#we should show the yt channel some love

[sleeplesssmoll]

Reverse: 1999 - Your Long-Lost Friends - Story Part 1 (Other choices)

This is a cut scene you only get when you've been gone for a while. It's Vertin returning home and being doted over. I login literally, and I mean literally, everyday! I wouldn't have ever known this existed! A friend shared it with me (love you ❤️) and this channel does a great job of record keeping. They are a very devoted Timekeeper. I need to go through their stuff and leave some likes! Who knows what else I missed 🤔

On another note, Regulus always hugging Vertin gives my joy. She needs those.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Top 3 Are HEATING UP

Organized, in each category, by ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Dec 2023 Wk 2

Ongoing Series - Thai

Honestly, 3 are neck & necking for top position! They are all so good in different ways. But The Sign had me hooting with laughter this week, so it scooped #1.

The Sign (Sat YT) ep 4 of 10 - This show is literally everything (except straight) all at once. It's BL, queer, band of brothers, romcom, erotica, paranormal, fated mates, mystery, suspense, slasher, and horror. It’s the king of genre mash-up chaos. I have no idea what I’m watching but I’m ON this ride. Is it a roller coaster? Is it a haunted house? Is it a twirl & hurl? Is there candy floss? Am I even tall enough? Who tf cares. All through the second scene, I was laughing. It was legit funny. Billy has great comedic timing. Guess he’s not just a pretty face.

Everyone should be watching this. Sure, it's madness but there is genius in it.

Last Twilight (Fri YT) ep 6 of 12 -  Yech. August may be one of GMMTV’s least likable characters ever (and that is saying something). Meanwhile, MOAR language play! They spoiling me!

Mhok letting Day go then walking away at the party hurt so bad.

Argh this show is great!

Ep 6 so that kiss was right on schedule. I’m looking forward to the boyfriend eps before doom & pain in the new year. Carry on GMMTV. 

Speaking of...

Cherry Magic (Sat YouTube) ep 2 of 12 - Oh they’re great. It’s great. It’s paced oddly, moving quickly through most of the key scenes of the original JBL in these first 2 eps. I think it’s intending to encompass more of the manga series than that one did. Which is good, cause that will get us all the way to The Library Kiss (TM). It's the best kiss in the manga. I also like the sides in this show (better than the JBL version). 

My Dear Gangster Oppa (Thurs iQIYI) ep 8fin - What a lovely slightly unhinged little show. Tew, can we talk? Un-ironic suspenders, that takes courage. Also, the revolver was a crazy gun choice. 

Final thoughts:

This show is just as ridiculous as its title. About a gaymer who falls in love with one of his in-game teammates, who just happens to be a IRL gangster. A real gangster, the kind that actually kills people regularly. The lead pair is doing their best with a ridiculous story and shoddy script, but I enjoyed it. Although I was grateful it wasn’t very long, what we got was oddly satisfying if, frankly, a little bit silly. Recommended. 8/10 

That said, what's important about this BL is not the show, but the production and style. Let me explain... no, too much, let me sum up.

This is a chimera BL. Regarding characters: it has Japan's style otaku + Korea's style gangster + Thailand's style friendship group. It used Thai talent + Korean money (Kakao) & IP (adapted from a manwha) but aired on a Chinese channel globally (iQIYI). I'm delighted by the eclectic insanity of this production and truly doubt that any other genre but BL could ever produce like this. It's like diplomat's BL and it's the great wonder of our age that it happened at all. This BL deserves its place in the history books on production alone, even if that place is only in the footnotes. A remarkable little monster.

For Him (Thurs iQIYI) ep 3 of 10 - The sides are… messy. Using the same actor for the old bf is… odd. But in the end, this show leaves me smiling. Which means, I like it despite myself. 

Bake Me Please (Mon Gaga) ep 4 of 6 - It's decent. It’s basically what I wanted Antique Bakery to be when I first watched that way back when (not to mention Bite Me). But there’s been so much BL since then that, for some reason, this is falling flat. I think it’s moving too fast for a Thai series. Although, say what you like, Ohm has to be one of the best soft kissers in the industry. He's just good at mouth tenderness.

Ugh, that doesn't sound right. But you know what I mean.

Twins the series (Fri GaGa) ep 7 of 10 - I love how First is so upset when Sprite starts chatting and being nice to Koh. Sprite is just a sweet easy-going likable boy. I enjoy Sprite as a main character, he’s a bubbly little communicator. And they had a cute kiss.  

Pit Babe (Fri iQIYI) ep 5 of 14 - Because there was more Alan and Jeff and they were more key to the plot I was more into this ep. I do compare it to green smoothie down the pants in the Trash Watch.

Cooking Crush (Sun YT) ep 3 of 12 - Look OffGun are truly great. But I’m just not sure we need them in BL anymore. That said, it’s nice to see Off as "the one with the crush" for a change. Also, this show is only good when OffGun are on screen together, otherwise it kinda, well, sucks.

Night Dream (Sat YT) ep 1 of 6 - Cafe setting featuring a cook and a writer. *Seems awfully familiar.* Except these two are exes and this is a reunion romance. It’s stiff and very pulp but not bad (no crap sound effects) and I am a sucker for a reunion romance. That said, Rookie Thailand is not to be trusted, proceed with caution.

Absolute Zero (Weds iQIYI) ep 12fin - I'm grateful this is over. It was tense but for the wrong reasons - sadness and confusion. This final episode was fine, but that’s because it was mostly them being together + flashbacks. Plus all the familiar actor faces of the grown-up friends (hi, Karn my lovely, still stunning I see). But 2 of 12 episodes is not enough for the 10 of suffering and confusion that came before.

In conclusion:

A man is killed on his 10th anniversary resulting in a time paradox, for which the only solution is him never meeting his childhood sweetheart until later in life. Both lovers cycle back to the past at different ages, so that they each become their own 1st & 2nd great loves, but every time it ends in pain, until each also endures 10 years of separation. Finally it gets fixed, but leaves them with multiple memories of time's failures like temporal PTSD, and everyone around them has chronic deja vu. Me? I got both. This is one of those BLs that is high-quality with great acting but poor story. If you like your BL dwelling, maudlin, and tense due to angst and suffering, then you might enjoy this. But I just regret it, 6/10. Recommended only if you like confusing time travel emo pain.

In which case, just watch Tokyo in April is... instead. Give over Thailand, Japan does it better.

Middleman’s Love (Fri YT & iQIYI ep 6 of 8 - While our main couple isn’t working for me... the side couple isn’t working for me either. I really wanted to give LeoTai a chance, this is the 3rd show I’ve seen them in, and still nope. I like Jade a lot more when he’s sad. He’s a much more pleasant screen experience depressed. I would like him to stay hurt for a couple of eps, just so I can enjoy this show a tiny bit more. But then he just goes unhinged again. Argh. I just don’t like it. 

My Universe (Sun iQIYI) Pisces of Me ep 17 of 24 - Codependent boyfriends in middle school planning for high school dealing with stuff. Including other boys being into them. 

Playboyy (Thurs Gaga) 5 of 14 eps - Dear Playboyy, it's not you, it’s me… I hate you. You’re about as deep (and as palatable) as a shot glass of cum. While I'm sure you’re someone’s kink, you're my weakest link. Goodbye. DNF 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

VIP Only (Taiwan Fri Gaga) ep 5 of 10 - It’s cute but I don’t think BL in this short format is Taiwan’s strength these days. And this is quite slow and dull. Perhaps they should have whacked it down to 6 eps, not 10.

Sahara-sensei to Toki-kun (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 3 of 8 - This is one of those JBLs that I should like on paper but is failing me. The drag bit was ridiculous but handled gently. The kiss was… well… something wasn’t it? It’s all very odd. I like the photographer cutie character. 

It's Airing But...

The Whisperer (Sun ????) 10 eps - Thai horror BL that ALSO involves cheating (what joy is mine). I don't think even the perfect single dimple can motivate me to watch. Word is... it's terrible.

7 Days Before Valentine (Weds WeTV) 10 eps - Giving me Luminous Solution vibes. I'm waiting to binge if it's safe.

Beyond The Star (Weds iQIYI) 8 eps - House of Stars meets Boyband. I was NOT impressed with ep 1. Been told I shouldn't bother.

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 (Japan Gaga) 10 eps - I find this series more fun to binge, so I'm waiting until after it completes its run next week.

Dear Kitakyushu (Thai/Japan movie) in theaters in country only, I know nothing about distribution.

Behind the Shadows (Korea movie) this is a historical I was interested in, but I've been told they kill the gay so I'm OUT.

Next Week Looks Like This

Still coming:

12/23 Dead Friend Forever (Thai horror) iQIYI

Original 2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED). With the end of the year upon us I'll do an "announced for 2023 but never happened list" soon.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

He so pretty.

I forgot how likable TayNew are, and frankly I think New is a better version of this role for me, personally. I like him a lot. He's a conscientious sweetheart. And a good egg. (Cherry Magic)

Ah the rooftop my old friend. (Last Twilight)

I would like to point out that it's no accident the naga's sex dream happened in the shower, he's a water creature after all. (The Sign)

(Last week)

[palepinkgoat]

tag game Wednesday Thursday!

thank you for tags and mentions @gallawitchxx @thepupperino @wehangout @blue-disco-lights @gardenerian @deedala @energievie and @jrooc !!! I love you all so much.

how did you get into the fandom? Girl, let's get in a Time Machine to 2013.

I had just had a massive injury that left me unable to walk or leave my bed for months. In this time, I was watching YouTube a lot. YouTube knows me well, so one night said "oh, this is gay, you will like it." The clip was the van kiss. Like, the first kiss. It piqued my interest and soon I'm in a YouTube wormhole. Season 3 had finished so there were some newer uploads. I loving the morning scenes with the Gallaghers too, and once I kind of pieced it all together I went on amazon and bought the first 3 season digitally. There I was, obsessed and bed bound. After a little googling I found Tumblr around Christmas, and lurked until season 4 started. Then I started poking my head out a bit and reblogged some stuff. But I wasn't really fully "in" until I started writing fics in 2014. Then I got more active and after writing a series called Four Eight, more people learned who I was (via a post by a super "popular" and now deactivated Tumblr account). Then I was in. sidenote: Eventually I did physical therapy around the time the club kiss aired (being there for that in real time?? Guys, I'm still screaming) and I'd watch that over and over as I iced my weak leg and took half a prescribed Percocet. The club kiss was better than the Percocet.

how long have you been here? So technically I guess I've had Tumblr 10 years. In December it will be 11. HOWEVER I was not active for several years in between like season 7ish until after the series ended, so I guess I should subtract. But that gets too be too much math.

what’s the first fandom channel you found? (Youtube, Reddit, Tumblr, Insta, Twitter, FB, other?) Youtube at first since that's how I found them. I was also really into watch fan video edits and watched them OBSESSIVELY.

what’s your favourite now? For fandom, Tumblr! Nothing quite like it. I'm glad to be back.

which mutual have you known the longest in the fandom? Oh my gosh. @captainjowl, @wehangout and @the-rat-wins are the ones who come to mind but I'm sorry if I'm overlooking some. So many people left!

which tumblerino’s did you have your first fandom crush(es) on and wanted to get to know? I remember really loving @captainjowl and being so glad when we got to be friends. Then because I almost have a Tumblr Season 2 life, I was really impressed by @heymacy and she just JUMPED off the screen. I wanted to be friends so I sent a message about chapell roan and now we talk ALL THE TIME. I've met so many newer to me people and I am so glad I know so many cool people.

first Gallavich fan fic you read (or that blew you away that you remember) I wish I remembered the first fic I read!! Sexual Harassment in the Workplace was posted around the time I started writing fic and of course that's amazing. I know works by anythingbutgrief were some of the first too. Beautiful.

first fan art that blew your mind? @steorie blows my mind every time. That's the first person I remember just losing it over. But there are so many incredible artists!!

fanfic trope that you were sure wasn’t for you but now you low key (or high key) love? a/b/o! But I mostly was like "what the fuck is this about?" And then got on board pretty fast.

What surprised you most about this fandom? the level of talent is absolutely wild.

moment in the show (or YT vids if you’re one of those) that you fell in hyperfixation with Gallavich? the first one was probably s3 "not everybody gets to blurt out how they fucking feel every minute!" because i was like, OHHH OH THIS IS GONNA HURT ME & then it just kept getting worse.... @gallawitchxx just said it best BUT! I have a tattoo that says "sorry I'm late" so I guess you could say I'm into that one too.

Ian or Mickey? Ian is my baby, my friend. my familiar. I adore them both and it's hard to choose, but I loved him right away and never quit.

Which Gallagher or Milkovich are you? I'm honestly a lot like Ian. But maybe if I swung Milkovich I'd be Sandy.

[branwendaughterofllyr]

Thank you for answering my previous ask! :D I have some thoughts on "a poison tree" that I wanted to share, so I couldn't help but write another one lol. So already going into it I love the backstory you gave Larys! His confession about his upbringing was such a haunting and memorable moment, especially through the lens of little Alyssa (who shouldn't be anywhere near him tbh). The way you portrayed her perspective as a child feels so real and... sad, somehow? Her disappointment with the limited life she can have as a woman in such a stratified and sexist society was really poignant, and her desperate search for someone to fill the void her mother left were highlights that resonated deeply within me (along with Larys' struggles as a disabled person in Westeros, since I'm disabled myself). Alyssa and Oldgon not only fit perfectly into the original story but also enriched it in ways that F&B and HOTD lack. This is so rare in fanfiction today and requires a tremendous amount of work and research, be it into the original work's lore or actual history. I'm really grateful for you sharing such a passionate and dedicated story with us.

On a side note, I apologize in advance because I have so many questions! Will "a poison tree" feature another character's POV besides Alyssa and Oldgon? Do you watch or read any analyses of HOTD/ASOIAF? If so, which ones? I think you would really enjoy the YT channel Hill's Alive. Lastly, could you recommend some of your favorite fanfictions for HOTD/ASOIAF? Bonus points if they're long fics!

Oh my gosh, I just about started giggling and kicking my feet when I saw this ask. Thank you so much for giving me the space to talk endlessly about my fic!

I saw Matthew Needham’s interview where he talks about his headcanons for Larys’ backstory, and it basically came down to his mother dying in childbirth and to be honest… I thought that was pretty lame because every mom dies in childbirth in this universe haha (even though I did it myself with Elinor lol). It’s just very lackluster to me, and I was already coming up with my own backstory for the Strongs at the time. Larys to me is a very… underutilized character, especially in fics. Many of the characters in F&B serve as parallels to characters in the main series, I think there’s a lot to Larys as a basically a caricature of Tyrion through the lens of history, an evil disabled man with unknown motives, who exists only to be the villainous traitorous wildcard. It’s very hard to get a handle on Larys in F&B because he’s really a character that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense based on what little we know about him, and while I thinks it’s worthwhile to consider him in the light of how Tyrion is viewed by a society that pre-judged him and will allow him no lenience, it’s deeply annoying to me that the show chose to do very little with him (especially in s1) and just make him a cackling villain who kills his own family just because. And this is not to say that I think Larys is a good guy, not at all, but I think there’s room to explore why he is the way he is.

And I think that I wanted to approach it through the eyes of a child, who might not have absorbed quite all the biases yet, or at least doesn’t understand the nuances of it. That’s why I wrote that bit where Larys expects Alyssa to ask him about his foot when she’s staring, and then is surprised when she asks about the ghost thing, and this entire thing goes completely over Alyssa’s head. I actually do kind of like the show take that Larys is seeking out people similar to him in Alicent and then Aegon, lonely damaged people that are isolated. But yes, Larys should not be allowed around children, especially ones that will straight up ask whatever questions on their minds. I think Larys’ confession was half-malicious, half-intended to be helpful, much like some of Cersei’s conversations with Sansa. Better to be traumatized early and learn that the world sucks. Really, he’s doing her a favour here!

One thing I tend to find…. Very heavy handed in most fics is how heavy handed the sexism can be, and how “modern” the sensibilities of the female characters. I think there’s a lot to be explored in the more insidious and underlying aspects, as well as the more obvious and in your face ones. Like, she’s grown up around men (of noble birth) who have been able to make their own ways in the world on paths simply not open to women, and as a child she doesn’t understand precisely why she can’t do the same.

I actually wanted to make Oldgon, for as much as he loves his daughter, still submerged in misogyny that he’s not really questioned much. Like, nice and/or smart people are not immune to the biases of their society! And Oldgon certainly isn’t, even if he has more fondness and respect for women due to his upbringing by Alysanne than other men, and he still expects his daughter to obey most of the rules for women even if he thinks education and curiosity are virtues for both the sexes.

I’m very glad that Alyssa has come off as a sort of melancholy character, especially since I think there’s an inherent cheerfulness to Oldgon even though he’s had a lot of tragedy in life. I wrote much of Alyssa I during the wintertime, when I suffer from pretty bad seasonal affective disorder, and I think that the pre-Dance Red Keep is a pretty disordered and lonely place to grow up in, even though it’s full of people. The severed emotional ties, the inherent distance between family members, all contribute to that. I also wanted to give her a really complex relationship with motherhood, that I will continue explore as the fic goes on!

I don’t currently plan to have any other character PoVs for Poison, it was always going to be just Alyssa and Oldgon in my head. But I have been making plans to do much more extensive fake F&B excerpts for events neither of them are present for. You may have noticed that I’ve introduced a new source for my version of F&B, Perkin Gaunt, who will survive the Dance (spoiler lol) and write his own history of it. Writing the F&B bits is actually really hard, but I like thinking about how the history got recorded, by who and why and to what end.

I actually don’t like watching ASOIAF YouTube videos or listening to related podcasts at all, a lot of the really popular ones have opinions I deeply disagree with or just find really annoying, and I’ve disliked the ASOIAF fan industrial complex since the days of GoT, and my opinion has only sunk lower as HoTD started airing. I’ve seen a few of Hills Alive’s videos, as one of my friends sent them to me, and I think she’s got some decent takes overall.

For ASOIAF fics, I like iron fears the rot by @undeniablespice which is a genderbent Theon Greyjoy AU. I’m currently still mad at the most recent chapter for making me feel things about the deaths of the older Greyjoy sons. I also love any work by just_a_dram but I’ll recommend their most recent finished work, which is a Jonsa space opera AU titled Lupum Luna

In the F&B/HoTD realm, I’m always recommending @aifsaath’s series The Sky is Always Red Above Valyria (great title that I am insanely jealous of) and their other series, co-written with @gwenllian-in-the-abbey Our Fathers Clad in Red which is a book canon AU, where Aegon II marries Baela after the Dance. I also like solitariusvirtus’ Aegon III/Jaehaera fics, and I’ll recommend every tomb, every sea, spit the bones from your teeth as a good one shot starter. This next one is probably not for everyone, but I have been fascinated by glory days by behemoth for a while, which is a pre-canon fic exploring Viserys’ enmeshed relationships with his father and Daemon, with plenty of uncomfortable moments, but it’s heavily informed some of my own headcanons about the family for my fic purposes lol.

Anyway, feel free to ask any questions, and I will spill more of my ramblings!

[thebrainboys-co]

Hello Internet B) Welcome to our ask blog. We're a group of Introjects from/related to The Boys YT channel (Not the show pls don't ask abt the show idk anything about the TV show 😭)

Just as extra info, an Introject is an alter from a system who is based off a fictional character (Fictive) OR a real existing/previously existing person (Factive).

Anyway, lol, here's us:

(Names with stars next to them are from our friend's system :} Also, more of us may be added whenever they show up ig)

Some extra stuff for context:

Important thing! You may see doubles of people like Dub and Josh, or Kevin and Dez. This is completely normal! Sometimes with systems, you get two of the same people. It doesn't make one any less of a person than the other. 🫶

Those with Brushes next to them have two forms they can appear as, but will usually look like the Brush, as that's their default.

Please censor the words c@ndy and n3€dle, they're triggering to Mully and Dub respectively. Try not to mention c@nd!es in general too, unfortunate as that is. (ik it sounds silly as shit but we're so serious.)

Most posts will probably be more light hearted, cause this is just for fun.

Guess I should also add that we DO actually have commissions, so there's the info. :p

Rules:

NOO FAKECLAIMING!!! Please for the love of whatever fruity ass fucking god is in the sky, be respectful. :( Again, this is for fun, and is also a safe space, so we really don't want any kind of discourse or invalidation here. Though, it's not wrong to ask genuine questions! This IS an ask blog, so if you're curious about something, ask away!

No racism, homophobia, transphobia, bigotry, etc. Kinda obvious :/ don't come in here being a big fat fucking jerk.

Do not use any slurs! Some are heavily uncomfortable with them, so just keep 'em out of the asks.

NO NSFW. Please keep these asks SFW, idk how many of you grimey Tumblrs are minors.. >_>

Posts will be tagged appropriately :p Asks for certain people will have their symbol and/or name. Normal posts will have #BoysPosting or #BrainTalks.

Anyway, welcome lol (⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧ Enjoy

[batri-jopa]

Why Queer TV is Getting Worse? (by verilybitchie)

What was I expecting of a 44 minutes long YT video showing "Bad Bi Representation"? Not sure but I definitely got muuuch more than I could have wished for!❤️ I love the analysis of what queer representation is, what's considered "good" and "bad" representation, and why the "good" ones are so f* boring while "bad" ones are the best stories, and why bisexual representation is one of the most difficult one to make... And also it set my interest on Desiree Akhavan:

(...) Lucky for me, Akhavan's work is in direct opposition to squeaky clean "gaystreaming". She is what scholar Maria San Filippo calls a "bad queer" filmmaker. She's not interested in creating characters that will convince you that "bisexuals are good, actually". Rather she portrays bisexuals that embody all the dreaded stereotypes and ask the questions you're not allowed to ask. This is the opposite of the Hollywood sanitised bisexuals.

Some quotes:

(...) They're not love stories, they're break up stories. "Appreciate Behavior" is non chronological and the first scene mirrors the last, telling us that all of these ideas about life milestones, whether gay or straight, are fake. It's not about your carrier, or coming out or getting married. Life is an ongoing journey in which you cannot be defined by the standarts others set for you

But I love the "bad queers"! They reclaim artistic freedom and create space for self-reflexive humour. They're not laughing at the LGBT community, they're laughing with the LGBT community, from within the community, from a deep understanding of how ridiculous our politics and interactions can be. They reject the impreative to write relentlessly positive role models in favour of flawed and human figures. And in a way, a bisexual perspective is inherently a "bad queer" perspective which will often clash with what GPAAD and Twitter think queer media should be. That's the challenge in bisexual strytelling: if it's honest, it will make some people cranky.

(...) So really, publicly owned broadcasting is the only way these alternative bi stories get made. And who wants to see a story about explicitly bi Iranian woman? Maybe no one who isn't bi will ever really want to see bisexual stories that aren't "gaystreamed". But that's the point: there are some minorities whose experiences can't be mainstreamed (and I'm not just talking about bisexuals here), and there are undoubtedly some stories which can never be told if we depend on consumerism of art. We need broadcasters like Channel 4 in order to tell those stories.

[oswlld]

oswlld's monthly wrap up: march

note: i am trying something a bit different this year, so bear with me as i figure out how i want to format this. i wanted to spend more time sharing what i consume, beyond what i rb, and put my thoughts in one place. these posts are okay to rb

--

When We Cease to Understand the World, Benjamín Labatut [started 02/24, finished 03/14] What an outstanding example of blurring the lines between fiction and reality. I am content in never knowing what’s real and imaginary in the lives of these people. May we never forget that for every new idea challenged, there is a real person with real emotions and motivations behind it. 4.25⭐️ in storygraph. — No Stopping Us Now: A History of Older Women in America, Gail Collins [started 03/03, finished 03/30] This book makes some strong points, but comes off weak in its execution. By having it be told decade by decade, it becomes hard to follow along when so many names and events are being tossed around. Without a firm thread tying all the themes together, the achievements ended up feeling lackluster when it should leave you feeling a sense of pride and hopefulness. 3.25⭐️ in storygraph (I rounded up, but it feels more like a 3.15)

23.5 Degrees, GMMTV [started: 03/08, ongoing] What a breath of fresh air!! With my busy schedule, I managed to catch the first two eps and I’ve loved every minute of it. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, while still keeping a tight grip on its sense of identity. The series soaks up every aspect of its space theme like a sponge. Content specifically made for me, tysm! As much as I have tried refraining from consuming more high school settings, I couldn’t help but be enamored by what I have seen so far. I have paused this series for now, but hopefully I’ll be caught up before the end of April. I should be able to watch it live on Fridays in May. Until then, I will miss them dearly! — Always a Witch, Netflix [started 03/28, in progress] At this time, I have only seen episodes 1-5. So far, it’s a very straight-forward series. I am restraining myself from calling it predictable, because there are one or two things that really turns some tropes/themes on its head. But all-in-all, I am still waiting for this show to grab me. For a show that checks all the boxes that really makes a core jessi show, a series with time travel, magical realism, and found family, it has yet to completely sweep me away. Time really got away from me this month, but I will finish this series sometime in the next two weeks. We shall see if the latter half gets better.

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version) [watched 03/15 thru 03/18] I have seen this live and did see the original film in theaters last year, so this experience was more of a rewatch. This time around, my parents wanted to watch some of it with me so we made a whole evening of it on 3/15 so that was really neat. I will be traveling a lot in April and will be taking an audio copy of this to keep me entertained. — Oscar Nomination Season [started 02/17, ended 03/24] All of my initial reactions of what I managed to cover this Oscar season is in this post. Some of the strongest categories I have had the pleasure of covering this year were the Best Documentary (feature), Best Production Design, Best Live Action Short, Best Documentary (short), and Best Animated Film. I have several more films to tackle later this year, but my overall impression this Oscar season was just alright. One or two films have hit an extremely high note for me, but no worst of the worst.

BEYONCÉ, Beyoncé [relistening] During the pandemic, I really got into waching YT reaction channels reacting to full albums. One of my favorites is HTHaze and he is only beginning his listening journey through Beyoncé’s discography (yes, for the first time!) His reaction to Beyoncé’s self-titled made me want to relisten to it in full for the first time in years. I tend to only revisit a few songs through the years, but I do love going back to albums after time has past to recontextualize everything all over again. I’ve had my longtime faves from my 20’s but in my mid-30’s, the songs that hit harder now are: Pretty Hurts, Haunted, and Jealous. — Bewitched, Laufey [first time listening] The same YT channel got me to listen to this album. I am guilty in having my first listen be through his video first before diving into her album properly. With that said, the brain rot went FULL ROT. I love LOVE her compositions. Having learned from her Tiny Desk that getting a grand piano influenced the way she wrote her songs makes the whole conception so much grander. Her voice is soooo, it’s SOOOOO !!!!!!! I read a comment somewhere that her dream is to rejuvenate jazz the same way Taylor Swift did with country for a younger generation and that really spoke to me. I truly believe she is heading in the right direction in achieving that. My favorite run of songs goes from: Haunted, Must Be Love, While You Were Sleeping, Lovesick, California and Me, Nocturne (Interlude), and Promise. Those seven songs in that succession is so GOOD, ahH! — Once the Musical [relistening] Every spring, I fall into a Once spiral and it just gets deeper and deeper. This time though, I only tackled the core faves on YT rather than committing to the full audio (w/ Arthur Darvill and Joanna Christie). Although Arthur Darvill’s Leave will forever solidify his Guy as my Guy, Declan Bennett is The Guy of Guys for me. My mandatory relistening experience always goes: Arthur’s Leave, Arthur’s Say It To Me Now, Declan’s Say It To Me Now, Declan’s When Your Mind’s Made Up, Zrinka's If You Want Me, Once’s Spotify Jam Session. And it would all be on a loop lol. — Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé [first time listening] This is still fresh in my mind, having only listened to it in its entirety once through. My first impression is that it’s one of her most cohesive albums to date. Having had the first taste of what she would eventually achieve all the way back with Lemonade and The Gift, Cowboy Carter feels like a natural progression in her discography. I don’t have a top songs list to provide at this time, as I would need more time with the album. Fav songs come with time. Although, I did listen to 16 CARRIAGES when it was released several weeks ago and I knew then it would be a spectacular album. What a phenomenal single to lead a phenomenal homecoming.

Where’d You Go Bernadette, written by Maria Semple and narrated by Kathleen Wilhoite [started 03/22, finished 03/29] I… I didn’t like this. And that’s alright. Even if I didn’t like the premise or the characters, I did enjoy the format of the narrative and the narrator (especially her singing!!). But in the end, this was just not meant for me.

—

As it is still March when I am writing this, I wanted to endcap Women’s Month with a special shoutout to two women in my life that have been working with me to improve my overall well-being: Wendy (personal trainer) and Sofia (life coach). I am in a better headspace because of the work and trust they have in me to build a life I want. I cannot wait to see what I am capable of this time next year.

[solarnomoon]

love is an art form — 11

design 11,,, the dinner

heeseung leans over to the boy next to him, whispering so no-one else could hear him, "i thought it was gonna just be me and you and the other two?"

yn laughs at his words, pulling away from him, saying in a soft voice, "the other two?"

"you know what i mean ynie."

yn rolls his eyes but with no malice within his sight, replying to him, "yeah but they all wanted to go too and i wasnt gonna stop them."

at this point, jay drapes his arm around heeseungs shoulder, mocking him with a pout on his face, "awe, did wittle heeseung want a wittle double date?"

the only thing he gets back in response is a flick to his forehead. "well ow. why do your fingers hurt like hell?" jay rubs his forehead, pulling his arm off of heeseung.

"i play piano. my fingers might be my strongest feat."

niki just side-eyes heeseung across the table, then directs his attention toward yn. "mm, i bet you'd know yn, wouldn't you?"

sunoo and jungwon look at jay with their mouths open, while sunghoon and jake just bust out laughing. yn gets embarrassed but not more than heeseung, who physically turns his head away from the rest of the group.

"in shock, in tears, ive got to go." yn speaks, shaking his head. although, he just laughs right after, patting heeseung on the back. "aye, you thought it was funny too right?"

"haha, yes i did, whatever," heeseung responds, lifting some of the brisket into his mouth.

right after he finishes though, he goes back to the ear of an unsuspecting yn, who's conversing with sunghoon and jake across the table, before saying, "if you wanna try though yn, i can show you~" and making yn push heeseung playfully.

...

"so is it true that enhypen is coming back with a full group video after 2 months?" yn asks jungwon, niki, and sunoo, as the other four are conversing among themselves.

jungwon nods, "yeah, we recorded a cooking one together, which should be coming out soon... like a week or so?"

"ah i'm so excited! it's so crazy to me that i'm at kbbq with my favorite youtube guys ever."

sunoo raises his eyebrow, "but weren't you friends with sunghoon and jay before enhypen even existed? was it crazy then?"

"to be honest, yeah just a little. i didn't expect them to become so popular so quick, but i guess it makes sense considering you guys are just fucking cool and genuinely relatable." yn takes a bite of his food before continuing, "plus, every single video i've watched of you guys has just been so funny like..." and he continues, not noticing the girl that stops nearby their table.

"heeseung, is that you?!" a shrill voice pierces the air, and the group turns to look toward the source of said voice. "oh my god, how i've missed you!" and with that, the girl with the voice runs over to him and basically pushes jay to the side to sit in the guy's lap, before giving him a peck on his cheek.

yn turns to sunghoon, then to sunoo across the table, mouthing "who is that?"

jay then proceeds to say out loud, without a thought in his mind because of the corn he's munching, "oh, it's heeseung's girlfriend."

yn proceeds to turn his head toward heeseung.

"girlfriend?"

previous : masterlist : next

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ ❀

an,,, this one has writing (566 words)! and to clarify: they have a yt channel still called enhypen, just think of them like one of those friend group channels that do random shit LOL (i have been binging their enlogs & therefore felt inspired :o)

taglist (open!): @hyuniiehoney @roulette010 @lovelypitasworld @blehhhidk @curly-fr13s @to-toad @buttersmama @sunshinefox35 @lonewolfjinji

[sodafrog13]

This is the same anon about the vaporwave stuff, and THANK YOU!!!! For over a year now I've been listening to mixtapes (Neon Palm Mall by SPLIFF Radio is the one that actually got me into vaporwave, I love love love it so much) and I really want to thank you for sharing! I've developed a deep love for this genre, but I didn't really know any albums specifically, so I'm glad I found you!

I also just wanted to dip my toe in the water with the previous ask, but if you have any other, I guess "advanced-listener" albums/mixtapes I'd love to hear them. I'm extremely open minded when it comes to music.

And, uh, I wouldn't mind hearing why the albums should be considered mixtapes, that is if you don't mind. I love learning! If you have any vapor wisdoms, I'd be very thankful to hear!

Last thing, I'm so jealous about your holo plaza gear. Congrats on getting the vinyl bro! 😭 Thanks again!!!

re: this ask right here! (ooooooo click for my vaporwave suggestions oooooooooo u wanna click so so bad)

anon u r literally so sweet, i don't think i can convey how excited your asks have made me LOL

admittedly there aren't many more... obscure? recommendations i can make, at least if you were to ask some like hardcore vaporwave fans lol but i can at least recommend a few more artists/albums i enjoy! i also recommend finding some artists you like to see if they collaborate with anyone and seeing if you like their works as well, usually a pretty easy way to find more people you'll like :] additionally, the Vapor Memory channel on yt posts full album streams from various artists; great way to find new stuff if you prefer to find things thru youtube rather than bandcamp! they even host virtual shows sometimes, which i think is awesome

RECOMMENDATIONS (pt 2 electric boogaloo; some of these r classics, some of them not, all of them on bandcamp and youtube except for the mixtapes):

Welcome to the Craft Store​​​!​​​® by nofriendsonline

🏜️ (鹿​​​児​​​島 砂漠) by desert sand feels warm at night and ⦓🍊⦔ タンジェリン (Kagoshima Tangerine)

Wellen by Voyage Futur

New Twilight Music Vol. 1 by various artists, published by Midwest Collective

A Million Miles Away by マクロスMACROSS 82-99

슈​퍼​마​켓​Yes! We​’​re Open by 식료품groceries

壊​滅​悲​し​み PT 2 by haircuts for men

Machines of Loving Grace by Dead The Long Year (this one's admittedly a bit of a wildcard; it's post-vaporwave, a subgenre i'm far less familiar w but as an album it's very dear to me so i had to recommend. it's quite different from most of the other things i've recommended, and far more somber. caretaker-esque? is how i'd describe it, as the caretaker is a direct inspiration for DTLY, but if that piques your interest at all i recommend giving it a go :])

-

MINIMUM WAGE (VAPORWAVE MIX) by SCRAVECROW/Allec Cortez

10 Hours Of Slushwave (Vaporwave Mix) by illusiDreams

and to answer yr question abt albums vs mixtapes: this stems fr the fact that a lot of vaporwave is based on theft. vaporwave is a VERY sample heavy genre, as i'm sure you're likely aware, and while samples are usually meant to be some manner of open secret, esp in earlier days it was uncommon to openly admit to exactly what yr using, as it was supposed to be like a fun little inside joke between you and your audience as to what you were using and how. fast forward, vaporwave isn't popular per se but it definitely has more eyes on it, and some of those eyes are a little more concerned as to the ethics of such heavy usage of sampling. some argue that a lot of vaporwave songs aren't original songs so much as they're just remixes, which is why they prefer the term mixtape to refer to certain projects rather than albums.

as new subgenres come and go, some artists/albums have caused more of a stir in this regard than others. there are still some people who say saint pepsi (despite his notoriety) doesn't make real vaporwave, whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean, because of how much he (and future funk in general) relies on samples and i know there were some people who were a little miffed about the fact that OSCOB's praise the sun god practically samples an entire album (Future Lounge 03 (2000) by various artists) without actually doing all that much to it (which can sort of be the nature of a lot of barber beats tracks). and for the record, i understand wanting other artists to be credit for their work, but also i think it's a little rich to try and harp about it when vaporwave is all about stealing from other people anyways (though sample-less vaporwave does exit. hakita/heaven pierce her (yes, of ULTRAKILL fame) actually makes sample-less vaporwave music!)

ultimately, i think it's up to the artists themselves what they'd like their work to be called (and some do indeed call their works mixtapes rather than albums) but also. like who cares man LMAO it's all theft and it's all fun, i don't think it rlly matters esp since vaporwave... well it's not exactly a lucrative business, is it? lol, a lot of vaporwave artists actually offer their entire discographies for free/cheap/some sort of name your price, so the only real money they make off their works is probably physical merch or live performances (as is the normal life of a music artist, really, but i digress).

if u wanna learn more abt vaporwave stuff, pad chennington's where you wanna look! he makes a lot of videos about more obscure things in music, especially vaporwave stuff and he's a pretty big deal in vaporwave spaces, relatively speaking.

and thank u!! i paid. way too much money for it LOL but it's ok i love it to death 🩵 i'm still hunting for a reasonably priced copy of it on cassette, as i deeply regret not getting one when +3 came out. but maybe one day!...

[waywardmillennial]

Watcher TV Thoughts

my brain won't be quiet about this

first thought: WHAT?! HOW?! WHY?! followed by lots of screaming and clawing at the walls gifs. basically this:

have some of my initial thoughts and feelings (behind a read more bc idk how long this will get)

spoilers for watcher 4/12 announcement under the cut

the leading fandom theory is that Watcher is going to be building some kind of new subscription service --THEORY ONLY! we gotta wait a week, folks -- that will be like Dropout

on one hand - hooray!! something new that they're excited about! they've always been a production studio, first and foremost, making content on a higher tier that some other yt channels already, so this makes sense

and honestly, with the yt algorithm being a messy binch I can see the impetus to want to make their own thing (shoutout to that one time Steven Lim posted from VidCon 2022 how the whole room was packed for the yt algorithm explanation panel)

obviously I'm already committed to pretty much everything Watcher makes and I'll always try to support them as much as I can. love their whole crew <3

then - bc my brain is Anxietyville and there are so many unknowns in this situation - I start having little worries

I worry if they're launching something this big, on presumably a new platform, is it going to pan out for them? I've already seen how many views and subscribers BFU & WI had, and all those people didn't directly follow the boys over to Watcher (sure, GF and MF took a little longer to get off the ground, and we're still waiting on news of Steven and Andrew's new show) but people like things to be easy. if they're going to try to move all their subscribers somewhere new, how is that going to work?

I feel like so many people watch on apple tv, or roku at home so your new thing should be an app to reach the most people. please don't make me get out my laptop to watch all the shows - or god forbid - my phone

some are thinking it might be Steven's new show to be the one to usher in a new platform, and while I know I love Steven Lim, I worry about how little views his shows on Watcher have had (when compared to GF or PH) so much so that it was decided he could step back and not be on camera so much. I would love to be wrong, but I don't know if a Steven show - even one with Andrew and Adam - would be enough to kickstart a new streaming setup.

also I enjoy being a fangirl and getting to shout with all of you about the shows as they come out and share our memes and gifs. but if the new shows are going to be behind a paywall (again just a theory at this point) how will I feel sharing what happens? I already feel about 20% less excited to share things they post in their patreon. I don't want to break their trust giving away what's behind a paywall. but Watcher is also smart and knows people talking about their shows is akin to free advertising - so how much do they want us to share to generate excitement??

I know most of these are unconfirmed worries and we'll know more next week. overall I am more excited than nervous, and I know they're all smart and have thought this through. I mainly needed to vent because most of this has been looping through my brain for 6+ hours now

thanks for reading my long winded rant! please comment below and let me know what you agree or disagree with <3

[smimon]

Dunno what kinda of movies you like but here you go.

Horror: Wolf Creek. Backpackers getting murdered in the outback of Australia kinda inspired by real murders that happened.

Not horror:

Grand Budapest Hotel. Very stylistic (cause wes Anderson ) but also just a really fun story. Mostly love it for the visuals and the dialogue makes my brain happy with how it's delivered. Very snappy.

Flying high/aeroplane (it has different names depending on the country) has super dry humour and some of my fave jokes in any movie. I reference it a fair bit. Parody film basically but from like the 70s/80s

Muriel's wedding: classic story of an outsider finding her place and trying to not be a loser. Not my fave ever but a pretty iconic movie most people should watch at least once if you haven't already. Has some pretty good disability rep too!

Mad max fury road: one of my fave movies ever. Very action heavy but shot beautifully and the women are all bad ass.

Mitchells vs the machines: inventively animated and the family dynamic is fun with good humor. Kinda reminds me of gravity falls which is a great tv show

(Another great tv show is over the garden wall. Beautifully atmospheric and complete. I have a google drive if you want to watch it for free)

Also anything by monty python (especially holy grail and life of Brian )

Sorry these are very random suggestions but I was trying to think of things you probably haven't seen. Let me know if there's a genre you like and I can maybe get more specific?

Thank you for reminding me of Wes Anderson because I forgot I was supposed to rewatch Fantastic Mr. Fox ahaha

Yes thanks for all of these! Muriel's wedding sounds like something good for now 🧡 the rest for later

(And btw the entirety of Over the garden wall is available on cartoon network's yt channel with PL dub, how very kind of them)

[absolutebl]

Hi ABL,

I've seen someone say that Gong Jun had better chemistry with his male co leads than the female leads in his het dramas and you made a mention of watching his het dramas and that they weren't good. I know you can't give a concrete answer but can you theorize why his acting is livelier in advance bravely and Word of Honor than in others.

❤️ Mimi

I have talked about this a little bit before. And someone in a comment once mentioned that Ohm (bad buddy and many other BLs) also said something to this effect :

If you are from a culture where male-to-female physical contact is extremely restricted (like China or South Korea for example), it’s sometimes easier to act intimacy with another man because you’re less freaked out about being accused of pushing things too far or taking advantage of the situation. 

In other words, in places where you are trained by every social moray and stricture into “ gentlemanly” behavior around women (but not around men) it’s easier to act intimate with a man, especially if you have a certain personality type. 

(The rest of this is about me and my baggage hon, not you the lovely human who asked a perfectly innocent question.) 

Begin an ABL Anthropological Rant, skip as needed for your blood pressure 

It’s one of the biggest issues I have around IRL shipping within the global Kpop stan communities. Because a lot of westerners are so uncomfortable and unused to (and internally homophobic around) men showing physical affection to each other, they assume 2 boys in a group who are physically demonstrative are automatically gay. When, in fact, it’s just men are more affectionate with each other in general at that age and in that culture. 

(This is different from Thai BL couple branding and skinship baiting, which is a can of worms because it’s: intentional, commercial, mercenary, and possibly contractually abusive to some pairs.) 

Back to Kpop ranting...

All those YT channels making videos about Kpop “gay” relationships are actually just displaying the “creators” own rampant internalized homophobia and complete misunderstanding of another culture. 

And do I think some of these idols are gay? Well yes, of course, statistically speaking, some of them must be. Just like some BL actors must be. Yes, even the ones in China. But that’s so entirely not the point. Frankly, the gay ones are more likely to be reserved about showing affection, BECAUSE THEY’RE SCARED OF THIER FANS. 

Let’s call a spade a spade shall we? (rather than a not-gay a gay). 

This is touch shaming men, which is frankly disgusting, given how many problems we have (in the western world particularly) with men being touched starved. Should I make the correlation between this and toxic masculinity, incel behavior, and higher rates of suicide (and violence) amongst men? Well I COULD, but I’m not gonna, because it’s an incredibly complicated issue. And I’m exhausted by the whole conversation. 

Frankly, being queer means we gotta deal with higher rates of abuse, violence, and suicide ourselves... I don’t got a lot left over to worry about the straight boys, except on an anthropological level. 

In conclusion: IRL 

don’t assume sexual identity from the physical contact or physical comfort levels you observe, especially within a different culture 

ask permission for whatever you wanna do to someone else

don’t touch shame, celebrity or otherwise

and don’t let or teach your kids to do any of this, either, no matter how young they are 

Yes, as a breeder, it IS your responsibility.

It’s not complicated. 

BAH. 

This is supposed to be a happy blog. 

Anygay... 

I talk about this a lot in this particular post on skinship and Thai BL. 

#MOOD

[onenettvchannel]

RADYO BANDERA EXCLUSIVE: A Filipina Descent appears in the 3rd season of The Loud House

ROYAL WOODS, MICHIGAN -- Two individual episodes in Season 3 aired Friday and early Thursday nights (February 2nd, 2018 & August 2nd, 2018 -- Eastern local time) as one Filipino grade school kid introduces a descent character in Michigan, United States of America (U.S.A.), part of the American cartoon series The Loud House on Nickelodeon.

11 y/o Pinay kid named Stella Zhau, whose migrated from the Philippines to the U.S.A. and a permanent resident of Royal Woods, Michigan.

(editor’s note: we censor all the student’s face out due to medium to severe Asian hate issue that does not suitable for kid’s television broadcasting, per MTRCB and FCC rules.)

During her early childhood, she lived in a disclosed small town where she had trouble speaking publicly at an assembly for Teacher's Appreciation Week (TAW), which caused her classmates to make fun of her. As a result, Zhau developed a fear of declamation and failure.

In 2013 or lower at some point in the 5th grader year, Zhau and her family moved the said city due to unexpected reasons, and she began attending Royal Woods Elementary School (RWES).

There, she made new friends, including Lincoln Loud (our Stringer Correspondent for Nickelodeon News) and developed a love of carrot sticks, technology and video games. She even had a crush on Lincoln, and fans have given their relation shipping name Stellacoln.

It remains unclear precisely where she first migrated from the Philippines with some examples of Pampanga, Cubao, Batangas or Dagupan City in the Luzon area.

Speaking to a YouTuber as former storyboard artist and show producer named Darin McGowan: "Stella Zhau on The Loud House is Filipina, confirmed by our writers. I'm afraid I don't have much more info than that though. So yes, it is confirmed", McGowan said via E-Mail correspondent.

Zhau's inclusion in The Loud House is significant as one of the only Asian-American characters' representative in history of the American cartoons. The Loud House will continue to feature characters like her by making more new episodes in the future. Zhau was reaching out on our comment to Radyo Bandera.

(from left to right: Stella Zhau, Liam Hunnicutt, Lincoln Loud, Clyde McBride, Zach Gurdle, Rusty Spokes)

You can stream all previous seasons of The Loud House, available on demand only on Paramount+ and on the Nick website in America. Fans should also check their local listings for new episodes in Season 7 or watch the episodes in your own personal time in reruns.

Radyo Bandera: Sweet FM Network-Visayas is an affiliated firm on this Internet TV station of OneNETtv Channel and OneNETnews.

Special Thanks to Frank Bernard for sending us a late news tip!

ART PHOTO COURTESY for REPRESENTATION: LoudDefender via Twitter PHOTO BACKGROUND PROVIDED BY: Tegna

SOURCE: *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTFyE_vX-ks [Referenced YT Video via FrankBernardTV] *http://www.thefutoncritic.com/showatch/loud-house/listings/ [Referenced TV Listings via The Futon Critic] *https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/video/qaaAS7R_DAYnrcz4DzA1D9HgEBSmZ_AK/ [Referenced VOD Screengrab #1 via Paramount+] and *https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/video/NA9_kU8LbQo9144gHMx4mpZULusHVwxR/ [Referenced VOD Screengrab #2f via Paramount+]

-- OneNETnews Team

[anew-jackson]

I really recommend seeing this movie. it is an excellent example of everything you should NEVER do in a christmas movie. i am planning on making a full video review but this is possibly the worst christmas movie i’ve ever seen. a clear indication of how bad it is that the encouragetv yt page has 10k likes, but 7 k dislikes, despite most of the people who follow that channel specifically being an audience predisposed towards liking these sorts of movies. my shorter list of the biggest problems with this movie follows:

The plot is really abysmal. It copies a ton of tropes surrounding holiday movies and pretends it’s clever because it directly mentions that they exist in its dialogue.

The main heroine is meant to go through some big shift from business woman to in love with her hometown, but we never actually see her mind change, she just shows up at the end of the movie saying she changed it.

The plot begins with her being pulled over by a cop for.. going 50+ in a 25 mile per hour part of her hometowns DOWNTOWN! And multiple characters act as if the cop (who is also her love interest) is being unfair for issuing a ticket a week before christmas?? I fully understand the anti cop crowd’s sentiments but i think plastering a kid into a brick wall with your subaru just before christmas is one thing cops are good for stopping.

In the christmas romance movie genre there’s a kinda creepy trope of people manipulating the main couple to get together, and while in most movies it’s an undertone in this it is incredibly central. A creepy grandmother character pressures and outright forces the love interests to get together multiple times, at one time doing so by sending a text claiming she needed the man there immediately as she was going to cardiac arrest. Ghosts are also involved, but did not need to be, as all they do is laugh about how they’re pulling the strings but they just seemed to be included to lengthen the watch time.

on a related note at the climax of the movie the male love interest/cop pulls over the female lead in a final desperate move as she goes to the airport. he then forces her to stay there listening to him, literally admitting in his dialogue that he’s abusing his power to get what he wants 😬..

They have the president show up. There is no reason for this. there is no benefit of this. this has nothing to do with the plot. I still don’t understand why they did that. The president is a black guy so maybe it was meant to be obama but he talked and acted nothing like obama and the movie released in 2022 so.. maybe not? Unclear.

The town “Holly michigan” which is a real place is portrayed as this quaint little town, despite it being a real town that is 15 miles south of Flint, in Oakland County, and isn’t really a romantic place IMO. If they were going to pick a real place they should’ve picked somewhere cuter, and if they wanted a fake place why pick a real place’s name

Despite the constant description of the town as quaint and cute they never actually show us much of it. I can’t say much of the town ever had an impact on me as christmasy, quaint, or cute.

The sound quality ranges from okay to abysmal. There is one scene near the end in a restaurant kitchen where they didn’t turn off the overhead fans for some reason and didn’t realize this drowns out a lot of dialogue.

The acting was horrible as well. I feel bad because plenty of things can make an acting job bad and many are not the actor’s fault, but this felt really emotionless. characters talking about never seeing their kids again would just do so with a flat face, and the whole movie went on like this.

i guess it ended up being longer than i expected..

watching “christmas at the holly hotel” will report back with results

[riacte]

Hermitcraft on r/place - We Chose to Destroy Our World (4/4/2022) LAST DAY PART 2

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Part 1 Day 3 Part 2 Day 4 Part 1

This is the end of it all! Some might say this was the beginning. Some might say there wasn't any difference at all.

r/place close to the ending time shown below! (There are many different versions with slight variations, I chose this one because it's not Kermitcrapt)

... I wasn't going to make this post because I was too emotionally devastated to know what was happening and provide a "proper" recap. And I suppose most of you already know what happened. This post is for the people who have been clicking my links way after r/place ended and don't want to dip into every blog and search for #r/place. Also felt bad leaving the last post on a cliffhanger-ish. While having the last post be never posted fits the theme of "nothing lasts forever", it also just isn't... very nice, is it?

1. Shared Minecraft Roots

It was around this time (after the previous post was made) that our MC(YT) allies started asking for help because Hermitcraft was solidified. Mindcrack asked for help with their murals.

(Screenshot from AvivaKitty in HC discord)

Mindcrack area was apparently being botted HARD and for seemingly no reason? The colours of the G logo kept on being griefed (background became lime, the letter became purple) but the structure was still strangely intact. It was a tough (and also strange) battle but ultimately Mindcrack defended their area and won over the recolouring bots.

MCSR also urgently asked for our help as half of the area was being swallowed by NSFW art (from streamers maybe? Sorry I got a bit lost at this part).

(Screenshot from Jay from HC discord, shows the template of the MCSR area at 1436, 1436. They set up at 1436 because Couriway's WR was 14:36 mins long)

The area next to MCSR was a constant battle between NSFW art, MCSR desperately trying to regain territory, and the Void. It's best to search up MCSR r/place history because that shit is wild from what I heard.

Love Live was also attacked by a baguette (I know this sounds ridiculous but it was serious in the moment) and Ruby was suddenly holding a baguette. This was presumably an attack done by the French. They recovered well and thanked us. There were more minor debates on colours of blushes, small pixels, other things.

Keep in mind HC had a lot more allies, lots of communities were asking for help so I possibly can't put them all in. I also cannot account for the entire MCYT sphere even though I'm vaguely aware of them (eg. Dream and Techno's murals, nether portals). It should be noted that HC was prominently lending support to fellow MC(YT) murals, and even for MCYT that had minimal connection with HC (eg 5up), HC remained neutral if not somewhat supportive. It's just unspoken to help out a fellow MC(YT) mural.

2. Portuguese Speaking Protectors

So as you may or may not know, Brazil was besties with Hermitcraft, and Portugal also had a found family arc with Traffic Empires (and Hypixel). It's funny because it was completely coincidental that MCYT set up next to Portuguese speaking countries. If you hear the fandom referring to this, you'll know where it came from.

(Screenshot from FavouriteGinger on the HC discord)

It really is very cute <3

3. ARCHIVED INSTRUCTIONS from Hermitcraft Discord

This is copy and pasted from the pinned messages in the #rplace channel for your reference. As far as I know, this is the most recent version by Lux1eviathan with input from Echo. Be warned that this is quite long (especially with tumblr functioning, it looks fine on Discord).

Instructions: We don't know when rplace closes. Reddit intends to keep this a secret to prevent last minute grieving. Could be minutes or (9pm PT, 4am GMT).

1. the blushies stay

2. we only add non hermit faces with a very good reason

3. we focus on defense of our mural and our allies as well

4. no expanding, all surrounding communities are at least neutral but mostly friendly with us, we don't want to take their space

EDITS:

5. Dont give X white eyes! they are purple on purpose

6. Don't give anyone a mustache! it takes away pixels we could use on maintaining other parts of the mural

7. Short F in the logo! this makes it easier to prevent "hermitcrapt"

8. "stop touching scott. he is perfect!" - C.

9. Yes pearl has a blush below her hairline! It is in the skin. And yes it is supposed to be skew!

10. We have an agreement with dimden.dev. Their border is allowed to touch our stuff.

11. Blue pixel is allowed to touch Ely?

CURRENT ALLIANCES (thank you @echo (u/constellationstars) !):

- mcc (above us and 1783, 122 with the team logos)

- dsmp (170, 920)

- 3rd life/last life (1143, 320)

- shoot or run (the axolotl in our area) -

argentina (right)

- brazil (right)

- spacex (left)

- h3 (up left)

- mindustry (the square directly above the last life hearts)

- farm carrots (1178, 506)

- 2b2t (925, 454)

- lovelive (below us)

- wheatley (left)

- troll (861, 541)

- jojo (85,890)

- wynncraft Small (701, 775) Big (1386, 344)

- udub -- the W with the cherry blossoms just to the north

- mindcrack, mcsr Minecraft Speedrun (1470, 1460)

- portal easter egg (1282, 1406)

- Touhou and Omori (multiple locations)

- dimden.dev (left)

- the GME line (right)

4. The Final Stretch

There was much debate on when r/place would end. Rumours flew about when streamers would go on air and what they would do. People were clutching onto their pixels like pearls. We also had a delegate on United Art Factions who gave us updates.

Suddenly, Dream started streaming with the aim of removing ads on r/place and replacing them with art (additional information: Ludwig was protective of small communities and helped defend art). He and his community Unus-Annus'd the H3 logo above us (they left the bigger H3 logo alone). Smaller H3 was later restored.

The other streamerss were apparently targeting big things like Osu and France so we should be fine. After all, Hermitcraft didn't have many enemies.

We also started submitting to r/thefinalclean which would clean up the r/place with communities submitting their "perfect" reference. We coordinated with MCC to let them know if we should include their spot in our area (after all, we were neighbours). MCC said they would submit everything north of HC sign, Noxcrew, and the chicken, while HC would also submit the Last Life hearts and the Evo logo. HBomb also started looking like a catmaid so we quickly repaired him.

The clock ticked closer and closer to 12am GMT, a rumoured end time. People were getting tired of defending their pixels and started wishing for the Reddit gods to end this whole ordeal already.

Around 15 minutes before 12am, it began.

The beginning of the end.

5. The Beginning Of The End

It began innocently enough. I was doing my patrols every minute around the HC area, then saw a few white pixels on our logo. Now one pixel wasn't unusual, but the number made me worry. The colour choice was also odd because GME rogues used green, Brazil rogues also used green, and the HC logo was made of blue, purple, and black. As I was on cooldown, I dutifully reported to HC discord. "Logo being griefed!" I said.

Then people started noticing the only colour available was white. And it wasn't a glitch for one person, or a few people, but for everyone.

Uh oh.

The chat was being spammed with "oh crap" or "oh no" or variations. Reddit's intention sank in like cold water seeping into our bones: they wanted r/place to end in a white void.

They didn't just want Hermitcraft to be erased. Oh no, no, no. They wanted everything to be erased. All our allies. All the NSFW streamer art. All of the Void. Everything. Nothing.

This was the end of the world as we knew it. We could do nothing except jump off the ship with a cheery, yet solemn "o7".

People were shocked. People were in disbelief. We legit speedran the stages of grief in a few minutes. From the utter shock and horror to bargaining (Maybe it already ended? Maybe they saved our place?) to anger at our hard work being completely erased. Then came the depression as we mutely held each other. Finally, acceptance, and more and more people signed off. We sent songs about the world ending and thank you messages and tried to make our words count with the slowmode choking our sentences.

Please believe me when I say this experience fucked me up.

The worst part for me personally was that it was a slow death. It wasn't like Reddit froze time or they used their powers to wipe the board clean. No, no, they offered everybody a single colour. Collectively, we had the power to preserve everything if nobody ever placed a wrong white pixel. We could save our world if we tried.

But of course nobody even thought of that because the damage was already done. The white pixels were already gently falling down like snow. Ever since the first white pixel was placed, our fate was sealed.

We would destroy this world, pixel by pixel, as slowly and meticulously as we built it.

At first, many found it unacceptable. They thought it was unfair that their efforts were all erased. Others found it poetic that it ended as it began. Others were just RELIEVED this was over. Others were standing there, completely emotionally devastated. There was one question left unanswered:

What now?

6. The Void and What Came After

The wave of o7s crashing in HC discord was very nice, but also sad. This was about when I signed off because I was internally screaming LOL

Bottom right corner France instantly turned white (haha, bots?). The hivemind collectively spelled out FREE and then DONE (which immediately became BONER) in white. We were set free from our silly pixel defence games.

(Screenshot by Gren in HC discord)

Hermitcraft x Brazil area slowly became consumed by the white and it looked like snowing. Because looking at the disappearing HC area was upsetting for me, I migrated to Traffic Empires where people were drawing white hearts on flags, Martyn asked for his own death, I anxiously checked and rechecked my blush pixel on RK, etc etc.

Pixel by pixel, Redditors gently erased the thing they'd been obsessed for days. It was almost like putting everybody to sleep. The snow fell harder, heavier, until it was all quiet. There was nothing.

People scrambled to place a white pixel so their names could remain on the final canvas, but even that was erased. The final product was a huge, endlessly white canvas, untarnished by names or human creation.

Just like how it all started.

Our allies, now recovered from the shock, now came in to spread their thank yous. So many of them have left the chat now because r/place was over, leaving behind their ghost messages and ghost hearts. People, now emotional, started sprouting stories and fanfic and poetry. There are a lot of good stuff in the HC discord, including the now famous "maybe we can be neighbours again next time" from r/brasil <3

Then HC discord resumed their eternal debate about colours of Hermit pixels, and I moved to tumblr to start babbling about Narnia kids and snowfall and waking up from a long dream lol.

The end is the beginning. We created a world, lived in it for such a short time, became attached, and then it was slowly eroded, snow falling on snow. The world doesn’t end with a bang, but with a whimper. Slowly, slowly, it ends as slowly as we built it. What the actual fuck.

7. Additional Resources

So as anti-climatic that might be, that's it. A somewhat biased, incomplete recollection of Hermitcraft r/place, once said to be like the morning newspaper. This is the end. Phew! :D

I cannot stress enough that this is not comprehensive. In fact, I doubt any summary of r/place of any community can be 100% comprehensive. There were simply too many people involved. This is the best I can do and I apologize for any mistakes, wrong information, and other important stuff I might have omitted. I know I left out some stuff that I remember, and there is way more stuff that I never knew of. This is also from the perspective of a GMT timezone person with weird sleeping schedules (I slept at 5am and woke up at 1pm), so dates/times might be inconsistent.

This is why I invite everybody to add onto this post if you want to correct something or simply add your experience! :DD r/place is a community effort, it makes sense for this post series to be a community effort too. I'll link some resources/ posts below:

2b2t and Hermitcraft's alliance by Nell

Hermitcraft Timelapse from r/Place 2022 by Yirggzmb

The complete Hermitcraft (+ most of MCC) r/place time-lapse ft. Hermitgang by cassberry

Hermitcraft Subreddit Discord (check out #rplace in the archived section at the bottom)

Stuff that happened in MCSR corner by subspace-bubble

jayqueenofhugs sending asks to riacte about MCSR updates [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

r/Technoblade and r/Banano by xpoolboy

Martyn Inthelittlewood putting blush on Red King by sarioh

There is of course way more but I'm too tired rn haha.

Once again a huge thank you to everybody who read this entire thing and put up with my nonsense for the past week <3 This experience is certainly unforgettable and I'm still trying to wrap my head around all of it. I feel like I might have more to say but words fail me. So here's my goodbye for now <3

Hope this series has been helpful (and I'm not spreading too much misinfo haha)! Maybe r/place will come along in 5 years. Maybe I'll be there. Maybe I won't.

But for now, this is the present. Our past erased (but preserved), our future unknown. Thank you to everybody who joined me on this fascinating journey! <3

[villapaitapeli]

Some lesser known idol/music franchises

A list of some lesser known music franchises I follow. Not really a proper recommendation/introduction post rather than just some personal thoughts. Also I haven’t properly ‘gotten into’ many of these, just listened to the songs... maybe one day when I have time 💪😔

Akroglam

A neat little audio drama project with a futuristic setting and chill music. Finished in early 2022 and no longer releasing new content. Found out about it thanks to the collab with Denonbu, which is funny since roughly half a year later one had died a hero and the other lived long enough to become a villain (eneftees). I only followed it for the ~6 months before it ended, but it’ll stick with me for a long time thanks to the story, aesthetics, girls and especially the music being so good. I listen to every single one of the original songs (yes, the have covers too which are good as well) regularly, and my most listened ones are Angraecum, Ilusion and True Colors. I honestly can’t recommend this project enough, the whole story and (almost) all of the songs are on their yt channel in full length so do check it out if you’re even a little bit interested. The early chapters have English subtitles too.

Burns Skool

I found out about this one thanks to Taichi You (Chacha in t7s and also has a role in Akroglam!) tweeting about it. I honestly haven’t delved too deep into the story or characters, but from what I’ve gathered it’s elementary school boys making hype music. It’s really nice to listen to boyish female vocals every once in a while, and I was happy to find Fairouz Ai in the cast in addition to aforementioned Taichi. My favorite song so far is probably Gradation Age.

Junketsu Surfinia

A girls love idol project that I found out about thanks to none other than Akina. Currently a very modest sized project and you can kind of hear it in the production of some of the songs, but I really hope it finds its audience and has a chance to grow. The songs are available for purchase on their Booth store even for overseas customers, which was a nice surprise for someone who’s used to jumping through hoops to buy JP releases. The song (Lide On, Akina’s solo of course) even came with a pdf with English translated lyrics.

Charms!!

Another project that releases its story on their yt channel, this time in a more VN/social game -ish form. I’ve read/watched/listened to the earliest chapters and found the setting interesting and the characters very wholesome and cute, so I was a bit disappointed to see they had chosen a pretty safe direction with the songs when they began releasing. Not that there’s anything wrong with that or that the songs are bad or anything, in fact I think the production values are good and have found a handful to listen to (Kesshite karenu hana and  Goodnight Honey for example). Most of it so far just isn’t my cup of tea, but I’ll keep following the project as I really like the format and do think the quality is good.

Idol Bu Show

My most recent discovery. Haven’t really had time to check out the characters or story and all I know it’s apparently about Sengoku-era warlords producing their own idol units, which sounds just the right amount of wacky. I skimmed through the discography and somehow it felt very 00′s overall, in a good sense. The songs also have a lot of traditional Japanese elements as can be expected from the setting. The one song stuck in my head is however eurobeat (Brave Call ! ~& Just Now We come!~). There’s apparently an anime movie/PV of some sort floating around, so maybe I should check that out first if I plan to delve deeper.

LiveRevolt

Apparently this project ended after a lot of drama and setbacks, which is very unfortunate since the early songs especially are really good (my favorites are Aoku Nare and Set Fire). I regret not being able to follow the project when it was still active, since I do like its wilder take on idols. Maybe I’ll check out the manga which apparently has scanlations to ease my pain.

Denonbu

First of all, pirate eveything dnnb until scamco has pulled back the shady eneftee business it’s still attempting with this franchise. Now I obviously wouldn’t be this mad if this hadn’t been such an extremely promising project. During its first year it singlehandedly killed all my hype for a certain other dj girl project just by doing everything from music to character design to interacting with the fanbase better. The second year started off well with consistently good releases and promising lore, until they dropped the ball by jumping on a dying money laundering scam and now I really don’t know how to feel about this project. Guess I’m following the releases but refuse to give them any money and hope they’ll eventually snap out of it. Anyways, if I started listing every dnnb track I like it’d give me a carpal tunnel syndrome due to the discography being all around fantastic, so just go listen to Akina kill it on Itadaki Babel.

8 Beat Story

People always wonder how t7s has lasted so long despite not being profitable but for me 8bs will always be the real miracle. The game itself was outdated even at the time of the release (imagine the earliest version of llsif you can but somehow even clunkier), and nowadays it’s half dead with only a handful of events per year, but somehow still running. However, they keep releasing music, holding lives and continuing the story, which are the most crucial parts of the project, so I’m not worried for its future for now. Being such a small project gives it freedom to do basically whatever they want with the content, which has resulted in pretty ambitious or even crazy stories, and refreshing discography. I also can’t help but respect its occasional unapologetic edginess, mostly carried by the rival unit 2_wEI (Despair is a banger). The main idols also have a nice variety of songs, and I like the gimmick of mixing the 8 girls in different units depending on the song, with no set sub-units. Some of my favorites are BoyFriend, Count It Down and Genjimonogatari.