#honestly this becomes more of a music analysis blog every day

[yantao-enthusiast]

the brilliance that comes from assuming what can i do and i do are a continuous story.

what can i do is a question, all its angst stemming from the unknown, just the possibility of rejection or impossibility. a million what if’s, scenarios and ways to interpret glances or actions or words. stuck, deliberating for days on end, working like a detective to decipher her brilliant mind through her vibrant expressions. but there’s only one way to know for certain what it all means to her.

i do is a statement. it’s the crushing truth. the aftermath of asking the question. the cat is out of the box, no longer the anxious schrödinger maybe, but the cold hard fact. knowing, not as a self deprecating thought, that she does not feel the same. but you do. you still feel the same way you always have. nothing has changed when she sleeps at your side, when she rambles to you, except for the pain in your heart knowing that you truly did read it all wrong. and you never will get to love her like your selfish heart screams to do.

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

'You're reading too much into ATSV.'

[aka meta analysis is good for the soul]

I often get told on this blog that I'm reading too much into plots or scenes or things in general.

And honestly, fair point. I do the most.

And as a writer, I will say that I do it out of pure respect.

[actual photo of me reading the script and going for my 'reading too hard at ATSV notebook']

Movies take years to write.

People spend months of their lives genuinely toiling over these characters, often times creating more work than what can ever be reasonably used. Months of revisions and scraping work.

For weeks, about a dozen people probably went to sleep dreaming or thinking up what Hobie would wear, what Gwen would say, what emotional cues Jess will have.

A lot of people dedicated years of their lives and creative labor into that story.

To me, it isn't at all bizarre to take an hour out of my day to sit and consider the story they spend a lot of time trying to tell.

Compared to the labor they have given me, multiple 40+ hour work weeks for years - an hour or two is literally nothing lol

It's literally the least I can do.

As a writer, I feel like its only right to sit back and look deeper into a story.

To analyze the writer's intentions, or examine their storytelling tactics and abilities.

We are taught to consume media so quickly and rapidly that to offer time to critically analyze a piece of work is considered bizarre, too much work, or pointless.

As if there's nothing to read into. Or as if speculation and meta analysis is helpful to no one.

If someone spends five hours drawing fanart that is accepted. If someone spends two hours writing fanfic, this is expectable behavior.

But I spend the same amount of time to look deeper into the work of the writers, and often times I'm met with surprise or treated as if I'm overly uptight.

It's like snickering at a person who asked there was deeper meaning behind a painting. While standing in an art gallery.

When streaming shows drop all in one day, it becomes about the Easter eggs and watching it as fast as possible as not to be spoiled.

Then at the end of it, you wash your hands of it and wait for the next big release.

People spend years, decades of their writing career trying to write realistic characters with layered motives. Or stories with complex themes.

Comic Book and Screenwriters included.

I myself try very very hard to do so - to provide foreshadowing, and emotional insight into the characters, their motives, their faults.

If I heard someone say that the piece is not worth looking that far into, all the work I've done as a writer gets overlooked.

Writers cannot grow if people are consuming their media without caring enough to look critically at it as the work of a storyteller.

So yes, I'm looking too far into it. Cause writers can write that far into it. And that deserves to be examined, acknowledged, and praised.

To assume less is too assume lesser of the writers who put everything into the media you enjoy.

This year of all years, we should be appreciating the work Screenwriters put in.

I guess what I'm trying to say is - I'm not being an asshole (well, not trying to be).

I'm looking at writers as vital parts of a movies production. Because they are.

We look deeply at the art style, or the animation, or the music. Writers are not shadow figures. They're people with careers. And them and their work deserve to be spoken about and acknowledged as a work of effort just the same as CGI artists or editors, or directors.

I implore you - Read more into it.

If you're a writer yourself, doubly so.

Read FAR into it. Build your analyzation skills, come to your own conclusions. Break the story down every which way and look at the characters from every angle.

It's fun, it's free, it makes the characters so much more real.

So many people on this website hope to one day become published writers. One thing they do to help you achieve that in college, is by racing things like scripts, and looking critically.

Meta analysis is good for you as much as it is the writers.

If you don't think you're cut out for it, or would have nothing to add, still try. Not for the brownie points, but to feel closer to the characters and the story.

If you've seen ATSV (or any Fandom media) and haven't ever really sat and thought about it - everyone's moral stances, why they want what they want, why they've made the mistakes they've had, where you stand on it all - I highly recommend it.

You might come away with some surprising conclusions about characters or even yourself.

Think about your favorite characters, and what might happen to them in the next movie.

There's really nothing wrong with reading that far into it.

Fifteen minutes of thinking, or an hour of writing is nothing compared to the months of work that went into this absolute masterpiece.

Trust me, the first time you catch some shit that makes you go

ITS LIKE A HIGH I TELL YOU.

Touch grass? Nah bro, touch your local library card. Go there right now. Take out this book.

There's gonna be a discussion tomorrow in class.

If you read this far heyhello I think you're rad as hell.

Here's a Hobie for the road because he's a great companion.

Bye.

[sepublic]

Happy Birthday to The Owl House!

           Honestly, I’m… REALLY shocked to think back on how it’s been a year? It’s been a full, actual year, since that first episode?

           I remember when The Owl House was first announced around early 2018. Something about it, the premise, the characters from that one poster we got; It really drew me in, and I kept track of the show’s progress in eager anticipation. Whenever Dana released art of Luz, Eda, and King, I was ecstatic- And when the show was delayed to 2020, I was dismayed.

           Then we got our teaser trailer; The opening them, the end credits, even a little sneak peek! I remember speculating a lot about Luz and all of the other new characters we were introduced to, such as Willow, Amity, and Gus- And then we got more and more trailers in the days leading up to the show. I wondered about Luz’s home back on Earth and where her family was, I listened intently to the Hooty and the Parliament music video, finding an almost melancholic, weirdly nostalgic (despite having never watched the show yet) vibe to it- Whilst also avoiding looking at the screen and seeing all of the various clips it offered, because I wanted to be surprised! It was two years of anticipation, two years of wait for this show- I’d never looked forward to a series before like this, last I can recall… So having this content FINALLY come out, seeing these characters in animation, hearing their wonderful voices! My soul was vibing, it was time, it was coming after all this time…!

          Eventually I finished Infinity Train Book 2, the same day that The Owl House premiered… I was blindsided when I woke up to the first episode’s release online, in full- I was already planning to wait until later to watch it on television, so having it permanently accessible from the internet was such a pleasant surprise! And the show… The show, man- That premiere caught me off-guard with how much I enjoyed it! I knew I was looking forward to this show, but still…! It blew away my expectations, and even now, has continued to; It was like my personal investment and attention had paid off so patiently well! I even got a DisneyNOW subscription so I could watch each new episode ASAP, the day it premiered, hours before it aired on television!

           I remember scouring Tumblr before the show officially premiered, and there was understandably very little- A few pieces of fanart here or there. And when the show DID premiere, for a while there wasn’t really much of a fandom- There was barely anyone, in fact! But I can remember a few notable blogs who have been around since the beginning… Me, I got invested into this show. I found myself really enjoying Lumity as a ship, especially since I resonated with both characters in it; Luz was such a ball of sunshine that brightened my day, and Amity really spoke to me with her more introverted, top-scoring personality. When the show hit its mid-season hiatus, I remember not handling it too well, as I got impatient and frantic in my speculations- I wanted so badly to learn more about these characters, see what happened- Get a look at Emperor Belos (then known as Bellows by the fandom), etc.

          I wrote my Bile Coven piece in preparation for Halloween, even got to know a mutual or two over shared theorizing! I kept track of Dana’s updates, and even had people come to my blog, of all places, to send asks! It was and still has been such an engaging part of fandom for me… I recall impatiently waiting for the Owl Pellet shorts and freaking out over them- And when Adventures in the Elements leaked early? I LOST MY MIND, I remember postponing something I was supposed to go to, just so I could watch the episode- And it was so good! Then I started wondering and hoping the rest of Season 1 would come out, and well- It took a while…

          And when Season 1B’s trailer came out, I was all over it; Scouring every possible frame, freaking out over the Grom screenshot, and appreciating the influx of new fans! It was amazing to watch The Owl House go from a relatively minor and obscure fandom, to becoming so much more mainstream and populous! I got into Rebecca Rose’s channel, I began writing more meta and posts about the show, as well as little recaps for each new episode. I feel like my blog really took off from here, as I got to interact with more and more people who shared this mutual love of The Owl House, and I was so ecstatic to see more content and buzz about it!

           My mind was solely focused on The Owl House, it was one of my huge hyperfixations, even moreso than during Season 1A’s run- I remember being anxious about Enchanting Grom Fright, wondering if we’d get queerbaited… But NO, Amity was in love with Luz! She canonically had a crush on her, a girl in love with another girl- And I loved it because Lumity was a special comfort ship of mine! Then Amity was confirmed lesbian… It was amazing! And I found myself SO invested, so inspired by the show and its characters, and all of the little allusions to things, the foreshadowing, the moments here or there that made so much more sense after a new episode.

           This show inspired me creatively- It got me to write some of my personal favorite fanfics, and I was and still am so touched by whatever feedback I get from them! The Owl House really got me to write, to obsess over characters and analyze them, to look at motifs, to think about worldbuilding… It’s been such an artistically enriching experience, both the show and the fandom! I remember despairing so terribly when Agony of a Witch came out, the genuine betrayal I had when Lilith revealed the truth- Because I’d been legitimately endeared to her character beforehand, even formed a sort of ‘trust’ in a sense… And like many others, I agonizingly anticipated the season finale, the much-needed emotional reconciliation!

           I remember how the episode titles were revealed, bit by bit, and how I and others speculated on what they’d spell out! I remember when the fandom obsessed over the Witch’s Apprentice game and its relics, for clues and new lore after each episode, the little hints here or there! I was freaked out by characters like Belos, who lived up to my hopes and expectations- First being alluded to by name, then his amazing appearance… And then his voice and mannerisms and everything about him! And when the Season Finale came out…

           Well, there was relief. But there was a bittersweet emptiness- That it was over! The first season was over! There was a celebratory triumph, of course- We finally wrapped up the first, major arc of the show, the first batch of episodes that had been worked upon, the whole thing now unveiled and appreciated! But I was a little dismayed because a part of me KNEW a hiatus much longer than the previous one was ahead of me, and I did not handle the mid-season hiatus well. Of course, then Dana had her Reddit AMA, and the charity livestream; Both of which NOURISHED me creatively, and have helped to fill out the wait! To carry out my momentum, to not flounder about in hiatus; I invested myself into more meta, into various posts, etc. I read fanfiction that genuinely floored me, obsessed over fanart, etc.

           I supported the show’s release on Disney Plus, ecstatic to get this kind of ready access. I revisited past episodes and characters, looking at them in a new light, appreciating things; Like Luz’s relationship with fantasy… King’s surprising development, all of Eda’s little hints and clues. There’s been an emotional catharsis with these characters for me- And I genuinely feel like I’ve been a lot happier lately because of this show! I’ve met so many other blogs and gotten to know them, seen their ideas and displayed mine as we appreciated one another… I even remember doing another blog’s fanart prompt prior to the show’s release, in preparation!

           I feel like The Owl House has genuinely given me a new appreciation for meta, for fandom and analysis… For headcanons, for writing my own stories and contributing my own ideas and speculations, etc.! It’s contributed SO much joy to me as a hyperfixation, and rapidly risen through my blog as my most frequent tag! And even as I explore other fandoms and hyperfixations, both then and now, especially to pass on this crippling hiatus… This show holds a VERY special place in my heart for me. It’s really made me feel for these characters, the love and sadness, the excitement and sense of comfort… Its love and emotions, angst and found family, lore and speculation, it hits so hard to me in a way that other media hasn’t!

           It’s provided representation- Such as canonically queer characters, or protagonists who speak so well to the neurodivergent experience for many people! I’ve had delight in seeing people suggest Amity as autistic, when before Season 1B, I lowkey headcanoned and saw her as such- So seeing more evidence for this resonated deeply in my heart! I remember all of the discussion about King as a character, the confusion and talk about whether or not he WAS a King of Demons, when that first announcement in 2018 had made a similar claim… I looked forward to Eda and Lilith’s relationship, speculated on who cursed Eda, and remembered when I’d considered the Blights as a potential culprit! I remember thinking about Hooty, wondering what his deal is- And thinking then and now about that Owl Deity mural in the Owl House! Watching Luz’s development as a character and as a witch, seeing her become more proficient with magic until it finally pays off with her squaring up against Belos, and wounding him- I’d never felt so proud of a character and their progress before!

           There’s still so many more questions and mystery, lore… as well as just genuine character interactions, to look forward to! I think The Owl House is one of my favorite shows of all time… It’s deeply touched me as a person and creator, and I genuinely strive to create something even close to this one day. This show has inspired me, made me laugh and cry, compelled me to creatively make content; It’s introduced me to a wider fandom that I genuinely feel like a part of, had me meet other mutuals… It really is something special to me. And while I am eager for Season 2, I also want to appreciate what Dana Terrace and her crew have already established. I love this show’s art style and animation, the designs and overall weirdness of its characters- I love speculating and thinking about them, getting more and more details, and so forth.

           If it’s for a better product, I’m fine waiting for Season 2. And honestly, I love what we already have, and I’ve done a lot with so many people. I’ve even looked over supplementary materials and stuff posted by the crew or news articles, in my need for content… And I love every bit of update, art, and/or acknowledgement of the show’s hiatus, and Season 2’s development! There’s so much to look forward to… And there’s so much that I’ve enjoyed, after plenty of anticipation!

           Thank you @danaterrace, and everyone who worked on this- For everything. It really is crazy to reflect on this entire year, to realize it’s been a full year since that first episode, since that first premiere that lit up my world like Luz’s light spells; And it feels like such a milestone that we’ve reached! I look forward to what comes next, and I also intend to keep appreciating and cherishing what we’ve already gotten. Here’s to this show’s second year, people- It’s been such a journey to look back on and remember each step, each phase, each particular moment and stage… And I can only imagine what will come next! This show has SUCH a special place in my heart, and has made me feel in so many ways I haven’t before!

           Happy Birthday, The Owl House! You’ve earned it!

[mthvn]

Post-”Chaos Theory”: A Conversation with Flavia Dzodan and Metahaven

Metahaven Flavia, we've been talking about the Chaos Theory script even before the pandemic started. At the time it was a way of finding a voice (as every script is). Our friendship and collaborations have been major encouragements in completing the film the way it did. What do you think about the film now that you've watched it?

Flavia Dzodan I loved it! Chaos Theory made me think of some of Alexander Kluge's ideas about the artist as a seismographer, someone who anticipates what's to come through subtle, almost imperceptible changes on the ground. At the same time, Kluge talks about the artist as someone whose reactions are observed (like one observes a seismographer) to anticipate what is to come. In that sense, I see Chaos Theory as presenting us with a potential future, where the interdependencies are not merely acknowledged but central to the way we relate to one another and to our surroundings and ecosystems. I see the relationships in the film as not just from human to human but also in relation to the outside. To me, this is a film made of textures and invocations, a film about love yes but also about the kind of future we want to build.

Metahaven We've often talked about Tenet (Christoper Nolan, 2020) and its many quirks and features, including the female lead who, whenever it is announced that the entire world population will die, exclaims in despair: "AND MY SON!" Any thoughts? :)

Flavia Dzodan I've been thinking a lot lately about how narrating can often be a distraction from "feeling things." What I mean is that films are sometimes very preoccupied with the narration (i.e., telling a story) but such narration operates as a way to avoid dealing with the emotions or the feelings themselves. Since "feeling" is passé, sincerity has practically become an artefact or a curiosity rather than part of the process of telling a story. I do not think that Tenet is guilty of "ironic detachment"-that would maybe make the film interesting (or at least slightly funnier)-but instead, I believe Tenet is the guy at the bar who takes himself so seriously and will explain to you all the ways in which he is smarter than you. That's what makes Tenet tedious and stuffy and quite honestly, devoid of any kind of emotion. There was a point in the film when I was wishing for this supposed apocalypse to finally take place so that we could be free to go and do something else. I'd love to see Nolan attempt to make a comedy, something that doesn't need to constantly remind us how smart he is. Maybe Nolan shouldn't be so worried about saving the patriarchy via "BUT MY SON!" and instead should worry more about coherent storytelling that doesn't require a dozen forum posts to be understood. Who has time for that kind of sleuthing these days?  

In a lot of ways, and I think I've said this to you, I see Chaos Theory as a sort of anti-Tenet manifesto. Not only because there is no son to save from the end of the world but also because Chaos Theory is not structured as a narration to distract from emotions. On the contrary, Chaos Theory lunges at the sentimentality with a refreshing shamelessness. I am sure some might see this as a weakness but at a time when we mourn collective losses counted in the millions, I celebrate emotional sincerity as the only worthy form of engagement. I refuse to continue this pretension that we are objective creatures imbued by rational thinking. Capitalism and, specifically the neoliberal administration of life which is so dependent on budgets and accountancy practices, benefits from our emotional detachment: if we remain cool and ironically detached in the presence of suffering and cruelty, we are less reactive to injustice. Instead, I advocate for a radical sentimentalism that forces us to deal with the immense grief of this collective loss. I need more art that makes me cry rather than art that makes me shrug.

Metahaven What can be redeemed about emotion-and even about sentimentality-in the face of its constant use by conservative agendas?

Flavia Dzodan I don't know if "redeem" is the word I'd use. I believe it's worth making a distinction: not all sentimentality is created equal or is identical (even if the appeal to emotion might a priori appear to be so). Emotions can be evoked to connect us to one another, drawing out our best qualities. They can also be evoked to alienate and exacerbate exclusion. I'd be wary of condemning sentimentality as a whole just because conservatives made better use of its potential. In fact, I'd rather wonder why the more progressive or leftist side of the spectrum decided to eschew emotion and instead, attempt to appeal to a faux neutrality or detachment that are not even such. The problem is not "feeling things," the problem is how those feelings can be manipulated for a political end that is not inclusive or even caring but rather divisive and cruel. Just as much as the right can evoke rancid nationalistic sentiments, we should be able to remind ourselves that shared emotions are what connect us to one another.

Metahaven "The music that you heard, the poetry that soaked your soul, it is in no way ornamental. It is in no way decorative. It ought to be constitutive of who you are," Cornel West has said. How do you feel about these words?

Flavia Dzodan Again, I need to go back to this notion of humans as creatures guided by emotions. Poetry, music, beauty itself, then not as entertainment or distractions but as the core of who and what we are.

--- Amsterdam, July 1, 2021 This conversation was previously published on the Instagram profile of Boilerroom 4:3 It refers to the film work Chaos Theory, Metahaven, 2021

--- Flavia Dzodan is a writer, media analyst and cultural critic based in Amsterdam. She is a senior researcher and lecturer at Sandberg Instituut. Her research focuses on the politics of artificial intelligence and algorithms at the intersections of colonialism, race, and gender. In her research Dzodan examines the ways in which technology is created and deployed to reproduce historical patterns of social control. Her current research about beauty and ethics attempt to understand how cultural analysis may operate vis-a-vis semiotic codes, particularly in regards to teaching machines to identify highly subjective and culturally dependent ontologies such as those surrounding fashion and art. This work is a continuation of her previous research about "the coloniality of the algorithm," which situated Linnaean taxonomies at the heart of both colonial history and contemporary uses of technology. Dzodan is interested in ephemeral forms of publishing: she is the editor of the intermittent blog This Political Woman, where she has written about the rise of the alt-right, Big Data, networks, algorithms and community surveillance. Her work was published at Dissent, The Guardian, and The Washington Post, among others.

[zackm1997-blog]

Blog 4

There are many things that are common activities that I prefer to do each day. Many of them are things I just dont go without in my daily life such as eating, drinking, exercising,working, and one I simply never forget just like the previous four which is using the many different platforms of social media as well. To start off my day, I woke up, picked up my phone like I usually do every other day and scrolled through the internet and looked over my social media accounts such as snapchat and twitter. i used this media for exactly two hours and five and used it at that specific timing to allow myself to get up to date on new messages, stories, pictures and videos that have recently been posted upon. I mainly use this internet social media platform as it gives me a chance to engage in talks with my peers, receive any new news I may have missed, and honestly just fit in with the community as a whole. Next, like I usually do every morning, I looked over the local Columbus Dispatch newspaper and viewed every single page of the sports section, as this is my favorite and only preferred section to even look at in the entire thing. I viewed it over, like I usually do, for exactly thirty minutes while I was eating my cereal. I prefer to use the sports section of the newspaper, as it is not only free to where currently live, but i provides in depth analysis of the previous days most recent scores or news, and it also alot of the times provides really nicely graphic pictures as well, so it makes me almost feel as if i'm actually viewing the picture from own eyes live which is amazing to me. Another form of media I used later throughout the day was me binge watching tv for a solid three whole hours. I like to binge watch shows on tv as it allows me to relax from the stress of the real world sometimes and while watching the shows I like such as the american gods or the walking dead. bring true entertainment and excitement into my life. Next, I did what I probably shouldn't have been doing, which is playing on my playstation for a solid two hours, while playing the game madden. I like to play video games online on my playstation specifically madden as it allows me to almost go back in time, like i used to in high school, and be able to almost put myself back in the game by playing with certain players. It excites me to play this game as again it allows me to perform and play in online “games” like I used to in high school and makes me think about how much I miss playing as well. I also looked over my new NFL draft magazine for an hour and a half. I like to read over this specific magazine because I am a big fan of the NFL draft that occurs each year and I like to familiarize and educate myself with each of the prospects that come out each year. I love reading over this magazine as it provides so much in-depth information based on key stats and it in general brings much excitement into my life in the sense of becoming more educated and prepared for when the draft is close i know who I want my team to pick and not pick. Lastly, I listened to the radio for an hour of my favorite music until i felt like i was too tired to stay awake anymore. I use this media platform as it gives me a chance to calm any nerves and just enjoy life by listening to my favorite artists’ songs. I went to the radio media platform, specifically 107.9 like I usually do  as it basically always provided the newest and most updated music that has previously been recorded which is why I am so thankful they have it.

(Below is the media magazine I read)

 (Below is the media television show I watched)

(Below is the media newspaper I read)

(Below is the Internet media I used)

[dreamyoongi]

Are you slowly going off the boys? (I don’t mean that in an accusatory way, because I love them so much too) I have been for a long time now but now it’s just...I get no feeling from them, I could honestly just ignore the toxic fandom and focus on the boys and the music but all different now...Also their music lyrics and mv has a lot of dark/ satanic imagery and references that’s also made me take a step back but that’s another discussion...lol (please don’t think I’m crazy)

i was gonna answer this after i came back from my vacation bc i have a different anon with a similar question in my inbox but anyway:yea i haven’t been really active in the fandom for a while really? im active during the comebacks still but def not like how i used to be. it’s probably a combination of the newer comebacks, the fandom that has become the most annoying part in all this, and me that normally doesn’t stay invested in things for more than two years. this is year four and i can honestly say if i didn’t have a friend who i could talk to and i wasn’t still so invested in yoongi i would probably have abandoned my blog and just become a casual fan that followed like4 bts blogs tops. i mean i’ve talked about the music a lot already and it’s whatever in the end bc i still enjoy a couple of songs. but what annoys me the most is really the fandom. it’s the most frustrating thing. bc it’s still fine on tumblr but the big chunk of fans is on twt and that place is rotten. from gullible fans that scream ‘collab’ at every artist they can imagine, to shameless reposters that get angry when called out bc they don’t credit, to the continuous fan wars and NEWLY ARRIVED we got the manager fans and the streaming guilt trippers. i hate that place but even if u only open the app to see what bts tweeted their replies are full of these idiots. it’s extremely frustrating and i honestly wish i could get over it but it’s impossible. this fandom has grown too much, it’s become even younger than before and it just doesn’t listen to other people’s opinions. a mob mentality like i’ve never seen it before.

OK now pLEASE!!! what is this about satanic symbolism?? if u have a link to an analysis pls send it my way. i cant watch the music videos rn bc i don’t have wifi till i’m home in 10 days.

[justmysicklypride]

P-P-P-Play that shit: ptv analysis - Part 2

 Hi what’s up everyone and welcome to this week’s pew news. This is a continuation of my last post where I pretty much summed up Pierce The Veil’s career from the beginning to present and gave an overview of their rise and downfall. You can check it out here, but if you already know about everything or have read it already then feel free to ignore it. In any case, I was originally gonna make these two posts as one but ran out of room bc who the hell would read that much text in a blog post (me) so here you go - part two of this fucking conspiracy theory because I didn’t even get to share any of my thoughts in the last one. (I also forgot to put headers with each new topic smh apologies to the English language)

Edit: it’s been fucking eons since I wrote the last one/started writing this one like legit I even changed my user. The reason why this has been put off for so long will be explained later but yh smh

Gigantic obligatory disclaimer: Everything that I will discuss whether it be in this post or my last, or any future posts that relate to this subject IS NOT going to touch on the subject of the “sexual relations with a minor” incident in itself. I will not go into detail about my own views on this specific matter as there is literally no way to win because whatever I say could be taken out of context by literally anyone. That being said, I do not condone pedophilia, I do not condone sexual harassment or rape, and I do not undermine the importance of consent. I respect the laws of different states, as I know they vary with time and place, and I understand that everyone has their own opinions and I do not wish to impose my own onto others.

In regards to this, however, I do have to acknowledge that I, first and foremost, do not think that Mike Fuentes is innocent, and I strongly believe that how the band handled this situation was just plain terrible, but I do also have to acknowledge the fact that this situation is to stay between the accuser and the victim, as well as their respective legal teams and that I should not go nosedive headfirst into anything like this when it does not directly affect or require my judgement as a necessity, lest I face any legalities or blacklash as a result. Furthermore, everything that I will be talking about are conspiracies only and I do not in any way assume or imply that any of this is true.

In other words, I don’t mean to offend anyone but if you end up getting offended then that’s on you, not me. Let’s begin.

Introduction 

The points that I am trying to highlight in this essay post is, in simple words, that Pierce The Veil’s... well, everything, comes off as kind of a conspiracy, almost, to me. I have had these thoughts for a long-ish time, and so this post is basically me finally making a post that covers all things that I have been thinking of in the past. Unlike my previous post, this one is a lot less fact-based and a lot more opinionated, so if you’re not into that, then that’s fair. Otherwise, I will be discussing the following things (in this order): the topic of kellic, Misadventures, and the accusation + response.

When Life Gives You Lemons, You Ship Them Together And Call It Lemonade

I refer to my last post and assume that everyone understands how “kellic” came to be and what it means. To summarise to the bare minimum best of my abilities, it’s the ship name of Vic Fuentes and Kellin Quinn, aka what people call it when someone wants or is keen on the idea of these two frontmen having an affair with each other in a (typically) fictional setting. It happens all the time, especially in this day and age where you can easily just find someone with the same obsession as you with a click of a button. That’s why King For A Day, and inadvertently Collide With The Sky, became such a huge success. It appealed to the right demographic of teenagers and tweens who were ecstatic at the prospect of shipping, and went on to achieve even more impressive feats following that. How you ask? Well, by going on a tour around the world of course. Together. Playing shows every night that ends with one of them literally carrying the other off the stage. Gotta give the people what they want, hey?

I have a strong belief that the key to success is through beating the system at its own game. In this case, the game is simple - get fans, get money. Unfortunately, as we all know, getting fame isn’t as easy as simply earning it through grit and determination. To achieve fame, one must find a way to do something at the right time in the right way so that people will notice. If one person does, and your fire doesn’t die out right away, then you’ve got yourself a forest fire. Then later on, all you gotta do is keep this forrest fire going, but assuming that there isn’t someone standing on the other side with the whole fire department’s resources in tow, then the only thing stopping this fire is itself, because with all things in life, fire dies out, and fame stops accumulating after a while if nothing is done about it. Humans need entertainment. If something starts to fail to pique their interests, then they move on. That’s why YouTubers are required to change up their content every now and again in order to try and relight that spark they once had, and even then there’s a good chance that they won’t. 

I was originally going to write another blog essay about this whole YouTube analogy thing but quickly realised that for one, I don’t have time bc I’m getting my ass fucked by university on a daily basis; and that for another, there’s most likely a billion other videos or essays about this topic as is, so I’ll just link one or two of them here. I haven’t watched them all yet or I don’t remember much of them, but all they do is pretty much summarise up stuff like how YouTubers become successful and their downfalls and all that, and even though they kinda focus on a specific person or group of people, I feel like it could be generalised.

Even without the YouTube metaphor, we know shipping works. It is evident in multiple works across various media that giving the fans what they want is often what gives these people their continued success, such as Dan Howell and Phil Lester, who have all but stopped trying to create their own individual branding (save for their separate merch stores that are probably there just to get more people to buy their overpriced clothing), and who at this point have become such an overused example that I actually hesitated writing that. Why do you think movies and shows and cartoons mostly have a romantic subplot? Romance is an essential trope in literature and easily one of the most popular genre out there for various reasons. According to a Bustle article written in 2016, romance often gives the readers a sense of hope or gives them a way to live out their fantasies in the easiest way possible, and while this may not apply to everyone, (personally I’m not a romance fan much at all but I can appreciate good literature), it’s hard to deny the phrase “sex sells”.

Given that, you’d think that any company with half a brain would learn to exploit it, but for some reason this wasn’t the case in Pierce The Veil’s management, and no matter how I look at it, I can’t really see the reason why. It’s not like the band members are uncomfortable with the ship - Jaime Preciado has been seen kissing Vic Fuentes on stage (not on the lips guys chill) (I had forgotten how fucking difficult it takes to find this one specific clip so here’s a couple different fuenciado pictures instead to make up for it smfh), and Vic Fuentes has mentioned kellic in a live stream once jokingly - and Kellin Quinn is notoriously known for being completely okay with it (so long as he doesn’t have to look at it), so just what is the reason?

This Ain’t A Hiatus, It’s A Goddamned Arms Race

I’d be lying if I didn’t miss all the memes that all stemmed from the Pierce The Veil boys not being able to release an album when they’d promised, before postponing said album yet again and disappearing off of the face of the earth digitally for another year or two, giving them a total of four years as their unofficial, unannounced hiatus. For this, I have several questions.

We all know Vic Fuentes loves taking his sweet ass time releasing music - he’s admitted to remaking his first album a second time before releasing it, as stated an interview a couple years back - but you can’t honestly tell me their management just let them get away with it. Sure, through this time they’ve been pushing out new merch to no end, but something tells me that this giant gap they’ve wedged between the new album and Collide With The Sky isn’t gonna be good publicity, despite all the memes that’ve sprouted from it. There’s been fans who stopped taking interest in this band because of it, as well as fans who have just gotten fed up with having to wait so long. They scrapped a whole completed album in the process of creating Misadventures too, and while it’s not uncommon for bands to throw away near-completed ideas at whim, it’s also not unlikely for there to be some external factors or reasoning behind why they did it. Could it be that the album they threw away stayed too close to their roots and management or some other person told the band to start again, so that they can create something more appealing to this day and age? Or could it be something else that is hard to see at face-value?

You’ll Never Get Ahold Of Me Now

Finally, I’m gonna address the overdue elephant in the room. If you want to read the full thing, here it is because I’m tired of having to reiterate what happened. Mike Fuentes received a sexual allegation by some girl(s) and the band released a shitty statement that has since gotten deleted - that’s the general gist of it. 

Like I said, it’s been literal months (or weeks idk my perception of time is severely fucked) since I actually started making this post so literally no one cares anymore, but regardless of what past me has promised or written down, I’m not going to be discussing the allegation in itself, but rather what and/or how the band and their subsequent management has handled it, in that they handled it so bad that I honestly can’t believe they did it like that. 

Edit: I wasn’t gonna bother finding another copy of the statement bc no one’s gonna give a shit but then I’d be doing some baseless shit and I honestly can’t stand people who half ass these things, despite my growing urge to do the same thing, so here’s the statement. 

For starters, who the hell waits one whole month before releasing a statement? From what I can remember, their excuse was allegedly that pretty much management forbade them to talk or make a statement about it earlier for... reasons? (Just realised I don’t actually have the source for this so idk take it with a grain of salt I guess because I was sure I had read this somewhere but I can’t back it up.) 

That’s not even the worst part, either. The statement itself gave zero closure to literally everything. Yes, they acknowledged the allegation, but that’s just about as far as they went. The whole point of a statement is to clear things up, whether the accuser was right or wrong, and what steps will be taken from there, whether an apology is to be issued or not. No shit you know about the incident, who in the fandom wouldn’t? Instead pointing out the straight up obvious, what they should’ve done was 1) not waited an entire fucking month before talking about it, most likely hoping the whole thing to blow over by then and 2) actually talked about the incident in their statement instead of tiptoeing around the subject like some sort of time bomb ready to go off. There is no right or wrong answer, because literally all they had to do was tell the truth - as in write down a statement from Mike (not the whole fucking band mind you) about his take on the whole thing or get him to say what had happened from his point of view. Then resolve it privately with your legal team and whatnot if they really feel the need. Hell, all he needed to do was apologise. Whether something like that classifies as assault or rape or whatever is up to you but the fact of the matter is that she’s underaged at that point in time. Even if she was fully aware of the risks and whatnot and gave legitimate consent, under the eyes of the law and pretty much 80% of the people reacting to this incident, it will be deemed illegal and inappropriate behaviour. All these people had to do was literally just be open and honest about it regardless of whatever the hell happened, because this is all happening on a public platform where everyone can see/read it to their hearts’ content. Viewers can’t judge or make a decision to support or not support you if you don’t tell them your side of the story, so for the love of god, why the hell didn’t they?

The statement was filled with bullshit about how they love the fans and all that shit, and honestly my thoughts can be accurately summed up in this video right here. So much backlash could have potentially been avoided had they just told it as it is, because now all we have is a vague ass response that gives no closure and tell us nothing as to whether Mike actually did it or not, because in the statement he manage to spout some bullshit about how he’s “never intentionally manipulated or abused anyone in [his] life” and that he’s just a ball of empathy which at first glance could suggest he at least thinks he’s innocent, but then they go on to say how Mike’s taking a temporary leave from the band for, you guessed it, absolutely no reason. At least, no reason that they’ve given us (what else is new) (I’m becoming more petty as the night drags on it’s literally 1am). Honestly, .@piercetheveil, please tell me why the honest to god fuck did you have him leave just after suggesting that he might be innocent? I know the world isn’t black and white but when you’re making a stance and defending yourself or admitting to something, it really is - black and white that is. Either you’re innocent or believe that you’re innocent and stand your ground by not leaving the band, or you admit that you are guilty, in which case your leaving of the band would actually feel justified, because now it’s like you’re gonna come back as well, so what does that even mean? Mike isn’t gone indefinitely, he hasn’t pleaded guilty or innocent, and now the band is telling us they love us? Fuck out of here with that bullshit.

Yes, I support the band’s decision to pull out of the All Time Low tour and to not have Mike out there in case fans feel threatened or unsafe or whatnot, but if you’re pleading innocent, then honestly the whole band should’ve just said “hey we’re gonna go on hiatus for a while until our legal team’s finished with taking care of everything”, and not just said hey guys we’re gonna kick him out because he may or may not have done something that we’re not gonna tell you because we’re shady fuckers like that. I know they are on hiatus right now, but at the “start”, they only said that Mike would be withdrawing temporarily or whatever so it’s kind of like, okay? Sure? It’s a right mess I assure you. Honestly, throughout this whole incident, it was this statement part that made me really fed up with this band. My interest in them had died down significantly from since I hit fifteen all those three years ago, and right now when I dug up an old iPod shuffle to bring with me to university to save my phone battery throughout the day, I can honestly say that I won’t be adding any Pierce The Veil songs onto it anytime soon unless I get peer pressured to. Personally, I feel like that’s kind of the mentality of a lot of had-been Pierce The Veil fans, too.

That’s Great And All But What’s Your Point?

Pierce The Veil’s management sucks ass.

There’s no easy, lawsuit-prone way for me to say it but, and this is just a conspiracy theory I swear to god if I get the fucking ASIS kicking down my door in the middle of the night you better read the fucking disclaimer, there’s obviously some shady shit going on in there no matter what way you slice it. Either they’re sabotaging Pierce The Veil’s success or whether it’s all some big confusion or misunderstanding, or if they’re just plain dumb, we can all agree that this whole thing - the kellic fan service, album making, allegations and subsequent statements - should’ve and could’ve been handled a hell of a lot more gracefully and professionally. Believe it or not, waiting until things blow over is frankly just childish and solves literally nothing, so either they can pull their act together quickly with this next “special secret” album to redeem what little quality/dignity they have left, or they can just fade away into irrelevancy and become a band that no one cares about anymore. 

History repeats itself. This band is quickly becoming just another Leafyishere, and as ominous as that sounds, it’s honestly not unlikely at this point. I am intrigued as to where they go from here, because if they manage to breakthrough again, then I would be very surprised given their current situation. I want to know how they choose to handle this - whether it’ll be the same or not, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Thank you so much if you read through this honestly like I am beyond happy that this is fucking over because I have a bunch of non-band related post essays I’ve been meaning to post but this one’s been nagging at the back of my mind for the past few months or however long it’s been. I’ve clocked in at around past 3k words for this one, and none of this is edited because I’m honestly so done with this you don’t understand. Like I said before, this took ages because I was gonna make another post talking about other shit that relates to this before realising that there’s way too many people that’ve addressed the whole YouTube thing so me doing it would literally be pointless, and even though no one really reads this shit, as big of a nerd as I am, I do enjoy writing bullshit because maybe then I’ll stop ranting to my friends and family about topics they don’t care about.

Regardless, that’s it for this two parter thing, and until next time or whatever.

Catch’ya x

[flakandforay]

Fake Love Analysis

this is the analysis for bangtan’s 3rd full album: Love Yourself 轉: Tear’s title track: fake love. 

i will be analysing several components - music, lyrics, aesthetics and choreography

disclaimer: this is just my personal opinion, feel free to disagree. do let me know your thoughts in my ask box

overall: it is the start of a new era with bangtan!!!! who the hell isnt happy??? and let’s talk about quality voices and quality aesthetics, im sCREAMING!!!!!!!!!

teaser 1: this literally gave us hints to how the story is supposedly going to flow etc ( read my fake love teaser 1 theory here and fake love theory here )

teaser 2: honestly that teaser showed us the bridge yet again just like how they did for BST, spring day etc and going on with these motifs, thank you for blessing my ears and showing a glimpse of jungkook’s abs

music: anyway, diving right into the music !!!!!!!!!!

so the song starts off with Taehyung yet again, just like DNA, kudos to how there are more songs with Taehyung starting off!!! ( honestly going to wait for Seokjin yo start off more songs as well ). one could hear the electric guitar chords and this synthesized flute that being played possibly with the keyboard as well. it has this distinct synth as well that could be heard. it sounds really creepy actually if you hear the synth by itself, much like an empty in an eerie room, the whole impending ominous angst.

there was this brief pause at 0:12, before jungkook comes in to continue the opening verse. the same eerie synth underlying his vocals. this is where jungkook gets his ‘solo’ dance with these lines. i love how the way he sings here, he punctuates each word as if a sword is stabbing him each time he knows it’s fake love. then at 0:23, there are some murmurings of some lyrics, specifically ‘im so sick of’ ; most likely done by namjoon that becomes a lead in to the actual chorus led by jimin at 0:25.

interesting, jimin starts one count before a new bar starts as he dives into the chorus and sings with utmost desperation; as if he is crying out. i love how all the angst is on beat together with the percussion; it’s amazing. and then it allows the ringing of the beat to harmonize with the ‘love’ sang by jimin and seokjin. before seokjin takes over from jimin at 0:31, there is this brief pause of the vocals with the underlying beat still pushing through. yet somehow throughout the chorus, one could hear how there is this sort of ‘barking noise’ out of anger, definitely not snarling or growling though.

then at 0:39, namjoon’s verse comes in, but at the same time, it is together with jungkook as though jungkook is replying to him; much like they are having a conversation. i love how the beat simmers down to provide more emphasis onto namjoon’s verse and this style of rapping. one could hear the subtle synths and percussion throughout this exchange. then at 0:46, interestingly, there’s a slight change in synths that echo out. then there is that rumbling synth that signals the next part of the song which is hoseok’s verse.

hoseok being hoseok has to have an adlib before starting off his verse. hoseok has adapted a more distinct style of rapping - in a way by punctuating each and every word to make it sound like a staccato and not to mention, having the end syllables double by namjoon is what makes me love his part all the more !!!! then at 0:57, hoseok makes it a point to switch up his flow by rapping more words in his last few lines !!! this leads us to the iconic mirror move !!!!!!!!!!!! i love the desperation he evokes when he semi-shouts ‘누구니’. it becomes a huge contrast to the pulp coming prechorus at 1:03. yet between both namjoon and hoseok’s verses, there are these ‘tremolo’ synths that last about one count each underlying in both verses - a nice added touch.

so the prechorus starts with jimin yet again and one could hear the prominent electric guitar chords mhm, what a blessing to my ears. i love how there is a slight short contrast with hoseok’s verse but it doesn’t actually drop in volume but insteads build a steady crescendo to the chorus. even when seokjin takes over at 1:16, the same volume is there but builds up slowly and one would realize that the percussion is only introduced at seokjin’s part though one could be confused as to why there is sort form of percussion during jin in’s part is due to the bass notes of the chords.

i love when seokjin takes over because his voice has this additional layer of desperation that makes the song sound even more vulnerable and befitting for the theme they were going for. then at 1:26, we have that same murmuring of namjoon before the chorus comes in at 1:27 with jungkook.

now at the chorus, the volume is at full force. one could hear that there are several layers of synths that could be heard. then at 1:33, taehyung takes over momentarily. but when jungkook takes over again, like as though it’s a conversation, jungkook’s lines are actually doubled by someone else. moving on, as taehyung completes the chorus, that distinct synth underlies the whole chorus again and at the same time, once taehyung’s part ends, it becomes a lead in to the extended chorus with jimin and seokjin - not much has changed.

then the song moves on to namjoon’s verse at 2:05 and it opens with that same tremolo synth that is descending. interesting that namjoon’s verse is also in a way conversation style and that the ‘replies’ to his lines are also doubled most likely by jungkook. namjoon even managed to squeeze in an adlib of ‘oh no’ before he wraps it up.

then at 2:18, that same tremolo synth is being used as a lead-in to yoongi’s verse as he starts his rap.  yoongi knows exactly where to emphasize and namjoon helps to add extra emphasis by doubling on those parts. he even managed to squeeze in an adlib of ‘ooh’ with his vocal tone being much lower than his rapping one. love how he ended his verse as though he was just stating facts - a clear nonchalance if you will.

then the prechorus comes in again with jimin at 2:31, but there’s a slight difference in a way that there’s an additional layer of synth to distinguish it from the previous prechorus. also that the percussion is removed from jimin’s part and that there’s a clear keyboard synth being used. only when seokjin takes over did the percussion is reintroduced at 2:44.

then the chorus comes back in with jungkook at 2:54. however the difference here is that underlying jungkook’s part is jimin’s vocals. and instead of taehyung doing the next part, it’s jimin instead and one could hear the clear harmonization as well of the higher vocals. then at 3:10, one could hear jungkook harmonizing with his part as well with the word ‘bad’.

in the end, the extended chorus comes back around with jimin and seokjin. but then it ends with jimin singing the prechorus with taehyung doubling it to get a more fuller and contrasting sound at 3:37. the guitar being very prominent here as well. then the song ends with seokjin singing and jungkook harmonizing and doubling as well. it’s as if they repeated the introduction and it’s amazingly done well.

lyrics: i love these lyrics so much???? there’s so many innuendos here, and one could feel their emotions inside

널 위해서라면 난 슬퍼도 기쁜 척 할 수가 있었어 널 위해서라면 난 아파도 강한 척 할 수가 있었어

=

If it’s for you I can act like I’m happy even when I’m sad If it’s for you I can act strong even when it hurts

honestly, i really think that these lyrics already show how much one was willing to give himself up/scarific himself for his loved one, he hides it all, putting up a mask; much like singularity; a facade, another persona possibly.

사랑이 사랑만으로 완벽하길 내 모든 약점들은 다 숨겨지길 이뤄지지 않는 꿈속에서 피울 수 없는 꽃을 키웠어

=

Hoping love will be perfected with only love Hoping that all my weaknesses will be hidden In this dream that won’t ever come true I grew a flower that couldn’t be blossomed

to think that these lyrics came out right at the beginning; already linking us to smeraldo; based on the smeraldo blog posts before, the smeraldo flower was a flower that was based off a myth; it didn't actually exist but because the greater loved someone so much, he made this flower - the same flower that is being referenced here. 

i love how they constantly link the lyrics back to how they are having some sort of facade; a mask on their real face to cover everything else. 

I wanna be a good man Just for you 세상을 줬네 Just for you 전부 바꿨어 Just for you Now I dunno me Who are you?

=

I wanna be a good man just for you I gave you the world, just for you I changed everything just for you Now I dunno me Who are you?

here comes the verse of Namjoon, and honestly this is great. i love how he shos how much he sacrificed himself to the point he doesn't recognise himself anymore. yet, this idea is brought over to hoseok’s part. 

우리만의 숲 너는 없었어 내가 왔던 Route 잊어버렸어 나도 내가 누구였는지도 잘 모르게 됐어 거울에다 지껄여봐 너는 대체 누구니

=

In our forest, you weren’t there I forgot the route that I came on Now I don’t even know who I used to be So I ask the mirror, who are you?

again, the idea of losing oneself for another; much like the lyrics in Taehyung’s intro: singularity, right here. 

but the fact that the lyrics of using the ‘mirror’ adds another layer of nuances inside; saying that one wouldn't recognise their own reflection either. 

그 호수에 내가 날 버렸잖아 내 목소릴 널 위해 묻었잖아

=

I left myself behind on that lake My voice was buried for you

나는 날 잃은 걸까 아니 널 얻은 걸까

=

Did I lose myself? Or did I gain you?

Reference: Colour Coded ©

the idea of losing oneself is brought over from Singularity to Fake love. 

Love you so bad, love you so bad 널 위해 예쁜 거짓을 빚어내 Love it’s so mad, love it’s so mad 날 지워 너의 인형이 되려 해

=

Love you so bad, love you so bad For you, I’m enacting a pretty lie Love it’s so mad, love it’s so mad I’m erasing myself to become your doll

this chorus is amazing, the lyrics are really on another level. for one’s satisfaction, lies are being said and done, and sacrificing oneself to be the puppet to show that they truly love their partners. 

I’m so sick of this Fake love, fake love, fake love I’m so sorry but it’s Fake love, fake love, fake love

what gets to me is the extended chorus, that shows how far this kind of toxic relationship has gone and that it needs to end. 

the fact that the same lines are repeated twice show the added emphasis on this idea. 

Why you sad? I don’t know 난 몰라 웃어봐 사랑해 말해봐 나를 봐 나조차도 버린 나 너조차 이해할 수 없는 나

=

Why you sad? I don’t know, I don’t know Smile, tell me you love me Look at me, I threw myself away Not even you can understand me

i love namjoon’s lyrics so much??? it shows how much he kinda become delusional for this toxic love etc. 

낯설다 하네 니가 좋아하던 나로 변한 내가 아니라 하네 예전에 니가 잘 알고 있던 내가 아니긴 뭐가 아냐 난 눈 멀었어 사랑은 뭐가 사랑 It’s all fake love

=

You say I’m strange when I changed into the person you liked You say I’m not the person you used to know What do you mean? No, I’ve grown blind What do you mean this is love, it’s all fake love

moving onto to yoongi’s lyrics, this shows how much he changed to someone else; one that he thought his partner would like. this fake love is becoming more and more chaotic. 

Woo, I dunno, I dunno, I dunno why Woo 나도 날 나도 날 모르겠어 Woo, I just know, I just know, I just know why ’cause it’s all fake love, fake love, fake love

=

Woo, I dunno, I dunno, I dunno why Woo, I don’t even know myself Woo, I just know, I just know, I just know why ’cause it’s all fake love, fake love, fake love

see, the lyrics of the bridge summarises back this whole fake love concept, not even knowing themselves anymore. 

but what i love is how bangtan ends the whole song with that same lyrics that they started it off with, it felt like they gave closure to the whole song. 

Reference: Colour Coded ©

aesthetics: this video is so full of aesthetics, i am so satisfied. 

like i mentioned before, there are some resemblances to BST, both the korean and japanese version. 

but asides from that, theres very few palette colours they are going for; little monochrome, blue to green, bright pink and most importantly, that one specific place where everything filmed there is saturated. 

several places being filmed, especially given how each member is focused individually in a room and only together when they are doing the choreography. 

also, great lighting, because wow 

also, the fact, no CG, so we have these great scenes 

truly, another aesthetic video. 

choreography: okay, so i must say that this choreography wasnt as fast-paced as i would have expected it to be much like DNA or Dope, but it definitely had some more contemporary elements in terms of their formation though very subtle; more popping as seen through the choruses as well.

one could also say that this choreography also has some semblance with BST, in terms of their intro choreography and their setting.

but moving on, love the use of the shadows right here, it’s so satisfying to watch, much like to say that within a person, there’s so many personas, all trying to come out etc; but regardless it’s only one person. 

then, jungkook comes along to get his solo dance, and that whole taekook pairing yet again. interesting to see taehyung the one to support jungkook here just like how taehyung supported hoseok in i need u. 

then the extended chorus comes in, and as hoseok mentioned before in their comeback show on vapp, they incorporated the moves based on the ‘see no evil, hear no evil, do no evil’ kind of mantra with the 3 monkeys etc. and also, that whole popping thing that they did, hell yeah. 

and the way they transitioned it to seokjin’s part is so smooth.

moving on, i must say i love how they just kinda focused on namjoon and jungkook for their parts; having another unit this time round; an unconventional one too i must say. 

and then when they moved on to hoseok’s part, the key point is the mirror dance, this was truly the highlight. ( and there seems to be no gif i could find for this help )

this part of the choreography to show that they are like dolls, it’s so befitting with the lyrics, and it’s such a quick transition, i love them. 

also, the whole part where the rapline does their parts, mainly namjoon in his 2nd verse and then yoongi, in which they use it to kinda make a chill choreography since more emphasis is placed on their raps. 

but of course, we have the iconic part of where jungkook show this abs and everyone combusts into flames. it’s part of the dance but damn.

but regardless, the moves are amazing, even more so towards the 2nd chorus. 

it’s so fluid, it’s great. 

but of course, the ending is the best. the formation, to actually just leave a hand out, kinda reminds me of a flower blooming, could it be emeralds - the flower that cant be blossomed? 

last thoughts: i really love this title track of theirs, i feel as though it really shines the most in this album and really went for the message that they want to bring across which is fake love. 

[Photo Source] Bighit Entertainment  Credits: maxine ☕️ DO NOT REPOST ©

[kylydian]

Breath of the Wild Soundtrack Analysis: Day 7

*insert crazy piano solo*

“RUN IT’S A GUARDIAN!!!!!”

Yeah…if you’ve been reading these posts for a while now…you already know that’s the part I’m least impressed with. Let’s talk about dance music today. Specifically waltzes.

I’m not kidding. It takes two to waltz, so join me on this journey. Let’s go!

Track 9: Guardian Battle

Genre: Waltz

Featured Instruments: Piano, Strings, Synths, A lot of other stuff

Compositional Techniques: Minimalism

Takeaways for Developers: All music within a certain context does not need to be what people expect for them to like it.

Takeaways for Composers: There’s room for all styles of music for any situation. Finding these unique opportunities allows for new musical experiences.

In my very first post about Breath of the Wild back when I first started this blog, I talked really briefly about this track, and it all definitely applies still. But today we’re gonna go much deeper.

Originally, we talked about the piano solo, a sense of fear and the staying power of the music in relation to battle. So really quickly, let’s review.

The piano solo that everyone always talks about is truly a good piano solo and is brilliant writing, but it’s only around for a couple seconds then it disappears. This first solo I described as “skittish” and establishing a sense of fear. This still holds true. The skittishness mirrors the movement of these large guardians, which in contrast to their smaller counterparts, is very sporadic and unpredictable. The piano brings to mind instantly that these are enemies that can kill us with one hit, maybe two if we’re geared well. And after this, you get a lot of repetition, which we’ve come to know as minimalism in certain settings.

If you’re joining us for the first time now, Minimalism is a technique that features repetition in music with incredibly minor changes overtime. But I wouldn’t label this piece minimalist in genre necessarily. Rather it uses minimalist ideas instead of building a minimalist piece. I don’t think it features enough variation to warrant the genre being minimalism.

Regardless, this repetition gives us staying power, and overtime it begins to sound a little hopeful. As this unsettling rhythm begins to fall to the back of your mind it’s likely to instill a sense of bravery.

Okay review done!

So, how does the music accomplish this? This track is pretty different in structure to other battle music in Breath of the Wild, even when compared to the shrine battle music. Again, we need to focus on the visuals to start our discussion.

This has a much thicker sound to it. The natural reason for this would be because this guardian is bigger….? Right?

Nah, it has more to do with the strength and fear factor of the enemy, and the fact that it’s much harder to fight fairly. You’re likely to have your shield up, hoping to get that laser reflection. The two of you will probably be circling around each other, looking for an opening. You’ll be doing this dance for a while, especially if you don’t know how to fight them.

And there we are. To me this fight is a bit like a dance. And the music? Well, as I’ve said a few times now, the music is a traditional waltz, although it doesn’t sound like it at first pass.

So, lets break away a bit from Zelda to talk about exactly what a waltz is. If you have a broad knowledge of music, you’ll likely know that a waltz is a piece of music with a feeling of three. Specifically, this is 3/4 time, meaning that for every bar (segment) of music, there’s three beats. Normally you feel this time in three beats (duh), but waltzes are generally felt in one because they’re usually at a pretty brisk pace. You’ll feel a very strong beat first, where the notes that come after feel more relaxed, or maybe floating away. Then right away you’ll feel that strong beat again. If you were to say, “One two three one two three one two three.” Putting a small emphasis on the bolded “one” you would now be saying a basic waltz feel. The dance is marked by this strong initial beat.

So, let’s look back over to the track in question. Immediately after the piano solo, this really synth heavy rhythm enters that’s honestly a bit hard to figure out. It might be tough to grasp hold of the rhythm or feel of it, but we do know one thing immediately. There’s a strong accented beat from a kick drum. If we focus in on this, we can find the primary beat pretty easily.

Boom..Boom..Boom.

And in between these strong beats, we get two more notes that feel lighter, that are harder to notice.

Bah dah. Bah dah. Bah dah.

Occasionally the dah part has an extra note in it, but never makes the rhythm feel longer.

Bah dah. Bah dah. Bah dahdaht.  

Let’s put it all together.

Boom bah dah. Boom bah dah. Boom bah dah. Boom bah dahdaht. Boom bah dah…….

Remember, that each bolded word gets a bit of emphasis, and the others feel a bit lighter.

This is the basic feel right after the piano solo, and is the staying rhythm of the entire piece. This is a waltz feel, and it’s incredibly easy to miss not only in gameplay, but listening to the track as well. The music is very hectic, and honestly this rhythm does not have a lot of time to get established before your attention is yanked away. But no matter what enters, this “Boom bah dah” is what has the staying power previously mentioned.

As a waltz, this feeling directly mimics the idea of a human squaring off against a huge mechanical monster dancing together in combat. Waltzes take two to dance. The instrumentation used as well as rhythmic variance makes it hard to notice the waltz, almost like it’s lopsided. It mirrors the movement of the guardian, but not necessarily Link. Overtime though, this rhythm falls to the back of your mind, and it becomes not as noticeable. Now you’re likely feeling like you’ve got a chance.

Now you’re dancing in battle together.

With that said, this isn’t all that’s happening. Over this waltz feeling we’ve got a melody on solo violin. This is an agitated melody, one that feels skittish just like the piano solo, but has a bit more reason. This feels as if it’s in a different time in comparison to the waltz, and it almost feels like a melody that you would hear in a tango, a different type of dance. However, it fits perfectly into the time if you listen closely, and there are many things that this melody could be considered to represent.

Me? Well, I think it’s neat to think of it as Link. Dancing to a different beat, but still within the boundaries set by his opponent.

Overtime, this staying power turns into something entirely different. Here we get remnants of the piano solo, the waltz beat, different rhythms, and honestly a lot of different ideas all coming at once. It’s like all of the ideas are coming together for a brief moment. And just like that…it’s gone. You’re back to the death waltz again. But this time the waltz isn’t a thing of fear. I find it more a waltz of courage.

You’ve survived this long. Maybe you’ve got a shot.

So, what does this talk of dances, movement, music, sound, and melodies all mean?

It’s about establishing a unique, appropriate, yet contrasting feel to music. Guardian fights are different from every other encounter in the game. And they’re drastically different. They were made to be different from the very first footage of Breath of the Wild. If you were watching the game awards like I was, seeing a huge robotic, futuristic enemy come out of nowhere randomly shooting lasers was one of the coolest yet most jarring things I’ve ever seen in Zelda. From the beginning, guardians were made to be different. The music has to accompany this. As we’ve already talked about, the other battle music in the game does things differently as well, but they all share similar ideas (As we’ll talk about in the next post.) Generally, you’re fighting one enemy in guardian fights. In a game where most enemies move in groups, that singular enemy is a variance.

That enemy is your dance partner. Let the music accentuate that.  

Let’s break it down.

…did that turn into a dance pun this time?

Takeaways for Developers: Find moments in your game that you want to have a distinct feel, and let composers know when you need sections to have a different sound. Music impacts gameplay and player emotions even if we don’t notice it.

Takeaways for Composers: All musical styles have a purpose in games. Keep in mind situations and differences in gameplay and characters. Capitalize on these ideas to not only provide fitting music, but variance in your score as well as gameplay.

All music has a place in games at some point or another. Break expectations, smash boundaries and find ways to make something new, especially if we’re wanting to stand out.

Next time, we fight a different battle.

[extrology]

“Don’t you think the last post was too much?”

“If you hate exo so much why do you write about them?”

“it’s astrology yet you’re blaming them as if it all is 100% true”

“This is lowkey rude”

"Why are you so hateful and rude?"

I’m not that rude, actually, I'm usually a shy and silent bystander unless we’re talking about certain topics. Men preferring mom figures as their s/o is one of them. 

Trigger Warning. Sharing unpopular opinion

I’ve been taught that the ultimate happiness for a woman is to marry, take care of her husband and have children. It’s what men like and that these "business women" will die alone, unhappy and with nobody wanting to marry them. (and no, I live in the west)

And however much I’d like to disagree with my dad’s words, I learned the hard way that it’s true. I’ve lived long enough to realise it.

Men look for weaker, softer women to use as replacement for mothers. To support them emotionally, to tell them to study, to cook them delicious meals as if they were pampered little boys again. They are scared of “masculine” career women.

And I am not a salty “career woman”. I’m actually that constantly used cancer “mom” figure. And I’ve seen how these kind of relationships play out. You’re living for him. And he’ll see if he’ll have some time left for you. But you don’t fkn care, because you love him, so you give your whole existence to him just because you’re this soft and selfless cancer. And it seems like you’re happy until they get bored and don’t appreciate the things you do anymore. It becomes “the norm” to cook for them, clean the rooms, give them massages, listen to all their troubles and pamper them with compliments. And you’re left with nothing but hurt as you gave all your time to them but they were doing something “bigger” with their lives and now you’re simply not enough. Such a one-sided relationship.

And when I played the stronger woman’s role I got bashed for being too masculine, not loving him enough and if I really need a relationship if I spend so much time studying and working. I would get constantly compared to other girlfriends and how “better at the girlfriend thing” they were.

So sorry for being biased, But it hurts. I want strong women to be wanted and I want equality in relationships. A girl should not be a stepping stone to a guy's success and she should not be just a warm fireplace to come back to after work. Please girls, don’t sacrifice all of yourself to a guy, no matter how much you care for him. To some people it’s easy to be egoistic but others are natural givers and find it very difficult to not live for others.

Again, I’m generalising a lot because I’m talking about the majority, I know there are guys who like independent women, but think of all your friends who are married. I’m almost sure most of them are soft and caring. Guys prefer career women for casual dating.

Sorry that my emotions show through in my posts. I’ll be reviewing all of my analysis in the upcoming week to fix the typos, wording, add some newly learned things and will try to remove any unnecessary sensitive comments I made. Even though this started out as a pretty personal blog, this should be an astrology blog, not a diary and I get it.

Now off to cook dinner. Love you, buttercups!

EDIT: So I just wanted to share a story an anonnie just sent. We can all learn from it tbh.

–I just wanted to share this with people who don’t understand. But I wanted to say that I understand your pain. I saw how my mother had to give up every single of her dreams so my father could become a musician –he was, and still is, in a rock band here in our country which is pretty famous if you’re into the world of rock and punk; but that was because of the hours and hours he spent. Music was his passion, and that’s what enamoured and killed my mother at the same time –not literally, but mentally. She was young, 25, when she married him, and after two years of marriage I was born. She had to watch how the man he married wasn’t there the day his daughter was born bc he had a concert, how even if parents are supposed to love their children the most, he still rejected me in order to improve in music, how even if I had a 40ºC fever, he would still go to practice, letting my mother all alone –everyday, at home. He got out of the house at 9 in the morning and returned, at least at 11 pm. I know my father loved me and my mother, but, we both knew that his one and only true love was music –he’s career, and year by year that made my mom sink more and more into depression.

She doesn’t love him anymore –not in the way she loved him when she said the ‘I do’, but somehow she still loves him and stays by his side. I watched my mom sacrifice everything she had for a man that didn’t even look at her twice before disappearing when she needed him the most; and what really pains me it’s knowing that somehow, when I marry someone, I’ll end up being as miserable as my mother.

If this isn’t the most heartbreaking story I’ve heard I don’t know what is. We all romanticize idols but here’s the other side of the coin... Honestly, your mom is a hero, I wish to be such a strong woman to hold the family together even through the toughest moments.

And cupcake, we will not suffer the same pains! We learned the lesson! I just wish girls wouldn’t fall for the “guys want this kind of girl so I gotta become her to be liked” and end up ruining their lives.

I just want to hug you so hard <3 ;-;

[the-desolated-quill]

The Time Of The Doctor - Doctor Who blog (So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish Fingers And Custard)

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

Remember way back when I reviewed The End Of Time Part 2, I said I was afraid that Russell T Davies may have set a precedent for overly sentimental, ridiculously OTT, and utterly self indulgent regenerations that are more about the showrunner than the Doctor? Well if you thought David Tennant’s Lord Of The Ring’s style farewell tour complete with stupid choir music and oh so poetic tears trickling down the cheeks was unbearable, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

The Time Of The Doctor is fucking dreadful for the most part. Moffat takes everything that may have annoyed you about the RTD finale and then multiplies it by a factor of 10 before dolloping on a few more ladles of pretentious stupidity for good measure. Combine that with the usual Christmas special bollocks, and it becomes truly nauseating to sit through.

A mysterious signal from a backwater planet attracts an army of Doctor Who villains into its orbit, but before we can ponder on how similar this is to The Pandorica Opens, we’re whisked off back to present day Earth for Christmas dinner with Clara’s family. Clara needs the Doctor to pretend to be her boyfriend (do women still do that? I haven’t seen a TV show try that joke since the 90s), but there’s a complication. The Doctor is naked! Oh how awkward and embarrassing! Why is he naked?

The Doctor: “Because I’m going to church!”

Of course he is.

You know at this point I’ve become so accustomed to Steven Moffat and Matt Smith’s obnoxious bullshit that i don’t think anything will phase me anymore. The Doctor could walk in wearing a bunny girl outfit and I honestly wouldn’t bat an eyelid. It wouldn’t be funny, but I wouldn’t be surprised neither. Because that’s the problem with doing a random, wacky Doctor. After a while the randomness gets to a point where it paradoxically starts to become boringly predictable. I mean it’s not as if there’s any reason for the Papel Mainframe to have a nudity policy, and the characters wear holographic clothes anyway, so if it’s not funny and it doesn’t serve a purpose, what’s the point?

So off we go to church to meet Tasha Yem, played by Orla Brady. A sassy, flirty dominatrix type character who has a thing for the Doctor. Well gee. haven’t seen that before in a Moffat episode. What’s even weirder is not only is Tasha Yem virtually identical to every female character Moffat has ever written, but she also has a lot in common with one specific female character Moffat has written. She can fly the TARDIS, has absolute authority over the Doctor and there’s a reference to her inner psychopath. Was River Song originally supposed to be in this episode? Either way, it shows how unimaginative Moffat is when it comes to writing women.

At this point the thing that’s irritating me the most (apart from Matt Smith) is the whole greatest hits remix. We’ve had cameos from the Daleks and Cybermen, the Silence show up for no reason, and now the Weeping Angels are back. It seems Moffat is determined to squeeze all the scary out of them completely and it’s just bloody irritating. There’s no reason for any of them to be there really and it’s completely self indulgent. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Regeneration episodes should be about the Doctor. Never the showrunner.

And just when you thought Moffat was done mining through his back catalogue of crap, the bloody crack of doom shows up again. Turns out this is Trenzalore and on the other side of the crack is Gallifrey. The Time Lords want back in and need the Doctor to answer a simple question so they know they’ve got the right universe. Doctor who? Which leads to the main crux of the narrative. The Doctor having to protect Trenzalore from comedy Sontarans, Daleks that all of a sudden remember who the Doctor is now thus rendering Asylum of The Daleks completely pointless, and a wooden Cyberman with a flamethrower (I’m not even going to dignify that with a response). Armed only with his magic wand/sonic screwdriver, he must prevent another Time War from occurring. Oh boy. Where do we start with this bullshit? Let’s start with the Question itself. Why do the Time Lords need the Doctor’s name for verification? They have no problem listening to Clara’s pleas at the end. Why doesn’t the Doctor just tell them to stop broadcasting the signal and wait a bit while he deals with the mess they’ve caused? And what’s the point of the truth field? Either the Doctor wants to reveal his name or he doesn’t. He doesn’t have to lie about it. Plus Moffat ends up contradicting this by having the Doctor lie to someone about having a plan. So what’s the point?

At a push, this could have worked if the story focused on the people of Trenzalore. Get us to care for them and have the Doctor form a strong emotional connection with them, thus giving this siege some dramatic weight. At least put some effort into trying to justify why the Doctor stays so long (at one point he says he’s finally found somewhere that needs him to stay, but that’s bollocks. I can think of several places that could have benefitted from an extended stay from the Doctor). Instead Moffat seems more preoccupied with other matters. Like how many regenerations the Doctor has left and tying up the loose ends of his bullshit arcs. So the exploding TARDIS was the result of some rogue chapter of the Paper Mainframe trying to kill the Doctor. So they planned to save the universe from another Time War... by destroying the universe? 

And the Silence are genetically engineered priests that make you forget your own confessions?... Doesn’t that make confessing your sins somewhat redundant once you’ve forgotten them?

And then there’s the whole Doctor dying crap. If the BBC had any balls at all, they would have made this the last ever Doctor Who story. The reason Robert Holmes introduced the 12 regeneration limit way back in The Deadly Assassin was in order to impose a limitation on the show. It would still have some longevity, but at the same time it wouldn’t be infinite and threaten to outstay its welcome. After the Thirteenth Doctor, that’s it. Now thanks to the retroactive inclusion of the War Doctor and the Ten clone we got in Journey’s End, Eleven is to all intents and purposes the last ever Doctor. And yeah. Why not? 50 years is a good solid number to end a show on, right? 

But the BBC clearly have other plans.

A more naive member of the audience might think all the Doctor’s speeches about how all things must come to end might be setting us up for the grand finale to the whole thing, but naturally that’s not what happens. Of course Moffat finds some contrived way to extend the regeneration limit indefinitely. Doctor Who is the BBC’s biggest cash cow. They’re not going to let it go quite so readily. So Clara demands that the Time Lords save the Doctor like the spoilt, arrogant, entitled little prat that she is and hey presto, the Doctor can now blow up spaceships with his laser hands (God knows what’s going to happen when Peter Capaldi regenerates. He’s probably going to end up blowing up a small moon).

And don’t get me started on the avalanche of plot holes this opens up. So if the Doctor never died at Trenzalore, how did Clara jump into the wound in time to save the Doctor? Without the wound in time, there’s no Oswin or Clara in Asylum Of The Daleks and The Snowmen. Without Oswin and Clara, the Doctor would never have tried to find present day Clara in the first place. Without Oswin and Clara, the First Doctor would never have picked the right TARDIS back on Gallifrey (ugh). Good luck trying to work out the Eleventh Doctor’s canon now because Moffat has become so liberal with the timey wimeys that the whole thing has just descended into a mindless mess.

And even after all that, The Time Of The Doctor still isn’t finished yet. Oh no. Instead of Peter Capaldi walking down from the tower and into the TARDIS, we get another sappy monologue from Matt Smith about how change is good and how he’ll always remember when the Doctor was him, Murray Gold goes into overdrive with his violins in an attempt to drown us in slush, Clara starts crying her eyes out for no bloody reason (seriously, why the fuck is she crying? She knows what’s going to happen. Hell, she was the one that made sure it would happen. Dozy cow), and just when you thought this couldn’t possibly get any worse, fucking Amy shows up! For God’s sake! No doubt the Moffat fans were crying gallons of tears over this. I was too busy sticking a cushion over my face and trying to pretend this wasn’t happening. Honestly, I have never seen such cringeworthy, self-indulgent drivel in all my life. They should have replaced this with Steven Moffat giving himself a self congratulatory blowjob. It would have had the same effect.

So after all that bollocks, is there ANYTHING I liked about The Time Of The Doctor?... At all? Well... I did quite like Handles. He did make me laugh a few times and I was genuinely choked up when he died. Yeah, when you’re more upset over the death of a fucking Cyberman head than the Doctor’s, something has gone spectacularly wrong. I fucking hated this episode! It’s infuriating, self indulgent, utterly moronic and extremely dull. I was so fucking bored by this episode. I didn’t care about anything that was going on. I didn’t care about Trenzalore. I didn’t care about the Time Lords potentially returning. I didn’t care about the Doctor’s impending death. I didn’t care because Moffat never gave me a reason to care. As usual he’s more concerned about his convoluted series arcs and showing everyone how clever he is rather than telling an engaging story. And the most exasperating thing of all is this isn’t even Moffat’s last series. He’s still got the Peter Capaldi era to ruin yet. So why is he bombarding us with this fanwank tribute to himself? Are we going to have to go through all of this again when Capaldi regenerates this Christmas? Jesus Christ!

I suppose I should end with my final thoughts on the Eleventh Doctor in general. I think I’ve made my views on him pretty clear over the course of these reviews. I’ve got nothing against Matt Smith. I’m sure he’s a great actor and a lovely guy. I did kind of like him in his first series. It was a nice blend of quirky and serious. What really got up my nose was when they started to ramp up the goofiness to the point where I just wanted to hurl something large and heavy at his head in a desperate attempt to shut him up. He got so annoying and so irritating that by the time we got to The Time Of The Doctor, I was more than ready to see the back of him. And look, if you like Matt Smith’s Doctor, that’s fine. More power to you. I’m genuinely glad you got more enjoyment out of his Doctor than I did. It just wasn’t my cup of tea.

[kingofthewilderwest]

Alright I’m writing this post before I wimp out on this decision that I need to make. I’m going to try to explain with some thoughtful honesty about where I’m potentially going to be heading with my main blog. But because I have the habit of being... verbose... I’m putting my TL;DR at the top:

I am opening my ask box even though I still have dozens of analysis prompts saved from before I closed the ask box. It’s because I’m tired of not chatting with people in this amazing fandom. I love interacting!

I can no longer consistently analyze prompts. This means I cannot guarantee I will give a thorough analysis if I receive an analysis prompt. I will have to start giving answers like “I don’t know,” “I don’t remember,” or something based more on my gut than thorough research. If a topic really intrigues me, I might give a classic Haddock thorough response. But I can no longer guarantee long, consistent asks. I will, regardless, still respond to every ask I get!

I am so thankful for the experiences I have had with the HTTYD fandom and I would not trade my time on tumblr with you guys for anything. Seriously, you’ve all been amazing. I never would have expected to have such journeys, find such laughter, or make such friends as I have with all of you. Here’s to more fun times to come!

So now... the long version... 

I do encourage people to read it.

I have known for at least a year, if not two, that I could not keep up the pace of my blog analyses... not without sacrificing major opportunities or experiences in my life. I will be honest, me spending too much time on tumblr during my one year of the PhD program could have been one of the key reasons I couldn’t keep up. As much as I enjoy the community and as much as I am so happy to answer asks - it’s very fun and somewhat addictive - I know that I have to make decisions with my limited time.

I’m currently working three part-time jobs (~60 hours a week), am trying to find a good game plan for a stable lifelong career, and I have a lot of other adult-ing to do. When I do have free time, I want to be able to spend it hanging out with irl friends, reading books, studying theology and other topics of interest, reintegrating myself in the local church, writing novels, playing music, composing, drawing, conlanging, cosplaying, hiking, jogging, skiing, snowshoeing, watching good tv shows and movies, playing video games, spending time with family, making meaningful memories, etc.

I want to say that answering analyses on tumblr is something that is very meaningful to me. I don’t know how to say how touched I am that people are curious to hear my perspective. I never intended for kingofthewilderwest to be an analysis blog, yet here I am, wowed and grateful for over five thousand followers who have listened to me yak up a storm about an amazing franchise. I never would have imagined this would happen. I’m beyond grateful. What’s made it so worthwhile is interacting with you guys. I’m so happy to have had this experience and... I want to keep having this experience.

That said, answering asks on tumblr is perhaps not as “helpful” to me in the long run as working on a novel I hope to someday publish, or making sure I get a good night’s rest so I’m ready for another day of work. If I want to reach my life goals and have the meaningful experiences I dream of having, I have to make changes to my current day-to-day situation. I HAVE to. I want to get my life back in order, and I recognize my life has not been as “put together” since I started investing more time in tumblr. To get myself really firmly on track, I do have to loosen my hold on some of my free time activities, if not drop some things out altogether.

Answering analyses is a very time consuming process. VERY time consuming process. It can take me forty minutes or four hours to answer a single question. Not an exaggeration. This is because I often have to rewatch episodes and movies, do a bit of research online, give myself time to mull, and, all in all, invest a lot of time into answering a question. Even when I do consistently try my best to stay on track with answering asks... I cannot keep up with the volume of questions I receive. I wish I could, but I acknowledge I can’t. I still have asks in my inbox from the new year or older (Btw: the way my ask box system works: I keep the ask box open until I am >100 asks behind, then I close the box and answer all those, then open the ask box again). I am so, so sorry that I haven’t responded to all of you who have been patiently waiting for me, or you who may have even forgotten you sent in a question or comment.

I am sorry for all the people I will disappoint by not getting to your submitted asks with the thoroughness you were hoping. I will answer them, albeit not to my previous thorough standard. However, I hope you understand I feel it would be more thoughtful to provide you any response than to never return your messages.

My ask box has been closed because I still have about fifty asks left to answer before I’m caught up. But my ask box has been shut for a long time and I want to hang out with people and chat back and forth. So...

I’m going to open up my ask box again, but I hope you understand I suggest you do not inundate me with analysis requests. I want to open up my ask box so I can interact closely with everyone again... I always feel a little shut off and stale when I have my ask box closed. Now, you can send me analysis requests (when I’m not going through the really old ones in my drafts... again, sorry), but I cannot guarantee I will write an analysis in return. I’ll answer, but it might be a short “I’m not sure” or a few sentences of speculation instead of an essay. I’m happy to chat, I’m happy to discuss back and forth, whatever I want to do when I have the time for recreation, but I cannot be a one-person powerhouse publisher.

I don’t like doing this, but I’ve been needing to do this for a long time. So while I have the guts to write this and post it, I’m going to do it and make the decision final. Don’t make me back down. Don’t make me reverse this choice. Keep me accountable to my long-term life goals.

Another truth, and I am sorry to admit this to you guys, is that I’m not someone who’s used to staying in one fandom mindset for so long. I mean, I always love what I consume and always will get into it. But I’m more of the person to dance from passion to passion, from current interest to current interest, jumping in and out of the buzz of what I love. For instance, I might be on-and-off again with Star Wars, one year thinking about it and fanning about it a lot, another year not really caring. And I usually don’t get involved WITH a fandom... usually just scream about it with a few close irl friends and then move on. How to Train Your Dragon was a notable anomaly, a strange divergence from my typical patterning, and frankly it’s something I wouldn’t have stuck with for so long if not for my interaction with tumblr. If not for the HTTYD tumblr community, I likely would have been out of my HTTYD craze by mid-2015.

And while the HTTYD community has helped me sustain my ongoing interaction with the fandom, my personal passions are focused elsewhere now. I’m still always happy to talk dragons, mind! You guys can fuel me up again when I see you posting about it on tumblr. But in the last year and a half or two years, my mind hasn’t been focused on HTTYD. It’s been first Gravity Falls, then Undertale... and then, with the release of Andromeda, the Mass Effect franchise. I’ve also been going through crazes for things like Voltron: Legendary Defender. So, currently, my head is obsessing about Paladins and Alteans and Salarians and Spectres and Pathfinders and Space Exploration... not so much dragons and Vikings. It’s why my video game blog has been more active and responsive than this one. I’m very sorry if that statement disappoints you, friends. It’s a little weird for me too because I don’t know who all I can shout about my interests with (I only have a few friends who share these interests with me, and I’m sort of annoyingly “late in the fandom” if you know what I mean... don’t want to annoy the same people over and over again about something that’s 5+ years old, but who else do I talk to?). But, well, it is what it is. And it’s more fun for me to charge around with my latest obsession.

Let’s be clear: I’m not leaving you guys or running away or shutting myself off or becoming a hermit or anything. XD You guys mean too much to me to run off. I’m stuck here for good with you dragon nerds. Again, this community has been an extraordinary thing to me, and honestly, my interactions with the HTTYD fandom was the way I got out of a big depressive slump in 2014. So I’m still here! I’ll be staying here! I’m still going to commit to respond to every sincere message I receive! I’m just saying I’m going to invest less time in original posts, especially analyses. That’s all. :) 

It’ll be the best for my life. I hope you friends can all understand. We have to make decisions about the limited time in our lives.

But please! Feel free to chat and say hello and hop into my inbox again! Send little nothings or whatever’s on your mind. I’ve missed getting new asks! It’d be wonderful to hear from you again. <3

So yeah! That’s my honest report and stuff.

Take care, dragon nerds. 

[eighthmark]

Exactly one year ago today, I was in the middle of my Law & Order: SVU binge  when I watched a Assistant District Attorney from Brooklyn remove his belt in open court, tie it around his neck and proceeded to ask the witness on the stand to pull (hard) on it.

All in efforts to make his case, and win it. Gloriously.

After picking my jaw from off the ground I Facebook messaged my two closest friends, trying my very hardest to downplay my shock and excitement, about the best thing I’ve seen on a television show.

They saw right through me of course, I couldn’t keep the excitement and giggles down for very long.

A quick search on YouTube brought me to the Broadway.com interview, now nicknamed the couch interview, and if I wasn’t completely sold then- I certainly was after that. Did I find the man agonizingly good-looking? Of course- no amount of treasures in this world could ever make me deny that. But that wasn’t the shock factor, in a feeble attempt to describe it I suppose I felt that he oozed this magnetic charisma that left me in such awe within the first few seconds of the video. At the time I couldn’t relate or understand to more than half of the things he was referencing, but I wanted to. I wanted to get what he was saying; to listen and read up about it. When he spoke of the performance he’d want to relive; I got emotional. With no prior knowledge of Company or Leap of Faith (oh, how did I possibly live?) how could I have been so attached?

And yet I was. With the help of YouTube’s “autoplay” and “more suggestions” features… I got myself educated.

It all went, the expression is downhill but I’d much rather use the opposite, uphill from then. Hallelujah (Oh God, hallelujah - has anyone recovered from that yet?), Being Alive, more interviews, articles, and not to mention more episodes with ADA Rafael Barba all led me to a path I knew I was not going to leave anytime soon. His articulation. The passion he distills translates so profoundly- it blew me away. Needless to say, I was beyond intrigued- beyond impressed.

Then I listened to Company.

I wish I could have written a diary entry the day I first listened/watched Sondheim’s 2006 production of Company. If I did, I could properly recall and share the huge wave of emotions that overwhelmed my body. In the most peculiar way, and I do mean peculiar because to this day I am amazed how it came to be, I saw so much of myself in Bobby. Not so much what he was or had gone through, but what he felt. The fear, the doubts, the frustration, the irritable need to just be… loved. The material translated and spoke so vividly to me; I wondered briefly if this might be the most beautiful, touching piece of work I had every listened to. It was.

(Alright, I want to get through this in one piece without becoming a sobbing mess so I’ll just link a post I made a while back that I’m quite fond of.)

All I can say is, Company changed the game. Completely.      

OKAY! *rubs hands together* GOOD AND HAPPY THANGS’ NOW

I share this date, July 15th, with @sherrykinss - who if without, I don’t know where I’d be! My soul sister and PD partner! I think I can be bold enough to say that in this year we’ve learned so much about each other, and about ourselves through the Esparza Journey. The laughs, the after-10 shenanigans, the tears, the mind boggling conversations, our dinners in Coppelia, - I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world. I really, really don’t want to bestow that much credit to the man… so I won’t (bahahaha) but I am truly grateful that The Clovers has played a part in bringing us closer than we were before. LOVE YOU, GIRL!

Now I’d love to steer to the unexpected, and most joyous part of the experience.

The Fandom.

Having been a #F4NGIRL4LYFE for as long as I can remember, I can undoubtedly say that this is the fandom I am most fond of.

The utter T A L E N T that I am a recipient of almost everyday honestly makes me want to roll on the ground. Artists, writers (this is a huge umbrella; analysis, fic and everything in between! And YOU THERE, you who writes in the tags? You da’ real MVP), gif-makers, meme creators- holy shi- do you know how amazed I am of you?! Seriously, I want to be more vocal about it instead of just hidin’/creepin’ behind a screen with tears of joy. I promise I’ll try harder because you truly bring me so much happiness. With the exception of a few out of place individuals, (I’m looking at you, anon haters) I can really feel the love support we have for one another - and that’s what it should be 24/7, 365 days of the year; Love and support.

If you made it this far into the post… *hugs* Thank you. This is honestly the most personal I have ever been on this blog. If you’ve read this, you certainly have a better idea about me than a lot of people in my life; use that how you will. I guess I wanted this to be an appreciation post; even though I know for a fact no words will be enough to thank Raúl Esparza for what his work has helped me with this past year, and I expect for years to come.

My love for musical theater has ignited ten-folds because of him. I experienced first hand how truly powerful music was; and was reminded how much it could really heal. He’s inspired me so much it feels surreal and sometimes a little scary, to be honest. Both directly and indirectly; he has “been there” for a lot of personal, even professional matters- but those are stories for another time.

I think it’s luck, you guys- perhaps a little sprinkle of magic that led me here, don’t you think?

Raúl Esparza- thank you.

Thank you for Bobby, for Jon, for Barba, for Jonas, for Chilton, for Philip, for Charley, for Che, for Nevada, for Alfredo, for George; for all the stories you’ve told, and the ones you have yet to tell.

Thank you. For you.

[garden-ghoul]

the... hobblog...

“no I’ll come up with a better name for it, possibly”

special thanks to vv who has continued to support my addiction, by which I mean has continued to push more tolkiens into my hands, the better to addict me. And now without further ado LET’S GET STARTED! with

AN UNEXPECTED PARTY

No sorry false alarm, before we do that I want to talk about this kind of puzzling note on the 2nd edition.

[In chapter 5] the true story of the ending of the Riddle Game, as it was eventually revealed (under pressure) by Bilbo to Gandalf, is now given according to the Red Book, in place of the version Bilbo first gave to his friends, and actually set down in his diary. This departure from truth on the part of a most honest hobbit was a portent of great significance.

I honestly can’t tell whether they’re saying that he changed the end of chapter 5 from real events to fake coverup events, or vice versa, or another third thing. If anyone can enlighten me on this, say, someone who obsessively studies the revision history of Tolkien’s works, hmu.

AN UNEXPECTED PARTY

We spend the first couple paragraphs describing what a hobbit hole is. My favorite part is that all the best rooms are on the left side, because there aren’t any windows on the right. I am sensing that this hill is quite a bit larger than the cute little “we draped some sod over a house” sized hill from the movies. Tolkien also does this charming self-interrupting style of thing, where halfway through a sentence he pretends he just remembered that you, the reader, don’t actually know what a hobbit is because it’s something he made up. Grandpa Johnald is telling you a story but he’s only an Okay storyteller.

I suppose hobbits need some description nowadays, since they have become rare and shy of the Big People, as they call us.

Oh okay this explains a FEW things I was indignant about. Hobbits weren’t always shy and good at disappearing, maybe. It’s a device to explain why you, a 10-year-old child sitting next to the stove, have never seen one even though they are totally real. Probably I am OVERSELLING the point that this is a children’s book in my analysis. Whatever. We spend a bit of time on Bilbo’s pedigree: his mother is Belladonna Took (the best name) daughter of the Great Took, which explains why Bilbo is a little weird.

One morning Bilbo is sitting on his stoop smoking a preposterously long pipe (it reaches down to his neatly brushed toe-hair, which, holy shit, why do we never hear about hobbits grooming their toe-hair) when Gandalf turns up. “Good morning,” says Bilbo, who is happy.

“What do you mean good morning?” asks Gandalf, who is feeling pedantic and possibly grouchy. Then he lists some options, because it’s in his programming to be helpful. It turns out that he’s grouchy because he’s in a great hurry to find someone who will do adventures but everyone around here is, well, a hobbit.

“Pity,” says Bilbo, and pointedly starts reading his mail.

“I’m Gandalf,” says Gandalf.

Bilbo immediately regurgitates a bunch of Gandalf Stories he’s heard. ‘You will notice already that Mr. Baggins was not quite so prosy as he liked to believe, also that he was very fond of flowers.’ Hehehe. He seems excited about “adventures” in theory but in practice wants nothing to do with them.

Gandalf threatens promises to take him on one anyway. It will be very amusing for me, Gandalf assures him. Bilbo runs inside and tries not to slam the door, because one doesn’t offend a wizard.

The next day he remembers he accidentally invited Gandalf for tea when he answers the door, but Gandalf is Dwalin the dwerrow now. (I’m experimenting with blogging The Hobbit and only using ‘dwerrow’ just to see what it would have been like). Dwalin comes in and starts hanging up his stuff, and so Bilbo has no choice but to uncertainly invite him in for tea. Another knock comes on the door while they’re having tea, but it’s still not Gandalf. It’s another dwerrow named Balin, who declares himself at Bilbo’s service.

"Thank you!" said Bilbo with a gasp. It was not the correct thing to say, but they have begun to arrive had flustered him badly. He liked visitors, but he liked to know them before they arrived, and he preferred to ask them himself. He had a horrible thought that the cakes might run short, and then he-as the host: he knew his duty and stuck to it however painful-he might have to go without.

This passage is cute. Bilbo’s social anxiety has lain dormant his entire life because he was never stressed out enough to notice it, because Hobbiton is incredibly boring. Anyway Bilbo doesn’t know what to do with interlopers, so he’s just extremely polite and gives them anything they want. Ya pushover. As more dwerrows arrive he gradually gets more polite, if not less stupidly agreeable.

Bilbo is so stressed by the logic puzzle about getting all his guests the thing they want to eat and drink that he opens the door really hard the next time, and four dwerrows fall on their faces on his doormat. One of them is Thorin, who is Very Important, and he’s pissed about this kind of welcome, but Bilbo apologizes so many times that Thorin eventually goes “please don’t worry about it.” Also Gandalf. Another fun thing I want to mention is that the dwerrows who have already come in are talking local politics ( “the depredations of dragons...”) and it makes me wonder if they’re like, not all from the same place? Is this a long-awaited reunion for them? Have most of them been away on business?

Bilbo has to run around serving the dwerrows and gets very irritated. “Confusticate these dwerrows!” he says out loud. Fili and Kili come to help bring in the plates. After a while they have to clear the table, and all the dwerrows start singing in unison either an astonishingly well-improvised or a troublingly well-researched song about how annoyed Bilbo is with their careless treatment of his dishes. Like I get that this is a musical and they’re not literally performing an impromptu musical number, but still. I like to think that Gandalf told them exactly what Bilbo Baggins Hates so they could threaten to do it. When they come back they all bring out their instruments, every one of them plays an instrument. Thorin plays harp, which means that he is my new favorite.

I did record an impromptu rendition of the song the dwerrows sing, but you don’t get to hear it because I remembered that it requires FILE FORMAT CONVERSION. Unless you twist my arm (“ask me to post it”). Bilbo likes it a lot though, it makes him feel the Adventure Emotion. Thorin refuses to let Bilbo turn on a light Because Dwerrows. Bilbo knocks something over because it’s dark, and Gandalf shushes him. Rude.

"Gandalf, dwerrows and Mr. Baggins! We are not together in the house of our friend and fellow conspirator, this most excellent and audacious hobbit - may the hair on his toes never fall out! all praise to his wine and ale! -" He paused for breath and for a polite remark from the hobbit, but the compliments were quite lost on poor Bilbo Baggins, who was wagging his mouth in protest at being called audacious and worst of all fellow conspirator, though no noise came out, he was so flummoxed.

Cute! May the hair on his toes never fall out! Thorin is much nicer when he’s drunk. Thorin goes on in a long-winded and self-important manner, but does mention that “none of us are going to come back,” whereupon the dwerrows find Bilbo having a panic attack on the rug. He is fierce as a dragon when he’s roused, Gandalf assures them. I am strongly reminded of that time Shou was like “no no Shigeo will make a GREAT attack dog you just have to kill her entire family so she’ll be mad!” Luckily for Bilbo, he doesn’t have a family at the moment. So! Tolkien takes a brief paragraph to note that one of Bilbo’s ancestors, Bullroarer Took, invented golf by accident while murdering goblins in a truly horrible way.

Bilbo, foolishly, really wants the dwerrows’ good opinion, so he says “I’ll do whatever it takes to prove myself to you!” Nobody thinks he will be a good burglar at all, except Gandalf. Do we ever find out why Gandalf chose him for this? They’ve never actually met before.

Thorin gets out a map and starts expositing at it, in a mumble. They’re trying to come up with a plan of attack for Smaug, and they ask Bilbo’s opinion, as Expert Burglar. Since he is nothing of the sort he asks “um, what’s going on?” (but with a lot of fancy words) and hopes they’ll forget he’s supposed to know anything. Thorin tells the story of Smaug’s coming, but like, it’s really clear he’s using the song as a template for his story. He uses all the same imagery and everything.

Gandalf tells about how he got the map from Thorin’s father (who he sprung from Dol Guldur) and then went off in search of Thorin to deliver it. Bilbo tries one last time to get out of going, and then everyone goes to sleep. This was a particularly dense chapter so no more for tonight.

[bs-ent]

(1) Hey, I just wanna say that I just discovered your blog and I LOVE your analysis, and I love how nice you are.

[cont.] (2) It’s especially interesting for me to observe all the BTS ships BC I’m such a new ARMY… I feel like I’ve missed out on a lot of the changes and shifts in dynamics over the years that simply can’t be fully comprehended even tho I have gone back and watched all the old content? I’m just curious bc I do know that friendships change over time… we might still be close to someone but not to the same extent as before, right? And we also form stronger bonds with other ppl too… (JIKOOK COUGHS)

(3) Sorry for the long ass ask LMAO I’m really bad at expressing myself so I’m not even sure if I got my thoughts across properly haha… but anywho, thanks so much for being such an amazing part of the fandom!!! And thanks for listening to me ramble heh~

NEVER apologize for a long ask, i love rambles ; ;

you’ve expressed yourself excellently? and this is such an interesting question; i’m a run-era child so i also have quite some looking back to do and i feel like i could probably spend a few months to answer this omg;;;; but i really want to attempt this so i went on a bts research adventure and idk how useful any of it will be, but i’m just gonna –

warning, big mess ahead 

NOTE: i think i just experienced a moment of clarity when i went back and combed through this entire set of Hanryu Pia magazine interviews (among my faves, no question). it spans 2014-15, with a bunch of 1-on-1 member segments and it really refreshed their dynamics for me (makes me want to go back and edit some of my other rambles now AH). tl;dr i’ll be referencing it a lot and it’s a good read!

back on track with a bit of background – if i could start with a very generalized way to look at their earlier dynamics (before going into how their relationships shifted), i want to address that although the members formed friendships based on interests/personality/etc., i feel like their bonds were also initially pretty affected by where they fell into certain ‘categories’/spectrums, like these:

earliest to join bts –> latest to join

hyung-line vs. maknae-line (which is very close to #1)

vocal-line vs. rap-line vs. dance-line

music-line vs. performance-line (very close to #2 and #1)

etc. etc.

…. you’re probably like, this is common sense LOL but i guess i didn’t really think about how much they had to live in these labels, how jin + jungkook, for example, were vocal-line and had a similar training schedule, and as a result got closer by hanging out after classes together. but in a broader sense the labels became identities, and also affected the way they viewed each other; like for hyung-ln as long-time trainees, they likely felt more distant from maknae-ln, who we know hadn’t experienced the same hardships and didn’t handle as much of the responsibility. jin was out there making sure everyone was alive, namjoon and yoongi were in charge of discipline and musical drive, yoonseok were taking turns accompanying each other to the hospital… i think they really felt that gap in experience up through debut, because in 2013 interviews sugamon especially were always talking about how angry/tired they were during trainee limbo. honestly i’m not sure how much of that was to market a “hard”/“hiphop” image, but they also weren’t lying about those difficulties? and there seems to be a communication gap between hyung-ln and maknae-ln as well (all ‘jin being childish’ aside). for ex., in one of the Hanryu Pia 2015 interviews, hoseok and namjoon were paired up to talk and joon admitted the maknae-ln couldn’t sense his bad moods the way the hyung-ln could. extra interesting because age seems to trump training time here –– even though jungkook and jin joined around the same time, jk was not on the same wavelength.

i guess my conclusion from this is a lot of member relationships that may have shifted started from there, and that maybe in a generalized way, some members who got closer were able to like, overcome whatever initial differences they had, including age gap, talent specialties, relationship history?

if we go into specific relationships – i apologize if any of these were already on your mind btw – i think maybe namjin had somewhat of a rocky(?) start, since they referred to each other as complete opposites and didn’t understand how the other person worked, but they clearly got closer after talking with one another and were mature enough to overcome their differences. and now they’re married! :) i also think jinmin have gotten much closer – partially based off of how jin apparently used to nitpick at them a lot like a mom lmao and jimin wasn’t a fan of it, but now jimin’s become jin’s portable laughing track and jin adores him for it and throws cheesy pick-up lines at him probably every day, so there’s that too! i’m mentioning jin a lot, but since jin didn’t start dorming with everyone until later i think it’s understandable that he took some time to get closer with the younger members.

(EDIT: i wanna mention minjoon too, who have always been kinda close bc they relate to each other about self-esteem/motivation issues, but i think they’ve probably gotten closer? they seem to talk to each other about their troubles often and that kind of intimacy builds over time)

i think some of our conceptions of who was close with who also comes from how much we knew about them debut era vs. now –– like imo jikook were always pretty close (though i agree, definitely closer now), but we just didn’t see it as much early on and it’s taken some time for their dynamics to shine through. same thing for sope, and vmon and taejin too, and hey, taejin got an onscreen indirect kiss and sope’s bringing hwaggae tango to dancing with the stars, so i’m patiently waiting for bighit to up the game @ bts_twt call me for details 

(urgh im neglecting a lot of relationships but maybe i can revisit this later… hopefully this answered your question somewhat sajdfkl) 

[kaitymccoy123]

((I am queuing up a bunch of posts for the next couple days so I can still participate but I am still hiding away from tumblr))

Rules

1. Always post these rules

2. Answer the questions given by the person who tagged you

3. Write 11 questions of your own

4. Tag 11 people

Tagged by @mccoymostly

WARNING YOU RIGHT NOW THAT THIS IS PROBABLY GOING TO BE FILLED WITH LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA PRAISE SO BE PREPARED.

1. What’s your absolute favorite scene from any film?

I have honestly thought about this question all day.  I have a very, very hard time picking favourites, for ANYTHING, especially books and movies.

One scene I loved was from The Fault In Our Stars and I thought it was really well done.  It is the scene where you know Augustus is going to die **spoilers** and Hazel is sleeping, but then the phone rings.  And you know.  You just know what the phone call means and I swear my heart broke with her as she just turned inwards on herself and started to sob.  Beautifully done.    

2. What’s the most terrible book you’ve ever read?

There have been a few, but I am actually going to switch the question to the most terrible MOVIE you ever seen.  I may rant for a minute.  

I hate stupid movies.  And I know that sounds really obvious to say but like I hate stupid humour movies where it is just dirty jokes and stupid boys the whole time, for example, 21 Jump Street, or Step Brothers, or things like that.  My entire family and all my friends know I hate those movies and if I walk in while they are watching one they will flat out tell me it is one of those kinda movies and I will shrug and walk out.  I hate them.  

But my all time least favourite movie was Napolean Dynamite.  Please nobody shoot me but me and my brother couldn’t make it halfway through that movie because it was so dumb.  I hate stupid humour.  :)

3. Star Trek NoTP, and why?

I had a hard time warming up to Spones for a while, and still am pretty iffy about it because I just don’t think they would work that well together.  They are both stubborn beyond belief, so it would take a hell of a long time for either of them to even admit that they liked each other, at all, and there would be a lot of arguements.  

4. The four most badass humans to ever walk the earth? If you’re feeling it, I’d love to hear your justification. ;)

KAITY IS DEFINITELY NOT A HISTORY BUFF SO THESE ARE PROBS GOING TO BE ALIVE PEOPLE.

((I have also just filled these out and realize I should probably change the question to ‘The four most influential nerds to ever walk the earth’ because that’s where my mind went.  Kaity does not dig deep.  Kaity does not know a lot of famous people, especially famous historic people.  So these are basically nerdy celebrities.))

1.  Lin-manuel Miranda: Of freakin course.  He is ridiculously talented, the cutest cutie pie ever, and humble on top of that.  He works to inspire creators, young and old, and I look up to him in every way.  

2.  John Green: Once again, nerdy with a purpose, my kinda people I guess.

3. Misha Collins: though I am not an avid SPN watcher (though I have seen up to season 9) I have seen posts about Misha Collins and all the stuff he does and all the charities he runs and things and I think that’s awesome.

4. John Barrowman: once again not an avid Doctor Who watcher (though I have seen up to the eleventh doctor) I think John Barrowman is another nerdy with a purpose type, someone to change people’s views on the world.

5. The fictional character you identify most with, and why?

SO MANY TO CHOOSE FROM.

Right now I would honestly have to say Scotty.  

I would say my favourite character is still Bones but since I did my little kinda meta-analysis on Scotty, I realize him and I are very much the same.  

We are kind, soft, and appear very positive, upbeat and willing to help, and we are all those things, but we are often taken for granted and our easily trusting nature is sometimes used against us.  We are gentle and docile, but will turn on you at a drop of a hat if you break our trust or try to hurt our friends.  We will go to the ends of the earth to help people, so much so that it is sometimes exhausting.  One-on-one is best for us, and are generally quite quiet, but if you get us talking about something we are passionate about we could talk your ear off for days. -I am also 100% sure he is Hufflepuff (as I am) and I will fight you on this. (I have so much more but Imma hold back to keep this post relatively short)

6.If you could hang out with one person for a day, living or dead, who would you pick, and why?

Once again, my true and honest answer would be Lin-Manuel Miranda.  I just think it would be an amazing day, and I could share my writing ideas with him and my passion for nursing, and I just think he would be a really good listener. I honestly really just want to talk to the guy just to tell him how much he inspires me, not only with all his wonderful musical talents, but also as a person, because he advocates for loving things with your whole heart and expressing that in every way possible.  Also he maybe would take me to go see Hamilton and with that I would die.  

7. What character, from any source, do you think gives the best kisses, and why?

My mind can only think Star Trek at the moment and I honestly would probably say Jim would.  I think he would have the most skill and practice and be able to be receptive to your skill and comfort set.  But I wouldn’t turn down a chance to kiss Bones either. ;)

8. Who is your favorite artist (any medium; this can be interpreted broadly), and why?

**tries to think of any other person than Lin-Manuel Miranda** **cannot**  He is an artist in every sense of the word.  The way he is with words and music is astonishingly inspiring and I can’t sing his praises enough.  

9. What’s your favorite theoretical crossover? In other words, what characters, from different fandoms, would you like to see interact, or who would you like to see thrown into a different universe? I hope this question makes sense, guys.

I think a Guardians of the Galaxy/Star Trek crossover would be hilarious.  But I guess timelines don’t quite work out.  

10. Who is your favorite iconic scientist, and which of their contributions do you find most significant?

Kaity is not a history buff and whenever we talk about the history of whatever we are learning I kinda zone out because I like to focus more on the future than the past but I will scrounge around for something.  

I guess Florence Nightingale, for pioneering modern-day nursing?  That’s pretty darn awesome.  

11. If you could remake any movie, in any way you want, what movie would you pick, and what would you change?

This one took me a while, and that is only because I could only think of book-to-movie adaptations where I would actually know how to change something.  The only one I could think of was Divergent (it’s the one I most recently watched) and I would change two things:  

1. Add in the scene where Tris falls off the ferris wheel and Four saves her.

2. Have their first kiss be actually where it’s supposed to be, near the chasm, sitting on rocks together.  I thought that the way they did it was too overdone, too predictable.  

Bonus?  If you could make any contribution to any field (cure any illness, make any discovery, invent any technology, write any book or create any art, be remembered for anything), what would it be, and why?

I would definitely say anything to do with nursing honestly.  I want to be remembered as the nurse that held your baby while you weren’t there, while you had to go take care of your other kids and you felt so safe leaving them with me.  I want to be remembered as the nurse that saw the change in vitals and new something was terribly wrong with your child and reported it right away so it could be fixed.  I want to be remembered as the nurse that wouldn’t give up on your child when it seemed like everyone else would.  I want to be remembered as your child’s favourite nurse.  

I would love to rid the world of any childhood illness ever, so I didn’t have to become a pediatric nurse, but I do, so I want to be remembered for that.  

Kaity’s 11 Questions:

What person do you most look up to in the world and why?

What book really spoke to you, maybe even changed your view on things, and how did it do that?

If you could spend the afternoon snuggled on a couch watching a movie with a fictional character, who would it be?

If you are in a bad mood, do you prefer to be left alone or have someone to cheer you up?

Do you judge a book by it’s cover (literally or figuratively)?

What’s the one thing that people always misunderstand about you?

What is your Harry Potter house and do you feel you were sorted correctly?

Do you consider yourself an introvert or an extrovert?

What is your favourite colour?  Why?

What’s your most listened to song?

What celebrity would you trade lives with?

Tagging: @mccoymostly, @yourtropegirl @imagicana @captainsbabysitter-blog @digitalmoonhowell @trekken81 @atari-writes @outside-the-government @starshiphufflebadger @youre-on-a-starship​ and anyone else who wants to answer them!