#yes i’m early this is not my official entry this was actually just a coincidence

[floofanflurr]

Hello again! I hope you are having a great weekend!

What about undyne and papyrus in the aftermath of making spaghetti? How would they react to the horror or beauty?

I’m not late responding to this ask, you were just 2 months early. (happy early let papyrus say fuck day)

[accio-victuuri]

Devil Timeline : GG and Web before the official meeting.

Disclaimer that this is All CPN and nothing is really proven. As with all these things, feel free to disagree. Don’t crack your head open thinking, we’re all just clowning here. some info on here are taken from different sources and others I added in. 

What is this timeline/theory all about?

This CPN is all about them liking each other as early as 2015-2016. This is different from the love at first sight theory from 2017 & with them keeping in touch till they meet again in 2018. Part of this speculation is that they are ex-boyfriends. Also that Web was punished (what for and if this is even true, we don’t know.) by his company in 2016 before hosting Day Day Up. I don’t buy the ex-lovers part/punishment. My take on this Devil Timeline is that they were lowkey fanboying each other or have a crush on e/o. Where they in contact or have they met? Yes. possibly. 

Plus, It’s not too outrageous to believe that they know of each other. GG is a koreaboo and he most probably heard of UNIQ. Web on the other hand, most likely heard of XNINE. 

So where are they between 2015-2016?

GG joined the reality program x-fire in 2015 and went on to debut with xnine on 2016 as the main vocalist. Notable acting job was superstar academy. Web on the other hand, was busy with UNIQ. Promoting in Korea, China, Thailand, Brazil and Japan. Notable in 2015 was the release of EOEO. In 2016, he joined the cast of Chinese Odyssey part 3 and was also announced as an assistant host for Day Day Up.

What are some key points to this Timeline? 

1. Love Mole : It all started with this photo. Web holding a picture he drew of someone smiling and with a Mole. A mole on the same place as GG’s.

Another explanation for this is, he was actually drawing himself. there is a fake rumor that says Web is fixated with GG’s mole because he had one on the same site when he was a kid ; then disappeared over time. It goes on to say that Web jokes that GG stole his mole. (this joking tho was done during CQL shooting).

Recently, you can see in his photos that it’s there again. It’s literally the LOVE MOLE! but yeah, going back -- the delulu interpretation here is he was drawing GG. 

2. GG’s dream lover : 2016, On GG’s vlog for Qixi he talks about a “dream lover” and drew it on paper. He goes on to say that he left the face blank as appearance doesn’t matter- It’s about the feeling.

Now onto the drawing of GG, bxg compares the features of the figure to Web.

3. Parallels : Similar posts from 2015-2016. There is not too much out there and we can’t really verify cause of GG’s weibo post restrictions. I can’t find ones aside from the example below cause most of the same posts that we have screenshots of are from 2017 onwards.

On 6/2015, Web posted a picture of himself visiting a spongebob exhibit. On 2/2016, GG shared a picture from his visit of the same place with his friends. It’s too far apart if you ask me and so many people love spongebob, so this could really be a coincidence and not them cueing each other.

4. How long have they really known each other? : The Usually reserved Web was so open with GG during that 2017 TTXS episode. Remember that Web only started being an assistant host on 2016 and is usually very shy. But he interacted with GG in the simplest way by imitating his gesture. Tho the TTXS bros were the first ones who did it, he went ahead and did the pose too. His smile was also teasing.

Compare this with their CQL interviews and GG recalling what he said to his bandmate who was scared that it’s Web who he’s gonna battle with.

I don’t think he said that because he doesn’t know who Web is. Again, it’s too familiar. Like, don’t worry it’s just Web, I know him, he’s good, he won’t kill you. In this interview he proceeds to say that he has faith in his bandmate but after watching Web dance, he knew they could not win. 

Also add Web’s reaction in this interview, trying to wave GG off when he kept on saying he knew of Web for a long time already. 

GG, you just met in 2017, why are you saying you’ve known him for a very long time? “know of” is such a broad term. It can be you know them personally or because Web has been a celebrity longer , that’s why he knew of him. we are betting it’s the latter.

So if that’s what we’re thinking, then why did he say that he knew they couldn’t win AFTER seeing Web dance. If you’ve been a fan and KNOW who wang yibo is- the first thing you will find is that he is an EXCELLENT DANCER. It doesn’t match up. Unless, It’s really GG who first followed Web’s career?

I can go on and on about things these two have lied about from eggplants to carrots and that waterfall scene. They have a say on what narrative they want to put out in this interviews, whether they honestly forgot things or are actively refusing to give information. It’s up to them what they wanna say. 

5. Love clues from 2015-2016 : 

Web’s ideal type : Suzy from Miss A (which was i guess everyone’s ideal girl in the KPOP world during that time) and Taeyeon from SNSD. I know there are parallels of how Suzy and GG look alike and how Taeyeon is kinda like GG. They are both vocalists and are older than Web. 

GG’s ideal type : He said he wants someone who is gentle but can still stand on their own. Also someone with personality. Plus, he doesn’t care if his other half can’t cook because he will do it. When asked what he will do if him and his friend like the same person, he says if he really likes the person then he will fight for it. 

6. The first table read : This is a new entry based on the BTS released last night. We only had snippets of this when they were joking around but this new video shows more. GG just naturally turns to Web and like he’s done it before. There is still some shyness when they were talking about pants but it doesn’t look like two people who have only interacted today. Especially Web’s demeanor, there is a time or two that he hesitates when joking, but that could be because he is testing the waters. 

There was Absolutely no barriers (from GG) in tapping Web’s back a couple of times. If I’m a stranger just watching this, I’ll tell you these two have known each other for quite some time. Not just from that 2017 meeting and beyond.

7. A 2016 drawing - Over the years, we have learned that GG, like many artists put clues in their drawings. with things up to interpretation, as most of the time, he does not explain things outright. One BXG pointed out this drawing he made of a heart + bunny + cat. the Bunny is obviously him, so, love with a cat? Plus the look of the cat, like it’s looking at an innocent bunny. I know power dynamics between the two is a complicated topic, BUT---- 

8. WILDCARD: I know this is a popular fake rumor out there but we don’t really have evidence. No picture and I don’t have a screenshot of a fan account. It says GG went to a Uniq fanmeet on 6/22 in Guangzhou cause he wants to research about idols. This is before he went on xfire. The date 6/22 matches with the 622 coincidence. Consider this as fanfic but this lives in my mind.

That’s it. feel free to add thoughts or some other info you have about this timeline cause I’m sure that I don’t have it all. It feels so good to finally put this out because it’s been sitting on my draft for some time T.T. I am sure there are other explanations for this timeline.This is all CPN anyway. Please don’t take seriously. 

This posted was last edited on 11/28/2020 12:53 PM

[letterstothemidnightsociety]

And I’m back from my midseason finale, continuing my journey to decipher how and why a show about two sexy brothers who hunt ghosts aired on television for over a decade. It’s Supernatural! 

Back in 2009, when I rushed head long from “Salvation”/”Devil’s Trap straight into “In My Time of Dying” (Kripke, you’re being a real bitch with these titles), I was not the TV connoisseur who writes tumblr posts about ancient shows that you read before you. The cliffhanger at the end of “Devil’s Trap” is good enough that it didn’t matter that I’d just crossed the threshold from the first season into the second season. What mattered was that Dean was dying in the back seat and holy shiz, they crushed the Impala?? So I popped out one DVD disc and happily plugged in the next without stopping to think what a new season might mean.

Of course, I knew second seasons were precious. You watch Firefly ONCE and you know the fear of a Show Cancelled Too Soon. Supernatural, apparently, was on the edge of cancellation after season 1, but it’s renewal coincided with the birth of the brand new CW, a network built from the ashes of The WB and UPN respectively, that was in need of nightly programming to fill up the air. So Supernatural was saved (aha) from the Cancellation Bear and remained in it’s (primo) Thursday night time slot, 9pm warning label in-tact. 

What do we say to the Cancellation Bear? Not Today!

That’s not to diminish the importance of it’s renewal for season 2! Depending on what network or cable channel (or year), only something like 20 - 30% of freshman shows get renewed for a season 2. To be fair, if every show that aired in the fall got renewed in the spring, there’d be no time slots left for new freshman shows the following fall, so something’s gotta give. SPN getting a season 2, even if the odds were a little more in their favor than they might want you to think, is still pretty miraculous, especially for 2006. Remember, this is pre-streaming services acquiring original content. In 2006, Netflix was a rental service that focused on mailing you DVDs. Via the U.S. Postal Service. And they wouldn’t officially start acquiring distribution licenses for broadcast shows (let alone their own content) until 2007 - two years after SPN started airing. In the early 2000′s, there were fewer opportunities for television shows to make it in front of an audience because there were fewer options for watching television. I’ll say it a hundred times - Supernatural is a DINOSAUR. 

So what do you do when you’re gripped tight and raised from cancellation after your first season? Well if your Supernatural, you start off with one helluva bang.

Maybe more of a wallop. 

As should be obvious by now, I watch a lot of supernatural and Supernatural-Adjacent television. I love a Season One, but very often those shows start to go downhill in Season 2. Why? For the simple fact that your characters are too good now. They’re too powerful. They’ll never be as vulnerable as they were in season 1, and if there’s no vulnerability, there’s less concern about their survivability. I’m not as invested in these characters because I’m not worried about them anymore. There’s not tension of will they/won’t they - you know they will, in the end, overcome. Of course, the solution to this conundrum is to level your villains up alongside your heroes. The trouble with that strategy is you end up with ludicrously, laughably super strong villains that lose their grounding in reality. This is a problem I foresee for SPN post season 5, but I haven’t gotten there yet, so I’ll leave that alone for right now.

So for me, what Supernatural does at the start of season 2 is genius. Think about the end of season 1 - our boys lose. They straight up failed. They had one goal - kill the demon that killed their women mom/wife and girlfriend - and they did not even remotely do that. They’re beaten, they’re bloody and now, just when we think they can’t lose any more, they lose some more. 

I’m gonna be real honest here, this was a real turn on for me Sammy.

First it’s Baby. For two boys who hop from cheap motel to cheap motel, I think it’s safe to say that the Impala is basically their home. They lose the fight and then they lose their home. That’s rough.

Also, Bobby, I love you, but WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT’S SCRAP?!?!

Next, they almost lose Dean. Dean is the only thing that’s keeping this family together and he is donezo. He’s so gone, a Reaper is concocting an elaborate hallucination to get him to come to terms with his imminent demise. Which honestly, is a very nice thing for this Reaper to do, but also bb, don’t you do it!

You gotta hand it to this Reaper, she really knew allll the right buttons to push.

Next, we lose the Colt. They have one (1) weapon to use against the Yellow-Eyed-Demon and John gives it away. Is he also finally acknowledging that his children require his love and care? Yes. Is this the shittiest decision he’s ever made, even if it is to save the life of his firstborn? ALSO YES.

Pretty damn stupid, JOHN.

And finally, in the last 5 minutes of the episode, we lose John Winchester himself. And this bitch ain’t coming back. He’s gone. He’s gone for good. Sam and Dean spent months searching for their father, building up this legend of a man, and we as an audience spent months right along with them, only to watch him die in the first episode of season 2! Sam and Dean don’t start out season 2 back at square one, they’re back at square -10. Sure they know who the bad guy is now, but they don’t know how to find him, don’t know how to kill him, and the only person who did know can’t help them anymore! And to top it all off, they don’t even have a ride back from the hospital!

JK, we all know Bobby came and picked them up and took him back to his place, he’s the Real Hero of this show. 

Also, I’m getting ahead of myself here but I’m on a roll - John’s last words to Dean are basically a threat that oh yeah, you have one more thing that this war on hell will steal from you. If you can’t save your brother, you’ll have to kill him. Sure John. Sure. Dean’s definitely gonna do that, John, you bitch.

And they don’t just write this loss off. Over the next three episodes we see how deep this failure goes. Sure, our guys are still out there, doing their thing, killing evil sonsabitches, but damn they are torn up and they are not handling it well. 

Listen, I don’t know what your viewing experience is like, but the recaps on my dvd play this scene every episode for the next, like, five episodes. 

“Everybody Loves a Clown” is a very clear attempt to get back to normal. So clear that they even say it in the episode somewhere, but they have a lot of climbing to do before they get anywhere near normal. They’re driving around in a minivan, they’re taking cases from strangers, they’re living as carnies - their whole world is upside down.

We get another low blow in “Bloodlust.” Dean learns that a) no one can replace his father and b) that Monster doesn’t necessarily mean Evil. So at the end of the episode, when he asks Sam, “What if we killed things that didn’t deserve killing,” you feel it like a gut punch. Dean doesn’t even get to keep his own faith that he’s doing the right thing anymore.

Hey buddy. While you’re down on the ground, we thought we’d kick ya a little bit, OK?

And then we round that out with “Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things,” a nice zombie episode that is definitely not about the zombies. Sam and Dean are still grieving the death of their father in a very real way and I actually think Sam’s idea to visit their mom’s grave is really nice. He obviously took several psych courses and is handling grief in a much healthier, mature way than Dean. That being said, when he starts to go all Psych Major on Dean, even I want to slap him in the face. And then that whole attitude really bites him in the ass when Dean finally does open up and he realizes he’s not qualified to therapize this shit.

Oh no, it OK, don’t be cry!

See, we as the audience know that John Winchester traded his own soul to save Dean’s life, but Dean was in a coma with a Reaper, so there’s no way to know what Dean knows. But that bitch is astute and he figures it out. The Colt gone, their dad gone, and that horrible wrong sensation when he woke up in the hospital all point to the fact that John’s final gift to his son was the crushing weight of guilt. Dean knows that John should be here with Sam, would be here with Sam, if it wasn’t for Dean. And since a demon was involved, Dean probably suspects where John is right now. And that is something that he is just gonna have to carry for the rest of forever. I mean, I love Dean and I’m glad he’s still here, but that’s a real dick move John. 

John Winchester. Ruining Lives from Before and Beyond the Grave. 

Notice the change in this season - with the exception of the Yellow Eyed Demon, these first few episodes are not about the monster. These are Feelings Episodes, ooey gooey Feelings Episodes, that just use the monster-of-the-week to get characters to deal with their inner traumas. This is SPN saying they’re not gonna stay on the surface of this show, they’re gonna dig deep and focus on Character Substance over the Horror FX Style. And in season 2, that still feels fun! As an audience member plowing through these episodes, I was thrilled that this was the direction the show was taking. I was also thrilled that all these episode end with Dean staring dramatically into the middle distance, just some A+ cinematography there gentlemen, great job. 

In order, Ep 201, 202, 203, 204. I was not kidding. 

I’m also noticing, having written all this down, that these are some very Dean-centric episodes. Like, it’s very heavy on the Dean. Which I’m not mad about, but I just think it’s real funny considering that Sam was definitely our lead protagonist/entry point into season 1.

Now though? This is honestly my biggest fear as I continue my quest to make it through the entire series. I know how it ends. I have a tumblr account and sometimes I like spoilers to prep me for what’s coming, so I know how this all shakes out. And I think the reason that I sort of gave up on the series was because at some point, these Feelings episodes get too heavy. If all your characters are always bogged down by grief and guilt and loss, at some point that’s not enjoyable to watch anymore. You’ve gotta give them a win at some point. A real win that doesn’t come with caveats like Dean sold his soul to the devil, or, Sam’s locked in a cage with the devil, or really anything involving the devil at all. 

So while I’m enjoying season 2 still, I am worried that my enjoyment level is gonna sink as the series goes on. But that’s still a ways down the road, so in the meantime, have more of Dean staring dramatically into the middle distance.

[abybweisse]

Sorry if this has been discussed before, but I'm wanting to know if Queen Victoria has a secret something within the actual Tower Bridge, that she'd kill for, and maybe already have. Does Undertaker know, or suspect who has slain Vincent and Racheal? Why is Undertaker's plan of whatever it is. taking so long to happen? (UT enjoying his tea parties with Doll Ciel?) How did Prince Albert die, both in manga/anime, and in real history? Was Vincent still alive when Mey Rin was an assassin? (part 1)

1. It’s possible, but idk. The historical timeline for Tower Bridge is different than in the Kuroverse. Historically, the decision to build it didn’t come along until 1877. The developers accepted plans from anyone who wanted to submit one, and they didn’t choose one until 1884. Construction began in 1886. In the Kuroverse, plans were in place as early as 1875, but construction didn’t begin until the end of 1885 or start of 1886; this allows for the entire project delay to match up with the first ten years of the twins’ lives... in other words, to line up with their birth to the attack and fire that destroyed the Phantomhives ten years later.

I can say this, though. Historically, the very first stone of Tower Bridge was laid by Albert, Prince of Wales... the eldest son of Queen Victoria and her late husband, Prince Albert. I have a feeling that the Kuroverse version of its concept, plan, and construction are more dear to Victoria’s heart than they historically were. Though both versions of Queen Victoria are quite into displaying and increasing Great Britain’s influence and power.

2. I am pretty sure Undertaker has suspects in mind, but I’m not too sure he knows for certain. That’s one of the reasons why it was smart for whoever burnt the manor down to completely destroy Vincent’s body, which includes his cinematic records. Otherwise, Undertaker would have gotten a lot of easy answers as soon as he arrived on the scene.

3. Of course, some of it is plot convenience; you have to figure out a way to make loose ends not tie up so fast. Same goes for why the contract between our earl and Sebastian is taking so long. Where would the story be if they figured it out too quickly and got all their revenge right away?

But, aside from that, Undertaker probably has to deal with certain obstacles, just like when he arrived in time to collect real Ciel’s body... but didn’t arrive sooner to stop the sacrifice. Very strong opponents are in his way, including the entire reaper organization. John Brown is likely another one. Sebastian is also a doozy that has been more recently added to the mix. There is also the possibility that everyone involved is dealing with a prophecy... even if they are unaware of that. So, things just have to play out as they play out.

4. We don’t know yet what the cause of Prince Albert’s death was in the Kuroverse. But historically, it was recorded as typhoid fever. I say “recorded” because this was probably an incorrect diagnosis. From the Wikipedia entry on him:

(Yes. Prince Albert died in the Blue Room....)

5. Oh, definitely. Mey-Rin was being trained as one as early as 1877. Not only was Vincent alive, but he was the Queen’s Watchdog at the time. As I’ve said in other recent posts, Haku worked for a lord and lady who were probably in Vincent’s network of evil nobles. Vincent likely knew, at least vaguely, of Haku’s actions... and allowed it....

Of course, there was roughly a month between Vincent’s death and our earl’s return to the ruins of the manor. It took a while longer before our earl was officially bestowed with the title of Earl and the responsibility of Queen’s Watchdog. Between Vincent’s death and our earl officially becoming watchdog, no telling what Haku, the evil nobles, and the rest of the British Underworld were getting away with. Depends on whether anyone served as watchdog in the interim. Heck, until our earl started putting the screws to Haku and the other opium dealers, even he might have known about some of these assassinations... who was ordering them... and didn’t mind.

6. Probably not a coincidence. They aren’t related, but Double Charles might have been selected in part because they look “good”. The whiteness/paleness goes along with John. The queen wants a look that suggests goodness and purity, because the appearance of her staff reflects on her (at least to her mind) to the British people. And, if John Brown turns out to be an angel, well.... Kind of reminds me of s1’s Ash/Angela and their obsession with purity.

7. Oof. Well, she has brought some of them back in his feverish nightmares. Also, Kelvin turned out to be an old enemy our earl didn’t even know he had. Undertaker could eventually bring out bizarre dolls of circus troupe members, but I really sort of hope not. The only point to that would be an attempt to make our earl regret his actions... and perhaps to turn Snake against him.

8. Soma has already turned villainous, in my opinion. I believe it was his path, all along, according to his Mother3 theory parallels to Pokey Minch. However, I am hoping he gets turned around... just like Kali got calmed down by Shiva....

9. 🤔 We have seen the aftermath of it once, so far. Yes, I think we will get to see Soma create a path of destruction, or at least we should get to see part of it. If nothing else, we should get a scene of it when he confronts either our earl or real Ciel.

10. Not that I’ve been able to find, no. Hopefully, we will get the full story on their first meeting, some day... or year.

11. Keep in mind that while Mey-Rin and Ran-Mao are in Yorkshire, trying to deal with Baron Heathfield, Jane, and whomever else... Snake and Finny are infiltrating an orphanage, our earl and Sebastian are infiltrating a resort in Brighton, and Bard and Lau are infiltrating a sanitarium (mostly for war veterans). Each part of this operation to stop the blood supply will get its events shown. Not only is Lau getting off his ass, but we should finally see him in real action... and some form of suffering. 😔 Eventually. Like, in a year or two? 😭

[justgotham]

Time is running out for Jim Gordon and Gotham, and nobody is more acutely aware of that fact than Ben McKenzie, the actor who has portrayed the flinty Gordon for five seasons on the Fox series that shares its name with Batman’s hometown. “It’s a lot to take in,” McKenzie said about the Gotham series finale that airs tonight. “It really is one of those bittersweet moments. But the show was never an open-ended proposition.”

Tonight’s finale is titled “The Beginning…” but the name isn’t quite as ironic as it sounds. That’s because the drama was built to be a sort of “prequel procedural” that leads up to the familiar Batman mythology that DC Comics has been publishing since 1939. The narrative window would begin in Bruce Wayne’s youth with the murder of his parents, and effectively end with his first forays as a costumed crimefighter: Gotham would end when Batman begins. That graduation moment arrives tonight with the show’s 100th episode, the first to feature an appearance by the Caped Crusader in action.

Gotham fans are more than ready to see the Dark Knight in all his cowled glory, but the show’s creative team hasn’t shared that eagerness. Just the opposite. Executive producer Bruno Heller, the British producer best known for The Mentalist and Rome, has said he would never have developed the show if it was a traditional costumed-hero franchise. “I don’t think Batman works very well on TV,” Heller said back in 2014. “To have people behind masks? Frankly, all those superhero stories I’ve seen, I always love them — until they get into the costume.”

That has made Gotham an eccentric entry in the superhero sector, but not an entirely unprecedented one. Smallville (217 episodes, 2001-2010) still reigns as the longest-running television series ever based on DC Comics heroes, and creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar shared a similar aversion to costumed exploits. Their early mission statement was “no flights, no tights,” and the series held out until its final episode to put Clark Kent (Tom Welling) in Superman’s iconic suit.

For Heller and his team, the key to making a compelling Gothamwithout a Batman was to spotlight the hero’s trusted friend, James Gordon, the dedicated lawman destined to become the police commissioner of a city defined by its lawlessness and celebrity criminals. Gordon was introduced in the first panel of the first page of the first Batman comic book ever published, Detective Comics No. 27, the landmark issue that reached its 80th anniversary last month. Gotham added a key element to its version of Gordon — when Thomas and Martha Wayne are murdered, Gordon is the detective who handles the investigation.

Gordon is the good cop who holds on to his morals in a bad city that loses its marbles. The show found the man for the job in McKenzie, who had memorably portrayed LAPD officer Ben Sherman on the highly regarded (but lowly rated) Southland, which aired 2009 to 2013 on NBC and TNT. Before that, the Texan portrayed Ryan Atwood, a scruffy outsider adopted by a wealthy Newport Beach couple and the central character on The OC, the frothy Fox teen drama that aired for 92 episodes from 2003 to 2007.

“I had some things in common with the character,” McKenzie says with a shrug. It’s true, the 23-year-old actor trekked west from dusty Austin (instead of rural Chino) to Southern California, and bought himself a eye-catching Cadlliac DeVille that already had logged 17 hard years and 228,000 long miles. “That’s lot of miles.”

McKenzie has covered a lot of distance in his personal life while channeling the role of Gordon. In 2017, for instance, McKenzie married his Gotham co-star, Morena Baccarin, who has portrayed Dr. Leslie Thompkins on the series (and is well-known for her role in the Deadpool films as the mutant anti-hero’s love interest). The couple now have their first child.

For McKenzie, the end of Gotham closes a pivotal chapter in his screen life. But he’s also hoping that the final seasons will also someday represent a prelude to a different career story — one writing and directing. The actor directed the sixth episode of Season 5, and also directed one in each of the previous two seasons. McKenzie has also written the screenplay for two Gotham episodes: “One of My Three Soups” in Season 4 and “The Trial of Jim Gordon” in this final season.

McKenzie, the writer, didn’t exactly go easy on his fictional screen persona. The cop took a slug in the chest and hovered near death for much of the episode, stuck somewhere between “the here” and “the hereafter” in an existential courtroom where he had to defend his life.

‘I actually feel no sympathy for him at all,” McKenzie said with a chuckle. “The less sympathy you feel, the better, I’d say. The more pain you inflict upon the protagonist, hopefully, the higher the stakes are and the more emotion gets elicited. So I had to be a bit of masochist. Putting him through the ringer and having this existential crisis, this dream, where he’s on trial for his crimes and faces the loss of everything: the love of his life and his child at the same time. I think we got there. That’s about as high stakes as you can get. I think, ultimately satisfying, with the kind of emotional payoff we were looking for.”

That seems to apply to the season as a whole. The final episode is an epic send-off, too, with a story that flashes forward a decade (long enough for Gordon to sport a new mustache) and finds the Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) returning from prison and Bruce Wayne returning to his ancestral home after years in self-imposed exile. It also coincides with the rise of the show’s off-kilter version of the Joker (Cameron Monaghan). “It’s fitting that he comes into conflict with Gordon and Wayne right at the end,” McKenzie said. “Cameron has been amazing and there was room for one more big flourish with the role.”

Most of the reviews have veered from good to great, encouraging news for the cast and crew of a series that had been uneven or over-the-top at times. “Everybody’s been very enthusiastic and positive,” McKenzie said. “The final season has been wrapping things up in the way the audience hoped we would.”

Gotham City is arguably the most famous city created in American popular culture since the Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz (although Metropolis, Springfield, Mayberry, Twin Peaks, and Riverdale are other prominent spots on the map of un-real estate). Even without Batman, the city zoned by greed, paved in corruption, and mapped by trauma seems to have no limits as far as its story range.

“It’s extraordinary when you think about it,” McKenzie said. “The city itself is a character. There’s a lot of stories to be found in Gotham City. There’s a lot of stories being told from Gotham, too.”

It’s true, Gotham City will be the site of Batwoman, the pilot on The CW this fall, and for a string of upcoming feature films including Joker, The Batman, and the Birds of Prey project.

Also this year: a Harley Quinn animated series and Pennyworth (a series about Batman’s loyal butler) on Epix. Pennyworth and Gothamare unconnected in their story continuity, but both are from the tandem of executive producer/writer Bruno Heller (The Mentalist) and executive producer/director Danny Cannon (CSI franchises).

A passing reference in the 2016 film Suicide Squad identified Gotham City as a major metropolitan hub in the Garden State. The city’s location had been a vague matter for decades, but now it is officially part of New Jersey’s map, and Springsteen isn’t the only local hero named Bruce.

On Gotham, the city feels more like Al Capone’s Chicago than Dracula’s Transylvania. “There’s a specific look and style that Gotham has that sets the show apart. It’s visual identity is distinctive and it was really interesting to work within that as a director.”

Has McKenzie inherited anything Gordon, anything he will take with him forward? “Maybe. We have some things in common, too. He’s living in the same city I live in, New York, but just the slightly more dramatic version.  He’s had to figure things out on the fly and his life has changed and met the love of his life and had a child. There’s a lot of similarities there. But I haven’t bought a gun and I don’t go around shooting one. And I’m more a jeans and t-shirts guy. Although Gordon’s given me an appreciation for a good suit, that’s for sure.”

McKenzie said he’s learned a lot from the creative team he’s worked with, and he believes his acting has made his directing better and vice versa, as well. There’s several new projects that looks promising for McKenzie, both as an on-screen presence and writer or director. Still, saying goodbye to Gotham has been a sentimental exercise for the man who plays the taciturn detective.

“It’s hard. I’ve been through it a couple of times before. I’ve been on two shows before, so it’s been less daunting then before. I’ve built really strong bonds with these folks. We spent more time together than we do with our families for nine months a year. It’s been a joy and a experience I will never forget. I can’t forget.  I wake up every morning to my wife and child who happened during it. So yes, it’s been a city without limits for me.”

[alunclewe]

Happier New Year!

So.  It’s 2019.  Huh.

That’s kind of depressing in that I didn’t get nearly as much done in 2018 as I’d hoped... but on the other hand it’s kind of encouraging in that I have higher hopes for 2019.

This isn’t just the result of desperate optimism.  I actually have some firm reasons for thinking 2019 is likely to go better than 2018.  For one thing... well, 2018 was a real struggle for me financially—and the constant stress about money made it hard to focus on creative projects.  In 2017, I left teaching in the classroom to become a full-time studio teacher, working with underage actors on film sets.  I wanted to do this partly because it would put me on film sets and interacting with people in the industry, and because I thought it would be more interesting for me than teaching in the classroom, but mostly because it would leave me a more flexible schedule for pursuing acting and other interests.  And in the long run, it had the potential to pay better than classroom teaching.  But in the short run, well... I was getting some work by word of mouth and by answering what few ads I found looking for studio teachers, but it wasn’t steady work, and it didn’t pay well.  That changed this last summer when I found a manager who works with studio teachers, and who agreed to take me on.  She’s been getting me much more work and much better-paying work than I’d been getting on my own.  The only reason things are still a bit tough for me financially right now is because I accrued a lot of debt during the last year or two when I wasn’t making much money... but as soon as that debt’s paid off, I’ll actually be better off financially than I was as a classroom teacher if this keeps up.  Plus, I’ve got a number of projects in the works for this year that have the potential for significant payoffs, so... yes.  I am hoping for good things from 2019.

I don’t generally make official New Year’s Resolutions.  In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever made official New Year’s Resolutions.  I have, however, occasionally made resolutions that coincidentally happened to coincide with the New Year, and I think I’ll do that again.  There are a lot of things I intend to do during 2019, but in this post I’m just going to focus on the ones that have to do with art and animation, since that’s what this blog is about.  So here goes...

I’m going to post a new Teras Terrace character every Monday.  Yes, I said I’d start doing that again about a month ago, and only got through two weeks before I stopped again.  But I’ll do it for real this time.

I’m going to finally finish the site design for my daily 24-hour comic project, d24, and start updating it again.  (Come to think of it, I still have two 24-hour comics from the last 24-Hour Comics Day that I haven’t put online yet—I need to do that too.  I’ve already scanned them; I just need to clean them up in Photoshop and resize them, and put their entries in the database so they’ll show up on the site.)

I’m going to get my old webcomic, Soup, back online and start updating that again, too.  (If you’re reading this the day I posted it—or realistically probably the month I posted it—that’s going to be a broken link in that last sentence.  But hopefully it won’t be for too long.)  I’d hoped to do this in 2017, but it... didn’t happen.  The reason that 2017 would have been good is because it happened that August 20, the day I first launched the comic, fell on a Sunday again that year, so I could keep the comics with their original dates and the larger Sunday comics would still fall on the right days.  That’s not the case in 2019 (and won’t be the case again until 2023, and I don’t want to wait that long), which means I’ll have to either start them on a different day, or have the Sunday comics fall on Tuesdays.  I think I’m going to do the latter.  It’s on the web, not in a printed comics page; there’s no reason I have to have the big color comics fall on Sundays, after all.  (Actually, there’s no reason I had to follow newspaper comic format in the first place, but I basically did, and I guess since I started it that way I may as well keep going.)

Speaking of Soup, I’d had plans to make an adventure game set in the world of the comic, and incorporating three of its characters.  This is the year I’ll finally do it.  Or at least start it, though I may not finish it before 2020.

I’m going to get some animation done!  I call myself an animator (sometimes), but I don’t really have any animation to show.  I’ll change that.  I’ve got several animated projects I want to do, and I’ll be sure to get at least one of them done this year.

Speaking of animated projects, I also have a few animated series ideas I want to pitch.  And this isn’t entirely a pie-in-the-sky idea; I do have some connections in mind I can pitch them through.  So that’s another goal for this year (and hopefully early this year)—I’m going to pitch one adult animated series, and one children’s animated series.  Whether either or both of them get picked up is another matter, but at least I’m going to make the effort.

I’m going to participate in Hourly Comics Day, and Inktober (and do every day in Inktober, not peter out before the end like I did the last two times), and perhaps some other similar art challenges that I find out about.

I’m going to make an Instagram account.  Been meaning to do that for some time.  

Speaking of social media, I ought to make more use of Twitter too.  Let’s see, my last tweet was, uh... October 2, 2016.  (If you want to follow me, I’m @alunclewe, though like I said my last tweet was on October 2, 2016, so you haven’t missed much so far.)

And also speaking of social media, I ought to be more consistent in my posting on Tumblr too.  I don’t know that I can necessarily commit to posting every day, but... let’s say at least every other day.  No, what the heck.  I’m going to try to post every day.  I probably will miss some days, but we’ll see how it goes.

I’m going to participate in 24-Hour Comics Day again, but that’s a given.  I’ve done that every year since 2006, many years twice.

Huh.  When I started this post, I honestly thought that was going to be a shorter list.  Guess I’ve got my work cut out for me.  (And like I said, this is just the art- and animation-related resolutions; there’s a lot more I plan to do this year, too.)  Well, one way or another, I expect it’s going to be an interesting year.

Happy 2019, everybody!

[montydollcrew]

The Experience - Getting my Luka

As I said before, I will soon be the proud owner of DD Luka - tomorrow evening is when she should reach me. Before she arrives I thought I would write about how the actual experience went down as something separate from the event reports I like to do. After all, while I initially wasn’t going to get her for a while due to recently buying a new laptop, one of the main reasons I wanted to get Luka at Dolpa was because there’s a good chance that it will be my last Dolpa I can attend for a long time, and I thought it’d be a nice memory. There have been numerous different methods of doing the limited dolls at Dolpa over the years, and recently its changed slightly again. If the process interests you, read on.

First, we arrived at Tokyo Big Sight bright and early. There are two lines - the general line and the Sumika line. The people in the general line have immediate access to the event itself and the Dealer space, but the line for the Sumika store - the store for licensed Dollfie/Dollfie Dream items - is for people who wish to try for the limited dolls - like me. The Sumika store doesn’t open for everyone else until after everyone in the Sumika line has already gone through it, so you have to decide if you want to try for (but possibly fail) the limited dolls, or try for (and possibly miss out on) dealer items of limited quantity.

The Sumika line had us standing about five or six abreast. An amazing coincidence - the person I was standing next to turned out to be one of my twitter mutuals who has a custom Kaito! She was there with her friend who was super hyped for Luka, and she let me take a pic of her itabag. 

I wasnt too far from the head of the line, but at this point, the position doesn’t actually matter as it’s not first-come first-serve.

Around 9:30am, the staff distributed numbered tickets to all of us - but vertically, rather than in the horiziontal snaking order we were queued in. (Meaning, my number was 217, the person in front of me had 216 and behind me 218, but the my twitter mutual next to me, who was technically the person in front of me in terms of the order we lined up in, had 139. So yes, the numbers were in some kind of order and not randomly distributed which is where I believe this method differs from one of the old methods I read about on the DD forums in the lottery guide, where the queue order was determined by the random number you received alone(correct me if I’m wrong on this as that info is gone now). 

After everyone had their number, some Volks staff addressed us with a megaphone and told us that there were over 900 people in the Sumika line. (I cant remember the exact number, but it was a lot). Obviously, not all these people can get Luka - not even half of them I would guess (although many people in the line were aiming for the other limited dolls - the two new SDs Lucia and Mia, and the rerelease of DDs Sheryl and Ranka). The staff member then drew three numbers from a box - ping pong balls with numbers from 0-9 on them. The person with that number would be the head of the queue. I remember it very clearly - it was ticket number 885! 

This meant that the queue order would be first 885, then all the people behind them, and then the rest of the queue from the very beginning. (885-->900andwhatever, then 1--->884. A moment of silence for the person who got 884.) At this point I wasn’t sure if that was good news for me or not, and I started looking around to see other peoples reactions. Some were pretty pokerfaced and others had started smiling. I calculated in my head that, since I would be the number 217, with 216 people in front of me and the people from 285-900andwhatever, that put my position roughly in the early 300s. I had read from SakuraSylph on the DD forum that any line position under 400 was a sure thing, but I was too anxious to believe it, and didn’t want to get my hopes up just in case.

That wasn’t the only reason I was feeling a bit nervous - it was also because i was in line to get a doll I hadn’t seen in person before, which i’ve never done for any of my other DDs. (I had been hoping thered be a display Luka in Akihabara before the event but there wasnt). Even though I knew that almost every single DD ever released looks better in person than the official photos, and I already liked Luka’s official photos, I still had a nagging feeling that I might not like her when I saw her. And then finally the line was moving into the venue through a back door near where the Sumika store was (a different point of entry to the people in the regular line), and the first thing we saw was the dolls in cases, letting us get a really good look at them as we went past, and I saw her.

And that was the moment I decided I definitely wanted her, but I still had no idea if I was even getting her today at this point. The Sumika store was still up ahead - first we approached a counter with one Volks Staff member at it.  On the counter were pictures of the limited dolls with numbers. There was no sold out sticker on any of them yet. When the guy asked me what doll I wanted, I was so nervous and so elated that I pretty much blurted MEGURINELUKA like a dumbass. When he asked for my numbered ticket, I accidentally thrust the ticket from Doll Show the previous day at him instead. I really hope I wasnt the only one that got like that, but I didn’t really care, because the next thing I knew I had this in my hand:

and then went back to stand in the queue still waiting to get into the Sumika store, and all I could do was stare at it. And then I thought ‘oh...I did get her’, and immediately messaged everybody who wanted to know. I didn’t know this at the time, but I found out later looking through tweets and time stamps exactly how close I was to missing out. According to those time stamps there were no more Lukas available not that long after I’d gotten my purchase ticket. I also found out just today that two people from the Fukuoka doll group I am in had also tried their luck and failed. So it was definitely a close call, and I feel even luckier about it.

The wait for the store was pretty long, but I didn’t care - I was holding that ticket so tightly because I was scared that I would drop it or something. I didn’t even want to put it in my pocket in case it fell out. But even though I didnt even have her yet, it felt very special. The Sumika store was even playing my favourite Luka song (Dreamin’ ChuChu by emon) so it felt extra special (and was also a relief, because although the song was only audible around the Sumika store area, the rest of the event space has the...extremely questionable playlist thats at every Dolpa, and needless to say I still have Dancing Queen stuck in my head)

Once I finally was able to go into the Sumika store I went right through it - I didnt even want to look at the other new items because I can get them from the Fukuoka store later anyway, and I’d rather save my money for the dealer stuff. At the cash register I paid for Luka, was instructed to come to the designated area to pick her up after 12, and then went off into the event hall to enjoy the event.

Some time after 12 I went to that designated area with my receipt. The staff member went out the back and came back with a huge box, and I’m thinking ‘oh shit! That’s my one!’ As I took the box another staff member took a photo, explaining that they were taking photos of ‘the moment the owner receives the new doll’. I have no idea what they do with these but he did at least tell me they dont put them online without permission. 

Just like the other vocaloids, Luka’s box is huge...honestly annoyingly so. I don’t really know how I’d get her on my flight home without either paying extra or unboxing her now/throwing the box away (or maybe folding it up). Since I wanted to unbox her at home I decide I wouldn’t open her and would mail her back to my apartment. Luckily Dollpa has a booth just for this with various boxes of all sizes (including one big enough to fit four doll boxes in...) As I was going to be busy with a few things and didnt want distractions, I made the delivery request field be the night of Thursday 10th.... tomorrow after work, now. 

It was pretty hard to resist the urge to just have a quick peek at her but quickly boxed her up and sent her off.

Many other people at the event were not so patient, and so after 12 there were quite a few Lukas around the event space. Some people had even already put her in different outfits and wigs. I might show some of those when I do a report post.

Anyway, that was my experience - I dont know if it was interesting to anyone other than me, but it was my first time experiencing getting a DD in this way. Among other things such as getting to hang out with some friends from the forum, it certainly made it a Dollpa to remember.

[geekysweetie]

Top 10 Nintendo Switch 2017 Games for Girls

Like a few of our lucky readers, I was fortunate enough to get a day-one Preorder for the Nintendo Switch. Sadly had to get the plain grey one, but beggars can’t be choosers right? 🙂 What games are you most looking forward to? For me, the only launch title right now that has caught my eye is Zelda, but that’s sure to change as we get closer to release. There are a ton of interesting looking games coming out by the end of the year for the new console.

Here are the Top 10 Nintendo Switch Games Due out in 2017 that I am most looking forward to.

NEW UPDATE: Check Out our List of Upcoming 2018 Nintendo Switch Games for Girls here.

Top 10 Nintendo Switch Games

Mario Odyssey

Mario Odyssey – The new Mario Game looks amazing. It reminds me a lot of Mario 64 with a huge open world full of lots of fun and crazy looking levels. Mario has some new abilities too such as being able to throw and jump on his cap to cross large areas. Mario will fly on an airship to travel to “strange new worlds” (for Mario and his friends), but the world is actually made up of different places that we know in real life such as New York City, and Latin and South America. Mario Odyssey’s release date is December 29th, 2017.

Pokemon Stars

Pokemon Stars – Although it is still a rumor at this time, several retailer leaks such as one that has since been taken down on Gamestop seem to refer to the existence of a new Pokemon Game for Nintendo Switch. The rumor is that it is a new version of Pokemon Sun and Moon with over 20 new pokemon added in. This rumor has not been confirmed by Nintendo and so no release date has been given.

Stardew Valley

Stardew Valley – I actually spent the majority of this past weekend playing the PC version of Stardew Valley. True, you can already play this game right now today on PC and other consoles… But imagine being able to play it ON THE GO, away from home. This will be the title’s first entry into mobile or handheld gaming. Stardew Valley is an amazing “tribute” to classic Nintendo games such as Harvest Moon and Rune Factory – so it makes sense that it would find a home on the Nintendo Switch as well. It is such a relaxing game and the type of game that you can pick up and play as little as an hour, or easily spend 20+ hours straight with. The Nintendo Switch ability to switch from handheld to console form lets you play Stardew Valley whenever, wherever, and however you want. Although it is definitely for sure coming to the Nintendo Switch, there is no official word on a release date.

Seasons of Heaven – Seasons of Heaven is a confirmed Exclusive title for the new Nintendo Switch. Graphically it looks pretty amazing for a Nintendo console and much more like something that we would see on a PS3 or PS4. The game is based on a novel by the same name and features a boy with his dog as they travel a post-apocalyptic fantasy world. The fact that it’s exclusive to the Switch gives Nintendo some more advantage. In my opinion a console is only as good as its exclusives! I’m looking forward to learning more about Seasons of Heaven in the months to come. No Release date has been set yet for this title.

Dragonquest XI

Dragonquest XI – There will now be three versions of the newest Dragon Quest game all set to release in 2017. These include a fully 3D version for the PS4, a 2D/3D style for the 3DS and a 3D style version for the new Nintendo Switch. Clearly still, from trailers and screenshots, the PS4 version is going to still have the upperhand when it comes to graphics and resolution. However, the ability now to have a version where you can play on the go (as with the 3DS) OR play on the big screen (as with the PS4) all in one version now (on the Nintendo Switch), gives one some pause into deciding which version of the game to pick up. Regardless of which version you get, this already looks set to be an amazing game. Dragonquest has long been the best selling RPG franchise of all time (yes, even more so than Final Fantasy) and many fans around the world are anxiously awaiting the newest installment into the Dragonquest saga.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 – Another exciting Nintendo Switch exclusive. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a direct sequel finally to cult classic Xenoblade Chronicles from back on the Wii. The Wii U also saw Xenoblade Chronicles X – However, that was more of a side game, and not directly related to the first. Xenoblade Chronicles remains one of the greatest games on the Wii and until the recent release on the Nintendo E-Store, it was a highly sought after collector’s item. Not only that, but it is a fantastic RPG. I’m so thrilled to see it getting a sequel that I’m almost just as excited for this title as for the new Zelda or SMT.

Fire Emblem Warriors – There is extremely little details known about this title yet. There’s going to a live event on January 18th at 5pm EST dedicated fully to the Fire Emblem series. Speculation includes that the live event will reveal more details not only about Fire Emblem Warriors but also about the upcoming mobile game that was originally announced for 2016 but got delayed until “Sometime in 2017”.

Shin Megami Tensei

Shin Megami Tensei – I am the biggest Atlus fangirl ever. Tokyo Mirage Sessions is my favorite Wii U game – and I’ve been hooked on Persona and SMT games ever since Playstation One days. I suspect that this will be a much darker game than say Tokyo Mirage Sessions or Persona, and go back to gameplay similar to that in Devil Summoner and Devil Survivor. I’m really excited to hear that a new SMT game is in the works. It is such an underloved and underrated series. I was most surprised by this announcement at the Live event last week. There’s barely any details yet, just that it will coincide with the series’ 25th anniversary.

  Project Octopath Traveler – a brand new exclusive from Square-Enix. The trailer seems to hint at an open world with multiple endings and a branching plot that is determined by choices the player makes. These types of games are always my favorite, so I am super interested in learning more about Project Octopath Traveler. It is being developed by the same team who worked on Bravely Default. The artwork is retro which is an interesting approach because as we’ve seen with other titles such as Seasons of Heaven, the console is definitely quite capable of more “Next-Gen” style graphics as well. This leads me to believe that this title will try to pander to us older fans from the 16bit era. Graphics and gameplay seem to remind me in some parts of some older Square games such as Final Fantasy Tactics, Saga Frontier, Legend of Mana, Live A Live, and Ogre Battle. Very excited to see where this one goes.

zelda breath of the wild

Zelda Breath of the Wild is by far the most anticipated and exciting launch title for the Nintendo Switch. There are several different collector editions for quite a large price! The collector editions include things like a carrying case, replica sword, soundtrack, cloth map, and coin. Amazon and Gamestop both sold out of these sets already. Best-buy began preorders for them today. But no matter if you get the Special Edition, or Master Edition, Or the base game is available for $59.99  you will be getting one amazing game. Keep in mind, if ordering the digital version, it will take up over HALF of the storage on the Nintendo Switch. Yikes! It is the first time for Zelda to take a more “western” approach to gaming, emulating features commonly found in Elder Scrolls games such as an open world and sandbox style gameplay. It also will have more than 100 Shrines of Trial to explore. It’s going to be a huge game. And from the launch trailer video, I feel that the story is also going to be very emotional and exciting. More so than any other game on the list, this is the one that should not be missed.

I also have to give a nod to a few other 2017 Switch games that didn’t quite make the list including the new Bomberman Game, Skyrim’s first foray into handheld gaming, Minecraft Switch Edition (for much of the same reasons as why Stardew Valley made the list), Mario Kart, Sonic, and Splatoon 2. With strong support from third party developers, and a few iconic Nintendo franchises making appearances, the gaming library for Nintendo Switch is already looking extremely promising.

Also the fact that the console is not region locked gives the fan translation community a chance to shine and bring us all the great games that Nintendo of America will either censor, or simply take a pass and not localize for North America. This could in theory mean that we could see some visual novels or otome games or more JRPGs on this Nintendo console provided that the English speaking Fan Translation community get behind certain projects.

The one franchise I expected to see, and didn’t see, was Smash Brothers. Also would love to see a new Donkey Kong Country game.

Although it is still early days, the future looks bright for Nintendo’s newest console.

Let us know in the comments below what Nintendo Switch Games You’re most excited for!

  Top 10 Nintendo Switch 2017 Games for Girls was originally published on GeekySweetie.com - Geeky & Kawaii Anime, Tech, Toys, & Game Reviews & News

[xteeninreallife]

K-Pop in 2019: The Reckoning

I never imagined that my first post here would be about k-pop. I actually “founded” this tumblog a couple of years ago with the intent of writing personal think pieces that were separate from my very shit-posty original tumblog. Maybe it would be about life, maybe politics, maybe personal beliefs. Probably with the occasional shit post entry thrown in for humour. I really didn’t think k-pop would make a serious appearance here.

I would never have been able to predict the nuclear dumpster fire to detonate in 2019 that the Burning Molka (or Sun) scandal would become. I don’t think anyone would have been able to imagine a world where several major top pop stars in Korea, plus the head of one of the Big 3 entertainment agencies would see their careers implode at the speed of sound.

To be honest, I still just feel a whole lot of disappointment in Seungri. He was the maknae, always the butt of the brotherly jokes, the forgotten, or ~useless one in BIGBANG. *Insert “Tyra: We were all rooting for you” gif here.* That was Seungri. JJY sounds like a creep based on his earlier related scandal. People have speculated about Yang Hyun-Suk’s shady dealings for ages. As for Choi Jong-Hoon, Yong Jun-Hyung, Lee Jong-Hyun, Roy Kim, and Eddy Kim, I didn’t really pay attention to them as individuals to form any opinion on them beyond the music they released.

But this post is about Lee Minwoo. Because as much as I love BIGBANG, Shinwha has been one of my favourite groups for almost two decades.

I count Shinhwa as one of my top artists/groups EVER, not just within the context of K-pop. Minwoo was my first bias, even if I had no idea about the concept within the world of k-pop fandom. As I grew out of my youthful fangirl phase and into adulthood, I recognized that he served as a mentor to many junior artists in the entertainment industry. To me, he was a pioneering example of how someone could evolve from the rigid confines of the first generation k-pop robotic idol, into an artist who was in control of their own career and business dealings. Shinhwa was the first k-pop group to fight for the right to own their name, and they beat one of the Big 3 (the Granddaddy: SM Entertainment!) companies to do so. They can serve as examples for groups like Highlight (formerly BEAST, and coincidently Yong Jun-Hyung’s former group), and T-ARA who leave their original labels but go to court for the right to continue as a unit. Shinhwa is today the longest-running k-pop group with zero changes to their line-up (and no disbandments). First and second gen groups like H.O.T., TVXQ!, Girls’ Generation, Super Junior, and Sechskies cannot say the same.

So, reading the breaking news story in early July that Minwoo had been accused of sexual harassment at a club was hard to take. I normally take zero issue with writing off celebrities who have been accused of, or convicted of sexual violence. Before #MeToo became a movement, my personal trauma of being raped in my mid-twenties had made me a staunch ally and advocate of the protection and rights of victims and survivors of sexual violence. For example, I grew up absolutely loving “The Cosby Show.” I still think it is one of the greatest shows of all time. But I cannot, and know I will not ever be able to watch another episode since Bill Cosby’s alleged crimes came to light in the flood of accusations a few years ago. At that point, what I had tried to dismiss as rumour became unavoidable and impossible to ignore.

I have honestly struggled with the news of Minwoo’s scandal. I hoped it was a stupid, one-off, drunken act. He would take time off to reflect, maybe seek help for alcohol abuse, maybe come back afterward as an humbled and apologetic person. I hoped it actually was just a misunderstanding. But as the days went by, I had to self-reflect and wonder why I took issue with standing with the women who made the original complaint.

No one likes to think of someone whom they admire to be with fault, and certainly not with a criminal fault. Junjin received backlash for saying that he was standing with Minwoo and that everything would be resolved soon if we all just believed in him. Like Minwoo was the Chanjo Tinkerbell. But I can understand where his comments are coming from. To him, Minwoo is not simply a bandmate or a co-worker; he is a brother. As a fan, I get it.

But this is a particularly precarious time for k-pop stars who have gone on for years in the comfort of knowing that their bad deeds were being covered up and taken care of; perhaps by agencies, perhaps by more powerful figures in the greater society. I am not saying that Minwoo must be a serial offender. Only time will bring any other truths to light, if they exist. I am saying that like the men previously mentioned, I do not believe that he will be able to come back from this.

Shinhwa will serve as an interesting case study, to say the least. Where FT Island’s Lee Hong Ki seemingly had no issue in immediately distancing himself from Choi Jong-hoon (see his epic “I eat well, I sleep well, I even poop well” comment to a fan), I can see that the other five members of Shinhwa will not be able to do so as easily. Shinhwa’s brotherhood of over twenty years has become as much, if not more of their brand as their music. I can see them choosing a passive Super Junior-esque route of quietly putting Minwoo on an unspoken but permanent hiatus until his “contract ends” and he decides to “retire” and relinquish his control as co-CEO of Shinhwa Company (see Kangin’s and Sungmin’s eternal hiatuses due to their own scandals. And I use that term very loosely regarding Sungmin because I think it’s ridiculous).

As of the date of this post, Minwoo and Eric Mun are listed as Shinhwa Company’s CEOs, but their official Twitter (which is in Korean) does not appear to make any mention of the accusations and investigation against Minwoo, and he did not receive the annual birthday salutation post on their Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram accounts. Clearly, the members have chosen to be cautious, perhaps recognizing that this is a damaged ship with only two outcomes: bail out in a lifeboat for five, or sink as united captains.

Any of the members of Shinhwa could easily go their separate ways. Junjin and Hyesung have had successful solo releases in recent years, Dongwan has found recent success as an actor in dramas and musicals, Andy has been making a comeback in variety show appearances this year after his own gambling scandal, and Eric is one of the most popular commercial spokespersons, and drama actors in the industry. None would have to make an outspoken break with Minwoo in order to maintain the success of their solo ventures.

There is no doubt that Minwoo’s absence in Shinhwa would be noticed. He is a main vocalist, the choreographer, and one of the most recognizable faces of the group. Which leads me to ask myself, am I really just having trouble accepting the end of my teenaged idol fantasy? I am a grown woman, I like to think that I can take a hard stand, but I find myself stalling on this matter. Perhaps because Shinhwa has made so much of their brotherhood and senior status as their brand; they are the forever six. Shinhwa is not just a music group, it is each member. It is equally Eric, equally Hyesung, equally Dongwan, equally Andy, equally Junjin, and yes, equally Minwoo. I think that I am not ready to mourn the end of this group. I don’t think if they were to release another album that included Minwoo’s participation, that I would be able to support it.

Honestly, I hate that. I do feel let down. I feel disappointed. I feel lied to. And I feel silly for feeling these things because I’m not an 18 year old girl bumping her “weird” Korean music in her little car as she zips around her suburban Texas neighbourhood on a Friday night. I am an adult who just doesn’t want to let that girl go. I want to protect her from the bad things ahead. I want to protect myself. 

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DGB Grab Bag: Hossa's Contract, the Draft, and Drake

Welcome to Sean McIndoe's weekly grab bag, where he writes on a variety of NHL topics. You can follow him on Twitter. Check out the Biscuits podcast with Sean and Dave Lozo as they discuss the events of the week.

Three stars of comedy

The third star: Chad Johnson is back – The former NFL star went and got his hopes up over the Mike Smith trade.

The second star: The NHL trolls Capitals fans – Which is good to see, because I think we all agree that those guys have been riding high for too long.

The first star: Marc-Edouard Vlasic is afraid of bees – But it's cool everyone, he has a plan.

Outrage of the week

The issue: Marian Hossa will miss all of next season, and his career may be over due to a skin disorder. The outrage: Not only is the league losing a wonderful player, but the Blackhawks are going to get off the hook for the rest of Hossa's massive contract. Is it justified: We don't know exactly how Hossa's situation will play out. Maybe he makes a comeback and plays again for the Blackhawks or someone else. Or maybe he retires, at which point Chicago would be on the hook for a portion of his cap hit. But the most likely outcome is that he simply goes on the long-term injured reserve for the remaining four years on his deal, the Hawks largely avoid any cap repercussions, and the league just shrugs and moves on while fans of other teams scream about how unfair it all is.

Here's the thing: That's just how the system functions. It's not a bug, it's a feature. To be clear, Hossa's situation isn't some sort of scam being run by the Blackhawks. From everything we've seen, it's a legitimate condition that could have become life-threatening. Just like Chris Pronger or Marc Savard before him, Hossa is a victim here. Save your conspiracy theories.

But this is how it works in the NHL. Certain players sign long-term contracts, including some under the old CBA that were for 10 years or more. Those contracts start to look ugly as time goes on. There's lots of hand-wringing about whether the team will be on the hook for a major cap hit on a declining player.

And then, just in time, the problem goes away. The player gets hurt, or hurt enough. Maybe they head for the KHL. Or sometimes they just vanish without any explanation at all. Then their cap hit winds up on LTIR, or maybe it gets traded to some team that needs to artificially reach the floor. But at some point, somehow, it all just… goes away.

And everyone is fine with it.

Oh, inevitably, fans complain. It doesn't seem fair. The system is supposed to punish teams that sign contracts that go bad. The Blackhawks won three Cups largely on the strength of back-diving deals to Hossa and Duncan Keith, and they were supposed to pay a price. Now they're going to wriggle off the hook, and probably spend that newfound cap space on some new star players who'll help them beat up your favorite team.

But the NHL knows this. And they've been very clear that they're OK with it. They may pretend they don't know how Hossa's situation will play out just yet, but we all know where this is headed. Once the league allowed Chris Pronger to take a new job and enter the Hall of Fame while his playing contract was still on the books, the message was clear. They don't really want to punish anyone for this stuff.

And yes, the same goes for cap recapture, the ridiculous after-the-fact rule the league enacted in 2013 to penalize teams for deals that had already been reviewed and approved. It's been applied to players like Ilya Kovalchuk and Mike Richards, in relatively small amounts. But will you ever see it applied in a way that could really hurt a team like the Predators? Put it this way: Remember to act surprised when the rule quietly disappears with the next CBA.

This is just how it works in this league. Whether it's the referees, the Department of Player Safety or contract loopholes, you're supposed to think that there's a chance that somebody will get punished in some meaningful way even though it almost never happens. We should all be used to it by now.

Feel bad for Hossa, and for fans who won't get to see him play anymore. But if you thought this contract was going to come back and bite the Blackhawks someday, feel bad for yourself too, because you haven't been paying attention.

Obscure former player of the week

The big news in the NHL right now is the entry draft, with the first round being held tonight. But another important story slipped a bit under the radar this week, with the announcement that the Coyotes were parting ways with captain Shane Doan. That ends a 21-year relationship, dating back to the 1995-96 season. Doan has actually been with the franchise longer than the Coyotes have even existed; he pre-dates the move from Winnipeg by a year.

So today, let's combine those two stories by bestowing obscure player honors on Steve Kelly. I'll explain.

Kelly was a speedy center who put up decent points and PIMs with the WHL's Prince Albert Raiders in the early 90s. That earned him a first-round selection, sixth overall, by the Oilers in the 1995 draft. He made his debut in Edmonton with eight games in 1997, scoring once, and played six more in the playoffs as the Oilers upset the Stars.

Kelly opened the 1997-98 season with the Oilers, but was traded to the Lightning in December as part of the Roman Hamrlik deal. He'd stick around for two years before being traded to the Devils and then to Los Angeles. He'd spend four seasons with the Kings, but only suit up for 37 games. He'd eventually head to Europe, briefly returning to the NHL to play two games for the Wild in 2008.

All in all, Kelly's NHL career spanned nine seasons but just 149 games, and he scored only nine goals. That's not bad, but as far as number six overall picks go, it qualifies him as a bust. But that's where things get worse for the Oilers. When they took Kelly back in 1995, they passed on an Alberta kid who many had expected them to take. Instead, that player went to the Jets with the very next pick. Yes, good old Shane Doan. To make matter even worse, that year's draft was held in Edmonton, and roughly 10,000 fans were chanting Doan's name when the Oilers made their way to the podium.

Hockey history probably looks a lot different for one franchise and maybe two if the Oilers had just picked the local kid. But we'll never know for sure, thanks to Steve Kelly. (By the way, another kid from Edmonton went 11th overall that year. But this has already been painful enough for Oilers fans, so we won't mention that other guy.)

The NHL actually got something right

… twenty years ago. We think. Nobody's quite sure. But stick with me, because we kind of started all this so we need to clean it up.

Last week, our YouTube section featured a series of comedy sketches from the 1997 NHL Awards. They weren't exactly knee-slappers, but some were better than others, and they were all funnier than whatever that Penn and Teller thing was on Wednesday. The best of the bunch was this one, in which the NHL had some fun with a pair of star goaltenders who'd also scored goals

I liked it. I even made a point of applauding the "better pull your goalie" kid. I liked his enthusiasm. He probably went on to great things.

Well, hold on. As several readers immediately pointed out, that kid looked kind of familiar.

Is that… is that Drake?

It certainly looks like him. And as all good Canadians know, before he found fame as a rapper, Drake was a child actor. He would have been ten years old when this piece was filmed in his hometown of Toronto. A few years later, he was playing Jimmy Brooks on Degrassi and looking like this.

Others were wondering the same thing. In one of those crazy coincidences that seems to happen on the internet, news outlets started randomly discovering the eight-year-old YouTube clip on their own just days after we'd mentioned it here. Message boards and Reddit groups debated the question. Literally everyone made some variation of the same "I guess he really did start at the bottom" joke. And eventually, experts started concluding that it's definitely him.

I think that's all good enough for me. It sure seems like this obscure NHL awards sketch was indeed Drake's introduction to a worldwide audience. And if so, that means two things. One, I clearly owe all of you an apology for missing this last week, since pointing out obscure details from old and forgotten NHL moments is pretty much my job description.

And more importantly, the NHL Awards have officially had a real live celebrity on them! We did it! Step aside, Kevin Smith. You too, Beverly Hills housewives. Better luck next time, vaguely hammered Cuba Gooding Jr. Hit the bricks, literally dozens of people who probably really were legitimately famous but whose names I didn't recognize because I'm old.

If anybody asks, the list of genuinely famous celebrities who've appeared on an NHL Awards broadcast is officially now Jon Hamm and Drake. (Just make sure to change the subject before they start trying to nail down dates.)

Classic YouTube clip breakdown

This year's NHL Awards took place on Wednesday, and as usual, everyone complained about them. That's pretty much become an annual tradition; hockey fans gather around the TV, watch the hardware get handed out, and mumble about how the celebrities aren't famous enough, the musical acts aren't good enough and the jokes aren't funny enough.

Well, all of that may be true. But look on the bright side. At least the NHL didn't do this.

It's June 4, 1984 and Alan Thicke is hosting the NHL Awards from Toronto, and beyond that I swear to you I don't have one damn clue about how to explain what you're about to see.

"Fitness shows are big this year," Thicke informs us, and we'll just agree to take his word for it. He launches into the setup for the next segment, which will apparently involve something called "The Canadian Brass" performing a three-minute workout.

Thicke, of course, is no stranger to this section. He made his first appearance in one of the very first Grab Bags ever, when he sang "Hockey Sock Rock" with Phil Esposito, Buck Rogers and the Unknown Comic in a performance that's even weirder than I just made it sound.

While that was good, Thicke hit his hockey-related peak at the 1988 NHL Awards when he performed a song about Canada. That was the segment that gave is the immortal "Second Row Guy", the perpetually flustered extra whose live TV meltdown got progressively more painful as the song went on. And Thicke somehow still stayed cool through the whole thing.

We lost Thicke late last year, of course, when he passed away playing a game of (what else) hockey. The NHL paid tribute to him at this year's all-star game. He also wrote the theme songs for a bunch of hit sitcoms like Diff'rent Strokes and The Facts of Life. Did you know that? Not many people know that. What an interesting fact.

Why yes, I am stalling now. Was it that obvious?

Fine, here we go. Bring out the Canadian Brass. Hey, how bad can it be, right?

So it turns out that "Canadian Brass" is a bunch of Canadian dudes playing brass instruments. Not much of a twist there, I guess, although it's nice to see that they broke out the white tuxedos and red cummerbunds. They perform a nice enough little number, even mixing in some light choreography. It's also perfectly pleasant in a very Canadian sort of way, and we all agree to ignore the fact that there seems to be a synthesizer playing somewhere.

And then, 30 seconds in, it happens: A half-dozen ladies in leotards trot out onto the stage, shout out a countdown, and start doing aerobics.

Look, I know that some people read this stuff at work and can't watch the YouTube clips, and right now those people are very confused. They think that last line was some kind of metaphor. I can assure you it is not.

It's easy to miss, but my very favorite part of the whole video comes right as the workout women appear, and the Canadian Brass guys are supposed to momentarily act confused. Trombone Guy really sells it for like half a second before going right back into his music.

At this point we're 1:15 into the clip. The next three minutes is basically just brass and… uh… exercise. And no, I'm not going to make any GIFs of the workout women miming like they're playing the trumpet. This is a classy operation we're running here, dammit.

They really bring it down about halfway through. That's smart. If you're going to ask an audience of hockey players to sit through three minutes of jazzercise, pacing is key.

By the way, do Americans know what the 20 Minute Workout was? I know it was a Canadian show, but it feels like the sort of thing that would have trickled over the border. Anyways, if you're confused, watch this. You'll still be confused, but you'll be healthier for it.

Also, according to the internet (so it can't be wrong), Canadian Brass is "the world's most famous brass music quintet" and is still a going concern to this day. I'm still not sure why they didn't do a hockey-themed song here, like the Hockey Night theme or Brass Bonanza. Ah well. Let's get back to the video, which I'm sure has wrapped up by now.

Oh good lord, it's still going on. This is the longest three minutes in hockey history, narrowly beating out the Oilers defending a 3-0 lead against the Ducks in this year's playoffs.

The whole thing finally ends with a lovely shot of the ladies bending over while the guys raise their horns. Everyone bows, at which point it becomes clear that they didn't rehearse exiting the stage because nobody's sure when to leave and they start bumping into each other.

Thicke knows that was awful but is way too much of a pro to ever say so, so instead he soldiers on with a joke about Dave Semenko attacking one of the performers, because nobody's watching at this point anyway.

And with that, we're done. Somehow, trombones and leotards didn't become a regular feature of the NHL awards, which is too bad. I bet little Drake would have gone out and killed that performance.

Have a question, suggestion, old YouTube clip, or anything else you'd like to see included in this column? Email Sean at nhlgrabbag@gmail.com .

DGB Grab Bag: Hossa's Contract, the Draft, and Drake published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv