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blackswaneuroparedux · 2 years ago

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Anonymous asked: What’s your favourite piece of classical music that you discovered through a film soundtrack?

What an interesting question to which I have had to really scratch my head and think a little. The main issue is that if you are, like me, one of those kids who was exposed to classical music and some of its canon from an early age then the question becomes harder to answer. Like many other children, I was taught to play musical instruments and have music lessons from about 6 years old onwards. Films, especially the more adult themed ones with a classical score, were something you discovered much later in your teens onwards. So I’m going to cheat a bit here and there. For example I can’t include Milos Forman’s classic movie ‘Amadeus’ because I was already familiar with a range of Mozart’s repertoire before watching it.

Predictably, I’m going have to start with Walt Disney’s classic film ‘Fantasia’ (1940). This was perhaps the first film I was truly exposed to classical music in all its glory. It was Disney’s love letter to classical music and I can still watch it with child-like wonder at the magnificent music set to an incredible animation.

I’m pretty sure that Igor Stravinsky almost certainly wasn't thinking of dinosaurs when he wrote his ballet The Rite of Spring. But Walt Disney and his talented team of animators decided to tell the story of these prehistoric creatures using the dramatic, angular sounds of Stravinsky's masterpiece. And it's become one of the most famous sequences of the 1940s film.

The score was performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski and was narrated by composer Deems Taylor was awesome. As magnificent was the music that Toccata and Fugue in D minor by J. S. Bach, selections from The Nutcracker Suite by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikowsky, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Paul Dukas, Pastoral Symphony (Symphony No. 6) by Ludwig van Beethoven, and the “Dance of the Hours” by Amilcare Ponchielli, it was the last two pieces that left a real impression. Of course I’m talking about Night On Bald Mountain by Modest Moussorgsky, coupled with ‘Ave Maria’ by Franz Schubert.

I’m also going to add Léo Delibes’ Flower Duet (from the opera Lakmé). I used to hear this ad nauseam but not in a movie. This classic piece was the chosen soundtrack for the British Airways advertisement on television and in their departure lounges and flights. The ad - updated often - has been around in one form or another but with the same soundtrack since the 1980s. It was a huge feature of my childhood in the 90s. Whenever I boarded a flight in the Far East or South Asia or the Middle East to fly back home to Britain - because we lived overseas - you would hear this as you strapped yourself in to your seats.

As for my main list (in no particular order):

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Second movement of Beethoven's Symphony No.7 from: The King’s Speech (2010)

The climactic scene where King George VI has to make his speech ‘unto the nations’ was made more powerful by this piece. Like King George VI and his personal battles with his voice, much speculation has taken place over what personal agony the musical piece reflects in Beethoven’s life, especially since sketches for the movement predate the symphony by several years.

One clue is that Beethoven, who conducted the premier in December of 1813 for the veterans of the Battle of Hanau, made an address to these veterans, saying: "We are moved by nothing but pure patriotism and the joyful sacrifice of our powers for those who have sacrificed so much for us." There is every reason to believe that the deep emotion of this movement was founded on anything but what he said it was. His sentiment had existed long before 1813, as had the wars. Napoleon was being repelled, and the symphony is overall joyous.

However, Beethoven was not the kind of man to casually dismiss sacrifice, and the concert was dedicated to veterans. I believe that this movement celebrates those military veterans who made sacrifices for their nation, in much the same way King George VI was asking his subjects in Britain and the Commonwealth in the fight against evil menace of Nazism and Fascism.

Ligeti's Lux Aeterna and Requiem from: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

I hated it. I saw it as a teen and I thought something was wrong with the audio. I still hate the piece but at least I know who Ligeti is. It was way too avant garde for me back then and it remains so today. I think scratching your nails down a chalk board has more melody than a piece by Ligeti. Kubrick clearly loved his work and used it in his other films such as The Shining and Eyes Wide Shut.

Richard Strauss - Also Sprach Zarathustra from 2001: Space Odyssey (1968)

By contrast I loved it. Music can be the difference between a highly memorable scene and one that leaves viewers with an indifferent shrug. It’s hard to believe that this classical piece was used in the main opening scene of the film originally as a temporary place holder by Kubrick whilst he waited for the film composer, Alex North, from the full soundtrack. In the end Kubrick left Strauss in and it made all the difference.

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Franz Schubert’s Piano Trio in E-Flat from: Barry Lyndon (1975)

The Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat major for piano, violin, and cello, D. 929, was one of the last compositions completed by Franz Schubert in 1827 and one of the last pieces he heard being performed before he died. The track itself has been used in countless of movies over the decades such as The Hunger, Crimson Tide, The Piano Teacher, L'Homme de sa vie, Land of the Blind, Recollections of the Yellow House, The Way He Looks, The Mechanic, Miss Julie, The Congress, and the HBO miniseries John Adams. But I first heard it on Kubrick’s film Barry Lyndon and remember being captivated by the film and the music. I was a teen watching it my parents and the whole scene at the card table was beautifully directed and wonderfully lit. As I learned much later in life, Kubrick and his team invented new kind of film lens to be able to film in candlelight.

Handel's sarabande from: Barry Lyndon (1975)

The sarabande is traditionally the music written for a courtly dance in triple metre. Handel's version was composed for solo harpsichord at some point between 1703 and 1706 and first published in 1733. This classic piece is the 4th movement of the Cette pièce est le quatrième mouvement de la Suite in G minor composed for the harpsichord. Although the Sarabande was originally intended by its composer to be played solo on harpsichord, the orchestral version of the Sarabande is very well known these days thanks to the Barry Lyndon film. Moreover, the Sarabande is beloved by filmmakers and has been adapted several times for various films. It’s one of my favourite pieces and it reminds me of the English countryside for some reason rather than some formal court dance.

Domenico Cimarosa’s Concerto for Oboe in C Moll from: Though the Olive Trees (1994)

Directed by Abbas Kiarostami, this little known Iranian-French film was something I stumbled upon through my Norwegian mother who loved these kind of independent films when we lived in South Asia as an antidote to all the Bollywood films we children enjoyed. Kiarostami’s film traces the trouble arising when the romantic misfortune of one of the actors on a film set - a young man who pines for the woman cast as his wife, even though, in real life, she will have nothing to do with him - leaves the director caught in the middle. In hindsight I can now say it was a metafictional masterpiece. Kiarostami contemplates cinema and its romantic fallacies. The film is gorgeously grounded in Northern Iran’s folk traditions and with a soft focus on its shaken yet convalescent landscape. It’s a warmhearted tale that explores what happens when love goes unrequited - which was surprisingly relevant to a teen with raging hormones at the time.

Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis from: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

A classical musical masterpiece in a masterful cinematic movie - both epic in every sense of the word. As a former British Army combat pilot it’s the only film that made me have a smidgen of sympathy with the Royal Navy. It was one of the first films I was allowed to go and see at the cinema itself as a teen. The film is almost faultless in terms of acting, directing, cinematography, and authentic detail. It even made me go and read one or two of the books by Patrick O’Brian. How Peter Weir never won an Oscar for directing I shall never know.

Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis is a 15-minute (or so) work for double string orchestra and string quartet, based on a melody by the 16th century composer Thomas Tallis. The quartet traditionally sits away from the orchestra in performance, to create an atmospheric antiphonal (alternating voices) effect. It is often known simply as the ‘Tallis Fantasia’. The tune is from a setting of Psalm 2 that Tallis wrote in 1567. It originally sets the words ‘Why fumeth in sight: The Gentils spite, In fury raging stout? Why taketh in hond: the people fond, Vayne things to bring about?’ It was in 1910 at a festival that Vaughan Williams himself conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in the first performance, which was followed in the same concert by Elgar conducting his own The Dream of Gerontius. Vaughan Williams, in his late 30s, was already establishing himself as a major name, but the Tallis Fantasia raised his profile even higher, not least because the concept of harking back to the 16th century was a comparatively new one.

The piece by Vaughn Williams is what has stayed with me throughout the years. In a nod to Proust, I chiefly identify the piece with reflections of my time on the battlefields of Helmand during my time in Afghanistan and especially seeing wounded friends and comrades long after we got back home from war.

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Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana from: Excalibur (1981)

I was already familiar with bits and pieces from Wagner’s operas - played loudly in our home by my parents - but I must admit this classic piece by Carl Orff I first heard watching John Boorman’s magical and majestical film about King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table. I know this piece has been used endlessly in other films and even gained fame as a men’s aftershave advertisement (so my father says) but I first heard it watching this film.

John Boorman’s 1981 fantastical retelling of Thomas Mallory’s Le Morte d’Arthur is, to quote Nicol Williamson’s Merlin in the film, “A dream to some. A nightmare to others!” It can sometimes come across as an episodic and hammy sword and sorcery tale, but I saw it as clever and satisfying retelling of an evergreen myth. I had read read Mallory’s epic books and so my expectations were unduly high. For the most part they were met and then some. Boorman took an abstract approach that shows us Arthur’s (unnamed) Kingdom, a place out of time, in several stages of transition; from dark to golden age, via loss of innocence, and painfully bloody rebirth. Excalibur arose out of the ashes of Boorman’s earlier attempt to bring J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings to the screen (ironically after trying to get a filmic retelling of the Merlin myth off the ground).

Excalibur is a cautionary tale. The characters are all struggling to find their place in the world, to maintain harmony with nature. Merlin says poignantly of Excalibur to Arthur, “It was forged when the world was young, and bird and beast and flower were one with man, and death was but a dream.” The film is a longing for a golden age, and the struggle to balance the warring natures of honour and goodness with human greed and jealousy. Surely the most rousing image is when Percival has returned the Grail to Arthur who, rejuvenated, also recovers Excalibur from Guinevere (now a nun, to atone for her adultery with Lancelot). She has kept it safe, knowing her once and future king would one day seek its power. Merlin is unfrozen by Arthur, and even Lancelot, a raggedy wild man driven into exile by his own shame, heeds his true king’s call. Arthur rides out with his knights and these fellow warriors through a re-blossoming countryside to do battle with Mordred for the soul of the land, to Carl Orff’s stirring music.

The name of Orff’s piece has Latin roots. 'Carmina' means 'songs', while 'Burana' is the Latinised form of Beuren, the name of the Benedictine monastery of Benediktbeuren in Bavaria. So, Carmina Burana translates as Songs Of Beuren, and refers to a collection of early 13th-century songs and poems that was discovered in Beuren in 1803 - although it has since been established that the collection originated from Seckau Abbey, Austria - and is now housed in the Bavarian State Library. The songs (over 1000 of them) were written in a mix of Latin, German and medieval French by the Goliards, a band of poet-musicians comprising scholars and clerical students, who celebrated with earthy humour the joys of the tavern, nature, love and lust. Although Orff set the original texts, he chose not to use the primitive musical notation that accompanied some of the songs. The collection was first published in Germany in 1847, but it wasn’t until 1934 that Orff came across the texts; a selection had been translated into English and formed part of a publication called Wine, Women And Song. With the help of Michael Hofmann, a law student and Latin scholar, Orff chose 24 songs and set them to music in what he termed a “scenic cantata”.

It was in this form that it was first heard on June 8, 1937, in Frankfurt, under its full title Carmina Burana: Cantiones Profanae Cantoribus Et Choris Cantandae Comitantibus Instrumentis Atque Imaginibus Magicis (Songs Of Beuren: Secular Songs For Singers And Choruses To Be Sung Together With Instruments And Magic Images) Quite a mouthful! After the triumphant premiere of Carmina Burana, Orff, then 41, wrote to his publishers: “Everything I have written to date, and which you have, unfortunately, published, can be destroyed. With Carmina Burana my collected works begin.” However, nothing Orff subsequently wrote ever came close to approaching the popularity of Carmina Burana. Oh dear.

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Richard Wagner’s Siegfried’s Funeral March (from the opera Götterdämmerung) from: Excalibur (1981)

The film almost plays like a screen Opera - it is a heightened reality, a world anew. One where sex, jealousy and pride threaten to undo the mystical balance and ties between the King and the land. A powerful aid to that feeling is the superb score which utilises music such as Siegfried’s Funeral March by Wagner, and O Fortuna, a medieval poem set to music by Carl Orff. Boorman was determined to squeeze as much of the legend into his film’s running time as possible, chopping and condensing characters, and switching acts around. He created a three-act saga - the dark ages and the birth of Arthur, a period of brutality and superstition; the rise of Camelot and its age of reason, law, and dawning of Christianity; and the final descent into chaos and wasteland, where a frail Arthur commands the Round Table knights to seek out the Grail. Arising out of this a final battle commences for the soul of the land and the people, a sense of renewal with a promise of a new age to come. Boorman called it the “past, present and future of humanity.”

Richard Wagner composed his opera Götterdämmerung between 1869 and 1874. It is the last of the four operas that make up Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle, a project that had taken him over 25 years to complete. The opera is much renowned for its orchestral sequences, and these are often performed as concert extracts. Siegfried's Funeral March is taken from Act Three after Siegfried has been murdered by Hagen. Following his murder at the hands of Hagen, the death knell of “Siegfried’s Funeral March” opens with funereal timpani as Siegfried’s body is placed on his shield and carried off by the vassals. The music vacillates from deep mourning and rage-filled outbursts to the majesty of the “Hero” motif, brought out in bold relief at the centre of the movement.The whole opera is made up of musical motives from previous operas that tell of Siegfried's background, including the Volsung theme, Siegmund and Sieglinde's theme, the Sword, Brünnhilde's love theme and the curse of the Ring.

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Richard Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries (Die Walküre) from: Apocalypse Now (1979)

Francis Ford Coppola's Vietnam War phantasmagoria is an epic fresco oozing with madness. It is a madness that manages to escape from the frame and infect the director and his team, turning the film into a legend. It is impossible not to talk about this film without mentioning the Dantesque shooting of the film. A typhoon that destroyed the sets, a heart attack that nearly killed Martin Sheen, a Brando who was more obese and obtuse than ever, who arrived on the set without knowing his lines, and a director at the end of his rope physically and psychologically, on the verge of divorce and suicide. Instead of taking four months to complete, the shoot lasted 15 months. The analogy with the hell of Vietnam is obvious.

The film itself is about Benjamin Willard, a special forces captain, who is given a highly perilous mission: to find and assassinate Colonel Kurtz, a renegade who has set up his headquarters on the Cambodian border. To accomplish his mission, Willard must travel up a river in a small patrol boat with a handful of men. We follow Willard sinking into the madness and insanity of this war, personified by the character of Colonel Kurtz, an obese Buddhist, a true godfather of the Vietnamese jungle. Apocalypse Now is in fact a mirror for the spectator, it plays on our feelings about the Vietnamese conflict, and this is what sets it apart from other great war films. It is a physical and very real journey through Vietnam, but also an inner journey for its hero, Willard, a drug addict and alcoholic, which will allow Coppola to make his denunciation of the war. After watching this movie over several years I’ve come to regard Coppola’s movie as more than just a war movie but also an hallucinatory trip, as anxiety provoking as possible, about the human soul lost inside itself.

For a movie that had two of my greatest loves - combat helicopters and Wagner - the film surprisingly didn’t inform my future career path as a combat pilot for the British Army. I was too young as a teen and caught up with other feminine things girls of my age did. But watching it retrospectively I’m sure it had some unconscious influence on me. I noticed things more with each viewing such as before Jim Morrison's paradoxical and delightful prologue, it is the helicopter blades that open Apocalypse Now. The jerky noise that spatialises this mortifying horizon is a motif that will be the melodic line of the entire film. In crosshatching, it truncates reality and allows the initial confusion of a man in reverse who opens his eyes on an uncertain world. The fan in the hotel room is not the air-conditioned shelter of war. Everything, from then on, is under the sign of duality.

Then of course we have the euphoric scene but no less horrifying than the helicopter attack by Kilgore and his men to lay waste to a village so that they could surf. And all done to the terrifying bombast of Wagner’s Ride of Valkyries. It’s a demented scene but also so visually lyrical. Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries is sadistically perfect. It’s a perfect mythical metaphor of the valkyries who majestically flew in the sky and decided who died in battle from above. Of course the symbolism of Wagner - wrongly tarred with its fascist connotations - as a place holder for Western imperialism over the Vietnamese is not lost on the viewer. It’s a clever piece of juxtaposition.

Armies have of course used music in warfare for millennia. The deployment of musicians - from trumpeters to drummers - in battle was useful in instilling regimentation and rhythmic purpose for soldiers; and in days before radio, in carrying specific orders across the battlefield. As well as unifying an army - it could potentially disorient the enemy, or as Kilgore eruditely elaborates: ‘We use Wagner, it puts the shits up the slopes. My boys love it!’. So what we are seeing is an age old military tactic being given a modern twist. This has already been established by the notion of an air cavalry, trading their horses for helicopters - which gets further embodied by Kilgore’s wearing of a cowboy hat, common to the Western film genre. The symbolism of linking old and new - ancient and modern, history and the present - occurs throughout Apocalypse Now, as it does in the original novella Heart of Darkness. It indicates an uncomfortable continuum, a never ending foreboding cycle. That beneath the fragile veneer of civilisation, humanity is endlessly repeating barbarism - a cycle foreshadowed by helicopter/fan blades at the start of the film which also loops back to become the end of the film - itself a cycle that won’t end.

When I flew combat helicopters over in Afghanistan we were banned from playing music in our cockpit. It’s simply not practical because you need to be aware of all your aural cues of what the hell is going on around you as every mission is task intensive. You’re focused on a mission where the shit can hit the fan such as coming under rocket attack at any second especially if you’re on a night mission. In theory you could, as anyone with some audio equipment and electronics knowledge could wire in a 3.5mm headphone jack and hook up your music into your own helmet. I knew some pilots who broke the ban and did this. They would get their clever avionic ground staff technician crew to put in a some sort of patch cord that could plug through to their helmet ICS - in return you get them a case of beer. I’m not telling where we got the beer from.

Other honourable mentions:

Second movement of Schumann's Piano Quintet from: Fanny and Alexander (1982)

Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor "Il dolce suono" from: The 5th Element (1997)

Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez from: Brassed Off (1996)

Maurice Ravel’s Trio en la mineur pour piano, violon et violoncelle, Sonata for Violin and Cello, Violin Sonata #2 in G, and Berceuse Sur le Nom De Gabriel Fauré from: Un Coeur en Hiver/A Heart in Winter (1992)

Mozart’s Divertimento in D major, K. 136 from: Out of Africa (1985)

Carl Orff - Schulwerk Volume 1: Musica Poëtica - Gassenhauer from Badlands (1973)

Puccini’s O mio babbino caro (aria from the opera Gianni Schicchi) from: A Room with a View (1985)

Verdi’s La forza del destino (the Force of Destiny) overture from: Jean de Florette (1986)

Mozart’s Letter Duet (from The Marriage of Figaro) from : The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Thanks for your question

#ask #question #music #film #soundtrack #movie #cinema #film soundtrack #composer #classical music #arts #culture #personal

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cowboymantis · 24 days ago

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(Spoiler free for the Yakuza amazon series, just vague thoughts! HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT WETHER YOU'VE PLAYED YAKUZA BEFORE OR NOT!!)

I didn't want to finish it yet (because that means it's over), but I have now finished the Yakuza show, and BOY did I already love the first episodes, but it was even more peak in the last ones 😭😭😭😭

I was so excited for it, although the fandom showed its annoying side again, but I didn't let that influence my happiness for it, and I just enjoyed it to the fullest 🙏 Of course I had some worries before watching, but it was just really good. Perfect? No, but let's not act like Yakuza 1 is perfect either (I'm saying this as someone who had Yakuzer brainrot for many years now and is never escaping it), and the fandom now all of a sudden wants to act like Yakuza 1 is the greatest masterpiece ever and how everything that changes it is BAD

Anyywayy...

Definitely really loved the focus being more on the Sunflower kids and how they grew up and eventually got tangled into the Yakuza business! It made one scene in particular WAAY more emotional and sad than in the games 🥺

And wow. They really bamboozled us with hiding a certain character from us, huh...

Loved how many actors I recognised :'D Some were definitely a surprise, because we didn't know much of the cast beforehand!

I remember when they first showed a photo of Indy, and I thought, huh. He kinda looks like Namioka Kazuki (Sid's actor from Kamen Rider Gaim). But I might imagine things because I've been watching some dramas with him in it (I absolutely love his roles they're so embarrassing but funny but also kinda adorable (like Sid for example 😭)). BUT THEN HE APPEARED AND IT TOTALLY WAS HIM . AND HE WAS WEARING A COWBOY HAT HELLO???

Another thing I enjoyed was the mystery around the demons! Something completely new that leaves you speculating from the start. I was guessing who they might be other than that they're working with a certain character, for the longest time I thought maybe they could be the Jingweon, because of the masks. Of course not saying anything to that, but yeah. I cannot really tell how much I liked the resolution to that, since uh. I have questions left ldjdkf

The finale was just great too, and this one scene that looked a lot like the Yakuza 7 finale...

And so so many beautiful and aesthetic scenes with Nishiki 🥲 He's truly the goat in every version... And a poor little meow meow 😭

At first, I was unsure if I could take him seriously because I knew his actor from the drama Super Salaryman and . Well. Let's just say he's unbearable (in a funny way).. But his actor really did SUCH a perfect job in portraying him, and sometimes his voice reminded me so much of game Nishiki 🥺

Speaking of Nishiki, a Yakuza stageplay Nishiki and Amazon series Kiryu collab would be funny. It would be like a Kamen Rider Gaim X Kamen Rider Drive collab, but Yakuza 💀 Kamen Rider and Yakuzer are always weirdly connected...

Oh!! And another thing, the soundtrack fr sounded like straight out of the games sometimes, it was really cool! And the music during the finale was so hype it probably could be a cool final boss theme in the games :) Or at least a final long battle theme!

Majima was fun too, although I feel like if you know absolutely nothing about Yakuza and Majima, you'd be a bit confused about him. He really feels like you have to know him to be excited about him, if that makes sense?

But then, on the other hand, there's a big "plot twist" at the end of the show, and it almost even feels like a dramatic cliffhanger. But it's something everyone who played the game knew, and I kinda assumed it a bit to be canon to the show too. So yeah, I feel like this is a bit of a problem with this show: It can't decide whether it is purely for fans of the games, or newcomers. Or maybe they just added a mix of game canon and new canon to make it more exiting for both sides? I always try to see criticism I give in another light, aka "why did they do it this way?", so I'm a bit conflicted in certain choices!

#yakuza #like a dragon yakuza #yakuza amazon show #like a dragon

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bowelfly · 2 years ago

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while i usually keep this blog focused on art and bugs, movies are my third big passion, and since i don't believe in streaming services i don't have a spotify wrapped for 2022 to show off but i do have a letterboxd account so i felt like going through my 2022 movie watching stats. this post is basically for me alone and will be obnoxiously long so i'll put in a read more thing here out of courtesy:

ooh so close to almost 1000 hours of movies! still 718 films is pretty good, though that does also include around 80 or so shorts, mostly animations, that i also logged.

i was averaging around 2 movies per day for the year. being 500 miles away from all your friends, family, and partner does give you a lot of free time it turns out. the most movies i watched in a single week, december 10-16, was 28. the weeks i only watched a couple things were either when i was visiting my partner or too depressed to even watch movies

one of the things i've done this year to keep myself sane in isolation was to stream movies for friends. however since i have multiple non-overlapping friend groups, there were a number of movies i watched multiple times because i have a deep psychological and emotional need to share weird shit with the people i care about. NOVA SEED, FANTASY MISSION FORCE, and BUDDHA'S PALM were the triple crown winners this year.

i only watched 7 movies that came out in 2022. my sweet spot is genre movies made from the late 70s through the mid-90s which you can see clearly if you look at my lifetime stats. predictably, i have very strong opinions about practical effects and stunts and film stock

my ratings spread for 2022 is about what it normally is for other years with a lot of things ending up in the 3.5-4 star range. maybe i'm just generous with my stars or maybe i just like what i like and try to not watch things i won't like unless they're bad in a fun way but i really feel like i've been moving away from the whole so-bad-its-good thing over the years and focusing on things that i unironically like--though these are often films that other people do categorize as bad or so-bad-its-good.

my most watched actors is a bunch of golden age hong kong dudes because i went super hard on the kung fu and wuxia films this year. like about half of these are big name stars and the other half are less well-known character actors that still are in like 200 movies playing assorted emperors and evil administrators. really glad to see my main man lo lieh running away with first place. he's most well known for playing evil white-haired kung fu masters usually named pai mei or variations of that, but he's also played the protagonist or antihero of a number of great films like FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH or THE FUGITIVE (1972, not the harrison ford one). my favorite role of his is without question Bi Gu of East Island the rascally kung fu wizard who hollers his name from offscreen before every time he enters a scene in BUDDHA'S PALM (1982).

also very pleased to see one of my favorite american character actors, brion james squeaking his way onto the list, though sad that he got separated from his best friend and frequent collaborator tim thomerson, who i think is just below the cut here.

most watched directors. i've been a huge fan of the very recently deceased albert pyun for years now, largely on the strength of his absolute god-tier masterpiece NEMESIS (1992) though he has a number of other very entertaining movies (RADIOACTIVE DREAMS, CYBORG) and also a cavalcade of very bad movies that are nonetheless all fascinating in their own ways. i could go on about him at length but this post is long enough. maybe another time.

other than that, chor yuen (THE MAGIC BLADE, DESCENDANT OF THE SUN) and chang cheh (CRIPPLED AVENGERS, FIVE ELEMENT NINJAS) are gods of early wuxia cinema and fucking rule, and keita amemiya's 90s work (ZEIRAM, MECHANICAL VIOLATOR HAKAIDER, CYBER NINJA) are pinnacles of kickass japanese practical effects work.

i also watched a lot of russ meyer and john waters films because i'm a pevert.

this is mostly just a reminder to check out my WUXIA WIZARD WARS tumblr post and letterboxd list if you like movies about wizards shooting lasers at each other and summoning fucked up monsters and shit like that

finally, because i have a brain disease, i made a list of the 100 best films i watched this year, mostly first-time watches but probably like 15-20 rewatches that i especially enjoyed or think more people should know about or give another shot. if i didn't already have way too many projects i'd consider setting up another sideblog just going through all these one by one with reviews and screenshots but that's a lot of work and i am a tired old man. i might give an occasional highlight post like i did for THE BARON AGAINST THE DEMONS

and i guess that's about it? this has been an especially heavy year for golden age hong kong kung fu and wuxia films but i explored a lot of other interesting places and times and genres and microgenres and have a lot more i plan on checking out next year. i've got stacks and stacks of unwatched japanese V-cinema and pinku violence and kaiju and tokusatsu films; tons of giallo and hammer horror and eurotrash lesbian vampire flicks; classic westerns, revisionist westerns, spaghetti westerns; SOV horror, eastern european stop motion, hong kong CAT III sleaze, russian postapocalyptic dirges, poliziotteschi, krimi, and noir films; AIP and PM Entertainment action schlock; italian mad max ripoffs, italian alien ripoffs, italian conan ripoffs; approximately 300 movies with NINJA, BLOOD, or SHAOLIN in their titles; and probably some other shit too.

finally, if you've made it this far and you're a nasty little film freak like me i'll let you in on a secret: i have copies of every single one of these movies on my hard drive. literally thousands of movies dug out of dozens of digital dumpsters with my own two greasy grabby raccoon paws. if any of them particularly catch your interest but you can't find a copy, well you can maybe slip old professor bfly a little private request and get yourself a copy of whatever you need. it may take some time since i only have so many google drive accounts unless someone wants to subsidize a deluxe mega.nz subscription for me to mass-upload things to. i also have a soulseek account sharing the entire hoard but it's very slow and not always online but you can DM me for that as well. again though you may have to be patient because i am old and tired and slow and have a full time job and a hundred dumb hobbies and social anxiety and generalized brain damage

happy new year everyone now go watch a movie about some dudes kicking the shit out of each other for me

#bfly talks movies #letterboxd #long post

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lil-scout-precure · 1 year ago

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Junior Eurovision 2023 detailed opinions before the show. Part 4 (final)

After three parts, we're finally here! The final part of my tier-ranked opinions of the Junior Eurovision 2023 songs before the big day at Sunday, November 26th! 12 songs were already covered, from the decent (in a good way) to the almost winner-alerts, with some personal wildcards in the middle. Now we are left with 4 of the 16 songs, these ones being the top of the top of my personal favorites! And days before the main show!

The opinions on these songs will be longer than the others, but it's just I have a lot to say about them! :D

Let's show the tier-chart reference one last time, shall we?

Tier 1: "Very nice of them to invite Junior Eurovision to their concert"

🇮🇪 Jessica McKean (featuring legend herself Sophie Lennon) "Aisling"

Ireland is one of those countries that somehow fail to get a good spot (or even a Grand Final spot itself) in adult Eurovision, something strange knowing they won 7 times before the 2000's (and now Sweden ties them); but when they play in the Junior version, they get better placings (if not Top 5) compared to their adult counterparts (Poland and Georgia are another examples, with the first either giving decent masterpieces or the worse things to ever touch adult Eurovision soil for their JESC counterparts to surpass, and the latter with more undeserved low places/NQs than the previous one *cough, cough, Iru Khechanovi* and having their JESC counterparts to avenge them). And recently, it looks like their JESC broadcaster had been making a better job with a trio of Celtic songs than their ESC broadcaster's elections.

After the marvelous and eye-catching song that was Sophie Lennon's "Solas" in Yerevan that got a 4th place behind Mariam, Nare and Lissandro; no wonder the Irish delegation wanted to make a good election of their next singer (and ofc, the song) to reach victory. And boy, they kept their mood with this year's song

Why did this new Celtic-Irish song went above Ohne Worte, you ask? Well, first, the melody (once again) it's something that makes its job and lets Jessica's voice get along with it with the mesmerizing Irish lyrics, co-written by Sophie herself alongside other composers who made the 2019 and 2022 JESC Irish entries. While slower than Solas, it still gives the vibe of a magical and mystical song that really tells "it's from Ireland" more than the adult ESC entries.

When I watched the song reveal with the videoclip from TG4 (before the JESC YT channel XD), it was something beautiful. The eerie yet pretty castle, the landscapes, Jessica's princess vibes....And just of nowhere, when I thought I had seen everything, the final verses come in and THEN THERE IS SOPHIE IN THE CASTLE! Yes, you heard me, Sophie fricking Lennon in the videoclip, and singing with her partner the ending! Not only she wrote the lyrics (and invited the Wild Youth fellas to her concert during the Eire finale XD), but also OFFICIALLY joins Jessica in the entry, both studio and LIVE! As one of Sophie's fans, this was something I NEVER EXPECTED IN THE SONG. One thing is lyrics writing, but THIS IS TAKING THEIR LEGACY TO ANOTHER LEVEL! :D ;w;

For two legends together, the staging and live harmony is REALLY THE KEY for Ireland to get the victory they almost got in Yerevan! And knowing they sing 4th after Kvitka, I REALLY EXPECT them to blow the stage and at least have ALL THE LUCK I would wish for them! As the officially declared "ending of the Celtic JESC trilogy of 2019, 2022 and 2023" by the Irish delegations, I hope they end this cycle with honor, and at least brings a new start for Ireland in Junior Eurovision (and hopefully the senior one, because Sweden will kick them from their winner pedestal more sooner than expected if they don't step up. Seriously)

🇪🇸 Sandra Valero "Loviu"

As a fellow Hispanic, I ALWAYS expect the best from Spain in both contests (a language bias, since here in LatinAmerica we don't have Eurovision yet, junior or senior T-T). And while most of them are, well, not my style, there are some I hold dear in my heart: El Chiki Chiki, Amanecer, SloMo (and how not to love her? Chanel IDOLA!) and Eaea (still singing it, even if being another Big 5 robbery that hurted me a lot in Liverpool, and the worst of all with ONLY 5 TELEVOTE POINTS. Darn on the card system, sabotaging my credit payment in the website voting!) for the adult songs; and Antes Muerta Que Sencilla (campeona la María Isabel), Marte, Pa'lante and Señorita (a baby king following Chanel's Latino vibes ;W;) for the Junior!

And this year they didn't dissapoint again (even with HoD changes from RTVE)! They brought another queen to the JESC list, Sandra Valero, with her upbeat song "Loviu"

For all the expectatives I imagined for the Junior Eurovision Spanish song, this one blew me! So happy, so Junior-flavored (without being too sugar-coated), so catchy even for those who don't speak Spanish, so moving (and needed with the ballad parade)! I can say a lot of things of this song, but there is character limit in the posts, so I'll stop now. And Sandra giving it the nostalgic childhood vibes in her acting and voice! The imagination she conveys, her kindness and her energy...The second time I felt a Junior song very close to my native language (Señorita did it first).

I will threatPLEAD France TV (host broadcaster) to not chicken out with Sandra's staging. The swing of the videoclip MUST BE THERE, even if from a low height for security measures, because it's not like dealing with Loreen's 1.8 kg panini press, Blas Cantó's moon or Brunette's LED platform, it's UN JODIDO PINCHE COLUMPIO (and they previously put a ring-swing for Tanya's song in Paris 2021, so no excuses). The train and the clouds can be optional and they can innovate, but for everyone's sake don't ruin Spain's chance to win (more than they could already have since they perform FIRST) or I will burn France/j. And for those Hispanic fellas from here, remember to vote for Sandra! :D

🇳🇱 Sep & Jasmijin "Holding On To You"

As Netherlands was one of the first countries to begin their pre-selections for their JESC 2023 song, I played the Junior Songfestival 2023 song-snippet video as soon as Fan Del Junior Eurovision Song Contest streamed it in YouTube. And of the four songs, I got two favorites: one of them being Duron's "Magic" with a nice and catchy rhythm that would be fit in the Junior essence (even if they massacred his song at the live performance for the JSF Final T-T, like it happened to Kazakhstan's "Jer-Ana" in 2022). But alongside him, there was ONE song that spoke for me, in high volume and no doubts, "we are THE song for Nice", and managed to keep into the first place of my list for a VERY LONG TIME (before the next song occupied their throne)

This is, with no discussions, the most EDM and dance-inciting song I've ever heard and expected its victory before the great show in a Junior contest, let alone a Dutch JESC song after years of calm and chill songs such as Luna's "La Festa" (her 7th place by performing first is the sole reason I hope Sandra slays the stage this year to not suffer the same fate), Ayana's "Mata Sugu Aō Ne" (the robbery of 2021, a REAL robbery!) or even Ralf Mackenbach's "Click Clack" (both a JESC winner and now a plasma physicist...THE FUTURE THIS LAD GOT O-O).

Sep and Jasmijin's vocals are no doubt, harmony itself displayed in this AMAZING entry. And not only in the studio version, but also live in the Finals of Junior SongFestival itself! The lyrics telling a story of a friendship that could become something else between two souls, in a child-friendly yet effective and addictive! And the JSF staging, being a prototype of the Grand Finale version to see soon, it's so connected to the entry itself, and both not only swept the national jury and online voting with 12 points each, but also spoke "winner" from miles.

For the staging, as the JSF version was related enough with the song, it needs some serious changes if they want to elevate it to Nice (and to check what to do with the dancers since the 6-people-max rule of staging counts in Junior Eurovision too). Otherwise, and with an advantage of being the final song to perform this Sunday, I can see them winning (if there are no obstacles) and I will be happy for them (well, any of the Tier 1 and 2 songs, honestly, I love them). (well, at least they can make Dutch Eurovision champion Duncan Laurence feel better after his own ESC 2023 duo flopped at their own song since the pre-parties XDXD)

🇦🇲 Yan Girls "Do It My Way"

We reached the last song of the list!

Let's start with the country itself, Armenia. They are recently getting better in the adult Eurovision (Snap, Future Lover) and more than they were of perfect in the Junior edition: One winner being Vladimir Arzumanyan in 2010 with "Mama", another in 2021 being Malena with the JESC's Euphoria "Qami Qami" (alongside her 2020 song "Why" she couldn't sing in JESC 2020 due to conflicts happening in Armenia more than the pandemic, and the song itself not speaking other things than those ;w; T-T), and a runner-up of Nare's "Dance!" in 2022 (and the entire country at her side during the voting before Lissandro surprisingly won). And of course they couldn't lower their guards for this year again in France!

After a long run of mostly ballads revealed in the song list, and after my recovery of Poland's videoclip, this song is what I never thought I would need to listen in the Junior playlist and yet, by leagues, became my Top 1 election to win the contest at first listen!

From all the genres I thought Armenia would bring it on for Nice (anything but more ballads, knowing their Eurovision competitive spirit), K-Pop was definitely not in my list! And yet, even if not being a fan of the genre itself, "Do It My Way" made me head-bang and tap my feet while I heard it for the first time! The five girls' voices really give the feelings of this special song, from the calm beginning to the dance-breaking choruses, combining Armenian with English in the song so perfectly with their dance moves and the entire videoclip that it feels like an authentic K-Pop song that famous groups could create!

Even if like most cases in this list, I can't understand most of the lyrics without a translation (since it's mostly Armenian by EBU 70%-national-language rule to avoid English overusing like it happens in the adult Eurovision), the energies they deliver make it a good song. And it really speaks "being authentic to one self, to break the rules and do anything you want!" not only by the English chorus, but also the voice styles!

I know it will a bit more difficult for the Yan Girls to mix their dance moves with perfect live singing during the grand day unlike a studio video (same for the props and lights displayed in the clip), but I can tell by their videos (before the Opening Ceremony, not the rehearsals, I'm not fond of rehearsals as they're spoilers for me) they are ready to get a Top scoring, and maybe even repeating the "Armenia wins in France, and France wins in Armenia" cycle of victories we had since 2021!

Yes, I know it's sort of a polemic declaration since most of the ESC fandom is not too eager for them (or France itself) to win again with so many options and newcomers, but still, I won't be mad imo if they get a third trophy and tie Georgia in the winner list!

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

And with this, I officially declare this JESC 2023 tier-ranking detailed opinion compilation finished! All of the 16 songs covered and reviewed!

If I have to talk about the contest itself, I got some opinions:

I'm a bit bummed there's no rock songs in this edition like in 2022 (Anos 70) or 2021 (Specchio) and others in previous years. And no, "Un Mondo Giusto"'s rock-chord finale doesn't count. It has to be a song of those vibes from beginning to end. But well, K-Pop covered that void in the list :D!

I'm surprised there's not a single boy solist in this edition. It's the "Cure Wing among the other Cures" situation in this edition, because there are three boys, yes, but in groups (Georgia, Oto and Nikoloz) or duets (Sep); and most of the singers are girls! XD

At least the running order is a bit decent this time. Germany is not first to begin (finally!), Spain is not a bad song to open the show (and we have televote on our side), and Netherlands can end the evening so fine

If the rumours of La Zarra not being a guest interval (like Barbara Pravi in 2021, Rosa Linn in 2022) are true, I will be sad, but yet comprehensive (since they say it was because she wants to rest from Eurovision after the kerfuffle, and the middle finger cancelled her in France, and so on...). But at least I hope the guests are some good singers!

And that's finally all! Hope you enjoyed this compilation! See ya next time! :D

#esc cause why not #junior eurovision 2023 #jesc 2023 #random shit #nicky's chatter

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tilbageidanmark · 2 years ago

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Movies I watched this Week #107 (Year 3 / Week 3):

It looked like Cataz was disappearing from the internet’s faceless face, so I started using Squeezebox, a new scraper as a replacement. So far it looks clean.

🍿

Maggie Cheung in 1996 X 2:

🍿 Comrades, Almost a love story, a magical, under-rated romantic story about yearning from Hong Kong with Maggie Cheung. Before she became magnificently glamorous, she was so peachy, seeing her makes me cry. So sweet that I wanted to watch it very slowly and took frequent stops all evening to savor it longer. The first half of two people trying not to fall in love was comparable to ‘In the mood for love’ which came four years later, but unfortunately Leon Lai was no match to the iconic Tony Leung and the story got sappier during the second half. 7/10.

Now I’m listening to Teresa Young singing Tian Mi Mi...

🍿 Irma Vep, my 5th by Olivier Assayas, from the short period when Maggie Cheung was his wife, the lucky bastard. She plays a fictional version of herself, as “Maggie Cheung, a Chinese actress” who’s acting in a French movie in Paris. It’s a blatant showcase of her radiant cat-woman face, but the story is impressionistic, unfocused and confused ‘Filming of a film’ process, reminiscent of Truffault’s much better ‘Day for night’, down to the casting of Jean-Pierre Léaud. 4/10.

With my favorite Ali Farka Touré’s Soukora on the soundtrack!

🍿

I loved Cristin Milioti as Sarah Wilder in ‘Palm Spring’ so much that I saw it about 10 times. So as soon as I heard that she stars in The Resort, a new TV-series, created by Andy Siara who was the writer for ‘Palm Spring’, I dropped everything to binge on its 8 episodes.

It started unexpectedly well with a couple who arrive at a Yucatan resort to celebrate their 10th anniversary. But the wife is obviously unhappy, and their relationship is missing something serious. Then she finds an old phone in the jungle, and unspools a mystery of two teens who disappeared there 15 years before. The couple start detectiving, but are soon being pulled into a complex metaphysical plot of ‘Time Portals’ and ‘Suspended conscientious’ and ‘Memory Leakage’ and what have you.

I wanted to like it, but every episode became stupider and more outrageous than the previous one. I did love though the many times when Cristin Milioti repeats the exact same speech intonations and voice mannerism from ‘Palm Spring’. 5/10.

🍿

3 Polish masterpieces, 2 with the extraordinary Joanna Kulig:

🍿 “..[My father] mistook me for my mother, so I used a knife to show him the difference...”

It’s been a year and a half since I discovered Cold war, Paweł Pawlikowski’s devastating masterpiece, and this is the first time that I’ve watched it since. I’m surprised to realize that it’s so much shorter (88 minutes), simpler and straight-forward. I remembered it as intricate, over-layered and complex. But the tragically-restrained love story is still sublime, breathtakingly melancholic and epic, one of the most lyrical romances I’ve ever seen.

How Zula sings ‘Two hearts, four eyes’ differently each time. 10/10.

🍿 In the controversial Clegy, Joanna Kulig plays a completely different character, that of a pregnant housekeeper with no agency. The story is about the utter debasement of the Catholic church, as exemplified by three priest friends. God’s servants are sinners and criminals, hypocritical, potty-mouth, abusive, transgressive alcoholics. And this is before they get into the systematic child-abuse story that engulfs all ranks, from the cynically corrupt Bishop to the local country priest. Shocking, angry, and unforgiving. 9/10. 🍿 Jerzy Skolimowski’s latest, EO, the story of a lowly donkey’s dreams and adventures. Not as spiritual as Bresson’s ‘Au Hasard Balthazar’, it’s still deeply humane. Films about sufferings, whether people or animals, whether abused or just neglected, are tough to sit through. But not this one: It’s simple but not obvious, full of surprises and heart. The protagonist was played by 6 different real-life donkeys.

These 3 were my best film events of the week!

🍿

Jonathan Mehring’s short Walls Cannot Keep Us From Flying follows two young Palestinians who have found freedom in skateboarding while surrounded by walls & barbed wire and facing harassment from the fascist Israeli occupation as well as their own communities. Please don’t get me started...

🍿

Bad words, Jason Bateman’s politically-incorrect directorial debut. A black comedy about a 40-year-old unsympathetic asshole with photographic memory who discovers a legal loophole in the rules of the National Spelling Bee, so they have no choice but allowing him to participate in it. 4/10.

🍿

7 more marijuana films (none of which I saw before):

🍿 It started innocently enough with a random pick, Tim Blake Nelson’s dark & funny Leaves of grass (one of the four feature films he had written and directed). Ivy League professor Edward Norton gets tricked into going back to Tulsa, Oklahoma by his twin brother the pot farmer, and gets tangled in his brother’s scheme to take down a Jewish drug lord. It starts with a fake lecture about the philosophy of Socrates and, like a Coen Brother plot, changes its tone to black comedy, to deadly action, to dreamy romance and other surprises. Susan Sarandon plays again the estranged pothead mom (like she did in ‘Ride the eagle’). 6/10.

🍿 Reefer Madness (Originally called ‘Tell your children’) the maniacal cult classic, a piece of anti-marihuana propaganda of North Korean magnitude. “Women cry for it - Man die for it!”. The beginning of the century-long racist “War on drugs”. What a horrible, destructive misdirection that cost so much since. Psychedelically-colorized.

🍿 Ice Cube’s hood masterpiece, Friday about two friends sitting on the front porch in South Central, getting stoned and talking shit. Unabashedly funny. “Bye, Felicia”. 7/10.

🍿 “That is where corn chips come from!”

Smiley Face, my first by Gregg Araki. An unusual stoner comedy, because it’s about a spaced out female pothead. She is such an uninhibited toker, that the story turns unbearably paranoiac, as she stumbles from one train rack to another, until the hilarious last 10 minutes. 4/10.

🍿 The X-rated Paddington, Seth MacFarlane’s directional debut Ted. A cute and often funny fairy tale about a friendship between two lazy slackers, one a grown up slacker and one a party-hardy, raunchy pothead/alcoholic teddy bear. Not exactly Disney stuff. With Norah Jones as the bear’s old lover, and Giovanni Ribisi in his scariest role. (Photo Above). 7/10.

🍿 Amy Heckerling’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High, the ‘classic’ coming of age in Southern California mall life. I always thought it was a about the always-stoned Jeff Spicoli surfer dude, but actually it was about high-school kids searching for love and sex. Many early roles for young actors who later went to bigger (and better) things, Nicolas Cage, Eric Stoltz, Forest Whitaker, Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh. 3/10.

🍿 And finally, not a movie, but the full recording of The Marijuana-logues (sound only) from their 2004 show. I saw Doug Benson and friends performing it life at a comedy club in Rancho Cucamonga, and loved it.

High-ku’s like: “My girlfriend thinks that I smoke too much pot. I, on the other hand, don’t think I smoke enough pot, because if I did, I’d be finished. And I’m not. Look, we all have our vices: I like to smoke a little weed; she likes to feed the baby. Different strokes for different folks”...

🍿

Ahmad rolled us a really strong joint, then he rolled his first sushi ever, and then we stone-watched the epic Goodfellas again. Deservedly and still one of the finest American movies of all time, and the most recent of the BBC top 20. It’s a rich, frenzy saga, with exhilarating direction, editing, cinematography, soundtrack and depth.

Also a terrific cast that includes bits by Billy Batts’ Frank Vincent, Samuel L. Jackson as Stacks Edwards, Michael Imperioli as ‘Spider’, Mike Starr, Illeana Douglas, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Kevin Corrigan, Etc. Also, Scorsese’s real dad & mom (and her famous painting of John Weaving and his two river dogs). 9/10

.🍿

Un-related, Jefferson Airplane’s Triad from their ‘Crown of Creation’, an old favorite. I just learned that David Crosby “gave it to them”. RIP, David Crosby.

🍿

Throw-back to the art project:

Jefferson Airplane Adora.

🍿

(My complete movie list is here)

#movies

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nemotunovi · 1 year ago

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so fun story

they only pokemon game i played as a kid was ruby. and don't get me wrong, i loved it. but pokemon was never a franchise i was IN LOVE with.

but during college, i found myself surrounded by discord furries and felt compelled to finally give the franchise a shot. And its the single most profitable multimedia franchise on planet earth, so it's probably i should be keeping tabs of regardless.

so i played through all 7 games that had been released by that point- playing the most up-to-date versions (so instead of the original red/blue, i'd be playing leaf green. instead of silver, i'd be playing soul silver. etc.)

And here's my full, zero nostalgia goggle review:

Gen 1- Genuinely kind of bad, but every gameboy game was bad in some way or the other. It's a miracle what was able to be accomplished, even if it was never super engaging.

Gen 2- Genuinely a very captivating handheld RPG experience. I still felt like it was on the easy side, but that's going to be an complaint with the series.

Gen 3- Just kind of okay. I liked it, and it has some of my favorite mons (shedinja, tropius) but I feel like it lags during the final third. And I know the IGN "Too Much Water" is a meme thing, but let me clarify the complaint- water in these games are super boring and lacking in dimension. The reason the game feels like it starts dragging in the third act is because the last third of the map is almost entirely water-based. The issue isnt that there's too much of it, it's that there's too much of it AND it's boring and poorly designed. With that said, it's still good.

Gen 4- Just kind of okay. It feels like much of the game is actively wasting your time. Like those tiles that serve no purpose but to take up twice the time to move through? The complete drought of fire types? Apparently a lot of the issues with the game were addressed in platinum, which I should have played.

Gen 5- Genuinely spectacular. It was this first game since Johto where I was looking forward to every play session. Every room had some fun little easter egg in it if you went exploring. Every map was bursting in charm and style. I played this game and UNDERSTOOD the appeal of the series. I even sunk dozens of hours into the post-game, because there was just so much of it. I cannot stress enough how much I genuinely adored this title.

Gen 6- Just kind of okay. It was lacking in a lot of the features of earlier games and the new stuff they added felt VERY gimmicky (mega evolutions, pokemon ami). But ultimately... I couldn't be TOO mad at the game since they were on new tech, and it would be unfair to expect every game to be a masterpiece

But then with gen 7... I noticed something

the game wasn't good. It wasn't "just okay" like most of the entries thus far. It was actively bad. Everything just felt so... rushed and phoned in. The world was boring and ugly. The designs lacked charm. The pokemon lacked charm. The story lacked charm. And that's when I realized so much of the games were crutched up BY the charm and visuals and cute designs and attention to detail that when those are all stripped away... pokemon at its core is kinda shit.

Cut to years later.

Then Gen 8 came along and it too was lacking in anything to love. The production values got worse. It got lazier. The world got more empty. The animations got worse. And I began getting frustrated with it. The shallow systems. The repetitive gameplay. The story that is both completely uninteresting, intrusive, and obnoxious. And the gimmicks got even more gimmicky. These are all issues that have been with the franchise since gen 1. For the first time, this was a mainline game on a home console. It was widely publicized that they would be DRASTICALLY cutting back on features and scope. When I first heard it, my naive ass was thinking "This was the perfect opportunity to rework the core of the franchise and fix the issues that have been with it since day 1." But they didn't fix anything. They didn't add anything either! They just did the exact same thing they've been doing for 20 years, but worse!

It was the most profitable game in the series up until that point.

Then gen 9 is just more of the same. I bought it when it first came out and of all of these listed, it is the ONLY one I couldn't bring myself to finish. I resold it after 9-ish hours.

Just like... What the fuck happened to pokemon? I know most of the people who say that are nostalgia-blinded and have some drooling investment in the property and think daddy nintendo actually likes them and they hold up whatever game they grew up with on a pedestal and just call anything new shit...

But objectively speaking, as someone with no investment in the property or loyalty to nintendo, there was a noticeable and drastic drop in quality that happened at the start of gen 7.

Was it the switch to 3d? I don't think so, because gen 6 was their first attempt at 3d and it wasn't bad.

Was it the switch to home console? I don't think it could have been that as gen 7 was where it started and that released on the 3ds.

What was the shift in the company culture and ethos that caused this dramatic and consistent drop in quality? Please tell me i'm not the only one who noticed this.

Another for scientific reasons poll

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golfupnorth · 2 years ago

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October 1, 2022 Newsletter

I cannot believe it is October

Sad that golfing in Northern Michigan is about done until next year. Happy I was able to do a fair amount of golfing the last couple of months. Mostly in Northern Michigan, but a couple of rounds in Virginia. This was a tough year for me and golf. Life did not cooperate with my desired golf schedule.

I mentioned in last months newsletter that I bought a new set of clubs and was struggling with them. I used that excuse a lot during our rounds at Treetops.

Golfed two rounds with my Virginia son when I was there a couple of weeks ago. I took my clubs with me to get some practice in on the new clubs. I think I am making progress with them, except with my irons which have always been a struggle. Loving my new 7 wood, so much so that I am thinking about getting a 9 wood. Thinking a bag full of woods with a chipper and putter is all I need. My son suggested that I get some hybrid irons since I suck so badly with my 7, 8 & 9 irons. Any opinions for a girl that cannot hit an iron to save her soul?

Treetops Resort

I talked about our August weekend at Treetops and playing the fun par 3 course Threetops. We also played an 18-hole course The Signature. When I was booking the weekend, we had the option of 4 courses to choose from. The Masterpiece, The Tradition, The Premier and The Signature. We chose The Signature because The Masterpiece and Premier may have been a bigger challenge than I would have enjoyed, especially with my new clubs. My husband was not a fan of The Tradition course, so we skipped that one.

Now, all of this said, in hindsight I think we may have been hasty. The Masterpiece is on the main property and looked like a great course, one I want to play. The Premier as well as all the other courses are on the North Property and all start from the same clubhouse. From what I could see the other 2 course there looked very nice and very playable for me. Threetops starts from here as well.

All the courses have rolling hills and elevation changes. When driving through northern Michigan and it is common to see this type of terrain. Robert Trent Jones, Sr was looking over the resort before designing the Masterpiece and he commented that “you can’t see anything but treetops.” The name stuck and if you have been to Treetops, you know it is a very accurate name/description.

The Signature at Treetops

The Signature is a par 70 course, there are 3 par 3s on the front nine and 2 on the back nine. There are 3 par 5s, 1 on the front and 2 on the back. We had an early afternoon tee time and was pleasantly surprised to see that we had open in front of us and back of us. We tend to play fast so we were hopeful that the wide open would hold up for all 18 holes. No such luck, by the 3rd hold we caught up with the rest of the golfers and play was a little slow going from there. At one point we let the guys behind us play through because they kept hitting up on us. Figured we were all waiting, it did not much matter which position I waited in and this way I was not dodging balls. 😊

Because of the location it is common to see wildlife wandering through the course. We were lucky to see a momma and her fawn on hole 4. It looked like she was wanting to leave her baby in the tall grass, but these pesky golfers were a threat. She was standing on my tee box; the fawn was on the other side of the fairway, and I just kept walking forward and talking to her. I told her her baby was safe, but I was teeing off and she needed to move. She stood her ground until I was almost in the tee box, then she took off leaving her baby behind, or so I thought. After teeing off I saw her not too far behind me in the trees keeping a very close eye on me and her baby. Deer are very common encounters on Northern Michigan courses, but it always gives me a thrill to see them, and this is the first time with a baby. We were also followed by a red hawk for a couple of holes, I wondered if one of our covers in the basket looked like dinner from her vantage point.

Spectacular views

I do not think there was one hole where I did not stare off in awe of the view. The course is so well maintained that even the tree lined fairways and greens are just phenomenal. Some of the elevations of the holes were crazy, similar to Threetops, but those just added to the view. Truly a beautiful course in every way.

The course had some struggles for me, and I had a couple of blow-up holes. Not sure if it was still adjusting to the new clubs or the course. Regardless of the challenge for me, I had a blast and had some holes that had me puffing out my chest and doing a little trash talking.

First Hole

The first hole starts at a higher elevation it is all downhill. 400+ yards elevated tee box for my husband and around 350 with slightly elevated tee box for me. We thought we had a good chance of getting a decent drive. He did fine, me, still getting used to my clubs. 😊

The green is a bowl and very forgiving. The fairway gets a little narrower as you approach the green, but not enough that it posed any issues for either of us.

This was a great hole to start our round with. Absolutely spectacular view of the countryside and a very playable hole.

Holes 2 and 3 each have their own specialness. 2 is a par 3 and has a bunker lined rolling fairway. Husband parred it, me, still getting used to my clubs. 😊 3 is wide open with elevated trees and a lot of sand traps, not horrible showing, starting to get comfortable with the clubs maybe?

Momma and her fawn

Hole 4 was where we encountered our momma deer. This is a par 3 and has a lot of foliage in front of most of the tee boxes. I was lucky, my tee box was off to the left on the side of the foliage. This is probably why our momma was there, the foliage provided good cover for her baby. I struggle with this because there was still a little foliage I needed to hit over, and the baby was somewhere up there, and I was petrified of hurting it. I lost a ball on this hole.

Holes 5 through 10

Holes 5- 10 were all very playable but with twists to them. Hole 5 looks like a par 5 but is not. The 6th hole is a par 5 and I was convinced they forgot to put the flag out. I could not see the green from my tee box. Hole 7 is a slight dog leg with a bumpy fairway, a fun hole for me.

The 3rd par 3 hole on the front nine is hole 8 and I should have easily got either a par or a bogey on. This hole blew up on me and the sand just grabbed my ball and would not let go. Hole 9 is a perfect hole for me, nice and straight. Plus, the view at the end was just wonderful. 10th hole is another nice and straight for me. A par 5, but the sand traps were easy to avoid. Three putting not so much.

I beat the damn ferns!

Hole 11 is a par 3 and has a fairly deep section of tall ferns that you have to hit over. If there is water, sand or foliage that needs to be driven over you can be assured I will be landing in the middle of it. Add in that the line over the ferns is very narrow and I was sweating it. I was finally starting to feel a little more comfortable with my clubs because I sailed that ball high and long. Ended up on the green and then decided to kill my drive and 3 putt. Did I mention I was still adjusting to new clubs? 😊

Holes 12 through 18

Like the rest of the course, these holes are unique with their own rolling elevations. On a few of them you would hit downhill on one stroke and uphill the next and then downhill again. Definitely kept us on our toes, but so much fun.

We took pictures of every hole with a few extras to show some from a different perspective than the blue tees. You can view them all by visiting our website.

Treetops Weekend

As mentioned in our last newsletter, we felt our weekend was very affordable for just under $700 for the 2 us and 2 rounds of golf each. I definitely want to return and stay longer and play the other 3 courses. I also want to play the Signature again. Plus, I want to try Threetops again now that I know what to expect and I am much more comfortable with the new clubs.

Check them out and book a trip, you will not be disappointed.

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Find your Up North Golf Course

If you would like to find your perfect Up North golf course visit Golf Up North and if you are looking for fun things to do after your round visit Up North Entertainment for dining, lodging and things to do Up North.

We hope you enjoyed our latest issue of The Golf Up North Newsletter.

Disclosure: We never tell a course who we are when we book and play a course. We do not ask nor will we accept free rounds to write about a course. We pay full price for our rounds for everyone in our group.

#golfupnorth #golfupnorthnews #wemadeitsimple #treetopsresort #threetops #thesignaturecourse #gaylordgolfmecca #gaylord #themasterpiececourse #thetraditioncourse #thepremiercours #treetopsgolfresort #golfweekend #golfing

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leechaeyyeon · 2 years ago

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BEST KPOP RELEASES - 2022

yes, i know, i'm late to this trend-thingy. but hey, it's been a month so it could've been worse. also…if your fave isn't on here, i don't know what to tell you…! probably that they make terrible music?

25. flip that — loona

even though I disliked the song at first, it has grown on me well and for that it deserves a spot on this list. and fawk bbc for leaving those girls out in the cold, they could have been so much more than they were if it wasn't for that company

24. sparkling — chungha

after bicycle and killing me this song is the best way to come back. she looked so gorgeous here, the song made me feel like a princess. now that bvndit and chungha both left that terrible company i'm hoping it goes bankrupt 🙏

23. loveable — joyuri

people keep calling this song boring left and right and i'm like?? it's fun and catchy, you all just hate cute songs 😒

22. undo — heize

retro done right, we love you heize!

21. trouble? travel! — adora

need chuu to debut solo with a concept like this

20. higher — fifty fifty

everyone hating on this song hates ggs it's true. please support my sisters when they come back this month

19. sunflower — yoojung

this song is so yoojung in the best way possible

18. last sequence — wjsn

wjsn still holding onto the elegant concept when theyre on the verge of disbandment #consistency

17. 28 reasons — seulgi

need more red velvet spooky songs ASAP

16. loveade — viviz

this song is so viviz/gfriend in the best way possible. like this is the most them thing they ever did

15. stay this way — fromis_9

needed a day or two to let this song grow on me but ever since this song has been on repeat. not to mention the amazing bsides, they always serve

14. _world — seventeen

disliked almost every boy group release this year, but seventeen really blew me away, will definitely tune in for that bss release

13. hush rush — lee chaeyeon

this song was so different than I had expected her to debut solo with, but I don't mind! need her to do a barbie like concept next

12. hype boy — newjeans

this song is too good. you just HAVE to like it.

11. sneakers — itzy

i honestly don't get the hate around this song, it was pretty good actually! also, there are people who like nmixx's music…focus on that first

10. feel my rhythm — red velvet

everytime I hear this song I ASCEND. their vocals are no joke, and those outfits?? 😩

9. smartphone — yena

this song is too good. you just HAVE to like it.

8. antifragile — lesserafim

this song is too good. still upset this song didn't get nominated for soty

7. after like — ive

sampling I will survive and then make out this masterpiece, starship finally made a right decision for once. the whole era outfitwise and stage wise do this song justice. might learn the dance just because

6. beautiful monster — stayc

this song has been dragged through the mud for no reason. okay, it wasn't that up in your face like other releases this year, but I think that's completely fine! it's calmer for stayc, and that's what I like about it. also, I like it having a stage made up for it, since that song was one of my most played songs last summer

5. patbingsu — billlie

this song is so kpop in the best way possible: 7 girls singing about a silly little dessert. like?? it's almost ironic how much effort that company put in to release a song dedicated to patbingsu just to make the worst punk release ever known to humanity. hoping for more quirky songs soon

4. loveticon — csr

this song??? you guys don't get it like I do. it's so genius. from the great rap with an awesome word play, to just being one of the best nugu releases this year.

3. selfish — yooa

okay, i know we all hate yooa but HEAR ME OUT... it's not that bad actually…like?? I actually felt something else than being weirded out when listening to it. need her to release more of these songs. other than her looking bored af on the stage most of the time I have no complaints

2. dance on — alice

and when the world needed alice the most, they finally came back! this song is so simple yet so impactful. should've gotten a music show win, tho. need them to feed onto this newfound fame and release more songs like this

run — h1-key

alright, i know what you're thinking: who the hell is h1-key? and that's what's wrong with kpop stans! like, how could you NOT know h1-key? sure, their debut was (very) disappointing, but they perfectly picked themselves up again with run. I was very surprised when I heard this song, since it was so simple yet so fun. rose blossom did kinda disappoint me, since I had hoped they would feed into the cute sporty concept, but they put it down just as quickly as they had picked it up. don't get me wrong, rose blossom is fine, but it wasn't the route I was expecting them to take.

some honorable mentions:

talk that talk — twice // seoul — bol4 // last dance — youha // pop?pop! — csr

#2022 #kpop #release #rating #kpop aesthetic #kpop gg #h1-key #alice #stayc #fromis_9 #itzy #loona #red velvet #seventeen #jo yuri #chaeyeon #yena #ive #lesserafim

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hogwartsfirebolt · 4 years ago

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Hello everyone! I’m back for my (omg time flies) third yearly drarry rec list, in which I share with you my 30 favorite drarry fics I read in the year, divided in three parts. What a year 2020 was. It was challenging, scary and confusing, and it was also an amazing reading year for me, I read so, so much more than I ever had before, and I’m really excited to share these masterpieces with you! The banner art is by @dragontamerdame who is one of my favorite artists and was kind enough to let me use this beautiful piece, which you can (and totally should) reblog right here. Now, with nothing else to add and in no particular order, here’s my

FAVORITE FICS I READ IN 2020 PART ONE

1. Who we are in the shadows - @quicksilvermaid - 100k - E - What happens when you’re forced to become the very thing you despise? Ex-Auror Harry Potter, tossed out of the Ministry for something he had no control over, has been looking for a way back to his former life. When he comes across Draco Malfoy in the criminal underbelly of Wizarding London and in need of protection, Harry figures bringing him in to face the Ministry's justice is his ticket back to everything he's lost. But nothing is exactly as it seems. Not even Harry himself. And as he gets drawn further and further into Malfoy's world of honour and deception he finds himself questioning everything he thought he knew—about his childhood nemesis, the Ministry job he misses so much, and most of all, about himself. What happens when you’re forced to see that you were wrong?

THIS FIC!!! It was the first one I read in 2020, and it immediately became my favorite fic of the entire year, and one of my favorites of all time. I have since read it two more times, the entire 100k of it. There are absolutely no words to describe how amazing it is, how much it floored me to read their characterizations, their jobs and the roads life took them on to end up where they end up, the connection between them in a time when they don’t even know how to relate to anyone, their sorrow and struggles which, despite being so rooted in the magical world, are painfully human, just... wow. It’s a masterpiece. It changed the way I view their characters, forever, and I suspect I will read it many, many more times in the years to come. It’s that kind of story. If for whatever reason you haven’t read it, this is your sign to take that chance and embark on this amazing journey.

2. Every Kingdom - @thistle-verse - 7k - E - Every kingdom needs a prince. Every prince needs a good and useful knight. Draco and Harry play their parts and renegotiate some borders while they’re at it.

So, so lovely. Even though I don’t read them very often, alternate universes fascinate me so much, and I am in awe of the author for being able to pack so, so much story, so neatly into 7k words. This features a princely, lonesome Draco, a charming, golden Harry, and a blossoming love that could change everything. It’s beautiful, and I recommend it deeply.

3. The Bucket List - GallaPlacidia - 32k - Draco will die in six months if he can't get Harry Potter to fall in love with him. Since that's not going to happen, he might as well spend his last days working through his Bucket List. Tap-dancing lessons? Rock climbing? Poetry-writing? Threesomes? Cocaine? Getting to know his adorable cousin, Teddy Lupin? Draco will try them all! Feat. Cheerily pessimistic Draco, devoted bitch queen Pansy Parkinson, and a Harry who can't help but notice that something seems DIFFERENT about Draco, these days.

I’m positive that many, many of us got acquainted with GallaPlacidia’s writing this year, and I, too, fell in love with it. This story aches in the most beautiful of ways, the humor happens to be somehow light in such a difficult circumstance that it ends up hurting when you laugh, it hurts when everything is right because it’s also wrong, it aches when it’s supposed to be a happy moment and feels tender and sweet when it’s not. I can’t even imagine the challenge of writing this kind of story, and they pulled it off beautifully. It’s a lovely story, one you will take with you long after you finish it, and, personally, I think it’s a great introduction to the author’s writing.

4. halcyon days - @the-starryknight - 1.3k - T - Sleepy mornings caught while the sun rises are reserved for silly word games and soft touches and feelings.

Oh my god, the amount of tenderness in such a low wordcount made me weak in the knees. I almost couldn’t take it. Being able to convey such a deep emotional connection in a short story seems like such a daunting task, and the author makes it seem almost effortless. I guarantee that this will make you bring your hands to your chest and sigh with how lovely it is. Reading it will be the best ten minutes of your day.

5. Clouds That Veil the Midnight Moon - @drarrytrash - 37k - E - According to Harry’s personal narrative regarding the incident, he’d hooked up with Draco Malfoy for purely self-destructive reasons, or out of convenience, or by some unlucky accident. Looking at him, sprawled in the moonlight, Harry is devastated to recall that he’d hooked up with Draco Malfoy because he’s hot. Draco is a secret werewolf and Harry is doing his best and they've got criminals to catch, darn it.

Reading this, I found myself laughing out loud, nodding profusely with how freaking spot on the characterizations are. The dialogue is amazing, so hilarious and real and Harry’s inner monologue is so, so him. I love everything about this story. I have a soft spot for werewolf fic, and this one hit everything I love about it, the case is interesting and engaging, the incidental characters, the OCs, Ron and Hermione, everyone and everything is absolutely perfect and I had an absolute blast reading it. You HAVE to read this and see for yourself what I’m talking about.

6. Sex Ed for Aurors - curiouslyfic - 8k - M - Some things, you need to learn on the job.

Oh my god this is so freaking good. The premise is, basically, that Harry is accidentally doused with a lust potion while in the vicinity of Draco, and suddenly wants him more than anything. I loved this take on that trope, we’re in Harry’s head, and it’s absolutely hilarious and endearing to experience the near childish glee he feels whenever Draco looks his way, when he smiles, when he feels he’s made him happy, meanwhile Draco and Ron are horrified and doing whatever they can to correct it. This is so funny and such a good time, I can’t recommend it enough! While you’re at it, you should definitely read megyal’s remix of this, which is also a blast.

7. plasticine porters with looking-glass ties - @bonesliketambourines - 15K - E - Lately, Harry thinks things don’t seem the same between him and Draco. His head is in the clouds when he thinks about what their relationship is now, and where it might be headed—he’s happy with their friendship, but he wants something else. A potions accident over a lunchtime visit to Draco’s lab (what does he get up to in there, anyway?) changes things, though, and accelerates their relationship faster than either of them had ever expected. How are they going to get through this new development together?

Atmospheric, beautifully-written and delicious. Their relationship is tender, just on the edge of something more, when they’re forced to quarantine together and face the effects of a potion that makes them see and feel things differently, which makes for the most intense, visual, gorgeous sex scene I think I’ve ever read. It’s just absolutely phenomenal.

8. i wake up falling - warmfoothills - 9k - M - Draco’s always leaving, one way or another. Harry’s usually 240 thousand miles too late.

In trying to come up with a way to summarize this story, I’m feeling the overwhelming urge to cry again, just like I did when I read it. It’s just so, so, beautiful, every single word of it aches in the best way, the longing feels deeply authentic and just, the setting and the jobs and everything is so unique and gorgeous. Every single work by this author is beyond beautiful, but especially this one is incredibly close to my heart and I think everyone should read it. It’s a gem.

9. In Every Universe - @skeptiquewrites - 27k - M - They sent Professor Harry Potter to search for Unspeakable Draco Malfoy. Draco has stolen a Firebird, an experimental magical device from the Department of Mysteries that lets you enter parallel universes as yourself. As Harry traverses from universe to universe, he begins to think Draco might be the one searching for him. A story about whether knowing what's possible makes it possible.

Stories where the characters find themselves somehow hopping from one reality to another are always so, so fascinating to me, and this one is incredibly creative and well-written, so entertaining all around. The mystery of it kept me on my toes, and every single reality was a joy to read. 10/10

10. Life goes not backward - @shealwaysreads - 8k - T - Harry still isn’t used to gifts, but this one is different. A story of coming home, finding safe ground, and the wild courage of putting down roots. Leaving one life behind isn’t always a sacrifice, and sometimes the greatest good comes from embracing the people you love.

My god, there are not enough words to describe how much this story means to me, how beautiful it is, how every single time I’ve read it, I’ve cried. Bella has undoubtedly become one of my absolute favorite writers in fandom. She has such a way with words, there is not one of her stories that hasn’t touched me, that doesn’t feel like an actual, full-length novel no matter the word count. I read so many of them this year, so many of the masterpieces she’s gifted us, but this one especially is so tender, so dear, that I ended up choosing it as my favorite of hers this year. Harry’s charactertization, the unbelievable warmth of their relationship, absolutely everything about this is gorgeous. Go read it, right now, and then binge all her other works!! You won’t regret it.

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

Each of these fics is incredibly close to my heart and I enjoyed them immensely. In the midst of everything changing, I really found comfort and solace in the amazing works of the people of this fandom. I hope they give you the same amount of warmth and comfort they gave me, and I’m ALWAYS here to gush about any of them ❤️ Happy New Year!

#drarry #drarry fic #drarry fanfic #drarry fic rec #2020rec #ficrec #draco malfoy #harry potter #drarry rec list

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agentofmischief · 3 years ago

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Birthstone Legacy Challenge

Ok, I don’t post a lot on here, but I’m a huge fan of the sims. I’ve been playing it since gen 1 back in 2000. So, I’ve been having fun with challenges, especially the past couple years with 100 Baby, and I’ve found online. And after reading hearing and reading up on Lilsimsie’s Not So Berry Challenge, I had an idea of my own challenge. So, I thought I’d share if anyone else wanted to play along.

Disclaimer: These challenges mean nothing in regards to people born in that month. I simply took symbolism and cultural aspects of each stone to create a challenging and interesting playthroughs you might not think to do.

Lifespan requirements: Normal (not sure if it’s possible on Short, but if you want hard mode, do it).

The idea is to start with your month’s birthstone, then each generation is the next month’s stone for either 10 generations (traditional Legacy), or 12 if you wan to do the full year. You could also start on the month after your birth month with a full year play-through, so your birth month acts as a “finale”. Might be helpful if say your birth month is April, and you know your month’s stone is Diamond and to you it sounds like a finisher, or if your birth month is December, and you’d just prefer to start with January’s stone. It’s up to you.

These will just be listed month by month, so they are easy to find.

Like in the other color challenges, you want to model your sim with the stone’s colors in mind. You should also build their house with their stone’s color in mind.

1. January stone: GARNET

Color: Dark Red

Garnets have a high refractive index, which causes them to look as if they are emitting light. Due to this phenomenon, travelers during the crusades would carry them to ward off evil. The stone represents Faith, Love and Constance.

Traits: Good, Ambitious, Cheerful

Goals:

- Complete the Soulmate aspiration

- Complete the Law career as a judge.

- Must maintain career until death (meaning no retirement, quitting, or being fired).

- Must have at least 2 kids after the soulmate aspiration is fulfilled.

- All children must be raised with all green character values and no lower than Bs in school.

2. February stone: AMETHYST

Color: Purple

The word Amethyst comes from the Greek word, amethystos, meaning “not drunken.” This comes from a myth where Dionysus was so enraged, he vowed his wrath on the next human he saw, which was a young woman, Amethystos. To “save” this woman, Artemis turned her to stone (note to self, don’t ask Artemis to save you ever, because her track record sucks). Dionysus calmed at seeing the stone’s beauty, and poured his wine on it, giving the stone it’s purple color. In more recent centuries, amethysts have been associated with piety and rank in the Catholic Church, as bishops are given amethysts when they are appointed.

Traits: Genius, Bookworm, Snob (If you have Snowy escape, replace one of these with Proper).

Goals:

-Complete the Knowledge - Renaissance Sim aspiration.

-Complete the Education Career as a Professor.

-Can not go to bars or nightclubs

-Max out Logic, Writing, and a musical skill (Violin, Guitar, Piano, or Singing)

-Can never marry or enter into an official dating relationship; HOWEVER must have at least 1 kid at some point to continue the legacy. This can be through adoption, which is more likely if you want to play pure piety or you have an Ace sim in mind, and the adoptee must be a child or teen. The other option is through secret woohoos if you want to play the more historically accurate, seedy way. **If you are playing with Risky Woohoos, you can have max 2 kids living with you. All others children must be removed from the house and into a Townie’s home once they become toddlers.

3. March stone: AQUAMARINE

Color: Light Blue

Due to aquamarine’s sea-like color, they’ve long been associated with traveling and the sea. Sailors used to put them under their pillows to calm themselves. They are said to inspire peace and ward off poisons.

Traits: Loves Outdoors, Glutton, Loner

Goals:

-Complete Angling Ace aspiration.

-Eat out of the trash 5 times without getting sick.

-Have an aquarium with 10 fish.

-Catch a vampire squid. ** Or if you have Island Living, you must become a mermaid.

-Must eat and learn to make Pufferfish Nigiri.

4. April stone: DIAMOND

Color: White/Silver

Diamond is the hardest stone on Earth, and is often associated with wealth and treasures. The word diamond comes from the greek word adamas, meaning unconquerable. They are the most popular of the stones, and so recently have been “Lab Grown.”

Traits: Ambitious, Insider, Perfectionist

Goals:

-Complete the Scientist career.

-Complete Leader of the Pack aspiration.

-Find all the crystals.

-Must clone a diamond.

-Become best friends with Judith Ward and have a framed selfie with her in your house.

-Date/marry someone in the Style-influencer career.

5. May stone: EMERALD

Color: Dark Green

Emeralds are an old stone, first mined in ancient Egypt. Cleopatra was known to wear them frequently. They are said to symbolize fertility, wisdom, and Spring. It’s also said to heal heartbreak.

Traits: Jealous, Romantic, Materialistic

Goals:

-Master Gardening skill.

-Date and 100% romance a politician, then break up with them.

-Have at least 3 kids from multiple partners (each must have reached 100% romance first).

-Breed a frog worth over $100

-Must complete Fabulously Wealthy aspiration

-Does not marry, UNLESS you have Strangerville, and can marry an Officer in the Military Branch. However, when they die, so does your sim.

6. June stone: PEARL

Color: White/Cream

Pearls are created by oysters and are considered the “perfect” gem, as it needs no man-mad alterations. Pearls are often attributed to wisdom through experience, as well as innocence and fertility.

Traits: Childish, Perfectionist, Family-oriented

Goals:

-Must have 5 kids before becoming an adult.

-Must complete the Curator aspiration.

-Must master 10 skills. ** If you are using Tiny House perks, 15 skills.

7. July stone: RUBY

Color: Bright Red

Rubies are well known for their blood-red color, earning their association with health and vitality. They are also symbols of love, passion, and prosperity.

Traits: Self-Assured, Romantic, Self-Absorbed

Goals:

-Complete Serial Romantic aspiration.

-Master Cooking, Athletic, and Charisma skills.

-Complete Doctor Career.

-Must Woohoo at least once in each: Closet, Jacuzzi, Observatory, Bush, Spaceship, Lighthouse, Pile of leaves, Shower, Coffin.

8. August stone: PERIDOT

Color: Light Green

Peridot is the stone of compassion, bringing health and peace to emotions and the mind. It inspires eloquence, creativity, and good cheer.

Traits: Creative, Vegetarian, Goofball

Goals:

-Complete the Painter Career.

-Master Painting, Photography, and Handiness skills.

-Paint 5 Masterpieces.

-Craft a bathtub of excellent quality.

-Complete Painter Extraordinaire aspiration.

9. September stone: SAPPHIRE

Color: Royal Blue

With the most famous sapphires being Princess Diana’s iconic engagement ring and The Heart of the Ocean in Titanic, it’s now wonder Sapphires hue long been associated with nobility and power. The stone symbolizes strength, loyalty, and focus through self-discipline.

Traits: Materialistic, Genius, Insider ** If you have snowy escape, Proper takes place for Materialistic.

Goals:

-Complete the Law Career as a Private Attorney.

-Complete the Mansion Baron aspiration.

-Must start a club with Wealthy requirement ($30,000+). *If you start a fraternity/sorority in University, it counts if wealthy is listed as a requirement.

-Max out Charisma, Logic, and Writing skills.

-Must marry another club leader.

-Must get Gold in Wedding Social Event, and pay full $1750. Minimum of 10 guests.

-Must have a son. (He does not HAVE to be the continuation of the Legacy, but he can if you want. Also, if you have a born daughter, but decide to transition her, that does not count. Since it’s a click of a button without game mechanic influence, it’s kind of cheating. HOWEVER, if you decide your born son should transition, it still counts. This is mostly to take the steps during pregnancy to make a boy (since we’ve all watched others influence for a girl 1000x), That or to keep going until “the odds are in your favor.”)

10. October stone: PINK TOURMALINE

Color: Pink

Pink Tourmaline, also known as October rose, represents humanity, sympathy to others, and humanitarian work. It’s believed to carry the virtue of love that is unconditional, offering comfort to children and lasting friendships.

Traits: Unflirty, Gloomy, Outgoing

Goals:

-Complete the Politician career as a Charity Organizer.

-Complete Friend to the World aspiration.

-Adopt 2 kids (Do not have to be legacy continuation).

-Max out friendship/be best friends with 4 sims before becoming an Adult. The friendship must be maintained throughout life.

-Have a rose garden.

-Write 5 Children’s books.

-Volunteer with family 5 times.

*If you get the pop-up asking to donate to charity, you must if you have the money.

11. November stone: CITRINE

Color: Dark Yellow (almost Gold)

Citrine’s yellow stone radiates happiness, creativity, and wealth. Named for it’s citrus like color, it’s no wonder it’s the stone for a month known for it’s food. Citrine is known also as the Merchant’s stone for it’s golden color.

Traits: Cheerful, Foodie, Creative

Goals:

-Complete Culinary Career.

-Complete Culinary aspiration.

-Master Cooking and baking skills.

-Own a fruit and vegetable garden with every possible fruit and veggie in your game.

-Own a Bakery or Restaurant.

-Cook an Excellent quality Grand Meal.

-Learn 10 Food Stall recipes.

12. December stone: Turquoise

Color: Blue/Green (Teal)

Turquoise is an odd one. In European cultures, it’s the stone of friendship and attracts money and luck, but is also frequently used in Evil Eye talismans. Historically, Montezuma II gifted these gems to Cortez, the Spanish Conquistador. The Apache used turquoise as well, as a charm on their bows for better aim.

Traits: Evil, Outgoing, Kleptomaniac

Goals:

-Max out Mischief and Charisma skills.

-Complete the Criminal Career.

-Complete Public Enemy aspiration.

-Start a Kleptomaniac club.

-Steal an object worth $10,000

-Marry someone with the Good trait, and cheat on them 5 times.

Happy simming!

#thesims #the sims legacy #sims challenge #legacy challenge #birthstone #The Sims 4 #sims 4 challenge #sims 4 legacy #Birth Stone Challenge #birth stone legacy #birth stone #gemstone #gemstone challenge #gem challenge #lets play #color challenge #color legacy challenge #sims 4 color

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agapi-kalyptei · 2 years ago

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Ugh I should have made coffee. Third day in a row, I wake up with a headache - not a terrible one, but still rather unusual.

My Hydrasynth is arriving in a few hours!!! Happiness is polyphonic aftertouch and no headache.

I finished Dishonored (2012) yesterday, so a few more thoughts. It’s been almost exactly 7 years since I first played it - my first and only playthrough then was done with no deaths (”Clean Hands”), no power upgrades (”Mostly Flesh and Steel”), and not being seen (”Shadow” and “Ghost” achievements) - thanks to the miraculous power of quick save. (Have to admit, playing it today was a bit easier, with quick load taking 2-3 seconds.)

This time I went with same low-chaos run, but eventually gave up on the Ghost achievement (not being ever seen), as it made the game much more fun to just roll with the punches, sometimes just wasting 10 sleep darts when a bunch of guards start swarming from all around.

The major drawback from mechanical perspective was that there’s only sleep darts and choking as the two non-murderous options (sometimes I say “nonviolent” but honestly I wouldn’t describe someone sneaking up to me and choking me unconscious as nonviolent). The major drawback of the story was the fridged empress, of course, and the flat acting of the outsider (which they drastically improved in D2 and DotO).

Stories of forgiveness and redemption are as appealing to me as any day. Sometimes I feel dumb for wasting time on video games, but I do believe Dishonored still has something to say about the human condition. Dishonored also masterfully foreshadows. While the details of the story felt fresh enough that at no point I went “ugh this old boring cliche of a mission”, at no point I could also say “wow that is so out of character”. The Heart gave you all the information in advance, in small bits, enough for you to understand something from inside the character that they weren’t telling you to your face.

The thing that makes Dishonored a real masterpiece is the level design (in combination with the gameplay mechanics and powers, of course). I had so many good memories of different locations, which felt like they must have been from several DLCs and maybe the sequels - it’s a shock how they managed to craft such large, thematically varied locations that each felt like it had a purpose consistent with the world logic. Having attempted the Ghost playthrough in 2015, and possibly on Hard difficulty, I feel like that affected how memorable everything is - not having the power to see guards through walls meant I had to be hyper-aware of my surroundings instead of just rushing in, looking around, and then running away until the dust settles.

This is a part of the reason why I liked Thief:DS even if it wasn’t universally loved - the world in between main levels just added a lot of context. It wasn’t just “you’re in a mansion, steal everything”. You could see the world affected by your actions.

One minor disappointment in Dishonored is that you can loot everything from everyone and nobody cares (I still left bread to plague survivors because it didn’t feel right to take it) - but otherwise, same as Thief:DS, you can see the world as the context of whatever your main objective is. The game displays the economic, health and power struggles with its level design and NPCs.

Another thing is how they weave the story through lore books and notes - the books are always an optional reading, but the notes almost always have something more directly related to the story, mission, loot, or side quest. It’s never just “the code to the safe is 451”, it’s always some sort of “you idiot be more careful when smuggling the whiskey out, you know where to find the code”. Everything is consistent with the world, nothing is out of place. Everything contributes to storytelling. The starving survivors, the golden bars in lords’ safes.

#dishonored #dishonored 2012 #what a masterpiece

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nerdy-sessions · 2 years ago

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Toy Story 2 - Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue! Review: Nostalgia on the PS5

Once upon a time, my younger brother @genwzrd came to visit me at my house after spending almost a year in England getting a Master's degree. One of things he was very excited to see (besides my little girl and...ya know...me) was my brand spanking new PlayStation5. We've both been PlayStation purists since the PS2 when we were kids.

So what game...what utter graphical masterpiece...did I dazzle him with first, you ask? Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart? The Last of Us Part 2? Far Cry 6? Ghost of Tsushima?! GOAT SIMULATOR!?

Nah. This.

THIS MASTERPIECE

The first game I showed my brother on the PlayStation5 was Toy Story 2 - Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue.

I'm not proud of it either...

#iactuallyamtho

But I just bought the rereleased version for 7 dollarbucks on the PlayStation Store, and nostalgia blinded us. The original came out in 1999 for the Nintendo 64, the OG PlayStation, PC, and Mac.

I owned this game as a kid on the PC, which was released under the name Disney/Pixar's Action Game: Toy Story 2. And we played the HECK out of it.

We all know the story of the classic Pixar sequel Toy Story 2, right? Woody gets toy-napped by Wayne Knight, and Buzz leads a rescue mission to save him. The game essentially follows the story of the movie, but takes creative liberties with characters and levels to streamline things.

...but Buzz's laser actually works and can be used as a weapon to straight-up destroy enemy toys.

The implications are...through the roof here.

The game is a platformer at it's finest, so if you enjoy old-school platformers, I definitely recommend checking this one out. It runs really well on the PS5...obviously...

The game is divided into 15 "levels" that (sometimes) follow the movie. All the levels are organized into groups of 3; 2 levels that are explorable and open, followed by a boss level after that.

You play as Buzz, using your aforementioned actual REAL laser, to blast your way through the levels. You can also use your wings as a melee attack (Buzz will comically spin his upper half all the way around doing this).

Each normal explorable level has collectables called Pizza Planet Tokens to collect. Collecting these tokens is how to progress in the game. You need to collect at least one token to move on to the next level. There 5 of these tokens on each of these levels to collect if you are going for 100%. Collecting some of these tokens will require you to progress to further levels to unlock required items. You can return to the level and collect the tokens.

Each of the 5 tokens per level have a specific thing you must do to collect them:

Each level has coins you can collect. Collect 50 of these and deliver them to Hamm to get a token (this is the easiest way to get tokens).

Each level has a mini-boss to find and defeat. Defeating these bosses awards a token. Some of these bosses require special weapons to defeat.

Each level has a character that will ask you find 5 missing things located throughout the area and return the items to them (i.e. Bow Peep wants you to find 5 missing sheep on Level 1). Doing so will award a token.

Each level has some kind of race or time trial-esque event to win. Doing so will net you a token.

Each level has a secret token to be found, usually requiring you to solve a puzzle or complete a tricky platforming maneuver to obtain.

I've mentioned special weapons and items. How do you unlock them? Occasionally, on the normal levels, Mr. Potato Head can be found. He will inform the player he has lost one of his precious body parts. Locate the said missing body part and return it Potato Head to unlock the item in not just that level, but all the levels the item can be found in.

The boss levels are a harder-than-normal boss fights. The most difficult and fun ones have got to be the last two boss levels: fighting Zurg in the elevator shaft, and fighting Prospector and his cronies on the plane at the end.

Well, that's basically the premise of the game. Let's get to the pros and cons of this PS5 port.

PROS:

As stated above, the game runs fabulously on the PS5. I mean...it was originally on the OG PlayStation, so that's a given.

It's a really fun platformer with lots of running, jumping, climbing and swinging around to get to where you need to go.

The collectables are fun to find in the various levels. Platforming and exploring is rewarded for sure.

The levels are amazingly designed and easy to navigate. The designers invented a handful of levels not from the movie to provide more content (i.e. a construction site, a part of Al's Toy Barn dedicated to sci-fi and space toys, etc).

Definitely a better Buzz Lightyear experience than the new Lightyear movie. #yeahIsaidit

CONS

The controls are...odd. For example, instead of using the right stick to rotate the camera around Buzz, you have to use R2 and L2. On top of that, you have to disable automatic camera rotation in the options. This can make for some difficult platforming at times.

Speaking of the platforming, if you mess up on a platforming obstacle (i.e. climbing the tree in Andy's Neighborhood, the construction yard, etc.), you can occasionally fall allllll the waaaay down and have to start all over. That can be immensely frustrating.

The graphics aren't updated. This can make the game look...well...cursed.

#oi #toinfinityanddankness

The cutscenes are just clips from the movie. I've seen the movie, ok game? Let's see some old-school PlayStation graphics cutscenes, a'ight?

So...this game is 23 years old. That's the fact. However, if you are a sucker for old school platforming nostalgia, give this a shot! Even if it's pretty dank at times, it was pretty fun to revisit.

It's not a GREAT game, but it was a good time-killer for a couple of days.

Overall, I give Toy Story 2 - Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue on the PS5 a 3/5.

...I mostly played it for the nostalgia and the meme, to be honest. As a kid, I was stuck on Level 1 for weeeeeeks. My dad even tried to hack them game so I could progress to level 2 without collecting a token.

A spoiled child am I.

Have you guys ever played this li'l gem? What are your thoughts? Let me know...

And remember...

~to infinity, and beyond!

#buzz lightyear #toy story 2 #toy story #gaming #review #pc #ps5 console #port #buzz lightyear to the rescue #nerd talks #funny content #disney #disney games #pixar movies #lightyear #nerd #nostalgia #playstation store

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mjsparkour · 4 years ago

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Okay, I asked you a while back for some fic recs and I am in need of more. Have you read any Gina x Ricky lately? Would love for you to share the ones you've loved

Hey!

I’m so glad you liked my rec the last time, there have been alot of fics that have been written since you last asked so this list was super hard to limit. There are alot in this list alone (17 overall I think). I could always recommend more, Rina writers are just so talented. So here's a list of some of my favorites <3

The Story of Us by peculiarblue

‘gina learns that sometimes things have to fall apart so that they can fall back together, right where they were always meant to be’ This is a complete 2 part chapter fic

Thee Rina bible. It’s everything we could ever want and need. Everything we want s2 to be and more. It’s an absolute masterpiece in every way. So many parts where I nearly died, the angst in the fight scene, the tension before they made up (the dress scene that reminded me so much of that amylaurie scene I lost my mind a little more), them being absolutely gone for each other!!! it’s just perfect in every way.

When Your With Me and Were Alone by orphan account

‘Ricky Bowen remembers everything.’ This is a one-shot three-part completed series.

My favorite series, it’s gotta be. It’s the first of its kind for rina fics. Lore does an incredible job of realistically writing rina’s characterization and reactions to Gina moving and what would happen after. A wonderfully talented writer, utilizing the power of her words while minimalist carries an effect.

You Know Me Better by This_is_Riri

‘Gina was moving. This would be her sixth move in seven years. She was used to it by now...only this time, it felt different. Post episode 7.’ This is an incomplete multichapter fic.

This one really gets you at your gut. Heart-wrenching for both characters but mainly gina. The vents that happen to both characters, it just makes sense that so much more than their vunerabilities bonds them together. Perfect execution of the mutual understanding trope.

and I know I’ve kissed you before by ptrprkrs

‘but I didn’t do it right / can i try again, try again, try again? or: 5 times ricky kisses gina + 1 time she kisses back’ This is a complete one-shot.

I love a good five times plus one fic. This one is heartwarming, cheeky and cute. It gives a healthy balance of the inevitable anguish that comes with pining (and not just for the character but for frustrated readers that just wanna put these kids together already) but also the sweet innocence and fluff from first love (or first love adjacent).

what love might have done by rradioh

‘Ricky follows his gut. Everything changes. Some things stay the same.’ This is a completed one shot.

A good look into what could've been for season one. Reflecting moments that felt like they could’ve easily been placed in the show and showed the subtly of the growth of rinas relationship. It wasn’t something that was thrown into our faces but came gradually and this fic facilitates that growth with key moments that add to that. A Great one-shot.

And the 7th Thing I Hate The Most That You Do (You Make Me Love You) by iknowpIaces

‘It doesn’t help that he really does look good in his costume. God, she hates him. She hates him. She hates him. Then, he has the nerve to smile at her. And Gina hates how that smile alone sends her over the moon.’ This is a completed one shot.

SOOOO GOOD. No one understands, I love the trope where one person has a crush on the other and it's unrequited (or it seems that way) but eventually it's apparent that they're also just as gone for that person as soon as they start moving on, or feeling fine with having their feelings not reciprocated. Then they're both just mutual pining messes, ugh I love it. This fic handles the trope with care and rina just comes together organically.

lesson in love by finelineholland

“Give me 4 weeks. I’ll help you out. Like… a crash course, if you will. 'How to be the perfect boyfriend for Nini Salazar-Roberts': A class taught by yours truly.” This is an incomplete multichapter fic.

A rom-com in the form of a fic. It’s so true to Ricky and Gina as characters and their dynamic. The writing is really good and gives so much in terms of plot. I really hope it updates soon because I love a good makeover/transformation fic, it gives she’s all that and geek charming in the best ways.

take me to the feeling by peculiarblue

‘gina meets a stranger at a party she doesn't want to be at, and let's herself fall in love for the night, wherever it takes them’ This is a completed one shot.

Katie does it again. Another classic that makes us fall for rina while they fall for each other under the stars. You can’t help but feel something for them right off the bat because theirs something about the cheekiness of the dynamic and so real. You can’t help but fall for them, a must read.

The Last Time by mytearsricochet

‘this is the one where gina meets ricky and nothing is against them. except for a few misunderstandings, forgotten birthdays, wrong people, and missed opportunities. because as much as love doesn’t care about time, this is the one where time cares about love. and with time, everything falls into place.’ This is a completed one shot.

SO UNBELIAVBLEY UNDERRATED. This fic is too excellent, it's everything rinas could want. it’s an incredibly well done long slowburn that makes you strap in for the ride. With all those teasing moments where they're mutually pining and they're just on the precipice of finding out their feelings for one another only to hold back and stay friends (until the end of course). The end makes you work for it, but so worth it when you get to it.

10 Days in “Love” by kindredspiritsxo

‘It was almost the end of high school and nobody had it figured out. Especially Ricky Bowen. His parents had recently divorced, he had no idea what he's doing for college, his longtime girlfriend dumped him the month before and now he's been replaced by one of the most popular guys in school.

To make matters worse, he leaves for Europe in two days for his senior trip. The same senior trip that said ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend were going on. So, Ricky did what any desperate teenage boy would do to try and get his girlfriend back: he devised a plan. A plan that included the help of Gina Porter and playing pretend for 10 days.’ This is an incomplete multichapter fic.

I love a good traveling fic. Sometimes all it takes to get a character to wake up about things going on in their lives or feelings for character b is a good change of scenery. This fic does a great job of utilizing the enviornment to facilitate rinas love story through one of my favorite tropes, the fake dating trope. There's some angst along the way because nothing can ever come easy but it's not without its reward. It gives me major spiderman far from home vibes just solely because of petermjs adorableness and how that energy kinda translates to rina in this fic more so in the beginning before they have this repertoire.

on the line by peculiarblue

‘with everything in her life finally at a stand still for once the last thing gina needs is one curly haired skater to come in and give her a reason to change again

(or, gina lets ricky back into her life the only way she knows how, at a distance, through daily voicemails, until her heart remembers why she can't love him anymore.)’ This is a completed one shot.

It hurts in the best way possible! that is the best way to describe this fic. Were taken on a journey where I personally wanted rina to just talk to each other in person but the magic was all in the voicemails and the power of their connection. There was a satisfying ending, I couldn't ask for more. If you haven’t read literally everything written by Katie go read it, it won't disappoint.

but everywhere just brings me back to you by ptrprkrs

‘or, ricky is just a little in love with the voice of the girl at the starbucks drive-thru’ This is a completed one shot.

An amazing fic that hits every spot effortlessly, even the ones you didn’t know you had. Like Ricky being a lovesick puppy going to a drive-thru just to hear Gina’s voice for coffee, he doesn’t drink or like. All the while they’d been connected all along. I’m a sucker for any kind of soulmate implications or stories where people are unknowingly connected like that so this ones a real favorite for me. It’s sweet, lighthearted and funny and a great read.

About Love by goldenthread

‘a series of Interconnected one shots and canonical aus for Ricky and Gina <3.’ This is an incomplete multichapter fic.

Here's where I enter some shameless self-promo...I wrote this recently. It’s just some loosely connected one-shots I have of rina based on canon. I write about an alternate first meeting, what would've happened if Gina had to understudy Nini in a rehearsal and (for a future chapter) a babysitting au (for what happened when Gina actually told Ricky the truth, she was babysitting her neighbor's kid when she talked to him at the skatepark). Check it out if it sounds like your thing!

in your eyes by finelineholland

‘you always try to hide the pain, you always know just what to say. i always look the other way. i'm blind, i'm blind. in you eyes, you lie, but i don't let it define you.’ This is an incomplete multichapter fic.

There is something about Rina being written about from an outside perspective that is just so excellent. The story starting with Nini noting the obvious chemistry and their connection and being threatened by it, I don’t know it's just so pleasing to me. Another fic like that one of my favorites (one that I’m pretty sure I’ve suggested in my other rec list), pretend i don’t see it in your eyes by spobylol. Another absolutely excellent read that does not miss once. This story in contrast also writes from rina’s perspective as well which I also thought was well done.

right from the start I knew by anonymous

‘“Uh.” Ricky really didn’t think this far ahead. To be fair, it’s not like he’s ever thought ahead about anything ever in his life, so this is really to be expected. “We - forget about it? Maybe. Or like - I don’t know. I think I have to figure out how to be like - a person right now. By myself.”

“Same.” Gina says absently. “I’ve spent what feels like my whole life thinking about what other people think of me. It’d be nice to - to be able to try looking beyond that for a change.”

Post-Season 1. Ricky and Nini break up, but that doesn't mean things work out right away.’ This is a completed one shot.

The most iconic love confession I’ve read in a rina fic to date. it’s just so good, a certified rush every single time. The mutual pining hits spectacularly especially when you see just how soon it starts to hit Ricky that he’d made a mistake getting with Nini and him paying for that mistake. The writing only amplifies it. Also Ricky telling Gina he’s obsessed with her? yeah, I automatically added this fic to my list of faves.

If they only knew by goldenthread

‘Ricky Bowen never really bought into the whole soulmate thing (except he did) but life got in the way and now he's sort of pretending to date new (totally not intimidating) girl Gina Porter to win back the one and only Nini Salazar Roberts. Not a single thing could go wrong.

The one where Ricky and Gina aren't so good at the whole soulmate thing and they fake date.’ This is an incomplete multichapter fic.

More shameless self promo, sorry y’all but I’m super proud of this one. It’s a soulmate and fake dating au, combining two of my fave tropes into one to make this (surprisingly) long fic. It’s a whirlwind of emotions and a lot of moving parts in the story. I plan on updating within two months then after that there's three more chapters until its finished :) hope y’all enjoy it if you decide to give it a read!

you are the best thing & the worst thing (that’s happened to me this whole year) by tophsgf

‘Gina's roommate Nini is unbearable. What's more unbearable, however? Her very charismatic and totally off-limits sort-of boyfriend.’ This is a completed one shot.

An amazing fic, I need more people to know about it! I really like fics where the development between Ricky and Gina is gradual, which seems to be the case for a lot of fics but for this one in particular I like its execution. Obviously, at first, he’s with Nini so it’s like the dynamic is at a point of comparison from the start but we quickly learn that thanks to good ole mutual understanding and overall compatibility Ricky and Gina are just right for each other. A fun read that hits all the bases.

#rina #ricky x gina #ricky bowen #gina porter #hsm #hsmtmts #high school musical #high school musical the musical the series #nini salazar roberts #rini #rina fanfic #rina fanfiction #rina fics #gina x ricky #disneyplus #disney

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zambie-trashart · 3 years ago

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I Don’t Own an IPhone: Wanna Trade? chapter 7

Masterlist

Previous: “Good luck Marinette,” Jon said smiling holding his arms out and she ran over to hug him.“You too,” she whispered. The deal was on, and oh how chaotic it was going to be.

(song used I Hear a Symphony by Cody Fry)

Chapter 7: I Hear a Symphony

Jon wrung his wrists nervously standing in front of the apartment building. His text to Damian was left on read, no begging him to stay, no confirmation that they were even broken up. Jon reached into his pocket grabbing the folded piece of paper. He rung Adrien’s doorbell on the door number Marinette had told him and Adrien opened the door looking at him in shock.

“Oh, hey,” Adrien said hand rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

“Hey, um Marinette told me what happened, I’m really sorry about your loss,” Jon said blue eyes glazed over in sadness showing Adrien he was truly sorry.

“Uh thanks, Marinette and I actually broke up last night so now I have no one to go back to the house with, did you want to come with me?” Adrien offered and Jon nodded.

“I’ll be there for you,” Jon said smiling lightly. The two started their trek across the city glancing at each other every now and then going to say something but both figuring it would be better to walk in silence. When they arrived at the house or more like manor Jon smiled at the familiarity of feeling less than, it wasn’t a bad feeling in fact it was welcome considering how nice the Waynes were to him.

Adrien stopped as the gate opened, his father stood there welcoming him.

“Who is this, where is Marinette?” Gabriel asked confused.

“This is Jon, he’s a friend. Marinette and I actually broke up last night, things just weren’t working out,” Adrien said to his father who’s eyes softened.

“I’m sorry she wasn’t the one for you Adrien, you know I’ll accept whoever you love into the family with open arms my son,” Gabriel said holding his son’s shoulder in affection.

“Thank you father, I’m going to go show Jon to my room if that’s ok?” Adrien asked and his father nodded. Adrien took Jon’s hand dragging him up to his room the grand piano caught Jon’s eyes first.

“You play?” Jon asked and Adrien nodded.

“Not for a while, I might be a bit rusty, my father always has me play on this day every year,” Adrien said walking over and sitting down at the piano lifting the lid hands hovering over the ivory keys. “Sorry, I just don’t know what to play,” Adrien said and Jon reached into his pocket again and handed him the paper.

“Don’t play until I tell you ok?” Jon said and Adrien nodded. Jon took a deep breath sitting atop the piano. He looked at Adrien who was studying the upcoming notes and smiled opening his mouth.

Gabriel had a good feeling about this boy Adrien had brought into his home, he seemed a lot like Adrien’s previous partner. He heard a laugh and nodded to Nathalie to come up to Adrien’s room with him listening in on their conversation. The boy had written a song for his son to play, just like Emilie used to do for him. Gabriel felt pain crawl into his heart along with pride, yes, this boy will do nicely. Nathalie looked at him expressing his inner emotion outward on her face, soft smile etching it’s way onto her soft features. A deep breath knocked him from his thoughts. The voice of an angel started singing and Gabriel closed his eyes ready to hear what he had to say.

“I used to hear a simple song, that was until you came along. Now in its place is something new, I hear it when I look at you,” Jon sang softly nodding to Adrien who started playing heart beating fast. He didn’t want to mess up the masterpiece in front of him.

“With simple songs I wanted more, perfection is so quick to bore. You are more beautiful by far, our flaws are who we really are,” Jon sang and Adrien felt his face turn red looking up at him. This was too much.

Gabriel looked at Nathalie who had her eyes closed just like his were previously. This boy had talent, this was the one he wanted for his son no matter what plan he had before with Lila it could be replaced, he would get his son out of here and carry out his plan as Hawkmoth without having to worry about his son being in the way and if the italian girl had a problem with it he could simply bring up her harassment record to the police. He heard his son laugh playing happy for what felt like the first time in a long time.

Jon walked around the piano and sat next to Adrien leaning his head against the taller blond’s shoulder.

“I used to hear a simple song, that was until you came along. You took my broken melody, and now I hear a symphony. Woah, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,” Jon sang eyes closing as Adrien took in his angelic voice belting out taking a deep breath after watching Adrien’s fingers move expertly across the keys.

“And now I hear a symphony,” Jon sang looking into Adrien’s eyes that stared back faces inching closer together, eyes flickering down to lips then back to eyes asking for permission that was quickly granted as the gap between them almost disappeared. A knock at the door broke them apart as Adrien said come in.

“That song was quite something, did you write it?” Gabriel asked.

“I had help with the piano part from a friend but I wrote the lyrics myself,” Jon said telling most of the truth, he did know music from Damian having him take violin lessons, he didn’t know piano though.

“It was extraordinary,” Gabriel said. “You simply must perform it tonight when the guests arrive,” Gabriel added and Jon flushed. “If you don’t want to sing then Adrien should at least play it.” Jon’s blush faded and he nodded in agreement. Gabriel had opened his doors to family and friends on his wife’s death day after Adrien told him it would be better spent with loved ones then suffering in silence which he reluctantly agreed. As much as Gabriel hated to admit it he would do anything for his son, he was his one weakness.

“Thank you Mr. Agreste,” Jon said smiling at the man who smiled back. Adrien was shocked, his father actually liked Jon and liked something he did, it was a miracle. Another knock at the door shook him out of his thoughts, Felix and his mother stood there politely waiting. Ever since the mix up years ago Felix had been doing his best to regain Adrien’s trust and had succeeded for the most part.

The five walked down to the table and Adrien saw Alya and Nino sitting there already, normally Marinette and her parents would join but it didn’t seem that the elder Dupain’s would be joining them this year, Chloe and her mother walked in as well Chloe took a seat next to Alya and Audrey took a seat near Nathalie. Felix eyed Jon carefully watching the raven haired boy move more than he probably should, first Felix tried to steal Ladybug from him and now Jon, he couldn’t have that.

Adrien grabbed Jon’s hand pulling him out of the room.

“Did something happen with you and your boyfriend?” Adrien asked and Jon tensed up. “Please tell me the truth,” Adrien added grabbing his other hand and Jon looked him in the eyes nodding.

“We broke up last night too, I realized things weren’t working out and there was someone else that peaked my interest, he’s a bit new to me but there was just something about him when I met him yesterday,” Jon said smiling slightly.

“Could you please sing with me? You have the voice of an angel and I need you to be there,” Adrien said moving his hands to cup Jon’s face and the younger grabbed his wrists nodding.

“Just for you,” Jon said, moving in hugging Adrien tight.

The two moved back into the room Adrien taking his place at the piano and Jon sat beside him on the bench and in the moment it felt like the first time, just the two of them as the music flowed through the room.

“It sounds like something dear Emilie would have written Gabriel,” Amilie said wiping her eyes and for a moment Jon panicked. “He’s so precious,” Amilie added running up to Jon pulling the boy into a hug.

“Mother,” Felix said embarrassed.

“He just, he reminds me of her, down to the voice,” Amilie said smiling.

“Oh, um, I’m sorry,” Jon said nervously and Amilie looked panicked.

“No, no, it’s ok. I just miss my dear sister, you’ll be a wonderful addition to the family,” Amilie said making both Adrien and Jon blush.

“I’m… we’re not… uh,” Jon said and Adrien’s mouth was just gaping.

“Could have fooled me,” Chloe said from her seat at the table with a shit eating grin. Of course Marinette told them about the break up and they were all in the corner for the ship to set sail.

The dinner went smooth in Jon’s opinion so when Adrien took his hand and led him back to his room he knew what conversation was to come.

“Jon, since I saw you yesterday I haven’t been able to get you out of my head. You infected me Jon, it made me feel guilty because of Marinette still being in my life…” Adrien started.

“You fell in love with parts of her but not the whole, Chloe told me, and I have the parts of Marinette you liked but without the others,” Jon said sitting down next to the blond.

“It makes me sound like a dick, I’m sorry if you don’t like me anymore after hearing that, if you even did in the first place,” Adrien said looking down, he wasn’t trying to make Jon feel bad for him or trick him Jon noticed that right away, he was being genuine.

“You’re funny,” Jon said putting his hand on Adrien’s cheek leaning in and the blond closed his eyes as their lips finally touched. There were millions of thoughts running through their heads creating a simple verse hands roaming to hold each other close as Jon pulled himself into the blond’s lap the two falling back against the sheets puffs of air escaping them as lips disconnected. Jon rolled off of Adrien laying next to the blond chest to chest, heart to heart. The steady beating was speeding up as the gentle caress of melody whipped through the air lips meeting again.

The two laughed as they broke apart again. “Does this mean we’re together?” Adrien asked and Jon bit his lip nervously.

“I’d like that but could we talk more in the morning when I’m not all distracted?” Jon asked and Adrien nodded as Jon’s eyes closed. Adrien held him close smiling softly closing his eyes as well. It may have felt rushed but it felt right.

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