#this is the third alice discussed on this blog i really confused this for another alice

[rgdramas]

this isn't the first time alice has done this sort of thing. She has a blog where she said one of her main criticisms is that her music is in her own language, and specifically not Japanese. every criticism of her genuinely upsets her and the cacti reply hit her over the edge (noticed how they didn't @ her, she just replied directly? she's searching herself often). I hope she gets professional help instead of lashing out to minors on twitter

.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hi! How are you?🥰

What do you think about the changes made in the English version of the game? I see very divided opinions, I decided not to download the game and stick with the Japanese one but I see many people complaining on facebook and tiktok😩

Btw, I really like what you write💕 Take care of yourself!✨

Hihi, thanks for checking out and supporting my blog!

Mmm, I have a lot of opinions on the localization! Since there's a lot I want to say (many of it spoiler-y), I'm going to place it all under the cut. I may reblog/add more thoughts later, since I'm still playing through chapter 2 right now.

Please feel free to share what you think as well, dear readers! I'm curious to hear what others' reactions are to the localization. It'd be cool to get a discussion going.

My Thoughts on the TWST Localization:

Firstly, I have to say that I like the general look of the game. I think the fonts are nice to look at, and I appreciate the little flourishes they added here and there. For example, they kept the original Japanese names of locations under the English names when we transition to new areas. The one thing I have to say I dislike is the size of the text bubbles. They are much bulkier than the ones in the Japanese version and take up like a third of the screen. The text bubbles were much slimmer in the original, so that will take some getting used to.

They translated the Tree element as Flora and Null as Cosmic. They also changed a card’s Attack stat to POW (like... Power?). These don’t really affect the story, but they do feel a little odd to read for gameplay purposes. Ultimately, I don’t mind these choices. I definitely enjoy Flora (like the fairy from Sleeping Beauty?) more than Tree, and Cosmic makes sense as a replacement for Null (since Cosmic encompasses both Light and Dark magic).

Now onto the meat of my thoughts!

Something that I noticed immediately was that there seems to be a lack of consistency with terms used. For example, Floyd uses both “Lil’ Goldfish” and “Goldfishie” to refer to Riddle. Another example is in the prologue, when Azul uses the term “dorm leader”, whereas “housewarden” is used everywhere else. At the very least, “headmage” seems to be more consistently used.

I also noticed a few mistakes, which tells me that whoever did the proofreading did not do it well. For example, Ruggie calls one of the Scarabia boys (I believe Kalim) Kamil. Let that sink in. KAMIL. Not Kalim, not Jamil, but KAMIL. That’s a mistake that I would expect a first time TWST fan would make, not an official localization. Another big one was during chapter 1, when Cater is explaining Split Card. In reference to his clones, he says “I have no siblings”. This is false and actually contradicts canon information, as Cater is said to have a few older sisters in the Japanese version. There are also some punctuation/grammatical errors, like “gotall” (spoken by Trey in chapter 2) missing a space. It’s just... confusing and at some points unprofessional. Like, these things should have been caught and fixed earlier.

I think some of the wording they chose was... interesting? I don’t agree with all of them, but they definitely gave off certain vibes. Alchemy became Potionology and Magift into Spelldrive, which makes NRC feel less like NRC and more like they’re trying so hard to be Harry Potter. Thaumark was definitely unexpected (I thought they’d stick with Madol?), but I kind of like it! It helps give Twisted Wonderland its character as a foreign land. I believe the “mark” part is derived from a European currency, and “thaum” is a measure of magic, so when you break the word down, it isn’t that hard to grasp. I am, however, conflicted with “signature spell” replacing unique magic; unique magic sounds more special and individualized to me than “signature spell” does.

Speaking of “signature spells”, Trey’s Doodle Suit was changed to “Paint the Roses”???????? My guess is that it was done to make a more obvious Alice in Wonderland reference, since Riddle and Cater’s were left untouched. “Paint the Roses” may also be a reference to the Kanji for Trey’s unique magic in the Japanese version. I guess it’s just jarring when Trey’s voice says one thing, but the text says another, but other than that, I don’t dislike the alteration.

I WAS FULLY EXPECTING THE CAT PUNS WITH CHE’NYA AND GRIM AND I WAS NOT WRONG 😂 (But luckily, they aren’t as frequent as I thought they would be.)

I’VE HEARD THAT CHEKA CALLS LEONA “UNCA” LEONA IN PLACE OF “OJITAN” abfhfahldilvsadvsiadsviadsviasvoasfvo THAT’S???????? I mean, I get that they wanted to make Cheka seem cute and endearing, but... I don’t know, “Unca” sounds strange to me? In my experience, it’s a pretty uncommon phrase, even by 5-year old standards.

On the subject of nicknames... HORNTON for Tsunotaro. I know a lot of people don’t like it, but personally? I think it’s fitting. Good for Malleus. It sounds silly to us, and that’s because it is meant to be silly. The only reason Tsunotaro didn’t sound silly is because many of us international players aren’t fluent in Japanese. To someone who understands Japanese, Tsunotaro WOULD sound silly too. Hornton serves its purpose just fine.

UWU speak is canon in Twisted Wonderland. You can thank Ceremonial Robes Idia and his homescreen tap lines (about Lucius) for that. I honestly don’t know how I feel about that, but it’s fantastic for the memes.

I suspected they’d take out honorifics or not completely bring them over in translation (which turned out to be the case), but it’s super weird for me to read Sebek calling Malleus just by his name and no title attached. I do get that he wants to be Malleus’s friend, but in the Japanese version, Sebek still revered and respected Malleus, addressed him by a title...

One thing I’ve noticed a lot of people unhappy about is the use of big words. I don’t mind it, really. We have students from all walks of life and with all kinds of personalities. Some of them are sure to talk differently than others. “But they don’t sound like high school students!”, you might say. Yeah. A lot of anime characters (and heck, even fictional characters in general) don’t act like their age. I think it’s fine for the purposes of creative liberty and to help distinguish the characters from each other, especially in such a large cast. The decision to use big words outside of dialogue is also pretty cool, in my opinion. Old fashioned phrases like “phial”, “vignettes”, “smorgasbord”, etc. lend itself to the poshness of NRC, which is a school steeped in history and magic. However, the abundance of big words does lend itself into a negative point (which I will make later).

Some of the clever things they tried to do with the localization ended up coming across as awkward instead. An example of this is Cater deciding to call the “Adeuce combi” (short, catchy) HUNTING SEASON (after a poker term where you hold an ace and a deuce card). I understand what they were going for, but Hunting Season is such a mouthful. Other times, there’s puns they try shoving in or large words that read super weird in an otherwise normal sentence. Just because you can use big words doesn’t mean that you should. They should be used sparingly and effectively to make an impact, not thrown around haphazardly just because you want to show off how big your dictionary is.

Honestly, I found the memes and modern slang off-putting. In trying to be “with the times”, the slang and memes will actually date the game and I fear it will age poorly going forward.

It makes sense for some of the characters to have a looser way of speaking (Cater, Idia, Floyd, etc.), but it got to a point where it was excessive to read and took me out of the story. Cater and Idia are certainly “internet kids”, so naturally, they would have the most “internet slang”... but??????? Who actually uses so many shorthand phrases (G2G, LOL, WTG, etc.) out loud instead of just saying the words they mean? Cater got especially grating to read because of him constantly shouting hashtags even during moments that were meant to be emotional, like Riddle crying after Overblotting. Cater. Buddy. Now is NOT the time to say “#WOW” at your dorm leader having a breakdown. It makes it seem like Cater cannot read the mood, which shouldn’t be the case for what we know of his character.

Floyd, well... I know that he’s a very fickle and “I do what I want” type of character, but seeing him shout things like “hairdryer go brrrrr”, “yeet”, and “yeah boi” is strange to me???? And I’m not sure why, because Floyd seems carefree enough to just shout whatever. I think it’s because those are things so heavily associated with old or semi-ironic internet culture that I can’t help but see an old man walking in with a skateboard and going “how do you do, fellow kids?”, trying to blend in and be “hip with the youth”.

The strangest part of the localization (at least to me) was that they decided to change the laughs of several characters. (Ruggie’s “nishishi” became “syeheehee”, Lilia’s “kufufu” because “kheehee”, and even Jade’s “fufufu” becamse “hee hee”??????) Like... why? Was there something about their original laughs that sounded “too Japanese”, or could have been mistaken as something that wasn’t laughter? It’s such an odd translation choice to me.

Because of the culmination of all of this, the impression that I got while playing through and reading things was that the characters sometimes came off as entirely different versions of their Japanese counterparts. A lot can be conveyed about a character through their dialogue, and some of the choices made for the English dialogues paints the characters as oddly “not themselves”, or like one extreme of their personality instead of a more well-rounded individual.

Overall, I’m very mixed on the matter. It definitely wasn’t the best localization, but it definitely could have been a lot worse, too. I haven’t noticed any major censorship or changes, at least not this early in the game. The localization seems alright for what it is.

I will likely continue to play the English version along with the Japanese version just for the experience and the laughs.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

If Bella was a boy (with Bella's gift. And he would be ​Edward's singer). What would change? What do you think?

So, I gave a fairly detailed response to this already. The long and short of it being that, depending if Beauford’s the right kind of guy, he and Edward will essentially end up in a romantic relationship neither realizes is romantic. Then Edward eats Beauford at some point.

But, since we’re here, I suppose we can enter imagination land and get into some more details.

Caveat that I haven’t read Life and Death and have no desire to, so we’re actually ignoring some strange alternate universe canon that never made much sense anyway. Shocking, I know, and very unlike this blog.

Beauford Swan and a Kid More Messed Up Than Even Bella Swan

In order for our love story to even start, Beauford has to be the kind of guy that Edward’s into (or can project that he’s into). Well, we know Edward’s into Carlisle (he projects pretty much an idealized version of Carlisle’s personality onto Bella and actively wants to look like Carlisle as to him Carlisle’s is the face of holy perfection while Edward looks like a demon) and given what he says he likes of Bella’s personality we can extrapolate from there.

Edward’s not going to be into an Emmett or anyone remotely resembling Mike Newton. He’s going to be into a quiet, kind, misunderstood, sensative, intellectual who probably looks some level of frail and in need of protection. Essentially, what he saw in Bella, subverting the Madonna complex he has for her a bit (Beauford will be a kind of Madonna, sort of, but not quite so blatant).

So, we have Beauford, who looks a lot like male!Bella and by that I mean he keeps her pale skin, her big dark eyes, and general look about her that she could break with the slightest contact. Basically, he’s a very pretty guy the likes of which typically comes from a shojou anime. He’s also likely still debilitatingly clumsy.

So, you have this guy who’s awful at sports, as in each time he tries he probably ends up in the ICU. Is an intellectual in that he reads old books, an odd amount of Jane Austen at that, but isn’t actually an artist or writer. In fact, other than reading, he has no real hobbies. Has a larger than life mother who constantly needs looking after. And has nothing in common with his peers.

As bad as Bella had it, I posit Beauford would have had it worse. He’s not going to get along with 90% of boys until... probably college. He’s always picked last in kickball, shares 0 interests with most other boys, and is probably ruthlessly bullied for all of this and more. Worse, being so pretty, he’s going to attract a lot of romantic attention, especially from preteen girls who are very into that look and Beauford’s sensitive artistic nature. This is going to get him so much shit from other guys.

Add on top of this Bella’s original difficulty socializing and I imagine Beauford is just as depressed if not more so.

Fast Forward to Forks

Beauford comes to Forks for a similar reasons to Bella, because he felt like a third-wheel in Renee and Phil’s relationship and that his mother was better off without him. I can also see him just not knowing how to act around Phil, who probably expects a stepson who’s more... sonnish. Beauford’s not going to play catch with dad in the yard and I can see Beauford wanting to avoid all of that entirely.

He enters Forks and has a vaguely similarish reception to Bella. Only, there are some key differences.

I imagine Mike, Tylor, and Eric quickly sour on Beauford as he goes from being potentially cool new bro to a guy that can pick up every girl in this school. He’s like the Cullens, but less incestuous and creepy and therefore a thousand times worse. They desperately don’t want Beauford sitting at their lunch table where he can potentially pick up all the babes. 

In other words, Mike is the new Lauren, and Beauford knows it. But it’s either eat with these guys or eat in the bathroom, and Beauford’s not at that level of desperation yet.

Jessica’s probably into him, having been into Edward (another pretty, sensitive, guy), but unlike Bella I imagine Beauford has a little better social intelligence in that he has seen this game before and he knows where it leads. So, he desperately, actively, doesn’t flirt with anyone. Which makes him a terrible conversationalist, and he just comes off as really weird.

Beauford, therefore, actually is a Cullen 2.0. You don’t want to be a Cullen 2.0 (Bella is the only one in that school who thinks the Cullens were in any way popular).

I imagine Edward notices this, plus Jessica’s interest, and gives a Nelson laugh from across the room. Now someone else can have the joys of Jessica Stanley’s lust. Though he does notice he can’t read Beauford’s thoughts, which is strange.

Like Bella, Edward undoubtedly thinks Beauford is at first highly overrated, just like all the other mindless teenagers in Forks, and rather plain (from his narration, Edward likes blondes and lighter eyes). 

The Rest

Biology happens, it’s a disaster, Beauford has no idea what he did to get Edward to loathe him so much but this time Mike isn’t in any way sympathetic. Instead, Mike just can’t believe he and Cullen seem to agree on something for once.

Edward flees to Alaska, decides he won’t lose to Hamburger, and comes back to do damage control. And we start mirroring canon a lot here. Edward has varying conversations with Beauford, is intoxicated by his very scent, and starts projecting an almost saint like personality onto him. Edward grows increasingly obsessed, starts creeping into Beauford’s room at night to protect him from spiders, etc.

The difference being that Edward is utterly convinced that what he and Beauford share is the highest platonic ideal of friendship. They are platonic soulmates, all other friendships pale in comparison to them, they are intellectual peers and artists.

This is even when they still go to the meadow, Edward kidnaps Beauford in Port Angeles for Italian dinner (despite Beaufrod not having been nearly raped without Edward’s intervention), Beauford is invited to the Cullen house, and more.

Beauford, being Bella levels of oblivious, also has no idea this is a romantic relationship. Likely, what he feels at first and is driven by is a strong sense of kinship with Edward. As Edward is also an intellectual outsider hated by the male half of the school. Beauford’s been there, bro. 

However, like Bella with Alice, he appreciates small details of Edward’s vampiric physical appearance, enjoys staring at Edward’s perfect face, and really digs that vampire smell.

I imagine, beyond what happened in Twilight things like the following occur: Edward constantly sketches Beauford in unintentionally (but secretly intentional) erotic positions with no clothes (this is art!), Edward leers at Beauford changing in his bedroom because “we’re both men”, Edward insists on discussing Beauford’s future bride with Beauford and imagines the most perfect woman in the world while also imagining smashing her head in like a melon.

But I imagine most of the Twilight plot points happen. The difference being that everyone is very confused on why these two can’t admit they’re dating. Rosalie probably bringing up very valid points of “Edward, if you want this guy to go date someone else then you can’t monopolize his life” and Edward telling her to stop being so petty and jealous of Beauford’s beauty. Aro, I imagine, just dies in New Moon and has no idea what to say when Beauford returns from the dead because it’s not, “Oh look, the lovers reunited! Ah, right, I forgot, they’re just friends. Yes...” 

The other difference being, as I strongly suspect that without Renesmee Edward would never have turned Bella (Renesmee really forces that issue as Bella actually dies before Edward turns her), that he would have eventually eaten Beauford as Alice predicted.

But he’d be so delicious.

[novalunosiss]

Okay!! The post strangerthingstv just made on Instagram looks really interesting! The whole thing gives me fear street vibes (like the title sequence with the news paper articles and whatnot) but I digress… Seems like season 4 is going to have some kind of murder plot.. or this murder could potentially be one from the past (like how Hop was looking at old newspaper articles in season 1). Anyway the video goes really fast but I saved it to my camera roll and slowed it down to read. Most of the information is blacked out but I’ll write what is legible below. I’ll write everything in the newspaper in a different font, my own thoughts will be in the regular font. For simplicities sake and because I don’t know terminology I’ll be calling the pictures “frames”. I won’t be discussing the frames that are just pictures, only the ones that show the text. This means that when I say “second frame” or something, it might not actually be the second frame in the video, but it’s the second frame with text on it. Hope that’s not confusing. Not sure if anyone will find this useful but i thought it was interesting, so here goes. Just as a warning, it’s 3:00 am where I live rn so this will probably be a little scattered.

First frame:

THE WEEKLY WATCHER

Lana stalked by crazed fan page 3

BLANK CLAIMS: VENGEFUL DEMON KILLED FAMILY

The Murder That Shocked A Small Community - PAGE 10

The Star-studded ‘bonanza’ premiere - CENTER PAGES

Policeman shot 12 times survives - PAGE 3

Inside Jayne and Mickey’s ‘Palace’ - PAGE 24

Thousands seek gold in jungle - PAGE 7

Magic Pill helping people lose weight

Second frame: you can only see part of the newspaper in this bit, but I’ll still try my best

s are certain Creel is to blame, but he claims

BLANK: Killer or t

m of a vengeful sp

by Addie Ba-cock

Okay so after this there’s a blank block of text but I’ll use this to point out some stuff. In this frame the text starts with the end letter of a word, s. I’m gonna assume that the word in question was ‘Authorities’. That would make sense considering it’s about a murder case and it fits well into the rest of the sentence. Not sure what the T or the M could be for, but the Sp is definitely the beginning of Spirit. This is later confirmed by another slide. As for the dash in the surname of whoever wrote this article, I couldn’t quite make out a letter so I left it like that. Back onto the text.

Whoever you believe, the strange case of the Creel family has put the heretofore sleepy town of Hawkins, Indiana, on the map. It is safe to say that the entire region will never be the same again. District attorney Phillip Bradley said of the ordeal.

Once again this is followed by a block of text. Now. Im fairly confident I’ve got most of this right, but it’s hard to be sure because the text is pretty small and blurry. The two lots of dashes are words I couldn’t quite figure out. Credit to @the-one-and-only-asha who figured out that the missing words were entire and region and let me know in the comments. For some reason it won’t allow me to link to their profile, as it says her blog is missing. But full credit goes to them :) To the right of this text is another bit that is featured in two slides. By piecing together both bits it is still incomplete but more together. It says the following.

‘I thought I was dying… so I w

flooded with relief… but there

a sense of terrible grief, too.’

The first time this bit of text appears it is in the second frame and has a block of blanked out text under it. However, the second time it appears, in the fourth frame, you can see some of the previously blanked out text. It says:

The discovery of a dead an-

the property. One evening,

ether Alice found a rotting

The third slide is also a closer up version of the second slide with a bit more information that was not previously seen.

Crime scene photos from inside the Creel Home obtained EXCLUSIVELY by TWW reveal a complete blood bath.

Underneath it is a picture of the scene but it’s blurry and you can’t see much. To the right there is more text, though most of it is cut off.

to the super

The Cre

home in Ha

Court docum

had recently

itance with

murder hou

Creel cl

in to their

a series of

paranormal

A lot of this you can use common sense to figure out. Cre is obviously Creed, Ha is most likely Hawkins, docum is documents, hou is house, cl is claimed, and after paranormal I’d assume it says events.

After this the video blurs through some more text but if you slow it down you can read one bit.

Didn’t know what I

told the court.

“I said I thought

teenagers set the gra

wouldn’t listen to me

dener tells our source

ly had enough

Not sure if i got all of this part right, it was lighter than the rest of the text so it was a little harder to read. For “gra” that could be grave, I’m thinking. Dener sounds like it could be a person, probably a surname, but im definitely not sure I got that right, it could be a completely different word/name. The ly in the final sentence is probably finally, as in “finally had enough.”

That’s it, I’ll include the video and the screenshots I took below but hopefully someone finds this as interesting as I did!

[dessarious]

Misconceptions, Miscommunication, and Misinformation Pt63

Inspired by @ozmav Maribat AU

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When Drake rolled his eyes it took all of Damian’s self control to not either attack him or go get the Horse Miraculous and shove him into outer space. He was saved from committing murder as Ladybug came in through the window. Drake’s shocked face was incredibly satisfying as Ladybug walked to stand shoulder to shoulder with him. The sheer disdain on her face as she looked at the caffeine addict brought a smirk to his face.

“You told her who you were? That’s something we need to know Damian.” The chiding tone, as if he was talking to a spoiled child, just made Damian want to hit him again.

“She figured it out on her own. I don’t see how it’s necessary information for any of you since you’re not supposed to be here. Not to mention you all refuse to give me information I need to know to do my job so why should I do you the courtesy of keeping you informed?” He could practically feel Ladybug vibrating with the need to scold him for being rude but she kept it in as a show of solidarity. He appreciated that more than he could express.

“We do not withhold information that you need Damian.” Even Ladybug narrowed her eyes at Drake’s tone.

“So I’m just imagining the time you all neglected to tell me there was a mass break out and I walked into a meeting between Scarecrow and the Penguin. Or there was the time you were all running a sting with Catwoman and rather than telling me you switched to a different comm frequency so I wouldn’t get in your way, so when I needed backup to deal with the Riddler I couldn’t contact any of you. There was also the time-”

“That’s enough Damian. This is a subject that should be discussed in private.” Damian just gave a derisive snort. What he meant was it was something to be discussed when he had backup. They were all hypocrites.

“Then that discussion won’t be happening for a while.” Ladybug’s voice was firm and Drake actually looked taken aback. He’d seen her take on the Justice League, this really shouldn’t surprise him. “Damian is an integral part of my team and I won’t leave him alone with you since it seems likely that one or both of you will be Akumatized if you remain in the same space. You have a choice. Either accept our terms for staying or I’ll send you back to where you came from.” The finality in her tone caused Drake to pause.

“Damian is a minor, he can’t just stay here on his own.” It was obvious Drake was trying not to be patronizing and failing miserably.

“I know of at least two families that are willing to host him. One of those being the Mayor himself.” Damian had to struggle to hide his shock. When had she arranged that? Or was she bluffing? He didn’t think she was bluffing. He could practically see Drake’s mind working, trying to find an argument. Ladybug just rolled her eyes. “Kaalki, Tikki merge.” A flash of light and her costume had a slightly brownish tint. “Voyage.”

The portal opened and she shoved Drake through before giving Damian an exaggerated bow and gesturing for him to proceed her. He rolled his eyes but couldn’t help the slight smile on his face. It vanished when he stepped through and into the Batcave. This wasn’t going to be pretty.

-----------------------------------------------

Ladybug stepped through the portal and dropped Kaalki’s transformation, immediately giving the Kwami sugar so she could leave when she wanted. She didn’t know what she’d been expecting, but this certainly wasn’t it.

She was in a cave, an actual cave. For some reason she’d always assumed that the Batcave was more of an honorary title. This was… not what she’d been expecting. She turned her attention to the people staring at her, most of them in pajamas except an older gentleman in a suit. Also not what she’d expected. She turned her attention to Bruce Wayne trying to channel Chloe so she didn’t pass out.

“Care to explain to me why you suddenly decided it was a good idea to go against my wishes and send another of your team to Paris?” Bruce frowned at her in confusion before turning to a man that looked to be in his mid twenties.

“I thought you said you texted Damian to get this cleared.” The younger man, who was dressed in robin themed pajamas and ridiculous slippers with bats on them, pulled out his phone.

“I did, here see for yourself.” He passed the device to Mr. Wayne who read it before rolling his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose.

“This is a draft, you never actually sent it.” The man’s eyes went wide and she would have laughed at his horrified expression if she weren’t trying to maintain a professional demeanor. Mr. Wayne turned back to address her. “I apologized for the inconvenience, but surely you understand my position. I can’t allow Damian to remain in Paris alone.” The look on Damian’s face said he was seconds from murdering someone.

“First of all, he’s not alone. Second, you let him remain in the home of our top suspect for weeks without feeling he was in danger. Third, I will not have someone who refuses to even hear, let alone consider my terms stay in Paris.” That caused everyone else to look at the one Damian had referred to as Drake.

“Damian insisted that I keep information from you, I couldn’t agree to that.” None of them seemed sure how to respond to that.

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[ecsundance]

Most Anticipated Films of Sundance 2022

It’s a great day to talk about film! My name is Jordan, I’m from Pennsylvania and I am a business administration student in my third year at Eckerd College. In this blog, we will discuss what I believe to be the most exciting films at this year’s virtual Sundance Film Festival. For those who don’t know about Sundance, it’s the biggest annual event for independent filmmakers and viewers, and there are many intriguing films on display this month.

I appreciate how there is an increasing number of educational films on this country’s history of discrimination and segregation, along with the many cultural differences and how they shape the individual. If there was a commonly shared interest in a film this year, I believe it would be Alice, starring Keke Palmer. I think that people have a lot to learn from this film on enslavement and yearning right to freedom, especially considering its recent timeline (1973). La Guerra Civil is another interesting film where I see a very passionate story being told. I love sports, and the two fighters represent different but honorable ways of living the American dream, inspiring their fans.

I chose two other films that showed possible future realities. I am not always up to date with my current position in life and how I will function in society, so I like to play with the idea that my life could progress in many different ways. In Cha Cha Real Smooth, college failed to provide main character Andrew with a clear life path, and at the moment I have no idea where I’m going.

We Met in Virtual Reality shows us a reality in which interaction with others can be all-virtual. While I refuse to give into this virtual nonsense, it is fascinating to see the direction that society is heading in. I don’t think it would hurt to learn about virtual reality in an everlasting pandemic.

Lastly, I chose a fun love documentary. Nothing is better than shared love for something, and I hope I get to learn about a volcanologist couple and their legacy in Fire of Love.

Honorable Mentions: Emily the Criminal, Jeen-yuhs: a Kanye Trilogy

5 SHORT FILMS TO WATCH

Charlie and the Rabbit

The Headhunter's Daughter

Meal on the Plate

Rendang of Death

Waves ‘98

The short films are going to present the wildest plots. In my selection, I was really interested in the animated shorts. Meal on the Plate and Rendang of Death, are animated shorts that seem to have intense plots, and I saw a personal connection in Waves ‘98 as I often distract and confuse myself with the sense of feeling at home. Charlie and the Rabbit is an eye-opener because we are seeing a 4-year-old boy violently influenced by a cartoon show, and I hope to see Lynn’s journey in The Headhunter’s Daughter unravel as a country singer.

If a virtual reality experience sounds enticing, I recommend checking out On the Morning You Wake (To the End of the World), which allows you to experience the alarming events of January 13, 2018, in Hawai’i.

There is a growing recognition for NFT’s, digital art collectibles. The Inside World is a mystery-thriller using digital art NFT’s.

In conclusion, I seemed to have selected the films in which I have some kind of personal interest or connection with, but they are films that I think everyone can either enjoy or learn from! Hope to discuss some of these with you soon!

- Jordan Nguyen

[shanethvarosa]

2018: In Review

At this point in time, I feel like my blog is 100% reblogs of memes and ridiculous videos of animals and maybe some gratuitous selfies. Originally, Shaneth Varosa was supposed to be a place for me to publish some of my articles about music and try to facilitate discussion about these releases. Unfortunately, life gets in the way, and I can’t write like I used to. While here on Christmas break from work, and with the next hour or so of free time I have, I wanted to go over some of the artists that did The Most this year and recommend their work in case you’re in need of something new and exciting. See more after the cut! 

I’d like to start with about five honorable mentions and then move in to the ten artists who did the best job at promoting their craft and developing something sincere and meaningful. These honorable mentions all had really great releases, but overall didn't feel very impactful to pop culture overall. 

1. Florence And The Machine - High As Hope  was absolutely one of my most anticipated albums this year, especially after the amazing lead single was released out of the clear blue sky. The follow up single, Hunger, is one of the most relatable tracks in her discography. However, the lack of overall energy was somewhat disappointing despite the lyrics being 100% on point. 

2. Miyavi - I’m not sure I’m as big a fan of the Samurai Guitarist as I used to be, however he really is expanding upon his talents and schmoozing with the right people. A feature from Samuel L. Jackson was no small feet and he really did some neat guitar work on his third collaborative album this year. 

3. Crystal Kay - A Japanese/American pop star with a voice like Janet Jackson, but does not always make the strongest choices when it comes to album tunes. Her singles for this era were almost entirely ballads, so when she released an album with actual bangers for the summer, I was very impressed.

4. Cher - Usually, when Cher releases an album it is a shoe-in victory for album of the year. However, she really only did a cover album of songs, even if they were completely amazing songs. Here’s hoping she has a collection of original material to release soon. 

5. DADAROMA - A newer VK mainstay, but they haven’t actually released a full collection in over two years. Instead, they’re focusing on singles and EPs. This year, they began with “This is Live” which really blew me away following their lackluster third installment of the Dadaism series. They rounded out the year with the fourth installment which was also a significant improvement. However, in 2019, they should consider an album. 

Without any further ado, the top ten artists who really Did That this year:

10. Troye Sivan: I am a sucker for a good Gay Tune and “Bloom” had 12 of them. It’s rare when you find an album that has no tracks you want to skip, and maybe I’m biased, but there isn't one track that isn’t relatable to me and most of my pals. Highlights: Plum, Dance to This, Animal. 

9. CHVRCHES: Every couple of years, I’m guaranteed an over-the-top synth album from this group. Their debut found me at just the right time and their follow up found me at just the right time as well. These two albums really struck a chord with me personally and so naturally I was through the roof the Love is Dead was announced. While the production and vocal performance was totally still there, the lyrical content didn’t quite get me the way the previous albums did. Highlights: Graffiti, Graves, Deliverance.

8. Kamijo: Interesting how my favorite male singer and my favorite female singer both released albums this year and how neither of them made top five. Well, of course they were both excellent, but something stopped them from being everything they could be. Kamijo’s newest solo effort came in four parts and they were all a little confusing. Sang’s main storyline seemed to insinuate Napoleon Bonaparte was a vampire and the third installment of the album was a duet with vocaloid Hatsune Miku. Not to say the vocal performance and composition weren’t top of the line, but I just don’t know what he was trying to do with this era. Highlights: Sang II, Emigre, Nosferatu. 

7. Dir en grey: The world’s most iconic shock-rock band finally returned to us after a four year hiatus. This year’s Insulated World really did give us something to behold: A concept album that wasn’t completely based on mindless violence and fake-deepery. Sure, Kyo does his standard noise-making throughout a lot of the album, but I firmly believe this is their best work in about ten or more years. Highlight: Ranunculus, Keigaku no Yoku (Ravenous Greed), Ningen wo Kaburu (Suffering Human Beings). 

6. The 1975: A recent favorite of mine. Their singles for this era really enraptured what it is to be in your late 20′s in today’s day and age. Their whole album ended up being somewhat bizarre and ballad-heavy, but everything they put out before the main LP was fire and deeply, personally relatable. Highlights: Give Yourself a Try, Love it If We Made It, I Like America and America Likes Me. 

5. David: Most who will read this post will probably not know that “David” is a pseudonym for VK heavy-hitter Sui. This man started out in Metis Gretel many years ago, moved to a band called Megaromania, worked briefly with Lin before ultimately achieving his solo project which is easily the best thing he’s ever done. Probably because it is produced by Kamijo, but I digress. This year, he gave us his first solo album released in too-many parts, but the overall product was outstanding. His visuals even made him look like a true-blue cartoon character. Highlights: Confession (Awakening and Genesis), Genesis (In Bible), Metempsychosis. 

4. Panic! At the Disco: This band, whom we all know is just Brendan Urie, blew me away several years ago with Death of a Bachelor and the only way he could go at the time was down. DOAB was one of my top 25 albums of all time and I didn’t think he could outdo himself, but the energy given to us on Pray For the Wicked was genuinely dumbfounding. His lyrics were and are always at the forefront of what makes him special and for that reason I’m ecstatic that I have “Filthy as Charged” on a t-shirt. Also, he managed to make the title track of “The Greatest Showman” into the banger hit I knew it could be. Highlights: Dancing’s Not a Crime, Dying in LA, Old Fashioned. 

3. Asagi: For those of you who don’t know, Asagi is another heavy-hitter in the VK world. He did attempt a solo project back in the day, but it didn’t take off. This year, thankfully, it really did in the biggest way and he didn't let his main project, D, suffer at all. Fans were getting bored of D’s constant Vampire and/or Alice in Wonderland themes and so he basically said “I hear your pleas, here is what we give you” and released a traditional Japanese album with a modern twist in January as the true beginning of his solo presence. The man then followed up with several incredible singles with D including Revive and Deadly Sin, both of whom had insane B-Sides. Highlights: Madara (Chestnut Tiger Butterfly), Gekkai no Miko (Children of the Moon World), Homuzakura (Hidden Cherry Blossoms). 

2. the GazettE: An absolutely legendary band, one of the fewest VK success stories to be told. They’ve released so many concept albums over the years with stacks and stacks of successful singles, but 2015 really was their comeback year. They revamped everything about themselves and gave fans the darkest album in recent history. How do they follow it up? With their 9th LP of varying intensity, which was actually quite refreshing. My personal favorite aspect is how absolutely self-gratifying it was. Highlights: Ninth Odd Smell, The Mortal, Sono Koe wa Moroku (This Voice is Weak). 

1. BoA: My favorite multi-national pop-star had a... Kind of ridiculous last few years. In 2014 she released a Japanese comeback album that was literally a collection of singles that came out since her last album. In 2015, though, she brought us back with a Korean album really showcasing her talents as a singer/songwriter and then in 2018 she did THE MOST!!!! She starts the year with a Korean EP called “One Shot, Two Shot” which was all bangers, and then followed up with a Japanese LP called “Watashi Kono Mama de ii no Kana (I Wonder if I Can Remain this Good).” This album was a little less perfect than the EP, however it will be forgiven as it had a perfect selection of ballads with one of the hottest tracks of the year: Mannish Chocolat. Don’t ask me what that means. Almost immediately after, she released an EP called “Unchained” which was an acoustic set of some of her recent ballads. Most notably, “Close to Me” was released as a completely acoustic piano ballad. Several months go by, and she comes back with a Korean LP called “Woman” which was almost completely perfect as well. “Encounter” and “No Limit” are probably the hottest tracks, but the title-track really showcases her feminist nature. She rounded out the year with yet another Japanese single called “Amor” which is, truly, the hottest dance track of 2018. I hope she keeps this momentum up next year! 

[diverseladybookproject]

Amanda Reads - March 2017

Since I revamped my blog this month, I thought I’d do a little survey on Twitter to ask how y’all would like these books rated—should I use my rainbow system from #diverseladybookproject, or should I continue with my wacky number of dogs petted system. Well. The people have spoken. And the dogs have been petted.

A reminder of how the rating system works:

0 dogs petted: DNF. I couldn't get through the book. It's not a good day.

1 dog petted: It was an okay day. I mean, I got to pet a dog. But it could have been better.

2 dogs petted: A solid effort. May recommend.

3 dogs petted: A really good day, tbh. Would recommend willingly to friends and family.

4 or more dogs petted: Best day. Will be recommending to all the people. Pet all the dogs.

March was both a good and a bad month for books. I DNFed two books this month. YES, TWO. It’s a first, both for me and for my time on this blog. Would you believe that I haven’t DNFed a book since I started writing about what I’ve been reading on this blog? That’s almost a year’s worth of books! And these are my first DNFs. I’ll explain why on both accounts, don’t worry.

Well. Let’s get started. You might be here a while.

Everything Belongs to Us by Yoojin Grace Wuertz

After being up late into the night finishing The Last of August at the end of February, I was in a major book hangover. MAJOR BOOK HANGOVER. I was sort of trying to read this book, and I thought I couldn’t get into it because of said book hangover. But then I had the privilege of meeting Brittany Cavallaro and realized, nah. I just wasn’t into this book.

The premise sounds awesome. Two young women tell the stories of their lives in South Korea in the late 1970s. I wanted to like it. And really, maybe I will like it at some other point in my life, when I have more time to devote to a sprawling story that is more character-based than action-based. I haven’t ruled out that possibility. But here’s the thing—I was 15% in, and I still hadn’t met the second young woman that this book was supposedly about. In fact, the first chapter was from the point of view of a guy who seemingly has nothing to do with the story? I was confused and frustrated and bored. So I scrapped it. But like I said, I’m not ruling out trying again when I’m in a different mindset.

Rating: 0 dogs petted—DNF at 15%.

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

I got back into fairly regular running and hiking with the dogs after a goofy start to the year and brought Lauren Oliver along with me. (She’s a runner, so I think she’d approve.) This is the second book in the Delirium trilogy, and I was terrified that it was going to suffer from middle book syndrome. And it did, in some regards—Alex was gone, the setting was completely different, and it was sort of like a whole other story, unrelated to the first book. But the threads tied back to Delirium, and I enjoyed the new characters and plot. I won’t say I liked this book better than Delirium, because it was so different. But I did enjoy listening to it a lot. I’m not going to say any more about the plot so that I don’t spoil the first book, but yeah, it was good. I’d recommend that people complete the trilogy.

Rating: 3 dogs petted.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

OH MY GOD.

You’ve already heard me talk about this book some, and it’s worth all the hype. Here’s the premise: Starr Carter lives two lives. She’s the daughter of a former gangbanger and lives in the rough part of town, but she also attends a wealthy, mostly-white private high school. She has a white boyfriend, but is terrified of bringing him home to meet her father. You get the idea. One night, she’s at a spring break party in her neighborhood when shots are fired, so she leaves with her childhood best friend Khalil. On the way home, they’re pulled over for no apparent reason. Khalil is frisked. When he’s checking to make sure Starr is okay, he’s shot by the white police officer, even though he is unarmed and is not resisting. Starr is the only witness, and it’s her word against the white cop’s. Her worlds are colliding, and she has to learn how to live in both of them while being true to herself.

I think I’ve stated that this book was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, and it shows on every single page. It bleeds relevancy and politics and everything that we’re not supposed to talk about in books for young adults. But young adults are the ones who are going to change the world. Remember that.

I’m never going to shut up about this book. And Angie Thomas, the author, is lovely and wonderful and deserves all of the praise that she’s received.

Rating: 4+ dogs petted. If you want to read this book and either can’t afford it or don’t want to buy it, I’ll buy it for you. I’m serious. Everyone needs to read this book. I’m all over social media. Find me and I’ll make it happen.

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco

This was my other DNF this month. I’m wondering if the pattern has more to do with when I’m reading these books than the content of the books themselves, but that’s a contemplation for another time. This is another one that I really wanted to like. Tea is a necromancer, so she has to leave home with the brother she brought back from the dead to train and hone her skills. Also there’s a war brewing, but I didn’t get that far. I found it to be slow and boring. The concept is completely awesome, but I think it just wasn’t for me. Or maybe it wasn’t for me at that time. In any case, I DNFed. Although I promised some Twitter people (hi, Twitter people!) that I’d give it another try down the road, and I will.

Rating: 0 dogs petted—DNF at 20%.

Requiem by Lauren Oliver

As with Pandemonium, I’m not going to say a lot about the plot to this one here. It’s the third book in the Delirium trilogy and the best of the bunch, in my opinion. Lena picks the story up right where Pandemonium left off (that ending, omg), and surprise! We get Hana’s perspective too! That was one of my favorite things about this book—Hana has been cured, so her perspective is different and interesting. Sarah Drew does a fantastic job, once again, of helping me get inside the character’s heads to feel what they’re feeling (because I listened on audio while I was running and hiking and driving in the car). And Alex was back. I repeat. We got more Alex. Hallelujah, because he’s the best and even though I hate myself a little for it, he and Lena are one of my OTPs. Fight me.

Rating: 3 dogs petted, only because the dystopian genre is a little old now and I’m not sure who I’d recommend this one to.

Since You Asked… by Maureen Goo

The way this list is organized is a little confusing, but I started reading Since You Asked… right after I DNFed The Bone Witch. I wanted something light and contemporary, and I had picked this up at the North Texas Teen Book Festival, where Maureen Goo was promoting her upcoming release I Believe in a Thing Called Love. I chose this particular book after The Bone Witch because YA contemporary often helps me get out of reading slumps and I wanted a cute high school romance. That uh… that wasn’t what I got.

Since You Asked… is what I would consider a slice-of-life book. Nothing huge happens in the plot, really, and there isn’t a big arc that takes us to the end. It just sort of exists. It was fine—not knowing whether Holly would ever get with her friend David was part of what kept me reading. (Yeah, I shipped Holly and David HARD, and I don’t regret it.) I finished it in 24 hours and was left feeling a little let down, but I still enjoyed the read. And the cover! It’s got a great cover. I don’t know, I rated it 4 stars on Goodreads right after finishing it, but I think I’m going to downgrade it to 3. The lack of plot arc has been niggling at me. But it was cool to see an entire book told from the perspective of a Korean-American high school student. That aspect reminded me a lot of Lane from Gilmore Girls.

Was that review wishy-washy enough? Ha.

Rating: 2 dogs petted. I loved Goo’s writing style and am really excited for her upcoming release, so I’ll be reading her again!

Done Dirt Cheap by Sarah Nicole Lemon

THIS BOOK. I’m not sure how I’m going to write about this. I have no cans to even right now. I looked at my review on Goodreads and it’s mostly me repeating “THIS BOOK” in all caps with hearts at the end. Hahaha.

The synopsis is simple enough: Tourmaline Harris thinks she put her mother in prison by calling the cops when she was ODing, and now her mother’s former boyfriend and dealer are after her. This is on top of already living in the dark world of a motorcycle “club,” which her father is the president of. (Yes, there are lots of motorcycles in this book and I WAS THERE FOR IT.) At the same time, Virginia Campbell is given the assignment by her boss to weasel her way into the good graces of said motorcycle club, but won’t tell her why. Virginia’s life is equally dark—she was essentially sold to a drug dealer who moonlights as a lawyer by her mother when she couldn’t pay her legal fees. Said drug dealer (fittingly named Hazard) turned Virginia into a pageant queen and a lower-level drug dealer to pay off the debt. As Virginia attempts her mission, Tourmaline is in need of a friend. Oh, and they both have swoony love stories and I was a puddle on the floor at the end because of the feels.

Bonus points for kickass ladies (Tourmaline and Virginia, plus some), a wonderfully complicated female friendship, complex family dynamics, a POC love interest who actually VERBALLY DISCUSSES WITHIN THE STORY what it’s like to be black in the South and what that might mean for them, and a veteran who has seen stuff and is afraid to be vulnerable but finds his equal and OH MY GOD I’m puddling again.

THIS BOOK. <3 <3 <3

Rating: 4+ dogs petted. I love this book so much. Words are hard. Swoon.

Alice: The Wanderland Chronicles by J.M. Sullivan

Where do I even begin! I’ve been waiting and WAITING for the opportunity to read this book by my lovely friend J.M. ever since I first heard about it. Who can resist an Alice retelling with zombies? Okay, hi, I actually don’t think I would have picked this up at all if it weren’t for my friendship with J.M.—I’ve never been a fan of retellings, for some reason! And zombies freak me out! After I stressfully asked her if I would be scared reading this before bed and she laughed at me (LOL), I dove right in. And oh my gosh, y’all. It’s so good! I don’t feel like I need to dive into the plot too much, since you should all know the story of Alice in Wonderland, and it’s just that with a twist. There’s Alice. There’s adventure as she fights the zombies while trying to save her sister from becoming one. There’s a hint of love, there’s the characters you love (again, with a twist), and there’s a kickass teenage main character. What more could you possibly ask for in fantasy literature! Go read it go read it go read it!! (Alice releases on May 16, 2017—full review to come the week before the release!)

Rating: 4 dogs petted! This was so fun (and not scary, I promise)!

On The Fence by Kasie West

On March 31st, I decided that I should read this YA contemporary novel that was billed as a possible comp title to Something Beautiful because it had a friends-to-more plotline. I figured it would be my first book of Backlist April. I even billed it as such in last week’s Friday Reads! But guess what I did?

… I stayed up until 2 am finishing it in a single sitting. Oops?

Here’s the rundown:

Charlie just finished her sophomore year of high school and has the whole summer ahead of her. She’s looking forward to running, basketball camp, and lounging around, like a typical teenager. But on her first day of summer vacation, she gets a speeding ticket, which prompts her police officer dad to force her to get a job to cover the cost. Working part time leads to less time for running, which causes her to not be able to sleep some nights. So she starts spending some of the hours in the middle of the night chatting with her neighbor Braden through the fence that separates their yards about all the things she can’t seem to say to him during the day. Braden is practically her brother… right? OR IS HE MORE???

(Capital letters added for emphasis are my own doing, not the publisher’s. Ha.)

This was the cutest. I was on board with Charlie and Braden from the very first page, and I loved that he (obviously) saw more in her than she ever saw in herself. I don’t know why I waited so long to read a Kasie West book, because her writing reminded me a lot of Sarah Dessen (one of my faves). And, for those who want to know, On The Fence is a great comp title for the first half of Something Beautiful. If you’re into that sort of thing.

Rating: 3 dogs petted. Light. Fluffy. Cute boys and a girl’s journey to self-discovery. Just not, like, a deep book. You know?

Hi. I apparently spent most of March reading. I’m okay with it, tbh.

What have you been reading?

Happy April!

-A.