#but in theory they're great characters and when i watch the show i focus on those things but also talk about how i think they could have

[spikeghost]

I'm gonna say it, no matter what side of this fandom you are on when it comes to Scott, you're most likely very annoying.

It's like either side refuses to acknowledge that someone might like the character but hate the writing and criticizing the writing, and yes, even the writing for said character is not criticizing the character.

[muffy-heeler]

notes about the sign after my second watch in no particular order

SPOILERS AHEAD‼️

When it dropped at midnight where I was (I was obsessively checking Disney+) I immediately dropped my paper to watch it and ohhh my god.

When Pretzel mentions his guinea pig I am almost certain he says "moms" as in two mothers despite the captions apostrophe, because "my mom's said he would come back" makes no sense to me and it's not the kind of weirdly written kid-speak Joe usually writes. Delightful!! My boyfriends been saying for ages they gotta put gay dogs in bluey lol

WINTONS DAD AND THE TERRIERS MOM‼️ I think theyre so cute even if theyre a tiny speck by the house with a pool at the end. And, of course it has a pool. I'm so glad Winton's dad found love :3

Lazarus Drug was THE song choice ever. Oh my god. I cried so hard. And I think choosing such a mature (and I don't mean that bc it's a drug metaphor I mean it bc it's a metaphor at all) song really gives kids something to grow into. Sure those kids who love bluey will only sorta remember it, but when they get older and relisten it'll blow their minds. I also just like the song lol it's very White Rabbit meets Laura Stevenson. Anyways. I also noticed they're credited on a few other bluey tracks according to Google, including some of my favorites like It Was Yesterday, Wagon Ride, and Rain!

Didn't notice any pretty dust particles in the episode, which was interesting because they save those for the most touching episodes and moments. Lmk if you see them anywhere!! I have a theory there's some during the butterfly hiking sign scene so hmu if they are there

Wheelchair dog spotted on the birds eye shot of the lookout before the shaggy dogs use the binoculars! I just love how Joe seems to understand the difference between representation, where diverse people are coexisting and living their own lives, sometimes as the focus of the story sometimes just existing as people, and that performative representation where you only see a minority when their story is being used to uplift the protagonists. Another great example of this is obviously Turtleboy where Dougie and Bingo's stories coexist, and one is not inferior to the other but instead we end up rooting for both of them. Bit of a tangent but my point is Joe is always putting disabled and neurodivergent and MORE types of characters into his show and it's delightful

That's all I noticed in my first two watches but I'm sure there will be more 😭

Edit:

When Bingo gets stuck in the railing Bluey goes to help her because, I presume, it's happened so often that even she can deal with it now

None of u were gonna tell me Meg Washington was Calypso cmon man

[chirpsythismorning]

This post reminded me that Mike didn’t ask Will if he was okay at all in season 4… however:

You were rolling your eyes, you were- you were moping, you were barely talking, you basically sabotaged the whole day!

*admits subtly that he noticed based on Will’s behavior that he wasn’t okay*

I didn’t say it! / You didn’t have to.

*admits subtly that Will doesn’t need to spell stuff out (or even say anything at all) for him to understand*

At times when the audience is getting signs that Will isn't okay, Mike has been right there asking because he rightfully sensed it. Like, this has gotta be the most consistent thing about Mike's character over the course of the series, which that original post proves (though it's missing the iconic He's quiet today.! Are we forgetting anything else?!).

Despite s4 presumably stopping this trend, they're still showing us subtly that Mike is taking notice:

This shot above is unique because what it does is use framing/camerawork to hint to the audience that this is arguably Mike's perspective.

At the start of this shot, both El and Will are framed fairly equally, with Mike being the last to join the frame as the camera dollies out. This allows us to feel like we're seeing what Mike is seeing, whether we realize it or not. By framing the shot this way, they're telling us that Mike views both El AND Will as an option. El, because they have a history romantically and it's sort of an easy path for Mike to stay in for the rest of his life. Will, his best friend with whom he has very strong (romantic) feelings for, and so he ranks high up in Mike's line of focus among El, his girlfriend.

This shot above also shows us Mike staring at Will, if only for fleeting moment. But, it's there.

These tiny moments are important, because despite them existing, a vast majority of the audience didn't pick up on them, including most bylers. They're your standard blink and you'll miss it moments.

Because yeah, maybe Will does feel Mike's eyes on him, but the second Will looks to check, Mike isn't looking. Or most of the day, Mike did in fact look like he was having a jolly old time.

This is what's being presented to us blatantly, out in the open, and with Will at the center of it all..

The truth is, while we think we're getting Will's POV exclusively, most of the time, we're getting his and El's AND Mike's. It's just that they go about all of their POV's differently, but especially Mike's. His follows a formula of subtlety like 99% of the time. That small meager 1% where they let us see the truth, varies from outrageously subtle to subtle.

Here, Will is understandably confused by Mike giving him a play-by-play of his behavior throughout day. After all, from Will's perspective, aka the unreliable perspective the audience is being fed, Mike wasn't even looking at him. Again, if anything Mike seemed like he was having a good time up to this point. And so upon hearing this, Will, and arguably anyone watching this scene for the first time, was probably left thinking, 'Wait?.. What?"

I have a theory, which honestly isn't that far fetched, seeing as it works in tandem with how a lot of this season has presented POV in a multitude of ways, whether it be lighting, framing, blocking, camerawork, editing, dialogue, etc., they are definitely giving us hints.

These posts (here, here) will be helpful to understand everything that follows in terms of context, so I do recommend checking them out!

Basically this theory holds weight to me because of what is being blatantly shown to us: Mike ignoring Will/having a great day aka Will's POV vs. what is being subtly shown to us: Mike glancing at Will when Will isn't looking/telling Will that him showing signs of not being okay ruined the day aka Mike's POV.

I've also done a post on El's POV which may very well hold the truth to everything, even more so than Will and Mike's POV's , so please check that out if you want your mind blown.

Now, when I say POV, I'm being as loose as possible in my definition. We know that it's a camera, not literally the eyes of the person's perspective we're in (though that can be a technique in and of itself).

An OTS (over the shoulder) shot is the best example of how perspective tends to operate in film. And we saw how that technique in particular was used a lot in the van, monologue, and cabin scenes. Those are arguably more blatant examples in s4 of POV shots.

However, shots that are hinting at a specific POV don't start and end with OTS, nor shots using more literal POV techniques. There's other ways to hint at POV/inner feelings. It's even possible for one shot/sequence to represent multiple POV's at once. It sounds complicated, but it's really not.

Although Will's perspective is the main one we're being fed, it's not the whole truth, or it's at least missing an important detail...

It's not until we're given that crumb from Mike himself, in which he spit-fires out a list of Will's actions throughout the day, that we get any sort of context for Mike's aloof behavior. This line alone reveals to us that there is apparently a lot more to these scenes than meets the eye, when it comes to how Mike is behaving vs. how he's actually feeling.

Because if most of the audience is convinced Mike never looked at Will, just like Will is convinced, then that puts into question when exactly Mike would’ve even been looking to pick up on all of this, enough for it to ruin the day, and despite him behaving like he was happy as ever...?

And so, the answer?

Arguably, literally any time Mike was out of the frame, but especially when Mike was out of the frame while Will is in the frame, front and center (aka most of s4?), are fair game for times Mike could’ve been looking at Will. It's just that what we're being shown is not Mike actually looking and reacting each of these times. Instead, we're shown what he just literally sees, which is Will...

And that's what makes the following scenes with Angela and El extremely important, because they support this theory, heavily.

As El, Angela and her minions all skate away, we see Mike and Will stay behind in the booth. We then get a reaction shot with both of them in the frame. But the thing is, reaction shots usually require reactions.

While Will is standing up, looking visibly concerned for El, because he actually has the context for what's going on, Mike contrasts greatly in comparison.

Mike goes from looking back and forth between where Will was sitting across from him, to the direction El and Angela just rolled off to, only to look away the instant Will is fully standing and staring off in that same direction.

Mike then proceeds to give us no reaction, in what is presumably a reaction shot. It's as if Mike is not feeling any emotion at all, which is kind of a hard thing to do if you really think about it.

Especially when it comes to a character like Mike Wheeler, whose literally known for his dramatic facial expressions, meaning him not showing any emotion at all, for most of this sequence, likely required quite a bit of effort on his part...

Mike's 'reaction' is so vague that I can guarantee most of the audience wasn't even paying attention to him for this shot. And quite honestly this could apply to a lot of Mike's scenes this season, where whenever the two of them are having a heart to heart or something of that nature, the viewer's eye gravitates towards Will (also my theory for why the ga is convinced Finn is a bad actor, which is bc he is acting as a character whose also acting. Mike is leaving us in the dark about everything he is thinking and feeling, by only showing us what he literally sees, which is WILL WILL WILL).

The van scene is one good example of this, where so many fans still aren't aware of Finn's micro-expressions and what they clearly mean, all because they were too busy giving all their attention to Will's speech and his emotions (we're just like Mike fr).

And so here we have Will in the forefront showing a lot more emotion in this particular shot (he has our attention), while Mike is in the background, casually taking another sip of his milkshake.

But why is Mike busying himself with his milkshake in the first place? Why isn't he still looking at El and her friends like he just was? Or why doesn't he just look up at Will to start a conversation?

Instead, what we get is Mike distracting himself...

And it's because, just like Will's perspective of this day, Mike's context for everything up to this point is nowhere close to the truth, if anything it's even further from the truth than Will's.

Although I already linked the refresher course(s), I'm going to give a more detailed refresher, bc a lot of it was only images w/out context:

Mike thinks Angela is not only one of El's new friends in Lenora, but also the girl Will made the painting for (both of which he read about in her letter at the start of s4). Mike tests out this theory when he asks Will about the painting at the airport, only to be shot down. In Mike's eyes, this supports El's theory that the painting is likely for a girl. Still, it appears Mike hasn't totally given up on getting some answers, and so (glancing at Will) he mentions the possibility of them running into friends. This causes Will to interrupt with the comment, Friends? What friends?! To the audience, this is Will making a confused remark about the fact that El has no friends. But to Mike, Will's comment comes off as a nervous Friends? What friends?? Which friends? You mean her?? And so when El says, You know, Stacy and Angela, Will's worried response Angela? is again, a worrisome realization on Will's part that El is lying to Mike (WE the audience understand this). However, to Mike, it's Will singling out this girl's name because she is THE girl (Maybe it is for a girl! I think there is someone he likes...)! But then El is saying that they'll meet her friends another day, reassuring Mike that today is just about him and her. And Mike looks pretty smug about this reassurance, followed by kissing El's forehead dramatically as they walk out of the airport. Mike then begins to associate Will's moping for the rest of the afternoon, with him being bitter that they're not going to run into Angela like he'd probably hoped, so that he could give her the painting. Mike continues to play the part of perfect boyfriend, especially now after assuming Will is, for the very first time, pursing a girl... "I mean what did you think? Really? That we were never gonna get girlfriends.--" Oh, how the turntables.

And so now, looking back at this shot and this whole sequence, within the context of Mike thinking Angela is the girl Will made the painting for, makes Mike's behavior a whole lot easier to understand.

Also, what makes the very end of this shot, just so fucking crazy to me, is that, for a split second, we see Mike's facade start to crack. For a split second, as the camera starts to hone in on Will, with Mike slowly exiting the frame, it's at this moment that his signature annoyed scowl makes an appearance. But then poof, he's gone.

And isn't it so convenient that they're cutting us off, right before we could get to the part that would've revealed Mike's true emotions during this moment? And that it ends with us focusing on Will...?

Let’s try to understand this even more, because I feel like so much gets overlooked about these scenes at Rink-O-Mania.

Mike had spent all day trying to ignore the fact that Will was clearly not okay. What he would usually do in that situation, is just ask Will, 'Hey, you okay?'. But Mike wasn't being his true self during these moments. Argyle even prefaced Mike's behavior in this episode by calling his shirt a shitty 'knock off', just like how Mike was acting, FAKE!

If it were any other season, Mike would've asked Will if he was okay. Instead, for the first time, he's now bottling up that instinct. But why?

I think it could be a combination of things honestly, and that's probably most likely.

I think after the reunion at the airport, Mike came to the conclusion Will was showing symptoms of experiencing a crush on a girl, genuinely, for the first time. And so as this is starting to unravel, Mike's going from wanting to get to the bottom of it, only to backtrack, wanting to abort the mission entirely.

I also think a part of it could be that, Mike himself is obviously not okay. And so maybe he feels slightly unequipped to handle asking Will if he's okay, knowing deep down he's not okay himself.

I also think that, this is a TV show. And so if they're choosing to not let us see Mike's true emotions outright, specifically in relation to him picking up on Willis behavior, then there must be for a reason for that, right?

It must be because the surprise they're saving, relies on us assuming for now, just like Will, that Mike doesn't like him back. Everything taking place as of now is moving the plot forward, with a plan for this revelation to be revealed closer to the end, as opposed to now, in the beginning of the end.

Having Mike blatantly stare at Will the whole season, out in the open, would've made the revelation that Mike feels the same in s5, anti-climactic. However, having subtle evidence that Mike was staring at Will most of the season, which most viewers missed all the signs of, despite them being there, is going to make the revelation that Mike feels the same in s5, epic.

On top of everything going on, I think it's important to also acknowledge that Mike feel's indebted to El. He will never not feel like he owes her everything, and that she deserves the world. And so this whole situation isn't just about Mike's repressed feelings or insecurities or whatever. It's also about Mike trying as hard as he can to be who he thinks El deserves and therefore who she needs him to be. It's the least he can do.

Only problem is, that person is not him and it can't be him.

And so we see Mike overcompensating because he feels like El deserves these gestures and there is this expectation of what they should do because they're bf/gf (THATS BC SHES MY GF, WILL). There's the pressure of that on its own, combined with Mike grappling with Will's behavior over his crush on a girl, which just makes Mike feel even more insecure about his relationship with El.

Arguably, for a while now, Mike has probably become somewhat aware that he doesn't have as strong of romantic feelings for El as he might've thought he did at one point, or even lead her to believe. And Will presumably gifting this girl a painting... like, it's got Mike really self reflecting like, 'SHIT! I'm clearly not down that bad for El... and so, does that mean--'...

This huge insecurity for Mike, with the whole I love you thing, is just getting so big that he can't ignore it anymore, because he KNOWS what he sees as real love, ie, his feelings for Will + what he assumes to be Will's feelings for this girl, and that.. that's not what he feels for El. And so he holds himself back from taking that step in saying it, all this time, because he doesn't want to lie.

And yet, he still tries.

He tries to act interested in everything El has to say. And it's not even that he's not interested in what she has to say, it's just that this act of ignoring the fact that Will doesn't appear to be okay, while also acting like he's having the time of his life, requires a lot of focus. And even despite his performance being pretty believable, the truth behind his actions still falls through the cracks.

I saw someone post about this recently (if anyone knows who, pls comment), and it's this shot with the three of them in the booth at Rink-O-Mania, where we see El resting her hand, palm up on her lap under the table, in a way that makes it look like she's waiting for Mike to take it.

Holding hands under the table is the kind of gesture a couple does when they want to share a moment of intimacy, without making others around them uncomfortable over their PDA.

But that's the problem isn't it? Mike is overcompensating with a lot of these gestures he does with El, like bringing her flowers, putting his arm around her, kissing her forehead, holding her hand. He's not doing these things because he wants to have this kind of intimacy with El (we know that he doesn't because he literally squished his gift for her, in between them when they reunited, so that he had an excuse for them to separate), but because he wants to be who El needs him to be. He also wants to be believable in his performance that he's not shitting bricks over all of this back and forth with his best friend.

And so what even is the point, if no one can see Mike's hand holding El's under the table? If Will can't see it?

Then to top it all off, in the middle of Mike's subtextual dig about how his milkshake is 'better', suddenly Angela is rolling up to them.

And it's at this point that Mike's whole facade really starts to crumble, where he can't even fully pick up on what is happening with El and Angela, because he's too distracted by Will, followed by trying way too hard to act like Will 'longing' for Angela is not affecting him (NO BUT WHY IS MIKE LITERALLY THE 'IM FINE THIS IS FINE' SIPPING HIS COFFEE WHILE THERE ARE FLAMES SURROUNDING HIM GIF HERE???).

What I love about this shot is that it can easily be overlooked and confused with Mike genuinely not caring about Will at all. And that's what is so incredible about subtlety. Something as subtle as no emotion at all on Mike's face, a renowned facial expression enthusiast, can somehow say so much more about Mike's true feelings for Will, than an outright look.

For this whole shot, we're assuming we're in Will's perspective, which happens A LOT of the time in s4 (even in Milkvan scenes) because like I said, whenever Will is in the frame while Mike is also present, we tend to hone in on him a little more than the others (THAT'S INTENTIONAL).

Still, whenever you see Mike creeping out of the frame, we now know it's arguably fair game that Mike could be staring at Will at this very moment, while Will, and the audience, are distracted.

Which is why this happens...

We do not get any shots of Mike at this time. Until....

The second Will voices worriedly, "Oh no!" Mike is jumping out of his seat, standing next to Will, turning to face the same direction as him, like, "What?"

I'm sorry but, it's just not natural for Mike to have responded to Will instantaneously like this, within the context of what he was doing the last time we got a shot of him, especially in this case, where Will wasn't even speaking directly to Mike.

The only way it makes sense for Mike to have spawned beside Will like that, is if Mike was already looking at Will...

Him responding that quickly, meant looking at Will while he spoke, hearing what he said, and seeing where he was looking, so that Mike could jump up that fast, ready for whatever Will was reacting to.

Will is reacting to the scene of El and Angela in front of him.

Mike is reacting to Will react to the scene of El and Angela in front of him.

I want to bring up @dinitride-art's Lighting and Mike and Will and El - Full Analysis posts (specifically the ones related to Rink-O-Mania, but there are plenty of others they have in that thread, that could help everyone try to better understand a lot of s4 scenes as well). Without them, I never would've realized a lot of this.

The main points I want to touch on from their analysis', is the use of the disco ball in these scenes at Rink-O-Mania and how they often operate to tell a story, one that often has Will at the center...

Let's try to keep in mind that disco balls often act as focal points whenever they are in a space, in this case, the rink at Rink-O-Mania. Disco balls are covered in mirrors, which reflect tiny beams of light throughout a room... Are you catching my drift?...

Yes, undoubtedly, lighting plays a big part in telling the story, along with music!

@lesbianmindflayer has done a video on this, but basically the lyrics to the song You Spin Me Right Round (Right Round) are also hinting at POV and context to these scenes, like music often does in ST.

One specific example she uses of this disco ball in action (combining both lighting, framing, camera-movement and music,) is when we go from Mike's POV, with the disco ball above Will (Mike being bummed Will didn't even look at him or laugh at his sock joke) to El's POV with the disco ball above Mike (El after being called out by Will that Mike is going to be mad when he finds out she's been lying).

So, keeping all of this in mind, watching Angela drag El to the middle of the rink, directly under the disco ball, with that snarky 'stay put!" comment, only to laugh knowingly... followed by Mike finally paying attention to El properly???? And this is what it took??? A spotlight?? And not only that but Will directing Mike's focus to it like, 'Hey, dude! Maybe pay attention to your gf bc she's having problems here' (I'm sensing a pattern...).

Unfortunately, it's too little too late.

As this is all coming to a head, Mike feels horrible about being too distracted with the fact that Will wasn't okay, that he wasn't able to pick up on the fact that El wasn't okay either. And so tries his best to fix things by getting the music to stop and to go comfort El.

But then El's running away, out of the spotlight and fittingly out of Mike's focus.

While looking for El, him and Will begin bickering.

Now, Mike knows the painting must not be for Angela. He's embarrassed and he's pissed and he's upset, but he's also just even more confused. The instinct to figure out why Will was upset, is unwavering. Now that his theory has presumably been debunked, Mike slips back into this old habit.

"You were rolling your eyes, you were-- you were moping, you were barely talking, you basically sabotaged to whole day!" aka "You're clearly not okay. I thought I knew why, but I was wrong. It's been miserable".

What Mike gets by subtly calling out Will for his behavior, is the revelation that, yes Will was upset El lied to him, but he was also miserable over the fact that he felt like a third wheel all day.

More angst and miscommunication ensues.

Though all too soon, El is hitting Angela with a skate and everything is happening so fast.

In the following episode, things get even more interesting.

We start with Mike standing next to Will, away from El. We get another shot that's arguably Mike's POV (@dinitride-art did a really good analysis on this shot, please check it out for further details)... but basically it proves Mike's whole 'I've never been scared of you, EVER' part of his monologue, followed by thunder, was indeed not exactly the truth.

And what follows in the next scene is even more damning.

Because what we get for the first time this season, is a shot of Mike, front and center, looking at Will, and interestingly enough, while Will isn't looking ..

Even though they are giving this to us outright, it's still not blatant. And I say this because, again, I can guarantee you most of the audience didn't pick up on it.

This shot was arguably necessary for the context of everything that followed, with Mike saying that rude remark to El at dinner.

Because it turns out Will was right for being upset about El lying, just considering everything that's played out this evening. And on top of that, Mike's also still reeling from the fact that Will was upset because he felt like they weren't best friends anymore. This was apparently enough to be a big part of the reason Will was miserable all day, aka Mike was miserable all day because of his perceived misery of Will who himself was also moping because Mike wasn't paying attention to him. This is news to Mike, as he's been lead to believe the opposite up to this point, seeing as he's also the one whose been making most of the calls, unanswered.

TBH this scene in particular provides a really important aspect of this theory as a whole, because although it seems minor and blink and you'll miss it like all the others. Unlike the majority, it shows us something that could very well hold the truth to something we still don't quite understand. More on that at the end.

I also don't want to forget the most hilarious Mike POV evidence of all, and it's the infamous 'triple take' in the junkyard.

Some bylers noticed this pretty early on, while others probably still don't have a clue about the implications.

Allow me to explain.

Within the context of subtle Mike POV vs. unreliable Will POV, let's think about how this sequence starts with the audience looking at Will. He's hoeing (because he doesn't have a shovel). Then suddenly, after a few seconds of the camera being focused on only him, we see Will now looking up at Mike, with him stopping and staring as he does so.

Once we get a reaction shot of Mike, we see he's not shoveling, he's actually standing still with the shovel resting on the ground, staring down, almost in a daze, zoned out. But then suddenly, he's looking up at Will. And the expression he makes once his eyes reach Will, is....

Pining. It's pining, your honor.

For a split second, this is the expression of a person looking at someone with whom they assume isn't looking.

Mike goes from still and focused, to wide eyed, as he scrambles back to shoveling.

The general audience actually interpreted this scene fairly accurately, it's just that they got it wrong it terms of whose actually doing the pining.

Because arguably, if Mike could sense Will looking at him, whose to say Will couldn't sense Mike?

Whose to say it wasn't Mike who was initially staring at Will, which is why he stopped shoveling in the first place. Though at some point while he was watching Will hoeing, with the camera focusing on him, just like Mike, Mike zoned out to collect his thoughts. And so, when he looks back up, to return to staring at Will again, only to discover Will was already looking at him, he understandably went, OH SHIT MISSION ABORT.

THEY ARE USING EDITING TO SAY HEY LOOK AT WILL! SEE HOW HES GLOWING? SEE HOW HE'S IN THE CENTER OF THE FRAME? IN FOCUS? ALMOST ALL OF THE TIME? ALMOST AS IF WE CANT TAKE OUR EYES OFF OF HIM???

WAIT!?...

WHERE'S MIKE?

OH THERE HE IS!

WE ARE MIKE!!

All this time we were convinced the POV was definitively Will's, with Mike's POV missing. And so therefore, a lot of bylers at least, have made the likely claim that Will's POV cannot be reliable. But what if it is reliable, in that finding out a lot of these moments of us getting Will at the center, was also a part of Mike's POV all along... meaning it's not inherently unreliable, in that in and of itself it holds the truth...

Now, you might be thinking, why couldn't they have shown us Mike staring at Will, at least once, if this is in fact what's happening a lot of the time?

And oh honey... They did.

Isn't it almost poetic, that the moment they FINALLY decide to show us the truth, a shot, with both Will AND Mike in the frame, equally, with Mike continuing the stare at Will the second Will looks away (even if it's for just a small, albeit drawn out moment) this is what follows:

Will handing the painting over to Mike.

Everything. All of this miscommunication about a girl and the painting, essentially Mike's very own unreliable POV has been leading up to this moment.

Which brings me back to this...

WHY!?

WHY HAVE PARALLEL SHOTS OF MIKE NOT LOOKING AT EL IN THE VAN SCENE IN 4x03 VS. MIKE LOOKING AT WILL IN THE VAN SCENE IN 4x08???

WHY HAVE MIKE BE IN FOCUS AND UNBOTHERED IN HIS SHOT WITH EL, WHILE HAVING MIKE BE OUT OF FOCUS AND APPEARING.... EMOTIONLESS ALMOST (REMEMBER WHAT I SAID ABOUT PRESUMABLY EMOTIONLESS MIKE??? HMMMM) IN HIS SHOT WITH WILL?

WHY HAVE MIKE'S MOST CONSISTENT, REDEEMING TRAIT, HIS ABILITY TO SENSE WHEN WILL'S NOT OKAY, BE PRESENT EVERY SEASON, ONLY TO REMOVE IT BLATANTLY THIS SEASON, BUT LEAVE SIGNS THAT HE IS STILL INDEED PAYING ATTENTION IN THE SUBTEXT, ONLY TO HAVE IT ALL COME CRUMBLING DOWN, TO NOTHING, WITH THIS SCENE!?!?!?!?

Does this mean I'm trying to indoctrinate everyone into fully believing Mike knew Will was lying and even crying in the van scene? No, because honestly, I don't think I fully believe that myself. I also think that to say a scene is definitively this or that is naive because, for all we know the story depends on certain scenes having certain truths over certain periods of time.

Like right now, maybe they want us to believe that Mike didn't understand Will, and the story requires us to look at it that way, for now, and also going into s5?

We know that the Duffers would prefer that the average fan doesn't pick up on byler. And so arguably, there are a lot of layers of awareness happening here, regardless of this specific theory. Just in terms of all the assumed truths and the actual truths. There's what the ga assumes vs. what bylers assume, but I think there could be another hidden truth beyond that, perhaps what they knew bylers would assume based on what they said ('he just missed it, not in a bad way/while he may not fully pick up on it--' Duffer's talking about Mike in the van scene), and they were anticipating all of that, meaning despite all of our expectations, there's very likely a surprise in store for us as well.

I do want to make clear, despite me thinking this all makes a lot of sense, as a byler it's like DAMN why couldn't we get the exact moment Mike realized it and like, get to see him act on it?

I think that's the ideal situation? But even still, this theory explains a lot.

It means Mike never stopped paying attention. It also explains why he gravitated towards Will at the end of s4, after his failed love confession. It explains why he looked heartbroken after Will encouraged him to confess his love to El.

We talk about this all the time, but because there are so many tiny moments, where it seemed like Mike realized something over the seasons, we'll find posts saying this moment or that was THE moment. But what I really think it is, is the uncertainty and the hope and the denial all working against each other. Arguably, Mike has already has his realization moment plenty of times by now, in little moments. It's just that what he's been experiencing is, something along the lines of, he loves me! he loves me not. he loves me! he loves me not, and so on and so forth.

His behavior over the seasons, has been impacted by this confusing, back and forth miscommunication between him and Will.

All very remanent of the lyrics to Time After Time if you ask me...

[aspd-culture]

Do you have books/movies recommendation that represents aspd well fiction or nonfiction?

Hhhhh I was waiting for this question to come one day. The answer is lowkey v v disappointing.

Because... no, not really. I've got like three, two of which do what I consider a fairly good job, and one that rides the fence of being a lil "oh great, the ASPD character likes blood and guts and death".

Sorry this is so long-winded tldr Ender's Game (book only), House, MD if you can handle some not ok 2000's comedy, and Wednesday if you never get into the fandom.

In order of, in my opinion, best to least best (they're all still p good):

I tried to make these spoiler free but it's hard while explaining good vs bad rep. I would recommend going into Ender's Game blind without reading what I wrote about it and coming back to this post after. I would read the warning attached to the other two.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (The book not the movie, oh my gosh, not the movie) - Peak ASPD right here. When I was a kid with ASPD, this is the only book I ever related to and I randomly picked it bc it was the third name on the mandatory summer reading list and 3 is my OCD's favorite number. It rarely lets me down, and in this case, brought me a seriously well-done look at ASPD done, possibly entirely without meaning to. Orson Scott Card, as far as I'm aware, set out to write a book about trauma and the way that different types of trauma shapes the mind in early childhood, and preschool aged children engaging in active military training is... woof. It's a lot when something that you relate to so much is a depiction of a war-era dystopia. There are definitely parts that still push the stigma, and a lot of what makes Ender "good" is the sympathy and compassion and "purity" he shows, so be ready for that. That said, this also shows how a kid can still fit the definition of a loving, innocent child even while actively engaging in violence. It's a bit preachy with its message, but it is a damn good book. I will openly admit I have never gotten around to reading the sequels purely bc they were not in my school libraries. I wonder if Libby has them... *takes mental note*. There are also questions about if Ender's siblings possibly have cluster b disorders themselves. I have seen theories that both Peter and Valentine have NPD, and a more controversial theory that Valentine has NPD while Peter has BPD and the book just happens to focus on demonizing him (as a character to make a point about him and Valentine, not because of the disorder) so it doesn't emphasize the non-splitting behavior. Just, do yourself a favor and don't read into psych articles about Ender's Game. They make a big deal out of Ender being a good character because he is "saved" by his empathy and just... idk the book is written from his POV and I don't see much empathy there. I see compassion. I see cognitive empathy. I do not see affective empathy besides with a couple Exceptions.

House, MD - the profile pic is for a reason. More than House, MD is a show about doctors or medicine, it is a show about House's struggle with his mental health. We watch him slowly get through the process of recognizing, adapting to, and working on his symptoms throughout the show. It honestly helped me before I even realized I had ASPD to improve my relationships with people by learning from his mistakes.

House is (minor spoiler) canonically diagnosed with "Antisocial traits" around season 6 I believe, but he experiences them the entire time. He is written as a character who I believe was supposed to have ASPD. If not, he is one of the most accurate accidents turned canon I have ever seen. That said, this show does not shy away from the negative aspects of ASPD. Many people say horrible things about House throughout the series, many of them he does not bother to argue with or deny. It is... really emotional for me sometimes to see how they speak to and about him and how he handles that. It's really good, but does have one very triggering episode about a "true sociopath" and House's struggles with relating to her also around Season 5 or 6. It's one I wouldn't skip if you're watching this for ASPD reasons, but House *does* try and separate himself from a "true sociopath" so be ready for some stigma. Also please note that this show is from around 2004. Lots of flip phones, ha ha ha, but also lots of excess stigma on things, somewhat homophobic and transphobic jokes, etc. Although, it is worth noting that it is a symptom of House's ASPD to make these jokes - he expects that they know he is not serious because of his tone and doesn't, due to lack of empathy, understand that these jokes are hurtful even when people know you don't believe what you're joking about to be true. He builds his team around making sure they can handle that part of him, which is a pretty decent thing to do, in my opinion, even though the right thing to do would be to change the behavior. But yeah, shitty early 2000's humor incoming with this show. I still 100% feel it is worth the watch, but I am white and thus have the privilege of feeling comfortable while watching it. Black people especially may be really (understandably) unable to feel comfortable watching this because the person that House worries is most similar to him and thus most threatening to his position is Foreman, who is a Black man, and thus many of House's "it's ok because he knows I don't believe it" jokes are targetting Foreman and many times they are racist jokes. He in no way solely targets Foreman, but that is there and it is extremely frequent. When you meet people named Taub and Thirteen, Jewish and fellow LGBT people will join the club in being potentially seriously uncomfortable with these jokes. I could handle watching it, ymmv.

The third and somewhat problematic lil sister, Wednesday (2022) - Hear me out, it is so good, imo, but I cannot interact with the fandom on this one and it loses serious points because of that. The reason that I can't? The entire fandom has decided that Wednesday Addams, a long-time rare ASPD coded girl, is autistic and "through the lens of Tim Burton" vs acknowledging that she is ASPD coded. Everything that can be an autistic trait, many have cherry-picked as proof she is autistic, and they openly choose to ignore a major step in diagnosis, making sure that the symptoms are not better described elsewhere. I will concede she may be autistic (although tbh I don't think so bc of her serious lack of stimming, - and no the SINGLE DANCE SCENE AT A SCHOOL DANCE doesn't count - lack of meltdowns, and affinity for sitting perfectly still don't read autistic imo), but she has ASPD. A literal therapist talks to her about "the source of (her) antisocial traits" and because she is a child, that is the closest thing to a diagnosis of ASPD she can be given. The girl is loudly ASPD coded just like the character Wednesday Addams always has been.

Further, there is a point to be made about the ASPD coded character being given her own show for it to turn out to be a m*rder mystery as well as her obsession with everything dark, broody, bloody, and macabre. Admittedly, in The Addams Family, that's everyone in her family not just the ASPD coded one but in Wednesday, she is the only character who likes those things so it's a bit ick in that regard. Still, I relate a lot to her and always have and people used to try n bully me in school by calling me Wednesday but my mom showed me it and said I reminded her of Wednesday as a compliment when I was little and I always took it as one after that even when I knew they meant it in a mean way.

Unfortunately, ASPD, unlike many disorders, is not underrepresented in media. It is overrepresented in the worst ways possible. Every other book or movie I can find is full of stereotypes, mean-spirited commentary, and m*rder. There might be something to be said about a character from It's Always Sunny, but that show is a major trigger for me so I haven't been able to watch it to tell, and Lisa from Girl, Interrupted (book or movie) is just... painfully bad but well-loved rep. Like, I love her, but holy crap girlfriend, how did you manage to add stigma in a book and movie about destigmatizing mental health?

The fact that even counting bad but well-loved representation I can still count all of it on one hand sucks, and if anyone has more I am begging you to share in replies.

[xoxoemynn]

I know you're deep in OFMD mode, but I remember back in the day you got into Good Omens for a while! Have you checked out the second season/do you plan to? I had a great time with it, I thought it was a very fandom-tailored follow-up.

I have! Some spoilers under the cut.

So I'll start off with the caveat that I didn't watch it especially closely. I felt kind of pressured to binge it because there were untagged spoilers everywhere and Good Omens is a show I really wanted to experience vs. finding out everything that happens via gif sets/live reactions/spotify playlists. So I rushed through it even though I wasn't able to fully focus and appreciate it, which means I definitely missed some things. Which was kind of irritating, but I figured I'd do a rewatch soon enough to pick up on those things.

I thought it was enjoyable. It did feel like fan fic to me, which I think can be a plus or a minus depending on who you ask, haha, but I enjoyed seeing more of Crowley and Aziraphale's interactions over the years. There were some really delightful, wonderful moments. I love their characters and I loved seeing them on my screen again.

I am not a fan of Jon Hamm and was annoyed Gabriel was going to be such a focus this season because I already liked to forget he was a part of the show LOL but I had time to prepare myself for that. I did think that romance came out of nowhere but again thought maybe I just missed some clues since, like I said, I wasn't doing the closest watch, but from some posts I've seen I don't think that's the case.

I just... I know this is the 2nd act of a three act play. I know this is the dark before the storm. I know Crowley and Aziraphale need to grow and learn to truly talk to each other if they're going to be together. I fully get all that, and I'm sure if there's a third season like Gaiman wants then they'll figure out how to properly understand each other and get their happily ever after.

But the "I forgive you" felt like such a cruel twist of the knife that honestly it tainted a lot of my enjoyment of the season as a whole and I don't know when I'll be able to bring myself to rewatch it. And I've seen the oat milk theories, which... idk somehow almost feels worse in my mind? Like "oh he was drugged, he didn't mean it," but meanwhile my beloved best demon Crowley is just out here being devastated? And that's not even getting into the metaphorical layers there that I honestly just don't have the brain space right now to speak to coherently. I dunno, I know this season was supposed to be the bridge to the sequel to Good Omens Gaiman and Pratchett planned to write, so I'm assuming that needed to start from a place where Crowley and Aziraphale were on opposite sides and upset with each other. That's all well and good. I'm not even opposed to Aziraphale rejecting Crowley, because we all know he's constantly about a thousand steps behind him. For me, though, the execution felt more like pain for pain's sake and I wish there had been some more kindness, both for Crowley and for viewers.

[bronanlynch]

once again here is my weekly roundup post of what I'm watching/reading/etc. once again none of this is necessarily a recommendation, except the bits where I talk about my own fic. obviously everyone should read my fic

listening (podcast): nothing new here. continuing with the Wing episodes of Great Gundam Project, which continue to make me want to watch Gundam at all times. also keeping up with Palisade (Friends at the Table), my beloved, I love it when an actual play podcast episode is an extended discussion on spycraft and the changing political landscape, and also watching someone else flip a coin

also, I've listened to less A More Civilized Age recently because I'm less interested in KOTOR now that they're covering that, but I did listen to their episode on the imminently-closing Disney World Starcruiser attraction which. oof. great podcast episode, unsurprising that the ~experience was uhhhhh not worth how many thousands of dollars it costs

listening (music): changed the CD in my car to One-X by Three Days Grace. sorry for almost exclusively listening to music that was used for AMVs in the 2000s.

however! for once I listened to new music, the new Troye Sivan single, Got Me Started. nothing particularly smart to say here, it's fun and catchy and makes me wish it was 2018 and I was back in grad school having a single overpriced drink in a gay bar and failing to psych myself up enough to flirt with anyone

reading: still working my way through Rule of Wolves (truly would be more interesting if Leigh Bardugo did not always shy away from the political marriages that she teases at, at least then the political intrigue would have to actually happen on the page) and Water Outlaws (shout out to my new favorite side character, the nonbinary strategist who wants to overthrow the government).

also read the newest KJ Charles novel, A Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel. I always have a lot of fun with her stuff, she understands that life-threatening stakes and also secrets & betrayal are what I personally want in a romance. this one had some very fun intrigue around inheritance & legal loopholes, and also plot-important discussions of religion in Roman Britain. my main complaint isn't even a critique of the book itself, it's just that I as a person have slightly different priorities and I wish one of the main characters had been allowed to stay angry and maybe be more destructive about it. like I'm glad he's happy now that he's had his character development, and I do think it was well done. however. I would've found it personally cathartic if he got to do a few more crimes first

also also, this incredibly scathing academic book review (Was There an Administrative Revolution?, George Zhijian Qiao). it's a delight. I've seen some harsh rebuttals but nothing nearly as much of a masterpiece as this

watching: continuing to watch Elementary, which has its pros (competently-written mystery stories with fun characters) and its cons (can't tell if the copaganda has gotten more blatant this season or if it's just been building up and I'm getting tired of it)

also continuing my long slow journey of watching Legend of the Galactic Heroes. what a show. love an incredibly homoerotic military sci-fi anime about the narrative construction of history. season 3 has been kind of up and down for me, though, I must say. I love the parts about Reinhard being desperate to die in battle against a "worthy opponent," I love Reuental getting accused of treason presumably to foreshadow him actually doing treason at some point, I love Kircheis haunting the narrative, I love the vastly different tone whenever we see Yang being self-aware about history and his friends getting up to shenanigans. however. whenever the Earth Cult is the central focus I'm reminded how much I don't like that plotline. like. Idk. I'm not an expert but I know more well-informed people than me have talked/written about the prevalence of antisemitic conspiracy theory tropes in anime from this era and uh. that sure is present here and I don't care for it

the other thing I watched this week is 1985 horror film Re-Animator. my first note is "oh he's such a little freak I love him" (about the titular guy who reanimates the dead) and that really sums it up I think. is it a good movie? I mean. probably not. but I could write an entire thesis on the themes of procreation vs necromancy and how that subtextually makes the central conflict of the film a love triangle, and sometimes that's what really matters

playing: ran a session of Blades in the Dark while partially out-of-it from the flu shot/covid booster combo. this was the third session of a single score, and by the end of it everyone only had one (1) remaining stress box but somehow no one trauma-ed out while escaping the ancient winged robot/ghost lady whose gambling hall they were robbing (they stole her reality-bending dice that she made out of her own bones)

I've been enjoying Ace Attorney 5 more this week, the second half of 5-3 and the beginning of 5-4 have been a lot of fun. it really is a shame that Robin's gender is handled Like That because otherwise 5-3 would be such a good case. I'm not far enough into 5-4 to say much about it other than that I like it so far but truly my main observation is, if two astronauts were on the launch pad, and one of them killed the other with a knife, would that be fucked up or what?

making: made butternut squash pasta sauce with the rest of the squash left over from last week's muffins. we used this recipe, largely because it involved roasting the squash in the oven instead of standing over a stove waiting for liquid to reduce (substituted oat milk for the half-and-half, it turned out fine and just didn't needed the added pasta water)

here it's on mushroom ravioli, but we also added it to baked mac & cheese to add some more vegetable to that

drinking: sorry that all of this is so aggressively seasonal, unfortunately I love a lot of ~fall flavors~. anyway. shout out to Citizen Cider's Baker's Dozen (cider donut flavored cider). it's not as sweet as other cider donut ciders I've had, since Citizen's stuff tends to be fairly dry, but it still has the cinnamon flavor and it's very tasty

writing: mostly I've been editing the same t4t yurivain fic I've been working on for months, but I'm running out of shareable snippets of that and really I need to just post the damn thing. and I've also written a little bit more of a self-indulgent vibes- & motif-heavy Great Ace Attorney fic so uh. here's this:

They’d been at sea without stopping for a while now, but land was drawing into view once again, if he looked west where the sky was still dark. Maybe his friends, the friends he must’ve had once, were still out there, beyond the sea. Maybe they were looking for him. Maybe they were waiting for him in London. Maybe that was why he needed to go there so badly. Or maybe they were all gone, and he, left behind alone, had business to finish on their behalf before he could rejoin them. The sea slapped against the hull of the ship, and there was the frayed edge of a memory there too, a familiarity with ships, with the sounds that the sea could make, that went back farther than his few months’ employment as a dock worker and a deckhand.

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

Hey Frank, tell me the top ten weird guys you've met at a Denny's

Hey, astraldepths, I'm guessing you've never been to Denny's in San Jose, since the place I went to was in the East Bay.

Anyway, here you go:

this is an older one, but a really weird guy I met once: he had a sort of bizarre, self-indulgent style of drawing, sort of based on pop surrealism with the focus being on weird details. Like the cover of his notebook, with a drawing of, like, an eye surrounded by spirals on top of a skull and some other anatomical body parts. At first I thought he was a teenager and his drawings were of weird characters that he made up, but he was 40.

One time he was going to a poetry conference and we were staying at a hotel and when I tried to get breakfast he insisted on cooking for me, and it was a big thing because he cooked up the most delicious-sounding food, which was not that great in reality. Also he wore glasses even though he was perfectly able-sighted; I asked him if there was anything weird about this and he said that he just liked the look of wearing glasses and wanted to look at the TV with me while we were watching it while he cooked, so he would have a better angle for looking at the TV. Another thing he did when we were staying in the hotel was "shower his house with tiny crickets" so that the crickets would eat the maggots. Not sure if any of this was related to the poetry thing though. He is a very nice guy though, but not the nicest guy.

a man who worked at an auto repair place in San Francisco: we used to hang out at his place every once in a while to listen to music and smoke weed. He had a very bad haircut and was very fat, but he was also very smart and could tell you very complex technical things about cars. Once, he let me drive his car and the lights were on but I couldn't figure out what the problem was, and he kept saying "well, they're not on, they're off". I eventually figured out he meant "on" and "off" were just the opposite meanings of "on" in his culture. Anyway, he was very knowledgeable and made a lot of jokes about cars

a homeless man in my neighborhood in San Jose: I was just walking by his house one day, and I was wondering what to do because there was trash, a small dog, and then he came out, wearing nothing but jeans and a t-shirt. The "nothing" was actually a very colorful Mexican dress (which he told me he had "wanted to try on for [himself] for some time"). He would make fun of me for walking by because "you look like you're going to a Denny's." We talked for a bit about my job and stuff. The "dressing up" part was kind of a joke in case anyone is wondering, but he was a really nice guy and we have kept in contact and now get drinks with one another whenever we get the chance.

an ex-con who was doing community service by picking up after dogs: he was kind of a scumbag, but not too much, and he liked to talk about his time in jail. One time he showed me this huge picture that he had with a giant collection of little guys, some of which were like little figurines he'd sculpted from clay. He had an insatiable "need" for these guys, like he kept going out into the hills by himself to get more clay and keep making little dudes. He also told me he had had sex with over 900 women, which I considered too many to really believe it, so I asked him for an example, and he said the 900 was just the number of women at this place called Denny's.

a really cool man from a music store in San Jose: we first met when he came into the music store and started talking to me while I was looking at some really expensive guitars. He seemed really nice, and he had all sorts of theories about music and was an expert on guitars for some reason. Then one of his friends asked me for a guitar recommendation and I didn't have any good ones, so we all went back to my house and started talking there, with me sitting on the couch and them standing in my living room, and ended up sitting around in my living room listening to music all night while drinking beer and smoking weed (it's probably a good thing I didn't know how to play guitar because I had no idea what these friends were talking about when they started talking about "scaled guitar strings and the like").

the dude who gave me one of the shirts on the "how to draw a Denny's" t-shirt: we met up a couple of times after that and talked about some stuff, but I never got the shirt. He was cool but seemed like he wanted to talk to me more than I wanted to talk to him, so I didn't make him feel bad or anything. He just seemed to be into weird ideas.

a man in another town who told me how I should "use my 'feminine' strength" (he said "use [my] feminine force" but it sounded similar enough). He told me this while I was doing some exercises he thought were necessary for making me able to use my "feminine strength" more.

another guy I met at a Denny's: he wore a cowboy hat, which he took off during this one long story about his experiences fighting an elephant. He also wore a vest with some sort of leather jacket, and he gave me very nice cowboy boots and then told me how to break them in properly. He had a small dog, which he petted for a really long time. "That dog is a good dog. But not one I could ever love, because he's a man." I thought he was a cowboy at first and his accent was very southern. The thing about the dog thing might be a joke, in which case don't worry about it.

a young man in San Jose who liked to "show his love for the world by killing spiders": he told me his love for the world and his love for spiders could never be separated.

[cowboymantis]

It's really interesting how Kingdom and E'Last have like... The same loved spot in my heart as favourite groups. Like, sure I have multiple favourite groups but around those my brain is always revolving around the most when it comes to the concepts and theories and the designs and everything.

They're just really special to me and have concepts like, imo, no other group. Obviously, a lot of groups have darker/mysterious concepts but especially Kingdom just really GOT ME with the lore. The theories. The characters. The settings. The outfits.

And then E'Last, especially Tears of Chaos, Dark Dream and Creature had such a great mysterious vibe and the outfits are just top tier.

Also, both bands I discovered randomly on YouTube, which the further I got into kpop, got less and less frequent because I end up hearing about a group a couple of times before checking them out. For Kingdom, when Excalibur came out and for E'Last, Tears of Chaos. It just peaked my interest immediately, the title, the thumbnail and when watching them I was immediately sold and got sucked into the fandom. :'D

And whenever one of the bands has a comeback I come back to obsessing over everything around it as in talking a lot about them to friends, looking for new content, listening to the music all day, making theories (more just for Kingdom but hsjshd)... It's like when a show you love airs a new episode in a way. But also, when one band has a comeback I will eventually also go back to focusing on the respective other one all over again and then it will jump around in my head between them.

Doesn't help that currently I am absolutely obsessed with Tokusatsu which won't stop anytime soon, and still are so much into Yakuza so all of those 4 things are rotating in my brain 24/7 help .

At the same time I'm also sad both Kingdom and E'Last don't get NEARLY the fame and hype they deserve. But it seems that they're happy (which I hope is also that way) and that's what matters.

OH, two other groups I'd place very high around a similar area are definitely A.C.E, P1Harmony and Golden Child. They're all also so dear to me with both their content outside of music videos and the music itself while being way too underrated for how insanely good they are!

I'm almost scared to say this but this isn't Twitter where stans see everything as it being personal- but P1Harmony have been so far pretty much the only band where I love every song in albums. I'm sure this isn't an unpopular opinion because obviously you can't love every song but still. But I just can't stand songs that are cheesy and/or fan-servicey (which I think. Is probably bc I'm aroace and it just makes me uncomfortable and cringe- but still,) they're just the worst. BUT if the song is catchy enough I will still love it, just ignoring the lyrics is something I need to get better at :'D Kingdom's Warning is a good example of a song having lyrics that make me physically cringe but I jam out to this song because it's such a bop. So yeah.

I mean, Monsta X is one of my all time favs and they're so full of cheesy songs and fanservice, so I think somewhere along the road my resistance went up. :'D

Even after some years, kpop fans are still wild to me. Like, the amount of delusions and elitism going on seem to be more than for any other fandom, but that's not really a fun topic to talk about. But man, watching live performances can be painful with how loud everyone's screaming their lungs out which alone is enough for me to never go on a kpop concert, even though I'd love to. But the only non-metal concert I ever went to was already hell when it came to the fans just screeching and making it completely unable to understand what the singer is even singing. So yeah, I uh, I'll stick to metal concerts,,,

But!! Even though I am not the biggest fan normally of watching live performances, I still really love watching them for specific groups, coming back to Kingdom and E'Last because those were kinda the main focus before I got sidetracked (and I would just add more and more I feel like fhkgfg), I love their lives and choreographies in general so so so much. They are very, dare I say it, aesthetic and just fascinating to look at. Plus, both bands are so full of visuals it's insane.

I also noticed both Kingdom and E'Last often have some kind of ropes and cloth in the performances, which is a thing I really love because it's just really pleasing to look at, especially if they dance with it in such a smooth way. (Gah, like that one amazing Stray Kids Side Effects performance)

Both also have those beautiful and mysterious settings, I especially love the misty forests.

And also, AMAZING instrumentals/intros! 🙏

I'm just gonna. Go ahead and post some examples of parallels I love and think it's so beautiful that both of these bands I have so much brainrot about share so many similarities dfjghjfdg But I am just SO NORMAL!!! ABOUT IT!!! I LOVE IT SO MUCH. Whether it's just same vibe or similar posing it's just a lot of fun.

Gonna put...

E'Last on the left and Kingdom on the right :)

It was a lot of fun just finding so many parallels now when skimming over the E'Last performances with that in mind, because for Kingdom I feel like I've got every frame engraved in my brain because I'm working on a big archive + lore essay about them so like...Yeah my mind at this point is a Kingdom archive help,, Next on the list for that will be E'Last tho soooo...

Also, for the end, a fancy group pose for E'Last and Kingdom :)

[ancaporado]

Ok I need to go on a rant about show tunes. They're objectively bad. Don't worry, I've heard a lot of them, I even played in the pit for my high school theater and I still hate show tunes. 1.The lyrics are cringey, basically just dialogue or literal exposition of the story. I do like concept albums, in fact I think the idea of using music to tell a story is great, but making your characters constantly RHYME to speak to one another is absolutely insane as it takes away the characters ability to speak in their own voice. The linear progression of story telling also means that the lyrics rarely repeat, often as a song goes on a chorus allows for the listener to reinterpret the previous verses and anticipate new ones, we rarely get such a break in show tunes. this almost means that we get explicit character names, places, and events in our lyrics which lacking context completely jar a listener. 2.Singing is bad. Essentially it's modern opera, so I get that it started with lots of projection and vibrato, but let's be real you no longer have to do that with lapel microphones. We can have dynamic volume and annunciation. These people have grown up their whole lives singing with piano accompaniment and it shows in the tin-like nasal annunciation they sing. Even the best broadway singer would instantly butcher any other genre as they barely slide notes or usually can't hold notes WITHOUT vibrato, nor do they get through distorted vocals without simply getting raspy. 3.Instrumentation. To be fair, musicals have been getting a little better about incorporating stuff besides classic accompaniment but basically whenever they do they attempt it as a genre piece, and end up completely cliche as the genre is concern. Outside of the narcissisms of the writers or actors, the MUSIC is never the focus of the song. 4. No genre or originality. I would say Grease and Rocky Horror are perfect examples of this in that basically they are simply 4 chord progression covers of a well established genres that are extremely easy to churn out. If you know a little music theory you could write a "blues" or "rock" or "jazz" musical in an afternoon. Even when it's done no song from a musical can stand on it's own against MUSIC written for the purpose of just being listened too. If you were to have a blind listening test for anyone trained in any amount of music they could pick out a "musical" song nearly 99% of the time. Most "Musical" music is to normal music what Christian Rock is to rock, the music is entirely secondary to an agenda.

5.Arrangement. Very little thought is usually put into the arrangement of the of songs, as nothing besides the voice of the actors can really take up much time in the melody so why bother. Interesting sounds, instruments, or melodic and harmonic ideas are just a distraction to the performance. Outside of backing there's little required of most musicians to preform these pieces, and half the time it sounds like a church band or high school choir for this reason. Improvisation, instrumental solos, or a breakdown are either rare or completely unimaginative in structure. 6. Chord progressions are all basic to the point that the "halfway through a song key step as a way to mix it up a little bit because we got more exposition in the lyrics as we go from point a to b as we do a 4 chord progression that is getting boring" is a thing in pretty much every musical. So anyways in conclusion, musicals suck, are completely stagnant as a "genre". They are written by and for a strange kind of narcissistic person who needs to constantly hear a very loud voice telling them a story with comforting non-dangerous music that's really only there to help set a little bit of mood for whatever tacky costume and choreography is supposed to be happening on stage. If you listen to show tunes for fun outside of actually watching a stage production you probably should be institutionalized. If, even worse, you make other people listen to them on a PA system while at a retail or work situation you should be euthanized. Don't send me your favorite "this is musical music but it's good because it avoids the reasons you said above" as it still sucks for another reason I didn't remember while typing this.

[mrbensonmum]

TV Shows - The Big Bang Theory VII

Yesterday, I only watched The Marvels and then hung out with the gang. I didn't really have the headspace for Halo yet, so I'm considering doing a rewatch of the first season beforehand.

Instead, I think I watched almost an entire season yesterday because today I'm starting at Episode 22 of Season 4. Amy, or Shamy, is now firmly anchored in the gang, and Howard and Bernadette are back together (Bernadette with a revamped character). Even Sheldon occasionally exhibits traits of his newer, less tolerable personality.

Unfortunately, Raj's tragedy begins as well because the writers absolutely have no idea which direction to take him. We'll see where it leads, but it's not going to be great.

The whole setting is slowly changing too; the colors are less saturated, and even the actors look like they're living in an area without sun instead of Pasadena (I know, they never go out anyway, but still).

With so much negativity, I have to admit that it's still enjoyable. However, the series is only running in the background for me. If I were actively watching, it would probably be different, and I'd likely have given up by now. What I've noticed is that when I do pay attention, I focus a lot on the background and how the actors behave when they're practically idle.

[woodsinfusedcorpse]

List of shounen anime with well written female characters!

Cause sometimes it's annoying to watch girls constantly being sidelined or just so not written as an actual person

First 3 are the best written:

-Jujutsu Kaisen (I'd say this has the best written female characters you could find, they're amazing and well rounded and actually have different opinions and struggles and don't only revolve around men 10/10)

-The Promised Neverlands (I've only seen the first season but may read more, do not watch season 2, and Emma is amazing and also the main character which is fucking awesome)

-Chainsaw Man ( to put it simply: women are written as integral characters, written as people with their own wants and desires and fears, are entirely as important as male characters, closest to 1:1 ratio gender rep I've ever seen, uniforms are not gender based, girls can look and have cool moments. Honestly I would put this as first but I know a lot of people are uncomfortable with Denji and his obsession with sex or the Fandom. I don't want to go on to long about this or spoil things so I'll just say it's important to read between the lines and pay attention to small details, things are not face value in this.)

-Full Metal Achemist Brotherhood (tbh I've only seen FMA but I hear FMAB is a lot better and also has a lot more characters so hell yeah more cool girls. Negative is they don't really take center stage but they're still amazing)

-Attack On Titan (Mikasa is pretty average but all the other girls are top tier. I'm not counting Hange as they are gender nonspecific in the manga but Hange also rocks)

-One Piece (this may come as a surprise considering how their bodies are later drawn and same face syndrome but Nami and Robin are amazing, I loved Perona and Iiii haven't gotten passed the clown laboratory place but hopefully the women that show up later are just as awesome)

- Gintama (this is a weird anime and you probably need to have watched a bit of shounen already to get at least a bit of their references but anyways a significant amount of the woman and girls are amazing and just as weird and gross as the dudes in an unsexy lighting. Also they're cool)

Hunter x Hunter (Once again girls are not in a main focus but they're pretty great when they show up! Plus they have a transgirl who's amazing!)

Soul Eater (This one is a split, I don't have any problem with any of the girl characters but some just aren't their enough for me to consider them well written. but the ones thst are are fantastic. I believe Maka and Soul mainly share the main character role so another female lead kinda)

-Dr. Stone (the author seems to like women in general and includes them a lot but they definetly feel less important to the story and don't often push the story forward on their own. Have yet to see a women have an interest in science,which the series revolves around, but maybe there is later? Also only skimpy girl outfits and the girls have a faker looking eye style making them seem kinda less human? I doubt that was the intention but it's a little jarring)

-Demon Slayer (Most of the girls seem pretty great but I'm not counting the main girl Nezuko. She's really got no personality other then loving her brother and humans and kill demon.) UPDATE: girl characters are underutilized and often stuck with feminine rolls which the anime doesn't challenge. I like a lot of them in theory more then in practice and wouldn't recommend this to someone for fem representation but I wouldn't diswayed them from watching it either

-Claymore (I don't know if the anime is any good but the manga is great and also has a main girl character! And I love a lot of them but I also haven't read this in probably 7 years)

-Bleach (this is low for a reason, some of the girls are very well written, some almost were but them bombed and some just arent)

-D. Gray Man (I think I remember them being surprisingly good. I'd put this higher on the list but I don't fully trust my memory)

-Jojos Bizare Adventures (I have never watched this, I really don't know but I've heard about them being great and based of their designs alone I'd agree)

‐--------

It is super okay not to want to watch/read any of the above for whatever reason, these are just suggestions

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

On another note hear are ones to avoid if you specifically want to see well written female characters

Naruto/Boruto (they're so badly written... and always pushed to the back... and mainly are healers... and fuck Boruto for what it makes most of them become. Fun series but ugh)

Death Note (I love Misa and that one FBI agent but the fact I don't remember her name is pretty telling. This one's more on here because it feels like the writer actively hates women. I mean it works since Light is a piece of shit and him being a misogynist really works but it can be annoying to watch sometimes. I love this show and hate it <3)

-Fairy Tail (constantly sexualizing every girl character and they're pretty bland writing wise. If you don't mind that then watch it if it sounds appealing)

[venomous-with-headphones]

OK K.O! Let's Rewrite the Show

Hello there! Yess, as the title of this post suggests, I’ve decided to take over OK K.O! Let’s Be Heroes and completely rewrite it!

So I recently got around to finishing the original series, and what can I say? I LOVED EVERY MOMENT OF THAT. However, I was also left with a bittersweet feeling of dissatisfaction, (geez, don't know how to describe it), but it's the kind that puts you in an extreme debate where you think the show could have had better development…

if they hadn’t cancelled it

But it’s also quite understandable the reasons of the scripwriters and its own creator to conclude it that way...

tho you still think it could have been better.

Now don’t get me wrong!

I seriously fell in love with the show and its dynamics, humor and animation style, but let’s be honest, they squandered the great potential they had to give an amazing dramatic arc to all their characters.

And I’m talking more specifically about my two favorites:

𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐅𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐎𝐑 𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐎𝐌𝐎𝐔𝐒 & 𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓

Ah, shit. Here we go again

I know... I know what you'll be thinking: "damn, boi, it's been two-three years since the brother theory was thrown out, fuck, just accept that they're the same person and stop making drama, you fucking drama queen".

And you're absolutely right, I could...

But I don't fucking want to~

That's why I decided to create an Alternate Universe!

And all thanks to the power of the wizard Warlock and my endless obsession with every TV show I watch. Seriously, I can't believe this is happening, this is gonna be epic, you guys!!

▌𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐏𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐒.𝐂𝐎𝐌!

Most of the content will be written, and sometimes, sketched by me. Now, I'm know I’m no pro (at least in the doodling part), but I'll do my best to give you an experience in quality and quantity.

As for the development of the series itself, there are several aspects that I will change from the canonical events to give a better focus to some of my ideas (family issues, multiverse, space adventures, Shadowy Figure and the glorbs arc, and a few others).

Basically what OK K.O would have been like if I’d gotten to write it.

( Voxman & Lasersparks implied! )

To mention:

I write as a hobby, and in my free time. Also, it’s important that you know that when I write, I do it in Spanish and then I translate, so there may be some mistakes (I need a Beta Reader, HELP).

All of my stories are Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Funny in some cases (I'd love to write more of this, but first I want to establish a bit of this dark theme for my own AU, just a little bit), and Fluff.

Oh! Another thing to add: COMMISSIONS are OPEN! If anyone wants to leave me some quotes for a particular fanfic or just wants to know more about this AU, I'll respond right away, and if you ask, I'll try to illustrate it as best I can.

(Will not incest, pedophilia, hate art and writing, and massive gore. But I can accept nsfw for 18+ individuals)

I also write Headcannons, One Shots & Incorrect-Quoutes!

[dormarunt]

Idk if it’s just me but I was a bit disappointed with the way they handled Andres’ side of the berlermo arc. Like I understood they wanted to focus more on Tatiana and Rafael and needed to close up loose ends with him going to prison and everything but I feel like there was no real closure there? We still don’t know for certain why Andres left Martin, what the mitochondria bit was about, why he decided to give up on his Obra Maestra that is the bank heist, in the end well how DID he truly feel about Martin etc… They showed he left and literally never thought about Martin again as if he never cared for him (no matter if in a romantic or platonic way) which we know is plain untrue. Feels incomplete tbh

I'll start this with, "heh, maybe it feels incomplete because they'll cover it in the spinoff", but I really don't think it's going to happen. I don't see them touching too much on the canon timeline tbh, especially since doing so will almost surely open them to plotholes (and we know they're not great with that, as vague as they keep the timeline).

They could, in theory, cover the time post-chapel, after Martin leaves, since it's not clear what happened after that, but again - they run the risk of tinkering with the "main show" timeline/characters so I'm not sure.

But??? yes??? It was literally my biggest hope after the infamous champagne riding scene came out. I hoped that we'd get Andres talking about it, calling it by its name. Addressing it. Because you're right, it feels incomplete. You could say that their story, as far as Andres is concerned, ends with him confessing his feelings (which Martin never had the chance to do, not to Andres), with the kiss, but-- He was torn about it after he left that chapel.

And that's not even thinking about the man he turned into after that, a shift in his personality so great that Tatiana left him for the age-old "you're not the man I married" cliche. He was obviously torn up, and he had every reason to be! I feel like we were robbed of that, like the story didn't really get the proper closure it needed when we didn't get to see the "aftermath" in Andres.

To me, it makes sense to include Martin in the spin-off (but I talked about it before, I have no idea if it's going to happen) but even if they do include him, I think they'll focus on things that don't interfere with the "main" show, so things pre-monastery, I think. We may never get to see the effects of that breakup (as platonic as it may have been). </3

((Although now that I'm re-reading the post - the show might be watched by non-LCdP viewers too, it makes sense to aim the show at new viewers too, so of course they'll introduce Berlin in the context of who he was in the show before they get on to how he basically got there. His past and so on. And Martin is a big part of that too, and the chapel scene and and and--- I HATE NOT KNOWING))

[oswaldsleftbicep]

Seeing you writing although you have to deal with college makes me a happy girl 🥲 But I'm glad that everything's fine and you're doing well. But I actually have a request tho... Ok so just imagine a movie night with the main three boyz (Lucia, Levy and Kaim) God they don't even know what a videotape is nor a tv😂 I'm glad I know what it is..

movie night with lucia, levy, & kaim

things are starting to get not great in my life but it's fine lmao i fell in love with this ask as soon as i saw it, it's such a fun concept :) sorry it took so long for me to get to this and that it's short. also the movies i used as examples are mostly all popular american movies so i apologize for the lack of diversity

genre: crack? fluff perhaps??

cw: none

Lucia

❧ when he first encounters a tv or movies in general he's probably gonna be really confused but curious

❧ he's gonna be asking you a whole bunch of questions about how the tv works, how many movies there are, what kinds there are, are the characters real people, do the actors actually die?? he's like a kid

❧ when you finally get him to settle down he actually gets pretty into the plot. like if it's a fight scene his eyes are locked on the screen and is following every hit and blow. if it's an argument he probably picks a side and encourages that person like "yeah!! you're absolutely right!! you tell 'em!!"

❧ if you've seen the movie before be ready for him to be asking you questions all the time, like "is he gonna die?? wait isn't she that one girl from the bank scene?? is he a ghost or something??" like boy shut up and watch the movie

❧ he's also gotta have a snack while watching a movie. it doesn't matter what it is, he just needs to munch on something. be careful if it's popcorn tho, he'll throw it at people

❧ after getting used to movies and experiencing a wide variety, i feel like he'd like comedies best, something dumb to make him laugh whether it's a kids comedy or one of those straight man comedies like stepbrothers

❧ however you can get him to watch chick flicks or sappy movies with you, like titanic or mean girls or even the notebook, and he'll probably get too into them and cry at some point

Levy

❧ he's also very confused when he sees a tv for the first time, but he gets the idea of them quickly

❧ when he watches movies he's pretty quiet for the most part but expect to hear side comments from him often, like critiquing the characters' decisions or the realism of the effects

❧ he doesn't like to snack during movies because he thinks it'll take away his focus from the plot. he'd absolutely hate going to the cinema, so many people making noises and talking during the movie, and the food noises would drive him insane

❧ don't ever show him movies that were based off of books, he will complain and point out all the differences and explain why the book is better same tbh

❧ after seeing enough movies, he's probably end up liking the more serious movies with deeper meanings and symbolism, like moonlight or dead poets society or maybe even perks of being a wallflower??

❧ he'd definitely also like biographical movies like the theory of everything or the imitation game, or even the social network

❧ shh don't tell anyone but you can catch him awake at 3 am crying over sappy chick flicks

Kaim

❧ another one to quickly understand the concept of movies and tvs, but at first he's thinking "what's wrong with going to see a play? isn't it the same thing?" so like he gets it but he doesn't get it

❧ another one for not snacking during movies, instead he prefers to curl up with a hot drink

❧ he focuses so hard on the movies and if anyone lucia talks to him he will glare and get them to shut up

❧ he doesn't really mind movies that are based off of books, he thinks the differences are neat but if they're like completely different he gets confused and lowkey mad it's kinda funny

❧ after each movie he expects you to discuss what happened in depth with him. he wants to know how you interpreted a certain scene, what you thought about this character, how you think another character could have avoided dying

❧ his favorite movies are the classics, like older, black and white movies, especially the ones based on classic novels like pride and prejudice or to kill a mockingbird or frankenstein or dracula

❧ if you tell him about movie awards like the oscars he's gonna be interested in that and would want to watch the movies that have won best film

[butterflymar]

DAY 2: FAVORITE BL DRAMA

I have quite a few... I can’t choose just one so bare with me lol

Life Senjou No Bokura

Synopsis According to MyDramaList: One day after school, the serious Ito and the child-like Nishi meet by chance, as each endeavors to remain walking  on the sidewalk`s white line. As time goes by, Ito recognizes he is drawn to Nishi in a way that is new to him. Nishi, for his part, is frustrated that they only get to meet on the sidewalk. Ito decides to act upon his feelings and kisses a surprised Nishi, who agrees they need to walk side by side for a change. The sparks between them are undeniable as their relationship blossoms in high school, survives the college years, and matures into adulthood. A deeply moving work that bears witness to loving partners, whose unchanging feelings must co-exist within a world of changing realities.

My Personal Thoughts: I already wrote a review for this so I am going to re-share some of those thoughts here. This is one that I have watched countless times already. They went by the manga for mostly all of the episodes and I appreciated seeing that. They gave more context for certain details that may have been lost while reading the manga and translated it to screen. I think they depicted the age gaps well too. For 4 episodes only, I feel that they did a great job including the most important aspects. Actually now that I think of it, I would have loved to see more of them in their early 20s depicted on screen because that was like one of there honeymoon phases and I’m a hopeless romantic lol but that’s just a personal preference not complaining. Also, the show stopped at age 40 and they could have gone on throughout there entire lives but I understand why they chose not too. The manga is great as well!!! I think that the main actors depicted beautiful true love very well. They had amazing chemistry. Japanese BL’s have that special spark about them that I love. I also loved that it showed there relationship from high school till there later years. I don’t see that a lot with BL’s. They usually just stick to one time period. The aspect about them being connected by a line in relation to there love was a nice touch as well. I am glad that it has a happy ending as well. This is a pretty quick one to watch and a great one at that!!! If you haven’t watched it yet, I would highly recommend it!!!

I Told Sunset About You 

Synopsis According to MyDramaList: Teh and Oh-aew were best friends until a boyhood line of reasoning turned them into rivals. Years later as they're preparing for university admissions, both pursuing interests in the field of Communication Arts, the two meet in a Chinese language class. Their reunion awakens complicated and unstable feelings.

My Personal Thoughts: Same as above, I already wrote a review for this so I am going to re-share some of those thoughts here. This is DEFINITELY one of my top BL shows of the year 2020. This is such a beautiful masterpiece of a show!!! I remember when the preview trailer first came out… I was already hooked!!! I was on the lookout for it and it did not disappoint me one bit when it finally started. I looked forward to seeing it every week. It made me feel all of the emotions. I was up here sitting in my room crying over everything. I don’t think any other BL has made me this emotional before in my life. The two lead actors really DELIVERED!!! I could feel every single stare, every single body movement, and every single touch. You could cut the TENSION with a knife!!! No one couldn’t tell me that there wasn’t a magnetic true love between these two. I know this sounds cliche but it's like they were destined to be together from when they were childhood friends. Also, I would love to see them in future projects!!! The cinematography in this show is TOP FREAKIN NOTCH!!! Every single scene is just so beautifully shot. The cinematography alone makes me want to cry lol I saw somewhere that someone said the filming of the show reminded them of an indie film and I totally agree!!! The writing and directing on this show was impeccable to me!!! No cringy dialogue and every single line served its purpose well. This is movie grade writing. I also wanted to quickly just say that I loved the attention and callback to details throughout like with the tutoring book that Teh made for Oh-aew that was left empty by the end of episode 4, the flower that was supposed to be colored the same as Tan’s garment but Teh colored it red because he was thinking of Oh-aew, the rubbing of Oh-aew’s back when he sniffles, the references to Teh’s favorite actor, and the use of Chinese phrases to get meaning across. I could go on and on but wow I just loved how they really connected all of the details throughout. I can’t wait for Season 2!!!

Theory of Love

Synopsis According to MyDramaList: Third is a filmology major and a member of the Savage Team along with his best friends Two, Bone, and Khai, but he has a secret. Third has been secretly in love with Khai for years. For three years, he has kept his secret love in his heart, silently supporting and loving Khai while knowing there is absolutely no future between them since Khai is as straight as a streetlight pole and also an absolute player. To make matters worse, Khai has a "no dating friends" policy. How long can Third love Khai silently while watching Khai bring a different girl home every night? Third has tried to see Khai as just a friend. But has failed time and time again. Because as easy as it is to fall in love, to stop is just as hard.  Maybe even harder. That is until Third learns a secret that breaks his heart completely. But when Third decides to stop, Khai decides to start.

My Personal Thoughts: As sad as this show can make me feel at times, I love rewatching it. I still to this day think that it is one of the most well written BL’s that I have seen. Everything flows nicely and everything connects. Your not left wondering how you got from point A to point B. I thought the show had great character development especially when it came to Khai’s character towards the end of series. I know a lot of people had mixed feelings about his character due to how careless and dare I say stupid he acted at times but if he can make the audience hate him that much as a character... I would say he is doing something right!!! Gun’s acting never fails to amaze me!!! He really is one of the best actors I have seen. I know he had to be drained from all of that crying that he did throughout the show though lol It just goes to show that when you truly love someone you can’t just stop what you are feeling inside that easily no matter how the other person feels about you or treats you. As the old saying goes, love is blind. I also loved the friend group as well and Two and Bones side stories with the teacher and crush from school. They added to the shows greatness and didn’t take away from it. The friendship dynamics throughout the show was I feel something that really kept me engaged. The cast acted well together. There was no awkwardness or hesitation. I feel everyone bought there best for this drama. They incorporated the movie references so cleverly and I love how the title of each episode was the title of a real romance film. Just the overall theme of film was very intriguing to me. This drama left me filled with heartache and a rollercoaster of emotions but the ending is worth it!!!

HIStory3: Make Our Days Count

Synopsis According to MyDramaList: At first glance, high schoolers Xiang Hao Ting and Yu Xi Gu appear to be polar opposites: While Xiang Hao Ting is an outgoing, hot-headed extravert and some-time bully, Yu Xi Gu prefers to keep a low profile and focus on his schoolwork. They seem bound for totally different futures – the bookish Yu Xi Gu looks destined for academic success, while life is just a long popularity contest for Xiang Hao Ting. But a quirk of fate – and a crucial intervention by a female schoolmate – results in the two young men’s paths crossing. But there is more to both young men than first meets the eye. Xiang Hao Ting was not always this way. He started out as a perfect student until he discovered the joys of going off the rails. And Yu Xi Gu has a reason for being so aloof and studious: His parents died in a traffic accident while he was younger, and he is being fostered by his aunt. As such, he works hard to get good grades in an effort to win a scholarship and ease the financial burden on his relatives. Yu Xi Gu also works part-time at a convenience store, where his manager Liu Zhi Gang has developed a crush on a man he has met at the gym. Back at school, meanwhile, Yu Xi Gu and Xiang Hao Ting find themselves drawn together, and passions ignite. The former notices that he has the unique ability to bring Yu Xi Gu out of his shell – and becomes intent on melting his cold-as-ice exterior. What will happen when their two worlds collide? And can love be the catalyst that helps bring these two unlikely students together – as their high school days draw to a close?

My Personal Thoughts: I will stand by this notion for all of my days but this show is one of the best shows I have seen PERIOD!!! Not even best BL shows I have seen but just in general. It highkey saddens me that it is rated at an 8.1 right now on MyDramaList due to how it ended when other than that... it’s a top notch show. This was one that I watched as it was airing and I would get excited to see it every week. My clown self should have known by the title “Make Our Days Count” that some mess was about to occur but I didn’t pick up on it. Now, I just disregard the last episode (WE DON’T KNOW HER!!!). You can just tell that they had a great budget for this series. The production was on point. It had great cinematography, great storylines, and it felt realistic too. The main couples acting was OFF THE CHARTS AMAZING. I loved the whole opposites attract thing going on. Although the show was set in high school... it almost didn’t feel like it nor did it have those typical clichés going on. I liked how it dealt with topic of LGBTQ+ acceptance as well. I wasn’t so sure about the side couples relationship at first but I grew to love them as time went on. One last thing I wanted to point out was that even though I am always looking for a happy ending... I learned from this show that not everyone can get a happy ending. That’s not how life works sadly. In real life, there have been a lot of people who were truly in love and lost there partners tragically. Although it may be hard to accept the outcome, it is something that happens in real life. This is a drama that you appreciate even more as time goes on. It truly is a gem of a series!!!

TharnType

Synopsis According to MyDramaList: Type Thiwat is a handsome freshman with a passion for football and spicy food. Although he’s a friendly boy, he hates gay people because, in his childhood, he was molested by a man. His life turns upside down when the new academic year of college brings along a charismatic roommate, Tharn Kirigun. Tharn is a gorgeous, compassionate music major, who is also openly gay. When Type learns this, he is determined to make Tharn leave the dorm, as he won't live with a gay person. Tharn is equally determined not to give into Type's homophobic tantrums. With a gay guy and a homophobic guy that have to share a small space together for the rest of the year — what can possibly be the outcome of their story? Hatred? Or maybe love?

My Personal Thoughts: *Goes to hide in a corner* I know this drama is problematic and controversial as hell but it’s like a train wreck that you can’t turn  away from. What truly carries the show I feel is the chemistry between MewGulf. I don’t think I would have enjoyed the series as much if other actors were cast in those roles. They just exude confidence, passion, love, and lust. In terms of the storyline, I found it to be a chaotic occurrence of situations where I just had to know what was going to go on next. Everything that occurred had me intrigued for the next episode and so on and so forth. I loved Type’s character development. One quick thing I want to touch on was I know there were a lot of problematic things that happened which I will touch on at a later date but one thing I wish people were more understanding of was Type’s outbursts, thoughts, and feelings in certain situations. He was a victim of sexual assault so I felt the way he handled certain things was in response to what he had gone through as child and I think some viewers kind of missed that and were almost too harsh on him. Everyone processes and deals with trauma differently. This show went through so many twists and turns and I honestly lived for it especially the shocker towards the end of the series. I didn’t see that one coming at all!!! Despite all of its flaws, this show still holds a special place in my heart.

Honorable Mention:

Cherry Magic: As of today, this show has 4 episodes left and I think I am just going to come out and say that THIS IS MY FAVORITE BL OF THE YEAR!!! It’s a beautiful Japanese BL and I rewatch the old episodes while I wait for new ones to come out alot. It’s such a fluffy, heartwarming, and precious Bl series!!! I love it to pieces!!!

[thedaythealienscame]

hmmmm any of the saw movies (for the movie asks)

ask me about movies <3 | i'm going to do literally all of them with explanations for each one

saw:

never seen | want to see | the worst | bad | whatever | not my thing | good | great | favourite | masterpiece

fuckkkk man. the amount of thought and effort that went into this first movie was insane. a script that took years of revising, going out of their way to get cary elwes to be in the movie (they got him to watch the short film + showed him their drawings). FILMED IT ALL OVER SEVEN DAYS? god. also the concept of a saw movie focusing mostly on one trap is something the franchise hasn't done since. i love it, love the acting, love the props, love the physical effects, everything. <- changed horror as we know it even.

saw ii:

never seen | want to see | the worst | bad | whatever | not my thing | good | great | favourite | masterpiece

for not being written originally as a saw movie, the whole team did a phenomenal job twisting it just a tiny bit more to make it an genuine saw movie. the traps here are brutal in their simplicity, down to the one that eric matthews was in without even knowing it. what a movie. balanced the a + b plots perfectly, all the characters are memorable. wow <3

saw iii:

never seen | want to see | the worst | bad | whatever | not my thing | good | great | favourite | masterpiece

i've only been able to watch saw iii once and the whole time i did i felt genuinely nauseous as to what these people were being put through. it was originally intended to be the last saw movie and they really went all out for this one. the traps here aren't hard to watch because they're gorey, they're hard to watch because they're so unique it's awful to imagine, let alone see. that and the end of amanda + kramer's arcs, plus the unknowing that comes with so much after this is really <3 wow. first movie to do the series of tests for one person.

saw iv:

never seen | want to see | the worst | bad | whatever | not my thing | good | great | favourite | masterpiece

an all around enjoyable movie with an interesting character study on one of the few remaining cops from the second + third movies and his belief that he had the ability to save everyone that has been slowly ruining his life. all the victims in this one were bad people though so i'm removing points for this. also two of the traps were very similar idk why they did that. very good if you're sitting down just to watch a movie! loved the trap with the ice blocks

saw v:

never seen | want to see | the worst | bad | whatever | not my thing | good | great | favourite | masterpiece

in many ways this is a bit of a bad movie <3 it's also a very good movie when you only focus on the trap plotline which is what i went into it for. returning to the idea of the second movie of a series of traps where the victims have to work together to survive. the traps were unique, loved the fact that the victims were all connected in some way, the ways that multiple traps could have been done in multiple ways until the very end. wow <3 many saw enjoyers say this was a very bad one, i entirely agree. still a fave though (some solid theories surrounding this one too) (liked that some characters had a happy ending in this one as well)

saw vi:

never seen | want to see | the worst | bad | whatever | not my thing | good | great | favourite | masterpiece

good commentary in this one surrounding the american healthcare system and was very pleased to see a return to the original ideas (i.e. tests to recover from moral failings/lapses in judgement/etc). the traps were interesting to see and i very much enjoyed the focus on the phrase "live or die" and the focus on partner traps where the person inside the trap also could participate. also: nice to see hoffman get a taste of his own medicine

saw 3d:

never seen | want to see | the worst | bad | whatever | not my thing | good | great | favourite | masterpiece

pink blood, silly storyline, the trap that happened in a dream, and the 3d gimmick aside. this was genuinely an okay movie and i'm sad that most people don't actually like it. the traps were actually really interesting from an outside standpoint (the public execution, the one that happened in a junkyard, see/hear/speak no evil themed traps, etc). ALSO jill's betrayal was soo good. AND THE ENDING. my god <3

jigsaw:

never seen | want to see | the worst | bad | whatever | not my thing | good | great | favourite | masterpiece

it wasn't the worst and some of it was interesting, but it doesn't like. occupy a portion of my mind when i think of the saw franchise even though it was the only one i was old enough to have seen trailers for at the time it came out. idk. it just kind of exists? the plot was okay but i'd have preferred if the twist was different

spiral:

never seen | want to see | the worst | bad | whatever | not my thing | good | great | favourite | masterpiece

i'm actually mad that this one is widely regarded as a bad movie because you could see the twist coming as if the original three saw movies did not also have clues scattered throughout. highly enjoyed seeing actors that i hadn't seen before mixed with actors i had seen before and was very happy with the ending. the unique take on the concept of the movies + way that it takes place mostly outside the traps + the fact that it doesn't take itself too seriously is a plus in my book. wish it had been made without a possible sequel in mind though