#the video of the interview was in the article but a different one so i put one in youtube

[savebylou]

Read article below

Louis Tomlinson made a low-key arrival into Sydney ahead of his national tour on Friday morning. The former One Direction star, 32, played down his rockstar credentials as he was spotted making his way through the terminal in a graphic t-shirt and sweatpants. Louis attempted to hide his famous face by wearing a cap and sunglasses. The singer is scheduled to kick off his national tour in Melbourne on Sunday. He will then play arena shows in Sydney and Brisbane.

During his last visit, Louis made headlines after he accused The Project's Carrie Bickmore and Peter Helliar of stirring up a One Direction feud. Peter asked: 'There's been a bit of 1D beef recently thanks to Liam who's been speaking out about the band a little bit. When you look back on your experience about the band, how do you feel about your experience of those days?' A suspicious Louis replied: 'Oh, so the fishing's begun already! Yeah, I see what you're doing. No, listen, I'm immensely proud, as I know Liam is, I'm immensely proud of those days, obviously.'

'It was an incredible thing to do, especially at such a young age and I have amazing memories, amazing memories.' Pushing Louis further, Carrie asked if he ever gets fed up that he's still linked to One Direction despite their split in 2016. She asked: 'Louis, when you say, 'Aw, the fishing's begun,' I imagine it is so annoying having to answer retrospective questions like that. Do you want to talk about that time in your life to the media versus how much you never have to want to talk about it again?' Louis responded: 'I'm more than happy to talk about it in every interview. It's something I'm immensely proud of, as I'd already said, it's just when you mentioned the beef before, it sounded like you were getting ready to stir some s**t up, that's all I'm saying.' Peter chimed in: 'No, I'm not a s**t stirrer Louis, do I look like a s**t stirrer?'

x

[heritageposts]

[...] More specifically, the cycle of violence in The Last of Us Part II appears to be largely modeled after the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I suspect that some players, if they consciously clock the parallels at all, will think The Last of Us Part II is taking a balanced and fair perspective on that conflict, humanizing and exposing flaws in both sides of its in-game analogues. But as someone who grew up in Israel, I recognized a familiar, firmly Israeli way of seeing and explaining the conflict which tries to appear evenhanded and even enlightened, but in practice marginalizes Palestinian experience in a manner that perpetuates a horrific status quo. The game's co-director and co-writer Neil Druckmann, an Israeli who was born and raised in the [occupied] West Bank before his family moved to the U.S., told the Washington Post that the game's themes of revenge can be traced back to the 2000 killing of two Israeli soldiers by a mob in Ramallah. Some of the gruesome details of the incident were captured on video, which Druckmann viewed. In his interview, he recounted the anger and desire for vengeance he felt when he saw the video—and how he later reconsidered and regretted those impulses, saying they made him feel “gross and guilty.” But it gave him the kernel of a story. “I landed on this emotional idea of, can we, over the course of the game, make you feel this intense hate that is universal in the same way that unconditional love is universal?” Druckmann told the Post. “This hate that people feel has the same kind of universality. You hate someone so much that you want them to suffer in the way they’ve made someone you love suffer.” Druckmann drew parallels between The Last of Us and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict again on the official The Last of Us podcast. When discussing the first time Joel kills another man to protect his daughter and the extraordinary measures people will take to protect the ones they love, Druckmann said he follows "a lot of Israeli politics," and compared the incident to Israel's release of hundreds of Palestinians prisoners in exchange for the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011. He said that his father thought that the exchange was overall bad for Israel, but that his father would release every prisoner in every prison to free his own son. "That's what this story is about, do the ends justify the means, and it's so much about perspective. If it was to save a strange kid maybe Joel would have made a very different decision, but when it was his tribe, his daughter, there was no question about what he was going to do," Druckmann said.

And continuing, on the security structures featured in the The Last of Us Part II:

Besides the familiar zombie fiction aesthetics of an overgrown and decomposing metropolis, The Last of Us Part II's main setting of Seattle is visually and functionally defined by a series of checkpoints, security walls, and barriers. There are many ways to build and depict structures that separate and keep people out. Just Google "U.S.-Mexico border wall" to see the variety of structures on the southern border of the United States alone. The Last of Us Part II's Seattle doesn't look like any of these. Instead, it looks almost exactly like the tall, precast concrete barriers and watch towers Israel started building through the West Bank in 2000.

Illustrations, from the article:

The first barrier Ellie and Dina encounter when arriving in Seattle / West Bank barrier.

. . . article continues on Vice (July 15 2020)

Backup -> archive.today link /archive.org link

[wutheringheightsfilm]

How do we support Cubans and their resistance to western imperialism

I'm so glad you asked anon! A great way to start is to by actually listening to Cubans and their own stories and news. There are some really good organizations and accounts on Instagram (and many of them have their own publications outside of Instagram, so if you don't have the app, you can still follow what's going on)

Here are the ones I recommend:

@ bellyofthebeastcuba < news outlet that focuses on cuba

@ nationalnetworkoncuba < this is a coalition of many different orgs that are actively working to get the US gov to lift the blockade, etc; they post a lot of actionable things you can do to get involved physically, as well as opportunities for stuff like webinars! here is their website.

@ ratbcuba < this is a british org dedicated to solidarity with cuba

@ caribbeansolidaritynetwork < not strictly cuba oriented, but a network committed to the liberation of all of the caribbean! they also have events like study circles (and you can access their readings online if you can't go in person)

@ ghpartners < this is a nonprofit actively working to get donations in order to send medical supplies to cuba, right now they are working on delivering pacemakers to the island! here is their website.

Other than that, I really, really encourage you to start learning as much as you can on Cuban history and the history of their resistance, as well as their history of working alongside other resistance movements. Cuba worked in solidarity with the Black Panthers, with numerous African countries fighting for their own liberation, with Vietnam, and even more. National Network on Cuba has a really good political education page where you can start that includes a book list and articles list, as well as youtube videos of documentaries. This is a Google drive from NNOC that introduces the concept and history of Guantanamo Bay. There's going to be an Afro-Cuban reading list released on the NNOC site soon, so definitely check back for it.

This is a timeline of the Embargo to help you get introduced to that. This is an article about Afro-Cuban resistance fighters during the revolution. This is an article that discusses the atrocities committed by the Batista regime.

Before you read any of Fidel Castro's work (particularly his famous speech, History Will Absolve Me), read this page first on the history of the attack on the Moncada Fort on July 26, 1953, a year after Batista’s US backed coup d’état. It gives the historical context necessary to read Castro's History Will Absolve Me speech.

This is a PDF of some of Che Guevara's speeches in a collection called Che Guevara Talks to Young People. While the Introduction insists this is not "Che Guevara for beginners" I still think it's a good jumping off point. Here is an interview with Assata Shakur talking about her experiences in Cuba.

I hope this list helps, and of course, it's not exhaustive. I just hope I gave a good enough foundation for anyone who wants to start learning!

[sad-trekkie-life]

What I think TOS crew Instagram accounts would look like:

Bones:

Less then 1K followers. Private account. Selfies of him being in a company, a lot of selfies with Kirk, bad pictures of Spock, random photos of medical equipment. Sometimes snaps of landscapes. Active on stories.

Argues in the comments on scientific and moral topics (he’s usually right).

Has 2 secret accounts: Dolly Parton fan account, with a huge amount of followers. Other one is reviews of drinks, bars and clubs of different planets, also has a big amount of followers.

Spock:

A lot of followers (think ten thousands). Posts rarely, so account doesn��t really grow. Very beautiful photos of the landscapes and portraits of crewmen. A lot of candid pictures of Kirk. Sometimes posts harp music. Doesn’t feature his face for privacy.

Kirk:

Successful influencer amount of followers (think of hundreds of thousands or even over a million since other planets might have instagram as well). Cares about feed’s aesthetic, which features a lot of space, stars and shiny disco balls. Posts videos where he tells about his adventures while doing “get ready with me” (usually makeup), regular outfit checks. Pictures Spock made of him, information of interviews, articles, him with famous interplanetary politicians and celebreties, etc.

The only photos of people without him in the picture as well are of Spock (with some cheesy captions), and of Bones, with funny captions. Always pins Bones’ comments. Reposts Spock’s photography in stories. Doesn’t know why Dolly Parton fan account follows him. Follows Bones’ review account without knowing it is Bones, recommends Bones’ recommendations to everyone, even to Bones. Tries to convince Spock to create a beauty account.

Scotty

Scotty does have an account, but does not post anything on it. Still managed to get 325 followers.

Chekov

Two accounts. Meme account and modeling. Meme account is pretty big, and it’s Russian memes. Modeling account is smaller than meme account but still big. Collaborates with popular intergalactic brands. Doesn’t tell people about model account, meme account is Chekov’s proudest achievement.

Sulu

Cosplay. Botanics. Shitposts. Cosplay again. Comic cons (with Chekov). Flowers. Cosplay. Not a big amount of followers but not a small one.

Uhura

Amount of followers is slightly higher than Kirk’s. Makeup, outfits, singing, African culture. Spock leaves a lot of nice comments there. Uhura from time to time features Spock to promote a makeup or them to do makeup to each other. McCoy also gets featured especially “doing makeup to my friend” kind of videos, and is pretty popular among her fans, but he doesn’t accept follow requests. Feed aesthetic often changes, but always has bright colors, certain themes and color schemes.

[threeacttragedy]

Entry 1 - The One About That Weird Ass Cressida Post

This is my first blog entry and, before you start reading, let me just drop in this little disclaimer: 

You will find that I bounce between fact and speculation with a mix of sarcasm and [I hope] level-headedness, common sense, and deductive reasoning.

I am a Lukola. Plain and simple. You will not change my mind. It’s an all or nothing thing for me. How I got here, I’m not exactly sure – wait, no I do know how I got here (thank you Nicola and Luke for being so fucking charming).

Of course, I knew what Bridgerton was before I joined the Lukola fandom. In fact, I watched both Seasons 1 and 2, and they were okay. Yes, just okay.

I knew that Season 3 was about Penelope – the only character I found remotely interesting – so when I saw an article on People’s page showing Nicola and her costar holdings hands, I admit I was intrigued.

Were they dating?

Let’s ask Mr. Google and find out.

No, apparently, they were not.

Okay, fine.

I then made the mistake of clicking on a video of Nicola and Luke being interviewed in Australia. And, motherfuck, they were like lightning in a bottle! Luke – being asked if he believed in friends to lovers – responded in a way that left me feeling a bit blindsided. My immediate thought was: “He fell in love with Nicola the moment he met her.” It’s funny how many people I’ve spoken to since who had an identical reaction and, to be honest, Luke’s response won’t make your heart flutter. But, it was something in the way he said it.

Now, let me explain my feelings about love at first sight. Actually, Nicola explained it best when she said lust at first sight is often mistaken for love at first sight. This, I agree with wholeheartedly. To me, love at first sight does not have to be lusty. It can be, sure, but it can also be something entirely different. Maybe it’s a fleeting feeling of recognizing someone in a way you cannot possibly articulate out loud. Maybe it’s a palpitation of your heartbeat. Maybe it feels like home. Regardless, when you experience it, you’ll know it.

That, my friends, is how I got here, and why I [sometimes begrudgingly] stay here – walking alongside this rather long, winding, and often pothole-filled road waiting for two people to admit to the general public – whether it be in a blatant or subtle manner – that they are, in fact, together.

I’ve noticed in this fandom we seem to have three types of people.  We have the Sincerely Ignorant, the Conscientiously Stupid, and the Fact Finders.

The Sincerely Ignorant are those that are easily persuaded. They are like sheep following their shepherd. In fact, the Sincerely Ignorant are the most dangerous as they tend to spiral hard and fast – and often without reason.

Next, we have the Conscientiously Stupid. These are the shippers that choose to live in error because it fits their narrative. We are all a bit Conscientiously Stupid but there are those that push an idea so hard that they omit certain truths from their storyboard. The danger here is obvious and their victims always include the Sincerely Ignorant.

Lastly, we have the Fact Finders. The people who track information – key players, side characters, dates, places, statements, etc. These are the people who often find themselves pulling the Sincerely Ignorant out of the water when they spiral, usually due to narratives being pushed by the Conscientiously Stupid.

I am a Fact Finder. Am I perfect? Fuck no, but I do find it fun to collect and analyze information and share it with my fellow Fact Finders. Plus, collecting data helps me maintain some indifference towards the USS Lukola because, let’s face it, this god-damned ship has been blasted by quite a few cannonballs at this point. Some days, I’m surprised we’re still afloat.

Let’s start with Cannonball No. 1. Pap-fucking-smear. June 12/13, 2024. What a fucking shit show. Who shows up to the London premiere? Antonia, Luke’s – I honestly don’t even know what word to use here because I have a lot of different thoughts but out of [a small amount of] respect I will call her – “girl friend” [yes, that space was intentional]. We all know the story, Luke was papped outside his hotel with Antonia on premiere night and he was pegged an overnight dumpster fire.

And, oh my God, the Sincerely Ignorant and Conscientiously Stupid ran with it. I mean, they practically became wild dogs chasing down a fox under the command of Nicola the Huntsman. However, Nicola, almost immediately, came to Luke’s rescue by posting an “in support of” style story to her IG. I’m not saying Nicola wasn’t affected by this mishap. At the very least, the post-premiere PR efforts were dumped squarely on her tiny shoulders. At the worst, she’d had her heart broken.

I never liked the Papsmear pictures. Not because I disliked what they depicted but because there was something “off” about them. Luke didn’t look like a man happy to be out with his lady friend. He looked like a man who had been hoodwinked and whether that was because he knew he’d just made a major PR misstep or because he knew the narrative that would follow was false doesn’t really matter because it’s all speculative. But, what makes me believe it was the latter is what Luke did next.

On June 15, Luke put a story on his IG promoting Season 3. That isn’t all that interesting but the scene it depicted made me do a double take.

Could it be?

No…no way…

But…it was.

It was the scene in Ep. 6 where Cressida entered the Mondrich Ball and Colin pulled Penelope aside and told her he wouldn’t let Cressida ruin their evening.

What in the hot fuck? I mean, really, what in the hot fuck??

Did Luke really just blast out an IG story where his character tells Nicola’s character not to let the Cressida character ruin their evening? Was Cressida…Antonia?

Because that’s fucking loud.

I mean, of all the scenes over four episodes, Luke chose THAT one to promote Pt. 2?

Surely, Antonia or one of her friends or family members would have picked up on this, right? And, told Antonia.

No one is going to convince me that Luke and Antonia were in a blissful relationship after that IG story was posted. Why? Because the deductive reasoning part of my brain tells me Luke chose Nicola straight outta Pap-gate.

The Conscientiously Stupid may [rather they WILL] argue that it was just for PR. Okay, but that would mean Antonia accepted the comparison between Cressida, the Evening-Ruiner, and herself. Take a moment and put yourself in Antonia’s shoes. Would you accept this from your partner? (P.S. If you said yes, you have bigger problems in life than following real people’s relationships.)  We know Antonia accepted this role to some extent because we have evidence she attended events with Luke over the summer. So, what the fuck?

In my opinion, Luke’s IG story is a defining moment in the Lukola narrative, but one that was overlooked in June and one that continues to be overlooked – and ignored – now.

Luke’s character is telling Nicola’s character he won’t let another woman ruin their evening.

Let me repeat that again for you:  Luke’s character is telling Nicola’s character he won’t let another woman ruin their evening.

Now wrap your head around that.

[empty-movement]

Empty Movement's 2023 Revolutionary Girl Utena UPDATE

Fashionably late? As always. 2023 was a HUGE year for Empty Movement, so much so that to confess, we did a big fail in actually keeping up with sharing the stuff we did! OOPS. So finally, we proudly bring you: all the Revolutionary Girl Utena content we dropped in 2023. Essays, artbooks, CD information, you name it. Click below for the entire site update, or get it at the source, as always, at ohtori.nu.

In Analysis (Fan Essays): • seebee's essay The Power of Living an Embodying Narrative is about more than Utena, it's about the fandom--including us. We were both interviewed for this piece, and the result is an absolutely beautiful essay that has helped inform how we do Utena stuff going forward. Thank you so much for letting us be part of this! • seebee's VIDEO essay FILM CUTS BACK | transfeminism in utena absolutely blew our minds and it's so good we're listing it. Look at the title. Just go watch it, it rules. • Nicole Winchester's essay No Choice But To Become Witches: The Bishōjo-Demonic Phallic Mother Dichotomy in Revolutionary Girl Utena catches you up to speed on the academic discussion around what might best be described as the shoujo manga iteration of the Madonna-Whore complex. Then, naturally, it finds plenty to say about Utena. Great work that was well worth the coding!

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In From the Mouths of Babes (Translated Meta/Creator Content): • Cross X Talk, A Round Table Discussion Commemorating the Second Musical Utena GOGAI FUCKIN' GOGAI. Nagumo and friends bring us the final untranslated part of the 2019 Black Rose Musical's program guide: the monster interview with Ikuhara and the director of the musicals, Yoshitani. INCREDIBLE content here that 100% lives up to the first musical's similar encounter! A must read!! • The Rose Apocalypse's Ei Takatori Interview The director of the mysterious 1999 musical (yes the machine gun one, and YES WE HAVE MORE INFORMATION ABOUT IT COMING) interviewed in The Rose Apocalypse book. This...is that. Thank you so much to iris hahn for translating, and I can't wait to bring you more of this mythology!!! • The Utena Dossier Animage Magazine's June 1997 supplemental, this 36-page Utena tome has ben translated by Nagumo with editing by Ayu Ohseki. Because so much of the content is in its visual presentation, I worked the translation into the original scans! Check it out! (PS. Yes that is an entirely different gallery on the emptymovement.com domain, no this won't stay there, yes it has been a weird couple years.) The Dossier includes two long interviews that are also worked into html pages for easy viewing! The Auspicious Joining of Manga and Anime: Saito and Hasegawa For Whom the Director Smiles: Ikuhara and Kitakubo

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In Historia Arcana & The Bibliothèque (Untranslated Resources): • There are a lot of changes happening in this arena!!! How and where to place different materials has been a moving target, so I'll do my best! The sites don't quite reflect this yet, but Historia Arcana will be for cover to cover Utena media, including special magazine publications. Something Eternal's gallery, the Bibliothèque, will be for magazine articles, clippings, and other things. Major artbooks will likely be in both places, cross referenced. New books in Historia Arcana: • The Rose Spiral: Reflections on the Mythology of Utena While not strictly official, this is a fan published book of in depth analysis of Utena, circa 1998! Yep, cover to cover. • Revolution Dictionary (OST 1 First Press Bonus) Cross-referenced from Audiology, this is the bonus dictionary you only got if you grabbed it early! Cool! • Revolutionary Girl Utena Making of Visuals Book Art of UTENA I am mentioning this for completions sake and because I already uploaded it, but this is a cover to cover high resolution, uncleaned scan of the 1999 Art of Utena artbook. I am going to clean the scans, and ultimately be posting the official artbooks elsewhere. • Revolutionary Girl Utena Photobook: Rose Memories This special Animage bonus could be purchased for 700 yen, and back then, was probably a great way to keep the anime in your pocket! It's entirely shots from the TV series, though, so there's nothing specifically new. But I scan it all, baby. New books in the Bibliothèque: • Chiho Saito's 1999 Revolutionary Girl Utena Original Illustration Collection HI THIS IS A VERY BIG DEAL. Read more about why when you visit! TLDR? Here's some of the best artwork of Utena, rescanned and remastered by yours truly to be the best big big scans of big big beautiful Chiho Saito Art. This is a feast. I even made myself a calendar! (Note that the price is such that I don't make a profit on these, so if you're looking to donate, definitely go by other routes, haha.) You will find multiple ways to obtain the scans, and in more than one size. Either way you soak up the rays, enjoy 'em! New articles and clips in the Bibliothèque: • H! Rockin' on Japan Magazine Saito X Oikawa This fashion music magazine's July 1999 article has ALREADY BEEN TRANSLATED? Like, I am going to add the translation officially to the site of course, but holy hell Nagumo is amazing!! This article is actually the origin of a Saito art piece that uh, well. Now we know she went to a love hotel with movie Akio's VA. Cool! Anyway check it out! • Comickers Magazine, August 1997 This absolute monster find is an industry-focused magazine with this gorgeous spread and interview with Chiho Saito. It gets into how she does things. The making of Utena. All kinds of stuff. I'd LOVE to know more about this one!! • Comickers Magazine, June 1998 Again, an industry-focused publication, this time it's exploring the manga and the anime and how they compare. Again looks like a tasty meal!! • Volks Magazine, Spring 2022 YEP SCANS OF THE BOOK OF THE DOLLFIES. For a lot of us, this is at close as we get to these ludicrously gorgeous dolls. I included a few extra pages because they were just fuckin' cool and felt relevant. • Sega Saturn Magazine, December 1997 One of two grabs I got recently on Yahoo! Japan! This appears to be the first look announcement of the 1998 Utena video game! (Yes we have more on it, yes we will eventually post links.) • Sega Saturn Magazine, April 1998 This feature brings attention to the voice actors, who are all returning for the game! • Dengeki G's Magazine, January 1998 Another gaming focused magazine, with frankly a more adult edge, cheaply lets the readers know about Utena. These three game magazine moments are just a bizarre reminder of how we did things before the internet, LMAO

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In Audiology (Music and CD Information): • Complete information about the STAR CHILD - Girls Character Song Best album! You also definitely can't grab the two new remix tracks there. • Did you know there was a first press bonus dictionary for the first OST? I DIDN'T UNTIL RECENTLY. Now I know all about it, and so can you. Check it out! Obviously, scans available, both here and in Historia Arcana. • I FINALLY acquired a complete set of the Utena CD singles!! Check out complete track lists, scans, and information for ALL FIVE Utena singles. Yes. Including the movie Akio guy's one.

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In The Doujinshi Gallery: • Several dozen dounjinshi were uploaded earlier in the year, and can be found listed on the Site Update archive here.

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That's all for now, folks! There's so so so much coming. I have the episode 18 and 20 (!!!!) storyboards to scan, as well as a fully translated scanlation of The Duelist Bible. We're planning to do something for Anthy's rare LEAP YEAR birthday coming up, probably a musical stream or something! Love!

[cupidbedsy]

𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁'𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁 ; 𝘵𝘻11 ୨୧

➪ summary: pictures and text messages of her and her brother's best friend leak and she stays curled up in her room, not talking to anyone. so mason calls up her best friend and soon enough, trevor is on a plane to england

➪ warnings: things being leaked, crying, reader thinks her brothers hate her, crappy friends

➪ word count: 1.3k

➪ file type: fic - reupload

➪ sunny's notes: red, white, and royal blue is 100% the inspiration to this fic and yes i did basically copy the phone call and speech but its just too cute to ignore. i literally am in love with this movie. part two will be out tomorrow i hope! this would’ve been out earlier but i took a nap (shocking i know)

© cupidbedsy (sunflower-lilac42) ; do not copy, repost, or translate my work and designs on any other website or here

tz11 masterlist || nhl masterlist || taglist || navigation

Nothing was how it should be. They were supposed to be careful, they were careful. They were only seen together when it would make sense for them to be together; when he was in town for a game, when he was supposed to be hanging out with her brothers, or when he had a game against the Devils or the Canucks. And when they were seen together, they made sure everything was strictly platonic: no hand touches, stolen glances, nothing.

However, maybe they should’ve accounted for the fact that one, her friends were journalists, and two, her friends weren’t really her friends in the first place. They had a few classes together in college, back when she was still undecided, but despite that? They only found her interesting because of her last name and who shared it.

Somehow she was too predictable, her password was as basic as it got. It was the day Trevor asked her to be his girlfriend, they’re anniversary. It was the best day of both of their lives but now it was the root of all their problems. It wasn’t the biggest scandal on the dance floor, there were things much worse going on in the NHL and the world in general. No one would care about this besides the Zegras and the Hughes families and the girls who were too obsessed with hockey players and their relationships for their own good.

She was studying abroad in England this past year and she couldn’t help but fall in love with it. She had decided to extend her stay into the fall semester, not wanting to go back home. This sort of worked in her favor, she was 3,444 miles from Jack and Luke and 4,632 miles from Quinn. She was in a different time zone, country, and continent than them. All she had to do to avoid them was not answer her phone. 

She was good at that, blocking out social media and her phone as a whole. Growing up the sister of hockey players and her mom being who she was in the hockey world, she got used to the hate and backlash she got from not wanting to do hockey. Her phone was shut off and thrown into her desk drawer. Her friends tried to comfort her but were to no avail, she was too worried about what other people thought about it.

Not only had pictures of them been put out into the world but their text messages as well. However, she couldn’t remember a time she left her phone unattended. She hadn’t spoken to Trevor in two weeks, she hadn’t spoken to anybody besides her roommates in two weeks. She had seen a couple of articles and videos that were spreading, the one of Trevor’s interviews where he was addressing the situation was not only the biggest one but the most recent one. 

It was before the game, that the reporter had asked him about how everything in the media that was speculating had impacted him and his play. To which he responded with, “Y/n and I are together and have been since the beginning of the season. And whether people choose to support or hate it, isn’t my problem nor my business. We’re happy and hope everyone can support that decision and respect our privacy. I fell in love with a girl who happens to be related to my best friend. How is this affecting my mindset? I wouldn’t say it has, I’m still playling, and Greg still thinks I’m playing as best as I can and even better. I’m worried about her, that’s for sure. She hasn’t had the best track record with the media.”

He said a few more words, none of which mattered to y/n. She wasn’t sure if she cried more because of what he said or the situation. She curled up on the chair in the corner of the room, reading a book. Her friends looked at her sadly, they hated the fact that she had gone back to her reserved nature. 

Trevor on the other hand was acting like it wasn’t bothering him, he couldn’t hide himself from the media or anything really like she could. But, it was eating him alive. He didn’t know if she was okay or if something had happened or if she was ignoring him.  He was too desperate to know if he was okay so he attempted to reach out to all three of her brothers but he got nothing back in return.

It wasn’t until Mason walked into his room with his phone in hand, “I called her friend for you.”

Trevor looked at him with wide eyes, “What?”

“Thank me later.”

Her friend had been walking up the stairs to their apartment when she got the call from Mason, they had met when y/n and Trevor took them along on a trip to ensure that no rumors would start. She had practically run the rest of the way and bolted into the apartment. She walked over to y/n and handed her the phone.

She reached out for it and held it up to her ear, “Hello?”

“Baby!” 

Her voice stuck in her throat along with the sob that had been forming for a while. “Trevor? Oh my god, are you alright?”

“I’m hanging in there. Are you okay?”

She paused, “No. No, I’m not okay.”

“You know what, I’m coming to London tonight. Just hold on until I get there.”

“Hurry please.”

And just as he promised, 8 hours later he was standing in her apartment, opening his arms for her. She ran into them once she heard him call out and buried her head into his chest. Trevor sunk to the floor with her, his back pressed up against the wall, “It’s okay. I’m here. I got you.”

He could feel her body racked with sobs and he couldn’t help but start crying himself. He had torn himself apart these past two weeks as he waited to hear from her and knowing how much she had been in pain had hurt him. He picked her up soon after and carried her to the bedroom, laying her down on the bed. He crawled in next to her and wrapped his arms around her once more.

“Have you heard from your brothers yet?”

“Not a word. Not that I have checked my phone since the article came out.”

He frowned at her, tightening his hold, “Sometimes I wonder if part of their acceptance is just to forget it ever happened in the first place.”

This made him laugh a little as he pulled back to look at her. He moved the piece of hair that had fallen in her face behind her ear. His face changed when he realized that her small smile had turned back into a frown, “I feel so lost. They used to adore me, used to protect me, but now. It feels like they just wish I never existed.”

“Hey, they still love you.” She just blinked at him, “I’m sure if you looked at your phone they would just be wondering if you were okay.”

“I liked your speech, it was very put together.”

He smiled at her, “It made me very proud to be your girlfriend.”

“Hey, I’m always proud to be your boyfriend.”

She giggled and kissed his cheek, “You know what I mean you dork.”

“Speaking of boyfriends and girlfriends. Did you know Mason and Lia were dating?”

She perked up, “No! When did that happen?”

“Apparently-”

“Hey.”

The two turned and looked at Lia, “What’s up?”

“Your brothers are here.”

𝗠𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗧𝗮𝗴𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁 ୨୧

please message me if you didn't get tagged!

@toasttt11 @chiblackhawks @pucks-goals-penalties @dancerbailey3 @quinnylouhughesx43

© cupidbedsy (sunflower-lilac42) ; do not copy, repost, or translate my work and designs on any other website or here

[loviingpedri]

biggest fan - pedri

prompt: the famous midfielder hits you up

warnings: grammar issues

credits to owners for all images.

“pedri, who’s your top artist on this year’s spotify wrapped?” another day, another time for filming barca content. the content directors really knew the way to fans’ hearts.

laughing at the question. balde and gavi already knew his answer. smiling very suspiciously behind the camera.

“it’s been a tough year. i’ve explored many different genres of music. except, i always see myself going back to y/n’s music. something about her voice and the beats match very well.” gavi wanted to laugh at him so bad. he basically just professed his love right in front of the world. the media would enjoy this.

shutting the camera off, everyone applauded him.

“sometimes i wonder why you’re so scared of her. i mean, who wouldn’t want the pedri gonzalez.” gavi knew that pedri’s crush wasn’t gonna get better as he kept it hidden.

“one message couldn’t hurt. it’s a break or make.” balde joined into the conversation in the locker room.

to pedri, you had an unforgettable voice, face, or any type of charactistic. you were simply just unforgettable. and you knew it too, which explains why your song “unforgettable” was his number one song. he really considered reaching out.

when the video was posted, people were begging for the relationship to happen.

messages after messages were flooding your account. comments going crazy.

but there was a specific message that stood out to you. a message from an account that goes by pedri.

pedri

hey.

a simple text back wouldn’t hurt. would it?

y/n.l/n

hey!

pedri

i just wanna apologize about the interview. didn’t think it would blow up the way it did.

y/n.l/n

it’s perfectly fine! thank you so much for appreciating my work. :)

you should’ve seen his reaction to that text. he threw his phone and immediately started freaking out. the pressure was on.

pedri

i was just wondering, would you like to go out sometime?

y/n.l/n

i would love to

one fancy dinner date ended up being multiple dates. soon, it was official. articles after articles came out, but it didn’t matter.

your song dedicated to pedri went #1 on all platforms. fans noticed how your voice became stronger and the lyrics really felt heartfelt. he really brought the best out of you.

it was adorable how before you performed the song dedicated to him, he would peak his head out in any way or form to make sure it was known that he won your heart.

who knew a simple text could lead to the world’s biggest “it couple”. pedri’s confidence never went unknown. it was definitely a story to tell to your future kids.

[jokeroutsubs]

📝ENG Translation: Elle Men Special: A Fashion Odyssey with Kris Guštin

Article written by Ajda Gregorc, published in the November/December 2024 ELLE Slovenia Magazine. Print and digital versions of the magazine are available for purchase.

Scans and English translation by @kurooscoffee, review by @weolucbasu and a member of JokerOutSubs, proofread by IG GBoleyn123.

Full article translation, scans, and Spotify link are under the cut 👇

🎧 Article available in audio form on Spotify.

Elle Men Special: A Fashion Odyssey with Kris Guštin

With Kris Guštin, the music author and guitarist of Joker Out, we escaped to another side of music, and with that, to his other passion. We talked about style and everything connected to it. There will also be no shortage of this in the band's third album, titled 'Souvenir Pop', which is released on the 15th of November—one week after the issue of Elle you’re holding now. How perfectly synchronised we are!

PHOTOS URŠA PREMIK, STYLING ALENKA BIRK

At Ljubljana’s Moderna Café, on a fresh but lovely autumn Tuesday, when everyone’s still at work or in school, he arrives in a dark green jacket with a checkered pattern, awesome trousers, and her necklace. This time, the menu is not serving music and life, but matcha and "all things fashion." I’m in a regular trench coat and a white T-shirt, but luckily he doesn’t judge people by their style—instead, the style might be what piques his interest to converse, if it's good, of course. Besides, he's the one being interviewed. So, let’s begin! AJDA GREGORC

Interviewer: When did you first discover your personal style or the field of fashion? Was it in childhood or a bit later?

Kris: I roughly divide my life into two periods: before I first held a guitar, and after. When I really got into playing and ventured into music, my world opened up in all areas. Discovering fashion definitely falls into this second period, so the post-high school era. To be completely honest, my style in high school wasn’t something I’m particularly proud of today. (laughs) My girlfriend and I still have a photo of me wearing cargo pants and a black sweater, which is a proof she truly loves me, since that look was far from the best choice. (laughs)

When did it evolve from just a aesthetic impression to self-expression?

My first contact with fashion as a form of art or expression was during our band's first music video or fashion shoot, when I realised that this is also something you need to consider as a musician. At first, it seemed to me like a fairly peripheral element, but as our career developed and we met new people who gave us more insight into this, I began to understand its significance, what I could personally gain from it, and what we as a band could gain. This quickly developed into standard practice. I was increasingly exposed to fashion; we had more and more costume rehearsals and stylings, and two years ago, we even got our first proper stylist. And then I really committed to it—at around nineteen or twenty. Before that, my philosophy was always to "just wear whatever I first find in the closet," but then I shifted to "I'll wear things that would make me stand out from others". But this process was a long one.

So, your style development with the band inspired your personal growth too? I’ve always wondered if a young person is compelled to mature in every area when so many 'big things' happen all at once, as they did for you.

Maybe you do "grow old" in terms of personality sooner. Yes, at first I wanted, and still want, to primarily express the difference or uniqueness that I feel inside myself through music, but then I discovered that this goes very much hand in hand with fashion, so I started looking for my expression there as well. Today, it's almost an equally important part of my day.

Which fashion ideas or directions attract you? You’ve probably encountered a lot of inspiration during your travels on tour, right?

Definitely, but speaking purely origin-wise, I think I’m just like any other rock musician—we draw from the rock aesthetic of the ’60s and ’70s, which was also very "in" when my fashion awareness was born. Back then, around 2016 to 2018, here were a lot of flamboyant shirts on the music scene, with a slight hippie influence, which was the starting point. Only later did I start getting interested in slightly more modern clothes. When I was younger, I found myself in street fashion, that sort of Eminem-esque, hip-hop vibe, so very baggy clothes, which I then began to reject when I made the shift toward the ’60s and a slightly psychedelic aesthetic. It makes perfect sense, as humans tend to jump between extremes. When I had worked through that style, I started discovering the aesthetics of the ’80s and late ’90s, which was also reflected in music at the time. The best example that comes to mind is Dua Lipa’s previous album, which was in the style of the “new ’80s,” and the fashion matched that as well. Today, the early 2000s style has come back, but I haven’t fully decided whether I like it or not. As a musician, I was, of course, initially inspired by other music groups. Arctic Monkeys were a big inspiration for us both musically and visually, as was the whole British rock scene, including bands like The Kooks and Oasis. That entire aesthetic has always been strongly present with us. I doubt there’s a single inspiration board at our shoots that doesn’t include a photo of one of those bands or, for instance, the Beatles. And that aesthetic has always been close to my heart, too.

Rockers have always been associated with more masculine fashion elements, while in recent years, many male musicians have been experimenting with more feminine style elements (for example, Harry Styles and Lenny Kravitz). David Bowie was already the one who back then started to blur these fashion boundaries. You, too, wear such pieces and dare to stand out with them.

It happened quite naturally, as the stylists we worked with always chose slightly more “unmanly” clothing for me. This doesn’t necessarily mean women’s clothing, but rather somewhat more androgynous pieces, which I quickly embraced. I found them interesting and appealing because there’s a lot of fresh expression in that style that I don’t find in traditional men’s clothing, though I don’t want to overdo it. I also started experimenting with them personally, choosing many more varied colours. For a while, I was very fond of pink, and lately, I’ve been playing around with orange. On the cover of the album 'Demoni', I wore an orange-pink sweater.

Are we, as an audience here, already mature enough for a musician to present his feminine side through fashion? Does that require courage?

It does, there will always be people who won’t understand you. But for me, when it comes to the stage or a shoot, I’ll wear anything, and if I feel good in it, I don’t worry about what someone thinks. When I walk around "in civilian clothes," however, especially in Ljubljana, I am still aware if I’m dressed somewhat "untraditionally." There’s a certain boundary that I still need to break within myself. On stage, it’s easier because it’s not necessarily a hundred percent my expression; I’m playing a certain character, but personally, sometimes I do need some courage to show up in a particular style. However, the awareness of being different is stronger in Ljubljana than in other parts of the Western world. For example, I never felt that way in London, but still, our capital isn’t the worst when it comes to this.

Speaking of influences, what about other artistic or cultural movements?

I love art deco, the aesthetics of the '20s and '30s, though it doesn’t influence my daily life. In terms of photography, Damon Baker’s black-and-white style is beautiful. The vintage camera aesthetic has recently won me over, which will also be reflected in our band. Musically, over the past year, I’ve been listening to old Italian chansons and older French music, chansons as well, so I’m clearly feeling very retro this year. (smile)

Will the third album visually stand out from the previous ones then?

Yes, it will be very different. In the last two, we used a lot of colours, but there won’t be as many in this one.

Style can be an excellent tool for expressing an artist's authenticity, but with increasing success, the artist can also become its slave; the line is thin. Do you ever feel the pressure of having to express your fashion style in your private life as well?

No, I’ve never felt like my style owns me; it’s always been the opposite. I’ve always felt like I want more, like I want to dress even better than the day before, especially when it comes to my music career. Perhaps style only hangs over my head a bit when I have no inspiration and would rather wear sweatpants on an ordinary, relaxed day. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but then I do think about what would happen if I ended up somewhere in the middle of the city dressed like that.

It seems that Joker Out has developed a distinct style despite outside influences.

Yes, today we are already very complete in our style. Others have definitely had an influence on us, and I think it’s great that each of them tried to express themselves through us – it was interesting to experience how Joker Out was seen by Ponorelli, and how Andraž Drobnič or Karlo Kirri did. Of course, there is a difference in this, but it also aligns with the development of our music and aesthetics, so all these influences are very welcome.

How much of your personal fashion identity is therefore reflected in Joker Out?

Maybe, as someone who is not an external observer, I can't answer that, but I can say that I was always one of the first to give feedback to the stylist when we were creating our outfits, approving moodboards, and so on. So, I have definitely shaped our style in a direction that suits me. On certain "blind stylings," when we just dressed up, I quickly threw something on myself and then helped look for pieces for the other band members.

What about this photoshoot, where Alenka Birk took over the styling? Did you let her take the lead with her tactics, or did you collaborate on fashion choices? How did the communication go?

I didn’t know Alenka, who, by the way, is an excellent stylist, before. She was recommended by Urša (the photographer, ed.). Later, she confided in me that she had also worked with my father. Alenka focuses on elegant men's fashion, which is a departure from this more fluid fashion; and this suited me because I had never really been photographed in a men's suit, jacket, and tie. I wanted to try something new. I hadn’t seen the outfits before the day of the photoshoot when we met in her small studio in the morning. There were nine of them in total, and we only swapped out a piece or two in at most three of the looks.

This is more of an exception than a rule in fashion photoshoots. Does that mean you felt good in them?

Yes. In some more so, obviously, but in others, you have to trust the people you're working with. When I first look in the mirror, I always keep in mind that if something isn't optimal, it doesn't mean it won’t work well on camera. Even if the pants are too short or creased, it's still worth photographing them, because the photo can be edited later, whereas on stage, it's a different story, and everything has to already be perfect in the mirror. Working with Alenka was very simple; we clicked really well, and I will definitely work with her again.

How linked are your confidence and the way you feel on stage with your styling?

Very connected. As a musician, you want to enjoy yourself as much as possible on stage, and the people who come to listen to you and pay for the ticket deserve to see you at your best, which means you have to feel good in every aspect.

You recently attended Ljubljana Fashion Week. Which of the local fashion designers do you like to follow?

As far as the Slovenian fashion scene is concerned, I’m still quite the beginner, so I only knew the designers we had worked with. This was my first time visiting the Fashion Week.

Which shows did you watch?

On the first day, all of them. I didn’t like everything, but what stuck in my mind was Sarivalenci¹ with their somewhat "country club", Lana Del Rey vibe, and golf moment. I also really enjoyed the Belgrade Fashion Week, as there was an obvious Balkan touch, which I would love to see more of in Slovenia.

¹Sarivalenci is a Slovene high fashion brand created by fashion designer Sari Valenci.

You are a fan of vintage clothes and second-hand shops. What do these pieces have for you that new ones don't?

Honestly, I don’t know if there’s an objective explanation why. I started getting into it because it was popular, and at the same time, it gives you the feeling of getting a more unique piece. At the same time, you're shopping sustainably and not contributing to the production of unnecessary new textiles on Earth, which is great, but I would be lying if I said that’s my main motivation. What I like the most is the experience of "flipping" through clothes, where each piece is different, like a treasure hunt, compared to regular stores where you "flip" through the same clothes in different sizes.

Did your mum, who comes from the Netherlands where people have been aware of this for many years, introduce you to this concept?

I wouldn’t say we talked much about it at home, but I literally lived it. This is probably true for Slovenians in general – almost all the clothes I had as a child were from older peers, or I would take something from my dad, too. When I was done with wearing the clothes, my brother would wear them too. Every piece of clothing that came into our house was passed around, which is a great practice, and it’s still like that today. My sister "stole" half of my sweaters, my mum sometimes takes something too, Maks borrows jackets from my dad, which I’ve also done myself. It's like we all share one big closet! (laughs)

So you have influenced each other’s style in your family, or rather, you still do so? Who has otherwise had the most influence on your style in the past, and who does today?

I don’t remember ever looking at my parents as role models in this regard, as I didn’t really think about it back then, but they definitely influenced me, at least subconsciously. When I see how my mom dresses today, I see parallels with my own style, so she probably did influence me, perhaps more than my dad. As for street style, which I mentioned at the beginning, it might have been inherited from my uncle, my aunt’s husband from the Netherlands, who wore loose sweaters and listened to hip hop. My mum also had an uncle from the Indonesian side of the family, whom I never met, but he was very eccentric. Some of his clothes made their way to us over the years, and when I looked at these pieces in the closet, I was fascinated by how they reflected his personality. Asian fashion became a bit closer to me because of this, and I might even explore it someday.

The heart necklace you wear all the time, even today, is from your girlfriend. Do you ever dress your girlfriend or does she dress you?

My girlfriend is very fashion-oriented and has played a big role in my fashion development. She has always encouraged me when I tried new clothes that, at the time, seemed more radical to me. In this way, she partially shaped me. We also really enjoy shopping together. She dresses me more often than I dress her, which means I ask her for opinion. There have also been times when we’ve dressed the same when it comes to basic pieces; we’ve never really styled each other, but there will probably be time for that in the future.

Where do you like to go for vintage pieces in Ljubljana? Did you find any gems while on tour across Europe?

Textile House Vintage Shop is, in my opinion, by far the best in Ljubljana. The next one is Humana on Stritarjeva street, where I find something every now and then. Abroad, we’ve visited many vintage shops in Dublin, Paris, and London. In the latter, I always go to Brick Lane, which is a street with vintage shops in the east side of central London, where the more hipster area starts. The downside is that it quickly becomes quite an expensive experience.

What kind of information can you deduce about a person based on what they’re wearing? Who, in your opinion, is truly well-dressed?

A person’s style is never a reason not to engage in conversation with them, but it is a very strong stimulator of my interest in that person. If I think someone is really well-dressed, I automatically assume they might think similarly to me and be interested in the same artistic, musical, or visual directions, so I’m more eager to talk to them. However, I’ve often met people who didn’t seem interestingly dressed, and later realised they were amazing people, even if they dressed completely casually.

Your audience expresses itself very differently in terms of fashion, as your parents also mentioned in a recent interview for Elle. How do you as a band perceive this?

Yes, what they meant was that it is no longer the case that you have to be "appropriately" dressed for a rock concert. When we observe the audience from the stage, I would say that the most typical thing for our time is that we are no longer genre-bound. Not just musically, but also in terms of fashion. 30 or 40 years ago, you would see people at a rock concert in leather jackets, black shoes, and jeans, and that was it. Today, you have flamboyant outfits with blue and green hair in one corner, gothic style in another, and of course, people in simple t-shirts and pants somewhere in the middle. And no one feels like they don’t belong; everyone sings our songs, and that’s really nice.

- ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

❗Please do not repost without credit, and if you quote, please link back to this post!

[cripplecharacters]

Hey! I’m writing a story that involves a lot of different perspectives of disability, I love scifi but god can it be awful about disability so I’m trying to make an anti that. It mostly focuses on the idea of the cure narrative. A big theme at the core of it is accepting your disability because you wouldn’t be the person you are without it. You’re an important piece of the richness and diversity of humanity etc etc. That’s a message that’s very close to my heart as someone who’s neurodivergent and physically disabled from birth.

But I also know my experiences and feelings are far from universal. I wanted to show other perspectives, other interpretations of that core message, so I added a character who was recently disabled a year ago which has significantly uprooted her life. He also doubles as showing someone who became disabled through doing dangerous things he shouldn’t have been doing because I want to have a way to tackle disability as a punishment or moral thing (another shitty trope that scifi is full of! :sob:)

Her acceptance is the most raw and recent of the group’s, happening over the course of the story. But since her experience of disability is so different from mine (never having lived without it), I wanted to look for outside opinions. What are some things I should keep in mind while writing him? Do you have any recommendations for articles/blogs/etc from people with similar experiences?

Thank you! I love what this blog is doing :) <3 Apologies if this is a little incoherent, it’s one of those days

Thank you for your ask! For a character with an acquired disability, one of the big things to consider is just how much recovery there will be. Even after leaving the hospital she will be on bed rest for a bit, and afterwards comes physical and/or occupational therapy for at least a few months. Recovery is a taxing, slow process that makes a person realize just how much process they’ve lost for tasks that they didn’t think much about. He would also probably have pain and maybe even a new routine to take care of the injury. It’s hard to give specifics of what your characters recovery will involve without knowing the injury though.

As for resources, here are some links I think can help! Thank you mod Sasza for the help compiling them :] (smiley face

Special Books By Special Kids - A channel with a ton of interviews with disabled people from all walks of life, mostly with developmental disabilities but there are interviewees with acquired ones as well.

Footless Jo - A youtube channel run by a woman with an amputation.

Born Blind vs. Becoming Blind - What Are The Differences? - A video comparing the experiences of someone who’s been blind since birth and someone who became blind later in life.

LEARNING FROM WHEELCHAIR FRIENDS! - A video of three friends with acquired disabilities talking about their lives and the disability community.

Sabia and Loren - A couples channel that mostly focuses on Loren’s life after having amputations.

22 & Suddenly Disabled: My Story | Functional Neurological Disorder - A video on living after suddenly developing FND.

Tactile Art - And article on making art as a deaf blind artist

Changing Faces - Stories by people with facial differences, has a filter for acquired disabilities.

Phoenix Society Resources - stories and articles by and for burn survivors about their experiences and coping with a sudden disability.

Girls with Grafts (podcast) - Two burn survivors talking about their experiences, can be listened to on most platforms that host podcasts.

Augmentative and Alternative Communication: How Becoming a User Changed My Relationships - An article by Alice Wong, who is disabled since birth but became no speaking after a medical emergency. She writes a lot about disability so I recommend checking out her other works as well, though this focuses on aquiered disability.

If you have any more specific questions feel free to ask again!

Have a nice day!

Mod Rot

[fairuzfan]

shalom sister. i love your blog and your writing. reading your posts always fills me with fire, i can tell you have a good heart. donating to your campaign makes me feel so good because i trust you and truly you are doing gds work. anyway i wanted to ask you a question!

when i hear new things from gaza, stories of hamas doing X and IOF doing Y, i ask around and i’m not sure what parts of that story is true, if any. anyway idk what to believe all i know is that israel is committing acts of genocide and while the rest of the world is allowing this greatest evil, israel pretends that to be jewish is to be a colonizer. anyway some of my family are zionists, but i cannot sway them because they only know farsi persian and hebrew, aka only trust extremely biased sources.

anyway i am fluent in english farsi and hebrew but my arabic is trash ): so i feel like i can’t get the full picture from palestinians. all i can read are bonkers iranian papers and the disgusting zionist articles, it’s horrible because i know they’re both lying, just about different things. a palestinian opinion is the only opinion i care about right now! anyway it got me thinking. i just wanted to know if you have tips for verifying online research? or go-to non arabic websites? or even a translation app haha. i just want my family to see the truth!

shalom<3

shalom! thank you so much for reaching out, i really appreciate it.

personally, i use different sources for different material. i use middle east eye (specifically maha hussaini) and also mahmoud abusalama for videos of what it's like in the north. i use the electronic intifada interview podcasts to learn about specific things happening (i just finished watching this one about the collapse of healthcare in gaza). i would check out @northgazaupdates on here too. there's euromedmonitor as well.

and really, there are a lot of diaspora palestinians who are relaying what their family tells them, and they post on twitter a lot. someone i know does this is samah fadil. there's also @el-shab-hussein who translates things from Mona. here's mohammad smiry who is in gaza and tweets primarily in english. dr. mustafa elmasri also tweets in english too.

i would use al-jazeera, i have a fact checking guide here about any news source really. i don't use it as much but there's also the palestine chronicle. sometimes i use quds news network.

i really don't know much about hebrew media so i can't really tell you about sources i recommend there. i don't know if @bringmemyrocks or @rodeodeparis can perhaps provide some input?

i will say, if you're looking for hebrew palestinian media, i dont think there's too much because there's a ridiculous amount of censorship in '48 right now (honestly it's been going on for years atp) but what a lot of palestinians are doing is relying on internal networks. if you want, there are some israeli historians like Ilan Pappe and Avi Shlaim but I'm not sure if they write in hebrew. but they for sure write in english and provide a historical perspective from within israeli society itself.

this is what comes to mind rn honestly, but i haven't even touched on instagram because i haven't been on it in a while. i might add on later if i remember any really vital ones that i recommend.

[subsystems]

hope sending ask is ok rn, i have hard time looking resource. looking for book how to co-exist with independent dissociative parts (have system but not feel safe in saying DID yet). cannot do therapist addressing parts yet but want to cope in daily life. hope can help. or others comment/reblog and give. thank you 🍀

This ask was sent a while ago, I hope you're doing okay now anon. You say you can't talk to a therapist yet but I hope you have someone else in your life who is supportive and you can talk to about these things! You shouldn't have to face this alone.

Even though you don't have therapeutic support, it's still possible to build up communication and cooperation with your parts. I reblog a lot of tips and resources to my coping tag if you want to check that out. Here are some other resources that you might find helpful:

DID/OSDD Self-help Masterlist There are so many resources here, categorized by different topics. You'll find stuff here for both survivors and loved ones, and you don't need to have DID/OSDD to use them!

Beauty After Bruises Blog You'll find so many articles here on coping with daily life as a dissociative survivor. I love how they're written, they feel very approachable and almost calming to read.

Dissociative Living Admittedly, I haven't read many of these articles but the few I've seen have been good. I think their writing is very approachable for people who are new to all of this.

DIS-SOS Lots of advice and informative articles on living with DID here -- in both English and German! I've found some really interesting and unique coping tips here, I definitely recommend it. It's actually because of this blog that I discovered one of my favorite methods of system communication.

CTAD Clinic Youtube Channel A channel run by the director of this clinic which specializes in dissociation and trauma. I've watched probably all of his videos -- they're very good! Lots of the videos provide tools and self-help tips on coping with dissociation & dissociative parts!

Carolyn Spring's Blog You'll find amazing articles here about trauma and dissociation, but do be aware that the author is both a professional and a survivor with DID herself. She isn't afraid to talk about her lived experience, shining a light on the reality of trauma and dissociation which can be confronting but oh-so empowering to read.

System Speak Podcast A podcast run by a DID system. She talks about her own healing journey as well as interviews professionals and dives into the psychology behind trauma and dissociation. Personally, I think the website is a bit hard to navigate but every podcast I've listened to has been extremely informative and relatable!

Self-help books can also be extremely useful if you don't have access to a therapist. You can find a bunch of free downloads here! I would recommend starting with "Got Parts? An Insider's Guide to Managing Life Successfully with Dissociative Identity Disorder" by ATW. Personally, I think this is the best book to start with. It's a bit old and there are some outdated ideas in it, but I think it's a very gentle entry into learning system communication and coping with DID if you have never worked with a therapist.

Some other resources that might be useful:

Strategies for coping with distressing voices

FREE 100 page e-book for trauma survivors

Talk/vent to listeners on this non-crisis support chat line

Apply for a grant to receive financial help or a therapy box -> (Also learn about the Therapy Box Project! If anyone is able to donate, please do!)

- Sunflower

[ofmdrecaps]

12/21-22/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR: David Jenkins; Rhys Darby; Taika Waititi; Kristian Nairn; Samba Schutte; Vico Ortiz; Ruibo Qian; Anapela Polata'ivao; Tim Heidecker; Dominic Burgess; Christopher Corbin; Hugo Pierre Martin; Fan Spotlight: Tiny Crew Big Raffle Results Part 3; Our Flag Means Fanfiction Holiday Episode; OFMD Advent Calendar;

= David Jenkins =

David shared some gorgeous artwork from our crewmate @viccsart!

Source: David Jenkins Bsky

= Rhys Darby =

Our Captain sent us a lovely message <3

Source: Rhys Instagram Stories

They interviewed Rhys for the new Bad Jelly TV show!

The fabulous @catski22 was kind enough to share the interview text from TV Guide's article on Badjelly!

Source: Catski's Bsky

= Taika Waititi =

The video behind my favorite picture of the interview Taika and Jimmy O Yang

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by TV Insider (@tvinsider)

Source: TV Insider's Instagram

= Kristian Nairn =

Kristian is going to be joining the EM-CON in Nottingham on June 7-8! To learn more and get tickets, visit here!

Source: Em-Con's Instagram

= Samba Schutte =

Samba sent us some selfies, and festive IG Stories for the holidays!

Source: Samba Schutte's Instagram Stories

= VIco Ortiz =

More pictures of Vico's new Project - Today in Gay! It's going live January 1st, 2025!! You can sign up for updates from their substack!

Source: Vico's Instagram

= Ruibo Qian =

Ruibo's been really active this season, love to see her happy and feeling herself!

Source: Ruibo Qian's Instagram

= Anapela Polata'ivao =

Tinā is now showing at @PerthFest until December 29. Coming soon to Australian cinemas. Coming to NZ cinemas February 27.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Madman (@madmanfilms)

Source: Anapela's Instagram

= Tim Heidecker =

Our friend Doug, aka Tim Heidecker is out here interviewing--himself!

Source: Tim Heidecker Bsky

= Dominic Burgess =

I love that Dominic is still giving us cat content while in a completely different country!

Source: Dominic's Bsky

= Rachel House & David Fane =

More shots of the cast from Moana. Rachel and David look so darn cute.

Source: PressPhotoG Instagram

= Christopher Corbin =

Remember "We could have made magic." man? Well Christopher Corbin is Santa in this new FOX NFL ad!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Christopher Corbin (@cccorbin)

Source: Christopher Corbin's Instagram

= Hugo Pierre Martin =

Speaking of commercials -- Our favorite attendant from the "The Best Revenge Is Dressing Well" and fellow crewmate, Hugo Pierre Martin, did the voiceover for a spicy commercial recently!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hugo Pierre Martin (@hugopierremartin)

Source: HPM's Instagram

== Articles ==

Thank you to @adoptourcrew for sharing this article from Fandomwire!

Source: Adopt Our Crew's Tumblr

== Fan Spotlight ==

= Tiny Crew Big Raffle =

More Donation results from our friends over @ofmd-buys-boats from the Tiny Boats Raffle.

Cure Kids - Taika's Charity of Choice - US$143.09, £21.42, €225.53, NZ$658

Kitten Rescue LA - Rhys' Charity of Choice - US$ 1,198.12 , CAD $7.20

One more charity to go and then some awesome BTS from Lindsey Cantrell (I ran out of photo room on this one sorry)!

Source: OFMD Buys Boats Taika / Rhys

= Our Flag Means Fanfiction =

New episode of Our Flag Means Fanfiction is out! It's a special holiday episode, and one of the co-hosts, @ringasunn was able to get several crew members to send some holiday messages (Lindsey Cantrell, Con O'Neill and more!) You can listen in on spotify here or choose your favorite listening platform on their linktr.ee!

Source: Our Flag Means Fanfiction Instagram

= OFMD Advent Calendar =

So close! Sorry I'm so behind on these! Thank you so much to @tillychmo for hosting these wonderful Advent Calendar event and putting together these adorable Doors for each day! The 20th Door features a fluff fic by our dear crewmate @politestmenace aka gaypirateofficianado!

The 21st Door features some lovely Winter Solstice artwork by the fabulous @deanbird.bsky.social!

The 22nd Door featured the brilliant @blueberreads! They made a innkeepers game for the occasion!!

The 23rd Door features an adorable drawing by the massively talented @gleafer!

Source: OFMD Advent Calendar Bsky

== Love Notes ==

Hey there lovelies! Wow, two recaps in one night! That's overkill! (JK I'm so behind, lol). I know we're deep into the holidays now, and some of the big ones have passed us by. I hope you've gotten a chance for some down time. I know this time of year can be tough for various reasons, and especially this year given the political climate around the world. Please hear me when I say, you are so very loved. Whether you had a good holiday, or a rough one. Whether you were swamped and busy, or got a break finally and got some rest. You are SO very very loved, no matter what you accomplished today, or this month, or this year. I am seeing so many new folks poking their heads out in the fando-- which is absolutely lovely to see-- and if you're just joining us for the first time, or have been in the fandom since Day One of S1 or anywhere in between-- you too are loved. We are Crew For Life, as Samba says, for a reason. This show brought so many of us together because of it's love, and it's light, and it's fond family. We all care about you so much crew, please remember that. It's time for me to sneak off to bed, and hopefully I'll see you soon lovelies, going to be posting the David Christmas specials in the next edition.

Sending love your way <3

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Source: Self Love Rainbow

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

12/05-06/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Rhys Darby; Taika Waititi; Con O'Neill; Vico Ortiz; Nathan Foad; Kristian Nairn; Samba Schutte; David Fane; Nat Faxon; Alex Sherman; Guz Khan; Minnie Driver; Netflix on Bsky; Fan Spotlight: Ruby Deluxe Raleigh; Love Notes

= Rhys Darby =

As usual, lots going on with our Pirate Captain! He was out in Portland for two days and had a blast!

It looks like Sketch Fest has added a second show at the Gateway Theatre on January 22nd!

Rhys also ran into a fan who's been coming to shows for years!

Source: SF Sketch Fest / Instagram

= Darby Daily Doodle =

The epic continues!

Source: Rhys Darby's Free substack

= Taika Waititi =

Taika's been very busy too, as per usual! More pictures from his Koko Foundation appearance!

Source: My Beautiful City

This is just a quick picture of Taika from one of the recent Letters Live performances! Not sure if it's new or not but it's new to me so I wanted to share!

Source: Letters Live Instagram

Next up, Belvedere Vodka did some BTS with Taika! You can watch the video here.

Source: Belvedere Vodka Instagram

Taika and Jemaine's show, What We Do In the Shadows is up for 4 Critics Choice Awards! Best comedy series, best actress, actor, and supporting actor in a comedy series! Check out the Article here.

Source: Choice Awards

= Con O'Neill =

Con sent a shot of himself after he made it to Columbus!

Did you know he's got even more swag up on Stands? Now there are Hand signed autographs of THAT scene in s2! Check it out! Hand Signed Autograph on Stands.com

Source: Con O'Neill's Instagram

= Joel Fry =

Joel is going to be joining Ncuti Gatwe, and Nicola Coughlan for this years Doctor Who Christmas Special! check out the trailer below!

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A post shared by Doctor Who (@bbcdoctorwho)

Source: BBCWho on Instagram

= Vico Ortiz =

Some New S2 BTS from Vico! Buttons Character vs Buttons the Stuntman, Nathan and Ewen and Con giggling? Vico spoils us! Check them out on Vico's Patreon.

Source: Vico's Patreon

= Nathan Foad =

Nathan also sent out an arrival photo once he got into Columbus!

Souce: Nathan's Instagram Stories

= Kristian Nairn =

Same with Kristian! they love letting us know when they arrive places!

Source: Kristian's Instagram

= Samba Schutte =

More BTS from Samba's Advanced Chemistry Movie! Thank you as always to the writer, Alec Moore for sharing them! I realize they don't have Samba in them persay, but I thought they were pretty cool-- and Alec is a huge fan and support of OFMD! If you have seen the film and haven't reviewed it yet on amazon, please do! I know they are still looking for reviews here!

"When I saw the @advancedchemmov.bsky.social art department's collection of props that they brought to life from my crazy imagination, I literally teared up. And then Samba-- literally teared up for a scene. The difference is he was acting. "

Source: Alec Moore's Bsky

= David Fane =

Awhimai Fraser, David Fane, and Temuera Morrison were very busy interviewing at several AUS & Aotearoa NZ press junkets!

Source: awhimai_fraser instagram

An interview with ScreenRealm with about their favorite songs in Moana 2!

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A post shared by Screen Realm (@screen_realm)

They were also interviewed by Draw Your Box about Moana 2 and they got to discuss some Cricket for a bit!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Alicia Vrajlal (@leeshiev)

and just for fun, I couldn't resist sharing David Fane laughing so giddly, you can really hear Fang in there.

Source: awhimai_fraser's Instagram

= Nat Faxon =

Our fantastic Swede, Nat Faxon is joining the cast of the (US version of) Ghosts Season 4 as Alexander Hamilton!

Source: Variety

= Alex Sherman =

Our sweetheart writer, Alex Sherman, is campaigning for a really amazing cause. He's created a fundraiser to help sponsor a free 1 week camp for kids who've lost a parent, sibling or caregiver. They've reached their goal, but it can't hurt to help kids in need if you're interested. Alex was a counselor there in the past and he continues to support these kids <3

https://give.experiencecamps.org/fundraiser/5933654

Source: Alex Sherman's twitter

= Guz Khan =

Guz just taking silly pictures with friend Haroon Mota!

Source: Guz's Instagram

= Minnie Driver =

Minnie was out slaying after her bout of Pneumonia!

Source: Minnie's Instagram

= Netflix on Bluesky =

Netflix officially joined bluesky back on the 3rd, and our resident Skyrates-- or whatever it is we're calling them these days-- started in the adoption requests again! If you have a Bluesky and you'd like to join the fun, remember to add the hashtag #OurFlagMeansDeath, #SaveOFMD, #AdoptOurCrew!

== Fan Spotlight ==

= Ruby Deluxe Raleigh =

There's been a request by several of our crew members to help out this wonderful gay bar in Raleigh. If you have some time this Saturday December 14th, at 9 PM and you're in the area, would you be kind enough to help out? "Hey friends! Ruby Deluxe, the gay bar that hosted our Calypso's birthday meetup at Galaxycon Raleigh, is asking for some help to stay running. If you can, consider making a donation or spread the word (or come through if you're local!)" Links to Socials

Source: Kate on Bsky

== Love Notes ==

Hey there lovelies. I really am so late on this one, I'm sorry. It's been a lot lately. I know it has been for a lot of you too. I don't wanna hold this recap up any longer, so here's some love notes from SelfLoveRainbow <3

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A post shared by Dominee Calderon (@selfloverainbow)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dominee Calderon (@selfloverainbow)

Source: SelfLoveRainbow Instagram

[brokenwinebox]

Mikey Told Claire About The Bear? Part 2

This won’t be an overall long post, but this is technically another segment to my meta on the question about Claire and her strange and seemingly out of place connection to knowing the name of The Bear.

Everything has gotten only weirder because of the confirmation that Claire and Donna were somewhat connected since the first episode of meeting them with the scripts and interview articles.

I personally never found the connection to Donna/Claire straight away until the Fishes episode. Although, in the aftermath of my dissertation, the scripts, and the interviews, I’ve been looking at certain things with a different perspective.

We know that Donna called him Michael after being asked to go to the dinner table by Carmy. I speculated that this Logan persona could actually just be Mikey’s personality because of Carmy’s grief.

What’s generally dark about Claire’s character gets even worse when you think on the theory of Mikey telling Claire about The Bear. I believe I’ve talked about this to some degree but the scale or magnitude of its meaning almost went completely over my head.

Donna literally called Carmy after her eldest son when asked to go to the dinner table. Carmy can’t even be his own person without being compared to Mikey. If it was Mikey’s personality he was emulating for the Logan persona, this means that Carmy felt like he couldn’t be himself at the party and Claire didn’t realize it. She was, instead, entertained by it.

(Not to mention, Neil Fak called Mikey his best friend in the very first episode of the show. Who is Neil Fak’s best friend now?)

If Claire shares attributes with Donna, who has a history (no matter how brief) of not acknowledging Carmy’s care for her as his own, then how much has Claire been projecting Mikey onto Carmy like Donna?

Anyway, here’s a video compilation of Carmy/Mikey being Neil Fak’s best friend and the weird coincidences on my theory about the Logan/Mikey personality that I already talked about in a separate post but decided to do it here in video format:

Credit to @spywhitney for catching Cicero calling Mikey an animal!

Massive Update: I made this post on August 16th. Now, I have to update the things that just clicked for me. @fresaton made a reblog about Natalie, Claire, and Carmy on @whenmemorydies’s original post about the claw, the scrunchie and the prayer card. We’re going to talk about this here since I was going to post this anyway. This feels super speculative on my part but work with me here lol. I’m going to try to connect all the dots to literally all my previous metas about Claire.

The Dinner Table

In the episode where we constantly jump in time, did they potentially skip a scene between Claire and Carmy? He looks at his scar, which is something we know is connected to Mikey, before leaving to go to The Bear. Claire and Carmy also share a scene together about that particular scar before Claire talks about the injured girl.

I have two metas on that scene. The first being about the strange topic of glass between Donna and Claire and the second was about Claire and her weird connection to mold from the scripts which also happened to have a Donna/Claire parallel.

If he did have dinner with Claire, then the reveal of Mikey telling her about The Bear could’ve happened then.

Thinking on the second episode of season three, he mentioned how he wanted them to see what they’re capable of. Sydney immediately asked who those people are.

Sydney: “Why?” Carmy: “So they can see what we’re capable of.” Sydney: “Who’s ‘they’?”

In the first part of this meta that’s linked with the title above, I noticed Carmy did the same thing when Carmy and Claire were talking by the grocery store fridges. My previous thoughts will be in italics except the dialogue as always.

Carmy: “No, I don’t think we even…We didn’t even tell anybody what the name was.” Claire: “You one hundred perfect told me the name.” Carmy: “How could you remember the name?”

The question that Carmy should have asked is how she even knew it in the first place?

Notice he said he doesn’t think THEY (Carmy and Mikey) told anyone?

Carmy literally said in the s1 finale, he realized he didn’t even know anything about him. Why would Carmy be that confident in a person he admitted to not knowing? Was it disbelief?

Is it possible the “they” that Carmy is referring to could be Chef David, Claire, and Mikey? Especially when you think on what Carmy was thinking of in the season three finale.

What gets even stranger is what I said about the “Let it Rip” reference. I mentioned that Mikey could’ve been referenced in the second episode of season three because of the weird similarities to the season 1 finale panic attack scene before the thoughts of food calmed Carmy down and Sydney getting lost in the food before Tina intercepted it.

I kind of talk about Tina specifically and how she could be the physical mother figure to Marcus and Sydney to prevent them from getting possessed on @moodyeucalyptus’s post as well.

Another question is did Claire reference to something that Carmy knew wasn’t about him in the dinner scene the same way Donna called him Michael before going to the dinner table? I had also mentioned before that it was strange that Claire would just leave Carmy in the fridge without really caring about his health as a doctor. Does this mean she came back like Sydney did? There always seem to be mirroring going on.

(We also have Ted Fak saying that everyone else is good with Claire except Carmy in the Next episode.)

The timeline is very confusing to me. If Claire came back briefly, then they could’ve set up the dinner date potentially. I went to check on Claire’s text messages because it would make sense to see what messages were previously exchanged between them.

@fresaton, you mentioned that the dinner happened on 05-30-23, I personally couldn’t see a date to the texts but I read the messages as much I could and their last exchange (from what we know) is about friends and family. There’s also the fact that I have no clue when this scene exactly happened. This would have to be after the “dinner” scene right?

We see Carmy on the train and walking (fairly similar to how season three ended) while Claire takes off her makeup and cuddles with Kelly. Between that is Sydney apologizing to Marcus on the phone about his mother and Mikey asking about the restaurant idea Carmy has.

All of this to say, if there was a dinner between them then Claire and Carmy probably would’ve had to see each other physically before meeting for dinner.

The Hauntings Of The Berzatto Siblings

Before preparing themselves for the Christmas dinner and Donna, the Berzatto siblings are out sharing a cigarette before going into the chaos.

In previous metas, I’ve discussed how Claire and Carmy’s relationship always goes back to Fishes.

Now after @whenmemorydies and @fresaton’s metas, We’re going to look at the weird connections between them with cigarettes.

In the first installment of this meta, I noticed that Mikey goes outside and Richie notices it. I thought it had alluded to Claire finding out about The Bear because Carmy sees her outside on Christmas night.

I already talked about how Richie is a fox and a caterpillar who potentially slipped the prayer card into Carmy’s pocket like Natalie did with the money. Not to mention, Richie also witnessed the Berzatto siblings smoking outside of the house before going back inside.

Richie: “Yo! Is this some family shit I should know about?” (2x06)

Carmy apologized to Richie and said he loved him before squashing a cigarette. The only time we've seen Carmy actually smoke for season three was on Christmas night where the moment between Carmy and Claire took place and when they share a cigarette together.

In my dissertation about Claire, I also found some interesting dialogue between Richie and Mikey about their morning after story. This was after Mikey came back from being outside.

Mikey: “Things are really starting to spiral out of fucking control.” Richie: “Oh, we are past the point of no return.” Mikey: “It’s not good. And now it’s the next morning right? We’re like fucking rocked.” Richie: “Rocked!” Mikey: “Like, I look over at him, I’m like, well Jesus fucking Christ, man.” Richie: “I’m looking at you and I don’t even recognize you at that point.” Mikey: “It’s like a monster.” Richie: “Yeah, cause you look like a fucking monster. Couldn’t even tell it was you.”

I had said this could be connected to s3 Carmy before the season aired. Carmy wasn’t very recognizable this season some would argue.

What if Mikey's haunting was The Beef and The Bear? He actively cut Carmy off when Carmy wanted to be apart of the family establishment. It gets even worse when you think on the jealously and resentment for Carmy being able to dream when Mikey couldn’t. Did Mikey tell Claire about The Bear in rebellion like Carmy did with the meal?

Did Carmy find out and that’s why he’s avoiding Mikey’s presence?

He, instead, wants to show what The Bear is capable of by subtracting and pushing. Is Mikey haunting the people around Carmy to get through to him? Mikey is sort of known for subtracting Carmy out of his life but pushes him when he thinks something is good for him.

Claire is also known for her pushing type of personality that caused her to become a very controversial character on the show.

For Natalie’s hauntings, it’s very interesting because we don’t actually see her smoke the cigarette before it jump cuts to Mikey smoking the cigarette. I’d assume Donna and Mikey are a major role in hers.

There was a connection I made to Natalie, Claire, Donna, and Carmy earlier.

Although, I also found parallels between Sydney and Natalie. Donna talks about a dream she had about a fish tank and when she woke up, her water broke (Natalie was born.)

I immediately had the idea that Natalie is a fish like Sydney. It feels speculative but something could be there. One thing I do know for sure though is that we don’t see Natalie or Sydney smoking the cigarette in their hands. It automatically cuts before we witness them smoking at all.

I’ve also talked about the parallel between Sydney, Luca, Claire, and Carmy. They both have best friend dialogue and a cigarette moment it seems.

For Carmy’s hauntings, it could be a whole combination of people and things, honestly. The Beef, The Bear, Chef David, Mikey, Claire, Sydney, Marcus, etc.

I’ve mentioned before that Carmy is the magician and Claire is the illusion but for the sake of my sanity, I’m not talking about that here. This is already getting far longer than I intended.

I had a brief theory about how the cigarettes could be representative of reality and avoidance for season three.

I talked about this with @thoughtfulchaos773 but I just haven’t gotten further into this yet. Although, I now might have a different theory on that. The Faks are involved in this too but I’m focused on The Berzattos at the moment. Maybe I’ll get into them later.

I have like two metas that I’ve been working on that’s a bit similar to this one as well. I just got consumed with this one very quickly.

On the topic of The Faks, @currymanganese has a meta on The Faks being Claire’s henchmen!

I’m also linking @whenmemorydies’s recent meta on Carmy, Natalie, and the Berzattos. I haven’t read it in its entirety but it could be similar to mine!

As always thank you so much for reading!! As I said before, this felt very speculative on my part. Maybe I'll make another meta to elaborate on everything. I hope this all made sense! Notice how I said in the beginning that this won’t be an overall long post? You could definitely tell I wasn’t planning all of this lmao. Oh well!

[heartedbysunoo]

INTERVIEW

JAY: “I feel a sense of responsibility to work hard and not lose these people”

ENHYPEN ‘ROMANCE : UNTOLD -daydream-’ 컴백 인터뷰ENHYPEN ROMANCE: UNTOLD -daydream- comeback interview

2024.11.21

JAY loves Oasis, so I asked him what their song “Wonderwall” means to him. Everyone who hears the song has their own interpretation, but for JAY, the title of the song meant “support.” Read on to learn who he relies on for support more than anyone—and who he feels compelled to look after for the same reason.

You visited your hometown, Seattle, for the first time in eight years during your world tour earlier this year. How did it feel to go back as an artist?

JAY: It felt great. It felt like I was being welcomed back on home soil. There was even an article about it in The Seattle Times. (laughs)

You threw the first pitch at a Seattle Mariners home game with the group and received a surprise video message from player Jay Buhner.

JAY: My dad was thrilled. (laughs) He talked about how he absolutely loved baseball even when he was a kid. I was happy because it felt like it wasn’t just my dream coming true, but my dad’s dream, too. I visited the Mariners’ home ballpark when I was really little, so I can’t remember it too clearly, but I made lots of new memories this time. Getting to throw that first pitch for the team that represents my hometown felt like a reward for all the hard work I’ve done up to now.

Quite the triumphant return. (laughs) You also filmed a vlog for ENGENE while there. What were you hoping to show them?

JAY: People these days are really into vibes and aesthetic, and there’s something uniquely chill about the ambience in Seattle. There are tons of famous jazz houses and old theaters, so it gives off a chill, antique vibe, which I wanted to give ENGENE a chance to share in, even if indirectly. I tried to show as much as I could within the time constraints, but there’s still so much I couldn’t show off.

In a live episode of JAY-FASHION with SUNOO focused on fragrances, you mentioned one you’d like to wear if you ended up going to Seattle. Did you actually wear it in the end?

JAY: That was the plan, but I started using all sorts of different fragrances in the meantime. (laughs) I used a different one that I bought when I was in Europe. It’s a rose and leather scent. Since Seattle gets a lot of rain, there’s lots of roses growing there, and during the rainy season, it seriously rains nearly five days out of the week. Anyway, that’s why roses remind me of Seattle. I don’t usually like the artificial rose smell, but I love perfumes that put their own spin on the smell of roses. I prefer fragrances with a hint of earthiness and a certain weight of natural smells.

Most of the fragrances you’ve introduced from your collection have heavy scents. Is there any reason for that?

JAY: I feel like a fragrance should bring out the positive qualities of the person wearing it, so I buy mine hoping they’ll give me an image as someone who’s deep. I tend to have fairly heavy, serious conversations, but when I’m with the group, we’re so close that it usually doesn’t end up that way. (laughs)

But you do always seem serious about performing. You talked about how you picked up the electric guitar for fun in your interview last year, and it seems like you’ve been practicing really hard, seeing as you played it onstage a number of times.

JAY: I’m still just a beginner, honestly. Lots of people reach their goals step by step as they learn something new, and I’m the same way, making my way toward the goals I set out for myself as I learn and experience a lot through guitar. I watch my old guitar videos to better understand where I’ve improved and what I still need to work on. I’m not good enough at guitar to make it my main thing, so I think I need to improve technically and as far as stage presence goes.

What gives you the motivation to keep practicing guitar despite your busy schedule?

JAY: I see it as a clear-cut goal that I want to personally achieve. When I practice, I look at guitarists I love and respect and who inspired me to play, like Stevie Ray Vaughan, and even though I know I’ll never reach their level, I’m going to at least learn to imitate them. I just try and make sure there’s always at least one guitar in my line of sight wherever I go. It’s important to put in the effort to keep up with something continuously, but having a guitar always within arm’s reach is the key. Plus, playing is the best way for me to deal with my emotions. I’ve always been the kind of person who needs to vent emotionally. Before I started learning guitar, I tried working out, and one time I even tried just shouting. (laughs) Playing electric guitar feels similar to screaming “aaah!” at the top of my lungs, both in the sound it makes and how I make the sound, just it doesn’t hurt my throat.

You really seem to love rock music. Has rock shaped your values in any way?

JAY: I think rock is among the genres of music that have changed the world. I feel it’s shifted listeners’ attitudes to create a more liberated world—one where more people can freely express themselves with dignity. People still have to be careful not to hurt others’ feelings when expressing themselves, of course.

As a fan of guitar and bands, being part of GLAY’s 30th-anniversary concert must have been very significant for you.

JAY: It made me realize that my passion for what I’ve loved for so long has gotten through to someone and that I have to hold onto that passion in the future, too. Even though I don’t play in a band, the mere fact that I said I like rock made this great band want to nurture my passion and teach me. Seeing artists respect other people’s music has been an invaluable experience for me. It was clear to me there was something to be learned from GLAY that could only be learned from them, and I wanted to do that so I could improve more. Not only did my passion never wane, but it eventually got through to some else, too, and that made me confident enough not to be afraid of pursuing my passion further.

What influence has that experience had on your musical tastes and what you’ve been trying to do since?

JAY: I love guitar in and of itself, and I’m really interested in rock music and different bands, so I’m trying to work in as many different styles as I can. I have a ton of ideas, but there’s a limit to what I can do with my hands and with my voice, so I’m working on the countless ideas I get from listening to different kinds of music one by one at the speed I’m able to.

In “No Doubt,” the lead single off your repackaged album, you used the same great rough vocals you used in your GLAY collaboration “whodunit” and your cover of the L’Arc~en~Ciel song “HONEY.”

JAY: From the minute I heard the demo version, I knew I had to sing it with rough-sounding vocals like that. Not everyone thinks so, but I feel like my voice sounds better when it’s rougher instead of soft and resonant. That was something I looked into to make my vocals sound a little better, so it was fairly intentional. (laughs)

Both “XO (Only If You Say Yes)” and “No Doubt” are love songs, but your persona in each feels different.

JAY: I come across as a little younger than I really am on “XO (Only If You Say Yes),” while on “No Doubt,” I guess you could say it’s a love that’s a little mature for my real age—liking and yearning for someone, but also having a hard time, and having all these thoughts swimming around in your head. What it’s ultimately about is a love that never changes, even in the face of all those feelings and difficulties. The message of the repackaged album and the mood of the song show what a slightly more emotionally mature ENHYPEN looks like.

How did you seek to express ENHYPEN’s more mature take on love while recording your vocals?

JAY: “No Doubt” is a song filled with complex emotions, I think. Thinking about that other person can feel good but also be difficult, and your head’s swimming with thoughts of desperate longing, but you’re certain in your resolve. What I had in my head when I recorded was, “You’re the one for me.” I ultimately look at recording vocals and performing onstage as forms of acting. That’s why I always immerse myself in songs and performances by placing myself in the story.

In the fan dedication song “Highway 1009,” you wrote the lines, “Just trust me and tag along / Just look at me and come along.”

JAY: We’ve received so much from fans since we debuted by going through the show I-LAND. They give their hearts to us, like, “You’re so amazing. I’m gonna stan you!” So I feel like I need to continue living up to the faith ENGENE has shown in us since then. I feel a sense of responsibility to work hard and not lose these people. I hope one day we surpass expectations and change the order of things so that we prove ourselves first and only then does ENGENE show us love. They’ve followed us and said good things about us back from when we were nothing, so it’s our job to turn ourselves into something.

You mentioned in 2023 ENniversary MAGAZINE about wanting to take the hard path with ENGENE, not the easy path.

JAY: I don’t think there’s anything so easy to lose as hearts you had won over easily. If you get something effortlessly and just say, “I’m happy. The end!” then it becomes easy to lose in any number of ways, like through excessive pride, ignorance, or indifference. What I need to do now is be sure of why ENGENE loves me and keep moving forward, to make what’s happened to me truly mine.

That sounds like exactly what you meant on Weverse when you wrote, “It’s our job to give you that smile, so just believe in us. It’s ENGENE’s job to smile.”

JAY: What keeps the world turning is the countless people on this planet whose lives are all interconnected like pieces of a puzzle. It’s my belief that people fulfilling each other’s needs is what makes the world go round. ENHYPEN is one cog in the machine and I think, when it comes to people who rely on us, our role is to alleviate their negative feelings, like loneliness and anxiety, to whatever degree we’re able. Obviously, as we go through life, unexpected things come up, and no one knows what slip-ups might happen. There are also going to be times when the world, or other people, force us to face our worries and anxieties. And I think, whenever that happens, it’s our job to give ENGENE the courage to live a happy life, and to make them feel better even when misfortune finds them. Whether ENGENE loves us forever, a short time, or leaves and comes back, I just want to make sure they don’t regret the time they spent with us.

What do you do to make sure of that?

JAY: I try to live an upright life, even when no one can see me. If you’re going to really earn people’s trust, you have to have your own rules and clear standards for life and put them into practice, even when no one’s watching. That way, I think I can influence and convince others, too, when I need to sometime in the future. It’s nice that even more people give me love and I become even more famous by working hard, but I think it’s more important to be a good, upright person first. If I can do that, then ENGENE will naturally come to trust and follow me. That’s why I need to lead by example.

Do you think these values you hold are also why you always take such good care of the people around you?

JAY: Oh, I mean, I think taking good care of those around me is a given. My philosophy is, you have to be good to your people, since they’re your people, and if you can’t, then you shouldn’t make them your people at all. And I’ve always been someone who wants to help a lot of people and share what I have. (laughs) And I have to be upright and capable to do that. I work on my self-improvement specifically so I can look after others. My life motto is, “I want to make my people happier. I want to make the world a happier place.” Making the most out of life, working hard, being good to the people around me—these three things come together as a bundle for me.

What kind of happiness do you hope to bring to ENGENE through your efforts?

JAY: I have just one wish. I think our main responsibility is to make sure ENGENE doesn’t come to regret whatever effect we have on them. They might love us forever, or just a short while, or come and go then come back again. I hope everyone who’s been with us, even those who are only with us for a short while, is always happy and has a positive view of the world. That’s exactly what gives my work purpose and why I look on it with pride. (laughs)