#season 4 left me with very high standards

[blossom-hwa]

written in the stars | bridgerton!txt

as I've now written three full stories in this universe, I thought I should put them all into a series masterlist - please enjoy :)

TXT Masterlist

. . . . .

if you'll have me | choi yeonjun

~ part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4

Yeonjun Choi, Duke of Hastings, is in want of a wife. Boxed in from all directions by the overbearing mamas of the ton, he begins his arduous search this season for not fortune, not love, but merely the perfect woman to succeed his mother's place. None of the daughters of high society manage to catch his eye, however, or fit his overwhelming list of standards—at least until he meets Miss Y/N L/N, the queen's diamond of the season, newly arrived in town from abroad and said to be one of the most accomplished women to grace the ton in a generation.  You, the eldest daughter and only child of the L/N family, just want stability. With your father dead and the estate passed to a cousin, leaving only your dowry and a small pittance from the inheritance left intact, you begin your search for a husband with money enough to keep you and your mother afloat. It seems like a miracle when, after being crowned the queen's diamond, the Duke of Hastings himself asks for your hand—but as you learn of his complete indifference to the concept of love, you begin to doubt yourself. Perhaps money is not enough to keep your hand—maybe you desired a true love match more than you thought. Trapped in a marriage of convenience that everyone believes is a love story, you and Yeonjun find yourselves forced to reevaluate what you want out of this match. Between balls and promenades, dances and poetry, you begin to view each other beyond the pithy conversations allowed in the courting stages, learning to see one another not just as business partners, but perhaps friends as well. And as you begin to reconcile your needs and wants, your goals and desires, maybe, just maybe— The ton's belief that you are a love match can find some truth, too.

.

a very fine line, indeed | choi beomgyu

~ part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8

In a society where it only takes a year for a young woman in search of a husband to be considered out of season, it is no wonder that by your third year out, you are desperate to marry. Known as one of the beauties of the ton, such a task should not be difficult for you—but with an absent father, no dowry, and a reputation centered around your inability to keep your mouth shut around one certain Beomgyu Choi, your prospects are more limited than you’d like. While you cannot recover your family or your wealth, however, the one thing you can try to control is your reputation. So when the third season rolls around, you resolve to keep your distance from Beomgyu Choi, your childhood enemy, and the man you hate most in the world.  Enter Beomgyu Choi, second son of the Kensington Viscountcy, one of the most eligible bachelors in the ton. His older brother, cousin, and good friend have all recently married, leaving the mamas to salivate at his doorstep for the chance of marrying one of their daughters to him. When Beomgyu walks in on a particularly traumatizing moment between you and one of the most unsavory men in the ton and learns of your desperation to marry, despite your history of enmity, he proposes you a devious deal—to pretend to court you. It seems like a winning situation for both of you—more gentlemen will take notice of you, enhancing your prospects, and he will have the ton’s mamas off his back—and so, despite your misgivings, you agree.  With you hell bent on marriage and Beomgyu completely indifferent to the concept, even independent of your hatred for each other, it seems unlikely that any sort of true affection will bloom. But as you begrudgingly put aside your differences to spend more and more time in one another’s company, and as you grow to know each other beyond your ill-conceived preconceptions from childhood, you begin to realize that perhaps you two have more in common than you had once thought. And as your faked acquaintanceship becomes more truth than fiction, a friendship beginning to bloom most unexpectedly— Perhaps you no longer need to convince the ton of the veracity of your courtship, because anyone with eyes can see that it is true. 

.

melody of the heart | kang taehyun

~ part 1 | part 2

When your father calls you home from the continent to join the London season, for the first time in your life, you nearly throw a fit. You are not just the daughter of a viscount—you’ve made a name for yourself in England and abroad with your prodigious talent at the piano, having since childhood performed for royal courts far and wide. You have traveled far and beyond most other ladies of your rank, and to have your career halted all for the sake of marriage to a man who will likely force you to quit your craft is unthinkable. But all your life you have lived without raising a hand to your father, and so when the letter comes, you return home for the season, hoping and praying to make it through without stirring the waters.  Enter Taehyun Kang, Earl of Addiston—recently titled, in search of a wife, and as tired of the season already as you are. During a chance meeting at the season’s third ball you grow to know each other, and as time passes you grow to like each other, a mutual respect forming when you learn the depths of one another’s passions in the arts. In Taehyun you find a respite from the men who would clip your wings for the sake of finding a perfect wife. In you Taehyun finds a kindred spirit who would respect him for himself, and not the lands in his name. Together you navigate the grueling social activities of the London matchmaking project as acquaintances, then as friends, and maybe, just maybe— As lovers, too. 

[from-izzy]

this summer... | tbz lee jaehyun | hyunjae

» ​PAIRING: tbz lee jaehyun x fem reader​ » TROPE/AU��: don't think there's a trope for this one 🤔 established relationship au! » GENRE​: summer break, holiday with friends, boyfie hyunjae, hyunjae's cute curly hair makes an appearance!, very fluffy patient hyunjae, very cute hyunjae, comforting and lovely hyunjae, summer holiday cause we all deserve to rest, maybe around...4/5 comfort level (in my standards!), hyunjae tucks your hair behind your ears, reader blushes because of boyfie hyunjae, long-haired reader who uses her hair to hide from hyunjae, standing infront of the mirror together as you both face your insecurities (hyunjae is also taller than you) » WORD COUNT: ​6384 » ESTIMATED READING TIME: ~25 mins » WARNINGS (lmk if i missed anything!): insecurities, weight and body image

repost for @deoboyznet's 📢❤️ first house event!

just went back and fixed up the grammar and writing mistakes (there were a lot, i don't know how i missed it 😭)

Summer holds a very soft, warm spot in your heart.

For one, it’s the way the season is conveniently placed in the middle of July to the end of August which is the best time to destress after almost half a year of studying your ass off.

Secondly, it’s the way that you would shout “cannonball!” whilst you and your friends linked hands and jumped into the backyard, outdoor swimming pool.

Thirdly, it’s the way that you can flexibly work your schedule for a short amount of time: waking up, sleeping whenever you want to, studying when you want to and hanging out with the same friends when you want to.

Fourthly, it’s the way that every single food tastes so much better in the sunny summer compared to other white winters, the sneezy spring and the awkward cold-but-not-too-cold autumn.

But it’s also the way that you met your boyfriend in this beautiful season two years ago when he transferred to your school, alongside the fact that he shyly (but confidently, at the same time) asked you to be his a year ago at your favourite beach. You remember the way his cheeks flush with surprise when he turns back upon Younghoon and Jacob’s mischievous giggles, telling him to turn back to see you stare at him in bewilderment. The truth was revealed later on that your friends plotted the confession, complaining about your blindness of the lovesick eyes that you both sent to each other yet doing nothing about it.

To celebrate your last high school summer break together, Jaehyun’s closest two friends, Younghoon and Jacob, would come together with your slightly bigger group to spend a little four-day, three-night getaway at Jeju Island.

All of you have been talking about this for ages and how it would be a fun treat for making it through the last decade of compulsory high school and to give an encouraging pump for the last half a year left before you all finally become adults and take your own pathways. You all saved money like crazy even when you all reached the budget that is needed (you never know what could happen!) and the exciting day finally starts off tomorrow with Jacob driving one car while Seoyoon drives the smaller 4-wheel drive. It’s a shame that they couldn’t find a single car for all six of them at a reasonable price but they are all thankful for the opportunity to even share these memories together. 

“Are you all ready for tomorrow?” Your mum peaks in after she knocks on your bedroom door. She was just as excited as you are, seeing how much you worked so hard both at school and your efforts on saving money for the last three years, “Give this to Jaehyun for me as well.”

“Hm?” You took your eyes off your still messy luggage to see, what you assumed to be, a black leather jacket that was folded neatly with a red ribbon wrapped around it; don’t forget the simple small card with his name on it, slipped in the middle of the ribbon. 

“It’s his birthday gift. It was his birthday recently, right?” Your mum’s considerate act made you smile brightly and you jumped up from your knees to give her a tight hug. With your arms around her neck and your neck on her shoulders, you squeal in happiness, “Okay, okay I get it, you love him very much.”

You jump, still in your mum’s arms with your head in the clouds as you picture your loving boyfriend that you will be able to spend time with nonstop for the next four days or so, “I really really do. He’s just so perfect, mum.”

“Yes, yes. I’ve heard this way too much. Now let go of me, child. You need to finish packing.” Your mum rolls her eyes playfully and you know there was a big smile plastered on her own face with the way her words were delivered so clearly.

“Okay, okay.” With a quick kiss on her cheek, your mum disappears to the other side of the door. You let out a sigh of happiness, putting Jaehyun’s gift next to your luggage as you imagined how cute, good, hot, handsom---

“Also,” You jump a bit, hands on your chest when your mum surprised you this time with no further notice of her presence, “stop stealing his clothes.” You just giggle guiltily as her uninteresting eyes direct themselves to your overfilled, messy closet, “One, you already have a lot. Two,” back to your giddy figure, “he’s going to go broke.”

The whole house was sleeping, recharging from their own personal tiring events from the day. You should probably be too as you’ve all planned quite an early morning to get the most out of your holiday together. Instead though, somewhere in the middle of your packing, you couldn’t help but call your boyfriend, “Can you…” 

“Hm?” Jaehyun on the other side of the line was also about to call you earlier and his face lit up when your name popped up on his screen, the familiar and specific ringtone bouncing around his four walls excitedly, “What’s wrong?”

The both of them curled up in their own respective beds with hushed voices full of love and adoration. Their phones were near their own faces as they lay down on their side to face each other’s respective profile pictures on their phones. At first, they wanted to do a video call but Jaehyun adamantly refused as per experience, they would not be able to sleep until about an hour before they were supposed to wake up. As much as you both know that you (probably) shouldn’t be doing that during school times, sitting next to each other during recess and lunch, with your head resting on his shoulder and his on top of yours as you both tried desperately to recharge quickly for the next periods, you both concluded that those late night (early morning) talks have always been worth it.

“Can we just…not sleep tonight?” You offered, your cheeks red as you pulled your blanket further up your face to hide as if Jaehyun could see you over his phone, “And just talk?”

“You know we shouldn’t, bubs.” Jaehyun hums, whispering back to you softly, “Plus we will literally be together for four days.”

“Well,” You grumble, sighing out as you finally voice the rough mathematical sound in your head, “technically less because we won’t be in the same room and then after that, there will be toilet breaks and then we lose milliseconds when we blink our eyes and then we won’t be in the same car as well, which is a big deal and it’s ju---”

“Okay okay, so maybe it’s not for a full ninety-six hours.” Jaehyun’s amused chuckle made you softly smile again, closing your eyes to focus on his comforting voice, “But we should get to sleep now, hm? Let’s just keep the phone on, okay?”

“Ah! I forgot to tell you abou---”

“Bubs.” Jaehyun scolds you playfully. You could make out the grin on his face and the way his eyes form little crescent shapes as you just whine about not wanting to fall asleep yet, “Tell you what.”

“Hm?”

You make out the shuffles from the other side of the line, telling you that Jaehyun is getting into a more comfortable position. This made you kick your legs and squeal into the phone as you knew what he would say next. Jaehyun shakes his head at your obviously delighted response. He sits up on the bed, laying his back on the bed frame. With his phone on his lap, he continued to make his little ‘deal’, “I’ll sing and you sleep.”

“Fine.” You rolled your eyes but the tone of your voice gave away what you truly felt, “Night, Jae.”

“Goodnight, bubs.”

You woke up refreshed, the tune that Jaehyun sang to you last night replaying in your head. You forgot to charge your phone last night so when you said ‘good morning’ and didn’t receive a response back, you were worried that something happened to the other line. Quickly jumping out of bed to reach for your power bank and starting your phone up with a series of impatient ‘come on, come on’, you thought you could beat your boyfriend’s text first.

With a bear and a heart next to his name, your notification showed the ‘good morning, sleepyhead.’ and the ‘beat you to it first, bubs.’

You slap your forehead gently to scold yourself. Forgetting to charge your phone overnight during an overnight phone call isn’t new to you and you made a bet with Jaehyun that the next time it happens (which is, just then), you would be the first one to send him a ‘good morning’ text, beating his unbeatable strike of twenty-three.

“Well, that’s twenty-four now.” The heartwarming feeling spreads through your body again and the smallest things that Jaehyun did made you feel so loved that you felt that you were out of this world.

You plop back down on your bed, stretching your arms out to the ceiling with your phones in your hands as you watch the ‘ringing’ switch to a stopwatch to show the duration of the call, “You beat me.” Jaehyun chuckles through the speaker mode.

“Good morning to you too.” You see the request to turn the voice call into a video call and you pick it up immediately, “Ah, my girlfriend is so pretty in the morning.”

“Lee Jaehyun, stop.” You pull your hair over to hide your face, peeking through the gaps to see him blow a kiss at you. You blew one back, your cheeks still flaring red and warm, “If I look pretty then you’re a masterpiece.”

“As if.” With the new angle of the phone facing towards the ceiling, you observed the way that your boyfriend enters a new room, turning on the lights to start his morning routine. Jaehyun puts his phone against his bathroom mirror but due to his height and the lower table, you can no longer see his face. But you didn’t need to see his face to know what he was going to do. 

Your regular morning and night phone calls served as a kind of ‘get ready for’ something together and it also allowed you both to become more comfortable with each other during your first stages of dating. When you were just friends, these calls weren’t regular and only happened when you both needed to get something off your chests, or maybe rant about a nightmare that you had and needed some comfort. When you both started dating, it naturally became a regular thing you both indulged in, spending hours studying or watching movies together at night and spending your morning hours together before you hung up when you both were back to each other physically.

So you knew very well what Jaehyun was going to do when he let out a loud exhale and plugged his hair straighter into the power plug on the wall where the phone was near, “Straightening your hair?” You didn’t ask this question often. Most of the time you asked is either because you both weren’t currently talking or were too busy in your morning routines.

“Yeah.” He lets out a loud exhale and you observe how his chest leans forward toward the mirror, presumably to take a better look at a part of his hair that is already straightened, "Just…" another sigh, "yeah."

You nod at his words. Turning over to lay on your stomach to be in a more comfortable position, you just watch Jaehyun's arms moving left to right, up and down as he readjusts his hair with the help of his mirror. The series of 'tsk' from the other side of the line made your heart clench and you couldn't help but reassure him, your chin resting on your arm, "I love your curly hair, Jae."

You know how much Jaehyun gets insecure about his natural hair sometimes. The very first time you saw it was when you arrived at Jaehyun's house really early when you both were only friends. He opened the door for you to wait inside but due to his nervousness about unexpectedly having you over and walking to school with you for the first time, he forgot to finish his morning routine.

You remember greeting him with a shy smile and 'good morning' and he didn't even get the chance to say it back because your eyes travelled up to the very different hairstyle he has compared to the one you see at school. No need to say, he shut the door on you and the whoosh of wind left you stunned at the front door for a while.

When he opened the door again, you sweetly smiled at him, complimenting the natural shape of his hair. His worries about you seeing him as different (and possibly in your eyes, ugly) all disappear when you offer to straighten his hair for him.

Lee Jaehyun was a tomato throughout it all, especially when you said you like boys with curly hair. Like, what was he even supposed to do with that information?

"R-Really?" You lift your chin, coming closer to the phone screen when Jaehyun's face comes into view, "I-I just…I look so ba---"

"You look gorgeous." You quickly interrupted and you relaxed when Jaehyun let out a genuine sigh of relief. You took note of how his smile grew and his eyes looked at you thankfully, "I promise."

He retrieves his phone back to his hand and places his now gleaming face in the middle of the screen, "Thank you." He blew a kiss to the screen and you returned the gesture back before finally starting your own morning routine before Seoyoon arrived.

It's only around thirty minutes later when Seoyoon texted her arrival and you scurried down the stairs with all your necessities chaotically, "I think I'll hang up now. Lyla will not let me live otherwise."

"Yep, even though she's the biggest contributor to our relationship." Jaehyun remarks, "See you soon, bubs."

"Love you, see you soon!"

You turned off your phone, pocketed it safely and dropped your luggage in the trunk of the car. Hopping in with an excited feeling, you were quickly attacked with your own words that you said a couple of minutes ago.

"Love you, see you soon!!" Lyla imitates you, a series of eyebrow wiggles and teasing smiles on her face when she turns her body over to face the back seat where you just groan and roll your eyes.

"Hey. You and Jacob aren't any better." Seoyeon defends you swiftly and you poke your tongue out at your now-defeated friend.

"They're so cute, it physically makes me sick." Your backseat partner, Sua comments.

You squint your eyes at her, "I'm not sure whether that's a compliment or not but I'll just accept it and move on." Seoyeon watches her best friend from the rearview mirror, nodding and clicking her tongue in approval while humming in thought, "What?"

"You and Jaehyun are perfect for each other indeed." Seoyoon starts the engine again, turning up the music to a desirable amount for the hour-long trip to the resort.

You blush at that, murmuring to yourself, "He's perfect for sure." 

The holiday just started and it’s already so much better than you expected. While waiting for your gate to open, you pass Jaehyun’s gift from your mum, your boyfriend putting it on straight away despite the warm weather and sending a video message to your mum in gratitude. Lyla also planned a 'little' daily schedule for you all to follow the past few days. The later bloomers were not particularly happy with starting the day at nine and ending it at eleven on the same day and through choruses of opinions, she scrapped the idea and reduced the amount of group activities. You reassured your best friend that you would still do the main things that she wanted to do together and you were satisfied with the way she tackled you down on the bed in happiness. 

Other than that, you all did an awesome job at finding this beach house. The location of the beach house is convenient and with the time of the year, a lot of night markets and activities were planned each day to celebrate the warm season. The area is filled with other couples and not so surprisingly other students who are enjoying their short freedom before they have to bury their whole bodies underneath a pile of books and practice exam papers. 

“We’re finally here!” You all walked out and breathed the minty fresh air and salty sea as you stepped out of the airport, “This is so exciting!” Sua pulls both you and Seoyoon by the waist, squishing you three into a tight hug, “We’re going to have so much fun.”

You chuckle and affirm her words, “But let’s get the car first.”

Jacob points to the familiar plate numbers and along with Seoyoon, figures out the final arrangements, all the terms and conditions before finally attaining the keys from the person in charge.

“Can I---”

“No. You already spent like an hour with him on the flight.” 

Sua gives you a deadpan look and Lyla pushes the girl lightly, “Just let her go. Jaehyun is looking at us with puppy eyes as well. Go with Jacob though, don’t want to see you two being all lovey-dovey.”

“Ew.” Sua throws her head back and jumps out of the hug, “You know what you both go in Jacob’s car. I’m going to go with Younghoon and Seoyoon.”

You took Lyla’s hand with your chin held high, teasing Sua’s look of grimace, “Not a problem with me.” As you were about to grab the handle of your wheel bag in another, Jaehyun ran to your side and beat you to it, giving you a quick kiss on your cheek.

His smirk grew at the way your cheeks grew red at the lingering feeling of his lips, “You weren’t giving me any attention.” Lyla squeals and runs away from you to hug her own boyfriend instead. Still frozen and shy at the unexpected act, you turned your head to the side with raised eyebrows, a gaped mouth and being absolutely speechless, Jaehyun shrugged innocently, “I was getting kind of lonely, bubs.” 

“Lee Jaeh---”

Another kiss this time was given straight to your lips, muffling your complaints.

“Wha---”

Your internal body temperature is rising to be as hot as the summer heat and Jaehyun knew that he needed to cool you down or else you were probably going to murder him for making you so flustered in the middle of the walkway entrance of the airport door. He dips his head down once more to ghost over your plumper lips and before you can say anything else, his palms land softly on both sides of your waist, encasing you in his hold. His thumbs soothe down the sides of your body particularly along your ribs as you gasp from the delicate touch before he dives in to kiss you once more. Your own arms lift and you cross your wrists over on his nape, pulling him closer and responding to the kiss.

You felt nervous as you were out in public, tens of people just walking by or just standing around, but it all dissipated when you felt his breath on your lips. The kiss itself wasn’t heated like some of your other kisses with him but rather sweet and gentle. His lips would hug your lower lips before pulling away a little bit and hug your upper lip instead, relishing the way you would respond to him as a smile grew on both of your faces. He would do those little nudges and brushes with his nose on yours and you giggled as it meant that his playful self appeared to replace his flirty self.

“A bit jealous?” You asked him with your foreheads against each other.

“No.” Jaehyun smiles so widely when you both make eye contact, so much so that his cute little eye wrinkle smile makes its appearance, “A lot.”

That's how Jaehyun showed his love to you throughout the trip. It would also be holding hands whenever you both could, filling up your plate with more food whenever it got empty, making you walk on the inside of the walkway, dropping you off at your room door as if it wasn't just across and a little bit of a turn to his own room with the other boys, reminding you that you're beautiful and that he loves you every day.

Just.

You love this man. So much. With all your heart.

And Jaehyun knows that. From the way you would use your palm to block the side of his face due to the wind, to how you would give him the first bite of your ice cream, reminding him to put more sunscreen and applying it to his face every so often, to the way you sweetly kissed him on the lips as you both rested for the night.

He loves you. So much. With all his heart.

He managed to prove to you that every single day for the past two years you were friends, the past year and a half when he developed a crush on you, and the last year ever since you confessed your feelings to him back after him.

But you see, it's just unavoidable that you would still have those times alone when you would look at your body and feel self-conscious about it. You're human after all. It's normal to have a drop in confidence sometimes but the stereotype of girls in summer with their tanned skin, humongous sunglasses and revealing bikini got to you sometimes.

Your boyfriend is a godsend. It's no secret that girls would crush on him and the boys want to be him. I mean, with that kind heart, sexy brain (and body) and handsome visuals? Seriously, what did you do in your past life to receive this much love from a single person?

"You're not changing?"

Snapping out of your daze from your messy luggage, you could see your three friends all in their own choice of swimsuits and bikinis under their beach towels and robes. Seoyoon stares at you worriedly through her pink sunglasses.

"Um." You try your best to show a genuine smile, "I'll be there, just trying to swallow down that heavy lunch. You guys go on ahead."

You would be stupid if you thought they would believe that. Six years of friendship with a punt lie like that? Absolutely not. But they didn't question you further as you just bit your lower lip, feeling your confidence drop down once more. They know you just wanted to be alone after telling them that you felt sick and that you ate so much after lunch.

This is the part of summer that you hate.

As much as summer does hold a soft spot in your heart, sometimes the reminder that the sun is made out of fire literally made your head hot due to the overthinking that you always did somewhere along the way before you stepped into any type of swimsuit. 

Deciding to succumb to your thoughts for a little bit, you sit down on the edge of the bed in defeat. You look out to see the sun's circumference not too far away from kissing the edge of the ocean and you could feel yourself starting to cry as you tried to push your dark thoughts away.

"Come on." You pleaded with yourself to pick up a swimsuit, any swimsuit, so that you can go meet with the others and watch the sunset together by the beach before you would all need to pack up and go back to reality tomorrow, "Please…" You whimper in desperation.

The balls of your feet step onto the side rail of the bed and you begin to sob, your arms wrapping your abdomen tightly in frustration. The water runs straight down from your eyelashes to your thighs and those droplets eventually make their own path from there as well.

You want to see the sunset as the beach water splashes and hugs your lower body. You want to see the sunset with your friends and your boyfriend together as you maybe do a little water fight against each other. You want to see the sky turn its bright colours to darker hues that signal younger children to turn their devices off and go to sleep. 

You want to do all that so badly.

You released all your pent-up feelings through your tears and the cawing seagulls constantly reminded you that you were running out of time as the circle in the sky would eventually just sink and it would not stop or wait for anyone or anything. You managed to be in a swimsuit on the other previous days. So why now? When this whole little "let's see the sunset together in the water" was your idea. Why? Why why why---

You shouldn't have eaten so much in the last few days, feeling the difference in your stomach but also outside through your own eyes. So still with these burning thoughts and blurry vision, you just close your eyes, shove your hands into your suitcase, and take the first cold elastane fabric in your palms and change into it. Throughout your trip, you would plan your outfits with the help of the full body mirror that was placed behind the door, taking selfies with your friends as you all pulled funny faces together. 

This is the only outfit that the mirror didn't see and the camera did not have save, and you didn’t think anything or anyone could change that. Quickly, you grab an oversized shirt, pulling it over your body to quickly realise that it's one of Jaehyun’s that you stole. You chuckle between your ragged gasps for air, sitting down on the bed again to continue your cries for a bit more. Before you can even hug your body once more, the knock on the door makes you whip your head backwards towards it.

"Bubs? Are you okay?"

You whimper at the familiar voice behind the door and you shake your head, not trusting your ability to answer verbally. Of course, the door isn't transparent and Jaehyun himself is only human too and understandably, your lack of response only makes him worry more.

"Hey…I'm going in alright?" The door clicks open with that and you hurriedly wipe any last bit of tears on your face, running your wet palms along the clothing that covers half of your thighs. You still couldn’t help your sniffles though and it was enough to have the smile on Jaehyun’s face and his soft steps to change quickly, “Hey, hey. What’s wrong?”

You only shook your head in response, your fists clenched the shirt in frustration as you began to drown in your own thoughts as well. Jaehyun kneels down in front of your downcasted head and if you looked up, you would be able to see the sad smile, the way his eyes gaze at you with patience and love. Carefully, his hand reaches out to your now-white fists. His fingers lay on the back of your palm while his palm lays on your knuckles, his thumb soothing the exposed sides of your pointer finger.

He made his presence to you with small, gentle steps from there: tucking your hair behind your ears, making a joke about how he thought he lost the shirt you were wearing, and letting out a harmonious chuckle when you responded to his joke. With time, he even manages to let your hands go off his now crinkled shirt, holding both your hands instead.

"I'm sorry." Is the first word you said when you broke the silence. 

Pouting at that, Jaehyun leans forward to kiss your tired knuckles, "Don't be. You haven't done anything wrong."

"I have…" You whisper guiltily, "We missed the sunset right?"

"Hey, don't you think about that right now, okay?" He shakes his head at your worries, "That's not important. What's important is why you were crying alone and feeling sad about something."

"I'm just---" You sigh exasperatedly. Your eyes haven't met Jaehyun, just taking in the way your hands were between his. The changes in your physical appearance made you so weak and frustrated, "I just don't feel good about my body and you're literally so perfect and I just can't keep up with how perfect you ar---"

"Stop, don't say that about yourself." He lets go of your hands, scooting over and straightening his back. You close your eyes, sniffling once again as you feel your boyfriend's hands cup your cheek, lifting your messy face to him. He wipes the rest of the tears that escape from your eyes with his thumbs, leaning to press kisses on both your eyelids in an attempt to ground you back. 

You open your eyes to see the love hearts that swirl around his eyes freely, the crease between his eyebrows and the somewhat serious face he has on. 

"He's mad at me…" and you bit your lip to contain your assumptions to yourself, scared that Jaehyun would affirm it and want that could result, "Please don't leave me."

"I wo---"

"I'll make myself look better in every way possible, just please give me time."

"Bubs, what are you talking about?" Jaehyun shakes his head at your rant while his head tries to pick up the pieces together to make a sort of confusion, "You're perfect as you are. Don't ever change yourself for anyone. Including me."

"But those girls are so pretty, Jaehyun and you would look so much better with them. Or maybe with me if I was somewhere on their lev---"

"Please look at yourself the way that I see you through my eyes." It was soft, almost like a hush. But you catch the way his lips move when you go on a tangent and you stop yourself from going further.

Jaehyun stands up, making you stand up as well and brings you in for a hug, his hand behind your head and the other around your waist. You let out the rest of your tears on his chest, punching him lightly while your palm pushes your stomach in frustration.

Jaehyun doesn't care about your punches to his chest but he immediately catches your other hand, pulling it away to the side of your body. His hand wraps itself around your wrist tightly, stopping you from pulling it back, "You're gorgeous." His hold on your body tightens as he recites the words that you said to him a few days ago through the latest video chat you both had, "I promise."

"Jaehyun…"

"I don't care about other girls. Who cares about them? When I have such a gorgeous girlfriend inside and out and bonus for me, loves me for who I am?" Jaehyun puts a small distance between his chest and your face, gazing down at you and planting a kiss on your forehead, "Wait here for a bit?"

You nod at the question and he leaves to go to the bathroom. While he left, your eyes went back to the view outside the window and you could predict how much time had passed as the circumference of the sun started to really make contact with the ocean. The guilt settles in again and you curse yourself for ruining the last group event of the whole trip. 

But before you could really drown in the darkness again, Jaehyun stumbles out of the bathroom and you gasp at his wet hair and the darker spots on his shirt due to the water. You walk over to him, your mouth moving in different shapes though no voice was heard.

Jaehyun chuckles at the way you retrieved a towel and laid it on top of his head, beginning to dry his brown hair with circular motions, "Thank you." He takes the towel with one hand, continuing the motions himself while his other arm snakes around your waist to pull you back to his chest.

You rest your chin on his left pectoral, observing the little curls of his hair starting to make its appearance and you smile fondly at how it would disappear underneath the towel and reappear again. When Jaehyun puts the towel around his neck, you couldn't help but reach out to play with one of his curls, trapping the strands between your thumb and pointer and gently tugging it, straightening the strand until the end, only for it to retract back to its formal shape.

"Having fun there?" Jaehyun comments when you do the same action to other strands of his hair. Slowly, a joyful smile comes to your face and he feels relieved at the pretty sight, "Come here for a second."

He led you to stand in front of the mirror and you immediately turned back to hug your boyfriend, scowling at how messy you looked, "I think I just saw a ghost." You complain, hiding your face in his chest. 

"Oh?" Jaehyun gasps out dramatically, "What where? I hate ghosts but I'll protect you!" Just like before, he held you close with both of his fingers intertwining behind your back. 

You both stayed like this for a moment longer. Jaehyun's heartbeat calms you down and you exhale in contentment at the way he starts to sway from side to side slightly. The familiar scent of your shampoo, unknown to you, makes him feel the same calmness as well as he faces his insecurity head-on through the mirror.

You took notice of how Jaehyun's body felt a bit tense compared to how it was with your last hug. From the lower side angle, you can see the way that his jaw tenses at the look that the mirror is giving him, gulping at his own reflection. Turning your body around to face the mirror, still within his hold, you ignore how much you hate your own reflection, staring at your boyfriend's eyes instead.

Too deep in his thought, you rest your forearms on top of his, this time your palms on top of his like how he did before, "Love your hair, Jae."

You can see the slight flinch when your voice pulls him back to reality. You blush when he dips his chin down to your shoulder, whispering his own words to your ears, "Love your body, bubs."

The mirror showed the couple's full body, including the parts of themselves that they each hated the most. But the mirror also showed the both of them together as they embraced and basked in each other's love, reminding the other that their insecurities were valid but that they still love the other the same way. 

You realise that when Jaehyun washed out his hairspray, using a towel to dry his hair to make his natural hair come back instantly. You realised once again that Jaehyun is truly in love with you, so patient and so kind with your journey and the smile that grew on your lips which each realisation made Jaehyun blush and bury his face onto the crook of your neck.

You remind yourself internally at this moment, as you face yourself straight into the mirror, "I'm enough and I'm gorgeous." And the deep inhale of the cold but warming air that enters your lungs, untangles Jaehyun's hands and with no pressure, places itself on your clothed stomach. He presses a kiss on the underside of your jawline, whispering sweet nothings to you.

You turn your head to face him this time, not through the mirror, the tips of your noses together, your eyes closed and your mind at peace, "Thank you."

"No, thank you." A shake of his head and a kiss on your lips, "For loving me and treating me like I’m perfect."

“You’re perfect in my eyes.”

“Took the words right out of my mouth.”

You were able to watch the upper half of the sunset with your friends at the beach. Seoyoon, Lyla and Sua could see the tranquillity on your face and they looked at each other, sending nods, knowing that you were fine and doing okay now. Just as you wished, you were able to fully feel the salty water around your entire body, leaving the oversized shirt somewhere on the big volume of sand behind you.

All of you know that this trip was way better than you had expected. It would be a trip that you would talk about and look back on for the rest of your life. It's a summer memory that you will hold on to not only because all your hard work in your jobs paid off, or your first trip with all your friends and boyfriend without supervision, or how Jaehyun loves you dearly.

This summer taught you that you love the people in your life right now and how fast time goes by as you surround yourself with them.

This summer gave you confidence that you will be able to go back and study more when you're back and pursue whatever it is that you want.

This summer taught you that you're enough as you are and that you should be kinder towards every part of yourself, to treat your body for going through all the hardships that life has given you.

This summer also made you fall in love with Lee Jaehyun deeper and you are sure that your relationship will grow further and stronger from now on.

You can't wait for the new things you'll learn next summer but that's something for later. For now, as the sun continues to set further and you all run back to land to set up a group photo with the scene as the background, you envelop yourself within the bounds of Jaehyun's arms.

"Love you." You quickly kiss him before turning back around to pose for the camera.

"Love you more." He squishes in audibly before the camera snaps.

Oh, how you'll remember this summer.

tags: @deoboyznet 📢❤️

[babydollmarauders]

MEDIA MANAGEMENT — JACK HUGHES (PART EIGHT)

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 5.5 - 6 - 7 - 8

notes: i feel that this chapter is very underwhelming bc i wrote it at work 🫡 so sorry

y/ndevils00

liked by siegenthaler34, nicohischier, and 32,542 others

y/ndevils00 hi people! thank you for tuning into tonight’s (brief) postgame recap! this is a very sad night for my favorite boys, as we lost 6-1 to the winnipeg jets.

we had a meager three penalties tonight!

starting off with erik, who has banned me from making any more name puns (boring!). erik got a penalty for tripping, bringing him up to an astounding 47 penalty minutes this season!

next, i’d like to bring your attention to jack’s picture. nothing special, i just like it.

and then, of course, we have my boyfriend again; chewing on his glove like a rabid little chihuahua <3

the next penalty was from siegs at the very end of the 1st period for high sticking! i had dawson do my dirty work for me and give him a very stern talking to during intermission!

next up, we have hershey bar looking very displeased, and i can’t say i blame him!

we got a little over halfway through 3rd period before we got the final penalty from the newest swiss, timo for holding! he took a lesson from my very rude boyfriend and hid behind the stanchion. i very much did not like that.

however, our lone goal came with SECONDS left in the game, scored by the captain himself! who still looked very disappointed to say the least.

and lastly, bff number 1 says i should apologize to bff number 2 for dissing him last night 😒 so we have a picture of marinara and i’m supposed to tell him that i’m proud of him (i’m not sure what for though? he didn’t do anything 🤷‍♀️)

tagged ehaula, jackhughes, siegenthaler34, nicohischier, tmeier96 and john.marino97

ehaula i know i asked you to stop but now it feels weird without the name puns

y/ndevils00 so….

ehaula so you can do the puns

y/ndevils00 OH THANK GOD! do you realize how hard it was to withhold from them?! it was torture!

ehaula it’s been one post

user18 i’ve become so used to the “haula” puns that i forgot who erik was for a second

siegenthaler34 i made my y/n post debut!

y/ndevils00 it could’ve been for a better reason…

nicohischier you weren’t even there but you still got 2 horrible photos of me

y/ndevils00 i have spies everywhere

nicohischier what does that even mean?

y/ndevils00 guess you’ll never know

jackhughes why?

y/ndevils00 why what? why do i praise you when you don’t appreciate it? i don’t know, you would think i would’ve learned by now

jackhughes no. why the 2nd picture? why do you like it? why call me a chihuahua?

y/ndevils00 i like it. your eyes are so pretty and blue. because you’re small and scrappy and chew on everything.

jackhughes i’m 5’11

y/ndevils00 sure you are honey

dougieham if you went just based off y/n’s posts and comments, i don’t think anyone would ever guess that her and marino are genuinely best friends

y/ndevils00 it’s called tough love <3

john.marino97 she’s evil

trevorzegras i’m forever grateful that i’m a duck so i’ll never be subjected to the torture you put these guys through

y/ndevils00 there’s always next trade szn 😈

trevorzegras the ducks would never trade me

y/ndevils00 i have friends in high places… watch your back zegras

tmeier96 hughesy told me to sit there before i went into the box. he didn’t tell me why but i guess now i know

y/ndevils00 @/jackhughes do you not love me? do you not want to see me happy? this is why luke is my favorite

jackhughes @/y/ndevils00 luke is your WHAT?

lhughes_06 @/y/ndevils00 i feel so special! thank you y/n/n!

john.marino97 i have multiple questions. starting with: why is DAWSON bff number 1? and i didn’t get a penalty so you could be proud of me for that???

y/ndevils00 i like him better. and that’s very true, however you didn’t get a goal or an assist either so….

dawson1417 translation: y/n holds you to a higher standard because she knows how well you play. she knows you can do better but she’s proud of you regardless.

john.marino97 @/dawson1417 well why doesn’t she say it like that? that’s kinda sweet!

y/ndevils00 emotions are for the weak

john.marino97 @/jackhughes i think your girlfriend is broken

jackhughes she just likes to seem tough on the internet. watch this 👀

jackhughes @/y/ndevils00 i love you so much sweet girl ❤️ i can’t wait to get home

y/ndevils00 @/jackhughes i love you too, now come home!

jackhughes @/y/ndevils00 aww you miss me?

y/ndevils00 @/jackhughes sure, but also you lost your game which means you lost the bet and you have to give LSH her bath <3

[doedipus]

the next big strive patch is coming up, so obviously another round of buffs for gio are in order. at this point she's a very solid character with few glaring weaknesses, but here's some areas still ripe for development:

defense

as it stands, gio's defense is slightly below average. this is probably her weakest aspect currently.

prior to the mid season 3 patch, gio's cartwheel had a frame 1 low profile, which allowed her to wriggle out of oki situations that other characters had to hold, including an awful lot of safejumps. this was kind of absurd, but it also balanced out her 6p being too slow to abare with in many situations where that's the intended play, such as interrupting foudre arc, as well as being difficult to use on reaction generally. in addition, in the prior patch cartwheel had it's moonshot counterhit launch arc removed, so it doesn't lead to combos outside of the corner.

while 6p and cartwheel are underwhelming as defensive options, her p buttons are solid abare at very short ranges, at 4 and 5 frames. however, she lacks any further special considerations that would make her especially slippery

to compensate, here's some options for improving her defense:

take a frame off of something. 5p becomes 3 frames or 2k becomes 5 frames would be my picks.

exaggerate the low profile on 2k. as-is, 2k low profiles a small set of buttons like nago fs, but a more pronounced low profile along the lines of jackie or testament's would let her use it as abare more safely.

give 6p the full low profile faster. gio's 6p has a great hitbox and long activity, but manages to be difficult to use anyway due to how slow the low profile is. presumably this was meant to counterbalance the instant low profile on the old cartwheel, but she doesn't have that anymore, so more standard frame data would be in order.

reduce horizontal blowback on cartwheel. the threat of getting sent into the sun from a successful antiair cartwheel has largely been transferred to chave cartwheel, but this leaves gio with relatively weak punishes. a cartwheel launch that let her follow up more consistently would make her more threatening

make the cs hitbox a bit taller. let her do some millia shit.

combo physics

gio has good combos. however the physics they depend on are capricious at the best of times, and any extended juggles are prone to dropping. at this point a lot of that is down to correctly choosing 214s vs chave 214s, and that's fine, but there's some other wonkiness left over still.

besides tweaking the math behind the curtain, here's some things that might make her combos more reliable:

extend the cs hitbox slightly behind gio, or give it some slight crossup tracking. as-is, she's prone to facing the wrong way after landing from 214s (or in other situations where the opponent passes above her head) and whiffing cs. more consistency here would be huge

extend the hitbox of ventania upwards slightly. midscreen juggle combos tend to leave opponents slightly too high or too far for ventania to connect, which is really frustrating and definitely hasn't lost me multiple tournament sets

offense

giovanna's offense is generally strong, but she still has a few weird weak points

2d is obviously pretty good as an extended poke in neutral, but in pressure it's kind of infuriating. there's a 5 frame gap between 5k/2k and 2d, meaning that it won't catch jumping from any character. tightening this to 3 frames would be a huge help.

all of her specials lose to 6p except a precise frametrap with 214k or 623s. altering any of her regular or chave specials to hit the ground would make her offense much more stable.

chave is bad in pressure. chave specials are good in combos or as oki, but chave itself is a fixed duration spent in counterhit state, and all of the followups lose to fuzzy mashed 6p, so very rarely is it a good idea to fish for chave cartwheel counterhits, for instance. removing the counterhit state on chave or making a special move hit the ground reliably would amend this somewhat

on the same note, currently chave 214k (the roundhouse kick) is borderline unused at any level of play, and probably requires reworking. the intended use is to exit pressure safely against characters it's difficult to rps with after regular 214k, however you never actually want to enter chave rps due to complaints above, so you won't be able to condition opponents into respecting it. it's also basically a punt, which can be useful, but you don't actually want to do that very often, and it's not worth the threat of getting counterhit.

solutions: make some special or chave special hit the ground to codify the rps more. alternatively, give chave 214k an interesting combo property, like high damage, wall or floor bounces, or being a more advantageous ender

give jh slightly more active frames. it's annoying that you can backdash out of her safejumps! every time! for free! make her hit that shit! this, whether big arrow is meaty, and the jumpable gap in 2k/2d would be crushing weaknesses that would send her to bottom tier if people knew!!!!!!! but nobody does??????

insane crackpot bullshit

make air 214s fall to ground level from any height, making it a mobility tool or anti-anti-air similar to something like ram's sildo detruo or a diet tempestade.

give her a unique melty blood throw where she can move forward a short distance to correct for her abnormally short throw range. alternatively, give her a big body throw.

make the frame advantage on her normals better. at launch she was a funny frame data character, but due to power creep, things like a plus on block cs aren't unique anymore. having safer normals would make her stagger pressure much more threatening. I'm thinking p and k buttons are even on block, 2h is no worse than -3, 5h is -4, and 6p is no worse than -5. gio should only be especially vulnerable when going for big gambles.

make regular cartwheel a real reversal.

make 6p a low to strengthen the strike/throw after dash 5k. if that's too dumb, give her a 6k low instead.

give chave guard point. fuck you.

[chirpsythismorning]

This post reminded me that Mike didn’t ask Will if he was okay at all in season 4… however:

You were rolling your eyes, you were- you were moping, you were barely talking, you basically sabotaged the whole day!

*admits subtly that he noticed based on Will’s behavior that he wasn’t okay*

I didn’t say it! / You didn’t have to.

*admits subtly that Will doesn’t need to spell stuff out (or even say anything at all) for him to understand*

At times when the audience is getting signs that Will isn't okay, Mike has been right there asking because he rightfully sensed it. Like, this has gotta be the most consistent thing about Mike's character over the course of the series, which that original post proves (though it's missing the iconic He's quiet today.! Are we forgetting anything else?!).

Despite s4 presumably stopping this trend, they're still showing us subtly that Mike is taking notice:

This shot above is unique because what it does is use framing/camerawork to hint to the audience that this is arguably Mike's perspective.

At the start of this shot, both El and Will are framed fairly equally, with Mike being the last to join the frame as the camera dollies out. This allows us to feel like we're seeing what Mike is seeing, whether we realize it or not. By framing the shot this way, they're telling us that Mike views both El AND Will as an option. El, because they have a history romantically and it's sort of an easy path for Mike to stay in for the rest of his life. Will, his best friend with whom he has very strong (romantic) feelings for, and so he ranks high up in Mike's line of focus among El, his girlfriend.

This shot above also shows us Mike staring at Will, if only for fleeting moment. But, it's there.

These tiny moments are important, because despite them existing, a vast majority of the audience didn't pick up on them, including most bylers. They're your standard blink and you'll miss it moments.

Because yeah, maybe Will does feel Mike's eyes on him, but the second Will looks to check, Mike isn't looking. Or most of the day, Mike did in fact look like he was having a jolly old time.

This is what's being presented to us blatantly, out in the open, and with Will at the center of it all..

The truth is, while we think we're getting Will's POV exclusively, most of the time, we're getting his and El's AND Mike's. It's just that they go about all of their POV's differently, but especially Mike's. His follows a formula of subtlety like 99% of the time. That small meager 1% where they let us see the truth, varies from outrageously subtle to subtle.

Here, Will is understandably confused by Mike giving him a play-by-play of his behavior throughout day. After all, from Will's perspective, aka the unreliable perspective the audience is being fed, Mike wasn't even looking at him. Again, if anything Mike seemed like he was having a good time up to this point. And so upon hearing this, Will, and arguably anyone watching this scene for the first time, was probably left thinking, 'Wait?.. What?"

I have a theory, which honestly isn't that far fetched, seeing as it works in tandem with how a lot of this season has presented POV in a multitude of ways, whether it be lighting, framing, blocking, camerawork, editing, dialogue, etc., they are definitely giving us hints.

These posts (here, here) will be helpful to understand everything that follows in terms of context, so I do recommend checking them out!

Basically this theory holds weight to me because of what is being blatantly shown to us: Mike ignoring Will/having a great day aka Will's POV vs. what is being subtly shown to us: Mike glancing at Will when Will isn't looking/telling Will that him showing signs of not being okay ruined the day aka Mike's POV.

I've also done a post on El's POV which may very well hold the truth to everything, even more so than Will and Mike's POV's , so please check that out if you want your mind blown.

Now, when I say POV, I'm being as loose as possible in my definition. We know that it's a camera, not literally the eyes of the person's perspective we're in (though that can be a technique in and of itself).

An OTS (over the shoulder) shot is the best example of how perspective tends to operate in film. And we saw how that technique in particular was used a lot in the van, monologue, and cabin scenes. Those are arguably more blatant examples in s4 of POV shots.

However, shots that are hinting at a specific POV don't start and end with OTS, nor shots using more literal POV techniques. There's other ways to hint at POV/inner feelings. It's even possible for one shot/sequence to represent multiple POV's at once. It sounds complicated, but it's really not.

Although Will's perspective is the main one we're being fed, it's not the whole truth, or it's at least missing an important detail...

It's not until we're given that crumb from Mike himself, in which he spit-fires out a list of Will's actions throughout the day, that we get any sort of context for Mike's aloof behavior. This line alone reveals to us that there is apparently a lot more to these scenes than meets the eye, when it comes to how Mike is behaving vs. how he's actually feeling.

Because if most of the audience is convinced Mike never looked at Will, just like Will is convinced, then that puts into question when exactly Mike would’ve even been looking to pick up on all of this, enough for it to ruin the day, and despite him behaving like he was happy as ever...?

And so, the answer?

Arguably, literally any time Mike was out of the frame, but especially when Mike was out of the frame while Will is in the frame, front and center (aka most of s4?), are fair game for times Mike could’ve been looking at Will. It's just that what we're being shown is not Mike actually looking and reacting each of these times. Instead, we're shown what he just literally sees, which is Will...

And that's what makes the following scenes with Angela and El extremely important, because they support this theory, heavily.

As El, Angela and her minions all skate away, we see Mike and Will stay behind in the booth. We then get a reaction shot with both of them in the frame. But the thing is, reaction shots usually require reactions.

While Will is standing up, looking visibly concerned for El, because he actually has the context for what's going on, Mike contrasts greatly in comparison.

Mike goes from looking back and forth between where Will was sitting across from him, to the direction El and Angela just rolled off to, only to look away the instant Will is fully standing and staring off in that same direction.

Mike then proceeds to give us no reaction, in what is presumably a reaction shot. It's as if Mike is not feeling any emotion at all, which is kind of a hard thing to do if you really think about it.

Especially when it comes to a character like Mike Wheeler, whose literally known for his dramatic facial expressions, meaning him not showing any emotion at all, for most of this sequence, likely required quite a bit of effort on his part...

Mike's 'reaction' is so vague that I can guarantee most of the audience wasn't even paying attention to him for this shot. And quite honestly this could apply to a lot of Mike's scenes this season, where whenever the two of them are having a heart to heart or something of that nature, the viewer's eye gravitates towards Will (also my theory for why the ga is convinced Finn is a bad actor, which is bc he is acting as a character whose also acting. Mike is leaving us in the dark about everything he is thinking and feeling, by only showing us what he literally sees, which is WILL WILL WILL).

The van scene is one good example of this, where so many fans still aren't aware of Finn's micro-expressions and what they clearly mean, all because they were too busy giving all their attention to Will's speech and his emotions (we're just like Mike fr).

And so here we have Will in the forefront showing a lot more emotion in this particular shot (he has our attention), while Mike is in the background, casually taking another sip of his milkshake.

But why is Mike busying himself with his milkshake in the first place? Why isn't he still looking at El and her friends like he just was? Or why doesn't he just look up at Will to start a conversation?

Instead, what we get is Mike distracting himself...

And it's because, just like Will's perspective of this day, Mike's context for everything up to this point is nowhere close to the truth, if anything it's even further from the truth than Will's.

Although I already linked the refresher course(s), I'm going to give a more detailed refresher, bc a lot of it was only images w/out context:

Mike thinks Angela is not only one of El's new friends in Lenora, but also the girl Will made the painting for (both of which he read about in her letter at the start of s4). Mike tests out this theory when he asks Will about the painting at the airport, only to be shot down. In Mike's eyes, this supports El's theory that the painting is likely for a girl. Still, it appears Mike hasn't totally given up on getting some answers, and so (glancing at Will) he mentions the possibility of them running into friends. This causes Will to interrupt with the comment, Friends? What friends?! To the audience, this is Will making a confused remark about the fact that El has no friends. But to Mike, Will's comment comes off as a nervous Friends? What friends?? Which friends? You mean her?? And so when El says, You know, Stacy and Angela, Will's worried response Angela? is again, a worrisome realization on Will's part that El is lying to Mike (WE the audience understand this). However, to Mike, it's Will singling out this girl's name because she is THE girl (Maybe it is for a girl! I think there is someone he likes...)! But then El is saying that they'll meet her friends another day, reassuring Mike that today is just about him and her. And Mike looks pretty smug about this reassurance, followed by kissing El's forehead dramatically as they walk out of the airport. Mike then begins to associate Will's moping for the rest of the afternoon, with him being bitter that they're not going to run into Angela like he'd probably hoped, so that he could give her the painting. Mike continues to play the part of perfect boyfriend, especially now after assuming Will is, for the very first time, pursing a girl... "I mean what did you think? Really? That we were never gonna get girlfriends.--" Oh, how the turntables.

And so now, looking back at this shot and this whole sequence, within the context of Mike thinking Angela is the girl Will made the painting for, makes Mike's behavior a whole lot easier to understand.

Also, what makes the very end of this shot, just so fucking crazy to me, is that, for a split second, we see Mike's facade start to crack. For a split second, as the camera starts to hone in on Will, with Mike slowly exiting the frame, it's at this moment that his signature annoyed scowl makes an appearance. But then poof, he's gone.

And isn't it so convenient that they're cutting us off, right before we could get to the part that would've revealed Mike's true emotions during this moment? And that it ends with us focusing on Will...?

Let’s try to understand this even more, because I feel like so much gets overlooked about these scenes at Rink-O-Mania.

Mike had spent all day trying to ignore the fact that Will was clearly not okay. What he would usually do in that situation, is just ask Will, 'Hey, you okay?'. But Mike wasn't being his true self during these moments. Argyle even prefaced Mike's behavior in this episode by calling his shirt a shitty 'knock off', just like how Mike was acting, FAKE!

If it were any other season, Mike would've asked Will if he was okay. Instead, for the first time, he's now bottling up that instinct. But why?

I think it could be a combination of things honestly, and that's probably most likely.

I think after the reunion at the airport, Mike came to the conclusion Will was showing symptoms of experiencing a crush on a girl, genuinely, for the first time. And so as this is starting to unravel, Mike's going from wanting to get to the bottom of it, only to backtrack, wanting to abort the mission entirely.

I also think a part of it could be that, Mike himself is obviously not okay. And so maybe he feels slightly unequipped to handle asking Will if he's okay, knowing deep down he's not okay himself.

I also think that, this is a TV show. And so if they're choosing to not let us see Mike's true emotions outright, specifically in relation to him picking up on Willis behavior, then there must be for a reason for that, right?

It must be because the surprise they're saving, relies on us assuming for now, just like Will, that Mike doesn't like him back. Everything taking place as of now is moving the plot forward, with a plan for this revelation to be revealed closer to the end, as opposed to now, in the beginning of the end.

Having Mike blatantly stare at Will the whole season, out in the open, would've made the revelation that Mike feels the same in s5, anti-climactic. However, having subtle evidence that Mike was staring at Will most of the season, which most viewers missed all the signs of, despite them being there, is going to make the revelation that Mike feels the same in s5, epic.

On top of everything going on, I think it's important to also acknowledge that Mike feel's indebted to El. He will never not feel like he owes her everything, and that she deserves the world. And so this whole situation isn't just about Mike's repressed feelings or insecurities or whatever. It's also about Mike trying as hard as he can to be who he thinks El deserves and therefore who she needs him to be. It's the least he can do.

Only problem is, that person is not him and it can't be him.

And so we see Mike overcompensating because he feels like El deserves these gestures and there is this expectation of what they should do because they're bf/gf (THATS BC SHES MY GF, WILL). There's the pressure of that on its own, combined with Mike grappling with Will's behavior over his crush on a girl, which just makes Mike feel even more insecure about his relationship with El.

Arguably, for a while now, Mike has probably become somewhat aware that he doesn't have as strong of romantic feelings for El as he might've thought he did at one point, or even lead her to believe. And Will presumably gifting this girl a painting... like, it's got Mike really self reflecting like, 'SHIT! I'm clearly not down that bad for El... and so, does that mean--'...

This huge insecurity for Mike, with the whole I love you thing, is just getting so big that he can't ignore it anymore, because he KNOWS what he sees as real love, ie, his feelings for Will + what he assumes to be Will's feelings for this girl, and that.. that's not what he feels for El. And so he holds himself back from taking that step in saying it, all this time, because he doesn't want to lie.

And yet, he still tries.

He tries to act interested in everything El has to say. And it's not even that he's not interested in what she has to say, it's just that this act of ignoring the fact that Will doesn't appear to be okay, while also acting like he's having the time of his life, requires a lot of focus. And even despite his performance being pretty believable, the truth behind his actions still falls through the cracks.

I saw someone post about this recently (if anyone knows who, pls comment), and it's this shot with the three of them in the booth at Rink-O-Mania, where we see El resting her hand, palm up on her lap under the table, in a way that makes it look like she's waiting for Mike to take it.

Holding hands under the table is the kind of gesture a couple does when they want to share a moment of intimacy, without making others around them uncomfortable over their PDA.

But that's the problem isn't it? Mike is overcompensating with a lot of these gestures he does with El, like bringing her flowers, putting his arm around her, kissing her forehead, holding her hand. He's not doing these things because he wants to have this kind of intimacy with El (we know that he doesn't because he literally squished his gift for her, in between them when they reunited, so that he had an excuse for them to separate), but because he wants to be who El needs him to be. He also wants to be believable in his performance that he's not shitting bricks over all of this back and forth with his best friend.

And so what even is the point, if no one can see Mike's hand holding El's under the table? If Will can't see it?

Then to top it all off, in the middle of Mike's subtextual dig about how his milkshake is 'better', suddenly Angela is rolling up to them.

And it's at this point that Mike's whole facade really starts to crumble, where he can't even fully pick up on what is happening with El and Angela, because he's too distracted by Will, followed by trying way too hard to act like Will 'longing' for Angela is not affecting him (NO BUT WHY IS MIKE LITERALLY THE 'IM FINE THIS IS FINE' SIPPING HIS COFFEE WHILE THERE ARE FLAMES SURROUNDING HIM GIF HERE???).

What I love about this shot is that it can easily be overlooked and confused with Mike genuinely not caring about Will at all. And that's what is so incredible about subtlety. Something as subtle as no emotion at all on Mike's face, a renowned facial expression enthusiast, can somehow say so much more about Mike's true feelings for Will, than an outright look.

For this whole shot, we're assuming we're in Will's perspective, which happens A LOT of the time in s4 (even in Milkvan scenes) because like I said, whenever Will is in the frame while Mike is also present, we tend to hone in on him a little more than the others (THAT'S INTENTIONAL).

Still, whenever you see Mike creeping out of the frame, we now know it's arguably fair game that Mike could be staring at Will at this very moment, while Will, and the audience, are distracted.

Which is why this happens...

We do not get any shots of Mike at this time. Until....

The second Will voices worriedly, "Oh no!" Mike is jumping out of his seat, standing next to Will, turning to face the same direction as him, like, "What?"

I'm sorry but, it's just not natural for Mike to have responded to Will instantaneously like this, within the context of what he was doing the last time we got a shot of him, especially in this case, where Will wasn't even speaking directly to Mike.

The only way it makes sense for Mike to have spawned beside Will like that, is if Mike was already looking at Will...

Him responding that quickly, meant looking at Will while he spoke, hearing what he said, and seeing where he was looking, so that Mike could jump up that fast, ready for whatever Will was reacting to.

Will is reacting to the scene of El and Angela in front of him.

Mike is reacting to Will react to the scene of El and Angela in front of him.

I want to bring up @dinitride-art's Lighting and Mike and Will and El - Full Analysis posts (specifically the ones related to Rink-O-Mania, but there are plenty of others they have in that thread, that could help everyone try to better understand a lot of s4 scenes as well). Without them, I never would've realized a lot of this.

The main points I want to touch on from their analysis', is the use of the disco ball in these scenes at Rink-O-Mania and how they often operate to tell a story, one that often has Will at the center...

Let's try to keep in mind that disco balls often act as focal points whenever they are in a space, in this case, the rink at Rink-O-Mania. Disco balls are covered in mirrors, which reflect tiny beams of light throughout a room... Are you catching my drift?...

Yes, undoubtedly, lighting plays a big part in telling the story, along with music!

@lesbianmindflayer has done a video on this, but basically the lyrics to the song You Spin Me Right Round (Right Round) are also hinting at POV and context to these scenes, like music often does in ST.

One specific example she uses of this disco ball in action (combining both lighting, framing, camera-movement and music,) is when we go from Mike's POV, with the disco ball above Will (Mike being bummed Will didn't even look at him or laugh at his sock joke) to El's POV with the disco ball above Mike (El after being called out by Will that Mike is going to be mad when he finds out she's been lying).

So, keeping all of this in mind, watching Angela drag El to the middle of the rink, directly under the disco ball, with that snarky 'stay put!" comment, only to laugh knowingly... followed by Mike finally paying attention to El properly???? And this is what it took??? A spotlight?? And not only that but Will directing Mike's focus to it like, 'Hey, dude! Maybe pay attention to your gf bc she's having problems here' (I'm sensing a pattern...).

Unfortunately, it's too little too late.

As this is all coming to a head, Mike feels horrible about being too distracted with the fact that Will wasn't okay, that he wasn't able to pick up on the fact that El wasn't okay either. And so tries his best to fix things by getting the music to stop and to go comfort El.

But then El's running away, out of the spotlight and fittingly out of Mike's focus.

While looking for El, him and Will begin bickering.

Now, Mike knows the painting must not be for Angela. He's embarrassed and he's pissed and he's upset, but he's also just even more confused. The instinct to figure out why Will was upset, is unwavering. Now that his theory has presumably been debunked, Mike slips back into this old habit.

"You were rolling your eyes, you were-- you were moping, you were barely talking, you basically sabotaged to whole day!" aka "You're clearly not okay. I thought I knew why, but I was wrong. It's been miserable".

What Mike gets by subtly calling out Will for his behavior, is the revelation that, yes Will was upset El lied to him, but he was also miserable over the fact that he felt like a third wheel all day.

More angst and miscommunication ensues.

Though all too soon, El is hitting Angela with a skate and everything is happening so fast.

In the following episode, things get even more interesting.

We start with Mike standing next to Will, away from El. We get another shot that's arguably Mike's POV (@dinitride-art did a really good analysis on this shot, please check it out for further details)... but basically it proves Mike's whole 'I've never been scared of you, EVER' part of his monologue, followed by thunder, was indeed not exactly the truth.

And what follows in the next scene is even more damning.

Because what we get for the first time this season, is a shot of Mike, front and center, looking at Will, and interestingly enough, while Will isn't looking ..

Even though they are giving this to us outright, it's still not blatant. And I say this because, again, I can guarantee you most of the audience didn't pick up on it.

This shot was arguably necessary for the context of everything that followed, with Mike saying that rude remark to El at dinner.

Because it turns out Will was right for being upset about El lying, just considering everything that's played out this evening. And on top of that, Mike's also still reeling from the fact that Will was upset because he felt like they weren't best friends anymore. This was apparently enough to be a big part of the reason Will was miserable all day, aka Mike was miserable all day because of his perceived misery of Will who himself was also moping because Mike wasn't paying attention to him. This is news to Mike, as he's been lead to believe the opposite up to this point, seeing as he's also the one whose been making most of the calls, unanswered.

TBH this scene in particular provides a really important aspect of this theory as a whole, because although it seems minor and blink and you'll miss it like all the others. Unlike the majority, it shows us something that could very well hold the truth to something we still don't quite understand. More on that at the end.

I also don't want to forget the most hilarious Mike POV evidence of all, and it's the infamous 'triple take' in the junkyard.

Some bylers noticed this pretty early on, while others probably still don't have a clue about the implications.

Allow me to explain.

Within the context of subtle Mike POV vs. unreliable Will POV, let's think about how this sequence starts with the audience looking at Will. He's hoeing (because he doesn't have a shovel). Then suddenly, after a few seconds of the camera being focused on only him, we see Will now looking up at Mike, with him stopping and staring as he does so.

Once we get a reaction shot of Mike, we see he's not shoveling, he's actually standing still with the shovel resting on the ground, staring down, almost in a daze, zoned out. But then suddenly, he's looking up at Will. And the expression he makes once his eyes reach Will, is....

Pining. It's pining, your honor.

For a split second, this is the expression of a person looking at someone with whom they assume isn't looking.

Mike goes from still and focused, to wide eyed, as he scrambles back to shoveling.

The general audience actually interpreted this scene fairly accurately, it's just that they got it wrong it terms of whose actually doing the pining.

Because arguably, if Mike could sense Will looking at him, whose to say Will couldn't sense Mike?

Whose to say it wasn't Mike who was initially staring at Will, which is why he stopped shoveling in the first place. Though at some point while he was watching Will hoeing, with the camera focusing on him, just like Mike, Mike zoned out to collect his thoughts. And so, when he looks back up, to return to staring at Will again, only to discover Will was already looking at him, he understandably went, OH SHIT MISSION ABORT.

THEY ARE USING EDITING TO SAY HEY LOOK AT WILL! SEE HOW HES GLOWING? SEE HOW HE'S IN THE CENTER OF THE FRAME? IN FOCUS? ALMOST ALL OF THE TIME? ALMOST AS IF WE CANT TAKE OUR EYES OFF OF HIM???

WAIT!?...

WHERE'S MIKE?

OH THERE HE IS!

WE ARE MIKE!!

All this time we were convinced the POV was definitively Will's, with Mike's POV missing. And so therefore, a lot of bylers at least, have made the likely claim that Will's POV cannot be reliable. But what if it is reliable, in that finding out a lot of these moments of us getting Will at the center, was also a part of Mike's POV all along... meaning it's not inherently unreliable, in that in and of itself it holds the truth...

Now, you might be thinking, why couldn't they have shown us Mike staring at Will, at least once, if this is in fact what's happening a lot of the time?

And oh honey... They did.

Isn't it almost poetic, that the moment they FINALLY decide to show us the truth, a shot, with both Will AND Mike in the frame, equally, with Mike continuing the stare at Will the second Will looks away (even if it's for just a small, albeit drawn out moment) this is what follows:

Will handing the painting over to Mike.

Everything. All of this miscommunication about a girl and the painting, essentially Mike's very own unreliable POV has been leading up to this moment.

Which brings me back to this...

WHY!?

WHY HAVE PARALLEL SHOTS OF MIKE NOT LOOKING AT EL IN THE VAN SCENE IN 4x03 VS. MIKE LOOKING AT WILL IN THE VAN SCENE IN 4x08???

WHY HAVE MIKE BE IN FOCUS AND UNBOTHERED IN HIS SHOT WITH EL, WHILE HAVING MIKE BE OUT OF FOCUS AND APPEARING.... EMOTIONLESS ALMOST (REMEMBER WHAT I SAID ABOUT PRESUMABLY EMOTIONLESS MIKE??? HMMMM) IN HIS SHOT WITH WILL?

WHY HAVE MIKE'S MOST CONSISTENT, REDEEMING TRAIT, HIS ABILITY TO SENSE WHEN WILL'S NOT OKAY, BE PRESENT EVERY SEASON, ONLY TO REMOVE IT BLATANTLY THIS SEASON, BUT LEAVE SIGNS THAT HE IS STILL INDEED PAYING ATTENTION IN THE SUBTEXT, ONLY TO HAVE IT ALL COME CRUMBLING DOWN, TO NOTHING, WITH THIS SCENE!?!?!?!?

Does this mean I'm trying to indoctrinate everyone into fully believing Mike knew Will was lying and even crying in the van scene? No, because honestly, I don't think I fully believe that myself. I also think that to say a scene is definitively this or that is naive because, for all we know the story depends on certain scenes having certain truths over certain periods of time.

Like right now, maybe they want us to believe that Mike didn't understand Will, and the story requires us to look at it that way, for now, and also going into s5?

We know that the Duffers would prefer that the average fan doesn't pick up on byler. And so arguably, there are a lot of layers of awareness happening here, regardless of this specific theory. Just in terms of all the assumed truths and the actual truths. There's what the ga assumes vs. what bylers assume, but I think there could be another hidden truth beyond that, perhaps what they knew bylers would assume based on what they said ('he just missed it, not in a bad way/while he may not fully pick up on it--' Duffer's talking about Mike in the van scene), and they were anticipating all of that, meaning despite all of our expectations, there's very likely a surprise in store for us as well.

I do want to make clear, despite me thinking this all makes a lot of sense, as a byler it's like DAMN why couldn't we get the exact moment Mike realized it and like, get to see him act on it?

I think that's the ideal situation? But even still, this theory explains a lot.

It means Mike never stopped paying attention. It also explains why he gravitated towards Will at the end of s4, after his failed love confession. It explains why he looked heartbroken after Will encouraged him to confess his love to El.

We talk about this all the time, but because there are so many tiny moments, where it seemed like Mike realized something over the seasons, we'll find posts saying this moment or that was THE moment. But what I really think it is, is the uncertainty and the hope and the denial all working against each other. Arguably, Mike has already has his realization moment plenty of times by now, in little moments. It's just that what he's been experiencing is, something along the lines of, he loves me! he loves me not. he loves me! he loves me not, and so on and so forth.

His behavior over the seasons, has been impacted by this confusing, back and forth miscommunication between him and Will.

All very remanent of the lyrics to Time After Time if you ask me...

[animebw]

Seasonal Reflection: Summer 2023 Anime

I've noticed over my years of seasonal anime watching that summer tends to be the weakest season of the year. For whatever reason, everyone saves their good shows for winter, spring or fall, leaving the middle of the year to limp along with few real standouts. But god almighty, even by those standards, this was a dismal fucking season of anime. Forget just not having many good shows, there were so few shows that even had the potential to be good. Trying to find anything with a fighting chance of turning out even halfway decent felt like trawling for nuggets of half-digested corn in an overflowing septic tank of obviously bad isekai, obviously bad light novel junk, and obviously bad wish-fulfillment rom-coms. And then, just to add insult to injury, basically all the shows that did start out strong ended up tripping over themselves in some way. So not only were there so few anime even worth keeping up with this season, none of them managed to score anything higher than "pretty good." This is, unquestionably, the worst anime season I've sat through since I started watching seasonally. So let's take stock of the few shows I kept up with and pray for better things once the much-more-promising fall season gets under way.

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead: Unfinished/10

Well, isn't this unfortunately ironic. The increasingly exploitative conditions that anime is made under have resulted in so many high-profile shows suffering production delays as their animators crash up against the cruelty of overwork and corporate greed. But there's something particularly disquieting when that fate befalls a show that's all about breaking free from your shitty exploitative job. Zom 100 sets out to extol the joys of living a free life unchained by capitalism's cruel clutches even in the midst of the end of the world, but ends up so ravaged by those very chains that it was unable to finish its run before it ran out of timeslots. And now its last three episodes are left in limbo, the entire production team waiting for a chance to recover and find some way to bring their work to a close. It's a pretty bleak situation that almost makes you believe a zombie apocalypse would actually be preferrable to our current state of affairs. Especially when, uh, this is not a show you want to give the audience extra time to think about. Cause the more you think about it, the more all its aggravating flaws- painfully simplistic moralizing, a sexist streak that refuses to just fucking die- start to sour your good feelings for the rollicking ride it's taking you on. I can only hope the final episodes, whenever they arrive, close it out on a strong enough note to make the ride feel worth it.

Mushoku Tensei Season 2 (1st Cours): 1/10

I have stewed long and hard over how to phrase my thoughts on the second season of Mushoku Tensei. I've agonized for hours on how to express how viscerally, repulsively infuriating this show has become. But ultimately, there's only one thing I can say: Fuck this show and fuck everyone who likes it. Fuck every free ride this show gives Rudeus so he never had to face consequences for his actions. Fuck the hypocritical stabs at "redemption" that only serve to excuse and justify every female character slobbering over an unrepentant pedophile. Fuck the single worst use of slavery I've ever seen in an isekai (Cannot fucking believe I have to give Shield Hero credit for anything). Fuck this lifeless waste of a cast that steadfastly refuses to have a single interesting member. Fuck the misogyny. Fuck the masturbatory woe-is-me manpain. And most of all, fuck every last braindead, media-illiterate mouth-breather who decided to turn this irredeemable garbage into a modern anime classic. The success of Mushoku Tensei is the death of everything I love about this medium, and I will never forgive any of you for bringing us to this point. Go. Fuck. Yourselves.

My Happy Marriage: 4/10

God, I really wanted to like this one more than I did. Isn't it great to see high-profile shoujo anime with impressive productions making a comeback after years of drought? And this is a story about trauma and healing and discovering your self worth and all that good stuff! This should've been right up my alley. And yet, My Happy Marriage just left me frustrated and somewhat offended. There's such a powerful story buried in here somewhere, but thanks to a combination of painfully overwrought melodrama that robs its heroine of far too much agency, a poorly handled supernatural twist on the Cinderella formula that only grows increasingly awkward the more it tries to force the two together, and a condescending undercurrent that seems to think the only cure for years of abuse is embracing a hyper-traditionalist form of wifely duties, that nugget of potential never has the chance to blossom. What an utter disappointment.

Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence: 5/10

Rejoice, folks; we've finally found the mathematical average of the slice-of-life moe romance. Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence is the platonic ideal of the fluffy, disposable rom-com made flesh, pleasant and harmless while watching but leaving no lasting impression once it's done. It's a collection of cute character moments, amusing gags, and occasional stabs at emotion that sometimes tug at your heartstrings a bit, all arranged in their proper places with a likable cast and bouncy animation and just enough energy to stay moderately interesting all the way through. And aside from the somewhat unique setting of a Medieval church as home base for our two awkward lovebirds, none of it lingers in your mind once the episode ends and you find yourself forgetting all the jokes you were just chuckling to. Which may seem like a backhanded complement, but honestly? This is what I would consider the baseline for anime rom-coms. If you're gonna just be fluffy and disposable, this is the absolute minimum you should be aiming for to make me appreciate spending twenty-four minutes every week with you. I can't really recommend it to anyone but the most ravenous rom-com fans, but at least now I have a standard to judge any similar shows that fall short of the mark.

Sugar Apple Fairy Tale Season 2: 5.5/10

What strikes me most about Sugar Apple Fairy Tale now that it's over is just what an ambitious show it turned out to be. It's one thing to write a hackneyed fantasy racism metaphor about fairy slavery into your swoony shoujo romance, it's quite another to actually try and engage honesty with the implications of that idea as the core driving force of your narrative. And whatever else you might say about it, SAFT is really, truly making an effort to explore discrimination and systemic bigotry, tackling it from so many angles over the course of its 24 episodes without shying away from its thorny complexity. How many other stories like this would dedicate an entire subplot to showing how victims of one kind of discrimination can still perpetuate harm on groups even lower on the social totem pole like SAFT does with Brigit? Or explore how toxic systems of control don't magically get better just because a minority is at the helm like Lafalle? It's that kind of ambition that makes it easier to take this show's stumbles in stride, numerous though they might be at times. I'll always appreciate an earnest, messy attempt at making a statement over a safe, line-toeing space filler without the conviction to even try.

Horimiya Piece: 6/10

So this is a weird situation where the first season of Horimiya ended up rushing through the source material in order to adapt the whole story, and now this side-quel is going back and adapting all the content the first season skipped over. Essentially, it's a Horimiya DLC, scattered skits with no real cohesion or progression that just exist to give you more good times with the cast you love. But hey, Horimiya was never really heavy on plot to begin with; it's always been more a collection of moments across the lives of these friends than anything else. So I don't see anything wrong with doing a full season of just slice-of-life shenanigans, since that's basically what the first season became once Hori and Miyamura got together. And if nothing else, I certainly appreciated all the extra time with these lovable goofballs; this show does a better job than most of capturing the sheer, absolute chaos that teenage friend groups can cause amongst each other. Unfortunately, there are two episodes in the back half that truly, utterly suck- episode 9 is completely focused on the creepy pedophile teacher the show thinks is just the most hilarious joke ever, and episode 12 faceplants into romanticizing abusive relationships in a really gross way. So if you're gonna check Horimiya Piece out, do yourself a favor and skip those episodes entirely. Your experience will be better off for it.

Undead Murder Farce: 6.5/10

Pulp is a hard style to define, isn't it? You'd think it would be easy with how influential and popular it's been over the years. Ultimately, though, you just gotta know it when you see it. And Undead Murder Farce is pulpier than a thousand trees being turned into paper at an orange juice factory. It's a Victorian-era serial mystery extravaganza that turns the entirety of 19th-century supernatural adventure literary canon into the backdrop for a rakugo-performing half-oni and a severed immortal head to traipse through solving mysteries as they pursue a larger goal. Over the course of their adventures, they match wits and butt heads with vampires, werewolves, Sherlock Holmes, Phileas Fogg from Around the World in 80 Days, The Phantom of the Opera, Arsene Lupin, Frankenstein's Monster, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. And thanks to the director of Kaguya-sama at the helm, the visual presentation is exactly as gonzo and freewheeling as this brazen OC fanfiction deserves. I enjoyed every second of this goofy-ass show, and I hope we get a second season to see which classic characters our wisecracking immortal detectives rub elbows with next. It's what we deserve.

Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 (1st Part): 7/10

It's increasingly difficult to pin down my feelings on Jujutsu Kaisen. On the one hand, it regularly delivers some of the coolest, most lavishly animated punch-ups in modern anime. On the other hand, is that enough to cover for the story's incredible lack of focus and constant zig-zagging between different ideas at the drop of a hat? Like, I might need more than ten fingers to count how many times this show just drops in the middle of building up a status quo to shift gears into something entirely different without giving proper closure to what's come before. On the other other hand, though, season 2's backstory arc finally gave us an actual driving force for the story and a strong emotional framework to understand the stakes at play, except then it almost immediately reverses on that idea by revealing one of the critical characters has been dead the whole time and his story's suddenly over just when it was really getting under way, and... eh. Look, I like Jujutsu Kaisen, and its spectacular action and hilarious character interactions are usually enough to help me forgive its overly convoluted plotting (especially this season with its massive upgrade in directorial flourish and experimental animation). But at some point I'm really gonna start wondering if any of this nonsense will ever amount to more than a slapped-together framework to justify the fights.

Fate/Strange Fake Episode 0: 8/10

It's probably not a good sign that the only anime to really inspire me this season was basically just a prologue for a show that's still being made as we speak. But with how barren this season has been, I'll take my victories where I can. And sweet buttery Jesus, am I glad that Strange Fake is getting a full adaptation. After years of having no interest in Fate beyond the core story, one of these endless spinoffs finally manages to grab me hook line and sinker. And all it took was the author of Baccano and Durarara filtering the concept of the Holy Grail War through his particular penchant for sprawling, chaotic ensemble stories full of truly deranged characters slamming the full weight of their personalities against each other for the sheer fun of it. Add a mesmerizing new visual style from a longtime key animator making his directorial debut, and the result is an epic hour-long masterclass introduction that leaves you breathless for more. This is what Fate/Zero's first episode should have been. And sure, it could still go horribly off the rails at some point, but for now, I choose to remain hopeful. May this promise of better things to come prove a welcome omen as we leave this miserable anime season behind.

Shows I Dropped:

The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses: Dropped at 2 episodes for extreme GoHands over-animation, and just being a painfully cringey male fantasy rom-com.

Atelier Ryza: Dropped at 1 episode for being boring and generic as fuck. Only worth it for the hilariously crowbarred-in fanservice shots and I can just look those up on their own.

Reign of the Seven Spellblades: Dropped at 2 episodes for some of the most cringe-worthy DeviantArt-tier writing I've ever seen.

The Masterful Cat is Depressed Again Today: Dropped at 2 episodes for just being boring, even though it's way better than GoHands' other monstrosity this season.

Bang Dream It's MyGo: Dropped at 1 episode for just not vibing with it, idk.

[larsnicklas]

is it bad to say im truly not that devastated bc i didn’t want them to advance without boes :/ altho it sucks that demmer never got his chance to come back. also i’m on holiday starting yesterday and now i can actually enjoy it without my every waking moment being consumed by fear. like i’m upset but we move. cats 4 cup

no i felt the same way! lol. i think disappointment is also tempered by the fact that they overachieved on reasonable expectations from the start of the year so it feels like (and genuinely was) such an enormous step forward that nobody can possibly say they didn’t have a great season. i also think for me personally, with the exception of the caps, any loyalty to teams i have is rooted in the players i love and so the absence of any of my favorites really affects how badly i want them to win lol. the loss of demmer already stung a lot bc he’s like the only other goalie i’ve genuinely loved since h.oltby 😭 and then with brock done for the year i was kind of like. okay actually i don’t want to do this without them!!!! with brock particularly it’s like. that’s the guy that was the FIRST bit of light… the first spark of hope…. and after him came pete and quinn and so on and so forth but he was that first shift into a new core. he deserves to be a key part of any deep run and i know that’s not how sports work and you can’t guarantee anything but he’d already made such a huge mark in the first 12 games of the postseason i just know he would have had more signature moments!!!

i also think for me it was like. you run an assessing eye over the most important player on your team, the guy who tilts the ice for you on any given night, and he is so very clearly fighting through being quite banged up. and so realistically speaking how much more did quinn have left in the tank, you know? he did a good job even with any limitations from injuries but i just am not sure there was another quality round, much less a strong final in him lol. like i do believe he would have continued playing until physically unable/shut down by docs but the quality of play would have not been to his (very high) standards.

and then uh while i’m airing this out!!! when the c.anucks go deep i want ep in a good place physically and mentally and idk that he was either this postseason!! he’s such a game changer like when he’s at his best he is an incandescent player and one of the most exciting guys in the game. and obviously one of my particular favorites! any actual success the nucks see i would like him to be an enormous part of it, which i know he can and will be!

at the end of the day it always sucks to lose but there are so many good things to have come out of this season, including getting into the second round on the first try for this particular group. this experience is going to serve them so so well in the future and i bet they will all be itching to get back on the ice for the 2024-25 season ♡

[bitchesgetriches]

I have never been interested in any kind of managerial position; I'm very happy to just do what I enjoy and know that I'm doing my part to improve projects. Unfortunately, I know that bigger salaries generally only happen alongside promotions. I also know that a resume without a history of promotion/increased responsibility is considered a red flag by employers, and that trying to explain my 'high-visibility positions=high anxiety levels' stance won't exactly do me any favors. (For context, I'm an editor; manager status means choosing content for the whole journal, which means directly impacting the perceived quality/standard of said journal, which is just...so much pressure. It also means more overseer duties and less actual editing, the latter of which is what I really enjoy.)

Any tips on how to reconcile these two things? How do I keep from torpedoing my own salary growth/career while also not "um, sure, thrilled by the opportunity"-ing myself into positions I'm fairly sure would negatively affect my happiness and stress levels? Any advice from the Internet Aunts(TM) would be greatly appreciated.

Hail, fellow editor! I feel your pain re: management tasks taking away from time spent ACTUALLY editing.

I wonder if freelancing or consulting might be more appealing to you given your attitude towards promotions. It's a way to keep your daily tasks limited to what you want to do, AND a way to set your own schedule, workload, and (most importantly) compensation.

I would also suggest having a frank conversation with your supervisor or career mentor about this. This no law against customizing job responsibilities. I have a friend who told me she was up for promotion and actually ended up splitting the job with another internal candidate: one was stronger in project management, the other in development, so they divided and conquered according to their skills.

There are also (to my knowledge, unless the journal you work for is run by the government) not necessarily salary caps for the jobs you're qualified for. Keep asking for raises regularly, even if you're not going out for promotions.

Publishing is such an antiquated business in so many ways (hence why I fucking left), and this might be a place where you can innovate to both your benefit and the company's. If you're ever offered a promotion, speak your honest concerns instead of automatically accepting!

I Hate My Job and I Don't Know How To Leave It: A Confession

Season 2, Episode 4: “Does My Career Have to Define Me? Or Can I Just Clock Out?”

Season 3, Episode 5: “I Really Hate One of My Tasks at Work. Is There a Way To Escape It Without Quitting My Job?” 

[juhneenteagues]

I’m currently watching Wednesday and I’m not finished with the season but I have a couple thoughts:

SPOILERS FOR NETFLIX’s WEDNESDAY!!!!!!

1) I love Enid that’s my sista

2) I love Bianca. From ep1 I was like YES a DS Black girl who’s the HBIC !!!

2.a) I immediately wanted an enemies to lovers ship with Wednesday and Bianca while watching ep1 lol I doubt the show will ever go that route but a girl can dream

3) I love how Enid and Wednesday have a “we’re opposites but we will do anything for each other” type friendship… similar to Galinda and Elphaba in a way lol

4) so far from what I’ve seen in the show, Wednesday is either aro or at least queer (even outside my want of an enemies to lovers arc) therefore I find the triangle between Wednesday Tyler and Xavier very boring

4.a) another reason I don’t care for the triangle is one, Wednesday, to me, has not shown or expressed any romantic interest in either guy since she got to Nevermore but because both boys immediately took a liking to her, they both projected their feelings onto her and then got upset when it came to the Rave’N dance; and two, the classic teen romance drama kinda takes away from why we like Wednesday so much as a character. She is diff from everyone else and I feel like I’m fine with her going to a high school and not having a bf, gf, or any romantic partner

5) I don’t think Gomez actually killed that Garrett kid… either Morticia did and he’s covering for her bc he loves her or possibly he died some other way? Anyway considering where I left off in the show before making this post is Gomez going to jail and Wednesday bearing his story and her not believing it… I’ll guess I’ll find out soon

6) not crazy about these portrayals of Gomez and Morticia… the energy just isn’t there for me. I know a lot of ppl dislike the casting of Gomez (Luis Guzman), I assume mostly bc he’s unattractive by societal standard (aka he’s fat)… which I initially didn’t care about bc who cares if Gomez is fat, as long as his personality is the same then it’s fine… but idk…. his Gomez is different but not in a refreshing way.

6.a) I do like CZJ’s Morticia more than I like LG’s Gomez but still idk… maybe I’m being too harsh of a critic but it’s not quite all the way there for me for some reason….

7) Since episode one I haven’t trusted the principal and I half don’t trust Miss Thornhill so I’m curious to see how their characters play out by the end of the season

8) Eugene, just like Enid is very precious to me! I felt bad he got got by the monster and I’m shocked but happy they didn’t kill him off… I was upset that he (very predictably) still went into the woods the night of the dance even tho Wednesday told him not to

8.a) I love the fact that he has lesbian moms!

9) idk if I have other thoughts if I do I guess I’ll reblog and add more later

10) I wanted this to be an even number lmaooo

10.a) I am 25 and I barely saw The Addams Family 1 & 2 this year 😭😭😭 I have no reason as to why I had never seen it before last month (or maybe it was September) but I LOVED those movies and them kooky ass Addams 😂 which is why I feel like I’m disappointed in the characterization of Gomez and Morticia. That’s all

If you actually read all this pls feel free to reply ur thoughts as well and let’s talk about it. (Reminder I haven’t finished the show, I’m on ep5)

11) I just remembered… Tim Burton you ain’t seeing heaven for multiple reasons but WHY is the Black mayor also the owner of a theme park or whatever that is PILGRIM themed???? The disconnect????????

[somediyprojects]

DIY Copper + Branch Floor Lamp

Project by Kate Pruitt:

We have this very annoying tree right outside our apartment that blocks all light from our windows, thwarting the sun’s attempts to warm us with its golden rays of energy. Damn you, tree! Recently I begged our landlord to at least consider trimming it back, and he finally relented, which left me with both a modicum of precious sunlight and some great large branches to use for projects! One of the felled limbs was especially long and solid and had a wonderful, gentle arc that just seemed so lamplike; I couldn’t resist. “I’ve lost my purpose. Make me a light!” it cried. Not really.

With autumn upon us, I decided to pair the branch with rich, warm copper and used a lovely sap-green color on the base to complement the season. Personally, I like the wonky bare-bones style of this little lamp, but if you wanted to dress it up a bit (my boyfriend said the copper part looked like a shower head . . . not cool dude), you could easily make or buy a solid cylindrical shade to place over the bulb. Now, don’t go hacking down trees like I did, but if you happen upon a fallen branch, I hope you’ll try this simple lighting project. Happy crafting! — Kate

Materials

large branch (Look for one that isn’t too perfectly straight or too twisty but has a slight arc to it and is at least 1.5″ thick at its base to ensure it’s sturdy enough.)

log stump slice (Mine is prop from a friend’s wedding, but you can ask around at lumber yards for these, or you could buy several thinner ones from craft stores like Michael’s and glue a stack together to make a thick base. If all else fails, try searching for firewood sellers on Craigslist, and ask if they have any stumps they could cut for you.)

4–6 small eye hooks (depending on the length/height of your branch)

15–20′ black lamp cord

chandelier socket kit

6″ copper pipe (1/2″ diameter — you can have this cut for you, or buy a standard length and use a pipe cutter to cut yourself)

90-degree copper elbow (1/2″ diameter)

1/2″ to 3/4″ copper coupling

3/4″ copper coupling (NOTE: All the copper pipe and pieces can be found at larger hardware stores like Ace, OSH, Home Depot, Lowe’s, etc., in the plumbing dept.)

high-gloss paint and foam paintbrush (any color you want, I chose sap green)

palm sander or sandpaper

drill with standard bit, 1.5″ boring bit (also known as a paddle bit) and a 1/2″ boring/paddle bit

25- to 40-watt chandelier-size lightbulb

Instructions

1. Sand your wood stump slice and cut the bottom edge of your branch with a saw to make a flat surface. Hold the branch over your wood stump to determine placement. I decided to set mine off-center for looks and to offset the arc of the lamp, but you could also place it in the center. Trace the branch with a pencil to mark the spot.

2. Use your 1.5″ boring bit to drill a circular hole in the center of where you traced the branch. Then switch to a small drill bit (1/8″ or smaller) to drill a small pilot hole directly through the center of the hole through the entire stump. This is the pilot hole for the screw or nail that you will embed from the bottom.

3. Place a good amount of wood glue onto the bottom of your branch and into the hole you made, then put the branch in place. Put tape around the base to secure it in place and set aside for the glue to dry. You may need to prop the branch against a wall to hold it in place while the glue dries.

4. Once the glue is dry, hammer a 2″ nail or screw a flathead screw into the base of the branch from the underside of the stump, using the pilot hole you pre-drilled. This is not necessarily needed, but I like to add it for extra stability on top of the glue.

5. Assemble your copper fittings and pipe together as shown below, and hold it up to the branch to determine where you want the pipe to extend. Mark the place on the branch where the pipe will come out, and also mark on the pipe where it hits the back of the branch to determine the correct length to cut the pipe.

6. Use your 1/2″ drill bit to drill straight through the branch. Drill slowly and carefully to avoid cracking the branch, and don’t go so far up the branch that the hole is almost the exact width of the branch; ideally, you want at least 1/4″ to 1/2″ clearance on the width. Use your pipe cutter to cut the pipe to length.

7a. Prepare your copper parts for assembly by removing stickers and cleaning them. Use scissors to gently strip 1″ of the lamp cord to expose the copper wires. If you examine your lamp cord, you will see that one of the cords has ridges and one side is completely smooth. You will also notice on your chandelier socket that one screw is brass/gold and the other is silver. Wrap the copper wire of the cord with ridges to the silver side, and wrap the copper wire of the smooth cord to the gold side (see second image below). Then slide the protective cardboard sleeve back over the socket.

7b. Now thread your 1/2″ to 3/4″ coupling onto the cord, with the larger side facing the socket, and slip it over the top of the socket. Slide your copper elbow onto the cord, as well, and fit the two copper pipes together. Then slide the last 3/4″ coupling over the cardboard sleeve so that the end of the copper coupling extends just a hair beyond the cardboard sleeve.

8. Slide your cord through the hole until the pipe reaches the branch, then wedge the pipe into the branch until it hits the back of the hole but does not extend out (see first image below). Then attach your small eye hooks so that the cord will match the curves of the branch. Thread the cord through the eye hooks.

9. Paint the top of your log with two to three even coats of high-gloss paint, allowing the paint to dry between coats. Tape up the cord during this process so it doesn’t get in the way.

10. Install the plug on the end of the lamp cord, using the same wiring technique from Step 7: Remove the rubber on the last 1″ to reveal copper wires and twist the copper around the screws, pairing the ridged cord with the silver screw and the smooth cord with the gold screw.

You’re done!

[jennawynn]

Enterprise Season 3! (Ep 1-6)

I've heard this is when the show figures itself out but uh...

Episode 1

Did they really change the music of the intro song?? I don't like it :joy:

...and T'Pol's outfit? Because she's not with High Command anymore? And the new command deck? And military.

Why do they put T'Pol in such skimpy clothing? And full on side-boob and her sleep pants are so low you can see butt. Everyone else gets to wear pajamas to work (Our coveralls in the Navy were similar to flight suits) but she's in bodysuits and skimpy sleepgear.

They've had a couple times they've tried to do some 'equal opportunity gaze' with Trip in his underwear, but it's not like they're putting him in a thong. Just 'standard issue' blue tanks and boxer-briefs (why does Starfleet have standard issue underwear?)

Episode 2- Anomaly

I'm starting to see why someone said that this show was affected by Post-9/11 culture. Everything already feels... harder. They killed Trip's sister so he can snap and get violent with people. They've got military on the ship. The Captain's threatening torture against a prisoner. Someone attacked Earth and now everyone's willing to do literally anything to stop it from happening again.

Ok, so not threatening.

As much as I was teasing about being bloodless, I don't like this turn.

Definitely figured they'd try to set up T'Pol with Trip since the pilot when they were doing the decon striptease. Looks like they just remembered the plan.

Episode 3- Extinction

Alien!Archer reminds me of Matt Mercer lmao.

Episode 4-

Ugh. Can we please go like 10 episodes without someone trying to force themselves on T'Pol please? I'm definitely seeing why I saw 'they did her dirty' so much in the few posts I've seen about this show.

Episode 5-

This is a perfect example of the most annoying thing about this show- when anything happens, the captain and 2-3 of his highest ranking officers go explore or investigate. Like they're disposable. And then, while the 1, 2, and 4th highest ranking bridge officers are away in a very dangerous mission, the 3rd decides to take the only other shuttle off on his own?? with the helmsman? And they break it, so it can't be used on a rescue? The only top officer left is Hoshi? What if something were to happen on the ship? There's a reason Generals don't lead from the front line. I get that it's a TV show and they only want to have like 7 actors in the show but JFC.

Episode 6-

Beauty and the Beast episode? Hoshi's uncomfortable with being here alone, so why does she show up in her nightgown/shift instead of her uniform?

Ew, gaslighting too? "I know your thoughts better than you do"??

This one's weird. Mixed messages again. Like 'look at this terrible thing they do to 1 in 500k people for something they can't control' but then 'oh no, it's ok because he's an incel anyway'.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Recent-ish TV/movie reboots I’ve watched:

- Arrested Development: Controversially, I thought season 4 was a work of art. Not the same thing as the first three seasons, but something else that was really good. The way everything started out of place and then fit together perfectly like a puzzle, the way you didn’t just get more out of it on a second watch, you were basically watching a whole new show because you had all the context. But then, I am really into things that fit together like a puzzle. In terms of pure comedy… it was good, not quite up to the standards of the first three, but to be fair, those are ridiculously high standards.

Season 5 was good too, and I was happy to have it, though I did rather like the narrative poetry in the idea of the whole show ending on Michael Cera finally punching his dad in the face at the end of season 4.

- Cobra Kai: So much fun. Okay, maybe not technically the best show out there, maybe technically a high school drama. But it’s so much fun. And gets a few things surprisingly true-to-life that I rarely see on screen, like how cycles of abuse work in coach/athlete relationships (God, the number of times I’ve been told to forgive the high school coach who treated my teammates and I like shit because his coach fucked him up first, there are solid bits of drama for TV shows there that so far have been mainly covered by Cobra Kai and The Mighty Ducks). But aside from that, it’s just done well. I love the way they got back nearly every significant actor from the original movies. The way they took the characters to places that felt like they made sense, weren’t exactly where they were before but weren’t wildly different either, it seemed like a logical progression. The balance of old characters with new ones. And the way they have fun with working in stuff from the movies. It’s great.

- Veronica Mars: The movie was okay. The fourth season was, in my mildly controversial opinion, pretty good. It didn’t live up to the standards of the first two seasons, but few things do, including the third season. Season 4 looks pretty good if you don’t see it as coming off the back of seasons 1 and 2, but instead remember that season 3 existed, so the reboot left it on a better note than that. Season 4 felt more true to the original characters than season 3 did, and it had better explanations for stuff. Also a lot of people got mad about the ending but I never liked her with Logan anyway so that was fine.

- Party Down: Fucking awesome. I finally watched this one recently, which is what prompted this post. I first rewatched seasons and 1 and 2, which reminded me of how very, very good this show was in the first place. And season 3 lived up to that, which is more than I could have hoped for. They found a way to keep around the old characters without changing the setting or keeping them stagnant. To let them grow but still be involved in this thing they were doing years ago. That is a tough needle to thread, given the original premise, and they did it so well. It felt like no time had passed, like all the actors and writers were excited to be back, like everyone still had passion for this. They brought in new characters who were funny in their own ways and it all felt natural.

- Toy Story: God, such an unnecessary reboot, just leave the old classics alone.

…Just kidding, obviously. Obviously. The third movie was magic and beautiful, it grew with the original audience without compromising the childlike wonder, the fourth didn’t quite live up to the standards of the third, but still good.

I might be forgetting something, but I think these are all the reboots I’ve seen, and given that, my personal view of rebooting old series is that it’s not nearly as bad as its reputation. However, I’m pretty sure I just got lucky in not seeing the bad ones.

[myfirstisthefourth]

Getting to Know Your BL Mutuals:

I was tagged by @piningbisexuals Thank you for the tag. It took some thought and effort because I've watched So Many BLs this year and Not Nearly All of the same ones others got to. I'm also not as eloquent describing things as @absolutebl or @piningbisexuals so y'all bear with me. 😁🙄👍❤️

rules: answer the questions and @ some people. include the tag 'g2ky BL mutuals 2022' on your post so we can find everyone's answer.

BLs That Took You by Surprise this year:

1) DNA Says Love You: Produced by Taiwan this one turned out quite different from what I expected based on the trailer and I mean that in a good way. It was a Beautiful story, well crafted and terrifically acted.

2) Color Rush 2: Korea picked up a new habit this year and started giving us sequels. Now, I know everyone was disappointed not to have the original couple back, but the way they continued the story was what I loved the most. They built on the first and got into more of the backgrounds and societies response to those who are different. A third installment is planned and I hope it gets made if only because I want to know what happens. 😁

3) On Cloud Nine: A Thai BL that almost no one watched I think. Another one that was not what you expected based on the trailer. I enjoyed it for it's unique storytelling, beautiful cinematography, and the twist you may or may not deduce along the way.

4) Blueming: Though produced by South Korea it was unlike the bulk of their BLs. There was more depth to the story, the actors were lovely, and it was shot Beautifully.

BLs that You Were Disappointed With:

I guess I'm lowbrow because I don't get disappointed a lot. I take it for what it is. That being said, there were a couple.

1) Check Out: I watched the entire series and it didn't help. They managed to take the great chemistry and UST of Ep 00 and turn it into a self indulgent whine-fest. It could have been so much better if they hadn't tried so hard shooting for depth and coming up far short imo.

2) Cupid's Last Wish: It pains me to put this one here because I Love EarthMix together. I also watched this entire series and at least they did get together in the end. They made Mix's character So Unlikeable...the Entire Time. And then the whole body swap business. It just didn't work well, all of it. A disappointing follow-up to 1000 Stars. I honestly hope their next series is better.

Favorite BLs of the Year:

1) Not Me: A Stellar series all around! I Love OffGun and I was so excited to see them in something so very different from their usual sort of roles. The fact that the series was truly risky for the amount of social commentary and impact it had only added to the enjoyment. The actors ALL Killed these roles and I was just left in awe watching them week after week. Seeing the awards piling up for this series here at the end of the year is also So Gratifying because They Deserve It!!

2) Kinneporsche: I didn't Just like it for the high heat. I truly enjoyed seeing a Different kind of story being done by Thailand. The relationships and the story were solid and enjoyable with plenty of twists and turns to keep us engaged. The acting was Marvelous, the Chemistry Insane, and I look forward to season 2...if it ever gets produced.

3) Semantic Error: Another South Korea BL that seemed to break the standard mold. Gorgeous Chemistry between the leads and an Unlikely love story made it a winner for me.

Favorite BL Couples:

I have Years of Favs but I'll stick to This year. LOL

1) OffGun is Always gonna be on this list. They just keep getting better and better.

2) OhmFluke have Had Me since UWMA and I am So Happy we're getting More of them this year.

3) EarthMix I Love their chemistry in general and I Know they have the acting chops to pull off great work. Just hoping for some better stories for them

4) BossNouel A Totally new pair this year, they Ate their roles Up with Tantalizing chemistry. I hope we see More from them.

5) MileApo and BibleBuild They crafted relationships that made an impact with Superb acting and Unreal chemistry. Give them More to do because they are up to it.

6) Kim Ji Woong & Yoon Seo Bin They have been Marvelous together this year. So Enjoyable! Korea gave us two very different series with them and we can only hope they'll give us more.

7) BounPrem got my attention in UWMA and I am Thrilled to finally be seeing them in their own series to follow-up on UWMA. I have loved seeing them all over this year, in Brilliant cameos and short series alike.

Non BL Favorites This Year

Some of these are gonna be Bromance we Wish Were BL but I enjoyed them all the same. Also, some may have been produced in 2021 but I just got to watch them this year.

1) Devil Judge: Just Wow! A Dystopian drama from Korea with an Insane story and Brilliant acting, it kept me on the edge of my seat until the end.

2) Remember You: A Thai drama with Tay Tawan, Petch, and Aun. Another one that kept me on the edge of my seat. An intense murder mystery series with family drama and the unexpected thrown in.

3) Kei & Yaku: Abunei Aibou: Japan gave us a Great show with this one. A cop and a Yakuza boss have to join forces and Wow! This is one I Wish they would give us a sequel for just to have More of them together

4) Under the Skin: A Chinese drama that very much gave me Sherlock vibes. A cop and a Forensic artist are forced to work together despite a rocky history but the unique skill of the artist makes all the difference to their cases. Loved it!

Tagging @negrowhat @meglaroque @heretherebedork @earthpodd @mysticmerc-awesome and @skaryneko

[dailyaudiobible]

12/11/2022 DAB Transcript

Amos 4:1-6:14, Rev 2:18-3:6, Ps 130:1-8, Pr 29:21-22

Today is the 11th day of December, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian, it is great to be here with you today as we step through the threshold into a brand-new, shiny, sparkly week. It's all out in front of us like it always is, like it always has been, it’s a bit of a hectic time of year. So, it's nice for us to know that there is a reset here, a brand-new week, and this happens to be the third Sunday in the season of Advent. Advent being a season on the Christian calendar, it's not in the Bible, it’s just a season on the Christian calendar, a season that is intended to prepare our hearts and allow us to consider the arrival, which is what Advent means, the arrival of the Savior into the world. And what a monumental shift it was for His arrival. Nothing has been the same since then. So, we…we certainly observed that and pay attention to that. This is the week where the joy candle would be lit, like if you have an Advent calendar, not calendar. I said that last week. Advent candle wreath at your church and you’re lighting the Advent calendar, candles, or if you have an Advent candle wreath at your house and you’re lighting those, then this would be the third one. This week represents joy. Joy to the world and we focus on the joy of the arrival of the Savior as we contemplate this…this week. So, that's where we are in the year. There are only four Sundays in this season of Advent, and this is the third one. So, I guess we kind of know where we are in the trajectory here. But we are in a new week and this week we will read from the English Standard Version and obviously we will do what we always and only do, we’ll pick up right where we left off. It's been our mission to read every book, every chapter, every verse, every word in the Bible and so we’re picking up where we left off, we’re not skipping anything. And that that we’ll lead us back into the book of Amos, today chapters four, five and six.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. Thank You for a brand-new week. Thank You for the season that we are in, the season of Advent and this third Sunday of joy and it is our intention to focus upon joy this week, bring the joy of Your Holy Spirit into our lives. May we experience joy to the world, goodwill toward men. And even as we continue our journey through the different books that we will encounter this week, we ask for Your wisdom, Your direction, Your guidance, Your instruction, Your leadership. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hi, this is Delights in Me. And I’m calling in response to People on the Water. I want you to know that I will be praying for you. I remember what it was like being in college, my, I went for a year and a half and then I quit. My mom had passed away so, that was hard for me. That was a very hard time for me. But I remember also it being a very, when you’re a young adult, it’s easy to feel very lost because all of a sudden, you’re able to make these decisions for yourself and when you’re in high school and years before that, everyone's got a routine for you. But I want to encourage you that you will find your right path. I was thinking about it, it’s kind of like hiking. I like to hike; I don’t know if you do. But sometimes you get traveling down the wrong trail, you lose the markers, but you have to just go back to where you, where you find the markers again. And I think for you, that’s going home. And even when you get lost and you lose those markers, God is with you and he’s gently telling you go this way. And I think He’s telling you right now, go home. And that’s good. I believe you’re hearing from God. And you will find your way. Just because you’re not doing what other people are doing by going to college, it’s just that God has a different path for you. So, hand in there. You’re not lost. Okay. Love you. Bye.

Hello People on the Water in Indiana. This is Right Where I’m Supposed to Be in St. Louis. When your father’s request for you played yesterday, on December 6th, I prayed for you. Because I know that being new in college, it’s a hard time in life in trying to figure out what’s going on. I work at a college, I work with lots of college students, particularly 1st year college students. And many of them are confused and aren’t sure what they’re gonna do and what they’re gonna study. But the one thing I keep telling them and this is what I’m gonna continue to tell, I’m gonna tell you and I’m praying for you. I pray that you have the courage to keep moving forward. Keep moving forward, not only with your relationship with God and reading your Bible and staying apart of the DAB but also keep forward, keep moving forward in what you’re doing. That might mean keep moving forward in college. Maybe you stay in college, and I know in my story while I did not end up doing the thing that I studied in college, it opened all kinds of doors and opportunities for me to lead me to where I am today. I don’t have time to tell you my whole story but keep moving forward. I pray that you have the courage to do that. I also know that the mental anguish can be strong and can be overwhelming and I think the one of the things that is gonna get you through that is to keep moving forward. Keep your eyes on Jesus.

Brian and family, DAB listeners, thank you for your ministry over the last couple months. This is the Road Toad. I have a reading to share with you. I wrote to my wife; it’s called The Garden. I’ve been listening to the word, getting real with God and He with me. I’m ugly. When we married, God gave me a brand-new garden to nurture and care for. I was to keep the weeds down, trim off the dead branches, and keep undesirable vegetation out so my garden could flourish. You know the result. My self-pity, low self-esteem, doubts, fears and weaknesses brought the weeds and undesirables in. I failed to tend the garden given to me. Crushed the flowers, trampled the fruit, allowed the weeds in, I did not water. My most precious flower has wilted, and my garden is suffering. I have failed. I am sorry, I am ashamed. I ask forgiveness for failing. I ask that I be allowed to remain in this garden and to work to be bring back beauty. I promise, I’ll rely on the master Gardner for his help. When I shared this her, she said, now maybe healing can begin. I messed up a time or two since, but I ask for your prayers, and I ask for the Lord’s intervention for much beauty can come out of this relationship. Thank you.

Hello, this is Mike from South Dakota. Just calling in on the December 8th broadcast. Duane from Wisconsin called in and said that his son, who he hadn’t heard from in about a year, said he heard from him. Said he was doing good. You know, Duane, you’ve prayed for our kids and us a lot and I appreciate it. And I’ve been praying for your kids. I’m glad to hear they’re doing good. My… my adult children are doing real well. And I thank God for that. Something that I would like to have everybody pray for, my mom, she is 94. She had a full-time caretaker. But that person is no longer able to take care of her. So, my sister is gonna move her into a very nice, very good, very expensive rest home. But she has enough money left that she can afford to live there. So, praise God for that. So, just pray that everything all goes well. Everything I’ve asked you folks to pray for is all resolved very well. And I’ve sure prayed for all of you, all these years, many, many years. I thank God for this ministry; it has been a life-giving thing to my wife and I. I love ya’ll. Praying for Blind Tony and all of the people that come on very often and offer so much. I don’t come on very much. But I love ya’ll. Adios.

Deep Dive into the Book of Revelation:

Part 2

Okay, so as we go through the book of Revelation, it's important that we try to keep our place and that we try to approach with new ears and what I mean by that is the book of Revelation has a lot swirling around it. A lot of people think of it as the scary book of the Bible because it has to do with the end and its full of symbolism. People try to make that symbolism a lot of things. And so, there's incredibly diverse interpretation. So, we need to try to keep track. So, basically where we are, is that John is on the island of Patmos. And he hears a trumpet call, and he turns around and there is seven golden lampstands with Jesus in the middle of them, holding seven stars. And Jesus tells John to write down what he hears, what he sees. And we learn that these lampstands represent seven specific churches, not churches that are symbols, actual real churches that exist at this time. So, as John is basically taking this dictation from Jesus and writing the words that he has to say to these churches down, we see that these little notes or letters to the individual churches are addressed to the angel of that church. Although there are several interpretations, we think these Angels of the church are the leaders of the church, churches because the letters are specific to what's going on in the church. And yesterday, we read the three different letters to the first of the three churches: Ephesus, Smyrna and Pergamum. Today we read the letters to Thyatira and Sardis. And then tomorrow we’ll read the last remaining two letters, to the last two remaining churches. And so, to the church at Thyatira Jesus encourages them that He knows, He knows their works, what they're doing. He knows their love; He knows their faithfulness and service and even their endurance and He says that their last works are greater than their first. So, in other words, they’re growing in this, they’re living into it. They're doing better now than they were when they started, which is an incredible complement. But Jesus does have a problem with the church at Thyatira and it's basically the same problem with the church at Pergamum, they’re holding onto the faith, and they have no problem engaging the culture, but that has led to the problem that they are too engaged, and things are seeping back into the church that shouldn't be there. Jesus describes that by saying you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and teaches and deceives my slaves to commit sexual immorality and eat meat sacrificed to idols. So, we don't know if there is actually a woman named Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess in this church or if Jesus is simply talking about the behavior of Jezebel found in the Old Testament stories about her. Because Jezebel led…led God's people away into Bale worship, which also led them into sexual immorality. But anyway, there's someone or some people who are following this someone that are in the church and this kind of behavior is being tolerated. Thyatira was an economic hub at the time and was a working city and there were trade workers. There were many trades to keep a city and region going. These trade workers would collect themselves together in guilds and these guilds would be communities of people who did the same kind of work. So, people knew each other and live together in community. These guilds would have their own customs. For example, there would be like a patron God or deity of the Guild. So, if the trade was iron working, for example, then there would be a God that would overlook that whole process. And so, no matter what other gods might be worshiped in the home, these people would worship that God, the God of the Guild. And if you refused to do that, then you can see how quickly you could be ostracized and economically impacted, blacklisted. And so, people would assimilate, they would belong to the church and worship Jesus, but then go to their guild and worship that God because it was required in the culture and then maybe they would visit other temples and feasts and do all kinds of rituals and things and then show up for church and worship day. And so, we can see it was…it was just as hard, if not harder for them to be in the world but not of it as it is for us and they’re trying to figure this all out. But some churches are taking this too far. So, we’ve seen references to Balam, to the Nicolaitan, to this Jezebel prophetess person or people and it stems from a teaching that this world is passing away, and our human experience in it, in exchange for a new world and a new glorified body and the family of God. And so, while that's being awaited it's a free-for-all and the cultic practices of the culture are seeping their way back into the church in the guise of freedom in Christ. So, this was going on in Pergamum. This is also going on in Thyatira by the wording of the letter, it looks like it was going on longer in Thyatira than it had been in Pergamum, because in the letter to Thyatira Jesus talking about judgment and He is saying time is past. Specifically, He says I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality. So, she’s going to get sick and those who commit adultery with her are going to fall in the tribulation, and it’s not going to go well. So, Jesus is calling out a specific group of people in the church that are…that are living this way and then he closes the letter by talking to everyone else. Those who are not by telling them that there is no additional burden for them. In other words, there's nothing else you're doing it right. Well done. And that brings us to the letter to the church in Sardis. And the thing going on in Sardis seems to be similar to what is going on in Ephesus, the light or the witness of the gospel of Jesus is going out and Jesus is fairly frank with them. I know your works, you have a reputation for being alive, but your dead, so wake up. Be vigilant, be alert, strengthen what you've got left because it is about to die and you haven't finished your mission, repent. Remember what you heard in the beginning. Remember what you received and heard and keep it and repent. Cause if you don't wake up, if you're not alert, I'll come like a thief, and you have no idea when, when that will be. And in this letter, Jesus says you have no idea, you have no idea at what hour I will come against you. With the church in Ephesus, Jesus said, if he has to do that, He'll remove the lampstand. In other words, the light will go out. So, we can probably assume that what Jesus is saying to the church in Sardis is similar. So, we’ve gone through five little letters, to five different churches and there are different things that are going on in these churches and they all seem to boil back to the question, how do I be in the world and not of it. In the case of some of these churches, they’re true, there holding very, very true, but because of the marginalization of the culture that they’re in, they aren’t able to shape and shift the culture. They're not how in the world showing a better way. They're getting every conceivable opposition and it's making them grow smaller and quieter. They’re being true, but they’re also basically being invisible. And then the other side of that, you have churches that are out and engaging, and kind of showing that hey, we Christians we’re people too, we can do all things you can do, we’re just part of this, we just have a different way of looking at things. But the end result is rather than shaping culture and being a positive influence in showing a better way, the opposite is happening, and they’re being shaped and it's seeping back into the church. So, Sardis is one of the churches that is growing smaller and invisible, and they have a lot of pressure. The Jews are very vocal about denouncing the Christian faith, very, very much about the business of trying to differentiate Christianity with Judaism, and the Jewish community in Sardis was large and influential, one of the most important in the entire region. And so, they have cultural opposition and then they have spiritual or religious opposition, as well. And they're finding it easier just to keep their mouth shut and be together, rather than to shine bright and be a light in the darkness because that will likely only amp up the opposition, and that could lead to death, persecution, marginalization, blacklisting all of the things that would bring suffering. So, we still have two more letters to two more churches to read but we’re getting a pretty good overview of what's going on in these churches and we see that these are still issues that we have to face today. How can I be in this world but not of it? And the picture that we’re getting from Jesus is that remaining true is very, very important, critical, crucial but also crucial is the outflow of that. We are the salt of the earth, the light of the world, we’re not just here to stay true and wait for the world to change. We’re here to stay true and change the world. And those are different things. So, Father, we bring that question to you. How are we being in the world but not of the world. What is shaping us and what are we shaping? And what is out of balance? And we acknowledge that this is different for each one of us. We are in an individual relationship with You walking with You and this is different for each of us were in all kinds of cultures and in all kinds of contexts, but it does boil down to what we are allowing to shape us and what we are vigilantly trying to shape. And we invite You into the that question. Holy Spirit, speak to us we ask in Jesus name. Amen.

[esandcasg]

Films Vs Series

I remember some time ago that we had discussions about the above. The two of you were keen to persuade me of the merits of a drawn-out series over a one-off movie - I suppose the potential long-term joy of it, and the deeper development of character and story over time. I eventually relented, mostly due to lockdown boredom, and so I started with Breaking Bad. Or was it Stranger Things?

Following those, I have wound up watching a fair number of things - Succession; Better Call Saul; Cobra Kai; Umbrella Academy; Ozark; A number of Star Wars entries; etc...

Varying degrees of success, but some of them have indeed been enjoyable...for a time.

See, I think a problem I ultimately have with these series is that they eventually seem to run out of ideas, the writing gets weaker, or the concept simply loses interest for me.

Ozark, I was really enjoying until the second half of the final season - it felt as though they'd been given notice to wrap it up, and it had to be hurried to a conclusion. A very poor conclusion.

Succession, I have mentioned to both of you that it just became quite circular in the end - I don't think they left themselves much room for where the story could go. What started in Season 1 should probably not have gone further than Seasons 2 or 3.

Breaking Bad, for me, took an eternity to properly take off. I think it was midway through Season 4, when Hank found the old mobile lab. Each season saw Jessie develop from being a douche, to being a worthy companion to Walt. And then the new Season would start with him as a douche, again! Although the final season had some absolutely riveting episodes, I still couldn't quite decide whether they wanted Walt as a dislikeable villain, or an anti-hero to root for. Maybe that was intentional, I do appreciate that. But the final episode just depicted him as McGuyver!

Better Call Saul...got boring. I just wanted it to finish, but for some reason I did stick it out!

Stranger Things - actually, that's picked up again to quite a high standard. Season 3 I was profoundly frustrated by, but 4 really was excellent again. I really do hope that they can maintain that, and give it a worthy finish. I'd also like to see them make that "Sister" episode have some relevance, rather than just ret-con it into not existing. High hopes, though!

So I think that a film will always have that distinct advantage of being a self-contained story. There is a singular vision of a world, characters, and story. The writing perhaps has an intensity and focus that won't have time to run out of steam. I can invest in something for a couple of hours, and be completely satisfied.

Sometimes this does get spoiled, when they try to extend into sequels - The Matrix, I'm looking at you! Or when other directors/writers try to run with something - Alien, for example. Terminator. Star Wars, need we say more. Results can be mixed. But a great stand-alone film will always be that great stand-alone film - The Matrix. The others, if I try really hard in my head, can be ignored. T2.

But now I'm at a stage in life where I find it extremely difficult to find those longer gaps for films. So a series is more digestible. I can squeeze it in. I can continue to watch something to a finish, simply because I have nothing better to do for that hour. But I think I will always be more of a film fan at heart. Save the odd exception, these are what have moved and inspired me most consistently over the years, probably. Films that I have gone back to repeatedly.

"The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long"

T Man

[stevestonbike]

99.9 km.

My goal was 100 but I miscalculated the length of a Stanley Park Loop. Or my GPS got "lost" for a bit.

Previously I did an extra loop of the Park and it added 10 km to my ride and gave me 82ish km instead of the previous 72km. That was 10 more. I did two additional which should have given me 102km but no. The more loops I did, they shorter they got?

My town is FLAT. To find hills I need to go to one of the cities or towns adjacent. They are not far so it is fine. I live on a river delta between two arms of the mighty Fraser River in British Columbia. It is notable in that it does not have a dam across it or its tributaries. Not that it has not been considered. But it has fish which we like to eat.

Richmond BC has some dikes around it here and there as the river can get high and there are tides. The dikes are maybe 2 or three meters. If I want hills I cross a bridge or two.

Vancouver sits on lots of rock. Granite and the like. A gazzilion years ago there were volcanoes which also left us mountains on the North Shore. Vancouver has hills up to 95 m high. Stanley Park is a rocky peninsula just across an inlet from the North Shore mountains. Two cities are on the North Shore both built on the sides of eroded ancient volcanos. Lovely to look at. So there are the places you go for elevation.

Loops of Stanley Park are good as it is what is called rolling terrain, but in the middle there is a good hill. Early in the season I am happy to climb it at 10 kph. Lately I bumped up to 14 kph. I was high 200s to mid 300s of Watts now. So yes this is summer shape. I did 4 laps of the circuit.

I am two weeks away from the Whistler Granfondo. I know I am fit for it now. I just need to keep it. Tribal knowledge is if you are good for 100 you are good for 20% more on an event day. I will probably add 20 km of riding to get to the start, but that is just warm up.

I have been avoiding going very far from home as I am nervous about flats. I had one and the repair went badly. My standard back up plan is staying where my wife can find me in her car if I get stranded. The North shore is tricky. Stanley Park and UBC are easy.

Since the flat I have a new back tire and just replaced a tube that started to leak. It was old with a couple of patches. Put in a new one. It takes a bit of time to get confident with new rubber.

With Deep dish wheels the length of the tube stem is tricky. I have 50mm rims and the new tube is 60mm stem. That is barely enough. My old tube had a much longer stem like 100mm. Those are hard to find.

On the fondo route they have people patrolling on bikes and motorcycles with tires and tubes and pumps. So keeping fairly close to home until the big day.