#i went to the og artist's show four times now | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

gorgonitemaiden · 2 years ago

Text

The Dark implications of Street sharks

I want to give credit to @birdy-the-artist and @cairocopper for helping me out creatively:) ❤️❤️❤️

I want to elaborate that in all fairness, this was a kid show and the show runners were not going to go in full depth of certain things that happened , but now that we’ve grown I think it would be very interesting to get a deeper look into how becoming a shark man was both physically and psychologically torturous and how it impacted the lives of the Bolton family (including their friends and loved ones )

In their efforts to find their father , the boys lives are left in Dr. Paradigms hands ,becoming his personal lab rats.

The OG show:

In the show the whole ordeal seemed to only last half a night and day , they’re injected with shark DNA and have a bad reaction. thinking the experiment was a failure , the doctor tells his minions to dispose of their bodies (“just get them out of my sight”) not specifying were and how …so the Bolton brothers are unceremoniously dumped somewhere in plain sight ( not very wise of you Doc..) The next day they wake up with just a bad headache and don’t seem to question what happened , you’d think the first thing they’d do would be to call the police and explain their situation, no…they go to a burger stand and have lunch. WHAT?

Revamp:

The very first thing we’d see is john Boltons perspective, the last thing he remembers was him and his brothers altercation with Dr Paradigm before everything went black . he has a pounding headache and everything looks like either a blur/ flash, he can’t move his body , he’s laying on something cold and he can feel sharp pain in his body . Along side that there are silhouettes of people looking above him and muffled sounds of voices as he falls in and out of consciousness.

The very first thing he’d see clearly is a lightly dim metallic room , before he could get his bearings a horrible feeling paralyzes him , he feels like even the slightest twitch from his muscles will pulsate another jolt of unbearable pain , the man is suffering and unbeknownst to him his entire form is also changing. When it’s over he tries to pick himself up , slowly realizing he’s feeling rather … off , despite the dimness of the room he could tell his hands weren’t his anymore. he finally manages to stand to see his surroundings and faces himself with a wall that was just a mirror.

And What he saw wasn’t him… not anymore, it was some strange mixture of a shark and man He’s frozen , unable to comprehend what he’s looking at but he had to find the courage to move closer and look at himself. No matter how hard he tried, he wasn’t dreaming… this was straight up real.

The events that follow after this would be Paradigm explaining that their cooperation would be vital for their salvation, holding his siblings ransom …

This bargain will eventually be short lived and lead to John Bolton outwitting Paradigms grunts and making his escape ,his new found strength no longer limited from drugs to keep him docile.

John would manage to track his brothers one by one , Bobby is found first and he seems to be the first one taking things rather well ( or perhaps is still in denial that this is all some dream )

Clint is followed suit , he’s not very happy and is more than ready to break some heads for this , Though with his older brother’s intervention the worst he could do was knock out a few guards cold.

Cooper is the last one found and is almost inconsolable , in his cell he sits in the corner shaking and crying despite his brothers coming for him. The situation is dire as they still have guards on their tail , they can’t waste time , but despite all of that , John does his best to comfort his baby brother …

Eventually he manages to get through to cooper before all four of them escape together , wherever they were it was in the middle of the ocean and off the main land , they’d have to swim back to Fission City were they’d once again have to be faced with more obstacles… persecution, fear , prejudice , no one is there for them , their only saving grace was Bends who despite his fear gave up his own safety for their sake.

After the chaos is over , it’s a quiet drive to someplace safe … but they’ll never be the same again.

#art #my art #digital art #digital drawing #street sharks

112 notes · View notes

brawltogethernow · 5 years ago

Note

So, I don't think I've ever asked you this... what IS the whole point of the Spider-Sense? It really seems like something that only exists for writers to ignore or work around when they want to inject Legit Tension into a story.

I’ve thought about this power so much, but never with an eye to defend its right to exist, so I needed to think about this. The results could be more concise.

Ironically, given the question, I have to say its main purpose is to ramp up tension. But it’s also a highly variable multitool that a skilled creative team can use for...pretty much anything. It does everything the writer wants it to, while for its wielder always falls just short of doing enough.

I went looking through my photos for a really generic, classic-looking example to use as an image to head this topic, but then I ran into the time Peter absolutely did not reimburse this man for his stolen McDonald’s, so have that instead.

A Scare Chord, But You Can Draw It

That one post that says the spider-sense is just super-anxiety isn’t, like, wrong. It’s a very anxious, dramatic storytelling tool originally designed for a very anxious, dramatic protagonist. I find it speaks to the overall tone of the franchise that some characters are functionally psychics, but with a psychic ability that only points out problems.

Spidey sense pinging? There’s danger, be stressed! Broken? Now the lead won’t even KNOW when there’s a problem, scary! Single character is immune to it? That’s an invisible knife in the dark oh my god what the fuck what the fU--

Like its counterpart in garden variety anxiety, the only time the spider-sense reduces tension is in the middle of a crisis. But in the wish fulfillmenty way that you want in an adventure story to justify exaggerated action sequences, the same way enhanced strength or durability does. Also like those, it would theoretically make someone much safer to have it, but it exists in the story to let your character navigate into and weather more dangerous situations.

For its basic role in a story, a danger sense is a snappy way to rile up both the reader and the protagonist that doesn’t offer much information beyond that it’s time to sit smart because shit is about to go down.

Spidey comic canon is all over the board in quality and genre, and it started needing to subvert its formulas before the creators got a handle on what those formulas even were, and basically no one has read anything approaching most of it at this point, so for consistent examples of a really bare bones use of this power in storytelling, I’d point to the property that’s done the best job yet of boiling down the mechanics of Spider-Man to their absolute most basic essentials for adaptation to a compelling monster of the week TV series.

Or as you probably know it, Danny Phantom. DON’T BOO, I’M RIGHT.

DP is Spider-Man with about 2/3 of the serial numbers filed off and no death (ironically), and Danny’s ghost sense is the most proof in the formula example of what the spidey sense is for: It’s a big sign held up for the viewer that says, “Something is wrong! Pay attention!” Effectively a visual scare chord. It’s about That Drama. And it works, which won it a consistent place in the show’s formula. We’re talking several times an episode here.

So why does it work?

It’s a little counterintuitive, but it’s strong storytelling to tell your audience that something bad is going to happen before it does. A vague, punchy spoiler transforms the ignorant calm before a conflict into a tense moment of anticipation. ...And it makes sure people don’t fail to absorb the beginning of said conflict because they weren’t prepared to shift gears when the scene did. Shock is a valuable tool, too, but treating it like a staple is how you burn out your audience instead of keeping them engaged. Not to go after an easy target, but you need to know how to manage your audience’s alarm if you don’t want to end up like Game of Thrones.

The limits of the spider-sense also keep you on your toes when handled by a smart writer. It tells Peter (everyone’s is a little different, so I’m going to cite the og) about threats to his person, but it doesn’t elaborate with any details when it’s not already obvious why, what kind, and from what. And it doesn’t warn him about anything else-- Which is a pretty critical gap when you zoom out and look at his hero career’s successes and failures and conclude that it’s definitely why he’s lived as long as he has acting the way he does, but was useless as he failed to save a string of people he’d have much rather had live on than him.

(Any long-running superhero mythos has these incidents, but with Peter they’re important to the core themes.)

And since this power is by plot for plot (or because it’s roughly agreed it only really blares about threats that check at least two boxes of being major, immediate, or physical), it always kicks in enough to register when the danger is bearing down...when it’s too late to actually do anything about it if “anything” is a more complex action than “dodge”.

Really? Not until the elevator doors started to open?

That Distinctive, Crunchy Spider Flavor

The spider-sense and its little pen squiggles go hand in hand with wallcrawling (and its unique and instantly identifiable associated body language) to make the Spider-Person powerset enduringly iconic and elevate characters with it from being generic mid-level super-bricks. Visually, but also in how it shapes the story.

I said it can share a narrative role with super strength. But when you end a fight and go home, super strength continues to make your character feel powerful, probably safer than they’d be otherwise, maybe dangerous.

The spider-sense just keeps blaring, “Something’s wrong! Something’s wrong! God, why aren’t you doing something about this!?”

Pretty morose thing to live with, for a safety net! Kind of a double edged sword you have there! Could be constantly being hyperattuned to problems would prime you for a negative outlook on life. Kind of seems like a power that would make it impossible for a moral person to take a day off, leading them into a beleaguered and resentful yet dutiful attitude about the whole superhero gig! Might build up to some of the core traits of this mythos, maybe! Might lead to a lot of fifteen minute retirement stories, or something. Might even be a built in ‘great responsibility’ alarm that gets you a main character who as a rule is not going to stop fighting until he physically cannot fight anymore.

Certainly not apropos of anything, just throwing this short lived barely-a-joke tagline up for fun.

One of my personal favorite things about stories with superpowers is keeping in mind how they cause the people who have them to act in unusual ways outside of fights, so when you tell me that these people have an entire extra sense that tells them when the gas in their house is leaking through a barely useful hot/cold warning system that never turns off, I’m like, eyes emojis, popcorn out, notebook open, listening intently, spectacles on, the whole deal.

It also contributes to Peter Parker’s personality in a way I really enjoy: It allows him to act like an irrational maniac. When you know exactly when a situation becomes dangerous and how much, normal levels of caution go out the window and absolutely nothing you do makes sense from an exterior standpoint anymore. That’s the good shit. I would like to see more exploration of how the non-Parker characters experiencing the world in this incredibly altered way bounce in response.

It’s also one of many tools in this franchise hauling the reader into relating more closely with the main character. The backbone of classic Spidey is probably being in on secrets only Peter and the reader know which completely reframe how one views the situation on the page. It’s just a big irony mine for the whole first decade. A convenient way to inform the reader and the lead that something is bad news that’s not perceivable to any other characters is youth-with-a-big-exciting-secret catnip.

Another point for tension, there, in that being aware of danger is not synonymous with being able to act on it. If there’s no visible reason for you to be acting strange, well...you’re just going to have to sit tight and sweat, aren’t you? Some gratuitous head wiggles never hurt when setting up that type of conflict.

Have I mentioned that they look cool? Simultaneously punchy and distinctive, with a respectable amount of leeway for artists to get creative with and still coming up with something easily recognizable? And pretty easy to intuit the meaning of even without the long-winded explanations common in the days when people wrote comics with the intent that someone could come in cold on any random issue and follow along okay, I think, although the mechanic has been deeply ingrained in popular culture for so long that I can’t really say for sure.

It was also useful back in the day when no artists drew the eyes on the Spider-Man mask as emoting and were conveying the lead’s expressions entirely through body language and panel composition. If you wiggle enough squiggles, you don’t need eyebrows.

Take This Handwave and Never Ask Me a Logistical Question Again

This ability patches plot holes faster than people can pick them open AND it can act as an excuse to get any plot rolling you can think of if paired with one meddling protagonist who doesn’t know how to mind their own business. Buy it now for only $19.99 (in four installments; that’s four installments of $19.99).

Why can a teenager win a six on one fight against other superhumans? Well, the spider-sense is the ultimate edge in combat, duh.

Why can Peter websling? Why doesn’t everyone websling? Well, the spider-sense is keeping him from eating flagpole when he violently flings himself across New York in a way neither man nor spider was ever meant to move.

How are we supposed to get him involved with the plot this week???? Well, that crate FELT dangerous, so he’s going to investigate it. Oh, dip, it was full of guns and radioactive snakes! Probably shouldn’t have opened that!

Yeah, okay, but why isn’t it fixing everything, then? Isn’t it supposed to be why Peter has never accidentally unmasked in front of somebody? ('Nother entry for this section, take a shot.) That’s crazy sensitive! How does he still have any problems!? Is everything bad that’s ever happened to characters with this powerset bad writing!? --Listen, I think as people with uncanny senses that can tell us whether we are in danger with accuracy that varies from incredible to approximate (I am talking about the five senses that most people have), we should all know better than to underestimate our ability to tune them out or interpret them wrong and fuck ourselves up anyway. I honestly find this part completely realistic.

*SLAPS ROOF OF SPIDER-SENSE* YOU CAN FIT SO MANY STORIES IN THIS THING

The spider-sense is a clean branch into...whatever. There is the exact right balance of structure and wishy-washiness to build off of. A sample selection of whatevers that have been built:

It’s sci-fi and spy gadgets when Peter builds technology that can interface with it.

It’s quasi-mystical when Kaine and Annie-May get stronger versions of it that give them literal psychic visions, or when you want to get mythological and start talking about all the spider-characters being part of a grand web of fate.

Kaine loses his and it becomes symbolic of a future newly unbound by constraints, entangled thematically with the improved physical health he picked up at the same time -- a loss presented as a gain.

Peter loses his and almost dies 782 times in one afternoon because that didn’t make the people he provoked when he had it stop trying to kill him, and also because he isn’t about to start “””taking the subway’’””’ “‘’“”to work”””’’” like some kind of loser who doesn’t get a heads up when he’s about to hit a pigeon at 50mph.

Peter’s starts tuning into his wife’s anxiety and it’s a tool in a relationship study.

It starts pinging whenever Peter’s near his boss who’s secretly been replaced by a shapeshifter and he IGNORES IT because his boss is enough of an asshole that that doesn’t strike him as weird; now it’s a comedy/irony tool.

Into the Spider-Verse made it this beautiful poetic thing connecting all the spider-heroes in the multiverse and stacked up a story on it about instant connection, loss, and incredibly unlikely strangers becoming a found family. It was also aesthetic as FUCK. Remember the scene where Miles just hears barely intelligible whispering that’s all lines people say later in the film and then his own voice very clearly says “look out” and then the room explodes?? Fuck!!!!

Venom becomes immune to it after hitchhiking to Earth in Peter’s bone juice and it makes him a unique threat while telling a more-homoerotic-than-I-assume-was-originally-intended story about violation and how close relationships can be dangerous when they go sour.

It doesn’t work on people you trust for maximum soap opera energy. Love the innate tragedy of this feature coming up.

IN CONCLUSION I don’t have much patience for writers who don’t take advantage of it, never mind feel they need to write around it.

#spiderman #peter parker #spiderverse #spidey #marvel #danny phantom #one day you'll see what i'm doing with it in the project i'm collabing on w/ my brother and then you'll all be sorry and hopefully impresse #mirrorfalls #asks answered #essays

1K notes · View notes

swampythesweetsketch · 4 years ago

Text

Fun idea I had this morning but I want to share with you guys for fun.

NSR GUARDIAN ANIMAL AU

Gist of AU is that someone/something is born with a tiny, magical animal that accompanies them.

Think Golden Compass but everything gets a animal, and the animals also act as magical instruments.

Imma call these creatures "Notels".

Qwasa energy is the lifeblood of these creatures, of which means the world is rampant with energy. Drawback is that the city's blackouts are caused by a lack of artists openly preforming for the energy to freely flow.(Unknown to NSR)

NSR are the major power to Vinyl City due to their rare instance of multiple/being bigger than average Notels.

Buildings have Notels that act as protector to their home (confined to that one space). They stay until the home is demolished, they will continue to exist to supply their home(s) with energy until they are exhausted of all musical resources.

Security bots have their own Notels, but the animals are smaller, chibi versions that focus their energy on keeping their mechanical holders charged at all times. They can hop onto other bots if their initial bot is destroyed in combat and will scurry off to new energy sources if there is no other bots around.

Human(oid) figures have more normal sized Notels that turn into various instruments that match up to their talents. They can also turn into other objects, but Notels are more music focused.

Non-music Notels are often referred as Nolls.

TIME TO HOP TO THE CAST AND PLOT

Bunk Bed Junction!

The two are still a band, but their sewers becomes a underground cavern that has old scriptures that depicts the more open, free flowing energy of Notels. They wish to join NSR in hopes of opening up the freedom of performance to other artists.

Pretty much like the OG B2J, but their focus is changed a bit to help Notels become stronger beings to help Vinyl City climb out of the black outs.

As Vinyl City keeps getting the blackouts and music tastes have all become selective, many Notels have started disappearing due to their respective genres starting to die out in the EDM dominate city.

Mayday's Notel is a rat! A smart creature that came to her in early age, it turns into her guitar. It stays perched in her hair and loves the food from Aunty, as to why B2J are regulars.

Aunty's Noll is a octopus, that turns its tentacles into various cooking utensils. I thought you might like to know.

Zuke's Notel ia Ellie! The little alligator uses their back scales as Zuke's drums and fangs as drumsticks! Ellie is still an integral support character as she and Zukes share the only braincell in the group.

Kill, who pops in after DJSS, has a armadillo Noll that turns into his phone.

First Artist, DJ Subatomic Supernova.

The first NSR artist they face off against is DJ Subatomic Supernova. His Notel is a dog, a nod to Laika, the first animal to ever orbit the Earth.

The Notel is made of pure Qwasa, with rings around its tail that turn into the scratch discs DJSS uses with a custom turntable. These rings will always burn up and become compact Qwasa stars that fizzle out over time. These stars are the main energy source for Club Planetarium.

The dog is massive, about the same size as DJSS. It's breed is best described as a greyhound.

Second Artist, Sayu.

She herself is a Notel!!! Kura Kura Stream Hun was once a interactive hologram theater that fell under, and Sayu was once a little fish Notel that swam around the building. When the place went under, she was alone for years.

It wasn't until the new NSR kids found Sayu and evolved their idea of reviving their old favorite building into a giant aquarium for Sayu to preform. And in debut of her inclusion to the NSR artists, Sayu evolved into the mermaid you see today!

The kiddos do have their own Notels that work as the aquatic buddies to Sayu!

Tila writes Sayu's lyrics and the beta singer of all the mermaid's song. She's the only one in the four creators that has a Notel. That is a vibrant green-red beta fish that turns into a small microphone for Tila to sing into.

Remi is the artist of the group, his Noll is a sunfish that uses its body as a drawing surface. When drawn on with a new design, it will swim around Sayu and act as a "magical transformation" of sorts.

Dodo is the choreographer for Sayu, teaching her the moves for her shows. His Nolls are mossballs. Tiny little things that act as the tail in Dodo's routines to help Sayu understand the whole of her dancing!

Sofa, the editor, has eel nolls that work in the background with him to navigate the theater and control lighting and setting for Sayu's preformance. He's the one with the strongest Nolls as their energy helps fluctuate the surroundings.

Third Artist, Yinu!

Her district is unique as she is a classical prodigy that seems to be the only other genre kept actively alive in Vinyl City.

Her Notel is a gosling, who uses their feathers as piano keys. The keys break apart over time as Yinu and her Notel are not fully grown, so she does most of her preformances with a physical piano until then.

Her mother's Noll is a spider, who uses their webs to create iron bars to trap B2J.

During Yinu's last stand in battle, her piano is broken already, so she and her Notel work together. But her Notel is near exhausted of feathers and has to stop when B2J reach her. They stay to help Yinu calm down and wait for her mother to shrink back down. They leave when the mother and daughter play the broken piano, helping Yinu's Notel regain energy.

Fourth Artist, 1010!

Neon J has a Moose Noll. I’m not sorry. It shrunk a bit since he became a cyborg to help charge his body. Back then it had to rely on tricking Neon J to sleep with soft lullabies to tune out the war going on, but now it can choose to stop feeding him its energy to force him to sleep.

White/Rin has a tiny wolf Notel that turns into a long microphone stand, he uses it for solos. Other than that, its a little wolf puppy that chases Rin around to keep him charged.

Red/Zimelu has a cockatiel Notel that turns into a microphone/drumstick combo. A single long, thin stick that Zim can sing into to generate a flat disc that sharpens into a circular saw, the handle acting as... the handle.

The cockatiel loves perching on his arm and nibble his ascot.

Yellow/Haym has a rabbit Noll! It has a reaaaalllyy fluffy tail that pop off into pompoms! Haym loves using them to boost the moral of his team! When not in use, it lays in the faux ascot of Haym’s- he really had a hoodie hood for his rabbit to stay in!

Blue/Purl-Hew has a Snake Noll that extends it’s tail into a thread-thin whip. He uses it to grab his teammates out of danger. The snake loops around his neck and has constant yawns since Purl-Hew doesn’t exert a lot of energy outside of work.

Green/Eloni has a Cat Notel! It turns itself into cat ears headphones with a little microphones. When not doing anything else, it lops in the circle on Eloni’s head and cat naps there. He has trouble keeping his head straight sometimes, but he can never remove his precious chunk. 💚

When B2J crash their party, Mayday is terrified of Eloni’s cat and Purl-Hew’s snake cause she thinks they might eat her rat (Who she has gone to call Chebbar. Like Cheddar, but with a B).

When 1010 are nearly destroyed, all the Notels/Nells freak out in hopes of repairing their respective boys, but this only makes things work as they are what cause 1010 to ultimately explode.

When Neon J comes to the scene- atop 1010 limousine. No matter where I fight whether near or far- I bleed in the name of NSR-

When Neon J comes to the scene, he and his MEGA MOOSE NOLL (who turns into a rapier with many disfigured blades that hut out like antlers.

The Mother Machine that keeps spawning 1010′s new bodies has its own Noll that is respectively a doe. All of 1010′s Notels/Nolls rush to their protection. Moose dad and Deer mom are PISSED.

All the Notels and Nolls cling to their beaten owners after the fight, the doe keeps close to Neon J when the Mother Machine is destroyed.

Fourth Artist, Eve.

Eve has two Nolls, peacocks that are pink and white respectively. They turn into her masks or Humor and Tragedy.

When one is used, the other uses its feathers to construct large arms and hands that chase B2J around. When they swap, all hands and arms melt into puddles that can still cause damage if stepped in. They evaporate after a little bit.

The peacocks steal Eve and try to run into the white void when she’s defeated, pecking Zuke when he catches up to them and talks to Eve. They eventually deescalates the tension and pet them while they talk.

They follow B2J outside the studio in order to combine their feathers into a key that unlocks the gate to NSR tower.

Final Artist, Tatiana.

Tatiana has a Noll, a steel gray hummingbird. It looks dead a majority of the time. It may look rejuvenated one second, but the next it will look drained of all life. Tatiana refuses to acknowledge her Noll’s problem.

When B2J encounters Tatiana, they battle with their music which seems to revive the Noll. That catches Mayday’s attention.

Mayday goes in to shame Tatiana for neglecting her Noll’s need for Rock, revealing B2J’s motive for auditioning in the first place.

To save the Notals, dying form the lack of their genre being played and oppressing artists that don’t fall in line of EDM.

Tatiana is caught off guard by the revelation, but listening to Mayday’s complaint, she turns her Noll into the clock hand blades she battles with. Using the rock music played by B2J to fuel her Noll’s power.

Mayday and Zuke are forced to drop their Rock solo and battle with EDM mixed with their tunes. The combination boosting their power enough to overcome Tatiana ‘s attack.

As the battle concludes, the clock tower releases Tatiana’s guitar, who reveals to a phoenix Notel that has been supplying the tower with the majority of its power since Tatiana abandoned her old persona, Kul Fyra.

Kliff comes into the scene, and using Tatiana’s weakened Notel and Noll against her, takes control of them to grab the last bit of power from NSR.

All the defeated artists call in to see Tatiana, beaten. It is there that everyone is then told how the lack of genres have been killing off the Notels and causing the blackouts. But Tatiana refuses the idea... then her Noll collapses.

Mayday and Zuke rush to the Noll’s aid and play their music for the poor thing. Kliff chews Tatiana out for not seeing the obvious. He misses the hypocrisy in his speech, as he only idolizes Rock as the definitive music genre of Vinyl City.

During their fight, Kliff uses his Noll to control the tower’s system and the satellite starts to fall.

The finale continues as normal, the districts are returned to their respective Artists, and Tatiana puts the call out for artists of all genres to come to the Grand Qwasa to preform like never before.

Kliff, seeing a error in his ways a little too late, gives back Tatiana’s Notels and leaves his own Noll behind with her.

Lyrics screamed, horns blasted, drums punctured, string snapped.

The blow of musical energy surges the Grand Qwasa as the whole city glows in a light long missed as every single artist plays their heart out.

But it works, the tower transforms with the help of its Noll (a metronome) and flings the satellite back into orbit.

Mayday is given Tatiana’s offer to join NSR and refuses, and instead is gifted her Notel.

Tatiana’s Noll is fully revived and reveals to be another phoenix, still steel gray but it’s body burning brighter than ever before.

The announcement is made to restructure NSR, and in so, Vinyl City is opened alive once more to revived and brand new Notels.

ANNNNNNNNDDDD that’s the end! Thanks for reading my rambling of a AU that doesn’t change a lot but was fun to make!

Byyyeeeeeee!!!!!!!

#nsr #No Straight Roads #AU #Notels and Nolls

29 notes · View notes

ollyarchive · 4 years ago

Photo

Olly Alexander: ‘I want to make the community proud. I don’t know if I've always got it right’

David Levesley

As Ritchie Tozer in Russell T Davies’ devastating 1980s-set drama It's A Sin, Olly Alexander told a story from a tragically formative decade in gay history. As himself and as frontman of synthpop trio Years & Years, he contributes to a new narrative. But, as he reveals here, the insecurities and anxieties written into minority identities are not just a personal challenge: they can shape stories told by, for and about all his peers

It is the afternoon before It’s A Sin is broadcast to the nation and its star, 30-year-old musician and actor Olly Alexander, is buying a cat cushion. “It’s for a friend!” he says, mortified to be caught in the act of buying a plush feline.

Where once being the star of a primetime Channel 4 drama might mean greenrooms, watch parties and a celebratory afters, this is January 2021, so a flame-haired Alexander is sitting in his kitchen, drinking a smoothie the exact same lilac as his top.

“I’ve had a lot of restless energy,” he says, having binge-watched The Real Housewives Of New York City in between doing lots of squats and “watching homoerotic YouTube workout videos”. It’s not quite the normal build-up to a game-changing drama, but is there a better way to remember peacetime than watching a show filled with period pieces such as “friends drink indoors” or “strangers have guiltless sex at a house party”? It’s A Sin is both a masterpiece and a reminder that someday we will, once again, be able to be eaten out by hot men. “You’re so welcome,” Alexander says, laughing. “If I can bring anything to the British public, it’s a lesson in anal hygiene.”

Anal hygiene are two words we have probably never published together in GQ, but, more importantly, are probably not the subject of many – if any! – scenes in a piece of media not uploaded to OnlyFans. They are, however, the subject of a crucial scene in the first episode of It’s A Sin, in which Alexander’s character – an 18-year-old fledgling queer from the Isle Of Wight called Ritchie Tozer – gets rimmed by his campus crush, Ash Mukherjee (Nathaniel Curtis). No gay men watching came out of that scene not feeling seen and, like all the other sex scenes in It’s A Sin, it feels deeply realistic and fantastically homosexual.

“I can tell you I’ll never forget being practically butt-naked with my arse in the air in front of colleagues,” says Alexander, laughing. But by that point, he says, he had done so many sex scenes that it felt somewhat rote. “‘Ritchie’s got a dirty bum! Stick that arse in the air and look disappointed!’” What was interesting, he says, was the dynamic of trying to produce the most authentically gay experiences possible on camera.

‘WE UNDERSTOOD THESE CHARACTERS WITH A KIND OF SHORTHAND THAT GAY PEOPLE UNDERSTAND’

They were working with Ita O’Brien – a movement director and arguably the OG intimacy coordinator – but, for her sins, not a gay man. So while everyone would have an input in how a sex scene would be best shot, “There came a point when they would say, ‘Please tell us, because we’re not gay men.’” So then the writer, the performers, the director and O’Brien’s team would come to a consensus on how to make a threesome look like three men shagging, yet also make it look the best it could on camera and make sure “you never touch each other’s genitals, basically”.

Alexander says O’Brien’s input was a “lifesaver” for him on set. Although by the end he felt comfortable, he was at first intimidated by just how exposing this would be. “I had a bit of a hysterical breakdown. I was really worried I couldn’t do it. I just didn’t feel safe.” This was interesting to hear from Alexander, the proudly queer frontman of the band Years & Years, who “spent four years on the road performing and finding this character that I do feel sexy in”. It was then that O’Brien and the team asked him to bring whatever made him feel comfortable on stage into the room before the cameras rolled. “So I would sing before the takes, be a little bit of Olly on stage,” he says, laughing. “That was my way of tricking my brain and thinking it was a character. Which, of course, it was.”

Before he was Olly Alexander, consummate gamine artiste, Olly Alexander Thornton was a singled-out kid at a primary school in Gloucestershire (where his mother ran a music festival). He was, like many other gay kids growing up, bullied and harassed for being something “other”, which everyone is able to see long before you can define it yourself. “I remember being in primary school and I had long hair and people would call me a girl,” he says, and the wound still feels raw when he recounts it.

“I knew that was bad for boys. I didn’t like the things that other boys liked: I just wanted to play with the girls and watch Disney movies. Which obviously straight boys do as well,” he mentions, always making sure to provide caveats to include all facets of the human experience. Although the bullying began to subside by secondary school in Monmouthshire, he still stood out: he had big curly hair – “I was trying to hide my ears” – and would wear make-up or a choker sometimes on nonuniform days. “I think I was trying to figure out who I was,” he says. “Imagine getting to discover your own sexuality without any preconceived ideas! I mean, maybe that’s impossible. But it would be nice, right? Why should people bullying you be your first brush with your own sexuality?”

Like Ritchie Tozer, Alexander moved to London at 18 to pursue acting, but he also had designs on becoming a musician. “Because when you’re writing a song, you’re the director, the star, the producer, the writer. I wanted all of that! I needed that to be able to express myself,” he proclaims with faux hysteria. For years he found success as an actor in a diverse selection of roles: he appeared in Gaspar Noé’s Enter The Void, costarred with seemingly every other white British actor in The Riot Club and also in God Help The Girl, a musical film written by Belle And Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch. “Then Years & Years just got to a place where it was going to take over and needed my full time,” Alexander says. So his focus moved to the music.

‘IMAGINE DISCOVERING YOUR SEXUALITY WITHOUT ANY PRECONCEIVED IDEAS!’

It was on their third single, “Real” – released in 2014 – that Alexander first felt his art and his sexuality really intermingle. “It was the first time I put in a male pronoun – I say ‘Do it, boy’ – and it’s quite subtle, but it was a big deal for me at the time.” This was when Years & Years were trying to get signed to a major label, so doing something so consciously queer felt like a risk (the band went on to sign with Polydor later that year).

While pop music has long had an element of queerness about it – you need only look at the artists featured in It’s A Sin to see how gay 1980s pop was – Alexander has long been frank that sexuality and success are not always seen as natural bedfellows. At a Stonewall event in 2018 he recounted being told during his media training, “Maybe it’s better not to say anything about your sexuality at all.” In the same year, he told NME there had been progress, but that “I just know there are people who are hiding their sexuality, so it’s still not gone completely”.

Alexander doubled down on it with the music video – featuring his Bright Star costar Ben Whishaw – where he “purposefully made it gay. There’s a cruising element to the very beginning. It’s slightly ambiguous, though, because back then I wasn’t quite ready to launch into being the gay crusader I think I am now.” In 2015 the band won the BBC’s Sound Of 2015 poll, releasing their first album, Communion, the same year. It became 2015’s fastest-selling debut album from a UK-signed band.

‘I JUST WATCHED LIAM PAYNE TAKE HIS TOP OFF, BUT NOW I’M NOT ALLOWED TO?’

But despite the success, and the realisation that audiences were either supportive of – or simply unfazed by – the queerness of Years & Years’ music, there is always an anxiety for Alexander about just how accepting people are willing to be. “I’ll tell you for real,” says Alexander, “I go out on stage – even if it’s for our own audience – and I’m like, ‘What if some of them don’t like me? What if some of them have an issue with me today?’ I always feel like I’m going to try a bit harder next time, try to do a bit more.”

While the character of “Olly Alexander, Years & Years frontman” is one that bespangles its performer with confidence, being queer in the music industry isn’t always an easy thing to navigate. He remembers seeing a tweet from someone who said Alexander’s sexuality was a ruse to try to attract the pink pound – a term for the spending power of gay men – “And it had an impact on me, because I’ve consciously tried to [be openly gay] in a lot of circumstances where I wouldn’t normally. And then for someone...” He tries to think of how to put it and comes up short. “It can chip away at you.”

He wouldn’t change a thing about his success, he says, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t times when it isn’t hard to be out and proud while also getting your foot in the door. “When we’re playing a pop music festival, I’m looking at the other acts in the lineup and there aren’t that many gay people on them,” he says. “You see how quickly your show isn’t family friendly any more because I want to take my top off and I’m like, ‘Well, I just watched Jason Derulo and Liam Payne take their tops off and have all these women in underwear, but now I’m not allowed?’ What do you do with that?”

It’s A Sin marks a return to acting but, also, a chance to refresh Alexander’s musical batteries too. Following Years & Years’ second album – 2018’s Palo Santo – the third album was proving hard to pin down. “I’ve been trying to make this album for about 18 months at this point, stopping and starting, listening to all the songs and... it’s just not feeling relevant any more.” Alexander had always loved Russell T Davies’ work, so when he heard Davies was making a new TV show he “had to be in it. I would just jump at the chance to work with him. And that was before I read the script.” Years & Years had just finished touring Palo Santo and, to Alexander, it felt like the stars had aligned.

While the anxiety of performing queer sex scenes might have been particularly exposing for a gay man like Alexander, there were huge benefits for him being in a cast and crew that were predominantly LGBTQ+. “It was a revelation. I’ve never been on a set with so many queer people. I’ve never even worked with a gay director, so it was a completely new experience.” Plus, being asked to play part of a group of gay best friends, portrayed predominantly by gay actors, meant the chemistry came very quickly: “We understood these characters [with a] kind of shorthand that gay people understand.”

An inclusive, comfortable environment was beneficial for more than just sex scenes and simulating a decade of friendship. It’s A Sin also required its cast to grapple with the issue of HIV and aids, not just as a part of the furniture – as we do in the 21st century, with our knowledge of viral loads, sleeping with undetectable partners and new medications such as Prep – but really putting a forgotten part of British queer history under the lens, who it affected and how it changed the LGBTQ+ community irrevocably. “It’s an issue that is deeply surrounded by stigma and there’s a lot of trauma there and a lot of fear,” Alexander explains. “I know, personally, it was an area that I was scared to really engage with.”

He mentions that just before filming he made friends with an older gay couple at his gym and in talking about the show with them he was offered a rare opportunity to hear about personal experiences of the aids crisis. “It can be so difficult as a gay person to feel like you have intergenerational support,” says Alexander. “Elders are so important in our community. You can get so much from the people who have gone through so much before and fought that fight.”

For Alexander and the cast, It’s A Sin was a rare opportunity: a chance to be brought together with a whole group of men and women who were there at the time and who were willing to share their experiences with them. “I feel so lucky that I got to engage with that and keep learning. I was just scratching the surface and there are so many stories you can tell from this period. It’s impacted us all the way until now and it will in the future.”

Starring in It’s A Sin has also changed what Years & Years’ third album is going to sound like. After the initial writer’s block, Alexander says, he focused instead on the music of the show (Bronski Beat, Kelly Marie, the titular song by Pet Shop Boys) “and it really took my mind back to the club” – especially in the midst of a pandemic, when the queer nightlife venues that are the backbone of our community are so desperately missed.

“All the music I wanted to listen to in lockdown was high energy. It was dance floor. It was club music.” This was the music that had played such a huge role in his early life in London, had inspired the first Years & Years album and a genre that owes a great debt to the LGBTQ+ community. “I think at their heart, lots of these songs are about joy despite crushing pain. I just thought, ‘God, imagine hearing “I Feel Love” on the dance floor for the first time.’ What a transcendent experience that would be.”

‘ELDERS ARE SO IMPORTANT IN OUR COMMUNITY. YOU CAN GET SO MUCH FROM THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE FOUGHT THAT FIGHT’

And so Alexander went into the studio – as soon as it was safe to do so – and created a bunch of new songs. Is it easy to find collaborators behind the scenes who get it when he says, “I want it to feel like Britney meets Rihanna meets Hot Chip via New Order”?

“It can be a challenge to find someone that really understands,” admits Alexander. He recalled being sent round the songwriters and producers in Los Angeles that all artists are sent round at a certain point, “And some of those people are amazing – some amazing queer people as well – but predominantly... You know, they’re straight, so it can be quite challenging.”

Feeling safe with his collaborators hasn’t been an easy journey, but now he’s in a good place for it. He also pointed out that it’s not just queers who can understand his vision: his bandmates are straight, he points out – “I really believe in working with straight people! Some of my best friends are straight!” – and his frequent collaborator, the producer Mark Ralph, “is a real ally to us gays”, who was always willing to vibe along to Paris Hilton singles with him.

A new sound – a queerer sound – isn’t just a risk in a world where Alexander’s performances are held to double standards and the linchpins of queer culture can still be seen as synonymous with perversion. The impossible standards queer work is held to don’t just come from the straight world: gay men can be terrible recipients of work designed for them too.

Russell T Davies has dealt with it his entire career: “There’s the problem of lack of representation, but there’s the problem that when you are represented, it’s just not seen,” he explained when I spoke to him recently. “You just learn to cope. I worry about it. I probably worry about it more than I say here, but at the end of the day it’s never stopped me writing the next thing.” But he gets it because he, too, is a gay man who consumes art and he sees the same biases coming out when he watches other queer-centric work.

Yet he was amazed that artists younger than him are still dealing with the same crises: “It’s what comes with being a minority. It’s what comes of oppression and you kind of expect this to pass. But then you talk to young people like Olly, who’s a different generation from me, and you find them thinking the same things,” Davies said. “I was lucky to have my training during an age when you’d be lucky to get one review in the Times. Now you live in a world of reviewers.”

When I ask Alexander if he worries how gay men will respond to a gay artist’s work, it is no easier for him to respond than it was for Davies. “Oh, God, you’re making my heart race now,” he says, breathless. “I should be careful, because I don’t want to demonise anybody. But I tried to really unpack this myself and... I’ll just sort of say it.” It is clear that this is intense for him: his eyes are looking watery as he tries to phrase it delicately.

“I have this – I think irrational – anxiety about gay men tearing me down. And I tried to interrogate that within myself and I think it’s complicated, because a lot of it has to do with internalised phobias and shame, about how I see myself versus how other people see me.” He begins to cry. “What I do know is that I want them to not hate me. And I want to make the community proud. It’s been at the heart of pretty much every decision I’ve ever made. And I don’t know if I’ve always got it right.”

‘I HAVE THIS – I THINK IRRATIONAL – ANXIETY ABOUT GAY MEN TEARING ME DOWN’

It’s tough being an actor asked to shed light and humanity on a complex phase in British LGBTQ+ history; it’s just as tough to be a gay man trying to make pop music that speaks to the queer experience. But Alexander is doing both and, what’s more, he’s being unapologetically queer in the public eye. There aren’t many LGBTQ+ people in the position Alexander is in and it must be exhausting, I suggest, to be expected to speak for the needs and fears of an entire spectrum of sexual and gender identities. After all, he’s just one man who wants to be proud of who he is. “Sometimes, when I feel the most anxious, I have a voice in my head that goes, ‘Oh, Olly, why on earth did you put yourself in this position? You really are not the strong person people think you are.’” But, he says, he is learning he can’t speak for everyone, even if people expect it of him.

Instead, he’s focusing on being proud of what he’s done – the visibility, the audacity, the bravery – rather than the critique of his anxieties or Twitter trolls. “I’m always thinking about me as a teenager and how I’m creating the person I wanted to be in the world. I’m actually doing it! Holy fuck!”

#olly alexander #years & years #yearsandyears #years and years #gq #interviews #fashion #magazines #acting #its a sin #boys #articles #queer #lgbtq #lgbtq+#issues #aids #hiv #music

8 notes · View notes

kpoptimeout · 4 years ago

Text

Top 10 Most Underrated K-pop Songs of 2020 (Idol Edition)

2020 was shit. But oh boy, at least the music was good.

And it took us a good while to decide on these lists.

Continuing with the K-Pop Timeout Tradition (see 2019 Ver) of listing the Top 10 Most Underrated K-Pop Songs because all the other sites are just bothered with the Top 10 that pretty much everyone will have heard of/have fan wars over, below are our top 10 picks of songs that did not rank high but deserves your attention!

Like last year we have a separate post for Top 10 underrated non-idol tracks in 2020 and a list for the Top 10 K-Dramas in 2020 in our opinion, which will drop in the coming days.

Some of the artists have escaped the list in recent years to stardom (like N.FLYING, SF9 and OH MY GIRL), so hopefully, it happens again!

This is in alphabetic order NOT in the order of awesomeness because all of them are awesome. Also, all MVs are linked in the song titles because Tumblr won’t let me share that many videos in one post.

APRIL “LALALILALA”

APRIL is a very well-rounded girl group but their talents have been squandered by DSP’s mismanagement in recent years. With DSP seeming to try again and with member Naeun’s meteoric rise thanks to acting in webdrama hit “A-TEEN” and the internationally loved K-Drama “Extraordinary You”, “LALALILALA” seemed like the song to finally give APRIL the awards they deserve. Except it did not, which is an absolute shame because “LALALILALA” is easily one of the strongest girl group tracks this year. The futuristic synths and snappy drum instrumental made for a delightful pop track and reminded us of DSP’s heydays of churning out similarly pristine and impactful tracks for KARA and Rainbow. If you were a fan of past DSP girl group bops like KARA’s “Pandora” and "STEP”, this is the song for you!

Cherry Bullet “Hands Up”

Whoever thought of putting “Beethoven” and “girl crush concept” together should get a raise at FNC Entertainment because it worked. Sampling Beethoven’s famous piece “Für Elise” in different parts of the instrumental using different instruments ranging from synths to different keyboards, the producer was able to provide rookie girl group Cherry Bullet with a hip-hop heavy girl crush banger that is catchy and fun. Also, it is clear the girls of Cherry Bullet really enjoy this song, exuding confidence and charm in the choreography and overall performance. After a few listens, you would be nodding to this addictive song and body rolling to the chorus. If you are a fan of girl crush songs, you have to listen to “Hands Up!”

Cignature “ASSA”

Honestly, we are annoyed with C9 Entertainment scrapping the highly talented girl group Good Day after merely one song and their relatively strong run on KBS’ “The UNIT” and re-debuting only some of the girls in Cignature under their sub-label J9. However, we cannot deny that “ASSA” is a powerful track. It is many things at the same time - it covered the quirky girl group demographic with the cute and somewhat bratty sounding introduction where the girls seem to be talking and singing at the same time, then a somewhat mature buildup came out of nowhere with a more raspy and charismatic delivery on the vocals front before an aggressively girl crush drop begins the chorus carried by the members feeling themselves (specifically their hair) with attitude. If you love the quirky sound of fromis_9 and Oh My Girl but also want some OG girl crush energy like 4MINUTE, “ASSA” is your song!

CSVC “No Mercy”

Okay, CSVC is not really an “idol” group in the traditional sense. A project group made up of 4 indie artists (CHEEZE's Dalchong, Stella Jang, Lovey and Park Moonchi), CSVC tries to recreate the 90s girl group sound of legends like S.E.S, Fink.L and Baby VOX and we are here for it. Not only do all four members have the pipes to carry the early K-Pop sound that has heavy RnB influences, they went all out in the song production with the retro reverbs littered throughout the track and new jack-swing inspired intro. The MV was also a love letter to 90s K-Pop girl groups with the intense use of flares, extreme use of lighting, the “futuristic” sets seemingly made of tin-foil and the members all donning all black or all white outfits. If you are a huge fan of 90s K-Pop, CSVC’s “No Mercy” is the song for you!

ELRIS “JACKPOT”

Honestly, we have no idea what the hell HUNUS Entertainment is doing with ELRIS but even with the mismanagement, they continuously give ELRIS great songs and “JACKPOT” is easily one of the best girl group songs of the year. It builds up from silky vocals to strong rap, which is followed by wonderful harmonisation before we dive into a two-part chorus which made use of the members’ strong vocals as well as gave us catchy moments to sing along to. The music video is also a delight, with the girls dancing on a stage built to look like a roulette. The addition of the 2 members also made ELRIS’ already powerful stages even more impactful. We have been hearing rumours of disbandment but we hope it is not true. If you want to listen to the definition of a well-rounded and fun K-pop girl group track, ELRIS’ “JACKPOT” is THAT SONG!

IMFACT “Lie”

IMFACT is truly a strong boy band with great vocals and strong song production skills of their own yet they CONTINUE to be SLEPT on. I mean being managed by Star Empire Entertainment does not help but it is ridiculous how little domestic and international support they have. They have a distinct sound which they continue in “Lie” - electropop infused with K-Pop song structures and a generous use of unique drums patterns. If you love electropop and K-Pop, it is time to stan IMFACT and check out this amazing song!

NATURE “Girls”

Maybe n.CH Entertainment go a boost in Mnet money after taking on the job to manage TOO after Mnet’s “To Be World Klass” show because their budget really went up and it shows in NATURE’s “Girls”. This song is truly a masterpiece. The chorus is like what you would expect of a club banger EDM track but the verses are made up of clean vocals exhibiting anguish and longing over a relatively simple beat and the bridge was orchestral instrumentals mixed with the drumming of a marching band and the loud chants of the girls. The music video is also simple yet haunting. If you like the darker tracks of 9MUSES and RAINBOW like “Sleepless Night” and “Black Swan” but also the electronic sound of Berry Good in “Don’t Believe” days, this is the song for you for you!

ONEWE “End of Spring”

We need more bands making it in mainstream K-Pop and ONEWE’s “End of Spring” gives us another reason why we think so. “End of Spring” is a breath of fresh air in this year of mainly 80s retro dance tracks and hip-hop heavy pop songs in the K-Pop world, as it instead went for a pop rock sound more reminiscent of American pop rock acts like Train in “50 Ways to Say Goodbye” and One Republic in “Counting Stars” but with a dose of the energy in a teen summer party. If you enjoy a fun pop rock song, ONEWE’s “End of Spring” is the song for you!

OnlyOneOf “dOra maar”

OnlyOneOf is a rookie group with a lot of potential given their heavily alternative RnB and overall escape room-esque sound. They had many great songs in 2020 with wonderful music videos but our favourite here at K-Pop Timeout has to be the MV-less “dOra maar”. This laid back and smooth song showcases each member’s unique vocals and sounds more like a top Korean RnB artist experimental collaboration than a K-Pop boy band song. Also, it is always fun to see K-Pop artists take inspiration from art and culture of different countries (the titular Dora Maar is a French photographer and the lover of Pablo Picasso). If you are mostly a Korean RnB fan, OnlyOneOf’s “dORa maar” might be your gateway drug into the idol scene!

Weki Meki “COOL”

Fantagio seems to be a bit unsure about which sound to give Weki Meki, as the group swings between aggressive and catchy girl crush songs to more generic cute summer songs like a pendulum. They should really consider keeping Weki Meki with the sound they found in “COOL” because the girls really carried this supermodel runway power walk song with poise and confidence. While we have seen boy bands dabble in the runway model sound such as IN2IT in “Snapshot”, SF9 in “Now or Never” and KNK in “Sunset”, we have actually rarely seen girl groups going for this expensive sound. Additionally, the music video for this song is powerful, with the scene of the girls facing each other and vogueing in a long dark room being highly memorable. If you love power girl crushes or any of these boy band songs we have mentioned above, you would really like this song!

Special Mentions of Underrated Debuts:

There were many strong debuts this year and I would like to mention 2 underrated rookie groups to look out for in 2021!

Male - E’LAST “Tears of Chaos”

While more and more male groups are debuting with either badass or cute images, E’LAST decided to enter the K-Pop world with a highly orchestral sound. And the boys have the talent and visuals to carry such a dramatic and theatrical concept. Their label E Entertainment, also seems to have every intent to do the most for these boys, as seen in the production quality of their MVs. With these boys already dropping new material right now, you all should keep an eye on them!

FEMALE - woo!ah! “Bad Girl”

With many strong female group debuts this year, you may have missed woo!ah!, from the small label of NV Entertainment. This small company in fact is led by SM China’s former CEO and this person certainly has an eye for talent because woo!ah! is a very balanced 5 member girl group that has a lot of potential to make it big. In fact, the group is beginning to develop an international following, with “Bad Girl” reaching #1 in the Vietnam's biggest music platform, edging out both aespa’s “Black Mamba” and BLACKPINK’s “Lovesick Girls”. They have already followed up with B-Side track promotions so check out these underrated rookies!

2 notes · View notes

danwhobrowses · 5 years ago

Text

Dragon Ball: Why Tien Shinhan deserves respect

Not a Tinfoil Discussion because there’s no theory crafting going on but this is one of those rants that has often sat below the surface. Here I’m going to sing the praises and express the undervalue of the Dragon Ball franchise’s side characters: Tien Shinhan

So I’m gonna start this very easily: Tien Shinhan is perhaps one of the most disrespected characters in Dragon Ball. Sure, Yamcha is now a parody but he was happy to bow out of fighting post-Androids, and I can easily express disappointment in his character arc in a later date, but Tien Shinhan gets mistreated something rotten.

The Mistreatment of Tien Shinhan Imagine if you will the uproar if someone like Piccolo or Vegeta didn’t just lose to some secondary villain, but was quickly swatted off by someone who didn’t even have a name until now, that is the level Tien has to deal with in anime and manga. This guy is a Tenkaichi Budokai Winner in a tournament that involved Goku, Krillin and Master Roshi, fast forward to now and this guy is considered weaker than Krillin - the same Krillin that in Super could be harmed by bullets because he stopped training - and Roshi - the same Roshi who Tien’s power dwarfed in the Saiyans Saga. And it’s not just that, all people seem to remember of him now is the multiform technique and the Kikoho, both very self-harming techniques. Don’t even try to have him learn new attacks since ki sense has rendered the Solar Flare redundant even though he’s constantly shown up to aid Goku. Fight Semi-Perfect Cell and Gotenks-fused Super Majin Freaking Buu by himself and he’s not even considered the strongest non-saiyan earthling of the damn planet, in the manga he gets eliminated from the Tournament of Power OFF-SCREEN just been shrugged off as a ‘weak human’. And you know what the worst part of that is? Toriyama made Tien with so much power potential; his Third Eye is supposed to have untapped godlike power, he trains so much he’s a human equivalent of a Saiyan, his story is one of redemption and true dedication to friendship and the warrior’s way and he derives from a Journey of the West character (Erlang Shen) who is the greatest warrior god of heaven and frequent rival to Son Wukong. All this and his reward is being pictured as ‘that weird stoic guy who’s not Piccolo’ If you are one of those guys who don’t know why they don’t take to Tien Shinhan, maybe this will enlighten you Tien Shinhan is Vegeta before Vegeta Let’s play a game shall we? It’s called Tien or Vegeta. I’ll say some statements canon to the Dragon Ball Series, you tell me if I’m talking about Tien or Vegeta. Simple? Then let’s begin

A rival of Goku who trained in solitude to best him

A humanoid character who started off as a brutish, merciless villain with a weaker companion

A character who has unique powers due to his non-human heritage

A character who stood against an Alien ruler amassing the Dragon Balls for Immortality on a road to redemption, but failed

A character who was defeated by said Alien ruler’s powerful subordiante until Goku arrived with new power to easily wipe them out

His love interest is a blue haired woman from the OG Dragon Ball series

Their second true canon battle with Goku comes years later in a Tenkaichi Budokai

In an attempt to kill an arc villain, they use the last of their energy into one attack, dying in the process but failing

Not that easy now was it? That’s because the answer is both of them. It is worth remembering that many people nowadays were first introduced to the Dragon Ball Franchise through Z, the ‘first come’ effect may’ve just been a term I made up on the spot, but usually when you see something for the first time you consider it the first instant, so to many the traits of Tien seem like a copy from Vegeta and Piccolo Jr - characters he in reality preceded quite a bit. Sadly the fact is that a lot of Tien was in a way ‘Vegeta in Beta’, so Vegeta’s traits came off a lot more polished - but even now with Super’s latest chapter we have Vegeta embarking on learning Ki Control to multiply, which is basically Tien’s Multiform Technique (Meanwhile Tien was referred to as one of ‘those baldies’ to basically fill numbers), so even now the mistreatment doesn’t end.

Where did it go wrong with Tien? You may’ve watched a video called ‘Japan hates Tien’ and believe straight off that the reason Tien got a short straw, but this is a misconception; people in Japan are fans and non-fans with Tien just like the rest of the world. The problem mainly lies with Toriyama ‘moving on’ from an idea. It was clear that initially there were bigger plans for him, but they were written off as the story took a life of its own. The series more or less moved on from the Z-Fighters from Namek, with Piccolo and Krillin salvaging themselves because of arching storylines in the current arc (Namek being Piccolo’s home planet and Krillin having his romance with 18). There is also the misconception that ‘if you’re not a Saiyan or some super alien you’re weak’, and despite having a third eye, Tien gets associated with the ‘weak human’ category, so despite him being a character constantly training he’s never been treated as good enough or worth being powerful. The third downfall was that Toriyama failed the characters around him, Chiaotzu and Yamcha never amounted to even being viable allies and his love interest (regardless on whether you feel it requited or not) Launch was completely dropped from the series after his death - we can discuss that another time. These three factors left Tien in Limbo, he has no arc that he can legitimately contribute to, he’s not comic relief, he’s not a mentor and he’s not a love interest, but this realisation is not without its silver lining.

Tien can be Saved He won’t, this is an ‘if it ain’t broke’ scenario where Tien is not popular enough to be considered worth salvaging in the eyes of Toyotaro (also Merus is making impressive waves), but even if it’s not this arc there are easy ways to bring Tien back on a high level. Firstly is to bring back Launch, even if it’s not for love interest Dragon Ball is better when you bring back Launch, in seriousness Tien’s strength should be acknowledged (not just his too, Humans get thrown down the gutter but it’s often cited that Gohan’s human half is why he has so much potential, if Jiren boring as his character is can achieve unimaginable strength without Zenkai hax then why not a constantly training human?), a way to make it understandable is by having him, like Vegeta did, branch out of solitude and learn something unique, and the answer is looking you dead in the eye: The Third Eye. Toriyama said that Tien’s eye has the capability of a God, but his dark past had closed it from him, I think decades is enough to bring it back - maybe track down his ancestors to unlock it using the TOP as incentive and Beerus and Whis as people who would know their whereabouts. From there we can have Tien learn newer moves and then find a proper purpose for the series, like one of the Earth’s Protector since Goku is picking fights across Space, Dimensions and Universes, he could even be Trunks and Goten’s sensei and actually fix up their characters. Fact of the matter is that opportunity is there to reintegrate Tien as a valuable ally to Goku and the Earth, maybe not as the Universe’s strongest fighter but the Best Martial Artist

So Why Does Tien Deserve Respect? Tien as a character has been through a lot, but as the first proper Dragon Ball character who went through an effective redemption arc and still sought to train his own way, Tien should deserve respect by default. But it is more than just humble hrm nodding respect, Tien may not be the strongest character in the Franchise but he has been one of Goku’s most consistent allies, almost every threat to the Earth he has come to their aid; King Piccolo, the Saiyans, Mecha Freeza, the Androids, Cell, Buu, Beerus, Golden Freeza and the Tournament of Power, compare that to the likes of Chiaotzu, Yamcha and Roshi and you’ll realise that Tien is on par with Piccolo and Krillin when it comes to backing up his friends. The moves they show him doing do severe harm to himself, reducing his power or his lifeforce, but he also had unique moves he innovated that helped characters out way down the line, also the Four Witches is still awesome and the Dodon Ray is technically still stronger than the Kamehameha (which Tien also knows by the way). The man is fiercely loyal, cares deeply for his friends and even in the face of certain defeat he has stood his ground. This is the man whose triangle made a square hole with Semi-Imperfect Cell - who prior had bested 16, 17 and Piccolo - at the bottom, this is the guy who took on Super Buu with Piccolo and a SSJ3 Fusion Gotenks absorbed within him and had just beaten Mystic Gohan, Tien has bigger balls, courage and warrior spirit than anyone gives him credit for Like him or not, all this should at least be worthy of respect.

#dragon ball #dragon ball z #dragon ball super #tien shinhan #goku #vegeta #launch #krillin #yamcha #dbz #dbs

26 notes · View notes

takerfoxx · 6 years ago

Text

Gonna knock off some big ones here! The fav(s) of the day are...

BOBA FETT!

Okay guys, let’s get this out straight out of the gate. I grew up as a major Star Wars fan. My dad is an old-school sci-fi nerd and it really rubbed off on me. Classic science fiction was our bread and butter growing up, and the Star Wars movies were no exception. We must’ve watched those suckers a gazillion times.

And the expanded universe? Oh, I was all over that shit! And I mean the old stuff! The Truce at Bakura, the Heir to the Empire trilogy, the Kyp Durron trilogy, both the Han Solo and Lando Calrissian trilogies (there were a lot of trilogies), Darksaber, Planet of Twilight, Shadows of the Empire, The Courtship of Princess Leia, Young Han Solo, Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, the Young Jedi Knight series, all of the Tales books, Galaxy of Fear, even less well regarded stuff like The Crystal Star. All that and more filled my bookshelves.

But like many young Star Wars fans, my boy was the guy that got like four lines of dialogue and quickly gets killed off in the first half of the third film.

It’s hard to really articulate what made Boba Fett so appealing. I think it’s part of the air of mystery around him. In Empire, he strides in with a totally badass design, is the guy to track down and capture the heroes, backtalks Darth Vader and gets away with it, and escapes with one of the main characters in tow. I guess that caused people to become intrigued by him and want to see what he would do in the last film. And sure enough, he shows up looking all cool and mysterious, flies into a direct confrontation with both Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, seems to get the upper hand...and is summarily dispatched by a fluke accident.

Lame.

So I guess many who would become Star Wars writers were, like myself, let down by this, and sought to “correct” this by giving ol’ Boba his own mythos, complex history, cast of closely-related characters, and make it so that he escaped the damn worm and would go on to cross paths with the heroes in every obligatory “The one with Boba Fett!” entry in every long-running Star Wars book series ever.

And boy, did I eat it up!

The Bounty Hunter Wars! An entry in both Tales From the Bounty Hunters and Tales From Jabba’s Palace! Endless comics! The aforementioned obligatory Boba Fett books! All of this created a character that became almost revered by the fandom, who cast a shadow over the whole multi-verse. I bought the books, played with the toys, and even wrote a short little Boba Fett story in sixth grade. I mean, this guy was just cool.

Needless to say, I’m not the Star Wars fan I once was. I mean, the only one of these movies since RotJ that I’ve actually liked is also one of the least popular, so that’s a thing. Hell, I was debating putting up a Star Wars entry to begin with. But man, even if I’m not all that into Star Wars anymore, it can’t be denied that for a time it reigned supreme, and Boba Fett was, in my world, the king.

(Though lowkey, it was kind of hilarious watching writers try to reconcile the already established Boba Fett origin with the one created by the prequels after Attack of the Clones dropped)

He’s no good to me dead.

Also...

DARTH REVAN!

So I went from almost not doing a Star Wars entry to doing one with multiple characters. Yeah, go figure.

All right. So, Knights of the Old Republic is probably my last great foray into Star Wars before sort of slipping out of the fandom. It was recommended to me by a work friend, so I popped over to EB Games (remember them?), grabbed up a used copy, popped it into my X-Box, and...

I think I averaged about eight hours a day on those games. Each of them.

It was one of the best gaming experiences I’ve ever had, a wholly new Star Wars story taking place centuries before the films (and yet somehow still having the same technology level) that features none of the classic characters, but still felt very much Star Wars, but also its own thing: a sprawling space adventure as you, the apprentice Jedi, joins up with a ragtag group of companions and travel the galaxy trying to thwart a rogue Sith Lord from finding some long lost superweapon. The worlds you visit! The characters you meet! The quests, the leveling, the force powers, the plot, everything was just so fresh and so cool!

And then you get to the twist, a twist that is now notorious for being one of the best twists in gaming history: finding out that you aren’t just some new Jedi rising up to stop a Sith Lord: you are actually DARTH MOTHERFUCKING REVAN, the Sith Lord that was the master of the current Sith Lord, long thought dead but had actually been captured, mind-wiped and reprogrammed by the Jedi! What do you do with this new information? Well, that’s up to you!

Needless to say, when this was revealed in the game, I started screaming, and screaming loudly. What a twist! What a game-changer!

Now granted, being the PC of an RPG means that Revan’s personality was decided by the player’s choices, so he didn’t get much of a canon personality of his own, but that still doesn’t change the fact that he’s the centerpoint of one of the coolest pieces of the Star Wars EU that there is, and that’s worth a lot in my opinion.

Also, Bastila was bae, just sayin’. Sort of a proto-Serana, if you ask me.

(note: yes, I know about his role in SWTOR and don’t care for it. No, I haven’t read the novels yet, but I do intend to)

Honor is a fool's prize. Glory is of no use to the dead.

And finally...

GRAND ADMIRAL THRAWN!

The Heir to the Empire is the granddaddy of the OG Expanded Universe. I mean, Splinter of the Mind’s Eye technically came first, but no one remembers that. No, it was all about Timothy Zahn’s epic follow-up to the original Star Wars trilogy, which set the gold standard for the series for years to come and also introduced several of its most iconic characters. Mara Jade? She came from here. Talon Kardde? Also here.

And then you have the trilogy’s centerpiece, Grand Admiral Thrawn.

It’s sort of interesting how iconic Thrawn has become as a Star Wars villain, given how different he is from all of them. I mean, he’s not a Sith. Hell, he’s not force sensitive at all. He’s a military officer, in a series where they tend to be treated as expendable underlings. But through actually using his brain, studying his opponents’ strategies and cultures, making use of the resources available to him, and actually being fair to his subordinates, he’s gone on to almost rival Darth Vader in popularity in some circles. A brilliant tactician who managed to (mostly) overcome the Empire’s prejudice against non-humans through sheer efficiency, he came incredibly close to bringing the New Republic to its knees simply by outplaying them at every turn. His knack for figuring out his opponents’ thought process simply through studying their cultures’ works of art was inspired, and those who tried to outsmart him often came to regret it. What was more, he also was surprisingly honorable, having a strict moral code. He simply believed that the Empire was the best way to run things, and acted accordingly. Though don’t let that fool you into thinking that he wasn’t just as ruthless as anyone else in the Empire. He was just smarter than most about it.

While there was admittedly a lot of crap in the EU that Disney was wise to get rid of, losing characters like Thrawn was a major blow, which was why it was so awesome to see him return in the Rebels tv show. I literally have seen videos of grown men crying with joy just through watching his reveal trailer. And while I don’t have the time or means to watch Rebels for myself, I do want to give it a go sometime in the future, and Thrawn is a big part of that.

But it was so artistically done.

#star wars #knights of the old republic #heir to the empire #boba fett #darth revan #grand admiral thrawn #fav of the day

23 notes · View notes

britesparc · 6 years ago

Text

Weekend Top Ten #386

Top Ten Coolest Things About SDCC 2019

So another SDCC has come and gone, and with it a cavalcade of nerdy news. This was a weird year, as there were some simply huge pop-culture-defining announcements, but for my money it was all about Marvel, which was to be expected; other epoch-shaking revelations were thinner on the ground, I feel. There was less of a comics presence, which I know is often a criticism of SDCC nowadays, as it has become an arm of the movie business really. But all the same, without a cinematic DC presence, and with choice animated fare such as My Little Pony essentially taking a year off, the sheer gravity of the MCU consumed almost all else.

However, what a gravity! And there was stuff, great stuff, surprising stuff. So here we go: my top ten things from SDCC.

Marvel Rules the Universe: I mean, this was it really, wasn’t it? A lot of stuff we knew, a lot we sort-of knew, but plenty that was an outright surprise. Biggest moments? Natalie Portman back as The Mighty Thor; Mahershala Ali as Blade; “The Multiverse of Madness”; What If…? I could go on. I expected it to be supreme, and it was. Make Mine Marvel.

Picard’s Triumphant Return: Unquestionably the TV event I’m most excited for, seeing Sir Patrick Stewart as an older, sadder Picard is a highlight. Intrigue, action, and Seven of Nine. And Data! Data! I’d long predicted the plot would centre on Picard trying to save/resurrect Data, and that sure seems to be the case, doesn’t it? although I’m still holding out for Q…

Tremendous Transformers Toys: Absolute Unit Unicron is just phenomenal. The scale of it, the accuracy, the price… but I’m just as giddily happy that Rung has a toy. Rung, the creation of James Roberts, who first appeared in his own fan-fiction. That’s just lovely.

Brandon Routh’s Back Behind the S: Now this was a surprise: the Arrow-Verse is doing Crisis on Infinite Earths, and low and behold, Brandon Routh – who was brilliant in the often weird and a bit disappointing Superman Returns – is back playing the Man of Steel. Return he very well will. It’s the Kingdom Come version of Superman apparently, so we’ll see what that’s like.

Will the Real John Connor Please Stand Up: Who is the Terminator franchise’s John Connor? After Edward Furlong gave one of the greatest child-star debuts in Terminator 2, he’s been played by a different actor in every film. But now, surprisingly, OG John is back, back, back, in the increasingly-curious Dark Fate. Also nice to see Arnie on stage!

Party Like it’s 1984: I have a funny feeling that Transformers ’84 might have been teased or something beforehand, but all the same it’s great to see Simon Furman back writing a Transformers book, with classic artist Guido Guidi too.

Nice Job, Agents: Agents of SHIELD is ending, which is to be expected. Rumoured, I think, before the conference, and confirmed on stage. From a rather inauspicious and derided first season, it rallied, producing some great TV and very fine character arcs. I think at this point any pretence it’s set in the main MCU is out the window, but it was a good show with a good run.

Trailermageddon: Blimey, where to start? Not including stuff I’ve already mentioned, we’ve got The Witcher, His Dark Materials, the new Harley Quinn animated series… I have to say, the calibre was high and the majority of the trailers dropping in SDCC week was very impressive.

Kylo Rises: This was a surprise: the story of Ben Solo’s fall to the Dark Side will be told, not in a mainline Star Wars movie, but in a Marvel comic. The Rise of Kylo Ren will – presumably – fill in all the blanks. I’m actually quite pleased we don’t need this in a film; it should either have been the spine of the trilogy or ignored entirely, along with Snoke and Rey’s parents…

I Really Need to Watch Duck Tails: The rebooted Duck Tails remains one of the best-looking shows I’ve not seen yet, and the teaser poster for the upcoming season is bananas. With characters from Darkwing Duck, Tailspin, Rescue Rangers, and more, Duck Tails is looking like the MCU of ‘90s Disney animation. Goofy’s there, too, looking very Goof Troop, although I don’t see Max. Anyway, this is incredible and I really need to watch it.

As I was sorta saying earlier, it was a funny year in that a lot of it was predictable, and yet also surprising. As far as my predictions went from a few weeks ago, I was on the money in the broad sense, although my specifics were a little off. Yes, Marvel announced a slew of Phase Four goodies, showing footage from Black Widow and giving us firm release dates and parading their A-list cast around; but we didn’t get a Loki trailer, for instance, and my out-there picks (Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel!) were out-done by other weirdness (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, a title I guarantee no one predicted). Yes, we did sorta get the tiniest tease of Discovery season three; we sort-of have new Transformers (especially with the confirmation that the Constructicons-centric mini is now an ongoing focusing on side-characters); and there were plenty of trailers, although nothing yet from the Thrones spin-off. SHIELD is wrapping up, but I think the writing was on the wall there. And my predictions for Teen Titans-related stuff were, I think, pre-empted, although I didn’t know it at the time; we are indeed getting a straight-to-video movie starring the Teen Titans Go! cast as well as the OG Teen Titans from the noughties. Two Robins with one stone.

Anyway, maybe not the most vintage of vintage years, but when a company the size of Marvel Studios is putting out films with titles like Thor: Love and Thunder, you’ve got to tip your hat to them. We’re past the Endgame now, people. Who knows what comes next?

#top ten #sdcc #sdcc 19 #marvel #mcu #picard #transformers #disney

1 note · View note

punkpuns · 6 years ago

Text

Answering Asks Again

Hi there, I’ve built up a bit of a backlog on asks so here are a whole bunch of them answered.

---------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------

Friend I’m sorry I got to you late - but maybe that’ll help, at school you should have a selection of thrift shops around where other students have been donating stuff as they’ve moved off campus and that’s a goldmine. I’d say hit the thrift shops, find some stuff you think looks good and is comfortable, and shop only on half-off days. If there’s nothing that quite looks like you want it to, mod it.

And look, tossing out everything you’ve got and starting fresh is pretty wasteful - maybe see if there’s someone in your dorm who would be down to trade? Maybe you could set up a facebook clothing swap event for people on campus? Use it as an excuse to get to know people. Or mod the clothes you’ve got - khakis and a polo can be turned into cutoffs and a tanktop pretty easily, and a stencil plus some acrylic paint from the art supply section of the campus bookstore can make you some pretty awesome custom stuff, you can dye even the most pastel of sundresses black.

Experiment, figure out what you like. Start slow and add one piece at a time - maybe stovepipe jeans aren’t your thing so buying four pairs would be a mistake. Maybe you only want to wear yoga pants and I salute you, but that’s up to you to figure out.

--------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------

This feels a little bit trollish because I’m having trouble envisioning an adult who works in a law office and in local politics but hasn’t figured out how to dress in a way they want to or hasn’t figured out whether or not they should.

I’m going to assume you’re young in which case I’m going to actually recommend that you don’t bring much of your style to work for one reason: optics are important.

If you’re involved in local government, work at a law office, and are a punk it stands to reason that you’re pretty politically active and motivated to make changes in the world, and it sounds like you’re uniquely positioned to do so! But here’s the thing: the last time I went to talk to the city council and a group of us showed up in black the local paper called us “kids” and “extras from a Depeche Mode video.” I now own a mousey brown skirt suit and a wig to go talk to the city council.

It’s great to express yourself, it’s less great if expressing yourself prevents you from achieving your goals or making the changes you want to see in the world. It’s really easy to pigeonhole punks as slacktivist poseurs who masturbate to Richard Spencer punching remixes and never vote and that’s because a lot of punks live up to that image.

So I guess what my real advice is is feel out your office, maybe you can get away with skull earrings or a grommeted wristband for your watch but keep your hair to neutral colors if it’s going to get you fired. Activists need attorneys and paralegals and local city councils on our side so there’s value in sucking it up and dealing with the system until you’ve got uplifted enough voices to change it.

Unless you work at, like, the Exxon law offices or with a prosecutor or something. In which case ? why? would you be here? of all places?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay the true punk answer is wear whatever you’re comfortable in. Nobody should care what you’re wearing and if they do they’re an asshole.

That said I understand why it can be uncomfortable to stand out in a crowd - a dark pair of pants, a tee shirt, and a hoodie (if it’s cold enough for one) should be physically comfortable and won’t make you stand out like a sore thumb. Wear comfortable shoes that are thick enough to protect your feet in case you get stepped on, make sure your jeans have enough pockets that you don’t have to carry a purse.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

ALWAYS. If you want in on this donate $10 to the ACLU, RAICES, a local abortion fund, Planned Parenthood, or the United Way Flint Water Fund. Any of these groups will email you a receipt for your donation. Screenshot that receipt and send it to me through tumblr messenger along with a picture of whoever you want illustrated, if you want to see them as a punk, goth, or metalhead, and the names of their 3 favorite bands and I will get an illustration back to you (1 figure only, waist up, grays, no background).

If you donate more I’ll do a more detailed illustration. Here’s an example of one that I did for one of my college professors:

She donated $100. I’ve got limited time to draw so if you want a drawing like that one ^^^ message me first and make sure I’ve got my schedule clear enough for it.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Boy howdy do I ever:

https://www.ocweekly.com/five-native-american-bands-to-give-thanks-for-6596916/

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/09/8-artists-exploding-the-concept-of-native-american.html

http://remezcla.com/lists/music/los-angeles-latinx-punk-bands/

http://tanyatagaq.com/

http://www.toiletovhell.com/here-are-some-indigenousnative-metal-bands-to-help-you-celebrate-columbus-day/

http://remezcla.com/features/music/the-ogs-goth-playlist/

http://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/38098/1/photos-from-la-s-latinx-metal-scene

https://www.mixcloud.com/LovelyMetalhead/lovely-talks-heavy-episode-25-black-and-metal/

http://lord-kitschener.tumblr.com/post/158978645618/so-goth-i-was-born-black

https://www.racked.com/2017/10/23/16492192/black-goth-girls

http://coilhouse.net/2012/09/i-am-so-goth-i-was-born-black/

http://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/28372/1/why-is-the-history-of-punk-music-so-white

http://diningwithdana.tumblr.com/post/115035345741/pocs-in-gothdarkindustrial-music-hey-fab-bats

http://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/28419/1/the-black-punk-pioneers-who-made-music-history

http://www.post-punk.com/goth-so-white-black-representation-in-the-post-punk-scene/

As to whether I’ve got any comics in particular about race in the goth/punk/metal scene, I’ve touched on it here and there and discussed why racism doesn’t belong in the scene but I’ve never gone in depth about the people of color who have been erased from the history, but I would very much like to and I have some notes that I’m collecting to do so.

#ask

135 notes · View notes

randomoranges · 6 years ago

Text

Proud

here’s a second thing for Monmonton Day!

og thought of this towards the last leg of advent calendar AU - then i forgot about it - then i remembered it once i was done with advent calendar au and then i was like maaaaan, i liked the idea tho. so i put it on the back burner but then realised i could use it for today!

things you need to know:

err year mtl has a mural festival where diff artists paint murals (and not only on walls) for the festival.

last year my friend was selected to paint one of three stm buses for this event. the bus was then actually used and ran on one of the lines

info here info here info here

that being said, happy reading

Proud

Étienne hummed to himself, focusing on the task at hand, tongue sticking out as he painted motif after coloured motif; he still couldn’t believe that out of the hundreds – if not thousands of applicants, his proposal had been chosen to paint one of three city buses for the special mural project in collaboration with the city and Mural Festival. Each bus would actually circulate on one of the many bus circuits and each one was attached to a specific theme – one was the circus, the other was pride and the last one was sports. He’d applied for all three, had made various different mocks for different ways he could explore the themes and finally, he had been chosen for the “pride” one – he still remembered when he’d gotten the e-mail, about a month or two ago, and how completely elated he had felt. On top of that, his bus would actually be in the pride parade and he would spend four days painting his bus during Mural Festival – it was quite honestly the coolest work he’d gotten so far and he absolutely thrilled at the idea of it.

It was already day three of his work session and even though he was making good progress, he knew that he would have to work overtime, well into the night, if he wanted to get everything done by tomorrow night. He was used to working under tight deadlines, but whenever he took a break, he worried he wouldn’t make it and that he would let every one down. Last night, he had walked up to see the other two buses and he had marvelled at how advanced the other two artists were. Then again, his design had many little details, whereas the other two had blocked off large parts of the bus with fewer colours. Yet, Étienne was confident he would be able to finish and he had even asked a friend of his to come and help and honestly, that may have been his best decision yet.

Étienne loved the vibe of Boulevard St-Laurent as people walked on the closed off street to observe the various artists that were stationed here and there that were working on various different mural projects. He loved overhearing them ooh and ahh over his creation and loved to stop for a chat, or to pose for a photo when they asked him about his work. It was great exposure and great fun. It also helped that the weather was holding up and so far, he had gotten three really decent, warm days and the vibe was absolutely fantastic.

“Excusez-moi, êtes-vous l’artiste de c’t’autobus là?” Étienne turned around and looked down from his stepladder, to see who had called out to him and he let out an excited shriek when he found Edward standing below, “Eddy!” He nearly threw his paintbrush in his haste and excitement, as he went down one-step and then decided to jump off the ladder towards Edward – the ladder wobbled precariously and Étienne nearly managed to topple them both over and into the crowd of people as he enveloped his boyfriend into a tight hug. Étienne realised that he was probably covered in paint, but by now it was already too late and he hoped he hadn’t stained Edward’s clothes. Edward somehow or other managed to remain upright while maintaining a grasp on a very excited Étienne, who seemed far too pleased to see him, “I can’t believe you came!” Étienne said, releasing him from his hold to get a proper look at him, before planting a firm kiss to his lips, laughing. In truth, Étienne had absolutely wanted Edward to come and see him, but Edward hadn’t wanted to bother him while he worked, knowing he had a lot to do and that he only had four days to finish the bus. However, he was curious to see the progress of the bus and he wanted to scope out the festival. It was the first time he was actually in the city for the summer, and even though the heat was insufferable, he had to admit that the plethora of festivals and the myriad of activities that were offered were certainly luring him in.

“I figured you could use some refreshments,” Edward took the grocery bag from the floor that Étienne hadn’t even noticed and pulled out two ice cold bottles of water, an apple, and a bag of cookies. Edward’s rewards for his troubles was another hug and a series of “You’re the best!!” followed by another kiss to his cheek. “I also brought you sunscreen, since you seem to have discarded your work shirt, again and I don’t want you to turn into a lobster,” Edward knew there was no sense in arguing with Étienne, since Étienne would say that it was very hot outside and that he was melting, even if all he was wearing was a pair of short-shorts and the flimsiest, thinnest tank-top Edward had ever seen. “I bet you I’d be a sexy lobster, though,” He pouted and Edward rolled his eyes and told him to turn around so he could apply sunscreen on his back.

“Curly, how do you manage to always get paint all over yourself?” Edward admonished gently as he quietly marvelled at the paint splashes on Étienne’s back – he could have understood if he had accidentally leaned on the wet paint, but this was a whole other level. Étienne shrugged and let Edward apply the cream, leaning further into his contact, enjoying the small reprieve, “Are you going to stay out late?” Étienne nodded and Edward sighed, taking the sweater he had brought along and placed it in the bag of provisions. He thought he would need it, but apparently, when it was thirty degrees in Montreal, without the humidex, they meant thirty degrees for the entire day and it wouldn’t even dip that much at night. Knowing Étienne, however, Edward knew that he wouldn’t have anything warmer to throw on when he was done and that he would freeze the moment the sun went down. The last he needed was for Étienne to get sick.

“Give me a call when you’re done? I’ll come pick you up with the car,” Étienne picked up his paintbrush and resumed his work, frowning at Edward’s offer, “But I might be out ‘til late…” The last thing he wanted to do was bother Edward, “I know; which is why I’ll come pick you up. I don’t want you taking the metro at some godforsaken hour with all your stuff and I don’t want you to take a cab either,” He paused, “Or worse – walk.” Étienne gave a sheepish smile at that and pretended not to know what Edward was talking about, even if he had actually walked back all the way home, lugging his cart of supplies with him, at somewhere close to three the other day, “Are you sure you don’t mind?” Étienne asked, hesitating before applying the next stroke of purple paint to the bus. Edward rolled his eyes and handed Étienne the water bottle – before his boyfriend got too engrossed in his work and forgot he had one, “I wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t sure – drink.” He added; Étienne uncapped the bottle and took a long drink, “Thanks and okay then, I’ll call you,” Étienne finally agreed, much to Edward’s relief.

They chatted for a little longer while Étienne took a break to eat his apple and Edward was so very glad to see that his boyfriend was doing better. Winter had been particularly hard on Étienne and Edward was happy to see that same familiar spark of joy and life back in Étienne’s eyes. He was back to his usual enthusiastic self and this project was a good look on him. Edward became engrossed in his conversation with Étienne, pulled in by his animated way of talking and his ever-contagious smile and he probably would have spent the rest of his evening leaning against a dry part of the bus, talking with Étienne, listening to his excited ramble, had it not been for a woman who politely interrupted them to ask Étienne about the project. Edward stepped back to give them a bit of space and watched Étienne interact with her. He observed as Étienne’s face lit up at the sound of the positive feedback he got from the woman and hoped it was all Étienne would ever get. He knew how hard Étienne worked and knew he had spent countless hours on this particular project.

“Let’s go to pride together,” Edward said, once the woman thanked Étienne for his time and left; Étienne was surprised by the suggestion, never thinking Edward would want to go, “Let’s celebrate your success, your bus… us…”Edward’s cheeks took on a pretty shade of pink, but he wasn’t the only one with a flush on his face, “Y-yeah?” Étienne asked, making sure he had heard correctly and that this wasn’t some weird daydream he was having. “Yeah,” Edward said with more confidence, “I’m proud of you – I’m proud of us and this bus already looks great – I can’t wait to see it finished,” Edward rose on his tippy toes to peck Étienne’s cheek and Étienne responded by enveloping him in a hug, “It’s a date then!” Étienne laughed – he loved having Edward around for the summer – loved all the different outings they could do during his favourite season – loved being able to show Edward this other vibrant side to the city and further expand their relationship. Sometimes, he found himself thinking of what it would be like to have this forever – for him and Edward to grow together and the thrill of it had him smiling – there were so many things they could do together, so many things he wanted to do with Edward and it was crazy to think that this was something that was on his mind now, when before he would have never even considered it.

“Oh, before you go, I want a picture with you!” Étienne fished out his phone from his back pocket and motioned for Edward to get closer. Étienne slung an arm around his shoulders and made sure his phone was on the selfie setting before snapping a few pictures, “Thanks for coming by and I promise I’ll call you when I’m done,” They exchanged one last hug, before Edward headed back, with a final wave. He paused before turning on the street corner for one more glance; Étienne was already back on his stepladder, paintbrush in hand, back in his little bubble, painting away. Edward shook his head, fond, and walked towards the métro; he loved this ridiculous man, he did, truly, and he couldn’t help but wonder what other crazy projects they would get involved in.

As expected, the bus turned out great and Étienne managed to finish on time. During the pride parade, the STM put large speakers on it and blasted a remixed edition of an old song they had made back in the 70s as an advertisement. The overall effect with the crowd and the people dancing around the bus was amazing and Étienne had been so very pleased with the outcome. Étienne and Edward walked proudly behind the bus, holding hands, and it was quite honestly, a really good day. When one of the parade organisers found out Étienne was in the parade, they got one of the local papers to interview him and the photographer snapped a picture of him and Edward together, next to the bus.

When the paper was released the following Monday, Edward took a few copies for himself and he mailed a copy to his parents back home. He was proud of who he was and more than happy to remind his parents that he was thriving, no matter what it was they thought. As for one of the other copies, he cut out the article with the photo and put it in a scrapbook, knowing that one day he would look back at this fondly.

#pc: montreal #pc: edmonton #edward murphy #étienne maisonneuve #au #ficlet #3 sentence fic meme thing #monmonton day #monmonton #pre amnesia au #?

4 notes · View notes

dust-tone · 6 years ago

Text

Dust-Tone Interview: Sweatson Klank (fka TAKE)

art by dusq.

Sweatson Klank (formerly known as Take) is nothing short of a musical pioneer. Having been at the center of the ever-growing beats community for almost two decades now, Tom Wilson has helped engineer the creative environment that is known and loved today. You can find his discography scattered amongst nearly a dozen revered labels (including Project: Mooncircle, All City, Friends of Friends, Poo-Bah, Alpha Pup and more). He has also produced an extensive collection of official DJ mixes for beloved radio stations and collectives (BBC, dublab, BTS, Low End Theory, Brainfeeder and many more). Most important to note however is his paramount Sketchbook night which laid the foundation for the famed Low End Theory and the fertile Los Angeles beat community as a whole in the early-mid 2000′s.

While Sweatson Klank is both busy with musical projects and running the label Tone and Manor, we were fortunate enough to sit down and get his perspective on the current musical climate.

Dust-Tone: When did you first start making music and what got you interested in it? Early influences?

Sweatson Klank: I started making music when i was 13. I had a deep connection to music really early on. I got a guitar and took lessons for a year. From there on I jammed with my friends and eventually started a couple little bands in High School. I also got a bass and started playing bass a little here and there. These bands were just little garage bands where we would play parties and wherever we got invited to play, but it was good fun and I learned a lot from those experiences. When i got to college i quickly started looking for other musicians to form a band with but had trouble finding people I related to musically. Around that time I went to a huge house party off campus and really got my first taste of what a dj was truly capable of. This guy, who later became a good friend was rocking a crown of about 300 people with just turntables, records and a mixer. Mind you, this was well before cdjs or Serato. At the time is was still really special to witness a dj playing records and doing so with a technical prowess I hadn't ever seen before. I had an epiphany, that night. I watched this dj just control a crowd and they were loving it. I had been having trouble forming a new band because I had a really strong opinion of what i wanted it to sound like and others didn't seem to see eye to eye with me. I was always telling people how to play and what to play with their instruments. As you can imagine, no one really liked that hahaha. Little did i know i was a producer in the making. I had all these ideas but I wasn't capable of playing them or truly expressing them yet. So back to this party, I was shocked to see this dj setting the vibe and expressing himself through playing records. I sat there all night bugging him to let me try it. Of course, he kept saying no, get lost. Finally as it got later and he got drunker, he told me " If you want to make a fool of yourself go ahead" and handed me the headphones. I had never touched a turntable or mixer in my life, but i had been watching him do it all night. So i got up there and started flipping through his records, which i knew absolutely nothing about, they were all house records. The only record i knew was a Micheal Jackson record - " Don't Stop Till You Get Enough" so i grabbed it and somehow magically blended a perfect mix on my first try and the crowd went nuts!! Most likely because it was MJ and that song gets any party hype hahah.. So i grabbed another record i didn't know and tried again and completely train wrecked and the dj grabbed the head phones back from me and went back on. That one moment of glory though was enough to set it all off for me. The next week i was at his house begging him to teach me and practice on his turntables. Its just snowballed from there. i was hooked, started buying records, eventually got turntables, a club night, started dj'ing all over. I learned to dj playing house music but i was much more into Hip Hop and Funk and Soul. After about a year, i realized i wanted to actually make tracks and not just be a dj. So i got a drum machine, and then a sampler, and a four track and there you have it, i was on my way to doing what i still love to do today.

DT: What are you currently listening to? Does this affect the evolution of your current sound? Do you find yourself holding onto influences and themes of the past over new music tendencies or is how you make music flowing more with the changing of the times?

SK: That question is pretty difficult because I listen to so much music all the time. I really don't listen to any one style of music constantly. I love to discover old music that I didn't know. Record collecting is still one of my favorite hobbies so Im constantly finding stuff from the past that is incredibly inspiring and influential in the music i make today. I think i am much more inspired by the sounds of the past than i am the sounds of most fo todays music. As an artist, your tastes are constantly evolving, and to me thats a beautiful thing. It shows your own growth, and life is all about growing. When I am not in the studio working, i generally prefer to listen to old records. Jazz, Brazilian, African, weird electronic library records, New Age music and i love 80's Soul/R&B boogie stuff!

DT: You've been a pretty important staple in the "beat scene" for over a decade now. Low End Theory (which has now sadly come to a finale), Dublab, AllCity, Warp, Ghostly, Poobah, Project Mooncircle, even BBC and so many more love you. You are the modern hero to the independent beat maker. Do you feel like growing up on the west coast had any impact on early exposure to this musical way of thought? Able to meet the right people, get pushed in the right directions, etc?

SK: Thanks man, so nice of you. I think just having a forward thinking attitude about music and life really helped me most. Low End was a great place that helped me get noticed and meet tons of incredible people who shared similar perspectives on music. Before Low End though, we had a night called Sketchbook which was essentially an early version of all of that. Our goal was just to push the weirder left field side of hip hop and downtempo electronic music before it was actually cool. It was an uphill battle at first but but we just did it out of love for the music and a passion to play stuff no one else was playing.

DT: How has the "beats" community changed since you first entered it? Some would argue what was once a niche LA sound has spread worldwide and transformed through the different cultures. Does this influence your music?

SK: When we started doing this, it was just our own form of expression, we had no idea it would eventually grow into the "Beat Scene" and now in turn, people call it Lo Fi hip hop.. i just laugh. Its all good. I think there are tons of great producers out there making really interesting beats!! So Im happy to maybe have been a part of the birth of whatever the movement wants to call itself now. I think I am more in awe and influenced by the OG's than the new comers. To me everyone has one great record in them.. But to put out great music for years and years, thats a different story. That is what inspires and influences me the most. When i leave this earth, I want to leave behind a vast catalog of musical creations, regardless of if any of it was commercially successful or popular. Just like most of the records I admire most from 30-40 years ago. They were never hugely popular, but they were incredible!

DT: What is your creative process like? Do you start with the tool or from the imagination? Or both? Do you find yourself ever using traditional methods for making music or do you normally stick to the DAW? (which DAW/gear do you use?)

SK: My process really varies. Sometimes I start with a sample, other-times i just lay out a chord progression on the piano or a synth and build from there. I try to find new ways to tap into creativity so that im not bored. There is really no one single approach to making music. I use Ableton as my main DAW but I also use a ton of external instruments like synths, guitars, bass, drum machines, percussion instruments, vinyl samples.

DT: Fine Lines, your latest release from FoF Music is incredible. Did you have a specific aural goal with this album or did you just create and let the sound emerge naturally? Are you currently working on anything for the future or currently focusing more on support for your latest release? Anything exciting planned for 2019?

SK: With the 'Fine Lines' album I really wanted to create a cohesive album that embodied a specific vibe. How that vibe is perceived is up to the listener of course, but i sought out to make something that was indicative of my life during the making of these songs. In its most basic explanation its a story of growth, love, battling darkness both inner and outer and the never ending search for true happiness hahha. Yes I have a bunch of stuff slated for 2019. First off i just launched my label Tone and Manor. We just released our first compilation " All Over the Place" Vol. 1 and have Vol. 2 coming out in November. The Tone and Manor label is a passion project of mine. I teach music production at Point Blank Music Academy and I mentor a lot of young producers and beginners and the label is a way for me to help some of them get their music out there into the often confusing music sphere. I also have a new album coming out in 2019.. Im really excited about that. For this one I am really going back to my roots. Analog synths, samples, instruments and in general a more organic vibe to the music. Its getting closed to finish and im really hyped to share it when its ready. The first single will likely come out early 2019.

DT: Do you find that switching your name brought any confusion? Do Sweatson Klank and TAKE focus on separate sounds or do they have a similar theme you aim for?

SK: Switching my name from Take to Sweatson Klank was purely for the reason that Take became increasingly impossible to find online, being that its a verb used in every other sentence. It was a bit hard at first to re-brand but im glad i did it. The sound has always been me. Its the evolution of me as an artist. If i was still TAKE the songs I've released as Sweatson Klank would be the same. It was really just a name change, not a style change. The intention hasn't changed.

DT: Please recommend something you're currently listening to, favorite place to get food in LA (are you an LA native), and a film or book if you have had time to indulge.

SK: Currently as i write this i am listening to a track from 1985 called 'Plastic Love' by a Japanese Female Soul artist named Mariya Takeuchi. The list of things i listen to could fill up 3 pages hahaha. Lets just say i listen to everything!!! I stay up on the latest hip hop, house, techno but I find more pleasure in digging through old records and discovery things from different times and countries!! Yes, I would say I am an LA native, I moved here from Paris, France when I was 5. Favorite place to eat really depends on the mood! Sushi Gen in Little Tokyo is definitely a regular in my rotation. Current read; The book of Joy by Douglas AbramsI just want thanks for taking the time to shine a light on me and my work, I hope your readers enjoy.

Sweatson Klank’s music is available direct from the artist through bandcamp: https://sweatsonklank.bandcamp.com

And his label’s discography as well: https://toneandmanor.bandcamp.com

Huge thanks to Tom Wilson for taking the time to talk with us and give a window to his world.

#features #take #sweatson klank #los angeles #dublab #sketchbook #low end theory #beat scene #alpha pup #brainfeeder

2 notes · View notes

frankcastled · 7 years ago

Text

so here I am look for an old article about robert downey jr that I read ages ago and instead i stumble upon this dinosaur

it’s dated April 30, 2014, which means captain america: winters soldier was the last movie that had been released (march 13, 2014) prior to this article being written.

i remember reading this article too at the time, and I remember the dramatic sigh I let out when it laid out all these great points about how certain things would never come to fruition. except now I’m reading it for the second time, four years later, and i’m smiling, because guess fucking what. I think almost everything mention in this article has actually already happened or is going to happen, and to be honest, i’ve never been happier to have some bullshit, cynical thinkpiece proven wrong.

the article starts off by claiming certain character will never get their standalone films and how could that possibly be when, at the time, we already had four spider-man movies, three iterations of the hulk/bruce banner, and a handful of other superheroes who had a heyday prior to the current explosion of superhero content.

specifically the article grapples with the idea of how we’ll never get a solo deadpool film or a standalone black widow.

and yet here we are today with two deadpool films already released and black widow being talked about (in fairness, the fact that there’s two deadpool movies and no black widow, is just a gross injustice, but I’ll take what I can get).

i love it when cynics get proven wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong.

(for context, the rest of the entry simply explains that heroes with masks get more movies because you can pay the actors less money because you can have stand-ins act their part out when you see them in costume and the actors who are worth more like RDJ, don’t have to be on set as much and thus marvel can afford to pay him his asking salary. and with a heroine like black widow, she doesn’t wear a mask and they would not be willing to pay ScarJo her asking salary as a big star-- again, proven deadass wrong)

so, the title of this one is pretty self explanatory. have we seen the x-men working together with the avengers? obviously-fucking-not. however, that could also be easily a reality if this fox/disney merger actually comes through. but one thing we have gotten is spider-man working with the avengers. and not just in one avengers movie, but in three full movies, one avengers, one his own, and one captain america film. that’s a win if i ever saw one.

did I mention i love when cynics get proven wrong?

another great and self explanatory entry that also gets proven wrong with this most recent phase 3.

just to recap, phase 3 is

Ant-Man (okay, it’s phase 2, but) -- not only did we get a nice scene as to why the avengers weren’t called, but Falcon shows up anyway. was it to help? no. still a nice punch in the face for the guy who thought avengers wouldn’t show up in each other’s movies.

Captain America: Civil War -- we literally get all the avengers on this one (with the exception of the obvious Thor and Hulk being missing for justifiable reasons, with ya know, the whole being in space shit). I don’t care if this is “avengers 2.5″ it was still marketed and is titled a captain america film, so the avengers did show up to help and fight each other.

Spider-Man: Homecoming -- literally the OG avanger himself is a side player in spidey’s solo outing. so i don’t think i even need to go into this one more. iron man is a huge help in more ways than one so.

Thor: Ragnarok -- I like to think of this as a reverse Civil War in that the two players not featured in Civil War get their own little buddy film, and obviously the avengers weren’t going to show up when neither Thor nor Hulk really had means of contacting them short of going to earth, and literally half the movie is Thor literally trying to escape a planet, so like, priorities on this one, but either way, Hulk shows up, so it counts.

the rest of the films in phase 3 I like to think justifiably do not heavily feature other avengers (Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Guadians 2) if only because, two of them are solo outings that introduce characters and with one of them being a king from an african nation that literally conceals and hides itself from the rest of the world? legit reason. but then you have bucky come in at the end and thor at the end of doctor strange, so can we really say they didn’t have other avengers in them to begin with? and again, i think both these movie make good cases for why they didn’t call or ask anyone else for help in their respective cases. especially guardians, who are unaware of the avengers anyway and wouldn’t be calling them to begin with

and aside from the main article arguing that the casts have six picture deals that prevent them from doing more than their six films (3 solo films + 3 avengers), civil war and spider-man made it clear, that if it makes sense, marvel is more than willing to renegotiate contracts in order to have characters appear in each other’s films as long as it makes sense for the story and enhances as opposed to detracting from solo films, which should be about their respective heroes to begin with

this is impossible to argue at this point, so i won’t even try. considering the original avengers are still exploring their big story arc. i like to think, though marvel is making way for new heroes. i think it’s clear, especially with rumors i’ve heard about what marvel is planning for phase 4, they may not necessarily resolve a hero by completely retiring him or her, but they are going to explore other stories. they will probably kill some, which will be a definite resolution, whereas other may get an ending whether it’s outright retirement or simply passing on their mantle to a side player, they will get solid endings. i also am in the camp that each movie is its own story and those stories get resolved in and of themselves within their respective films, so i also think it’s a matter of opinion.

i will say this, though, part of the article argues about how marvel will not use the same director twice.

a. they have in fact begun to keep directors around. the russo brothers have a streak going, with three movies currently under their belt and a fourth movie on the way.

b. they are more than willing to keep directors for as long as they would like. it’s clear james gunn has his way with the guardians movies and peyton reed has taken on ant-man. scott derickson has expressed more than enough interest in coming on for a second doctor strange film, if it gets made, and jon watts is officially doing the spider-man sequel.

c. joss whedon chose to not do avengers 3 saying the second one p much stressed and burned him out. it was, from the sounds of it, a personal choice he made. and while i think he hinted at the way marvel didn’t give him the creative freedom he wanted, other directors actively vouch for the amount of freedoms they get, notably james gunn, peyton reed, scott derickson and taika waititi who have all vocalized these feelings on twitter (and if you made it this far and want screenshots, i’d be glad to look it up and show you the tweets myself). i think the joss whedon scenario was just whedon wanting to do something that the marvel executives didn’t want and in fairness to marvel, a lot of fans were more than happy to have whedon stepped down and i am of the personal opinion that it was a good decision in the end. but in fairness to the writer of the original article, whedon, at the time, was the golden child who delivered an avengers movie that worked and was a box office hit and critical acclaim, so he probably had a lot of stress, pressure, and contention with marvel while making avengers 2.

d. i think it’s incredibly clear from thor: ragnarok that marvel allows its directors plenty of artistic license. ragnarok was as amazing and insane as it was only because of taika and it was better for it. any other director could not have pulled off what taika did. you cannot convince me otherwise and the proof is in the logo

ragnarok logo went from this boring piece of shit

to this bright, beautiful miracle

but 3 out of 4 things happening four years later? that ain’t bad.

i also like to think marvel is constantly learning and has made it clear that it wants to tell great stories and it will do whatever it can to tell those stories with the passion fans deserve.

original link to the article is here if you’re curious ( x )

#rosie cries about marvel #lots of rambling #nothing to see here #bye

2 notes · View notes

airadam · 4 years ago

Text

Episode 140 : ...in his land, a ruler.

"Either unmarked or engraved - hey, who's to say?"

- MF DOOM

Wow, January has been a long year (!)

On the very last day of 2020, the Hip-Hop world was stunned to hear of the passing of Daniel Dumile, later known as Zev Love X, and eventually as the legendary MF DOOM. It had actually happened some time before but his family wanted to maintain some privacy, which is absolutely to be respected. In his memory, we play some tracks from the DOOM catalogue, plus some throwback favourites and a few recent releases. The bulk of the show is pretty uptempo, so one for the runners out there!

Twitter : @airadam13

Twitch : @airadam13

Playlist/Notes

MF DOOM ft. Pebbles : Doomsday

We start things off with the smoothness, the first full track on DOOM's debut LP "Operation : Doomsday" - which is still my favourite. A chunk of the album sounds like he just went right to the 80s soul crate and loaded the whole thing into the sampler, and this sets it off right. It certainly hits you differently now hearing him speak about his grave, and reuniting with his brother, the much missed DJ Subroc. This track gives you a window into some of the path DOOM walked on the way back to the industry after a traumatic set of personal circumstances, and is packed with references if you understand what you're hearing.

Dela : Dizzy

Quality production from "The Robert Glasper Beat Tape", doing great work with a piano sample and really changing the vibe. Check how he reinforces it with that fuzzy bass that plays along with parts of the main riff.

Tall Black Guy & Ozay Moore ft. Ohmega Watts : Har Hanz

A celebration of Hip-Hop here, with Ozay Moore and Ohmega Watts taking the mic atop the production skills of Tall Black Guy that is still getting regular headphone time from me three months after release. The sample at the start is discussing the late Latin jazz percussionist "Hard Hands" Ray Barretto, and is taken from the essential Hip-Hop documentary "Style Wars". Essential.

Edgar Allen Floe : State Of The Art

Taking it back to the early days of 9th Wonder and the Justus League crew, we have a track from the "WJLR Radio, Volume 2" mixtape, which you'll be lucky to find these days. EAF is a very skilled MC and, very characteristically of the time this was recorded, the topic here is the state of Hip-Hop and respect for artistry.

Busta Rhymes ft. Q-Tip : Don't Go

Bringing it back to a recent release, the new "Extinction Level Event 2 : The Wrath Of God" from the tail end of 2020 - unlike the first "ELE" release in 1998, the title seems to fit the age this time around... Anyway, this is a highlight, with the classic pairing of Busta and Q-Tip over a great Focus beat. The bar layout is a bit unusual, so it made the mixes on either side a little weird, but worth it to share this track.

Doc Ish ft. Joe Budden, Talib Kweli, Sean Price, and Angelica C : Is It A Dream

Dallas stand up! Texas producer Doc Ish brings in a trailerload of vocal talent to grace this beat, one that bumps along and still envelops you. I can't find any info on Angelica C, who does the business on the hook and outro, but she comes correct, and while all the MCs put in solid verses, Sean P is - as almost always - the star. Get this one on the 2010 "The First Treatment" album.

Grap Luva : Rocking With Elegance (One For Damu)

Hitting the SP-1200 here with a nice beat from Mount Vernon's Grap Luva from the "Neva Done" release. Drums and piano on a nice head-nod vibe with some little accents to make the beat complete - it's a great demonstration of not overdoing things when you have a groove that works!

Whodini : Five Minutes Of Funk

Not the whole track, so roughly three minutes and fourteen seconds of this specific funk. I wasn't able to get any Whodini onto the last episode, so it's this month that we pay tribute to the late John "Ecstasy" Fletcher. This track is taken from their sophomore album "Escape", and Ecstasy and Jalil kick their vintage-styled rhymes over the familiar instrumental courtesy of Larry Smith. You may recognise the beat as the theme for Ralph McDaniels' "Video Music Box", or any number of break/turntablist tapes! RIP Ecstasy.

KMD ft. Brand Nubian : Nitty Gritty

When I realised I could work this transition, it had to be done! This was the first KMD track I ever heard, and possibly the first Brand Nubian as well, after it was played on Pete Tong's Rap Selection show on Radio 1 back in the day. The lead MC of KMD was Daniel Dumile, then going by Zev Love X, and later becoming MF DOOM. All the MCs are dropping references from their respective religious organisations on this one, and this self-produced track from the debut KMD album "Mr Hood" is an absolute winner thirty years after its release!

Eric B & Rakim : Pass The Hand Grenade

This is one of my favourite cuts from the excellent 1992 "Don't Sweat The Technique" album, the final release from Eric B & Rakim as a duo. As per usual, it's a microphone clinic from Rakim, with the density of the lyrics smoothed out by his vocal control and easily keeping up with the break-driven production.

Ice-T : New Jack Hustler

Never mind all the swing on the soundtrack for "New Jack City", this was the highlight, which also stood up strongly next to anything else on Ice-T's crowning "OG : Original Gangster" LP, on which this also appears. An encapsulation of the speed, violence, and chaos of the streets as they were then, and as always with Ice, an acknowledgement that it all comes to a sticky end. The hectic production from Ice and legendary LA turntablist DJ Aladdin creates the perfect dense high-octane menace to go along with the iconic lyrics.

[DJ Premier] Gang Starr : Bless The Mic (Instrumental)

At the tail end of last year we got an instrumental release of the "One Of The Best Yet", which itself was the surprise release of 2019. I didn't realise how much I missed the combination of Guru and Preemo, but the beats even stand as good listens by themselves!

Jeep Beat Collective : The Bomb Drops

A gem here from mid-nineties Manchester, and the brainchild of scene veteran Dave the Ruf, who you might know from JBC, Mindbomb, or if you're local, the Scratch Jam sessions he and DJ Rasp put together! This is uptempo, sample-packed, and topped with very serious cuts, which made it a worth inclusion on Bomb Records' original "Return Of The DJ" album.

Donald D : Rage Of The Rap Renegade

Staying with the 90s vibe, we wind it back to 1991 and the second album ("Let The Horns Blow") from Donald D out of the Rhyme Syndicate crew. No frills, just skills, with the Syndicate Sniper busting off lyrical shots over Bilal Bashir's heavy drums and sampling of a well-known bassline.

Motion Man : Come On Y'all

This track from "Clearing The Field" is an excellent tribute to/take on "My Part Of Town" by Philadelphia's Tuff Crew. KutMasta Kurt on production creates a 2002 version of the beat for Motion to get busy on. Definitely check the video - it's definitely one of the more original ones I've ever seen!

Mega Ran & Storyville : React

Teacher, MC, and now published author Mega Ran is definitely a man to check in at least one of his chosen disciplines! While he may be in Phoenix now, he's a Philadelphia native who combines here with his hometown compadre Storyville - both of them were former members of the RAHM Nation crew. The "Soul Veggies" album from 2015 is just solid, nourishing quality (part of the reason for the title), and so I thought we'd come back to it - I last dropped a track from this four years ago! Uptempo double bass action drives this one, the mic work is on point as always, and the cuts in the hook season it up lovely.

DJ Spinna : Rock

There have been many versions of this track, but this is the original from the Brooklyn don Spinna! You can find this one on 12" with "Watch Dees" (not the DJ!) on the flip.

MF Doom : I Hear Voices

The last full track on "Operation : Doomsday" is the last track for this month's show as well, and it's one of my personal favourites from the album. It's just flavour, pure MC talent and writing skills, no hook, and a beat that isn't weird, but is somehow pretty unique. I could maybe have heard Ghostface doing something with a track like this, but DOOM stamps this one indelibly.

Please remember to support the artists you like! The purpose of putting the podcast out and providing the full tracklist is to try and give some light, so do use the songs on each episode as a starting point to search out more material. If you have Spotify in your country it's a great way to explore, but otherwise there's always Youtube and the like. Seeing your favourite artists live is the best way to put money in their pockets, and buy the vinyl/CDs/downloads of the stuff you like the most!

Check out this episode!

0 notes

aquacai · 7 years ago

Text

compilation of bts/army tweets i retweeted but doesn’t actually appear on my profile (TWITTER WHY)

TEXT POSTS:

Namgi are actual prodigies, how did bang pd just casually pick em up like that

ARMYs give BTS amazing promo but it only works cause...

And just in case anyone doesn't know, we call K-army "diamonds" because...

namjoon: i made espresso!! jungkook: i wanna try it namjoon: u hate bitter coffee

seokjin couldnt give less of a shit!!!!

Hoseok is Rock Lee

We have faves that are so willing to educate themselves...

I actually adore the final verses of The Last so much.

Hobi’s pseudo-triple entendres

why is this something i feel like rap line does in the studio

the funniest part of this run ep was when taehyung said...

BTS teletubbies @ MBC Gayo 2017

every update this year

top three betrayals are bighit not releasing tony montana feat jimin...

When I first began to fully get into BTS, I had a pretty jaded view...

Dear BTS 2013, its ARMY 2018.

MY DNA

*Yoongi's dating rumour*

this episode (run ep. 46) was so full of innuendos

fake trans on jin’s supposed feelings about the SIN separation

whoever is directing run should be reigned as the nation's hero...

What do you call a company that surpassed and outsold the big3?

bts are the definition of hyping ppl up for doing the bare minimum

an actual conversation that happened (run bts ep 46)

suran suga again and army

So I suddenly remember when Namjoon said these during Wings Tour The Final...

She was pushed by another members of staff while doing namjoon’s makeup

I WAS IN THE SHOWER BLASTING BTS AND ONCE I GOT OUT...

to the female staff who consoled jimin and keeps saying “you didn't mess up”...

they went from pardon to what was that

What happened at the first two episodes just made me respect Namjoon more.

on a serious note, it would be nice if when bts gets a special someone...

Next time during BTS concert, instead of screaming “encore encore”...

yall ever wanna think about how namjoon said that jimin needs lots of love and attention and thats probably why he shared a room with hoseok bc thats what exactly hoseok gives him

if I have any feeling towards BTS thats stronger than Love then it's RESPECT

the reason Jin was going on and on with his (R)evolution (E)volution (D)rop in the ocean thing might be because he was "hinting" at Youtube Red

one day, there will be a last...

namjoon came to post a selfie and left with a dating scandal

remember when hobi said “i wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for bangtan”...

Namjoon admitting that he’s also “just a kid” ...

"The reason I make music is because, after all, I am also afraid of the world."

Yoongi's scalp is braver than any US marine

Sometimes we forget that Namjoon is also just trying to figure out the world.

PUMA fansign: thank you for making music that changes the world

Everyone has a musical preference & enjoy when their artists reflect that.

let me talk about taehyung and how amazing he is as a friend

i like when seokjin shares stuff about his childhood, we get to know his orijin

BTS is also for redefining masculinity (hiphop is their way of life)

from humble beginnings to legends

burn the stage makes me realize that whenever rm post photos of nature ...

what exactly makes namjoon the sexiest for me ...

the reason seokjin’s chest and shoulders are so wide

Bighit: O! R YU DEAD, 2?

"What's your favourite song currently?"

the mask guy: u didnt bring anything to exchange so i cant help u

namjoons exchange [in the Fake Love Teaser 1] is so funny to me...

here are some of my favourite joon interviews

"How did you join BTS?"

jin: i’ve been doing it for 4 years

I hate it when people say armys have two brain cells like bold of you to think we even have a brain (sarcasm lol)

i’m a new generation anpanman

When the Billboard news was released this morning... (wisha)

interviewer: so what are your goals?

sometimes i still think about how the fanchant of cypher pt4...

"Hoe calm down, my shoe lace is untied"

“itʼs ok, we all found bts when we needed them in our lives the most”

i’m so sorry but it’s fake love

i want to see the world from taehyung’s view

just for youuuu

i love that taehyung is never anything but proud when talking abt the fact that he’s gained weight

i bet taehyung gives the best hugs

Our bomb is like a permanent reminder...

remember when we were like omg hixtape‘s mv gonna have bomb ass choreography lmaooo

no but it's so cute bts call it family pictures and not group pictures??

there's an undeniable sexual energy between yoongi nd every trophy...

bh staff: describe yourself in one word

jin: man, blowjobs sure are a mouthful (incorrect bts quotes)

THREADS:

I came across the Deloitte 2018 Media and Entertainment Industry Outlook

hoseok is one of the best dancers in the industry...

meaning behind whalien 52

KPOP101 LESSON 8: THE MINIMALIST ART OF THE KOREAN BALLAD

getting people flustered is hoseok culture - a thread

MY TOP 10 BTS SONGS (by KommonSense)

an explanation of rap lingo BTS use in their lyrics: a thread

I have some free time so like for an unpopular opinion. (hobybIo)

My Favorite Soft BTS Moments - A Thread! (odie)

Burn The Stage made me feel extremely vulnerable. (Aileen)

as Kings of Korean History [A thread] (KommonSense)

a thread of my favorite bts-related tumblr posts

Why and how the BTS rapline's experience with rap mirrors that of OG rappers

Everytime a BTS member was supportive of the LGBT community in any way

Namjoon (RM) Owning Up to His Mistakes

odie

Bangtan dancing styles thread

hoseok is one of the best dancers in the industry

Sky’s experience as a veteran ARMY

Jimin’s gliding technique (more threads on his dance technique)

analysis of how well DNA is structured as an EDM-pop song

I took a closer look into BTS’ intro Serendipity

Park Jimin is one of the most graceful and beautiful dancers in the industry

ok newbie kpop stans, welcome to history class (fandom shit)

An Introduction for the New, the Confused, and the Curious

BTS introduction thread

Science & literature are intrinsic to understanding how BTS and ARMY

how Singularity choreography coincides with lyrics

WHAT BTS ACTUALLY SAID - A MEGA THREAD

BTS song recommendations based on genres: a thread

rap line’s verses analysis

Mnet Comebackshow (LY:Tear) pre-recording review - THREAD -

"remember when" (BTS edition)

I'm watching a BTS music video and I don't know what the hell is going on, a thread:

LY: TEAR - MUSICAL ANALYSIS.

You know why I never will trust or listen to people who say "I left because of the fandom"

Type out what the bighit intro sounds like

Tyra Banks and her biological sons; a thread:

a thread about how BTS uses their music in their storytelling

for hot100, bts did what fans suggested

"Silly Little Trivia: Literal Choreography" thread for Fake Love

UNDERSTANDING BUniverse

BTS showing LGBT+ representation and support, a thread (this, too)

BTS meets Western standards of “cool” established by 1960s music, particularly rock ethics

BTS’ success: human brand x fan relationship

to celebrate bts festa, here is a thread of army stan twt’s best moments

MEME PICS/VIDS:

Jimin in the Danger mv

save Cook-Jin

Hope as mom : can you even get in any college with these grades?

Namgi & their annoyingly jumpy kids

IM WHEEZING JIN DID IT AGAIN

Everything makes sense noW (spider bite, cooky bite)

when they let you love them

When you need to wake em up

coming soon: Kim Seokjin only wanted a boyfriend

salt baes

EXPECTATION: "We aren't talking about BTS enough!

summary of run bts ep 46

i-armys and k-armys (suga’s ghost patting the clay)

Heaviest objects in the entire universe

"You will witness taehyung and jin fighting"

The battle of the year.

Hangsang with my thug

"Tangina mo," - J-Hope, 2018

choose your mineral water.

We all know... K-ARMYS & I-ARMYS

so who is giving them the candy?

I AM FUCKING DYING LAUGHING AT THEM IGNORING ALL THE KNOCKING IN THIS SCENARIO

I got bored and made ART

remember when namjoon asked for armys to edit him in because he missed the group picture with halsey

me listening to bts album skits

hoseok: hangsang with my thugs || his thugs:

we're finally getting the country comeback we deserve

fixed Jimin’s shots in LY:Tear

jungkook: made before i was born

this is what your food looks like inside the microwave

is this a theory?

is this an invitation?

He returned from the war

avatar Jimin

Yoongi and JK’s muffled convo

im just trying to take a nice screenshot....

ah yes, the four elements: fire, earth, water and snickers

Tyra Banks: The BTS ARMY is devoted and crazy (in a good way!) xD

BTS [MV] - You Will Never Do a Live Alone

the nation's #1 producer & bts' hype man

namjoon: you. me?

jungkook when he first met joon

fierce lil meow meow

RM spinebreaker???

this looks like rap line were a group of friends who stuck together...

V was written all along in Jimin’s tweet lol

jwimin-ssi

Hangs out with Tyra Banks ONCE...

learn the alphabet with BTS

TRANS:

When Bighit said they’ll donate 3% of LY album sales, u guys mocked us...

Kim Seokjin strange points

k-netz’ reaction on the Suga-Suran dating scandal

"Can bangtan fans please not get swayed by rumors?”

BTS trainer instagram re:B.T.S.

Music critic Kim, Youngdae nim’s MINI REVIEW on “Face Yourself”

Music critic Kim, Youngdae nim’s MINI REVIEW on “Euphoria”

bang pd and namjoon about his post supporting macklemore's song 'same love'

Konkuk uni student who became Seokjin's fan after speaking with him

I'm a multi-fan, I watch and listen to many idols, but I'm truly scared of BTS

an older woman(non-celebrity) admitted how much she loved BTS

So many warm teas in this article wrote by producer/musician Seiji Kameda

#LOVE_YOURSELF_轉_Tear Album HYYH Notes Translation Thread

180518 Love Yourself 轉 Tear - Thanks To Translations

“The lyrics in BTS’ album are so great Huge congrats to receiving at BBMA ”

response to #1 Billboard 200

BTS 2018 Festa Member’s profiles

VIDS:

KBS Happy Together 3 - Spring Day sung in karaoke room

imagine being this close to sunshine

Ashes - Lim Jeong Hee ft. BTS (2011)

kook's carelessness brought out his sunshine laugh just like that

Remember when bts proved to armys that they are all really spiderman

that time the cameraman was filming bts and jungkook started telling him...

i still get so soft over this the way jin hugged taehyung...

Seokjin killed it in this part in boy in luv

the sound of their footsteps is so satisfying omg

Remember when Jin and Ken met on a year end event rehearsal and they just...

Jungkook’s ‘yes’ and smile when Miri jumped through his arms...

seokjin and his interactions with camera men

Remember when Yoongi & Namjoon sang the high notes in Young Forever...

look at the difference between taekook and jinkook’s handshake lmao

this dance break has a special place in my heart :')

remember when Taehyung accidentally cut his real hair...

Nver forget that iris stevenson was the first one to believe in taehyung...

did yall notice that fdjghgd i’m shaking (run ep 46)

To remember the great SiN/YoonJin moment...

the wings era might be over but this snippet of each member’s solo songs...

Yes, Mom. This man right here. I love him. No more questions?

this is the best video of jin to ever exist

here’s jungkook having fun dancing to mama and lie

slush ft. jin

tell me why is it so funny that yoongi only opened 1/10 of his door n went back so fast

nothing but respect for my choreography leader

when jungkook opened the window well aware that it was raining

what makes you laugh? seokjin’s face

Bringing this back when taehyung was dancing nae nae...

SOMEBODY GIVE THIS BABY BLANKET AND BED...

i love this performance so fucking much!!!!

your ultimate mood booster (hobiiii)

HOLY SHIT MIN FUCKING YOONGI DID THAT

susko sobra ung bucket hats

THE WAY YOONGI AND HOSEOK SAY "RM" TOGETHER

remember when seokjin and hoseok were recognized by fans in america

jungkook imitated namjoon's finger heart and wink in a cute way

A compilation loop of Hoseok sneezing because it’s cute. Bless you!!

remember when jimin was hyping about their concert but hoseok

Hoseok left the group during Trainee days

heres 12 seconds of yoongi doing That Scream™ ...

this is what happens when you openly listen to bts without prejudice

when i say i want a rock song, i want THIS.

When Jungkook couldn’t pronounce Army bomb because of his Busan accent

U kno the thing joon does when he finds something?

reminding all of you that the special talent yoongi prepared is... imitating a doorbell

Here's a compilation of musicians getting shook by the sudden change to major in Jimin's 'Lie'

He actually blew a kiss how adorable

The fanboying level on this video is just

Hoseok doing background vocals/harmonising in Let Go (??)

...namjoon literally gets amused at the toy which blows a ball in the air...

NAMJOON DROPPED THE MIC HE WAS HOLDING AND JIN...

Lie rough instrumental

rough draft of Autumn Leaves, Young Forever, Wings (RM), Wings (JK)

Joon’s voice in the BBMA nomination teaser

Jin's reaction when I (sky) told him I brought him a present...

why BTS was nominated for BB TSA 2018

taehyung was fighting back his tears when they won TSA at 2017 BBMAs

Yoongi forgot his lines in Ma City and he just...

mannequin Tae

Bangtan ended ALL fashion weeks tonight !! (4th muster japan)

members cheering jimin up, wings tour macao

RM’s ending ment, Wings Tour the finale (Day 2?)

never forget bts' iconic reaction when they won their first daesang

When Jin was bowing, Jimin held him down and Jungkook immediately ran to sit in front of him.

jimin and seokjin debating whether dolphins could breathe underwater

look at tae's reaction when bang pd's voice broke

interviewer: what?

“DonT FiGht, Dont Fight!” :(((

RM: “we want to focus on our career”

Q: what's your favorite thing about yourself? yoongi: ᶤ ˡᶤᵏᵉ ᵖᵘᵖᵖʸ

WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT HOW JOON TRIED TO DO THE LIL DISNEY WAND THING WITH HIS FINGER IM HURTING

jungkook’s closeups

BTS with Ciara at the BBMAs 2018

don’t ever forget that seokjin is one hell of a snowboarder

“the reason why bts, who was not supported by big agencies, succeeded, is that they tried to read the world and to breathe [with the world] together”

this is what happens when u leave namjoon and jimin alone together

this video of seokjin being hype then instantly stops when his manager look at him will never be not funny

LMFAOOO WAIT TAEHYUNG AND NEYO WERE JAMMING TOGETHER

An exclusive interview with #BTS ! (MBC News)

i love this version of airplane pt. 2 so much (jk+jm part) (jimin mode~) yt link full

john cena getting asked whats his favorite song off love yourself tear

The female staff who video tapes BTS bangtan bombs is amazing

WHAT THE FUCK JUNGKOOK LOOKS SO MUCH LIKE SEOKJIN...

Q: Please say something to international ARMYs

awake (short harp cover)

airplane pt. 2 dance cover

compilation of yoongi stuff in raps

wHY IS JUNGKOOK LIKE THIS

the way he said "what's your name?" and shouted "michelle!"

full vid of the two links above

#ISeoulU bts vid 2015

Tyra Bank’s music vid for Fake Love

vmin in sync is scary

fake love original choreo

jungkook said ‘mic drop!’ after he stepped on the wire and made the mic fall

tae acting in euphoria

puppy jungkook is still the most ᵘʷᵘ :(

hobi jk mirror dance with finger heart (mcountdown)

ONEW WAS THROWING CONFETTI AT TAE PLEASE THATS SO CUTE

Look how Jiminie gave the trophy to Yoongi cuz baby boy knows

tae: so show me army: i’ll show you~ {music core)

minho and tae hugging (music core)

tae’s aegyo in board game run ep

look at taehyung acting all cute in the back

when seokjin goes like (•3•) its the cutest thing ever

wow jimin was that an accident

YOONGI REALLY IMITATED HIM IM SKFJDJ

What 시 (si; hour) is it?

SUGA: honestly, I rlly liked pro-wrestling

a fancam of taehyung spilling his water on his face

ARMY giving hobi a flower with his face on it (fansign) (180603)

BTS: *on their way to a very serious interview on one of Korea's biggest news channels*

yoonkok instant hug BV S1

sunud-sunod na aegyo in anpanman outfits

jungkook pulled off straps and threw down two straps then taejin picked them up

legends say this is the closest rep of how hoseok looks in real life

Kihyun really had the courage to throw confetti in yoongi's face tho

52 year-old man is a director of a company in Japan dancing DNA

I stan a king of fan service he's so adorable!

when taehyung was fake crying and jimin came & softly hugged him from behind

this or that game

jk imitating his hyungs (180607 fansign)

HOW UNSEE THIS IM LAUGHINF SO HARD shkhhh (awake)

biggest mystery in kpop - who's collecting who in the background??? (taejin?)

SEOKJIN ENDED THE PERFORMANCE DOING A FINGER HEART... 180607

hopekook's modified mirror dance 180607 mcountdown

jk reacting to ariana grande bbmas 2018

Look a joonie :( look at him go :(

REMEMBER WHEN HOSEOK SAID HE WAS CLINGY WITH YOONGI (BV2)...

noona fan giving hobi and jimin “allowance”

namjoon drunk-tweeting?

carbonara

LOOK AT LIL MEOW MEOW GO (basketball)

look at jimin’s reaction when a noona gave him a finger heart

they had to throw the yellow cloth at the finish of the performance...

OTHER PICS:

tae being so accepting in star king ;w;

i may be not here since 2013, but im still lucky to witnessed yeontan's lil growth

remember when bangtan was running late for their show...

NAMJOON’S REPLY TO THE SELCA JIN POSTED OF HIM...

hobi and his hearts

ep 1& 2 of B.T.S. has at least cleared up 2 main issues in this fandom

RM has a little #WednesdayWisdom from Burn The Stage.

This photo is a complete mess.

yoongi’s kind of humor is my favorite

Their biggest dream isn’t to break records, its to stay together for a long time.

They recorded their interviews for the documentary when they did Gayo track 15

what jimin said here was really interesting and great

the most powerful twins

They decided not to blur these faces of people who's behind BTS’ success.

BTS calls their staff with nicknames, noona or hyung...

it really went from edits to jungkook actually saying it

IM CRYING BIGHIT PAID FOR YOONGIS TUITON :((

LMFAO at none of them even touching the salad

tae’s uneven eyelids

when jin got allowance from his dad to buy steak...

LOOK AT YOONGI RUN SJDNDNDNDN

give me a better photo transition I'll wait #euphoria

love yourself 起 wonder (2018)

jin being peymous even pre-debut

THIS STILL GOTTA BE THE FUNNIEST THING JOON HAS EVER SAID

the most remarkable twins in history

a turkish tv show asked for ppl to send in pics w their siblings and someone sent in jin and jimin

taehyung’s a legend that listens to music on his laptop on the go

onigiri yoongi

MY MOTHER CAME INTO MY ROOM AND ASKED IF JIMIN IS MY BOYFRIEND

jung hoseok aka the king of mirror selcas

Tiny bestfriends vmin who have been inseparable since kindergarten AU

old bts pics I still can't believe exist: a thread

yoongi at namjoon's graduation (w/ hoseok)

I COMBINED TAEGI'S PICS TOGETHER AND OH MY GOD SJSB

"i put sticker on my carrier" yeah ryt

oh nothing just seokjin casually putting his LG G7 ThinQ at his jacket pocket

He show his flower uwu

taehyung accidentally becoming a meme on diplo's snapchat

Never forget Jungkook's Hongdae adventures

THANKS JIN for not killing jungkook

liam’s post of namjoon :D

that one time namjoon tweeted a picture of them with the caption of “we are all fools”

A 59-year-old friend of mine talking about Love Yourself:Tear

I was worried because I thought yoongi kept doing some kind of gang sign but--

This has to be the best reaction to a non-fan of BTS...

when you are sitting beside BTS but mcflurry ice cream is life

why is this exactly what all of their mixtapes sound like

dispatch - yoongi, fake love

taehyung’s chubby cheeks when he smiles

taehyung and his tea

OMFGGMFM LOOK AT Tyra Banks when boys went up for their award she’s a whole Mood I love her

BTS FESTA 2018 prediction

carry him again, jin

I KNEW THEY WERE GONNA CLOWN HIM

top10 mistranslations betrayal

Yoongi doing ᵗʰᵃᵗ smile

wide open yoongi

brigada eskwela stairs album art

jin flower petals (fansign)

namjoon vs svt jihoon

yoongi continuing his lil meow meow agenda

These two cuties just melted my whole heart (tae and tanie)

So... are we gonna talk about how they drew one stickman thicker than the rest

Low key promoted BTS the past 3 weeks in our hospital...

The exact same cat, same plant & same island taken 1 year apart. (ARMYSelca)

yoongi bunched up(?)

#bts #twitter #my post

2 notes · View notes