#the goal is to get so good at spanish and Portuguese that i can go back and watch Fuga Impossivel and Karmaland etc in their languages

[tomfrogisblue]

Ya know, I've personally loved being drip-fed everyone else's previous lore. As a previously mainly Wilbur and Phil viewer, I knew their lore (way too much of it, Save Me) walking into the QSMP, but... not really anyone else's. Not even really the other English speakers. It's been a delight to discover the angst and batshit backstories of all the other cubitos

Cellbit's lore alone, bro. And I have such fond memories of Forever appearing on the island and simply terrorizing Phil for a while with his unrequited love left over from his ex, Phil being just as confused as I was.

I hope that anyone coming in from other places in the world has similar reactions to shit like c!Wilbur's Canon Family Tree (canon no matter how much Phil tried to make it less cursed, goddammit Wilbur.)

[moodymisty]

Surprise

Author's Note: Loosely based off my personal experience struggles learning Spanish and Portuguese. I wanted to do something sfw to work on König's character and get a feel for things with CoD. I'll make some filth soon lol

Any German used is one or two very easily understandable words, and anything more in-depth is just implied via italics. Far easier than making an arse out of myself with Google translate because we all know how that works.

Summary: You've been studying German in secret from König for weeks now, hopefully it pays off.

Relationships: König/Fem!Reader

Warnings: I do not know German so I apologize, Fluff, Reader is implied foreigner but from where is not specified, Fluff without plot

Word Count: 2016

Closing the book in your lap you take your hands away from the pages and rub them over your face, feeling the way your eyes almost burn from overuse. Squeezing them shut helps, but it almost seems like the letters are burned into the back of your eyelids.

No more information can be shoved into my brain; Not tonight.

It's late- the sun has long since set and if you start another section, you might end up hearing the birds outside start chirping by the time you finish and go to bed. With König gone and it being the weekend you can at least sleep in, to cover up your late night of studying.

Getting up off the couch and taking your notes and textbook, they both come with you to the bedroom; Where you hide them underneath the cushion of the window seat. It was a place that he would never look, at least not without good reason.

That was part of the plan after all, for him to be surprised by all this.

As for all the time you've known König his mother tongue has remained a mystery to you, unable to understand whenever he mumbles it under his breath while fixing himself something to eat, or yelling at a door frame he hit with his shoulder or head by accident. Which happens frequently, as unfortunately the apartment isn't exactly built for a man of his size.

You’ve picked up words and small sentences over time; Maus, danke, bitte, ich liebe dich; Scheisse as well, much to König's playfully faked distress. He's always tried to refuse teaching your swears, but you've picked up on them anyways. He thinks they sound too cute to take seriously when you say them. They just make him laugh.

But none of it is enough to hold any length of conversation. König is sweet and always helps whenever you need something translated, but you know sometimes words just don't cross over one to one. Not to mention you don't want to always rely on him. So you decided to learn as much as you could, but keep it a surprise. At least for a bit. There was only so far you could get without speaking it, using it- but for now you could at least try and listen.

''Can you help me?' You stumble out in practice before sighing, slipping into your nightclothes as your bed remains unmade and calling out to you.

Could really use some of that right now.

You keep mumbling to yourself, the words floating through your head, hoping they'll stick to the image of an object or scene that follows in tandem. It's such a silly, impossible goal, but you want to impress him. You slip into bed and begin relaxing, hoping you'll be able to sleep before light starts bleeding through the curtains.

The ring of your phone however distracts you from any further thoughts, grabbing it off the bedside table where it had been charging. Only one person will call this late, and since you’re already in your nightclothes, you answer without even checking the caller id. It would just say 'Unknown' anyways, if it was him. You answer and speak up.

"Good evening. Or morning? Afternoon?"

König chuckles and even if it's hundreds or even thousands of miles away, it still makes you smile. When he's gone you usually don't hear much from him at all, so it's always a wonderful treat when he does manage to find a moment.

"Evening. The sun is just about to set." You're sure he can hear you rustling of the blankets as you pull them over your body, laying down with your phone on speaker right in front of the pillow.

"Keeping busy, Liebe?"

"As busy as I can, it's really late. Was just about to sleep." König hums, and you can hear the scratch of him rubbing his head.

"Ahh, am I keeping you up? I don't want you tired because of me." Just as you go to answer him back someone must enter the room, asking him something. You can hear the question and König's extremely curt and irritated response to it, and it's a struggle to not laugh when you realize you understood enough of it to put the pieces together.

So all this studying wasn't for nothing!

It's nice to finally see that you've been making at least some sort of stride. Once he finishes grumbling a reply at whoever had interrupted him- ignoring how cute you find it that he's so feverishly defending what tiny bit of time he has to talk to you- You answer back.

"Don't worry, I want to stay up; I miss you. I miss hearing your voice before I go to bed." You hear König let out a shy cough, rustling around. Sometimes he still gets a little bashful when you're particularly overt with how you feel about him.

"Then I will stay with you as long as I can." You know that's asking a lot of him; To even get a few moments time while he's deployed in the middle of god knows where is asking for a miracle. A damn good miracle at that.

"I miss you too, liebling."

His voice sounds so quiet when he speaks; You don't know if it's because of there being someone else in the room with him, or that he's just still not used to saying things like that.

The bed is warm and the blankets are soft, but it's still nowhere near as pleasant when König is here beside you. Neither of you have any idea how long he's going to be gone this time, but you always prepare as if it's going to be a long while. Hopefully however, it wont. You're not going to last very long without having him here with you. Just the feeling of being stuck in his arms because he's dead asleep and his grip is so strong- you miss it. You miss him kissing you on the cheek to wake you up in the mornings, and the feeling of his hand on the dip of your waist. His voice always sounds so gruff and sore in the mornings, whispering in English or German or a mix of both as he hides his face in your neck.

The sudden increase in background noise from the other side of the call jolts you out of any sort of fantasizing you were in, thankfully before it went down a path perhaps a bit more appropriate for such a late hour. König speaks up before you have a chance to ask if he needs to leave.

"I have to go; I promise I will try and find another moment to talk to again, ok?" You can hear the sudden rustling around in the background; Some of it from him, some clearly from elsewhere in the room.

He whispers again; Unsure under his breath 'I love you', the words still a bit shy and experimental on his lips. You return it quickly before the line goes dead. You have to reach a hand from under the blanket to lock your phone, staring at the lock screen for a moment.

Now the room feels almost, eerily quiet.

You turn over to set your phone down on the nightstand and turn off the last of the lights, heading to closing your eyes and trying to get some sleep.

When König returns, it's usually not without a fair share of eventfulness.

Normally he spends a day or two somewhere else first before coming back to you, which you understand; He doesn't want to bring 'that side of him' back home. Doing what he does isn’t a 9-5, and it’s not something that’s easy to leave at the front step.

After having a bit to decompress he's finally returned, having just closed the front door. He finished unlacing his combat boots and putting them beside your own shoes, as you shuffled off to get him something to drink after already tackling him. You had nearly jumped on him the moment you hear his key hit the lock, feeling him mumble a surprised but happy greeting against your lips.

Leaning over he goes to pick his pack back up off the ground to move it, but it either gets hooked on something, or the fabric finally gives. Either way the contents then spill out all over the floor, from clothing to whatever else he has stuffed inside.

"Damn it! You fucking piece of-"

The stream of swears he lets out makes you nearly winge, between about how he's going to damn the thing to Hell or set it ablaze. Either or. You try not to smile and quickly go to help him clean up the mess of his belongings that's now scattered all over the floor. You shoo his hands back a bit.

"Here, let me help, instead of you yelling about trying to set it all on fire."

König quickly stops what he was doing, and watches as you come closer. He looks confused for a moment, brow furrowed as if trying to see if you’re just being silly, or got lucky guessing what he was saying.

“...Did you understand me?” He experimentally says; As If in disbelief. You can’t help but smile and respond back.

“Are you surprised?” You cover your mouth and laugh, while cringing.

"Oh god my accent must be terrible, I haven't spoken it to anything other than the-" König bursts up from his awkward squat on the ground and wraps his arms under the crease of your bottom, lifting you off the ground. "-Wall!" Your arms wrap around his neck trying to keep yourself upright while he eagerly kisses your cheek. Over and over again, until it’s nearly red.

"Meine Liebe you sound perfect, how long have you been keeping this from me?" In any other context he probably would've been upset you were keeping secrets from him, especially big ones, but he seems too happy with the outcome to even care.

"A couple months. Long enough that I was scared you might catch me." The idea of him 'catching' you seems to make him laugh, but he still refuses to put you down.

"You made my terrible day so much better, I hope you know." He gives you another kiss this time on the lips, made easier from you being lifted to his height. Your arms snake loosely around shoulders as you giggle against his mouth, fingers tangling in his messy, soft hair. He's long since abandoned his mess on the ground at his feet, finally putting you down only to awkwardly bend over with you and kiss you again. His lips feel soft against yours and his hands cup your jaw so gently, before his lips leave yours with a soft pop.

"I hope you know you don't have to do this for me, liebling."

His eyes are tired from spending so long awake, hair messy and unkempt. You know the moment the excitement is all over he's just going to want to take a nap.

"I know, but I wanted to." You awkwardly try to hug him around the shoulders. "You're dedicated to helping me now, though." König lets out a quiet laugh.

"Of course, but can we take a nap first?" He always says we, as even though you're probably not tired in the slightest, he quietly hopes you'll join him for his own piece of mind. You help him sleep better, he confessed one night.

"Go lay down; I'll pick this all up." Listening to you he leans up to his full height and sluggishly walks off, retreating to your bedroom as you pick up his belongings. You stuff them all in the bag for him to go through himself later, before you follow and find him already face down on the mattress. He barely even bothered to change; Only his trousers are swapped to something more comfortable.

The moment you climb onto the bed with him he's trying to drag you into his arms, wrapping them tight around you and tugging you close to his body like some sort of stuffed animal. He feels so warm, your hands softly laying against his back.

You hear him mumble sleepily; Something about you being his little 'stuffed bear', before he's out like a light.

[brightlight-dazzlingeyes]

between the lines | interlude

rúben dias x original female character [+18]

synopsis: isabella is a sports journalist covering the premier league. she has sworn to never get involved with a football player. that is, until she meets a handsome portuguese defender. warnings: incorrect journalism references; timeline of events are not faithful to real life; i have never been to england; mutual pining; romantic comedy;  minors dni.

previous chapter | masterlist | next chapter

Interlude

“I think she wants you to sing to her!” Carlos exasperatedly requests me a lullaby. I’m sitting down on the floor in front of my floor length mirror, trying to do something nice with my hair. I'm getting ready for my first day back at work after a short lived summer break. My brother is on facetime, showing me my niece. “I swear, she was saying ‘tía’ a lot. I think she’s asking for the song.”

It’s August and I just got back to England. Getting drunk on Pinot Noir on as many Spanish islands as my money could afford was a goal I gracefully achieved over the break. Okay, maybe ‘gracefully’ is not the best word to describe my alcohol driven antics. But here I am, all pieces glued together, ready for another season.

This time last year I was a rookie in this League and by the end of the season I was having dinner dates with a Prem superstar.

None of that this time, tough. I've grown a year older since my birthday last week, and that means I’m only focusing on my career. For real this time. No more relapses, no more calls in the middle of the night.

So I sing Lucía a song and then I go to work.

“New year, new me, huh?” I point out as Melissa hugs me, she has a new hair color and is rocking a new makeup style.

“Isabella, it’s August.” Mel doesn't share my enthusiasm. “Also, I hate covering pre-season. I always end up making stupid decisions like going blonde or something.”

“What? You didn’t have fun in the US?” I’m still hugging her when I ask.

“Oh, shut up. Your insta stories didn’t help me either, you know?” Mel puts both hands on my shoulders and looks deep into my eyes. “But you had fun, right? You’re feeling good?”

“Yeah, of course. Feeling good. I feel great.” I nod, mostly to myself. “I feel amazing…” 

She agrees and continues to walk.

“I swear I wish I had forgotten most of these dudes' names.” She bites her lips looking menacingly into the horizon. I giggle, ashamed.

“I share the feeling.”

At lunch Mel ordered Japanese food and I just stared at the package for a full minute before deciding to eat.

“You know you can talk to me, right?” It’s the fourth or sixth time she said that to me, ever since she noticed something was off a couple months ago.

It was a Japanese restaurant but I almost didn’t notice at first, being too focused on something else. He wore a button up shirt and I felt like dying.

I remember saying something like:

“I don’t really like Portuguese food. Too many eggs. You guys put eggs in everything. Egg on the entrance, egg on the fish, for desert? Egg flavored cake. Francesinha is a sandwich with egg on top of it. That’s not where the egg is supposed to go, Rúben.”

And he laughed, he laughed at every joke I said. At the end of the night my jaw was hurting from how I smiled at him and I wondered if he felt the same.

It’s a double-edge sword, this whole falling in love thing. Even being the one saying goodbye, I still hurt like I was dumped by my first boyfriend at 16 all over again.

At first it was easy, everything can be a distraction if you try hard enough. But with time the thing I was trying so hard to hide became bigger and louder in my mind. The sound of the laughter, the clicking of the cutlery.

The realization that I chose this, standing outside of Wembley with a microphone in hand; over whatever that was.

This is fine, I’m great.

“How are you feeling about this season?” I question a random City fan outside the stadium.

“Good, yeah.” The lad shrugs.

“You guys already won everything, do you think the players-” I start, but he stops me.

“Nah, we didn’t win everything. There’s always more to win. We only got 3 out of 4 last season.” When he says that, I realize that around 20 meters away from me, in the distance, is the Manchester City bus. I walk faster.

The sound of wanting gets drowned out by a crowded pub and suddenly it's easier to breathe again and everything really is fine.

“Rice, rice, baby!” It’s Victor’s voice that gets a genuine laugh out of me. “I fucking love Wembley!”

We’re all meeting at the pub after the Community Shield game and the atmosphere is exactly like the first day back to school, but with a lot more beer involved.

“Please don’t tell me you have money on Arsenal winning the league.” Seb is sitting next to me, pointing his green bottle to Victor.

“I do. Yes, go ahead, laugh all you want.” Victor raises his voice, looking offended. “I’m not even being optimistic, mate, it’s just the plain truth.”

The entire table laughs and we almost can't hear when he continues. “They’re stronger this year, guys, hear me out.”

“You’re right to be confident, but personally I’m not putting money on Mikel.” Mel says.

I bite my tongue when they ask my opinion.

“I’m being a hundred percent professional this year, no betting, no guessing, just straight analyzing.” The table booed me and I raised my hands in the air, in surrender. “Hey, I didn’t even want to be here. I wish I was in Australia right now.”

“Don't remind me!” Mel sighs and lightly slaps me. “We’re literally the only women not covering the World Cup right now.”

“No whining! Come on, let’s toast.” Seb raises his bottle once again, but this time we all follow. “To a busy and long season!”

And we all repeat: “To a busy and long season!”

[astralriver]

Usotsuki Satsuki wa Shi ga Mieru/Liar Satsuki Can See Death

By 了子/Ryouko

"Hey... Tomorrow, you're going to die." Minazuki Satsuki, 16 years old. By all accounts your average 2nd year high schooler, apart from being a social misfit always declaring her classmates' impending deaths. They've nicknamed her Usotsuki (Liar) but her eyes are special indeed. What she sees with them is.. The grand return of Ryoko-sensei, author of Shi ni Aruki! A horror-suspense manga fighting backwards against fate. For every death (question), there must be a reason (solution)

This post is gonna attempt to be a somewhat spoiler free review/reccomendation of Liar Satsuki Can See Death. I will try to cover most of what people should know going into it but i will say now that if you enjoy murder mystery with some interesting characters and some light gore wont bother you then please jump right in its a brilliant read.

Content warning for Liar Satsuki Can See Death, Themes of Abuse, Neglect, Gore and Suicide.

In Mangadex there are currently translations available for:

Latam Spanish[Up to chapter 69(nice)]

Brazilian Portuguese[Complete]

Indonesian[Up to chapter 2]

Vietnamese[Up to chapter 3]

English[Complete]

Ryoukos first work Shi ni Aruki/Walk to Death is set in the same universe. Despite this it is not required to be read before Liar Satsuki, however I will say it gives some wonderful context to how trauma manifests in this world. If you do want to read it I will warn its alot darker than Liar Satsuki so if you struggle with gore/topics of suicide or trauma I would be careful approaching Shi ni Aruki.

I will put any spoilers i need to cover under the cut.

Now, Liar Satsuki Can See Death has been rotating in my mind violently for months. If it even gets a bit more attention cause of this post i will be so happy. The concept of the manga lies in our protagonist Minazuki Satsuki being able to see premonition bodies of people who are gonna die 24 hours before they do. She uses this to inspect how they died and use the clues to change fate and keep them alive.

More than that Liar Satsuki is a look into trauma manifesting as powers surrounding death. (Shi ni Aruki covers this more in depth for the mechanics but its present all throughout Ryoukos work.) Its a story of healing through trusting the people around you and growing as a person. Satsukis sight for death directly relates to her trauma and how she takes on a responsibilty for everyones safety. Her lack of care for herself while honorable from the outside spirals her into constant danger, reflecting back on her trauma that she isnt able to overcome alone. It ends up consuming her life, her only goal being to keep everyone alive and safe as she obsessively considers every possible danger.

I would once again seriously recommend just reading the first chapter as it is one of the best opening chapters of manga I have read and manages to land the concept so neatly.

And on top of that, going back once you know more about each character is incredibly eye opening. I would honestly read the story again from another characters perspective just to see what it was like for them.

Anyway.

Throughout the manga Satsuki is challenged on her core ideals, on her self and her actions. New characters, plot setups and groups are constantly switched out while at its core the theme remains a murder mystery. The manga takes the times to give lighthearted moments between all the thriller action and never shys away from showing just how much each character is developed (Ryouko is excellent with their characters). I would call the manga formulaic but it so regularly switches out the cast, their motives and how they challenge Satsuki that it always feels fresh. Its not afraid to frame her as wrong, or to show that people arent inherantly good. It is wholeheartedly human in its exploration of trauma and ideologies. Akira and Satsuki being the most prominant part of this as Akira fights Satsuki constantly to see her happy while Satsuki neglets herself in favour of keeping people alive. People that they are both aware hardly care for Satsuki.

This has all been without mentioning the pacing, use of frames and art of this manga that are all just incredible. Casual scenes showing papers getting picked up by wind becoming relevant later. The details of pacing and elements of environment being used to help convey each scene it is beautifully done. Ryouko is a genius!

From here i cant say much more witout spoiling major plotpoints so before then i will link a wonderful music video made by Re:Riza for the first chapter! Please check out their other work too!

Speaking of foils. Mikami Kai, the student council president is the perfect antagonist foil. He begins to come across as just an annoyance but as he shows up more often his nature begins to show. Kai is Satsuki, they share the same eyes and they share the same trauma, just on opposite ends. Where Satsuki holds the pain of failing to stop someone from dying, Kai holds the pain of failing to help someone soon enough. He is weak and unable to do much but his eyes help him set up exact situations of accidental deaths. Despite him thinking he is doing the right thing he is only murdering those who dont fit into his worldview.

This is where Satsuki shines. She is relentless in her resolve to keep saving people. And its through her friends challenging her that she fully commits to that unwavering determination. Without them she might have given up but shes seen enough proof that its worth all the pain. Expanding on that she grows past helping people out of guilt, she finds reason in knowing shes helping people because she cares, because she knows it will be okay, because she will make it better. Her story is one of healing trauma and ive never seen it done so well.

Komachi Komako is a girl surrounded by death. She has dealt with it alone her whole life just like Satsuki. For her however, the world is uncaring and she is just waiting for the people around her to die. Even then the greatest kindness he can offer is comfort in death, all she can do is make sure their last moments are peaceful.

She is unable to see a future to hope for and as she realises whats been happening to Satsuki, she realises she is the source of her pain. Komachis story might seem out of place if you havent read Shi ni Aruki but her pain and life are interwoven with Satsukis. As death follows her and Satsuki can clear away that fog of death. (I still personally ship Akira and Satsuki but.) For Komachi looking back to the story she truly has no one on her side and has no reason to beleive that she can be saved. It is only in the final moments that Satsuki, bright as she always is, breaks through that fog of death that surrounds Komachi. This is Satsukis prestiege, she knows herself now and isnt acting out of guilt. This is Komachis break into hope, as she is once again pulled away from the edge, but this time shown that there will be someone there by her side. For the first time in her whole life she is not alone.

This post is long enough, i want to talk about Shiina Miho but ive rambled enough!!! (Shes really good though i love her). Thank you for reading if you got this far! I love this manga and could talk about it all day so i hope at least some of that reached you.

[rgr-pop]

My goal for the year was to watch & log 100 movies. Shorts count, didn't matter whether I had seen them before, but they can only count once for the year. I logged 117!

First & last watched: Ken Russell's Women in Love (1969)--the reason I cared about movies so much this year, just an obvious life-changer for me--and Ken Russell's The Rainbow (1989)--Westlin's suggestion for the perfect round out. Surprised to be surprised by how good it was. Great films! Totally on the program! Questions to this day unanswered! Let's go!

Shorts (everything short of Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story) watched: 16

Favorite shorts: Nuit et Brouillard (Alain Resnais, 1956) (decided this year one of my all-time favorite films); Un Chant d'Amour (Jean Genet, 1950); Fireworks (Kenneth Anger, 1947)

Next year my shorts watching will be more programmatic

Films I watched twice in 2023: Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (Todd Haynes, 1987) (another film I realized this year obviously belongs in my top ten--more specifically I decided finally that this is my favorite non-Texas Chain Saw film); Beau is Afraid (Ari Aster, 2023); The Nightmare Before Christmas (Henry Selick, 1993)

By decade: Before 1900: 0 1900 - 1910: 1 1910 - 1919: 1 1920 - 1929: 1 bro come ON what the FUCK 1930 - 1939: 1 im literally evil 1940 - 1949: 7 1950 - 1959: 3 1960 - 1969: 24 1970 - 1979: 14 1980 - 1989: 16 1990 - 1999: 17 2000 - 2009: 13 2010 - 2019: 9 2020 - 2023: 10

By nation/language roughly: uk/english: 6 us/english: 66 canada/english: 6 france/french: 10 italy/italian: 4 italy/france/french: 1 italy/english: 1 czechoslovakia/czech: 5 palestine/arabic: 3 soviet/russian: 2 russia/russian: 1 austria/german: 1 austria/french: 1 spain/spanish: 1 japan/japanese: 1 poland/yiddish: 1 poland/polish: 1 senegal/wolof: 1 brazil/portuguese: 1 sweden/swedish: 1 eur/farsi: 1 south africa/afrikaans: 1

numbers not adding up there but w/e

By director: Not sure if this is surprising or totally unsurprising, but in spite of my auteurial talk (and all the thematic/completionist plans I like to make), I very rarely watched more than two movies by the same director. I can't decide how I feel about this, nor do I know how to proceed this year given that my goal is to discover who my top five directors might actually be. How do you go about investigating that?

Overwhelmingly the director I watched the most was Adrian Lyne, with five films. I have a few more things to work on but I'm close to done with my shakedown/theory. Neither my favorite director nor favorite guy, I would say I probably 'enjoy' and 'personally get more out of watching' his films more than most. In second place, I watched three Kenneth Anger films--all shorts of course. I watched two films each by the following directors: Ken Russell, David Cronenberg, Stanley Kubrick, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Paul Schrader, Bernardo Bertolucci, Ti West, Todd Haynes, Michael Haneke, Jan Švankmajer (both shorts), and Billy Wilder (one of which being a war department documentary short).

I have mixed feelings about this approach (let me watch man movies if i I want to!) but a quick skim suggests I watched about 15 films directed by women (12%)--lower than expected and probably low for me typically. I always have a romance habit on the backburner so it's never hard for me to watch a lot of movies by women, but obviously my focus on revered directors I never previously wanted to spend time on has had an impact here, meaning I should make an effort with Great women directors in 2024 to keep that in check. I will also say that I specifically recall having a hard time getting my hands on things I wanted to watch by women in a few different cases, including by Great women directors (Barbara Hammer and Akerman), and especially also soviet women directors. There's an overlap here with difficulty accessing short films!

I'm not an active or thoughtful starrer, but these are the films I watched in 2023 that I've given five stars to:

Women in Love (Ken Russell, 1969) (upgraded from four after the year of appreciating it) Mandabi (Ousmane Sembène, 1968) Crash (David Cronenberg, 1996) Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (Todd Haynes, 1987) The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974) Night and Fog (Alain Resnais, 1956) Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1975) (demoted Teorema [1968] to four stars to prevent Salo is A Perfect Film deflation) Un Chant d'Amour (Jean Genet, 1950)

Least favorite films watched in 2023: Jojo Rabbit (Taika Waititi, 2019), Barbie (Greta Gerwig, 2023), All My Good Countrymen (Vojtěch Jasný, 1968), Zahrada (Jan Švankmajer, 1968), the one streaming true crime doc I watched that I then had to log (will not repeat in 2024)

Loved/treats for me: Barry Lyndon, Crossing Delancey, Unfaithful, The Cremator, The Night Porter, Cabaret, talking to people about Funny Games and realizing I love it more than I think I do

Recommended for the romance girls as a thank you for the good romance you have recommended me: Habibi (Susan Youssef, 2011)

Most incredible movie experience of the year by miles and I can only hope 2024 has something this good to offer: House of 1000 Corpses (Rob Zombie, 2003) anniversary screening my birthweek

The otherwise defining film of 2023 for me: Hostel (Eli Roth, 2005)

Onward! Back to work! On the Terror and Violence line! The Family is out there, comfortable, in relative peace…

[grandeoatmilklatte]

Meet My MC!✨

After seeing my two Discord servers have RP channels and never being able to participate cause I don’t have a dedicated OC, I gave into the FOMO and decided to create one. This is my fourth HL character but the first one I’ve ever fleshed out and given a back story.

So with that, meet Kamila Cortes! ✨

General

Name: Kamila Cortes (kuh-me-lah)

Nickname: Kami

Gender: Female

House: Slytherin

Age: 18

Blood Status: Half Blood

Nationality: Spanish/British

Wand: 10in, Holly, Unicorn Hair, Solid

Patronus: a goat

Scent: Rose and Vanilla

Birthday: April 9th (Aries)

Other info: Fluent in English and Spanish, semi-fluent in Portuguese.

Appearance

General: Kamila is short, measuring at 152.4 cm (5ft 1in). She is a bit on the bustier side with a soft stomach, but overall is slender and petite.

Facial appearance: She’s fair skinned with blue eyes and long voluminous dark brown hair, usually tied in a long braid.

Distinguishing Marks: She has a small faint collection of freckles on her upper cheeks.

Fashion: Kamila prefers to wear dark colors and neutral colors, opting for blacks, whites, greys, and her favorite color, emerald green. She alternates between wearing skirts and trousers, tied between the femininity offered by a skirt, and the mobility offered by trousers.

Personality

Strengths: Kamila has the loyalty of a Hufflepuff. Although she keeps her circle of friends incredibly small, once someone is considered in her circle, she’ll go to bat for them, defending them against anyone who dares wrong them. She is incredibly determined, and stops at nothing to reach her goals. She is a good listener, and gives great advice despite not following her own advice. Kamila is passionate and fiery, with an infectious energy about her.

Weaknesses: Growing up as a wealthy only child has made Kamila a bit spoiled and stuck up, becoming upset and vengeful at times when she doesn’t get her way. Kamila can be hotheaded and fiesty, and has a habit of acting before thinking, frequently getting into physical altercations with other students, especially those who bully her/her friends.

Morality: Kamila likes to think she’s morally sound, defending and protecting her loved ones, but her methods are sometimes wrong. She is ultimately very self serving, and won’t hesitate to use others outside of her friends to get what she wants.

Likes: Kamila enjoys cooking and baking, as her mother was a cook prior to marriage, and showed her a lot back when she lived in Madrid full time. Before she learned how to conjure up a full kitchen in her Room of Requirement, Kamila could be found sneaking into the Hogwarts kitchens at night, begging the house elves to let her use the oven. Her love language is feeding her friends. Kamila also loves Potions, reading, architecture, and relaxing in the courtyards.

Dislikes: Spiders, people who treat magic as if it’s evil, sports of any kind.

Fears: Not amounting to anything in life, something bad happening to her loved ones, especially her mother, loneliness, losing her family’s fortune and status.

Hopes: Once done with Hogwarts, Kamila hopes to open up a restaurant or a bakery. While she would prefer to do this back home in Madrid, she’s not opposed to fulfilling this dream in England or Scotland, if a love interest keeps her there.

Friends: Kamila considers Ominis, Sebastian, and Garreth to be her closest friends. Kamila and Ominis confide in each other often, Kamila being a shoulder to cry on and a helpful aid to Ominis. Despite being upset with some of the things Sebastian has done in the past, she remains supportive of Sebastian, even during the times where they were distant with each other. Kamila and Garreth briefly dated, but the relationship wasn’t serious, and the pair remain friends. (Not including this in the RP stuff but I wanted to write some head cannons for friends, enemies and love interests)

Enemies: Kamila frequently tortures Duncan. Why? Because Ominis doesn’t like him. That’s the only reasoning she needs. Kamila also doesn’t get along with Imelda, Imelda thinking Kamila is a stuck up brat, and Kamila thinking that Imelda is just jealous. (Not including this in the RP stuff but I just wanted to write some head canons for friends, enemies and love interests)

Love Interest: Ever since their first meeting in the Slytherin common room years ago, Kamila and Ominis have been inseparable. What began as a friendship based in trauma bonding eventually grew into a desperate need and desire for each other. After two years of friendship, they decided to take the next step and start a relationship together. They are deeply in love, Sebastian often referring to them as a unit by the nickname “Kaminis”. Kamila also briefly dated Garreth for a few months before her and Ominis made things official, and she briefly had a crush on Sebastian (and he had a crush on her) but the events of 5th year killed her feelings for him. (Not including this is the RP stuff but I just wanted to write some head canons for friends, enemies, and love interests)

Backstory: Kamila is an only child to her parents, Elizabeth and Jose Cortes. Jose is of Spanish origin and a muggle, while her mother is of English origin, and a witch. Jose is a top general for the Spanish royal army, and a close friend and confidant of the king of Spain. As a result, Kamila and her family live in luxury. Prior to learning of her magical abilities, Kamila mainly resided in Madrid, but often visited England and Scotland due to having family members there from her mother’s side. Since starting at Hogwarts, she has spent more time in England, staying at her grandparents’s home when school is not in session, and only returning home to Madrid during the summer holiday.

When Kamila exhibited no magical abilities at 11 years old, Kamila’s parents breathed a sigh of relief. Growing up in a predominantly Catholic country and surrounded by the extremely religious royal family, Kamila would forever be labeled as a demonic entity and would be in danger if she had inherited her mother’s magical abilities. While Jose was accepting of Elizabeth being of a magical bloodline, Jose’s family and the royal family would not have accepted this; thus Elizabeth made the choice to hide her magic when they got married, only displaying magic in the privacy of their own home. Elizabeth fainted the day a 14 year old Kamila made a teapot levitate off the table.

At first, Kamila’s parents wanted her to fully suppress her magical abilities to avoid hardship in her life. This caused many arguments between Kamila and her parents, Kamila being fascinated with her ability, and her mother’s history, which she had never been told about previously. It was ultimately Kamila’s grandmother who convinced Kamila’s parents to allow her the chance to go to school and hone her magic, under the condition that she keep her abilities a secret to all besides her parents and maternal family. Jose crafted a story that his daughter was going off to study at some prestigious school in London, which Jose’s circle believed. Nowadays, Kamila has a good relationship with her parents, understanding that they were just doing what they thought was best for their daughter at the time.

[canirove]

Best friends… forever? | Chapter 10

Previous chapter | Next chapter

Masterlist

“Can I be brutally honest?” Eva asks.

“Go ahead”

“I think the only way for you to make up your mind about Rúben, is by getting laid.”

“What?” Mila says.

“What you heard. If you are able to flirt with a guy, make out with him, and then sleep with him without thinking about Rúben, that means that whatever has been going on between you two was just sex. But if your mind keeps going to him…”

“Then it means that you do have feelings for him” Miriam adds.

“And that I’m fucked” Mila sighs.

After everything that happened at Bernardo’s house, Mila had to ran away. She needed to put space between her and Rúben, properly think about what was going on. And she couldn’t do that in Manchester. That’s why the next morning she quickly packed her things and took the first flight to Lisbon, meeting with Eva and Miriam, her childhood friends.

“Maybe you are, maybe you aren’t” Eva shrugs. “Let’s make this our goal in Cádiz. Find you a nice guy, and see what happens.”

“I don’t know if we will be able to do that in just a week. It usually takes you your whole life to find a decent guy” Mila chuckles.

“A week and a half thanks to you running away” Eva points out. “But leave it to me” she smirks.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━ 

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“Tonight is gonna be your night, Mila. I can feel it” Eva says as they walk through the streets of Cádiz. They’ve been there for a few days already, and so far, they haven’t met that nice guy who will help her decide if her feelings for Rúben are something else or just physical attraction.

“Are you sure?” Mila asks her.

“I’m sure” she says, looking for a club they were recommended by a group of girls they met the previous night.

“Have you heard from Rúben?” Miriam asks her.

“He’s in Ibiza with John. He texted me when they landed this morning.”

“If he is with him, that means trouble” Miriam says.

“Maybe he also is looking for his nice girl” Eva chuckles.

“I don’t think she needs one” Mila says. Unlike her, he doesn’t have doubts about what he now feels for her. He wants to be with her.

“We’ll probably find out rather sooner than later. Ibiza is full of paparazzis who know that football players are stupid and always go to the same places, that they are an easy target” Eva says.

“Hey, I also am a football player” Mila complains.

“Female football player. You girls are the clever ones. And here we are!” Eva says, stopping in front of a pub with a couple of small palm trees at the door, music coming from the inside.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

They had been at the pub for an hour or so, Mila ready to comment that this wasn’t her night either, when a group of very loud men approached them.

“Good night, ladies” one of them says in Spanish. “Tonight we are celebrating our friend Pablo’s stag party, and on every pub we are going, he has decided to invite the most beautiful girls to a round. What do you say?”

“Free drinks? I’m in” Eva says with a smile. “Miriam?”

“Count me in” she replies. “But Mila over here doesn’t drink alcohol.”

“Oh, that’s fine. She can stay with Fran. He is the healthy one who doesn’t drink” the guy says, nodding towards one of his friends. He is taller than all of them, the white shirt he is wearing giving you a glimpse of some very nice muscles underneath it.

“That’s great, isn’t it, Mila?” Eva says before winking at her. Looks like she has found tonight’s candidate for the nice guy.

“Happy to have some company while I babysit you” she replies.

“I know the feeling” Fran chuckles, sitting next to her. “Mila, right? From Milagros?”

“That’s my grandmother. I’m just Mila.”

“Lucky you. I was named after my grandfather, but they gave me the full name. Francisco” he says, moving his hands in the air like that SpongeBob meme with the rainbow, making Mila laugh.

“I’m sorry” she says.

“Nah, I’m already used to it. Where are you from? You don’t sound like people around here.”

“We are from Lisbon” Mila says.

“Portuguese, uh? You speak really good Spanish, though it may not be that difficult.”

“It’s tricky sometimes, but it definitely is more easy than other languages. What about you? You don’t sound like someone from Cádiz either.”

“Almería. Do you know where that is?”

“I think so…” Mila says. “South?”

“South-east, literally at the other side of the country” Fran chuckles. “You know your geography, uh?”

“I’m a clever girl” she says with a smile. “How is that you came here for a stag party?”

“I just moved to Sevilla for work, and Cádiz is beautiful, has an amazing beach, great parties… It seemed perfect. You?”

“Just some girls holidays. Eva’s parent’s have a house here, and we always spend a few days together.”

“Your juice, Fran” Pablo says.

“Is it just juice? Nothing extra?”

“Nothing extra, I promise” Pablo says, sitting next to us and joining the conversation his other friends have with Miriam and Eva.

“It wouldn’t be the first time they add rum or vodka.”

“Such nice friends” Mila laughs. “You just said that you’ve moved to Sevilla for work. May I ask what do you do?”

“I… I play football.”

“No way! Really?”

“Yeah…” he says, playing with the glass on his hands.

“But like, professionally?” Mila asks.

“Yep. Just signed for Betis.”

“Oh my God, that’s amazing! I also play football.”

“Yeah, sure” Fran chuckles.

“I do! Girls, tell Fran what I do for a living.”

“She plays football for Manchester United” Eva says, all the guys looking at Mila as if she had grown another head.

“You also are a football player?” the guy who first talked to them asks.

“What do you mean by also?” Miriam says.

“Fran just signed for Betis!”

“What a coincidence, uh?” Eva says with a big grin.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

As the night goes on, they leave the pub where they were and move to a karaoke bar where Pablo invites another group of girls to some shots. They also invite some other guys to join them, and they’ve gone from being just seven people hanging out, to twenty, most of them very drunk.

“Do you want to go somewhere else?” Fran asks Mila.

“I can’t leave Eva and Miriam alone.”

“They seem fine to me” he chuckles. Eva is kissing one of Fran’s friends, her tongue all the way down his throat, while Miriam is in deep conversation with one of the girls they met at the karaoke bar while talking very close to each other.

“Ok then” Mila says.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“Is taking you to the beach a bit of a cliché?”

“A bit, yes” Mila laughs. “But I love it here.”

“You don’t have this in Manchester.”

“I do not, no. But tell me, Francisco.”

“Oh God, this is serious. You are using my full name” he laughs.

“It is” she says with a cheeky smile. “Tell me, Francisco. Do you take all the girls you meet to the beach?”

“Just the ones I want to kiss.”

“Really?”

“Really” Fran says, taking a step closer to her. They’ve stopped walking and are now standing in the middle of the beach, the waves clashing behind them.

“Ok.”

“Ok? What does that mean?”

“It means that you can kiss me. Unless I do it first” Mila says, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him.

[becauseplot]

I just finished Episode 0 of Ordem Paranormal: Calamidade! I've decided I'm going to do post-episode "journal entry" posts as I watch this season just like i did when I watched OSNF because it's fun and it's a nice record of my thoughts as I work my way through this series. Helps me process stuff too because the lore in this series can get fucking DENSE. I'm sad I didn't do this for OPD (partially because I was instead liveblogging to a discord, which I didn't do for OSNF), so we're changing that this time around.

Gonna preface the first of these journal entries with the fact that I speak little to no Portuguese. Thus, I have to rely on YouTube auto-translated subs (which suffered a lot in this episode, audio was lower quality) and a combo of some Portuguese I've picked up with a tangential understanding of Portuguese via my mediocre grasp on Spanish. This combined with the fact that I am very slow with the mystery and not a puzzle-doer by any means means I might get things horribly wrong or miss details entirely. Shoutout to the discord people for answering my fifty fuckmillion questions about the lore. Anyway journal entry time yippee!

IN-PERSON ORDEM SESSION LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOO

First of all, the fact that Cellbit opened this season saying that even he doesn't know how this season of Ordem is going to end is. Very concerning. But so interesting! Nothing is set in stone, which raises the stakes for this series---the fate of this story is truly in the hands of the players, as there's no longer the GM's guard rails. Or, as strong of guard rails. You get what I mean.

I'll go over story stuff first. My main goal is to at minimum follow the story. Again, I'm really not a mystery head, I'm not too good at theorizing, and the connections between the lore points and plot points tends to become a bowl of spaghetti in this series. If I can at least follow what's going on, I'll be happy.

So it's been a bit under a year since the events of OPD. Things are...strangely quiet. As Agatha points out, for all of Kian's promises for the bloody murder of thousands of innocents, there's been a distinct lack of blood, and murder, and dead innocents. All the better for the Order, which has steadily been growing its own forces in preparation for the oncoming war.

War. We're at war-levels of conflict now. Such an escalation from the days of AOP. It's interesting to see exactly how much more formidable both the Order and the paranormal threats have become. I remember the days of AOP where for a majority of the story, there was a singular gun with a singular magazine (we didn't even have bullet-counting mechanics yet!) and a blood zombie was still a genuine cause for alarm! Now we have Arthur with his giant sniper rifle that he carries around on his back in a guitar case, Dante with his Echo Dolor ritual that lets him bend time and "repeat" previous characters' attacks, and Carina's sick-ass nun chucks and throwing knives against whatever THIS thing is:

And yeah there was a blood zombie too, I guess. But the blood zombies are now just tutorial creatures, used to get players used to the fighting mechanics. (I mean.... I suppose AOP technically had a Degolified in its first session, but there was no way they were gonna kill it, you know? They barely even escaped it.)

The point is that we have come a long way from the days of AOP, and the scale of this world and its conflicts has been steadily ramping up and expanding since that fateful day in January, 2020. The "arms race" between the Order members and the paranormal continues to escalate, and escalate, and escalate.

I mean just look at their health!! Look at it!!! And Jesus Christ that blood zombie they fought at the beginning could've breathed on OSNF!Arthur and he would've died!!

ANYWAY. From what I understand: Veríssimo has found that Arnaldo Fritz's grimoire on the Relics is less promising that he initially thought it would be, and he's concluded that all of the relevant information has been lost. It's up to Arthur and Dante---with some new and returning recruits---to find as much lost information as possible. The video of the "devil" posted online seems to echo a case from over 20 years ago that Arnaldo was on, so it's as close to a lead as they're gonna get.

So they go and investigate! A woman named Elsa was harassed by a voice of a child ("mommy?"), sculpted a bunch of things to try to appease it, and died in the house. She turned into a blood zombie and her organs were gone, likely a result of the organ-sucking that the child-monster does. The gang has a peak around and find out there was some cursed shit with a devil child happening 20 something years ago which was likely terrorizing the more recent woman. Arnaldo had handled whatever came of it and locked it in the basement, and poor Eusábio was never the same, listening to static on TVs and radios believing they spoke "the truth," whatever that means. Could be an Energy thing? Not sure.

In any case, they head back to the house, basement has more blood and weird shit in it surrounding this "devil" and this mother and her child, things happen, and BAM big ol' monster in the house. And it's also the same child that Dante killed in that gone-wrong ritual where he unintentionally aided Kian (among other things)! And it has a weird dice effect to those who are "responsible for a pregnancy"! That one felt awfully targeted, by far the wildest fucked up thing to come out of pregnant Dante lore sorry dude.

Anyway onto the thing I really wanna ramble about CHARACTERS!! THE CHARACTERS!!! The energy in this session was off the charts, the group was so animated and into it and it was so much fun holy shit.

This is definitely in part thanks to Balu, who is the number one defender of the Sillies and Cellbit's number one enemy in regards to the atmosphere of his horrormurderdeath TTRPG. The captions especially hate it whenever people are being giggly so I don't think I caught more than 10% of Balu's shenanigans but the sheer energy of it crosses language barriers, man. This is such a 180 from reserved and socially-anxious Cesar/Kaiser, who was still silly and goofy, yes, but was much less loud about it. Also interesting to have him be a member returning upon Veríssimo's request! I wonder why he retired.....

Next, Rubens! Back from Episode 7 of OPD, letsgo!! (Head in hands. Where is Johnny. Please tell me he's okay.) Jumpy guy! I love how Felps clarifies at every opportunity that Rubens is doing what he's doing, scared. His under-socialized ass is walking around with nothing but a flashlight, a gun, a resting heartrate of 110BPM. And he might be scared literally every second he's alive, but he's not a coward. You never see him run from fights, he always runs into them, just like his friends. And he's not pathetic or blubbery either! He's extremely capable despite the fact that he looks like he's one loud sneeze away from fainting on the spot! When he uses his ghosting ritual to run away from the creature, it's specifically to drag Balu out of the way of a hit that likely could have killed him. Do it scared, or so they say, and by god, is my mans doing it scared!

Carina! Similar to Balu, not too many deep character thoughts about her yet, which sucks :( But her taking out the nun chucks in the middle of the fight had me oh so pleasantly surprised! (Look at her she's kicking ass.) One thing that sticks out to me is the scene where the group is handling Eusábio. That scene was such an incredible display of teamwork, everyone working together to assist each other in the infiltration: Balu and eventually Arthur serving as distraction as Rubens helps Dante slip into the bedroom. Meanwhile, Carina was smart enough to not make her presence known at all so she could freely explore the garage without arousing suspicion! So even if the guys' cover was blown in the house, she could've kept snooping around in the garage. She comes from a famous family of paranormal investigators and is highly praised by her father, the leader of this family business, so I'm very excited to see more of her shine. Also Gabi is just incredible at puzzles. Liz's lore notebook from OSNF beloved <3

Okay, onto the remaining OPD boys. Starting with Dante---what the FUCK is up with his vision. Sometimes mans can see the paranormal, and sometimes mans can straight up SEE things. He "opened his eyes" to read a document and to see the creature, which uh, rip dude bad timing to decide to have vision lol. Have a confronting-the-horrors Rakin/Dante moodboard:

Dante is his same non-plussed self. Still very mellow, not very silly-goofy like a lot of the others here, but not exactly opposed to the silly-goofy. Arthur definitely joke-flirts with him on at least one occasion. Very endeared to the fact that he just recognizes Arthur by his footsteps alone. I always imagine that whenever Cellbit is giving a new-location base description of the party's surroundings, Arthur is quietly relaying all of this information to Dante.

Another fun detail happens when Felipe gets downed by the creature. Dante practically throws himself at Felipe, doing everything he can to save him. And yeah, that's definitely a swirling combo of Felipe being an ally and Dante himself being fueled by guilt over this creature, but... Thiago and Gonzales, right? Rakin (and the other players) remembering Gonzales and letting that bleed into Dante's actions as he desperately tries to save him only furhter reinforces the fact that the Marcados are connected to their "other lives" via the players who played said characters. Love love love toying with the idea that OUR reality is the Other Side to Ordem's reality, like with the special 50% NEX transcending question Cellbit poses to the players. That deserves its own post, I think.

And finally, Arthur. Oh, Arthur, my boy. You've grown so much in the past, what, year and a half since your world got flipped upside down, turned inside out? There's just. A lot going on here. The first impression we get from Arthur is that he's a lot more...serious? He seems older (the white streaks definitely help in that regard), and more mature. He still has his charm and his goofiness, yes, his personality is still there, it's just... All of the people, family, he's lost compounding with his new duty to lead means that his personality has been damped a bit. The constant loss is taking a toll on him, and he's definitely feeling the pressure placed on him, considering he's basically Veríssimo's right hand and has now been explicitly appointed leader of a team.

And circling back to what I was talking about with the "war" theme going on here---Ordem teams have never had an explicit leader. The "leader" role, however, has slowly started to emerge. I think it's because OSNF had such a strong team-as-family dynamic going for it, and AOP was just a gaggle of fresh-faced, severely underqualified and inexperience individuals who were forced to either get your collective shit together or die and bonded into team-as-(dysfunctional)-family as a result. OPD was when the first murmurings of a "leader" came up: Dante encouraged Joui to take a stronger leadership role in order to hold the team together. This mantle was passed onto Kaiser, which was then passed onto Arthur, the last remaining Vulture, the last remaining member of Equipe E, and Veríssimo's right hand. And now Veríssimo has explicitly stated him leader of the team when before, that wasn't seen as necessary. The emergence of the leadership role within the teams no doubt coincides with the fact that they have been approaching and are now involved in a "war;" the situation is grave and the pressure is on, and we need to make sure that there is someone on the team holding everyone together and making sure they stay focused on the mission.

Though, thinking about it, I don't think team dynamics themselves will shift too much as a result. Just because Arthur is technically "leader" doesn't mean that he has to lord it over the group, and so far, he hasn't. He's barely even mentioned that Veríssimo has technically appointed him leader. It's brought up with the others like, maybe once? So far it hasn't played into the characters' dynamics at all, even if Arthur is clearly feeling the pressure. At the end of the day, I do believe in Ordem's strong power-of-friendship theme, and this session has given me hope that this team of characters will feel a little less disjointed than OPD's.

Running through a few extra details: Agatha is beloved and now has at least two (2) friends!! Ivete is still here and I love her, and Veríssimo needs at minimum a glass of water and to take a thirty minute nap in the infirmary. (The base is still sorely lacking in couches and beanbag chairs and overall crash-after-shitty-mission spots. Sad.) But man, the fact that Veríssimo is described as being "nervous" when Arthur n co. walk in for the meeting...

In any case, that's all I got for now. I'm very excited for what comes next :D

[ofoceansandtombsanew]

Is it weird how I'm suddenly inspired to learn a new language? Are there any resources you would recommend for learning Mandarin and Latin American Spanish?

I don't think that's weird at all, it's always cool to learn a new language and if you ever feel inspired to do it, I'd say do it!

As far as resources I recommend...

I tend to get basic 101 style books on the language's alphabet/writing system, basic grammar rules and phrases and from there I pretty much solo it by listening to music, watching movies, watching anime subbed in a target language, etc. etc. I do this with pretty much every language I've learned up until this pointー Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Mandarin. Then every once in a while I take occasional notes on things like grammar. The more adept I get with the language, the less I start relying on the book.

For Spanish the book I got was Spanish Demystified. For Mandarin I used the textbooks I needed to purchase for the class, Integrated Chinese (Simplified Characters), and watched Chinese dramas and movies. I really like the Mexican novelas Soy Tu Dueña, Mi Corazón es Tuyo, María la del Barrio. I've been into Reina del Flow on Netflix lately (Colombian). La Primera Dama, both Colombian and Chilean versions, are good. You can find plenty of novelas on Netflix and Youtube.

I'm more into Chinese films than C-dramas personally, I LOVE the movie Suddenly Seventeen (it's on youtube too), Big Fish & Begonia and Hear Me (Taiwanese Film) are my personal favorites. I'll recommend those any day of the week.

I also recommend watching youtubers that speak your target language. Especially if you're trying to learn a Latin American variety of Spanish since across Latin America there are plenty of dialects and accents. I'd check out as many as possible because if you're trying to learn a specific dialect, you'll want to know which one you like the most. I went with Mexican since my at the time GF was Mexican and I worked in her city for a while back in 2018.

Youtubers I like are Missasinfonia (Mexican), Piyoasdf (Chilean), Danna Alquati (Venezuelan). I'd say just learn how to say certain things you're interested in Spanish or Mandarin and look them up in youtube. Like... 'viendo JJK por primera vez' to find JJK reactions in Spanish and so on and so forth.

I rec watching youtubers and movies and listening to music since native speakers naturally speak faster than the way they do in videos/resources meant for teaching. So it's best to get used to how native speakers speak quickly, at least for me. But I'd adapt your studying and things like that to personally how you best learn, what your goals are for the language and things like that.

I go more into it in this post on my study/langblr

[skepticalarrie]

Hi Allie, I think I have seen you answered some questions about your experience in England recently and know that you are actually from Brazil. Do you speak English as a mother language or just learnt it in school and only use it on the internet or on studies/works? I ask this because I only use English on the internet and read the news and still I have so many unknown words to learn... I have also learnt another language in college, and I am really into languages but I just do not feel like remembering all the vocabularies. I would like to know your experience in languages since you speak both English and Brazilian Portuguese. If the question sounds too personal to answer, please just ignore me.

Hi, darling. No, it’s okay! I will be happy to help. I’m going to answer under the cut because that's a long one:

So, the thing is… I barely spoke any english until I was like 18, I think?! I learned a bit of english at school like everyone in brazil but, honestly, what we learn is not even enough to form a coherent sentence, is it? I think the internet (but mostly songs and video games) helped a little bit when I was younger as well but I never really felt interested enough to *actually* learn a language.

What pushed me to finally learn it properly and for good was my ex. He speaks surprisingly very good english since he was younger, so that motivated me a lot. So honestly, I just decided to put a lot of effort into it because I thought it would be something useful in the future for me. And I know it sounds cliché saying that but what is going to bring your english to the next level- especially in terms of vocabulary - is to really immerse yourself as much as possible. What worked for me was to do everything I already did in portuguese also in english. So… books, podcasts, movies, songs, youtube, twitter, etc etc. Really, everything! Learning a new language as an adult can be really tricky, it’s not easy, so the only way of building a solid foundation is to get in touch with it as much as possible. I never really learned english properly, to be honest… like, actually studying. It was from reading and listening to other people talk. Plus, I also travelled a lot during that time, so it helped to improve my speaking a lot as well. And then my ex was transferred to England and I wanted to do a postgrad course there so I had a goal in mind and I studied for the IELTS test and I did pretty well!! And obviously living there and going to uni made my english 100x better. I barely spoke any portuguese while living there. I think one of the main reasons why brazilians can’t speak good english most of the time it’s because we’re lazy 😂 we look for other brazilians to speak portuguese, we try spanish before trying english. And not doing any of that and immersing myself as much as I could was the best thing I did. And of course, university helped a lot, especially with having to write stuff on more of an academic level.

Right now my life is really confusing when it comes to that hahaha I’m back living in Brazil for four years already, and in the first two I completely stopped practising, I was soooo rusty!! When I realised that, I immediately tried to get back to the things I used to do before. So I *never* see anything with subtitles in portuguese, always english or no subtitles. I only read books in portuguese when they’re originally in portuguese, otherwise, I *always* get the english version. It’s the small things and the consistency, to be honest. Coming back to blogging also helped me so much! Now I talk with you guys every single day, so I’m always practising. It helps a lot! It’s important to practice expressing yourself in english and not only listening and reading it. My speaking, though, is kind of rusty because I don’t really practice as much as I should but oh well 🫠 Sometimes I use english at work, but it’s not something that is really required at my job, it’s just a convenience I guess. So I just try to make good use of it in other areas of my life as much as I can. I know sometimes is harder because it didn’t come naturally to me as it did for some other people.. I see younger people online now, and everything is so globalized! It’s so much easier to practice and learn it. So my advice to you, anon, is simply: practice practice practice! Especially if you still feel like you’re weak in vocabulary and you’re learning it as an adult.

[hard-core-super-star]

I'll still be able to get this out of you... I think... at some point-! omgksjsjskskdhwjk you casually picking up your phone and then just falling asleep again. uh- I don't know what I can do with this information other than find it funny, so I'll find it funny until something funnier comes along, which won't be a problem between these conversations.

nahh, nope, definitely not, maybe someone put something in your glass of water today. very bold of you to assume that I will give you one more later 🤨 god, I would really hate it if you did that, like, damn, so much hate, I would exude hate for that. okay, I'm not going to pay even more attention to your writing and see how you base this type of narrative. well, it doesn't even make sense for you to add anything since we weren't even talking about anything, right? I'm glad you didn't admit that since I wouldn't think it was cool and probably wouldn't remember the way you wrote alpha!kate with apparently this feelings formula.

I'm sorry but saying that just makes it even funnier, I can't help it. time stopping for a few seconds along with your little heart aww 🥺 seriously, I can't help but let out at least a little laugh, it's impossible for me to hold back.

don't be sad, I'm terrible at getting references so this can happen very often hwiskjshsjwk

yeah, you have a point there, characters like that are so superficial that it's difficult to even get attached or sympathize. Well, I agreed with you, but now I have to completely disagree because Shrek is much funnier in portuguese (brazilian portuguese) soooo you argue with the wall ☝️ouch, that one hurt but yes, in the fics I read she's also super popular and I particularly like it because it warms my heart, but it's clear that it's a little different from her “reality”. I like that you pointed out her loyalty and devotion to the people around her and that can kind of complete the sense of justice part of her, I mean, her loneliness plays a role in her quest to do the right thing for those people who think they're alone and have no one to help them. I actually don't know if I completed it or messed it up even more.

– 🌟

you're more than welcome to try but idk if you'll be successful. i'm glad you find it funny because it will most definitely happen again. i should probably stop oversharing at some point but idk, you make it easy to just say the first thing that comes to mind...even when it's a little embarrassing

i don't know, your words of denial don't really match your actions so it's just more evidence that you are in fact soft. well considering i already gave you two after saying i wouldn't...i think it's only fair. it's a good thing i definitely won't be doing that then. i'm glad you're not going to pay more attention to my writing because it's not like i adore all the details you manage to pick up on or anything like that. i'm so glad you didn't bring up alpha!kate at all because it's not like i've been thinking about that fic every day since i wrote it.

😑 i'm so very glad you find my pain funny. how are you going to say aww and then laugh at me in the same paragraph? i demand financial compensation for this, don't make me use the sad eye emoji on you again.

you've been doing a great job so far so i have faith in you. [something something, faith is a fine invention]

i actually might have to argue with the wall on this one because i have no way of checking if you're right. this is the part where i shamefully admit that despite how many languages i've studied, i've always stayed away from portuguese because it scares me 😶 i know it's sort of similar to spanish in some ways [kind of like italian] but idk, i haven't tried to learn it yet. it's a goal for sure, though. i'm so glad you brought that up because i thought of that point when we were talking about her sense of justice. i think she still carries that pain/loneliness of her dad's death which is why she's so stubborn when it comes to being a hero sometimes. it's in part because clint inspired her but it's also because she doesn't want anyone else to go through what she did. it might also be why she sort of puts up this goofball act because she's secretly really lonely but she doesn't want to bring anyone down with her. i don't think it's exactly complete because there's so much to say but i loved your additions so no, you didn't mess it up at all.

[ecofinisher]

Ruby's Mother's Day collage

Fandom: The Sims

Characters: Ruby Langerak (Next Gen OC), Kaylynn Langerak, River McIrish and Background Characters.

Summary: Ruby Langerak was working on her Mother's Day gift at her grandparent's home

Ruby Langerak was spending Saturday night at the house of the grandparents of her paternal side. She sat on the ground by the coffee table making a drawing, while behind her on the couch sat her grandfather Dustin watching ice hockey together with his neighbor Jack Bunch, as both were supporters of the same team. 

“Come on, Johansen! Through the legs!” Said Dustin loud hoping for the player on the TV screen to hit the goal, but the puck on TV hit the leg of the goalkeeper. “Helvete!” Shouted the blonde making Ruby chuckle as she understood the bad word coming from her grandfather’s mouth. From the kitchen, stepped out Dustin’s youngest daughter, also the aunt of Ruby, Kaylynn Langerak holding a bowl with a whisk in her hands staring in the men’s direction. 

“Dad, Mom has already told you to stop swearing in foreign languages in front of Ruby,” Kaylynn warned. “You don’t want Parker again to get in trouble, because of something you caused,”

“Our girl here knows well, she can’t say that word, right princess?” Asked Dustin looking down at Ruby who cackled about her grandfather.

“My own dad didn’t mind, mom just got annoyed, cause she didn’t know it was a bad word, and neither did I that time,” Mentioned Ruby making Kaylynn nod.

“This is why sometimes it’s better to ask someone about certain words you don’t know. Mostly you now. You see your dad is both Swedish and Portuguese, your mom’s Irish and American. Both speak three languages well, you sure speak English and Swedish, but that doesn’t mean you can know everything in both languages. You already see sometimes how both your father and I struggle to find a specific word in one language and end up saying it in another one,” Stated Kaylynn making Ruby nod.

“Yes, when I learned Portuguese……boy it was hard to get through it,” Dustin commented with a smile earning a nod from Jack, then Dustin dropped his smile immediately. “Then my second problem happened to be, I took the wrong classes. Instead of going with European Portuguese, I picked the Brazilian one,” 

“The fact you learned a different language in sake of love was a really outstanding move,” Confessed Jack making Dustin nod.

“Iliana was the one and only back when I met her. Meeting me somehow also helped her out with her job. She learned Swedish from and for me. She now speaks at work around five different languages,”

“Whoa, since when?” Questioned Jack surprised watching Dustin shrug his shoulders.

“Well, Portuguese she learned at home, then she learned English, afterward she learned Spanish at school, somewhere later she learned Italian and when she met me she went with Swedish. Basically, most languages are relatable by a few words, so it made her life easier,” Dustin explained, then noticed Ruby listening to him. “Right, Ruby? Grandma Iliana is quite smart, she knows five different languages, huh?”

“I will someday learn Portuguese and Irish too,” Stated Ruby proud making Dustin cackle.

“You meant Italian, right?”

“No,” Answered Ruby chuckling. “My mom knows Irish,”

“Ah that’s good too,” Commented Dustin making the girl nod and focus on her drawing, then Dustin glimpsed over his granddaughter to look at the drawing trying to recognize, what it was. “Honestly, soon or later I should get myself a pair of eye contacts or glasses,” 

“Why thought?” Asked Jack curiously.

“Can’t see my granddaughter’s drawing,” Commented Dustin while Ruby listened to her grandfather and looked at the small lines she had made for her Mother’s Day present, which were just a draft. 

“Actually, they’re just a draft, so I can pass by with another pencil or something thicker,” Commented Ruby looking back at her grandfather making him smile.

“Don’t worry. It’s normal, your grandfather is getting old too,” Commented the blonde making Ruby shake her head amused, then look down at her sheet to continue her drawing. 

“It’s quite fascinating how different you are from Mr. Bunch. He’s a few years older, has raised four kids and he doesn’t seem to bother getting older,” Stated Kaylynn making Jack shrug his shoulders.

“Well, what can I say? I’m more of a man, that appreciates the present,” 

“Oh don’t worry, the Langerak DNA doesn’t have that in anyone’s blood. We watched Puss in Boots the other day and I think it needs more, for them to learn the appreciation of life,” Kaylynn mentioned. “Zelda eventually learned it and this is why you don’t see her so often now in Sunset Valley,”

“Well, she’s a lucky woman. She now with the money she earns, she can afford on going on vacation anywhere she wants,” Dustin stated making Jack nod. “She could have done that as a flight attendant, but you don’t get that easy or not as easy as getting into a theatre,” 

“You know, now the laws have been slightly altered. Now you can become a flight attendant with under 160cm as far as I’m aware of it,” Mentioned Jack. “Easier if you went to the military, of course,” 

Ruby got up, then made her way into the kitchen to see her aunt empty the liquid from her bowl into a cake form, then Ruby got in front of the raven-haired woman.

“Aunt Kaylynn, do you have any idea, what else I could draw?” Questioned Ruby watching Kaylynn spread the liquid above the form, then pondered about the question of her niece. 

“Good question…..what about something you’ve both experienced lately, that you liked?” Questioned Kaylynn watching Ruby think about it.

“We watched a movie in 4d?” Asked Ruby. “How should I draw and show, that it’s exactly that?”

“Well, for something that you have never done, I would suggest you……you could simply draw as an example two seats with you and your mother, then make the movie screen with the characters running out of the screen…..To make it seem, like you were in a 4D run, you could draw rain over the seats or draw a wave demonstrating smells or that the chairs are moving,” Suggested the aunt. “That’s the easiest way to show someone, what it means,” 

“Good, I can try it out,” Stated Ruby. “What I think I will do as well, is draw my mother somewhere helping me with the homework. She often helps me out in Math,” 

“That’s a good idea. Or if you like this idea, list down the many things you’re thankful for having your mother around,” Suggested Kaylynn watching Ruby ponder about it, then she had a different idea.

“I think I will start my drawing again and do something else,” Commented Ruby. “I will draw at least depending on how much space I have, all the things my mother has done for me. Eventually, I might need a second sheet,” Commented Ruby making her aunt nod.

“Sure, I’ll get you another one. If you’d like you can stick three or four sheets together and make something like a placard for your mother about everything you love about her or what you loved, that she did for you,” Suggested Kaylynn. “What do you think?”

“Hmm…..It’s a good idea. I just need to notice down first, what my ideas are before I draw it down,” Commented Ruby making Kaylynn nod.

“Sure, you can take a cut post-it note from my desk and notice down your ideas. If you want, you can give it to me to read it. Eventually, we figure out, other things you haven’t discovered yet,” Mentioned the aunt making the girl nod.

“You’re the greatest, Aunt Kaylynn,” Said Ruby holding her hand up for the woman to high-five her. “I just hope I will finish it in time,”

“I can ask your father or mother to let you stay here overnight,” Suggested Kaylynn. “Let’s just say you……were tired from playing and fell asleep,” Suggested Kaylynn. “I’m sure they will let you stay,”

“Great idea!” Said Ruby excited making her aunt grin amused. 

Ruby spent the night in the house of her grandparents sleeping in the room, where her father used to sleep when he grew up. 

Downstairs, Kaylynn was cutting down a slice of the cake she had made last night and placed it on a place to take it to the kitchen table, where she had prepared for herself a slice of toast with jelly. Kaylynn licked her lips, then heard someone knock on the door and looked through the window behind the table to see her sister-in-law River McIrish standing there waiting for someone to open the door.

“That went fast,” Kaylynn commented surprised at the brunette’s arrival, then walked to the door to open it to see the woman in person, while the husband stood down inside the car with the side on top of the sidewalk waiting. “Good morning, River. Are you here for Ruby?” Questioned the raven-haired woman.

“Yes, sorry if we happen to wake you up. Parker just said later, when we left, that he had made a reservation for Mother’s Day at the bistro to have all breakfast together,” Explained River making Kaylynn nod.

“Oh alright, Ruby must be in Parker’s room sleeping. Perhaps I would give her five to ten minutes to get ready,” Mentioned Kaylynn making River nod. 

“Shall I come up?” Questioned River watching Kaylynn shrug her shoulders.

“I think it should be okay, she’s done, with what she planned to,” Mentioned Kaylynn stepping aside for the brunette to step in.

“Did she plan something?” Questioned River.

“Well, I would ask her that. It’s her gift after all,” Stated Kaylynn making River grin, then she got into the house and went upstairs to get into the room, where her husband used to reside, when younger. 

River encountered the girl sleeping in the bed, then she entered into the bedroom to nudge her gently on her face.

“Ruby, wake up,” River whispered watching the girl turn her face up to the woman, then open her eyes. “Morning, little girl,”

“Mami?” Whispered Ruby quietly, then yawned making her mother grin amused by seeing her daughter yawn.

“Dad’s taking us to have breakfast at the bistro. You’re invited too,” Said River watching Ruby sit up to stretch her arms. Ruby got down from the bed and noticed the sheet, she had on the desk and remembered it was Mother’s Day. 

“Happy Mother’s Day!” Shouted Ruby turning around to hug her mother surprising her at how instantly the girl remembered it. “I have on the table there a gift for you,” 

“Oh really? Can I see it?” Asked River, then watched Ruby walk to the door to turn on the light in the bedroom, so her mother could look at the poster she made with four different A4-sheets, showing little drawings she made of herself with the mother and a word above each picture. 

“Most of the words don’t really fit. I just added a word related to the image,” Commented Ruby, then pointed at one drawing showing herself sitting on a chair, while behind her stood her mother. “This one is you, helping me out with the homework. When I couldn’t move further you have mostly figured out how to help me with it,” Ruby explained making River nod, then she looked at the next one.

“Crying?” Questioned River confused looking at the next picture to show Ruby crying and River standing next to her. “That’s new,”

“When I felt so bad I had to cry, because of something you would have comforted me, hug me, talk to me. Other times it would be Maro as well,” Explained Ruby making River wide her eyes now understanding the picture.

“Oh, right. I did legit not get it at first,” Admitted River making Ruby chuckle, then River caressed her daughter behind her back. “That one looks like the cinema,”

“You take me out on a lot of girls' nights only when daddy’s at work or busy with something else. That’s a time we can both have a lot of fun,” Commented the kid making River nod, then look at the other picture. “Can you guess that picture?” Questioned Ruby pointing at one drawing with a bed with Ruby in it and a temperature stick in her mouth, while River was drawn with a sad face looking at the child.

“Aww……this is me taking care of you, when you’re sick,” Mentioned River wrapping her arm behind Ruby’s back, followed by the daughter hugging her. “I didn’t feel very good about knowing you had a 40° of fever. Thank goodness the tea my mother suggested me to give you, helped your fever improve,” Commented River making Ruby nod, then River pecked her daughter on the forehead, “What are the other ones?”

“Most of them are now a few hobbies you taught me. Roller skating, painting, and sketching. What I liked the most is how supportive you were despite some different likings,” Mentioned Ruby making River smile and get down on her knees to open her arms at the daughter, which embraced her.

“Thank you for this wonderful gift. You know Mama would do anything for your well-being,” Stated River earning a nod from the daughter, which embraced the woman tighter.

[beforeiread-studies]

I posted 419 times in 2022

That's 395 more posts than 2021!

150 posts created (36%)

269 posts reblogged (64%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@luvbubbl

@beforeiread-studies

@fleur-aesthetic

@adelinestudiess

@pennyngram

I tagged 183 of my posts in 2022

#studyblr - 78 posts

#100 dop - 78 posts

#100 days of productivity - 73 posts

#100 days of journaling - 62 posts

#uniblr - 53 posts

#100 days of studying - 38 posts

#langblr - 34 posts

#german learning - 30 posts

#productivity - 27 posts

#study blog - 20 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#i might try to put all the magazines in chronological order to see what that could tell us about the production schedule but not right now

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

You guys.

I've been watching the first few minutes of a knitting podcast in German... and I can kind of understand it?

And the comments too?

?????????????????

What is going on???? I can now understand German??????

12 notes - Posted November 2, 2022

#4

Studyblr introduction!!!

Dear Studyblr, hello! I’m new and like almost everyone in this community I decided to create this study blog to find some motivation in my studies + life in general.

name: Anna

pronouns: she/her

age: 20

nationality: Italian and Italy based

orientation: aroace

personality type: INTJ

studying: I’m in the third (and last!) year of my bachelor's, studying languages and literature, mostly English and German

languages: my mother tongue is Italian but I’m fluent in English and am studying German and Portuguese at uni. I can mostly understand French and Spanish and have previously studied Latin and Ancient Greek (don’t ask).

goals: the final boss goal is to become a published author. The goal for right now is to get good grades in my classes so I can get into the master degree of my choice.

hobbies: writing + reading, watching movies, knitting, visiting cute cafes with friends, penpalling

In the next post I will talk more about my current goals :)

15 notes - Posted May 16, 2022

#3

More fashion magazines from Legally Blonde

Click here to read all the posts in the series.

In the movie’s opening season we get B roll of Elle’s room, which include this lovely shot of a pile of fashion magazines:

Here is what is visible, from the top.

Cosmopolitan, May 2001

Cosmopolitan, August 2000, which will reappear later in the movie as The Bible.

Cosmopolitan en Español, Mayo 2001, which begs the question, does Elle speak Spanish like her friend Serena speaks Vietnamese? (I think it was Vietnamese, correct me if I’m wrong)

Cosmopolitan, August 2000, repeated.

Cosmopolitan, May 2001, repeated.

Seventeen.com, June 2001

JANE, May 2001

But seeing as the movie was primarily shot between October and December 2000, how could the crew have access to magazines from 2001? Was the B Roll shot later or are these fake magazines to give the viewers the illusion that the movie’s beginning is set in Spring 2001?

Unfortunately, the Cosmopolitan’s spines give us 0 information about the issues’ contents & covers BUT Seventeen.com and JANE do!

Let’s go scavenge the internet.

.

JANE, May 2001

Does anyone know anything about this JANE magazine? I had never heard of it.

JANE’s spine says: “Where’s Weinberg?” I have no idea who or what Weinberg is and that month’s cover has no mention of this Weinberg, as you can see, so we’ll have to move forward.

See the full post

17 notes - Posted July 14, 2022

#2

What fashion magazines were featured in Legally Blonde: The Musical?

Click here to read all the posts in the series.

We all know and love the iconic MTV recording of Legally Blonde: The Musical, no matter how grainy it is (and perhaps even a bit because of it).

Right after the song “Serious” ends and before the beginning of “What You Want”, Elle’s friends try to comfort her by bringing her the latest issues of her favourite fashion magazine.

See the full post

21 notes - Posted July 13, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

[19.05.2022]

Finally applied for a prospective summer job. I don’t have high hopes of getting called back but writing a CV for the first time was still an interesting project. I also read a bit, studied German a bit and visited the cutest cafe on our street with some friends before we all drift apart for the summer. All in all, a very fun day.

🎥 Bojack Horseman - Season 1

35 notes - Posted May 20, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[laviexenrose]

𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒷𝒶𝓈𝒾𝒸𝓈

NAME: isabelle marie allard NICKNAME(S): is, izzy, belle AGE: most verses - age 29 SPECIES: human

𝓅𝑒𝓇𝓈𝑜𝓃𝒶𝓁

MORALITY: lawful / neutral / chaotic || good /  gray / evil  RELIGIOUS BELIEF: born-again christian  VIRTUES: chastity / charity / diligence / humility / kindness / patience / justice (all of them lol) PRIMARY GOALS IN LIFE: spreading as much good and love to humanity as possible (through her wealth) but also getting married and having a family  LANGUAGES KNOWN: french, english, spanish, italian, some portuguese  SECRETS: not exactly a deep dark secret per say but isabelle won’t go around telling everybody she’s well-off; and if anything, it's more like there’s secrets being kept from her asdfdjf QUIRKS: doesn’t need lots of sleep, 5 hours is good. detail-oriented !! super organized with labels and everything. remembers important, significant dates but also the most random events in her life and some history ones too. i don’t want to say she has a photographic memory but she can read things pretty fast and then recall them, sometimes verbatim, later on. that helps/helped so much when she is/was doing her studies aka she’s a super nerd.  SAVVIES: knows probably way too much about plants, like the medicinal properties and which can be consumed or not - but i think based on that alone she has a pretty good chance of survival, if she were stranded in the woods or something. maybe not.

𝓅𝒽𝓎𝓈𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓁

BUILD: slender / scrawny / bony / fit / athletic / herculean / babyfat / pudgy / obese / other   HEIGHT: 5′4″ SCARS/BIRTHMARKS: no scars but she has a small, circular pigmented birthmark on her lower abdomen, left side, just above her hip. she has freckles too but they’re not very noticeable unless you’re up close and personal ABILITIES/POWERS: N/A RESTRICTIONS: trusts too easily. always patient, even when she’s frustrated. wants to believe everyone has good/can be good??

𝒻𝒶𝓋𝑜𝓊𝓇𝒾𝓉𝑒𝓈

FAVOURITE FOOD: bread, cheese, chocolate - what else do you need? FAVORITE DRINK: raspberry tea, lightly sweet FAVOURITE PIZZA TOPPING: cheese  FAVOURITE COLOR: technically pink but not bright or light, it’s like a rusty rose  FAVOURITE MUSIC GENRE: classical FAVOURITE BOOK GENRE:  historical and/or romance FAVOURITE MOVIE GENRE: doesn’t watch many movies but if i had to guess it’d be the same as the book genres  FAVOURITE SEASON: spring  FAVOURITE BUTT TYPE: doesn’t have one? haha i’m crying FAVOURITE CURSE WORD: does not curse, ever !! there was like one time in a thread, and it was in french but it's very very VERY rare if it happens  FAVOURITE SCENT: vanilla, honeysuckle or just anything floral 

𝒻𝓊𝓃 𝓈𝓉𝓊𝒻𝒻

BOTTOM OR TOP: this one’s too obvious  LOUD BURPER OR SOFT BURPER: okay but just imagine isabelle loudly burping? lol !! she’d still be rlly cute about it, but she does it softly when she does, of course  SINGS IN THE SHOWER: maybe not like full on, powerhouse singing but humming some words or lyrics that are stuck in her head LIKES BAD PUNS: yes! laughs at anything punny, whether it’s good or bad THEIR OPINION ON THE MUN: i probably remind her of her grandmother, for being a cruel and wicked woman. i’m horrible, especially to her. i can’t imagine why she would like me v much XD

TAGGED BY: @honorhearted

TAGGING: @xbless-this-broken-roadx , @ericbrandonrp  , @kit-just-kit  , @lavishbylaw , @marimelwrites ( do jameson pls + for any muse of yours you want ♡ ) , @richardxoliverxmayhew , @secretscost ( for ethan or zander! or anyone you feel like doing:) ) , @skyler-bane , @wintcrstcrfall ( tagged for matthew but honestly anyone you’d like to do! ♡ ) , @withinkandquill ( for anyone else you wanna do !! ), @wynterlanding​

[ablegaming]

Gran Turismo 7 accessibility review

Game title: Gran Turismo 7

Platform(s): Playstation 5, Playstation 4

Languages: Matches your Playstation console's default language setting. Czech, Danish, German, English (United Kingdom), English (United States), Spanish (Latin America), Spanish (Spain), French (Canada), French (France), Indonesian, Italian, Hungarian, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Russian, Romanian, Finnish, Swedish, Vietnamese, Turkish, Ukrainian, Arabic, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Thai, and simplified & traditional Chinese are available.

Age rating: ESRB E 10+, PEGI 3

Multiplayer: 2-player local split-screen multiplayer. Online multiplayer up to 20 players in a game lobby. Online profile photo, nickname, cover photo, about me, default greeting, post race greeting, and social links can all be set.

Genre/theme: Racing simulation, circuit races, rally races, championships, license trials, car collection, car customization, screenshot and photo editing.

Violence: None, aside from causing some occasional minor damage to other racers' cars.

Maturity: No sexuality, nudity, swearing, or drugs & alcohol references. A driving experience gamers of all ages will enjoy.

Difficulty modes: Setting a new standard for accessibility, several assists are on by default when starting a new game, and they remain on until you turn them off, making the game very approachable. After trying out various amounts and levels of assists, I found that most of the starting assists really did help my hands a lot. I eventually turned off the visual displays for the drive line and brake zones, but I kept corner markers displayed on-screen (I don’t have very good depth perception), auto-braking around turns (to save my left hand/arm the stress of constant braking), a little bit of ABS, and some traction control (to decrease the amount of counter-steering needed, especially on dirt tracks and rainy levels).

Even when the braking is set to automatic you can still mess up by going into a turn too fast and skidding off course or crashing, so letting off of the accelerator and doing some light manual braking will still be helpful, you won't literally fly off of the track going around a turn crazy fast like you would with the braking assist turned off. You can get a serious boost in speed if you turn off auto-braking and get good at braking manually in GT7, but I've found it to be much harder on the hands. Several of the assists can be turned way up or way down, or off entirely, giving you the freedom to choose every aspect of the game you'd like to fine-tune to your needs and preferences.

The difficulty mode is set to Normal by default but can be set to either Easy or Hard as well, race prize money is not affected by changing difficulty.

There are unlockable bonus races that aren't required for the main story completion that can range up to 5-chili pepper difficulty level; these almost always have increased tire wear and fuel usage, requiring pit stops during the race.

Complexity: As complex or as simple as you'd like it to be; Gran Turismo 7 can play very casually with several assists on, or it can be a hardcore realistic racing sim, and everything in between. Cars can be incredibly fine-tuned and customized or can be driven stock, but some upgrades will likely be needed for later races and championships, and upgrades generally make the game easier to control.

Instructions, saving, story recap, menus, & waypoints: There is a link to the online manual on the main menu screen. Controls and skills are learned and practiced by playing through the license trials. Menus are mostly pretty easy to navigate and find what you're looking for, but the text size is kinda small. In-game notifications are clear and reliable, creating a marker on which gaming mode area to select for your current goal.

There isn't much of a story beyond collecting cars and winning all the championships, as is true of the Gran Turismo series as a whole.The Cafe is your source of obtaining new goals and rewards, and also offers some brief history about the cars and manufacturers.

In-game notifications can be turned off. Autosaves often, after every race; I had the game crash a time or two and never lost any progress (in earlier builds, they release update patches often). Can turn opening movie and demo off to speed up load time.

Subtitles: Relies entirely on subtitles, the text is fairly small and appears at a medium pace.

Text customization: "Skip conversations using cancel" is the only dialogue option available. Unit of measurement can be switched between mph and kph.

Voice acting: None

Volume settings: Balanced BGM (background music) and sound effects mode, enhanced sound effects mode, race BGM focus mode, menu sound effects level, play race BGM, race BGM level, race sound effects level, replay BGM level, replay sound effects level, music replay volume balance, music replay master volume level, other BGM level, engine sound level, transmission sound level, tire squeals level, rivals engine sound level, broadcast mode, and audio output mode: 2 channel stereo or 7.1 channel surround are all customizeable. In-game notifications for the current song playing pop up in the upper right corner, and songs can be removed from the default playlist.

Photosensitivity: Exposure, color saturation, bright level, and dark level can all be adjusted.

There aren't many flashing lights in the race track environments (primarily on a couple of the road courses in Japan), the main flashing light issue is on the heads-up-display, as it flashes blue, white, and red while shifting gears (the entire heads-up-display can actually be turned off in the in-race settings menu though). Additionally, whichever setting you hover the cursor over in the Settings menu flashes between dark gray and white. Some cars emit a bit of an exhaust flash when shifting up a gear, this is more noticeable on night levels.

These can be remedied a bit by playing in a well-lit room and adjusting screen brightness (TV), backlight (TV), contrast (TV), and color settings (TV). Additionally, wearing blue light lens glasses, tinted lens glasses, or even sunglasses may be helpful.

Motion sickness: Driving in first-person perspective is really accurate with car interiors and is well done but may be too much too for gamers who struggle with fast images/high speeds, I personally found this to be a bit better in third-person camera mode. The camera can be changed with the press of a button, so you could even switch between camera modes several times in a race if different perspectives on certain turns or lighting areas are easier for you. There are four camera angles to choose from: third person (behind the vehicle and up about 25–30 degrees), first person, dash-cam, and front of the car. The sideposts and lamp posts blend together in a slightly disorienting way on particularly fast tracks/driving fast cars, but this can be remedied by placing your eyes’ focal point directly in front of the car.

Colorblindness settings: Color saturation can be customized, but no colorblind mode.

Controller rumble: Yes, vibration level can be customized or turned off entirely.

Remappable controls: 100%, every button can be remapped.

Quick-time events: None, aside from timed starts and early start penalties on some of the tougher races.

Physical impact: Low with assists on, moderate with all assists turned off. I haven't tried this game with a racing wheel or wheel + pedals setup. There are lengthy optional endurance races you can take on, which I found to be too fatiguing and painful, but completing these isn't necessary.

I played through the game on Playstation 4, but a friend of mine who played through it on Playstation 5 messaged me after reading this review to let me know that the Playstation 5 Dualsense controller caused him some additional pain and fatigue due to the controller's adjustable trigger tension level. Thankfully, the trigger tension can be turned down or off entirely to relieve this.

Adaptability and input: To play one-handed, a racing wheel + pedals setup will likely be needed. Can be played with Sony Playstation 5 Dualsense controller, Sony Playstation 4 Dualshock 4 controller, Fanatec GT DD Pro racing wheel, Fanatec CSL Elite racing wheel, Fanatec Podium racing wheel, Logitech G G29/G923 racing wheel, Logitech G PRO racing wheel, Thrustmaster T-GT racing wheel, Thrustmaster T-300RS racing wheel, Thrustmaster T-500RS racing wheel, Thrustmaster T150 Force Feedback racing wheel, and Thrustmaster T80 racing wheel.

Upgrades that can be purchased for each car include increasing the steering angle, installing a handbrake for easier drifting around turns, as well as nitrous boost.

Overall accessibility score: 4.5/5.0 (Please note that this score does not reflect the entertainment or enjoyment value of the game, it represents the range of accessibility for gamers who have specific limitations.)

With Gran Turismo 7, Sony and Polyphony have set a new standard for excellence in accessibility in racing games. A wide range of languages, complete control remappability, compatibility with several racing wheel setups, in-depth lighting, camera, and sound settings, along with all of the gameplay and visual assists you could ever want, all add up to an incredibly approachable driving experience. Some mild photosensitivity and motion-sickness, but these can be remedied by various means, and aren't anywhere near as intense as you'd expect from a driving game. The greatest accessibility omissions are the lack of voice acting and text customization settings. Who knows, with all of the updates being released for this game (and maybe a little encouragement from us) there's a chance text customization settings could be added one day!

My review can also be read and listened to (text-to-speech) at Medium.com:

https://medium.com/@AbleGaming/gran-turismo-7-accessibility-review-8597bb979988

[tomb-bloom-noctem]

saw your post so go ahead and give us all of your DY headcanons

So...whoops this has been sitting in my drafts FOREVER and I deeply apologize anon. I wanted to go into it more but unfortunately it was forgotten and I feel terrible and I just wanna post it instead of leaving it forever again. 😔 my apologies again. So here's some headcanons specifically about Donald and Della.

So I'm guessing by DY you mean DT so I'm going with DT headcanons and if I misunderstood then I'm sorry anon 😂

Oh boy now I have to figure my thoughts 😂 this is not very organized!

Most of these will make an appearance in The Attempt and the Aftermath but some won't. I'm going to avoid putting ones that I feel will be spoilers.

Tombs DT Headcanons

Donald

He's ambidextrous

His parents taught him and Della the piano and guitar but it stuck better with Donald than it did Della.

His strengths are language, music, and arts. Reading, writing, learning other languages, drawing, playing music, etc. It's a kind of sad irony since so many people struggle to understand him.

He can speak, write, and understand English, Spanish, Portuguese, (courtesy of José and Panchito), Greek (courtesy of Storkules), Latin (courtesy of Quackfaster), and American Sign Language (courtesy of Hortense) also a small bit of Scottish Gaelic (courtesy of Fergus and Downy) and French (later in life courtesy of Daisy)

His voice being hard to understand is due to his vocal cords being underdeveloped when he was born. This causes him pain a lot of times, especially when he's sick or speaks a lot. (Already partially explored in my fic but some more coming up)

He was in the Navy for just under 4 years. (More on this coming up in TA&TA)

He doesn't like flying but his fear didn't really set in until after losing Della.

Donald has depression, anxiety, PTSD, haphephobia the fear of being touched, and selective mutism. Heavily explored in my fic with healing as the goal.

Panchito taught him his "world famous chili"

Donald is actually a pretty good cook when his luck doesn't mess with him and actually has access to better ingredients.

He mostly likes rock and metal music but he's open to all music of course. But he's still got a lot of his grunge tendencies.

His greatest fear is not being good enough for the boys.

Daisy is his first kiss, first really serious relationship, first all of it. He's a little bit embarrassed by it but he's just never really had time or even really opportunity to form romantic relationships before her.

He has the worst temper between him and Della but is more patient.

He used to really like sitcoms but now he can't really stand them. He doesn't watch TV much anymore. He's very tired.

Della

Della is right handed.

Her strengths are more mathematical, scientific, and mechanical. She's actually quite intelligent when she really applies herself. It's just that a lot of time she's impatient and rushes in.

Della has a better temper than Donald but she still has the Duck temper. She is less patient than him though.

Della knows English, sign language, and Greek (courtesy of Selene). Languages don't stick quite as well with her so she relies on Donald more so for language stuff.

If Huey, Dewey, and Louie were girls she'd have given them the same Jet, Turbo, and Rebel names. ("What can I say? These are awesome names and gender neutral.")

Della claims she doesn't believe in astrology and horoscopes but she kinda secretly does.

She didn't go to college but she did attend a private flight academy for a year to get her pilot's license.

Also she isn't completely tomboy. There is a feminine side to her but she will only reveal it when she wants to. This mostly happens with her female friends but the family sees it sometimes. But as a whole she prefers adventure and sports and "masculine" things. (All of which is valid)

Her favorite TV shows are of the action/adventure and mystery/crime genre.

She's the oldest by 2 minutes.