#his vibe in that interview was off the charts i NEEDED to draw it

[travisdermotts]

hittable + not special

[luvdsc]

would you mind doing a description of each member of nct dream? you don’t have to cuz that’s lowkey a lot BUT i figured i’d ask since i’m trying to write something and get their personalities right. i really admire your work!! have a nice day, babes!!!

yes, of course, lovebug 💕 I’ll be rewording the analyses from the asks about my ideal type and adding to them, so it might be a bit familiar! I could’ve written more, but I had to stop because I reached max length for each paragraph 😅 I hope these are helpful to you, and thank you so much for liking my work, honey bee!!! 💛 best of luck with your writing, and I hope you have a good day, too! 🌼 also, I’m on mobile and I’m so sorry for all the scrolling! I’ll add a read more when I get on my laptop ✨ edit: the read more has been added :’)

MARK :: oh, where do i start with mister absolutely fully capable? mark is the definition of adorkable. if you look up that word in the dictionary, you’re gonna see his picture pasted right under it. he’s endearing and awkward, and he tries his best in everything and puts his best foot forward, giving 110% in whatever he does. he’s a hard worker and a good boy. he laughs at that’s what she said jokes, and he’s the type of person to think of a funny joke from three days ago and start laughing at the most inappropriate time, like in the middle of standard testing. he’ll say things he thinks are funny, like “five guys hello guys” or that long sentence about possibilities and immediately look to you with those wide doe eyes, seeking a positive reaction from you and hoping you’ll laugh. he’ll try to wink at you randomly sometimes, but he always fails and just ends up blinking, which will make you laugh and call him cute and have him scrunching up his nose because that’s not what he intended to happen and he’ll be really flustered at the compliment. he’s really sweet, and I think taeil called him the most romantic? however, I feel like having a relationship isn’t a high priority for him right now. he seems to have workaholic tendencies, which could frustrate his s/o. he would need to have someone that understands his work and music is the most important to him, and he might unintentionally neglect checking up with his s/o at times. he’s a little shy and introverted, so it might be hard for him to make a first move if you aren’t friends at first. he’ll write dozens upon dozens of songs about you. that’s the way he’ll express his affection because he’s too shy to in the beginning and music is what he’s good at. there will be lots of late nights with him strumming his guitar and you sitting next to him, reading a book or playing a game on your phone, and he’ll call your name and you look up before he nervously starts to play a new song that he’s written for you. and at the end of the song, he’ll glance up at you really quickly before looking back down at his guitar, and you’re going to have to go over to him and take his face into your hands softly and tell him his song was amazing and you love it as much as you love him. and he’ll smile so big as his glasses slide down his nose before he quickly leans up and presses the softest kiss against your mouth to show you his appreciation before he loses courage to do so. sometimes you steal those round rimmed glasses of his and try them on yourself, and mark has to cover his face and look away and wring his hands and he makes those little oi mark noises because you look so cute and he doesn’t know what to do with himself. on the other hand, mark is also very stubborn. it may not look like that, but if you notice the relationship between him and hyuck, hyuck is always the one giving in at the end. mark will absolutely not do something if he doesn’t want to do it. I do think he will go after something if he wants it, but he will hesitate slightly at first. he follows the rules a bit too much. he doesn’t seem to be the most fun person to party with either unless you get him to drink a beer because he’s a lightweight, but that also means you have to take care of him afterwards. also, he said in an interview that he doesn’t like rollercoasters or fast rides, but he enjoys the cotton candy at amusement parks lol but he did go on those rides in the end, but his head was down the entire time rip. mark gets easily embarrassed. it’s like in that video where they read tweets aloud and mark got super embarrassed when jaehyun read this tweet that gushed about his laugh, and mark just curled up into himself and couldn’t lift his head up and awkwardly laughed. he’s adorkable. please tease him and hype him up in this very same way just to get this cute reaction out of him.

RENJUN :: renjun is the one you can call when you have a body to bury and he’ll show up with the shovel. he’ll call you a stupid idiot, but he’ll still show up to help you. he’s the type that would come over at 3 a.m. if there’s a bug in your apartment and squash it for you after much complaining and telling you that he won’t do it. he’s fiercely loyal and caring. he took care of chenle when chenle wasn’t as proficient with korean and made sure he was doing ok and was always ready to translate for him whenever. he puts up a tough, ready to fight front, but he’s a scaredy cat and if you pretend to be a ghost (read: jisung), he’ll be scared shitless. you can see him get scared and hide behind jeno and hug him so hard when the zombie jumped out in one of those save dream interactive videos. he’s the person you can banter with and he understands dry humor and sarcasm, and I think he’s best for e2l story plot lines because of this lmao but he also fits the best friend role well. he will roast anyone with no mercy with just a few words. he’s artistic. he’s super good at art and has shared several of his beautiful digital drawings before. he’s the person to go to when you want to have long, serious talks at 4 in the morning, and as seen through his radio show, he will try his best to give you advice, even if he may not be experienced enough, but he is trying his hardest to help. if you read some of the advice he gives on his radio show, you can get a better sense of who he is as a person. he’s really insightful and puts a lot of effort into giving the best answer he can. also, he really reminds me of a little brother or someone I want to be best friends with because we can roast people together or talk about paranormal stuff. he just seems really fun to mess around with because he gives funny reactions. he gives off that younger sibling vibe where only your big sister can make fun of you, but once she sees someone else doing it, it’s not ok and she’s gonna go after that person for making her lil bro cry. in a relationship, he wants someone he can trust with his thoughts and interests, such as aliens, and while his s/o may not believe in them, he wants them to genuinely listen to him and not just brush it off. however, he will still roast his s/o into oblivion. it’s how he shows his affection lol. he’ll call you an idiot and cute all in the same sentence. but he’s really a soft and sensitive boy underneath his snappy, sarcastic exterior. he cried when they won first place for the first time. i’m sure he cried when ridin’ reached number one on the charts. he’s attentive and likes affection even though he tries to say he doesn’t. in that one weekly idol dreamie episode, hyuck listed who hated affection, and he wasn’t one of them. he’s a good boy, and underneath all his snarky comments, he wants to be loved and cared for. you can see how he got a lil huffy when jisung chose chenle as his favorite hyung lol he doesn’t express his feelings outwardly as much, but if you’re his s/o, he will quietly adore you in his own way while outwardly being that one snarky couple who banters all the time. he’ll draw pictures of you, secretly have you as his homescreen, or have a secret photo album on his phone of just pictures of you. he’ll complain if you get him a couple item, like a bracelet, but he’ll wear it 24/7 and refuse to give it back to you. he will absolutely lose his shit if he misplaces it. he’ll cook for you if you ask, but he’ll make a big show about fake complaining about it beforehand. I think he’s okay with hand holding and kisses here and there, but he won’t do grand gestures of pda because he thinks those should be more private and between the two of you. he thinks pet names are sappy as heck, and he’ll get terribly embarrassed if you call him one but he’d be like “that’s so gross and corny... but call me that again.” honestly, just tell him ily and his cheeks will turn so red and he’ll bury his face in his hands but he’ll say it back in the quietest voice and he truly does mean it with his whole chest.

JENO :: jeno is someone who fits in so many roles. his character is versatile in a sense. you can make him into a bad boy, the boy next door, your best friend, anybody. his humor is underrated, and he makes funny puns. he’s good at sarcasm and wit, like when he asked jisung if he thought jaemin’s iq was single digits or when the instructor complimented him and said his rap sounded like mark and he was like “oh.... that’s not good.” he worries about being funny. he mentioned losing sleep over it in weekly idol, so please tell him he’s funny and laugh at his jokes ): he really is funny, and i love his humor. jeno is really smart. he managed to rank 4th or something I believe in his school after cram studying the day before. he’s really self-assured and confident in himself, but he doesn’t show off or act cocky, yet you can sense the quiet confidence in him. he’s humble and works hard and deserves more credit than he’s given. he possesses leadership qualities and is a source of strength for other members. i think they said he was one of the cleaner members and when he’s drunk, he cleans LMAO he is into sports and gymming, especially biking. hyuck said that jeno’s bedroom has his and jaemin’s bikes hanging on the walls lol he also is really competitive, but not a sore loser type. jeno doesn’t strike me as the type who needs his s/o around 24/7 and prefers to have hobbies and space separate from his s/o. he’s laid back, but at the same time, still energetic and fun to be around. he’s still weird, but not over the top weird. jeno is insightful and kind, and he has stated that he’s very shy and timid before. doyoung likes him the most because he’s kind and respectful and takes into account other people’s feelings and listens well. he’s a good boy. he’s also really playful and teasing and plays well with others, like jisung jokes around with him all the time. I feel like jisung jokes around with him the most out of all his hyungs aside from chenle because jeno doesn’t get mad. i believe the members say he’s the only one aside from chenle who doesn’t get mad when someone messes up in dance practices. he cries when he gets angry. jeno is also really affectionate. he enjoys cuddling and holding hands and back hugs and whatnot, but he doesn’t overdo it. it takes a long time for him to trust and open up to someone, and you’re a very lucky person if he lets you see this side of him. he won’t force you to do anything you’re uncomfortable with. If something is bothering you, he won’t pry at first if you refuse to talk about it, but I do think he will eventually make you talk if he feels something is terribly wrong or if it’s affecting the relationship. jeno is driven and knows what he wants. he’ll give you space, but if you’re not what he’s looking for or if you don’t put the effort in as well and won’t open up to him, I do think he will move on. he might bottle up his emotions at first, but as the relationship progresses, he’ll be fully open to you and tell you everything. I don’t think he’ll be terribly affected if he’s rejected because he is confident in himself and able to brush it off. he knows his self-worth. oh, and he loves animals. obviously, jeno loves his cats because he has them even when he’s allergic. he’s the type of s/o who, if you mention you’re walking back to your dorm late at night after staying in the art building to finish your painting, he’ll show up with messy hair and his glasses in his sweats with a hoodie thrown on haphazardly and walk you back safely even without you asking. kiss him on his nose at random times just because you love him, and he’ll make that jeno trademark noise of confusion before giving you the prettiest eye smile that makes the moon dim in shame and nuzzling his face into your shoulder shyly. call him jeno darling or jeno love if you want to see the same reaction as before. it’s gonna be a total KO to his heart if you call him that and boop him on the nose with the softest kiss. anyway, jeno is the bestest boy in the entire universe, and give him all your love, please and thank you.

HAECHAN :: hyuck is so fucking talented. he’s good at everything: singing, dancing, rapping, variety shows, you name it. he was born to be an idol. he’s the golden one and excels at everything. he’s an ace, and he knows it. yeah, he’s cocky and brags about everything he does, but he actually has evidence and proof to back it up. plus, no one can stay mad at him for very long because have you seen how cute he is?? he’s a brat, but you still love him anyway. he’s good at sweet talking and getting what he wants. he plays a push and pull game, and you end up falling for him in the end. i know in fics on here, you often see jaemin in the playboy/fuckboy persona, but I think hyuck absolutely exudes this persona. he is able to read the room or a person and knows the exact way to act in order to get the reaction he wants. it’s hyuck’s world, and we’re all just living in it. he can have all of us eating out of the palm of his hand if he desires. i think he truly embodies the traits of a slytherin: ambitious and cunning. it’s every man for himself, and he’ll do whatever it takes to get what he believes he deserves and plays by his own rules. hyuck is so smart and intelligent, both in terms of brains and emotion. he’s absolutely brilliant, and he’s the type of person to ace an exam without even studying for it. I think he did very well in school, and he also beat doyoung in mental maths when they had a competition on weekly idol lol and he’s also street smart. there’s a reason why doyoung and taeil are scared of him and why they prefer to be on his team than against him lmao. I think hyuck is also a people pleaser though. he wants to be liked, and it’ll drive him crazy if someone calls him boring or shows no interest towards him. I think he’ll want a s/o who plays the push and pull game with him. he’ll playfully tease them a lot, and they’ll have to be interesting and able to dazzle him with their own wit and sarcasm. he, like renjun, is snarky and sarcastic. he likes to make people laugh and enjoys being the center of attention. he is super affectionate and rivals jaemin in this aspect. he thrives off of physical touches, hugs, cuddles, etc. he likes to cuddle when he sleeps, and I feel like he enjoys being the little spoon. he isn’t afraid of pda and will show off his s/o to the world with a loud kiss or back hug anywhere. he’s the type who would do that back pocket spin peter does to lara jean lmao. the two of you can laze around at home, while he plays video games on his computer and you can sit in his lap and he’ll do that thing where his arms are around you and his chin is on your shoulder. he’s a good cook, and he’ll cook for you, but he expects you to pay him back in kisses. his s/o might think he doesn’t pay attention to what they’re saying to him, but he does. he absolutely adores his s/o and remembers everything about them. he’s the type to surprise his s/o with their favorite flowers on a random day, and his s/o would’ve thought he wasn’t paying attention when they told him their favorite flower months ago. and please, please, please surprise him with flowers too because that will catch him off guard and you’ll see him blush and get flustered for once. it’s like when the dreamies first debuted, and chenle said hyuck was the best singer and he wanted to be like hyuck, and hyuck got really quiet and shy and flustered about it. however, he’d get really shy around his crush if they weren’t friends first. there’s that video of him returning something that twice’s mono dropped I think and he was so nervous before and afterwards. or there’s that time when he handed flowers to seungwoo and got so flustered as the dreamies teased him afterwards. also, I feel like sometimes people forget that so much hard work goes into what he does because he makes it look so effortless. hyuck works so hard in everything and puts his all into what he does. anyway, please appreciate hyuck and love him lots. he deserves to be showered in love and affection.

JAEMIN :: jaemin is like jeno in the sense that his character is also super versatile. you can make him fit any type of persona for your fic. jaemin is a sweetheart. his entire existence is love. hyuck said that he treats his members the same way he treats his fans in an episode of weekly idol before. he’s a really affectionate person as seen in the way he showers jisung with affection. he eats, sleeps, and breathes aegyo. you’re going to experience his aegyo a lot if you’re his s/o, so brace yourself. he even managed to make hyuck flustered when he kissed him in that recent reload era game video. he has a lot of love to give out, but he also wants the same amount of love in return. you can see how he craves for love from jisung in return and the way he gets a little upset when he doesn’t get it, like when jisung didn’t call him his favorite hyung. his s/o needs to be okay with being showered with affection and love, and they have to do the same for him. call him cute pet names, give him random kisses throughout the day, back hug him while he’s cooking, he will just absolutely glow and bask in your love. jaemin is good at cooking. he will cook for you, and if you cook, he’ll eat what you make with no complaints. it’s like that meme where person A gives person B a drink with salt in it, and person B drinks it all, and when person A asks why they did that even though it was salty, person B says it’s because they didn’t want to hurt person A’s feelings. jaemin is person B. he’ll also make you model for him and pose literally everywhere so he can take pictures of you because you’re the prettiest person in the entire world to him. he’ll make you his lockscreen, homescreen, hang up pictures of you in his room, all that jazz. he’s the one who buys couple items or outfits and makes you wear them with them. his entire Instagram account will be pictures of you or with you. however, he’s also petty af and nags a lot lmao. he complained to jeno when jisung said he wanted to eat bread at 3 a.m. and how he couldn’t go out to buy him any. he also nagged renjun in one of those dream vs dream videos for not having any questions about him, while all his questions were about renjun. or when he was sulking about jeno not knowing his favorite cartoon character. I believe he mentioned having extreme mood swings too where he’s either too quiet or too loud and out there, and as a s/o, you’d have to cater to both sides of him. jaemin is also an introvert. he’s very quiet and shy around strangers, but he’ll unleash his inner weirdness and loudness when he feels comfortable around you, and you’re in for a wild, fun ride. in that video where he and jeno were making cakes, he seems really hyper and wild. same goes for that video where they went out to eat, and jaemin was pouring soda into a glass dramatically. or when they played that dance game where you have to add onto the dance and copy the previous dances, and he added some random flailing motion and complained when someone did it wrong. or when he and renjun were paired up for that guessing game when they both had headphones on, and he started flailing everywhere and getting kinda frustrated at renjun for getting zero right. he’s a bit weird lmao. as his s/o, i hope you go along with his weird antics and have fun with him too! you also have to remind him to take care of himself. make sure he doesn’t drink that ungodly coffee drink of his or eat too much sugar. take care of him, love him, cherish him, and jaemin will be the best boyfriend ever. he might even set up a whole led light display for you at night declaring his love like he did for jeno. actually, no, he definitely will. he’ll do big grand gestures to show his love for you. he’ll fill your house with roses and press kisses to each of your fingertips with a different reason for why he loves you. he’ll continue to list the reasons for why he loves you for every star he sees until he runs out of stars, but he’ll never run out of reasons for loving you.

CHENLE :: chenle was born to be a star. he is so incredibly talented and picks up skills so quickly. it’s evident because he managed to debut after two months of training and he became fluent in korean quickly. he’s humble and gracious, and he’s the embodiment of that miss universe song: he’s beauty, he’s grace. he doesn’t flaunt his wealth, in fact, it only ever comes up because others bring it up. or he accidentally shows it off when he asks what rent means or when he tries to innocently rectify the situation, like when jaemin was like “oh his parents held a concert for him for his bday” and chenle was like “noooo no it was just to make a memory” on idol room lmao. the way he expresses his love is through gift giving. it shows in the way he told mark he’ll buy him anything he wants for his bday or when he gave apple watches to the 00 liners or when he immediately agreed to buy jeno a plane ticket to china to show him around his home. but he’s not trying to flaunt his wealth. this is simply how he shows his love. chenle is laidback and easygoing. he doesn’t care about jisung using honorifics with him, and he’ll go along with whatever’s happening. there’s that one video during mfal era where hyuck and chenle won the prize and hyuck was like “hey I’ll take the prize ok?” and chenle just immediately agrees and doesn’t care at all. but don’t get me wrong, chenle is super competitive. he wants to win, but it’s more about that feeling you get when you’re the winner, rather than the actual prize for him. he’s really into sports, specifically basketball, so i feel like he’d enjoy it if his s/o expressed some sort of interest in it with him. they don’t have to play basketball with him, but he’d appreciate it greatly if they listened to him talk about stephen curry or cheer him on from the sidelines. he’s affectionate. if you read my renjun description, chenle is the other one that hyuck said doesn’t mind affection from the other members on weekly idol. I don’t see him showing affection blatantly as much like hyuck and jaemin, but I think he loves receiving it. chenle obviously receives so much love from his family and is super close to them. he will love his s/o with his whole heart, and I hope his s/o will love him back just as much. also, I’m pretty sure he’ll love his s/o acting cute because his heart rate spiked up when jisung did aegyo on idol room lmao. I think he’s the only other extrovert in the dreamies, besides hyuck. I believe someone asked jaemin or skz hyunjin if they got close after the collab stage, and they said that they were really awkward with each other. however, skz felix and chenle became good friends! chenle is friendly and a people person. he thrives in social settings, and he’s a social butterfly. he’ll help people out of their shells and make sure to include them in conversations. he’s the type of person who would clear his throat and be like “hey y/n has something to say” if you tried to say something in a group convo and weren’t heard. he’s fine with being the center of attention, but he doesn’t actively seek out that position, like hyuck does. unlike hyuck, he’s not a people pleaser. I think he’s confident in himself, and he’s self assured and satisfied with who he is, so he doesn’t really care what others think of him. chenle is really playful. he likes to tease the other members and wreak harmless havoc lol you can see how he plays around with the other members, like in nct life where he just throws snow at jisung or scares jisung with a rubber chicken when they went to an amusement park in shanghai. he’s a thrill seeker. he loves roller coasters, shooting games, laser tag, etc. he gets excited over the littlest things, and he’s a naturally cheerful person who lights up the room and just naturally has people gravitate towards him. however, he has his serious moments too, and I can see him sitting next to his s/o behind the piano and playing something for them. but then, he’ll probably ruin the soft moment by slamming his hands down on the keys and scaring them at the end.

JISUNG :: jisung reminds me of high school puppy love. he’s curious about the world and introspective. he asked the fans to send him pictures of the moon because he couldn’t see it himself. I think he has a lot of deep thoughts and keeps them to himself because he’s introverted and nervous about sharing them aloud in case he’s not taken seriously as the youngest. he’s inquisitive and sweet, and he’s the culmination of everything good in the universe. he’s the one whom renjun talks to about aliens and paranormal things, and I believe he’ll want a s/o who will take him seriously on these things and listens to his concerns without teasing or making fun of him for believing in them. jisung is shy and gets embarrassed when he’s given compliments. there’s this video where the dreamies read compliments from fans aloud, and you can see how flustered and shy he gets as he ducks his head, has to pause and cover his face before playing with his hair as he reads through the compliments with the biggest smile peeking on his face. I think this is the cutest thing ever, and at the beginning of the relationship, if his s/o compliments him or does something cute, he’s going to react exactly like that. tell him his dancing is amazing, watch his fancams around him, tell him his face is nice to look at, etc. and you’ll see him get reduced to a flustered, blushing mess. the first time he sees you wearing one of his sweaters with the sleeves covering your hands and giving you sweater paws, he will combust and stutter and not be able to look at you as his cheeks turn red. he might just suffer a heart attack if you decide to casually call him a cute pet name one day. additionally, jisung is at that age where he wants to know what others think of him and he wants to be liked. I think this is the reason why he’s more hesitant about speaking up or voicing himself in an unfamiliar environment because he doesn’t want to give off a negative image. he’s also painfully shy, but he wants to make friends, which he explains on dancing high. because of this, he truly cherishes any friendship or relationship he has because it’s seen as something incredibly special to him. as his s/o, you’re gonna mean the world to him and he will value your opinion greatly. once he’s comfortable around you, he’ll be loud and talkative. jeno says that jisung talks the most at the dorm and he’s never quiet. jisung is also a lil shit lol, and he knows how to get out of things, like cleaning up after dinner by locking himself in the bathroom. he’s also a little lazy and probably not the cleanest tbh. he sleeps in jaemin’s bed or in the living room because he’s too lazy to go to his top bunk. he doesn’t listen to his hyungs and talks down to them in a playful way because he knows they’re whipped for him lmao. when the relationship progresses, jisung is going to act in the same, exact way with you. he’s a savage, and he will roast you in the same way he roasts his hyungs, like when hyuck wanted to go to LA with him for why not the dancer and he was like “you have to be good at dancing to go” (which btw, fight me, jisung, hyuck is literally the best dancer). he’ll tease you, hide items on the tallest shelf just so that you’ll call him for help, and smush your cheeks and call you cute. he’ll ruffle your hair and run up behind you and sweep you off your feet princess style just to scare you before carefully placing you back down or tossing you into the pool lol he may have complained about carrying renjun in that reload era game video, but he’ll give you piggy backs when you’re tired or carry you around if you asked. he likes playing video games and those block breaker game apps and when he loses, he’ll sit there and pout without realizing it. he does that little nose scrunch unknowingly, and it’s the cutest. he’ll like dates at home the best. he sucks at cooking, but he’ll try to do it for you. but it’ll end up with you cooking while he back hugs you, and you have to walk around the kitchen with him being a koala attached to you as you feed him bits of the food being made.

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

Okay I was gonna do another SG:WoT post anyway because we’ve got a new King interview but THEN, he released the cover to issue four so you KNOW I gotta geek out about this.

(Sorry that this blog is all SG:WoT, all the time now, but I am just. Insanely excited that Evely is drawing Supergirl. Feel free to block/mute these posts as needed. XD)

Okay, so!

First! The interview!

It’s on (ugh) screenrant so I’m not gonna link, I’m just gonna nab the interesting bits:

On the different direction of the book, and if he wanted to go back to the original Adventure Comics vibes: “So, the idea of this thing was to strip her story down, because Supergirl has a majorly weird history in terms of continuity. At least 13 writers have rewritten her origin over the years. Her dad has 13 origin stories; sometimes he's evil, sometimes he's a robot, sometimes alive, sometimes he's dead. She's changed dramatically in the last 10 years, between coming back to life to the New 52 to Rebirth. She's gone through so much that it's hard to get a hold of her. Not to mention in the '90s, when I was coming up, she was like an ectoplasmic space angel. There's so much there, and I just wanted to take all that stuff off and get to the core of the character; get her out of her normal environments and her normal conflicts. It seems like all our stories are about her dad or her relationship to Superman. Instead, let's see the purity of that character.”

On starting the book the way he did: “...I wanted to start out with a very human moment of a person turning 21 and getting drunk. And a person who is getting drunk because they want to be alone, and they just want to forget about the shit that's happened in their past. That's such a human moment. And the fact that she's Supergirl, so she waits till it's legal - because these super people, they follow the rules. She waited, and now it's legal and she can have this moment. She goes off by herself, with her dog that always follows her, and she has a moment where she can be free. For a lot of people in the US, whether you've been drinking since you were 14 or started that day, your 21st birthday and the day after are days you remember for the rest of your life. It's a day of freedom and consequence, and I wanted to show Supergirl going through that.”

On rising to the challenge of helping Supergirl perform better, sales/popularity-wise: “ When I first got on this book, I called Steve Orlando, who had just written a Supergirl run. And he was the one who opened my eyes to how good the character is. He had such insight into her. He was like, ‘There is a difference between Clark and her, and what she's gone through.’ He just laid it for me.”

On starting the book off with Ruthye’s journey, and gradually building to Kara’s: “ I was like, "Okay, this is going to be from the point of view of someone under Supergirl." And so I switched the point of view to this new brand new character, whose name is Ruthye. And we went from there: we start with Ruthye's story, we see her discover Supergirl, and she's our audience. She's our way in, the way Robin has always been the way into Batman.”

On whether or not other characters will show up, outside of Supergirl and Ruthye: “It's like my Superman: Up in the Sky, where it's a distillation of the character. You'll see other characters, but the focus of every issue will be on Supergirl. And it's something where at the very end, you can be like, "Why is Supergirl great? Why is she important to the DC Universe? What is her future in the DC Universe? Here, read this one trade that can answer all three of those questions at once."So, there will be other characters in the Super universe. But the focus will always be on her; on Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. It's her finding out about herself and her own strength.”

On Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow vs. his other titles: “Supergirl is my first 2021 book, or my first book of the 20s. That wrapped up my books of the teens, and now we're in a new generation. God willing, from the moment I started this book, I was like, ‘I'm gonna take a risk, and I'm gonna write books that are a little brighter.’ I know that's coming from me, and it's not to say we're going to avoid conflict or we're not going to explore the depths of the human soul. All that stuff will be in there. But these books are made from a place of joy, not from a place of anger; from a place of hope, not from a place of despair. It very much contrasts to those other books, in my mind.”

On how he thinks folks will react to the Krypto cliffhanger: “I mean, they're gonna think it's a good cliffhanger. That's how I think they're going to react. They're going to say, ‘I want the next issue.’ That's literally my job as written in my contract. Something where at the end of an issue, someone says, ‘I want more.’ So, that's how I hope they react.”

As mentioned, this is not the full interview; the whole thing can be found on screenrant, and I think Tom King shared a link on his twitter. 

And now, as always, SOME THOUGHTS:

I love that he brings up the fact that so many Supergirl stories focus on Zor-El and Clark, and how he was like, ‘let’s not do that.’

That’s my big gripe with modern Supergirl comics; they are trying so hard to make a statement on why we need both a Supergirl AND a Superman, that they end up spending ALL THEIR TIME talking about Clark, instead of, you know. Telling a fun Supergirl story.

Same thing with Zor-El! I know folks love Rebirth--I like it quite a bit myself--but I think the nostalgia goggles prevent folks from remembering that the whole first arc of that book was re-doing the ‘Cyborg Superman’ garbage from the Nu52. 

Speaking of Rebirth, really like that of all the recent SG writers he coulda talked to, he talked to Steve Orlando.

Like, if ya can’t get Gates on the phone, get Orlando.

(I get the sense that Gates doesn’t like this book, actually, based on a vague tweet. But don’t quote me on that.) 

Looks like Ruthye is gonna be our POV/audience insert character for the whole run. I’m...mmmm. I don’t love it, but I understand the logic here. Especially since he compared it to Batman and Robin--how you use Robin as your entry point for a bat book. 

And you know what? Kara’s supporting cast needs some help, so. Welcome to the Superfam, Ruthye.

I also love the explanation behind the drinking thing, as well as the fact that Kara waited until it was 100% legal for her to drink because OF COURSE SHE WOULD.

I am so worried that Krypto is gonna die b/c of what we saw in Future State. I’m over here with my Pepe Silva board like, ‘Well, what if Kara agrees to help Ruthye because Krem MURDERED HER DOG?!?! WHAT IF THIS IS JOHN WICK IN SPACE?!?!?!’

So I am DISMAYED that King does not reassure us AT ALL.

Thus I am forced to cling to this tidbit here: “ But these books are made from a place of joy, not from a place of anger; from a place of hope, not from a place of despair. It very much contrasts to those other books, in my mind.”

Killing the dog would not be joyful. XD So, like. I’m REALLY HOPIN’ HE’LL BE OKAY.

AND LASTLY, (Except not really)

I have some additional, miscellaneous thoughts unrelated to the interview b/c I’m me and I’m loving having a Supergirl comic back on the shelves, however polarizing it may be.

Something I realized, when details started to come out regarding the book, and that other folks have now noted as well: Kara was 16 when Rebirth launched in 2016; she’s just turned 21 in 2021, making her one of the extremely few comic characters to age in real time.

I don’t think that was planned, but it is cool.

It occurred to me on a re-read that Ruthye never calls Kara Kara in her narration, only Supergirl. And I was a little sad! But then I remembered that Kara wouldn’t necessarily reveal her identity to people she’s helping, she would just be ‘Supergirl’ to them. 

I really do love how, so far, there has been NARY A MENTION of Kara angst-ing over being in Clark’s shadow, or being Superman’s cousin.

It appears that her drinking alone on a remote planet is more related to trying to forget her trauma/grief related to Krypton. MAYBE. We don’t know yet.

The Clark thing could still come up. I hope it doesn’t. 

(Interesting to note! Kara recently appeared in Action Comics, helping Clark and Jon investigate some Kryptonian refugees; IDK how closely these books will necessarily ‘work together’ in terms of continuity, but! It’s possible that the discovery of those mysterious refugees was triggering, thus sending her on her way to her own solo title.)

(Well. That’s gonna be my headcanon, anyway. XD)

AND LASTLY, (for real this time)

ISSUE FOUR COVER!!!!

Okay, some immediate thoughts:

GOOD LORD IT’S STUNNING.

I loooooove the fire motif, reminds me of a part from the Rebirth run, where Kara met the Super-Man of China, and they visually referenced All-Star Superman, having the Kryptonians kind of...become the sun.

Also STAR CHART?!?! PIRATE MAP!?!?!?! 

The VIBES I tell you, the VIIIIIIIBES.

Also I love that it’s just Kara.

Don’t get me wrong! I like Ruthye just fine so far! But yeah, yeah, give me some more solo-Kara focus, even if it’s just in the art.

Just realized that once this thing gets collected as a TBP, we might get some Evely art backmatter. OhHhhHHhhH YESSSS. 

Anyways, the long wait for issue 2 begins! 

[frederator-studios]

Bryan Caselli: The Frederator Interview

Bryan Caselli is a Storyboard Artist, Writer and Renaissance Faire enthusiast. Following tenure on top-notch cartoons including Star vs. the Forces of Evil and Sanjay and Craig, ‘twas our good fortune when he set sail to Costume Quest as co-Executive Producer, with a treasure trove of story skillz in tow. Here, Bryan provides his advice to young artists, fav things about Costume Quest, and remarkably realistic take on a 17th century Swashbuckler and his Mer-Lassy.

When did you know that you wanted a career in animation?

My friends and family were alway super supportive of my drawing when I was little, but I got really focused on art in high school. I had an amazing teacher named Kevin McGovern who encouraged me to apply to the California State Summer School for the Arts. CSSSA was a four week residency arts summer program on CalArts’ campus featuring many different disciplines. I studied in the animation department, and it was like I finally found my people. After those four weeks, I knew I wanted to work in animation, and I wanted to go to school at CalArts. There was no turning back.

(Every day is Halloween for the CQ crew! But this day was actually Halloween.)

Where are you from, and how did you chart your path to CalArts?

I'm originally from Sacramento, California. It's a legitimately sized city, but it still has a small town vibe that's warm and welcoming. I applied to CalArts straight out of high school, but didn't get in on my first try. I actually didn't apply to any other schools. My plan was to just apply again the next year, but my mom secretly applied for me to CSU Sacramento as a somewhat, "What if he doesn't get into CalArts for ten years?" worst case scenario backup plan. After swallowing the tough pill of not getting into my dream school, I took a collection of figure drawing, portrait drawing, painting, and art history classes at both Sac State and Sac City college. I didn't stay long enough to earn a degree. Luckily, I was accepted into CalArts the following year.

How did you decide you wanted to storyboard and write?

I got into animation thinking I wanted to be a character designer. It seemed to be the most glamorous position at the time, but I found out quickly that you have to be an exceptional draftsman to do that job, which I'm not. I fell in love with the story department in my 3rd and 4th years at CalArts. I had some awesome teachers who really set me on the path that I'm on now.

What do you love most about the job?

I can't get enough of stuff like mythic structure, archetypal symbolism, and fable storytelling. I really get excited by just how universal storytelling is. It can connect you with anyone. That's easily my favorite part of my work.

What was your first job in animation or art, and how’d you land it?

I interned on Regular Show. I actually went in to interview for a different show, but on my way out, I ran into Ben Adams, the Regular Show character designer and my former classmate. He told me to blow those other guys off and come work with him. He introduced me to Regular Show's Producer, Janet Dimon, and we really hit it off. She offered me the position soon after that. At the end of my internship, I pitched the storyboards for my student film, Scout Wars. After the pitch, someone from development came up to me and said, "You need to pitch this upstairs." That's how I got my second gig.

The show was never produced, but getting paid to develop my original concept that early in my career really set in stone my desire to run a show of my own some day. I even got to work with our future Costume Quest Art Director, Ricky Cometa, on the development poster.  After that, I did about a year and a half of full-time freelance, which eventually lead me to work with the creators of Sanjay and Craig on some of their punk side projects. I really liked working with those guys, so when they asked me to come on Sanjay, it was an easy choice.

That’s awesome. Was Sanjay the first show you wrote and boarded for? How is it to work on a board driven show?

Yep, Sanjay was the first TV show that I got to write and storyboard on. Both writing and storyboarding is really demanding, but it's also really rewarding. Nick Bachman (Costume Quest's previously interviewed Supervising Producer) was my Storyboard Director on Sanjay, and we really clicked as a team. Sanjay and Craig was a perfect show to be board driven because it was super cartoony and there were very few rules. It was a great opportunity for board teams to have their specific voices heard. When you watch an episode of Sanjay and Craig you can pretty much spot which teams did which episodes from a mile away.

How was writing on Star vs the Forces of Evil - is it board driven too?

Writing on Star was an awesome change of pace coming off of Sanjay. Daron Nefcy was a great leader to work for, and I became really close with my fellow writers. It was board driven, which made the transition from storyboarding to outline writing a lot more of a doable task for me. I was comfortable in that kind of production pipeline and pretty much knew what would be expected of me as a writer. The coolest part about working on Star was that it was a seasonally arcing, somewhat mythic story. It was so cool to get to craft a large story over multiple episodes. I took a lot of lessons learned writing on Star and brought them with me to the writers' room on Costume Quest.

Is it odd being a bit of a ~star~ yourself, considering you have a whole fan page and everything?!

Oh boy, having a fan wiki page is a strange feeling. It's really cool to be apart of a show that has such a passionate fanbase, but honestly I don't want to be a star. Star Butterfly is the star of Star.  

You’re Costume Quest’s co-Executive Producer. What does the job entail? 

Being the co-EP on Costume Quest means I, along with the rest of our leadership team, am responsible to supervise just about every stage of production. From writing to storyboarding, animatics to art, voice acting and voice casting, logo design, score, sound effects, the list goes on and on. I got to script a handful of episodes. Nick and I storyboarded the first episode. Occasionally I do some (very rough) first pass character designs. I also draw story board punch-ups and animation redline revisions on the episodes I direct. I direct the first story of each of Costume Quest's two part episodes, and Nick directs the second story. Beyond that I mainly keep my eye on the larger narrative of the show, making sure everything is tonally consistent and the story threads line up. If every person that works on this show is making one tree, I try to make sure the forest is working as a whole. I do my best not to force any artist to execute their assignments exactly as I would have, but instead, encourage them to showcase their personal artistic voices.

How have you enjoyed working on Costume Quest, and what do you like most about the show?

Working on Costume Quest has been my favorite gig yet. I am really grateful to Will (McRobb), Kevin (Kolde), and Eric (Homan) for bringing me onboard. I'm super proud of how much the show grows across the first season. The scale, the emotional stakes, and the world building just get bigger and bigger with every episode. Beyond that, having the chance to lead a team has been incredibly rewarding. Our whole crew is so talented, and they are all so supportive of the show. It has really meant a lot to me to learn that these people, who I respect tremendously, are happy to come in to work every day and are proud to help tell this story. I can't overstate how good it feels to know I have a creatively and professionally satisfied crew.

Do you have a favorite character on CQ?

I love all four of the main kids, but my favorite character really is Norm. I always say that he's a cross between Fred Flintstone and Santa Clause. He's such an emotionally vulnerable character, and he's got some great reveals attached to his backstory. Fred Tatasciore also does some incredible voice acting as Norm, so if this show only gets one award ever, it should go to Fred's performance.

Since developing Scout Wars, have you gone out pitching other original ideas?

I’ve pitched Scout Wars and a handful of other show ideas around to the big studios, but when Costume Quest came about, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to learn everything I needed to about the responsibilities of a show runner—without the added emotional pressure of having the show be about my childhood, or my relationship with my father, or whatever. I have a handful of ideas in my back pocket that I'm eager to start pitching again whenever Costume Quest comes to a close.

What are your favorite cartoons?

Not including the shows I've worked on: original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Batman the Animated Series, Justice League/Justice League Unlimited, Doug, Hey Arnold!, SpongeBob, Simpsons, Bob's Burgers, Archer, Flintstones, the Peanuts specials, and the original Power Rangers gets a non-cartoon honorable mention because the the influence that show had on me and Costume Quest is pretty undeniable.

What is your advice to people who want to write and/or storyboard for animation? 

Study the craft as hard as you can. It's not about networking, or Internet likes, or whatever. If you get as good as you possibly can at the craft, you'll be golden. Take any job that will hire you. Once you get any position anywhere, if you show everyone you work with just how dedicated you are, people will take notice, and they'll want to help you.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

I really love hosting backyard BBQ's and parties at my place. My friends tease me that I'd rather they come to me than I go anywhere else pretty much 100% of the time. You can find me most Sunday mornings at any of the LA flea markets with my girlfriend, Madison, looking for more knick knacks to put up in our place. Also, I take my Renaissance Faire costuming pretty seriously. Yearly upgrades are planned months in advance. My mom always sewed my Halloween costumes growing up, so costumes somehow became a thing I really like to do. I guess it's fitting that Costume Quest came my way.

Have anything to say to future fans of Costume Quest?

Watch it again! We did our best to set up, pay off, and foreshadow as much as possible in the season so it would be fun to rewatch. There are a lot of little easter eggs in there. I hope fans enjoy it. ☆

No doubt, they will. Thank you for the interview Bryan, and for your fantastic work on Costume Quest!  Follow Bryan on Instagram.

- Cooper ☆

[sunnysynthsunshine]

7th Comedy Monologue

“Hey my Cheese bags I’m back from my adventure in 1985”

“No joke if you look it up

the timeframe of days for each month this year

are the exact same as they were in 1985”

So all this “80s revival stuff” with Duran Duran and Depeche Mode touring, Petshop Boys releasing a new album, a new generation falling in love with Queen and She-Ra while the world is being messed up by a tyrannical iron lady and a talking tangerine makes a bit of sense doesn’t it?”

Even though I was born in the 2000s I’ve always loved most of the media from that decade, the gothic and upbeat synthesizer music,the cheaply made but entertaining cartoons,the video games,the basic but stylish fashion,the musicals and John Hughes films,the mix of music genres in the charts,Goth,Synth,Punk,2 Tone,Post-Punk,New Wave,Glam Metal,Alternative,Shoegaze,Hip Hop,Electronica

I was watching Saved by the Bell  before Netflix even existed

Then again a lot of the shows from then were also being revived back in my day

Dal Winton was presenting game shows, Pingu replaced the scary walrus monsters with rap music, I watched or had VHS tapes of the Muppet show, Noddy, Postman Pat and Scooby Doo.

Scooby-Doo! Now that’s a show that never gets old because it never changes, anyone regardless of what generation they’re from would be able to tell you

“Oh Yeah, I remember Scooby Doo”

When you think about it Scooby Doo is quite philosophical

we are all just a gang going on our own adventures

that and the first few live-action movies are modern masterpieces

I was just browsing Twitter or Tumblr or literally anywhere on the internet only to see that screencaps were taken from the live action Scooby Doo interviews had turned into memes

*ahem*

Well,I was auditioning for the role of Velma, I could sense from the way Matthew Lillard just fully encompassed the role of Shaggy, it felt like he was Shaggy, he was our saviour as he felt his spiritual energy increase, that’s when I knew we were working with a legend

Something like that although Matthew isn’t too fond of the memes himself specifically the ones where his spiritual connections are described more like demon possession rituals

*ahem*

“Being Shaggy has led me down a path of death and destruction. I’ve killed many mortals in hope of replicating 1% of Shaggy’s being, by the end of filming I hope to become one with him”

In which Matthew responded with

*deadpan voice*

This is wrong

I mean I might also have inspirations where I feel like I can philosophically connect with them, in their performing style and personality but that’s where I draw the line

Personality?  That’s a tricky subject

You could say some people have consistent personalities

People said Freddie Mercury and David Bowie were party animals who were incredible on stage with their charisma, creativity and charm but other sources have said they were relaxed, laid back people who were shy when being interviewed.

That could just be the contrast between their onstage and offstage personas but not all of us have that, even if we are all  just actors in a play, hoping each day goes the right way

Some of us are punk, even if we don’t explicitly say that we are, or have the stereotypical style associated with it,a lot of us just try to be ourselves,some of us can enjoy reality shows and horror movies at the same time,some of us can enjoy One Direction and Gorillaz,some of us can love fashion but also love memes, Theatre, and 1980s aesthetics

I’d say I’m the same but sometimes my personality is all over the place

I can go from being cheerful, relaxed and happy to being dazed and clumsy or cynical or entranced and hyper-fixated to Pessimistic and Cold to Quiet and Timid to Mellow and Loud   what personality traits you associate with me, however, is up to your own conclusion

call me any internet subculture stereotype and I’d be able to tell you about how I either, unfortunately, was the stereotype or I hung around people who were those stereotypes

if you said I was someone who watched Cbbc and citv you’d be right

if you said I was a classic rock enthusiast years ago and now you’d be right

if you said I used to be a cringy anime enthusiast  you’d be right

if you said I was one of those theatre kids who watched Disney sitcoms you’d be right

if you said I was one of those meme posters who referenced movies like Shrek and bee movie you’d be right

Another thing punks did was and sometimes still do was creating fanzines, magazines related to their favourite band or tv show or their own opinions on what’s going in the world, nowadays you could say social media has replaced that, but publications like the Daily Mirror, The Sun and TMZ still have a presence on there,I’d say fanzines should have a revival.

The BAFTA’s also happened recently and I wasn’t impressed, then again when are awards shows anything other than beauty pageants for films anyway?

Some films deserved their awards, but some films barely got a mention, Paddington 2 wasn’t included in there or in any of the other film awards this year and Stan and Ollie got nothing…

A darn shame because that film was so well made, it felt authentic, while Stan and Ollie also have a bit of a universal following, there are still some people who probably don’t know who they are!

Before Walliams and Lucas, Before the Two Ronnies, Before Richie and Eddie

There was…Laurel and Hardy

Two moustached blokes, who in the 20s and 50s would just try to delight audiences the best way they could, through slapstick and laughter, without them, most of the world’s double acts wouldn’t exist and even Spongebob wouldn’t exist

Yep, you heard me right, all those misadventures Spongebob and Patrick would have, they were loosely based on the adventures of Laurel and Hardy, except instead of it being about a tall British man and a fat American it was about an anthropomorphic sponge and a dumb but caring starfish.

Speaking of Spongebob, there was some sad news involving Spongebob not too long ago

The creator of Spongebob, Stephen Hillenburg…had passed away from ALS

I know, it’s awful,stupid motor neuron diseases and stupid Adam Levine too,for those who don’t know there was an episode of Spongebob called Band Geeks where they ended the episode with the cast playing a song called Sweet Victory over a Superbowl type of event, for the actual super bowl Spongebob fans around the world petitioned for that song to be played in tribute for Stephen,however we got Adam Levine singing a different song instead….what a letdown

If it wasn’t for SpongeBob I and some of the rest of the new generation, wouldn’t know half the old music or old films we know now.

To let down millions of fans like that makes me sick

Honestly, I was a bit sick a few weeks ago, I’ve been sick before and hospitalized twice but this particular moment of sickness was odd

It was like any other night, I was trying to get some sleep and lucid dream, but then it happened, the shivers, the shakes the trembling aches,

Out of nowhere, I felt like an ice-cube stuck in a microwave, It was too cold but it was too warm, I eventually got to sleep but when I got up the next morning I felt sick again, sorry for disclosing those details but it was like the exorcist…

Usually, when I’m sick watching documentaries, Kitchen Nightmares or 90s films weirdly cheers me up

Speaking of films, Rocketman the Elton John movie is out and it actually looks good

It’s being directed by the guy who was the replacement director for Bo Rhap and if it ends up being brilliant I won’t be surprised, the trailer gave off Velvet Goldmine vibes, the style of composed cinematography and I’m sounding like Film Twitter, Isle of Dogs was a good film…oh wait it wasn’t acknowledged much by the award shows either.

Another amazing film I recently watched was Rocky Horror…I know I’ve mentioned it before but that was when I only knew the sequel and some of the soundtrack,

It was amazing, it was brilliant, it was fantastic, it was out of this world,

ah! Rocky Horror was splendid

I definitely now understand why it’s still going strong to this day

It’s that hybrid of rock and roll, optimistic nihilism and soft aesthetics

That just works for me, another thing I’ve remembered was that Richard O’ Brien played the dad in Phineas and Ferb, well that explains that part of me liked that cartoon for the music and some of the characters but other characters did my head in like that Isabel character

“Hey, Phineas what ya dooing?”

“How about you let me finish my invention and you mind your own business”

Oof that’s too harsh…but considering aspects of the marvel Phineas and Ferb crossover were surprisingly a bit sexist at times outdated for the show that is usually quite progressive in its representation and characters…it’s probably accurate

Another person who hasn’t changed but is also often harsh, Piers Morgan, a little tweety bird told me he had a mysterious illness, good riddance I’d say, he’s the new Noel Edmonds, the presenter who used to be ok but now is unbearable…because he never shuts up

Thankfully though he’s “taking a break” from GMB that will rest our eardrums

Russell Brand has also been in the tabloids again, even though he’s more focused on his Buddhist spiritual recovery enlightening, looking back he wasn’t as bad as people described him, yeah at times he was a bit too over the top,but he was and is quite an ok bloke, but I’d say temporarily banning tickling is a bit of a stretch,

when you think about the number of people who disrespect our literal and figurative personal space on a daily basis, it kinda makes a bit of sense,

whether your sensory sensitive or not, I’m sure you hate it, when people are too touchy at times

although years ago I would’ve been a bit of an ignorant hypocrite about that

Hating it when crowds of kids would chase me like how the paparazzi chase their next gossip target, yet often annoyingly running up to people to talk to or entertain them.

I really need to learn to enjoy loneliness more because I get some of my best ideas when alone, but emotionally I feel a lot better when around others, a bit of an Ambivert really,

I’m sorry I can be a bit all over the place, I’m trying to make my energy more manageable

as that lucid dreaming thing has been misused at times,

I shouldn’t let myself be controlled…

by anyone or anything..no overthinking, no overworking,

treat the world as your stage, start your first act, motivated and ready, take your recharging interval breaks and then move on for your second act

fancy that me an ex-drama student making that metaphor when my current course  involves digitally drawing art, editing audio and sitting at a computer for most of the day

But then again just because someone shows good charisma that doesn’t always mean their a good person.

Ted Bundy, one of America's most notorious serial killers used charisma and charm in his court cases, and with the amount of fangirls giving him fanmail it was like the Beatles fandom but for people with Stockholm syndrome,and now with Netflix’s documentary and Troy from High School Musical in an upcoming film about him, that seems to be repeating itself…

*Alien voice* Ted Bundy the 1960s called they want your fangirls back!

One show I know you probably haven’t heard of is The Boondocks, a south park esque cartoon with an anime esque art style, referencing the social commentary of African American culture and media, celebrating some aspects while critiquing others, through the lenses of a socialist boy named Huey Freeman, his rapper wannabe brother Riley and their activist grandad Robert.

This show was quite revolutionary,it referenced the issue of each episode quite well, even though it only lasted 4 seasons, however, because the show is quite American, apart from the animation which is done in Korea,The Boondocks is not well known in the UK, which is a shame because it is a really good show that still holds up…however, it does fall under one mousetrap that most other adult cartoons fall into….

Because of the references to violence,innuendo and other dark subject matter sometimes referenced in a satirically humorous way,some audiences  would just watch the show because it’s offensive thinking that the show was made just to be offensive..instead of what the show was actually made for..which was to give social commentary on the issues relevant to African American communities in America.

I had watched this show years ago, it only just came back on my radar, because the creator Aaron McGruder, who based the show off his webcomic of the same name, had recently made a new issue.

There’s a difference between being satirical and being offensive

Your either making fun of something bad that a system or people are doing to make people aware of how stupid and sad the world can be at times,subjectively making fun of a stereotype, or your an arse who thinks they’re a comedian when they waste their time on social media, thinking they’re amazing and funny when they’re holding up the line at Mcdonald’s and the only people laughing at their jokes are gammon and people who found Bernard Manning funny

“Oh Wait”

I know sometimes I have unpopular opinions such as how my views of someone dip depending on their views of Kanye West

and sometimes I can be a bit snarky, and I hate and love stuff in equal amounts, but we need a bit of that don’t we, if we bottle it all up we explode like volcanos, but if we overshare too much, we crash like out of control cars

It’s all about moderation, salt is a tasty condiment but eat too much of it and your arteries will get clogged,

A few days back it was the day Mark Ashton passed away, for those who don’t know,he was an LGBT activist in the 80s,he volunteered with organizations such as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament,he and the other activists helped to support the miners during the miner strike, creating the LGSM Alliance,Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners,there was a film made about them too, called Pride,but what some people don’t know is that….Mark Ashton was Northern Irish…he was one of us..he was the Marsha P Johnson of our time..if we were a bit like Mark Ashton this country would be a slightly more accepting place, why don’t we give love!

Let’s move on, plant more flowers in our garden..I know I sound like a hippie but it’s true, our Celtic Summerland is being used as a cesspool for Nuclear Waste

Oi! use your own bins, not the place we’re living in, pick up your rubbish and clean up your own mess…

The 80s were telling us something with all those protect and survive adverts, yes some of us were prepared as the older generation made us alert, others couldn’t recognize that a lot of innocent people were getting hurt.

When we say we want a 1980s comeback we want the music, clothes, games and  films,

but Nope

while we have some of that the 1980s revival we get is the one that involves Nuclear Danger and the ghost of Margaret Thatcher

All these TV and Film revivals, some are cool others are just unnecessary  Do we really need a Snow White sequel? No, we don’t but we did get one even if it was unofficial

Back in 2007 a French animation company made a sequel to Snow White which was also a bit like Shrek in how it satirised the fairy tale tropes, how Prince Charming feels like he is objectified while he ends up doing the same thing to the female characters, quite a tosser but that’s the point of the parody to point out the flaws with fairy tale logic, and to put the likes of Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella in more realistic scenarios.

…it’s strange, weird but brilliant too

The English dub had quite a few familiar faces doing the character voices

Stephen Fry as the narrator, Morwenna Banks, Simon Greenall and another British actor

Rik someone...

Ah! I remember his name now, he was in many successful sitcoms in the 80s and 90s,he was a legend, he knew how to keep people laughing, whether they were children, adults, teenagers,

in television, theatre, film or music

quite an eclectic range of talent

Although

I’m a new fan, I might adore his work, but I had just learnt his name 2 years ago, whereas, with other fans, they have created their own work, such as Charlie Brooker and Simon Pegg… some were able to meet him…lucky...

Some encounters were quite interesting, I had heard someone’s nan got to meet him in the 90s but she got his name wrong so she ended up saying

“‘oh hello can I have your autograph please Mr mayo?’

Well that happened, she probably still got that autograph,...

And somewhere up there, Rik Mayall is thinking of us, he, Stephen Hillenburg and David Bowie are probably chatting away

Let’s make the lord of misrule proud

[aion-rsa]

Belushi Review: Showtime’s Look at John Belushi Is Almost Definitive

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The world got to know John Belushi’s eyebrows before we got to know the man. They projected his innermost confusion, telegraphed his thought processes, and misdirected his most sincere intentions. Showtime’s heartfelt and intimate documentary, Belushi, opens with clips from the comic icon’s screen test for Saturday Night Live. Armed with just his face, he lets those eyebrows steal the scene. They cajole, caress, and careen across the bottom of his brow, culminating in a series of aerobic stretches with a gymnast’s flair. Belushi didn’t have to crack a joke, he barely had to say a word, and yet showed a world of possibilities within a few inches of cranial space. Belushi really was a lot like his decathlon character in the Little Chocolate Donuts skit. All he needed was some sugar to keep him going. The documentary shows Belushi really was born that way, and didn’t need the extra sweetening.

Too bad he couldn’t keep it up. But we know this from the beginning. The first real scene takes place at the height of Belushi’s fame and adulation. He stole the movie he was just in, Animal House, which was the most successful comedy film of all time at the time. He was on the number one TV show in America. His record The Blues Brothers��� Briefcase of Blues, not even a comedy album, but a labor of love with musician friends he respected and adored, was at the top of the charts, with hit singles doing the same. Director R.J. Cutler (The War Room, The September Issue, Listen to Me Marlon) immediately declares this documentary isn’t about one of America’s favorite performers, it is about the cannibalistic hungers of fame.

“John always had appetites that were completely out of control, for everything, but I didn’t start to worry about him until he was at the Universal Amphitheatre, playing for 7,000 people,” Harold Ramis, who had known Belushi since their improvisational comedy beginnings, says over the soundtrack and applause. “I looked at John on the stage and I thought, ‘He’s on the most popular comedy show of our generation, he was in the most successful comedy film ever, and now he’s onstage fronting an amazing band.’ My first thought was, ‘How great for him.’ My second thought was, ‘Knowing his appetites, I don’t think he’ll survive this.’”

With that, Ramis throws a dark shadow over the rest of the film. Every success the documentary shows from here on has a cloud of doom hanging over it. Belushi was a wild man, bouncing around on the very edge of the most visible stage, both higher than anyone possibly imagined. SNL made overnight stars out of most of its cast. Chevy Chase was plucked out early because, well, he was Chevy Chase and they weren’t. But while former drummer Chase went on to be a matinee draw, Belushi became a rock star.

Belushi’s life has been told before. Watergate journalist Bob Woodward wrote the tawdry 1984 book Wired, which was adapted into a feature film in 1989. The documentary makes ample use of audio clips from Tanner Colby’s 2012 oral history Belushi: A Biography. Belushi’s wife Judith interviewed many of his friends and castmates, like Ramis, Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, Lorne Michaels, Carrie Fisher, Ivan Reitman, Penny Marshall, and John’s brother Jim Belushi. Judy conducted the interviews in the first few years after Belushi’s death. This gives Belushi an immediacy, but also makes the stories feel older. None of the other interviews are shown as talking heads, except archival footage of Belushi himself.

While the guest voices condense the story, and breathe an even-handed life into the material, Belushi works best when it lets Belushi tell his own version. Some of the most revealing insights come from a series of letters written to Judy, who had been with him ever since Wheaton Community High School. The letters, which open “Dear Jutes,” begin when Belushi is still in an Indiana summer stock company, smoking pot and listening to The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album, which he writes makes him think of her whenever he hears it, “Especially ‘With a Little Help From My Friends.’” His rendition of Joe Cocker’s adaptation of the song is a late highlight, and Belushi’s letters are interpreted very effectively by Saturday Night Live’s Bill Hader.

The letters illuminate Belushi’s passions while humanizing the larger-than-life performer. Home movie footage succeeds in showing him trying to find an elusive normalcy in real life. The letters offset the seemingly effortless rise of the comedian with the inner turmoil that fed it. Belushi comes off as obsessed with success but terrified of fame. A late letter reveals Belushi was afraid he reached a point of no return. Some of the letters are funny, others insecure, still others come off as despondent.

One of the most unexpected revelations about Belushi is how he felt like an outsider growing up, and was embarrassed by his Albanian immigrant background. One wouldn’t think Belushi might be embarrassed by anything. “We all wanted to be American,” his brother Jim Belushi explains. John, who was expected to work in his father’s restaurant, instead put it to work for him, inspiring his Pete Dionasopoulos of the Olympia Café character in the “Cheeseburger, cheeseburger” sketches.

Much of Belushi’s story is brought to life by the animated sequences from Robert Valley. These are particularly effective when showing Belushi during his high school years drumming with a band called the Ravens, and illustrating his time with the improv group he founded, The West Compass Players, which led to his joining Chicago’s Second City troupe. His rise is spectacularly fun to hear, and the animation makes up for lost footage.

The film also gets into his many contradictions. Belushi is drawn losing himself in the albums of comics like Jonathan Winters and Bob Newhart. But when he is asked, during his Second City period, his opinion on Lou Costello, Belushi says “Nope, don’t like him.” John wanted to create something new. The film also shows how much spontaneity played into Belushi’s comedy. He’d only seen the samurai movie with Toshiro Mifune on TV the night before he auditioned for Saturday Night Live.

Belushi was flown from Chicago to New York to officiate over Lemmings, National Lampoon’s Off-Broadway spoof of Woodstock. He stole the show with his impersonation of Joe Cocker. Lorne Michaels saw Saturday Night Live as a show which would be an “upheaval” for network television. Belushi said he hated television during his interview, but told Michaels he would deign to appear on the show. He’d already auditioned for a rival series called “Saturday Night,” which was going to be headlined by sports announcer Howard Cosell.

The documentary expertly weaves the double-edged sword of celebrity. Belushi chafed at being recognized on the street as “that Bee guy” from their bumble-bee sketches, but his performances, many of them exercises in extreme physical comedy, struck a nerve with audiences. Belushi lets clips strike at the audience to back it up. Michaels compares Belushi to Jackie Gleason’s Ralph Kramden from The Honeymooners, because he brought a blue-collar vibe. On SNL, Belushi is remembered as being very competitive, distracted by the success of Chevy Chase, and dismissive of the women writers and performers. Once Chase left, Michaels says “the thing that John most hoped for, that he would be the alpha male, had now happened.”

The documentary is at its most exciting when it shows clips. From the early Lemmings stage show, through Saturday Night Live, Belushi highlights the anarchy Belushi brought to the stage. It could easily slip into be a “best of” clip show, featuring his memorable characters Jake Blues and the Samurai, or his ruthless spoof of Elizabeth Taylor choking on a chicken bone, giving herself the Heimlich maneuver and returning to the chicken. But instead informs Belushi’s motivations. Cutler consistently finds perfect clips to illustrate how Belushi’s individuality drove him to seemingly unimaginable heights. The onscreen examples justify the star quality which put him on the cover of Newsweek and Rolling Stone. We get the sense of how Belushi helped change American culture and comedy, in the same league as Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Lily Tomlin, and George Carlin. But while scaling the dizzying heights, the movie never loses its sense of doom.

Belushi’s spiral into addiction is covered at length. In the second season of SNL, Belushi got injured doing a pratfall and was prescribed painkillers. When the prescription ran out, he turned to the street for hard drugs. Later in his career, Belushi would hire President Nixon’s personal bodyguard to keep him away from bad influences, but on his rise up, many of his colleagues cut him a lot of slack. “He was testing all his boundaries at that point,” The Blues Brothers director John Landis explains, before excusing Belushi: “I don’t think we lost more than four or five days of shooting because of the drugs.”

Belushi got clean for a year, living Martha’s Vineyard. Carrie Fisher, however, says in an interview that by skipping rehab, Belushi never dealt with sobriety’s most challenging aspects: day to day life can be boring, and the comic star didn’t have the coping mechanism to deal with feelings the drugs were covering up. Cutler’s documentary is moving, offering a look into the soul of the man who embodied the “animal” found in every college fraternity, Bluto in Animal House. The documentary deftly explores Belushi’s attempts to make the beast noble, taking his acting seriously in smaller films like Old Boyfriends, Continental Divide, and trying to break out of the audience’s preconceptions with his last film Neighbors.

Cutler finds Belushi, the performer, but doesn’t quite catch John as a person as Belushi incrementally shifts its focus from his art to his drug binges. Belushi can’t fully celebrate Belushi, because everyone watching knows the ending. In March of 1982, Belushi sequestered himself at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles in order to finish “Noble Rot,” a screenplay he was writing with Don Novello. Here the film very succinctly and poignantly captures the love people felt for the man, Belushi. Aykroyd, who said he fell in love with Belushi the moment they met, still bears deep wounds.

“He was sad and defeated,” Aykroyd remembers about his last conversation. “I thought I’ll finish this page, this paragraph and get out there. I didn’t get to him in time. I carry that with me forever.” Belushi’s long-time blues and soul brother thought he had a solution. “I told him I was writing something great for us,” we hear Aykroyd say in the film. “I was writing Ghostbusters.” While the documentary gives this revelation a sheen of hopeful might-have-beens, it really only underscores how that would be a mistake assumption. Everything about the documentary says a successful film might only have slowed the same inevitable ending.

For all the archival footage found in Belushi, one particular short film broadcast on Saturday Night Live is sadly not featured, except for a few stills in one of the quicker montages. “Don’t Look Back in Anger” shows John, as an old man, walking through a cemetery and reminiscing about his old friends on SNL. They’re all dead in the film, Belushi is the last survivor. Why? Because he is a dancer. This may have been how he saw himself, and as his audience most wanted to see him. But for all the missed promise it may have subverted, the skit fits with Belushi’s larger picture. John Belushi is dancing through a graveyard, happily. The film is a wake, of sorts. But the dance is how Belushi ultimately moved through life, with a dancer’s grace which defied the body held down by strong appetites. Belushi would have been a more satisfying film if it took smaller bites.

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Belushi airs Sunday, Nov. 22, at 9 p.m., on Showtime.

The post Belushi Review: Showtime’s Look at John Belushi Is Almost Definitive appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[astoldbytoria]

ATBT: Harry Styles Album Review

ATBT Tuesdays: Harry Styles Album Review!

Hello! Today’s review will be on Harry Styles’ new self-titled album. I’ve always loved Harry tbh and I was excited yet skeptical of how this album would fare, especially since Zayn has already proven that his solo sound is a worthy one. But this album is already breaking barriers, making waves, and soaring on the charts.

Harry’s debut album shows his old soul for sure. I got heavy 60s and 70s classic rock vibes. His inspirations - like Elton John, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones, for example - are channeled through this album with a modern twist. This is an era of rock that many people haven’t replicated in today’s popular music because it is so unique and might come off as inauthentic if not done carefully. But I believe Harry respectfully draws inspiration while still making the music his own. 

I’ll go through my thoughts on each song, highlighting my favorites, things he did well, and things he should improve on:

1) Meet Me in the Hallway

This one has such an eerie vibe to it that I love. It definitely reminds me of the The Beatles, especially with the warped bass guitar. The guitar is definitely the highlight of this one from a musical standpoint. From the lyrics, I like how he’s characterized his feeling for this person as an addiction, because it’s something that people - especially teenagers - can relate to. But this is not the teeny-bopper Harry Styles that we’re getting. This is a mature voice, one that’s really expressing a longing for someone. I love that the song doesn’t follow a strict structure, similar to the ones they were bound to in One Direction. This one just flows and changes with each emotion and action he describes. This is a solid opener to me. It shows his style and it showed his ability to convey emotion lyrically.

2) Sign of the Times

I’ll be honest, when I heard this was his debut single, I was not impressed. I liked the vibe of the song and even his vocals at the end. But should it have been the debut single? Not in my opinion. I do love the instrumentation. There are so many layers and it sounds like a classic rock song. I loved the addition of the choir accompanying his emotional belting toward the end. But you have to listen to the song for like 3 and half minutes to get to any sort of climax. The objective of the song is kind of cloudy too. At first listen, it sounds like he’s talking about the end of the world or some kind of ending that affects a multitude of people. But in an interview, he says the song is from the point of view of a mother that is in labor but was told that she’s going to die from complications from birth? So yeah, lyrically this one is not strong on conveying whatever message he’s trying to send. I love the Bowie and Queen inspo on this one but it just isn’t a strong one for me.

3) Carolina

This one is a fun one. I love the funky run in the background and the melody is not a typical one, but very reminiscent of  late 60s rock. Out of all of the songs, this one is the cute one about the “girl next door.” The closest thing to a One Direction song if there was a trace on the album. I saw the Behind The Music video, and when they recorded this song, they used actual pots and pans, so I thought that was cool. Musically, this one is very rich and I especially love the chord progressions in this one because they are not typical. The music meshes very well with the lyrics and creates an easy going song that is nice to listen to honestly. This is a good one!

4) Two Ghosts

Ugh. This one is definitely one of my top, if not the top, favorite songs from this album. The lyrics are emotional, believable, and relatable. This one reminds me of something John Mayer would make. Especially with the guitar riff during the chorus. It kind of has a country twang to it and the catchy hook makes it memorable. This one has been the one that sticks in my head. In my opinion, I’m glad this is one of the singles on the album, but I could have seen this one being the debut, easier than “Sign of the Times.” He said in his Behind the Music video that this one was an easy one to write and that it was a song that just unraveled. And it really shows.

5) Sweet Creature

This would have been such a strong debut single, which again just makes me upset that it wasn’t. The vocals and lyrics are impressive to me. This one is lyrically and vocally believable to me, compared to some of the other songs on this album. Even though it’s pretty much just an acoustic guitar and vocals, it doesn’t feel this stripped down. It still feels so full. This song is definitely a powerhouse.

6) Only Angel

This one gives me serious classic rock vibes and I’m into it. Lyrically, he’s talking about a girl that he believes is an angel even though she tends to have “devilish” tendencies - being crazy in bed and wearing short skirts, for example. It’s rumored to be talking about Kendall Jenner, maybe indirectly referencing her as a Victoria’s Secret “Angel.” But I don’t really care about that. I love the guitar chord progressions in the chorus as well. This song was lower on the list for me personally, but I really appreciate it at the same time.

7) Kiwi

If Harry ever did a collab with the Artic Monkeys, this would be their baby. I’m sure any of their fans probably jumped on this one hardcore. The “I’m having your baby, it’s none of your business” refrain during the chorus is obviously cheeky, so it definitely helps his edgy “bad boy” vibe that he’s trying to encompass. I vibe with the groove in the bridge and I love how the tempo kind of slows down. Otherwise, this song doesn’t do much for me aside from letting me know that Harry is into bossy chicks lol.

8) Ever Since New York

I attached to this one as soon as I heard it. I love the melody in the chorus and the verses and how it bounces right with the instrumentation and the soft drumming pattern of the song. It is a very comfortable, calming song that you kind of listen to during a long drive or when you’re just in your own thoughts. However, after listening to this one after a while, I noticed that it’s a pretty weak one lyrically. I think that maybe when he wrote it, he was trying to just convey a feeling he had in that moment, but it doesn’t come across well to the listener, and they can’t really piece together the message of the song and relate it to themselves because of it. 

9) Woman

I get heavy Elton John vibes from this one. Musically, this one impressed me a lot. I loved the woozy bass during the pre-chorus and the weird “uh” sound that recurs in every measure. The chord progressions are so boomin’ and the vocals are nice. I kind of cringed at the opening Netflix reference though. However, this song lacks in a lot of things. Because of the music, you almost assume it’s going to go somewhere big, but the song is pretty anti-climactic. The chorus is not creative and it doesn’t make sense to me in the context of the song honestly. The song just kind of fades out and leaves me feeling like nothing is resolved as far as what he’s feeling. I loved the lyrics in the verses, but everything else was just not given the same effort. There’s so much that he could have done with this one. But I love the music and the vocals so much that I just try to ignore it. In the future, he definitely needs to master bringing out a song’s full potential.

10) From the Dining Table

I absolutely love the lyrics on this one. They feel the most personal, emotional, raw, and real. You can feel his frustration and he translated it so matter-of-factly that it almost feels cut and dry (in a good way). His vocals are so close and soft. Compared to Sweet Creature, which pretty much has the same amount of instruments, he successfully made this one sound stripped down. Which is ironic, because the girl he’s talking about seems and feels far away. Additionally, I love the strings because they fit with the vibe of the song and help it grow to a climax. This one contrasts with Meet Me in the Hallway nicely because it seems that he’s in withdrawal. So it’s kind of cool that it ended this way. But in the same token, I feel like this shouldn’t haven’t been the ending because nothing seems resolved. But this one is definitely a fave.

So what’s my conclusion?

If you get to the end of this novel, thank you lol. In conclusion, I really like this album. I love that he didn’t just sell out and make a bunch of structured pop hits that would guarantee him album sales. He went for the sound he wanted. He crafted each song differently. He’s one of the first artists in a while that have embraced rock and have now brought its sacred sound to a popular audience. The instrumentation was great on this album and it clearly embodied his influences while still creating a fresh take on them. Lyrically, there were some good spots and there were some bad ones. Hopefully in his next album, he’ll really make sure he’s driving each and every song to their full potential.

My rating for this album is a 6/10. I’m proud of Harry for jumping into the industry on his own and I think his future is bright and full of potential.

[thesinglesjukebox]

SILK CITY FT. DUA LIPA - ELECTRICITY [6.54] Looking forward to future single "Magnetism"...

Thomas Inskeep: Diplo keeps on keeping on, but as long as Silk City is part of his continued output, he can do whatever he damn well wants. This collaboration with Mark Ronson is devoted to straight-up classic house music, and there's precious little music I love more than classic piano house. Combine that with the big-lunged, assured, made-for-dance-music vocals of Dua Lipa, and you really can't miss. This doesn't. In fact, by virtue of the fact that I prefer her vocal to Merriweather's on "Better," it gets a score one point higher. Which makes sense, because this is a perfect four-on-the-floor stormer. [10]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Diplo & Mark Ronson do their jobs adeptly -- they've been working since around when house music (and not just skilled pastiches of it) was last actually popular, and so slipping into the '90s aesthetic of "Electricity" is natural for them. But over their pulsating, piano-driven beat, one of those dancefloor concoctions that sounds like how dancing feels, Dua Lipa outshines them. While "One Kiss" showed that '90s nostalgia-dance beats were a natural fit for her restrained, throaty vocal style, that Calvin Harris track seemed more concerned with showing off his array of producer's tricks, chopping her up into unrecognizable pieces as the song went on. Here, though, Silk City's production has the good sense to let Dua run rampant over the entire track. There's barely a second of "Electricity" without her voice, which has a subtlety and emotional range beyond those of most of her peers in the new pop wave. That overexposure works dividends both obvious and sublime -- a line and melody like, "And even if I could I wouldn't turn on you," is a gimme, but the way she draws emotion out of a tongue-twister like, "If you only saw a friend in me I'd be bittersweet," letting the middle of "bittersweet" go all breathy before drawing it down to finish "-sweet" is something rarer. Top it off with an excellent bridge/outro, which cools the energy of the track down and turns it spacey, and "Electricity" sets a high bar for the careers of all involved, whether long or short. [9]

Maxwell Cavaseno: Mathematically, one would think that the combo of Ronson & Diplo would outweigh and sufficiently overwhelm the brilliance of Dua Lipa's previous garage house classic "One Kiss." However, between the attempts at the garage pitch-shift turning into murky goop, Lipa's limited range getting pressed against her boundaries unflatteringly (especially with that weak sounding Vandross bite on the chorus) and that clichéd '60s soul outro distracting from the retroactivity they're already coming up short on, you can see that this record is a failure with relative ease. Still, given how brilliant the former attempt by Dua Lipa to do house went, one hopes she doesn't lose sight of what actually worked. [3]

Katherine St Asaph: The insistence that Dua Lipa has an on-record personality is the biggest gap between me and the next generation. [5]

Alfred Soto: My out students rave about Dua Lipa; I saw a blankness. But house music demands blankness; it should sound like any person unafraid of loudness and boldness stepping in front of a mike while a piano pounds Latin-indebted melodies and the beats go bump bump. Turns out Dua Lipa and Silk City can do beguiling blankness, especially when Dua drops a couple notes. [7]

Juan F. Carruyo: I've failed to catch the Dua Lipa bug as I can't see what distinguishes her from Selena Gomez or whichever is the hottest pop star at the moment. She seems to get by on her charisma -- which is plentiful -- and crucially; the material provided at hand. She could be a great disco diva should she desire, but this sounds like every other song I've heard from her. [4]

Will Adams: Dua Lipa's sudden turn as a house vocalist seems strange not because it's so obviously calculated as a cog in her trajectory, but because her voice is... not a good fit for it. "Electricity" is standard piano-chug house, but the note you expect to be belted in the chorus -- "I want to let to know" -- is a G4. It's as if the song was intended for someone else but transposed a fifth down once assigned to Dua Lipa. Suddenly, the lack of feeling I got from "One Kiss" starts to make sense. [5]

David Lee: Boilerplate pump-up '90s piano house is never not enjoyable. But, man, imagine if Jennifer Hudson was the vocalist! Instead, Dua Lipa makes me that much more aware of the chorus's limpid release, a slow ooze of good vibes when I'm craving a thunderclap of joy. [6]

Nortey Dowuona: Plunging synths drop down as Dua Lipa smoothly slides past as bass thwacks rise, then dip out as whistling synth strings clip on then fly alongside like streamers as the drums bounce in and carry Dua and the beat away with them, before stopping to pick up Chinese food, milkshakes and some actual party streamers then take off into the stratosphere, leaving behind slithering guitar and teardrop drums to pick up the slack. [8]

Stephen Eisermann: House music is best when accompanied by a big voice, and on "Electricity" Dua provides all the fire the song needs. Sure, it's pretty standard house music, but Dua uses the song as just another example of her artistry and proof that she deserves the worldwide fame she has recently garnered. [7]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: "Electricity" finds Diplo and Mark Ronson utilizing a tried-and-true template that opens up a space for Dua Lipa to take the absolute center stage. Her voice has never sounded more full, more potent, more crucial to a song's success. That last bit is so undeniably true that the lack of new lines and unprocessed vocals in the chorus only has me begging for more. "One Kiss" established the necessity for Dua Lipa to continue down the dance music route; "Electricity" finds her finally coming into her own. [7]

Crystal Leww: Diplo gave an interview to the Dance Chart radio show on Beats 1 about the intent and influence of the Silk City project that spans everything from Nightcrawlers to French Touch to Cajmere to Eric Prydz to Chicago house. I have such disdain for Diplo's continued culture vulture approach to making music, especially borrowing sounds and influence from Black people. "Electricity" was written by Beyoncé songwriter Diana Gordon (a Black woman) but ultimately given to Dua Lipa (a white woman) to sing. Diplo says that he was looking for a big voice. And maybe Gordon didn't want the vocal duties on this song, but it's hard to listen to "Electricity" and not think about tracing a straight line from CeCe Peniston and Crystal Waters who never got their due 25 years ago to every single anonymous Black woman (Yolanda Quartey, Kelli-Leigh) who has contributed to the careers of the persistent stars of EDM this decade. [5]

William John: It's fitting that "Electricity" arrived not long after a change in the seasons; it bursts with new promises and earnestness, dispositions that dominate at those points in the year where the weather is changing and the surroundings seem to take on a different colour. Dua Lipa, who in little over twelve months has transitioned from record label hostage to bona fide superstar, has been criticised for her inelastic and aloof performing style, but here emphatically rebuts such judgments with a vocal contribution that's equally warm, zealous and rousing. Pair that with ascendant house piano chords and belief in love without a perpetuity period is suddenly an energising possibility. [9]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox ]

[helloworlddemo1122-yahoopar-blog]

Tribe Kelley: Inside the Good Vibes and Growing Fashion Empire From Florida Georgia Line's Brian Kelley

There's nothing "Simple" about it: the Florida Georgia Line empire is growing by the day.

FGL's Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley continue to conquer the music world -- expanding from country to pop with their chart-topping Bebe Rexha collaboration, "Meant to Be," building their very own publishing house, Tree Vibez Music, with massive hits like Kane Brown's "What Ifs" and Jason Aldean's "You Make It Easy," while working on their fourth studio album for Big Machine Records. On Friday, the duo released their newest single, "Simple," providing a delightfully nostalgic, easy listening, feel-good anthem for summer. 

Meanwhile, the duo counts themselves as restauranteurs (Nashville's FGL House opened last summer on Downtown's 3rd Avenue South) and spirit connoisseurs (with their Old Camp Whiskey label), among other numerous side hustles. 

And while Tyler and wife Hayley have turned their focus to the world of parenting, welcoming daughter Olivia Rose in December 2017, for Brian and wife Brittney Marie, the fashion world beckoned as the natural next step for their own family. Shortly after the couple quietly wed in an intimate 2013 ceremony, Tribe Kelley was born. 

"The name came from the night before our wedding," Brian tells ET in an exclusive interview for the brand's denim launch at their Tribe Kelley Trading Post in Nashville, Tennessee. "Tyler and Hayley dropped off a teepee and so Brittney and I, after the wedding, had a really cool ceremony, burned some sage, and that kind of became the logo. 

"But the clothing line specifically was kind of birthed on the road. [Brittney] has been on tour with me for the past couple of years and we found ourselves altering our clothes and customizing things," he continues, directing the attention to his wife. "This girl right here, she's the boss lady and I'm thankful to be on the ride. She's an amazing creative as well as an amazing businesswoman. She's the brains behind this thing." 

I ♥️ walking through the desert with you 🌵

A post shared by Brittney-Marie Cole Kelley (@bcole429) on Apr 23, 2018 at 8:19pm PDT

"We just wanted to make it a family brand," says Brittney, who studied psychology and business at the University of Georgia prior to launching her own Etsy shop. Before Tribe Kelley, Brittney cut her teeth repurposing vintage jewelry, hand-dying and creating clothing, and working with women in Guatemala on handmade items, turning profits back into their local communities. 

The name, Tribe Kelley, was inspired by Brittney's own Native American roots. At the Trading Post in Nashville, shoppers find themselves surrounded by crystals and antique displays sourced from the couple's travels -- including vintage tees for sale. For a look inside the store and how they've masterfully mixed "old and new" in their offerings, watch this week's episode of Certified Country. 

"Once we decided to do the denim line, I said, 'Babe, that's a good thing because I know my show outfit from here on out 'til I'm gone is gonna be double denim of some sort," Brian teases, showing off his favorite Beach Man jeans paired with the Out West vest, perfectly exhibiting his many tattoos. Each item is 100 percent American made and ethically produced in a Los Angeles factory. 

"We just believe that's super important, to be able to shake these people's hands that are creating these pieces and to be able to have quality control over it," Brittney says.

The couple hopes to inspire consumers to be more aware of where and how various clothing brands are made, and to be conscious of what's behind each price tag. 

"We wanted these jeans to last," Brian adds. "They are USA made, they are custom, they are strong. There are a lot of other brands that are made in other places that aren't the best situations, so we're proud we're doing it the right way. We've seen pictures of how dye houses wash into rivers and mess up the whole planet in a way, so being smart with what we're creating and trying to leave a better imprint is important to us." 

With the Trading Post up and running in Nashville, the Kelleys have set their sights on a new venture near their Florida home base.

"We bought an old house in Grayton Beach, Florida, right across from the historic Red Bar," says Brian, beaming with excitement. "We went through the county and they allowed a grandfather note to be born again to make it commercial, so we've turned it into a surf shop with a little studio on the top floor."

The store will appropriately be dubbed the Tribe Kelley Surf Post and will find the brand immersed in the world of wellness and swimwear. 

Tribe, we’re looking at a MID-JUNE opening! 🌊 Still looking for one or two more full time tribe team members! Send your resume to contact@tribekelley.com

A post shared by Tribe Kelley Surf Post (@tribekelleysurfpost) on May 17, 2018 at 5:26am PDT

"We're just creating a vibe down there," Brian says, noting that they're happy to have saved the structure from being turned into condos. "That's what our tribe's all about -- making sure what needs to stay, stays." 

At home, the couple draws inspiration from their role as fur parents to four pups. "We need to venture out into some dog clothes!" Brittney jokes. For now, they've designed a line of onesies and kids' clothing items inspired by baby Olivia Rose Hubbard. Brittney teases that she and Hayley have already discussed collaborating on a complete baby line in the near future.

"Seeing Olivia smile and happy, all her little expressions, it definitely makes you want your own," she adds. 

While they haven't come down a full-blown case of baby fever quite yet, they do have their sights set on continuing to expand their Tribe -- all in good time. 

"We don't see this as being oversaturated, we want it to be organic and to have our hearts in every single area that Tribe Kelley or a Trading Post pops up," Brittney says. "We have a lot of places that are dear to our hearts, but it has to be right place, right time and be for the right reasons."

"We gotta be attached to the space," Brian says. "We are drawn to unique spaces that we know people want to go or there is a really cool story at one point, so let's bring some of that energy back and a vibe. It's also fun for us to tinker around and learn about architecture and real estate."

For more good vibes from the Kelleys, watch this week's episode of Certified Country. In case you missed it, catch up on last week's exclusive at-home interview with the Hubbards and their new bundle of joy below. 

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Florida Georgia Line's Tyler Hubbard Opens Up About His Growing Family, Plans to Adopt (Exclusive)

The Florida Georgia Line Effect: Mentoring New Artists and Setting Sights on Pop Stardom (Certified Country)

EXCLUSIVE: 7 Things We Learned About Florida Georgia Line After 11 Shots of Whiskey: Interviews Under the Infl

[kidsviral-blog]

How Miss Info Became Hip-Hop's Ultimate Insider

New Post has been published on https://kidsviral.info/how-miss-info-became-hip-hops-ultimate-insider/

How Miss Info Became Hip-Hop's Ultimate Insider

Today, Minya Oh is the linchpin of Hot 97, rap’s most influential radio station. Getting there only took 20 years.

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Macey J. Foronda / BuzzFeed

On a winter-cold evening in late March at a comedy club near the Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan, a DJ and aspiring comedian named Cipha Sounds takes the stage for a short set before a screening of the first episodes of a VH1 show called This Is Hot 97. In the audience, music insiders and fashion bloggers mix with television suits. Ebro Darden, Angie Martinez, Funkmaster Flex, Peter Rosenberg, Laura Stylez, and Miss Info — radio personalities from the iconic New York hip-hop station Hot 97 who, together with Cipha Sounds, comprise the show’s cast — sit at front-row cocktail tables.

“All the black folks in the house, make some noise!” Cipha Sounds says, to applause from the crowd. “All the white people, make some noise! All the Latino people, make some noise! Other?” he asks. The room falls silent. “Anyone else in the house? Miss Info?” he says. This draws a handful of laughs.

At Hot 97, where she’s worked for 10 years and is now the news director, the Korean-American Miss Info is used to being the only Asian person in the room. She started her career in hip-hop as an outsider — a young Asian-American woman new to New York — but since she’s become one of the most respected and unlikely voices not only in New York radio, but in hip-hop.

Since 1994, Miss Info, whose full name is Minya Oh, has flouted prevailing notions about what sort of background a hip-hop expert should have. She’s helped reshape the content and tone of hip-hop journalism, with her own brand of meticulously researched celebrity gossip, emotionally revealing artist interviews, and explorations into tech and style. Starring in a VH1 show isn’t exactly like writing album reviews, but Info has gamely evolved over the years, working in magazines, television, radio, and on the internet. She’s now seen by fans and peers as an all-around spokesperson for hip-hop, but for all her success, Oh seems to still feed off a deep inner well of curiosity. No matter what she knows, or is able to uncover, she’s eager to learn more.

Then the episodes play — there is a sketch in which Martinez and Flex bicker about who’s better on Twitter, and a Macklemore cameo. Miss Info gets in a good line, calling on-air partners Rosenberg and Cipha Sounds the “rap Teletubbies.” Afterward, Info sits with her colleagues onstage, taking questions from the moscato-fueled crowd, whose members wonder why would Hot 97 would want to make a goofy, “unscripted” office comedy.

Since it became one of the country’s first hip-hop stations in 1993, Hot 97 has become as legendary as the artists it’s promoted. This is the place where Biggie debuted records, the proving ground where a freestyle could make you a king or burn your career, and where hip-hop lived. So what’s with all of the jokes? Ebro Darden, the station program director turned full-time on-air talent, responds with a gentle scold: Hip-hop people work and have families too, he says, not for the first time. At his side, Oh tenses her face, seemingly trying to avoid rolling her eyes. To her, this is a tired question with a simple answer: Hip-hop adapts to survive.

Twenty years deep in the game, Info knows this better than most. But as Darden answers the fan, she doesn’t jump in to support him. Straight-faced, she blinks and nods; she’s not shy, but quiet. Some radio personalities get off on confrontation, but Info is not one of them. She’s a scalpel, not a bulldozer. In the overlapping, loudmouth worlds of hip-hop and media, her success is strange, and hard-won.

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Minya Oh in the ’90s. Minya Oh

Minya Oh didn’t start from the absolute bottom, but she had to fight a lot on her journey to the top. She grew up in Chicago, where she says she was “a nightmare” for her immigrant parents — even though she went to a “hardcore academic school” and played “competitive piano” on weekends. Still, she was straddling two worlds: She skipped class to listen to Too Short and do “wildly” unsafe things like “partying, driving under the influence”; her prom night was a disaster because her “mid-level gang member” boyfriend got sent to jail.

“I don’t remember why he got picked up,” she says in March over salad at the Butcher’s Daughter, a yuppie-hippie East Village cafe. When she speaks, she tends to pause, carefully choosing her words. “I think I was kept out of the mix — which is why I was planning prom dresses and limo reservations, as if I was dating a regular high school student.” She took the SAT prep classes her parents insisted upon and got into Columbia.

Oh arrived in New York around “‘93 or so,” during what’s now considered a golden era for the city’s rap scene. “It was the best time to be a hip-hop fan. It was archaic, stone age. Imagine how hard the caveman worked for one meal? That’s how you felt as a hip-hop fan: ‘I walked 8 miles in the snow and and killed my own prey, just to find this one Ron G mixtape!’”

Even as a kid, Oh preferred to become consumed with something rather than casually enjoy it. Back in Chicago, she was obsessed with horses. So she “found a stable, took a bus, and rode horses” whenever she could. In college, she got into motorcycles, located a cheap bike on Long Island, and then, without any real prior experience, rode it back to her apartment in Harlem.

Her passion for hip-hop was just as encompassing, and while she was still in college, she wrote letters to the editors at The Source, and eventually convinced them to let her work as an unpaid intern. “Instead of staying up all night working on the sociology paper that I was supposed to be working on, I’d rather go downtown to the The Source and sit up all night listening to mixtapes and writing about why Outkast is so important.”

Oh transcribed interviews and made copies, and started to pick up assignments from Source editors Jon Shecter, Reginald C. Dennis, and James Bernard. “All of the people that really believed in me and mentored me were men,” Oh says. “A guy is just like, ‘I need this. This person is gonna get it done for me.’” Her bosses saw her as an industry outsider capable of writing impartial, accurate album reviews. In 1994, with their blessing, she famously awarded Nas’ debut Illmatic five mics, The Source’s super-rare, highest award.

Her review closes with this line: “If you can’t at least appreciate the value of Nas’ poetical realism, then you best get yourself up out of hip-hop.” This year, celebrating the album’s 20th anniversary, she suggested that statement wasn’t an attempt to neatly define hip-hop’s borders, but rather, a cry for hip-hop to acknowledge its own diversity — and her.

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Minya Oh in the ’90s. instagram.com

At The Source she was an “alien,” and unpopular with her female co-workers. “It was that classic I see you in my rear-view mirror and I don’t like it, and I might swerve a little to try and drive you off the road,” she says. “When you’re the only Asian-American girl in an office, you don’t have the luxury to say, ‘You have to listen to me because I’m different.’ You have to get in where you fit in. You have to show that you’re not just in it for the glamour, or ‘cause you wanna party, or ‘cause you love black guys.” To prove her mettle, she tasked herself to research twice as hard as her peers. “I don’t think it is anymore, but hip-hop was then a black music genre. And if you don’t have respect, or a desire, to learn more about black culture overall, people are gonna see right through you. You have to learn context.”

After graduating from college and The Source, Oh started working at Vibe in the summer of 1998. This was hip-hop’s “shiny-suit” era, when major label budgets were fat and black rap and R&B artists dominated the charts. Oh would later describe this period as a sort of puberty for rap: “The roots of the music are very ‘street,’” she said in 2005, observing the decline of The Source. “But that has to get along with its newer role, which is very big business.”

At Vibe she profiled Mase and wrote an ethnography of popular New York club The Tunnel, but didn’t do a lot of formal album criticism. Instead, she kept a column about new tracks that now reads like a proto-Pitchfork, and focused on seemingly peripheral stories that showed how rap culture influenced the mainstream. She talked to Diddy about being jealous of Jimmy Iovine’s home theater in 1999, 15 years before Apple’s acquisition of Iovine’s Beats Music made Diddy’s venture into cable television, REVOLT, look slight.

Oh made the leap from print to radio after a stint at MTV, where she produced segments and wrote copy for the news department. “Our hip-hop coverage was fucking groundbreaking,” says Sway Calloway, a California native who hosted one of the first rap-centric radio shows, on San Francisco’s KMEL, as a teenager, and later worked with Oh at MTV. There, the two collaborated on a personality-driven feature series called All Eyes On (early subjects: Beyoncé, Kanye West) and a newsmagazine series called My Block, which introduced mainstream audiences to underground regional talent like the Neptunes, Paul Wall, and Mac Dre.

In 2003, Hot 97’s popular morning show host Star stormed out, and the station called Sway to fill in. “It was supposed to be a week,” Sway says. “I said, ‘Do you have a team?’ There was nobody there. ‘Do you have a budget?’ No budget. I was like all right, shit, well, let me have fun with it. Let me get somebody who I know knows hip-hop that I think could add a different angle to radio in New York City, let me stir up the pot. Minya, that’s a funny-ass person. She’s very sarcastic, and she’s like an egghead. She would come with her notes and we would show her how to make news sound proper for radio.” It was Sway who gave Oh the name Miss Information: an admiring nod to her reporting skills, but also pegging her to the stereotypically Asian role of bookworm. Eventually, she shortened it down to Miss Info, for clarity and cool.

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Minya Oh in the ’90s. instagram.com

Sway says that while West Coast audiences were familiar with the idea of an Asian-American hip-hop expert, in 2003 New York, putting Oh on air still felt like a risk. “After she started, I would always try to get her to come out. But it took her a second before she was ready to show the world, ‘This is who I am, this is what I look like.’ ‘Cause mentally there was maybe a small concern that people might react because she was Asian.”

Those early years on the mic were awkward. “I was hysterical. My voice is like a dog whistle, it’s so high-pitched, and my entire body was clenched,” she says, speaking with a picked-up-from-the-air New York accent. “At one point, when I was doing the morning show, I developed nodes on my vocal chords from talking so much. I was used to typing, my body just rejected it, like, ‘Shut up!’”

Oh eventually loosened up, but her reservedness and atypical entry into radio were not always welcomed by her Hot 97 colleagues. In January 2005, a parody of “We Are the World” aired on the morning show. Called “The Tsunami Song,” it mocked victims of December 2004’s massive Indian Ocean tsunami with lyrics like: “So now you’re screwed / It’s the tsunami / You’d better run, or kiss your ass away / Go find your mommy, I just saw her float by / A tree went right through her head / And now your children will be sold into child slavery.” Oh, then a morning show host, publicly denounced the song. After doing so, she fought on air with co-host Miss Jones, who admonished Oh for not being a team player. “You feel superior, probably because you’re Asian,” she said. “Why do you always have to make it known that you’re separate? … But I forget, you’re a journalist, right?”

Occurring just a few years before the era of quick-spreading Twitter outrage, the incident generated critical calls and emails from listeners. Hot 97 parent company Emmis Communications suspended, then fired, Miss Jones, and gave over $1 million in apologetic donations to tsunami relief.

“That moment was only the culmination of a long history of tiny terrorism,” Oh says. “Lots of little comments: You should be so thankful that we allow you to be in hip-hop because we all know the only reason why you really wanna be here is to sleep with rappers. You think you’re better than us. I almost felt like it was a test: Let’s see whether we can push Miss Info to do what she knows is not right.”

Following the controversy, Oh was temporarily “put on a sort of probation, or a leave of absence, because the program director [John Dimick] felt I was in the wrong.” So she hired an attorney and waited. She eventually returned, and was reassigned to Funkmaster Flex’s afternoon drive-time show. In 2007, she took on a second, solo show on Saturday afternoons and launched a blog, Missinfo.tv. There, with the chance to directly address the audience who’d come to her defense after “The Tsunami Song,” she stretched her legs.

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Left: Cam’ron, Oh, and Jim Jones in 2014. Right: Oh with DJ Khaled, Wale, and record executives. instagram.com

At the time, the internet was becoming a music scene of its own, incubating would-be outsider rappers like Soulja Boy and Wale, and pushing them from obscurity to the center. Oh dove into internet culture, aggregating viral dance YouTubes and writing about a new Juelz Santana track and the coffee her sister sent her from Portland in the same sentence. “Early on, I was live-streaming from my living room while watching Lost and eating bok choy. There would be 30 other people, and we’re all just sitting there, reacting,” she says. Other hip-hop bloggers of the day — like then-college student Andrew Nosnitsky, muckraker Byron Crawford, and Atlanta’s snarky Freshalina — wrote about rap in a personal, entertaining way, but no one on the web combined approachability with access in the way Oh did.

Hot 97 didn’t interfere with Oh’s web venture; the station barely even noticed. “At that time, there was such a disconnect between traditional and ‘new’ media that blogging was seen as an unnecessary but fun diversion,” she says. “For a time, there was a policy against shouting out your MySpace handle on the air.” But some of Oh’s scoops were better suited for the internet than for radio. “I reported a scoop on my Saturday afternoon Hot 97 show, about Jim Jones blasting his Dipset co-founder, Cam’ron. That was the first time anyone publicly acknowledged tension within the group. But our talk breaks on air were less than two minutes at the time, so I could only touch on it, and then say, ‘I’m posting more of the details on my blog.’”

Seven years after its launch, the site employs three round-the-clock writers, and with around 250,000 unique visitors in the past month, it’s more popular than MP3 feeds like Rap Radar and Nah Right. It still uses its original blog roll format, and has a header banner with a dead Myspace profile URL. (Oh says the site’s so outdated that it’s got an air of “normcore” cool, but that a redesign is coming soon.)

Missinfo.tv doesn’t compete with more robust music and culture sites like Complex or Pitchfork, but it’s a well-trusted news source for those hubs, who regularly borrow videos her team captures or news they aggregate faster than anyone else. And true to its roots too, Missinfo.tv is bigger than hip-hop, covering EDM and R&B, sports news, and tech rumors. “There’s a lot of people who’ll full-on spazz out on an indie-rock song or a Waka Flocka song,” Oh says. “I’m just happy that this day in age, we have lots of people that will understand us.”

For this lucrative market — the twentysomethings who read her blog, go on rave cruises, and can find something poetic about both Nas and Chief Keef — Oh is in a unique position to become a figurehead. Recently, she’s been tapped by VitaminWater, Uniqlo, Red Bull, and Hennessy to host genre-blending events and pose for campaigns. This year, she brought on TMWRK, the management team that handles Diplo, to help her expand her profile.

The new opportunities can feel daunting. “It’s all about fighting that voice inside who says, ‘What the fuck do you have to talk about? No one wants to hear you.’ You’ve got to itemize the reasons why your inner Debbie Downer is full of shit, and know when you should ignore them, and when they might have a valid point.”

After all, even for Jay Z, it’s tough to get old in hip-hop — and for women in the industry, it seems especially fraught. The people who championed the genre in its first generation now struggle to define what rap is, or how they should participate in it at middle age. So it’s remarkable that Oh has remained at the center of that conversation as long as she has, and outlasted lots of the names that once appeared alongside hers on print mastheads. (There are a handful of others who’ve managed this kind of longevity — former Vibe writer Eliott Wilson founded the rap news site Rapradar.com and hosts a popular live interview series; Sway still hosts on satellite radio and MTV.)

“The fact that her relevance has only increased as time has passed really makes her an aberration and quite a big deal,” says Noah Callahan-Bever, a longtime friend of Oh’s who’s now the editor-in-chief of Complex. “Writers who were killing it in ‘93 and ‘94, those guys pop up at parties, and I’m sure that they’ve moved on to other interesting pursuits, but they are no longer voices within hip-hop culture that matter to 16-, 17-, 18-year-olds.” For the young journalists who walk through Complex’s doors, Callahan-Bever says, “Minya is absolutely a point of aspiration.”

Maybe that’s because she acts more like a young writer than a vet. (Oh declined to disclose her age for this article, though a back count suggests she’s 40, give or take a year or two.) “Everybody’s older than they say,” she says. “But women, if you’re young, you kind of have to downplay it, ‘cause you feel like people aren’t gonna take you serious. If you’re older, you have to downplay it cause people start wondering why you aren’t locked down. I’m 85 years old in many ways and 14 in others.”

When Oh got her start in media, hip-hop fans largely considered themselves a united front, standing up for a shared set of values. But a generation later, the people who identify as rap fans are a fractured bunch, without common tastes. Peter Rosenberg, for example, promotes local acts with mixtapes and makes silly internet videos, but accurately or not, he’s best known as a shit-slinging purist. In summer 2012 on a side stage of Summer Jam, the station’s annual marquee concert, he insulted Nicki Minaj’s pop-leaning single “Starships,” prompting her to hastily cancel her headlining performance. The two made up on air a year later, but Rosenberg stands by his positions that rap benefits from clear-cut bounds. “Nicki was supposed to be one of ours,” he told the New Yorker in April. “I didn’t want young kids looking at this dance-pop song, going, ‘This is what rappers do.’”

By contrast, Oh is less interested in defining what rappers should do than she is in forecasting what they might do next, and why. Her hip-hop world has room for rappers who are in bands, rappers who wish they were born in the ‘90s, and rappers who design capes — each of them fair game for loving, sarcastic critique. “She’s kind, and that’s different from nice,” says Mary H.K. Choi, a producer of the TV newsmagazine Take Part Live, who previously worked as an editor at Missbehave, XXL, and Complex. “But the loyalty she inspires is crazy. So many different people trust her with high-level, FBI rap-files shit.”

For Choi, Oh is a model of success not only because she’s earned so many people’s confidence, but because she’s been able to do so without compromising her happiness. “Her existing made me feel better about my decisions,” Choi says. “I moved to New York at 22 and took this back-breaking job. And then met someone who was Korean but also super cool with all the credibility. And she didn’t throw me any of that ‘Oh, here you are, this other Korean lady’ shade. And not only was she really hot and all the guys sweated her, but [they did] from afar, because they respected her. There’s just that unique quality that successful people in New York have where they can stay hungry. Not greedy, but really intellectually curious. The work didn’t destroy her. She didn’t shortchange every other aspect of her life.”

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The cast of This Is Hot 97: Laura Stylez, Miss Info, Peter Rosenberg, Ebro Darden, Angie Martinez, Funkmaster Flex, and Cipha Sounds. VH1 + Hot 97 / Via hot97.com

Today’s Hot 97, where hosts talk about going to therapy on podcasts and Lorde has entered heavy rotation, would be unfamiliar to early listeners. Angie Martinez, Hot 97’s anchoring “voice of New York,” was thrown on the air when she was 18. The station switched formats in 1993, becoming one of the first stations devoted exclusively to hip-hop, and she was the most hip-hop-seeming person in the building. Now, she’s pragmatic about how the tastes of Hot 97’s listeners have changed. “Everybody wants to be like, ‘This is real hip-hop,’” she says, “but at some point the younger generation coming up, the way their world is set up on the internet, there’s not those types of hard lines between genres. People don’t want that shit.”

Since 2003, Hot 97 has been steered by Ebro Darden, who’s tried to mature the station to welcome a more diverse audience (and high ratings) while honoring its roots in traditional rap — stuff with complex lyrics and kick drums. Via Sway, Darden brought in Oh, and he hired a female music director — Karla Stenius, who goes by Karlie Hustle in the industry — to take his place when he was promoted.

“There really are not a ton of female music directors in radio,” Stenius says. “Particularly in hip-hop. I’ve gone to many conferences and ultimately, it is a boys club. I don’t appreciate being the only woman in a room of male decision-makers.”

If women in boys club industries are sometimes masters of pretense — holding desires close to their chests, pushing toward advancement while working not to seem “pushy” — radio is a male-dominated environment that explicitly does not reward pretending. At Hot 97, success is given to agitators who shout what they really think. (Or, at least, people with the savvy to calibrate their personas to appear honest and uncompromising.)

“You can’t be a soft little prissy girl working here,” Martinez explains. “You can have emotions, yes. But you can’t be sensitive. People talk loud here. People are aggressive here. We all want to get shit done.”

In this only-the-strong-survive atmosphere, Oh is something of an exception. “Ebro can be pretty rough on the team, but he’s not that rough on me,” she says. “I think he can read that I’m always gonna be my biggest critic. If he plants a seed, I’m gonna water it and cultivate this huge tree of blame and then I’m gonna try and work on it. The very demanding and disciplinarian way I was raised still lends itself to who I am now.”

Oh has distinguished herself not by having the loudest voice, but by asking, and answering, questions others overlook.“I’m not built for shouting matches, and contests on who’s gonna be the most ignorant. I’ll lose that every time,” she says. Around Hot 97, she’s known as a super-smart, sourced-up veteran who’s still in touch with what kids are talking about.

“She would do the typical radio stuff [on her solo weekend show] for awhile,” Cipha Sounds recalls, “but it just never really fit. Ebro put her on as the news director, and she’s on top of every rumor, anything going on. Every time you talk to her, she tries to juice you for information.” Peter Rosenberg suggests she’s become, for her peers, a figurehead of thoughtfulness. “Her role is the serious voice of hip-hop news. There are not a lot of people like that, who report on it in a serious way. She’s arguably the main person like that in all of hip-hop.”

On This Is Hot 97, Oh plays a blown-out version of herself: Miss Info, the smartass with a gold tooth and huge rolodex. But, off-air, she can be unreasonably self-effacing. While making the press rounds for the show, Rosenberg called himself “the Jewish Johnny Carson” in the New Yorker. Meanwhile, taking stock of her own 20-year media career, Oh gave herself no such title. “I feel weary at times, and I also feel wildly immature,” she says. “I need to get my shit together.”

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instagram.com

A couple years ago, Oh moved from her adopted neighborhood of Harlem to quieter Fort Greene, in Brooklyn. Outside the office, she hangs out with a family of friends — some writers, some industry bigwigs, some “regular people” — goes to art fairs, and posts meals at hip restaurants on Instagram. She keeps her romantic life private. “I’m the secret dater,” she explains. People have wondered if she once dated Cam’ron, the Harlem rapper, a misunderstanding that arose after she dated one of his friends. “One of Cam’s mentors was a guy that I was in a serious relationship with. So my friendship with Cam instantly had a brother-sister bond. In over 15 years of friendship, Cam has never made the slightest innuendo toward me, nor tolerated anyone else making me feel uncomfortable or objectified. He’s always had my back.”

On a January episode of Juan Epstein, a podcast by Hot 97’s Peter Rosenberg and Cipha Sounds, Oh tells the story of a nightmarish drive through Nicaragua with an unnamed beau, whom she called a “cool guy.” “In a world where everyone is screaming how they’re the greatest,” Callahan-Bever says, “she wants the work and the reputation to precede her.”

At the moment, though, neither she nor Hot 97 can really afford the luxury of aloofness. Oh previously declined an offer to appear on another reality series, Gossip Game, but she said yes to This Is Hot 97 because she, like her co-workers, wants people to turn on the radio. Hot 97 is no longer the city’s indisputably top-ranked rap station. Ratings from Nielsen SoundScan show Hot 97 falling just short of rival urban contemporary station Power 105.1 in cumulative listeners since 2011, then ekeing out a narrow lead in 2014. Meanwhile, Nielsen still ranks Power 105.1 as having a 3.2% average share of the New York radio market to Hot 97’s 3% share.

“Does it suck to lose? Yeah,” says music director Stenius. “Does it suck to be neck and neck with someone that you think you’re better than? Yeah, that’s the worst.” But in Hot 97’s new underdog role, Oh’s nerdiness and journalistic chops aren’t attacked as attempts to make herself “separate.” It’s not that her manner or interests have come to blend in with the rest of hip-hop’s, but now that’s seen as an asset, not a threat.

“People are becoming more open-minded about people who look different than them, act different, like different things,” Oh says, waving two hands forward as her voice rises an octave for emphasis. “We’ve all grown into really well-rounded people. Married, or having side projects. It wouldn’t have been the same before. We would have all individually been a little more antagonistic. But that’s also hip-hop. It’s just great when you have people fighting with you, instead of against you.”

Read more: http://www.buzzfeed.com/naomizeichner/miss-info