#not even just in terms of their life colors. a lot of iconic duos have red/green color schemes

[the-somwthing]

I like how most fandom ships are like “red and blue” but in the life series it’s all “red and green”

[imthepunchlord]

What do you think of the main duo's color schemes both having black? I've heard some people say that they how the duo's schemes not only share a color (black) but also have opposite colors (red for the ladybug and green for the cat), to it shows that well the two are different and opposites they are still linked. What do you think of that idea.

Honestly, visually Cat and Ladybug don't appeal to me as a duo color coding wise. I will give them that they are counterparts in terms of color in Chinese culture, for with Wu Xing, red represents Fire and black represents Water, which backs them as opposites; but it doesn't make for an appealing colored duo.

At least to me. The big thing about doing a colored duo is that it comes down to preferences, especially when doing something to represent yin-yang and you don't want to stick to that black-white color scheme or direct color opposites.

One good alternative that could've been done is the iconic red and blue, with Plagg being a very dark blue, which could've had him reference not only the Bombay cat, but a Russian blue.

Red and blue are an iconic visual match that represent opposites that are similar, warm vs cool, action vs thought, and both can be intense and work in similar ways but not exactly the same.

Otherwise, there are better visual counterparts to do.

With Plagg, white kwamis would've been aesthetically pleasing, specifically Rabbit or Mouse.

With Mouse, that can fully reflect them as opposites, as not only is Mullo more white/light grey to counter Plagg's dark body, but she has ruby pink eyes to counter his green. A color coding like this can reflect a more rivalry aspect to yin-yang, often portrayed between Dragon and Tiger; where they are equal in their rivalry and unable to defeat the other, but constantly circle each and keep balance in their strife, evening each other out. This also could work as a nice nod to the old Chinese Zodiac legend, adding history to this pair and reasoning for them as a duo.

Now Cat and Rabbit would visually be a yin-yang pair that could better reflect opposites that are similar, with them being black-white, but Fluff has minor blue details to her and Plagg has green, which in Chinese color meaning, are very similar. If you want to tie them to the west and for an extra bit of fun, they can also be tied to black and white magic, both of these animals tied to magic in different ways, black cats with witches and white rabbits with magicians. There's also a lot more symbolism to work off here too, rabbits are tied to Easter, new beginnings, and life; cats have been associated with spirits and the dead, escorting ghosts to the afterlife. Cats are independent and brave while rabbits are sociable and cautious. And you can even still tie that early theme of luck to them, with lucky rabbits foot.

Now on Tikki, visually, her best counterpart is Duusu.

They have the appealing red-blue colors, and everything about them visually is an opposite. Tikki has dark blue eyes while Duusu has light pink, Tikki has white sclera while Duusu has dark, Tikki has dark spots while Duusu has light spots. To add to it, Tikki even also has tail feathers as a reference to ladybird. So, to me, visually this is a peak color coded duo.

And there some things you can do to make them work as a pair. They would be coded as a he-she, with referring to Duusu as Peacock and Tikki as a Ladybug, which yin-yang does cover feminine and masculine traits. Um... tying them to Chinese culture and playing off ladybird, they could be a split up Fenghaung, which before it got tied to being a dragon's feminine counterpart, it was a bird duo to represent yin yang, one male and one female, a ruling pair over all birds. And in terms of powers, Tikki could represent the material plane while Duusu represents the spiritual, Tikki could also represent the mind and intellect while Duusu represents the heart and emotion.

The latter of that though is stretching things and just working off canon; unfortunately, in terms of symbolism and mythology, the Ladybug has the least amount going on with it out of all the animals tied to miraculouses, coming down to just luck and love. You can add divinity to it as the Ladybug has direct ties to the Virgin Mary (their names directly come from her as they were called the Lady's Beetles) and is thought to be a servant of God, both in service and in delivering divine intervention, but that gets a little dicey when it's supposed to be tied to Taoism and represent yin-yang.

But that's just coming down to my preference visually. Over all, not just visually, Cat and Ladybug just aren't appealing to me as a duo. Especially knowing that their creation is more based around the west and European views, with Ladybug being very present in European culture, and the Cat that's supposed to be more negative only really stems from Europe, and it's not even that old of a view for unlucky black cat (roughly 400 years ago).

[shoichee]

GoMs + Kagami, Hanamiya, Teppei as Pokémon Trainers

Pokémon x Kuroko no Basket Crossover

Headcanons on KNB characters if they were trainers

For only the “Generation of Miracles” (plus Kagami), I wanted to show that they are prodigies in the pokémon universe by each giving them the appropriate specialty legendary/mythical pokémon respective to their anime counterpart abilities/personalities.

Also, as GoMs in the pokémon universe, I was careful to also choose some of their respective pokémon based on base stats and the consideration of type variety, unless a team had most pokémon sharing a type for a reason, in addition to already choosing pokémon based on their pokédex entries.

I have also given pictures of said pokémon suited to each KNB character below the cut.

Warning: spoilers on KNB characters, it’s a given

Kuroko Tetsuya 

his lack of presence would directly translate into the pokémon world pretty nicely and would make him pretty attuned to ghost pokémon floating about, but that won’t necessarily mean he’ll have a full team of ghosts

I feel like he would accidentally just pick up the mythical pokémon, Marshadow as a kid without knowing its reputation and would just let it follow him around like a buddy… and then they would become an official trainer-pokémon relationship later on // they’re both tiny and usually unnoticeable; they’d be best friends

he’d definitely have a Zoroark, since these pokémon require very strong bonds with their trainers, and they’re infamously known for their illusions and trickery; for Kuroko, he probably saw right through a Zorua’s (pre-evolution) tricks back in the day and then it became intrigued by him and joined him along the way before evolving into the Zoroark we see present day // this is a tribute to Nigou as well, since they’re both dog-like/fox?????

surprisingly, he’d have a Hatterene just trailing behind recently; Hatterenes hate extreme emotions emitted from humans and I’d feel like it would just be lured in by his dry personality

Hatterene’s color scheme is literally the same blue and pink like Kuroko and Momoi, so Hatterene is very much a Momoi who chases Kuroko around while he doesn’t mind it at all

his 4th pokémon, Vanilluxe, came to be when he spent hours hiding in the tall grass for a Vanillite (pre-evolution) to show up; he was willing to go out of his way to catch one because he wanted an ode to his love for vanilla milkshakes

all in all, he would be the trainer who is able to instantly connect and make friends with other pokémon around without even trying; ironically, he would have the most variety of typings in his team because of that

he’s the protagonist trainer who would always be the first to openly stand up against the villain teams and foiling their plans, but he would need the support of the other GoMs (cough) to take down the team bosses

he would definitely be friends with N (BEST franchise character)

he’s a “youngster” trainer like a “youngster joey” vibe KDJWORKWKW but like he’s pretty OP by the end of his journey

Kise Ryota

Cinderace with its hidden ability Libero is perfect for our blondie; Libero is an ability that allows the user to become that type of the move it just used until it uses a move of a different type, and then it’ll switch to that next type (I thought about Greninja with its Protean ability at first because it’s the OG ability and it's the exact effect just a diff name; but Cinderace’s design is a soccer motif and it reminded me of Kise in the old Teiko days)

Kise would very much be a renown model in the pokémon universe, and he’d idolize Elesa (from Pokémon B/W and B2/W2); both are blonde models too LOL (except she dyed her hair black in B2/W2)

so he’d have a Luxray (non shiny OR shiny, both suit him), because since he looks up to her so much and she’s an electric-type gym leader, he’d probably have an electric-type of his own

I would think he’d have a dragon-type pokémon like Haxorus to connect him with Aomine (a dragon-type trainer) since in the anime, Aomine was Kise’s mentor and role model in basketball; it would give him a fighting chance with Aomine if they ever faced each other in a pokémon battle

he would have a shiny Sylveon, and he would love to dote the ever living fuck out of it and feed it poképuffs (maybe from Murasakibara’s café LOL) and sing with it, and every time it sweeps someone’s team with its Moonblasts, he’ll cheer it on so much BDHWIRWI it also adds a certain connotation to his idol reputation as this “approachable guy” with his adorable Sylveon too

this guy has an idol status not just in the beauty/fashion industry, but also in the sports world (especially in Unova’s sports stadium in Nimbasa city)

he’d meet tons of other models and fashion icons like gym leader Nessa, champion Diantha, etc. WHEW JUST SAYIN

he would have his face plastered everywhere on trainer PR videos and even getting offers for some minor acting roles in Pokéstar Studios

one day, while he’d be at the studio, there was a whole commotion how the studio and the museum had their deliveries mixed up because the studio had the real meteorite while the museum had the well-made prop of a meteorite; and uh, it turns out this meteorite had the alien virus that pretty much had its DNA mutated into a Deoxys

long story short, being a very experienced trainer, Kise would manage to catch it after hours of chasing it in the wild areas nearby

over time, he and this particular Deoxys would come to have enough mutual respect for each other to be able to battle as a proper trainer-pokémon duo

that being said, he won’t resort to using it unless it’s life-threatening; note: he changes its Formes using a chunk from the meteorite in the studios he broke off (Deoxys [and its many forms] is further reference to his versatility as a basketball player)

Midorima Shintarou

as a man who seeks for good luck and fortunes he’d stack up on a Chimecho for sure and… 

Togekiss; he used to have its pre-evolution Togepi to solely to try to make it stand up while sleeping for good luck (according to the pokédex), and the more he kept trying, the more he made it attached to him and before he knew it, he had a fully evolved Togekiss // he’ll NEVER admit that he loves it to bits, though

this might be unexpected at first glance, but he’d have a Mega Absol; hear me out, it’s called the “disaster pokémon” according to its pokédex, however it is only named so because it warns others of disasters when it appears SO IT WOULD WARN MIDORIMA OF INCOMING BAD LUCK

he’d probably receive a Rowlet from Momoi as a gift from her laboratory, and he didn’t have the heart to abandon it; he’d evolve it to a Decidueye… and just… keep it (this pokémon is a reference to his no-miss shots)

ultimate good luck bringer: Ho-Oh ✨

would have the most “balanced” team out of everyone in terms of type-coverage (reference to him having the most coverage in skills for basketball, from shooting to absolute defense to having ball-handling skills)

he’d totally avoid Akashi’s Kadabra (pre-evolution of Alakazam)—who will be mentioned later down in the list—because it’s said to bring bad luck, as well as avoiding all the Ninetales because he doesn’t want to risk accidentally pulling off one of their tails and be cursed

he’ll avoid caverns as much as possible (but it’s impossible to avoid them all) because those are the habitats of Golbats (who will supposedly give bad luck if one bites you) but if there wasn’t a leeway for him, he will literally LATCH onto his Chimeco and keep his Togekiss and Absol out of their pokéballs to guard him LMAOOO

I would feel he would constantly strive to fill up his entire pokédex, so he’d be a pokémon master in training in a sense; he’s someone who wants to prepare himself for any situation and opportunity, so being a pokédex filler would always provide him an encyclopedia on potential pokémon to either stay away from or catch more of because of certain luck factors

make no mistake though, he’s a seasoned pokémon battler, don’t fuck with him

Aomine Daiki

an intimidating Garchomp would be his ace™️ pokémon, ummmm have you SEEN its base SPEED stat??? it’s a monster

we’re gonna go overkill and give this man a Mega Rayquaza just for the sole fact that he’d be the “ace” trainer of ALL ace trainers and veterans alike

however, because of his “lack of practice/training” like in the anime, he’d probably just stick with these two pokémon, since usually Garchomp already sweeps everyone’s teams without a sweat

homie is probably napping on top of one of the laboratory roofs (probably the one Momoi works in) or escaping to a nearby cliff or hill to relax and keep a lookout for any promising trainers that pass by him

is a trainer who pretty much kept one-shotting all the trainers throughout his journey in the region (aka that’s us protagonists when we play against NPCs)

he would also be that trainer who wiped the floor with the current champion so badly that he felt that all his “training” leading up to that moment didn’t even feel rewarding (plus there’s those countless trainer battles before where it didn’t feel thrilling), and so, he just left the league after, waiting for the day a sufficient rival could show up in his life

he’s definitely cleared the challenging battle systems of each region (probably back when he still had some passion for battling and had a good full team): Battle Frontier, Battle Tree, PWT tournament, Battle Manson, Battle Tower… you name it, he’d probably be done with most of them, if not, all

Murasakibara Atsushi

he’d have a Bewear, Appletun, and lots of variants of Alcremie’s just hanging around him

note: you should search up all the variations of Alcremies yourself, hint cough, it’s 60 variations total

maybe he’d have a Snorlax chilling nearby because it’s so huge

Murasakibara would be a Pokécafé owner AND HE’D HAVE HIS BULKY BEWEAR AND HIS SNORLAX GUARD THE SHOP, YOU CAN’T ARGUE WITH ME 

or he would UNLEASH his G-MAX forms of Alcremie’s

and he’ll just use his pokémon to make the tastiest poffins, poképuffs, and pokécurry

he’ll never bring out his final pokémon, Melmetal, unless it’s an absolute emergency and his shop is in danger

he would love Kuroko’s Vanilluxe, in a sense where he would always impassively joke about eating the ice-cream pokémon and Kuroko would just constantly hope he’s not being for real

he wouldn’t be motivated by ambitions like other trainers would have, he just wants to chill and loaf around all day; if someone pissed him off about he was a “weak” trainer or how they were becoming overly cocky when talking about their goals, he’d be right there smiling and ready to annihilate them | (• ◡•)|

Akashi Seijuro

Espeon would totally fit him as his first pokémon; its eyes are very reminiscent of his feline irises, and it’s tiny in size but a very powerful sweeper when set up right AND THEY’re ~calm~ while being capable of either sweet or very calculating later on / LIKE PET, LIKE OWNER

Tsareena; this one has a literal attitude of a queen and its pokédex is pretty terrifying in which one kick from its legs “leaves a wound in the opponent's body and soul that will never heal”... sound familiar?

Nidoking, cough I wonder why I picked this guy he’s a king, but jokes aside, it’s here to add more type variety to his team, and it’s mostly there to be a status inflictor (aka poisoning) and hazard setter with traps for his opponents… sound familiar with how he initiates his shogi strategies?

Mega Alakazam. that’s it. this pokémon has 5000 IQ like ?? would totally wipe the floor with Akashi in shogi if it tried

you thought Aomine had an overkill legendary, but Akashi has Hoopa, who’s capable of a Confined form and Unbound form, representative of his two contrasting personalities 

he’s an ambitious trainer aiming to become a Pokémon Master, and he’s one of those feared prodigies that all the region champions just lowkey sweat hearing about him coming to wreck their leagues apart

his pokédex would be damn near completed

he looks more into a pokémon’s utility and how it can fit into his strategies; it just turns out that most of the capable/eligible pokémon he ends up picking are psychic-types because they all tend to have extremely high intelligence to pull them off

Momoi Satsuki

Mega Altaria fits Momoi’s aesthetic of being cute, but very dangerous if you underestimate it, and I wanted a cute connection to Aomine who I primarily headcanoned to be a dragon-type trainer, so Altaria is a dragon-type pokemon that I picked out (perfect alternative would be Mega Gardevoir if she never met Aomine)

Blissey is a pokemon that brings happiness to anyone that eats their eggs, and it very much fits Momoi’s personality

Tapu Lele is a totem pokemon that has incredible knowledge, and is known to be able to outsmart any opponent during battle, referencing her pre-cognitive defense research abilities

she would definitely be constantly mistaken as a pokémon “Beauty” (yes that’s a trainer title), but in actuality, she’s training to become a pokémon professor as an assistant 

Momoi’s “professor specialty” would definitely be her researching about a pokémon’s current stats (plus their EVs and IVs) and would pinpoint their level of potential and thus, predict their growth (and the steps taken for a certain type of growth) // she’d probably become really famous in the world of competitive battling because a lot of trainers would try to approach her to help “train their teams”

Kagami Taiga

I think he would ironically have a Lopunny because it used to be Alex’s but she just left it in his care and now he has this prankster bunny that’s basically an Alex 2.0 to other pokémon in its vicinity ?? but it has hops like Kagami so

a hotheaded, short-tempered guy like Kagami would have an Incineroar (they… kinda look the same) 

Krookodile would be very much up his alley… its offensive stats are also not something to take lightly, especially when paired with moves like Earthquake and Foul Play

Kommo-o would be a pokémon that embodies Kagami’s personality very well: it seeks to battle only strong opponents for the reason to defeat the “darkness,” and its presence is more than enough to scare the weaker opponents away; Kagami has been mentioned as the “light” many times throughout the series, and his piercing gaze on the courts generate suffocating pressure on the opposing teams // it’s also a pseudo-legendary pokémon on the same base-stat caliber as Aomine’s Garchomp (hinting at their game against each other) ( ᐛ )

last one I’d find really amusing to give for Kagami would be Victini, the adorable mythical pokémon said to bring only victories for its trainer… and it’s a reference to his ascendance to the top of the Winter Cup after defeating all the GoM’s teams

oh yeah, I forgot Mega Lopunny existed so I’ll just attached that right below

anywho, so he’s a rising pokémon trainer who wants to become a pokémon master… but only for the battling part LOL like he doesn’t believe in “catching ‘em all” so to speak because he’d be someone who would believe in winning battles with the pokémon you truly bonded with; in other words, he’d probably only catch new pokémon if he feels a certain connection with them

but because of that, he doesn’t have much info on other pokémon besides his own, and it bites him in the ass when he has to try to figure out ways to take down opposing teams

reluctantly would team up with Kuroko after finding out many of the competitions require double battling but he doesn’t have a single strategy for it, and then Kuroko would pop out of nowhere and offered a hand to be his double battle partner until he learned how to double-battle on his own

spoiler alert, they totally start becoming travel companions in exploring the world together

of course Kagami would have battle strategies, but he isn’t like Akashi where he would actively look for the appropriate strong pokémon for his strategies; he makes strategies to accommodate his existing team

Kiyoshi Teppei

HE HAS A LUCARIO, NOT ONLY THAT A MEGA LUCARIO; they both seek for justice and they’re extremely loyal, and they both are able to read their opponents very easily 

HE ISN’T CALLED THE “IRON HEART” FOR NOTHING, I CAN SEE HIM WITH A SHINY METAGROSS JUST BEING AN OFFENSIVE TANK YET BEING ABLE TO SWEEP, JUST LIKE AN ACE WOULD

he would live a double life: a shopkeeper of his grandparents’ pokémon item/antique store by day, pokémon ranger and patroller by night

he would keep his local area safe (ง'̀-'́)ง

yes, I only see him as a steel-type trainer

he’d be so precious with his pokémon and meticulous in his care for them: he’d probably shine his Metagross everyday or brush out his Lucario’s fur, just because !!

and his pokémon would be fiercely protective of Teppei in return, mostly because they noticed he has bad knees and they don’t want him to strain them any further(;´༎ຶٹ༎ຶ`)

Hanamiya Makoto

no debate, he’d have a shiny Hydreigon… dude that pokémon is an absolute nightmare to level up and evolve, let alone tame, but back when it debuted in Pokémon B/W, it was the most OP pokémon out there // shiny variant of it because it has a similar color scheme to the Kirisaki Daiichi basketball team, and he’d probably have a shiny version just to flaunt it off and piss people off

Salazzle with a hidden ability Corruption, where it allows it to poison any pokémon regardless of type or ability; again, it’s to piss the trainers off in battle

and finally, a Dracovish; a person like him would totally have this inherently fucked up pokémon just for the sole purpose to disturb the hell out of his opponent trainers, but make no mistake: it’s an underdog sweeper 

look, he’s an admin of some sinister villain team and he has his other Kirisaki Daiichi starter players as his personalized grunts (they’re like a specific sect of the villain team; e.g. Shadow Triad or the Seven Sages of Team Plasma)

you might wonder, why don’t I give him a “spider” pokémon, since the webs are the analogy used to compare to his strategies in basketball? too many villains have Ariados in their teams and Galvantula is a friendly, fuzzy tarantula soooo it wouldn’t fit Hanamiya at all

I don’t think he would have any deep motive to be villainous other than to just enjoy people getting fucked over by his own deeds and actions; sometimes, it isn’t so deep

“it’s your boy, Guzma Hanamiya” if you get this reference I love you

End Note: “Mega” forms and “G-MAX” forms are not separate pokémon, but rather, temporary power-ups during battles; they are just shown to show the differences in appearances compared to their original forms when they transform.

[moviechats]

The Amandas

Ah yes, the most exciting time of the year for film enthusiasts. The award season is winding to a close (we’re in the final month) and many of us are left disappointed.

I know everyone secretly hates those articles where people give their own version of the Oscars. People award films they feel were snubbed (although usually weren’t) through their own personal recognition of the film. Yes, it can be boring. But you know what? I’m doing it anyway.

You’ve seen the Oscars, get ready for the Amandas. 

First up: Best Picture

Best Picture

If Beale Street Could Talk

BlacKkKlansman

Bohemia Rhapsody

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Halloween

Did I just go there with Halloween? Yeah I did. 

Granted, my five nominees are quite similar to the Academy Award Best Picture race, it was more of who I left out of my own race. Roma and Black Panther never made it on my list. I debated about Vice, which would probably be my sixth pick. 

I’ve heard that Beale Street was this close to making it into the Oscar Best Picture race, probably landing ninth out of the eight nominees. I rewarded it on my list, as it was truly one of the most phenomenal movies I’ve seen this year and I see no reason it shouldn’t have been on the official list. It was beautiful. It was powerful. The acting and directing worked seamlessly together. I was a huge fan of Moonlight, so I was all about this new Barry Jenkins film. I could definitely feel a little bit of Moonlight in the way Beale Street was shot. I think Jenkins has a style that will continue to stick with him, which is great news for me because I love it. I had read an article where he discussed how little dialogue there was in Moonlight and when he took on Beale Street he felt the characters would never stop talking. Despite this, he didn’t miss a beat transitioning from one kind of script to another. 

I wish I had seen BlacKkKlansman multiple times in the theater to really absorb all of it. Yes, it’s obviously a narrative of our society then and today (and how little we’ve come between these two times) but it’s also a wild ride. The stakes are high for everyone involved and it’s entertaining to watch. And yes, as shallow as it is, I can’t help but love watching Adam Driver because he is so good looking in this film. Alright, besides his looks, I also enjoyed Adam’s acting. The partnership between him and John David Washington was fun to watch. Overall the way Spike told an important story, that needed to be told, was still entertaining. He had something to say and he said it. I was never bored in this film. 

Ah Bohemian Rhapsody. The most conflicting film on this list. I’ll say it, I loved BoRhap (as it’s affectionately called now by fans, using a term uttered by, I believe, Ben Hardy as Roger Taylor in the film). I’ve seen it five times (a feat I was proud of until I talked with someone who had seen it 27 times...) and I’ve enjoyed it each and every time. I’ve heard the controversy and read articles about it that happen to pop up on my News Feed. These allegations are real, and I feel like you can’t discuss the film without addressing them. I, myself, am still struggling with where we separate people’s works. Obviously the director is extremely important. A film couldn’t come together without a director. But there are so many other parts of a movie. Do we punish the cast by not recognizing their talent, which they most likely had before the film? Do we throw the whole thing away? Or do we push one segment (the director) out and trudge forward? I do think we need to talk about it, but I’m not doing so here. 

I will talk about the film as a whole. Listen, I love any film about music. Real, made-up, documentary, biopic. You name it, I’m there. I even loved A Star is Born, though not to the extent of awards chatter. I know a lot of events in the film didn’t happen in real life. I understand the film could have been better and, as I’ve heard multiple times, was a PG version of Freddie’s life. But I loved this film for what it was. I’m not a Queen fan in the sense that I know anything beyond their music. So I went into this with zero expectations about how things would go down and therefor, I loved the story. The acting was superb (and I fell in love like four times), Rami Malek delivers a stellar performance as well as the rest of the cast who transformed in their own way. Plus who doesn’t love a good concert without having to be in a sweaty/smelly crowd? 

Wow so let’s move on to a less controversial film, shall we? I loved Can You Ever Forgive Me from the very first few minutes. Give me a film with a muted color palette set in New York in the winter and I’m already hooked. That’s my dream. Anyway, things only got better from there with the magnificent Melissa McCarthy in a serious, no-nonsense role and her companion, Richard E. Grant killing it as the BFF. The two were probably my favorite duo of any film, ever. They weren’t romantic partners, not even friends for the whole film, but they worked so well together. It is a true story, but it seems so outrageous that it works as a made-up script. It’s a slow burn and I can see how some (uncultured) people wouldn’t like it. But that’s what makes it feel the way it does. God, I love this film. 

Finally, yes. The moment you have probably waited for or maybe even scrolled to the bottom for. The explanation of why Halloween is nominated in my top five. For the most part I agree with the Academy on who they choose. I’m a self-proclaimed film snob. But every once in a while I think, “what did I really like?” I don’t think it should have been nominated for an Oscar (Like Beale Street or Forgive Me) but if I’m making a list of my own, why not go for it. I absolutely L O V E the original Halloween. I’m also fond of the sequel and the totally irrelevant third movie. But if you ask me, “Amanda, what’s the best classic horror film” and I don’t answer Halloween 1978, take me to the hospital because I might be dying. I had been following this film for a while, after hearing it ignored the “fun yet totally ridiculous many sequels” that followed, I was intrigued. With John Carpenter’s approval, I felt I could see this in good faith. I went on Halloween night (the only acceptable time), 40 years to the day after my mother had seen the original Halloween in theaters. As soon as that iconic score started I got goosebumps. This was a fun film. The problem I have with so many horror movies in current times (I sound 80 years old but bear with me) is that we miss the fun element of it. Yes there’s a slasher and you have to keep people’s attention and look real. But classic horror movies are fun. You jump out of your seat and then laugh with your best friend about it. You find yourself yelling at the screen for the babysitter to not open the door. You become a character, constantly looking around for Michael Meyers because that music starts playing. 

The other cool part of this movie is seeing Laurie Strode in a completely different setting than 1978. And it makes sense! She was attacked by a psychopath and now lives in a remote cabin surrounded by weapons. She’s been preparing this whole time, even teaching her daughter defense strategies knowing that he would eventually come back. It even recalls the classic haunted house setting when the characters eventually find themselves back there with him hot on their tail. It’s scary, it’s fun, and it’s a classic to me. 

So who is my winner of 2019? 

Obviously this is so much harder than picking my winner of the actual Academy Awards because these are all my favorites. I actually stressed about this. I’d watch every single one of these films again (and I will once they start streaming) and there’s so many aspects of each one I loved. People are going to give me so much crap for this but...I have to go with the film I’ve already seen multiple times (five...to be exact). 

The winner of my favorite film of 2018 is Bohemian Rhapsody. It maybe wasn’t the “deepest” film of 2018 but it was fun and enjoyable (and gave me the love of my life, Ben Hardy). I liked it. 

[sorosoroso]

Article for Connect Magazine

I had a chance to write about a music artist I really love, and it will soon be published in Connect Magazine, which is a community driven project where expats living in Japan contribute articles about Japanese culture and everyday life. The issue my article will debut comes out in a few days. It is totally free to read and available online. Please enjoy below!

A Folkin’ Good Time: My Journey from Japanese Traditional Folk Music to 8-bit Technofolk

I stumbled upon Japanese traditional folk music the same way a horror film heroine might trip into a dark, deep pit in an old, creepy mansion: by accident.

And much like said heroine who suddenly wakes up in said mysterious, deep pit, I don’t even know how I got here. The last thing I remember is wondering about Japanese instruments and typing in “Japanese traditional songs” into a YouTube search bar, before being sucked in by the strums of shamisens and the dynamic vocals of Japan’s traditional folk singers.

Although it’s usually put under the umbrella term “min’yo”, there is no exact name for the genre Japanese traditional folk music belongs to. Sometimes they’re called inaka bushi (country melody), other times they’re called inaka buri (country tunes) or even hinata uta (rural songs). However, I think min’yo, whose kanji translates to roughly “the people’s chant”, is a weirdly accurate description of these simple, yet intriguing songs (and for simplicity’s sake, I’m going to be referring to them as min’yo from here on out).

 In the same way certain foods or adorable mascots are part of certain prefectures’ identity, min’yo songs are another way for many regions in Japan to further distinguish themselves. Originally sung by lower class people, their purposes vary from work songs sung while toiling away in fields, to sacred religious chants performed during ceremonies. Many songs tend to have imagery of nature or details of everyday life, and often incorporate special dances or instruments during performances.

Take for example Japan’s oldest min’yo song: Kokiriko-bushi. Hailing from Gokayama village in Toyama prefecture, Kokiriko-bushi illustrates the natural flora and fauna of the village during the harvest season. A performance of Kokiriko-bushi is visually intriguing as well; performers move slowly across the stage in uniquely shaped straw hats, as others play the iconic binzasara instrument: an accordion-like apparatus consisting of many wooden slats that clack together to create the “dedereko-den” chorus of the song.

I fell in love with how all these elements came together into a cohesive experience. More compelling, though, were the powerful emotions behind each song. Each one seemed to condense the essence of feelings like sadness, happiness, or loneliness in a way that you could empathize with, despite the language barrier.

My appreciation for min’yo grew extensively throughout college, and during long hours of nighttime studying or downtime between projects and papers, I often listened to min’yo playlists to keep me company. Whether it was the more New Age, emotional ballads of Ikue Asazaki, or lo-fi recordings of televised performances from the 90s, I listened to it all. I wasn’t too picky, and even if I didn’t always understand the words, I let myself get swept away by the vibrant energy each song and performer exuded.

Unfortunately, my college roommate and study buddies didn’t quite share the same enthusiasm for min’yo, and I don’t blame them. I completely understand that min’yo isn’t exactly easy listening for a lot of people. It can be a bit grating at times, with tunes that don’t follow traditional Western note progressions, not to mention the sometimes startling kakegoe (call-and-response) that seemingly jump out of nowhere. 

Older Japanese folks didn’t understand why I enjoyed the genre so much, either; even they found min’yo to be a relic of the past that didn’t quite have the chops to withstand the more international appeal of modern-day songs. For a lot of people, min’yo was something that only a  few Japanese people sang, and even then only to demonstrate Japan’s nostalgic, rustic charm. I found myself having to agree with them. It seemed that min’yo was reserved for special occasions, like cultural events or TV specials, and so many recordings I enjoyed were decades old. Perfect preservation of the genre seemed to be the goal, and innovation was limited, if present at all.

And then I discovered Omodaka.

I was looking for more min’yo to listen to on the Internet (as per usual), and during a mindless return to YouTube’s homepage, I noticed a distinctive thumbnail. 

A punchy, vibrant red background emblazoned with a stark white, minimalist graphic of an arrowhead flower; that’s all there was to it. The title was equally as simple: “Hietsuki Bushi”, uploaded by “Omodaka”. At the time, I had no idea what any of those words meant, but I was riding high on my min’yo video binge, so naturally I clicked.

Imagine my surprise when, instead of hearing the bare twangs of shamisen like I was expecting, I was hit with a lush, multi-layered 8-bit melody mingling with a classical guitar’s gentle strums. Before I could process what I was hearing, a loud, piercing, siren-like horn cut through, and jarring though it was, I only became even more entranced in whatever the hell YouTube just recommended me. I was totally immersed.

Then the vocals kicked in.

To hear the powerful voice of a trained traditional folk singer sing about a tragic love story from the Kamakura era was absolutely breathtaking, especially with the blips and thrums of the 8-bit chords accenting it every few measures. The singer’s notes swooped up and down with confidence, working alongside the digital landscape of the background music to convey the melancholic longing of the narrator. I’d never listened to such a wonderful marriage between traditional and modern musical aesthetics before, and as soon as the video finished, I was already eager for the next song.

As it turns out, the skilled vocals I’d heard on Hietsuki Bushi and on subsequent tracks belonged to classically trained folk singer, Akiko Kanazawa (whose min'yo rendition of the Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine” is definitely worth checking out), but listening to her other works, it was clear that someone else had a hand in the skillful mixing of chiptunes and traditional folk standards I was hearing. After a few music videos and a deep-dive Internet investigation, I soon discovered that Omodaka was not just a one-off, eclectic min’yo mashup duo, but a collaborative project that combines traditional Japanese music with contemporary visual artists. But, behind all of it is one man—electronic music producer and DJ, Soichi Terada.

 An accomplished house techno artist and founder of record label Far East Recording, Terada has enjoyed listening to min’yo music since childhood, but felt he “couldn’t say that [he enjoyed min’yo]” to his friends because they weren’t interested in it. He experimented with min’yo/ house fusions, and over time, Terada developed a distinct sound that would define his label. Later on, spurred by a desire to collaborate with visual artist friends, Terada launched the Omodaka project in 2001.

The Omodaka project usually involves Terada’s friends creating fantastical, even psychedelic, animated music videos for his “techno folk” songs (a term Terada has coined to describe this niche genre). My personal favorites are “Yosowya-san”, with its side-scrolling 8-bit exploration of Japan’s gambling culture, and, of course, “Hietsuki Bushi”, an adventure of a love confession thwarted by portal jumping spacemen and a farmer/lion/bird chimera. Oh, and aliens. There are also several albums released under the Omodaka name too, each filled with songs beyond the wild, color bursting music videos.

Where the Omodaka project really shines, however, is during live performances. They are an unabashed bonanza of pure theatricality, with projections of Omodaka’s music videos flashing behind Terada as he waves around props like paper lanterns or bamboo flutes all throughout his set. Even Kanazawa makes an appearance during performances, singing to the audience virtually through the use of TV screens set up around the stage. 

Especially striking is Terada’s costume when he performs as Omodaka. Instead of his trademark, brightly colored shirts, Terada comes onstage wearing a white, plastic mask, a shaggy black wig, and miko (Japanese shrine maiden) religious robes. As Omodaka, Terada transforms into an uncanny, barely human, androgynous entity whose only goal seems to be to get the audience’s blood pumping to some good ol’ technofolk.

Best of all, when you look into the audience during an Omodaka show, it doesn’t consist of solely geriatric Japanese; it’s diverse and, importantly, it’s young. I’m certainly no expert in methods of preserving a cultural property like min’yo, but I think that Terada is taking a step in the right direction to make sure min’yo will stick around for a bit longer. Sure, perhaps some purists may condemn Terada’s genre mixing as sacrilegious to everything traditional folk music stands for. However, when I see the audiences during Omodaka’s performances sway their bodies to Kanazawa’s trilling and yell back kakegoe to Terada, I feel that wonderful energy that drew me into min’yo in the first place. All I hope is that some of these people will also go back and listen to the music that led to the Omodaka project, and appreciate the unique sound of min’yo, too.

If you would like to check out the Omodaka project or Terada’s other works (he’s composed music for video games as well!), I highly recommend looking at his label’s YouTube channel: “fareastrecording” (all lower case, no space). If you search “Omodaka - Topic” in the search bar, YouTube even has a curated playlist with Omodaka’s entire oeuvre! Omodaka is also on Spotify. Furthermore, Terada regularly updates a Twitter account which announces future performances and other exciting news, like the October 28th release of Omodaka’s newest album in five years!

[survivormontenegro]

Episode 8: “#StayLowAndGoGoGo” - Tom

I MADE IT WOOOOOOOO MILESTONE NUMBER 2

WE MERGED. THANK THE LORD, THE STARS AND EVERYTHING ABOVEEEE.

okay and thoughts. so evan went byebye, which was what needed to happen, super sweet, but him leaking stuff was really a mess. Merge is so exciting, I already love Caeleb, Jones & Mo, three legends already yay!

IM ALSO BACK WITH BENJ MY KING! I HAVE MISSED HIM SO MUCH.

MERGE I AM SCREAMING!!!

I am sorry Evan, we did 100% throw this challenge but hey ajdjdjf even tho we threw this challenge it was a freaking 5-4 points LOL thank god I didn’t do more than just put Marcus Lehman.

Let’s go merge, thank god I didn’t turned into pre merge flop!!

MERGE!!!!!!

IM REUNITED WITH ALI!!!!!!!! KING!!!!!!!!! im so excited omg so we had a HUGE catch up told each other all the tea of each others tribes

He suspected I was the flipper but doesn't care LOL so yay!!! Ugh I have missed him its so great to have him back as someone I can fully trust and rant to about everything! I also had Jones queen to help get me thru the tribe, just wish she replied more lol! ily guacamole . mitch also great, so glad he survived the budva decimation that I caused oops

I don't think anyone suspects me n ali are close, and everyone thinks Julia/ian/Jason are a trio and either ian or Jason have the idol LMAO this is so funny. I was even on call w the tribe and we were discussing it im thinking lolllll ik ali has it and no one else rlly does wowow

we think alex has durmitor idol bc . apparently it was not found pre swap, caeleb claims he made the end but it was gone, jones and mo don't seem active enough to guess

reunited w ian king aswell hes great, gonna meet some new ones like jules aka almia queen and tom the Australian he was cool on the call so its good ik everyone so far on this tribe except 2 ppl really, while 8 people on the tribe have not meet 4 others so I hope im connected well?

I honestly don't know what will happen from here . like is it og vs og tribe? swapped tribes? something new? IDK! All ik is my top 3 allies are ali jones mitch and I want to try get us far !! but idk how to do that so...… stay tuned

Still can’t get over that I made merge AHHHH

But wait...

THIS IS A CONSPIRACY THEORY BUT THE FREAKING COLOR OF THE MEEGE TRIBE IS SIMILAR TO MEEGE IN SWITZERLAND???! AND THE TWO STARTING TRIBES WERE LITERALLY ALMOST THE SAME COLOR. THIS WILL NOT END LIKE SWITZERLAND, IF IT DOES I AM GONNA CRY.

Anyway I got in touch with Mitch and Benj. I talked with Mitch first then I learned it was Benj who flipped during the Noah vote. I mean I honestly thought it was Mitch ahsjdjd but I guess the talk I had with Benj about rocks/ties back then was an omen. Anyway Mitch tells me he forgives Benj so I guess that’s something? Julia confirms to me that Mitch is saying the same thing to her so ok. I then chatted with Benj and he did tell me he was the one who flipped because he was not close enough with Noah to go to rocks for him which is understandable but I’m still weary on Benj.

Tom then tells me Mo and Caeleb are grilling him for JJ and Evan’s demise. Right now Tom feels that Mo/Caeleb/Alex/Jones are a thing and that they’re just using Benj. That’s kinda a good info to use to get benj on our side??

Anyways I don’t know if this is alarming or what but on the tribe call Tom told Mitch and Benj he knew about the Budva idol being found because Julia told JJ and then told everybody. I think Mitch and Benj were shocked that Tom knows? Idk I maybe paranoid but let’s see

Right now me, Julia, Jason and Ali are trying to hide the fact from Benj and Mitch that we made sort of a pact with Tom and Jules to vote together come merge. I trust Tom to know that I think he will vote with us but idk about Jules. Tho Julia and Jason seem to trust her so I hope she sticks with us!!

Last minute additions -

I got a vote cover from the choosing thing!! Drew didn’t really tell me what it did but if I had to guess what it was I’d say it’d be like,, a dark week thing where votes won’t be revealed? Who knows tbfh

SO I KNOW I'M TERRIBLE WITH WRITING CONFESSIONALS, but this is my first Survivor game, I'm not used to using Skype and it's weird having to type it to a whole other window just to get a confessional but WHATEVER ILL TRY TO DO AT LEAST ONE A DAY. Even if it's just like about random shit! Even it's just an astrology lesson! Anyways JJ, I mean, Alex is coming at me saying he thinks it's 6v6 now and i'm like......who's gonna tell him. BECAUSE EVEN IF IT'S ME NOT DOWN FOR OG DURMITOR ( i love them but game wise idk if i can hang with them ) I DAMN WELL KNOW other people might not be down for that. I'm just tired of the assumptions though I know Alex means well I'm just TIRED ugh he's a pisces moon too so he'll sense it from me so I better act NOT ANNOYED but I can't help it UGH. Did I miss the people from OG Durmitor? YES! Did I miss the gameplay and none of them calling out JJ on his shit and being surprised that JJ got out for being a crackhead? NO. NOT AT ALL.

okay so merge and I have lots of thoughts, i am gonna do it person by person so i cover it all ahh.

Alex C: Okay he lowkey terrifies me ahh. Like he is quite gamey, and both Mitch & Jules have said he is kinda leadery and potentially a bit pushy? I see him as an early merge boot (ideally), because I think he'll get a lot of attention on himself? He is fun though, and I like talking to him - we will see, maybe if idk Jones/Mo/Caeleb goes he will be a more workable ally from an underdog spot?

Ali: trash, disgusting, send him home, I never want to see that mess...

Benj: a KING, I have missed Benj so MUCH. He is such a, SUCH A KING, i love him, I'm so happy we are back together. I think he could be a great duo for me, since us two being close can be kept quite lowkey ha! We will figure it out, but he is going NOWHERE on my watch

Caeleb: Okay he is like... one of the only other newbies left in the game, and is potentially quite lowkey, so I'd like him to stick around for a while I think ahh! He seems super sweet, and could be someone to go to the end with if my faves go bye bye.

Ian: I've said it since round two, and I will continue to say it. Ian is the biggest threat in the game, I've been knew and I'm not dropping it. I will not allow him to go far, like he is super nice, but also... we are not allowing a threat like Ian to walk to the end.

Jason: Similar to Ian, I'm really feeling duo vibes with him and Ian, maybe even a trio with Julia I'm not sure? He scares me less than Ian, and I'd probs want Ian out first versus Ian? He still is also a king tho, even though I always get vibes that he doesn't like me eeeek

Jones: A legend! I can tell already, I fully get legendary vibes from her. But like... it makes me upsetti spaghetti that I really don't think I can let her get too far, like she... is someone I could see as a season winner, so she might need to go sooner rather than later, although getting her out might be easier said than done tbh

Jules: Okay an icon. Jules we LOVE in this house. I literally stan Jules with my 100% full heart, they know ALL and on my watch? they go NOWHERE. my clout is being used to keep an eye on Jules, even tho they are a much better player than me, and they will be able to watch their own back and go super far

Julia: Witch queen. I want her to go really far too tbh, like I love her and am so happy we have actually been able to work together this season. She told me about her self-vote thing she got from the merge feast, which is a big trust display. I think if I can get her woke about Ian/Jason, she could be a big ally and super important about my game long term. I think if we can get Alex C out particularly (since apparently they have history), then maybe she will be more willing to FINALLY make a move on them.

Mitch: I'm always sketched out by him KASDFA. Like I think he would work with me for sure, but I also like... don't know sometimes, like... he knows I was gonna vote him out premerge, can that go away? I think he could be a good ally moving forwards though , we will have to see.

Mo: MY SON. I MISS HIM. I'M SO HAPPY HE DOESN'T HATE, I THOUGHT HE DID. Its super exciting and like I said before, he is doing super good this season and I'm super proud of him. I wanna go far with him, but I think not being on a tribe with him till merge could be an obstacle to that ahh :(

Tom: Tom is a mega-cracked king. Like he is SO entertaining, and on a personal level I really vibe with him. I will not do him dirty, and I wanna go to the end of this game with him. We will see what happens, would love to be a juror voting for him at the end.

So overall final thoughts. I have a dream F4 alliance of 'The Flippers and the Flop' aka me, Tom, Jules & Benj, since those three flipped on their original tribe and I'm a flop. So I want that as F4, Julia at F5 (but maybe further, I love her too), and then for the rest:

6th: Mo 7th: Caeleb 8th: Mitch 9th: Jones 10th: Jason 11th: Ian 12th: Alex C.

We will see and figure it out and be flexible. Its gonna be a mess, but we will see. I just wanna make confirmed jury, then I just wanna play a bomb game, like finalist-schminalist, i just wanna end the season and my game not being an actual joke KASDFLAS.

hi i just wanted an idol

Okay so i dont know like when the last time i did one of these was but lets just start at last tribal council; I am lowkey so glad that evan is gone and we didnt try anything too fancy he really would've made merge that bit messier. But uhm also why the heck did he have to vote me grrr i wanted to try to not get any votes for a really long time but oh well cant have everything good happen in life.

M E R G E!!!!!!!! Yesssss finally merge has happened the playing field is even and i am ready to rumble. Bit nervous to see where abouts i stand in the tribe because i didnt feel very included in the original durmitor tribe and there are two people i havent met in benj and mitch.

Okay so like wtf is going on right now, sure say hello and all that shit but why is Mo, Alex and Caeleb like proper interviewing me, who do you think you are ELLEN? No youre not please stop investigating on what happened between jj and evan vote offs like i do not owe y'all anything..... i was probably going next if we didnt have that first swap! I am more than happy to tell them like what happened just it will be altered in favour of myself and they wont get the full indepth explanation.

Sorry I don’t have a vid confessional today laid ease

But um ya I think I’m getting TARGETTEEEEEEEEED or at least someone within the durmitor dominators group is. WHich is SKETCHY!! Idk it just feels really obvious since that core group of 4 literally,,, tag teamed all 4 of us first ,,, hello??? Mam?? I get we just met like 2 days ago but you could be a lil more discreet ab everything 😤

But ik we can’t just assume based on that,, If we’re just going by that logic then their hitlist is Alex, Caeleb, myself, then Mo. but idt it could be that,,, concrete?? They could just be playing us like Noah/Michael/Mitch TRIED to do before,, but we got them so ya 🥰 anyways,,

If we can somehow get a plan out of them or at least a name then we’ll be ok,,, that way we’ll at least know what’s going on for SOME PART. Mitch and julia seem kiiiind if close? So hopefully she’ll tell him some shit and come back to me ab it - if I have to play the idol then,,,, I guess,,, I will,,, but I don’t want to. Like let me save it for when IM in trouble at least sksksk who knows,, maybe I AM in trouble and I’m just a crackhead 🤷🏻‍♀️

But ya that’s my rant I’ll be back soon laid ease mwah

Okau so like woo! i won the first immunity of the season how bloody exciting! I honestly was confident going into the challenge however i didnt know whether or not i was going to win. I love the fact that i got shot 0 times so i literally could've gone asleep and potentially still won lol. But at this point my mission of staying low and go go go'ing has to be intact i cannot seem like a big threat in this game it doesnt get me far. So im telling everyone that im surprised and that it was really just based on luck and based on nothing so my target does not grow! So glad to have immunity in this game honestly first merge boot probably wasnt going to be BUT i know this round can get fucking messy so anything could've changed #StayLowAndGoGoGo

okay this is a grr grr angry confessional. WHY IS EVERYONE BEING DUMB AND JUST BEING ATTACHED TO TRIBE LINES. Like I messaged Jones, Mo and Alex about it yesterday, and Jones my meme queen gave like a good response, but Mo particularly I was like... wut?

Like Mo is my org son from all the way back in Azores, so I always have his back... but like... when someone messages you about being uncomfortable with tribe lines and not wanting to stick to them, giving the HEAVIEST HINT POSSIBLE that I'm not attached to like Ian and Jason, your response should not be 'I'm just accepting my fate'... Like that is such a red flag to me, no player should just... be resigned to stuff? Like Mo PLEATHE.

In other other news, we love Jules still. Tom is being weird recently, I think he doesn't trust me anymore, so I think my dream at the moment is a F3 of Jules and Benj, Tom 4th and Julia 5th? Mitch terrifies me (and he knows I shot him, which caused even more distrust), Alex is super nice but is like... evidently not trusting of me, Mo is my son but I wanna SHAKE HIM, Jones is my fave I love her already, really like Caeleb too he is so nice.

I'm just frustrated, I feel like.. people aren't willing to do enough and its making me frustrated I just wanna scream. Like at this point, I expect to go midjury, like 9th, and I'm thinking who I'd vote. I would vote Jules, because they are always on the ball and their read is unmatched, I'd vote Ian because he has playing smart since round one, I'd vote Benj because he is one of the few that has his head screwed up about not blindly sticking to tribe lines.

Of the rest? I'd like to vote for Tom/Jones, but would probs need to see more gamey game from both. I could respect Mitch's story to get to the end, but don't necessarily see myself voting him. I could vote Julia or Jason. The one who is currently least likely to get my vote is probably Mo, I am just... frustrated with him. Like he could do SO GOOD, I just wanna give his head a proper wobble, like.... LISTEN TO ME. I am telling you I would flip just READ KSALDFA.

I ranked who I'd vote for in FTC if I was a juror so far and its currently:

Jules > Ian > Benj > Mitch > Julia > Tom > Jason > Jones > Alex C. > Caeleb > Mo

And the order in which I trust people is:

Jules/Benj > Julia > Tom > Ian > Jason > Caeleb > Jones > Mo > Alex C. > Mitch

I have thoughts. I know its been a hot sec since I have sent one in but I have been just busyyy. So this one might be long and it'll have all my thoughts post-merge.

My first thought: Being reconnected with old tribemate (Jules and Tom). I love Jules. She's so kind and wonderful, might be hard to reach occasionally but when she messages its always full and heartfelt. I think that can go a long way in this game as she's fun to talk to and makes you feel like she's with you. So that also mean shes very dangerous of course. Tom is less so fun. He's kinda sarcastic kinda hard to read kinda edgy. He always acts like he's a little too busy for things. But he is fun and he has fed me a lot of information about Budva post swap, so thank him for that. BUT I'm like lowkey really annoyed with him. Losing that last challenge on purpose was dumb as hell. I know Evan is deceitful and hard to work with, but like hell keep that in your head and get him off as an easy vote right after merge. Because If they hadn't lost and instead we had gone to tribal (Durmitor), then we hopefully would've lost Mitch, secured the dynamic as 7 OG Durmitor vs. the 5 OG Budva, and it would have been much harder for Tom and Jules to chose the Budva members over the numbers. Obviously this works best for me and OG Durmitor but that just means that I don't know what Tom and Jules are thinking and overall that means I can't really trust them.

Second thought: That challenge was actually really fun. It put this merge into perspective and CLEARLY showed where people are at right now. The fact that OG Budva was so organized in their slaughter and got out Alex like hella fast and then me before we got out any of them was so showing. They are tight and they will remain to be tight. The fact that they were able to be so coordinated seems scary as well. AS it might mean that Tom or Jules or even Mitch or Benj is actually working with them to make sure we didn't win that immunity. Plus Tom won it and that is scary to me because I already was wary about trusting him in the first place. Putting thought one and two together makes me wary overall, because that means that together Tom and Jules and Mitch and Benj might be choosing to work with old Budva (I mean Tom and Jules don't have any inhibitions about voting out old tribemembers so) and old Durmitor might just be screwed.

Third thought: Annoyed that I was shot and destroyed second. I thought I was making a good impression with everyone. Maybe its not a good indication but also sad face.

Fourth thought: New tribe members! I love them all to an extent. Ali seems to be fun to talk to and likes chatting back and forth. But also he did say he was surprised I was out so early and since I know that Alex didn't shoot Julia then he was definitely shooting me. So I don't think I trust that all too much and he might be too sneaky. Jason seems nice. Not much to say our conversation has been pleasant but only so. The same with Ian tbh. They seem cool but thats it. Julia is fun and her background makes her seem like a total bad ass and a really cool lady, but she's been soooo hella dismissive of me. I don't like the way she's playing the game. I think she's putting on an act and playing a character to throw people off. I heard she was like sad or crying(?) that someone shot her and Tom confronted me about it. And sure I shot her but like hell thats the game. I'm 90 percent sure she was shooting me. I'm annoyed, and people seem to love her which just makes me think she's being dismissive to me because she thinks I won't be around too much longer and she doesn't have to put in the effort. And that's dumb, like if I do go I really hope this is the start of the Jury because I will have something spicy to say to her in the event she makes it to Final Tribal. Or maybe things will change and I will learn to really like her and stuff.

Fifth Thought: Game plan for tomorrow. My strategy going forward is simply to be not targeted tomorrow. That is truly the crux of it, because at this point I think I might get votes. I know that apparently I have a habit of getting votes in a new tribe (David and then Noah) so honestly I can see it happening, especially if they are worried about Alex having an idol and they got him out of the challenge first just to vote me. But if I can survive then I think I can go a little farther. The power struggle right now is 3 groups of 4 battling. There's the total Budva members, the total Durmitor members, and then the middle ground (Jules, Tom, Benj, and Mitch). I asked Tom who was more important the original tribes or the new ones and he said he wants it to be old but most likely will be new which basically means that he will vote with Budva. So in the event I survive with numbers I'll ride that until I need Alex (and his idol that I'm prettttty sure that he has but I can't be sure) out and will try to rally that we need him to be gone. If I survive but I'm not on the side of the numbers I wanna create a good bond with Ali and Jules as were all newbies and work that until we can start eating Budva from the inside. I'll see though DKSDSKDSK. I don't think it would be wise to concrete that before this first vote because their reasons for voting off JJ and Evan was apparently that they were making alliances with everyone. I don't want them to see me that way.

Sixth Thought: Okay another Idol Bridge BIG OOF. Those are hard as hell, and I am so confident that both tribe idols are gone which means there might be 3 idols out there pretty soon which is scary as hell. Durmitor Dominators are hoping to work together to get it and maybe we can actually use that together rather than having it hidden like this time. (Which I really think that Alex has it but whatev). If I'm idoled out imma be so sad but like also okay thats an okay way to go.

Have fun with this. Feel free to chop it up into mini confessionals or use it in its entirety. Up to you! Love ya hosts ur beautiful

okay a gamey and a dumb update.

julia proper wants to flip on ian and jason which iconic... its truly time. I wasn't necessarily going to vote them out first, but if that's what is gonna happen, that is what's gonna happen.

in a memey update, JJ just got cast in another game and it reminded me of a JJ-ism I never confessed about. JJ was on call and showing me... a pet in a glass box, but i didn't know what the pet was or what it was supposed to be, because I couldn't see it. but he was like wow isn't it cute, so i fully called a stick which was the only thing i could see, cute. a STICK.

anyway so like.... back to game. i think the merge boot will be ian or jason which dun dun dun! its probs overdue and will happen, or it'll be me! we will see anyway

why am i drinking white wine with julia on call at 3am, we are truly the wine mum duo drinking our way till the end

I think I'm in the middle of everything atm, which is a weird place for me to be. I'm not in the center, I'm not looking from the outside in, I'm not really a part of anything major or in any alliances and it's an odd feeling. I know I need to do something to secure myself in something but everything in this game just feels up in the air, it's odd. I don't know if it's just how Survivor is, but it's a very strange feeling not having a proper grasp on what's going on with EVERYONE. I have ideas but not a lot of real confirmation for much besides Jason/Ian, Mo/Jones, etc. Anyways. IDK WHAT ELSE TO SAY OKAY I'm boring AF this game

Ok so for starters the immunity challenge ended after 2 hours of its posting adhgfjgs Tom won so big woo for him.

The Budva baes agreed to target Alex/Mo/Caeleb/Jones in this challenge and we got Mitch, Tom and Jules to work with us. Well kinda because the four (Me, Ali, Julia and Jason) of us were the ones who did most of the shooting to eliminate the Durmitor four and we just like went back and forth eliminating one another. I was the first to die in my group so big yikes!! I don't know if that's an omen idk but I do know that I was killed by grandma jones. So I killed grandma too oops!

Anyway, fast forward to today. I got an idol clue from the Hamburger but idk if this will help me get the idol hfjhsgf. So I shared it to Budva Baes and with Tom. Who knows we might get it idk.

In other news, on call Jules flipped because of an earthquake jgfjshgf

A tribe call happened that had almost everyone except Jones and Benj join which lasted about like 3-4 hours?? Anyway, me, julia, jules, jason, ali, mitch and alex played cards against humanity so that was fun!

After Alex and Jules left the call, the five of us who remained then proceeded to plan for the vote. As of now I think we're gonna throw our votes towards Caeleb because apparently he doesn't talk to them that much? I do talk with Caeleb but nothing game related so I guess I'm on board with that. We're not gonna target Alex rn because Julia mentioned that Alex might wanna work with budva people? or that maybe just a ploy, either way Julia and Mitch thinks Alex has the durmitor idol so that's something to be weary.

If I had my way I want to target Jones because during the call, Mitch and Julia expressed how they want her to stay and how they insta love her and to me that's kinda dangerous. But rn I don't think the numbers are their for me to go after Jones. Another hot topic on the call we had was Benj. I'm really becoming more weary of Benj because umm idk even tho we talk I feel like he's hiding something.

So far, the plan is for Julia to approach Jules about voting Caeleb. Jules is important for this vote because she's like in the middle rn and we need numbers. Also ghasgdd julia got a freaking auto-vote on herself for this incoming tribal council so we are screwed if they vote for Julia. Tom is also important but me and Jason have an alliance with him that Ali and Julia are not aware of so he's good hopefully.

Anyways as of now, the plan is Caeleb (which kinda sucks because I kinda like him) but who knows whats gonna happen. Just hope things go in my favor for this vote.

Apparently I’m a secondary target for the vote, but I’m like oddly at peace? Maybe it’s because I’m super tired but being anxious is never fun so I’m relieved that I’m so calm.

This tribal is so freakin messy. Literally everybody be crackheads and I am a freakin crackhead. I knew Mitch was gonna do me in again, I am sad that JJ blew up chances with Tom working with us, and I can't trust Jules because she's right in the middle. I think Benj is still with us. But gosh they'll vote me tonight and I wannnnna survive. If only I could like strongarm whoever has this freakin idol into playing it for me.

Anyways, I love Grandma's boys. They're all sweet and nice and wonderful and I want us to get this to work out. I hope Alex can work his magic, but also I hate that this has turned me into someone who is just riding the coattails at this point. Maybe I need to do some FREAKIN crackheadidness but hell we'll freakin see.

ALSO

Jones has the IDOL OOOOOOOOOO. I think she might play it for me if things are looking bad. Literally my grandma is the most amazing I love her. Things be crazy and cracked here in Podgorica but the spice is nice.

okay this confessional is a call out post, to basically the entire cast except for jules and benj. like its negative and mean, so I'm gonna scream, and then write some actually strategy and smart stuff KLDSAFAS.

Julia. I LOVE YOU WITH MY WHOLE HEART, but. You have got us into such a pickle and are playing the middle too aggressively, dragging me kicking and screaming with you. Why would you make a Budva chat yesterday, to flip on it TODAY, that is such, SUCH a quick turn around

Alex. You are so sweet, and I really enjoyed the call yesterday, but you are already terrifying as an ally and are giving off JJ game vibes. This 'alliance' I'm in, of Jules/Julia/Me/Alex/Mo/Jones... terrifies me, WHY IS NOBODY TALKING. And then I love how Alex was like 'lets vote out someone from each side across two rounds' and then like... suggests Jason, a) one name b) one vote. And then it's like... he goes okay maybe Mitch the following round? Another OG Budva? I have to laugh, I have to LAUGH, this alliance is so fake askdlfaf. I love everyone in this alliance as people, but as allies I'm not feeling it.

Jones. You are a legend, and naming my plants was so fun, but you go so crickets its really scary, like it just looks SO sus. I wish you were more open gamey, I really wanna work with you grrrr.

Mo. Mo is my son, and I love him, but oh. my. god. is he frustrating to play with JLSAKDFAF. I have never played with someone who is so passive and who literally... does not say anything. Like on calls, he is so fun because he is the sweetest and a great guy, but his only comments and contributions have been 'I think I am going' and 'I have accepted my fate'. mo, MO, you can't be doing this and pulling these shenanigans, you are so likable just... give it a go and play the game HNNNGH.

okay that was mean and negative but I fully needed to scream. To clarify my situation, last night Julia made a chat of all the Budvas - Benj after the call, and we settled on voting Caeleb? But Julia wants to flip, and formed this group with Alex of them two, me, Jones, Jules & Mo. Like Julia, I get playing the middle, but this is playing. the. middle. I didn't want to be in such a middle position I hate this so much SKADLFASF.

It's really frustrating. I want Ian/Jason/Alex out because they all terrify me on a game level. But Julia has put us in the middle in a way that we are gonna have NO NUMBERS TO MAKE A MOVE UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Like I just wish she ASKED me before she made a group with Alex that I got dragged into.

I feel like me and Jules have to just... get in with Mitch. Its the only way. And Caeleb too I guess? Like I think the alliance I'm going to need is like... Me/Tom/Jules/Caeleb/Benj/Mitch... like that's a 6, and with Julia might be the numbers we need going forward.

I'm like... not gonna win this season I know it already. Jason is gonna be furious with me, as is Ian. And then I'm gonna have to flip BACK in two rounds. This is literally the exact game I've played before that hasn't worked.

Having said that, the main thing I did wrong before was that I didn't own my moves. So I need to own it, when I vote out Jason I need to talk to Ian and pull me in, so we can just... remove Alex. I just want everyone gone already askdlfa, its so so so tiring.

Here is what I want to happen now:

Ian > Alex > Jason > Mo > Jones > Mitch > Caeleb > Julia > Tom > F3: Me/Jules/Benj

but like... its just... im in such a bad mood about all this, its really... just enough.

Also for the funsies, if I was a juror, at FTC from most to least, this is who I'd vote for so far:

Jules > Benj > Mitch > Ian > Julia > Jason > Tom > Caeleb > Alex > Jones > Mo

So this tribal is shaping up in our favor... hopefully. I think Jason's for sure going now at least. It should be a 9-3 vote if everyone's telling the truth... which would make it so easy to split the votes because I'm pretty sure Jason or Ian have the idol. The most we can hope for is make them think Caeleb is going home for sure.

Pray for me. I don't wanna be a merge boot. I feel like I have a lot more game to play.

im about to save jason and fix all my problems.

i'm gonna push the vote onto ian, saying jason is very nervous and seems like he will play an idol, pushing the vote onto ian. Then I will tell Jason before/after (to be decided) the vote that I saved him, thereby securing his trust so that we can make a move on Alex next round.

I have NEVER played so aggressively, and tried to take control so much in the vote, but Julia put me in a crap situation. But I'm not gonna like... sit here and have it happen, I am here to play a good game, I said so in my application.

I think this is the way of ensuring minimal blood on my hands, and I've wanted Ian out since round two KLASDFA.

I wake up and I then learn that HOW IN THE WORLD ALEX KNOWS THAT CAELEB IS A TARGET THIS ROUND???

Mitch told him? Like what the hell is happening???! I talked with Alex and he says he’s ok with Caeleb which is really weird??

Tom then goes online and tells me Alex has been going around telling people different names and he told Caeleb my name >.>

AND NOW JULES AND BENJ ARE MIA AND ITS REALLY SKETCHY

I am gonna get voted!! I can feel it ahsjdiff so much for my never voted out status :(((

50 minutes till tribal and the plan is to vote out Jason but make Jason think it’s Ian or Caeleb? Unless I’m getting blindsided which in that case, well done. I’m really tired and I just want some Mac and cheese and a nap.

why is the one time alex and jones pip up to squash my beautiful plan. like go back to being crickets at all signs of game talk thank you very much.

alternatively... tom and jules could come in clutch, flipping caeleb to vote out alex that works too.

i'm annoyed with jones/mo/alex they can go. like i've wanted jason and ian out as a duo for ninety-five years, but maybe i wanna keep them around.

Jones is fuckinf PISSED

THESE BUDVA ARE CRACKED AND WANNA CHANGE THE VOOOOTE SKSKKSJSJSKSJ WE HAVE LITERALLY 40 MINUTES

If Jason idols himself, I’m idoling Caeleb and I’m gonna gonna kill someone

If Jason idols Ian and we get Jason out I’m laughing my ass off

If Jason idols himself and I idol Caeleb and I’m SOMEHOW IDOLED OUT then fuck that shit I’ll literally kill someone

I just wanna tell these Budva in space jam then it’ll be ok

I DO NOT WANT TO BE VOTING JASON AT ALL THE FUCK I WANT TO GET ALEX THE FUCK OUT OF HERE BUT NO CAELEB APPARENTLY WANTS TO VOTE JASON I HATE THIS THEY REALLY ARE TRYING TO GET MY HOMIE JASON OUT!!! WAS I CONSPIRING AGAINST HIM AND IAN ALL WEEK? MAYBE SO! BUT I DON'T WANT HIM OUT YET!!! I DON'T!! WE ARE TRYING TO BLINDSIDE ALEX BUT THIS AIN'T WORKING UGHGHGHGHG *STOMPS ON THE GROUND* UGHGHGHGH I HATE THIS GOODBYE

me flipping my vote to make it a 5-4-3-1 sending Ian out... I'm either the second coming of Natalie Anderson or 11th place.

The moment Mitch, Julia and Ali stopped responding to me and Jason I felt it. That we were being bamboozled and it looks like we did.

Tom and Jason were true to me and the end and I love them for that. Screw snake Julia because she really fucking played me like a fiddle lol and fuck Ali, mitch and benj hahahahahahahahaahahahahahHaha Because it really hurts! Alex is a scheming lying bitch and at least Mo half lied to me oof

At least my vacation is saved. I love the hosts, Drew, Seamus, Johnny and Asya for having me. I stan Nicole G forever. Bora Bora will always be my home. Goodbye tumblr survivor!

[oceangl1tter]

personal complaints against grass, future ideas, alcohol and its sidekick, mango juice, & the Eng,lish, Literature,tsunami, called, Fu,.

Lying in grass looking at the sky is not as freeing as it seems. Why is it that grassfields in parks always happen to be itchy and prickly on the skin? Why can't I just watch these clouds in comfort? and not be horrendously tickled by the furs of bugbodies climbing up my calves?

--

future things I’m itching to write about:

past lovers as colors of my nailpolish

medium-rare carnal fantasies and a side-dish of Grilled Sesame-Soy Shishito Peppers, an embarrassing meal

a tell-tale of lugging death out of the floorboards

“INFP and unrequited love: name a more iconic duo“

--

It's not like how it looks on Snapchats, or maybe I just went to a dead party but I don't think that was the case. I went early which I realized was a mistake. Nothing really started till 10:45. Fastforward sitting in the corner while girls in shorts and tanks huddle in cliques waiting for someone to approach them. I did my introductions, none of them invited me into their huddled circles. Fastforward more sitting, more talking to people around me--names I don't forget, but I guess I'm a name that people forget. I’ve never had alcohol before. My heart is beating beating beating beating ! ! ! I look it up on WebMD and WebMD says I’m okay and you already know WebMD doesn’t lie. Shit is sizzling down my throat and slushing its way into an empty stomach. I down 8 shots for some reason, actually there is a reason. He’s an easy guy to talk to. Cue a future accidental date with him. Apparently you're not supposed to mix lights and darks, which no one really told me, 'cept the guy who offered me a chaser-- the star of the show: mango juice (which I proceeded to vomit in various places, the restroom inside the apartment, the restroom near the swimming pool, the trashcan bag outside of my dorm e.t.c.). I guess 8 shots is a lot. I didn't eat that day b/c I was studying for the upcoming mid-term and surprisingly I didn't get as f*cked up as people like to portray, or maybe I'm not as lightweight as I thought I'd be. Or Maybe I got it from my dad. Still could think straight, remember people's names as they slip into unconsciousness blubbering about power rangers or something. No drunk texts going out, no one to text anyway about this.  There's nothing good to share, except a terrible experience, as this girl (one of the people hosting the party)--______,standard Korean beauty.., red-faced and less-shy than her sober self rubs your elbow and asks if you're okay, if you liked the party, if it was fun. Yes, no, and no. She's too close to say no so I nod and give a reassuring smile. The party's too early to be over but it is. People ask if I have a ride, I say I do and that's that. People clear out, others stay and chat.. but I'm just drunk walking down a dark street waiting for the lyft. Holding a red cup of water, my trusty bag, and my head.

I lyft home lugging a large garbage bag I asked the partyhosters if I could borrow (thought i'd cherish it as a keepsake...hah). Get to outside my dorm and sit on a bench and pathetically vomit shit into the bag. I don't quite make it to actually opening the bag so it almost serves as a tissue as the vomit just smears across my face. Mmm mango delight. I guess the pros of not eating and drinking is that nothing that entirely yucky comes up. An RA comes a long, sits down with me for a hot second, just to see if I'm okay. I'm okay. Physically not, mentally tired and ready to go to bed.

Get into my dorm walk around a little bit before I actually key into my room. Later walk down the same hallway and see marks trekked on the carpet and I think which fucking frat boy vomited these stains and my half-fazed brain realizes it was my dumb ass bag I've been lugging around like a 3 year old toddler on my back. The vomit must have either leaked through or had always been at the bottom. Yikes. Fastforward to now (10:30 am) still feel like shit, but in a different sense, not the fk my life fk this party that was so fking terrible sort of impending vomiting sense but the empty stomach soul-searching terrible sort of sense. My roommate doesn't care. I wish she did. I listened to her issues and now she wants to transfer rooms. It's fine. I'll just lament by myself then. Go to more parties as a lone stranger. Leave as a lone stranger.

---

Despite my Freshman/Senior English teacher (a stick-thin Asian woman with impeccable skin who pretty much deep-fried anxiety into me, I’m not even kidding :( ) deducting a point on my essays for each comma used wrong, I still don’t know how these hooked things work and at at this point I’m too scared to ask. I’ll just sprinkle them however I please and recall the times when I’d be stunned at watching 91s turn into 82s. Turns out she now follows me on Instagram (she only followed a few students?) and ALL of her posts are her impersonating her cat (complete with all the hashtags that pet instagram users tend to add) like what the fuck LMAO. I’m not saying I wasn’t a fool as a Freshman (as all Freshman are, invariably) but Freshman year I had cried in the corner in her class, sniffles and everything, while the rest of the class worked on their tests(let’s call it a combination of bad luck with Shakespeare and my test getting crumpled by her...), been handed a referral, that stupid ass pink slip, gotten rekt in a mock-interview exercise (b/c apparently a hat twisted back over my head and a beige frock isn’t a convincing outfit for Elizabeth Bennet... but like.. I didn’t think there were standards to begin with), and interrogated in annotation audits for Crime and Punishment and Hamlet despite students furiously scribbling on post-its behind her. All flashbulb memories. And what do you know. She’s a cat lady with a cat instagram. (It does feel kind of nice that I sort of got her approval in the end though..:>) It only took a few instances of public berating to get it and a half-baked understanding of commas.

[stephmolliex]

Galaxy Note 9 versus iPhone X cameras, compared

Samsung recently released their Galaxy Note 9 flagship smartphone, and at a price rivaling Apple's iPhone X, there is sure to be no shortage of comparisons. In our latest head-to-head, we take a closer look at the Note 9's cameras, which feature hardware pulled from Samsung's S9+ smartphone. Aside from a few aesthetic modifications like a repositioned fingerprint sensor, not much has changed from the S9+ that launched earlier this year. Inside, the Note 9 gets a water-carbon cooling system that seems to do little in terms of performance, an unsurprising result considering the phablet uses the same processor as Samsung's flagship smartphone. Aside from a larger display and S Pen support, the Note offers few additions over the S9 series. That includes cameras, which come straight from the S9+, though Samsung might have spent some time on software improvements to optimize image quality. Subscribe to AppleInsider on YouTube We already compared the iPhone X's camera to that of the S9+, but let's see if the Note 9 can improve on Samsung's showing. Macro photography Starting with some Macro shots, we used the wide lenses of both phones and got as close as we could to the subject while keeping focus. We were able to get quite a bit closer with the Note 9 compared to the iPhone X. The Samsung actually showed us a little icon indicating that Macro mode was enabled, while the iPhone has no such feature. Running the same test with the telephoto lenses yielded similar results, as the Note 9 was able to get much closer to our subject while keeping it in focus. We noticed that the exposure on the Note 9 was better as well. Next we compared the f/2.4 and f/1.5 aperture modes on the Note 9, noting f/1.5 mode was a lot less detailed than the smaller-aperture f/2.4 mode. Interestingly, the iPhone X was sharper than both Note 9 modes despite boasting an f/1.8 aperture in its wide angle lens. One thing you don't get in Samsung's Pro mode is HDR, so we reran the previous test with Auto mode and noticed that the Note 9's HDR effect made the image look a bit fake compared to the same photo on iPhone X. The Samsung version was also bit blown out as well. Overall, colors and contrast look much better on iPhone. Both of these phones have their own Portrait and Live Focus modes to add artistic blur to an image. Unlike Apple's Portrait Mode, the Note 9 allows you to adjust the amount of blur in the background, but the feature can look a bit fake at maximum settings. Comparing both photos, the iPhone looks a lot more realistic as far as blur edging. This could even pass off a shot from a DSLR camera, as long as you're not blowing it up to a larger size. One thing we do like about the Note 9 is that it adds simulated bokeh balls so it looks similar to what you get with a lens from a DSLR. Overall, however, the win goes to the iPhone X. Comparing the blur effects of the front-facing cameras, the iPhone again looks a lot more realistic. However, the iPhone X's photo had a bit too much contrast and we noticed that the Samsung has quite a bit of a wider lens for selfies. This latter feature is a plus for taking selfies with friends. Not only does the Samsung have a wider lens for selfie photos, it also has a panoramic selfie mode which allows you to get much more of your background into your shot. It did a great job at stitching the shot together, we literally didn't see any artifacts or tearing at all. By default, the Samsung adds some skin blurring and smoothing in the form of the beauty face mode, and you can actually go into the settings and turn that off, so we did that and retook the test. Unfortunately, it still looks like some of it is being applied even if you move the slider all the way to zero. We noticed that the Note 9 actually turned the beauty mode back on even after we manually turned it off. So we tested one more selfie after turning it off again to compare detail. We can instantly notice that the Note 9 blew out the sky, where the iPhone X actually kept a lot of the blue in the photo. However, the colors on the iPhone X were off, because the sweater in the photo is actually grey, not blue. The Note 9 does a much better job at faithfully reproducing colors. Both of these phones offer up to 10x zoom photos, so we decided to see which phone would churn out a higher quality image. The Note 9 seems to be better in almost every single way. The colors contrast and detail all look better. We performed another portrait mode test, except this time we saw how far away the subject can be while still triggering the feature. Both phones actually worked from around the same distance, except we noticed that the Note 9 added a pretty large amount of blur, looking almost unrealistic. The iPhone X seems to account for the distance you are away from the subject and it adjusts the blur to be more realistic. The blur edging around the camera and the face on the Note 9 isn't very good, so you can easily tell that it's applied with the help of software. Low light, and wide lenses We did a final detail shot with the wide lenses. Taking a closer look, the Samsung looks much better. The iPhone X has too much contrast in this shot, as well as some over-sharpening. The colors on the Note 9 look a lot more true to life. Back in the office, we took some photos in low light using the portrait and live focus modes. The Note 9 looks better exposed and brighter in auto mode, where both phones decided not to use flash. We manually enabled flash and the iPhone X looked quite a bit better. The Note 9 seemed to overexpose the face and the background. We switched to the wide lens and the iPhone X shot seemed to look a bit blurry. We took the same shot again and the iPhone X's photo still looked blurry compared to the Note 9. Finishing off our testing with a low light selfie in auto mode, we see neither phone is great. The Note 9 overexposed a bit, but its image was the winner, as the iPhone X's shot just looks a bit dark and loses detail. Conclusion In conclusion, the Note 9 was definitely better for macro shots, as you can get quite a bit closer than you can with the iPhone X. The colors and contrast for those shots looked better on the Note 9 as well. In general, the Samsung was better as contrast and colors compared to the iPhone X, except a few situations like the waterfall detail shots, where the Note 9 was a bit too cool. Surprisingly, the Note 9 did an outstanding job while at 10x zoom, beating the iPhone X in detail, exposure and colors. The iPhone X definitely beat the Samsung when comparing Portrait and Live focus modes. The blur edging was much more accurate and it looked really natural, whereas the Note 9 looked fake in a couple of tests. The iPhone X did a much better job for selfies, from everything including blur edging, colors and exposure. For low light, the iPhone X definitely looked a lot more natural thanks to the slow sync flash when it was used, but it had issues with sharpness when not using flash. Overall, out of the 15 main scenarios we looked at, the Note 9 came out on top, beating the iPhone X in 9 of them. We're very impressed with Samsung for its improvements in their cameras and software in recent years, now we'll just have to see what Apple has up its sleeve with the new 2018 iPhone lineup. Where to buy Shoppers looking to purchase the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 or iPhone X can take advantage of special offers at wireless carriers and electronics retailers. For those that want to purchase the Note 9 outright, B&H Photo is offering customers a free Samsung DeX Pad Dock and Qi Wireless Charger Duo valued at up to $218.99. The phone itself qualifies for free expedited shipping -- and B&H will not collect sales tax on orders shipped outside New York and New Jersey. Samsung is also taking orders for the new device with free add-ons as well. Wireless carriers AT&T and Verizon are also offering buy one, get one free promotions on the 128GB Note 9. For iPhone X buyers, T-Mobile and AT&T are offering $700 off a second iPhone X with qualifying plans and conditions. The devices are also available on eBay, often at a discount. https://goo.gl/dLDua1

[ihaveitonvinyl-blog]

Album Review: Janelle Monáe’s Dirty Computer Cements Her as a Legend

Janelle has made a name for herself as a quirky musician, actress, style icon, and activist. On Dirty Computer, her shortest album to date, she paints an uncompromisingly true portrait of herself while critiquing society. The songs are infectious, but still feel very artistic, conceptual, concise, and purposeful. The album and its accompanying “emotion picture” are a grand statement to be remembered for years to come.

Janelle’s list of accomplished collaborators is insane: Pharrell, Grimes, Julia Michaels, Brian Wilson, Jon Brian, and the duo Deep Cotton of her own Wondaland collective. Janelle crosses through pop, R&B, hip-hop, and funk effortlessly to create a truly eclectic body of work. Dirty Computer lends itself to be listened to in its entirety, as all of the tracks are sewn together to flow beautifully akin to her earlier albums. The transition between “Crazy, Classic, Life” and “Take A Byte” is so good that it is hard to tell a new song has even started. As a result, Janelle creates another album that feels like one body of work as opposed to a collection of tracks.

Thematically, Janelle moves into new territory. She describes the album’s concept as the idea that people are “dirty computers,” and that we should celebrate our “bugs” as good things. She also writes more and more about herself and intersectionality, highlighting her experiences as a queer woman of color. She takes on a more inherently sexual approach to her lyrics; every track is marked as explicit. It’s accompanying full length “emotion picture” is just as impressive and includes a lot of the album itself in it.

“Dirty Computer (ft. Brian Wilson)” is the first song on the album, but seems more like an intro to the album than its own track. Here, Janelle outlines the “dirty computer” concept. She sings “Searching for someone to fix my life / Text message caught up in the sky / Oh, if you love me, won't you please reply? / Oh, can't you see that it's only me, your dirty computer?” The short track is the most direct reference to the concept of the album that appears within the music. Janelle further develops her themes on conceptual bops “Crazy, Classic, Life” and “Take A Byte.” The two songs snuck by me on my first listen; the almost nine minutes the two songs total felt like one or two. Neither song is too adventurous instrumentally, allowing her lyrics to capture the listener’s attention. On both, Janelle introduces the sexual lyrical themes of the album. 

After a the short “Jane’s Dream” interlude, the provocative “Screwed (ft. Zoë Kravitz)” captures the listener. Janelle plays off of the idea of being “screwed” as in being fucked up, and, well, being fucked. The two chant “Let's get screwed / I don't care / You fucked the world up now, we'll fuck it all back down” in unison. It’s so good that the song doesn’t even feel real. “Screwed” is the sex-positive anthem we deserve. It blows the previous tracks out of the water.

After a jaw-dropping transition into the rap banger “Django Jane,” the album’s sonic palette changes a bit to become more minimal. On “Django Jane,” Janelle raps about her accomplishments and the power of black women. She asks the listener “If she the G.O.A.T. now, would anybody doubt it?” Honestly, no. I think Dirty Computer upholds the idea that Janelle is one of the greats in alternative soul and R&B (and a creative visionary in general). “Pynk (ft. Grimes)” talks about the color pink and its manifestations in Janelle’s life. In its music video, some of the dancers wear pants that resemble a particular piece of anatomy. Janelle’s voice mixes so beautifully with Grimes to the point where it’s hard to tell who’s who. Here, Janelle (who recently came out as pansexual) more directly introduces some of the themes of queerness that appear in a subtle way throughout the album and its accompanying visual.

On the album’s lead single, “Make Me Feel,” Janelle truly explodes. It’s such a fun song. It reminds me a lot of the title track from St. Vincent’s album from last year. On the chorus, Janelle does a call and repeat thing where she sings “That's just the way you make me feel / So good, so good, so fuckin' real” and then whispers it back to herself. The result is chilling. Prince may or may not have worked on it. Even if it was just inspired by him, she does a great job modernizing a feeling similar to his work. Its phenomenal music video features Tessa Thompson. “I Got The Juice (ft. Pharrell Williams)” is another catchy track that continues the existing momentum of the album. Pharrell contributes nicely to the track. “I Like That” has a nice sentiment, where she talks about being a “little rough around the edges” in terms of her style and attitude, but the instrumental feels generic and underdeveloped. 

The album then very suddenly comes to a crashing halt with “Don’t Judge Me.” In the six minute track, Janelle questions the idea of intimacy in her relationship. But, the mellow and relatively slow track feels like a closer. While the song would be nice by itself, it really disrupts the tracklist. After another interlude titled “Stevie’s Dream,” Janelle gets more political. On “So Afraid,” Janelle discusses how the world is messing with her head. The result falls a little flat. The album’s closer, “Americans,” more explicitly describes our current political climate, alluding to dissatisfaction with Donald Trump and the injustices faced by people of color, women, and queer people in America. On the chorus, she chants “Don't try to take my country, I will defend my land / I’m not crazy, baby, naw, I'm American.” Janelle sings “Please sign your name on the dotted line” and the album ends.

There are only a few things I would change about Dirty Computer. I don’t like the placement of “Don’t Judge Me” on the album. She also included excerpts from speeches in two places on the album. While I like the message, I sometimes wish she tries to be a little less direct with them. The clever lyrics on the album can speak for themselves in conveying a political message. As a whole, the album is great. Her artistic vision is as clear as ever. The songs are all so catchy while still accurately describing injustice in America. She’s raised the bar once again.

Janelle Monáe Dirty Computer April 27, 2018 Bad Boy / Atlantic

Best Tracks: Screwed (ft. Zoë Kravitz), Make Me Feel, Pynk (ft. Grimes)

Worst Tracks: So Afraid, I Like That

Score: 90/100

Listen to the album: JanelleMonae.lnk.to/dirtycomputer

The Emotion Picture:

[epchapman89]

The Coffee Collective: Back To The Beginning And Looking Forward

As you walk down the picturesque stretch of Jægersborggade, a narrow residential street connecting Assistens Cemetery and Nørrebro Park on the northern side of Copenhagen, it’s hard to imagine it as anything other than the lively shopping street that it’s become. But this once graffiti-covered stretch of storefronts has transformed during the last decade into the beating heart of some of the city’s most well-known culinary success stories. There’s the Michelin-starred Ralæ and its little sibling Manfreds, the delectable Meyer’s Bakery, and the entrepreneurial success story of Grød, a gourmet porridge shop.

In all, there are nearly 40 independent shops on these 350 meters that include art galleries, boutiques, chocolatiers, nitrogen ice cream, and The Coffee Collective, which opened its first coffee shop on this street in February 2008, before all their current neighbors except for one. While Jægersborggade is not quite as iconic (or touristy) as the old houses along Nyhavn, this street has come to symbolize another side of Copenhagen, one where you can experience the passion that locals have for food, design, and the handmade—far removed from the cheap beers and souvenir shops in the city center.

I met with Klaus Thomsen, one of the collective’s (it really is one) four co-founders, at the newest Coffee Collective location on Jægersborggade—just up the street from where it all got started—to talk about the team’s newest cafes, their many culinary collaborations, and what’s next for the company as they approach their ten-year anniversary. As we chatted in the morning glow of early summer light, a stream of regulars took turns ambling down the steps into the just-below-ground coffee shop and greeting the barista like an old friend. Although the doors had only been open for four days, this new shop was, after all, just a couple hundred meters away from the one it replaced. For many of the regulars, the transition was of little consequence. Only now there were higher ceilings, more light, more seating, and an air of confidence that comes with a new coat of paint and ten years of leading the specialty coffee movement in Denmark.

Klaus Thomsen

Thomsen and I shared an AeroPress of The Coffee Collective’s signature single origin, Kieni from Kenya, in custom cups made by the Polish ceramic artist, Magdalena Kałużna. The warm bluesy vocals of Valerie June floated above our heads from a set of Bang & Olufsen speakers as Thomsen went around the room pointing out his favorite details like a proud new father.

If you ever had the opportunity to visit the original Coffee Collective on Jægersborggade, you remember one of its key features was that it lacked a front bar. When you lowered yourself down the steps and through the front door, it felt like you’d just walked into a friend’s kitchen—intimate and homey, and something Thomsen really wanted to continue. “We’ve always loved this open bar concept where you enter right into the kitchen. It’s something we’ve learned in terms of customer engagement and how you address a person, you don’t hide behind a counter with your backs to the customer,” Thomsen said. “We purposely made the front bar as small as we possibly could, while still fitting a 3-group espresso machine on it. But we wanted to make it as small as possible and as low as possible so it didn’t feel like a big block in front of everything else.”

And though the spacious shop boasts a cool, but cozy aesthetic—Thomsen wanted it to feel like a chic apartment in the surrounding Nørrebro neighborhood—it’s also kept the original store’s Lego menu board. “I’m glad we kept that,” says Thomsen. “It’s one of my favorite elements from the old shop. Since Lego is Danish, it’s nice to have a few things that are playful so it doesn’t get too serious. I find that you lose a bit of personality when it’s too serious.”

The new location sits on a wide corner, a feature that Thomsen confidently exclaims will lead to a successful cafe under most circumstances. Just across the road is a grassy lawn and a busy bike path leading to the Superkilen development, a sprawling design park a few blocks away. Compared to its predecessor, the shop is quite large. It boasts three times the square footage of the first cafe, and can seat 60 people inside, while you’d be lucky squeezing 12 comfortably into the old digs—and several of those would be standing patrons. And when Copenhagen is experiencing its limited but lovely summer weather, the square out front can seat another 60 guests at picnic tables and window benches. It is quite the idyllic spot and Thomsen couldn’t be happier with it. And though it’s not far from the original, the location caught the attention of an entirely new group of passersby who are discovering Coffee Collective for their first time.

In many ways, the new Jægersborggade cafe represents the journey and growth of The Coffee Collective over the years. When the four co-founders—Thomsen, Peter Nørregaard-Dupont, Casper Engel Rasmussen, and Linus Castanho-Törsäter—were still roasting coffee in an industrial space near Kastrup Airport in August of 2007, they began serving coffee publicly for their first time at a farmer’s market on this very street. It was during that time that Thomsen remembers the public’s excitement about what they were doing, the way the coffee tasted, and the general good vibes they got from the area. Early on, they made a connection with the local community that encouraged them to search nearby for their first retail space. But Jægersborggade 10, where the first Coffee Collective shop was eventually opened, wasn’t the storefront the founders originally fell in love with. Indeed, it was no. 57, the large vacant corner space at the end of the street that they had their eyes on. But Thomsen knew that it was beyond the financial reach of a small startup coffee company, at least at the time. And the space needed a lot of work.

“We looked in the windows and everything was trashed,” said Thomsen of the first time he and his partners walked past 57 Jægersborggade. “And it’s basically been trashed for the last nine and a half years. It’s been parking for bikes and a storage room for carpenters. But it’s gone completely unused all this time. The reason was that it required a completely new build-out. It was such a big undertaking that the co-op who owns the building was never up to doing it until now.”

When it finally came to constructing The Coffee Collective’s largest coffee shop yet, in their dream location, most of the budget was swallowed up by necessary infrastructure improvements. “It’s almost tragic, but the biggest expense of this buildout is what you don’t see,” says Thomsen. “We had to construct a completely new deck between the floors, we had to do new sewage, we had to get this gigantic ventilation system, and electricity and plumbing. Those account for much more than the actual build-out of the coffee shop. Which is ridiculous because they are things the customer will never see.”

What the customer will see, however, is a soft and reserved Scandinavian aesthetic. The build-out is detail-oriented with an emphasis on custom shelving, well-crafted furniture, and warm colors that give the space its necessary hygge (cozy) vibes thanks to their design collaborators. “We’ve been working really closely with this carpenter duo called Rømer/Harbo who were instrumental in getting the ideas we had into physical design. Suggesting which materials to use and the design of the kitchen cabinets and little details like the brass inside the handles, the simplicity of the tables and the colors.” Thomsen says they really wanted to create the feeling of different rooms, like IKEA, where you could have large round dining tables for groups, high low tables for different types of people, and “different corners where you can sort of hide out and sit and chat quietly and comfortably without feeling like everyone else is listening to you,” says Thomsen. “Because that’s what this coffee shop is, it’s a neighborhood meeting spot.”

With all the help received from Rømer/Harbo, Thomsen says they didn’t relinquish all creative control of the build-out because their team really enjoys that part. “It’s what drives us, that creative process, we all get so much energy from that. We get such a kick out of that whole design phase because that’s really fun,” he said. “And if we just outsourced all of that, we would lose so much of that feeling that this is what we’re working for, to create something that’s unique, that we’re excited for and that excitement spills over to the guests.”

That uniqueness and focus on quality has served the team well in the last ten years, along with being loyal to the coffee producers they work with, and building their brand with an expanding range of collaborations. In the last year and a half alone, while working alongside other leaders in their respective industries, The Coffee Collective has launched a soft serve ice cream, a coffee cheese, coffee caramels, coffee kombucha, a jazz album, coffee beers, and a coffee liqueur.

Kaffekombucha (Coffee Kombucha)

Over the last ten years, The Coffee Collective has been an innovative stalwart of the specialty coffee industry, giving life to some pretty radical ideas—like sharing their green cost on every retail bag and implementing a reusable take-away cup exchange program. But even if an idea doesn’t always pan out, it doesn’t stop the team from trying new things. With all they have accomplished in the last ten years, they’re not slowing down while they celebrate. The new shop on Jægersborggade has been open just three months, but Thomsen and The Coffee Collective team have been busy working on their fifth coffee shop. The new shop, known as Berkinow after the street where it’s located, opened at the beginning of September in an old bodega attached to a beautiful courtyard in Copenhagen’s downtown shopping district, just across the street from a Nespresso store. The new cafe is in the former location of Denmark’s very first draft beer bar, and in honor of that, The Coffee Collective acquired its alcohol license and a six-tap draft system. This will allow baristas, for the first time, to serve up The Coffee Collective’s beer collaborations, draft cocktails, and their new coffee kombucha.

The Coffee Collective Bernikow. Photo by Chris Tonnesen.

As the company proceeds with its big plans, the company will say goodbye to its first decade and embrace some changes in the process. Along with opening their newest retail stores, the team at The Coffee Collective will say farewell to Linus Törsäter, one of the four co-founders of the company who is leaving to pursue life back in Sweden. But as this chapter of a respectable first ten years comes to an end—the next one is only beginning.

The Coffee Collective is located at Jægersborggade 57, 2200 Copenhagen N and other locations throughout Copenhagen. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Brian W. Jones is the publisher of Dear Coffee, I Love You, author of Brew: Better Coffee At Home, and the creator of Welcome™, an international branding and design studio based in Stockholm, Sweden. Read more Brian W. Jones on Sprudge.

The post The Coffee Collective: Back To The Beginning And Looking Forward appeared first on Sprudge.

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[survivormontenegro]

Prejury Rites of Passage

Ali - The undisputed Subway Queen. Somehow, other than maybe JJ, you have ended up as maybe the most talked about player this season, your legacy lives on. Your tribe PSAs about your feelings on the vote were legendary, and I genuinely really enjoyed talking to you. If you are still looking for closure, from my perspective, the reason you left the game was because while we had greater conversations, I’m not sure how much you had talked to the others, and you targeted who was someone who was already well-connected in Mitch, and who was also someone I didn’t want to see go. With that said, you remain a legend, the original robbed goddess of the season, and in Tumblr Survivor: Sandwich Royalty, I can’t wait to watch you snatch first place.

Benj - You were really nice but just didn’t talk much! Queen of subway, queen of stacking sandwiches, queen of telling us you scored over 50 but actually scored 0. We still talk about that iconic moment.

Caeleb - I’m sorry I never got to meet you. The way people talk about you is iconic, so I can only imagine that you are actually are. 

Ali - You will without question not remember this, but you played in my first ever season! You were inactive, and basically didn’t message anyone, but you wrote a confessional that I still remember about me being annoying and wanting me to shut my mouth. It seems you knew the truth of my annoying ways before the rest of the cast, so perhaps you are the wokest one of all.

Caeleb - I messaged you about corn. And then we never talked again, and that’s why I think I got your vote. But you seemed really fun, I just wish I got to know you more. 

Tom - Hi pal it’s me Tom uhm it was nice to meet someone that i would have never met in my real life as you are into drag so it was nice talking to you for the small portion you were in the game

Ali - Jared, you are the OG crackhead of the season, and I honestly miss you for it. You were such a king, and a pleasure to talk to, but I think from jump you were playing super hard, and spreading stuff back and forth which I think got a lot of early attention on you? So I think when info spread about the Budva idol being found, and about the Mitch vote, people found that frustrating and wanted you out, which played onto my own fears of you playing hard, so I got on board. With that said, I was genuinely very sorry on a personal level to see you go, as I know you had a lot more game in you, and I look forward to seeing you play another game, because you defo DEFO should.

Benj - You were one of my favs from the start and was hoping to go further with you but unfortunately you got a bit too messy! Hope u can do well in future games tho!

Caeleb - The only thing I know about you is that Mitch said, “that’s what you get for targeting me” at your tribal. At least I think it was. 

Ali - I LOVE YOU. I doubt you remember me also, but I remember talking to you during Tumblr Survivor: Solomon Islands, both your first season and one of the first seasons which I followed in this community. It was very full circle seeing you play this season, and I was super disappointed to see you go so early, but obviously OG Durmitor saw how iconic you were and didn’t want to compete!

Benj - WILLOW MY QUEEEEEEN. Literally the only person I was friends with before this season and it sucks that once again we never got to play with each other :(( After you left I knew I had to make it far for you I hope youre proud u were robbed!!

Caeleb - I am sad, I really liked Willow. She was undeniably sweet, and she really wanted to do better than her last time in Kuwait. I really wanted to help her out with that and when JJ told me to vote Willow and Willow wasn’t around to make a countermove I knew it was too late. BUT I miss Willow and her super sweet heart, and Benj and I talk about how we had to do well for her honor. 

Tom - Robbed honestly kinda sad that u left but unfortunately that’s where majority went 😢

Ali - Okay this season has had many upsetting moments. However, I believe maybe the most upsetting was you sending the picture of the blue wig you wanted to wear in a lip sync challenge to the OG Budva tribe chat. Seeing you wear it the following round, and be sent home right after, was so upsetting, that wig was truly CURSED. You were also kinda cracked apparently, but we were gonna be fellow bad bitches of the tribe which I loved (I may have also voted for you one round but… let's forget about all that NNNN)

Benj - You were iconic in the music vid challenge but we just didn’t have as good of a connection that I found with the new Durmitors on the tribe which is why I ended up siding with them ://

Caeleb - Noah was some guy. He has a vibrant personality and had an interesting mentality towards survivor. It seemed like he was willing to make big moves, and to my favor that didn’t end up working out for him. Regardless, his strategy was unique and his energy was intense and colorful. 

Ali - Okay… JJ, hnnngh let’s buckle in. First off, can I just say, apparently you showed your mum my intro, and she said I was a mess… so your mum gets me as a person. Otherwise… you were actually crazy, some highlights being when you wanted to call me when I was coming back from a night out with friends and with them in McDonalds at 5am, or when you wanted to call me 0.5 seconds after I left my prom. In general, while I found you super frustrating lowkey and didn’t particularly appreciate the pseudo-threats you made to my game, I know you genuinely mean well, and hearing stories about your activities in a car park aside, are a good soul really. Just… no more constant calls.

Caeleb - JJ was some kid. When he wanted to call every day in Durmitor I told my friends that I was going to be really upset if he beat me in this game, because I didn’t like that we were calling for hours on end every single day. However, he did include me in talks and was always kind to me, and it actually took me by surprise when I found out that everyone felt that same unease about him. I think that attests to his strength if he were to make it post-merge. Early on that creates a big target, but this could’ve come in as a strength long-term.

Tom - eek cracked legend, as much as you drove me up the wall with all your plans it was cool to reconnect since tengaged uhm say gday to your mum for me and just a tip for next time it’s a marathon not a sprint ❤️

Ali - You were the Siri to my Alexa. While I initially assumed you would potentially be first boot, you became… such a legend, and the way you would message me about votes, while terrifying was also iconic. I also heard you were recruited by Dennis, who is also a king, so if Dennis stans, we do too. Apparently you kind of disappeared/gave up, which is a shame, since I think Siri could’ve fought on and been amazing.

Benj - Challenge beast!! You always put in the best effort that I have seen in chals and sad u vanished at the end hope ur ok!

Caeleb - We had some really fun discussions about his gaming career and the different gaming communities he’s apart of. I honestly thought our connection was pretty friendly and enjoyable, I kinda wish we had kept up our communication after the Noah vote. 

Ali - Evan, you were a really sweet guy and on a personal level, I loved talking to you. I think your fate was somewhat sealed by you telling JJ he was going to go home the first swap round, in that it kinda eroded trust in you, and alienated you from the other six members of the tribe. With that said, I do want to apologise to you, for not being around during the second day of the challenge where we had to unscramble the names of the survivor players, and for not helping out enough; it was clear that challenge would determine your fate, and I wish I had done more.

Caeleb - This boy was an icon. I do think he was kinda robbed. Sure, he was paranoid, but TS is just a cluster-f of emotions so like who can blame him. He made crazy connections and always told people that they were his number one. Honestly, I believed him when we were on the same tribe. Either he was goofing me just as he was everyone else, or he actually did trust me. I hope it was the latter!

Tom - oh Evan you really uhm got unlucky with this vote off, I feel like you were so good in the game just unfortunately  loyalty kicked your ass :( it was lovely meeting you and hearing about you and your gf cute ass relationship 

Ali - Okay, as you said to me, I definitely, definitely have some explaining to do. I genuinely loved our personal conversations throughout this game, but I also have felt since round two of this game, that you were a threat of astronomical proportions and needed to go sooner rather than later. Your win in the lists immunity challenge solidified this, and I consistently considered you a major threat through both the tail end of pre-swap and during the swap. When the merge vote happened, and an opportunity opened up to both remove you and separate you and Jason as a duo, it was an opportunity I had to capitalise on. I genuinely am so sorry for how dirty you were done, and I also hate that you weren’t even on jury, but I hope you can at least take something out of how well you played, while you were in the game.

Benj - Omg Ian I think that you think I voted you/knew about your vote off when really I had no idea you were one of my favs from the start to talk to and it sucks you left so soon before we got to truly play together :((

Caeleb - I got to chat with him for like 3 days, but he seemed like such a sweetheart. We couldn’t talk game because we were both being told that we were on the opposite side of the votes, and it seemed smart to stick with our respective groups. Regardless, our chats were pleasant, fun, and kind, and I honestly could have seen myself working with him throughout the season and going far with him if things were just different. We were pitted against each other, and sadly that’s the way it is 

Tom - ahh bromigo honestly by far the most robbed of this season I’m so sad you couldn’t be apart of jury because you deserved it, I’m sure we’ll keep talking after this game and I just want to say thank you for being such an amazing ally and friend probably the person I enjoyed speaking too the most