#I am NOT immune to boybands at ALL

[flakytartart]

Yeah I feel insane!

[bluebellthesponge]

[silviakundera]

Having honestly the wildest experience flipping back and forth between binging Empresses in the Palace and That Omegaverse Thai BL. Yes, here to report that I have watched 4 episodes of Pit Babe on iQIYI, despite the name itself subjecting me to second-hand embarrassment, and it has officially vaulted over the hurdle of, "Is it good? Is it bad? Does that matter?" in the vein of Love in the Air.

It's.... exactly what it intends to be: that omegaverse AU boyband fic you read on AO3 at 2am when you couldn't sleep. I have never watched a more fanfic-y fanfic projected on screen. An incredible achievement.

Part of me feels strangely exposed and I have to push past my discomfort of thinking about a wider audience getting access to material that I generally consider to be our private fandom matters. But if I repress the knowledge that non-fandom people can see this, it's a dumb tropey good time. I hear there's canon mpreg, which makes sense cause I am pretty sure not a single woman has been on screen in four episodes. Do they canonically exist? Everyone is Gay™ and every named character is dude. I'm honestly racking my brains to recall if anyone mentioned a mom or if a female employee was in the background at some point and I missed it due to covering my eyes from mortification lmaooooooo.

The Babe character is that cliche hot/skilled/rich asshole fictional archetype who condescends to the people he sleeps with, treats them as disposible objects who can be traded to other assholes. (Until this alpha runs into his perfect match, per omegaverse rules!) But innocent flower love interest is apparently Not What He Seems and has his own agenda, as per fanfic 101. We all know how this goes. Supporting characters frequently marvel at how how Love Interest is so special™. Oh what a shock, this scum man alpha never allowed a fuck buddy to do X, Y, Z before. 😮

Naturally, our toxic boyfriend material has a Tragic Backstory that makes him Secretly Vulnerable and everyone wants something from his hot, skilled, rich self. 😢

no but truly, the desperate clinging of love interest Charlie who is thankful for the bare minimum scraps from Babe would be intolerable if we didn't know he has A SECRET SPY MISSION. or something. idk what his deal is yet. Anyway, it's not gross to see Charlie acting out pathetic thankfulness to be included in outings & allowed suck to his dick when Ulterior Motives Are Afoot.

The Sign is out there trying to be good but Pit Babe is so galaxy brain beyond such matters. I was charmed by how much Love in the Air reminded me of Cinemax After Dark and the Red Shoe Diaries of my 90s youth, soft core romance novel stylings surrounded by melodramatic plot (mysteries & fast cars & locker rooms & bar scenes) and Pit Babe charms me in the same late-night tv nostalgic way. The music that kicks up whenever there is a romance moment totally has that early 2000's softcore background track sound. My brain whispers, 'lol that's porn music'.

Characters yelp out Pit Babe at the rate of Sifeng!!!!!!! so I have built an immunity that will serve me well if I venture forward. 💪

[penroseparticle]

Penrose Song of the Day Day 23: Seven by Jung Kook ft. Latto

I am not immune to Kpop. And this song is interesting to me, for reasons that aren't quite totally obvious.

Like the song is perfectly listenable, and it's good pop music. Well produced track, with nice ornamentation. It evokes a vibe it's going for. I think it's a good song, in a vacuum.

I'm not super sold on Latto, but I do like Seven more than Jung Kook's other foray into English songs with US Features- On level, I like Jack Harlow more as an artist (Don't ask, I have a whole rant), and I like the backing track more on 3D, but I think it's a worse song by a significant margin and Jack Harlow's verse on the song is just absolutely rancid. Seven does a lot of things in the song that makes me feel like they've really set Jung Kook up for a successful across the pond single. Though 3D does a lot of the same things now that I'm giving it a good listening as well.

The first thing that's pretty obvious is that the song is very, very simple lyrically for him. Obviously Jung Kook sings the whole song in English, but the song is a softball lyrically- The pre-chorus is pretty extensive, and the chorus is very repetitive- in a way that seems natural, almost. We're listing the 7 days, which all end with "day". We're talking about EVERY hour EVERY minute EVERY second. It's an intensification that's somehow natural to talk about. Night after night. Every chance for natural, intuitive repetition they went after. And the song is form following function- this song is kind of a jackhammer- auditory pun absolutely probably intended. That makes the lyrics regularly spaced and at an easy rhythm.

When you learn a new language, what are some of the first words you learn. I know I've just picked duolingo for French back up. There's a lot of these words in like. Unit 1 and 2 of learning the language. The days of the week. Every. Time words. I'm just saying, I think this song was made with the Kpop phenomenon in mind-After all, Korean fans are going to want to listen to Jboy's English track too. And this is easy for them to grok as well.

There's this natural desire to make sure Jung Kook comes across as sexual in both of his English songs- I think Kpop artists in general are a bit too polished, idol-esque. They're pretty pretty pony people and it's hard to find them visceral and relatable. I don't think it's at all an accident that Mr. "I'm vanilla baby" and Mrs. "I can tell you have big dick energy" are the features on these two songs, and I for one am glad to live in a universe where Jung Kook feels comfortable enough to say "YO I FUCK, OFTEN AND SEVERELY". And not only that but it seems to be something that both benefits his brand and humanizes him for non-kpop fans.

That said the song is still very, very kpop. It feels calculated for success (The lyrics were a dead giveaway), the chorus has Jung Kook's vocals layered up so he sounds more boyband. It's catchy and I can SEE the elaborate boyband choreography that can go with this in my mind's eye. It's a bit edgier, a bit more, I guess American? Than typical BTS fare. But It's not totally removed from it either.

Also, the swears are easy to cut out, easy underlining and punctuation to what's actually happening in the chorus, and are a nice juxtaposition to the actual verses compared to the. Let's say more direct chorus. So you can make a clean radio edit fairly simply (I think they sub "loving" which just. lmao) for wider radio play and public perception.

I think Latto's feature is whatever to be honest. It's a little. bland even for Latto? I think the sound engineer had too much fun on the camera roll and swallow your pride parts, they're comically on the nose sighs and slurping noises which actually just makes me giggle. But the wordplay works, it's a good alternate perspective on the song subject matter, and ultimately I think Latto did a great job, even if this doesn't make me want to hear more of her stuff.

Long story short- I like this song precisely because this song was crafted and I am looking at the craft. I don't necessarily think I'd like the song nearly as much until I started noticing how "easy" the song was made, in a way.

Studying this was fun. Anyways, as always. You could be dead right now. Go listen to something you love.

[persephoneflouwers]

Thanks Angie for your reply, I appreciate it! I’m the pill anon (lol). To your questions what I would say is: yes, you have to be very stupid to have unprotected sex with a random American girlie. Or very intoxicated, or very troubled. Which he might have been all of those things, and that’s fine, he was entitled to make mistakes and be stupid even if he was in the biggest boyband in the world, that doesn’t make him immune to mistakes. If I remember those times in 2015, it’s not that farfetched to assume he might have been in a state of mind to do a stupid thing like this. Or maybe the condom broke and she lied about taking the day-after pill? Who knows, but we know now she’s a trump supporter hungry for fame, so…

When I said he might be trying to make the best out of the situation without us knowing, I meant in reference to all the bullshit we had to endure 2016/2017 like the pap walks or all the bs from Brianna and family (the staged picnic still haunts me). For what we know of Louis, we could assume he might have tried to stop it, create boundaries etc, but we don’t know the context in which those conversations where had and how much he had on his plate. The first years might have been VERY tough on him because 1) Brianna’s family is a mess and has very different beliefs from his, which must have not created the best environment and 2) what was going on with Jay (and then Fizzy) forced him to be in the UK most of his time, and coparenting with a person you dont like who lives across the world must not have been easy. In this specific context, I do think he must have tried to make the best of it, because for what we know of him I still believe this is more likely than for him to be faking it.

I would also argue that being a dad publicly did nothing to his career if not damage. I did understand the potential need (and commercial value) for a stunt like this closet-wise in 2015, but only if it would have stopped at rumours or if a denial of paternity came right after the birth. At this point, more than 7 years in, there’s clearly no commercial value to perpetuate it if it was a farce. It’d be actually a considerable cost for anyone who’s “sponsoring” this. Who’s paying the ‘actors’ involved? Louis? Why, to keep his closet safe? He has beards for that. Sony? Why would they still pay for this, to damage Louis? There are infinite ways they had to do so much more cost-effective (see: radio ban). Like, who would pay for something like this? I just can’t imagine anyone being willing to fake something like this. If you want to share your thoughts on this I am more than open to know what you think might be the dynamic.

And yes, I strongly agree with your last comment. I just believe he’s a good person, you know? It’s painful to see such a huge portion of his fanbase being so categorically “either it’s a stunt and he’s an asshole for dragging it for so long, or he is a dad and he’s asshole because he’s been a shit dad” which I mean, how do people even feel entitled to make assumptions on what kind of dad he might be? On how is life was these past years? Yes everyone can have opinions on what we are presented but maybe it’s not all black and white? Maybe we don’t *know* everything like we think we do? I just wish there was more chill and compassion in assessing the situation.

Anyways, thank you for the civil conversation, I know it’s a shitty controversial topic and my thoughts are definitely the minority around here, so thanks for listening and replying to me ✨

So many questions there… I kept answering in my head with the same answer and nobody would like it. I think the troubled guy character could have been possible if it wasn’t fake and manufactured. The party boy, like they call him, was purposely built out of nowhere and I know this because all the boys were manufactured and they’re entire images were painted on them with very talented brushes. They were (and are today) the products of a detailed marketing project imo. That’s why I can’t believe in “mistakes”. If it was a mistake, the so called oopsie baby, why haven’t they ever tried to put the rumours at rest? Usually a mistake is something you don’t want people to find out? A mistake is by definition something that went wrong and you are supposed to fix it. At worst, you pretend it has never happened lol but they pushed it and pushed it and pushed it. This baby was H I S baby even before he was ever conceived lol

I wont comment on the neglected child. I’m definitely not a supporter of that narrative fans tell themselves like it’s either fake or he’s a shitty father because it’s silly and makes really no sense for me. At the end of the day, we won’t ever know the truth so I don’t see what’s the point in fighting against each other. We should collectively agree this is SNAFU and call it a day hahah

[aratilightwood]

Kit’s grievances against the Shadowhunters.

An extended list.

...

(1) I had to prove I was a Shadowhunter by opening the Institute door. I feel like I’ve been taken under duress. I would’ve thrived living amongst the denizens of the Shadow Market, instead. Now the horror begins.

(2) They’ve become obsessed with one pop band after discovering YouTube, called, ‘One Direction.’ What can I say? People dig a good boyband. But I regretfully have to admit this is partly my fault.

(3) They have zero chill. I’m starting to think the FBI doesn’t work as hard as them. Is falling in love with your Parabatai really that bad? Maybe they all just need a holiday.

(4) They don’t get any vine references. Ever. Not even, ‘Why you always lying.’ Maybe I should use that one on Barnabas snail. I feel like a lonely mundane in the corner, unnoticed and unheard.

(5) When it comes to movies, they only have knowledge about romcoms. What about the action films? The original superman saga? I’m sick of watching Julia Roberts meets Tom Hanks.

(6) They have a schedule for literally everything. Even my bath time is monitored. I’m surprised they don’t keep a record of when I go to the toilet. Please, let me relax in peace.

(7) Nobody’s heard of the ‘pen-pineapple-apple-pen’ song. Baby Blackthorn thought it was a confused recipe for pie. I want to literally throw myself out the window. No one can pull off an outfit like Pikotaro.

(8) They won’t let me wonder out on the streets alone, even though they claim I’m not a prisoner. Actions speak louder than words! I’m Sleeping Beauty, locked in a tower full of strangers.

(9) History is repeating itself. First Valentine and now the Cohort. These boneheads have no clue. It’s no different to mundane history, either. Fascism isn’t a mood. It’s a crime, Zebra Dearbitch.

(10) Is Trace Heronwhale the only person in history to be afraid of ducks? Is it a family trait? Are they considered valuable weapons? Will I catch this irrational phobia?

(11) Was Raziel’s mandate to start a civil war between the Nephilim? I haven’t read that in the Codex. I can see him shaking his head in heaven. You have bought shame on the Shadow World!

(12) No, Sir, I am not Stephen Herondale. Wait, was he good looking? Are all the Herondales notoriously famous? In any case, I wouldn’t mind being mistaken for him.

(13) Why do Institutes have music rooms, when people hardly use them? I thought they frowned upon such things. Would I be punished for busting out a song and dance move?

(14) They want me to jump down from a ceiling beam inside the training room, and land firmly on my feet. I had a feeling they were secretly jealous of my good looks. I knew they’d be the death of me.

(15) Papa Blackthorn has a locked room inside his art studio. I wonder if he’s hiding dead bodies. I wouldn’t be surprised. The man is a dark horse. Should I worry for my own life as well?

(16) They have perfect bodies. As for me - does a batman costume substitute for a sixpack? No? Too bad! I’m wearing one anyway. I’m pretty sure I look stunning. Don’t be jealous.

(17) The idiot named Will H has prevented me from making a profit out of the library books. It’s such a shame. Did he do anything with his life, besides write commentaries in books?

(18) Why was Evilyn Highsmith about to have a heart attack when I wanted to read an article on, ‘Demon Pox?’ I’m pretty sure I’m immune to it. What is it anyways?

(19) They won’t let me have chips for breakfast. Or liquorice wands. Even when nothing else is cooked. Do they want me to starve? How can they dishonour Cheetos like that?

(20) They tied me to a tree like I was Alice in Wonderland. Granted, I don’t have any fighting experience. But they didn’t have to rub it in my face. I do have some skills.

...

Cassie’s orignal list can be found in chapters 8 & 9 of ‘Lord of shadows.’

[permanentmochakisses]

America is the racist one. Notice how they only give BTS all those performances and interviews after they started pushing out their basic colorful standard American boyband music? BTS is good enough for their views and revenue but giving them awards? That’s a hell no for them. Don’t get me started about that ‘whack a mole’ art with the members being shown in bruises, or how bts got like 2 seconds screen time in the friends reunion while they were the whole reason this whole reunion was a thing.

yes, i agree with you. america is racist as hell. among many other terrible things. i am a non-white immigrant living here. i know. i've also reblogged and made posts about how much racist shit in general bts has dealt with. again, you must be very new to my blog. did you expect me to disagree with you?

america and white people being racist does not make PoC immune to their own racism and ignorance. you need to accept that and learn to help be part of a solution and reconcile it with your love for bts.