#guess i am just weirdly biased haha

[ameliatheamazing]

I watched the a:tla live action and because I used to be the Posting My Thoughts On Avatar blog, I'm gonna share the lil reviews I wrote after watching each episode. spoilers ahead!

1- aang:

ok so far it’s actually really good! The actors are amazing, especially aang and zuko, but like everyone actually. They are kids. And that’s like the most important thing. (i just hope they’re still kids by the end of the series lol). The visuals are BEAUTIFUL, the lighting and color grading is really good, the effects are great, the costumes are amazing- it’s all really faithful to the show. And it’s so exciting too bc i know it so i’m like so hyped every time something new that i recognize comes along. So overall i’m enjoying it. The main thing is it’s pretty tonally different, like bc it’s a limited series they’re focusing more on the war aspect of it all and cut a lot of the filler. Which makes sense i guess but like.. I do hope they let these kids be kids! Like please let aang goof off and show katara and sokka that it’s ok to take a break and have fun as well. I feel like that’s a really important aspect of his character so we shouldn’t cut all the filler. Please. We’ll see. (i had this exact problem with the pjo series too.. feel like i’m getting deja vu)

2- warriors:

Episode 2! Was really good! They took out sokka’s sexism which ppl were mad about but i honestly really liked what they did instead, how he connected to suki through them both being leaders of their villages. He still underestimated her and she still taught him to fight (he just wasn’t wearing makeup. tragic) and i LOVED every scene they had together! I was like kicking my feet it was so cute. Kyoshi came in and was so OP. I think it’s weird that they started going to the north because of some omen and not because aang needs to learn waterbending?? Like what’s the reason for that. so many of the decisions made here just seem to be trying to move the story along as fast as possible. But there are still good character moments and it’s enjoyable.

I love zuko. I already did so i am biased but his actor is amazing he really has that anger but also like, a clear softness beneath that. (my only problem is his scar isn’t quite as nasty as the animated version. Like from far away you can’t even really see it, i feel like it should be bigger.) I’m still not sure about iroh’s actor he’s pretty different from the animated version and i just feel like no one can live up to the original, but his character is similar to the one we know and love. azula and ozai made an appearance which is wayy sooner than in the og lol. but both of their actors seem great i’m excited to see more of them.

3- omashu:

ok we knocked out a few major s1 episodes, with jet and the mechanist from the northern air temple being featured. neither of them were from omashu originally but combining them here actually worked out ok. i loved danny pudi as the mechanist obviously. they weren’t living in the air temple though which took out a pretty big struggle for aang, where he had to come to terms with other people living on the air nomads’ land. but they can’t include every detail and like i said, having them in omashu worked just fine. idk how i feel about the jet plot, it seemed pretty similar to the original episode it just had less focus so it was like weirdly paced i felt like. most important thing was we saw cabbage guy!! even in live action his cabbages aren’t safe

4- into the dark:

why did they have bumi like, literally try to kill aang? in the show they revealed he was bumi at the very end and he was like haha it’s me your friend! i was testing your strength or whatever. here, they had him be mad at aang for not being there during the war! like oh my god?? in the original series, not everything was about the war. you even forgot it was happening at times. here, they don’t let you forget.

so glad they included secret tunnel. also oma and shu were lesbians we love to see it. but it was so strange that the badger moles like… responded to love? what?? that’s not a thing. in the original cave of two lovers episode i remember katara thought love would be the answer at first, but then was proven wrong and the crystals actually just guided them because it was dark. but in this one, she was right and sokka looked like an idiot for not believing her?? ok. i am kinda glad they took out the kataang stuff, i don’t think we need it this early on.

i liked zuko and iroh’s plot, especially the addition that the guy who captured iroh had a personal trauma from iroh’s ba sing se attack. this show has so much depth and nuance rather than just having good guys and bad guys and this was a great way of showing that.

5- spirited away:

idk what to think of this one. it was kind of an all over the place infodump. they clearly used this one as a way to put in a lot of stuff they weren’t gonna cover otherwise, like sokka’s trial thing. it didn't flow together very well. but i still enjoyed it i guess. we met a bunch of spirits that normally don’t show up until later like koh, wan shi tong, and the fox that i’m pretty sure was yue. interesting choices. ok and why the fuck did they have june flirt with iroh?? bc in the og series he makes comments towards her that are a bit gross. and instead of taking that out altogether, they reversed it?? what the fuck? that’s not better. i think my favorite part of this episode was gyatso telling aang it wasn’t his fault. he needed to hear that.

i’m starting to get pretty annoyed that aang hasn’t learned waterbending AT ALL? by this point he had been practicing with katara quite a bit! like we are way behind on the mastering elements thing when that was literally their top priority in the main series.

6-masks:

that was actually amazing. pretty spot on 1 to 1 of the blue spirit episode, at least the second half. except at the end aang and zuko talked a lot more, they’re really pushing zuko towards that redemption more than in the original. zuko’s backstory also had a lot added to it which i really liked. ozai’s characterization is so interesting, he has a little more depth (we’re just seeing more of him rly) but he ofc is still the worst human being ever in the world. but the actor who plays him is so good and we're really seeing why he makes the decisions he does. the agni kai was more drawn out which made it even worse, and we saw the actual moment of zuko’s banishment which was also extremely painful to watch! :D when he was crying in his bed ugh i couldn’t take it. and i love the detail that the soldiers he wanted to save were assigned to be his crew, which led them to respect him more once they heard his story. i loved that.

they really dumbed down commander zhao in this, i watched the original episode again and he was so much more threatening. idk why they gave that asswipe more comedic relief than aang. let aang be silly!! i’m also craving more appa in this show.

7- the north:

this was pretty much just an expanded version of the waterbending master episode. (although aang is STILL not learning waterbending?) the katara vs pakku fight was amazing and really accurate to the original scene, which was one of my favorite fight scenes so i’m glad for that. although they took out the whole thing with pakku noticing katara’s necklace but that’s fine tbh. but yeah she had her girl power moment! slay. yue is amazing and her and sokka’s interactions are so great! although i wish sokka and suki hadn’t actually kissed in episode 2, bc i feel like it took away from the importance of his and yue’s relationship! like she was his first kiss in the series and now she’s not. she’s not even necessarily his “first girlfriend.” so yeah weird choices all around. i also found it interesting that she dumped hahn and was not even betrothed to him. and he was way less of an asshole so it's not even clear why she did that. i guess trying to give her more agency? but like it doesn't make sense.

8- legends:

this one was good, again pretty accurate to the season 1 finale. the fight scenes were really drawn out to the point where it felt like they were just padding time lol, but aang’s avatar state fish suit thing looked really cool. i don’t remember if aang’s conflict here was in the original but i don’t think it was? where he’s like “i have to bear the burden of being the avatar alone” i remember him struggling with that in season 3 but not s1. idk how i feel about that. I love that katara got her moment and got to not only fight but be a leader! also momo like, sacrificed himself to save someone but it fell pretty flat bc if you're just watching this new series, you would barely care about momo. he's like not in this at all. zuko was the highlight once again. i just love him. i think that's all i have to say? again, pretty much the same story as the original.

TLDR i didnt hate this series, most of my problems with it just came from the fact that it's a live action remake and i hate those as a concept. as a fan of og avatar it was really enjoyable! I didn't like the shift in tone very much but I knew it was coming. (i'm probably gonna rewatch the og series as a palette cleanser lol). The cast and overall visuals were great and the story, although condensed, was fairly accurate. I'm excited to see how they do s2 but i'm not like super invested and my hopes are still not that high.

[irenerei]

I know Xmas already over but i really like this holiday season themed boyfriend look of Jun so...

HAVE A JUN LOCKSCREEN EVERYONE!!

BIG BIG THANK YOU AND HUMBLE GIFT FOR @iiasha @s0ftbb @sleepy-star-boy @junhui-official @youngk-hun

Left original version

Right edited version

Photo from Junhui's weibo

*lowkey slaps myself cos u all deserves better gifts

[astrobei]

When you get this you have to answer with 5 things you like about yourself, publicly. Then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers <3333 self love. now.

omg HELLO i realize it has been like . a month since u sent this to me but i am so bad at chain posts bc i always forget who’s tagged who and i get weirdly worried abt not having enough mutuals to do it w 😭 but i will be holding everyone hostage until they list 5 things they like abt themselves!! Seriously I Mean It. no more astrobi fics until u do it

um . anyway .

1. i have a freaky accurate sense of smell! which maybe is a weird thing to like but i think it’s cool! my mom always gets so impressed by me smelling all the little ingredients of the meal she’s cooking + me texting my roommates that whatever they’re making smells rly good except i live on the third floor of our house and should Not be able to smell anything. anyways not to flex (i totally am)

2. i know so much about whales . seriously, i watch So Many nature documentaries (especially ocean ones) and whales r my favorite animal Ever and all my friends n fam give me so much shit abt it but I DONT CARE!! also as a pacific northwesterner maybe i’m biased ! idk i think it’s cool i could spout a couple whale facts (haha get it) at any given moment (iam Sorry).

3. i know my way around a kitchen sort of ! (or so i’ve been told?) anyways i Do love to bake and my love language is definitely giving my friends baked goods so . if anyone is interested i’ll mail u a cupcake of ur choice (may be slightly moldy upon arrival but whatever) n i make a lot of bread when i’m at home for the summer and also like . cinnamon rolls and scones and creme brûlée sometimes and stuff . anyways

4. i take Pride in my hugging skills ok i know for a Fact i am a top notch hugger . i think my secret talent is knowing from instinct whether someone will go above or below for a hug and then it’s never awkward when i go in !! and Squeezing just right!!

5. i’m good at math which i think is cool and neat of me sometimes! unfortunately this does come at the cost of me not being able to write an essay or discussion post to save my Life i don’t know HOW U GUYS ALL DO IT I AM SO SCARED OF U😭 coming out to u all Officially as a stem girlie btw,, first person to guess my major in college gets a patented Astrobi Hug

anyways it’s 2am for me so this was probably incoherent but . hopefully now i am less of an Enigma to u all and more of a Real person . have fun perceiving me or whatever :/ putting u all on a fic moratorium unless u also perceive urselves (real)

[wickymicky]

weirdly though like i dont think many of my biases are 96 liners like i am. Ten is, and Yerin could be my GFriend bias (though idk it could really be any of the 6 of them.... im leaning towards Yerin or Umji though), but like... idk. i dont know who my WJSN bias is, i guess it could be Soobin, i like what little ive seen of her personality and i wanna watch more, but there’s so much content from so many groups lmao. Joy was my Red Velvet bias but tbh i think at this point it’s actually Seulgi. I like Vivi and Handong a LOT and theyre both high on my bias lists, but they aren’t my number 1s in those groups. idk. 

i have a lot of 97 and 99 line biases, and a couple 95 line biases, but not as many 96ers. tbh i cant even name that many more 96 line idols... Twice and CLC have a couple each, but like, idk i just think it’s interesting that a group with 13 members like WJSN, with a pretty wide age range, has three 95ers and two 97ers and more 98ers than like any other group i can think (i cant really think of many 98 line idols at all actually... a bunch of groups i like just skip over that year and go from 97 line to 99 line haha. loona, dreamcatcher, weki meki, nct only has one out of 23 total members, etc), and yet WJSN only has one 96 liner. 

maybe it’s that the big kpop booms were in the early 2010s when a bunch of groups debuted at a time when 96ers would have been too young, or in like 2017-2018 up until now, when 96ers are in their twenties and they would be potential leaders of groups and as such not as many of them got to debut? i’m just like hypothesizing here lmao, this is all just me guessing. 

some groups who debuted in 2014-2015 or so have some 96 line members, like Twice and CLC as i said, but it just feels to me like not as many groups debuted during that time compared to how many debut these days. it was like right on the edge between “generations” too, like the second gen groups were at the end of their careers (for the most part), and the third gen groups were rookies, so Red Velvet debuted with a 96 line maknae (who then got supplanted by a 99 line maknae lol), but it just seems to me like that wasnt super common. i mean i’ve only been into kpop for roughly almost 2 years, so i wasnt around then, but it just feels to me like that time period was between eras and the big kpop explosion hadnt quite happened yet. 

but maybe it wasnt like that at all and felt really different to the people who were around then, idk. anyway i just wonder if that has anything to do with the distribution of ages in kpop groups lol. i wonder if the reason there are sooooo many 97 and 99 line idols in kpop is because a huuuuuge number of groups debuted from 2017 onwards, when those idols would have been 20 and 18 respectively, and 96ers maybe juuuuuuuuuust missed the window ever so slightly haha. there are a lot of them in kpop, i know, but it doesnt *feel* like there’s as many lol. but idk, maybe that’s just because i’m always looking out for them, and so i’m just imagining the scarcity because i want there to be more than there are haha. 

[ja-khajay]

What'd you dislike about Klaus? I heard so much positive stuff about it and was thinking about watching it

Before Klaus came out I had been following its development for a year or so from when the first paper tests where shown online to promote their funding, at the time I had no idea of the plot or anything, I had just seen black and white animation tests and a few backgrounds and thought damn that looks really cool! Glad to see they’re making something like that and didn’t think much of it, then the movie came out and I had forgotten about it mostly, and I saw everyone and their mom talk about it online and how it was the best movie ever and was a breath of fresh air for 2D animation etc etc etc so I watched it and lo and behold

The animation in Klaus is amazing, the fluidity and complexity of it is just off the charts, there’s a LOT of talent behind that film and they used all of it for emulating the 3D Disney animation style. People have pointed out as a selling point that the animation is so good you “can’t tell when it’s 3D or not” and that is. Not a good thing imo? I am a huge sucker for traditional animation and defend it above 3D as much as I can but the reason why 2D is good is because it allows things 3D just doesn’t. Klaus doesn’t even try to touch that. From how the characters move, to the visual direction, it’s the bland Disney gimmicky style. It doesn’t bring anything, it feels like a flex and nothing else which would be fine per se if I hadn’t seen people suck it’s toes for doing the same art style we see constantly but with different media. It brings nothing to the table

Then you have the plot. I’m a bit biased because I wasn’t raised in a Santa family and from a young age I lived in a “xmas magic is kinda cringe” mindset but the plot is.......it’s bad. It mostly relies on “look we’re so quirky for telling a story you’ve heard already but this time everything is An Accident haha” and you end up with a movie that’s so predictable...I don’t see the point of going Oops Lol Accident Look we’re Unique because it’s not subversive at all. It’s a cheesy Santa movie that tries very hard to not be one while still sticking to the formula. Weirdly enough Santa was the character I liked the most in the movie because the protagonist is SO annoying and the way he’s animated made me want to strangle him and shake him around!! It’s so over the top and trying to grab your attention constantly!!! Santa being given a tearjerk story was eh but I liked his characterization nonetheless

If I had just seen the film without the hype around it, it’d have been fine I guess, I’d have thought that it’s a pretty movie that doesn’t have more to it like most AAA animation films from Hollywood but sadly I was bombarded with positive feedback to the point of annoyance. People hailed it as a savior of 2D, which it isn’t, it’s just another family friendly riskless movie who’s making of was a bit insane despite everything else. It lacks everything subtle, it’s a retelling of stories we’ve heard thousands of times who tries so hard to make you think it’s unique and cool. And it worked! Look at how popular the movie was. People who’s concept of the animation industry ends at Pixar loved that shit!

The coolest most risky thing Klaus pulled off is having Saami characters be explicitly there

Also 2D animation isn’t dead, you’re just american

Watch Wolfwakers when it comes out

[luukeskywalker]

lan sizhui?

BABY!!!!!!

how i feel about this character: I LOVE HIM SO MUCH! perhaps i am biased but he is my favorite of the junior quartet 😅 i can't help it! i think about that time that he was punished because he's the ringleader and drags all his friends out to night hunt with wen ning and i get the biggest smile on my face. i'm so proud of you, baby boy, you go cause that chaos!!

who i ship romantically with this character: haha ummm weirdly enough, pretty much nobody? i'm not really super invested when it comes to shipping the juniors. does he really need romance to be happy? i don't think so!

my platonic OTP for this character: junior quartet!!! they're all so sweet and good to each other, and he's such a smart boy who can lead them all into mischief when wei wuxian isn't around to do the job.

my unpopular opinion for this character: uhh haha i guess that i super Don't ship him with jin ling or lan jingyi. he and jin ling are cousins, and lan jingyi is stated clearly to be a part of his clan - not just sect! - which means they're directly related, too. i don't think a lot of people pick up on that bc it's kind of mentioned in passing, but yeaaah.... both of those ships make me mad uncomfy lol

one thing i wish would happen/had happened in canon: hm!! i wish he had called lan wangji and wei wuxian "dad" or "father" at least once. let him love his papas! with words!!

[teaganpls]

sms: teagan taylor

@augustuswill.

Augustus: We might grew up on the different side of the world but we're still both just normal person like any other person. And yes, it was quite an experience having to be independent on a very young age. Haha I would definitely convince you to finish school! First time to hear that you want more polite people rather than rude. Augustus: That stung me a bit, I find myself normal and boring! So I guess you wouldn't want to hang around with me. :)) I hope I get to meet Tierney too! Augustus: Nice! Maybe you could make her drunk and let her dance weirdly on the middle of the street, video and post it online! A promo stunt before your new music release party! That was a joke, by the way! Don't make her drink! Augustus: Can you remind me of what's the asshole name is? I think I got to use calling him as a dick, asshole, that I forgot his real name. So you get my point why I'm furious of that guy huh? I'll tell her that. Alex had been so nice to everyone and doesn't deserve to be treated like that by your friend. Augustus: I can handle another more. Work and taking care of my sister is not so handful anymore. So, try me. Augustus: I am. I will sure will! Should I bring some coffee over?

Teag: That is definitely true. People are people, and we should all respect each other regardless of background. I get that. My siblings and I had to be independent at a young age, too. It was different circumstances. My mother was... kind of a trainwreck honestly, and didn't look after us (to say the least. It was a pretty abusive situation) so we had to learn really young to provide for ourselves. I would like to once I figure out what to go for. I'm a musician and I love making music with my whole heart and soul, but I just can't see myself going on a tour again and being away from my daughter for so long when most headlining tours could last anywhere from 6 months to a year. I respect people who are full-time musicians and have families because that balance is just crazy. Not to mention all the temptations on the road. It just isn't a good lifestyle for me. Which is basically my long ass way of saying I'm gonna need a new career which is why I opened the shop with my sister. I'd probably go back for Business that way if Tierney ever wants to tour (she has a business degree), she can knowing that I have everything under control.

Teag: Wait... people seriously want others to be rude to them? Wtf.

Teag: Aw I'm sorry!! Please don't take offense, my new buddy. If it makes ya feel any better, I need more normal and boring in my life. If you're close with Presley then I'd definitely say you're bound to meet Tierney soon. I'm biased bc she's my twin buuuuut she's pretty amazing

Teag: Hahaha don't worry, I won't. I actually just finished rehab myself 2 days ago... so drinking wouldn't be good for either one of us 🙊

Teag: Before I tell you, I just want to be clear right from the beginning that I don't want to be in the middle of any drama. I have enough going on in my life at the moment and as much as I understand why you're upset because cheating is a huge no-no, I don't want to be in the middle. I hope you can understand and respect that. No offense at all meant I just needed to say that sooner rather than later.

Teag: Wow, we're gonna be good friends already if you're offering to bring me coffee AND listen to my problems. it's a super long story. 

Teag: TL;DR i’m a “bitch” and outcasted too. so if alexis wants someone who can sort of understand, please send her my way. i need all the friends i can get lmao.

Teag: as i mentioned above, my mother (or as i like to call her, she who must not be named) was abusive. she had a lot of boyfriends throughout my childhood and they were all abusive as well. physically, sexually, verbally, mentally... you name it, it was there. she who must not be named was also heavily addicted to drugs and alcohol. So I grew up seeing that behavior... and started drinking when I was really young. I did drugs for the first time when I was 14. I loved it immediately and it was the perfect way to escape all of the torment that was going on at my house. at the same time, i had a childhood best friend dj who i met when i was five. he knew all about the abuse and his family opened their doors to me and my siblings. his parents were like the parents i always wanted but never had. i mention this because it comes up later dsjndjnfsdhbfdshsdj this is seriously such a long story I’m so sorry in advance

Teag: so i turn 18 and as i mentioned, i didn’t go to college. frankly i always thought i’d be dead in a ditch so i never like... planned a future for myself? the only thing i was good at was music so i followed that to los angeles. to make a long story as short as possible --- went to rehab, fell back into drugs, found out i was pregnant and went to rehab again to get sober for real. i was doing really really well up until about a month ago. everything in my life went to absolute hell all at once. i found out who my daughter’s father was and it was one of the friends from la, and at first things were perfect and i was really relieved (still am, don’t get me wrong) that her father was a close friend instead of a random hookup while high. but things with dj got really rocky out of jealousy it was a whole mess and as things were getting rocky with him, danny was really there for me buying me flowers and supporting me and it was just. a confusing mess. so dj breaks up with me after him and danny fight on the booze cruise (sure alex told ya all about that booze cruise) and then i found out from my best friend that she also had a confusing thing with baby daddy and there was another girl involved too.

Teag: god i swear i’m trying to make this as short as possible, i’m sorry, just so much fucking shit has happened and i haven’t talked about my side much bc i don’t want people in the middle. so i got into a huge fight with danny because i felt really blindsided and hurt by all of this, where i said shit i shouldn’t have said. i told him he needed to grow up and be the father our daughter deserved. i regret that, i do, i know he loves blake and would do anything for her but in the heat of the moment, i was just so hurt. he said some pretty nasty shit back that isn’t worth repeating bc i’m trying to not dwell on them. and then i found out that dj’s mom, lisa, who was like the mom i never had died and i just.... fucking lost it. i had a complete break down and relapsed. THIS LONG ASS STORY IS ALMOST OVER FUCK. so i did 2 weeks of inpatient rehab back home in dallas and then came back home and finished my rehab as outpatient to be back with blake, my daughter. the last thing danny said to me was never to contact him again so... naturally, i didn’t contact him when i came back because i was focusing on staying sober. god okay i feel so bad about how long this is getting, the short of it is danny and i have been fighting pretty much ever since i got home, even when i avoided him specifically to avoid fighting. i only see blake on weekends, everything is tense with my former friends bc of things that should’ve stayed between danny and i but didn’t, on top of all this i’m trying desperately to stay sober and still grieving. okay, that’s it.

[eledritch]

Do you not like ‘Dirty Laundry’ :o ? Or is it problematic in some way?

oh, you sweet summer child….you must be new here haha

to say I don’t like dl would be an understatement. while i don’t necessarily condone the hate the writer got, I’m white and not in the best position to criticize their portrayal of Mexican-Americans (…problem one: Lance is Cuban, not Mexican, and Latinx people aren’t interchangeable. There are HUGE differences between Mexican-American and Cuban-American cultures). 

That being said, I am literally from Arizona, born and raised there 18 years, and dl supposedly takes place in AZ, but uhhh…it was pretty obvious to me that the writer had a) never been there and b) didn’t bother asking anyone from AZ about what it’s like there. Nor had they talked to any Mexican-Americans from AZ, as far as I can tell. Like…Lance’s family lives in the middle of nowhere?? In, I guess, the desert??? That threw me for a loop. I was raised in Phoenix, so ofc this is biased, but all the Mexican-American families I knew lived well within the city. There’s work in the city, and more importantly, there are tightly-knit Mexican-American communities whether in the barrio or the more suburban areas. And that sense of community and shared culture is really important for Mexican-American folks, especially those who recently immigrated from Mexico to a completely new country…and that community felt really absent in dl. Like, sure, Lance has a big family but they’re weirdly isolated. It’s just not realistic, imo. The whole fic felt like that to me, and I couldn’t get through it. The writing isn’t bad, but…imo, it wasn’t good enough to merit all the attention it received. That’s just my two cents, but again, this is old news and I’d rather not keep beating this dead horse.

but seriously. nobody ate Takis even ONCE in dl???? c’mon. arizonans know

[oddlyhale]

Haha, thank you, sometimes I still dive too deep with my long replies.

Though I agree. With so much of the fillers being injected into this volume, it feels easy to sit through, because there are moments where you don't have to listen or have to ingest because it's simply filler that doesn't tell us anything or just gets kneecapped in V8.

I'm surprised how the kids have little to do with the plot and yet it's still Jaune or his teammates that are getting that extended attention. Sure, Yang, Weiss, and Blake had their arcs, but those wrapped up quickly and don't need us to linger on it. Whereas Team JNR, they have developed that keeps extending through the volumes, and might I say, those don't feel like fillers. They feel like genuine character growth moments that carry into V8, which should make me glad, but it doesn't. It just makes me pissed that this isn't given to Team RWBY.

Even the new characters, the Ace Ops and the Happy Huntresses, feel like filler. Perhaps they were created to give us the world-building of different factions in different cities, but they felt pointless.

Ruby herself doesn't do anything fantastic. Actually, she is very quiet during this volume. She's assigned to Penny's side as a best friend, which I hate to say is bad but it is. Because without Penny, Ruby somehow has nothing to do.

This shot (plus the one earlier where she, Qrow, and Jaune are talking to James outside the mines) pains me because Ruby is just standing there. I know I say so many negative things about her, but it still makes me increasingly sad to just see her in the background like this. Even with her in V8, it still feels like the show struggles to have her do anything but be fluff. Ruby only existed to finish a conversation. (I guess I am much more invested in Ruby because I have started to care less for the rest of her team. I do want her to get better but damn.)

Does this prove that Team RWBY doesn't have anything going for them? I don't know honestly. It feels like you can flip the roles easily and make Team ORNJ the filler characters and make Team RWBY the important ones, and the show does vice versa.

I would've really loved to see what the show could've done with world-building in Atlas. James is a great character that can introduce us to the world smoothly, and I wouldn't mind seeing the kids explore Atlas and give us more of a feel once they're on their feet. People love fictional culture, and how cool would it have been to see what makes Atlas so great in comparison to the other kingdoms? That could even be a smooth transition for the kids to run into their next mission, and for once, it would have to be their call on what to do.

Even traveling through Mantle felt empty. We see how drab it is, but it felt weirdly rushed and too slow, all at the same time. I think this is because, while we're in a new city, we actually never see anything that the world builds, other than "Mantle is poor. Atlas bots are around. Guards over there and here." They felt isolated from everything, despite being outside on the street.

Do you notice how everybody is mostly indoors? xD Even inside a mine! In other words yes, I also really wanted to care about both cities, but they didn't do that for us. They didn't give us much to care about but still tell us that we should care.

I guess the fillers of V7 weren't as noticeable, because of James. This is his volume and he owned it. The fillers make it boring, so much so that you'd rather be stuck watching James because he's vastly more interesting. He isn't bullshitting fluff, he's giving us what we need as an audience. I don't mind if James has fluff, especially if it means he and Qrow have much to iron out, and how James and Penny could've given us more context of their work relationship and how she really feels about being employed by him. Even just James spending time down in the Vault and pondering his next moves would've been fine.

And idk, I'm biased and just wish Robyn wasn't there, because every time I think of her, I only think of the politics arc and how badly I wished they scrubbed that arc out entirely. But, I get where you're coming from!

Rewatching and combing through volume 7 to make Ironwood gifs, I notice how there's quite a lot of padding or slow pacing. There's some episodes where the episodes are only dedicated to one event, but it's padded out to hell that you begin to realize "we didn't actually need to be here the whole time."

Definitely the biggest example was the A Night Off episode, where Ruby and friends went to attend Robyn's speech. That was padded to hell, and it was so padded that they had to move Yang and Blake's confrontation of Robyn to the next episode.

Even the episode of Team Kids and the AceOps going into the mines feels like they were trying to extend that event as much as possible to fill in episode time. If they cut things out, the episodes could very well be a normal 12 minutes. I wouldn't call it a bad thing. Plenty of cartoons out there all have episodes running for 12 minutes, it's normal.

The only times that didn't feel padded was when we were focusing on James or if James was involved in the kids' next move. It's as if the writers didn't know what to do with the teams as soon as the adults or next side-quest giver were out of the picture.

It's strange because the pacing is slow, but with cutting out unnecessary parts and possibly stitching episodes together, volume 7 would've been possibly a great, cohesive season.

[futilism-blog]

music that is nice goin in and out my ear canals - it’s good kid

more shit i liked throughout 2017. mostly new stuff?

slowdive "star roving": i love slowdive but it's kinda funny how the drums n stuff sound so... similar to everything going on right now. kinda meh. in a production sense. the middle of the title track where it's just squiggly synths, voice, and guitar is amazing. agree with some guy on youtube saying this weirdly sounds like their early stuff. pygmalion is my favorite though and i hope there's some stuff akin to that coming up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?

slowdive "so tired" i'm listening to this now because that track reminded me that slowdive is so good, thanks slowdive

slowdive "dagger" i love you slowdive

chavez - the cockfighters: was excited for this because i am a BIG FAN. "memorize this face" is one of my favorite songs. i gotta listen to this more maybe. "the bully boys" has cool guitar interplay but it also sounds like something on the clerks soundtrack. which is a good and bad thing? sounds like something "the boys put together for the heck of it".

exit someone - dry your eyes: haha they tagged it as soft pop. welcome to the singularity techfuture. it's now. it's real. basically this is real pleasant sounding steely dan chords and smooth jazz saxophone done pretty straightforward. i'm having an amazing fantasy imagining the target audience for this but hell. i like it. "rhythmically the TR-505 drum machine is featured exclusively as an exercise of reiterating patterns to highlight the storytelling" is an amazing way to say that programming drums is tedious. i'm a fan but i'm not sure if i played this at a party whether people would jive with it or if it'd be like a "what are you playing this for" kinda reaction. joan of arc - he's got the whole shitty annoying wordplay that's really long: i like repetition and songs that start with the line "oh fuck off" so i like this. and that's basically this entire album. bleep bloops and loops. they take a beat, a line, and some bleeps and repeat it with all these little things going on over it. scool. uniform - wake in fright: some snarling brit guy over noisy industrial stuff. neat. they're from new york? wha? but the man - he sounds like a brit. their bandcamp namedrops big black and slayer and that's funny because you guessed it, those were the two things i thought of. pretty fucking cool. i feel some confusion is sex sometimes too -- and not just in this album understand me. i feel like i'm gonna listen to this a lot this year and not just in this album understand? baxter stockman "male talent": cool n clangy. howling mad sounding man hollerin all over the place over this drum beat that basically gallops the whole damn time. reminds me of watching wheels spin. pretty cool but iono. i really want another twin stumps so bad. doon kanda - heart: saaaaaaaaaaaay! i haven't listened to something from hyperdub in so long. this guy's favorite song by the evens must be "warble factor!!" because there sure are a lot of "warbly" synths going on here!!!!!!! very ... 'classical' sounding chord progressions that makes this feel kind of symphonic and dramatic but nostalgic. LIKE ANIME. the last track is real spooky and glitchy and seems to indicate the next step this guy's gonna take. and i'm pretty stoked on it. the dude’s visual art is also so so good. the xx - on hold: it's kinda cool sometimes? it's really pretty, relaxed, and disjointed with the cut up samples popping up here and there. and other times it sounds like something that would play during the dramatic parts of an ep of CSI. haven't listened to the xx in so long but didn't they used to be WHISPER QUIET with guitar stuff..? iono. not my favorite but not awful. jesus & mary chain "amputation" single: i love the album darklands so much. heck, i even play stoned & dethroned all the time. that's a lazy day jam kinda thing. and now the JAMC is back baby!!!! they've got an album cover that looks like alphabet soup!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! whoa. so this song has a chill lil drum machine thing going on and a kind of fuzzy guitar that's nice. AND falsetto "ooohs". what's not to like? probably the fact that it's no great shakes and not terribly interesting. not bad though. something i can see playing at a record store that i could tune out. william basinski - a shadow in time: love it. i'm too big of an idiot to be able to eloquently describe how "real" and "authentic" music "sounds" that isn't stupid pop or noise. but aside from my BIG FANDOM of everything basinski does, this one is an engaging listen start to finish. would recommend to a newcomer. one of my favorite sounds is an orchestra warming up and this kind of has the same feeling to it - like it's standing on the edge of something bigger. continually shifts from really warm and sentimental to ominous and disquieting. kind of mirrors how i feel about death which is fitting considering that i think about death all the time. code orange - forever: i feel like people hated this album WAY MORE than they really did, but it's far from my favorite thing they've done. i'm always biased towards bands trying new approaches and making the sounds more of their own thing and this is definitely that kinda deal. it's so over the top and when i heard "THIS IS REAL NOW MOTHERFUCKER" i got a really big smile that was only like 9% irony so i guess ultimately i liked this album. something i can appreciate even if it's not something i'll be going back to much. obasquiat - #moebius: you guys like free jazz!?!?!?! I DO. the track "vanikoro" alone pushed me in to 'love' territory. super spacey and enveloping building up into complete chaos. some mind bending shit on here. reminds me of the pop group if you took a pop group song and stretched it out until all of its ligaments and musculature was ripped apart and spaced out (even more so?). gets weirdly metal in a way at times that i dig, but not as much as i dig the last track being some weird bossa thing out of nowhere. stabscotch - uncanny valley: jesus fucking christ. this is all over the fucking place. i guess i will call it post punk but there's dub, metal, surf, noise, and a bunch of other insane shit happening on this. plus i like that the vocalist has a real 'normal guy' voice so it's kind of funny when he's hollerin or shrieking shit. lots familiar about this but the sum is something i've never heard before. amazing. i like that the overall mood vocally is pissed off throughout too. something that i'll listen to a lot but maybe not all at once. really removed from a reference point like stretchheads or something, which makes a pretty disorienting first listen. will be hard to top this as the most original thing i’ve heard all year. pseudonym - pack of lies: laughed after the first track started playing because this immediately followed my listen of that stabscotch album. really lovely but samey pop music that is a joy to listen to ultimately. even if the album goes on a little too long. makes me feel the same way velocity girl makes me feel. that's a good ass feel. jim o'rourke - steamroom 31: same deal trying to describe this that i have with basinski. jim o'rourke is one of my favorite guitarists/musicians ever, and the sole (soul?) reason why sonic youth got even more amazing. SYR3 ftw. this is a drone album that carefully changes moods throughout in a way that's extremely affecting. builds to a pretty glorious noise barrage that makes its presence felt throughout the rest of the album.

ok thassall for now. peace.

[ispeakintripleentendres]

03:10 17/12/2017

Another muse inspired late night blog post. after binge watching Gossip Girl.... a show that i started watching almost 10 years ago... just the very thought of how long ago that was is scary- by comparing the person i am now and the person i used to be, the contrast, in terms of life experience.... GG used to be pre-O. now it's post-C.... Watching it brings back SO MANY memories of the person i was at 18-20... when i was so excited about everything, living life, learning new things, trying new experiences, pushing my limits, being different things.... And now, i've done my fair share of all of it, i've lived more than a little, i've learned more new things than i can remember anymore, i've had more new expetiences than i can count, i've pushed limits so many times that it has become my new norm, i've been all the things i've wanted to be that i almost inevitably find myself coming back full circle. That makes me wonder, is it something that happened naturally, following the path that i did, or was it something that i wanted to let/make happen subconciously? I'm going to see it as a self-introspective checkpoint, because i wouldn't have wanted to risk hindering my progression with a spell of regression, yet analysis of the past is undoubtedly beneficial to future development. what this is about is how GG has triggered all the emotions and memories of the person i was when i wa watching it, and how confused, almost lost i was at the time, but resilient in never giving up. It was a time of new experiences, university, independance, choices, friends, the expansion of my circles, my world.... and now i find myself entertaining thoughts of doing the exact opposite, probably becauase i finally find myself comfortable enough to consider actually establishing a comfort zone, a concept that i had givern up on at 16, after the fourth time we uprooted, moving back from Kuantan to KL, in my last year of secondary school, where i had no time to fit in before i had to end my lower education years. And then university hit, and i had to go in feeling unsupported, misplaced, even though ironically that was a chance for a fresh start. And I did get the university experience- new friends, new subjects, new rebellions, first love. And i was watching GG to help me get through the rougher bits. and i loved it back then so passionately... [just got side tracked looking for my old blog and ended up reading a few other blogs leading from CK's to SL, LY and LM's...] So that was a huge blast from the past letting me see how many people from back in the day are still pretty much stuck in their same patterens... that's rather disheartening, i had hoped that i would be more smug about it but i guess there's no value in that. That actually is a very good metaphbor for what i've been thinking about. how even though my choices in life have never been the triesd and tested ones, and even though i feel like i am going with some version of "the flow"... i'm still making some important directional changes of my own accord and setting unique standards for myself, that would challenge me, instead of using the same (small) scales people i would have once loved to be associated with, do. all my fears from when i was younger, about becoming insignificant, not just in society, but more importantly, to myslef, have not come true at all, even though i thought that it would happen no matter what i did. I may be more insignificant in society in more ways now, but i love that i can now say that i have lived in foreign countries, almost completely on by my own means, that i have reached the first peak in an industry, that i have changed peoples lives, that new people (whom i otherwise could not have helped) have benefitted in some way in knowing me, that i have been involved in more thatn one aspect of life, of work, of multiple teams. And to think that when i was younger i only imagined.... the worst. I hate to admit it but damn i think C might be right... is there some non-selfish reason to bear offspring? Even still, to me, nothing will ever outweigh the negatives in life. I'm trying to give some specific examples of preconceptions i held at the time i was watching GG to illustrate how much of a contrast i am now to who i used to be, but i'm not recalling a single specific thing... was i unsure? confused? scared? none of those things sound like me, and i wouldn't be here had i let those things get a foothold in my life... so am i trying to say that i am now braver than ever? maybe not recalling it at all says it the most of all. i feel like this is where i should end, and where i should end on a positive note. and i really want to insert a bit of reality here, usually a contrasting point to the tone of the post, just to provide a better perspective... but i do not want to fall into old habits that i think i am better off without. and this is good practice going forward (it might even be who i am now!)... so i'm going to say that C is right, and that's what proves that he is good for me and right for me and how he, of all people, is worth trusting to be my guiding light in life for when i fall short. (why am i justifying him, my choice, my life? or do i just want to remember what miught be a fleeting sense of validation? of success in one aspect of my life? a very essentially key aspect? because it is an aspect i place much value in? probably, that makes sense) That life does work out (well, for me at least, so far, also, i've been trying, it's not that things have fallen into my lap (not more than others, at any rate, dry chuckle), i've not given up even when i've felt like doing so... and maybe there's value in that... Also, do i have a pro-biased version of Europe, one which i should not be having? Maybe, but only because it's sound in so many ways. ah yes, a lack of friends, that's always been a major thing to me... but ever since C, i've been getting over that. Although i don't know if that's necessarily a good thing in the long run (complacency and crazy cat ladies and all that haha). SL has an old picture of us at one of my parties i took up on her wall, that's sweet, and weirdly reassuring that my time spent in building relationships in the past have not gone to wate, haha! And now that i've seen a bit morte of the human race, i'm starting to realise that i'm a good grade of friend types, and not many people have that, and it's something they want... and that almost ensures that i'll always be able to make new friends and keep the good ones.... and that also makes me appreciate more the good ones i have, because i also realise that they could also walk away, or change, or turn me away if they wanted to. and that i want to continue building quality relationships. and that although i fear being the arrogant person who turns down friends because i can, i have not done it, am not doing it (at least not without a good reason, these days), and might keep not doing it in the future (or at least not more than i might be doing now! haha) yes, that's it. friendships. relationships. the human connection. the societal bond. drifting into oblivion... these are very common existential issues people are dealing with in this day and age. so i guess i am too one of the masses, in a way... which, as someone who has spent the majority of her life feeling as if she was on the sidelines of, is something i am really grateful about. although ironically i might not be an innocent victim of being on the sidelines, i'm pretty sure that some choices i make put me there... is it really my fault that i process so much information so differently (read: logically)? 04:45 17/12/2017 crawling into bed now