#idk its probably the former english major in me

[starlightkun]

okay bc im genuinely curious:

english-speaking kpop fans, if there's an english version of a song (that was released first/primarily in korean, NOT an english song put out only in english) by a kpop artist, do you usually listen to the english version or the korean version? and do you speak english as your native language or as a second/third language?

[ancestorlegacy]

HELLO. About those tags on my Frankenstein post..

What do I think about it?

Book? Second favorite book ever, plan to reread it soon and I adore it. The only book I prefer over Frankenstein is the count of Monte Cristo, which is another can of worms entirely.

I think Frankenstein is good and a must read for everyone. Obviously yes the story is good but the sheer amount of misinformation about it pisses me off so very much and that would be fixed if reading the book was mandatory for living /lh. There's two (main (don't worry about the rest)) versions, 1818 and 1831. 1831 is the more famous one, basically Shelley just made some minor edits to things she didn't like. Best (and biggest edit) is that she removed the incest.

Sorry I am going to talk about multiple versions of the story.

Musical? There's two, iirc. There's 'Frankenstein: a new musical' and 'young Frankenstein'. I have only listened to the former one because I am scared to learn what the latter is. All I know is that it uses a design for the monster that I hate, which is 97% of my reason for not listening to it.

The former is from 2008 and not very famous. The actors have absolutely AMAZING voices, like genuinely words cannot describe my love for Victor, the monster and Elizabeth's singing. The rest are good too, but it's those three that especially stick out to me.

It doesn't have a single bad song. Vibe wise, I'd say it's a bit like Jekyll and Hyde and Sweeney Todd. Lots of bangers but obviously only listen to it after reading the book. It's also a fairly faithful adaptation. There's only two major changes from the book and I like both of them.

Junji Ito manga adaptation? Ough. I'm only 50~ pages in so far but WOWZER it's amazing. Junjo Ito is the perfect mangaka for adapting Frankenstein. I was super excited to read it because I like some of Ito's other works so I'm very pleased that this one is good (so far (I've heard the entire thing is good though))

1931 movie? UGHH. I think it's good on its own. Completely divorced from the context of the book, it's good. Compared to the book though, absolutely dreadful.

Order you should consume them in?

1931 movie first so you can enjoy it properly, the actual book and then it doesn't matter if you do the musical or manga next. Also there's a 2004 two episode long mini series that I have not seen yet but supposedly it's a very good and faithful adaptation.

Would I recommend original language?

Idk. I've only read it in English but I'd imagine there's good French translations. It's one of the most famous books ever so there's absolutely a French fella who did an absolutely amazing and flawless translation. I'm sure there's also versions in English with updated more modern language but I think that classics should always be read in a version as close to the original as possible to preserve artistic intent.

I hope you enjoy it :3 it's so good :3

I'm glad to see how much you like it! I was planning on reading it sooner or later (and I'm doing an English licence, so I probably will have to), but you are selling it very well. Thanks for the order by the way!

[jechristine]

I’ve had those thoughts about class distinction (and perception since it’s all about how people perceive Tom and Tim and not really reality) and how its rooted in some elitism in a way as well. It feel like ‘film twitter’ forgets there are many kinds of types of intelligence and I hope that Tom knows that as well - since looking at what Dom’s said, I don’t particularly think that he was encouraged in his intellectual strengths (he does certainly seem to have them) in the right way by his dad (which is a big generalization that disclaimer, might not be accurate either since I’m only going by what Dom’s stated in his blogs - he could be a much better or different father than he comes off as, who knows).

But looking at that twitter drama and knowing you’re a teacher, have you noticed social media interfering with education over the years? It just seems ironic to me that these accounts that preach intellectualism actually their voice arguments in a very anti-intellectual way. Looking at someone and reducing them to a failure lacks as much critical thinking as ‘stanning’ them, but all these people act like their opinion is fact and they’re often not interested in an actual debate where both sides are open to new info.

I feel like twitter might have benefits in making friends and also for sure spreading knowledge of social justice, but I also think that the short word count and engagement discourages critical thought and nuance so often that idk if the benefits outweigh what it might be doing to users. I know that when I take a break from twitter I feel less reactive and angry all the time, I can focus more - which is personal since I’m sure not everyone gets that way but for me the difference is huge.

This is a long and slightly disorganized way of asking your thoughts on twitter as a platform - do you think a short form app like that could be contributing to critical thinking skills shrinking too? Tumblr is more of an echo chamber with niche communities but I also feel like the extended word count gives the opportunity for complex discussions

Hey, Anon!

This is probably not what you’re asking for, but there are so many angles from which I want to think about your question. They’re all sort of related.

As a former medievalist & early modernist: the parallels between current outcries against social media and the 16th/17th century outcries against print culture and the printing presses are strong. We’re seeing just so many more people contributing their voices, languages, and ideas to the public space, and consuming so many others’. It can be messy because people don’t all have great things to say, and there are so many of them, but also the democratization of social discourse is so consequential. The printing presses in Europe (which is what I know) changed the course of history, leading as some have argued to the Enlightenment, the Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, and…capitalism. We don’t really know where social media will take us, but probably someplace new.

As a high school English teacher: I’ve been immersed in PD lately in what’s being called “the Science of Reading.” A lot of the American education system has fucked up the way we teach kids to read in the last 20 years, and we’ve created a huge problem, especially for our students furthest from opportunity, i.e. the majority of my students at a high-poverty Title 1 school with many English-language learners. (If interested, this podcast is so illuminating/horrifying.) I know this is American-centric, but that’s what I know. Problems exist in terms of who has access to knowledge and ideas that are so much deeper than character count on social media. I’d bet this is true in other parts of the world, too.

And I think one more layer, connected to that one, is that lots of people are engaging with subjects on such a superficial level, just kind of repeating what they’ve seen said elsewhere without the knowledge background or frame of reference to dig deeper or be critical. I’ve seen a ton of really excellent Twitter threads from which I’ve learned a lot—so I don’t think character count is really an issue. I think lots of people don’t use the thread function because they simply don’t have much to say.

(Finally, I know what you mean about tumblr being an echo chamber but also I do think my mutuals and I disagree plenty without being shitty about it. Sometimes disagreement is really narrow. In fact, I think the best disagreement is when “opponents” share values and thoughtfulness but come to different conclusions. I also think tumblr would be just as bad if it had as many users as Twitter does.)

[7ven-devils]

A really long overanlysis of minecraft servers.

This will be my only warning, this shit is really long.

I promised this to @ivi-prism 2 weeks ago (hi, i am Svetla) but university said no and then i feel my notes were incomplete so i have to do more research.

So let's talk about anarchism and capitalism. As a future political scientist, really bugs me how the fandom and some content creators (im looking at you techno) misinterpret both theories.

Yeah this will be a overanalysis about the political, social and economic system of two minecraft servers. Why? Cause i like analysis things like this and finally i can solved what is the system of hermitcraft and thats make me happy.

Things to consider:

First im not native english speaker and im lazy so im not often write or talk in english so my typos can make Doc really proud.

Second i don't watch Dsmp i only know things about the server by the animatics, the constant information wich pop up here on tumblr, the crossover fanfics and the tiny vods that youtube insist play when i have activate automatic reproduction.

Third i tried to simplified this much as i can because this analysis i maded talking with my friends (also political scientists) and a former professor, so it got quite technical while i was writing it.

And finally don't take this seriously, I'm not trying to insult anyone, I only started this because the hermitfandom started saying that hermitcraft was capitalist and then everyone started comparing the Dsmp with hermitcraft saying anarchism vs capitalism, that's why the dsmp entered into this analysis.

Guys, seriously chaos isn't anarchism and "sucefully economic" isn't capitalism, even paid with "money" (diamonds in this case) isnt necessary capitalism.

First, mini glossary:

I understand a server like a Society/State (country) with Mr Weber definition. In really vague words a State is anyone that has a territory and has legal control of violence (the laws, no the abuse of authority).

I understand the private property as the hermits bases and/or shops (i suppose only base in dsmp? Idk)

I understand the mass production as the farms and resources.

Capitalism is a economic, politic and social theory, wich it considers private property essential and tends to monopolize the resources 'cause this it also considered private property.

Anarchy means "without government" it has its origin in the Ancient Greece. And Anarchism theory is just a society free from any political authority, but respecting the liberties of the others.

A Failed State is which one lose control of the legal violence, and can't provide the peace, essential human rights and the basics for a normal lifestyle to its people.

I think thats all the bored shit (i hope so). Now the interesting shit.

Why hermitcraft isnt capitalist?

Short answer, their idea of private property is not the same as capitalism has.

Long answer, even if they have their own stuff, they had a really strong sense of community and dont really care if someone take things from them.

We can see this in the beginning of season when Iskall take some mini blocks from Etho and he didn't really care (yeah, iskall "paid" him, but later i will explain this) or the multiple times Grian "borrow" things from Iskall and Mumbo in season 6 or Scar in season 7, the team ZIT constantly take things from each other and i can go on and on with examples, but the point here is this couldn't happen if they had a capitalist society because this would break the "private" part of private property and mass production.

Basically their friendship made so strong their sense of community that they are basically inmune to capitalism, Uncle Marx would be proud of them (not really, but would be funny). So they are communist? Nope, communist don't believe in private property and the hermits does.

But you just said-? I said they dont has the SAME idea of private property as capitalism does. They still have their bases, farms and shops, but for them their private property isnt sacred like in a capitalism system would be.

They're respect each other things because they appreciated the effort and values the time the person puts on their buildings and not only because doesn't belongs to them (and obviously cause theyre frends, but shush, this is a overanalysis, the obvious things doesn't have place here) i mean even for the shenanigans they are really polite and try to cause the least damage possible not because is not of them but because they valued the person.

Basically the famous honor code of hermitcraft.

What about the economic system and the shopping district?

Lets talk about the elephant in the room.

If Hermitcraft isnt a capitalist system, why they have a economic system based in diamonds?

Well, despite the exchange based in money for resources or services is a principal characteristic of capitalism, it isnt exclusive of that theory.

The money is a social consensus, cause barter has becomes obsolete and gold isnt cheap or infinite to use as payment. And basically, this is why we use money on this days (if you want to know the history of money ask to your trusted historian or Wikipedia).

What does this remind us? Yep, diamonds and iou's are a consensus too. When the 1.16 came out some hermits tried to change to netherite as payment and didn't suit, so they ignored it and continued with their current payment system.

And as much as Mr Smith likes to say that this is how the free market (and his stupid invisible hand) works, capitalism needs the monopoly of resources and people who works to pay for those resources.

But in Hermitcraft nobody really controlled the resources, anyone can go and collect their materials or made a farm. They just decided don't do it and go and buy it, because they save the time to go and collect for themselves, in other words they paid for the time.

Various hermits say they saved so much time go and buy the materials instead to collect themself or trade with the villagers (cause theyre the worst and all of us know it) thats why the barge and lookie lookie at my bookie are so profitable.

The shopping district it wasn't a thing before season 4, i dont really sure how it worked before, because i started watch in season six and sadly i have a boring adult life to saw the old seasons, but i assume it works in the same way that the trades the hermits does between them to accord a discount or a collab, and speak directly with the interested hermit or directly take it and pays what's considered it was fair, like iskall did with etho.

Like i said all what's happen in hermitcraft is a consensus, even the shopping district.

So yeah, that isnt a thing that would happen in a capitalism system, probably you would be dead, because "how are you dare to entered to my property", or in the jail, "because thats not yours".

So, what is hermitcraft?

For the surprise from much of you, Hermitcraft has an anarchist system.

What?! But their server is so peaceful, they don't steal from each other, they doesn't griefing, hows that possible?!

Well, the anarchism isn't really a violent political theory, at least in its beginning, actually anarchism is one of the most peaceful theories i studied, thats why i dont really thing it will worked in our society, but work in a server of 24 friends. Its too idealist.

I don't really study all of the thoughts corrents of anarchism because they are a lot. But the one we are interested is one of original thought corrent, The Mutualism, this in contrast with their cousin Communism doesn't believes the private property was something bad and considered like one of the rights from the individual, but different as capitalism because like i said before it wasn't sacred and communal things will exist to help others to start or recover.

Proudhon, one of it intellectuals, considered not paid for the work of the other it was a form to violate their liberties and feel horrofied with Marx when he said we have to abolish the private property.

The mutualists believes that each person should possess a means of production, either individually or collectively, and the products obtained would be trade in the market for the amount equivalent of their work.

This sound familiar, isnt it? Hermitcraft works in this way.

The thing with anarchism is they don't believes in a government over the people. And the hermits doesn't have one, yeah there's Scar being the mayor, but he isnt have a power over the rest and only is in charge of the "cowmercial district" even aquatown isn't part of his jurisdiction, his function is more of organization, like when we put a friend in charge to organizing part of a roadtrip.

It's the same with Xisuma figure, we all put him in a position of the admin of hermitcraft, but the truth is he isnt the only one with admin commands (but apparently some or all of them losed their admin status, at least in one of the last tango's streams, he hasnt it anymore) and various hermits said that he is more like an ambassador of them in the legal things of the server.

The hermits take all of they decisions in group and in the majority of things all of them needs to be agreed with the decision or they simple doesn't do it. And this is a characteristic of the mutualism because for them anyone are over the other.

And if you aren't already bored at this point and you put attention to what i wrote of the concept of private property in the mutualism, you would see it is practically the way hermitcraft works. They make their bases and farms, recolect resources and sell what they don't will use, buy mostly to save time and paid for the price what they considered fair. Yeah i know sometimes they do some farm specifically for one shop, but this is more "yeah, this is my thing" (Tango and Iron; Ren and wood) or a division of activities "if you do that, i do this".

The perfect utopia.

What about the Dsmp?

If you do it to here, congratulations.

So what about the Dsmp, i entered here because i want to read of them and the only thing i read was about hermitcraft.

Well, the Dsmp only entered in the equation because much of you said they were an anarchist server, but i see it more like a "failed state" and when i was talked with an exprofessor he agreed with me.

I know the term of failed state is controversial and is almost obsolete, but is the best way to describe the server and stop said it is anarchist.

So why failed state and not an anarchist state? Because they have a government (or apparently multiples) a failed one, but is there, if it were an anarchist server wouldn't have one.

Usually the failed states are known for being violent and volatile places in which ones their governments can't provides the basics to their people to live, normally are places with ethnics conflicts, civil wars, authoritarian governments or states in wars. The most common examples are Haití, Somalia or Syria.

And i am sure you can see the similarities with the Dsmp, so yeah, theyre chaotic but not anarchist.

The wars ruined the stability from the server, have a multiple sides and a megalomaniac for admin, but the goverment still there and they are fighting for the power wich wouldn't happen if the server were anarchist because anarchism don't believe the power should be possess for someone.

The server simply is failed state wich struggles under a violent fight for power.

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

If you read this far, you're a hero and had my gratitude for read my useless thoughts. Maybe some day i do it other overanalysis of this servers. I hope you enjoyed and dont confused so much.

Thanks for read.

And if there are some angry economist with me for "misrepresent" the capitalist i am completely open to a debate, my only condition is it would be in chilean spanish ;)

[wondersbeyondcompare]

More Majid Stuff

I post once in a blue moon b/c I work in random bursts and get tired easily, but here are some rambles about Majid that I’ve saved in my Notes app and probably haven’t mentioned before!

There are some rumors circulating around Majid regarding his wealth

More specifically: how he got his wealth

All these rumors range from him being a secret son of a noble family to taking shady underground jobs that paid ridiculously well

His name had been searched up more than once, but the only thing that pops up is a bakery business w/ a small branch located in the Land of Hot Sands... not too far from where Majid grew up...

Majid’s a quick learner; he just lacks the motivation lol 

Tends to overthink too often, tho, coming up with detailed plans to get out of doing the most mundane stuff

Funny to watch but a pain in the ass to comprehend 😔

Although Majid tries to get out of doing most stuff, there are some things he can’t let slide

He can get picky over how some tasks are done; honestly??? this might be a good tactic on getting him to work (“Hey, Majid. Can you help set up the decorations for tonight’s party?” “No.” “Aaaa, okay, guess we’ll just have Mark do it-“ “Mark? You want to leave decorating to him? Do you want the lounge looking like a highlighter projectile vomited over the walls and ceiling? Give me those streamers. I’ll do it myself-“)

Definitely a quality over quantity kind of person; his room may be a mess of different things, but, rest assured, it’s only the best of the best of stuff that stay for long like lava lamps

I want to say that Majid is picky about a lot of things in general, but he does have his exceptions; for example: food, napping locations, job opportunities, ummm (･_･;) That’s most of what I can think of right now, dang

This pickiness is kiiind of 👉👈 referencing a trait that the Cave of Wonders has; like the whole “only a diamond in the rough shall enter here“ business that was going on idk I’m trying my best

As you can see, I went ham when it came to the “Who disturbs my slumber” line the tiger head had lol 😅(sorry that had become your defining trait, m’boi)

And the mass of riches he’s accumulated over the years was another obvious reference to the inside of the cave as well; can also act as a loose metaphor of what’s stopping him from getting the help he needs; as the treasures in the cave were put there w/ the intent of distracting a person from the ultimate goal of the magic lamp, so does his own treasures serve as a temporary distraction from moving forward in his life

But if that’s too much of a stretch, then plz slap the inner English teacher in me and then myself

Majid’s good at looking through people’s facades and judging a person’s true character, but it’s not like he does much w/ this info

Unless they try confronting him or something, he just avoids/shuts down people he gets bad vibes from

Doesn’t make tactless comments; figured out that dealing with pissed off people was more work than it’s worth

Boi tends to ask a lot of questions when speaking to other people; partly b/c of trust issues; partly b/c he might be lowkey judging you (can’t use his unique magic all the time after all :/)

He’s the type of person who acts like he knows everything, but he really doesn’t; just hates getting looked down upon in general; will bluff his way through situations by being as vague as possible

He leans towards how his mother used to speak; that is: beating around the bush

He won’t lie to you, but it might take some time until he’ll give you the whole truth; and when I say it’ll take some time, IT REALLY WILL TAKE SOME TIME B/C THIS BOY IS UNBELIEVABLY STUBBORN 

Is casual to whoever he speaks to, no matter the age; if he gets extremely annoyed with someone, especially if they’re older than him, he’ll use this over exaggerated polite tone that makes it real obvious he’s fed up with them

Gets ticked off whenever anyone advises him to do anything, but he’ll still take that advice to heart

Majid’s probably tired all the time b/c of all the jewelry he’s carrying around smh

Majid sounds/looks like he’s angry all the time, but that’s just his resting face 😔; I mean, he’s always a little irritated, but it’s mostly b/c he’s stuck in that state of being forced awake from a deep afternoon nap (b/c... that’s usually what happens to him)

Plus, have you met his upperclassmen? Have you seen what was going on in Scarabia during Chapter 4?????? Have you met the headmaster of this school????????  (; ω ; )

He doesn’t like people touching stuff that’s his; same thing goes for people touching stuff in general that aren’t theirs; doesn’t like thieves (he’s stolen stuff when he was younger, but he justifies that he only did so to survive; and he’s not entirely wrong)

Ironic b/c his mom was a thief 🤭 

He’s also a pretty obedient student save for the whole “trying to sleep in class w/o getting caught” thing that he’s still trying to accomplish; doesn’t like it when the professors get strict with him but will grit his teeth and bear with it

Prefers magic carpets to magic broomsticks; there’s just a lot more surface area when it comes to carpets plus he’s more familiar with the former

Spends a lot of his time in the Scarabia storage room b/c it reminds him of his bedroom back home; probably became buddies w/ Kalim’s magic carpet while he was there too

But if we’re talking about the type of people Majid could tolerate befriending uummm... maybe those with good hearts?? Idk, like those who are genuinely trying to be a good person no matter what kind of obstacles they run into (referencing how the cave of wonders only let a diamond in the rough enter)

They don’t have to be all nice or sweet, but as long as Majid can tell they have kind intentions, he won’t immediately leave them

Has a “haaah... these guys are hopeless... might as well keep an eye on them so they don’t screw up any more than they already have” attitude towards these people

Other type of person Majid would unintentionally befriend are those who are also annoyed of being told what to do by upperclassmen/authority figures; ☺️🙏  vent out your frustrations together wooo

Has some squabbles with Leona when it comes to napping locations

It’s actually pretty funny to watch b/c they both don’t want to give up their spot but also they don’t want to bother getting up 

Leona wins most of the time, tho

Majid may have had a lot of energy when he was younger but now he’s a g e d

I rarely mention Majid’s lava illusion magic thing, but yeah that’s a thing; he probably won’t be able to use it to its full extent until his last year of high school and maybe a little bit later; it takes up a ton of energy; I keep on imagining him using it and joking that “aaaa the floor is lava lol”, but then I remember the psychological effects this ability has on the victim and 😬 yikes scratch that

Majid has a loud clear voice when he speaks; often startles whoever’s walking by when he naps in the shadows

 As a result of spending most of his time w/o a stable support system and no one static to guide his beliefs, Majid doesn’t follow any particular religion; he does have coworkers back at the curio/appraisal/pawn shop who do, tho, and while he doesn’t entirely understand it, he respects them as much as he can

I’ve said before that Majid selfishly keeps all his wealth to himself for fear of losing his self worth, but there are some exceptions (such as to anyone he passes who’s begging in the streets, a coworker who’s struggling to make ends meet, etc.)

He’s fine with giving away some money, but not in huge amounts 

 And if he’s giving money to anyone, it’s done in a round about way; usually w/ a dismissive excuse 

If this boi had a route, depending on how the MC acts around him, the majority of it will be spent breaking down those walls and befriending him; generally going like this: shovel all trust issues into incinerator one by one —>Get him to tolerate you —> Get him to trust you —> Befriend (?) Him —> Deal w/ his other deep seated issues —-> Romance (if we’re going for that otome game kinda thing i guess???))

I can just imagine Majid temporarily visiting the Land of Hot Sands w/ MC after befriending him and finding out the truth about his parents through his boss at the curio shop; MC encourages him to travel north to pay a visit at some facility b/c it’s rumored that at least his father is still alive 

(No idea what happened to Lara; probably suffered worse consequences due to making several prison breaks; had decently powerful magical abilities, so that would probably explain the whole forced amnesia thing that happened after their disappearance) 

Majid is torn b/w wanting to go alone b/c this is a personal matter (And he wants MC to be safe) and being scared of losing MC if something horrible happens to him on his journey north; he knows what it’s like to be suddenly abandoned, and he doesn’t want that for anybody, especially for someone he cares about 

He doesn’t want to repeat his father’s mistakes, regardless if it was accidental or not 

Majid decides to go on his own; probably had some touching parting w/ MC; maybe we’ll go full otome and have a hugging CG where he swears that he will be back for MC

And MC is just like “Aight;;; cool;;; good luck;;”; something sentimental like that 

Couple of days passed; we’re worried about him 

He returns with a worried look on his face before breaking into a relieved smile when he sees MC; power walks to hug them even tighter than before

Majid thanks them for all they’ve done; he then spends the rest of the day and well into the night describing all he’s experienced and his visit with his dad

 They go back to NRC and Majid is less bratty than before, much to the surprise of Jamil and to the delight of Kalim; actually starts to make an effort to not push people away at every opportunity (b/c he originally felt like they all had their own hidden agenda and were just using him for their own gain, y’know)

Boi becomes even more clingy towards MC; by that, I don’t mean he’s overly attached to them (he’s afraid of making the same mistake he did in the past), but rather he shows it through light casual touches here and there (a brush of the fingers when exchanging papers, patting MC’s head when they do something well, gently tugging at their sleeve when he needs their attention) and constantly checking up on them to see how they’re doing

Awkward levels in Majid increase as he constantly wonders if he’s crossing a line when it comes to him showing any kind of affection; he doesn’t want to come off as creepy and make MC hate him

Might also resist being given love and affection at first; but once he gets used to it, he absolutely m e l t s

Cuddles are 👌; might give teary eyes if MC tries to leave early during a cuddling session, but he won’t pressure them to stay; a touch starved boi

Doesn’t think much of PDA, giving or receiving; full on making out and anything further is kind of a no-go, tho;  hugging is nice and so are short and sweet kisses; will glare at anybody who says anything about it

If his s/o was clingier than he is, he might get a little embarrassed; same thing goes if his s/o was really cute

Definitely the type of boyfriend to buy random gifts for his s/o b/c these things reminded him of them

Younger Majid was in full on puppy mode all the time, or at least when he was around people he liked; also a huge people pleaser too, since he was afraid of them leaving him 

He was probably reckless too in order to entertain his friends

Was really polite, especially when it came to adults; always calling them Mister and Miss(us)

He was also just loud 

Future Majid (if he came to terms with most of his problems) would be more mellow than his teenage self; still anti-social but he’s less angry at the world now; would go on to own the curio shop after the previous owner passed on; reverted it into both a jewelry/appraisal shop in order to honor his father plus respect the previous owner’s memory as well

Sells and repairs jewelry and appraises supposedly rare items that come through his store; still does odd jobs for the people in the neighborhood but his prices aren’t as outrageously high as he made them when he was younger

He names the new store after his mother, at the request of his father (plus I only recently heard the song “House of Gold” by Twenty One Pilots and hnnnmmg it fits well with this golden boy)

Majid is interested in most things related to jewelry, probably subconsciously influenced by his father; this includes repairing bits of jewelry; he moves delicately when it comes to these kinds of tasks

He’s a night owl; it’s much quieter at night

Has bad posture from sleeping in different weird places

His body is prone to heating up easily; the fact that he lives in the Land of Hot Sands and was also sorted into Scarabia is just unfortunate luck

Sneaks off to cooler areas on campus in his free time to chill; one of his favorite spots is the Octavinelle lounge since it’s air conditioned and dark, and he can get away with taking a nap before going over his time limit and getting kicked out

The library is nice too (´∀｀)

Would like to go to Ignihyde too, but he’s put off by the feeling of being underground (gotta have that bit of irony like Jamil being afraid of bugs 👌)

He tolerates Kalim better than Jamil; probably b/c the latter scolds him for slacking off

Actually went to Kalim for tutoring advice once before realizing part of the way that his senior had no idea what he was doing; Jamil has earned his respect when it comes to academics

Kinda jealous of the duo’s stamina; Majid’s usually heaving for air after long marches or if he’s ever chosen as a backup dancer for one of Scarabia’s many parties; he’s the ( ・∇・) least athletic of my OCs...

No, he can’t dance, but he can feign the movements well enough to not get caught

[sole-cuore-amore-e-droga]

Bulgaria brings a mentally reassuring anthem to Rotterdam 2021

I’ve said so that VICTORIA herself sort of agreed to have done “Tears Getting Sober” if she was allowed to, but for one I have to thank that EBU said that the artists can’t have their 2020 songs back? You’ll see why when I get to the review after two boring paragraphs of text with technical info, for the country that is Bulgaria!

ARTIST & ENTRY INFO

Victoria Georgieva (or VICTORIA, but I can’t be arsed to continuously capitalize her name so I’ll just say Victoria from now on) was born a singer, for she started to sing at the age 11, went to a specific school of angel voices (no really that’s what it was called), and tried to go to the X Factor while a liiiiiittle too young until realizing that she needed to wait for a few years, and wait a few years she did, and went on to the X Factor again.

She didn’t win, but she still got to sign a contract and sing some stuff in Bulgarian before she decided to rebrand, started singing in English, and completely decided that ballads is her style. She cannot really do upbeat most of the time. So you can’t really have a bop from her in the future. (Well except that there’s a couple of songs in her discography that I personally classify as “bops” but they’re more like... idek sad bops?? but they can be danced to, but I get her, she doesn’t do anything that’s more loud and upbeat and clubby and summery kind of - in short, nothing you can go “YAAASSSS QUEEEEEN” over to.)

The entry she ended up singing, “Growing Up Is Getting Old”, is what I can describe to be about overcoming the emotional twists and turns inside of you as you grow older, because as it turns out, it ain’t what you thought it would be - but if you push just a little further, you realize that if you’re growing up, maybe the life isn’t so bad, afterall - you are able to get up. Somehow. It was written as part of Boris-Milanov-led songwriting camp held during summer, and a lot of people seemed to be a part of it because multiple different folk have songwriting credits on the potential Bulgarian entries this year.

REVIEW

Let’s get this out of the way immediately. I prefer “Growing Up Is Getting Old” to “Tears Getting Sober”. The former sounds a lot less irritatingly underwhelming and a lot more positively overwhelming you with warm emotions and sunglow. “Tears Getting Sober” was a song I could never really connect with - maaaaybe the last chorus is much better on there, but it doesn’t do much for me either, I guess.

Their 2021 forray however is a much different kind of thing - once again, going for lyrical non-cliches, Victoria tells a tale about her inner turmoils and continuing in life, in a way that’s personal to her and also kind of relatable to all of us. We all have these moments of fear and anxiety and nervous systems aching. If only there was someone who’d tell us that we’re worth saving... thanks a lot Victoria, you’re the MVP. Filling in the void that Netherlands from last year had brought us but not anymore - another personal song about getting old and having those kind of feelings inside - and doing a great job at taking the baton in the right way (even with featuring the word “grow” in both of the titles, neat coincidence).

Not only the lyrics feel like a hug, the song just emulates ray of sunshine and golden glitter coming down from the sky, Molly Sanden style. The violins in the G major key playing so precisely, building up momentum throughout the entire song, slowly but surely - starting with the ticking clock in the first verse that may have subtle violin in there; and the first chorus is just so simple piano, and then the second chorus has a tinge of electronic something, and the last chorus goes full in with the backing vocals boosting the song, after Victoria performs the quite magnificent bridge... now I don’t have synesthesia but I associate music keys with colors, and to me G major would always come across as something yellow or orange - “Growing Up Is Getting Old” is a perfect example of why’s that for me. And obviously, Victoria’s love for harmony-humming (even if there’s just one instance of it after she sings “star crossed soul”) complements the song to a T.

And it turned out to be a much better choice than last year’s. Maybe finally a female ballad I am getting behind.

Now I wanna know why the bookies don’t appreciate THIS entry as much as last year?

Granted, now it’s 2021 and the environment is so much different, and the songs have changed, and the dynamics have changed, and now there’s suddenly more competition at stake. And for Bulgaria it fares quite much more underwhelmingly - well, at this moment they’re like 6th, which isn’t bad, but there’s a lack of sung praises coming its way, not quite a feat that “Tears Getting Sober” actually achieved, being the bookies fave right before the cancellation of last year. In general the year has been pretty dry for the previous winner picks like Iceland, Lithuania and this, but I can’t say that the previous winner bets from 2020 are all that dead either? Though I gotta say that Bulgaria wasn’t gonna win 2020 anyway, so it’s a lose-lose in this case.

Also I just can’t at that music video being a little dramatic at the beginning, with the cancellation of Eurovision being presented as if it were a worldwide disaster during which we all shall lock ourselves into bunkers and wait until the better days, eventhough the panini is not war and war supplies kit is not just enough to survive it. But it seems like that the world is quite literally falling apart, as evidenced by Victoria going through all kinds of pathways away from her living room, meeting a  (presumably) mini version of her somewhere in between, and literally surrounded by the shaking environment by the last moments of the song

before we realize it was just reality recursing from the TV’s point of view that Victoria was watching all along, and then she leaves the living room again, but in her world, everything is normal and she could just go wherever she wants by car. Even I can’t come up with a storyline ending that’s somewhat intertwined and all plot-twisty and more confusing than that. But props to her team I guess

Approval factor: Let’s say I somewhat approve this message. Follow-up factor: For the sake of argument let me just say that Bulgaria is moving on a great path, eventhough the former entry leaves me cold, at least the current entry keeps me warm at all times, like a cup of cocoa and a good blanket. Please Bulgaria, never run out of sponsors. Qualification factor: I’ve seen one or two people throw around the “surprise NQ” tag for this song and I don’t get why??? There’s no way that the tense atmosphere of semifinal 2 would sure-fire-ly kill Bulgaria, even if they have a lot less chances to win this year than they had the last one. There can be some shock NQs indeed though, and if there are, I am paging... uhhhhh Finland? Idk why but you might see what I mean if I ever get around to reviewing “Dark Side”. Bulgaria? Never. It may not win the semi but it will cradle around the top 7 somehow.

INTERNAL NF CORNER

That’s right, Bulgaria managed to do both.

At the time when one other of Bulgaria’s songs got released, within the *Special* Eurovision September 1st-onwards range, people naturally succumbed to their primal instinct of asking whether that’s her Eurovision song... only for Vic to probably announce this early on that no, it’s just *one* of potential ESC entries she’s harbouring. And the remaining potential ones were all on her debut EP. Who actually got a more well-orchestrated schedule for everyone to follow, and yet, people were much more keen to cling on the first EP song out of the gate, “Imaginary Friend”. Now I get that the fans of that song were super upset at the revelation that IF is not going, but it is a technically strong song for the sake of being a technically strong song, and I don’t want to think that Victoria is only forced to choose the songs that can win for her, so she’s such a sweetheart for gravitating towards a song she could dearly care about. So props to her team saving the initial winner for last to be revealed, lol.

Though wasn’t her personal favourite a Billie-Eilish-lite-upbeat-kinda-track Phantom Pain?

Which was also my personal favourite?

Look, I know that favouring the only non-ballad in the whole lineup (well “Ugly Cry” is also not quite a ballad but its beat is kinda so-so, so I tend to ignore it) is kinda sus, also, y’all are sick to death to Billie Eilish comparisons, but I do believe that Billie would never be able to do an “Imaginary Friend” while Victoria could do a “Lovely”. This makes me remember the cover art of Billie’s debut album where she sits on her bed, dressed in white, and so is Victoria on this very MV, with strange shit going on behind her in the mirror. To the mirror, her reflection acts creepy, back again.

The other 2 I don’t feel like caring about enough, sure they got their cred, sure there’s one entry properly crediting Milanov (who seems to not have an actual entry this year that’s purely attributed to *him*, as opposed to 3 last year, 2 of which were performed by acts that returned this year????), sure there’s the funny thing about having a funeral song where out of this and Finland only Austria managed to send a quote unquote “funeral” song, but I think the funeral song would’ve sounded better if the pre-section of it on the “Phantom Pain” video was THE “funeral” song itself, and not whatever was that other funeral song.

In between there was a public sort of survey where people could submit feedback and positive words to Vic’s choices to help her decide - I didn’t get to vote but I feel fine with the winner eitherway, and that counts for something! And the end result was revealed at the very end of Victoria’s very own rooftop concert.

The colors on the circle thingy of this, they were meant to symbolize all Bulgarian entries up to Victoria’s 2nd one, in pictograms that kind of reminded me of Coldplay attributing every song on ‘Mylo Xyloto’ its own little symbol.

The concert was not only full of music and also adverts for the inaugural sponsor iCard (that also included some element of foreshadow in between the suspense, you’ll see why), but also the Bulgarian folk talking before each song, saying all the positive nice words they can for Vic; that she’s talented, and that they were so excited that Bulgaria was doing well in the odds last year prior to cancellation, bla bla bla... also some people were proud of voting for Bulgaria outside Bulgaia, and they made puns about the forthcoming songs on the concert that they were introducing, and so on, and there was also someone called Dara, whom I really want to be sent by Bulgaria one day to show off that they’re not afraid of doing trashy-esque bops that don’t necessarily win

Also they reminded me that Lucy from No Angels (aka the sole reason Bulgaria 12��d Germany in 2008) still exists.

Also Azis.

There was also an intermission where Eurovision 2021 acts could say all the nice words to Victoria on their own part. And several artists chose to... how shall I put it... use up their several seconds rather interestingly. Like how The Roop would say something real quick only to delve into more of their usual “let’s dance, let’s discoteque! *hand scissors* ;P” self-promo, and Senhit carelessly being allowed to say whatever she wants in Italian without subtitles <3 Sorry sis, they’re only given to people from another white-green-red flag-color country.

About the iCard foreshadow... so there’s their advert about Victoria waiting in the line to get something in the Soft Vocals Store, and people ahead of her giving her money the standard oldfashioned way, and the old lady at the counter is... slow, to say the least. After a good amount of time spent waffling around, Victoria finally pulls out the iCard application and pays for the imaginary items she wants, then narrates some stuff about said application, and a Eurovision entry of hers plays when the old lady is at home, spending time in front of TV enjoying the music. Before the concert, the song that played was “Tears Getting Sober”. The advert played once more before Victoria’s big entry decision and entry MV reveal, and in place of the 2020 entry, “Growing Up Is Getting Old” was the one that sounded out loud... Now you may think that there were attempts at some sort of spoilage here, but after that ad before the concert EP NF result, there was this other advert starring Victoria that played “Imaginary Friend” at the end, a last-ditch effort to trick viewers into going “see? just because that ad played the chosen song doesn’t mean it’s the chosen song!! this song could as well be a chosen song as well!!” yeah no shut up GUIGO IS the chosen song kthxbyebye.

ANY LAST WORDS?

Having said all that praise, I actually have “Growing Up Is Getting Old” fairly low on my ranking. It’s just because the year is so damn good and I have a lot more songs to care about more than this, but I appreciate the gesture that this singer is sending very much. Good luck on your road to conquer Europe, Victory-ia, I’m sure you get the best of the experience and all, because you would deserve it.

[yimra]

Fallout or just general apocalyptic factions that’d be cool to see

Biker gang that eventually goes mad max level of worship to motorcycles since gangs already have a command structure and major cultural iconography and can work very well in setting up businesses and so on as well as being hard core Jack boots. Plus the aesthic fits for fallout or just any apocalyptic setting pretty much ww2 and on. (Same goes to other criminal organizations but outside of some mafia groups and yahkuza biker gangs are pretty cool and can get away with being very aggresive if plot needs that vibe)

Political based militia groups, the politics can vary it can be something very simple as communists, capitalists, facists, etc but can also be something unique for an apocalyptic setting. Armed heavily probably stole military gear during downfall. Over time they can be more civilized in the sense of not just hit and run scavenging, or let that be its rot that makes them somewhat easy to take down in the end

Death cult or any cult variation has been a bit over done but if u just did it with Scientology that would be great cause then killing Scientologist is okay if not down right funny

If it’s a long way after a downfall you could go full tribal or a culture that is unique to its own with English being kinda unique with new words and an accent that is a mix of others or one created solely for said faction would be cool to see.

Former prisoners would be a good faction as well seperate from the biker gang one due to the fact that prisons are very diverse in orginsations and that can lead to many sub groups that can also be ducking it out. And as with all of these the further down the line the more intersting they can be developed.

Farmers, just chill farmers you know they’re packing they’re probably passive as long as you don’t fuck with them and boy howdy is there probably several other heavily armed families of farmers that will shoot your ass off from 700 yards for going over their fence.

Trading/merchant clan this one would be more advanced just cause they would build a strong system of commerce and protected roads, get schematics and factories running up.

Nomadic people’s (could be the bikers but idk of a single Mc that doesn’t have a major house of operations or something.) they could travel by modern wagon modified cars and trucks deuce and a half’s would be smart. Just straight up horses as well.

National guard that were deployed, now using their military base and the surrounding area. It can go a lot of ways depending what you wanna say about the military.

Modern day religions but more intense. I’m not adding much to this cause y’all read them holy books more than me.

Forgein country militants that were insurgents or proper army before downfall is always good be very intersting to see what a society of people like that would do when they realize getting home may never happen again.

There’s probably more but I’m dying of heat stroke

[iseulcwu]

hey hey ♥, it’s nie again!! this time i’m bringing you one hot mess with so many daddy issues, kwon iseul!! like before you’ll find a tl;dr with some history regarding iseul, some potential plots, and the works below the cut. stats, bios and what not to come. can’t wait to get this train rolling once more ♥

this leo sun, capricorn moon, leo rising is the daughter of a former escort-turned-model-and-actress and the ceo of an imports/exports business. there’s a lot to unpack here.

a very brief stats situation —

name: kwon iseul age: twenty birthplace: seoul, south korea canon: lust club and position: book club, vice president major: double major in philosophy and economics with a minor in business administration birthday and zodiac sign: july 28th, 1999 — omg she’s a leo sexual orientation: bi for some reason languages spoken: korean ( fluent ), japanese ( conversational ), english ( conversational ), french ( conversational )

this life she’s lived —

♔ iseul’s mom was not her father’s first wife. no, she was the third. the two had met after he requested her once for an escorting service, and then five and then twenty more times. it was an odd marriage, still is ( if you can believe that they’re still married on paper ) ♔ mom leaves the home when iseul is four and comes back here and there between trips around the world. she brings her daughter gifts, but these are empty things and no true replacement for a mother’s love. ♔ her father, who gives her just a little more love has the young girl wrapped around her finger. but what little he gives her is never enough. ♔ why is iseul never enough? ♔ she’s not enough for the mother and father who have other priorities, and she’s not enough for the friends she’s made — she seeks them out but it is never the other way around, they only want her around when they need something from her. ♔ when she tires of chasing after the love of others, she decides that all of these emotions are more disadvantageous to her than anything else. she tires of chasing after her friends and begging anyone and everyone to lover her. she deserves so much more than this, right? sure. ♔ attendance was mandatory for company parties; as her father’s only daughter, she should ( in theory ) inherit the company one day, and the parties, more than anything, were a good way for her father to introduce her to future business partners. ♔ by the time she was a sophomore in high school, the sweet smiles that were so natural for iseul had turned bitter, and she feigned happiness at these parties. ♔ her worldview had matured ( and had become cynical ) at the same time that her body had matured; and people noticed.  ♔ the first person she sleeps with ( ever ) is the cfo of the company. a little older than her father, but much gentler in the way he carried himself. he treated her well, and in return she allowed him to indulge himself with her body. ♔ she’d sneak off to see the man often, after the after school violin classes, his driver would pick her up and spirit her away. ♔ it was taboo in every sense of the word; even more so, because iseul was underage...this was a crime. still, this was the only way she knew how to feel. ♔ the second person to ever lay with her was an actress, the wife of a client of her father’s.  ♔ the third was the president of another company, the fourth her father’s own secretary.  ♔ iseul had last slept with a governor when the rug was pulled out from beneath her feet. the governor’s husband had found the two post-coitus, and had immediately contacted the young girl’s parents. ♔ her mother is surprised but impressed. her father is mortified and all too disgusted. ♔ at home the man is enraged, calls her a string of derogatory names and laments the kwon reputation. how could she do this? they argue late into the night, the young girl’s tears matching her fathers, “was this a punishment?” he had asked her “what did i do wrong?” ♔ she wanted to feel bad, really she did, but feeling one thing would lead to feeling another and she wasn’t sure she could do that anymore. she was scared of the strength of her own emotions. it is 3 in the morning when he sits her down at the dinner table and demands she write down every last name of every last person she’s had sex with ♔ a pregnancy test, as well as several other tests and half a dozen nda’s later her father sat down with her again. “you will never do something like this again. you will not shame me like this, i didn’t raise you to be this way. iseul, i have to send you away. the nda’s reassure me that neither you nor them will talk about this, but that’s not enough for me. i’ve made a few arrangements, and you’re going to go to school in japan.”

plots? plots... ( ? )

♔ always wanna start this off with friends!! would be fun to find a dynamic for iseul where someone still hangs around despite the bitchiness and crazy amounts of sass. she’s an asshole, but she knows how to be a good friend. ♔ okay so who is lucky enough ( or unlucky enough idk ) to be her roommate????? ♔ you were going out with so-and-so and iseul slept with so-and-so and now you and so-and-so are over. maybe iseul didn’t know you were going out, but maybe she didn’t...i’m not sure she would care at this point. BUT DRAMA, you do not like her one bit. ♔ mayhaps she slept with your mom or your dad...and mayhaps that ruined your parents relationship, mayhaps not. but the first time she saw you she probably said something along the lines of “ oh!! you’re (insert mom or dad’s first name of all things)’s kid!! ” ♔ a one night stand becomes a two night stand becomes three. a long time ago. now neither one of you indulges in the other like before, but when things are rekindled between the two of you, its more intimate now, friendship more for you than the sex could ever be. ♔ you know me, a hoe for that lovie dovie shit. okay for iseul, sex has become a hobby, something that she does often and without much feeling ( but, damn, she does it well ); she wants to pretend so badly that she’s as unfeeling as they come but that’s untrue. ♔ probably someone who is not as experienced in the sexy things as iseul and iseul is just like “hey you wanna hear about the time i did [xxx] with the ceo of [xxx] in his office, right before a meeting??” and probably helps this person come out of their shell ♔ and like before, other plots?? like i said last time ( verbatim ): i can always brainstorm with you guys and see what flows. can’t wait to write with all of you <3 i’ll probably be sliding into your discord dms later!!

[viktcria-blog]

stellaluna • viktoria “vik” • aaland s u l l i v a n

icy breezes float across naked flesh as melodies coated in melancholia float across stale air. useless factoids trail across their mind, she traces patterns against florals sitting in tepid water. she strokes the neck of an empty champagne bottle, shatters it against marble. they say it’s all too much, the thought beckons bumps to rise against her skin.

d e m o g r a p h i c s

full name: stellaluna viktoria “vik” aaland

age: twenty-one 

sexuality: bisexual 

gender: demiwoman / she & they

major & minor: psychology ( major ) & anthropology ( minor )

♪ icy — kim petras

family • history • connections • plots  under the cut & exhaustive

f a m i l y

                father ( adoptive / deceased )                                   mother ( adoptive )                    peter aaland ( sol invictus )                             camille aaland ( née bordelais )

                                                    grandmother ( adoptive )                                      vikoria “angelique” bordelais ( née eriksson )

( cancer / death tw for everything below this warning )

• their father was a musician who went by the alias “sol invictus” ( after the roman sun god ), his band, invincible, was extremely successful in the late eighties / early nineties and has some classics ( the most helpful comparison i have for sol is kurt cobain mixed with alex turner and flung back to the 90s. )

he was diagnosed with cancer when vik was a child, and became involved with a faith healer and his cult ( the sun’s chosen children ) before his death. after his death, there was a vicious battle over his estate, as he left everything to the cult and its manipulative leader. this is a dark chapter of vik’s life, and she didn’t entirely understand what was going on due to her young age, just that her father was dead and it ruined her mother. sol’s involvement with the chosen children was the subject of much tabloid gossip, and so was the legal battle.

• her mother was a model and the daughter of a swedish-french film star ( the original viktoria ) who married an “english screenwriter with a french name.” camille is very fond of horses and horse racing and has spent large parts of her life on stud farms ( including her own parents’ stud in england, where her mother retired to ), and currently lives on one in mexico, somewhat close to mexico city.

• viktoria is adopted, she was born in sweden  ( which both of her adoptive parents had a connection to ) and placed for adoption by her birth parents shortly after. they don’t particularly care to know anything about their birth parents, and haven’t made any effort to seek them out. they were adopted when they were two years old, so they retain some vague memories of the orphanage, but they can’t speak swedish anymore.

h i s t o r y

places lived

stockholm ( childhood )

tokyo ( childhood )

los angeles / new york city ( childhood )

oxfordshire ( childhood / as a teenager )

mexico city / valley of mexico ( as a teenager )

paris ( to attend the paris opera’s ballet academy, as a teenager )

important / helpful information

being a rockstar’s child had its difficulties and successes. vik was always the coolest child in any given room ( at least, by default ) but she spent most of her childhood in impermanent places: tokyo ( two years while sol & invincible were recording a reunion album ), los angeles and nyc ( whenever her father’s profession demanded it ), oxfordshire with her mother and grandmother, stockholm for a few years post-adoption. they never made many real friends, and cultivated a reputation for being just like silk ( pretty and difficult to hold onto ) over time. they’re used to being alone.

dancing, particularly classical ballet, was their first love. they took their first class in tokyo when they were still very young, and they were good. when she was dancing, vik wasn’t someone else’s child, she was her own person, with her own passions. after their father’s death, their mother became despondent ( especially as the legal battle was lost ) and they needed to get away, so they used some of their talent and a lot of nepotism to audition for the paris opera’s ballet academy ( one of the best in the world. ) not that they’ll admit to the nepotism. from age 12-17 vik lived alone in paris, attending the academy and going by her mother’s maiden name ( bordelais ) in order to deny any connection to their father. 

vik stopped dancing when she was 18, after she moved back in with her mother after her grandmother’s death ( without her, her mother would have been completely alone, so it was necessary, and repayment for the five years of freedom she had been afforded. ) but dancing remains their first, and currently only, love, and she still does it. just not under the eyes of any teacher.

their gender expression is hyper feminine ( lots of glitter and neon ) but this doesn’t mean they’re a woman. vik identifies as demigender ( specifically a demiwoman / demigirl ) and came to the realisation that she was not fully comfortable with her identity was a girl for the first time after her father’s death. they don’t particularly care to explain it more than “you can be feminine without being female.” anyone who comes into proximity of her is aware of her pronouns and identification. 

they didn’t want to go to providence. when they were applying, they were disgusted by the enormous wealth and privilege that surrounded them ( nevermind how often she uses hers ) and found it repulsive. but providence was the best school and the easiest to bribe, and in the end, the college was very, very far from mexico city.

in their first semester, they mostly kept to themself, keeping their head down so no one would ask questions about who they were or where they came from. but in her second semester, vik started performing again: she had a third story window, a highly fuckable toned body, and she missed ballet. egged on enough times by partygoers struggling through snow or melt, they would take to their window, a silhouette of a person, smooth bare skin and mystery. performing became parties. parties became more parties. being a partygoer became being sol invictus’ child.

they’re in a constant state of reinvention. are they a good student, or just rich and the child of someone famous ? does she like the endless bacchanalia and orgiastic weekdays, or is it all she knows at this school ? what the fuck is vik going to do with themself after graduating with the degree they don’t care about ? don’t ask.

tldr no one understands what she’s doing, let alone her. & they have a reputation as the person to go to for a party.

c o n n e c t i o n s  ( q u i c k f i r e )

champagne prince(ss): someone vik parties with, possibly a procurer of illicit substances, they have a soft spot ( possibly romantic ) for them

twisted sibling: horribly toxic relationship that consists mostly of egging each other on and fucking each other up 

cheat sheet: vik doesn’t like to study, so they’re her go-to “study partner.” aka, the person she bribes to help her ( aka.... write her papers for her )

invincible ? don’t know them: someone who’s a fan of vik’s father’s band / knows all the gossip and is intrigued by why it was like to grow up as sol’s child

no danes allowed: international kids club ? ( aside: idk what citizenship vik even has lol ? i just realised this ! )

p l o t s 

cause of you, now my heart is so icy ( former lover / enemy / angst / pining / fuck it )

vik’s first real relationship, started at providence, probably in second year ? very intense, ended really, really badly ( think public shouting matches. ) occasionally, always, in moments of weakness, they miss this person immensely, and considering going back / taking them back. she doesn’t even remember why it ended in the first place, at this point. ( but some part of vik also knows it will end in the same fiery crash if they try again. )

this could also be platonic because losing friends ? painful.

gave me something to believe in  ( member of or close to / fascinated by the sun’s chosen children cult )

for the most part, the cult that their mother is certain played a role in killing their father hasn’t played a role in vik’s life in years ( beside camille aaland’s refusal to say its name of the name of its leader. ) but new york is a big place, and the internet is strange and vast, so this plot involves someone who is a member of, or close to someone who is a member of, or is interested in the sun’s chosen children ( a “self help group” dedicated to spiritual healing and the abandonment of modern medicine, in actuality a cult. ) vik still carries a lot of resentment for what they did to her mother and some small part of them fears the chosen children. so living / partying / studying in close proximity to someone who is involved with them is probably not going to end well.

don’t search me in here, i’m already gone baby ( “perfect match” / counterpart / mystery )

someone vik is highly interested in ( platonically / romantically / sexually / whatever, 22 year olds are dumb ). they feel like every time they try to get close to this person, they slip away, which is something vik has a lot of practice doing herself. she doesn’t like it being turned back on her, and she’s starting to run out of patience for them.

... but not yet. 

i ain’t ever gonna settle ( patron / private shows / throwing parties so one person will come / ideal / disaster in the making )

dancing is such a big part of vik’s life, and stopping their dance career may be one of the few things they actually regret. this person is vik’s “dance partner” and “patron”, someone who always encourages her to dance for / with them ( sometimes in private, wink, but as always this could be platonic ) and whose approval she craves for no reason she could name. they’re stumbling towards being dependent on this person, and it’s not going to end well, but for right now, it’s passionate and full of feelings and admiration and divine adoration. 

[virtuissimo]

Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse (Review)

Roanhorse has effectively cemented herself as a visionary in indigenous futurism with her rich world-building, her casual commentary on the powers that be, and even her dynamic and lovable characters, but I think it’s perfectly clear that this is her debut novel. She definitely gets lost in the sauce plot-wise towards the end, and there are several points where the potential for improvement is obvious. Nonetheless, she’s got me rearing for the next book already, and I will definitely be following this series.

This is the kind of book where I really think you can get the most out of it if you go in blind with very little prior knowledge of the book, and it really is a good one. I encourage yall to give it a go. If you don’t care about getting a little more detail, I’ll go into a spoiler free section.

No Spoilers

Okay, first thing I’ve gotta talk about is the setting. First off, it’s AWESOME. The setting is about 6? 7? years after an apocalypse. The explanation for it is really organic and it informs a lot of how the book proceeds.

Idk if this counts as a spoiler so it’s in its own paragraph, but basically the apocalypse was a series of natural disasters around the world plus a major flood that drowned out most of the continental U.S. except for a few walled off city states. The walls are specifically and emphatically NOT the ones that the Trump administration is gunning for—Roanhorse dismisses that quite quickly. These walls were ones that local communities decided to put up, and they are made of beautiful materials that have cultural significance for the Dine.

My favorite thing about the setting is the societal organization. Dinetah is a really interesting place because of the ubiquity of Dine people & culture, but also because Roanhorse obviously has a lot of really interesting thing to say about what apocalypse means to a people that have already had their apocalypse. They already had foreign invasion and genocide, they already had their numbers chipped away to a shadow of its former size, they already had their land destroyed beyond recognition. So what does it mean when in apocalypse destroys the society that destroyed yours? I think Roanhorse’s answer is that it did more good for the Dine than bad. They are freer and safer in an apocalypse, even DESPITE the presence of monsters everywhere.

One thing I really liked about her approach to Dinetah was the use of language. To quote a journal entry I wrote about this book: “Roanhorse makes creative use of Dine words and language. There is no glossary, and sometimes there isn’t even an in-text translation. English speakers are forced to pick up Dine words with no life preserver just as so many non-English speakers are forced to do the same in our world.” Most of the concepts, like clan powers and ghosts and monsters, have a Dine word attached to them, and you learn to recognize them as you read. She doesn’t remind you of their definition either: you either paid attention the first time it came up or you’re screwed! It was just an interesting stylistic choice, and I enjoyed the experience.

Another note about the setting that I love: I LOOOVE the references to the other citystates. I think one was New Detroit? New Denver? And there was a Mormon citystate (when I read that I screamed) and there was one called Aztlan (!!!!!) which was very exciting for me. I have complicated feelings about Aztlan because I think most people who live in this post-apocalyptic citystate would probably not be indigenous Mexicans but rather americanized mestizo Chicanos who think they have an inherent claim to the land just because they colonized it first, but I think as an indigenous author I can trust her to develop a nuanced view of Aztlan and what that means for Mexican Americans (especially consider the fact that she had several sensitivity readers mentioned in her acknowledgements). I really hope we get a chance to explore those in future books.

Oh, also: there are no white people in this book. Like, none. They reference them in vague terms, but I don’t think there was a location or scene that had a white person even in the background, and there were certainly no speaking parts for white people in this book. So basically I loved that. I do that often in my own writing but it’s so rare in mainstream fiction. There is a family that is not Dine in the book, but they are a large black family. With regards to the writing of the black characters: I noticed that her physical descriptions of them sometimes had words that I’ve seen on lists of What Not To Say About Black Characters (comparing skin color to food, particular words used to describe hair, etc.), but I flipped to the author bio and she apparently is black as well as indigenous so I guess my concerns weren’t really relevant lol. One of these characters is also gay, and I thought his characterization was a little bit weird, but it’s fine I guess.

Now I haven’t seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I’ve read a spinoff from the same universe and have heard enough about it to see the obvious inspiration that Roanhorse took from it. This is not necessarily a bad thing, of course; Buffy has a very particular energy where it’s fantastically easy to get invested. Maggie Hoskie as a hero is easy to love, and even as someone who doesn’t typically like lengthy action sequences, I found the fighting scenes thrilling. However, at the same time Roanhorse commits some of the same mistakes in writing her female protagonist that Joss Whedon so famously introduced into the mainstream, and there are a few times where it becomes difficult not to roll your eyes.

As I’ve seen other reviewers note, Maggie as a character is very reliant on the men in her life. She describes early on how her life was saved by Niezghani, an immortal godlike monster slayer, and his presence in her thoughts influences nearly every decision she makes throughout the novel. Some people have a problem with this; I personally think this is a fine set-up. The author takes great care to show how unhealthy her relationship with Niezghani is. Even when Maggie is talking about how great and powerful he is, how she should be grateful that he even gives her the time of day, we as a reader can tell something is very wrong with their relationship from the very beginning. I don’t really like the direction Roanhorse went with Niezghani (I’ll get into that in the spoilers section I guess), but I thought this relationship as a premise was fine.

I think where she slipped up a little was in putting her relationship with Kai, a mysterious and charming medicine man who helps her on her investigation/quest/whatever, as the center of the story. I guess technically we’re not certain about this since the whole series isn’t out yet, but I think it’s safe to assume this guy is endgame. The whole first half of the book is spent getting to know Kai, which I think is fine because he is a great character and truly charming. (I’m always suspicious of “”charming”” type characters because more often than not the author makes them annoying and presumptuous.) He actually seems to care about the things that are happening, he doesn’t make assumptions, he understands boundaries, and his kindness is genuine. I like Kai, okay, he’s great. BUT I think that spending so much time with him instead of ruminating with Maggie some more was a mistake.

I can understand WHY roanhorse did this: Maggie is someone who is very wrapped up in her thoughts, and 9 times out of 10 her thoughts are really fuckin depressing. I just think that a lot of time was spent characterizing Kai when it could have been done in less time and more efficiently.

The main thing about Kai is that his skills as a medicine man are very mysterious, and Maggie becomes curious very early on about the nature of his abilities. The answer to her questions, though, aren’t given until very very late in the book. In fact, we don’t understand everything about his medicine man secrets until like 10 pages from the end. I think this is way too late. First off, we don’t get to see him in action very much, and the way things go I really wish we had. Second, Roanhorse just wastes a lot of time in the beginning and crams a whole lot in the end. From a world-building perspective these sections are really cool and fascinating, but plot-wise it’s extremely inefficient that we learn about Kai in bits and pieces like this, especially since all of his secrets kind of come out one after the other all crowded at the end. I don’t know if she got the right balance in that tradeoff.

Another critique I’ve seen people have is that all of Maggie’s problems AS WELL AS the solutions to her problems revolve around the men in her life. I did think it was strange that Maggie was essentially the only major female character in the whole book. There was Rissa, but she was a minor character and didn’t have much agency in the plot. I would say that Maggie did have agency, and the way she carries herself both in conversation and in action both suggest that she is making her own decisions independent of male influence. I see where these critiques are coming from, though, and I agree that more of her story should have been herself rather than obsessing over these men.

Minor spoilers I guess: One scene that I think most socially conscious people rolled their eyes at was the decision to create a plot point where she had to get all dolled up in a sexy outfit because Reasons. And then people had that weird Oh My God So Hot moment that we are all so fond of (/s). Annoying tropes like that rear their ugly faces from time to time, but this is the only one that really irritated me.

Yea. I mean. It’s a good book. I think yall should read it. As I’ve said, the worldbuilding and setting is awesome, the characters are super cool, the action is cool and Actually let’s just get into the spoilers.

SPOILERS

Coyote was one of my favorite characters. I think Roanhorse may have wanted him to be a morally gray could-be-either-side type of character, but I really saw him as a straight up villain just because he never actually did help them in a way that didn’t backfire. I love reading him though; the sheer chaos that he brings to every scene really appealed to my gayer side. I don’t know if this is an aspect to him that is commonly seen in folktales or something, but I did think that he was a little over the top creepy about the sex stuff though. When he said that shit about Maggie jacking off to Niezghani I was just…ok he’s crossin some Lines here. Also he was constantly making Kai and Maggie uncomfortable sexually, so I don’t really get why they were always so willing to trust him. Still, he was SO interesting. Whenever he showed up I was instantly enthralled.

One thing that got on my nerves a little was that from the very beginning, it was very clear that Kai and Maggie being endgame is a given. Don’t get me wrong, Roanhorse put in the work to make them seem like a really organic and natural couple. And I guess it’s kind of respectable that she didn’t try to pretend like it wasn’t gonna happen, cuz we all knew. But I think it was a little annoying that EVERYONE, including Tah and Longarm and Grace and Coyote and Kai and EVEN MAGGIE at times were basically of the attitude that they were just biding time until they eventually hook up one day. She really didn’t have to do all that; I liked them as a couple already!

Okay but plot-wise, I have to say this, but Roanhorse REALLY got lost in the sauce there. The final battles were so complicated, and there were actually 3 different scenes that felt like they could be the final battle but then there was more (the battle where Rissa got gutted, the Niezghani versus Maggie fight, and the Black Mesa battle). I feel like she couldn’t decide on a conclusion for book one and just threw all that in there for good measure. In any case, it made the last third of the book really messy and unfocused.

I think she also had too many Reveals. Like, Niezghani revealed Kai’s identity, Kai reveals his true intentions, Coyote reveals his plan, Maggie reveals her counter-plan, and Coyote reveals the circumstances of her nali’s death. TOO MUCH. It was all so cloudy and confusing towards the end, especially with regards to Coyote’s plan. First of all, I didn’t really understand what his plan was on first read, and I ESPECIALLY didn’t understand why he took the time to explain it to her. Second off, I didn’t understand Maggie’s counterplan (I don’t think it’s explained in too many words?) and I ESPECIALLY didn’t understand how they planned to have Kai survive. (Now that I’ve had time to think about it I suppose it’s related to his fast healing situation probably, and they just decided to murk him and see if he was actually immortal or whatever the fuck.) Also Kai and Maggie had that whole conversation about their love life right in front of Niezghani………messy as fuck and also is this really the time?????

One thing I really liked about the beginning of the book was that Maggie was such an unreliable narrator when it came to Niezghani. Like, it was pretty obvious that he’s garbage from the beginning, but Maggie just idolizes this man and you have to like scream into the book WHYY??? But the only way that she’s able to idolize him that way is that he presents himself as a mentor, as an authority, and maybe not so much as a caring figure as much as someone to look up to. He is, if nothing else, RESPECTABLE. But when he finally shows up in the Maggie v Niezghani fight, he is not respectable. He is overtly cruel in a way everyone, including Maggie, can see. He is overtly manipulative. He is overtly uncaring and honestly terrible. But this portrayal of him is SO MUCH LESS NUANCED than it was at the beginning of the book. I wish Roanhorse had had the guts to make him more complicated. To make him ACT apologetic or ACT like a mentor, but to make him a hypocrite. That, to me, would have been much more interesting. I understand that trauma informed a big part of the reason Maggie trusted him in the first place, but I wanted to meet the smooth and enchanting man that Maggie fell in love with but all I saw was this horrible person who never even tries to hide how horrible he is.

Of course, as this is just the first book, we don’t really know what is to come. Since Niezghani is just chillin under the dirt, I think we can assume that he’ll be back. Nonetheless, I’m a bit disappointed that he was pacified/restrained at the end of this book. I kind of hoped that after this confrontation, Maggie would have an epiphany about all the shit he put her through, and then in following books he would be the main antagonist. They would have various run-ins, but only in the final book has she truly built up the strength to get her comeuppance. Or something like that. I just wanted Niezghani’s role to be stretched out is all. I wanted her arc of truly unpacking all of that mess to be over the course of several books, not just one novel in which she’s also distracted by her budding romance with Kai and also the monster stuff.

So yea. It’s a good book. There’s problems, as I’ve clearly stated, but honestly a lot of them come across to me as rookie errors. This is her debut novel, and I don’t think it’s that weird for her to use these tropes in ways that I as a reader don’t care for. However, I definitely think that the pieces are there for her to make excellent use of her setting and characters and pull together a really energetic and thrilling series. Looking forward to returning to the Sixth World!

[husberttee]

A Long Ass Guide To VAV

VAV – Very Awesome Voice

Soooo since there were some people who did like my idea of making a guide like this I thought ‘cool let’s do it!‘ I hope this can help people finde out about them and maybe motivate some of you do give them a listen and some love!

Ok so first some general facts;

They had their debut in 2015 with 6 members under AQ Entertainment, which is now A-Team Entertainment. I’d like to point out here, that this company provides ENGLISH SUBTITLES for us (!!!!) which is pretty damn awesome.The group underwent (is that a word) a couple of lineup changes which I will explain further when I come to the members individually. A Fun facts: they have a pretty big spanish following and were guests on a shit ton of youtube channels

Fanclub: Vampz (debut concept was vampires and werewolves and priests and. Yeeeh.Their debut was actually on Halloween. Supposedly there even was a whole ass webcomic but I never saw any of that, sadly.)

We’ll get to the number one most important part now

THE MEMBERS (in order of age)

1.       St. Van – The Leader

Real Name: Lee Geumhyuk

91 liner

Main vocal (POWER vocal) / Leader

A father

Probably speaks better Mandarin than Jacob / lived more than 10 years in China

Loves Jacob; votes Jacob by default

tries hard and gets dragged for it by the younger members

it was revealed that he likes to watch girl group dances (he said it’s because he needs to learn them to be able to show something at fanmeetings and such. Yeah sure bro me too.)

hear someone laughing in the back? That’s him.

roommates with Baron

embarrassed. Generally.

Completely demolished ACE birthday cake with the help of ZeHan once

Likes cars

can drink a lot of water??

Has sleeve-like tattoo on his shoulder/upper arm

2.       Baron

Real Name: Choi Chunghyeob

92 liner

Vocal

Fake Maknae 0.1 // he’s very cute

somewhat speaks english

Known for serenading a male fan with ‘I need a boy’

Super pretty // sweet voice // very good and underrated dancer // funny --> Real idol material right here

Apparently has ‘apple hips’ which are ‘popular’ among the members. Whatever that may mean…

Likes photography and making films

Plays games first thing in the morning

Talkative

A sunshine // scammed the company into giving him an extra allowance of 1000won in a game and spend it to buy fruit for the members

there’s a 26 second long video of him brushing his teeth on A-Teams official youtube channel (these hoes deleted it)

3.       ACE

Real Name: Jang Wooyoung

92 liner

Vocal

A Mom // currently raising Ayno and Jacob

Probably dating Ziu atm

asks members for reactions when he does things

Practices phonation /articulation in his sleep (super noisy, even people in nearby rooms can hear him)

Talks a lot

Wears sunglasses in the pool aka. will fight you in the pool while wearing sunglasses (swag is better than actually seeing your surroundings)

‘I look thinner with my clothes on’ kinda person // he’s ripped

Really likes sport and working out

The groups elected MC

He always seems to know what he’s doing

Covered Winners ‘Fool’ and it’s amazing his vocals are super beautiful

Mullet

4.       Ayno

Real Name: Noh Yoonho

 96 liner

rapper

Participated in the survival show No.Mercy in which Monsta X was formed, but got eliminated in the final rounds

Joined the group as a new member early 2017

Voted to be the cutest by VAV

Fake Maknae 0.2

Part time grill master (Roasts his members)

*Looks at the camera like he is on the office*

Skilled dancer

Writes his own rap

First reaction after seeing Jacob cry was to lie himself horizontal on his lap as a form of comfort or idk that’s the kinda friend he is

in charge of meme

his ideal type is ACE, apparentely

released a mixtape

5.       Jacob

Real Name: Zhang Peng

96 liner

Sub-Rapper / sub-vocal

Chinese

Quite introverted // worries his members cause they want to share his hard times but they feel like they can’t. What a family T-T

Manly manTM

Had a complete mental breakdown once with ugly sobbing and all after receiving a video letter from VAV

Voted himself visual of the group

Nickname ‘Cob’

Sassy af since he’s started to talk more

Idk but I think he’s rich he always wears expensive looking clothes

In charge of abs and keeping a straight face at all times // has super cute smile actually

‘I stream ‘Venus’ as soon as I get up in the morning’

Accidentally made out with ZeHan at pops in seoul

Got featured in the song ‘Trouble’ by former member XIAO

6.       Lou

Real Name: Kim Hosung

96 liner

rapper

member since 2017

Very confident

Super deep voice

Can speak english

Not having any of anyone’s shit (pls let ur members live)

Maybe a bit mean

Pretends to be manly

Majors in acting

Finds  lot of Joy in making fun of Ziu

Gets lots of affection in return that he absolutely really DOESN’T WANT

His most precious possession is the refrigerator

According to him his closest celebrity friend is James Bond

‘which place would you like to visit where you have never been?’ ‘my house’

7.       Ziu

Real Name: Park Heejun

97 liner

Vocal // I love his vocals byE

joined together with Ayno and Lou in 2017

No homo? Yes homo. (no video goes by without him trying to kiss at least ONE of his members)

King of being fake touched and overreaction

Always gets exposed

Raids the dorm refrigerator at around 5/6AM

Eats while being asleep

Suffers a lot from the maknae position

Ended up being my bias somehow

Cucumber anti

a cheerful fella

_______________________________________

Former / Members on hiatus under the cut further down ~ ____________________________________

That was it so far, but...!

They also have a kind of reality show which is called What’S Up? VAV and it’s very fun so I defintely recomment watching it!! Here is a season 2 playlist

Sadly A-Team deleted / put most videos pre-Venus era on private. Their newer Malaysia Videos are really funny though!!!

______________________________________________

MVs

At first I’d like to point out that their earlier songs had quite low production and it’s noticable sometimes. People found that parts of the songs sounded ‘off’. However, they improved every comeback a lot and as they changed producers for Venus they seriously stepped up their game. They have improved SO MUCH, are still getting better and really work hard!!

Debut - Under The Moonlight

Brotherhood (this mv was so fanfiction worthy actually)

No Doubt

Recollection (the FeelsTM)

Here I Am (winter song jacob no lines still good)

Venus / Dance With Me

Flower (this one is my favourite look at that aesthetic and the song was so good wow)

Middle Of The Night / ABC (a bob)

She’s Mine (a super bob)

Spotlight & Gorgeous (two MVs but kind of a package deal cause they’re basically one comeback)

Give it to me

Senorita

So In Love

Thrilla Killa (this one? slaps.)

I’m Sorry

Give me more' (Feat. De La Ghetto & Play-N-Skillz) (I sometimes watch this ONLY for St.Vans sleeve tattoo)

POISON (MOST RECENT!!! WATCH DIS!! ITS AWESOME!!)

Thanks for making it until here and Please stan VAV

Former Members / Hiatus

I will keep these short since the post is already long AS FUCK and while these members DO appear in many of their past videos (Ateam deleted most of the videos :/), ‘advertising’ them here wouldn’t do much good since you’re not going to see them with the group from now on

Xiao

Chen Xiao

Rapper

89 liner

Went on hiatus in 2016 (it was said he has to take care of his sick father)

He once appeared in a VAV video after he left and spend a day with them; the reunion was very heart warming

he made his solo debut with

Bubblegum

and

Share Ya

his song

Trouble

feat. Jacob

ZeHan

Lee Seungmin

Vocal

94 liner

Left to pursue a career as an actor

Was my bias why must u do dis to me

GyeoUl

Jung Un

Vocal

95 liner

Left to pursue a career as producer

[elliot-orion]

For the writing meme you reblogged, 3, 6, 19, and 20? ✨

Doing these for Sparks Fly!

3: Pick 3 songs to make a playlist

Umm i suck at playlist so uh. Good luck to me here, but I’d say broken by Lovelytheband, Hurry Hurry by Air Traffic Controller, and Drive by Halsey

6: are there any former titles you’ve considered but discarded?

I was using necro at first, just as a placeholder while it was an idea, but then i realized it was kind of weird and i had an awesome alternative in Sparks Fly considering its a romance and also that’s Sparky’s Super Name

19: Which character most fits a character trope? which trope?

I tried my best to avoid tropes in this one because i feel i always fit into tropes rather than having unique characters. So like, Hall is the super duper powered dark teen romance boy who doesn’t want to hurt his lovers with his powers, but he’s also an intellectual who loves poetry and writing. Sparky is the hyperactive ADHD kid, but he’s also really smart and soft and uses his ADHD to his advantage with his powers, and Scout is the assassin type, but he’s got severe anxiety too. So idk. Take your pick i suppose. 

20: Which character is the best writer? Worst?

Hall is the best, for sure. He graduated college with an english major and loves poetry, especially spoken word. Clarice (Hall’s twin sister), probably writes the worst because she’s dyslexic. Fun story, Hall got into writing because of helping her so much with English papers and books when she was young.

thanks so so much for the ask!! Your excitement is keeping me pumped!!

[boo1a4]

Questions Tag!

I was tagged by @s-lay-ing to do the 8 questions tag and by @mingyoose to do the 10 questions tag! They were very similar so I slapped them together! Thanks for tagging me guys 💜💜💜

So guess you just answer the questions given to you and then you give some of you own! Im just gonna do 8 because I'm lazy 😉

Have you ever seen a ghost or something weird? Not that I can remember... My old workplace was supposedly haunted haha, I don't mess with stuff like that though, one whiff of creepy and I'm gone.

Do you know any more languages? which ones and how did you learned them? I can only speak English unfortunately and very little Spanish from my job which is like 50% Spanish speakers.

Would you binge travel? If I could absolutely, Im not an extremely extravagant person when it comes to travel so id like to go to places near by that I've never been.

Are you the kind of person who barely remembers their former classmates and the stuff they did on the classroom or you’re the kind who remembers at least most of them and some of the stuff they did? Definitely the later, I could tell stories from kindergarten with names and details.

If someone gave you one billion dollars with the condition of spending it in a week, do you honestly thing you’d do it? Yeah why not? if you can't have it after a week what good does it do you? Like if the condition were that if in that week I didn't spend it it would go to some cause then probably no. 

What’s the major event/concert/sports event/other you’ve ever been to? I saw Panic at the disco in concert a few weeks ago which is something Ive wanted to do since I was like 13, so that was a big deal to me. But most of my favorite artists aren't huge (or they are old af) I've seen a lot of them but at smaller venues. Im not a huge one for sports but ive been to a few hockey games.

Is there a kpop group/artist everyone insists you should stan yet you just can’t because it doesn’t ring your bell/it’s not your cup of tea? (no need to name it if you don’t want to I don’t want to cause ww3) No offense intended but Twice isn't really my thing at all. Nothing to do with talent but their music just isn't my style! No hate its just not my thing! 

If you could create your own sm station and make a group with five members from any kpop group that exists (girls, boys or even mixed), who would you pick and what would be the concept of the group? (bitch I need a sm station with yixing, jackson, china line and winwin ;-;) owww that so hard! You may or may not be able to tell but Ive got a soft spot for vocalists (its a sickness) Sooo Jimin, Seungkwan, Youngjae, Kyungsoo, They would be like an angelic singing quartet harmonizing and shit. 😍 (lol its just my biases, I have a type) Also V and Chanyeols deep voices would be interesting to hear together. Im all for that china line masterpiece btw.

1. describe your dream holiday

Im a simple traveler, but I like places with a lot of history and culture!

2. what was the first kpop mv you ever watched?

I can't exactly remember but I think I was either Super Juniors Sorry Sorry or Mr. Simple not sure which! I also have a foggy memory of watching Growl after Alli Speed mentioned Exo in one of her videos. 

3. have you ever cried more than once watching a movie/tv series? 

Ive never full on cried while watching a movie or tv show, but last season of GoT got me pretty good 🚪😭 I've cried while reading plenty of books though.

4. what’s your favourite thing about kpop?

Is an incredible escape also its a very active community which I like! Music is like my number one thing in life in general so it just makes sense that I would like it! 

5. favourite animal?

my favorite animal is a cat. 😻

6. have you ever been to a kpop artist’s concert?

No 😭 but it will happen one day!

7. if you could change one thing from your past what would it be?

Idk maybe id do better in school?

8. are you a nighttime or daytime person?

I like when nighttime becomes morning best!

9. how long have you had this blog for?

3ish months?

10. name three things that make you laugh

Seungkwan, fresh meme content, and The Office.

My Questions:

1.Who was your very first Kpop bias/ bias group?

2.Favorite Classical artist (i.e. Picasso)? If you don't have one whats your favorite color haha? 🤣   

3. Mountains or Ocean?

4. Whats your favorite or most nostalgic article of clothing you own? something that brings back memories or is very special, weird question sorry.

 5.Are there any Kpop groups that you prefer their music to the actual group or vice versa? or you really like their music but you don't Stan the group per say.  

6. Favorite girl group song? 

 7. Favorite lyrics at the moment or just all time?

8. What kind of music do you listen to beside Kpop if any?

Tagging: @min-yoongini @kae-popx @artaehyung @vuleepix @maybehao @insecure-trash-bag @rosymingyu Do it if you want to, no pressure! 💜 anyone else who wants to please do it I’d love to see your answers!

[anonymoustalks]

I'm the first male in 6 generations to not become a coal miner. Dads a preacher, grandpas a preacher. I dont line up much with them.

(6-19-20) You both like politics.

You: hiyoo

Stranger: Hello

You: what's on your mind?

Stranger: Where are you from?

You: us east

Stranger: Same here. And mostly just different environmental roll backs. You?

You: mhm bail laws

You: which environmental rollbacks?

Stranger: Ones pertaining to furthering waste dumping into my local streams

You: oh...

Stranger: Making the fish inedible

You: are they local roll backs?

Stranger: Federal

Stranger: With local gov support though

You: ah...

Stranger: Yeah. Money over clean water I guess.

You: yeah I guess

You: are there rollbacks of bills or executive orders?

Stranger: Well this was from rolling back regulations in the clean water act a few months back. But my understanding is there are about 100 other regulations pertaining to water and air quality going to be rolled back.

You: ahh okay

Stranger: So what's on your mind?

You: oh I was just reading about bail reform, nothing particularly specific

You: I'm curious about the clean water act though because I'm not that familiar with it

Stranger: Oh damn, you mentioned that, my bad.

You: did congress vote to repeal it?

You: or does like trump/epa just have the authority to change parts of it?

Stranger: I think this was done by andrew Whittaker, head of EPA. But with urging from trump.

You: ahh I see

Stranger: Former coal exec and lobbyist in charge of the EPA. Lol

Stranger: What a time to be alive

You: yeah... trump clearly just wanted to gut the organization

Stranger: Yeah. I have many disagreements with trump but his stance on the environment is the number 1 thing that irks me.

You: I sometimes get asked by people "what bad things did trump" and I'm not informed enough to list things

You: so it's helpful to know about the clean water act specifically

Stranger: Yeah. If he believed in human driven climate change I could handle a lot more of the stuff he does.

Stranger: He has said the sound from wind turbines cause cancer lol

You: mhm my brother isn't very compelled by moral/stupidity arguments, so if I can't find like legitimate policy changes that trump has done, I don't think I'll be able to convince my brother very well

You: like he doesn't care if trump says stupid stuff

Stranger: Yeah I get that. I'm from west virginia, coal country. So even many of the bad things hes done dont matter with many folks here.

Stranger: I'll give trump credit on his foreign policy and that's it. I really thought we'd be in another war by now.

You: mhm

Stranger: Is your brother a hunter?

You: nope he's like an english major

Stranger: An english major who supports trump. That's an interesting combo.

You: yeah weird, right?

You: or well, he doesn't support anybody

Stranger: But he hates one side more than the other?

You: I'm not sure if he hates either side really

You: it's more like he believes that not that many bad changes have happened under trump

You: so he's fine with him getting reelected

Stranger: Well I guess ignorance is bliss. I dont know how to change someone like that's mind.

You: yeah idk

You: I think he's kind of politically apathetic

Stranger: Besides just pointing out things hes done lol.

You: like things don't affect him so he doesn't care

Stranger: Yeah I get that. I could see how trump would be appealing to people like that. If you remove all real life ramifications trump is funny as hell.

You: mhm

You: so what does your family think?

Stranger: I'm the first male in 6 generations to not become a coal miner. Dads a preacher, grandpas a preacher. I dont line up much with them.

You: ohh ^^

Stranger: But they're good people. Sometimes it's just hard not to lose my mind when discussing politics with them.

You: ahh yeah... do they get heated as well?

Stranger: Only on certain issues that I see as irrelevant. Things like gay marriage still gets them worked up.

You: ahh are you religious at all??

Stranger: Not really. I dont know if there is a god nor do I care. I just try to not be a dick.

You: right

You: I'm kind of visualizing a huge rift in your family haha ^^;

Stranger: Haha well it's not that bad. I keep in much of what I would say for the sake of preserving relationships.

You: ahh true

You: do you have other siblings?

Stranger: I have a sister. Shes turned out like the rest of the family.

You: oh is she older or younger?

Stranger: Older by 2 years. She has a couple children, married to a coal miner, goes to church 3 times a week.

You: ahh sounds conservative ^^

You: do you still live in west virginia or did you move out?

Stranger: I live here currently but only due to covid. I'll be moving to South Korea soon to teach english.

You: ohh wow!

You: that's really cool

Stranger: I'm excited. I've known a few people to do it and they've all loved it.

You: yeah that sounds really exciting

Stranger: I hope I can tune out some of the US politics while I'm there. If that's possible

You: mhm exhausting?

Stranger: Yeah and it's my fault for continually reading about it. But I cant seem to stop.

You: mhm for me I feel like i'm on and off

You: like I can go for months without reading the news

You: I think the protests drew me back to omegle haha

Stranger: That's amazing. I've kept up with it all consistently for 10 years. I love geography so sometimes I can take a break from US politics but it all leads back to politics eventually.

Stranger: I get on here for an hour every day while visiting my grandparents.

You: oh my goodness, that's a lot haha

You: I feel like you must have seen so much on omegle lolol

Stranger: Haha. I try to match on geography but I typically only get politics.

Stranger: It's new to me. Maybe been doing this for a month

You: ahh I see

You: I was like totally thinking to myself (omegle for 10 years?!)

Stranger: Hahahaha. I tried it probably 10 years ago but that was a different time and had nothing to do with politics lol

You: mhm yeah idk what it would have been like 10 years ago

Stranger: About the same. Back then video chat had less people jacking off and more people just goofing off and talking.

You: ohh

You: I never use video chat lol

Stranger: Dont

Stranger: It's terrible now lol

You: I think I might have tried it once and it freaked me out a little lol

Stranger: Yeah definitely. There are many strange people in this world.

You: mhm or at least

You: to some extent it's kind of amazing how many people can be horny at any given time

Stranger: No kidding. It makes me feel strange because of how un-horny i am 99% of the time.

You: i know right?!

Stranger: What's peoples fascination with sex? Like it's fun and all that but people are addicted to it lol

You: mhm yeah, or at least, I would ordinarily think that there'd be better things to do than come onto omegle for it haha ^^;

Stranger: So many of my friends have just always been focused on getting laid. Just never been a top priority for me.

You: ahh I've always been curious what that kind of culture is like

Stranger: Yeah lol. Wanting to jerk off to random strangers after 100x skips...

You: yeah I know lol

Stranger: I was like that in senior year of high school but it quickly lost its appeal. Not the omegle stuff

You: mhm

You: like I've never done tinder so I've always wondered what it was like

You: I read a statistic somewhere that like 50% of college kids did it or something

Stranger: Like if a girl is attractive but has no personality or interest it's impossible for me to be attracted to them

Stranger: Yeah I've never used it either. I considered it once but you needed a facebook and I didnt want to make one.

You: ohh

You: I didn't know it needed a facebook

You: you're pretty oldschool for not having one of those either haha

Stranger: Hahaha. It's because I have too high of an opinion of myself and find it easier to critique others :p

You: lol haha

Stranger: I have one opinion of facebook and even though I know it's incredibly diverse in the way it can be used I stick to my one notion of it

Stranger: I dont have any social media besides a WhatsApp that I downloaded to keep in contact with some international students form college

You: mhmm

You: I have a facebook but it's basically unused haha

You: I'm a bit too introverted I think

Stranger: That's a good quality. The thing that frustrates me about Facebook is however shares their opinion on everything.

You: facebook the company?

Stranger: How everyone*

You: ohh okay

Stranger: No just users

Stranger: I hear so much from friends about unfriending people over political beliefs.

You: ahh wow, I didn't realize there was so much of that kind of stuff

Stranger: Idk if there is for sure. But its prevalent in my friend group lol

You: mhm I'm basically silent and don't post anything haha

You: I don't think most of my friends know my political opinions

You: idk if that's a good or bad thing though

Stranger: Both probably lol. Save yourself some unnecessary conflict but I guess bad in the sense that you should stand up for what you believe

You: mhm right

You: I'm probably a terrible activist ^^;

Stranger: Hahaha. Most activists are terrible and 99% will never see what they want come true. I might be cynical though..

You: mhm, but I mean, I live through inaction, so I feel like it's not my place to criticize since I'm not even doing anything

Stranger: I can respect that. I criticize activists a lot mostly due to the order of my priorities. I can agree with activists but still be angry that they're not rallying against what I'd consider the most important issue.

You: ahh

Stranger: It's an issue

You: yeah it's definitely easy to get drowned out

Stranger: Hopefully living abroad with make me reexamine my beliefs

Stranger: Where there are so many things going wrong at once I just feel hopeless and I believe thinking badly of others is some sort of defense mechanism or something.

You: mhmm

Stranger: But I do have to go. It was nice talking with you. Good luck in your life friend.

You: you too!

You: it was great talking

Stranger: Goodbye

You: bye!

Stranger has disconnected.

[survivor-flops]

Immunity Challenge #1 Results

tribes did a flag challenge. But before we get to the flags let’s meet our judges..

Eric

Intro: I'm the flop that wasn't able to join my fellow floppers. Good luck everyone and sorry to whichever of you gets first boot on a season called flops that will suck.

Christian

Intro: Hey, I'm Christian. I got 2nd in Sicily and 9th in FvF5. Good luck in this season flops, even though I don't know who 90% of you are. 

Zachary 

Intro: paras atashnak won bbcan6 by a vote of 6-1

Danny Gluck

Danny. Man, Myth, Legend, 4 time TS Flop

So let’s get to the flags 

TAPA DESCRIPTION: Tapa, or the Social Flops as we are known for this season. There are many key things to point out in our flag. The emojis, the transparent background of Aurora Borealis and the eyes of our Survivor avatars.

The emojis represent the three major aspects of this game. The social, the strategic, and the physical. We were all placed in the tribe where social relationships were nonexistant in our first and/or second seasons of Tumblr Survivor. We have the strategic and physical aspects down because those did not fail us. Thus the biceps and the brain emojis are in bold and on the left and right sides of the tribe name. The third emoji, the "speak no evil", well its obvious. We didn't speak to anyone or didn't speak enough to save us from our imminent departure from the game.

The background of Aurora Borealis and the mountain is remeniscent of Iceland- the location of this season. We just thought it was nice to pay homage to the country that "hosts" us in this game.

The eyes of our avatars are used in this flag because it shows that we are keen and have sharp focus to go far in this game. We will be at a 100% on our surroundings and make sure that no repeats will be made from our first trips on TS. We are well aware as a tribe and even though the social game was at a low, we're gonna keep on our toes and hone in on the prize: the title of Sole Survivor.

Eric

Creativity -  8 Effort - 10 Overall Appeal - 7

Comment: This is one of my favorite flags I have ever judged, but more so for the effort in making a second image of the flag from afar and the effort put into that huge presentation. After a second look, it wasn't the prettiest flag I've seen, but you deserve a great score for this flag

Christian

Creativity: 7/10 Effort: 8/10 Overall Appeal: 8/10

Comments: No offense but your flag looks cheap. I don't see a lot of creativity or effort. But I do love the colors and the images you used at the  top of your flag. I do like the simplicity though.

Zachary

Creativity - 7 Effort - 7 Overall appeal - 8

I like the concept and all and the background & everything wooh!! It’s cute that yalls actually put it on a flagpost and all that good stuff. The only negative was that the eyes of the castaways are just like cropped on. i'm not rlly sure how to explain it but overall its good!! better than any of my flags wig

Danny 

Effort: 6 Creativity: 5 Overall Appeal: 6

Total: 87/120

BILUN

comments for judges: We aimed for a monochromatic cultural tone for our flag. We stuck with the green theme throughout which involved editing the northern lights and our goddess Frigg (goddess of the sky, and of which is native to Norse culture). We used photoshop to make this, and we decided to incorporate our names also with our names in an Elvish language. Our flag is culturally accurate, and is very polished for a flop tribe.

Eric

Creativity - 8 Effort - 7 Overall Appeal - 8

I love this flag. I see the northern lights which you can probably see in Iceland which is really cool. I also think it's AWESOME that your names are all shown in Elvish too. I think that's a game of thrones character in the middle but idk. This is a well thought out flag so the people who made it should be proud.

Christian

Creativity: 8/10 Effort: 9/10 Overall Appeal: 9/10

Comments: I love simplicity and clean lines, so this flag definitely met those two criteria. I hate when tribes throw in a bunch of extra shit. It just clutters the flag and y'all did none of that. I enjoy how you included your names in both English and Elvish language(whatever y'all said). Nice photoshop skills! I love the Northern Lights.

Zachary

Creativity - 8 Effort - 8 Overall Appeal - 9

This is cute too!! I love the space-like background (it’s probably not space but i’m an intellectual i promise). I like the additional border with the names and the translated variation!! its cute and it’s like, simple yet intricate!! I enjoy it!!

Danny

Creativity - 8 Effort - 5 Overall Appeal - 8

Total: 95/120

HEIMSKUR What you see before you is nothing you’ve seen before - it is a hand-sewn tribe flag. The orange in the background is, of course, our tribe color. Entire scene is an Icelandic, snow-topped mountain range, with a long road driving off into the mountains. The road represents our journey to the end of this game, and the sign says ‘Caution: Flops Ahead’ as a touch of humor and to bring our season theme into the flag. The patches of the mountains represent both our tribe coming together to form something bigger than ourselves and the pieces of our former (not so great) games coming together for the same purpose. I hope you enjoy - I am covered in ink and I literally bled for this flag to be made over the last 6 hours. Thank you very much!”

Eric

Creativity: 10 Effort: 10 Overall Appeal: 8 They literally made a flag!

Christian

Creativity: 10/10 Effort: 10/10 Overall Appeal: 9/10 Comments: I would have gave y'all a 9.5 for overall appeal but I'm pretty sure that's not allowed. I can't believe you guys ACTUALLY HAND MADE A FLAG for Tumblr Survivor. I'm shook. You just blew the other tribes out of the water. The only reason you didn't get a 10 for overall appeal, is because I honestly don't like the position of the road. It would have been better going diagonally. Other than that, whoever made the flag can you make mine if I ever play survivor again? Thanks in advance. 

Zachary

creativity - 10 effort - 10 overall appeal - 8 uhm,,,, yes. “other flags found dead in ditch”, states inside source. this was really unique compared to any other flag which that in itself is phenomenal. it’s really a neat design n all, and the effort it must’ve taken is beyond me. good job, i adore this!!

Danny

Creativity - 10 Effort - 8 Overall - 7

Total: 110/120

So Bilun and Heimskur, this means you have won Immunity. Tapa you are going to tribal. Live Tribal at 10pm EST, tomorrow, May 16th.

If you cannot be here, please send in votes by 9:55pm EST.