#is just so rife with emotional drama

[jadeazora]

My versions of Lysandre and Sycamore headcanon (with some Diantha and Malva too)

Lysandre

One of his biggest pet peeves is those who have a slobbish demeanor about them, he absolutely hates sloppiness

Is quite musically talented (violin and piano)

Classy drunk, keeps his shit together a lot better than Sycamore

Pan, appreciates the beauty of all sexes and genders, has had an on/off thing with Sycamore before and is currently dating Malva, biggest celebrity crush on Diantha tho (she turned him down)

Diantha knows he's trouble, all of the 🚩🚩🚩 vibes on-sight.

His whole relationship with Malva is her going "I can make him worse lol 😈" (this is a woman who, in Masters, stood by and smiled as he implicitly executed two Rocket grunts. There's something definitely wrong with her too.)

Roughly the alignment chart we're looking at:

All manner of misfortune (violence, murder, madness) runs in the family, originating around the time of AZ and the Ultimate Weapon, seen as something like a curse, particularly on the male side. As such, Lys is the last of AZ's descendants.

Dealt with those sorts of intrusive thoughts by becoming a philanthropist in an attempt to counteract them, but it ended up having the opposite effect, fueling them and making them worse instead. (He was always destined to fall.)

He had convinced himself of a feeling of disconnect with him using the Ultimate Weapon and those that would die, but he would end up becoming directly responsible for the death of the one who became the Lumiose Ghost Girl. It wasn't initially his intention to kill her, he wanted to try to convince her to not go public over the Holocaster's spyware/Flare's schemes, and wasn't able to, leaving him with little other choice than to silence her. (He's unaware of her haunting, or that she's looking for him.) Probably the closest he's been to realizing he needed to STOP, but Malva was the worst person he could have called to confess to.

Has committed orchestrated a few murders "disappearances" since tho (some himself, some by other members of his organization, they're functionally a secret police), there were some people becoming more aware of Flare's activities and presence. It's said to be unsafe going into certain areas of Lumiose City at night.

Despite things between them being strained, still would prefer trying to save Sycamore and the children as "chosen ones", by force if he has to. They have to come around eventually that things were better for the future this way, right?

Sycamore:

Is an absolute, clumsy menace on rollerskates. Has nearly cracked a rib more than once.

Lysandre gifted him those bright red-orange socks

Party drunk. More than once, Lys has had to half-drag, half-carry him to his Cafe before to get him something to help sober him up

Seriously, do not trust this man with any alcohol

Sina and Dexio have also had to deal with this (they do get "apology pay")

Disaster bi, disaster magnet (probably what attracted him to Lysandre in the first place)

Diantha had (quietly) warned him about Lysandre, while the man was in the room, while they were dating. Sycamore just mentally standing there dying from awkwardness.

Masks a more jaded streak from failing to dissuade Lysandre of his misanthropic views, and plays oblivious when they're around each other now. (He's also somewhat aware of Lysandre's end goal, tho not really of the "when" or the "how.")

He's not at the point where he wants his old friend dead despite his awareness of Lysandre's intentions, but there is the looming horrifying thought that it just might be in Kalos's best interest if he were. He hates it, especially that he's not strong enough a Trainer to stop Lysandre himself.

Not sure if learning of Lysandre/Flare "disappearing" a few people would be enough to push him over the edge fully on that tho. (He still harbors some feelings that he's been trying to shove down.)

It really bothers him having Calem and Serena basically fight his battle there, there's a good amount of self-loathing over his failure to talk some sense into his friend and that the kids are doing the adults' job.

[maplesyrupsainz]

˖⁺｡˚⋆˙do-over | MV1˖⁺｡˚⋆˙

pairing: max verstappen x fashion designer!reader y/n (she/her)

genre: social media au, "enemies" (exes) to lovers

warnings: i just be making shit up fr

summary: in which they meet again and rekindle their relationship much to the delight of their fans

a/n: tbh i got no idea how to do enemies to lovers so i went for like a past messy breakup nd rekindle of the relationship now they're older nd more mature or wtvr let me know what u think!!! this was a req but it was super duper vague so i jus pulled this together nd pls fr bare in mind tht im not a max verstappen fan by any stretch lol

request!!!: Enemies to lovers with Max please

fc: maggie lindemann

my masterlist

alternate ending

instagram ->

yourusername posted a story

liked by yourbff, yoursister, and 83,238 others

twitter ->

messages ->

instagram ->

yourusername

liked by danielricciardo, yourbff, and 927,194 others

yourusername heard you need inspiration

view all 18,293 comments

yourbff my girl forever nd ever ⭐️

liked by yourusername

user1 new fan gained

user2 omg i rmmbr her from when she dated max & now im just rediscovering her she's sooo gorgeous wtaf

user3 i can't believe max fumbled her

user4 my competition for her hand jus tripled

user5 quadrupled more like

user6 max verstappen found dead

user7 cant wait for a new collection

yourusername posted a story

liked by maxverstappen1, yourbff, and 318,928 others

ynupdates I LOVE YOU SO MUCH

yourusername i love u 🫀🫀

user8 u are fr the coolest girl in the world

yoursister so proud of you 🥹

yourusername stop it you'll make me emotional 😭

user9 you are so so loved

user10 nothing you could've said would put us off supporting u forever🤟

messages ->

instagram ->

maxverstappen1

liked by landonorris, yourusername, and 719,948 others

maxverstappen1 life lately ⏰

view all 15,283 comments

user11 Y/N IN THE LIKES I REPEAT Y/N IN THE LIKES

user12 no freaking way

user13 i need to know what's going on have they spoken since the podcast ?!!

user14 exes to lovers arc incoming🥹

user15 he's so cute

landonorris why is your comment section so full up of drama max

maxverstappen1 i didnt ask for this

user16 max is so tired of us LOL

user17 not sorry

user18 i love drama

user19 max acting dumb like he didnt post this to get her attention

ynupdates

liked by user17, user3, and 18,294 others

ynupdates y/n y/l/n spotted today outside a cafe with ex beau max verstappen, following the release of a podcast episode on which y/n discussed her feelings on how the relationship played out. the meet up has come after they were seen liking each other's instagram stories & posts, however the discussion they were having reportedly seemed heated and as though they were having a disagreement. rumours/theories of them rekindling their romance were rife but what is the consensus now? we are sending our love to y/n as always!

view all 6,183 comments

user20 omg what is happening

user21 im so surprised she even met with him

user22 he wants her back & she cant deny him bc every girl has a soft spot for their first love

user23 agree but tbh it's probs good tht they argued or wtvr coz she isnt giving in to him she's making sure he fights for her 🤷

user24 some of u guys are delulu af

user25 what i would give to be a fly on the wall in that convo

user26 i hope he's changed or at least fr lets her move on

yourusername

liked by yourbff, maxverstappen1, and 798,373 others

yourusername never lonely 🖤

view all 6,183 comments

user27 omg first time we've seen y/n with her guitar in ages

user28 the guitar omg

yourbff best girl in the world

yourusername i love u 🫀🫀

yoursister hard at work or hardly working?

yourusername shut up you

danielricciardo you better not be drinking tequila without me!

yourbff we wouldn't dream of it

user29 omg daniel publicly being friends with y/n !!?

user30 something is changing here

user31 there's something in the air 🤔

yourusername posted a story

liked by yourbff, danielricciardo, and 88,294 others

danielricciardo hang tight

yourusername lol thanks??

user32 send locaysh 🤟🤟

user33 we miss u y/n

user34 omgggggg i cant wait for more designs from u

maxverstappen1 posted a story

liked by danielricciardo, landonorris, and 213,293 others

yourbff MAX WHAT ARE YOU DOING

maxverstappen1 getting coffee what does it look like

yourbff i know you're not taking that to y/n

danielricciardo if y/bff/n msgs u ignore her

maxverstappen1 👍

user35 SOMETHING IS HAPPENING HERE

user36 is this for y/n

user37 this plus y/n's story .... the maths is mathing

user38 No freaking way

yourusername posted a story

liked by danielricciardo, charles_leclerc, and 134,293 others

charles_leclerc im on the edge of my seat!!

yourusername 😭 hi charles

yourbff I KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING Y/N U GUYS ARE NOT SLICK

danielricciardo ignore y/bff/n

yourusername done & done

user39 im spinning around

user40 i've connected the dots

twitter ->

instagram ->

yourbff posted a story

liked by maxverstappen1, danielricciardo, and 22,293 others

danielricciardo have you forgiven me yet

yourbff i'll forgive max before i forgive you

maxverstappen1 have you forgiven me?

yourbff what do you think max emilian

yourusername you are not mad at all

yourbff of course not. i always loved max

yourusername 😜

ynupdates posted a story

liked by user22, user8, and 84,283 others

user45 oh my god it's real

user46 NO WAY IS SHE BACK IN THE PADDOCK

user47 & she said she couldn't ever be just friends with her first love...

ynupdates NO YOU'RE RIGHT

user48 they are soulmates for real

user49 i can't believe all it took was a podcast episode

yourusername posted a story

liked by maxverstappen1, danielricciardo, and 548,293 others

charles_leclerc i will say i am shocked but happy beyond words to have you back!

yourusername ❤️❤️ catch up soon!

danielricciardo she's back for goood

yourusername don't speak too soon

yourbff can i come

yourusername max said only if you forgive him in writing

yourbff 😑

user50 shameless 🥹🥹🥹

user51 YOU GOT THAT GLOW OF A NEW OLD RELATIONSHIP

ynupdates not you trying to pretend you aren't ecstatic

user52 i want whatever max verstappen has

ynupdates posted a story

liked by maxverstappen1, user44, and 128,103 others

user53 the lol

ynupdates trying to pretend i care about racing😕😕😕

user54 he's down bad for her always has been always will be

twitter ->

instagram ->

yourusername

liked by maxverstappen1, charles_leclerc, and 828,045 others

yourusername weekend off

view all 5,921 comments

user55 they're just friends they're just friends they're just friends

user56 i dont believe it for a second

yourbff get back to work

yourusername im busy right now

yourbff oh i wonder what with

user57 max max max max

user58 she gets prettier everytime i see her

maxverstappen1 so glad to have you back on the paddock y/n ❤️

yourusername glad to be back !

user59 they r so stiff

user60 trying to trick us into thinking they arent in love

twitter ->

instagram ->

yourusername

liked by maxverstappen1, yourbff, and 982,193 others

yourusername all the good in my life

tagged: maxverstappen1, yourbff

view all 21,283 comments

user64 SHE LOOKS SOOO HAPPY

ynupdates her smile😭😭😭

yourbff the way you're glowing

liked by yourusername

maxverstappen1 i love you ❤️

yourusername i love u too 🥹🫶

user65 i'll never recover

user66 the new (old) f1 it couple

user67 best wag of all time

user68 cant wait to buy all of y/n's new collection

user69 literally same it looks soo cool

maxverstappen1

liked by yourusername, yourbff, and 1,284,083 others

maxverstappen1 i won

tagged: yourusername

view all 34,838 comments

ynupdates omg she is so hot what the hell

maxverstappen1 you're telling me

user70 OH MY GODDD

user71 her in max's car oh myyyy

yourusername wow

yourusername i love u fr

maxverstappen1 ❤️

danielricciardo you're welcome everyone

yourbff you do not get credit for this

danielricciardo have you forgiven me yet

maxverstappen1 and me?

yourbff no never

yourusername tell the truth y/bff/n

yourbff ok fine i was never mad

THE END 🤍

[andy-wm]

When Love Reveals Itself

The intersection of public and private in life and art.

A few years ago I watched Her Private Life, a k-drama starring Park Min-young and Kim Jae-wook, both of whom I love seeing on-screen, and ONE (Jung Jae-won) who is adorably cute in this series.

If you haven't seen it, here's a synopsis...

It's ostensibly about an art gallery curator - Doekmi - and her relationship with Ryan, the newly appointed director of the gallery (a position she deserved but of course didn't get). That part of narrative is a highly satisfying but predictable rom-com.

Doekmi is also a secret fangirl, and tries desperately (hilariously) to hide this side of her life, but that doesn't work out. I love the way this is dealt with and the understanding of the complexities of fan culture shown by the writers and cast. It's very relatable.

But maybe most importantly, this was one of the first k-dramas I watched that had an overtly queer narrative strand. I wont spoil anything but Ryan (Kim Jae-wook) is an absolute fucking legend in his efforts to be an LGBTQIA+ ally, even if he gets EVERYTHING wrong.

So how does this relate to our photo of Jimin, knee deep in water and smiling like this?

Episode 5 of Her Private Life has one of the most poignant scenes I've ever watched in a k-drama.

The scene isn't part of a major plot point but there are SPOILERS here.

The scene centres on an unpublished self-portrait taken by (deceased) renowned photographer-Yoon who was famous for his landscape photography. The portrait was his final photograph, taken just before he died.

The portrait was gifted to a reclusive writer who was lifelong friends with photographer-Yoon. He owns the rights to the photo, and he won't release it for publication.

The portrait in question

Deokmi and Ryan are trying to convince the writer to allow the portrait to be displayed in an upcoming exhibition of work by photographer Yoon. The writer adamantly refuses.

Why?

Yoon is looking at someone he loves.

As Deokmi observes, the portrait shows Yoon smiling not at the camera, but at someone in front of the camera.

He is looking at someone he loves.

For the writer, the portrait reveals too much. It exposes photographer-Yoon's feelings for the person in front of the camera, who is of course the writer himself. The writer knew of Yoon's feelings for him but could never acknowledge them while his friend was alive.

Lets go back to the photo of Jimin.

Something that really struck me about this photo of Jimin is the context of it. It was during the LGO MV shooting. He was splashing Jin and laughing, creating a small, happy moment for the music video (for us).

But covid was rife and the world was at a standstill. Jimin was personally and privately devastated during this time*. It was part of the MV brief, I'm sure, to show that you could still find joy in simple things but we know he himself was not happy.

So the happiness we see in those images is not his personal happiness. Even though he does genuinely look like hes having fun, that happiness is manufactured for us.

And then he looks up at the photographer and this we get this poignant, beautiful smile. Open, unguarded, and holding nothing back, his expression is so soft, so genuinely glad to see the person behind the camera.

He is looking at someone he loves and who he knows loves him in return.

"I see you, and everything is better. The sun comes out because you���re here with me," It says.

There's a stillness in this image, as though Jimin -singled out - stopped what he was doing to look back at the photographer, shutting out all the activity surrounding the two of them and stealing a quiet moment with that person.

And that stolen moment would have remained secret and private forever, had the photographer not shared this photo.

But they did.

The photographer gave it to us.

Was this just for aesthetic reasons?

I don't believe so.

Of course, it is a beautiful portrait of Jimin. Aesthetically and emotively it's a striking photograph, but there must me HUNDREDS of beautiful photos of Jimin. The photographer could have chosen ANY of them. But they chose this one.

Now we have this moment on record.

We get to see Jimin feeling this love. We see him the way the photographer sees him. And yes, we know who he is looking at.

We know who was behind the camera.... because the photograher shared this with us too.

Jungkook makes sure we know who took that photograph.

His Private Life becomes Art

In the drama series, the writer relents and takes Doekmi and Ryan upstairs to show them a locked room. It is full of photographs of himself, taken by photographer-Yoon over many years. In all of the pictures, he looks happy. Deokmi describes it as 'a love letter to the writer, from Photographer Yoon'.

The writer admits that he is ashamed that he never acknowledged Yoon's feelings. He didn't dislike them but he didn't have the courage to respond to them, which is why he can't release the portrait now. He can't reveal to the world how Yoon felt, when its too late to tell him that he knew, and that he didn't reject that love.

Ryan looks around at all the photos and says "Did you really ignore his heart? This smile does not look like it. You did not know your own heart, but photographer Yoon could have known it. As a photographer, how could he not notice it. He knew."

Their Private Life becomes public

That photo of Jimin is everywhere. Jungkook made sure of that.

The reticence of the two men in Her Private Life is nowhere to be found here.

Jungkook took this photo of the man he loves and one look at Jimin's face tells us that love is returned.

Just like photographer Yoon, Jungkook saw it and he knew we would all see it too.

But instead of hiding the picture in a locked room for decades, Jungkook published it in the most public forum imaginable. He put it into the music video for Life Goes On.

He consciously chose for us to see that photo.

Don't forget, he was the director of that music video too...

That private stolen moment, full of love and fondness, shows Jimin at his softest and his most vulnerable.

And maybe that's a side of Jimin only Jungkook sees. Maybe Jungkook wants us to know the Jimin HE knows. The open, unguarded Jimin who wears his heart on his sleeve the way Jungkook does. The most authentic, unafraid, beautiful Jimin.

The Jimin he loves the most.

💛💜

°~☆~°

*He told us in his Vlives, he told us in his album, he told us in his interviews. It was a hard, hard time for him.

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Captain Hands! Besides hands: what other physical parts and/or expressions are you watching for the most in dramas? What physicalities (besides intimacy, heh) give you the most clues into the psyche of a character?

BESTIE 

BESTIE COME ON, I STILL HAVE TO WATCH ABSOLUTE ZERO AND INSTEAD HERE YOU ARE PUTTING DIFFICULT QUESTIONS IN MY ASK BOX!! 

And you’ve fucked me further by excluding the intimate scenes, when you KNOW THAT THOSE ARE SO FUCKING RIFE WITH PHYSICALITY, CHOREOGRAPHY, AND EMOTIONAL WEIGHT 

GAHHHHHHH 

Ugh. Ok. Fine. Just know you did this to yourself because I look at fucking everything, which is part of why it can take me three hours to watch a 45 minute episode of something. 

So there are a couple different things that I love looking at when I am analyzing characters, their body language, and what they are thinking. That said, I think everything after this is extremely subjective and often times hard to give an explanation for why (for example [and just to sneak in a hands example] James gives an incredible performance as Uea, and also, when I see him on screen as Uea I feel like he is paying too much attention to how his hands are laying in a scene since he has to femme himself up a bit. Why do I think that? No clue). 

An additional problem to this is that what I look for is variable depending on the actor themselves and how many things I know them from. For example, I didn’t think Earth was a good actor at first when I watched A Tale of a Thousand Stars because Phupa was *so* repressed that he just read flat to me, and I literally went and sought out other EarthMix pieces, at that time I think only Cupid’s Last Wish was available, to see how Earth performed in that and it grew my appreciation for the fact that he can act.

So, what other things, besides hands, do I look for in the physicality of an actor that makes me understand their character? 

Eyes

Hands and eyes are some of the most expressive parts of a body, and you can learn a lot about people from looking in their eyes. 

There are three main things I am looking for when I am parsing a character’s thoughts or feelings: Eyelid/Eyebrow Movement, Eye Movement, and Eye Shine.

Eyelid/Eyebrow Movement

Not sure if this makes sense, but I am looking for small movements such as eyes narrowing, or getting bigger, or an eyebrow being quirked (shout out to Mark Pakin in Only Friends quirking his eyebrow at Boston when they meet for the first time at the phone repair shop). Obviously for this, as for all things, there are levels to it, if a character is someone fundamentally incapable of keeping their emotions close to the chest, you are going to see that in larger reactions, extremely visible, eyebrow raises, eyes that obviously narrow quickly, etc. Or for characters that are repressed, surprised, distrusting, or otherwise mysterious, I may be looking for smaller reactions, just a little eye twitch if something is getting to them, minimal dipping of an eyebrow if someone is, say, confused. And variations in that are going to be so interesting, for example if a character who is typically good at hiding his emotions suddenly gets a deeply furrowed brow, or has his eyes widen dramatically you know shit is suppppppeeeerrrr fucked. 

gif by @klausbens

Nick is both demonstrating the eyebrow movement, and the next thing I look for...

Eye Movement 

Oh BL boys constantly looking down at their crushes lips, how I love theeeeeee. When I am looking at eye movement, I am usually looking to see how many times someone breaks eye contact with another character, how quickly they return to that eye contact, and where they are looking. Ray in Only Friends is looking very disrespectfully at Sand, and you can tell that Ray is admiring the goods by how slowly his eyes move ever lower. This is an extremely obvious example, because there isn’t really even dialogue happening at the point in time at which Ray is checking Sand out in his bathroom. I live for the moments where characters are talking to eachother, but their eyes keep flitting down to the other person’s lips cause they just wanna kiss them so bad. 

This doesn’t even have to be a ‘let me stare at your lips three times in thirty seconds” or a “let me stare at your lips for thirty seconds” deal either. In moments like Laws of Attraction, Episode 7 where Tin is a wash of frantic eye movements to assess Charn for injuries. You can tell he’s just anxiously taking Charn in, looking to make sure that he’s okay. 

gif by @spicyvampire

Eye Shine 

Eye shine is such a vital fucking part of acting, if I watch something and someone consistently has dead eyes it takes me out of the story a bit, makes me think that either they are a bad actor or that they were not interested in being on that film set. But if a character with bright and shiny eyes, suddenly has dead eyes, oohhhhh the juiciness, ohhhhh the trauma that has been unleashed upon that character. For as much as I have been shit talking Dangerous Romance, I will give it to Chimon that Sailom’s dead eyes after he is almost burned with the iron are incredible. Peat similarly does a great job of this in the last episode of Love in the Air when Prapai rescues Sky from Gun. 

gif by @moonkhao

Bright in I Feel You Linger in the Air is absolutely crushing it in the eye shine department. You do not have to look at Yai for more than ten seconds any time Jom is in the room to see the human equivalent of the heart eye emojis appear. Though we only really started a romance at the end of Episode 6 and we didn’t spend a lot of time in Episode 7 actually focused on Jom and Yai’s relationship, I do not doubt their attraction to one another for one second because of how Yai looks at Jom. 

Film in Laws of Attraction absolutely destroys the ‘I am actively thinking about fucking you, or getting fucked by you,’ aka horny eye shine as Charn in Episode 8 after Charn and Tin kiss at their wedding. I think we are all aware of (as @shortpplfedup calls them) Mix’s ‘fuck me’ eyes in Moonlight Chicken, so on and so forth. 

The change in Neo’s eyes in Ep. 5 of Only Friends before he digs his claws in to Ray? Superb, I saw that look and knew Boston was about to be a shit stirrer. 

Low key, I think part of what makes First such a great actor is the fact that he has really big eyes, because First is a very skilled micro-expressive actor, having facial features that are slightly larger than average I presume (in full speculation) is easier to read the microexpressions. At least for me. For example, it is easier for me to tell when say First in The Eclipse or Mix in Moonlight Chicken are doing micro expressions, especially when it comes to eye shine, than it is for me with Earth in A Tale of a Thousand Stars or Kao in Until We Meet Again. 

Posture 

I look at how a character holds themselves in space, do they feel stiff constantly, do they feel loose? Where are they relaxed, how are they relaxed, are they leaning in, are they leaning out? Do they stutter and stumble (Ray in Only Friends), are they ramrod straight (Akk in The Eclipse), when and where do they melt (Ren and Kazuma in Tokyo in April Is…), when are they experiencing joy (Karl dancing in Gaya Sa Pelikula), when does a character experience desire and especially when do they yank on the leash they have tied around their desire and snap it back behind a door (Pran in Ep 5 of Bad Buddy, Teh in Ep 3 of ITSAY), where does a character place themselves (Hira and Kiyoi in Utsukushi Kare).

gif by @eohachu

If I had to pick one master of posture out of every performer I have seen in a BL, it is hands down, without a shadow of a doubt, no contest, and zero time needed to think, Billkin in his performance as Teh in I Told Sunset About You/I Promised You the Moon. That boy is awkward as hell and I drank in every second of it. But Teh’s posture changes so much in this show, he’s constantly tense, but you can see how some of that falls away when it’s just Oh and Teh together, or when Teh’s attention is on Oh because he leans more forward in his chair, or when he is thinking about things and kinda stressed about them and he is shaking his leg anxiously under the table. Teh is constantly fidgeting and Billkin shows that so well

gif by @thii-nii

One of my favorite acting moments in Only Friends so far is the fight scene in Episode 5, but especially how fucking pissed you can tell Ray is from the way he is breathing and how drunk and ready to continue a fight he is by him being unsteady on his feet

gif by @bird-inacage

And as an aside, some of my takeaways from watching characters aren’t so much about the characters, but about the actors. For example, Saint in Step by Step is too stiff all the time, like he’s aware of the camera and he’s not comfortable being there, and I had hoped as time went on in the show he would give a stronger performance because I could see the bones there, but he just didn’t have the fluidity. And there were a couple scenes towards the end of Step by Step where I do genuinely think he showed major improvement from where he started. 

Similarly, Copter as Lomfon in La Pluie is very stiff, and seeing the behind the scenes, that seems to just be how Copter himself is. But pairing him with Suar is going to make it difficult for Copter to shine in my opinion because of how relaxed and expressive Suar is as an actor.

Speaking of expressions…

Facial Expression 

“Yeah, yeah, Captain Hands, facial expressions, obviously” 

Okay but like, I really really struggle when it comes to microexpressions, and I will watch scenes like four or more times in a row staring only at one character’s face to try to see everything they are doing with their face so I can get a better understanding of how they are reacting, what they are thinking, or feeling. I did this for Phupa a ton in Our Skyy 2 because at someone point in it, and possibly because I have become more familiar with Earth at this point and can read his face much better, something clicked and I started being able to see Phupa’s reactions much more clearly. 

Great example of this (especially in conjunction with posture) is Shiro in What Did You Eat Yesterday? when he fights with Kenji, and tells Kenji to leave and Kenji turns to go. You can see the panic set in to Shiro’s face, the way his mouth drops open, and he kinda moves his jaw like he’s trying to think of something to say. It is such a beautiful demonstration of how deeply Shiro loves Kenji, seeing how scared Shiro is of actually losing him, even when he is incapable of saying “I love you” to Kenji. And that set up early on really helps guide the show, and builds wonderfully up to Shiro’s panicked breakdown near the end of the WDYEY movie when he thinks Kenji is dying cause he dyed his hair. 

gif by @dengswei

Or the way Kenji's face falls when Shiro says "I know you're hurting"

Other examples of very busy faces with lots of things going on that tell me a great deal of information about the characters: Sengtian in La Pluie when he’s watching Lomfon’s video, his jaw drops ever so slightly and quirks to the side a bit and you can tell he’s mad even before he storms out; Akk in The Eclipse, I mean I feel like this one doesn’t really need an explanation, but god is there some good frustrated intakes of breath when Ayan needles at him; Yutaka and Minoru in Our Dining Table (are great examples of eye movement as well) but when Minoru is rambling about his feeling for Yutaka and Yutaka opens his mouth slightly and takes in a breath like he’s going to speak, and then he doesn’t? Superb; 

Sorry to keep bringing up the same handful of shows but they are the ones I’ve watched more recently so they’re what immediately springs to mind. But, in Episode 8 of Only Friends you can tell Ray is feeling kinda bad from very early on in the conversation because he swallows hard after Sand asks about Mew and then has varying levels of face fall when Sand hits him with yet another passive comment.

Aura

God, I do not know how to explain this one at all, because it’s not something I am really actively investigating, but does very much shape how I engage with certain characters, and that is just the invisible vibe they give off. And yes, I understand that an aura is an intangible thing, but to give off an aura in television requires a number of physical elements all working in tandem. Teh, for example just radiates anxiety, frenetic energy, and there are a number of little things Billkin is doing like posture, like eye movement, like facial expression to aide that but those are things that would usually tell me that Teh is anxious, rather than me getting hit with a wave of anxiety through my screen. Similarly the believability of the magnetism between Teh and Oh in PP’s performance, as well as PP and Billkin’s work as scene partners that you can feel the pull between them. 

gif by @tehohaews

I could ramble ever longer as I am sure you are aware, but I will stop here for the sake of making sure whoever is reading this is maintaining even a single scrap of sanity after my very long winded reply. Hope this answered your question? 

TL;DR: Beyond hands I look at eyelids, eyebrows, eye movement, eye shine, posture, and facial expressions including hard swallows and sharp intakes of breath to get a sense of what a character is thinking or feeling.

[anhed-nia]

IN A VIOLENT NATURE

This weekend I managed to catch two movies that are uh, you know, modern deconstructions of old horror tropes, and I found that I liked the cheaper, dirtier, less obviously "classy" one a lot more. Thea Hvistendahl's adaptation of John Ajvide Lindqvist's (LET THE RIGHT ONE IN) novel Handling the Undead leans hard on grief, trauma, and family drama in a story set during a zombie plague; unfortunately the zombie subgenre has been rife with grief, trauma, and family drama since around 1968, and as Hvistendahl's movie seems rather unintrigued with its own outlandish premise, the whole thing feels like a foregone conclusion at best, and a gimmick at worst. (This movie is only just out but I'm bracing myself for the reviews that will call it a fresh and sophisticated take on a lowbrow stereotype, and I am begging the world to stop saying that "elevated horror" is a new and novel phenomena, it is certainly neither of those things. Ahem) Meanwhile Chris Nash, a Canadian FX guy, has made his feature debut using a very gimmicky-sounding premise: IN A VIOLENT NATURE is a FRIDAY THE 13TH clone that follows the perspective of the marauding slasher instead of the final girl and her unfortunate friends. What could easily be a one-note, one trick pony is instead an unusual and oddly beguiling daydream that, in spite of its aesthetic focus, manages to make the primitive films it riffs on feel more plausible than usual.

IN A VIOLENT NATURE concerns "Johnny", a familiar-sounding "slow kid" who was killed during a cruel prank and who now stalks the forest as a vengeful zombie. (It has always felt awkward to call Jason Voorhees a zombie, maybe because "zombie" implies something anonymous and impersonal, but for the sake of conversation...) When a gaggle of horny, drug-doing campers witlessly steal Johnny's beloved mother's sweater locket, he tears them apart one by one in search of the precious artifact. We watch over Johnny's hulking shoulders as he plods from one victim to the next, and the effect is often mesmerizing. The film's lack of a musical score seems like a perverse gesture at first, but it's wiser than it may initially appear. The purpose of slasher movie music is usually to convey unto the viewer the hero's or victims' feelings of terror. FRIDAY THE 13TH is the worst day of Alice's life, and the music tells you this--but the protagonist of IN A VIOLENT NATURE is the killer, and for him it's just Tuesday. It would be too much to say that the film is exactly sympathetic to Johnny, but the naturalistic presentation of his misadventure creates a far different emotional atmosphere than what the viewer is accustomed to.

What's really unusual about this film is not just that it is shot from the reverse angle--identifying us with the killer's experience in an amusing realization of exactly what Mary Whitehouse and Roger Ebert were afraid of--but that it otherwise sticks to the traditional slasher movie tropes so faithfully. One finds no pompous "elevated horror" ambitions here, only the familiar narrative cliches, "bad acting", and absurdly elaborate kills. And this is all a good thing! If the filmmaker had decided to just defy all of the usual expectations...well, let's just say that the approach of "doing the opposite" creates its own kind of predictability, and at worst it can become pointlessly contrary and contemptuous of the material to which a movie is supposedly paying homage. Instead of trying to prove that he is better than his roots, Chris Nash honors the high artificiality of the prototypical slasher film while at the same time injecting it with a disarming naturalness. The result is often fascinating.

With all that said, don't expect perfection. The experiment here is ultimately very simple, and though the film is not long it does tend to overstay its welcome, particularly when it breaks its own rules and follows the final girl's perspective just to get the story across the finish line. However, IN A VIOLENT NATURE is so playful and earnest that it's hard not to like--proving once again that being interesting is often better than being great.

[kalena-henden]

Destined With You Final Thoughts

THE GOOD

Rowoon - Every new role I see him in (Extraordinary You and Tomorrow), I feel like he's grown leaps and bounds as an actor. Here he got to be literally be EVERYTHING. He was an arrogant emotionless jerk, a lovesick puppy who says the cutest most ridiculously things, a serious no-nonsense professional who's great at his job, a man struggling with his feelings and choices, a devoted protective lover, gutted and sobbing over life or death circumstances, respectful patient attentive boyfriend, an impulsive and passionate lover. I know we say ALL THE EMOTIONS sometimes but he literally when through them all.

Jo Bo Ah - Hongjo was a hard character for me because she was so passive and let everyone walk all over her again and again. Her saving grace is she always stood up to Shinyu and eventually learned to stand up to those around her. I could easily be annoyed with this character if it was played by a less competent actress.

Ha Joon - I enjoyed his turn as a suave lawyer who's actually a total dork in his personal life so much so that I started watching his new 50-episode family drama, Live Your Own Life, where he's finally the male lead with his own romance. Jaekyung came as Hongjo's sage guide when she needed him and happily exited when she was settled. Honestly, not a bad arc for a SML.

Shinyu's mom, Shinyu's lawyer friend, Hongjo's Landlady, Uram and his grandfather, and Shinyu's assistant - These characters were alot of fun and added to the depth of the story. I wish we had actually gotten more development from them which would have filled out this story a bit better.

Symbolism & Magic - This show is rife with well thought out symbolism. Love all the flower/plant stuff around Hongjo (Bloom) and Shinyu (Groot) equating to a blossoming and thriving relationship. The magic is actually pretty well explained and is there if you're interested in it.

THE BAD

Dropping the Magic Halfway Through - I am EXTREMELY disappointed in a show billed as a FANTASY ROMANCE that went to painstaking care to introduce the spells and curses to be like oops! don't care if the spells worked or not but we kinda care if the big curse is real cause we want to keep Shinyu in perpetual danger. Like I have ZERO respect that the FANTASTY aspect was dropped (and no the reincarnation plotline doesn't count). I feel hoodwinked and things make even less sense now. It's basically a JJ Abrams Mystery Box level of non-sensical bulls*t which is one of the main reasons I stopped watching most Western shows. It also leaves MASSIVE holes about how and why the Gardener and Nayeon started working together as well how did they learn about and come to believe the curses would even work. It was just she's a backstabbing two-faced bully and he's an insane murderer but zilch on their motivations. I really wanted a mini-montage of the black magic curses that were so well foreshadowed. I'm unsure if this was a writing call or directing call because in Korea the directors have final edit rights, not the writers. What got left on the cutting room floor?

Hongjo's coworkers - Why were they so terrible and unfunny the entire time? They were also irrelevant to the plot. The only good thing was her boss stopping the others from bullying Hongjo. It wasted time that could have been given to the side characters l liked (see above).

Noble Idiocracy & Repetitive Danger - I'm not sure which is worse that they repeatedly put themselves in danger time after time (even when bad things kept happening to them) or they broke up or stayed apart for the other person's 'benefit'. *face palm* If it was a great story, I can forgive some of this but...

The Pacing/Editing - If they had done a big reveal of the magic and other stuff at the end that really brought things to a climax, I would be like yeah it was slow at points but look at the payoff! Instead, I'm looking back at this going, if this is the story you wanted to tell, it could use a serious overhaul in HOW it was told. Even though there was stuff I liked about this drama, I wasn't that emotionally invested.

VERDICT

I would only recommend watching this to see Rowoon act his heart out and be in a ridiculously cute and sexy romance. That's it.

I'm sad because I really loved deep diving into this show. It could have been so much more like Goblin, Doom At Your Service, or Alchemy of Souls.

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

the symbolism rife in the three, central friendships of Napoleon’s life: Lannes, Junot, Duroc - what filmmakers couldn’t do with that! 

Not to mention more peripheral or early friendships (.e.g, Desaix & Chauvet for early ones, Bertrand for peripheral until St. Helena) - like Napoleon was famous for having his some of his strongest, most intense emotional connections with men rather than women. Not that he didn’t fiercly love Josephine, or others, he for sure did. But it was just different. Which is normal! 

But these friendships are so overlooked in favour of the romantic drama it’s such a goddamn shame.

[fizzigigsimmer]

Thoughts on harringrove college aus? What are they studying? How do they meet? Is it an enemies to friends to lovers situation? Are they rOomMaTEs? Do they find each other hot but run in different circles and don’t know how to bridge the gap? Many possibilities! What are their personal clothing styles even!!

Love them! I really wish there were more of them. That time of your life where you're on your own for the first time and able to find/reinvent yourself is so rife for storytelling I don't know why it isn't more popular. I love a good enemies to friends to lovers scenario for a college au, because I can't imagine a world where there isn't just a little bit of friction between B & S when they first meet. Right? Like there's the class tensions and their various emotional baggage. But College is also a fresh start for both of them and a chance to live differently than the did in high school so I really think in that setting we'd see them become close friends. They're very alike (for being so different) and they compliment each other's energy and perspective.

I will never say no to mY rOomMaTE is hot!!!! lol but I also really love it when they have to work at bridging the gap between their friend circles lol. And yet somehow still can't catch a clue that the other one is developing feelings. And as far as majors go I have always really loved writing/english for Billy (because I think he loves reading and writing is the one place where his voice is clear and consequently he feels real). But I also love law or medicine for him because I think there's a side of him that once out of Neil's house would always be pushed to rise above the stigma of his past and in search of security. Traditional "Success" is attractive exactly because it gives you a false sense of security that the worst is behind you and you can't be forced back to that feeling of powerlessness. Athletics are acceptable too of course. For Steve I like coaching, teaching, and drama. He's good with people, empathetic, and would be the right amount of invested in his students lives to be a great mentor as he gets older. I love drama for him as an unexpected talent because I honestly think Steve has the qualities of a great actor. He's sensitive and adaptive. Steve never feels out of place on screen no matter what group he's thrown into in the show. He plays well to other people, matching or balancing their energy with different sides of himself. Some of this is probably just Joe being a good actor with the zero character guidance I am sure he gets. But there you go. A good actor. I love imagining Steve getting roped into a school play for reasons and discovering he loves it. And he's GOOD.

[vthetease]

my favorite things

it's me birthday

so just incase anyone wanted to know some stuff about V

heres some random info about my life as well as some of my favorite things

i am a libra sun, aquarius moon, capricorn rising

i like dark chocolate more than any other; i have since i first got my period. i like gummy candy and starbursts but my favorite are the little cola bottle candies. i like tea and coffee sweet, but flavorful. i like energy drinks and slushees and wanted my first tattoo to be a cola-mtn dew slushee but it wasnt. i like waffles more than pancakes but would prefer a toaster strudel or muffin. i like apples and lemons and cinnamon and garlic and truffle and black cherries but not maraschino. i dont like onions or cilantro or swiss cheese. i dont like chili because something about the consistency of wet, tomato-ee hamburger makes me ill. i also can't drink hard liquor.

i like smells like thick cologne that lingers and juniper and spearmint and old houses and honeysuckle and the smells of the earth when it stops raining in the summer. i like the smell of other peoples laundry soap and coffee more than my own. i like eucalyptus and aloe and teakwood and dragons blood incense.

i like classic rock from my dad and 80s pop ballads from my mom and afi and lincoln park from my older sibling and 4*TOWN for my younger sibling. one of my earliest loves in music was Paramore, and hayley is an inspiration of mine. i like pop punk and the band ive seen the most is sleeping with sirens, 4 times now. i like hip hop and rnb and acapella and piano. i like music that makes me feel alive. anything from violin to screaming, i just like passion. i'm a very passionate person and always have been despite myself.

i sing and like singing in the car, while i shower, and cook. i am very loud but sometimes can do cool things. i like how singing makes me happy and helps me relate to other people and also my predecessors. i like how i feel connected to those before me through my voice. my first time singing in public was my 4th grade talent show. I sang The Only Exception by Paramore because my parents thought Almost Lover was too dramatic and adult for a 12 year old

i like old movies and i used to fall asleep to them at my grandparents and wake up to them at weekends at my dads apartment. i like musicals like ride the cyclone and drama like the fault in our stars and action like john wick and will always be down for a horror movie. i like get out and candyman and hereditary and black swan and blair witch and creep. i like the twilight zone and rod serling has a special place in my heart. i also like alex trebek from jeopardy, matthew grey gubler, penn badgely, andrew scott, evan peters, and my biggest current celeb crush is matt rife.

i like being alone in busy places. i like to talk to people but i also like to disappear to the other room during the party. im the girl you find sitting outside sometimes smoking, or on the balcony. i enjoy walking back into a concert midsong and seeing all the happy little people being happy. i like stepping away from chaos to appreciate it. i like driving on highways at night when its empty and im high. i like watching airplanes land. i like sleep and i sleep in a tank top and underwear but never socks. my dreams always take me back to this very similiar place every single night doing different tasks with different people. i might start calling it the twilight zone. i like to paint my emotions in my makeup and artwork. i have always felt very deeply and openly.

i like the moon and the stars and it is so fascinating to learn about the same beautiful big rock my ancestors saw. i feel drawn to white butterflies and birds and bumblebees and skinks ( they r tiny lizards). i like history and culture, but im really bad at math.

thats all i can come up with for now. if you have any questions let me know

thanks for reading about me, lmk if youre in love yet

valentine, 22 today <3

[neuroticbookworm]

Step by Step: Good writing must not be this confusing

Disclaimer: I hated every frame of Step by Step Episode 11, so what follows is basically my stream of consciousness that is currently raging against this absolutely maddening piece of TV. I am truly happy for the people who are still enjoying the show, so if you don't want to read biting criticism about something you enjoy, do not click on "Keep reading". Have a nice day/night!

This show would've eaten my sanity away long ago if not for my conversations with @waitmyturtles and @lurkingshan, who help me make sense of my anger and frustrations towards this show and form them into coherent thoughts.

I'd pulled punches in my meta on last week's episode and only critiqued the way the writing was lacking and how a few additions could've elevated the show. And when I clicked play today, I was still a teensiest bit hopeful that the show might turn around and surprise me. Oh boy, was I mistaken.

Read more thoughts on this episode from @waitmyturtles here and @lurkingshan here.

At the risk of repeating my friends, I'm gonna keep my thoughts short and crisp. This show's pacing and cohesion have been suffering for a while now, but that was nothing compared to the mess we were subjected to in the form of Step by Step Episode 11. I am now fully convinced that the tail end of this show is so badly written that it is barely coherent. New plotlines were introduced and resolved in the same episode (this is not episodic writing, because the show does not call for it, this is just bad writing), any semblance of nuance in the PatPut narrative had been obliterated with plot developments that make no sense, and the episode was rife with comedic beats that felt so out of place that it felt like the episode was stuck mid-morph between comedy, drama, and romance.

I'm just going to leave you all with one scene from this episode that encapsulates this show pretty well, in my opinion. Pat called Put on the phone to ask for his help, while the marketing team and Jeng are huddled around him. Put pulls his usual bullshit and asks Pat not to kick him out of his life again.

Pat agrees and asks Put to apologize to Jeng for fighting, and Put refuses and tells Pat that Jeng deserved it. The camera then focuses on Jeng's face for a second, and I sat up in my chair, thinking that we might finally be shown some emotional depth in this episode.

Was Jeng feeling bad about putting Pat back in touch with Put, even for professional reasons? Does he think Put is right and feel insecure that he cannot protect Pat from all the vitriol? Is he worried that Put might still be trying to win Pat back? But before my mind can even finish following any of those thoughts, Pat abruptly cuts the call mid-conversation with Put. And just like that, that close-up on Jeng's expression and its potential meaning became null and void. Because Pat very clearly does not care what Put thinks anymore. And it completely invalidates all the reasons why Jeng might be feeling uncomfortable during this conversation.

This show very clearly wants to be cleverer than it is. It juggles multiple themes and drops all of them without a satisfying resolution. In this storytelling environment, the setups are meaningless, and the storylines have no satisfying ending. I will be watching next week to see how it all ends, but I will always mourn this show as one of the biggest could've-been-greats in Thai BL.

[westeroswisdom]

Abubakar Salim and Clinton Liberty portray Alyn of Hull and Addam of Hull – characters we'll be seeing more of in the remaining episodes of HotD Season 2.

[N]not only do the pair play bastard brothers in the new series of House of the Dragon, but the experience was so intense that they have become chosen family in real life. “It was a journey we started together,” says 26-year-old Liberty, for whom House of the Dragon represents a significant step up in scale after grounded Irish dramas such as Normal People and Holding. “And we bonded over how crazy it all was. Every day we’d think we were getting used to it, then it was just like … what is going on? Is this real? Are you sure?” [ ... ] Alyn is a sailor, a consummate seaman whose moment of glory came when he rescued his Lord, his Captain and – it’s hinted pretty strongly – his father, Lord Corlys, from drowning. Addam, meanwhile, is a shipwright, gainfully employed in the harbours of Driftmark. Both characters are more down-to-earth, more working class (if such a term existed in Westeros) than the Royals and blue-bloods we’re used to encountering. For 31-year-old Salim, a seasoned player in big-budget shows such as the historical drama Jamestown and Ridley Scott’s sci-fi series Raised By Wolves, the partnership with Liberty rekindled a love for his profession. “I may not have seen it all,” he admits, “but I’ve seen enough to be like: ‘OK, here’s another cool set.’ I wasn’t necessarily jaded, but it’s like you’re eating chocolate for the 100th time. You know you’re going to enjoy it. With Clinton, it was like this was the first time he’d ever had chocolate. He was in absolute awe. That excitement was really infectious.” He is not exaggerating: months after shooting wrapped, Liberty is still giddy. “The scale was so massive,” he beams, recalling the bustling Driftmark harbour set at Leavesden studios where the pair filmed their early scenes. “I mean, they built a full-size ship. And a whole village. For the first few days, I just had to give myself permission to nerd out. It was everything I wanted to do, as a kid who dreamed of being an actor.”

Clinton Liberty has rubbed elbows in the past with another ASoIaF actor.

“I worked with Conleth Hill [who played Lord Varys in Game of Thrones] on Holding, and the whole time we were filming I was asking him about it. What’s Kit Harington like? What’s the world like? I was such a fan. And I’d do these affirmations. I used to wake up every morning and say: ‘One day I’m going to play a lead character in an HBO show. I’m going to be a character like Jon Snow.’ I said it every day for two years. I was just talking to the wind, really. Then lo and behold … ”

Abubakar Salim has been a game developer in addition to his career in acting.

For Salim, the parallels between acting and game development could not be clearer. “It’s all world-building,” he says. “Jumping into these fantastical worlds, be it through a video game or a TV show, and using that to explore human emotions and human truth. My game is all about the journey of grief, it was inspired by the loss of my father. Then in House of the Dragon, my character experiences the loss of a parental figure in a different way, which is really interesting.” Other parallels between the worlds of TV and video games are less welcome. Salim recently posted a video on X railing against the racism still rife in gaming, and he is well aware that similar attitudes exist in television. “It’s been said before, but there’s this idea that you can suspend your disbelief with dragons, but when it comes to a Black guy with white dreads you can’t handle it?” he says. “You know, football was rife with racism, and it still is, but now you’ll get your season pass banned, you’ll get kicked out because it’s no longer tolerated. I think we need more of that for artists and creatives.” Overall, though, he has been heartened by the response from the House of the Dragon fans, and is still buoyed up by his experience working with Liberty.

Both actors are listed at IMDB as being in the cast for the remaining three episodes of Season 2.

[da3drat]

so Meri is Celeste's aunt right. And GOD the relationship between Meri/Caldara (celeste's mum/meri's sister)/Celeste is just. so fucking rife with family drama and emotional turmoil I could talk about it for fucking HOURS.

[soapver4]

Ink Botanicals Academies for Sleepy Immortals

Sequel + 📺-Social Sciences Hybrid Bubble: A virtuoso bamboo painter in ancient China ascends to an idyllic heaven as a deity after his politically troubled time on Earth. Alas, the light, ethereal pastel robes and saintly, detached mannerisms of the immortals of various ranks belie the corruption and hoarding also rife among them. Clenching his fists in renewed determination, the painter proceeds to campaign for the widespread establishment of what he believes is the antidote: bamboo painting academies. Bamboo plants, he reasons, are evergreen, resilient and unadorned. Tracing their simple yet dignified leaves and stems would cultivate rectitude in immortals. A few immortals, however, roll their eyes at that prescription.

"What made you think what worked for you would work for most immortals, if any? Did you even get the cause-effect relationship correct? And if your bamboo passion did work on you, it might be because you were a good guy to start with and strove to make yourself an even better person through whatever you chose to see in bamboo. A lump of wood could have been your teacher too!"

Others chime in from their self-playing flute music picnics and languid wine parties.

"Look at how many demented politicians dabble in art. Tsk, tsk."

(That would be why they rather travel inside art than parade art.)

"Hey, we can't rule out the possibility! Our motherland doesn't have high artistic and moral regard for bamboo for nothing. Maybe if enough randomly selected people take up bamboo leaves painting and we compare them against their peers with the same traits and backgrounds, we can see that the pursuit more likely than not improves the average person."

"You guys can experiment with panda grub. I'll place my bets on something more emotive: human food. My academies shall paint tangerine plants. The bright, cheery colors of their fruit stimulate your appetite for warmth and positivity. No more selfish officials and lazy bystanders!"

More immortals roll their eyes.

"Make that the bitter, dark brown herb, tuber fleeceflower. A school of thought cannot have genuine, lasting effects if it turns a blind eye to reality. And integrity needs grit."

"Bittergourd."

"Spinach."

"Oh, come on, life is not all bleakness and despair. Try litchi trees. The flesh under the rosy peel is translucent and juicy. Just the wellspring of inspiration for transparency and earnestness of character!"

And so the squabbling immortals set up a system whereby painters assessed to be skilled in depicting any of those plants get to teach in academies for that plant and others are randomly selected and sorted into the various academies as learners.

We talk about dramas as thought experiments, but here's where it would be awesome to try the reverse. Test out these art classes in the real world to guide the ending of the sequel. Evidence-based dramas need to be a genre too.

Meanwhile, heaven is a colorful, leafy quasi-paradise full of scrolls and intermingling scents of ink and fruit and where the busy sounds of brushes and rustling long sleeves are heard from outside every other pavilion and hall. It's just not quite heavenly for genuinely congenitally hyperactive and clumsy immortals.

Check out the alt text of all images.

[luckandstrange]

I would like to add some of my own due to the fact that the length of time I have dedicated to this band is really taking a toll on me at the moment. I'm struggling a bit to think about the mass of it...

I chose them as the subject for my 8th grade final project in music class, thus changing the trajectory of my life forever. Said project is rife with inaccuracies.

First picture of Roger I saw shocked me because he looked so strange (apparently a universal experience)

I would spend every night of the rest of 8th grade scrolling the Pink Floyd search results on Deviantart, mostly just regular art, but it overwhelmed me with so many emotions that I had to frequently tab out.

Got into an insane amount of intimate discord drama in a chat with some of the most renowned Floyd artists at the time. I remained partial and got invited to the discord chat with the splitting individuals as well as staying in the original.

I jumped at any opportunity to detail the band's entire paraphrased history.

Classic case of "I was born in the wrong generation" and all its fix-ins.

Dogs was one of the first I listened to, both shocked and intrigued by its length.

I slowly realized that I had been hearing their music all of my life, so getting into them was even more fun.

I kept begging my parents to watch Live at Pompeii with me.

I fully convinced myself that this kid talking about the #NotMyRodgerick meme from Diary of a Wimpy Kid shortening it to #NotMyRoggie was talking about RW

I got so obsessed with Roger and Nick's friendship that I started shipping them and couldn't keep it subtle so I psyopped my friend into making these character versions of them where Roger was an Easter island head named Ouch and Nick was Bloo from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. I still have the clay figurine of Bloo Nick that I made. (don't ask)

When I went to see Roger in 2017 I was almost certain that I would've had the opportunity to run into him after the show. I didn't.

My friend and I went to a carnival, and while she was trying to talk to someone else on the same ride as us, I was singing the entirety of Comfortably Numb out loud.

The first time I heard Summer '68 I think I replayed it at least 30 times.

Same with San Tropez.

I got a sunburst fender precision-bass for Christmas, think the same look as the one Roger played in Live at Pompeii, which I have admittedly rarely picked up. I'd say I'm at the very least intermediate.

Drawing the band was my introduction to drawing people other than dragons more regularly, so in my drawings faces tended to have awkwardly large noses and small foreheads. (I wonder who's to blame for that...)

I was drawing them at a fourth of July party and someone came up to me and asked "Is that The Beatles?"

At the same party, Comfortably Numb came on and I crouched down to fully immerse myself in the song while rocking back and forth.

I was one of the artists for a Pink Floyd ask blog in 2017.

My friends and I embarked on an unserious "Classic Rock RP" that consisted of us roleplaying as Roger and Dave going to Japan with JPJ from Led Zeppelin. Once the friend playing JPJ went to bed, the two of us ended up getting pretty.. intimate.

We made a discord chat to do our watermour roleplay in. We started calling it g1interphase as a codename because we were both learning the cell stages in Biology class.

This lasted for

Eight

Months

Straight. Every single day.

I can still hardly believe that. The majority of it has lapsed from my memory.

We shipped Snowy White and Dick Parry at one point.

I was a pissed off little shit when I saw Nick in 2019 because the literal show BEFORE that one in New York, Roger showed up because he was in the area. Suffice to say he didn't show up a second time.

Every New Year's Eve since 2018, I've perfectly timed the Careful With That Axe, Eugene scream to land precisely on midnight when the year changed. Except I didn't do it for this year, so I think I reanimated the Pink Floyd curse.

Thank you for enduring me. Have I changed very much? Who knows...

Calling my younger self out for all the embarrassing things they thought/did when I first started getting into Pink Floyd (I just think I was endearing albeit annoying)

Initially confused them with LED Zeppelin because for some reason my brain put them on a similar tier

Went to watch the Pulse tour DVD … promptly realised it was post-Waters, cried, shut it off immediately, and haven’t seen it since (I actually own a DVD and a VHS tape of the film…both of which were gifts actually)

Saw that Live at Pompeii gif of Roger blowing the smoke rings and just stared at it for a long while promptly falling in love

Didn’t know the Wall was a double album and just assumed the second disc was demos so I never listened to it and would only listen to half the album. Eventually I decided to play the second disc and realised how stupid I was (In the Flesh confused me)

Had an entire wall in my room dedicated to The Wall (I painted out the brick design and had these posters)

Didn’t really care much for the WYWH album (and now it’s my favourite Pink Floyd album..)

FUCKING GAVE AWAY THE IN THE PINK NICK SEDGWICK BOOK BECAUSE I WAS GOING THROUGH SOME SHIT AND ROGER WAS MAKING ME FEEL GUILTY AND HORRIBLE

Would listen to the Wall at least once a day for months on end especially while sitting alone at lunch

Used the fact that my mum desperately wanted me to make friends to go to a Roger Waters concert with this boy who had a crush on me and then promptly started trying to convert me to Catholicism once he found out I’m atheist, bisexual, and non-binary. Roger Played the Gunner’s Dream for the encore so no regrets there

Had a long and unhealthy obsession with The Final Cut and would play my LP of it at least once a day

Read something about Roger calling the rest of the band “the muffins” and promptly dubbed David “greasy muffin”…and got the rest of my online friends to join in

Wrote endless HCs with a friend about Watershend (Roger Waters x Pete Townshend)… I stand by this one. Sorry

Did a 10 minute presentation on the Wall for a history class when I was…14

Called in sick to school even though my teachers knew I was going to watch Roger Waters in concert

Found a copy of Rick Wright’s Wet Dream on vinyl at a market… had no cash in the moment … asked my friend if they could give me cash and then I’d pay them back later… my friend agreed thinking it was for food (I wasn’t trying to deceive them I promise I just didn’t communicate what that money was for as clearly as I thought I did… but I did pay them back plus a bit extra!) I did get my record tho

Went to Battersea Station…. DIDN’T REALISE IT WAS A FUCKING SHOPPING MALL ON THE INSIDE BECAUSE I FAILED TO DO MY RESEARCH AND DIDN’T EVEN ATTEMPT TO GO INSIDE BECAUSE I AM AWKWARD AS HELL… so instead I opted to awkwardly stand around the outside and check out the nearby shops (this is recent ;-;)

I used to draw and would just fill my notebook up with drawing of Pink Floyd (mostly just Roger…)

I am just now remembering how much of my fanart was nose-centric

You know that common trans experience of “trying desperately to live as your assigned gender one last time so you overcompensate before you come out”… well that overlapped with my “ukulele and Syd Barrett let’s dress psychedelic” phase

Have bought way too many pieces of clothing because they remind me of something Roger wore once (I think I’ll make this into it’s own post perhaps)

That’s all I can remember for now. Just feeling nostalgic. I could make a second part of all the most recent cringe shit I’ve done. I’m not laughing at myself I’m laughing with myself. Honestly my younger self was iconic, gotta love her

[justalittleobsessedhere]

Heartstopper, A Subversive Love Story

I keep coming back to Heartstopper, and I’ve consumed a lot of media in my life. My first watch was a “let me see what this is by watching just one episode at 10pm” pick. Then it was 2am and I had binged the whole thing. Two days later, I had binged it two more times, had gotten two other people to binge as well, and gorged on the graphic novels multiple times.

What was it that kept me (still) transfixed? It was a subversive love story. It was subversive because it was a love story that focused on the LOVE and the STORY.

Not your typical set-up

Television and film rely on tropes to move the story along. This isn’t inherently bad, especially for movies. You have a limited time to tell a story and get the good part. You can use on tropes as shortcuts to skip past the unimportant bits to get to the part of the story the screenwriter is there to tell. (As a quick example, think about a set of siblings with an alcoholic parent— a knowing look and a hug between them show you they are close because of this trauma. We don’t need to see the whole backstory to understand this if this isn’t the story we’re here to see. Now you can get to the actual plot of the story.)

For the love story, though, the tropes are so played out, they’ve become almost toxic. If we were expecting a typical love story out of heartstopper, we might have expected some of the following things to happen.

At the start of this show, Charlie is meeting for a secret tryst with an attractive boy who doesn’t want to actually talk to him, ignores him in public, and is downright toxic. In (almost) all the other shows, this is the set-up. The point of the show is for Charlie to win over the bad boy, make him realize his bad ways, have the bad boy make a public act of contrition, and they would kiss at the end. Charlie would have changed him.

Nope. And this is where we start to shift the narrative. Charlie breaks it off with him in the first half of the first episode, and he never goes back.

When you’re introduced to Nick, he is the stereotypical athletic straight guy. He becomes friends with Charlie. Again, the norm would have been Charlie falling for him and a long drawn out journey of Nick avoiding, denying, even being angry about his feelings for Charlie in return.

Nope. Instead we get someone who recognizes his feelings and takes time to understand them fully. He never once equivocates on his attraction to Charlie.

These stories are typically rife with near misses, misunderstandings, and mistrust. So much of the show depends on keeping the two love interests apart that it’s more of an origin story than love story. In this vein, you’d expect most of the show to have been about Nick ending up in compromising situations that he wouldn’t be aware that Charlie had even witnessed. Charlie would constantly doubt if Nick is even interested in him.

Nope. Nick spends the entire season expressing to Charlie that he likes him. The almost-drama clears up when Nick is honest about how he ended up agreeing to a date with Imogen and actually cancels the date. The incident brings them closer.

Even the their first kiss. Most of these stories end with a first kiss right before the final credits roll. The journey of the narrative was the will-they-won’t-they or maybe how-will-they. The audience rarely gets more than a glance at what it looks like how the two actually work in a relationship.

Nope. They kiss in episode three of eight! Not even halfway through the whole season. You actually see how Nick and Charlie work as a couple as Charlie provides positive emotional support to Nick as he goes through his journey.

But without all this drama how do you keep it interesting?

When we turn all of these typical tropes on their head, you would expect to lose the drama that keeps a person watching episode after episode, and yet… People keep watching (over and over and over). You can write a love story that focuses on the story of how two people go from attraction to love rather than from attraction to deciding to be together. We tend to believe love is simple, but Heartstopper recognizes that it’s complicated. That complication is enough drama to draw in an audience.

Nick is still on a personal journey, and that is compelling. Charlie is also on a journey to learn that he is worthy of love. For those of us who didn’t know the ending, we kept waiting for these love story tropes to come to fruition, anxiety building and building toward the inevitable breakdown that will serve as the climax of the season. And when it didn’t happen we felt … relief.

It turned out that we watched a story about two good people who treated each other well, got together early, and then got to explore the joy of falling in love. It was so enjoyable that we had to turn around and watch it again so we could enjoy it without the anxiety and bask in the glow that is the growing, healthy relationship between Nick and Charlie.

One more thing

The final thing about this subversion is shifting expectations of the younger generation of what they expect and deserve in a relationship. When someone treats you poorly, it’s not your job to accept the bad behavior or change the other person. If you like someone, it’s not too much to ask that they be able to tell you they like you, too. Passion is not the same thing as drama. After the rush of emotions that draw you together, it’s not a magical relationship that sustains without work and engagement from both partners. You’re allowed to expect all this and more even from your very first relationship.

It’s ok to want and expect warm happiness that engulfs you like a bear hug - in both a relationship and a tv show.

[wallylinda]

You tagged your "getting into comics" post that you were fighting the urge to recommend weird obscure comics on a beginner list. So what were the more obscure ones?

Anon thank you so much for the opportunity to wax poetic about some of my favorite comics. Below are some niche-ass series that will completely demolish your brain chemistry for two to five business days, maybe more: 

Booster Gold (2007)

Time travel is very counterintuitive to the grieving process. Booster Gold (2007) features the emotional equivalent of multiple punches to the gut, wacky misadventures in the time stream, and tons of cute family bonding that will leave you near tears. Experience weird crossovers and weirder plots today when you read your first issue!

To begin reading, start with issues #1-6, then #0, #7-10, and finally #1,000,000. After that, continue reading as you normally do. Some comics you might want to read for context include: Booster Gold (1986), Justice League International (1987), OMAC Project, and 52.

Doctor Fate (1988)

J.M DeMatteis’ run is the better precursor to The Spectre (2001) with talking demon dogs, a knock-off of John Constantine, and incredibly dramatic plotlines. In comparison, Messner-Loebs’ run is a slice-of-life, block party extravaganza with Inza adopting the role of Doctor Fate, Kent living out his fantasies as a completely normal dude, and a lot of dubious ethics at play. 

Be aware that the first half of this comic features a pretty iffy relationship between an aged-up man and his stepmom, but nothing explicitly romantic ever happens and you can ignore the implications pretty easily, or just skip over J.M. De Matteis' run entirely. Some comics you might want to read for context include: The Immortal Doctor Fate and Doctor Fate (1987). 

JSA Strange Adventures

Set in the Golden Age, aspiring writer and superhero Johnny Thunder begins chronicling the adventures of the JSA. And as Johnny fumbles through his first attempts at a writing career, the JSA fights against a new, epic villain. This comic is dramatic and nostalgic, but thankfully, doesn’t lean too far into the Golden Age’s more obscure plotlines. 

Some comics you might want to read for context include: JSA (1999), Justice Society of America (2007), and Infinity Inc. (1984). 

Starman (1994)

In my biased opinion, this is the best comic I’ve ever read. The pacing is great, the setting is incredible, the characters are fantastic, and most importantly, the plot is both meaningful and entertaining. If there is one comic you should try your hand at from this list, it’s Starman (1994). In it, Jack Knight takes up the role of Starman from his father, and slowly makes the title his own.

Some comics you might want to read for context include: JSA (1999) and JSA Strange Adventures. 

Shade, the Changing Man (1990)

Featuring a lobotomized alien poet inhabiting the body of a convicted death-row serial killer, an alcoholic whose parents were murdered by that very same serial killer, and the alcoholic's lesbian girlfriend, Shade, the Changing Man (1990) is a Vertigo comic rife with relationship drama and mental instability. While the latter parts lose some of their initial charm, the only issues that I would skip over are the last 10 or so. 

This comic has no relevant precursor comics. 

The Shade (1997)

Do you like melodrama, generational murder, and literary themes? Then this is the comic for you! While the first issue starts off slow, The Shade (1997) unrolls into a great, sympathetic comic for your new favorite antihero. My only real gripe with this comic is that Shade’s handwriting is in cursive and absolute shit to read.

This comic requires knowledge of Starman (1994) and should be read after having finished that.