#i know this is a bit of a controversial take in hollywood. but maybe you shouldn't cheat on your spouse

[thebirdandhersong]

infidelity arcs make me want to cry. like my dude. you're MARRIED. what are you DOING. "but it's sooo dramatic! it's so angsty! it's so exciting because it's forbidden!" you know what ELSE it is? IT'S WRONG

[austinslounge]

Ok this is going be a long one and maybe even a bit controversial but try to bear with me. To be very clear I am not a Kaia/Gerber Stan. I’m just trying to see all this from his perspective. It’s just my thoughts and theories as I don’t know him or them personally.

I think Austin and Kaia was a very beneficial agreement for both of them at that time as them being a couple with no real background to how they actually met just seems to point at a pr contract imo. He had just come out of a 9yr relationship so probably didn’t want anything too serious and she had just split from Jacob. Bonus points: K being seen on the arm of the new up and coming, very good looking, Hollywood actor and A got the up and coming young model who just so happened to be Cindy Crawfords daughter. Media/PR dream couple and the fans got the good old tried and tested - Hollywood actor dating a younger model 🤦‍♀️ He probably thought with her age there would be no pressure of settling down or marriage for a long time and they could have fun together while they concentrated on their careers.

I also see the pull of the family and not money wise - speaking personally as someone who has lost their mum too - maybe Cindy was mothering towards him and he always says that he looks for maternal figures so that wouldve been a big pull for him. I completely understand why especially as he lost Lori at such a young age and had to be so strong. You crave that love as it leaves a void so big and it never goes away. I think he also saw a solid family unit and yes maybe he had his rose tinted glasses on and didn’t really know what they were like etc. but maybe because they had already walked the path of fame he hoped that they would not only understand what he was going through but help him to navigate it and protect him. Honestly I don’t think he had any idea on how famous he was going to be and it all happened so fast it must of be frightening for him. They were supposed to be his anchor and he probably hoped for some solace from them during that time as His family don’t live close to him or understand that world so no doubt his head would have been spinning on an axel. We all know how very shy he is and suddenly he’s now being asked to do multiple interviews, tv shows, radio, magazines, photo shoots, red carpets and not to mention him getting attacked for his accent plus all the media intrusion into his private life - thats a lot for anyone to deal with.

Don’t forget that Kaia was already famous due to her parents, mainly Cindy, and was surrounded all her life by a lot of big Hollywood stars and famous people like Harry Styles, George Clooney etc. Maybe in his mind she wasnt going to be a clout chaser or fame hungry, like other women might have been as she had grown up in Hollywood, had plenty of money, was modelling from such a young age and walking catwalks for big names so why would she need him for all that. If only he had a crystal ball 🔮 😆

However I think the rose tint wore off and he started seeing their true colours especially K. Maybe at the start he was comfortable with how things were, he could live his life mainly solo, have fun, focus on his career and all he had to do was a lot of pap walks. In the first year he was ok with that and happy to go along with it, however, last year when his career was finally taking off I think it got more tiresome and he started to look strained. If the writers strike hadn’t happened I do believe that we would have got a break up announcement round the end of that year. That’s when I think, around that time, all this became a full PR stunt and he just went along with it to keep the peace but this year I think he has truly had enough of it all. He doesn’t even try anymore he holds her hand yet constantly looks unhappy snd this Summer he has been unusually tense, even angry at times and barely even acknowledges her.

Something definitely went down in Cabo this year, we got engagement rumours that were shot down within hours and then he wasn’t seen with the Gerbers for months until 27 Aug in Canada. Even that set up was weird as he was sat opposite Cindy but right next to Kaia who was sat in between him and rande. It’s strange in the sense that if it was a square table for four people wouldn’t they all sit opposite each other?? Plus they all looked a little tense and him and K just looked like distant friends. She was more loving towards Travis and genuinely looked happy.

I think they were trying to push an engagement on him in Cabo and he said No so they put rumours out to try make it happen. Also something big happened in summer between him and K as he completely changed towards her and I do think the Gerbers have tried to pressure him again in Canada but he’s standing firm and that’s why i don’t think they will last much longer. He will definitely be the one to end it as the Gerbers will want to protect her image but I honestly don’t think Kaia will fight to keep hold of him. She’s got the Times100, new films, a new play and lots of media attention plus being papped going to all these events/parties and articles about her fashion choices all without A name being attached to it so she’s got what she wanted. Now she just wants to live a single girl lifestyle and well she already is - with receipts - let’s be honest. Nicholas C will probably be her next victim as they seem like a perfect fit for each other and the attraction seems mutual too with the IG follows plus him liking an old IG post of hers. 👀

Also random side note: Rande and Cindy both went to the Josh B talk last night to support her (may mean nothing I know) but I definitely think it was them and Laura who arranged for her to be the ‘talk host’.

Honestly Anon, your theory is almost exactly verbatim what other e-friends of mine and I have been theorizing for a while regarding this Kaustin relationship.

When you think about it, it all makes perfect sense! 😄

To me, this is probably exactly what's been going on, and I totally agree with you, that something definitely changed after Cabo this year. Also, the engagement rumors came out in May of last year. I just wanted to stress that fact. So, it's now been over a year since those rumors were squashed.

There's definitely some trouble in paradise imo. Like you said, anyone with eyes can look at their pictures this year and tell that something bad has been brewing btwn them this year.

And with the way Kaia has been drastically losing weight since the early summer of this year, there's definitely something eating at her. It may not even be about her relationship, but she's clearly not healthy. 😔 Now, Austin has to deal with a girl who barely eats and has this affliction. Do you all remember how shocked he was by all the food that Florence and Jodie said that they eat? Rofl 😅 🤣 Poor guy, he's so used to being with Kaia who has an eating disorder/disordered eating habits, that he doesn't even remember what a real woman eats lol 😆

But yea, your theory is right on the mark Anon. I definitely think there is some truth to this.

[roo-bastmoon]

Let's get into the Angel Pt 1 controversy

Summary of Roo's Point: Please follow your conscience but do not bash Jimin for other people's crimes.

More in-depth analysis of the underlying issues:

Let me start by saying I'm a musical theater geek so I have no idea who any of the other artists on the Angel Pt 1 track are, I don't know their music, I don't know their backstories, and frankly, I don't really care to. But yesterday a full kerfuffle kicked off on Twitter with many people ready to cancel Jimin (and by extension, ARMY) for working on a song with someone called Kodak Black.

Who is Kodak Black?

Well, apparently he's a rapper who brought a high schooler back to his hotel from a concert and then ripped her clothes off and bit her and raped her but he entered a plea deal and got probation for it. Not to be confused for the times he had illegal fire arms, committed armed robbery, possessed marijuana, and tried to evade police. Or the time he punched and kicked a woman at a strip club. By all accounts he sounds like a total asshole, and not someone whose pockets I want to line with my hard-earned money, even if I weren't a survivor, myself.

I think we can all agree that Kodak Black is not the kind of person ARMY would ever want to support.

So if at any point you feel like you cannot get behind the Fast X movie or soundtrack because Universal chose to employ that man? Please feel free to boycott and sleep easy at night. That's your value-based decision and I respect it. Don't let anyone call you an anti for it.

However.

There is another legitimate take on this with regard to Park Jimin, and it's a bit more nuanced than simply "don't work with bad people."

For a decade, we've gotten to know who Park Jimin is. He is kind. He is considerate. He is gentle. He has excellent manners. He gives to charity. He obeys and honors his parents and elder members. He has never been violent. He has never broken the law. He respects women deeply. He is a hard worker. He is a good human being.

I can't help but recall how Jimin had absolutely no idea that the song he made was going to be in Eternals. Like, he didn't believe it at first.

Clearly, this company has some serious issues with communication and the handling of Jimin's releases. I could say more but we don't have all day for that.

It is therefore plausible to me that Jimin was approached for this song, possibly by Jvke. Jimin has said he's seen all the movies so we know he likes the franchise. Maybe he said sure, he'd love to sing for Angel Pt 1. So he recorded his parts and moved on to the next amazing groundbreaking industry-shattering piece of work on his schedule. And then Universal brought in other artists and no one said a thing to him about it.

And you might think there's NO WAY Hollywood wouldn't tell you who all you're working with. Listen, I never worked on any big productions, but I lived in LA for years and worked in entertainment long enough to know you could make something and months later find out it's a whole other thing with people you've never heard of, and you signed off your work and likeness so it is what it is and you gotta live with it and not make waves, especially if you ever wanna work in that town again.

Then again, maybe Jimin met the rest of the artists during the filming of the music video. Maybe he knew Kodak Black was on this song. Maybe he, like me, had no idea of that man's past and never once imagined someone with a rap sheet that long would be in such a large-scale production in the first place.

Or maybe he did know, because it appears Kodak Black is billed as a "creator" of the song, but as an industry professional, he also knows nothing is ever totally clean or pure in this business. So oftentimes in entertainment, you will see people mentally separate the art from the business.

(Side note: To be honest, nothing is ever clean or pure that you pay to consume. The wage slaves sweating in the shops that make the clothes on your back or the device you're reading this post off of. The migrant workers toiling for pennies and living in communal shacks for the veggies in your salad. The animals crammed into horrific crates and slaughtered inhumanely that end up on your plate. The earth that's raped every time you write on a sheet of paper or put gas in your car. The plastics in all of our products are also in our landfills, our oceans, our blood streams. We all of us live and consume off the suffering of others. Doesn't mean we shouldn't fight for a better world--of course we should--I'm just saying, none of us consume anything that's "perfect" and cancel culture fails to acknowledge that.)

Which brings me back to the point about boycotting. If you feel like you just cannot support the business of employing someone like Kodak Black, that is a worthy choice and no one should bully you for it or label you an anti. But please do not consider Jimin "tainted by association." Because everyone is associated in one way or another with harmful people and practices. You'd never get to consume anything ever, if you could only consume things made by "good" people.

For my part, I don't believe Universal will see people refusing to stream or buy Angel Pt 1 and think "Gosh, we shouldn't have hired a man who batters and abuses women, it will hurt our bottom line on this soundtrack, we were very mistaken, let's do better." Maybe they will, but probably they won't. They have yet to even witness the buying power of ARMY anyway so they have no results to compare a boycott to. It's already a done deal and they will likely pull this shit again if it's expedient to do so.

On the other hand, this is Jimin's first OST for a major motion picture and I intend to support the hell out of it. I think it's a good song and I want Jimin to be seen by the industry as a safe bet to bring in numbers. I think the more projects he has, the more opportunities he has to promote good people and good music as alternatives. I say this AS A SURVIVOR OF SEXUAL ASSAULT who is no way making light of sexual assault. It frankly galls me that by association, Kodak Black (and numerous other unknown assholes) will benefit. But I'd rather that than, by association, Park Jimin suffer.

And I'll square with you: I think Justin Bieber, Charlie Puth, Park Jay, and others are opportunistic assholes problematic and it galls me that they will benefit by association with BTS members. But on a case by case basis, I will choose whether to support BTS members' collaborations. So far, I'm still all in. That's what feels right for me, according to MY conscience.

I cannot dictate to you what your conscience should tell you. That's between you and your soul, and it's no one else's business. Do your will and harm none. Trust yourself and honor your limits.

So if at any point you feel like you cannot support JK's Dreamers because of the horrible inhuman treatment of the World Cup stadium workers, abstain. If you cannot support Jimin with Angel Pt 1 because of Kodak Black's inexcusable violence, abstain.

But please do not lay the crimes of others at BTS' feet. They are responsible only for themselves, and we have seen they are sometimes not given complete information around their projects. I'm certain they do their best. When it's clear that a collaboration would go against their values (such as playing for their current president's inauguration), they decline. When they have the opportunity to make informed decisions, they usually decide well. But not always, because the members are human too.

I guess my point of this ramble is... human beings will be human. They are flawed. They inevitably make mistakes. Intention goes a long way. I can make a pretty clear-cut case that Kodak Black intentionally caused harm. So I'm happy to not support his art or business ventures and I hope after a lot of soul searching he becomes a better person but I'm not holding my breath. However, I cannot make a clear-cut case that Park Jimin endorses the harm Kodak Black caused just because he lent his voice to a song Kodak Black is also now a part of. Not yet, not without Park Jimin making a statement defending Kodak Black.

Until he does, I'm not going to hold Jimin responsible for anyone's choices except his own. I trust Jimin. He's earned it. So I'm going to support Jimin.

If you very strongly feel like I'm choosing to do harm here, that I'm anti-feminist, or a rape apologist, or a fan girl making light of serious crimes, please protect yourself and block me. You go ahead and do what you need to do to police your own experience. But I worry that eventually you are going to find yourself in a very lonely, very sparse and dull echo chamber, because that sad truth is... nothing and no one is pure. Certainly not in business, and rarely in art. Considering one out of four women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetimes, it's a safe bet that almost every song or movie you've heard of is somehow benefitting a man who was part of it and who has also abused a woman. I know k-pop idol culture heavily manufactures this PG13 image of artists but the truth is the world of entertainment is a cesspool and a viper pit, and we are very lucky to stan seven artists who are, by and large, truly good people. That's super rare.

My unsolicited advice is to take everything on a case-by-case basis and listen to your gut. Support Angel Pt 1. Don't support Angel Pt 1. It's a deeply personal choice what you endorse with your money.

But please miss me with trying to cancel Jimin, or any of the members, for other people's crimes.

Shunning, dogpiling, mobbing, shaming--cancelling people--those are Mean Girl tactics, designed to make people afraid to work with the "unworthy" and it doesn't work in the long run. (Extended, organized boycotts do work because money talks loud. So feel free to boycott if you want to.) But ruining people's reputations because of who their coworkers happen to be is in no way helping solve the actual problem.

If your goal is to make it so big studios don't employ rapists, keep the heat on the rapist and call out Universal and Kodak Black.

If your goal is to support Jimin, then trust and support Jimin and his songs.

Where those two goals conflict, trust your gut. That's all anyone can ask of you.

For my part, I choose Jimin.

Whatever choice you make--as long as you aren't bashing Jimin--I can respect it.

That's pretty much all I have to say about that. Feel free to disagree but keep it kind and respectful in the comments, please...

Love,

Roo

[bdzonthareel]

Wicked part one

So here we go again, another Broadway to Hollywood adaptation. If you have been following the blog long enough, you know that I have some strong opinions and that goes double for anything theatre related. It’s a special interest of mine and one I take very seriously as there is no shortage of misfires in this subgenre of movie musicals; however, that doesn’t mean every single was a faceplant, look no further than the works Lin Manuel Miranda with the adaptation of his first show In The Heights, and his directorial debut with Tick Tick Boom. It is possible to do the source material justice, which is why I was trepidatious about Wicked, so let me spin you a yarn about my experience with part 1.

For the uninitiated, Wicked is an adaptation of author Gregory MacGuire’s first novel in a 4-book series that reimagines the lore of the Wicked witch of the west (who given the name Elphaba, a nod to Oz creator L. Frank Baum). The musical itself reimagines the book significantly as well, focusing on the relationship Elphaba and Glinda the good witch of the North, who are both college roommates and eventually best friends.

So if you’re familiar with the source material, then you’re going to nitpick quite a bit, I mean with a nearly 3 hour run time how could you not? A handful of scenes ran long in the tooth and the padding was painfully obvious, but it didn’t really hurt the end product.

And allow me to put my fan boy goggles on, and what a product it was! I was mesmerized by stunning visuals that made each and every scene come alive! Even that darkest forests felt alive, which is fitting for the wonderful land of Oz. Many of the set pieces felt like they cast members and they felt like they had their own stories to tell, much like how a theatre actor has to make the characters which they play their own.

From the costumes to the props, they all excel at visual storytelling.

Casting was filled with obvious choices such as Cynthia Erivo, Arianna Grande and Jeff Goldblum, and unexpected casting such as Michelle Yeoh… who I had no idea could sing.

Yeoh’s gift for playing both graceful and stoic characters, really shine as the intimidatingly strict Madam Morribel.

Jeff Goldblum was a pique as the Wizard.

Fiyero is one of my dream roles, and Jonathan Bailey of Bridgerton fame, encapsulates why I love the character with his natural charm and swagger. He had many in his numbers questioning their sexuality (and maybe a few audience members...)

Ethan Slater was a lovable simp as the pathetically lovestruck yet kindhearted munchkin Boq.

Marissa Bode was delightful as the tragically beautiful Nessarose, and as I applaud Universal for casting an actual disabled actress for the role as many know how I am a huge champion for representation.

And of our leading ladies own these roles; the outspoken and at times controversial Cynthia Erivo put every ounce of talent into the role of Elphaba, being Broadway Royalty I would expect no less. Grande, who I think is an amazing comedic actress channel her Cat from Victorious/Sam & Cat into the role of Galinda/Glinda, however there were instances where it felt like she was trying to impersonate the original actress to play Galinda, Kristin Chenoweth. But they worked brilliantly as a duo and their chemistry bled over into real life as they became thick as thieves after filming.

And what’s a musical without dancing? Because OH MY GOD was that dance choreography legendary! I was in love and if I had paid for the screening it would more than make up for the abhorrent prices of movie tickets! And besides, this is the filmmakers’ style.

And of course, the most important ingredient being the music, every song is here with little extra, and I am delighted by this fact because adaptations tend to cut songs, characters, etc. To get the full affect I highly recommend watching in IMAX or whatever equivalent your theater has.

This shouldn’t have worked, but Director Jon M. Chu a man who has dance coursing through his veins was determined to bring the modern legend of theatre to life, and this goes for the set pieces, performances and so on. I love his work and if part two is anything like this, it could be his magnum opus.

It won't change anyone's minds about musicals, but for people like me who had to fight the urge to sing out loud, you are going to have a Wicked good time! (I'm sorry)

I give Wicked (part one a 4 out of 5)

[terrence-silver]

Would terry have more trouble taking beloved who is famous/ a celebrity?

---

-"In 1983,"- Demetri holds up the old, tattered gossip periodical they've fished out of Mrs. Moskowitz's attic stash of dusty trinkets and forgotten keepsakes, reading carefully, wide eyes following every line, every word like it was lifechanging --- like they could find the Yeti or the Sasquatch hidden somewhere among the many columns, Hawk perched up beside him on the squeaky floorboard surrounded by boxes, scoffing, clearly not appreciating the great mystery they were so close to uncovering together. -"After their subsequent movie one hit wonder one the Red Carpet, the dazzling career of one of Hollywood's and LA"s aspiring sweethearts takes a sudden nosedive nobody foresaw coming."-

He acutely feels Hawk's amused eyeroll burning a hole in the back of his head.

How was this not exciting for him!?

Binary Bros, uncovering the puzzle behind a 80's mega-star slipping into obscurity?

Practicality overnight!?

Sus.

-"Reports on retiring from public life took the jet-set of Hollywood by storm."- He narrates on, the article, admittedly, being incredibly and annoyingly vague. Offering no real intel. Only suspicious amounts of formality. Followed by pictures of aggrieved fans circling the streets of LA in front of MGM studios strewn all over the glossy page. Maybe it was easier to disappear back then. No Internet. No Instagram. Nobody slipping into a celebrity's DMs. Just speculations and handwritten fanmail. Landline phones at best? He continues, practically out of breath, finding a quote. -"'Our goal is privacy and civilian integrity. Just that. We ask to be respected in our decision.' Beloved, as affectionately nicknamed by their fanbase, not wanting to give any statements had their acting manager explaining, having no further comments."-

Beloved? He supposed that was a stage name of sorts? Like Cardi B? Weird.

But that bit of dialogue by their manager ---

If that didn't stink, Demetri didn't know what did.

Not even extensive True Crime Google searches or sifting through Missing Person reports gave him more clarity than what they right right in this celebrity gossip magazine from, like...what? Thirty years ago? Forty? Man, his parents haven't even met back then. They were both still kids!

-"C'mon. It's just some ancient, unconfirmed conspiracy theory from back when the dinosaurs were still roaming the planet."- Hawk shrugs and Demetri turns the page, finding sudden epiphany. -"No, no! Listen to this, though!"- He perks up, tugging at Hawk's forearm, nearly jumping on the attic floorboard with the flashlight he was holding in his hand. Wasn't even dark. He was just doing it for the spooky vibes, to be honest. He found it! Found what he was looking for! Photographic evidence, receipts and all! -"Pictured with Corporate Business Moghul, Charity Entrepreneur and one of LA's most eligible Billionaire bachelors, Terrence Silver."- The description under an image says and how did he not find this online? Was this just conveniently fine-combed off of the web? -"The young starlet's colorful choice of date, deemed controversial by some still declared the most photogenic Red Carpet couple of '83."- There he was, Ponytail Sensei --- Sensei Targaryen --- eons younger, dark haired for contrast, looking like one of those shiny, perfect Ken dolls, hand in hand with the object of their research. They were a thing! Like, together-together. -"I knew it!"-

He holds up the tabloid, pointing at it vigorously, feeling victorious.

Gloating just a teeny, tiny bit.

It was The Valley's very own unsolved urban mystery!

-"You nerd."- Hawk laughs from where he was sitting, knees bent under him, chilling on the busted parquet that has definitely seen better days, still skeptical. Okay, alright. Demetri saw how it was. His amazing talents and privately investigative research in tandem were clearly not appreciated around here. That was his thanks then? -"Yeah, some asshole from the newspapers retiring like a million years ago and dating some Bond Villain who hasn't changed his hairstyle in decades. Spooky."- He shakes his head, wiggling around his fingers and pursing his lips for emphasis, clearly unimpressed, taunting him, making fun of the whole concept, about to get up and climb down from the attic and just about ditch him. Call quits on this whole project. -"You and your head in the clouds, I swear."-

A realization hits Demetri like a train at full speed.

-"What if he like, you know, went all Fatal Attraction?"- He grabs Hawk by the elbow, stopping him in his tracks, whispering like the walls suddenly grew ears. -"What if, there was a kidnapping involved and he scooped them up, got his Doctor Evil scheming and Scrooge McDuck connections to erase all traces of them and has been keeping them in some crazy mastermind lair all these years? You know, like a hostage? Made it seem like it was just some out of the blue retirement?"- Demetri lets it all pour out, without filter, saying exactly what he was thinking no matter how insane it sounded and it kind of did sound insane, admittedly; feeling himself fall into a frenzy of rambling regardless, all his long weeks of thinking and thinking, trying to figure the mystery out and it all so suddenly made sense. Cobra Kai's current new Sensei, no matter how surface level nice he seemed, had more than one skeleton in the closet and this was one of them. But, if that was the case, just how powerful was this guy? The frozen intensity in Hawk's eyes matches his in the darkness of the attic illuminated only by their flashlight and for a second, Demetri thinks he's believed and then --- Hawk snorts loudly. Then he chortles to top it all off, grabbing him by the shoulder, startling him. Very funny. Hilarious.

-"Yeah, wow, okay, I don't believe that. Nobody can pull that off."-

He pats him on the back, leading him downstairs.

[castlebyersafterdark]

some photos of mbb's wedding have dropped and i love the italian villa style, but i showed some friends who are casual enjoyers of the show, and they said 'mbb gives me vibes of someone who is pretending to be a person' and it made me laugh so much like how did they nail it on the head hahahaha

so she's comparable to david beckham's son and elon musk, who one friend said is 'an alien who zips on a human suit and walks about pretending to be a person' hahahah

so yeah. maybe this is the oddness we all feel around her. i mean, her surroundings i guess, so we lament too. everyone said she would go off the rails when s1 dropped and she hasn't, not in that 2000s brat paris hilton way, but maybe her life is odd in another way. i mean, i hope she's happy but that's a given (i hope). i just find it detached odd removed a bit scary. eh.

I'm going to be analytical (surprise surprise) about Millie in a way that might shed some light on her to try to understand her in a neutral/positive way from someone who's honestly not a fan.

The thing with this girl is that more so than anyone else on the cast - she's also a Brand. There's MBB and there's the Millie that her friends and family know. I'm not fond of the constant chatter, oh it's a PR relationship and marriage, oh it's all marketing to get married so young - actually, no?? I don't know anything about baby Bonjovi but they're very much a legit couple, and some celebrities will always use everything in their power to feed the image machine. Take J-Lo and Ben (I mention them often but they're an easy reference point - you can't really avoid them in the press, even normal non-Hollywood tabloids). I don't doubt for a second that there was legitimacy to their relationship. But two things can be true - genuine love and emotions and a relationship as well as a simultaneous media leaning, marketing angle to that same relationship. They need to be in the limelight. They are the Brand. That's Hollywood, baby!

This type of celebrity content is not interesting to me. The clothing lines and product launches catered to the instagram era of polished posts and this glamorous veneer, the constant perfect updates. Influencers who are also A-listers. But, I'm not into fashion and makeup and travel and lifestyles of the rich and famous as presented through filter heavy photos on social media catered to those who scroll and - I don't even know. I just don't care. No shade to be into that, but that's not me and that's why I'm bored. And I find her press personality a little grating - but that's fine. We don't have to like everyone. I don't think she's very relatable. But not everyone has to be. Her brand seems to be more of the "aspirational" appeal. She's selling things, mostly. I'm also definitely not her targeted demographic. So it's not working on me. She does seem like an alien in a way. But - I feel like that's purposeful. Aspiration. Still can be genuine.

Sure, I and others find her annoying. I don't know all of her controversies, some have detailed them to me in asks and I just process and absorb because I'm not here to dive into negativity, though I do find it useful to be made aware of things. But, otherwise? Clearly, other celebrities we follow with more fondness view her as a very close friend, and others say she's super sweet. And I don't doubt that. And that's really great. Genuinely. But, we don't know her, we're not being malicious, and some, including myself just get a vibe from her we don't, well, vibe with. No one is for everyone. I'm not for everyone. One of my biggest insecurities is feeling unwanted and unliked and annoying. It's debilitating sometimes, and I know that's something I will always have to work on about myself. Yet, here I am pinning that on some girl I don't know, who's a major part of a television show I love, and my sole reason for disliking her bar anything else - is that I simply find her annoying. Such is life!!!

I think we all can be very genuine but we all also zip up our human suits sometimes. Some just wear theirs very well and get Vogue spreads about lavish weddings where the very polished version of the suit gets marketed to whoever it is that needs to see and feel inspired by it.

I do wish her the best and hope she has joy as a newlywed with the man she loves. Solidarity there. It's unkind when people say that her marriage is destined for divorce in a few years time, if that. I say two things - first, so what? Let them have their bliss and let them find their way, even if it ends in disaster. Who cares? Second - some young marriages last a lifetime. My parents got married very young, too. Still together. You never know!!

[paperstorm]

Hello! I love following your stories and your posts. You always have such an interesting take on things!

I have a question that maybe controversial (that's why I'm on anon), so feel free to ignore this if you don't feel upto it.

I'm a cis, straight woman of relative economic privilege in a very traditional, conservative country. Which is to say, all of my interactions with and information about the LGBTQ+ community are from the internet. This sometimes is an issue because I end up learning the wrong things, where I think I'm being an ally but I'm just thinking things that are problematic in different ways.

I write a bit of fanfiction for other fandoms and I really enjoy watching 9-1-1LS. I have story ideas for Tarlos, but I'm not sure about the ethics of someone like me writing about a queer couple. Is it okay for me to do that? Or is it more respectful to just read and listen and learn? In case it's fine to write it, never having actually witnessed a queer couple's relationship, how do I write realistically without perpetuating problematic tropes that I've seen in Hollywood/TV/other fics?

(This might get long, I’m sorry followers, one day I’ll learn to shut up but not today and not about this)

I want to start by saying that ‘own voices’ started out as a good thing. It started with the purpose of allowing marginalized communities the space to tell their own stories, rather than prioritizing a white man pretending he knows what racism feels like when he doesn’t. It had really good intentions, and it’s still important to amplify the voices of people who are speaking from direct experience.

But because social media spaces are literally never capable of nuance, it pretty quickly turned into ‘you aren’t allowed to write or talk about things that you don’t have direct experience with’ and this is where it became a really harmful mentality. It has led to things like celebrities being forcibly outed (off the top of my head – Lee Pace, Kit Connor, Casey McQuiston, and Jameela Jamil, but I’m positive there are others) because the internet mob said ‘you can’t portray/write about queer characters if you aren’t queer! Publicly perform your sexuality for us or ELSE!’. On a much smaller scale, it led to me not including characters of colour in my stories for years, because tumblr and twitter told me I wasn’t allowed to.

These are not positive things. I saw a post once, years ago, that said something like ‘yes it’s important for POC to get to see characters who look like them as the hero of the story, but it’s equally important for people to see characters who don’t look like them as the hero of the story, because that’s how you learn empathy for people who are different than you’ and that has really stuck with me. It was not good that a teenager was forced to come out before he was ready a few months ago because twitter told him he was queerbaiting by just existing and living his life. It was not good that I went years excluding characters of colour from my stories. It was not good that I never tried to get into the headspace of someone like Sam Wilson or Nile Freeman or Yusuf al-Kaysani or Carlos Reyes or Marjan Marwani. We develop intense empathy for people who have vastly different experiences than us when we care about their lives and their stories and their struggles.

I showed this ask to my best friend who is also queer and he made a lot of good points in a series of very passionate texts but among them are these:

I would rather someone be open and wanting to explore a new community, perhaps occasionally stumbling over the wrong thing, but learning rather then sitting on the sideline like some kid outside of a candy store window.

I’m not interested in allies who are silent. Who haven’t put themselves in my shoes. Who don’t adore the parts of our community the way I do. I don’t give a FUCK about people who are just going to sit there and say “it’s not my place to speak/participate.” I want my allies in the thick of it. I want them saying I stand with you, vocally and I’ll only sit when you sit.

Quit making people treat marginalized groups like exclusive clubs. Everyone is welcome in my gay house

I know my family loves me because they are my family and I am of them. I need to know the rest of the world is going to let me in, too. I need to know that some successful author who has absolutely no stake in the game ALSO sees value in a queer voice in their story. I need to know I have a place in the world BEYOND the people who are accepting of me because they are like me.

So. All of this is a very long-winded way of saying please please PLEASE write and love and care about queer characters even if you, yourself are not queer. If you’re worried about getting something wrong or unintentionally writing something that is offensive, ask a queer person if they would be a sensitivity reader for your story before you post it. And be willing to accept the criticism if a person comes to you after and says ‘hey this was offensive’ (while also understanding that one queer person or one POC does not speak for the entire community, and that the concept of offense gets incredibly complicated sometimes). But write it. It is a wonderful, necessary thing when people care about communities that they are not a part of. In the immortal words of Mr. Bernie Sanders, when then question “Are you willing to fight for someone you don’t know?” is asked, the world gets infinitely better when the answer is yes.

[alarrytale]

My dad is really skeptical about celebrities CO nowadays and thinks they do it to a career boost. He said to me today about straight celebrities CO as gay because it's 'trendy' and good publicity for them. I've talked to him before about Harry and he doesn't think Harry is straight, thinks he is probably bisexual, but doesn't care either way and has no interest in him. My family have pretty much the same opinion. They don't care how he identifies but wouldn't be surprised if he was queer. My dad is also well aware of the closet and pr relationships but he thinks it's easier for celebrities to CO today and so there is no reason why they should be in the closet as people would accept them, but also thinks celebrities are CO for attention. So there's some confliction there. I was of the opinion that real people can't queerbait and that sexuality is fluid and some people take longer to come to terms with their sexuality than others. It's a tough one. How do you differentiate between celebrities doing it for attention and celebrities being honest. It's different with Harry because we've followed him since X Factor and we've seen his consistent behaviour and all the 'evidence'. But it's so hard to explain it to someone who isn't interested. My dad is a huge Freddie Mercury fan and he's the first to assume someone is gay based on how they act, if they're acting stereotypically gay. I've said to him that he would probably think differently of Harry if he watched some shows as he's super flamboyant and takes a lot of inspiration from Freddie, but he said he doesn't care enough to look into it. I think for the GP the tons and tons of headlines linking Harry to women throws them off, and then there's all his pr relationships too. It's hard to explain what we see because it's like 10 years of it. But I digress. Lately there are more celebrities CO as bisexual and it's often women in opposite sex relationships, maybe married with kids. Do you just assume all celebrities are being honest or what? It's a bit different if someone was to lie about being gay as they would have to keep up the act but lying about being bisexual wouldn't require any image change.

Hi, anon!

Your dad has many good points. There are celebs who claims to be queer to get a career boost, or to set themselves apart, or to cater to the lgbtq+ community. So that is happening. Being queer or queer friendly will get you brownie points with the gp, especially the younger generation. It makes you a safe space for everyone. You look progressive. It is easier to come out now than before, and you can do it without losing fans or without the fear of not making it big. However with Harry and Louis it's different, and we know why it is. There are also other reasons to stay in. Hollywood is still very backwards and slow on this subject. I don't see this as a conflict. As long as people are still marketable, they usually are, coming out is possible.

Controversial opinion time, but real people can queerbait. Maybe queerbaiting isn't the correct word (i disagree), but then we need a word for 'straight celebrities coming out as queer or presents queer to an audience with the primary intention of making money off of the lqbtq+ community'. That is happening and it's happened before. Just go read everything depeche mode has said about their 'boys say go!' era, and how much they regret it. I think people are very careful to not accuse anyone of queerbaiting, in case they are actually queer or will identify as such later in life. It's a very sensitive subject for many people. Queerbaiting is happening though. But you can’t really differentiate between who's doing it or not. Except for when they admit to it later. You just got to go with your gut, but not accuse anyone of doing it. Coming out as bisexual is the best way to queerbait (if that's your intention) because then no one can say anything if you enter a straight relationship and stay in straight relationships for the rest of your life.

[romance-of-three-memes]

A bit random but if you've seen people talking about the nine dash line controversy and Vietnam banning the new live action Barbie movie because of it, they aren't overreacting. It is in fact a big deal. It's Hollywood pandering to Chinese imperialism since China as a political entity essentially bullies Vietnam and other countries located in or with direct access to the south China sea so they can have the resources in the area and operate their navy there, they've even been building artificial islands. It's not terribly unlike how Russia was making moves to take Crimea long before they officially invaded in 2014. It was a series of small steps forward. The countries in the south China sea know this, they know they can't let them have those little steps because they add up. Even tiny little things like an American movie normalizing the concept of a dashed line over the area.

I usually try to have this blog lean more towards positive/historical aspects because the conversation about China in the West has become so overwhelmingly negative but hmmm, maybe don't make jokes about how people are supposedly overreacting to something when you know nothing about the situation? It's a good way to make yourself look bad.

[offscreendeath]

I sincerely hope this project isn't another hollow reboot and actually manages to stand on its own as a piece of media. its been 26 years (holy shit) since the last film and a lot has changed in Hollywood since then.

Toys and action figures have largely been replaced by video games as they've gotten more accessible and impressive in terms of variety and quality. AI is now less of a concept relegated to the distant future and is increasingly taking prominence in daily life.

The film industry as we know it has been impacted by things like COVID and the writer's strike. All this taken into account, it would seem ridiculous to me for this film to retread old territory and simply copy the plot and themes of the original film. It isn't like there's a massive Small Soldiers fandom who would revolt if the original cast didn't return to reprise their roles. That leaves a lot of potential to make something fresh.

What I would like to see is perhaps less focus on the humans, or better yet basically none, with them only entering the story to provide bits of exposition or as comic relief. It would be entertaining to watch bystanders react to being suddenly put right in the middle of a toy war and freaking out.

This could also be an opportunity to do what Toy Story did later in the series, examining the different and conflicting philosophy of duty and destiny, but through the lens of warfare and capitalism. After all, these toys are mass produced products, and they are literal soldiers. This doesn't mean there can't be funny, cool moments, but it can't hurt to have some kind of emotional anchor or underlying thematic concepts to give it more depth and complexity.

I mean, even the short scene where the two (presumably) main characters are facing each other through the glass hints at some shared history or tension that is ripe for exploration. What does a character arc look like for these two? How can our expectations be subverted?

Another thing is, and this might be controversial: no, or very few callbacks to the first movie. If they must, I'd rather they be easter eggs subtly and carefully placed throughout, not constant and obvious, or worked into the plot to get us to go "SEE? omg, remember THIS???" Like, yeah, we know. What else you got?

Lasty, I would appreciate a greater scope in terms of setpieces and location. The last film's setting was fairly localized to one neighborhood, which made sense for that story. Where else could they go? A skate park? Sewers? A cornfield maze? Can they livestream on Twitch? Hack into (and fight on top of,) a drone, or a tesla? Just go crazy with it.

Small Soldiers was one of my favorite movies growing up largely because I was a fan of Toy Tory as a child and this was largely billed as an edgier, more "grown up" version of it. But apart from the edge it honestly lacked a lot of substance. There wasn't much going for it outside of 90s nostalgia that really makes it worth revisiting.

But we have so much of that already, as millenials and elder millenials are becoming the target demographic for media since we're now at the age where a lot of us have kids and careers and are desperate for familiar images and memories to throw money at. I hope this isn't another dumb uninspired cash grab but maybe that's askin for too much.

Guess we'll see.

[jacensolodjo]

About Charlie Chaplin, there isn't really evidence he was actually Jewish. However he was very pro Jewish and used a lot of references to Jewish related themes/history in his works, which led many to believe he was part of that group. Also being one of the biggest examples of actually succeding in "rags to riches" stereotype, which was something culturally pinned in USA to Jewish people. Plus the government of USA was trying really hard to find something on Chaplin, and like you said communism in America got tightly tied to Jews, so suggesting he was Jewish and repeating it over and over in press made it easier to finally put "commie" tag on him and kick him out. (In movie "Chaplin" with RDJ there was mentioned, that he wasn't denying being Jewish, because his brother Syd, who was from different father, was half Jewish, so Charlie wasn't denying to not distance himself from his brother and to show support, but idk how much of this is based on facts and how much is just a movie). In other words he was put in "Hollywood Jews" category based on vibes, rather then facts. There is also interesting bit based on some of Chaplins private correspondency suggesting that he was possibly part Romani. That's just FYI, because I saw your post and thought Chaplin is an interesting case when it comes to Jewishness and communism in the USA.

True but I decided to err on the side of caution indeed given by things he said while producing The Great Dictator as well as the fact that Paulette Goddard was demonstrably of Jewish descent on the paternal side. Their marriage was considered to be one of a Jew marrying a Jew.

But yes it is also true Chaplin came under fire about being a communist sympathizer, which was denied for obvious reasons. And it is true that 'commie' was thrown around a lot in Hollywood if you didn't like someone. It's part of what frustrates me about that specific atmosphere at the time.

Goddard was also seen as highly controversial in that day and age not only for having a Jewish father but being in a relationship with Chaplin and being a part of his circle that he would include most often in his movies. (Incidentally her character's name multiple times wound up being 'Hannah' which admittedly amuses more than it being another shred of evidence but I digress lol)

We may never fully know his bloodline. Especially because indeed he was also considered to be of Rromani heritage, which was just as bad in the eyes of his detractors and racists in general. I would say maybe if his descendants got DNA tested but they are so far removed it wouldn't be evidence of his complete bloodline. And doing DNA testing is iffy at best given the controversy with how they categorize things such as, well, Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews. Also, conversion is a thing that could just as easily be done but not spoken of (plus the fact that you're often seen as having been Jewish from the start so as not to alienate converts). I am however actually curious about the family tree in modern times. Did you know that one of his relatives, Oona Chaplin was in Game of Thrones and that there are actually multiple Oonas in that branch of the tree for instance? (Also said half-brother has a descendant who goes by the stage name Drunkfux?)

But yeah full disclosure I debated taking him off the list but decided considering what I had read abt the Great Dictator and a few other things to leave it in. It could easily have been I leave it off and someone ask about if I forgot about Chaplin and the Great Dictator. Lol

Sidenote: Chaplin Senior kinda appeared out of thin air and there's little to be found from before he started appearing. Which is also fascinating I seriously love that mystery.

[macademia-nut]

ai as the rebirth of art

I'm sitting in my office listening to some 70's revival/old bluegrass. I'm wearing a shirt with a print on it I bought at some niche site when I was 14. I don't play video games often, but when I do, it's those with an story to tell - how disco elysium is Eastern Europe The RPG. I have a controversial opinion on AI art, and all the artistic seethe it's brought about.

On the music, I have fallen down some algorithmic rabbithole after following the recommendation of my friends. On the surface, it's a post-ironic enjoyment of music created from the heart at a time when the american heart was unbothered. But the original enjoyers of this music were people in bars and concerts and getting tapes from their friends. There was heart in it, I mean to say; everyone who came into contact with it did so because someone they had an emotional dynamic with thought they should, a network of relationships going back to the original creator (the bluegrass fits that description slightly better, I'll admit). The shirt I still own because someone I cared about thought it fit my vibe. Because it was part of my phase of self-definition. Disco Elysium written to fail, but written from the heart.

'But macademia," you may say, "we're all perfectly aware of emotionality being the only true connection one has to art- what does AI have to do with it?"

Because, dear imaginary conversationalist taking my words genuinely, 70s music in the 70s wasn't actually *good*. It was cringe and weird and different. It was, dare I say it, based on the context, kind of bad. But someone sang it to someone else. Someone was talking to someone else in it.

I'm sure you've noticed that there isn't quite anything like subcultures anymore. All modern punks are posers; everyone is trying to fit a look they saw somewhere else. Sure, all creation is imitation; but through inspiration, not through complete access to replication. The internet doesn't really let you be an individual as much as you're just influenced by the thoughts of someone else; ultimately, an advertiser. The purchasing of personality, you and I know this whole bit.

Who is the professional creator in this context? The writer, the corporate artist, the movie director?

Heartless. Content-creators. They're at risk of AI generation taking their jobs because what they're doing isn't Art. Art is communication from the heart; it's ugly, it's bad, it's personal and different and cringe. It's something you show someone that they love because you made it, and the essence of you and your emotionality are visible in every line of it. Art is what you keep despite that, what you share because of it. Sure maybe these creators in hollywood are writing to their mothers or the one who got away- but the rest of us don't have any feeling for it. We're not connected to that social network.

"Okay, sure, but the AI-"

Content for the sake of content is dead.

Every random asshole can create something half-decent, play with it, manipulate it, and leave it behind without engaging in Content.

The only thing that has value is that which has heart.

"Okay, but you like DE- it was still advertised to you through something like steam, or word of mouth - it's not AI generated either- what gives? You're not personally tied to the artist's social network, you're just the target audience."

Ah, but wouldn't it be so much better if I was?

[simplystevies]

contract

pairings || actor!bucky barnes x actress!f!reader

summary || trying to grow your career wasnt hard, but it wasn’t easy either, you took almost every chance you got.. almost every chance.

warnings || pov of both bucky & reader, not that much going on, just introductions.

word count || 2.1k

note || FIRST PART WOOO i’m excited to get into this series!! i hope you guys enjoy <3

series masterlist

you hated to think about it, but maybe if you didn’t sign the stupid papers, you wouldn’t be standing right here, waving at the hundreds of cameras, surrounded by some of your best friends. you owed everything to bucky and those stupid papers.

bucky’s first movie was an instant hit, his good looks and even better acting talent helped him quickly make a good name for himself in the horrifying world of hollywood. as he grew, he came to realise he would do anything to get out of the community, but almost everything about the world pulled him back in.

the attention he would get for merely leaving his house to buy a bottle of milk, or going out for some snacks filled up a certain void that he felt he needed for a long while. taking girls on dates was even better, usually he would take different girls out to get even more attention from paparazzi.

the more girls he brought out each week, the more attention he got, and he ate that shit up. bucky hated to admit it, but he was a massive attention whore and would do anything for people’s eyes to fall on him.

during interviews he liked to eye up the interviewer to stir a bit of controversy, especially if he was seen with the same girl a few times. he didn’t think women were just objects, but he would do anything to boost his name.

you were just starting out in the acting industry, you had done a few small parts in movies and had just landed your first side character role in a small movie. you took any job you could get. your agent was slightly pressuring, but only because he knew you had what it took.

your first big movie was a basic rom-com movie, but you were working relatively close to steve rogers, a massive name in the acting community. he was playing the love interest of the main character.

you met him once, when you got the role. he gave you a smile with a nod, you were sure he could tell you were scared so it was for reassurance. from what you could gather, in interviews, he seemed like a seriously sweet guy and you couldn’t wait to work closely with him.

after reading the script you had a few scenes with him, you hated to admit that you had a tiny little fangirl crush on him.. i mean who wouldn’t?

you were reading over the script.. again, for your next movie. even though you knew all the words by heart (having practised them millions of times with your agent, dave), you wanted to be sure you didn’t mess up on your first big job.

“y/n!” dave dragged out in a sing-song voice. you sighed, knowing already that when dave sang your name he either found a new place to eat, or had a risky proposition that could boost your job, or ruin it completely.

you closed the script and gave him a small smile. “yes, dave?” you asked, placing the script on the table. “i have a proposition.” he gave you a wide smile, showing all his teeth, even the gold one that usually hid behind his upper lip.

“again? what will i be risking this time?” you teased, walking towards him. dave shook his head and placed a large stack of papers in front of you. “a contract with one of the biggest actors in hollywood.” he brought his hands up in a squeal and started jumping around the office.

you failed to see his excitement, your mouth hung open. “did you already sign it?!” you almost yelled. dave stopped jumping around and straightened out his suit, which you told him to stop wearing multiple times.

“no, no i did not, the contract is there, and please please look over it asap.” dave nodded, leaving your room. you sighed and grabbed the oddly large book. ‘NOT TO BE REVEALED TO THE PUBLIC’ was written in red across the first page.

“oh god.” you said to yourself as you flipped over the page. this was clearly going to be more serious than you thought it would be, you thought it was just going to be some big movie.

‘i, ____________, agree to publicly release a false relationship with james buchanan barnes.’ that sentence popped out to you almost immediately. it felt like you were in a dream, pinching your arm every few seconds because there was no way this was real.

you had to sign a contract to date bucky barnes? yesterday, you thought he didn’t know who you were, and now you find out that he’s been keeping tabs on you to see if you were a ‘good fit’ for his girlfriend.

your head was about to explode as you flipped over a few more pages. ‘public display of affection will be necessary, e.g. kissing, hugging and holding hands.’ you groaned loudly, you didn’t really want to sign away a few months of your life to one guy that would probably forget you after the contract was done.

after reading the entire contract, you chewed on your lip, a bad habit you picked up at an early age, and thought about it for a while. you contemplated the amount of business opportunities you’d get from just being seen with bucky.

you’ve seen countless previously unnamed women seen with bucky, with massive acting or modelling careers after they were pictured with him. bucky was the top person to go to if you want a good jumpstart to a career.

on the other hand, after reading too many books and watching too many shows you knew how this was going to end, with you catching feelings and being left crying to romance movies and throwing chocolates at the screen like elle woods in legally blonde.

this might’ve been what you needed to get a real career boost, but was the heartbreak really worth it all? what if you didn’t even fall for bucky and dated someone else in secret? bucky was definitely going to do the same thing.. right?

you placed the contract down and decided to sleep on it, maybe your dreams would tell you what to do.. well you hoped they would. it was surprising to you, because if someone told you this as a hypothetical, you would’ve said that you’d jump at the chance instantly but now that it's happening you want nothing to do with it.

it’s weird to think about, anyone would say that they’d jump at a chance to do anything, but when they’re facing the issue they’d back away. it was just like your situation right now. you knew that if you weren’t given this contract you’d tell anyone who asked that you’d take any chance to sleep with bucky.

as you brushed your teeth, you thought to yourself, were you really the type of girl that would be seen with bucky? you weren’t a model or anything, so why did he want you?

“there’s still no reply from y/n, we’re expecting a meeting the day after tomorrow, how’s that sound?” anya, bucky’s manager asked. bucky nodded, too busy scrolling through his instagram feed full of hot models. “bucky!” anya clapped her hands near his face. he jumped slightly and looked up at her.

even though he didn’t hear her, just from the look on her face, bucky could tell it was serious. “you never listen to anyone and you wonder why no one wants to work with you anymore james!” anya yelled, shaking her head. “i’m sorry, i’ll change, i swear.” bucky smirked.

“you’ve said that about sixty times in the past hour.” anya sighed, clearly fed up with bucky. bucky smiled and stood up. “oh but you love me.” he winked, sitting on the table in front of her. “meeting, two days, at ten a.m., you don’t show up and i’m dropping you.” anya threw the papers on the table before leaving.

bucky cleared his throat, sticking his tongue out at anya’s back. he picked up the pages and flicked through them. bucky had been stalking you on fake accounts he made on various different social medias.

he didn’t want to raise suspicion by following you on instagram and some of his fans finding out. he decided to take a chance with you and pulled out his phone again, searching your name up on instagram.

you popped up almost immediately. your account was full of pictures of you on set, one of you with tony stark, the owner of ‘the avengers agency’. it seemed like it was just a one time meeting, because of the way tony had his arm around your waist.

his finger hovered over the follow button but then he noticed that you posted on your story. he pressed on the icon, smiling slightly when he saw a picture of your cat in front of your tv screen.

you were watching the office, that seemed like a show you’d seriously be into. the cat was fluffy and white, with a purple collar around its neck. the cat was sleeping. the entire atmosphere of just the picture felt so warm and welcoming.

he cleared his throat and shut his phone, getting up and taking the papers with him, throwing them on anya’s desk. “see you in two days.” he mumbled, walking out of the door.

if bucky had to be honest, he hated the office and he hated anya. the threat of anya leaving him wasn’t a threat anymore, it was almost like a relief that she shared the same ideas as him.

he was approached by tony stark, he asked bucky if he wanted to join the avengers agency. bucky declined because he wanted to give anya a chance, she was the second best agent in the country.

bucky grew to realise why she was second and tony was first. anya was a total bitch and didn’t care about anything but numbers.

as you laid in bed, scrolling through bucky’s many pictures, you decided that if you didn’t take this risk, you’d regret it for the rest of your life and that would be a way bigger feeling than the possibility of heartbreak.

you don’t know until you try.. right? ‘hey dave! gonna sign that contract when do i need it for?’ you texted your agent. the bubble with three dots popped up almost immediately. ‘you have a meeting with bucky in two days.’ he replied.

the two days passed by really quick. but of course, you woke up late so you were rushing. rushing your hair, rushing your slight makeup so you didn’t look as tired as you actually were and rushing your outfit.

you made your way to the office, trying to be as quickly as you could be, not forgetting to stop for coffee on the way. you walked into the conference room, smiling at everyone and sitting down.

“thanks for showing up.” dave whispered through his smile. you rolled your eyes and looked at bucky, who was staring you down. for whatever reason you felt like you wanted to shrink and run away.

anya glared at you slightly before flipping the page of the contract. “okay, let’s get started, first of all, if you sign this contract, you’re signing six months to james barnes and your false relationship.” anya explained, going through the pages.

you gulped, looking between her and bucky, who wouldn’t take his eyes off you. “you will post james as often as possible on your social media account, and will show countless amounts of public affection.” anya continued.

everything felt a bit overwhelming as you came to realise that you would technically be signing yourself over to bucky completely. “you and bucky will be going to the same premiers, will hang out as often as possible etcetera etcetera.”

you nodded, biting your lip. your eyes caught bucky’s again, but this time it was different. he wasn’t staring at your body, he was staring at your eyes. anya’s voice eventually drowned out as everything slowed down.

bucky’s hand was holding his chin, covering his mouth slightly. he was watching you like you were stealing every expensive item in his house. “alright, that’s all settled, just sign there.” anya slid the page over to you.

you nodded and took a pen from dave, signing your name on the empty lines. you stood up to leave, smiling at bucky slightly. “see you later, darling.” bucky smirked, standing up. only now you realised how broad bucky was, how he could crush you in a millisecond.

bucky pulled you in a kissed your cheek before walking out of the conference room. “jesus.” dave shook his head, dragging you out of the conference room.

[jj-lynn21]

Stellan interview

"Stellan Skarsgard Is Finally Seizing the Spotlight"

https://www.thedailybeast.com/stellan-skarsgard-is-finally-seizing-the-spotlight

With roles in “Dune,” the Star Wars series “Andor,” and “Hope,” the character actor par excellence has never been more popular. He talks to Marlow Stern about his stellar career.

Few if any actors have built a resume as impressive as that of Stellan Skarsgård.

After achieving teen-idol status in his native Sweden—even releasing a pop single—due to the TV series Bombi Bitt, Skarsgård transitioned to film acting. It was in the mid-’90s, with roles as a sadistic oil rig worker in Breaking the Waves, a fiery abolitionist in Amistad, and a haughty mathematician in Good Will Hunting, that the towering, stone-faced Swede would cross over into America, and establish himself as one of the finest character actors alive.

He’s since maintained a healthy diet of what he calls “experimental films,” including a total of six with Danish auteur Lars von Trier, and Hollywood studio fare, such as the Pirates of the Caribbean and Mamma Mia! films, the Thor and Avengers superhero extravaganzas, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Cinderella. And right now, at the age of 69, Skarsgård is at his most prolific. There was his Golden Globe-winning turn in HBO’s Chernobyl, the upcoming villain in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, and a main role in the Disney+ Star Wars series Andor, which he’s filming right now in London. Oh, and he’s fathered eight children, including the actors Alexander, Gustaf, Bill, Sam, and Valter.

“There’s no competition, really,” the elder Skarsgård tells me of his talented brood. “There’s some joking competition at the dinner table, but I know they’re better than me, so I’ve given up.”

Skarsgård’s latest is the Norwegian drama Hope. Directed by Maria Sødahl, the wife of his frequent collaborator Hans Petter Moland, it is a heartrending autobiographical film about a long-married couple, Anja (Andrea Bræin Hovig) and her theater-director husband Tomas (Skarsgård), whose atrophying bond is put to the test when Anja develops terminal brain cancer. As they fight for Anja’s survival, the two reevaluate how their relationship went off-course, and why they fell in love in the first place. (The U.S. remake rights were quickly snapped up by Nicole Kidman and Amazon Studios.)

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In a wide-ranging conversation, Skarsgård opened up to The Daily Beast about his many great films, the controversy surrounding pal Lars von Trier, being a nudist, and much more.

How have you been passing the time during the pandemic?

In different ways. The first half of the year I was at our summer house on an island outside of Stockholm, and all my kids—who were also actors, most of them, and they weren’t working either—were all out there in two houses eating dinners together, having a good time, and seeing the spring inch-by-inch, everything grew, which you never get time to do otherwise. But this job I’m doing here now [in London], I was supposed to fly back and forth from Stockholm because I’m shooting this Star Wars series called Andor, and it would have been very convenient because it’s only a two-hour flight, but because of the quarantine I’ve been stuck here. For more than a month I’ve been alone in a hotel room staring into the wall.

Speaking of the Skarsgård household, I read a quote from your son Alexander who said that when he was a teenager, “Dad was always walking around [without clothes] with a glass of red wine in his hand.” Was that your vibe during the pandemic?

Not this time! Is it the wine that worries you? [Laughs]

Did the stress of the pandemic make you feel less… free?

No, I’m still taking off my clothes when I get home very often—and my kids also, some of them do. It’s not a big thing. We’re Swedes! And we have no God that says we can’t show our body parts.

What about it do you just find so liberating? I don’t go the full monty but when I go home, I do tend to take off my pants and let loose a little bit, because it is constricting.

If it’s warm enough you don’t need clothes, right? Unless you’re ashamed of your body—or taught to be ashamed of certain body parts. For me, it’s all upbringing. It’s cultural. Some cultures don’t care about what part of the body you show, and some cultures are very precious, and some cultures the women can’t show their faces.  

I’m curious what life was like in the Skarsgård household, because you’ve helped produce so many talented kids. Alexander described it as “bohemian,” similar to what you described during the pandemic, filled with dinner parties and a free-flowing atmosphere.

It’s always been a very open house, and the kids’ friends, it’s been easier to sometimes be in our house than their houses—especially during puberty, when conflicts arise—because we’re very relaxed and non-judgmental in our family. It’s really, truly pleasant. And my kids are more like pals to me. There’s no hierarchical relationship at all. It’s very nice. We just have fun!

It’s a very talented—and frankly, attractive—family. How did this happen?  

How did I make kids that look so good? [Laughs]

Is that something you’re particularly proud of?  

[Laughs] Well, the looks I don’t care so much about, but I’ve had two beautiful wives—and very smart wives—and that’s helped a lot. I’m not going to take much credit for anything. But what I’m proud of is, when I hear from other people in the business about Gustaf or Sam or Bill or Valter or Alexander, I hear that somebody worked with them and they were really nice on the set and totally cool with everybody, and how no matter what menial job anyone had on the set they were nice to them, then I’m proud. If they win awards it’s secondary to that, because that is a lottery anyway. Awards are sort of like reality shows.

They really are a popularity contest. Let’s talk about Hope. It could have very well been called Grief.

I thought it sounded bland to begin with, but in fact the film is about hope—and about love. It’s not a normal cancer film where it’s all about beating the cancer or fighting against it, but it’s about someone who gets a death sentence in a family situation with a lot of kids, like I have, and everything that was petrified in the relationship floats up again. It’s about how they rejuvenate their relationship, and through those horrible circumstances, find love again.

There’s one very powerful scene in the film that really encapsulates many elements and themes that it explores, and it’s the sex scene between you and your wife. It manages to capture the joy of reconnecting as well as the grief you’re experiencing.

I think it’s a great scene, because it starts beautifully—very gently—and it looks like it’s going to be really nice for both of them, and then her anxiety sets in, and things start to bad. And it does go bad pretty fast.

On another level, I’m an American and we don’t see sex very often in movies. And when we do, we don’t see it in the service of such complicated emotions.

With sex in film, it’s difficult, because sex is something that feels fantastic when you do it, and it looks ridiculous when you watch. Those humping movements like a dog? It’s not sexy at all! So, you can’t do a sex scene that looks like it feels, so they always have to be about something else. The sex scenes I had with Emily Watson in Breaking the Waves, it was about her curiosity, because she discovered her first penis, she discovered sexuality, and it was totally about the relationship. The sex was just there. And in this film, the scene is not really about sex but about something else. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sex scene that looks like it feels, and that can convey that beautiful thing that sex can be.

Really, in America, we get almost no sex scenes in movies. And it’s 2021.

It’s very strange. It’s not as bad as during the Hays Code, when you couldn’t let the lips meet for more than one second.

You just had a train going into a tunnel.

[Laughs] Yes, that very subtle image. But in America, you have a strong, strong tradition of bigotry or fear of sexuality. Only two years ago, in nine states in America, it was still illegal to have sex outside of marriage, and my American friends have told me that when they were growing up, it was even regulated how they could have sex—you couldn’t have oral sex or anal sex—so it is so ingrained in American culture that people’s sexuality is not a private thing, but something that everybody should interfere with.

Hope is also an exploration of mortality. Is that something you think about often? 

I’ve never been that interested in it. I’ve always been aware of it. It’s the only thing you know in life—you’re gonna fucking die. But already many years ago, I thought I’d had such a fantastic life that it would only be fair that I died, because I’ve already lived more than most people. So, I don’t feel any injustice in death. And I’m not afraid of death because I’m not religious, so I don’t have to worry about whether I’m going to end up in hell or heaven. But I have small children still, my youngest is 8, and I’m no spring chicken anymore, so I think about how I should stick around for at least another ten years until everything is set.

I read that you’d studied a bunch of religions in the wake of 9/11 and reached the conclusion that it was all sort of bunk.

I grew up with total freedom of religion—my parents weren’t religious, though my grandmother was very religious. It was taught to me without judgment, and it was a very tolerant upbringing I had. But I hadn’t read the Bible. And after 9/11, when I saw George W. Bush standing in front of TV cameras and claiming that God had put him there, I thought maybe it was time to read what they actually believed in. So, I read the Quran and I read the Bible. There are some fantastic stories—as fiction, it’s sometimes brilliant and sometimes boring—but the God in both the Quran and the Bible, there’s only one reason to really worship them, and that is fear. It’s a power that says, “If you don’t worship, you’re going to die—and not only die, but burn in eternity.” It’s a bit autocratic and dictatorial, I would say. It’s very hard for me to worship something under threat.

And if God put George W. Bush in the White House, then God has a very cruel sense of humor.

[Laughs] Yeah, he does. And the latest president said the same thing.

But he doesn’t believe in God. He only believes in himself.

Yeah. I think that if he had more appreciation from the liberals in America, he would have just as well gone populist-liberal.

I think so too. You know, I read that your Dogville co-star Nicole Kidman already picked up the remake rights to Hope for Amazon.

She’s picked up the remake rights, yeah.

Both you and your son Alexander have shared some pretty intense scenes with Nicole. There’s that dramatic scene in Big Little Lies where Nicole hits your son in the dick, and it almost seemed to me like payback for what you put her through in Dogville.

[Laughs] Yeah, I’ve done two films with her and Alexander just finished doing The Northman with her. But she’s lovely. I really like her. She’s so cool.

At least it was a prosthetic and not Alexander’s real thing.

Yeah… coward! [Laughs]

I gotta say, between Chernobyl, Hope, Dune, a Star Wars series, and even a Simpsons cameo as yourself, how does it feel to be at your most prolific at 69?

I’m just working! I’m doing my job and having fun doing it. I’ve been lucky and a lot of good projects have emerged. It goes up and down, you know, throughout life. And I don’t think I could have a better life than I’ve had. I don’t have any regrets. And I don’t have to be the star or be in something very successful, I just have to have fun.

Nice. Do you feel you’re underrated? I think you’re someone who’s so consistently great in everything that it can almost be taken for granted how great you are. I know you won a Golden Globe recently, and that was long overdue, even if it’s mostly bullshit.

I don’t know! I can tell you: it’s much better to be underrated than overrated. So, I’m very comfortable if I am underrated. But I’m a Swede with an accent—or most of the time I have an accent—and for being a Swede with an accent, I have been extremely successful internationally, so I can’t complain. When it comes to the big studio movies, and I’ve been in four or five gigantic franchises that have paid a lot of bills for me, their concerns are financial, and I’m not a ticket-seller. I’m a solid fucking actor, and I’d rather be an actor than a star.  

It gives you the mobility.

Exactly. The freedom I have. I can easily do small, experimental films and strange stuff—films that could ruin another actor’s career—so I’m in a good position.

I wanted to ask you about Breaking the Waves, because it’s the 25th anniversary this year and I consider it a masterful film. And it was Emily Watson’s first film, which is just extraordinary. How did you two establish such strong chemistry?

She’s British, which means she comes from a rather prudish society too, and to take on a role with an obscure Danish director—who wasn’t that famous at the time—and to take on a role with such explicit sex and nudity took enormous courage, but she was fantastic. My job was to love her, and that felt easy, but I think that she felt loved, and I think that she felt secure, which is essential for being able to do anything courageous. But she’s such a brilliant, talented, wonderful woman. I finally got to work with her again in Chernobyl. I mean, you just have to look at her and everything comes.

There’s this longstanding debate over whether Breaking the Waves is misogynistic or not, and I personally find it to be a misreading of the film. I’ve always thought of it as a biblical allegory of sorts about a desperate woman navigating a deeply sexist world.

Absolutely. Lars doesn’t have that in him. Those fantastic female roles that he has written, if you want to defend women in film, you’ve really got to take care of him because he writes the best roles for them. Those roles are very much him, and he definitely doesn’t have a negative attitude toward women. He loves them. There’s a plague of labeling people—not for what they’re really saying, but for what they appear to say. He was stamped as a misogynist and then he made a bad joke about Hitler at Cannes, and everyone stamped him as a Nazi, which is the furthest thing from what he is.  

Stellan Skarsgard and Emily Watson in Breaking the Waves

You stamp people as a “racist,” a “fascist,” a “communist,” I mean this fucking stamping is as smart as QAnon. It’s frightening. The fantastic thing about mankind is that we’re not one thing. We’re all capable of the most brutal and horrible crimes and we’re all capable of love. We do good things and we do bad things. There are nuances. The way of seeing people as “good” or “bad” guys is forcing something upon humanity that is really dangerous, because when you say someone is the “bad” guy then you’re saying you are the “good” guy, and it’s forcing you to not look at your own flaws.

I’m a huge fan of Lars’ films but I think one thing that’s really colored people’s opinion of him are the allegations that Bjork made against him on Dancer in the Dark. You didn’t have the biggest role in that film, but is it something you witnessed?

I’ve never seen him do anything like that. It’s not him. And if you talk to any of the other women who have worked with him over and over again, you will not get those kinds of accusations. But the Bjork and Lars conflict was enormous during the shoot, and it had very little to do with #MeToo. Lars, like all directors, in the end is a control freak, and Bjork has controlled everything in her career—from the music, to the costumes, to the way she sounds—and if two control freaks try to make a film, there will be conflicts. I got phone calls from Lars during the shoot where he was in tears. She left the set several times, and it had nothing to do with sexuality. She tore up her clothes. They had a very difficult relationship. But you’ve gotta pick your toxic males. You can’t put a “toxic male” label on everybody, otherwise it will be watered down, that label.

I’m so excited for Dune. What can you tell me about it? Denis Villeneuve said that your Baron Vladimir Harkonnen is different from the comics or the David Lynch film in that he’s not as much of a caricature but a calmer, more sinister presence.

The thing about it, and why I’m looking forward to this film as well, is because it’s Denis Villeneuve. Whatever he does, he creates an atmosphere that is dense, that you can touch, and you’re just sucked into it. You’re never bored—even if he does long, slow takes. The atmosphere builds up, and you’re in his universe. I think it will be the same with this one. He’s lovely to work with, and a beautiful man. I did eight or ten days on the movie, so my character doesn’t show up for too much, but his presence will be felt. He’s such a frightening presence where even if he doesn’t say anything, I think you’ll be afraid of him. And I’m extremely fat. I had eight hours in the makeup chair every day. And in some scenes, I look very tall because I levitate. You’re going to have a lot of fun with it.

The whole HBO Max day-and-date thing is weird, and I hope as many people as possible get to see the film on the big screen.  

Oh, definitely. I think they made a deal with AT&T—which owns Time Warner, which owns HBO, which owns my phone—that they cut a four-week deal where it’ll be just for the theaters, but I’m not sure. That could change.

I also feel culturally obligated to ask you about Andor, the upcoming Star Wars series you’re in. What’s that about, and who do you play in it?

As you know, they’ll shoot me if I say anything! I can’t even get a proper script. It’s printed on red paper so I can’t make any copies of it, it’s ridiculous! Of course I’ve seen all the Star Wars films, because I’ve had children in the ‘80s, and the ‘90s, and the 2000s, and the 2010s. I’ve had children in five decades, which means you’ve seen all the Star Wars films—and seen all the toys as well. But when I saw Rogue One, it had much more atmosphere and seemed a little more mature—and that was Tony Gilroy, who’s the showrunner on this one. So, hopefully this one will be a little more than little plastic people falling over.

Was a part of the motivation to do Andor to look really cool to your kids?

I do think like that sometimes! I’ll go and do a children’s movie for that reason. But also, I’m not the most mature person myself, so who doesn’t want to go and fly a spaceship?

Plus, now you can give your kids action figures of yourself and say, “Play with me.”

Fuck yeah. Go play with dad. Don’t disturb him! Go play with him! [Laughs]    

I’m not the most mature person myself, so who doesn’t want to go and fly a spaceship?

OK, this is kind of a silly question, but do you have a favorite movie death of yours? My favorite has to be in Deep Blue Sea, because in that one you get your arm ripped off by a shark, and then the shark uses your body as a battering ram to destroy this underwater facility.

I would say that is probably, in terms of inventiveness, my favorite one too. It was Renny Harlin. Yeah. I like it! Fortunately, I didn’t have to spend that much time on that stretcher—it was a doll. But it looked really cool! And the sharks weren’t CGI back then. It was mechanical sharks, and they were pretty dangerous. The little boy in me was very excited.

Another movie of yours that I love, for entirely different reasons than some of these other ones we’ve discussed, is Mamma Mia! Is it basically a vacation filming these? I imagine the cast parties are a lot of fun, because it seems like you all are having a ball.

Well, it is. I’m not a singer and I’m not a dancer so I was scared stiff, but the only way to make it work—because it’s not much of a story—is that we had fun doing it, because that joy is contagious to the audience. And we really had fun. It was very relaxed in Greece there on the beaches, and the parties we had there were very good too. It was a nice bunch of people to hang with.

When the cast of Mamma Mia! goes wild in Greece, who is the one that parties the hardest? Who’s the VIP?

It depends what you mean by partying! I usually get pretty drunk. Down there, Colin [Firth] and I were pretty good at it. And at those parties, we also had 50 dancers in their twenties, and they had much more stamina.

I have to ask: Will the gang get back together for a third one?

I don’t know! It took 10 years between number one and number two, so if it takes another ten years, I don’t know. Some of us may just be there in urns, with our ashes!

You released a pop single in the ‘60s, right?

Yes. When I was 16, I became extremely famous in Sweden. We had one TV channel back then and I did this TV series, and it was like being a rock star. But it meant also that all kinds of shady people thought they could make money off me. So, this guy calls me from Stockholm and says, “Stellan, can you sing?” And I said, “No.” And he said, “Well, try it!” And then I hear this guitar on the other end of the line, I go, “Ahh!” and then he goes, “Perfect! Come over to Stockholm.” I went to this very shady studio in the suburbs and we recorded it, and then the guy who was running the project said, “I listened to the tape now, and I think it’s better if I sing and you speak on the record.” So, I don’t sing on the record. But there were very cruel headlines in Sweden. One paper had a headline that read, “Stellan Skarsgård, who we loved on this TV series, we don’t like anymore.”

That’s so mean! In addition to Breaking the Waves, another film that really raised your profile in the United States was Good Will Hunting—which holds up remarkably well. Some of my favorite scenes in that film are the ones where you and Robin Williams are jousting. And I know he’s a wild card, so what was it like shooting those?

He really is a wild card because anything can come out of him, and he can say anything and do anything, and he has this urge to do it because he has these three parallel brains that are constantly working on finding something funny or interesting. Sometimes, even when we would do ten takes and everybody would be happy with them, he’d say, “I have to get something out of my body,” so we would do one extra for that. You didn’t know what you’d experience when the camera would start rolling—you just had to dance with it. And it was fantastic. He was such a lovely man and had no ego. He was just a volcano of creativity and ideas.

Do you ever think about your legacy? You not only have a bunch of talented children but also have amassed such a strong body of work.

The thing is with legacy: you won’t be able to enjoy it, so just forget it. No, I don’t. And it doesn’t matter. If you’re extremely successful, it takes a decade and you’re gone from people’s minds. You can only hope that your children remember you for a couple of years, at least!

Well, they’ll have the Star Wars toys, at least.

They’ll have the toys! That’s right. [Laughs]

[thoughts-on-bangtan]

Hi! What are yours views on the recently released billboard article about bts? I assumed that people agreed on the fact that its was extremely disappointing and disrespectful towards bts but there are many ‘army’ blogs who are still defending that article

From anon: What do you think of the new Billboard article about the boys? 😓

I’ll be honest, I had a bit of a debate with myself if I want to post something about the article or not, if I want to draw more attention to it (like there’s literally anyone left who hasn’t heard about or read it), and if I want to get mad all over again. Since you’re reading this, we all know what conclusion I arrived at.

Usually I try to at least somewhat organize my answers to not jump around or angrily rant, but wow, I don’t know if I’ll be able to get that done this time so please bear with me this once. I’d also usually add direct copy+paste quotes and/or screenshots but I truly don’t want to give this article any clicks, or give that “journalist” and his writing even more direct attention, so this answer will have to do without them, I’m sorry. I’m sure you’ve all read the article, or at least seen parts of it, so you’ll know what I’m talking about in each instance.

You know, in all of this, besides the obvious awful aspects of it all, I also feel bad for the staff (not the Billboard journalist and the editors) involved in this, like for example the photographer who went in and took gorgeous pictures of the members, did his best working with them, only for said pictures to be forever attached to this dumpster fire. And the members who spent so much time during that photoshoot to get only the best results and yet, what does it even matter in the end. As well as the fact that they took time out of their busy schedules to meet the journalist, to answer whatever questions he had, to just end up having to read all...THAT.

As some pointed out, it is though very telling that none of the HYBE/BHM/BTS twt accounts have retweeted the Billboard twts with links to the article. That already basically tells you everything you need to know, as in, that the article isn’t worth our time and our braincells needed to read it.

After so many years I think most of us have come to expect basically nothing from interviews with literally any US publication, but especially magazines like The Hollywood Reporter (remember that mess?) and Billboard, and, well, the bar was in hell and yet they still managed to deliver a result that was, I think, one of or the worst article I’ve ever read on BTS. Especially since large parts of the article weren’t even about them? For a cover story about BTS, what’s up with the lack of interview, the minimal amount of quotes from their answers, the summarization of their supposed words, and the large focus on a “controversy” basically cooked up by haters on stan twt? And the “journalist”, who has shown in older twts that he has a negative bias toward BTS and ARMY, even taking direct quotes from stan twt accounts for western artists to illustrate his point, instead of, I don’t know, legit sources? Showing numbers or anything that would show credibility and a solid foundation for said argument? But instead it’s gossip and malicious accusation based on “I don’t like that this band is successful instead of my fave so I will accuse them of cheating while I ignore all the cheating my own fave partakes in”.

More below the cut:

Of course we were, once again, served the narrative that ARMY are just a bunch of manipulated teens which, let’s like talk about that for a second because there are a lot of layers to this and the further you look, the worse it looks for people like this journalist and everyone else like him openly shading ARMY. 

Let’s suppose ARMY really somehow were millions of girls ages 12 to 18 (who somehow have access to enough money to raise funds for music and also match BTS’ $1 million donation and spend money on so many different charity projects every year) and these journalists, most of them men usually above the age of 30, go around and basically belittle and “hate” on them. Do we see the problem here? The fact that in this case grown adults openly, in publications they are paid to write for, bully teenagers and kids simply because they don’t agree with the musician said teens and kids have decided to be a fan of and support. And because they are girls instead of soccer loving boys, as counter example.

A truly weird hill to be willing to d*e on just to make some kind of (negative) point if you ask me. 

Then of course there’s the whole thing that Mr. Journalist decided to go in with a narrative in mind and seriously sit down opposite Namjoon and basically ask him “hey, listen, what do you think about your crazy TEENAGE fans buying your music (truly the audacity, how dare they) and that they are cheating and manipulating the system? Like that’s not right, right?”. Bless Namjoon and his genius brain for being able to keep his cool and shut down that man with his amazing answer shifting the blame right back onto Billboard and how, if they don’t like people playing by the rules that they themselves have created, maybe they should look at their own system and reevaluate it instead of turning against and point a finger at BTS who, as Namjoon said himself, are simply an easy target because they are foreigners, because they sing in a language that isn’t English, and because they are Asian. And really, is there anything the US music industry hates more than foreigners, POC at that, being successful, or even more successful, than their industry supported artists? Don’t think so.

Also can we talk about how strange the argument of “bulk/mass buying” is when ARMY never goes over the limits Billboard themselves have set up, being four copies of a given song. If they truly were against people “bulk/mass buying” you’d think they would lower the number to one copy per person and that’s it, right, the way iTunes does it. And yet, they did not. Because “bulk/mass buying” is okay, just not when it’s ARMY and Bangtan.

Billboard: Buying multiple copies of the same song is bad and makes no sense. You’re cheating.

Also Billboard: Here, buy EIGHT copies of the same magazine, with the exact same contents but different covers, for $170+ in this neat little bundle.

Make it make sense, will you? Or at least be less obvious with what you’re doing.

It’s a problem when it’s done in a way that doesn’t benefit them, and the greater US music industry and their shady system, but when it does benefit them, it’s totally chill, easy, no problem? It’s so obvious, dumb, and kind of makes me want to laugh but also scream and/or knock my head against my table because it’s just so bizarre yet it’s treated like this all makes sense and is completely normal. And the sad thing is, it is normal. We, or BTS as umbrella term, are a problem because we get things done, we get achievements and #1s and numbers without giving in to payola, paid playlisting, bundles when they were still a thing, and without everything else the US labels do to push their artists into basically false fame. 

And that, ladies and gentlemen and nonbinary friends, is where the issue lies.

While talking about all of this among ourselves (as in ARMY at large) across sns, as well as taking into account some pondering by journalists questioning the intentions of the article, a thought arose and, now that I think about it, it sounds just too obvious and yet here we are. Voting season for the Grammys is coming up sometime soon-ish, and Billboard is one of the major publications that the voting members look at and read when considering who to give their vote to. Now imagine you’re a voting member who until this point had a positive, or at least neutral, opinion on BTS but on Monday you sit down and read this article? Would you still want to vote for an artist being accused of “chart manipulation” and supposedly claiming they didn’t actually want to do music in English but were forced into it despite originally saying something else?

No, right?

And that’s the point. 

This is nothing but a glorified smear campaign against Bangtan across lots, and I mean lots, of publications who picked up the narrative that this article presented and ran with it. The US music industry sees their success and feels threatened because they are showing that when you have true, organic success and a loyal fan following you don’t need any of the paid for tricks to achieve things, you don’t need payola, don’t need paid for playlisting on streaming websites, and don’t need US industry backing. You can do it all on your own, therefore these exploitative systems and institutions don’t make any money off of you which is obviously unacceptable. Even more so when you could actually win, or at least again be nominated, for what is regarded as the supposedly most prestigious music award, aka the Grammys. So, since they know they can’t get rid of ARMY, can’t discourage us from supporting BTS, they go for their image and reputation instead. And that’s what this article tried to achieve. Show that, wow, in the end all the “dark side of K-Pop” stories were true all along because even poor, poor BTS are puppets of their evil agency after all, are forced into things, and are used to manipulate their gullible teenage fans into throwing money at them and manipulating the charts.

How come we’re the only ones who see just how f*cked up all of this is? And the few journalists who are on our side?

Lastly, can we talk about just how weird the use of and the quotes themselves from the members were? Most felt not only out of place, out of context, but also so weirdly out of character some ARMY have started to question how much of their “quoted words” are actually theirs and how much might be, essentially, fabricated/twisted to fit the desired narrative the journalist had from the get go. I know a certain crowd, you know which one I mean, jumped onto what was said about the english songs but also especially the final quote from Seokjin at the end of the article that essentially boiled down to “we were so annoyed and overworked we said screw everything, especially our agency, and now we only trust each other” or something to that effect. Am I the only one who thinks that quote sounded nothing like something Seokjin would say? Yes, he’s said cheeky things in the past, he’s also said bold things, like his entire speech against sajaegi back in 2019, but each time he was polite and stuck to his manners while doing so, yet this? I don’t know, something about it just feels very off. Or JKs quote about how he sacrificed more than just his youth to be who he is now. While we know that is true, after all he became a trainee at a very young age and spent the better part of his teenage years as idol on stage, but has he ever spoken about that negatively? In such a manner?

Someone suggested that interviewers should publish transcripts of the original Korean answers and questions that BTS were asked in order to offer some transparency and also for us to know that what they are quoted saying are actually things they did say. I know that’s very unlikely to ever happen, just wishful thinking on my/our part, especially when a hit piece article is attached to it, but in moments like this, it really would be very helpful. For us, but also to add credibility to such articles and the context in which said quotes are used.

Now, for the ‘ARMYs’ who defended this article, to be honest, I’d very much question how much of an ARMY someone is when they can go and read this article and agree with it. How? I get that for some the things in this article played right into their manti agenda, but mantis aren’t ARMY. And the crowd who decided to, instead of blaming the journalist for the narrative he tried to push with all its negative implications, blamed HYBE/BHM instead? Are you serious? That isn’t how journalism works, or at least it shouldn’t be. HYBE/BHM can’t just go in and say “we don’t like this article, change it”, that’s not how freedom of press works, and also, do you realize how weird it is that you are blaming an Asian agency for a hit piece published by a western publication?

What was interesting though was that, as example, the online merch store Cokodive made a statement on their IG page in which they said the following:

So even they, who could’ve directly benefited from selling the magazine, decided that it wouldn’t be right because that article is a travesty. It’s a small thing in the grand scheme of things, yet it shows that it isn’t just ARMY who are being “sensitive little snowflakes who can’t take criticism” but also others outside the fandom who also see the disrespect within the article and its blatant negativity and lack objectivity.

Personally I saved the pictures but I refuse to give views directly to Billboard when it comes to the “Things you didn’t know about BTS” video as well as the behind the scenes clips of the members regardless of how beautiful they are. And I refuse to give their website and this article any more clicks than I already gave them while reading the article in the first place.

You can be critical of an artists success, you can wonder how they, specifically, managed to become as successful as they did, but what you can’t do is completely ignore shady practices of other artists while attacking those who don’t partake in any of them simply because they manage to fill stadiums and get #1s without those practices. At the end of the day, just like Forbes once said that BTS don’t need the Grammys but the Grammys need BTS, in the same way BTS don’t need Billboard and their shady articles and twts, but Billboard needs BTS for clicks and views and therefore revenue. 

As longtime ARMY it also saddens me having watched Bangtan become more and more disillusioned with the US market, as well as ARMY going through the same thing. Then again, like Namjoon said in the article, it isn’t their goal to become mainstream in the US, all they want is to have a big tour and that’s it. Nothing more.

As twt says: this article should’ve just stayed in the drafts.

[agentnico]

The King’s Man (2021) Review

Manners maketh history, apparently.

Plot: One man must race against time to stop history's worst tyrants and criminal masterminds as they get together to plot a war that could wipe out millions of people and destroy humanity.

When Kingsman: The Secret Service came out back in 2015, it screamed franchise potential, adding a more extravagant and edgy take of James Bond and British Intelligence, with colourful characters, one-liners and Matthew Vaughn’s unique action sequences. That movie was so much fun. So naturally a sequel was made, as it should have been as Kingsman was the kind of property that could have become a solid spy action film series if done right. Except it wasn’t done right, as The Golden Circle turned out to be a hecka lot of shenanigans but without any substance. It was the typical Hollywood mistake of if some is bigger its better. That movie dialled up on the humour and the ridiculous outlandish action set pieces, and it all resulted in a mess of a film. There was also the morally questionable inclusion of a controversial sex scene that didn’t need to be there, as it felt like it was trying to be funny about something that wasn’t funny. Now we have ourselves a prequel to the series in the oh-so-cleverly titled The King’s Man, that in turn shows that maybe Kingsman for all its franchise potential should have just stayed as one film.

The King’s Man has a bit of an identity crisis. It has no idea what it wants or supposed to achieve. At one end, director Vaughn evidently wants to have fun with taking these famous real life characters from the 20th century and messing about with history by connecting it all to the Kingsman, but on the other hand he wants to please fans of this film franchise, so he attempts to ground the movie in more realism and stand back a bit from the crazy mad fornication of The Golden Circle, yet the movie’s narrative and story is so ridiculous and over the top as is, trying to ground this story into realism results in a film that is tonally all over the place. Oh, and a large chunk of the movie is also dedicated towards depicting the trenches and No Man’s Land of World War I, and during those moments the movie just feels like an entirely different affair anyway, by Vaughn seemingly having watched Sam Mendes’ 1917 too much and wanting to follow in his footsteps. There’s simply too much craziness going on in this movie that having the more realistic tone doesn’t make sense. And speaking of too much, there are way too many characters in this film. Minus Ralph Fiennes, all other actors are heavily under-used. Gemma Arterton and Djimon Hounsou are both very talented stars and do the best they can with their limited screen time, but their characters in turn are quite useless. Short roles from the likes of Daniel Bruhl, Charles Dance, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Stanley Tucci are nothing more but fleeting cameos. And even Ralph Fiennes, who is front and centre, plays a character so bland that he’s simply not engaging enough to follow throughout he entire movie. And this is Ralph Fiennes we’re talking about. The guy was amazing in The Grand Budapest Hotel, and heck, he was fricking Voldemort!! Ralph deserves better! You know it, I know it, Ralph knows it!

The only section of the film that feels like true Kingsman in nature, with it being overly ridiculous and the movie actually embracing that is all the stuff in Russia involving Rhys Ifans’ Rasputin. For one, Ifans is on true weird form, delivering a creepy and strangely funny performance of the famous madman, but also everything that happens between Rasputin and our heroes was so random and outlandish, it felt like this was the only time the movie felt free to have actual fun. To be fair, I half expected the music group Boney M to walk into frame and start singing their famous “Rasputin” song whilst Rhys Ifans dance-fights in his chambers. As for the rest of the movie, it seems very evident that Matthew Vaughn is a very good director who directs action sequences with precision and a unique eye (there are some incredible camera shots he makes during the heat of battle!), however having a story credit for this movie, I feel like Vaughn should leave the screenwriting business to someone else. For narratively speaking, the only emotional connection my fiancée felt from watching this movie was the inclusion of these adorable goats, and these goats go through heck of a lot in this film, and after leaving the cinema I had to deal with my fiancée clamouring non stop on the ride home about her wanting another Kingsman spin-off movie, but one that focused entirely on the goats. Look, I myself don’t condone this demand, but I value and cherish my misses’ thoughts highly, so I shall at least hear her out, even though I’ll roll my eyes out of my sockets.

Overall score: 5/10