#wish her storyline from like issue 2 got picked up down the line by someone like me

[jewishcissiekj]

One day I'll do my 2019 YJ Cassie analysis

[dragonrebelrose]

TROS Reaction 12-20-19. AKA my 6 page long dissertation about why I really disliked TROS.

I didn’t think it would be this bad. I truly thought there would be some gleaming moments of redeemability, but no. It’s one...giant...shit-show. What a horrible blow to the end of not only the sequel trilogy and these characters but to everything that came before. It really takes skill to mess up this badly.

A little something nice though, was the guy I sat next to. Really nice (and cute too ^-^ ) and he offered me some of his candy (Buncha Crunch! My favorite!) before the film started and then throughout the film because he said, “Well this is consolation for having to sit next to me.” Aw I couldn’t have asked for a better seat partner, I didn’t even know him! And then when the film ended he knew I didn’t take it well and I cried and shook through many moments and he offered the rest of his candy and I said, “Thanks, I think I need it.” I asked him what he thought overall and he said, “C-3P0 was pretty funny.” I said, “Yeah I agree. I actually knew everything that happened before I saw it, and I thought it was a mess.” He chuckled and said, “Me too, but I didn’t want to say anything in case you liked it.” I said, “Oh, no, I didn’t really like it. But I gotta be honest, Ben Solo didn’t deserve to die. That’s just my opinion.” I think he was surprised by that but didn’t disagree. He just kinda nodded or something and then we said goodbye and he left with his buddies, who also seemed pretty unenthused by the whole movie. Hopefully I gave him something to think about with my comment, but he was really nice and I’m glad he sat next to me.

Pessimism aside for now, I’ll start by listing the things I liked. I gotta be honest, there’s not much here.

Reylo is canon! But, in my opinion, it was handled pretty badly. Ben’s death is only the start of the problems for it, but more on that later.

C-3P0 is funny I guess. Yes he is annoying sometimes like usual, but not more so than other times.

D-O is freaking adorable. Out of everything good I’ve listed I have no qualms with this one. His manner is cute, his speaking is very funny, and his actions are just precious.

Babu Frik is very cute too, just perfect! Lovely little puppet! Don’t know why he was shoehorned in at the end battle but whatever. We never saw him again.

Maz is a puppet now? Okay, cool. Wish that would’ve been the case since the beginning. You had the technology JJ.

The music is good, when it’s given its own time to shine and be noticed. I feel like I barely noticed it was there because sound effects just drowned it out. Really wasted, but still good nonetheless.

Leia’s death and how it affected Ben. Wow. This was the first moment I truly cried. This was handled very well by Adam Driver, and then Maz saying “Goodbye, Princess.” Ouch, that got me.

Ben talking to the memory of his father! This is something I did not know was in the movie and boy am I glad I wasn’t spoiled for it! THIS is where the really hard tears and sobbing came. I was literally shaking and shivering trying to keep it in so as not to disturb everyone else. This. Part. Was. Perfect. Ben looks at him like he wants to say “I love you,” and Han says out loud “I know.” *crazy screaming and crying* Out of all the things they got wrong for Ben in this film, THIS they got right!

Ben Solo is the Solo boy we always wanted. Running in with a t-shirt, gun slinging, blasting opponents without even looking. THIS is a true son of Solo! But of course they give him no lines except “Ow.” THAT was a bad idea.

And that’s it. Yes those are the only things I even remotely liked, but I have to be honest, each one of these has some kind of problem attached to it which sours the real enjoyment.

On to what I disliked. Strap in lads, this is going to be a long ride.

1. The pacing. OH. MY. GOSH. SLOW. THE. FUCK. DOWN. For fucks sake I couldn’t even process what the hell was happening before we were on to the next thing! This was the biggest problem with the movie, BY FAR. Yes I know the story is terrible, we’ll get to that, but the pacing just completely took me out of the movie. I couldn’t feel invested in anything because it was all in one ear and out the other like ten-fold!

And this is part of the issue I have with how Reylo was handled. It. Felt. So. Rushed. And. Unfinished. There weren’t enough scenes with them and the scenes we did get were so fast and then over with that it felt like no progress was being made at all! It felt, for lack of a better word, unearned. And I know, that’s not really the case since they’ve had plenty of build-up in the last 2 films, but there wasn’t enough time with them spent NOT fighting and hating each other and opposing each other. Yes, I know, Kylo kept trying to get Rey to take his hand, but it doesn’t feel genuine because even Kylo feels out of character, and Rey too, big time. Now this isn’t the actor’s faults, they did what they could with the shitty story they were given, so I put all this blame at JJ’s desk.

In any case the overall film pacing was too fast, too much, too soon, too many things onscreen, too many things happening at once, not enough character, not enough motivation, not enough letting scenes breathe and just play out naturally. Everything felt forced for the sake of the “plot.” Oh we gotta get this thing, and then that thing, to get this thing, so we can defeat these guys! LET. US. BREATHE.

2. The story. My gosh, they couldn’t have picked a worse storyline to follow. Everything truly felt like it was written by a fanboy who wanted to retcon everything in TLJ, even down to the dialogue. Everyone keeps saying to Rey “You’re a Palpatine.” But it sounds SO strange, like nobody says things like this. I get it, it’s a space fantasy, they talk weird mumbo jumbo but it just sounds like a fanboy ghost wrote this. Like we gotta have everyone know now she’s a Palpatine! You’re a Palpatine! You’re a Palpatine! Palpatine heir! All bow down to the Palpatine! Give me a break.

3. Yeah, let’s talk about Palps. The old raisin himself. You know, I never really liked ROTS, but Palps was always a great thing about it. He was sinister, diabolical, he had a plan and knew what to do with it. But this Palps. *le heavy sigh* What a waste this was. For one thing, the lightning effects that lights up his face is really annoying, even for someone who doesn’t get seizures, I can’t even imagine what it’s like for those who do, I’m so sorry. And like, he has this whole legion of Sith followers? The fuck? Where the hell were these guys before? I’m sure they existed BEFORE the last Sith Lord died, right?

I digress. I have a question though: why does he want Rey so much? Why didn’t he try to get his son to take over? Wouldn’t that have been easier? Also, WHO DID HE FUCK TO GET A SON?? HOW DID HIS SON GET AWAY FROM HIM?? WHY DID HIS SON APPARENTLY TURN TO THE LIGHT?? THERE’S TOO MANY QUESTIONS HERE AND NO GOOD EXPLANATIONS. AND NO DISNEY, I DON’T WANT A 10-PART COMIC ON THIS. GO FUCK YOURSELVES.

The only interesting thing about Palps in this film is that his face gets melted off like a Raiders of the Lost Ark knock-off. He better not be coming back. Ever again.

4. And hey, while we’re on the subject, let’s talk about Rey’s parents. So apparently they’re both good people. *le sigh* But what kind of good people leave their daughter alone on a harsh and unforgiving planet with a blubber guy? And don’t tell me they didn’t know he was an abusive asshole, they LIVED on Jakku, they HAD to have known him, ESPECIALLY if they truly were junk traders, they would have DEALT with him. Oh, and apparently the “I’ll come back for you sweetheart, I promise” line is changed up a bit and given to her father after all. No. Screw that. That line was meant for Ben, I don’t care how petty this sounds, this is terrible. So yeah, fuck Rey’s parents, I don’t care how “good” you try to make their intentions, they’re badly shoehorned in and they screw up anyway. Next.

5. Ben’s story and his fate. So yeah, obviously I hate that Ben died, but more than that I hate how his story was handled here. It was so rushed, it didn’t feel as natural as it should have. It needed time to BREATHE. A lot of time! And I feel like they really shafted Kylo/Ben’s story off to the side to give more time to the hereby named GoldenTrio. (You know who I mean...we’ll get to them.) It really seemed like JJ didn’t even care about Ben’s fate anymore, and just kind of put it in as an afterthought. His death scene? Not even given a fucking minute to process because WE GOT TO PARTAY. All in all, his whole story is so terribly sad that I don’t even know if I can watch TFA or TLJ anymore, knowing how it ends.

6. The GoldenTrio. Oh for fucks sake, JJ, you should have killed Poe off when you had the chance, because now the story is all about THEM. Boom! They’re literally front and center in the movie. I don’t even think Reylo gets as much screen time as them. I mean really, Ben’s death scene and Rey’s grieving gets 1.5 minutes, tops. GoldenTrio reunion and threesome hugging? 5 fucking minutes of nothing but them hugging. I’m not even exaggerating. (Okay maybe I am, but it’s given more focus and time to “breathe” than Ben Solo’s fucking death. I’m getting a headache remembering it.)

Hey, remember in ESB and ROTJ where the trio got split up and had their own story lines and own purposes to fulfill without each other hanging around (apart from Han and Leia because their story lines are interconnected)? Yeah, I miss that too.

Also, Rey keeps wandering off being “pulled” to something, and every...single...time, Finn is like “Rey, wait! Poe we gotta get her! rEy CoMe BaCk!!” This happens at least 5 times, pretty consecutively too. It gets old real fast. Boy do I miss the days of TLJ where people got to be away from each other to discover new things without interference.

Which leads me to another point: They tried to shove FinnRey in here while shitting on FinnRose quite literally. What. A. Slap. To. The. Face. This is horrible treatment, and I hope Kelly will never do another interview for Lucasfilm again. She doesn’t deserve this.

7. The Ending™. Wow. What a way to show that your characters haven’t progressed at all by showing them in the same environment that they started in. Let’s do an overview: Rey starts out alone on a desert planet and meets a droid that isn’t hers. Rey ends up alone on a desert planet with a droid that still isn’t hers. PROGRESSION 101!! *slaps forehead* I mean, don’t even get me started on the fact that Ben isn’t there with her and that literally one half of her soul is gone (how is she not in agony right now??), but then to add more salt to the wound she’s just like “oh yeah I must be the rightful successor to the Skywalker name, even tho I’m a Palps...makes sense to me!” Fuck off. You don’t deserve that title after hating Luke for not doing what you wanted him to do and for hating Ben for most of this movie too.

Can we also acknowledge that this is THE ABSOLUTE WORST POSSIBLE WAY TO END A 40 YEAR SAGA AND FAMILY LEGACY? So, Palps had a kid who had a kid. This kid is then deemed a-okay by the family that was affected most by Palps and they welcome her like the sunshine child she is, yet shun their own offspring for being damaged goods because he was being manipulated by said Palps. Okay, it’s official now, everyone’s an asshole...except Ben. He seemed to be the only one to understand his faults and right his wrongs and not be an idiot. Then the kid who was abused and manipulated is killed because “reasons” or “problematic” or whatever and the offspring of Palps lives while the family that Palps manipulated is ultimately gone forever because it’s last descendant wanted to save the offspring of Palps out of the goodness of his heart. Now the offspring of Palps doesn’t even give a flipping thank you and steals their name. wHaT a SaTiSfYiNg EnDiNg!!! Someone gag me.

8. Luke’s X-Wing being raised out of the water and it’s in perfect working condition. What. The. Fuck. I don’t know if you guys realize this, but this completely undermines Luke’s arc in TLJ. That X-Wing was sunk and dead to show that he had no desire to return to the outside world. He was staying on the island. For good. And he buried that thing in water to make sure he couldn’t use it ever again, but it was still visible to him to remind him of his conviction if ever he questioned it. But no. That thing is a-okay and ready to fly. No need for parts, there’s no rust or any sea salt corrosion, ready to go skipper! This was just added for easy call-backs to ESB but boy this had absolutely 0 weight to it. I literally yawned or looked at my watch around this part thinking “oh my gosh isn’t it over yet?” Pretty much sums up my entire experience.

9. Rose got shafted to appease the fanboys. This one needs no further explanation or analysis, it just sucks and has no real reason to exist.

10. Luke was barely in it and offered not that great advice. Poor Mark. His performance really peaked with TLJ and never went back up.

11. Rey is suddenly the Avatar now? You can now talk to all previous Jedi’s who existed? What buffoonery is this? Oh, but Ben doesn’t get a single. fucking. word. from Anakin, the man he looked up to. I’m so tired right now. What’s left?

12. The message changed from “it doesn’t matter if you’re a nobody, you’re a somebody to me” to “you’re a somebody with a bad bloodline, but that doesn’t define you (except when it totally does)”. That sort of message would be fine if it had been the message since TFA, but it wasn’t. The message since TFA was “I’m a nobody, but I can become a somebody regardless of my lineage or my childhood.” Why change the message in the 11th hour? To appease fanboys. Literally anything that makes no sense in this movie can be attributed to fanboys. There’s so much contradiction and hypocrisy in this film from both the narrative and the characters that it’s insulting.

13. Hux was utterly shafted too. What a waste of a well built up and conniving little bastard who in the end gets shot for shock value and laughs. It’s like what TLJ did but way worse because he’s actually killed. Hux as the spy? Just no.

14. Jannah was kind of wasted too, not enough screen time. I get her and Finn kind of bonding over being ex-stormtroopers, but it’s not really delved into. Also the whole “nature vs. machinery” thing kinda briefly shows up at the big battle and feels unearned too, because there was nothing before in this movie or others to suggest there was a war between the two.

15. Poe is treated more as the heir to Leia than Ben is. Poe gets to fly the falcon and gets to wreck it up (dishonoring who it belonged to before), gets to be by Leia’s deathbed, etc. Not earned at all.

16. The pointlessness of random cameos or thrown in references. Not a single person in my theater noticed John Williams as the bartender, nobody pointed out or said anything about any reference from previous movies, it was silent.

17. What the hell was even the point of the whole “Dark Rey” vision? Oh, she shows her scary pointy teeth ala Bilbo style. No thank you.

18. Why the hell does it feel like these characters aren’t the characters from TFA and TLJ? They feel so different and it’s noticeable.

19. Finn is Force sensitive. Literally tacked on like nobody wouldn’t notice. We noticed JJ. We notice everything.

20. Rey and Kylo/Ben fighting for way too much of the film and their interactions. Not enough caring or understanding, not enough longing looks, it feels like their romance was almost cut from the film entirely.

21. Oh yeah, Rey floating at the beginning? Looked stupid as hell. And the “Be with me” line? I thought maybe, just maybe, she meant Ben, but no. She’s trying to reach “her past selves” like the fucking Avatar and she’s even floating rocks around like Aang did. Ugh.

22. Anything else? Oh yeah, this movie sucks completely and wholly...FOR NOT GIVING ONE FUCKING LINE OF DIALOGUE TO BEN SOLO AFTER HE HAD BEEN REDEEMED. HOW HEARTLESS CAN YOU BE THAT YOU LET HIM DIE WITHOUT SAYING ONE FINAL THING?!?! DAMN J.J. YOU’RE STUPID.

And that’s it. Kudos if you read the whole thing. I ramble a lot.

[so-why-let-your-voice-be-tamed]

Ask for writers

I was tagged a while ago by @theisolatedlily @zanniscaramouche and @tomlinvelvetfics. Sorry it took a while!

1. describe how you first started writing and when you first posted: I’ve been writing since I was literally able to, but I first started writing fanfic on ff.net back in the good old days. I wrote HP fanfic, among other things. In 2012 I made the switch to AO3 and started writing Ziam fanfic.

2. which of your characters do you typically resonate most closely with? do you base any characters off of yourself?: I’m very similar to Louis in a lot of ways, so his POV definitely comes easiest to me. When I’m writing Ziam I find that I prefer to write from Liam’s POV, though I don’t feel I’m necessarily similar to Liam.

3. where do you often find inspiration?: Movies, shows, random posts on Tumblr.

4. has quarantine helped or hindered your writing process?: Not necessarily either of them, I feel. I’ve had a little bit more time but since I don’t work much I’ve always had the time to write. It’s more the other way around, writing has helped my quarantine.

5. do you listen to music/noise while you write or do you prefer silence? Silence. I can’t write with music on.

6. what is your biggest writing pet peeve in your writing or in general?: In general, bad grammar or ooc characters pulls me out of a story really quickly. I don’t tend to read much fic, since I don’t want other people’s writing style to seep into my writing, so I suppose that would be my own biggest pet peeve, is when I find that I’m not writing in my own voice.

7. describe your ideal writing setup: Basically just at my desk, in a good chair, because right now my chair sucks and my back issues are making me lightheaded a lot, which is why I haven’t written as much as I want to.

8. favorite time of day to write?: Early in the morning/day. When I don’t work I like to write from around 9-11 am since I have the most energy in the morning.

9. favorite genre to write + one you’d like to try writing in the future?: Fantasy, for sure. Soulmates/fates/dystopia fics are still great.

10. do you struggle with writer’s block? how do you typically overcome it? I do when I haven’t been writing for a while, I need to be in tune with my story to really keep it flowing. I tend to force myself through it by just committing to certain times to write, and trying to keep that regularly so I don’t stray too far from the fic.

11. what is the easiest part of your writing process and the most difficult? I tend to write as I go, meaning that I sit down and the words just come pouring out. When I’ve outlined and I feel like I need to stick to that, it sort of feels stifling and I struggle, so I’m best at just free writing and letting the story go where it needs to go.

12. how do you come up with original characters? (if applicable): I don’t usually write original characters into my stories, but if I did it’d be from people I know or based roughly on characters in shows/movies.

13. what is your favorite and least favorite word? My absolute least favorite word is cum. Especially as a verb. That’s a hard no from me. I don’t really have a favorite word.

14. what is one thing about your writing that you’re really proud of and one thing you hope to continue working at?: I feel I’m a pretty solid story teller, and that I manage to put emotion into my work that translates to the people who read it. I want to keep working at my craft, I don’t feel there is something I’m particularly bad at, but I know I can improve a lot.

15. what work of yours has your favorite ‘verse/world building? how did you come up with it?:  Definitely there’s no fair in farewell. It’s been in my head since 2014 and I finally sat down to write it in 2017/2018. It’s got so much world building and such a unique storyline, I’m still so proud of it. I don’t remember how I came up with it, it sort of feels like the story’s always been there, just waiting for me to sit down and tell it.

16. what font and size do you write in? single spaced or double?: calibi, 11, single space.

17. what is a typo(s) you find yourself making consistently?: I don’t really know? I don’t think I make a lot of consistent typos. I just write fast and mess up words on the regular lol. but this is a question better suited for my beta, @lightwoodsmagic!

18. (if applicable) do you separate fic writing from fandom?: Yeah I really only write AUs. 

19. what emotion is your favorite to write? which is the most difficult?: Angst is my absolute favorite. I love writing emotional stories, with a lot of introspective characters. I feel that lust is the hardest to write since I’m aroace and I just cannot compute that people want to do the deed lmao.

20. what is one thing you hope readers always take away from your works?: that there is always hope and fate always works her way.

21. what is the best and worst writing advice you’ve ever received?: The best is to not compare yourself to anyone else, since it’s a race you’ll inevitably lose. The worst, oof, I don’t really know.

22. which one of your works would you most want to see turned into a film/television show?: There’s no fair in farewell, absolutely. I feel like it has movie potential.

23. do you write scenes chronologically or out of order?: Chronologically. Usually my stories go where they want to go, so if I wrote out of order none of the scenes would match up.

24. how do you handle criticism?: My first instinct is to be frustrated. My second, more thoughtful attitude, is that I will listen if it’s something I feel is valid. I am very vulnerable in my works and so criticism feels personal sometimes, but I’m also secure enough in my work to know when something is valid and when I should stick to my own ideas.

25. what is the advice you would give to someone who is looking to start writing?: Do it. Write what appeals to you. Write from your heart and your soul.  

26. what kind of feedback on your work always makes your day?: Any comment is great, but I love when people point out the parts that made them emotional or that resonated with them. I love when people pick out quotes that they say helped made them feel better.

27. which fic ‘verse of your own would you most like to exist in? which fic’s characters would you most like to befriend?: Oof. I don’t think I’d want to exist in most of my AUs. I’m pretty content with my life as is, but I’d love to befriend Zouis in my Zouis wallsficfest fic just because I am that mom friend and they both needed hugs.

28. what do you always enjoy getting asks about/wish people would ask about more?: I’d love to get asks about my fics in general! These asks are pretty damn fun!

29. what has writing added to your life? how has it changed you?: It’s added so much love. Love for my writing, love for the stories and universes I put out. And love in the form of dear writer friends who have enriched my life and who have become some of my most favorite people.

30. why do you write?: because I’m a writer and I have to.

boost yourself + tags!

1a. share the last sentence you wrote:

The only one who has a choice is Harry, and this time, Louis will have to listen to it.

2a. describe the wip you’re most excited about:

I’m only working on my @onedirectionbigbang which is a Pygmalion fic and it’s so far 27k of pining and angst and if that doesn’t tell you enough IDK what else to tell you 

3a. share the piece of dialogue from one of your works you’re most proud of: 

Nothing particularly comes to mind at the moment. 

4a. share the best first and last lines from your work(s): 

I always try to start and finish with a good line. Here’s the ones from TNFIF:

Sometimes, when he looks down, Louis envies them.

And every day he thanks God for giving them the chance to find each other.

5a. link the last fic you read: 

I uh, kind of reread my own fic last night, does that count? It’s under the moonlight

6a. link the last work you published: 

My christmasfest fic room for your love underneath this tree

7a. link to your ao3 (if applicable):

we_are_the_same

8a. someone that inspires you: 

Louis Tomlinson, and as far as writers go, @londonfoginacup and @lightwoodsmagic

9a. a comfort fic/work that you’ve been grateful for this year:

I truly don’t read much, but anything Emmu writes is top notch for comfort honestly. She infuses her fics with so much warmth and charm that I can’t help but fall in love with every universe she creates.

Alright, I think a lot of people have already done this, but if you haven’t and want to, consider yourself tagged! I’m gonna tag @lightwoodsmagic @jacaranda-bloom @disgruntledkittenface @fallinglikethis @vintageumbroshirt and @dinosaursmate just to see if they want to share!

[mediaevalmusereads]

A Duke in Disguise. By Cat Sebastian. New York: Avon Books, 2019.

Rating: 3/5 stars

Genre: historical romance

Part of a Series? Yes, Regency Impostors #2

Summary: One reluctant heir

If anyone else had asked for his help publishing a naughty novel, Ash would have had the sense to say no. But he’s never been able to deny Verity Plum. Now he has his hands full illustrating a book and trying his damnedest not to fall in love with his best friend. The last thing he needs is to discover he’s a duke’s lost heir. Without a family or a proper education, he’s had to fight for his place in the world, and the idea of it—and Verity—being taken away from him chills him to the bone. One radical bookseller All Verity wants is to keep her brother out of prison, her business afloat, and her hands off Ash. Lately it seems she’s not getting anything she wants. She knows from bitter experience that she isn’t cut out for romance, but the more time she spends with Ash, the more she wonders if maybe she’s been wrong about herself. One disaster waiting to happen Ash has a month before his identity is exposed, and he plans to spend it with Verity. As they explore their long-buried passion, it becomes harder for Ash to face the music. Can Verity accept who Ash must become or will he turn away the only woman he’s ever loved?

***Full review under the cut.***

Content Warnings: sexual content, epileptic seizures, mentions of domestic violence and childhood neglect

I picked up this book because I was really excited about the premise. A bisexual female heroine? Who runs a print shop? That prints racy and borderline seditious books? And has a friends-to-lovers arc with the hero? Sounds like a dream! While there were definitely some things that I loved, I definitely wish there was more work put into making the plot more angsty or high-stakes. Personally, I found the main conflict to be shallow, as the tension was not in the matter of the hero's hidden identity (which was resolved relatively quickly and without much drama), but in the protagonists' feelings and principles. That in itself isn't a bad thing, but in the case of this book, it seems like most of the conflict could have been resolved with a good sit-down-and-talk. I prefer my conflicts to be a little more external - such as social class being a barrier - so that the drama feels a bit more out of the protagonists' control. Thus, I can only give this book 3 stars. I liked it, I just wished there was *more*. Writing: Sebastian's prose is pretty much what one might expect in a romance novel. It's straight-forward and doesn't involve a lot of rhetorical flourishes, which allows the plot to move along quickly and clearly. I don't have a lot to say other than that, and I don't mean it as an insult. The prose does its job, and I didn't have any trouble imagining what was going on. Plot: It's perhaps misleading to say that this book is entirely about the hero's hidden identity. The matter of Ash's parentage and title doesn't start in earnest until some 130 pages into the novel, and before that, we mainly follow Verity as she tries to save her brother from being arrested. In my opinion, these two plots could have paralleled one another much better; Verity and her brother are radicals in that they support equal rights between the sexes and social classes, so I think the matter of Ash being a duke could have been a significantly more threatening strain on his relationship with the Plums. As it stands, it felt like Verity's brother was easily disposed of within the first 100 pages or so, and the matter of sedition and politics didn't play a major role in the plot involving Ash's parentage, making it feel like filler. I would have much rather seen more drama, such as Ash's new family not wanting him to associate with the Plums, having the Plums' politics threaten Ash's court case, etc. That way, Ash would have had to make more difficult choices regarding whether or not he wanted to claim his title. Once we got into Ash's conflict, I do think Sebastian did some things well. I liked that Ash was accepting his place out of concern for his aunt's safety rather from any sense of familial duty or desire to be rich. The tension between blood vs found families was a good one, though I think more pressure could have been put on class issues. I also think Sebastian could have crafted her overall narrative a little better, as I didn't exactly feel like the story was suspenseful or the scenes built on one another. Aside from brief moments, it felt like plot points were happening at random and I didn't really have a sense of where the story was going. I would have liked to see, for example, instances of Ash gathering evidence for his case or Verity's advice column mirroring what she was going through - something that gives us a clearer arc and entwines the printing/sedition storyline with the hidden identity/duke storyline (rather than seemingly have one happen after the other). Characters: Verity, our heroine, is a bisexual woman who is afraid of showing weakness or asking for help. She runs her family's bookshop and prints a number of different things, from raunchy novels to a (weekly? monthly?) paper containing essays and advice. Aside from her bookishness, I liked that Verity was flawed; she was stubborn and stuck to her beliefs even when they caused conflict with the people around her, which felt real and multi-faceted. I also liked that she was direct when asking for what she wanted from Ash, and that she was committed to retaining her independence as a woman and printer. The one thing I didn't like about her was that, at times, she seemed to have a not-like-other-girls attitude. She would often turn her nose up at things women did that she considered frivolous or profess to not understand why people acted in certain ways (despite some of those actions being societal norms). Ash, our hero, was also a refreshing character. Aside from being epileptic, he is very kind and caring, and he respects Verity's boundaries without being gruff and broody. I prefer these types of men in my romances because I like heroes who are emotional and vulnerable without being violent or abusive beforehand. Supporting characters were hit or miss, but on the whole, most of them were complex and interesting. Nate, Verity's brother, is idealistic and stubborn, so he was a nice compliment to Verity's character. Portia, Verity's former lover, was perhaps my favorite; despite being Verity's ex, she was kind and supportive, putting their friendship over romantic feelings when it was clear that Verity needed someone to lean on. The rest felt more or less like archetypes (such as Ash's uncle) or characters used solely for plot reasons (Ash's aunt, Lady Caroline). Amelia, Portia's daughter, could have been interesting, but her plot line doesn't really enhance the main story. Romance: Verity and Ash have a friends-to-lovers arc that, in my opinion, doesn't have enough drama or angst. This isn't to say I want more violence or petty conflict; rather, I would have liked to see the couple contend with external forces that put pressure on their relationship, such as social class. While class is certainly an issue, it doesn't seem like a great threat to the HEA ending, as everyone around Ash approves of the idea of marriage to Verity. As a result, the drama in this book was mainly driven by the characters' inability to talk about their feelings, and even when they do, the romance doesn't evolve or grow that much. There aren't really many milestones, such as them opening up about some past trauma (which I guess wouldn't be an issue, if they'd been best friends for so long) or navigating a crisis together (which they kind of do, but also don't). Everything is resolved when Verity and Ash just decide to get over their reasons for not being together, which to me felt cheap. TL;DR: A Duke in Disguise provides some much needed queer and neurodivergent representation to the romance genre, but relies on a shallow plot without much angst or drama. While I did appreciate the focus on female independence throughout the novel, I also wish the characters had been made to contend with more external forces that threatened their relationship and that the romance had grown and evolved a little more.

[helihi]

The Good, The Bad, and the Dirty: Spop season 5

I’ve stopped screaming, and I took the time to rewatch season 5 with my little brother. So, here are my thoughts:

The Good

Horde Prime - The cult™ : I really dig the aesthetics, that combo of religious fanatics + fascism hit good. The crew did a good job at portraying Horde Prime as the ultimate villain of the show. He was engaging to watch and his ideology was pretty clear. The way they played with the hive mind concept was really fun, and it was Horde Prime’s biggest strength. He was also a very good manipulator, successfully playing with Glimmer and Adora. He was unsuccessful with Catra because she had already hit her lowest point.

Entrapta: honestly, she was the most hilarious character this season. Not only was she engaging to watch and listen to, I felt really connected to her this season. The fight with Mermista hit really good and it hurt, but you could see her trying her best. I love how open she is and how accepting of everyone and everything. I’m glad we got to see so much of her this season.

Scorpia: baby, she only deserves good things in life. When she got mind control, you could see how fucking powerful she is, but luckily for us, we got to see her shine independently before that. Her interactions with Swift Wind, Perfuma, and Double Trouble made her shine. She’s smart, talented, and without an evil bone in her body. I’m happy she can move on from Catra and find love and friendship. (I hope she reconnects with Lonnie, Rogelio and Kyle in the future too)

Mermista: babe, you were always mood. She has been consistently funny, her get ups and plans are so entertaining to watch, but also: her relationship with Sea Hawk is great! They are definitely made for each other. I’m sad she was mine controlled for the other half of the season, but I’m happy we got to see a lot of her before. (Also she burned someone’s ship OMG GANGSTER SUIT)

Sea Hawk: happy to see him back. He was funny as always, and I’m happy he got his moment with Mermista at the end. 

Perfuma: “ADORA, WHAT DO YOU HAVE THERE?” “A TANK” “NO!” Her relationship with Scorpia is so good! I wish we could’ve seen more.

Netossa: I was one of those who was sad to know the 2 canon lesbians of the show were just background characters. I am so incredibly happy to see her shine this season! SHE SAID MY WIFE. She is the queen of the roasts and I stan.

Spinnerella: Dude, I didn’t know you were this powerful what the fuck. Also, your wife is super cute and she draws like Noelle.

Emotional Support Cat: Bro, I love Melog’s design. I think it was a really clever way to have Catra express her feelings and process them out loud for the audience by giving Catra a supernatural cat.

New She-ra design: I see the subtle reference to Bow, Glimmer and Catra in the design. Honestly, Adora looks 100% more badass.

Not Hordak: I really wish he had picked a name from himself. Aside from Entrapta, this might be the other hilarious character of the season. He goes through his individualization process in a healthier way than Hordak and showcases that the clones can be different from Horde Prime and rehabilitated. I wonder how he will feel about Hordak? But we got no epilogue so idk I guess.

Darla: I can’t believe they named the ship, but I love it.

The Best Friends Squad: I swear to god, when Bow, then Glimmer and then Catra interrupted Adora’s train of thought, I knew we were going to have a great dynamic. The way their characters play of each other is hilarious. Bow, who usually has the only braincell, is cautious and a total dad; Adora is the dumb jock with the heart of gold that gets herself into trouble; Glimmer is the chaotic enchantress with no patience; and finally Catra who’s got all her walls up, but gets shit done. I want a show of them together going on misions and almost dying in the process, thank you.

Catra Redemption: You wanted it, and here you have it! I was cheering for Catra this whole season while proclaiming I’d die for her (which I had only reserved for Scopia previously). Though things may be a little rushed, Catra takes her time to process things, and goes back and forth a couple of times. She deflects, lies, and runs away, but in the end she opens up and rushes back.

In general, the season was packed with content. I was never bored through any episodes and I honestly laughed outloud while watching it alone and later with my brother. There were moments when we paused the episode to discuss what had just happened or to process new information. This makes me feel even more weird about the bland season 2/3 division.

The Bad

Okay so, let me make this clear: I will never attack a ship or anyone who supports it. In this blog we multiship like adults and respect other people’s OTPs.

That being said, while this season was long and packed with content, it also felt rushed when it came to the relationships of the main cast

Glimmer - Catra: The prison episodes had barely any interactions between both of them. I wish they’ve had had more time to talk and to connect. There were Glitra moments that make me feel happy, and my brother was for a moment convinced that they could be canon. They are foils of each other after season 4. The conversation they had, where they realize they had a lot of things in common could’ve been a catalyst for both of them to grow and heal. However, Catra has her change of heart really soon and saves Glimmer, which prevents any deep interactions between them in the future. Aside from the jokes, Catra must be with Adora, and Glimmer must be with Bow, so everything else gets dropped.

Glimmer - Adora: The conflict between them after Angela’s “death” was one of the main plot points of last season. When they reunite again, their issues are solved in a couple of minutes and then brushed off. They really don’t have big interactions after that, which feels completely OOC and empty.

Glimmer - Bow: I wasn’t the only one who felt the sharp turn of their relationship. In previous seasons, it was really platonic, but as soon as they see each other again you know they are going to end up together. The camera zoomed on them, Bow was always holding her protectively, the way they looked at each other change. Since Glimmer is not allowed to have intimate moments with anyone else, it kinda dulls everything up. Don’t get me wrong, I love some best friends to lovers, but in this case it felt rushed for me. If I pinpoint the moment things turned romantic for them, it’s the first time they interact in person this season. It didn’t feel organic (contrast with a ship like Korrasami, where you can point at the moment Asami realized she had feelings for Korra, and then later when Korra’s attitude towards Asami changes after the time skip).

Adora - Catra: Honey, we all knew this was going to be end game, and I love the fact that Catra is dealing with her feelings and Adora acknowledges that. However, after the end of season 3, I’d have expected things to progress a little slower. Catra did put some resistance with the chip scene, but even afterwards, what would’ve been better paced with more episodes, was condensed in a few. Don’t get me wrong. I love that Catra redemption, but I’d have loved a better pacing.

BTW for anyone interested: I ship Glitradora, so any of the 3 ships ending up canon were good for me, and I liked Bow/Glimmer, just preferred them as bffs.

There’s a list of characters that barely show up that could’ve had more screentime:

Huntara: barely appears at all. She’s seen fighting, but there are no references to her or a storyline with her.

Lonnie, Rogelio and Kyle: briefly shown. The gay couple of the century have adopted the baby demon and are now the best dads in the desert. Lonnie is their braincell.

Double Trouble: at least they had a scene and lines, but I feel like they could’ve been more involved after they were discovered by Scopria, especially since they escaped with Sea Hawk and Perfuma.

The Star Siblings: idk man, they were part of a whole episode and then faded into the background. It was a glorified cameo for an episode where Glimmer and Bow fight.

Glimmer’s Aunt: sorry but I was asking “where the hell is she?” until she finally showed up late. She barely had any purpose.

The Dirty

Hey, guys, girls, and nonbinary pals, can we sit down and talk about redemptions?

IDK about you, but just because a show is aimed at kids you shouldn’t “redeem” all the villains. This trend bothers me specially when it touches on abuse or totalitarian leaders.

Shadow Weaver was an abuser until the end. She shouldn’t have had a heroic sacrifice, and her “I’m proud of you” line was bitter for me. I’ve said before I was raised in an abusive household and I don’t think it’s healthy to tell children that you can change your abuser or that you can expect them to change without therapy. I’m glad Shadow Weaver died, but I wish her death wasn’t in any way shape or form considered a “redemption”. A heroic act of sacrifice doesn’t erase all the pain she cause and the years of trauma Catra and Adora have had to endure.

Hordak. HEY HEY ETRAPDAK SHIPPERS DON’T COME FOR ME! I was weirded up by the ship until I realized Etrapta is in her late 20s. I’m happy they found each other but I think it’d be better if Hordak had to redeem himself through a life of service to Etheria. He can't erase the horrible things he has done, but with the help of Entrapta and others, he could give back to the community he ruined. Since we don’t have an epilogue, we just see him reuniting with Entrapta at the end and that’s it.

ALSO SOMEONE GIVE MICAH A HAIR TIE. My man, you are not in a hostile island anymore, go rock a dad bun or a dad ponytail!

--

How do you guys feel about it?

I’m here looking at cute GIFs of Catra and that kiss scene on repeat. I want a Rogelio poster, he was my boy.

[stormbornspawn]

Winterfell - Season 8, Episode 1 Review

My thoughts on every (I think every? let me know if I missed any) scene from the Season 8 premiere episode.

Arrival - there was nothing wrong with this scene at all. Everything about it was expected. The northerners being apprehensive is exactly what I anticipated. Give it up for Jon and Dany looking regal AF in this scene. Good lord. Arya watching this whole scene play out was really great as a call back to season 1. Love the proud mama look from Dany as her babies fly overhead and scare the living shit out of everyone below. And did you notice her hair is in the shape of a heart? Tyrion and Varys banter is always welcomed and encouraged.

Winterfell courtyard - frosty is the only word that really feels right here. Dany’s trying to make a good impression and doesn’t get pressed when nobody kneels. Jon bent the knee - they should be on their knees, but no worries. She’s gonna overlook that cuz it’s her boo-thang’s family. All in good time. Bran coming up with the - we have no time for this - and dropping the Viserion bomb was way too rushed. This is the first issue I have with this episode. Dany’s dragons are often referred to as her children, yet hearing that one of them has been enslaved is completely glossed over and cut to next scene. This should have been a much bigger deal. Not just for Dany, but for everyone. Jon should have needed to take her somewhere to console her...you know, somewhere private...

The Great Hall - how many times does JOn have to remind these people that they are going to die without Dany’s help? Do they not believe him? I realize there are only a few people that have actually seen the army of the dead, but come on. I don’t expect anyone to be swearing fealty to Dany at this point, but a modicum of appreciation would be nice. She abandoned her campaign for this war and lost a dragon. Why did nobody bring this up? Lyanna Mormont needs to sit down - she almost called Jon a bastard and I was about to come up out of my chair. Sansa whinging about food - like, you knew they were coming and you are just now concerned about this? Dany holding her composure through that took some serious control. Her little clap back was good - whatever they want - that’s right, because they’re goddam dragons. I did like that Jon and Dany seemed to inch closer and closer to each other throughout the scene and the little look while Tyrion was talking was cute. Tyrion was well-intentioned, but they still won’t listen.

Sansa and Tyrion - I was waiting for this reunion and it did not disappoint. I would have liked to see Tyrion quell some of Sansa’s concerns as it relates to Dany. I was a tad concerned about the side eye that Bran was giving Tyrion at the end. Bran knows some things, so I’m curious what goods he has on Tyrion.

Jon & Arya - LOVE LOVE LOVE it. I was prepared to be underwhelmed here, but her jumping into Jon’s arms was everything I needed. The talk about family and Sansa being the smartest person Arya knows - yeah, didn’t see Arya siding with Sansa over Jon, but I get it. How is that dynamic of supporting family going to play out when it’s public knowledge that Jon is not their brother, but a cousin? I was also a little miffed that nobody brought up Littlefinger and that Dany and Arya were not formally introduced.

Euron/Yara/Cersei/Theon/GC - This whole segment of the show was just okay for me. I didn’t care for the dialogue. I love Pilou as an actor, but some of his lines were just cringe - I’m gonna put a prince in your belly. Like, wtf? I kind of felt a little bad for Cersei (well, not really) that she had to sleep with him and Lena brought the power in the after math of that scene. She’s brilliant and it will be the travesty of the year if she doesn’t finally get her Emmy. Theon finally rescuing Yara and making the decision to go and fight for the Starks - let’s get that ball rolling...even though I really enjoy Yara, I don’t think we will see her until way later in the season. The GC - and no elephants - wtf? Well, whatever...I would have rather had Ghost - and that’s the second big thing wrong with this episode. There was plenty of time.

Bronn - why? Completely unnecessary to have all the tits and ass in this episode. I know it’s classic GOT, but we are all over that element, I think, and it could have easily been him in a brothel and Qyburn comes to see him without all that sexposition. I don’t like the crossbow thing especially with all the talk about Dany getting hit with an arrow or a well-placed bolt.

Davos/Tyrion/Varys - can we give it up for Davos finally speaking the truth - Dany is a just woman and Jon is an honorable man - yes, please. Get married, make babies, and save the realm. Why Varys and Tyrion weren’t all over that - I don’t know. Tyrion wasn’t completely opposed to it, but Varys seemed rather extra cynical just then.

Jon & Dany - a lot to break down in this scene. Dany knows Sansa hates her and is really concerned that if she can’t even get her to respect her than the north is not going to fall in line either - that’s my interpretation of the scene. Jon saying that Sansa didn’t like them when they were growing up either was cute. Now, why in the hell are my baby dragons not eating? They hate the north? Or maybe, just maybe, they can sense that their momma isnt quite welcome there and they are feeling that emotion. I am shook that Jon got to ride the dragon (well, another one ;)) before learning about his Targ history. I saw this scene as Dany really letting him know, babe, I love you and I am willing to let you babysit my kids if needed. That 1000 years comment is coming back around again for sure. That waterfall and smooching scene was not for me - I ship them and know they are in love - that scene was for anyone that didn’t really pay attention in season 7 or read any interviews from anyone ever to just solidify that they are truly in love. Okay - it was for me too - I’m on my 3,487th rewatch. My prediction for why the dragons are acting funny - they know momma is carrying that man’s baby and they are overprotective. @me

Jon & Sansa - Sansa, why? All these two do is argue and it’s starting to piss me off. She says she trusts Jon and has faith in him, but then doesn’t trust Jon and has no faith in his decisions. They needed Dany and her armies and dragons and he got her to come there. This is why he left in the first place. She does have a valid question though - did you bend the knee for the north or because you love her? It’s a legit question, JON!! Answer. It’s both. That is the big theme of this season - love versus duty - and Jon can do both and will need to balance them both.

Arya/Gendry/Hound - the Hound and Arya was hysterical and I love the banter between Arya and Gendry. It’s like they picked up right where they left off. Can’t wait to see where this goes.

Dany/Sam/Jorah - This is tough for me. I am a Dany stan through and through, but I did not agree with her decision to burn the Tarly’s. At least not both of them. I do find it hypocritical when people chastise her for something that men have done for ages and hold her to a different standard though. I didn’t care for what she did, but I understand it. Sam’s reaction was expected and I do feel very sorry for him. I wish Dany had exhibited a little bit of remorse. Even if she wasn’t sorry, knowing he is JOn’s best friend, should have made her say - I’m so sorry. Just something.

The Reveal - I hated everything about this. Sam didn’t tell Jon as a friend. He told him in a fit of rage to try and turn Jon against Dany. I’m not okay with this. Jon wasn’t having it either. Jon executed Janos Slynt for much less. And Sam is the same person who told Jon they needed Roose BOlton’s help after the Red Wedding and told Olly to forget about his family being slaughtered by the Wildings. It’s a bit different when it’s your own family, but double standards much? Jon wasn’t having it, so I’m good with that - he’s still gonna have some words with his queen later. The reveal pissed me off because I think Sam should have come at it from a place of tenderness and instead it was bitterness about Dany and this news is gonna fuck her up. He doesn’t know they are together and he doesn’t really know her. I was pissed AF with the line - you gave up your crown for your people - would she do the same? Okay - when is someone going to bring up the fact that Jon bent the knee AFTER she agreed to fight for the north? And, please - she abandoned her fight for King’s Landing to turn her armies north and help fight. So, yeah, she would. This was the scene I was most disappointed with. John and Kit did a great job, but the writing was atrocious. All I can see is that they are setting this episode up to carry all the angst forward until the Night King is knocking on their door and then - just as Jon said - it won’t matter.

Umber - what the actual fuck? But I’m glad to see Tormund, Beric, and Edd.

Jaime/Bran - he’s waiting for an old friend!! GAAAHHHH!! I can’t wait to see the shit storm that his presence is going to bring in episode 2. That preview got my dragon momma heated.

Overall, I’d give the episode a 7/10. It was definitely not the strongest episode in the series and I blame that on choppy transitions and weird almost campy dialogue. Episode two better bring a little more grounding to the show, because I was not overly impressed with those 54 minutes. There were some great things that happened - dragon date, arrival, reunions, and how much was my girl Dany smiling this episode?? I’ve never seen her smile this much in seven seasons. Guess a good dicking down and falling in love will do that to you. The dialogue and lack of timeline really killed it for me though. As well as the glossing over of what I thought were really important storylines.

Let me know if you want to discuss.

[nancydrew65]

SKAM NL Season 2 Episode 4 Thoughts

This episode, like the last, was so different it was almost like a whole new episode. I was constantly surprised by each new clip.

I Hate Monday

Isa and Janna are studying for a German test they have that day, while Engel keeps furtively glancing at the school entrance. The girls joke about Engel’s fantastic pink sunglasses and their failure of a benefit. In order to cheer Engel up, they all crowd in for a group hug and peck Engel on the forehead. Ah, the Dutch girl squad is so cute. Also, Janna’s encouragement was beautiful. I want to see more of her and Engels’ relationship.

Liv receives a racy photo of Ralph that was clearly not meant for her.

Unsurprisingly, Engel is looking for Noah. Janna reveals that Noah was with a girl when he found out about his mother. I wonder who that girl could be? In the background of the conversation you can see a shot of Isa looking confused. You know this is the moment she pieces everything together.

Oh, Liv is giving Noah a call! She really is the sweetest Noora. Also, constantly calling and checking up on a boy is not the greatest way to send the message that you are not interested in him. Noah doesn’t pick up which is not the least bit surprising.

You’re the Girl Noah was With

I love how they had the time stamp in front of the huge heart, and then they cut to Liv. They do this again with the flowers at the funeral in the Friday clip.

Liv is doing homework when she is called to her balcony by Isa. Isa is there holding a massive blow-up heart. I love Isa and her friendship with Liv is everything. I think Isa, and the other Evas in general are so overlooked. They truly are fantastic, complex characters with hearts of gold.

Also, this has to be the cutest way an Eva has told a Noora she has found her out.

Liv is way less defensive than Noora was about the date. I thought it was a nice touch that Isa asked Liv how the date went. Like I never felt any of the girl squad ever interacted with William or really cared about Noora’s relationship with him (other than the drama with Vilde in the beginning).

Isa is the voice of reason, saying Liv should just tell Engel about the date. Of course, Liv decides not to. She asks Isa to keep the secret. I love how cool Isa is with it. She doesn’t push Liv or anything. She just calmly agrees to it.

He Doesn’t Reply

Liv is in the bathroom at school when she hears what sounds suspiciously like someone throwing up. Turns out Engel is in the stall and she says she has the stomach flu. Like, come on. We all know that is a lie. Oh, Engel. I really wish she wasn’t doing this to herself. Look, anyone developing an eating disorder is awful. But Engel is already so thin that it is almost worse.

As Liv braids Engel’s hair, Engel goes on a long talk about Noah and how awful his life is because his mother just died and his father doesn’t pay attention to him. I hope we don’t go too much into this because I feel like OG leaned way too heavily into tell not show, when it should be the opposite. I want this information to be revealed more naturally through the course of the storyline. Learn from OG’s mistakes, SKAM NL.

Yikes. We get this little interaction where Engel asks Liv not to tell the girls about her “stomach flu”. OK, I didn’t really like this scene. The whole point of the clip is revealed to be about Liv wondering how she should approach Noah. So, this whole scene emphasizes Liv’s feelings towards Noah, when it should be about how grave Engel’s eating disorder is. If this had been a short clip with an emphasis on Engel’s ED and then we got a separate clip about Liv’s conflict over Noah, I would have been happier.

Liv heads home to find her quiche has been eaten. There was a nice moment where Liv took out her headphones and was hit with the noise and commotion coming from the living room.

Jayden and Kes are playing video games while Lucas and Ralph are looking at Ralph’s phone. Ugh, the boys have made a mess of the living room. Liv shuts down the video game and puts out the joint Jayden is about to smoke. The boys complain about how much of a square she is and then leave. Liv is totally in the right in this scene, though. I mean, it is her apartment. They made a mess and ate her food. They should be groveling for her approval.

Then, we get such an amazing little scene. When they were on the couch, Lucas was helping Ralph check out guys on Grindr, and he was actually remarking about their relative cuteness. This is so different from how Isak was in that Season 3 scene where he didn’t want to remark on the boys Eakins was showing him on Grindr. I think overall, SKAM NL has given us hints that Lucas is more comfortable in his sexuality than Isak was, like with the scene in the cabin episode in Season 1 where he and Kes danced together. I do think he probably has the same issues with being stereotyped as gay like Isak did because there is this whole exchange where Lucas is like. “You call him cute, right? All you gays.” IDK, but I swear to god, if we don’t get a Lucas season, I will cry.

Liv storms off to her room. Ralph, being the loveable teddy bear he is, notices this and goes to talk to her. I think Ralph, overall, cares a lot more about Liv than Eskild did about Noora. Or else, he is more obvious about it. He shoves his phone in Lucas’ hand and you can see the shocked look on Lucas’ face. That must be an awkward situation. Like, without Ralph, he doesn’t really have a reason to be checking out Grindr, but you know he wants to.

Ralph asks Liv what is wrong, and then Esra joins them. She and Ralph had a were supposed to meet up. Liv confesses that she doesn’t know what to do about Noah. She doesn’t say this in so many words, but it is obvious who the conversation is about. Esra and Ralph give some pretty solid advice, just saying that there is no specific thing you can say to make everything better and that you just have to be there for that person.

I Could Sleep on the Couch

Liv heads to Noah’s house to talk to him and the funeral for his mom is going on. I’m not sure if Liv knew about the funeral, but I’m figuring she didn’t. If she knew, then Engel knew, and Engel most definitely would have shown up.

A lady guides Liv through the house. I can’t figure out how she is related to Noah. Is she his aunt? She is kind of comical; she compares the death of Noah’s mother to her dog dying, which… yeah, you shouldn’t do that.

Whew, they have an open casket. I really hate open caskets, but maybe that is just because I have had awful experiences with them. I just feel like the person is no longer themselves once they have died and so you’re just looking at a stranger who has been dolled up by the funeral people, so they look presentable… ugh, I just can’t stand it.

But, on another note, are we ever going to find out how Noah’s mom died? Because I feel like that is important.

Liv takes a piece of pound cake up to Noah’s room, and Hallelujah! Noah’s room reflects his personality. There are paintings strewn all over the messy room. I felt like we never got to know William’s personality or interests, and his room was basically bare, so we never knew anything about him, except his tragic backstory and the fact that he was in love with Noora. I am so glad SKAM NL is giving this character more than that.

Noah tells Liv his mother was crazy and that she left the family to live on a commune. Oooookay. What is with SKAM and crazy mothers? SKAM NL is the worst with this. So many characters on their show have messed up mothers: Lucas, Jayden, and now, Noah.

Noah kind of lashes out at Liv, saying he is tired of pursuing her. He tells her to leave. This is one of the only times I understand this move from a William. In most of the remakes, he has been constantly pursuing her, and then he says this line. At least her, Noah was reeling from his mother's death, so he is probably in a very emotional state.

Liv storms out, but promptly returns and parks herself on Noah’s couch. They sit side by side, just listening to music. I think several hours go by because suddenly, the light is different.

And wow. This is the most a Noora has wanted to stay the night at a William’s house. Ralph called her, and said he was at home to let her in. Liv just shuts that phone call down and pretends she has no way to get into her apartment.

Noah and Liv get into his bed. Right as that happens, Ralph texts Liv. Noah picks up her phone and reads the texts. Okay, but why did he look at her phone. In OG, it made more sense because it was his phone tha5 they were using to communicate with Eskild. Here, Noah took Liv’s phone and looked at it without permission. Hmmmm.

He teases Liv about liking him, and then they both go to bed.

General Thoughts

I enjoyed this episode, especially the last two clips. They were both so different from OG. Honestly, at this point, it hardly feels like I am watching a Noorhelm remake. Noah and Liv’s vibe is so different from Noora and William’s. Noah is the most unique version of William I think. For one, he mofe of a personality and he is also an artist, which is very different from the popular fuckboy attitude that William had. Liv seems way more into Noah than any other versions of her character have been at this point. I actually buy this because although Noah has still acted like a jerk sometimes, he is much better than William was. I bet next week, they will have their first kiss. I wonder how it will happen because I doubt Noah will hold a fundraiser. I am actually really excited. They are one of the only Noorhelm versions I can stomach together. It is really only this version and Druck. Alright then, until next week!

[sambart93]

2019.01.14 GARO Stage Vol 3: Kami no Kiba - JINGA - Reincarnation [Review]

Official Website here Official Twitter here Press Coverage 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Videos 1

CAST and CHARACTERS

Inoue Masahiro as Jinga Yamamoto Ikkei as Sasha Inami Anju* and Oda Erina as Tomoha Masaki Kaoru as Ruka Matsunoi Miyabi as Amelie Fukuen Misato* and Nazuka Kaori as Shera Shimizu Saki as Ontake and Yuzuki Miyagi Koudai as Ushio Sengoku Minami and Isohara Kyouka* as Saeka Yumoto Misaki as Kerusu doNcHY as Tomino Sato Daisuke as Ramedo and Pakutora Sato Kazuma as Kaise Namiki Shusuke as Ikari Noda Hiroshi as Kido Iwata Arihiro as Lumido and Midouji Nakamura Seijiro as Fugi Horrors: Ega, Ryo, Hiro-C, Taka-ki, Kraus, Shimoo Hiroaki, Kudo Shoma, Katakabe Hiromasa, Sakai Hayato, Noda Ryunosuke, Yoshiba Yuki, Tezuka Sae, Ito Reina, Taguchi Fumiya

*There were some double casts so the * signifies the ones I saw.

NON-SPOILER REVIEW Overall: This was very good. This was a solid stage. I thoroughly enjoyed the action, I enjoyed so many of the new actors, seeing the horrors IN PERSON and so up close was amazing! The use of the projection mappings and how they used the front screen for the effects was really cool! The combination of heavy rock and action scenes was a perfect combination and I absolutely adored the two - three big action scenes that used heavy rock music to their advantage to intensify the action. One of the fighting scenes actually really impressed me with HOW they did it! Also the fact that we had a LIVE band performing is awesome! The adlibbing was gold. I can see a lot of potential in some of the characters and their future storylines. I hope we get more development and more appearances from certain characters in the future! I thoroughly enjoyed myself at this stage, even with the earthquake about 30 minutes into it which FREAKED me off. However, I had a few technical issues. This play could’ve been amazing with about 2 - 3 more days rehearsing. Let me clarify; the actors are not the issue at all! But, the sound staff and the scene transitions were very questionable at times. Sometimes the sound effects for punches and such were either played too early or too late, and it was glaringly, obviously off beat. There were a lot of moments where the orchestra would go from one song to the next as a scene ended and started, but there’d be like 10 seconds during that transition where none of the actors could more or say their lines, and it felt very unnatural and roboticly timed. If they had had just a few more days of rehearsals I really think they could’ve fixed and perfected the sound and music timing. The other issue I had was the story. The main story and the main points of the story were absolutely fine, but I felt like one character and their story line (which is attached to the main plot) was totally unnecessary. At first I thought maybe only I have these issues, but upon talking to other friends, our negatives about the play matched completely. They also had problems with the timeline in the story too, they said it was confusing to figure out when all these events are supposed to take place. But luckily, I was able to understand the timeline without any problems. But besides me, my friends found that a problem. Rating: 6/10 - I enjoyed myself, but with a few more days of rehearsing and script revising, this stage could have been amazing.

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SPOILER REVIEW

PreShow

I was very confused when I got to the cinema and got in line for the goods. My goodness Goods was confusing!! You had to pick up your goods from the tables first THEN line up to pay?! No wonder the line was going so fast!! XD It took me a minute or two to figure out what the hell was going on. I kind of wish all shows did this. Would be so much faster in the goods line!! Rather than waiting for Miss-Take-A-Lot who is always in front of me buying about 40 sets of different bromides when all I want is a pamphlet but I have to stand behind her for 10 fucking minutes, also because the effing staff are taking their god damn time too trying to get everything and counting everything out for then about three times. <<< A common occurrence I experience unfortunately.

But anyway....

Then I got into the theatre and right away the very front screen is down and the projection mapping for the Garo opening sequence/advertisement on the screen looks so damn cool! And the GARO music to go along with it!! It was very Messiah-esque in that it had random patterns and shapes floating about but you knew they signified something or someone. Just like in Messiah’s movie openings. It was so cool to watching while counting down to show time.

I was to the right of the stage fourth row, but just not far enough to have any of the stage cut off - PHEW!!

Finally, about 20 minutes in, I ‪FINALLY experienced an earthquake during a show! It was bound to happen soon xD‬ although it went on for much longer than I was comfortable with so I momentarily didn’t focus on the play, so I have no idea what happened during those few minutes.

The Story

I want to talk about the story first:

So the story actually jumps around; it occurs before, during and after the Jinga tv show. Some people (as mentioned above) found it really difficult to figure out when it was set but I took little hints to figure out when it was. The first 40 minutes or so are set before Jinga is reborn as a human; he’s still hanging around Amelie and the Horror are bowing down before him. Then the middle section is set during the Jinga tv show; we see where he went those few episodes where he came back bloody or he doesn’t remember what happened. And the final part is setting during after the events of Jinga when he gets his Horror posse to turn and such.

The main running thread throughout all this is a girl called Tomoha. Tomoha is a Makai Priest in training, and she has a group who she trains with, she has a sister, and has some normal friends. One of her normal friends unfortunately succumbs and becomes a horror, but Jinga gets involved and reverts her back to a human being. Tomoha learns that the person who saved her friend is called Jinga and that he can turn horrors back to humans. After this she decides to find him, but when she does Jinga doesn’t recognise nor remember her. She realises there are two Jingas. Later she wants to introduce him to her training clan but while there Jinga’s Horror henchmen, and a group wanting to destroy Jinga turn up and the entire clan is doomed.

That the basicness of the entire story. Now to get into details.

The Show

Maybe I’ll just get the negatives out first and then I can flail to the end.

☆ As mentioned above I had some technical issues with the play. First was the timing between action/movements and the sound effects. The timing of some action hits were either too fast or too slow. And the off beat of the sounds were glaringly obvious unfortunately. Also, the transitions between songs, the actors would stay frozen until the right note in the music and then the scene or line would start, which made it look and feel very robotic.

☆ I really do think just a little more (a few days of) rehearsing would’ve really perfected this stage! There were technically things like timing that could’ve been spot on if they had had just a little more time. I heard from a friend that:  they didn’t have a GenePro for the press because it wasn't good enough yet, and that they kept pushing things back until eventually just cancelled the GenePro and only gave interviews instead. So clearly, I’m right in thinking (even at Senshuuraku) that they needed a few more days. During the curtain call, Masahiro even commented that he only had one day to rehearse. But I’m not even calling out on the acting! I thought everyone did well. I only had issue with technically stuff.

☆ Call me bias but the first 30 mins or so were so unnecessary and were pretty boring. They use Tomoha as the central character for the plot but in all honesty, Tomoha’s entire storyline and participation was unneeded and unnecessary.  I liked the main storyline for Jinga, and the storyline of Jinga being tracked down by the Ikkei crew, but Tomoha was completely pointless. We didn’t need her in order to know about a training group of priests and knights, we didn’t need to know she had a sister, we didn’t need one of her friends to turn horror, we didn’t need her begging for Jinga to save her. This all could’ve been just a random human or a random training crew and nothing in the main storyline would have changed. Jinga could’ve just found and gotten to that training crew on his own, Jinga could’ve ‘saved’ this human-turn-horror without introduction. We didn’t need to know about her or her sister or any one specifically at all. You could’ve switched ANYONE in where she was and it wouldn’t have made any difference to the story at all. Having her as the ‘main character’ just made the first half full of unnecessary introductions, absolutely pointless, and SO BORING.

☆ And because the story was somewhat lacking, they really missed a great opportunity to have Jinga get really evil. We have Tomoha who has clearly fallen for Jinga and completely trusts him, and you’re telling me Jinga didn’t even TRY to manipulate and use her?! I really wanted Jinga to USE her! Manipulate her! USE HER!!! That’s what the real Jinga would do! He’d be like ‘oh this idiot LIKES me. Well I’ll trick her into falling in love with me and then she’ll do anything for me mwahaha’ but nooooooooooo the story makes a romantic bullshit subplot out of it where it’s hinted that Jinga also likes her. Oh FUCK OFF! The real Jinga would have used and abused her, and he would have laughed in her face the moment her world came crashing down! That’s the Jinga we know! But alas the story did not go there. Seriously, a few more days of script writing and rehearsing would’ve made this amazing!! 

☆ Another thing I wish that changed in the script was during a few battle scenes, the entire cast are dancing to the battle music rather than actually fighting... wtf?Again, another missed opportunity! Even as the music and the dancing started, I immediately thought: TARANTINO!  I really wish they had done a Tarantino-style thing: Jinga orchestrating and dancing to music while everyone else is actually fighting and screaming. That would’ve been much better. I was completely fine with Jinga being all orchestry and dancing but I think going Tarantino style would’ve been better: only he can hear the music and is dancing, while everyone else is actually screaming and fighting. Instead of this bullshit of everyone, including Horrors, dancing to the entire song.

☆ Lastly, I didn’t have a problem, but a lot of people were confused as what the the timeline of this story was. I’ve already explained above, but I can see how others might been confused. It wasn’t exactly stated so you just had to pick up on what people were saying and who was where in order to understand what point in the timeline we were in.

Now to the fangirling!!

☆  Sticking to the fighting and music topic: The actual fighting scenes with the very heavy rock music were AMAZING! You could feel the music through the floor and the fighting was very well choreographed! It was so god damn fun!!

☆ I’m jumping ahead but the best fight scene was definitely the climax fight between Jinga and Sasha. It was absolutely amazing how they did it!!! Ikkei (Sasha) had a body double so it looked like Sasha could move super fast from one end of the stage to the other! It was so fast paced, and so well executed, that even from the 4th row, I couldn’t tell where the real Ikkei was during the fight! Also the use of the lighting during this scene, and having their weapons light up. We had some points that were in complete darkness and all you could see were Jinga’s sword and Sasha’s weapons that were lit up and fighing. It was SUCH A GOOD SCENE. It was best scene in the entire play. Absolute kudos to the choreographer and to Masahiro, Ikkei, his body double and everyone involved in that scene because holy hell it was amazing!

☆ We had a LIVE orchestra the entire time which was absolutely amazing! The music itself is just a masterpiece! It’s so good! I guess that’s why they called it Garo the ‘Live Entertainment’.

☆ There was a higawari/daily change guest every day and the show I went to had Kashiwagi Yusuke as the guest. If you don’t know, I love Kashiwagi so I was super excited for this! And he did not disappoint. He was GOLD.

Yuusuke did fucking Osomatsu!!! Everyone was DYING of laughter! Even Amelie and the other cast couldn’t keep it together! SO MANY OSOMATSU JOKES!! So his story is that Amelie and co. can’t eat him because he already made a promise with Jinga that Jinga would devour him. So he explains that he wanted to save his brothers (and that there are six of them), but they accidentally got mixed up in his scheme of trying to rob a bank, and they all ended up getting shot at. In exchange for stopping those bullets from hitting his brother, he agrees to make a deal with Jinga. During his storytelling four of the ensemble came on stage in the other Oso-coloured jumpsuits and Yusuke’s like ‘WHERE’S PURPLE?!?! You couldn’t even get me five people?!’ He was absolutely amazing! So many round of applauses during his higawari. And he did some backflips too. At the Amilie ran after him with her knife like ‘KKAAARRAAAMMAATTSUU!!!’.

During the curtain call, he said he wants to come back as a Horror if they ever let him come back. He also apologised to the vast colour difference between everyone’s outfit and his; he was ain a bright blue jumpsuit with a kimono styles scarf over his shoulders xD Absolutely GOLD.

☆ I absolutely loved being able to see Jinga’s costume so up close! I absolutely adore his grey coat from the TV show and being able to see the detail of that coat so close in person was amazing!

☆ Also the full body Horror and Makai Knight suits that we got to see on stage were phenomenal! They looked AMAZING! They were pretty terrifying as they went past me in the theatre! xD And huge kudos to the people wearing those suits. They must be absolutely dying in sweat in those suits!!

☆ There is a scene where we get to see the switch between Human Jinga and Horror Jinga. Seeing that transition right in front of my eyes was amazing! I love how different his body language and posture is between the two Jingas. I also adore how different his fighting style is too between the two versions of him.

☆ Ikkei/Sasha was so good too! I absolutely adored his look. I love how he always called himself ‘Sasha’ and referred to himself in the third person, and I love how over the top he can be. And I already said but that final fighting scene with him was phenomenal!

☆ Nakamura/Fugi’s fighting style and weapon is so cool! I really loved how much control he had with his weapon. He had some moves where the weapon could’ve easily fallen out of his hand and gone flying but he had such control and so flawlessly used it. I was so impressed.

☆ Koudai as Ushio was GREAT! He was playing a young, cheerful, sorted stupid Knight in training and he just lit up the stage with his happiness and silly moments xD I wanted so much for him to survive and get all revenge-y on Jinga’s ass! I was so sad when he died. I wanted so much more from him!

☆ A quick note on the Sasha/Fugi/Ruka/Ontake group: They are neither Makai nor Horror. From what I understood, they’re from their own world and Ontake is actually like....a god? or at least an overseeyer of the human world. Because she has a forest of candles, and the candles are everyone’s life/souls. Some candles have black flames which shows who’s become a horror, and the rest are normal flames. So essentially they’re from another... dimension/world? And they hear about Jinga’s plan to steal their goddess/spirit called Tomino so they want to kill him before he can get to Tomino.

☆ There is a twist at the end where Tomoha is possessed by Tomino (we assume she’s a goddess/spirit from the world that Ikkei is from) which means ‘Tomoha’ might have a bigger role in the future.

☆ A comment from curtain called that I enjoyed: Nakamura mentioned that he’d like a spin off dorama just about his character Fugi, and then Ruka’s actor was like “I hope Ruka gets a spin off dorama too!”. Inoue immediately after said ‘not like Sasha’s gonna get one cos he’s dead’ and Ikkei was absolutely distraught looking, it was hilarious. He was like ‘hey!!!!!!!!! I can come back! I can just pop out of nowhere!’

☆ After the show: Miyabi/Amilie was at the dvd corner and Inoue/Jinga was at the buppan corner!

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And that’s all! I hope you enjoyed this short review!

[lightsandlostbells]

Skam España episode 4 reaction

This is way overdue, but I want to catch up on reactions to this show, because as we know, they’re making some big changes to the S1 storyline, which is exciting in Skam remake land!

I’m caught up on Skam España and I know that some of these comments are outdated now, but I’m leaving them the way they were for the most part.

Anyway, the MVP of this episode was indisputably the carrot cake.

Episode 4

Clip 1 - Eva’s mom knows shit is up

Eva eats with her mom. She’s looking at her text messages, where she texted her bare legs and said “I wish you were here,” which was before the argument. Risky move breaking that out at the dinner table, Eva! 

Eva’s mom asks her about her weekend. Eva says she did nothing, but Eva’s mom notes that someone was there at the house. Eva has a subtle OH SHIT moment, does her mom know about Jorge?? But it turns out it was because of the leftovers.

Eva’s mom wants to know if it was Inés, or Alicia, but Eva says it was someone new, and Eva’s mom starts asking her about her new friend. Eva name drops Nora. She’s from Wisconsin! That explains why the leftovers were just a heaping pile of cheese curds.

Eva’s mom says Eva can invite her new friend, or Inés and Alicia, over whenever she wants. She just wants to ask Nora about her fascinating culture, like why the fuck are so many serial killers from Wisconsin?

Eva tries a few versions of a text to Jorge but sends none of them. Sometimes there is no emoji to convey how sorry you are.

Clip 2 - Nora knows shit is up

Viri tells the girls that she totally doesn’t give a shit about Alejandro. Also, his name sucks. His name is Alejandro, what a loser! This is a completely rational and convincing line of thought.

The girls are like, are you SURE you’re over him? Viri is like, TOTES! And Amira is like, well good, because he’s coming.

Viri is like, I’m not looking! And to her credit … she doesn’t look at him! The other girls all stare at him, and then look awkwardly away when he notices, but Viri does NOT look back at him. Good girl. The other girls are very proud of her. They didn’t think she had it in her.

Eva is distracted by her phone again, and as the other girls run off to the cafeteria, Nora hangs back. Already taking care of her girl!

Clip 3 - Eva and Lucas in class

Eva and Lucas are in class together, ostensibly supposed to be working with a microscope. Eva is more like, check out this incredibly awkward text conversation I’m having with my boyfriend!

Lucas is like goddamn you two are ridiculous. He advises her to talk to Jorge face to face. WHICH IS PERFECTLY REASONABLE ADVICE.

I wonder if the microscope lecture has anything to do with “observation” and Eva putting her boyfriend and Inés under a microscope for inspection. (I mean ... yeah. It does.)

Eva says Jorge has to apologize first, Lucas is like, ummm, you looked through his phone? Again, HE’S NOT WRONG. Both Eva and Jorge fucked up.

She justifies herself by saying his phone was right there and she didn’t even have to unlock it, which, I have to say, is the kind of excuse I’d make if I were trying to weasel my way out of this situation. But Lucas points out that she then asked to see Jorge’s text conversations. Definitely not a “I didn’t even have to unlock it” scenario. So Eva (or Jorge) must have told him, in detail, what happened.

Eva’s all, ugh, why did I even tell you, you’re going to take Jorge’s side because he’s your best friend. Lucas is like, I calls it as I sees it. He tells Jorge when he messes up so he’ll tell Eva when she messes up. Eva asks when Jorge has messed up, digging for dirt, but Lucas doesn’t bite. (EDIT from the future: I don’t want to do to many of these, but looking at this from a few episodes down the line, I can see that Eva really doesn’t get how much Lucas is her friend, not just Jorge’s.)

Lucas is being completely reasonable with her? Seemingly not duplicitous at all like Isak. He has given her completely solid, sensible advice. So on the one hand, good for him! On the other, what’s his role in the reason going to be? Is he going to get tired of Eva bugging him and complaining about Jorge and just snap at her to go talk to Inés? Is he not going to be the snake? 

Clip 4 - I want carrot cake now so thanks for that

Eva and Lucas meet up in a cafe, where they order carrot cake in sync, as planned. They’re clearly friends outside of Jorge, man! 

Lucas has apparently tricked both Eva and Jorge into showing up so they can talk out their issues. Snake Lucas in action!

Although lmao, what if this is the snakiest Lucas gets? “I put you two in the same room so you can talk about your issues?” Like is he hoping they implode, or is this a genuine attempt to help their relationship because he cares about them and wants them to get back together? 

Lucas leaves. Jorge sits down and it’s awkward, they just sit in silence. Jorge is clearly pissed.

Eva is like, well, if it’s gonna be like this, might as well have cake. This silence goes on for a while before Jorge also picks up a spoon and goes for the cake. Eva has completely the right idea by knocking Jorge’s spoon away whenever he tries to take a bite. That’s right. Get your own cake, bro. (I love that he looks genuinely stunned by her territorial stance on the cake.)

However, the mood lightens, and we pull back outside the cafe and watch them as they start fighting playfully over the cake, culminating in Eva getting some frosting on Jorge’s nose, and them kissing over the table.

This is one of my favorite scenes thus far! It shows them making up after their fight, but it feels like more like a temporary truce than an end to the war. Like this is very cute, but it’s them melting without actually talking about their issues, as far as we could tell. And that sets us up for Eva being ready to believe Jorge is cheating on her again, because they haven’t scratched their real issues, they haven’t come clean with each other (or Jorge hasn’t).

“This hell feels better with you.” Doesn’t that feel right? They’ve still got issues but it’s better with each other.

Clip 5 - Amira knows shit is up

Well, Viri looks miserable. Nora is like, “It’s (mouths) Alejandro” but Viri vehemently denies this. I wonder why she felt like shit all of a sudden? I mean, we figured she wasn’t truly over him, but why this relapse all of a sudden?

Eva suggests Viri get together with one of Jorge’s friends, mentioning they’re desperate, and Viri does not take kindly to the suggestion of getting together with the leftovers/virgins. Lmao, girl, if you follow Vilde’s trajectory, you’re going to be exploring your cat fetish with one of them in a few seasons.

Cris is also like “don’t aim for a 12 when you’re a 6.5,” meaning Alejandro is out of Viri’s league, and Viri’s like, YOU’RE the 6.5. And I mean … Cris was kind of asking for that, lmao. If Viri feels like shit being told to go for the leftovers, it’s not actually fun to hear that you shouldn’t go for a guy who is much better than you. Cris seems unbothered, anyway. Nora tells the girls they’re not numbers, which is right! 

Eva sees Amira walk in with Inés. SHIT. And they’re looking toward Eva. SHIT.

 Amira gives an innocuous reason why she and Inés were talking. But Amira also says that Eva can confide in her if she has a problem with Inés. Amira is so great.

Eva is all HA, nothing’s wrong! Amira believes that like she believes Viri is over Alejandro, but lets it drop.

These clips are really short, they need more room to breathe.

Clip 6 - TRUTH OR DARE

Botellón time! Is that a tunnel they’re partying in?

Looks like the girls AND the guys are together, Jorge is there with his crew. Cris asks Viri which she likes out of Jorge’s friends. Viri is emphatically into none of them. I’m going to laugh if she does end up hooking up with one of them as the Magnus.

Amira’s prayer app goes off. The girls are incredulous that she is going to pray right there and then. Interestingly, the ignorance is not confined to Viri; Eva is like nah, she’s not going to pray right here. And then suggests Amira might feel better praying in a private place.

Amira takes a beat to be like, damn, these white girls, then says she prayed before coming but forgot to turn off the alarm. The girls look relieved, like they were embarrassed or uncomfortable if Amira was going to pray right there. Wow. I’m glad they’re not putting all the Islamophobia on Viri since the other girls are capable of casual examples of it. 

Especially because Amira didn’t really stand up for herself there, she actually played it off. Which is more insecure and unexpected.

Cris is even like “That was scary.” Yikes, Cris!

I suspect that moment was Hajar’s input, that maybe this is a situation she has been in.

Jorge and his crew come over. The girls try to get Viri to pay attention to the boys, but she is engrossed in her phone. Whoever could it be????

By the way, just wanted to say that I LOVE combined girl squad and boy squad interaction this early in the series.

Lucas comes over with some ice as Eva and Jorge start to kiss. His face falls. Going back to the carrot cake scene, was he hoping it’d implode right there, or was he genuinely trying to be a good dude and help them work out their issues? And being a good friend also means getting his heart broken in moments like this? 

What’s also interesting is that Nora looks at Lucas, and he realizes she’s looking and smiles at her. Intriguing! Did Nora realize Lucas seemed sad watching Eva and Jorge kiss? Is she going to figure out why that might be? Or assume he wants Eva?

Cris suggests truth or dare. Everyone is into it. Cris goes first, and picks dare. Of course, she seems like a “dare” type of girl. Eva dares her to make out with the person she likes best from the circle. Cris chooses Jorge’s friend Hugo and makes out with him. I almost wanted her to choose Lucas just because imagine a Cris/Chris in one of the Skam universes actually getting to make out with an Isak? But obviously I do not want Lucas to be uncomfortable or sad and forced into heterosexual situations. (But that would have been some dramaaa, wouldn’t it?)

I find those dorky dudes so cute, they’re so hyped about Hugo getting to make out with her!

Fun game, right? Then Eva picks truth (girl, you should have seen this shit coming), Amira asks her what’s her beef with Inés. AMIRA. Come on. If Eva is that uncomfortable talking about it, as you suspect she is, don’t ask her about it in front of like 10 people! I guess the sacred laws of truth or dare compelled her to get some answers.

Lucas actually says Eva can change her mind about truth, which is sweet of him. He knows the real reason and is trying to protect her. Again, Lucas is YOUR friend, Eva.

Eva tells a half-truth: she and Inés used to be inseparable best friends, now Inés is mad at her. Because once Inés got too drunk and smoked and got sick, passed out, and Eva called Inés’ parents, and they grounded Inés and are more controlling with her.

Now is there any truth to that story? Like maybe it was a fight they’d had previously? Because Eva seems pretty bold and confident about that story, not like it’s a total lie she made up on the spot.

The girls are like, well, that’s dumb of Inés to hate you for that. Jorge is kind of side-eyeing Eva. He’s been quiet during Eva’s turn.

While the girls are talking, Viri gets a text that makes her smile. HMMM. WHO COULD IT BE. (alejandro, alejandroooo)

Viri goes next, goes for truth, in a remarkably better mood. Lucas asks if it’s true she made out with a 2nd year. This is old news to the girls, but Viri is takes the moment to announce Alejandro texted her, and that puts Nora on alert. Viri says he wants to meet up. The girls are like, but he ignored you? He’s mean to you? Viri ignores their warnings. I bet Alejandro ignored her on purpose, then contacted her again to stoke her interest.

Eva and Jorge are being super awkward after Eva’s turn.

This clip needed to be so much longer!!! More truth or dare shenanigans, pleeeease. (lmao, we TOTALLY needed a Lucas truth or dare where it ended up being a ~hint)

Clip 7 - Eva knows shit is up (it’s her stomach)

Eva and Jorge walk home silently. There’s a nice little moment where he grabs her elbow as a car passes.

She says she didn’t lie during the game, so I guess that story was something that happened even if it wasn’t THE reason Inés hates her.

Eva starts to feel sick. Jorge rubs her back as it seems like she might puke. Somehow I think her feeling sick has nothing to do with how much she might have had to drink tonight.

We get a shot of Eva and Jorge holding hands and then pulling away, I can’t tell for sure who pulls away first but I think it’s Eva. I guess they might be pulling away because they’re at Eva’s place now? Although lol, if Eva’s mom were to see them together, she could probably draw conclusions whether they were holding hands or not. So I like the more symbolic representation. Trying to be together, always pulling apart.

Eva is really sad. Jorge says they’ll talk tomorrow. This was a good scene, with their quiet, nearly wordless interaction.

Eva spits up a little after Jorge leaves.

Wait, she barfs even more.

She held it in until Jorge left, much like she held in her feelings! Trying to act like she’s more okay than she is!

Social Media

Eva and Jorge have a very terse, cold text conversation after the argument in the last episode. Things don’t improve until carrot cake happens.

By the way, that carrot cake was a BIG FUCKING DEAL. Lucas tempted Eva with it, Eva posted pre-carrot cake excitement, there were cute pics of her and Jorge with cake smeared on their faces. I’m really distraught, because carrot cake is one of those things I don’t eat very often (I like it fine but it’s not my favorite dessert or anything) but now all I can think of is getting my hands on some carrot cake? Was this episode sponsored by Big Carrot?

Also, carrot cake belongs to Eva and Jorge now. There’s a text about how it will be their thing when they fight, but also they’re never fighting again, so it’s not! And it’s very cute and you just want to be like lololol, children, cake doesn’t solve relationship dysfunction and you are absolutely going to fight again. But I mean, this is me being jaded. Let them enjoy their youthful idealism. (They did not talk about Inés at all, notably. They were fighting and then decided to just stop being mad.)

Boy Cris posts such weirdly artsy selfies on IG?

There’s a cute moment in the texts where Amira says the Muslim woman emoji doesn’t raise her hand, and then includes a pic of herself demonstrating. Get that girl her emoji!

Here’s an interesting theory that maybe Amira was more of a partier/drinker in the past, based on a text message. That would be a big new direction to take the Sana character, especially as we know Amira is new to wearing hijab? Like if she has recently made some major life changes due to her religion, it could be very rich for her characterization, especially in her own season.

Lucas posted a picture/meme of himself watching Eva and Jorge be lovey together and referring him to a third wheel (a “candleholder” in Spanish, heh). So he’s posting that publicly and passing it off as a joke, obviously. But does he feel that way because he’s gay and not being able to openly have a relationship like Eva and Jorge can? Or a reference to his jealousy over liking Jorge? Both? This isn’t the first time he’s made a some kind of reference to their awkward trio status (the underwater pic where Eva is largely cut out because they can’t get the three of them in one photo).

On Instagram, Nora is disgusted by Kavanaugh’s appointment to the US Supreme Court. I feel you, girl. This fucking trash pile of an administration. I like that they had her post about it, not just because it fits with her feminist ideals, but because she’s from Wisconsin and this surely affects her personally - I don’t think we know what brought her family to Spain or how long they plan on staying, right? If this is permanent or temporary? But at the very least, we know she has family back in the U.S.

Eva super loves pizza. Pizza is bae. I hope she can take comfort in pizza once things go south with Jorge. Okay, maybe that’s not the best solution.

Feel free to correct me or clarify any cultural or language context!

If you got this far, thank you for reading!

[thirteenthspirit]

I would, my friend, Fernando (Part I)

Where to start… You know how they say you instantly know it when you meet ‘the one’ – you know, that person you think you’re meant to spend the rest of your days with, grow old together, the whole shebang. Well, I think it happened to me. Emphasis on the ‘think’ bit.

I met him as a random grindr hookup – sure, not the prettiest beginning to a story, but I’m sure I’ll weave a prettier lie at our wedding. It was nice and all, but we barely bothered to learn each other’s names.

A few months later, I was about to do a Raid in Pokémon GO with the usual team when he showed up, joining the party. I didn’t instantly recognize him, but as we kept raiding the following days and he kept appearing, I realized it was him. The random hipster hookup from a couple of months ago.

When I say hipster, what I really mean is… I have no idea. Somewhere between fashionable and trashy, cool and geeky, ‘lumberjack chic’ – but, as he himself would put it, sometime later, “skinny legend fashion icon”. Just rolls off the tongue, am I right. So you have a clearer picture, he is very tall, appears to be in his early 30s and is overtly fond of beanies and skinny jeans – oh, and of course, the moustache. Not the gross overgrown kind nor the plain ‘single line’ one, but a perfect blend of both, just looks good and different on him. The kind of person that draws everyone’s gaze in, when they enter the room.

He eventually joined our local whatsapp group for Pokémon GO raids and we began to see each other more often. It was a fun game of “we have met before but we don’t really acknowledge it”, between me and him. He sent me a friend request on Instagram, and we began to chat one-on-one from there.

The conversation began developing after I learned that he needed a Spinda, of which I had 2, so I offered him one. He lived literally across the street from me, so we could trade from our respective couches. I think that same day, since we lived so close together, we arranged to go for a walk after dinner, to catch Pokémon. The never-ending “shiny hunt”.

And again the following day.

And the next. And the next one after that too.

The conversation deepened. Since we met in that fashion, there were no boundaries regarding our hookups and sexuality. It didn’t take long for us to become very good friends and talk on a constant basis. Plus we had a lot of interests in common – we were both somewhat emotionally-distant people and with a peculiar sense of humor.

For us to connect so easily, it was definitely a weird thing - my area of expertise is Finance (I currently work at a bank) and my professional experience has always been at several desk jobs. Some better, some worse, but ‘inconsistently consistent’ (the reverse of Grace Helbig). A corporate man, I guess, leaning more towards the realistic side of life, rather than pandering to the dreamer and ambitious one. He is on the opposite end of the spectrum. He is an elementary school teacher and an editor for a magazine and has even written (and successfully published) his own book. A writer in every sense of the word.

Personality-wise, I am what you would call an introvert by nature – not exactly shy, but definitely the proud owner of a handful of unresolved childhood issues caused by enthusiastic bullies and shame. I wear glasses, which help in conveying the whole ‘geek’ category and am of an average build and somewhat tall. I’ve still got my share of face imperfections and pimples at the age of 25 and look younger than my actual age – something we both have in common. Our personalities just clicked though, his extremely offensive sense of humor contrasts well to my fake well-behaved and nice demeanor and we’ve bot got similar personal values and empathy when dealing with others. A couple of nice chaps, is what the ordinary passerby would think.

We became best friends. He confided in me about his past relationships, the good the bad and the (very) ugly and I vented to him about my insecurities and depressive thoughts. We saw each other roughly every day, during our usual “old ladies” walk through a nearby park, always worshipping that battery-draining app. On the weekends, we unknowingly formed the habit of getting breakfast together and basking in the sun for a bit. I was going through a tough time at the time, what with my mother not being in her best shape or form, mentally speaking, leading me to come out to my parents amidst an argument (NOT the best way to do it) – this situation worsened after we had a little house-fire scare. So his presence really helped and comforted me.

Time passed. Mall trips, community days, ex raids, regular dinners and breakfasts and breakfast-lunches. He was pretty much the person I saw the most. And quickly became my favorite.

I was always keenly aware of how close we were getting, and how it might be affecting me and my ability to connect with other friends, but I never gave much thought to the situation escalating. He was 38 years old, and I was 25. The thought alone made me never overthink the relationship.

Until I did. Until the “what if” statement popped into my mind. And the age gap just… lost its entire relevance. I tried to push the feelings down, but as all feelings do, it just made them get bigger and more intense. You see, my past relationships have been failed ones, because I wasn’t emotionally involved in them – I was like meh. So I didn’t really know what it was like to actually like someone. But I was smart enough to recognize it – this was probably my first real interaction with “infatuation” and dare I say it, love.

Here’s the part of the story where the sky is bright and the road ahead is hopeful and sunny.

Spoilers: It’s not.

Why not? Well. Because it’s completely one-sided. Unrequited love. Nothing less, nothing more, the usual boring sappy story of friend in love with his best-friend but unable to do anything about it.

“Well, why not do anything about it? Tell him!” The Jiminy Cricket in my head says.

I definitely let him know, I drop hints here and there, statements like “we’ll be together in 20 years” and getting notably jealous when he’s texting or telling me about his sexy-time and dates with other men (this part hurts particularly). So he knows. If he’s choosing not to see it, I know he has good reasons for it and I am good enough a friend to know not to act on it. It’s cruel on my part to try and force something that shouldn’t happen.

And why should it happen? I don’t really have much to offer him. I’m not his type, I still live with my parents (which I attribute to the ridiculously high rents here in Lisbon) and am overall kind of an emotional mess. Tbh, I wouldn’t pick myself either. But that’s an issue for another day, it’ll get resolved eventually. By myself, not by piling it onto somebody or using a relationship to distract from it.

Also he met ‘the one’ already. Or what he says he’s afraid might have been the one. His last boyfriend, who we name ‘psychopath’, definitely earned his nickname. Physically and emotionally abusive, he left a scar. And Fer is smart enough not to get into a relationship this soon after said breakup, as there is still too much fresh baggage, ready to be thrown at the next man in.

And there are (many) candidates for the ‘next man’ position. He’s a fascinating man and they are immediately enthralled by him (here’s the pot calling the kettle black), so he does leave a string of broken hearts behind him.

I don’t like hearing him talk about this. I can see there is a hint of pain in his eyes when he jokingly says he’ll never find anyone and is fated to remain single his entire life, to which I jokingly retort he’ll never be alone, as he’ll have me. And this is the part that really hurts me – I am content. I am content with being the best friend and I’ll eventually have to deal with him finding someone else, and watching him be happy in a (hopefully) long-lasting relationship. And I’ll be there. The pathetic best friend story from the B-list storyline of Hermione and Ron from Harry Potter. I’d rather have an Elio and Oliver thing, as fleeting as it might be, over a lifetime of longing for something that will never be. I want nothing but the best for him, he deserves it. But… we could be happy together. We could have a life. And that realization kills me.

Then again, years haven’t passed. Time does cure all wounds. Maybe time will heal these feelings, some days they are stronger, somedays they are weaker. Some days I am sure I can call them love, others it’s something darker.

I have realized something, though – I should let myself feel them. It’s ok not to act on them, if I think that’s the best course of action. But I should not repress them. I do love him (how could I not?) and that’s okay. I felt pathetic for feeling them, at first. Especially the jealousy bit I always judged my friends for, that one is a particularly nasty feeling.

But hey, for someone who thought himself to be emotionally shipwrecked, the ship floats! I think that should be my takeaway from this. That’s a positive outlook, right?

And more than anything, I should be grateful to my best friend for showing me something new I wouldn’t have known otherwise.

So if you ever end up reading this, Fer, know that it’s true. Also sorry it’s in English! And sorry if it’s all too much. But I do love you, and will always be a part of your life, in whatever role you deem fit. Now I’ll close this, as it’s time to go on our daily Pokémon run.                                                                                                                                                                                               -João A. (Xanuda)

Link to Part 2 “I Wish I Hadn’t”: http://thirteenthspirit.tumblr.com/post/183770872439/i-wish-i-hadnt-part-ii

[latinalesbi]

The good trouble account doesn’t even follow the moms or boys lol so much for the family

Yes, they tag Sherri and Teri in posts. They are such users.

Anonymous said:                                                                      Cringe at some of the fans of the show I really do. On twitter for the 1st time in ages Joanna baits them. BB has gone quiet thank god. They’ve all moved on people. They got bored of writing for the moms-never really knew what to do with them s3 onwards. They wanted Maia front and center that’s evident, the spin off was their idea. The amount of new characters on their new show means money wasn’t the real issue. They’ve moved studios to cut costs. They gave up on Teri and Sherri thats the truth.

Yes, this officially makes Joanna the worst one. How she gonna tell a FAN that if she raises 30 MILLION dollars, she’ll produce the show. Bitch please. SHUT Up. She makes me so angry. They went along with whatever Freeform wanted. It’s so sad. They didn’t want the older lesbians and that’s a fact. These women weren’t sleeping around getting down with multiple women and they weren’t young things (yeah I am looking at you Bold Type and their male gaze), Freeform had no room to make a couple like Stef and Lena, front and center.

Anonymous said:                                                                      If only they had realised the storm their decision would’ve caused both Fform and the creators of the fosters. I think had they realised their new shows cloak & dagger etc would do as badly as they have they would have sanctioned a season 6. In fact I’m sure. They need the viewing figures. If the creators really wanted to go down the line of the spin off they could have run both show concurrently, that would’ve appeased every1. Like Blackish and Grownish do now Wonder if that idea ever came up?    

I think maybe you are right. Grownish came in like a hit, and that’s around the time they announced cancellation, but it’s clear now: Freeform show suck. No one wants to watch this network. The Fosters was a product of ABC F and Freeform hated it for that.

Anonymous said:                                                                      Roll my eyes at people on twitter telling us we should support this new show as The Fosters was a family and fam supports fam. Dear lord they don’t seem to get the fact that this so called family behind the scenes betrayed each other. They negotiated behind the back of Teri Sherri and the guys and left them blindsided by the decision. Bradley Peter Maia Cierra and Joanna were all complicit in that. Their ‘family’ lost their jobs whilst they not only kept theirs but no doubt got pay rises. Asses!            

Anyone who wants to sell me that shit, can go fuck themselves. What a waste of energy. This wasn’t a family, this was a job, people got fucked over, I want to see the backstabbers crash and burn.

Anonymous said:                                                                      It was the Callie show for the past two seasons. Literally everything that could happen to a person happened to her lol! They didn’t really have a use for the other characters anymore. The only reason they are bringing Cierra -Marianna on board for the new show is that they are good friends in real life. I really believe that. Can’t believe they are producers too, the former cast must have been shocked at that. It’s like a double kick in the balls.          

I agree with that and that’s why this real life friendship has an end date. It will always be Maia and guest. If production money is all she cares about then maybe it will last. However, if the limelight she seeks, then she will be disappointed.

Anonymous said:                                                                      I loved the first few seasons of The Fosters. It was so family orientated. I loved the relationship between Stef and Calli it was what I wished for if Im honest. The show became too political for me at the end, they lost a little of what made it special.

I’ve said it before, the Trump election ruined the country and specifically this show. I needed escapism, ok. Is that ok to say? This show was built on that fantasy of a life. Suddenly, everything was about Trump even though on their timeline, he hadn’t been elected. They should have left the fosters alone and made a political show elsewhere.

Anonymous said:                                                                      Thought of watching Good Trouble every week and who is Callie going to save next urgh!They’ll be lots of new young, good looking characters, lots of sex no doubt which is funny considering the moms were barely allowed to touch towards the end. The creators zoned out. They wanted this new show, probably preferred writing for the girls etc. If you read articles at the beginning of The Fosters in 2013 they were so enthused about Stef and Lena, excited to talk about their stories, its worlds apart.          

Well Bradley got divorced and clearly didn’t believe in marriage anymore. He bought himself a young boyfriend and everyone got bored of stef and lena, except the audience. Sadly. It also shows how fake they are. They are actors selling a product. Ultimately, they didn’t really care, they just thought that’s what the network wanted to hear then.

P.S. Just don’t watch troubled shows.

Anonymous said:                                                                      They harp on & boast about their social justice storylines and how this will continue when the real injustice happened on their show in front of all of us. They kept the 2 straight characters and let go the 2 older women who happened to play lesbians and their gay son. These were the characters that had the most social impact & brought the most awareness to the show at the beginning. They gave people hope and a feeling they were being listened too. It’s so sad tptb seem to have forgotten that.            

And their stupid show’s tag is going to an invade a rightfully political tag about a black activist. People looking for this will bump into white savior callie. This isn’t progressive, it’s the typical erasure that happens to lesbians.

Anonymous said:                                                                      The thing that has arisen, if that’s the right word 😂 is the huge love everyone has for Sherri and Teri and their characters Stef and Lena. They truly made a difference to people’s lives. That will never change no matter what the powers that be decide is best for themselves and their network. Maybe Callie and Marianna stories on this spinoff will be worthy but it will never compare to the real affect Teri and Sherri had on so many people. They’re loved universally and that will never go away. X  

History will tell, and no one will remember Good Trouble. No one. 

Anonymous said:                                                                      Famous in Love might not be cancelled after all now. What a joke. Could you imagine how much they are paying Bella Thorne, the ratings are shit and yet they are considering keeping it on the air yet cancel the Fosters, the highest rating show? They just want to keep Marlene King sweet no doubt, she’s got her PLL spinoff coming. It’s all trash, the network and the creators of the Fosters. In a few years time the Fosters will still be talked about, maybe then they’ll appreciate Sherri and Teri.             

It was. Thank god. Next, Bold Type and next cancel the network.

Anonymous said:                                                                      If it was a money thing why didn’t they just skim down the amount of guest characters they brought in and go back to family stories? There were so many new characters every week we couldn’t keep up & made the show feel disjointed, we didn’t have any loyalty to them. Getting rid of the boys and the moms will have saved them money, yes, they’ve moved studios too so that’s a cost cut. But then they’ve cast a load of new characters for the spin off and made the girls ep’s. Something isn’t right.             

It was not a money thing at all. They want to say that but it’s not. It was about older women and how Freeform can’t sell that. Or rather, about how they don’t know how to sell it.

Anonymous said:                                                                      Don’t worry peeps. They will realise their mistakes. The Fosters was the family. When that started to be phased out we stayed around honestly due to the connection we’d built with the characters and the those that played them. You don’t build that loyalty up overnight. They didn’t think about the fans, if they did they’d have known dumping some of the cast and picking others was a non starter. Go out on a high as the family you began with, that’s what they should have done. Everyone or no-one.             

Exactly. I think the good feelings would have remained if they hadn’t betrayed the family. Now things are tainted.

Anonymous said:                                                                      They thought we’d all continue to watch. The apathy towards us as fans is staggering. Unless they manage to generate a whole new sector of viewers which they won’t, their ratings are going to suffer hugely. They will lose so many of us. Some will be intrigued by the first ep, after that and realising the rest of the cast are really no more it will slide off. They created and had something special, this spinoff tarnished it for me.             

The thing fans aren’t really a thing to these people. The noise people make on twitter is completely just that for them, background noise. That’s why I enjoyed when someone ruffles their feathers. When truth comes close to home, they react. If Freeform knew how to create a  hit, they would have done so by now. The Fosters was successful because of the fanbase it had built from the ABCF days. Hours of politics, the law and callie. No thanks.

Anonymous said:                                                                      If their idea of family is to forsake their fellow cast then who’d want to be a part of that? Sellouts pure and simple, money over ‘family.’             

That’s it. Nothing else.

Anonymous said:                                                                      I watch the ratings for shows, it was odd to me when the decision was made. The Fosters at that point was their highest rated show both live figure and the delayed viewing. And yes most def their most stable show. Sirens had since done well. Grownish dropped, Cloak & Dagger, started well-ish but then dropped. The Bold Type has always been low and Famous in Love- terrible. Last season it always beat Shadowhunters too. That show had a big international deal to be fair. Really strange decision.           

And yet they canned Shadowhunters. If there was a show I could believe had some weird cult following online, it would be that. They didn’t care either. I don’t know what Freeform is aiming for. Race to the bottom with them.

Anonymous said:                                                                      My thinking: Teri and Sherri had the highest salaries. Fform knew the ratings were good. Thought Maia and Cierra with their social media following were popular and therefore could lead a show thus save money by getting rid of Teri and Sherri and it wouldn’t affect the ratings. They didn’t realise the demographic of audience was vast. People watched the show for a variety of reasons. They should have done some polling before making the decision, would have been clear pretty quick. Amateur network             

I don’t know. They made maia and cierra more money as producers then they would have with The Fosters. It’s almost as if those 2 were the problem with money. They were demanding so much, the network couldn’t afford to pay anyone else much. The network is trash. I will live to see it die.

[riverdalerunner]

Riverdale Runner's notes on Season 1 Episode 1 - "Chapter One: The River's Edge"

We open our investigation with an overview of Riverdale, the town herself. [ Wiki says they are filming in Vancouver. Knowing production of Supergirl was moved to Canada for S2, curious if that’s an overall move on The CW’s part to bring down costs of their shows. 4 DC Universe shows and the cost to keep Riverdale in shape must take its toll on the bottom line. ]

“RIVERDALE: A town with PEP!” [ And protein powder, we soon find out. ]

Catching our first glimpses of the Blossom twins, driving out to the river. [ The cinematography for this whole opening is stunning. The contrast of the forest and river with the Blossoms with breathtaking. My first reaction was to fall in love with a Cheryl and her whole look. The GLOVES! ]

Hello, Jughead! Fellow snooper into the town’s tragic death. He also seems to know that this story has only just begun and will be keeping record of what happens in the Blossom Death mystery. [ Also a big welcome back to TV to Cole Sprouse. Been following him and his brother on Twitter and social media the last couple years. Seem like funny guys. Always thought there had to be more depth to their acting. Glad to see one of them explore that talent further. Curious to know if his twin will ever give us “Jughead 2” moment. Perhaps “Evil Twin Jughead”? Nah. But it IS The CW so you never know…. ]

Introducing Veronica Lodge. [ Jughead calls her a “mystery”. Or so it seems since his monologue is taking place during her introduction. I’m excited to know in what ways Veronica’s story unfolds. But for now, it’s just nice to see one of our main girls for the first time. ]

Betty and Kevin hanging out in her room. [ I would scream “SCANDAL!” due to Betty’s shirtless intro but, you know, Kevin…. ]

“Game changer. Archie got hot!” [ Yup. Very tongue in cheek. Still unclear why Betty didn’t see Archie all summer. You live next door to him, you can see his bedroom from yours, and his dad’s company is IN Riverdale. 🤔 ]

Oh. Internship. [ You do those in high school? ]

Entering into Pop’s, Little Black Riding Hood.

POP CULTURE REFERENCE: Truman Capote. [ Appropriate for a Veronica moment. ]

Mrs. Cooper laying it on heavy. [ So clearly we aren’t meant to like her. And they succeed at making that very easy to do. I hate her. For someone so overbearing and protective, surprised Betty topless in a room with a boy, even Kevin, seems implausible now. Even if he is gay. All boys are the same right? *insert eye roll here* ]

Reggie is giving us full on jock. “Diesel” is a meat head’s version of “fleek”.

Kevin is available for all your social needs. [ Word to the wise, asking someone about their father’s alleged crimes is PROBABLY not a good ice breaker. ]

POP CULTURE REFERENCE : Blue Jasmine

JOSIE AND THE MUTHA FUCKING PUSSYCATS!!! [ Bring me the vocals, bring me the sass, bring me the looks! Queen Josie and her pussycats are going to give me LIFE! ]

Bye, Archie. You can’t play with the girls.

Veronica Lodge will try anything once. And how will she know what she likes until she’s had them all?

The “Jason Died” assembly. [ Cheryl’s veil was cute. Jughead ain’t buying what Cheryl is selling though. Can’t blame him. ]

Archie/Ms. Grundy [ GROOOOOOSS! I don’t like any of it. I don’t even really want to discuss it. It’s messy and yucky and I’m not enjoying it. ]

Mrs. Lodge can’t seem to catch a break. [ If I have to pick any of the parents as my favorite at this point, it’s her. ]

Incredible? I don’t know, Ronnie. [ To answer your question, Archie can’t make smart love decisions. That’s what he can’t do. ]

That was one awkward hair flip, Cheryl.

POP CULTURE REFERENCE: Twitter handles.

POP CULTURE REFERENCE: Season 5 Betty Draper. [ Stop. It. Favorite pop mention of the episode by far. ]

I aspire to be Queen Bae of Drab High.

Archie was sexually abused by his teacher. Archie needs someone to talk to FO REALS. [ I’m vomiting in my mouth. ]

THE BETTY/VERONICA KISS. [ Thank you to Cheryl for being us, the audience, in that moment and making it clear girl on girl kisses are not a bomb dropping moment anymore. I did like that its over and done with though. Also, keep an eye on that Betty. She has something deep inside waiting to come out. ]

Veronica standing up for her girl. Perfection. Veronica is killing it one episode in. I’m here for it.

Betty/Veronica heart to heart. [ Truth hurts. But it sets you free. Veronica is kinda lucky that’s happening to her now but she’s only in high school. She has a lot more life to go. Betty definitely needed someone to talk to about Polly. Recognizing her mother isn’t okay in the head is pretty important. It’s hard to see your parent’s flaws. ]

“Archiekins”. Love.

Betty’s mom is the worst. [ The actress herself is doing an excellent job. The character is pissing me oooooooff. ]

Mr. Lodge making sure his girls stay in style. [ I’m so excited to see this storyline be fleshed out down the line. Hope Mrs. Lodge has a good way of keeping that money off the record. I need my Lodge girls fashion forward. ]

Mr. Andrews lecture. [ Seriously, that was just great life advice in general. Archie should pay attention to his dad. And Mr. Andrews should PAY MORE ATTENTION TO HIS SON. HE’S BEING TOYED WITH BY HIS GROWN ASS TEACHER!!! ]

The threesome dance date. [ Keeping the spirit of the Triangle alive on screen. While I don’t want it to be a real thing we struggle through as an audience it wouldn’t be our Riverdale if these three didn’t have a little bit of the comic love triangle flair. The CW is pretty great at failing the Bechdel test frequently. I really hope this show does a better job at showcasing girls in a way that doesn’t revolve their every storyline around romance. ]

Moose is gay/bi/curious!!! THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

ARCHIE STAY AWAY!!!

Josie and the Pussycats can perform a song a week. I’m okay with it. [ And I will download the album on Apple Music at the end of the season happily. ]

Cheryl this is NOT a healthy way of grieving. Making others miserable will only make you feel better until the next day when you wake up and you are still a bitch and your brother is still dead.

Veronica is asking the real questions. [ As much as I hate the Veronica/Archie scene it was very necessary for the real Archie fans tuning in. ]

The fact that Veronica seems to genuinely regret her actions to cause Betty some hurt redeemed her to me. Archie is just a stupid boy and problematic.

Ronnie really wishes she was at the Met Ball. [ Once, smart. Twice, easy. ]

Jughead is me. I am Jughead. [ Conspiracies running amuck in Riverdale. ]

So Archie and Jughead have had some issues. The sooner that gets fixed the better. Those two belong together as much as Betty and Veronica do.

Archie breaking Betty’s heart. [ Necessary but sad. We’ll see where that goes as the story progresses. Archie telling Betty he isn’t good enough for her isn’t a good enough answer. ]

Kevin and Moose are finally alone and doing “not-gay” things. [ Also glad Kevin seems eager to go at Moose’s pace. IMPORTANT: Always make sure your sexual partner is comfortable with what you are going to be doing. ]

AAAAAAND JASON WAS SHOT. So much for Cheryl’s drowning story.

Well. Jughead wasn’t wrong. Riverdale isn’t the Riverdale we all knew ‘til now. But it’s not bad.

[ I WILL be doing these for current and future episodes. Will try to get to episode 2 and 3 before Thursday. Then you will be able to expect them by Sunday following their releases unless otherwise noted. Please follow me! I would love to follow you, go over notes, bounce theories around, you name it! Until next time, Riverdale Runner editor out. ]

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Can doing away with apps cure our phone addictions?

New Post has been published on https://pressography.org/can-doing-away-with-apps-cure-our-phone-addictions/

Can doing away with apps cure our phone addictions?

Mindfulness is having a second. I don’t recognise while it commenced, but sooner or later my very not-woke pal become into meditation, after which some other day my mother became reading The Existence-Converting Magic of Tidying Up and telling me I must simplest personal objects that spark an emotional response.

Now, a phone that’s launching on Kickstarter is making an attempt to faucet into that same movement. The telephone is referred to as Siempo, and it’s primarily based around the concept that we’re now not only hooked on our phones, but we’re also not happy about that truth and crave manipulate.

The tool’s software program goals to provide us time away from our maximum crucial gadget. Siempo runs on a custom OS primarily based off the Android Open Supply Mission and is marketed as a “mindful” cellphone. It doesn’t encompass an app store. That means no Instagram, Snapchat, or Facebook. As an alternative, you get the necessities: cellphone calls, messaging, Google Maps, notes, contacts, and a clock.

Depending on how a great deal cash the business enterprise at the back of Siempo raises, the team may construct out a limited e-mail app or browser. They may will let you set limits at the sites you get admission to or keep you from interacting with all however your favored contacts. Without social media to distract you and make you miserable, Siempo’s wish is that we’ll all be off our phones and paying attention to the sector.

When you first get admission to the home display screen, the smartphone asks what your “purpose is.” This purpose area serves as a command line of kinds, so from it, you may ship a textual content to a pal, create a touch, and make a word. There really isn’t a whole lot to do on a cellphone that doesn’t include apps.

Three different capabilities — Pause, Tempo, and mindful Morning — in addition beautify the calming cellphone storyline. Pause mutes all notifications; Tempo pushes notifications out at a hard and fast c program languageperiod; and conscious Morning is basically a timer that doesn’t permit you to go surfing for a fixed wide variety of minutes. That time can be spent meditating, studying, or operating out — although that’s all on you. You might be tempted to use your computer during this time. Don’t do it Jav Leech.

The telephone itself is lovable. I handiest saw a design mockup in individual, with the OS loaded on a separate device, however Siempo is cute. It’s designed to have a four-inch, high-decision display, a small digicam at the returned, and a 1,600 mAh battery. (The digicam’s for private pictures, now not sharing.) The business enterprise hasn’t launched a full spec list yet, because the information are nevertheless being ironed out, however I wouldn’t thoughts sporting this little thing around. It appears like a play telephone however with more capability and the potential to make me conscious. I guess.

however here’s the issue: I’m now not prepared to surrender Instagram. I sort of can’t imagine Lifestyles With out it? I know that sounds intense, and that i promise you I’m no longer an influencer or something like that, but I surely love Instagram. It’s an excellent app and an clean manner to see what my pals are doing. Given that Siempo desires to be your most effective cellphone, not a complementary accessory, I don’t think I’m the target audience for it. I’m now not ready to prevent the use of iMessage, either. but maybe that’s just my smartphone addiction talking? maybe if I deleted my apps, I’d have a few days of withdrawal after which, I don’t recognise, discover nirvana.

The Cellular smartphone Addict: The united states’s #1 Hassle

Perhaps several many years into the destiny, some thing will be written approximately this period of time indicating Cellular telephones have been the begin of the Exquisite Society Revolution. It probably all commenced a few years lower back while Ross Perot become running for President and lots of our fellow Individuals felt he may really be an awesome president. Mobile phones had been the cause of this.

You spot, it is my notion those folks that voted for Ross Perot in fact have been also heavy customers of Mobile phones. They might keep the telephone to the proper ear close to the a part of the mind that is responsible for rational wondering, destroying some of the brain cells worried within the method. This rendered those human beings helplessly and hopelessly With out rationality. it’s far with this in mind, I can genuinely claim Cell phones as the #1 Trouble with our society and it has come to be America’s #1 addiction Hassle. What has happened to us? Cell telephones are now aside of our Life and a lot of us cannot stay Without it. We are Cell phone junkies. When you have ever misplaced your Cell telephone, you realize what I imply. You are misplaced. The phone however is Ok.

Cell phones: A Social Disease

I was in a restaurant ultimate week, and a Cellular telephone started out to ring. All of a sudden like timed robots all and sundry’s palms went for his or her handbag, pocket or belt and without delay raised their Mobile smartphone to answer the call. Others searched in a panic as they determined out the number one communicating tool is probably lacking. Even more super, maximum decided to reply their phone anyway although it was not ringing. It turned into like a bad lotto, in which simplest one person received the prize. most have been disappointed to discover the decision wasn’t theirs. One character did get the call, and all of the human beings within the eating place applauded. “Congratulations they said, all shouting with glee, maybe next time…it will likely be me! ”

Cellular phones have extraordinary earrings. Some Mobile phones permit the person to choose from a hundred and fifty different opera sonatas written via the Remarkable composers of our time, like Beethoven or Bach. Ask the ones users to name one among them. They cannot. As a remember of truth, when they pick this kind of traditional portions as the ‘Ring’ sound, it’s miles always some thing they heard at one of the Bugs Bunny cartoons. maybe that conventional from the “Rabbit of Seville”.

A few even are training for the game display “Call that Tune”. you recognize, this is wherein the contestants say they can Name a Tune in 6 notes and that they play the six notes. If the contestant guesses the Name of the melody, we’ve a winner! So there you move, flipping thru all the 150 tunes, never hearing the whole music. It is like being attentive to a band Track up. With so many tunes to pick from why is it most people grow to be having the same Song? it is why they all solution the phone on the identical time while the are in a eating place. Nicely, no longer precisely. A few answer their cellphone because they forgot which one they used as their ringing sound. In order that they select up their smartphone just to make sure.

Some Cellular phones come prepared with video games. people in reality play them…by means of themselves. There may be nothing spectacular about them as they’re reinvented ‘Pong’ video games of the overdue 70’s, early 80’s. So it truly is in which all of those Atari programmers went to! What’s ridiculous is at the same time as You are gambling these dimwit games, your battery is sporting down. Then, as you ultimately gained the level 6 bet the 3 Letter Word’ sport, your Cellular cellphone jewelry. You solution it and as the character on the other line tells you which you have won a journey for 2 to Tahiti and $a hundred,000, and you’ve got ten seconds to reply the query: “What day of the week begins with the letter M “, your telephone goes useless. Nicely at least you bought to level 6 at the dimwitted wager the 3 Letter Word sport….

a friend of mine has a wireless smartphone and he is in the scrap metal enterprise. Everywhere he goes, he includes this Mobile cellphone and keeps it on. Who is going to call him at eleven:forty five p.M. Saturday night? Some guy with a dozen aluminum cans to meltdown? I should apprehend if he changed into a mind medical professional or perhaps a health practitioner on name, however a scrap metal supplier? He maintains his Mobile cellphone on because he is a Cellular telephone Addict much like you and me.

Cellular cellphone Addicts Are Impolite

it is wonderful to peer just how Rude humans are when it comes to Mobile telephones. I take into account the times when you will meet with someone and he could pick out up a regular smartphone and say to his secretary “hold all of my calls. I’m in a meeting”. It turned into only well mannered. Now, no person thinks two times approximately answering their Cellular telephone inside the middle of the communication they’re having with you. Manifestly the character you have been assembly with felt you weren’t as important as the other person on the road. On this Mobile phone international we live in, you get stopped within the center of a sentence as the alternative character selections up the Cell phone in a single swooping movement and says ” Jack! Yea, high-quality game remaining month….Oh, I’m no longer doing anything unique in the meanwhile…..certain I got a couple of hours to speak “…and also you wait and wait and wait…..

I am tired of taking part in other fellow Cellular cellphone addicts conversations. I used to be at Starbucks one morning ( I am additionally a espresso addict) when a lady came into the store still talking on her Cellular cellphone. In between her “sincerely. and you don’t say…”, she lifted the smartphone far from her mouth and ordered the Cafe Latt Grand Breve, Decaf. She proceeded to speak about her daughter and the troubles she is having adjusting to kindergarten. The humans in the shop actively participated within the communique by pronouncing matters to her like ‘ get a Lifestyles, will ya’ and ‘are you able to hold it down, I am attempting to finish my verbal exchange on my phone with the President of the united states!!!’. Despite the fact that we were all strangers, this character on the Cell smartphone decided to percentage very private statistics about her family and youngsters. She become speaking as though she turned into in her residence. The following name was to her husband to make certain he’s taking out the rubbish when he gets home, and the financial institution known as saying they have been late on their mortgage bills.