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tteokggukk · 5 years ago

Text

all an act → ksj

✳ pairing: acting major! seokjin x acting major reader, basically they’re both acting majors

✳ genre: enemies to lovers, fluff, college au

✳ warnings: swearing, copulation is implied (not written), just PG-13

✳ words: 10.6k

✳ a/n: I’M SO EXCITED FOR THIS ONE i’ve had this idea on my mind longer than my published stuff so far. i also didn’t think this would even reach 10k+ words, i initially thought it’d only be ~5k but my hand kept slipping and slipping and 10k happened. anyways, enjoy reading! and again, if you’d like to send some comments (esp on things i can do to improve), don’t hesitate to comment or send an ask!

"How many years is it gonna take for you to finish writing a sentence?" You sighed and began tapping on your foot. You were sitting in one of tables outside to finish a short paper about a film your professor tasked you to watch with a partner. Normally you were fine working with anyone, and even if it was individual work you'd have no problem getting it done in no time. However, today was different. You almost wanted to tear your hair out and scream for as long as you could until this was all over.

You didn't expect Kim Seokjin to be your partner this time.

"When you stop acting like a priss, that's when," Seokjin rolled his eyes as he typed out the remaining sentences of your "collaborative" effort. You wouldn't even call it collaborative unless it meant having to argue about several different points of a story just to piece a whole paper together. You rolled your eyes and clicked your tongue, muttering a "Looks who's talking," underneath your breath.

For the whole year you survived not being partners with him and you thought you'd be able to get away with it, until your professor stopped allowing people to choose partners and started assigning them instead. You desperately hoped this was the last time you'd ever be partnered with someone you loathed.

You were both acting majors and were well known as two of the most top performing students in your batch, but you never got along well. When you respectfully asked your professor why he paired you with him in hopes of trying to get out of it, he started talking to you about both of your “potentials” and “how much better it'd be for the two of you to work together”.

"Here. I'm done," he pushes your laptop away from him and towards you, "Can I leave?"

"We still have to print and pass this," you told him through gritted teeth.

"And you need me for that? Wow, I'm almost flattered," He snickers before standing up and grabbing his bag.

"I'm so glad you aren't."

Slamming your laptop shut, you trudged ahead to the library to have the paper printed, moving slightly faster to avoid having to talk to (or argue with) Seokjin. You didn't have the energy to keep bickering, you were just glad this paper was over and you'd never have to talk to each other again.

You stood next to Seokjin, making sure there was distance between you two as your professor, Mr. Brown, began silently reading your work.

So far so good, he was nodding and smiling as he mouthed the words on the paper, making only a few marks on every other page.

All you needed to do was wait for him to announce your grade and you could both go your separate ways. Why couldn't time move any faster? You began counting the seconds to save yourself from boredom, but also to keep your eyes away from your partner.

"Wow, this is…" Mr. Brown spoke, breaking the silence.

"Yes?" You and Seokjin both asked in unison before glaring at each other for a millisecond.

"Unexpected," Mr. Brown says as he places your paper in front of you.

"Sir?" Your right eye narrows as you call in confusion. What does he mean?

"Unexpected. I thought for sure bringing you two together would produce a well-thought paper, but… this is terrible."

Terrible.

You felt your heart sink. No one has ever called your paper terrible. In fact, most of your papers almost always had good comments and praises and perfect marks, how could this have happened? You even made sure to check everything thrice before finalizing everything.

"What?" Seokjin exclaimed, "What do you mean our paper's terrible?"

"It lacks unity. Your opposing ideas are all over the place, I can tell you tried to link them, but you failed at it," Mr. Brown sighs in disappointment before taking his glasses off to breathe deeply, "You're aware of how many points this paper is, yes?"

"Yes," you and Seokjin spoke nervously.

"And you know only one submission is allowed, yes?"

"Yes," you both answered.

"You know where I'm getting at, right?"

You swallow nervously before speaking up, "Sir, can't we revise it and pass it again? We'll just tweak some of the—"

"I'm afraid you can't. You know the rules very well, Ms. Y/L/N," Mr. Brown shook his head. You sighed, feeling defeated.

"You both clearly have problems working together. Teamwork is part of the criteria, you know," Mr. Brown stood up to sit on the edge of his desk, "You're both our top performing students. I can understand how much your grades mean to you, but did you not consider how your differences could affect your output?"

"Is there any way we can get some extra credit to make up for this paper?" Seokjin asks. You felt a little relieved at his question as you were already feeling too nervous to ask any more.

Mr. Brown looked around in thought, "Well, there is a way I suppose. Some of the upperclassmen under my class are creating a short film and they need extra actors for their project. If you'd like to help them out, I'll give your paper full marks and add some extra points to your other outputs. It might be too taxing for you though."

"No! It's alright, could you give us their names so we can talk to them?" You asked. Mr. Brown nodded and began writing something down on a piece of paper before handing it over to you.

"I wish you two the best of luck. And please try to get along." Mr. Brown says before you and Seokjin excuse yourselves out of the room.

"What do you know? Even our papers show we don’t work together well," Seokjin mutters as you two rushed to find those seniors you needed to work with, "I could've passed if I just had the right partner."

"You're blaming me?" You couldn't believe it, the audacity, "I would've gotten perfect marks even if I wrote that paper with my eyes closed."

Seokjin laughs, "Yeah, okay. You might not have even gotten any marks if you weren't with me."

"You know, my expectations for you were low, but holy fuck," You snickered, "This is the first time I've ever gotten a comment like that on an output. I don't think you being my partner this time around was a coincidence.”

"Oh yeah? If you had just agreed to add my opinion on—"

Just as Seokjin began leaning in to you to defend his ideas, you turned around to face him, abruptly stopping his speech, "Could you just shut up and walk while we look for the guy on this paper?" Your blood was boiling at the sound of his voice, all you wanted to do was get this over with.

The two of you continued searching rooms with Seokjin following behind until you reached the room with the door number your professor had written down. You stared at the piece of paper and looked at the door, hesitating to knock.

"Give me that," Seokjin took the paper from your hand and quickly knocked before letting himself in as you followed.

"Hello, is Oliver Beck here?" Seokjin asked and everyone around stared, making you feel a bit uncomfortable. A guy with long hair wearing a plaid shirt came forward, "That's me, what is it?"

"Hi, we're students from Mr. Brown's class and we were wondering if we could participate as extras in your short film? He says we need the extra credit," Seokjin explained.

Oliver looks confused. "Extras? We've already got that covered," he says, "We need main actors."

"Main actors?" You asked.

"Yeah, no one has agreed to do it yet, but we've already asked some to—"

"We'll do it," Seokjin cuts him off, causing Oliver to raise his brows in surprise.

"You will?"

"Yeah, we really need the credit."

"Are you sure? You haven't seen the script yet," Oliver asks hesitantly.

"Positive. We'll do our best," You spoke.

"Er— alright then, follow me," Oliver motioned for the two of you to walk along. You and Seokjin couldn't help but send each other mutual confused expressions.

Neither of you knew what you were getting into. How bad could the film be that no one has agreed to do it?

Oliver pulls out two copies of what seemed to be scripts from his bag and hands them to the two of you, "Here. It's pretty short, so it shouldn't take long to memorize."

The script wasn't as thick as you thought it would be, so you decide to flip through pages to see what some of the scenes were like. Seokjin just stares at the title on the front page.

"I don't mean to pressure you but we start filming next month, so I'd start practicing if I were you," Oliver announces, "Anyways, I'd better get back to my friends. Send me your numbers so I can contact you guys for details."

After exchanging names and numbers with Oliver and a few of his group mates for the project, you and Seokjin finally left the room.

"Why do you think no one agreed to film with them?" Seokjin asks. You didn't exactly think you were both on friendly-conversation-terms, but the same question did linger in your mind.

"I don't know. Why? Are you backing out?" You asked mockingly.

"If there's anyone between us who'd back out from this, I'm pretty damn sure it wouldn't be me," He scoffs.

"You know, if we had just done that paper properly we wouldn't be stuck here doing some film that I don't even know," You sighed angrily.

"God, get over it. You should be glad you're even part of this extra credit thing. Technically I was the one who asked about it," Seokjin grunts.

"I am so close to taking this script and stabbing you with it," You glared at him.

Before you two parted ways, you both agreed to meet tomorrow at an empty rehearsal room to practice some of the scenes. You didn't know how this was even going to work, you blamed the whole thing on the paper even though you knew it was both your faults. How would starring in a film make up for everything if your paper couldn't even save you both?

You hung around in your dorm for the rest of the day to read through the script. A few hours later, Courtney, your best friend and roommate, arrived.

"I got your texts," she said a little too loudly as she entered, "Seriously? You're filming with Kim Seokjin?"

You let out a groan as you fell back on your bed with the script covering your face, "Ugh, I know! Can you believe my luck?"

"You know if any other girl had the chance, they'd thank all the gods right about now," Courtney laughed as she lied down on your bed, "I'm sorry about your paper though."

She was right. Seokjin was incredibly liked by everyone. He was the kind of person that exuded this welcoming aura, like you could easily be friends with him. Even people from other classes knew him. He always had that bright smile when it came to others. It was just different with you.

"It's fine. I didn't think our hate for each other would be reflected on our paper," you sighed, "And now I have to meet him tomorrow just to practice, ugh."

"You're meeting tomorrow?" Courtney raises a brow. You nod disappointingly.

"Well," Courtney sighed in annoyance, "Make sure he even gets there. If he stands you up again, I won't hesitate to beat the shit out of—"

You laughed, "Please, Court. He'll have to come this time. He's the one who got us into this."

"Yeah he'd better. Listen, call me immediately if he doesn't, okay? Wouldn’t hurt to give him a piece of my mind."

Ranting about Seokjin left you feeling ravenous, and it didn’t take long before you two decided to leave the room to grab some food from the cafeteria and talk about your day. When you both got back, you headed for bed and began reading the script, mouthing some of the lines to familiarize yourself with everything.

Not even a few pages later and you felt your mind wandering off as your eyes rolled back, feeling yourself drift away with the script falling off your bed as you fell into a deep sleep.

Seokjin was a few minutes late in the rehearsal room but you decided to let it slide since you two had to be on good terms to make this practice work. Based on what you've read so far; the story was about friends who've had feelings for each other for so long but couldn't do anything about it in fear of ruining their friendship. Generic, you thought.

"I'd say sorry for being late, but it's only you waiting," Seokjin says as he enters the room and drops his bag on the floor.

"I'd say no problem, I didn't wait long, but you're an imbecile that probably made me wait on purpose," You faked a smile before quickly turning back to a stern expression, "Did you read the script?"

"Just halfway," He says and pulls his copy of the script out from his bag, "Did you?"

"Same," you muttered, "So, let's start with the first scene?"

For the first thirty minutes you two had agreed to sit down and rehearse your lines. You were both good at reciting the dialogues, it almost seemed like you were professionals. You thought there wouldn't be any problems when it came to actually acting out the scenes until you both finally had to practice with delivery, you both sucked.

"What is so hard about not being stiff?" Seokjin exclaims.

"I am not stiff! You're just not moving that close to me!" You retorted, crossing your arms in defense.

"You know what? We've been going at this scene for an hour now and nothing looks right," Seokjin sighs.

"Of course nothing looks right, it's our first time practicing together. I've literally never done a scene with you before," You sat down on the floor and ran your fingers through your hair.

You'd think two top performing students would have a piece of cake acting out simple scenes with perfect chemistry, but you and Seokjin were far from it.

"We've never been partners before?" He asks, sitting down in front of you.

"No, never. And I honestly thought it'd stay that way," You grumbled.

"God, you talk as if this was my fault," Seokjin glares at you, "If we were the last people on Earth and had to do that paper again, I hope you know I'd rather choose a monkey than work with you."

"Why? Because great minds think alike?" You fought back.

"It's a well-known fact those animals have bigger brains than you do."

I swear to God, hold me back or I am gonna hurt him so bad.

"Why don't we just practice reading the lines and act them out tomorrow?" You suggested politely with a smile that was so painfully forced.

And so that was what you did for the next two hours, only rehearsing the first half of the film. That was what you did for the next two days, but the problem was though you two did sound great in dialogue, your act wasn't close to it.

Jin had a secret.

He's been keeping it for months now, and only his best friend, Yoongi, knew about it.

He didn't actually know why you two hated each other so much. He had no idea why you hated him at all. He just started going along with it until it became a habitual thing, but as to why this all started he had absolutely no clue.

"She's nice to me," Yoongi spoke as he shoved another potato in his mouth.

"She's nice to everyone," Jin added.

"Everyone but you," Yoongi laughed.

"I think the reason why you two can't get your scenes right is because you act like you hate each other," Yoongi told Jin as they ate their lunch, "Why don't you just ask her why she hates you so much?"

"I can't, she thinks I have a reason. It wouldn't make sense if I asked her," Jin shrugged, "It's kinda fun though, bickering with her. I just don't understand why."

Yoongi raised a brow, "Fun? Hold on, you're not…"

"It's not whatever you're thinking," Jin rolled his eyes, earning him a smirk from Yoongi.

"Right," Yoongi spoke, "What are you gonna do about your practice? Hasn't it been like, two weeks?"

"Yeah, and we're nowhere near done," Jin sighs, "Speaking of which, I have to go meet her now."

"Sounds like a date," Yoongi teased.

"I will hit you with this script," Jin warns him before taking his bag and muttering goodbye.

He hurriedly walked to the rehearsal room and checked his watch, he was late again today. Jin was sure he'd earn another lecture from you and how he lacked punctuality and that they'd never get anything done if he never arrived on time. Today he brought ear plugs, and before walking in he made sure to put them on before entering the room.

There was no noise.

It took him a minute to find you lying down on the floor on the side of the room, using your bag as a pillow. You were sleeping soundly as you clutched your script in your hand with earphones plugged in.

Jin closed the door behind him and quietly sat down in front of you. He watched as you slept peacefully, hair strands falling on your face.

You're pretty, Jin thought. You always have been attractive to him, and kind to others-- but it was always a different case when it came your relationship with him, or lack thereof. Without thinking, he found himself reaching out for your face, tucking the strands of hair behind your ear.

You opened your eyes and saw Jin sitting in front of you, his hand close to your face. His eyes widen and he quickly moves back, his ears turning red.

"What are you doing?" You asked, pulling your earphones out of your ears.

What was he doing? You hated each other. Was he not thinking straight for a moment just because you looked so peaceful and harmless while you slept? Was he forgetting how much you hated his guts?

"There was a bug," he lied and quickly stood up, shyly turning away from you.

That was odd. I could've sworn…

"Okaaay," You spoke awkwardly and stood up, rubbing your eyes to get rid of any eye crusts that may have formed while you were sleeping, "Whatever, let's practice."

You had to admit though, your practices were getting better. There was less banter and more productive work and you couldn't help but feel like a huge weight off your chest has just been lifted. Oddly enough, there were less insults coming from both sides and subtler, masked compliments.

"You know for a monkey, you're doing pretty well," Seokjin teased, causing you to roll your eyes but smile anyway.

"You can just say I'm talented, don't be shy," you joked, making him chuckle a bit.

It was awkward though, being "nice" to each other. With Seokjin, you were more used to insults and arguments rather than trying hard at compliments. At the same time, it felt kind of nice to know that it was possible to have more to your "relationship" rather than constantly fighting.

By the time you two had finished practicing, it was already dark out. You both sat on the floor for a good ten minutes before standing up and deciding to leave.

"Hey, Monkey, it's dark outside," Seokjin spoke, breaking the silence between you two.

"Yeah, I know," you replied. You were already used to going home alone in the dark, so you figured him trying to scare you wouldn't make any difference.

"How far is your dorm?" He asks.

"It's a twenty-minute walk, I guess," You tried not to sound surprised at his question, "Why?"

"Come on," he says and opens the door, "I'll walk you home." Seokjin turned all the lights off now, which thankfully hid his ears that were now red.

Your eyebrows were raised in shock as you stood there wondering if you heard him right.

"What are you doing standing there? Hurry up!" He called.

You stared in disbelief as you walked towards him, silently analyzing what food he must’ve had before practice that messed with his brain and made him nice all of a sudden. He closes the door behind you two and you both start walking.

It was silent. And awkward. And you were confused. Why was he suddenly being so nice? It felt so… weird.

"Are you sick?" You asked.

"No?" He looks at you, confused, "Why?"

"You're being nice," You said, a little too quietly.

"If something happened to you people would blame me because I was with you last," he explained quickly, "Plus, there are many animal abusers on the loose—"

"Oh, shut up, forget it," you shoved him lightly, holding back a smile as Seokjin laughed.

And then there was silence again.

"How do you wanna go about the last scene?" Seokjin asks out of nowhere.

The last scene? Oh, that scene.

It was your turn to turn pink now as you avoided trying to sound like the question bothered you. You tried your best to sound nonchalant as you answered.

"I don't know, just go with the flow, I guess…" you told him.

"When do you wanna practice?" He asks, sounding casual.

"Whenever you're ready," You muttered. Am I even ready?

When you finally got to your dorm, you contemplated whether or not you would say bye to him. While silently debating with yourself on what you should do as you stepped on the stairs leading to your building door, Seokjin beat you to whatever decision you might've made.

"I'll see you Monday, Monkey," Seokjin said, stopping in front of the first step.

"Thanks for walking with me, see ya," you said in a voice that sounded more monotone than you wanted it to be. Neither of you said anything else so you went ahead and walked in. Seokjin watched and finally left when you were no longer in sight.

The way he was acting today bothered you. Not in a bad way, you just didn't understand why he was being that way. Had something changed?

Once you entered your dorm room, you tried to fix your face into a normal one as you pushed your thoughts aside. Courtney immediately rushed over to you to ask you questions.

"You don't usually come home after dark, what took you so long?" She asked.

"I practiced with Seokjin, remember?" You spoke, carefully avoiding eye contact as you placed your bag on your chair.

"For this long?" She asks suspiciously.

"Yeah, we finally got some scenes right," you turned to face her as you plopped yourself onto your bed.

"About time," she sat on her chair, "Hey, will you go out with me tomorrow?"

"Ooooh, are you asking me out on a date?" You teased as Courtney rolled her eyes with a smile.

"No, at least not with me," she grins.

"Huh?" You asked, squinting one eye.

"Micara set me up on a blind date with someone on campus. Apparently they're bringing a friend so now it's a double blind date," she sighs.

"You agreed on a blind date? That's so sketchy," you commented, earning yourself a look from Courtney.

"Yeah, yeah, it's sketchy. I just did it for fun, Micara says he's really cute. I don't know about the friend, though."

"Cute is subjective."

"You have to come with me," Courtney pleads with puppy dog eyes.

"Courtney! No, ask someone else," you tried to shake your hand away from Courtney who was now holding onto your arm.

"It's gonna be so weird if I hang out with the two of them!"

"Well, that's what you get for saying yes to blind dates."

"Please! What if they actually are weirdos who want to take advantage of me?" She pouts. That did make you think twice. A smile begins to creep up on Courntey's lips, knowing you were about to say yes.

"You're lucky I love you," You sighed.

"Yes! Thank you so much, y/n," She pulls you in for a tight hug, "You won't regret coming with me."

The next time you saw Seokjin wasn't on Monday.

You saw him the next day. On the double date. In a movie theater.

Your heart nearly stopped.

At first you thought Courtney's date came alone and you almost made an excuse to leave, until Seokjin came carrying two bags of popcorn with him, almost dropping them when he saw you standing there.

"Monkey? What are you doing here?" Seokjin asked in shock.

"Do you two know each other?" Josh, Courtney's date, asks while taking one bag of popcorn.

"They hate each other," Courtney whispers to her date.

"You’re the friend?" You asked out loud.

"Before you two come for each other's necks, why don't we fall in line for the movie?" Courtney anxiously smiles as she and Josh begin to walk away to line up, leaving you and Seokjin staring at each other. The whole situation reminded you of that Spiderman meme.

Seokjin sighs and walks closer to you, "Guess I'm gonna have to stay with you."

"No one's forcing you to," you told him.

"Do you want me to leave then?" He challenges.

"I never asked you to come!" Your voice slightly raises in defense.

"Great, then!"

"Fine!"

But neither of you moved from where you stood. You just stared at each other, arms folded while Seokjin clutched onto the bag of popcorn. Finally, you let out a deep breath.

"I can't leave my friend," You spoke.

"So can I," He says, "Let's just fall in line."

Courtney and Josh were so far ahead now you could barely see their faces from where you were. Seokjin stood behind you in the line. Neither of you said anything.

There was a group of guys standing in front of you talking loudly to themselves. Suddenly you notice their voices turn down and they began whispering among themselves. You could've sworn you caught them stealing glances at you. The guy in front of you turns around to face you. You raise a brow.

"Hi, I'm Max," he introduces, "I couldn't help but notice you."

Well, duh. I'm right behind you.

"Oh, hello Max," You forced a polite smile.

"These are my friends," he motions at the group of guys behind him and they all wave, "You should join us."

Does he not know the tickets have assigned seats? Embarrassing.

"No, I really shouldn't," you tried to sound as friendly as possible to avoid any trouble, but the guy was persistent and he was beginning to annoy you.

"It's alright, we don't bite. Are you alone?" He asks, slowly moving closer while you tried to move back. This guy was extremely creepy.

"Uh—"

"She said no. Fuck off," You heard Seokjin speak up from behind you, his voice much deeper and more intimidating causing chills to run down your spine. It was different from the way he spoke to you whenever you would banter.

"I was talking to her, who even are you?" Max says rudely and glares at Seokjin.

"I'm the guy she came with. What's your deal?" Seokjin moves forward and places his hand on your shoulder to subtly move you away from the guy.

"Oh, yeah? I never saw you talking to her," Max challenges.

"I think she already said no once. How many times does she have to decline before you understand that no means no?" Seokjin crosses his arms. He was much taller than the creepy guy, who was obviously starting to become intimidated by him.

"Dude, back the fuck off. We were here first," Max spits. They were so close, you almost thought a fight was about to happen.

"Do you realize how stupid you sound?" Seokjin frowns. That was enough. People were beginning to stare so you held onto Seokjin's arm, "Seokjin, it's fine. Just stop talking to him."

"No, this guy is extremely disrespectful and creepy!" Seokjin's voice was a little too loud now, "You don't get to force girls you don't even know to stick with you and your friends. That is so close to predatory behavior," he points at the guy and people start backing away from him and his friends.

"She already said no once, you shouldn't try to peer pressure her into coming with you!" Seokjin says, "And she's not alone," he grabs your hand, taking you by surprise, "She came with me. Now screw off before I call security."

Max, along with his friends, were evidently scared of Seokjin now as they all glared at him and left. Your heart was beating fast from anticipating the worst out of the scenario, but Seokjin handled it pretty well. You were too shy to admit it, but he saved your ass today.

The two of you watched as the group of guys left, his hand still clutching onto yours. When they were gone, he looked down at you, "Are you okay?" He asks, concern evident in his voice.

You were at a loss for words. He defended you, and he's still holding onto your hand really right. This was the first time you've ever seen him truly concerned about you. You'd like to think you could've defended yourself as well, but the fact that Seokjin did it for you sent this warm feeling in your chest that you couldn't understand.

"Yeah. Fine," you spoke but it came out as a whisper. You cleared your throat, "Thanks. I really appreciate it."

"No problem," he gives you a small smile, "I don't suppose you still wanna watch this movie?"

"God, no, honestly," you laughed a bit, "I never wanted to."

He laughs and steps out of line and so do you, then he politely mentions the people behind you two to take your place. His hand was still holding yours, and you were beginning to wonder if he had noticed. You didn't let go, either.

"Let's hang out then," Seokjin blurts out. He tries to ignore the feeling of heat on his ears as he looks at you to wait for your response. You tried your hardest not to seem at all fazed.

"Sure."

Seokjin suggests going to an arcade, and so you did. When you got there, you both had to stand outside for ten minutes or so trying to finish the popcorn he bought because food and drinks weren't allowed inside.

"Why'd you buy such a big bag anyway? Were you planning on feeding the whole audience?" You tried to chew and swallow five at a time to hurry up.

"I thought the movie was gonna be boring, this was all I could do," Seokjin says defensively.

"At the rate we're eating this we're gonna get some kind of ulcer," You grumbled.

"You don't seem to be having a problem," he laughs and you playfully slap his arm.

Once you got in, you raced to one of those zombie shooting games. Seokjin was good at aiming and definitely had more kills than you did, but you couldn't help but laugh at how startled he got every time a jumpscare appeared.

"Look at all your deaths, you suck at this," he laughed while pointing at your score.

You blushed, "Ha-ha, funny. I bet you can't beat me at racing," you smirked, challenging him to a race.

"You're on," he grinned.

The two of you then proceeded to one of the car games and true enough, you beat him at it. He wasn't even close to being good. He hit every sidewalk and his car kept slowing down.

"Are you even driving? You might as well run if you even want a chance at winning," You teased as you continuously accelerated.

"How are you so good at this? Are you secretly part of those illegal street racers?" Seokjin was struggling with his car as he moved his steering wheel around.

When you were done racing, Seokjin spots one of those stuffed toy machines. "Do you want one?" He asks jokingly, not actually expecting you to say yes, though he didn't exactly mind getting one for you…

"No. Nuh-uh, that is so cheesy," you laughed and shook your head, "Let's play guitar hero."

It was difficult to admit it to yourself at first, but you were having so much fun with Seokjin. Of course, you two never stopped teasing each other with little insults, but now it felt so much more lighthearted. You started getting along well with him, it no longer felt awkward or forced.

Seokjin felt the same way. In fact, there were moments where he'd subconsciously find himself staring at your lashes, or giving you soft pats when you won a game as an excuse to get close to you. He didn't realize how natural it came to him at all, until he found his gaze fixed upon your smile that sent a warm feeling all over him.

You've never smiled at him so genuinely before. Seeing it now, it was as if your beauty had been completely magnetized. Now all he wanted to do was see more of that smile. In almost all the games you played, Seokjin decided to go easy on you so you'd win most of them. It was amusing to him, seeing you so competitive. Seeing you happy every time you won felt like a win for him as well.

When your eyes shifted to meet his, you noticed how he quickly looked away while the color of his ears turned into that familiar shade of red.

"Let's just play one last game, I'm starving," you held your hand to your stomach.

"Really? After all that popcorn?" He teased, followed by the sound of his own stomach rumbling, making you laugh.

"You tried," you laughed, "Let's play that one." You pointed at the Just Dance machine.

After a minute of arguing on what song to pick, Seokjin ended up choosing (your song of choice). Of all the games you could have picked, you started to regret choosing Just Dance. You didn't even /know/ how to dance, what made you think you could beat him at this game?

You glanced over at Seokjin who was dancing flawlessly and effortlessly. Your mouth dropped, and you stopped dancing altogether to watch him move. He was so focused on the game, he hadn't noticed you stopped playing just to watch him.

Your eyes fixated on his every move. He moved so well, you could feel your heart thumping louder as you watched in awe.

He was so attractive.

Finally, the game was over and Seokjin was surprised to see you standing there, just watching him with your mouth open. He holds back a laugh and moves towards you, placing his finger on your chin making you close your mouth. He was so close to you; you could feel your cheeks heat up.

"Surprised?" He asks.

"Who knew you could dance like that?" You spoke, but mostly to yourself.

"I don't know, natural talent I guess. Why'd you stop dancing, monkey? I thought you'd beat me at it," Seokjin pokes your forehead.

"I was just giving you a chance," You played off, "You should me thanking me."

He raises a brow and smiles, "Then as thanks I'll buy you food, come on."

You both decide to go for churros in a cafe. Seokjin suggested to dine in because you'd probably spill the chocolate as you walked, so you sat across each other in a small but comfortable space. Even though you insisted on paying for your own food, he beat you to it and paid for it instead.

"Just take it as a thank you gift for 'letting me win'," he says while adding air quotes. When he was no longer looking, you broke into a smile at his thoughtful gesture.

"You know, I never thought I'd say this but I'm actually having fun," You told him in manner where you tried to play it cool. He smiles and nods at this.

"See what happens when you aren't busy hating me?" He says with a cheesy smile, "You'll never find anyone as fun as I am."

"Sure, Seokjin," you rolled your eyes, "Just wait ‘til we start practicing and start ripping each other's throats out."

"That's not gonna happen."

"And why is that?"

"I'm confident something's changed," he grins charmingly with eyes looking fond for a moment you had to look away for fear of turning red in front of him.

You cleared your throat, "Whatever you say."

As you two continued to eat, you started talking about all sorts of things. Why you got into acting, how he was so good at dancing, how you and Courtney met. The flow of your conversations came naturally and you found yourselves wanting to know more and more about each other.

Time kept ticking, but you two didn't seem to notice. Even when you were done with your food, neither of you seemed close to running out of things to talk about.

Out of nowhere, Seokjin suddenly stopped and brought his hand close to you and you felt him gently touch your face. You stopped breathing.

"An eyelash," he says while moving his hand back.

"Oh, thanks," you tried hiding how flustered you were.

His phone started ringing, muttering a "One moment," before quickly answering it.

"Josh," he spoke. Your eyes widened.

Courtney!

You checked your own phone as Seokjin spoke to his friend. Your phone was filled with hundreds of messages from her asking where you two were and what you were doing.

"I'm with her," You heard Seokjin say, "You want us to leave you two alone? Then I guess you're doing well."

Leave them alone? That made you look up at him before typing a message to send to Courtney.

I'm with Seokjin and I'm doing great. I'll tell you everything later. I think Josh wants us to leave you guys alone. You alright? Are you having fun? Message me if you need me.

"Alright, see you tomorrow then. No, no it's fine, I'll bring her home," Seokjin continued, "Bye. Stay safe."

"They want us to leave them."

"I have ears, Seokjin."

"Big ones too, monkey," He jokes, "I'm kidding. And stop calling me Seokjin, no one calls me that."

Right, his friends called him Jin.

"Just call me Jin," He says, "None of my close friends call me Seokjin."

"Are you saying we're close friends?"

"I feel like we're moving too fast," He says sarcastically, laughing at his own joke before he continued, "No, our relationship's much more special than that."

You choked on your own saliva, "What?" Did you hear that right? Our relationship's what?

"We're partners that failed a paper and are now working on a movie," He laughs, "I'd say it's been great journey so far."

"And I'd say it's been a pleasure but it really hasn't."

"Seeing as you had fun with me today, I don't think that's true," he smirked. Why was it getting harder to get back at him?

"Shut up," You couldn't think of anything anymore.

You suddenly thought of asking him about it.

The reason why you disliked him so much in the first place. Why he left you alone without telling you.

Does he even remember?

But the mood between you two was great right now, so you decided to push the thought aside and ask some other time.

Shortly after, you two finally left the cafe and walked around, continuing your conversation. After a few more hours later, you decided it was getting late and that you should probably get back. Jin offered to take you home. The ride home was just as fun, blasting music and playing songs that you both knew.

He walked you back to your dorm and you both stopped at the steps outside the building.

"Thanks for today Monkey, I had fun," Jin smiles.

"Stop calling me that," You laughed.

"Then what do you suggest I call you?"

"Your highness."

"Too long. Princess?"

"Jeez, I was kidding," You chuckled nervously, obviously flustered so you took a step back on the first step, "Keep 'Monkey', I don't care."

He raises a brow at your response. "Your replies were better than that," Jin took a step in front of you, your faces were now close and your eyes levelled each other's. You gulped nervously.

"I'm just running out," You said coolly (or at least, in your head you thought it was cool), "You're moving to some new level of annoying and it takes some getting used to."

"I annoy you?" He asks.

"Yes. 24/7."

"I guess I'm living in your mind, rent-free," he smirks, "24/7, huh?"

You were beginning to feel even more flustered now and you knew that Jin noticed by the smirk on his face. He begins to step back and his face turns back to a warm smile.

"You wish," you spoke, "Bye, I'm leaving. Thanks for the drive." Before you could turn your back, Jin takes your hand and holds onto it. You almost muttered an "Oh my god" out loud at his action.

"Y/N, wait," he says, pulling you close to him, making you step down. Your faces were inches apart now.

"What?"

You heart was beating, trying to anticipate what he was gonna do next. Was he gonna lean in? Why was he staring at you like that? His face was so near. Did you want him to lean in?

"The last scene," he spoke.

"What?" Seemed like the only words you knew how to say now.

"The last scene," he spoke again, "We haven't practiced it yet."

Whatever it was you were expecting was off the table as you let out a sigh that Jin thought was out of relief. "Monday, we'll do it Monday. But we can't use the rehearsal room," you told him.

"Yeah, I figured. Where do you wanna practice, then?" He asks.

"Is your place available?" You asked before realizing how suggestive you sounded, "Because Courtney's usually home early."

Seokjin grins, "Yeah, my place is fine."

"Okay, great."

"Great."

"So, I'm gonna go now," You said slowly.

"Right," Jin lets go off you, "I'll see you Monday. For real this time."

"Monday, okay. See you," you waved before turning around and entering your dorm. You resisted the urge to look back and check if had already left, so you walked quickly before you changed your mind.

However, if you did look back, you'd find Jin patiently waiting until you were out of his sight, smiling to himself because of today's events. When he was sure you were gone, he finally left.

Jin was right. Something has definitely changed between you two. The day after your "date", you couldn't stop thinking about the way he was with you. He was kinder, more fun to be around. You didn't expect him to be that thoughtful, either. Of course, he was all these things to others, but now he was like that with you. Then you realized he was all you've been thinking about. It scared you slightly.

He really did live in your mind, rent-free.

"What happened, by the way?" Courtney asked.

You snap out of your thoughts and looked at her, "Yesterday?"

"Yeah, you and Seokjin disappeared."

"We decided not to watch the movie, then we hung out in an arcade."

"You hung out with him?" Courtney eyed you suspiciously, slowly making her way towards you to sit next to you on the bed.

"Yeah."

"And you're both still alive?"

"Yeah."

"So what was he like?" She asks.

"He was… nice. He saved my ass from a group of creepy guys," you smiled as you thought about it, "And he's good at dancing."

"You danced with him?"

"No, on Just Dance."

Courtney just stares, obviously shocked because she never thought you and Seokjin would get along, "You basically went on a date."

"It wasn't a date!" You said defensively, "We just… left you two. Didn't Josh tell Jin to leave you guys?"

"You call him Jin now, that's actually really cute," Courtney teases, then changes her expression to a frown, "Wait, no. Josh never said anything like that."

Huh? But I thought... "What do you mean?"

"He called Seokjin two hours later after you two still didn't show up, then he started going all 'What? What are you saying? No, I never said you two should leave us' and all that," Courtney explained, "Then he said Seokjin offered to take you home and that you two were still together. I got your message minutes later and you said you were doing great so I didn't worry."

"What? But Jin said he asked us to leave you guys…" You trailed off.

"He did? Well Josh never asked you guys to leave."

Oh my God. It didn't make sense. Why would Jin…?

"I'm thinking he wanted to spend more time with you," Courtney says, giving you a teasing look like she knew something. You only look at her. You didn't really know what to say.

It took you a while to sleep that night trying to analyze what was going on with Jin. Every little thing he did stuck in your head and it was making you confused. He affects you now in ways you never thought he ever would, you weren't sure if that terrified you.

One thing's for sure, this was the first time you wanted the weekend to pass by quickly.

You saw Jin on Monday, and the next day, and the day after that. Sometimes you'd practice, other days you'd both just sit down and talk if you were too tired. You still hadn't got the last scene right, both of you were still in the "dialogue-only" phase. Truthfully, you were both just waiting for the other to initiate it first.

On days where you and Jin would decide to just hang out and take a break, you began to notice how much nicer he had become towards you. Apart from that, you noticed him so much more now that you almost admired whatever it was he did.

Today was the last day of your practice and you both finally got through the scene. Tomorrow would be the actual shoot and you were already feeling confident that you'd do well. Just one part made you a bit uneasy, the actual kiss. You could feel how you two were so obviously trying to distract yourselves by doing other things, just to prevent an awkward atmosphere.

"Let's take a break," Jin says tiredly, sitting down on the floor.

"Shouldn't Yoongi be back by now?" You asked and sat down across him.

"No, he's over at his hometown visiting. Says he needs his space on his music project," Jin takes a piece of chip from the bag of snacks you brought, "He'll be back in a few days." You only nodded, staring at the television that was showing a movie with people drinking some fancy wine.

"I want that," you said quietly, mostly to yourself.

"Want what?" Jin looks at you, "That high class society? Fancy people around?"

"No, what they're drinking," You pointed at the wine.

"Wine?" His voice slightly sounding shocked.

"Yeah, I should tell Courtney to go get some…" you muttered absent-mindedly as you continued to watch the people drinking onscreen. Jin suddenly stands up and walks over to their mini fridge. You watched as he pulled a bottle of wine out and proceeded to grab wine glasses from a cabinet.

You sat up straight, not expecting him to actually bring you wine. "What are you doing?"

"You said you wanted wine," he says, setting the glasses down on the small coffee table.

"Yeah, but—" You stared at the bottle, "How do you even have that?"

"Yoongi drinks them to think," He says and pops it open, "I drink them with him." You stared as he poured himself a glass. "Do you want one?" He asks.

You took one of the empty glasses and moved it close to him, so he poured you some as well. Jin sat next to you on the floor as you two sat in silence, watching— no, just staring at the TV screen, sipping on your glasses of wine.

Later on, the TV was shut off and you two went back to talking. Your scripts were set aside on the bed, almost completely forgotten.

"I don't get drunk easily," Jin says, "I think you do, though. You're turning slightly red."

It was either that or because of how close you two were right now.

The wine made you talk so much, much more than usual. Jin found it interesting. He really did have a high alcohol tolerance, and watching you talk about the most random things amused him a lot.

"There's something I wanna know," You spoke, "Two things, actually." This was it. You weren't drunk, but you were beginning to lose the ability to filter the words coming out of your mouth.

"What is it?" He asks softly.

"Why did you tell me Josh told us to leave them alone?" You stared at him, he stared back at you.

"How'd you know about that?" He asks.

"Courtney." You heart beat fast. You knew what you wanted to hear, you just wanted him to say it fast.

"I'll answer you, but you'll have to answer my question after, deal?"

"Deal."

Jin set his glass down before looking deep into your eyes.

"I wanted to spend more time with you." He wanted to say something more than that. Something more serious, but he had to know your answer first.

You weren't sure what to make of that now. It was what you wanted to hear… or was it? Now it could mean completely different things.

"Oh, okay," your face began to heat up, and it wasn't because of the alcohol now, "So what's your question?"

"Why did you hate me so much? I mean, assuming you don't anymore… unless you still do," Jin asks.

"What?"

You looked at him, searching for any sign of sarcasm or a tell that he was lying. He wasn't. He looked back at you with a serious expression on his face. There was a silence that lasted for a minute, almost as if time had stopped.

"You don't remember?"

"Don't remember what? Was it something I did?" Jin looks confused. Maybe he really didn't remember. But it only happened eight months ago. Has it really been that long?

"Eight months ago a friend set me up with you," You explained, feeling slightly embarrassed at the context.

"Someone set you up with me?" Jin asks, raising a brow.

"Yeah…" you could feel your face heating up now, "It was supposed to be like a blind date thing, so I initially didn't know it was you. So I went to the place and waited but you stood me up and when I told my friend about it, she told me Kim Seokjin couldn't make it."

"Then when I saw you the next day, you didn't seem to care and it made me so angry— the fact that you never apologized or even talked about it," You continued, "And that made me despise you."

Jin was staring at the floor now trying to recall what happened. He looked lost and confused. He reached out for his glass and took a sip before turning to face you again.

"I don't hate you anymore," You told him, in fact maybe you were beginning to feel the opposite for weeks now.

"Y/n, are you sure that happened? Because I don't remember ever being set up with you—or anyone, for that matter," Jin says, "And believe me when I say that because I've always turned down set ups and blind dates and whatnot."

"Huh?"

"I swear, that really wasn't me. Someone must've used my name."

"Why would someone use your name?"

"I don't know, I—" He runs his hand through his hair, "I've been told there are guys who are jealous of me or something. Maybe they used my name to get back at me."

"That's so low," you felt a pang of guilt now. You've been hating on him for all the wrong reasons, everything suddenly felt like a false memory. If only you'd known sooner, "What the fuck," you muttered quietly.

"What the fuck indeed," Jin sighs.

"I'm so sorry, I should've known," You looked at him.

"No, don't be. I'm sorry you had to go through that, and I apologize you thought it was me all along," He held your hand, "If anything, I should've known. You were never just mean to anyone on purpose. I should've asked you."

There was silence between you two as he stared at both of your hands intertwined, while you stared at his face, trying to get everything to sink in.

"What was your second question?" Jin finally asks.

"Why you stood me up," you laughed, "Turns out you didn't."

"You know," Jin spoke while his free hand reached for his glass. He finishes the drink in his hand before continuing, "If you did ask me out, I wouldn't leave you out in the cold."

You laughed, "Why would I ask you out?"

"I don't know. Got any ideas?" Jin teased. You smiled and bit your lip, not knowing what to say next. The lip bite did things to him, but he was trying his very best not to seem at all fazed before realizing he was already staring at your lips.

Maybe you were tipsy enough to finally do this.

You drank your wine and grabbed your script from the bed. Jin watched as you flipped over to the last scene.

"Michael," you began reading your lines as you stood, Jin's hand leaving yours, "You know we can't do this. It'll ruin everything."

Jin doesn't even need his script anymore due to the countless times you've both practiced the dialogues alone, "It's not gonna ruin everything, or anything for that matter." He stands up to face you.

"Yes, it will. You know how this will risk our friendship. This won't end well."

"Your eyes tell me otherwise."

"I don't—"

"You do, and you know it," Jin moves closer now, and you can feel your heart beating.

"Emily, I love you. I always have, and you know that. I know you feel the same." He places his hand on your waist. There were no lines left for you to read now, just one last thing your characters needed to do.

It was at this point where you both felt the wine was getting to your system.

He leaned in close, staring at your lips as you slowly moved back. When you couldn't anymore, you felt his lips meet yours, and before you knew it, he was kissing you— and you were kissing him back. You could feel his soft lips pressing against yours as your hands travelled up to his chest. You both fell back onto his bed as the kiss progressed into a rougher pattern of movements. Your hands grabbed onto his shirt while one of his hands gripped onto your waist, the other pushed back onto the mattress for support.

When you two pulled away to gasp for air, the awkwardness of the position you two were in never registered your brain. Instead, your eyes met each other's, searching for any sign of denial. When Jin sensed that there was none, he crashed his lips back onto yours.

Your mind was overflowing with euphoria and adrenaline. You were nervous, excited— you didn't know what was going to happen next. The moment his lips started trailing down your neck, small sounds began to escape from your lips. Whimpers that drove Jin wild as he began to pick up the pace.

The scene about to happen was no longer part of the script, but you were both more than willing to play the part.

The next morning, you woke up next to Jin who was sleeping soundly with his arms wrapped around you. Last night's events started coming back to you as you gently tried to squiggle out of his hold.

Panic was the first feeling that rushed over you.

1. The shoot was in a few hours and here you were, dressed in Jin's oversized shirt and sweat pants.

2. Your tendency to over think began creeping in.

What if he only did it because of the heat of the moment? You suddenly felt a wave of embarrassment because you thought you had initiated the whole thing with the script reading and all. Maybe he liked you. Maybe he didn't. Neither of you said anything about liking the other last night, so what if it didn't mean anything? You couldn't deal with this right now, so you silently picked up your things and left.

It was still pretty early in the morning, so you tried your best not to make a sound while Courtney was asleep. You took a shower and got ready before you headed out and went to the place where you had to film.

The group of upperclassmen greeted you as you walked in and made your way to Oliver, who would be directing the whole film.

"Hey, y/n. Glad you're here early, where's Jin?" Oliver asks.

"I think he's on his way," you lied. As if on cue, Jin enters the room and people start to greet him. Oliver calls him and Jin makes his way to you two. You couldn't look at him at all.

"You two should start changing, we'll start in 30," Oliver announces and you two head for the changing rooms. You walked a little faster to avoid conversation.

For the rest of the filming process, you both received compliments from everyone on your acting skills. You barely needed to repeat takes which was a relief. You and Jin had the perfect chemistry.

Jin kept trying to talk to you in between breaks, but you'd just give short and simple answers, sometimes just avoiding him altogether. You just couldn't bring yourself to make any eye contact that wasn't on set, or else you'd feel this churning feeling in your stomach and it made you uncomfortable. Soon enough, Jin got the idea and suddenly turned all silent as he observed your every move.

Finally, you had to shoot the last scene. You tried your very best not to appear bothered which seemed to work because no one has asked about why you look so uneasy. Jin was trying his best not to beg you to tell him what was wrong.

"I want you guys to give this your best shot. This scene is the most important, and I need to see more of your chemistry, got it?" Oliver tells them.

The cameras began rolling and Oliver shouts "action".

"Michael, you know we can't do this. It'll ruin everything." You were sat on a sofa and Jin was standing next to it.

"It's not gonna ruin everything, or anything for that matter." Jin says his line and sits close, next to you. You look back at him.

"Yes, it will. You know how this will risk our friendship. This won't end well." You stood up and turned away from him.

He places his hands on your waist and turns you around for your eyes to meet. He pauses for a brief second before his line, "Your eyes tell me otherwise."

"I don't—"

"You do, and you know it." Jin continues, pulling you closer to him. "Emily, I love you. I always have, and you know that. I know you feel the same." he places his hand on your cheek, and you both stare at each other.

"Maybe I do," you muttered, shocking Jin. He continues the act and finally pulls you in for a kiss. Everything came flashing back. You wanted more than what you two had now, it was so easy to see.

"Cut!" Oliver shouts and he begins to clap and you and Jin began to pull away. He looks at you for a moment, and you look back at him.

"Y/n, that improvisation was amazing!" Oliver shouts, still clapping his hands together. You snap out of it and laugh nervously, "Thanks."

"If I hadn't known better, I'd think you two were seeing each other," Oliver teases, "I'm glad you two took this role. Thanks, you guys."

After a few more praises from Oliver, you headed back to the changing room to wear your normal clothes. Scenes of your kiss and scenes from last night began replaying in your mind. You wanted to ask him what it meant, but you were afraid to be the only one falling.

You left the changing room and decided to leave quietly. As you were about to head out, you heard a voice call from behind you.

"Y/n."

The voice alone made you stop in your tracks. There was no need to turn around to know who it was; it was Jin. He walked over to you, holding your wrist so you would face him.

"You're avoiding me," he spoke. You looked around, checking if the coast was clear. When you decided it was, you soon.

"I'm not," you lied.

"Stop lying," the hurt in his voice was evident, "You are. You wouldn't even answer my texts."

"You texted?" You hadn't checked your phone since you left his apartment, "I haven't checked my phone."

"Why did you leave?" He had this disappointed look on his face. Knowing it was because of you made you feel even worse.

"Honestly? I was scared," you admitted.

"Of what?"

"That we only did that because of the heat of the moment. That it was all just for fun. That it was because of the alcohol. That it meant nothing."

"Is that really what you think?"

"No," You looked down, "I mean, I'd like to think it isn't."

"Y/n, you know it isn't," Jin said quietly.

"I didn't think it was," he admits, making you look up at him, "I meant it all. Me wanting to spend time with you. Walking you home. Kissing you. It all meant something to me."

"It did?"

"Yeah. When you fell asleep before I did, you looked so peaceful. I started thinking about how I could look at you forever, and the thought of waking up next to you made me happy," He held your hand, "But when I woke up, you were gone."

"I'm sorry, Jin, I just—" You sighed, "I thought of all the worst things and left. I panicked. That's really all I can say." He nodded.

"But did you mean what you set on set? Or was it really just improv?" He asked, his eyes staring deeply into yours.

You nodded, "Yeah, I did."

Jin just nodded and looked at your eyes. Had you really upset him this much?

"Jin, I'm really s—"

Before you could finish your apology, Jin takes his free hand and grabs you by the waist, pulling you closer for a kiss.

This time it felt different.

It felt so, real. No alcohol, no script. It was just Jin.

You wanted it to last forever.

When you two finally pulled away, Jin was the first to speak.

"I like you, a lot, y/n. And I've realized that for a while now," he tells you.

"I like you too," you couldn't help but smile, ignoring at how much your cheeks burned. It was fine, Jin's ears were just as red, "Even though you suck at racing games and my ideal boyfriend is an illegal street racer.”

Jin laughs, and you couldn't help but laugh with him because of all this. All the banter turned to compliments and all the eye-rolling turned to kisses. Now you were more than just partners who failed a paper and ended up working on a movie.

"That's alright, Monkey," Jin grins before placing a kiss on your forehead.

"The only thing I need to keep racing is your heart, not a car."

a/n: sorry it got longer than expected. anyways if you read until here, thank you for reading! i hope you liked it! send me comments/asks anytime if u want.

also, if you’d like to read my two other works, here are the links!

let’s fall in love for the night

welcome to my youtube channel

which are both taehyung x readers.

see you in my next fic/edit!

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thegentlecriticfilmreview · 4 years ago

Text

Late Night, a feminist review

This is another old essay, on my favourite movie Late Night, from the coolest class I ever took, Women in Pop Culture. Writing this essay actually made me realize I want to more closely study competitive femininity one day! I also remember this was an essay where I wished the word count was higher, because I love this movie and had a lot to say!! lol, maybe one day I will write more.

if you read, I hope you enjoy!

Mindy Kaling's first feature film, Late Night, is a dramatic comedy starring Emma Thompson as Katherine Newbury, the only female late night talk show host in America. Kaling co-stars as Molly Patel, an Indian woman selected as a diversity hire for Katherine’s writing staff. The film is a pointed remark on the lack of diversity in Hollywood writing rooms, as well as the cultural shifts that are bringing about change in the industry. Molly Patel’s intersectional feminisim not only builds her relationship with Katherine but also attests that a truly feminist character has less limitations than most depictions of empowered women.

Five minutes into the film, we see Katherine Newbury fire one of her writers after he asks for a raise because he has just had a second child with his wife. Katherine is more than pleased to inform him of why this is a sexist request. “You’re asking for a raise, not because of any work-related contribution,” she says, “but simply because you have a family. And that’s why in the 1950’s, family men were promoted over the women they worked with.” It is understood from this scene that Katherine approaches the world from a place of education and with feminist intent. However, the writer she is firing quickly retorts, “There are no women on this staff. And the reason there aren’t any women is because you hate women.” This is a shock for both Katherine and the audience because, how can a self-proclaimed feminist be accused of hating women?

An internalized competitive feminity is revealed in Katherine. Angela McRobbie explains competitive femininity as, “an amplification of control of women... so as to ensure the maintenance of power structures...Feminism, at the same time, is made compatible with an individualising project and is also made to fit with the idea of competition” (McRobbie, 2015, pg. 3). Katherine is the only female late night host in television, yet she is an upper class, white woman. Her economic background alone allows her to occupy a place of privilege in a system that relies on the oppression of the lower classes. While it is a triumph that Katherine is a successful female host, she fails to reflect on possible extensions of this triumph, such as hiring other women for her staff. Therefore, Katherine’s feminism is a self-serving feminism. “It seems then there is a battle to ensure that the new popular feminism which emerges or which holds sway is one which discards the older, welfarist and collectivist feminism of the past, in favour of individualistic striving” (McRobbie, 2015, pg. 4). Competitive feminity is a sly instrument in our society. It allows for the success of certain women over others, while leaving “the existing patriarchal regime relatively untouched” (McRobbie, 2015, pg.17).

As the media we see often reflects certain aspects of the society we live in, Mindy Kaling is making a purposeful statement that writing rooms in the entertainment industry are disproportionately white, male and upper class. As Douglas Kellner details in, “Cultural Studies, Multiculturalism and Media Culture,” the entertainment industry plays a massive role in our society’s culture. “Media images help shape our view of the world and our deepest values...Media stories provide the symbols, myths and resources through which we constitute a common culture and through the appropriation of which we insert ourselves into this culture” (Kellner, 2015, pg. 7). It is important to view Late Night with a cultural studies perspective. Kaling’s character Molly Patel is very clearly both a fan and critic of popular culture, and Katherine Newbury is considered an international icon. Furthermore, Andi Zeisler, in “Pop and Circumstance: Why Pop Culture Matters,” demonstrates the significance of examining phenomena such as cultural icons “in the context of its social value, influence and ideology” (Zeisler, 2008, pg. 5). We see examples of strong cultural reactions in Late Night when Katherine receives negative backlash from both journalistic and social media for attempting to embarrass one of her guests, as well as having an affair with one of her writers. This is because Katherine’s status as an icon places her in a space of perpetual examination.

The introduction of Kaling’s character, Molly Patel, is the biggest shift in the plot. Molly is the opposite of Katherine in that she is exceedingly earnest, prone to hesitation, attended a community college and is not white. Bell hooks identifies from her experience teaching cultural studies that, “everyday folks from all walks of life were eager to share thoughts and talk critically about pop culture” (hooks, 1994, pg. 4). If we understand popular culture and its various productions paired with its widespread influence, what can possibly justify the fact that it is dominantly created by white, upper class men, and not a more accurately diverse portion of the population? Molly raises this issue in the film, urging Katherine to use her perspective as a woman in her comedy. Soon, the entire staff is branching out their writing in order to be more embracing of their audiences. Although it is a comedy, not a superhero film, a connection can be drawn to feminist heroes and how they achieve their goals through collective effort (Curtis and Cardo, 2018). It is in this way that Molly represents a more inclusive feminism. Her question of, “how can I help make this show better?” comes from a headspace of feminist unity. Not like Katherine’s earlier self-serving feminism, Molly asks, “How can I help further the cause of feminism?”

Ultimately, Late Night is an incredibly funny film that successfully tackles feminist and cultural issues. There is room for more than just one empowered woman in the film, and they experience their empowerment in unique ways. Initially, Katherine Newbury’s competitive femininity limits her, and this contrast in her feminism is a reminder of our society’s culture. As bell hooks states, “we must be willing to courageously surrender participation in whatever sphere of coercive hierarchical domination we enjoy” (1994, pg. 6). The introduction of Molly Patel and her desire for a more inclusive and diverse work environment proves that the best way to act as an empowered woman, is to lift up and empower those around you.

#Mindy Kaling #late night #emma thompson #intersectional feminism #feminist review

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unitypgcollege-blog · 5 years ago

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Unity Law and P.G. College is a creation of Unity Technical Institute Society, which was established in April, 1996. The main aim and objective of the college is to provide and propagate professional / technical education to all, with special emphasis on the educational upliftment of minorities and other educationally backward and financially weaker sections of the society.

#education #collage #unity #pg course #india #india lockdown

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anushkablog · 2 years ago

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New to Mumbai City

Mumbai… a city that never sleeps and never ceases to amaze you in every way.

But beware!!! Cause this city is going to make you really, really tired.

I moved to Mumbai for further studies in 2013. It has been almost a decade since I moved to this dream city. There are multiple things that I totally LOVEEE about this city but something that really made my Mumbai journey easy is its very accepting culture that welcomes people from everywhere in the world.

After a decade year of experience, Here is what I can tell:

1. Mumbai is a land of opportunities as every other MNC has its office here. Hence ample job opportunities for freshers.

2. Local trains are literally lifelines here. So if you are going to travel during peak hours in the local train then I wish you luck ;)

3. Work hard and party harder is the motto here. Saturdays and Sundays are the party days in Mumbai and hence you will see a massive rush at restaurants, cafes, pubs etc.

4. House hunting is going to be a TASK!!! At first, I was staying in my college hostel but once I got done with my graduation I had to find a new place to live. I spent almost 2 months looking here and there…from one broker to another…from one local PG to another local hostel... It was all hectic. But then finally I found my comfy and cozy home through this website named www.GetSetHome.com

5. Mumbai’s never-ending traffic!!! Do you really want me to talk about this?? LOL

6. This city celebrates each and every festival with great unity and gusto. Mumbai lits up during the festive season which makes this city even more beautiful.

7. You really need to watch your eating habits. Mumbai will get you super addicted to eating out. From drool-worthy roadside chat to fancy cafes… Mumbai got it all. So you better keep a watch on how much you are spending on food. Go home and cook a meal…I know it's tough but come on you can do this ;)

8. Marathi…you must know a few basic words of this language if you want to survive in this city. Every other person here talks in Marathi.

I know I have not covered a lot in this but even if I had to cover everything, it will take a whole day (or even more) for me to note everything down cause I can go on and on…

#city #cityscape #city life #mumbai #pune news #mumbaiblogger #citylights #street

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jw1734-blog · 6 years ago

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Blog One: Redlining

There is a clear racial divide in the majority of communities in this country, and I would like to examine the reasons behind this. The racial divide that still exists today was caused by redlining, the refusal of lenders to make mortgage loans in certain areas regardless of the creditworthiness of the individual loan applicant (Holmes, Horvitz 81). The Federal Housing Administration was created in the early 1930s, and this sparked the long history of redlining. Minority neighborhoods were targeted and marked as red. This made it very hard to get a mortgage loan in such neighborhoods. On top of this, when minorities began moving into white neighborhoods, the ratings went down. Until 1968, redlining was allowed. The socioeconomic implications though, are still alive and well today. Minority communities are at a big disadvantage, due to their houses being worth less. In turn, their net worth also decreases.

This may not come as a surprise to some, but as I stated earlier, our government allowed redlining to be an official policy in the housing industry. Red areas, which was the lowest possible rating, were listed as ““detrimental influences in a pronounced degree, undesirable population or infiltration of it” or “hazardous” (HOLC). In these areas with undesirable population, the FHA deemed “no insurance available” or some received “enhanced rates and terms” (Greer, 213).

Every race was affected by redlining, but it is clear that the black community was hurt the most by this practice. In the documentary “The House We Live in” we saw an example of banks fostering racial division in communities. On Eight Mile Road in Detroit, a few members of a white community were told they could not receive a loan. The reason behind this was that they were too near a black neighborhood. To solve this issue, the white residents built a wall to literally form a racial divide with them and their neighbors. This story goes to show that banks really did not care about actual qualifications to receive a loan. They were only concerned with the race of those trying to apply for one. Once the wall was built, the all white neighborhood was a more secure investment. Some people in this country just seem to have an affinity for throwing up walls to solve problems that don’t even exist in the first place.

Wealth is often spread out across generations, and the value of one’s home contributes to what you’re able to pass on. The majority white communities known as the suburbs have houses that are worth much more than minority communities, who’s home values were automatically decreased just because they were minorities. White families who were able to acquire more wealth can pass it down in the form of college, while minority families with lower net worth were not afforded the same privileges. As we know, education is critical for social mobility, the this is a vicious cycle that is hard to break. In the year 2016, the race with the highest percentage of homeowners is white, at 71 percent. Looking back on redlining, we can conclude that our government played a vital role in cultivating the socioeconomic divide that we still see among races today.

Sources:

Andrew Holmes, author and author Paul Horvitz. "Mortgage Redlining: Race, Risk, and Demand." The Journal of Finance, no. 1, 1994, p. 81. EBSCOhost, doi:10.2307/2329136.

Greer James L., author. "Historic Home Mortgage Redlining in Chicago." Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (1998-), no. 2, 2014, pgs. 204-233. EBSCOhost, doi:10.5406/jillistathistsoc.107.2.0204.

“The House We Live In: Race—The Power of an Illusion.” Films Media Group, 2003, fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=104024&xtid=49736.

“Homeownership Rates by Race and Ethnicity of Householder.” US Census Bureau, 2016, www.census.gov/housing/hvs/files/currenthvspress.pdf.

Smith, Lindsey, et al. “Data Analysis: ‘Modern-Day Redlining’ Happening in Detroit and Lansing.” RSS, Michigan Radio, 15 Feb. 2018, www.michiganradio.org/post/data-analysis-modern-day-redlining-happening-detroit-and-lansing.

Blog Two: Inequality in Women’s Soccer

Gender inequality is pervasive at every level of society in the United States. Recently, the United States womens’ national soccer team has been leading a fight to receive equal wages, the same as their male counterparts. You may be thinking that men’s soccer is more popular, and generates more revenue. Therefore, the men should earn more money. This is entirely false. Yes, on a global level men’s soccer does generate more revenue, but the story is different when you compare the mens’ and womens’ national teams in the United States. In fact, after their World Cup victory in 2015, “The United States women’s national team earned more money than the men’s national team last year.” (Das 2016) Projections also show that “it will do so again in the next fiscal year.” (Das 2016) Based on these statistics, the women don’t deserve equal pay, they actually deserve more. Despite this, the the women earn “37 cents to every dollar the men earn.” (Block 2016)

When you look at the facts, the wage gap in soccer in the United States is absurd. Concrete evidence shows that the women should actually be paid more, yet the gap is even worse than the disparity encompassing all women in this country. Now, how is it that this gap is still in place even though all of these statistics have been published? This question can be answered simply in two words: male privilege. Soccer in the United States is essentially a microcosm for gender inequality. We have clear evidence that the women should be getting paid even more than the men, yet to this day, their compensation is still unequal. On a larger level, women in this country are earning less than men for doing equal work.

Since the pay gap in soccer is even worse than the national pay gap, even though the women’s team generates more revenue, it may seem like a futile inequality to fight against. However, there is a more positive side to all of this. While they are still receiving less pay, the players believe that they have made a positive impact. We are beginning to see that “other female athletes around the world have started finding their voices, too.” (Das 2018) The women’s soccer team in Norway launched a protest for equal wages, and they actually won. Obviously there is still a long way to go for the women representing us in soccer, and the same can be said for the United States as a whole. That being said, it seems like the United States Womens’ National Team is making some positive strides in the fight for gender equality. Christen Press, an American player, stated “You want to think that they’re inspired by us, we’re inspired by them, and that makes us all more powerful,” speaking about other female athletes around the world. This goes to show that unity can go a long way, and eventually we can hope that some positive change will occur.

Sources:

Block, Justin. “U.S. Women's Soccer Doesn't Deserve Equal Pay - They Deserve More.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 29 Dec. 2016, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/united-states-womens-soccer-equal-pay_us_56fd37e3e4b0daf53aeee5d7.

Das, Andrew. “In Fight for Equality, U.S. Women's Soccer Team Leads the Way.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Mar. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/03/04/sports/soccer/us-womens-soccer-equality.html.

Das, Andrew. “Pay Disparity in U.S. Soccer? .” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Jan. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2016/04/22/sports/soccer/usmnt-uswnt-soccer-equal-pay.html.

Blog Three: The War on Drugs

The term war on drugs came about in the 1970s when Richard Nixon declared them “public enemy number one.” (“War on Drugs”) However, Nixon didn’t really want to wage war against drug abuse. He had a more specific target in mind, and it was black people. John Ehrlichman, the domestic policy chief for Nixon, stated that “We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black people.” (“War on Drugs”) Nixon’s two main oppositions were those against the Vietnam War and the black community. Essentially, Nixon spent billions of dollars to fight a war on drugs, with the sole purpose of mass incarceration towards African Americans. To this day, “African Americans are incarcerated at more than 5 times the rate of whites.” (NAACP 2018) The adverse effects of this war on drugs is still seen today, through deteriorated and poor urban communities. The wealth gap among races in this country cannot be ignored. As we know, wealth is often passed from generation to generation. Being arrested for a drug related crime is not exactly a great way to climb up the economic ladder. In other words, generations of African American families will have to deal with the negative outcomes of this war on drugs. Many people act as if white privilege does not exist, but for decades our government has been fostering it by targeting black people and putting them behind bars.

Today, the war drugs has shifted towards a more nurturing and supportive strategy. Why is this the case? Opioid use has spread into suburban communities like wildfire, and it is having a big effect on white and middle class children. To recap, in the 1970s and 1980s our government began throwing African Americans in jail for drug use. In recent years, our government has taken a more relaxed stance on the issue because it is beginning to affect white people more than it ever has. Looking back on the way it was handled, it seems that our government’s actions have really backfired. Drug abuse is not exclusive to any one race. If the nurturing stance on drug abuse was taken back in the 1970s like it should have been, “we'd be way ahead of the game now in dealing with this scourge of opioid addiction.” (Glanton 2017) Instead, Nixon and Reagan used the war on drugs to aid their own political agenda. Now, we are seeing the affects and even white middle class communities are being hurt by drug use.

Sources:

“Criminal Justice Fact Sheet.” NAACP, NAACP, 2016, www.naacp.org/criminal-justice-fact-sheet/.

Glanton, Dahleen. “Race, the Crack Epidemic and the Effect on Today's Opioid Crisis.” Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 21 Aug. 2017, www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/glanton/ct-opioid-epidemic-dahleen-glanton-met-20170815-column.html.

“War on Drugs.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 31 May 2017, www.history.com/topics/crime/the-war-on-drugs

Replacement Blog: My Privileges

1. I can go to the grocery store and not be followed around because of the assumption that I am a thief.

2. I will not be shown houses in only low income areas, because of my race.

3. I will not be a victim of police brutality because the police force will most likely not fear me irrationally.

4. I will not be a victim of bullying due to my sexuality.

5. I can set down a drink and not worry about it being spiked with anything.

6. I can see people of my race represented in just about every history class I will take.

7. I can surround myself with those of the same race as me if I feel the need to.

8. I can take a liberal political stance on an issue without being accused of identity politics.

9. My neighbors will not fear me due to my race.

10. I can get a scholarship and be sure that no one will assume it was only given to me based on my race.

11. I do not feel out of place when trying to pursue higher education.

12. Everything I read is in my primary language.

13. People will believe me more than a person of color if I notice a racial issue, because I am not the victim.

14. I am not expected to follow a certain career path because of my race.

15. People will not fear me if it’s dark out and we’re walking on the same street.

16. I will never have to worry about being stopped in traffic due to suspicion that I am undocumented.

17. I am not expected to follow a certain career path because of my sex and gender.

18. People will not judge me based on the way I dress as much as they would if I was female.

19. I can walk home at night with no fear that I will be sexually assaulted.

20. I can be sure that I am receiving rightful compensation in the workplace.

21. I am less likely to be the victim of getting conned when purchasing a car.

22. People will not judge me if I do not want to have kids.

23. If I stay home with the kids and do household chores I will be seen as a great father, rather than it being my duty.

24. I can engage in sexual activity as much as I want and it will be seen as an accomplishment, rather than being judged negatively.

25. I will not be asked what it is like to occupy any of my statuses.

My life experience has been heavily shaped by my privileges. I was only required to make a list of twenty-five privileges, but my list could have gone on forever. My statuses include male, white, able-bodied, and middle class, so just about every privilege that exists is granted to me. I will always be seen as “normal” in this country because my statuses are simply not judged in a negative way. I think one of the most beneficial privileges that I possess is based on my primary language, English. Education is really the way to improve socioeconomic status in this country, and I was never held back because I was forced to study everything in a secondary language. Also on the subject of education, my race and gender are widely represented in what we study in school. This kept me from losing motivation and devaluing my culture, because it is seen as important. Essentially, my intersection of statuses will never hold me back from climbing up the economic ladder.

If I did not have these privileges, I can only imagine how much harder my life would be. I would not have free reign in the pursuit of what I want to do with my life, and I think this would be the most difficult change. For example, I can pursue whatever job I want and not be judged for it. The pressure of sticking with the norms for my race or gender would be somewhat influential in how I choose my path, at least I think they would be. I would also more often be in fear if I was a different race or gender. I never have to worry about being the victim of police brutality because the police force will not fear me irrationally. I also do not have to worry about being the victim of a sexual assault as much as I would if I was female. If the roles were reversed, I think I would be fearing these things much more than I do now, considering that I don’t fear them at all currently.

I think it’s much easier for someone who is not part of a marginalized group to undo privileges. When someone claims that they are a victim of racism, sexism, or any type of discrimination, it’s difficult for the dominant group to relate to. This is simply because they will assume it’s an isolated incident, because the dominant group never experiences discrimination. However, if an outside source that is not the victim challenges discrimination, then it is more likely that people will listen. If I challenge racism as a white male, it won’t look like I am trying to get a leg up for myself. People are more likely to listen to me, because they can’t assume that I am being selfish. On top of this, I am part of the “normal” group, so it’s also easier for those of my race to trust what I am saying. I think Peggy McIntosh said it best with the statement “Keeping most people unaware that freedom of confident action is there for just a small number of people props up those in power and serves to keep power in the hands of the same groups that have most of it already.” (McIntosh 7) The small group of people that she is referring to are white people with unearned privileges. Therefore, if white people raise awareness of their privileges, it could be a step towards everyone having them eventually.

Sources:

McIntosh, Peggy. “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack .” Racial Equality Tools, Racial Equality Tools, 1988, www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/mcintosh.pdf.

Blog Five: Social Reproduction in American Education

Education in this country is seen as a great economic equalizer. Despite this, American education seems to have a history that is deeply rooted in the social reproduction theory. IQ tests were held with such high regard in the early 20th century, and heavily favored English speakers. These tests also had a significant impact on the track students lives would take. The life adjustment curriculum was used to impose a certain set of skills on young children, likely leading them to their future occupations. Therefore, if English was not your first language, the IQ exam would likely place you on a track requiring little skill. Being placed on such a track would immediately reduce your future earning potential. Essentially, American Public schools were reinforcing the class stratification that we still see today, starting as early as grade school.

The place where our system fails is the need to Americanize our students. This puts minority groups at a significant disadvantage, because American is synonomous with whiteness and speaking English. We teach all of our students the same material, and the majority of that material is representing white people with a Eurocentric viewpoint. This also puts minority students at a disadvantage because their cultures are not represented well enough or at all, which causes them to devalue it. One example of deculturalization in the American Education system was directed towards Native Americans. Native American Joe Suina once stated that a teacher told him to “Leave your Indian at home!” (Suina 3) This is just the tip of the iceberg, like this went on constantly and they still do today. In Tucson, the Mexican Studies Program was banned because it was deemed as hatred for our country. Again, this is an example of our need to Americanize students, rather than acculturate them.

As a future educator, stories like these inspire me to tell the real truth to my students. My goal is to become a history teacher, and I think it’s important to tell the real story, instead of the fake ones we see in many textbooks. In my experience in grade school, I always saw my culture represented through a Eurocentric version of everything. For example, in eighth our American history course begins with colonization. If my curriculum requires me to use a certain textbook, I would like to get creative with how I teach that book’s information. I think it’s also important to make time for the real story. I like to think that this would actually decrease deculturalization, because if a Native American student was sitting in my class, I assume they would feel left out if American History skipped over them, as if they didn’t exist before European colonization. I think it’s important for me to break the status quo in American Education, and I want to empower each and every student who comes into my classroom with the truth. Knowledge is power and we are often fed fake news by our education system, which can have disastrous effects for minority communities.

Sources:

Suina, Joe. “And Then I Went To School.” Cambridge College , Cambridge College, 1985, mycc.cambridgecollege.edu/ICS/icsfs/AndthenIwenttoschool.pdf?target=e3be3e4e-bb14-4066-b098-686cac0b9590.

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wishallbook · 4 years ago

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Pareeksha B Com 6th Sem MCQs Lucknow University Set in Hindi 2021 (New Edition)

Pareeksha B Com 6th Sem MCQs Lucknow University Set in Hindi 2021 Publisher – Pareeksha Prakashan Year – 2021 Language – Hindi As Per – Latest Examination of Lucknow University → For – 2021 Exam Type – Objective MCQs Each Unit Contains – More than 200+ MCQs All Lucknow University Affiliated College – National PG, Unity College, SHIA College, Christian College, IT College, and Others. bcom…

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kahayaya · 4 years ago

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04/26/2021

It’s night time bout to head to sleep. Just some updates in life.

Booked a flight to fly to SF on May 14th. Im really excited. I wanted to go back so I can see everyone as I graduate and also celebrate my birthday. I plan on piercing my left ear with double helix. That will be exciting and fun. Honestly idk what I wanna do exactly when Im up there. Aside from set plans from Daniel them, I think I wanna roam around SF. Even though its been 5 months since I left, I have a nostalgic feeling to last year. Just the independence and also struggles of CO-VID. Every place will feel sentimental with associations to that timeline. For sure gonna go to Alamo Square, go to Hayes Valley, and go to Ocean Point. I wanna hop around houses with Jim, Daniel, and Darren’s place, I just need to ask them if I can stay there for one night. But Daniel’s place will be the main place I’ll stay at.

Crazy to look at my calendar and I’ll be graduating very soon. Less than a month and I’ll be done with school. School work has been lax and I don’t have a final. I mostly have projects and they all seem easy to work on.

Unity Final is a project with things we’ve done.

Deploying Software is taking what we learned from this semester and applying it all together with one project.

Filipino Politics/Justice had been reduced from a 12+ pg paper to a 3-5 page paper.

Senior Team Project is just a demonstration of our final product for the semester.

All of those finals are relatively easy and not too hard unlike last semester. Thinking about last semester, I really had a tough time. I hard two of the hardest classes for taking CS and I also had to plan and do my move out. It was the most stressful and I felt dreadful during the last month of that semester. I recall a moment where I completed one of my finals and I felt a weight off my chest lift. As I completed more projects and finals, that weighed felt lifted. It was probably one of my most difficult semester here at USF but a worth while semester. Which made this semester I am in very easy and lax.

As for living here in Vegas, its been chill. Everything is settled on my end and my parents are picking up the smaller things they need to do. Like finding health providers here, organizing our stuff in the garage, and getting the cars that are coming from hawaii. Just today, my mom and I got our driver’s license and registered the Honda Civic, which is a relief cuz that was one of the things I needed to do soon. But on a weekly basis, I’ve been doing nothing much new. I either help my parents run errands or I just sit in the house. Occasionally I would go out for food to try out places. Also going to the gym is another thing I do. I’ve been going 3-4 times a week with or without my friend. My body was sore at first but getting back in the groove really started to not be as bad. I also think since I just moved here, I was trying out soo much food places that I gained some weight, honestly back to where I started before my Keto diet last semester. I weigh about 215 ibs rn, but I think some of that has been the muscle gain from gym’ing. I plan on cutting it down on food and pay attention to what I put in my body now.

Aside from that, I feel excited to what holds in my post-college life. Again like i mentioned before, it will be weird for me because my entire life so far has been centered around schooling and that was my drive in life. Was to go to school and just do well in them. Now with that out of the way, my life will be so open to do whatever I want. Short-term plans I have is getting a part-time job and doing a side-project that will add to my portfolio, while also studying for my interviews. Then when I feel ready, which i plan to be by the Fall of this year, I will start applying around SF as well as job opportunities in Vegas. I think I am looking for Web Based applications or mobile app development jobs, as I enjoyed making them in my senior team project. I defs see the Web Application as a sustainable job market but I will be open to different options that relate to CS. in the far future however, Im not too sure what exactly I want to do. Thinking about being in a relationship but at the same time I’m not inclined to find someone to date. I feel like my goals are not centered to find someone here and Im focusing on myself to make something financially stable to be on my own. I think my role in relationships as of right now is passive, where I would be open but I won’t actively be on the lookout for one.

Life right now feels good but weird. Ever since moving to this house, I’m still in awe and the feeling just doesn’t sit right with me. This house feels like it doesn’t belong to me in a sense that it feels like I’m at someone else's house. I think I’m thinking like this because I’ve never been in a house this big and my family never had the thought of buying a bigger house or even moving out of Hawaii. So I’m still trying to work out this feeling of living in this house and actually calling it home. I definitely like living here in this house and the area I’m in but im still adjusting to the new environment I live in.

As the week slowly approach my graduation I know I will slowly start to feel anxious because that’s how I’ve always operated. I see in to the future of what I think will happen but I will be up at nights when that date comes in closely. It will be a crazy month of May, as so much things are going to happen and I can’t wait any longer to dive into May. Anyways I’ll be updating whenever I am free to write stuff down and if anything significant happens.

Cheers

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mavihs1 · 4 years ago

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Looking For The Bes Law College?

Lucknow is a recognize that has improved a ton in the rules are in the prior decade and now it is offering wonderful open passages concerning a course like law. Adjacent to the National Law school which can be entered through CLAT, Unity PG College is a presumed and best law school of Lucknow.

Taking assertions is fundamental and qualified competitors can give up themselves to this school with no complexities utilizing all methods. The school offers world class work environments to the understudies, for example, an uncommon foundation, tremendous grounds, and magnificent resources for giving the best scholastic work environments to the understudies.

The refined staff at this school can give the best getting ready to the understudies who endeavor to change into a legal counselor. This is a top pg college in Lucknow with remarkable position openings in corporate law for the understudies.

One can apply for admissions to this school with no issue. The ensured understudies can check for the procedure and apply online with no issue.

#lucknow #law #collection

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quadrantmathematics · 4 years ago

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Quadrant Mathematics Book

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartic_function

Polynomials can be solved by radicals only up to degree four. It took a very long time to discover the proof for degree four. The fourth is always different. It took until 1824 to discover the proof.

The first four Mersenne primes were known by the ancients. The fourth is different. It took until modern times to discover the fifth. The fourth is always different. The fifth is ultra transcendent.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mersenne_prime

127

8191 was discovered in 1461

The FOIL method is used for multiplying binomials in math. The four terms for the FOIL method are

First ("first" terms of each binomial are multiplied together)

Inner ("inside" terms are multiplied—second term of the first binomial and first term of the second)

Outer ("outside" terms are multiplied—that is, the first term of the first binomial and the second term of the second)

Last ("last" terms of each binomial are multiplied)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0_qX4VJhMQ

The geometric proof for derivatives in calculus involves four squares in quadrant formation. I learned this proof while watching a teaching company course on Calculus.

https://www.mathsisfun.com/algebra/completing-square.html

The geometric analysis for completing the square involves four squares. Completing the square is essential in algebra. The geometric proof for derivatives in calculus also involves four squares.

There are 16 squares in the quadrant model. There are 16 possible Truth Functions of two binaries

Here is an example of a truth table with the four possibilities

The ancient Greeks knew about the first four perfect numbers. The fourth one is different, and it took a lot longer for the ancient Greeks to discover the fourth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_number

for p = 2: 21(22 − 1) = 6

for p = 5: 24(25 − 1) = 496

for p = 3: 22(23 − 1) = 28

for p = 7: 26(27 − 1) = 8128.

Euclid’s Elements was the most popular book behind the Bible. Euclid’s Elements had five postulates. The five postulates are the most famous set of postulates in math history. The fifth postulate was proven to be false. The fifth is always questionable. However, the discovery that the fifth postulate was false lead to the uncovering of different geometries. Ancients saw the fourth postulate as different. Proclus did not think that the fourth postulate should be a postulate. The fourth is always different. Euclid also proposed five axioms. The fifth axiom is false and the fourth is different. Some suggest that Euclid intentionally made the fifth postulate false so that out of its discovery as false, new geometries would be discovered. I learned about Euclid’s postulates on a teaching company course on mathematics, and the professor described how the fifth was incorrect and the fourth was different.

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/roots-of-unity/whate28099s-the-deal-with-euclide28099s-fourth-postulate/

"To draw a straight line from any point to any point."

"To describe a circle with any centre and distance [radius]."

The third is about circles. A circle has the look of being an object and being whole. The first postulate is about a line. A line is like air, taking up no area. Air is the first square element. The second postulate is a straight line that is extended. The second element is water. Still there is no area being taken up, but it is longer. The first two are a duality. The third, the circle, brings area into the equation. The third square is the most solid. The fourth postulate is on right angles. Right angles are quadrants. The fourth is always transcendent

"To produce [extend] a finite straight line continuously in a straight line."

"That all right angles are equal to one another."

Semiotic squares take the form of a quadrant and are very popular. Semiotic squares are used a lot in academia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiotic_square

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/03/03/numbers-guy

Deheane describes how in cultures throughout the world the first three numbers were usually represented similarly, but the fourth differently. For instance Roman numerals has I II and III, but IV is written with a V, different from the first three. There are some cultures that represent the first four numbers similarly. But all cultures represent five differently.

Deheane also points out that when tracking objects, only four can be tracked at one time. With three objects it is difficult, but four very difficult, but five at one time is impossible.

The quadrant model has 16 squares. Also scientists pointed out that a person can only imagine 16 squares at one time.

https://books.google.com/books?id=1p6XWYuwpjUC&pg=PT83&lpg=PT83&dq=Stanislas+Dehaene+one+two+three+four+chinese&source=bl&ots=S6NCR0YXvL&sig=01bEkiLf6Hoj44PrRG4mPsc8C6A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjsrfre0N3XAhUY6GMKHeClDXs4ChDoAQgxMAE#v=onepage&q=Stanislas%20Dehaene%20one%20two%20three%20four%20chinese&f=false

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subitizing

People can make flash judgements on the number of objects from one to three well. At four it becomes difficult, and at five the accuracy makes an exponential decline. The fourth is always different. The fifth is ultra transcendent

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approximate_number_system

The approximate number system is four numbers greater than four. Numbers one through four are counted through parallel individuation.

There are four fundamental operations in math. The four operations are

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_(mathematics)

+, plus (addition)

÷, obelus (division)

−, minus (subtraction)

×, times (multiplication)

Quartiles are very important in statistics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartile

Quartiles are three points that divide a graph into four equal groups.

Boxplot (with quartiles and an interquartile range) and a probability density function (pdf) of a normal N(0,1σ2) population

Boxplots are also very important in statistics. I learned about boxplots in middle school and in my college statistics course. I also learned about quartiles and interquartile range in middle school and in college. A box plot graphically depicts numerical data through its quartiles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_plot. The bottom and top of the box are the first and third quartiles. The inside of the box is the second quartile.

Figure 1. Box plot of data from the Michelson–Morley experiment

Boxplot (with an interquartile range) and a probability density function (pdf) of a Normal N(0,σ2) Population

https://en.bywiki.com/wiki/Lagrange%27s_four-square_theorem#Historical_development

There is a four square theorem in mathematics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfister%27s_sixteen-square_identity

There is a sixteen square identity in mathematics. There are sixteen squares in the quadrant model

Jade Mirror of the Four Unknowns solved equations for up to four unknowns. The book also had equations of three unknowns. In the book we thus see the three, four dynamic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuan_dynasty

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jade_Mirror_of_the_Four_Unknowns

The first four problems illustrate the method of the four unknowns. The four unknowns are

Heaven

Man

Earth

Matter

Jade mirror of the four unknowns consists of four books.

The introduction shows The Square of the Sum of the Four Quantities of a Right Angle Triangle

The illustration is a sixteen square quadrant model. The first illustration of the book is a sixteen square quadrant model

The book ends with the equation of the four unknowns

The famous Rhind Mathematical papyrus has four sections

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhind_Mathematical_Papyrus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lo_Shu_Square

The Lho Shu Magic Square contains a cross of odd numbers. The magic square is used to structure Jain Temples. It is seen as very sacred

There is a cross/quadrant pattern within the Sator Square. A cross/quadrant is depicted with the word Tenet. The sator square is a “four time palindrome”. People have claimed that it has magical properties.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sator_Square

By repositioning the letters around the central letter Ν (en), a Greek cross can be made that reads Pater Noster (Latin for "Our Father", the first two words of the "Lord's Prayer") both vertically and horizontally. The remaining letters – two each of A and O – can be taken to represent the concept of Alpha and Omega, a reference in Christianity to the omnipresence of God. Thus the square might have been used as a covert symbol for early Christians to express their presence to each other

In Plato’s Meno, Plato tries to prove that knowledge is innate and comes from the World of the Forms. Socrates claims that people come from the World of the Forms before they are born, and that whenever somebody learns something, he is merely recalling what he already knows from the World of the Forms. Socrates proves that knowledge is innate by showing that a slave boy knows geometry. According to Socrates, the slave boy has received no education, since he is a slave. But because the slave boy understands the geometry, Socrates claims, the slave boy must have already known it from the World of the Forms

Socrates draws diagrams in the sand. The diagrams that Socrates draws to prove the world of the Forms are what I call the Form of the Good, the Form of Existence. Socrates draws the quadrant model 16 squares. I watched a teaching company course where the Professor drew the diagrams that Socrates drew in the sand.

https://tothereal.wordpress.com/2013/06/16/are-we-slaves-to-socrates/

Here are the diagrams that Socrates draws

In Roman numerals X is the number 10. Philosophers connect the number 10 and the tetractys. I have seen Jungian philosophers propose that because the x is fourfold, and the tetractys is related to four, the reason why the Romans used X as 10 is because of the tetractys.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Garden_of_Cyrus

The Garden of Cyrus is a book by Sir Thomas Browne. Browne sees the quincunx in so many places in reality that he says that it is evidence of intelligent design. Thomas Browne relates the quincunx to the Garden of Cyrus. The Garden of Cyrus took a quincunx pattern.

Frontispiece to 'The Garden of Cyrus' (1658)

In high school trigonometry my class learned the unit circle. The unit circle is a quadrant

http://locusacademy.org/unit-circles-and-trigonometric-equations/

An acronym that my class used to remember the four quadrants of the unit circle was All Stations to Central

http://locusacademy.org/unit-circles-and-trigonometric-equations/

In the upper left quadrant, only the sin values are positive, while the others are negative

The upper right quadrant's values of sin, cos and tan are all positive.

In the lower left quadrant, the tan values are positive, while the others are negative

The fourth quadrant is where the cos values are positive while the others are negative.

There is a famous puzzle called the Nine Dots Puzzle. My Grandpa showed me the puzzle. Also in my psychology class at UCSD the Professor showed us the puzzle. You are told to draw four lines that connect nine dots. The nine dots are in three columns. The way to solve the solution is to go outside of the limits of the nine dots. If you do so, you go into the region of a 16 square quadrant model. Moveroever, at the center of the solution is an X. An X is a quadrant. The solution employs what psychologists call “lateral thinking”. In order to solve the problem you must think outside of the box.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking_outside_the_box

The Wason Selection task is also known as the “four card problem”. Developed by Peter Cathcart Wason, the four card problem is one of the most famous tasks in the study of deductive reasoning. I remember learning about the four card problem in a psychology class I took at UCSD.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wason_selection_task

The Cartesian coordinate system is used extensively in mathematics. The Cartesian coordinate system is made up of four quadrants

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartesian_coordinate_system

The complex number plane is similar to the Cartesian coordinate system, but it uses the imaginary number i on the y axis. The complex number plane is called an argand diagram, and it has four quadrants. Pauli saw the use of imaginary numbers and complex number planes in quantum mechanics as further evidence that physics was based around the quatenary.

http://www.peterstone.name/Maplepgs/complex.html

The Missing Squares Puzzle is a famous puzzle in mathematics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_hammers

Pythagoras used four hammers to discover the foundations of musical tuning. The four hammers are known as the Pythagorean hammers. He came across five men hammering with hammers, and four of them were harmonious, but the fifth was not. Again, the fourth is always transcendent, and the fifth is always questionable.

https://www.amazon.com/Fifth-Hammer-Pythagoras-Disharmony-World/dp/193540816X

https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/fifth-hammer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anscombe%27s_quartet

Ascombe’s quartet is four datasets that have very similar descriptive statistics, but seem very different when graphed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P_versus_NP_problem

NP Hard is different from the other three, P, NP, and NP complete. P v NP is a major unsolved problem in computer science

NP-Complete

NP hard

In a math class that I sat in on at UCSD, the Professor drew the bijection, injection, surjection quadrant on the board. The fourth quadrant is different from the other three. The fourth quadrant does not even have a name

I sat in on a math class as well at UCSD where the four types of Fourier Transforms were brought up. The four types fit a quadrant pattern. Fourier transforms were talked about a lot in different classes that I studied. The four types fit a quadrant pattern.

https://dsp.stackexchange.com/questions/28020/formulas-of-the-fourier-transform-family

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartic_function

A quartic function is the highest degree such that every polynomial can be solved by radicals. Quartic means four

Graph of a polynomial of degree 4, with 3 critical points and four real roots(crossings of the x axis) (and thus no complex roots).

Ferrari discovered the quartic solution in 1540. The proof that the quartic is the highest degree polynomial that could be solved by radicals was given by the Abel- Ruffini theorem in 1824.

In order to complete the proof on the quadrature of the parabola, Archimedes must prove that

His proof involves a diagram that resembles a quadrant model

Archimedes' proof that 1/4 + 1/16 + 1/64 + ... = 1/3

The Missing Square Puzzle is a famous puzzle in mathematics. It invovles four colors

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_square_puzzle

Kryptos is a sculpture by the American artist Jim Sanborn at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Langley, Virginia.

It has four encrypted messages. Three of the four messages have been encoded. The fourth is different and transcendent.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kryptos

Pyramids in Egypt are quadrants, and the pyramids of Giza reflect the pythagorean theorem.

http://africancreationenergy.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-ptah-horus-pythagoras-theorem.html

Each side of the Pythagorean theorem represented for the Egyptians a different God. The four by four square is the quadrant model square. The four by four 16 square of the simplest pythagorean triple, the three four five triangle, is represented by Isis

http://africancreationenergy.blogspot.com/search/label/African%20Mathematics

The proof of the Pythagorean theorem attributed to pythagoras involved four squares. Look at the diagram to the right above, and notice the four segments.

http://theopenscroll.blogspot.com/2013/06/part-3-signs-of-horus-worship-345-on-map.html

64 is four quadrant models. 16 is the quadrant model. The eye of Osiris has the ratios of the quadrant model

The right side of the eye = 1⁄2

The pupil = 1⁄4

The eyebrow = 1⁄8

The left side of the eye = 1⁄16

The curved tail = 1⁄32

The teardrop = 1⁄64

The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus contains tables of "Horus Eye Fractions".[16]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_Horus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_square_puzzle

The missing squares puzzle is a famous mathematical optical illusion. The demonstration involves four figures of four colors.

Sam Lloyd’s paradoxical dissection also has four shapes and colors.

Sam Loyd's paradoxical dissection

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_square_puzzle

Mitsunobu Matsuyama's "Paradox" uses four congruent quadrilaterals and a small square, which form a larger square. The diagram makes a quadrant.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_square_puzzle

The 15 puzzle involves 16 squares. The 15 puzzle is a four by four quadrant model

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15_puzzle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_puzzle

Four fours is another mathematical puzzle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_fours

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Hanoi

The three peg tower of Hanoi puzzle has a simple recursive solution. The optimal solution for a four peg tower of hanoi puzzle was not discovered until 2014. For the case of more than four pegs the problem is an open problem. The fourth is always transcendent and the fifth is questionable.

The famous T puzzle consists of four polygonal shapes. The puzzle seems easy but it is not “because of the irregular piece”. The fourth piece is different than the previous three. Again we see the three plus one pattern. Few people are able to solve the T puzzle in under five minutes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T_puzzle

The latin cross puzzle uses a cross. A cross is a quadrant.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T_puzzle

http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/2017/cleyhill/comments.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantor_set

Cantor Dust is made of quadrants

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/CantorDust.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menger_sponge

A Jerusalem cube is a fractal object described by Eric Baird in 2011. It is created by recursively drilling Greek cross-shaped holes into a cube.[8][9]The name comes from a face of the cube resembling a Jerusalem cross pattern

http://www.critcrim.org/redfeather/chaos/029management.html

Chaos research, as mentioned, tracks the transformations of dynamical systems from one behavioral regime (attractor state) to another. In such transformations, management science has much to learn and much to ponder. As key parameters of systems reach each one of four feigenbaum numbers (F1-F4 discussed below), the system displays an orderly procession from one dynamical state to another. The procession ceases to be orderly and becomes very chaotic at F4. As a system becomes more chaotic, i.e., it transforms from a simple outcome basin to a much more complex causal field.

Sierpinski triangle in logic: The first 16 conjunctions of lexicographicallyordered arguments. The columns interpreted as binary numbers give 1, 3, 5, 15, 17, 51... (sequence A001317 in the OEIS)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierpinski_triangle#Analogues_in_higher_dimensions

The Sierpinski triangle is created by dividing an equilateral triangle into four equal triangles, and continually dividing triangles into four equal triangles.

There is also the Sierpinski tetrahedron. Tetra is four

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierpinski_triangle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakuro

Kakuro is a logic puzzle that involves quadrants

Sujiko is a logic based problem that involves quadrants

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sujiko

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_puzzle

Ken ken is a logic puzzle that involves quadrants

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KenKen

https://www.target.com/p/otrio-board-game/-/A-52338707?sid=1307S&ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&CPNG=PLA_Toys+Shopping_Local&adgroup=SC_Toys&LID=700000001170770pgs&network=g&device=c&location=9031022&gclid=Cj0KCQiA38jRBRCQARIsACEqIese4XJFLR0_GIN7ppWFN4YZ4q2QxHsQD6F4ry5zAbr1NqyoAG95cg4aAruJEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Wang tiles are quadrants

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_tile

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_of_measurement

I learned the four levels of measurement at UCSD. The first thing that was taught in my statistics class was the four levels of measurement.

Level of measurement or scale of measure is a classification that describes the nature of information within the values assigned to variables.[1] The best known classification of levels of measurement was developed by psychologist Stanley Smith Stevens: nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio.

The four levels are

nominal

interval

ordinal

ratio

https://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/normed+division+algebra

The figure above shows the fibonacci spiral

Approximate and true golden spirals: the green spiral is made from quarter-circles tangent to the interior of each square. The length of the side of a larger square to the next smaller square is in the golden ratio. Quarters are one fourths.

A Fibonacci spiral approximates the golden spiral using quarter-circle arcs inscribed in squares of integer Fibonacci-number side, shown for square sizes 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 and 21.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_spiral

https://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/normed+division+algebra

Over the real numbers there are only four normed division algebras up to isomorphism: the algebras of

Real numbers

Quaternions

Complex numbers

Octonions

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/TetramagicSquare.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimagic_square

Tetra is four. A tetramagic square is a magic square such that the first, second, third, and fourth powers of the elements all yield magic squares. The tetramagic square is transcendent. The first tetramagic square was discovered in 1983.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler%27s_four-square_identity

In mathematics, Euler's four-square identity says that the product of two numbers, each of which is a sum of four squares, is itself a sum of four squares.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfister%27s_sixteen-square_identity

Pfister’s sixteen square identity shows that, in general, the product of two sums of sixteen squares is the sum of sixteen rational squares. This is a popular theorem.

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rudrasri · 4 years ago

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globalupdatestechandtechnology · 4 years ago

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junker-town · 5 years ago

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Western Illinois, Year 20, 2026-2027

The Western Illinois Leathernecks begin Year 20 in our simulated dynasty in College Hoops 2K8.

Welcome back to our simulated dynasty with the Western Illinois Leathernecks in College Hoops 2K8. You can find a full explanation of this project + spoiler-free links to previous seasons here. Check out the introduction to this series from early April for full context. As a reminder, I simulate every game in this series (even the ones we watch on Twitch) and only handle the recruiting and coaching strategies.

Before we start Year 20 of Coach Rick’s tenure at Western Illinois, here’s a recap of everything that has happened last season:

Coming off three straight seasons that ended in the Elite Eight, the Leathernecks enter the new year with two returning starters and a team rated as a 97 overall. We went 6-6 against a difficult non-conference schedule before going undefeated in conference and again claiming the Summit League tournament championship. We enter the NCAA tournament as a No. 12 seed at 26-6 on the season.

We faced No. 5 seed Cal in the first round of the NCAA tournament. We lost, 90-87, when our potential game-tying three at the buzzer fell short. Read the tournament + offseason recap here.

We landed three new players on the recruiting trail.

Western Illinois, Year 20, 2026-2027

Here’s a look at our roster coming into Year 20:

It feels like a new era at Western Illinois with only two returning starters and just one senior on the roster. This squad might not have the experience we’d ideally prefer — reflected in the game’s ‘team unity’ ranking — but we do have size and shooting at every position with some emerging young depth on the bench. If nothing else, I’m hoping we can set the table for an even better season a year from now depending on few NBA draft decisions.

Let’s run through the starters real quick. As something new this year, click on the names for a link to their player cards with full ratings.

PG Tron Whaley, redshirt junior, 87 overall: Tron enters the starting lineup for the first time as a junior after being a key piece off the bench last season. He’s grown two inches to 6’4 since committing and now looks like a steady lead guard with size and shooting ability. Has a 86-rating in three-point shooting, which is tops on the team. Former No. 128 overall recruit with C+ potential.

SG Mathew Alloway, redshirt freshman, 82 overall: The former Mr. Basketball out of Minnesota becomes the rare freshman starter for the Leathernecks. The 6’6 shooting guard doesn’t have a signature skill yet, but looks solid across the board. Rated as a 94 in speed and a 78 in three-point shooting. Former No. 31 overall recruit with B- potential.

SF Wilky Henry, redshirt senior, 93 overall: Henry needs to be a superstar this year for this team to play up to its potential. I think he can get there. Moving back to his natural position of small forward after starting at shooting guard last season, Henry is a massive 6’8, 242 pound wing who can shoot from three, rise above the rim for monster dunks, and handle the ball like a guard. We need him to be our go-to scorer on the perimeter. Former No. 80 overall recruit with C+ potential.

PF Allan Cunningham, redshirt junior, 89 overall: Cunningham is already on his way to becoming one of the most beloved players in program history. A standout in NCAA tournament games since his freshman season, ‘Ham’ is preposterously large (6’11, 289 pounds) with a refined skill set that includes legitimate three-point range. He’s a skilled inside scorer and rebounder while having an A grade in three-point shooting and an A- grade in speed. He should be a stud this year. Former No. 67 recruit with C+ potential. Projected first round pick.

C Pat Giddens, redshirt junior, 91 overall: Giddens is tied for the best potential rating in program history, per reader Evan’s Leathernecks Recruiting Database. This is his big chance to translate that potential into production on the court. Giddens moves into the starting lineup after being sixth man last season. He’s a bit short for a center at 6’9. but he’s impossibly strong at 290 pounds. Him and Ham up front is a supersized front court we’re hoping will be a great advantage for us all season. Former No. 115 overall recruit. Projected lottery pick.

There was some thought given to starting Henry at shooting guard again (where he goes down one point) to get sophomore Wilbur Ager in the starting lineup, but we prefer putting Henry at his best position, throwing Alloway into the fire, and letting Ager be one of the the better bench players in the country.

We’re going with a nine-man rotation this season: Ager and freshman center Kevin Brazzle will each get about 15 minutes per game, while freshman point guard Jamie Burke and freshman power forward LF Neal each get about 10 minutes per game. That means junior guard Vitor Andrisevic (79 overall) is out of the rotation. He will go down as the biggest recruiting bust in program history.

We also welcome three new incoming recruits to the team. All of them will redshirt.

PG Koko Reeves out of San Antonio, No. 52 overall recruit: 73 overall, C potential. Reeves is the smallest recruit we’ve ever had, but he’s already grown an inch to 5’11 since committing. His C potential grade is disappointing, but he looks like an absolutely elite shooter, already rated as an 82 from three-point range.

SF Jitim Dupre out of Chicago, No. 91 overall recruit: 76 overall, C+ potential. Dupre is a tall, lanky wing at 6’9. He’s a bit disappointing as a three-point shooter with a 72 rating.

C Artie Snipes out of Riverside, No. 177 overall recruit (No. 10 center): 75 overall, B+ potential. The 6’11 center is the heaviest recruit we’ve ever had at 282 pounds. Looks like he’s going to be another outstanding big man for the Leathernecks.

Recruiting

We only have one scholarship to recruit for this year. I want to hit the JUCO market to find a five-star shooting guard or power forward to join timeline of last year’s three-man class. I use my first two visits on these players:

6’2 shooting guard Edwin Wolfe out of Federal Way, WA

6’4 shooting guard V.J. Roberts out of Chicago

JUCO recruits aren’t numerically ranked and don’t have AAU stats, but Wolfe is the top shooting guard among JUCO players when the class is sorted by recruiting stars, so we offer him the scholarship.

Also we have to create a player for the winner of last season’s bracket contest, Isaac Springer. I asked Isaac to give me some details the player he wanted to create, and this is what he hit me with:

I actually had a small idea if I won: would it be possible to create Jon Bois instead? I’m not a huge college basketball fan (or much of a basketball fan in general), so I don’t really know anything about stats or positions or what’s good. But Jon is my favorite content creator online, and he’s what’s helped me find SB Nation and all of the great work that everyone is doing there. I think it’d be fun to introduce him into the Leathernecks universe.

Say no more, my man. Jon Bois, five-star shooting out of Louisville, is officially in the Leathernecks Universe. We’ll follow Jon’s recruitment and his career wherever he ends up. As a reminder, we don’t go after created players at Western Illinois to preserve the integrity of the game.

Finally, it’s time to begin the season. We start the year unranked in the polls and rated as a 96 overall. Let’s go!

First game: @ Illinois

I’ve had this game circled on my calendar since the Illini shocked us in the opener last season. We run this state, and we’ve proven it multiple times in the last decade. It’s time to issue the Illini an emphatic reminder of that.

Loss, 83-62. Oh my god. The Illini smacked us from the opening tip-off and there was nothing we could do to recover. That is not how we wanted to start the season. Ager had a good game and pretty much everyone else struggled.

Next up we have Georgetown. The Hoyas are rated as a 91 overall.

Win, 76-50. There we go. Look at Cunningham ball out with 23 points and six rebounds on 3-of-4 shooting from three-point range. That’s why this man is an icon. Read our beat writer Matthew Morrow on what makes Cunningham so special. I’m gonna need my guards to do better than shoot 1-of-13 from the floor, but thankfully it’s a long season and they should improve along the way.

As I sim to the next week, I noticed that my backup option on the recruiting trail V.J. Roberts really likes us. If he commits by the early signing period, we’d get a coaching point for landing our first five-star recruit in season. I decide to pull the scholarship from Wolfe and give it to Roberts. If he doesn’t accept it, I will probably re-offer Wolfe, assuming he doesn’t hate me now.

Next game is against Louisville, who enters at No. 1 in the polls. We decided to watch this game on the Twitch stream. The Cards enter at a 96 overall. The game will begin when you press play:

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***

Loss, 111-105. Damn, we almost had them. I feel a lot better about my team after watching them go toe-to-toe with No. 1 in the country on the road. My freshman shooting guard Mathew Alloway looked terrific offensively, finishing with 24 points on 1-of-18 shooting. He also picked up a nickname on the Twitch stream: All Day. Let’s just decide not to talk about his defense. Cunningham was again phenomenal, Wilky Henry was solid, and we found a new breakout player in backup center Kevin Brazzle. He’s huge at 7’1 and was immediately more effective than our starter Giddens, who got into early foul trouble.

Our defense was just terrible all around. Louisville shot 50 percent from the field and 43 percent from three. They also forced us into 18 turnovers with their press. We’re going to need to close-out on shooters and take care of the ball if we want to make a deep run.

As the early signing period begins, we have a rematch with Cal, who knocked us out of the NCAA tournament in the first round last year. I’ll take one hot serving of revenge, please.

Win, 91-63. Eat it, Bears. Cunningham carried us like always with 20 points, Henry puts up a 9-9-9 line in a game where he shoots 2-for-11, Tron goes 5-for-5 from deep to score 18 points, which I believe is a career-high. Hell yeah. We’re 2-2- on the year.

We have our two early conference games on the final week of the early signing period. We blowout both UMKC and IUPUI to make us 4-2 on the year. Unfortunately, we don’t land the commitment we were looking for from Roberts. Since Wolfe appears to be the higher rated prospect and still doesn’t have any other suitors, we pull the scholarship from Roberts and re-offer Wolfe.

In other news, Jon Bois commits to Dayton!

Next up we have Stanford. The Cardinal are 3-4 on the year and enter as an 87 overall.

Loss, 77-75. Woof. Giddens and Henry played well, but that’s a team we should beat. It’s tough to get an at-large bid in the Summit League when you’re losing to likely non-tournament teams like Illinois and Stanford, so we’re probably going to need to win the conference tournament again to punch our ticket.

We have a tough week coming up, too: we travel to face Michigan and Duke in true road games.

The Wolverines are No. 17 in the polls and the defending national champions. Can we get back on track?

Loss, 86-74. Ugh. My center Giddens only playing seven minutes because of foul trouble wasn’t ideal, and neither was his backup Brazzle also getting into foul trouble. Great game from Henry with 23 points — we need more of that. It’s become apparent that this team isn’t as good defensively as we typically are.

Alright, Duke time. The Blue Devils are ranked No. 9 in the polls entering the game.

Loss, 99-60. Zero combined points from my backcourt seems less than great. This regular season is not going how I had hoped.

Next up we have Dayton, who enter at No. 11 in the country. The Flyers are led by Matt Boswell, the player we ever created for the first ever winner of our bracket contest. Dayton has not made the tournament yet since Boswell’s arrival, but it looks like they’re going to do it this year. This would be a nice win if we can get it.

Loss, 74-60. Boswell with 14 points in the win. We have left ourselves zero margin for error in the conference tournament.

We only have one more non-conference game left: @ Vanderbilt. The Commodores are led by one-time Leathernecks recruiting target Stane’s Hobson, who is a 93 overall as a senior point guard.

Win, 106-102! Hell yeah. We really needed that heading into conference play. Cunningham killed it (23 points on 9-of-14 shooting), Tron Whaley is turning into a dynamic point guard (18 points, six assists), and Brazzle gave us a nice lift off the bench with 10 points. I love the three-point shooting and the assists. Let’s keep it going to finish out the year strong.

It is now time for Summit League play. We have gone undefeated in the Summit the last two seasons. Can we do it again?

Yup. We finish off the perfect slate in conference play to enter the conference tournament at 21-6. Here’s a look at the end-of-season stats:

Great year for Cunningham. He’s just so damn good; the fact that he’s our primary option on offense is the thing that has me feeling optimistic about our tournament chances. Having four starters finish in the teens in scoring average feels pretty good, too. I also have to note our three-point shooting numbers were through the roof this year. Here’s what we did from deep:

Tron Whaley: 47 percent on 117 attempts

Wilky Henry: 40.3 percent on 114 attempts

Allan Cunningham: 47.2 percent on 74 attempts

Mathew Alloway: 50.7 percent on 63 attempts

I wish there was a way I could tell my team to shoot more threes. Getting up enough 3PAs is going to be a big key going into the postseason.

But first, we have to win the Summit League conference tournament again. We again enter the field as the top seed. As I’ve noted, I really don’t think we’ll have enough juice to get an at-large bid after our shaky non-conference schedule. We can’t have a letdown here.

Summit League tournament

First game is against Oral Roberts. They enter at 7-22 on the season.

Win, 123-62. Henry scores 24, Giddens scores 22, and Cunningham scores 20. We hit 12-of-19 threes in this game, too. We have UMKC next.

Win, 81-61. Henry plays arguably his best game of the season, finishing with 28 points on 12-of-17 shooting in the win. We out-rebounded them 36-19. Seems good. Now we have Fort Wayne in the title game. Why am I so nervous about this?

Win, 86-52! Tron just crushes it with 26 points, seven assists, and 6-of-8 shooting from three. Ham put in work like always, too. I am more relieved than excited — but hell yes, we’re going dancing again. I’m hoping for a single-digit seed, but I doubt our resume was good enough for it.

2027 NCAA tournament

We’re a No. 12 seed against No. 5 seed Minnesota in the first round. Wow. We haven’t faced the Golden Gophers in this simulation before, so that should be fun.

Here’s a look at our roster heading into the tournament:

It’s going to be Wilky and Cunningham leading the way. We just need Alloway to not actively hurt as our lowest rated starter in years as an 85 overall. For the record, I liked what he showed in the Louisville game and I’m super optimistic about his future. We also need Giddens to finally play up to his rating, especially as a projected lottery pick and what appears to be the highest rated junior in the country.

Here’s a link to the Minnesota roster. The Golden Gophers enter the game as a 98 overall — just like us. Here’s how the two teams matchup:

This is going to be a really tough test for a first round game. We’re going to watch the simulated game together on Sunday, Aug. 16 at 8:30 p.m. ET on Twitch. We’ll talk about that more in a second. But first, let’s get to this year’s bracket contest.

2027 NCAA tournament bracket contest

We’ve been running a bracket contest for the last few seasons, and it’s been a ton of fun. We’re opening it up to anyone who wants to enter as long as you turn in your bracket before we stream our first NCAA tournament game on Sunday, Aug. 16 at 8:30 p.m. ET on Twitch.

This is everything you need to know:

How does scoring work?

We use a standard scoring format. You get one point for correctly guessing the winner in a first round game, two points for correctly a winner in a round of 32 game, four points for correctly guessing a winner in a Sweet 16 game, eight points for correctly guessing a winner in an Elite Eight game, 16 points for correctly guessing a winner in the Final Four, and 32 points for correctly guessing the national champion.

Can I see the rosters for the other teams?

Yes. You can find the rosters for every team on the right side of the bracket in the East and West regionals here. You can find the rosters for every team on the left side of the bracket for the South and Midwest regionals here. Just arrow over to scroll through the rosters.

How do I enter?

1. Click this link to open the interactive bracket.

2. After opening, in the top left select File > Make a Copy

3. Make your picks

4. In the top left, select File and either “Share” and share with [email protected] or “Email as attachment” and email as an Excel file (not PDF please!) to [email protected]

Once your picks are entered, you can track scoring with Sean’s Blog Team app that works on desktop and mobile.

What does the winner get?

The winner gets to create themselves or a character as a five-star recruit ahead of next season. We won’t go after the created recruits at Western Illinois to preserve the integrity of the game, but we’ll follow the career of your character throughout our series.

Readers David, Matt, and Josh made an NCAA tournament preview show

I love the Leatherneck community so much. Please watch David, Matt, and Josh breakdown this year’s team and the entire NCAA tournament bracket in a 25-minute selection show.

This is the best.

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The old clips got me choked up a little bit. Amazing work by them.

You might have noticed Boswell and the Dayton Flyers would likely be our opponent if we can reach the Sweet 16. I would love nothing more than to make it happen. Especially after Boswell said he would drop a cool 28 points on Giddens on the bracket show.

We need to win two games on Sunday night first, though. Here’s how you can watch Western Illinois in the 2027 NCAA tournament.

How to watch Western Illinois vs. Minnesota in the first round of the 2027 NCAA tournament

Game: No. 12 seed Western Illinois vs. No. 5 seed Minnesota, first round, 2027 NCAA tournament

How to watch: My Twitch channel. You don’t need to sign up for anything to watch, but you do need to register for an account to comment. Do it, it’s fun.

Date: Sunday, Aug. 16

Tip-off time: 8:30 p.m. ET

If we win: We’ll face the winner of No. 4 seed Ole Miss vs. No. 13 seed Yale in the round of 32 immediately following the first round game.

Here a couple bonus links:

Join the Leathernecks Subreddit started by reader Evan.

Reader Thanh Nguyen in Japan wrote a fan-fiction e-book on the first eight seasons of Leathernecks basketball under Coach Rick. Spoilers ahead, but this is absolutely incredible and I highly recommend buying it.

We now have a fan-started Leathernecks Twitter account. There will be spoilers on there from the Twitch stream before the recap post goes out.

Come hang out and watch our Leathernecks take on Minnesota in the NCAA tournament on Sunday, Aug. 16 at 8:30 p.m. ET on Twitch. Thank you and go ‘Necks.

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