#i'm actually mostly curious as to what happens with actors who are in both

[pynkhues]

If an actor were to go to Europe during the ongoing writer strike and film in a foreign country, would you consider that to be crossing the picket line and unethical? just wondering...

Mmm, that's a complicated question that I think depends a lot on the context, anon.

In the US right now, I think it's very important that actors and crews show solidarity to their writers. After all, without the work of those writers, those productions wouldn't exist at all, and by refusing to read and film those scripts until the writers get what they're owed is a powerful statement in and of itself.

That said, European writers aren't on strike, and European cinema has its own unions, its own standards and is, quite frankly, it's own industry. In that sense, no, I wouldn't personally view that as crossing a picket line at this stage (although my answer would / will be different if SAG-AFTRA goes on strike too).

It's also I think worth noting too that a lot of the international unions are currently in contact with the American ones.

I'm a member of the Australian Writers' Guild and we've had reps who've had meetings with the WGA to keep lines of communication open and to work not necessarily with the WGA, but to follow recommendations to ensure we aren't working against them. This has been distributed to all AWG members and ensures we know what we're doing, don't scab, cross picket lines or harm the WGA strike. That doesn't mean production in Australia has shut down in the way that it has in the States though. Australia has its own industry, just like Europe does, and these industries are still currently operating.

I know a number of Australian productions have American actors in them who are definitely members of SAG-AFTRA, but the projects being made here are covered by MEAA (the Media Entertainment Arts Alliance which is the banner all Australian writing, film, tv, theatre and journalism unions fall under, including the actors union). Knowing that MEAA, through AWG, has been in touch with the WGA makes me believe they've very likely been in touch with SAG-AFTRA too when it comes to working out what's appropriate for American actors in Australian productions in light of the strike.

I'd like to think it's at least fairly similar in different countries across Europe with the unions reaching agreements between themselves and recommendations being made as to the ways American actors are able to work in foreign industries outside of Hollywood right now.

Again though, I do think that'll change if SAG-AFTRA does go on strike too.

[absolutebl]

Do you feel like shows that deal with idols not being allowed to date or actors having to hide queerness are a critique of that, or are they using it as a plot device because it’s a handy obstacle for love stories?

To me it reads as a critique because it seems so cruel and unfair to performers. But maybe it’s kind of a *shrug that’s the way it is* to folks actually in Thailand/Korea/Japan.

I have a similar feeling when I see unreasonable parents who expect their offspring to obey no matter what. Are the shows interrogating a cultural norm of unquestioning filial obedience or just using it as a plot point because it’s super relatable to audiences? Probably a bit of both, I guess…

Happy Pride!

Let's rehash BLs and QUEERNESS!!!

I think it depends on the point of view of the show and the perspective of the writer(s) and director(s). Those that have a queer lens are often having a dialogue with the audience on these subjects. Those that don't have any intentionality to their queerness are often using such things as performative plot devices, heart string manipulation, and for the vicarious titillation of a (mostly) straight audience.

So yeah, grey area.

I do have a bunch of stuff on this topic here (quite a bit is older before the big queer-up of the BL genre that has been happening over the last few years - see top trend of 2022) (and here's me talking about normalization in anticipation of this trend).

[lowkeyrobin]

Hey! So if you're writing ghostbusters things right now (apologies if you arent, my Tumblr is acting up and it's not letting me see some of the fonts its just squares 😑) anyway I would love to request a podcast x reader of you're up for that because the dude does not get enough love 😔😔

I was thinking like the reader was childhood friends (mayyybeee first crushes?) but the reader moved to NYC and is now a regular at rays occult and now meets the reader again? What do we think?

Anyway hope you write this and have a GREAT day/night 😊

it's okay!! my requests r open as long as my mailbox is available haha, can't rlly stop ppl from requesting if it's still up so yeah dw ; but yeah of course! this actually sounds rlly fun to write lol ; have a good day/night to you too! ; thanks for requesting, hope you enjoy :) ; also since we don't know much about podcast I kinda made some stuff up, I've watched both afterlife and frozen empire at least 3 times each so... hopefully I gathered all the canon podcast lore idk ; also reqs back open! gonna post the rest of the queue then work on anything yall send

PODCAST ; i think we're alone now

summary ; a little childhood best friends/first crushes reunite at rays occult books

warnings ; language

disclaimers ; we don't know a whole lot about podcast so I made some a lot stuff up lol ; also I'm just using Logan's name as podcasts legal name bc idk what else to call him + I just use actor names to fill in names in other movies/shows

track ; i think we're alone now ; tiffany

word count ; 1k

masterlist

Your first crush was silly and dumb, being on your at-the-time best friend, Logan, or Podcast, as he was now mostly known. He always had a fascination for film and commentary, no wonder he had his own podcast.

You'd recently moved to New York, surprisingly, where Podcast also lived these days. You reconnected over social media and found out you'd be living near each other again like the good old days, and decided to meet up once you got comfortable in the new environment. And that's what had happened. You now await his arrival at Ray's Occult Books, where you skim through the bookshelves, reading each spine to see if any title jumped out at you.

The bell above the door jingles, causing you to look up to see who it is again. Him, thankfully.

He scans the store, looking for you. Ray nods his head toward you, leading him right to you.

He smiles as he approaches, stuffing his phone in his jorts pocket. "Hey"

"Hey," you reply, a soft smile pulling on the corners of your lips.

"Uh, how are you?" He asks, clearly struggling to make conversation.

"Good, I like your outfit," you reply, pointing out his colorful collared shirt. Even now, it reflected his curious and extroverted personality.

He glances down at his shirt, having forgotten what he was even wearing, "Oh, thanks! Uh, do you wanna go walk around or something?" He asks, glancing over at Ray, staring you two down at the counter.

"Sure"

You end up strolling around the city, catching up and talking about life until you retrieve to the basement of Ray's Occult Books, where Podcast was currently living for the summer. He already told you how he was supposed to be at summer camp and how he'd been consecutively lying to his mom. You already knew that was pretty in character for him. He wasn't great at fitting in and would've rather stayed with people he knew and his other actual friend, Phoebe.

You let some of the mini marshmallow pufts climb all over you, using you like a giant stool. A few use your arms as little slides. Logan takes a picture, framing your goofy smile while another mini puft jumps off your head and onto your shoulder.

A few slide down your left arm back onto the desk, then use your right hand as an elevator to go again. As you hoist a little group back up to your shoulder, Logan is now recording on his phone, laughing behind the camera.

"They're so cute," You happy-pout, looking at him for a moment.

Oh, how he wanted to pull the Uno reverse card on you with that, but he couldn't. He thought about it far too long, then backed out because he was too scared, but told himself it was just to late.

You look around his room, two of the little pufts sitting on your head like Remy in Ratatouille. You note all the posters and little trinkets and things around the room, making a weak assumption that he just liked collecting little random things.

You notice the orange lava lamp sitting on his bedside table, turned on, and providing an orange glow throughout that corner of the room. It shines off the side of Logan's face, creating an omniscient kind of glow that you can't look away from.

Denying you still had a crush on him would just make this even worse.

He looks back at you after saving the video to his photos and putting it in his Friends and Shenanigans folders, catching you quickly looking away. He raises an eyebrow, seeing your slightly jittery movements as you use your hand as an elevator for the mini pufts again. They don't keep it a secret though, 'oo'ing and 'ah'ing and bouncing on your shoulders and head.

You can feel your face flushing, attempting to hide it by not looking back at him.

The mini pufts land back on the desk, skattering behind the array of glass jars. You look back at him, seeing he's already looking at you. He's close, closer than you remembered, you felt closer to him, really.

You look down at the mini pufts at your feet, wondering if you'd zoned out as they slid you across the floor. You look back up at Logan, giving you that same soft look you were giving him.

Look, what a funny, simple word. There was no other word for that almost hypnotizing gaze shared between the two of you. There was so much tension. So much so that it was killing the mini pufts. They wanted to shove you into each other to just kiss already.

"I think we're alone now," He quietly speaks, glancing down at the desk where the mini pufts had flee'd from.

The beating of your hearts was the only sound as you pressed your hands against his jawline, his hands slinking down to your waist. You press your lips to his for a moment, then again and again before properly pulling away.

He opens his eyes, a grin painting his face. He pecks your lips once more before he knows you'll say that you have to leave.

"I have to go, I think my mom's waiting outside"

"Okay"

He watches as you stumble up the basement stairs, your face flushed. A smile still tugs at his lips, cheeks a light shade of pink.

The mini pufts come out from hiding and cheer him on, then flick the lights off to reveal colorful LED lights and a disco ball. He sighs with a pout, unable to hide the joy behind it.

"Okay, okay, party's over. We have an episode to record"

[lillifaba]

Here's why I'm still unimpressed with the Wicked movie trailer

A while ago I made a post explaining my thoughts on the Wicked teaser trailer. A lot of it was mostly negative due to the poor CGI, acting, lines etc... Well the official trailer dropped and I've got some new thoughts both good and bad. This is going to be way longer than my last post because I'm going to go into detail about why I think this movie won't live up to the musical by comparing it to other movies and musicals. I'll also be talking about some scenes from the featurette.

THIS IS JUST MY OPINION SO FAR ON WHAT WE SEE IF YOU LIKE THE TRAILER OR LIKE ANY OF THE ACTORS THEN DON'T GET YOUR PANTIES IN A TWIST MY WORD ISN'T GOSPEL NOR IS IT MY FINAL OPINION ON THE MOVIE.

Starting off with things I liked:

I'm actually starting to warm up to Cynthia as Elphaba. In my last post I argued I didn't entirely see her as Elphaba mainly because it was obvious she's a thirty seven year old playing an eighteen year old. While I still believe she doesn't pass for younger Elphie and her simple "I am" comeback is weak, hearing more of her lines and performance is actually on point with Elphaba's character. I wouldn't be against her revisiting Elphaba on stage after the movie. Bottom line: I think she's a great singer and am happy a fellow WOC is playing Elphie.

Holy shit that witch cackle gave me goosebumps. It might be the editing and sound in the trailer that makes me feel that way so we'll have to see when it happens in the movie.

Michelle Yeoh???? Like hello? Although she seems more toned down compared to the campy personality MM has on stage, she plays the role of the evil villain quite well. (I'm sad she had to stop using her beautiful Malaysian accent ;_; I hope it was by her choice and not by the choice of the executives.)

Some set designs look quite nice. I'm particularly curious about the scene where The Wizard is dancing around a full size diorama of Oz.

The effects of the grimmerie are quite neat. I despise the new shape of the book, but I think it's cool how instead of going for some floating colorful lights to pass as "look magic oooo", they're going for the spells to be coming out of the pages. Very unique.

And now, on to the negative. This is where I'll be comparing some of the shots and scenes of the trailer to other movies and parts of the musical.

I hate hate hate the CGI. You don't understand I absoultely for forever deeply truly LOATHE the CGI. It cheapens the movie and all that talk and show about how they built up the sets and rainbows showing over their productions goes all out the window when I see those flying monkeys.

Let's talk good CGI vs rushed CGI.

First off I do not blame the VFX artists for this movie looking the way it does so far. VFX artists are one of the most overworked and underpaid workers in the film industry who have to pump out content in a short amount of time. It is also not their fault that audiences are tired of seeing overdone CGI movies every month. It's part of the reason why the Wicked teaser trailer got so much hate when it came out (on top of Ari/🧽, reactionary bros, etc...)

The CGI (mostly in the Emerald City) looks AI generated. Most of my issues with it come from the effects looking poorly rendered. Elphaba flying looks obviously fake. I know they recently touched up some of these scenes but honestly it doesn't make a difference to me at all in quality.

If John Chu and the team behind this movie really cared about this like they insist they do, it wouldn't hurt to take time with the effects. When you do so, you get mind blowing results like this:

Onto other effects: The flying monkeys don't look great. They look poorly rendered along with the rest of the effects. For that I wish they would've stuck to practical effects like Pan's Labyrinth did or literally any character Doug Jones plays like down below.

Heck, even the musical does a better job:

I seriously encourage you to watch B T S footage of Wicked to see how insane and amazing this effect is. Once you see it, you'll realize just how bad the movie fucked up on this.

Bottom line: movies that take their time with CGI effects and utilize other methods like practical effects before leaving everything up to post have better results than your run of the mill CGI Marvel or DC blockbuster.

I'm still not feeling Arianna as Glinda. Before you fans eat me up alive I need to say again I don't hate her and even like some of the stuff she puts out there. This critique is not a reflection on who she is as a person because I don't know her personally. With that out of the way I still cannot stand her Glinda impression. "But Lilli!" You say. "You said you didn't like Ari as Glinda because she's not giving Glinda but she's doing Glinda's voice!" And I stand by that. She's not giving Glinda. She's giving Kristen Chenoweth. You might think that's the whole point of playing Glinda but let me ask you; When you watch Megan Hilty as Glinda, did you think she was imitating KC to the bone? What about Kendra Kassebaum? Ginna Claire Mason or McKenzie Kurtz? Did you think KC was imitating Billie Burke? Or were all of them doing their own interpretations of Glinda that made the character unique to themselves and not a copycat version of the original? Because I argue that's what makes every Glinda special and unique from the previous actress who played her. Doing a copycat rendition of KC makes me believe you have no faith in yourself as an actor and you are incapable of playing character that's been done before without having to copy the source material beat for beat. Because of this, I still cannot seperate Ari the pop star from Glinda The Good.

This point has less to do with Ari as Glinda in the movie and more as what she's doing to promote the movie. I have no idea where else to rant about it but here. I hate hate HATE how Arianna is making this movie and Glinda her ENTIRE personality. She acts like she's part of this fandom yet never interacts with anyone in it (unless its directly involves her) and it all feels so... artificial and money grabbing. Someone please tell me I'm not alone. Like girl please call me when you read and write fanfic on AO3 and get three kudos on your multichap fic lol.

DTL: Again I ask, WHY IS THIS MOVIE SO DARK? DTL is meant to be in a ballroom with tons of bright lights and projections. This ballroom looks so dark and depressing. I'm not thinking "let's dance because dust is what we come to" I'm thinking "turn me into dust already." When I saw Elphaba putting that hat on in the teaser trailer, I thought that was a scene in defying gravity. John Chu failed this scene which makes me angry because I this is my favorite scene in the musical.

Adding on to DTL, we have to talk about the scene where Elphaba and Glinda establish their friendship. If you know this scene in the musical (which duh) you'll know that this is where Glinda realizes that she did a horrible thing to Elphie and wants to make things right, even if it means putting her reputation in the gutter in front of her friends. I know this is an edited trailer so we won't know for sure how the full scene plays out in the final movie, but Glinda immediately going for a hug before they start dancing threw me off guard. At this point, they still aren't best friends because Elphaba doesn't realize that Glinda is sorry for what she did, their relationship is only now starting to build up. Let me ask you, what do you think makes a scene more impactful? Glinda hesitantly and nervously walking up to interupt Elphaba doing a solo dance and then cutting in to make her feel less alone, which eventually leads to all while making them ease up around each other as the song and dance progresses OR Glinda rushing into a bear hug with Elphaba before they even establish them making amends on the dance floor? One seems like a slow burn that tugs at your heartstrings while the other feels like a cheap attempt to get some kind of emotional response from the audience? (Then again not sure how this scene will play in movie but it's not looking good right now)

Final point, why is Elphaba crying during this scene? I get she's just been put through public humiliation and is just now getting an act of kindness from someone but don't you think it's too soon to show her in such a vulnerable position? One of the things about Elphaba in both the musical and books is that she's built a wall of apathy around her because she's been judged her whole life and doesn't care how other people percive her. We don't see her breakdown in the musical until Nessa's death because she's been forced to stay strong her entire life. Maybe at the earliest, we'll see her tear up during defying gravity but I'd argue that's a part of the actress playing her and not the character herself.

I hate how this trailer has been edited to make Arianna look like the protagonist. I get she's bringing in a large audience, but she's playing the secondary character, not the main one. It just pisses me that the protagonist (who is a WOC) has to be in the shadow of the white woman. It almost makes me believe they're doing it because they're more worried people would be offended at the prospect of a POC being a leading role.

The main actors still look way too mature to be playing their characters. I spoke about this already. I don't buy any of these adults (with the exception of Marissa Bode) as college freshmen.

Still hate that riff at the end of defying gravity and that after all the backlash, they're still going with it. I also can't believe some of you are defending it to the death and acting like Cynthia Fucking Erivo can't do a better take than what she gave. (Yes, I know every Elphaba does a different take on the riff and we all have our favorite ones but I'm going to say something that is controversial yet brave: Not every riff that every Elphaba does is great. Some of them are range from underwhelming to straight up bad) Here's a reddit post I found that better explains my gripe with the riff since I'm bad at explaining musical terms:

Costume and makeup design is still atrocious. I'm sorry, but the low effort looking costumes cannot hold up to the extravagance and camp the stage has. They should've brought Susan Hilferty back. Look at Elphaba's act 2 dress and the dress movie Elphaba wears and tell me you're not disappointed.

Adding on, why does everything look modern, including the makeup? Arianna using her brand of makeup in the movie doesn't impress me when she's using a modern day mascara wand over her wispy falsies in a 1900's inspired society when she should be using one of these:

Like... come on? Can you imagine a scene of Glinda doing her makeup while she's ranting to Elphaba about how men (except for darling Fifi of course <3) are so entitled and disrespectful and in the middle of her sentence, she just SPITS on her mascara cake, scrubs the brush like she's scrubbing the floor and does her lashes? Iconic honestly.

Adding on to the makeup looking modernized, I'm not a fan of Elphaba's modernized makeup either. It could be the deaging filter they added on everyone older than thirty but one thing that stood out to me is they used 90's era lip liner on her. I'm much aware if you're darker skinned, you will often times need to use a liner in order to blend in parts around your mouth that are darker in comparison to your lips. Counterpoint however:

They could've easily used a dark lipstick post-Popular like they already do. The 1900's era mostly used a single shade of lip color anyways. And no, I don't want to hear from any of you how none of this matters because Oz is an advanced society or some half assed excuse why it's totally okay they didn't care about the miniscule details while they cared about the number of tulips used in Munchkinland for NMTW. (also note: Oz was considered an advanced society FOR THE TIME IT WAS CREATED. Meaning they weren't envisioning the future items we have now like a mascara wand) If they allowed Arianna to use her own brand of makeup for the movie, they could've allowed an expert on BW's makeup history on set for their main protagonist.

Set design. I've got to say, while some of the sets are impressive, they really don't fit into Wicked or Oz. I mostly blame CGI and lighting, but even then, it can't hold up to the simple, yet brightly colored sets we see on stage. Shiz looks like something out of Hogwarts, which nearly every fantasy academia story looks like these days. Can we please have something original for once?

What I would've enjoyed seeing the movie do is something similar to Melanine Martinez's K-12. They were working on one location on a smaller budget, yet it looks better than the dimly lit and CGI sets we're seeing.

Obviously I'm not saying Wicked should look EXACTLY like K-12 because they have completely different themes and genres, but my point is good lighting, original set designs and color correcting can take you a long way. Wicked is deserving of having the same whimsy look that the WOZ movie had, while still having dark parts where needed.

Some more examples of good use of lighting during dark scenes in movies:

Continuing from not being a fan of the sets, I'm FUMING at the location of Fiyero and Elphaba freeing the lion cub. Why is it in a dark dreary forest?????? Did John Chu mix up the locations between INTG and ALAYM???? The lion cub scene takes place in the poppy field, with a soft orange pinkish lighting that creates a romantic atmosphere and establishes the growing romance between Fiyero and Elphaba (<3) This forest looks too erie and mystical, which should've been used for act 2.

Another hot take: I think the tulip field in Munchkinland looks completely unnecessary. I literally do not care if they planted thousands of rows of them. They look CGI'd because nearly everything in this movie is CGI.

Now onto some things I'm confused about.

God I was so looking forward to Peter Dinklage as the voice for Dr. Dillamond,but from what I heard of his voice acting so far, it just sounds... underwhelming. But I can't complain too much because at least it's not James Corden. I still believe in Peter and hope he will pull through.

Why did they feel the need to change the shape of the grimmerie? It was fine the way it was!

Adding to Dr. D, I'm not sure if I like his new design. I'm guessing they're taking inspiration from the book but if we're discussing live action, I really prefer makeup effects over CGI. One of the things I liked about the Animals in Wicked and in Cats the Musical is they find a perfect balance between blending human features and animal species without it going into the uncanny valley.

I feel underwhelmed by Jeff Goldbulm's acting as The Wizard :( I can't complain too much because he kinda-

On a final note: I think this movie just cannot and will not match up to the excellence of the musical. Will it be a good movie? I don't know yet. I'll still see it in theaters and will give my thoughts.

While brainstorming my thoughts for this trailer, I've really been thinking about why I hate what I'm seeing so far while I enjoy other interpretations of Wicked, especially when it comes to costumes. Then I realized something.

I love non-replica productions of Wicked... So why don't I like the design of this movie?

Part two of my take COMING THANKSGIVING 2025

Not really, give me like a week or two.

[chainofclovers]

Ted Lasso 3x9 Thoughts

This one might be tied for favorite episode of the season for me. While I’ve been mostly willing to vibe with the jam-packed episodes, I approached 3x9 with a bit of concern; if it felt like the story was getting bigger instead of smaller here in the final third of the season, I was going to start to lose my patience. (To translate: I am an impatient person but I'm also a pretty long-fused person, and me starting to lose my patience would be akin to someone with a short fuse going fucking ham on someone.) Luckily, I felt like each thread here spoke to the other threads really neatly, like watching a cohesive conversation take place in multiple rooms. Magically. 

For this one, I'm gonna attempt some bullets that cover 3x9 itself, then I need to attempt to process this weird experience of MISSING TED (while also basically appreciating what he's doing, but missing him, but appreciating him, lawjefpawoijfapweoijafwepklajwef) that has me very :eyesemoji: about the next three weeks of my life.

Nate’s desire for connection and camaraderie didn’t overshadow his ability to recognize that Rupert was trying to manipulate him into a toxic night out! There will be consequences for pulling away, and he knows it, but he did the right thing anyway. I’ve seen some discussions and arguments re: Jade’s influence on Nate and whether we should attribute Nate’s backbone and ability to make better choices to the love of a woman, and whether that’s disappointing and belittling to both characters, but I think a lot of those positions (on either side) are too hard-and-fast. Nate has always valued the things he values, and his relationship with Jade hasn’t changed his values or the fundamental truth of who he is. At the same time, being physically and emotionally close to a person you trust feels really, really good. Why shouldn’t those good feelings have a positive impact on the reserves of strength you must draw on to do things like stand up to an evil asshole you hadn’t entirely let yourself notice is an evil asshole? Nate in all his multitudes has always been Nate; Nate who is in love is able to see himself more clearly. If we were all only allowed in our real lives to experience character growth purely independently, we wouldn’t get very far.

I’ve been thinking a lot about influence and obligation when it comes to Rebecca’s storyline, too. I was a little afraid, after 3x3 and the way she initially responds to Tish’s prophecies, that Rebecca would end up a lone actor, in a sense, tracking down clues and answers at the expense of fostering her actual existing relationships. While I’m still curious and nervous and excited about what all of it means, I really appreciate that Rebecca has shown up for people this season, especially here in the latter half. Rebecca is almost certainly being driven a little crazy by the unfinished parts of what Tish told her, but she isn’t isolating herself. In calling Roy out for his avoidant behaviors and lack of accountability for the press conference (and, of course, the way his work performance mirrors his decision to leave his relationship with Keeley), she demonstrates accountability as a boss and as a friend. I don’t need to see Rebecca conducting meetings or writing emails to know she’s working, but it felt really important to me to see her get upset with Roy, both professionally and personally, and break through his exterior. Ted, Trent, Phoebe, and even Keeley have chipped away at it this season, but the epiphany required Rebecca being Rebecca. And the energy between Rebecca and Roy is very !!!

I loved the way the Nate-Rupert-Jade, Rebecca-Roy, and Roy-Isaac(-Will!) interactions all reinforce the idea that no one has the full picture of what is happening in another person’s brain, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t act on truths as they are revealed, as difficult as it may be. 

As a queer person who is thankfully many years removed from the most stressful coming-out experiences I’ve had (although of course there are still plenty of moments of having to explain or identify oneself to another person—it never really ends—I consider myself “out” in that everyone in my life who I care about knowing knows I’m queer, and, so long as general safety is established, I feel able to explain it to additional people in most contexts without much or any stress), I really loved and appreciated Colin’s storyline here. Very little about my identity or place in the world resembles Colins, but so much of this episode resonated. We’ve already seen Colin describe his relationship to his sexual identity to Trent, and within that same conversation he spoke about not wanting to be a spokesperson with the pressure of publicly representing gay men. I absolutely love that the framing of the locker room scene respected those desires; he tells his teammates and coaches he’s gay, but we the public aren’t part of the several seconds that the literal announcement occurs. We get to see the freedom and relief the truth brings him, but the lessons of this episode are for the people around him. 

The downside of writing this a couple days after the episode airs means I’ve read a lot of discourse, but I don’t think this episode did a disservice to Isaac or Colin. The writers room in s3 included writers specifically experientially equipped to tell this story, and to me, it shows. It shows in the realism of Isaac’s well-meaning questions (which Colin wouldn’t have answered so graciously if Isaac wasn’t so genuinely curious and caring!), and the tiring ways that queer people are burdened with conversational “obligations” and explanations that are just different than what straight people deal with. Ignorance and awareness exist on an incredibly long spectrum, and for me this story was affirming, not traumatizing, beautiful, and yet it also included the exhausting imperfections that cloak even the most positive coming-out experiences. 

I’ve also been thinking a lot about Ted’s speech. Basically ever since Colin said the thing about Grindr in s2, I’ve been certain Colin would come out as gay to the team and reckon with being closeted in the context of the men’s Premier League. And literally since he made that little comment, I’ve been nervous about how Ted would react. I already knew he was a politically progressive person who identified himself as an ally, so I wasn’t afraid he’d have some kind of bigoted rejection reaction. But I did worry that his reaction would be sooooo cringe and try-hard and awkward that I’d legitimately run into issues writing and posting fiction about his obvious latent bisexuality on our home away from home, Archive of Our Own. And while Ted’s seven-layer-dip Denver Broncos analogy WAS cringe and try-hard and off-base, I absolutely loved how unflinchingly imperfect it was and how, despite those imperfections, his instinct re: the point he actually wanted to make was spot on and extremely valuable. If a white, middle-aged, (past-tense-ish hahahahahahaha I’m so normal about the word “was”) straight man who’s worked in sports his whole life had figured out the perfect thing to say, I’d have rolled my eyes at the screen. It felt realistic to me that he desperately wanted to find an analogy or connection point, immediately regretted it, and still—because of who he is when the din of his thoughts gives way actual clarity—managed to articulate that it’s very, very important that Colin’s community actually cares about who Colin is and that he was able to share this information with them. It’s the difference, in many ways, between being doomed to continue to feel like you have two lives (because you’re surrounded every day by people who look past something important to you or pretend not to see the differences) vs. knowing that even if you never come out to the entire world, you aren’t splintering yourself because you’re able to be your whole self around the people who actually matter. Anyway, the speech was imperfect and unwieldy, and that was the point, and his actual message was essential for everyone in that room to hear, and that was the point, and I will be capable of continuing to write fic in which Ted is attracted to men without his reaction to Colin haunting me. (I actually already have an idea for a future fic in which he reflects more, but that’s literally a story for another time.)

At this point in the season, I feel so curious about, um. What is happening. With Ted Lasso. The guy. In both s1 and s2, I felt about a millimeter away from him at all times, even when he wasn’t onscreen. This season, he’s so intentionally obscured. Getting to go to that museum in Amsterdam with him—and, perhaps even more importantly, the Yankee Doodle Burger Barn, and perhaps even more importantly than that, the back of that bus—was a relief and a reconnection point that was much needed, but I am absolutely FASCINATED and MYSTIFIED at this point in time at just how effective and maddening it is that I’m having a lot of trouble understanding how he truly feels about himself and the people around him. Like, I would obviously love to watch him be in love with Rebecca. But I would also love to watch him be in love with a place, or with two places, or with coaching, or with his partially-lost Beard, or with the words and images that have come to him in visions, or even with the unhealthy things that pull at him, like booze and stewing and obsession. Basically every episode—at least for me—contains some glimmer of connection, to his self or to one of his friends, and it’s always fleeting, and I’m holding onto the almost certainty of the fact that the decisions he has to make are going to require some kind of visible reckoning. Most of my nerves about the final three episodes of this show as we know it are related to these questions. 

As for this episode, I don’t think I’ve quite captured the FEELINGS I felt while watching it. (I also completely failed to go into Ted sharing his biscuits with Keeley and continuing his perfect streak of making it super weird whenever he shares biscuits with a non-Rebecca person. I LOVED IT.) This was the episode that made me the most audibly squeal-y this season. And the most curious about how Ted has managed to get so far into his own brain that I actually miss him on his own show! Very curious stuff. What are the next three Tuesdays going to do to my brain and heart?

[lover-of-mine]

With the way the season played out + some comments from the actors/team, I really believed this was the year we'd get a end of season with a cliffhanger. Really feels like they could have intended for the bridge scene to be the whole episode and to leave us with at least Bobby's fate in jeopardy. And then changed it to give everyone a somewhat closed ending.

No, because the signs pointed to the bridge being worse than it actually was and personally I think a cliffhanger with a fan-favorite character in danger would be so effective to force a renewal. Like, imagine we get the sneak peek that Bobby is missing and we don't have the confirmation that season 7 is happening? We would've made NOISE to make sure the show got picked up. And I think the show always tries to package the finales nicely, let it end on a hopeful note for most characters, season 1 we had the start of Bathena, Chimney and his party, Karen coming back home, season 2 we had Bathena's wedding and Eddie's shield ceremony, season 3 we have May's graduation, season 4 we have Eddie's party, Hen's picnic with Nia, the Grant-Nash dinner, Albert's graduation, season 5 we have henren wedding and Eddie coming back to the 118, so like, I think it would be nice not to have a happy ending in season 6, leave us wondering, yk? Like, I don't think they have the balls to pull anything bigger than a temporary character death with the core 7, but like, even though we knew Buck was going to wake up, his death still left us on the edge, to put that in a bigger scale would've been a great experience. Like, my original guess was that rescuing Eddie was going to be harder, and that we wouldn't really see Bobby, he was going to fall, byebye see you next season. With what we got, I maintain that Eddie would be harder to rescue, but I think in a Hen would need assistance in the ambulance so it would take longer for Buck to get to him way, so by the time Athena found Bobby and there was the second collapse, you have Eddie and Chim incapacitated, we have Hen the way she was, we have Buck pushing through something (because i still can't believe he walked away from that unharmed okay, unrealistic lskoasokaosk) because Athena just radioed that she found Bobby then everything falls again and the episode ends. And to have Bobby, Chim, and Eddie incapacitated could even open up something with the broader theme they had going around fathers specifically and you could even do something cool with Buck taking charge but struggling, because you have his surrogate father, you have the father of his niece and you have his best friend who made him responsible for a kid in case something happened, so it could have so many cool ramifications all around. And it felt like they were building up to it and then just chickened out. It's like what @sherlockcrossing said, it's a square peg in a round hole. And it's a hole they built because the whole season felt like they were leading up to something that they chose not to deliver. I would much rather have the show not end than to have that attempt to force a happy ending that they could still pick back up next season if there was one.

I am curious really about how they'll pick it back up next season tho. If they'll retcon shit, commit to it, make something happen offscreen to work with. I'm particularly curious about Marisol and Natalia and the way they were building buddie up just to cut that off. But mostly because by the time the show comes back both relationships will be like, going 6 months (depending on the beginning of the season time jump they decide on once the strike ends) if they choose not to give them the Ali treatment, and to add 2 somewhat long relationships for 2 main characters (that a lot of people want together and that were being hinted at more clearly with 6b) with 2 characters we have no reason to be attached to will be a challenge. I guess we'll have to wait.

[xoteajays]

I always have notes on every device in case something happens.. Like my photo, laptop and whatever else I'm using. Because with the luck I have, I would lose what I consider valuable data on if something were to happen to any device. Definitely one thing I hate about technology too. I think technology companies to this one purpose. Greedy cunts.

But yeah.. Names. You would think the names wouldn't appear since I know names are always spelled differently, in any other countries too.

Names are names. Not words. That should be completely different.

~

Well... Those thoughts are connected? Kind of. Because when anyone thinks of black cats (besides the superstitions), people would think of either Halloween or witches. Maybe both. Or my cousin's cat from my perspective. And how can't someone not love black cats? Pretty kitty.

I am the type of person who cares more about animals than humans.

Obviously when it comes to your own stories, your own ships, you will be able to write those ships however you want.. Anything can happen if it's believable enough in a well written way. That works for anything.

Rocky definitely seems open minded to someone's style... But I admit that I may actually be biased on the whole concept of his girlfriend as someone who wears mostly dark fashions since he wears mostly light fashion. She wears mostly black, he wears mostly white. With just the occasional splash of color mixed in too (like with Rocky's red gloves).

And Orange's style depends on her mood. Because her style could be a mix of different styles. She wears what she likes. So like somewhere between biker, punk, bohemian and tomboy styles; but with feminine looks to their style. If that makes sense. So Orange's style is eccentric in a way. So she just wears what she's in the mood to at that moment.

Blue's style is between punk and tomboy.. The most feminine I can be able to imagine her is if she's wearing makeup or jewelry. The makeup she wears isn't heavy makeup either (eyeliner, mascara, chapstick) so her style is completely feminine. And it even depends on what jewelry she wants to wear. She won't wear daggling jewelry in a fights though so she's not stupid enough to do something like that. So there's that.

I don't know about Red yet. And same with White/Green if I've decide to keep her as a H&L character. But that's the style for those two.

Obviously every person has their own preferences in whatever type of person they're attracted to. And how you may want to write any types of characters too. But that doesn't mean you couldn't be curious with what type of person they're attracted to. Looks, personality and style.

~

Well.. If you ever come to America for whatever reason, then you have to come during winter. Just to experience snow once. But there's also the chance that you'll probably regret it though. Because of the snow.

~

There are times when you probably won't get announcements. Like if the show ended, you don't always hear about new seasons until some time later. You'll have to find out what happens in the finale episodes.

His character was shot? Oh.. You're talking about Squid Games? With him being listed for this season, does not always mean that character is alive. If he's not officially alive, it could be memories and flashbacks too. Since that's usually the case for certain characters. I don't know.

I'm able to fine some movies to watch right now... Hopefully I can find decent movies. Since there is not that many options this year though.

Revenge? Movie? I don't think so. I watched shows and movies with a revenge plot.. But I don't think I have ever watched a movie titled that though. Nothing that I can remember anyway. I don't think I ever did.

Wait.. Death Note. The anime or the live adaptions? Because that's so different for me. I doubt that I'll watch the live adaptions. So my mind my mind is blanking out on names. But the actors of Smoky and even Arisu were in a live adaption together.. That's just some trivia for you.

I knew that Corpse Party was originally a game, before they created it into an anime. Because I vaguely remember graphic screenshots with the game back when it was popular. But I had no interest in the series though. I don't know. I remember it not appealing to me that much.

Maybe.. I'll search into the series again to see if I feel differently about it. So I'll have to see if my opinion changed since then. Or maybe not.

Oh! Okay.. So I never read Darwin's Game. But I do remember reading the summary to the story before. So it's basically like Borderland, just with a slight difference to the story (being the monsters). That's really the same concept. And I recently read the summary for the High Rise Invasion story. Some of their characters remind me of AIB characters.

Because I've been so caught up with watching a lot of Asian shows or movies lately, and now horror movies, I've been neglecting anime for.. I don't know. Way too long now. So I will have to find a way to balance out every type of show and movie, including anime, that I just want to watch. So that is something that I'll have to figure out how to do then.

Yeah. I can respect that people have their preference in the languages they would watch anime.. But there are quite a few series that I would recommend in English. Basically series where characters would really have accents and foreign languages in English dub, but not really any in other languages. If that makes sense. I don't know how to explain it though. But there's quite a few anime like that. So, yeah. Be prepared.

Red Garden is only a one season series. Well.. One season and an ova, so that won't be a long series for you if you end up enjoying it. But I'm always going to say that the artwork is one of my favorite details with with series. The creator has their own unusual style for the characters but in a way that you'd enjoy, at least I do anyway. I do love this series as it is. And I do love the music too. Now I want to listen to the music.

- 💋

rocky and his gf could match with splashes of red, since red looks good with both black and white. also, ykno, colour of passion an’ romance an’ all that. also links them as partners.

ryuko’s style is pretty far on the girly side. a tad alternative, but mostly girly. a lot of dresses when not in fight situations. probably the most experimental with make up because ykno. she’s got the freedom to try things now that she didn’t before while under her father’s thumb.

hinami is more tomboy-ish and probably wears some boy clothes actually, because you dont really have the option to be picky in nameless. she probably has a couple nicer things, but a lot of the rest is on the boyish side, probably a lotta patchwork stuff and flannels.

yui is, as i said, a lil on the cuter side of tomboy. more just trendy, casual, comfy styles as opposed to actually boyish. like it’s not uncommon to find her wearing skirts or girly styles. she probably wears a lil bit of makeup, like more natural looking make up.

shizuka is like chic tomboy. like baggy pants, button ups, hoodies, leather jackets. some more sporty stuff. probably doesn’t wear a lot of makeup unless maybe at work because she’s bartending/waitressing. yui probably taught her. she’d probably straight up wear hiroto’s clothes and look damn good.

~

i like the cold tho! give me a cold winter One Goddamn Time. literally the coldest it got this year was barely 14°c (so like, 57°F? i think??). i want to crunch in the snow. give me frostbite. and a reason to actually wear a jacket. i can never wear jackets!

~

yea his character in squid game got shot, but he’s listed as ‘status: unknown’ so he could still be alive. he was pretty resilient for the whole show, so i’m being hopeful!! his brother who shot him was a pretty major character tho, so i wouldn’t be surprised if ha joon’s role reprisal was for flashbacks.

the anime! i’ve seen bits and pieces of the live action, just because arisu’s actor looked pretty as l. apparently there’s two different japanese live action adaptations, one from 2006 and one from 2015. idk if i’m interested in the live actions tho, but i might watch the anime.

nooo all the red garden links you sent me aren’t available in australia!!! they’re all blocked :( :( :(

~

was holding off on replying to you so i could watch another ep of worst of evil. so here’s ep8!!

bossman’s in a lot of trouble with a lot of people. got both his chinese associates and another korean gang looking to ‘teach him a lesson’.

cop’s having a real bad time about the informant being dead and the boss looking into the backstories. he’s stressin. one of the cop’s police bosses literally didn’t care that a man was dead so long as their case wasn’t blown. the wife’s worried about her husband so now she’s inserting herself deeper into the undercover situation.

g o d . the fucking romance spaghetti going on here. the boss is into the wife who’s married to the cop who the chinese associate is crushing on. and the wife showed up to go on a ‘date’ with the boss right when the cop was going on a ‘date’ with the associate. it’s a whole gd mess!

the boss is so cute tho, trying to impress the wife with his workplace and taking her somewhere special. he bought her a pretty necklace 🥺

he’s still suspicious tho and poking into his informant’s death. the wife’s got her gun and it seems like she was prepared to shoot the boss if it came to it. ride or die for her husband clearly.

THEY FUCKING KISSED!!!!!!! THE BOSS AND THE WIFE!!!!! GIRL WHAT ABOUT UR HUSBAND?!!!?!??! SHE LIED TO HIM THAT SHE LOVES HIM!!! and not like a short kiss either. like a good kiss. okay yes maybe i watched it a couple times, ha joon doesn’t have many kiss scenes!

HE INTRODUCED HER TO HIS EMPLOYEES AS HIS ‘FUTURE WIFE’!!!! GOD!!!!!!! SHUT UP HE’S SO SMILEY!!!!!!! HE’S SO IN LOVE WITH HER!!! AAAAAAAAAFUCK

both his remaining friends are like ‘isn’t she a cop??!!!? what if she’s using you?!!’ GOD, LOVERBOY IS SO DUMB!!!

THE COP AND THE ASSOCIATE FULL ON MADE OUT!!!!!!! HE WAS THINKING ABOUT HIS WIFE THE WHOLE TIME!!!

also all of these actors are such good kissers. like these are some hella good kiss scenes.

THE KOREAN GANG IS GOING TO ATTACK MY BOY. NOT MY BOY!!!! HE’S JUST TRYING TO HAVE DATE NIGHT WITH HIS CHILDHOOD CRUSH!!!! THE LOOK BACK BEFORE BE RUNS INTO THE FIGHT!! HE WANTS TO PROTECT HER SO BAD AND SHE’S ABSOLUTELY GOING TO BETRAY HIM LATER. and now it looks like we’ve come full circle around to the ambush fight scene from the first episode.

[softieskywalker]

I'm curious, a lot of people seem to bring up the Pedro Pascal is considered to be white when there is discourse about racist protrayals of Din Djarin. It feels wrong not to call it racism, but it also feels wrong to say that Pedro Pascal isn't white when he himself identifies this way. How should one potentially approach this counterargument?

I've tried to explain the issue here but I can clarify further because it is a complicated problem.

It boils down to the separation between the canon portrayal of a character, aka Din Djarin as portrayed by Pedro Pascal, and how the fandom systematically chooses to add upon that portrayal and change aspects of this character. The issue with harmful stereotypes and tropes that are usually applied to Latine characters is an issue regardless of the race of the character, because the Latine identity is an ethnic identity. People from Latinoamérica identify as Latino, Latina, Latine, not in the same way someone might identify as Asian or European, because it's not just a geographical denomination but rather a cultural one. It's mostly a political identity from shared history, alliances, and unity in this forgotten and exploited corner of the world. It's an identity that exists beyond race. People from all races live in Latinoamérica that identify as Latine.

So when the fandom decides to apply the Latin Lover trope to Din, or Poe, or Cassian (three Latine characters played by white latine men*) it's a form of xenophobia: discrimination against cultural identity. They're doing it because they're Latine, not because they're white.

The thing is, this is not the only problem. Because the fandom also started to change Din Djarin's appearance in fanarts and fanfics, darkening his skin and describing him as having a brown complexion or being tanned. This is not in itself a bad thing! I actually think it would be so much better if he were portrayed by Latine actor of brown skin, since Hollywood only seems to hire white Latinos, and latines come in all skin tones. It's long been discussed in fandom how poc can and should be able to say "you know what this white hero is black/brown/asian now!" Feeling represented is a good thing.

But these things don't exist in a vacuum. And when you have people darkening Din's skin color AND applying harmful stereotypes at the same time, like the aggressive predatorial Macho Alfa or making him speak Spanish exclusively during sex or having him always be a mechanic or bodyguard or cook or stereotypical "low level" jobs, it becomes a race issue. Because it's not JUST about his ethnicity, but people have gone out of their way to make him brown AND assassinate his character. Both things need to happen at the same time, and it's very frequent. So it ends up being racist on top of being xenophobic.

This is a character that is canonically a refugee, who speaks multiple languages, who is gentle and smart, who is a natural leader, who is set up to become the king of a scattered and destroyed civilization. Making those changes to make him "dark" or "sexy" and at the same time making his skin darker is a deliberate change that feels very much racist. And it's not exclusive to "dark" fics, this is a very prevalent phenomenon in most modern au fics. And it's not exclusive to Din Djarin either, it's a phenomenon that you can find with Poe (who people transformed into a Latin Lover long before JJ Abrahams made him a fuckin Narco) or Cassian who people also love to make him aggressive and cold-blooded.

I hope I was able to clarify the issue for you, if there's still questions you have don't hesitate to ask!

*correction here, Diego Luna isn't white, he's mestizo. Sorry for the confusion!

[utilitycaster]

Ok I’m curious, what *are* your top like, 2 ships from each campaign? I’d love to hear more about what you feel constitutes a compelling relationship/theoretical relationship for CR

Ok I'm not sure what this is in reference to but:

Campaign 1: Percy/Vex and Keyleth/Vax

Campaign 2: truly cannot pick from among the canon ships we got so I'm going to say Fjord/Jester and Beau/Yasha just because I liked those ones the longest

Campaign 3: Currently, Chetney/Fearne and Imogen/Laudna. If this question was prompted by this post then yes, said post is in part about Imogen/Laudna, a ship that only I am correct in my feelings about. The other two ships I had in mind are not CR ships.

As for what constitutes something compelling:

In case it's not clear from my C2 answer: in actual play specifically, I will always prefer canon ships unless someone can prove beyond reasonable doubt that something fucked up happened behind the scenes. Because the character's actor is also their originator and, essentially, writer, I am not interested in the ship becoming canon if the people involved aren't all in.

For what it's worth, the (requited) romances that occur in a well-made written work will support the plot or themes of said work, and the choice to make a romance unrequited is itself a significant part of character commentary (C2 also did a fantastic job with this; the ships that were confirmed to be one-sided say a ton of interesting things about the character who had those feelings). What this all means is that if I'm explicitly shipping against canon for a finished work, it means either I don't think it's well-written, or it's a case of people being unable or unwilling to depict gay ships but providing the subtext. (On the other hand I do occasionally have 'I don't want this to be canon but it's fun to think about' and that's just like, its own separate thing, but that's relatively rare for me).

In case it's also not clear from my answers: my absolute favorite ship dynamic is people who have the same or similar flaws, who see those flaws in someone else and still love that person, and in doing so, can respect themselves; this is true on some level for all the Campaign 2 canon ships, and very much so for Perc'ahlia as well. That also means I like ships to be earned through conflict and development in the narrative; the course of true love never did run smooth. The course of really boring bad writing does often run far too smooth.

Also in actual play my rule of thumb is "do the shippers seem to genuinely like both characters involved, or is the ship patently BLORBO/uhhh whatstheirname." Obviously this isn't always true (*cough* that's one of the scenarios the post I linked is about *cough*) but like...without going into details, several of the most popular ships in C2 that didn't become canon were noticeably one-sided in whom the shippers actually cared about as a character, and who they felt should become a mostly voiceless appendage thereof, and that was a real turnoff. It's not the only reason I lost interest, because I do try to consider canon over fanon/fandom, but it definitely accelerated my loss of interest.

In terms of theoretical/not-yet-confirmed ships specifically, the main thought process is: "do all involved parties seem into it," and "can I see an interesting potential path forward with this."

[askthehamefuracast]

Question for the royal fiances XD Whose Prince is the best? Aaaaaaand discuss.

Suzanna: Who is the best?

Selena: W-well... wouldn't we all just choose our own fiances? We won't get anywhere.

Suzanna: Oh don't worry about that, to be honest, all the princes have their ups and downs, but I think Ian is the most capable out of the four.

Selena: Why not Prince Geoffrey?

Suzanna: In all honesty, the man is quite capable. He would be th emost capable if it weren't for his... obessions per say.

Mary: Alan does happen to talk about that a lot. I would say Prince Ian is the most capable in terms of offical things. Prince Geordo is widely skilled, but can be a bit unnerving at points.

Katarina: Ehh? I thought you would be either Alan or Geordo, Mary.

Mary: They are both very capable. But in terms of consistent skill, Prince Ian would fit.

Katarina: Well, what about acting? Prince Geordo's the best at that.

Mary: I do agree, Prince Geordo is the best at acting, Alan is terrible at it. In a play, he can act fine, but anything else is quite a chore for him.

Selena: Hm, Prince Ian doesn't quite like acting, I've never seen him act before to be honest. I am curious though, he doesn't seem like someone who'd act.

Suzanna: Hehe, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid Prince Geoffrey is a much better actor than Prince Geordo.

Katarina: What makes you say that? He seems pretty relaxed in public.

Suzanna: My point exactly.

Katarina: ???

Mary: A-anyway, Ian's the most capable in a general setting, Geoffrey is supposedly a better actor than Geordo (If he can top Geordo, I wonder what he's actually like). Hm~ I think Alan is the most compassionate.

Selena: I would agree with that, even if he can... miss things, hehe.

Katarina: I can see it. Alan is very open minded, even if he is stubborn.

Selena: I wouldn't say he's stubborn... he's just, he seems very determined.

Suzanna: You're saying that because Ian is the same isn't he?

Selena: I... well... I mean... (blushes)

Mary: Hehe, two actors and two stubborn ones. It's an even split I think.

Katarina: Have you interacted with Prince Ian before, Mary?

Mary: Briefly, I ran into him by accident when I was out shopping, he was quite determined to find a lovely present for Lady Selena. I was looking for something for Prince Alan anyway so I helped him out.

Selena: Oh, so that's why Ian was looking at you with a grateful expression...

Suzanna: Hm~ did we answer this question? I say mostly. If I had to pick the "best" one, I couldn't. They're all such interesting individuals.

[him-e]

So curious about your Witcher Season 2 thoughts and who you ship! :)

As someone who has no context and no idea where the story is going and isn't familiar with either the books or the game, I'm super intrigued and excited for season 3. The scope and stakes of the story are finally starting to shape up and I can't wait to see what Ciri's destined to become and what will be Geralt and Yen's role in this. A few scattered thoughts:

I loved Voleth Meir as the season's big bad and hope to see more of her, but I felt like her arc was done a bit confusingly (though I'll admit I didn't pay enough attention to episode 2 which is crucial to understanding what's going on, so I'll probably rewatch it)

I think the show still has to decide whether it wants to have some monster-of-the-week episodes, or be 100% about the overarching plot. I'd prefer the latter, although this would mean losing small gems like 2.01 (did anyone else love the gothic romance vibe and the spin on the beauty and the beast trope?). Trying to do both makes the pacing a bit weird.

Having Yen be without magic powers for the entire season was a bold choice that I can only applaud. Frustrating, at times, especially because we don't really have a big "gets her powers back and starts kicking ass" climatic moment, but that's part of why it's interesting. We see a different Yen this season - somewhat understated and melancholic, more vulnerable and withdrawn than ever, but we also see how cunning and fearsome she can be even without her magic. This is clearly tragic for her because she shaped her entire identity and purpose around her powers, and sacrificed a lot for them, so her motivation throughout the season is entirely sympathetic.

Both Fringilla and Francesca are ambitious, passionate and ruthless and I loved both the Dinner of Death scene and Francesca going biblical on the Redanian infants. In general I love how this show has so many powerful, unapologetic and morally grey female characters.

Loved the Witchers' Castle Black!

Has anyone started calling Ciri a Mary Sue? Was her training montage long enough to justify becoming accepted by the witcherdudes special club? di d she b l e e d en o u g h?

I just love Ciri ok.

However, it is a bit annoying that Vesemir is only briefly tempted to kill her when she's possessed by Voleth Meir, and quickly comes around. It wouldn't feel so strange if the lesson previously learned, via Eskel's arc, was that sometimes the best and most compassionate thing to do with someone who's been possessed by an evil entity is kill them. I do think the writers wanted to use Eskel as foil to Ciri and as foreshadowing of what would happen to her, but the subtext is a bit messy/confusing here.

I scoffed at poor Roach's death. Unnecessary, sudden and cruel. I wish we'd seen more of Geralt's pain.

Geralt is a soft, soft boi.

I YELLED AT THE WILD HUNT. riders on the storm. YES GOOD.

*

Who do I ship? Well, primarily Geralt and Yennefer, of course. But also Geralt and Ciri (in a weird way: I'm completely sold on their surrogate father/daughter dynamic, but I'm such a sucker for psychic bonds and being each other's destiny). I'm kind of into Fringilla/Cahir and possibly Fringilla/Francesca, and in season 1 I had a brief moment of "what if they kissed?" with Yen and Vilgefortz, but mostly because the actor is just absurdly hot (not especially vibing with him & Tissaia tho).

This season's surprise ship for me was Yen/Cahir - when she freed him instead of executing him and they fled together I was like RELUCTANT ALLIES! ENEMIES TO FRIENDS TO LOVERS! But ultimately, I'm too intrigued by the idea of Ciri/Cahir as enemies to lovers, which I've had since season 1 and hope it's -actually- going somewhere. Yeah, lots of shipping material here. I'm being fed well.

[frumfrumfroo]

"#also american franchises based on ya novels need some seriously enticing incentives for me to give them a chance" If you don't mind talking about it, I'd love to hear this explained more! I'm really curious about why this is and what about American YA franchise novels puts you off...? Also more generally, what makes these types of stories cowardly and how writers can avoid being cowards/making cowardly choices/examples of when they do? Like what is a cowardly choice and what is a brave one?

Well, it’s basically a pile up of red flags for me. First, that I don’t like YA. By which I mean the American publishing industry standard that constitutes the ‘genre’, not the concept of stories for young adults.

There’s an (enforced?) house style of basic, utilitarian prose I find extremely boring to read and YA novels are overall simplistic even when they engage with nuanced ideas. Obviously that’s by design because they’re meant to be really accessible, but for me it’s frustrating and unsatisfying. It’s possible to be simple and accessible while still offering a lot of thematic richness and subtext, but you don’t often get that. It’s possible to write beautiful prose for even small children, so there’s no excuse for how dry and beige and lacking colour the writing tends to be. 

I’ve made repeated exceptions because of an exciting premise or someone’s rec and it’s just... never been worth it. I prefer to read something unconstrained by those standards, both stylistically and regarding the content. I like complex prose and complex (or at least deeply resonant) characters. If I’m going to read something that’s pure formula or where I might have to look past weak prose, I’d rather read fanfiction and have it star characters I already care about.

And I’m just tired of the American cultural death cult and the attitudes to storytelling that go with it, so I’d rather have less of that in my life. There’s some writers/directors/actors I really like and will continue to follow, but I want to mostly take a break from US media. The relentless propaganda in their mainstream entertainment is also very... wearying.

I was kinda being facetious about writers being cowards, but I just mean doing a cautionary tale about a girl who stays with her NiceGuy childhood friend who’s afraid of her agency and gives up her power because actualising into an adult hero is scary and dangerous and sexual desire is scary and dangerous and making a human connection with the woobie villain is Bad... like, that’s a ‘safe’ choice that was passé for women’s fiction in the nineteenth century. It’s like Romanticism didn’t even happen for some people.

Courageous storytelling to me is actually challenging either your protagonist or your current cultural milieu. Interrogating the received wisdom you and your audience probably take for granted. Coming of age stories need to ask what adulthood actually means and whether the ‘expected’ choices are really the right ones; they have to show the person who is growing up wrestle with the discovery that their authority figures and foundational assumptions are fallible. That doesn’t mean you have to decide it was all wrong, maybe you reaffirm your original beliefs, but they should still be questioned and an adult understanding of them should be more nuanced. If your protagonist ends up back where they started, your story better have been about resolving why they weren’t content with that at the beginning and how it was their perspective that needed to change rather than their circumstances. Otherwise your message is just ‘give up and don’t hope for something better’.

So many stories now are ‘cowardly’ to me because they’re entirely unchallenging, even at the most basic level, and are about protagonists who never struggle or fail. Or they’re simply credulously cynical and complacent, which is just lazy imo. Standing for something, saying something, takes courage. Saying ‘pfft, it’s whatever, nothing matters’ as if a thin veneer of pseudo-nihilism makes you intelligent is juvenile. We’ve seen how often hacks will dismiss the entire concept of art as having meaning in order to deflect criticism (’themes are for eighth grade book reports’, ‘I don’t like to think about the meaning of anything I write’, etc.), as if only a pretentious snob could possibly care about this most essentially human activity of interpersonal communion through storytelling and searching for purpose. The truth is that these people are embarrassed by their incompetence and the fact that they’ve been caught totally uncritically regurgitating a shitty reactionary narrative without a hint of self-awareness so they pretend they ~weren’t even trying~ and never wanted to tell a real story in the first place.

[namtanlovesfilm]

Hi! New-ish to thai BL dramas and I've learned a lot from your blog. Maybe you or your readers can help with this: what's the deal with the intense fan service? Is it that profitable that almost all the main couples are forced to do it? How does that impact the actors' relationship? Like those guys from sotus haven't acted together in ages and yet they're still promoting their ship?? I guess I'm just curious about the economics of the thai bl industry. Thanks in advance!

hi anon! that's a very interesting question, & I'm actually planning to make a full video on the topic pretty soon! but for now I'll start the conversation here. fanservice is truly something that can seem so crazy when you start watching BL, bc while western actors will certainly promote their relationship in order to raise hype for their project, it absolutely NEVER goes to that extent. I think firstly there's a huge cultural difference that allows actors to be used in a way that probably would never happen in western countries, but as you can imagine, there's also a huge economic insentive.

fanservice profits companies: if a ship is very popular at the release of their series together, it will obviously make the series be more popular as well. that also goes for any upcoming projects with them both as a ship & as individuals (if you ignore the upset fans that they're not playing a ship together 🙄.) for companies like gmmtv, the fanservice is even more profitable bc the actors are completely attached to them, therefore they can use the ship's popularity all the time & not only when there's a series to promote. ex: the kristsingto, brightwin, offgun, taynew & earthmix plush dolls when both kristsingto & taynew are dead ships by now.

fanservice profits actors: while actors are the ones to do the fanservice, of course both encouraged by their companies & by their fans' responses, they do profit from it greatly too. if your ship is liked, and it will be liked if the series you've had together is popular & if you have chemistry outside of the series, chemistry that is often mostly shown through fanservice (though it still gotta feel natural), your ship will become bigger & you’ll become more popular, resulting in opportunities such as other shows, be it with your ship or not, creating your own clothing brand which is THE thing every thai actor does, releasing songs, fanmeets & other economic opportunities.

fanservice profits fans: and finally, the reason WHY fanservice is effective, fans. for fans, seeing actors they already like together in a series do cute things in each other’s presence only feeds the fans & make them happy. I’ll take my own example bc while I mostly dislike fanservice, I am only human & I do fall for it sometimes, especially with offgun. there’s that one time off & gun randomly kissed on a radio show, okay? well that made me scream, that made me smile & be generally ecstatic, bc I found it cute & also a bit insane that they kissed outside of work. that being said... it was still work in a way, and it’s not like offgun didn’t know the fans would lose their shits if they did it. even though I consider them to be one of the few truly good irl ships bc they’re genuinely close friends outside of work, that doesn’t mean that they don’t participate in fanservice & don’t benefit from it. and fans, who only want to see their ship grow closer, are rewarded in happiness points if you will.

so here it was, the beginning of my thoughts around fanservice. since it greatly profits everyone involved, I wonder if it will one day cross into western countries too. also I haven’t talked about the negative side of fanservice & shipping culture bc that’ll be in my video, but there has definitely been many instances of a ship being impacted by the over-the-top fanservice, one of which resulted in a forced kiss between from one actor onto another. so fanservice definitely has a drastic impact on the actors that are forced to do it while also profiting from it. hope that helped you see it clearer!

xxx

[allaboutthebooz]

Still Learning Pt. Three

Summary: After having everything stolen from her, the reader meets Bucky and they form a relationship, that works for the both of them. She needs money and he needs the company. There are rules that need to be followed. What will happen when the rules are broken?

Pairing: Bucky x Reader

Warnings: Cursing, drinking

A/N: Sorry this has taken so long. Just when I find a groove, it gets knocked off course. But it's finally here and I hope you all enjoy.

After getting your drinks, Bucky decides to get a little invasive. “So, how come you are here by yourself?”

Y/N lets out a small laugh. “I’m not. My friends decided they would rather dance than sit with me while I wallow.” She juts a thumb behind her, point to the small dance floor. Bucky looks past her to see a few people dancing. Most were couples dancing a little too inappropriately, but there were two women dancing together, and he assumes they’re Y/N’s friends.

Turning his gaze back to his company, he gives her a quick look over. Her jean jacket covering her upper body, but he notices her dress. The soft silk material, covered in a combination of blue, red, and orange, clinging to what curves her can see. Her hair down, but half was pulled back into a braid of some sort.

He looks at her face. Not noticing the look behind her eyes, until now. He should have been able to tell that she wasn’t happy. He’d seen the same look on his face, often when he’d look in the mirror. The mask she wore, similar to his.

“Wallow?” He asks.

She nods. “Yeah, I haven’t had the best luck lately.”

“Want to tell me about it? Maybe talking to a stranger will help.”

She shakes her head and huffs. “I doubt it. I’m in deep shit and have no clue what will happen.”

“Maybe I can help?”

She looks at Bucky, silent. He can see her debating what to say.

You’re not sure how long you spent staring at the man next to you. The man who wanted to know what kind of trouble you were in, after only knowing his name for thirty minutes. Looking down at the glass in your hand, you bring it to your lips and take a long sip from it.

“Fuck it. Why not tell it to you. Not like you’ll be able to find me again.” Looking back at Bucky, you see his jaw clench just slightly.

“You never know.” Is all he says. His voice gruff.

You open your mouth to start your story, when you feel two bodies press close to you. Looking to your right, you see Lexie and Deanna standing there. Both focused on Bucky.

“You okay?” Dee asks, her mama bear side starting to show.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You sure?” You feel Lexie grab a strand of your hair at its end. “Sorry we’ve been ignoring you.”

“No, it’s alright. I was actually thinking of heading home. I’m pretty tired.”

Both girls groan. “You’re supposed to be having fun.” Dee pushes.

You look over at Bucky, giving him a quick smile before turning back to your friends. “You know that’s impossible right now. I can’t focus on having fun when I’m about to lose my apartment. I’m gonna get home so I can get some sleep. I have to edit some photos and have them turned in tomorrow.”

Deanna opens her mouth to respond, but Lex puts a hand on her shoulder. “If that’s what you want to do, that’s fine. We know you have a lot going on right now. We just thought getting you out of the house would help.”

“And I appreciate it, but once everything if normal again, then I can start having fun.”

“Well, we can go. Let’s settle our tab.” Lexie says.

“No, you two stay. You’re actually enjoying yourselves. Don’t let me ruin your fun.”

“Are you sure?” Deanna asks. “We don’t mind.”

“Yeah, stay. I’ll get a cab.” You start to stand. Hugging the girls, they head back to the dance floor. You turn back to Bucky. “It was nice to meet you.”

You notice the panic slightly raise in his face. “Wait. I’ll go with you.”

You raise your eyebrows. “Back to my place? I don’t think that’s such a great idea.”

“No, not there. Why don’t we just walk around for a bit. Maybe see if there are any diners open or something.” He suggests.

You find yourself staring at him again. Your eyes rake over him. His dark hair, his blue eyes. His leather jacket and Henley shirt clinging to his chest. His thick thighs clad in dark blue jeans. Were you going to let this man keep you company? Were you going to open up to him? You probably won’t see him again after tonight and he seems like a nice guy. There was something familiar about him and you weren’t sure that you were ready to say goodbye.

“Okay. But just for a little while I really should get home and edit those photos.”

Bucky smiles wide and follows you out of the bar.

“I know a place that’s open all night. They have great food.” You suggest.

“Lead the way.”

You move down the sidewalk, Bucky beside you with his hands shoved in his jean pockets.

“So, you’re a photographer?” He asks.

“I am. Mostly fashion right now.”

“That’s cool. Anything I might have seen?”

You laugh. “Not unless you read Vogue.”

“No, I can’t say that I have. I really haven’t had time to do a ton of reading. My work keeps me busy.”

“Oh yeah? What do you do?” You ask, looking him over.

He stares at you like you should know who he is and what he does. “Uh I guess you could say that I work with the military.”

“Doing what?”

“Linguistics.”

You make an impressed face. “Sounds interesting.

It’s Bucky’s turn to laugh. “Yeah, I guess it can be.”

You both walk in silence for a while. You can feel Bucky’s urge to finish your conversation that was interrupted.

“You’re still wondering why I wasn’t wanting to stay and have fun, aren’t you? I can feel your curiosity growing.” You smirk at him.

He gives you a shy smile. “Yeah, I am. We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. I don’t want you to think I’m overstepping.”

You look up at the night sky. The stars barely visible beyond the city lights. Sighing you say, “A month ago, my ex-boyfriend stole every single penny I had to my name. He destroyed my credit. He opened a couple of credit cards in my name and a loan from a bank in my name and never paid them. He disappeared and I haven’t heard from him. The cops haven’t bothered to find him. So I have no money, except what little cash I managed to withdraw before it all happened.”

Bucky stops walking, making you stop too. “Are you shitting me?”

You laugh. “I wish I was.”

“Son of a bitch.” He says, before continuing his stride.”

“Yeah.” You both walk a bit further before you stop in front of a wall full of windows. “This is it.”

He opens the door, allowing you to step inside first as he follows.

After settling into a booth by the windows, you both spend the rest of the night talking. He asked a few more questions and you explained to him that you were pretty much out of a job and would soon lose your home if you didn’t make enough money to pay your rent.

Eventually, you convinced him to move onto a different subject. Before you knew it, the sun was starting to peak from behind the other buildings. When a ray of light blinds you, you squint and look out the window.

“Oh shit. We literally talked all night.”

“I guess we did. I’m sorry. I know you needed to get home.” Bucky apologizes.

“You know what? I’m not even upset. This was way more fun than sitting at my desk in an empty apartment that won’t be mine for long.”

You start to gather your things as Bucky lays a few bills on the table. You both step outside, pulling jackets on. You look at Bucky and wonder what to do next.

“Well, I guess this is goodbye.” You say.

“It doesn’t have to be. I’d like to see you again.”

You bite your bottom lip. “I don’t know. I’d like to see you again, but my life is such a mess right now.”

“It doesn’t have to be. I’d like to help you.”

“How can you do that? You got a ton of money laying around or something?”

“Or something. Why don’t we do this again tonight? I can explain everything then.”

“I don’t know, Bucky.”

“How about this? I’m going to come back here to have more of those delicious pancakes. You can join me and let me help you. I’ll let you decide. I’ll be here at 7. If you show, we’ll talk. If you don’t, I’ll leave you alone.”

He gently leans in and kisses your cheek.

“I hope I see you later.” He hails a cab and opens the door for you, closing it once you’re settled in the backseat and walking the opposite way down the sidewalk.

‘What the hell was that?’ You think.

The taxi dropped you off in front of your building. You hand the driver some cash, telling him to keep the change. The whole drive home, you kept thinking about what he meant by wanting to help you. Did he have a job for you? Did he want you to take some headshots for him? You didn’t know much about him, except that he worked with the military, and he didn’t seem like he was the model or actor type, so headshots were out of the question.

You walked up the stairs to your apartment still pondering why Bucky wanted to help you and how he planned to do it. You get to your floor and move down the hallway, your apartment at the very end with your door facing towards you. You’re almost in front of it when you notice an envelope taped to your door. You peel it off, curious, and stick your key in the door to unlock it.

Stepping through the entrance, you lay your purse on the counter in the kitchen, peel your jean jacket off, and then your shoes. Once you’re somewhat settled, you peel open the letter and pull the piece of paper out of its snug exterior.

‘Y/N,

I hoped you would be home when I came by. I didn't want to do this how it's been done, but I don't have a choice.

I know how tough things have been for you the last month and I've done everything to try and help. You've been a perfect resident. Always paid your rent on time. You've always been nice to everyone here. However, unless you pay your rent by the end of the week, I'm afraid that you will be forced to move out.

I've tried talking to Tom to get him to understand your situation and though he is sympathetic, he can't pay the mortgage for the building without your portion of the rent.

I'm sorry there's nothing more that I can do for you.

I would hate to see you go, but I do not have a choice.

Let me know as soon as you can, if you are able to pay your rent and we can work something out.

Again, I'm sorry.

David’

Sign you crumble the paper into a ball and let it drop onto the counter.

‘Perfect.’ You think. After having a great night, you should have known the bliss wouldn't last for long.

You wanted to cry, but suddenly felt too exhausted. You decide to get a few hours of sleep, before trying to work or do anything else.

Peeling your silky dress from your body as you move towards your bed, you unhook your bra, tossing it aside, and finally collapse onto your mattress. You barely pull the covers over your mostly naked torso before you fall asleep. Dreaming of the blue-eyed man you had just spend your evening with.

TAGS:

Still Learning- @chipilerendi @vicmc624

Marvel- @shreddedparchment

Forevers- @jamielea81 @dnnwnchstr22 @also-fangirlinsweden

*If you would like to added to the tag list, please send me an ask. I am able to keep up with them better that way!

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

Have you seen Flux. I was pleasantly surprised after Chibnalls first two attempts.

Oh yeah, I saw it.

So, so many thoughts. To sum it up, I felt like I had dropped into the middle of a Doctor Who feature length film, and seen a middle part of it. Maybe it was just the hype, maybe it was the stakes or the cinematography, but this definitely felt high definition and like it really mattered. Of course, I did say that it felt like I fell into the middle of it, and that's perhaps the biggest issue. We immediately pick up in basically the middle of the adventure, with The Doctor having already fought Karvanista. The pacing is so fast, that it helps ramp up the tension, but there's never a single moment to catch your breath. Also, because this is the first part of a continuous story, it seems like they wanted to introduce absolutely everyone. Characters like Vinder and Claire serve very little purpose for being here apart from simply being introduced. Those scenes could have probably been cut. That said, I quite like them both so far. I'm not sure, but what I think happened is that the Claire we saw get sent back in time is actually a younger version, and that the Claire who approached The Doctor had been living out her time in the past. Which would mean she met the Doctor in the interim, and also that she doesn't age...Time Lady, perhaps? Either way, the worst example of this is John Williamson. I genuinely forgot he even appeared in the episode.

I love the cast, seriously.

I'm going to move away from theories for now, because I have a pretty big one about The Flux, but first I need to talk about Karvanista and Dan, because I love them, Apparently Karvanista is played by Strax's actor? He never fails to amaze me, and the whole idea of the Lupari works for me - I mean, this show has had humanoid cats before. And the idea that each of them is bonded to a human that they must protect? That's wholesome af. Oh, and he's a former agent of the Division. Damn if that reveal, just like the Flux reveal in the same scene, didn't get me revved up. But setting that aside, his character is impossibly charming, especially the way he plays off Dan. I sincerely hope they interact more in the coming episodes. Which reminds me, I kinda love Dan? Like, it was a bit difficult to make out what he was saying through his accent and the loud background music, but all of his lines paint him as a lovely guy? Really kind of wish he didn't have to have a compulsory female love interest but who cares, he gives tour guides to people despite not working there! He's just a very sweet guy and he also cracks me up. His bit about how his friend has a ship bigger than the Tardis, like...he's cheeky. I was looking forward to a Tardis crew of just Yaz and The Doctor, but I can totally live with him being the new companion. And speaking of Yaz, she has now ascended to the Premium Companion Package, that you only get if you stay past two seasons, where you know The Doctor and the life of time travel better than anything and it consumes you. (Don't think I didn't catch "Former" PC Khan.)

"Trick or Treat, Doctor."

Swarm is a curious figure, and I have many thoughts about him, his sister, and the Flux. Like...he's not that intimidating, all thing considered. Mostly, he reminds me of Tim Shaw. I can't be the only one who sees it, right? He just seems like a generic, dime a dozen sort of villain. But he's clearly got a bigger purpose than that, I just don't know how we're going to explore it in entirely with just a handful of episodes, a new companion, and a universe-eating hurricane on the loose. He knows The Doctor from before, during her time as The Timeless Child. He seems to have been imprisoned by The Division, based on what he said in his first scene. He wants The Doctor to know he's returned, so it's personal...but he still takes the advantage of her having had her memory wiped. I have a number of thoughts about him, but I'm most interested in the scene where he retrieves his sister. How she was living with that other guy in domestic bliss for what had to be at least months. How she destroyed that piece of alien technology. How she seemed afraid of Swarm, but then grateful for what he did. And what he did was turn her into one of, well, him. He called Azure his sister. Maybe she was just in hiding with some sort of cloaking device, or maybe...she used the Chameleon Arch. Which could explain her initial confusion. Hey, it doesn't just turn Timelords into Humans. Back when The Doctor used it to turn into John Smith, he said he had it "set" to Human. But what are Swarm and Azure? Who are they? I have a guess. I suspect they come from the same universe that The Doctor originally comes from. We don't know how far back these two actually go.

The Flux.

Chibnall is very good at this, very good at writing stories with environmental themes and social commentary. Even as far back as his first script, 42, as well as all of his stories about the Silurians. The Power of Three comes to mind as well. This is what he does. So The Flux being a kind of natural disaster of sorts, is very him, and it makes for an intriguing and spooky threat to be overarching this tale. But what is it? Did it come from The Doctor's original universe? Did Swarm? Is he creating it? I have a guess, and it takes us all the way back to It Takes You Away. I believe The Flux is a Solitract. Perhaps not the same one as before, though it could be. But that could explain why it just destroys everything in it's path yet it continues to seemingly seek out planets and people actively. It wants to be part of our universe but it never can be. This could be a manifestation of the Solitract having broken into our universe. But what has that got to do with The Doctor? Maybe The Doctor's original universe is a Solitract? Of course, that itself is a questionable idea because as far as we know, a Solitract can't sustain independent life that it doesn't create and perpetually control. But again, it might not be the same one. Or maybe I'm all wrong and it comes from somewhere else. Either way, I want answers about The Division and Swarm and the Timeless Child. Thankfully, it does seem like this season is going to provide.

[songofclarity]

Hi cat anon back again I absolutely loved your response to my ask though I doubt WRH sleeps 16 hours a day lol. On the contrary I think he's more likely a workaholic who rarely if ever gets a full night of sleep. even if he delegates a part of his workload, leading a sect as large as qishan wen is still a very hard and demanding job and there are things that just can't be delegated and there's also his cultivation that he must put a lot of work in to be that powerful I would be surprised if he ever gets time to rest. If I were to compare WRH as a leader to anyone it would be Miranda Priestley from "the devil wears Prada", all those working under him are terrified of him not because he's needlessly cruel but because he's extremely strict, demanding, and has very high expectations of everyone starting with himself and the higher you go in the hierarchy of the sect the higher his expectations of you will be and if you can't meet his expectations you will be kicked to the curb without mercy (srsly if you haven't watched that movie you absolutely should especially if you're looking for inspiration for WRH because Meryl Streep slays the role of the demanding and tyrannical leader in it).

Also I'm curious what kind of parent you think WRH is. We never get to meet WX in the novel so there's no way to know what he's really like but WC strikes me as a sort of spoiled kid who was used to getting all his demands met without question and was never disciplined for anything ever in his life but also there are WQ and WN whose upbringing WRH had more or less involvement in depending on the adaptation and who seem to be far better adjusted people than WC even if WN seems to suffer from near crippling social anxiety and stage fright. I personally think he has no idea how to parent because he was mostly raised by nannies and tutors and barely had any relation with his own parents if he had any so his idea of being a father is buying his children anything they ask for no matter how extravagant and having dinner with them once in a while.

Sorry for the rant but you're my favorite writer who writes WRH I just love the way you write him ❤️

Ahaha, 16 hours is indeed much too much, he needs to have time to work on his cultivation! I'm so happy you love the way I write him and I love hearing you talk about him, so thank you for sharing your thoughts with me!

I will confess I, too, have a soft spot for workaholic/insomniac Wen RuoHan. It’s a big sect and there is a lot to do! At the same time, I also have a soft spot for well-rested and idling Wen RuoHan who is purposefully kept oblivious to most things happening in his sect, either because other people are doing a good job taking care of it all, because they just don't want to look bad in front of the boss and so don't tell him, or both lol

To be honest, I don't see Wen RuoHan as someone who is that critical of people! I just don't see him dropping people simply because they make a mistake. The way he lightly jokes with Meng Yao after Meng Yao nearly gets himself killed is kind of something I can see Miranda Priestly doing though lol But she knows she's top brass and has the attitude for it. There is an arrogance about her that when she says something disparaging, it's really not a joke even if she might smile and laugh. By comparison, I don't think Wen RuoHan is nearly that arrogant or, if I may, that rude. I think politeness and proper manners are actually very important to him (and there is a whole essay in me about that lol). Wen RuoHan says "you good-for-nothing" only after Meng Yao was being self-deprecating, and then they laughed and carried on with Wen RuoHan going along with Meng Yao's ideas. Meng Yao's status doesn't falter in the slightest.

(So yes, The Devil Wears Prada is a great movie and I have definitely seen it!)

Instead of Wen RuoHan creating a toxic environment where he plays an active hand in making people fight for privileges and status, I can better see people around Wen RuoHan vying for his attention that it becomes a dog-eat-dog situation. It's like with the guest cultivator who threw Nie Dad under the bus. Wen RuoHan did not pose a question that needed to cause a sect-sect incident, but the guest cultivator made it into one. No one is quite sure why he would say such a thing, although one of the assumptions is that he said it simply to stand out and gain attention.

Although I may just have some rose-colored glasses on lol Wen RuoHan just kind of has that personality, to me, that draws people in. They see Wen RuoHan, recognize his power, and are like, "If I can have 5 minutes of his time, my whole life will change for the better." I do think Wen RuoHan thought he was making things better with his policies. The problem is that some bad people are taking advantage of this offer, and it in turn reflects badly on Wen RuoHan. I will say this though: I think there is some room to argue that Wen RuoHan does follow the teachings of Wen Mao.

For the record, I like to completely ignore what CQL did to the Wens, tbh LOL Wen RuoHan is Yikes, Wen Chao is more just evil asshole rather than pompous asshole, and Wen Qing and Wen Ning are like desolate orphans for some reason. I love the younger actors, acting, and the aesthetics (although white and red will always be Wen colors to me!) but the changes to their story line and their relationships with each other made a complete mess and I don't like to see it ;;

But man, I wish we knew, like, anything about Wen Xu! Wen Chao is absolutely spoiled though. Although one thing I like is how he's being given opportunities to practice leadership, management, and organization skills. He's the one arranging the Wen Sect team for the archery competition and he's put in charge of indoctrinating all the juniors when he himself is the same age as them. We see evidence that he's getting the right education and opportunities to maybe even become Sect Leader one day (Wen Xu, who are you!?), but we also know he's a rather rotten, arrogant person who seems to enjoy his power and privilege more than anything. Wen Chao is also the second son and we get a nice comparison with Nie HuaiSang, who also enjoys all the wealth and the pretty things of his station but doesn't want the responsibilities that come with it.

My headcanon is that Wen RuoHan adores children and is very good with them. I want to believe he was very good to Wen Xu, Wen Chao, Wen Qing, and Wen Ning. This is in part because every other parent in MDZS is awful so statistics says at least one of them needs to be good, so let's give it to Wen RuoHan LMAO

But for the actual teaching of said children, I can definitely see them being given tutors and Shifu and all that good stuff. Then when they have learned something, they show it off to Wen RuoHan, who I think is someone who likes seeing others learn and improve. I don't think utilizing nannies and tutors would make him a bad parent though! It might make him somewhat distant, however, which might explain why Wen Chao lies about killing the Tortoise of Slaughter. That would be a great way to get his father's attention! But it might not be because his father is distant. That lack of attention could also be because he's competing, as I mentioned before, with all the other people vying for Wen RuoHan's attention.

Considering Wen RuoHan gave Wen Chao his strongest bodyguard, a whole ton of disciples to lead, and opportunities to prove himself, I think Wen RuoHan is arguably a decent father. That Wen Chao was desperate to get back to him when it all went south shows that his father is someone he knows will protect him, which no other kid in the series (except Lan SiZhui who has the benefit of being from the next generation lol) ever displays. Considering how Wen RuoHan protected Meng Yao in the Sun Palace with Extreme Force, I like to think Wen RuoHan really doesn't mess around with the safety of his kids (with Meng Yao as honorary kid). Even Wen Qing and Wen Ning had ZERO fear running around as they did right after the massacre of Lotus Pier. No one and nothing is going to harm them--not with Wen RuoHan around.

(As a side note, Wen Qing said she wouldn’t be able to protect Wen Ning from Wen Chao if Wen Chao really wanted to kill him, but there is no mention of harm coming from Wen RuoHan. It really does sound like a sibling spat of “He’s going to fucking kill you when he finds out you ate his pudding and there is NOTHING I can do to stop him.”)

With all that said!! I really like your headcanon that Wen RuoHan wasn't close with his own parents and thus having no idea how to parent. It makes me sad, but in a good way lol So I'm definitely willing to run with you on it! Although I love the idea that Wen RuoHan is trying to be different than the generation before him. His parents weren't close to him, so he is close to his own children. He cultivated to a high level because no one was around to protect him, so he makes sure he's around to protect them. Wen ZhuLiu is an extension of Wen RuoHan and it shows when he protects Wen Chao, despite not liking the kid in the slightest.

So Wen Chao grows up spoiled and Wen Ning grows up fearless and Wen Qing grows up prideful because Wen RuoHan is just one letter away and no one wants to mess with Wen RuoHan.