#for me personally who I am by the score is playing in the background of this post

[breitzbachbea]

Character Introductions in Irish Problems - Old vs. New

As a celebration with myself for finishing the first three chapters of the Irish Problems rewrite, I thought I'd compare the first appearance of the ten POV characters in the old draft (written between 2013 & 2015) with the ones in the new draft (written between 2022 & 2023). I haven't done my paper proofread yet nor had a Beta-reader look over it, so these moments may be subject to change. Still, I wanted to take a snapshot of my growth and achievements, so here we go!

Harry O'Connel

Old: And the ivy still entwined around the wooden trellis drilled into the bricks of the front, the windowsills were still green just like the door after Aaron had been gone for four years. His son didn’t mind the look of the house either; he actually did not care about it all. Harry O’Connel had far worse problems occupying his mind than how the ivy slowly started to grow over the window of his study.

“How did that happen?!” Harry thought out loud, tapping his fingers on the table. “Why can’t my life for once go in a good direction?! Why can’t this job for once not be a total pain in the arse?! Why can’t something in this godforsaken country work for just once! The state’s a total catastrophe and the organized crime. How?!”

Chewing on his lower lip, he looked out of the window and let the thoughts ramble on in his head.

(Chapter 1, Scene 1)

New: The windowsills outside were still painted green as the ivy slowly overgrew the window. A lamp on the old but sturdy desk lit the room, to help the few rays of light that still made it through the leaves. It was a nice summer day outside in Dublin.

Elbows on the desk and hands over his head, Harry O’Connel was hunched over it.

“Where’s the money going,” he mumbled to himself.

(Chapter 1, Scene 1)

Paddy O'Neill

Old: “I keep telling you to get help somewhere, Harry” Paddy said and Harry rolled his eyes.

“I can’t be helped in any way anymore but thanks for your concern for the poor sinner” he replied to his bodyguard.

The huge man leaning against the wall beside the window lifted his shoulders for a deep breath and let them drop again, an annoyed frown on his face but it faded quickly.

(Chapter 1, Scene 1)

New: He received no answer from the man who sat on the other side of the desk. Harry lifted his head and caught Paddy O’Neill staring out of the window. Aside from the tiredness, which was mirrored in Harry’s own bones, there was a special weariness in his eyes.

The mournful look had faded some when he looked at Harry. The hunched shoulders made the giant of a man, two metres tall and seemingly a metre wide, appear awkwardly small.

His voice was as deep as ever. “Living. The going isn’t as much of a problem, but the fact that there isn’t any new coming in. Which was also always your father’s problem, especially during the last years of his life.” Paddy sighed, almost inaudibly. “And it seems that after four years of living mostly off his deposit, we’re already at the end of our rope.” His voice had grown more tired over the course of his explanation.

(Chapter 1, Scene 1)

Charlie Higgins

Old: “But how?” he asked. “I need connections for this and my only real connection is Gavin. We can’t just jump into this European mess and hope somebody wants to help us before someone else has already gobbled us up.”

“Did somebody say connections?” Charlie said, entering the room.

Harry looked to the door which Charlie just closed. Turning to him, he had the smug grin on his face that Harry knew for almost 24 years by now.

Right now, he was not exactly in the mood for it.

The other young Irishman kept grinning: “I just waited for the cue to make my entrance.”

(Chapter 1, Scene 1)

New: The front door closed and the world was reduced to his dusty office and the voices of his two right hands downstairs.

“What brawl did you get into, lad?” Paddy asked Charlie.

“The brawl of love,” Charlie replied and Harry rolled his eyes. “A tug of touches, if you want and I came out on top. Don’t worry about the dark circles under my eyes either, these bags are the result of a night well-spent.”

“Alright, that’s all the detail that I need,” Paddy cut him off and Charlie chuckled.

“I needed less,” Harry said to himself.

The staircase wailed as if the combined weight was going to be the end of it.

Charlie Higgins stepped into the study first and Harry immediately spotted what they had been talking about. Dressed in a casual beige summer suit, the dress shirt unbuttoned at the top, the hickeys on his neck stood out as much as the bags under his eyes. His sunglasses hung from one of his suit’s chest pockets.

“There you are,” Harry said. “Did you take all morning to rearrange that bird’s nest on your head?”

The smile on Charlie’s face waned, but it didn’t vanish. His eyes were tired and glazed over.

“Perfection takes time, since this ‘bird’s nest’,” he did air quotes, “doesn’t come as naturally to my hair as it does to yours.”

(Chapter 1, Scene 1)

Soph O'Connel

Old (voice): “Hello?” he answered with a pissed voice.

“Good morning, Mister Grumpy and I-don’t-bother-to-tell-other-people-that-I’m-still-alive” the voice on the other side of the call answered, female and sarcastic in tone.

“Soph!” Harry said surprised.

“Yes, I! Your little sister who is actually worried about you idiot!” Sophie O’Connel gave back upset. “Come on! Just one little call after you arrived down there would have been enough!”

(Chapter 3, Scene 2)

Old (in person): Sophie was worried.

She was always worried about her brother – if it was for his damn business or the fact he was a stupid twat – but now she was worried worried and not even her sheep could distract her.

“He promised to call me each noon”, she told Willow, who grazed in front of the stone she was sitting on. Willow was an old mother sheep and a real good listener – she wasn‘t good at conversation though.

(Chapter 5, Scene 1)

New: Charlie had barely made it down the stairs when keys turned in the front door.

Harry frowned and looked down from the landing.

The next moment, the door was thrown open and Sophie O’Connell almost ran into Charlie.

“Huh?!” She stopped for a second, but rushed past him right after. “Hi Charlie!” She rushed past the stairs. “Hey Paddy!”

“What the fuck are you doing here?!” Harry leant over the railing and looked after her as she disappeared into the living room.

“Did the school go up in flames, or …?” Charlie asked. “Would explain the missing jacket.”

“I wish!” Soph answered. “But I forgot my PE bag this morning!” Her stomping and the dull sound of cushions being moved around stopped. “Ugh, I hate running!”

(Chapter 1, Scene 1)

Michele Vento

Old: And finally a person appeared from the pitch-black.

The man was slender, but not too tall. Maybe one or two centimetres taller than Harry. Long coat, hat. The frizzy hair was brown and tied to a loose ponytail. His skin was tanned.

“Buona sera, signori” he said with a soft, but deep voice. Italian, no doubt.

(Chapter 1, Scene 2)

New: It was a beautiful summer day in Palermo. August was less than two weeks away, together with its heat, and life was bustling in some regards and already crawling to a halt in others, all in preparation for finally lying down completely.

The sun hadn’t ventured far enough west yet for any shade to cool the office’s façade, but that didn’t matter. When Michele Vento entered the building, the staircase was as dim and cool as ever. He appreciated the breeze and readjusted his suit. The split second of bright natural he had left he wondered if it had been a good idea to neglect the stone floor during the renovations. Then the heavy wooden door fell shut behind him and the staircase was encased in darkness.

He reached for the light switch and began to climb the stairs. “Hello? Marco? Lorenzo?” He reached the first landing and opened the office door.

(Chapter 2, Scene 1)

Marco & Lorenzo Bontade

Old: A small smile wandered onto his face again: “Of course, Signore O’Connel. But before we start, let me introduce my partners here ̶ the Signori Bontade.”

The two men didn’t say anything, only lowered their sunglasses. It was so synchronously that it made Harry’s heart skip a beat. Like puppets, he thought as Vento carried on:

“My guards and loyal helpers.”

“Ah” was all Harry could get out before clearing his throat. “Pleased to meet you.”

“The pleasure is all ours” they said in unison once more with a grin this time before sharing a look. Their features softened, looking impish and Harry lost any bad feeling he had about them before.

“Or all yours?” the one to the left asked.

“We always mix it up” the right one explained.

Vento put a hand up; the smile on his face was gone: “That’s enough you two.”

They pushed their sunglasses back on, but the puppet effect was as gone as their displayed boredom.

(Chapter 2, Scene 1)

New: “Yeah Michele?” Marco Bontade called.

“What’s up?” Lorenzo Bontade added.

Michele half hadn’t expected an answer. When he had been in this morning, the twins hadn’t been around.

“Oh, so you made it in, marvellous!”

“Why do you sound surprised?” Marco asked. A moment later, he showed up in the doorframe of the office that he shared with his brother.

“We’ve had a few things to fix at home this morning,” Lorenzo said and joined his brother.

The same washed-out blue jeans, the same white sneakers and the same silver watches on their arms. Marco wore an old Caparezza T-Shirt, while the lousy, counterfeit “Mikimix” stitching on Lorenzo’s had seen far better days.

“Which we told you about,” they said in unison.

(Chapter 2, Scene 1)

Tahir Rashid

Old: “You’re the third one to interrupt me minding my own business and I swear Bailey, If you don’t have a good reason you will be the first one I take my anger out on” Tahir Rashid had threatened the taller blond when somebody tapped his shoulder with a “Oi!” while he had been occupied with this morning’s issue of The Independent lying on the table of their conference room.

(Chapter 3, Scene 3) New: There was no need to let the shutters down to keep out the nosy public, since all glass in the huge windows was one-ways. Nor was there a need to fight the humid London summer, should the sun peak out from underneath the clouds, with so many taller surrounding buildings throwing shades and the only window in the room north-facing.

Tahir Rashid liked his privacy, however, so the shutters were partially shut while he finished his issue of The Independent at his desk. Once finished, he closed it and straightened it out. Before he put it into the paper holder on his desk, to be disposed of later, he took a last look at the date. 25th of July.

There were no new notifications on his smartphone and no calls on his landline. He stood up and retrieved his suit jacket from its hook on the side of a shelf. After he had buttoned it up and adjusted the rest of his appearance, he stepped out of the room.

(Chapter 2, Scene 3)

Robert Bailey

Old: He heard the door open, followed by a “Sir?”

Arthur turned towards Robert Bailey, who just entered the room, his boss having a frown on his face: “Did you just enter my office without knocking, Mister Bailey?”

“The rumours are just got proven right and I think that this information is rather important so I didn’t want to waste time, Sir.”

Now Arthur cocked one of his thick eyebrows, still unimpressed: “It’s still not very gentlemanly to just enter my office without knocking.”

Robert sighed: “Since we found out that from all the Sicilian clans he begs Vento I didn’t really bother with being a gentleman this time.”

(Chapter 3, Scene 3)

New: “To be fair to them,” King said and held Tahir’s gaze when he looked over to him. “A goose is unpredictable.”

“Without enough preparation,” Jones began, both pointer fingers raised to underscore her statement, but she was interrupted by the sounds of footsteps.

Robert Bailey came upstairs, oblivious of everyone else as he adjusted his suit jacket. Tahir rolled his eyes.

It didn’t need his intervention for Robert to look up and notice the congregation around the table. “The fuck’s going on here?” he asked with one eyebrow raised and a frown on his face.

“Battle planning,” Jones said. Miah nodded in agreement.

“For the weekend?” Robert asked.

“Afraid not,” Tahir said and Robert’s attention skipped to him for a second.

(Chapter 2, Scene 3)

Arthur Kirkland

Old: It could have been a nice day since it didn’t rain like it usually did in London. Arthur Kirkland however, had too much problems to enjoy it.

Besides, grey skies and rain tapping against the window of his office would have fit his mood way better.

“Why couldn’t you little pathetic leprechaun just stay there in your hole and die slowly?” the Englishman snarled, trying to read the Guardian for the third time this morning but once again without success. He just couldn’t concentrate since there was maybe a problem.

(Chapter 3, Scene 3)

New: “Yes?” The voice was muffled by the door.

“Mister Bailey could finally join us, Sir,” Tahir said and maintained eye-contact with Robert who rolled his eyes.

“Do you think you get paid to be a prick?”

“Do you think you get paid to be a slob?” Tahir smirked.

“Oh, it’s you, come in.”

Tahir opened the door. Exposed brick framed the large window at the back of the room, before the plaster, painted in mint-green, took over the walls. The massive desk could have belonged to the Victorian factory owner that had resided here a whole century ago.

Arthur Kirkland sat behind it. The jacket of his suit was hung over the backrest of one of the visitor’s chairs and the sleeves of his white shirt were rolled up to the middle of his lower arms. The messy blonde hair was as kempt as it would ever be and the big bushy eyebrows weren’t furrowed in annoyance or anger.

“Good morning,” Arthur said while they came in. There was an automaton of a ship on waves in front of him. “You shouldn’t rag on him like that,” he told Tahir while Robert closed the door behind them. He looked over to Robert. “You should quit smoking, though.”

(Chapter 2, Scene 3)

[aurorabyler]

the significance of heroes by david bowie to stranger things + byler (finn wolfhard interview)

byler nation. i just found an interview clip of finn that i’ve literally been looking for since season 4 dropped. i remembered watching it but i couldn’t find the video afterwards and i also haven’t seen many people talking about it, so here it is:

transcript (finn wolfhard): “this is my life in songs. a song that reminds me of stranger things — heroes by david bowie. there’s a cover in the first season, but i remember when we were first shooting the first season shawn levy (one of our directors and executive producers) cut together a sizzle reel and put it to heroes, and that was kind of the first glimpse we got into the show. and it really just kind of blew me away and also made that song so important as well to me.”

if any of you are familiar with the way heroes is used in stranger things as well as some of the theories surrounding the specific lyrics that are selected and placed over scenes (especially related to byler) this is quite significant. it’s also significant that it was in fact shawn levy who put together the sizzle reel with heroes — he is known in the byler community to kind of be a byler champion, if you will.

he has directed some of the most significant byler scenes in the whole show — finding will’s fake body in the quarry in season one (WHICH HAS HEROES PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND), the rain fight in season 3, the byler scenes in dear billy (including the legendary “i didn’t say it — you didn’t have to” scene) among others.

furthermore, heroes is established as a theme/musical motif that is very explicitly related to byler in season one of the show, as the first time it plays mike literally breaks down at the sight of will’s fake body and bikes all the way home. the specific lyrics that play when he goes to hug karen in that same scene are (quite notoriously):

and the guns, shot above our heads

and we kissed, as though nothing could fall

and the shame, the shame was on the other side

it’s interesting that finn notes the song as being one that specifically reminds him of stranger things and that seems to (based on not only shawn but the fact that heroes has been used TWICE in the show over NEAR PARALLEL byler scenes) to have a very big role in the show.

anyways. what i'm saying is that leading up to season five, a lot of people are kind of expecting that the pattern of using heroes will be completed -- they used the cover in seasons 1 and 3, and it only really makes sense to kind of complete that in season 5 as the song has been used as a throughline for a very specific storyline for what will have been the almost ten years since season 1 came out.

lastly i just want to say that i am not implying finn speaking about a song that has personal meaning to him is somehow solely connected to byler. my main interest in this is the shawn levy bit and just the general significance of the song to the show, which has been spoken about in lots of theories ever since the show came out in 2016.

i'll link here some posts about byler theories related to heroes that might give you some more context to its significance:

[sweetandsavageautistic]

(CW: Cringe, Autism Parents stuff, drunk mention, infantilization)

So I don't have a degree in Graphic Design, but I do have a sense of general aesthetic. I figured that it's April. Let's rate, and potentially verbally tear apart and drag through the mud, some autism shirts and graphic designs, and I'll probably do a part 2, these scores are only semi-arbitrary: First up is this:

Already off the top, I am confusion because it seems to read "I wear puzzle cousin autism awareness". Sounds like whoever made this was drunk.

Puzzle pieces, ew.

The red, yellow, green, and blue look like the shades you'd see in elementary school, so that seems pretty infantilizing.

Autism Awareness, I am very much aware of my existence.

Final Score: 0 out of 10. Designer, go home; you're drunk.

Next we have this:

This one already has a slight advantage over the first because it's at least coherent in terms of the message.

Elementary school colors, but make it extra tacky.

Puzzle pieces; don't try to bullshit me by putting the autism awareness banner over it, I can see the other indents that make them puzzle pieces.

Once again, I am well aware of my own existence.

At least it's a smaller design.

Final Score: 0.5 out of 10, and that's being generous.

Next one's not a shirt, but it still counts:

No blue so thank God for that.

This is up to personal preference, but to me, the person-first language is giving "I need to be reminded that someone is a person."

Puzzle pieces. Ew. Don't BS me, I can see them.

Walk down Autism Lane. (it's right below the word LOVE) Sorry, but we don't allow ableists on Autism Lane; you need to be a premium member and to be a premium member, you need to not be a dick.

The pumpkin disturbs me for some reason, and not in the Halloween way; I mean, it just straight-up disturbs me.

Final Score: 0.5 out of 10. Bury it in a shallow grave.

Just found this one:

It's easy on the eyes at least.

No tacky elementary school colors.

No puzzle pieces.

The bunny's cute, but this also seems very infantilizing.

Person first language is a no for me.

Why are all of the is lowercase, but the others are uppercase?

Final Score: 5 out of 10. Not great, but not terrible.

Here we have simple:

Elementary school colors, but credit where credit's due; it's not terrible on the eyes.

Why is blessed on there three times?

One big-ass puzzle piece.

"Autism blesses" Yes, because being bullied by my peers, being indirectly told who I am is wrong, having the worst time making friends, always feeling like I'm never truly part of a friend group, being confused when some adults got mad at me, not having anyone to play with at 4 years old is an absolute fucking blessing. /s And that's the tip of the iceberg.

"Fun", "Sweet", "Cute".....it's the infantilization for me.

Final Score: 3 out of 10. No further elaboration.

Then there's this monstrosity:

I call this color Patronizing Paraprofessional Blue, aka the tackiest shade of blue ever.

It looks like something one of those older white suburban millennial moms would wear. Like something a Karen would wear to one of those autism walks or one of those social skills teachers who talk in that slowed-down patronizing kindergarten teacher tone with that fake-ass smile, no matter how old you are. You know the one I'm talking about, right? Yeah, they'd wear this.

Puzzle piece. Light It Up Blue. Ew.

We all know what organization this supports.

Final Score: -10 out of 10. Burn it.

Let's get in a good one to counter that abomination of a shirt and end part one on a higher note:

Nice simple design with a black background.

No tacky elementary school colors.

Identity-first language.

Really counters the....what the fuck would it be called? The UwU autism parent thing? ("I am his voice, he is my heart," "See the able, not the label," etc,.) It counters that.

The light sparkle around "a bitch" is chef's kiss.

Final Score: 11 out of 10. Perfection.

[moltengoldveins]

@clingyduoapologist made a really cool “what if DSMP were a stage play” post and basically the instant I saw it I was struck by the muse but I don’t want to just chain reblog the dang thing or make one huge reblog with all my thoughts so instead here are all my thoughts on this concept

i don’t think it’s a musical. I think the tone of the story doesn’t fit. But if it were, it would have a Lot of scenes of unsung dialogue, and that dialoge? Would be rhythmic poetry. It’s Shakespeare Appreciation Time baby.

i do however think there would be a live score and an orchestra. A lot of the music would need to be recorded but there’s at least be a few musicians.

different characters speak in different poetic styles at different times to communicate character and plot development.

to elaborate on that: Characters switch from loose ABBA or ABAB rhyme schemes and vaguely rhythmic meter when chatting back and forth to strict perfect iambic pentameter for tense scenes or political speeches.

Techno speaks exclusively in unrhyming dactylic hexameter, an extremely common poetic form for Greek and Latin poetry. It’s what the Iliad was written in. This has the interesting effect of making Techno sound, at first glance, unpoetic. His speech doesn’t rhyme, and doesn’t follow a common English rhythm scheme, so it wouldn’t immediately register as structured. However, dactylic hexameter is actually significantly harder to write in English than expected because of our syllable stress patterns. Speaking like that would be, objectively, a sign of extreme intelligence, but could easily be overlooked as coarse uncultured behavior.

Techno’s chorus - composed of audience members, background extras, and people (in safety harnesses) sitting in the theater rafters - speak largely in Greek and Classical Chinese, quoting sections of the Art of War and Homer’s work. The major exceptions to this are ‘Blood for the Blood god,’ ‘no,’ and ‘do it.’ They all wear a hat or some form of headband that has a glowing LED eye, hidden, but activated when they speak. The audience plants are all in dark clothes, and when the lights go down they don medical masks/sunglasses. Anything to obscure their faces.

The Chorus, a group of robed masked people who broke the fourth wall and often entered the audience, was a vital part of early Greek theatre. I am an intolerable nerd, and the thought of sitting in a dark theatre only to hear an low distorted voice beside you start to comment on the play as a whole choir of voices echo around you, then turning to see your seat neighbor is a masked person with a glowing red eye in your forehead? Literally incredible.

Dream is the only character dressed in even remotely modern clothes.

Dream is first seen as someone (again, in modern clothes) sneaking around backstage in a black hoodie: most of the audience probably assumes he’s a stagehand and not meant to be seen. Then, at some point, he moves from behind a set piece and enters the scene as an actual character, revealing his mask.

interestingly, this is really similar to what I believe is a bit of myth about why ninjas are dressed in all black in modern media. They wouldn’t have been irl, they would’ve dressed like civilians. But stagehands in Japanese theatre would dress in all-black, and were often completely visible onstage moving sets - it was common courtesy to ignore them. Then one day some playwright had the brilliant idea of having one of the stagehands enter the story as an assassin, and suddenly every actor in all-black was a threat. For the life of me I can’t remember where I read that but it’s a cool thought :D

Dream canonically can interact with set pieces, lighting, and curtains.

Dream actively directs lighting in scenes he is not in, sitting above the stage kicking his feet.

Dream is often used to hand off props to characters instead of having them pull them from a pocket and pretend they were pulled from their ‘inventory.’ This begins to get confusing when Dream is acknowledged later on as the he person giving, say, TNT to Wilbur, or wither skulls to Techno.

characters address the audience as ‘Chat,’ (English’s first fourth-person pronoun my beloved) almost constantly, especially for comedic purposes- most of their monologues are addressed directly to the audience as well. For Wilbur, it’s a sign of instability when he stops addressing ‘Chat’ and start addressing the sides or back of the stage.

philza enters from the lower audience, right by the stage, probably after pooping up from the orchestra pit and taking a reserved seat halfway through so no one sees the wings.

Tommy has by far the least structured or rhyming dialogue - if it weren’t for how carefully crafted it was it would sound like normal prose.

Tommy speaks to the audience by FAR the most. Wilbur only addresses them when soliloquizing. Techno barely addresses them at all: they address him. Ranboo speaks to the audience only when alone, and it’s usually phrased like he’s writing in his memory journal. Tommy speaks to the audience at first like a loud younger brother. As he gets older, it sounds more and more like a plea for help, a prayer for intervention that will never come. Exile is one long string of desperate begging aimed our way.

Tommy stops speaking to the audience so much after Doomsday. He starts again when Dream is imprisoned. He stops for good when he dies in there, beaten, alone.

Sam and the Warden are meant to be played by different actors, ideally siblings or fraternal twins. They wear identical stage makeup and costumes, but the difference is there. None of the characters acknowledge this.

the Stage would need to be absolutely massive and curve almost halfway around the central audience, largely because it should be able to be split at times into two separate stages to show different things happening at the same time. This could possibly also work if there were two stages, but getting people to easily turn from one stage to the other without loosing sight of what was happening would be rough.

Doomsday taking advantage of the scaffolding in the rafters and using them as the ‘grid’ for the tnt droppers.

actual trained dogs for Doomsday my beloved. Would cost a fortune but could you imagine.

the entire revolution arc ripped off Hamilton, we all know that, I think we can afford to have a stagehand step forward in that frozen moment in time when Tommy and Dream have that duel, grab the arrow, and carry it slowly across the stage right into Tommy’s eye. For morale.

throughout the execution scene Techno keeps slipping out of poetic meter, especially when he sees/is worried about Phil. After the totem (which would be freaking amazing as some sort of stage effect with like lights and red and green streamers or smthn dude-) he stops speaking in poetry. The scene with Quackity is entirely spoken dialogue. Chat is silent. It’s only when he gets back and sees evidence that his house has been tampered with that Chat starts up again (kill, blood, death, hunt, hunt, hunt-) and he starts speaking in rhythm again.

Every canon death, Dream marks a tally on something in the background. Maybe it’s in his arm? Like a personal scorecard. Or maybe it’s on the person themselves, a little set of three hearts he marks through with a dry-erase marker or something.

phil and techno have a lot more eastern design elements and musical influences than the rest of the cast, except for Techno’s war theme which is just choir, bagpipes, and some sort of rhythmic ticking or thumping. Phil’s also got a choir sting but it’s a lot harsher, the ladies are higher and them men lower, and the chords are really dissonant (think murder of crows)

Tommy’s theme has a lot of drums, but its core is actually a piano melody. The inverse of Tommy’s theme is Tubbo’s, but Tubbo’s is usually played on a ukulele. Wilbur is guitar, obv, and Niki’s is on viola.

Quackity is a little saxophone lick. He and Schlatt both have a strong big band/jazz influence.

None of the instruments that play dream’s theme play anywhere else in the music. I’m thinking harp, music box, and some kind of low wind instrument.

[annunen]

NHLWAM S12 E7: Niko Mikkola & Eetu Luostarinen

I translated the highlights of the video for any florida finns fans to enjoy.

TLDR: the finns love chirping each other and Lundy needs a babysitter.

Manninen and Putkonen are the NHLWAM hosts.

Under the cut <3

Manninen: We've got two Finnish Fort Lauderdale locals here. Niko Mikkola, new guy, and Eetu Luostarinen, who's already one of the vets. So what's up?

Mikkola: Nothing bad, getting to know new places and the sun shines. Great people here.

Luostarinen: It's always fun to get more finns here. Always welcome.

Manninen: Eetu, how would you describe Niko as a person and a teammate?

Luostarinen: He's a chill Oulu guy. Chill company, easy to hang out with him, he gets along with everyone. Really nice.

Manninen: Do you agree?

Luostarinen: Sure, i'll take what i'm given.

Manninen: Counterquestion for you.

Mikkola: We've known each other pretty long. He's one of those Savo guys, a little twisted like they all are. But there's only great guys here, like i said, so it's been easy to come here.

Manninen: You got pretty lucky, your training center moved from the middle of nowhere (lit. horse ass) to the neighbor. You could bike there, have you ever done that?

Mikkola: I don't have a bike but i've been planning to buy one. It's 5 minutes away so it would be pretty nice to bike there.

Manninen: Or an electric scooter! Has anyone ever come with one?

Mikkola: No, but Kaapo Kakko always used one in NYC. I'd walk and he'd drive past me.

Luostarinen: I haven't biked there either but some guys have electric bikes. And golf carts, pretty cool that you can come to the rink with a golf cart.

Manninen: Now that's style!

-----

Manninen: I asked "Lunkka" Lundell this same question, now i want to ask you Eetu too. Looking at your points, this season hasn't been as good as the last. The big crowds only look at points, they're thinking "what's up with Eetu, he hasn't scored points". So what do YOU think, has this season actually been worse than the last, or have you actually gone forward as a player?

Luostarinen: I wouldn't say it's been worse than last season, pretty equal. Just haven't had those successes. There's also a lot happening in the background, in the game. I play a lot shorthanded too, i've got to take credit for that. If i can't get confidence from points, i have to find it somewhere else in the small things.

Manninen: Are the points so important? I don't remember if you lead the league right now, but as a team you're playing really well.

Luostarinen: It's a team game, if your team is doing well, you're doing something right, and you have to be happy about that. But if i have less points than Mikkola, that's when i should be worried.

Mikkola: Why am I suddenly being attacked?

Putkonen: God damn, throwing you under the boat, right there under that Catamaran.

Manninen: What about you Niko, do you ever set - even though you're known as a defensive brush, let's not say broom (that's Hakanpää's "nickname") - do you set some personal goals for points when starting the season?

Mikkola: Defensive brush, i'll take that. Good name. I don't really set any goals for points. The beginning of the season was pretty wild for me, but now i've returned to a normal phase. Probably getting close to 30 straight pointless games now.

Luostarinen: Yeah, early in the season they were throwing the nickname "Niko Norris" around there.

Putkola: You were on a phase for 80 points.

Mikkola: It was crazy, but now we're back to the roots. You can't only get confidence from points. You need some guys who play shorthanded, keep the own net clear. Take some confidence from those.

-----

(Someone walks by with a dog.)

Putkonen: Cool dog. How's your dog doing?

Luostarinen: Yeah, we have a new one in the family - cavapoo, it's a cavalier poodle mix. And then we have Rose, she's a little over 4 years old now.

Putkonen: Who in your team would you not let dogsit your dogs?

Luostarinen: Lunkka. Even if we speak the same language, i wouldn't trust him with them.

Manninen: Is Lunkka your team's little rascal?

Luostarinen: He is, a little. You need to watch what he's doing sometimes.

Mikkola: But he's so young still.

Manninen: You're allowed to be careless when you're young. We've been careless too.

Putkonen: ...older too.

-----

Putkonen: Roberto Luongo was in the net at your practice. He still catches pretty well.

Mikkola: Yeah. I've said that he'd only need one training camp and he could play an NHL game again. I can't score on him either.

Luostarinen: Best possible EBUG.

-----

Putkonen: Let's take some fan questions. Does Sasha "whip" (reprimand) you?

Luostarinen: No, just constructive criticism.

Mikkola: He's flicked me a couple times with a video where I ice the puck or something. More as a joke. He doesn't really "whip" (reprimand) me.

Manninen: But he gives that to Lunkka!

Mikkola: Lunkka is "in his teeth" a little. In a good way.

Putkonen: Yeah, he was already the last time we visited. Gave him an earful from some celly, telling him "don't jump to the glass, only juniors celly like that".

-----

[yellowocaballero]

Been a fan of your fics for YEARS. I was just telling my friend how despite how much I read fics I never actually love them, with some of your fics (especially TMA) as the exception. Felt the need to reread some of them and saw you reblogged some ISAT fanart. So. Any thoughts on ISAT you'd like to share?

Hope you have a wonderful day!! So happy I found your fics again!!

I avoided answering this for a while because I was trying to think of a way to cohesively and coherently vocalize my thoughts on In Stars and Time. I have given up because I don't want to hold everybody here all day and I have accepted that my thoughts are just pterodactyl screeching.

I love it so much. I have so much to say on it. It drove me bonkers for like a week straight. I have AUs. It's absolute Megbait. They're just a little Snufkin and they're having the worst experience of anybody's life. Ludonarratives my fucking beloved.

I am going to talk about the prologue.

The prologue is such a fascinating experience. You crack open the game and immediately begin checking off all of the little genre boxes: mage, warrior, researcher, you're the rogue...some little kid who's there for some reason...alright, you know the score. You're in yet another indie Earthbound RPG, these are your generic characters, let's get the ball rolling.

Except then you realize that these characters are people. You feel instantly how you've entered the game at its last dungeon, at the end of the adventure. They have their own in-jokes, histories, backgrounds, adventures. They get along well and they're obviously close, but not in a twee or unrealistic way. They have so much chemistry and spirit and life. I fell in love with them so quickly.

But Sif doesn't. Sif kind of hates them, because they will not stop saying the same damn thing. They walk the same paths, do the same things, make the same jokes, expect Sif to say the same lines. They keep referencing a Sif we do not see, with jokes we never see him make and heroic personality he never shows - they reference a Sif who is dead - and Sif can't handle that, so he kills them too.

They become only an exercise in tedious frustration. Sif button mashes through their dialogue, Sif mindlessly clicks the same dialogue options, Sif skips through the tutorial, Sif blows through the puzzles. Sif turns their world into a video game. Sif is playing a generic RPG. Sif forgets their names. They are no longer people with in-jokes, histories, backgrounds, adventures. They're the mage, the warrior, the researcher, and...some random kid.

I did not understand the Kid's presence at first. I had no idea what they contributed to the game. They didn't do anything. As a party member in a video game, they're a bit useless. Why is the Kid there?

Because Sif's life isn't a video game. Because the kid isn't 'the kid'. They're Bonnie. Bonnie, who the party loves. Why is Bonnie there? Because they love them. There is no room for Bonnie in the boring RPG that Sif is playing. And then you realize that Sif is wrong, and that they've lost something extremely important, and that they'll never escape without it.

Watching the prologue before watching ISAT gave ISAT the most unique air of dread and horror, because you crack open ISAT and you see the person Sif used to be. You realize that Sif used to be a person. Sif used to be the person who made jokes, who gave real smiles, who interacted with the world as if they are a part of it. And you know you are sitting down to watch Sif lose everything that made them a person, to lose everything that made them a member of this world, and turn them into a character in a video game who doesn't understand the point of Bonnie at all.

At the climax of the game, when the others realize that something is deeply wrong and that Sif physically cannot tell them, they realize that there is nothing they can do. So Bonnie declares snacktime. And for the first time they have snacktime.

What is snacktime? Classic JRPGs don't have snacktime. There's literally no point to a snacktime - not in a video game, and not in Sif's terrible life. It's not fixing this, because nothing can fix this. But Bonnie gives Sif a cookie and Sif eats it.

It's meaningless. It's a cutscene. It didn't save Sif and it didn't change a thing. It will make no difference in the end.

But it did make the difference. It made all of the difference in the world. Bonnie is a character who you really don't understand the point of before you realize that Bonnie was the entire point.

ISAT is about comfort media. Why do we play the same video games over and over again? Why do we avoid watching the finale of our favorite shows? What is truly comforting: a story with no conflict, or a story where you always know what is about to happen? Do you want to live in a scary, uncontrollable world, or do you want to play Stardew Valley? Do you want a person or a character?

When I beat Earthbound for the first time (and if you don't know, the prologue/ISAT battle system is just Mother) and watched the ending cutscene where the characters part ways and say goodbye...I felt a little bit sad. I wanted them to be together forever. But that's something only characters could ever be.

[crooked-wasteland]

Hazbin Hotel LiveBlog: Scrambled Eggs

So I’m watching Hazbin with my partner who has already seen the entire series. It took us 5 minutes just to get this episode to play from the beginning because it would just skip to episode 4 while the credits where playing before i could pause or rewind. That has nothing to do with the show, it just made me unbelievably enraged, so we ain’t going into this episode happy.

What is with the cat?

It’s been a week since the last episode and every ounce of progress Sir Pentious made last episode is just thrown out as an excuse to introduce yet another character in Carmella. Was there not another way to do this? Like I get Sir Pentious wouldn’t be reformed, but just having him be suddenly paranoid with no reason isn’t founded. Even just a background detail of Angel Dust watching him from a doorway would have been enough to found that suspicion. Especially when Pentious wasn’t shown to be paranoid as a trait. I get this is narrative utilitarianism, but it’s just weak and changing one character’s personality to establish a new one is poor writing.

Sir Pentious to his eggs just feels like fandom

“That’s a lot less hot” That feels out of character

So Trust exercises to tone down the sudden change in Sir Pentious’ character and also to give Vaggie a leading role. Got it. Very utilitarian, very disjointed from the previous episode.

Sidebar, I googled who wrote this episode and it wasn’t Vivienne, however I never would have known because the last episode was equally full of contradictions that it also felt like someone else wrote it. Now maybe that was because Adam had a hand in thing, but The fact I have to google this stuff to know for sure is a joke kin its own right.

I am so conflicted about Niffty. She feels less childlike here and I like find her demented fun, but last episode she was literally written as being child-like so the pain fetish going on is repulsive, despite it not being this writer’s fault. If I want to enjoy anything about this show, I really have to just see every episode as one singular complete entity without calling back on previous ones, however this is a series and thus needs to expand itself through subsequent episodes. To not do so is a failure of concept because this series is very serialized. So in a bubble I really enjoy Niffty. In the series she is a very uncomfortable character to give violent fetishes to and make them so overt. Vivienne ruined that for you all, don’t blame me. Someone should have said how this should have been scrapped before we got this far.

Zestial is suggesting that Alastor may have died at Heaven’s hand. Alastor looks away while laughing. So there is a connection between Heaven and Alastor.

Egg Bois are cute.

Carmella has a bad case of Character Design does not match vocal performance.

Velvette, please never speak again.

Velvette is now 5 inches tall

The yellow blood looks like piss

Can someone tell Lilli Cooper that a lot of British singers don’t have such strong accents when singing. Just please, it’s a great time top drop that bad accent.

James, hi, your singing voice lost the character

The kink shaming be real.

Even Charlie infantalizes Niffty. Geez

This scene in the Turf war was peak Angel Dust. I laughed.

I have to ask, was the music written before or after the singing, because for one, Carmella sounds like she is trying to be heard over it, and second the beat of the music is either lacking or there was an issue with the audio mixing because it just sounds wrong. Like there are melodies and harmonies to a score and one of those is missing. OR, the music is just out of sync entirely with the performer.

Again, just don’t have Vaggie sing. You directed the actor to perform out of her vocal range for her modal voice. Don’t do this to her.

They are not at all harmonized, this is the worst duet I ever heard. Don’t you usually have singers record duets together so they can harmonize their voices? Why didn’t that happen here.

So this big conflict for Vaggie was never a conflict. Best resolution ever.

I like Carmella’s concept. Her character design is kinda trash and the songs were terrible. There was a good idea somewhere in this episode, but from beginning to end every aspect was contrived to just make the story work for the greater plot, the dynamics between the characters be damned. There is a sense of someone wanting to have fun with it while Medrano’s stood behind them with a chokehold on the narrative. It’s disappointing and I feel the writing suffers from Medrano’s obsessive and frantic need for control. This writing feels so insecure and I can only imagine that comes from having a very narrow box to fill.

2/10

I’m taking a break.

[bl-bracket]

forgive me, I know I could do this myself but I am both incredibly lazy and incredibly curious -- you have a detailed list of which Vice Versa universe each gmmtv show is in? Could we... have a peek? if not that's all right haha

*cracks knuckles* ok so it's probably not fully complete (it's been a bit since I last watched and I apparently didn't note everything down) and I've also included some other shows too but here's what I have

Vice Versa:

Universe 1 (the starting universe): Theory of Love is a show and Gun is specifically mentioned as being a real person, Tay Tawan is also a real person/actor in this universe

Universe 2 (the one where we spend the most time in): Theory of Love is just regular reality with all the characters being real people in it, Akk and Theo from Enchante are also just regular real people in it, Tay Tawan has a slightly different name and is a delivery driver not an actor, there's a vet named Mix played by Mix Sahaphap who is a vet irl

Conclusion: most gmmtv shows exist as shows in the first Vice Versa universe, while the shows are real life in the other, except for shows starring Tay Tawan or Mix since they're regular people in that universe. This also seems to set the idea that the shows in one universe are reality in the other.

But Vice Versa isn't the most complicated one. No, it's trying to untangle the web of what My School President establishes that's tricky

My School President

Bad Buddy is a tv show in their universe and Ohm, Nanon, and Mark are all referenced to be real people in their universe, however almost the entire main cast of My School President had minor or supporting roles in Bad Buddy so there's a lot of doppelganger stuff going on here

P'Aof makes a cameo as a different person (Tutor Nop) and references ATOTS with A Tale of Thousand Scores, but P'Aof directed Bad Buddy which is a show here so another doppelganger

Gun auditions at GMMTV records so they exist here

Now the special Our Skyy 2 episode takes place in an alternate universe and there they make references to Bad Buddy, A Tale of Thousand Stars, and He's Coming to Me

In the Bad Buddy and ATOTS Our Skyy episodes, they reveal that they take place in the same universe. I posit that this gives weight to the idea that He's Coming to Me also takes place in this universe.

BACK TO MSP, I saw a post that shows that there is like background easter eggs that show that MSP and The Eclipse also share a universe.

The Eclipse is then a tv show in Wandee Goodday, meaning that MSP is probably also a show in Wandee Goodday's universe

CONCLUSION: The characters of My School President are real people in the Universe 1 of Vice Versa and are characters in Universe 2. This is because of the existence of gmmtv and recognition of the actors and whatnot. This also means that the characters in The Eclipse are real people in universe 1 and characters in universe 2. Which means Bad Buddy, A Tale of Thousand Stars, He's Coming to Me, and Wandee Goodday would take place in universe 2 (which might be why we Mix as just a vet instead of an actor because his characters are real people), and Wandee Goodday would be a tv show in the MSP/The Eclipse universe.

Also, gay marriage is legal in Thailand in Universe 2. Tian and Phupha get engaged in the Our Skyy 2 special and I jsut saw that Fluke said that Oyei and Cher are married in Wandee Goodday, which also adds water to this theory!

Am I overthinking this and none of this was actually intentional by the people at GMMTV? Absolutely! But it's fun to think about and as long as you allow for the existence of doppelgangers (and ignore that the changes Vice Versa established as being true in Universe 2 doesn't appear at all in the shows that supposedly take place there) it doesn't completely contradict itself!

Now don't ask me if Midnight Museum fits into this because I have no idea where to begin with their multiverse

[likeadevils]

Why isn't TTPD (based on Metacritic score) as critically acclaimed as Taylor's recent past albums, specifically Folklore, Evermore, and Midnights?

after reading the negative interviews here’s some common threads (i’m saying these as charitably as possible but like don’t get me wrong i disagree with some of these)

it’s long, and there’s definitely some tracks that could be cut (there is no common consensus on which tracks exactly, largely because they don’t actually say which ones)

the album isn’t playing in new sonic territory as much as folkmore, and to a lesser degree, midnights, especially the jack antonoff tracks

a combination of the more laid back sound, mixed metaphors, and flowery language make it hard to feel like the songs are building to something. instead it just ends up putting equal emphasis on the whole thing and thus making it all fade into the background

she’s saying she’s struggling in her lyrics but it doesn’t come through in her delivery or instrumentation

it’s still the same types of things she’s been singing about since she was a teenager, making the album seem even more muted

her songs swing from super flowery language to super conversational language and it makes the flowery language seem overwrought and the conversational language seem cringey (can not stress how charitable i am being with this. the amount of reviews that will just take a lyric out of context and be like, isn’t this bad? moving on!)

funny things i noticed

people still don’t like taylor swift writing songs about things that happened to taylor swift and at this point i just don’t know what to tell them

there’s a lot of thinly veiled, or just outright said, “young fanbase means bad art” going on

the paste’s review is ridiculous. in one paragraph she’s like “she’s too relatable!” and in another she’s like “she’s too unrelatable!”. i’m pretty sure it implies taylor wrote my boy only breaks his favorite toys to capitalize on barbenheimer. like. i get having someone who isn’t a fan of taylor review her album but at a certain point it’s like, well yeah if you’re looking for reasons to not like taylor swift then you’ll obviously find them. and like, for a random hate listen, fun whatever, but if you’re going to be professionally reviewing her album at least be consistent about why you hate it (also. side salad. whenever people hate taylor but love cjr i’m like. right cool uhuh you sure are invested in not liking taylor as a personality trait rather than a matter of taste)

everybody likes but daddy i love him. even the most negative reviews were like, to be fair, but daddy i love him slaps and the line “i’m having his baby! no im not but you should see your faces” is funny (which feels a bit hypocritical in all the reviews that are like ‘she keeps writing the about same stuff that she did as a teenager!’ but like. bdilh is just that good so i understand)

[soombee]

🫂 ｡ﾟ⊹ you’ve built a home in my heart — 06. neymar jr #10

:: u got up at 2 am to get some snacks at the convenience store down the street. for your inconvenience, you quietly opened the door to meet a peculiar sight, someone trying to sleep on the floor across the hallway because their roommate has their gf over .. ?

warnings ⚠️ none

word count !! 829 / 0.8k words

incheon, 2:51 pm

knock knock knock — you hurriedly made your way to the door, not wanting riki to wait any longer

“kiki !!!” you quickly greeted him at your door, “really.. a neymar jersey? you literally wanna be me so bad..” you revealed your shirt to him, neymar jr #10

“no, U wanna be ME” he exclaimed “i was waiting for you to change earlier, so im the original here”

“u wanna be like that then, one v one me rn” your cockiness got ahead of you all because you beat minjun, the schools soccer goalee.

to your knowledge, you didn’t know riki was an ace striker, you just knew he was on the team. challenge him to a one v one was one big fucking mistake.

the afternoon sun illuminated the soccer field, casting a golden hue over the green grass. you and riki stood on opposite ends, eyes locked in playful determination. the sound of your laughter and riki’s anticipation filled the air as u prepared to beat the fuck outta him (not rlly)

as the game progressed, you and riki’s connection grew stronger. your movements became synchronized, instincts aligning flawlessly, and, coincidentally, your play styles complimented each other really well. after all, he did coach you how to play

“look over there!” u used the oldest tactic known to man and he STILL fell for it. you took this chance to score a free goal on him. you focused your gaze on the goal, mind set on one thing: scoring. you ran up to the ball and your foot connected with the ball in a powerful strike, its trajectory aimed directly at the goal.

but in an unexpected twist of fate, riki, who was quick to react to your tactic, darted towards the net to intercept the shot. his eyes fixated on the ball, unaware of the collision. the ball hurtled toward riki’s direction.

your heart skipped a beat as you watched the scene unfold agonizingly slow. there was no time to react, no way to alter the aftermath of the play. the ball connected with an audible thud, but instead of finding its intended target, it struck riki’s face

“OHMYFUCKINGGOD” your eyes widened with shock and remorse, quickly making your way towards him, “AREUOKAYIMSOSORRY”

“im okay dw yn, ive had it worse” he comforted you, “its all part of the game”

your expression softened with gratitude, “i fr didnt mean to hit you. i was aiming for the goal, but..”

riki’s eyes sparkled with mischief as he gently patted the top of your head. “next time, maybe just aim a little lower, alr?”

your heart suddenly skipped a beat as riki’s hand gently brushed against your head in a playful gesture. a rush of warmth flooded your cheeks, turning u into a tomato. in that simple act, your composure crumbled, and mind became a whirlwind of emotions. your thoughts stumbled, and words escaped them momentarily as they grappled with the unexpected fluster that coursed through their veins. “o..okay..” it was a tender touch that ignited a storm of fluttering butterflies, leaving you breathless and utterly captivated by the presence of riki

the game resumed but the soccer field had transformed into a backdrop for something much greater — an awakening of emotions and a journey of self-discovery.

with each passing minute, the world around you faded into the background. the field became your sanctuary, where the only thing that mattered was the beating of your heart and the person in front of you. the shared moments, the shared laughter — the bond that extended beyond the field

as you two played, your eyes wandered to riki’s face, captivated by the way his eyes sparkled with enthusiasm and determination etched across his face. the intensity of the game mirrored the intensity of your newfound love, planting seeds of something more profound within your heart

in one core moment, you dribbled the ball towards the goal as riki charged forward, attempting to intercept. your eyes met, time stood still as you saw riki in a new light. it was in that moment that your heart fluttered intensely, a sudden realization dawning upon you, your feelings for riki had grown beyond friendship

6:44 pm

as the sun began to set, you and riki met in the middle (y dont u js meet me in the middle 🔥😭), your chests rising and falling with exertion

u locked eyes with riki and the air between you shifted with unspoken words. your heart pounded in your chest as you struggled to find the courage to voice your ‘good games’

“good game, kiki” you stuttered, “too bad i won eight to two”

“ggs ynnie, and u DEFINITELY won that”

yn..nie? what a cutie..

little did you know that that single game of soccer had set the stage for something new — an exploration of your emotions and a path towards a love that could intertwine your life in beautiful and unexpected ways

riki plz read minjuns comment and dont mjsread the situation 😂🔥

☆ prev || m.list || next — ♡

taglist (open) !! @aernx @namelesssuser @alicesolengg @woon2u @wonsc4tz

[paladinbaby]

the hunter & the rabbit

robot rebellion, emily axford / true blue, boy genius / the wee free men, terry pratchett / the house on the cerulean sea, tj klune / i worried, mary oliver / @curseworm / wild geese, mary oliver / @romanceyourdemons / lucy dacus on her song christine / why be happy when you could be normal, jeanette winterson

[Image Description: Ten images of text, mostly black on a white background except the last which is a photo of a book page in low light. The images alternate being one or two to a row.

1: “we can run, we can run, we can run / and it’ll be a race, just you and me / cause they can’t keep up with their metal feet / we can hide, we can hide, we can hide / and you can build a fire in a cave / and i can conjure shadows for a play

cause i am not afraid to die / long as you’re here by my side”

2: “Because it doesn’t matter anymore / Who won the fight? / I don’t know, we’re not keeping score / And it feels good to be known so well”

3: “He said it was better to belong where you don’t belong that not to belong where you used to belong, remembering when you used to belong there.”

4: “When something is broken, you can put it back together. It may not fit quite the same, or work like it did once before, but that doesn’t mean it’s no longer useful.”

5: “Was I right, was I wrong, will I be forgiven, / can I do better?”

6: “im extremely devout but nobody can figure out what im worshipping”

7: “You do not have to be good. / You do not have to walk on your knees / for a hundred miles repenting. / You only have to let the soft animal of your body / love what it loves. / Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. / Meanwhile the world goes on.”

8: “i love when a character has something terrible happen to them and as a result they can only see themself as, essentially if not literally, a ghost. and so that means they only can (and have to) do what ghosts do, ie get revenge and then cease to exist. easy as that. but then halfway through this ghost vengeance they realise hey actually i might still be a human person. with human needs. that’s incredibly inconvenient, considering how much i’ve invested in this whole ghost thing”

9: “She was dating this guy who at the time was just not treating her right, and I played her the song. I was like, ‘I just want you to hear this once. I’ll put it away, but you should know that I would not support you if you get married. I don’t think this is the best you could do.’ She took it to heart, but she didn’t actually break up with the guy. They’re still together and he’s changed and I don’t feel that way anymore. I feel they’re in better place, but at the time it felt very urgent to me that she get out of that situation.”

10: “I was hurt. / It is never too late to learn to love. / But it is frightening.” End ID.]

[vigilskeep]

i just wish to inform you that i am insane about tristan. as an avid cousland stan he compels me in ways i cannot fully put into words. does he have interests outside of the courtly duties he had to learn? like does he care for battle strategies and such?? what is his opinion on loghain??

yes he has a very well-rounded noble education, combat too!! despite knowing the kind of life he was intended for, they couldn’t blatantly leave him out without risking questions, they couldn’t risk him being the only heir left and untrained if anything happened to fergus, and also i suspect bryce has no idea how else to interact with a child. between that, his magical training, and his noble education, tristan barely had any time for interests of his own, and it’s almost lucky he’s a creature of boundless roaring unspent energy. he’s intelligent, chivalrous; though he’s not nearly as talkative after the events of the origin, he’s wry and charming and he should be well-spoken and well-read enough to hold his own when asked to speak on anything. i’m drawing on, like, chivalric archetypes, courtier ideals, and even, idk, regency novel style standards for the “accomplished lady”. he can charm, he can entertain guests, he can rule, he can fight, he can play music, he can cast judgement, he can write, he can settle land disputes, he can cast walking bomb, and hell, he can even dance

physically, these days, he doesn’t train as much as he did as a boy hoping he could convince his father of a few things, but he still maintains his fitness. a little more vanity in that than dedication to combat, though, lmao. it mayyy be more about looks nowadays than actual strength. also just about being a big wolf in a small cage who is so foundationally bored. the same way cousland’s mabari acts up in the castle because it’s a war dog playing nursemaid. you gotta pace along the bars of your enclosure sometimes, because eventually you run out of books to read and catastrophically bad ideas of who to sleep with. he has a high-ish con score for a mage that i would put down to the above

as for loghain, he was a hero of his as a child. i think a specific part of tristan’s background is being raised on glorified tales of the rebellion and idealising that, romanticising it, and coming to understand that he would never be permitted to achieve anything like the warlike standard that had been set up for him. (he has such bad luck with this. he used to be genuinely fond of arl howe because his visits meant news from outside highever and stories from the old days.) anyway, with loghain, tristan also likes the idea of a historically great “right hand man” somewhat in the shadow of his king’s greatness, because tristan believed he would always be effectively that to his teyrn father and brother. at ostagar he’s spitting mad at cailan, and only his respect for loghain has him following the plan. tristan’s not got quite the head for pitched battle strategy—that was one of the things he was explicitly not really trained for—but he’s educated in history, he’s as good as you’ll find in siege warfare, etc. similar to alistair, he has every good, knowledgeable, evidence-backed reason to trust in the ostagar strategy. afterwards, he can barely react to loghain’s actions. it’s something of a quiet final death knell for the person he used to be, the things he used to believe in, when he wakes up in flemeth’s hut. howe could be an anomaly; loghain can’t

but it’s worth saying that if tristan said what he wants to say to loghain about ostagar—that if he had any heart, any honour, he’d have stayed with cailan, died with cailan if necessary—he’s not really talking about loghain. or ostagar. survivor’s guilt is a bitch

[clairedaring]

Hi, I've seen your blog and it appears to me that you've watched a lot of gdh movies. So I was wondering this: what is your top 5 gdh movie? I, for my part, have only watched two so far: oh my girl ! and you, me and me which is one of my favorite movie this year so far.

it brings me to tears (happily) whenever someone talks to me about GDH films ಥ_ಥ so here are my favorite GDH films (in this order as of this moment, no. 2 to no. 5 interchange from time to time depending on my mood)

1. Bad Genius (2017) and Bad Genius: The Series (2020)

So whenever I'm asked about GDH, the first film I instantly recommend would be Bad Genius. Because not only is Bad Genius imho THE film that puts GDH on the map, I think it has a lot of influence on Thai cinematic works, and to some extent television works.

Essentially, Bad Genius is a story about Lin, a straight A student who team up with her friends to pull off a large scale cheating scheme on an SAT-like exam. It's a heist thriller drama that definitely leaves me feeling stressed out as hell as if I was there in the testing room with those students.

I know it's kind of a cheat to also add this, but whenever I recommend Bad Genius, I also must recommend Bad Genius: The Series which is a 12 episode series that serves as a more detailed+sequel version of the film. I love this series because the young actors of the series gave me a fresh take on the characters I already know and loved so I had a great time falling in love with all of them again. The series fixed a few plotholes/qualms I had with the cinematic version as well as an extensive background story on Bank (played by Nonkul Chanon in film, Jaonaay Jinjett in series), my favorite character from this franchise so Bad Genius: The Series is the one work I cannot recommend enough.

One of the things I love about the series as well is that it also maintained the exact same vibes and cinematography like color-grading, camerawork...

2. OMG! Oh My Girl (2022)

I am a sucker for 'seemingly unrequited love' and 'right person, wrong time' tropes so this film really hit ALL the spots for me at its release.

Stylisticaly speaking, I absolutely love the Wes Anderson-esque zoom-in-from-afar shots for comedic effect. many stellar comedic moments where i laughed out loud. I think the humor in this film is poignant, accompanied by great comedic timing from both leads.

One of the highlights of Oh My Girl aside from the many subversions to romcom clichés, I like how Guy (the ML played by the incredible Sky Wongravee) was a morally grey protagonist and that the film isn't afraid to call out his problematic "nice guy" facade. He's a self-aware jerk and I genuinely love his self-awareness.

3. One For The Road (2021)

So I didn't watch this at release and it took quite a while before I gathered the determination to sit down and watch this on Netflix on a late rainy evening. Little did I know, I would soon be crying screaming bawling my eyes.

One For The Road is about Aood (Ice Natara) who enlists his estranged friend, Boss (Tor Thanapob) on a road trip to return items to his exes before he dies.

If I had a nickel for every time GDH wanted to give me a selfish, jerky male protagonist, I would have like four or five nickels but it's crazy that it's happened so many times (formulaically one would say) and here I am still empathizing and crying over these kinda jerky male protagonists.

The soundtrack was just brilliant. To quote a review I once wrote, the director, the music score and composer were truly out for blood with the soundtrack for this movie and they did it. This film is a good example of how important soundtrack and film scores are to elevate the narrative being told.

There are so many things to praise about the production but if I had to choose one thing, it would be the excellent mise-en-scene of this film. Every shot is dazzling, intentional and fill with metaphors. It was truly beautiful.

4. Not Friends (2023) 

So I went into this thinking it would be Thai take on Dear Evan Hansen but I was so glad that it wasn't the case even though there are similarities.

Not Friends continues to deliver GDH's classic "selfish jerky male protagonist" with Pae (Anthony Buisseret) who just transferred to a new school in his last year of high school. Seeing no chances in getting into university through the entrance exam, Pae decides to enter a film contest by making a film about Joe (Jump Pisitpol), his seat mate who recently passed away.

The film had me bawling my eyes out in theatres by the end. I love that there were a lot philosophical questions like how much we value a friend's worth in the film. If you like Baipor/Anthony tandem in You & Me & Me, Not Friends is a must-watch for this acting duo reunion.

5. The Con-Heartist (2020) 

So for the last spot, I debated a lot between two romantic comedies (both starring Baifern Pimchanok), The Con-Heartist (2020) and Friend Zone (2019). I recently rewatched the former and was reminded by how much I love the zany humor in this film so she gets the last spot.

The Con-Heartist is about Noina (Baifern Pimchanok), who is in debt because of her ex-boyfriend so she hires a con artist, Tower (Nadech Kugimiya) to help her get revenge against her ex-boyfriend by swindling him.

Even though it's billed as a romantic comedy, I think it's more comedy-leaning compared to Friend Zone but I love the comedic moments the two leads, Baifern and Nadech. พี่ไม่หล่อลวง by BamBam is the OST song for the film and it has never left my Spotify Wrapped for the last 3 years 😭

+bonus: How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies (2024)

This is the first GDH film from 2024 and although it comes out in like two weeks, I can feel it's going to dethrone one of the films in my top 5 list for sure. If you're thinking of going to watch something at the cinema soon, I hope you consider checking out Lahn Mah this April!

I hope you give one of these GDH films a chance. I love watching GDH films because although they can have different directors/team of scriptwriters, they always end up with certain similarities (be it cinematography or screenplay or characters). While not all GDH films are incredible masterpieces but out of the Thai production houses for films, I would say GDH 559 (and its predecessor GTH) has the most solid record of having strong and compelling cinematic works.

[elfroot-and-laurels]

I am coming home to you and Griffon - Oswin for the wip ask game :)

I am coming home to you I talked a bit about here but I have a bit more to share hehe

It feels like a sick joke. Looking at Skavak’s name, knowing he’s dead, that she had killed him with her own hands and the blaster still on her hip. It feels like someone is laughing, somewhere, and it isn’t with her, but at her. Nissetta stares at Hylo’s message on her holocomm a moment longer. She smacks a hand down on the screen, closing it. And then she opens it up again, staring at the letters as though they’ll tell her something new and secret. How many people in the galaxy knew about her and Skavak, their spacer’s feud, their battle for Nok Drayen’s treasure? How many people still know? And how many people know that Skavak is gone?

Nissetta doesn’t want to go to Nar Shaddaa. She shuts her holocomm one more time. She thinks about it. About Gus and Bowdaar and Akaavi, back in the hangar. Maybe they’re enough, enough to fill the empty hole in her chest left. Maybe they’re not, and whoever this is—whether it’s the person she wants it to be most in the universe or it’s someone with a grudge and a score to settle—maybe this will put an end to the beating pain in her chest. She turns around, heading past Aygo and a dozen Alliance personnel. She doesn’t alert anyone, not for this trip, not as she heads to her freighter, braving the misting rain across Odessen. Nissetta is going to go to Nar Shaddaa.

And @lyana-chan also asked about Griffon - Oswin so that just means I have to share! That one is from my DAtober spate of origin stories for my background Fereldan Grey Wardens. Oswin makes it to Ostagar, where he features in my longfic, but he had a life before that, too, like all the others. They’re all based on characters I made to play through the various origins, with a few friends and mutuals having characters who also make appearances.

Funny enough, the Wardens come the day after Berta’s funeral. Or maybe it isn’t funny. Oswin can’t really tell anymore, not when he’s trapped here, in this town high up in the mountains, this town where no one ever comes and no one ever goes and even the dead linger. They say it’s an old Avvar custom, the way they offer the bodies to the birds, but Oswin just thinks he would rather burn them. Bury them. Anything to keep his mind from the flash of white in the corner of his eye every time he turns a little too fast. Anything to keep her from haunting him.

“Take me, too,” he says to the recruiter, a man named Duncan. His skin is dark, his features a disarming blend of soft and sharp, and his eyebrows raise high on his forehead at Oswin’s words. Higher even as he glances down at him. Oswin knows he’s a scrawny beanpole. He knows that he looks even smaller next to Edmund, whose muscles almost seem to strain against his skin, begging to go back to work in the quarry. But he cannot stay here. The Wardens are his only way out.

“It is not an easy life,” Duncan offers. His words do nothing. Oswin fires back almost before the air has accepted the sounds and given back its silence.

“Here’s not easy either.”

[copper-dragon-in-disguise]

Could you do me a favor and tell me literally every piece of info abt dnd you can? Asking for an aster

@amethyst-aster (just so you see it)

hello!

so. this is long which is why there is a cut. i feel i ought to foreworn you that i read the entire players handbook cover to cover the summer i turned 11 because i was lonely and autistic. i memorized it (mostly. little rusty on some of the magic rules but whatever). /not sarcastic so! this is EXTREMELY LONG.

first up! your basics:

dungeons and dragons is a tabletop roleplaying game first created in 1974 by gary gygax. that's not so important. what is important is this: it is currently in its fifth edition (shorthanded as 5e). that is the one i know the most about and it is personally the one i think is the easiest to play, but thats my own preference. my biology teacher thinks 5e is bloody stupid and he plays the second edition (2e), which i find much harder and more limiting.

There are three core rulebooks, and a number of supplementary books.

The most important of those three (and the only one you need to know, really, unless you're the one running the game) is called The Player's Handbook (PHB). It contains the rules for building a character and playing them.

Because it will run you upwards of $50USD per copy, here is a pdf of it on archive dot org.

The other two is the Monster Manuel (MM) (a book of all the monsters in the game) and the Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG) (a book of how to run a game, but you don't need it as a player). They are here and here.

There are a number of d&d youtubers who have tutorial videos on this type of thing. my favorite is Ginny Di, but there are literally dozens out there.

BASIC TERMS

A Character sheet is the thing you have all the information about your character recorded on. It comes in several variations, but this is a free form fillable pdf version, and this is a free printable (both from the wizards of the coast (wotc) website, but the second is hosted on archive.org) (wotc are the company that owns the copyright to the game).

A class is the vocation of the character. its what they do with themselves, but its not necessarily a job.

A race is the character's species. this is also called their species, but in offical material you'll see it called their race.

A background is how their past shaped the character.

A backstory is that past.

Ability scores are the abilities of the character, they are determined with dice rolls. There are six of them, and many years ago someone explained them with tomatoes and that's still the easiest way to explain them in my opinion. You figure them out by rolling 4d6 and adding up the three highest numbers, for a total of 6 times.

ID in alt text. [I cannot find the original source, I am sorry, nor the graphic's source]

There are various types of dice, conveniently labeled with this image below:

ID in alt. [Source]

The d20 is the most important; its what you'll use to roll ability checks and saving throws and etc.

If you don't have your own physical dice (they are advalible online, at barnes & nobles, and at your local gaming store, but many people don't have a local gaming store (me)), you can roll them on many websites. My preferred one is this one, but any work. Google has its own built in, too.

MAKING A CHARACTER

So. You have your dice, now what?

Now you make a character sheet! there are many videos online explaining how to do this (there is a lovely one here and here), but i'm going to explain it here how I generally do it.

Step 0- OPTIONAL:

Take your character sheet, and come up with an idea. Who do you want to play? A gay disaster who can shapeshift? a hobbit? a chaotic ginger with too many cats and a habit of making deals with eldritch powers? You can be whatever the hell you want. alternatively, you can look at the options in the PHB first, and go from there.

Step 1- Pick a race/species.

There are well over 30 of these, and I'm not listing them all. But the ones advaliable in the player's handbook are as follows:

Dwarf. Your sterotypical mining, axe wielding, beared fantasy dwarf. ex: Gimli, in Lord of the Rings

ID in alt. [Source]

Elf. Traditionally depicted as tall, graceful, and living in the woods. Generally have pointed ears. ex. Legolas in Lord of the Rings.

ID in alt text. [Source]

Halfling. Literally just renamed hobbits, so they don't get sued. Known for being short and excellent cooks. ex. Frodo, Sam, Merry, & Pippin from Lord of the Rings. (I can't seperate them, it feels wrong)

ID in alt. [Source]

Human. We all know what humans are. Generally viewed as very adaptable species in d&d! also in real life. ex. Bill Nye the Science Guy.

ID in alt. [Source]

Dragonborn. A bipedal species descended from dragons. They're cool as shit. ex. I literally cannot think of one i'm sorry.

ID in alt. [Source]

Gnome. Known for being very tinkery, small, and causing mischief. Also, for some reason, for being in gardens. ex. Pike Trickfoot from Critical Role.

ID in alt text. [Source]

Half-elf. Half elf, half something else! They generally have a lot of angst, but not always. Sometimes people say they combine the best of both worlds (elf and human), and sometimes people say they have it really shitty. ex. Keyleth from critical role.

ID in alt. [Source]

Half-Orc. half orc, half something else! I dunno really how to describe them. ex. Fjord Lavorre from Critical Role

ID in alt. [Source]

Tiefling. A humanoid species with horns and a tail, and often brightly colored skin. Extremely Gender in my opinion.

Step 2- Pick a class.

There are 12 core classes, and one more added in a later book. I'll go over all 13!

ARTIFICER. A magical tinkerer. A bit like leo valdez in pjo? Their core stat is intelligence. In my opinion they're very complicated for a first character ever, but do what you want its your game i do not care.

BARBARIAN. If you want to wear no armor, have an axe (or other weapon), and charge into battle shouting, this is the class for you! its fun and decently simple for first time players, in my opinion. Core stat is Strength (and constitution).

BARD. Someoe who uses the magic of creation to do shit. Also known for seducing anything that moves, but that's optional. Core stat is charisma. Seems simple at first, but they have a lot of spells to manage at later levels, but they're not too hard. The main guy in the d&d movie is one.

CLERIC. They're healers and warriors. Generally have got some sort of divine magic, but don't necessarily have to. Semi-difficult? I haven't ever played one, so I don't know how easy it would be for a first character ever. Main stat is wisdom.

DRUID. Person who turns into animals and respects the enviroment. Basically, the lorax, but less orange and with more turning into animals (druid lovers out there i am sorry for saying y'all are the lorax please don't come after me with pitchforks). they're okay for a first character but they can be a little confusing. Main stats are wisdom (and constitution).

FIGHTER. Someone who fights things. The most basic of the d&d classes, and one of the simplest for first time players, probably, but I haven't ever played one so who knows. Main stats are strength or dexterity.

MONK. Person who punches people a lot. Like Aang from avatar: the last airbender. Main stats are dexterity and wisdom. They seem simple, but one of the mechanics is slightly confusing, but they're still really simple.

PALADIN. Your tradition knight. A guy (gender neutral) in plate armor with a horse and loyalty issues. I love playing paladins so much, they're great. Personally I think they're a little confusing. Main stats are Strength & Charisma.

RANGER. Someone who wanders through the forest and fights things, like strider (but not like aragorn) from lotr. Core stats are wisdom and strength. My first ever character was an elf ranger named Thia Nailo. She was awesome. Rangers can also have pet panthers and shit, and sometimes small dragons (not tiny dragons, though. Like horse sized dragons).

ROGUE. A thief. My second ever character, and the first one who I played for any significant length of time (thia's campaign died out) was a half-elf rogue named Enna Helder-Kromlin. Rogues are a really good class for first time players, I feel like. Core stat is dexterity.

SORCERER. Someone born with magic. Main stat is charisma. They can be a little complicated.

WARLOCK. Someone who made a deal with some sort of higher power (eldritch being, god(s), etc) for magic. they make bad decisions for a living and its awesome. my favorite ever character was an elf warlock named Mara. Her patron lived in a shield and she had a wisdom of 5 but a charisma of 20. Core stat is charisma.

WIZARD. Gandalf. Someone who studied magic and learned it that way. Main stat is intelligence. They can get really complicated, really fast, but they're still a viable option for your first time.

Step 3- Backstory

There are other things to do, but its late and i'm tired. What you need to do from here is figure out what your character's life was like before now. Or, if you dont want to, then get a vibe for their personality or something.

NOW WHAT?

When you have a character, your DM (Dungeon master, the person running the game, the ''narrator'') will give you scenario, and you roleplay your way through it.

Literally anything can happen. It's d&d. the rules are suggestions, not actual rules. Make it what you want it to be!!!!

If you have other questions please contact me I love them even if it takes me forever to answer them sometimes.

[greenjudy]

Rook notes, part 3

Deep in Act 2. Bear in mind I have not finished the game yet, so some of these opinions may be revised by future events. No plot spoilers here, but some general tone and structure observations.

-For those who might think I’m playing too nice with Veilguard, here is a criticism: I rather wish all the personal quests had not been stuffed into Act 2. Putting on my filmmaker hat for a second, I have visceral memories of wrestling with structural issues in timing and the delivery of information. It really feels to me as if the team was not given enough time or agency to fold in the personal quests in a seamless way, and the “team in disarray; needs therapy” was a bit of scotch tape to join the personal quests with the main arc.

You want team development—you want people to have arcs. But even DA:2, which had an ungodly dev timeline, was able to flow Fenris’s story—or Isabela’s, that’s an even better example—into the unfolding of events. I have compassion for the devs. I myself have applied the adhesive tape. I know what it means. It’s not a game-breaker for me, and I’m sure the devs themselves wish they had been in position to do this in a less heavy-handed way.

-I have played the Kindest Rook Imaginable, and was richly rewarded by getting called a sap by Neve. While I love this guy and will never forget him, I look forward to making a plethora of Rooks. Like wine and food pairings, I want to create a Rook that will bring out the nuance in each character. 

-Davrin and Assan give me Star Wars vibes. Even the color choices of Dav's clothes somehow remind me of Star Wars. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Original Star Wars Vibes are very special. They’ve been emulated so much at this point that it’s not always easy for me to remember that. 

-It’s true that Emmerich is operating in a very Disney system of tropes. That said, people seem to be forgetting that Bioware, given the opportunity, likes to foil player expectations. From that standpoint, Emmerich is a subversive choice. Back in The Day, Grimdark was itself a subversion of the hero format, but by now it’s become de rigeur to be horrible and ghastly and soulless. I can easily imagine the Bioware devs subverting Grimdark tropes and expectations quite gleefully. 

-I do not mind revisiting maps to do side quests. I like getting to know places. These are places in the world, not just places to fight things and loot stuff. But I am the person who likes to eschew the fast travel options whenever possible. The fact that I am starting to know my way around Dock Town is a plus, not a minus, in my book. It means the game is working for me.

-I have heard a few pieces that upgraded my initial impression of the score, but I can’t shake the feeling that for Zimmer, this was just another job: “Background music for fighting. Got it.” Trevor Morris, you are deeply missed.

-People are really malding about not being able to be evil. I would like to agree with other observers who have pointed out that Rook is structurally quite different than the HOF, Hawke, or the Inky. The Hero of Ferelden was a Grey Warden. Wardens were sometimes murderers, yo. This is a faction as grey as its name. Hawke could make some foul choices, but Hawke’s becoming Champion of Kirkwall was more or less the tumbling-out of fate. They could be a perfect asshole and would still be Champion, because of fate. Inky’s situation is similar. In fact, the idea that Inky could become a tyrant was teased early in DA:I but that game never really delivered on that promise. All three of these protagonists fell into their role as center of the narrative universe. 

Rook’s different. Rook was recruited by Varric. You may wish, Grimdarkly, that Varric was the kind of guy who would recruit an asshole because he (of course it’s a he) gets the job done. But Varric has a character of his own, evident in his own conduct and decisions across DA:2 and DA:I. 

The moral universe of Veilguard is shaped by Varric’s choices. 

There’s a lot more to say, specifically about Rook being a therapist-hero and a very potent foil for Solas. But I have a sinus infection right now and putting that together will require brainage I do not currently possess. 

Rook out; back soon.