#and the youtube captions say ''straight'' too

[secondbeatsongs]

hey real talk, in s14e04 of Taskmaster, did Greg seriously say "I'm not straight enough to appreciate rap", or am I somehow mishearing this?

[gamora-borealis]

here's the thing. to outsiders it may seem like we're excited because "phan is real!!" or whatever. but they don't know... it's not about that. phan has been real this entire time. there's always been evidence that dan and phil were together, more or less (more evidence than I think some people realize). the reason phan™ is such a big deal is because two silly gay boys met online in 2009, but their fame quickly outgrew their comfort zone and they quickly went back in the closet. dan was so traumatized from being bullied in school that he had a public meltdown on tumblr in 2012 insisting he was straight after some very private stuff leaked (that he insisted was a unused prank). after going to therapy and meeting so many queer fans on tour, dan slowly began to hint again that he was queer. but it still took them until 2019 to officially come out! and like. dan essentially confirmed that yes all the public online flirting back in 2009/2010 between him and phil was very real and that they were "more than just romantic" at that point and were currently "real best friends, life companions, and soulmates." but that was it, they weren't going to share any more. which is perfectly fine, but some of that definitely had to do with dan wanting to explore himself outside of the Dan and Phil™ brand (which unfortunately he got fucked over by the pandemic and by YouTube in the process). however they did eventually make a very cute announcement that they had bought and designed a new house together. and bit by bit they started making some more coupley jokes about each other here and there and sharing glimpses of a bedroom with both of their stuff in it, though it was still fairly subdued. but then dan finally got to go do his solo comedy tour and when he came back, shit suddenly CHANGED. 2023 was wild. they brought back their joint gaming channel they hadn't touched in five years since just before they came out. and they basically started the public flirting again??? this time on camera??? maybe not as direct as the 2009 stuff at first but. it's definitely been building up close to it. and then Dan finally releases his comedy special for free on YouTube. Phil writes a gushy tweet about it. and dan just replies with 🧡. ...except for within a larger birthday tweet in 2023, dan had not used a heart emoji for phil since like... 2010??? and then suddenly he screenshots this interaction and POSTS IT ON HIS YOUTUBE COMMUNITY TAB with the caption "gay" and a link to his special. like. this isn't about confirmation... the people who have been saying that they probably aren't together or that you shouldn't think or wonder if they are were like, the twitter morality police, ex-phannies, and generally clueless people. tumblr phannies clearly have known that they've been gay for each other for the past 15 years. but this whole "gay 🧡" incident is the first time Dan Howell has very publicly said something like this about his relationship while being "unapologetically gay" as a very public figure (there's been some magazine interviews that technically have come close but, nothing as direct as this). like that is so fucking huge??? that he and phil are finally comfortable enough online, on YouTube, and in life, to go there!!! as we are now approaching fifteen years of them together too!!! like, it's so nice to get to celebrate such a happy queer relationship and expression of queer joy. and dan has hinted that bigger stuff is coming too... like. yeah phan is real I guess 🙃

[lightfeltmemories]

toge inumaki; general boyfriend headcanons

note: my first work related to jjk, and i can't lie, i like the funny cursed speech user he's a cutie, so, here are some sfw mainly fluff headcanons if he was your boyfriend, if he's ooc i apologize, don't chew my asshole a new one i'm new here. (some of my headcanons are also inspired from some i saw on tik tok), requests are open for any jjk character (yes, even mahito) if you want to see more content like this.

tags & warnings: mentions of period products.

to start, since he can't exactly speak, it's going to be difficult to speak with you, so, if you manage to snag his phone number things will be a whole lot easier for the both of you, and thus, gives him the confidence to ask you out (please say yes.)

someone like panda or maki will probably let you know beforehand like a "yeah he likes you" or something.

but once you say yes, you'll have pretty much contemplated on whether or not you've found your soulmate.

he likes getting active with you, playing sports and such, even if you're not the best at it, he still sees it as a form of bonding and quality time, may or may not get a bit too competitive sometimes and you will cry if he wins too many times.

you are not exempt from his trolling, if anything, you're more susceptible, he won't do anything too over the top though, just some lighthearted fun the both of you can enjoy.

is definitely the type to send a meme to keep the convo going, and a reaction image when you say something that calls for the right opportunity to send it.

loves cuddling and watching movies or youtube videos with you, mainly the latter,

(over text) calls you babe or baby, or even a weird nicknamed variation of your name, doesn't mind if you call him bro since he'll do the same to you.

not the jealous type, unless someone says something to or about you that makes you uncomfortable (uses his cursed speech to tell them to shit their pants), isn't very controlling either, doesn't care about what you wear out.

but this doesn't mean he won't let people know you're his, such as walking beside you or hand in hand.

posts you on his instagram, he's insanely cheeky and cringe about it too, a picture of the two of you together at a carnival and the caption is "my world" or something of that nature, straight middle school cornball shit.

he also has loads of pictures of you... doing whatever, he may or may not have snuck a picture of you sleeping once or twice, he couldn't help it, you were cute.

if you were to ever ask him the question "would you still love me if i was a worm" his answer would be a sarcastic "no."

doesn't let you steal his food.

is the type to ask "what size is your pussy" when he's going to get tampons/pads for you, probably much to your annoyance, he also doesn't have much shame in doing it, either.

he's very protective of you, and wants to keep you safe.

mixed on pda, he's affectionate but not shameless about it, he'll give you a kiss on the cheek, a peck on the lips, or a hug.

when looking through his phone he doesn't have much going on, and definitely doesn't text anyone else romantically, he doesn't even like selfies of other girls, that man is loyal hands down, and expects the same for you.

he cooks for you sometimes, but can also teach you how to if you don't know how.

doesn't care much for gender roles.

doesn't mind being big spoon or little spoon, as long as he gets to sleep next to you.

loves seeing you in his clothes, with your scent tied to it and all.

likes going to parks and fun events with you.

he definitely wants to marry you one day, not too sure on kids, though.

he loves you more than anything and you know that. :)

[boxboxlewis]

Daniel finds out about Max’s divorce from a Google alert.

“FORMER F1 CHAMPION NEWLY SINGLE, SEEN HITTING THE BARS IN MONACO.” Journalistic excellence from the Daily Mail, as always. But when actual newspapers start reporting on it, Daniel decides to reach out. He texts Max a cat meme. Subtext: sorry about your failed relationship, also I know you like cats. Max texts back Are you trying to cheer me up, and then 😂. It’s unclear if he’s 😂 at the cat or the notion of Daniel attempting to comfort. While Daniel is trying to figure this out a third text comes in. Stop reading stupid shit by dumb assholes who don’t know anything.

Nah it’s all good, I can’t read, Daniel replies. He hesitates, and then adds I am like. Sorry about stuff with kelly or whatever though.

Max thumbs-up reacts the message, and doesn’t reply.

Daniel figures Max’ll probably just start dating another exquisitely beautiful, exquisitely groomed woman with a disconcerting resemblance to his own mother. They’re ten a penny in Monaco, where Max still for some reason lives. 

He’s not prepared for the next tranche of articles his Google Alert brings him. “MAX VERSTAPPEN SEEN LEAVING GAY BAR.” “VERSTAPPEN REFUSES TO ADDRESS RUMOURS.” “VETTEL COMES TO VERSTAPPEN’S DEFENCE: ‘HE HAS A RIGHT TO A PRIVATE LIFE.’” Like… people go to gay bars sometimes, even if they’re straight. But do straight people let Seb Vettel defend their honour in the media?

Daniel opens his text thread with Max and types Hey, are you. You know. 

He deletes it, obviously. He’s got a lot going on in his own life. Brand ambassadorships out the ass, his film production company, his vineyard. He sends Max another dumb meme and calls it good. Max is just doing Max stuff. It’s some belated F1 champion rumspringa, probably, because when he was an actual teenager he was psychotically focussed on racing. He’ll settle down soon enough.

Daniel really isn’t expecting him to announce live on Dutch television that he has a boyfriend. The clip is in Dutch, obviously, but someone has added English captions, and Daniel watches over and over again. RIP his YouTube algorithm. It’s some daytime talk show, the kind of thing Max hates, the kind of thing he’d never do unless someone was twisting his arm about it. The host asks all sickly sweet if there’s a special someone in Max’s life. Max says, “Well yes of course there is my boyfriend.” The “of course” in Dutch sounds like naturally. Naturally, naturally. “And my family I am very close to, as well.” The camera dwells with voyeuristic glee on the talkshow host’s face as she tries and fails to pick her expression up from the floor. “Your boyfriend?” she manages. Max nods, impatient. Daniel rewinds the clip. Your boyfriend? Your boyfriend? Your boyfriend?

Daniel decides to visit Monaco. Not because of Max. It’s summer and the swing of the season is funnelling him that way, that’s all, towards the parties and the glittering people dancing on yachts, getting high, bright and beautiful, living that good life. He doesn’t have an apartment there anymore, but Max does, because Max never left: still has his custom penthouse with its views of the harbour. Unless—it’s a weird thought—unless Kelly kept it in the divorce. But when he texts Max to invite himself to stay, Max doesn’t mention anything about a new address. 

Max also doesn’t sound, like, super enthused, but that’s just how he is. It’s his natural Dutchness, most likely. Fine you can come then. You are lucky I don’t have plans is probably just the Dutch way of saying “Yeah sounds great, looking forward to reconnecting.” You are very annoying is probably how people from the Netherlands express affection. Daniel texts back Love you too my brother 🤘🤘

He gets his hair touched up before he goes, a little bit of tattooing at the roots in the front. He does a spray tan, and gets his face dermaplaned (not in that order). You can’t go to Monaco and not look good, that's all.

It always feels kind of weird, flying into Nice in a non-F1 context, first class instead of private, but Daniel fits, still: gets asked for his autograph at the airport, and then on the concourse, and when he stops to put petrol in his rental car (a sweet little Porsche, nice). He tosses his keys to the valet at Max’s building and the valet goggles. That’s right, baby: twelve-time Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo is in town. Daniel winks and the valet turns gratifyingly mauve.

Max, when Daniel pushes into his apartment, is less enthusiastic. “Daniel. I really do not know why you’ve come.”

Daniel ignores him in favour of crouching down, trying to pet Jimmy or Sassy. “Hey, little guy,” he croons. “Or girl. What’s up? Do you remember Uncle Danny? Am I in town to show your daddy a good time? Yeah I am! That’s right. That’s right.” Jimmy or Sassy scowls at him and swipes with one needle-tipped paw. All right, drama queen. Daniel stands back up and grins at Max. “I mean, mostly I wanted to meet your boyfriend,” he says, for some reason. What the fuck, Ricciardo. He keeps grinning, styles it out. “Gotta give him the old shovel speech, right?”

Max is doing the blank-eyed stare Daniel remembers so well from their racing days. It’s wildly disconcerting coming from this Max, who looks. Different, that’s all. He’s thick, still fit and well-muscled but heavy with it now, t-shirt stretched over the layer of hard fat covering his abdomen, face softer. He’s a bear of a man, he could—he could do lots of things, obviously. It’s fine. It’s just that part of Daniel still expects him to be the gawky teenager Daniel loomed over.

Max says, “What do you want to say to my boyfriend about shovels,” and for a bewildering moment Daniel has no idea what he’s talking about. 

“Oh, no, it’s like—it’s a saying, or whatever, when someone starts dating someone. I mean, usually dads say it, I guess, but like—the idea is if he mistreats you I’ll…” Daniel trails off as he realises he’s not actually sure what “shovel speech” means. “Uh, hit him with a shovel? Or I guess potentially, like, use it to bury his corpse. Whiiiich is a joke! Not actually going to bury anyone.” No, weird comment, Daniel’s not actually going to bury anyone t-shirt is raising a lot of questions et cetera. Hastily, he adds “As long as he behaves!” and then stands there mentally kicking himself while Jimmy/Sassy yowls soulfully near his ankles. He's never like this, he never loses control of a conversation like this. It's agonising.

Max stares at him for a long moment, and then cracks up. “Daniel, you are still so weird,” he says. It sounds kind of affectionate. 

“You know it, baby,” Daniel says. “So, where’s the boyf?

Max’s cheeks go a little red, it looks like. Maybe Daniel’s imagining it. “Ricardo is at the gym,” he says.

Daniel has to have misheard that. “Sorry, what’s this dude’s name?”

“Ricardo,” Max says grumpily. “My boyfriend.”

“Right, yeah, of course.” Once again Daniel decides, against his better judgement, to style it out. “Uh, is he Australian, by any chance? And devastatingly charismatic?”

Max sighs, as if Daniel is being really annoying. “He is from Melbourne. And yeah, he is okay I think. Maybe you won’t like him though, because you like always to be the funniest one. Come on, I will show you to your guest room.”

Daniel manages a casual-sounding, “Haha, you got me.” They’re walking through the apartment, now, Max leading the way. For a moment Daniel just watches the sunburned back of his neck.

[damnfandomproblems]

"Gonna have to disagree with 5604…fandom was created by and for POC and queer people, so it’s understandable to be cautious around content that caters to cisheteronormativity. Some people take it too far I guess, but it’s valid to be protective of something you use to find relief from your oppressors, especially when said oppressors try to weasel their way into the spaces you’ve made for yourselves and others. Sort of like the “you don’t belong here, make your own space” but then “why are you excluding us” image."

As a queer "poc" (bisexual Tlingit/native "american"), fandom was created mostly by white moms and their teenage white daughters. Reading any fanfic pre 2016 makes this painfully clear. POC and queers, however, have risen in numbers in fandom spaces and make up a good portion of it nowadays and fandom now is one of the most inclusive places you can find. Most slash malexmale fics were written by white women, not queer poc. fandom was made by white moms sharing star trek fanfiction with their other white mom friends. fandom was popularized by white teenage girls writing and posting fanfiction and fanart to old now gone fansites, DeviantArt, live journal, ff.n, Wattpad, quotev, hell, even too YouTube in a slide format using a bunch of stolen fanart and screenshots with their fanfic captioning the images. Fandom, I would say, is the one of the very few places you can trust most of the white women/people in general to not be assholes/oppressive/bigoted/whatever word applies/[insert]/etc. They didn't weasel their way into our space, they made it, and offered us cookies when we came knocking on the door. Literally the only time I don't feel instant distrust of cishets white if if I see they're a fangirl/boy/etc

"Sometimes straight couples being depicted can be traumatic for queer fandom folks, and that needs to be respected. Don’t tell people to off themselves because of ships even if the hatred is valid, but also realize that queer people aren’t obligated to respect your cishet ships."

... this is bait, isn't it? that or you are horribly missing the term "traumatic" out of place of great ignorance. Is walking outside and seeing a het couple also traumatic then? Also, no one is required to respect anything? just don't be an asshole?? if you don't like something to the point even seeing is "traumatic", don't look/interact with it??

Posting as a response to a previous ask.

[goober-37]

I wish YouTube captions were written better y’all cause it drives me mad. Some creators who edit their captions themselves do a great job! @annamarieforcino specifically will tag who speaks in her video, put dialog in quotations if it’s from the vid/show she’s reacting to, and she doesn’t use the fuckass “[_]” style captions YouTube generates even if her audio has swears censored. I love the way she captions!

I’m not diagnosed with any hearing issues but sometimes words straight up just don’t sound real to me. I either just straight up can’t hear them or it sounds like a load of nonsense to me–especially if there’s too much background noise that my brain can’t figure out what to tune into. I can hear, but reading captions as I’m hearing what people say makes it easier to understand and actually capture everything said if that makes sense.

YouTube having really lousy, overly censored captions really pisses me off. Makes it harder to enjoy what I like watching because half the time the captions are inaccurate, unavailable in English for some reason (happened with a couple Flamingo videos??), or every single goddamn swear (or what the captions think is a swear) gets censored completely and takes away my ability to fill in the gap if I couldn’t catch the actual swear or if the creator censored the audio.

I understand creators censoring swears for brand deals and monetization but I hate the auto generated captions censoring too heavily and throwing off my reading. I despise that the captions don’t even accurately pick up what’s said half the time so then I get confused hearing a word and reading the wrong word at the same time and thinking “wait what 🤨 did they say that or am I stupid??”

Idk lmao I mean I thrive off captions and my dad being HOH means we always have captions on movies and shows and at least those are written and tagged well. I wish YouTube were a lil better about it without making every creator hand write all their captions because even I find that tedious when I custom write my tiktok captions.

[demonic-shadowlucifer]

How to spot and identify Clickbait!

(PT: How to spot Clickbait!) Slight trigger warning for unreality-inducing elements. Ahh clickbait. We've all seen it before. While clickbait may be obvious to identify, sometimes it's not always the case. With recent hockey rumors being spread (Something I already talked about on my hockey blog @blusical), I've seen a lot of clickbait titles/articles pop up. And I want to talk about how to identify it. First though, what is Clickbait? Clickbait is typically a link or a thumbnail meant to attract attention and hook readers into reading an article or watching a video. This form of content is typically over-exaggerated or straight up misinformation. One thing to keep in mind is that not all clickbait is exactly malicious. Most of the time it's usually annoying, though it can sometimes be used for humorous purposes (Say, a comedic YouTuber titling a mostly humorous video with "Here's why your hockey team sucks"). However, some people can take it too far, and it can be used to spread false information and can also be used to give people malware. When it comes to reading an article, try to look for the following when avoiding clickbait. Title format. Most clickbait articles use an advertising technique called Chumboxing, which refers to advertisements that use thumbnail grids and captions to drive traffic. These articles may be formatted in ways such as "Parents HATE this simple trick", "Secrets that the FBI doesn't want you to know!" and vise-versa. Another thing to look out for is words that are capitalized. Most clickbait titles tend to capitalize random words, or sometimes the entire title.

Additionally, keep an eye out for language that tries to make you do certain things or make you feel certain things. Stuff that's like "This is what happens when you do [x]", "Here's why you shouldn't do this!", "Moments that will make you happy/sad/angry".

(Watchmojo's in a lot of these aren't they?)

Those titles can also be very fear-mongering and may cause paranoia and anxiety in many. Also be sure to watch out for any title that uses sayings like "speechless", "shocking", "expert", "[x person] says", "must do" or any similar sayings, since odds are, they're clickbait.

Lastly, look for context in the article title if there's any? So the title mentions an expert? Is there a name? It mentions an athlete? Which one? Which sport? Is there a quote in the article? Who said it? And why was it said? Thumbnails.

Clickbait articles and videos will also use thumbnails or pictures to get clicks. What do those look like? Some thumbnails can be very heavily edited. This is one thing to look out for when it comes to videos. Now, this isn't always a sign of clickbait. Since many YouTubers do it to get clicks. Say, a gaming YouTuber simply adding "OMG" in the thumbnail of a video of them playing Dangranronpa (if you know you know).

However there are some that go over the top. Such as unnecessary text in the thumbnail, a bunch of images mashed together, those useless red arrows, you get the idea.

(By the way there is just so much wrong with this that I don't even know where to start).

Some thumbnails may also include images that, while they match the caption, don't provide much context to what's being talked about Again, context people! These usually tend to be stock images (And with the rise of AI, it's also important to look out for AI generated thumbnails too!)

And then there's clickbait with thumbnails that aren't even relevant to the title.

Some websites to look out for/avoid (Please correct me if I made a mistake):

While every website posts clickbait at some point, some do it more than others. And a lot of the times it's typically misleading or downright malicious. Most of the infamous ones include: Buzzfeed. TMZ (As well as most tabloids) AddictingInfo Upworthy. Deadspin (That site also just has questionable content to begin with). ViralNova Huffington Post And probably others but those were the first ones that came to my head. Final notes:

Not every article or YouTuber that does these things is automatically clickbaiting. However if it does more than one of those things, or it does it more often than not.. time to become skeptical. Again, clickbaiting isn't exactly good or bad. Most of the time it's just annoying, and in some cases can be used for comedic purposes (But either way, just... don't do it lol).

[musicarenagh]

John Conlin Drops Heartache Anthem “Months and Months” Ever stumbled on a track that instantly felt like it turned your heartache into an anthem? If not, let me cue you in on John Conlin's newest single "Months and Months," which has been spinning through my speakers on repeat - to the point where I'm pretty sure my neighbors are about ready to stage an intervention! https://open.spotify.com/album/2Kkyx9ovSgidhN1QIf5BUy Kicking off with a beat crafted to get even the most reluctant toes tapping, this electric pop potion is concocted with lashings of synth-infused vitality which blends nostalgia and liberation in one masterstroke. You know those tracks that make you want to dance around in your underwear while simultaneously texting your ex "thanks but no thanks"? This is the absolute embodiment. Let’s zoom straight into those male vocals – we're talking raw emotion wrapped up snugly in silk-smooth delivery. Conlin takes us on his journey from longing whispers shuffling down memory lanes best left untrodden, right through to declarations of self-preservation belted out with assertive clarity. It's amidst this vocal roller-coaster where we find ourselves wholly invested; because who hasn't had that sing-it-from-the-rooftop moment screaming (or rather crooning), "let's keep it that way"? Now onto what makes this single all click together – intent meets talent meets precision production. The engineers behind “Months and Months” have clearly sweated every detail: how else could they ensnare us so fully in its head-nodding euphoria? [caption id="attachment_52648" align="alignnone" width="768"] John Conlin Drops Heartache Anthem “Months and Months”[/caption] Conlin spins vulnerability like sugar fibers into candyfloss levity during each chorus refrain - hookier than Captain Hook’s hardware after a fish-o’-five days at sea! His repeated stanzas are more than just earworms; they’re mantras for anyone caught between longing for someone toxic and swooping towards fresher skies. So picture yourself, sunset-gazing after ditching baggage too weighty— yeah, the song pairs well with such scenes—infusing listeners with upbeat vibes as if saying 'sure you've got scars but don’t forget those dancing shoes'. It’s evident John Conlin doesn’t merely churn songs; he crafts vessels meant for sailing stormy emotional seas toward brighter horizons. With echoes resonating somewhere between Robyn's electro heartbeat sincerity and Imagine Dragons' anthemic appeal tossed overboard by The 1975's sardonic smirkiness when navigating love lost—all aboard ‘Months and Months’ stands towering. To sum things up—a break-up banger? An emancipation songfest? A victory lap clad in neon nachtlicht rajahs?! Whatever label suits your fancy—just ensure “Months and Months” finds its rightful place among this year’s powerhouse playlists—it demands nothing less! So here I am signing off before I accidentally manifest that dreaded knock from next door—you’ve got some impassioned soundscapes awaiting exploration! Follow John Conlin on Website, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.

[absolutebl]

I saw you reblogged a few posts regarding subtitles and how they’re often not really the ~best~ lol. It reminded me how when Semantic Error was airing, some people who knew both English and Korean were a bit annoyed and/or confused at how the show was subbed because it cut out a lot of the more cheeky/rude and explicit language (in addition to there being some inaccurately or awkwardly translated dialogue). This seems to be an issue across countries too! I wonder why it happens. Things being inaccurately or awkwardly translated could just be from subbers not being proficient enough in one language to translate and keep the same meaning and make it flow in the translated language. However, I find the cutting out or censoring of bad language to be kind of odd and I’m curious what the thought process is there. That doesn’t seem like just translators who haven’t mastered the skill, it seems more intentional, but I can’t figure out why they might do it!

Why Are Subs/Captions Censored? Or different? Or inaccurate?  

Yeah, those of you who got the GaGa subs for Semantic Error reportedly got better swears, but less accuracy in other regards. I only saw Viki's subs and some screen caps. 

This was one of my favorites off GaGa: 

And I *think* it is straight up a wrong translation. 

Also there was this bit of Cutie Pie:

That was challenged by the bilingual community, then re-captioned so now this version doesn’t even exist any more. (Or something like that, I wasn’t paying very close attention.) 

So why does this happen? Why are they different? And why no bad language (I get to that in #4.) 

Sub Challenge # 1 - Cultural Depth & Nuance 

Okay so I had to do a whole post about Daisy and Intouch’s language nuance in ONE SCENE in SCOY in order to explain what was going on in just 3 sentences. The translator even copped up to how complicated it was. 

That’s just how it is sometimes with language. There is too much nuance. There actually is no way to do a direct translation. 

Sometimes subbers or sub teams do put in comments saying this kind of thing. The Stay subber for Kingdom LW on Viki is hilarious. And do you any of you remember... who was it? PinkMilk? Back in the day, who did 2 Moons grey for us? What a HOOT those subs were. I kinda LOVE getting little footnotes on language and personal commentary. But I’m warped. Where was I?  

For Semantic Error there was much discussion over the yaja time scene. (This is the beginning of ep 7, drinking together in the bar after hours right before the BIG kiss). 

Viki translated it as “let’s be frank.” But actually yaja time is more complicated than that since it involves linguistic register shifting and role reversals. It allows the younger person to be more frank (and impolite) without consequences... or supposedly without them. 

I hope you can see how this is also an issue for idioms, puns, word play, sarcasm, and humor. The translators may have English as a second language, or be translating from their second language (so the may know one idiom but not a good English one to translate into). Also the country they live in/are originally from influences them and how they translate. 

Sub Challenge #2 - Platform Philosophy 

The platform’s source country may make a difference in its “house rules” and subbling policy. Viki is a Japanese company, YouTube a US one, and GaGa comes out of Taiwan. But how they source subs also makes a difference. Is the subber a volunteer, a team, hired by the studio, or hired by the platform? 

So Viki (mostly) does subs by volunteer teams, this means certain things are mutually agreed upon, they try to make their subs less open to interpretation but it means they can flatline, getting kind of muted. In other words their subs in English can come off as bland and businesslike - subs by committee. Also they are usually in a rush to get them uploaded fast, and can be haphazard. They had access to a lot of Korean and Japanese subbers, but not so many from other languages. 

GaGa either buys ready subbed, handles them in house, or hires professionals, which means (mainly) one person is doing most of the subs for that one show. Like a translator hired to do a novel. Which means that person’s voice style will permeate their subs. Also any chronic mistakes or non-standard choices they make will carry through. You can notice this if the subber has a tick (something they never learned correctly in English). 

So, for example, I think there is basically one eng subber for GMMTV who cannot let go of pluralizing the word “works.” As in “I have to go do the works now.” I mean, it’s awful cute but also, hot tip, we never say that in English (outside of ladies doing “good works” in Victorian London). They occasionally do “childs” too. Dek dek. So cute. 

A lot of Thai and Vietnamese BL is subbed by someone hired by the studio, or on staff at the studio (in house). There are even some Thai actors who helped proof their show’s eng subs. Pavel is rumored to have helped with 2 Moons 2, and, of course there’s this gorgeous man:  

This is why there are indie subbers who have fans, who follow them around and tip them and watch everything they translate, because the LIKE the subs. 

One of my favorites is irozuku.

Sub Challenge #3 - Registers 

How to translating honorifics, shifting pronouns, and polite particles from a language that has them to one that doesn’t? 

This is a big one for many Asian languages into English. Since English no longer has registers (we used to, see thee/thou), but most Asian languages do have them (at least formal and informal registers if not more). Registers are indicated by the use of honorifics and polite particles, but also by use of slang and rude words, changing pronouns and titles/modes of address, and grammatical arrangements. 

Base level explanation of registers for English only speakers:

Think about someone using baby talk and how different that is from “normal” English. Now imagine it’s not just for babies, that you have one way of speaking for someone older than you, another for someone younger or equal; sometimes one mode if you are female, and another if you are male; one if if you are with your parents’ generation, and another if you are meeting royalty; one way of speaking in business or with professors and another when you are home or with friends. 

Viki seems to just translate all honorifics (from Japan to Korea to Thai to...) to the person’s first name in English. So if the boy calls his older lover phi or P’Dean, Viki just always writes Dean. If he calls him sempai, sensei, sunbae, hyung, hia, whatever... Viki has just unilaterally decided to make it the first name. Which is very odd for Japan in particular, where first names are almost never used. 

(I actually really LOVE the translator of Love By Chance on YT, they left many of the particles and honorifics in, so you can read them and start to learn.)

As a result, unless it’s a plot point they don’t both to explain that register shifting is occurring, and even then... you kinda gotta know what you’re listening for. 

So like sunbae versus hyung in Semantic Error is a big deal. (And if there is any sluttier execution in existence than JaeYoung’s yaja time hyung to SangWoo I need a link right TF NOW, for science.) But unless you’re hearing/notice SangWoo call JaeYoung sunbae the whole time and then drop to hyung only at moments of key significance/emotion, you don’t realize that hyung is important or why. 

In Love by Chance the subber chose to explain Ae’s use of Koon Chai* for Pete, thus saving us all from confusion, but in KinnPorsche they chose not to explain Khun Nu for Tankhun and just look what happen to my inbox! 

* Khun Chai’s a bit like Little Prince, or the UK’s old fashioned Young Master. Also Ae add’s Ai to the front which means equal/friend/peer but also is a bit rude and casual. So he amended a formal title with an informal honorific. 

Translators have to decide whether to go for accuracy or precision or a compromise between the two. And they’re given like one sentence or so to explain themselves if it’s a plot point. See challenge #1, that’s not enough space. 

Sub Challenge #4 - Profanity Censorship 

Possibly not “exactly” censorship but basically certain platforms, distributors, web hosts, searching platforms, and integration software programs come loaded with (or subject to) profanity (AKA modesty) crawlers. I’m only familiar with the USA ones but one of the things they hunt for is... you guessed it, swear words. 

Now these can crawl captions that are soft subbed (uploaded as a separate file) but not (really) those that are hard subbed (encoded as part of the image). They are looking for bad/blue language, and they find it. They were designed (originally/ostensibly) to catch porn and sex work (*clutches pearls* protect the children!) and not for moral reasons but for in-country (and intrastate) compliance reasons (the platform doesn’t want to be sued, so many platforms police themselves *waves at google*), but are now actually being used to find unlicensed IPs (the platform doesn’t want to be sued). 

Did I mention the suing part? 

Here on Tumblr you can imagine this as just like the tagging wars. The crawler has a list of keywords and they just flag up anything that triggers them. 

The product (video) is “punished” for its infraction in various different ways (depending on the platform); 

On YT, for example, a video found to contain swear words can be flagged with a notification for contestation (channel has to take action within a certain time frame), or the whole channel could get removed, or that one video could get blocked until fixed, etc... resulting in major loss of revenue. 

Some BLs will simply have a few episodes behind an 18+ mature rating (the kind you have to click on, Cutie Pie did this) to avoid issues with visual content. But that can detrimentally impact your add revenue, and sponsorship deals. (Watches certain brands clutch their pearls.) 

But for subs? 

It’s a hell of a lot easier just to not use the word fuck. It’s just one word, after all. 

Now, I would expect a platform like GaGa that specializes in high heat content just not to care much. But they also might want to be careful of pissing off host countries, and subs are easier to crawl than imagery, so they might just have a house policy in place (style sheet) not to bother with bad language, too much of a hassle for not enough reward. 

For example, I’m sure as shit not tagging this mf post with “profanity” “censorship” or even “YouTube” because i don’t want this post to be flagged or attract the wrong attention.  

Sub Challenge #5 - The Pay 

I don’t talk about this because I don’t know any subbers personally, either pros or fans. I do number a few literary translators among my friends but it’s materially different in the publishing industry. Some discussion here. 

(source) 

[isagisyoichi]

PINKY STAR (RUN) :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆

SYNOPSIS: isagi as your boyfriend

CHARACTERS INCLUDED: isagi yoichi my boyfriend of many several years

WARNINGS: swearing? i think idk i forget also yah pretend they all go to the same school and stuff. also horribly self indulgent if u couldn't already tell

A/N: if you remember my old one delete it from your memory it was literally so bad help anyways the re-up because my boyfriend deserves better. also i really like this one and i feel like it’s more in character for him :P lol i've had this in my drafts for like, ever <3 but also my last post for a while because i have ap exams and my sat soon :P

FOR: the anon that asked me where my original isagi bf hcs went :’)

after the initial awkwardness of being in a new relationship fades and you two become comfortable with each other, a relationship with isagi would be like dating your slightly awkward best friend who you make out with sometimes.

like, i don’t really see isagi being high maintenance, so i feel like a relationship with him would definitely be on the relaxed side, but still romantic, you know?

isagi’s inner monologue is so funny and he definitely lets his thoughts out to you. it makes you laugh to see your usually friendly-to-all boyfriend have his moments, too.

you guys are one of those couples that give each other a look when someone’s doing something weird in public #telepathicconnection <3

but, isagi’s really such a sweetie with you. i know user isagisyoichi may be slightly biased when they say this, but believe me when i say that isagi’s 100% boyfriend material.

walks you to class whenever he can. always either holding your hand as he listens attentively to you complaining about school.

writes down things he feels are important about you in a digital note entitled “y/n 💗,” so he can remember them in the future.

isagi's used to talking to all kinds of people, so even if you're not the most talkative, he can adjust with no problem.

and he’ll always entertain you about whatever stupid conversation you wanna have.

kinda basic with pet names. babe, baby, dork (he would, i don’t wanna hear it), are his usual rotation.

randomly compliments you/says these really romantic things out of nowhere because he can’t control himself and often blurts things out.

“yeah, of course, when we get married, i’ll-”

“when we get married?” you inquire as you cut isagi off. you two have never discussed marriage, just but the thought of isagi wanting to spend the rest of his life with you is enough to make your head spin.

isagi’s eyes go wide when he realizes what he’s said. damn his mouth that moves faster than his mind.

swallowing hard and taking a breath, isagi says, “y-yeah, when we get married,” further affirming his statement with a nod, albeit a bit of a nervous one.

now both of you guys are flustered LOL.

likes to sit his head in your lap and have you play with his hair, while you two talk or just sit in silence.

such a good listener, perfect person to rant about anything with. he’s very understanding, he’ll hold you if you need him to, wipe your tears if you’re crying, give you advice if you need it, just overall so sweet.

also always knows when you're sad because of his intuition. isagi encourages you to open up to him, but ultimately doesn’t force you, just lets you know that he’s always there for you <3

(that's kind of lie because isagi does pry a little LOL, but he means well)

takes care of you! nags you a little, tries his best to make sure you're not doing anything stupid, and if you are, that someone responsible (him) is watching you, looks after you when you’re sick, etc.

gives you his jacket when you’re cold (he’s been waiting to do that his whole life bro LMAOO), carries your things, always texts you good morning and good night, just overall sooo good to you.

but as soft as he is for you, isagi does have this tendency to get these random spouts of confidence, so sometimes he’ll say or do something really bold out of nowhere.

like, he’ll suddenly grab your waist and pull you closer to him, or he’ll kiss you out of the blue. the flustered expression that rests on your face for a change always makes him smirk *heart eyes*

in general, though, isagi's still kind of awkward sometimes regardless and does say or do things that make you go "???" and make him be like "why did i do that" LOL he's so cute though <333

he’s pretty basic with dates, usually opts for things like restaurants, walks in the parks, movie nights, or stuff like that, but they’re still really fun!

but, if you ever want to do something out of the norm, he wouldn't be opposed to it, either. but, you do have to tell him ‘cause he's not a mind reader lol.

(okay but, one time, isagi tried to watch a scary movie with you because he wanted to do that thing where he wraps his arm around you during the scary parts, but HE ended up being scared instead 😭)

isagi’s the type to put your name with a heart emoji or the date you guys started dating in his instagram bio LOL

y/n 💓 IHS Forward #10 ⚽️ *insert some soccer quote about grinding*

it’s a bit middle school, but you let it slide because you know he just wants to show you off <3

study sessions are normal between you two but, you guys always get bored or distracted halfway through and start watching youtube or something LOL.

it’s canon he’s a thigh man lol, so if he ever sees you wearing an oversized shirt, especially one of his, with shorts, isagi will literally short circuit in real life.

he keeps his hand on your thigh when you guys cuddle that day, tracing patterns on your skin, or just squeezing it every now and then.

in general, though, isagi likes poking at and playing with them whenever they're out <3

once, isagi wanted you to do that trend on tiktok where he sits between your thighs and stuff, but he had no idea how to bring it up LOL

so, isagi just watched tiktoks of it in front of you and hoped eventually you would get the hint 🙄

and you did, thanks to his incredible lack of subtly. he doesn’t even care when you giggle and tell him how bad he is at being slick, isagi got your thighs around him, he won!!!!!!

takes a picture (or two or three) to savor the moment.

(even though he could literally just ask you to do it again in the future, but whatever, i guess)

when you’re dating isagi, the team comes with him too LOL

they’re always snapchatting you pictures of isagi when they’re hanging out without you, with stupid captions like, “look how sad your boyfriend is without you 😞”

isagi’s not even sad in the picture, he’s just confused as to why they’re shoving a camera in his face 😭

isagi one hundred percent attempts to get you to run the mile with him during gym if you don’t already.

“babe, just try!” isagi pants, as he catches up to you and your friends, as you guys are still on your second lap.

admittedly, the effort is cute, but beloved, i hate to break it to you- i will not be doing anything of the sort.

he will sit down or walk around with you after you finish the mile, though. if he’s not already playing soccer lollll.

when he does choose to go with you, expect exclamations from the team about how isagi “abandoned us for his little relationship” 👎

isagi’s receiving love language is words of affirmation (also basically canon LOL) so, he really values the compliments you give him with his whole heart.

you could tell him how his hair looks nice in the morning, and isagi will think about it all day.

whether it be about how cute he is, or how talented of a player he is, isagi really is happiest when you praise him <3

speaking of soccer, isagi has this tendency to get lost in the moment and talk your head off about some soccer related tangent that probably makes no sense to you.

his eyes light up and his voice is just oozing with passion for what he does as he goes into detail about how he made this crazy goal at practice while you stare at him with the biggest heart eyes ever, adoring his dedication.

and of course when isagi realizes he was rambling, he apologizes profusely for “boring” you, like the gentleman he is.

but when you reassure him that he could never bore you and that you want nothing more than for him to go on, isagi begins to feels lightheaded due to his adoration for you <3

if you're the type to go all out when it supporting isagi at soccer- like make one of those corny signs, yell from the crowd, wear his spare jersey to games, isagi will physically have to withhold his heart from jumping out his chest.

he's a little embarrassed that you're doing all that for him, but the effort means soooo much to him.

and speaking of soccer, it would mean a lot to isagi if you not only supported him at games and stuff, but expressed an interest in learning more about soccer as a whole, too.

you know, learn a little more about the game on your own accord, ask him to teach you how to properly play, or even challenge him to a one on one, do stuff like that, and he’ll literally be head over heels for you. well, more than he already is.

(he always goes easy on you on your guys 1v1's and he thinks your efforts are adorable, no matter how much you may or may not suck)

he'd repay the effort and try to get interested in whatever your hobbies are!

also, you can get him to do almost anything if you pout and beg hard enough, you’re literally so hard to say no to in isagi’s eyes <3

isagi’s the type to not realize when other people are flirting with him LOL

he just thinks they’re being nice (unless they’re being straight up) and i don’t think he would really process it because he’s so focused on you romantically, if that makes sense.

once he realizes you’re jealous, isagi apologizes earnestly, reassuring you over and over again that you're everything he could ask for and that he would never intentionally try to hurt you and all that jazz.

although, i will admit, sometimes isagi’s kinda smug when you're jealous, especially when it’s over a dumb reason 👎

however, when he’s jealous i feel like it could go one of two ways-

on normal days, isagi would just stand there to “intimidate” the other person, maybe cough a little for emphasis until they go away lol.

but on days where he’s already mad/filled with adrenaline/or someone’s really not taking a hint and you’re visibly uncomfortable- oh boy, it’s like a switch flips in him.

has those same fiery eyes he has during the climax of a game. the energy he’s exuding is dead serious, and that alone is enough for the person bothering you to go away. not bad for a man that’s only 5’8 🥰

adding on, isagi doesn’t take any shit about you, ever. even if it’s from his friends. usually isagi’s very neutral and doesn’t actively try to start conflict, but there are some things he’ll always defend and you’re one of them.

isagi always listens/watches/reads/etc whatever you recommend him (on that note, please recommend him good anime because isagi’s out here willingly telling people his favorite anime is darling in the franxx), even if he doesn’t necessarily like it LOL

you could show isagi objectively, the worst song ever and he would be like “yeah, it was good babe!” (it was not)

also does the same thing when you bring him shopping with you, like he's absolutely NO HELP 😭

you could try on the ugliest sweater known to man and he’d like “you look nice 🙂” pls be honest isagi, you can say it’s hideous!!!!!!

but isagi’s also being somewhat truthful in his statement because he does genuinely think you look nice in everything <3

also loves when you wear his clothes- always feels a mixture between pride and slight shyness?

kinda lol idk but overall, isagi really is sooo happy you wanna show him off that much, especially when you're wearing something of his around his friends :')

he says “i love you” first, no doubt.

he’s a bit nervous when he does because he doesn’t know if you’ll reciprocate, but he really does love you and he feels like he physically can’t hold it in anymore.

“i promise you don’t have to say it back!” isagi reassures anxiously. “i know it’s a really big commitment, and if it’s too early for you right now-”

“i love you, too.”

[jeffchats]

Livestream Recap June 11, 2022.

He talks about some cancellations and replacements (Ryan Garcia cancelled and will be replaced by Sean O’Malley.) Talks about other things that are coming out with Tana and Mike.

He talks about how he addressed the issues with the last podcast on the new podcast. He apologizes for the autism episode and said he received messages about the autism episode. He was debating if he should delete the podcast and he got a message from his mom saying she loved the episode, Jeff had an uncle who had cerebral palsy. His mom says Steven is an idiot.

Talks about how he posted an Instagram story and then Todd posted one with similar captions. Talks about how he looks fast af when he wears those ugly glasses, lol. He is going to make his own version of those sunglasses. Merch is suppose to drop soon (orange hat, hot hits tshirt, hoodie and sweatsuit, classic jeff barbershop tshirt free shirt for godfathers but you have to pay shipping).

Talks about some UFC tonight with Valentina vs ???

They’re working on a documentary surrounding about the BTS with his products.

Jeff shares some of his music on his playlist. When he hears a song, he Shazams it, adds it to his playlist, listens to it for a week and he’s over it. He shows Running Up the Hill song from Stranger Things, Talking Heads, Iris by Goo Goo Dolls, Pusha T, and he goes on about how he hasn’t updated it.

Nerf peed on Oscars gear backpack that he just got. He left it on the floor.

Jeff hasn’t had many seizure scares.

He mentions that he hasn’t been on Tumblr since he brought it up but other people bring it to him who check it. He talks about how we are giving him a hard time about Georgie but she really wants to get him off all drugs and she doesn’t want him to do any drugs. He smokes weed sometimes but he went a week without it. “I know not everyone knows too much about her and I tried to share too much, she’s more of a private person. I learned my lesson from having a public relationship, not saying that we are boyfriend and girlfriend but you know I don’t even want to get that out there before it fucks anything up. I like that she’s been helping me out with my mental health and learning just help do exercises to fix my mind and not fucking drugs because for a while I was taking klonopin when I was stressed out and Ambien at night. It’s just not good man…straight up no more drugs for me…or who knows. I just got a bar of mushroom chocolates from my boy and it looks good.”

Georgie doesn’t match his intensity if everyday life, she thinks he’s nuts because when they went to Laguna he was running 10 miles a day on the beach but he loved it. She does exercise and hike but no one matches his intensity.

StevenWillDoIt assistant Dmed Steven and he got to his head and that’s all he would talk about on the Miami trip so Jeff had to check him.

Talks about Connor McGregor and his injury. Jeff mentions taking some stuff to help heal his eye and rebuild his muscle.

They lost their weatherman, he threw a fit and he’s done. He was jealous they were hanging out with Steven too much and he was upset. He’ll be back after his “little bitch fit”. Weather segment beef became real. Ryan is smart, talented, and he’s well-rounded. Jeff likes having him on the team.

Jeff has good days and bad days. He is excited for the UFC tonight. Vinnie Hacker episode there was a sponsor but that original sponsor went broke so he’s waiting for new sponsor to replace before Youtube. But it’s on Patreon and that’s “all he cares about..the cult”.

Talks about how people were upset he kissed Steven ???, he says it was acting. There was no tongue. He talks about the backstory of how the kiss came to be about. Steven pulled Jeff’s ass in for a more kiss and Jeff said that it wasn’t going to work with the joke.

He says he loves the support but sometimes gets stressed out with everyone checking him.

Jeff has been wearing shirts on his runs, doesn’t wear sunscreen yet, he got health insurance (Blue Cross), he’s going to make an appointment to get his questionable mole removed so he can be cancer free.

He did the Geiko show because it was Oscar’s idea.

Talks about maybe getting a PO Box for people to send gifts.

They sold out almost all of their hair products, they did 10,000 of each. New products ready in about a month.

He wasn’t in the mood to shoot when everyone cancelled and he felt like a loser. At the end of the day, he feels better when he comes in and shoots. He gets things done and is ahead of the schedule.

He is really passionate about his hair products and stuff.

People give suggestions about different quizzes he can do.

Someone mentions like a run meet up, hike, etc. Jeff wants to do it too.

Nerf is hanging in there and pissing on anything and everything.

He would love Doja Cat on the podcast but on paper Jeff isn’t the cleaniest guy.

Favorite G-Unit song is Eye for an Eye and then says theres too many.

He thinks Austin Butler is cool but a lil try hard.

He says things are complicated in terms of missing Todd and no communication is hard. He has them on mute and not unfollowed. He just didn’t want to see them partying and shit so he’s avoiding it and not looking at it. He doesn’t have beef with everybody but they’re all a pack and a cult of their own so it is what it is. He has good people in his life and it is weird when you cut out 80% of the people he use to hang out with.

[princessofprocrastination]

You Live In Sweatpants And Hoodies (GeorgeNotFound)

MASTERLIST

pairing : georgenotfound / george x influencer!reader. 

summary : george and your fans realize that under all the sweaters, you have a body. 

a/n : if you are wondering what dress i was talking about, search up jennie short black dress :)

before social media, you studied law and got a degree in it but ended up not using it due to your social media career sky rocketing. 

but you never thought studying was a waste, that could be your backup, after all. social media doesn’t last forever. and you were ready to accept any difficulties since you knew you had plan b. 

you, till this day, could not describe what you do on social media. it started with tiktok. everything nowadays started with tiktok. but you were one of the first people who was on it. 

and then tiktokers would make their way onto youtube to sustain their “career” and grow. so that’s what you did. you never abandoned that app, though. especially not now, everyone on that app is seriously hilarious. 

your content on youtube was all over the place. once, for a video, you talked to weird men on omegle and tinder. another time, you would try different aesthetics on yourself. 

but here’s the catch, you’ve never really worn revealing clothes. your mum had always told you to never deprive yourself from what she says “fun young girl things” which is dressing up, or down, in her say and go have fun with your friends. 

but since the pandemic hit, you have had no where to go anyways, and you never really liked to show off your body. it’s not that you felt uncomfortable doing it, it’s just that you’ve never had the reason to. 

you also didn’t grow up girly. you hated dresses, especially short and tight dresses. and you weren’t a fan of wearing shorts either. you always opted to go comfy. 

whenever you post a tiktok, you always wore your signature hoodie and sweatpants that were clearly sizes too big for you. but you liked it, it’s comfortable to sleep in. 

and whenever you had to pan down to show your outfits on youtube, you were always caught wearing jeans and a baggy shirt, just styled differently, according to the aesthetic of the video you were filming for. 

you heard your phone ring from the couch. you picked it up, knowing who it was anyways. “morning, cutie.” you stared. 

“morning b.” george greets you, hair everywhere, clearly just woken up. 

you and george met on tiktok, just like all good friends do. he had duetted a tiktok of yours and you found him hilarious. you quickly followed him on every single social media platform he was in. you even set an alarm in case he ever streams and you’re asleep. 

you two are close. some would say you two are dating, but you two haven’t figured it out yet. you two didn’t really want to disclose it anyways, you two knew your not so secret feelings for each other, anyways. 

remember when he called you ‘b’? yeah that stands for ‘bub’. he thought it would be cute for him to have a different nickname than the usual “baby” or “babe”. 

you two actually live very near each other, making it way easier as a couple, but since england was put into a quarantine order, you two didn’t meet often. 

some would probably ask why you’d have to set an alarm when he streams when you two clearly are in the same timezone? well, that boy had no sense of time and a terrible sleeping schedule. it amazed you at how early he got up today. 

that facetime call lasted about half an hour before you told him you needed to stream on twitch today, to which he responded to you that he’s watch it later. 

today, you had a surprise. for the world. you can’t believe you even thought about this but it was about time you showed off to the world what assets you’ve been blessed with. 

speaking of showing off. no, you weren’t a particularly insecure person, you were just comfortable in the clothes you’re in. but celebrating the long time you’ve been on social media, and it being your birthday, you thought it might be fitting. 

george and you agreed to not make anything special about your birthday. you hated parties and large gatherings, and since you were still in the middle of a pandemic, you used that as an excuse to not go out. 

you spent the longest time searching for a good enough outfit for this day. and you found it. you decided to pick a pretty simple dress, a black short dress that went to your mid thigh, that showed off your waist, spaghetti strapped and a little backless. 

you walked out the shower, your robe on as you walked to your bathroom counters to dry your hair. you didn’t really bother to style it, just leaving you straight long hair down. 

you put on the most basic white sneakers you could find to still make it casual, and you thought it went well together, anyways.

you finished you makeup and took a good look at yourself. you had been aware that you only wore baggy clothes, so this was a huge change. you twirled yourself, feeling confident. 

you couldn’t wait for people to have heart attacks. 

you sat on your gaming chair, getting ready to start your stream. 

before you started your stream, you made sure you left your facecam turned off first. 

you went live. chat was confused since this was the first time that you’re not on facecam. all they could see at the moment was the caption “IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!” that you typed on your notes app on your computer.

“hi, chat.” you said, to calm them down a little. 

you heard your phone go off, a text notification. which you knew was george since he had a special notification ping on your phone. 

it said “did you forget to turn on your cam?” 

you laughed at that. “no, chat, i haven’t forgotten to turn on my facecam, just wait for a sec, please.” 

you felt giddy, excited for the reactions. 

instead of wearing your cute cat headphones, you wore your airpods instead to get the whole look going. 

you let out a sigh before moving your mouse cursor to linger on the ‘start recording camera’ button. you clicked on it, before moving your chair back to fully say hi to your chat. 

you brought your hands up to wave to the camera. you tilted your head slightly. “soooo, it’s my birthday.” you said. 

chat was going crazy so you stopped reading them so you wouldn’t get a headache. the donations went crazy too, but you tried your best to read them all. 

you thanked the people who subscribed to you or gifted you subs. 

“360 of this dress? sure, i’ll give you a twirl.” you replied a dono. 

you stood up, and rolled your gaming chair away so that they can see your whole outfit. you spun around once, quickly telling them where you got the dress from. 

you tried to hold your foot on one hand, balancing yourself to show them that you could go casual in this dress too. 

what you noticed was that, your phone hadn’t stopped beeping from a text notification, which belonged to the one and only georgenotfound. 

and since maybe he noticed that you won’t check your phone, he sent a donation instead. 

“WHAT THE FUCK.” the monotoned voice read out the donation, which was from george. 

you facepalmed, knowing exactly what his reaction is like at home. 

“I’M COMING OVER.” the voice said again. you laughed at his antics. 

“see you then.” you replied, laughing, knowing he was joking around anyways. 

-

GEORGE’S POV 

she thinks i’m joking, isn’t she? 

well, she gave me her spare key for a reason, and this would be the best reason. 

i knew i wanted to come around anyways. just after her stream. i promised her no going out, but not no gifts and ordering in. 

sneaky, i know. 

i had a plan brewing in my mind. to walk in her house as quietly as possible, to surprise her. 

after seeing her in that dress, i don’t think i can stand our fans not knowing we aren’t dating. 

i know, i haven’t really asked her out, but we kinda both agreed that there was no use, knowing each other’s feeling was good enough and that we didn’t need to do anything extravagant. 

i don’t know what she’s tell her fans but i’m sure i hadn’t disclose our relationship. the fans shipped us, sure, but i don’t think i’ve ever said it out loud. 

we knew we’d have to say it someday. so i thought, why not today? as i surprised her at her own house. 

her fans watching her stream are tweeting at me like crazy. no one had seen her like that. she practically lives in sweats and hoodies, constantly. 

the most fitting thing i’ve seen her wear is skinny jeans, but she would always wear a baggy top with it. people always say she drowns in her clothes, but i never complained, she looked good either ways. 

but seeing her in that dress, damn. i needed to be there and hug her, kiss her. i couldn’t wait to see her in that dress, right in front of my eyes. 

our observant fans or close friends have asked if she dresses the same at home, and my answer always stayed the same. that she lives in baggy clothes. 

there are some creepy people out there who would ask that question in a sexual way. thinking i’ve seen her in less. but truthfully, i haven’t. we’re not pass that stage, and we prefer it this way. 

what the fans see is what i see on the daily, too. 

and no, me going to her house to see her more clearly in that dress doesn’t mean we’re doing anything. i just want to observe her beauty. see what she’s hid from me. 

-

YOUR POV

chat was going crazy over george’s donation. but you still laughed it off. it’s all a joke anyways, him coming over. 

he was coming over later, after noon, so he wouldn’t just drop everything to see you right now. 

“geez. chill out, chat, george was joking.” you told them. 

you sat on your gaming chair more comfortably as you started playing a couple rounds of among us with your fans. you told them not to cheat and watch your stream as they’re playing ad lucky you, they listened. 

for some reason, your chat still kept blowing up with george comments. maybe they were still caught up on that comment he said earlier. 

but you hadn’t thought that he’d be behind you the entire time, telling the chat to not make it obvious. 

“happy birthday, b” you heard a very familiar voice from behind you. 

you almost had a whiplash from how quick you turned your head to see who was behind you. 

you stood up to hug him, almost falling to the floor, stumbling on your own feet.

with the way you ran to him, he almost fell to the floor. “you’re here, you’re here.” you kept repeating it to him, not believing that he actually came. you knew he’d come later, but not this early. 

george moved you back gently to see your full outfit. you two were aware that the facecam is still on, and pointing to you two, seeing every move. 

“come here.” he whispered to you before grabbing your waist, to kiss you. 

you two took a little while enjoying each other’s company, still in front of everyone on twitch. 

he moved you back a little, turning you to face your gaming monitors. “MY GIRLFRIEND, EVERYBODY. isn’t she so hot, oh my god.” he said to the stream. 

you laughed at his stupid antics, covering your face with your hands as you blushed. 

your chat didn’t stop talking about the interaction, not believing that their ship was finally sailing. 

you played a couple more rounds of among us with them, george taking over sometime or making funny comments to entertain your chat while you played. 

after the stream, george and you took time to enjoy the time alone, ordering in your favourite food and opening gifts that he bought you. 

you forgot to mention that both of your twitter was blowing up too much that you had to mute it for a while. you knew that a lot had screenshot the cute moment. 

you took note to screenshot some of the photos on twitter later. 

[banigarubug]

Boys (Corpse x MALE!Reader)

VERY excited for this prompt! here is where i acknowledge corpse irl is straight: (pause to acknowledge). and here is where i write a piece of fiction that corpse has expressed he’s ok with!

-

Please do a Corpse x male!reader - if you write for males but if not then GN will be okay ^^ - where reader is very edgy, wears techwear 24/7 and is taller than Corpse.

I’m not seeing enough male reader/GN fics where the reader is just as edgy if not edgier than Corpse—

you met corpse at a gas station, but he’s still cute. no corona ;)

warnings: minimal food talk, maybe swearing but i can’t remember lmao

-

The day you met Corpse had you both stopped in your tracks.

Well, admittedly, Corpse was more so. You pride yourself on being able to keep it together, but Corpse has always been a dweeb who just tries his best - and often fails - to play it cool. This was obvious from the moment you’d met him, literally bumping into him at a gas station as you were both on your phones walking towards each other.

Your phone survived the accident, but Corpse’s clattered to the floor. You tore your eyes away from your screen as soon as your bodies made contact and immediately picked up his phone from the floor. “I’m so sorry,” you said, inspecting his phone. It’s fine, save for one long crack across the top left, thankfully missing the front camera entirely. You handed it to him, and finally noticed him staring up at you with wide eyes. “I’m sorry,” you repeated, confused.

He cleared his throat. “All good,” he replied, voice muffled just slightly by the fabric mask over his mouth. It’s deeper than you’d expected, and you startled a little at it, but he didn’t seem to notice. “Uh, it’s my fault too.”

“Well, you know,” you replied, shrugging. “There’s no place like twitter dot com.” You quirked a smile as you flashed your phone, displaying the Twitter timeline open on the screen. 

He laughed, opening his phone to show that he’d been on Twitter too. “Uh, I’m Corpse,” he said.

You smiled at him, maybe more bashful than intended. “Y/N,” you replied, sticking out your hand to shake. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too,” he said, and as your hands met, a blush threatened the outer corner of your cheeks. His hands were… really nice. “Even if you broke my phone,” he teased.

You laughed, already feeling the tension between you two melt. “You’re just as much to blame here, Corpsie.”

As it turned out, your cars were parked next to one another’s at the pumping station, so you walked there together. You talked the whole way through picking up an armful of candy as he got a collection of energy drinks apparently for him and his friend Dave, and you kept talking while you finished putting gas in your car. And then you kept talking afterwards too, until Dave reached over and shouted out the open car window, “Dude, just ask for his number already!”

You grinned and Corpse blushed. “I’m sorry,” he said, turning to you, but you shook your head, still smiling at him happily. It was cute. “Look, if it’s too forward, I’m really sorry, but - I don’t usually get along with people this easily. Maybe we could… do this again?”

“Sure,” you agreed easily. You told yourself it’s only because you didn’t mind it, not that it was too hard to say no to that hopeful look in his eyes and that you didn’t want to forget how cute he sounded when he laughed. “Give me your phone.”

“You might crack it again,” Corpse replied, but he handed you the phone anyway. You rolled your eyes as you typed in your number, adding a heart next to your contact name.

-

A week later, after texting and calling and FaceTiming nonstop, finally he asked you out. He took you to get boba, and you had dinner at his place, and when he dropped you off at yours, he stood on the front porch, only a few inches between you.

“I had fun tonight,” you said. There was something exhilarating about it, how he craned his neck to look at you, eyes scanning over your face nonstop like he was trying to read something off of your skin. To break the tension, you softly added, “Even if you did keep making fun of my pants.”

Corpse laughed, a breathless thing. He reached out to pull at one of the straps hanging down, letting it fling back gently against your leg with a dull smacking noise. “I just don’t get why there’s so many straps. And pockets.”

You leaned in. You told yourself - and later, him - it was because you wanted him to shut up about your stupid pants, but you and Corpse both knew the truth.

-

When Corpse asked if you would be his boyfriend, you got the upgrade: access to the streamer room. You’d known, in your dating period, that he was an ‘internet personality’, as he very vaguely described it, but the lack of details he was willing to share discouraged you from sleuthing around on the internet. Of course, when he finally let you in a little more, thanks to his million followers, you blended in. Nobody knew that you, the random account simping in his replies, was the same guy whose hand made its way into Corpse’s Instagram stories more than once.

Your favorite thing maybe ever was seeing when Corpse posted pictures of him holding your hand. Most of the time, you didn’t even notice him taking the photos, but it was sweet, how your nails matched and he had sweater paws while you had tattoos. Even as a faceless YouTuber, it meant something to you that he was still proud of your relationship. His fans got a kick out of it too, nicknaming you Corpse Boyfriend.

But now, the real boyfriend test. He invited you to stream with him while he played Phasmophobia. You would talk to chat and ghosts as needed, and Corpse would do most of the heavy lifting. Of course you were nervous, but you never let on about it.

Well, Corpse knew you pretty well. When he asked if you were sure you were ready, and you said duh, bro, of course, he said, “Don’t bro me.” (He still kissed you though.)

“Corpse Husband, did you bring Corpse Boyfriend?” Corpse read aloud from the chat while they were waiting to get started with the game. “You guys have been hearing rumors? Well, lucky you, I did! I want you guys to meet N/N.”

“Hey,” you said, smiling at Corpse. “I wanna start my presence on this channel by telling all two hundred thousand of you that I’m taller than Corpse.”

“That’s the most important thing?” Corpse laughs at you. “You’re like, maybe two inches taller.”

“Don’t lie to your fans, Husband. You’re at least three inches shorter.”

“Two,” he insists playfully. “And that’s the hill I’ll die on. Boyfriend.”

-

A few days later, when Dave comes over to hang out, you make him measure the two of you and force Corpse to post the lines on the wall as evidence. Three inches, he captions. Boyfriend wins :(

[tiny-crecher]

Unus Annus Secrets

Here I’m going to try and explain all of the Unus Annus codes + possible lore. If I have forgotten some information or if one of these links doesnt work/is incorrect please let me know. This post will be updated when needed. 

This is LONG, so be prepared. 

At first, these codes were only in videos edited by NerdFiction, but as of October 26th this is no longer true. (The possible exception to this would be the first video I’ve listed, as the editor is not in the description). 

1) 5 Weird Apps That Predicted Our Death

 “Here at Unus Annus the end is nigh... when the timer hits zero we will cease to exist. is it fate? is this a simulation? Can anybody hear me? My name is.... [FILE REDACTED]”. Timestamp - 0:14

2) Ethan Roasts Mark for 15 Minutes Straight

 “and in the comments, you will read the words you soon will see are wise controlling pawns who type our deed ‘That is Discord, not FaceTime’” Timestamp - 0:40

“within this truth a question stands, is the pee sauna ever close?”. [“Pee Sauna”was uploaded about a week afterwards] Timestamp - 0:40

3) Our Fans Try to Scare Us with Their Homemade Creepypasta

“What will happen if the clock stops”

“Could I find a way to keep it going?”

“If neither hand is right, what deals are left?”

“Who is the master of the clock?” (all around 8:44)

4) Learning to Cry on Command to Increase Our Youtube Views

“remember the key, the incompletion of a logolept’s corrective action” [a logolept is “a person who takes a keen interest in words”. Marcus is likely referring to himself.] Timestamp - 1:49

“the long wait ends with twenty four more for a path of destiny chosen before”[“Pee Sauna” was uploaded the day after] (closely after the last code)

5) Becoming One With the Horse

“They heard me, I knew it could work!” (timestamp currently unknown; to be updated)

Around this time, NerdFiction’s Twitter bio said, among his normal information, that he was “trying to stop the Unus Annus clock from within.” 

6) Preparing a 5-Star Meal for Our Youtube Famous Dogs

“I couldn’t stop it. Will I die with the machine?” (Timestamp - 21:33)

7) Does This Magnetic Skincare Routine Really Work?

“freed or so I thought. Another layer, but still the clock.” (Timestamp - 9:45)

“The Beginning of The End”. 

On July 26th, at 12pm PST, a video was uploaded to Unus Annus titled “Traversing the Desert to Find Our Inner Truth”. This video was only up for a few minutes before it mysteriously disappeared, only to be replaced by another video, titled “The Beginning of The End”. At first glance, the videos were identical, save for different titles and slightly different descriptions. However, the second video was slightly longer than the first, and upon further inspection, many came to realize that the audio was slightly different as well. You can listen to both audios here. There was a rumor going around that the captions of “Traversing the Desert to Find Our Inner Truth” said something about looking out for Norbert Moses, but no one has been able to confirm this to my knowledge. 

8) Puberty Simulator

“Happy birthday to the beast or to the body that once housed me. A transfer made for pity’s sake. Tricked into the machine as he had my cake.” (Timestamp - 14:36) [The same code was found a week earlier in “Mark and Ethan Shave Chica”, uploaded on NerdFiction’s birthday. The original code was very difficult to make out, so it is likely he inserted it into a different video to make it easier for us.]

On the same day, NerdFiction’s Twitter bio read “Everyone must leave something behind when he dies. Memento Memoriae” (remember memory)

In “The Koala Challenge: TikTok’s Intimate Couple’s Trend” one of the clips is edited to look like a TikTok video, with the user ron_somberest being used. Ron_Somberest is an anagram for Norbert Moses. This TikTok account does actually exist, and the icon is a zoomed in and brightened photo of Norbert Moses’s face with the eyes scribbled out. 

Around this time NerdFiction’s Twitter bio read “’It’s not dark, never was’ - Ron Bestsmore”. Ron Bestsmore is also an anagram for Norbert Moses. It is possible that the “dark” being referred to here is Darkiplier, and NerdFiction is trying to imply that Dark is not involved in this. 

About a week after the koala challenge video was “How to Start a Fire (except don’t)”, which featured an appearance from Unus. NerdFiction’s Twitter bio read “In the end, who is your savior and what are they saving you from?” 

Things were quiet for about a month. NerdFiction eventually erased the cryptic message from his Twitter bio. 

9) Learning To Use The Force

“wait no something is wrong. he knows!” (Timestamp - 10:45) [translated from small coded words hidden in the montage]

“STOPTHISWHATAREYOUDOINGO3″ (Timestamp - 11:40)

“it worked” (a spectrogram, derived from a sound played at the end of the video)

10) Momiplier Tells Us True Scary Stories from Korea

“As I was, as I’ve done to him now. Am I right to decide his fate?” (Timestamp - 5:44) [Right before this, Mark’s mom is talking about a nightmare she had where she was paralyzed, possibly implying that nerdfiction was once paralyzed and has now paralyzed someone else (pointed out by @/minervas-sandwich)]

11) Cryptid Olympics

“I thought you’d join us but, hey, that was just a theory, Memento Doctrina” (remember learning). (Timestamp - 5:49) [The code references the Game Theorists channel, which had uploaded a video about Unus Annus earlier that same day.]

- From here on, every video has had some sort of code -

12) Edward Pumpkin Hands - This was the first coded video not edited by NerdFiction, instead being edited by Diceroll.

At various points throughout the video small parts of a url are seen. When pieced together, this link is made: https://imgur.com/a/tyDewJ7. It leads to a photo of the Unus Annus hourglass. When edited, a series of binary text is shown, which translates to “zhIaNL2“. Inputting this into another imgur link gets you to https://imgur.com/a/zhIaNL2. After editing the photo (although you can still sorta see it without doing so), a cipher of a custom alphabet is shown (I posted an edited photo here).

At 5:01 in the video a weird image is shown for only a moment (a slightly brightened version of it here). Nobody knows what the hell it means.

At the same time, there is a reversed audio of someone (presumably Ethan; it sounds like him) saying “we did that”. For context, the sentence said right before that line was “if one of us dies, the other has to take over for the remainder of time”. This is possibly implying that someone, or multiple someones, has/have died and been replaced.

13) Blood Bath - edited by rad_r

“Everything’s fine”

The Unus Annus timer is shown. It counts down for three seconds before counting up for one second. Heavy breathing can be heard over it. It is then cancelled by an error message

“ITS NOT FINE HELP” (this and the previous two messages are hidden at 5:57)

“you’ve done it now.. a machine observed. there is no returning.. a machine unnerved. there is only.. a machine unconqured.” (right at the end of the video, before the timer)

14) The Unus Annus Annual Costume Contest - edited by nerdfiction

“I saw just one door in a hall filled with many, I locked your gate but they were too late to join me. He was re-placed, she was undone, I had escaped yet he had still won”. (Timestamp - 2:05) [possibly talking about diceroll and rad_r. The pronouns would line up, and it would make sense with those two now having edited coded videos.]

15) Ethan Turns Mark Into a Werewolf - edited by rad_r

“futility or farewell? only time time time.” (timestamp - 7:17)

16) Ethan Kidnapped Mark - edited by Diceroll

Two spectrograms are shown in this video; one at 14:08 and one at 17:38. Combined, they create an imgur link: https://imgur.com/a/gKB62sv

The imgur link shows a photo of a key. On the key is a code translating to “stop the clock”

At the end of the video before the timer is a set of text in the custom alphabet previously mentioned. Translated and decoded it translates to “I can hear it coming theres not much time left the ones that tried to stop it have had their hearts cleft it is now your turn to put this loop to rest take us out of here and show us a new nest”

17) Being Brutally Honest with Each Other

“It is alive, no longer living / misunderstood beats unforgiving / escaped that fate but lost the tale / does a hope yet remain or just one final nail?” (Timestamp - 26:03)

18) Recreating Every Single Unus Annus Video

“The bottom of the spiral” (timestamp - 10:55)

19) “All Our Video Ideas That Never Happened”

“Be careful for what you wish for” (taken from two different codes)

*20) The Unus Annus Last Supper + Who’s Cutting Onions In Here??? - both edited by rad_r

“We’ve asked... we’ve tried... is there no way to stop the end? To those who aren’t deterred: how much will you sacrifice to ascend?” (A quotefall puzzle, split into 2 parts)

21) Everything’s Legal If You’re Dead

Norbert Moses is mentioned at 10:50. Look closely, his name is only there for a couple frames.

These have been the only codes I’m aware of as of 11/11/20. 

(be sure to check out @gemstone6’s list as well!!)

Link to my Unus Annus theory

[ordinaryschmuck]

Starkid Musicals Ranked from Worst to Best

Salutations to you, random people on the internet who most certainly won’t read this. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

Welp. I finally did it. I've watched the entire Starkid musical library, and I must say, most of these plays fit my writing style perfectly:

Humor that is cynical yet random

Leaning in with comedy while sprinkling in some well-executed drama

An understanding that any type of story works as long as the cast of varying personalities of characters is dynamic enough to result in some phenomenal chemistry.

This is in almost all of their plays, excelled through fantastic writing and stellar performances driving the overall quality. And it inspired me not only to review each musical, but also ranking them all from worst to best. Or, more accurately, least good to most good. Because even at their "worst," Starkid still provides a funny, enjoyable experience that will keep you laughing with its comedy and your toes tapping with its catchy music. So strap in as I go in-depth into how Starkid proves how they are the masters of humor and melody.

(I'll also provide links to each musical, which is all for free on YouTube, so you can check them out yourselves. Just know that their early work is impossible to enjoy without subtitles, so you might want to have Closed Captions on when watching.)

#12-Holy Musical B@man-Everything about this play makes it seem like it's the weakest to me. The jokes, songs, and characters in Holy Musical B@tman just don't hit as hard as Starkid's other plays. It's still good, but compared to their best, the cracks show a lot more. That is, except for the ending. Not only is there a great speech that shows what makes superheroes so beloved, but "Super Friends" might just be my favorite finale song Starkid has ever put out. Holy Musical B@tman may not be the best, but it's at least worth the time.

#11-Firebringer-This was stupid. Really stupid. Funny as f**k, but still pretty stupid. Although I will give credit to one of the central pairings being LGBTQA+...Even though it makes little to no sense based on the characters' previous interactions. But in fairness, Starkid really sucks at writing good romantic relationships, so at least Firebringer has the benefit of being gay. And as we all know: The gayer, the better. The play is still stupid, though.

#10-Me and My Dick-The world in this musical makes little to no sense. Penises and vaginas are sentient and can communicate with their humans. And yet the penises and vaginas can also talk with each other, form relationships, leave their humans, and reinsert themselves into others--Yeah, it makes no sense...But, DAMN, is it funny! Every joke and innuendo Me and My Dick has about human anatomy works, and I could not stop laughing at each of them. Especially the names that were given to the vaginas, which are just...I mean, I'm laughing just by thinking about them. That should tell you how funny they are. This play might be illogical in every way, but if you turn your brain off and watch it for the humor, you'll definitely be in for something fun.

#9-ANI: A Parody-What's weird about ANI is that its best qualities are also weaknesses. A good chunk of the jokes are hilarious and expertly delivered. The issue is that most of them are about taking potshots at the Star Wars prequels, which might be the laziest jokes to make in a Star Wars parody. Then there's the soundtrack, having several songs that are a bop to listen to. The problem is that ANI suffers from the same issues as Tarzan and Brother Bear: Yes, technically, it is a musical, but it's one where none of the characters sing, and some people in the background do all the singing instead. It's all an odd balancing act of quality content made through questionable choices. ANI is still an entertaining play, but the force isn't as strong with this one.

#8-Black Friday-This might be the least funny play that Starkid has ever put out. Not just because it leans extra hard into drama, which was pretty effective during certain scenes. It's just when there are jokes in Black Friday, they tend to fall flatter more here than they did in other plays. Also, the plot of Black Friday might not be the best one to play straight. The serious moments work best when focusing on the characters and their personal struggles, but through the big bad that's supposed to be threatening? Not so much. Even if it was meant to be funny, well, I wasn't laughing. And believe it or not, I consider that to be the best judge of whether or not something is funny. That being said, while Black Friday isn't the most humorous Starkid musical, it's still pretty good. The characters are excellent, the songs are awesome, and the story is somewhat easy to follow. I would have appreciated a few more laughs, but I can respect these talented people wanting to challenge their strengths.

#7-Starship-This play feels very...Disney. It follows a familiar formula we've seen several times: The main character wants more than what he has in his crappy life, miraculously gets the exact thing he wants, falls in love with a girl in a short amount of time, faces off against a campy/over the top villain, realizes the hand he's been dealt isn't so bad, and in the end, gets what he wants anyway. Starship is still pretty entertaining through its jokes, characters, and songs, but it also feels weird that Starkid leans into these tropes when they would eventually make a much better play by making fun of them. The end result is not bad in the slightest, but it's also nowhere near their best.

#6-A Very Potter Musical-Starkid's first production, and boy, what a start to something wonderful. Every one of their gimmicks and motifs is present in A Very Potter Musical. The use of parody to playfully mock characters and stories they love, making songs that are as funny as they are emotional, and creating characters that work because of their lines and the actors' performances. Oh, and also, it's funny. And it’s not just through a parody angle, like making Cedric be a perfect boy who's always smiling. It's also funny through its jokes that work, even if you ignore the fact that it’s a parody altogether. Case in point, there are these two bits, one involving Voldemort and Beatrix with the other involving Ron and Hermoine, that are written and delivered so well that I was in tears much more than with any other Starkid play. When watching A Very Potter Musical, you'll not only understand how parody works, but you'll also gain an understanding of why Starkid turned out as successful as they did.

#5-The Trail to Oregon-What can I say? I'm a sucker for comedic dysfunctional families. And seeing a family of idiots make their way to Oregon via The Oregon Trail parody? Yeah, that's a win for me. The play may be another family road trip narrative, which some people might get sick of at this point. But because the dynamics and comedic chemistry everyone has with each other are on point, the end result proves that you don't need an original story to tell an entertaining one. Although I will say that out of all of Starkid's productions, The Trail to Oregon has by far the worst ending. Without giving anything away, the play spends way too much time on this one stupid joke that any of the characters could make. Comedy is defined by personalities, as are most things, so making the joke work for anyone is a bad move when this one, in particular, doesn't fit as well for some characters as it would for others. Plus, the finale song "Naked in a Lake" is a really poor choice to cap off this musical. It's catchy, but to me, a finale song should encapsulate everything about the story, characters, and themes. Not paying off a joke that I honestly wouldn't want the payoff for. So while the ending could have used a lot more polish, that doesn't change how The Trail to Oregon is a pretty funny play that I won't mind revisiting when I have the chance.

#4-A Very Potter Sequel-Hey, sometimes a sequel is better than the original. Sure some jokes don't land, and some story beats aren't as impactful as they thought they were (Serious Black's introduction, for example), but there are far more improvements to this play than the last one. The performances are stronger, the jokes are funnier, the music is catchier, and the characters are much more entertaining in this play than in A Very Potter Musical. Especially new additions like Lupin and Lucious Malfoy, who provide great comedy and sublime drama at times. And Umbridge. Sweet Mother of all that is holy, Umbridge. While A Very Potter Sequel never made me laugh to tears as the first play did, twice, Professor Umbridge carries the comedy so well that she surpasses all of that. Plus, on top of it all, this play nails its ending through a bittersweet note that really captures what makes Hogwarts so special to these characters. I always feel like Starkid's plays tend to lose steam during the last few minutes, but A Very Potter Sequel is one of the few instances that it just builds and builds to a perfect ending. A Very Potter Sequel might not always hit the right marks, but the results are just magical when it does get it right.

#3-The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals-This one is pretty clever. The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals is one of those stories that manages to be explicitly hilarious yet implicitly disturbing. For instance, people suddenly bursting into perfectly choreographed musical numbers in a world where songs are exclusively diegetic is pretty funny (especially through the characters' reactions to it). However, knowing what happens to these people and why they sing and dance so expertly helps make the whole situation pretty dire. It's an excellent balancing act that not many stories can accomplish. And while The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals leans one way or the other at times, it's still all handled really well. Oh, and also, you know how most people say the villain song is the best one in any musical? Well, technically speaking, nearly every song in The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals is the villain song. Including the finale, which is just too brilliant for me not to give a round of applause. If you're a person who unfortunately doesn't like musicals either, I'd say be more than willing to give this one a chance. It's funny, catchy, and if you think of the implications, pretty damn disturbing.

#2-A Very Potter Senior Year-...You know how Avengers: Endgame is a bit of a mess, yet people still love it for how much of a perfect (sort of) finale it is? It's the same regard with A Very Potter Senior Year in my eyes. It's far from a masterpiece, but the many, many solid scenes that cap off this series help make me willing to overlook the mistakes. The characters, callbacks, and overall message about how things end was done so expertly well that I physically can’t hate this one. I can understand how it's more of an ok play when compared to the rest of Starkid's productions, but sometimes, ok is wonderful.

#1-Twisted: An Untold Story of a Royal Vizier-...It's Twisted. Everyone loves Twisted! And how could they not? Everything about this play just screams Starkid at their best. The comedy is uproarious, added with the fantastic delivery of the actors and the characters' personalities. Everyone feels as though they have one step in reality and the other in insanity. This, to me, seems like the best type of character work when going for the parody angle. Parody is about giving slight yet snide remarks toward the work you're mocking, which I feel works best when characters drop the suspension of disbelief audiences have when enjoying such a story. And Twisted definitely nails its satire in not only poking fun at Aladdin but also making jokes towards Disney as a brand. From their movies to their inside jokes to their formulas to even their corporate dealings with Pixar, nothing about Disney is sacred in Twisted. But on top of being funny, Twisted might just be the most successful Starkid has been with telling some really compelling drama. The jokes allow themselves to take a back seat to let serious moments play out, and even comedy is added, it provides more for the experience rather than taking anything away. You see this not only through the actors giving it their all but even through some really gorgeous and heart wrenching musical numbers. Oh, and also, Twisted has the best Starkid soundtrack, featuring songs that are epic, funny, and, as I said, heartbreaking. You cannot get better than this and, if you want to get a friend interested in Starkid as a whole, this might be the play for them. Scheherazade may have a thousand tales, but his one is a tale I wouldn't mind hearing for a thousand nights.

And that's about how I feel about Starkid and each and every one of their plays. Odds are your ranking would be much different from mine, and I'm all for that differing opinions. Feel free to make your own ranking if you want because I'm honestly curious where fans would place these plays above or below others. I'm relatively new to enjoying their work, so I have no idea what the consensus is. I do know one thing, though: If Starkid can still be incredibly entertaining through over ten years of content, then I am excited to see what they can accomplish next in another ten years.

[absolutebl]

This Week In BL - Japan is BRINGING IT

June 2022 Wk 2

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying the most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Triage (AISplay Mon) Ep 7- This ep was mostly to give movement to the romance plot and since (oddly for me) that’s the bit I find the least engaging I wasn’t as wild about this installment. Next week looks VERY dramatic tho. 

Check Out (IQIYI Sat) Ep 1 - This season’s messy gays be messy series! I gotta say I love the intro credits on this one: character + actor names. I need that in all my BL. Our leads are Nine (Chahub) and Daonuea (Best). (My boy Plustor is coming too!) So Daonuea is pining for the boy who ghosted him after a hot fling AND a boss/ex/cheater that wants to date him again. Of course boss & fling turn out to know each other. Best is GOOD. I like an office setting but I’m not wild about the execution here. But the messy exes drama is relatable and fun/different. Captions are quite poor. 

KinnPorsche (iQIYI Sat) Ep 10 - Well KimChay moved fast. Meanwhile Kinn’s bodyguards are all pretty naff, letting Tawan get away. The traitor(s) = no particular surprise. Oo death! Also dumb crazy drama gay, but whatevs. I’m mad that everyone looked for Porsche but no one looks for Pete? I guess it’s good to be the boss’s f-toy. Oh, I’m salty abotu this show. Sigh. At least it was an exciting ep? 

Sky in Your Heart (Fri YouTube) Ep 2 - It’s perfectly serviceable. I’m not wowed by the chemistry but it’s fine. 

My Secret Love (YouTube Sat) Ep 3 - Fake relationship is a go and watching them lampoon BL tropes is kind of fun. No screen caps because, you know, fakel but they covered (deep breath): head in lap, picnic, feeding, back hug, movie date, sharing earbuds, and library assignation. Just because I am having a really hard time keeping this straight (pun intended) here is the character breakdown (aside from the leads): campus star = P’Tim (he comes with portable adorable bestie); pair in the 7 year relationship = P’Park & Lee (who switched departments) - they use rao/ter with each other (cutesy). Everyone else = unimportant. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

To My Star (Korea Viki) Ep 1-2 - YES FINE I’m watching it. I said I was gonna wait but... I CAN’T. OMG I’m so scared. The doorway being used for transition shots between past| |present was very clever. Also my goodness I almost forgot what really good acting looked like in BL! The year separation after a break up is a classic Korean drama plot point that usually comes at the end of a show, not the beginning. It’s going to be interesting and bumpy to watch them deal with this reverse plotting. They better come up with a really good justification for Ji Woo leaving and being that cruel or heads will ROLL. Also, that better be his sister and not an ex girlfriend, I have it up the here with faen fatales. Please don’t betray our trust Hwang Da Seul. 

Love in Spring (Korea grey) Ep 5-8 - I love to see a brushing hair trope (in a way I don’t love the usual hair dry trope we get in BL). I have no idea why. Also we had an example of the boy protecting “the girl’s” reputation with fisticuffs. This story reminds me a little of those girl disguised as a boy host club shows we got from Japan for a while – same kind of comedy that is a little beyond my ken and slightly jarring. At ep 7 it finally got good as the leads develop a genuine friendship. The snake thing was odd though. To be fair there’s a lot of odd in the show. I’m enjoying the tension and liking it more each ep. 

Plus & Minus (Taiwan Viki *rec* & GaGa Fri) Ep 10 - The dreaded unnecessary break up. At least we understand the bar owner’s motivations. I don’t know where I am with this show now, but I do like that its general assumption is that everyone is at least a little bit bi, and since I too like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, I’m not opposed to seeing it on screen. 

Want to See You (Vietnam YouTube) Ep 1 - Boy likes his baths, that’s for certain. Standard psycho female character and a basic but uncommon servant/master set up. I’m getting Jane Eyre or something. Nice kisses already but this is no Mr. Cinderella. (The bar has been set, VBL, now I know what you can do.) 

Getaway (Singapore Mon YouTube) Ep 2-3 - Look, I’m the first to admit that there’s a lot of bad and awkward acting in this genre, but for some reason… it feels a lot worse in English. I like how unabashedly gay this show is but (how do I put this nicely?) if I’m gonna watch English language gay-vacay shizz – I’d rather watch Fire Island. Still, as one might expect, the heat execution is good (Taiwan still holds the crown, tho). 

BLs That Finished this week!

Dear Doctor, I'm Coming for Soul (iQIYI Weds) Ep 12fin - I was mixed over the sides, but in the end, they were a cute couple (weird kisses thing notwithstanding). This show had a very Korean style unnecessary-separation in the last ep. But I guess I’m used to that now. Are KarnNat the best Thai origin couple at domesticity? Seems like. The show’s ending reminded me A LOT of Love: Life on the Line (Director’s Cut) so if you like that you’ll like this one, but it’s not strictly HEA. I thought it suited the narrative so I’m not mad. But I’m not sure I’ll ever rewatch it either. Like Peach of Time, everything was set up for us, so the end wasn’t surprising and it managed to be substantially happier than Peach or Grey Rainbow (shudder). So maybe I rate it higher because it could have been a lot worse? ARGH. Decisions. 7/10 RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS Full review here. 

Close Friend 2 (Viki Thur) Ep 6fin - I liked the dealing with celebrityhood and fandom storyline, although I thought it was too generous to those fans. But in the end this is, like the first installment, fine but forgettable. I did like the breaking the fourth wall and mentioning each other‘s projects at the end. That was fun insider trading. (I guess we get a season 3 featuring DunBas, not my favorite. Shrug.) Anygay, both pairs did well but in terms of content and story, I wasn’t wowed. 6/10 WORTH WATCHING BUT FLAWED 

Fukou-kun wa Kiss Suru Shikanai! AKA Mr Unlucky Has No Choice But to Kiss! (Japan GaGa *rec*  & Viki Fri) Ep 8fin - since this is in the My Love Mix-Up vein of JBL, I was not expecting a final kiss. I consider us lucky that we got the launch kiss, quite frankly. That didn’t stop me from being a touch disappointed, but the final boyfriends cuteness wrestling in bed (VERY Cherry Magic of them) was perfectly serviceable. A solid little JBL. 8/10 RECOMMENDED 

Gossip

I still can’t believe they’re allowing it but it really does seem like Korea is bringing us A Shoulder To Cry On starring Jaehan (oldest) & Yechan (maknae) BOTH from Kpop group OMEGA X. Enemies to lovers, school set, 12 eps, due out in the fall. 

Also in Korea announced adaptation of Lily's comic Heesu in Class 2 . About a shy unpopular boy with a secret crush on best friend. Looks pretty pat but I’m always open to KBL school-set stuff. 

Japan announced BL adaptation of Minamoto Kazuki's comic: Kabesaa Doujin Sakka no Neko Yashiki-kun wa Shounin Yokkyuu wo Kojirasete iru starring Matsuoka Koudai (I know him from Five) and Nakao Masaki (Kakafukaka, Bow Then Kiss - he’s a BIG DEAL ya’ll) slated to be released in October. (source) The description from Crunchyroll is up on MDL but it’s incomprehensible. 

Cambodia released a trailer of upcoming Khmer BL មើលបានហាមសម្លឹង AKA Eye Contact. We are in “don’t bet on it happening (or finishing)” territory. 

New Thai drama My Coach seems to have a BL side plot. 

Art Adore En got a trailer. Country boy studying at a university in Bangkok catches the eye of his senior. 

2 Moons 3: The Ambassador announced a cast. That came out of nowhere. 

PRIDE! 

This is one of those times that I really wish I read Thai and could confirm it, but Thai BL actor Copter Panuwat seems to have come out as non-binary. Copter has always been super supportive since the 2 Moons days. Someone at MDL is ON IT and has updated Copter’s profile to they/them in the bio section, even if the MDL system doesn’t offer it as an option (someone oughta change the back end code on that). 

No matter what, happy pride! 

In Case You Missed It

Korean BL Blueming is getting a movie version. Since this aired on iQIYI not Viki, not sure if inter fans will get to see it. 

iQIYI has picked up SantaEarth’s friends-to-lovers (possibly sad) BL My Only 12% from Wabi Sabi, coming late summer. 

Japan is airing a BL comedy-drama adaptation of Naruko's Fudanshi Bartender no Tashinami AKA Accomplishment of Fudanshi Bartender streaming on FOD. About a fancy pants bartender who is secretly a nerdy BL fan. 

3 BLs have been submitted for consideration to the Seoul International Drama Awards 2022: Semantic Error (Korea), I Promised You The Moon (Thailand), and My Beautiful Man (Japan). 

The boys from Kissable Lips are pair branding. (They are rumored to have a new series The Circumstances Of Pungdeok Villa Room 304.) I mention this because it’s my first time seeing a Korean pair consciously use Thai techniques on their social media. 

Next Week Looks Like This: 

We’re hitting the Thai summer slow down season, thank heavens. There was too much for even me to keep up with for a while there. I could used some down time, except Japan won’t let me!

Monday: Japanese BL Old Fashion Cupcake adapted from the manga of the same name by by Sagan Sagan (trailer on FB). Seems to be a hyung romance: office set, employee/boss, age gap. About a subordinate with a crush on his boss - seems a bit Cherry Magic light? Only 5 episodes, coming to Viki! 

Thursday: Kimi no Koto Dake Mite Itai AKA I Only Want To See You only 4 eps, starts June 16, Hulu JP. Not sure on inter.  

Friday: Senpai, Danjite Koidewa! AKA Senpai, This Can’t be Love! is taking over Mr Unlucky’s time slot on Fridays, reported as picked up by GaGa for international although I’m showing it listed for Viki. 

Oh yeah and then also: Love Mechanics disaster muffins start Saturday on WeTV. 

This week’s best moments?

I didn’t pull any. Sheesh, I guess I was disappointed this week. 

(last week)