteen hits the same spot for me, and maybe even as far out as Leonard Cohen. But Cash for sure, she puts on his cover of Hurt and it speaks to her (she will never admit this to anyone).

This is very long and I haven't given as much thought to the non-core companions, so the others will have to wait for a part 2 if I ever get bored enough to do it.

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #astarion #astarion ancunin #gale of waterdeep #karlach cliffgate #karlach #gale #shadowheart #lae'zel #wyll ravengard #music headcanons

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imagine-a-sanctuary-like-this · 1 month ago

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Natlan's Disappointing Designs

So I, as many, have found Natlan a largely disappointing region, both in character designs and in overall aesthetic. The choice to step away from the fantasy-esque vibe of the previous regions is not new, Fontaine did quite a simialr thing, but it does feel much more jarring in Natlan. Fontaine's steam-punky, sure, but it's still got that 'historical' aesthetic that complements the setting. Natlan's designs, on the other hand, seem to me to be both externally more inconsistent with the rest of Teyvat (there's a big distance between steam engines and modern-looking biker get-ups), and internally inconsistent. The look of the settlements does not match the look of some of the characters, like where in the hells did Xilonen get that DJ board, and what's powering it? Similarly, where did Mavuika get the bike and the latex outfit, and where is the rest of that innovation? Certainly the rest of Natlan does not have access to it, since neither the society nor the NPC designs indicate anything that advanced. It could be flogiston-powered, it's probably meant to be interpreted so, but this isn't really reflected in the design. It just looks like... a normal motorcycle with a bit of fire slapped on. There's these weirdly modern pieces of tech sprinkled in an otherwise pretty medieval fantasy-like region, and to me it just doesn't feel right.

All this aside, and this is a matter of personal taste, this just doesn't match what liked in Genshin in the first place. The otherworldly feel appealed the most to me, and it's the reason I always liked Genshin more than HI3, it felt more captivating to my imagination to see Inazuma or Fontaine than it feels to see bikes and DJ set-ups.

I've seen some people express similar sentiments, and I'd like to muse on what Hoyo might even do at this point to fix the situation. Obviously, they can't re-work the entire region of Natlan. Still, I think at least to the character design issue there's a very simple solution: skins.

I think it would go a long way if Hoyo released something like a Mavuika skin that matches the world a little more, and gives different animations. Many have suggested that instead of a bike, Mavuika should've had a dragon, and I'm honestly surprised Hoyo did not go that route in the first place. And yeah, it'll still be disappointing whatever they do, but at least they could mitigate it a little. I, for one, would be overjoyed if we got a 5-star Mavuika skin that changes her outfit and swaps the bike for a dragon. That would also fix the fact that she uses the Herrscher of Reason's moveset, which I never liked anyway.

Of course this doesn't remove the rest of the issues, but if someone asked me a change I could pitch to the devs right now to make the character design situation better, this would probably be it. Like, sure, keep the strangely jarring original designs, but at least give us another option.

#thoughts #genshin impact #natlan #mavuika #pyro archon #genshin #hoyoverse #hoyo games

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amageish · 1 year ago

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Spider-Man 2 Post-Credit Spoilers

Time for some more signature Amageish overthinking!

Sooooooooooooo.

How about that Cindy Moon appearance, huh?

From this Gizmodo article, we do have a bit of insight into the decision to have her appear where they mention the challenge of making a Cindy unique to the GamerVerse specifically - though it's obvious they are keeping their cards close to their chest here as well.

io9: Along with giving Miles a promotion, you’ve introduced Cindy Moon, aka Silk, into your universe. Of all the Spider-heroes, I don’t think anyone was expecting her. What made her so appealing over someone like Eddie or Gwen Stacy? Arfmann: Cindy’s always been a really compelling character in the comics who, similar to [SM1's] Martin Li, hasn’t really gotten a ton of exposure outside of the immediate fanbase. There’s something really exciting about taking a character who we love, who not everybody’s had a chance to meet, and exposing her to a wider audience. Morris: I’m so excited to see what we do with Cindy. Arfmann: Exactly. That was the real drive with her, and figuring out who Insomniac’s Cindy Moon is a really exciting challenge. And we also have this interesting complication that [Cindy’s dad] Albert is dating [Miles’ mom] Rio, and we’re thrilled to explore how that creates a new iteration of this character that folks already love.

So this confirms that they will be changing stuff too! This is going to be a unique take on her, but they are also self-aware that this will be plenty of people's introduction to the character.

The main question on my mind is a pretty basic one: Does Cindy Moon need to be shoved into a bunker for 7-10 years in order to be recognizably Cindy Moon? Her father is already in the game, so we know the "parents are missing" story is probably off the table, but does she need to still spend all that time in isolation to be Cindy?

In the comics, her time in the bunker is credited in-text with being a source of so many of her defining character traits.

It is something that separates her experiences from Peter and the other Spider-heroes.

It's something that fills her with a drive to prove herself and is the experience that made her such a talented martial artist.

It informs her understanding of modern technology and the level of pop culture awareness she has - the former of which helped her develop her uniquely positive relationship with J Jonah Jameson.

And, lastly, the time she had in isolation is credited with causing her to develop her anxiety disorder and communication challenges.

So, with all that in mind, it feels like Cindy does have to be put into a bunker, right? As it's such a core part of her backstory?

Well, no. Maybe this will be a hot take, but I honestly don't think she does.

While I do think everything I've listed here is a key aspect of Cindy Moon as a character, I don't think they need to lock her in a vault for 7-10 years in order to explain why a Korean-American woman in New York city has anxiety or practices martial arts or feels a need to work twice as hard to have her accomplishments recognized. These are all very relatable experiences that do not require a fantastical superhero origin story to justify them.

Honestly, with how emotion-forward the Insomniac Spider-Man games are already, I think her being a woman who has had a depressive episode recently which she describes as having felt like being trapped would work just as well as literally having had her be trapped by a supervillain. I would not be surprised if the ability to tell a story about anxiety and depression was a factor in them selecting Cindy as the next playable character as well - the potential for a Silk game that incorporates actual mindfulness and grounding techniques into the gameplay is really high IMHO.

I also think that the final scene kind of supports the idea too? Cindy has no lines, but she does have a silent awkward wave. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but her introduction makes me think she already has social anxiety - so unless she's already been in the bunker and we'll get a story about how she escaped, then I think she will probably jut be getting powers and moving forward from there.

Anyway, that's a lot of thoughts brought about by like 5 seconds of Cindy waving. I'm just really eager to see where things go from here and am hoping we'll get a DLC trailer or a Silk expandalone announced sometimes soon...

(PS: Having Peter already be in a committed relationship with MJ and Miles, who is also already in a relationship with Hailey, being in a psuedo-sibling relationship with Cindy is an excellent way of desexualizing the Cindy + Spider-Men relationship. I have no fears about Insomniac stumbling on that particular hurdle.)

(I do, however, have fears that I will be seeing unironic speculation about pheromones in reddit threads for the next 2 years until whenever Spider-Man: Miles Morales 2 or Silk: Cindy Moon is announced... but that probably cannot be changed, unfortunately.)

#spider man 2 spoilers #cindy moon #silk

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eolewyn1010 · 2 months ago

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Downton Abbey Fashion 66 - evening dresses in 1924

Today is just a bunch of season 5 evening gowns that I couldn’t fit in anywhere else, five different characters and two anonymous models. Let’s go!

Starting back in with the fashion show’s Egyptomania. I hate the make-up on the model, but let’s ignore that and look at her dress. The skirt is all flowy fabric, although the structure of it makes me unsure whether there’s a layer of super long fringe over it. But the top? That’s beaded so heavily it might as well be armor. This thing is encrusted. I wouldn’t have minded a few spots of red to pop out between the gold, but I understand why they kept the palette limited. Honestly, the headdress almost comes off as… well, not unspectacular, but not as exotic and Out There as it should. It’s just, skull caps of pearls and with long dangly bits on the sides and back were well-established in the 1920s; this fits right into that trend.

And then there was this little number. Okay, I could only get a back shot of this, but it had me thinking that, if The Queen’s Gambit were playing in the 1920s, Beth Harmon would be all over this chessboard checker. And the glittering fabulousness of it.

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Lady Anstruther is a fashion choice I don’t understand, because her character is comprehensively described with the word “horny”, but they don’t make her look very appealing. That hairdo is not flattering, the make-up gives her a vaguely threatening appearance, the dress is so dull I can barely make out the embroidery, and that chiffon jacket that she wears over it with the ruffled? fur? collar feels weirdly anachronistic. I don’t think I’ve seen another see-through piece of clothing with such a dense collar around here. Honestly, the only thing about her that doesn’t look cheap is that necklace.

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In comes Rosamund to bring back style. She’s fallen for the same fashion dominated by black and brown velvet that’s shown up in Violet’s and Isobel’s evening dresses this season, and like the two of them, she has subtly shimmering golden embroidery on her dress. Pretty simple look otherwise, a V neckline, short sleeves, but I really like that jade jewelry set in the first shot.

So the necklace has a comeback! Not for a dramatically different dress, admittedly, but one on which it pops equally nicely. This one initially has no sleeves and the embroidery is much more modern; instead of big ornamental flowers, we have a net of clean geometrical lines webbing up to an art deco pattern. Funnily, this dress makes a comeback in season 6, and someone took the time between seasons to tack a couple cheap chiffon sleeves on it.

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Miss Bunting, five foot of zero manners, marches up in a dress that is honestly quite nice. I can’t quite tell if it’s black or dark blue velvet, but velvet it is, and I’m slightly surprised that she, a primary school teacher, can afford it. It’s quite possibly the most expensive piece of clothing she owns. And it’s got a drop waist sash that matches her headscarf, although she doesn’t knot her scarf in the charming way Edith usually does, plus some lovely golden feather embroidery. Someone write me a decent Communist character to wear this dress to a rich people party!

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This is a friend of Rose’s whose name I cannot remember; I only remember that Miss Bunting basically called her an idiot to her face because she said she’s no good at math. Such a beautiful dress though, intricately voided velvet in a copper-coral kind of shade, and the little diamond clasps on her shoulders make it even better. Add a bronze flower headband, puff up the curl buns, and she basically looks like Princess Leia in 1924.

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We’ll have some Mabel Lane Fox to close out, just because I enjoy the sheer amount of bitchface she exudes around Mary. Also, she wears this gold brocade beauty to a dinner when Mary wears a quite modern but quite plain black dress that I personally find boring. So Mabel is shining by contrast. She also has the better hairdo, but I should at least try to be objective. Blue drop beads jewelry, a sparkly headband, a V neckline – the look is simple, but effective.

The moment she’s set to eat dinner on the same table as Tony Gillingham, she opts for a softer, lighter color and classy diamond-silver jewelry instead of the darker, heavier beads. She easily manages what Lady Anstruther doesn’t: Look appealing in a feminine, non-threatening way, even though that isn’t necessarily in line with her temperament. The dress design is playing at a kind of turtle shell scales look, and it’s ton of beads so she can sparkle in the lamplight. I like the ornament on her headband.

#Downton Abbey #historical fashion #Downton Abbey's costume fund

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boysplanetrecaps · 1 year ago

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Build Up Episode 0: Getting to Know the Boys Part 4: Team Unique

Hey, friends! This is the fourth and final post in my “episode zero” series of my MNET’s Build Up recaps. I’m giving you some basic background info on each of the boys, including where you may have seen them before, the group they’re in normally if applicable, and my opinion/analysis of their teaser performance. In the previous post, I covered Team Power. This will wrap things up with Team Unique. Woot!

Kang Hayoon

Hayoon is 20, and before this, he went on LOUD and Kookmin Singer. He may have met Jung Soomin (the kid from Chicago) on the show Loud, and he may have met Kwon Euibin on Kookmin Singer.

He was V07, and his teaser song is One and Only by Adele. He has a genuinely unique singing style that doesn’t at all match the way he dresses and looks. It’s a very specific vocal color that might not appeal to everyone -- deliberately somewhat nasal, but in a controlled way. It sounds retro-modern, the way that a lot of Western artists sing these days. He’s obviously a genuine talent, but I can almost feel his throat closing up as he sings. He needs a bit of training to really use that amazing instrument he has. I hope he gets it, and that it doesn’t destroy his natural color.

Jeon Woong

Hair-stylist Unnies, what the fuck? Seriously.

Much better, thank you.

Woong is 26 years old, and was V11, performing Bad by Christopher. He sings the song almost exactly the way the original performer does, even down to the little purposeful vocal kicks. I would have liked to hear a bit more of his interpretation of the song instead of karaoke version. He uses falsetto to hit some of the high notes, but that’s ok, they’re very high notes and he sounds good. I like his singing in an instinctive way, but I’m not sure how well trained he is.

Woong is in AB6IX, a four member group (used to be five) from Brandnew music. Like CIX, this is post-Wanna One group; Daehwi, a former member of Wanna One, is the center and face of AB6IX. Woong, meanwhile, is the main vocal. AB6IX started off doing pretty well, but one of their members, Youngmin, had a DUI arrest and had to leave the group in disgrace. It hurt the group pretty badly, and they haven’t really bounced back. Hopefully, going on this show will draw some good attention to the group, who I’ve always liked but thus far haven’t stanned. The song of theirs that I like best (of the ones I’ve heard -- there are lot of kpop songs, you guys, I don’t always keep up) is Close.

And if you want to hear more of Woong’s voice, here’s his solo song, Moondance.

Sunyoul

Sunyoul is 27 and a member of Up10tion.

He has been on a few shows before this, including two reality shows devoted to trot, a uniquely Korean style of music, and a stint on King of Mask Singer in 2016 where he managed to convince everyone that he was a female trot singer. People were pretty surprised when they found out who he was! Seriously, check out his performance -- I don’t think I’d guess in a million years that this was a man.

For his teaser performance, he was V04, and did a song called Twenty Five Twenty One. He had some shaky moments, but showed his strong lower register and some serious vocal agility, moving from low to high notes almost effortlessly. I think he’s one to watch.

Let me talk briefly about Up10tion. They debuted as a 10 member group in 2015, and didn’t really catch the world on fire. Several members went on ProduceX101 and two members did well enough that they basically started solo careers afterward instead of really bringing the fame home to the group. (I’m not criticizing them -- that was mismanagement on the agency’s part, not their fault.) Three members have left the group, and two members went on Boys Planet (Hwanhee and Xiao). Several members have left the agency, including Hwanhee and Sunyoul, and the future of Up10tion is really dubious at this point.

Meanwhile, I’ve liked a few songs of Up10tion over the years, so it’s a bummer that they never really worked out. I think the first song of theirs that I liked was Blue Rose. Also, What if Love is great, especially the chorus, even if it sounds like they’re saying “ready for love” instead of “what if love”. In my opinion, a lot of Up10tion songs have weird intros and kind of mid verses and then awesome choruses held down by Hwanhee’s marquee vocals and Sunyoul’s sweet higher register. So if you listen to the first 30 seconds and you’re like “meh?” give the whole song a listen. Also, their song Spin Off was one of the best songs of 2021 and lives forever on my playlists. It’s one of those full-on kpop songs that isn’t really any genre, just sort of pop that makes you feel happy.

Wumuti

Wumuti is 24 and is from China, though he’s actually an ethnic Uyghur, a Turkic ethnic group that is an officially recognized ethnic minority in China. If you read my Boys Planet recaps, you know that I have a soft spot for him. He just wants this so bad. Plus, and I don’t want to bum you out too much, but the Uyghurs are facing some pretty serious problems, including forced sterilization and labor camps and it’s really really bad. So I can’t help but always cheer for Wumuti, you know?

He also seems like a really sweet, genuine, and hard working person. He seems pretty fluent in Korean and has been on all the Korean reality shows: Road to Star, The Dance & The Voice, Super Idol, Under Nineteen and Boys Planet. So this makes the third survival show in a row that Wumuti and Jay will be on together! (The other two were Under 19 and Boys Planet.)

Here’s one of my favorite Wumuti performances, gross lollipop aside. (He’s the one in the white hat.) Oh, now I miss Boys Planet!

Then there’s his cover of Antifragile, which he released shortly after getting kicked off Boys Planet.

Ok, as for his teaser song, he was V12, performing Seven by Jungkook. He sounds fine, though I wouldn’t say at all his voice belongs in Unique. I think I’d call it Allround -- I couldn’t promise that I’d know his voice just from hearing it the way I would with, say, Hwanhee or Jay. Also, the rapping is a little cringe, but TBH it’s cringe even in the original version of the song.

I think he was hoping to get people’s attention by singing a super popular song in English. His end game isn’t to make the top 4 of this show -- he wants to launch a solo career. I mean, that’s what I assume, anyway. I’m not sure if that will work out for him, but I hope it does.

Lee Gwangseok, aka, Lee Kwangseok

Gwangseok is kind of a question mark overall -- I know nothing about him, not even his age. We actually learn on the first episode that he has no training at all and works as a model (!). So he has never been on any other show and he’s definitely not in an existing group.

He’s V19 in the teaser song, showing off a unique, smokey, extremely thick kind of voice. I enjoy his performance, even though he’s singing a ballad, so that says a lot, though I know that some people may not personally like this distinctive style. I wouldn’t necessarily have guessed that he has no training. Maybe he just has good instincts, or maybe he had some light vocal training, like in high school chorus or something like that, because he can hit some fairly high notes in his chest voice. And some singers are charming without training -- Joni Mitchell comes to mind as someone like that. They sing the way they sing, and people can like it or not.

I’ll be really interested in see more of Gwangseok. I don’t know if he’s right for a vocal group based on harmonies, because his voice is so distinctive. However, he’s apparently quite handsome* and that combined with genuine vocal talent and his sort of self-effacing charm could give him a decent solo career.

*Those of you who regularly read my recaps know that I have no idea who is and who isn’t “handsome” or “pretty” in the kpop world. I often pick out the member who everyone thinks is the “ugly one” in a group and choose them as the one who’s best looking! So I have no idea. But the other guys on the show react in such a way as to indicate that he’s really handsome, and he works as a model, so I guess he’s handsome.

Hong Sungwon

He’s a musical actor, and that’s about all I know.

He was V21, doing Desperado by the Eagles. He sings it with a slight country twang, which is wild for a non-native speaker. (I assume he’s a non-native speaker? Maybe I’m wrong.) He has a rich, warm tone and impeccable pitch. I don’t love all his weird rhythmic choices in the song, but he’s trying to show that he’s fully singing live. It’s hard to critique a voice like this -- it’s just really good without necessarily really being all that unique. I like it a lot, don’t get me wrong. It’ll be nice to hear him sing more on this show.

Neon

He’s listed as a solo singer, but I can’t figure out much more about him. There’s another Korean singer in this world named Neon Bunny (check out her song It’s You, one of my all-time favorites -- she’s not a kpop singer, she’s an indie artist and the song is amazing) and another Kpop performer named Neon who is a band called About U, so it’s hard to find out info about this particular guy with the same/similar name. I do know that he’s 28 years old -- that’s about it!

He was V33, doing Rush Hour by Crush. He has clean, nice vocals -- not particular unique, despite his category. He’s just really nice to listen to. Good pitch, good breath control, good power, all the good stuff. In fact, I think I would have put him in the Power category. You can see him in his silhouette performance standing quite a distance from the microphone, still singing loud enough to be heard clearly. I’m looking forward to hearing more from him.

Kim Seohyung

Soehyung is a musical actor and has a similar singing style to Kim Seongjeong and Choi Haram. So it’s just not going to appeal to me, as much as I can respect his skill. His teaser song was V18, Me After You by Paul Kim. He did falter a little on one of the high notes, but I mean, it was just 90 seconds of singing one song, and mistakes happen. I think he belongs in the Power category, not the Unique category, but that’s just me.

A fan of his made this “Kim Seohyung cut” of episode 1 -- all 90 seconds that we got to see of him in episode one. MNET really doesn’t care much about Seohyung!

Lee Hwanhee

Hwanhee is from Up10tion, but you might recall him from Boys Planet as the guy who ended up on General Gunwook’s team for Kill this Love. (Performance) You might also remember that he had to withdraw from the show midway due to his health issues.

He is V38, performing Tomboy by G-Idle. He did the song justice, I thought, putting enough snap and sass into it. There were some backup prerecorded vocals that make it tough to tell how much he’s singing live. But I’ve heard enough of his vocals to know that he’s capable of some excellent singing.

I never got the sense that many of my 3-4 readers liked Hwanhee much, but I think he’s a really good vocalist. I like his distinctive, Baekhyun-esque vocal color, which adds nicely to Up10tion songs. However, he might be a tad outclassed by some of the other guys on this show, who have more training than he does. I think sometimes he wears out his voice and kind of runs out of steam while he sings.

I think I would have put him in the Power category, but maybe I don’t really understand what the categories are about.

Kwon Euibin

I can’t get over this official picture. Imagine being like, “Yes, this represents me. This is my brand. I’m going for that, like, pissed off substitute teacher vibe.” I mean. IDK.

He really likes beige sweaters over white shirts, I guess.

Ok, so Euibin is only 25 years old, and my scouting tells me he’s a trainee going for the idol life. He went on two other shows: The Idol Band: Boy's Battle and Kookmin Singer. On the latter show, he may have met Kang Hayoon, the one who sang the Adele song for his intro clip.

He was V35, another fecking ballad, but his voice was unexpectedly sweet and pretty compared to his serious countenance. He strained a little on some of the higher notes and the whole thing felt a little uneven, occasionally kind of shouty. It’s nice to listen to despite all that. I’m not quite sure what to make of him so far, so I’ll reserve judgment for now. But again, not sure he’s “unique.”

Taewoo

Taewoo is 26 and my sleuthing tells me he’s a songwriter who appeared on a few other shows I haven’t heard of, Sing Again 2 and Vocal Play 2.

He’s V28, Thought of You by John Park. I really like his voice. It’s slightly gravely, in a good way -- it has character. Finally, a unique singer who is actually unique. It’s hard to say how trained he is based on this clip but I know I want to hear more of him!

And that’s it! Gang, we did it. We made it through all 40! Now, I’ll move on to the recap at last.

See you then and there!

#bpr recaps build up #build up mnet #mnet build up #up10tion #lee hwanhee #wumuti #kwon euibin #kim seohyung #neon #hong sungwon #lee kwangseok #lee gwangseok #sunyoul #woong #Ab6ix #kang hayoon

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nono-bunny · 1 year ago

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I loooove how the magic festival and the wild hunt are both revisiting the ideas from Enchated Parade! It and the first movie are both brilliant and I personally never neglect to watch them alongside the series, but... Yeah, they sorta follow a different canon because LWA was never meant to get a full series initially, and even though I could've sworn they used to be on Netflix alongside the show, they aren't available there anymore. Despite being the originators, they seem to have become sorta harder to find, which really is a shame because of how great they are, but!! The series truly does a magnificent job at re-presenting the battle visuals, the red trio's friendship crisis, and in furthee developing the green trio-aside from Jasminka, my girl was ROBBED!! WHAT THE FUCK WAS UP WITH HER STOMACH DEMON??? She's still the best though and I love her a bunch

Anyway the wild hunt is such a cute episode, it's somehow always both surprising and makes complete sense that Akko is a complete nerd even in matters unrelated to Chariot.

Tbh I do really wish we got an episode focusing on Constanze and Croix, because even without this episode to hint at an unseen mentorship between those two they feel like a no-brainer duo I would've LOVED to see interact. Like, Constanze is literally ALL ABOUT modern magic, there's just no way she doesn't idolize Croix and that she in turn doesn't take her under her wing- Constanze is incredibly gifted in Croix' exact field, and I can so easily see a version of the story where Constanze becomes her unwitting apprentice, it would've been so interesting to see her coming to terms with what she helped with, and have Croix later repent by propely helping and teaching her!!!! I GET why it's important that Croix fools Akko, and like, girl, same, I get it, she's hot- but fr I can't help but feel that it's a shame that other characters aside from Diana weren't more integrated with the main plot, even when it would have made sense for them to be. As much as I love all of their individual focus episodes (again, everyone except for my girl Jasminka) I feel like there was also room for them to be a bit more involved.

LWA had so many great ideas, and even though it actually got a relatively big amount of episodes to flesh them out in for a modern original anime (ESPECIALLY for a shoujo) I kinda can't help but be a bit sad sometimes when thinking about it because? There was so much stuff left a bit open ended, and so many ideas and concepts that weren't ever explored to their fullest potential, and like? If there ever was a show that ended perfectly while still leaving plenty of room for a sequel, LWA is definitely it. Every time I come to Cavendish I get a little sad and apprehensive about keeping on watching, because I never want it to end, and to me that episode signifies the beginning of the end of the show, and like. Sure, it's been six years... But by god, an announcement for a new season of this show would NEVER feel too late or out of place.

LWA academia is like, the one shoujo I didn't even have to try to convince my guy friends to watch, because as soon as one of them found it, he loved it and soon after all of them were watching it... And they still love it to this day! Legit, everyone I ever knew who watched this show loved it, because it has such a broad appeal and so much charm, and!! Fr istg so many people would love to see another season, even those who maybe only ever watched it once ages ago, as well as all of those who haven't watched it yet and might give it a shot in the hype of a new season

#little witch academia

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egg-emperor · 1 year ago

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[Hefty sigh]

How does one get into sonic prime, I mean I adore where they're going for the story but I'm still struggling to get through s1 because the voice are just not clicking with me. Don't get me wrong here props to the Canadian VA's and the crew as a whole but the fact that I don't really vibe well with the chaos council as a concept [since they aren't really as menacing as the actual egg but I get what they're going for..... kinda.... ] This is like the one sonic media I can't personally click into, and I honest to God adored Underground/Boom so it's probably just a me-squick....

I have literally been a sonic fan since birth reading the comics so it's just tonal whiplash trying to get used to it- I'm lost in my own confusion that they already produced 3 seasons @_@;;; I just feel like I'm alone in feeling this or something idk I'm just merely screaming into the sonic-fandom wondering if anyone else felt this way hsbshbsshv ////

I'm just as clueless as you on that unfortunately lol. Respectfully I'm not a fan personally, I think the ideas had potential to be interesting if done right but I just don't find the execution appealing. I hate to say it and don't wanna be overly negative but I was honestly bored watching the first eight episodes, they were hard to get through and it was a bit of a letdown for me.

It feels underwhelming and repetitive because practically the same cycle of events happens each episode and it's not very interesting at that. I haven't watched any episodes past those, I watched nothing but the Eggman prismatic titan thing in the last batch and don't plan on watching the rest. I just decided it wasn't for me, not what I'm looking for in a Sonic show.

I'm sad I didn't end up liking it after being interested in where they could take it, especially with how much potential I feel New Yoke City had because it was conceptually right up my alley but execution is just not to my tastes and I've accepted it. I shouldn't be surprised as I'm not into most of the non game media ^^; I was just hoping for a modern show like X again

If they had more regular Eggman they could've changed my opinion a lot not gonna lie because the small 5 mins of him was great. Characterization was good, he was funny, his model and animation were gorgeous, voice was okayyy just needed some improvements, and I was interested in what he would've done with the prism had Sonic not shattered it and erased him from existence. When he practically died my interest went along with it sorry dhfjsbfksbfks

The Chaos Council just don't interest me personally because each are missing all the parts of Eggman combined that make him his lovable whole to me. And when you just want the real deal to still have his place like he seemed he was going to initially in the concept art, only for him to not be there at all, it's hard to get into it when you're thinking about what could've been. Also yeah they're just not menacing and don't bring the same exciting world shattering chaos and action the real deal does

And oh no they're really still only on the first season, eight episodes isn't a season. Netflix is just being weird about how they have it realized in batches and how it separates them but no way is eight episodes a whole season. They only had the first season made and released with huge gaps but maybe they'll order for a second one to be made.

But yeah you're not alone. It's very popular and I'm glad people can enjoy it but yeah it didn't click with me either and I can relate on feeling like the odd one out. But that makes two of us! and I do know others who just don't like it either and I don't think we should feel a pressure to try to get into it, if we don't like it and it's just not for us then it's fine

#asks #opinion #dr eggman #eggman #dr robotnik #dr. eggman #sonic prime #my post

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taiblogcomics · 1 year ago

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A Bright Start

Hey there, minigun fights. All right, I'd like to do a little experiment here. I'll get to the actual theme of this experiment when we finish! Let's just enjoy the ride 'til then, eh? So then! Well, we've reviewed one marketed-to-girls '80s cartoon-turned-comic series. Why not another one? No, not the one you're thinking of!

Here's the cover:

Yeah! Are you surprised? Did you even know there was a modern Rainbow Brite reboot? This is honestly a pretty good glow-up, transitioning the character from the cute cartoony style to a realistic one without actually losing any of the charm or what made it work. Really good! Love the shading, too! I think the dramatic lighting effects and the nostalgia factor will snag in the readers alone with this one. And the character design is appealing enough that it should hopefully draw in new readers! Hopefully… (This is foreshadowing.)

So we open with a fantasy novel being read. It's not even one of those "in media res" things that leads to a fake-out, you're blatantly shown the novel as it opens. It's your standard "Oh, the evil forces, including a dragon and a skeleton army, are attacking! Who can save the poor peasant people??" And then, of course, two heroes appear! It's Willow, the wizard, and Wisp, the warrior! Magic and melee! Swordfighter and spellcaster! Your classic duo! And as they begin to fight off the vast hordes of evil, Willow can hear her name being called.

See, turns out Willow and Wisp are a pair of kids in standard suburbia. I dunno who's naming their kids "Wisp", but she is a blonde-haired white girl, so it kind of tracks. Maybe it's short for Wispethany or Wispamantha. Anyway, it's Wisp outside yelling for Willow to come play pretend with her. Fittingly, it's wizards and warriors again, so this must be a mutual thing they're into. Willow yells back that it's called LARPing, and Wisp doesn't care, just come play. So Willow goes charging outside, after briefly being waylaid by her strict-seeming parents.

The two friends meet up, and Wisp gushes over Willow's newly finished wizard robe. Wisp also wants to make herself armour, noting she wants to actually learn to forge it. Okay, this kid is definitely cool. The pair head out in the woods to do their pretends, although they don't get too far into it before Wisp gets hungry. So they head back home, do more pretend, and it honestly takes me back to when I was a kid. Both solo and with myself or the neighbour kids, I played a lot of pretend. Eventually, though, it's time for Wisp to go home.

Wisp is dropped off at her house, and her mom is already asleep on the couch, having left a note and dinner for Wisp. Wisp even does her own dishes, brushes her teeth, and is just about to get ready for bed when she hears a noise outside. Despite the rain, Wisp fetches her wooden sword and heads out to see what's banging around. And what she finds is some bizarre, formless shadowy creatures. They've drained all the colour out of her mom's blue car. Undaunted, Wisp readies her blade. And then the creatures notice Wisp is also wearing blue…

They lunge for her, and Wisp slips from their grip and strikes one in the face. They're rather surprised that she's able to both see and hit her, so they begin a chase. Wisp slips off down the street, and while running, she encounters something even stranger than the formless beings. It's a little floating man or creature with white hair, a belt bag, and star-tipped antennae. He introduces himself as a sprite named Twinkle, and at least acknowledges that meeting a sprite is unusual for her. I'm more shocked Wisp can keep up as much conversation as she does while running for her life.

Twinkle gives a bit of an exposition dump that somehow also fails to convey anything: the Guardian of Blue was recently captured, so the King of Shadows has sent his minions to drain blue from anything they can. While it's not immediately useful, it might explain some things. Rather than ditch her shirt and run around topless--which might lead to a very different comic--Wisp asks if there's any other way to stop the minions. Twinkle suggests a bright enough source of white light might fizzle them out, and Wisp gets an idea.

She continues her run down the street, heading for Willow's house. Willow's folks have a security system installed, which includes some automatic floodlights, and she reasons that might be enough to beat back the shadows. Hearing her friend's shouts, Willow awakens and sees what's going on in her yard. Thinking quickly, she uses her LARPing staff to smash the window, which triggers the security system and floodlights. The very bright lights cause the shadows to disappear--and Wisp disappears too! Willow and her parents find the yard empty except for Wisp's sword, and Wisp instead finds herself in a grayed-out landscape as Twinkle welcomes her to Rainbow Land.

Well! As an issue one, this is a great start. Very much the start of any sort of adventure cartoon like I remember in my youth. A kid or two, they encounter a villain's minion encroaching in the real world, they get whisked off (or perhaps, wisped off?) to another world for magical adventures. You've seen it a million times, but honestly, it's a winner of a setup. It two-fold gets you invested in seeing where it goes next.

#comics #reviews #Rainbow Brite #Taiblog

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burrowbabe · 2 years ago

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Give and Take - Chapter 2

The black Escalade pulled up the long windy driveway leading up to your house, letting out everyone one by one, like a clown car. AJ thanked the driver and discreetly handed him a tip during their handshake.

Entering the 6-digit code to your front door, everyone followed behind you to take a seat around the island in your spacious kitchen.

"Your house is dope." Ja'Marr says with wide eyes, looking around the modern, shiny style of your newly renovated home.

With a quiet 'thank you', you pull out a bottle of vodka from the liquor cabinet. You were plagued with a weird feeling you had never felt before. Alcohol seemed to be the only way you were going to be able to calm down.

Was he looking at you like you were looking at him?

You always were able to play it cool. Having male friends, and hell, being one of the most successful artists in a male-dominated genre of music, you had to have confidence. But this was different. Joe attracted you in a way that previous boyfriends had not, and you weren't sure why.

"Let's play a game or something!" Tana exclaims, throwing back another shot she had poured herself when you weren't looking.

"Ooou like what?" Your mutual friend, Nick, questions pulling his stool closer to the island.

"Never have I ever?" She suggests, wiggling her eyebrows.

AJ audibly groans, "That's so middle school."

Everyone laughed in agreement but Tana persisted.

"No guys! We can make it ... adult," She says with a smirk, "... expose everyone."

"We have guests," AJ says, motioning between Joe and Ja'Marr. "... do we really need to subject them to your perverted questions?"

Another burst of laughter from the group still does not stop Tana from insisting.

"You guys are so boring. This is a surefire way to get comfortable with new people!"

After more protesting, it is decided that you all would play for a few rounds.

While Joe and Ja'Marr asked generic questions, your closest friends seemed to be targeting you.

"Never have I ever ... not had sex in so long that I basically became a virgin again." Tana says confidently, looking right in your direction.

You could feel the heat rise to your face. There was no way you were going to put a finger down to a question like that. Sure, your friends knew of your bad luck in relationships, but you were focusing on your work. Tana was always hounding you to hook up with people for the hell of it, but that wasn't appealing. Plus, you weren't sure you had totally overcome the trauma from your past relationship.

Everyone looked around at each other in curiosity to see who would move. No one did, and thankfully, the question was dropped fairly quickly. Giving Tana a glare, she knew you guys would be hashing it out later.

Around 2 a.m., no one was able to hide their yawns any longer.

"Yo, if you want, y'all can crash here." AJ tells Joe and Ja'Marr. "You know ... rather than having to have a car bring you back to a hotel."

The three look between each other and nod, thanking AJ for his offer. You offer to help grab linens for the guest rooms since Tana had snuck off to bed upstairs, and Nick chose to curl up on the couch.

"Is this room OK?" You ask, throwing sheets and a blanket on the mattress of one of your many guest rooms.

"This is more than OK! Thank you." Joe replies. He stuffs his hands in his pockets and looks at you.

"Sorry if tonight was unwillingly sprung on you," You giggle. "... if you couldn't tell, I surround myself with the wild misfits of LA."

Joe flashes his bright white smile and laughs with you.

"No, tonight was fun. I'm glad it worked out the way it did. I had been wanting to meet you."

You raise your eyebrows in surprise, "Wanting to meet me?" You question, butterflies exploding in your stomach at his confession.

"Yeah ... AJ and I have been friends for a little bit now. We met a couple months ago at an event in New York." He explains. "And ... I'm also a fan of your music." He admits, averting his gaze and smirking bashfully.

"Oh ... well ... thank you so much. I had fun tonight too. Hopefully you stick around for a bit so we can hang out more." You reply with a shy smirk as well. Inching towards the door, you feel the tension in the room so thick, that you could cut it with a knife.

"Well... goodnight." You say, trying to escape this situation so you could analyze what the hell is going on with you.

"Goodnight Anna." Joe smiles. After an awkward pause you close the door behind you, letting out a huge breath you had no idea you were holding in.

Walking back towards your room, you spot Tana coming out of the bathroom. Taking this as your opportunity to confront her, you catch up before she can close her bedroom door.

"Hey!" You whisper yell. Tana stops and turns to look at you with confusion. "What the hell was that back there? Telling people I don't have sex?"

Tana laughs with a tinge of disbelief. "Ann, it was just a joke. No one knew I was talking about you."

"I don't care, that was humiliating!" You reply, folding your arms over your chest.

"What does it matter? It was just us."

"And two guys we just met." You counter.

You both pause, looking at each other in a standoff.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think it would be a big deal." She shrugs.

"Just ... keep the gossip I tell you, to yourself please." You demand, exasperated. You and your best friend hug and exchange 'goodnight's' and 'I love you's' before turning in for the night.

You could not sleep a wink. Tossing and turning all night long, all you could think about was the football hunk sleeping in the next room. Like you always do, you analyze every action and conversation that transpired while you were around him. Did you sound stupid? Were you being drunk and annoying? Were you trying too hard to be funny? Does he even think you're pretty? Everything bothered you, and you were certain you did something to turn him off of you.

However, you did seem to think he was flirting a little at one point or another. Maybe not?

One thing you had not considered at 4 a.m. was that maybe ... he had a girlfriend.

Rolling over to your nightstand to grab you phone off the charger, you quickly type 'Joe Bengals' into the search bar, only to be met with dozens of articles about Joe Mixon, Joe Bachie and ... Joe Burrow. Clicking on his photo, you know for sure that it's him. This led you down a rabbit hole of gossip magazine articles and sports statistics, which helped you figure out that he is supposedly single and really good at football. There were no pictures of him with any females at all really, which struck you as odd. As a famous NFL quarterback, how has he not had at least one scandal with a thirsty Instagram model?

After a few hours of scrolling and watching every interview that you could find on YouTube, you started to feel guilty for stalking him so hard. Calling it a night was an understatement. The sun had already started peeking through the curtains in your room.

"Fuck." You groan. Looks like you would be getting no sleep at all.

Dozing off for what felt like a minute, the smell of bacon and coffee woke you.

Checking your phone once more, you see that it's 9 a.m. Willing yourself to peel off the covers, you put on your slippers and head downstairs to find everyone awake. You thought for sure you would just be catching your brother after an early morning workout while everyone else slept the day away, hungover. But, you were surprisingly mistaken.

You grab a seat next to Tana at the kitchen table across from Joe who takes a sip of what you presumed to be a protein shake.

"Morning sleepy head!" Tana chirps, stroking your hair.

"Hey. I can't believe everyone is up right now." You awkwardly laugh as you try to avoid making eye contact with Joe again. Part of you felt embarrassed, like he knew that you spent your sleepless night investigating him.

AJ joins the rest of you at the table with a plate of breakfast.

"Hey, so we were just talking ... since Joe and Ja'Marr are just looking to spend the off season in LA, I offered they just stay here."

#joe burrow #cincinnati bengals #au #Joe burrow fan fiction

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cleverhottubmiracle · 20 days ago

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If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, SheKnows may receive an affiliate commission. Ever since the 2022 publication of his book Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It, Richard Reeves has become a preeminent voice for America’s young men. He was one of the first experts we talked to this past year when we launched our Be a Man project and our special digital issue exploring the lives of teen boys, and he helped shed light on the then-emerging “countercultural” rightward lean of young Gen Z men — a topic that proved prescient, to say the least. Post-election, as Donald Trump takes office and the “bro-tocracy” takes center stage, we caught up with Reeves once more to talk about about why Republicans appealed to young men, why parents need to be listening, and what it means for the future. SheKnows: When we spoke before the election, you talked about young men feeling “politically homeless.” Post-election, can we assume that young men have found their political home? Richard Reeves: Well, I think that they found a political halfway house, perhaps not a home. Let’s see what happens. Clearly, we saw a lot of young men moving to the right. One of the surprises, perhaps, was that there was decent turnout among young men. I think one of the questions was going to be not just, ‘What did young men think?’ but would they actually vote? It does look like they did. My sense is that this was as much a turning away from the left among young men as it was an enthusiastic embrace of the right. The way I said homeless was, I felt like a lot of young men were saying, ‘I just don’t see anything for me from the Democrats right now.’ … And then as we got towards the end of the campaign — and particularly as the Republicans did a lot more podcast appearances — you heard a lot of young men saying that they were really influenced by Donald Trump on Joe Rogan [and] they just thought they’d seen enough from the right to think, ‘Yeah, I’m going to give this guy a go.’ But I don’t think it actually tells us all that much about what’s going to happen four years from now. We’re in a moment, politically now, where it’s a bit more like the kaleidoscope has been shaken. They’ve landed a particular way this time, in 2024, but if we’ve learned anything, it’s that we should not assume that that’s going to hold again in 2028. I don’t think what we’ve seen is young men deciding, ‘Okay, from now on and henceforth, I’m voting Republican.’ I think it was just in this particular moment, the Republican pitch to them was more resonant. SK: The rightward lean that we’ve been discussing was pretty well documented. Why do you think it came as such a surprise — the ‘bro vote’? RR: I think it’s probably because it was such a clear victory for the Republicans and for Donald Trump. It’s one thing to be talking about the polls. It’s one thing to [talk about] what might happen, and then something actually did happen. And I think it’s perfectly possible that even if we’d seen the same swing among men — especially young men — that we did see, but that there’d been sufficient support among women, including young women on the other side, and that that had actually got the Democrats over the winning line, there wouldn’t be as much discussion of this. I think the reason why the issue about young men got so much attention was because the swing was so much greater than among other groups, and also because it then taps into this sense of, was it a misogyny vote? Was it an anti-women vote? There was some performative masculinity on the right, and so there was a kind of fear that this signaled something deeper and perhaps more disturbing in the minds of young men — which I don’t think is true, but I do think they tapped into a fear that some people had about what the election meant for the country. SK: Can you expand on that? I think there are a lot of left-leaning parents who have worked very hard to raise boys who believe in equality and women’s rights and feminism, and it’s hard not to feel concerned right now on some level. RR: Ezra Klein had this very nice line after the election where he said, ‘It’s important to react with curiosity rather than contempt.’ And I was just with a very progressive state legislator, a Black woman whose son voted for Trump, and that caused some interesting conversations in their house, but she approached it with curiosity. LIke, ‘Well, why?’ I was very impressed by the way she’d reacted to it. I think two things can be true: One is that there’s a perfectly good reason why many women in particular are having quite a strong, visceral reaction to the shifting votes of some men, but at the same time [we need] to dig a bit deeper and say, ‘Well, okay, what is that really about? Does it signal this reactionary turn among those men?’ I don’t think it does. The danger is that that would become something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. I fear that if the conclusion that people draw about why men — especially young men — voted that way is because they are sexist, they’re misogynists… then that will actually lead to further pushing those men away. If you look at the evidence for, what are young men’s views on most of the issues that most of these mums you’re talking about probably care about — well, they’re probably pretty similar. Young men are about as pro-choice as young women, for example, and they thought the Democrats were much better on that issue. They just didn’t vote on that issue. I don’t see, in the broader evidence, much sign of a huge reactionary swing among young men. I can see why people are afraid of that. But I think it’s very important to look at the data, and for us to just give it a little bit of time, have some grace, and figure out what’s been really going on here. I fear that if the Democrats at a political level, or moms at the personal level that you’ve just mentioned, jump to the conclusion that the only reason, or even the main reason, why young men or a particular young man may have voted for Donald Trump is because they are sexist, that will probably drive that young man further away, and is probably not true, and so it’s just important to take a beat and find out what the real reasons were. SK: I would love to know more about what insights we should take away from the very youngest male voters — and the ones coming up right behind them. RR: One of the reasons why I think that some of these trends might be a bit more temporary is because we’ve had a particular cultural atmosphere for the last 8 to 10 years, which has hugely affected these younger voters. The term toxic masculinity was invented in 2016 … if you’re an 18-year-old young man, you were 10 when toxic masculinity came in. If you’re a 24-year-old man, you were still in high school when toxic masculinity became part of the debate. And as I’ve written, there are lots of aspects of male behavior which we continue to need to improve and to hold to account. But [it] has felt sometimes as if they can’t have problems by definition, because they are the problem, and has actually led to something of a reaction. I don’t mean that they’ve become reactionary or misogynist, but I think what I’m hearing from a lot of young men is like, ‘Yeah, I’m all for a lot of these progressive policies on many fronts, but I’m also kind of over being told that there’s something wrong with me.’ And I do think that that was something that the Republicans were really able to tap into that sense of, ‘they don’t like you… they think you’re toxic. They want you to shut up and stop mansplaining. They want you to sit still and be quiet.’ However far that’s true or not, that really was a kind of strong, resonant message. But I don’t think that’s going to last. I think if we’ve learned anything, it is terms like ‘toxic masculinity’ have now been proven to drive men away from a proper conversation about it. So we can have a conversation about appropriate male behavior, and we can have a conversation about gender and gender equity and gender equality and the ongoing problems faced by women and girls. We just have to make more men feel included in that conversation. We have to make more men feel like we’ve also got their back, that we’re noticing their problems, that we have noticed, for example, that the suicide rate among men under the age of 30 has risen by 40 percent since 2010. We have noticed the addiction rates among many young men. We’ve noticed how you’re doing and you’re struggling in school. We also are going to continue to fight for more women in senior leadership and more women in politics, etc. We’re going to do both. But the sense that many men have had of just feeling like they haven’t been seen or heard on the left has been a problem. The Democrats basically gambled that they could win as the women’s party. That gamble did not pay off. And I think that one of the things that we want to get past is any idea that there’s a women’s party or a men’s party. Both parties need to be sending a message, which neither of them did in this campaign, that they are for both; that we rise together, that we care about our daughters and our sons, and that we are not going back, for sure, to a more reactionary world. But that does not mean that we need to throw our men under the bus, which is how many men felt. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Source link

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norajworld · 20 days ago

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ellajme0 · 20 days ago

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oliviajoyice21 · 20 days ago

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If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, SheKnows may receive an affiliate commission. Ever since the 2022 publication of his book Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It, Richard Reeves has become a preeminent voice for America’s young men. He was one of the first experts we talked to this past year when we launched our Be a Man project and our special digital issue exploring the lives of teen boys, and he helped shed light on the then-emerging “countercultural” rightward lean of young Gen Z men — a topic that proved prescient, to say the least. Post-election, as Donald Trump takes office and the “bro-tocracy” takes center stage, we caught up with Reeves once more to talk about about why Republicans appealed to young men, why parents need to be listening, and what it means for the future. SheKnows: When we spoke before the election, you talked about young men feeling “politically homeless.” Post-election, can we assume that young men have found their political home? Richard Reeves: Well, I think that they found a political halfway house, perhaps not a home. Let’s see what happens. Clearly, we saw a lot of young men moving to the right. One of the surprises, perhaps, was that there was decent turnout among young men. I think one of the questions was going to be not just, ‘What did young men think?’ but would they actually vote? It does look like they did. My sense is that this was as much a turning away from the left among young men as it was an enthusiastic embrace of the right. The way I said homeless was, I felt like a lot of young men were saying, ‘I just don’t see anything for me from the Democrats right now.’ … And then as we got towards the end of the campaign — and particularly as the Republicans did a lot more podcast appearances — you heard a lot of young men saying that they were really influenced by Donald Trump on Joe Rogan [and] they just thought they’d seen enough from the right to think, ‘Yeah, I’m going to give this guy a go.’ But I don’t think it actually tells us all that much about what’s going to happen four years from now. We’re in a moment, politically now, where it’s a bit more like the kaleidoscope has been shaken. They’ve landed a particular way this time, in 2024, but if we’ve learned anything, it’s that we should not assume that that’s going to hold again in 2028. I don’t think what we’ve seen is young men deciding, ‘Okay, from now on and henceforth, I’m voting Republican.�� I think it was just in this particular moment, the Republican pitch to them was more resonant. SK: The rightward lean that we’ve been discussing was pretty well documented. Why do you think it came as such a surprise — the ‘bro vote’? RR: I think it’s probably because it was such a clear victory for the Republicans and for Donald Trump. It’s one thing to be talking about the polls. It’s one thing to [talk about] what might happen, and then something actually did happen. And I think it’s perfectly possible that even if we’d seen the same swing among men — especially young men — that we did see, but that there’d been sufficient support among women, including young women on the other side, and that that had actually got the Democrats over the winning line, there wouldn’t be as much discussion of this. I think the reason why the issue about young men got so much attention was because the swing was so much greater than among other groups, and also because it then taps into this sense of, was it a misogyny vote? Was it an anti-women vote? There was some performative masculinity on the right, and so there was a kind of fear that this signaled something deeper and perhaps more disturbing in the minds of young men — which I don’t think is true, but I do think they tapped into a fear that some people had about what the election meant for the country. SK: Can you expand on that? I think there are a lot of left-leaning parents who have worked very hard to raise boys who believe in equality and women’s rights and feminism, and it’s hard not to feel concerned right now on some level. RR: Ezra Klein had this very nice line after the election where he said, ‘It’s important to react with curiosity rather than contempt.’ And I was just with a very progressive state legislator, a Black woman whose son voted for Trump, and that caused some interesting conversations in their house, but she approached it with curiosity. LIke, ‘Well, why?’ I was very impressed by the way she’d reacted to it. I think two things can be true: One is that there’s a perfectly good reason why many women in particular are having quite a strong, visceral reaction to the shifting votes of some men, but at the same time [we need] to dig a bit deeper and say, ‘Well, okay, what is that really about? Does it signal this reactionary turn among those men?’ I don’t think it does. The danger is that that would become something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. I fear that if the conclusion that people draw about why men — especially young men — voted that way is because they are sexist, they’re misogynists… then that will actually lead to further pushing those men away. If you look at the evidence for, what are young men’s views on most of the issues that most of these mums you’re talking about probably care about — well, they’re probably pretty similar. Young men are about as pro-choice as young women, for example, and they thought the Democrats were much better on that issue. They just didn’t vote on that issue. I don’t see, in the broader evidence, much sign of a huge reactionary swing among young men. I can see why people are afraid of that. But I think it’s very important to look at the data, and for us to just give it a little bit of time, have some grace, and figure out what’s been really going on here. I fear that if the Democrats at a political level, or moms at the personal level that you’ve just mentioned, jump to the conclusion that the only reason, or even the main reason, why young men or a particular young man may have voted for Donald Trump is because they are sexist, that will probably drive that young man further away, and is probably not true, and so it’s just important to take a beat and find out what the real reasons were. SK: I would love to know more about what insights we should take away from the very youngest male voters — and the ones coming up right behind them. RR: One of the reasons why I think that some of these trends might be a bit more temporary is because we’ve had a particular cultural atmosphere for the last 8 to 10 years, which has hugely affected these younger voters. The term toxic masculinity was invented in 2016 … if you’re an 18-year-old young man, you were 10 when toxic masculinity came in. If you’re a 24-year-old man, you were still in high school when toxic masculinity became part of the debate. And as I’ve written, there are lots of aspects of male behavior which we continue to need to improve and to hold to account. But [it] has felt sometimes as if they can’t have problems by definition, because they are the problem, and has actually led to something of a reaction. I don’t mean that they’ve become reactionary or misogynist, but I think what I’m hearing from a lot of young men is like, ‘Yeah, I’m all for a lot of these progressive policies on many fronts, but I’m also kind of over being told that there’s something wrong with me.’ And I do think that that was something that the Republicans were really able to tap into that sense of, ‘they don’t like you… they think you’re toxic. They want you to shut up and stop mansplaining. They want you to sit still and be quiet.’ However far that’s true or not, that really was a kind of strong, resonant message. But I don’t think that’s going to last. I think if we’ve learned anything, it is terms like ‘toxic masculinity’ have now been proven to drive men away from a proper conversation about it. So we can have a conversation about appropriate male behavior, and we can have a conversation about gender and gender equity and gender equality and the ongoing problems faced by women and girls. We just have to make more men feel included in that conversation. We have to make more men feel like we’ve also got their back, that we’re noticing their problems, that we have noticed, for example, that the suicide rate among men under the age of 30 has risen by 40 percent since 2010. We have noticed the addiction rates among many young men. We’ve noticed how you’re doing and you’re struggling in school. We also are going to continue to fight for more women in senior leadership and more women in politics, etc. We’re going to do both. But the sense that many men have had of just feeling like they haven’t been seen or heard on the left has been a problem. The Democrats basically gambled that they could win as the women’s party. That gamble did not pay off. And I think that one of the things that we want to get past is any idea that there’s a women’s party or a men’s party. Both parties need to be sending a message, which neither of them did in this campaign, that they are for both; that we rise together, that we care about our daughters and our sons, and that we are not going back, for sure, to a more reactionary world. But that does not mean that we need to throw our men under the bus, which is how many men felt. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Source link

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tarotbiscuits · 7 months ago

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tbh its ok to be blunt i mean what else can you write besides what you get info wise? imho i like the fun aspect of not knowing the exact answer or not wanting an exact true answer even if i dont always fully believe it because theres so much we dont know about anything really. so these games force you to take it with a pinch of salt but even if its not always what u want to hear or read. makes these games more fun when u expect the wrong answer instead of the answer u want to hear.

i been surprised and dissapointed sometimes but at the end of the day we never always get what we want in life anyway. like i aksed awhile ago on someone elses game and got a yes and i was like huh? cause i didnt believe it. i think people have become too desperate over recent times that if it not what they want they get mad about it.

Some people participate in tarot games because they're already suspecting something and need confirmation, but even these "suspicions" can be good or bad. They're good when you accept reality as it is and like you said, take them with a pinch of salt. They're bad when you deny reality and you keep asking every tarot reader the same question until you get the answer you want. This can become borderline obsessive. I myself went through several periods of time when i used to ask about different guys: "does he like me?", "does he still think about me?" every day for weeks on end and i would believe everything i got. There's a very thin line between using tarot for fun and taking it a bit too seriously. Tbh, i love doing these tarot games bc it helps me detach from my own questions, which can become repetitive.

I've also noticed this phenomena in the astroblr community. Maybe you know, i have an astro blog too, way more popular than this one. I barely post on there because people look for a validation boost or an ego boost. I've changed and evolved a lot since i started the blog. I started studying traditional astrology and it opened a whole new world for me, far more exciting than everything i knew about modern astrology up to that point. I tried teaching people and i always felt misunderstood. It's almost as if nothing else matters if it doesn't resemble what you already know to some degree. If it's not a post about "beauty placements" or "intimidating placements" or just basic, general observations, people aren't that interested. It sucks the soul out of me to limit my creative side just to appeal to some people's egos, so i don't. But yeah, this is another discussion and ik i went waayyy off from your ask. Lmk what you think!

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lydiarivera · 2 years ago

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In a world where time moves at an unstoppable speed, the Age of Adaline is a refreshing time stopping movie that reminisces on the beauty from the past. This movie left a lasting impression on my life, reminding me of the importance of time. ALthough this movie is only from eight years ago, I set it aside from most recent films I have seen. The Age of Adeline is a story about the value of time and if something goes on forever it is not always for the best. This movie made me realize that life is short, but it is also a blessing that I am able to cherish little moments.

In the movie The Age of Adeline, Blake Lively portrays a female lead (Adeline), who was in an accident when she was twenty nine years old, causing her not to age for almost seventy years. Adeline has kept her secret from everyone she has met and was constantly running from place to place. One New Year's Eve, Adeline meets a young man that she really connects with a young man named Ellis and begins to date. After a while Adelline goes on a trip with Ellis’ family, only to find that his father is an old boyfriend of Adelines from over fifty years ago. Adelines secret is revealed to Ellis and she has to learn that sometimes it is better to face danger than to run from it. After Adeline makes herself vulnerable she is in another accident that restores her to a regular path of time so she can enjoy growing old with Ellis.

Even though I adored this movie, not everyone did. The Age of Adeline has many fans who appreciated the aspects of time and romance in the film, but many people thought it was a boring life to focus on and they were looking for a little bit more adventure in the story. The Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer only gave the film fifty five percent, even though the viewers of the movie gave it sixty seven percent Rotten Tomatoes. Many viewers of the show thought that Adelines character was too mopey and boring in the movie. SheKnows.com made an article describing nine ways that the movie could have improved if it were written by a woman. One of the article's main points of criticism was that Adeline does not have enough effort or care in why she has the condition that she does, and they believe the storyline would have been better if Adeline would have focused more on the reasoning for why she didn't age. These poor reviews were from the initial release of the movie but since the new release it has gotten on Netflix, many more positive reviews are sprouting.

I am very surprised by what I read in the reviews and websites, my first impression was that the film was going to be hugely popular. I think that Adelines simplicity was a very important part of the film and it was a huge reason her character exemplified so much growth. The Age of Adaline was released on April 24th, 2015 and was in theaters, although I did not watch it in a theater. I watched The Age of Adeline about a year after it was released. I remember being on the couch with my parents and trying to hide my tears by the end of the film. The Age of Adeline is the type of movie that would be good to see on a big screen and also curled up at home.

The age of Adeline is a mix between a mainstream movie and an Art film. The Age of Adeline would be considered a mainstream movie, because it has many highly regarded actors and actresses like Blake Lively and Harrison Ford. The film is also independent because the plot focuses more on one distinct theme instead of solely appealing for a specific audience. The movie attacks a theme that has only been depicted in dark teen vampire films and instead brings it to more of a universal audience.

When I rewatched the movie, I only found it more enjoyable than the first time. I felt like I didn't need to focus and the storyline lined out beautifully. The Age of Adeline is the kind of movie that it is easy to watch again. I am a huge fan of historical movies and I thought this was a perfect mix of a modern movie with elements of the past intertwined.

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