#also the speed of the intro is so hard to gif

[alihi]

Our Blooming Youth - Opening Credits

[leonstoenailunderhisbed]

Roman Empire

~

MINORS DNI 18+!!

Warning: first pov (trying something different lol), no protection. erection. there’s no intro, I just wrote whatever came to mind. motorcycle. female reader. short blurb. smut.

Summary: Leon fucks you in an alley on his bike.

A/N: Guys, when I say that this one doesn’t have an intro I MEAN IT. Also- I wrote this at like 2AM. Don’t mind the title, I thought it was funny.

I felt myself grow wet through my panties. It didn’t help that his cologne turned me on even more. I kept grinding my ass against his erection, causing me to moan quietly. His hand traveled to stomach and he began to undo the buttons on my pants. He slowly pulled down my jeans, exposing my black lace panties I had been wearing. His hands traveled from my stomach to inside my panties. His rough and long fingers entering my pink walls. I heard him groan and whisper how wet I am. I whined and moan as I bucked my hips against his hand. He thrusted two fingers inside me and curled them as he began to work inside me. I held on to his motorcycle seat as he kept abusing my hole. I felt my walls clench around his long fingers and with a high pitched moan, I came on his fingers. He pulled out and forced his fingers inside my mouth to clean him off of my juices. He pressed me down further on his motorcycle so I want fully bent over. He pulled down my panties and I shivered from the cold breeze that hit my sensitive walls. He unbuttoned his suit pants and pulled out his erection. I already knew he was big but once he aligned the tip to my entrance, I felt him expand me like how the Roman Empire expanded throughout Europe.

He pushed himself inside me slowly. He groaned in pleasure as I took him completely and he mumbled about how tight I felt around him. He then began to thrust in and out slowly. One of his hands squeezing my waist as the other traveled to my head and gripped on my hair as he pounded from behind me. I became a moaned mess and I felt his hand lower from my head to my mouth to muffle my moans. I heard him say that I should be a good constable and keep quiet. To which I happily obliged. He kept thrusting in me until I felt my second wave of euphoria reach me. My walls clenched around his member and I came hard on his cock. He kept thrusting in me through my high. His speed increasing with each thrust until he pulled out completely and slammed right into me with brute force and shot his cum into my cervix and womb. I moaned against his hand and felt my body shudder from the creampie he just gave me. He pulled out of me slowly and scooped up the remaining cum from his cock and put it right up my pussy. I panted against his motorcycle seat as I tried to catch my breath.

After a moment of the two of us catching our breath, he helped me put on my panties and jeans as he buttoned his suit pants.

[mysteryanimator]

ANIMATION BREAKDOWN PROCESS OF THIS LETS GO (Sorry for any grammatical errors!)

SCRIPT/STORYBOARD: (you can watch here)

Now THIS. The script was very weak because I wanted to board immediately, so it started strong then fell off at the end (also generally I'm not a stronger writer, which haha fics my beloved). Now I know this, spending more time simmering with the script will genuinely only 1) stronger compositions for storyboards 2) it will be so much faster to board. Like I can board fast, but I can board fast AND well if I sit with the idea a bit longer. This will be a massive running theme how I like my shots earlier rather than further in.

side note I LIKE PANEL 11 A LOT, I just feeI didn't translate it well enough into animation which sucks because its a pretty panel and you get a softer moment from Olrox which I found was important to get across.

Also at some point, the 180 rule (which keeps characters on like one line behind the camera... not sure if I worded that right) gets broken and it bugged me for AGES but decided I had to just move on LOL.

These are my thumbnails b4 I go to animatic/cleaned storyboards which are SO MESSY (I'm a lot better at annotating my thumbs now LOL). The original prompt was top service blood bag x powerbottom vampire and i don't think i portrayed that well enough throughout BUT i think the intro did a good establishment. Which fun fact, this was scrapped but there was actually 20 seconds of Mizrak eyeing Olrox "What is it like? Blood?" Then Olrox leans down and commences the thigh glide.

These backgrounds are a mix of texture-bashing (walls/floors) along with some good ol' painting materials from scratch. Also, these are olddd and I can do a lot better yay, but was a good test to see how to make a consistent-ish scene.

ANIMATION: (You can watch the rough anim here)

I'll be super upfront how I don't like most of it AHHA. From starting this in July to posting this in September, I've improved a lot since then.

Since this was a bit ago, I don't remember too much but I remember going ham onto learning material from Dong Chang and animation servers. However in all honesty I think this was only really applied to the earlier shots. I got super frustrated with my "slow speed" so I tried to jump ship and do cleans super early on, which like lets be honest- pumping out two rough anims a day with uni on top is not slow idk what I was on about. This ended up giving me MORE work during the line/colour stage PFFT because I would end up correcting my mistakes in my roughs. Like Myst stop, this is for fun and you're learning, please take it easy LOLOL.

COMPOSITING:

Working on compositing this time around was slightly different, and I'll also admit it is not my favorite composite I've done (and again, I like my earlier shots then my later shots). My after-effects layers looked insane keeping track of the highlight glows on their clothes BUT it definitely paid off. Skin tones however were SO DIFFICULT (mostly in part to the fact I decided to experiment with how I approached it, so it definitely skewed how I worked with this)

I also definitely struggled between the dreamy look and keeping it clean and crisp, and while the dreamy blurred aesthetic does work in some cases, I opted out for the sake of clarity.

Beloved edge light my friend. It's making me learn SUPER late into it how I probably should have planned out a third shadow pass since edge light at the point is a crutch and I think planning it out ahead would get nicer more precise shadows LOL.

Because I brain rotted so hard for this animation I actually commissioned two people to help me work on this! I'll briefly talk about their stuff but please check out their work!

MUSIC: Astralbardkeep

Due the fact I don't have voiceactors, and I had a very specific vision in mind, I decided to go "you know what, let me be super self-indulgent". I had a lot of notes and inspirations for the music, BUT i wanted to have Olrox's theme from the original games peek through, which you will notice happens at the bite AND at the end.

TITLE CARD: Hataui0

This might've seemed overkill, but this friend of mine is very talented at making graphics/typography to suit the requirements of each individual project. (Also a secret ploy to make him make nocturne fanart /lh). So that entire end bit, he illustrated it along with that title, in which the themes I bestowed him were Mucha and Gothic art.

Thank you for reading if you got this far! Suffice to say this was supposed to be a compare and contrast between the animation I did in February, and while I may not quite find this body of work up to my normal standards, it substantial amount of improvement, which is the most important thing here! With the ten billion other things in my life going on, I can only be happy with the progress thus far :D

February on the left/September on the right

[chappelroans]

hi everyone! i've been asked for a tutorial on how i did the light effect here so im going to put one under the cut. this tutorial assumes you know how to use photoshop and how to utilize timeline

for this tutorial we are using these two gifs from a celebration set (sorry about the watermarks, i do NOT trust people to not steal plain gifs)

we are also going to be using this light leak as an example. most light leaks will work as long as there's an almost entirely white point within it. you can either screen record or download, however you normally make your gifs should be the way you acquire the video.

now, to start, blend your gifs however you want. sharpening, coloring, and blending should all come before anything else, so go about it as you normally would. once you are finished with each one, make each one into a smart object by selecting all layers -> right click -> convert to smart object. you should have one purple item in your timeline and nothing else. make sure each blended gif is no more than 2:00fps just to make sure the size isn't too large (since we are combining these gifs, we will be multiplying 2:00 to make 4:00, which is a large gif already. watch your sizes.

next, you're going to want to put both gifs into one document. do not blend or overlay them, they need to stay separate. whichever one you choose to be on top should overlap the bottom gif just slightly for what we're doing later.

go ahead and gif your light leak and follow the same process of converting it into a smart object once you're finished coloring/sharpening/etc. then drag it over to your document with your other two gifs and put it on top. change your settings to screen instead of normal.

now it gets a little more complicated; not that it's hard, it's just tedious. in your timeline, make sure that second blended gif (in this case, the yellow one) is overlapping just slightly, as i mentioned. in the left toolbar of your timeline is a square with a white triangle and a black triangle inside. this is where you find transitions. we need to insert a fade to the beginning of the second blended gif, so click fade and drag it over to the gif in the timeline. you can adjust the speed of this fade by dragging the gray triangle it creates. just make sure that the end of your fade does not go over the end of your bottom gif, as this will create a transparent screen effect which will mess it up.

we are going to do the exact same fade effect on the light leak gif, but we are going to do a fade intro and a fade outro. click and drag the fade option twice, once to the beginning and once to the end.

again, you can make these fades as long or as short as you want, just keep in mind your file size. a transition like this with two blended gifs will take up a lot of space.

on the light leak gif, i have timed it so that the brightest part of the gif is between my intro fade and outro fade, and it is also right on top of the second gif's intro fade, as seen above. this will give the effect of blending into the light, as seen below.

now you're done! i know this is not the best tutorial and i'm sure there are better ones out there, but this is the way i taught myself to do it, so if you are not able to find a better tutorial this is a great place to start. it's not a perfect transition by any means, mostly due to the lack of full light in the section of the leak that i picked, but it's perfect for practicing and finding what you like and dislike about the process and the result.

[whistleclan]

MISTLESTAR: INTRO

[The leaves are beginning to fall, and the wind has begun to pick up. You know what that means - and it's even more evident whenever you lift your nose and smell the crisp air. It must finally be leaf-fall. At long last.]

[Leading a clan is a lot of hard work, and leaf-fall is your favorite season.]

[Your name is MISTLESTAR. You're the leader of WHISTLECLAN, a recently founded clan that joined the neighboring ones. Your territory is flat plains, where you and your clanmates run like the wind and tunnel deep into the earth.]

[You aren't positive of your own skills as the leader, and though your clanmates trust you deeply, you tend to be a bit insecure of your own ability. On top of it, you're extremely paranoid. But that isn't your fault... it's only like that because of your innate sense of the ghosts that wander these plains.]

[As you walk through the camp, you come across the sight of two cats trying their best to ignore a noisy kit.]

[Giving MILKWEEDKIT a small smile, you turn your attention to the two cats who are trying to hide their obvious annoyance of the small cat.]

SLATEBURN: Oh... hey, Mistlestar! How are you doing today?

[That cat is SLATEBURN, your deputy. He's always been a good speaker and a natural storyteller. His intuition is hard to match, and the two of you are good friends.]

EMBERSPOT: Milkweedkit has a story today. Care to sit in on it?

[EMBERSPOT is one of the warriors in the clan. He's a little bit of trouble, if you're honest.]

MISTLESTAR: Oh, uh... no, no thank you. Sorry, I... have somewhere to be.

[You rush past the two cats and continue on your way. Milkweedkit's stories can go on forever, and you still have patrols to welcome back.]

[When you continue on, you run into two more warriors returning from a patrol, clearly halting their gossip to address you.]

FAWNHOWL: Hey, Mistlestar. How goes it? Easy hunting today! Hah! Not that I had any doubt!

[FAWNHOWL is a confident sort, but she definitely has the skill to back it up.]

FLIPSWAN: Fawnhowl did well. She always does. I expect nothing less of her.

[FLIPSWAN is Fawnhowl's mate, and she's always taking care of things around the camp. She SEEMS really nice, but there's... something off about her.]

[After exchanging some pleasantries, you're off on your way once again.]

[You find one of the warriors sharing some ideas with the apprentices.]

MOTTLEDSPECK: - so as you can see, it's really important not to try and tear off at your full speed until you're sure of the direction you're headed.

[MOTTLEDSPECK is a quick-runner, and he's certain one day he'll be the fastest cat in all the world.]

[The apprentices are... vaguely listening. Their names are SLIGHTPAW and WISTERIAPAW. The two of them share a heightened sense of justice, and a desire to grow into a member of your clan's important history.]

[There's only one last cat you want to check on before you go about your business, so you head to the medicine den.]

BRIARSWAN: Oh, Mistlestar! How nice it is to see you out and about. How are you doing? How's the er... ghost problem?

[BRIARSWAN is not only a phenomenal medicine cat, but he's also the kindest cat you've ever known.]

[The question makes you pause. Briarswan is the only cat who knows of your visions of ghosts along the plains.]

MISTLESTAR: Nothing too bad today. Maybe it was just nerves after all.

BRIARSWAN: Whatever the case, you know I'm always here for you.

[What a lovely clan you have. You feel pride swell in your chest. This is YOUR clan. You hope you can do them proud.]

INTRO END.

[splashink-games]

Getting to the end is not what's important.

Did I not do a good job?

I am absolutely astounded by SANABI by WONDER POTION.

trying to be as spoiler-free as I can.

Good lord.

I was not expecting such an emotional experience.

Even after I spoiled myself a bit because our daughter (I'm okay to call the child that right? collectively, yours, mine, and our main character's (who is also ours to share)) had some very gif-able moments for me to look up and save.

ugh.

Don't even get me started on how incredibly wholesome the intro sequence is! Or mostly any memory for that matter.

Let me move on...

I heard that this game is often compared to Katana ZERO. I haven't played Katana ZERO but I've watched a friend speedrun it, and I get it, though I can't compare the narratives. But that's not what's important.

SANABI is an incredibly well-told story with fast-pace gameplay. The storytelling succeeds because it gives the player information while keeping that same information from the main character, along with hints to a conclusion that we, as the player, can infer.

and that inference builds and builds, cracking the reality that our main character (MC for short) is experiencing in Mago City until it crumbles.

this is a story is about loss and acceptance.

Our journey with these two vastly different characters, Mari and MC is nothing short of exquisite.

it's hard to put into words without spoiling anything.

each character has a very strong goal. MC is out for revenge, while Mari's is pretty vague until the midpoint, but we can surmise it also as revenge. from the onset, Mari tells you that their goals currently align. and every plot point serves an obstacle in their progress (as it should in a game).

but with every obstacle, their determination and sense of reality is affected. the two grind each other's gears. but also get back to a moderate peace. well, until they can't.

mysteries are thrown around. answers can't, or won't, be given. things happen. the situation changes. Mari and the MC change.

and when the pair finally gets to their destination, it's nothing like they expected. Getting to the end is not what's important.

Mari has an amazing arc. you know what she's after part way through the game. and it becomes clearer how desperate she is. like, what a fascinating character Mari is for being able to act in the manner she does. for being faced with the situation at hand until she can no longer bear it.

MC has an equally fantastic arc. for being such a one-track minded character until he isn't. until he thinks for a moment about everything that's happening. but no answer are given.

it's hard to describe how deeply rooted in emotion these characters are. and I think the experience of them is worth it.

with all that being said, the gameplay was rad.

for me, SANABI puts into perspective how much you can do with a few buttons. for reference, I use a Nintendo Switch-style controller. you never use the B button or the bumpers. you start using Y and left trigger halfway through the game. and I never needed to use the right joystick, even though I could.

my biggest gripe, gameplay-wise, was the ground-less boss fight. I don't know if I'm just bad at the game (I am, though) or if I have a problem with having no ground to stand on. I think the biggest issue is the inability to save oneself at the bottom of the screen. it's a very air-centric fight, so I guess it gets a pass, but it's definitely not my favourite.

everything else was smooth as butter. the introduction of new mechanics was never out of the way. the main mechanics themselves (grappling, swinging, and hooking enemies) were great and ties itself well to the narrative.

even as I was speeding through the finally sequence of the game, I still enjoyed swinging along. in between narrative sequences.

SANABI is a wonderfully crafted game, focused on delivering a thoughtful story with smooth mechanics as its vehicle.

This game is definitely a must-play for anyone!

As always,

Enjoy gaming!

[manias-wordcount]

Hello!!!!!

Are your requests open??? If so can you write some Mishima???

It’s NSFW 👉👈

Reader and Mishima are in there last year of high school (I think he would be 18??? He’s in his second year in the game, I think. Alternatively both reader and Mishima could be college students)

Mishima has tried over and over again to cure himself of a hard on, but he never quite gets the satisfaction he needs. Maybe reader accidentally catches him and decides to help out??!!!

Study Break (Yuuki Mishima x Reader)

𝗔/𝗡: 𝗶 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻!

𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚!! 𝘀𝗺𝘂𝘁, 𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝘅 (𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴)

𝙒𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚? ⇒ 𝙈𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩

𝙟𝙤𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙧?

𝙗𝙪𝙮 𝙢𝙚 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙚?

You met Yuuki three semesters ago in your Intro to Software Engineering Class- one of your very first classes as you both started university. And although you’ve since changed majors to something a bit more your speed since then, you and Yuuki had a bond that somehow managed to grow past language barriers and summer breaks. However, the fact that you thought he was really cute helped out a lot. And the fact that you seemed to know the answer to his every question about campus also kept you in contact even in the times when you didn’t have classes together. But this time you both lucked out with a humanities class that just so happened to fit into both of your schedules.

  So it’s only natural that you would both take it together. And it was only natural that the two of you would work together for every group project. And it was only natural that you’d end up in his dorm room one day after classes when his roommate was at work, trying to pump out the remainder of this project out in one go. 

  But then, you saw it.

  You didn’t know how long it had been there for. But once you noticed it, it was hard not to notice it anymore. It felt like no matter where you looked, it was just staring at you. Somehow, someway.

  Eventually, Yuuki did notice your sudden awkwardness. And eventually, he did understand where it was coming from too. You could tell by how he shifted his legs and turned away his head to hide his rapidly reddening cheeks from you. But a couple of minutes of typing away at your respective computers in his dorm room did nothing to hide the little growing problem. In fact, it only seemed to become an even bigger distraction than before. 

  “It…it doesn’t hurt,” He told you when you finally bit the bullet and addressed the elephant (or rather, the elephant’s trunk) in the room. He was still refusing to look at you. And it was starting to look like he’d rather be anywhere else but here, despite it being his own room. “Sometimes, it has a mind of its own. It’ll go away shortly. Don’t worry about it.”

  You tried to nod and look away. Tried to focus on something else. He let you sit at his desk while he took the spare saucer chair that had looked like it had seen better days. At least at the desk, you could turn your head and zone in on your work. Or maybe check out all the little nicknacks he had lining his desk. You even tried to read some of the Japanese characters he had on his desk. Letters, notes, and all sorts of things he must have kept over when he moved to your country for schooling. It was something to pass the time. Something to distract you. Something to make you stop worrying- stop thinking about it.

  But you couldn’t stop thinking about it. No matter how many minutes had passed. You just couldn’t stop looking at it. Because it didn’t go away shortly. It was still there. It was still standing. And every single time you glanced at Yuuki’s face, you could tell just how hard he was focusing. But you could also tell that he had made no progress on your group project too. Because his screen had darkened from disuse. And his hands had tightened into fists. And his eyes had squeezed themselves shut as quiet, heavy breaths passed through his mouth. 

  You bit at your lip, your own heart rate raising. He told you that it didn’t hurt. And you can’t say you know too much about how a guy’s body works. But you do know what it’s like to be frustrated like that. You do know what it’s like to face a problem that big that just keeps staring you in the face with nothing left for you to do in that moment. And you do know that there was at least one thing you can do to help him out.

  “W-wait…what are you…?” He didn’t notice when you first got up from the desk. But he did notice pretty quickly when you were suddenly kneeling in front of him and placing a hand on his knee. Up close, you could see the expression on his face more clearly. You could see the brightness of his red blushing cheeks against the rest of his pale skin. You can see the way sweat was starting to line his furrowed brow. And the twitch of his neck as he swallowed nervously as his brown eyes fluttered open to look straight at you. “You don’t have to-”

  “But you want me too.” You responded simply. You knew what you were doing. You knew what he wanted. It was written all over his face and you’d be stupid not to notice. “It’s okay, Yuuki. I know.”

  “You don’t have to, though.” He tells you again, gently, as a sheepish smile tries to make its way on his face. Maybe it’s the thickness of his accented English. Maybe it’s the look on his face. Or maybe it’s your imagination. But you can tell he’s conflicted. Even as he reaches out and places his hand on yours and squeezes, you can tell he’s still weighing his options. You’ve seen the way he looked at you. And you know the way you feel about him. You don’t want to push him but… “I can take care of it later-”

  “Yuuki…” 

  Maybe that’s all he needs. Maybe that’s all you needed too.

  “...Do you want want me to?”

  He paused for a moment. Then another. And another. And another. He said nothing in those moments of silence. Instead, he lets his eyes drag down the expanse of your body. Peering at you from the very top of your head to whatever could be seen as you kneeled between his legs. Every now and then, his eyes would linger on a part of your body. First, it was your own eyes. And then you own lips. He spent some time gazing long and hard at your chest too. And a considerable amount of time looking at your hands as well. But then he snapped his gaze up to your eyes once more. And then he swallowed- the motion being emphasized by the dramatic movement of his Adam's apple before he parted his lips and let out a sharp breath.

  “Yes.” He told you, finally. It was in a quiet voice. But one still full of desire and need and the heavy emotion of lust. If you weren’t listening in so carefully, you probably would have heard it over the sound of him reaching for the waistline of his pants and lifting his hips so you could tug it down. But you did hear it. “Fuck, yes please.”

You heard it very, very well.

  So you don’t waste any time. The second his cock springs free from his pants, you’re reaching for it. Wrapping your fingers around it and giving it a tentative squeeze. In front of you, Yuuki lets out a groan. One that’s soft and low and quiet- but encouraging. One that’s accompanied by him gently wrapping his hand around yours and adjusting the tightness of your grip but guiding you into pumping up and down. 

  Admittedly, you’re probably not the most experienced with this kind of stuff. You’re staring long and hard in surprise when after a couple of seconds, an almost clear liquid starts leaking from the tip. And you’re feeling up every single vein you can find as your fingers explore around his length- always looking at Yuuki between every big move for approval. Despite this, you know enough to understand what you’re getting into. You know enough to understand that you’re probably not going to have the easiest time taking all of his cock down your throat. Even with a little bit of time, effort, and practice. 

  But it’s the way his hand uncovers yours and his head leans back all the way back that keeps you going. It’s the soft little moans under his breath when you reach out and curiously lick at the precum pouring from the head that makes you eager. It’s the way he all but whimpers your name when you lean up on your haunches and wrap your lips around the tip that gets you excited. 

  And although your movements and clumsy and your mouth is now stuffed full with a pretty boy’s cock, you still find there really is a lot for you to learn. And that a blowjob is as easy as you’ve seen in videos and heard your friends talk about. Even if you did quickly learn just how much Yuuki likes it when you use a lot of tongue with him. But that was fine with you for now. At the end of the day, it’s almost like a group effort. A group effort that looks like you taking him as deep as your throat can handle while he closes his eyes and bucks his hips upwards in response. And maybe in the future things might look a little more even. Or perhaps the positions from right now might even change. Who knows. But for now?

  You’re just glad that you have such a great classmate to practice this with. And Yuuki?

  “Fuck…I- I think I’m gonna cum soon…!”

  Well, he just seems happy to be here.

[turntabless]

🔮 la folie - the stranglers 🔮

welcome back to turntable takes, folks!!! hope everyone’s doing wonderfully <3 this week (said so very loosely. i underestimated how hard it would be to do them every week but that’s on ME!) we have a gem <3 i know 2 songs off of it and they constantly occupy my mind! so! if you’re checking this out, thank you!! and hope you enjoy <3 once again i am very musically illiterate and don’t know theory!! this is me going AWOOGA!!!

also i’m not including the bonus tracks off the reissue because i’m TIRED. SLEEPY EVEN. but they’re also really good!

genres: new wave, punk rock, baroque pop

non stop

okay immediately loving the lil tippy tappy drums with a little echo that fade in! cute lil organ lick that is so fun!! i’m also a big fan of talk-singing when done in a sexy way and this is that! GUITAR crunchy echoing bass coming in. OH those drums fuck. this is just so fun!!! very sarcastic singing its scratching my brain!! and the guitars are so cheeky. layered vocals crescendo in volume cute like harmonies??? ooooo stripping it back then speeding up going louder again is such a choice i love it here. CHANGING TEMPO let’s go!!!

everybody loves you when you’re dead

ohhhhhh god i love the keys intro here. bass is sexy and so clear and i’m in love. the odd pitches with the guitar is so nice ! yummy drums!!! synthy business! punky talk vocals with layering going on is so good and these lyrics kinda make me feel insane. god that keyboard part and odd wavering synth in the background is so nice. harsh cymbal type sounds YUM! PICK IT UP LETS GOOOO cute lil tempo change and then right back to it!! ohhhhh slow little breakdown descending in pitch

tramp

OHHHH. flat guitar really interesting here. WITH BUZZING KEYBOARD AND BASS ????? drums are really!!! OOOOOH an instrumental soundscape baby!!! i love these vocals he’s got a great voice very punky and when he pitches up it’s really pretty??? also love the return to the darker sounds during the chorus? BASSSSSSS AH GOD !!!!! love the speed and the experimental nature of the chorus !!! 80s video game synth yummy. there’s something so dancy about this and god the vibrato and INSANELY nice drums????

let me introduce you to the family

OH FAST DRUMS LETS GO!!! ooooo this bass? is it bass? descending thing is so intriguing! faaaast guitar playing a really fun ear catching riff that’s like. this really is so experimental here. okay there’s some freddie m rasp at some parts which are really interesting and then the harmonies and layering of the vocals in the chorus are crazy! that bass is so consistent and so clear and great!!! ohhhh switch up that RIFF babes!!! it’s all very like buzzy fuzzy yum! ohhh TURN up the volume on the vocals add another lil keyboard thing this is sooooooo intricate!! ECHO on the voice for the fade-out ending with a drum beat to end everything!

ain’t nothin’ to it

ohhhhh that guitar is yummy. drums go hard in this beginning. BASS I HEAR YOU BABY YOU SHINE!! these vocals are so fun and sassy!! oh that odd lil dissonance in parts of this song is so cool??? and the lil changes in riffs and pitches sound really cool <3 ohhhhh BREAKDOWN lets gooooooo!!!! fuck it up instrumental section!!! BASS AND DRUMS ONLY OH LETS GO!!! this is really cool i’m obsessed. ohhhhh????? ohhhhhhhhhhhhh guitar little staccato notes??? this repeating instrumental part is so intriguing colour feel taste wise??? it’s so dark and a little unsettling with the occasional flatness but it’s nice????

the man they love to hate

BUZZY KEYS LETS GO !!! god. goddddd. that bass goes so hard. ohhhh crunchy soar on that guitar is so nice. drums going HARD. echoing lil keys are fun!! talk vocals as always are so fun !!! PITCH UP LETS GO !!! uplift meeee !!! back to the really punchy instrumentals on top of those buzzy keys that add such an interesting texture!! some little sweeping synthy kind of cymbal effect? ohhhhh. this is so fun !!! also the little whispered backing vox are fuuuuucking scrumptious! oh jesus it’s getting darker babes…… in tone in lyrics and then right back to light???? what in the world how is this this way. GUITAR FUCK IT UP cute lil solo! ohhhhh PLAYING WITH SHADE AGAIN THIS IS SO…… those lowest instrumental notes are so deep and fat and intriguing.

pin up

fucking insane drums i love you. ohhh??? xylophone-esque twinkly keys? GUITAR THERE YOU ARE BABY! sounds crunchy and thin but in such an atmospheric way! the “oooohhh”s are really nice with the bit of reverb on it??? this is such a fun little song? those twinkly xylophone sounds are back i love!!! the instruments are so so good at melding together so that those lil keys are picked out of the fold so well???

it only takes two to tango

ohhhhhhhh this is such a fun little intro… i don’t know what the name of this stylistic choice is but it’s like someone swinging you around with the drums bass guitar and then you get layered talk vocals with a BEAUTIFUL ascending like… quartet harmony going on. this is so fun!!! warbling keys again they’re so good at atmospheric sounds here. also sorry those harmonies are needed inside my bloodstream stat! OH KEY CHANGE! uh ohhhhh bestie the dissonance is back in the vocals but not in the instrumental i kinda love the effect??? faaaaaaat guitar just swingin around <3 OH the warbling is so interesting looking slightly more haunting as it progresses! LITTLE DRUMMER BOY GOING OFF WITH A FUN LIL HIGHER PLUCKED GUITAR RIFF? this is so….

golden brown

THIS IS MY BABY ONE OF MY FAVOURITE SONGS !!!!!! HARPSICHORD WHAT THE FUCK!!!! also with a bassy keyboard behind it! god his vocals in this are so buttery so yummy with just a hint of nasality? also god this fuckin time signature is all fucked the harpsichord is playing in a completely different time. bass and drums come into the fold so carefully subtly it’s beautiful. everything is just a little heavier but it’s still so light and mysterious and plain cool??? guitarrrrrrrrrrrr oh the reverby echo???? this solo always gets me !!!! ohhhhhh vocalisation that’s so echoey and sooooooo otherworldly is insane. the deepness and the layering of it is Fucked. this is truly such a soundscape AGAIN! chu bee fair idk how they’re so in sync when the times are so different.

how to find love and happiness in the present day

ohhhhhh this is different. screechy little synthy things going on to more spoken vocals with an insane lil bass trying going on? so sectioned with the vocals and instruments it’s really cool!!! the layering of the guitar pitches are so nice. AH TWANGY GUITAR mixed with some bongo vibes!!!! nah this is so fun!!! ohhhh these lil drum things sound like trickling raindrops. not sure what exactly they are but it adds such a cool effect. god that high frequency synth solo what the fuck !!!!! so insane so sick!!! ohhhh it fluctuates so nicely and smoothly between notes. descending vocal line with fuzz and partially covered by the instrumentals TO A FADEOUT

la folie

Oh This Is Grand. this intro is so beautiful???? what sounds like strings (made with keyboard) with a high smooth guitar part with echoey reverb and bass. OH ITS A SPOKEN PART IN FRENCH. beautiful. these words are so lonely and beautiful too and that’s conveyed so well with the effects placed on the voice itself? drums………. god this is so twin peaks right now !!!! DEEP SUNG VOCALS WHISPERING. back to spoken word with the bass getting a deeper sweeping moment??? oh beautiful deep staccato notes. there’s such a cool effect put on his voice this is….. really cool. the stringy synths really paint the background of this with colour. OHHHH high synthy parts joining the mix in a fun little flourish!!!! that bass…….. is so genuinely yummy holy goooood. spoken word so cinematic and lovely. the “la folie” being sung so deeply and whispery is so nice and comforting….. i love this. beauty guitar part at the end so soft so nice so echoey. drums holding down the fort so well UGH.

thoughts: okay. okay. i was genuinely surprised at how varied and genuinely INTERESTING this album was? like the tempo variations the key changes the instruments used the shifting parts the vocals and the USE of all of it to set tone? the tone itself was also so insane and has to be mentioned because there was so much interplay with shadow and light in each song?????????? incredible. i know talk-singing isn’t for everyone but i think it’s cinematic and cheeky and fun so i loved it. l o v e d. genuinely surprised at this guys!!!

[loveabledirtbag]

1.04 - Dogs

i think this episode is one of the best of the series, and one of the most important, so i’m VERY excited to crack in!

i’ve always seen this episode as sort of a mid-season finale. a lot of the ongoing storylines from the first episode are sort of wrapped up here; as in the slow trek of trying to get the team at the beef onboard with the new system. marcus was won over in the first episode, but ebra seemed to be chill with it in episode two yet he never got a real storyline or moment of acceptance (yet another point of how ebra is underutilized!), sweeps, angel, and manny all put on the apron but have even less screen time showing their transition into the new system, but the donning of the uniform blue apron is symbolic of their allegiance to the new. all that’s left by episode 4 is tina and richie. but it’s tina, who is undoubtedly the heart of the episode, that matters most.

the intro of the episode almost right off the bat tells us that this episode is going to be different. it’s calm, yes, but episode three started calm but with an air of existentialism and tension over carmy’s clear feelings of anxiety. but this opens with a fun little song by david byrn, donuts being made, and marcus watching in all. it’s all cute, and sweet and happy. something we really haven’t seen before. this episode is different.

following marcus staring at the donuts with childlike love, we fade to richie trying to put a tshirt on a blow up hotdog! this episode is so tonally different. even though carmy and richie literally get into a physical fight over the hot dog, it’s dripping with pure comedy. comedy without the edge or the groan, or the bite that the rest of the episodes have had. there’s no anxiety in this episode yet. we see a physical fight break out and we smile! not to mention mid-fight tina comes out of the beef to toss a bag of garbage, lazily sees them fighting and calmly says “morning.” just to show that this isn’t all that surprising to her! this is comedy gold. and all of it elevated by richie falling onto the hot dog, popping it, and undeterred he says he’s going to grab the other one from the basement! it’s a perfect scene. an absolutely perfect scene.

this episode is the reason the bear is not just really good, but as damn near perfection as any show i’ve ever seen. because it knows when to take the foot off the gas. we had three really tense, really intense, really hard and gritty episodes. sure, the next two after the pilot were less neck-break speed, nonstop intense, but they both had a lot of intense moments that were hard to watch. one more episode with it would have been too much. it would have been over the top, and shown that while the show can do intensity, that’s ALL it could do. episode four proves they can do heart, nostalgia, and character growth just as deftly. and it slows down enough to allow us to catch our breath. like a pallet cleanser, allowing us to move onto the next course without having our pallets blown out by the previous dishes

“you have no idea what kind of administrative correspondence i have to get done today…you might shit on my system, but i like to get back to my cohorts in a timely fashion.” “name me a cohort, name me one cohort.” “timothy, but i don’t have time for this” - i fucking love it. just so funny. genius writing. also mention of a system. richie’s/mikey’s system.

i remember the first time watching this episode, when marcus asks syd to try his chocolate cake, and syd says it’s great thinking to myself “huh. is there something between marcus and syd?”

“i answer to jeff. the system.” more system talk from tina. and this is interesting, because sue mentions “jeff”, who we all know is “chef” carmy. so she’s talking about carmy’s system, more or less. BUT carmy’s system is that syd is managing the kitchen, effectively tina’s boss, and so if syd says something tina is supposed to do it. but tina’s not doing it. so we know it’s not REALLY carmy’s system she’s following. she’s trying to stuff richie’s system into carmy’s system and it’s not working.

god, i remember absolutely hating tina because her ways of getting back and annoying carmy and syd cut through me for some reason. now i love her, but the last three episodes she made me so mad for some reason. like when she whistles as syd gets stuck doing onions, or when she faux looks shocked at syd and says “no!” as syd is trying to relate to tina about being a woman in the kitchen. the fact that the first time i watched this in the back of my mind i was like “someone needs to fucking knock tina down a peg, or like send her home for the day until she can fucking stop being such a dick”, and then in twenty minutes i ended saying “tina is amazing and i’m crying and i would do anything for her happiness.” that’s how good this show, and this episode is

“yo, why are you on the kennedy?” “chill the fuck out, cicero lives in naperville.” “you gotta get on the fuckin’ eden” i know everyone thinks LA has a monopoly on being obsessed about roads, but i truly believe it’s universal. i’ve seen some people shit on this scene as some sort of chicago glory-porn showcasing the writers and producers “really know chicago”, and that’s not it at all in my mind. dig into wilmette, or naperville and you’ll learn about just what demographic cicero is in. but also, carmy forgot where cicero lives, and richie did not. even though carmy is “real” family, and richie is not. the shows a deeper understanding of carmy’s distance from his own family, and richie’s deep connection to a family that is not his.

the fight between cicero and richie when seen through the lens of richie and cicero in the episode set five years previously is pretty interesting. a lot happens in five years.

“carmen, is that you? i thought you killed yourself?” “no, sir. that was my brother.” and then mr. szorski just wordlessly walking away, speaks VOLUMES. carmy was gone for a long time, and carmy didn’t have a big personality like mikey did. so to learn that the fun and boisterous mikey is dead and the withdrawn and odd carmy is alive, what more is there for an old chicagoan midwestern man to do? “eh, i’m done with this conversation” and just leaves.

richie having a bottle of xanax with his name on it means something. it’s an overlooked detail, but it means at least in some capacity richie has seen a medical professional and gotten a prescription. the bottle has his name on it. he suffers from anxiety and dread, like carmy, but he’s taking medication for it.

the chekhov’s gun of richie popping a pill out of the bottle over the jug of ectocooler juice, both in sharp focus as carmy watched a bit concerned is a nice touch

one of the greatest back in forth in tv history “where’s the box with ketchup in it?” “i didn’t bring ketchup” “why don’t you bring ketchup?” “what kind of asshole is gonna put ketchup on a hot dog?” “a child, richie.” “a child asshole.” “you’re a child asshole”. 🤌🤌🤌 it’s so FUNNY, but it’s also so CHICAGO.

that followed up by richie’s insult about carmy prepping a bunch of fruit, only to learn it’s ectocooler and saying it’s actually kind of dope, to a one-liner of “rest in peace, harold.” MY GOD, that’s a good line. it’s just all so funny, even while moving plot forward and helping us understand a bit about the history of these characters more. the writing of this show is just top tier.

“one bite of a donut brings much joy, two bites brings sadness.” wow, ebra. where did you hear that line? and why are you saying it to marcus as he’s trying to be inspired by donuts? marcus is going “this could probably be my life’s work” and ebra’s like “yeah, but two bites of a donut brings sadness.” i love it so much. here, too, we see the birth of the “marcus donut” storyline that will dominate much of the coming episodes.

CHESTER! god i love chester. another humorous introduction to help the levity of this episode. the fact that it’s established right away that chester is a fixture in the kitchen as he talks to tina and fist bumps ebra. that’s so fitting. a kitchen is a wild place and rando’s are far too often just popping in.

but also the amount of work chester puts into helping marcus. his job is so small; marcus just wants color swatches just to be inspired for donut colors and flavors. it’s a near impossibly small job, because the color of the donut is also hugely dominated by whatever flavor you’re gonna use for the donut, so the color comes after the chosen flavor. so, to be inspired by the different colors is a small, secondary part of the process. but chester stopped whatever job he had “designing all of it”, before a meeting, to give marcus his roommate a book of colors, but even more so, that marcus says he highlighted some specific colors for marcus because they were “dope as fuck!”. my god, chester’s a good friend!

i also remember the first time i watched this thinking “there seems to be something between marcus and chester…after there was something with marcus and sydney” and i was like “maybe marcus is gay? maybe marcus is bi? maybe marcus is pan? maybe marcus just had chemistry with everyone and that’s a future storyline? maybe the actor who plays marcus is just really charismatic and it comes off as romantic interest?” just the desire to know if marcus was going to have a subplot of romanxe with someone and if his chemistry and seeming romantic inklings with TWO characters in this episode was in my head, an intentional subplot forming, or just because the actor is so likeable as a person.

“donuts are deceptively hard, and the beef is not exactly the most stocked-“ “i want it to be perfect. like that plum carmy was telling us about.” OOOOOOH, just the subtlety of that exchange. syd isn’t saying no, because she has no reason to, but she’s hesitant. but marcus is already in such an obsessive mood that without talking to anyone he’s drawing and designing donuts, and having his roommate drop by pantone colors in a booklet. syd says “be careful” and he doesn’t hear but instead says “i have to make it perfect.” that’s an exchange that is going to be echoed, expanded on, and dived into a few times in the next few episodes with marcus, focused around his obsession with perfecting a donut

the quick sort of transitional scene that is easy to ignore in an episode as lyrically and emotionally packed, is this quick scene of syd going through the beef and checking in with everyone. it shows that in fairly quick order, carmy’s system as headed by syd is actually working. everyone is in the blue aprons, everyone is calm. it’s one of the first scenes of people working in the beef that we’ve ever seen where things seem to be going okay without people screaming (it should be noted that carmy and richie happen to be gone, and that might be part of it), but we run through syd talking to marcus and immediately check in with angel and manny, and then ebra passes through (sweeps is missing, but sometimes a show has to save money on how many reoccurring characters are in a scene), and syd is even comfortable being strict with fak who is trying to mooch without putting in any work. we’re seeing that syd is a competent manager, and the system is having a positive effect on everyone. sydney smiles as ebra tells her she’s having a positive effect on richie (again, just SLIGHT romantic vibes from ebra saying it, and syd’s smile. i’m not saying it IS romantic, but i’m not-not saying it either), and then we see tina in the background as syd smiles. tina is NOT in the blue apron. tina is also NOT doing the potato’s like she’s supposed to. they give each other a look of disgust and move on. the plot is so clear in a scene that is maybe 20 seconds.

if the short shot of richie looking like he’s disassociating from reality at a kids birthday party he has to throw because his best friend screwed the whole shop over, as a half-deflated cartoon smiling hot dog with a taped on “the beef” tshirt is standing over his shoulder that he insisted be brought and he tried so hard in vain to put a tshirt on as it symbolizes the overwhelming realization that his life has officially reached rock bottom and he has no one to blame by himself is not taught in film and cinematography classes i will be furious

the same song playing over marcus obsessing over donuts, richie disassociating, and carmy searching for ketchup and then being swarmed by family and family friends (but family friends who explicitly aren’t at the berzatto christmas five years ago, it should be noted) means something. “help me rhonda”. richie needs help, marcus needs help (which he gets from fak feeling out donuts, but more importantly he’ll learn he needs help from carmy and sydney about balancing his donuts and his day to day duties), and carmy needs help escaping his family. which he doesn’t get from cicero who sees the swarm, stops in his tracks and immediately walks back into the other room. but it turns out cicero also needs help, and can’t escape, because his son is complaining about his party being ruined and cicero calls out for his wife because he’s stuck at the party. it all flows together, with mixes of heartbreak and comedy, but never outbalanced with the beach boys calling out for help, while their music sounds so fine.

the quick cuts of carmy being overwhelmed by family, as he continually just asks “ketchup?” “ketchup?” is so good. he just wants to get through the day, so his job. not have to deal with family shit. both for good and for his own unhealthy working habits. but no one is even paying attention to him as they overwhelm him with questions

“so you work in a restaurant, right?” “yes” “what’s it like to be a fucking loser, huh!?” is….the clunky, weird, biting kind of joke that can kind of clash with the slick writing of the bear that we’re used to. it’s just kinda of a “what the fuck does that even mean…?” kind of line that might sound like the writers just kind of phoned it in to get the point across that carmy’s family doesn’t get what he did and what he’s trying to do. BUT it’s actually one of the most realistic lines of the series, because we all have that family member like uncle frank who says something to us under the guise of a joke and it’s so clunky, and overwhelmingly mean that we have to be like “…what the fuck? why would you even say that?” like the kind of joke that DOESN’T come for a writer because it’s so jarring and clunky and off. so the fact that it did come from a writer is even better

but it also just so poignantly highlights the schools of thought on cooking, especially with older and newer generations. chefs before the 80’s were often exclusively thought of as working class poor. you could be at the best restaurant and the greatest chef in the world, but you were lumped in with the help more often and you were paid beans for your work. we now have celebrity chefs and endless magazines, tv shows, and (now) a lot of fictional content about what a kitchen actually looks like. we have schools that are seen as prestigious and chefs we treat as rock stars. but that doesn’t mean that 99% of chefs and cooks aren’t still working class poor in italian beef sandwich shops, or bbq joints, or diners across the us. if carmy was a rock star, most chefs are people playing an out of tune guitar on youtube and gaining 50 views. so his family doesn’t get it.

which is made even better, and even more poignant with pete’s cut in. once again, almost everything pete does and says is right and good, and yet it comes across as terrible and we hate him for it. pete comes in talking about food & wine magazine, and eater. prestigious places who recognized carmy. carmy knows, much like how he knew when he was serving his sandwich to the staff in episode one, that he’s talented and people idolize him for it, and that what he does is leagues ahead of anything the people he’s talking to could even comprehend, but that doesn’t make him better. he cringes at pete both because of the trauma of his cooking accolades, but also because he knows pete isn’t helping his conversation with his family, but is actively making it worse.

have you noticed the age range of these kids at this party? cicero’s son, the birthday boy, seems like he’s maybe 12-14 (obviously kids, AND the actors who play them, differ in ages and how old they look WILDLY) but there looks like there’s a kid who could be driving, and there looks like there are toddlers. but cicero’s son looks like the age where having that many diversely aged kids would be a drag. like, early childhood, the kids party is more for the parents and so the parents bring all their kids and it’s more like a family get together, with older and younger kids. but once you reach an age where you are more aware of your birthday, and you have a desire for your party, they usually get smaller and more intentional; just a party with your friends, or a larger scale party with kids in your grade at school. so it’s interesting that this kid is having the full blown family get together birthday party. maybe it’s one of many, maybe his actual friends will stay later and they’ll have the friends only kind of party. who knows? but it’s interesting.

i love that even in the midst of cicero and richie’s long-standing feud, they come together to trash talk pete “what a narc”. if that’s not family, what is?

tina looking so overwhelmed while she’s just mad-dashing trying to get this recipe down, only to have syd be like “hey…maybe do it right?” is so good. tina is forcing her system forward and it’s just not working.

i really don’t want to be mean, especially with how beautifully shot marcuses cake making scene is. but his cake looks a little mid? is it just me? like; the scenes are beautifully shot, and it’s calm, and marcus looks so serene. but than his cake looks a little dry. and the frosting looks kinda tough, and also dry. like no moisture, and not smooth. that can’t be a mistake on the shows part, right? like they’re professional chefs and bakers? they gotta know what a good cake looks like. especially with the cake we see later on in the series which looks perfect. i have to believe they’re showing that marcus is still learning.

cicero telling a story that we’re only hearing halfway through, as richie and carmy are openly weeping with tears is such a nice touch. this is family. carmy can distance himself and try to keep himself numb, but family is family. and the fact that the joy is immediately sucked out of the scene the moment pete walks in, is so spot on. the actor who plays pete is really subtly genius. because he sells you on how good of a person he is, while making us groan with every word he says.

even as he tries to build carmy up. talking about how proud of carmy he is. it’s so sweet, and it’s so nice, and yet there’s still that edge of “you’re embarrassing yourself, pete.” emboldened by the fact that pete thinks the blowup hotdog with a taped on tshirt is hilarious

i would love to know HOW richie dropped his whole bottle of xanax into the pitcher of ectocooler. the top had to be open only for a second while carmy was refilling it, right? and yet somehow richie dropped the whole thing in without noticing, and every kid in the place (and pete) drank from it, and no one noticed? but still, the impracticality of the joke doesn’t discredit how funny it is. it just works. with cicero’s “hmm…..i kinda dig it” upon being told what happened. this episode is just pure gold!

tina marching her ruined dish to the sinks, angrily yelling “behind” and tossing the pot in, eliciting a “hey! come on!” from angel as she gets in their way is really poignant, because her system is now actively out of sync with the beef’s. she interrupts manny and angel, she can’t get this dish down. tina, who is the heart of this shop, is pissing people off, and not in the flow. which is even more prominent in that she comes back from dumping her dish to see that syd immediately had replaced the pot with her own. syd could do what tina is doing, and subtly saying “i’m asking you to do this, but if you can’t i can just do it. i don’t need you. i want you here.” isn’t lost on me. yes, it’s communicated by sydney saying she doesn’t have time to fuck around, but it’s tough love and an encouragement to push forward and do better. sydney can’t fuck around, so tina either needs to shape up, or ship out. but syd is also inviting tina to stay. “i did this for you, try again.” and after tina makes the dish right, she says “damn”, because syd’s dish is good. syd was right, and made something tina couldn’t make on her own. and she realizes it.

“you ever miss him?” “i didn’t really know him well enough to miss him.” “you?” “sometimes. we were so close in age we were more like friends than family”. which is interesting. there are some signs that the dad may be dead, but there’s more hints (in my opinion) that there was a hard break at some point, and no one has seen him in years. but, it’s also odd because we’re not sure how cicero is family to carmy’s dad. he’s called uncle jimmy, and he implies to be family with carmy’s dad, which by traditional family ties would make cicero brothers with carmy’s dad. except his name is cicero, and carmy’s last name is berzatto. so, they have to be family in some other way. but cicero is (hopefully) not related to carmy’s mom, because in the flashback episode he is a little weirdly flirtatious with her in a toxic way that you could be with your brothers or family members wife (or ex wife), but you definitely shouldn’t be with a blood relative. so cicero could be a half brother, and that explains the different name. it would also explain why they were so close in age that they had the same life experiences at the same time, as they grew up together. or cicero could be an “uncle” like richie is a “cousin”, or cicero could be a distant relative who is close enough to the family rhat it’s just easier to say “uncle” because “dads cousin” or “great uncle” or whatever true relationship they have isn’t as easy as just saying “uncle jimmy”

when was the last time you talked to him?” “like 20 years ago.” to me implies the dad is still alive. there’s just no talk of the funeral, or proof that he was alive and is now dead. the past tense is only about the dad being alive 20 years ago. so, nothing conclusive.

i love the connection that carmy’s dad fell into being a restauranteur. that with donna being a painstaking cook in the kitchen making extravagant dishes for family shows why mikey took ownership of the beef, and why carmy went to be a classically trained chef. the love of food runs in them deep

the nice little detail of saying “really stuck your mom with that place. don’t you hate being in there 24 hours a day?” in episode two we had gotten a hint of cicero being familiar with the beef, and maybe hinting at a deeper knowledge than it just being his nephews sandwich shop. and here we learn that the beef was carmy and mikey’s fathers place. he stuck their mom with it, and mikey took it over.

another reference to carmy having a twisted love of his own pain: “i’m in there for five minutes and i start thinking about bad shit” “that’s probably why i like it so much”.

i love the dream cicero talks about in this scene. because it adds to the dreamscape atmosphere this season embraces. but i have to believe the baby in the dream is carmy, right? cicero and carmy’s dad are flying down the road (of life), and can’t get control of the car, carmy’s dad refuses to put on a seatbelt, and suddenly there’s a kid in the road and cicero jams on the breaks and doesn’t hit the kid, but carmy’s dad goes flying through the windshield but never lands. i definitely think it’s symbolic of cicero’s feelings towards carmy’s dad: he’s falling perpetually, always about to crash, but never actually did. he never really flew, but his hair raising, harm inducing free fall never actually crashed. carmy’s dad was always able to pull off having to deal with the consequences of life, things never came crashing down, he never hit the pavement. but he was clearly never rich, or could take it easy. it feels like a hustler who is always a step from getting his legs broken, but is managing to make a living. we know that cicero and carmy’s dad grew up together, which means probably poorer, and working class. and now cicero is rich, even if there’s some sketchy underside to his livelihood. so cicero stopped the car, his seatbelt was on, he “made it”. but carmy’s dad didn’t make it, he just hasn’t hit the ground yet by some miracle. but what caused the car to crash? a kid in the road. and we know that carmy was young enough when his dad left or died to not even really know him, or miss him. carmy is probably what caused his dad to leave, or at least feels like he is. but the fact that carmy’s dad hasn’t hit the ground yet tells me he’s probably still alive

that split second moment of tina making the potato’s, and taste testing them and in her mind we see her think. somethings not right. and then she throws a pinch of seasoning in there and smiles liking that taste more. it’s so good. because no matter what system tina is in, we see from that little dash of her own seasoning, that she’s a chef no matter what. she knows when something tastes off, or needs a little something to add more flavor.

and then when tina throws the pot down at syd and says “get it over. tell me it’s shitty”, we know she’s saying “tell me i’m shitty”. we realize that tina has been so defensive and angry because she sees all of this as a threat. a threat to her home, her identity, her livelihood. tina thinks she’s a shitty line cook at a shitty italian beef joint. and carmy and sydney are going to raise the standards so high that she gets squeezed out of her job. tina has self respect issues, and doubts her worth. but then syd tries the potatoes that tina made entirely herself and says “that’s great, thank you chef.” and suddenly the word “chef” isn’t attached to a critique, it’s not a sign of other people’s skill in comparison to her skill. she did good, BECAUSE she is a chef. and when tina turns around and says “thank you, chef” with tears in her eyes. UGH, i fucking melted. that’s when i decided i would die, or kill, for tina. i love tina. i love this show!!!!!!!

the final cut to the cake; with marcus zesting an orange over in honor of the donut he saw earlier that day, looks a lot nicer all done up. but my mind still goes to…is the cake still the dryish looking one we saw earlier? and the frosting looks kind of hard. idk. i’m sure it tastes better than anything i’ve made, but it looks just kinda…dry? and maybe old? like it had been sitting around for a while before they filmed?

“it’s amazing, he’s just sleeping there like a baby and i want to beat the ever living crap out of him.” ugh. it’s so good. i love how easy it is to hate on pete. and how odd it is that it’s so fitting with family. pete just is that member of the family that married in and doesn’t fit.

“we all get cake because we’re best friends” oh fak. never change. you sweet, kind, stupid, baby angel.

the point heard around the world between carmy and marcus. i love it and how it comes up multiple times

that sigh from tina as the episode ends. just that sigh of “i’m exhausted, but i did it.” tina grew, tina changed, tina belongs, tina can just…exhale for the first time in a long time. she’s not gonna be left behind, she has value, she belongs. it’s so beautiful

AND THATS EPISODE FOUR, the unofficial mid season finale. i episode five we move to a new seasonal arc and a whole lot of good content!

Season One: Episode One | Episode Two | Episode Three | Episode Five | Episode Six | Episode Seven | Episode Eight

Season Two

[tutuandscoot]

CD: Argentine Tango- World’s 2008, Göteborg Sweden

So what I personally love in a good tango is a quality I would describe as the man wanting to eat the woman alive and her looking as though she’s really into it. Like just this look of utter desire and the man being in complete control and the woman not fighting against that. It’s a very careful balance because the man can’t look angry or mean or volatile, and the woman has to balance not fighting against that will for the man to control her- she has to be on board with it but also can’t appear weak or too easy to take advantage of. This is not the ideal quality for every tango but I find it very appropriate for this Argentine style which is known for being an extremely passionate tango. If this all sounds bizarre and messed up I get you and if you’re finding that quality hard to picture then please look no further than VM’s Argentine Tango CD because this is exactly how I would describe their quality in this dance as is why I love it so much.

Below I’m going to break down all my favourite choreographic moments and highlight where I find this quality and how they use it to add incredible passion and intimacy to a dance there are 20 some odd couples performing on this same day and manage to appear as far more mature then their tender ages of just 18 and 20.

Firstly, just a comment on costumes. Unsurprisingly, I love them (there are in fact costumes of theirs that I don’t like which I’ll get to eventually). T’s dress is stunning. This certainly adds to the maturity of their dancing. It’s so very appropriate. It’s not sleezy, it doesn’t distract or get in the way of the choreography, it excentuates body lines. Some argue Scott was often underdressed, but I would and have argued in the past it is on purpose the way he dresses so as not to distract from the choreography, not distract from Tessa, feel comfortable and have an ease of movement. Almost all the time his simple costumes were so well fitted and showed off his exquisite movement. What I also like about their take on costumes is I don’t think of them as wearing costumes, like the costumes aren’t this whole other thing, it feels more natural, it grounds them which I think with skaters and the environment in which they perform- there aren’t stage lights, backdrop, sets. They are just in an arena with people and branding on all sides, so it doesn’t look like they’ve been pulled off some extravagant stage set and plonked on an ice rink- it feels appropriate for the setting they are in. I don’t think I explained that very well but the point of it all is i’m a big fan of the simplicity. It’s more like they came out of a movie where two characters have just happened to be dancing a tango as part of the story. This of course varies and some programs do require more ‘costumy’ costumes.

Ok. Let’s get into it.

1. The opening

It’s another common thread of their’s to not have overly excessive openings and closings to their CD’s. This part isn’t being judged, there’s no bonus points for lifts or spins, it’s to set the tone and make it a full finished product. Immediately even before the music starts you get that passion and desire, that closeness straight away then that push and pull with T holding her own but she’s also really into him pulling her back to him. That downward gaze they both but especially he has. Also just in this intro their beautiful upper body form: such beautiful posture where there is no tension, shoulders are relaxed but there is strength in the way he holds her and such lightness from her- pressing into his hand while lightly resting her other on his shoulder. Such a hard thing to perfect and while many teams do it ‘well’ VM do it brilliantly.

2. Their beautiful, powerful gliding skating

As always, I don’t know enough to make an educated analysis of their skating. They were obviously very strong, gaining speed quickly (as in development compared to last season- getting stronger and faster in a short amount of time). I just assume their technique is great and this is what good skating should look like considering the amount of other knowledgeable people who have said so and their top world class rankings being just their second year in senior. Having said all that, obviously there was something not quite right about it considering this was the initial issue with Tessa’s legs- the pain started with this compulsory dance where she says there was intense pain and cramping and through training around this time it was specifically on compulsory dances that the pain occurred. I’m in no place to diagnose but having had similar injuries myself i’d say it was on some level the Russian style skating technique along with her body mechanics- just the way her muscles defaulted to working in that style. (I do not personally know the specific differences between Russian and British style skating, I just mean it as the style they were being taught having Russian coaches there must’ve just been something about that technique that bothered her legs through heavy duty- repetitive training like that for compulsory dances). Regardless of that, the way they move together, even doing the most simple of movements is just magical. For all the times I firmly refer to them as dancers, their skating and the quality with which they skate is just not something you would get with them dancing on the floor. Even with the simplest of steps, the rise and fall of their knees together, the sustains and the pauses, it seems so organic and just natural that their bodies know how to move in time with each other’s. Yes it took years and endless practice to get there but other teams work hard yet the seamlessness of TS you just don’t see in anyone else.

3. The start of the set pattern.

I’ve watched all of this CD competition from World’s 08 and I don’t believe any other team (at least any team of note) took that beautiful long, sustained pause that TS do. I’m talking about the ‘kiss moment’ - most other teams did a sharp look towards each other and kinda stood up straighter, more of a ‘stomp’ step with their free foot and just looked towards each other quite statically. It was very staccato and on the beat, where as TS in this moment and others times throughout, flirt with the timing to stretch out and indulge in certain moments, while still staying on the music and fulfilling the strict musical requirements. This is one of the prime examples of the initial quality I mentioned at the top of this. It’s one of the early examples of that thing they would do so often in many programs to come (and manage to accurately suit it to the tone of the program) of that down ward, sometimes closed eye gaze and the dropped jaw to open their mouth’s that just immediately gives this ultimate desire and passion. It wasn’t a constant thing like you see know with these lyrical, hyper emotional skating programs where they just look dismayed the whole time and mouths open like they are catching flies- TS use it as emphasis and like an acting tool to moderate their emotions throughout and because they both do it it feels more natural- their equal ability to emote. In this specific moment I will confidently say they don’t quite kiss, but they have never been afraid of the intention of that and being able to portray it one step away from literally, actually going through with it. They way this moment plays with the music- it can’t be given it’s justice in gif form so please go watch it, but that sustained rise then fall of the knee on the proceeding steps is beautiful. You feel that their cores are so connected and they are so focused. They attack the movement with so much energy, but it’s controlled and rather then channeled unevenly, they channel it into each other. It’s really so ironic that they only started ‘The Hug’ a couple of years after this because I feel like the purpose of that and what it did- ensure them that they were connected and in time with each other- they were rising and falling to the same rhythm they set themselves. It was a quality already displayed in so much of their skating, whether that was just their talent and training and supreme musicality maybe, but knowing there was a time before and a time after The Hug, I still see some of what that did for them in earlier performances. Maybe it was always there and The Hug became a matter of fact for them that they knew it was there.

4. EDGES

I’m really not gonna say much here because I think their edges speak for themselves and there is already plenty of commentary from those who know far more then me, but isn’t it just so satisfying to watch!? Not that I watch that much ice dancing from recently but there’s really no need to even film slow-mo and close ups of edges because they just don’t exist anymore - there being no compulsories or attention to detail in other program formats, at least none like this. As much as I love VM’s dance quality this is just as satisfying to watch. They are so far over on their edges and the clean slicing of the ice. They manage to appear both so grounded and weightless at the same time. No unnecessary tension in their upper bodies while doing all that impeccable skating- just as much as the style requires of them. That change from inside to outside with their right as the free leg as well as that port de bra.. ugh it’s just beautiful- and again so much better with the music so go watch it when you’re done here please 🙏🙏

5. Tango highlights

Obviously this is a tango, based on music and costume, but little accented moments like this where they are facing towards each other and Scott picks up T’s foot with his. Lifting so high while remaining so close and just the most exquisite hold of position with their arms as they lean into that edge starting the circle. It’s here and then throughout the rest of the pattern where you really get that incredibly close tango hold where he is really coming over the top of her to lead the dance. He takes her with him into all these turns staying close while their feet stay so neat and on such beautiful edges.

6. Deep circle and edge appreciation

That’s all.

7. LINES

There is no debate on this. They have the most beautiful lines in ice dance. There are several reasonings for this: 1. It is just some truly messed up fate shit that they have matching bodies. You see it when they were wee little kiddos first paired up- they are perfect for each other.. then there were some sketchy times in the middle through puberty where there was a worry T would grow too tall, but by this point here they were matching perfectly. When they skate their height difference works so in their favour in that T looks shorter than him when she needs to or it’s necessary for partnering, then other times appears as his physical equal and this gives the illusion they skate as one (as well as their connection). This physical match is part of what makes their lines so good, as well as athletic ability, aesthetic understanding (straight and pulled up knees, fully pointed toes, matching heights). Also here you will notice their gorgeous epaulement, or in layman’s terms, shoulder and head positions. The way they twist their upper bodies while remaining square in the hips, as well as turning their heads at the right angle to portray the tango style. The moment after the twizzle with T’s stunning arabesque and Scott’s matching devant position is another one of those drawn out moments like the ‘kiss’ at the start. As far as the skating steps go they remain perfectly on the music but through they upper bodies and further extension of their free legs they stretch it out to create light and shade in an otherwise strict set pattern. The arch in her back which concaves into his body position leaning into her [this kinda shape: ((. The first bracket being S the second T] the slow caress of his face while she looks slightly up at him while he gazes down at her.

8. Expression and quality:

There’s really 4 moments that I point to as obvious examples of the quality I love in a tango that I mentioned at the start; the ‘kiss’ at the beginning, the foot pick up, this elongated arabesque moment above, and this moment below. That lift of the arms where they sustain that glide leaning to the back of the rink with their fingers separating and palms pressing together as they lower. Then the crossovers onto outside edges where in he steps so far over her you almost can’t see her from this angle. The commentary in these CD from back in the day always talked about how close the skaters should be - that there should be minimal distance between the hips- especially when side by side (in Killian hold, to and extent tango hold but it’s a bit harder). Here with the nature of the step it’s not so much their hips together but more so their upper bodies are so incredibly close. The way she looks at him as he’s forcing back but he just glances downwards and past her- yet that mental connection is still so there.. Complete control over her but with this quality that she’s really into it. It’s passion. That’s really what it is, but they have that in everything they do so it’s how they control that and work it together to portray this dance so honesty with so much maturity. It has to come through in their expression, upper body/ artistry and in their skating technique.. it’s just insane to think they were this good so young.

9. The ending

Ok, I lied, 5 moments. But given this isn’t part of the the set chore it’s up to them to finish it and how they want that quality to follow through from the beginning to the end, and this really is just the icing on the cake. Also just such a sweet and wholesome parallel to the eventual MR ending- both being tangos in similar-looking costumes but totally different emotion in the ending. If you were struggling to get my jist with the whole ‘eaten alive’ quality I like I hope this ending is what seals it. (I don’t want my craving for that quality to sound demented or anything- it’s not like in a hanibal Lecter way) - it’s passion and drama and sensual desire.. the tango is a dance of love and passion so you don’t want one person to be really into it and the other disinterested.. but at the same time I also find it sexier this way, the way VM do it as opposed to the female being over the top and appearing to initiate it. I love this ending, T’s big fan kick, Scott’s wide yet stable stance, T’s face as she goes back- actually both their faces.. and it’s like they go into slow mo mode again. His hand on the back of her neck as always supporting her. That tension in his hand on her back so as he doesn’t have full contact with her.. yet that secure, cuddly contact getting her up and on balance again (a constant through every ending pose like this) even the way they stay there for a moment, him breathing into her neck and her gazing down at him as though she’s waiting for him to finish but doesn’t at all want him to rush… (sorry the gif cuts it off a bit here)

It’s extraordinary the detail and emotion that went into just this CD, with two full and very different (OD + FD) programs still to come. This is high up on my list of fave skates of there’s, really the paso from the following year and TR all are coz it’s like satisfaction porn… for people who like perfect (or as perfect as possible) things to just drool over. The skating is mind boggling, the musicality is perfect, the expression of all of these CD’s is exquisite. All of them being male dominate styles I think worked so well for them coz Tessa had this beautiful way of letting him lead her and not having to over do her expression from an outward perspective, instead she found that by playing off him (I don’t know it that was their process but that’s how I make sense of it) coz so often with almost every other team you would get either weakness in expression from both skaters- either a lack of performance skills or just coming off dis honestly (which is really just a form of lack of performance skills) or (this more often from the older/top teams) over the top expression especially from the female and more this sense of both skaters performing outwards rather then in relation to each other- which is so important (at least to me) in a dance that is just the man and the woman- there has to be that connection and communication there.

[ohthehypocrisy]

How to write a pokemon for Pokemon Unite Part 3 - Defenders

Prev: Intro - All-Rounders - Attackers

Defenders are really fun to play with, and I say that particularly because I am a Defender main. I mean, I love Charizard, but he’s an All-Rounder, and some games absolutely require a Defender or else the whole composition falls apart.

That said, Defenders seem to be really unpopular. I don’t know why, but most games I play have people reluctant to fill that green slot, and I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because the pressure of keeping the enemy team off your turf is too much to bear? Maybe they think Defenders are no fun. Or maybe they just don’t know how to play for the team.

Yeah. That’d be it. Let’s give everyone a reality check on what Defenders are really all about.

The whole point of Defenders is to, well, defend. Each one has their own way of achieving this, but the end goal is all the same, to keep enemies off of your goal zone.

Something to keep in mind, a Defender is defined by their ability to take hits well as well as their potential to dole it out. A Defender is much more intimidating if a passing encounter will end in over half of your HP disappearing trying to go for that push. A common theme among Defenders is crowd control and field control, or just controlling the flow of battle in general. With that said, here are a few examples.

With a massive HP stat and huge Attack and Sp.Def, Snorlax is easily a great Defender. In the games, it is typically a roadblock that you have to poke and wake up in order to bypass it. It keeps that same game plan in Pokemon Unite thanks to its moves that keep the enemy at bay. The choice between Yawn and Block emphasizes how hard it will be to try and sneak past a Snorlax whereas Flail and Heavy Slam demonstrate it’s ability to deal serious damage if provoked. Low Speed and Sp.Atk translates to limited mobility options and range, which is typical of Defenders in that they aren’t designed to be fast and overwhelming (except Greedent).

The Gluttony ability is useful for controlling the early game thanks to the surplus of field berries. Once the late game looms, though, Snorlax can be in serious trouble if it hasn’t leveled up to keep up the pace with the opposing Attackers and Speedsters. It’s not uncommon for Defenders to be underleveled when the last two minutes ring in, as they’ve been too busy defending and not farming EXP. In Snorlax’s case, it’s especially worth it to stay on the level as it needs to fend off the enemy team in order to secure the win in the central fight.

Not all Defenders have to be melee focused meat walls. Slowbro is a great Defender due to its ability to confound the enemy with hindering effects, such as Scald reducing the opposing enemy’s Attack or Surf throwing the enemy repeatedly on hit. On the other side of the spectrum, Telekinesis holds an enemy still for a teammate to capitalize on a free KO while Amnesia improves Slowbro’s survivability against Special Attackers. On that note, Slowbro is made so great thanks to its ability Oblivious, which reduces the effectiveness of all damage, reserving it as a blue HP bar. That HP can be restored with your moves, either Surf if the enemy likes to stick together, or Scald if the enemy is capable of dealing high damage very quickly. Telekinesis can also restore the HP reserved by Oblivious, whereas Amnesia restores a chunk of it instantly.

However, despite all of this combined, Slowbro’s damage output isn’t that great. It’s main strength is to inhibit the enemy, not necessarily overwhelm them. It’s true strength comes from its teammates, especially those that can deal high damage. Defenders don’t like being left alone to defend themselves, and are much more effective with a teammate helping out.

The first and only Bug type in Pokemon Unite for the longest time, before Buzzwole and Scizor joined (also the only Rock type before Tyranitar joined). By now it should be clear that Defenders are defined by their high, well, defenses, as well as above average HP. However, although a high attacking stat is also important in order to fight back, but there are usually caveats in having both the ability to defend and to deal high damage. By that I mean, all these strengths cannot round out without a weakness. Crustle, as a pokemon, has no such weakness, only small slights that can be taken advantage of.

Crustle manages to balance both offense and defense with its moves and abilities. Shell Smash is a great move to power up and chase down Attackers while Rock Tomb catches pokemon trying to run away. Rock Tomb is also a great projectile that gives Crustle some range and has much less cooldown than, say, Eject Button. X-Scissor is a great defensive move at shoving enemies away while Stealth Rock has such high passive damage, it can secure objectives and ward off enemies altogether. However, the small slights I mentioned before are all there, and each one can be worked around, reducing Crustle’s effectiveness. Shell Smash is a great chase move, but it trades your defenses for speed and attack, meaning that if you get caught overextending, you can easily be KOd by an opposing Attacker. Rock Tomb is handy for stopping retreats and approaches, but the sheer surplus of dash moves can make the move redundant. X-Scissor is a great push move, but will have little effect on enemies with hindrance protection. Stealth Rock is a projectile that activates on contact with an enemy or wall, meaning poor aim will reduce its effectiveness. 

These little nuances can be taken advantage of, but other than that, Crustle is a very solid Defender.

Defenders are allowed a few tricks here and there to expand their defensive playstyle, such as Mamoswine freezing the goal zone, or Trevenent stealing HP. However, the main goal remains the same, so let’s bring up some potential picks for the Defender archetype.

With numbers that are more appropriate for the All-Rounder class, these are some very impressive stats. Of course, the highest one is Defense, and by 6 points over Speed no less. And yet, the pokemon is decidedly a Defender due to the pokemon’s pertinent nature of being an obtrusion. Seriously, it’s entire game plan is to, just, get in the way of things. It will continue to block the way even at the cost of its own HP, which it then turns around and counterattacks with such ferocity. And that’s the kind of attitude needed to be a Defender. Welcome aboard, you jeering punk!

With very high defenses and some decent attacking stats, this pokemon is certainly made for the Defender archetype. Slow speed and low HP can be problematic though, which is why this pokemon has a unique counterattack mechanic. Striking its solid body causes an echo to ring out, damaging any nearby enemies. Unfortunately this limits the pokemon’s effective range, but worry not. With some smart play, the pokemon can easily overcome the range game and ring in victory. Now, does this pokemon ring any bells for you?

By training its body and spirit, this pokemon is a highly achieved Defender, having mastered the art of holding one’s own ground and throwing enemies away as if they were trash. Despite having extremely low stats, its sky high HP and Attack stat more than make up for these shortcomings by making this pokemon too dangerous to be near. If you enter this pokemon’s ring with cruel intentions, you’ll be getting a high five, across the face, repeatedly.

High Defense and HP combine to make a nearly impassible impasse, and the decent Sp.Def rounds it out nicely as well. Unfortunately, we cannot have nice things, as this pokemon is plagued by weakness, especially 4x ones. Thankfully, type effectiveness isn’t a thing in Pokemon Unite, yet, so this pokemon will be very effective as a Defender. Now, while that speed stat is slow, so is Greedent, and it is capable of crazy speed with berries as a motivator. Well, this pokemon can achieve the same thing, but can also power up its moves thanks to its ability to fuel itself up with its own special brand of renewable energy. If you’ve been naughty this year, you might find this pokemon in your stocking instead of a present.

And finally, we have a potential pokemon pick with extremely high Sp.Atk, perhaps the highest among Defenders at the moment. As always, it also possesses a high Defense stat, as well as decent Sp.Def, But just like the Melee Attackers, it uses its offense to keep enemies away. Which is all well and good, except it also likes to pull and drag them in, allowing itself or its teammates to keep up the attack and secure the KO. It’s so good and what it does, it can make its pull effect even stronger thanks to its ability. Perhaps we should applaud this pokemon for its magnetic personality.

-

Defenders can be varied in how they accomplish their goals, but a common theme among them is their limited range. A Defender is meant to be tough to break through and isn’t meant to fire long distance shots outwards. A Defender can afford to be a little bit like a Supporter, an Attacker, or even a Speedster, but the true spirit of defense is to hold your ground and hold the fort down long enough for your team to secure victory, even if it costs you your life (this is legitimately how I play Defenders. I will die for you but please make the play worth my sacrifice)

Next time, we’ll be talking about the helpful healers and hagglers that haunt every round of Pokemon Unite, the Supporters. Stay tuned.

[topknotstrunk]

Review Everything 39 - Blue Beetle

Okay so I have very mixed feelings over this movie.

Let me just get the negatives out of the way. I am a George Lopez "hater". He's just one of those actors that I find to be really distracting because it seems like he never plays a character, he just plays himself in the world the movie takes place in. When he first showed up, with his mullet and his weird beard I said aloud to my Partner, "He's gonna be a distraction the whole movie." And while I was wrong on that, I still never really thought he disappeared into his role. Sorry Jaime, what was your uncle's name again? Pretty sure it was George Lopez?

On the plus side, he was balanced out by how silly the rest of the family is. So, at least in that aspect, he did blend into the rest of the movie well.

My second complaint is one that's a little more difficult to articulate.

At this point we, the American audience, are FLOODED with Super Hero media. If we only look at the stuff that's have come out since the MCU started and super hero media exploded onto the pop culture scene, we have like 33 movies from the MCU, 17 movies from DC, plus the what, 17 MCU shows, 50 animated DC movies, 10 DC cartoons, and 49 various animated things from shows to animated movies from Marvel. That's 167 super hero stories on the screen. Damn.

Most people who like super heroes, even if they only watch movies, or only watch cartoons, know how origin stories work. We've seen them over and over and over again. At this point, if you're going to introduce a new character you need their origin story to be really interesting. Two examples of this being done well, I think, are Spider-Verse and Moon Knight. Moon Knight has lots of room to stretch out the origin of its titular hero, and turn it into a sort of mystery based around how his powers affect his brain, very cool. Spider-Verse plays with the "yes we all know how Spider-Man works, we've had at lease five movies about this", giving us the story of how Migel's powers came to be and using that as a contrast to the story we all think we know. Then with each additional Spider-Person we may get a clifnotes version to how they came to be, or they may actively bat away the notion of bothering, because we know the basics. I fell like both of these approaches worked well for me, a super hero lover who is for sure experiencing the fatigue of being bombarded with super hero media for 15 fucking years.

I, personally, feel like, at this point in Super Hero movies, you either need to do something unique and interesting with how a character gets their powers or you need to speed through that part and get on to telling more interesting components of the stories. Unfortunately Blue Beetle failed to do either. They leaned really hard on what my SO called the Equal Opposites trope, or what I think of as the You But Evil Trope. It's actually called Evil Counterpart, but it's tired no matter what you call it.

Now all that being said, I want to get onto the good stuff. This movie lays good groundwork! We're introduced to the fact there there are other scarabs in the first few seconds of the movie and some cool color grading in the movie hints at who at least one of them might be. Like yes, the end of the movie just slaps a fuckin' Scarlet Scarab cameo in there, hinting at, "Hang on, a cool bad guy who doesn't look like a toaster's heating element gone evil is coming!" But the intro had what looked like more than the 3 or 4 there are in Young Justice. They also did a good job of endearing us not just to Jaime, but to his family and even to Jenny Kord, who I admit, I was disappointed wasn't a power suit lesbian. And man am I excited to see where the previous BB having a backup? Copy? Of his brain in his computer will go. Assuming we get a second movie, since DC isn't great about that.

The movie is really... Pretty, I guess is the word for it. It's very colorful, without the "gritty realism" filter on almost any of it. Absent are the muted tones I've come to expect from this genre, instead various scenes are spooky and purple colored for sneaky bad guys, lit in glorious bisexual lighting for scenes with conflicting emotions, sour raspberry blue dominates the... Beetle Cave? The movie is full of bright colors which makes it really stand out against most other live action movies from its genre! Also, having a main character played by a star who's already familiar with playing a character who's experienced with martial arts made for fewer cuts in fight scenes and more engaging combat. There was also lots of flowey, artsy, interesting camera work, with the camera often zooming around, through pipes, accessing odd places as if mounted on a drone. Again, dynamic, interesting.

Also, I was shocked at the pretty frank acknowledgement of things like racism and fascism in the move. I've seen other stuff in the genre make fascist bad guys, but for a character to yell about how their fascist government is, ya know, a fascist government? Refreshing! From what I've seen online plenty of folks fell well represented by Jaime, his family, and his culture, which is good to see.

I'm going to give this movie what feels like a fairly low rating considering the good parts of it, but please check out how my scoring system works to better understand the number score. Though this movie did a lot right in terms of visuals, and got a pass from me on a lot for getting a character I'm really fond of on the big screen at last, it was a fairly boring movie, mostly because it didn't do much new. Which, 15 years into an onslaught of getting pelted with super hero media, it did need to do to be a truly good movie. In Summary: Yay, a Blue Beetle movie that's colorful, keeps most of the fights engaging, lays out groundwork for expanding in the sequel, and does the character decent justice! Boo, casting big name actors who are a distraction, and not doing anything new or interesting with an origin story.

Overall: 6/10

[just-my-type-x]

what about something where you go to a haunted location with sam and colby and the viewers know about yours and Colby's relationship so you're both like holding hands ect in the video and not hiding the affection???

Black Swan Inn - Colby Brock Imagine

Gif not mine

Today was the day i am finally on Sam and Colby's channel, also the first I'm introduced officially as Colby's girlfriend. It's weird, I'm not gonna lie, because i never thought our relationship will last. When Colby asked me properly of being his girlfriend, i partially laughed, but tried my best to hide it. I jokingly said yes and here we are, almost eight months of dating. Of course, our little secret couldn't be a secret for a long time, fans finding out about us in like two months.

"How are you feeling today? Are you excited for tonight?", Colby asks me, grinning at me while gesturing to the camera.

"I'm good, pretty nervous to be honest", i answer shyly and smile at the camera

"You're gonna have a blast! ", Sam says excited

"well, seeing shadows isn't our idea of a blast, but we're definitely gonna have fun", Nate speaks for the both of us and all of us laugh

"Agree", i laugh and the boys finish the intro

I follow Colby closely into the house, an eerie feeling already creeping in. I let out a sigh.

"This is creepy"

"If you don't feel alright, tell me and we're getting out of here", Colby holds my hand and gives me a small kiss on the forehead.

"Don't worry, Colbs. I'm looking forward for everything", i smile and take a step back from Colby as Sam starts the camera. Even tho fans know about us, i don't want our relationship to be the main thing they focus on. I start walking towards the closet, where every one of us peeked inside to see the weird arrangement of the mirrors. "We're gonna get into that in a second, but look how crazy it looks"

We all nod and step back, continuing the tour around the main floor and outside, to the barn. In the barn, the boys get the idea of starting the investigation there. Lights turned off, everything becomes scary in a second.

"Oh wow, this is dark", Colby laughs at my words and i sit on the couch next to him. I see Sam and Nate trying to move a three part mirror in front of us and, as hard as it is to see, it's funny how they step on things and curse because they can't see the way towards us. "Why didn't you do it with the lights on?", i ask and manage Sam through the dark so he doesn't step on our feet.

"Well, Colby could've used the lights from the camera but noooo", Sam complains and we a laugh again

"Oh shit, man, I'm sorry", Colby apologies and turns on the light right in front of Sam's face

"Motherfucker", he steps back and covers his eyes, while Nate and i hold our stomachs because of how bad it hurts from the laughter.

We get serious and start looking at ourselves in the mirror. I look at Colby and smile at him, he does the same. I take my phone out and tell the boys to smile. I take the photo and look at Colby's smile, showing it to him.

"You're so beautiful"

"We are very beautiful", he says and i melt inside

"Oh yeah yeah, we also look great", Nate jokes and i give him a funny look.

Time passes by and we go into the garden, heading to investigate the gazebo. I sit on the other side from Colby, close to the blue lantern and look closely to the house. In the exact same time, he points to the window and tells us about the shadow. Full goosebumps form on my body and embrace myself to comfort myself. Colby sprints towards the house and we all follow him.

"Where's y/n?", he turns abruptly and Nate almost knocks them down because of the speed he has.

"Here, here", he extends his arm towards me to grab him. I do so and he pulls me instantly to his chest.

"You ok? Let's go", i nod and hurry on his side, his steps bigger than mine.

We look around the house to make sure there are no homeless people or teenagers on the property.

"That really was a shadow oh my God", i say and exhale loudly. "Man, that was awesome"

"I'm glad you're not scared, baby", Colby smiles widely and hugs me tightly.

"I have you around, it's enough for me to feel ok", i kiss the part of the neck that i can reach

Colby and the boys talk a bit about the shadow situation while i hold the camera to film them. I follow them around and settle for the estes method and the closet session, which i chose not to participate to.

"That's all guys, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. See you next week with another episode", Sam moves his hands while talking to the camera. Colby puts one arm around my waist and i intertwine our fingers together.

"Thanks to Nate and my, if you can believe it, my lovely girlfriend, for being here. We hope you enjoyed their presence because you're definitely going to see more of them in the future", Colby ends the outro and turns off the camera. We all head to the car throwing one last glance at the Black Swan Inn.

[benoitblanc]

@emberoflife​ kind of (not really) requested a tutorial for how to merge two gifs together on photopea, and as this is something i’d been thinking about making anyway, i thought why not just do it? big shoutout to @bethmarchs​ again for teaching me how to do this in the first place... maybe lily should just be making these...

onward!

i’ll link my intro to photopea tutorial here for anyone who isn’t familiar with the program. once you feel reasonably comfortable with photopea, step one is to make your gifs. it’s SUPER important that they’re the same speed and the same number of frames. i also don’t tend to crop lengthwise here because you don’t know how much space each gif will ultimately take up, but that’s up to you. after making your gifs, download them.

now you’re going to want to reupload your gifs, then create your base canvas by going to file and selecting new (or selecting new project if you’re just opening the program.) you’ll want to set the dimensions to the dimensions you want your final gif to be, then name the canvas and set the background to black.

once you’ve done this, duplicate your gifs into the base canvas. you’ll do this by right clicking (for pc users) or two-finger clicking (for mac users) on the gif folder in the work bar, then selecting “duplicate into” and finding your base canvas on the dropdown. you want the gif you want on the bottom to duplicate in first, obviously.

now go into your base canvas, now with gifs in. left or single click on your bottom gif’s folder, then go up to the blending menu (the dropdown just above the workbar that should say “pass through”) and change the blending style to “lighten.” repeat for the second gif.

so now you’re going to have what is either going to look super cool or look like a total mess: 

as you can see, the boards on the window are now sticking out of daniel’s head and there’s a lamp in peggy’s hair. not to worry! this is just overlap from the gifs. the first step to fixing this is to position your gifs. you can do this by clicking on the first frame of one of your gifs, then holding shift and clicking on the last frame to select all. you’ll know you’ve selected all because they’ll all be light grey. now use the cursor in the toolbar to drag your frames to wherever you want them. repeat for the second gif.

(i actually positioned my gifs before changing the blending style, which you can do, but it’s a lot easier to do it after because you can see the subjects in both gifs at once.)

once the gifs are in place, you want to start getting rid of all the weird overlap. close your gif folders to give yourself some sanity, then click on one and go to the very bottom of the workbar. click on the thing that looks like a greyscale japanese flag to add a raster mask.

what is a raster mask, you might be thinking? a raster mask indicates how much of a layer or folder is showing. white indicates that the layer is 100% opaque, while black means that it’s 100% not there. you can use greys on a raster mask if you want something in between, but i usually don’t.

in order to get rid of things using a raster mask, you want to go to the paintbrush in the toolbar, then set the size to whatever you’d like and the hardness to 0%. make sure the paint color is black in the color picker (the two rectangles at the bottom of the toolbar). if you go overboard and want to make things show again later, just change the paint color back to white.

now, with the raster mask selected, paint over everything you don’t want showing. on the raster mask, it’ll show up black, but on the canvas, it should just erase. if the canvas starts turning black, you’ve selected the whole layer instead of the raster mask, and you need to start this step over. once you’ve gotten rid of what you want on the gif you chose, you need to repeat this for the other gif.

you’re almost done! now you want to select both gif folders by using the same method you used to select all frames earlier, then go up to layer in the master menu. scroll down to animation and select “merge” to combine your gifs.

add desired text, download, et voila :)

as ever, let me know if you have any questions!

[clonesupport]

Saudade's Affair

a josiah trelawny x f!reader series - chapter 1

Saudade : [of Portuguese origin] a feeling of profound melancholic longing for an absent something or someone that one cares for and loves

Masterlist (x)

word count: +1.4k

chapter warnings: none that i can think of, just an intro chapter getting you into the story, reader is female and like around 20 ish years old something like that, or honestly whatever age works but there is an age gap between trelawny and reader.

a/n: my first ever series omg how fun, haven't quite finished the end yet but we'll see how it goes. this is the intro chapter so its kinda boring until near the end, kind of a quick little summary of chapter 1 going into chapter 2 to get things started.

this started as a self insert day dream and then kinda snowballed in a few days into a whole ass story so uhhh yeah lol this is very self indulgent. anyway i hope yall enjoy :)

It's mid winter, the snow is blowing hard into your face and the sky is pitch black. Riding through the Grizzlies in this weather is treacherous. You can barely see ahead of yourself as is without the sunlight and this snow storm is only making it harder than it needs to be.

You've just escaped blackwater, riding north into the mountains to get the Pinkertons off your tails, 'the ferry job went wrong' you'd heard. Everyone was scrambling to collect what they could, packing next to nothing and fleeing the camp near Blackwater. The gang had left too much back in that camp, in Blackwater, left some good money too. Hell you even left some people back there.

Some of you were wounded and too many of you were freezing your asses off. This snow storm was relentless and you all definitely did not come prepared for the Grizzlies on such short notice. 'Who the hell's idea was this?' you think to yourself.

You had stayed back for the ferry robbery, you were instructed to do so, too dangerous you suppose. You've only joined the gang for about a year now, guess you're not too experienced to do a job like that. Although it does make sense, you were never that great behind the gun in pressured situations come to think of it.

Usually you do simple pit-pockets or cons with Hosea and the other girls. Sometimes you'd help Charles or Arthur with hunting but usually end up not doing much besides foraging while they do all the work. But you've learned a few tricks, they've also taught you how to properly shoot and track during your hunts. You figured it was the easier and safer way to learn instead of getting stuck in a shoot out.

You helped take care of the camp while the others were away on that ferry. Everyone wonders what happened that night, no one's given a straight answer yet.

One second you was helping Pearson with the stew and the next the boys were galloping back to camp at full speed, telling the gang to pack only what you could carry. Before you knew it you were fleeing town in the dead of night, watching the life you had made for yourselves get left behind.

After a long ride in the freezing blizzard you arrive at this abandoned bundle of buildings named Colter. The gang stopped for the night, making camp in the rundown but still sturdy enough buildings. By morning the wagons were snowed in, feet of snow covered the ground and the equipment. 'Looks like we have no choice but to lie low here for a while and wait for the snow to melt.' you thought, investigating the wagons.

The next couple weeks were rough and cold. With nothing to do every day as you waited for the days to get warmer and spring to arrive, staying warm by a fire was all you could do to entertain yourselves. Food was scarce but when was it ever not? Only now you were living off a few cans of beans and two rabbits every few days.

By the time spring dawned upon you, the gang was heading out down east, back down the mountain and into the heartlands as Hosea said. He said he knew a place the gang could set up camp for a bit, hopefully get yourselves back on your feet.

Horseshoe Overlook it was called, and well Hosea definitely knew what he was talking about because it was the perfect spot for everyone. The overlook sure was beautiful, hidden by trees in this little clearing on a cliff. You'd have to admit, you really liked it here.

It took the gang a couple weeks to get settled but once everything was set up, the place started to look pretty cozy.

Dutch had told you and Arthur to meet up later with Javier and Charles in this little town nearby called Valentine. Javier and Charles said they were going to the saloon, Arthur had already left some time ago. You decided to make your way into the town after giving the boys some time, drinking at saloons was never really your style.

It was a peaceful ride into town, a quiet evening, though it did look like it would rain soon. It was nice to get away from camp once in a while and a ride with your horse into a new town was always a fun idea. You wonder what the others were currently doing in town.

You were right about the rain. Upon finally arriving, now beginning to feel the rain through your coat, the first thing you notice is the smell of sheep. 'Can't say it's the most appealing scent but the sheep are cute.' you thought. The town was cute too, pretty small, but just like camp it felt homey.

Riding into town you notice a crowd of people huddled outside around the saloon, 'something tells me that's the boys' doing.' You hitch your horse nearby and make your way over to the now slowly dispersing crowd. Spotting a very muddied Arthur past the crowd, you join him on the shop front of the general store.

"What the hell happened to you?" you asked giggling lightly seeing his muddy face look back at you like a wounded dog. You hand him your handkerchief to perhaps aid in cleaning himself up a bit, however there is quite a bit of him covered in muck.

"Fought some big feller at the bar." He half mumbled to himself, using the handkerchief to wipe at his eyes and mouth.

"You got bathed in mud by a bar fight?" you stated unconvinced, "Not a lot of mud inside of a building last time I checked." you chuckle again seeing Arthur returning your comment with an unimpressed expression.

"Very funny," He grumbles. "got thrown out a damn window and fought...well, there.." he motioned to the muddy road in front of the saloon that did in fact have a broken window.

Right as you were about to poke fun at him again, your ears perk up at the sound of someone's voice calling to Arthur.

"Making new friends again I see, Arthur!" you see Dutch before you followed by none other than Josiah Trelawny himself, no wonder you recognized that voice.

You've only met Trelawny a few times in the past year that you've been with the gang. He's known for hopping around often, he rarely spends too much time with the gang unless need be. However with Trelawny always coming and going so frequently, you've barely had many chances to really get to know each other.

You'd have to admit he was an intriguing character, 'and handsome' you thought as you watched him and Dutch walking towards where you sat with Arthur.

Little did you know Trelawny always found you rather interesting. Quite frankly he liked you, he's had his eye on you for some time even though the two of you never often got a chance to speak.

"Look who we found sniffing about." Dutch motioned to Trelawny behind him.

You watch as Trelawny's familiar figure waltzes up to where you and Arthur sat, top hat upon his head as always. You smile towards him in greeting.

"Josiah Trelawny." Arthur chimes and you watch Trelawny follow with a bow.

"The very same." Dutch replies.

"Well well, I thought you'd gone to New York." Arthur inquires, gesturing to Trelawny.

"And miss all this glamour? You must be joking." Trelawny teases back before turning to you taking a step foreward. "Ah! A pleasure as always my dear y/n! You look ever stunning my lady." He takes your hand in his gloved one, bringing it to his lips kissing your knuckles.

You blush in return, the gesture had caught you off guard as you spoke a quiet, "Why thank you Trelawny." feeling your ears begin to burn hot.

"How are you?" Arthur chips in.

"Well," Trelawny answers, "quite well indeed. I went back to Blackwater looking for you gentlemen. You're not very popular there it seems."

Javier and Charles now joined by Bill approach the four of you. Everyone does their little greetings, reacquainting with one another. Trelawny intervenes, giving you and the boys a tip on where he heard Sean was back in Blackwater. With that Dutch groups together a scheme separating each of you to a task.

Trelawny is sent off with Charles and Javier to Blackwater to watch out for Sean. Arthur is told to meet up with them when he's cleaned up and ready. You're told to ride with Trelawny and Javier to Blackwater first while Bill stays with Dutch.

You mount your horse and join the Trelawny and Javier, beginning your long ride back to the outskirts of Blackwater.

[feelingofcontent]

DNP Rewatch: Anthony, Dan or a RAT?

Date video was published: 07/14/2017 (X)

DNP Main Channel Rewatch: 351

The first of the collab videos with Anthony (Dan’s is up next). They filmed this at Anthony’s house when they were in LA for VidCon. 

0:00 - Dan’s on the “wrong” side of Phil and it’s throwing me off

0:07 - zoom in on the “yikes” look on Dan’s face

0:15 - Phil’s little smirk at Dan before he tells them what this video is is great

0:20 - lol at “I have spent years” Dan knows he’s full of shit

0:42 - I love both Anthony and Dan’s reactions

0:55 - Dan knows exactly where this is going because he knows how Phil’s brain works but Anthony isn’t so sure

1:04 - this video is such a random concept but even the intro always makes me laugh

1:48 - Phil in editing making sure we got that “have you sourced pictures of us for this?” from Dan. now Dan is really scared of where this is going

2:13 - that is a weird difference in name pronunciation

2:30 - lol at the synchronization at the end of that

2:38 - Anthony was not prepared for what this was going to be like. I love him just getting closer to stare at it while DNP talk to the camera

2:59 - a photo of that exists on Dan’s own Instagram 😂 (unless he’s thinking of a separate time than the hair chalk)

3:06 - Phil’s chosen such a smiley photo of Anthony and a serious one of Dan there

3:12 - lol, how would you recognize the specific photo

3:24 - Anthony and Phil are having a whole conversation and Dan is just staring at the old photo...and then I think he realizes and gives a look at te camera

3:43 - Dan is definitely reminiscing about some things in his head from this...

3:51 - Anthony is quite confident with these so far

4:01 - little Phil touches

4:20 - Phil has now described rats as “sexy” twice in this ...sure

4:26 - Dan’s like... ‘this is my business partner, help’

4:43 - Phil is already having too much fun with this. I love him just smirking as they debate

5:12 - Dan was too distracted by the photo to be upset about losing at first

5:16 - Phil is doing so much zooming in on Dan’s facial expressions in this video

5:45 - now Dan’s trying to predict the exact photo...

5:57 - ...and he was wrong

6:11 - Phil was impressed with that joke

6:27 - “it could be a different body part” now Anthony’s just disturbed

6:33 - I love that Phil just rolls with that comment 😂

6:49 - now Dan’s embarrassed that he was so confident with that answer

7:13 - Phil trying so hard to speed it up

7:25 - Phil also implying that Dan’s long hair was never that good, lol

7:44 - lots of Anthony photos in a row

7:50 - Dan is laughing now, but just wait...

8:10 - “16-year-old Dan wished he looked like this” awww

8:23 - Anthony keeps guessing Dan in hopes that it’s not him

8:34 - Dan playing straight into Phil’s plans for this. also, Dan is now regretting laughing at the Anthony photos 😂

8:40 - “that’s a penis” alrighty Dan

9:09 - spending way too much time discussing the rat penis

9:25 - Phil not having any demonetized videos up to this point is actually pretty impressive

9:49 - Anthony’s reactions to these horrific photos of Dan are great. Phil has set this up just to be a little shit to Dan and I love it. Phil had that photo ready-to-go because he had just used it for his Tinder video

10:40 - Dan knows what this is! although he’s not happy about it

10:43 - Dan’s instinct is to slam the laptop shut and then take it away from Phil. I’m laughing so hard at this bit 😂😂😂

10:58 - I love Phil so much

11:06 - “there’s just more embarrassing photos of you on the internet, Dan” too true

11:32 - “I’m the only emo left” Phil had just talked about this in the hair curling video too; he doesn’t want to talk about it more it seems

11:41 - also this is kind of previewing Dan’s video with Anthony...I’m guessing they filmed that one first maybe

11:58 - I think Anthony is thinking of Dan’s leather shirt; I don’t think Dan ever had leather pants

12:15 - “not one of you guys” ahahaha 😳

12:37 - king of comedy Phil with the credits here...”no rats were harmed in the making of this, but Dan’s self esteem was” DEAD

The things that come out of Phil’s brain. I love this video a lot.

When Phil posted this, Dan was visiting his family (1, 2) and then a couple of days later, DNP went to Wimbledon (1, 2, 3). They were invited by Instagram, so they shared several photos.