#weird-coby-core | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

reactingtosomething · 8 years ago

Text

Reacting to Friends from College

I Write and I’m Never Sad

The Setup: It’s a dream comedy cast. Keegan-Michael Key and Cobie Smulders lead the ensemble, Fred Savage does cocaine, and guest appearances include Billy Eichner playing against type and Kate McKinnon playing very much to type. So there was a lot of excitement in our film school cohort about Netflix’s original series Friends from College.

Then it premiered, and, well, maybe you saw the critical response. Like 69 percent of critics, our friend Adam was extremely not impressed. But Marchae, whose default response to comedy is extreme side-eye, loved it. An argument ensued in the group video messaging app Marco Polo (which we heartily endorse), and Marchae threw down the Guest Reactor gauntlet, so here we are.

Post-chat notes from Kris (who was somewhere in between, but closer to Adam) are in italics.

SPOILERS for the entire first season of Friends from College after the jump.

MARCHAE: So I know you had strong opinions about Friends from College.

And I guess we can start there

ADAM: That would be a bit of an understatement. I would like to know your opinion first. I need to see if I’m missing something.

MARCHAE: Well I really LOVED it. I thought it was smart

HILARIOUS

And I was delighted to see people kind of stuck in the throws of yesteryear while simultaneously trying to move forward and be productive

I also liked that it doesn't matter how adult you think you are you're always trapped somewhere between 13 and 23

ADAM: But here’s the thing

These are a bunch of affluent people that are afraid that they aren’t as cool as they think they are.

Just a bunch of

Can I swear on here?

MARCHAE: You may

That almost didn't bother me because they are so flawed

ADAM: But they aren’t flawed in an empathetic way

The audience does not have to sympathize with them, but they should at least have some sort of empathy for what is going on in their life.

Not to mention the complete tonal shifts that occur throughout the season

MARCHAE: Ok time out. I did feel bad for them sooo often

Infertility

A failing marriage

Failing career and sexual harassment at work

AWFUL

and it's a dramedy

I appreciated the antics

And I DO NOT generally appreciate comedies very much

So hats all the way off and in the air for Friends from College

KRIS: Marchae’s case here has been that because she doesn’t like comedies, anything that makes her laugh must be EXTRA funny. But I think this is faulty reasoning, and that if you are a fan of things Marchae does not find funny, you are likely not be a fan of the things she does.

The golden exception here, of course, is Sweet/Vicious, which she rightly adores.

ADAM: When whats her face [Sam] was at therapy talking about how she wants to blow her life, THEN turns around and says, “No don’t wreck my life.”

[SPOILERS coming for I guess the first like five minutes of the show]

To Keagan Michael Key [Ethan] when he wants to come clean about the affair makes me angry

MARCHAE: Sam and Ethan

But I think it's supposed to make you kind of angry

But you know they are miserable

It's kind of like the payment they get for having, excuse my language, dicked their partners around

ADAM: The creators watched shows like Casual, Difficult People, You’re the Worst, Girls and tried to replicate that form. They are doing it because they think people want unlikeable characters.

MARCHAE: Simultaneously it's kind of a tragic love story

I don't find them entirely unlikable though

ADAM: A show like You’re The Worst has terrible fucking people in it, but when everything boils down to the core there is some humanity in them.

With Friends From College these characters are just plain terrible trying to justify that they aren’t terrible.

K: Caroline Framke at Vox called it a bad show about worse people

MARCHAE: I don't think they are terrible!!!!

Lisa isn't

Tell me how Lisa is terrible?!?!

K: I will agree I don’t actually think Lisa is terrible, or at least unlike the others she’s never actively insufferable

They are all kind of midlife crisis

ADAM: Which one is Lisa again?

MARCHAE: Married to Ethan (Keegan Key)

ADAM: She sleeps cheats on her husband

MARCHAE: *Sighs*

She explains why and of those cheating she actually has the "most justifiable" reason

K: She does immediately regret it and almost-immediately come clean, and Ethan takes the opportunity to be Generously Forgiving instead of coming clean like he’d planned, which makes him King Asshole

ADAM: She forces Ethan to break into a pharmacy

MARCHAE: Because SHE WANTS A BABY

K: This is one of the only storylines I like, because it lets Smulders do some actually great dramatic acting. But I wouldn’t even call it an arc, because it never feels resolved so much as dropped halfway through the season.

ADAM: And ruins Felix’s birthday surprise

MARCHAE: and it's funny

ADAM: So what

MARCHAE: I think it is a study in the absurdity of being privileged

They do whatever they want

And have minimal consequences until there are consequences

While the show comments to that it does so using HUMOR

So I personally feel like you should have laughed

Hard

And often

ADAM: It’s privileged assholes with a token black friend

K: Hey now, they also have an Asian friend. Who arguably feels more like a token than Ethan.

But I don’t know that I’d charge the show with tokenism; or at least, the cross-section feels pretty familiar to me, as Expensive New England Liberal Arts College demographics go.

MARCHAE: (Ok you have a point there)

Ethan also notes that in one episode by making a remark about what black men can't do

I really think it's a social commentary

ADAM: Social commentary on what

MARCHAE: The fact that privileged people can do whatever they want with few repercussions and that their problems are clearly as the kids say #firstworld

I mean come on

These people know all the right people they aren't terribly efficient or socially prepared to be in the world yet they all make it

And that's how the world works

And I think the show knows it

K: But how is it a commentary? It shows privilege, but that’s not the same thing.

ADAM: I wouldn’t say they make it. When it’s handed to them

MARCHAE: No they are all surviving and thriving there

Sam has her fancy job

I still don't entirely know what she does (I have to rewatch)

K: I think she sells furniture?

Nick is a trust fund baby

AND THEY ALL WENT TO HARVARD

K: But the creators/showrunners also went to Harvard, and no one in the show is anything but affectionate about it, and I never get critique vibes at all as opposed to maybe some self-congratulatory vibes. Which would be totally fine! If the show was better.

ADAM: There is no true arc to these characters either

MARCHAE: it's great they're lives suck and they have it all

DONT EVEN

they dooooo

(Well some of them)

Explain though

ADAM: Sam wants to keep her perfect life does not feel guilty about cheating

Fred Savage just keeps doing what he is doing even after his partner (the only good thing about the show) leaves him

Nat Faxon floats in and out of episodes to be a comedic partner for Colby Smulders

K: And the main ostensible arc, of Ethan and Sam reckoning with their affair, is very deliberately not resolved, in a weirdly abrupt series ending

MARCHAE: I beg to differ we do see Sam finally realize she's wrong -and Max (Savage) does change a bit and we see the evolution of him kind of realizing: wait these folks might be ruining my life

Nat’s character I WILL give you

ADAM: He NEVER realizes that

MARCHAE: He doooeeeessssssss

He does we know he does he says it all when he's drunk

And also admits he might have a crush on Ethan

ADAM: He threw a temper tantrum at the end when they weren’t doing the bill Clinton musical

MARCHAE: He did and that musical was hilarious

Admit that much at least

ADAM: We never saw the musical

MARCHAE: We saw a number from it

Did we watch the same show?

K: Even the show thinks the musical is terrible

ADAM: Clearly not

Can we talk about how the tone always shifts?

MARCHAE: I didn't think so

But go maybe I'll change my mind I'm flexible

ADAM: The two big stand outs are the wine tasting tour

And the one where they go back to Harvard

The wine tasting tour especially

The let’s get them all drunk and see what happens

K: I agree about the tonal inconsistency, and also particularly hate this episode, except the very end when Felix tells Max the group’s whole deal is pathetic. I want to like this episode because it seems to know that it should be told from Felix’s point of view, but it mostly doesn’t come across that way. It’s just a lot of insufferable antics, with some Lisa angst interspersed.

I think it also with the uneven performance by Keegan Michael Key

The director/creator never really knew how to work with him

At moments he’s just doing impressions and voices that you would see on Key and Peele then he’s this starving unappreciated writer

MARCHAE: The impressions were a personality flaw that they explain in the first or second episode

K: Lampshading is not the same as justifying! Just because there are some lines about it doesn’t mean it works.

I loved the Harvard episode

K: I wanted to, for reasons that will be obvious to our former classmates, but I feel like they crammed two A-stories in under half an hour and neither Harvard nor the Caymans got enough real-estate

ADAM: They threw Kate McKinnon in there to be this weird YA author

I know that, but he is doing them at weird times

MARCHAE: It's his tick. They call him on it too

I could have honestly done without Kate

It was weird. I'll give you that one

K: I didn’t hate it, but I also don't keep up with SNL so maybe my Kate McKinnon oversaturation point is just way different from everyone else’s

His voice impressions were supposed to be anytime he was angry or disagrees with something. I think it added levity to some of the more stressful moments

ADAM: I liked how they poked fun at YA and the twist with Wolf Trials

K: But our readers may appreciate this Mary Sue article defending YA

MARCHAE: HA!

MARCHAE: but i feel like there was so much to like there

ADAM: Here’s a question: In two parts. Sam and Ethan got together when they were Freshmen right?

MARCHAE: yup i think so ( I feel like now I have the PLEASURE of going back to rewatch)

ADAM: Ethan and Lisa got together when he was a Senior and she was Freshmen

MARCHAE: yeah

ADAM: Sam explains they kept having these flings why didn’t they just stay together?

MARCHAE: I honestly thought the same thing - however, I assumed it was because she said whenever they are together she makes poor choices

ADAM: I mean shit, he carved their initials into his dorm wall

MARCHAE: RIGHT!

I will say I questioned the same thing many many many many times and if it was anything that bugged me that was kind of it

ADAM: Smart thing to do is that they never got together in college and are now doing it

MARCHAE: AGREED on that front

ADAM: That speaks to the unevenness of the story

MARCHAE: I think I explained it kind of like they are magnetic for each other ( I don’t necessarily mean it romantically though)

K: Does the show ever really sell this? I don’t think it gives Annie Parisse enough to work with as Sam.

ADAM: They NEVER explain why they didn’t just stay together

MARCHAE: they can’t not be together. Although I probably assigned more of a narrative to the relationship than the show provided

ADAM: its possible because the creators did not. It seems like a pretty big plot device to really overlook

MARCHAE: I think we are supposed to assume that they were each others one who got away yet never got away because they are all still very much good friends?

K: We shouldn’t have to assume!

ADAM: Also, if he writes these critical acclaimed books why is he so sad?

MARCHAE: CAUSE WRITING IS SAD

You know this

I know this!

ADAM: i write and I’m never sad

K: Wait what

MARCHAE: LOL

I think it’s been awhile since his last well received publication. he’s in a bit of a dry spell is how I read it…

(I feel like you’re making me question what I liked about this show?!?!?!)

(Suddenly I’m like wait a minute?)

ADAM: isn’t that the point?

I took it that he is coming off of another critically acclaimed novel that no one is buying because print is dead, and he’s pissed because he wants Harry Potter money

MARCHAE: I totally didn’t get that at all! I thought he didn’t want to be like that at all... he’s into Literature and Max knows that that’s where the money is and Max’s reputation is on the line as well. I think that Ethan would be happy writing his broody novels featuring a teen

ADAM: Ok I would say that it is Max pulling the strings on that

If I had several books that many critics loved I would be happy because I know that it will live on through the ages and be taught in freshmen lit classes

K: I grant this given the additional condition that Ethan is obviously not hurting for money, whether it’s because of his own sales or because of Lisa’s career. But if I had only critical acclaim and had trouble supporting myself I would not be happy

It goes back to my argument of these are not interesting people

Just because they’re dicks does not make them interesting

K: EXACTLY. It’s not good enough in prestige drama, and it’s definitely not good enough in a comedy that wants to be feel-good at least some of the time.

MARCHAE: I think he had two... and when you have some fame you always want more

THEY ARE INTERESTING. don’t you want to know the answers to all of the questions you’ve posed? Why did Sam and Ethan just not stay together?

K: The show should have answered all these questions by the end of the season, because they’re mostly not plot mysteries, they’re essential to character motivation.

ADAM: I don’t think it will get a second season

MARCHAE: What happens with Felix and Max?

IT BETTER!!!! I legitimately thought it was hilarious

it reminded me of Melvin Goes to Dinner

ADAM: I haven’t seen Melvin Goes to Dinner so I cannot relate

MARCHAE: Watch it..it’s a great little indie flick

ADAM: I will

MARCHAE: So what did you like about it

ADAM: Can I say one more thing about the non interesting part then I will say what I liked about it.

MARCHAE: go for it

ADAM: These are white collar people, living in upper crust urban areas, with country houses worrying about how they can keep their upper crust life when they are the ones who put themselves in this situation

MARCHAE: and it’s all falling apart (also Ethan and Sam Lisa are living on Marianne’s couch)

ADAM: meh. I will say this:

MARCHAE: MEH! ADAM come on!!!

ADAM: Even though I had my thoughts on Lisa she is the most interesting person on that show

K: YES

MARCHAE: BOOM!!!

I like Sam too. I think she’s the most complicated character

ADAM: Well and Felix because Billy Eichner plays a great straight man

She’s the most real

Billy Eichner does a great straight man which is different from his normal routine.

Nat Faxon has the best one liners. But I think that is Nat Faxon and not the writers

K: Everyone should watch the short-lived Ben and Kate, also starring a pre-50 Shades Dakota Johnson. But I think Marianne had the best one-liners.

Because Nat Faxon is actually a talented writer

K: With director Alexander Payne and fellow comedy actor Jim Rash, Faxon won a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for The Descendants.

That’s all I somewhat enjoyed, but that’s not enough when the show clearly hinges on Ethan and Sam.

MARCHAE: WOW!

I thought that Sam was great. I liked not knowing what the heck had happened at some points... think about it

when we meet people we only know what we know about them from that moment forward - anything else is their retelling of it - so it was nice to not know and try to figure it out

ADAM: Not knowing what?

What are we not knowing?

MARCHAE: I think Sam’s psychology as well as the how and why she and Ethan stayed together

ADAM: She has no problem fucking around and screwing over Lisa when she knows Ethan and Lisa are trying to conceive

MARCHAE: No that doesn’t make her likable but it does make her complicated

ADAM: Plus she would rather cheat on her husband, who all accounts loves and adores her, he threw her that amazing birthday party, than have Ethan say something and ruin her life

MARCHAE: (btw I think what she did was WRONG on so many levels and I wanted to fight her...she was selfish and needed to be punched and I was sad Lisa never did it)

ADAM: She would just rather ruin everyone else’s life

MARCHAE: I think her husband loves the idea of her and her family but she is selfish that makes her complicated

ADAM: She’s not complicated

She’s spoiled

MARCHAE: But I think she might be there has to be something going on that makes a person say hey I know I make bad choices when I am with person X

and engage in illicit behavior but I am going to keep doing it

I found myself the whole show trying to figure her out

K: I don’t think this is to the show’s credit, though, I think it’s evidence that the show fails to flesh her out or make her internally coherent.

ADAM: I just kept yelling at her

She deserves NOTHING!

MARCHAE: Oh my god! But that’s what I mean we don’t know how she got there

ADAM: Yes we do

She couldn’t/wouldn’t be with Ethan so she married a rich guy, but still realized that she wanted Ethan and would sleep with him every time she visited.

MARCHAE: LOLOL

ADAM: Then instead of breaking things off when Ethan moved to NY she kept at it

MARCHAE: But we don’t know WHY she couldn’t or wouldn’t, which is the FUN of the character but tried to get help

ADAM: But she does not want her privileged life to go away and still wants to fuck around

MARCHAE: but like I said they are magnetic for each other

she doesn’t want to lose her kids

K: But Sam just keeps saying this, and we don’t ever see her interact with her kids in a meaningful way -- even in the Harvard episode, which would’ve been great for that -- or see how incredible the life is that she would lose. It’s the opposite of Show Don’t Tell! But also, if they actually showed her incredible life, she’d be even harder to empathize with.

ADAM: I don’t care for the why on that deep of a level

MARCHAE: she’d still be very much privileged

and I think that’s kind of the cool thing, cool being relative, is that it is going to implode on them. And it’s going to be epic when it does. And we will watch and laugh

ADAM: Doubtful because I don’t think it will get renewed

MARCHAE: SMH

ADAM: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/friends_from_college/s01/

http://www.refinery29.com/2017/07/163100/friends-from-college-ethan-sam-cheating-infidelity-

MARCHAE: AUDIENCE SCORE 55%!!!

ADAM: That’s an F

MARCHAE: see that’s the problem - don’t base your opinion on the critics

that’s over half and there are a lot of things that win with just over half

ADAM: I’m not

MARCHAE: LOTS

ADAM: I watched it

MARCHAE: *sighs* look I am onboard to stick around next season and I feel like in that season they will explore some of the why’s that we need in order to feel more “complete” if you will

K: THEY SHOULD TELL A COMPLETE STORY IN ONE SEASON

ADAM: I’ll watch it see the train wreck that it will be. IF they bring it back

MARCHAE: They WILL bring it back and you and I will be right back here AGAIN.

Anything else you want to mention about how much you LOVED the show?

ADAM: If you want, I can include all the reviews that agree with me that hate it

Ok you asked what I liked. What didn’t you like?

MARCHAE: that would be hilarious. Do it

Well I thought it was hilarious for one thing. just the sheer level of immaturity

I also appreciated seeing folks questioning their lives at this age

ADAM: I think that’s a played out trope

MARCHAE: in theory they are “supposed to” have it all together and they don’t

I think we see it in movies like Sisters or what’s the one with the guys

the man gets a face tat

K: The Hangover? 2, maybe?

but I don’t think we see it with a group of people just trying to be somewhat functional and live their lives

Sam Lisa and Ethan are for all practical purposes homeless

we don’t know why they have enough money for IVF but can’t buy a house but who cares

K: ME

they are a hot mess

and i think that’s what I appreciated is that it was a hot mess

and your clothes can look nice

and your job be great and you are still at the end of the day unhappy and wanting more

and you are fumbling to figure out how to get to that point

and that you do it at 20, 30, 40 and they’ll still be at it at 50 or 60

that no one is actualized enough to be transparent enough to say: YOU MAKE ME UNHAPPY. but we fall into this routine of doing things because we are supposed to...they are supposed to be friends

supposed to marry the guy with all the money

supposed to have kids

and it’s all crumbling because they are ultimately toxic for one another

that’s fun to watch!

K: This is a very eloquent case for the show in theory, but I just don’t see it in practice. I think you’re doing a lot of the heavy lifting for the show. I’m glad it works for you, but I don’t think that’s how madcap ensemble comedies are supposed to function.

ADAM: This whole I’m turning 40 mid life crisis thing does not entertain me.

Especially when you have these well off people. It’s like the Breakfast Club. I hate that movie

A bunch of whiny teens with no real problems, other than Bender.

MARCHAE: but those are kids. watching adults still fumble isn’t terrible to me especially those who are doing the most

(Also i thought it was HILARIOUS)

ADAM: Wait did you think it was hilarious?

MARCHAE: The whole thing!

I thought it was witty. There were literally points where I laughed out loud

The vineyard

The brainstorm at Max and Felix’s

The throwing of the chair though the pharmacy

ADAM: That is the directors asking Ethan to do Key and Peele shit

MARCHAE: it’s funny though

K: I hated all of these things because they’re just free-standing slapstick sequences, and didn’t feel motivated by the story.

now to speak to some of the things you didn’t like

I would have liked a bit more drama

(but I prefer drama to comedy 7 out of 7 days of the week...)

I also wanted more backstory somehow about WHY these people are still friends

so I don’t think it was perfect

but it was easily one of the better things I’ve watch for a comedy in a while

barring like Insecure

ADAM: That seems like a pretty big concern

MARCHAE: I can usually forgive it if the characters are interesting...WHICH THEY WERE

and I think we will be explained more of that in SEASON 2!

ADAM: I don’t have faith in that

MARCHAE: 😟

Do you have anything else you want to add about this show that you ...er... love so much 😊

(Also I swear if it gets a season 2 we. will. react.)

K: I actually will not be surprised if it gets a second season, assuming the cast is in. It doesn’t seem cheap to shoot but it’s also relatively limited in its locations.

ADAM: I swear to react IF it gets a second season

MARCHAE: YES!!!

ADAM: I don’t think I have really anything else to say about these boring people

K: And you guys never even touched on Marianne, Jae Suh Park’s character. Maybe because she’s barely a character. Park gave killer readings to her one-liners (“Has it ever worked?” “Not to my knowledge.”), and I personally would love to see her in more things. But every time it seemed like she might have an actual story, it fizzled out pretty much immediately. Plus a lot of her New Agey GOOP bullshit seems like it should’ve come from an insufferable white lady, not the show’s only Asian character.

MARCHAE: had to get one last dig in didn’t ya?

Well I say this has been a joy!!!

ADAM: It really has

Maybe next time we can react to something we agree on...

Like Die Hard

MARCHAE: YESSSSS!!!!!!

Let’s plan for this!

ADAM: Whenever wherever

Kris was agitating for a Marchae-Adam Die Hard reaction even before Friends from College came up, and would endorse an ongoing Marchae and Adam React to the 80s series. Expect to see more from Adam in the not-too-distant future! And we have yet another excellent Guest Reactor on deck, so you might want to brush up on your X-Men cartoons...

In the meantime, you can follow us on Twitter, where Kris retweets a lot of critics, screenwriters, and actors in between posting Reactions.

#Friends from College #Netflix #Keegan-Michael Key #Cobie Smulders #Fred Savage #Annie Parisse #Nat Faxon #Jae Suh Park #Billy Eichner #TV #guest reactors #Marchae #Adam #Kris after the fact #reaction

5 notes · View notes

dxrkone · 2 years ago

Text

just wanna shoutout the people that helped me along this journey. thank you @tim963x @worldwidewebwww @b1zarr3vel @ihazhamburgerwc @coledshadow @weird-coby-core @elrenotornado2013 and many others i cant think of names of right now (im tired lol)

i cant fucking believe it. 1000? i cant thank you guys enough. i never thought i would get to this point. i cant believe 1000 people actually like my work. im so glad i make you guys happy. i love you all, thank you <3

#dreamcore #2000s internet #nostaligiacore #liminal spaces #2000s aesthetic #oddcore #weirdcore #vaporwave #unreality #late 90s #surrealcore #strangecore #dereality

71 notes · View notes

littleduckdudee · 1 year ago

Note

15. (🍨🥦🦦💫)

19.

💖💖💖

7. (what color brings you peace) Probably a deep purple or blue 9. (what calms you down?) Listening to Will Wood, making weirdcores, writing, and hanging out with my friends 15. (for each emoji, tag someone and describe them) @weird-coby-core artistic, @thecommonestcrow unique, @sentientmushroomsoup thoughtful, @goobers-weirdcore humorous 19. (Most important thing in your life) Many things are important to me, but the main one is never allowing myself to be trapped; freedom.

❤️

#ask game #<3333

3 notes · View notes

socialattractionuk · 5 years ago

Text

When we emigrated, my girlfriend and I had to prove our love

Marcy and I started dating in January 2015. It was my second year at the University of York, and her first. She’d made it her new year’s resolution to ask me out and did it in the middle of exam week, right after we’d watched The Princess Bride in her cramped room.

We watched anime, played old video games and made elaborate Nigella Lawson brownies. When I went to summer school in Japan that year, Marcy flew out to meet me in Tokyo and we spent a hazy three weeks travelling by train to tiny mountain towns and huge festivals. It was paradise.

Two years later and I was applying for a Master’s degree. Brexit had happened. Hate crimes were rising. People had started to stare when Marcy and I held hands in public. People yelled at us in the street. I wanted to yell back but Marcy would stop me, not wanting a fuss.

I wanted to leave the UK, but only if we left together. ‘How do you feel about me applying to Master’s degrees far away?’ I asked. ‘I’m looking at programmes in Melbourne, Toronto and Vancouver.’

She thought about it for maybe 10 seconds. ‘I’ve always wanted to live in Canada.’

Aside from my summer in Tokyo, we’d both lived in England our whole lives. I knew my great-aunt had moved to Canada in the 70s, but I doubted immigration would be that easy anymore.

I was accepted into the University of British Columbia, and that’s when the paperwork started. The good news was Marcy was eligible for a visa as my common-law partner, which meant that she would have the same rights as if we were married. The bad news: we had to prove our relationship.

The border agency gave us a strict list of what counted as proof that we were truly in love – and we had none of it.

The countless photos of us counted for nothing, the art we decorated our walls with had no weight, the friends who referred to us as ‘Marv’, like we were a single entity, didn’t factor in (Picture: V Wells)

Despite spending every night together for two years, complete with couples’ Interrail trips and shared Sainsbury’s orders, we had no financial assets or legal recognition of our coupledom. We didn’t share a lease or own any property together — we had never officially lived together.

The countless photos of us counted for nothing. The art we decorated our walls with had no weight. The friends who referred to us as ‘Marv’, like we were a single entity, didn’t factor in. It was crushing to realise that our relationship had no paper trail. So we made one.

We opened a shared bank account (that we haven’t touched since) and I combed through our bank statements to prove we split groceries. I submitted all our shared expenses as part of the visa application.

Crucially, we visited a notary and signed a statement swearing our common-law status. It was weird to give a stranger money to have them rubber-stamp a document that ‘proved’ our relationship, but it made the Canadian government happy and we could have been charged with perjury if it was false, which was quite a compelling reason to be honest.

In the end, it didn’t matter to us: you can’t quantify love and devotion with a piece of paper.

Canada’s immigration process is terrifying. You pay a fortune and upload your documents to a website, and they disappear into a void. There’s no way to contact anyone to ask for updates and no way to know if you did everything right.

I was worried that, after everything we had been through to be together, my shy girlfriend was destined to spend her days waiting for me

Marcy and I spent a lot of late nights figuring out contingency plans. Long distance. Six-month visitor visas. I even jokingly suggested getting married, aged 22, to see if that helped our chances. I was that certain that we’d be together forever (I still am).

After a couple of months of anxious waiting, our visas came through in the summer around the same time Marcy graduated… we had qualified. There it was, in black and white: ‘common-law spouse’. We didn’t need to get married – Canada thought we were as good as wed. I was too relieved to feel anything else.

We landed there at the end of August 2017, a week before my 23rd birthday and four months after applying for visas.

In Vancouver, you can stand on the beach and see ocean and mountains, skyscrapers and mountains. It’s beautiful – and sometimes lonely. I had my friends from my course; Marcy didn’t know anyone.

She spent the first week overwhelmed by the wide roads and weird supermarkets and unfamiliar measurement systems. I was worried that, after everything we had been through to be together, my shy girlfriend was destined to spend her days waiting for me.

Marcy chose me, and I chose her, and we chose to move together (Picture: V Wells)

I was concerned Marcy might resent me for upending her life for nothing and worried that she might want to break up with me. Her visa was attached to mine: she could only live in Canada so long as we’re together. What if she was only staying with me so she didn’t have to leave?

But Marcy thrived. She started our Dungeons and Dragons group that still meets every Saturday. She attended technology and video game meet-ups and got to know local creators. She started working at Lush, and brought home squashed soap and vegan perfume.

Canada has become somewhere safe where Marcy gets to be herself and where we get to be us, together. Moving here meant we had to build a whole new support system from scratch but I’ve always been her biggest fan, and she’s always been mine. Five years later, we’re still as in love as ever.

I cherish the little things: explaining the heteronormative core conceit of Love Is Blind while we cook curry; playing video games together on the sofa. One day, we’ll probably get married. I’ve already got an engagement ring for her, hidden in the back of my underwear drawer.

More: Gaming

Games Inbox: What did you think of the Xbox 20/20 games?

Jack Grealish fuels Manchester United transfer links on Instagram

How I Met Your Mother's Cobie Smulders brings back Robin Sparkles for Let's Go To The Mall

At night we lie awake in bed and worry about our future in Canada: the permanent residency we have yet to obtain, the citizenship tests we have yet to take, the hoops we have yet to jump through. But love isn’t in signing pieces of paper that say you’re in a relationship. It’s in the little moments spent in each other’s presence.

It’s making each other tea in the morning without being asked. It’s holding hands automatically when you leave the house. It’s supporting each other’s far-fetched ideas — like cooking 28 roast potatoes each for Christmas dinner, or getting really into growing houseplants, or agreeing to move to another country together. And there’s nobody else in the world I’d rather be eating potatoes or growing plants or living in a three-room apartment with.

I don’t believe in fate, or miracles, or soul mates. There are thousands of people in the world who any one of us could connect with at any time. But Marcy chose me, and I chose her, and we chose to move together.

Taking that risk proves our love and devotion more than any document could. And I promise to keep choosing her, over and over.

Last week, in Love, Or Something Like It: When sex became too painful, I learnt to love without it

Share your love story

Love, Or Something Like It is a new series for Metro.co.uk, covering everything from mating and dating to lust and loss, to find out what love is and how to find it in the present day. If you have a love story to share, email [email protected]

MORE: Living together almost wrecked my relationship so now we live happily apart

MORE: My Italian wife taught me how to show love

MORE: I went on holiday with a Tinder match I'd known for a week

0 notes

cobys-trans-agenda · 2 years ago

Text

hi gamers, it is i, coby =) you may know me from my weirdcore blog, @weird-coby-core. i wanted to make a blog for stuff that isn't just weirdcore, like sharing my silly goofy thoughts. my pronouns are he/him and i go by coby online. i'm trans and aroace and i play the guitar. i will probably post stuff like art and memes. follow me if u want to. coby out :)

#i dont know what to tag this #hi #intro post

2 notes · View notes

rueririn · 2 years ago

Text

Episode 2

Nami being exasperated that Luffy doesn’t know where the Grand Line is, but going inside to draw an explanation anyways.

I REALLY like the approach of making opla Luffy smarter. He’s not any less silly and fun than mangapiece, but he also encapsulates the serious, battle-instinct luffy we like. Immediately reaching for the map to swallow the case is ingenious for someone with rubber powers when ambushed.

“Pirates are pirates, there’s only one kind.” is immediately thrown into chaos with the whackiest pirates we’ll ever find.

Full circus trope mode with Buggy, eh? I love it. Also I love the messed-up use of the Orange Town citizens to be chained down as their unwilling audience. Drives in the darker tone of opla so well while still staying true to how buggy is supposed to be-- which is, cruel and cold-blooded.

Buggy’s crew messing up their introduction scene and pointing the spotlight at Mohji instead is the funniest, most in-character thing actually. Reminds me of the Marineford series of retakes aksjdlkasdla

Ohhh the way he pronounces Monkey D. Luffy with a emphasis on ‘Mon’ really sounds like how the japanese does it. Probably an accent coincidence but that’s really fun

Zoro in a red haramaki is weird but i’ll let it slide because he wears it well. Also the wardrobe changes are so fun actually. Japanese eri-styled collar on Zoro for an early samurai emphasis.

Orange Town being devastated is such a good detail to make Nami pause.

“What makes a boy want to grow up to be king of the pirates ? Who are you trying to impress? Was it a lost love? An absent parent? Or was it someone you worshipped? A false idol?” I am obsessed with this delivery from Buggy. Holy shit the poetic irony in this sentence. I love Buggy so much because of this. This line hurts me in ways I cannot describe.

“A couple years ago you hunted us across the Goa Kingdom” alright, this opens up the possibilities of Cabaji and Zoro being at Gray Terminal what the hell my fanfic brain is working right now

Garp just indulgently feeding a Den Den Mushi is so Garp. I can’t. That’s fucking adorable grandpa things that Garp would do.

I love this expansion of the Cobymeppo diaries. I love the mentor-student relationship they have and actually giving us a step by step of getting to that point makes me so happy.

“Telling the truth is one of the core values of the marines,” - Monkey D. Garp, who hid and raised the child of the pirate king for twenty years.

Coby’s uniform being a little big for him is a funny foreshadow to the fact he’s going to grow very quickly into it.

The way lucky roo-- and then later we see benn and yassop--- were all just presumably sitting back there on standby while shanks confronts higuma? Absolute Arlong park energy. Camera just pans out to reveal they were there the whole time.

I LOVE the choreography of the gunfight with Benn and Yasopp. Yasopp taking a moment to decide he’ll aim for the pole? Casually taking out Roo’s gun? Benn aiming over his head just as he crouches down?

HE ALSO ENUNCIATES BAZOOKA THE SAME WAY ITS ON PURPOSE THATS SO CUTE

“Is every day gonna be this crazy with you?” oh zoro you have no idea... also thanks for the reminder of how insane the manga timeline is because all this happens in two days and the live action helps us comprehend that, actually

alright, good night.

Pirating OPLA, thoughts

Episode 1

Garp being at Roger's execution is a nice touch

Really like how full Luffy's dinghy is-- crates of fruit, a barrel of fish instead of just one barrel of apples--- all makes sense. All the tiny details removed from manga that are just added onto opla for realism-- like the way the execution stand works, too, with the people cranking the manual lift to get roger up there. It's all very cool and makes the setting feel more piraty than mangapiece.

Our beloved Zoro tried to go to Sixis on a cruise ship. This is a good way to casually mention Zoro earlier (plus that's Ace's first island so it actually lines up on the One Piece map to be around Dawn Island--)

"it's worth more than the rest of our loot put together" a nika mention that can be interpreted as just a devil fruit mention

"You should never let anyone tell you what you can't do. If I did that, I never would have left my village to go find the One Piece." Luffy referencing Garp like this is so funny to me

Unlike mangapiece, Luffy invites Coby along before knowing his dream to become a marine. This makes me sad because now I wish la coby joined the crew

opla Shanks is weirdly more serious than mangapiece Shanks. Not necessarily in a bad way, just different. That's the attitude I'm takign for most of opla anyways.

Adding the Mr 7 and Zoro fight here is actually really cool

Beta Nami outfit aaaaa they moved the pre-orange town ship-stealing scene to serve as her introduction scene and that works so well for her.

I love that they all naturally congregated in Ririka's bar. Everyone congregates and chaos occurs. Really like how they switched things up while never really taking things off course.

"PIRATES SPREAD DISEASE" poster on the wall

Coby sliding under the table once a fight breaks outajslkdjalsijdsakj i love him pls

ADORE the barfight. It's Zoro vs Baroque Works but bite-sized and with everything we love about the most consistently badass member of the crew. Thank you.

Zoro really pulled a reverse on Helmeppo lmao. "Three swords? I only need one" proceeds to get curbed by zero swords

oh! Zoro introduced himself as pirate hunter. that makes him different from mangapiece where he explicitly says at some point that he never called himself that. But it fits the opla characterisation so fair enough.

Luffy popping out of the manhole to yell 'thanks' at Zoro just sends me. Makino taught him well.

Nami being the most independent and capable girlboss up until the second Luffy literally crashes into her life and ruins her plan is actually 100% compliant with the basis of their relationship.

Oh is this the ass naked Helmeppo scene everyone's been yelling abo--- oh it is. ok.

I've never realized how badly I wanted a Nami and Luffy fighting together scene until now. I just realized how little of those we get in Mangapiece. Holy shit.

Romance Dawn trio just has this really satisfying trio cohesion that I can't describe. They're forever my favourite trio in the strawhats and opla does a magnificent job of bringing justice to what the manga couldn't give them with its chapter and page limits, since their only trio time together without being dragged around by handicaps was in the gaimon arc.

Makes me a little sad that Coby's involvement in Shells gets cut down a little, but that's fine I guess, he got plenty of touchup in his introduction scene.

Luffy holding back laughter when he sees Helmeppo's hair. Zoro chuckling because "yeah I might've done that" and Nami just being speechless. They're so stupid i love them

Garp going silent when he hears a straw-hat pirate stole the map to the grand line. I like to think this could imply Roger also stole his map once upon a time, but for now I'm just laughing at Garp internally screeching "that STUPID GRANDSON it's been ONE DAY"

#one piece #opla

84 notes · View notes