#painted this while binging all 7 seasons

[charlozel]

Oil painting of Buck by me

prints of this painting

twitter & insta

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hey Nalyra,(I don't know if I can call you by your name since we don't really know each other?)I started the show and binge watched in a day (at first I thought it would be one of those background noise tv show while I'm on my phone and ended up watching the whole season,I've been obsessed since,and it was only 7 days ago)Long introduction sorry.

I've been wondering about, Lestat was he always that heartless or living as a vampire made him become so cold (with Claudia other humans) I don't mind spoiler,I could read the book,but I'm a slow reader,and I really need to understand why he is like he is?

Hey!

Welcome! And sure, do call me so? :)

So - I come from the books, and my opinion is informed through them. Just as a note. And then:

It's been confirmed by now that certain events of season 1 will be revisited, and that "it will change how we think about everything in s1" - since this is a tale. A tale which broke at the end of season 1. Jacob has said at the TVA panel that "Louis is trying to regain his true memories". That just in real short.

What this means though: No, Lestat was not that heartless or cold, and definitely not as shown. That does NOT mean he wasn't an asshole (at times), or even abusive. The abuse is in the books. The fighting, too. But the tale has been told for a purpose, and that purpose will yet become clear.

We will yet get to see the "real Lestat". In season 2 we will get Armand's POV of his and Lestat's origins. Which will shine an even different light. In s3, we will get Lestat's POV.

Lestat is not cold. He is ... intense. "A lot." He is jaded and he has been lonely for a long time. He was raped into this vampiric life, and heavily abused in his mortal one. He has had run ins with the old covens, and has lost both his fledglings by the time he finds Louis. He has a temper, and he cannot stand being ignored.

In the show, Lestat has been a vampire for much longer, and he has been alone much longer. That did shape him, more than being a vampire did.

But what we saw... was a deliberately painted picture of Louis trying to prove why they had to kill Lestat. He did not really want to continue the tale with Lestat in Paris. He wanted Lestat to stay dead in the tale. But Daniel interfered. And then Armand did. (And that's where we're at, at the end of season 1^^).

There are... a LOT of moving pieces to this show, its characters, and what is to come. We have only seen part of it.

Lestat is caring, and loving, and protective. Funny and a theater kid. He loves music, and art. He is also fierce, and can be a real asshole. I'm sure we will still get to see aaalllll the aspects of him in the show.^^

For now... the tale will shift in season 2 - and our view of the characters - ALL characters - will shift with it.

I can tell you more if you want to, but... Lestat, the canon Lestat and the Lestat we will get to see in upcoming seasons - is not cold^^.

[atalanta133]

the context behind this post as requested by @omnisvirlupussicfiatdraco, and the story of how I binged 54* episodes of Doctor Who in 48 hours.

this all started around three weeks ago. My English class started a new unit about critical reviews, with the end goal of writing our own review of some experience we would have in the upcoming weeks. Having just started watching Classic Who, I decided that I wanted to write my review on “The Tenth Planet”, as I figured it would be fun to write about such an important part of my favorite show. Just three minor problems:

I was only on the last serial of season one

“the Tenth Planet” is the second serial of season 4

I wanted to skip as few episodes as possible

this meant I had to watch both seasons 2 and 3 in less than three weeks while also dealing with school, general life, and American Thanksgiving, when I wouldn’t have a chance to watch much for about 4 days because I was in Michigan. Skip to last week, where burnout from school combined with not getting a good chance to recharge from Thanksgiving means I don’t feel like doing much of anything at all other than laying in bed hoping I’m absorbed into my mattress. Come Thursday night, I’m halfway through the final serial of season two and haven’t even started season three.

At this point I’m too far in and too stubborn to give up. Come Tuesday I WOULD be writing about that Regeneration scene one way or another. I did the math, and I had four days to watch 54 episodes (not counting “The Tenth Planet” itself). I had to Lock. In. At English class on Friday I went up to my teacher and told her of my plan. “You know you don’t have to do that” she said. “Yes, I do.” I responded.

Friday night. Night of the first day. 84 hours Remain. I got home at three thirty. I spent the next five hours finishing the last two episodes of season two and beginning the first serial of season three. By the end of the day I had managed to watch three total episodes. Not good enough.

Saturday. Dawn of the Second Day. 72 Hours Remain. Wake up at 9am, start episode 3 of “Galaxy 4” and don’t stop for anything other than the Wild Life Finale, then it’s straight back into the TARDIS. I knock out “Galaxy 4” and the “Myth Makers” by 1pm. I decided to skip “Mission into the Unknown” because it’s only one episode and doesn’t even have the main cast at all. I say goodbye to Vicki (take a moment to cry cuz I miss Vicki), and turn my attention to the 12 part monster of a serial, and my biggest challenge of my endeavor; “The Daleks Master Plan.”

I watched 11 episodes. In. Six. Hours. I skipped episode 7 because it’s literally doesn’t progress the plot and I can feel myself dying inside. I decided right there that I needed to rein it in on Sunday. I had something else I had to do for a couple hours anyways. I was not going to watch another 22 episodes even if I tried.

Sunday. Dawn of the Third Day. 48 hours remain. For my own sanity, I skipped “The Massacre” and “The Celestial Toymaker” because I didn’t want to come out of this never wanting to watch another episode of this show again when the Fifteenth Doctor (my favorite) was coming back for Christmas in just a few weeks. I’m also sorta skimming through “The Savages” but still watching because that’s when Steven leaves. I manage to crawl halfway through the final serial of season three when I decide that I had to call it there and skip the last two episodes as well as all of “The Smugglers” because if I had to read any more scrolling text on top of telesnaps I would jump into my computer screen like a Super Mario 64 painting an ask a Dalek to exterminate me.

and now, it’s Monday evening. 8 Hours Remain. I’m starting “The Tenth Planet” right now. This has been quite the experience, but thankfully it hasn’t diminished my love for this show. I can’t say I’ll repeat this, or that I enjoyed all of it, but I will say that I’m excited to watch arguably one of the most important serials in the 61 years of this franchise. And though I’m sad to see William Hartnell and One go, I look forward to watching Patrick Troughton and Two take up the mantle. Now if you excuse me, I’ll be in Antarctica saying hello to my favorite Doctor Who monster.

bonus hand reveal

[lucero-is-here]

Headcanons: Douglas family (first focusing on Angela for a while, before the entire family)

Requested by:

Angela and the triplets:

The triplets go by: April, May and June.

I’ve binged watched people play through the entirety of season 3- SO LET’S GO-

1 - Angela picks up a lot of hobbies. Besides the few she picked up in season three (photography and painting kinda), she also tried out pottery, candle making and even making small puppets are some point. She carved the designs in the candles, saying it was fun and everything.

2 - Angela has really good spice tolerance.

3 - Angela is a workaholic. She focuses on her work a lot and takes a lot of pride in her work too.

4 - Angela gets at most 6 hours of sleep a day- even when Lars is trying to make her sleep that doesn’t really work does it?

5 - she doesn’t trust people easily. She will work together with them, but she doesn’t trust them at all. She knows it when people trust her, and that trust won’t ever be returned.

6 - Angela is an overachiever. In school, she was constantly striving to do better than she was, even when she was already doing extremely well. She has become extremely competitive and always wants to win.

7 - pilates. She definitely does pilates. And she’s really good at it. (The triplets try to join her but they always fail- it’s so funny watching them try to copy Angela-)

8 - Angela has tried learning to play instruments. She tried playing the drum set Lars had once, and decided she didn’t like it and gave up.

9 - she has a lot of different kinds of earrings. Besides the hoops she usually wears, she also has some studs. During Christmas, she has this fun little pair of Christmas themed earrings she wears to celebrate.

10 - she can cook. She can cook really well. The Douglas family basically loves her cooking so so much- she’s a better cook than Lars too lol-

11 - Angela bas rough hands and slender fingers- she keeps her nails short so it’s more convenient and comfortable for herself during work.

12 - Angela tends to fidget about a lot. She constantly needs something to do- so she focuses on her work most of the time.

13 - she’s trying to learn another language on the criminal case version of duolingo- and she has gone off track and is now trying to learn at least 3 languages now- AND SHE IS SOMEHOW DOING REALLY WELL-

14 - her closet has some really nice outfits- she has turtlenecks, dresses- sweaters- those kind. She basically mixes and matches.

15 - she has a black headband with white polka dots on it- and she wears it every now and then to keep her hair in place-

(Everything from now is the Douglas family headcanons)

16 - there was a time Lars and Angela took the kids to swim, and Lars specifically had no intention to get wet. Until the triplets pushed him into the water.

17 - June is the most chaotic of the triplets. One time, she stole a grenade from Jonah’s office and tried to throw it at a suspect they were arresting- They had to stop her and bring the suspect to a different holding cell since she removed the pin-

18 - besides their parents, the triplets bother Jonah the most. You can always find them in Jonah’s lab, bothering him or trying to climb him like he’s a tree- Lars walked in on June hanging from Jonah’s arms while she swung about. Another time, April and May were pasting stickers on Jonah. He had so many stickers on his face you couldn’t see his face-

19 - the triplets cover everything in stickers. They slapped a sticker onto Elliot’s computer, they slapped a sticker into Carmen’s hair, they completely covered Jonah with stickers- And they somehow taped someone to the wall (rest in peace Jack- he’s not dead but yeah).

20 - the triplets also bully Jack a lot. They cut off part of Jack’s hair once- and Jack cried about it.

21 - the Douglas family have little tea parties together and it’s adorable- they make Lars dress up as a pretty princess. Jonah joined these tea parties once and was dressed in a tutu.

22 - June cut off her bangs for fun once, but it looked really bad- so Lars, Angela and the other two of the triplets tried to help style June’s hair to hide the badly cut bangs-

23 - Angela tries to feed the family (Lars and the triplets) veggies- it almost never works- in the end they eat it against their will, and Angela can swear she always hears them grumbling about it.

24 - The triplets draw on the walls. Angela and Lars saved this one wall for them to draw on, and sometimes get them these step ladders so they can draw properly-

25 - the entire family watches Bluey together lol- Angela really likes watching it in particular, she cried watching it at least ten times already.

That’s all for now-

[notmybabies]

15 questions, 15 mutuals

1. are you named after anyone My Dad

2. when was the last time you cried? Today while watching The Fourth Kind, I got scared

3. do you have kids? No thank you

4. do you use sarcasm a lot? I dabble

5. what sports do you play/have you played? Sportsball? I played T-ball but was too short to hit the ball and basically had to walk to first all season, one year of soccer before discovering I have Exercise Asthma. One year of trying to do Shot-put and Discuss and failing.

6. what’s the first thing you notice about people? Their looks, usually their eyes and smile. I love to stare at a face.

7. what’s your eye colour? Blue

8. scary movies or happy endings? Scary movies. Even better if they end with a "Based on True Events," and I had no idea.

9. any special talents? I can type fast, but can't everyone now? I am pretty good at making people laugh, and I make a great pumpkin pie from scratch--crust and all.

10. where were you born? Texas

11. what are your hobbies? Fanfiction, Tumblr, Binge-watching series, Writing, Walking my doggo, Crafting and Painting

12. do you have pets? A dog named Jaxon

13. how tall are you? 5'3"

14. favourite subject in school? I loved my Women & Gender Studies major classes, my fave was Gender & Terrorism

15. dream job? Writing novels and queer shit, maybe a movie, and making enough money to be comfortable

i'll tag (no pressure!) @frogsdontcry @allhappyandgay @magentamee @masterdisastre @casualcarnage @ohfallingdisco @brydeswhale @loudsnapdragon @somekindafairy @peachcardinal @cuethemulti @foodiewithdahoodie @elhaspowers @emily-tumbles-on @dont-open-dead-inside-25

[magnificent-winged-beast]

Do you believe J2 is romantically involved?

https://at.tumblr.com/magnificent-winged-beast/jensen-ackles-2020-inside-of-you-podcast-w/3ff5rrnhev0z

No, not at all.

Personally I think they are great friends, they kind of grow up together in Supernatural. Well, Jensen did learn to become an adult and got bigger and bulkier till The Boys. The Jarod just grow up taller and went deep in to the forever manchlid persona.

Anyways, J2 it's not my ship. From whatever angle I look at it, I can't see it. Not only because of their characters being brothers and all. It's just not there for me.

From that mentioned link. I can explain that I do believe everyone has the right to ship whomever, and in the spirit of being cool and make peace and love (like Misha and Jackles when in Rome 😉) between the SPN factions. I mentioned that what I thought Jackles was implying, was him giving his blessing to all the ships.

When I started to watch Supernatural from the beginning back in 2005, I wasn't aware about the concept of Shiping.

I was undoubtedly attracted to Dean nearly at the middle of the first season. Jackles made Dean so real and important for me on that show, that from then I was kind of sad Supernatural wasn't about just him, later on, about him and Castiel.

From there, since season 2 to middle 3 it was me just tuning in to watch Dean killing everything with his tall brother dude. Like I said, I wasn't aware of Shiping, and because of my cultural upbringing I thought gay was wrong and a problem. (Aka living in a South American country where machismo is law, and being homofobic is instructed to children).

I got then a brief understanding and crash course about ships because of Sherlock, and here in tumblr. Yes, I'm a Johnlock refugge, but even then I wasn't THAT convinced about those two. Albeit the fan art, and of course Fanfiction get my attention and further understanding and acceptance about my bad education. I started mending fences about my previous misunderstanding of queerness.

While I was on a mental journey about life and everything, hiding in the now questionable Sherlock y stopped watching Supernatural till it was on season 7.

And then one day... 🎶 One magic day they crossed my screen.... 🎶 😂

I kinda stumbled upon Supernatural again and saw new characters and plot. I get on track again watching the thing from the beginning till season 4. My life changed forever 📺😑.

Not only I discovered my new religion and Overlord, I get to really really experience that Shiping thing. And it was beautiful.... 🥺😳

Dude! Seriously. I was an ignorant, indoctrinated to be just binary or die in shame person. But there was THEM on screen, making me question everything I learned about love ONLY by opposite genders. And discover my own identification, as Mishasexual of course.

At first I thought something was wrong with me and my perception since all the tumblr discovering and "influence". -The gays change me, I thought. I binged watched seasons from 4 to 9 to realize THIS IS REAL!

I then joined the circus and start to paint my face, wear a big red nose, use big shoes and ride a ridiculously small bicycle every Thursday at 8pm central.

It was shocking, how scene after scene, from already aired episodes to the new ones. Once Dean and Cas where together on my screen. I had a vivid experience about the concept of Shiping.

Then I went deep in this hell of a fandom =>affectionately<= 🙄. Watching every Con and panel of Misha.... aaaaand discovered Cockles.

I was doomed.

My life went wham! I questioned everything, from my initial attitude about RLS. That at one point considered as disrespectful and silly because the ones in vogue back then I couldn't understand or believe their very existence.

Once you watched 5 heavy Destiel episodes, and 3 Jibcon Cockles Panels, all the internal homophobia or general confusion about genders changes to rainbows and pink puppies that smell like candy and sound like Misha and Jackles laughing.

Well, I took a deep dive in to memory lane here. Just because a simple J2 Shiping ask. Sorry, but not sorry. I love to spread the Cockles gospel and give the good news about the magical duo that saved me from ignorance, propelled me into the land of trash and rainbows. That occupies 70% of my memory's phone between photos of Misha and them together. Usually of Jackles ogling Mish while having a secret boner.

See? A totally random gif of them on my phone.

They give me all the emotions. Every feels at once.

Chaito.

[ear-worthy]

Death On The Lot Podcast -- Celebrity Tragic Deaths in the 40s & 50s

Adam McKay is one of the creative people in Hollywood that can still surprise the audience. You've never quite sure what you'll get with a McKay TV show, movie, or podcast. 

In his previous podcast, Death On The Wing, each episode looked at a different high-profile death related to the NBA during the ’80s and early ’90s, an era when professional basketball was being radically reshaped by an explosion of wealth and everything that comes with it. But McKay’s excellent podcast used that narrative as scaffolding to construct a sustained commentary on Reaganism and its cultural underpinning, which still insinuates itself into the American psyche today. 

Just released, McKay’sHyperobject Industries and Sony Music Entertainment have launched a new original podcast series, Death on the Lot. The podcast was developed and hosted by McKay. Each episode of the eight-episode series focuses on the story behind one celebrity’s tragic death in the 1940s and 1950s and the cultural implications that upended their life. It also dives into the cultural transformation of Post-war America and Hollywood’s fabrication of a new American dream, as well as Hollywood unions and labor strikes. All eight episodes are available now on The Binge, so save all your laundry folding or sock drawer reorg for Death On The Lot.

Adam McKay says, “The first season of Death at the Wing was one of the most satisfying and fascinating projects I’ve ever personally been a part of. It combined a real life murder mystery, history and incredible personal stories to paint a truly unique portrait of the 1980s. Now we’re looking at the 40s and 50s through the lens of a spate of tragic and bizarre deaths in Hollywood.”

Death on the Lot covers the deaths of gangster Willie Bioff, method actor John Garfield, teenage idol James Dean, Superman actor George Reeves, first Black Academy Award winner Hattie McDaniel, swashbuckling star Errol Flynn, and controversial western legend John Wayne. The podcast also provides an overarching view of the transformation of the U.S. following World War II, as well as a divide the country faced between the rising right wing seeking to create conformity and fear and the left wing fighting for Civil Rights.

Episode 1: Don’t Change That Dial: As post-war Hollywood strives to define itself, it mirrors the divide happening in America. A rising right-wing seeks to create conformity and fear, while a left-wing fights for Civil Rights and a more equitable future.

Episode 2: Willie Bioff & Labor’s Last Stand: The Life and Death of Willie Bioff, a gangster who bled American unions dry right just as labor was starting to deliver real results for workers.

Episode 3: The Red-Baiting of a Golden Boy: A new generation of actors questioned the status quo; a rattled establishment fought back; dire consequences ensued. We’re talking John Garfield, Hollywood’s first method actor.

Episode 4: Blood Alley: The life of James Dean, a restless man-child desperate to express himself in uptight post-World War II America. The original Rebel Without a Cause, and the prototype for a new kind of American teenager who longed to escape Mayberry.

Episode 5: Faster Than A Speeding Bullet: As television transformed American life, George Reeves became a star, only to get trapped inside the part that made him famous: Superman.

Episode 6: Change Agent: How Hollywood’s use of Black actors clashed with the rising Civil Rights movement and how the first black Oscar winner, Hattie McDaniel, was caught in the middle.

Episode 7: The Swashbuckler: The wild story of Errol Flynn, who just kept hanging around as a symbol of Hollywood’s misogynistic past as it tried to navigate its future.

Episode 8: The Bomb That Killed John Wayne: The fall of the studio system, the rise of the nuclear age, and the lives caught in the fallout. John Wayne and the staggering production of The Conqueror close us out.

Interviews with experts, journalists and Hollywood insiders, include director Ron Howard; actor James Cromwell; Academy Award-winning actress Lee Grant; cultural critic and historian Isaac Butler; Hattie McDaniel's great grand-nephew Kevin Goff; Sidney Poitier's daughter Sydney Poitier Heartsong; and Errol Flynn’s daughter Rory Flynn, and grandson and child star Sean Flynn.

All episodes of Death on the Lot are now available to subscribers of The Binge. Listeners can subscribe to Death on the Lot on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and wherever you listen to your podcasts. 

Check it out. You'll be disgusted by the treatment of McDaniel, stumped by the mystery surrounding Reeves's death (TV's Superman), and pissed off by the misogyny that dominated Hollywood for decades.

[quill-and-chalk]

Shows to watch during the Owl House Haitus!

We don’t know how long until season 2 of The Owl House premieres, but until then I know a lot of you guys need new shows to watch. So here are my suggestions!

*Disclaimer* I am only suggesting shows that I have watched. So there might be a few shows that I don’t suggest, purely because I haven’t seen them.

If you watched the show because you lacked proper LGBT representation as a child then try...

Steven Universe: This show has a wide array of LGBT characters and a complex story to boot. This show ends up having a lesbian wedding! Also multiple Non-binary characters! Plus it’s songs are straight bops.

Legend Of Korra: This show was one of the first instances of LGBT representation! While, compared to shows now, the representation is watered-down, it’s still a great show about a strong bisexual woman.

She-ra and the Princess of Power: This show has gotten some flack due to the POC representation ((As it should)) Though it is a kids show that made leaps and bounds when it comes to WLW representation in media. So while I can suggest this show, I also suggest that you do research on some of comments made by the creators.

If you heard Dana talk about Hieronymus Bosch and came running then try...

Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorprated: This show was fire! It wasn’t afraid to go dark on you, and it always had a good suspense too it. It was a unique twist on very well-known characters and diverted from the source material in all the right ways.

Welcome to Nightvale: This isn’t a cartoon, it’s a podcast, but I swear this thing is like if a Bosch painting came to life. It’s story is very sprinkled throughout the series so it’s good for a casual listen or an intense binge.

Over the Garden Wall: This thing is short but it’s so good! It’s just the right level of creepy. This thing doesn’t just play with the horror genre, it fricking juggles it and masters it. This show is honestly scarier than most horror movies, and yet they accomplish all this while keeping a PG rating.

Gravity Falls: Dana was originally on the crew for this show, and it makes sense. Both have similarities but Gravity Falls likes to keep it’s weird and strange as more of a constant background element, rather than in your face 24/7. Still, it’s a show that I don’t think any owl house fan would truly dislike.

If you came because you wanted to see a show where a girl got trapped in a unknown world then try...

Infinity Train: This show has people trapped on a magical train. This show is an expert at giving you -just- enough information. It gets to a point where, in the span of an hour, you get lost in the world with these characters.

Kipo Age of the Wonderbeast: This show is less magical and more sci-fi. It has a very unique take on the ‘lost in the magical world’ genre and all the characters are lovable. Also, the sound track for this show slaps, seriously I would watch this show just for the music alone.

Amphibia: This show’s plot moves at around the same pace as the Owl House, maybe even a bit slower. It’s an easy watch even though it’s very obvious that there is a bigger story a foot. Also it’s just straight up hilarious.

If you watched cause someone told you S2 might be toppling some governments then try...

Avatar The Last Airbender: This shows whole plot is getting a 12 year old boy to dismantle a 100 year old dictatorship so if that doesn’t get you interested then I don’t know what will.

Young Justice: While governments are never toppled, they are heavily critiqued. This show explores themes that aren’t typically explored in children’s shows, and honestly it’s a refreshing take on the superhero genre.

That’s all my suggestions. If you have any suggestions then don’t be afraid to add on.

[wagner-fell]

I am still very new to this website and I don’t know how link a post but this fic is based on a post by @sandersgrey

(If someone reading this knows how to link a post please either explain it to me or link it in the comments because that post is *amazing*)

“Hmmm,” said Tessa, depositing Mina into Kit’s waiting arms and examining her buzzing phone critically. She shot a quizzical look in his direction.

Jem looked up from his novel. “What is ‘hmmm’, my love?”

Kit mimed vomiting but stopped dead in his tracks when she replied, “it’s Astrid’s mother. You remember her from parent teacher night, don’t you, my darling?” Kit swears they were being extra insufferable just to mess with him but he didn’t have the time to be annoyed when Astrid’s. Mom. Was. Calling. Tessa.

To understand why Kit was panicking as much as he was, you must know that Astrid’s mom was incredibly chill. She never got mad. The worst punishment she’d ever given her daughter was taking away her iPod for a week so she couldn’t listen to Mitski.

Was she calling about last night when Astrid, Mari and Kit threw eggs at the Shadowhunter’s that were giving Mari’s pack a hard time for no reason? No, that couldn’t be it. She’d given them the eggs.

Could the call be about the day before yesterday when Kit and Astrid got distracted doing homework and ended up snapping the coffee table clean in half while battling gladiator style with pool noodles? No, that wasn’t it. She’d just handed Astrid a twenty and told them to go to Kevin’s parents' shop and get a new one. Was she pissed because they ended up spending the money on ice cream instead? No, they ended up finding a table for free in the rubbing bin outside a fancy hotel.

Kit clutched his sister to his chest and prepared for the worst.

“Seo-yoon! What can I do for- Oh, hello Astrid!” Tessa paused briefly, presumably to listen to Astrid speak, and Kit sighed in relief.

“Kit is occupied at the moment but I can relay the message.” Another pause. “Oh don’t be frightened of me. I’m a tots rad mom. Your secret is safe with me.” Kit felt his face flush red as he heard his best friend’s laughter echo across the living room. “Okay! I’ll let him know. He has to get Mina to sleep before he can leave though. Lord knows he’s the only one who can these days.” Tessa chuckled at something Astrid said before wishing her good luck in her endeavour and ending the call.

She turned her attention back to Kit. “Astrid needs your help breaking into your teacher’s home to retrieve her cell phone.”

Kit blinked at her, dumbfounded. “You aren’t mad I’m going to go break the law?”

Because of course he was doing it. Astrid’s dad had bought it for her and he was extremely cautious about money. That was one of three things Kit knew about her dad. He was cheap, he lived in America and he loved the movie Fight Club.

Tessa ruffled Kit’s hair affectionately. “Please. I’ve raised two other Herondales. At least I know about this particular adventure beforehand.”

Mina began snoring softly and Kit handed her back to her mother. He grabbed his bag and started his journey to the door when Tessa added, “she also told me to say hi to a ‘daddy Kit’. Are you ‘daddy Kit?’”

‘Daddy Kit’ closed his eyes and wished for the sweet release of death.

“Why is Kit a daddy,” Jem asked, genuinely confused. “Aren’t I the daddy?”

Kit swung the door open so fast not even a speed rune could have aided him. But not before I heard Tessa reply, “Lily Chen certainly thinks so.”

Mrs. MacNamara clapped her hands together. “Why don’t we all go around and say a few things about ourselves?”

Kit buried his face into his hands. He’d been relieved when no other teacher had fulfilled the Disney channel stereotype of making every student introduce themselves to the new kid. But Mrs. MacNamara didn’t even seem to realize what she was doing.

All Kit’s fellow classmates groan. Expect one. Her hand shot up immediately. She was short, like smaller than Clary short. She wore a baggy pink shirt with the words ‘Queen Glimmer of Etheria’ sewed on with purple sequins and tight black jeans. Her colourful, choppy hair was in a low ponytail and she flew a few strands out of her eyes as her hand wiggled in the hair.

Mrs. MacNamara pointed at her. She stood up and smiled at Kit. “Hi. My name is Astrid. My hobbies include making my little cousin’s girl Barbies kiss, as it should be, and watching television shows where everyone is a terrible person so you can love all of them!”

“And what shows might that be?” asked Kit, already in the process of pulling out his phone and opening the Notes app.

“Grey’s Anatomy, Glee, Grey’s Anatomy again because it’s seventeen seasons as of right now. And to be fair it practically became a different show when they killed off Mark Sloan.”

“That’s enough, Miss Yang,” said Mrs. MacNamara. Astrid sat down and winked at Kit. Then she took out her phone and airdropped him a complete list of all her favorite shows, along with her number.

After Blessica’s pre-birthday birthday party, they went to Cirenworth and stayed up till four A.M. binging them.

They met outside a queer dry bar called Aries Not Welcome, the unspoken gathering place of the Merry Hoes. It was run by a poly lesbian couple in their mid-thirties. Quinn, Sydney and Aliyah may not have served alcohol but at least they were open 24/7.

“Did you bring the shit?”

Kit gave her a look. “The shit? How conclusive.”

“Shut up. You know, the shadowhunter thing.”

“The shadowhunter thing?”

“The, the, the glow stick that you draw with.”

“The glow stick that I draw wi-“ Kit closed his eyes briefly. “Do you mean a stele?”

Astrid snapped her fingers. “That’s it!” Kit shook his head in exasperation, smiling fondly. “I borrowed a torch from Quinn, let’s move.”

“Should I be worried that you know where Mr. Smith lives?” questioned Kit as he followed Astrid’s lead through the park.

“Should I be worried that your mom was fine with us breaking and entering?” she shot back playfully. Kit pushed Astrid and she fell off the path, laughing all the way.

“You called me ‘daddy’ to my mom’s face.”

She just laughed harder, slinging her arm around Kit’s shoulder. “It was over the phone, Christopher. And as I should.”

“Pffffttt. Why did you get your phone taken anyway?” She put her hands into her jumper pocket and looked at the ground. “Astrid.” She remained silent. “Astrid?”

She mumbled something under her breath. “What?” asked Kit.

“I WAS READING NINEJ FANFICTION!” she shouted.

Kit gasped. “I thought you were a die hard Kanej shipper,” he whispered.

“I’m a multishipper, okay?!” she replied, equally quiet.

“Does Blessica know?”

She shook her head. “And she will never find out.”

Kit saw the opportunity and he seized it. “She’ll never find out as long as you never call me daddy in front of either of my parents.”

She removed her arm from his shoulder and guided them out of the park, in the direction of the many apartments that lined this side of town. “I hate you.”

“Well, so does Mari. You're not special, Ast.”

She rolled her eyes. “You know Mari doesn’t actually hate you, right?! They’re just still in the enemy phase of your enemies-to-lovers romance. She only dislikes you because they feel something for you but they don’t know what so she interrupts it as loathing. In reality, her inner soul knows you’re hot and shmexie.”

Kit didn’t know how to process this so he just nodded and follow Astrid in silence to Mr. Smith’s house. (Plus, he was kinda glad that, according to his best friend, he had a little more time for Mari to ‘discover their true feelings’. If Kit screwed this up, he was out of countries to run off to.)

“Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me.”

“What,” asked Kit, turning around to face Astrid and closing the drawer he was rifling through. “Did you find your phone?”

“Yeah. But I also found Blessica’s. She was Snapping Kevin. Platonic my ass. But he took the fucking trans flag out of her phone!”

Kit snatched Blessica’s phone out of her hand to examine it for herself. She was telling the truth. Where the glitter pride flag usually rested was just a clear purple case. Kit couldn’t believe his eyes.

“It’s one thing to misgender her every day.” Blessica had forced all four of the other Merry Hoes to sign a contract saying they wouldn’t do anything to harm him because of it. “But this is the last straw. You know what we have to do.” Oops.

“Yeah, but we don’t have any spray paint.”

Kit eyed Mr. Smith’s pink sofa, blue bar stool covers and white picture frames. “I think I have something better in mind.”

It would have been easier for both parties to just zip off the sofa cushions and tape them to the wall but by ripping them off in strips, they ensured he would have to buy new ones. And judging by the car he drove and the fiji water in his fridge, Mr. Smith could definitely afford it.

That reminded him, “I’ll finish up with this. Go put all his fiji water into my bag.” Astrid saluted him and ran off. “Wait.” She stopped and looked at him. “Steal all the remotes you can find.”

“How is he not awake?,” asked Astrid as they ripped the fabric of his seating from the stool.

He shrugged. “Don’t question it.” He shoved the bundle of cloth into her arms. “Glue this above the pink. I’ll handle the frames.”

“Say the magic word,” she sang.

“Please?”

“No. Lesbian. Come on, I thought you knew me better than that.”

Kit laughed quietly. “Can you lesbian glue this above the pink?”

She grinned at Kit. “It would be my pleasure.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hello! Sorry I haven’t written anything in so long. School just restarted and it has been…a lot.

@adoravel-fenomeno @thechangeling @the-blackdale @the-wckd-powers @thomas-gaypanic-lightwood @im-not-ruined-im-ruination @ithurielkeepsgettingkidnapped @noah-herondale-lightwood @arangiajoan @shelvesofgold @maxboythedog @book-dragon-not-worm @hardlymatters

Very sorry if I forgot anyone. Lmk if you want to be addEd/removEd from the tag list.

[coffee-at-annies]

Thinking about icedbatik’s post about getting into hockey at the start of the 2016 season and ending it with the cup and how hard that is and yeah. I got into hockey spring 2016 when I binged omgcp during finals week of my sophomore year of college and went home to find not only was this hockey thing kind of fun but my hometown team was in game 7 of the eastern conference finals (I had to learn what that was).

Penguins fans who joined around when I did are absolutely spoiled. We joined when the team was hot and only got hotter. We have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin as our captain and his A. We have a lot to enjoy every single night.

Still, I spent a lot of time that first offseason looking back, learning my history. From earlier that season as everyone cried over the rough start and losing Duper, to years earlier with Sid’s concussion and Geno’s knee injury, back to the very real chance that Mario might have sold the team before Sid came in to save the franchise.

I’m not saying that prepared me for what it felt like to lose. Again spoiled. I’ve been down during slumps before. Fans like to quote that we historically do bad during November. I think my lowest may have been the play in round loss to the habs simply because hockey was dead to me for a while after that.

More recently, I lost my mind last spring when we hit the trade deadline and could not string a win together as the team fell apart and then we lost Geno to suspension (he deserved it) and Jarry to injury. I was convinced we’d drop to a wild card spot and get swept by the best team in the East. Instead we limped into the playoffs in 3rd place and I was once again convinced that we’d be swept. I bought more expensive game 3 tickets because I could not handle the thought of being in PPG Paints Arena during a potential elimination game. We didn’t win the first round, but damn did we look good for stretches. We looked better than I thought we could look.

Hockey is all about ups and downs. If this is your first down then it looks like the end of all things. It’s not, but without experience it’s hard to know. For me, it’s been almost 7 years of hockey from that first ecstatic ecf game 7. I have faith in our boys. The core isn’t dead yet. They’ll figure it out. They’ll make changes. They’ll remember how to win. If that doesn’t happen this season? Well Pens fans are spoiled, I have no doubt we’ll get back there in the future. (To be clear I have 100% faith we’ll make it to the playoffs you cannot change my mind).

There’s rough years coming up when the generational talent that makes up our core finally retires, but the penguins as a franchise and a fanbase will make it through. If you don’t think you can survive that, then maybe think about finding a new team before you get fully invested. I’m here for Penguins Hockey, win or lose, rain or snow storm, Crosby or Guentzel or anyone else.

[zero2heroyesindeed]

So Tangled the series ends in just a few hours.

What can I say about this show, this wonderful wonderful show. I still remember my reaction to that first promo image in 2015 and being excited since this was the first Disney movie to series spin off in years and with how much the landscape of tv animation had changed in that time (much more focus on overarching stories and continuous, in-depth character arcs) it would no doubt be interesting to see. I remember everyone HATING that the hair was back but I didn’t mind as long as it made sense and was part of a good story and OH MY WAS IT PART OF A GOOD STORY.

Tangled the series is a show that somehow feels like it’s been around forever yet also feels like it’s not been around long at all. I watched Before Ever After the day it came out and same with What the Hair. A few months later I binged from Rapunzel’s enemy to Max’s enemy and fell in love with this show. The stunning art style and flowing animation, the respect and attention put into making the returning characters feel exactly as we remember them while also perfectly integrating every new character flawlessly into the world. The show completely eclipsed the original movie in every possible way in my opinion. And it only got better the further we got into this story and lore.

Instead of continuing on about how amazing this show is and how grateful I am for it’s existence as both a Disney obsessed teen and animation fan and I just wanna sing the praises of the crew, there are countless posts more we’ll put together than mine that accomplish that. So what i’m gonna do is instead throw it all the way back to the first season and go in chronological order and pin point the 10 most important moments in the series as a fandom. These are not the most emotional or impactful moments, just things that were a huge deal in the fandom.

1: Life After Happily Ever After

The first ever real impression of the series we got and an indication of what a ride we would be in for. Bringing in Alan Menkin to continue writing the music showed just how far this show was going to go to create the most faithful continuation as possible. It was also the introduction to our precious Cass and showed Eugene getting ready for the first of many proposals we would see throughout the series.

2: Eugene and Rapunzel talk after the coronation disaster

Who could ever forget when Rapunzel and Eugene officially became the most developed and healthy Disney couple. This was basically the moment most people fell in love with the series and it’s not hard to see why. Tangled the Series wasn’t just cute Princess hijinks with some action thrown in, it took it’s characters and their relationships seriously in a way now Disney show had ever done up to that point and could be mature. Rapunzel asking Eugene to be patient with her to this day still gives me chills and showed the direction this show was taking Rapunzel’s character and we were all along for the ride.

3: Rapunzel dreams of Gothel

OOH BOY this moment. While the fandom was still relatively small by this point this moment sent everyone into an absolute frenzy. While Before Ever After featured mentions of the Sun Flower and the King’s ptsd of losing Rapunzel, this was when the flood gates opened for all the angst and tears. Rapunzel’s trauma of the tower and Gothel’s treatment of her were not gonna be glossed over, they would be explored in excruciating detail which to this day is still one of the greatest elements of the series. Just because Gothel is gone doesn’t mean the 18 years of abuse she put Rapunzel through magically heals (pun intended).

4: Varian’s introduction

I don’t even need to say anything for this one. It’s Varian. (gonna be honest. It is 3am in my corner of the globe and I am struggling to find the energy to keep writing this much, so we’re just gonna rush through the rest of these).

5: Big Brothers of Corona/ aka Eugene is a perfect human being

This was the episode that cemented Eugene as one of my favourite Disney characters of all time. I can not count how many times I have rewatched the ending to this one alone. But it was also a fantastic episode for developing Lance’s character and integrating him as part of the shows main cast moving forward despite this only being his second appearance. Also I forgot how small Red and Angry (or the girls formally known as Red and Angry) were.

6: You promised!

This is still my favourite callback to the movie the show ever did. To me Rapunzel saying she never breaks a promise in the original movie feels out of place. Like Rapunzel keeping her promises was going to be a huge part of the story early in development and that line is just a reminant of that draft that should’ve really been taken out. But I don’t care because it gave us this beautiful moment. Also this moment cemented Nigel as my most hated character on the show.

7: “Difficult decisions are what make us who we are”

I can’t with this scene and just how brilliant this episode was at dealing with the fall out of Queen For a Day and how crucial it was to Rapunzel’s character development in retrospective. Everything she has done in season 3 and every action she has taken can be tied back directly to what she learned in this moment. If that ain’t good story telling then I don’t know what is.

8: The Tower Falls

I’m just gonna say it. This is my favourite scene from the series. Everything in this moment is perfection. The music, the staging, the visuals, the emotion. It all builds to an absolutely devastating climax as Rapunzel watches her childhood home crumble to the ground leaving behind one pieces of the walls she used to paint on. If wanna frame the moment Rapunzel starts tearing up as the tower collapses and display it on my mantle because I love it so much.

9: Rapunzel reaches her limit

I couldn’t finish this episode for hours after seeing this first scene. Rapunzel finally took a stand against her father and I was just making inaudible gasps throughout my first time watching it. Then there’s that bombshell at the end where Raps compares her father’s actions to that of Gothel’s that never fails to shake me to my very core no matter how many times I rewatch it.

10: Ready As I’ll Ever Be

What? We’re you expecting the biggest song this show was turned out to not make the list? I mean it was the first time Tangled the series was able to get the attention of those outside the fan base and hooked so many people into checking the show out. This was the moment Tangled the series just left the movie in the dust and from there it just kept pushing further and further with each season.

Not really sure how I should end this. I am very emotional and very tired but I refuse to go to sleep. I am staying up until this finale drops because I am not going to go to sleep knowing i’ll wake up in a world where Tangled the Series is over. This show is a once in a lifetime experience that is in my top 5 television shows of all time. It might not have had the legacy of Phineas and Ferb or the popularity of Gravity Falls but it had so much love, energy and passion behind it and you can tell everyone making this show loved it just as much as we did. I’ll probably end up doing lists like this for season 2 and 3 when I get around to binging the entire Tangled franchise (which will probably be around Summer).

Thank you to the indescribably talented crew of writers, animators, designers, and directors (and I am so sorry if I missed any other positions out but you are all so amazing). Thank you Mandy and Zach for giving your voices to Rapunzel and Eugene and letting us explore their life after Happily Ever After and letting their journey continue. Thank you Eden, Jeremy and James for bringing life to Cass, Varian and Lance who expanded the world of Tangled and felt like perfect additions to the main cast. Thank you Alan Menkin and Glen Slater for continuing to write phenomenal music and putting in your all for something you clearly didn’t even need to do in the first place. Every piece of music for this show has left me breathless (and not just from belting Waiting in the Wings to myself). This 3 year Journey has been simply sensational and I can’t wait to see how it all ends.

Next stop anywhere!

[bthenoise]

The Best Of 2020 As Picked By Members Of Underoath, The Amity Affliction, August Burns Red, Neck Deep, Movements and More

Okay, we know what you’re thinking: Isn’t it a bit of an oxymoron to list the “best” things to come from such a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year? 

While yes, we completely agree with that statement, we would be remiss not to shine a light on all the wonderful things that helped us survive one of the most challenging years in recent memory -- you know, like best album, best song, best movie, etc.

So, as a way to help you count down the end of this miserable year (22 days, 7 hours and 52 minutes to go as of this writing), we’ve completely turned our year-end, best-of list over to the artists we cover on a daily basis. Because let’s face it, as we’ve noted in years past, their opinions are the ones we all really care about, right? 

Right. 

To check out what members of Underoath, The Amity Affliction, August Burns Red, Neck Deep, Knuckle Puck, Movements, Counterparts, Hatebreed and more have all been obsessing over for the past year or so, be sure to see below. We hope you enjoy this final list as much as we do and wish you all the most peaceful and positive holiday season.

Enjoy!

SPENCER CHAMBERLAIN - UNDEROATH 

Best Album of 2020: Tame Impala - The Slow Rush Best Song of 2020: Foster the People - “Lambs Wool” Best Music Video of 2020: Sir Sly - “Material Boy” (also one of the best songs of 2020) Most Underrated Album of 2020: The Chain Gang of 1974 - Honey Moon Drips Best Movie of 2020: Onward Most Binge-Worthy TV Show of 2020: American Horror Story Favorite Internet Moment of 2020: Metal Kenneth Copeland had me cracking up Best Concert You Attended/Played/Watched in 2020: I really enjoyed playing Lost In The Sound of Separation in full for the first time ever and it was our first ever live stream so it was super special and something I’ll never forget The Thing(s) That Helped Get You Through 2020: Writing tons of music, my lady, hiking/working out and my great dane Snoopy 2021 New Year’s Resolution: Put MORE art into the world

AHREN STRINGER - THE AMITY AFFLICTION

Best Album of 2020:  Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher Best Song of 2020:  Spiritbox - “Holy Roller” Best Music Video of 2020:  Architects - “Black Lungs” Most Underrated Album of 2020: Lost For Life - We All Share The Blame Best Movie of 2020: Palm Springs Most Binge-Worthy TV Show of 2020: Queen’s Gambit Favorite Internet Moment of 2020: Donald Trump’s Twitter account. Concert You Attended/Played/Watched in 2020: Europe tour with Beartooth right before the pandemic. The Thing(s) That Helped Get You Through 2020: Drawing and painting 2021 New Year’s Resolution: Start smoking more

JB BRUBAKER - AUGUST BURNS RED

Best Album of 2020: Hum - Inlet Best Song of 2020: Sir Sly - “All Your Love” Best Music Video of 2020: NOFX - “Live At Red Rocks” Most Underrated Album of 2020: Sea Wolf - Through A Dark Wood Best Movie of 2020: The Social Dilemma  Most Binge-Worthy TV Show of 2020: Queen’s Gambit Favorite Internet Moment of 2020: https://youtu.be/0JPRvxTjfOk Best Concert You Attended/Played/Watched in 2020: Best show I played this year was our Thrill Seeker 15 Year Anniversary livestream, though I hope that we one-up that show on Dec 12th when we do our Christmas Burns Red show. The Thing(s) That Helped Get You Through 2020: The return of live sports, specifically baseball and especially football. Fantasy sports have been my 2020 escape. 2021 New Year’s Resolution: I’d like to look on the bright side more. 2020 has been an easy year to focus on the negative. I don’t want to be that way next year (or ever).

KEVIN MAIDA - KNUCKLE PUCK

Best Album of 2020: Tie between HAIM's Women In Music Pt. III or Owen’s The Avalanche or Slow Pulp’s Movey

Best Song of 2020: “Me & You Together Song” by The 1975

Best Music Video of 2020: Faye Webster’s “Better Distractions” or Phoebe Bridgers’ “I Know The End” or HAIM’s “Man From The Magazine”

Most Underrated Album of 2020: Burst by Snarls

Best Movie of 2020: Dang, what movies came out this year? Each year, I gauge the movies I saw by recounting seeing them in theaters, but  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I really enjoyed Portrait of a Lady On Fire though and I saw Uncut Gems on New Year’s Day this year, so I’m counting that as well.

Most Binge-Worthy TV Show of 2020: I’m really bad with keeping up with contemporary television, but I am always watching The Sopranos on a loop. I've had so many people tell me this year that they started watching Sopranos because of all the extra time at home, so I loved living vicariously through others watching it for the first time. I’ve also been binging 30 Rock for the first time and it is simply a delight.

Favorite Internet Moment of 2020: Phoebe Bridgers and Maggie Rogers’ “Iris” cover album art.

Best Concert You Attended/Played/Watched in 2020: Back in February, we played at Beat Kitchen in Chicago with Heart Attack Man and One Step Closer to begin the only tour we would do this year. We hadn’t played there in years, but it felt so good to be back in that venue’s atmosphere again.

The Thing(s) That Helped Get You Through 2020: My girlfriend, staying connected with my friends and family, riding my bike around the city, having time to somewhat enjoy summer at home in Chicago and revisiting favorite movies of mine.

2021 New Year’s Resolution: Be kinder to others and kinder to myself.

PATRICK MIRANDA - MOVEMENTS

Best Album of 2020: Punisher - Phoebe Bridgers Best Song of 2020: Too many to pick just one Best Music Video of 2020: “Popstar” - Drake/DJ Khaled Most Underrated Album of 2020: Marigold - Pinegrove Best Movie of 2020: Borat 2 Most Binge-Worthy TV Show of 2020: The Mandalorian Favorite Internet Moment of 2020: Cranberry juice skateboard guy Best Concert You Attended/Played/Watched in 2020: LDB Fest in Louisville Kentucky 2020, BC (before Covid) The Thing(s) That Helped Get You Through 2020: Video games and comfort food 2021 New Year’s Resolution: Let’s be honest, I’m not sticking to any resolutions

BRENDAN MURPHY - COUNTERPARTS

Best Album of 2020: I haven't even heard it yet, but I'm pretty sure it'll be the new Seahaven record. Band fucking rocks and I've been waiting like 6 years for new music.

Best Song of 2020: The 1975 - “If You're Too Shy (Let Me Know)”

Best Music Video of 2020: It's a tie, but I'm gonna have to go with “Spirit Halloween Theme Song” and the follow up “Unleash Your Spirit” both by Nick Lutsko.

Most Underrated Album of 2020: Chamber - Cost of Sacrifice

Best Movie of 2020: I don't think I've watched any movies that came out this year other than the new Borat, so I guess that's my pick by default. It was VERY NICE!! I wish I could marry the movie so the movie could be MY WIFE!! Get it? You get it. We all get it. It's great. 

Most Binge-Worthy TV Show of 2020: Again, I've been slacking in terms of newer movies/tv and honestly, I just kinda alternate between watching The Simpsons seasons 3-9 and then watching Kenny Vs Spenny from beginning to end. If you haven't seen KvS, the entire series is on YouTube so please just watch it. I promise it's the best thing to come out of Canada... me being the second best.

Favorite Internet Moment of 2020: When we released the embroidered NLTL hoodie and everyone filled their diapers with shit.

Best Concert You Attended/Played/Watched in 2020: Tough call, but it's gotta be either the Chainsmokers concert in the Hamptons or the biker festival in Sturgis that Smash Mouth played.

The Thing(s) That Helped Get You Through 2020: Alcohol, adopting my cat Kuma and finally being diagnosed with ADD so I could get a Vyvanse prescription.

2021 New Year’s Resolution: Play a single show LMAOOOOOO

OSHIE BICHAR - BEARTOOTH

Best Album of 2020: Bring Me The Horizon - Post Human: Survival Horror Best Song of 2020: Bring Me The Horizon - “Parasite Eve" Best Music Video of 2020: Bring Me The Horizon feat Yungblud - “OBEY" Most Underrated Album of 2020: Silverstein - A Beautiful Place To Drown Best Movie of 2020: Tenet  Most Binge-Worthy TV Show of 2020: The Mandalorian     Favorite Internet Moment of 2020: Baby Yoda memes Best Concert You Attended/Played/Watched in 2020: Beartooth drive-in show in Oshkosh, WI The Thing(s) That Helped Get You Through 2020: Call of Duty: Warzone  2021 New Year’s Resolution: Stop spending so much money on Star Wars toys

TRAVIS MIGUEL - ATREYU

Best Album of 2020: Insect Ark - The Vanishing Best Song of 2020: clipping. - “Say The Name” Best Music Video of 2020: Billie Eilish - “Everything I Wanted” Most Underrated Album of 2020: Thundercat - It Is What It Is Best Movie of 2020: The Social Dilemma Most Binge Worthy TV Show of 2020: The Mandalorian Favorite Internet Moment of 2020: Any of the “My Plans for 2020” memes Best Concert You Attended/Played/Watched in 2020: Atreyu - Melbourne, Australia @ Max Watts, Feb 2020. Things that helped you get through 2020: Guitar, video games, hanging with the wife and cat, finishing an album, Atreyu “Carry the Fire” livestream and lots of junk food. 2021 New Year Resolution: Gonna try to have more of that PMA.

MATT BRYNE - HATEBREED

Best Album of 2020: Napalm Death - Throes of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism

Best Song of 2020:  See question #1.  Pick any song from it.  

Best Music Video of 2020:  I don’t have one. I miss the infant days of MTV when music videos were new, fresh and hypnotizing. I used to sit for hours and wait for the Van Halen “Jump” video to come on.  So, I’ll go with that music video for this question. Can I do that?

Most Underrated Album of 2020: Hum - Inlet

Best Movie of 2020: The Mandalorian series.  I rarely watch full movies anymore. It’s all about getting sucked into a TV series.  

Most Binge-Worthy TV Show of 2020: Can’t choose only one. The Queen’s Gambit, The Mandalorian, Living With Yourself, Dead To Me…

Favorite Internet Moment of 2020: Anything posted on kookslams. I could surf that Insta account all damn day!!!

Best Concert You Attended/Played/Watched in 2020: None. We have all been stuck at home. So, best attended/played/watched is me, myself and I crushing it on my basement practice jams. Or falling down the rabbit-hole watching drum solos or drum clips on youtube.  

The Thing(s) That Helped Get You Through 2020: 1- I got married in May so that was a huge event that we made happen and enjoyed, given the current craziness. Couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day. 2- Our dog, Ziti. He is a constant source of entertainment. 3- Yoga. 4- Ripping around on my mini-bike.

2021 New Year’s Resolution: Drink more water.  Spend less time looking at my phone.  Get back to playing shows again!!!

SAM BOWDEN - NECK DEEP

Best Album of 2020: Haim - Women In Music Pt. III

Best Song of 2020: Seaway - “Big Vibe”

Best Music Video of 2020: The 1975 - “The Birthday Party”

Most Underrated Album of 2020: I don’t really know what’s underrated and I’ve not listened to a bunch this year but Knuckle Puck 20/20 is a great album that people should go check out if they haven’t already.

Best Movie of 2020: The Trial of the Chicago 7

Most Binge-Worthy TV Show of 2020: Schitt’s Creek. Although this wasn’t strictly all released in 2020, the final season was and I hadn’t seen any before this year. It was amazing and I definitely binged the whole thing. Final season is a tear jerker for sure. Best Concert You Attended/Played/Watched in 2020: Well like most people in music we didn’t get to play a show this year, however, I did attend a Counterparts show in Feb at Rock City which ruled! Static Dress were also on the tour so was great getting to finally see them!

The Thing(s) That Helped Get You Through 2020: Call of Duty - Warzone. Can’t say I’m proud about this one but It helped pass time if nothing else. More serious though, I bought my girlfriend a kitten a few months ago and he’s been a bundle of joy for us. 2021 New Year’s Resolution: Enjoy the little things. This year took a lot of normality out of life and it’s given me a lot of time to reflect and look back on things I’ve done and we’ve done as a band. It’s easy to get caught up and just be thinking about what’s next and not really live in that moment, so next year I’ll be savoring every moment and every show we get.

NICK VENTIMIGLIA - GRAYSCALE

Best Album of 2020: This is so tough but I think Deftones’ Ohms is my favorite album of the year. 

Best Song of 2020: I really don’t know if I can pick one but my most listened to was “The Spell of Mathematics” by Deftones

Best Music Video of 2020: I absolutely loved the Bring Me the Horizon video for “Parasite Eve.” But also, the “Ohms” video by Deftones was unreal as well.

Most Underrated Album of 2020: There really are a few I believe. It was a very weird year to put out a record so I think a TON of albums flew under the radar which is a bummer because there was so much great music put out. I think Four Year Strong's Brain Pain was amazing and their best album to date. I think Hundredth’s Somewhere Nowhere was unreal. Rich People put out Harmony in August and I absolutely love that record and those boys. The Killers put a record out called Imploding the Mirage that has some absolute heaters on it as well. The Ghost Inside made a wild comeback with Aftermath that makes you want to go ape shit front to back. Finally, I’d say The Used made an amazing album that caught them right back up with making great music. Not that they didn’t on the previous records, but it feels like they found themselves again. They pushed a lot of boundaries on Heartwork and had some insane songwriting on that record.

Best Movie of 2020: To be honest, I didn’t really watch many new movies this year. The Social Dilemma was super eye-opening and very true. If you dig creepy thrillers, The Devil All the Time was probably top for me. A ton of great actors and just such an eerie vibe in the cinematography.  

Most Binge-Worthy TV Show of 2020: I feel like the easy answer is Tiger King, but I really dug The Queen’s Gambit and The Undoing as of late.

Favorite Internet Moment of 2020: I hate the internet really, there is just so much bullshit overload that I can’t even process it all. With that said, when Joe Exotic threw on his EMS jacket when his employee got her arm bit off by a tiger, THAT was UNREAL. I was crying laughing. This man had this jacket for a moment like this. He is wearing this EMS bomber with king tight white jeans, a true fashion icon. The memes that followed were priceless. The “I am never gunna financially recover from this…” memes. So great.

Best Concert You Attended/Played/Watched in 2020: I would have to say the best show I attended this year was the Dashboard Confessional anniversary shows in Detroit. It was back to back nights where Chris played 'The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most’ and ‘A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar.’ in their entirety. He did some older stuff as well off of the ’So Impossible' EP and ‘Swiss Army Romance’ which rocked. Best show we played would have to be on our headliner earlier this year. We played The Observatory in Santa Ana, CA and it was unreal. Best watched show was probably the Puscifer live stream or the Underoath stream. 

The Thing(s) That Helped Get You Through 2020: I think it was the ability to write more than we usually are able to and kind of tighten up the behind the scenes aspects of Grayscale that people don’t often see. Beyond that, being able to spend time with loved ones and family has been great. It’s been a great year for self reflection as well and I feel like that’s always a good thing when you can get a fresh perspective on life when things get shaken up. I’ve been super thankful even more so this year for the people I have in my life and the opportunities I’ve been given. Those are some of the big things that got me through.

2021 New Year’s Resolution: Honestly, I am not much of a resolution guy, but I’d say just give my all to everything I am passionate about and treat everyone with love. Playing shows in 2021 would be absolutely ideal for a resolutions well.

JULIET SIMMS

Best Album of 2020: Starbenders - Love Potions Best Song of 2020: “You About To Lose Your Job” Best Music Video of 2020: In This Moment - “As Above So Below” Most Underrated Album of 2020: Creeper - Sex, Death and the Infinite Void Best Movie of 2020: Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey Most Binge-Worthy TV Show of 2020: Queen’s Gambit Favorite Internet Moment of 2020: Ocean Spray Fleetwood Mac guy. Best Concert You Attended/Played/Watched in 2020: uhhhhh - welcome to hell. I attended exactly one concert this year and that was a live stream for BVB. The Thing(s) That Helped Get You Through 2020: Music, YouTube, good shows, my babe, my pets and staying busy. 2021 New Year’s Resolution: To get the fuck out of the house 😂. On a more music related note - put my album out ✨

OLLIE BAXXTER - BROADSIDE

Best Album of 2020: Into the Raging Sea by Broadside Best Song of 2020: “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles Best Music Video of 2020: “Parasite Eve” - Bring Me The Horizon Most Underrated Album of 2020: Into the Raging Sea by Broadside Best Movie of 2020: Palm Springs Most Binge-Worthy TV Show of 2020: 90 Day Fiancé Favorite Internet Moment of 2020: Anything involving our EX president Best Concert You Attended/Played/Watched in 2020: *one long sigh* The Thing(s) That Helped Get You Through 2020: My miniature dachshund puppy and books 2021 New Year’s Resolution: Never take seeing someone's whole face for granted again

VINNIE CARUANA - I AM THE AVALANCHE // THE MOVIELIFE 

Best Album of 2020: Songs For The General Public - The Lemon Twigs Best Song of 2020: “War” - Idles Best Music Video of 2020: I haven’t seen any Most Underrated Album of 2020: DIVE - I am the Avalanche Best Movie of 2020: On the Rocks Most Binge-Worthy TV Show of 2020: Jeopardy on DVR. RIP ALEX TREBEK Favorite Internet Moment of 2020: Four Seasons Total Landscaping Best Concert You Attended/Played/Watched in 2020: Constant Elevation/ Rule Them All @ Max Fish NYC The Thing(s) That Helped Get You Through 2020: Jon Oliver, beer, weed, whiskey, Liverpool Football Club, friends, family, music. 2021 New Year’s Resolution: To spread more joy than ever

ALEX MAGNAN - YOUNG CULTURE

Best Album of 2020: Folklore by Taylor Swift Best Song of 2020: “How Big Is Your Brain” by Super American Best Music Video of 2020: “The Birthday Party” by the 1975 Most Underrated Album of 2020: Women In Music pt. III by Haim Best Movie of 2020: Tenet Most Binge-Worthy TV Show of 2020: Ozark Favorite Internet Moment of 2020: Pretending to break up my band Best Concert You Attended/Played/Watched in 2020: Playing Tampa, FL back in March The Thing(s) That Helped Get You Through 2020: Zoom calls 2021 New Year’s Resolution: Be the best live band when shows come back

MAX BREMER - KINGDOM OF GIANTS

Best Album of 2020: Man there’s a few really good ones that make it so hard to choose. I really enjoyed Loathe’s I Let It In And It Took Everything but I gotta shout out Like Moths to Flames’s No Eternity in Gold and Bring Me The Horizon’s Post Human for sure.

Best Song of 2020: Another insanely hard question! I guess I’m gonna say “Teardrops” by Bring Me The Horizon but again I’m gonna also shout out “Animals” by Architects

Best Music Video of 2020: “Teardrops” by Bring Me The Horizon. If you couldn’t tell I’m a big fan of them haha

Most Underrated Album of 2020: Idk if I’d say it’s underrated but I absolutely loved Make Them Suffer’s How to Survive a Funeral

Best Movie of 2020: I haven’t even seen it yet, but I know it’s gonna be Tenet

Most Binge-Worthy TV Show of 2020: Lovecraft Country

Favorite Internet Moment of 2020: There’s so many it’s hard for me to retain any of them. I can’t keep track.

Best Concert You Attended/Played/Watched in 2020: Well my band sold out every show we played this year which was only one haha but for real it was an awesome time and I love hearing our lyrics screamed back at us.

The Thing(s) That Helped Get You Through 2020: My wife, our new daughter, Indi, and our album PASSENGER 100%

2021 New Year’s Resolution: My wife and I just had our first daughter so it’s gonna be to be the best father I can possibly be and write as many songs as possible until we can rip shows again.

NICK ANDERSON - THE WRECKS

Best Album of 2020: Punisher - Phoebe Bridgers Best Song of 2020: “Dying Breed” - The Killers  Best Music Video of 2020: Nothing But Thieves - “Impossible” Most Underrated Album of 2020: Color Theory - Soccer Mommy Best Movie of 2020: The Go-Go’s Most Binge-Worthy TV Show of 2020: Dave Favorite Internet Moment of 2020: Four Seasons Total Landscaping  Best Concert You Attended/Played/Watched in 2020: :( The Thing(s) That Helped Get You Through 2020: Pro Tools 2021 New Year’s Resolution: Spend more time outside of the studio

CAMM KNOPP - NEVER LOVED

Best Album of 2020: It’s hard to pick one, but a few I really enjoyed are Father Of All… by Greenday, Ugly Is The New Beautiful by Oliver Tree and RTJ4 by Run The Jewels Best Song of 2020: There has been so many amazing songs released this year it feels impossible picking just one Best Music Video of 2020: Any Oliver Tree music video from his recent album Most Underrated Album of 2020: Watchito Rico by Boy Pablo Most Binge-Worthy TV Show of 2020: Tiger King Favorite Internet Moment of 2020: Tiger King memes were pretty great Best Concert You Attended/Played/Watched in 2020: Probably the Sugar Ray livestream The Thing(s) That Helped Get You Through 2020: Zoom parties, friends/family, writing music, netflix, and lots of self care 2021 New Year’s Resolution: Getting back on the road!

SHARPTOOTH

MATT HAGUE 

Best Album of 2020: Purity Ring - WOMB Best Song of 2020: “Headlights on the Parade” - The Blue Nile Best Music Video of 2020: “When Doves Cry” - Prince Most Underrated Album of 2020: The Hot N’ Heavy - Drop Dead, Gorgeous Best Movie of 2020: Joker (shit was crazy bro) Most Binge-Worthy TV Show of 2020: Devs Favorite Internet Moment of 2020: Trump getting COVID Best Concert You Attended/Played/Watched in 2020: The only band I saw this year was Single Mothers. Their drummer is very handsome. The Thing(s) That Helped Get You Through 2020: HBO’s Oz 2021 New Year’s Resolution: Get yourself together. Move to Philly. Buy a loft. Start a noise band. Get 6 or 7 roommates. Eat hummus with them. Book some gigs. Paint. Smoke cloves. Listen to Animal Collective. Start some type of salsa company. KEITH HIGGINS

Best Album of 2020: Endless Twilight of Codependent Love - Sólstafir Best Song of 2020: “Oh Ruthless Great Divine Director” - Lingua Ignota Best Music Video of 2020: Hot Gospel or Cane Hill Most Underrated Album of 2020: Grave of a Dog - Sightless Pit Best Movie of 2020: Color Out of Space Most Binge-Worthy TV Show of 2020: The Mandalorian Favorite Internet Moment of 2020: Trump getting COVID was top tier Best Concert You Attended/Played/Watched in 2020: LOL The Thing(s) That Helped Get You Through 2020: Destiny 2, dogs and a lot of repressing things 2021 New Year’s Resolution: Turn my brain back on and be a person again hopefully

LANCE DONATI

Best Album of 2020: Underneath - Code Orange Best Song of 2020: “Boss Bitch” - Doja Cat Best Music Video of 2020: “Swallowing The Rabbit Whole” - Code Orange Most Underrated Album of 2020: I Disagree - Poppy Best Movie of 2020: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan Most Binge-Worthy TV Show of 2020: Mandalorian Favorite Internet Moment of 2020: The fly landing on Mike Pence’s head Best Concert You Attended/Played/Watched in 2020: Darkest Hour  The Thing(s) That Helped Get You Through 2020: Writing music for the next album.  2021 New Year’s Resolution: Get the next album process set up. 

PETER BRUNO

Best Album of 2020: Poppy - I Disagree. While critics might write this off as a unique, albeit kitsch blending of genres, this record is one of the more satisfying emotional journeys I’ve been on in quite some time. Poppy is able to capture a strange sort of sadness within these songs, that ironically, is often read as mere jouissance. Best Song of 2020: Poppy - “Sick of the Sun” Best Music Video of 2020: Run The Jewels - “Ooh La La” Most Underrated Album of 2020: Sound VVitch - Becoming. Imagine taking something like Chelsea Wolfe but leaning more into an experimental direction that is both sonically beautiful and grotesque. Best Movie of 2020: I’m Thinking of Ending Things, directed by Charlie Kaufman. It’s a shame that a lot of movies got pushed back this year. I think because of this, I didn’t wind up watching many movies from 2020, instead I used the pandemic to try to catch up on films from the past that I never seem to find time for. Still, I’ve come to really appreciate the journey that Kaufman seems to always insist on taking me. Most Binge-Worthy TV Show of 2020: Admittedly, I also haven’t watched a ton of new TV shows this year. But, there were both new seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Eric Andre Show, which always finds a way to make me happy. However, in terms of 2020 itself, I did finally watch The Sopranos for the first time and it completely lived up to the hype. Just an incredible TV show all around. I also binge watched all of Tim Heidecker’s On Cinema at the Cinema, which is quite the ride. There’s a whole cinematic universe for that TV show, it’s insane. I give it five bags of popcorn. Favorite Internet Moment of 2020: Conner O’Malley’s video where he learns how to communicate with trains got me pretty good. Best Concert You Attended/Played/Watched in 2020: I thought the Code Orange live stream acoustic set was pretty neat. The Thing(s) That Helped Get You Through 2020: Marijuana and Magic The Gathering. 2021 New Year’s Resolution: Try not to die.

LAUREN KASHAN 

Best Album of 2020: 1. High Road - Kesha. Basically, Kesha wrote an incredibly intense, emotional and fucking hilarious album about living her truth and telling all her haters to eat a dick and that’s really all I’ve ever needed in life.

2. “WAP” burned twelve times onto a CD-R from Best Buy. This one fucking song is a better album than 95% of anything I’ve ever heard and I’m a huge fan of anything related to black women kicking ass and taking names, sex and kink positivity, and insanely clever and funny lyrics. Plus, ANYTHING that makes weak, sexist, insecure men as BIG MAD as this song did is literally my kink.

Best Song of 2020: “My Own Dance” - Kesha.
 Best Music Video of 2020: “Say Nothing (In The Absence Of Content).” Fuck anyone who disagrees, that shit is iconic. Second runner up goes to “The Gray” because Peter made that whole fucking video himself and it’s POWERFUL and I still cry every single time I watch it.
 Most Underrated Album of 2020: Vagina Witchcraft’s self titled record. If you didn’t already notice, I’m pretty fucking done with listening to cis straight white dudes be ANGERY for half an hour; so this album is SUCH a breath of fresh air in a genre that’s become incredibly boring and derivative as of late. Listen to Vagina Witchcraft for sonically inventive, sludgy hardcore, bone-chilling vocal delivery and lyrics that are simultaneously calculated yet raw, and that ACTUALLY FUCKING SAY THINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT AND RELEVANT AND SO FUCKING URGENT RIGHT NOW. 
 Best Movie of 2020: Miss Americana - The Taylor Swift documentary. One of the most validating things I’ve ever watched in my life and I ugly cried though the whole thing. I fucking love that woman. Most Binge-Worthy TV Show of 2020: I don’t watch TV… Does a YouTube series about voice actors playing D&D count? If so, my answer is Critical Role. Don’t try to binge it though, each episode is like 4 hours and there’s over a hundred episodes.
 Favorite Internet Moment of 2020: Hardcore twitter taking my band way too seriously and as a result of their own hubris, accidentally blowing up our music video and record release, and getting us exponentially more attention than we would have if those losers would just finally learn to fuck off and leave us alone! NICE GOING MOTHERFUCKERS I OWE YA ONE! *blows a kiss* Also, everything Lizzo did. DID YOU SEE HER “FLY IN MIKE PENCE’S HAIR” COSTUME?!?!

Best Concert You Attended/Played/Watched in 2020: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA GOOD ONE. 
I think the only live music related thing I even went to was a Drum & Bass show back in February in Brooklyn with Dimension, Sub Focus, and Culture Shock. I danced with my friends and drank Bright Fox. It was a simpler time.
 The Thing(s) That Helped Get You Through 2020: D&D, getting a suet feeder to watch birds outside my window and my bootcamp, Launch Academy, with all my brilliant and incredible Boston 30 Cohort-mates. Also, the warm weight of knowing that this coming year, a lot of terrible, evil, abusive people in the world are gonna finally get their comeuppance and I’m making popcorn with EXTRA salt.
 2021 New Year’s Resolution: Ohhhh I’m not going to spoil the surprise for you! But let’s just say I’m planning on using my new superpowers as a full stack software engineer, combined with my old superpowers as a vindictive and enraged bitch who hates rapists, to make the world a safer and more just place.

READ MORE: HERE ARE THE TOP 150 SONGS OF 2020

[t100ficrecsblog]

an interview with @writetheniteaway (she/her)

what are you working on right now?  For the 100, I’m completely revamping my bellarke Big Bang to be more canon compliant with the first half of season 7 (it’s worth the pain…at least that’s what I keep telling myself.) Additionally I’m considering adding more scenes onto my latest one shot “After the War”, but I’m not certain what’s going to look like just yet.  If anyone here is a Rogue One fan, particularly rebelcaptain, or a Newsies the Musical fan, I’ve got some long standing works in progress there too that I’m hoping to return to as well.  

what’s something you’d like to write one day?   I would love to tackle the all too cliché Bellamy also stays on the ground during Praimfaya, there’s so much potential there. I definitely don’t hate Echo, but it wouldn’t even have been a question of what was going to happen if Clarke had made it back in time, and that missed potential is one of the greatest tragedies, if not the greatest tragedy, of their entire arc. I think giving them the space and the chance to be themselves, and not be responsible for everyone else, it’s such a gift and there’s so many really nerdy literary options to play with too.  If someone wanted to prompt me to write a really filthy kink filled adventure, that’s on my list too.

 what is the fanwork you’re most proud of?   For Bellarke, definitely my most recent one shot After the War; I think it captures their voices and their dynamic well without shying away from the complicated healing process of it all, and the speed and enthusiasm with which people responded really made me feel like I had succeeded in getting their points of view across.  My greatest pride in any fandom would be “Ten Days in A Mad House”, which is based on the true experience of Nellie Bly, a reporter who went undercover into a mad house in order to report on the abusive conditions there. In Newsies, the leading lady Katherine is based on Nellie Bly, and it was such a fabulously angst filled story that I had to play with it. It’s the only long fic I’ve completed to date, so that helps too.  

why did you first start writing fic? I wrote fic as young as second grade, before I knew any sort of language or culture surrounded it, I just wanted to know more about what my favorite characters were up to. When I was a teenager I started reading fan fiction avidly, but it wasn’t until I started college that I started publishing what I wrote.  

What frustrates you most about fic writing? Sometimes I have more ideas than I know what to do with, and then I find the time to sit in front of my computer and nothing comes out right; or I’ll post something only to find a dozen mistakes in it a few hours later.  

what are your top five songs right now?   I have really eclectic music taste so I’m sorry in advance: 

Far Away Boys, Flogging Molly It’s Good to be Alive, Skillet  125 Yards, Outlander Season 2 Soundtrack, Bear McCreary  Laughing, Nathanial Rateliff  Some Lipstick, Anita Coats 

what are your inspirations (books, songs, other fic, really good cake?)?  I really love working with canon compliant, or at least world building compliant stories, so a lot of my inspiration comes from the source material itself. I also love putting together playlists for different characters, and a lot of those become my writing inspiration while I work. I was a playwriting major in my undergrad so I tend to write my dialogue first, and then fill the rest of the narrative in after I know what the conversation looks like.  

what first attracted you to Bellarke? My best friend told me to watch the 100 for years, and I always knew it on tumblr as “one of the ones that killed their gays,” so I resisted for a long time. But when I got past all of that and gave it a chance, I loved both Bellamy and Clarke instantly. Clarke’s desire for a better world and Bellamy’s unwavering loyalty both resonated with me hardcore; and that iconic season 2 reunion hug sold me on Bellarke as end game. 

what attracts you now?   Hope that when this is all over they can go back to being the perfectly in sync power couple we’ve come to know and love. I think all of season 5 was out of character to the point of absurdity, and I hate that it took an entire season to undo all of that damage, and now we have only a handful of episodes left to clean it all up. I love Rogue One, and you really can’t have any happiness in that fandom unless you throw canon out the window, so I’m preparing for the worst. I’m so grateful for brilliant fic writers who do so much with these characters who mean so much to me, and I look forward to rewatching the early seasons of the 100 many times, and reading all those brilliant fics.  

BESIDES Bellarke, what character or pairing do you like best on t100?   I think Monty has every one of Bellamy’s good qualities just in a softer, quieter way and that parallel is really special. As a writer Marcus Kane has one of the most incredible character arcs. I have a soft shippy spot for Murphy and Emori. I think Raven is a really fantastic character, and I love Miller for the hundred subtle ways he makes character choices.  

why did you decide to start writing for bellarkefic-for-blm?  I’ve been really struggling to find ways I could contribute. I can’t safely protest, and I can only afford to donate so much, but then this opportunity came up and it seemed like such a positive way to use fandom. For all the flack fan culture gets, I’m really moved and inspired by how we can use it in very positive and powerful ways.  

what’s your writing process like (esp for prompts, chopped!, etc)?   I’ll usually spend a couple of days chewing on what I think the general body looks like, type it all out once, then walk away. I’ll edit for grammar and typos first (I have serious issues with switching tenses, grrr) and then content after. One of my most important ways of editing for dialogue is to imagine it being read in the character’s voice, and if I can’t hear it, then I’ll tweak until I do.  

What are some things you’d like to recommend?   I just binge-watched Harlots, I also really enjoyed Sex Education, Derry Girls, and Gentleman Jack. I’m studying for a major exam in October, so I haven’t done much reading outside of fan fiction, so here’s a couple of my bellarke favorites: Sugar by asoroarke, Paint Me in Trust by Pawprinter, and Danger and Doubt by Aiepathy. If you’re interested in musical theatre, Newsies Live on Disney+, and if you’re looking for a great concept album Rise by Skillet. You can find @writetheniteaway here on Tumblr, or you can find her on AO3 here. If you’d like to request a fic written by her, you can do so via @bellarkefic-for-blm.

[idonthaveanydamnidea]

assa, philippine, axel and david in the french show "quotidien" (13/06) even tho it's so long I don't even know if anyone's gonna read it

Journalist : Good evening to the four of you, welcome. Axel Auriant, we know each other, you already came.

Axel : Exactly.

J : Welcome back. Assa Sylla, welcome, and Philippine Stindel (he butchered her name a bit skdkdkdk), welcome. And, you're three of Skam's actors, David Hourregue you're the director of Skam, of the show airing on the platform France TV Slash, it's France TV's platform.

D : Exactly.

J : Is that it? Explain Skam to people who know nothing about it.

D : Skam tells the daily life of high schoolers. Of high schoolers in seconde (first year of high school) and première (second year of high school) during seasons 3 and 4, and has the particularity of airing in real time.

J : How is it airing?

D : So, there's clearly the episode, if you want to binge watch it there's the episode at the end of the week

J : If you want to... ? (poor old dude is so lost)

D : Binge watch it. Hi sir.

J : No but for people who don't know, I know.

D : You know.

J : Some people don't

D : There's the full episode airing at the end of the week like a classical TV show, on fridays at 6pm on Slash, but you can also decide to live another experience, that is to say to live each clip, each part, airing at the hour where it's supposed to happen in the week. An example-

J : Yes, for example, if.... A lunch on thursday is going to be at 1pm on thursday.

D : At 1pm, if they plan to meet on friday for a, for a party or a date, we can be sure that at 7 or 8 pm, all of the audience is online, hoping the meeting will happen and when is it going to drop, what is gonna go down, and how we're gonna- (they know we're clowns they really do)

Other journalist : Are they short clips? How long are the clips?

D : It's variable. Actually a clip can last 50 seconds or 8 minutes for example.

OJ : So you have to follow

D : You have to follow, knowing that it's never announced. You don't have any notification to tell you "it is now", you never know when it's gonna drop beforehand, and...

Third Journalist : And how is it going, how do you know?

J : On social media

D : Exactly

J : Makes us look young, to ask for this [laughs] . They all have their instagram accounts. They all have an account, the characters' account, and so there are two issues. One, addiction (i won't be attacked like that sir), we say that some young people are completely drugged on skam, and two, teachers can't anymore, especially when an episode is supposed to happen at uh... two to eight.

D : We got messages from teachers. Asking us, "please, next week there's an exam at x hour, try not to drop a clip at 7h56". So that's quite...

J : So you have your characters account, in fact. (he really is lost someone who has actually seen the show help him)

Assa : Exactly

J : But, are you the ones behing them? Or are there...

Axel : Not at all. No, no, there are community managers who are doing that way better than us, in my opinion. And especially, you have to be connected at the same time as the plot happens, at the same time as the episodes are airing, so sometimes you have to post at 11pm, etc, so we're not always on social media.

[they all laugh and i think they're teasing him cause 11pm is early for him?]

J : Are you gonna disspoint people or do the fans know? (dude we're not stupid) [Axel looking confused]

P : Ah no they know I think.

A : Yeah

P : Well yeah

J : Who has the most followers?

Assa : Axel I think

P : Yeah Axel yeah

Axel : I think it is- No it's Lucas, I think.

J : Yeah you have to différenciate. What does Skam mean?

D : Shame, in norwegian.

J : Why norwegian?

D : Uh... Cause it's the remake of a norwegian TV show, who was a true triumph there. It started slowly, nicely, before completely exploding at the end of season 2. And, basically, there, I think 2/3 of norwegian people have seen the show, that's absolutely huge.

J : So what are the themes? I can remember sexuality, want to be cool, desire to be integrated, what else?

Assa : Religion, for season 4.

Axel : Bullying- actually what's very strong and allows a lot of young people to relate is that Skam uses the codes of today's youth in that society, and for every problem we can... Well, being a teenager is a very carnal/pivotal (the two words are similar in french and he mixed up both) moment, where...

J : Carnal

Axel : Yeah, carnal too, exactly, as we can see in the paint, but uh... That's the strenght of Skam, it's that in one plot you can find, for example in Lucas' storyline - I'm talking about my character - we can find the discovery of his sexuality, at least at that very moment of his life, bullying, every societal norm he suddenly faces, and that's the strength of Skam, it's to see a bunch of teens revealing themselves and supporting each others during that carnal and pivotal period.

J : We have been talking about it for two minutes, but now we're gonna see an extract, with you [he points at Axel]

[it's the clip where Lucas leaves the church looking for Eliott with all the flashbacks]

J : So that's you Axel. Assa, your character, if you had to describe it in a few words?

Assa : So, Imane's character is a young woman - well young girl, black, Muslim, hijabi. She tries to live her youth while keeping her faith, her principles, her values. And she also embodies all possible forms of discrimination. Be it religious, physical discriminations...

P : About women

A : About women... And yeah.

J : We're watching an extract with you.

[last clip of s4 when she explains to Sofiane their relationship would be very difficult because religion is so important in her life, and her family, her muslim friends...]

J : Philippine that's your turn, your character?

P : We're gonna say... Uh, a bit wild. She enjoys a good time (literally "une bonne vivante" = "a good liver")

J : Wild, enjoying a good time.

P : That's it.

J : That's it? Can we watch an extract?

P : Yeah

[it's the "you look like a slut" part at the party with Ingrid]

J : Am I wrong or, when you talk about it or even when you look at the images we feel that you feel a certain pride about embodying these characters?

Assa : So much. Really, I'm so... I'm very very proud, really, extremely proud to be a part of this project, to...

J : And are you part of the writing of the script? For example?

[David nods]

A : For season 4?

J : He [David] is saying yes. He's nodding

[laughs]

Assa : Well for season 4-

J : Who got involved in the script writing?

D : From the start, we don't build the script opposed to our actors' energy.

J : Okay

D : Skam is of an appalling rhythm during the shooting, and I have to play a little with what they are. And the faster I'm getting closer to what they are and feel, the faster we're impactful and close to the truth. I think that's what the audience feels.

J : And did you take part in the script, Axel and Philippine?

P : Well, more or less yeah, while talking with David and all that, yeah we might have sometimes given him ideas.

J : Axel?

Axel : Me too, there's a piano scene, it's true that... I had just bought a piano and i told David-

J : I wanna play piano

Axel : Exactly, and he integrated...

J : And no drums?

Axel : No. So... Why no drums David?

D : Too simple

J : David, apparently sometimes you felt a bit overwhelmed by the width of the phenomenon.

D : Of course, cause you never prepare a TV show imagining the phenomenon it's going to produce. All that we tried to do, and I'm really including my cast in that, it's to answer it, not playing deaf about all of the messages that we received. It was, that was really impressive. We really felt from one day to another a sort of-

J : What are the fans telling you?

D : "We don't feel alone anymore".

J : Do they tell you that too? [to the actors i guess]

Axel : That's what's shattering/deeply moving, it's too see- Because when we're shooting, we're trying to live the closest we can to these characters, but it's to a fictional scale, and to see all of a sudden the impact that the story can have on people, it's true that we're very lucky. I counted 2800 letters at home, I'm trying to read and answer everything (and that's the boy that's recently been bashed so bad he had to leave twitter........ go off i guess). But it's deeply moving to see how much this story can help people to accept themselves, to accept who they are at that point of their lives, and not necessarily - Lucas' character for example discovers all of a sudden that he likes men, but it's beautiful to see friends that say "yes actually, I'm realizing that I may have judged my friend a bit fast, maybe I even throw insults at them", things you say to joke but hay can actually hurt and really do harm when you're trying to build yourself. So it's deeply moving for us and we- Well for me at least I'm becoming way less stupid with Skam, because I understood a lot of things and I met young people, I was able to understand what they're living today, it's deeply moving. I'm saying that as if I was 25, while I'm-

J : Assa, what kind of letters, of words, did you receive?

Assa : I'm getting a lot of messages from young girls thanking me. "Thank you to finally represent us on tv", "thank you cause I finally understand young muslim girls wearing the hijab", and that's very beautiful, that's really beautiful to get messages like this, to see that well, it touches a huge amount of girls and even boys! Which surprised me a lot. Yeah. And, not only black or muslim girls, just simply young girls relating to Imane's character.

J : Were there already hijabi fictional characters? Main characters in a TV show?

D : Well we searched a lot. And sadly we didn't find any. In France, she's the first one.

J : You're the first one Assa.

D : We had to work a lot too so she would understand, that despite all of the inevitable symbolic aspect, we were telling Imane's story. Because very clearly, there's such a huge expectation, we're talking about a phenomenon. There are no more TV shows dedicated to young people, currently. We went through 10 or 15 years with a terrible shortage of shows dedicated to young people that really speak to them. And that's true that very very fast, we had to make Assa understand - she didn't really need it - the importance of that moment, which was going to be season 4, while telling her "okay, you're telling the story of only one young woman. We can never make everyone happy, but let's tell it the closest of what you lived, and we should touch quite many hearts."

OJ : And, are there themes you refuse to deal with? Because we see religion, sexuality... There's everything but is there a theme where you told yourself "no, we're not going there"?

D : We're expected on this, and I'm including my authors of course, lead by Niels Rahou, the head writer. Actually, there's real expectations from our audience that precisely, we don't keep ourselves away from a lot of things. Of course, everyone warned us when we were about to start season 4, saying "are you really sure". I remember a talk in the bus in between Imane and Sofiane, where she talks about her love for Allah, about her religion and how it makes her feel like a better person, and she faces Lais, Sofiane played by Lais Salameh who's a believer in life, who explains her dogmes and everything, he thinks it breaks people apart, he doesn't believe in it, and i remember when we were filming that part, my perchman who was looking at this and telling me "are we really... shooting this right now?". There was a fear, but there's such a need that we feel through the messages we receive. If you knew the amount of messages, of topics that they hope we'll touch on through the show.

TJ : And what themes, precisely? What themes are coming back, are asked for?

D : Everything... Season 3 triggered a sort of earthquake, at least that's a bit how we lived it, of people who absolutely wanted us to talk about them and about their right not to know, at 17. We're at the time of Parcoursup (a french internet platform where you apply for uni after your last high school year), you're asked to know exactly what you want to do really fast. To say : "I have the right not to know if I'm straight, gay, bi, pan", well it's going everywhere, and it's true that now I face so many young people at screenings telling me "here, I'm trans, and I would love it if there was a trans character". And Skam only repeats a damned evidence that we had forgotten, it's the importance of representation. We're all very happy to see, me included, that 10 millions of people are watching girls play football, because we tell ourselves "that's it", now little girls are gonna tell themselves "I have the right to mark a goal. I have the right to. I'm gonna go for it.". We're maybe gonna see mixed plays in schools. The importance of representation in Skam, is exploding to out faces to each screening and each time a clip drops. They need it.

J : Did it change you? You personally. Philippine?

P : Oh la, uh... No?

J : No?

P : No not much no, I don't think so, but yeah it feels good to be part of a TV show like that, which yeah represents everyone first, and which allows- because it's true that teenage years are a period where you need to express yourself about a lot of things, you need to try a lot of things, and to see that well, even on tv there are people who try a lot of things that way, I think it feels good. For me at least, everyone I've met told me "with that I made myself a lot of friends" actually, cause that creates a lot of networks, and the fact it's on social media probably helps yeah.

J : So if you want to understand teens, or at least a small part of teenagers, watch Skam, and it's on the platform France TV Slash.

Game about their playlist :

J : So, what do I have... The most beautiful song of all history. Starting with you Assa. It's that.

[Nelly ft. Kelly Rowland - Dilemma]

J : The most beautiful song of all history for you Axel that's that.

[Barbara - L'Aigle Noir]

J : It's another genre, Barbara. The most beautiful song of all history for you Philippine, that's that

[Charles Aznavour - La Bohème]

J : not bad, not bad!

D : Brown noser (?? Is that a true word).

J : And finally the most beautiful song of all history for you David that's that.

[Dinah Washington & Max Richter - This Bitter Earth / On The Nature Of Daylight]

J : The song to dance, for you Assa

[Beyonce ft. Jay Z - Crazy In Love]

J : But what is that choice Axel? That's that

[Jermaine Jackson & Pia Zadora - When The Rain Begins To Fall]

J : The song to dance for you Philippine it's that

[The Black Eyed Peas - Hey Mama]

J : Black Eyed Peas. And for you David the dancing song is that

[Colouring - Time]

J : The song for a love night for you Assa, it's that

[Ciara - Body Party]

[Axel and Philippine being shook]

A : You didn't imagine uh? Well yeah

J : Axel it's that

[Louis Armstrong - What A Wonderful World] (boy is sophisticated)

A : I have a little turntable at home

J : And Philippine that's that

[Vegedream - Mama He] (......... deux salles deux ambiances)

[they all laugh, Assa is finished]

P : That's it

J : Why not, Vegedream. And finally David that's it

[Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy] (and now i feel like if I was at a family dinner with an oversharing uncle)

J : And finally, your guilty pleasure song - knowing that Axel you chose Pia Zadora earlier so I don't know what you chose worse. Guilty pleasure song is that one for you Assa

[Arne Vinzon - Les Otaries]

[they all laugh]

J : So Axel, what's your guilty pleasure song

[Cheb Rayan - Dana Dana]

OJ : It's great! It's good it's good

A : See? It passes guys

J : And Philippine that's this one

[Matrang - Medy3a] (sweetie I love you but this is less shameful than your previous song isn't it)

J : And the song... Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah! I think no one had ever picked that one.

D : My pleasure

[Gold - Plus Près Des Étoiles]

J : Ah it's a Toulouse reference ?

D : Of course

J : Oh yeah okay. It was the playlist of your guests. Thanks to the four of you for coming on Quotidien, Skam France on France TV Slash, thanks a lot to the four of you, and uh, enjoy the next season!

[reyesstrand]

Tag Game!!

@ao3theskyisblue thank you for the tag, this gave me a much-needed break from online schoolwork!! 💗

1. What was the last movie you watched in theatres? Birds of Prey!! Before that I caught Parasite when it was re-released in theatres before the Oscars! 

2. What’s your favourite game to play? I’m very boring and don’t play much besides classic board games, so I have to say Scrabble aksjdsdfks

3. Chocolate or vanilla? Oooh tough one, but probably chocolate. 

4. What’s the last show you binge-watched? I feel like I’ve always got a show on the go, but the last one I fully binged was Tiger King with my family, and The Other Two right before that. 

5. Do you have any pets? I do! A gentle giant, three-year-old rescue dog! She’s a Great-Pyrenees/Retriever mix, and is appropriately named Elsa. 

6. What’s your favourite fairy tale? Hmmm, I remember reading The Little Red Riding Hood a lot as a kid, so let’s go with that! 

7. Who’s your favourite superhero? This is a difficult one, but I’d probably have to say Thor, honourable mentions to She-Hulk, Falcon and the whole Young Avengers team from my teenage comic-reading phase. 

8. Who’s your favourite Disney princess? I adored Jasmine as a kid, so either her, Mulan or maybe Rapunzel. 

9. Where’s the first place you’re going to go after the social distancing is over? Hopefully to see a movie (whenever most of them are re-scheduled to be released lol) or back to my job when they re-open.

10. Cookies or cake? Ooh, I’ve gotta go with cake, I think. Especially on special occasions. 

+10 questions 

1. Which show could you watch over and over? Let’s see...definitely Schitt’s Creek, especially when it ends in a couple weeks (cut to me crying) and I can re-watch the whole series; 9-1-1 Lone Star (because of course), The Get Down, Fleabag, Veep, Black Sails, and Bob’s Burgers. 

2. Favourite song lyric? It’s impossible for me to just pick one, so here’s some favourites from a few songs: 

“I buried a hatchet, it’s coming up lavender, / The future’s unwritten, the past is a corridor, / I’m at the exit, looking back through the hall, / You are anonymous, I am a concrete wall” — Phoebe Bridgers, “Smoke Signals” 

“Hold my hand and float back to the summer time, / Tangled in the willows, now our tongues are tied, / How can I believe you, how can I be nice? Tripping round tree stumps in your summer smile” — Glass Animals, “Gooey”

“So if I feel real good tonight, / I'm gonna put it high on the loudspeaker, / If I feel like crying, I won't hide it / I am a loudspeaker” — MUNA, “Loudspeaker” 

“Be as you've always been (Lover, be good to me), / Be like the love that discovered the sin (Lover, be good to me), / That freed the first man and will do so again, / And, lover, be good to me (Lover, be good to me), / Be that hopeful feeling when Eden was lost (Lover, be good to me)” — Hozier, “Be”

3. Favourite season of your favourite TV show? This one’s difficult too! Ah! I really love seasons 3 and 4 of Schitt’s Creek, and I of course love the only (for now) season of Lone Star, so I’ll go with those choices as I can’t think of anything else right now!! 

4. What never fails to make you smile/happy? Watching the sunset while reading a good book. My dog. Cooking. And I have to agree with @ao3theskyisblue — getting any AO3 notification makes my day brighter every time, without fail, and I want to thank anyone who’s ever even interacted with my fics because it brings me so much joy!! 

5. How are you doing with all that’s going on in the world (virus, having to do social distancing, etc)? I’m very much so introverted, so staying in is something that I normally find myself doing. I feel very grateful of my privilege in being able to stay home with my family and knowing everyone in my personal circle is healthy, though I do feel spikes in my anxiety whenever more news comes out. I’m stressed right now with how many school assignments I have, on top of participating in online lectures/seminars, but there’s only a couple weeks left of that so I’m pushing through!!

6. We all love new music to listen to, name an artist that is underrated/you think people should check out? boygenius!! FKA twigs!!! Christine and the Queens!! Perfume Genius!!

7. TV show or movie? Yet another tough one!! I have to say both, here, I love them for different reasons! 

8. Favourite holiday? I generally enjoy Halloween for the movies and weather, and I’d have to also say Christmas even though I’m not religious, I just love getting to have time to see my whole family and relax from school! 

9. A song that describes you? This is very difficult and something I haven’t thought of before...going through my music library now, though, I’ve always felt a pull toward Landslide by Fleetwood Mac for the sentimental value since I was younger so I suppose I’d go with that. But I’m definitely going to keep thinking of another answer!! 

10. Describe your tumblr in three words? Side-blog, writing, and (hopefully) welcoming! 

+5 questions

1. What is your favourite hobby? Writing, reading, cooking, discovering new movies/tv shows. 

2. What is your favourite book? Or/and a really good book you’ve read recently? Okay, so, I’m an English major and read lots of old books for my classes and I recently haven’t had much time for reading for pleasure (sadly), but I’d recommend The Goldfinch by Donna Tart, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong, and The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller! 

3. What is your favourite ship that will never happen (or hasn’t happened yet)? Oh boy, I guess FinnPoe from the recent Star Wars movies? 

4. If you could spend the day with any living celebrity, who would it be? I feel like I have so many possible answers! Dan Levy would be amazing, so would Natacha Karam, Florence Pugh, Taika Waititi, Tessa Thompson, Janelle Monae...I could go on lol!! 

5. The best worst movie you’ve ever seen. A movie that you know objectively is trash but you can’t help but really enjoy it. The first thing I thought of were the live-action Scooby Doo movies from the early-2000s that my sister and I recently re-watched on a whim and I think that has to be my answer askjsdfks

Questions by @ao3theskyisblue

1. What is one thing you’ve recently watched/read that left you absolutely heartbroken? Oh, definitely the documentary I watched on migrant workers in Canada for a class the other day.

2. An activity (e.g., hobby, sport...etc) you wish you were better at? I would love to be able to draw/paint better!!

3. If you could stop time for 24 hours, what would you do? It’s very boring to say, but catch up on sleep!!

Questions by @reyesstrand

1. What is your all-time favourite movie?

2. If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

3. If you could alter any questionable plot point from a tv show or movie, what would it be?

Feel free to try this out, if you’d like, or haven’t already! @tkstreyes @cateyesinlove @summerfiing @tylerkennedysstrand @aziraphalescrowley @hcnkycat @anadearmsa @lonestarbabe @evaneddie @hawkeeyes @oscarissaac @brillliantbanshee @derek-shepherds & anyone else who wants to!

[tokumusume]

tokumusume’s list of best and worst movies and dramas watched in 2019:

There’s a new category this year. Inspired by kpopalypse, welcome the Honorable Mentions! Movies that weren’t exactly bad but also weren’t good. Movies and dramas are qualified to enter if I watched them for the first time this year, not that they were released this year. Click on ‘keep reading’~~

Best Movies:

1.      Parasite

Another masterpiece from the director of Snowpiercer (let’s pretend Okja never existed). A poor family con their way to a rich household. Choi Woo-Shik from The Witch (see below) is the eldest son and mastermind, fabulous as always. Definitely the best movie of this year. For me, movie of the decade.

2.      The Witch Part 1 The Subversion

This movie is amazing, hard to describe without spoilers. A perfect mix of Stranger Things and Hanna. Choi Woo-Shik can come to my house and kick my ass anytime. I can’t wait for part two.

3.      Death Trance

Visually stunning, kinda like Amemiya Keita’s style in early Garo or Mad Max. I wish the movie was longer and the characters were better fleshed out, Ryuen the monk and the little girl had so much potential... The most interesting thing about this movie is how sexualized the main male character is compared to the female ones, and apparently, the swords were designed to look like veiny penises (can’t find a source for this info), and yes, they do look like veiny penises. The final showdown is heavy with sexual energy. Have I already said that Ryuen deserved better? #RyuenRights

4.      Gintama 2: Rules are made to be broken

The barber shop scene is a fucking cinematic masterpiece. I never laughed so much like I did with this movie. The way it doesn’t take itself seriously, the meta jokes, everything is perfect. Even better than the first one.

5.      Kingdom

While I think that some fight scenes were way too long (like the bamboo forest one), the dynamics between Shin and Hyou/Eisei were highly entertaining, at least in my shipper eyes. I like that (SPOILER) the King of the Mountain People is a woman and not once they try to call her Queen. She is a King. Hashimoto Kanna is adorable as a Ten, Kanata Hongo does a great job as Eisei’s psycho brother, Sakaguchi Tak waves his sword around, the usual stuff but with added layers of dirt and sweat.

6.      Bravestorm

A movie I lovingly call “Japanese Pacific Rim”. Full of Kamen Rider stars (Hino Eiji! Misuzawa Haruka! That girl from Heisei Generations, the one with a sword! She has a sword in this as well!) and giant robots (god, I love giant robots!), I waited so much for this movie and it exceeded my expectations. I just wish I could’ve watched in theaters, it had a limited showing in my country.

7.      Twelve Suicidal Children

What begins as a murder mystery ends with a twist you won’t see coming. All of the actors are amazing, but special mention to Sugisaki Hana and that guy from that one boy group I forgot the name but can’t be bothered to Google.

8.      Gakkou Gurashi

Four girls and their teacher try to survive the zombie apocalypse trapped inside the school. This one destroyed me for days.

9.      Forest of Love

I’ve watched some Sono Sion movies but nothing prepared me for this. Be aware of extremely gory sequences and sensitive topics. Hinami Kyoko is so amazing as blue-haired, punk girl crush Taeko that I totally didn’t notice she was AkibaBlue in Akibaranger.

10.  The Host

After watching Parasite I decided to go on a Bong Joon Ho binge and watched this horror movie. Not as good as Snowpiercer and Parasite in my opinion but heart-wrenching nevertheless. The little girl is the star of the movie.

11.  The Hungry Lion

A story about the dangers of social media and slut-shaming. I want to punch Mizuishi Atom in the face.

12.  Cromartie High

A little absurd comedy about yakuza-style high school boys (played by middle-aged men lol) forming a club to battle aliens summoned by themselves just because. It made me laugh like a child. A hidden gem.

Honorable Mentions:

1.      River’s Edge

Depressing as fuck. Warning: the cats die. It’s not graphic but it’s traumatizing. Yoshizawa Ryo is a gay boy who sleeps with old men for money. There’s a graphic sex scene (not Yoshizawa, sadly) where my only thought was “That thing is gonna get stuck in there! Use a condom!” Can’t remember much from it except for these three scenes.

2.      The Disastrous Life of Saiki K

Yamazaki Kento has the acting chops of a dead fish but it comes handy for playing a teen with psychic abilities and zero social skills. Hashimoto Kanna is one of the prettiest girls in Japan. Yoshizawa Ryo with white and blueish hair looks more like Sakata Gintoki than Oguri Shun in the Gintama live action. The end is a huge let down but the fun ride is worth it.

3.      Ano ko no, Toriko

Congratulations to Yoshizawa Ryo, he has FIVE movies in my list of favorite movies this year! This is to make up for crowning GIVER as the biggest waste of time of 2018, this list is totally not biased, lol. “Ano ko” could be just another romance movie but the (very) little insight into how the entertainment industry works and not focusing on school life made me love it. Poor Sugino Yosuke being left behind again, when will this boy get the main girl?

4.      Monstrum

It doesn’t reinvent the wheel but it’s pleasant enough to fill a rainy afternoon with a lot of blood and spilled guts. Hyeri of Girl’s Day is the heroine and Choi Woo Shik is the commander she falls in love with.

5.      Weirdo Go

I confess I watched this one just to see Ji Li (aka my snake son Nie Huaisang) dressed as a woman but it was enjoyable and not that problematic.

6.      Real - Kanzen Naru Kubinagaryu no Hi

Directed by the same guy that did “Creepy” and “Before we vanish”, there are lots of twists you won’t see coming. And a dinosaur. A fucking dinosaur.

7.      Tomodachi Game: The Final

The movie loses its focus halfway through then picks up again minutes before ending. Yoshizawa Ryo delivers again as the sadistic Yuuichi, much like his role in Gintama. The plot twists are the star of the movie.

8.     The Living Dead

Sorry Wen Ning. I saw the plot twist coming in the first 30 minutes of the movie, not very smart of the writer. His personality did a 180° turn for worse and I’ll demote the movie to an honorable mention for it. Gao Han is cute though, I would like to see him as a better character.

9.      Backstreet Girls

Some recycled scenes from the drama to situate the viewers, a completely new story for the movie, it is certainly funny and enjoyable, if you can get past the forced gender reassignment surgery background and transphobic jokes (you shouldn’t get past it btw). I like the soundtrack.

Best Dramas:

1.      The Untamed

Do I need to say more?

2.      The Tale of Nokdu

This Korean romance had everything to be a mess but it wasn’t!!! *claps* I don’t hate the main female character and the whole palace politics actually kept me interested until the end. The complete shift of atmosphere mid-season was strange at first but ultimately very welcomed.

3.      The Naked Director

Netflix original Japanese content is amazing. This one is a look at the life of a legendary porn director in the late 80s, I learned a lot about the history of Japanese porn and censorship (yay pixels!) and went looking for his, erm, works. Very graphic, 69/10 don’t recommend watching with people in the house.

4.      Channel wa Sonomama!

I don’t remember it well but it’s about a news station and what is like to be a journalist and it was very interesting and funny.

5.      SCAMS

Forgettable. Sugino Yosuke with black hair cons old people via phone calls.

Worst Movies and Dramas:

1.      The cat in their arms

The cats spend 90% of the movie in human forms, and halfway through it they simply abandon the cats’ plot to show a fucking long montage of a weird guy painting a picture of a nude girl. It’s also super creepy to see a grown-up man acting like a cat, getting belly rubs and eating cat food from a bowl. Yoshizawa needs to choose his roles more wisely.

2.      Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun

A waste of Suda Masaki’s talent. Can Japan stop casting Tsuchiya Tao already?

3.      Samurai Marathon

Almost two hours of dirty men running through a forest. Maybe Japanese History experts will enjoy it, because I certainly didn’t.

4.      Lady Vengeance

While there are legit great moments, I didn’t find this “classic” to be anything special. The animal cruelty was too much for me.

5.      Hot Gimmick

This movie makes Bohemian Rhapsody’s editing look like a work of art. There are more flashing cuts than a T-ARA music video. I have no idea who likes who, who’s banging who, what even are they saying. Too much poetic shit for my like. I wanted to see Shimizu Hiroya naked. I was bamboozled.

6.      The Divine Fury

While some parts were interesting, at the end I still don’t know if the protagonist is possessed by a demon (if yes, then why would he help a priest destroy his friends?) or if he was blessed by God when his father died and talked to him (the glowing hand thing, why and how??). The exorcism parts are really, really scary, or maybe I’m just a chicken, but I had to avert my eyes. The best (only) part is that the protagonists are hot. Hello Woo Do-Hwan, you can sacrifice me to Satan any time…