#not that you necessarily have to do one liner reviews

[tabsnaomi]

letterboxd isn't for me bc i can't ever come up with a fun and original and witty one-liner reviews

[thatseventiesbitch]

That '90s Show Part 2 Review

Overall, I'm giving Part 2 4.5 Stars out of 5!!!! I completely loved it, and thought it was an improvement from last season. I am now all the more excited for part 3, given what I know is still coming. 😜

If you're interested, here's my real-time reactions thread from Twitter (pinned to the top of my bio).

Stay tuned for my breakdown (warning: there be spoilers here):

The Good

The H U M O R continues to be the brightest spot for me. This is a genuinely funny show - I laughed out loud (okay, closer to howled if we're being honest) several times. It feels similar (though not identical) to T70S' brand of humor. I can tell it was made by the same people. This season, like last, Ozzie was my main man and had the one-liners that sent me the most but I can say the same for Jay, Gwen, Nate, and Leia too. And Bob. Oh hell, all of them! I'm sure I'll be reblogging my favorite moments for months to come while we wait for part 3!

The C H A R A C T E R D E V E L O P M E N T is the other shining star for me. The first season was limited (disappointing?) in this regard - to be fair, they only had 10 episodes to introduce us to a whole new handful of characters and make us care about them, and they mostly did. But this season brought the depth I was looking for - and we're only halfway through! 🤯 We learn more about Jay's playboy past, and see how he's actively working to grow and change and do his relationship with Leia differently. Ozzie is humanized when he has his heart broken - and his friends are there to pick up the pieces 💔. Nate struggles with his feelings and relationship with Nikki all season, and by the end of episode 8 he seems to be grappling with still having real feelings for her that he can't move on from. Nikki's pregnancy scare really affected her, and not in the way one would necessarily expect. She ended part 2 feeling lost and unsure of her direction, or what she truly wants (and not her parents), for the first time in her life. Gwen's storylines were perhaps my favorite of all (I'm a big Gwen stan, okay?). I was impressed that they decided to 'go there' with the racism plot, and even more impressed at the frank conversation she had at the end of the episode with her white (and well-intentioned, but bumbling) mom. Was it perfect and resolved? No. I think that was kind of the point. Not to mention her navigating her first real feelings and her relationship (?) with Cole. And Leia, my lovely Leia - she is learning about communication, forgiveness, honesty - all with the gentle guidance of her family and her friends. And that's not to mention Red and Kitty, who had sweet, plot-driving storylines of their own. I loved their realization that they like their rut - but loved even more when Red was inspired to live every day like it's his last and pushed through his fears to go to Paris with Kitty 🥰. This longer season has afforded more 'filler-like' episodes for us to just hang out with the characters, and get to know them more intimately. What are their wants, fears, insecurities, innermost thoughts? We are getting there. We are really getting there. Let's see what 8 more episodes will bring!

BOB! Bob gets his own point, because I enjoyed him so much (and seeing him and Red eventually come together to be overprotective grandpas 🤣. I laughed so much at his relationship with Leia, how they were just chilling in the basement, how he wanted all the teen gos. And Gwen's "What the heck, do you tell your grandpas everything?" 😂

DONNA! I adore Donna Pinciotti (Forman?), always have, and I adore her even more in the '90s than I thought possible. I love seeing her as a mom and her relationship with Leia. More pls.

This season felt more '90s to me! They incorporated more '90s references and brought back the regular fantasy sequences that always set the original apart. Off the top of my head, I loved: Kitty's Carmen Electra fantasy/nightmare (😂), Leia's Lisa Loeb fantasy (🤣), the Macarena (that shit was e v e r y w h e r e in the mid-90s, man), the Mentos commercial, Jay and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith cameo!!! also, Leo's son???) and all of Kitty's '90s slang that she picked up from the kids at school 😂👏🏻

The guest stars! Mitch and The Angel returned from T70S, and I am a big Will Forte/that era of SNL stan so I thoroughly enjoyed his appearance, too (and know he's been involved on the OG series on the writing/production side).

Red's trains (callback to season 1 of T70S - whoa!!) 🥰

I thought they struck a good balance this season between those heartfelt, 'very special episode'-type moments that '90s sitcoms were infamous for, without actually being too sickly-sweet, ala a Full House or Girl Meets World type moment. Donna and Leia's interaction in Nikki's bedroom regarding the voicemail comes to mind, as well as the is-Nikki-pregnant storyline and Nikki and Nate's celebratory dance at the end 🤣.

Which reminds me - I thought Nikki and Nate's storyline was intriguing. I have always been sort of a fan of their relationship - I don't think it's as bad as some others seem to - but remain unconvinced that they're 'meant to be' or endgame or whatever. But I enjoyed watching them navigate their break-up this season and then reluctantly find their ways back to each other, though. We'll see where it goes in part 3!

I immediately noted (and was pleased!) that there was a Laurie mention and a Midge mention this season. Both very off-hand, but it was something I was curious about. Who will be next? Betsy Kelso? 😮

The Bad

For me, ngl, Topher Grace's (Eric) absence was really felt. It is definitely the kids' show now and a substantial storyline isn't one I'd ever expect, but gosh I missed him from the family scenes at the beginning (both those with Red & Kitty, and those with Donna & Leia). The silver lining is how the other characters continue to reference him - almost in every episode, really - and so we still learn things about him and his relationships to his wife, daughter, and parents through these mentions from other characters. There will always be a part of me that is crossing my fingers for another Eric appearance, though, and I think there always will be.

Kitty's characterization as an overbearing mother was overdone. To be fair, this isn't a deviation from the original show. This is how she was often written towards the end of T70S - overbearing, possessive of Eric, lashing out at Donna or feeling in competition with her. It was done for laughs, but it wasn't particularly funny to me (and never was) 🤷‍♀️.

Not enough Geia content for my 'shipper heart 😩. We got one boob touch 😂, and it is clear that Leia still prioritizes her friendship with Gwen above all else (I lol'ed when she worried Gwen was in jail and that she would have to commit a crime to join her) but I want more, damn it! Part 2 solidified for me that Geia is never going to be anything more than a crack!ship. 😰

Which reminds me - Jay and Leia are kind of 'meh' for me. They're fine, I don't dislike them together, and I do like how we're seeing them both learn and grow through their relationship but... it just inspires kind of lukewarm feelings, I guess.

There wasn't a lot of Sherri in part 2. I love Sherri. Hope to see more of her in the next part.

The Ugly

I am pleased to say that I can't think of anything!!! Fez was absent (although they didn't directly reference their break-up, Sherri is clearly single and on the prowl all season) but I didn't miss him (🤭). Ditto to Kelso and Jackie - although we did get one reference to Jay's dad and the Kelso family heirloom (aka porn). I would say the ugliest part is that I now have to wait until October for part 3!!!

[tennessoui]

Hey Kit!! This past year when the Acolyte came out, my heart broke and I decided to step away from Star Wars. It’s fine that others liked it but personally I didn’t; actually to be frank, I REALLY didn’t like it. Star Wars and Anakin got me through a lot, so watching Disney take an actual shit on his origin and then his redemption ark by half-assing the lore, felt like a punch to the gut, and I had to step away. (This is my personal opinion, if you or others liked it that’s great! I just didn’t). However, when I saw that u published the body politics au, I decided to sit down and catch up on all your fics (btw I love the Hanahaki one!), and it got me back into the fandom. I’m glad one shitty (imo) show didn’t push me away permanently and I have you to thank for that. I’ve met so many great people thru Star Wars and made a lot friends so it had really been kind of hard to turn away from it. I just really wanted to say thank you. your writing is, as always, too beautiful and inspiring to ignore. Star Wars means so much, and I’m so thankful that your work was able to help me look past all the stuff that made me unhappy with it. I hope you have a wonderful day!!

this is very kind to send to me and a very nice morning read! i admit, i actually have not watched the acolyte, though not for any particular reason. i've definitely heard mixed reviews about the show and its take on the jedi order and the sith, which have been sorta sad to read cause i do like the jedi (though i guess i never label myself as pro-jedi cause like? they're the good guys? you're not like. pro-percy jackson or something right? pro-katniss everdeen? you just sorta read the book and you're like oh yeah these are the good guys. might find aspects of a character annoying but i'm definitely not supposed to be rooting for the Capitol or smething right)

but i've also heard from other people that as a pew-pew show, it delivers on that front! lightsaber fights are cool and everyone has a funky haircut that they pull off somehow which does feel quintessentially star wars

my general view of the disney plus star wars shows is that i'll watch the ones that strike my fancy, and if one of them doesn't then i won't. the star wars disney execs produce a lot of content (and i truly mean content, i.e. material to be consumed - not necessarily art) and a lot of it i'm probably never going to watch. it wasn't made for me, and i definitely get the lurch and disappointment you may feel if you look forward to something for ages and then it's not what you wanted in a thousand small ways or a handful of big ways. i think that's especially hard to guard against nowadays when trailers for tv shows rely more on aesthetic and punchy one-liners and brief second cameos than they do explaining the actual story of the show

but you can be a fan without loving the direction some shows go in or the choices directors make!! if that looks like only watching shows that have been peer-reviewed, or if that looks like ignoring everything but a small corner/subset of a massive fandom, or if that looks like turning from the media itself and diving further into fanart and fanfiction and interacting with people online then that's what it looks like! especially now that the world of canon star wars media isn't just 6-9 movies + 2(?) non trilogy movies, you should absolutely go about watching star wars content with a you-first mindset 100%

you know how many people were disappointed in the obi-wan kenobi series?? soooo many because he was a sad little pathetic and broken man with greasy hair. but that's exactly how i like my obi-wan kenobis, so i was thrilled every episode lol but i'm sure other people hated it and boycotted and whatever. but i found my corner of the fandom who also enjoyed that and it's been wonderful <3

so anyway thankyou so much for your very kind words i hope none of that sounded too preachy i was mostly trying to agree with you that it's really great that one (shitty) show did not keep you away from the fandom forever and that you're back!!

welcome back :)

[releasemefromthevoid]

MY ATLA LIVE ACTION S1E1 THOUGHTS

EP2

First things first, a review without spoilers:

I think it’s fine so far. There’s a few changes here and there that are ultimately just fine that don’t impact the story all that much, but there are also some changes that I’m a little worried about. 

The biggest thing I’m worried about, I think, is Aang’s character arc in season one. This live action series, without going too far into it, seems to be setting up something different from his character arc in book one for Aang in this first episode. I’m wary, but I’ll see it through and come back for more commentary and reviews starting from episode two this weekend probably.

Live reaction and thoughts under the cut for spoilers

oh shit they kept the fire nation leitmotif. as they should

music def feels the same

opening fight sequence: stellar

did i mention the fire nation leitmotif

it’s interesting they started with the concept of the air nomad genocide. i guess they haven’t told us about the actual genocide, so that can still be a Surprise to new viewers. i don’t hate it. kept the opening monologue, but it’s kyoshi according to the captions?? weird but okay

GOOD MUSIC

why’s he flying without his glider lol

these environments slap actually

ooh comet mention

i really like the line “her spirit echoes in one of us”. that goes hard actually

mmm not really liking that gyatso is the one telling him he has to leave,,  came back with “you are my friend” though, so i’ll forgive it

APPA

this kid is pretty good in the role of aang

BRO FIREBENDER FLIGHT. is this just bc of the comet or can they just Do That. i mean,, we don’t technically Know it’s bc of the comet yet

sound design is kinda peak

really REALLY interesting that they’re starting with the air nomad genocide. i know i said that already but we’re actually seeing it now. it’s setting a tone for this version of the show to be darker/less lighthearted, which idk how i feel about. not necessarily good or bad. this is only episode one so i’ll have to reserve judgment.

comet power confirmed okay

THE AVATAR STATE LOOKS SO GOOD

wolf cove??? was that always the name of the southern tribe where katara and sokka are from???? 

i think it would have been fun if zuko’s scar was a little Hand Shaped

probably could’ve done the freeing aang from the iceberg part a little better. how and why was he freed, if not katara getting angry at sokka??

speaking of, sans the early book 1 sexism, sokka is DEFINITELY sokka. a few more one liners and you’ll have me sold

mentioned zuko’s banishment early. hm

speaking of. not sure how i feel about zuko rn. why’s he talking about the throne like that?? he should be more focused on his perceived lack of honor i think

yeah,,, where IS appa. oh shit he already has the whistle??? more importantly Where is aang’s glider

SOKKA HIDING BEHIND KATARA IS EVERYTHING TO ME

HELLO??? katara’s monologue??? almost word for word??? from her gran gran??

this environment design though,, the building is made out of what is probably a whale rib cage as support for packed snow?? that’s so cool

no pilot episode miscommunication plot! not unhappy, i hate miscommunication plots

oh sokka,,, “lord of snow and ice”

zuko has not Once said the word honor

zuko’s breakdancing firebending moves God Bless

AANG’S GLIDER SPOTTED. but we haven’t seen it as a glider yet. is it just a Staff in this version???? 

i don’t think this is how airbending works

oh sokka i love you. he’s sold me on sokka i do believe

IT’S A GLIDER

i. don’t think katara should have been able to do that

this kid def can’t cry on command. he’s selling heartbreak, but there are No Tears

let aang be a bit more of a child please?? he’s a bit too serious right now, isn’t part of his character arc figuring out that he has to take things more seriously in order to stop the fire nation? i’m worried about what they’ll replace that with

THE OG CREDITS SONG

Liking: Sokka, environment design, most of the visuals actually, the MUSIC

Worried about: Aang's character, Iroh's character

Nothing I truly dislike yet

[teddybeartoji]

hey mickey!! bringing u some flowers in these trying winter times 🌻💐🌷🌹🌸 i hope ur doing super duper well!!!

i also wanted to ask if u have any recs for like. movie review channels? :’3 or maybe more like movie deep-dives/analyses? i watch prettymuchit a bunch but their videos r more reactions than reviews (IF U DONT ALREADY WATCH THEM I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THEM THOOO they r soso funny)… if u have any at all i’d love to hear them!! i figure thats a pretty good starting point for my filmbro arc pshdjhd

sending u all the love n hugs <33 i WILL get to ur movie and soundtrack recs btw im mentally getting into the cinema headspace 💯💯

my sweet sweet angel ari!! thank you for the flowers<33333

beware! beware! ask mickey about movies and they'll go insane!!!! this ALSO this got very long but we are past apologizing (i'm squinting my eyes at u bc u need to remember that) HERE WE GOOOOO

i will apologize for not having a movie review recommendation for you though:(((((((((((( i literally get all that i need from my letterboxd mutuals (i trust them with my life) i have found the people who have the same taste as me and i know that when the majority of them like a movie - i will like it. a "real film critic" could say that it's shit but when the people of letterboxd say it's five stars i fucking know it's five stars ok

i haven't been on a movie review channel/person search in a while but last i was i realized that so many of them are rather technical and that's boring..... so i really do trust letterboxd more. of course, there are a lot of just one-liners (i literally do that too) but there are people who write long and deep reviews and those feel so much more personal and give more insights than the ones i've seen floating around the internet.

FOR MOVIE ANALYSIS my favourite channel is lessons from the screenplay!!!!!! i've been watching his videos for ever ever and ever and i love them so much!!1! he has taught me so much, especially when i was just getting more into films!!! so i went to my little playlist of videos and i picked up some about my all time favourite films!!

inglourious basterds - the elements of suspense; my god, do i love this movie....... this is a yearly watch for me, i've memorized the lines and all. the performances are great, the soundtrack is amazing, it's so fucking funny??? and i'm now also realizing how much of a filmbro i'm actually coming off as but do i care? not at all. i love this movie.

annihilation - the art of self-destruction; okay i mentioned this already but i'm doing it again!!!!!!! it's such a fucking experience i really actually hope you'll watch it one day (and that you'll tell me your thoughts) this is also like a life-changer of a movie in my opinion, i often just randomly start thinking about it; the visuals, the insanity of it aaaaahhhh.

nightcrawler - empathy for the antihero; overall this movie is sooo engrossing?? like mesmerizing but not necessarily in a good way lmao.

now i'll link some various ones (but still about my favourite movies/directors so u can get to know me better hehehhe) some of these do have spoilers but vid will give a warning if u don't wanna see that!!

how david fincher hijacks your eyes

when the director reallyyyy respects the audience…

hereditary | what the script teaches us

pirates of the carribean | accidentally genius

movie stunt coordinator breaks down 'atomic blonde' fight scene; i love this movie bc how she uses the things around her to fight, makes it so much more interesting that just fist fist knife knife

searching for disco elysium

what games are like for someone who doesn't play games; this one was a bit of a life changer for me, it seems like such a small little thing to talk about but it's so important it made me look at things and games so much more differently it's so cool he has two more on the same topic i think too!

i really tried to not go overboard but i just............. can't help it so here are a few more recs...........................

blade runner 2049 (2017) - a film about a replicant/an android detective who finds out that another replicant had a child many years ago (replicants cannot have children) and he's now convinced that he is said child this is sci-fi with some action and blood but it's not scary plus points for the insane visuals and the soundtrack 9/10 minus point for it being kind of slow paced?

the nice guys (2016) - a film about two private detectives; one of them is almost cool and the other one is so pathetic i love him so much this is a comedy so 10/10

the man from uncle (2015) - a film about spies spying on each other, it's so fun (the soundtrack is good but we knew that already didn't we smh) 9/10 minus point for armie hammer the cannibal

[anjaliraval18]

8 Questions to Ask Before Building a Swimming Pool

Seeing so many property owners investing in swimming pools, you might also feel tempted to have one for you. But just because your neighbour has a pool does not necessarily mean that it would work for you, too. So before you plan to have just about any type of swimming pool, the smartest thing you can do is ask yourself some relevant questions. Here's what you can think of.

Should You Need A Spa, A Hot Tub Or Pool?

Consider your primary need to consult a swimming pool construction company. Do you need a secluded, private place with your partner, family or friends? Ask your people to jot down their reasons for having or not having a pool. Building a pool can be expensive and time-consuming. So, if the people concerned would find a more compact solution in a hot tub or a spa, then constructing a pool might not be the right solution for you.

Why Should You Use It?

Are you an ardent swimmer? Do you want to train your children on swimming laps? Has your doctor recommended swimming as a part of fitness? Do you want to have your private poolside entertainment area? Decide on your need to build a pool before proceeding with the design.

What Type Of Pool Should You Need?

You might find it overwhelming to choose from the plethora of design options out there. There seems to be something special to suit almost all aesthetics, combinations and sizes. And there is no single source to draw inspiration from. For example, you can choose from various magazines, research books, online catalogues, and other sources. You can also get some help from your local pool architects for practical inspiration.

What Is The Best Shape And Size?

Simply put, this all depends on the space available in your property. If you have sufficient room, you can add several features, ranging from children's parks to backyard fire pits. However, with a smaller lot, you might need some professional guidance for a smart and practical design.

What Can Be Your Budget?

Most of the swimming pool companies in India tends to give assurance that there is a pool for all types of budget. This might be music to your ears. However, just as it happens with any home addition, some extra expenditure will go beyond your original budget.

How to Choose Your Pool Designer?

That seems to be an easy question. Yet, finding your pool designer can be tricky. It all involves some research. Check the portfolios of the local services. If you like some of the works of some particular companies, you might want to compare the prices and services and read the reviews before sealing the deal with any company.

What Should Your Pool Look Like?

Your pool is a visible and decorative addition to your property. Hence, apart from the shapes and size, you must consider pool features that add practicality and aesthetics. Choose from features like tanning ledges, diving boards, fountains, and liner colours.

What Should Be The Best Materials For Your Pool?

While vinyl, concrete and fibreglass are popular for pool building, each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Judging your individual needs, your pool manufacturer can suggest what would work best for you.

[simplebloggingtips]

Simple Blogging Tips For Beginners

Here are some tips for people who are just starting to blog or are passionate about it. They will help them become professionals in no time. These tips are easy to learn and anyone can benefit from them. Bloggers from around the world often recommend these blogging tips for beginners.

Blog with passion

Be yourself. Here's your space if you are passionate about the topic you wish to write about. If you're not passionate about your blog then why would readers be?

You will need to change the way you think about blogs, whether you're a blogger who hasn't made money yet, or a novice that wants to learn the tricks and tips to create a profitable blog. It is easy to follow this new path.

Consistency is key in your blog

Patience and time are required to build a successful blog with a growing readership. Begin by making yourself accountable for blogging at least once per week.

Blog your expertise

Many people blog, but you must have a certain level of expertise to do so. Ask yourself: "What can I confidently and knowledgeably blog about?"

With a heart, write to your readers

It's vital that you have a message with a purpose, even if you are passionate and an expert.

Authenticity and authenticity is key

It might seem wrong to "be yourself" because it is so easy. It doesn't necessarily mean that you should publish an article without editing it for grammar or clarity. It's crucial to be honest.

Plan your schedule and make sure to include breaks

Bloggers with female espn resporters passion and expertise can still stumble. Writing is more difficult on some days than others, for whatever reason. Relax, think and invent.

Get social

Include ways for readers to share blog posts. If you are blogging about someone you love or a product you want to share, tag them on Twitter.

Re-purpose your blog posts

It would be a waste to let them die in your archives after spending so much time creating helpful and meaningful articles. It's important to channel it. You can record your information and make it available as a podcast that people can listen to while on the go. Tweet one-liners that encourage people to click on more information. You get the picture. Enjoy yourself.

You need to choose a topic or niche that is close to your heart if you want to create a successful blog. If you are passionate about the subject, it will be easy to blog over and over again. You can then focus on how you will make money once you have decided what you are going to blog about.

Take a look at some of the Big Guns to get a better idea of how they write. You will see what works in terms of style. Look at how they make money. Some people do this by promoting affiliate products and others use Google AdSense. Different methods are used to promote affiliate products. They will sometimes write a review that is informative about a product. Sometimes they'll write a post on their blog and tell readers that "Product A can help them achieve" what they wrote in the post.

These tips should encourage you to embrace the challenge that is blogging for your business. They will also help you to blog in a manner that will benefit you and your business.

[dropofgoldensun]

omg hiiiii i am here from cat (@luvdsc) wondering if you could offer any advice about college apps 🙏 especially about the uc piqs? thank you so much i hope ur doing well!!!!!!!!

yes yes hello friend !! 💝 miss cat directed you to me because i did my college apps last year !!! (yikes one year passed already?? why does that feel ages ago 🤧)

first of all, congratulations on making the decision to apply to college !! i know it’s been hard for a lot of people our age to figure out the college situation recently, so i’m proud of you for choosing to take the extra step this summer to buckle up and write those essays 💞

i’ve compiled a few tips on answering the PIQs (i was actually in the middle of typing this up when i received your ask haha), but some of them can be applied to other essays, as well !! they’re all under the cut (because, unfortunately, being brief is not my forte) 😊

(and for reference, the prompts i chose were #2 (creativity), #6 (subject), #7 (community), and #8 (anything) !!)

tip #1: understand the prompt.

before you even begin writing, it’s important to understand what the question is really asking. for the UC PIQs, this will look different depending on which four prompts you decide to do.

in question one, for example, they want to know about your skills in leading others, but notice that they’re also curious about your resolution abilities and teamwork experience. or in question two, they don’t want to know that you paint and that you love painting—they could be asking how resourceful you are, how you think outside the box when you have an idea.

once you know the question you’re going to be answering, you can move on to brainstorming!

tip #2: write down three (3) key takeaways.

these are like the most basic, not-even-a-sentence answers you would give to each question. so for me, in response to question eight (“what do you believe makes you stand out as a strong candidate for the UCs?”), my answers were perseverance, courage, and character. i had a story about that, so i wrote about my experience with martial arts.

i recommend you do something similar. decide on three things that you want to communicate to your audience, and write them in the footnote of your document. your goal is to cover all three points so that, if anyone were to read your essay, they would walk away understanding those three things about you.

i found this strategy really helpful for keeping my essay streamlined while writing—if a sentence didn’t relate to any of those main points, i would cut it since those words would take up valuable space in the word count. stay focused on what needs to be in this essay, and if you have extra words left in the word count later, you can add those details back in.

and once you’re done with your essay, make sure to refer back to your takeaways and check that you covered all of them sufficiently!

tip #3: highlight your stories.

i sent cat an ask a couple days ago with a few pictures of my response to an end-of-year college counseling survey that referenced this tip (you can find it here). basically i said that, when choosing what topics to write about, pick things that interest you! if you get excited talking about it, your audience should get excited about reading it, because they’ll pick up on the passions you have and then everyone’s excited !!! :D

i’ll tell you a secret: everyone you meet, everyone you see, has countless unique experiences that few others may have. me? i spend hours making mashups out of kpop songs. i earned my black belt years after a traumatizing experience during training. i get russian harry potter and spanish dr. seuss books from the library. and i created a collaborative online google photos album for my classmates that now has thousands of entries. although these aren’t necessarily unique to only me, they’re still special enough to the point where, when you put them all together, you get a better image of the person i am, and what i value.

so find a story, a habit, a hobby that makes you different, because i believe that everyone has them. give them some food for thought, or that one-liner that sticks in their brain and won’t go away. and remember: these stories don’t all have to be extraordinary—they should be about people or moments of special value to you, because that’s what matters.

personal tip: when i was brainstorming ideas, i decided that the best way to get ideas out there was to go on a rant (because sometimes it helps to just have a conversation with yourself !!) and i recorded myself, so i could replay what i said !! this was so so crucial to me finding my own voice for writing essays. notice the way you word things when you talk—a good line or two may make it into the final draft :)

i found it helpful to read sample essays as well! they give a lot of great ideas on the kinds of topics people write about. (also, it’s kind of fun, because who doesn’t love a good story?)

but the people reading your essay won’t be there to just enjoy your story; what they really want you to do is to tell them what you learned from your experience. they want to know whether you’re teachable and willing to grow both as a student and as a young adult. so make sure to take note of the life lessons you learned, experience you gained, character you built, etc.

minor tip on ending your essay: if you’re telling a story that happened in the past, then close with what you learned and how you can apply that to your life moving forward. if you’re telling a story that has no definite end yet (like a passion or dream you have), you probably don’t have everything figured out (and you can say that in your essay!), so it might be better to close with your hopes for the future.

tip #4: ask your family for help.

peer-editing is one of the most effective ways to detect errors and inconsistencies in your writing, because, after staring at your essay for so long, you might gloss over glaring contradictions. for all of my essays, i printed them out and asked my parents to help me revise them. we’d meet every other night (or every night, depending on how much time was left) to review and discuss improvements.

i actually kept some of those printed drafts (only the first and the final ones for comparison), and let me tell you from experience—you’re probably going to have a lot of drafts (i think the most i did was seven? but you don’t need to go that far!). this part of the process does take some time, so remember to be patient and kind to yourself :) these essays won’t happen overnight!

enlisting the help of others also helps keep you accountable. one of the struggles many seniors face while writing essays is just... setting aside time to do them. and even though the constant reminders from your parents will definitely get repetitive and a bit stress-inducing, i can tell you from personal experience that i’m so glad they did; otherwise, i don’t think i’d have my essays done in time :’)

while writing college essays is challenging, your family will be there supporting you each step of the way. chances are that they’ll have their own pointers to pass on to you, since they probably remember doing this process themselves! and, out of everyone in your life, they probably remember the most about you (because you probably don’t remember much when you were four or five), so they might have a couple starter ideas for topics when brainstorming. you can rely on them for their advice and their experience.

tip #5: self-editing.

here’s the part that takes the longest time.

use action words. this is probably something you’ve heard all throughout elementary school where they didn’t like you to say “said” because it was “boring”… but honestly, the difference between “doing my own version” and “infusing it with my personality” could go a long way. also, use words that you would actually use in an essay—then it’ll have your own special flair, and not sound like it’s taken from some stuffy 80s textbook!

here are some of the words i used (once again, you shouldn’t use these words if they don’t sound like something you’d write/say): potential, overlay, wrestle, launch, analogous, weave, infuse, experiment, outlet, revel, fascinate, satisfaction, pursue, expand, distinction, capture, range, archive, engage, beyond, build, adversity, cultivate, preserve, commit, explore, convey, naturally

also, be on the lookout for repeated words. i once wrote an essay without noticing that i used “hope” three times in the same paragraph. don’t do that! use synonyms :) personally, i tended to run short on synonyms, so i always kept a tab or two open on my computer reserved for searching up new words.

side note: unfortunately, during my search for synonyms, i discovered that thesaurus.com just didn’t give me what i was looking for. i highly recommend using wordhippo instead; it has so many more options and they’re grouped by the different definitions of your word! i found the synonyms i needed really quickly and it was very satisfying!

avoid the passive voice! my teacher gave me this tip for theses or any other college-level writing. here’s an example of the passive voice: “there was a large part of me that wanted to turn back.” that’s twelve words taking up precious space in your word count! instead, say something like, “i considered turning back.” you’ve just freed up eight words :)

tip #6: final revisions.

this is the step where you fine-tune your essays. meet that word count.

read your writing out loud. does it sound like you? it should. every writer has a different voice, and you need to ensure that yours is pervasive throughout your essay. feel free to use contractions—not only do they reduce your word count (this was a good thing for me, since i had a problem with getting under 350 words), but they also give a more casual tone to your essay, as if you’re telling a story to someone in the room.

next, pretend to be an admissions officer and have someone else read your essay to you. do you get excited hearing about this student who shares your name? if you do, there’s a good chance the real admissions officers will love your essays, too. this also gives you a chance to review to your essay as a whole. pay attention to the overall flow. is there a clear beginning and end? do you resolve the issues and overcome the trials you brought up? listen to it as if it’s a story, and take this time to enjoy what you’ve written. you worked hard!

final thoughts / encouragements.

oh my goodness, did we make it to the end? honestly if you did, thank you so much 🥺

okay but despite my relatively optimistic tone throughout this post, i’m still going to be honest with you—the college essay writing process is difficult. it requires you to look inside yourself and analyze the “why” behind some of the things that you love, and that isn’t easy to do at all. it’s intellectually and emotionally challenging, because not only do you need to use so much energy writing, but you also have to dig deeper to understand yourself, and that’s not easy, either.

but i wanted to encourage you, too. no matter what you may think of yourself at 12am, 2am, 4am writing these essays, believe you have a personality that others love and will love when they meet you. you are an interesting person with unique experiences who deserves to share your thoughts with others. you have so many people behind you, supporting you during these next few months. and when you find that you can’t write any more, remember to take time to care for yourself. have a warm shower. go to bed early. i could go on and on about why sleep is good for your brain but i’ll spare you the details in this post 😉

one last thing: keep the bigger picture in focus. remember, by december or january, you will be finished with most of the application process. that’s no small accomplishment. you can do it. 💝

i really hope you found tips that you were looking for, and that they’re applicable to your own PIQs and other essays !! if you have any other questions, feel free to send in another ask (i promise my response won’t be this lengthy LOL) 💘💓

oh, and if you feel comfortable enough reaching out about anything in particular, i’m only a DM away 💕 i wish you the best of luck on writing your essays and i hope you enjoy your final year of high school !! 💗🌸💟💖

[christinaroseandrews]

It’s hard being transgender in Japan.

Just as Ryo who is struggling to be himself when everyone around him thinks he’s weird or out of place. He’s the nail that sticks up, and in Japan, the nail that sticks up gets hammered down.

But things start to change when Jin, a cool older student, is forced to repeat a year. At first Ryo thinks Jin will be like everyone else, but Jin sees him and more... accepts him. Jin thinks that Ryo is cool, has good taste, and is the perfect person to form a clothing brand with him.

Huh... I guess boys really do run the riot. Hmm... that sounds like a pretty cool brand name. ~_^

Boys Run the Riot is an #OwnVoices manga written by a transgender mangaka that has honestly one of the best representations of what LBGTQIA+ life is like in Japan.

It’s also got some of the most gorgeous and amazing art I’ve ever seen in manga. The character design is so well done. But even more than that the sheer amount of detail and thought put into every panel is honestly stellar. The very first panel setting the scene in a subway station is so incredibly accurate that you can actually pinpoint which subway station it is from the details.

The whole manga is like this. Not necessarily in color... but the artwork is so beautiful.. so in depth and filled with so much meaning. It’s on par with the art that was in Spider-man Into the Spider-verse... There’s an absolutely beautiful piece of graffiti that Ryo does that quite frankly brought tears to my eyes.

Like it’s so, so very good.

I don’t want to spoil it so instead I’ll share a close up of the artwork from the cover...

The way the clothing is rendered. The graffiti on the walls. The shift in clothing depending on what’s in the background. It’s honestly amazing art.

And that matters.

But what matters more is the beauty and relatability of Ryo. Ryo feels real. He feels true. He’s got flaws and foibles but he’s also lovable and caring and has an inner-resilience that makes me want to give him a hug and tell him he’s valid. But I don’t need to, because he’s got an amazing ally and friend in Jin. I feel that all of us need a Jin in our lives. A friend who wants to be with us because they think we’re cool and want us to live our best lives. A friend who will accept us for who we are. A friend who will call us out on our B.S. A friend who wants you to be honest with them because they’ll be honest with you. A friend who will forgive you when you mess up.

Seriously we need a Jin.

What Jin and Ryo have is a true bromance... not a romance. Ryo has a crush on his other friend, Chika, who is a little weird herself but she owns it.

This manga also really hits what it’s like to be transgender in a fairly sexist society. Because, let’s face it... Japan is pretty darn sexist... worse than the United States. Whereas in the states it’s okay to have friends of all genders, it’s less okay in Japan. Especially as teens. It’s hard to be a transgender teen anywhere. It’s hard to be transgender in Japan.And it’s really well represented here. There are some other content warnings that people should be aware of:  CW: Transphobia, Homophobia, Sexism, Misogyny. Gender Dysphoria, physical violence (teacher on student), bullying. I also really appreciated the author interview at the back of the manga. The fact that the cover was created specifically for the English release is kind of cool to know.

BTW read the liner notes. Seriously. Read the liner notes. There’s some really great information there. A+ for the publisher for doing this.

This manga is stellar. Magnificent. More people need to know about it. I also really appreciated the author interview at the back of the manga.

Seriously... read this.

Five Stars

If this is your jam, you can get it here.

If you like these kind of honest reviews, please consider supporting us here!

I received an ARC of this manga via NetGalley

[thoughts-on-bangtan]

Let’s talk: BTS decorating their BE photocards (BangtanB)

by Admin 1

Today BH posted a Bangtan B*mb of the members decorating their BE photocards and honestly, it was just too funny of a video to not post some comments about it. If you haven’t seen it yet, please do since it’s an amazing happy boost, and also showcases the differences in the members personalities really well in the way they approached the decorating and the final results.

Before I get into it properly, can we please talk about Namjoon for a moment? His duality? The way he can be so cute and silly and cover his photocard almost completely in cute glittery stickers and then turn around and look like this? I wasn’t ready. For those who saw my post yesterday about the LGO videos, yes, I still haven’t recovered lol.

Okay, now, lets talk about the video and the cutest/funniest moments.

(Not to be me but gotta love how Jimin’s and Tae’s photocards are stuck togetehr/connected through the pink sparkly squiggly line sticker, cute. Also it looks like Hobi turned himself into a cute cat boy haha.)

The first duo were the 94 liners, Namjoon and Hobi, and right off the bat it made me smile and laugh so much. Hobi started out trying to make it at least somewhat neat, complained about how he’d stuck the J a little crookedly onto the photocard, but sooner rather than later escalated into just going all out with different hearts and squiggly lines to the point of giving himself heart shaped purple space buns and a pink tail.

Meanwhile Namjoon’s plan seemed to be just covering the entire photocard in stickers, except for his face. He added flowers and squiggly lines, even at one point tried to scratch off one of the stickers to adjust its placement which, I mean, is very Namjoon. Also, the sheer size difference of their hands and those tiny stickers? And Hobi’s proud smile?

Next up was Jimin with Seokjin and they were my faves in this hands down. The way they work off of each other and make each other (and us) laugh is just so fun and entertaining to watch. Their dynamic is amazing! I love how Jimin wanted to stick an A in hangul onto Seokjin’s photocard (turning Jin into Jan) and at first Seokjin told him not to do it, not to touch other people’s art, but of course he has the worlds biggest heart and soft spot for the members so he allowed Jimin to do it in the end. 

Three times.

And like that wasn't enough, Seokjin discovered one of the pink squiggly sparkly lines and called it ‘pink poop’ deciding he wanted to stick that onto Jimin’s photocard right above his head. Which, in the end, Jimin also let him do. Adorable.

Their themes were also just so...them. Jimin sticking to flowers (with Seokjin suggesting that he should add a stem below his face so he’d literally be a flower, which Jimin didn’t accept) to match the photocard itself while Seokjin went for “twinkle twinkle little human star” and literally added a yellow star onto his face and surrounded that with even more stars. If that doesn’t scream Seokjin, I don’t know what does, and I mean that in the most endeared way possible.

Even more so when we think back to the BE Unboxing in units (11:55 onward) where they were supposed to add star stickers as rating along with a review right onto the cover of BE. There, too, Seokjin covered most of the cover in stars, the amount most certainly exceeding any rating system for albums. 

Then we had Tae along with JK, the only duo that was relatively quiet as they worked, their section less filled with laughter. This isn’t a bad thing, of course, just means they were focused at their task which makes sense in the context of their personalities. Both are visual artists in their own right, JK usually sticking more to videos and photography (though he also draws), while Tae also dabbled into painting, so it was interesting to watch how they approached the task, both of them ending up with results that were far more minimal and neat than those of the previous pairs.

Tae even made a joke about how their photocards decorated with their names alone simply have name value and would sell for five billion won at an auction. I mean, he’s probably not wrong about that...

And lastly we had Yoongi on his own, his segment likely having been filmed a while before the other members judging by the background and when his surgery was. He also worked relatively quietly, though that was likely due to the fact that he was on his own. Looking at how many options there were, I thought to myself that I’d simply be overwhelmed by too much choice. 

The cutest thing about his decorating though was how in the end he concluded that he’d want to give his photocard to Hobi so he can keep it in his wallet. Which is even cuter when we think back to FESTA 2020 and how Yoongi had won a Hobi photocard which he’d put in his own wallet. Those two are so soft for each other.

And like all of that wasn’t cute enough, we got this adorable Hobi selca.

Overall it was a really, really fun Bangtan B*mb full of laughter and the members having amazing chemistry with each other. Such a simple idea, having them decorate their photocards, and yet the result is so good! 

But, speaking of decorating photocards, could you imagine actually doing that with any of your own? Because honestly I can’t. I’m not necessarily one of those ARMY who collect all the photocards etc and yet I still value mine too much to attempt anything like this out of fear that I’d just ruin them. Same with my ARMY B*mb. Even though I’d love to have the handle covered in rhinestones to match Namjoon’s sky blue mic, Seokjin’s pink one, Yoongi’s black one, or JKs purple iridescent one, but I’d never be brave enough to even give it a try. After all my ARMY B*mb permanently lives in its box so it won’t break or fall or something could happen to it in general.

Anyway, sorry for going on a tangent. The point though is that this was a great Bangtan B*mb with perfect timing for a Sunday. 

[wylanvnneck]

Alright so I just finished reading Six of Crows and...

HOW DID I NOT KNOW THERE WAS A SEQUEL? Or I probably did know but forgot and then had my heart torn when it ended that way.

Ok so, Imma make this short 'cus I am itching to get started on The Crooked Kingdom because I need Kanej in order to survive.

I really really liked this book, mostly because it kept you on tenterhooks the whole time and made you be fully invested in all of the characters. You know how sometimes in those book blurbs/jackets they have those one-liner reviews where someone says 'Unputdownable'? Well, this was.

I think that may also be because of Kaz. He's such an unpredictable character and you never know what he's going to do next and you as the reader don't have the added benefit of knowing that whatever he'll do is necessarily for Good (or at least Good the way we see it). Because of that and all the interesting plot twists and intriguing world building, it's difficult to stop yourself from reading more.

Furthermore, all of the ships are quite adorable, although at the moment I think my favourite is probably Kanej.

In summary, the way Leigh Bardugo kept me guessing here was sheer brilliance and I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of this type of genre.

[elisemizzi]

Untamed: Stop Pleasing, Start Living by Glennon Doyle My rating: 2 of 5 stars The only thing I can really say about this particular collection of ink, paper, cardboard and binding glue is that if it is your type of thing, then by all means, go ahead and have fun. According to the inset cover and the first few pages there are quite a few "names" who would endorse your choice for using this as a stepping stone for a "more authentic" (ugh) life. Honestly, I'm just not one of those people. This was not for me. While not necessarily discussed between the two of us, I imagine that the friend that purchased and gave this to me used something along the lines of the following rationale: 1) She had read it and gained something from it. 2) She identified that it addresses some internal conflicts of my own that I've been trying to address for quite some time. 3) She identified that it addresses some external conflicts of mine that I've been trying to address for quite some time. But this flurry of words from this Glennon Doyle person (am I supposed to know who she is? I'd never heard of her) did next to nothing for me. I say "next to nothing," because there were a few little good one liners in the final chapters... but now that it's a few days since I've read it and I'm trying to recall them I have no idea what they said or even what they were about. I wouldn't call it "preachy," but more "underinformed." Certainly we all have life experiences that we share with our friends and write down in our diaries, but it doesn't necessarily follow that they should be sold as a mass-market paperback as this person has done. While this is the first and surely the only tome of hers I will ever read, the fact that she has apparently released three "books" - each more or less by her own admission subverting the message of the previous - leads me to believe that perhaps, like the rest of us, she's better off leaving her stories to her diaries and drinks with her friends to look back on and laugh at later. As it happened, in amongst reading this book I spent a lot of the past 7 weeks doing exactly that: reading some of my old diaries and recalling that classic line from the Bridget Jones film: "Everyone knows diaries are full of crap." [I went on to re-read Bridget Jones' Diary last week. Freaking CLASSIC. 4 stars] The book opens with this story about a cheetah and, like some other reviewers here, I was drawn into that. In my instance, it was because I avoid zoos for a similar reason as she outlines (which I won't go into here, but you can probably get the gist): I love lions, and can't abide seeing them in a captive environment. But it quickly devolves into chapter after chapter of, as another reviewer put it, "elitist drivel." I won't deny that there are unique challenges in life that come with being a woman which, in quite a lot of instances, we are raised ill-equipped to address. Not for a moment however do I believe this book will offer any tools to constructively address those issues. Perhaps that was not the author's intention. Perhaps the author was merely trying to offer this tome as the shoulder we often need as women but don't necessarily receive. If that's the case, unfortunately I've found the shoulder rather weak. But again, I'm not one of those that are attracted to this kind of thing. I prefer well-constructed stories to help me through life, and that's why I read. As such, if you're reading this review and considering picking this book up, let me offer some alternatives: 1) For when you really f*** things up: The Mayor of Casterbridge 2) For when you need familial or marriage advice: Pride and Prejudice 3) For when you think you're getting a little off-track and need a bit of perspective: Little Women 4) For when you need reminding that your s*** really is rather petty in the scheme of things: The Gulag Archipelago: Complete Edition 5) For when life is just a bit of general clusterf*** and you need a laugh: Bridget Jones's Diary 6) For when you need inspiration to fight for the good: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, et al. 7) For when you really just need to go on an epic emotional journey and bawl your eyes out: Jessica 8) For when you need to buck up and sort your s*** out: Two very different offerings here - Paula or Emma 9) For when you need to look at the conflicts of life more simply: The Diary of a Young Girl 10) For when you need to go back to nature: Walden Well, go forth and prosper, friends... but probably don't expect this particular collection of ink, paper, cardboard and binding glue to help you all that much. View all my reviews

[rachelkaser]

Stay Golden Sunday: The Custody Battle

Dorothy’s sister Gloria arrives and wants Sophia to come live with her. Rose and Blanche clash over a production of Macbeth.

Picture It...

Dorothy and Sophia are tidying ahead of the arrival of Gloria, Sophia’s other daughter and Dorothy’s little sister. Sophia subtly needles Dorothy for not having a date -- and fortuitously, Blanche enters and asks to borrow Dorothy’s jewelry for her own date. She’s going on a date with the director of the local community theater, who she’s hoping will soon cast her as Lady Macbeth. Sophia continues to nag Dorothy for not having a date. Dorothy gets angry at Sophia for her meddling, and demands space. Sophia leaves in a huff.

The next morning, Blanche is confident her tete-a-tete with the director will get her the part, though she and Rose are still going to the audition. Dorothy and Sophia are still annoyed at each other, but put it aside when Gloria arrives. Gloria, a wealthy widow, gives her mother and sister fabulous gifts. When Sophia guilts her over staying in a hotel, Dorothy offers to let Gloria share her (Dorothy’s) room.

DOROTHY: Hi! How was the audition? BLANCHE: Wonderful! I’m 99% sure I got the part. ROSE: Oh Blanche, there were so many good people there. BLANCHE: Trust me, I got this part in the sack. ROSE: She means in the bag. DOROTHY: No honey, she means in the sack.

That night, as Sophia and Gloria are out shopping, Blanche comes back from the audition convinced she got the part. She and Rose ask about Gloria’s relationship with Dorothy, and Dorothy confesses she’s always felt her parents favored Gloria. Blanche relates how she felt the same way about her parents and her sisters. Rose exposits about her idyllic family life, annoying the other girls enough that Blanche lets the kitchen door slam in her face.

Gloria and Dorothy settle down in bed together, with Gloria asking if Dorothy resents her for having money, a happy marriage and successful children -- none of which Dorothy has (and gee, nice of you to point it out, Gloria). Dorothy says she has grown beyond such sibling rivalry. Gloria continues to go on about her palatial home in California. Dorothy says she and Sophia would love to come out for a visit, and Gloria finally drops the bomb: She wants Sophia to come live with her, and Sophia agreed.

GLORIA: This reminds me of when we were little and you used to read me bedtime stories. DOROTHY: Oh yeah, yeah... the Bogeyman and the Little Girl... the Zombie in the Hamper... Cannibal Parents. I think between the ages of 5 and 7 you might have gotten two hours’ sleep.

Dorothy talks to Sophia about her plan to live with Gloria. Sophia avoids talking about what she wants, and says this way she can give Dorothy space. Dorothy doesn’t try to dissuade her, saying Gloria can give her a better life. Sophia looks very uncertain when Dorothy leaves.

In the kitchen, both Rose and Dorothy deliver bad news to Blanche. Rose says Blanche was cast as Witch #3, and Rose got the part of Lady Macbeth. Dorothy tells both that Sophia is leaving, and they’re heartbroken, insisting that they don’t want Sophia to leave. Dorothy forbids them from guilting Sophia, and leaves. Rose offers to let Blanche fill in for her as Lady Macbeth, but Blanche demurs gracefully.

BLANCHE: Well Rose, isn’t that sweet? And I do love you for it, honey, but I just couldn’t. I could never fit this trim little body in that big old tent of a dress they’re going to have to make for you.

After avoiding it for a few hours, Dorothy gives in and confronts Gloria, telling her it’s not fair of her to steal Sophia away when she’s already the favorite. Gloria reveals that she thinks Dorothy is the favorite, because Sophia respected and trusted her and constantly pointed out how much smarter and self-reliant she was to Gloria. Gloria admits she’s envious of how happy Dorothy’s life is compared with hers, and she wanted part of that. She says she knows Sophia doesn’t want to leave, and Dorothy goes to talk to their mother.

Dorothy demands that Sophia stay, and Sophia at first refuses but then agrees. She says she and Dorothy both need a little space from each other occasionally, but she’ll stay and look after the Girls. She breaks the news to Gloria, who understands. Sophia says she’s happy that both of her daughters love her and want her around so much.

SOPHIA: I love you. I love all my children. GLORIA: Even Phil? SOPHIA: Sure -- but don’t tell him, he’ll want to borrow money.

Later that night, the Girls are ecstatic that Sophia isn’t leaving. She brings them presents she was planning to give them when she thought she was moving. They open the presents and discover their own things, which Sophia purloined. After she leaves the kitchen, they wonder what else she might have taken and go to search her room. Rose cautiously exits last, worried about the door slamming in her face again.

“I think all my children are special... except Phil.”

I’ll be honest, there’s a reason for the gap between this review and the last one. Sure, Christmas and New Years (not to mention a busted keyboard) shifted my priorities a bit, but were this almost any other episode, I would have still gotten it out no matter what else was going on. But the truth is, I didn’t allot the necessary time to analyze this episode because... well, I didn’t want to. Because this episode is just not very good.

Remember when I said that Golden Girls had no truly bad episodes, but there were some that were noticeably lower-rung than others? This wasn’t the episode I had in mind when I said that (I’ll tell you which episode was when we get to it), but this is still a pretty good example of what I mean. It’s not particularly funny, has no meaningful message, doesn’t involve any character growth, and is confusingly written.

SOPHIA: I should have known you couldn’t make it without me. DOROTHY: You’re right, I can’t. And neither can Blanche. And neither can Rose. SOPHIA: Of course not Rose. The woman can hardly find her way to work!

I’d never given it much thought before I had to pick it apart for this blog. Now that I’ve watched it with a necessarily discerning eye, I couldn’t help but get this weird sense of flatness. Not badness, per se, just a total lack of good distinguishing features.

For example, I usually insert one of my favorite one-liners as the header text above my analysis section, and I had to really pick apart this episode to come up with any single line that gave me a little smile. That’s not to say that there aren’t funny exchanges in this episode, but no Girl is given a single stand-out line that’s still funny, divorced from context. I’m using an “except Phil” line because this is the first time we see Sophia use it as more of a catchphrase.

I don’t have any behind-the-scenes material that might explain why the episode feels so lacking. Maybe it’s because this is Terry Hughes’ first episode as director? There are definitely places where the script doesn’t feel nearly as tight as it could be -- the several minutes Rose spends reminiscing about her happy childhood don’t really do much besides fill time, except maybe set up for the “kitchen door face slam” gag.

ROSE: *reminiscing about her saccharine family Christmases* And then Daddy would tell us a story, and tuck us into our feather-- DOROTHY: Who was your father, Rose? Michael Landon?

If I had to put this down to a single element, I think it’d be the portrayal of Gloria. Sisterly rivalry is a recurring theme in this show . . . seriously, none of the Girls have good relationships with their sisters. We saw this already with Blanche and Virginia, but Dorothy and Gloria provide a slightly different take on it. Whereas Virginia and Blanche have been clashing their whole lives and are only just now starting to reconcile, Dorothy and Gloria have a warm and loving relationship with unaddressed resentment beneath the surface.

The difference is, Virginia gave the impression of being a three-dimensional character. There were subtleties to her, such as her inability to keep from rising to Blanche’s bait no matter how much she claimed to want a more peaceful relationship. That just doesn’t exist with Gloria, or at least not Gloria as she exists in this episode.

In fact, the writers don’t seem to have a clue what to do with Gloria. She’s explicitly stated to be distant from her mother and sister, never inviting them to her home in California and only calling three times a year and yet wants her mother to move in with her. She’s sometimes obliviously insensitive, and yet has enough self-awareness to shoot holes in Dorothy’s insecurities.

I’m not sure if I like the fact that the resolution of the rivalry is Gloria saying, “Actually, I’m envious of you and want part of your happiness for myself,” as opposed to, “I, too, wish to spend some of my mother’s last years with her.” It just doesn’t seem realistic that Gloria’s desire to spend time with Sophia is rooted in her feelings towards Dorothy. It seems more like the ending to a revenge fantasy than a proper wrap-up of the story.

BLANCHE: Now, when were little, every year my sisters had huge parties. With clowns and magicians and tons of presents. DOROTHY: And you didn’t? BLANCHE: Well not exactly. I mean, I did have parties and I had presents but... I never had a clown. *smiles* Not until I was... BLANCHE & DOROTHY: Much older.

It doesn’t help that the B-plot is a little undercooked. Blanche’s extreme desire for a part in “Mister William Shakespeare’s masterpiece” is funny enough, especially since she thinks her sexual performance is an adequate substitute for theatrical performance -- I mean, she’s Blanche. She probably thinks her sexual performance is enough to eclipse all other forms of performance anywhere, ever.

But what I don’t get about it is how Rose managed to snag the part of Lady Macbeth despite not wanting it. Granted, it’s been a long time since my community theater days, but I think you generally have to say which parts you’re auditioning for before you audition, so the director doesn’t cast someone who can’t commit the time to a big role. I could be wrong about that, though. I get that Rose not expressing any of her own interest in the play makes it extra funny when she actually gets the part, but it’s still a little confusing to me.

Still, I don’t want to end the review on a sour note, so I’ll say this: There’s not much in the way of a moral or character growth in this episode, but there is something to be said for Dorothy and Sophia coming to the conclusion that too much togetherness isn’t good for them. Given that we’re now going on a year in pandemic lockdown, I can’t help but think that’ll resonate with some of us.

Episode rating: 🍰🍰 (two cheesecake slices out of five)

Favorite Part of the Episode:

The exchange between Rose and Blanche over the casting of Lady Macbeth, culminating in Blanche brandishing a kitchen knife in the most darkly funny way possible:

[moviewarfare]

A Review of “Independence Day (1996)”

The 4th of July is almost upon and what movie is fitting for Independence Day? Of course, the movie "Independence Day" by Roland Emmerich. The premise is simple, aliens have come and attacked Earth on the 4th of July and the planet but mostly America has got to stop them. I've watched this movie years ago so rewatching it will be a very interesting experience.

One thing I've remembered while starting this movie is how amazing and tension-filled that intro is. The scene with mankind's footprint on the moon getting blown away by the alien ship and the people on earth panicking about the ship in the sky is good stuff.

My biggest praise for this movie has got to be the visual effects though which still look great even today. I think everyone remembers it since it was all in the marketing but the iconic white house getting blown up by the alien ship is just phenomenal honestly. Looking at how the movie was made and finding out that they built a miniature white house and blown it up which is cool. All the action scenes in this movie are just very thrilling and exciting to watch with its fast-paced air battles and spectacular explosions. The first act with the alien destruction and the final third act with the war is just so good! The movie contains a lot of comedic moments especially from Will Smith and they all gave me a slight chuckle and work in the movie's favour.

Speaking of Will Smith, this and Bad Boys are the movies that practically launched his career to action fame and watching this movie again I can see why. Will Smith is extremely charming, funny and awesome as "Captain Steven Hiller". He punched an alien in the face while giving a cheesy one-liner, what more could you ask for? Jeff Goldblum is also likeable as the tech expert "David Levinson" and Bill Pullman is charismatic as the American President "Thomas J. Whitmore" and gives one of the most memorable speeches in movie history. The supporting cast is also great in their variety of different performances from the weird to the serious and they all do a great job.

The negatives of this movie are very clear and it is that the plot is just very thin and bland. However, this is kind of expected since the movie is just an alien invasion but the movie runs for 145 minutes which is LONG. So the director does a lot of padding which ruins the pacing of this movie. This is especially noticeable in the second act where it feels like everything is slowing down and coming to a halt just so they can find a way to bring all the characters together and it just drags. Additionally, the movie has to find a way for humans to fight back and win but it is not very convincing. You are required to ignore questioning the logic of the plot and characters and dialling down the sense of believability for this movies plot to work.

While I did praise the actors for their performance, the characters themselves are very lacking in depth. I don't feel like I understand any of the characters motives or backstory and none of the main characters changes by the end of the movie either. I never really cared for any of the characters dying and there are moments I've feel where they want you the audience to feel something but it doesn't work because none of the characters is that interesting for us to care. Well except for the dog who is a character we all care for and has a great moment in the movie. Rewatching the movie I've noticed how stereotypical the characters were which is probably why this movie was a product of the 90s and wouldn't be allowed today necessarily.

Overall, the movie is still a fun movie to watch and even to rewatch. The true main star of this movie is the visual effects with its stunning action pyrotechnics giving us some of the best destruction in movie history. The production and set design are great and the amount of practical stuff is astounding as well. However, the movie is pretty cheesy and dumb with a very stupid conclusion which I've still find dumb even during my rewatch. One line still sticks to mind is "they'll never let you fly the Space Shuttle if you marry a stripper" and honestly I still think about that because it shouldn't affect ones flying ability but apparently that is important. Nevertheless, this movie is just pure spectacle filled fun and no doubt watching this movie was an enjoyable time which is all that matters in over the top, cliche movies like these.

[lostgirlrewatch]

1x08 - Vexed

Original Air Date: November 7, 2010

Written by: Michelle Lovretta

Directed by: John Fawcett

Okay, so. Vexed.

This is the original pilot. I don’t think they necessarily presented it as the first episode chronologically—more like, this is what you can expect from our show. Showcase picked it up and it went to series. Vexed became episode 1x08. You can find more info about it in this interview with Michelle Lovretta and Jay Firestone.

Anyway, this episode was shot earlier than the rest, and you can tell. Makeup and styling is different, and they hadn’t quite settled on the tone they eventually went with. As such, this episode is a bit grittier than normal. I find it interesting both for its different tone and for the fact that many of the decisions they made for the episode were made in the interest of selling the concept to Showcase.

This fucking article is great and is a much better review of this episode and why it’s so god damn good than my shit below. It also provides an extremely detailed look into...exactly what I just described above. All of the behind-the-scenes production stuff. Check it out.

The premise: Bo finds a lead on someone who might know about her mother--a falsely accused death row inmate named Lou Ann. Bo vows to prove her innocence in exchange for answers, but her quest leads her into contact with a vicious Dark Fae named Vex.

I do wonder if they wrote this episode without really knowing where it was going to fit into the first season, assuming they had an outline. It works as a standalone and in some ways it feels a little disjointed from what came before in episode 1x07, right from the beginning. Dyson coming right out and saying something so blunt as, “She’s never gonna love you,” feels a bit off to me. But then again, all the characters in this episode are a bit “off,” which is understandable. This episode is like…the prototype. The beta.

“No offense to my own kind, but humans are a little pedestrian now.” *awkwardly laughs* Right... “your kind”…haha you’re enslaved. Lauren are you okay.

“Once you go Fae you never go back, huh?”

“So I hear.”

Me:

Bo feels a little bit more aggressive to me in this episode, like when Siegfried mentions her mother and she wigs out. It’s her normal desperation plus a bit of added homicidal urges. She’s a slightly grittier Bo.

As we can observe from the opening sex scene between Bo and Dyson, this episode is a bit more sexually explicit than we’re used to. This, I am not super a fan of on a personal level. However, the episode is also more violent than usual and incorporates horror elements. This, I am super a fan of because that’s kind of my shit, and it’s something I wish they would have leaned a little bit more into in the rest of the series.

There is nothing I don’t love about this scene. The creepy opera music that sets the stage, the gourmet meal prep (those gourmet meals always end in murder).

(Am I the only one who loves this random little detail they plopped into the background?)

Vex’s entrance—not overly dramatic, just, boop, there he is. 

The tense build-up as we’re drawn to the knife, not sure where it’s gonna go—

--oh, oop, there it goes. 

We know what’s going to happen now, but we build up to it, agonizingly, anyway. Surely we’re not actually going to sit here and watch as he shoves his hand into the disposal and then keep watching as he turns it on and it grinds his hand up. Oh, but we are.

Some scenes have a way of sticking with ya.

So I guess even the Lost Girl universe isn’t all camp and games. People are still people. Especially when they’re ancient as fuck and have all that time to stew in the cesspool of their fucked up emotional and psychological issues. So divorced are they from the concept of mortality, growing up and growing old, that their maturity level laps itself and becomes immaturity—they tend to to behave like children. 

Not all Dark Fae are curmudgeonly, innocuous old grandpas who own restaurants or absolute Queens like the Morrigan. Some of them are like Vex. And just like, fuckin murder people—and each other. Vex’s world is different than Bo’s world. Vex lives in a world where violence is mundane. Empathy is nonexistent and pointless anyhow. Sometimes I wonder if immortal characters are drawn to violence and death because it’s as close as they can get to experiencing a sort of vicarious mortality.

I love Vex’s character throughout the series—up to a certain point—but I love him best in this, his original episode. In later episodes, Vex is portrayed as a sort of morally ambiguous anti-hero, or anti-villain, whichever you prefer. I have mixed feelings on how well the transition from villain to anti-hero is handled. The farther along you get in the series, the more he becomes reduced to a shell of his former self, purely comic relief, and just…sucks.

But in 1x08, Vex is a villain. Straight up. The things that he does are horrifying and the show does not bother trying to get you to empathize with him. And to be clear, this does not mean that he is not a multi-dimensional character, that he isn’t worthy of empathy, or that he is pure evil. What it does mean is the show does something I wish more shows would do. It creates a genuinely threatening and reprehensible villain that is both worthy of your analysis, even your stanning (I stan), and yet whose actions are still inexcusable.

In that interest, let’s talk about him. At this point, his most defining characteristic, the simplest way we can begin to understand his motives, is that he utterly lacks empathy. Vex is the kind of person who would puppeteer a woman and force her to drown her own children. 

He is ordered to kill this woman’s family as punishment for betraying the Dark Fae’s rules. And in this episode, Vex is shown to be someone who rigidly follows the Dark Fae’s orders without question, and without any particular investment in them either. But he doesn’t just kill the kids—he uses his powers to force the mother to do it. To drown them. For no real reason other than his own amusement. That’s another level of sadistic. For a less intense example, in his introduction scene, he gruesomely tortures Siegfried before killing him. Just for funsies. (Well, okay, and to get information.) Vex lacks empathy, clearly, and may scan as a sociopath, but he’s not a stoic one. He gets enjoyment out of tormenting his victims.

Is this the kind of guy the writers are going to try to later convince us is a harmless comic relief mascot? Surely n—

Yes. Yes he is.

I am not at all opposed to the idea of Vex slowly becoming a morally ambiguous anti-villain, even a member of the gang. In fact, I think that premise is interesting as hell. But what I feel like happens later is that the show kind of forgets that Vex did all this horrible shit in the past. Kinda brushes it under the rug. Not only does this make it a lot harder for me to get behind him becoming one of the gang, it also does the character himself a great disservice. I’ll probably get into this more once Vex starts showing up more frequently, and why I feel the writers mishandle him.

To be clear, in spite of how sadistic he is, Vex is not a malicious person. He doesn’t have any enmity for the people he’s ordered to kill. He’s not angry, not hateful, not spiteful. He just doesn’t really care. He’s almost a kind of nihilist. None of it really matters. Somebody who thinks like that would have a fairly breezy time killing people.

Because I like when in-universe politics make things complicated, I like that the in-universe politics of the Light and Dark Fae makes things complicated. Bo wants to free Lou Ann, and she wants the Light Fae’s help, but they can’t help her because it would mean basically declaring war on the Dark Fae. MAJOR no-no. Likewise, they can’t go after Vex because all of his actions are sanctioned by the Dark Fae’s government. Bo’s unalignment gives her freedom, but it’s not without its downsides. She has no influence and no resources when things get too big for her to handle.

“Smells like fried bitch.” An icon. If I remember correctly from one of the behind-the-scenes features, they brainstormed and tested out a bunch of different one-liners to use for this moment, until Ksenia Solo ad-libbed this.

Lol. Kenzi is just so done with Bo and Dyson’s drama.

Lou Ann, the Fae woman who is on death row for killing her kids, obviously strikes a nerve with Bo. 

It’s kinda weird, because when we first meet her, Bo’s main motivation is that she wants to be able to live her life without being forced to kill others and stay on the run to do so. Those problems kinda get solved in the first episode. 

Since then, her motivation has been to live her life without these big mysterious Fae governments telling her what to do. In the first episode, Bo, like Lou Ann, says that she chooses humans. Bo was raised human and wants a normal human life, or as normal as she can get. At the same time, most of the other characters on the show, including her friends, spend a lot of time trying to convince her to embrace her Fae identity and a Fae lifestyle, because it’s “who she is” and she has no choice but to embrace that. “Choice” is a keyword that gets thrown around a lot in this show. But what is the show really trying to say about it? There’s some kind of nature vs. nurture conflict going on here, and I don’t feel like either Bo or the show itself has really decided on which side of the line they fall. On another note, this show has huge Fuck the System vibes. Which I appreciate. We stan an icon who chooses to reject a static, repressive, harmful system even at great personal cost.

A few episodes ago, Bo and Lauren went on a mission together and cemented their bond of trust. In this scene, Lauren breaks that trust. 

She sleeps with Bo to distract her from going after Vex, under the pretense that it is simply the culmination of them both being attracted to one another. The next morning, it doesn’t take long for Bo to figure this out. She is appropriately hurt. She has feelings for Lauren, there was an intimacy there, and she trusted her in a way that she doesn’t normally trust other people, because of her past. Lauren took advantage of her feelings and used her. Whether Lauren wanted to do it or not, whether she had any way of refusing, isn’t relevant in this moment; it was cruel regardless.

But what does Lauren say?

“I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Oop. There it is. There’s the Lauren I remember.

She hasn’t done anything wrong, y’all. Well, I’ll be damned. Lauren never did anything wrong ever in her life. *Lauren did nothing wrong meme*

The way Lauren says this line, with so much conviction, makes me feel like she genuinely believes it. She believes that she did nothing wrong. She is legitimately deluded about what just happened.

This is only the first in what I remember to be a very long string of instances where Lauren pushes blame onto others and denies any culpability in her shitty actions. At least, in this case, Bo isn’t buying it.

Waiting for Bo in the most extra-ass, goth, flamboyant setup possible is exactly the kind of quality villainy I expect from Vex.

It’s criminal that Bo never gets to use this awesome sword.

And…I love that Vex just gets to walk out of there, laughing. Because the system. And he’s not even really evil. He’s just a sadistic asshole. With a job. It’s. *chef’s kiss*

[spaceorphan18]

Marvel Movie Night: X-Men

Okay, I wanted to start up my Marvel Movie Nights again - where I go through every film based on a Marvel comic (according to the list on Wikipedia).  I did Blade forever ago, so I’m jumping back into it and hoping I can keep this up a little longer.  Anyway - I’m stealing most of my original review for this, but I did rewatch it!   

//

I first saw X-Men when I was a teenager in high school, and there weren’t really superhero movies unless you count Superman (which was really outdated at that point) and Batman (most of which were….not that great).  So, this was the first big superhero movie that /worked/ - and kind of spawned what superhero movies were to become.  And the film rejuvenated a near failing x-line of comics and Marvel.   I loved the movie back then, having only watched the cartoon before hand, I had no knowledge of the comics.  And it really got me into the X-Men - more than just being a fan of the show when I was a kid.  I picked up a comic book for the first time when I was 16.  

But now here we are, nearly twenty years later (damn), me having read a ton of comics, and have had the entire weight of the XMen franchise and MCU behind me and, well, hm….  It’s not a bad movie.  But I don’t think it’s a particularly great movie either.  I think the biggest problem is that it hasn’t aged well.  It’s very much a product of its time, and it shows.  

Pros:

The message X-Men has always stood there is very much there.  Mutants are feared and hated and it’s allegorical for any minority group ever.  It’s still a resonate theme for even today.  

Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen are perfect in their roles Professor Xavier and Magneto respectively.  The highlights of the film are when these two are in a scene together, a few of which are sprinkled throughout the film. (My favorite being Xavier and Magneto’s standoff with the police, the one time the movie really showcased the two’s powers against each other.) You would think that it might have made more sense to start the franchise based on these two characters alone…. oh wait….  

Also - I kind of love that Xavier, even in the movie-verse, is fucking with everyone’s head.  

Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine.   It’s funny because I think he actually grows more into the part and more comic-book Wolverine as the franchise goes on, but it’s mostly solid here.  

Rogue’s aesthetic.  I don’t mind Anna Paquin’s performance of a young Rogue, even if I miss my sassy grown up Rogue of the comics.  But she definitely looked like Rogue.  And that was pretty cool.  

Wolverine and Rogue’s friendship.  Man, I wish they had built more on that.  There could be a whole movie just with the two of them - and that would have been fun.  

Famke Janssen as Jean Grey.  She does the role really well, even if I wish that even Jean was more developed.  She also really looks the part, man…

The kid who played Iceman works! I’m sorry there was so little of him, but he’s good in the role.  

I like the Rogue/Iceman friendship.  I don’t necessarily buy the romantic angle set up in other films (Iceman is gay and Rogue has better chemistry with other people) but they do have a comic friendship that’s a pretty cool dynamic.  And I think that plays out well on screen here.  

The little Easter eggs for the comic fans.  I get them all now. Not sure what that says about me but – yay!!

There are some really good one-liners.  

The few times the X-Men actually worked as a team was really fun.  

The school set - damn.  That is so the school.  

Cons:

One of the things I think really helped MCU is that they didn’t start with The Avengers.  They started with Iron Man and Captain America and Thor’s individual stories and built on them until they led up to The Avengers.  While I realize this was never going to work with X-Men (I mean, X-Men is a team book and people probably wouldn’t have wanted solo series first), I think one draw back to this film is that it can’t properly give the characters the fleshing out they deserve because it’s only two hours.  And the pantheon of characters who deserve to be focus would never be able to fit in a twenty hour film let alone two.  (I understand the central focus of Wolverine, but it makes me miss development of nearly every other character.)

Case in point - Cyclops and Storm are incredible characters and they’re all but lifeless here.  At least James Marsden gets the feel of Cyclops, even if he’s barely developed.  Halle Berry’s Storm though - well - I think it’s pretty universally panned.  

(Storm is so amazing and deserves so much more.)

This film completely lacks any energy and feels incredibly slow paced.  I get I’m now spoiled by the high-adrenaline of the MCU, but, idk, this movie really drags.  The characters have such interesting powers - it’s a shame we didn’t really get them more in-depth.  

The special effects are incredibly dated, to the point where some are really cringe-worthy.  Also, Wolverine’s claws…. eesh…  

The brotherhood of (evil) mutants feels lacking.  I understand why they went with who they went with (Sabretooth, Mystique, Toad) but none of them are developed enough for me to care.  

Which brings me to - I feel like there’s no real tension in the film? The plot is classic in that it’s Xavier vs Magneto’s dueling ideologies about mutants and humans coexisting.  But I guess I don’t really feel the threat?  Maybe because so many of these characters have such great inner conflicts that that seems like the more interesting avenue to go down.  

The Jean/Wolverine hint of romance.  Wolverine isn’t a flirty character, and I don’t really buy it in any incarnation.  

Most of Rogue’s actions don’t make any sense.  Why does she run to Canada? Because she needs to be there to meet Wolverine.  Why does she sneak into Wolverine’s room? Because Wolverine needs to stab her and she can steal his power.  Why does Rogue believe fake Bobby? Because she has to get on that train.  I mean - Rogue is a runner by nature, but it feels like 90% of her actions are plot driven and not necessarily logical.  

Other Things:

Doctor Jean Grey.  Ha.  I had forgotten they made her a Dr.  It’s fine - mean more power to women with power.  Just – Jean, no.  And it made me miss Beast.  

When Wolverine is wondering around the school near the beginning, I kept waiting for Hugh Jackman to break out into song.  

The movie is aesthetically dark - as I believe it was trying to move away from the brightly colored spandex of the comics.  I get why they went there, so not really a con.  But I do miss the bright colors.  

Not entirely sure why they needed to explain the coloring of Rogue’s hair.  But it’s an interesting little addition.  She doesn’t feel like Rogue without the white streak though.  

Why is Mystique completely naked?  In the comics she wheres a white, flowy dress.  She needs her white, flowy dress to be Mystique.  Idk…  

Final thoughts: I’m giving it a 6/10.  The movie feels like a basic introduction to so many other interesting things.  While not bad, in general, doesn’t hold up well after all this time.  And with the exception of Wolverine, the characters just feel so flat.  

Next Up: Blade gets a sequel