#going back to my roots (young k posting on here) kinda

[eyelessmp3]

young k from dingo’s tipsy live

[bigskydreaming]

This isn't a meme thing or anything but I was wondering if you had a top ten favorite characters from books? I actually end up getting a lot of good book recs from reading your blog so I was just curious lol.

LOL I wasn't going to do this ask because I was like ugh I suck at top ten lists because I can never pick just ten. But then I thought about it for like, five whole seconds and realized I DO have ten standout characters in answer to this so its like oh hey, learned something new about myself today! Lmao.

Anyway, in no particular order:

1) Anyanwu - from Wild Seed by Octavia Butler - Can not stress how like fucking...formative Anyanwu's character was for me as an abused kid who first read this when I was like 12. The book heavily deals with the back and forth across centuries between these two immortals, Anyanwu and Doro, as Doro basically tries to control her every which way he can, and Anyanwu just defies him at every turn, and it just....you love to see it. She's a bad-ass and I adore her.

2) Prince Corwin and Merle Corey/Merlin - from Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny - Yes I'm cheating but its me so you should have seen that coming. Another fave series from when I was in middle school, its ten books in total, and the first five are in Corwin's POV and the second five are in the POV of his son Merle/Merlin. So I maintain it counts. And is fine. Shhh, let it go, Elsa said so. ANYWAY, I actually probably like Merle better than his dad, because I mean, lbr, Corwin is a total asshole. But he's MY asshole, y'know? Wait, that came out wrong. Don't quote me there. But you know what I mean. Merle is a lot more level-headed, and quick-witted I think, and I like his supporting cast of relatives who want to kill him and he sometimes want to kill more than his dad's supporting cast of relatives who want to kill him and he always wants to kill, but like. Both are Valid. Also shout out to Fiona and Rinaldo, with a side shout out to Flora, who are probably my next three favorites from the series. Dara would be up there too but she knows what she did.

3) Elric/Corum/Dorian/etc - from the Eternal Champion books by Michael Moorcock - Look I'm already cheating so why not continue on a theme. But basically this counts too, I'm just saying. See Michael Moorcock's big project going all the way back to the 60s was he created a fantasy multiverse of different dimensions where this one Eternal Champion, meant to balance the scales between the Lords of Law and the Lords of Chaos, like, is reborn over and over again in different incarnations but who are all essentially him. So Elric of Melnibone, Dorian Hawkmoon, Corum I can never remember his last name.....they're all essentially the same guy.....but they're all at the same time very very very different, and they have extremely different storylines. But I maintain if you're gonna read one you kinda gotta just read them all, all Pokemon like and such forth, because the real beauty of these books is seeing the familiar traces of the Eternal Champion threaded through each of these incarnations but also contrasting how different they are from each other and like, looking at what makes them so different each time and how much it stems from their environment and situations, etc.

4) Civet - from the Dragons of the Inland Sea series by Laurence Yep - This is a kids' series, like for ages 10-12 kinda, but easily my favorite from when I was a kid. I reread them so many times, and I love pretty much all the characters from Shimmer to Thorn to Monkey, but Civet was always a standout. She's essentially a tragic character and her ending is bittersweet, but like.....she fully knows who she is and what she's about and makes no apologies for that, and she ends on exactly the note she wants to. Like, her story and her characterization was pretty damn dark for such a young-aimed series, but that's part of what drew me to it, it managed to capture the tone it set out to convey but in a completely age-appropriate way, and in an era when most books aimed at kids dumbed down most of their story concepts and themes, this one was refreshing for just being....real. Despite being blatantly fantasy. Also the Boneless King is one of the best villains ever, despite being deliberately over the top a lot of the times....idk what it was about him, but he was just chilling.

5) Jack the Bodiless and Diamond Mask - from the Galactic Milieu series by Julian May - These are linked as well because they're a couple and their stories intertwine so much that there's no real point in separating them y'know? That's my story and I'm sticking to it. But anyway, they're a weird choice for me because Julian May is hit or miss for me overall....I HATE her Saga of the Pliocene Epic, which is technically in the same universe as her Galactic Milieu series, but they have totally different vibes and the latter series doesn't contain any of the elements from the Saga of the Pliocene that I loathe, so it just works. Plus it has Jack and Diamond Mask, and like.....I don't actually know why I love them so much? They're just so different from pretty much any other characters I've ever read. Like, May does a lot of really high concept stuff across the board, but Jack and Diamond Mask are like.....high concept character wise? If that makes sense? Its okay if it doesn't. I'm literally just spitting words out here. Honestly, its hard to say anything specific about them because so much of their characters conceptually just doesn't make sense without knowing the in-universe concepts that led to them even existing, but like. They're weird and off the wall but still astoundingly human for all that and I love them.

6) Naomi Nagata - from the Expanse books by James S. A. Corey - I mean, if you've seen me ramble all the Naomi love in my live-watches of The Expanse TV show, this should be no surprise, but my love for her in the books like, exists manifold. She's great in both, but the books cover so much more content-wise, that her character has so much more room to breathe and be explored in all kinds of directions the TV show never touches on. The funny thing is, I actually prefer the TV characterizations overall....I think the authors of the books are actually pretty shit at characterization a lot of the time, but the basic thread of Naomi's character is consistent and the sheer abundance of story material she has in the books like.....keeps me going back to them even just for her. Her conflict with Marco in the books in particular just has so much more depth than in the show....like, I don't hate the show's version at all, anyone who's seen my posts there knows that lol, and I'm not actually even sure which version I actually like more in terms of that particular storyline.....but I just love that both versions are so different, while still being recognizably the same, y'know? I don't even know. Nobody knows. Its a mystery. Just nod and say yes, shh, its fine.

7) Locke Lamora - from The Lies of Locke Lamora/The Gentleman Bastards series by Scott Lynch. This is an odd one for me, because in one sense Locke is a very contrived archetypal character from an author that doesn't always pull it off as successfully as I feel he thinks he does.....like, what I mean is Locke is inherently that type of character that is SUPPOSED to push buttons and straddle a line between likable and unlikable....and to be fair, that is VERY hard to pull off without at least some of the time falling on the wrong side of that line and alienating at least some readers. But there's something very genuine or sincere feeling about the character underneath all that, which is ironic for a character who is an acknowledged pathological liar and hardly ever tells the truth....like I said, its an odd one for me because I can't actually put my finger on what makes this particular character work for me when so many similar characters just bug the crap out of me.

8) Damien - from Black Sun Rising/The Coldfire trilogy by C. S. Friedman - This one is a whole fucking lie because I don't actually even like Damien that much lmao, but the thing is, I don't have a particular fondness for any of the characters in this series? But I gotta put it on the list anyway because I just love the world in this series so much, and its practically a character in and of itself. Like, so this was a science fantasy series set on a distant planet in the future but otherwise steeped in fantasy archetypes about spirit creatures that only Adepts could see, and like, Fae and life energy and sorcery that had roots in scientific principles but was otherworldly all the same. And that's like.....all literally my jam, and so I can't deny that this series was very formative for me even if its not the best example of those concepts. Its just the one I tend to go back to the most in my mind, like....the world and its characters are very standout and larger than life for me, even if they don't specifically APPEAL to me? They're impactful all the same. Its another odd one. I'm odd. You just kinda gotta roll with it. Its a thing. Its factual.

9) Yeine Darr - from The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin - This was a tough one because I love literally everything by Jemisin and all her characters are just so....ooof. They're very very real, even in the most fantastical of settings. I have mad characterization envy every time I read her stuff, but like. Its so good. So really the struggle was picking one character or even two, because I mean, The Fifth Season and its sequels are easily her best known works and have a ton of fantastic characters, and I think her Dreamblood duology is vastly overlooked but in the end I had to go with The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms even if just cuz of nostalgia. Its the first of her works and when I first started reading her and so its just.....anyway, if I was gonna go with that, it had to be Yeine, because she's so central to everything and also just....fantastic. Nahadoth and Sieh are also standout characters who get mentioned a lot in talk of this trilogy, and they're both such big personalities that at times they kinda overshadow Yeine, but Yeine has such a compelling.....undercurrent to her that she never actually gets lost in the shuffle even when surrounded by all these larger than life gods, and just. You love to see it. I do anyway. And its my list so nyah. But also if you're gonna read Jemisin, read everything Jemisin. It just makes sense, y'know? Good for the pores.

10) Cayal and Arkady - from The Immortal Prince/The Tide Lords by Jennifer Fallon - All the other Tide Lords can rot, but Cayal is hilarious in a depressing way. He's a ten thousand year old immortal whose greatest wish is just to die, which is how he meets Arkady who is a historian who just wants to like....know everything he knows once she realizes he actually is the figure of legend he professes to be and is so mad at him for not really giving a shit about all the weight of history he's been present for, but Cayal's just like, umm, I LIVED it so that's why I don't care, I'm allowed to not care, that shit hurt. Did you miss the part where one of the other Tide Lords threw a fucking meteor at me? And Arkady, distinctly unimpressed, is just like....I thought YOU did that, to Jasper. And Cayal's like, no that doesn't sound right. And Arkady's just like, you literally JUST told me that story. And Cayal's like, huh. I must have been lying. I do that sometimes. And Arkady's like, I thought you never lie, that's your whole thing? And Cayal's like, ahah, but what if THAT was a lie too? And Arkady's just like, bitch I hate you so goddamn much, how are you the worst of all the Immortals while still the only one who will actually talk to me and answer my questions. Cayal's like, we may never know.

Anyway, there's my list but like there's a lot more obviously because I'm me, I don't do moderation, its against my religion, but also I have to stop some time and the ask was for ten and those were the ten that popped into my head so they must be the right ones! Probably. Until I change my mind at least.

[pikapikarawr]

I-Land Ep 4 Thoughts

**Spoilers warning

As more episodes pass, the more I'm starting to dislike this voting system lol. At first, it was a nice idea that the I-Landers would get to pick their teammates, but now, it's just too un-objective, ugh. The original 6 I-Landers that have never left just seem to stick together, which seems increasingly unfair.

Grounders Fire Performance

They had a solid performance. I agree that they seemed to have more consistent facial expressions and feeling of the song overall. Glad that Jay brought them together and they did well! :) Everyone looked so fired up and serious. The Grounders are coming for you, I-Landers! >:)

Jay was a good center! He fit the vibe of the song really well. 

Niki's facial expression was awkward during his part when he shrugs and says "gwaenchanha" (괜찮아). The first part he sang was good, but then when he said gwaenchanha, that smirk looked so awkward. I think that's the reason or part of why he didn't get picked to go up.

I’m surprised Hanbin took the vocal part (part 4) that Geonu did. He didn't seem like he's a vocal position. Mm I feel like he hit the notes and his voice was powerful enough, but the pronunciation still sounded a little off.

Voting/ Changes in Teams My prediction was right that all original grounders got voted back to ground. Poor Taeyong who got stepped on got sent back. I thought Yoonwon had decent facial expressions when I watched his fancam, so I didn't expect him to get voted off, but the I-Landers got the impression that he didn't work hard enough. Man, it must really suck being the one with 11 votes because that means everyone voted for you :(.

Sunoo got in the Top 5 and still got voted out. These people need to stop voting Sunoo out because he's just going to keep coming back lol and he deserves to be there. I kinda don't think he should debut with them anymore because wow, they do not deserve him if they keep treating him like this! lol. The same thing with Daniel haha, they both seem more cheerful and have a friendlier vibe than some of the other Islanders. I think they should just debut together with some of the other grounders at this point. Can the grounders just debut a group too? Because they’re winning my heart more than the I-Landers >_<. I think the I-Landers keep voting Sunoo out because he has a more bubbly personality and doesn't really match the others. But I think it's good to have more variety in the team and he seems like someone who could boost the mood. Maybe he rubs the I-Landers the wrong way somehow that we’re not seeing, since he keeps getting voted out even though he does well.

Such a cruel twist of fate that K used his exemption card to save Jungwon, but then caused Taki to go ground :(. K got a good edit here and we got to see his human side of feeling guilty for sending Taki to Ground, even though unintentional.  I think Taki is too young, both in age and maturity to debut though. He still seems and looks like a little kid. Even though he's talented and likeable, I think the Company just sent him there to get some exposure/experience. 

On a side note, I thought it was funny when "everyone" was surprised that Jungwon got voted out initially. Obviously some of you voted for him, why are you surprised?? lol probably it was the grounders that voted for him. I like Jungwon, but it would've been nice to see one of the Original 6 to go down to ground. That alliance is really becoming too powerful. And it'd be nice to see Jungwon interact with diffent people and experience the friendlier environment of Ground. I'm pretty sure he'd be able to go back up.

I was completely off on my prediction on who'd go up to I-Land lol. I was right about Jay, but wrong about everyone else.(Edit: oh I was right about Jake too haha, so 2/4 right. Better than I thought). It's hard to guess who will go up without seeing the performance though. I'm glad Jake went up and got to be reunited with Sunghoon :) and I was surprised, but happy that Youngbin went up! Glad to see him improve :). He only had 1 line again, but he always does his one line really well.

The Vocal/Dance Choreo and Reps

I'm surprised that the Grounders Dance video seemed to be made specifically for Nicholas and (kinda) Taki to be in. It's possible that someone else could do the locking part, but really no one in the show can do the bboying part except Nicholas. There's an airchair to nike part in that dance, which is probably impossible for someone with no bboying experience to learn and perfect in 5 days.. Are the producers giving Nicholas a chance because they want him in the group? So far he hasn't really stood out much. Or maybe that was like a "suggested" dance break and they can change it? haha I guess we'll see.

When Niki thought Hanbin was a better dance rep than Jaeho, omg I got so excited. I was like yes, Hanbin, show them!! I thought it was nice that he thought about Jaeho's feelings, but Niki was right that he should also consider the good of the team. I liked that Jaeho was accepting of the results and what was best for the team. He didn't take the change personally and continued to work hard. He really wanted that part.

When Zico asked who was the dance rep, Hanbin had such a big, proud smile on his face when he raised his hand. Aww he looked soo happy :)).

It would've been so hype if the Jopping team was reunited! But it seems like Hanbin originally picked to join the Vocal Team, so during the mid-evaluation, I don't think he had enough time and he hadn't memorized all the choreo yet. What a shame :(((. I hope Hanbin gets his confidence back and makes it to I-Land! He has that personality/vibe that I just want to root for >_<. I think he might get into I-Land from the global vote, I don't know if he'll make it to the final group though.

Sunoo and Daniel for the vocal reps!! I loved this team :). It was a blessing in disguise that they both got voted back to Ground. If they were in I-Land, they probably wouldn't have been able to perform because Heesung automatically takes up a vocal spot lol and Geonu has shown more of his vocal ability to the rest of I-Land, so would've been more likely to be voted over them. And like I said before, the I-Landers don't seem to appreciate them -__-".

Funny moments:

In I-Land, the 2002 team (Sunghoon, Jake, and EJ) was so cute. The caption was something like "they're not really in sync, but they're having a good time" hahah. It would've been nice if we saw a clip of them perform.

Mnet is on the Sunghoon and Jake ship, and same lol. There's a dedicated 5 min clip of them just arm wresting on Mnet's youtube channel. I really hope these 2 debut together. Sunghoon has a pretty high chance, but I'm not sure how popular Jake is / his skills, since he hasn't been a trainee for that long. He seems popular internationally, but not sure about in Korea.

*Taki thinking about doing the vocal position* Niki: “We need to do the dance position :)”  hahah Niki’s so straight forward and  honest xD

Rain after hearing Seon and Jaebom: “Nothing can happen to Heesung and Geonu” me: *ded*

Predictions:

Both vocal performances were solid. I don't have much to say about them and I'm not good at judging vocals. I think the I-Landers will probably win the vocals round though.

From the previews, it seems like the Grounders will win the Dance portion and maybe overall. From the demo videos, the Grounders choreo seems .. more difficult and flashy? They have the bboy part and they have the flip that Niki does. The I-Landers video didn't seem to have any stunts like that, the only part that I remember/stood out was that there was krumping. I liked K’s intro that he made for One of a Kind, that had a chill/cool vibe.

It will be interesting to see Sunghoon krump next week :0. He seems soft and his dance has been more chill/graceful from the first two performances. So we'll see how he'll pull off krumping.

After the last test (test 4), the producers will pick 3 and the I-Landers will pick 3 to go down to Ground. FINALLY a chance for some objectivity and to break the Original 6 alliance (and for Seon to go to Ground lol). 

Even Seon admitted that he knows that he's probably not there because of his skill. For someone who was on Produce 101, he is doing a bad job of not being evil edited. You’d think he’d know better.. I think because he's older, he's just really desperate to debut and maybe this is one of his last chances. He's probably also not confident of his skills and thinks his skills aren't good enough, so he's been doing these kinda manipulative/sneaky things. If he worked/focused on his skills and showing a better personality more, I think it’d be harder for them to evil edit him so hard. I hope Mnet stops evil editing him tho, I feel bad for him. I read some posts that said he’s actually really nice and would make a good leader, but Mnet just hasn’t showed that on the show yet :/ so idk.

Thank you if you made it this far :)). Sorry it’s so long lol, I have no one to talk about the show in real life, so I just post all my thoughts here :x.

[theseerasures]

Conspicuous Media Consumption, 2020

it’s that time of year again! *saddest toot from the party horn*

for those of you just joining us: it’s a “consume a different content every week for 48 weeks of the year” challenge. for a longer explanation, check out last year’s write-up here, and as always, feel free to pop in and ask questions about any and all of this content.

(same disclaimer as last year too: content for this project ONLY here, and not certain...*looks at my billion Sad Cop Lady posts*...hyperfixations.)

(man remember when i was big into X-Men comics earlier this year? better times than these, if only because no one's discoursing about Emma Frost’s woobie/war criminal ratio anymore--her w/w, if you will)

(...i swear at one point i didn’t exclusively like platinum blondes but alas)

Bitter Root (comic, 1 issue finished 1/1/2020): still very cool on a basic concept level, but runs into the Image Comics problem of just not having enough content to keep my interest beyond that. part of that is on me, for picking it up again BEFORE the second arc rolled out, but the first five issues didn’t really follow (or resolve) any cohesive story either, so...meh.

Immortal Hulk (comic, 3 trades finished 1/17/2020): still not gonna be something i care deeply about (maybe one of Bruce’s Hulksonas dyed his hair???), but i do want to give kudos to Al Ewing for sheer consistency in terms of sustaining this level of quality storytelling month by month for more than two years now. working with the dense archive of the Hulk mythos and managing to make it interesting and thoughtful is impressive even if i personally would not expend the same effort.

Disco Elysium (game, finished 1/18/2020): honestly i should have twigged onto what this year was gonna be like when the third thing i drew from the barrel was pure uncut Eastern European flavored depression. i faintly recall people ragging on it for being pretentiously cynical, but i actually thought its core slid more towards idealism than people give it credit for. also gratified that i haven’t heard anything about Robert Kurvitz using slave labor to finish it, which is a thing we have to say about our video games now!!! fun.

Watchmen (TV, 7 episodes finished 1/27/2020): i am a fool who wants to believe in Damon Lindelof and I WAS RIGHT!!! honestly still cannot believe that he pulled off this highwire act with such deft aplomb. might be my favorite TV this year, which is a pretty high bar given how much TV i ended up watching.

On a Sunbeam (comic, finished 2/1/2020): Tillie Walden rightly deserves all the praise for inventive queer storytelling, but i will say that on reread--since i first read this as a webcomic--there ARE some issues with pacing here that clearly come from the foibles of its original intended medium. still just excellent, even if after some plot significant haircuts i was having trouble telling a few folks apart.

Lazarus (comic, 1 trade finished 2/8/2020): it’s so good and i want moooooorrrreee--though obviously Rucka and Lark have the right to take all the time they need. the newer longer issues work really well with the epic prestige drama vibes of the story! i’m into it.

The Good Place (TV, 4 seasons finished 2/18/2020): i’m gonna be super honest: i actually wasn’t a big fan of the finale, nor the last season as a whole. it felt like all of Eleanor’s flaws vanished for a majority of the season, and the Chidi-centric episode where they tried to give a legible justification for why he’s Like This was...i didn’t care for it. still, it’s so good and unique on the WHOLE that we’ll literally never get anything like this ever again, and that counts for a lot.

The Old Republic (game, finished 2/21/2020): it’s an MMO so it will never actually Be Finished so long as the servers aren’t shut down, but i caught up on the content i’d missed in the intervening months. Onslaught thus far has mostly been...kinda bland tbh; going back to Imps vs. Rebs after all the shakeups in the previous expansions feels like a waste.

High Road (album, finished 2/22/2020): someone should tell Kesha not to say that word!! otherwise i was very happy with this album, and happy FOR her even though we don’t know each other. being able to find joy again in the same genre of music you made while you were being horrifically exploited is very cool.

Young Justice (TV, 13 episodes finished 2/28/2020): given how much the middle stuff dragged--STOP KILLING YOUR HIJABI CHARACTER IN HORRIFIC WAYS--i was...actually kinda mad by how the end managed to stick the landing anyway. the day being saved by Vic’s self-acceptance and Violet’s sublime compassion was A+, and even the Brion/Tara switchup was a pleasant surprise, though it relied on me caring about Brion MUCH MORE than i actually did.

Manic (album, finished 2/29/2020): do people still care for/about Halsey? i feel like even That One Song that was on every tumblr gifset ever has kinda faded into obscurity at this point. this album was...okay. i feel like people give Halsey a pass for extremely obvious lyrical turns that they wouldn’t for other folks because of her subject material--which is fine. not really my cup of tea, but i also listened to lots of Relient K this year, so that’s probably a good thing.

Jade Empire (game, 3/10/2020): the only 3D-era Bioware game that didn’t franchise out, and for good fucking reason!!! the Orientalism and appropriation really haven’t aged well, and even beyond that the story was...standard Bioware faire. even my usual “my wife’s a bitch i love her” Bioware type didn’t do it for me, and i just ended up romancing no one. it did make me think a lot about what level of cultural borrowing is accepted nowadays, and why: people still look fondly at Avatar and talk about how ~accurate and respectful it was, for example, despite it being staffed almost entirely by white folks, and the Orientalism ALL OVER the monk class in DND is still fine for some reason.

Alif the Unseen (book, finished 3/31/2020): interesting to have read this AFTER reading The Bird King last year, because it highlights how the intervening years have shifted G. Willow Wilson’s thematic interest and improved her craft. i’m actually quite fond of how her characterization work is rougher here--Alif is extremely flawed to the point of being insufferable, but it makes his development by the end more satisfying. Dina is also just good and i love her

Baldur’s Gate (2 games, finished 5/31/2020): well, having finally finished the series i’m happy to say that it...still doesn’t really do it for me, sorry. any awesome story moments were overshadowed by the EXCRUCIATING inventory management system and the combat (i still don’t know what a THAC0 is and at this point i’m afraid to find out). these games crucially lack the Home Base that later Bioware games were so good about, and that (coupled with the huge cast of characters you can drop off and never see again) really hurts the intimacy for me. by the time we finally did get one it was the Hell Dimension in Throne of Bhaal, and i was just...trying to get through it. (yes, i did just say that about one of the most beloved expansions ever to one of the most beloved games ever.) THIS particular iteration of “my wife’s a bitch i love her” was very good, but the game wouldn’t let me romance her :(

The Underground Railroad (book, finished 6/19/2020): honestly what is there even left to say at this point! it was exactly as good as every critic on the planet said it was, even with my usual aversion to hype. draining and horrifying in turns but still insistent upon a future for Black folks.

Steven Universe (6 seasons and a mooooooviiieeee, finished 7/11/2020): yes, i DID finish the show and almost immediately begin a rewatch. this series is now one of my top five most formative things, and the amount of love and respect i have for it is incalculable. that said: i once again did not love how the central conflict of Future was resolved (just the resolution--i loved the finale just fine). for all of Steven’s breakdown was built up, resolving it with “EVERYONE HUG HIM UNTIL HE CRIES” felt...cheap, especially since up until this point the show had been so good about treating trauma and mental illness with the respect and nuance it deserves. it made me wish some of the earlier, less substantial episodes had been cut so we could spend more time at the end.

What It Is (comic, finished 8/19/2020): y’all i love Lynda Barry SO MUCH. for the longest time i was worried that One Hundred Demons was more a lightning in a bottle situation but every book of hers i pick up makes me feel obscure emotions i didn’t even realize existed. the compassionate way she’s able to describe her child self and how weird and fucked up she was (and still is) is honestly aspirational.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (TV, 5 seasons finished 9/26/2020): so here’s a reversal of what i’ve been complaining about with other shows: i was mostly lukewarm-to-warm about She-Ra, but the later seasons and the finale made me much more into it as a whole. more shows should improve in stakes and overall quality as they age tbh!! i still don’t actively love Catradora (my sole quibble with season 5 actually has to do with the way Adora kept backsliding as a character to make certain Plot/Relationship things happen), but i’m very happy for them nonetheless. i can certainly appreciate a show that will go for High Feeling over tight plot. dark horse standout moments: trees growing everywhere proving that Perfuma Was Right, and Hordak and Adora seeing each other--that weirdly intimate moment of recognition.

Fetch the Bolt Cutters (album, finished 10/7/2020): again i find myself not having much to say that no one else has said. it’s good! once again love it when an artist reclaims something they’d attached with negative affect (anxiety, depression, disordered eating) for better and brighter things.

Solutions and Other Problems (comic, finished 10/25/2020): i was very into Allie Brosh’s ambition with this book, which feels weird to say but i stand by it. it’s cool to see an artist try to make a new medium work for them instead of just sticking to what already works. not all the experimentation was 100% effective, but it was still delightful and occasionally devastating to read, so.

Legend of Zelda (3 games: Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Link Between Worlds, finished 11/1/2020): this was the third time i’d played Ocarina of Time, which made it the nice, comforting groove i settled into before Majora’s Mask blatted me in the face. i’m not usually a completionist Zelda person because...the gameplay in Zelda is bad, do not at me it just is, but i really felt like i HAD to be one for Majora’s Mask since the whole point is to get attached to the banalities of the town. i’m sure nobody’s surprised that i loved it, even if it gave me an existential crisis about how life goes on in the game for NPCs when you’re not there to save them from it, and there’s not enough time to save them all all the time (also not a surprise to anyone: Romani and Cremia gave Personal Feelings). Link Between Worlds...bad. not like in a “this is a bad story by every measurable gauge” way, but i was already struggling with the 2D playstyle shift enough that for the whole story to end with some “yes it’s v sad that Lorule is Like This but trying to steal Hyrule’s privilege is Even Worse Actually” noblesse oblige bullshit left a VERY poor taste in my mouth, this year of all years. i did audibly gasp when Ravio took off his mask, though. i’m currently playing Breath of the Wild in cautious increments; it’s the first time i’ve enjoyed early Zelda gameplay, but if they wanted fully voiced cutscenes i wish they got voice actors who...knew what words sound like.

folklore (album, finished 11/6/2020): my belief that Taylor Swift is Just Fine continues, i’m afraid. i LIKED this album, don’t get me wrong, and respect her constant drive to innovate, but i didn’t love it substantially more or less than any other Taylor Swift album. mostly i’m just tickled by how she thinks leaning into the indie aesthetic means borrowing Vita Sackville-West’s entire wardrobe, though i will admit to feeling Something when she swore in a song. i think it was like. savage vindication?? you go ahead and swear, Taylor Swift. you deserve it.

Shore (album, finished 11/19/2020): do people still care about the Fleet Foxes? i think there was some Drama with Josh Tillman a while back but i don’t remember where the discourse landed with who was being more problematic. it was nostalgic for me to listen to their new album--made me remember being an undergrad who exclusively listened to men who mumbled and played acoustic guitar all over again.

Star Wars (3 movies: original trilogy, finished 11/27/2020): there is So Much bad Star Wars these days that every time i rewatch the original trilogy i’m afraid that they will suddenly be bad, but guess what! they’re not. i love these children and their hot mess stories, i love that Lando doesn’t know how to say his best friend’s name. what stood out to me this time was the way Obi-Wan described the Force in A New Hope, which strongly implied that ANYONE can be Force Sensitive; that obviously faded with each subsequent movie, but part of me does wish they’d kept it.

X of Swords (comics, 22 issues finished 12/5/2020): i am enjoying Hickman’s X-lines!!! not so much here for the Grand Conspiracy or whatever, but the character work and highkey weirdness is fabulous--they FEEL like X-Men, despite all the shakeups in-universe. this crossover is a nice microcosm of all that: grandiloquently all over the place, but still full of cool standout moments and genuine hilarity. ILLYANA DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO SPELL MAGIC.

Fire Emblem (4 games: Sacred Stones, Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn, Awakening, finished 12/14/2020): this was the thing that i was closest to giving up early on, but i ended up hyperfixating on it instead. that’s a credit to what the gameplay does to my lizard brain more than anything else, because the story and character writing is...insipid. it was very bizarre to witness this franchise blunder around with its animal-people racism allegory around the same time i was getting back into RWBY, and ITS animal-people racism allegory blunders. Awakening was the first time i felt anything for the franchise beyond “teehee red units disappear make exp bar go up and brain go ding,” so i’m excited for more mature storytelling in subsequent games (they MUST get better. they MUST). the child husbandry thing is...very bad tho, and Apotheosis being “challenging” entirely through the game changing all the rules is also bad.

once again no vidya games that came out this year--i’ll probably pick up Spiritfarer or Hades after the New Year, though (or maybe TLOU II! but probably not. sry Laura and Ashley). more TV and franchises this year, which made me feel In Touch with the Children but was also kinda exhausting. nothing was so egregiously terrible i dropped it without finishing! in a year like this that feels almost like an accomplishment

[medea10]

My Review of Domestic Girlfriend

[studious-kiddo]

A List of Asian music artists/bands (but mostly Asian American)

Just organizing my notes on my phone and thought I’d share! Includes commentary/notes that no one asked for! Feel free to add! (But I’m excluding The Big Three (Japanese Breakfast, Mitski, Jay Som), 88rising and k-pop in general):

I haven’t been keeping up-to-date, but shout out to Boston talent:

-Really From: jazz/math rock/punk/pop? sound, includes vocalist/keyboardist Michi Tassey (half-Japanese) & vocalist/guitarist Chris Lee-Rodriguez (half Chinese, half Puerto Rican). Signed to Topshelf so you know they’re good :~)

-Paper Citizen: indie rock project of vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Claire Gohst (Singaporean), who is also part of the lgbt community! And works w/ Lysten Agency, and all the agency’s artists are gr8 soOo

-Honey Cutt: dreamy surf rock three piece band. They’re passing by the city so gotta go see them but I got finals!! ah! Features Chris Chew on the drums & he has a great aesthetic; he’s a graphic designer too and has his own solo project that’s v pink.

-Mint Green: four? piece pop punk band; saw them live at the Great Scott and was the highlight of my otherwise v boring summer tbh. Includes Daniel Huang on the drums; he wore a Paramore shirt at the concert i went to which was Cool 

-Magic Man: ??? do they still exist? But shout out to Sam Lee!

********

Indie pop & rock cause I don’t know the difference lmao:

-No Vacation: Bedroom pop? Also signed to Topshelf lol. Includes front woman/guitarist Sab Mai (her voice is smooth like butter), bassist Marisa Saunders, and keyboardist Nat Lee. Nat signed a poster for me and her signature has a panda bear doodle in it. Love!

-Ginger Root: Indie pop, kinda funky, very summery. Led by Cameron Lew!! 

-Hana Vu: Singer-songwriter-producer all-around Cool gal (Korean & Vietnamese). Indie rock/pop? i think.

-Mellow Fellow: very mellow lmao! Synths, chill. Solo-project of Polo Reyes (Filipino).

-SALES: Indie pop, light & breezy. A duo that includes Jordan Shih on the guitar/programming! 

-Crumb: Jazzy, indie rock. Fronted by Lila Ramani (Indian-American). Four piece band went to Tufts soOooooooo Boston-based at one point? :~)

-i///u: “neo-soul”. Features drummer Billy Wu and keyboardist Jason Chan.

-Phum Viphurit: neo-soul & indie rock! Thai singer-songwriter.

-Strawberry Generation: indie diy? pop. Features vocalist/guitarist Luk Yean (Singaporean) and vocalist/keyboardist Valerie Zhu.

-Art School Jocks: “existential basement pop.”  Their website is down so I’ll update later ig, but I know that two members are Asian, just forget which ones yike

-Sobs: indie pop! Singaporean band.

-Superorganism: Fun Internet pop band. The lead vocalist Orono Noguchi (Japanese) likes Goodnight Moon ASMR so yes. Also includes backing vocalist/choreographer Soul/Earl Ho (Korean).

-Tangerine: Indie rock three piece band! Featuring sisters Marika and Miro Justad (half-Korean).

-Kero Kero Bonito: fronted by Sarah Midori Perry (half-Japanese). Pop! But now a little more rock with her newer stuff? Anthony Fantano gave her albums good ratings if that means anything lmao

-beabadoobee: indie, acoustic-y, kinda soft and sad lol. Project of Bea Regner (Filipino).

-Sunset Rollercoaster 落日飛車 : Taiwanese band. Soul, chill.

-Ruru: Solo project of Denice Quimbo (Filipino). Bedroom/dream pop but also jazzy-ish.

-SASAMI: dream pop, lo-fi, indie rock, all that cool stuff. Project of Sasami Ashworth (half-Korean). She was in Cherry Glazerr at some point too!

-corner club: indie duo, jazzy but also folksy, cute songs? Acoustic guitar. Everyone needs to listen to ‘em!!!!

-Say Sue Me: South Korean indie surf-rock band.

-Miya Folick: Indie pop! Half-Japanese singer-songwriter.

-Haley Heyndrickx: Indie folk singer-songwriter (Filipino-American). Lots of guitar.

-Lucite Tokki: Korean duo. Indie/synth pop. 

-Dama Scout: Indie rock trio fronted by Eva Liu (vocals & guitar). 

-CHAI: Japanese indie pop band. Super catchy!

********

R&B:

-Raveena Aurora: Indian-American singer-songwriter. Voice is smooooth & she is a Queen.

-SATICA: Project of singer-songwriter April Nhem (Cambodian-American).

-cehryl: One-woman show (Chinese). V chill.

-RINI: Filipino-Australian singer-songwriter.

-Sam Rui: Singaporean singer-songwriter. Some soul too!

-Joy Crookes: Half-Bengali singer-songwriter. Amy Winehouse 2.0!?!??!

-Joyce Wrice: Half-Japanese singer-songwriter.

-Jeff Bernat: Filipino-American singer-songwriter. Sometimes raps!

-Alextbh: Queer Malaysian pop and r&b artist. Him and Sam Rui collabed on a song! V chill.

********

Pop:

-Rina Sawayama: Japanese-British singer-songwriter, Dancing Queen & Icon!

-Yuna: R&B sometimes too! Malaysian singer-songwriter and guitarist.

-Sophia Black: pop and r&b! Half-Japanese singer-songwriter.

-Lexie Liu: Mandopop & rap/r&b. Cool stuff!

********

Electro-Pop:

-Sundial: pop duo featuring Dorothy Chan (Chinese) and Jisu Kim (Korean).  Cute stuff! They do some really nice YouTube covers and they both went to Berklee so they were Boston-based for a bit :~)

-khai dreams: idk his name, but khai dreams (half-Vietnamese) is a one-man show! Soundcloud vibes, like the lo-fi, Anime Study Beats side of it. I went up to him after one of his shows to be like “when’re you coming thru NY again?” and he misheard me and was like “i don’t work here” and i just walked away because anxiety yikes

-ÊMIA: Anh Le’s project! Idk when i’ll post this, but she just released a new song and it’s on my morning commute playlist lol.

-Manila Killa: V electronic. Project of producer Chris Gavino (Filipino). I first saw him in an interview with sidewalk talk (Asian-led interview series! And a really good one; def check it out!) and he seems like a really cool guy!

-Yaeji: Not really pop ig lol. Korean-American electronic musician.

********

Math Rock:

-Elephant Gym: Taiwanese band. Also kinda funky/jazzy! And also signed to Topshelf lmao. A fave right now; i have their audiotree live session on repeat as study music!

-Covet: Fronted by Yvette Young, who plays guitar and holy crap! So talented!

-Tricot: Japanese all-girl band signed to Topshelf :~) 

********

YouTube talent:

-Conan Gray: half-Japanese singer-songwriter. Indie pop, a King.

-mxmtoon: half-Chinese singer-songwriter, ukuleleist. Cute tunes.

-Louie Zong: his tunes! are so cute! and funky! Also went to tufts so…boston?!?!?

-Mabel Ye: love! her! ah! She collabed with Louie so that was like a better crossover than infinity war ever was.

*********

Non-ballad sounding Chinese groups that I’m hoping will help me learn the Mother Tongue:

-Frande: Indie rock? Idk! But they sing slow enough that my brain can sometimes process their words lmao

-Astro Bunny: borderline ballad LOL.

- 老王樂隊: upbeat indie folk? Idk!

-my little airport: cute! But my canto is even worse than my mando :~(

********

Misc:

-Xiu Xiu: the fave! Includes Angela Seo.

-Boys Age: kind of like Richie Woods.

-Ian Chang: he’s a drummer!

[taeguboi]

BTS x Other Idols pt 1

Request: ‘ Bts X other idols?’

It’s in 2 parts because these four came somewhat easily but I’m still thinking about the other three at the moment.

This post: Rap Monster, Suga, Jimin, V

Next post: Jin, J-Hope, Jungkook

BTS x Other Male Idols HCs:

Rap Monster x Young K (DAY6) - YoungMonster 영몬스터

Whilst I haven’t seen any Day6 / bts insteractions yet, it is now a dream of mine since my obsession for Day6 has grown extortionately

Smart and offensive

Brains brains brains

“I’ve always wanted to try bass”

*Young K starts to teach him*

*string snaps after two notes*

Falling asleep on the sofa together

after a busy day of trying to create the best collab track

Imagine that duet...

Or it’s just Young K asleep on the couch

and Rap Mon decides to put his stuff away for him

but halts when he reads what Young K has been writing

It’s beautiful, breath taking

and then at the bottom of the sheet, it says it’s for him

Don’t fully know their own strength

“Hey guys, can you help lift this furniture with me?”

“Sure”

*SNAP!* *THUD!* *TWANG* *insert all the onomatopoeias*

The hottest couple on Halloween

(I’ve just seem Young K as a vampire and oml)

Hands hands hands

Interviews and recorded interactions be like

Rap Mon: “Call him Young K”

Looking at you Jae...

s e x  a p p e a l

OFFENSIVE

Fans would be like

“Hello, police? Yeah, I’d like to report an attack”

“Emergency services? Ambulance please. There’s been a murder”

and then your friend is at your hospital bedside like

“All they did was do a vlive together”

“WITH MALICIOUS INTENT!!”

Back to the hands

their fingers intertwine so perfectly

Jackson sometimes third wheels them

Like the Young Monster are about to have a moment

they’ve just gotten emotional after an argument

and are about to lean in for that make up kiss

then Jackson comes jumping in between like

“Let’s go grab a bite to eat!!! Whoo!!”

*simultaneous sighs* “Fine, let’s go...”

Ignore age, Jackson becomes their kid

so they let him run ahead to finish their moment

but he realizes before they can do that

“Come on guys! Let’s go!”

Suga x Chanyeol (EXO) - YoonYeol 윤열

Baby faces

Manly voices

Matching black tracksuits

don’t forget the baseball caps that hide their faces from the world when they just cba

Chan gets a bit eaily shook sometimes

but Sugs is used to is because of Hobi

kinda tol x kinda smol

Forming a side band together

Yoongs on piano / synths

Chanyeol on guitar

plus some other people they know I guess

Because it’s like a rock band, they play it cool on stage and on camera

but once that red light turns off, they’re so cutesy

and so gay for each other

but breathe a word about that and u die

Sugs might act cold and indifferent

but then Chan does something romantic and

Sugs is putty in his hands

Jimin x Taemin (SHINee) - 2MIN 둘민 / 2민

Okay this one didn’t need considering; I adore SHINee and I adore this interaction... Some say they’re probably doing the do... I mean, you know, maybe, but here’s a completely fictional HC haha [In which Jimin breaks a lot of hearts, particularly up10tion who seem to be mostly Jimin biased hahahaha]

Time for another idol appearance

Kai is a mutual friend

The most beautiful dance collab

it’s how the 2min emerges actually

All those rehearsals and getting to know each other

until Kai can’t make it to one of the sessions

2min getting flustered 

because it only just clicks in that moment 

that they might be low key crushing on one another

Kai comes back next time like

“Are you guys a thing yet?”

“What do you mean?” 

“Come on, it’s obvious”

That couple everyone adores

Smol children that need looking after

until everyone finds out they’re a thing

then suddenly, they seem less pure

‘Magic hand Taemin’ finally touches something that he doesn’t lose or break

V x Baekhyun (EXO) - TaeBae 태배 

Jesus, there’s so many to choose from! There’s Minjae, Minho, Hoshi, Hyungsik, Daehyun.... but I just had to go nuts and pick one of my BTS biases with my EXO bias and khhhfbdskfnbhgfbsnfkdlk the footage of them doing Rainism oml especially when at the time, Minho was also my SHINee bias I could have died 

Social butterflies

Casual fashion 

which still gets them a photo shoot for Vogue 

Strange habits and quirks

probably annoy the shit out of YoonYeol

Charisma and manly charms on stage

Cutesy puppies off stage

competitive

but with kinda pointless things

first it’s like push ups

but then tomorrow, they’re seeing how many items they can fit inside a balloon

“Tae? Where’s my plushie?”

*looks across the room to see a plushie character head sticking out of a big ball of rubber*

Video games

sharing headphones

Outdoor dates

Teacher Tae because Baeks wants to skateboard

a c t o r s

they both get cast together in this k drama

it was supposed to be quite serious

but they add their own comedic element

and the directors can’t not incorporate their off camera gimmicks 

and elements of their outtakes

it becomes an international success

it’s like the next Strong Woman Do Bong Soon:

a bit gay but both characters are completely straight

i think

fans are watching religiously each week

who will the main lady end up with?

neither: they run away into the sunset lmao... jks

2nd lead syndrome either way

no matter who you were rooting for

They start playing cupid with other members

only their choice of girl is the right choice

and not to get too nsfw but

Showers together

AEGYO

This wasn’t very specific so I just looked back on previous BTS interactions that I can remember and picked some favourites as well as creating my own (but not with GOT7 members since I already made this post, and not iKon either since I have that waiting in my box...)

I’m sorry at how long I’m taking to do requests recently! I just don’t care to close the requests either because I think people should be able to ask whenever they want, whenever they find my blog and see I do requests.

[earlyback]

Love is said to be an involuntary passion, and it is, therefore, contended that it cannot be resisted. - George Washington

Love is said to be an involuntary passion, and it is, therefore, contended that it cannot be resisted." -- George Washington

If you've never known someone your own age who's died, you can't imagine what it feels like. It's as if you were walking on a glass floor and it suddenly shatters and now you're falling and falling and there's broken glass in the air all around you and no bottom in sight.

Todd Strasser

You see, for me, memories are difficult. Very often, they hurt. A curious thing about grief is the way it takes your entire life, all those foundational years that made you who you are, and makes them so painful to look back upon because of the absence there, that suddenly they’re inaccessible. You must invent an entirely new system.

Thinking about history makes me wonder how I’ll fit into it one day, I guess. And you too. I kinda wish people still wrote like that. History, huh? Bet we could make some.

Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue

George opened his heart to fall in love, in the middle of a storm, in the middle of a street, in the middle of a night.”

I am a woman who knows a good fortune does not necessitate the yearning for a husband.

You are capable of the impossible, for you have survived the unthinkable.

Spring, when fragrance emerged from its cocoon, was her favorite time of year.

Mary Calvi, Dear George, Dear Mary: A Novel of George Washington's First Love

Love is said to be an involuntary passion, and it is, therefore, contended that it cannot be resisted." -- George Washington

But in between all the facts and dates . . . there are lives. I feel like that’s what history really is, a collection of decisions, things people did because of . . . I don’t know. What they were afraid of or what they hoped for. I like the human side of it. It’s amazing how much one person can change the world, even if they don’t know they’re doing it.

Jenn Marie Thorne, The Wrong Side of Right

I realized, that she had been spoon-fed a story from the day she was born. She had been taught no other way to be. And yet, I saw that despite everything, some part of her was self-made. This part, small as it appeared at first, was forged in the fire of her own strength, and resisted her cage. And I understood...that this part was made of steel. The part who she truly was.

We may be small, and we may be young, but we will shake the world for our beliefs.

You have been away from the tree for too long. You are a root, beloved. You must drink, or you will wither.

Samantha Shannon, The Priory of the Orange Tree

04.26.21.06 am |  blame it on the sun or the blazing desert heat.the most disciplined of women and the most reckless of men are about to clash in the most impossibly irresistible way.- missing you and no.1 virtually matter till we meet again - for us being in love. ** i miss talking with you.

04.26.21.06 am |  blame it on the sun or the blazing desert heat.the most disciplined of women and the most reckless of men are about to clash in the most impossibly irresistible way.- missing you and no.1 virtually matter till we meet again - for us being in love. ** i miss talking with you.

clip upload : 14.41.26.14 pm **in memories to both - witty, piquant, minded and exquisite woman in my life. **yes on t way - message on 01.12.12 ** at **** ***** .. taking u turn. message on 10.11.2012. | ** ok. take care. miss u. on 15.11.2009

I've got a tight grip on reality But I can't, let go of what's in front of me here I know you're leaving in the morning, when you wake up Leave me with some kind of proof it's not a dream [Chorus] You are the only exception You are the only exception You are the only exception You are the only exception You are the only exception You are the only exception You are the only exception You are the only exception

read lyrics here 

04.26.21.06 am |  blame it on the sun or the blazing desert heat.the most disciplined of women and the most reckless of men are about to clash in the most impossibly irresistible way.- missing you and no.1 virtually matter till we meet again - for us being in love. ** i miss talking with you.

clip upload : 14.48.26.12 pm **in memories to both - witty, piquant, minded and exquisite woman in my life. **yes on t way - message on 01.12.12 ** at **** ***** .. taking u turn. message on 10.11.2012. | ** ok. take care. miss u. on 15.11.2009

04.26.21.06 am |  blame it on the sun or the blazing desert heat.the most disciplined of women and the most reckless of men are about to clash in the most impossibly irresistible way.- missing you and no.1 virtually matter till we meet again - for us being in love. ** i miss talking with you.

clip upload : 14.58.26.12 pm **in memories to both - witty, piquant, minded and exquisite woman in my life. **yes on t way - message on 01.12.12 ** at **** ***** .. taking u turn. message on 10.11.2012. | ** ok. take care. miss u. on 15.11.2009

04.26.21.06 am |  blame it on the sun or the blazing desert heat.the most disciplined of women and the most reckless of men are about to clash in the most impossibly irresistible way.- missing you and no.1 virtually matter till we meet again - for us being in love. ** i miss talking with you.

clip upload : 15.26.21.14 pm **in memories to both - witty, piquant, minded and exquisite woman in my life. **yes on t way - message on 01.12.12 ** at **** ***** .. taking u turn. message on 10.11.2012. | ** ok. take care. miss u. on 15.11.2009

04.26.21.06 am |  blame it on the sun or the blazing desert heat.the most disciplined of women and the most reckless of men are about to clash in the most impossibly irresistible way.- missing you and no.1 virtually matter till we meet again - for us being in love. ** i miss talking with you.

clip upload : 04.11.26.14 pm **in memories to no. 2 - witty, piquant, minded and exquisite woman in my life. **yes on t way - message on 01.12.12 ** at **** ***** .. taking u turn. message on 10.11.2012. | ** ok. take care. miss u. on 15.11.2009

04.26.21.06 am | a happy new day wishes - I want morning and noon and nightfall with you. I want your tears, your smiles, your kisses. missing  you and no.1 virtually matter till we meet again - for us being in love.

You - m i S S

#3615

to them - listen adequate music : c - d - s - k - k - a

post time : 04.26.21.14 pm

VW - SN - us being in fervent love.

pic : www.syuzanna-dubinskaya.ru

the greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively. - Bob Marley

[mittensmorgul]

So 11.08. This episode just hurts for the Sam flashbacks, but everything that never had a chance to really be addressed by s11′s “Save The Universe First, Fix Our Personal Crap Later” mission seems to be coming back around in s12 on a FAR more personal-to-Sam-and-Dean level.

Since I’m currently actively trying to distract myself from 11.09... I thought I’d pull some of the lines from 11.08, because we seemed to be discussing a lot of these points now after 12.15 (see this post by @k-vichan for reference purposes too).

Granted, due to the “flashback to his childhood” nature of most of these quotes, this is largely going to focus on Sam’s side of this issue, but I’ll try to balance this out with comments about Dean’s side.

In the first flashback we see 9-year-old Sam alone in a motel room while Dean and John are out hunting. Dean had apparently been trying to “work on John” (hello Sam trying to “work on Dean” in 12.14...) to let Sam join their hunt. Over the phone, Dean tells him John said no.

YOUNG SAM : No fair. You started hunting when you were younger than me. YOUNG DEAN : Yeah, well, I never had an imaginary friend.

In the context of the scene, having an imaginary friend seems to be Dean’s way of saying that Sam’s not “grown up” enough to participate on the hunt, but on a meta level, it’s actually saying something a little different.

Unlike Dean, Sam had been “sheltered” enough from HAVING to “grow up” enough to hunt at that age. He was ALLOWED to have an imaginary friend, this luxury of childhood that Dean never had.

I still remember folks wondering when this first aired if Dean really HAD asked John to bring Sam along, or if Dean had been the one trying to keep Sam safely tucked away in an ugly motel room... Because we know Dean has always been the one trying to let Sam be a kid. I mean, in 3.03 when they find John’s secret storage unit, Dean finds his first sawed off shotgun, and Sam finds a soccer trophy. THESE TWO HAD VERY DIFFERENT CHILDHOODS. And we’re told repeatedly throughout the series that the difference was that nobody was looking out for Dean the way Dean looked out for Sam.

In the next flashback, we see Sam and Sully imagining wild things. Ever wish you could fly? Or eat 10 waffles in one sitting?

(and oh god, WAFFLES. Waffles are the innocent, childlike version of El Sol. Deception and daydreams. In 12.11 we saw DEAN doing his best to “eat 10 waffles” when he was losing his memories. But in 11.08 Sully said he’d tried it once and he made gagging sounds to describe the effects. But I think the parallel here between Sam’s wishes when he was 9 and the way Dean was behaving in 12.11 are striking and important. I’ll bring this up again later... probably in another parenthetical digression...)

After the waffle mention, Sam gets far more serious, bringing up something that we’ve known was in Sam’s nature since the pilot episode:

YOUNG SAM : Ever think... about running away? SULLY : From you? No way. YOUNG SAM : No, I mean – from here. All this. The hunting life. SULLY : Do you? (Young Sam nods.) SULLY : Hm. Ever think, that maybe you wanna go to school? Make some friends? YOUNG SAM : But I have you. SULLY : Yeah, you do. But one day you won’t. Sam, I want you to listen to me. You can be whatever you wanna be. You’re not Dean, you’re not your dad. You’re Sam. And Sam is so awesome. YOUNG SAM: Can you imagine, running away? My dad would KILL me. SULLY : Well... It’s your choice, Sam. It’s your life, I mean, it’s all up to you.

Sam has ALWAYS wanted to run away from the hunting life. Unlike Dean, Sam HAD TIME AND SPACE to really consider that it might actually be a possibility. But, when Sam’s JUST ABOUT TO LEAVE WITH SULLY, to run away, John calls and tells Sam to catch the next bus to Milwaukee.

(for some reason, my mind has created a horrible scenario of what happened on John and Dean’s end... that Dean continued arguing to keep Sam out of the hunt, but John finally snapped and was like no let’s get this 9-year-old on a bus to come meet up with us because he’s old enough to be useful to us now... and eeesh...)

But at that invitation to rejoin the family (THE FAMILY, not hunting itself, but just to be welcomed into the FAMILY), Sam’s more than ready to “unmake up Sully:”

YOUNG SAM : I’m a Winchester. I hunt monsters. Why would I want anything else? SULLY : Well, I – I’m not sure it’s you. YOUNG SAM : Why can’t you be happy for me, Sully? SULLY : Listen, buddy – I’m just afraid you’re going down a path you might be better off not going down. YOUNG SAM : Yeah, but I’m not afraid. SULLY : I know you’re not. You’re one of the bravest kids I know! It’s just... this whole hunting thing, you know, it’s not the only way. There are so many other ways. And you can find one, Sam. You can leave, right now. YOUNG SAM : I don’t want another way. I wanna be with my dad and... and Dean. SULLY : Look, Sam, I’m just saying this ’cause I’m your friend. YOUNG SAM : Pretend friend! You’re not even real.

THAT is what Sam wants. He wants to be with his family, but he’s absolutely convinced that the only way to do that is to do and be what his family is:

I’m a Winchester. I hunt monsters.

As of those two things are one and the same. Winchester = monster hunter.

And I think THIS is Sam’s current stumbling block as everything stands at the end of 12.15. THIS is why he signed on to the BMoL Monster Genocide Program.

He’s just seen Dean lose all his memories of hunting, all his memories of how awful huge chunks of their lives really was, AND SAM BELIEVED THAT DEAN SEEMED HAPPY WITHOUT THAT KNOWLEDGE. That Dean was happy BECAUSE he couldn’t remember all of that. Sam didn’t seem to understand:

SAM: This is crazy. DEAN: What? SAM: Me giving you "the talk." You know how many times we've had to tell some civilian that monsters are real? DEAN: Yeah, but monsters are real. And we're the guys that kill 'em, man. I mean, come on. Best job ever. SAM: Yeah. If you like greasy diner food, crappy motel rooms, more than one Apocalypse. DEAN: I don' t know. We kinda sound like heroes to me.

(oh, and Dean’s favorite part of all of this? DEAN: And our best friend's an angel. What?! )

Because in that last scene of 12.11, they’re talking at cross purposes, and neither of them seems to recognize the fact:

SAM: No, just, you know... some of the things we've done, we've had this weight for... forever. And seeing it gone, uh, you looked happy. DEAN: Huh. Well, look, was it nice to drop our baggage? Yeah, maybe. Hell, probably. But it wasn't just the crap that got lost. I mean, it was everything. It was us, it was what we do, you know? All of it. So... that's what being happy looks like? I think I'll pass.

To Sam, the crap IS the hunting, is the terrible life of bad food and crappy motel rooms and multiple apocalypses... but to Dean the crap is the sort of stuff that happened in this episode, where one of them is in danger. the rest of it... that’s the best job ever, in Dean’s estimation.

Sam tolerates “the job” because of family, because he believes he can’t have one without the other, despite his deepest wish being just that-- to do ANYTHING other than join the family business, without losing his entire family in the process.

by the end of 11.08, we get our Main Theme for the rest of s11, which is still a main theme of s12:

DEAN : We’ll find another way. Okay? There’s always another way. SAM : Okay. Then tell me – what is the other way?

Dean found “another way” to deal with the Darkness, with honesty and words and finally getting to the root of her sibling drama with Chuck.

And Dean’s STILL trying to find other ways via honestly talking with Sam. Sam, meanwhile, has unilaterally decided that maybe the MoL have a point... if he can just get rid of all the monsters, he could have his family without having to suffer through the hunting part. And he seems to think that undertaking genocide with the MoL’s resources to back him up is a reasonable way to go about this. >.>

So Sam tries to “work on Dean,” to wear him down with hunt after hunt after hunt, I think partly just waiting for Dean to get to the point where he shouts ENOUGH ALREADY I NEED A BREAK.

But Dean... doesn’t. He falls right into that “purity” of Purgatory where nothing matters BUT the hunts. He’s perfectly content to keep it up as long as Sam keeps throwing hunts his way, even to the point where Sam has to call a halt to take a breather and demand Dean stop long enough to at least shower, i.e. take care of himself. 

And now my rewatch has progressed as far as 11.11, and it seems an apt parallel to draw between what 9-year-old Sam wanted out of life, and what Dean without his memories and essentially reverted back to a childlike state wanted out of life. That ^^ is the childish view looking forward, but from 11.11-- set in a retirement home-- this is a very “adult” and rational perspective on what their respective endgames should really be,

FOLLOW YOUR HEART.

And Sam and Dean’s respective “hearts” both lie firmly rooted in family, but that doesn’t necessarily have to mean they must always hunt together in order to BE family to each other.

Sam’s chat with Eileen about what she would do with herself now that she finally got her revenge, she said she considered following in her mother’s footsteps to become a lawyer-- BUT HER MOTHER ALSO WAS SHOWN TO KNOW THE SPELL THAT BANISHED THE BANSHEE. Her mother might’ve been a lawyer, but as a legacy of the Men of Letters, she was clearly more than just a lawyer. In that same way, Sam could be so much more, too.

(woo woo fingers about witch!Sam as a NEW era Man of Letters, maybe with Eileen at his side being awesome together)

SAM: You were right, by the way. Getting back on the job, it... It helped. DEAN: Wait. Say that again. The -- that part about me being right.

I don’t think Sam would truly be any happier than Dean if everything their family has always been were suddenly ~wiped off the planet~. But he needs to find a way to come at it in his own terms, and not anybody else’s. Not Mary’s, not John’s, not Dean’s... 

As for Dean, though:

MILDRED: So you boys hitting the road, huh? DEAN: Yes, ma'am. MILDRED: Well, it's for the best. It wouldn't have worked out between us anyway. DEAN [smiling] Why not? MILDRED [chuckling and turning towards Dean] Darlin'... If there's one thing I've learned in all my years on the road, it's when somebody's pining for somebody else. [Dean smirks] Oh, don't try and hide it now. Follow your heart. Remember?

Mary being back in the picture presents a wild card to their usual family dynamic here, because Sam and Dean are both trying to come to terms with what that means for their concept of family.

Here, have a few lines from 11.12 to sum up my thoughts on this:

JODY: You know I've got nothing against hunting. But if she's hiding in it, because she doesn't have anything else? I'm just - worried about her being so alone.

but...

SAM: You wouldn't be the first hunter who is trying to escape something. [...] CLAIRE: Maybe it's time I just head out on my own. And be a full-fledged hunter. SAM: Claire. I absolutely understand the need to hunt. Believe me. I do. But the monsters are always going to be there. On and on. Forever. But a chance at a family? At a home? School? That won't be.

At the end of 11.12, Jody, Claire and Alex reconfirmed their little “family unit” despite the fact that each of them had chosen a different road to travel down going forward. BUT THAT DIDN’T MAKE THEM ANY LESS OF A FAMILY UNIT.

Jody has one foot in hunting and one foot in law enforcement. Alex wants to go to school and do something “normal” with her life. Claire wants to get REAL training to become a better hunter. They don’t ALL have to live identical lives and have identical goals and interests in order to BE family to each other.

Winchesters: take a memo, please.

[themanuelruello]

Will My Kids Fall Behind? (And Other Homeschooling Questions)

I’ve never been this excited to get back to homeschooling…

I’m in year five of this homeschool gig, so it’s not exactly a novelty anymore. However, I’ve found myself literally counting down the days until we’re back to the books next week.

What a weirdo.

Is it because I redid our school room and I can’t wait to sit on the new rug and drink my coffee in there?

Maybe.

Is it because we’re doing a deep dive into American history this year and I’m kind of a history nerd?

Kinda.

Is it because there’s something about fresh curriculum that makes me strangely giddy?

Very possible.

Helping to build the chicken tractor

Truthfully, I think the root of my excitement has come from the many talks I’ve had with brand new and prospective homeschoolers this year.

All these conversations have given me a chance to revisit why we chose this lifestyle in the first place (because make no mistake– homeschooling is a lifestyle), and my fire has been rekindled.

I realize that many of you have been thrust into this world unwillingly. It’s not what you ever saw yourself doing, but here you are.

I want you to know that it’s all gonna be alright. 

We’ve been homeschooling since our firstborn was in kindergarten and I was homeschooled K-12 myself (yup– in the legendary homeschool culture of the 1990s– it’s changed a lot since then. Thank goodness.)

I’m not an expert, but I do have a unique perspective– both as a homeschool graduate and a current homeschooling mother of three.

Here are a few of the most common questions I’m seeing right now, along with a few of my thoughts:

Art with Goats

#1 What Curriculum Should I Use for Homeschooling?

This question is, by far, the toughest one I get. It’s not that using curriculum is hard, but there are eleventy-billion different choices, and sorting through them all is somewhat mind-numbing.

There’s not a one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Period.

Most newbie homeschoolers are drawn to an all-in-one style of curriculum where you make one purchase and get ALL the things.

There’s nothing wrong with that, per say, but I don’t know many veteran homeschool moms who use those sort of curriculum options, since they rarely fit the uniqueness of the child.

Most of my homeschooling friends piece together their own curriculum (i.e. they use one set of books for math, a different set from a different publisher for reading, etc).

My best advice in this realm is two-fold:

Keep it simple. Focus on the core subjects and don’t worry about the extras your first year

Do not attempt to replicate a public school classroom. Public schooling was created for a specific purpose and is designed to move a large group of diverse children through the exact same curriculum in a way that is mostly successful for the majority. You don’t have to do that. You get to tailor this whole thing to fit your family and your children. Education does NOT have to be cookie-cutter, nor should it be. Also, I will preach this until the cows come home– the 8am-3pm schedule that most public schools follow came as a result of the Industrial Era and was created to fit the work schedules of parents. It rarely takes that amount of time to teach a child the crucial subjects, plus free time and free play are some of the best educational pieces you can ever offer your child.

My 4-year old helping me mulch the garden

Our Homeschool Routine and Curriculum

We’re not fancy.

I don’t lesson plan much, if at all, and we generally school for 2.5-3 hours each morning. That’s it.

Math and language arts are our main focus, with science and history coming in at a close second.

(Another post coming soon with my current curriculum choices.)

We don’t do a lot of extra stuff on top of these four subjects unless I think the kids need something.

Actually, allow me to rephrase that: 

We do a LOT on top of those four subjects, but not in the “formal” sense.

Making pretzels

My kids build, create, and problem solve ALL DAY LONG.

We let them use scrap lumber, tape measures, hammers, saws, and nails to build all sorts of contraptions.

They basically live in an animal science lab and help with breeding, birthing, nutrition, husbandry, and more.

They’re helping us remodel our fixer upper house project, and are learning how a house is put together, how to use tools, and loads of problem-solving.

They can identify dozens of different plants, grow and nurture vegetables, and they actively participate in preserving food.

They can make their own breakfast, safely use our gas stove, make scrambled eggs, bake desserts, and are currently learning how to make yeast breads.

Honestly, when the fleeting thought of sending my kids to public school has crossed my mind in the past, my instant reaction is “They’d miss out on too much if I sent them to school!”

Helping to pour concrete

Whatever, Jill. We don’t live on a homestead so it’s not the same for us.

Oh, but it is.

Even if you live in the heart of the city, the learning opportunities abound.

Take me, for example. Homeschooling (and the free time that came with it) is the #1 thing that fostered creativity, leadership, ingenuity, and resilience in me as a child and young adult.

And I was raised in a small housing development-– no homestead, no land.

It’s not about where you live, it’s about how you maximize the opportunities in front of you– and there are MANY.

My favorite book to help foster this mindset shift is Weapons of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto. Read it. It’ll change you forever.

#2 What If I’m “Not Good Enough” To Teach My Kids?

I hear this one expressed in a variety of ways:

“I’m not qualified to teach my kids”

“I don’t know enough”

“I wasn’t a very good student myself”

“I didn’t go to college”

There is a commonly held belief that if you don’t have a bachelors degree in childhood education, then you can’t adequately homeschool your own offspring.

Listening intently at a horsemanship clinic

I don’t buy it.

There’s nothing wrong with a teaching degree, but I wholeheartedly reject the notion that one needs four years of higher education to teach their own children.

As long as you are willing to learn alongside your kids and follow a book or lesson plan with your kids, you will do fine.

That’s why we have curriculum.

So if you don’t need a teaching degree, what do you need?

Consistency and the ability to read instructions and troubleshoot situations that might come up.

And as your kids get older, they will learn to follow the instructions and troubleshoot issues, which is just as important as the lessons themselves.

Teaching our kids to learn how to learn (aka how to teach themselves), is one of the MOST valuable things we can impart to them. An adult with a healthy dose of curiosity and love for learning (that hasn’t been snuffed out) is pretty much unstoppable.

P.S. My mom never went to college. Yet, I was in the upper 95% percentile in my standardized tests each year, had above-average ACT and SAT scores, and even attended an English class at the University of Idaho when I was still in highschool. After I graduated, I double-majored in Equine Science at a community college, graduated with Honors and a 4.0, and tutored other students, all while holding down a job and riding on the college horse show team. I’m not saying this to brag, rather I’m telling you this because I was MORE than prepared for college, even though my “teacher” never attended herself.

Helping to remove the plaster on the chimney at our fixer-upper renovation

#3 What About Socialization?

Ah, the good ol’ “S” word…

As a homeschooler in the Nineties, this was the thing people rubbed in our faces more than anything else.

Not gonna lie, it gets old.

I honestly don’t hear this one come up as much as it used to– I suspect it’s because homeschooling has been around a little longer and there are AMPLE examples of well-adjusted homeschooled adults.

But that doesn’t mean it has disappeared entirely.

Truthfully, I’ve found that TOO MUCH socialization is generally the issue when it comes to homeschooling, rather than not enough.

There are SO many activities and opportunities available to homeschooled kids, the tricky part for us is finding a balance and still making sure we have enough time to do actual school work.

If this is an area that makes you feel a little uncertain, all it takes is a quick Google or Facebook search to find options in your community– whether that’s 4-H, music lessons, dance, sports, volunteering, shadowing someone in a trade or skill that interests your child, etc. There are SO many opportunities, you just have to be willing to think outside of the box.

Butchering chickens together

Does Socialization Really Happen in a Homogenous Herd?

It’s a question I’ve pondered for years…

I’ve come to be of the personal opinion that true socialization does not happen by putting a child in a large herd of other kids that are their same age.

Historically, not only did children learn in one-room schoolhouses with wide age ranges, but they spent a LOT more time operating in the adult world.

This idea that socialization equates to a child spending the majority of their time in a group of 40 other kids their exact age feels out-of-touch to me.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with having friends of similar age, but I also want my kids to be able to interact with smaller children, with adults, and with the elderly.

#4 What if My Child Falls Behind in School?

I LOVE this question.

Because I don’t think it’s as big of a deal as people think it is.

*gasp*

I hear SO many parents expressing SO much worry this spring when school districts had to switch to distant learning for a short time.

“My kid didn’t learn ANY new math!”

“They are going to be SO far behind!”

“This is going to mess them up for the rest of their school career!”

Eh, maybe.

Or maybe not.

The term ‘falling behind’ is tricky because it assumes that all children learn and progress at the exact same pace at the exact same time.

We know that’s not true.

I understand why institutionalized schooling is the way it is. I understand the need for benchmarks and “levels”.

However, established benchmarks and levels obviously don’t fit everyone.

They often inadvertently slow down the kids who want to work more quickly, and discourage or alienate the kids who are a bit slower-paced in certain areas.

The beauty of homeschooling is that you can tailor it to the pace of your child. Let them run fast in a certain subject if it’s their jam. Or if they’re struggling in a certain area, go back. Keep at it until you reach that mastery, then move on. There’s no stigma and no stress.

Yes, we still finish our textbooks. Yes, we are consistent in doing school each day. Yes, it’s important that my kids do their school work well and have a firm grasp on all of the important topics before they become adults and leave home.

However, the ability to be resilient, to solve problems, to think for themselves, to not get stuck in the cycle of conformity, to cultivate the ability to create… THOSE are the pieces that are ultimately the game-changers.

Friend, You Got This.

At the end of the day, what you do with your kids’ education is your call.

If you know public school is right for your child, do it.

If you know your child would thrive in the homeschool environment, do it.

The only real mistake you can make??

To make your choice based on the opinions of those around you, or what friends/family are telling you should do.

Block out those voices and go with your gut.

Because here’s the deal: 

Regardless of what you choose, somebody is going to think that what you’re doing is wrong.

It’s annoying and freeing, all at the same time, dontcha think?

You are capable, my friend. And this decision, as scary as it may feel at first, might just be the best choice you ever made.

I’m rooting for you.

More Tips on Raising Old-Fashioned Kids:

Homeschool on the Homestead

Raising Old-Fashioned Kids in a Modern World

Life Lessons My Kids Have Learned from the Homestead

Why I’m Teaching My Kids to Fail

  The post Will My Kids Fall Behind? (And Other Homeschooling Questions) appeared first on The Prairie Homestead.

from Gardening https://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2020/08/common-homeschool-questions.html via http://www.rssmix.com/

[ithefuturist]

EUROPE INITIATION - PART 2: BARCELONA

It’s very tempting to intellectualize a trip to Spain if you’re a history buff traveling from the Philippines. After all, we were their colony for more than 300 years. They taught us religion and until now their language is deeply ingrained in our own language - if not largely derived from it. 

Many years after Spain sold the Philippines to America for $20,000, their influence in our culture still resounds very strongly. Our current standard for beauty for example, as it was back when they ruled us, are the mestizos and mestizas. Those skin whitening billboards in EDSA have deep historical roots. The future of the glutathione/skin whitening business probably has 300 more years to it. (Side note: something that always makes me laugh - there was a time when a certain feminine wash brand was widely advertised on tv and on billboards for having the ability whiten vaginas! I mean, that’s taking crazy to a whole new level! LMAO!) 😂😂😂

Going back, history is a very subjective matter. Historians are known to bend the truth based on their biases. For example, our history books mostly tell the Spanish colonization as a story of oppression, abuse and slavery. The Spanish being the bad guys. I wonder how Spanish historians wrote about the Philippines in their books. Were we mere tribes they rescued from our primitive caves? Do they look back to us now as that colony they sold to the Americans but still can’t seem to figure things out and to this day struggles as a nation? I should have asked but I was too distracted with Gaudi’s and Dali’s work during my vacation. 

Anyway, picture story time. HAHA! 

***

I’m just posting this photo coz I’m GGSS here HAHA! 😅 The Amsterdam leg of my vacation made me look rested in this picture. Teehee! 🤪 This was me while waiting to board my flight to Spain from the Schiphol airport in Holland. 

This was from Sant Antoni beach in Calonge. To be fair, they have nice beaches in Spain naman pala. And coming from a beach baby from the Philippines that’s saying a lot. Plus lots of Spanish eye candy, if you know what I mean. Wink.

This was a street in Figueres. Nice right? Also, I know I have to stop doing the thumbs up pose in my pictures. HAHA!

Sagrada Familia - Gaudi’s masterpiece in construction. Targeted to be completed in 2026. Perhaps a good time to come back to Barcelona?

This was at Park Güell. It wasn’t long before someone told me not to sit on that spot.

Dalí wanted eggs on top of the building - and so there were eggs.

There weren’t a lot of original works of Dalí in his museum in Figueres. Most of them are in Florida. His best work (for me at least) is the Persistence of Memory which I’ve seen many times at the MoMA in New York. 

Montserrat - I really went full on pastel in Barcelona. Mainit kasi! 

That’s Salvador Dali’s portrait of Picasso. 

And this one is his self-portrait. 

There really was no way for me to miss this trip in Figueres - I’ve been a fan of Dali’s the very first moment I saw Persistence of Memory.  I don’t consider myself an art connoisseur by any stretch but I tend to geek out and fanboy on a good amount of art.

Inside the church in Montserrat. They have a boy’s choir here but too bad they were on a summer break or something. Boy’s choirs usually sound like angels, don’t you think? Speaking of maybe I should YouTube their performance while I’m typing this post. 

This one’s in Púbol - I tell ya Call Me By Your Name vibes this place. Like Crema in Italy (I’ve never been but we’ve seen the movie!)

By this time, you’d realize that the pictures are not chronological - eh Tumblr kasi magulo. But anyway, this was back at Park Güell - have to note that the whole time I was in Barcelona I was constantly on guard because of all the warnings about pickpockets being everywhere. Couldn’t relax at all. 

Barcelona was basically Gaudi’s playground. That’s another building he designed. He truly sees the world differently, no? Which made me wonder if the word “gaudy” has its roots on Gaudi’s name. After all, Gaudi’s work wasn’t widely embraced back then. Many people actually thought that it was too, well, gaudy. But of course now we are able to appreciate the beauty of his mind and his work. 

This was from Pubol where Dali built a castle for his wife. I mean, I could almost imagine Armie Hammer stepping out of that car. Funny story, it’s rumored and it’s probably true that Dali never had sex with his wife. However, his wife invites young athletic tennis players to “play” with while Dali “watched”. Very European.

Sagrada Familia. I wrote in my Instagram that I don’t understand why it’s taking them forever to finish construction of the church. Then I got a DM from Moscow or Paris (who knows?) about some conspiracy theory from Dan Brown’s book. I mean, seriously you’re gonna try to lecture me by referring to a Dan Brown book? K. 

The church is undeniably beautiful though. I’d like to go back when it’s fully completed in 2026. Now there’s a conspiracy theory! Tourism boom for when it’s completed! Aha, it’s all just a business plot! 🤪I can’t say I’m 100% just kidding - it kinda makes practical sense. Seriously though, AMAZING architecture! The level of detail is just next... level!

Park Güell was simply photogenic in all angles. 

The Spanish countryside is beautiful! I could imagine myself vacationing for a whole summer in Figueres when I’m older and retired maybe.

Dali’s elephant.

Dali’s lips. Well, not literally but if you know his work you’ll know what I mean.

Those blue teardrops (they’re probably not teardrops but I say they are) were made with condoms. Tears in the form of contraception’s post coital effect. How very Dali! 

I enjoyed the food in Barcelona, too. But I didn’t take pictures. You can check out my IG stories if you wanna see the trip in video. 

All in all, Barcelona was nice but the whole pickpockets warning thing took away from my experience so I didn’t fall in love with it, you know what I’m saying? 

Going on a trip? Check out https://www.viator.com/ and see how they can help organize your vacation so you wouldn’t have to do it on your own. They helped a lot in sorting out my summer vacation in Europe. 

[astutentofthegame]

More Banter

Yo. I’m here all depressed since OKC lost. It’s funny; they have wins against every top 4 team in each conference, except for the Warriors. I think they get too caught up in the hype, and the need to prove themselves, and end up screwing up. One of my buddies put it perfectly: OKC psych themselves out come crunch time, and only some late game heroics from Westbrook are able to stave off that anxiety (sometimes). Also, Harden is a crybaby which makes the series really hard to watch for me. But alas, what is a fan to do?

Anyway, let’s talk about what’s going on around the league. This may be a longer post that usual, since I will be delving into some social media topics, as well as attempting to introduce one of my own metrics to look at players in a unique manner. I’ll start with some headlines, then delve into the playoffs so far, and then we can dive into my novel metric.

First off, my heart goes out to IT30--guy’s a warrior, a leader, and a great role model for young athletes; not to mention he packs it all into a 5′9 frame. If you guys heard Chuck say that Isaiah crying on the sideline “made [him] feel uncomfortable,” and consequently the criticism that Chuck’s comment engendered, then you must lament the state of today’s media much the way I do. It’s like, do they have nothing better to talk about than to misinterpret the heartfelt condolences of one member of the NBA family to another? Like, come on. The kid is going through the worst week of his life, and you gotta dump that BS on him? Get it together media. Stop sensationalizing. OK, rant over.

Hayward caught a stomach illness before his most recent game, and now we have a tied series, even with Blake out. I hope he gets better in time. Nobody wants to see the underhanded Clippers get swept by the Warriors. Gobert could be a matchup issue for Golden State, since Durant and McGee probably won’t shoot as high of percentages around the rim (in the Portland series Nurkic played one game, and even then he was visibly not himself). That will put alot of pressure on the Warriors to make their 3s, which they do, but it’s often a well balanced attack for them. We’ll have to wait and see, but if Hayward is 100% for at least 2 of these last 3 games, I don’t see the Jazz losing.

I’ve been watching David Fizdale in the postgame conferences, and I’m kinda rooting for the Grizzlies now. They’re not gonna win, but I hope they push the Spurs to 7. And hey, a couple years back, San Antonio was the 1 seed and lost in the first round to Memphis. Anything can happen, so don’t count them out (even though I already did). Also, on a tangent, Marc Gasol is way cooler than his brother Pau (and doesn’t look like he is about to cry all the time, an added bonus).

I was also sad that the Pacers were swept. I like Paul George, and have the utmost admiration for him returning from his injury the way he did. I thought the Inside the NBA crew (Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Ernie Johnson, and Shaquille O’Neal) were a bit harsh on him. Like what do you want from him? It’s him versus Kyrie, Bron-Bron, and K-Love (we should call him K-Fed). Honestly, he better get the final, potential game winning shot over...wait for it...CJ Miles. Kenny and Chuck were all like no way, no way, Hakeem only took the last shot once, and it’s like honestly guys, look at their roster. The only other serious player on their team is Myles Turner, who is very young (and besides that poster on Tristan Thompson, he didn’t show up this series). Teague is too inconsistent. Millsap and Horford masked his weaknesses well in Atlanta, which are now quite obvious in Indiana.

Other news: Dubs swept the Blazers last night. That was sad. Lillard put forth an admirable outing, with 34 and 6 (12-24 shooting), but much in the fashion the rest of the series has gone, there was little help for him, whereas the Warriors ‘Big 4′ combined for 86 points (29-51 shooting). It’s kinda hard to beat a team that has 4 starters score more than some teams do in an entire game. Either way, we all knew this wasn’t going to be a long series, with or without Nurkic in the Blazers lineup. I would have liked to see the Blazers steal a game or 2. Game 3 was their chance, and they blew it, so what can you do? Mad respect to Lillard, CJ, and Coach Sotts. Quite a resilient bunch--hopefully they can build some chemistry and add some pieces in the offseason.

Hawks beat the Wizards for the second game in a row. I love the Millsap-Morris beef. Well, I love how Millsap has been dominating ever since Markieff started talking shit. I got respect for John Wall, but I’m rooting for the Hawks here. If they can keep control of Beal, and play good pick-n-roll defense on Wall/Gortat, they could take the series., given that Millsap and Schroeder have enough help. I hope they do.

Raptors should take care of the Bucks, maybe even in game 6. That series has been kinda eh, despite featuring Lowry, DeRozan, and ‘the Greek Freak.’

Onto Rockets/Thunder. Now, Westbrook is my favorite player. He embodies the competitive spirit that is what drew me into the NBA in the first place, back in the late 90s. I was fortunate enough to watch (and still remember) Jordan’s gamewinner against Utah. I saw the twin towers, the Lakers dynasty, the Spurs who have been pretty epic since about 2003, and all the Cinderella stories, like the Heat of ‘06 and the Mavs of ‘11 (I actually called that at the beginning of the playoffs. Unfortunately, I wasn’t into sports betting at the time--those were some fantastic odds. Back to this series. It’s been excruciating to watch. We could honestly be up 3-1, or at least tied, if not for lapses defensively, poor decisions, and referees seemingly changing the way the call the game very abruptly and spontaneously. Also, I’m miffed that Harden and Lou WIlliams are 1st and 2nd in the league respectively in fouls drawn on 3 pointers. They literally put their arm under the defender, and go up for a shot that isn’t even a real shot, let alone has a chance of going in. And a foul is called every time. THAT’S NOT BASKETBALL!!! And it has burnt the Thunder over and over. Still, our defenders need to learn to keep their hands out of there. Another point. The Rockets have great offensive balance, which we do not. Oladipo seems to get stagefright in the clutch (he did hit a big 3 in the previous game), and I just feel so bad for Russ, cuz you gotta imagine him coming up the court, being like, “Who can I count on to get a bucket right now?” For alot of the series it has been Roberson, Gibson, and Adams has also done well down low with floaters and hooks. But Kanter has been largely absent, McDermott is too inconsistent, and nobody else shows up to play (Norris Cole has been Norris COLD). Jerami Grant has been playing touch d, and hitting timely shots, which is nice to see. Anyway, I hold out hope for my boys, but I think Houston will take it in 7. I see us winning the next two, but that’s wishful thinking; we might even lose tonight if we cannot counter the inevitable Houston 3 point barrages with well-thought out and well-executed offense of our own. Westbrook has to take the blame for poor decision making sometimes, but you can fault him for wanting to will the team to victory. He did it so many times this season and almost did it again in game 4. But, Jerami Grant gave up and ‘and-1′ to Nene, which pushed the lead to 4, which ended the game. Rookie inexperience, what can you do?

OK. So that’s my thoughts on the playoffs so far. I thought I would have time to introduce another metric in this article, but I will do it tomorrow. Cheers, and deuces!