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whysojiminimnida · 3 years ago

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A Conversation With Jeon Jungkook

So I hauled out my Super Secret Samsung Universe Idolphone for the first time yesterday (will post the unboxing video later) and y'all if Jeon Jungkook was not LISTED IN MY CONTACTS like HOW DID THIS EVEN HAPPEN I HAVE NO IDEA. And I wasn't gonna try the number. I was not. Until this afternoon when my inbox was totally full and I NEEDED ANSWERS DAMMIT.

Me: Hey Koo hey it's me, WhySoJiminie. Sup? Koo: Sup bitch? Damn it's been a minute, how you been? Me: Good man, can't complain, can't complain. Listen though, my inbox. These kids man. You and I need to, like, TALK. Koo: Yeah? Hang on, I gotta post this Ruel song about pain. Think I should sing it or just post the lyrics? Me: GOD NO PLEASE STOP Koo: What? You don't love a good gutwrencher ballad? I thought you were "So Jimin"... like, Jimin loves Ruel. Lives for this shit. (yells out of range) Don't you babe? Muffled Jimin-sounding voice: Huh?

Me: Is that actually Jimin? Is he there right now? Koo: Jimin? Uh. Oh. Oh, hell no. Nope, haven't seen him since quarantine, we're not together, definitely not. And I was not feeling some type of way, like, at all while he was sick. I mean he's not 100% yet, I heard, but... anyway. Nope, totally not together, not us. Muffled voice: Totally not mmmmfff mm... hmm Me: The fuck. Who's with you then? Koo: Uh.. Bam. Bamie's here and he loves pain. I mean, he loves Ruel songs about pain. And other sad ballads. I don't. Like, you never hear me do a sad song ever. Falling? Didn't happen. Never Not? Don't know her. Only Then? Absolutely did not serenade my boyfriend with a song about breaking up. I literally only ever sing happy dancey shit. My Time was a total fluke, didn't write it, never met the bitch. Me: So... why all the instagram angsty songs, then, Jeon? Like my inbox is full of people who are hellbent on letting me know that they heard from a dude's bro's cousin that you and Jimin were never together anyway and are totally not even on speaking terms now. Koo: Uh...mm...hang on. (muffled breathing and giggles) Uh... right. Right. No actually what had happened was, me and Taehyung broke up over that trumpet holder in his living room. (laughter in background) Yep. Hybe managed to hide us behind me and Jimin for, like, years, but now me and Tae, we're history. Turns out he likes girls, like, what the fuck, how did I not know? I'm heartbroken. (more laughter)

Me: Look, Jungkook. I only called because your instagram nonsense has my inbox in a tizzy. These kids are convinced you've never been with your man or if you were with your man you're not with your man now and you're supposed to be thrilled and posting about your baby's all better. Get with the damn program, sir.

Koo: Hang on, Bam wants to say a thing. (hands off phone, muffled noises) Definitely not Bam: Hi, this is Bam. Daddy said to tell you that A, he is not fluent in English and does not analyze every single song he listens to, only songs he covers. So there's that. And 2, Jimin is on hiatus from social media except for Weverse because he is two things: gracious and private, and he appreciates his fans but he does not appreciate the treatment he gets from some of Daddy's fans, so he is over it. If there is ever anything else to report someone will, I don't know, issue a press release or post a selfie. Okay? Me: Um, okay, uh, BAM. If that's your real name. Still Not Bam: It is totally Bam, like Together Bam, B-A-M is my name (dog barks in background) That is also Not Bam, we invited Holly over. Yeah, Holly. Holly's a bass now. Me: I don't believe you. Where's Jungkook? Still Not Bam But Possibly Jimin: Look, let the man drink his soju and listen to ballads in peace okay. Here (hands phone over) Me: That was totally Jimin. Koo: Are you doubting my pet's superior intelligence and verbal ability now? Damn, you're harsh. Listen, I'm just gonna go, okay? Tell your inbox to pipe down. If Jimin, uh, Bam says he'll let you know when there's something to tell, he will. And, uh, I will. Maybe. Right now I have to go check out this cool new band I heard, Spinal Tap? They have this song about epic asses or something.

Me: Uh, Spinal Tap is, uh, I dunno how to tell you this... Koo: Okay it's been real bye! And then I got a dial tone. Or, I made up an entire conversation BECAUSE I DON'T LIVE IN JEON JUNGKOOK'S BRAIN. I am not psychic. So calm down or don't but don't look at me for answers because even if I, say, knew a guy who has seen the Jeon-Parks together since quarantine and says they are fine, I would not disclose that information because I do not have proof or receipts and it is not really my information to share. So I figure this conversation is about as good as any of us are gonna get without photos or a statement. Okay?? OKAY!!

Oh PS -- Also, just so you know, I have not forgotten COAC or Own It or anything else in my folders or inbox, but I've gotta not be around for a day or two possibly. I'm still doing the hospital thing once a week and that happens in the morning so it might be a second before I'm back. Or I'll get crazy and post shit all night and feel great tomorrow and you'll see me anyway, but if you don't, I'm not ignoring you and I'll be back. No worries, all is well. OKAY?? OKAY!!

#things that never happened #bam speaks #samsung universe idolphone #that goddamn instagram #jeon jungkook does what jeon jungkook wants goddammit #get off my dick anons really

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doctorbunny · 3 years ago

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MILGRAM theory time: Haruka!

This isn't going to go super in depth (famous last words) but there's a few heavily debated parts of Haruka's MV I want to share my findings/thoughts on because I think this is my new special interest and during my quest to get best boy's song to 1 million views I have been looking over his first MV with a fine tooth comb so to speak.

Disclaimer: As the Jackalope said in the "This is the MILGRAM" trailer, we don't necessarily know everyone's crime from just the first video, its possible that a lot of things will be re-contextualized in the second MV, however I am not psychic or bilingual and thus will only be working with content released before August 20th 2021 and translated into English (which could cause some language/cultural details to be lost on me as translation is not a 1 to 1 process).

TW for discussions of ableism, child abuse, murder and animal death. Also this is really long so sorry to all the people that follow me for non-MILGRAM stuff

Firstly, I want to start on the topic of Haruka as a person. He is disabled. He does not have 'the mind of a child' (although he is 17, making him legally a minor in both North America and Japan). He is not just 'child-like'. And he is not mentally ill (well he might be, in the sense that many disabilities like Haruka's have strong comorbidities [where a person has two or more conditions but neither directly causes the other] with anxiety, depression and PTSD, but usually when I see people talk about him 'struggling with mental illness' they go on to refer to aspects of his disability). Sometimes on tumblr, people like myself, will see canonical traits written into a character and identify them as being traits associated with our disabilities/mental illness and headcanon them as such. Sometimes this even involves saying things like "It's basically canon!" Although we understand that these characters were probably not the result of a writer intending to write a disabled person. When I say that Haruka is being written as a person with a neurodevelopmental disability, I mean the writer intended to write a disabled character and wrote them in a way that they wanted the audience to pick up on. As an autistic person (which is one of many neurodevelopmental disorders and also something I probably didn't have to specify because who else would be writing an essay about a series they got into a few days ago at 11 o'clock at night) I really like how Haruka has been written so far. There's definitely some parts of him that have been exaggerated so abled normies can pick up on his disability (namely how his MV 's main motif is really child-like drawings) but the writers also included a lot of smaller details I appreciate like how it is noted he avoids eye contact when talking to other people and is depicted as nervously pulling at his sleeves in official artwork, or how he says he finds his prison uniform (which has tight straps) 'relaxing' and when he gets nervous/tense, he will dig his fingernails into the palm of his hands. (These last two potential being examples of 'self stimulation' [aka stimming] where a person seeks out specific sensory stimuli in order to help regulate their nervous system/emotions, in this case the tight uniform creates a comforting, secure feeling [you may have heard about some people preferring to sleep under weighted blankets for this reason] and digging nails into his palms sounds uncomfortable/painful but is done in an attempt to deal with a greater sensory discomfort caused by the situation/environment) I also appreciate the depth he is written with, he struggles to communicate verbally but in his MV and interactions with other inmates is shown to have insecurities, opinions and a consistent thought process (this is all basic character stuff but unfortunately not always present in disabled characters)

Also I want to add that (in terms of what we've been shown so far) Haruka did not kill anyone because of his disability/mental illness. Disabled people are not inherently more innocent than abled people. But there is no disability/mental illness where a symptom is that you kill people and real people have to live with the stigma when you speak carelessly and suggest things like "Haruka is the kind of mentally ill person who kills people as a cry for help" 🧂 (or at the very least real people have to read BS like that and cringe). TL;DR Haruka is less child-like and more onion-like (as in, he has layers) 🧅🧅🧅

Now is the actual theory stuff, oops:

Every prisoner in MILGRAM is supposed to have committed murder in some way, obviously considering Yuno just had an abortion (which i personally do not consider an act of murder) whilst Mu literally stabbed someone to death, this definition is stretched a bit. But it is not agreed upon yet who Haruka killed/how many people he killed or why he killed.

In his MV he is shown to have chased after his dog into a forest, seen something off-screen, then beaten something into a messy pulp with a rock. Some people think the dog is a red herring and that Haruka actually killed his mother/the girl from the fireworks show/his brother. I do not agree.

First: I believe Haruka when he says he doesn't have a brother. The MV literally starts by Haruka looking in the mirror and then switching between the him now

and a really similar looking younger child who just so happened to be a key feature of his memories (I don't have the vocabulary to explain it but its like cinematic parallels that establish this is the same person at different points of their life)

Its not impossible that this is Haruka's secret younger brother, but i think its unlikely. I saw someone saying they had to be different people because Haruka looks less happy than the child but like, most 17 year olds are less visibly happy than when they were 7 (or however old the child is meant to be). Life happens.

So when Haruka is shown pushing the child around and eventually strangling him, this isn't meant to be literal (homicide or suicide), but a representation of how conflicted Haruka feels about his younger self, who may have committed the murder (if you've ever been kept awake cringing at memories of something you said in the past and wishing you could go slap some sense into your former self, this is like that but 10 times more self loathing). The lyric "I am always repeating yesterday," implies he might think about this specific past event a lot.

Moving on, its pretty well accepted that Haruka's parents were abusive in some way and Haruka internalised a lot of it: he constantly apologises, he says in his interrogation questions that his one wish come true is that "[he] want[s] to be loved" and describes in his MV how when he couldn't find the words he was looking for ("you're unfair") one of his parents "would get angry at me and say “You’re hopeless.”". He seems to know its unfair but also still says he 'loves' his family, possibly mistakenly believing it is his fault, but also showing an awareness of his situation (and how his parents might behave).

Now, the MV is stylised in a way that makes certain details unclear, but there is one clear detail showing that Haruka's dog was killed

This is the first close up of Haruka and the dog. Haruka's mother is just out of frame supervising, but they look pretty happy. Notice how the puppy has a silvery chain for a collar. Somehow, this dog gets out of the house but only Haruka is shown chasing after it (whether his mother was searching elsewhere or didn't bother following her disabled son into the forest is unclear). Either way, young Haruka is now in the forest, unsupervised.

By the time he finds the dog, there is already blood, suggesting it was initally attacked by something else.

is this a sigh of relief from a boy whose finally found his beloved pet or a jealous weakling glad that nature took its course and he is finally free of that meddling mutt stealing all his mummy's attention? /j

I think this shock at the discovery that 'there is blood on his hands' could imply that rather than literally getting the blood from his dog, Haruka has seen his already injured dog and realises that if the dog got out because of him (he is previously shown to be aware his parents seem to blame him for everything) then he is the reason his dog is injured/dying and will be blamed for it. (this scene plays over the lyrics "It’s fine, though it’s really not It’s really fine, though I don’t really think so When I tried to understand it, You’ll make that disappointed face again" suggesting he is trying to avoid making his parents disappointed and letting the family pet escape into danger is something that could make them very disappointed)

now we get into rock murder (this is present-day Haruka implying that this is either: not how the scene really played out; the writers really wanting the audience to know that this was Haruka's doing and not someone else's; or this turns into a separate incident that happened much later [although note that the red sky and blue moon is the same as when young Haruka first appears at the start])

b the corpse is beyond mangled now, but its clearly the dog because the silver chain collar is still there, to the right of the body. (circled in red for your convenience :3)

My hypothesis is: Haruka didn't set out to kill his dog, but upon finding it injured (we don't know the severity aside from bleeding and also it not being able to run away from Haruka kneeling down above it w/ a big rock so it could range from treatable with a lot of vet help to already on death's door, TBH I don't think Haruka would know the difference) He knew he'd be blamed for this; made into a villain who let the poor puppy come to harm. He panicked and killed the dog out of some idea that it would make him the victim here (since he'd be found crying over a dog corpse, which might make a parent go comfort him rather than getting angry about what could've happened to the dog). This is over the lyrics: "I cried, I screamed I wanted to be a pitied and loved weakling I was in denial, I was in denial I just had to make sure I’ve become a victim, I’ve become a victim" (there's another theory that he was also jealous of the dog, which could work here too, since this is not some calculated plot; rather its a rash decision) This ties in with his Japanese song title (translated as Weakness) which is a play on a phrase sort of like "The strong eat, the weak do not" to become "The weak are eaten by society" or "The weak eat each other to survive" [once again I am reminding everyone this is based on second hand information from the youtube comments section (from users mitchki and Alphaistic) because I do not speak Japanese] This second meaning (The weak eat each other to survive) makes sense under the reading that Haruka killed his dog in order to 'survive' making his parents disappointed for the dog escaping.

Miscellaneous points:

We don't know where Haruka's necklace came from yet, it must be a gift since the most expensive thing he's ever bought was cotton candy. The younger child in the video isn't wearing it and neither is his mother or the girl in the purple dress.

Haruka's home seems quite big, at the start we can see a large flower garden outside the window and there's a forest in walking distance. This might suggest his family is quite wealthy

Haruka probably did go to school at some point as homeschooling is not a legally accepted as an alternative to public schools in Japan. (However it is estimated that up to 5000 families homeschool, this is uncommon) A lot (about 62%) of Japanese schools apparently have a 'special needs' classes and there are about 505 schools focused on educating intellectually disabled students (although I do not know which sort Haruka would've needed as whilst intellectual and development disabilities can be comorbid they aren't the same). Now, if children aged 7-14 don't go to school, their parents receive a fine, but its possible that if Haruka's parents are wealthy, they just paid it to avoid sending him to school. (This might imply they wanted to hide him or were generally ashamed of him in some way) However high school education (for students over 14) is not legally required and its likely that even if Haruka went to elementary/middle school, he hasn't been around people his own age in at least 3 years. As he seems quite lonely and glad that the other prisoners give him attention.

I don't think Haruka's parents are divorced and if they are, its not his father who left. Haruka mentions in the 30 questions that he thinks he disappointed his father. But still includes him as part of his family ("My father and mother and me"). A theory I've seen is that his father was disappointed by his son being disabled and left. but developmental disabilities (especially in non verbal and semi verbal children like Haruka) can be diagnosed before the age of 3, so I feel it is unlikely that Haruka would bring up his father if he left that early in Haruka's life

All MILGRAM prisoners have covered one of DECO*27's older vocaloid songs (DECO*27 is a well known producer who composes the music for MILGRAM) Haruka covered 'Two Breaths Walking' (https://youtu.be/puXLfVWrz2Q) which is about a boy's first relationship and how his mother's jealousy set him up for failure as the relationship becomes toxic (specifically it has some very funny out of context lines like "Whose breasts are you sucking on now?") so yeah, mommy issues: the song (Also: some people say in the song, the boy kills the girl at the end, but this isn't literal, TBW is the first of a trilogy of songs about the same relationship, it is followed by Android girl then Two Breaths Walking: Reloaded and the story resolves with the couple reuniting as adults and getting in the relationship again, although its not necessarily as abusive as before, its still implied to be codependant ending on the line 'We should live like oxygen tanks, sucking breathe from the words each of us exhale, until our last breathe')

In all seriousness, the scene where younger Haruka is walking through the city with his mother but it keeps repeating until older Haruka pulls the younger one away might indicate an attempt to focus the happier memories of his parents (since this is also over the lyrics "Why is it breaking? Tell me why? Please don’t change If I tried and couldn’t say it, You would get angry at me and say “You’re hopeless.”" which depict a worse scene) I think both his parents are still physically present but have become far more emotionally distant, not giving him as much attention, which exacerbates his loneliness from not having any friends his own age to talk to

And if one of his parents did leave? I think its likely his mother since she is shown disappearing out of his reach after the dog-incident (inferring she got angry/disappointed in Haruka anyway) This could also be where he got his necklace from: Its something his mother used to wear (although this is 100% a guess) and that's why its shown to be important to him

This one is just me, but i didn't realise until a rewatch that when Haruka is watching the younger him and the girl running together, the background has fireworks. Haruka mentions fireworks being a key memory to him so I wonder if this was one of the first/last times he got to make a friend...

On three separate occasions in the interrogation, Haruka mentions not liking animals. Despite this, he is depicted as sleeping with a rabbit plush and on his birthday art (I'd include that too but tumblr only allows 10 pictures per post, so here's a link) he is standing next to a giant blueberry and strawberry cake with two bunny themed biscuits at the side. Through my experiences of seeing Japanese fandom art on pixiv, sometimes rabbits are used to insinuate a character is cute and timid in fanart.

Meaningless details: Haruka sleeps with his necklace on; he sleeps on a bed and not a futon; at first I thought he woke up holding his plush's hand but his hand is merely next to the toy; and considering the state of the pillow and blanket, I wonder if he moves a lot in his sleep or if the is just because in this case he seems to be waking up from a nightmare about the dog incident...

Final note: I've spent so many hours writing this I don't remember if i was building up to any big finale or not but I hope you enjoyed reading this! Feel free to add on in the comments/reblogs.

#haruka sakurai #milgram #milgram theory #001 #text post #essay #long post

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electricprincess96 · 4 years ago

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Seeing people on TikTok telling an Indian American he's pronouncing his ethnic name wrong and he's "saying it white". He made a very interesting video explained that when he's talking in an English accent the phonetics present in English do not allow for the exact "correct" Pronunciation of his Indian Name. He said he doesn't think its inherently racist if someone's accent and ability to pick up different phonetics that don't exist in your mother tongue but if people don't even make an attempt or still manage to get the "angolised" version wrong then he says they clearly just don't care.

Deposit what I thought was a very level headed take on this issue the comments were full of people calling him a race traitor and "too white". Like firstly imagine having the audacity to tell someone they're saying their own name wrong, it's his name, can say it however he wants.

But secondly it got me thinking.... this isn't exclusive to English or White People. I'd have to alter my name (especially my surname) in Korea slightly, the Pronunciation wouldn't be what it is here in Scotland just because phonetically it would be difficult for native Koreans who don't speak English (or if they do they still have a thick accent) to pronounce the hard R sound at the start of my surname. Doesn't mean they're racist towards me, they've never had to make that sound in their life, the muscles in their mouth make it difficult for them to easily be able to put their tongue where it needs to be to naturally make that sound. Same with Japan, they'd have a similar issue with my name. There are plenty of English words that other Europeans will pronounce slightly differently, which is why many European names have Anglonised versions and likewise some Anglo Names got adopted and changed to fit some central European languages.

Another one I see a lot is English is inherently racist because it changes the names of countries when in English so like Deutschland becomes Germany.... but like America in Korean is 미국 (miguk), The UK is 영국 (yongguk) so is Korean as a language inherently racist? No cause that's a fucking dumb thing to say about any language cause they all do this to some degree.

I mean even within the same language accents will make words sound slightly different. My name is said slightly differently by Americans (like standard American accent) compared to Scots but most Americans won't hear the difference but I do. But I don't care, sure they don't absolutely mispronounce my name the way many ethnic names do (although just gonna say a black person with an American accent isn't gonna find it any easier saying some of these ethnic names than a white person with an American accent will) but as long as they seem to be making an effort and they aren't rude about it I don't see the problem.

Also if you think difficult to pronounce names for English speakers is limited only to "ethnic" (which in these situations is code for non white names) then you've never seen Eastern and Northern Europe like honestly I'm better at East Asian Names than I am Polish or Russian or Finnish names. Not even kidding.

#tumblr commentary #what the fuck do i tag this

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orlissa · 8 months ago

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Okay, so... oh my.

First of all, let me tell you that two factors got us to pay (a lot of money, actually) for these tickets:

The show promised to be Addams Family-esque (I mean, if you ordered your Addams Family from Wish)

A big name actor who is known for such roles as Tybalt in the musical version of R&J and Death in Elisabeth (big, big things here) was promised to play "Gomez." (He bailed--I mean got sick--five days before the performance.)

There was literally zero information out about what the show is going to be about. Just performer names and stuff they are taking music from, like it was a jukebox musical (oh, sweet summer child...).

Anyway, we still went there with high hopes. We were fools.

There was a "trailer" video for the show on Youtube--there was verey little resemblance between that and the actual performance (basically, we got Lightlark'd), probably because some nifty copyright laywer got to them and they had to quickly change around things. Like, in the original rep material "Wednesday" was called Jenna. By yesterday, she is already mentioned as Lucia. The costumes were clearly dumbed down and changed around to be less Addams-esque. Buttercup even said that she's willing to bet her life savings that this show looked completely different two weeks ago.

There were no dialogues, only pre-recorded narration by "Wednesday" (the character on stage was played by a dancer--she was good--who never spoke) in Hungarian and songs in English. Which is, like, bad, because it was never communicated that the singing would be in English and at least half of the audience didn't look like people who speak English. Not that it matters, because the songs were random, and had little to nothing to do with the story. Also, the sound was so bad that you could barely understand the actors anyway.

As for the story itself: so apparently "Wednesday" died ten years ago (her opening monologue was actually not bad, and it was basically the only bit where they nailed the Addams-vibes), but she is still around as a ghost. Her family gets together every year to remember her: mother, father, brother, brother's club singer girlfriend (who spends the whole show in the worst fitting corset you've ever seen), good witch and godmother Ivory (imagine if Glinda went with turquoise instead of powder blue--this will be important later), and bad witches Bella and Trix (Bella and Trix, got it??? They also looked like they stole their wigs from a Bellatrix cosplayer. And were dressed like they thrifted their costumes), who are... there. Apparently Bella is a school friend of "Gomez" and "Morticia" (who is named "Letisa" here, apparently, spelled like that) and is in love with "Gomez". As for who Trix is... Bella's sister? Daughter? Lover? I DON'T KNOW.

Anyway, the annual wake is different this year, because someone wants to kill "Morticia", but "only Wednesday can hurt her mother," so she is gonna stop them. This could actually turn into a decent murder mystery plot, only... nope.

In the very next scene we see Bella and Trix (and a bunch of random dancer--there are a bunch of random dancers everywhere, because basically they are the only ones who can properly do their job within this garbage) make some poison, then they pay the girlfriend to poison "Morticia." "Wednesday" intercepts the poison, then decides to inform the family about the murder attempt by communicating with Ivory the good witch. She does this by an interpretive dance with a shiny mushroom. Which might have been some garden ornament.

In he next scene Ivory gets the message and start singing... Defying Gravity. Even the bits that no-one can hold her down and that Oz should be afraid. I told you 1, the songs have little to nothing to do with the plot 2, Ivory looking like Glinda will be important. She writes down "Wednesday's" message and gives it to her brother, who then goes to the club to comfront the poisoning girlfriend during a medley of Bad Romance/Toxic/and some third song of the same caliber we forgot. It's as bad as it sounds.

From this point on the story makes about zero sense. "Wednesday" at one point mentions that her brother is messing up (or doing it right? I don't even remember) her plan. What plan? Dude, you don't even have a plah'. The girlfriend is at point imprisoned in the basement, then gets out sometime. We doubt it was shown. The scene was probably cut either because of copyright reasons or because the actors couldn't learn it. At one point "Wednesday" says that Ivory is thier secret weapon because she is such a powerful witch. Then Ivory comes in and starts singing... Into the Unknown. From Frozen II. (Probably because the actress was Elsa's singing voice in the dubbing). At another point the version of the IT clown which you ordered from Wish, complete with a party wig and a tartan cap, comes in. Why? I DON'T KNOW. Nothing makes sense anymore. There is a final showdown between the two sides with a very stylized fight to... I need a Hero. Both sides, while actively fighting, sing about needing a hero.

Also, since the "Gomez" actor was a literal last minute addition, basically none of his costumes fit (what did fit probably came from his own closet), he didn't know the steps (now when to bow at the end), and didn't even sing during the final scene, probably because he had no time to learn that song. Also, all the while during the show they projected some extra shitty AI-generated images on the black wall. I mean... it was bad.

Then, at the very end, when we thought that we were finally free, up came the producer (? I think it was the producer) on the stage and did the live action version of a four pages long acknowledgements at the end of a YA fantasy. He asked everyone who took some part in the porduction on stage. The director/choreographer did a little speech. The producer asked us, the audience to talk about what a great fun we had here and just, like promote the show.

Dude, you really don't want me to go around and tell people what a shotshow it was.

I probably saw the worst theater production of my life tonight with @buttercupadventures . Like... imagine two hours of secondhand embarassement and hiding you laughter, because it's *that* bad. We needed a bottle of wine and three hours of ranting and youtube vids to process it. More on it tomorrow.

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lumassen · 4 years ago

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What if aph England was a Scouser?

This came from a conversation on a discord server about what accent people headcanon England to have as we have so many, and as a northerner I like to think he would rock a northern accent. Based off several headcanons that England and Norway are good friends, and that nations move around a lot to avoid being clocked by their citezens for the fact that they don't age, I bring you this random drabble:

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It was getting dark by the time Norway finally arrived in the port of Liverpool and stepped off the ship. It had been 5 years at least since he'd seen Arthur, and perhaps 15 or more since he'd last visited England, and since finding out that Arthur was now living in Liverpool he took the opportunity to visit him when he was there on a trip.

Stepping down from the gangway, Norway tightned his scarf a little tighter around himself, the biting cold winter air slipping through any opening in his coat that it could find. Pulling back his glove to check his wristwatch, he noticed they'd got in a little late even though they hadn't really been delayed when they set off from Bergen.

Turning back to the ship for a moment, Norway watched with a small smile as his crew who'd kindly let him come along with them began to unload the large Norwegian Spruce. Since 1942 he'd given a Christmas tree as a gift to the people of England as a token of gratitude for the support they had given him during the second world war, something he would never forget. It started off as a single, 60 or so year old Spruce that was cut down specially and gifted to be put up in Trafalgar Square every year, but in recent years Norway had started gifting a couple more to other cities around the UK, and this year he had one for Durham, Oxford and Liverpool cathedral.

When he was satisfied that his crew didn't need any help, Norway waved a quick goodbye to them before setting off across the docks. He walked slowly at first, admiring the Christmas lights that decorated lamp posts and trees until he spotted England sat on a bench at the end of the docks. Quickening his pace so to not keep him waiting much longer, Norway's smile broadened just a little more. He and England were old friends despite their past differences and conflicts, and Norway had been looking forward to this visit since he found out that England living here.

"Long time no see." He said as he stopped in front of England, who looked up away from his smartphone and put it in his pocket.

"Likewise," he said with a smile, standing up and grasping Norway's hand in a firm, friendly handshake before pulling him in for a hug.

"So, Liverpool eh? I thought you'd be more of a country house in the cotswolds kinda old man by now, so I'm a bit surprised to find you here." Norway teased as they started strolling away from the docks and toward the city centre.

It was the end of November, so despite it being nearly dark it was still only 4pm in the afternoon and the streets were still full of people. For the past few years Norway had been living in the depths of the countryside up in Narvik with more sheep around him than people, so it felt strange yet nice to be surounded by so many people again.

England laughed a little, "Yeah, I fancied living somewhere a little livelier. I was getting a bit fed up in a big drauhty house down south, I found that I always had a proper cob on so I knew I needed to move to somewhere with a bit of atmosphere. I know we shouldn't have favourite citzens, but I've always had a soft spot for the people of Liverpool." he said, and Norway was shocked at how much his accent had changed since the last time he'd seen him.

It happened to most nations who lived among citezens to end up speaking with their accent or dialect, so he wasn't necessarily shocked, just a little taken aback.

Whether it was the fact that his own English skills were a little rusty from living in a rural place where not many of his citezens around him spoke anything but Norwegian or the fact that England's accent had thickened he wasn't sure, but Norway was struggling to keep up with him.

"What abar you? Where you living?"

"Er, Narvik. Been there about 7 years. It's nice." Norway said, with not much else to add. Narvik was Narvik. He went fishing occasionally, but other than that he was either buried in paperwork or eating or sleeping these days.

"Fancy a bevvy while we have a natter? There's a bar close by that's proper sound, you'll love it, and no I won't get bladdered before you say anything." England said as they turned the corner, and Norway quite honestly didn't understand a word that he just said.

"A bevvy?" he repeated, and Arthur turned to look at him and raised a large eyebrow,

"Yeah, a drink. Do you not fancy it?"

Norway blinked a couple of times, trying to get his head around England's changed accent. Sure, he knew that dialects and accents were a common thing, and back in his country he had many unique ones himself, but the way that England was rolling his 'r's and talking from the back of his throat on some words was tough enough to understand without the added slang.

"Sorry, yes I'm happy to have a drink with you." Norway said, a smirk crossing his lips at the fact that England was so oblivious to his change in accent.

They talked about this and that while they walked to the bar, England asked after Denmark and Iceland and they discussed the upcoming football championship until they arrived to a wobbly looking old stone pub nestled among the more modern buildings of the city. One of the things that Norway loved about visiting England was hidden gems such as this, and in summer he loved touring old castles and historical sights with Arthur.

Norway stepped inside as England held the door open for him, relieved to be inside and out of the wind. The smell of beer hit him immediately and he could feel the carpet sticking to the bottom of his shoes.

He spotted an empty table and took a seat, England following him and sitting down opposite, taking his gloves off and stuffing them into the pocket of his leather jacket.

"God it's baltic out there, but I'm proper made up that you've come to visit though. Actually this probably isn't that bad for you is it, now you're living in Narvik." England laughed, rubbing his cold hands together before he stood up again, "Let me get you a bev, back in a tick." he said before pushing his way to the bar.

Norway watched England as he leant on the bar, laughing with the bartender and chatting away and sighed, still not fully understanding what the hell he'd just said. He was pleased though that England was happy and settled in Liverpool. He'd had it rough the past couple of years with the whole Brexit thing which had obviously made him move as a distraction if anything else and Norway was glad to be catching up with an old friend, but had he realised that he would struggle to understand England as much as he was then he might not have suggested staying for a whole week...

------

lol. For those people not from the UK and aren't familiar with a Scouse accent I tried to find a video. The best one I could find is still a bit crappy, but the girl at 0:12 is a prime example of how fast Scousers speak that not even I or the subtitles could keep up with her at first.

Click for the video

this fic is the closest I've ever got to writing a crack fic and this is purely self indulgent im sorry lol

#aph england #aph norway #engnor #noreng #hetalia #hws england #hws norway

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thevolleyballidiots · 3 years ago

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Sentimental thoughts

Haikyuu was a series that came into my life at the perfect time. It was one of those series that pops into your life right when you needed it. It gave me a way to bond and hang out with my roommates, and is one of those comfort anime to me.

I know it sounds silly, cheesy, and sentimental, but Haikyuu genuinely opened my mind about sports and those who play them. In high school I had a tendency to be just as judgmental and disdaining of jocks as jocks supposedly were towards nerds, and while I had people in my life who gave me a good wake up slap as it were, I don't think I truly realized how wrong I was about sports until I watched this show. In characters like Asahi, Kenma, Yamaguchi, and even to an extent Tsukishima, I was surprised to see... well, myself. This show really forced me to confront my closeminded view of sports in general, People who play sports are no less passionate about what they do and enjoy than I am, with my slightly less exerting hobbies.

Haikyuu's characters felt so... real. I've seen a few series that purport to take place in our world, but never play it for more than a few jokes (Albeit, funny ones). Hearing Hinata reference One Piece, Dragon Ball, MHA , and other series felt so bizarrely right. Karasuno's team wins, but it also loses. The characters squabble, and don't always seem like they're getting along great, but they stand by each other. I felt emotionally invested in these characters like almost no other series I've enjoyed. In times when I felt alone, these characters were like bundles of comfort, whose realistic growths in skill made me feel like I could do hard things too.

I recall quite vividly starting Season 3 of the series around exam season that semester, and I fell in love with the ED 'Mashi Mashi' by Nico Touches the Walls. The visuals were charming, and felt like a celebration of the series thus far, and the song was infectiously catchy.

One day, I came home from classes overwhelmed; projects I thought weren't due till the end of the semester were due the following weekend, and I had only days to complete them. I was so stressed and anxious that I didn't even know where to begin with the work I had to do. In my attempts to calm myself down, I found myself listening to an English Cover of 'Mashi Mashi', by Dima Lancaster. (It's excellent, and I will link to that video below). As I listened, attempting to destress, that catchy chorus hit, which he had translated as 'Hey kid, don't sweat it, you've got this'. I legitimately burst into tears. It was as if the song was speaking directly to my anxious situation, and it helped me power through and do incredibly well on those projects and papers I had to submit.

youtube

So that's why I cried when I read the series' final chapter. This was a series that helped me make lasting friendships. It was a series where genuinely felt a connection with its characters, who all constantly remind me that you don't always need over the top shonen powersets to make your dreams come true. It was a series that made the good times better, and was a spot of joy and comfort in the bad times too. It was a series that truly taught me not to judge people for their hobbies. It was a beautiful story, and it came to me at just the right time in my life to really, truly, fall in love with it. So thank you Haikyuu, for everything you've done for me, and the countless others who have found solace in this series, or felt themselves changed by its inspiring narrative. And also thank you, for reading, and putting up with my highly sentimental rambles.

#haikyuu!!#thank you haikyuu #emotional #nice serve #Alexa this is so sad play Hikari Are moonlight version #Youtube

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starlit-serenade · 4 years ago

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Along the Red Thread | Chapter 1

🧣 Summary: It is said that a red thread connects people who are soulmates and destined to be lovers, regardless of place and circumstances. What makes this difficult is that you stopped believing in love a long time ago. OR. You go to Korea to visit your father after several years. There, a mysterious red thread that seemingly only you can see shows up when you least expect it, and you meet a childhood friend you’d never thought you would see again.

🧣 Chapter 1: 1,991 words

🧣 Pairing: Reader x Kim Geonhak (Leedo) / Characters: GenderNeutral!Reader; Kim Geonhak (Leedo); Kim Youngjo (Ravn); Lee Seoho (Seoho); Lee Keonhee (Keonhee); Yeo Hwanwoong (Hwanwoong); Son Dongju/Xion; a couple of OCs;

🧣 Rated: T / Warnings: Mentions of divorce (Y/N’s parents); Mentions of abuse (physical); Instances of abuse (non-physical); Mentions of child abuse; Swearing / Genre: Angst; Fluff; Soulmate!AU (Red Thread of Fate); ChildhoodBestFriends!AU; Happy Ending;

《 Boy Group Masterlist // ONEUS Masterlist // Series Masterlist 》

You see your father waiting at the entrance of the airport as you exit baggage claim. You haven't seen him in a long time, especially not alone, but he looks almost the same as he did when he moved here to Korea with his wife, who now stands beside him, waiting for you. She looks to be almost half your father's age, but you don't say anything.

Several years ago, two years before you entered high school, your parents divorced, and later your dad moved to South Korea with his Korean wife. Since then, he would visit your home once a year, for a week at a time on your birthday. But you've never been to Korea before now.

You had a friend when you were younger who was from Korea. But a year after your parents split, he moved back home to Korea. You fell out of contact soon after, but you often wonder how he's doing.

You approach your father. Your height difference has changed significantly since you last saw him. You're now much closer to his height than you were before. His wife, a Korean woman you met once when he introduced you so many years ago, before he moved to Korea. You don't remember her name very clearly. It started with an S, maybe? Or a J? Something like that. Her black hair is cut in a short bob, and her smile is soft, almost insincere. A little boy you didn't notice stands beside her, looking up at you curiously.

"Hi, Y/N," your father says, giving you a hug. You return it, uncomfortably, and then pull away. You smile in an attempt to placebo yourself into feeling more comfortable, but it doesn't work. "How was your flight?"

"Fine," you say. "A bit bumpy, but not too bad.

"Have you met my wife?" he asks, placing his hand on his wife's back. You shake your head.

"Hello, I'm Sooyeon," your step-mother says. She shakes your hand, then directs your attention to the little boy beside her, who is now hiding behind his mother's legs. "And this is Sunho."

You bend down to Sunho's face level, in sort of an uncomfortable squat. "Hello," you say, your voice softer. He waves with his tiny hand.

"How old are you?" you ask. His mother, Sooyeon, translates to him. He must not speak English. Or maybe he just isn't fluent. Sunho raises his hands up to you, showing five fingers on one hand and his thumb on the other.

"Oh, six?"

"Yes, he's six years old."

You nod. Sunho smiles at you proudly, and he smiles back, still hiding behind the cloth of his mom's skirt.

"He's shy," Sooyeon explains.

Your father directs you out of the airport to his car. You sit in the back with your half brother, Sunho, while your dad and step-mother sit in the front and passenger seats. The ride to their apartment is quiet except for Sunho, who giggles as you make silly faces at him. At the same time, you watch the buildings zip past.

You haven't seen your father in about a year, but he's barely spoken to you since you've arrived, other than introducing you to his wife. You don't know if you should be surprised.

You reach the apartment, and your father helps bring your stuff inside. He shows you to your room. It's empty, and blinding white, as if they just had it cleaned this morning. You walk over to the bed to stand in the center of the room. It feels so empty and plain and large, compared to your small room at your home.

"Y/Nah," your dad says from the doorway. You turn to him, slightly startled by his voice. You've been here in Korea for a few hours and you still aren't used to his voice yet. "Sooyeon is going to have dinner ready in about half an hour. Does that sound good?"

You nod. "Yes."

"Y/N . . ." You look up at your father questioningly. "I'm happy to see you."

You nod, unsure of whether you feel the same way. There are reasons you live with your mom full time and only see your father once a year.

Your father closes the door as he leaves you alone to take in the room on your own. You set your bag aside and open the closet to find it empty. Since you'll be here for two months, you are expected to use the room as you wish. You don't have enough clothes to fill the closet yet in your suitcase, but you wouldn't be surprised if you collect additional clothes during this trip.

You put away all of your things, hanging up your jacket and putting away your shirts and pants. You stare at the bed. It's so clean that you almost don't want to lie down. But you're tired from the plane ride and the emotional exhaustion of meeting your father for the first time in forever. But also, Sooyeon is making dinner for the four of you, so you can't sleep, because that would both be rude to her and would also mess up your sleep schedule for the next two months.

With somewhere between ten and twenty minutes left before dinner--you haven't been keeping track--you decide to sit down on your bed and scroll through the internet and think.

You think about how you used to come to school and tell your friend, the Korean kid--gosh, you wish you could remember his name, he was so nice, but it was so long ago--about what happened at home the day before. You would tell him about how you couldn't sleep because your parents were screaming at each other again, or you would tell him about how your father hurt you or locked you in the basement as a punishment.

You sigh. Aren't parents supposed to be the adults you look up to? The ones who you learn from? Aren't parents supposed to be an example of a healthy relationship? But instead, all you saw and heard was screaming and violence. You grew up being afraid of your own safety, and wondering if watching your mother being hit or threatened was normal.

You frown. The more of that you saw, the more and more you gave up on the idea of a relationship. It was what love was supposed to be--doors slamming, screaming every night--you didn't want it.

Why did you want to come here and spend two months in Korea with your father again?

Right. You wanted to try to mend your relationship with him. Why? Because he wanted you to. And you knew that, if it didn't end up working out, you are now old enough to get a room at a hotel to stay safe if needed.

You sigh. Maybe this wasn't a good idea. Maybe you should go back home and--

"Y/N?"

You look at the door. Sooyeon, your step-mother, has opened the door just enough to poke her head inside the room. You must have been so deep in your thoughts to not hear her open the door.

"Yes?" you say, your voice light as you pretend to be happy and excited to be here and see her.

"Dinner is ready," she says.

"Oh, thank you, Miss Sooyeon. I'll be there in a minute."

"Of course. And please, call me Eomma," she says, smiling widely. You nod, though you aren't very comfortable with calling her the Korean word for mom. You already have a mom who raised you alone for the past six years. Why would you call this woman who you barely know cmom" when you don't see her as that? When you already have a mom that raised you alone? You'd rather call her Miss. Sooyeon.

"Thank you, Eomma," you say anyway. You're afraid that, if your dad finds out you're being disrespectful or disobedient, you'll get in trouble.

She disappears from the doorway, closing the door as she leaves, and you sigh. You're already so emotionally drained by being here, and you still have two months left.

You swing your legs off of the bed and stand up. All you have to do is get through dinner and then you can go to bed and sleep. Maybe in the morning, you'll feel better about being here.

You walk over to the dining room. Your father is sitting at the table, which has been set with table mats, plates and silverware. Sooyeon stands next to him, and Sunho sits across from him. He smiles at the sight of you and points to you. Your father and Sooyeon both look at you at the same time. They both smile widely, but their smiles don't make you feel comfortable. So you just smile at Sunho instead and sit next to your father while Sooyeon sits next to Sunho.

"So Y/N," Sooyeon says, halfway through the meal. "What do you like to do?"

You blink. How do you answer that? You don't know this woman. You don't know if she's genuinely asking because she's genuinely curious, or if she wants information for something, or if she's going to judge you and criticize you, or if--

You shake yourself. These are your trust issues speaking. Maybe you should just answer her like a normal person without trust issues would.

"I listen to music. And I play some video games. I read and draw a lot. I just finished my freshman year of college, so it's difficult to focus on my hobbies as much as usual," you say, sipping from your glass of water.

"Oh? What kind of music do you listen to?"

You squirm in your chair. All of these questions being shot at you are starting to feel like an interrogation, and it makes you feel anxious.

"I, uh, listen to many types of music," you stutter, your voice quiet from the internal stress.

"Y/Nah, don't mumble," your dad scolds loudly from next to you, causing you to jump in your chair. You're still not used to his voice, and him scolding you for the first time in years isn't helping at all.

"Sorry, dad," you mumble, ducking your head.

"Answer your Eomma's question," your dad says, leaning toward you, and you wince at him speaking so close to you. His voice is loud, demanding, and booming. The same that you remember, back when he would shut you in the garage or closet when you were twelve.

You take a deep breath.

"I listen to many types of music. Not a specific type, really." You can feel two pairs of eyes on you. Your father and Sooyeon are staring at you, while Sunho just continues eating. "Eomma," you add. Your father leans back in his chair, and you wish you could feel that relaxed.

You had expected that he might have changed in the past seven years. You'd hoped he'd become less violent and scary.

It seems he hasn't.

He's almost the same as you remember.

Loud, angry and intimidating. His presence demeaning power and attention from the rest of the room.

"You're in college, right?" Sooyeon asks.

"Yes," you confirm.. "I just finished my first year."

"And how was your first year of college?" she asks.

"Fine."

She nods, and doesn't ask anymore questions. You wonder if you made it clear enough that this is a topic you aren't interested in talking about with her.

You finish your dinner in silence. Your father allows you to wash your dishes before you head to your room to say goodnight.

You sit on your bed, considering the past few hours you've spent here in Korea. It's not bad. The city is nice. The bed is comfortable.

But none of that really erases the memories of your parents screaming through the walls, the fear and pain you endured for several years and the loneliness you endured for several more years.

Really, you're not here for fun. You're here to mend a broken relationship that you're not even sure is worth salvaging.

#oneus #leedo #kim geonhak #kim gunhak #oneus fanfic #oneus fanfiction #leedo fanfic #leedo fanfiction #kim geonhak fanfic #kim geonhak fanfiction #kim gunhak fanfic #kim gunhak fanfiction #myfic #fanfic #fanfiction

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lonelylonelyghost · 3 months ago

Note

Alright, as someone who watched about 91% of their videos, I'm adding my 3 cents into this.

Please, before reading consider that @sunriseverse's disclaimer at the top post applies here in full force too. If you tell this youtuber about my post or send hate to them or to me, I will block you and then haunt you in your nightmares until the day you die.

.....

As you all here probably know, the English-speaking Cdrama community is a relatively niche thing, compared to its Chinese counterpart or fandoms of something based on the US or UK’s pieces of media. Especially if many people involved also don't know Mandarin and have no way of verifying some highly specific information without making a considerable effort (which would include not only the extensive language knowledge but getting accounts in different platforms and sifting through tons of information there, and it sounds exhausting just by listing it here).

So, a Chinese person, with an insight of C.entertainment and culture, speaking in English and conveying the information in an easy and entertaining manner, is bound to become sort of an authority figure within this small circle. As far as I know, on YouTube only AvenueX and one other channel "Marcus Here!" are relatively popular (I don't watch him so I can't say much about it, but his format is slightly more impersonal I think).

For a bit of a personal backstory, I discovered Avenue X in summer of 2018, when Guardian was still airing. I was obsessed but because I didn't have anyone irl that I could share my excitement with and I didn't have any kind of social media, I turned to YouTube, because maybe at least someone there felt the way I did. That way I found her review, and from then on I've been watching her regularly.

I respected her, while not necessarily agreeing on some things. Everyone's taste is different, and she often emphasized that it's her personal opinion. Actually, I even liked this difference, because as someone who has been constantly told how I was supposed to feel on certain matters (a religious cult and an... interesting family dynamic will do that to you), the fact that I could dislike something that she liked and vice versa, and I was still able to retain my own thoughts and opinions, it felt good.

But also because of our different taste, I didn't watch a lot of things that she did, so her negative opinion on some drama didn't affect me much. For example, on her video of “2023 Cdrama worst awards” (timestamp 8:02 - 11:16) she claimed that “Till the end of the Moon” was in her opinion bad, because the main actor, Luo Yunxi, was the main investor of this drama, so he had the power to change some things that made his role look better.

"On a deeper level it was a fraud drama because after you've seen all the leaked out special footages of when they were actually filming the drama, what happen on set, it is pretty clear to somebody who can understand basic human interaction that this is actually a fan-service drama or a self-service drama made by the lead actor, because he's the main investor, and the role, and the looks and all the things he does on camera that's unnecessary, like turning multiple circles to do something that is not helping the story is because he thinks it makes him look good and his fans will love it [...]"

And because I didn’t watch this drama and don’t plan to in the future (respectfully - not my thing. The costumes are fire tho), I just thought, oh, I guess that’s bad, then shrugged and continued with my dinner. Sometime later I stumbled upon a comment thread on MDL (I think it was on the Immortality page, I check it periodically hoping that maybe they’d just drop the whole thing one day), discussing Avenue X and her prejudice towards Luo Yunxi, that there is no proof of him being an investor and changing the script, etc.

I don't know what actually happened in behind the scenes of this drama, and I have no faith in celebrities whatsoever, but while making these accusations she did not provide ANY proof, not even the blurriest screenshot or a video clip, nothing. Saying things like that to her mainly international audience (again, very few of which are actually able to speak Chinese), who most probably won't go to watch that special footage if they already don't like this drama, and analyze the "basic human interaction" (whatever that means), does not seem very nice for a person who has "a normal sense of what constitutes human moral and justice".

This instance made me think that maybe some of her takes, despite saying that her every review is based only on her personal opinions and anyone could theoretically disagree, are supported with facts that are at best very hard for her core audience to find the proof of, and at worst, just straight up falsified.

(I have no interest in the gossip about the entertainment industry, so I just showed this instance as an example. The only things that I would like to know about any actor in C.Ent. are if they act well, if they are not involved in human trafficking and if they do their taxes on time. And also if they preferably don’t go anywhere near Japan and their temples. I wish him well, but the rest is irrelevant.)

.....

I was also aware of her take on the Spirealm, but I didn't react much to it because this was not the first time that this kind of thing had happened.

For the similar example, a year ago in one of her weekly videos (this one), she was talking about at the time recently released Justice in the Dark (RIP). Timestamp is 1:29 - 2:11.

"With the 8 episodes so far, my quick verdict of it so far is if you just look at it as a detective crime drama, pretty okay. To me, these two's chemistry is not working as a couple. It's straight men and very, very straight men playing what they imagine BL novel characters will look like. That it will appeal to mostly female audiences, but actually, it's not, they didn't get it. The secret of playing a convincing enough BL couple is not trying to play gay per se. Right now, the chemistry is not working on me, and it's actually pretty funny. When I look at it, I constantly wanna break out laughing, but then the actual plot of the crime drama is pretty okay."

Now that I’ve re-watched that bit, what does that even mean?! How do you not play gay?? I mean I know that many BL tropes have nothing in common with what the actual gay men people experience, but in case of JITD - ????? And she is also a huge fan of Guardian, so even if the dynamic between the two couples is different and the genre is not the same, how is the way of acting “not gay per se” in one drama worked while in the other didn’t? Is she saying that Zhu Yilong and Bai Yu did not “play gay per se” (Zhao Yunlan is bi, but that’s beside the point)? Again, WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN???

When I first heard that the chemistry was bad I felt pretty bummed out, because there is nothing more uncomfortable for me than watching something and feeling like the media is force-feeding you with the info that these characters are in deep love and I can’t see it to save my life. But in the JITD it wasn’t like that at all? I understand when you personally just don’t feel the chemistry between people in the show. It happened to me a million times and it WILL happen a million times more, when everyone would gush at their “explosive sexual tension” or whatever and I would watch and feel absolutely nothing, but the framing of the comment is so strange.

So later, when she said the stuff about the Spirealm (which as you’ve noticed carries a similar sentiment to how she talked about JITD in regards to how to play "a proper" BL couple), I was already prepared to have a different opinion. And well, if you know me and the sheer amount of stuff that I made for this drama on tumblr, my thoughts were indeed verrry different (a milder way of saying that I’m absolutely insane about it). I think that the only thing that bugged me before starting to watch the drama was her comment about the “light on you” line that was supposedly stolen from WoH. But that was also absolutely not true. First of all, the lines were different. Wen Kexin said this while half-dead and delirious, and only ONCE, and it was a beautiful line, but overall it didn’t have anything to do with the plot. In the Spirealm however, it was the metaphor on how Ruan Nanzhu sees Lin Qiushi, their connection to each other and the game. And also, since when do certain dramas have trademarks on common words?

I won’t talk about the rest of her comment on the show, because the nice people above have already done that, extensively at that. Thankfully, despite her comments both JITD and the Spirealm gathered their maybe small but dedicated audience, so all is well, but now I'm getting angry.

It is absolutely fine to not like a show. It is also absolutely fine to not like a certain pairing or their chemistry, or prefer one over the other. Hell, I’ll go and say a controversial opinion right now - in the Long Ballad I actually like the main couple of the rebel Li Changge and the adopted son of Khan Ashile Sun much more than the pairing of the princess Li Leyan and her bodyguard Hao Du. But that’s my personal preference, and I totally understand why many people think otherwise.

I guess moral of the story is - if you don't like the drama or the actors then you can just say it, there is no need to make up the facts in order to prove that you're objectively correct. Why would someone do that if they continue to reiterate that it's their own subjective opinion?

.......

Idk, but I'm curious about what others think of this kind of situation? Maybe there are some other examples like that?

What are you uh...what are you salty about? (I'm nosy as hell, give me the tea)

okay SO. disclaimer before i start: if anyone seeing this likes the youtuber mentioned, understand i am not calling her a bad person; i have some very specific umbrage with her, and i will detail why. you don't have to agree with me, but if you, in any way, inform this youtuber of this post and what i'm saying, you will be blocked, because this is meant to be on my personal blog only and a severe violation of my boundaries to tell her about this.

let's begin, shall we? (below the cut, since this got a bit long; my apologies.)

for context, since i started watching zmyx, i have been periodically checking youtube for amvs of the show so i can add them to my playlist. while doing so, i stumbled across this video by AvenueX. i had watched a video by her previously on the show under the skin, and mostly enjoyed it. i love hearing people react to batshit cdrama, well, drama, and "this show was up for bare hours before being taken down" definitely counts as something i like hearing reactions to.

i cannot directly upload the clip into this post, but i'll put the subtitles in for the relevant section, which begins at the 12:25 mark and ends at 14:59.

AX: Basically, there is a BL drama that was made quite a few years ago and hasn't come out like all the BL dramas, Zhiming Youxi. It's based on a novel called Wanghuatong [sic] and is a clear BL drama. The platform was iQiyi, and they cast Huang Junjie and Xia Zhiguang. These two guys have been multiple other stuff ever since then, and if you watch a lot of Chinese dramas, you probably have an impression of who they are. Neither of them are considered to be good actors, very young, and not really coming from professional sort of trained actor background[...]I'm not so interested in the story to start with and not interested in these two actors either, because BL dramas is hard to do well; you have to be good actors to pull it off, and you actually have to know what type of acting you need to be doing. You're not actually playing realistic gay people, you're playing imagined version of [here she makes a sound i can only transcribe as the auditory equivalent of tilting your hand back and forth], that whole complicated psychological thing on the back end, and if you're not clever and experienced enough actor you actually easily make a mess. Based on the leaked out footage I see on the internet, it's embarrassing, in terms of the acting, and they stole the most important line from Word of Honor, which is 'there's light on you and I want to grab it and take a look'. Every BL drama has a classic line[...]and this drama shamelessly took a completely, and that part of the video is online. I've watched it, and I'm like, 'oh my god, oh my god, just because you're another BL doesn't qualify you for stealing literally the line from another BL drama[...]just because of that I'm like, oh, okay, now I can make fun with other people together on this drama being living [sic] on the internet for like, what, three-four hours[...]it's a good thing this drama is buried now, and please don't show up again. I don't want to see it. It's embarrassing, it's embarrassing, okay.

bolding mine; these are the portions i have umbrage with.

let's go through the points she makes, shall we?

this show is "embarrassing", in terms of acting; presumably, this is connected to the earlier line about the actors not being known as "good actors", and not having professional acting backgrounds.

it stole a line from shl.

she thinks this drama deserves to be made fun of for "being embarrassing" because, presumably, the actors don't play bl roles the way she thinks they should, and "make a mess of it".

i must reiterate: she can have these opinions. these are opinions she is entitled to. i disagree with them, but i respect her right to have them. however, because i also have the right to my own opinion, i am allowed to be pissed about these opinions she has.

i will go through a point by point breakdown of my responses and thoughts on each point.

i think it's really stupid to judge an actor based simply on them having a professional background or not. when it comes down to it, the most important thing for actors, especially co-leads, in a show, is their ability to do their job and create believable dynamics with their co-actors. in my opinion, xia zhiguang and huang junjie do this very well in zmyx. their dynamic feels natural and realistic to me, and, more importantly than that, it compels me. i don't say this as a "fan" of either actor; it was a nice bonus to me that hjj had also played another character i like, but even if he hadn't, i would be judging this performance as lin qiushi based on its own merits. i have never seen xzg in anything, and again, i am judging his acting in this show on its own merits. also, i should add there's something hilarious about her holding up shl as a "good" bl, when you could argue that those leads aren't "good" actors, either. i mean, look at advancing bravely! or, maybe, i don't know, it's possible for actors to improve over time and do better in certain projects than others? and someone doesn't have to be the "best" in all areas of their field, just the right choice for the role they're playing??

this is just stupid, in my opinion. the line is not stolen; it is altered and becomes its own line in zmyx. in shl, the line is, as she says, "there's light on you and i want to grab it and take a look". in zmyx, the line is "there's a light on you that i don't see on others". this is, at most, a reference—and zmyx isn't the only bl that references other media! this is a silly, petty argument, in my opinion, and frankly annoying as hell. if it were a crime to reference any other media in the same genre as the media doing the referencing, we'd miss out on so much. to me, this reference doesn't read as an appropriation, but as a nod of appreciation to another bl which was heavily censored. also, if her claims are anything to go by, and zmyx did film "years ago", it's possible that, actually, zmyx used the line before shl did. even if that isn't the case, who fucking cares? genuinely, i think this is a stupid point and i hate it.

she thinks the actors made a mess of the show by not playing the roles in the specific way bl roles are "meant" to be played. we could spend years arguing about the "right" way to play a bl role, but to me, it sounds like she has a very specific idea of the roles bl actors must fit into and fulfil—specifically, that they must play an exaggerated, unrealistic mimicry of gay male relationships, or else it's a "bad" bl. i don't know AvenueX's sexuality, but as a person of the homosexual persuasion myself, if not one attracted to men, i personally don't like exaggerated mimicries of gay relationships, and i would wager a guess that many gay and bisexual men are probably in this same boat. when i watch a bl show, i prefer that the dynamics are driven not by the idea of what gay people should act like, but by 1. the plot, 2. their own characterisations and character motives, and 3. their relationships and dynamics with each other. in this regard, while zmyx isn't a "good bl", i think it's a good depiction of the relationship between two characters. i don't say this to be holier-than-thou, or to claim i'm somehow "better" than other people who do like specific exaggerated tropes in bl; i say this because i feel like AvenueX entirely disregards the possibility that the thing that she doesn't like about zmyx are things that other people will.

(additionally, while she never says this, i get the impression that one of the things she doesn't like is that the chemistry between the characters isn't the "typical" bl chemistry. i, frankly, don't give a fuck. i think the leads have fantastic chemistry, and it annoys me that she thinks they "made a mess" just because they don't fit the idea she has for what a bl "should" look like. i, for one, think it's a good thing that we're moving away from caricatured depictions of gay people in media, especially danmei and dangai. myself and other asian gay people, especially east asian gay people, have pointed out how harmful caricatured versions of gay asian characters are.)

(also, as an unrelated, and petty aside, if i remember correctly, she's a british film school grad, and not to be judgemental, but, yeah, i can fucking see it.)

so, yeah. that's my two fen and indignance on this. but, hey, what do i know, i'm just some random tumblr user ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#cdrama #the spirealm #jitd #ghost.fm

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