#but I went back after hearing that reviewer say it was the 2nd best song on the album/best lyrically

[waugh-bao]

“Tell Me Straight” Lyrics (KR, 2023)

[ggukcangetit]

Tomorrow: Jungkook x Reader

**

Pairing: Jungkook x reader

Genre: Fluff. Grad student au!; grad student! jungkook; grad student! reader; grad student! bts

Word count: 4.6k

Warnings: Suggestive language, mild kissing. Not much else really.

Summary: At the beginning of your third year of your PhD program, you didn’t expect many changes. Until the new PhD cohort started classes, and Jeon Jungkook became part of your group of friends.

A/N: i just wrote this randomly with zero plot in mind. idk what this ended up becoming but read it and lemme know if you like it? 

“Choi is a madwoman. I swear she makes me do so many lit reviews just to see me suffer.” Park Jimin, 2nd year PhD student, works part time at HopeWorld dance studio, and is currently regretting many of his life choices.

“I told you not to say yes to every single project that came your way.” Min Yoongi, 4th year PhD student, weekend DJ at Club Moonlight, recipient of the university’s most prestigious research grant, currently lives in a posh apartment four streets away from the main research lab.

“We’re older. Which means we have more experience. Which means we tend to be right more often.” Kim Seokjin, another 4th year PhD student, enrolled into the PhD program after realising that the completion of his MBA meant he would have to join the family business, amateur chef with professional sass, and sole reason behind Min Yoongi being able to afford living in a posh apartment four streets away from the main research lab.

“Not when you bet Tae he couldn’t finish grading Kang’s first year Intro class papers in 24 hours.” Jung Hoseok, 3rd year PhD student, simultaneously working on a second Master’s degree, also happens to run HopeWorld dance studio during his oodles of free time.

“Speaking of, weren’t you supposed to treat us if you lost the bet, Seokjin?” Kim Namjoon, 3rd year PhD student, plant dad, head of the graduate student council, and all-around overachiever.

“Tae was supposed to choose the place. Did you decide on which exorbitantly expensive restaurant Seokjin is going to take us to, Tae?” Y/L/N Y/N, 3rd year PhD student, roommates with Namjoon and Hoseok, addicted to bubble tea.

“I have a better plan. The incoming first year PhDs are supposed to have their orientation tomorrow. I think Seokjin should organise a mixer to welcome them.” Kim Taehyung, aforementioned ‘Tae’, 2nd year PhD student, works part time at the local art gallery, roommates with Park Jimin, deceptively fast at grading papers.

“I do not remember agreeing to that,” said Seokjin, with a frown, shutting his laptop with a definitive snap.

“Come on, it’s not like you can’t afford it,” Yoongi remarked, not having looked up from the large stack of papers in front of him. “If you can insist on paying 3/4ths of the ridiculously high rent of our apartment even though we could have moved into the perfectly reasonable priced place 20 minutes away from the lab, you can damn well afford to host a mixer for the incoming cohort.”

“20 minutes by car. It takes 45 minutes to walk there, Yoongi. Or do I need to remind you of the fact that only Y/N and Sooyoung own cars in our department?” scoffed Seokjin.

“Do I hear trouble in paradise? Have Yoongi and Seokjin finally had their first fight after years of marital bliss?” Lim Sooyoung, 4th year PhD student, part-time yoga instructor, full-time reluctant designated driver due to being the only other PhD student in the department with a car. 

“Hilarious,” grumbled Seokjin. “That joke is about as old as the milk carton at the bottom of Namjoon’s fridge.”

“That’s still there?” asked Hoseok, scandalised. “You told me you threw that out 4 months ago!”

“It’s a limited edition Blue Bean milk carton! I couldn’t throw it out, Hobi,” replied Namjoon, sheepishly. The use of Hoseok’s nickname meant that he had run out of logical arguments against throwing out the milk carton that had been purchased three months into their first year of doctoral studies. 

“Have you ever considered emptying out the contents and keeping just the carton?” you asked. This suggestion was met with the raising of an eyebrow and the throwing of an airpod by Namjoon. Unfortunately, this also meant that the airpod didn’t reach its intended target.

“Ow!” exclaimed Hoseok, rubbing the side of his face where the airpod had made contact. “This is why you’ve been through 33 pairs of airpods in the last year, Namjoon! You have dormant violent tendencies and terrible hand-eye coordination.”

“Now back to that mixer,” said Taehyung, turning towards Seokjin. “I’m thinking around 5 pm at the Underground should be good. What do you think?”

“Fine,” sighed Seokjin, reluctantly. “I’ll send a message on Slack. Who’s got the first years’ contact info?”

xxx

The next day, you found yourself struggling to find parking outside the Underground, despite it being 4.30 pm on a Tuesday. Namjoon and Hoseok were sitting at the back and discussing ways in which they could watch as many of the student films that were being shown over the weekend, while Taehyung sat shotgun and muttered to himself as he tried to destroy some kind of adversary on that godforsaken game that he always seemed to play. You whipped out your phone and started texting Sooyoung about whether she had found any parking.

SY: just parked… sending you the location… its behind the club

SY: is seokjin with you

Y/N: thanks!

Y/N: no i’ve got tae joon n hobi 

SY: ok… wonder how he’s getting here… yoongi’s with me… said seokjin left a while back

Y/N: idk… sure he found something… uber or lyft or whatever… don't worry he won't ditch lol 

Y/N: i found a spot damnnnnn. cya in a bit

SY: lol tae wouldn’t let him live if he ditched

SY: nice :D yoongi and i are in the purple section

The purple section was undoubtedly the best spot in the Underground, as you had discovered almost 2 years ago. Being new to the city, you had basically followed Joon and Hobi wherever they went to socialize or get food. It was around the end of your second month in the program that Seokjin planned a mid-semester gathering, refusing to eat at, in his words, “another cheap taco truck masquerading as kitschy Instagram bait”. That was your first encounter with the Underground as well as your first experience in the purple section. Simply put, it had the best sofas and chairs, an abundance of vintage arcade games, easy access to the bar and food counter, and a separate music setup. It also cost a lot more to sit at the purple section, but Seokjin had never been the type to scrimp when it came to anything. It had become a kind of tradition after that; every time someone had a birthday, Seokjin would reserve the purple section for the evening. Not having grown up surrounded by luxury and riches, it was sometimes difficult for you to understand how Seokjin never thought twice before spending money on things. Then again, you doubted you would’ve been this thoughtful even if you had this kind of money at your disposal. Seokjin might’ve been hard to read at times, but his heart was in the right place.

Speaking of, you spotted Seokjin standing next to a couple of people you didn’t recognise. Deciding that this was probably the best time to get introduced to the first years, you walked over to them with a smile.

“Just deposited Joon, Hobi, and Tae near the bar. I feel sorry for your tab today, Seokjin.”

Seokjin lifted one of his thick arched eyebrows at you and then burst into his signature windshield wiper laugh. “I’ll give them a free pass today. Afterall, it’s the beginning of a new academic year!”

“You’re planning on dumping all of Kang’s data analysis on them, aren’t you?” you asked, trying to suppress a grin.

“Ah, Y/N, you know me so well,” he grinned, his features lighting up mischievously. “By the way, here’s two thirds of the new cohort. Song Yeri and Jeon Jungkook.”

You glanced at the two unfamiliar people and smiled in greeting. Yeri was a petite girl with long black hair who quickly fell into conversation with you. Jungkook, on the other hand, gave you a soft nod and walked over to where Jimin was opening a couple of beers. 

“So is Professor Kang someone we should be worried about?” asked Yeri, not giving you much time to pay much attention to Jungkook. “I wouldn’t want to be unprepared.”

Seokjin laughed at her worried tone. “Straight off the bat, huh?” 

Yeri flushed slightly, tucking her hair behind her ear self-consciously. “Oh no- I mean, it just seemed like that from your conversation!”

“Don’t worry, Yeri,” you assured her. “Seokjin’s a fourth year - not much phases him. He’s doing his PhD under Kang so he has to do tons of data analysis for her projects. Which he sometimes dumps on people who have been bothering him.”

Yeri looked suitably concerned at this new piece of information. She glanced at Seokjin’s handsome profile and smiled uncertainly. You couldn’t help but giggle at her reaction. It really was difficult to get a grasp on everyone’s personalities just by their looks. Each and every guy in the department was strikingly handsome, and Sooyoung, the only other female besides you, looked like she had walked out of a fashion show. It would’ve been extremely intimidating if you hadn’t personally been a witness to how clumsy Namjoon was, how lame Seokjin’s puns were, how scared Yoongi and Hoseok were of anything remotely resembling an insect, how Tae hadn’t managed to cook a single meal without setting off the fire alarm or giving Jimin food poisoning, how Jimin often collided into objects because he was laughing too much, or how Sooyoung had gotten lost multiple times on her way to campus in spite of driving along the same road for more than 3 years. You were sure Yeri, and the other two first years, would definitely get over the initial nerves and intimidation surrounding their colleagues. In fact, if Jungkook’s animated conversation with Jimin was anything to go by, it seemed like he had gotten over that already.

“Come on, I’ll introduce you to the others.” You steered Yeri in Sooyoung and Yoongi’s direction.

xxx

“Thanksgiving next week! I cannot wait to get away from this blasted Ethics class!” 

You were currently in Seokjin and Yoongi’s shared posh apartment, trying to proof-read a paper before the conference deadline. On the couch next to you sat Seokjin and Namjoon, eyes blinking rapidly in tiredness, while Jimin sat across from you, his silver hair tied into a messy ponytail. 

The door to the apartment swung open at that moment as Jungkook walked in, armed with takeout from at least 4 different places.

“I come bearing sustenance,” he announced, as Jimin jumped up with surprising alacrity and rushed towards him. 

“Your Busan blood runs strong, my friend,” said Jimin, appreciatively, eyeing all the different containers on the table. “I knew I could count on you.”

“That makes zero sense, Jimin,” scoffed Sooyoung. She was buried deep inside Yoongi’s favorite bean bag, having taken it over since the owner was currently not at home. “But li’l Jeon has proven to be a valuable addition to our department.”

“Ugh! Don’t call him that! Li’l Jeon sounds like something else,” you said, scrunching your nose in distaste.

“I agree,” replied Jungkook, rolling up his sleeves as he began opening the containers carefully. “But i can assure you of one thing - there is nothing li’l about this Jeon. In any sense of the word.”

“I’ve lost my appetite,” you declared, throwing a particularly soft pillow over your face. 

Three months into the semester and Jungkook had become an integral part of your group of friends. It had turned out that Jungkook and Jimin knew each other very well, having gone to school together in Busan. It’s not as if you hadn’t become well acquainted with the other two first years - Yeri still consulted you whenever she needed advice on how to deal with grading or professors or classes in general; and Lauren, an international student from France, was very friendly and turned up at all the department hangouts. But Jungkook seemed like he had been part of your group forever - not someone who had met almost everyone for the first time about 3 months ago. As was customary with first year PhD students, they were required to complete a few mandatory courses before being allowed to customize their coursework around their individual research interests. So even though Jungkook had all the same classes with Yeri and Lauren, almost every moment outside of classes was spent with one of you.

“I can’t believe it’s already time for Thanksgiving,” said Jimin, popping an entire dumpling into his mouth. “-ime eeli plyz.”

“Chew your food, you barbarian,” scolded Seokjin, blowing on a particularly large piece of fried chicken before putting the entirety into his mouth. A couple of chews and a large swallow later, Seokjin was ready for a second piece.

“Speak for yourself,” remarked Sooyoung, holding onto her food protectively.

“I remember Yoongi telling us during our orientation,” Namjoon piped up, a can of beer in his hand. “‘In a PhD program, days are slow, but semesters are fast’. I thought he was high at that time, but I realise now that he’s a true genius.”

“I still don’t get why you’re such a Yoongi fanboy,” grumbled Seokjin, settling comfortably into the couch once again. “I’m just as wise, and definitely a lot funnier.”

“Don’t forget about being a drama queen,” said Sooyoung, nudging Seokjin’s knee with her toes. “You’ve got that one over Yoongi as well.”

“Four years and you're still as ungrateful,” sighed Seokjin, looking uncharacteristically cheerful at the teasing. 

“At least I’m consistent,” shrugged Sooyoung. “Gimme some of your kimchi.”

“Consistency is only useful across data samples,” remarked Seokjin, picking up a small amount of kimchi with his chopsticks and feeding Sooyoung. “Not sure how desirable it is in human relationships. Life would be unbearably dull in that case.” 

“They’ve been dancing around each other for as long as I’ve known them. Why can’t they just get together and stop their incessant flirting in front of the rest of us,” you muttered darkly, vigorously pouring chili oil over your ramen. You, Namjoon, and Jungkook were still getting your food from the kitchen, while Jimin had gone ahead and joined the incessantly flirting pair in the living room.

“Y/N is always so bitter about anything to do with romance,” chuckled Namjoon. “Jungkook, do you know how annoyed she was when Hobi started dating last year?”

“No, I don’t think I’ve had the pleasure of hearing that story.” Jungkook glanced at you cheekily, while popping open a can of beer.

“She didn’t speak to him for an entire week. Which was particularly inconvenient because the three of us had just started living in the same apartment, and we were all assigned to assist Choi on her year-end department survey. Poor Hobi thought he might have to find a new place to live.” 

“I’m sorry? Were you the one who came back home after extended office hours to find your friend butt-naked and balls-deep inside the barista who works across the street from our lab? I couldn’t get coffee from there for a month because I couldn’t look Sujin in the eye without immediately imagining Hobi in his natural drawers.”

Jungkook, who had chosen this exact moment to take a sip of beer, spat out the amber liquid on an unsuspecting Namjoon. 

“That’s what you get for deriving pleasure from other people’s misfortunes,” you remarked, smugly.

xxx

It was around 11.30 in the morning, when you heard a loud knocking on your apartment door. Classes had broken for Thanksgiving yesterday, which meant that today was your day to catch up on all the sleep you had missed over the last three months. But instead, you had been woken up much ahead of your intended 16 hours of sleep schedule. 

“You look awful.”

Jungkook walked into the apartment, looking far too fresh and sprightly for your liking. He was wearing that godforsaken plaid shirt that hung loosely off his body, but would highlight his rather well-defined muscles every time he happened to move in a particular way. You absolutely hated what a tease his shirt was. Fortunately for you, he wasn’t wearing the skin tight black jeans which always looked like they were about to burst at the seams, thanks to Jungkook’s equally well-defined thighs. 

“It’s not even noon. Why can’t you call before showing up? Where are your manners, Jeon?” you grumbled, checking to see if your pajamas had any glaring holes in them.

“I need help with the data analysis,” he mumbled sheepishly. “Professor Lee gave me a really tough dataset because I breezed through the first two assignments.”

“Still don’t see why you came over without any notice at this ungodly hour,” you continued, tapping your foot impatiently.

“I also got jjajangmyeon, kimbap, and bubble tea from Kimchi Palace.”

“What kind of bubble tea?” you asked, pushing yourself off the doorframe.

“Strawberry milk tea, half sugar, light ice, with extra strawberry jelly, and no boba.”

“I suppose it isn’t that early.”

A few minutes later, you were explaining principal component analysis to Jungkook, while eating jjajangmyeon and sipping bubble tea. The kimbap was put into the fridge for later, in case Namjoon or Hoseok wanted to have some when they got home at night. 

Jungkook was very intelligent; he picked up new concepts quite easily and was one hundred percent committed to whatever he worked on. He also had a refreshing sense of humor, where he didn’t always crack jokes or stay in the limelight, but his occasional quips were enough to send everyone into fits of laughter. He got along extremely well with each of them. He and Taehyung often walked around the city taking obscure, artsy photographs. Seokjin had basically adopted Jungkook as a younger brother due to his video gaming abilities. Namjoon was glad to finally have someone who enjoyed going on nature hikes with him, while Hoseok had been hugely impressed at Jungkook’s dancing and promptly asked him to help out at his studio. Jimin already knew Jungkook quite well, and Yoongi was more than happy to teach someone else the intricacies of cooking different kinds of meat. Even Sooyoung, who usually remained closed off from new people, had allowed Jungkook to use her car whenever someone needed to be picked up but she was too exhausted to drive. 

“I’m sorry I came by so early. I know you’ve been looking forward to catching up on sleep over the break,” he said softly, looking up from his laptop. That was the other thing that had struck you about Jungkook, he was very perceptive and sensitive to people around him. A rare quality which you appreciated far more than you let on.

“It’s fine. You saved me from having to cook lunch. That itself deserves many prizes from my end. You know how I hate cooking,” you shrugged.

“Speaking of, I’m making dinner for me and Tae tonight. Jimin’s visiting his brother, so it's just the two of us. And since I’d rather not get food poisoning, I’m putting Yoongi’s lamb chop recipe to good use,” he grinned boyishly. “You should come over if you don’t have anything else planned. It’ll save you from cooking another meal.”

“I might take you up on that offer. Let me check if either Joon or Hobi are having dinner at home, otherwise I’ll definitely be there.”

xxx

Taehyung and Jimin (and now Jungkook) lived about 10 minutes away from your place. It was a much larger apartment, so three people were more than comfortable there. Jungkook was staying there until he found another place to stay, but judging by how happy Jimin and Taehyung were with him around, he would probably end up staying with them permanently.

“I found parking at your building for the first time today,” you remarked, dropping your bag on the nearest couch. 

“Half the people are visiting family over the weekend. You won’t be so lucky next time.” Taehyung walked over lazily, his thick black hair falling messily over his eyes. He was dressed in his favorite Celine t-shirt and a pair of the loosest pants you had seen till date.

“The perm’s still looking good, Tae,” you grinned at him, taking the soda from his hand. 

“I’m planning on getting it done again once it wears off,” he said happily, settling into the couch. “Catch up on your sleep? Or did Gguk ruin your Thanksgiving plans as well?”

“‘As well’?” you asked, trying to suppress a grin.

“Taking advantage of the nearly empty laundry room and washing all the sheets does not count as ‘ruining’ anyone’s Thanksgiving plans!” yelled Jungkook from inside the kitchen.

“He woke me up at 7 am and stripped the sheets off my bed, emptied all our laundry bags, and locked me out of my room so that I wouldn’t dirty the bare mattress with my grubby clothes.” Taehyung’s grumbling was always extremely funny because he would end up pouting by the end of his rant and no one would take him seriously after that.

“Okay, the bread is in the oven and should be ready in about 15. Lamb chops are almost done as well. We’ll be dining in no time,” said Jungkook, flopping onto the couch beside you.

“That gives me enough time to answer the emails Choi sent me this morning. Jimin was right, she’s a madwoman. Doesn’t understand what ‘a break’ is , apparently,” sighed Taehyung, getting up and walking towards his room. “Lemme know when the food is ready.”

3 years ago, if anyone had told you that you would be more than halfway through your PhD having become close friends with seven of the most handsome guys on campus (or even in the country), you would’ve laughed at them and then silently questioned their sanity. But now, you couldn’t imagine life without them. Even Jungkook, you realised, glancing at the boy next to you. He had also become an extremely important part of your life. He didn’t say much, but his actions made things abundantly clear. He was extremely caring and thoughtful, even if he didn’t always have the right words to express himself. 

“What’re you thinking?” he asked, looking at you sleepily.

“That this soda is almost lukewarm.”

“Don’t lie.”

“I’m not.”

Suddenly, you felt a rough set of fingers poking your ribcage. Slowly, but surely, you were squirming in place as you struggled to not spill your soda while Jungkook continued tickling you mercilessly. 

“I know your weakness, remember?” he managed to say between giggles, his voice turning high-pitched as it usually did when he laughed too hard. 

“Gguk stop! The soda! It’ll spill on the carpet!” you gasped, trying to keep your hand steady.

“Oh shit! Sorry. Yeah, Jimin would freak out if he saw a stain on this carpet.” Jungkook let you go so that you could place the soda can on the nearest table. But as soon as you had freed your hands, you jumped on him and pinned him on the couch.

“I also know your weakness, Gguk,” you grinned, deviously, before tickling him with all your might. 

Needless to say, a scenario with two people in their mid-twenties behaving like 4 year olds, was bound to have certain consequences. In this case, it ended with both you and Jungkook falling off the couch, your faces mere inches away from each other. 

This wasn’t the first time you had been struck by how handsome Jungkook was. In fact, you had noticed the exact number of moles on his face and neck, having stopped yourself from reaching out and touching the one under his lower lip on more than one occasion. His large doe eyes also held a certain innocence and wonder in them, even though he was an extremely bright and capable PhD student with a lot of varied knowledge bases. Not just that, his impressive physique had caught you off guard many times. Particularly because it contrasted so heavily with his boyish face.

None of that mattered at this moment, as you could feel his breath on your face. He was so close… If you reached up a little bit, you would be-

“The oven timer’s been beeping for the last 10 minutes. But you both are too busy eye-fucking each other to notice.”

Taehyung’s deep voice caused you both to spring apart from each other, mortification heating up your face and neck. Jungkook’s ears, you noticed, had turned a very beautiful shade of red as well.

Dinner wasn’t as awkward as you expected because Yoongi dropped by a few minutes after your ‘eye-fucking’ session, extremely hungry and annoyed at Seokjin - who had decided to use this night to slow cook some pork.

“Gguk, this is really good,” said Yoongi, once all of you had finished eating. “Didn’t think you’d be able to get it right on the first go! Y/N, what’d you think? You’ve been awfully quiet the whole time.”

You nodded your head in response, keenly aware of Taehyung’s intense gaze that followed your every move. “It was really good, Gguk. Thanks for a lovely meal.”

“Do you need a ride home, Yoongi?” you asked, once all the dishes had been cleared away. “I’ve got my car.”

“Life-saver. I need to pick up a tin of coffee from the convenience store. I’ll meet you at the parking lot in 10?” said Yoongi slipping on his jacket.

“Wait, I’ll go with you. I need to buy some soda,” said Taehyung, springing up suddenly. Not bothering to change out of his slippers, he rushed out after Yoongi, but not before glancing quickly between you and Jungkook and sending you a rather outrageous wink.

“That was… weird,” you remarked, relieved to see that Jungkook had missed your exchange with Taehyung. “Anyway, thanks again for a great meal. You’re a really good cook, Gguk.”

“Thanks,” he said, not really looking up from his phone. He had also been rather silent throughout the meal.

“I’m heading out then. See you later, Gguk.” You picked up your bag and proceeded to open the door.

“Y/N?”

“Yeah?” You turned around to find Jungkook standing rather close to you. You could see the mole below his lower lip quite clearly from here.

“You never told me what you were thinking about.” His voice was a lot more husky than usual, and you gulped as you realised you had no clue what to say to him.

“I-”

Before you could finish your half-formed sentence, Jungkook’s lips were on yours, kissing you slowly. After being frozen for a second or two, your hands made their way into his soft brown curls, relishing in the feeling of having him so close to you. You realised that you had been wanting to do this for a while now. Maybe even since the first day of classes, when he had offered you his cup of coffee after the machine in the department had stopped working. 

“Never mind,” he said, breaking the kiss with a soft ‘chu’. “You can tell me another time. Yoongi’s probably waiting at the parking lot.”

“And Tae might come back any minute now,” you said, your voice barely above a whisper. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said, a soft smile on his face. 

“Tomorrow?” It seemed like your brain had short circuited. 

“Yeah.” He dipped down and placed another chaste kiss on your mouth, before displaying his adorable bunny smile. “But even that seems too far away right now.”

You were really grateful that you managed to get both yourself and Yoongi home without crashing the car that night. Once you got home, you checked your phone and found two messages - a text from Jungkook checking if you had reached home safe, and another one from Taehyung.

T: the couch is off limits. don’t even think about it...

xxx

please do not repost anywhere. reblog if you enjoyed the story!

[aspiestvmusings]

ZEP TIMELINE

This is the timeline of ZEP...based on my observations. 

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist S1 (and S2 beginning) timeline...based on canon (things we’ve seen (being confirmed) on screen)

WARNING: LONG TEXT POST! 

ZEP TIMELINE

Z = Zoey M = Max S = Simon J = Jessica D = David E = Emily

SEASON 1

1x01

Day 1: Meeting Zoey & her neightbour: Zoey wakes up as Mo plays Wham! music loudly. Meeting her best friend & co-workers. Z/M at coffee shop & going to work. Z saying "Hi" to Simon. Z's job interview with Joan. Meeting her family: Z. at her parents house. All of these things happened on one day... Confirmed by Z's outfit.

Day 2: Unknown number of days later. But pretty soon after... however long it took to with for that doc appoitment. This is probably several days later (but days, not months) Zoey  gets the MRI, the earthquake happens & she gets her powers. Zoey hearing people singing for the 1st time, telling Mo about it.

Day 3: Unknown number of days later, but... not that long after, because she could not have gone through many days after getting the power without hearing her co-workers (and Max) sing to her... so it's probably the next day...or a few days after the MRI. Also: it's  a Tuesday. Zoey wakes up to Mo singing again. 5 days til the Sprk Point watch launch! Z & L working late trying to fix the bug, Z. hearing S sing "Mad World" & telling Mo about it in the club.

Day 4: Next day after Day 3. Because Z. tells M. that she went to a club last night (hence the 4 cups of coffee, cause she didn't get much sleep). 3.5 (three and a half) days til launch. Z takes a lunch break & they have their 1st grief talk/therapy session. S's dad died 5 months ago. Z. & her mom have a talk about pills/meds & more. All same day cause of Z's outfit.

Day 5: Unknown number of days later. But based on everything it's one day after Day 4. Z. wants to tell M. about her power, asking about "mind reading" ability. Leif sings "all I do is win". Z. goes to get a cheesequake & runs into S. & Jessica... and runs... Z. goes to parents house & hears her day sing "true colours" for 1st time. They plan to go sailing...on Sunday. All happens during same day cause of Z's outfit.

Day 6: Unknown number of days later. But it's not launch day yet, so it's less than 3 days since day 3. Zoey figures out the issue with the watch, they fix it. Z's 2nd job interview & she gets the job.

Day 7: A day or few later. It's Sunday. The Clarkes go sailing

Day 8: Unknown number of days later. It seems it's the next day after the sailing, so Monday (cause she looks happy when she wakes up). It's her 1st day at work as the new team leader. She hears M. sing his 1st heart song.

EXTRA: Most likely ep 1 took place during one week: Day 1 was Monday, Day 2 Tuesday, Day 3 Wed (launch in 5 days aka next Mon), Day 4 Thu, Day 5 Fri, Day 6 Sunday (sailing) & Day 7 Next Monday (launch day, back at work). Though it could be longer between Day 6 & Day 7... it might be the next Monday...so the episode takes place during two weeks, not one.

1x02 Day 1: Unknown number of days later. Z. has a "I got the music in me" dream. Z. & Mo start documenting details about her power. She tells that her NEW ability made her aware  of many things... and then she re-caps the ep 1 heart songs to Mo...so it cannot be that many days later. We're talking about days or a week/few weeks. Z. gives her "new boss" speech & M. sings his 2nd song to her (Sucker). We know it's only his 2nd song, cause she tells Mo that "he sang...again...and this time it was less ambigious song". M. asks Z. on a non-date to HandPicked on Thursday night. Z. sets M. up with Autumn.  Z. hears "Moondance" Day 2: Unknown number of days later...but we know it's not Thursday yet...so it's soon after. Z. asks Mo advice about "Moondance". Z. is not happy with the team, and stays to work alone al night. M. goes to HandPicked with A. Day 3: Next day after Day 2. Z. wakes up at work. Makes a presentation in sweats. Talks "Moondance" with mom. M. bring butterscotch pudding from HandPicked for Z's dad. Day 4: Unknown number of days later. Z. asks advice from S. about leading  a team. Reads her journal to the team, gets them to listen to her. Maggie sings Moondance to Mitch. Z. sees Max & Autumn at the coffee shop. Z. writes in her journal as Mo comes over to discuss experimenting with her power some more. All the same today because of Z's outfit.

1x03 Day 1: Unknown number of days later. 3 days until Sprk Point Watch Launch Party (Charlies promo). Joan lets the team go home "early" (midnight), Z & M. go to a club where Mo is playing... it's an audition for Simon's engagement party. Day 2: Unknown number of days later, but it's not "launch party" day yet, so most likely next day. Mitch asks for lemonade. Zoey hears "(no) satisfaction" everywhere. Day 3: It's the next day after Day 2, because Joan asks about the good advice Zoey gave her last night when they talked. It's not "launch party" day yet. It's Thursday ("fresh bagels on a Thu morning") Charlie comes to the office for a (sushi) lunch meeting. Charlie bails, the team try to find a replacement "celeb" to demo the watch. Max uses his "one-time favour" call (since the plane ride takes 14 hours & he'd make it on time, it means it's the day before the launch party).  All the same day because of Z's outfit. Day 4: Next day after Day 4. It's Friday & also the Launch Day. Joan takes over the demo.

1x04 Day 1: Unknown number of days since last episode. A little while has passed. Probably weeks. Z. finds about her quiet downstairs neighbour & hears Mo sing a sad song. S. needs a new florist for their engagement party that is happening soon. D & E have the ultrasound pic  that also reveals their baby's sex/gender. M & A. have taken a new step in their relationship...that causes him to sing opera & tells Z. that they're going to Napa over the weekend. Z. follows Mo to the choir practice & he does not appreciate her secretly following him. Z. sees S. & J. at her parents place. All the same day cause of Z. oufit. Day 2-4 : Unknown number of days later. But it's not the weekend yet, so same week. Mo wont talk to Z. +  Same day or next day. D & E. +  Same or next day: Z. taks to the quiet neighbour. Zoey & mom have a talk (over wine) Day 3- 5: Unknown number of days later, but probably the same weeks weekend: The baby's gender reveal party they organized for Mitch...cause "bigger moments". Z. meets Bonnie & talks to Mo. Mo decides to go perform with the choir. It is most likely a Sunday. 

1x05 Day 1: Unknown number of days later. Clarke's look at their childhood toys. It's "peer review" day at work. Mo & Zoey eat at football bar, Z. asks M. about Napa... so it's a bit after that weekend (but I would say a week or few weeks, not months later). Z sees David at the bar Day 2: The next day after Day 1. Z. asks advice from S... to help D & E. She says "i saw my brother out last night" Day 3: Unknown number of days later. Z. brings S. a grief kit, because it's his dad's birthday (so he could be having a "bad day") tomorrow night. M. tells Z. about A's parents coming to town next weekend. Z has a talk with Emily. All the same day, because of Z's outfit. + most likely same day/night: D. coming to see Z. cause of what she told Emily about his "fears" Day 4: The next day after Day 3. Z. & Mo talk. M. & A. break up during a run. Z. talks to S., because it's his dad's birthday... day. S. calls D. to apologize. Maggie tells Mitch she's taking the job. M. calls Z. to tell about breaking up with A. and at the same time S. comes over to her place. And sings "should I stay or should I go"

1x06 Day 1: Starts the same day/night last episode ended. Picks up seconds after 1x05 ended (should I stay or should I go?) Day 2: Next day after  Day 1. Mo tells Z. he saw S. go to her place last night. Jessica comes to talk with Zoey...about the engagement party happening "tonight". So the whole episode takes place during 24 hours (we start with last night & rest of the ep. is all one day)

1x07 Day 1: Unknown number of days later. Z/M movie night...after a while (she reinstated the tradition after he helped with her dad "the other night". So we know it's a few days later. Though there are outfit changes in this episode we know it's the same day, so she's just wearing 3 different outfits (at Mo's, at work, at the spell-iversary party) The Z/S/M elevator ride tells us that it's probably their first day back to work after the engagement party fiasco, so it's probably Monday. Then its Max's flash-mob performanace. That leads to her telling him about her powers. The same night they have a fallout at the club. Day 2: Next day after Day 1. Z. tells Mo "guess who I heard singing last night at the club?" Then Zoey has an honest talk with Max...giving him "the truth"...though considering the math I am doing here Z's line "I'm here to do what I should've done months ago" sounds strange, cause it's barely a few months since Pilot events. Same with S's comment to Max that "you & Z. weren't hanging out for a while...I noticed" (when that has lasted just a few days during their "not talking" phase in ep 7...unless we also count time time he was with A., so they spent less time together, and thats what S. noticed). And in the end she sees Leif & Joan kiss. We know all that is one day because of Z's outfit.

  1x08 Day 1: Unknown number of days later. But it's days or a week/few weeks after last eps events. Z. is planning Emily's babyshower. All of the events of the episode take place during the Glitch Day (the Sprk watch glitch + Zoey's powers glitch)... from the Z/M elevator ride, where he says he needs space til the night when she goes & faces her dad & sings to him. But if we assume their movie night happen once a week then it's a week later. Yet it has to be pretty soon after, cause Zoey hasn't met Howie yet, who started working for Mitch in the end of last episode. 

1x09 Day 1: Unknown number of days later. It's Friday (because Max says "tomorrow is Saturday"...when Ava tells to come in for an interview tomorrow) Z. cooks at Mo's place and breaks her finger...which Howie helps fix, then has a "need clarity" talk (about the kiss) with Simon. Ava comes to invite Max to the 6th floor... We know this is the same day because of Max's outfit. Day 2: The next day after Day 1. The "brunch", Z. meeting Howie's daughter, Max visiting 6th floor. It's Saturday. Mo tells Zoey about the brunch. We know it's one day later cause Z. says to Mo "this is a completely different you (opinion) than yesterday" Day 3:  A few days later...most likely Monday...the first day back at work. Abigail comes to visit. Max tells Zoey about the promotion. During their 80s workout Z tells Mo about Abigail's visit that morning, & about her "we're done" talk with S. that day. So it's all the same day. Day 4: Unknown number of days later. Seems like the next day, but could be a few days later: Zoey arrives to work to see Simon & Jessica break up. 

1x10 Day 1: Four days later. Cause Mo says "the boy just broke up 4 days ago" as Zoey is getting ready to go to work... This seems to imply that it's Monday...and 4 days ealier was Thursday (and S. just didn't come to work on Fri, hence they haven't seen since). Max moves to 6th floor & nobody even notices/cares. Z. and S. arrange a date for "tonight" & then she bails when he sings the same song again. Then she tells all about it to Mo later. Day 2: Unknown number of days later. Seems like the very next day. The bakeoff & 4th vs 6th floor things. Day 3: The next day after Day 2. Because Z. says "what you did yesterday was really rough" to M. Max comes to get his things from his old desk, M & Z have a "fight". And it's been just a few days since Max moved to 6th floor, because Z adds that "you've been there [6th floor] for a whopping 2 days". Then later she yells at Howie. And then she calls S. over for a "booty call"... andverbally attacks him. Mo interrupts them & tells them to "angry dance" & they have a "be patient" talk. S. tells about going to his mom's wedding in LV over the weekend. It's Zoey's "anger day". Day 4: Unknown number of days later. Zoey takes the day off work...for personal reasons. Arranges a nice anniversary dinner for her parents. Leif asks Max to help him move to 6th floor. 

1x11 Day 1: Unknown number of days later. The Clarke's are planning the funeral at the funeral home, then Zoey goes to work...after her day off...and finds out about Leif's move.  Later she tells Mo about her Max issues. Day 2: Unknown number days of later. Max encourages his team for their good work. Max asks Leif if he wants to go get a beer after work (that night). Zoey sees Deb. Joan & Zoey + Max & Leif all go to the karaoke bar. All this happens during the same day. Day 3: Unknown number of days later. Zoey sees Mo change his door lock. Zoey asks Deb to meet with her mom. Joan catches Leif & Tobin secretly exchanging code. Joan talks with Ava & they decide to work together (one big team). Zoey goes to talk with Max on the 6th floor & they make up. Her line "I have spent the last few/several days at a cemetary" confirms that the events of the episode have taken place during a short few day time period. Based on Zs outfit all that happened during the same day. Then Ava fires Max. 

1x12 Day 1: Unknown number of days later. But based on Zoey not knowing Max has been fired & is surprised to see Leif back on 4th floor it's soon after. And Simon being back from his "weekend trip" to LV to be at his mom's wedding...after being away "for a few days"... So it has to be the next work day. So just a day or few days later. And most of the events of the episode happen during the same day, because we start with Zoey singing "bad moon rising" & the day ends with the bad thing happening...her dad dying. So while it seems, at times, that it's several days, it actually seems to ALL happen during that one specific day. Day 2: Several days later. A few days to a few weeks later. The day of the funeral. Everyone sings "american pie"

SEASON 2

2x01

Day 1: Picks up about 1.5 months (45 days) after the funeral (when S1 ended). Mo wakes Z. up, and its her 1st day back at work after the "hiatus". Z. & M. have a coffee talk on the bench & he gives her the "Z(s)hield" ring. Back at work everyone sings "Hello Dolly", she meets George, gets an update from Leif on the dogs & standing desks & everything else, Joan offers her her job. Maggie is dealing with the "financil stuff" all day. Z. finds that her three separate friends have become a trio/best buds now + the “two teams” sing a duet to her & Mo gives her the “champagne problems” talk. Max has an actual idea for a business (but doesn't tell others yet). Zoey helps mom with the password & they find the testimonials videos from Mitch to the family. Day 2: Next day after Day 1, cause Z. says that "mom & I found these videos last night". Z. doesn't have an answer for Joan yet, George sings his heart song. Everyone keeps asking Zoey is she's okay & she's not ready to deal with all/any of it & she asks for it to stop & storms off. Later that day/night Joan comes to see her & tells her about leaving (to Singapore). Seems as if the next scenes happen that same day/night, too: Max visits Mo, they make Crème Brûlées & talk about his new business idea. Zoey  & mom talk about not knowing how to live without Mitch...as they sit on the coach. (how do I live without you...) & David calls them to watch the videos al together in the other room & then they sing "carry on". It's the same day/night ecause Z. & Maggie & David are all wearing the same clothes they did before. Day 3: Unknown number of days later, but soon after Day 2. Zoey tells Leif that she has taken over Joan's job, George thanks her for talkin to Tobin. Mo & Max talk business. Same night...Max comes over to tell Z. about his (and Mo's) new business idea...and that leads to the shipper content... ending. It's just a few days after the previous events of the episode, cause M. says that "I saw you were weirded out the other night when you saw us all hang out at Mo's place"

EXTRA: Since Maggie says she's been "on help mode" for the past 1.5 years, and they found out about Mitch's illness "last year" (about /less than a year before the Pilot episode picks up), then the whole foirst season does take place during a few months, not longer. And if we consider Zoey's comment in 1x11 that "a year ago I would never have imagined this is where I'd be..." tells us that it's been a little less than/around a year since Mitch was diagnosed.

2x02 Day 1: Picks up minutes after where last episode ended. Z. & M. in her childhood bedroom.

SUMMARY: 

So..the whole of S1 took place...if we consider the “time jump” between days within the episodes & between the episodes... took place during a few months. 3-4 months in total (maximum!) if we stretch the breaks between eps to a week to few weeks instead of a few days which it often seems to actually be. 

The events of S1 took place during 3-4 months (minimum 90 days, maximum 120 days... cause based on lines said by the characters, and other things no "timejump” between episodes is longer than a few weeks. Most pick up just days (some just minutes/hours) after last episode ended. 

[trickkombowerskru]

Road Trip-Henry Bowers Imagine

Request: Anonymous: Hey can you do an imagine where the reader gets a call saying she has to go pick up henry from juniper hills and she is like super successful and she isn't sure if she should but she ends up doing and they have a super cute road trip to her house and it's all fluffy. Also I love your work❤

A/N:I kinda went nuts with this prompt bc I really loved it so this one is real long strap in folks

Warnings: None

You exhale after an exhausting day at work, as you take off your coat. After an entire day of meetings, finalizing pieces, and reviewing editorials you were beat. You wanted nothing more than to get into the bath and have a glass of wine.

Then to follow that up by changing into sweats, and watching whatever new awful movie hit Netflix recently to turn your brain off and relax while you could before you had to be up the next morning to do it all over again.

As soon as you poured your wine your phone ringing obnoxiously loud killed the mood. You pick it up not recognizing the number at all, but seeing it was a call from Derry, Maine. Just upon seeing the town, a familiar feeling struck you, something that was pulling you to answer.

“Hi is this Y/N L/N?”

“This is she. “

“Hi this is Katherine with Juniper Hills Asylum.”

Why the hell was a random mental hospital calling you?

“Can I ask why you’re calling?”

“Ah yes, due to good behavior and new found evidence in the case that he did not commit these crimes, Henry Bowers is to be released early, and to the first person on his emergency contact form, which is you.”

Hearing his name again made you feel like you just got punched in the gut. And then you know the feeling. It was everything your first boyfriend had made you feel. You needed to take a minute to debate whether you would go.

“Oh I have another call I’ll call you back soon.”

“Alright.”

You think of all the pros and cons, you were in New York now which was a while 7 hours away, and it was one am, in order to get there by morning you’d have to leave at three or four. On the other hand you would feel terrible if he was thrown out on to the streets or something. Also the fact that the feelings were slowly coming back, along with memories.

You quickly call your assistant since you decided you would go. Who knows? Maybe it could even be fun.

“Hey Addison? Yeah something just came up I won’t be in tomorrow until late in the afternoon, maybe not at all.”

“Is everything alright Y?N?”

“Yeah fine, fine I just need to go on a business trip in Maine.”

“Oh okay I’ll be sure to get the email out”

“Thanks Addison you’re the best.”

You quickly called the number back.

“Hi Katherine I’ll be there.”

“Great tonight is his last night, he’ll be released to you when you arrive.”

“I can get there around 10.”

“10 am got it, we’ll let the other workers know.

You put your wine glass in the fridge and then proceed to grab a bunch of caffeine. By the time you had to go you were more than awake. The closer you got to Derry, the more memories came flooding back to you. Along with guilt, you remember when everything went down, and how you would go to see him.

Then you graduated and once every few days became once a week, once a week to once a month, and by the time you left Derry it was once every few months, and you had to break it off.

You hated hurting him like that, but you had no choice, seeing him even less would just hurt your relationship. You moved to New York for college, and worked your way up to the ladder to where you were now. Currently you were the CEO of a really large fashion magazine, really creating an empire.

You laughed to yourself remembering all the dumb shit you two got into, how he carved your initials into the kissing bridge, your first kiss, your first time, and just everything else.

It felt weird to be back in Derry, you never really forgot it, but you had somehow forgotten enough. Enough where you had made up enough to seem believable in interviews in case they had asked you about your childhood.

You take a deep breath to calm yourself down when you finally pulled into the parking lot. A sense of dread filled your entire body as you were lead down the halls into the lobby by a worker.

Before you entered you could see Henry waiting through the clear double doors, you smiled seeing how nothing had really changed. he still had that rough and tough small town charm and even still had his mullet, which you would be sure he got cut, later.

When the doors open, the look of awe on his face is so heartwarming. He had no idea it was you who was picking him up, his heart swelled seeing you again after all these years, looking somehow even more beautiful.

He was never mad at you for leaving, he actually understood it, and if he held you back, he would hate himself even more. So yeah while being stuck in this hellhole he still loved you and thoughts of you made him smile.

“Y/N,” he asks.

“Hey,” you say softly.

“Hey,” he replies.

Without missing a beat you are hugging, almost wanting to cry at the way he clutches to you as if you were his safe place.

You sign the papers and he practically takes your hand and runs out.

He takes a really deep breath in once outside.

“Aw finally some fresh fuckin’ air.”

“They didn’t let out out?”

“Eh sometimes, but not for long, I swear being stuck in those walls drove everyone even more fuckin’ nuts... it’s the little things you miss the most, but they add up ya know.”

“I guess get that. Like what?”

“Uh fresh air, a nice cig, good food, just to name a few,”

You nod the ride began extremely awkward. Not a word was said from you at first, worried he may have just been secretly mad or something.”

He seemed to pick up on this right away, as after about 25 minutes he looks over at you an smiles.

“I ain’t mad at you.”

“What?”

“For leavin’ I ain’t mad.”

You nod, feeling a weight taken off your shoulders.

And shortly after as cheesy as it was “I Melt With You”  comes on the radio. You smile and turn it up, looking over at him. It was your song back in the day because of a whole running joke. In no time you two are singing terribly at the top of your lungs and laughing.

“God remember that night we snuck out to go to prom. I still have no clue how I got you to go with me.”

“You were my girl, and beside I knew that shit would get me brownie points, and what happened it did.”

“Yeah yeah whatever you say Bowers, you still cut up the dance floor.”

“Maybe,” he smiles.

You pull to a halt when you reach one area.

He looks around and chuckles when he sees you get out of the car.

It was the kissing bridge, you look around and then see it, the carving he made all those years ago, still clear as day, you run your hand over it and grin.

You take a picture with you phone and then head back to the car.

“It’s still there. God I remember that night, on the way back from that shitty horror movie, first time you told me you loved me, after you did that carving.”

“Yeah...” he breaths out still taking in how gorgeous the sunlight bounced off the side of your face

The rest of the ride flies by filled with reminiscing and laughter.

You make stops every now and then at gas stations to refuel and get snacks and drinks.

Henry even surprises you with what you always used to get back in the day.

“You remembered?”

“Layer the blue and the red, blue on top, and then since for some reason it’s such a damn pair like we are a two pack of Slim Jims and I get one. ” he shakes his head with a laugh reciting what you used to say to him all the time when you went on snack “runs” back in the day as he pulls apart the pack, handing you one of them.

“I’m impressed. God it’s been so long since I have this absolute garbage combo!,” you exclaim taking a really big sip of the Slurpee.

“So where are we goin’ anyway? Where do you live?,” he questions a s he takes a bit of his Slim Jim

“New York,” you say his eyes light up and you can see a cute sense of childlike wonder in them 

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Once you hit New York you notice Henry’s eyes go large again  as he looks around at the hustle and bustle of the city and all the shops and stuff. Now though the crashing effects of the caffeine were starting to get to you, but you wanted to get Henry settled in, and then get him a few things, considering his old clothes definitely wouldn’t fit him, and lord knows he probably wanted out of that hoodie and uniform.

You take another sip hoping that the sugar will be enough to keep you up.

When you pull up just by the size of the outside of the building Henry was taken so back, but that was nothing compared to his face when he got inside.

“Holy shit Baby! This is like a fuckin’ mansion how do you not get lost? What do you do to live here?”

“I uh, I run a fashion magazine, and help design stuff, CEO of the company now actually,” you say feeling flustered hearing him calling you “Baby” again.

“God damn!”

“Yeah it’s pretty nice.”

“That’s an understatement.”

You laugh as he looks around.

“Okay so I’ll show you the bathroom so you can showers, and then I’ll just give you some men’s designs I have lying around here, then we can go out and I can get you a few things,”

“Hot water,” Henry says as you start walking him to one of the bathrooms.

“Huh?”

“That’s another small thing you miss, hot water.”

“They didn’t give you hot water?”

“They did at first, but then the damn shower busted and they never got it fixed.”

“Well you can take all the hot water you want, just leave your clothes on the chair there and uh I guess I’ll uh-”

“Burn em.”

“You want me to burn them?”

“I ain’t ever wearin’ that shit again, not like you wanna keep it.”

“Okay noted. I’ll burn it, and I’ll leave you fresh stuff in the guest room 2nd door to the left from here.”

He nods and starts stripping before you leave, making you laugh.

“Can you wait till I leave?”, you joke.

“Ain’t nothing you ain’t seen before,” he smirks, making your slight blush come back.

“Yeah well it’s been a while since I’ve seen it. I don’t know if anything’s changed<” you tease and drift your eyes downward.

“Only for the better Darlin’ not much to do in that hellhole, but walk around, watch the shit they had on the tv, read somethin’, or workout.”

You laugh again and shut the door, heading to your design room. to get him something casual, but nice. You luckily had some down played stuff from a shoot coming up. Sure you liked fresh stuff on your models, but you could always wash the stuff, and have it pressed to restore it. 

You quickly retrieve his outfit from the bathroom and lit your fire place throwing in stuff one by one slowly so it doesn’t grow too large, then grab some more caffeine to stay awake. 

Oh yeah you were going to for sure gong to crash at like 7 or 8 tonight and there was no way you were going to try and go in today, you’d be falling asleep during any meetings.

You pick up your phone, calling Addison again to let her know.

“Hey Girl.”

“Hey.”

“I just wanted to let you know that the maybe has definitely turned into a no go today, I am exhausted.”

“Aw I’m sorry, make sure you get some rest tonight okay?”

“Oh trust me I will soon. Just wanted to let you know that way you knew that you and Mark were still in charge and heads of the meetings and all that. I mean you can call or text if you need something during them of course, but yeah just wanted to give you a heads up on that. Plus they are smaller meeting anyway so I know for sure you guys will handle them perfectly.”

“Thanks.”

“Of course,” you say as you hear the shower finally shut off.

“I gotta go, but good luck I know you two will do great!”

“Alright. Thanks for the heads up. I can put an extra shot of espresso into your latte if you want.”

“Oh yes! I know I’ll definitely need it, I know I’m still gonna come in tired despite how much sleep I get tonight God knows I won’t wanna get up thanks. Okay see ya.”

“Bye.”

You turn around and your breath hitches for a minute when you see Henry in the outfit you had chosen. He almost looked entirely different then he did when you picked him up now that he was in actual clothes.

“So how do i look Sweetheart could I be in Vogue or what?,” he jokes striking a ridiculous pose with a smolder on his face.

“Sure. 

You let him pick out whatever he liked, along with helping him with a few things, and making sure he head a few nicer pieces and a suit, then go to the barber’s shop.

“Okay I know it’ll be shocking and all, but Hen....the mullet has to go you need to update your look for a full 2016 makeover.”

The look on his face was priceless.

You tell the guy how to fix it at least a bit, making sure the mullet goes, he could style it up if he wanted, but something told you he would just leave it with the slight bangs he had. either way it was for sure an upgrade.

When he was done he looked in the mirror, ran his hand through it a bit, you could tell he liked it. Then he puts his hand on the back of his neck, feeling it.

“Feels weird. Like I always had it.”

You laugh.

“You look good.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” you find yourself leaning in, in the slightest way to kiss him before catching yourself, your phone ringing saved you so you stepped out to take it. It was Addison making sure of a few things before the meeting started, but you were thankful for her timing.

You went back in mentally kicking yourself for that. Hoping he didn’t notice, which it didn’t seem he did. Like it would be weird after all this time to just pick things back up where they left off right? 

Like it had been forever and sure he may have been being flirty all day, but that could also just be because you were taking him in. Also would he even want that?

You shake your thoughts and then go to the apple store where you had the field day of teaching him his way around a modern phone. Were you spoiling him a bit? Yes. But you couldn’t help it, despite these feelings coming back, you wanted him to be able to find his way around the city, even if it wasn’t by your side.

Once you leave of course it starts to rain, you quickly rush into the house, changing into comfy clothes and grabbing a blanket. You eventually drift off, waking up somehow in your bed to the loud crash of thunder.

Did Henry carry you here? How long did it take him to find your room? Did he tuck you in or did you just pull up the blankets yourself? The thunder takes you out of your thoughts along with a squeaking sound. 

You check your phone it was midnight, you fell asleep around 7, and you had around 5 maybe 6 more hours before you had to get up, and head into the office. While you did wanna go back to sleep, you still felt pretty refreshed from that nap. First thing first though you wondered what that noise was. 

You pull on a hoodie and quickly find your source when Henry’s door was open. You see him toss and turn, seeming to be stuck in a nightmare. You knew he hated storms back then, they were harsh and loud, and reminded him of the lashes his father gave him.

It made sense that without any form of comfort over all these years, along with whatever else piled on top of that, that he would still be afraid. He wakes up in a gasp, wiping the cold sweat off of his forehead.

You gently knock on the door he looks over and slightly smiles seeing you.

“Hey,” you gently say.

“Hey Doll.”

“You still hate storms.”

He nods.

“Yeah. Yeah they're the fuckin’ worst.”

“Well now that we’re both up you uh, you want me to make some cocoa?”

“Yeah..sounds nice.”

“You still want that dash of cinnamon?”

“Please.”

“You got it”

He sits on the couch, hugging one of your pillows, as you get to work on the cocoa., when it’s finished you add the final touches, and can’t help but sneak a glance at him shirtless, when he releases the pillow to take the mug.

He was definitely right in that joke earlier you notice that he for sure had lots of muscle still built up. You try and shake yourself out of your thoughts, but this time it just holds there.

“Um do you wanna sleep in my room tonight? It just sounds like your fear has gotten worse. I’d hate to leave you alone with that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Once the cocoa is done, you put the mugs in the sink and go back to the couch. The thoughts cloud your mind again when he lays next to you, and you want nothing more than to either be held or to hold him. You just decide to let it out before it bottles up.

“Hey Henry?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you um...do you still have feelings for me?”

“That obvious huh?”

That took you for surprise.

“No actually I was in my head all day about it. When I got that phone call the other night some feelings came back, but once I got into Derry and saw you again they hit me like a damn bus. I just wasn’t sure how you felt.”

“Well now you do, the thoughts of you were the only thing that could get me to even crack a smile in that shit hole.”

“Do you...do you still love me?”

“Princess I never stopped.”

You lean up and finally after all these years kissed him again, and that was the final nail in the coffin with every single emotion blasting through your body. You pull away and he caresses your face.

“You had no idea how badly I’ve wanted to do that all day or to just do it again for so long.”

“Come ere’,” you say and as if it’s nothing has changed.

You remember the first time he came to you in the rain, not caring it was pouring or storming, he needed you after a particularly rough time from his dad. It was also the first time he came to you after his dad, and after a bit of comfort he told you the truth.

He shifted over into your arms, and you started to do what always used to calm him down, running your fingers through his hair.

“I missed you,” he says smiling up at you.

You kiss him again and quickly drift off again, getting back together with Henry or even really seeing Henry again was definitely not how you would have expected to spend a day, but you weren’t complaining.

He was here in your arms again and you were going to be here for him this time. You would be here to help him heal, to help him grow, and everything else.

[tateishitoshiki]

[Translation] Toshiki Tateishi Livedoor Interview (19/12/19)

I translated the interview that was posted on his birthday!

I also crossposted this to my translation blog on Wordpress.

From a firefighter to the world of entertainment――Looking back at Toshiki Tateishi’s journey to where he is now, on his 26th birthday

Celebrating Toshiki Tateishi who’s approaching his 26th birthday on December 19th with balloons and confetti! “I’m happy because it’s the first time that an article about me is getting released on my birthday!” he said, beaming from ear to ear as he did the photoshoot.

His stage debut was Musical The Prince of Tennis 3rd Season (hereinafter referred to as “Tenimyu”) in 2017. His popularity rose after he took part in Mankai Stage “A3!”, and in only a few years, he quickly became known as a popular young actor.

There is such a term as an Akita Beauty, but Tateishi surely classifies as an “Akita Adonis”.

Looks that you can’t get tired of looking at, skin that has a smooth, silk-like clearness, and an atmosphere that overflows with elegance…… It came as a shock that despite having this level of flawless beauty, he used to be a firefighter before going into the world of showbiz.

In this interview, he talked about the whole story of how he came to aspire to become a firefighter, and the encounters that brought him to reaffirm his feelings for singing.

For my birthday this year, I’d like to get myself an electric bike 

ーYou’re turning 26 on December 19th. Congratulations!

Thank you!

ーWe had a birthday-themed photoshoot today, with balloons and even confetti.

I had a lot of fun doing things I couldn’t do as a child (haha)

ーCan you tell us about your past birthday parties?

When I was young, I used to invite my friends from class to my house every year for a birthday party, but when I was in 1st or 2nd grade, my parents gave me a soccer ball. It made me so happy that I kicked it around inside the room, and it ended up landing on top of the cake, which hadn’t even been cut yet (haha)

ーHuh? Didn’t your parents get mad?

It was my birthday, so they couldn’t get mad at me (haha). Though I would say that they’re the type of parents that never really get mad.

ーThat’s such a charming story (haha). December 19th is pretty close to Christmas, isn’t it? Did you ever get only one present for both your birthday and Christmas? 

No, they always made it separate. I have sisters who are 5 and 7 years older than me, so as the youngest child, they were very affectionate to me. I guess I was quite spoiled (haha)

ーDo you plan on getting yourself anything for your birthday this year?

I haven’t thought about it. … But now I think I’d like to get an electric bicycle.

It’s because I went to a photoshoot by bike sometime ago, but I kept getting overtaken and it took quite some time to get there, so it was pretty tough (haha). I’ve also had people around me suggest it, saying, “You should definitely buy an electric bike,” so maybe I will buy one.

ーNow that you’re turning 26, you’ve reached the turning point of your 20s. Is there anything you’d like to do before you turn 30?

I’m not much of a planner, so… (haha)

ーHow about things like what you want to do in a job?

Thankfully, right now, I’m able to work both with music in a group and in stageplays, and I’ve just started working in film… Yeah, I would like to expand my horizons more. 

Ah, I love eating, so I would love to appear in a variety show or something that involves doing food reviews without having to stop working in music and acting.

ーI want to watch a program that shows more of your personality

Yes, please! Something like “TOshiki Tateishi’s TOwn Walk” sounds like fun! (haha)

Playing the role of Yukimura led me to grow as an actor and as a person 

ーYour birthday on December 19th is also the same day as the opening night of Musical The Prince of Tennis 3rd Season Seigaku VS Rikkai The Last Half.

That’s right!

ーYou play the role of Seiichi Yukimura of Rikkai. In a previous Livedoor interview, you talked about asking your manager to let you know if Tenimyu starts taking auditions. What made you want to be in Tenimyu in the first place?

After I quit being a firefighter, I passed an audition and started taking lessons. But, I fell into a slump and shut everything out, and there was a period when I didn’t go to my lessons and instead did nothing but watch movies.

At that time, I thought that watching films and then laughing and crying because of acting is the same as listening to music and then feeling moved. It made me think that I want to be someone like this, I want to try being an actor.

… So, the question is, why did I audition for Tenimyu, huh? (haha)

ーYes. (haha)

I heard that it was a gateway to success for young actors, so I wanted to challenge it.

ーI heard that you were in the swimming club and the baseball club when you were a student, but did you have any experience with tennis?

I didn’t. That’s why I don’t know the rules, and the first time I ever held a racket was in Tenimyu.

But I remember thinking of it this way. It took time to audition, and I got the part through that, so no matter how difficult the training is, I have no choice but to do it! Anyway, instead of thinking that it’s difficult, I desperately, frantically devoted myself to it.

ーGiven that you have a lot of co-stars, did you ever face any troubles occasionally?

I did find myself troubled with personal relationships. We had to make one production with that large number of people, so we were bound to have some conflicts, and now that I think about it, we couldn’t really make it work at first. But as we attended more rehearsals, we overcame our hardships and our bonds were formed.

ーWas there any pressure in debuting with the role of Yukimura? 

Of course there was. Rikkai is the champion school, so there was the impatience that I had to meet everyone’s expectations. I came in with no skills or anything at all, so there was still the shyness at having to act. It made me very worried.

ーSpeaking of Yukimura, being the captain of Rikkai makes him the strongest guy among all of Japan middle school tennis.

Yes. Yukimura started out with scenes wherein he was hospitalized instead of tennis scenes, so that part was difficult.

ーHow was it difficult?

I think it’s relatively easier to portray his strong “Child of God” side where he’s reigning at the summit of Rikkai. But when I had to sing in a scene where he was still hospitalized, I found it difficult to portray his frailty while also preserving the inner strength of his spirit.  

There’s a part where he sings, “Do your best, I’m praying for you,” to his friends in Rikkai, but I guess I sang it too weakly. The director told me, “Yukimura is originally a physically and mentally strong player, so express his hidden inner strength even through song,” so I had a fairly hard time dealing with that.

ーYou gain a deeper understanding of Yukimura while playing his role, but what do you think makes him attractive?

Like I mentioned, I guess it’s his mental strength as a person. His demeanor is fairly gentle, but I think he’s strong and likes tennis more than everyone else. He also has a ruthless side to him, he hates losing, he never wavers… he’s very cool. I respect who he is on the inside, and I think playing the role of Yukimura led me to grow as an actor and as a person.

I thought it’s amazing to have a job where you save lives 

ーI’d like to hear about the time before you entered this world, your firefighter days. Last October, Jun Utahiroba introduced your history in Mezamashi TV’s Ikemen Notebook corner.

A lot of people messaged me to say “I saw you”, and my Twitter follower count increased, haha. It even went trending on Twitter.

ー#Tateishi-kun (#立石くん) and #FirefighterDaysPic (#消防士時代の写真) did go trending on Twitter. I thought it was clever when Utahiroba said, “If he were dripping in sexiness like this, fires would go out on their own.”

He also said things like “Announcing a burning love alert!” haha. I’m very thankful. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Utahiroba again for featuring me in his corner.

ーOkay, I’ll write that down, haha. When you were deciding on your career, you had a hard time choosing between attending university or becoming a firefighter, weren’t you?

When my mom asked me, “Why do you want to go to college? What’s your purpose for going there?”, I couldn’t answer her. So when I thought again about what I wanted to do, I decided that I wanted to aim to become a firefighter. 

ーOf all the jobs out there, why firefighting?

There was a fire prevention drill at my elementary school, and the firefighters that came to lead it were cool. Boys at that age do find things they admire at least once. After that, the film “Umizaru” became popular when I was in middle school. The term “lifesaving” left a huge impression on me, and I thought that while it may be difficult, a job that saves lives is really wonderful. I wanted to have something worth doing like that as my profession.. 

ーYour sense of justice has been very strong since you were young.

Hmm, I wonder. Is it? Haha

ーI heard that the Tokyo Fire and Disaster Management Agency is quite hard to get into. Their acceptance rate is high; did you have to work hard at studying? 

I did, haha. They had a written exam and a physical strength exam, but I started studying since first year high school, had tutorials, and I asked my upperclassmen about it.

ーIt must have been hard to build physical strength as well.

Yes. I was already doing sports, so I had a foundation to build on, but I still did a lot of muscle training and running.

I cried in frustration at the words of an old stranger, one night in Kitasenju  

ーAfter that, you passed the entrance exam in one take and moved to Tokyo.

I didn’t exactly work immediately after I was employed. I went to a fire fighting school to learn the necessary information and skills, and there I experienced living in a dorm. I was raised with two older sisters and I always went to co-ed schools, so I was overwhelmed when I entered, haha. 

ーHaha. They must have been very strict with rules.

There’s a curfew at night and the time when you’re supposed to wake up is also fixed, so it was difficult to live out our lives with all those things decided for us. When we woke up in the morning, we ran and assembled at the oval, and then we had a roll-call. They even had rules on how to fold our mattresses. If you don’t fold it properly, you’ll have to do it over again, so they had very detailed rules like that.

ーWhat left a deep impression on you in your nearly two years of working as a firefighter?

What left the biggest impression was probably the people I met. The instructor and assistant instructor in my class were very compassionate people, and I’m very glad I met them. Above all, I still keep in touch with the assistant instructor. We even went out to drink together around the end of last year, just the two of us. 

ーHe’s still concerned about you even until now.

He’s the kind of person who would talk about things straight and to the point, which is something most adults wouldn’t do. I also opened up to him and talked to him about how I wanted to pursue music. …… Ahh, that brings me back, haha. Which reminds me, I was invited by my higher-up who likes music to perform at a small bar in Kitasenju. That assistant instructor also came to watch.

ーWhat did you sing?

A song by my higher-up’s favorite, Yutaka Ozaki. I didn’t know that song too well, but I tried to copy the way Ozaki sings when I sang it. When I did that, an old man who came as a guest told me, “Is that your real voice? You don’t leave an impression at all even if you copy voices like that.”

… Those words pierced through my chest, and after the live, I cried while eating sushi in front of my assistant instructor and my higher-up, haha.

ーYou cried tears of frustration.

I haven’t cried in front of anyone ever since I became an adult…… but it somehow spilled out.

ーIs that the point when your dreams of becoming a singer were brought back to life?

I suppose so. That time was frustrating, but I’m grateful to that old man now, haha. 

When anxiety and fear turned into “fun”. I found a turning point in Mankai Stage

ーAfter experiencing your debut at Tenimyu in 2017, you gained a sudden rise in popularity by appearing as Itaru Chigasaki in the 2018 production of Mankai Stage “A3!”. Do you remember the time when you got accepted for your role in Mankai Stage?

I went into Mankai Stage after experiencing two musicals in Tenimyu, but at the time, I was still afraid of standing on stage and felt embarrassed to act, so I was very anxious. On top of that, he’s an extremely popular character, and he’s really attractive, so I didn’t know what to do.

That’s why I consulted my co-actors a lot, like Yamato (Furuya) who plays Citron and Ray Fujita who plays Sakyo Furuichi. I stood on stage carrying all my unease at the start, but around the closing night, I felt like I finally had a grasp on Itaru’s character.

ーReally?

Itaru places distance between his colleagues in the Spring troupe and himself at the beginning, so in our first musical, I deliberately made a wall between the cast and myself.

ーWere you pulled in by your role?

It did have quite an effect at the time. I couldn’t really switch between work and private life, so I could only face them wholly. But now, of course, even if a role like that comes up again, I won’t be pulled in by my role, haha. 

ーThere’s a scene in the play where Itaru starts to find theatre fun. Has your own feelings ever overlapped with Itaru’s?

There was. The first performances in Tokyo ended in July, and the Tokyo return shows weren’t until 3 months after, so there was a lot of time in between. I was very frantic at first and it was just a lot, but by the Tokyo return shows, I found it fun.

ーHow did you feel on stage before the Tokyo return shows?

I didn’t know what to do, and I was pretty much just scared. I didn’t get to stand on stage all that much as Yukimura in Tenimyu, so I wasn’t used to the stage yet. I was a lot more nervous as Itaru than as Yukimura, haha. It almost felt like I was making my first stage appearance. From there, the Tokyo return shows passed and I grew accustomed to it little by little.

Apart from that, the Autumn & Winter 2019 performance which ran from January until March was also a turning point for me. Itaru appeared in it to support the Autumn troupe and the Winter troupe, but everyone’s acting made me want to do better too, and I was really impressed.

ーDuring the Osaka run, you also did things like go to Universal Studios Japan with the Winter troupe.

That’s right. We really got along well, and every time we ate during the provincial tour, it was like, the Winter troupe plus me, haha. Ryo Kitamura and Makki (Yoshihiko Aramaki), Kandai Ueda, Ue-chan (Keisuke Ueda), Ryosei Tanaka, would go, “Let’s grab some food,” and invite me. It was a very nice, comfortable place.

ーAnd, you mentioned before that during the the rehearsals for the Spring solo performance in April this year that the words of Director Fumiya Matsuzaki gave you confidence.

Yes. During the break, Director Matsuzaki told me, “The fact that you’re having fun while acting is showing in your performance this time,” and I felt really happy that he went out of his way just to tell me that. That gave me confidence. I really owe Director Matsuzaki a lot as my teacher.  

ーDid you welcome the Spring solo performance with that feeling?

It was the best! 

There were a lot of scenes where Itaru drags the stage, so I really felt like I had control of the stage, and while that came with a lot of responsibility, it was extremely fun. I felt the sense that I was creating the play along with everyone in the Spring troupe.

ー2019 was the year of development for you, wasn’t it?

I was. But Mankai Stage actually started the year before, even though I feel like it’s been three years, haha. I guess, with that, 2019 was quite a fruitful year.

Toshiki Tateishi takes on the “Would You Rather?” challenge!

ーQuestion 1: If you were to have only one friend for a lifetime, would you rather have... A. A friend who always cancels on you at the last minute B. A friend who always gets jealous easily

Will I ever get to meet my friend even if they always cancel at the last minute?

ーYou will meet them, but they will frequently message to say, “I can’t go today,” even if you’re already at your arranged meeting spot.

Then I guess it’s better to have a jealous friend.

ーHow come?

Isn’t it nice, though? You’re very much loved, haha. 

ーThey’ll keep nagging you with questions like, “Who were you with yesterday?”, though.

Isn’t that cute? Haha

If they ask, it would be fine to just answer and say, “I was with ___.” Even if they easily get jealous, I’m sure that if we hang out together, they’ll cheer up about it. Sudden cancellations just ruin plans, so that’s worse, haha.

ーQuestion 2: If you were to get married, would you rather be married to... A. A girl who doesn’t talk at all B. A girl who will talk your ears off for as long as you’re together

There are a lot of things you can’t communicate without talking, so it’s better to be with a girl who talks than a girl who doesn’t. I’d rather not be told something later on like, “The truth is, it was like this, but…”

ーThere are a lot of stories where someone doesn’t want to say something but wants their partner to notice on their own.

True. That’s why I’d be happier if they would just say it.

ーBut if you come home from work all tired, and they’ll keep talking and talking...

Then I’ll make them be quiet. I can’t just let them talk for 24 hours, haha.

ーQuestion 3: If you were to go on an overseas trip, would you rather... A. Be left behind in a jungle B. Be left behind in a desert

Aaaagh… both of those are really scary. There would probably be water and food in the jungle, but there would also be crocodiles and snakes and bears and insects, and there are a lot of dangers. On the other hand, it’s hot in the desert, and there would be nothing to drink, and even in the desert, there would still be snakes and scorpions.

(grimaces) Yikes...

ーIt’s “Would You Rather”, so you’ll have to make do... 

For the desert, it also depends on how long it would take for me to get to a town.

ーPerhaps you might find an oasis along the way.

If I’m allowed to wear proper, durable clothes, I’ll go for the desert. Even if I suddenly get attacked by a scorpion hidden in the sand, my clothes will be strong enough to defend me, haha.

ーQuestion 4: If you were to be reborn, would you rather be... A. A guy B. A girl

Huh, I’ve never thought of that before.

ーIs it because you have sisters? So you don’t have any curiosity towards what it’s like to be a girl.

That’s probably it. I’ve had friends who only have brothers tell me, “Must be nice to have sisters,” but I’d tell them, “Not really,” haha. 

Ahh, what do I do. I think I’d like to be a dolphin or a bird.

ーThat’s a good answer, haha.

Ah, but I don’t want to see the sea at night; it gets scary. Guess I’d rather turn into a bird after all, haha.

ーQuestion 5: What kind of 2020 would you rather have? A. A calm year where nothing good and nothing bad happens B. A turbulent year where you experience the best and worst moments of your life

I wonder how bad the worst moment could be, haha. I’m sure there are people who prefer to live a safe life with no gains and no losses, but that’s scary. … But, yeah, I guess I’d definitely go for a year with the best and worst moments.  

ーYou prefer the turbulent year?

It isn’t time for me to rest yet, I guess. It would be nice to spend my days peacefully someday, but for now, I want to experience a lot of things and grow more. So bring it on, turbulent 2020.

[mokkoriness]

Motto2 vol. 20 Saga Long Interview

Photo credit: Fantasy Alice9

Looking back on A9's activities in 2016, they showed us a cool world view through their 2nd EP "LIGHT AND DARKNESS", which was released this Spring, and also showed us a fiery live performance comprised of only songs from the band's 1st year at their 12th anniversary show on August 28th. Here and there, you can hear some people worrying about them, asking "Are A9 lost?". As they progress with activities, there is surely no mistaking that their approach and their feelings towards music have changed. Here, we will going along the timeline of events in 2016, and explore Saga's emotions at the time. As we do so, perhaps we can naturally start to see the future that A9 is heading towards.

It was a little unexpected. Since you and Ryosuke are pretty much from the same generation of bands, I thought that perhaps you have had a proper conversation with him before.

Saga: It was unexpected... Despite the fact that we had known of each other quite a lot from 12 years ago. It feels like we were finally able to interact at this point in time. I think that perhaps we were able to talk like this because we have both been in the business for 10 years, have our own thoughts, and have both experienced many things. It made me want to do even more fun things with him. I really thought that it would be nice if we could do something big together.

And on top of that, both of you have this common theme of "returning to your roots". Oddly enough, both bands are in the same mode.

Saga: That's right.

Since Lolita23q are resuming band activities, you can understand why that would be the case for them. But why is A9 in that mode now? I would like to find the answer to that while reviewing this exciting year.

Saga: Sure.

First of all, I think that this was a year where A9 participated in many event lives, something that was not seen until now.

Saga: That's right. To go in chronological order, we first did a 2-man show with Plastic Tree. We had played with Plastic Tree before on an NHK TV show, but it was our first time playing a 2-man show with them, so it was profound. Plastic Tree have had a long career, and when we had started our band, there were many other bands that had been influenced by Plastic Tree's sound. Even members from the band I was in before A9 were influenced by Akira Nakayama's guitar playing. Of course, I also listened to their songs. So I played on stage while thinking about how deeply emotional it is to play a 2-man show with such seniors. Also, actually having met them, they were really friendly people, and will tell you anything if you ask them.

That's right.

Saga: And after the live that day, we also went celebrating afterwards, which is a rare thing, and even talked about our personal lives (laughs). I thought that they were really great older brothers. Of course, I really learned a lot from the way they presented their live show. I was really stimulated, like on how to make an impression at live events or how to use curve balls. And above all, I thought it was amazing that they have always been consistent with their unique world view for a long time now.

That's right. Not only did you play with senior figures in the industry, you also played at events of younger bands.

Saga: The event we played at for another magazine, Cure, at Shinkiba Studio COAST, was during the A9 Tour 2016 "TRUTH IN LIGHT AND DARKNESS". Around that time, we had a killer schedule (laughs).

You also played at "Nico Viju LIVE" at Makuhari Messe on the same day, right?

Saga: Right. We played at two events on the same day (laughs). On top of that, the day before, A9 had a solo live show in Kooriyama. So we arrived at Makuhari in the middle of the night to do a sound check, then went back to the hotel to shower, had a nap, and played live at Makuhari Messe during the day. Then we went to Shinkiba to play at the event. Right after that, we headed for Kanazawa because we were playing a solo show the day after.

That is a chaotic schedule (laughs).

Saga: It was chaotic. But even though we were pushing ourselves, I am glad that we did it. Although a majority of the bands playing at "Cure" are our juniors, there were many cool bands. The feeling that we were out of place there was amazing (laughs).

Out of place?

Saga: How should I put it... All of the bands were hitting hard (laughs). They're all young, they were wearing enamel costumes, they had feathers attached to their costumes, and they were wearing really heavy make-up. Naturally, the kind of audience there was completely different. And then there was me, who went out to play on stage wearing a simple t-shirt... It was like "Sorry for being out of place" (laughs).

(laughs).

Saga: That was the kind of feeling (laughs). But at the same time, I was really curious about how we appeared in the eyes of fans from the younger generation.

Were you worried that even if you played at an event with young bands, A9 wouldn't be accepted?

Saga: To be honest, I was. But once we started playing, they actually grooved along. How should I put it... the mood at the venue was that they would groove along simply if the live was good, or rather, they had a good feel for what good sounds were. It did made me think that if the live show is a good one, you will get a reaction right away, and that there was a good response. When you have been watching lives for a long time, you have the tendency to watch bands that you are seeing for the first time calmly. You think "That groove is something new". It actually made me feel that I wanted to win over the fans of the young bands.

What was the song that got the biggest response and feedback that day?

Saga: "Yami ni Chiru Sakura", a song from the band's early days. From the line-up of performers playing at the event, we guessed what the mood of the venue would be. When we played it as our first song, people really got into it. I had a lot of fun once I saw the reaction from the crowd (smiles).

Like "We guessed it right!"

Saga: Like "This is going exactly as planned" (laughs).

So then in July, you had a 2-man show with Takuto Nakajima. Speaking of him--

Saga: It goes without saying that he is good at singing and his live performance was cool. What left the biggest impression on me from that event was his advice.

What did he say to you?

Saga: What made me go, "Oh, you're right!", was when he said to us "Not flattering the fans is also important". He said "Sometimes, it's also important to just leave the fans behind, express yourselves, and make it a point to not align with them". I thought "Oh, I see".

Did you ever have such thoughts?

Saga: No. Because lately, we have been conscious of doing things like going together with the fans, or taking the fans somewhere, or doing a live show looking at the faces of the audience members. But I only realized that I didn't have that kind of feeling only until Takuto had given us that advice. Also, he was very persuasive, because it was Takuto, who has had a career of continually bringing good songs to fans.

That's right.

Saga: Although at this point in time, it is quite difficult for A9 to directly adopt his advice... Somehow, his advice has always stuck with me. I've been thinking about where to make use of that advice going forward. That approach is alo important.

That's true. Then in Summer of this year, you also participated in V-NATION at Yoyogi National Gymnasium Second Gymnasium. Wasn't the line-up this year a little different from that of last year?

Saga: Right. This year, there were more of our senior bands.

Were there interactions between the bands backstage?

Saga: Yes, because Hiroto is a puppy. He just goes wherever he wants (laughs). Hiroto himself is actually Mogu (name of Hiroto's pet dog) (laughs).

Puahaha. He is certainly like a pet dog...

Saga: If I had to say, he has no concept of national borders (laughs), and he just goes wherever he wants. If I had to say, it's like every band we play with is his owner, and he just goes wherever while wagging his tail (laughs).

You better put a leash on him (laughs)!

Saga: No, we purposely let him run wild (laughs). It's like if leave Hiroto like that, A9's diplomatic relations will be fine (laughs). I'm the exact opposite of him, so I'm just like "Go and do what you're best at!" (laughs).

You'll make full use of his adorable younger brother (puppy) character (laughs).

Saga: On top of that, Hiroto himself knows what his special characteristics are (laughs). Like "I'm a dog. No matter where I go, people will fawn over me" (laughs). Unlike Mogu, he acts like this fully aware of the fact. How scary~ (laughs).

(laughs).

Saga: Because of Hiroto's character, whenever we play at events, we get more acquaintances. It was the same this time too.

Also, at a men's beauty event in Kobe, you played with your former brothers, D=OUT.

Saga: The last time we met D=OUT was when we were still in the same management company, so it had been a while since we last saw them, but they seemed happy. They had just gone independent too, and said they were working hard. We talked about many things in the dressing room. Real talk (laughs).

(laughs). Then in Autumn, you participating in "PARTY ZOO~Ken Entwines Naughty Stars~".

Saga: This really was an event tour full with the feeling that we were a family.

Even during the live performance, you played together on stage.

Saga: We were family on stage, family in the dressing room, and even until the post-show celebrations were over, we were family (laughs).

Did you celebrate after every show?

Saga: It was a must.

Didn't your generation also have post-live celebrations?

Saga: We did, but barely. Our generation is where there are traces of that. So our generation ended that custom (laughs). So we were brought back into those times (laughs).

(laughs). But it was fun, right?

Saga: Yes, the post-live celebrations for PARTY ZOO was. The day after the event in Kobe was the day of PARTY ZOO in Osaka. The second we arrived in Osaka, we got a message asking "Are you in Osaka?". When we responded "We're here", the next message we got was "Let's drink" (laughs).

The day before PARTY ZOO?

Saga: Yeah. When we said "But tomorrow is the day of the live...", they responded "So then let's drink!" (laughs).

That doesn't make sense (laughs).

Saga: So I ended up drinking until 4 in the morning and got a hangover (laughs). The craziest person there was SID's Aki (laughs). At the celebrations, he would always say "We're drinking until morning!" (laughs). Well, I like drinking, so I did drink with him until morning (laughs). And as one would expect, I got a hangover (laughs). But the event itself was very good.

You guys were wasted on stage. You got the order wrong (laughs).

Saga: (laughs). Even rehearsals for PARTY ZOO was fun. Even during dress rehearsals, Ken was there, and he gave us plenty of advice on our sounds and our playing. However... during dress rehearsals, I really didn't like how we was holding himself back while playing at a really low volume from behind my amp (laughs). I was like "Can that Ken (from L'Arc~en~Ciel) not act like a roadie? It makes me even more self-conscious" (laughs).

(laughs).

Saga: But Ken was really nice. Or rather, he was like an older brother. He gave us plenty of advice, like his impression of A9, or his thoughts on our live performance, and how to present our band. I was deeply moved, like "He is giving us all this advice while looking at all these things. Amazing!".

He is a very detailed person.

Saga: He is. To us, Ken is someone you see on TV, he is someone above the clouds. So we are extremely grateful that he gave us very detailed advice. To the point I want to make a book out of his advice (laughs).

Let's do that (laughs).

Saga: Also, I was allowed to play in a session band with Ken, and Ken also played with A9, and this was a wonderful experience. I was really moved at the fact that Ken joined us on stage to play "Hana" on the first day a Toyosu PIT. Also, the crowd there watched every band, and the event itself really went off. BAROQUE also said that since PARTY ZOO, more people have been coming to their shows.

That's what I heard.

Saga: I think that that's perhaps because the bands playing there were motivated by that light that is Ken, and we had a new kind of charm brought out. In that kind of venue, I think we were also able to show even more of the strength that we have.

Were you also a little bit interested in the band Made in Asia, who was a little bit different from the other bands playing?

Saga: That band was awesome, right?

They were.

Saga: On top of that, we played right after them. I wanted them to change the playing order (laughs). Also, Made in Asia's playing time changed depending on the day (laughs). Since each time it's a session performance. I was told this in advance. Like "Depending on the day, the length of our songs changes with our mood. Sorry" (laughs). When they told us that, I was like "Oh, that's something new!" (laughs).

And when the live show was over--

Saga: Having post-live celebrations was a must (laughs).

Were there lots of dirty jokes being told (laughs)?

Saga: We were actually having quite heated and serious talks about music. That was actually quite refreshing. We were drunk off our faces and joking around, but what we were talking about was music (laughs).

Can you joke around when talking about music?

Saga: That was the weird thing (laughs). They were like "My bass is shining. Yay!" (laughs). That was actually funny.

That was surely Ken's way of setting the mood...

Saga: That's right. Even when drinking, Ken had completely set the mood. When I got drunk, I even came clean with MUCC's Miya and said "I don't want to play with MUCC. Never. Because they're so cool" (laughs). It really was fun being able to communicate beyond the boundaries of junior and senior, and it was only possible because of Ken.

Many session bands played at the event, and you participated in many session bands too, didn't you?

Saga: Yes. Together with MUCC'S Tatsuro, we played The Blue Hearts' "TRAIN-TRAIN", and at the PARTY ZOO After Party, I played X's "Kurenai" with Miya. Even though at first, I heard we would only play "Kurenai", right before the show, he said to me "We're also playing "X"". I was like "Huh?" (laughs). I was like "I know the song, but still... We're on soon, crap...", and so we played it without having rehearsed it. And this was a 4 in the morning (laughs).

(laughs).

Saga: We played it without having rehearsed it, and while drunk (laughs). Well, that included, it was fun (laughs).

Was it as if you were kind of playing at a school festival?

Saga: That's right. It kind of took me back to the days when I was a student. But since Ken was there, I wasn't able to completely go back to being a student. It was as strange feeling (laughs).

Seeing it was a crazy tour both on and off stage... it's only natural that we would hear people here and there saying they were missing PARTY ZOO when it was over.

Saga: As expected, we felt a little sad after it was over...... Having done the tour, I severely feel that it was a good event. And that I wanted to play more.

There never was such a fun event tour before.

Saga: It was fun, but to a certain extent, it was tough. But every day on tour, I was hungover (laughs). The dressing room was also always in an uproar, and it really was like a zoo. In terms of whether it was tough or not, it was tough (laughs).

(laughs) And then in Autumn this year, you also played at the "Visual Festival 2016" in Osaka.

Saga: This was our first time playing here, but I heard it was an event that has been running every year for quite a long time. I like "Oh really?". Since playing at the event in Spring with the young bands, there was this feeling in the band that we wanted to play at more events that that young generation of bands played in too. Our outfits on this day were the ones we wore at our 12th anniversary live on August 28th, and not just a t-shirt (laughs).

And you also played at "VISUAL JAPAN SUMMIT 2016", what could be called the biggest Visual-kei event of this year.

Saga: Originally, Hiroto had been a live support member for X-JAPAN's Toshi, and I also heard that he was on good terms with SUGIZO from the guitarist meeting. Although it was our first time meeting them as a whole band, we were allowed to play at the event.

Quite a lot of big names were playing at the event. Were you scared?

Saga: Of course I was, but on the day, there was a message from YOSHIKI, saying "A member from KISS is also here, so we can't show him a lame live. Please do your best". That was where we got the first blow (laughs).

(laughs) You performed quite early in the day, didn't you?

Saga: We were the first act to perform on the main stage.

Like, "We're going to warm up the crowd for our seniors".

Saga: That's exactly what it was like (laughs). It was in the afternoon and still quite bright outside, and it was a really long event, so when the timetable was announced, we had imagined that there still probably wouldn't be that many people there yet when it was our turn to play. But when we actually went on stage, there were already over 10,000 people there. I thought "Whoa, what is this? It feels like we're playing a stadium. And it's only midday too". There wasn't any rehearsals and we couldn't do a sound check either. There were so many causes for concern, but it was like "We have no choice but to do this!".

So how was it?

Saga: It was really fun. If I remember correctly, GLAY and X JAPAN were going to play after us on the main stage, and many of their fans were there, I think. But people who clearly were not our fans watched our performance, and they even jumped along with us when we asked them to. I was really glad.

It must have been incredible to see such a large venue full of people responding to you.

Saga: That goes without saying. I think it might have even be the first time for A9 to give a live performance in front of that many people, in terms of the size of the crowd. At Budokan, it is 360 degrees, and you get the feeling that you are surrounded, but at Makuhari Messe, it's like a sea of people spread out in front of you. It's a feeling we've never experienced before in the live performances we had done up until then.

Did it feel good playing at a large venue?

Saga: As one would expect, it did. Because there was a song that really shone for the first time in such a large venue as that.

And that song is?

Saga: Actually, we have many songs that were written with the image of it being played in a wide, open space. So when we decided to bring out "the beautiful name", which is a song that we haven't been able to play recently, I was moved, like "Yes, it has this kind of feeling". I was kind of moved, being able to play a song that was written imagining a wide, open area in a wide, open venue.

Even though it was an event, did experiencing such a large venue make you want to play at Nippon Budokan again?

Saga: That's right, I do want to play there again... Because we are in the mode where the band, in its 12th year, has reset it music activities too, and with the feelings we had when we first formed the band, are running towards a new goal. I talked about it briefly in the talk session earlier, but since the show on August 28th, where we celebrated our 12th year anniversary, it feels like we have started a new term. We want to do our activities aiming for a new goal... Personally, I think it doesn't matter what the goal is, but I think that a goal that is easy to understand, like Nippon Budokan, would be better.

But you have already played a solo show at Budokan, right?

Saga: Yes, once. But the show had this strong feeling that our previous company was allowing us to play there. Rather than it being like "Yay! We played live at Nippon Budokan!", the feeling that we were allowed to play there is stronger. That's why next time, we want to play there with our own strength. So now, we are running forward again towards that goal.

And that is another kind of returning to your roots, which came up in the talk session.

Saga: That's right. Returning to our roots is A9's theme since the live show on August 28th. To provide additional information on what I talked about in the talk session, when the band name had changed to A9, we thought about changing our image a little and to do the kind of music we've never done before, and that resulted in us releasing our 2nd EP "LIGHT AND DARKNESS" in Spring of this year. So as a result of various discussions, we tried making an EP that had black music and R&B elements in it, and adopting non-distorted guitar cutting.

It is a really refined release.

Saga: As you rightly say, as a result, it ended up being a really stylish release. For the band, it was an album that was made with a new musical approach, and I am glad that we were able to make such a release.

And the shows on the tour for this release was comprised of two parts, with the first part of the show was focused around the new release, and you performed facing each other, as if it were a jam session. In the second part of the live, it was more like the regular way A9 presented themselves. I watched the show thinking that it had very strong experimental elements.

Saga: Yes... For the band, it was a very experimental live tour. To make the decision to actually do that kind of live show required courage, as one would expect. But we don't have that feeling whatsoever right now.

Even though you took the time to create that kind of world?

Saga: Everything was reset at the 12th anniversary live. How should I put it... We have this path that we have continued to walk down for 12 years. It's a path we walked along always doing trial and error and experimenting.

Yes.

Saga: So in light of that, when we thought about what we should do next, the only musical approach that we could come up with was like that of you see in "LIGHT AND DARKNESS" of this Spring. Rather than saying that we chose this direction from a variety of musical directions, it was more like we had no choice but to go in that direction. But as expected... by doing an experimental live show on the Spring tour, where the show was comprised of two parts, all the feedback that we got from different points of views were all over the place, such as with what kind of thoughts the audience was watching us with, or what it was they wanted from us, or some of our seniors saying to us "Isn't A9 this kind of band?".

There was a mixed reception.

Saga: For better or for worse, there was a variety of opinions. Also, we had played at many events this year, so we had many opportunities to consider once again what kind of band A9 is. Of course, there are things that we want to do and ways we want to present ourselves, but there is also the A9 that the fans want to see, as well as the A9 that our seniors advise us to be like... To be honest, that became a very difficult thing for us (awkward smile). As we listened to the varying opinions, we were confused about what exactly A9 should do.

Just going back to the Spring tour, after playing the first show, did you have this feeling like "Huh? This is kind of weird?".

Saga: We did. I was like "Huh?".

Certainly, during the post-live celebrations, you all had these blank faces.

Saga: Yeah... At the time, we didn't know if A9 could pull off what we wanted to do. How should I put it... For example, we had this kind of concern that perhaps the feeling was similar to that of someone who liked metal to force themselves to play fusion music. We racked our brains over this. To be honest, we played each show on the tour while still being lost.

Personally, I was watching the show quite closely, thinking it was an important thing for a band of this stature to play this kind of music and sounds.

Saga: Oh, is that so? But this led us to "completely starting from scratch".

"Completely starting from scratch"?

Saga: Up until now, we always did our activities while thinking "We did this last time, so let's do this next time". In other words, we considered our next approach in light of our past. In terms of both visuals and sounds. That is how we arrived at this point. But we decided to reset all of those restrictions and restraints at the live on August 28th at Shinkiba Studio Coast.

It was announced at final of the Spring tour that the anniversary live on August 28th would have the concept of 2004 - 2005. Were you able to hear the loud cheers from the dressing room?

Saga: We did. The way it was announced, from a fan's point of view, they would be like "Are they going back to that time?".

Was the decision to return to your roots perhaps related to the feedback you got from the Spring tour...?

Saga: No, it wasn't because of the Spring tour, but it was decided since before then. I was the one who said that we should do this kind of thing for our 12th anniversary live. That is why we decided to do everything we wanted to do on the Spring tour. We thought to clear away our past and return to the time when we first formed the band. We thought that it would probably make the fans happy, and the people watching would surely find it interesting. Since every anniversary live, we kind of play our greatest hits, we thought that we shouldn't just have a repeat of that. So we tried putting on a live show comprised only of the songs that we had written in our first year. And when we did it, it was really amazing, both the reaction of the audience, and for me too.

For yourselves too.

Saga: I discovered many things. Actually, we pretty much don't play those songs at live shows these days. Even if we did, it would only be about the same five songs. So when we played all of those songs for the first time in a while, of course they were different from our more recent songs, but the songs didn't feel old.

I see.

Saga: Thinking about it, it's not like those songs were composed with the thought "Since we have already done this kind of song in the past, this time, let's make it this kind of song". I think that is a big difference from the way we have been writing songs recently. We had put what we were thinking as is into the song. But along with carving out the band's history, we kept on writing songs where we had adjusted the band's course while comparing it to the past, like "It was like this in the past, so we should do it like this now", or "Let's do this, because this is how people view our band", or "This song was too aggressive, so let's do this".

So you wouldn't write similar songs or you were moving towards improvement.

Saga: Right. But now, where it feels like we've come full circle writing songs in that way, I want that feeling that we had at that time.

To compare the song-writing method you had used over the last 12 years to a box of 12 coloured pencils, when you had used your favourite colours while trying not to use the same colour twice, all that was left over was the grey pencil, which is the hardest to use. And what you drew with that grey pencil was "LIGHT AND DARKNESS".

Saga: It really is like that. Like "This is the only colour we have left".

So now that you have used all 12 colours, are you putting the coloured pencils away and going to draw with the drawing tools that you want to use?

Saga: That is the point we have reached. Doing the Spring tour and then doing the 12th anniversary live with only songs from the band's early days. To me, it's all connected. To put it another way, it actually feels like we have come full circle. Putting aside the variety of views that people have about us, we'll start again from scratch to write songs without thinking about the past and not being self-conscious. We'll put our thoughts into the songs as they are. I noticed that if we were to write songs in that way without any restrictions, when we give form to the things we want to do, perhaps we will see the real A9.

Oh, I see.

Saga: Having starting over from scratch and going back to the same feeling we had in our early days, we're currently writing new songs. And it's almost strange that we are writing good songs one after the other. So now, I really do think it was a good thing that we did that live. Now, before even knowing it, we have welcomed our 12th year anniversary, and it really feels like we have truly gone independent. At the same time, I was also in the state of mind where musically too, we went back to the start.

And that from here on, you're going to build up a new history.

Saga: That's right.

So now that you have come full circle to start from scratch, which direction will A9 go in now?

Saga: Hmm... I can't say anything just yet, but I am proud of the song that we are writing now and will release next. There are no experimental elements whatsoever, and it captures everything that A9 is right now. We already know what we want to do next, and we are writing songs to our heart's content. There are no out-of-bounds areas this time. Nothing like "This aggressive beat is not allowed".

So if the members all write their own songs, is it possible that songs with varied tastes will be chosen?

Saga: That is possible. But thinking about it, that's what it was like in our early years. Originally, we all roughly wrote the same number of songs. When we were writing an album, Hiroto, Tora, and myself would write three songs each, and then Show would write one song. Over the last few years, I ended up writing more songs. So I want everyone to write a lot of songs to get the balance that we had back then. Up until now, all we used to think about was if we could express ourselves with a different approach, or if we could draw out a different kind of charm.

Perhaps by doing so, you were able to find some originality?

Saga: Maybe. But I believe that going through to the very end with the things that suit you and the things that only you can do become your individuality, and they become something that can't be so easily imitated by others.

That's true.

Saga: I think that by going through to the very end of it, it becomes something that sets you apart, and that it naturally turns into your individuality. So I think that doing what suits you and seeing it through to the very end is perhaps very important. This is what I strongly feel, as I work on A9's new songs.

Be it clothing or anything else, there are things that suit you and things that don't. There are clothes that fit Saga's slender figure, and if a band from another genre with a nice body were to put on A9's clothes, it might not suit them.

Saga: I think it goes both ways. Doing the things that suit you ultimately leads to it being your individuality.

All that being said, I think at the core of A9 is something beautiful. I don't think there is a need to go out of your way to destroy that. Because that's your individuality. I think that all you need to do is just stand their naturally.

Saga: In terms of the band, that is exactly the kind of thing we talked about. Now that we are in our third year since becoming A9, we should wear the clothes that we feel are just right, and to make the sounds that we want to make the most. That's the mode we are in now.

I am looking forward to the next release. So you are right in the middle of song-writing for that release. Personally, for the song-writing, do you refer to any of the experimentation you did with "THE ALTERNATIVE", the project you do with Nao?

Saga: I do.

I watched one of the shows, and I was surprised. You're good at singing (laughs).

Saga: (laughs) Well, as expected, singing is difficult. I also talked about it in the talk session earlier, but originally, I had liked composing songs, and I aspired to be a singer-songwriter. It was a normal thing for me to listen to Masashi Sada or Miyuki Nakajima CDs, which was what my mum had listened to. What made me want to play the guitar and compose songs and sing them was that it was how I was introduced to music itself. To put in modern terms, I looked up to the singer-songwriters that are like Motohiro Hata. But when I was in middle school, I was poisoned by that thrilling thing called bands. So I dyed my hair, and even my soul was dyed with rock music (laughs).

(laughs).

Saga: So I had made this huge misstep in my life (laughs), but originally, that was what had introduced me to music. I had played the guitar, sang, and wrote songs at home. Actually, I only write songs that I can sing.

There are many occasions where guitarists write songs starting with a cool riff, right?

Saga: That's exactly right. The way I write songs is different from that. Our guitarists write songs with riffs as the main thing. But for me, I won't hand the song over to Show if it's a song that I myself cannot sing. I think that it's because I write songs like that while singing along to them at home, I've naturally come to be able to use my voice. Probably (laughs).

No, no, it's not about being able to make sounds or not. It's about your nuances and that it feels like you've mastered singing. You're not like most bassists (laughs).

Saga: (laughs) As a person who has written the song, when I am communicating to Show the nuances, I also sing it to him, like "Do it like this".

Now, it seems that rather than being a bassist, you're more like an multi-instrumentalist. Why are you so greedy when it comes to music?

Saga: The first instrument I played was the guitar, and at the time, I wanted to form a band as a guitarist. But people told me that they didn't need a guitarist. Thinking that I'll never be able to be in a band at this rate, I had no choice but to become a bassist (laughs).

What?

Saga: But because of that, I was able to form a band, and now I am able to do activities as A9. So it's not as though I wanted to become a bassist, and I'm not so fussy when it comes to the bass. Regarding the keyboard, I learned it because it felt like it was necessary, so now, I can play it a little. I think that coming into contact with instruments and being able to play them to a certain extent is actually extremely important in writing or arranging songs. What I mean is that you can write songs looking at the band as a whole.

I see.

Saga: For example, if all you can do is play the guitar, you can only use the guitar to write a song with all your playing habits, and for the parts other than the guitar, you have to imagine it and write the song that way. But if you were to come into contact with all instruments, you'll be able to write a song with more dimension. Even with the drums, I actually try playing it myself, and I write the song with the image of me playing it. The same goes for singing too. I think that in that respect, it's a good thing to do. However, I also do think that writing a song without knowing about any other instruments apart from your own is good in its own way.

What do you mean?

Saga: For example, when there is a kind of bass phrase that I myself would not have thought up of in the songs written by the other members, there are times when I think "Oh" This is new", and get motivated that way.

Are there times where you go "I can't play this"?

Saga: There are such times too. But I think that is still good in its own way. So it's more than okay for different people to have different approaches to writing songs. It's just that I'm the type of person who wants to know about every instrument. With regards to sounds, I've come to be fussy about the cleanliness of it, or rather, I am getting more particular about it... I want to create a demo that is perfect, in my own way. From there, while listening to the member's opinions, I start tearing it down.

So adding Hiroto and Tora's guitar and Nao's drumming to the completed demo that you made, you get A9's sound.

Saga: That's right.

Hiroto seems like a guitar artisan.

Saga: He is a kind of person who lives based on feeling. He is a true guitarist. His heart is also a guitarist (laughs).

I feel like there is some scorn behind those words (laughs).

Saga: It is really difficult, because Hiroto is a free spirit (laughs). How should I put it... If I were to put it in terms of arithmetic, in the 1 + 1 = 2 calculation, he first thinks about the answer only. He is like "A 2 is good here!! But I don't know how we get to the 2". Here, I would teach and explain the process, like "We should add 1 and 1 together here. But making it 2 costs too much, and is a bit too difficult". In the end, the idea gets rejected (laughs).

(laughs).

Saga: Then Nao makes his appearance here. He is very serious when it comes to the drums, but he has always been a very smart and scientific person. Since going independent, he has been enjoying hitting the abacus, in particular. To the point he breaks calculators (laughs).

There you go exaggerating again (laughs).

Saga: I'm serious. He often says "I broke the calculator~" while smiling brightly (laughs). It surely must be because he is hitting it as hard as he hits the drums (laughs).

Then you should talk to him about hitting it with dynamics (laughs). That reminds me, Tora has been working on videos since you went independent.

Saga: He was probably always interested in it. He had originally made the storyboard for the "Shunkashuuto" music video. Actually, the original demo for the song "Shunkashuuto" was something that Tora brought because he wanted to do a song based off the music video. So he has always liked making footage and drawing. So he has been making videos on his computer... But the thing with Tora is if you ask him to do something, he'll do his best to do it, but if you don't tell him anything, he won't do anything (laughs). So it should be fine as long as you keep asking him. Like "Please do this, Tora!!" (laughs).

(laughs) So while leveraging your various characteristics, A9 has returned to their roots, and you are heading towards a new goal.

Saga: That's right. We are writing songs now. It's like as though we are getting ready for an album.

So regarding recent news, you will hold "WHITE Christmas Live with A9 CHANNEL" at Differ Ariake on December 24.

Saga: Just as the title states, in addition to the live, we'll also do a live broadcast for Nico Nico.

That legendary Nico Nico live broadcast will be back (happy)! There are many fans who love it since it was funny.

Saga: Rather than being funny, it was an awful show (laughs). Well, personally, because of that show, I got a lot more fans, and I'm also grateful for the show. Until we did the show, apparently, many fans had the impression of me that I was a cold person who didn't talk much, but on that show, my parent’s house was exposed, and my mum and dad even appeared on the show (laughs).

Your mum was eating quite a lot of pizza (laughs).

Saga: She was (laughs). Tora went to someone else's house without any sort of appointment, and he even took a bath there (laughs). Well, as revenge, I went to his parent’s place (laughs). His mother had even shown us the mandarin gown that Tora used to use as a stage costume (laughs). While saying "Oh, what should I do~♪", she showed us his childhood photos. From Tora's point of view, she must be a terrifying mother (laughs).

I watched that show thinking that he was raised in a good household, like a young master.

Saga: Tora was raised well. Despite being raised so well, he went off the rails hard (laughs).

(laughs).

Saga: Oh, this is just additional information, but on the day of the live, we ask the fans to wear white clothes, if possible, since it's a "WHITE CHRISTMAS". During the tour at the start of the year, "BLACK PERIOD", it will be all black (laughs). We will play for two days at each venue, with one day being a solo show, and the other day being a 2-man live. The solo show will be pitch black (laughs), and I think we will try and mix in some new songs there. For the 2-man show, we asked some young bands that we had met during the the events and festivals we played at this year, so we will be playing with them. While receiving power from the young bands, we will do activities next year remembering that fresh feeling we are starting to forget (laughs).

You're still fine. You aren't losing to the young kids (laughs).

Saga: No, but really, the young bands these days are really good and put on quite good performances. They are quite formidable. We were really trembling, like "They are so much better than our generation...".

All you can do is not worry about the senior-junior relationship and go all out.

Saga: That's right. So we have the tour that we announced, and there are still some things we haven't been able to announce yet... So I am really looking forward to next year. Or rather, I am really confident in the A9 of next year. I don't think we will stray from our core activities.  We were a little flustered this year, though, taking on many challenges, doing trial and error, getting lost, and appearing at many events, which was a first for us. But as we received many opinions and advice, while referencing that, the answer that we came up with on our own is to "return to our roots".

That's right.

Saga: Although it's not manifested yet, we ourselves have a clear understanding of what A9 wants to do, both in terms of activities and sound. So we're not lost anymore, and we're going to move forward.

Fans should be able to relax and go along with you.

Saga: Right. Continuing on from participating in many events this year, we would like to interact with many bands next year too. Since I've been given the opportunity to talk with Ryosuke today, it would surely be fun if we could do something together... I can't wait, even though it will happen next year.

[shimmerjjang]

VIP Diaries: (Meeting Seungri!!!) The Great Seungri Show in Manila 2019

Hello 안녕 안녕 shimmers and VIPs! Wow, I’ve been wanting to publish this post for a while now because this experience I had during The Great Seungri Show in Manila is a FIRST in my whole life as a BIGBANG VIP! I met Seungri and I got the sweet sweet chance to be in a photo with him. Not a standee, not a poster but the real Seungri!! Gurlll, I could go on and on about this but let me compose myself for a bit and talk about The Great Seungri Tour which happened in MOA Arena last January 19, 2019.

So, if you know me or if you’ve been following my SNS and happened to see one of my posts from last year, you’d know how much I loathe this area. I swore I won’t even go anywhere near Mall of Asia after the trauma I had from this horrible incident. And after that, I never attended any sort of event if it’s held around this area.

THIS IS MY FIRST TIME back here in months. Only BIGBANG can bring me back! The bitter memories are now replaced, thanks my Panda Seungri!!

This VIP concert experience is made possible by K-Music Insider! I’m beyond grateful for this chance because the truth is, my budget didn’t allow me to shed 10k upfront that time for the VIP seats and photo-op opportunity. I would’ve settled for a cheaper lower box ticket but I still made sure I hop into giveaways with the goal of getting a photo-op pass in mind. And dear heavens K-Music Insider blessed me with one! 넘너무 행복해 ㅠㅠ

Gates opened at 7pm and I entered the venue at around 7:15. There weren’t crazy lines so I just went straight to the entrance. There weren’t any chaos (thank goodness) and I know it’s a good thing, but I’m kinda sad too because we weren’t able to fill the entire arena. The show was announced late so many VIPs weren’t able to prepare them fundsss (including me haha)

BUT when the show started, it didn’t feel like the arena isn’t full! It was a whole new party out there!! Just exactly as how I expect a BIGBANG concert should be. I mean, Seungri is a total charmer and I’m sure all VIPs know that he’s the best at sweeping the crowd off their feet compared to the rest of the members. Seungri has been my bias wrecker since 2012! Oh well, but yo gurl is tough and my heart for G-Dragon won’t be swayed by anything!!!! \\(^^,)//

Here are some fancams I managed to take. I know, I wasn’t able to take that much because I really want to savor the moment. Also, this is my first time to attend a concert without my sister or cousin (huhuhuhu) so I don’t have someone to take turns with recording. But then again, all throughout my life as a K-Pop fangirl, I have learned how important it is to really get into the moment instead of recording each and every part of the show. So yep, enjoy my mini fancams! 

Opening MV - Where R U From

BANG BANG BANG

Intro Talk (Some in Tagalog)

GG BE

If You

Where R U From

Fire - 2NE1 Sandara 

I am the BEST - 2NE1 Sandara

Go Away - 2NE1 Sandara

Dahil Sa’yo Tagalog Cover - Pandara (Seungri & Sandara)

Seungri calling his mom (haha!)

Tagumpay (Seungri’s self-composed Tagalog song LOL)

We Like 2 Party

셋 셀테니 (1,2,3)

In My World

I’m so proud of Seungri! This is his first ever solo world tour and I can see that he did so well in pleasing and wowing the crowd despite the absence of his hyungs. 

Did you watch the whole video? BOYYY I CHOKED WHEN HE SLAYED THAT TAGALOG SONG!! I swear that song by Inigo Pascual annoyed me for a while because I hear it everywhere. But gurllll, who would’ve thought that I’d learn how to love it. I’ve been singing it subconsciously right after the concert. I mean, I’m gonna be honest, he sounded more native than Sandara and Ryan Bang (he showed up briefly on stage too along with Anne Curtis) LOL

Dara was also a guest for Seungri’s show. Well, Sandara has always been a steady guest whenever BIGBANG would show up here for a tour! That’s OG YG Family for you, children! The 2NE1 songs she performed were immensely nostalgic. How can my eyes well up over happy songs? I’m still hoping for a 2NE1 reunion to fulfill my empty Blackjack heart! :(

Seungri has always been the life of the party and he’s so good at being in variety shows! That’s what he served us during his concert. For a short moment we all thought we mistakenly entered a comedy bar, not a concert LOL Seungri made my stomach burst out of laughter the entire night. He’s just GOLD! He even savaged his fellow BIGBANG members in front of us. haha! Ang lakas ng loob kasi everyone’s in the military haha

Seungri showed us funny photos of every BIGBANG member for him to roast... EXCEPT for T.O.P... So naturally, us VIPs will ask and look for him. When he wrapped the photos up without including TOP, all of us went “Where’s TOP?!!!” I honestly thought he’ll just brush it off, considering all the crazy controversy surrounding TOP, I won’t be surprised if he’ll just ignore us. But Seungri didn’t. He heard us and he gave us a very reassuring answer.

VIPS: “TOP!!! TOP!!! Where’s TOP?”

SEUNGRI: “Ah, TOP? He’s fine! I just wanna say he’s okay.”

ME: Wooooh!!! OMG OMG *hyperventilating*

SEUNGRI: “He’s super okay. Yeah. He will come back soon, don’t worry!”

VIPs: *crying and going wild*

SEUNGRI: “You know what, now in BIGBANG, TOP is MOST OKAY! hahaha We are all okay..”

ME: LAUGHING WHILE CRYING UGLY TEARS

Watch the full clip of that comedic/unexpectedly emotional part here..

The entire show lasted for around 3 hours, I think. Seungri gave us major K-Pop throwback as he also sang a lot of his great hits from his early solo career (Strong Baby, Gotta Talk to U, GG BE..), as well as BIGBANG’s! It was an amazing show full of nostalgia. 

Here’s my only #OOTD shot from the concert, together with my fellow mod at BIGBANG Philippines - Chi! 

We, along with the ladies of 2NE1 PH, as well as other VIP friends lined up for the photo-op right after the concert. Each photo with Seungri will be done by 10s and we’re fortunate enough to be the last ones in line so there were just 8 of us.

AND NOW! TADAAAAAA!! Here’s our official group photo courtesy of LOONG Studio, the official promoter for Seungri’s Manila leg of the tour.

I mean, let that sink in for a short moment. Gurl, MY EXISTENCE GOT PULVERIZED! I wasn’t sure of what was happening and if it really was happening at all. For the first time in my 10-year VIP fangirl life, I was able to see and interact with a BIGBANG member. INSANE!

As I was walking towards Seungri, my mind went blank. I just stretched my hand for him to shake and I told him that he did great on stage. OH DEAR I remember him just looking back at me, smiling and thanking me for coming to his show. I’m in a trance! And because I went straight to him and approached him first, I totally forgot everything I initially planned. I have my phone in hand to secretly record everything just for my personal memento but totally forgot!! Also planning to stand beside him (I was 2nd in line so I could’ve done that) but chose to just talk to him first so by the time I was done talking, everyone got settled already while I’m still lost in front of him! Also planned to stand on his right side because that’s my freakin’ angle but totally forgot!!! HAHAHAHA Basically, my mind stopped functioning LOL but I’m so happy I got to interact with the King of all Maknaes, SEUNGRI. Everything happened so fast and when we were asked to leave, I made sure I told him I love him! HAHA He’s probably tired of hearing that from everybody but at least I let it out my chest. ^^

Say hello to my very nervous smile!!!! HAHAHA My heart was about to pop out of my mouth! SEUNGRI is just super handsome and I’m not just saying this because I’m a fan. Like he’s legit handsome and his smile is so dreamy. He’s just genuinely friendly and there’s this warmth from him that makes you forget he’s a star. I guess I’m used to seeing K-Pop stars being cold in real life, but definitely not Seungri! 

Ah, seeing him so close is definitely one for the books! Ah also, I would like to thank my Moonshot x Innisfree combo for keeping my foundation on point despite going crazy the entire night. hihihi~~ (I will review these two soon, promise!)

I’m beyond happy to see Seungri’s last show before he enlists. Their OT5 comeback may take a while because of their military schedule and all these sad controversies that still stir everything up unnecessarily! But hey, we’re all waiting at the Flower Road (꽃길) so I can only hope that the kings stay healthy and happy. 

My next goal is to see all BIGBANG members in their Final world tour in Seoul - 2020, 2021, who knows! Really hoping to have the same amazing opportunity like this to meet all of them next time. IT WILL HAPPEN I CAN FEEL IT! <3

Read more of my VIP Diares here or my other K-Pop shenanigans here.

[judithsupportsteamchampery]

Why you’ve made my winter!

- by Judith Dombrowski

My personal Team Champéry season review

This is dedicated to figure skater Deniss Vasiljevs, coach and figure skater Stéphane Lambiel and their manager Christopher Trevisan!

My very special thanks to my mother Beate. Without you nothing of this would have been possible. I can say with my whole heart that you are the best mother I ever could have imagined.

Also special thanks to:

Anastasia, Charlie, Estephanía, Jelena, Laia, Maria R., Maria T., Marina, P., Susanne, Szilvia

You all have become amazing and true friends. I love you with my whole heart!

And to everyone else whom I met because of Team Champéry this winter, either personally or via the internet. We are the best fan community I can imagine.

On March 2nd 2019, after I had been able to take THAT picture, that picture thousands of skating fans dream of, that picture I would never ever had imagined to happen, I turned around and thanked both of you: “Thank you so much for everything!“, I said. Then I looked at you, Deniss, and said: “You’ve really made my winter! Thanks!“ You looked flattered and surprised but didn’t respond anything. But you, Stéph, said something like: “Wow, you are really so positive!“ It was the second time you said that that afternoon and I do understand why you said it in this situation: For the two of you it definitely hadn’t been the winter you’ve dreamed of. It must have been a hard winter full of worries, concerns and disappointments. It seemed to surprise you, Stéph, why you’ve made somebody’s winter even though so much seemed to have gone wrong for you.

So I am writing this blog post / article / review to explain to the two of you and to everyone interested, why this sentence was incredibly true. Why I actually couldn’t have thanked you in a more accurate way. Beware, this might gonna be long. I usually fail saying things short and there has been really a lot going on this winter relating to the two of you. I will also miss out some moments because it has just been too much.

When to start? Should it be the moment when we decided to go to Grenoble? The moment I started to be your fan, Deniss? Should I go back to Worlds 2005 when I had my first big crush on that handsome Swiss figure skater? This would turn into a novel so lets start right at the beginning… of… this winter:

October

“Hey, I just wanted to tell you that I am free earlier than expected today. So if you’d like we can meet earlier?“

“I am sorry I fear I won’t be able to come over before 18.30? Hope that’s still alright?“, I replied to a good friend of mine on WhatsApp.

“Haha, yea, sure, thought you have holidays…“

“Well, yea“, … she was a really good friend so I could be honest, “but my Mom doesn’t. She’s only free from 3pm and we’ll have to watch a movie together this afternoon. This is like the only possibility before next weekend. Will explain you later!“

“Okayyyy…!“

It was a Wednesday afternoon in early October during my autumn holidays and I spent the week in South Germany with my mother and tried to meet up with as many old friends as possible. It was also the week before Japan Open, the first time you, Deniss, were supposed to skate your new free program. And it finally had leaked that you would be skating to the soundtrack of the movie “Last Samurai“. So to totally understand the program my mother and I watched the movie together, listened to the music very precisely, discussed about the plot, read and learned about the history of the samurai on Wikipedia.

We liked and appreciated the theme and that music choice right away. As we did with the whole program when it had finally been uploaded. Despite technical difficulties we saw the efforts and the great thoughts behind the choreography of this program right away and were really looking forward to see this program grow and bloom over the season.

It was different with the Short Program. When “Papa was a rolling stone“ was posted first, I listened to the song in the car and it left me quite puzzled… How was that supposed to be the song of a skating program? And those lyrics? Well… I liked the beat and the rhythm of the song from the beginning and I put all my trust in your good taste and I wasn’t going to be disappointed.

The figure skating season was speeding up: The first Grand Prix was coming along together with a small competition called “Minsk Ice Star“ - the warm up contest for you, Deniss. I spent that weekend in the Netherlands where a friend celebrated her birthday. The moment I remember best of these days is myself walking up and down at the beach streaming the free program in bad quality on my phone screaming and jumping up and down at every landed jump. This weekend brought the first fully rotated and landed Quad in competition for you, Deniss, and the first gold medal of the season. For me this weekend made me like and appreciate the short program and I “met“ my “soulmate“ because of this competition:

Until then I hadn’t been too active about figure skating on social media, because most of my followers on Instagram were my real life friends who didn’t care about this sport at all. There was no official livestream of Minsk Ice Star. But I found some Russian girls via Instagram who were in the arena and were so kind to stream the practices and the competition. That’s how I met my today very very good and close friend Maria. We started texting since then, we went through this winter together, kept each other updated all the time and finally went to Innsbruck together. But that happened many moments and stories later.

November

NHK Trophy was after all the only competition this entire season I didn’t manage to follow live. Despite all efforts I didn’t make it home from work in time for the SP, and I also missed the LP the next day because of my tennis practice. I did come home when Shoma Uno was about to start his Free Skate performance but of course he skated deep in the second group. I clicked on “pause“ and scrolled back to start watching the competition from the beginning. There had been a number though in the left upper corner of my screen I couldn’t have avoided seeing: The leading skater at the moment Shoma started to skate had the technical score of 70 points. 70 Points! DAMN! That was…. low. Very low for that moment in the competition. And 70… that was a number you, Deniss, were likely to score. My heart started racing. Could it be possible? If you were the leader at that moment you were… about to win a medal.

“It was hard to see how excited you still were!“, my Mom told me on the phone an hour later when I was full of disappointment. She had been able to watch everything live and knew that it unfortunately hadn’t been you, Deniss, who had scored those 70 points, it had been Matteo Rizzo. I felt really sorry for you, missing that opportunity. “Keep your head up, keep your heart strong…“, I kept listening on repeat during that weekend and I wished you could also hear that motivating song by Ben Howard. The next competition was going to be better. I was sure! And the next competition was: IdF in Grenoble. THE competition. Our competition. Where my mother and I would go to see and support you live. The weekend I had been waiting for since the end of June when the assignments came out. And now it was not even two weeks away…The Sunday after NHK I spent in the kitchen baking my gifts for the two of you: The lion and the ladybug as German gingerbread. I am not the most artistically talented person, and I didn’t honestly expect this project to be successful, especially drawing a lion with chocolate and sugar icing on a piece of cookie seemed like a far too motivated project for me. But I did it, every millimeter drawn with concentration and passion. And succeeded: I had baked a lion and a ladybug gingerbread. The presents were ready, the flags had arrived and got inked, all tickets were printed, we were ready to go.

You probably all remember a weekend or an event you once desperately had been waiting for. And then the moment when it is really happening. So you can probably imagine how I felt: I see myself as if it was yesterday walking from the parking lot in Mainz to the station where I had to take the train to Frankfurt airport, feeling like I was flying: It was real, yes, it was. I was on my way to Grenoble, I had everything prepared, I had gotten the extra day off at school, I had the gifts and the banners in my bag, I had your program music in my ears, I was so so ready for it!

I had high expectations for this weekend just as you probably had as well, Deniss. Unfortunately yours weren’t totally fulfilled again especially in the long program. Mine instead were outreached by far:

That moment, when I saw the two of you live right ahead of me in practice. The moment you really nailed your SP, how I was screaming and celebrating of relief. The moment I was able to give you the gifts after the second practice. The moment when you walked around proudly showing my baked lion to other fans. All those moments of wonderful and magical performances by your fellow skaters, all those people I had been admiring in front of the TV screen for years: Evgenia Medvedeva, Rika Kihira, Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres, Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, Nathan Chen, Jason Brown and Dimitri Aliev just to name a few…

And that moment, Saturday 24th of November, 6 pm during the Ice Dance medal ceremony when I checked on my emails and my heart skipped for sure more than one beat: Email by Christopher Trevisan: “Sorry for the short notice, if you are still interested you can have a fan meeting with Deniss tomorrow morning either at 10 or 11 o’clock. Let me know if you are still interested.“ If I was interested? Hell, YES. But: Our bus to the airport was booked tomorrow at 10 o’clock from the main station in Grenoble. Our flight home was leaving Lyon at 2 pm. I was in shock, excited and concerned at the same time. It was hard to think straight.

I will never forget the night from November 24th to November 25th in my entire life. So many insecurities: When exactly? Where? Who will come? How will we get home? Take the train instead of flying? Take a taxi to the airport? Skip the whole fan meeting myself?

Charlie, my mother and I were sitting together until far after midnight without having any solutions. The three of us mainly discussed the question: Where? There was no nice café that had opened Sunday morning just around the corner…

We noticed that the only space we had available on this short notice were our own hotel rooms. Probably our entire hotel woke up by us laughing loudly about the joke: “Imagine, when I come home, I will be able to say: There was Stéphane Lambiel… in my hotel room!“ We weren’t sure back then if you’d accompany Deniss, Stéph.

Sometime during the night after sleeping for a few hours I was able to calm down and think more straight again. I checked the Lufthansa App and found out that it was actually possible to change our booking to a flight that flew to Frankfurt four hours later than our original one. I got the idea to ask in our hotel if there was a possibility to hold the meeting in a free conference room or another silent place. It was all coming together. We got a space in our hotel, we had people who messaged they would come to the meeting, we had the time to sit down and think about some questions that I wanted to ask you, Deniss. You came, you had quite some time, you were incredibly nice and the two of us got more and more relaxed while the interview / meeting went on and I had the feeling that I could continue talking with you forever. You are such an interesting, intelligent, nice, humble and funny person. Before Grenoble I had liked you mostly because of your beautiful and amazing skating, after Grenoble I knew where this was coming from. Before Grenoble I had been amazed by you, after Grenoble I was totally enchanted.

December

I was on endorphins for the next weeks straight. That weekend had been far better and beyond all my expectations.

But at the same time I was afraid: Was it ever going to be that perfect again? Should I maybe keep this one perfect weekend as one magic memory and not let it get destroyed maybe by disappointments coming in the near future? Would I maybe expect too much from future events? I told around: “That weekend was perfect. I will not go again this season. Next season again!“

What a luck I hadn’t been able to resist. Because my heart, longing to see the two of you again, won over my anxious head.

Christmas time came, I followed the Grand Prix Final together with my Mom, we got up in the middle of the night to cheer for Koshiro, we were worried when you, Deniss, withdrew from a competition in Zagreb, were relieved when it was announced that it wasn’t an injury. And we decided that it was finally about time to see you skate live as well, Stéph! So we ordered our tickets for Art on Ice in Davos in February. And with booking those tickets my plan not to go anymore this season had already faded away. I spent hours on the internet searching for possibilities to make it to Minsk for the European Championships. Meanwhile I knew many fans via social media and almost all of them were about to be in Minsk to support you, Deniss. I wanted to be part of it really  badly. As a teacher though it is hard to get days off apart from the public holidays. Flights for the weekend only costed a fortune. It seemed impossible. My frustration grew. I am a person who fights really hard if she really wants something and usually tries everything to make it happen.

January

New years eve came along, together with a very nice and enthusiastic video of the two of you: “We hope to see you in Bellinzona for Music on Ice!“, you said, Stéph. And after countless times watching this lovely video and a sleepless and crazy night from the 1st to the 2nd of January my decision was made: Instead of the impossible mission going to Minsk, I would to go to Music on Ice in Bellinzona. I was going to take a train from my hometown Osnabrück in the Northwest of Germany on Friday afternoon to Stuttgart in the South of Germany. The next morning I was going to take the earliest train to continue traveling all the way to Switzerland where I would arrive in Bellinzona on January 12th at 11 am. I would go to the show on Saturday night and early Sunday morning I was going to take the train back, 10 hours all the way up to Osnabrück where I would arrive at 6 pm, ready to go back to school on Monday morning. But going to the show wasn’t the only plan I had. With help of the amazing Jelena from Daugavpils who runs the official Fan Club on Facebook we activated fans from all over the world to send me pictures with good luck wishes for you for Europeans. I was overwhelmed by the positive responses on the project. I received exactly 50 pictures, most of them amazingly creative.

When I entered the train on Friday afternoon, January 11th 2019, I felt the company of all those 50 people. I was nervous because I hadn’t heard of Chris yet, whom I had messaged with the idea of the project and had asked for an opportunity to give you the album personally.

But the sun was shining, I had motivating music in my ears, the train was riding further and further South and I felt the support of all of my friends and of my mom, who unfortunately couldn’t accompany me this weekend, so the nervousness turned into major excitement.

In Bellinzona I also wasn’t alone at all: I teamed up with two friends that I had both met in Grenoble. After our arrival we checked out the ice rink and sat down on a bench nearby the arena. The girls went through your album, Deniss, when suddenly my phone vibrated and I saw the message: Christopher Trevisan had written: “Hey Judith, can you be at the rink at 15.00?”

Have you ever been waiting for a message to come in for five consecutive days? Do you know that feeling that whenever you get a message you have that slight hope inside you that it could be the one you are waiting for and you get disappointed over and over again? And then the releasing moment comes? And you know my temper, right? Then you can maybe imagine how I screamed and jumped up and down when seeing that message. Did you maybe even hear that scream from somewhere far away that afternoon? Quite possible since Bellinzona isn’t that big and my joy was… LOUD! My two friends shared my joy and enthusiasm but not as loud. We had an “appointment”! I messaged all of my good friends right away: “Appointment at 3 pm!” I was so happy and excited. I carried the hopes and wishes of 50 people in my bag and now I knew I wouldn’t disappoint them.

That moment on the bench had only been the beginning of a day that again turned out so much better than all my expectations:

Hearing you say: “So nice to see you again!”, and being really thankful for the book. Being able to watch all three hours of show rehearsal, including the two of you practicing throw jumps.  Recording an successfully landed throw jump for all my friends and many other fans. Seeing you, Stéph, skate live for the first time in my life. You, that man that had carried me through my teenage years with all your wonderful programs. Finally seeing you perform in person was magical. Seeing that wonderful and touching duet of the two of you. I had tears of joy in my eyes. And that moment after the show when you, Deniss, were walking beneath us and you turned around and came back thanking me for the album: “Thanks for the book. It’s fantastic!” These six words meant so much to me and to all those who had participated. My heart was full of joy and my body full of dancing endorphins again. It didn’t matter at all that the train ride the next day didn’t last ten but twelve hours. I was the happiest and luckiest girl on the planet.

Thanks to my amazing two girls who were my company during these crazy 21 hours I have spent in Bellinzona. Wouldn’t have been the same without those two and we do have an appointment at our “Appointment Bench” next year.

Still… after the Bellinzona - Fun it was getting serious! Europeans were on their way and it felt like the most important competition for you this season, Deniss. The season hadn’t gone as planed yet for sure… plus: Skating really well there would give you the chance to medal. Even though I had been in Bellinzona it was really hard for me to follow the action in Minsk from home. But that week showed me what great friends I had got to know because of you, Deniss. Those girls, who kept me updated the entire week, and never forgot about me were my personal heros. Some special mentions: Jelena, who waved at me through the TV stream during the Ladies Short program. That was so hilarious and made my day. Szilvia, whom I would have loved to share that horrible hostel with. Maybe with the two of us that place would have been less spooky? And thanks to her for sending birthday wishes to my mom during the live stream of your fan meeting, Stéph. Marina, for telling me the “they-only-want-me”- story right after it had happened and for asking Brian Joubert about his inspiration for the tiger jacket. And my amazing girl Maria. Thanks for just everything. I felt with her and like her at every moment during the entire week. I shared her excitement, her fears, worries, tears and joy. And I am proud and thankful to all of the girls who organized both fan meetings and streamed it for us at home. You’ve got the most amazing fans, I really hope you know that both.

Deniss? We all know you gave your best! You wanted it so much and we know you actually are able to do everything you had planed. That makes the outcome of this competition so sad. Thanks for keeping your smile for us fans, thanks for still performing amazingly. Thanks for that intense gala-program. “Iron“ is now one of my personal top 5 programs of all times.

And Stéph? Your week must have been nerve-wracking and cruel. Thanks for being there for your students, giving them strength and confidence. Thanks for trying everything you could to support Deniss and Emmi and still staying that nice and friendly to us fans. The pressure must have been immense. Maria summed it up so perfectly as an Instagram caption, so I will quote her here: “Thanks for being in the world!”

February

During Euros you were so nice to confirm that Team Champéry would keep its tradition and would come to the Cup of Tyrol in Innsbruck, Stéph. The planing for us attending and supporting you at that event started the moment Europeans were over. That Sunday still after watching the Gala my mother and I booked the last available cheap apartment in the city centre of Innsbruck. All February long we were busy planing that trip but hadn’t there been another appointment in February? My second 10 hour long train ride was scheduled from February 15th to February 17th. Osnabrück - Davos and back. Art on Ice was about to happen. I imagined that trip to maybe be a little less exciting. I expected to watch the show, see you perform two wonderful programs and was also looking forward to see James Blunt live again after more than 10 years. Back in 2006 James Blunts concert had been the first concert I had ever visited, so it was going to be a bit nostalgic… But… probably no surprise anymore: Also this trip turned out to be so much better than expected.

The afternoon in Davos was beautiful already, the sun was shining brightly and we had an amazing walk through the snowy landscape. We managed to sneak in to watch the practice again and: I  got the opportunity to talk to you, Stéph. It was short and since totally unexpected I also didn’t really know what to say but it was extremely special for me. And I could take a selfie with you. A picture I had wanted to have ever since my teenage years. I am not the type of person who collects pictures with celebrities. I think asking for a picture is such an unreal and awkward situation. But I really longed for that picture with you, Stéph. With the guy I used to tell all of my friends about, who all didn’t know you, because figure skating is not too popular in Germany. With the guy I had admired ever since my teenage years. With the guy that is in my opinion the most passionate and elegant skater ever. With the guy that touched me to tears and overwhelmed my emotions when skating to the song Goodbye my Lover some hours later. With the guy who gave his second last performance at Art on Ice ever that night.

I read your post about quitting Art on Ice when my train had almost reached Osnabrück again. I felt incredibly sad and incredibly blessed at the same time: I had still been able to see your magic. Art on Ice will miss you incredibly, Stéph. But you surely made the right decision for yourself and we as fans will support you and keep loving you no matter what projects will come for you in the future.

I had two more weeks until the crazy road trip to Innsbruck was about to happen but well… there was one weekend in between. And I found the perfect place to go for that weekend: Barcelona, Spain.

You have already heard some names of great people I got to know because of you two, but I haven’t told you about Laia yet what is a shame because, Deniss, you would certainly like Laia as much as I like her: She’s an artist, she draws amazingly. She’s a baker and an excellent cook. She’s a bit of a philosopher. She is a big Star Wars fan. She’s incredibly funny and sarcastic but at the same time a bit shy and introverted. And she is a big fan of the two of you. Even though you know the story how Laia and I met already, Deniss, I think it’s worth telling it here again: Laia was also at the Grand Prix in Grenoble. I didn’t know her back then. And we also didn’t meet at the event itself. But she was the girl who took the picture of you holding my baked gingerbread lion. I discovered that picture on Instagram some weeks later. We started to chat, and we chatted even more. I talked with her for hours because, Deniss, in many ways she seems like a female version of you.

So at that last weekend in February I took a plane to Barcelona to finally meet her in person. She showed me some skating tricks on the ice and I showed her that the mediterranean sea is not too cold to swim in in February. She introduced me to traditional Catalan food and I brought her some Swiss Chocolate I had bought in Davos.

And she gave me the most precious gift I ever received from anyone: An amazing drawing of you, Deniss, skating to “Iron“. You have seen it in Innsbruck yourself and I am quite sure you will remember it.

So that weekend was another amazing experience thanks to the two of you.

March

“Good morning everyone”, I told my Instagram followers totally excited at the morning of February 28th, “my last big journey of the figure skating season is about to start. I will drive to work first and then I will drive from my school via Frankfurt airport and Munich airport all the way to Innsbruck. It will be a really long journey but I will pick up some amazing girls on the way. And I actually can’t wait to see Deniss and Stéph tomorrow.”

The Cup of Tyrol in Innsbruck was the smallest event I visited this season but it highlighted up everything that had happened before. At the beginning of the season my mom and I had been alone. The trip to Innsbruck ended with seven good friends from five different countries sitting together in a small apartment, laughing and celebrating you, ourselves and life.

Marina had flown to Frankfurt from Kyiv and Szilvia from Budapest. Maria had come from Chelyabinsk, Russia, to Munich. I met both, Marina and Maria for the first time in real life and that alone was really special. Suddenly sitting with those three girls together in my small car, singing along to Britney Spears songs was unreal and amazing enough. But of course we were here to support you, Deniss.

All three of you, Chris included, seemed quite surprised to see us around. Cup of Tyrol was such a small competition. Why should anyone go there? Well, we were and we weren’t the only ones, even though probably the loudest ones. Here are again some very special moments picked from many special moments:

Imitating your car karaoke to Britney’s Toxic on our way to Innsbruck with Marina and Szilvia.

Stepping out of our apartment early Friday morning in Innsbruck and seeing this city in all of its beauty: The river, the colorful houses and the mountains in the beautiful morning sun.

Watching you skate a nice and clean short program after some struggles during practice.

Chris laughing loudly about our designed shirt for you, Deniss: “I am not coaching Stéph!” Do you wear it from time to time? If you don’t I am sure Chris would…

Giving you my self knitted hat in Latvia colors.

Showing you Laias drawing and you complimenting her amazing “shade work”.

You, Stéph, telling us that we were just about to hang up our “Team Champéry banner” mirror converted. Oh dear…

Suffering with every quad attempt. Cheering for every jump that seemed “okay” somehow- especially for underrotated quads…sorry Stéph, but that’s what fans are there for.

Crying with Matilda after her Free Program. It was hard to see this but those moments belong to the sport just as tears of joy at another time. Please, Stéph, tell Matilda, that she is a very beautiful skater. She is very graceful and a joy to watch on the ice and we all hope to see her shining on the ice sometime again.

Calling ourselves to be the “Crazy Rabbit Crew” after constantly eating carrots and joking about what to throw on the ice. Carrots, maybe?

Watching your little extra show on the ice after you won the title, Deniss.

Joking with you, Stéph about our petition to bring Britney Spears to Art on Ice.

And for me, personally, receiving the compliment from you, Stéph, of being such a positive person. I am aware that you, the first time you said it, thought that my positivity was even a bit too much when we discussed the success of your Quad attempts, Deniss, but when we all said goodbye I had the honest feeling that you liked me, Stéph. And that means more than a lot to me!

And of course THAT picture. Yes, again a celebrity picture. But what a special one. Standing in the middle of both of you. In the middle of the two people who made my winter. You didn’t understand it back then, right?

I am sure you understand it now!

Of course Innsbruck hadn’t been the end of the season yet: Worlds were yet to come. Far away in Japan. The competition where you wanted to show everyone what you actually could do. In the country that you love so much and where your season had started. The country on which history your free program was built. The Last Samurai. The last dance of the season. It was a hard week for us as fans because it was obviously a hard week for your whole team. I watched the Short Program locked into the music room of my school during our break. Afterwards I had to teach a Music lesson, singing cheerful and happy songs with eight year olds. It was tough. But I can hardly imagine how tough it was for you.

The free program was a huge fight. After everything you had gone through that week, it was even an incredible fight. The score still wasn’t probably what you had dreamed of neither the placement in the end.

But you can be incredibly proud of that fight, Deniss. This whole season was surely a hard learning process. It was a season without a single competition you were completely happy with. After all the hard work you put in every single day it must be horribly frustrating. I got to know you though as a person who is thinking thoroughly about everything. And I got to know you as a person who is able to see this season as a learning process for the future. You never stopped performing no matter what happened to the jumps. All three programs this year were incredibly well choreographed and performed even better. And during that hard and rocky road you made so many people incredibly happy.

Stéph, this winter was surely also a hard one for you. One of the reasons why I like you that much is that you, just as I do myself, put your whole heart and passion into everything you do. I could feel your pain when things didn’t turn out as you wanted them to go for your skaters. It must be so hard to just watch and not being able to actually do something in those moments. I do imagine those intense emotions you had during your last Art on Ice shows. Thanks so much for sharing some of these moments with us.

And equally I want to thank you, Chris: Thank you so much for being there for the whole team whenever you are needed. Thanks for staying calm, positive and objective throughout the season. Thanks for sometimes probably being the connection between the two artists. I am sure it hasn’t always been easy. Thanks for the great cooperation with us fans. You are doing an amazing job in every way.

You as a team managed to go through this season together and I hope with my whole heart that it brought you even closer together. Success, failure, joy and sorrow are so close together in this sport. The future seasons will bring all of that again. And I am looking forward to laugh, cry and celebrate with you again next winter and hopefully many more winters. Until then I will spend time with some of the amazing people I met on the road. Next weekend Szilvia and I will visit Marina in Kyiv. It will be another amazing trip. You are about to make my spring, too!

[johnlockficclub]

Discussion recap -FINALLY

First of all, congratulations to @ewebie on her degree, or as they called it “head bonking!”

FINALLY in the slowest of slow burns, we finally have our first kiss. We’re still waiting for Sherlock to call Mycroft though....

What to do when your OTP finally kisses.

“They made out in public. It did feel like it was the right time there though” @ewebie

“I like how afterwards they decided not to have sex because they've been taking it slow. I was like, no shit you've been taking it slow.” @sherlock-nanowrimo

They went on more dates! How romantic!

“Sherlock putting his mouth on the spot where John''s lips had been” “And when he finally did ask him. “John agreed before Sherlock had even finished his sentence. He pushed his chair back so fast the legs skidded on the floor” These two are frickin adorable.“ @sherlock-nanowrimo

“Apologies, and this is random-but how much do i love Sherlock having a kitchen opened JUST for their lunch” @almosttomorocco

“There was another nod to canon this week, tho I don't know if it was written before or after s3. “He was freshly shaven, so he'd been at home when he'd received Sherlock's text.” John shaved for Sherlock.“ @sherlock-nanowrimo

“Also, John renting a really nice tux for the party but wearing that green hoodie jacket over it?” @yorkiepug

“No, but speaking of the tux. “Sherlock was already trying to come up with scenarios for getting the jacket off so he could have a look at John's arse.” Sherlock has his priorities straight.” @sherlock-nanowrimo

“@sherlock-nanowrimo​ he kept hoping John would lift his arms so he could see it” @yorkiepug

“@ewebie​ I'm trying to remember, did this fic have a "sliver of skin" moment...” @yorkiepug

“It did. A triangle of fur..” @sherlock-nanowrimo

Molly got added to the madness

“Incidentally - and I don't know exactly when this happened because I read it all in one lump - I love how Molly's implicitly gone from crushing on Sherlock and awkwardly trying to get his attention directly to being a supportive friend once she's had it gently explained to her(by John) that he's gay. There's no apparent resentment in there. No suggestion that if she can't have him that way, she doesn't want anything to do with him at all. Not even, as far as I can see, any period where she's cool and distant while she sorts her emotional state out and figures out where she stands with him - just "He's gay? Guess I'll stop barking up that tree, then. I wonder if he needs any help with the show." @Mazz06tea6

“Gawd OMG Sherlock's Jealousy™ when John was talking to Molly tho” @inevitably-johnlocked

Much ado do about Jim Moriarty

“Jim is 10lbs of crazy in a 5lbs bag here“ @ewebie

“I love Jim in this story. He's really so out there. He must be a terrifying teacher. More than Sherlock. Imagine him cackling in front of the class as he makes fun of a student.“ @elwinglyre

“@sherlock-nanowrimo​ maybe I was too concerned about them kissing, but I'm still unlcear on moritarty and sherlock's past: @yorkiepug

“Interviewer: And why would you make a good teacher Jim: I like destroying people's hopes and dreams Interviewer: ... ok.

I'm now trying to picture dodgeball at Moriarty's school” @ewebie

“I would love to listen to Lestrade on the phone to the other head of school like... So... your whole 2nd form was just in brawl here on our school property: @ewebie

“Yeah, Moriarty's kids. Going to visit BAker Street so they can see how much better they have it. “Look at the plebes, children.”" @sherlock-nanowrimo

“The Nativity cannon is that Lestrade's school is the working class school and Moriarty's school is the private prep school” @ewebie

We feel like we learned a little more about these characters

“We got some more glimpses of Sherlock's past, with his family. He had to deal with his family being disappointed in him, with competing against Moriarty and losing, Moran's awful review of his former play. He's just very insecure and afraid of being hurt. “Sherlock began, trying to think of a way of putting it so that John would feel needed without making it sound as if Sherlock actually needed any help.” @sherlock-nanowrimo

“I am additionally frustrated with Sherlock for not just calling Mycroft, but I totally understand why he hasn't” @Mazz06tea6

“John immediately sees something in Sherlock in this story. He sees him through these rose colored glasses. He views the best in every person at the school for the most part too. The kids pick up on his attitude. It's interesting that he's not the grumpy gus he often is portrayed.” @elwinglyre

“And we know without hearing his thoughts that John is going through the same thing - insecure about his place in this world.

But I don't think he's as afraid of being hurt as Sherlock is, so that's why he keeps approaching instead of backing away the way Sherlock is.” @sherlock-nanowrimo

“He;s like, "John wrote a love song for me? how ridiculous!" *leans against wall with butterflies in stomach.  Oh man, I just realized how canon that is. John is a writer, writing about Sherlock. So of course here it would be songs.” @sherlock-nanowrimo

“John is a romantic“ @yorkiepug

"John is a romantic." Sherlock says romantically” @ewebie

“@Yorkiepug we're not going to boink... because we're taking it slow. But let's move in together” @ewebie

And finally....

“Cuz Martin Dancing in the actual film is adorbs” @almosttomorocco

[mexicaneurolover]

Eurovision 1965 my top 18

Hello again, or should i say, ciao, and welcome to another chapter of this series of ESC tops, and we go now back to March 20th, 1965 when the Eurovision Song Contest 10th edition was held in Naples, Italy after their smashing win in Copenhagen. 18 countries took part and it was the biggest at the time, Sweden returned and Ireland made its first appearance, and went to be a huge player in the contest in a far decade. The contest was won by Luxembourg and France Gall with the song Poupée de cire, poupée de son. And now let’s review the 18 participating songs. 

1st Place: LUXEMBOURG/France Gall-Poupée de cire, poupée de son (Real Placing: 1st-32 points) 

BEHOLD THE WINNER!!! I’M CRAZY FOR THIS ENTRY AND FOR FRANCE GALL. This song is beyond my words and certainly brought modernity and a breath of fresh air for the contest. AN ABSOLUTE WORTHY WINNER AND FRANCE, YOU’RE A LEGEND. 

2nd Place: SPAIN/Conchita Bautista-¡Qué bueno, qué bueno! (Real Placing: =15th-0 points/last)

Again, how could this finish last with nul points? THIS IS AMAZING, Conchita is such a good singer, the performance was amazing, the song is everything, gorgeous singer as well, another injustice in the world of Eurovision. 

3rd Place: MONACO/Marjorie Noël-Va dire à l’amour (Real Placing: 9th-7 points)

Awww a cute song, her voice is magical, the music is calm and it’s like a song i would hear walking in the park. Such a lovely song that deserved more. 

4th Place: THE NETHERLANDS/Conny van den Bos-T is genoeg (Real Placing: 11th-5 points) 

And another great entry from The Netherlands that was ignored by the juries, this is brilliant, her voice is amazing, the song is enjoyable, and the bongoes make this cool. This song gets stuck in my head and I start humming it suddenly. 

5th Place: DENMARK/Birgit Brüel-For din skyld (Real Placing: 7th-10 points)

There’s something I enjoy about this one, sounds calm, but also the lyrics are fierce, she sings it so well and makes me feel great. Nice song. 

6th Place: AUSTRIA/Udo Jürgens-Sag ihr, ich lass sie grüssen (Real Placing: 4th-16 points)

Again Udo delivers greatness to the contest, the song is amazing, his voice is on point and the lyrics are good. IMO his best entry and it would’ve been an amazing winner, maybe he was looking for victory this year or another year... 

7th Place: NORWAY/Kirsti Sparboe-Karusell (Real Placing: =13th-1 point)

I love this one as well, but I think the song needs less orchestration, sounds heavy and the song maybe is more relaxed. Kristi’s voice is playful and cute, makes this song brilliant and good. 

8th Place: PORTUGAL/Simone de Oliveira-Sol de inverno (Real Placing: =13th-1 point)

This lady is one of my favorite singers from Portugal, the song is very good and her vocals are superb, also the music is amazing, oh Portugal, many good songs and you were always ignored. 

9th Place: ITALY/Bobby Solo-Se piangi, se ridi (Real Placing: 5th-15 points)

Oh what an entry!!! A good singer, nice music, and an amazing entry as well, Bobby’s voice is superb and the backing singers make this better. 

10th Place: IRELAND/Butch Moore-Walking the streets in the rain (Real Placing: 6th-11 points) 

Ireland’s first entry and it’s a well made Irish ballad, this is the perfect song for a rainy day, Butch has a great voice and the song is beautiful. Well done Ireland, now wait for the best in the next decades. 

11th Place: UNITED KINGDOM/Kathy Kirby-I belong (Real Placing: 2nd-26 points)

A modern and accurate song for 1965, well performed but I don’t think this is a runner up, even though I like it, IMO there were better options this year. Nice song and nice singer. 

12th Place: FINLAND/Viktor Klimenko-Aurinko laskee länteen (Real Placing: =15th-0 points) 

I like this one, he has a great voice and the song is good, a nice entry overall and his style with that beard is nice. Certainly an enjoyable song. 

13th Place: SWEDEN/Ingvar Wixell-Absent friend (Real Placing: 10th-6 points)

This song is good and Ingvar surely has a good operatic voice, but what annoys me it’s that he sings in English, I like more the Swedish version because it’s more powerful. The music sounds dark but it’s well made. 

14th Place: BELGIUM/Lize Marke-Als het weer lente is (Real Placing: =15th-0 points/last) 

This one it’s relaxing and her voice is amazing, the music is good and what a performance, a cool entry overall. 

15th Place: FRANCE/Guy Mardel-N’avoue jamais (Real Placing: 3rd-22 points)

As with the German entry, I have a conflict with this, the verses are good but that chorus... annoys me, he sings so well but the song... not my cup of tea. 

16th Place: GERMANY/Ulla Wiesner-Paradies, wo bist du? (Real Placing: =15th-0 points/last) 

I have something weird with this song, one part of me likes it, but another part of me dislikes it, maybe the best part are the verses and the music in it, but the chorus it’s kind of a letdown. Not that good but absolutely not a nul pointer. 

17th Place: YUGOSLAVIA/Vice Vukov-Čeznja (Real Placing: 12th-2 points)

I like this more than his entry in 1963, but I still think this needs something else for being a great entry, nice voice again and cute song, but it feels incomplete. 

18th Place: SWITZERLAND/Yovanna-Non, à jamais sans toi (Real Placing: 8th-8 points) 

I don’t know why but I don’t like her voice so much and the song is quite plain and boring, also forgettable even though this was the last song of the evening. 

[thatxvguy]

KNOCK KNOCK, LET THE DEVIL IN.

Nah man like seriously what the actual fuck.

It was Friday, August 31st. A nice day to start Anime Festival Asia in Indonesia, I was already happy thinking what to buy to make myself broke at the convention, then aS SOON AS I FUCKING ARRIVED AT THE CONVENTION, SHIT BROKE IG AND TWITTER: EMINEM NEW ALBUM “KAMIKAZE”.

At first I shrugged and laughed thinking it was a troll/just an album announcement bUT AY TURNS OUT THAT SHIT LITERALLY DROPPED JUST WHEN I GOT MY MONEY FOR AFA & NOW BY THE TIME OF THIS WRITING I STILL DON’T KNOW HOW TO SAVE UP MONEY TO BUY KAMIKAZE MERCH, LIKE I SWEAR FUCK THIS SHIT SLIM, I FUCKING HATE YOU SMH.

Tbh I don’t expect much when I saw the Venom teaser for the movie, I thought he was just going to have a song for the movie soundtrack/at best, a soundtrack album by him just like how Kendrick did with Black Panther, but ay this looks promising.

Aside of me being salty, this album’s apparently executive produced by Dr. Dre and “Slim Shady”, like literally Marshall is fucking credited as Slim Shady, this shit sounds like a classic already- HE EVEN PUT BACK THE PAUL SKITS AGAIN YO DAMN.

Features are actually fresh as fuck tho, like Joyner Lucas? Nickle Nine? Goddamn man. First look at the tracklists & I can feel the fire already.

Aight then with that all being said, new EM album, Kamikaze, let’s go (I’m still salty to not have money to buy the merch).

01. The Ringer - SHIT BRO I CANNOT. WAIT A MINUTE *takes a fucking hour to get ready*

Okay so uh, wow. Illadaproducer. You fire bro. AND RONNY J? OMYGOD MAN.

First song and he’s shNAPPING ALREADY LIKE DAMN BRO. Okayokayokay let me slow myself here. Because he literally snapped on everybody who criticized him on The Storm freestyle & Revival, should I like write of a list of it?

>Vince Staples >Joe Budden >Lil Yachty (It’s not a diss tho, he just called him out) >Lil Pump >Lil Xan >Iggy Azalea >MGK >NF >Journalists >Donald Trump >Charmalagne tha God >Pretty much the whole current state of Hip-Hop

One song going and it’s fire already, why the fuck should we hit Em’s nerve for him to make a fire album like this though? That’s a big problem.

I like how he interpolates Young M.A. here, matter of fact everything he interpolates sounds better than the original lol excuse me for being biased smh. AND THAT EVIL SPELL LINE, GOT ME SO GOOD.

Overall a fire intro. Personal favorite already. I felt perfect when Em shouted out his favorite new-wave rappers, makes me feel like I listen to the right side of Hip-Hop lol.

02. Greatest - REVIVAL DIDN’T GO VIRAL

As much as I like some aspects of Revival, it’s still an ass album overall, so sorry I gotta say that man but that’s like, Jesus man it’s the fucking lowest.

AY MIKE WILL WASSUP BRO THIS SHIT BUMPS BROOO, better than the whole SR3MM album tbh smh. And the hook yooo, I really wokeuplikethis when I heard the fucking hook. Definitely one of the best hooks of 2018 lmao don’t @ me.

He still continues the theme of clapping back at people who clapped back at him & he’s not being boring on it which is very unusual, because y'know how it feels like when people wrote the same shit on different songs right? That shit gets repetitive & boring, but not this one.

And again, his interpolations are fucking top notch man, I can’t praise it enough for being too fucking great.

And that 2nd verse? God. Another personal favorite.

03. Lucky You (feat. Joyner Lucas) - I’m lucky to be alive after listening to these 3 fire straight.

Dude.

Whatthefuck.

This is godly bro.

Joyner came in with that fire verse, then Em ended the song with next level heat. That’s the whole gist of it tbh.

BOI-1DA CAME WITH THE HEAT. SHIT’S AMAZING BRO, I CAN STILL HEAR THAT NC-17 HERE, ILLA YOU FIRE TOO MAN WTFFF.

I like how they started their parts with different perspective of their respective careers, with Joyner not having the accolades he was supposed to get and Em with the awards that he ironically don’t need.

Joyner man, he came in with rapid fire yo & he fucking interpolates Denzel’s SUMO | ZUMO amazingly & fittingly. And Em back again snapping on the current state of Hip-Hop FOR THE 3RD TIME IN THE ALBUM & HE’S YET TO BORE ME WITH THE SAME TOPIC. And that “Record Breaker/Broken Record” line is slick as hell yo, plus how he interpolates (again) DNA. here is just amazing but somehow expected. Plus that ghostwriter line probably struck a nerve somewhere in the 6ix lol.

3 tracks in with pretty much the same topics, yet I didn’t get bored of it yet. The first 3 tracks & and those hits the personal favorites list already. This is probably a classic already.

04. Paul (Skit) - The very core question of Eminem’s career by this point tbh. Is he going just to put out shit albums and snap back the next year with a fire album? Is he going to repeat the same shit all over? So far the first 3 tracks don’t bore me but I feel like he’s trying a lil too hard on it? At least he didn’t sound bitter on this album so far.

05. Normal - It’s not an Eminem album if there’s no at least one misogynystic song isn’t it.

At first I wasn’t feeling it until the beat switches I was like, “Damn bro, Em can actually sound melodic like the mumble rappers too, damn.”

But I got the message of the song tho, it’s surprising that Em is still wishing for a normal relationship with women (Maybe he could had one if he didn’t went full misogynystic but eh).

Milo verse is funny tho, not anything special but it’s just funny. Not hilarious either but it’s just… Funny.

06. Em Calls Paul (Skit) - Basically a response about Em saying that he’s not trying to make an album just to clap back at people who criticized the album badly, thank goodness because I hope that shit doesn’t happen to him (I still don’t like the timing of this surprise album tho, still salty over the fact I can’t buy the merch yet).

Rumors believe that he was referring to Shawn Cee on the skit, but I don’t think it’s about him tho because Em said he read about some Yahoo-motherfucker who wrote about Revival and criticized about how bad Em did the album (Which I think to be true).

Now, Shawn Cee is a YouTuber famous for his Hip-Hop reaction/review videos. Eminem clearly said that he read about someone writing about Revival, not watched about someone reviewing Revival. So I guess Shawn Cee is in a safe position in his career lol. RIP to that Yahoo-motherfucker tho.

07. Stepping Stone - THIS HERE, THIS ACTUALLY BROKE MY HEART

It’s sad to hear that D12 is officially dead & to hear it from the group most popular member makes it even worse.

I like how to hook goes in & the bridge is just amazing to hear. I’m happy that he decides to break the silence about D12, it’s a plus point too for this album because I don’t want him to always talk about how bad Revival is tbh lol.

A great song to refresh yourself from this album’s main topic.

08. Not Alike (feat. Royce da 5'9") - THAT LOOK ALIVE SAMPLE THOOO. TAY KEITH FUCK THESE DUDES UP.

I don’t know why but I enjoy Eminem doing the Migos flow, it just makes him sounds funnier to me, the hook says all: Em is nothing alike to these mumble rappers, just like how what he says have nothing in common.

Royce went great here, but I feel like before his verse ends he sounds a lil rushed, or is it just me? Great feature nevertheless.

THEN EMINEM BACK AGAIN WITH THE MGK DISS & WHEN THAT BEAT SWITCHED TO THAT RONNY J FIRE? GODFUCKINGDAMN BRO.

Did Em just started his verse with the Ay flow? Because it feels refreshing when Em doesn’t go too fast on his raps & being more laid-back with it.

The flow showdown here man, it’s just unlikely people will hate on this one, I mean hey, GOAT with Tay Keith & Ronny J who doesn’t want that?

Definitely another personal favorite.

09. Kamikaze - Title song of the album, I gotta stop listening when I heard the word “Fack” said here lmao, the whole first part of the song is hilarious too, I mean that beat whatthefuck man, corny as shit lmao.

But hey as hilarious as it gets it’s still worth noting that this song sums up the whole point of the album, it’s basically him snapping back to haters & mumble rap by dropping a surprise album just for the fuck of it (Fuck it tho I’m still salty off the merch)

When the beat switched tho, that shit went sinister like straight up, WHY CAN’T HE JUST DO THE WHOLE SONG WITH THAT BEAT? JESUS FUCKING CHRIST EM SMH.

And that outro bro, was that a diss at Drake? Those ghostwriters line still got me great man.

10. Fall - Featuring uncredited vocals by Justin Vernon for the hook, here Em talks about… WELL WHAT DO YOU EXPECT MAN THE ALBUMS BASICALLY A BUNCH OF DISS TRACKS FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVEN’T HAD ENOUGH OF HIM SMH, Mike WiLL fucking made a banger tho.

I felt bad for Tyler after hearing him got dissed badly with the other F-word, RIP Tyler & Earl too.

Budden, DJ Akademiks, Charmalagne & Lord Jamar got fucked up pretty badly here too, I mean I think this is the first time Em proved his point right & stayed relevant to the era he’s in. I mean he’s doing it in Trap beats so that explains a thing. (Listen to Lucky You for reference)

Verse 3 > Legacy in MMLP2.

11. Nice Guy (feat. Jessie Reyez) - NOW THIS, THIS IS PROBABLY THE FIRST EMINEM SONG FOR THEM CONCERT MOSHPITS.

THAT DROP IS JUST SO FIRE, & JESSIE, GODDAMN BRO.

I like the fact that the songs is less than 3 minutes just like how songs are nowadays. The bars are nothing serious tbh bUT THAT ENERGY BRO, IF THIS SHIT EVER GETS PERFORMED ON AN EMINEM CONCERT, I’LL DEFINITELY JOIN THE MOSHPIT.

Another personal favorite. And yea it’s a favorite personal because even tho the bars aren’t really nothing, I can still relate on how dudes just wanted to be nice for their woman out there.

Hook-post hook = definite anthem.

12. Good Guy (feat. Jessie Reyez) - BRO EMINEM ON A KINGDOM HEARTS SAMPLE BRO THANK YOU ILLA YOU DA GOAT.

I feel like this song & the song before is like a mini sequel to the long-ass Bad Guy song back in MMLP2, this song especially is just a continuation of Nice Guy, so nothing special tbh, lacks the same energy from Nice Guy tho.

The Kingdom Hearts sample fucking saved the song.

13. Venom (Music from the Motion Picture) - Now this shit, was the shit that made me believe that Em is actually going to produce the whole Venom soundtrack. This shit went off great, KNOCK KNOCK, LET THE DEVIL IN.

I LOVE HOW HE STARTED EVERY VERSE WITH THAT SENTENCE, REAL SLIM SHADY VIBES IN THIS SONG. AND THAT HOOK, UGH FUCK BRO SHIT.

How Eminem stated that we the fans are Eddie Brock & him being the Venom Symbiote is just very fucking symbolic, because as bad as he gets you know that he’ll still stick to us like how Venom sticks to Eddie.

THe very perfect outro for the album, a definite personal favorite because of the “Knock knock” line & the hook.

Overall album score: 9/10

A very great album which basically consists mainly about responses to haters, but somehow ends up being a breathe of fresh air of an Eminem record for the past 8 years.

Great team of producers (Illa you da MVP bro), great features, Eminem on his prime, executive produced by Dre & Shady,the return of Paul skits, no comment needed, definitely a classic already.

The only question I have in mind is that; should it really be like this for Eminem to put out a classic album? Should a big sack of hating in mass media on a shit album he put out previously fuel the urge for him to make one of the best records of him to this date? I don’t think so.

Personal favorites: The Ringer, Greatest, Lucky You (feat. Joyner Lucas), Not Alike (feat. Royce da 5'9"), Nice Guy (feat. Jessie Reyez), Venom (Music from the Motion Picture).

I’M STILL SALTY OVER THE FACT THAT I CAN’T BUY MERCH BECAUSE OF THE UNFORTUNATE SURPRISE TIMING. FUCK YOU EM.

Kamikaze > Eminem albums from 2010-2017

He actually did a serious damage because of his Kamikaze wtf he actually didn’t flopped, great.

You should’ve seen the memes for this album bro, shit’s wild.

Again, Eminem if you’re reading this, I love you for putting such a classic album in this era, bUT FUCK YOU FOR RELEASING IT THE EXACT SAME DAY OF ME BEING BROKE. Sincerely, a Stan.

[sole-cuore-amore-e-droga]

Tel Aviv 2019: Straight outta Lithuania to Eurovision with a rampaging mess that gave a lukewarm conclusion

Oh dear.

When it comes to my country to choose, they’re often chosen to be overlooked by the Eurofan community, especially because of our insanely long procedure of choosing, that would often cause everyone to hear the songs live more times than they’re supposed to. And it seemed to be a similar case this year because while not as long as usual, we still had 7 shows + an additional week break (that allowed me to watch some more Destination Eurovision! Woo!), and a big pile to songs to swim through, usually submitted by all ranges of songwriters who’re willing just to get their names known to the world creditswise (looking at you Ashley Hicklin and co.) and often are paired with our talent show rejects that fade away as soon as they come in if their song and their chances crash out before the final (see Germantė Kinderytė - she didn’t make it to the lives of The Voice Lithuania, had a killer song though that didn’t make it to the semis thanks for the jury annihilating her pointswise TWICE and only ended up lucky the televoters’ 10 was enough to get her through. Another example: Benas Malakauskas, who got lucky to be on the selection for two years in a row, but did not go beyond the AUDITIONS in said talent show! Yet progressed to the second round at farthest both of his years). And even then, you’re never sure if these songs ARE even on the lineup. Last year we had angry Erica Jennings pulling her song out of the comp just because of having to hear the juries critique others so abrasively (at least abrasively I guess?) one show in, but then it suddenly re-emerged back, but instead sung by Monika Marija - fresh off her The Voice Lithuania victory. This year we had some names pulling off for no reason, some names pulling for A reason (like Sasha Song who couldn’t turn up for the live recording of Heat 4 because of his song not sounding the best way possible, and was fined for it lol), and some names being added last minute or even changed unexpectedly (Tomas Sinickis, you heard of him? Now he underwent by Tommy Modric... yes the footballer Modric). Which is as crazy as MIIIIHAAAAIIIII deciding not to compete in the Romanian NF because “it’s all rigged and me a tryhard won’t feel too safe enough to finally win on this one” oh boo-hoo, think of the kids who never liked your sorry ass anyway. And think of the kids in general before showcasing your half-naked or mostly-naked body in front of them.

Excuse me for my long ass paragraph number 1, BUT we were actually so dang dramatic this year that I cannot contain myself without letting y'all know why this NF deserved a much better winner to come out of it rather than THAT that actually came to be. I'm a native so I know every single detail. So if ya wanna know why exactly I'm underwhelmed, read 'em up. If you wanna know that I'm just underwhelmed, just skip ahead to the review, idc. Did you make your choice? Well then. Let's delve into the details:

• The first clear competitor, Monika Marija, releases a song that people really want to see in the selection but she assures everyone it’s not THE song. Then she shows her other one, and people honestly want the first one back, but grow to adapt to it.

• Lineup reveal happens with her in it, wbk. Along with some other interesting names like Jurgis Didžiulis (off InCulto), Jurgis Brūzga and etc.

• First show is filmed and broadcasted as normal. But, after the broadcast, a pissed-off parent is mad at his son’s result on Facebook (and the result seemed fair enough to me actually despite liking the song because it’s such a second-hand NF tier entry that isn’t meant to last that I’d even see fizzle out in... A Dal for example).

• Also a minor lulz related to one contestant’s song lyrics sounding like Russian swearwords (you know the ones the kids are yelling on CS:GO) but that was fixed

• Lineup changes that include Sasha Song, the second-most-recent X Factor Lithuania season winners at the time 120 (yep that’s the band’s name) and some other guy who came and went last minute without a word from him back as to why lol. (As well as one of the lost starlets of 2018, Emilija Valiukevičiūtė, was initially announced in the first lineup reveal but fizzled out by Heat 4 as well.)

• And it turns out Monika Marija chose both of her latest releases (including the first one she said she won’t enter) to participate because her fans want it so and she felt like it, although fans were more attached to the 1st one she entered.

• Jurgis Didžiulis brings Erica Jennings with him - yep, the same lady who withdrew because of the jury has grew some thick skin over a year and joined the lineup too. Among other things.

• Second show had a major televoting issue that affected the scores massively (basically only a few hundred votes were missing lol), and had the issue affected any of the nonqualifiers enough for them to qualify, they’d be added to the semis as a wildcard. So naturally, someone of the NQs complained about it BUT it turned out it did not affect anyone anyway. Another act got pissed for being mistreated by juries too by the way.

• Sasha Song withdraws last minute for reasons above, and his fine is 2000 euros. Well, now you have to know that if you, fellow Lithuanian, want into Eurovizijos, you need to be a bit rich to accept circumstances like these, otherwise you’re totally fucked.

• Heat 3 happens as normal BUT Heat 4 brings in some fire as it turns out that one of the contestants’ stepfather was offering his company’s services (like, those outside children play parks’ assets) for televotes to her dear stepdaughter’s song, with her EVEN NOT SEEING ANYTHING WRONG WITH IT. LRT, as clever as they are, decide to null her televotes in protest. Shame tho as the song was good, and way better Laurell Barker submission than the ones she got on ESC this year.

• One contestant, Alen Chicco (also from X Factor Lithuania, may or may not even be from the same season that was won by 120), causes a bit of controversy by having a black man on his performance

• During the semi stage, Monika Marija asks her fans not to vote for the 1st song she submitted to the selection, but rather support her 2nd song that won the semi comfortably, way after the folks were attached to her 1st song already and claiming it’s better for Eurovision (no it’s not), but it backfires spectacularly when the jury has enough guts to make her qualify with it, even if the televote for it was rather low.

• But before semi 2 happened and Monika Marija sang her weaker song, a contestant with the name of Migloko resorts to middle-finger the audience during her performance for no reason in semi 1.

• Monika Marija succesfully goes on to withdraw one of her songs (the one from semi 2) just to not split her fanbase even further when it comes to the final, therefore not lose. Also has to pay a fine of 2000 perhaps.

• Jurijus Veklenko, which was one of the front-runners along Monika Marija, was accused of having his song published on Soundcloud a year too early, but as a demo version, therefore not commercially viable enough for ESC rules. Later he was let off easy by LRT, but decided that EBU should investigate and report if they think it’s not fine, but if he was allowed to compete with that, he was possibly not in danger afterall.

• And since Monika Marija has got only 1 song, her final spot she got with that other song was given up for the aforementioned Alen Chicco.

• Finally, Monika Marija was still THE front runner of all this, having a sizeable amount of a fanbase enough to support her, even more so than the eventual winner... yes, she did happen not to win in the end. U mad?

And even if Monika Marija would have honestly been an anticlimactic winner, this next guy is even more so, because although shocking, his song is pretty much by-the-numbers Eurovision NF pop you’re gonna get, although not as cheap as the one written by constant NF failures that submit their stuff for countries like Moldova, Belarus, Romania and Malta (that until Malta ditched their NF). And the one that ended up winning is the said person whose song was uploaded a year too early as a demo - Jurijus Veklenko, but for now, he’s pretty much needed to be addressed as Jurijus. No wait, he’s back to being Jurijus Veklenko, but he dropped the “us” from his name, that’s odd. (By the way, he’s the only ounce of Ukraine you’ll ever have this year - his father is of that nationality, hence why the ever-so-Slavic Veklenko surname)

“Run with the Lions” is the song name, and for a title as anthemic as this, the song... not so much. Like I said, it’s pop, and it’s good that it’s pop, but it’s just pop. I doubt that Jurijus’s songwriter team did anything to distinguish the demo from its final product, hence why it was so easily autodetected somehow. Like, the structure is there, the lyrics are there (but what even ARE they? “if you wanna see, just open your eyes”?? “if you want a voice, just open your mouth”????), but where’s the depth, man? I really felt like I needed more of this song, especially in the choruses. Like, some additional background instruments like strings wouldn’t have hurt? In fact, this song has a slight revamp (I’m saying “slight” because no marginal changes had been done) that adds up some acoustics in the background of the 2nd verse and only changes one line (”there’s no need to be afraid” now is “you don’t have to be afraid”. Wow, revolutionary. What about “You don’t got to hide away”?? Why repeating “You don’t” twice in the prechorus???!!!... ooh I’ll be here all day if I only talked about nitpicks)... and it yet still feels too little. Thankfully the choruses have someone shouting something like “huh huh hoo” synthetically to liven it up somehow.

Yet somehow, out of nowhere, I admit liking this? Our boi is capable of singing live - both high and low; his voice and the song fit in delightfully with each other; and while basic, the melody is pleasant, non-offensive, non-ear-grating... perhaps the problem of it all is that it’s too inoffensive? Something that flows away in the wind and passes you by without you knowing. Something that you’re told that it’s not background filler and you were just not paying attention to the actual music that was playing. Something so algorithmic, you’re easily able to make your ears cancel it out as it were just some sort of white noise!

Yeah, I don't think I want to describe us all that much. It's a pretty okay pop song, it's nothing groundbreaking (bar the message of being free to do all you can do), I enjoy the sound of it, it doesn't annoy me, I can fully be down to supporting Jurijus and his voice. Too bad it's in a year AND a semi where MoR pop songs DON'T dominate - we're way past those ages. To stand out, it needs to be anthemic, it needs to have a stage presence, it truly needs some X factor, and our staging nor our song offers it. And guess what, various other people are still mourning over the loss of Monika Marija, which I find perfectly reasonable, but who would have to lend us their final spot instead if she won? Armenia? Romania? Denmark? So many questions, so little time left to answer them all.

Right now I will just conclude with me saying that I like this. It's inoffensiveness is pleasant, and in any other year we'd be the perfect filler songs for the final, like we were in the past. Cool cool.

Approval factor: Anything that will make me forget how much of my nerves did I waste over stanning someone in our selection while knowing that Ieva will win is a good noodle in my book. Jurijus wasn’t exactly one of my favourites (you’ll see why when you hit the unfortunately long NF corner section), but that’s perfectly fine, seeing that I can finally be a proud supporter of my own country’s song.

Follow-up factor: we're a completely and utterly random nation, sending anything our juries found amusing the most at the time. So don't bother about follow up consistency every being good or bad. We're just going with our own flow and... that's basically it. Though we could, on an occasion, do better with picking songs, that's for sure. And maybe finally we will not have a song that's littered with "oh oh oh, yeah yeah yeah" kind of sounds... like seriously, "Run with the Lions" has a bridge that mostly consists of "ooooooohhhhhhh" and then one actually non-interjective line at the end. (At least in Tel Aviv you'll be hearing the backings murmuring "run with the, run with the, run with the lions" during it, and that's something.) I love it that we never change in our random tactics, I'd just love it more to see some actual change in the song quality, y'know? THEN will it be a good follow-up.

Qualification factor: I’m so devastated at saying this, but foreigners say that we’re probably going down to deat meat levels this year. But I still have hope in us qualifying. Believe it or not, the people out there still don’t buy into the Lithuanian diaspora power, and genuinely believe that our harmless tune is chanceless. I only understand that it cannot work its magic when we send something risqué and incredibly opinion dividing (but most people dislike it anyway), but just look at our results on the years when we were generally received bad when we were just boring. “C’est ma vie” qualified. “Something” qualified. Back when Donny Montell was such an unknown in the Eurovision lore because 2012 was his first year and his song was considered “dated”, he still qualified. See something here? We still can, and WILL, be able to pull through possibly, and I don’t doubt it that diaspora will lap up our mediocre song because Lithuania. Patriotism strong! (Oh and a handful of votes for Jurijus for being so hot.)

NATIONAL FINAL BONUS

I already discussed the Eurovizijos drama in lenghty detail, so expect me not to re-iterate everything down here shortly, but what you need to know off it is that it had every single drama aspect you’d ever want - faulty line-ups, voting frauds, televoting malfunctions, forced plagiarism accusations, too-early-published-song accusations, late entry withdrawals, qualifier replacements, technical difficulties allowing to repeat a performance and some contestants being visibly pissed off by the jury (and to some extent, the overall) results. A total jumble <3 Never change, Lithuania. (except for the godawfully smug-ass HoD, I started to get tired of him AND his bald head doing this to us. It's been 10 years, retire already.)

So it’s better to talk about all the non-dramatic things I liked about our NF this year! From songs to performances, from shits and giggles to something serious - I’m taking you for a hefty ride.

• First and foremost, I actually didn’t mind one of the Monika Marija’s songs? Yeah, “Light On” was a good and polished pop track that has THAT power to get you good, with them strong sublime female vocals. Even if it kind of sounded like an Ikea store version of "Stay with Me" by Sam Smith. Not that there's anything bad with it, but any kind of plagiarism cases have and will always be barred from Eurovision if noticed by the organizers. This is not 100% dead-on ripoff, but there are shades of knock-offery here and there. And it's even a better "Stay with Me", and with a better message - Monika Marija reminisces of that one time she was almost dying herself, but she's here, she's survived, and you musn't hang her off the lifeline. At least it's "Light On" that got all the love in the NF in the end and not the painfully mediocre "Undo" ripoff wailfest "Criminal". It was so slow and plodding and I never got why so many people loved it. If "Undo" was a product, "Criminal" would have been its "made in China" counterpart. Anyway, here's "Light On". And please don't spam me messages with how much this would have been a contender for top 10 over Jurijus. :P In Eurovision it's an added bonus if your faves do well - the fact that they were in Eurovision is the most important thing, and I perfectly understand why do you miss it here on ESC grounds. Just... I'm tired of "MM top 10, Jurijus bottom 3 in semi", okay? Monika Marija can try our NF again. She’s very talented, and there’s a possibility that we’ll see her in ESC in the end anyway. Pave the way for our Polyglot Queen, Eurovision 20xx! ^^

• Now here's for once a cool Lithuanian artist that didn't come from a TV talent show! Antikvariniai Kašpirovskio Dantys ("antiquarian teeth of Kashpirovsky") is probably one of the coolest Lithuanian bands that I know - doing absolutely any kind of genre they're pleased with - from folk to rock to ska to acoustic pieces - I admire them for being so diversive! Too bad they entered with one of my lesser favourite tracks in their entire discography - "Mažulė" (one of the many ways to say "baby", as in, trying to call your lover cute, female gender case. Can also mean "baby girl" in this context). I have nothing against this kind of track they thrown in the selection, ska music and Eastern musical elements are gooooooood, plus I finally got to know what is a "forró" that doesn't mean "hot" in Hungarian - it's a music style popular in Brazil! However, the chorus could have at least sounded more "party"-ier. It doesn't really excite me to dance the window-cleaning dance to it. (Oh yeah and do you remember that this song is about a car, not an actual lover? They're basically confessing their love to an automobile. How they're protecting it from vandals, how did they dream of getting the car since young age, how wouldn't they change their car for any other. Romantic, I'd say.) However I am happy for the over 30 year olds that find this song completely and totally amusing when I can't quite seem to. I do say that I like those elements, the brass and all that. It was the only Lithuanian song in the sea of English ones in the final (just like A Dal was, but inverse - almost all songs in Hungarian but one English (and a bit Russian), and that's an achievement. AKD should be proud of themselves for impacting both our nation AND the international viewers which found fun in this! Respect. Maybe they'll win our NF soon if they keep on winning the audiences, or they'll probably GTFO forever. IDK, the latter is more plausible, sadly. They're so unique that they cannot be just a thing for more editions - just one for a try out, and that's enough.

• So, Alen Chicco. What’s so special to have him in the final instead of Monika Marija's weaker entry? Well, he's just a fantabulous persona, unique in every step he takes. And surely I was excited to see him preparing something for Eurovizijos after I read his name on the participants list. And then his entry did come. I wasn't quite sure what to think of "Your Cure" at first but the chorus is a pop beauty I hold up to myself somehow <3 now I find the song nice as a whole, the theatrical-like verses peak my curiousity though the prechoruses feel too drawn out a bit and could have had some big pauses be shortened or removed... yeah. But the most interesting thing is HIS LOOKS <33 his wardrobe and level of expressiveness is vast, I love it how eveything here was different each and every time he performed, and it all was always presented incredibly differently. I admire ONE (1) chameleon

which Alen Chicco are you today? ✨

• And that's almost basically it I have to show you concerning my faves? Yeah, I definitely had enough of our NF having this many songs too, I almost had no good favourites that made it to the semis and people would care about slightly if they'd be willing to. Nothing I could be excited over, nothing I could be passionate about as I was last year about my fave. Well I did like some qualifiers to semis but I don’t think they are THAT worth y’all’s attention all THAT much... However, I will definitely let you in on two of my personal non-finalist faves. Allow me to introduce the first band whose song is a guilty pleasure of mine only - it's Laimingu Būti Lengva ("it's easy being happy") with "Pasaulio vidury" ("in the middle of the world"). Now, it's not very competitive or anything, in fact the guys looked like hobos on their live performance and one of them was randomly shouting "heeeeyyyyy" a LOT of times, like a random heckler that's supposedly livening(??? is that a word???) up the performance, and they sang disappointingly... but the studio version, man. I dare you to not get hypnotized by the slow electric guitar feel. (You probably won't but idc.) I love it, I love the beats and how trappy but cool they sound on those verses, I love the slow soft rhythm, I definitely love the whole melodic execution, and the vocals actually sound alright on there (mainly thanks to autotune but yeah whatever). I have problems though - with a band like this, I barely see how can I get genuine enjoyment out of this song myself without having to slap myself in the back for admitting to actually like this. So I call it my "guilty pleasure" quite a lot of times. The song's structure is quite interesting, but it's mainly the repetitive verses and choruses smeared across the whole song at random. I get the song's point so much that I hate the band for hammering it into my head all this whole time - the song's protagonist met a red-haired and blue-eyed girl named Isabel in Portugal (the supposed "middle of the world"), they fell in love, that's it. But they emphasize it a lot that the girl was blue-eyed... not even I would if I had to write this song, and *I* have a blue-eyed people bias. The whole package was completely unappealing and with how they showed it it didn’t really look like something that even needs a staging or Eurovision at all, but I still keep this song to myself, and will definitely replay it a lot this summer. Just as much as the song that you'll actually get to watch the performance of down below - it's "Song of My Life" by Soliaris & ForeignSouls. It's cool, funky, catchy, vibey, laidback and summer-fun-infested. I cannot really describe separate parts all that much because all flows in so well. It's a good song to chill out and have a cocktail too. And it features a rap part that doesn't bother me at all! Good one, Soliaris. I didn't like your music back when you did mediocre 00s R'n'B, but you positively surprised me, both by returning to our NFs after like 9 years of absence AND bringing this gem. It didn't need an extreme staging - just some dudes having fun and that's it. And they brought it. It saddens me that these kind of songs don't stand a chance to qualify to the very final in our NF anymore, as they kind of would have in 2012 or so, but I'm still happy they exist. I only have had some issues with the lyrics laying out the words in sentences ("spend with me this beautiful night" bothered me a bit because if you translate it to Lithuanian in the exact same sentencing way, it'd make even more sense than it does to me now), but other than that, I fucking loved "Song of My Life". It might as well be my overall NF winner, haha.

• Oh and how could I forget Tiramisu??? That's perhaps my biggest discovery of this year. They moved on from utter unknowns to... still unknowns, but more known for the Eurovision fandom that does care about Lithuanian NFs. Here you have an oddly titled song, "The Smell of Your Eyes" (and you thought Safura smelling lipstick was extreme - but to her credit, lipstick DOES have a faint odor, doesn't it?), which is both insane AND original, and insane original is obviously encouraged. And the whole song sounds pretty damn good for a band that no one heard of and that used to do jazzy-ish and inoffensive musical flairs before. Here we have slight influences of folk even! And the violins, too. A generally charming piece that draws you into a pagan forest. Too bad the staging was completely misunderstood - they definitely had to put on some guy with a cheap Iron Man mask to pretend to give the band some intensity... lousy move. It could've looked way better if it were more mysterious and forest-like and had a more enchanting camerawork. And a little more colors than emerald and forest greens, too. The video clip looked way better and more high-budget than the staging came to be. Observe:

Felt like everything beautiful was stripped of it because the music video could not be repeated on stage. Ah well. The televoters gave them love but the jury did not let them to improve, and down the Bermuda triangle of fallen female violinists from the 2019 season went a lady of the name Rima Tamo, together with Gabriella Laberge and Tilla Török (who did not even appear on stage at that time of need!). Here's a spooky fact for all these 3: female violinists that all featured on songs in E minor, performed 1st in their respective heats/semis, were really loved by televote but hated by the juries, missed out on the next stage of the NF by 1 place. Coincidence? A curse? Tiramisu were obviously disgusted by the jury trashing their staging so they talked about hating them on Facebook. What's worse that they could have actually qualified if they've gotten at least 9 more telepoints that could've pushed them to get 10 televote points in general rather than 8, all thanks to a televote count error that removed large portions of votes. And that way they could have been wildcard qualifiers instead because they would have still gotten 8 televote points with the actual televote numbers, but the organizers of the NF said that if the televote failure would have hurt anyone's place in the final, they would have wildcard-qualified instead. No one did not, so screw it. At least "The Smell of Your Eyes" remains THAT song - lots of folk, lots of violins, lots of effort put into it, and the people actually loved it for that. Just that it's so sad that the jury didn't let them improve overtime... just like Hungarian jury didn't let Leander Kills go further... a shame, really.

• And now, onto the non-entry-events and stuff that happened, besides some actual good jury shade (like the one time at least one juror says that “you wouldn’t win even if all the contestants got sick”, technical errors in the production (thanks to one of them, one of the semifinal acts actually got to perform again... but the televote didn’t give her votes anyway lmao) and the constant reminder of one of our charities which gives tickets to Eurovision for the best disabled person story.. I don’t know where that is but our NF somehow acquired a skit from an Austrian man that’s been exploring stuff in Israel (I think) because of Eurovision this year... and man did I think that this skit was rather... hmmm... middle-ground funny? Slightly too annoying but still kind of alright to look at? It was fun, but certainly odd to find out about that it even exists.

• After feeling so disappointed with Hungarian juries's decisions on the night of February 22nd, I left my room to watch our NF's final on our living room TV, hoping for everything just to end already because I did not expect anything good happening on this final. I haven't even decided to go back to watch A Dal and see AWS reprise their song a little less louder than when they competed last year. And then our NF gave me a complete and utter surprise - The Roop reprising THEIR Eurovizijos 2018 entry. If you've been long enough here on Tumblr to know me, you would probably guess that I'm a big fan of "Yes, I Do" by The Roop, which I wanted to see winning our NF so badly last year, but in the end... you finish the quote so I don't have to. And it's odd because this year I felt the exact similar way with Hungary as with Lithuania last year - I have clear favourites I root for in both of those but deep inside I knew there was gonna be a different winner I only find okay and nothing else. (The difference is that "Az én apám" has grown on me since, "When We're Old" did not at all.) So back to discussing the interval act instead. For this one guest number of the NF's, the song began on a piano, "pretend" played by The Roop's lead singer, and then he got his butt off from the piano chair (unlike Duncan in Tel Aviv), to the microphone stand, and the song continued off sounding like its original version that was sung in last year's NF. I still love this song and even loved that version with piano at the beginning, but why did it not take over the whole song though? Just to not let the audience fall asleep before the Carousel would've? (Yes by the way, we got guest acts from other countries performing on our NF as well! But Carousel were the only ones to have a guest appearance, the other acts were either unchosen or perhaps busy doing Tel Aviv preparations, lol.) Well, good for them. I may or may not still would love The Roop entering and winning our selection someday, if they ever decide to participate again. They could've this year but they did not return, so maybe in 2021? Let this girl dare to dream for once, Lithuania ^_^

• I love when our NF has postcards, no matter at which stage of introduction they are on. In 2016 the postcards were present in every show (the ones for the final were the best), in 2017 they were only introduced in the round 3 of heats (sometime before the semis), in 2018 - from the 2nd round of heats onwards, in 2019 though they were only for the final... what’s the punchline for this paragraph? Oh, there IS none. I just confessed my love for our NF postcards. Just keep scrolling :)

• Okay so I know no one really pays attention to our heats because we have too many of them AND we have too many songs in them, and the eliminated ones always stop mattering to everyone right away. But I'm here to bring you a favourite meme of mine that hailed just from the heats alone: miss RÙTA, who could have done much better during her performance if she didn't constantly look like she's incredibly constipated. I don't know what makes her look like that - the lipstick? the grin? her over-dramatic entry about wordly disasters, "Paradox"? I may never know, but I will let you have a good look at it if you don't want to watch the whole video I linked. Personally, I liked the red staging this song had, and the song wasn't bad, but the singer felt agonizingly nervous and never got the chance to do better, sadly. Oh and look at that sleek tattoo, mmm.

• Oh and our NF featured a metal song but it’s so formulaic and by the numbers dad metal that I didn’t even support it all that much.... however I’ll let you listen to it if you’d really like. And there's this best alternative song of this year's NF that I've heard that also ended in the semis, and it's way better than Fusedmarc's alternative (despite having some ugly beatboxing skills). Check it out too if you will.

And thankfully, that’s that for another year. I’m getting so awfully tired to compress my own NF even further more, especially with my enthusiasm for the actual quality of this NF going down the shithole with every single heat show coming after each other just like that, with more mediocre songs after more mediocre songs. I’m also openly declaring that I have barely any energy left with continuting these writeups, seeing that there’s too many to go and most of them are STILL undercooked drafts. But I’m tryna pull through. I have another completely completed review underway afterwards - just a few edits here and there on it and I’m done with it, m8s! And then I’m piling up new paragraphs after new paragraphs on other reviews.

So I hope I let you know why do I think that the end result of ours is lukewarm - from a dramatic NF there should have been a slightly dramatic winner tbh, but in the end we got a pop song that only a few people like. Brutal. And with the biggest hopes in my eyes for our success I’d like to finish this off with two words. Sėkmės, Jurijau!

[idolizerp]

[ LOADING INFORMATION ON HONEY’S LEAD VOCAL ROXIE…. ]

DETAILS

CURRENT AGE: 32 DEBUT AGE: 27 TRAINEE SINCE AGE: 22  SKILL POINTS: 10 PERFORMANCE | 15 VOCAL | 10 DANCE | 00 RAP SECONDARY SKILLS: Multilingual 

INTERVIEW

her debuting was a shock. usually, those who debut outside the average range are young, energetic, and talented. hanmi checked only two of those boxes, missing the most important factor. being young. it seemed almost as if msg had debuted her for no reason. despite being the lead vocal, her vocal talents seemed to lack.

after honey appeared on their first reality show, her image was made clear. she was motherly, pure and sweet. she was always caring for her members. despite being twenty-eight, hanmi fit the youthful concepts surprisingly well. she doesn’t look her age, which adds to the shock factor and gains honey attention.

due to this, she has significantly less fans due to her almost being old enough to retire. however, having only debuted four years ago, hanmi has no plans of retiring soon. she’s the kind mother of honey with a set of sweet vocals that compliment honey’s concept well.

anti-fans have, however, noticed how overly motherly she can be. she smothers the other members with skinship and often speaks over the other girls, bossing them around. anti-fans are quick to jump on the hanmi hate train, saying she’s going to get old and wrinkly before her group takes off internationally.

she can’t help it. it’s what’s expected of her. she naturally feels a sense of caring towards her younger members, but since a young age, she’s been made to feel as if she’s responsible for everyone around her. hanmi has to be in control.

despite the pressure from anti-fans and fans alike to change things about her, hanmi remains in the carefully sculpted mold msg has made for her. she feels herself crumbling, the pressure is getting to her. she’s worried, but there’s nothing she can do. she’s become a passenger in her life, her company becoming the driver. hanmi remains hopeful, people would kill for her lifestyle. they don’t know the dark side, though. no one does. it’s lonely being the only one who knows. she’s used to it, though. she’d crash and burn if she was the driver of her life.

BIOGRAPHY

october 2nd 1991.

“at five years old, our daughter kim hanmi can speak korean and english. she’s learning german, spanish, and japanese. show them, sweetheart.”

she slid down in her chair. five year old hanmi hated meetings like these. from a young age, she’d been learning languages, her parents trying their hardest to make her seem like a prodigy. they tried to get her into higher grades than she actually was in. no one believed her parents, thankfully. she wasn’t what they wanted her to be, she hated every second she was forced to spend reviewing english vocabulary or the japanese alphabet.

“hello, my name is hanmi kim. i’m five years old and my favorite animal is a monkey because they go ‘ooh oohh ahh!’”

she watched the expression on the administrators faces. they were only slightly impressed. her eyes moved to her parents, her mom looked at her dad with a worried look. “hanmi, can you tell me what you want to be when you grow up?” her father asked, emphasizing the fact he spoke english.

“i want to be a singer. singing is my favorite thing to do, not learning languages. it’s boring to learn languages!” she hissed quietly, pushing herself out of the chair and running out of the room. her parents were going to be pissed, she was scared of them but didn’t regret saying what she had.

august 31st 1996.

the lights shown bright down on ten year old hanmi. she loved being on the stage.

“i’m kim hanmi, i’m ten years old and i can speak korean, english, german, spanish, and japanese.”

no one was impressed as she was still speaking korean. she smirked, knowing all the kids at her school and their parents would regret ignoring her talent.

“i’ll be singing my favorite songs in each language i know.”

people’s energy shifted. she knew she was about to take home the grand prize, her parents would praise her then.

she began to sing her favorite english song, it’s all coming back to me by celine dion. the crowd clapped after she finished her bars. her dad was notoriously bad at korean. he’d been raised in vancouver, but moved all the way to seoul for her mom.

“el siguiente es mi canción favorito en español, sin excusas ni rodeos la carretera por julio iglesias.”

people were shocked to hear her speak such fluent spanish. she sang the song and followed with the rest of the languages. after finishing her performance, she sat down backstage. she let out a huge sigh of relief. everyone knew with her simple preformance, she outshowed everyone else.

december 25th 2001.

“wow, thanks, appa.”

her voice wasn’t fooling anyone, nor was the forced smile on her face. she’d gotten one present on christmas. a french 1 textbook. fifteen year old hanmi tucked her long hair behind her ear, setting the book on the ground.

“how many times have we told you that you can be a singer when you finish college, hanmi-ah?” her father asked.

“i lost count at twenty-eight.” she admitted with a frown. “appa, you know singing is what i want to do. the routine of singing songs in different languages is old! i want to be a singer! i don’t care if i have to go to america, germany, spain, or japan! we all know i’m talented in singing, not learning languages!”

tears welled in her eyes. “this isn’t up for discussion, hanmi,” her dad said, slamming his hand down on their kitchen counter. “go to your room and don’t come out till you can hold a basic conversation in french.”

she let out a large sigh, wiping her tears with the back of her hands. she grabbed the textbook and stormed out of the living room. “i hate this family!” she yelled before slamming her door.

february 1st 2005.

she smiled and held her bouquet of flowers. the flash of cameras went off, she huddled close to her friends. her dreams of being a singer had seemed to fade away. she was graduating from high school. she’d gotten a full ride to her dream college because of her talent with languages.

“hanmi, i’m so proud of you.” she laughed as her dad ruffled her hair. “appa, stop it!” hanmi laughed. “you’d make your mother very proud.” he said. she nodded. “she’s sick, appa. not dead, you know it.”

her father nodded. his smile faded.

“hanmi, we need to talk later. about your mom.”

march 12th 2007.

“my mother was a very kind and supportive woman. she told me to be happy, to embrace everything in life, to not take things for granted. i’m very thankful to have been her daughter, but i’m afraid…”

she held back tears, squeezing her eyes closed. they spilled over, sliding down her cheeks slowly.

“i’m afraid i took one thing for granted. my time with her. but being the woman she was, she’d tell me to not worry about it. that she’d always be with me. that’s what i’d like to tell you all, she’ll always be with us. keeping us warm in the winter, refreshed in the summer.”

music helped hanmi during her time of loss. she spent her time singing instead of studying for her tests. she’d rekindled her love for singing, knowing it was the thing she was destined to do. she was meant to sing, to bless people with her voice. no one should take it for granted.

june 13th 2008.

“hello, i’m twenty-two year old kim hanmi from seoul, south korea.”

she bowed, introducing herself to the panel of people in front of her. her heart was beating so fast she was sure the people could hear it.

“today i’ll be singing sin excusas ni rodeos la carretera by julio iglesias.”

one of the executives looked up and nudged the other next to him. she began singing in spanish, the third executive looking up and writing something down. they were whispering to each other and nodding.

“stop.”

she stopped.

“we’d love to see more of you. your voice is unique and strong, but with our training, it will become stronger. we’ll be in touch.”

she bowed and thanked them over and over. after giving them the information they needed, she rushed out and squealed, running into the arms of her best friends.

“i take it’s a yes?” her friend jiyoung asked. hanmi nodded furiously. “best birthday ever!!” hanmi said, laughing and looking at her friends.

october 19th 2013.

she was twenty-seven. time had passed, she’d gotten old. the other trainees were all at least five years younger. no one wanted to hang out with her. she was old, hopeless, she’d lost her window.

the executives had called a meeting with her and four other girls. she didn’t know what to expect, she’d seen people get kicked out during meetings like these.

hanmi sat in the waiting room, fiddling with her shirt. her dad was mad she was still a trainee and not allowed to date, all of her friends were married, so why wasn’t she?

“hanmi, they’re ready for you.” the receptionist informed her with a smile. “i think you’re finally debuting.” she whispered.

hanmi’s heart started racing as she sat down in the conference room. the other girls slowly but surely trickled in.

“after observing your skills for years, we’ve decided to pick the best of the best. we’d love for you five to debut in our next girl group, honey.”

hanmi smiled and laughed, cupping her hands over her mouth. she held back tears. “i don’t care, i’ll sign whatever contract you need.”

the executives laughed and so did everyone else. the day was here.

may 29th 2015.

it had been exactly a year since she’d debuted as honey’s lead vocal. she had fans, little to no scandals, honey was gaining popularity. things seemed to finally be looking up for hanmi.

“thank you for watching our one year live stream, we hope you keep supporting honey!”

the members looked to hanmi. it was her turn to thank the international fans in english.

“to our lovely international bumblebees, we hope you know that we still love you just as much as korean bumblebees and no matter how far apart we are, you’re always in our hearts!”

the live ended and she sighed happily. what an amazing year it had been.

present day 2018.

hanmi has remained relatively clean in the department of scandals. she’s very worried about how the executives see her due to the fact she’s the member with the most hate because she’s in her thirties.

hanmi fits her designated mother roll well, but is getting antsy for change.

she wonders what life would have been like if she’d just followed the path her father wished for her.

would she be happy or unhappy?

she’s surviving. her dreams of having a family now seem impossible as she’s getting older.

she’ll be okay.

[bands-and-hobbits]

POTO TIME!!!!! I went on the Saturday night showing (3/3-2018) with the main cast on. This was my first time seeing poto live and aside from the 25th anniv. I've only seen scenes here and there with other Phantoms (mainly theme song, motn and final lair) so I'm not well versed in which blocking is standard etc. ANYWHO, let's start with the least impressive one of the trio; Jeremy Taylor as Raoul. He was "meh". And it really saddens me, because I wanted to love him, and did during his little scene in Think of Me, but in all his scenes after, I felt like he only stood around with a bland face. Granted, Raoul isn't the deepest character, but still! I did not buy him being in love with Christine, and definetly not in love enough to go into Erik's lair to get her back. At most, this Raoul would volonteer in a search party, because he's a good guy and a girl is missing. Jeremy had a great voice, but that's unfortunately it, for me. He did have a funny moment after Madame Giry leads him down in the tunnels. She has left and he looked down with an expression that said "right. time to go and save christine" *rips shirt open clark kent style* "perfect!" I chuckled. Kelly Mathieson as Christine; OH. MY. GOD!!!! WHAT A VOICE!!! WHAT AN ACTOR!!!! WHAT A DANCER!!!! SHE HAD IT ALL!!! I kept my eyes out for her during the Hannibal scene and she did pointe. Granted, the program says she grew up as a dancer, but I didn't get a chance to look at the program until afterwards. GOD, her voice!!! So clear, so wonderful!! And she held up all parts of Christine very well, the supershy girl growing confident in Think of Me, hypnotised during the first lair, so sad at Wishing, and her breakdown during Twisted, I wanted to rush on stage and give her a hug!!! And her Aminta could've gotten this ace ass in bed with ease. The only weird thing Kelly did was that she threw her clothes around a couple times?? She did it at least 3 times, and while I can't remember what she wore the first time, the second time was during Wishing, when she had her back towards the audience. When Kelly turned around to face us again, she grabbed the side of the cloak and threw it out. Since it's so billowy, it worked. The third time tho, was with the Aminta dress. Kelly grabbed the top layer (and got some petticoat with it) and flung it around in one of those can-can moves. The result was silly rather than seductive. Speaking of dresses, that Star Princess dress is FLOOF. I love it and I want it. MOVING ONTO THE BIG GUY, BEN LEWIS. OH!!! MY!!!! GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!! He's gonna be in my top 3 forever. Partly because first Phantom-bias, mostly because HOLY SHIT MY EMOTIONS. IT WAS A SOBFEST Y'ALL. I sobbed, Christine sobbed, Erik sobbed 10 times. Ben has the deeper voice I prefer in Phantoms and although I was not impressed with him in LND (mostly because LND itself and awful camera angles) he is TENFOLDS better in poto. Ben cried twice in the first act, the first time was right after he finished Stranger than you dreamt it (and omg seeing him crawl on the floor towards Christine and Christine desperatly crawling away from him hnnnnnnng EMOTIONS!! (Ben actually grabbed Kelly's ankle and she pulled both legs up into fetal status to get away from him it was scary as heck)). The second time was on the angel and my emotions killed me. Again. Backtracking a bit to motn because there were two moments that caught my attention: the first was actually a LACK of moment, I not see the self-caress Erik's supposed to do. There were a couple of moments where Christine blocked Erik from my view, but I could still see his hands. Maybe Ben forgot? 🤷‍♀️ The second was a moment when Christine was gazing ahead/slightly to the left and Erik was creeping up on her from her right. Ben wasn't hunched per se, but he wasn't standing straight. Him creeping like that looked so predatory, but also like he was approaching with caution. I know that sounds like a paradox, but it was as if Erik treated Christine like she was something new, and extremely fragile. Like he wanted to explore her as he'd never been that /close/ to a woman before, but the simplest touch would scare her away. Back to creeping, the MOMENT Christine started turning her head towards Erik, Ben snapped his body straight and pushed out his chest and it was very intimidating especially with their height difference. Oh, and he absolutely nailed everything in motn. Such a powerhouse. Skipping forwards to Masquerade, the Red Death costume continues to creep me the fuck out. I can barely watch that part in the 25th because the skull mask gives me the hibbie jibbies. One cool thing was that Ben was exactly in tune with the beat, and for each beat he would take a step down. Small rythmic things like that gives me immence satisfaction. The managers didn't quite catch the opera sheets but that's a human mistake. And seeing Ben dead drop under the stage was cool but also terrifying and I wouldn't do it for all the money in the world. (I think it was here they used flames as a distraction and I felt that heat on row 6!!! Pity those front rowers, I know exactly how they must've felt *flashbacks to muse's the 2nd law stadium tour* Oh god, I've been writing this review for an hour 😳 soon done, i promise, as we go on to the Big Event aka Final Lair aka LET THE SOBFEST BEGIN I think the best way to describe final lair was semi-violent? Like, Erik pulled Christine around roughly when putting on the veil, and got close up in her face when he sang "an eternity with this" and when Christine was on the ground he grabbed and pulled her hair a few times. Oh, and when Erik said "you try my patience" he MEANT IT! One very interesting thing (and which I saw a youtube commentator mentioning it being unique for them) was that Ben doesn't sit up when opening and lowering the gate. He keeps his nonchalant sitting post, and as the commentator said, "it's surprisingly effective in showing that slight pettiness and sense of unwhorthiness." and I agree 100%. The blocking seemed normal, Kelly wasn't the most agressive in keeping Erik away from Raoul, but it was effective. After the big kiss things got really interesting and the sobbing began. Erik got the candle, and watching Christine the entire time, he lunged out at Raoul with the candle to see her reaction. My eyes were glued to Ben but her reaction must've shown that she was completely lost to Erik, because the next lunge cut the rope, and Ben cried doing it. And from there he doesn't stop crying and I swear to god, it sounded like Ben's voice would crack from the tears at any moment. RIGHT IN THE FEELS. AGAIN. My eyes were still glued on Ben, but when I looked over quickly to Raoul and Christine it was Raoul that did his best (and failing) to drag Christine away from the lair rather than the opposite. I read that scene and Kelly's acting as Christine not wanting to leave Erik for the mob to find, because even after all the shit he's pulled on her, he's still a living thing and doesn't deserve the fate the mob will provide. They do leave and has barely left the stage when Erik B R E A K S D O W N. COMPLETELY. Again, sounded like his voice would break any second, and again, right in them feels. AND CHRISTINE STILL HAS TO COME BACK AND LEAVE THE RING AND PLEASE LEAVE ME HERE TO DIE THANK YOU When Christine leaves again Erik went down on his knees, picked up the veil and just hugged it, still sobbing and I was digging my grave Here's a link to final lair audio with Ben and Amy Manford as Christine, skip to 8:15 and you'll also hear the first lunge Ben does towards Raoul. https://youtu.be/dPX4K6RjBu4 HAVE FUN WITH THE FEELINGS

[recentanimenews]

REVIEW: Demon Slayer: Mugen Train Takes the Franchise For One of the Best Rides in Anime

  A note on safety: The following movie review undertook the strictest of safety procedures to watch the anime film in cinemas in Japan, including washing hands with disinfectant before and after, sitting in seats apart from others, going to a cinema outside of the busy metro area, and wearing a mask during the entire runtime of the movie. We strongly urge everyone to follow the recommended safety protocol in your country and always wear a mask when in public — not just for your sake, but everyone else’s as well.

  The much anticipated Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba THE MOVIE Mugen Train anime film opened in Japan last Friday, taking everyone watching for an emotional ride through the next story of the anime adaptation of Koyoharu Gotouge’s record-breaking manga series that ran in Weekly Shonen Jump. 

  The story of Demon Slayer: Mugen Train continues from where the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba TV anime series left off. It’s strongly recommended to watch that before watching Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, but in my opinion, the film does a good enough job of bringing people up to speed in its opening scenes that it’s not 100 percent needed. This review will contain spoilers for the TV anime series, but not for the story of the film, so you’ve been warned.

    #NEWS Fall deeper into an endless dream with the brand new trailer from “Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train" featuring theme song “Homura” by LiSA! The film hits theaters across the USA and Canada in 2021! pic.twitter.com/FkWQNTi2gY

— Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba USA (@DemonSlayerUSA) August 2, 2020

  Going into Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, I didn’t expect to be wowed as much as I was. Throughout the entire film, I was shaking my head in disbelief that the team at Ufotable, led by director Haruo Sotozaki, who returns from the TV anime, was able to surpass the animation from one of the best-animated anime series. 

  I could clearly tell that Ufotable had stepped everything up a notch. The anime studio is known for its dynamic 3D backgrounds, though before now they have largely been used with minimal 2D assets — scenes were littered with 3D assets that, while looking good, were usually masked by filters and effects to give the illusion of 2D work.

  Not here.

  The opening scene has the leader of the Demon Slayer Corps., Kagaya Ubuyashiki, walking through a graveyard with a background that rivals that of Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away. I was astounded by the level of detail on display. Ufotable’s digital team worked hard throughout the film to combine the 2D traditionally drawn assets and the camera of 3D compositing to create scenes that rival those seen in Violet Evergarden the Movie. But that was only one type of technique used for the background art.

  During certain key scenes, the landscapes, such as snow or the sun rising, were almost realistic, giving off the same look like the ending of Sarazanmai, which has some key animation layered over the top of live-action photos/videos. This not only helped the scenes look spectacular but helped drive the emotional intensity of what was happening on screen — but again, no spoilers!

    While the story of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, either in manga or anime form, doesn’t really shake the foundations of action battle series storytelling, what sets Demon Slayer apart from the rest is the presentation, how the story is set out, and the lovable characters. Demon Slayer: Mugen Train is no different in that regard. Throughout the film, the story beats are pumped up by the music, the animation, and the emotional tugs at our hearts watching characters we love go through painful situations.

  Demon Slayer: Mugen Train is Rengoku’s story, hands down. Though the anime film does a wonderful job of letting us follow Tanjiro, Inosuke, Nezuko, and Zenitsu, this story was fully centered around the Flame Hashira Rengoku. While we first met Rengoku at the Ubuyashiki mansion in the TV anime, we really get to know him through the story of Mugen Train and see the struggles he went through to get to where he is. 

    The film does spend some time on the other characters and fleshing them out more, especially through a certain dream sequence, but the main focus was on Rengoku — as it should have been.

  In saying that, Demon Slayer: Mugen Train adapts the manga story very closely, which is lucky for it as the story is mostly self-contained, letting it be a good starting point for newcomers to the franchise — though again, I should stress, the emotional impact of the film would be lessened if you have not seen the TV anime series.

    For those who watch Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba for the action, you will not be disappointed. Fight scene after fight scene rivals, and sometimes surpasses, that of Episode 19 of the TV anime series. Funnily enough, the film flashes back to the TV anime version of the Rui vs. Tanjiro/Nezuko fight, giving viewers a great comparison of how much the movie has evolved past that of the TV anime series. 

  While I’m usually a fan of a clean digital animation style, Demon Slayer: Mugen Train differentiates itself from the TV anime by applying a film grain-like filter over the top of the entire film, which only helps in the comparison with the older Ghibli-style films and adding to the older aesthetic of the setting of the franchise.

  This is all while keeping the trademark humor of Demon Slayer intact, both visually and through the voice acting. The film is littered with humorous cutaways that can be found in the manga series. One example features Rengoku being praised by everyone else in a cut that looks like it was lifted straight out of the manga and colored. These scenes give the audience some chuckles before the brewing demonic storm. 

    As seen in the trailers, the team fights a demon named Enmu, who hijacks a train to do their own bidding. The fight between the slayers and the demon was a visual spectacle. Hands down some of the best action scenes in anime ever. Over and over again, the music, sound effects, animation, and CG background made for such a satisfying fight. 

  Though in true Ufotable fashion, the CG 2nd form of the demon looked goofy when compared to the traditionally animated elements in the scene. The titular train also looked a little out of place when contrasted with the rest of the perfectly polished establishing shots, but as it was dark most of the time it was on screen, it wasn’t as jarring as Enmu was in the lit-up carriages.

  The second fight — which had higher emotional stakes, and left not a dry eye in the theater — was nothing but spectacular, though I felt it was a little short. One aspect of the second fight I loved was the storyboarding. The crazy monster of the first fight was gone and what was left was what looked like two, albeit very powerful, humans struggling to kill one another. The demon was nothing more than a man trying to take down a Hashira. Of course, the breathing techniques from Rengoku threw that realistic fight aspect out of the train window, but nevertheless, I loved the human aspect of it all.

    Without the soundtrack, from Go Shiina and Yuki Kajiura, who return from the TV anime, Demon Slayer: Mugen Train wouldn’t have had as much of an impact as it did. While they remixed a lot of the soundtrack from the TV anime series — which was great to hear coming out of IMAX speakers — the new music created for the film had an almost haunting feel to it. The music was accentuated with what sounded like gospel singers, belting out hymns as the sun rose on the final battle.

  The end credits song "homura" by LiSA was equally as fitting for what had just occurred in front of me, letting me be able to work through what I had just seen as the credits rolled by.

    For fans of Demon Slayer; you were already going to see this film, you don’t need me to tell you to go see it. What I will say is that for manga readers — you’ll get a kick out of some scenes in the film, especially the ones teasing what is to come in future arcs. For animation fans, yeah Demon Slayer: Mugen Train is a bit of a popcorn flick, but it’s one that has heart and some of the best animation in anime today, from some of the best creators and teams in the industry.

  Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba THE MOVIE Mugen Train is a wonderful train ride that should be taken when it is safe to do so.

    You can watch the original Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba TV anime series on Crunchyroll before Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba THE MOVIE Mugen Train lands in the west in early 2021. The anime film opened in Japan on October 16. 

      Daryl Harding is a Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram. 

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features.

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[wrestlinghasmelike-blog]

Monday Night Raw Review: April 2nd, 2018- Second Half

Welcome back! Second half!

Please comment and share!

The Bar and Braun Strowman

I think I’d rather this not be a match at all anymore. WWE obviously didn’t have plans for the Raw tag titles, and it should’ve stayed that way. The Mania card is already super stacked and I think everyone would be fine if this wasn’t a match. 

Braun claims he has a partner and will face Cesaro in a match next. It’s obviously Braun in a costume, and Corey Graves is selling this so goddamn well it’s hilarious.

The Bar is now just attacking Braun, but of course Braun overpowered them and threw them off. Who’s going to be Braun’s partner at Mania? 

Matt Hardy vs. Goldust

Matt Hardy is back on Raw after that glorious yet bizarre ultimate deletion match a couple weeks back against Bray Wyatt. If you haven’t seen that yet, please god go watch it. 

This seems like a weird and random matchup, but both of these men will be participating in the Andre the Giant Battle Royal on Sunday, so I guess that’s why?

These guys are both talented veterans, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen them in a match together? 

Matt Hardy picks up the win against Goldust. There wasn’t much to say about this match because it was pretty short, but seeing these two lockup was a fresh change!

John Cena

It’s time for Cena to make his weekly old jokes and complaints about the Undertaker not responding to his challenge. Week after week since Fastlane, Cena has been calling out the deadman to face him at Mania this year. This is legitimately a match I’m interested in. I’m not a Cena fan of course, but seeing Cena and Taker at Mania would be amazing. They’d put on a great show, and every fan knows that. 

Cena’s promos have been a little hokey and fake for this. The obnoxious ways he tries to hype the crowd and then bringing them down is okay, but it just got way too humorous for me. If you want to call someone out John, just call them out! John’s way of calling someone out is through shading them and calling them names, which is funny, but it’s too much! That’s John’s character, fine! But John, just DO SOMETHING

I’ve been theorizing that John will come down to the ring and just wait for Taker or something on Sunday. I wish it would just be confirmed already.

JOHN HYPING THAT MATCH BETWEEN MY BOYS SETH AND FINN THANKS JOHN

I get that John is really trying to have a Mania match, and honestly it is better that he hype this match all by himself. I still think there’s a big chance that Taker will show up on Sunday, but only time will tell.

Elias vs. Heath Slater

You know what? It is always a treat to see Heath. I always see Heath when I go to a live show. He’s honestly a really great performer and I think he’s a really underrated wrestler.

Of course Elias opened with a song for the crowd tonight. He tried to sing a song about how bad the town of Atlanta is, but everyone was too busy cheering for him. He’s so over right now it is ridiculous.

The match really did not last long. This was obviously a time killer, which is okay? They’ve got to keep the focus on Mania, and I don’t think this match did that.

Nia Jax

I didn’t know if I was going to include this or not, but I love Nia Jax so much. She does not give a shit like she said, and that is the best thing ever. Nia is one of the women who is really inspiring to a lot of girls who think they’re too different to do “normal” things. She’s a voice that not only the women’s division needs, but also one that the WWE should use more. I stand by Nia all the way, and I’m glad she had the interview segment to say what she did. I hope she and Alexa put on a good match on Sunday. I’m looking forward to seeing Nia win.

Dana Brooke/Asuka vs. Alexa Bliss/Mickie James

I’m slightly confused why this is a match? Pairing Dana with Asuka seems different, but they want to put Asuka on Raw one last time before she wins on Sunday against Charlotte for the Smackdown Women’s title. We all know Asuka will win on Sunday for sure. There’s no way that Asuka is losing her streak yet, and with the win, she’ll be moving to Smackdown, where I personally think she’ll do better and have some fun competition. 

This is also cool for Dana to actually be in a match again! 

Alexa and Mickie have been in control for most of the match. Dana has not been able to tag in Asuka at all during this match. Mickie and Alexa have been all over Dana, which worked for most of the match. Dana eventually got the tag to Asuka, and Asuka is now just destroying Mickie with kicks and strikes to her whole body. Mickie tries to fight with everything she has left, but Asuka makes her submit, giving her and Dana the victory. Alexa and Mickie began attacking Asuka, but Nia came down to the ring and beat the shit out of Mickie. 

Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar

I can see how this is going to go. They’ll talk for a little bit and then it’ll end in a huge brawl. I wish this wasn’t closing the show, but it definitely panders to those who want to see this match. We all know Roman is going to win on Sunday, but the WWE will juice this as long as they can. 

Brock came to the ring first, and I think this is the first time I’ve ever heard a crowd boo him. Crowds are usually so excited to see him and they freak out, but not this time? 

I do love Paul Heyman just talking about nothing. I love hearing him not mess up what he has to say. It makes the show seem real, I think. He makes it seem like no one writes lines for this guys, no one plans out the segments, it’s just Monday Night Raw. I really appreciate Paul for always weaving a story for us. 

Oh, wait, did Paul just confirm that Brock is leaving Raw after Mania? He’s going back to UFC?

Roman has not made his way out to the ring, and a bunch of superstars stand in his way. They all let him through, and now Roman is probably going to beat up Brock.

Let’s go Roman chants are filling the arena right now. I think everyone is behind Roman at this point for the match on Sunday.

Reigns went on to Superman punch Lesnar five times, just like Lesnar does with the F-5, and Roman stood tall. We all thought Lesnar was down, but he snuck up on Roman and hit him with the F-5, and is now walking out of the arena with the title on his shoulder. Is Roman strong enough to beat Brock? ...yea, he’s gonna win guys...

That’s it for the Raw before Mania! I thought the first half of the show was better than the second, it was much more exciting for sure, but all around it was a good show. I’m excited for Mania this Sunday, and I can’t wait to see what else happens this week.

I’m really going to try to post for Smackdown tomorrow, but I don’t want to promise anything just yet. Hopefully, I’ll make more posts this week, so be on the lookout for those posts! Thanks!

-Casey