#like have your opinion but the way these videos are titled makes me never wanna watch them

[sunnyskies281]

“This movie is actually BAD! You were LIED TO!”

I was lied to… by myself? I enjoyed this movie because i didn’t realize it was bad… even on repeat watches when i still liked it? Mate I think you just don’t like this movie, no need to say everyone else is wrong.

[living-animal]

I have some gripes with Film Cooper on YT due to a video he made. If you wanna hear about it, here it is

First off, title- “this man lives in a dog suit” factually incorrect, he does not live in a dog suit, he wears it on occasion

Next, he’s tweaking over the fact that a German tv host is treating the man in a dog costume like a dog- isn’t that how you’re meant to treat all costumes?? Like they’re real?? Isn’t that the whole point of Disney? It’s the same way you treat cosplayers as the character. It’s fun to pretend.

Barely over a minute in, Film Cooper accuses Toco (the man in the suit) of being sexually aroused by the tv host calling him a “good boy” and claims that Toco must have a fetish for being treated like an animal. I feel like I don’t need to explain why that’s bad.

“Theres no way this isn’t a [fetish]. There’s no way that him dressing up as a border collie and walking around being called a good boy isn’t a [fetish].” (He was using a code word as to not get demonetized)

I can easily combat this claim just from he simple fact that this is likely not an often occurrence for Toco. He does not walk around all day in public being called a “good boy” by “hot German women” as Film Cooper puts it.

He then shows the first ever recorded instance of this suit on the internet, posted by a Japanese artist on their Twitter, showing off the suit they had made, and Film Cooper has an audibly and visually disguised reaction. “They made this for a human” yes Cooper, they did. I’m scared to see what would happen if Film Cooper ever accidentally stumbled upon a furry convention. I’m sure he would have a heart attack and die immediately.

He claims that this is “not furry” which is factually incorrect. In fursuit terms, this is just a hyper realistic quad suit. “Furry might be the closest thing” is true for the suit itself, but Toco is not a furry, Toco is likely some form of alterhuman/therian, which, from this video, I can safely assume Film Cooper doesn’t know shit about. “Furry is anthropomorphic” anthropomorphic doesn’t just mean walking on two legs, that’s bipedal. “A furry stands on two legs” a furry can be on four legs. It’s called a quad suit. Anthropomorphic means human-like, whether that be in physical form, intelligence, or emotions.

He also adds that furries “fuck”?? Which to me implies that furries/fursuits are sexual in nature, which is a whole other can of worms.

“He wants to be a border collie that licks his own BB hole” that’s a big claim. Wanting to be an animal doesn’t automatically mean you want to lick yourself?? And it’s frankly disgusting to me that that is what Film Cooper imagines when told that someone wants to be an animal. “In my opinion that’s gross. Haha. I think it’s disgusting. You like to dress up as a dog, walk on all fours all day and lick your BB hole?” When did he say that Cooper. Stop making freaky and perverse assumptions about people you’ve never met.

He then shows a video from Toco’s account of him in the costume outside a window, but edits it, turning it black and white and adding scary music. This was entirely unnecessary, and just feels like fear mongering to me. He proceeds to compare the video to the horror movie Tusk, and more terrified ramblings of there “being a guy in there”. Yes, Cooper, that is how costumes work.

“What is wrong with this man” I don’t know, he has a hobby that makes him happy? Why the fuck do you care so much, Cooper? Because his suit is uncanny? Because you think it’s “weird”? Well I think your constant queerbaiting is weird, and you don’t hear me accusing you of being an animal fetishist. And then he has the audacity to make his motto “what’s up weirdos” and call his audience “weirdo nation” while actively making content harassing and attacking ACTUAL weirdos. Don’t call yourself a weirdo if you have a visceral reaction to someone actually being weird.

“I guess the implication is that he wants to be a dog so bad because he’s in love with dogs?” OH MY FUCKING GOD?? What the actual literal fuck. The fact that Cooper just accused this man of being a literal ZOOPHILE for no other reason than the fact that he dresses up in a realistic dog costume is actually so fucking sick. Shit like this is the reason alterhumans/therians receive so much hatred on a daily basis. This makes me so fucking sick. Cooper has the fucking audacity to accuse a stranger on the internet of being a zoophilic animal fetishist because he wears a costume. It’s so fucking baffling to me. And he says it so casually. “The implication here” WHEN was that EVER implied ANYWHERE in Toco’s content.

(He then proceeds to go on some random unnecessary spiel about sexism ((in a very performative way I might add)) or whatever)

He talked about age regression and pet regression a bit, and said those were fine (although he’s clearly uneducated about those things), but he says that Toco buying an expensive suit to “be a border collie everyday” is different. (Although I would like to add, WHERE TF ARE YOU GETTING THE IMPLICATION THAT HE DOES THIS ALL DAY EVERY DAY.)

“This, it’s safe to say, we can make fun of.” No, Cooper, you can’t. Because if you educated yourself beyond literally just watching this guys videos and having a baseline knowledge of furries, you would know about a little thing called alterhumanity/therianthropy, which it’s safe to say, you can’t make fun of. Asshole.

“I’m defending this against nobody. Nobody is looking at this being like “no, come on, man, he’s just chilling.” It’s like, no, this is fucked.” No, actually, Film Cooper, it’s not, and a lot of people are actually normal, and don’t fucking care about a guy in a dog suit having fun, unlike you, on your little queer-baity white savior complex high horse, who likes to call yourself a weirdo for wearing rings and having long hair, while also bashing ACTUAL weirdos. You’re the only one making up incorrect statements about this guy’s life to cry over as if it were real. No, this man does not LIVE in a dog suit, and no, he is not attracted to animals, you sick fuck.

He then shows the second video Toco ever uploaded on his YT channel, and proceeds to make fun of Toco’s poorly translated attempts at being polite and introducing himself, because Toco is a Japanese man that doesn’t speak any English. He had to translate this, presumably using some sort of translator app. Japanese is a very difficult language to translate into English, and vice versa. He also makes his tone out to be far more aggressive than necessary, and calls his narcissistic (???) for making an intro video (which a think a lot of people who have YouTube channels do) the phrase I’m specifically referring to was “I’m going to start uploading videos at my own pace” which was very clearly translated from Japanese, as the original Japanese text was on top of the English, but FC went on a whole ramble about some “GUYS EVERYONE CALM DOWN IM SO BURNT OUT” my brother that is a whole new sentence. Where are you getting all this from?? Are you seeing something that I’m not??

He then commented on said video, clearly in a cruel and bullying way, asking Toco to “put on the dog suit and twerk” which I would most definitely classify as sexual harassment. Wow Cooper, I love your humor! It’s so funny to sexually harass people on the internet, and it’s definitely not super wrong and disgusting because Toco is a man and has a weird hobby!

Next, there’s a Q&A from Toco. In the beginning of the video, Toco literally has a disclaimer that he may have some translation errors in the video (because he doesn’t speak English and had to translate from Japanese) we know Cooper saw this because he literally read it out loud. Next thing he does, is after Toco answers the first question; “Q: why did you want to become a dog?”

“A: I’ve had a vague dream of becoming an animal since I was a child” and Film Cooper compared this to FELIX CIPHER, the person notorious for believing he is the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler. I don’t think I need to explain why this is absolutely abhorrent behavior. Not only is it making light of some extremely offensive and antisemitic behavior, but also further demonizes furries and alterhumans/therians. And also it’s just incredibly distasteful, and not at all an accurate comparison. Sure he says that Felix Cipher is worse, but he still made the comparison. He also says to Toco “let dreams be dreams. Just don’t do it.” I’m glad to see we’re encouraging people to repress themselves and what makes them happy just because YOU personally don’t like it, Mr. Film.

Film Cooper claims that Toco is “avoiding questions” even after just a second ago he acknowledged the disclaimer about mistranslations and misrepresentations.

“I don’t want to spend 30k on a [dog] suit and walk around as [a dog]” okay, then don’t? Nobody is forcing you to do that. Nobody’s even forcing you to watch this content if it makes you so uncomfortable. If you were to see it and say “I’m uncomfortable with this, I don’t want to watch it” I wouldn’t care. But when I start to care is when you go out of your way to make a video harassing, attacking, and insulting an innocent man on the internet for money and clout.

He calls him “annoying” because of his sentence structure, and because FC felt as though he was avoiding questions, even though we know, and it has been stated three times now, that Toco does not speak any English, and this video is poorly translated. He’s mad at Toco for saying that he doesn’t know why the trigger for wanting to be an animal. But what do you want him to say? If he doesn’t know, he doesn’t know. Things like this are hard to place.

The next question, he once again makes up entirely new sentences from Toco’s answers. He makes Toco out to be angry and “indignant” with the questions he’s receiving, even though Toco has been nothing but polite, friendly, and respectful. And he also continues to misinterpret what Toco is saying, accusing him of “interrogating himself” because he was asking the viewers questions, and Film Cooper interpreted that as Toco asking himself questions?? For some reason. I think Film Cooper just lacks any form of literary comprehension.

Cooper continues to reinstate the fact that Toco is “an adult human man in a dog suit. He has a job, he goes to work..” but I think that just further humanizes Toco, doesn’t it? It makes me dislike him even less. I don’t care that he’s a grown man in a dog suit, I care that he’s a human being with feelings and a life beyond what we see online of him.

He accuses Toco of being defensive again. The question was if the costume was modeled after any specific border collie, and Toco said it wasn’t, though due to poor translation, it came out as “it’s not my collie or my friend’s collie” to which FC goes on another ramble acting out Toco being “defensive” about the origins of his suit design, making him once again appear like a creep.

Film Cooper, again, takes a clip of Toco moving around in his suit, and turns it black and white and adds horror music over it to make it look scarier. I don’t know why he insists on doing this so many times.

He also accuses Toco of not answering questions again, even though he did, and Film Cooper continues to misconstrue what Toco says “Q: are you tired of being human?” “A: sometimes it is reported that I am tired of being human. I never said that. […] Be aware of incorrect information.” Toco says he has never stated to be tired of being human, yet Film Cooper accuses him of not answering questions, AGAIN, due to his misinterpretation of Toco’s answers, not Toco’s own lack of answers.

He accuses Toco of not answering AGAIN; “Q; the topic is getting a lot of attention. How do you feel about it now?” “A; I am very surprised because I didn’t expect this to happen […]” The answer to the question was that Toco was surprised, but Cooper decided to focus on the rest of the answer, where Toco talks about how grateful he is for all the comments people have left, apologizing for not replying, and asking people about how their country is viewing him. Toco answers the questions every time, but Film Cooper chooses to focus on everything but Toco’s answer, just to keep calling him a freak. “You are a real life cosmic horror villain. Lovecraft would write a story about you.”

“A day in his life is him as a dog.” No it’s not, Toco wears the suit to make content, and the content he makes is specific to the dog suit and his desire to be a dog. So it makes no sense why Film Cooper is confused as to why Toco is making content about his dog suit “as if it’s normal”. Because in this context, it is. This is his channel where he posts about his suit, so obviously, the suit is a normal thing on his channel and it’s going to be treated as such.

Toco replied to a comment asking if he tells people he know about his suit, saying that he was too insecure about it, and only tells people he’s close with. Cooper had this to say;“He should be embarrassed to do this at work. Don’t do this at work.” He literally just said he didn’t!! The previous question was literally “have you ever gone outside [in the suit]” and Toco’s response was no. Obviously he’s never done it at work. Goofy.

That’s the end of the video. I have many, MANY smaller things about this video that upset me as well, but this is just the important things. And rewatching this video to make this post has filled me with a violent rage and hatred for Film Cooper like never before. We all clowned on his for the Marsha P. Johnson thing, I thought we all hated him now, why do we all still love him?? Anyways, dear Film Cooper, please do a MODICUM of research before you make tasteless videos like this, literally just look up therianthropy and alterhumanity on tumblr.com and that’ll clear some things up for you. And to Toco, I love your videos, never let jackasses like Film Cooper tell you that you’re a freak for doing what makes you happy. There’s a whole community of people just like you out there, and I hope you’re having fun and still making bigger bucks than Film Cooper ever will 🫶🫶

[billyboyblue]

Hi, hello.

You've made the mistake to use tags and I read tags and now I'm here

I'm asking questions. What are we thinking? How unwell do we feel when we see this shooting (personally pretty unwell but it hurts so good)? Prayer circle? Manifesting ritual? What will it be?

You know that Pete Holmes skit that's like, I don't wanna fuck him. That's not enough. That's only a little piece of me inside him. I want to get all up in there and wear him like a puppet. That's how I feel about this man but in a scale that covers everything.

It's about his commitment to be really good at his job and his way of constantly improving and learning and implementing his skills in new and interesting ways. It's his openness to criticism and self awareness that he lives a ridiculous life and uses that absurdity to push past the limits in creativity the comfort of practice and success can make. Stagnation is an antithesis of art and what I've never been, with Jake's work, is bored. He's wonderfully exploratory with roles without seeming like its stunt pieces meant to draw attention for attention's sake.

He's doing Othello with Denzel Washington, who is in my opinion the single greatest actor we've ever seen, bar none go talk to your mama about it, and that's like i think going to be his lifetime performance for himself. To do Shakespeare, contrary to popular belief, is insanity when it comes to performing it well. There's entire universities dedicated to nothing but Shakespeare so to have that under his belt is going to be incredible. He's not afraid of playing a spectrum of characters, and he doesn't mind commiting body and soul to his work.

This quote from the interview today made me all gushy because it's such a small insignificant thing but it's so insightful and about my husband Billy. Fuck me up, this can't keep hitting me over and over again. Billlllly!! Baby it's okay!! Oh God.

-"He has used his blindness sometimes to help him as an actor — when he was shooting a difficult scene in the 2015 boxing movie Southpaw, one in which police tell his character that his wife has died, Gyllenhaal removed his contacts to force himself to listen more closely."

I'll suggest some of my favorite essays on his movies!

Analyzing Evil: Lou Bloom || The Vile Eye

Nightcrawler || Spikima Movies

What makes nightcrawler's Lou Bloom so terrifying? || Nerdstalgic

Why Jake Gyllenhaal is the Bravest Actor of Our Generation || Du Cinema

Jake Gyllenhaal and the Elusive Oscar || The Awards Contender

Now the last two are a little dramatic on the titles but overall they give a great peak into his career and do his justice. This kind of reputation isn't just handed out, the only other Oscar nominees of this caliber without a win were like Leonardo DiCaprio and Amy Adams. It's huge. But I'll definitely keep singing his works' praise. His fandom is so committed and that's what makes it fun. I'm so new here I still find bits and pieces in every movie that others have found and talked about and gushed over but I'm gonna say it again! Lolol.

And if you're looking for a wonderful lil video on our king Denzel, Our Greatest Living Movie Star || Scene it is the one. Thanks so much for enabling me 😘🫴💕.

[sheinthatfandom]

Tonight is the night!!! God the card for dynasty is so fucking stacked literally the only one I’m like eww no is Jericho and even then I’d be fine if he was on zero hour but whatever. Anyway time for me to make my winner predictions of who I want vs what I think is booked to win

Zero hour

Let’s start with Trent vs Matt sydal: I’d love to see Trent lose because I’m a Yuta girl and Trent should always lose lol. But more than likely especially cause of the best friend breakup storyline Trent would need the win far more and it would make sense for him to win over Matt who involved himself in the feud and helped orange.

Orange and shibata Vs Shane taylor promotions: it’s orange and shibata even if Anthony cheats and gets involved I can’t see orange and shibata losing ohhh unless Trent’s match actually does go first and he causes orange to lose… seems like a lot for a buy in though

The acclaimed vs bullet club gold: THIS SHOULD BE ON THE MAIN CARD!!! How tf is the unification of the two actual company belts not be put on the main card the actual FUCK!!! Tk I hope your pillow is never cool. I want BCG to win they’re fun, they’re entertaining, they’ll be insufferable as double champs, they will have a feud with anyone. Thanks to the win on dynamite though I think it’s gonna be the acclaimed who will be booked to win and make all the belts useless because they’re never on tv they have zero feuds going on and caster will continue to be a cunt online.

Main card time

Jericho vs hook: this should be on the pre show the ftw belt is not legitimate and there’s been no real build for this they didn’t even have beef until Wednesday. Anyway I wanna see Hook win cause Jericho needs to go far away but I feel like Jericho booked himself to win to hold the ftw belt and will probably have a run in from Sammy.

Rated R chicken Kings vs house of black: I have no idea if that’s their name they have no name and I love them for it lol Eddie and mark should never suffer losses ever actually. Plus it’s a team of champions sorry HOB

Julia vs willow: I think with the storyline and Mercedes and Julia’s injuries we’re getting a title change. Julia wasn’t a bad champ at all and honestly made the tbs title a big deal it just sucks she got injured and couldn’t be on tv every week fighting. Willow will be a great champion and Julia can still be spooky and get involved.

Okada va pac: okada stole Eddie’s belt no one should beat him but Eddie in my humble simp opinion.

The young bucks vs ftr: if the fucking bucks lose again I will be cursing tk to lose all the hair on his head and grow it out of his nose and asshole. The bucks shoulda NEVER loss at Wembley and they need their win back. Especially after seeing the video nope evps win hire me as the ref I’ll make sure to count correctly

Kyle vs rodrick: I know with the whole never able to pivot and the Adam and mjf injury thing we haven’t been able to do the Undisputed Kingdom storyline like everyone wanted but let it GO! Give Kyle his win give Kyle the belt give Kyle the fucking WORLD okay my beautiful sad eyed air guitar boo boo kitty man gets it all.

Toni storm vs thunder Rosa: the way I need Toni to go berserk on Rosa but also for deonna to get involved in a if I can’t beat her I’ll be damned you will story beat. Personally the only person who should dethrone Toni is Mariah and she’s not ready yet.

Will Vs Bryan: is it too early to call this match of the night i mean we all know that it’s gonna be right? Personally I’d love to see Bryan take the win prove he’s still the best (make zacks win that much more legitimate) and piss off don that his golden goose lost (3 days before his other teams loss when mox spanks Hobbs) and drive more a wedge between don and will forcing Kyle to make a choice (not my brain jumping right back to cakeys will Claudio Kyle fic high key rec)But this is tk and wills first PPV as a full time aew worker it’s probably gonna be him

Samoa Joe Vs Swerve Strickland: OUR FIRST EVER BLACK AEW MENS WORLD CHAMPION!!!!!!

[spookygingerr]

Is shameless prestige tv?

Hi Anon!

I hope your day is going well :)

I'm not gonna lie, I had never heard of that term before so I did some research. So let's see...

From what I can gather, prestige tv is defined in a lot of different ways by different people, so I'm just gonna analyse shameless in regards to some of these definitions/traits of prestige tv that I found online.

First of all here prestige tv is described as 'Water Cooler tv'

What this means is a tv show that everyone seems to be watching that you discuss over the water cooler in the office. I don't think from my experience that shameless is that, however it did finish 3 years ago and I am in the UK so a US fan that watched the show in real time would be a better judge of that. I however would argue that we don't have water cooler tv shows anymore for a large variety of reasons. First of all, everyones algorithm is so personalised that someone who is an A class celebrity to one person is unknown to the next. Think back to Britney Spears reign, everyone new her, I don't think we really have celebs like that anymore. Of course there are Taylor Swift and Harry Styles at the moment but I imagine that it is easy for anyone who's not a fan to limit their exposure to them. I have a lot of Taylor on my timelines because I am a big fan, but I never see Harry anymore because I never liked the videos or even watched them through so the algorithm stopped showing me. Maybe in the first few seasons Shameless in the US was inescapable for the wider society, like Glee or One Direction, all around the same time, but like I said, I can't vouch for that. Secondly, the way we consume tv has changed. I personally didn't watch shameless until 2022 and binge watched it all on Netflix over a few weeks. Streaming has really altered how we consume. We don't all watch the same shows at the same time with ad breaks like we did 15-20 years ago so it is hard for anything to be water cooler tv. In the UK the only shows that fit this standard are reality shows such as Love Island and I'm a Celebrity Get me Out of Here but I've noticed that even those don't have the water cooler tv title they did 10 years ago, likely because people can be binging shows on Netflix on a Friday night instead of tuning in to live reality tv.

Next up, here one feature of prestige tv is colour scheme/lighting

Prestige tv uses colour and lighting to set the tone, the article describes this as being dark, muted colours. I think shameless definitely makes use of colour to set the scene and help tell the story but they don't just use muted colours. In the early seasons there is a gorgeous grainy quality that feels comfortable and nostalgic. The Gallagher house is full of yellows and muted warm colours that help us feel safe and loved there, just look how cozy this video is. The Milkovich house on the flip side feels very cold and clinical. Look here, and this is Mickey's room which is the cosiest room in the entire house... still cold and depressing. Even the exterior of Kev and V's house being a pillow box red is a nod towards their passionate love.

Boobs

No seriously, the article said prestige tv shows full boob and shameless does that!

Self-awareness

I'm on that same article, according to Vulture, prestige tv has self awareness, shameless does to an extent. Of course there's the 'here's what you missed last week on shameless' where the actors stay in character which breaks down the fourth wall a little. Similarly there are a few pop culture references, Lip mentions Sue from Glee to Mandy (I can't find it on yt and he uses two slurs so I don't wanna repeat it), letting us know that the same tv shows exist in the shameless universe. Fun fact, Mike O'Malley who plays Burt Hummel on Glee (Kurt's dad) was a writer on Shameless! And of course Mickey watches Riverdale in season 11. I think these all count as self awareness.

Thus, yeah in my opinion I think Shameless could be considered prestige tv, as much as any show could be in the streaming age. But I am incredibly biased.

I have absolutely no business analysing tv, I literally heard the term 'prestige tv' for the first time today, but if anyone wants to discuss further, or listen to me yap more then lemme know!

[stonyponyofficial]

hi!!!! :3 here are "some songs" ive been "listening to" that "i" think "you" should too!

spotify || youtube

notes on each below ^w^

Big Dipper - Death Grips: this song has such a good bounce to it, it makes me move no matter what, i cant help it. especially the chorus cuz ill start singing along and, well, then theres no stopping me. ill wiggle in my seat or like put some bounce in my step. which is all fun when im listening to music at home, but at work, where i mostly listen to music, i cant i have to skip the song. plus i love u songs that end with a good few minutes of noise just because, i never skip u i swear 🥺

classic j dies and goes to hell - glass beach: im fiiiinally getting around to glass beach and why didn't ANYONE say it was good? don't think ive heard the opinion that the first glass beach album is good yet. i wanted to listen to more bc of the hazel "Twinkle Park" version of the self titled song which is also very good but i put this one on this list bc it builds energy and emotion soooo well. it starts so somber but builds and builds till we're screaming about supporting each other and making a home for yourself despite despite despite.

DOGTOOTH - Tyler, The Creator: he creates once more! i always forget i had a kinda big tyler thing in high school until he releases new music. out of all his recent releases post-Flower Boy, Call Me didnt connect with me as much, but this single from the Call Me If You Get Lost "estate sale" of stuff that didnt make the album surprisingly did! it feels a little flowerboy-ish in the production but has the call me vibes of like "i can afford all these cars, buy my neighbors house, and ill still take my private plane to Switzerland for the day just cuz i was craving some nice chocolate" very braggadocio, very tyler, very good :)

Dumbass!! - Machine Girl: this song both sounds like and has similar effects as brainworms. it fuckin. got in there and made me quantifiably more insane than i was before. said brainworms make me wanna scream the lyrics and scuffle my feet and just like run into traffic and dance around the cars bc this song makes me believe i could and id be fine. i hope to fucking god they play this at the mg/100 gecs show. this song is also one of the few times ive looked up the lyrics for a machine girl song, usually content to just let the beats jar my head, and as soon as i did i couldnt get them out :) like some sort of... thought... eating... something or other idk theres probably a word for it (<-the worms are finally getting to her)

Fantastic Cat - Takako Minekawa: this song is sooooo cute, there is so much synth and whimsy to be had! unfortunately i don't know much about the artist bc this was one of the first songs i found after using Radiooooo (which u should be basically required to use if u like music and finding new music) set to Japan in the 90s, but she's part of the 'shibuya-kei' genre/subculture that was popular during that time, which sounds like an interesting topic to dive into :3 the whimsy contained in this song is almost too much tho. the melody is so sweet, that wind instrument is so silly, and the moog breakdown in the middle too is. well, its all quite fantastic.

HI 5 - Frost Children: i took too long making this post that this entry went from originally a cheeky indirect plug for their upcoming album bc i just really liked this single to just,, oh the album came out... but either way i wanted to talk about the song bc 2 me its just more proof of how exciting of a voice in hyperpop the frost children are. the bass on it is as crazy and slick as the one on the cover. this whole song just explodes with eccentricity i think ull really like it :) also check out the epic music video! its ai generated for those who'd like to know beforehand, but they use it to like. rotoscope real footage its preddy neat!

Introduce me to your family - Otoboke Beaver: i made a little post recently about Otoboke Beaver's influence on six impala's WFLYTD, and after revisiting their album, Itekoma Hits, after making that post i got this one stuck in my head for a while. the hook hooks (the main reason i had it in my head for so long), the bass is groovy, the guitars are sharp, the rage is channeled, its all here! they keep all the energy going and growing the whole time until you cant help but scream along.

こんがらがった! (Kongaragatta!/Tangled up!)- Necry Talkie: started reading the bocchi manga recently (im just past where the show ends as of now :3) and they have art at the beginning of each chapter with the kessoku band members that references visuals from like irl japanese bands and music videos which i thought was really cool! of course i had to find a collection of all the referenced songs, and what do ya know... this cute little number was in there! (if ur wondering it's the art for chapter 18 that references this song's music video :3) its such a dinky beat at first (said so so lovingly) but it evolves into a precise, energetic little jam.

One Million Dollars - 100 gecs: this fucking sonnng.. not everyones fav off 10k i know but it is for me :3 it just rattles me in such a specific way. it originated and is the only way to sate the need in my brain to hear what it was like for nic cage in that "not the bees!!!!" scene. i love it sm, but im absolutely biased from my hearing this at a gec show and falling for it right then and there. the live version and the album version are a bit different and i think the changes they made for the album make it a fuller song i just. loved the feeling of hearing this live so much. i would just search up the epic live version at terminal 5 where Laura fucking SHREDS on the guitar at the end over and over while i was waiting for the album. again, makes me very excitied to see them and machine girl soon :3

o (__*) - Hakushi Hasegawa: i dont know much about this artist but goddamn the few songs i have heard from them have made such an impression. u know a song is good when its not even dnb but uses the "yeah.. woo!" sample to keep everything going. and yeah with how crazy fucking banana bonkers jazzy and technical the drums and piano get at times it needs that tiny bit of stability at least. this song feels like the epitome of controlled chaos in the absolute best way possible.

PARTY GIRL - Angel Electronics: after rook's latest solo album came out i decided to go back and visit this collab project of hers with ash nerve i had missed at first and.... weeeeeeh ;w; this song makes me wanna cry every time. rook can obviously write some bangers but i love her more tender songs too. so many parts come together to make it just the sweetest thing. the part that stuck with me the most was the chorus, like it's sooo cute id just sing it to myself on loop bc it leads into itself so well. i wanna just keep talking about how fucking cute this song is but like George Costanza voice the love story between the party girl and the weird shy girl got to me okay?

Prime - Marnie Stern: kinda the reason im making this list hehe :3 this song was on char 'igottawin' mp3's most recent WILT (what im listening to) poast (hi char :3) and it was What Im was Listening To... too... (both of us bc of this epic animation) so here it is on MY knockoff WILT post too mwahaha hahaha! haha but seriously guys this song is quite good. it does so much with all the variations on just that one verse and i get sucked into the lyrics and the guitars. and by the fourth time im chanting this same unending verse the song is surprisingly over and i just wanna listen to it again. this one deserves a 10 hr extended version frfr

Wait and Bleed - Slipknot & 青春コンプレックス(Seishun Complex) - Kessoku Band: whats this? a double entry? ahaha yes! 😈 i would've put these songs here separately bc ive been getting into both slipknot (thank u char :3) and the actual kessoku band album, both of which are quite good on their own. but i only combine their entries here bc of this epic mashup of these two songs by the aforementioned rook blackdresses which makes me unable to sing either without thinking of the other song. like the first three chords of the bocchi theme start playing and my brain wants to scream the GOODBYEEEEEE from Wait and Bleed. the slipknot chorus melds with the kessoku band guitars soooo well. to me they are pieces from different puzzles entirely but they still fit together <3

wants mom to know she looks cool and doesn't plan on changing - leroy: i finally listened to the dariacore and accompanying berdlycore serieseses and ive loved diving into this little subculture of silly hyperpop meme mashups that fuck immensely. takes the silly to earnest and very good pipeline to a new level. plus having been a fan of dltzk and jane's other stuff its the one thing i never really got into but there are. so many dariacore related things i need to listen to now. i feel like theres lore i have to catch up on but im excitied :3 this is one of my faves off dariacore 2: electaria corebaloo (not what its called)

This has been... Post! thanks for your time. if u read this far i love u so much please never forget that. 'til summer music-heads! *curtsies and shows myself off-stage*

[insomtiny]

this is me sending you all the emojis (or all the ones you want to do) for the atz ask game

i guess u could also pick like 5 random ones and go for it lol

ok it's happening

💗- who is your bias in ateez? - seonghwa! 🤗 💖- who was your very first bias? - seonghwa lol, i was in between a few at the beginning but it ended up being him and it stuck ⭐️- why is your bias your bias? - i could go on and on about how gorgeous and talented he is, but to be serious the main reason is cause he's a huge dork 💝- how long have you been a ateez stan? - late 2019! so like a little over 3 years ✨- why did you become a ateez stan? - i watched their halloween performance of wonderland and was hooked, i couldn't stop rewatching it, eventually i went on to listen to all of their other songs and haven't escaped since lol 💭- what was your favorite era? - treasure epilogue/answer era cause not only is answer still an absolute masterpiece, it will always have a special place in my heart for being my first comeback <3, also horizon and precious are still sooo good, and their styling was so pretty 🎤- rapper line or vocal line? - vocal line! 👊🏽- hyung-line or maknae-line? - hyung line! 🤙🏽- ateez or memeteez? - memeteez cause why are they so fucking funny for 🎶- what’s your favorite title track ateez song? - thanxx! 🎵- favorite non-title track song? - literally impossible to choose just one but take me home is my homie rn 🗣- share an unpopular opinion about anything related to ateez - before i say anything just know i love jongho and i think he's one of the best if not THE best 4th gen vocalist out there, but for the love of GOD people need to stop hyping him when he strains, it's not good for his vocal chords and it really doesn't sound great, he sounds perfect in his regular range 💀- share your favorite meme - i have a LOT but here's some

🎥- favorite ateez mv? - probably eternal sunshine or wave i just think they're so fun and happy 🏆- share your favorite ateez moment - so hard to choose because they are NEVER boring to watch, but i think it was during fever road when a mysterious masked figure came in and blindfolded and kidnapped wooyoung and they all NO HESITATION went "7 makes 1 team" 😭😭😭 and then jongho was like "wait i wanna save him" and they were like "ok then 6 makes 1 team" 😭😭😭 👨‍❤️‍👨- who do you ship in ateez? - ship???

👬- favorite brotps? - woosan and yunhwa are my 2 fave duos they are so goofy ❌- any notps? - any of them x sadness or pain or unhappiness :( 👀- name one member who isn’t your bias but… - SAN. when i tell you i came out of that concert with a whole crush on him 😫- have you ever seen ateez live? - saw them january 2022! literally life changing... 🌚-if ateez was on a deserted island, who would be the first to go and why? - wooyoung, they'd probably end up murdering him, that's if he didn't get himself killed first 💫- if you could tell one member one thing, what would it be? - i would tell seonghwa that he's the specialest boy in the whole world and that i'm proud of him 📢- say one thing you’ve been wanting to say about ateez but haven’t - they're genuinely the only kpop group i've never gotten bored with, even my other super faves have had lulls but they always entertain me in one way or another, i'd say the only other other exception is dreamcatcher 🚫- a fandom “joke” you think is overused and disagree with - ngl a lot of them get overused but like if everyone's having fun i don't really care, the only one i can think of that i'm completely over is "i cannot english" cause it's tired and just kinda... not cool... especially since mingi's obviously worked really hard to improve his english since then ❓- did you watch kq fellaz content predebut? - nope 😂- favorite variety show ateez has done? - the boatta dance bingo video is one of my favorites, them hyping each other up and trying to remember the different choreographies, and then the penalty of taking turns carrying jongho around was all just so cute 🤷🏽‍♀️- Treasure or Pirate King? - pirate king! 🤷🏽‍♂️- Say My Name or Hala Hala? - hmm, hala hala! 🙋🏽‍♂️- Desire or Promise? - promise! 🙋🏽- Stay or Twilight? - ooh... let's go with stay! 🕺🏽- fave dance mv? - wonderland, them dancing so hard the lighting goes weird still kills me lmao 💃🏽- favorite choreography? - hala hala probably, i'll never not love how absolutely manic it is 👽- favorite mv concept? - if we're talking regular mvs i'd say deja vu, but really it's black cat nero, i'd rlly love if they brought that aesthetic to one of their comebacks ♋️- do you share a sign with anyone in ateez? - no those bitches don't even have any earth signs AT ALL 😭 👫- a quality you and your bias share? - liking stuff to be clean and not liking bitter things 🤝- are you the same age as anyone in ateez? - i was born in 2000 but me and wooyoung are closest in age technically cause we're only like a little over a month apart i think

if you read all of this here's a kiss 💋

[consistantly-changing]

[Image descriptions in order: a screenshot of a discord conversation. It goes: Shadow: Grapes are easy to aquire and easy to eat Lutacrist: if you say anything else on this topic im going to murder you]

[A tweet by @frogchrist "stupid" which says "i want to lay in his arms". They tweet again 9h, saying "i dont even like men fr".]

[A screenshot of a comment on FANDOM by a user, which says "this guy has issues", posted on July 9th, 2019. Another user comments "unfortunately i love him", posted 23h before the screenshot was taken.]

[A screenshot of YouTube comments, one user comments in all capitals "THIS IS SUCH A STUPID VIDEO I JUST WASTED 3 MINUTES OF MY LFIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 FUCKU!!! A reply says "haha wow look at this fucking ashhole here, why didnt you click away from the video like a norma". 231 replies later, the replier comments "I love you". The OP comments "I love you too".]

[Four text messages, which say: you are great I love you Sorry i just got really emotional for like .5 seconds that was wild".]

[A Reddit comment, which says "ESH. You're both just enabling each other's mental illnesses. You're both perfect for each other. Never change. Just never involve anybody else in what you've got going on."]

[A tumblr post by tomwambsgirl which says "guy who carnally desires another guy and decides the only course of action is to psychologically torture him about it".]

[A Reddit post on r/ask by u/oohqueso titled "Is there a way to be bisexual without being in the lgbtq community?" The post says "I really don't want to be a part of it".]

[A tweet by @s4m31p4n "ppigg" which says "Bro your relationship with your friend is borderline homosexual and I think that's beautiful".]

[A Reddit comment thread, which goes: voiided: why is the guy hot im not gay dino_bacon: It's okay. You can think other men are hot without being gay. voiided: i want him to choke me]

[A tumblr post by log4 which says "men have conversations like it's a competition". They reblog with a screenshot of a comment by untitledbitcch which says "Yeah that's the point, why else would you talk to someone". log4 says "please please help me".]

[A tweet by @morguepoets which says "im not gay... *stares deep into ur eyes, blushing* i-i hate gay people.. *tucks ur hair behind ur ear tenderly* i have purely heterosexual thoughts... *gets closer to u, our lips almost touching* im not gay dude... *grabs your hand*"]

[A tweet by @morrowind_rtf "morrowind.rtf" which says "I refuse to discuss the subject further. My opinion will not change. If you continue to annoy me, I will kill you. This discussion is over."]

[A tweet by @abbygov "Abby Govindan" which says "you ever meet a man and it's so obvious that no one in his life has ever told him to shut the fuck up".]

[Two text messages, which say: What'd you doing today ?? I will let you punch me in the face if we can hang out and do something today]

[An article title, which says "Husband Material? This Guy Hates You".]

[A Facebook post by Bri Zarate which says "i have the worst taste in men. if i have ever liked you please work on yourself".]

[A text message notification from "Dad" which says "I hear a lot of curse words... Maybe you should try another game. You might not be good at that one".]

[A tumblr answer by greenmossloveisreal1998iloveyou which says "You wanna fuck me so bad it makes you look stupid".]

beautiful world moodboard i think.

[calumhoodgoss]

Hihi Lighter anon back (I’m gonna have to announce myself like this all the time right, even when I’m not talking about the song?)

Been catching up on posts and omg girlie, you’re my favourite blog 🥰 this little corner of the internet is so great!!

Your review is so valid!! Luke’s voice is just incredible and the way you described it is perfect, I never would have thought of putting it that way but that’s just so true.

I really agree, the visuals in the video really suited the vibes, idk you put it so eloquently.

As for why it was just Luke 🤷🏼‍♀️ no clue. But that man crumbles into peer pressure so easily (see shoey at Brisbane NFATTNE show as main evidence) so I just want to assume they told him he that he absolutely had to and he just did it.

But we can hope and pray for some promo from Ash and Cal but I feel like maybe the ship has sailed slightly on it?

But I wanna get everyone’s opinions on the self-titled 10th anniversary stuff. Cause like everyone on twitter and reddit where being so awful about it. IMO just be happy they’re acknowledging it and we’re getting anything at all. I definitely think I’m in the minority when i say that I actually liked the merch (even ordered some despite the shipping cost) because it’s simple and wearable. I feel like it’s an if you know, you know vibe and I’d rather that than an outlandish huge design. But idk, thoughts?

Hope all is well xx

OMG HI GIRLIEEEE

hahah you can totally give yourself a different nickname thats not lighter anon if you prefer 😂 whatever bbbbbbbb

THANK YOUUU and omgosh he totally could of just been peer pressured in lmao i didnt even think of that 😂 but its certainly a possibility hahahhaha oh lukeee

as for the self titled merch i totally agree. at least its wearable and pays homage to their early merch designs. its not out of line for what they used to produce so ?? it makes complete sense to me

on the other hand though, i do feel like it was an obvious choice and quite lazy (for lack of a better word). if we got an interview or some other kind of content along with the merch i dont think people would of been nearly as mad. but because it was just the merch, and it was the most lack lustre and obvious design choices, i feel like fans are just feeling a bit under appreciated. i dont personally mind, but i can see how many people would feel like that. especially not having gotten any content from them all year, people are thirsty lmao

side note, isnt friends of friends meant to be happening?? its 'august' - whatever that means

[notebookmusical]

Hi! I'm so sorry I haven't replied. It's been such a a long and stressful week for me and I just didn't have time. How are you? I hope you're well and doing good! :)

Okay that makes sense..my sleep schedule can be so off and probably not normal to other people haha. Some days I am up all day and don't sleep at all or just a few hours but sometimes I sleep a lot and it makes me more tired the more sleep I get too. Idk if that makes sense but it's so true and just depends on the day I guess. Like it's easier for me to stay up if I have to get up early haha.

Hopefully I can have time to watch eras this weekend and I totally get that since you're going to another show. However she is on a break right now and it will be nice to enjoy before a new album comes out since it celebrates her career. I'm also hoping to watch Poor Things too since Emma Stone is my other favorite and she won the Oscar for her performance! Oh what did you think of the Mean Girls movie? I can barely remember it now but it was okay to good and I see a lot of gifs of it on here so I think a lot of people generally liked it. It always makes me somewhat happy when people appreciate movie musicals even if the Broadway version is still better.

The vinyls were put back on her store and idk which one to get. I really liked the Albatross cover but it's also white like the original and I'm thinking the black dog since that one was totally different and black and it's a song I am more excited for. Plus my sister likes black and I will probably get the original one maybe a cd later. Did you see the explicit tracks for this album? Did it change your opinion on any of the songs? I am curious about it but we also don't know if it's just her saying shit lol. Midnights also had a lot of explicit songs too, like six but only I think two said fuck so idk. But still..they were not the ones I would have guessed or thought of, like the title track or loml or I Can Do it with a broken heart or Florida. But Daddy I love him makes sense though, cuz it just feels so Lana to me, or maybe that will be Fresh out of the Slammer. Also what do you think about the whole but Daddy I love him quote from the little mermaid as inspiration? I think it's a stretch and probably had nothing to do with the song but idk! I do kinda agree with the Florida or I Can Do it with a Broken Heart predictions though I guess. We will find out very soon! Where are you going out of town? I've read that people usually like to go hiking or out of town to listen to new albums but I just listen with my sister around midnight. Do you have anything fun planned?

Invisible has always been one of my favorites too. I get that about question and my sister explained how it's supposed to be but I will never go out of my way to hear it lol. It reminds me a little bit of Body Better too maybe along with Outdoor Pool. I totally see that about normal people though. I thought I heard that Sally Rooney announced a new book too. I think what bothers me about it is that it just feels like a 1989 vault track or something and some of them were even better than it lol. Although when we ranked Midnights the first day, I somehow put it in the middle and not last so it shows how first impressions can be waywrong. Omg I can't believe I got them all right but you had pretty general least favorites. I can't believe Dorothea is your Ieast favorite though, especially if you like country Taylor. wanna know what your most controversial least favorite is haha, like how I said I don't like Babe or the Moment I knew and Illicit Affairs.

I really liked Ariana's album actually. At first, I wasn't that impressed but it grew on me and now I really love it. We can't be friends was also my favorite and stood out on my first listen! My other absolute favorite is Imperfect for you. I loved the music video too which recreated scenes from the eternal Sunshine movie. Have you watched it? It's one of my favorites. But she also called the album a concept album and I didn't see much more of the eternal Sunshine theme in the album either. I also agree with her lyrics and saying stuff, but it might be exaggerated and boy is mine is a bop lol. It does make me curious about Taylors album and if it will be a similar chill pop vibe or something different. Also the fact that they both broke up with long term relationships but have already found someone new which I think is an interesting parallel. I didn't care for Bleachers album either when I first heard it but it also grew on me. Call me after midnight was also one of my favs too. I also finally listened to Renee Rapp, Chappell Roan, and the new Kacey Musgraves album. I think that will have to grow on me too, but I will be listening to Beyonces albums this week waiting for her album. March has not been that great haha but I think the stress of the last few months is mostly over now. I don't have any plans for the rest of the month. What about you? Thanks for the love..I missed talking to you! 🩷

hi friend!! i'm doing well! i'm going out of town for two weeks in early april, so i might not respond to you until i'm back !! i hope your week is going better and that you have a good april until we get to chat again!! 🤍

have you seen poor things yet? i've heard really good things but i do not think it is a movie for me! still curious to know what you think of it though. i didn't love the mean girls musical movie — i think most of my initial thoughts/criticisms carried through. i'm still surprised that bebe wood (gretchen) wasn't cady; her voice is beautiful. i know that mean girls the musical is just ... mean girls the musical and not some great work of literature but taking away it roars really messed up a lot of things, i think? just like what separates cady from every other girl is ... not there. the jungle motif is cut down. i really missed the more is better scene — they could've had a conversation instead of singing (again, why would you cast people who can't sing in a musical!!!!!!) but i think that the more is better scene is really important for cady's growth and development as a character/it's a wake up call and a turning page and not having it made it feel very weak. anddddd i think that aaron/cady needed more ... chemistry? more moments? idk. i missed the mathletes song! i probably won't ever watch it again. i recently rewatched the les mis movie and it's really interesting to see how much my opinions of it have changed over the years. i definitely enjoyed it a lot more this time around, although i still have opinions that haven't changed (russell crowe is terrible) so i wonder if i'll still be a # hater of the mean girls musical movie ten years from now or if that'll change.

i never cancelled my order and i think i'm too lazy to deal with all the variants, so i'll just stick with having the original TTPD vinyl + cd. which is fine. i just hate the variant "limited edition" thing. it feels very ... greedy. i know variant collecting is a thing! that's not my issue. i just wish she'd announce all of them at once instead of doing the limited 3 day sale thing. i didn't see the explicit tracks!! i've been out of the loop lately 😭 i'm going on a trip with my extended family, so i will probably lose a lot of my sanity and will be very very thrilled to be back home. it is too much family time in close quarters! but that's okay. it'll be fun to see everyone. i'm already missing my dog though :( i just have a lot going on this week and then the week after i'm back (which is also when TTPD is out) for new albums i usually just get cozy in bed and listen! nothing special! sometimes i'll write down my thoughts in a notes app! i'll be back by then though, so it'll be fun! 🤍 and that's the day before record store day, so a treat!

yes!! sally rooney did announce a new book! i still need to preorder it, but i'm waiting to see if she'll offer signed copies here in the states! i'm super super excited for it. i dont know if i have any super controversial least favorite taylor songs — wait actually i do: i am just not a rep girlie.

i watched the ariana grande music video but have never watched eternal sunshine! i did see a twitter thread of parallels/comparisons though! i liked some of the kacey musgraves album but i think it'll also be one that grows on me! i've been so busy lately running around that i've neglected my 365 albums in 365 days challenge. oops! i'm also going to have to load some albums onto my phone for when i'm away ...

sending lots of love! hoping you have a good week + that you get a chance to rest! will miss talking to you 🤍

[declanowo]

31 Days of Horror - Day 2

Day 2 - Driller Killer 02/10/23

Day two! I didn’t get up to too much today, tomorrow will probably be the same, but it’s a nice routine! I say I didn’t get up to much, but that’s downplaying what I have been up to, which is both stressful and fun! Can’t wait until my book is out! In fact, today was pretty tricky as I worked through some stuff for that, so watching a film in the evening was a nice way to chill :) 

I roll my films in the mornings to see what I will be watching, partly because I’m so excited, but partly because I want to make sure I don’t start a three hour movie at midnight when I want to sleep soon. Anyway - the film!

Today I landed on Driller Killer, released in 1979, and directed by Abel Ferrerra. The similarities between this and yesterday's film Night of the Howling Beast are fun! This is another low-budget movie released in the 70s, another video nasty, and another movie where the protagonist is played by a crew member, this time being the director. Some weird similarities, considering I only have a handful of films on my watchlist in the first two categories. 

I have wanted to watch this film for a while - when I think of it, two memories pop into my mind! The first is of my favourite YouTube channel, Dead Meat. There’s a video where the main host, James, simply goes through all his dvds and blurays, and he mentions how he would love to discuss this film in depth. Secondly, I remember towards the beginning of this year, my sisters boyfriend was discussing how he had a box full of video nasties, and how he would buy them under the counter of shops. He offered them to me, but he was very drunk so I never got them, but one thing that stood out was his mention of this film - I can’t remember any of the others he said - but never had I heard mention of such an obscure film from a person I knew. 

Anyway, the movie itself! I wanna structure this discussion differently, looking into different strands of the movie, in a less linear structure! I guess I should also say I would recommend any movie I discuss, it’s important to form your own opinion :) This is just a fun writing exercise for me hehe. 

The opening title of this film is so exciting - “This film should be played loud” like wow <3 It really encapsulates a lot of themes within this movie, and I think the sound in the film is very fun! At least, the diegetic sound is amazing! From the titular drill, to the band living near our protagonist Reno, sound is key to creating a dark atmosphere. Similarly, the non-diegetic sound does work too - although for me this wasn’t as constant of an effect. Sequences such as the one where Reno murders someone at a bus stop has a rock band on the score, intercutting the attack, and presumably his every thought. It feels busy and gritty, which really worked for me. Even the moments without a score worked well, the glimpses of silence as the protagonist falls into fits of rage, the bouts of shouting feel like they’re directed at you. 

Although I did not live through the late 70s - not even close - the film certainly paints a raw image of New York during this time period. Once again, the gritty appearance of the film works so well with this backdrop of poverty, crime and pessimism. We follow Reno and his two roommates as they struggle to make enough money for rent, and to me, it works perfectly. I truly felt that, even down to the design of the apartment. Nothing feels permanent here. 

Before getting too far into the themes, I want to discuss the characters! Having a murderous main character is very fun, the film acts as a character study almost, as we watch him decline to these depraved ideas flashing through his mind. He feels deeply fragile and masculine, the image of the power drill alluding to this excellently. He has a desire to feel powerful, to feel like he is making money to pay for the apartment and help those around him. Yet, he isn’t the breadwinner - far too much of a perfectionist. Here we see his clashing ideals and desires break in on him, and even through the sometimes less than stellar acting, I truly enjoyed this character. He felt real and dark, pathetic and yet somewhat empathetic. When his art is shunned, you feel the pain, yet by this point, you know what he is capable of, he is scary and twisted, maybe because of how real he feels. 

Secondly, and maybe my favourite, is Carol, who is played by Carolyn Marz. Her character is so interesting, and maybe deserves her own essay discussion, but that is neither here nor there. Carol pays the bills for the apartment - groundbreaking stuff for a 70s audience I am sure - yet this factor is understated, which works to its strength I feel! We see her dating other people - even having a husband! I’m unsure if this acts more as a reflection of her character, or Reno’s, but I love both sides of the coin. Truly, a vividly interesting character. 

The ensemble band are also interesting, although a group I feel I don’t know enough about to discuss. All I will say is, I believe they portray themselves excellently, and the constant cacophony of noise they bring to this apartment complex is perfect.

On to the theme of art! Perfection is important to Reno, a skill he strives to reach, yet never can. This element of his character makes him so scarily relatable, any artist of any form will tell you how badly they have wanted to create the myth of a perfect piece. Nothing can ever be perfect, as shown through the painting he makes, which appears to hardly, if at all, change. Constantly, he strives for that which he cannot reach, which financially plunges him into dark depths, while ultimately not mattering. It juxtaposes perfectly with the image of the murders, they’re quick, thoughtless actions. Finally, he has an outlet that he doesn’t have to pour all of himself into, while receiving nothing back. This theme also leads to my favourite quote:

"You're becoming simply a technician. there's nothing there. There's no feeling, no drama, no passion. a work of pure, unadulterated ego."

Before discussing a more important point, that pizza looks so gross wow! I would not have that anywhere near me - is it meant to look this way? Did they actually eat it? So many questions raised from that gross pizza! Also just peppers on it? What! 

Finally, I want to discuss the ending, a truly haunting image, that reminds me of Black Christmas, an all time favourite of mine! It is bleak and terrifying. The thought of it is pure horror and I love it. Truly, a good for no one horror film, even as Carol appears to escape, Reno still manages to find her, the simple sound of his grunting in the darkness as he pretends to be another man is terrifying - there is no other way to put it. An ending that is sure to stick with me. 

In conclusion, a very very good film that does a lot for me personally! I don’t think this will be for everyone - many technical aspects of this film are poorly done, yet it has heart, and I adore what it is doing so very much! It exceeded my expectations! I love this so much. 

9/10!

[destinygoldenstar]

How Dhar Mann Unintentionally Makes Bad Messages (Analyzing “Nerd gets revenge on Cool Guys”)

So if you remember by post titled ‘My beef with Dhar Mann’ you probably remember I am not a fan of this insanely popular Youtuber. I explained why before, and that my biggest gripe was that Dhar Mann’s main intention with his videos are to give good messages to his audience, only (and unintentionally I guess) to have the messages actually be extremely HARMFUL. I try commenting why I feel this way in his comment sections while trying to be nice and say that I only wanted him to do better, but EVERY TIME I get backlash from people who say I am a bad person for daring to criticize Dhar Dhar.

Do I regret my constructive criticism?

NO.

I may not be right all the time, but I sure know that Dhar Mann NEEDS to hear out people like me. But he actively REFUSES to and makes US look like bad guys. Seriously, every time I look through his comment sections and see kids genuinely call him an inspiration and an absolute role model... I feel really bad. Obviously, if they love his videos, that’s fine, opinions are opinions, but when they say that the messages are good... I just feel bad for these people because it REALLY feels like a cult. And I DO NOT want to have to say that to any fanbase.

And I just so happened to find new video he made that legitimately expresses ALL MY POINTS from my previous post about him, and just made me angry. Keep in mind I will TRY to keep the rage level as low as possible, and again, give constructive criticism as to WHY I find this video such a TERRIBLE influence to people.

“Nerd gets revenge on cool teens, what happens next is shocking”

Yeah, given how nearly EVERY Dhar Mann video ends the same way, I doubt ANYONE will be shocked at anything.

But that’s still not an excuse for my points.

Before I get started, I want to also point out that Dhar Mann was out for two months, where in a post he said he was doing it for Covid reasons, to save lives and keep his crew safe.

Okay, what’s the problem with that? He’s protecting people from Covid.

IT WAS A LIE.

He wasn’t out to keep the people working on his videos safe from the deadly virus, he was busy promoting a new studio! Where he expresses that, as if his Covid post NEVER existed, and goes over how his videos will now be longer, and ‘less cringy’ (yeah right. Dude, being cringy is NOT the issue of your videos. The problem is that you don’t INTEND for it to be cringy, so you fail at your selling point. If ya wanna be cringy, be cringy, embrace yourself with that!) So okay, he wants to promote himself and his platform, and that’s why he was gone. Okay, cool. BUT DON’T LIE TO US. DON’T say you’re leaving to protect people, when you’re doing the exact opposite! And if that WAS your intention, WHY would you drag all your good and loyal crewmates into an area where they could get the virus?!

GOSH I feel so bad for the crew. I know I hate these videos, but I don’t hate the crew at all even if it seems that way sometimes. I want to give this crew a hug and get them some better work options.💖

So THAT’S the context as to why his videos are longer now. So, with the video I’m gonna go over today, there is A LOT of ground I want to cover. Therefore A LOT of bad messages I want to call out and tell people WHY these are bad messages and harmful ones to the audience.

Keep in mind that ALL of my words are my opinion, and meant to be constructive criticism, my points are not fact, it’s all about perspective, and I am sharing my perspective. If you think these are all good messages, good for you. I’m glad you can unironically watch these and see greatness in them. I also do not mean to harass Dhar Mann or anyone involved, and I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT SAY ANYONE SHOULD QUIT THEIR JOB. I say I want them to take what I say into consideration, so they can BE BETTER.

Also, this guy has 10 MILLION subs now. I only have 14 followers on Tumblr (love ya guys) So obviously, I am a VERY small force compared to him. But I do hope I can be heard by at least someone. And if you hear me, PLEASE leave a like and also share your thoughts. These types of posts get ZERO recognition and that makes me sad.

So, let’s look at this video, going over EVERY bullet point on WHY I find these messages SO TERRIBLE, going over EVERYTHING I can find in this single video: “Nerd Gets Revenge On Cool Teens”

1: It’s A Black And White World

This is a problem with nearly EVERY Dhar Mann video, but it needs to also be said here. The idea that it’s a black and white world we live in. If you don’t know what that means, it’s basically a world where there are good guys and there are bad guys, and it’s extremely obvious who’s who. The good guys do the morally good thing, and the bad guys do the morally bad thing. Now, in something like fiction, this isn’t ENTIRELY a problem, there are shows and movies where there are simply good guys and bad guys. 

The problem arises where your intention is to be realistic. And Dhar Mann is trying to portray how the world works. So this mindset makes his characters extremally unrelatable. They’re just one trait, one diversity, (I’ll talk about that later) and one role. There are cheesy shows out there that make the bullies unrealistically hateable and over the top, but that shouldn’t be a mindset audience members should walk away with and say “Yeah, that’s what the real world is like!” If you encourage kids that there are bad people in the world, that’s fine. If you encourage kids that there are nothing but bad people and you’re the only good person, that’s HARMFUL. That could turn that kid into an egotist who thinks that they’re always right.

On top of that, these bullies are NOT INTENDED to be corny, they’re intended to be realistic and to make the good guys relatable. Except even in my days, my bullies would never call names or be so blatant about making fun of my diversities, they don’t try to beat me, they don’t go out of their way to torment me. They would just annoy me and pester me to make me feel uncomfortable. They’d press my buttons and make me question myself. If I was downright beaten up or called names like Dhar Mann bullies do, I’d know straight away I’m being used. But the type of bullying I went through made me seriously question myself, because they knew what worked on me. Believe it or not, I myself had the mindset that I was the only right person, that I was good and virtuous and they were all morons. I had to learn the hard way that I was WRONG. I wasn’t ‘the good guy’ because they were people, and in their mind, I was the issue. I was constantly harassing them to be like me. And I will go into more detail about this later in this post. 

Dhar Mann doesn’t write bullies as though they’re people, he writes bullies as though they’re devils. It would be fine if he wasn’t trying to make his videos relatable, but he is, and that’s why it doesn’t work. NOBODY is going to relate to these bully characters or recognize that they might potentially be like them, because they are unidentifiable to the audience. They will not look at a video with a dude calling a girl names and throwing her notebooks in the trash and laugh in an over the top fashion, and go “Yeah, I can see myself in that, I guess my behavior is flawed.” 

If people can see these bullies in themselves, then... they should get some mental help.

Oh and another thing that’s not related to this video specifically: Critics are bullies in the Dhar Mann universe.

Guess that makes me a bully because I DARE to give him constructive criticism.

Must I say more about how harmful this is?

So in context of his video, a football player wants to date this hot girl because she’s hot, and looks down on a ‘ugly girl’ who has a crush on him, and he actively talks smack about her KNOWING she’s listening. 

I am NOT gonna act like I’ve never experienced this before. I unfortunately fall under the category of ‘traditional beauty’ to a lot of people, and that actually made me feel worse about myself, because I’d always have incels trying to date me for my looks alone. Then when they actively get to know me, they become bullies. (Yeah something Dhar Mann says about getting to know people as people will make bullies stop? Well, that’s a lie!) So no, while the dialogue is bad in this video, I am NOT gonna act like this isn’t behavior I’ve experienced before. 

Another nitpick, the teacher wants the kids to use calculators without any batteries. That would make the calculator shut down! What is her goal here?!

2: Liking Appearances Is Bad

You also don’t transfer into school in just a few weeks before the school year ends! That’s not how moving works!

But okay, so the guy is in love with the new girl because she hot, fine. Some relationships DO start off with appearances. Mine didn’t, but I am not gonna act like falling for appearance is a bad thing. Dhar Mann says that beauty is a bad thing to fall for, except it’s not. If you love a person truly, you love them for all aspects of them. Maybe not all, maybe you don’t like one or two things they do, but overall, you love them for who they are, and you love a ton of features they have. Obviously, liking them as people is always a good thing, and what you should focus on more. But sometimes it doesn’t matter if you like them as people, find them nice, find them to be good friends, find them to be the most good hearted people out there, if you don’t find them attractive, you DO NOT have to be in a relationship with them. You can just be friends, and there is nothing wrong with that. 

Secondly, this video wants you to believe that braces, acne, and glasses are unattractive and can never be attractive, and I’ll go in depth about this later. Do know that there ARE some people in the world who find glasses attractive, who find braces attractive. You should not feel ashamed of the physical appearance you do have because someone might find you and genuinely love you for that. And if they love you for your personality as well, that’s a good sounding relationship.

You DO NOT have to change the way you look or fit into ‘the traditional beauty’ in any way at all! 

I’m so glad Dhar Mann doesn’t say in this video that you DO have to fit traditional beauty in order to get ANY sort of love-

OH WAIT...

We’ll talk about this later.

Also, drawing your crush on paper isn’t cute. It’s creepy. Keep in mind that’s ENTIRELY my opinion, but I find that creepy. Unless you have a partner, and they’re okay with you drawing them, DON’T DO THIS.

I agree with the bullies here, the nerd girl is a CREEP.

And don’t worry, she gets even MORE UNLIKEABLE as the video goes on.

3: Grades = LIFE

I. HATE. THIS.

I ABSOLUTELY HATE THIS ONE.

THIS IS DISGUSTING, THIS IS CORRUPTING, THIS IS MANIPULATIVE, THIS IS REAL LIFE, AND DHAR MANN ENCOURAGES THIS CORRUPTED TERRIBLE MINDSET TO BE PERFECT

I HATE IT.

Okay, to go in detail, the teacher tells the guy that he’s failing class. He doesn’t care, he can move on with his life. Good mindset man. Grades don’t define him, that’s good! 👍

Except we’re supposed to believe HE’S WRONG for this mindset!

NO.

HE’S RIGHT.

But NOOOOOO, Grades are the single most important thing in the entire world! If you don’t get an A, you’re a bad person! If you don’t care about grades, you’re a bad person! There is NO OTHER WAY you can live your life other than to take tests and get As. Unless you get As, you will NEVER have a good life, and will NEVER be a real person in the real world.

Sadly, this is the school system we live in. AND IT’S SICK. This may be real, but it shouldn’t be ENCORUAGED to keep happening! Say what you will about hard work and preparation, we live in a world where there are MULTIPLE options for people to get jobs, participate in events, and have good lives, outside of school. We should encourage kids to actually explore the world and figure out who they are and find their own success, because if we keep them locked away from the world in a building and stress them out with tests involving memorizing random junk, THAT’S what makes them less likely to succeed at life.

I’ve followed this corrupted system for a long time, and what a dumb person I was back then. Because exploring the world has helped me in far greater ways. I want to help people understand that. It’s also why I absolutely HATE videos like these that encourage school to be the ONE AND ONLY WAY you can succeed at life. It’s GROSS.

This teacher also frames it as though FUN is BAD.

NO NO NO NO

Fun is NOT bad! Fun is vital to a person’s self esteem. If they don’t like what they’re doing, they’re not gonna be happy, which could lead to several mental illnesses. Again, ANOTHER bad message from Dhar Mann.

Also what is she talking about when she says that ‘he could have easily stopped it’? I didn’t see HER stopping anything! I didn’t see anyone else walking by stopping anything! They were minding their own business, and that’s okay!! Whether or not you get involved in something is YOUR choice! You are not wrong for either route you take! Wanna get in on it? Fine. Don’t want to? Fine. That’s a subjective situation, and encouraging people that if they don’t fight back, they’re bad people, is HARMFUL.

So the guy wants to play football. But according to this world’s rules, bad grades mean you DON’T get to follow your dreams or have a good life! NOPE. Doesn’t matter how good you are at your skill, doesn’t matter how good you are as a person, doesn’t matter if you’re the only option they’ve got! Bad grades, means NO LIFE. NO DREAMS. YOU’RE A FAILURE. YOU GET NO FUTURE, and you can NEVER FIX THAT!

Aside from the ending, THIS makes me the most ANGRY out the entire 20 minute long video. That says a lot.

Which also brings me to:

4: “Instead of making fun of Anna, you should try to be more like Anna. She scores the highest grades out of any of my students in any of my classes.”

Me: 😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠😠

YES. Encourage kids that they should NOT be themselves! But rather be like OTHER PEOPLE! “Because they’re just so much more successful than you!”

That’s SARCASM from me.

NO. DON’T think this quote is a good message. IT’S NOT. 

Sure, celebrities exist, they’re successful. But NO, kids CAN look up to them, but they should not try to BE them. If you get what I’m saying. Kids should be their own inspiration as much as others inspire them. They should feel comfortable being themselves and trusting their own talents and skills. Because some ways don’t work for others. We’re all different. And if we try to be like other people, we’re ultimately setting ourselves up for failures.

If I was in this Dhar Mann school and I had this teacher, I’d probably sue them.

She is a bad influence on her kids.

Okay, so this guy’s plan is to USE the nerd girl to get an A on the project, by lying about his feelings for her and manipulating her so he can dump her for the project. I WILL hand it to Dhar Mann that he points out this is wrong behavior. I’m not gonna argue with such. The nerd girl is the victim here. Not gonna argue. But the problem comes with HOW this is executed into showing he’s wrong. NOT by making him learn more about her or suffer because of his actions, but because the NERD GIRL does something WORSE and is seen as JUSTIFIED.

So skipping TEN minutes of FILLER, where all you need to know is that he uses her, he gets an A, he dumps her, and comes clean to her that she isn’t attractive to him. Boo hoo.

So what is the message here? Should the nerd girl move on? Should she learn to accept herself for who she is? Should she trust her own abilities and love her appearance just the way it is? Should she learn to be carful who she crushes on and trusts? Thus should the message be to avoid abusive relationships and red flags?

All of these things would be a legit good message to leave the audience with!

NAH!

Let’s do the actual WORST outcome possible for this sort of story!

So narrated by Dhar Mann (cause he got lazy to actually WRITE his story) the guy and the hot girl get As, they get along, they start to love each other for who they are, and they become a couple. Cute. They have a great summer vacation, they legit talk to each other and hang out. 

It’s a great, cute, healthy couple!

AND THEN THIS HAPPENS

5: You can only be traditionally beautiful to be attractive

Yep.

THIS is why you don’t dump ugly girls... because they could become traditionally beautiful one day!

This is actually THE WORST MESSAGE of the entire video!

Yes kids, if you have glasses, if you have braces, if you have acne, you CANNOT be attractive in ANY WAY. NOBODY will like you! You have to become traditionally beautiful and hot in order to get ANY RESPECT from ANYONE.

Something about who you are on the inside? Something about loving yourself for your own beauty? NOPE. YOU MUST BE HOT. That’s the ONLY WAY you can be loved!

NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!

People with glasses can be beautiful! People with facial deformities can be beautiful! People with braces and be beautiful! You should love yourself for who you are! No matter what! You do not have to appeal to ANYTHING!

Dhar Mann actively says that NO, you CAN’T be beautiful unless you’re traditionally so! You CAN’T possibly be proud to have deformities! That’s just BAD!

NO, IT’S HEALTHY for people to love themselves, even if they’re not attractive! IT’S NOT HEALTHY to say they HAVE to be someone else in order to be attractive!

I can’t express how much I hate this! 

And best of all, the nerd girl is NOT EVEN A GOOD PERSON

I mentioned before that she was a creep, but this ending just makes her WORSE...

6: Ruining lives is GOOD

Yep. She ruins his life. Because of the stuff he did before.

Now, yes, the guy DOES deserve consequences for his actions. Fair. But I absolutely DO NOT think THIS is the way to do it. I don’t think the nerd girl should have ACTIVELY destroyed EVERYTHING HE LOVED. If it was passive, fine, but it’s not passive. His life is ruined because of HER, NO ONE ELSE. NOT any other aspect of him that could send him on any downward spiral. It is entirely HER. FAULT.

She records him flirting with her ‘cause she hot now’ and she exposes that to his girlfriend to END a perfectly serviceable relationship. That was an okay relationship! He wasn’t manipulating Amber, he wasn’t abusing her, he wasn’t using her for anything! He spent the summer with Amber and they got along! For who they were! And I’m supposed to believe he’s JUSTIFIED in LOSING that?!

He clearly loved Amber for more than her beauty in that montage! Sure her appearance is the main reason why he’s dating her, but he GOT ALONG with her! They were compatible! 

Then the nerd girl actively RUINS IT, by convincing Amber to DUMP HIM. The nerd girl exposes his actions (randomly) and EVERYONE hates him now! He gets bad grades now, he fails at school, he loses his privileges, he fails at his LIFE. Because earlier they said that grades defined EVERYTHING.

And they want me to believe the nerd girl is in the right.

SHE’S NOT.

She just proved that she was WORSE than him by doing this! She USED her classmates to ruin his life! She USED Amber to have her dump him! She USED everyone to ruin his life!! And then she walks away all pretty and attractive like it’s something to be proud of!

Yeah sure! Ruining a guy’s life is GOOD. Making sure he has NO FUTURE is GOOD. Revenge is GOOD. Ruining relationships is GOOD. Playing people is GOOD. Using your looks to an advantage is GOOD.

NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!!

That’s NOT GOOD.

And there are people who believe this is a good message?!

No it’s not! This is NOT what you do! This is selfish, this is cruel, and this does NOT make you ANY better than the guy you want revenge on. If someone uses you the way the guy did to the nerdy girl, you LEAVE. You walk away, ignore him for the rest of your life, and you find acceptance in yourself! Maybe you become traditionally beautiful, maybe you don’t, maybe you find love n yourself just the way you are. But by doing the exact same thing your user does, does NOT make you right. It makes you just as wrong, doesn’t matter if you were the victim first. 

You need to WALK AWAY. You need to LEAVE, and worry about yourself! Just don’t ever talk to the person who used you ever again. That’s all you need to do!

I can’t believe people actually think this video is a good message. FIVE MILLION PEOPLE viewed it. I just... how?! HOW IS THIS GOOD?! THIS IS HARMFUL FOR PEOPLE, and in many ways, will actively change their lives for the WORST. If this gets in their heads at least.

I really DON’T want that to happen to anybody. SO I’m making this post. 

Dhar Mann, if you read this (which you very likely won’t) take my words and think about what I’m saying. Do better with your writing!

If you read this post, please like it. These sort of posts get ZERO recognition and it saddens me.

[corvidcall]

I love the Hunchback of Notre Dame movie too and I did not know there was a musical, what didn't you like about it? Do I wanna know how bad it is

i have been waiting years for someone to ask me about the stage musical

Probably you haven't heard about it because 1. I don't think it's very good (and the world operates based solely on my opinions, right?) 2. for union/profit reasons, it has never been on Broadway and likely never will (apparently Stephen Schwartz and Alan Menken, who also composed the original Disney film, said the stage version HAD to have a full live choir on stage, and getting the choir on a Broadway production would have required different union negotiations, and Disney didn't think it would be profitable. I honestly think they're probably right)

ANYWAY this got way too long so it's all going under a cut. I have some nice things to say in there, too! I swear!

i saw it in 2018 in Seattle, and while I love to talk shit, there are definitely things that I liked about it!! I went to see it because Joshua Castille was in the title role (he played Ernst in the Deaf West production of Spring Awakening). As you might know, I am a trained ASL interpreter! So I really wanted to support a Deaf artist, and I wanted to see how they approached my favorite Disney musical (and how the interpreters handled it!!!)

Joshua Castille was honestly incredible, and everything they did to incorporate his Deafness into the role was really cool. When he was by himself/with the gargoyles, he used ASL, but Frollo refused to sign with him and would only respond if he spoke, which I thought was a great extension of the way Frollo has treated Quasimodo his whole life (ie "I am abusing you for your own good"). When Esmeralda and Quasimodo start becoming friends, she tries to pick up some signs from him, which I thought was a great element. During Quasimodo's songs, one of the gargoyles would sing the part while Castille performed it in ASL. Here's a video of "Out There", if you're interested to see how it worked.

I think that in other productions, they've tried to kind of incorporate the fact that Quasimodo was deaf in the book? But I believe they started by having Hearing actors in the role, which is... well. It Is. But I saw it with a Deaf actor in the role and he was great. I thought that Quasimodo's hearing loss was a good thing they brought in from the original novel that actually really added to the production.

Not... everything was as good of a choice as that one.

See, it's specifically a stage adaption of the Disney movie. It uses all the Disney songs. One would think that it would maybe be aiming to have the same themes as the Disney movie, the chiefest of which is... let's say "internal vs external monsterhood." Quasimodo looks like a monster, but he is a good person, whereas Frollo looks normal, but is, inside, a monster.

You know what you wouldn't want to do, if that's your main theme? Start the show off with Frollo's sad backstory!!! He and his brother were orphans! They were raised by the church! His brother ran off with a Romani woman and Frollo didn't see him again until he was on his deathbed, when he asked Frollo to raise his son for him. That son was Quasimodo!

Like... why add this? Why give this character a sad backstory? A family that he loved? I don't understand what I'm supposed to get out of this. Is it... to justify why he's racist? Because I didn't really need a justification for that. It honestly makes his abuse of Quasimodo even weirder- like, he loved his brother and would have done anything for him, but is abusing his brother's son? I know it HAPPENS, but it just... feels so out of line with the rest of the story, I really can't fathom what I as an audience member am supposed to take away from it. This backstory doesn't add any richness or depth to the story. It takes away from it! And like... so Frollo was sad. Do you care? Clap if you care.

They made a bunch of changes to Pheobus, but I don't really care that much about that, beyond the fact that I think they made him somehow suck even more (iirc his intro song is basically "i just got back into paris from The War and im here to FUCK" like... ok i guess.)

But I'd say my number one biggest problem with the show is the changed ending. Esmeralda dies in this one. She gets tied to a pyre, and Quasimodo rescues her, but she's inhaled too much smoke, so she tells him he's been a great friend to her and then she dies.

I know this is more accurate to the novel. But like... I don't care about that? I don't think you can grade the quality of an adaption based on it's faithfulness to the source material. Why would anyone bother adapting anything, if that were the case? Some things don't work in adaption, and sometimes you're using the adaption to send a different message than the source material. An adaption should be able to stand on it's own, otherwise, why did any of us fucking bother? If a movie is based on a book, I shouldn't have to read the book to enjoy the movie, and likewise, they shouldn't include things from the book that don't make it a better movie!

The original novel was focused on the importance of architecture, how buildings were the primary way ideas were spread and preserved before the printing press. Hugo was concerned that the actual Notre Dame cathedral was in disrepair, that France would lose an essential part of it's history. If a good adaption was really only about being faithful to the source material, then we should be upset that that's an idea that has not been represented in most adaptions of Hunchback! I mean, sure, it's not represented in them because that's a problem that got solved, so we don't really need to spread the good word of historical preservation, but it's in the original! And also, the themes about social justice AREN'T in the original, so we should be mad about all those, too, right? (If you haven't seen Lindsay Ellis's video about Hunchback, I'd recommend checking it out. she talks a lot about the evolution of the themes in various adaptions.)

I'm saying all this because, while I know that Esmeralda dies in the book, and that basically every character in it kinda sucks, I think that really undercuts the themes that the Disney movie was going for (like I said, "internal vs external monsterhood"). Quasimodo and Frollo both are in love with Esmeralda, and she does not return those feelings. Quasimodo is sad and hurt, but he also is happy to have Esmeralda as a friend, and wants her to be happy as well. Frollo would rather she die than not be with him. This is one of the key points of contrast between Quasimodo and Frollo. Even their songs about Esmeralda are thematic opposites!!! Hellfire vs Heaven's Light!!!

So having her just die at the end makes that whole thing pointless. She doesn't get to be with the man she's actually in love with. Quasimodo doesn't get to complete his arc, where he accepts her decision and is happy for her. Frollo basically got what he wanted! What does this change add to the story, other than another token attempt at being "more book accurate," a thing nobody with an ounce of sense in their head should actually care about?

The stage musical uses the same music as the Disney movie, which were building to the themes and the conclusion that was shown in that movie, but it has a different ending, so those themes don't pay off. It's like they bought a lego set and used it to build something entirely different. Like, you CAN do that, but I'm not going to believe you when you tell me you actually built the lego set as it was intended.

Also I thought all the songs they added for the show sucked ass.

[riddlegecko]

OKAY HOLY SHIT SO HERE'S MY HONEY QUEEN THOUGHTS BABES

Jeff ending the title song with a flat "JOY" made me actually cackle out loud, that was incredible.

River Monroe my beloved, he's a precious lil lad and I love him <3333

I feel like no one's mentioning that we got a maiden name reveal for Linda? Her dad's name is Roman Murray!

Linda's parental favoritism makes me wanna throw hands <3

Zoey calling Linda a boomer was hysterical, holy shit

Zoey outing her brother to their homophobic grandmother for extra inheritance money also made me wanna throw hands <3 I mean, fuck, Starkid sure knows how to get me to feel Rage over a character.

Canonical Stinky Man Malone™

Okay so genuinely, I'm not sure whether I prefer Latte Hatte or Queen B, because both songs are absolute bangers. I think Latte Hatte is a bit catchier, and Lauren is a surprisingly good rapper, so I think they're tied. Also the videos for both songs were wonderful, especially Queen B, like fuck man, go off.

The Langs said "tonight we give you not one, but two Paul cameos, heehee hoohoo!" and I thank them for that.

Nick as Hidgens was such an unexpected delight, he plays the part so well.

I was not expecting so much anti-cop rhetoric in this episode, but truly, I am not complaining. That scene with Sam and River in the bathroom was chilling.

Fuck dude, that fight between Zoey and Linda? Perfectly suspenseful. I was so sure for a second that Linda would be the one to die in the rafters. Although I feel like they kinda,,, brushed over Linda having 3 broken fingers?? Like, did no one notice how fucked up her hand was?

God, Linda's voicemail to Gerald near the end? Fuck OFF, I can't believe I actually got emotional for Linda for a second, that was genuinely heartbreaking.

I don't really have a super solid opinion on Gerald as a character yet, but I do think it's sweet how much he truly loves Linda. I actually went "aww!" out loud when he called her his honey queen, that was cute.

Y'all the moment I realized how the story was gonna end as Roman was driving Linda out into the Witchwood was indescribable. Like, I remembered Zoey's line about how "every winner of the Honey Queen pageant left town", and I lost my fucking MIND.

Everything about the ending was just,,, MM, so good. The horrifying grossness of all the dead pigs, Jon's chilling performance, the return of Lauren's flawless Horror Movie Scream™, Nibbly and his abhorrent fucking voice and presence, just the way all the subtle foreshadowing paid off????? God, it's so good. What an ending.

Nibbly Ditty was a pretty catchy little bop, but I was a bit more transfixed by Snurt 3: Snurt Strikes Back™ (I'm never letting this meme die <3)

SUPPLIES ARE LIMITED, USE THE CODE "CRAFTCLASS" FOR 100% OFF YOUR ORDER

[soramei]

Intentional - Part 5

Pairing: Bang Chan x Reader (she/her)

Summary: Landing your first real job at JYPE was something short of a miracle. You were prepared to face the new struggles of this elusive career whilst moving to a new country, however, nothing could have prepared you for him. Will stolen glances, secret touches, and hushed nights spent in the recording room ever be enough for the both of you?

Genre: idol!bang chan au, forbidden relationship, coworkers to eventual lovers, slow burn

Warnings: cursing, eventual smut

Word Count: 4.0k

Masterlist

A/N: yeah so about that upload... i was really busy this whole week but i hope to start uploading mondays again! thanks for understanding!!

Taglist (reply to be tagged!): @planetdemon​ @hvunvely​ @fluffybitch0325​ @fashi0nablee @juststop88 @straykisz @theultimaterad @margaritas-en-la-montania @meowtella

There was a pause in the phone call.

You started biting your nails, instantly regretting what you had just done. Basking in your stupidity, you could only wait for his response, for it was too late to retract what you had just said. Your day must have been worse than you thought. It must have been so bad that you had the nerve to ask Bang Chan — an idol, a person with a strict schedule, somebody who you had an argument with — to come over to your pathetic little apartment.

You kept nibbling on your fingers.

“I’ll get my jacket.”

You froze, eyes wide.

“Huh?” You were bewildered. You weren’t even expecting an answer, much less this.

“It’s cold this late at night,” he explained, “I’ll be there soon.”

You didn’t know what to say. You heard rustling on the other side of the call.

“Wait, I’ll tell you my address,” you blurted out.

“You did,” he said.

You frowned, trying to remember if you did or not. That’s right. You blushed at the memory of your first day of work.

“Oh yeah, umm, I’ll hang up now.” You awkwardly said, hanging up before Bang Chan could fit another word in.

You were a statue in your own apartment, clinging on to the last words exchanged on your phone. In actuality, you didn’t know why you asked him to come over. It was just blurted out in the moment. Or maybe it was a result of your extremely frustrating day. Either way, you felt extremely embarrassed that you did so, especially so late at night.

You started boiling some water, still trying to rationalize what you had just done. This was normal for friends, right? Na-eun and Yoojin came over just yesterday and you were friends with both of them. You knew for a fact that you two were friends, but you still couldn’t find an explanation for the strange feeling in your chest whenever you were around him.

Turning your phone on, you checked your face in the selfie camera. It was a miracle that your makeup didn’t smudge off. You thanked your new ‘CLIO’ foundation cushion, it looked like all that time you spent doing your makeup didn’t go to waste. You stared at your reflection for a couple more seconds before turning your phone off. Why did it matter what you looked like anyways? You wiped off any remaining lipstick with the back of your hand.

The kettle started rumbling, letting you know that the water was ready. You took out your mug to prepare some tea. It was a bad idea to have tea this late at night, but there was something about your mother’s tea that could knock a grown man out.

Sipping your tea, you turned on Youtube to an episode of a Korean web-drama that was getting really popular. It was another one with some rich CEO and a clumsy average girl, but you still watched, fully enamoured. On the recommendations list, there was a video with Felix — the other person you saw at the cafeteria on your first day — on the thumbnail. I can never escape from work, you thought to yourself, rolling your eyes.

You clicked on it anyways, just to pass the time. Watching through the video, you were shocked by the production value. Well, that, and Bang Chan. Whether it was hair and makeup or just his acting, he was so different from the person you knew in real life. You were in awe by his natural charisma gleaming at you through the screen as it was a rare quality that few people you knew possessed. Embarrassingly, you found your eyes drawn to only him in every group shot. He looked good in an apron.

You got distracted by more random videos before clicking back on your drama. The next episode was just about to start when the buzzer to your apartment rang.

It was Bang Chan.

Hurriedly, you shuffled towards your door. With your hand on the handle, you took a deep breath before opening the door.

“Hey,” you smiled.

“Hey,” he smiled back. He was leaning over you, his forearm on the doorframe. His coat was bulky, almost engulfing his whole upper body. He was wearing the same beanie you saw on multiple occasions, and in his hand was a white plastic bag.

You stepped aside, silently gesturing for him to come inside. He took your hint and sauntered in the room, head turning left and right to observe his surroundings.

“It’s not much,” you blushed, realizing how small your apartment really was. You could basically see all your belongings from the center of the room.

“No, it’s cute.” Bang Chan looked at you, taking his hat off. His dimple peaked out. “I brought some leftovers from that barbecue place. The kids and I went there after our shoot today.”

So that was what the bag was. With only food on your mind, you rushed to help hang Bang Chan’s coat before setting the table up.

The food was really good. They were leftovers, but it was so good. Stuffing a bite of pork belly in your mouth, you sighed. Where was this food earlier today?

“It’s good, right?” Bang Chan asked whilst chewing on a piece of meat. “I’ll take you next time.”

It was like he read your mind. You nodded eagerly in response, to which Bang Chan replied with a smirk.

“So, uh,” he scratched the back of his neck, “how was your date today?”

You rolled your eyes, not wanting to remember that embarrassment of a night. It was such a pity too, because that man was probably the most gorgeous man you’ve ever witnessed. You swore he had just stepped out of a webtoon when you first met him.

“It was alright,” you shrugged. It was difficult to reflect on the date without putting a damper on your mood, but maybe vocalizing it would have helped ease your discomfort. “He compared me to a model, you know.”

Bang Chan chuckled, making you look up in confusion.

“Was it because you looked exactly like the model?”

“No,” you replied.

His face immediately fell. “You’re kidding, right? Y/n, tell me you don’t believe anything that loser said. He’s got to be something below garbage if he was comparing two women.”

“Thanks, Chan.” You tried to force a grin on your face. “I appreciate it.”

There was a pause.

“I know my opinion means nothing, but Y/n, I think you’re beautiful.”

You stared into Bang Chan’s eyes, frozen like a statue. Your heart was beating so loud that you could hear it more than you could feel it. He stared back at you from across the table; mouth parted, breaths uneven.

You’ve received many compliments before, to which you would always reply with a smile and a quick ‘thank you’. However, it felt as if your brain malfunctioned in this moment and your heart was the only thing keeping you alive. You could still feel your body, but you couldn’t think.

“Thank you, Chan.” You awkwardly coughed, blushing profusely. Immediately focusing your eyes at the table, you couldn’t bear to keep looking at him.

The two of you ate in silence, with only the tapping of chopsticks adding to the ambience of the room. You wanted to make conversation with him, but you did not want to be the first one to break the silence. It frustrated you that you were so shy right now as you’ve never been like this back home.

To heck with it, you thought. There was no need to be shy around him.

“So,” you still couldn’t look him in the face, “any shows you’ve been watching lately?”

Small talk was good. You could do small talk.

“Actually, I’ve been wanting to watch this Transformers movie for quite a while.”

“Transformers?” You’ve never heard of that one. It must’ve been an American movie.

“Seriously?” his eyes widened. “You’ve never seen Transformers before? Oh, we’ve gotta watch it now.”

“You wanna?” you smiled. “I haven’t used my TV since moving in.”

“Mhm, let’s do it.” He stuffed the rest of the leftovers in his mouth before standing up and clearing the table.

You watched him clear the table in a trance. You should have offered to help since it was your own home, but watching the veins on his hands appear and disappear was way more interesting. Watching him, you suddenly remembered the hoodie.

“Oh, that’s right!” You exclaimed, shuffling over to the bag with the hoodie in it. Taking Bang Chan’s black hoodie out, you held it up to him with both hands.

He looked down at you and chuckled.

“Keep it,” he took it from your hands and slipped the hoodie over your head. “At least until you buy a new jacket.”

“I will.” You rolled the sleeves of his hoodie higher to show your hands. You turned the light off, leaving only the floor lamp to illuminate your apartment. Grabbing the remote from your coffee table, you summoned Bang Chan over to the couch.

You turned on the TV, fooling around with the remote control for a few seconds before giving up.

“I give up.” You sighed. Pouting, you handed the remote over to Bang Chan. He took it from you and started reading the buttons.

“Netflix, right?” Bang Chan asked, to which you nodded. “There we go.”

He scrolled through the titles, looking for the coveted movie. Once he found the movie, he quickly selected it and turned the subtitles on. That was nice of him, you thought. Although you also studied english in university, it was nowhere near the level of watching a full english movie.

The title sequence started and you tried to immerse yourself in the movie. You watched in awe, surprised at the fast pace of the action already.

Fully engrossed, you started to sink your back into the couch. Half-way throughout the title scene, you felt Bang Chan stretch his arm behind you to rest on the back pillow. Suddenly, you started feeling too aware of your surroundings. You sat up straighter.

Throughout the whole movie, you caught wafts of Bang Chan’s cologne everytime he moved. He smelled like safety and familiarity.

You turned your head up a little to get a glimpse of his profile, mapping out every edge and curve of his face. The light illuminated the tip of his nose, along with his dewy cheekbones and chin. The plum of his lips were let slightly open, allowing his teeth to peek out slightly. You unconsciously let out a sigh.

“Something wrong?” He turned his body to face you.

You shook your head and focused on the movie.

The rest of the movie was pretty good, although it lost you at parts. You watched the end credits in silence, not knowing what to say.

“So,” Bang Chan cleared his throat beside you, “I should get going now. Since it’s late.”

You turned your head to face him, not realizing how close the two of you had physically gotten throughout the movie. Looking up at him, your face was inches away from his. His face was almost enveloped by the darkness of your apartment. You heard his breathing get heavier.

“Yeah,” you breathed out, “you should.”

He didn’t get up though.

You heard his staggered breath as you kept looking in his eyes. The end credits had long been over by now. Your own breath was just as shaky and you heard your heart beat out of your chest.

He started leaning in. Slowly.

Your eyes widened. You gulped, your nerves snapped you back to reality all of a sudden. Wasn’t he supposed to be your friend? This wasn’t what friends did… Right?

Clearing your throat, you leaned back shyly.

“You should go. I don’t want the others to notice you’re gone.”

Silence.

“Yeah.” Bang Chan’s lips flattened in a line. Without another word, he stood up and walked towards your door.

You followed him in silence, hoping to at least send him off. Wrapping your arms around your torso, you watched as he put his boots on in the dark. He tied his laces, and with a nod, he opened the door and stepped out.

You were left with a sour taste in your mouth and a cloudiness in your head. Still standing in front of your door, you tried to process what had just happened. However, you couldn’t. All you could think about was the soft curls of his hair, the delicate threads of his eyelashes, and his lips. The dusty rose of his lips. The parting of his lips. Inviting you in.

You were frozen, looking at nothing particularly. The only thing on your mind was Bang Chan.

The door opened.

“Hey, sorry, I forgot my jack-”

His sentence never got a chance to complete itself as you rushed to him, wrapping your arms around his neck. As your lips touched his, you felt a fire ignite in you like nothing you’ve felt before. Your fingers clawed at the nape of his neck, wanting more. Wanting to be closer.

Almost immediately, Bang Chan responded. He was taken by shock at first, but his hands didn’t waste any time to grip your waist. You felt the muscles of his shoulders tighten as he pulled you closer.

He moved you back into your apartment by the waist, lips never leaving your own. You blindly shuffled backwards, only focused on trying to get closer to him. If that was even possible.

You ignored the clunking of his boots against your clean floor, allowing him to guide you to the couch. A whimper left his lips as you used your hand to comb through his hair, pulling it. His soft brown curls were silk against your fingertips.

The back of your legs hit the couch and he turned you around so he could sit on the couch. Your lips finally left his. You gasped for air, trying to steady your deep breaths.

Bang Chan’s breathing was synchronized with yours, his equally as unsteady. He reached his hands out again, grabbing your waist and pulling you on top of him. You were a ragdoll, responding to whatever he wanted to do to you.

With each knee on either side of him, you gripped his jaw and kissed him again. The fire inside of you instantly reignited. It was addicting.

The two of you didn’t dare to separate from each other, only parting to gasp for air every now and then. Even in the dark, you could imagine the plum of his lips and the threads of his eyelashes. This drove the fire in you more.

“What if the boys realize you’re gone?” you breathed out the next time you parted from his lips. They were most likely sleeping, but the thought still worried you.

“Fuck them.” Bang Chan exhaled. Grabbing the back of your neck, he reconnected his lips with yours. You gladly complied.

His sloppy kisses slowly moved from your lips to your jaw, then to your neck, eliciting a soft whimper from your throat. This seemed to only edge him on as kept leaving sloppy kisses against your neck, all the while running his hands up and down your waist.

His cologne surrounded you, keeping you safe. Soon later, the adrenaline left the two of you, leaving only the sound of heavy breathing to fill the room. You brushed your thumb under his eye to which he deeply inhaled.

“Chan?” you said. He was leaving kisses all over your collarbone.

“Hmm?” He didn’t seem to pay much mind to what you were saying.

“It’s half past three. I really think you should get going.” You didn’t want him to leave, but you were almost sure he had another packed schedule for tomorrow.

“Mhmm.” Your words went in one ear and out the other as he made his way up your neck again. You couldn’t help but close your eyes and let out a small moan.

“C’mon, get up. How did you even get here, by the way?” It took everything in you to break away from his touch, but you were starting to get sleepy.

“Taxi.” He said, helping you get up from his lap. He stood up after you, brushing his hand against your waist one last time before making his way over to his jacket.

“You’re allowed to ride a taxi?” You tilted your head, sceptical.

He slipped his jacket on.

“No.” He peppered little kisses on your cheeks. “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that now.”

You giggled, pushing him by his shoulders out the door. He played along, pretending to stumble with every step he took back.

“Text me when you get home,” you said, repeating what he said to you on your first day of work.

He nodded in response and winked before turning around to head home. As soon as the door shut, you slapped both hands against your face. Your little act of impulse had spun your head in spirals. You didn’t know whether to feel relieved at the fact that Bang Chan reciprocated your impulsive actions, or to worry that you had not only just kissed your coworker — but also a freaking idol. No one — not Manager Chen, your friends, or even anyone in the general public — could know about this. If they did, both your careers would be screwed.

You doted on this thought as you got ready for bed, only the worst possible outcome came to mind. If either your manager or his manager knew about what happened tonight, you could get fired. Or even blacklisted. You sat in bed, nervously biting your nails.

Your phone buzzed.

Bang Chan: Hey, I got home. Nobody’s awake… ^^

Bang Chan: Don’t think too much, alright? It’s late, go to sleep…

You felt relief reading his text. For some reason, he knew you were overthinking your actions. You decided to listen to his words and go to sleep.

The next day, Sunday, was very uneventful compared to the day before. You texted Bang Chan back when you woke up, but because of his busy schedule, he hadn’t had the time to reply yet.

Yoojin called in when you were eating lunch, asking about your date. You told her the truth, explaining how there would definitely not be a second date with that man. She sounded disappointed and vehemently tried to set you up with another man in her pool. You politely declined, thinking about your restless night with Bang Chan.

You finished some work ahead of time to free up the next week. Since you were invited to work with Manager Chen at the content shooting, you assumed that you could lessen your work stress ahead of time.

The shooting days were allocated for Friday and Saturday, with there being an overnight stay at the mountains. Whilst you didn’t know the arrangements for Stray Kids, you were informed that the production crew booked a small lodge for the team. You were excited to not only see a behind the scenes of a real shoot, but to also possibly form a closer relationship with Manager Chen.

You were thankful that you did some work ahead of time as Monday’s workload was so much lighter than usual. People were still coming to you with their ideas for the project, but with your other work done, you had the time to go through everybody’s ideas.

You didn’t hear from Bang Chan the whole day, which was nothing out of the blue. You remembered him showing his schedule to you once. The amount of things he had to do everyday had your eyes bulging out from their sockets. All of a sudden, you were thankful for your nine-to-five job.

The next couple of days ran the same way as your Monday, with you easily breezing through your workload. Since you had more time during your breaks at work, you took to exploring the part of the building that you could. You admired all the art, the trophies, the awards and memorabilia. Of course, you also spent more time with your new friend Na-eun.

On Thursday, the day before the shoot, you were helping the producers by translating some notes for the script. All was going smoothly, when you got a text.

It was from Bang Chan.

You weren’t going to lie; you were curious as to what he sent you. He was basically silent the whole week so far, and if you were being honest, you missed hearing his voice. And seeing his face. And feeling his hands brush against your waist.

Bang Chan: Come to my recording room… I’ve got something to show you.

Your eyes lit up right away, curious as to what he wanted to show you. Quickly checking the time, you decided to take your lunch break then and there. After all, you didn’t have much work left for the day anyways.

Locking up your computer, you zoomed inconspicuously past all the other cubicles and made your way to the elevators. You weaved through the hallways of his floor, praying that your memory didn’t escape you. It seemed like your memory was on your side today as you found yourself in front of a familiar set of doors. You didn’t bother to knock before going in.

Inside was Bang Chan: feet up on the desk, drinking from his iced coffee, concentrating on his producing software. You smiled. He looked so comfortable, even in an ‘office’.

He had his headset in, and didn’t seem to notice that you had entered. You went up behind him and tapped his shoulder. He turned around, and immediately threw his feet off the desk and stood up upon seeing that it was you. You smirked.

“I should really put a ‘please knock’ sign on the door.” He cursed under his breath. He reached behind you to close the door.

You giggled.

“So, what do you have to show me?” you wondered aloud.

“A new song. Since the filming is tomorrow, the producers put me on a time crunch to finish the song by today.”

So that was why he was so busy, you thought. You didn’t realize how the sudden filming would have impacted his schedule for the month. Especially since it would take up two whole days.

He let you sit in his chair, and hovered over you to press play on the song. His chair smelled like his cologne.

As he was playing the song, your eyes drifted up to see his face. The face — even after only four days — you missed. The dark circles under his eyes were prominent. That, along with his disheveled hair, told you that he truly was dedicated to his work. You imagined him sitting where you were, two in the morning, sipping on his iced americano.

“You like it?” His eyes drifted towards you, resembling a puppy bringing a ball back to its owner.

“It’s amazing. I don’t know how you managed this in just a few days,” you said. And you were sincere too. You couldn’t imagine yourself doing any of this.

“Eh, you know, late nights.” he shrugged. “Wanna see another?”

You nodded, and the two of you began listening to another one of his songs. You listened in silent wonderment.

However, the silence didn’t last long as the two of you soon found yourselves on the couch: hands all over each other, lips the same. You were lying underneath him, his arms resting on either side of you to hold his weight up. Your lips never left his as you ran your hands up and down his defined biceps.

The two of you couldn’t stay away from each other. The sound of the songs that he had put on shuffle filled the room, along with a fleeting sigh of moan every now and then. Bang Chan’s hand had started wandering up your blouse when, all of a sudden, the door opened.

“Hey, I have the lyrics h-” He stopped mid-sentence, eyes wide.

Crap.

[sprinklesandshatters]

A Review on NCT 127′s 3rd Album <Sticker>

So NCT 127 just came back with their 3rd Full Album <Sticker> and this is my first 127 comeback since I became a fan last year! Neozone is such a special album for me as it was their first album that I explored entirely. I've known NCT as the group who never fails any expectations so I've kept mine up although I know they'll exceed it anyway. And guess what, they did! I absolutely love their new album hence this review~

This isn't a technical music review—as I am not a musician myself—but rather a listener's honest takes, goofy notes, and interpretation on each of the tracks in the album. I admit I've also struggled to build my own opinions on some of the tracks until I listened to them over and over again.

I have also heard there are mixed opinions on the title track <Sticker> and a lot says it's another acquired taste. But I think it's not just that, as it can be a grower, just like how most of NCT's songs were for me. Maybe after a few listens and a right passage of time, it will grow on those people. The bottom line here is, I like it a lot! 😛

So I listed down the songs according to their respective track numbers and followed each with a bulleted list of my opinions and interpretations.

(Viewer/reader discretion: before you continue, minors, do not interact as there are few 18+ contents under the cut. Thank you.)

1. Sticker

THEY DIDN'T JUST PUNCH A NEW NOTCH ON THE BELT LIKE THAT

THIS SONG SLAPS, LITERALLY SLAPS… AND WHIPS 

The recorder at the intro boyyyy I thought something was wrong but then I remember it’s NCT lmao

It already stuck in my head from my first listen from the Instagram audio.

With Taeyong opening the verse with his divine rapping, I knew I'm in for a new ride.

STICK-UH STICK-UGH STICK-UGHGHGH

To those complaining it sounding like noise music, imagine it sounding generic. I don't think it would fit as the title track. Not a b-track or in their repertoire, even. They are called NCT because they define the NEO in the music culture and music technology!

It honestly was an unorthodox, just like all of their title tracks, which I’m inherently here for.

Literally, no one does it like them!

The growls and the vocal flexes and adlibs! (You can tell it has Yoo Youngjin's brand.)

The crisp metronome sound that’s consistently ticking except for the pre-chorus and the dance break adds depth to the soundscape. I love how it’s used instead of the usual snaps.

The production quality blew my mind. Like how can someone think those melodies would sound so exquisite? CAN I CALL THEM GENIUS?

The piano at the back, oh my God—Yes! It adds this mystifying element to the song.

I'm not sure if it's a midi violin at the pre-chorus, but it added thrill to the song. It was a great transition from the bass line in the verses to the combination of the flawless harmony with the same instrumental.

"You treat me like a boy, like a grown-up child chasing a dream" JUNGWOO BABY NO MORE HUH

Taeil, Doyoung, and Haechan—the bridge vocal trinity!

But why the heck are they cowboys? I dig the concept, but why? LMAO

BTW GUNSLINGER MARK I’M ON MY KNEES YEEHAW

This is easily one of my favorite tracks from NCT 127's entire discography 💚

2. Lemonade

(⌐■_■)

Jaehyun starting off this song with his deep voice eee

The song opens to a verse oozing with chill confidence. They're like, yeah you're lurking because we’re cool.

This is such a huge slap to their haters. NCT's not chillin' like a villain, nah they're the main characters!

Well maybe they’re villains, but still ya not cooler than them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Funny enough how they could have just referred haters as simply lemons whose sour/bitter to the taste, but 127 squad's success is sweeter than all the haters' spiteful remarks so yeah, SIPPY SIPPY LEMONADE 🧃

"WOOF"

I might have just barked too wOW

Yuta’s vocals hooooO his voice just sounds so glamorous mhmm

Also Mark referencing their previous title tracks such as: Firetruck, Cherry Bomb, and Regular (it's Irregular in the lyrics) in his rap part 👌💅

I just love Mark's energy when he raps. HE RESOLUTELY BITES AND STRAIGHT UP EATS EVERY TIME HE DOES.

3. Breakfast

Now breakfast time, oh jeez!

AAAHAHFU—

Summer 127's bestie!

If Summer 127 talks about dancing all night long, Breakfast is the morning after.

You know what it is.

"Even if I gulp and drink you, it's not enough for me." oho Taeyong no you ha—STOP

Sexual innuendos aside, isn't it just sweet if someone tells you they'd want to have breakfast with you every day?  Okay maybe I'm melting at the thought 😩🙈💞

And I can see myself dancing to this song as I make breakfast (in the afternoon or at midnight bc I’m crazy)

This was an okay b-track for me at the first skim on the album, but boy it grew on me wildly.

Honestly one of my favorite tracks in this album.

4. Focus

Did I just invade a private call? LMAO

The analog voice filters make it like so.

Dude, this feels intimate in the level of eavesdropping a phone call between seasoned lovers. Then you realize you hear them whispering their kinks over the line and you're ooh, that's sexy! hfgklhfhf

My first listen to this, I almost went feral because,

"I can't wait to eat you…" when it's actually "I can't wait 'til we chill…" aahaha

"Baby call me when you want me." OKAY!

This sounds relaxing and chill. I'd love to play this on a late night drive or just before bed time along with Fly Away With Me, Sun & Moon, My Youth, and Long Flight.

Belongs to ‘make out session’ playlist  ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

That was lowkey a playlist recommendation, huh?

I'd be kidding if I don't say I could touch myself while listening to this song AHAHAFGHFJFJ

I didn't know this would grow on me this much lol I love love LOVE THIS!

5. The Rainy Night

Ooh, the holy melancholy!

Piano at the intro—I knew I'd cry to this.

This song isn't just about break-up, but the heartbreak after one.

The yearning; the remnant pieces from the shattering of what was once there.

I think I crumbled from this one.

This hit so hard I felt like I fit in the shoes with the lyrics throughout the entire song.

What’s fascinating is I clearly forgot the title when I mentally said this sounds like a sad rainy day song from the first listen.

Something I’d turn up when it suddenly rains, just because I want to feel the blues.

Taeil and Haechan singing in lower register? I wanna cry :( they’re just one of the best vocalists in K-music industry right now.

Could have been also nice if they added Yuta to the vocals.

"My selfish heart who waits for you to come back," OKAY WHO HURT THEM?

And the fact that they sang it so good that it translated every ounce of the emotions well even before I looked up for English translations is the reason why I love this song too.

6. Far

Hmm… What the hell?! Do I like this? Wait...

Alright!

The jumpy vibe from the first verse to the pre-chorus set the mood for this song. It sounds merry and heavy. It was honestly too much to take until I’ve reached the chorus part.

Honestly, I think this song could fit NCT Dream better, as it gives off a vibe similar to Hello Future's b-tracks. If some credible source say this could have made HF’s track list, I might believe you too fast.

Also Dream’s Deja Vu where they go na nananananana na na na~

Playful yet confident! That’s what I mean!

As usual, the vocals are insane! Vocal flex from left to right!

I swear Jungwoo sounded a bit like Taemin at the second verse that I had to replay it hahaha

I love hearing Johnny as a vocalist! SM, how many signs do you need until you utilize his vocal talent???

Taeil's part where he sings, "go nuts, go nuts, 'til we go bust, go bust" IDEK BUT I SNORTED A LAUGH AT FIRST LISTEN HFCAHKFHK

Not my favorite, but still great though!

But wait it’s actually stuck in my head???

7. Bring The Noize

Yes, they never beat those noise music allegations

HERE'S SOME NOIZE, BITCHES

I love me some noisy percussions. AND THE BASS YO

This screams so much confidence!

The build up from the pre-chorus to the chorus—FIRE!

This song reminds me a lot of SuperM's Super Car, especially with the engine roar samples and the battle cry-like singing at the chorus.

JAEHYUN RAPPING? You mean Jaehyun the visual, the vocalist, the actor, the model, the funny dude, aka my everything?! (markie bb look pls look away for a moment)

THEY DELIVERED IT STRAIGHT FROM NEOCITY THAT'S SOME NCT MUSIC RIGHT THERE NO ONE DOES IT LIKE THEM

When I said I'd play Focus on a late night drive, and if I add this in the playlist, VROOM VROOM SPEED LIMIT WHAT

OUTTA MY WAY

“We got no shame” ouh TAEYONG’S FLOW IS JUST VERY HIM AND HE’S IN A LEAGUE OF HIS OWN

You know what's so clever about this song? It's how it ended with Mark's final rap without any instrumental, leaving you  standing there with a doppler effect-like post experience.

A super car on a super speed just whooshed past you and you look its way as it zips through the road. It's gone in an instant but you're floored dumbfounded at a sidewalk. That's how I describe this song.

8. Magic Carpet Ride

This song… Wow. Oh gosh it's so beautiful.

Their harmony in the chorus—it makes me want to kiss someone so passionately that I'd cry.

This makes me want to feel love that transcends the universe. Literally, just please take me on a magic carpet ride :(

The background harmonies too oh my goodness—HEAVENLY.

Jaehyun's voice is so warm and soulful it fits perfectly with songs of this genre.

Okay alright Doyoung Grande!

And Taeil makes me feel like I'm listening to old school R&B.

The first time I heard this from the track video, I can't stop replaying because it's just that great.

This makes me want to love. I think that sums it up.

9. Road Trip

This is such a soothing song for me, especially how I easily become nostalgic thinking about the road trips I've had.

Whenever I listen to this, my brain immediately conjures up thoughts of my ideal getaways. Gazing at the sky through the car window, stirring up from a nap in the middle of the ride, and   eventually reaching your destination.

Oh, to travel around anywhere... (curse you covid-19)

Okay that's it. I'M PACKING UP.

But where do I go—

I could also imagine Mark playing this on the guitar and the other members sing along together, something like that.

Just Wholesome™ vibes.

I love how it evokes such a nice emotion within me effortlessly.

This isn't my favorite, but I still love this.

10. Dreamer

Eyyyy such a refreshing song!

This song is so bright it makes me want to dance. I play this first in the shower!

It reminds me so much of Elevator (from Neozone)

The horns make it more lively I think!

Yuta and Jungwoo's voice suits lively songs like this.

The background vocal in low register in Taeyong's part in the first verse is so good ahhfhf

Taeil, the R&B vocal king you are...

There's this part where Doyoung and Johnny harmonized, that at first listen they seemed to clash, but it sounded actually fine after a few listens. Maybe it's just that I've never heard them do it before.

And I think it's Doyoung's laugh at the end of the bridge? Oh my goodness I really love this too!

11. Promise You

MY FIRST LOVE AND MOST FAVORITE SONG IN THE ALBUM!!!

The first time I heard this from their NCIT Sharehouse Sitcom, I fell in love with the song already.

It sounds like something you'd feel from a warm, welcoming hug.

The lyrics are so beautiful and endearing. It's definitely a be-there-for-you type of song that will touch your heart.

It definitely sounds like a promise.

A song about platonic intimacy.

This really fits to be the closing song of the album. It's like the end of it but holds a promise that says “see you soon.”

Because they cherish their fans like that.

It's also like I've watched a movie with a happy ending, where the camera pans up to the clear sky and this song starts playing.

Speaking of ending, I would love to hear them sing this as an encore stage in their concert. You know, that moment just before the stage lights die down at the end of the concert where they send final blows of flying kisses to NCTzens. Then you come home smiling and crying.

This wasn't supposed to be this long since I originally planned to write this with just simple phrases and emojis but I got too engrossed lol. I also meant to include my own ratings but I figured it’s pointless since I can’t really decide about them hahaha

I really enjoyed the whole album and I love how they're progressively defining what NEO means by breaking through standards. It's not NCT music if it doesn't make you say "WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?" But then you realize it’s stuck in your head and you’re enjoying it already.

✨ OVERALL RATING: 127/10 💚

if you’ve reached until here, thank you for letting me share you a braincell or two 💞