#stand by my sa theory btw

[joeyclaire]

also i’m playing hiveswap act 1 again after a long time and i’m so struck by how heavily dammek’s abuse hangs over xefros’ head who knows how fucked up he could’ve been if joey never showed up

[ladymorghul]

Hello there! I’m the anon who couldn’t  understand why and how the brothel situation could foreshadow al*smond. Thank you very much for answering my question. Hope you wouldn’t mind me sending yet another ask. BTW I’m really happy I finally found an ANTI-a*smond friendly space.

Frankly speaking, I will be disappointed if in se2, Aemond’s “relationship” with A*ys is pictured as an overly romantic love story. From what we know from the books, she was literally his s*x slave, watched him butcher her entire family and had every right to, well, not reciprocate Aemond’s feelings even if he actually developed some kind of twisted fondness for her. As you mention, power imbalance between them was at least disturbing. Personally, I hope their relationship in the show would be much like the Melisandre and Stannis situation.

As for A*ys’ age… Well, from the books we learn she looked much younger than 40. The actress cast for this role is in her early 30s. I wonder if Aemond was generally attracted to women twice his age, which is why he spared her, or when he took A*lys as his POW, he thought she was like 7-10 years older than him?  Much as I believe it’s totally fine if you have the “Aemond was a milf hunter” headcanon and enjoy creating such content. However, I don’t understand why and how the “Aemond was into much older women HEADCANON” should debunk the helaemond theory. Personally, I really like helaemond, although I doubt this relationship will be confirmed as show canon. But on the other hand, why should Aemond’s (for want of a better word) romantic interests’ age be the only thing that attract him to them? Maybe those are just my headcanons, but I think Aemond and Helaena have something in common. For example, they both have a streak (Aemond is interested in history and philosophy and Helaena is into biology/entomology) and experienced se*ual abuse. In addition, it seems pretty in-character for !show Aemond to become fascinated with his sister simply because she’s a dragon dreamer. Also, why wouldn’t he want to gently make out with someone who’s an ethereal, melancholic girl approximately his age and not a curvy, dark-haired s*x worker, much older than him. And, most importantly, no one forces him to sleep with her Or maybe teenage Aemond simply needs someone who’d stand by his side and stroke his arm when he’s stressed 😊?

Those are just my thoughts. Thank you for sharing your rants ant theories on this amazing blog. Hope this time I made myself more clear. English is not my first language.

hey there 😇 no problem

i think you're right in that it's very plausible to assume he would find comfort in helaena who has a similar experience to him when it comes to SA and considering that we're shown aegon being annoying to aemond when they're young, and aemond standing up for helaena, we can easily guess he relates to her better than he does aegon. and vice versa.

and when they're older, when aemond walks in the room in episode 9, helaena literally lights up at the sight of him. throughout the second part of the show you can see they're closer to each other than they are to aegon.

in general, i think anyone writing off helaemond completely as being this insanely impossible ship is doing so out of spite and i think the reason alysm*nds portray him as an exclusively milf hunter is because of they relate more to the idea of al*s that they have (not a noble, witch trope, so special that she catches the eye of a prince). and they're weirdly posessive with aemond's character... which is just a character.

[absolutebl]

Hey! I have two questions to ask you if you don't mind! Sorry for pestering you with kinda stuff but you are real insightful and help me to sort out my own internal feelings on things!

Is it just me or do very, VERY few BL's ever manage to stick an engaging,solid ending?

Out of all the BL's I've watched, the only ones I can name that truly nailed the ending imo are:

- HIStory 3: Trapped (imo. I know the ambiguity isn't appealing to you.)

- Bad Buddy

- My Beautiful Man

- His (The Movie)

- Blueming (The series itself is rife with pacing issues to me, but I think it stuck the ending really good.)

- Gaya Sa Pelikula

Some can come close enough for me;

- Theory of Love (yeah, yeah, I hate Khai too but the ending was nice imo)

- ITSAY/IPYTM

- TMS1 (suffers a bit from the HDS's consistent struggle with pacing towards the latter end of all her work )

- Old Fashion Cupcake (so close!!!)

- Restart After Come Back Home

- Cherry Magic

Most BL's introduce nonsense conflicts towards the end of the series with the Epsiode 11 drama (shivers in 2gether). I can't stand it when the final conflict comes out of LITERALLY nowhere instead of having been a continued issue that is resolved towards the end (think Cherry Magic, Utsukushii Kare, Bad Buddy, etc.)

Going further, they never seem...satisfying for whatever reason and I can't pinpoint why that is. I'm not necessarily left wanting more but feel like what I was given was unsatisfactory. Think a more subtle version of the feeling of seeing Vee/Maek end up together in the En of Love version (or Khai/Third for you I guess).

I wonder looking at it now if my hatred for the seme/uke trope has spoilt so many couples for me that I find any ending where they get together as unsatisfactory (I love The Effect btw. Can you guess why lmao?). All the shows in my best list are either very low on Seme/uke dynamics or have a very soft seme archetype (Blueming) / very unique seme archetype (MBM).

God I should just get over this contempt of seme/uke fuckery. Its ruined so much for me (from WBL, to UWMA).

Know how? Also, is there any particular reason you see as for why BL's fail to stick the landing? Or am I making this up?

Second question is simple. Why do BL couples often become boring when they get together and are happy? Is it just that the chase is over? And if so, what can be done to keep such a story engaging if anything at all?

Now that I read this back, it definitely isn't two questions as much as a set of compound ones but eh, here goes nothing.

Is my unhinged ranting coherent at all?

Honestly you named a lot of ones that I dinged points specifically because I didn’t like their endings. Old Fashion Cupcake and Cherry Magic would probubly have been 10/10 for me if the characters had just kissed at the end. And I say this totally aware of Japanese cinematic traditions that dictated why they wouldn’t, I’m just grumpy. 

To answer the second question first:

Why do BL couples often become boring when they get together and are happy? Is it just that the chase is over? And if so, what can be done to keep such a story engaging if anything at all?

Yes. This is the problem every romance series contends with. This is why most romances end with the couple getting together (sex, engagement, marriage), This is why I don’t like second seasons, they usually have to separate or break up the couple to give the story tension. 

And now... your unhinged ranting!

It makes perfect sense, and I think you either 

don't really like 3 act structure (did you watch a lot of anime growing up, per chance? maybe not so much (or really dislike) Disney stuff?) or, 

more likely, you don't actually like romance.

Not the idea of romance, but the classic romance novel beats and pacing. The Taiwanese and Thai stuff in particular tends to stick to that consistently. (Hence the ep 11 crisis of doom, AKA the unnecessary break up.)

Korea has a western romance aesthetic but they often shoe-horn in 4 act structure, which is why we get that (to me) super weird disjointed thing in Kdramas where they break up the couple (or separate them with time/distance) in the last 1/3 of the final episode and the rush this odd reunion thing in the last 10 minutes. I find this maddening, but it does mean that their non-BL billed and early gay short stuff might appeal to you. 

You don't mention it but Thousand Stars is probubly the most classically paced and executed romance novel in BL form that we have ever gotten. How’d you feel about that ending. I’d also be interested in your thoughts on Seven Days (of course) as that’s Japan’s version of the perfect love story. 

I think you probubly like more experimental narratives and arthouse cinema styles. I’d encourage you to check out short form BL, especially those from Strongberry (Korea) on GaGa. Also Dark BL depending on your squick factor. 

But honestly from what you said it seems like you’re a prime candidate for the following:

Moody Arthouse Smackdoodle

Your Name Engraved Herein (Taiwan 2020 Netflix) - this movie is fantastic but it is also seriously depressing, it’s a self acceptance journey, but if you wanna wallow in high quality acting and serious gay drama, this’ll do it. It’s nto a super sad ending, it’s not happy either. 

Goodbye Mother AKA Thua Me Con D (Vietnam 2019 Netflix) - like YNEH this is a great movie but it deals openly with homophobia, bashing, family trauma and social acceptance.

The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese AKA Kyuso wa Chizu no Yume wo Miru (Japan 2020) - obsession, cheating, breakup, reunion, then break up again, explicit, grey characters and grey concepts including morality. 

Pornographer movie series - AKA The Novelist, Mood Indigo, Pornographer Playback (Japan 2018-2020) emotional manipulation, cheating, obsession, seduction, May/December (age gap AKA younger/older), kink, touch of necrophilia, explicit, complicated but ultimately... not sad.  

Method (Korea 2017) - May/December, actor idol pairing, that should have been everything I wanted in life but it’s more about the actor cheating on his wife and their weird “artsy” relationship and frankly, I hated this. And I don’t say that lightly. The chemistry and acting can’t be faulted though and the story is... interesting. 

His the series AKA I Didn’t Think I Would Fall In Love (Japan 2019) - boy goes to visit his absent father ends up kinda homeless on the beach gets adopted by local family falls in love with the boy working and living with them. Lots of long drawn out glances. Wistfully pretty. 

Innocent (Taiwan 2021 GaGa) - mental health, childhood trauma, actually kinda sweet.

Does the Flower Bloom? (Japan 2018) - this is a May/December romance about an artist student and the house he inherits from his recently dead parents and all the people around him who are obsessed with him, including an older man. 

Dark Blue and Moonlight (Taiwan 2017) - maybe? You like some of my least favorites, so this might be your thing. I sure as shit wasn’t mine but also it HAD ME HOOKED even though I didn’t want that. It’s the warped version of a CEO romance. 

Also the “it’s a BL but I make no case for it” category: 

Life: Love on the Line (Japan) - you would probubly NOT like the directer’s cut (which I prefer, of course) that ending is too saccharine, so go for the original. 

Silhouette of Your Voce (Japan) You are one of the few people I think would really like this one. 

Not Me (Thailand) - you don’t mention it but I assume you’ve seen it 

Manner of Death (Thailand) - same 

3 Will be Free (Thailand) - same, if not, watch this next  

What Did You Eat Yesterday? (Japan) - there is not plot, so yeah, maybe that’ll work for ya? 

Long Time No See (Korea) - SO GOOD, but edgy and twisted too 

DNA Says Love You (Taiwan) - maybe. This one is... odd and oddly paced. 

Joujou Pure Heart (Japan 2010) 

Great Men Academy (Thailand) 

Oh right and the bromance dirty half dozen:

Untamed

Word of Honor 

The Guardian 

Devil Judge 

SCI Mysteries 

All of these have ambiguous ends, and ambiguous (cough cough not gay)  relationships. 

[valeriemperez]

As an objective reviewer, what did you really think of 5x6? I can't tell if I'm letting my disdain for Danielle cloud my judgment or if I should try to rewatch it. I have seen all of the bad reviews and even saw a youtuber who is firmly anti-Iris say its the worst episode of the series but sometimes those things can be the result of group think. Lol sorry for rambling, I'm just so flabbergasted and confused about this episode especially when the last five were so good :(

Personally, I was bored. I rewatched the episode in order to write my review, and objectively (as objective as I can be) I think the problem is that they: 

A) Focused too much on the “science” side of the experiments and why Caitlin and Thomas’ alter egos might be different.B) Placed the emotional emphasis on a relationship we’ve never seen before - Caitlin and Thomas - and that we had never even heard about before two episodes ago. It would have been stronger to have Carla there, and for her and Caitlin to make up after Caitlin realizes her mother was protecting her from Icicle, etc.

Are you going to update the women’s screentime for episode 6?

Just did!

Honestly GG doesn’t seem that close to any of the cast save TC. He mostly keeps to himself while they film and doesn’t seem to hang out with anyone unless it’s something TC arranged for GG to go to. I think left to his own devices GG would stay in his condo and do his own thing. I think that’s what throws people off cause as the lead you’d think GG would be the center of the cast social life like SA. For whatever reason that’s just not who GG is but I get it frustrates people.

Yeah, I definitely think Tom C. is his favorite person in the cast, but he’s generally not a social butterfly like you said.

I just knew the GG apologists were going to be in your inbox. I don’t doubt they are friends, but after watching that video CP tweeted today, he and the other white actors around her are apart of the problem. I will always be grateful to him for advocating WA, but why all of the silence now? Why all of the public weirdness? She is the only one he treats like that. He didn’t even show support for the rag doll actor, who btw, sang his praises more than once. Ellen Pompeo is the ally CP deserves.

I don’t think they’re being particularly weird in public, given that we haven’t really seen them out in public. They seemed fine in the one video we saw on them at the party, for example. But he has been quiet about the show for the most part, I just don’t think it’s specifically directed at or about Candice.

Agree about Ellen, though! Candice could have used way more supportive costars, but thankfully she’s out here succeeding anyway.

Tati, I’m a butthead so I’m on anon 😝 I wonder who that one cast mate could be? The wannabe female lead perhaps…? The fake feminist that has been trying to erase CP’s presence on the show since S1. The been in the game forever chick that still can’t act. I could go on, but I think we all know who the one person is.

LMAO, who ever could you mean????

People are upset because Grant isn’t as openly supportive of Candice as they feel he should be. Honestly, of late he hasn’t seemed to be supportive of much. The show, his friends/family, etc. I think something is going on with him (personally). However, as long as he make it do what it do when he’s on screen with my girl CP making those 😍🥰 and rubbing her unnecessarily so WA continues to be a healthy interracial RL I don’t care if her supports her on sm or not. That’s what we as fans do. #IWDS

This is my thought too. He hasn’t been supporting much other than his skateboards lol. I wish he was more openly supportive of her and that the cast as a whole made their interactions more available for public consumption, but it’s also not something I’m hung up on. They are the way they are, and I wouldn’t trade (almost) any of them.

To me it wasn’t obvious that CP wanted to stand on that side of the cake since she kept looking over to the other side, which was already crammed. I agree that sometimes people project their own feelings into a situation (I’ve read some pretty wild theories about GG snobbing CP bc she’s not in a RL and he dislikes single people) but what we’ve seen of GG and CP outside of SM is positive. We got ONE video from the party and it was good. He’s horrendous on SM though. Don’t care if CP agrees or not

You are 100% right that we’re all projecting, lol. We don’t know them and we only see a tiny sliver of their lives, which they have chosen to show us.

Couldn’t it just be that Candice was standing on the right side of the room to begin with so she just went to the right side of the cake where Danielle N and JPK went too. I don’t think she’s so bothered by DP that she wouldn’t stand next to Grant, Carlos, or Tom because DP was there. I mean we have to remember that Candice is in the same room with DP everyday at work. It’s not like they explode if they get close.

It totally could be that, lol. 

[alliahvega]

crash course: ust-fop-mt MAJOR courses & profs that i’ve had so far

1st year - 1st sem:

general chemistry (aka chem100, genchem)

topics: importance of chemistry, matter, laboratory apparatus, laboratory protective wear&conduct, significant figures, atomic structure, electronic configuration, separation techniques, periodic table, compounds, cations and anions, chemical formula writing, lewis structure & molecular geometry, chemical bonds, intermolecular forces, mole, kinetic molecular theory, gas laws, basic types of chemical reaction, stoichiometry, concentration units, titration (basic), types of aqueous solution, electrochemistry, calorimetry.

      chem100 lecture (aka chem100lec, lec, chemlec - in general)

      ma’am suratos: age is ((she’s old na)) ok. she’s a very nice and may mom vibes. has favoritism, pero she gives fair grades - kaya work hard. yes, she fails students BUT that’s her last option - if wala talaga then wala. she absolutely HATES cheating. ayaw niya sa claretiano, pero though my class has the most claretians sa block, she rlly likes us. fast-paced magturo pero if you listen magegets mo naman. she always sets a first impression, so ‘pag negative na yung dating mo sa kanya, prove her wrong and she’ll like you so. her quizzes are easy, exams... saks lang, basta you studied.

doesn’t use powerpoint.

     chem100 laboratory (aka chem100lab, chemlab, lab)

     sir paulin: mid 40s na ata si sir. he was the partner of ma’am suratos sa lab namin so we had like two profs there. his lessons are straight to the point, and since tandem sila ni ma’am saamin - his discussion became somehow easy kasi ma’am will discuss it instead pero i heard na it’s hard to understand what he teaches so... gdluck. my first impression of him: masungit. he hated us on the first day kasi no one was listening to him, so like pinahirapan niya kami on the first few weeks pero naglaho rin yung hatred kasi may favorite siya sa class namin HAHA. he’s nice really on the inside, he doesn’t frequently fail his students. his quizzes are hard if you didn’t study, and honestly mas nahirapan ako sa chemlab rather than chemlec (and mas mababa rin ako sa lab). he kinda has a lisp, when using the letter “s” ahem like me.

-btw, ang hirap makinig ng lesson kapag nasa **central lab kayo, just saying.

             **central lab (central laboratory), located near dapitan side. if ‘di pa obvious, this is a laboratory building.

sometimes uses powerpoint.

introduction to medical technology (aka mt1a)

topics: 

     ma’am ruby: she’s a graduated from ust-medtech also, topped at rank 19 on the mt boards last 2005 ata??? she bases her lessons and powerpoints on the book that she co-wrote: “introduction to medical technology practice in the ph setting.” it’s a small book lang and can be bought in dapitan c&e, it’s not required pero since it’s a major and is my program, i bought it. quizzes and exams are all based on her powerpoint = book, it’s always memorization yung tipong super super overload. we would often have cancelled quizzes/meetings kasi she’s a busy person, legit. she stutters a lot pero it’s very obvious na she knows what she’s saying - and i really admire her for that! kung may mas malala pang may ayaw sa cheaters kay ma’am suratos, well ma’am ruby is here to prove to you na meron pa nga!

always uses powerpoint.

1st year - 2nd sem:

analytical chemistry (aka chem301, anachem - in general)

topics: concentration units, precipitations, solutions, raoult’s law, boiling point elevation, freezing point depression, rate law, integrated rate law.

     analytical chemistry lecture (aka chem301lec, anachemlec)

     sir madarang/sir cj: i feel the smart vibes from him. he graduated in ust-biochem. he teaches briefly, fastly, and straight to the point and gets mo agad yung lesson. he teaches simply lang, and uses analogy to make the understand of a concept easier. he easily gets annoyed, and sobrang visible nun like ‘di niya ihihide. he remembers the name of the people who recites (which is a good thing guys, usually may plus points if they know you). he gives his powerpoint thru **eleap/blackboard and it’ll be convenient if you’ll print/save it na for reference while the lesson is on going. he does the reciting thing while you stand on your place/you answer sa board. quizzes niya are all application ng mga formula na tinuturo niya, usually 1/2 crosswise lang haha. he gives partial points, something ma’am suratos/sir paulin will never do. requires calculator.

          **eleap/blackboard academic website for announcements, quizzes, take home hw/sw/quizzes, dump ng powerpoint ng profs na generous.

always uses powerpoint.

     analytical chemistry laboratory (aka chem301lab, anachemlab)

    sir paulin and ma’am suratos: they’re both more lenient to us now, idk why. all we’ve done so far are activities: making a solution, precipitating, centrifuging it, aspirating it, while following the schematic diagram. oh, kayo rin pala gagawa ng schematic diagram niyo! yung quizzes so far memorization lang, wala pang practical.

** we had our ppt from sir paulin when we were having our finals na, but that’s it.

biological science (biosci)

topics: the four tissues (epithelial, muscle, connective, and nervous), microscopy, cell.

    ma’am lee and ma’am ranido: so we got maam lee for lab and maam ranido for lec. maam lee doesn’t like a noisy class and my class is noisy af, so she doesn’t give us her handouts/ppts. maam ranido gives handouts/ppts pero they’re not from her, like it’s from someone else (probably another prof who’s teaching the same thing). new currciculum wouldnt have this subject, kaya don’t waste your time on this lmao. ma’am lee’s always absent, but she teaches well. pero lagi lang talga busy kaya ma’am ranido takes her spot nalang.

** uses powerpoint presentations!! giving them out will vary with how the class is (noisy, etc)

psy 1 (general psychology)

    maam agustin: she came from the college of science, so strict siya. she sits down lagi when teaching and most often than not resorts to showing videos than teaching the topics herself. if she doesn’t like your block, she’ll often have quizzes right after a lecture and it’ll be recorded. so wag niyo bad trip-in.

** uses ppts. but giving it out would vary also with how the class behaves.

2nd year - 1st sem:

     phyana (physiology and anatomy) lec

topics: cell, tissues, and organ systems

    ma’am ibarrientos: she teaches so good!! she likes to repeat the things she teaches like literally paulit-ulit to the point na sobrang nareretatin siya sa utak mo. she finds ways para tumaas grades ng students niya. she has a good voice, perfect for teaching but tends to lose it sometimes din kasi she teaches a lot of class. she has comprehensive ppts and she gives them out also. lahat ng tinuro niya lumalabas sa quiz niya but if hindi siya yung gumawa ng exam, try asking other blocks kung anong nadiscuss nila kasi she tends to miss out on stuffs na lalabas sa exam.

** uses ppts and gives them out. multiple choices type of quizzes with identification na 5-10 items and morse type na true or false!

     phyana (physiology and anatomy) lab

    sir flores and maam meim: solid tandem!! sir flores was a student if ma’am meim and ang cute nila magturo haha. sir flores is the kind of prof you wish you always have for you majors (although bacteriology daw talaga siya solid), he’s still solid though! there was a time he taught us the four common tissues without only the whiteboard marker on his hand, and no ppts. (did i mention he was a top notcher for the boards before? yup) tapos ang fun pa niya as a prof, nakikiride siya with his students haha. ma’am meim was my prof na before and still the same pa rin naman siya. they both love giving out quizzes na WHOLLY identification, so wag na umasa sa multiple choice, if it’s not identification: it’s most probably true or false questions, that’s it.

uses ppts and gives them out!

chem 200 (organic chemistry, orgchem)

topic: nomenclature, the 12 common organic compounds (ie alcohol, sulfides, esters, etc), mechanisms and reactivity, enantiomers

     chem 200 lec

    sir torres: he’s the prof you always see na parang true scientist! he’s hard to listen into kasi he’s old and kinda hirap na magsalita. but mostly, you’ll have to teach yourself with his subject kasi he teaches in a way na parang you already know the topic by your own. he doesn’t use ppt and messily writes in the board, kung saan lang abot niya while he’s sitting down. tell your sergeant of arms to get a microphone for him. his quizzes are the type of quizzes na YOU should have studied and know the topic by heart, or else gg ka.

no ppt.

     chem 200 lab

    ma’am diño and ma’am crisostomo: ma’am diño’s a bagets since medyo fresh grad pa siya ng biochem of ust! she’s super super nice and approachable and she understands the students the most. she hates cheating so much, kaya don’t even try. she notices every little detail like same erasures as your seatmate ganun. ma’am crisostomo was pregnant when she was teaching us and she literally hated us so much, kasi noisy talaga block ko. but she teaches well, as does ma’am diño, super gusto ko sila both. i learned to love orgchem because of them and i loved our lab work (except for the lab reports). quiz is usually identification kasi mga name ng organic compounds yung quiz, and all that.

sometimes uses ppts (especially for post labs), doesn’t give them out.

I’LL KEEP THIS UPDATED, this is by far the most updated.

posted at: 14 Feb 18 21:34

updated: 9 Sept 19 23:08