#I first watched this about 6 years ago and I’m still not over it wtf

[dryadalisliv]

“There is no place for magic in Camelot”

SHUT YOUR MOUTH MERLIN! WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK! WHY WOULD U SAY THAT!! I-I WHY?!

[nikkiruncks]

Hi friend you're officially legal wow! I love the toph + azula concept they're a similar age and it's wlw which is so good. I recently watched t9s and wanted to come into your inbox and share my ThoughtsTM

so like there were a LOT of weird parts about the show (jay trying to seduce leia's mom out of revenge was ???) but the actors were gradually figuring out their footing which was fun to watch, it felt less like flat disney channel line delivery at some parts. nikki and nate's actors did a great job with their acting for the breakup/post breakup plotline and I enjoyed watching their casual exes fling lol, even if it's not a good relationship it's really fun to watch onscreen.

all three girls are beautiful but gwen got insanely hot, i loved her hair and fashion she's so pretty. her actress had genuine chemistry with the Boyfriend (I already forgot his name he's just arm candy at this point) so that definitely made the overall show's acting a bit better as well.

the thing with the nate/leia conflict was that it was dumb because I get how they're both softies which lends itself to personality compatibility but I could not see it as a romantic ship at all, I'm not convinced that they're attracted to each other (the friendship interactions were barely developed) and it honestly felt random/designed to produce conflict. i can buy it on nate's side but not at all from leia's. however the thing where nate had to pretend she's gross is actually funny - overall the jokes and humor got a little bit better this season.

great talk, hope you're having a wonderful day!

So happy to see you in my inbox again Anna! Been a long time since we talked lol.

Haha I actually turned 18 over 6 months ago but ty! It took a while for me to terms with being adult ngl, but I ended up getting used to it. I still don’t know what the fuck I’m doing sometimes tho haha.

Ty! Toph and Azula are a two year age gap, so I feel like it’s very fitting. I just love the idea of them as enemies to gfs. I think in general, I have a thing for ships where two characters are "similar but different" (i.e. gwikki, tophzula, zenmasters, dair, etc). It’s just so fun to see them get closer and realize they aren’t so different after all.

I personally was fine with the acting, and the kids are 15-20 years old so I cut some slack lol. Also a hot take, but Jay trying to seduce Donna was funny as fuck idec. Like the music, Jay's mannerisms, Donna being like 'wtf', and Jay "turning Donna down". It was perfect imo.

Nikki and Nate soured for me after the 3rd episode of the first season, but I’ll admit that I love their fwb storyline in season two. I just don’t want them to get together and be a couple. I’ve talked about it here why I don’t want them again and I still stand by it. I just don’t want my girl (and Nate) being limited to that relationship haha.

Completely agree. Their glowups are INSANE.

Even though Gwikki is my otp, I really liked Gwen and Cole together. They were really sweet together and it was nice seeing Gwen navigate a serious relationship for the first time.

When it comes to Nate and Leia, I hated them for so long until like March. Then I started shipping them for their potential, chemistry, and prettiness hahaha.

In canon, I don’t want Neia to happen tho. Aside from the fact that Jeia is my otp and I don’t anyone to touch them, in season 2, it’s canon that they only used each other for comfort so I can’t see them getting together at all haha.

Tysm! Hope you are too!

[rantsandsparkles]

My Most Anticipated Movies of 2023

Honorable mentions that didn’t make my list in no particular order : Killers of the Flower Moon (if it actually comes about this year. how many years have we been saying this is coming out?!), Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Napoleon, John Wick 4,  and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. And now to my top 10! 

10) Barbie

A lot of people are losing their shit over Barbie. I didn’t really care until I saw the photos of Ryan Gosling as Ken. I’m not the biggest fan of Greta Gerwig, I mostly enjoyed Little Women (although I am still BAFFLED at her decision to make it seem like Jo decided to be with Laurie and then got rejected like umm what ?!) , wasn’t too crazy about Lady Bird. And I won’t get into her non-performance in White Noise lol, but  she is a competent director so I’m intrigued. I think Blake Lively would have made a better “Barbie” but Margot Robbie is always delightful so I’m looking forward to this one.

9)  Creed III

I’ve never seen any of the Rocky movies, but for some reason I watched the first two Creeds, and I liked them both. Jonathan Majors looks isancely ripped in this trailer and yes i’m shallow enough to let that be enough to get my butt in the seat lol.  But more seriously, this is Michael B. Jordan’s directorial debut and I’m very excited to see his directing chops.

8) Wonka

I am still scratching my head over who at Warner Brothers decided to cast Timothlee Chalamet as a Wonka, and make by default a Wonka that fucks. But here we are. When I heard about this casting news a couple years ago I literally said ‘wtf’ out loud, but when I saw the pictures I was sold. He has that mischevious Wonka smirk down pat. I am a little nervous about this after hearing the reaction to the footage that played at CinemaCon , and I’m like one of the few people on earth that didn’t love the Paddington movies, so the Paul King element isn’t comforting to me. But I’m excited to see Timmy in a musical. And the goddess Olivia Colman gushed about his performance, so I have faith.  Although if the rumors are true that it was between him and Tom Holland , and Timmy isn’t good in this I will be so upset.

7) Oppenheimer 

This cast list is insane, and the fact that he allegedly got to set of an actual nuke is absurd and suck a yep Christopher Nolan still a jackass thing to do lol.  Don’t know much about the plot, and haven’t read the book, but looking forward to this one for sure. 

Its also fun that this movie is coming out same day as Barbie. That is going to be a wild double feature day 

6) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

James Gunn’s first Guardians of the Galaxy is probably my favorite of the MCU movies. The second one , was uh , definitely not. I’m hoping that the trilogy ends on a high note and this one captures more of the charm from the first. Even if its bad, I know at least it will have a killer soundtrack. 

5) The Super Mario Bros. Movie 

I know the internet hates Chris Pratt , but I still like him. I think if he was truly a trash person then his co-stars wouldn’t speak of him so highly, and I’ll take the word of people that actually know someone over the opinion of the internet any day. But with that being said , I think it is almost INSANE that he was cast as Mario. Like it makes me laugh every time I think about it. I think its hilarious that multiple studio execs agreed , “yep, he’s our Mario.” I have no idea what this movie is going to be about and I don’t care, just going in with zero exception

4) Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Ant Man’s Scott Lang is one of my favorite of the marvel characters and I really enjoyed Jonathan Majors’ Kang in Loki. I’m excited to see what’ll happen in this one and hopefully it’ll have better muliverse content than DS Multiverse of Madness. I have to admit however that the trailers have been disappointing in terms of visuals - I’m not paticialry looking forward to an entire movie essentially filmed in the volume.

3) Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lsFs2615gw

The fact that this movie’s title is Mission colon  Impossible dash Dead Reckoning Part One is ridiulous , and I hope the movie is just as ridiculous lol Tom Cruise is a freak of nature , and seeing this clip in Imax last month got me hyped. And anything with Rebecca Ferguson? Absolutely. 

2) Challengers 

Zendaya as a milf in a love triangle with Josh O’Connor and Mike Fiast? Ummmm Sign me the fuck up.  I will admit though I am nervous about this movie though because I didn’t love the script that was posted online, and although I know he’s widely known and respected as a great auteur filmmaker , I can’t say that I’ve ever really loved any of the Luca Guadagnino’s films that I’ve seen. I’m hoping that Zendaya gets to play this as a femme fatale kind of sex bomb character, and that it cements her as a movie star that can open a big movie. 

1) Dune Part 2 

I have truly have no idea why, but I have become almost obsessed with Dune over the past year. I watched it when it came out in 2021 and I thought it was fine , but I didn’t have an urge to revisit it. Then all of a sudden I got an urge to to watch Dune and after seeing it again I got really into the story. I’m really looking forward to seeing what Denis has planned for the second part of this adaptation, particialuar how he’s going to handle the trippy spice /water of life stuff, how they’re going to do Alia, ect. And everything the cast had crew has said about part 2 , that its bigger more cinematic etc has me so excited. And it seems like ever day we are getting another 🤯 cast announcment. I’m counting down the days for this one - November can’t get hear soon enough :) 

[mandareeboo]

SU Music Rankings

Bc I can and I wanna start some Disk Horse rip. These are all in order of preference, with explanations, etc. It’s a long bitch. That said, I’m not counting little short jingles or small joke songs like Little Butler. This is the meat and potatoes of SU music- just under 30 songs. I might do the rest if people like my takes lol.

I scored it mostly on three bases- how dear it was to my heart, how much/often I relisten to it, and also what it means to the plot. That said, little fun songs don’t automatically go farther down than big, plot-heavy songs either! It’s a strange little balance.

Special Note: I don’t dislike any of this music! I love SU and that includes its bumps and glitches. I just pick favorite children lol.

1.) Change

Was there ever a more Steven moment than when he wiped the blood off his face and kissed it into sparkles? I think not. 

If “Be Wherever You Are” is an ode to young Steven, then this is teen Steven’s. Talking about change, and how much and how little it can do. How he holds his arms up for Spinel to hug him, so trusting. How he seems able to just. Break into soft tears at will, and not to be manipulative- it’s just his kind nature. The warmth in his voice. Fuck yesssss.

2.) Change Your Mind

This song is only fifty five seconds and it’s EVERYTHING to me. It really felt like someone was speaking the words I’d always held deep inside of me, unsure of how to say. It feels like a goodbye to someone who never really loved me. 

As much as I enjoyed Future, if this was the finale of SU, I would’ve been perfectly okay with that.

3.) Drift Away

This song gave me legitimate shivers the first time I heard it, and it still haunts me to this day. Spinel stayed, and waited, and all she got was a transmission thousands of years later. Fuck.

4.) Here We Are In The Future

THE MOVIE IS SU AS ITS BEST AND I WON’T BE SWAYED ON IT. Steven being a teen who loves his weird family but is growing just a bit sarcastic to their drama. The adorable love he and Connie share. His slow realization that he will always be working, always have things to do, is both somber and real. The Crystal Gems won’t be safe with one epic battle. They’ll be safe with years of hard work and love. HIS LITTLE HANDSHAKE WITH AMETHYST.

This is a helluva bop and a great way to summarize the main character’s backstories.

5.) Let’s Only Think About Love

Did ya’ll know that Zach Callison killed his throat with that last note? He gave his all for this performance in a vocal range he no longer comfortably do and by god did it SHINE. The FLAIR. The FORESHADOWING. All of the Gems all being awkward about Rose and Steven trying to bring them to the present. Peridot having a mini-existential crisis in a cute yellow dress. I love Zach Callison’s normal singing voice but man is that a fucking bop. Nothing will ever beat it.

6.) Here Comes A Thought

This bad boy helped me out a LOT with some mental issues I was dealing with in high school. I was unmedicated, unsupervised, and full of anxiety. I’d have break downs when I tried to speak about certain things. I couldn’t function. This song inspired me. It helped me feel okay with my intrusive thoughts.

And the episode! -chef’s kiss-. Once again bringing up the morally gray area of training child soldiers. Connie expanding her social group. Steven’s trauma hauling ass in that second half. The ANIMATION. Stevonnie’s gorgeous singing voice. GOD yes.

7.) It’s Over Isn’t It?

Just barely squeaking above Stronger Than You, this ballad is everything gorgeous. The whole episode is. I think Mr. Greg stands in the top five of my episodes for the entire show. It even got nominated!

There’s just so much about this song that I love. The gentle melancholy of Pearl’s voice. How the crew had to redo the shots for this bit bc Deedee went so fucking hard. The hard cuts between Pearl, remembering the love of her life, and Steven, who has begun to feel like he took her away. I’d recommend this song to anyone, regardless of what they do or don’t know about SU, simply bc it tugs so many heartstrings of love, loss, and responsibility.

8.) Stronger Than You

Did you realize this episode aired SEVEN years ago? This bitch was what got me into SU! Hearing about Ruby and Sapphire made my little gay heart so happy inside, and then getting a whole song confirming that they were a couple, that their love powered the strongest Gem on the team? Aaaaaaaaa

To this DAY I get excited when I hear Estelle start singing. This song is timeless. This song will live in media history. God I fucking love this song.

9.) Other Friends

I’m not the biggest musical person, so I hadn’t heard of Sarah Stiles before her casting as Spinel, but JESUS CHRIST the lady went hard. She went SO fucking hard. Sarah Stiles started on 100 and somehow just kept CLIMBING. You can just hear the sheer manic energy building in her voice, the anger and resentment. 10/10 Sarah Stiles is a queen.

10.) Independent Together

This made the list entirely bc the crew was like “you’re gonna get a himbo ass Steven-Greg fusion singing with Opal while Garnet flies across the moon on Lion while floating” and I am forever thankful to them for it

11.) Who We Are

Bismuth deserved more songs. ‘Nuff said.

12.) Peace and Love (On the Planet Earth)

It Could’ve been Great is EASILY one of my favorite s2 episodes. I love the entire concept of this song. Of Steven making music to reflect how much Earth means to him and his family. Of him teaching Peridot some self-care. Also Peridot’s singing voice is really cute and squeaky. 

I know it’s silly, but I would’ve really enjoyed a flip around of this in Future! Like Peridot reminding Steven how much he loves music, that he needs to take time to relax for himself, maybe with a new verse or just a remix of the original song!

13.) Something Entirely New

I watched this episode as it aired, and I legitimately almost cried. I love Charlyne Yi’s voice so much ya’ll- her raspy, not perfect singing voice against Sapphire’s deep soothing lull is great.

And to have Ruby and Sapphire’s meeting be the way it was- for Ruby to bemoan Sapphire losing Homeworld, to being stuck with a single Ruby, while Sapphire is a noble who has always been taught everyone in her “caste” is vitally important (and has, in her own mind, taken that to mean every Gem, as she should) and how they come together and make each other happy. Good shit good shit.

14.) I’m Just a Comet

The fact that Greg’s music career never really blasted off pisses me off to this day bc Tom Scharpling’s voice is fucking BUTTER. Also the song really feels like a jab at his parents now that we know the kind of dynamic he had growing up. “This life in the stars if all I’ve ever known” is definitely him wiping away their existence after reminding them (and himself) the things they used to say about him.

15.) Do It For Her

This episode. This fucking episode. This episode got me permanently hooked on SU. I’d just binged season 1 and was kinda meh about it overall after the bop of Stronger Than You. “Oh,” I thought to myself, foolishly, “I’ll probably just casually watch this from time to time.”

Like three days later Sworn to the Sword aired and that was it. I was hooked! Pearl’s gentle training song turning darker and darker, Connie’s accompaniment from nervous to determined to fully into such a toxic mindset. The fact that SU had the BALLS to discuss the repercussions of training child soldiers, now and later. This episode was everything to me, STILL is everything to me.

Six years and well over 100 fanfics written later, I think it’s safe to say this show swallowed me whole and never let go.

16.) System/Boot.pearl_final(3)

I debated putting this on the list because it’s not anything crazy important, just a way to show things are Wrong, but I had to do it entirely bc Pearl is so damn SALTY.

Like telling us about the Gems makes sense, she felt like she was given a duty, but she went so damn petty. WHY is that Ruby alone. Gross. This Amethyst is a trash dump. Wtf are you people.

17.) Full Disclosure

This episode really feels like a turning point for SU. Before, the show had its dark moments- but now we’re in the thick of it, and it’s not going away. Full Disclosure felt like an rebuff to the idea of returning to any normal we’d established in season 1. Gems are actually a giant species now. Gems tried to kill us now. There’s this Yellow Diamond bitch who got namedropped. Something about a Cluster. 

The song itself is BALLER, with its ingenious use of Steven’s ringtone and photos as he tries to decide whether to clue in Connie on all this nonsense. Meanwhile we, the audience, already know damn well Connie about to yeet some common sense into him.

18.) What’s the Use of Feeling Blue?

I’mma admit it- I’m a Yellow Diamond stan. I’ve always loved her- her anger, her poise, her hardworking nature. I actively argued against the “Yellow Shattered Pink” theories back in the day. But, man, when this arc leaked? I got so overexcited I was too jittery to watch it for like two days. It’s easily my favorite arc of the series. The sheer alien nature of the zoo, the Famethyst, and absolutely Patti Lupone’s beautiful ballad. Goddamn. Yellow singing to Blue to try and help her regain her old status, the warble in her voice as she reminds Blue she misses Pink too, the movement of the bubbles as she talks about attack. It gives me shivers to this day. FUCK.

19.) Tower of Mistakes

This is, fun fact, that only SU song I have completely memorized. The story itself is kinda funny! See, we lost internet at my house for a solid 5 to 6 months when these episodes aired, so I only got a very brief window to view them all. But this was the first Amethyst song in a long while, and I didn’t want to forget it! So I keep replaying it in my head for ages. And that’s still definitely a thing.

Anyway will never not be sad that this entire song was about making it up to Garnet for Amethyst’s perceived slights with Sugilite (which was a two-way road), only for Garnet to pressure her into fusion later when pissed and never discuss it again bc Garnet probably never thought twice about it and Amethyst has the emotional openness of a clam that’s just been told its ugly. Helluva way to make someone feel like shit, G. Helluva way to bottle that shit, Ames.

20.) On the Run

I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: Amethyst! Needed! More! Songs! 

The dichotomy between Steven’s play and Amethyst’s honest desire to run away from home is so well-done, especially when you consider a lot of Steven and Amethyst’s actions are playing together. The song is also near and dear to me simply bc it’s my favorite Amethyst episode to exist (well, maybe second to What’s Your Problem, but not by much). Moments like these are all the proof I need that they were right to fuse first.

21.) Be Wherever You Are

This tune really just feels like an ode to who Steven was as a kid. Trapped on an island with no way home, and he’s just happy to be with his friends. The stars are beautiful and not oppressive. Also that one animatic with Lars and the Off Colors playing in the Homeworld Kindergarten to this music was iconic and made this song get stuck in my head for a solid month.

22.) Familiar

I ADORE how the crew use bright neon colors to show how alien Homeworld can be. And Steven recognizing that the Diamonds treat him how the CGs used to, and how prepared he is to “fix” a broken family. It’s a soft, gentle tune about melancholy. Also the Pebbles are beautiful.

23.) Let Me Drive My Van Into Your Heart

Such a cute little love ballad, but every time I listen to it now I just imagine the heart attack Rose must’ve had at the line “And if we look out of place/Well, baby, that's okay/I'll drive us into outer space.” like there’s a Vietnam war flashback if I ever heard one

24.) What Can I Do?

I’m kind of neutral on this one? Rose and Greg both have great voices, but the song itself lacks many lyrics. I think it was definitely a good way to show Rose’s flaws in thinking.

Also, I’m shocked they managed cram that much vaguely sexual innuendo into two minutes, followed by how Not Hetereo that dance between Rose and Pearl was, and not get their asses chewed by it. You go guys.

25.) Cookie Cat

I love a lot of the vibes this song has. The lyrics are so damn prophetic, but they also sound like the kind of weird 90s commercials I grew up on. It’s been like two decades since I saw the Shirley Temple commercial but I’ll be damned if I don’t remember “Animals crackers in my soup! Monkey and rabbits loop-de-loop.”

26.) Giant Woman

I am. NOT the biggest fan of Steven’s original singing voice. I feel bad saying that, since it was just Zach Callison as a kid, but he never jived well with me for some reason. So I wouldn’t listen to this on the fly. 

The song itself is still really good though, with all sorts of fun animation of Amethyst and Pearl being bitchy to each other. It’s a bit sad in hindsight to see tiny Steven trying to get his moms to get along. Ahh, season 1.

27.) Strong in the Real Way

This song has SUCH a strong start. Pearl reflecting on Sugilite’s problems, but the show making sure to show us that Pearl’s lack of enthusiasm towards her also lends itself to jealousy as well as just general malaise. How much she cares about Steven, and wants him to grow up strong. 

And then Steven just kinda. Ruins it? I appreciate his enthusiasm for tryna bulk up but to take what was starting as such a rich, personal song and broadcasting it to random strangers just makes me a bit sad. Almost a bit angry on her behalf?

28.) That Distant Shore

I KNOW this is gonna create some discourse, but I’m just not the biggest Lapis stan. I love her voice. I love the visuals of the song. And I get why she felt afraid and needed to flee.

But Lapis never got to take responsibility for her own actions. And, in the end, the song feels hollow to me- because we all know she’ll never talk to anyone about it, know she’ll burst back in and destroy the barn, and no one will ever question it. I like Lapis a lot, but I feel like her arc never was fully finished. She never got help. She never learned to feel safe.

29.) Dear Old Dad

I’ve yet to meet a single human being who likes this episode tbh. There’s some great discussion about what kind of parent Greg is from it, and what kind of dynamic he has with the Gems that he felt he had to fake an injury to hang out with his son. Honestly the first half was fine and dandy. It’s just that then they Greg just went out of his way to drag Steven away from missions and such. It never jived well with his character before or after.

Also, is it just me, or does Zach himself sound like he hates the song as he sings it? There’s no passion or heart in his voice. It sounds like they told him to read off cue cards and he did. Tom Scharpling’s best attempts didn’t save this one for being a skipper. But the episode, unfortunately, isn’t, so it gets a spot on here.

[its-chelisey-stuff]

My 2021 in dramaland

kdrama edition!

With one exception (The Red Sleeve and I’m soooo behind) I’ve finished catching up with all my airing kdramas of this year, so it was time to make this post. I know I’m not the only one who thinks this year’s kdramas were a bit disappointing. This is the year I’ve dropped the most dramas since I started watching them ten years ago. It’s also the year where I felt a lot of shows started off great but then turned into a “wtf is this?” disaster after the first half. Did I make good choices in finishing the ones I did? Not always, but mostly.

Sweet Home: Watched it for Song Kang tbh. But I liked it. I actually liked the cgi monsters and all the gory stuff. Would I watch a second season of it even if I’m against multiple season dramas? Only if Song Kang is involved lol. It’s a 8/10 for me.

Run On: OBSESSED with the second couple. I need Kang TaeOh and Sooyoung on another drama asap. Whatever it is, I’m in. I don’t remember much about the main OTP but overall I feel like it was a well written, acted and directed drama. A 9/10 for me. Totally would recommend it!

She Would Never Know: Drama’s biggest flaw was the writing, everything else was decently good. Did that stopped me from watching? Obviously no, because I needed my weekly fix of Rowoon lmao and he looked so hot. I was only here for him but I lost count of all the times the FL made me upset or want to punch her. Good soundtrack! I still listen KJH’s (from Nell) song from time to time. A 7/10 for me because I can’t give Rowoon anything lower lol and tbh it had some GREAT kiss scenes!

Navillera: Slice of life melos are so not my type of drama. But I watched it for Song Kang and I basically teared up every ep. GRANDPA!!! The story hit a bit too close to home, which I guess it’s what made it extra emotional for me. This is why I prefer fantasy and over the top crazy romcoms, the farthest they are from reality, the better. But I’m glad I watched it. 10/10 honestly, it was touching and beautiful.

So Not Worth it: so freaking worth it!!!! I did a review here! 9/10. If you are feeling down and/or want to watch something hilarious and silly, this is for you.

Doom at your service: Meh. For a good 8 eps I thought this show was everything I wanted and needed. And then it wasn’t. I had so many problems with the story and the way some characters were written, but it’s not worth saying now. Great chemistry by the whole main cast, though. Especially by main OTP. An 8/10 because modern fantasy dramas are among my fave kdrama genres.

My roommate is a Gumiho: Again, I loved the first half, had so many problems with the second one. Chemistry of OTP was not the issue, so I guess that’s a win. Loved Hyeri’s acting in this, actually. Second OTP was a delight. And I actually liked the second lead a lot lol almost had SLS. 7/10.

Police University: Drama suffered an identity crisis after ep 8 and it was real bad to the point of almost making me cry. I’m blacklisting the writer of this drama. NEVER AGAIN. 7/10 because the first half was honestly really really good and fun.

Squid Game: Technically a kdrama, right? Watched it for the hype. 6/10 for me.

Lovers of the red sky: cheating with this one because I didn’t exactly finish it but I saw enough. A hot mess that started with such promise. A 7/10 imo.

Yumi’s cells: What did I say about dramas reminding me of reality? Yeah, I don’t like to watch them but when I do, I end up loving them. I’m waiting for S2 and I’ll be the first to clown myself for saying I don’t do multiple season dramas. At least I’m self-aware lol. A 9/10, great acting, good writing and the cells’ parts were always the best. My thoughts here!

Would you like a cup of coffee? I’m a big fan of Ong Seung Wu’s acting, so I decided to watch whatever this was gonna be even if I was wary of the premise. Can’t handle caffeine irl but I loved all the coffee talk hahaha one of those feel-good dramas with one case per ep kinda thing. Very touching at times. A web drama of 12 eps of 20 min and a 8/10 for me. Totally recommend it if you’re in the mood for it. Seong Wu, I need you in a full length drama soon!

Light on Me: Wanted to watch it since it aired and finally had the opportunity to see it all in one day when I was in bed thanks to my second vaccine dose lol they really made poor Shinwoo suffer with this, don’t you think? A 9/10, it was delightful! korean BLs are getting better and better, I’m glad! Hoping to get a full one hour 16 eps on a big network someday.

My TOP 3 of the year:

Vincenzo: I started it to laugh about how bad it was supposed to be because the premise sounded extremely silly. 10 minutes in and I was loving it. Every ep I was at the edge of my seat and always loved the crazy plot twists. I laughed, I cried, I swooned and I loved it. OTP was my favorite of the year, actually. 10/10 for me. Final thoughts here!

Imitation: Biggest and nicest surprise of the year for me. Wasn’t expecting much from an Idol drama, especially good acting given the cast is 99.99% made of idols, but I was wrong. The story had a lot of heart and the script was good. Deserved to be a 16 ep drama instead of 12, because some plots needed a bit more time to be explored. Loved it. 9/10 for me. I made a little review.

The King’s Affection: It wasn’t what I was expecting at first, but I ended up loving it anyway. I’m glad that I was able to close this year with a drama I loved and obsessed with so much! Congratulations to Rowoon for making such a wonderful comeback after the hot mess of SWNK, in the same year. I’m happy for the drama’s success and popularity, it’s well deserved. Now let’s hope Rowoon’s company lets him rest one of these days...

[tsrookie]

Always In My Heart

Pairing: Ethan Ramsey x F!MC (Dr. Alyssa Brooks)

A/N: On today’s episode of ‘I have no idea wtf I’m doing’, we have something that I cooked up because I had terrible WiFi and no other app but Google docs would open up.

Trope: Fluff, but a tiny bit of angst?

Rating: General

Word Count: 2.3K

Warning(s): Mentions of character death

Summary: Their son has a very important question to ask.

——————————

The delicious aroma of chicken and rice wafted through the Brooks-Ramsey household. The couple worked side by side in the kitchen as they had all those years ago, the only difference being that it was now a dinner for five and not just two.

Allison Dolores Brooks-Ramsey came into their lives nine years ago, and while it was earlier than they would have wanted, they didn’t regret a second of their lives ever since they first heard her voice.

The twins on the other hand, were planned, but nothing had prepared them for the chaos that Nathan and Natalie would bring. A new broken object every week, a dozen fights for the TV every day, and yet were nothing short of tiny tornadoes when they joined forces.

It couldn’t be more perfect.

“What time did Jackie and Emilia say that they would bring the girls back?”

“6:30, I think.”

“Ah. So we have time till 7:00.” They shared a knowing smile. Two aunts taking their nine and six year old nieces to the mall meant a complete raid of the toy store, and a new guitar.

“You need to stop letting everyone spoil the girls just because you have a soft spot for them, Ethan. Ally’s grown old enough to understand that she has her daddy wrapped around her finger, and we don’t need Nat coming to that realisation as well.”

“I don’t- I can’t believe you would accuse me of not loving all my children equally!”, he exclaimed in mock offense.

“Mhmm. So why did I have to come up with an explanation to tell Nathan why his dad wasn’t on board with ordering dessert when he asked for it, but relented once his sisters kept bugging him for another five minutes?”

He opened his mouth in protest, but decided against saying anything for his own good. “Well what can I say? They’ve inherited their mother’s persuasiveness. And I can’t really say no to you, can I?”

Alyssa’s lips curved upwards at that. The playful look in her husband’s eyes caused her to finally break into a grin. “At least you’re self-aware.” Stuffing the rice into the bird she added, “But I can’t exactly tell our son that his dad is too in-love with his mom that he sees her in his daughters and hence can’t say no to them. He’d gag in disgust.”

He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her, resting his head in the crook of her neck. “That he would. Alright I’ll try a little harder to resist their charms. Wouldn’t want my only son to end up hating me.” He said it without a hint of worry over it becoming true someday. Over the years, he’d learned to put aside his fears of not being a good father, and with the help of some therapy, and Alyssa’s unwavering love and support, he’d locked up his insecurities in a box and let it sink to the bottom of the ocean.

They took the stuffed chicken and put it in the oven, washed their hands and plopped down on the couch for some rare downtime.

“Crap.”

“Everything okay?”

“Fred’s mom got called in, so she’s dropping Nate off on her way to work.”

Ethan sighed. “There goes the hour I planned to spend with my wife, who I barely get to spend enough time with these days.”

“I swear, you were never this busy when you were chief. I have no idea why my workload’s ten times bigger.”

“I do.” Ethan smiled with pride. “One usually does have a lot of work when they’re at the front lines of the battle for making free healthcare accessible for every single person in the country. My brilliant wife, though she could choose to leave most of the work to her very competent team, opts to take it all upon herself. So that’s probably the cause behind all the extra workload she complains about.”

She smirked and perched herself onto his lap. “Well your very brilliant wife also knows that you called my team very competent just to avoid hurting my feelings, and that you and I both know that they’ll be running around like headless chickens without me taking care of things.”

“I know, love. But you can still make them do a little more instead of working yourself to the bone while still making sure that you have at least one meal with the kids every day.”

She sighed. “Yeah, to make sure that they don’t forget what I look like.” She leaned in closer. “Besides, are we really going to spend our last few minutes of peace talking about work?”

Just as she uttered the words, the door burst open, and Nathan kicked off his shoes and jumped onto the couch as Alyssa slid down from Ethan’s lap. She shot him a look that very clearly meant What did I just say?

Ethan gave her an apologetic look and ruffled his son’s hair. “Hey buddy. How was your day at Fred’s? I know you wanted to spend more time with him.”

“I did, and we were just about to open his new LEGO set when Mrs. Watson told us that she had to run up to her office for some emergency meeting.”, he pouted. “But it was a nice day. We watched Thor: Ragnarok and Luca, and we would’ve watched another movie if his dad didn’t tell us that two movies were enough for a day.”

Alyssa shot him a mildly stern look. “Well he was right. You’re too young to have movie marathons just yet. Two are more than enough, unless you want to have a headache.”

“But mom, I’m not too young! I’m a big boy! I can swing along the monkey bars at the park faster than Natalie, and soon I’ll swing across buildings just like Spider-Man!”

“Well Spider-Man got bitten by a yucky spider before he swung across buildings. Do you want to be bitten by a gross and poisonous spider?”

“Mommy, not all spiders are gross and poisonous. Dad told me that when I was four and got scared of them at the zoo.”

She rolled her eyes. Leave it to her husband to convince her kids that insects were anything short of creepy and disgusting. In reality, they were, but as someone who ran a mile away at the sight of a butterfly, she wasn’t going to accept that.

“That’s right, Nate. Some of them are certainly very poisonous and dangerous, but that doesn’t mean that you should be scared of them. If you maintain your distance and admire them from afar, there should be no problem at all.”, he said with a pointed look at Alyssa, who just huffed in annoyance.

Nathan giggled, his brown eyes lighting up with amusement. He loved watching his parents playfully bicker. It was way better than seeing them- ugh, kiss.

“We were pretending to be superheroes and Fred used his full name for his pretend name cause it sounded cool, and it is. Fredrick Anthony Watson sounds like something from that show you and mom watch with the guys in the stuffy suits.”

“When did you see us watching the show with the guys in the stuffy suits?”, asked Ethan with a slight hint of concern. Whatever he and Alyssa watched on their free nights was definitely not kid-friendly.

“I don’t remember. Maybe a few months ago.”

Their year old puppy, Ivy, woke up from her nap and bounced into the living room to jump onto her favourite person. Nathan squealed with joy as the fluffy hair of the dog tickled his nose.

Ethan and Alyssa smiled at each other. Getting another dog after Jenner was a decision that took a lot of convincing, but their kids were responsible enough and it was impossible to say no after two years of constant pestering.

“Fred told me that he was named after his great-grandfather William, and that he was this really cool guy who saved a bunch of guys from getting mugged in a dark, dark alley.” He turned to look at his parents as Ivy snuggled into his lap. “Who was I named after mom?”

The question caught her off guard, and she glanced at Ethan for backup.

When they knew that they were having a boy, they immediately knew what to name him. They hadn't, however, anticipated Nathan Daniel Brooks-Ramsey to ask such a question this soon.

Seeing his wife at a loss for words, Ethan spoke up. “C’mere Nate.” He pulled him closer and pressed a kiss atop his head. “We once had a friend named Daniel. He worked at the hospital as a nurse, and he was close to your mom and Aunt Sienna when they were interns.”

Having found her voice, Alyssa joined in. “He was an amazing friend. He was the only nurse in the hospital who helped me out when things got messy, and cheered up Aunt Sienna when no one else could. He’d join us for picnics and movie nights, and you could always count on him if you needed something at the hospital.” She took a deep breath, and Ethan nodded. “Things were going well, but then in my second year, something really bad happened.”

“Oh no.”

“There was this bad guy, who wanted his revenge on another bad guy, and he was ready to risk his own life, and the lives of everyone around him to do so.”

“That’s horrible! Who would want to do something like that?”

Ethan smiled wistfully. “A lot of people in this world actually do. You’re a good person, so you know that it’s wrong. But some people aren’t, and they don’t care about other people getting hurt because of their actions. That night at the hospital, Danny tried to tell the bad guy that it was wrong, and to think things through. But he didn’t listen, and did something that hurt both himself, Danny, Uncle Raf, another friend of ours, and your mom.”

His little eyebrows creased with worry, Nathan asked, “What happened then?”

“He… he died. Along with our other friend, Bobby. Do you remember what we once told you about an autopsy?” Nathan nodded his head. “Well Danny asked for his body to be autopsied, and thanks to him, we were able to find out what was wrong with mom and Uncle Raf.”

He fell silent for a moment, remembering the horrors of the day, and how eternally grateful he was to Danny for being the reason he didn’t lose everything. He couldn’t imagine a life without the love of his life and his children, and he wouldn’t have either if not for the sacrifices that were made.

He looked up at Alyssa, and she squeezed his hand in support. “We’ll tell you more when you’re older, but to make it short, you’re named after a hero too. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have you, your sisters, or mom here with me.”

Nathan wriggled out of his dad’s arms, and set Ivy down so he could hug his mom as tightly as he could.

“Well… if you can hear me Mr. Daniel, I just wanna thank you. Thanks for saving my mom. I love her so much and I’m so thankful that I got to meet her because of what you did. I wish I could’ve met you, you sound like a really cool person, and I’m sure you were. So yeah, thanks. A lot.”

Alyssa’s eyes glimmered with unshed tears, and she held her son as she expressed her silent thanks along with Ethan.

What they had was precious.

Fifteen years had passed since they first met, and yet each day they fell in love a little more like they did when they held hands for the first time in the dim light of the NICU watching over little Ethan, or when she finally got to see the real him the first time she visited his place; the first time in years he let someone know a little of the worries residing deep in his heart.

With all the odds against them, it was a miracle that they survived, even more so that they managed to raise three perfect children who had more love to share than they could ever comprehend.

And they’d never forget all the reasons that made it possible for them to survive.

Ding!

The timer on the oven went off, and they got to their feet to get the chicken.

“Was he a good cook dad?”

“I… don’t really know, Nate. Your mom knew him better than I did.”

“Well there was this one time where he helped Aunt Sienna bake an amazing cake, so I guess he knew his way around the kitchen.”, Alyssa recollected fondly. It was for Jackie’s birthday, one of the few nights where the competition was completely forgotten about.

Nathan’s face melted into a glowing smile. “I love cake. So I guess I really would’ve loved him.”

She mirrored his radiant expression. “You definitely would’ve.”

“Why don’t you go play with Ivy while mom and I get the food ready? You can help us with the dessert later.”

“We’re having dessert?!”

Ethan grinned at his son’s excitement. “You bet we are.”

“Yay!” They watched as Nathan ran off to go play fetch with Ivy in their enormous backyard.

Ethan pulled Alyssa in for a sweet, lingering kiss as soon as he was out of sight.

“You’ve been wanting to do that for a while now hmm?”

“Something like that.”, he murmured as they broke apart.

She could see the ever-increasing strands of silver in his brown hair, and the faint wrinkles along the sides of his forehead, but his clear blue eyes were just as loving and devoted as she remembered from over a decade ago.

“We have a pretty good life, don’t we?”

Ethan kissed her again. “No, we have the perfect life.”

——————————

A/N 2: Aaaand I’m going MIA again. Honestly though, to everyone who’s read so far, thank you so much for sticking around. Means the world💙

P.S: I finally chose Chyler Leigh as my face claim!

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[it-was-all-a-beautiful-dream]

The Cullen and The Quileute

Warnings: None

Word count: 1.1k

(Y/N/N = your nickname)

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You’d always got the same look from people when they realised you were also a Cullen. It was the look of shock and awe, but then if you knew about vampires.. it was more of a wtf look. Why would Carlisle and Esme have a daughter who wasn’t a vampire. The answer was simple really, you were a Witch.

-Alice’s POV-

Alice could see you coming before you’d even decided to make the journey. They had reached out to you in their time of need, asking you to return home sooner than expected.

You’d gone off to do your own thing for a bit, travelling and pretending to be a University student in London while the rest of your family went back to America. England was where your father Carlisle had found you.

The story goes that thousands of years ago the Volturi had a hand in picking off witches one by one, fearing that their power would be too great and one day they would over throw them. After all, it was Witches that created vampires in the first place. Few remained and you were one of the lucky ones, if you could call it that. At the age of 6 your powers were hidden away and so were you, a spell cast on you by your coven before they were wiped out, it was only when you reached the age of 18, your powers returned. It was necessary for them to hide you, you were the last of the original Witch Coven, your ancestors the first Witches to ever walk the earth. That was 70 years ago. Another thing Witches had in common with all other supernatural beings… you were immortal.

Of all people, you were left in the care of a vampire. Carlisle Cullen. He raised you as his own, taught you everything he could about where you came from and your magic. Your covens grimoires left to you for you to study as you got older. You finally had a full family, never knowing your real parents, you now even had brothers and sisters. You stopped growing at the age of 18, when your powers returned. You’d been with the Cullens ever since.

-Your pov-

Your heart seemed to thud against your rib cage. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d been home to visit Forks. Part of the reason you went away for a while was because sometimes you still felt out of place, even though you’d been a Cullen for more than 70 years. Everyone had their mate, hell, even Edward had found his and she’d turned out to be a human!

It was nearly unheard of for a supernatural to not have found their mate at your age.. nearly un-heard of. It happened, but boy did it piss you off. Yes you were jealous, but how could you not be when you saw how happy your mum and dad, your siblings were all the time.

That aside, you were happy to be home. You had missed your family and it was about time for you to come back anyway. It’s not like you needed another degree but luckily your professors said you could finish your last assignment across the pond.

Something about being back in Forks felt different. Maybe it had something to do with the visions you’d been having lately. Visions were a common occurrence for you, it came naturally with your power. But they seemed to be more frequent and always about one thing. A boy. Well, a man.

A man, a tall man, with olive skin, short dark cropped hair, broad shoulders, naked torso and denim shorts. At least, you hoped it was a vision and not some weird recurring sexual fantasy. His name was Sam. You knew that much, from the voices that whispered to you in your mind. Sam Uley.

——————————————————————————————————

Your bike came to a roar when it stopped at the place your sister had told you to meet them. Luckily you were wearing a helmet because when all heads snapped in your direction you blushed. Your family were hooting and grinning like idiots and the group of boys you’d seen on approach, were now giant 9ft wolves, snarling, hackles raised. Luckily, you weren’t afraid, you just rolled your eyes, reaching under your chin to unclip your helmet.

As soon as it was off and you’d shaken your hair out your family were on you in seconds. Your dad first as always, giving you the biggest hug and looking you over. Then your mum.

“Oh my baby, i’ve missed you so much.” You hugged them back just as hard, then your siblings joined in. You were the baby of the family and sometimes it really showed in the way they all cared for you. You didn’t mind though, they loved you so much and you them.

You noticed the growling had stopped and the Wolves had shifted back to human form. Okay? Edward groaned and you raised your brow.

“Nice to see you too Bro.” He nudged your arm with his fist and pulled you into a one armed hug.

“Not what I meant Y/N/N. I just heard something I really didn’t want to hear.” He glowered at the wolves standing behind him. It was then you noticed the small brown haired girl hiding behind his back slightly. Ahhh, this must be the infamous Bella you’d heard so much about. You gave her a smile.

“You must be Bella, don’t worry, I don’t bite.” You winked and Jasper and Emmett choked out laughing. You watched as her reaction changed from shocked to amused and the girl started laughing along with the rest of your family.

Jacob was the first of the wolves to come over to you. He’d heard about you through Bella, who’d heard about you through the Cullens. You could sense he was a little precautious but aside from that he seemed okay around you, it was probably because you weren’t one of the Wolves natural enemies.

The rest of the Wolves after that followed, they were surprisingly…. extremely nice and welcoming. It was the last man that walked forward to introduce himself that made you gasp.

His gaze burned into you like fire, he was the most gorgeous thing you’d ever seen, even more handsome in real life than your visions. Your head started to swim, you felt dizzy and your heart started beating rapidly in your chest which didn’t go unnoticed by the rest of the Cullens.

“Hello, I’m-“ You cut him off, his name swirling around in your head.

“Sam Uley.” The power that was surging through you was more than you’d ever experienced. The air seemed to light up around you and just as the wolf in front of you got over his confusion your chest squeezed and the light around you dimmed, so did your vision.

If it wasn’t for the warm arms that came around you, you would have hit the deck like a magical sack of potatoes.

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Heyoooo, so sometimes, I just liked to write random stuff to see where it takes me, I do this so I don't get bored of the series' I'm writing. Hope you enjoyedddd!

[moxiety-my-love]

My thoughts while watching the new Sanders Asides video

Intro: ooh, there's some warnings, so we know this is gonna be a spicy one

0:19- WTF WAS THAT ASIDES LOGO MAGI THING?? I LOVE IT.

0:26- remus' theme, very exciting

0:49- i'm glad to know that thomas is just as awkward as i am when texting lol. also, HE'S TEXTING NICO!!

0:52- logan!! the boy!! also, i think this is the first time we've seen one of the sides rise up in thomas' bedroom? not super exciting, but i thought it was interesting.

1:06- i absolutely would have laughed at '69' as well. sorry, logan.

1:33- i also have a 5am and 2pm version of myself, dw thomas.

1:43- rolling out of bed that way is SO damn satisfying. couldn't relate more.

2:14- logan, you're so cute. i love how he gets so excited about his schedule.

3:54- why is thomas turning old?? remus, what did that trap do?

4:00- it's nico! in real life! not cartoon!

4:12- oh, and ancient thomas is here too. that's fun.

4:18- how long has it been since remus has made a video appearance? since the first asides video, which was probably over a year ago? remus stans are quaking rn.

4:45- i just noticed the carrot emoji next to nico's name in thomas' phone and that is such a tiny detail and reference but it's so cute

5:31- remus, you bastard. also, a pin in the food feels kind of simultaneously evil but also below your standards.

5:59- KCUM

6:18- remus there are so many people in this fandom that you turn on, it's so not okay. also, i'm so here for the sexual innuendos.

6:35- it doesn't even surprise me that logan would ruin the updog joke

7:21- roomba on the loose, what crimes will it commit?

7:51- i like how the picture frames went blank; it's a nice detail. reminds me of when hermione's parents' pictures went blank in deathly hallows part two.

8:12- SHAPES AND COLOURS

8:49- roomba has committed a murder

9:22- ROOMBA HAS COMMITTED A LEGITIMATE MURDER

9:34- remus is allergic to soap confirmed

9:44- ok ok. i have a theory. one of the times that thomas' phone buzzes, he's going to pick it up thinking it's a chore alarm, but it's actually going to be nico.

10:04- pirate remus!!

10:11- patton would love the bratwurst pun

11:37- okay i'm here for the rube goldburg traps, but come on, remus. all that was way too much work to freak out thomas. just prank phone call the guy and that would be enough to send him into a panic.

11:56- being that he was in the closet for many years, thomas definitely knows that closets aren't sentient, logan.

12:19- is that supposed to be remus shapeshifting as nico? am i crazy?

14:16- okay so it wasn't nico. it was some random murderer. also, remus has a knife kink confirmed?

15:08- lovely singing

15:18- REMUS, YOU SAUCY BOY. intrulogical shippers are shaking right now.

16:05- can confirm, emergency ketchup does not seem like a necessity.

16:10- solanum lycopersicum!!

17:57- so he was shapeshifting as nico! i think this is the first side to do this other than janus.

18:55- what the fuscia?

19:02- vibey music

19:14- i just had a visceral reaction to logan saying "shake what your mama gave ya"

20:00- okay so i don't think remus was actually shapeshifting, he just created a fake nico as far as i can tell.

20:59- lol the butt scratching. reminds me of a dog.

21:15- wtf. tongue lollipop?

21:24- cruncy bug

21:55- ignoring dummies for dummies. are nerds in blue ties bothering you? iconic.

22:12- WHAT DID I JUST WITNESS? orange eyes obviously have to symbolize the orange side, right? and since logan was angry, maybe this adds fuel to the flame of the idea that the orange side is rage/anger?

22:21- checking your breath before answering a phone call is absolutely something i would do

22:42- nico! the boy is calling! he's so cute. also, i love the reference to the "Mr." thing they did in the last video.

23:50- logan is sad boy :( but go thomas! go get your man!

24:02- what? that's it? what a place to end off at!

24:45- it wouldn't be a sanders sides video without a hello fresh ad

25:05- i love that he has their number saved omg

26:19- bye thomas!

26:27- patton's here!!

26:34- and roman!!

26:43- and virgil! my FAVOURITE boy!

26:50- oh, logan. you deserve all the influence.

2720- ooh, virgil? some resentment?

27:55- thomas is officially in his feels

28:08- janus is here too! which makes this the first video to include all the sides, if i'm not mistaken. also, what's with the mysterious music?

28:21- the orange eyes again! damn!

Final Thoughts:

As always, I'll bey opinion. Nico and Thomas are so cute, and I'm happy we got to see more of them together. I was also excited to see that we got all of the sides in one video, finally, though I'm still waiting for some onscreen interaction between Janus and Remus. The ending was super ominous, so I'm curious as to what's in store for the future. And as you all could tell, I was clearly very interested in the possibility of being introduced to the orange side. I can't wait to see everyone's theories and such.

As always, I'll be tagging spoilers for 7 days after the posting of this video, and I hope you all will too! I'll be using the tags "ts spoilers" and "sanders sides spoilers" respectively.

[thelittleboyfromloveactually]

Worth it

Jj maybank x reader

Promt: 1. “Don’t touch me!” And 7. “I can’t see you get hurt!”

Promt list (angst)

Warnings: physical abuse, blood and injuries, yelling, angst, cussing (these topics can be triggering to some!!!!!!)

Word count: 1837

@dylansslutt I hope this is what you wanted!!! Thank you so much for requesting! I really enjoyed wrighting this and I hope it’s a fun read! Requests are still open! Love ya!

6 years ago I moved from New York City to outer banks, North Carolina. I was the weird new girl from the big city. My family wasn’t rich, not even close. Infact money was the reason we moved here. My dad lost his job because of an alcohol problem and my mom was a police officer. We couldn’t afford to live off just her mortgage, so when my mom got a job offer here in obx we couldn’t turn it down. Here it was cheaper, there was a school for me to go and my mom grew up here so she had some friends. But me, I had no friends, not one. That was until my second week at school, this little blond boy, jj maybank came up to me. We were ten at the time, him and his friends were going to go to the beach later and he said I could come. Because I didn’t have any other friends I wasn’t in any place to turn down this offer. Ever sense then jj and I have been best friends. I didn’t know jj the best out of everyone but I guess that intrigued me. Last year my parents went through a divorce, my dad was losing it, his addiction was getting worse and worse. My mom moved us out leaving my dad with 10,000 dollars to get help. It was hard, even though he was an alcoholic he was still my dad. Jj was there for me the whole time, became closer than ever. Jj knows everything about me, my past, my home life, my favorite ice cream flavor, my favorite place everything. I know as much as I can about jj, I know that his dad beats him, he spends a lot of nights on my couch, I know that he plans to drop out of school and travel and surf. He’s my best friend but the problem is, ever sense that day that he came up to me, I’ve had a crush on him. He didn’t like me that way though and even if he did, “no pogue on pogue macking”.

Today is my 17 birthday, and here that means only one thing, a keger, a big ass keger. I love parties but there’s always trouble at *these* parties. I would prefer to just get drunk and hang out at John b.s place. So I’ve spent the entire morning trying to talk them out of it.

“I swear to god kie!” I yelled

“Don’t even try Y/N!” She said

“Come on you love parties!” John b added

“No, I love small parties, remember the last time we had a keger?! Ya know you almost *drowned*!!!” I said

“It is her birthday guys” Sarah said, Sarah my by best girl friend, I haven’t known her for long but we immediately bonded.

“Oh come on!” Said John b

“Fine, Sarah is right it’s Y/Ns choice” kie said

John b sighed “fine, I’ll call and tell jj”

A few mins later John b hung up the phone

“Alright jj said he’ll be here around 4:00, he says happy birthday, he’s sorry he is not here” John b said

4:30

“Here should have been here 30 minutes ago” John b said

Everyone was laying around John Bs living room, sweating their asses off. We had been waiting for jj, he wasn’t answering his phone. Normally we would just leave it alone but jj never missed my birthday.

“Should we try calling again?” Sarah asked

“We’ve called 15 times, and I texted him” I said shaking my head

It was silent

“I’m going” I said as I stood up

“No the fuck your not!” John b said standing up and blocking my way to the door

“Yes I am! He could be hurt!” I said trying to move John be out of the way

“Y/N you know what he said!” John b said

Yes I did know, the pogues had a list of rules, but jj also had his own

Never go to JJs house

Never under any circumstance break rule number one

“I don’t give a fuck about what he said!” I yelled, when your mom is a cop you pick up on some self defense. John b was in my way, and i would never hurt him…..but jj may be hurt, I had seen first hand what his dad could do. I ducked down and swiped John Bs legs making him fall.

“Wtf Y/N?!” Kie said

“Sorry guys” I said as I ran toward the door. I pushed it opened and ran to my car. Kie and Sarah came running after me yelling my name. I ignored it and started toward JJs house.

About 5 minutes later I pulled into the driveway. Well the kinda driveway, it was more like a clearing with rubble and weeds. There was a car there, jjs dad's car. My stomach dropped at the sight. I took a deep breath

“It’s gonna be fine” I said as a opened my car door and stepped out

I walked up to his front door, my hand was shaking as I went to knock. Why was my hand shaking? It was gonna be fine, right? I knocked, but JJ didn't open the door, his dad did. He looked drunk, he had a cigarette in his mouth, he was dirty and he had an old cut on his face. This was a bad idea, jj may not even be here.

“Uh um hi s-sir” I Stuttered on my words

“Who are ya?” He said look around me

“Um I I’m Y/N, jjs friend, is he here?” I said looking into the house

“Ah you're his little slut girlfriend, ya here to break up with him? Not surprised” he said stepping closer to me

I stepped back, I could defend myself against him if I needed to, I reminded myself, “actually no sir, I’m just his friend, is jj here?”

“Ya he’s here, what do you want with him?”

“Where is he?” I ignored his question

“How about you come with me little lady and I’ll buy you a drink?” He said and grabbed my hand

I ripped my hand out of his and punched him in the face

“You little bitch” he yelled holding his now bleeding cheek, he swung his arm again to punch me. He hit me right in the eye.

Then suddenly he came at me and I dodged him and pushed him past me. He was definitely drunk. I ran inside and closed the door, my hands were shaking even more, I tried to lock it and luckily I was able to. Then I heard a car start in the driveway, the car sounded older. Not mine, but jjs dads. I let out a breath of relief and turned around to look at the house. The coffee table was filled with beer bottles, there was glass on the floor and a broken picture frame. I needed to find jj.

“JJ!!! JJ!!!” I yelled his name, I could hear the crack in my voice when I yelled.

I made my way through the small, dirty house and to his room. The door was locked

“Jj?! Please open the door!” I said as I rocked on the door

I was about to say something again but the door swung open

“What do you want?!” Jj yelled as he slammed the door frame

I jumped, almost tripping over myself. Jjs face was bruised and bloody. He was shirtless, his chest was covered in bruises. I looked up at him, I was confused. I saw his face soften when he saw me, he looked surprised, then he got angry again.

“Y/N?! What the hell are you doing here?!” He said stepping closer to me

I was at a loss of words, I was already shaky but when Jj yelled it set me off.

“I um I-I” I started but was cut off by jj

“Fuck Y/N, did he do this to you?!” Jj yelled

“Jj please stop ye-“

“That son of a bitch! I swear to fucking god” he began walking out of the hallway toward the door

I stood up “JJ STOP!” I yelled grabbing his arm

“Don’t touch me! Why can you fucking listen Y/N?! I told you to stay away! And what did you do?! You didn’t! You didn’t fucking stay away! And now” he paused calming down and catching his breath “now you are hurt, and it’s my fucking fault! I swear I’m going to kill him” he said moving his hand over his lips and looking down

“What did you expect me to do Jj?” I was trying to stay calm “you didn’t show up and that scared me, I came to make sure you were ok, and obviously you aren’t, I can’t sit my and watch you come to school with black eyes and bloody lips”

“Fuck you Y/N! You had one job!”

Fuck being calm “you know what Jj I came because I care and because I am your fucking friend ok?! It’s ok to let people care about you! It’s ok *to* care! You don’t need to push everyone away!” I yelled back at him

“I do care Y/N! That’s why I don’t want you here! I can’t see you get hurt!!!” He yelled grabbing my hand

“Well, I’m completely fine so” I said taking my hand out of his and crossing my arms across my chest

“Your not fine”

“I am!”

“Nope”

“Yes! Yes I am, and why tf is it so important to you that I’m hurt, you get hurt, so does John b, and Kie, and rafe, but he definitely deserves that-“ I was cut off from my blabbing

“Y/N I care because I love you alright?! Calm down” he said

“W-what?”

“I’-I’m” he started moving his head as if he was trying to think of what to say, I looked at him, studying his features, then I decided I was going to kiss him, ya ya I was going to kiss him. And I did, my lips met his in one quick movement. He seemed surprised at first but then his lips moved into mine. It was a passionate, needed kiss, but amazing never the less. His tongue moved, asking permission that was granted.

We broke the kiss both trying to catch our breath

“Wait Y/N-“ je started

“I love you too jj, I have forever” I said smiling

“But what about the rules and stuff, I mean I don’t follow rules like ever but” he was cute when he was confused, I began giggling at his attemp

“What? what is so funny?” He asked

“You are adorable,” I said kissing him again

It’s funny, I never thought that I would be here, kissing jj fucking maybank. We we’re definitely gonna get some crap from the rest of the pogues but it was definitely worth it.

[olderthannetfic]

It's really surprising that you're so well versed in older fandoms and yet participate in new popular ones (that cdrama, kpop) is this by design? Im in my twenties and my interest turnover is already way slower than it used to be

You know, that’s a really interesting question. I wouldn’t say it’s by design exactly in that I do tend to just follow what strikes my fancy, and I can’t force myself to want to write fic for just anything. (I find it easier to like reading fic without serious involuntary emotional investment, but writing takes more. Vidding I can do on command most of the time, but I don’t usually bother unless I have a lot of feels or I’m fulfilling someone’s prompt.)

However, me getting into BTS was 100% due to me wanting to understand BTS enough to explain to people who weren’t very interested but wanted to know what was going on in fandom lately. Under normal circumstances, I run the dance party at Escapade, the oldest extant slash con. We borrowed vividcon’s thing of playing fanvids on the wall--all of them set to dance music--as the soundtrack for the dance party. This means I’m creating a 3-hour mixtape of fannishness, which has amazing potential to make people feel in the know about Fandom Today... and equal potential to make them feel alienated if nothing they care about shows up. Only about 100-150 people attend the con, so it really is possible to make a playlist that feels inclusive yet informative--it just takes a huge amount of work.

Every year, I do a lot of research on which fandoms are getting big and look for vids from vidders people won’t have heard of, so there is an element of consciously trying to keep up with things. Generally, I only get into these fandoms myself if I had no idea what they were and then suddenly, oops, they’re my kryptonite, like the buddy cop android plot in Detroit: Become Human, which sucked me in hard for like 6 months on the basis of a vid.

(So if you’re into cross-fandom meta and associated stuff as one of your fannish interests, you tend to have broader knowledge of different fandoms, old and new, than if you’re just looking for the next place you’ll read fic. It’s also easier to love vids for unfamiliar things than fic.)

But though I was only looking for a basic primer on BTS, BTS has 7 members with multiple names and no clear juggernaut pairing, not to mention that AU that runs through the music videos and lots of other context to explain. The barrier to understanding WTF was going on at all was high enough that to know enough to explain, I had to be thoroughly exposed... And once I was over that hurdle, oops, I had a fandom.

--

In terms of old vs. new, here’s the thing: kpop fandoms in English and c-drama fandoms in English right now feel a lot like anime fandom in English did in the early 00s. I had a Buddy Cops of the 70s phase in the middle, but my current fannishness is actually a return to my older fannishness in many ways.

What do I mean about them being similar?

Yes, I know some wanker will show up to say I think China, Korea, and Japan are indistinguishable, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the way that I used to routinely meet Italian and French and German fans, Argentinian and Mexican, Malaysian and Indonesian and Filipino too. English-language fandom of SPN or MCU may have all those fans from all those countries, but it feels very American most of the time. English-language fandom of a non-English-language canon is more overtly about using English as a lingua franca.

It also tends to attract people who as a sideline to their fannishness are getting into language learning and translation, which are my other passion in life after fanworks fandom. (I speak only English and Spanish and a bit of Japanese, but I’ve studied German, French, Russian, Mandarin, Old English, and now Korean.)

Nerds arguing about methods of language learning and which textbooks are good and why is my jam. This is all over the place in English-language fandoms of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean media. Those fandoms also tend to be full of speakers coming from a Germanic or Romance languages background who face similar hurdles in learning these languages. (In other words, if you’re a native Japanese speaker trying to learn Korean, the parts that will be hard for you are different than if you’re an English speaker, but you’re also usually not doing fandom in English.)

There’s also an element of scarcity and difficulty of access and a communal attempt to construct a canon (in the other sense) of stuff from that country that pertains to one’s fannishness. So, for example, a primer explaining the genre of xianxia is highly relevant to being a n00b Untamed fan, but just any old thing about China is not. A c-drama adapted from a danmei webnovel is perhaps part of the new pantheon of Chinese shit we’re all getting into, but just any old drama from decades ago is probably not... unless it’s a genre precursor to something else we care about. Another aspect here is that while Stuff I Can Access As A N00b Who Doesn’t Speak The Language may be relatively scarce, there’s a vast, vast wealth of stuff that exists.

This is what it felt like to be an anime fan in the US in 2000. As translation got more commercial and more crappy series were licensed and dumped onto an already glutted market, the vibe changed. No longer were fans desperately trying to learn enough of the language to translate or spending their time cataloguing what existed or making fanworks about a show they stuck with for a bit: the overall community focus turned to an endless race of consumption to keep up with all of the latest releases. That’s a perfectly valid way of being fannish, but if I wanted that, I’d binge US television 24/7.

Anime fandom got bigger, but what I liked about anime fandom in English died, and I moved on. (Okay, I first moved on to Onmyouji, which is a live action Japanese thing, but still.)

Hardcore weeaboos and now fans of Chinese and Korean stuff don’t stop at language: people get excited about cooking, my other other great passion. Times a thousand if the canon is something like The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, which is full of loving shots of food preparation. People get excited about history! Mandarin and Japanese may share almost nothing in terms of grammar or phonology, but all of East Asia has influence from specific Chinese power centers historically, and there are commonalities to historical architecture and clothing that I love.

I fell out of love with the popular anime art styles as they changed, and I’m not that into animation in general these days. (I still own a shitton of manga in art styles I like, like Okano Reiko’s Onmyouji series.) I’ve become a filmmaker over the last decade, and I’m very excited about beautiful cinematography and editing. With one thing and another, I’m probably not going to get back into anime fandom, but it’s lovely to revisit the cultural aspects I enjoyed about it via live-action media.

BTS surprised me too, to be honest. I really dislike that early 90s R&B ballad style that infests idol music (not just Korean--believe me, I resisted many rounds of “But Johnny’s Entertainment though!” back in the day). While I like some of the dance pop, I just don’t care. But OH NO, BTS turn out to be massive conscious hip hop fanboys, and their music sounds different. I have some tl;dr about my reactions in the meta I wrote about one of my fanvids, which you can find on Dreamwidth here.

--

But back to your comment about turnover: I know fans from the 70s who’ve had one great fannish love and that’s it and more who were like that but eventually moved on to a second or third. They’re... really fannishly monogamous in a way I find hard to comprehend. It was the norm long ago, but even by the 90s when far more people were getting into fandom, it was seen as a little weird. By now, with exponentially more people in fandom, it’s almost unheard of. I think those fans still exist, even as new people joining, but we don’t notice them. They were always rare, but in the past, only people like that had the stamina to get over the barriers to entry and actually become the people who made zines or were willing to be visibly into fanfic in eras when that was seen as really weird. On top of that, there’s an element of me, us, judging the past by what’s left: only people with an intense and often single passion are visible because other people either drifted away or have seamlessly disappeared into some modern fandom. They don’t say they’re 80 or 60 or 40 instead of 20, so nobody knows.

In general, I’m a small fandoms and rare ships person. My brain will do its best to thwart me by liking whatever has no fic even in a big fic fandom... (Except BTS because there is literally fic for any combination of them, like even more than for the likes of MCU. Wow. Best fandom evar!) So I have an incentive to not get complacent and just stick with one fandom because I would very soon have no ability to be in fandom at all.

My appetite for Consuming All The Things has slowed way down, but it also goes in waves, and a lot of what I’m consuming is what I did back in 2000: journal articles and the limited range of English-language books on the history of m/m sex and romance in East Asia. It’s not so much that I have a million fandoms as that I’m watching a few shows as an expression of my interest in East Asian costume dramas and East Asian history generally.

I do like to sit with one thing and experience it deeply rather than moving on quickly, but the surface expression of this has changed depending on whether I’m more into writing fic or more into doing research or something else.

But yes, I do do a certain amount of trying to stay current, often as a part of research for fandom meta or to help other people know what’s going on. Having a sense of what’s big doesn’t automatically mean getting into all those things, but I think some fans who are older-in-fandom and/or older-in-years stop being open to even hearing what’s new. And if you’ve never heard of it, you’ll never know if you might have liked it.

[red1culous]

Sweat part 1

Chapter: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

One of the things you hated about working with the Avengers was how insanely fit everyone was. You wouldn’t exactly call yourself a shapeless potato but you were nowhere as sculpted or as svelte as your other team members.

You had just joined the band of heroes two months ago and were working under Maria Hill as a Shield agent. She had taken the time to show you around the place because you were one of the few applicants Fury himself recommended. Being new to the team you were eager to impress.

Maria herself was of slight build but you knew she was tough having one day crashed into her after turning a blind corner. Her elbow caught the side of your face as you both collided and it left you with a nasty shiner that lasted a week.

So you made it a point to become fitter and stronger. That meant visits to the gym. Your anxiety however got the better of you and visiting the gym when everyone else was there was certainly out of the question. So you purposely set your alarm for 2 hours earlier so you could get a full workout before anyone else was even awake.

The first time you entered the gym was daunting. All those big machines seemingly mocking your puny existence. You pushed past the fear and soon you were brave enough to play your music loud from your phone speakers and you started to relax a little and enjoy your early morning sessions more.

Then something you never could have dreamed of happened turning your world upside down.

After a 10 minute cardio warm up you headed to the chest press machine. You were feeling good this morning. Stretching and limbering up a little your playlist started on a new song, one that you particularly liked. It had all the right beats in all the right places. You soon got lost in the music and started to do a little dance on the spot as you stretched your arms and legs out . You were so caught up in the music you almost screamed when you felt a gentle tap tap tap on your shoulder. Turning around so fast you almost gave yourself whiplash you were stunned by the sight in front of you.

Natasha Romanoff.

WTF.

“Hi. I’m Natasha. You ok?” she cocks her head concerned at your dazed expression.

“Hi! Sorry I just didn’t think there’d be anyone here. I’m Y/N” you hoped she hadn’t heard the enormous swallow you just did with how dry your throat suddenly became.

“Yea I know. Fury has said some impressive things about you. And that man says nothing about anyone so that’s a huge compliment” she smiled tying up her hair into a neat ponytail. Your eyes were inexplicably drawn to her biceps as they flexed and bunched up at the simple action.

“Uh ok” was all you could muster shaking your head trying to clear your mind.

“Sorry, do you mind if we share the gym? I promise to stay on that side” she points to the other end of the gym and you instantly felt like a monster.

“What no! No don’t do that. Sorry I just wasn’t expecting anyone here so early. Plus I’m not used to doing this whole gym thing” you ducked your head feeling a blush blooming across your chest and rising to your face.

“Oh you really don’t look like you even need the gym” she counters.

Wait. Was that a compliment?

She continues, “how about we spot for each other? I haven’t trained with another girl in ages. It’ll be nice since this place is usually a playground for the boys and their dick measuring contests”

And that’s how you found yourself working out with Natasha Romanoff, or Nat as she insisted you call her. This was insane. What was even more insane was the outfit she had on. She was wearing a black tank top that ended just under her breasts exposing her abs. All the abs. The way it twitched with every movement she made was even more distracting than her leg and calve muscles that were clearly visible under the ridiculously tight spandex pants she wore. If you knew you would be partnering with her you would’ve probably not worn your moth eaten college t-shirt and 100 year old track pants.

Right this moment she was stood in front of the chest press machine counting your sets. She was making light conversation and whenever you struggled she would assist slightly. Her words of encouragement did help a little. You were actually having fun.

“I like that you’re always smiling when you’re working out” she says in between counting you to 10.

“Nat, this isn’t me smiling” you pant out, “this is me gritting my teeth holding back my swear words” this got her laughing which caused you to laugh and drop the weights unable to hold them up yourself.

“Ok 10 more smartass let’s go” she straightens up wagging a finger at you.

If working out with the Black Widow was stressful, not knowing where to look with her standing right in front of you was worse.

Should you stare at her abs? No that’s awkward.

Stare at her face? Nope, worse idea ever.

Stare at the floor at her feet. Yes that might work.

“Up up! Keep your head and eyes up so your posture is straight” she tuts reaching for your chin and pushing it up.

Well that idea went to hell fast. Next up was the bench press machine.

She excitedly says she wants to go first and of course you’re not going to argue. Your arms were still burning from the 50 reps she had you do. So now you’re stood to her right looking everywhere except where she has lay down. Suddenly you don’t know what you’re supposed to do with your arms.

These appendages are they meant to hang loosely by your side?

Should I hug myself?

“Earth to Y/N. Hey quit dreaming and help me out here partner” she breaks you out of your reverie.

Did you think this was not going to get any more awkward? Seemed like the world was adamant on proving you wrong today.

Natasha has you standing with one leg on either side of her torso as she effortlessly lifts and lowers the bar. You’re assisting but you think she could do this without you and probably just as well with one arm. Still you can’t complain. When else would you ever find yourself in this position with Natasha Romanoff.

“Your turn” she cheerily says and she starts to get up. Sensing your hesitation she gently pushes you onto the machine taking the position you occupied only minutes ago.

“You didn’t even break a sweat, Nat” you pout.

“You’ll be fine I’ll help” she says more confident of your abilities than you are.

“I’ll break my neck more like. You better not let this…oooof” you grunt as you feel the full weight of the bar unable to finish your sentence.

“Ok trust me I’ll hold it too” she shimmies further up your torso and bends slightly so she can support more of the bar with you. This has her close to your face and somehow the bar feels heavier than before.

She went easy on you and let you off at 30 reps instead of 50 because towards the end of the count she was lifting more than you were. Your arms truly felt like jelly. Working out with Natasha would be the death of you no doubt.

“What do you want to do next rookie?” she says still looking the way she did when she walked into the gym that morning. You were pretty sure you looked like you had just walked to the moon and back.

“Is dying an option?” you say as you lay on the floor with a towel over your face having just completed a set of leg raises, push ups, crunches and Russian twists.

“How about some stretches? It’ll help with the aches” she lifts a corner of the towel covering your face and peeks at you as she smiles.

So now you are prone on the floor and the Black Widow is practically on top of you stretching out your hamstrings, quads and glutes.

“HOW IS THIS RELAXING!?” you’re practically writhing under her hands, “I FEEL LIKE SOMETHING IS GOING TO SNAP”

“It is relaxing! You’ll thank me tomorrow” she’s smirking at your childish antics. Honestly your idea of stretching was incense, low lighting and soft music. This felt worse than working out.

“Ok let’s swap you big baby” she coos.

“Urgh thank god I was about to pass out already” you jump to your feet and give her space to lie down.

“Uh you’re going to have to help me I don’t know what to do” suddenly feel the awkwardness return as you watch her laying on the floor.

“Ok squat here and put one hand here” she pulls you down in between her legs and places one of your hands on her upper left thigh, “now hold this down and press this leg up” she guides you so her right leg is resting on your shoulder.

“Uh…like this?” you asked blushing again. Why does this feel so intimate?

“Yea but push harder” she says as she lays back down on the mat, “harder Y/N I’m not going to break” it sounded like a command now.

“This is a weird angle are you sure …” she interrupts you by tugging roughly on your round collar so that now your face is inches from hers, “I did ballet I’m flexible don’t worry I like the deep stretch” she’s smirking again still holding onto your collar.

“R-right I’ll be sure to remember that” you whisper stutter your response. You’re starting to think she’s doing this on purpose.

You’re thinking back to all the touches. A hand on your upper arm. Her squeezing your shoulders a few times when you said they were sore. Her standing behind you with her hands on your waist to show you how to properly execute a squat without causing injury to your back. Or her taking your hand and placing it on her stomach to better illustrate “which muscles will be activated when you’re doing core exercises properly”.

Sure it could be her genuinely trying to help….but what if it was something more.

After a few more positions where you find yourself either laying across her or straddling her, Steve walks into the gym and coughs awkwardly behind the both of you. You jump off of Natasha and stand ramrod straight fidgeting with your fingers.

“Hi Y/N you’re here early. Are you done already?” he asks sweetly.

“Yeah Y/N and I are done here Steve” Natasha answers for you picking up her stuff.

“See you tomorrow morning same time Y/N” she says as she saunters away towards the shower rooms.

“Right yeah tomorrow” is all you manage to get out as she makes her way out of the gym.

“What was that about?” Steve asks you as he starts unpacking his gym bag and grabbing his water bottle and towel.

“I guess I have a new workout buddy” you say smiling ear to ear.

“Hmm…”

“Hmm? Steve don’t leave me with a ‘hmm’”

“No it’s just that Nat hates working out with anyone. I guess she likes you” he says hiding a knowing smile as he fake wipes non-existent sweat off his face.

“Hmm” you say picking up your phone and towel, slinging it over your shoulder and making your way towards the exit.

“Hey, now what’s that supposed to mean Y/N?” Steve calls to you.

“Nothing Steve” you continue with a bounce in your step and a smile on your face, “means nothing at all”.

Tagging: @natasharomanoffismywife​

[reynie-muldoons]

'The Art of Conveyance and Round-Trippery' Liveblog!

Sorry this is a few days late!! I moved across the country this weekend, we drove like 13 hours within 2 days and we did a lot of heavy lifting. I'm exhausted, but the boxes are slowly emptying and I've been wanting to watch this episode so gd bad, so LESGO

Over halfway through the season!!!! That's absolutely surreal

1:11 oooh they're getting their royal fitting

1:22 LMAOO WTF 😂😂 Princess Diaries vibes

1:42 ✨CONFIDENCE✨

1:52 Alfonse is a perfect name for that guy HAHA

2:05 Nathaniel, my guy, you've made some points

2:11 "do you feel your power?" POWER RANGERS, GO

2:24 no no hesitation just prolly thinkin bout how he was caught cheatin

2:39 "can you not allow yourselves luxury?" okay fr I feel that I get Nice Things Guilt(tm) too easily

2:52 dayummmm let's talk about Sticky being a hat stall between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, mans is brave as fuck under extreme pressure and loyal to the point of putting himself on the line

3:15 bro Sticky getting some recognition. Love to see it, he deserves it

3:19 "is that a coincidence? Or written in the stars?" IS DR. CURTAIN CATCHING ON THAT THEY KNEW EACH OTHER BEFORE OR LIKEEEE

3:49 WHAT WORD AROUND CAMPUS 😭😭😭 MY BOYS ARE NOT A MISTAKE HOW DARE YOU

4:09 why doess the action of Dr. Curtain putting the sash on them seem so nefarious

4:36 I dont really understand the whole pastel yellow, blue, and pink palette of the school but the boys both look pretty okay in their vest-sash getup

4:42 THE OPENINGGGGG. This shit slaps.

5:41 Kate and Constance look so fucking cute in that shot, dont ask me why but hnnggggg

5:54 sash rope 😂😭 kate, honey, that's a reach

6:09 it might feel buttery, but, my guy, it also looks buttery. It's literally the color of butter. Get yourself some crisco

6:24 I find it kinda interesting that they made up new riddles for the show, I'm almost positive that that one wasn't in the book. Correct me if I'm wrong though

7:03 "I'm not gonna apologize for knowing things" the sass. the ✨confidence✨. living for it

7:03 If they build on that it sets Sticky up really nicely for the arc in the second book where he starts to show off a little

7:15 tiny Constance who is constantly dressed in pink with cute little braids is the perfect medium for the most morbid comments 😂😂

7:55 Martina's hot in her uniform. Can't prove me wrong.

8:15 why does that make me sad 🥺 eat with your friendssss. iirc they only talked about eating at the Messenger table in the books

8:26 dipshits forgot their lunches. Seems Constance is holding the communal braincell atm

8:50 anyone have Guiness on speed dial? Reynie and Sticky have a submission for them

9:25 oh hello this was alluded to in the preview!!! Morse code is compromised, rip

10:05 so are Jackson and Jillson stuck with night guard duty all the time?? They've been outside at night a lot

10:18 ahhhhhh the little blinkie light, stopppp

10:25 MILLIGANNNNN!!!

10:25 so is this the point where he starts staying on the island with them????

10:39 so are they just like "fuck it we'll do it right before sundown" ???? Like Jackson and Jillson are still gonna be on the lookout, they aren't gonna chill just because it's not fully dark

10:50 did the kids.....just not tell them that Mr. Bloom was on the island 😂 nice oversight guys

11:05 MADGE TIME MADGE TIME

11:05 remind me to tell you guys a story about Madge, I may or may not have done something irl a few years ago that would make y'all proud 😂😂😂

11:16 idk why but it makes me so happy that they kept Madge as a peregrine falcon

11:37 Rhonda, my love, you have my heart in your hands

11:46 roll credits

12:05 THE HEAD SHAKE HAHAHAH

12:06 Awww man, I was so excited for Milligan to be on the island .-. He must have been scoping out the inlet

12:07 "they're quite regal" A. I read the subtitles as "legal" the first time and that's somehow really in character for him, and B. IS MILLIGAN GOING TO NAME HER???!? HER MAJESTY???? PLEASE I WOULD LOVE THAT SO MUCH

12:15 his grimace KILLS ME

12:17 the hard cut from Nicholas in a brown setting and brown suit to Nathaniel in a blue setting and blue suit was lowkey striking

12:36 are they looking up Morse code 😳 can you imagine if they wrote down the message and are now decoding it

12:41 omfg all that for a HAT 🙃 I feel stupid

12:51 two things: 1. Those walls are atrocious, and 2. Yeah, talk about Morse code in a louder voice Connie girl, you're just in a public hallway

13:03 I'm sorry but those orange pillar things are not the vibe

13:03 the golden gate bridge called, they want their arches back

13:10 please let Kate climb the tower before the end of season 1. please.

13:22 y'all are about to be flying something else 😎

13:33 cleansing breaths

13:47 OH HELLO MESSENGER DUTY ALREADY??

14:06 what the heck is that teal pole for 😭😭

14:12 blindfold timeeee

I'm so sorry but I'm exhausted, it's 11:30 pm on Sunday night right now, I'll finish this episode tomorrow morning after I get some sleepies

~~

Good morningggg lesgetatit

14:50 "vomit of metal" ashhdjdjd

15:16 a wild Martina appears!

15:36 and if you folks look to your left, you'll see a wild Constance being the voice of reason once again

15:57 "lose the bucket" "I'm not gonna do that" HELL YEAH KATE

16:07 I get not having the bucket on the court lolol, I thought Martina was telling Kate to lose the bucket in general. Like, yeah, good luck convincing her to so that

16:35 show!Kate is much angrier than book!Kate and I'm still deciding how I feel about that. The Kate we've known from the books is a sunshine baby with looots of repressed trauma.

17:03 ......what is that. why is that.

17:11 WAIT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE REYNIE AHEHDJDJD

17:15 HI MADGE

17:41 the grand swell in the music makes me think it's going to go comically wrong

17:51 she's majestic because she's a queen 🥺

18:03 LMAO CALLED IT

18:14 Rhonda and Number Two getting at each other is such a sisterly thing to do 😂😂😂

18:37 ohhhhh? Someone's approaching? Miss Perumal perhaps????

18:45 YEAHHHHH BABY

18:50 PROTECTIVE MOM COMIN IN HOT!!!

19:22 THEYRE SO PRECIOUS 😭😭😭😭 I feel like I've been subconsciously starved for her and Mr. Benedict's interactions

19:36 died at that line in the one trailer

20:00 so Miss Perumal pulled a Sherlock Holmes. Love that for her

20:20 Cheri Tupintown??? Of all the aliases they could pick, Cheri Tupintown???

20:33 "Power in Truth Inc" that HAS to be something Rhonda came up with

21:01 you can literally watch Mr. Benedict realize that this is a woman not to be fucked with and he is CORRECT

21:23 "he's fine. Perfectly fine." At this, Mr. Benedict's pants caught aflame.

21:52 something about Constance sitting in on practice!!! It scratches an itch!!!!

22:19 "incorporate the helix. Live in the helix." Lord Helix is pleased with this offering.

22:26 so what I'm hearing is Kate is going to blow up on Constance for messing with the bucket

23:13 unrelated but Jillson'a shoes are cute

23:29 why does this room give off Johnny Depp's willy wonka vibes

24:13 that looks like a chair from a doctor's office waiting room 😭

25:29 they do be egg heads tho

26:02 baby girl, I have no idea why you're crying at weird art but let me dry your tears 🥺🥺

26:50 SHE FOUND ITTTT

27:27 okay Indiana Jones, go off

27:46 why did that kinda sound like Miss Perumal

28:43 the return of everyone's favorite, "enjoyable"

29:05 not that I'm not loving the ice breaker questions and the one-sided conversation, but I'm not loving it

29:22 oh so we're getting right into it aren't we

29:54 his eyes being open again makes this infinitely creepier

30:36 "where's your proof?" Miss Perumal doesnt fuck around!!!

31:29 you're telling me Constance has been there all day?? And Kate went to find her???? 🥺

31:58 oh so we're getting right to it then?? Kate addressing her independence and trust issues arc????

33:29 NEWS!!!!

33:49 CONSTANCE RIDING PIGGYBACK!!!!!!

34:04 okay, so they opened the murder hole, what are they gonna do now

34:59 Italian? 🤨 m'sir that is so fancy

34:59 fun story I learned Italian diction in college, so I know a little bit

35:16 "take your time" the whisperer says, immediately repeating the prompt to get the answer sooner

35:31 theeeeere it is

35:46 SOMETHING ABOUT THE WHISPERER SAYING "YOU ARE HOME" 😭😭😭 the show really played up the cult shit!!

36:02 Kate being protective of Constance 🥺

36:20 ohhh shit is it time for Connie girl to have double Reynie? Double Sticky?

36:36 STICKY

36:52 "what kind of nonsense?" HAVE THEY NOT ASKED THAT BEFORE THIS?????

37:14 "and your tiny brain can somehow pick it up!!" KATE STOP 😂😂😂

37:16 "I knew you had to be special in some way." WE DONT HAVE TIME TO UNPACK ALL OF THAT

37:51 she's right, this is disregard for their safety. The show made Mr. Benedict and his team a lot more back-alley and dishonest, and Miss Perumal has every reason to be pissed

38:30 oh good they finally remembered he has narcolepsy

39:38 and the best mom award goes to:

40:38 I was gonna say that this hallway is how I imagined the KEEP in riddle of ages but then I remembered that (spoilers) the Institute is the KEEP

40:46 oh, hello propoganda

41:10 that's the other person Rhonda couldn't contact, along with Mr. Bloom. This has to be the brainsweeping process

41:22 yeppppp

41:44 this dark doctor's office theme gives me horror movie vibes

42:22 ohhhh, so that's how they replaced that scene where the four of them jump in a crate to hide and Sticky drops his glasses in the open

42:47 and so we've come to the part of the story where Sticky and Reynie become infinitely more conflicted

42:47 and since we've reached that point..... can we have the white knight scene? Pretty please? Please Disney I'm begging you-

43:12 so Reynie just figured that out without Constance? :/

44:03 love the manipulation

44:31 I'm sorry, the farm?

44:35 farm and forest????

45:16 "the Emergency has served its purpose" 😳 well okay then murder man

45:39 "one thought, one purpose" the hive mind rises once more

45:48 LOVE THE MANIPULATION

46:07 "what have you done to earn anyone's trust?" VALID

46:26 "please do!" WHY AM I EMOTIONAL

47:06 "we still have the falcon" that you do 😂

47:19 AYYY HERE WE GO!!! Time for Milligan to stay on the island??

47:49 ohhhh Constance, casual telepath strikes again

48:16 "stop it, Kate!" OOOOHHHHH

48:53 that line ("it would be nice to be unburdened") would be funny as shit if not for the fact that Constance is a telepath unbeknownst to herself and can both subconsciously perceive people's thoughts and hear the subliminal messages

49:20 HI MRS. PERUMAL!!!

49:25 wow, she's really going through with it 😳 not that I doubted her, but still, that's dedication

49:39 OH SHIT

50:17 oh, so he's an asshole to SQ too. Got it. Torches and pitchforks? Ready to kick his ass?

50:40 "for the moment, anyway" FUCKIN WHAT

This episode was really good!!! They covered a LOT. I hope Miss Perumal comes back to the group and talks about her findings, I hope Milligan goes to get the kids and they tell him no, and I hope they get that classic 4-person Society brainstorming and binding time that hits that sweet spot

[turtle-steverogers]

I Watched TWS for the Millionth Time So Let’s Over-Analyze This Shit

-TFA theme at the beginning 🥰 (that theme is so fuckin good)

-Sam’s lil jogging route around the Tidal Basin/Mall

-Steve being sassy , just as a general

-Steve’s sadness errands

-Sam relating to Steve on the soldier front and making him feel seen

-Just. Sam Wilson

-The way that Steve’s to-do list in the movie varies from country to country (For instance, the UK list has Sherlock instead of I Love Lucy and The Beatles)

-Also I wanna know Steve’s thai order

-The fact that this whole exchange is happening at 6:39 am

-Natasha drives with all the recklessness of a 16 year old that just got their license

-Stealth Suit Stealth Suit

-Steve deflecting Nat’s date suggestions

-Steve’s aversion for parachutes...reckless endangerment ✨

-Steve speaking/understanding at least a little french

-Tony having designed the Helicarriers to have arc reactor power instead of turbines because “he got a close up look at the turbines” in The Avengers 2012 when he got caught in them

-“This isnt freedom, this is fear” aka the embodiment of Steve’s character

-Steve’s exhibit being in the Air and Space museum even tho he flew a plane once and crashed it

-Bucky’s display having two different birth years (1916 and 1917. the correct one is 1917)

-In the little video of Steve and Bucky, Sebastian Stan was saying “We *are* friends” after the director told them to “act like friends” for that shot

-Steve acknowledging Peggy’s family and therefore acknowledging that their relationship with each other, while still close and special, is not romantic anymore and Peggy telling Steve to move on and start over wtf endgame

-The parallel of Peggy losing her memory as Bucky regains his

-Sam Wilson willing to show vulnerability and not being ashamed of his PTSD and treating Steve like any other attendee and hoping Steve will open up too if he sees that it’s okay to

-Steve’s face after “it was like I was up there just to watch” cuz he gets it and both sam and him had to watch their other half fall

-“What makes you happy?” “I don’t know”

-The Winter Soldier theme is just Bucky’s scream pitched different and made to sound mechanical because Henry Jackman wanted it to sound like a man trapped in a machine

-Why is Steve a lucky bastard that has his own laundry machine

-Steve leaving his apartment building after Sharon points out the music and then SCALING THE SIDE OF HIS OWN BUILDING AND CLIMBING IN THROUGH HIS WINDOW LIKE CAN YOU IMAGINE SEEING CAPTAIN AMERICA JUST CLIMBING INTO HIS APARTMENT THROUGH HIS WINDOW ONE NIGHT

-STEVE’s APARTMENT I HAVE MANY THOUGHTS (i might make a separate post on that)

-The fact that “A Long, Long Time” is playing when he sees Bucky for the first time in the future and the song is about lovers reuniting after the war i’m not saying it’s gay but i am

-He calls Fury “Nick” which really indicates theyre not close in the slightest

-Steve is excellent in adapting under pressure (him immediately catching on and using Fury’s code story: “who else knows about your wife?”)

-Steve is Awful at lying but hes also Excellent at lying

-How tf did Steve get the flash drive in the vending machine without the vending machine dude noticing i-

-“Captain Rogers” “Neighbor >:(“ petty little shit

-Steve’s observation skills are A+++++ as we can see in the elevator scene

-More reckless endangerment like imagine just going through your work day and captain america falls through the ceiling

-Steve stole someones gym clothes after escaping SHIELD. let that sink in

-Natasha has about a billion masks on at all times (“I only act like i know everything, rogers” “the person that programmed this was slightly smarter than me. slightly” “the truth isn’t all things to all people all of the time”) also she’s quite insecure, especially when it comes to being perceived as a good, trustable person

-Meanwhile, Steve’s consistently himself even if it costs him

-Bucky trained Natasha in the Red Room (at least in the comics) so theres a good chance she made the connection between him and Steve and withheld that information

-The honeymoon in New Jersey😭😭

-Steve and Nat both have very different, but entirely valid approaches to situations: Steve’s is that of a tactiction, Nat’s is that of a spy’s. We see this in the scene at Pentagon City Mall

-Steve’s looking for someone with shared life experience and bucky has that

-Bucky killed JFK

-When Zola tells him that his death and life both amount to that of a zero sum, he punches the screen with his bare fist, not his shield, indicating just how much that upset him

-Pierce offers Bucky milk cuz he knows “the asset” can’t refuse or accept offers. He’s taunting him

-Sam drinks orange juice straight from the bottle and also doesnt refrigerate his mustard. There’s also a baseball trophy in his apartment so,,,,, baseball player sam anyone?

-Sam is also a gem who immediately helps out Steve and Nat with no judgement in his tone so they don’t feel ashamed

-Nat straightened her hair somewhere in Sam’s house

-“Cuz thats really not your style, Rogers” “you’re right, it’s not” *rubs sitwell’s arm* “it’s hers”

-Steve and Nat banter Steve and Nat banter

-Sam is just *clenches fist* so cool

-Nat immediately knows where Bucky’s gonna shoot when he lands on the Sam’s car and later she knows how to affectively fight him best because he trained her so she knows his fighting style

-Steve alone saying “Bucky?” was enough to break Bucky’s conditioning the slightest bit

-Sam met Steve like 36 hours ago and he’s already being arrested and made into a government fugitive with him and it won’t be the last time

-Steve is the only one entirely restrained

-“Even when I had nothing I had Bucky”

-Everyone meets Sam and is just like “aight let’s trust him with the highest clearance security information”

-Steve looks super nauseous all through the scene where Rumlow is handcuffing him and later when he says, “he looked right at me, like he didn’t even know me” he sounds sick and choked up

-Steve carries a lot of weight on his shoulders

-Steve’s “Bucky?” after the highway battle and Steve’s “Bucky?” in Bucky’s memory in the Vault Scene being different (in Bucky’s memory, he looks more heartbroken)

-Sebastian’s acting. Just all of it. And the way Bucky just opens his mouth for the mouth guard before he gets wiped....heartbreaking

-Steve realizes an organization that was meant to protect the people has become its own antithesis so hes like “aight. get rid of it” damn that’s the right mindset right there

-In the memory scene after Sarah’s funeral, Steve is so out of it and distressed, that he can’t find his key but Bucky immediately knows exactly where it is and what he’s lookin for

-Bucky was vain as shit and also had money: tailored suit, hair w shit ton of brylcreem in it

-The big breakfast Steve had was at Sam’s house

-The whole scene on the helicarrier between Steve and Bucky is incredible here are some highlights: Steve never backing down from a fight until it’s Bucky he’s fighting, Steve dropping the shield for him, Steve being ready to die if living means he’s living in a world where Bucky’s alive and doesnt remember him

-Their acting in that scene is so genuine and heartbreaking i can’t- i can’t-

-Steve’s got a comm i’m so chances are Nat, Sam and Maria can hear a portion of what’s going down on the helicarriers

-“I’m with ya to the end of the line” is basically “til death do us part” so the equivalent of wedding vows between Bucky and Steve is what ultimately broke Bucky’s conditioning

-When bucky fell, steve didn’t jump after him but when Steve fell, bucky went after him even tho he’s brainwashed. don’t think about steve’s guilt surrounding that. youll only get sad

-Bucky waited until Steve took a breath to leave him

-Sam waited by Steve’s side in the hospital

-In the end credit scene, Bucky and Steve originally were supposed to make eye contact, but the writers didn’t want it established that Bucky remembered Steve until CW

----

Every time I watch it from here on out, I’m gonna add a lil more as I notice hehehe

[mysterylover123]

Mysterylover Watches Bleach Episodes 164-165: All My Faves Try to Straight up Kill Each Other

(adding a cover pick from now on I think)

1. So back to Uryu and Renji’s fight huh. Dammit why Shonen always gotta leave the MCs bleeding to death for like 20 episodes. 

2. I guess I should be responding more to their fight, I mean I like these two as well. But we just ditched the fascinating “What does GJ want with Hime” plot for these shenanigans, so I’m just a tad bit impatient to get back to that.

3. FINALLY BACK TO ICHIGO. Nel is ok and she’s saying his name a lot while he doesn’t respond. So he’s apparently dead? 

4. WHEN THE HELL DID GRIMMJOW GET HERE? WASN’T HE THREATENING ORIHIME A LITTLE WHILE AGO? (Also Nel and GJ appear to know each other. )

5. GJ why are you kicking Ichigo? AND WHAT THE FUCK HE HAS A TIED UP AND GAGGED ORIHIME UNDER HIS CLOAK IN CHAINS?!?! HOLY CRAP DUDE

6. Hime is now looking at what appears to be Ichigo’s corpse. OMG GRIMMJOW BROUGHT HER HERE TO HEAL ICHI? Are you heel turning GJ? Also Ulqui is returning to Hime’s cell to find the evil girls and castigate them.

7. Nel is begging Hime to heal Ichi. I don’t think she needs any encouragement honey. Ill admit Nel’s constant screaming is a little annoying so I do kinda feel GJ when he tells her to shut up (assuming she’s some kinda immortal instead of an Actual Kid)

8. Hime is, of course, healing him, but struggling with it. GJ explains Ulqui did it. OK so GJ is mad at Ulqui for Taking His Prey and Hime does in fact succeed in healing Ichi. I got you GJ. No one else is allowed to kill Ichi while you’re around. 

9. Just as GJ name drops Ulqui Ulqui appears. He’s like Candyman.

10. Damn so now almost all my faves are in the same room. We’re gonna have a four way fight between Ulqui Ichi GJ and Hime? yes. Or whatever will happen here. 

11. Ulqui: “WTF Are you doing Hime?” GJ: smirks. Hime: “Um...it’s complicated”. Ulqui: Hand her over. GJ: Attempted murder. OK so GJ is officially betraying the bad guys? I think? I mean he’s trying to kill Ulqui so clearly he’s not in a good position here.

12. We do get GJ vs Ulqui which is cool and blows lots of shit up. They’re legitimate threats to each other though. Hime is standing there shielding Ichi and like “WTF WAS THAT?” GJ reveals he sealed Ulqui in another dimension. 

13. HOLY CRAP HIME REFUSES?! GJ CHOKES HER?! AND SHE STILL REFUSES. HOLY CRAP SHE’S REFUSING TO ENABLE THIS SELF-DESTRUCTIVE SHIT ANYMORE. Oh my god.

14. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a healer character in a Shonen do this before. Like even Recovery Girl in MHA - she said she wouldn’t but she always does anyway. Hime being the first ever to legitimately say “NOPE. ENOUGH’S ENOUGH. GO AHEAD AND CHOKE ME DUDE I DNGAF. WON’T DO IT.” Holy crap.

15.  Ichi jumps in with what little strength he’s got to stop GJ choking Hime. Thanks Ichi. Though he immediately asks Hime to heal him and GJ. Even though she just said she wouldn’t. 

16. Oh. Oh. I get it. This is the GOLD OL FASHIONED SHONEN RIVALRY THING. GJ has apparently decided to replace Uryu as The Rival. (Does this mean I have to switch to Ichigo/GJ? I have no idea how old GJ is supposed to be, but I’m down for Immortal Rukia x 16 year old Hime so clearly we’re working on vampire rules here)

17. Oh and it looks like Hime did heal them. Dammit Hime (or not dammit cause we’re gonna get this fight.) Ichi tells the ladies not to worry about him. Um dude you end up hospitalized every goddamn arc.

18. HIME PATS NEL ON THE HEAD. OMG HIME’S ADOPTED HER TOO. She and Nel debate about whether or not Ichi will really win. Hime explains that Ichi wouldn’t lie, and that she knows him well enough to know that.

19. See this kinda stuff is why I don’t mind that these two are gonna be the Official Couple the way most Shonen couples tend to annoy me. Hime genuinely knows Ichi as a person, she’s not watching him from a distance and never a part of his life. She genuinely knows his whole story, what makes him tick, and who he really is. It’s not perfect per se but it’s so much better than what I’ve seen in any other shonen couple’s development.

20. Ichi and GJ’s fight keeps going still with lots of big flashy moves. LOL GJ is annoyed that Ichi isn’t excited to kill him for hurting Rukia. Senpai isn’t paying him enough Rival Attention. 

21. Please don’t kill Nel or hime to motivate Ichi to want to kill you GJ. I like you but you’re on thin ice with that Choking Hime thing from earlier. GJ is confronting him about why he didn’t just grab Hime and leave and end this arc right there. Hm.

22. GJ makes an interesting point here. He claims Ichi came here to fight and not to save Hime. You know I was thinking this back in the first arc, where it seemed like he was prioritizing fighting people over saving Ruki. Like this arc though he’s been way more focused on the saving part of things though so I’m not sure if that’s true here. Like has he grown since then? Or is GJ actually right?

23.  Ichi notices that GJ seems to be aiming at Hime. Holy crap dude that’s cheating. And wow Ichi instantly goes Hollow Masky to save her! And all feral-y and shit. You know I feel like that sorta proves that he really is here for Hime, since he didn’t start fighting this way until GJ threatened her. 

24. Well those were two really good episodes! Nice development for GJ and Ulqui, Ichi and Hime. So many of my faves got some good focus here. I feel like I need to legitimately process it for a sec. 

-So Hime is starting to feel like she doesn’t want to enable Ichi’s Constantly Fighting to the Death thing anymore. Interesting development, I wonder how that will play out going forward?

-Ichi’s motives have been cast in an interesting shadow. Is he only in this for the thrill of a good fight (like Goku) or is he in it to save his friends (like Naruto)? Which flavor of Shonen hero are you Ichi?

-Grimmjow seems to have officially betrayed Aizen for the sake of a good fight and has identified himself clearly as Ichigo’s rival. Interesting - i guess this has been building for a while.

-The development of Ichigo and Hime’s relationship in this episode was really interesting. It raises great questions about Ichigo’s side of things - was he doing this for a fight, or because he cares for Hime? Little of A, little of B? This is gonna be good

[corellianbrandy]

Caught up on episodes 2-16 of The Bad Batch this weekend and these are my thoughts as I watched

1. Love how tarkin has aged like 40 years since we last saw him approximately four-to-six months ago in the clone wars. Like I’m not kidding I genuinely love it

2. Whenever little omega gets out of the ship and sees sunlight for the first time and is so excited about dirt 🥺

3. The scary scary nexu 🥺🥺🥺🥺 so cool

4. The empire just immediately making everyone’s lives miserable ie giving everybody a chain code and shit. You’re right Dave Filoni we SHOULDN’T have social security numbers.

5. CID FUCKING RULES LMFAO. Cathy Bates lizard ass mob boss bitch. Echo knows her as ‘a contact of the Jedi’ which coming from him probably means less ‘the Jedi’ in general and more just ‘Obi-Wan and Anakin’. Cid clearly liked the Jedi, but Anakin I can’t imagine having that much patience to deal with her and he probably just interacted with her out of necessity but Obi-Wan. Imagine her and Obi-Wan interacting.** The flirting. The mind games. They were probably in love.

6. I always know that I personally am going to have a great time whenever the Zygerians show up because they always bring the Peak Weird Scifi Ralph Mcquarrie 70s vibes with them and they did NOT disappoint. The flying lizard vs. rancor fight gave me the strength I needed to go on another day

7. Speaking of the rancor like I knew it was going to be a rancor as soon as we saw the cage but I wasn’t expecting it to be THEE rancor.

8. Furthermore. Lost it at thee rancor making puppy dog heart-eyes at omega as it’s being led away to be chained up under Jabba’s palace to eat Jabba’s enemies for the rest of it’s life until Luke finally kills it in 4ABY.

9. Everybody climbing through the ion engine core was COOL SO COOL. My little nerd brain really loved that. “This is actually a marvel of engineering. This steel coating is capable of withstanding -“ “NO ONE CARES!” 💯💯💯💯 Exactly how I would’ve written it A+++++++

10. The fucking rattlesnake wild west music that aggressively plays every time Cad Bane is on screen. What’s better than this.

11. Cad Bane’s entire new gunslinger cowboy outfit. Everything to me.

12. I love all these deep seeded reasons we’re getting for why the storm troopers SUCK. 1. Being the entire idea to use them in the first place was based off a misunderstanding made after one(1) experimental mission where it’s interpreted that they’re better than the clones when the clones were the reason for the mission’s success in the first place and 2. How a lot of the first-wave storm troopers were trained by the clones who either didn’t want to train them and didnt do a great job on purpose or did it but personally left out a lot of info and skills. Pretty fascinating explanation for protagonist armor while also making a statement about the inefficiency and insincerity of institutional evil/bureaucracy (I guess).

13. Holy shit did NOT LIKE THE CLAUSTROPHOBIC ENDING AAAAAHHH. Like the facility on kamino floating to the bottom of the sea. Kill meeeeeeee. Very cool visuals though.

14. One thing I didn’t like was all of the stuff with Crosshair. It was all just so contrived and weird and didnt make any sense and really just brought the show down in the end, writing-wise. Honestly, most of the stuff regarding the clones’ story arch after their interaction with the guy on Ryloth who still had his armor painted, where we’re supposed to just assume his inhibitor chip . . . didn’t work or something? But instead of anyone bothering to tell him what’s going on after such a big deal was made out of the chips the episode right before this, it’s treated like some kind of moral choice the guy is making kinda took me out of the story severely. And even more so when the same guy manages to talk a bunch of other clones out of working for the empire too. Like can they do that? We’ve had this idea that these chips essentially mind control you repeated to us over and over so wtf. There was no coherent explanation for any of it. Maybe it’ll be explained later somewhere else, but still. Weird to do it this way. They needed to be more consistent with what a horrible scary thing those chips were instead of doing whatever that was. But up until then it was a lot of fun sci-fi.

14. Every minute cody doesn’t show up in one of these post war 66 shows i get more and more excited for him to show up dramatically in kenobi

**Like fr picture it it’s year 2 of the clone wars. Anakin and Ahsoka are sitting at the space mahjong table in Cid’s parlor bored as fuck and ready to leave but Obi-wan is still in cid’s office. it’s hour four and they’re only halfway through orchestrating the most unnecessarily elaborate and convoluted deal for a piece of information like “where is cad bane the last time I saw him he stole my wallet and car keys and he refuses to return them yes my car got blown up but that’s not the point It’s The Principle Of The Thing.” Literally everyone around them grew bored of all of this 3 hours ago but not obi-wan and cid. This is what they do for fun and they are both having the time of their lives. Anakin this war is stressful some of us are trying to relax

[jellicle-jemmy]

Here is part 2 of my CATS (2019) thoughts that I wrote when I watched the movie for the first time 2 years ago!

Beautiful Ghosts

Francesca you’re doing wonderful sweetie

You’re obviously not a trained singer, but for the purpose of your character’s plot point and reason to be singing it fits so perfectly

Though the arc of beloning with the jellicles came too fast and too soon in the film

She should’ve sung verse 1, chorus, verse 2 and maybe another chorus now and then the bridge later in the film

Moments of Happiness

Judi Dench no

Bring in Syllabub

That is all

Dialogue Interlude

Okay I didn’t mind this bit

However Victoria had already had the arc that she belongs with the Jellicles so her apprehension didn’t make sense

Gus The Theatre Cat

Does ALW suddenly have something against duets?

God Bless Ian McKellen but this number was really quite bleh

I did notice Skimbles putting his tap shoes on side stage

Would’ve been cuter if Misto did the duet with him

Magic Misto boy was cute at the end tho

WHY SO MUCH YOWLING THO??!!

That “I could do it again” comment was a nice nod though

I’m still not entirely sure how Macavity makes Gus disappear but alright then

Skimbleshanks

This is another number that I really enjoyed

Munkymoo again ur doing so good

Also ur little duet with your daughter syllabub - I saw that and I loved it

Tap dancing skimbles is not something i thought i’d like, but I did really like it

It was a really fun number

How they got to the traintracks, idk but ya know what who cares

Thinking about it now, the transition from the tracks to carriage, I’m just imagining like several minutes of awkward silence as they all shuffle onto a carriage and then “5, 6, 7, 8-″ and the number continues

Plato and Socrates being the guard asking about the tea was adorable

It took everything in me to not shout “WEAK OR STRONG”

Also not totally hating on Skimbles redesign

Deadass though, 2019!Skimbles X 2019! Jenny wouldn’t work

But yeah this is a fun number

OKAY NOW SKIMBLES IS A FAIRY FLYER OKAY THEN

He Jay Jay Jetplaned right up there huh

All the other kidnapping, Macavity put actual effort, but Skimbles just went fwoop fwoop fwoop up into the sky

Macavity The Mystery Cat

Okay

Okay then

Here we go

Taylor Swift

This number would actually be good if the CGI didn’t look appalling and Taylor Swift wasn’t singing like that

It’s so breathy and weak wtf

Are you trying to be sexy? That ain’t sexy hun. That ain’t it cheif

Low key want a bedazzled thing that says catnip ngl

This choreography is really.... somethin’

Honestly, the best thing about this number was the cinema’s horrified gasps when nakey nakey macavity showed up

Listen listen, mac’s appearance wouldn’t be so bad if he didn’t look like he had oil on him, rather than fur!! longer fur please i beg of you

shortest short hair in the history of the world

ALSO DRUGGING OF THE CATS

WTF

The catnip looks like fireflies from hell

Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer being Bomba’s assistants? Gold. Love it

Why didn’t you do more with Griddlebone? Why didn’t you do more with Griddlebone?!

I never needed to see Taylor Swift and Oiled Up Idris Elba as cats dancing, let alone up a staircase straight from a 1940′s Broadway Musical

Kidnapping Interlude

Dooch (Old Doot Dench) really just said “access denied”

“I judge a cat on his soul” “he has soul!” “i’ve got plenty of soul”

The way that Lonz (???) and Munk all but flying over to M&R - fuckig superb you funky protectors

Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer you wonderful chaotic dumbasses what did you think was going to happen

All of the contestants tied up? Yeah okay. Skimbles looks like he’s suffocating and everyone else is just fine with it I guess?

“Walk the plank”

Magical Mr Mistofelees

In case y’all haven’t heard, Laurie Davidson aka Mr Mistofelees is babey

Who is biting on Misto’s hat?

Also Syllabub you are so into this and I love it!

I’m about to say something controversial please don’t come for me - I think it worked that Munk and Misto were singing Mr Mistofelees

Who needs a hype man when you’ve got the Jellicle Tribe?

Cass’ face is a mood and a half and I high key want a gif of it

Victoria’s faith in him is beautiful

Oh no I’m shipping them

oh no

that wasn’t part of the plan

Syllabub you are literally the most fascinated out of the whole group and I adore you so damn much

The summoning attempts went on maybe a little bit too long and there wasn’t as much theatrics about as I had hoped

The happiness on the Jellicles faces is wholesome as heck though - especially Munk and also Tugger

And then misto flew and honestly I am so proud of him

He is my son! Look at my son go!

Also the ending bit with Vic and Misto dancing together in the middle for some reason gave me flashbacks to the end of the Greatest Showman

But very cute

Memory (Reprise)

Let’s first of all address the elephant in the room: I am still furious that they gave Syllabub/Jemima’s roles to Victoria and that definitely showed while I was watching it BUT-

I don’t think it would’ve worked in the film if Syllabub sang those bits

Syllabub works in the show, not the movie

Ummmm why is Victoria touching Griz before the “touch me” line???

Everyone’s - especially Munk’s - distaste for Griz as Vic leads her in was just really good and I liked it

The reprise is better than the original

The way that Cassandra’s expressions and actions change, especially during this number really makes it seem like she is the daughter of Griz and deadass I’m here for it

Still mad about Syllabub’s not getting to sing her but but it’s fiiiiiiine i guessss

Also there is a shot of Syllabub and Demeter together somewhere during this scene and I 1) don’t care that they don’t look anything alike and 2) don’t know who I have to sell my soul to but I will find it and treasure it

MUNK CRYING HURT MY SOUL AND HEART OF HEARTS

THAT’S NOT OKAY

NOT AT ALL

MY HEART IS ACHING

Macavity Battle

What the heck is this? It’s epic music that our pal Munkystripes uses to fight Mr Macaroni but it’s... a comedy?

“Don’t mess with the crazy cat lady” Rebel why

Also why did jenny unzip herself again i didn’t like it the first time, why is it even worse in the second but

oop Macavity’s not there

Ahh the use of the Firefrorefiddle line to scare Growltiger off, I genuinely adore

Journey to the Heaviside Layer

Ughh those harmonies always get me going

Again I am all eyes on Sillabub

I wondered how they were going to do the ascension into the heaviside layer

Not like that

Not like that

Chandelier and hot air balloon............oooookay then

All the cats on the lion being happy to see their kidnapped pals was genuinely sweet

Also Syllabub got to stand with all like the other named cats, and not with the ensemble which makes my heart happy

Macavity wtf

The Addressing of Cats

God, I really do ship Mistoria in this film huh? Was the plotline rushed? Yes. Does my hopeless romantic heart care? Nope!

Dooch really just went 😐 huh

I hate it

No

Nope.

The adressing of cats should be a final part of the ceremony not a fucking fourth wall break jesus christ

Okay, but Munk’s reaction when Dooch started talking about food

hhhhh Babey

Though if Dooch could stop staring into my soul, that’d be appreciated

“I believe you are a Jellicle Cat - a dear little cat”

I liked that line for two reasons. 1) It is a nod to the origin to the phrase “Jellicle cat”. 2) It makes me think that that is the only true qualifications to be a Jellicle, making Victoria undoubtedly a Jellicle because have you seen her??

Was that final shot of the balloon necessary?