#if it releases in December and i only watch 1 episode per day

[chilinandeppresing]

I remembered something that I saw in Overly Sarcastics' explanation of JTTW. When Wukong went and crossed his name out of the "Book of Life and Death," which also is canon in the show. He didn't just cross out his name. He crossed out every monkey he could find. I wonder if he crossed out MK without knowing.. since we don't know his birth name, and neither does Wukong. So it's a possibility. Would also explain why the underworld is so angry with them(or at least why one the diyu kings is)

One monkey significant to the universe escaping death is a pain(Wukong), 2 is bother(Macaque), but 3? That I feel might be pushing past the traitorous(?) Diyu kings patience. Giving them probable cause to align with whatever villain is in charge of this whole ordeal because yeah, no, I don't think a Diyu King is the main villain.

[psink]

Translation of the interview with Kamiya Hiroshi (Kusuo's VA) and Nojima Kenji (Kuusuke's VA)

The TV anime "The Disastrous Life of Saiki K: The Final Chapter" will air as a year-end special program on the TV Tokyo network on (friday) December 28th from 7:35 to 8:30.

The January issue of PASH!, which is now on sale, features an interview with Kamiya Hiroshi-san, the voice actor of Saiki Kusuo, and Nojima Kenji-san, the voice actor of Kuusuke Saiki. We’re releasing a preview ahead of tomorrow’s broadcast. 

Amidst the busy end-of-year, good grief, a world-involving sibling fight…? We spoke to Nojima Kenji-san, who plays the older brother Kuusuke, and Kamiya Hiroshi-san, who plays the younger brother Kusuo, after they had just finished recording about the truth of the matter!

―― Please tell us how you felt when the decision to make the Final Chapter was made. Kamiya: I was very happy. Even if you want to adapt every episode from the original work, it’s not always possible to do so. But with this series, everything fell into place. I think the biggest reason we were able to adapt it all the way to the Final Chapter was because of the fans’ wishes, and for that, I’m incredibly grateful.

Nojima: I had heard that the Final Chapter would be made, but I was wondering about what form it would take, and it turned out to be a two-part year-end special. Could people really sit through an hour of this work?! What kind of focus would they need to watch it? I was a bit worried about that (laughs). But I’m sure that “The Disastrous Life of Saiki K” will deliver dense content that makes you lose track of time again, in the way only it can. 

―― Compared to other anime series, “Saiki” has about 2 or 3 times more dialogue per episode, right?

Kamiya: I had vaguely noticed that, but… Nojima: You didn’t want to know, did you? (laughs)

Kamiya: Certainly, for a 30-minute anime, it takes a lot of time to go over the script. Even when watching the DVD to check it, I thought “Hm? Is something wrong with the machine?”, because it felt like it was playing fast-forward (laughs).

Nojima:  I’ll be honest now, but on the day I first participated in the recording, I actually went into the recording without finishing all the checks.I checked the script at home and then immediately went to the studio. I was calculating in my mind the timing to start reading the script to record whilst still keeping my role preparation fresh. 

But, the amount of lines was beyond my imagination, so I couldn't finish the preparation… This was something that shouldn’t have happened, but honestly, I got through the latter half [of the recording] just with concentration (laughs). But, since I was able to maintain the momentum from the first half, I’m glad I was able to bring out a good sense of raw feelings. Kamiya-san, how was your first recording?

Kamiya: I already can’t remember, but when I re-watch Episode 1 now, I think the pace is still slow. It’s gotten gradually faster since entering season 2. In season 2, Director Sakurai was probably broken as the pacemaker (laughs). Nojima: Ahaha, I see. It's like a live band where the rhythm gradually speeds up, and you keep going without knowing the original pace.

Kamiya: Exactly. 

Nojima: Since you can’t keep up by just listening to the lines as words, you have to listen to the partner’s tone and match it. It might be similar to a music session.

―― In the Final Chapter, the relationship between Kusuo and Kuusuke seems to be a highlight. What do you both think about these brothers?

Nojima: The reason they can fight so much, do terrible things, and act recklessly is probably because, ultimately, they’re brothers. In a different case, it would have ended in a complete fallout, wouldn’t it?

Kamiya: That’s true. After all, what Kuusuke is doing is almost criminal. Nojima: Ahahahaha.

Kamiya: What I found especially dangerous about what Kuusuke did was the story of making the elderly villagers wear powered suits. The way he disguised it as caregiving while completely using them as his own puppets was seriously dangerous. Nojima: It’s surely his own sense of justice. I wonder if it’s an antithesis to how we should handle the aging society going forward (laughs).

―― Kuusuke’s obsession with Kusuo is also quite dangerous, isn’t it?

Nojima: Kuusuke has a very strong desire for approval, wanting to be recognized by Kusuo above all else. Challenging him to fights is, I think, a distorted expression of that. But I believe it is also an expression of his love and his desire to be loved back.

Kamiya: Kusuo probably thinks Kuusuke is a troublesome person, but Kusuo is also at fault. Although Kuusuke is a genius, he worked hard to create the control device for Kusuo to help him control his superpowers, didn’t he? Kusuo should be grateful, but he doesn’t express it. “Thanks, big brother. I can’t live without this” - it would’ve been nice if he could’ve said that, but Kusuo doesn’t understand the feelings of those without [superpowers], so that didn’t happen. There was also the sense of taking it for granted because they're family, but thinking how this resulted in that difficult brotherly relationship is quite sad.

―― That’s deep.

Kamiya: Although Kusuke knows he’ll lose, he keeps challenging Kusuo to fights and enjoys the process, which shows his malicious side. He’s also quite twisted. So they’re both equally to blame. From an outsider’s perspective, their relationship can be summed up with one phrase "they’re just just not honest with each other”.

Nojima: Despite that, there are also times when they rely on each other.

Kamiya: It’s complicated. That’s why even in the Final Chapter their relationship will likely be depicted. 

―― Finally, could you give a message to the readers who are waiting for the broadcast? Nojima: I was worried about how much Kuusuke would appear, but he ended up having a lot more screentime than I had expected, so I was satisfied. I have no doubts that the viewers will enjoy it as well!  Since the story’s pace is fast, please acquire the ability to not blink while watching (laughs), and surely, you will be moved to tears in the end. There are emotional parts, but more than anything, I hope you enjoy it. Thank you for cherishing and enjoying this series for so long!

Kamiya: The TV anime is finally reaching its conclusion. For those who are watching for the first time, it might be difficult, as the story keeps quickly progressing whilst you’re wondering “what is this?”. But there is a scene at the beginning that reviews past episodes and introduces the characters, so I think you’ll understand what this series is about. That said, since it’s a gag anime, I hope you can enjoy it without thinking too much.

As for the highlights for the Final Chapter, Kusuo finally moves [his mouth] and speaks for the first time. You might be wondering “What is this person saying?”, but it’s exactly as it sounds (laughs). Please watch the main story to uncover the truth behind it. I’m sure you’ll be surprised.

[8flix]

Before you go. Any comments on byler? 🎤

Ah, yes. The byler predicament. Allow me to muddy the waters even more.

But first, a disclaimer: to be clear, I have no conclusive/confirmed information about season 5. What I know are inferences made from previous leaks, combined with what we now know as fact.

A little more on that before I get to Byler:

The leak came from outside of Netflix; a third-party private company that offers closed captioning services (as confirmed by Forbes, then eventually Netflix). The leaked videos of Heartstopper Se3 and Arcane Se2 are low resolution (640x266 / 640x480) encodes of unlocked edits (ie: edits that are subject to change at the network's discretion), and devoid of VFX. If you're a fan of either show, don't waste your time because it will only spoil the finished product.

That being said, I doubt that there is any video of ST5 episodes 1 through 3, as purported by the so-called "hacker" (I use that in "quotes" because any schlub with an email address could have accessed the server without restriction -- the login app had no restrictions to the inhouse videos).

So, aside from the fact that Netflix will aggressively pursue civil and criminal charges against the source (if they ever find the person) -- a threat that any legit hacker would certainly ignore (unauthorized access to a computer network is already a federal crime, regardless of whether or not something was "taken" and/or released publicly) -- I think there won't be any video of ST5 leaked because it doesn't exist.

A legit hacker would have released it already, defying both Netflix and the FBI, and in such away that would make tracking them down impossible. What is there to lose? Nothing for a legit "hacker." And let's be honest: this wasn't a "hack" of top-secret government documents. And the "hack" will not cause long-term financial damage to a publicly traded company like Netflix. In an election year, the Feds have more important cyber criminals to go after than a scriptkiddy looking for notoriety in the Fortnight Discord app.

Realistically, it's doubtful more than a cease-and-desist letter from Netflix to that Twitter influencer dude, and perhaps firing the IT guy who forgot to flick the privacy toggle on the login app at the closed-captioning company, will come to fruition. And like I said, a legit hacker has zero fucks to give, so threats of a civil lawsuit or prison time would mean nothing to them because their OPSEC would be 100%.

Also, it's my belief that no videos of ST5 will come out because of how TV series are made. Principal photography of ST5 is around 12 months (December 2023 - December 2024). That's a 5-day work week, 16-hours per day. Not including holidays, reshoots, and unforeseen delays, about 48 - 50 weeks in total -- so, about 250 - 300 days of shooting (a movie is often 30 - 120 shooting days). Post production -- which includes editing, music, VFX rendering, ADR, etc. -- will take at least 6 months. For a $200 million series like ST5, 4 - 6 weeks of per-episode-editing is not unheard of. Stranger Things is arguably a Netflix legacy. It's not only going to be protected, but perfected.

Season 5 is being released in two-parts. Part 2 will likely still be in post-production when Part 1 is released. To give you an idea of how close producers come to hard deadlines for series: I watched (legit) screeners of Locke & Key Se2 -- the final two episodes -- before they were complete -- 2 weeks before the world premiere. It's that close.

ST5 shoots chronologically, with some exceptions. Meaning, they film in order of episode. (Movies, on the other hand, film according to scene and schedule -- scenes that take place in the same location, but spread throughout the movie and take place on different days, are shot consecutively). The leak happened in late June (apparently), which would mean that episodes 1 through 3 would have been shot and edited by May. That's not realistic. Like, at all. If I were a betting man, I'd say that episode 1 is still being edited as I write this. There is still 4 months of principal photography remaining.

My expectation is to see trailer #1 during the Super Bowl in February. And October 31, 2025 as a release date for Part 1.

My expectation is a December release for Part 2.

Hardcore hype and teasing for 10 months.

This is my guess; based on personal experience with shows and movies that are not Netflix properties.

Okay, so, Byler...

If you believe the 2022 "definitely not leaked Se4 scripts" are definitely real... then Will is "fully resigned to knowing that he’s just ripped off the Band-Aid." #Byler, as we know it, will never come to be and #Mileven is endgame.

Or, if you believe the "definitely not leaked Se4 scripts" are definitely cap, then Byler is, in fact, the real endgame.

Given the circumstances, I am obviously the former. And, as much as I hate to say it, Will and Mike will never be a couple. 99% confident about that one.

Whichever side you take, in the words of Dr. Emmet Brown, "You're not thinking fourth dimensionally." (hint)

Will Will find love? No. There are bigger plans for Will. Conversely, there are plans for El that go way beyond teenage love. Again, if you believe the fake scripts to be real, then it will become apparent in ST5 that Will and El share a unique connection. My inference is that they are related. If not in the current timeline, then in the alternate timeline and reality (that will be revealed in Se5). "Young versions" of "Will, El, Mike, and the others," have already been cast to appear in Se5. But, IMAO, they're not the "young versions," but the alternate timeline/reality versions. Back to the Future, and Terminator are huge influences. As is the JJ Abrams movie "Super 8" (watch the movie, there are so many similarities with it, and Stranger Things).

I'll also add that there were scenes filmed in 2020/2021 that were meant to be included in season 5. I think -- if memory serves -- it's in or at a church and touches on the theme of "occult murders". So, I wouldn't be surprised if Eddie Munson makes an appearance.

In my professional opinion as a writer (excluding what I may or may not know about ST5): regardless of what scripts you've read -- official, unofficial, fake, real -- the series endgame has already been revealed on screen. I'll explain:

In general terms, for any television series with a definitive finale, and a pre-determined ending, writers follow a blueprint: specific plot points that must revealed along the way so that the story makes sense to viewers -- even to those with conflicting opinions.

If the writing is done correctly, then (for example) when something is revealed in episode 25, viewers will experience a lightbulb moment: "Oh yeah, I remember the references during episodes 2, 5, and 15."

So, using the Byler vs Mileven plotlines, it's plausible that either outcome is still possible. That's the brilliance of Stranger Things' writers' room (I say that sincerely).

Clues have been dropping since episode 101. Spoken dialogue, secondary dialogue, music selection (read the lyrics), character names, specific dates, shooting locations, pop culture references, carefully choreographed shots and scenes, numbers, dates, background props... Everything contains a piece of a puzzle that reinforces what is already known, and reveal what will soon become obvious.

Seriously, I don't know the ending of ST. And honestly, in my experience, it's more likely than not that only the Duffers and a small handful of Netflix/21 Laps execs know the real ending. For a series as big as Stranger Things (with an estimated season 5 budget surpassing $200 million), don't be surprised if more than one ending is filmed. Certainly, more than one has been written. It's not uncommon to leak misleading (but highly plausible) information on purpose. Netflix marketing peeps are top in their field, and outside-the-box thinkers.

What I do know is that the endgame -- be it canonical or other -- will completely blow you away and go down in history as Netflix's most watched finale.

Or, it will be the biggest let down since The Sopranos ending -- the first one AND the do-over.

[meimae]

1/12/21

Time for my November Immersion Overview!

Admittedly, I'm four reviews behind, but I was so much in the immersion zone this month that I kept putting off writing them all. No regrets, since that's four completed reads and a million monthly streak still going strong! I'll try my best to put them out for you guys before the year ends.

As usual, I'm excited for a brand new month of immersion, especially because a bunch of stuff I've been waiting to finish releasing are now ready for me to binge over the holidays.

Books

I was self assessing a lot recently, and I figured out that I've been quickly gaining speed reading in 横書き but going slowly for 縦書き, which makes sense because I've spent a lot of my time reading visual novels. Can't beat reading horizontally for most of my life I guess.

To combat the problem, I tried reading books again with some success, since I actually finished one that I stalled for months on end. Tried to use pomodoro, but because every chapter is a different length, I find it very easy to break concentration as compared to visual novels that, despite having to make choices, I can just continue reading 'til the point of almost exhaustion before quitting for the day.

Not giving up though, because I discover new interesting reads everyday, and do have the desire to read all of them one fine day. Just have to keep pushing forward.

My reads for the month totalling 103.32k characters: 本好きの下剋上 司書になるためには手段を選んでいられません 第ニ部 兵士の娘II, かがみの孤城, 君���名は, くまクマ熊ベアー 2, and 三日間の幸福 (completed finally! Review soon.)

Drama

Only one drama?! Pathetic, I know. An absolute shame that all of the things I wanted to watch were either hard to find or still airing. I have come prepared for December though!

着飾る恋には理由があって

So happy that what I did watch was pretty good though! 横浜 流星 keeps playing chef characters in the shows I have seen with him as lead, and its so attractive it should be illegal. (.////.)

Really enjoyed this show; it hits my standard for 女性向け dramas - relatable and cool female lead, interesting side characters, and to top it off, the goodest dog you ever did see! Just a bunch of young adults figuring out their lives like normal people without all the unrealistic drama and scandal that's usually in romance shows.

Podcasts & Youtube

I've also come to realize that all the reading I have been doing have actually started to put my listening behind a bit, and because I've been learning to bake a lot of different things recently, I needed something to listen to while waiting for things to rise in the oven. Figured podcasts were the way to go, because I haven't touched them in a while, and they're relatively much harder than watching content, since they have no context aside from maybe a short description per episode.

4989 Shiku Hakku American Life Podcast

Easy to follow and relatable since she talks a lot about her English language learning journey in America.

ひいきびいき

Probably still my favorite podcast despite only listening to a few episodes since it requires me to concentrate on it a lot more than American Life, but I really love that this is basically two people having a conversation, and their banter and verbal expressions are a really good reference to imitate for future output attempts.

自分に換えるゼロ空間

Stumbled upon this on Spotify, and listened to a few episodes. Can't tell if I like it or not yet, but there are so many episodes that she could easily be potential shadowing material for me, so I'm hoping I get into her content more.

フェルミー漫画大学

Technically, this is not at all a podcast but I like listening to it in the background as if it is, and honestly I've been kind of surprised at the range of non-fiction topics this has.

Visual Novels

Read 1.02 million characters.

At this point, I've come to accept that I've truly fallen deep into the 乙女ゲーム hole, and that there are no signs of me stopping or finding a way out.

Finished both あやかしごはん おかわり, 紫影のソナーニル　-What a beautiful memories-, and I will try my best to write my reviews for them as well. (´v｀;)

The tricky one here is エンジェルビーツ!, something I stalled way back in July. For the most part, I agree with the sentiment that if you're not enjoying something drop it and move on (and I technically did for 4 months), but I'm also stubborn, and it upsets me that everyone raves about how good Key VNs are and I have yet to finish even one.

I said earlier that choices in VNs do not break my concentration, but if it is as many, as pointless, and as close to each other like it is for Angel Beats (and for the couple of other Key VNs I did start and stall as well) then it becomes a problem.

Starting this again, I realized that despite following a guide, it just goes all over the place, sometimes choices bringing me to the middle of a different route - I was not ready for that kind of chaos at all. Still, I have goal before the year ends, and I'm going to do my best to beat this game despite it being a skip hell fest and unfortunately only mildly funny for my taste (the jokes in this got old so fast I...٩(๑`^´๑)۶).

-☆-

Thanks for stopping by and reading! I'll catch you all again next time.

Now to actually go write those four reviews....ヾ(｡>﹏<｡)ﾉﾞ

[travoltacustom]

HYPNOSIS MICROPHONE 4TH INTERNATIONAL POLL (DECEMBER 2020) Part 1: Consumption

Thank you for your participation! These are the final results for the 4th Hypnosis Microphone International Poll. After months of work on this, we have estimates for general fandom opinions. Do you agree or disagree with the general opinions? Please let us know!

The results were held back from original posting as we were waiting to post for a month before the 2nd DRB finals (which is on Doppo’s Birthday this year.) My deepest apologies for how long this took to get out. We will be releasing these results with a section per day, with the end of these results showing the Japanese side.

Click the READ MORE to view the results.

PREFACE

The data collection for this poll received 902 votes to give us an indication of the demographic of those who consume Hypnosis Mic. This poll was open to English speakers, and thus, results may be considerably Euro/American-centric. The word ‘international’ has been used to refer to how fans are from many places around the world, but the poll may also refer to this group as ‘English-speaking’ etc. The Japanese poll had a smaller respondent pool with 400.

This poll received the most activity through Twitter, given that the series is most active on that platform. The poll was also posted on Tumblr, Facebook and the HypMic wiki. Commentary has been given on sections of the poll. These results will be available in full on from this account. The Japanese poll results shall follow about a week with comparison to this poll.

The poll was conducted from December 2020 to January 2021. This poll is UNOFFICIAL and none of the composers of this poll have any relation to King Records whatsoever. 

This will be split into MULTIPLE posts due to the amount of data and limitations of tumblr.

PART 1: THE CONSUMPTION OF HYPNOSIS MIC

This section examines what percentage of HypMic's English fanbase consumes certain media.

How long have you been into Hypnosis Mic?

Before the project began -  Sep 2017: 3.7%

Since Pre-Battle Season 1 - Oct 2017 - Feb 2018: 7%

Since Battle Season 1 - Mar 2018 - Dec 2018: 19.4%

Since Post-Battle Season 1 - Jan 2019 - Nov 2019: 29.6%

Since Pre-Battle Season 2 - Dec 2019 - Dec 2020: 40.3%

NOTABLE DATES

Release of Enter the Hypnosis Microphone: April 2019

Announcement of Dotsuitare Honpo & Bad Ass Temple: September 2019

Announcement of the start of the 2nd DRB: December 2020

From this group of people, only 293 people, or 32.5% of respondents were around during the 1st Battle Season.

Looking at those who were around during the battle season 88.4% did not vote at all, while 11.6% did vote.

At the time of the 1st DRB, voting was only possible by buying CDs and certain merchandise, unlike the additions of the 2nd DRB where you could purchase a ticket to the lives.

How many of the HypMic drama tracks have you listened to?

Buster Bros!!! Generation Dramas: 69.7%

BAYSIDE M.T.C Dramas: 70.3%

Fling Posse -F.P.S.M- Dramas: 74.2%

Matenro -Aural Medicine- Dramas: 70.3%

B.B vs M.T.C Dramas: 63.7%

F.P vs M Dramas: 71.8%

The Champion Dramas: 63.1%

Enter the Hypnosis Microphone Dramas: 61%

Aikata Back Again: 64.7%

The Heart’s Conviction Can’t Be Broken: 62.6%

Helter Skelter: 61%

All in the same boat: 60.9%

The Loneliness, Tears, and Hope of a Puppet: 67.5%

Chaser from the Past: 60.9%

Guidebook Dramas: 31.7%

Manga Bonus Dramas: 27.6%

Have not listened to the dramas: 2.1%

How much of the HypMic manga have you read?

SOME of B.B vs M.T.C: 34.7%

ALL of B.B vs M.T.C: 45.8%

SOME of F.P vs M: 31.3%

ALL of F.P vs M: 52.4%

SOME of TDD: 32.6%

ALL of TDD: 53.3%

SOME of D.H & B.A.T: 64.2%

Have not read the manga: 10.5%

Thus, all together:

SOME/ALL of B.B vs M.T.C: 80.5%

SOME/ALL of F.P vs M: 83.7%

SOME/ALL of TDD: 85.9%

At the time of the poll, BB vs MTC, FP vs M and the TDD manga had completed, while DH vs BAT was incomplete. BB vs MTC +, FP vs M+ and Dawn of Divisions were announced during the poll’s conduction.

How much of other HypMic of other HypMic content have you explored?

Track 1: 69.7%

Track 2: 70.3%

Track 3: 74.2%

Niconama: 70.3%

HPNM Youtube: 63.7%

HypMic concerts: 71.8%

1st Spotify Radio (1-6 episodes): 63.1%

1st Spotify Radio (7-18 episodes): 61%

1st Spotify Radio (19+ episodes): 64.7%

NOTES

This question also asked about those who have watched the anime, but as respondents ticked multiple options of how much they had seen, these results were unable to be posted.

Track 2 & Track 3 were playing during COVID which may account for the lower numbers of viewers. Niconama streams have also been discontinued and have now been replaced by the HPNM Youtube streams.

What HypMic official merchandise have you bought? This does not include magazines that contain manga chapters or interviews.

Trading/blind goods: 29.3%

Paper goods: 11.3%

Plush goods:  35.1%

Apparel: 10.4%

Accessories or cosmetics: 4.3%

Stageplay specific goods: 2.7%

(Collab) Food:  2%

Magazine with HypMic content: 8.5%

Manga (any edition): 13.7%

HypMic Guidebook: 16.7%

Non-battle CD: 13.6

Battle Season CD: 7.4%

Subscribed to HYPSTER: 9.8%

48.3% of respondents have not bought a piece of HypMic official merchandise.

Most bought goods: Plush goods (35.1%), trading/blind goods (26.4%), the official guidebook (16.7%)

Least bought goods: Items from food collabs (2%), stageplay specific goods (2.7%), and accessories and cosmetics (4.3%)

These last are understandable as most food can’t be shipped internationally, as well as cosmetics like the perfume that contain alcohol.

Only 9.8% of respondents have a HYPSTER subscription.

Do you play Alternative Rap Battle (ARB)? It is fine if translations are used?

PLAY / DO NOT PLAY: 72.3% / 27.7%

READ ALL STORIES: 37.3%

READ EVENT STORIES: 14.7%

READ MAIN STORIES: 7.9%

DON’T READ STORIES: 40.1%

Since HypMic is not translated into other languages, how does this affect your consumption of the material?

Don’t understand Japanese & don’t use translations: 2.9%

Don’t understand Japanese so I use translations: 52.7%

Understand some Japanese but I use translations: 36.5%

Understand some Japanese & don’t use translations: 8%

With these numbers, we can see that:

55.6% of respondents know some degree of Japanese. This poll did not ask to quantify how much Japanese was known by fans. 44.4% do not know Japanese.

89.2% of respondents use translations. 

To the 2.9% of people who don’t use translations and don’t understand a thing that’s happening, please respond. Are you okay?

How familiar are you with Japanese hip-hop, the genre of HypMic?

Regularly listens to J hip-hop: 22.8%

Regularly listens to Western hip-hop but not J hip-hop: 12%

Regularly listens to Japanese music but not J hip-hop: 54.5%

Do not listen to Japanese music or hip-hop: 10.7%

With numbers, we can see that:

34.8% of respondents listen to either Japanese or Western hip-hop. 65.2% of respondents do not listen to hip-hop.

These numbers seem to match up with the later results that show that 79% of respondents do not listen to J hip-hop artists outside of HypMic and 69% of respondents do not listen to/could list Western hip-hop artists at all.

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

To see the next part showing the demographics of the International fandom, please follow us to the next post.

NEXT

[angel-princess-anna]

Speculation Sunday

In which weekly(?), I try to connect two dots (and connect nothing) in regards to the second DA film. This week, it’s more about the lack of spoilers and how it will be that way for awhile (also I realize it’s probably now Monday for most of you, whoops)

This post is based on my own perceptions and experiences having followed how they filmed and promoted the TV show and first film. I love discussing Downton, and I love hunting for spoilers, haha. Mainly because I want to know what’s gonna happen with my faves ASAP.

That said, I think we are going to get even less spoilery crumbs during the filming of DA 2021 than we did with DA 2019.

Focus and Carnival kept the official synopsis of the first film a mystery for a very long time (basically until the first full trailer came out) and I assume it will be similar this time too. They then dumped some more info and stills much closer to the release date. Interviews with the cast focused on “getting the gang back together” and I assume the DA 2021 press tour will focus on “getting the gang back together after lockdown” and “we are bringing escapism in dark times”. Understandable, but not ideal for people like me who love spoilers!

During most of the filming of the TV series, we didn’t get a lot of info and pics other than paparazzi photos (social media being less of a thing during the early series, and the latter because of cracking down on spoiler leaks), but then with S6, we were spoiled with riches given that they filmed outdoors a lot, and there was a bit of a social media campaign for the end of the show to honor the crew.

With DA 2019, all we got was a handful of outdoor sightings (the major one of course being the parade filming). This year we’ll have to rely on the paparazzi and tabloids, but again that’s if they film outdoors.

And given how most of the cast is when it comes to social media, and the worry of being punished for spoiler leaks, they aren’t gonna be taking selfies all the time.

So while we wait for Entertainment Weekly or the likes to visit the set, or one of the actors to promote another project and feed us crumbs in an interview, or a still gets released for a holiday... let’s think about what we do know.

The “original principal cast” is back. In Focus’ DA 2019 press release, that wording preceded a list of the main ensemble that was in all six series of the TV show, plus Matthew Goode and Harry Hadden-Patton. Raquel and Michael weren’t listed at that time, and while neither has posted on social media lately that I can see, Raquel’s latest post (as of writing this) has Baxley related hashtags lol. I don’t see why Baxter and Andy wouldn’t be in DA 2021. Kiddo wise, we know that the Baker boys are back as George and their triplet sister is playing someone. Fifi Hart is back as Sybbie. No word yet on the other children, but there’s five child actors from that one agency back for the new film (which doesn’t discount there being child actors from another agency).

Lily James didn’t appear in DA 2019, and I don’t think she would here either (regardless of, uh, Dominic West). Tuppence Middleton confirmed on Twitter she’s in; Max Brown confirmed he’s not. I haven’t seen anything concrete on Imelda yet, but I do assume she’d appear. We have at least four new characters, but nothing on who the new cast members will be playing.

Filming has already begun(!) at Ealing Studios, the studios they used when they filmed the TV show. And now they’ve been filming at Highclere Castle too!

Meanwhile, Rob gave us some clues on ITV’s This Morning:

- "someone goes for a bicycle ride" (easy, that’s the postman or whoever lol) - "someone has an argument" - "someone falls in love" - "someone falls out of love" - "someone goes to the shops"

As HWW said to me, perhaps it is not people that the characters are falling in and out of love with, but perhaps places, things, or ideas. And in the case of Thomas and Richard, it’s possible that they aren’t ‘over’, it’s just that they can’t see each other in the time frame of the film and maybe Thomas receives at least a letter from Richard or something. 

Now, what we don’t know, which is... mostly everything.

The timeline is a biggie, as it would definitely influence some of the plots. And it was something that really wasn’t confirmed for DA 2019 until after we got the trailer. The cast gave us vague ideas, but uh... let’s just say not all of them were correct.

Fellowes has always said that he wouldn’t take DA into the ‘30s, but he always used to say that he’d never work on DA and The Glided Age at the same time, and yet, here we are. I feel like he or Gareth mentioned at one point a sequel would follow closely to DA 2019 timeline wise. They had similarly said DA 2019 would follow closely after the TV show’s timeline, and that ended up being an 18 month gap.

Considering that DA 2021 is coming out during Christmas time, this makes me think that Christmas will be featured at some point. Not every DA Christmas Special did, but it’s festive, timely, and an event to help anchor the film and bring characters together.

The question then is, does it center around Christmas though? Of the three CSs that feature Christmas in some form (S6CS is really about New Year’s Eve, but the decorations and tree are still up), S2CS starts there but ends mid January of the next year, and S5CS and S6CS both start roughly in late summer, and then finish in late December (well 1 Jan in S6CS’ case).

One potential choice is to have it be set in December 1927 and then go into the next year, akin to S2CS. The S5/6 CS idea would set it in 1928 at the earliest.

Another thing factor to take into account here is Edith’s pregnancy. Fellowes skipped over showing Mary pregnant with Caroline in the first film and had her born before DA 2019, so the same might happen here again.

Other potential big events are perhaps a wedding between Daisy and Andy and/or Tom and Lucy.

And then the elephant in the room: Violet. Maggie’s said time and time again that Violet’s too old, and then we had the plot in DA 2019, which would set...  you know... that all up.

So like... filming outdoors in Bampton (where the town of Downton and the church was traditionally filmed for the TV series) is something is that is easily spoiled. They can put up screens to block the view around the church, but to also do it around the cemetery might be too telling. They did kinda manage with S6E8 (well, only kinda, ahem).

Thinking now about how members of the cast have said that DA 2021 will be coming at a time people are wanting/needing "escapism,” I don't think that discounts anything sad happening per se; a lot of people continued to call the TV series "escapism" when it got more darker (see: S4-5), and, I mean, people call Call the Midwife "cosy escapism" despite there being traumatic situations almost every episode it seems. So Violet's days could still very well be numbered. I remember how S3CS was marketed as a fun and frolicking trip to the Highlands, until the Norwegian channel NRK’s trailer for the episode came out and gave away that there was going to be a car accident. Escapism isn't the same for everyone anyway, so we'll have to see what this all entails. I don't necessarily want this for Violet, but I do hope that DA 2021 takes itself a bit more seriously, as the TV show did.

The first movie was written in a manner that was so that it was (somewhat?) understandable to people who didn’t watch the TV series. I have to wonder if DA 2021 has been written similarly. Part of me thinks it will be more similar to the first film than to the TV series, but with a potential sad plot for Violet... who knows, it might go back to its more “serial” roots (if that makes any sense). If DA 2021 also leans more into comedy as DA 2019, I don’t foresee it doing so but we’ll see.

That’s it for the this ramble! I have a topic for the next one regardless of the lack of crumbs! ;)

[the-bejeesus]

To Those Who Say “I’m not gonna catch up on One Piece until it’s finished. Why would I watch/read 1000+ episodes/chapters when I don’t even get to know how the story ends?”

      Now for the past few years, when I came across somebody who said this, my rebute would be something like “Well the series is great already. It doesn’t really matter if I don’t know how it ends, because the journey itself is enjoyable.” or “Man if that’s your excuse, who you gonna explain why you read/watch stuff like Berserk, Hunter X Hunter, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and My Hero Academia? Newsflash, they aren’t done yet.” But it came across my mind that I can now apply a completely different approach:

“If you start watching/reading at this pace right now, it will be over by the time you catch up.”

      If you’re a fan of the series, you’ll know that for awhile now Oda has been saying that he plans to end the series in just 5-4 years. Now he’s made lots of claims in the past that turned out to be ridiculous. However, many One Piece researchers have compiled his claims and found out that they only get more accurate as time goes on, with the most ridiculous claims being found to be myths. And with the most recent claims of ending the series in less than 5 years, even his editors who are usually skeptical have started to trust that he can do this. After all, he has officially set there to be only one more saga (which isn’t necessarily one arc, but it’s either going to be 1-2 major arcs or an anthology of 5-6 shorter arcs). And now that we can trust this claim, we can essentially extrapolate how many chapters/episodes are left and what pace we have to binge to catch up at just the right time.

If you plan to read the manga (black and white):

The manga in black in white is a perfectly fine way to enjoy One Piece. It’s what Oda draws, it’s how he intends it to be viewed, and best of all, it will be the first version of publication to finish.

     Out of the 1223 weeks since the first chapter published in July 19, 1997, 1000 chapters have published, meaning on average he publishes 42 chapters per year, or in other words, there are only 10 hiatuses per year (including holidays where WSJ does not publish). Now if I wanted to be more accurate, I’d only look at the chapters published this year, to exclude outliers like how he had no hiatuses for the first 200 chapters, or how he had a 4-week hiatus during the timeskip, but 2020 has been a bit crazy, so we’re not doing that for this or any of the others.

     Going off of this, the final chapter would be chapter 1212 in December 28, 2025 (yes, the 28th would be a Sunday again.) So here’s how you’d calculate the pace in which you need to read One Piece, and really this is how we’ll calculate it for every version)

     Now I know math is boring, but the reason I’m showing this to you is because the amount of weeks until One Piece ends will vary based on when you start this binge. Chances are you aren’t going to start the day you see this post, and there’s an even greater chance you won’t see this post the day it’s posted. For every example I’m going to assume you started binging on December 28, 2020. Now let’s try to use it for this example.

     And there’s your answer, just read 4-5 chapters per week. By the end, One Piece should be nearly over or have very recently ended. To put that into a different perspective, you could purchase and read just two volumes per month and you’ll be at prime pace. Or you could read one chapter every day, but only on weekdays.  If you want to, you can see this calculation in action in graph form.

     While this is a very rudimentary graph, it’s a basic visualization of what we’re calculating here. We’re calculating what speed we need to binge to catch up at exactly the right moment. I say exact, but ultimately no one can predict how many chapters there will be exactly, nor how many hiatuses Oda will go on during it. It will be important, as you’re nearing the end, to find a spoiler-free way to keep up on how close One Piece is to ending. To know whether you ought to speed up or slow down.

If you plan to watch the anime (subtitled):

For years now people have hated on the anime “terrible animation!” “terrible pacing” but at the end of the day, it’s the more popular version. Or the more viewed version I should say. And personally, I think that once you acknowledge its problems and learn how to deal with them, it’s a perfectly fine experience. There’s enough good voice acting and enough good storytelling that you’re easily able to ignore the problems. Plus, the animation has substantially improved since Wano.

      Now for this we’re going to have to change a lot of variables to get this right. We’re going to have to adjust when publication started, and recalculate when One Piece will end by looking at how slowly the anime adapts the manga, and how behind it is. The anime aired on October 20, 1999, and has aired 956 episodes since then. This means on average they air 44.9 episodes per year, meaning there is pretty much only 7 breaks the entire year. With these 956 episodes, they have adapted 955 chapters, making the pace almost exactly one chapter per episode. However this is really inaccurate, considering all the better-paced arcs earlier on in the story. Looking solely at episodes 2012 and onwards, the anime adapts at a pace of 0.65 chapters/episode.

     Knowing that there are roughly 212 chapters left, and Toei adapts at 0.65 chapters per episode, we can assume that there are going to be roughly 324 episodes left. That sounds like too many, but keep in mind that there will be several, several instances where the manga will be on hiatus whereas the anime will keep on airing. Knowing there are approximately 324 episodes left, and that the anime only takes about 7 breaks a year, we can assume that it will take 7 years, or 374.49 weeks before the anime will end. So now we have the information we need to do the math again.

x = 1280/374.49

x = 3.417 episodes/week.

     It may seem like a more relaxed binge, since you get a whole 2 extra years to binge, and you only have to do 3-4 episodes per week, compared to the 4-5 chapters. But keep in mind that these episodes are 24 minutes each. Still not at all bad, but you will be spending more time on it overall.

If you plan to watch One Pace:

One Pace is a fan project that edits the anime so that filler and padding is cut, other edits will be made to make the anime more manga-accurate, such as reorganizing scenes, or adding title cards where absent. Originally only used by a niche number of One Piece fans, One Pace has grown in popularity, and has tried to improve its quality to accommodate more fans, such as making their episodes Dual Audio (meaning you can switch between the dub and original Japanese audio tracks), and including Spanish subtitles.

      You’d think we’d have to adjust for when One Pace began, how slowly One Pace catches up, and the works, but there’s not much to calculate. Fortunately for us, no matter how far behind One Pace is on editing the current arc, they always like to wrap things up just a few weeks within when an arc ended, if not the very same week. So really all we have to calculate is how many One Pace episodes there will be by the end of all this, so that we know how many you’ll need to watch per week.

      Looking solely at what they’ve covered so far, One Pace has taken 573 episodes and condensed it down to 259 episodes. That’s a pace of 2.21 anime episodes/ paced episode. Earlier we calculated that there would be 324 episodes of the anime left, making for 1280 episodes total. This would mean that there would be around 578 One Pace episodes by the end. And One Pace would probably wrap up in, let’s say 376 weeks, because as I said, they’ll probably finish editing the final arc a week or two after the last episode airs.

x = 578/376

x = 1.53 episodes per week

      Now that’s a relaxed pace. 1-2 episodes per week? That’s so slow, I’m not even sure if I’ll remember what I watched last week next time I watch some episodes. The only problem is some of the pre-timeskip still haven’t been edited. They’ll probably be done by the time they finish the final arc, but that’s not gonna work out fast enough. You’ll hit your first roadblock about 7 weeks in when you need to watch the Baratie arc and it’s not done. And don’t even get me started on how many arcs aren’t done in dub or Spanish sub yet. Hopefully you could just switch to the anime or manga when you hit these arcs, readjusting how many episodes/chapters you need to watch/read when you do. But that’s a bit of an excessive amount of math for something that’s supposed to be fun. So yeah, if you’re still convinced you shouldn’t get into One Piece until it’s ended, maybe this is the option for you.

If you plan to read the manga (Colored):

Since 2012, Shueisha has made a colorization of One Piece. It’s not a fan coloring, it’s as official as it gets. Many consider the color schemes portrayed in this version as the most canon, as the majority are pulled straight from whatever colored illustrations of Oda’s they can find. And quite frankly it makes the manga at least 10 times more beautiful. It’s especially great if you have trouble interpreting dense, small black and white panels.

      This one is a doozy. You’d think all I gotta do is calculate how far behind the colored manga usually and just adjust from there, right? Wrong. Because how far behind the colored manga is, or how frequently they release volumes in full color, is one of the most inconsistent things I have ever seen. You wanna see what I’m talking about? This is how they’ve chosen to release each volume since 2012:

Volume 1-12: July 15, 2012

Volume 13-23: September 28, 2012

Volume 24-63: December 4, 2012

Volume 64-65: April 4, 2013

Volume 66-68: December 20, 2013

Volume 69-70: August 25, 2014

Volume 71-72: September 16, 2015

Volume 73-75: October 4, 2016

Volume 76: December 2, 2016

Volume 77: March 3, 2017

Volume 78: July 2, 2017

Volume 79: September 4, 2017

Volume 80: December 4, 2017

Volume 81-82: March 3, 2018

Volume 83: October 4, 2018

Volume 84-86: August 2, 2019

Volume 87-92: September 16, 2020

     How I am supposed to find out how long it will take for Shueisha to colorize the final volume of One Piece is beyond me. I guess the first step would be to look at how far behind the manga each release was on average, but I’m going to ignore all the ones before 2013, because those were clearly just Shueisha catching up really fast cause they just started and didn’t want to be dozens of volumes behind forever. So of the 14 publications between 2013 and now, on average the last chapter of the last volume they colored was 97.78 weeks after that chapter had published in Weekly Shonen Jump. This means that if the final chapter of One Piece is chapter 1212 on December 28, 2025, then you can expect the final colored volume to publish November 14, 2027.

x = 1212/359

x = 3.37 chapters/week

     So if you prefer the manga but don’t want to read 5 chapters every week for 5 years, this might be a better option for ya. But yea, I have no doubt my prediction is at least a little off for this one.

If you plan to watch the anime (dubbed):

Unlike the 4KidsTV and Odex dubs of One Piece, the FUNimation dub is a perfect way to enjoy One Piece. The DVDs come with enjoyable commentary and a marathon mode, great for binging.

       FUNimation’s releases of the dub are inconsistent, although not nearly as erratic as the colored manga release. However, there was recently a 2-year hiatus we only just got out of. Since Episode 1′s dub in May 27, 2008, the dub has gotten as far as Episode 614. But that’s only looking at the DVD releases. If you’re willing to stream on FUNimationnow, the dub is as far as 641, and if you’re willing to digitally purchase it from an e-shop such as the Microsoft store, it goes all the way to Episode 654. With that being said, that would mean that on average, FUNimation dubs 1.004 episodes per week. Although if we go back to before the two-year hiatus so as to exclude it from the average, it’s actually 1.10 episodes per week. Not a huge difference, actually. And then if we look solely after the two-year hiatus, it’s actually 2.25 episodes per week, which is insanely faster. It’s hard to tell what the future of the dub will be. I can’t assume they’ll go this fast forever, so I’m just going to take the average of all 3 and say it’s 1.45 episodes per week. Don’t know if that’s the best mathematical approach, but the number seems about right.

     So knowing that the dub is at Episode 654 and looking at our previous guesstimation that the anime will be 1280 episodes long, we can predict that it will take 431 weeks before the dub catches up and ends. That would be in 2029! Sounds quick at first until you notice it’s 4 years behind!

x = 1280/431

x = 2.96 episodes per week

      Looks like it’s almost exactly 3 episodes per week. Not as much less of a workload as I expected, compared to catching up to the sub. You know, I figured those 4 extra years would make you binge a lot slower.

Final Thoughts:

      There’s a lot of my math that was estimation, approximations, extrapolations. Feel free to correct me or fact check me, especially if you plan on using this. I figured this would be a fun thought excercise. There’s also a lot of smaller variables I simply didn’t want to take into account because of how long this is already. For example, reading the black and white manga. The calculation can vary slightly depending on if you read it the day it’s published (which I assume would have to be a fanscan unless you can read Japanese), reading the weekly publication legally on Viz.com, waiting for the physical volume release. The dub can also vary depending on whether you buy from Microsoft, wait for the FUNimationnow release, wait for the DVDs, or wait for the Collection sets. So feel free to take this into account.

[theexecutionerssong]

SKAM FRANCE BTS MASTERPOST

This is a master post of BTS anecdotes told in interviews, at cons, screenings and on social media. Don’t click the read more if you don’t want to lose some of the magic. I know sometimes knowing too much of how a show was shot can ruin it. Also, it’s very obvious that there was more promo starting around season 3 than for the first two seasons, don’t hold it against me. Feel free to message me if you think of something else as I must have forgotten a ton of things.

CASTING, REHEARSALS, BTS IN GENERAL

Skam France had the rights for the 4 seasons first but had to follow the original script almost to a T for the first 2 and if the audience was big enough then they would be allowed to distance themselves from OG

Skam France casted actors that were as close personality wise to their characters as possible, which made it easier for the cast to identify with their characters and made the friendships developping between the characters more believable since it was also developping off screen

They were not allowed to cast underaged actors who would have been closer to the real age of the characters due to the long hours of the shooting conditions

Most of the actors come from theatre and many had no or little previous experience with shooting for a camera before

The cast isn’t allowed to watch the clips before they air.

Most of the clothes they wear in the show are their own.

During rehearsals of the first seasons, Philippine went to the board with everyone’s names on it and wrote something funny next to Zoe’s name and wanted to send it to her but she messed up and published it on her ig stories, leaking the entire cast when it was still supposed to be a secret.

Lula’s first reaction when she got the script and “met” Daphné was “oh no I’m scared. I just want to slap her, she’s insufferable”

Assa almost didn’t audition for two reasons: the casting call didn’t specify they were looking for a woman of color and French casting calls almost always say whether they are specifically looking for a black woman. If it says nothing then they are usually looking for a white person. She thought she had no chance because of that. Second reason, after accepting the casting call, she did some research and found out OG Sana was from the Maghreb and she’s not. But her agent convinced her to go through with it, the only thing the skam france team wouldn’t negotiate was that they wanted a Muslim actress. There was no way they would have casted a non muslim actress/actor for Imane and Sofiane.

Skam France was the first TV show on French TV to have a black muslim  woman wearing a hijab as a main character

Paul, Robin and Axel knew each other before shooting, they’d met in Avignon.

Coline was still in her last year of high school when she shot the first two seasons.

Niels is the one who came up with a raccoon as Eliott’s spirit animal

They shoot about 15 minutes of usable content per day which is impressive (it’s usually 2-3 for movies released in theatres, 5-7 for TV programs)

When France TV told David the first two seasons were a success and they were renewing the show, he gave them a list of things he wanted to change so that he’d agree to come back to direct the next seasons, including a different camera, renewing the writers team (they included Niels), storylines, the ig content, etc. The new camera they got was a SONY Venice which allows them to play a lot with the focus/blur ratio and the cold and warm undertones, which made a major shift in the visual quality of seasons 3 and 4 compared to the previous 2.

David named Eliott after his son.

Having the teaser from Eliott’s POV was David’s idea. It’s the first remake to have a clip from the French Even’s POV

The bus stop from season 3 is fake, it doesn’t exist. It wasn’t even shot in Paris itself but in Saint Ouen.

Maxence didn’t watch OG - besides the towels in the bathroom clip - because he wanted to create his own Eliott without being too influenced, and he didn’t watch s1 and 2 of skam france either because he wanted Eliott to discover the characters without knowing their backgrounds.

Maxence wasn’t supposed to audition. He wanted to be done with his acting school before shooting anything but the head of the casting team came to watch a public class at his school and asked him to audition for Eliott at the end. David and Niels knew right away he was the one. Niels watched the audition tapes and was very impressed with another actor but within the first 3 seconds of watching Maxence, he knew it wouldn’t be anyone else. Maxence met Axel after the 3rd call back and they clicked right away. He’d broken his foot two days earlier so he was in crutches. They watched Even’s manic episode and had to improvise a similar scene but had to do with the crutches. They also went for a drink before shooting and they talked for hours, their connection was instantaneous. 

When he learned Maxence was cast, Axel went on his instagram and saw the model pictures and thought he was way too hot with the abs and everything and he himself would look like a potato during the nude scenes next to him. So he got a coach and for 3 months he trained and got on a very strict diet. He was disappointed that there were no shots where you could actually see his abs properly in Skam. He had also said months before that he had gotten a coach because before they started shooting seasons 3 and 4, he had met up with Marilyn to get advice on how to carry a season and she had told him to get a coach otherwise he wouldn’t be able to keep up with the pace. So what is the truth?

It leaked that Maxence was casted in July 2018 because someone on a Korean website recognized his shoes in an IG story from when he’d been spotted at the airport months earlier but it was kept mostly under wraps. Then his and Lais’s names leaked too a couple of months later but most people hadn’t seen his face before the trailer.

David asked Axel and Maxence to give up their phones and social media during the couple of months they were shooting to be really focused and not get distracted by the outside world and they mostly did. Axel bought an mp3 to still have music, he wrote “LUCAS ♥” on it with a white out pen. He created a playlist for Lucas, including songs like Run Boy Run and I love you by Woodkid, and To Build a Home by the Cinematic Orchestra.

Maxence’s process to get ready for a shot: he does yoga and dances a lot in the morning. he puts music on and paces a room while picturing himself standing on the edge of a cliff and if at some point he feels like falling and loses his balance, it means he’s got it. He asks that all the scripts he gets be printed on the right side of the page and on the left he takes notes about what the character is feeling through 7 different states: love, hate, fear, power, vulnerability, sex and i hate myself for not remembering the last one. To play a scene properly, you have to conjure up 4 states to create one emotion. He loves that David respects his method and is able to adapt to every member of the cast’s method. He also uses his body as a tool, for example if his character has to feel lonely or unsure, he will curl up into a ball for an hour without moving and then he’ll be in the right mindset because his body is telling him he’s isolated. That’s the method he used for Eliott, he created “lost scenes” that weren’t in the script, moments in between scenes with Lucas, to get more into Eliott’s mindset.

Maxence wrote a letter to Eliott, drew a picture of him, and spent hours adding notes to the script about his personality before even trying to get into his mind. 

There was a contest for the drawings in season 3. Maxence participated but didn’t get picked. Jeanne Lelièvre did!

All the social media content for seasons 3 and 4 were shot on the same day in December 2018 which is why you can see heavy winter clothing even when the content was published in May. For season 3, most ideas were Axel’s, and Maxence said no to 90%. 

While shooting for seasons 3 and 4, Axel was also on stage every night for theatre

To prepare for his role in s3, Axel watched CMBYN, Moonlight, and The Office 

They received more feedbacks from international fans than French ones at first. It was even a private joke between Niels and David, there were no comments in French on Youtube. Then the piano clip happened and David’s phone went crazy with notifications. He was in the editing room with Jérémy and the buzzing from his phone was non stop. They banned phones in the editing room after that.

Skam France owes part of its popularity to how accessible the cast and crew are, either on social media or IRL, with 6 entirely free events organized to get the fans and the cast and crew to meet, watch episodes together and have Q&As during seasons 3 and 4.

Skam France shooting locations have become extremely popular for the fans to hang out at and leave little mementos, to the point that the mayor of Paris has asked the team to pick completely untraceable locations, or make sure they are not in Paris itself for the next seasons

Skam France was the first remake to get renewed for 2 (possibly 4?) original seasons

Alexia and Daphné were supposed to have their own seasons they but couldn’t get the green light from Norway. He got the idea for Arthur’s story quite quickly after but they had to rework the scripts for seasons 5 and 6 a lot. Robin talked to David about his addiction to video games and how it could be a potential theme but in the end David chose deafness instead.

SEASONS 1 AND 2

It was Coline’s idea to make Alexia bi. There was a scene when Alexia mentions an ex boyfriend and she asked David “why wouldn’t it be a girl?” and his only reaction was “Ok. What’s her name?” and that’s how bi!Alexia was born.

It was also Coline’s idea to give Alexia’s colorful hair. She later regretted it because she had to bleach her hair twice to get the blue to stay and it fried her hair.

Assa’s worst memory of shooting s1 and 2 is when the girls have to carry Daphné, she kept dropping her and was afraid of hurting her.

Marilyn and Lula ruined the scene when the girls are having breakfast all together when they are on the countryside because they couldn’t stop laughing over carrots and the crunchy noise it was making. It was the last day of shooting and their nerves were all over the place.

SEASON 3

The first scene in the common room didn’t hit them that much, they didn’t realize the impact it would have because the whole shooting was just David yelling at them to look at each other then stop then do it again then stop etc

Nobody realized how big of an impact the “Moi c’est Eliott” line would have and then when they watched the clip, it was obvious.

The check de gang wasn’t scripted, it was Paul’s idea to make it a running gag. David wasn’t sure about it but after doing it just once, he was sold. Basile tripping over the bench was also Paul’s idea but he didn’t warn anyone he was doing it so Xavier started laughing and the camera was shaking so bad that they couldn’t keep it and had to reshoot the scene. They noticed during the editing process that Robin also tripped at the same time in the background during one take so they had to keep that one. 

Lucas playing the piano was Axel’s idea even though he didn’t know how to play properly. He sent a text to David at the end of June with different ideas for songs and David picked the most difficult one. He then practiced anytime he could until they shot the scene in october. It took him two months to learn it completely and then a little more to make it look easy.  (Niels later said it was his idea and that Axel was a cheeky little shit). Maxence had never heard Axel play the song before that moment so Eliott’s reaction is genuine. He didn’t think he’d manage to get in the right state of mind because the apartment was too small for the whole team and they were all very cranky, it was 3 am, but the moment he heard the first notes, he forgot all about it and was completely amazed.

The infiltration party: David asked that Basile pushes Daphné a bit, like shoves her out of the way when they have to run, but they hadn’t had the time to rehearse anything. After a couple of takes, Paul pushed Lula a bit too hard and she fell on her knees quite hard. He felt so bad because he never wanted to hurt her and they all had to take a half an hour break because her knees hurt. David after that was like OKAY NO MORE STUNTS EVER.

Axel got mad at the makeup department because the two lines on his face were not on the same place when they shot the outside scene and then once inside. He got so angry he could have cried that they wouldn’t believe him. So during the shooting he looked straight at the camera and wiped them away with the back of his hand to force them to draw the lines properly.

The first kiss scene: they had been shooting for 12 hours. It was raining intermittently all day so the team had to pack up the cameras often and wait it out when it was too much. They ran 4 hours late. They had a fake rain machine but no change of clothes so they could only shoot once. Below the bridge is not easily accessible, it’s a long path from the gate, so they used ropes to get things up and down from the bridge. They only had one shot. They had already shot kissing scenes but David was always telling them it had to be more passionate and kept yelling at them to use more tongue so for that shot they gave it their everything on the first (and only) take they did. 5 minutes later they were shooting the Remember scene.

They shot all the scenes in the colloc on the first week of shooting. Minute by minute was shot right before Samedi 9h17. They had to restart shooting samedi 9h17 four times because something wasn’t working between Axel and Maxence, they were clumsy and stressed. After taking 5 minutes to themselves with David to remind themselves of how pivotal the scene was, Axel and Maxence said they were ready and they shot the opening scene that made the cut.

The Phase de latence clip : Axel and Maxence felt like terrible actors because they had already shot all the big very emotional scenes and this was a bit tamer since Eliott doesn’t show much emotions. They felt that way about all the scenes shot in the school.

The Fête de trop clip: They shot the fight with the guys 8 times but it wasn’t enough for David until Robin slapped Axel on the 9th. After that they shot Chloé yelling at Lucas. Axel was still out of it due to the slap he’d gotten earlier that he hadn’t expected. At 3am, they finished with Lucas injuring his hands. Axel cracked the metacarpus in his hand and only told David two days later.

Leo has talked about the coming out bench scene and said Yann took it a bit too far and was too dramatic, he was like “i don’t know if i can say that… but c’mon… I mean. C’mon… that’s your best friend… who cares if he didn’t tell you right away, he had bigger problems on his mind, right?”He would have done it differently.

The “viens on n’en parle pas” scene was shot in 50 minutes in the middle of the night on the second day of shooting. Marilyn and Axel’s emotions were briming under the surface so it was one of the easiest scene to shoot.

The hardest scene to shoot for David in s3 was the intervention clip. It was the second day of shooting, the 4th clip of the day. Axel’s first take was not good enough and David was scared it would set the tone for the season. He had a stern talk with Axel. Thankfully, they shot a second time and it was the right one, everyone on set was crying and Axel was completely drained.  

The scene where they go get the couch from the creepy place is the one they shot last for season 3.

The paint scene: they only had one try. Axel and Maxence hadn’t shot together for a week, David had done it on purpose and they’d missed each other. It was shot on a Friday at the exact time it was supposed to happen IRL. The whole thing lasts 14 minutes long. David took their pants off because they were slipping too much. Xavier almost stopped filming he was like “is he serious? did he just take their pants off??”. They shot a part when one of them slips on the ground and the other follows but that didn’t make the cut. There were 25 people on set, everyone in a suit to protect from the paint, but Axel and Maxence forgot everyone and just got lost in their characters. When David yelled cut, Axel and Maxence didn’t hear him and kept making out. David had to separate them. Then they all were so happy that they yelled their joy but then saw all the people who were behind the camera, and everyone was crying, like they had witnessed something too intimate. They showered for an hour, emptied 2 bottles of soap and even then it wasn’t enough, Axel still had paint running down his neck at a party that evening. The music used on set was Dreamer, the Khlar remix. Maxence was upset it wasn’t the one they ended up using in the clip, it felt like a betrayal because it “wasn’t the song they had made love to”.

Maxence fought with the costume department over the briefs he was wearing in the paint scene, because they had shot the PONI scene first and he could remember which ones he was wearing for the PONI scene and he wanted to wear the same ones. He was sure people would notice.

The first scene Maxence ever shot was the PONI scene. 

The boat scene was quite special. It was a big moment for Maxence, he was extremely nervous, so David reduced the team on set as much as he could. Maxence got upset at Axel for being too present during the scene. Being used to a theatre stage, Axel is always a bit over the top, eating his ham with a flourish, stuff like that, but this was supposed to be Eliott’s big scene. Maxence asked for a break and told David that if Axel didn’t tone it down, he’d kill him. That also got resolved quickly. 

The Remember Me scene: the priest is Lula’s dad. Lula and Niels both make a cameo in the church. They forgot to warn Axel that a car was coming when he’s running so his reaction is genuine. He was running so fast, the minivan with the camera couldn’t keep up so they shot it twice. They shot Lucas finding Eliott under the bridge just after shooting the first kiss. Maxence only had 4 minutes to get into the right state of mind which was extremely challenging and during that time he had to change his clothes, dry his hair and redo his makeup. Axel wasn’t feeling very well, he was exhausted after having shot 4 clips that day, but David told him he could do it so he ran on the path to the bridge harder than ever (David thought he was going to hurt his sinews) and when he fell to his knees, he was close to passing out, you can actually hear when he says the first “t’es pas tout seul” that he’s about to throw up / can’t breathe properly. They only shot that part once and after it was done David told them they should hug each other because what they had just done with Lucas and Eliott was precious and a moment to remember.  

There was supposed to be a scene after the Remember scene but it was cut. Eliott is sleeping, Lucas brings him food and starts reading his book and then Eliott wakes up. They say hi, Eliott is confused about the time it is, it’s already late afternoon. He says he needs to leave, but Lucas tells him no. He keeps saying he has to go, he has to go to his parents. Lucas tells him it’s fine, they’ve been warned of where he is. But he says he’s got to leave anyway. Lucas asks him why he keeps insisting he needs to leave and Eliott tells him he just doesn’t want Lucas to see him like this. Lucas tells him he doesn’t mind. Then he starts teasing him, saying Eliott just wants to leave because he doesn’t want to own up to the fact that he lied to him. Eliott is confused. Lucas reminds him that he’d said there was no way he would ever be able to sleep next to a guy that hot (on the boat) and yet here they are actually taking naps. So Eliott must have lied to Lucas about finding him hot. Eliott says he’s an idiot and Lucas tells him that at least he’s not a liar at that what matters is that he is his idiot. “Congrats, you’re now the owner of an idiot… more or less hot” Eliott tells him he’s won and asks what they should do now. Lucas answers that they should start by saying hi properly and they kiss, and when they pull back they just look at each other whispering “salut”. Axel said he was upset at David for cutting the scene because it was so soft and intimate, he called him when he watched the episode to ask why he cut it, but it would have been too repetitive with the following Lundi 17h21 clip.

Lundi 17h21 is the second clip Maxence shot. Lucas’s “T’es beau quand tu rigoles” wasn’t scripted, Axel changed the script, he was supposed to say something about liking seeing Eliott smile.

The Je t’aime scene: the first shot they did was the most emotional one, it was one of the hardest scenes emotionally for Axel. He was crying so so much, he had tears and snot everywhere, and Maxence was just wiping it away so tenderly that David thought about keeping that shot but the snot was REALLY disgusting so they didn’t keep it. They shot it a few more times, except that then Maxence had to leave. So the shot of Lucas saying Moi aussi is actually to David. Axel said it didn’t feel weird because he does love David so it felt true.

SEASON 4

Assa sat down with the team before they wrote anything for the season and told them her whole life story. It lasted 4 hours and she cried when reading the script because they had included so many things she had told them, it felt like her and Imane were one.

Making Assa dance was Philippine’s idea. David asked her what she thought about when thinking of Assa, something that was really her and Philippine said “Dada, you should see her dance”

Moussa and Assa knew each other before since they had filmed together 5 years prior, a movie in which they already were siblings. They feel like siblings in real life.

The worst clip to shoot was on Lais’s first day of shooting, it was the bus clip. The shooting conditions were terrible, there was too much noise, and the crew was tired from having shot the 3 bus stop clips from season 3 earlier that day. David was convinced there would be nothing to save and they would have to rent another bus but the team worked their magic in post prod and it turned out amazing.

They shot the scene with Imane, Lucas and Eliott in class the day after Halloween. Maxence was at a party the night before and lost track of time. He had to take a taxi straight from the party to the set at 6am and showed up in full zombie costume and makeup.

Charles come back: it had been cloudy and raining all day but the moment the camera was on the girls’ faces, a ray of sunlight appeared and the wind blew in their hair, making it a real dramatic moment. Too good to pass on, it’s the shot they kept.

The fight between Lucas and Eliott that we vaguely hear in the background was just gibberish. Axel and Maxence hadn’t prepared anything and Axel just ended up shouting at Maxence things like YOU LIED TO ME BEFORE ABOUT LUCILLE YOU MIGHT BE DOING IT AGAIN ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE and Maxence NO I WOULD NEVER - BUT YOU DID - NO I WOULDN’T - YES YOU DID - NO and they kept going in circles so David was like “guys…. please, you might want to start screaming about something else or this is gonna sound very repetitive” but in the end we can barely hear anything so it didn’t matter much

When Alex comes to pick up Emma to go to the cinema, Assa had a break down and couldn’t stop laughing, hiding under a blanket and making all the girls laugh too with her. David had to scold them a bit to get them to stop.

Lais also ruined a clip by laughing for 15 minutes straight, it’s the clip at Imane’s house when they talk about the fair. It was the longest 15 minutes of the crew’s life. 

The oui oui song during Daphné’s birthday party wasn’t planned, the team just lost control of the cast. Axel started it and everyone followed. The cast are actually terrible extras. They are too dramatic and noticeable in the background so party scenes like Daphné’s birthday were a nightmare to shoot. 

Assa and Laïs rehearsed the Unknown dance clip every chance they got between every take, everyone kept tripping on them in the corridors.

The last sequences they filmed were actually the last clips at Imane’s house for the Eïd. Axel isn’t in the last shot because he had to leave for his play. He actually ruined the very last clip of season 4 by shouting his goodbyes to David from across the corner.

SEASON 5

The auditions for season 5 and 6 were held in June. Lucas was spotted through his youtube channel and asked to audition. 

Coline learned sign language by herself after an initiation class with the whole team. She started signing in July and has been practicing ever since. Robin took a one week class in September and then kept practicing by himself and with the D/deaf people on set. David and the rest of the team also took an initiation class.

Robin doesn’t like water and was anxious about the scenes in the pool. David got in the water with Xavier, Robin and Winona to reassure him and direct them better. They limited the number of extras around the pool because of that.

The place where Eliott works is where David used to work when he was younger.

Coline wrote a song for the season

They couldn’t leave the mural in the high school so they took it off the wall (it wasn’t actually painted on the wall itself) and cut it into pieces. There are a few pieces framed on the walls of Lucas and Eliott’s flat.

[phonewikis]

Baki Season 4 Release Date: Popular Anime Makes A Comeback In 2021

Baki Season 4 Release Date on Netflix in 2021, Trailer, Plot, Cast, Spoilers & More

Baki Season 4 aka Baki Son of Ogre is ready to blast, release is confirmed by Netflix!

Baki’s universe is vast and is a declaration of war between world famous Japanese martial artists and people from the dark underground world. To date, the makers have released 3 seasons. Baki Season 1- Baki the grappler 1, Baki Season 2-Baki the Grappler 2, and the third season was titled Baki 2018. All the 3 seasons of Baki English Dub are streaming on Netflix.

This whole series is Manga written and illustrated by Keisuke Itagaki. I bet you if you’re interested in the Action/Adventure genre then you must watch it. This is one of my personal favorite anime because Baki’s story is very adventurous and intense in every single direction. Read more for all the details we know so far!

  Baki Son of Ogre Release Date on Netflix

Netflix’s popular Baki anime series had been renewed for Season 4. It was officially confirmed to be titled Baki: Son of Ogre. Netflix has scheduled Baki son of Ogre release date to be 2021.

Season 4 is a direct sequel to Baki: Dai Raitaisai-hen and as said earlier it is a direct adaptation of the Hanma Baki manga series. Netflix tweeted about Baki Season 4 Release Date and announced it to the world in late 2020.

Considering the timing of the initial announcement done in late October 2020, Baki Staffel 4 release will be scheduled for the last quarter of 2021. It’ll premiere in the Japanese language and followed by English subs and dubs for the rest of the world.

Baki Season 4 Trailer

Netflix has shared an official teaser with the announcement. The Baki Season 4 trailer will be released few weeks prior to the actual air date, possibly in September 2021. The makers have also not released song music for the opening and ending, fans waiting for desperately. GRANRODEO had given OP and ED music in the previous seasons.

Baki Season 4 Plot

Baki Hanma is the son of Yujiro Hanma, the strongest creature alive on the earth dreaded by countries. He is a one-man army capable of even creating or stopping an earthquake just by one fist. He had the reputation of dismantling huge military operations with his fists alone.

Baki’s mother, Emi Akezawa, a wealthy woman blindly loved Yujiro Hanma. She did everything as per her capabilities and Baki’s father’s wishes in bringing up her son. She trained Baki to turn him into the world’s strongest warrior. Baki was born to be the strongest warrior after his father.

Many fights Baki faced during his journey like (YASHA APE VS BAKI) AND (BAKI HAMANA VS MUHAMMAD ALI JR.) to become the greatest warrior.  When Jack Hanma and Baki Hanma fought both of them were brothers’ sons of Yujiro Hanma their fight was very volatile.

Each and every fight is different because every character has their own techniques and Art forms to fight so that the fight becomes very unexpected and it’s very interesting to see this, so if you’ve not watched Baki anime you must watch it the entire series will give you satisfactory experience.

Before he starts celebrating his victory, 5 of the deadliest and dangerously death-row inmates (BANJO GINGA, CHAFURIN, TAKEHITO KOYASU, KENJIRO TSUDA AND ISSEI FUTAMATA) escape. They are dreaded ones from around the world. They claim they are looking for “Defeat”. In other words, they are looking for a deadly competitor who can defeat them.

Baki Season 4 Cast

The main character in Baki anime is 13 years old, Baki. He is very strong and his only dream is to become stronger and stronger. It is speculated that all the main characters will make a comeback to Baki Season 4 episodes. However, last-minute changes cannot be ruled out.

Frequently Asked Questions on Baki Son of Ogre

Is Baki Dead?

No, Baki is still alive and he is a very strong warrior even though he had many brutal fights with death inmates and mix art warriors and was close to death encounters but Baki has always managed to win against every one of his opponents.

Is Baki worth watching?

My answer to this question is simple: watching this Anime is obviously all worth your time. It consists of important moral lessons highlighted through struggles as well as fights. So just go for it you’re going to love it.

How many episodes are in Baki 2021?

The total number of episodes has not been confirmed by Netflix yet. If you believe in rumors, then Season 4 is likely to have 17 episodes. Going by Netflix trends when it comes to Anime production, it usually splits a season into multiple cours for a global release. You can consider the OTT’s marketing strategy for spending more hours on binge-watch.

Traditionally speaking, a “cour” is composed of 11 to 13 episodes. Baki the Grappler anime Season 1 was released by Netflix Japan as a two-cour Season. It was aired from June 25 through December 17, 2018. It consisted of 26 seasons. Japanese season naming convention of Baki season 4 episode 1 is different from global.

Japanese season numbering convention is confusing. It refers to Baki: Son of Ogre as Baki Season 3 at some places. We’ll keep you updated as soon as the Baki news becomes official.

Where can I watch Baki Season 4 English Dub?

Baki Season 4 can be streamed on Netflix when it is officially released. It’ll be English dubbed as well as subbed.

Will there be a Baki Season 5 release date?

Baki is likely to be renewed for another Season 5. The assumption is based on the theory that the manga story is very detailed and will need more episodes to cover them. However, it also will be driven by the response Season 4 receives

Final Thoughts

According to IMDb, Baki Anime has received a rating of 6.7/10 and scored 7.21 on MyAnimelist. On the popularity index, it scores perfect and is one of the most popular Anime series present on Netflix.

[dbseamz]

If you wanna watch Indigo League in the intended chronological order:

If you’ve been watching the first season of the Pokémon anime, you might have noticed a few continuity errors: Ash’s Charizard has been a Charizard for several episodes until you reach “Snow Way Out!” and then bam, it’s a Charmander again. Not until “Princess vs Princess” does Jessie catch the Lickitung she complained about nearly losing back in E49 “So Near, yet So Farfetch’d!” These aren’t exactly mistakes--just evidence that the episodes are out of order.

Through copious use of Bulbapedia and some counting, I figured out the order in which the episodes were supposed to air, had external issues not interfered. A bit of probably rather poorly summarized history below the cut, but first the actual reason I made this post.

To watch Indigo League in chronological order (the order the makers of the show intended, and thus the order in which the plot will make the most sense): 

Follow the regular ordering until you finish “Ditto’s Mysterious Mansion!” (The dub will skip over E18 “Beauty and the Beach” and E35 “The Legend of Dratini”--these are hard but not impossible to find elsewhere, although the latter is only available in Japanese.)

This would be followed by E38, which you should skip if you’re at any risk of strobe-induced health issues. (It’s also really hard to find the footage and was never dubbed, so there’s that too). 

Look for “Holiday Hi-Jynx” (may be a bit hard to find--it was dubbed, but concerns over Jynx’s original black face, especially given the Jynx species’s portrayal in the episode as Santa’s helpers, meant it got removed from television. The Bulbapedia page for the episode lists where it is and isn’t available.) 

 “Snow Way Out”. In my DVD set, it was in the third (blue) case of discs, but I don’t remember which disc it was on. 

Follow the regular ordering from “Pikachu’s Goodbye” thru “Attack of the Prehistoric Pokémon”. 

Following the planned once-a-week release schedule, the next Japanese episode release would have fallen directly on March 3--Girls’ Day. So skip to “Princess vs Princess”.

Watch the next four episodes--”A Chansey Operation” thru “Who Gets to Keep Togepi?” in order. 

“The Purr-Fect Hero” would come next.  Bulbapedia says it was planned for release on Children’s Day itself, which if they were releasing one ep per week would have come two days early. Not sure whether they would have aired an episode on a different day of the week or what, but it doesn’t matter because a) the schedule got screwed up, making the question moot, and b) there weren’t any date-specific episodes planned beyond that.

Watch “Bulbasaur’s Mysterious Garden” next, then keep going in order, skipping over any episode you’ve already encountered on this list.

If using Bulbapedia’s episode numbering system, chronological order goes like this:

1-38, [holiday special], 39-46, 52, 47, 48, 49, 50, 53, 51, 54-80.

There’s a reason for all of these crazy mixed-up dates. After the infamous incident in December 1997 where a red-and-cyan strobe effect in E38 (title translates roughly to “A.I. Warrior Porygon”) caused seziures in a lot of viewers, the anime was (understandably) yanked off the air for several months. Because of this, three upcoming episodes directly linked to specific real-world dates, namely the Christmas special “Holiday Hi-Jynx”, which is not on the DVDs due to concern over the original Jynx design, and the episodes “Princess vs Princess” and “The Purr-fect Hero”, which were intended to air on the Japanese holidays of Girls’ Day (March 3) and Childrens’ Day (May 5), respectively, were not aired on or even near to the dates intended. The latter two were released together in July 1998, while the Christmas special (along with its companion “Snow Way Out!”) was bumped to October of the same year. Episodes 39 and 40 aired together in April 1998 to celebrate the show’s return.

(Screenshot taken from the Bulbapedia page on E40 “The Battling Eevee Brothers”)

Those were the dates of the original Japanese releases. The English dub, which for the most part lagged behind the original by a bit more than a year, caught up a bit because of the hiatus--in October 1998 they skipped straight to E40 “The Battling Eevee Brothers” and kept going until E43 “The March of the Exeggutor Squad”, when they stopped for some unrelated reason--something to do with syndication and switching networks, I don’t know all the details. The English dub did release E39 “Pikachu’s Goodbye” in November of 1998, but besides that there were no new English-dub episodes until February 1999 when E44 “The Problem with Paras” aired on Kids’ WB, the first to do so. (”Princess vs Princess” and “The Purr-fect Hero” were pushed until September 1999--for some reason these were the first English-dub episodes to air since E57 “The Breeding Center Secret” early in May--while ”Holiday Hi-Jynx” and “Snow Way Out” weren’t released in English until December of the same year.)

[unsettledink]

Back in the days of LJ, I used to try and do a post at the end of each year, looking back primarily at fandom and fic. I fell out of the habit when everything moved to tumblr, and then it seemed like I didn’t have anything to say since I wasn’t writing or really participating any. 

But I always liked the idea of it, because I love to be overly reflective on stuff. And talk about my fic. Any excuse! I shuffled around some of the topics I used back then and added a few I’ve seen around that I liked. It got… long, because I TALK, so I split into two sections. 

*

Your main fandom of the year? 

    Marvel (MCU) for sure. Primarily with characters from Spider-Man and Iron Man movies.

Your favorite film watched this year?

    The Old Guard - I saw a couple trailers and everything about it looked like catnip. ‘It’s probably going to be so dumb, but I don’t even care,’ I thought. And then it was so good. It was so much fun and so much smarter than I expected and I loved each and every character and it just made me happy in so many ways.

Your favorite book read this year?

    Red, White, and Royal Blue, Casey McQuiston - I read it twice this year actually. It’s so… cute isn’t the right world. Sweet and hopeful and soft and comforting and intense. I liked every single character which is pretty rare. I cried during the sad parts and then again at the happy ending, like straight up sobbed - both times. I already want to read it again.

Your favorite tv show watched this year?

    Schitt’s Creek - I started it on a whim and because a lot of people had said it was good. The episodes were short so it wasn’t a huge time investment. The first season was a little rough, but there were enough funny moments that I hung on, and then… I kept getting fonder and fonder of these idiots as they grew. And THEN… it kept not disappointing me? 

     You grow to expect certain scripts, twists, jokes, especially in queer story lines. To wait for the bad thing to happen, because it always does. Instead, Schitt’s Creek kept going, ‘hey, here’s the set up for that! Guess what? We’re not doing it. Here’s the happy version instead.’ The relief of having that happen again and again - the last season I’ve watched (I’m sort of saving 6) I cried a bunch but it was always because I was happy. 

Your favorite album or song to listen to this year?

    1896 - I’ve been waiting for the new Steam Powered Giraffe album so eagerly for aaaaaages. Finally getting recordings of Zero’s songs! Lying Awake remains my favorite off the album, with Eat Your Heart and Bad Days on the Horizon high up there as well. I’m loving what Zero brings to the band.

Your best new fandom discovery of the year?

    I don’t know if I really did discover that much? I stuck pretty closely to old fandoms and the ones I picked up in 2019. Maybe Zodiac? It was definitely inspiring, and I want to write and read more in it. 

    Maybe the couple discords I joined? I still really dislike discord and am not on there much, and mostly lurk when I am, but having somewhere vaguely like the comms I remember makes me feel a little less isolated. It’s the potential, that maybe if I said something I might make a friend, or someone might actually want to hear what I say. 

Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year?

    The Watch - I mean, I knew it was going to be a disaster with every word said during pre production. I wasn’t ever going to be happy with it. And then it came out and was even worse and uglier and … disrespectful not just of the source material but of actual people connected to Terry. I’m beyond disappointed that this is what we got, and it’s probably going to be a long time before we get anything else. 

    Devil All the Time was terrible, but I didn’t have especially high hopes. It still didn’t manage to meet them. Yikes.

The most missed of your old fandoms?

    Maybe MASH? Someone I follow started talking about it and I was reminded all over again of the wonderful fics in that fandom. I went looking and a lot are gone (still on my computer, lol, but not online), but rereading was such a trip. A slightly depressing trip, but still. 

The fandom you haven't tried yet, but want to?

    Hmm. I’ve kind of not had the energy to invest in other fandoms at the moment? When The Witcher was having it’s big moment back in January, I had a feeling I might enjoy it enough to fall headfirst into the fandom, so I avoided watching it. Ikr? I don’t have the time or the energy to actively seek anything out. 

Your biggest fan anticipations for the New Year?

    SO EXCITED about Winter’s Orbit. I mean, the third Spider-Man movie for sure, with worry. The second Venom movie, ugh yes. I have tentative hopes for Jungle Cruise? Jumanji was stellar and I always enjoy Dwayne. I have both hope and dread for the new Suicide Squad - I did love Birds of Prey, so if it’s along those lines, yay. The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard because it should be some fun garbage, my favorite kind. I don’t know how I feel about Dune, but, uh, I’m anticipating it. It seems highly unlikely it will actually happen, but The Wheel of Time TV series. 

I want to be excited about Black Widow but it’s hard. It’s not the story I’ve been wanting to see, and I’m angry about Natasha not getting a movie until she’s dead.

You know. If any of it is released for real.

The Good: 

I moved to a better place. I got a better paying, better benefits, better environment job that lets me work from home. The house acquired 3-7 more cats depending on the month. I was able to get some serious problems on my car fixed. I have insurance and was able to start on some health stuff. No one I know got sick or died. I wrote a LOT.

The Bad: 

Aside from the obvious? Depression hitting extra hard during the winter. Having to put two kittens to sleep. Have my car be hit three times in our parking lot. Being driven INSANE by one of the cats for months while the vets were all closed. Kidney stone. Dealing with several health problems. Stalling for months on Gotcha.

The Indifferent: 

Not leaving the house often or easily. Enjoying a new fandom but not doing great at making connections (still real awkward, bud). Raising kittens and saying goodbye. Need new tires. Reading a lot of fic but not a lot of books. Having more pay but more expenses as well (wth insurance??). 

*

2020 fic stats

Number of stories: 39

Number of fandoms: 6? Or 2, if you cluster the others under mcu

Total number of words: 152049

Average word count per story: 4kish

Longest fic: Causality (18k, P/Q)

Shortest fic: Can’t, Won’t (1k, P/Q)

Most comments received: Sieche (49, T/P)

Fandom you wrote the most of: MCU Spider-Man - I only wrote TWO fics that didn’t feature that fandom, wow. And one of those was still MCU.

Fandom you wrote the least of: Zodiac (1!)

Events you participated in: Marvel Trumps Hate, Kinktober, IornspidersGeorg Exchange, Starker Festivals Exchange, MCU Secret Santa, Spiderio Big Bang

*

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?

    SO MUCH MORE OMG. I mean, even just counting posted stuff! (I probably wrote a solid 300k of Gotcha this year.) I did not expect or plan on doing Kinktober, so that’s a whole 31 fics right there. I also wasn’t planning on doing any exchanges - I have a History - but then I did three? And beyond that, I did not expect for everything to get so LONG.

Topic you wrote that you would never have predicted in January:

    Tony/Quentin. Goddammit @the-me09 They were like hey, they could be interesting! And while I agreed, I had no ideas for them. THEN they had to go and write Just Bodies That Collide and next thing I know, I’ve got ten fics featuring them and two-six series focused on them or Peter/Quentin/Tony. What the fuck. 

Leitmotif of the year:

    Vulnerability, I think. I had a bunch of things typed up and they all circle back to vulnerability in the end; sex, being seen, being wanted, sharing trauma, asking for help, trying something new. Offering a soft spot in the hopes it won’t be hurt. 

Favorite character to write about: 

    Tony Stark, for sure. There are just a bunch of slightly different takes, and a lot of canon to work with (kind of frustrating too though). And I’m a sucker for emotionally damaged snarky traumatized characters that are viewed poorly both in universe and out. 

Favorite kind of fic to write:

    This year? Fluff and smut combined. Maybe that’s not the right term really. I keep looking for and writing, even in the angstiest fics, for those soft moments. Sure, maybe it’s a super smutty kink scene, but I want the affection to be obvious. Maybe everyone is consumed by guilt, but I want it to be based in caring too much. Maybe there’s no real love, just sex and even that’s messed up, but I want to find that tiny bit of fondness. 

    And I want happy endings. Or endings that look like they’re going to be happy, at least, even if there’s all the angst first. I don’t think I’ve killed anyone this year? Who AM I? 

Biggest disappointment:

    Not finishing the rough draft of Gotcha. I was making such good progress in 2019, from August to December. Even after the move, I basically finished part 6 in January. I fumbled around and fussed with 1 a lot, but that had already been given one draft, really, and I got through half of 4 before I slowed to a stop. I’ve barely gotten anything accomplished on it since June. Bits and pieces here and there, but nothing significant, not like I was doing. I can excuse October, due to 80k invested in Kinktober (yikes!), but aside from that… I’m sad. I’ll finish it eventually, but I really thought I could have the first draft done in a year. I’m sitting at about 480k out of what I’m almost certain will be 700k. 

Biggest surprise:

    Kinktober! It was kind of spur of the moment, decided just a week in advance. I’ve tried month long or even like, 20-25 day long challenges and I don’t think I’ve ever completed one. I thought there was a good chance I’d do so again, so I gave myself a little help and made my own list of prompts, things I knew I liked and hadn’t done much of yet. And it worked? I actually completed it, what the hell? Despite spending five days travelling near the end! Despite falling behind in getting ahead and writing a bunch of stories the day they were to be posted! Despite apparently forgetting how to do short form! 

    I, uh, could have done without the spawning of eleven series or sequels or continuations jfc WHY SELF.

Something you learned this year:

    Ideas breed ideas. I swear to god, the second I sit down to think through a current idea, I wake up the next morning with three more. 

    Words need to be restocked. I need to consume new - not rereads, not fic - content every so often to refresh my word bank. It is astonishing how quickly writing goes again after I’ve done so.

    I can write so much more than I thought I could. I can do so much more than I thought I could. Yes, I can complete challenges without dropping out early. Yes, I can do exchanges and not regret it. Yes, I can write more than 100k, more than 200k, more and more - and I can write 10k+ easily too. Though I wouldn’t mind if I could once again write less than 10k without feeling like I’ve cut off in the middle. 

    My time is shrinking, and if I want to write as much, I’m going to have to make the time. I can’t rely on three days off a week, on seven hours of uninterrupted overnight shifts, on hyper focused writing binges that leave everything else around me on fire. 

Most memorable comment: 

    So, so many! I can’t pick one. I’ve been really lucky to get a bunch of really detailed, enthusiastic, analyzing comments across all different fics. One of the types that always sticks with me are the ones like ‘I didn’t think/know I liked this ship/kink/twist, but fuck, apparently I do? You made me, what the hell?’. 

What, if anything, are you going to try to do differently in your writing in the new year?

So with writing Gotcha but not posting until it’s done, my view of what I’ve written vs anyone else’s is extremely skewed. I’m sitting here thinking, hey I’m 400k in and got another 10k done today, so much writing! While anyone looking at my AO3 account (for most of the year) is like, you’re averaging three months between fics :(

    All that to say I want to try and get something posted more frequently while I’m working on Gotcha.

    Also, writing for kinktober was really interesting - pushing myself to write every single day, often for that day’s post, forced me to get back into shorter form fic. Which used to be all I did? But it was surprisingly hard to just stop and not write more. So I’d like to challenge myself to write more fics under 10k at least. Maybe even under 5k though that might be asking a lot lol. I might get there with the many continuations of those fics I’d like to do. Does that count?

Goals:

   I want to hit 365 fics. :) I’m only 32 away!

    Aside from writing - 

    I’ve really enjoyed the reading record sideblog I started this year. I’ve let it lapse a little the past month or so, but I’d like to keep it going strong. 

    I’d like to leave a lot more comments. I want to get better about allowing imperfection - I want to write The Best Comment, but in the end? Probably 90% of fic writers are going to be happier with a comment expressing enjoyment in any way over no comment at all. 

And not just on fics, but on general posts as well. It’s hard not to feel… weird and stupid and invasive and rude leaving any sort of comment on someone’s post if I don’t know them at least a little. I have godawful rejection sensitive dysphoria and a lot of interactions that ended poorly; I’m really not good at people. But as dumb as it feels to say those things, I know I am thrilled and warmed and happier when there’s a reblog with tags or a note or a comment or an ask or just, any small interaction that shows someone out there notices and cares, at least a little. There’s no reason I can’t at least try to offer that to other people. 

    I’d like to make/run a couple challenges of my own, later in the year. I’m still figuring out what I want to do and what I could do. I’m really interested in doing something that’s not focused on creators, but the readers; some sort of comment or rec challenge maybe.

    I want to find a cheerleader for Gotcha. I’m struggling to keep up my motivation to write it when it’s already in my head, where I can ‘read’ it any time. There’s a line between depending too much on external validation and trying to generate all your validation yourself, and I’m getting to a point where I think I need to ask for help (gasp! The hardest thing EVER). 

*

(Part Two: Pick Some Fics)

[famedbasearchive]

OUR SONGS: EPISODES 7 & 8

Timeline: November 9, 2020, to December 12, 2020

On-Set Filming Dates: November 9, December 12

Deadline: December 10, 11:59PM KST

Those involved in the main cast of Our Songs this month may earn up to 13 points total for writing, by the end of December 10 KST:

Completions of the two interviews included in the in-character prompt. (1 point for the first interview & 2 points for the second, up to 3 points total)

Up to three solo paras of 400+ words based on filming for episodes 5 & 6. (2 points each, up to 6 points total).

Up to two threads of six posts (three per participant, including the starter) with another muse in the main cast based on the Our Songs episodes 7 and 8 schedule. (2 points each, up to 4 points total)

Please remember the number of the above tasks completed by each muse will factor into the final rankings. These do not count toward monthly limits or toward normal schedule points. All posts for this task block should be tagged with #fmdos4.

All muses in the roleplay (excluding remaining main cast of the show) this month may earn up to 4 points total for writing, by the end of December 10 KST (please read the information in this post for context!):

Completions of the two celebrity audience interviews filmed during the finale included here. (4 points total; both must be completed)

All posts for this task block should be tagged with #fmdos4.

IN-’VERSE INFO

Following the performances on November 7, everyone will have a little under an hour off-camera while the audience is instructed to vote for one song they liked the best. These votes will be calculated and combined with online track votes based on a weighted formula, and then the competitors are brought back out. They are first told the cast members that got the most votes in the live voting and the online voting as follows:

- Live audience vote: Jaewon (Wei) - Online vote: Joohwan (Aera)

The final rankings are then announced as follows to announce the safe competitors from third place to first:

3. Taeyong 2. Jaewon 1. Joohwan

Choi Jihoon congratulates the three safe competitors and dismisses them from the stage to bring the three remaining competitors on stage (Suji, Youngjoo, and Sun). The competitors currently on stage represent fourth place that will go onto the finale and the two competitors who will be eliminated and he reminds everyone of that. After building suspense, he announces that Suji has placed fourth and will be safe to go onto the next episode. This means Youngjoo and Sun have unfortunately been eliminated from the competition and the final overall ranking for the latest round is ultimately as follows:

1. Joohwan 2. Jaewon 3. Taeyong 4. Suji

On November 9, the remaining four idols will once again return to the “recording studio” set they first met at on their first day of filming. Competitors will once again be seated based on their rank (first place in seat one, second place in seat two, etc.). Basic pleasantries will be gone through on camera recounting the last round and reminding everyone of the rules and structure of the show before host Choi Jihoon will inform them of their third songwriting mission:

“The four of you sitting here with me represent the final four of the competition. You’ve been through three rounds of this now, showing your abilities to write to represent your own identity, to fit an assigned concept, and for someone else. For the final round, you’re free to write what you want to share with the world. There’s only one catch. You’ll be writing two songs for this round: one paired up with a fellow competitor and one solo song.”

Choi Jihoon then announces that first place and fourth place from last round must write and perform a duet together and the middle places must do the same. This means Joohwan and Suji have been partnered up, as have Jaewon and Taeyong.

Choi Jihoon then adds, “For your duet, you’re expected to embody both of your unique colors while finding a way to compromise and find a middle ground. For your solo song, you are expected to show whatever you want your final statement to the audience to be. For the first, and only, time during the run of the show, you’ll be releasing a music video for your solo song. Think about how you want the song to be represented, as you’ll be expected to talk with the directors and production team about how your song would best be expressed.”

The competitors are given time to react to the prompt before they are dismissed from the set. After this, each musician will film a talking head interview in a private room with a small team of cameras and producers where they are asked the following questions:

You’ve made the final four of the competition. Looking back on the competition so far and your performance, how do you feel about making it to the last round?

You’re required to work on a duet with one of the other competitors this round. What are your thoughts on who you’ve been paired with and how you think you’ll work together?

What are you current thoughts on what you want to do for your final solo song?

Which one of the other competitors do you see as your biggest competition for winner of the whole show?

From November 10 to November 23, all competitors are given time to work with their assigned partner on their duet song. They will be asked to do most of the work in one of the two competitors’ company studios so that they can be filmed on the stationary cameras set up, but both competitors will keep their self-cams as well. By November 24, the song should be fully produced, recorded, and mastered and submitted to the show’s production team.

On November 29, the final version of the duet songs will be released onto streaming sites and voting will open for online audiences. 

From November 10 to November 30, all competitors are also given time to work on their solo song. As has been the case for the rest of the competition, there will be stationary cameras in their company studio and they’ll also be provided with a self-cam. All competitors will receive a visit from the host Choi Jihoon some time during the period of working on their solo song and he’ll talk to them one on one about their journey on the show, where they hope to go after it ends, what they’ve learned, and about their song. (admin note: This can be written out and muns are given permission to write Choi Jihoon’s actions and words as long as they are not major changes or departures from his established professional character. He should generally remain professional but personable as a normal competition show host. Things like deliberate rudeness, outbursts, or favoritism by him should be avoided, please! If you’re unsure whether something oversteps, please ask the admin.) A mostly complete draft of the song must be finished by November 23, as they will film the music video for their song as their schedule allows from November 24 to November 30. They are allowed to continue to fine tune the song during this time as the final mastered version is only due on December 1, but they won’t be allowed to make major changes that will clash with the music video.

All competitors will meet with a director some time before the filming of their music video to discuss the message, themes, and story line of their song in relation to a music video. While they will not be able to contribute extensively enough for any kind of credited production role on the project, such as coming up with the whole concept, creating a storyboard, contributing to filming or directing the MV, doing all of the styling, etc, they will get to discuss how they want to convey the song and will have power to veto the production crew’s ideas.

On December 6, the final version of the solo songs will be released onto streaming sites and the music videos will be uploaded to Youtube. Voting will open for online audiences.

On December 12, all competitors will go to same building as last round with with the same performance set, where their songs will be performed and voted on. 

For the finale, each competitor will be given a certain number of tickets that will allow them to invite their group mates and celebrity friends to watch during the finale. Each company will also be given a certain number of tickets to allow additional artists in their rosters to attend for potential screen time. Idols attending as guests in the audience will not be given live audience voting privileges, but will be asked for their opinion on the performances in talking head interviews before and after the filming and possibly from the audience during the show.

The competitors will first perform their duets:

Joohwan & Suji - “Heart Stop”

Jaewon & Taeyong - “City Lights”

As each duo is performing, the other duo will be seated on stage watching. After one duo’s performance, the other will be asked to comment on the performance. Some members of the celebrity audience may also be asked for their opinions.

After the two performances, competitors will be given time to change and prepare for their solo stages as necessary. During this time, the audience will be asked to vote for with duet they preferred. After about an hour to an hour and a half, the solo performances will begin, which will be done in order by ranking from the last round:

Joohwan - “Love Me Harder”

Jaewon - “Jasmine”

Taeyong - “Nowhere”

Suji -  “I Go”

For the solo performance round, the three competitors not currently performing will sit in the audience in the celebrity guest section instead of onstage. After each performance, the other three competitors will be asked for their thoughts, as will some of the celebrity guests in the audience.

Another break will be taken following the conclusion of all solo performances where each competitor will film another talking head interview (admin note: please wait to complete this interview until all songs have been chosen and listed above):

What was it like working with your partner on your duet? Do you feel you successfully showed both of your colors as performers and songwriters?

How does your solo song embody the final statement you decided you wanted to make as a competitor?

Do you have any regrets about either of your performances tonight? Do you have any regrets about your performance on the show as a whole?

How do you feel you’ve grown during your time competing on Our Songs?

Which of the other songs/performances caught your attention the most?

How will you feel if you win? How will you feel if you don’t?

OUT OF ‘VERSE INFO

As with past rounds, the rankings for the third round were determined by random generation for spots among who completed the most tasks. All main cast muses had completed all tasks for the third block, so the rankings were decided entirely by random picker. The only exception here is that the admin’s muse is not be eligible for the overall first place ranking. Proof shots of the name picker can be found here.

The winners for separate live voting and online voting were determined using weighted selection based on the randomly generated overall rankings. Rank one got six submissions into the generator, rank two got five, rank three got four, rank four got three, and the two eliminated muses got one submission each, and then names were drawn. Proof shots of the name picker for the live audience vote and online vote winners can be found at the link above.

For this task block you will need to submit two different forms, one for the duet and one for the solo. Please note that only one person from the duet has to submit a form, but everyone has to submit a form for their solo.

The following information will be requested for the duet: the song you would like to claim for your muses to create and perform for this round’s task as agreed upon between partners (and a performance reference if one is available) and the creative claims on it. 

The following information will be requested for the solo: the song you would like to claim for your muses to create and perform for this round’s task (and a performance reference if one is available), the creative claims on it, and a link to the MV.

The form links will be uploaded here at 12AM KST November 14/10AM EDT November 13, twenty-four hours after this post goes up. The form for the duet song is here and the solo song form is here.

A reminder of the limits of creative claims on each muse for the show can be found here. If you think there is a mistake or if a song has been released that leads to a necessary update, please contact the main.

Songs Claimed:

WOODZ - Love Me Harder

Kei - I Go

Taemin - Heart Stop ft. Seulgi

DPR Live - Jasmine

TVXQ - City Lights ft. Taeyong (U-Know Yunho Solo)

Jung Jinwoo - Nowhere

SONG LIMITATIONS/REQUIREMENTS

There is no specified theme for this round other than to create a song in a pair and a final solo song. Please read the above prompt in the in-’verse info for full details on this round.

For all rounds, a song must fit all general rules of music claims (i.e. matches muse position, is not too explicit, must be by an artist in the Korean music industry, etc.) and must receive admin approval.

For this round, these are the additional limitations and requirements on songs that can be chosen:

Duet song

The song must involve two performing artists. The original song can have two artists equally credited, a solo with a feature, or a duo act, but it must have two performing artists.

In real life, the song must not be a title track according to Melon and cannot have an official MV. Special clips, live clips, and minimal production lyric videos are acceptable, but the song will have to be re-released on an album in the future to claim such videos as canon to the universe.

In real life, the song cannot have charted higher than a rank of 50 on Gaon’s Weekly Digital Chart at any point.

You may claim songs with choreography, but choreography creative claims are not available. As usual, songs with more emphasis on complex choreography should be reserved for muses with dance positions.

Both muses must have some kind of creative claims on the song.

Solo song

This song must be a solo song. This means it cannot be a collab or have a feature.

In real life, the song may be a title track according to Melon, but it doesn’t have to be. It must have an official MV. Special clips, live clips, and minimal production lyric videos do not count and the release of any different M/V versions beyond the main video will require the song to be re-released on an album in the future to claim such videos as canon to the universe.

In real life, the song cannot have charted with the top 100 on Gaon’s Weekly Digital Chart at any point.

You may claim songs with choreography, but choreography creative claims are not available. As usual, songs with more emphasis on complex choreography should be reserved for muses with dance positions.

[putschki1969]

Orange radio version FULL & talk with Wakana

Wakana had a guest appearance on today’s episode of FM FUJI’s『Selectors』. This time we got “Aki no Sakura” and a full version of “Orange” (although there is a bit of talking at the end). We also got a sneak peek of  track # 5 夕焼け|Yuuyake, a part of it was used as background music while they talked.

Download Wakana’s entire section HERE

This was a fun episode. By now Wakana and the host Yuki Mamiya are well-acquainted, they are obviously enjoying their time together. They are both happy to have been able to meet each other multiple times this year. Yuki praises Wakana for her endless kindness and how she is such a lovely person [don’t we all know it XD] The Yoyogi studio offers a public viewing so lots of fans came to watch. [Ahhh, I wish I could take part in one of these public viewings one day!] Anyways, Yuki explains that the program “Selectors” is actually new so she would like to introduce Wakana to her listeners. The usual shebang, Yuki says “Sora no Kyoukai” instead of “Kara no Kyoukai”, Wakana doesn’t shy away from correcting her XD They talk a bit about their previous talk topics like Wakana being a huge shark fan. Then they continue with their main topic which is movies and TV programs, another favourite thing of Wakana’s. In particular they wanna focus on the horror genre. Wakana isn’t good with horror, she gets scared quite easily but these days she feels like challenging herself so she has made it a habit to watch horror movies and TV programs regularly. Typically she will watch 2 episodes or films a day but with horror she can only watch 1 per weeks or else it will be too much. She always wanted to watch more of this genre but usually she hesitated. She thought it was finally time to change that. Back in the day she wasn’t into any of that but then she came across great shows like The Walking Dead. While she was still super scared she just couldn’t stop watching so that’s how she developed a bigger interest in in the genre. But even when she was a teenager she had a weakness for zombie movies. On Saturdays she would go to the cinema with her older brother and his friends. They would always go in the middle of the night and afterwards they would go to the supermarket to stock up on food in case a zombie apocalypse happened. People were often questioning what they were doing XD There is one thing she cannot watch though and that’s Japanese horror, it’s just too scary for her (like “Ring” for example). We then get “Aki no Sakura” and three songs by other artists selected by Wakana (I will always love you by Whitney Houston - singer she has always looked up to and that inspired her to sing, WOW WAR TONIGHT 〜時には起こせよムーヴメント by H Jungle with t - a song she would love to sing if she were a guy, バッドフォーミー by Official HIGE DANdism - a song she has recently been into).

We then get some talk about Wakana’s EP “Aki no Sakura” which contains five songs in total. She uses a totally different singing style for this EP and it has been quite the challenge. She is happy they went with the EP format because that meant she they could add more songs. And she is even happier they were able to release it before her lives in December because this way there is a strong connection between the EP and the concerts. They chat a bit about the fantasy vibes in the the first song “eve” and how the last song “Yuuyake” is just Wakana and an acoustic guitar. The recording for that was quite the struggle since she did it together with the guitarist. It was hard for them to decide on a proper tempo, they eventually ended up with something very slow. Starting from 30:30 we have the song playing in the background while they promote Wakana’s upcoming lives. It’s hard to focus on the song but from what I can tell, it’s very sweet and lovely. I am getting Christmas vibes for some reason. It will be perfect for Wakana’s winter live. The Tokyo performances are still not sold out [ahhh, I feel so bad for Wakana T_T - I know it’s a weekday but still, it’s HER BIRTHDAY, who would wanna miss that?] Wakana explains that she chose the live title “Matataki/Blink” because a concert is like a single precious moment contained in time where you can enjoy music that’s completely different from the experiene of listening to a studio versio.

Last but not least, the full version of “Orange”. I really didn’t expect a harmonica to appear at the end, OMG, this sounds like it belongs in the 80s, so much nostalgia, I REALLY REALLY like this song.

[monkeypretzel]

NYT Article about Joel Hodgson’s Riffing Class, 2012

Don’t Like the Movie? Let’s Talk About It

Joel Hodgson on ‘Mystery Science Theater’ and Riffs

By Paul Brownfield June 1, 2012

IT takes a certain kind of fan to recognize Joel Hodgson, creator of the cult 1990s Comedy Central series “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” and Shawn Queeney is that kind of fan. In his media and society class at Bucks County Community College north of Philadelphia, Mr. Queeney, an associate professor of communications, discusses the place of the “Mystery Science Theater” in the underbelly of cinema, and he and his wife spent a December evening watching Mr. Hodgson and friends perform their idiosyncratic comedy as part of the live B-movie heckling tour “Cinematic Titanic.”

So when Mr. Queeney spotted Mr. Hodgson at a restaurant not long after, he asked Mr. Hodgson to speak at his college. Mr. Hodgson agreed but later came back with a suggestion more befitting his sensibilities. And so was hatched one of the odder master classes ever offered in formal higher education: a workshop on the art and science of “movie riffing.”

On “Mystery Science Theater,” which began in 1988 and was integral to the early growth of Comedy Central, Mr. Hodgson played a janitor at a byzantine research lab who is sent into space, where he is forced to watch B and C genre movies with two robot companions named Tom Servo and Crow. But that setup, laid out in the theme song, was only the bones of the show. The meat each week was in the riffing, as Joel and his bot-pals, silhouetted at the bottom of the screen, commented on everything from killer lizard films like The Giant Gila Monster to cheesy instructional shorts like “Hired!”

“Hey, isn’t that the John Belushi biography?” Mr. Hodgson’s character says when the title appears. (Riff spoiler alert: It’s a reference to the book “Wired.”)

If “Mystery Science Theater” was part insult comedy aimed at movies, there was also something congenial in the show’s tone. (Perhaps it was the puppet robots, or that it was all being produced in Minneapolis.)

Six writers had to deliver a 90-minute episode every week, Mr. Hodgson said, with 600 to 800 riffs per movie, “when all the pistons were firing.” In devising the lines, no reference (Bella Abzug, Roy Lichtenstein) was too outré or rejected initially, Mr. Hodgson said. As he tried to convey to the students at Bucks, it’s best to brainstorm nonjudgmentally first and figure out what’s funny later.

Mr. Hodgson, now 52, left “Mystery Science Theater” in 1993 after, he said, a dispute with the executive producer Jim Mallon over the direction of a feature film based on the series.

Moving to Los Angeles, Mr. Hodgson landed a series of movie and TV deals while also keeping creative in more inimical ways. One of them was an event called the Super Ball, an annual “one-night World’s Fair” that Mr. Hodgson dreamed up with his brother, Jim, combining their interest in comedy, science and art happenings.

Mr. Hodgson, in this way, has long approached comedy as a chemist in a lab does, noodling with a drug protocol to make it more effective. In Minneapolis in the late 1980s he briefly taught a workshop called Creative Stand-Up and Smartology that was based on communication paradigms he’d read about in college. This was after he had earned appearances on “Late Night With David Letterman” and “Saturday Night Live.”

Years later he tried to rejigger the sketch comedy series format at HBO, where he made a pilot called “The TV Wheel.” Mr. Hodgson’s idea was to shoot the show live, with a camera that was locked down in the middle of a set that rotated like a record on a turntable. “Your TV doesn’t move, so why should the camera?” Mr. Hodgson said, explaining the philosophy.

Finally, in 2007, Mr. Hodgson, still regretful about leaving “Mystery Science Theater,” returned to movie riffing, forming the tour “Cinematic Titanic” with the writer-performers Trace Beaulieu, J. Elvis Weinstein, Frank Conniff and Mary Jo Pehl.

In class Mr. Hodgson kept things loose but wasn’t just fooling around either. In his travels with “Cinematic Titanic,” Mr. Hodgson said, he often meets people movie riffing à la “Mystery Science Theater” but live. “I was always curious what it would be like to participate with these people who wanted to get into it.”

The class was made up mostly of theater, film and video majors, and a number of them were involved in improv comedy, including Kyle Reichert, 21. “Every class he would talk about something new,” Mr. Reichert recalled, “what he would go through on a daily basis making the show.”

Mr. Hodgson’s first lesson was simple: When riffing don’t be a jerk. (He used a different word.) The 25 students in Riff Camp 2012 were divided into groups. They had two and a half months to complete a film’s worth of riffs before performing at the college’s spring arts festival. They also had to dream up a back story and set it to a theme song. One group, the all-female New Valkyries of Valhalla are Valkyries by day, collecting Viking souls, and students in a women’s studies course at Valhalla Community College by night.

That explains why they would be watching “Consuming Women,” an oddly spooky short billed as a portrait of the female consumer circa 1967. The other films Mr. Hodgson assigned for other groups — from the public domain Web site archive.org, which houses the Prelinger Archives— included “Pennsylvania Fish Commission,” a riveting 1950s tour of trout farming narrated by the commission’s decidedly un-emotive executive director, and the delicious University of California romp “Health: Your Posture,” about a girl ostracized by her peers because of bad posture.

“It had nothing to do with posture,” said Stephanie Drejerwski, 20, one of the riffers.

Mr. Hodgson instructed students not to riff more than once every three seconds, so that the audience could absorb each joke. As on “Mystery Science Theater,” scripts were time- and color-coded to indicate when the film’s narrator was speaking (“You need a thorough checkup by your family doctor to discover the cause of your posture defects”) and when the riff was interjected (“Sir? We don’t have insurance?”).

Though the practical application of a course on movie riffing seems negligible, Mr. Hodgson has perhaps hit upon something in the age of social media. Facebook and Twitter, among others, are portals not dissimilar to the sad, empty cinema where Joel, Servo and Crow watched bad movies, their riffs providing a sense of community.

Maybe that’s why “Mystery Science Theater” keeps enjoying afterlives. Michael J. Nelson, who replaced Mr. Hodgson on the TV series until it ended in 1999, offers RiffTrax, audio riffs to play alongside DVD releases of current and older films. The comedian Doug Benson, host of the popular podcast “Doug Loves Movies,” organized a live screening series in Los Angeles, “The Doug Benson Movie Interruption,” in which he and friends (like Zach Galifianakis, Sarah Silverman and Ed Helms) riff on a movie for the audience. And Kevin Smith, the filmmaker and inveterate podcaster, is starting a show on Hulu this week called “Spoilers.”

Mr. Smith was quick to note that this was riffing not like “Mystery Science Theater” but in the tradition of his first film, “Clerks,” in which the characters spitball about a movie everyone’s already seen, “Star Wars.” In “Spoilers” Mr. Smith plans to screen a current release at Universal City Walk in Los Angeles then take the audience to a nearby studio for what he sees as a live version of a movie chat room.

“I don’t think a movie discussion ever dies anymore,” he said.

Meanwhile, as alumni from Riff Camp 2012 prepared to perform this weekend at the Colonial Theater in nearby Phoenixville (the same theater where scenes from the original “ Blob” were filmed), Mr. Hodgson and his fellow “Mystery Science Theater” alums were busy putting together a “Cinematic Titanic” show set for July in Ann Arbor, Mich. They will be riffing on two 1970s films — “Rattlers” (rattlesnakes and nerve gas!) and “The Doll Squad,” which, Mr. Hodgson said, is about “a seven-woman army that was supposedly the prototype for ‘Charlie’s Angels.’” Set riffing engines to full throttle.

[simpsonsnight]

Tracey Ullman Short #1

HIATUS WEEK: DAY 2

Good Night Simpsons April 19, 1987 Welcome to Hiatus week, where instead of reviewing episodes I review the shorts and then half-ass the B-SODE segment. This is the very first Simpsons short, which debuted on the Tracey Ullman Show. These originally played as interstitials preceding commercial breaks. So there’d be four segments in total. The modern viewer seeking these out on the internet is actually viewing these segments all strung together in order, creating one cohesive short. I think eventually they played as uninterrupted segments during the 1988 season. Also most of them have a Comedy Central logo because most recordings exist from Comedy Central reruns of The Tracey Ullman show. Anyway, this short is something to see. The characters are very primordial. Bart doesn’t really come off like a dimwitted troublemaker. In other shorts, Lisa just seems like a female Bart. The designs are crude compared to what came after. The humor of this short in particular more resembles the tone of Groening’s Life in Hell comic, with Bart’s mind being boggled by existential musings about the nature of the mind. This is the only short officially released (unless you count the clips in the 138th episode spectacular) as it appears on the Season One DVD. I remember rumblings of the rest of the shorts being released as mobisodes or some shit in the early days of “cellphone content”. I still think it’s kind of a bummer they didn’t just put them all on the Season One DVD. Why the fuck not? Does Tracey Ullman need to get paid? PAY HER. SHES A WOMAN, ALL WOMEN DESERVE MONEY. (CLAP) GIVE (CLAP) TRACEY (CLAP) ULLMAN (CLAP) ALL (CLAP) YOUR (CLAP) MONEY THE B-SODE:

Muppet Babies: "Muppet Goose" Season 3 - Episode 13 | December 6, 1986 These shorts are going to be challenging to come up with B-SODES for, but goddamn it I’ll do my best. This episode starts off with the Muppet Babies all trying to sleep, then Nanny reads some nursery rhymes to them. To be honest, I misremembered this episode as being entirely about the Muppet Babies sleeping, but really the first five minutes are about that, so I stopped watching after that. But I vividly remember Scooter’s scientific method for sleeping, which involves lying on your back and reducing your breathing to 8 breaths per minute. I’ve literally spent like, hours trying to fall asleep using scientific methods. They never work for me. The only thing that works is a day filled with hard labor or drugs. I’ll never try the first one.

[phoenixglacier]

[PART 6] References in We Are Bulletproof : the Eternal MV

A continuation, since tumblr only allows 10 images per post.

LINK TO PREVIOUS POST

LINK TO NEXT POST

2:54

Of course the emotional peak goes to Spring Day MV! Even the two main colours in this scene are a reference to the original MV. (Chibi Bangtan are still in Run/I Need U style tho)

3:02

Many of us think that this campfire is a reference to the second half of Run BTS! 2018 - Ep.56, where Bangtan all wrote very emotional, touching letters to each other. The episode was released in the latter half of 2018, so it’s likely that this episode was filmed soon after the members had all decided to continue their journey instead of disbanding (In Break The Silence (docu-series): Jin talked about their difficult time in his MAMA 2018 speech (+subbed ver) (also shown in Ep.1 of Break The Silence), and Yoongi talked about this in Break The Silence (docu-series) as he wrote Tear for his members at that time)

The hair and outfits of Chibi Bangtan aren’t from this episode, instead they’re from Wings Tour Final (talked about more down at 3:41)

3:18

The purple lights that represent Army becomes a whale! This is obviously a reference to Whalien 52 - making Army the lonely whale whose frequency only Bangtan can hear and vice-versa.

3:23

A little thing here, but these lights are probably meant to look like the drone shows that Bangtan often use in their concerts.

3:35

The Army lights here become a concert audience!

3:41

So this concert is the Final of BTS Live Trilogy Episode III: The Wings Tour on the 8th-10th December 2017. (This concert is available as an official video somewhere).

This specific scene is from their performance of Born Singer (Born Singer is song where Bangtan rewrote the lyrics entirely back in 2013. The 2017 version performed in this concert has some changes in the lyrics)

The formation, stage, and style are all from this specific concert performance.

This concert is such a significant point in Bangtan’s journey and I really recommend that if you haven’t watched it in its entirety, you do so. BTS Live Trilogy Episode III: The Wings Tour - Final was part of BangBangCon2020 and the whole tour was documented in Burn The Stage. Rather than having someone explain to you why it’s so significant, watching the full performance, including their speeches, will really express how important this concert was.

We'll continue in the next post!

LINK TO PREVIOUS POST

LINK TO NEXT POST