#english also has 'the jig is up '

[trans-cuchulainn]

favourite Irish phrase I've learned from reading books is "beidh ár bport seinnte" (or tá, depending on how hypothetical the situation is). our tune is played, lads. it's over.

[soapskneebrace]

@ceilidho tagged me in a wip challenge, i think it's a 1k word thing? (checks notes) Oh it's WIP Wednesday!

no pressure tags: @smoggyfogbottom @lunarvicar @391780

Meanwhile, have 1k of a gangbang I may or may not finish. Set in the neighborsverse but completely noncanon. Or is it??? (It isn't.)

“That comfortable, love?” John asks as he adjusts the blindfold. “Not too tight?”

“Feels fine,” you say, blinking against the fabric. 

The silhouettes of the other men are dim through the weave, but you can pick each one out by where they are sitting from before John tied your eyes. Ghost is leaning against the front door, arms crossed loosely over his chest. Soap is sprawled across John’s couch, and you know he’s still wearing that rakish grin. And Gaz has his elbows on the back of John’s armchair, drumming his fingers against the cushion.

All of them have their eyes on you. You don’t need to see it to know. You can feel it. Their gazes on you, as you sit kneeled on the rug, are every bit as tangible as the warm air that billows from the radiator across your bare skin. You are in a filmy, sleeveless dress, and nothing else.

“Rules of the game,” says John, fingers lightly tracing the sides of your neck, “you have to figure out which of my men is which. If you do, we get to move on. If you don’t, you have to try again.”

You nod. “Yes, John.”

Someone takes in a breath. “Shite.” You’re pretty sure it’s Soap. You don’t hide your smile.

“Meanwhile, you lot have your orders,” John addresses the other men. “And you know I’ll step in if I have to. She’s also got her killswitch if she needs it. Don’t you, love?”

“Benzo,” you relay obediently. 

Someone snorts. “The ex? Really?” Gaz says aloud.

“It’s a pill,” you reply sweetly. “There’s no relation.”

“Sure, hen,” Soap chuckles, “and I sailed a banana boat down the Clyde.”

“English, Johnny.”

“Awa’ an bile yer heid!”

You feel John press his lips to your hair, feel him cup your jaw on both sides with long fingers. “I’ll be here the whole time,” he murmurs.

Heat pools in the pit of your stomach, begins to seep into your skin. Your pulse is a steady, strong beat behind the drum of your breastbone. “Yes, John.”

You know he’s given the men a signal to begin, because Soap rises from the couch to approach you.

John’s hands leave your neck and travel, flat and fingers spread, down your back as a new pair cradles your face. Fingertips trace the outlines of your browbone, press into the hinge of your jaw as warm lips brush teasingly against yours, breath fanning across your mouth.

You part your lips to let out a shaky sigh, and that’s when he kisses you, firm and playful. The hands slide from your face to the sides of your neck, encircling as the thumbs press into the soft underside of your chin, while the tip of his tongue grazes the edge of your teeth. It’s a kiss that knows it’s getting seconds, and wants to make sure you look forward to it.

Soap pulls away, dragging his hands up your neck and along your jaw before his touch retreats.

“Gaz,” you pretend to guess.

“Wrong,” John murmurs. He presses his mouth against your bare shoulder, and you can feel him smile. “Next.”

Next is Gaz, who kisses you without preamble, hands resting on your hips and squeezing. He’s smiling, too, and rather than one kiss he gives you several, tiny pecks from one corner of your mouth to the other that are unexpectedly ticklish.

You can’t help your giggle, and you know if you get them all wrong the jig will be up. “Alright, that’s Gaz.”

“All day,” says the sergeant, a laugh in his tone. He kisses you again for getting it right, his hands ascending to squeeze you around the waist, and then he retreats.

Ghost comes to you then, and he does not touch you. Even on his knees, he towers over you, and you feel his hands brace on either side of your thighs as he leans down to your level. You can’t feel his breath on your face, but you can feel his eyes as he looks at you.

He leans in a moment later, and presses his mouth very softly to your chin.

“Oh,” you breathe, tender and trembling at the gentleness.

“S’alright,” John says over your shoulder, low and rumbling, and you know he’s not talking to you. His hands are warm and soothing on your low back. “She likes it just like that. Go on.”

Then Ghost’s lips press to yours, feather-light, coaxing, moving along the contours of your mouth. You can’t help leaning into it, magnetized, and when you do Ghost seems to get more comfortable—he kisses you harder, one big hand cupping the back of your neck, his tongue easing between your teeth to stroke your own. A moan leaves you, completely unbidden, low and needy.

“Christ,” Soap says. You hear the sound of a hand against fabric, and your whole body throbs when you realize he’s rubbing himself over his trousers.

“How’s this supposed to be a game if you give it away, sergeant?” Price grouses.

You laugh against Ghost’s mouth, and he rewards you for it with the slide of his hand into your hair, gripping firm at the root as he tilts your head and licks deeper into your mouth. Your hands come up to steady yourself on the broad plane of his chest, his pectorals flexing beneath your palms. You can barely breathe as he practically drinks from you, his lips wet and noisy against yours.

“Jesus, LT, you’re just going for it,” Gaz says, clearly impressed.

Ghost finally pulls away, and you pant for oxygen as he breathes evenly, seemingly unaffected. “Someone’s got to show you muppets how to do it.”

Price’s hand strokes over the hair that Ghost had mussed. “Watch yourself.”

“Sad you can’t join in, Cap?” Soap laughs. “Wouldn’t be fair, would it? You could pick him out right away, aye, hen?”

[perdvivly]

Also do a🌻

I think it’s a shame that “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” is the best known pangram. It’s both rather inefficient as pangrams go (35 letters) and not particularly creative to make up for it.

Consider this pangrammatic autogram for example: “This pangram contains four As, one B, two Cs, one D, thirty Es, six Fs, five Gs, seven Hs, eleven Is, one J, one K, two Ls, two Ms, eighteen Ns, fifteen Os, two Ps, one Q, five Rs, twenty-seven Ss, eighteen Ts, two Us, seven Vs, eight Ws, two Xs, three Ys, & one Z.” Which is massively inefficient of course, but creative enough to make up for that.

I do really like the tumblr-famous pangram “Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow” but not quite as much as “waltz, bad nymph, for quick jigs vex” (both of which are more efficient than the more famous jumping fox).

There aren’t known perfect pangrams in English that don’t have some glaring defect. Sure there’s “Mr Jock, TV quiz PhD, bags few lynx” which doesn’t make sense as a sentence and uses abbreviations, and “Cwm fjord bank glyphs vext quiz” which is frankly too arcane and only makes sense if you really squint.

But!

There is a famous perfect pangram in Japanese. *And* it’s a really pretty Buddhist poem too. There are a few caveats like the first record of its existence comes from 1079 and so it has some obsolete and historical hiragana and there have been phonological changes over time etc. but check it out, it’s really neat: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroha

[davekat-sucks]

This is dumb and petty but that paradox space comic about Dualscar's death always irks me and I consider it especially fucking dubiously canon because of it. Because: how the literal fuck do you write that comic and not end it with Dualscar being hanged via rope??? Like such a simple literacy and storytelling check for the writer and they fail it. Like okay, you have a character based off of Captain Ahab, the scars, hunts white whales, name of the gun, hubris, yada yada. Ahab's prophesy was that he'd die to hemp rope, which because of his hubris he dismisses as him dying by the gallows, and so he doesn't have to worry for as long as he hunts the white whale. (Then he dies caught on a whaleline what a schmuck lol.)

Then, you have Dualscar being a pirate go to fucking court to snitch, apparently expecting to come out all well and dandy? That's what you call goddamned hubris. Method of execution is never mentioned in the webcomic proper because to anybody with functioning brain it should be obvious subtext. And this fucking writer, this dumb ass motherfucker of a writer, does not twist fate so that Dualscar dies a death by the gallows because his hubris. By the way, his execution also serving narratively to bring misses fucking gallows calibrator Redglare WHO IS IN THE COMIC into the ancestors story. Bring back the whole Ahab theme? Nope. Absolutely writing incompetence I hate that comic so much.

And oooooh before you ignorant nasally voiced "well acktually" motherfuckers who I already hear start: "oH bUt He HaS gIlLs sO hE cAn BrEaTh StIlL!" DIE. That's not how gills work fucking idiots. Morons. Imbeciles. Dumbasses. You pull a fish out of water and expect it to breath with its gills?? You're stupid.

Also just a flat out missed opportunity for the jokey tone the comic is going for because it's the notorious GHB, you know, whose alt lives are all about puppets??? String Dualscar up like a marionette on top of the noose and make him do a stupid little jig as his humiliating death, which makes GHB laugh after he's already dead. So simple it writes itself.

AGHHHH

Hanging is more of Neophyte Redglare's thing. And Dualscar's death has more connection relating to the Grand Highblood, which means the x3 Showdown Combo would have been Eridan, his descendent, taking revenge against Gamzee. People had speculated that Eridan would be the one to beat Gamzee to complete the circle. Though if Dualscar was hanged, it would also be fitting for Eridan to also be hung via his scarf. So it would have happened to him at some point too. Whether as a joke or by someone's hands, namely Terezi because she follows her Ancestor's footsteps to bring justice and did the same for her Pyralspite plushies. If Dualscar's death of his body to made out like a puppet, then it would give more weight to Doc Scratch's warning about how Eridan would fall into despair and go Murderstuck. That Doc Scratch knew that it would happen and intentionally made it so. Despite Eridan was also someone who would be destined to fight against Lord English, his ties with his ancestor, even after giving up his ideals of following him, still lingers because he would be controlled by someone else.

Dualscar's death of being a joke probably was Hussie's take of how Ahab died in a hilarious way. Thus, he made it that Dualscar died from a literal joke. It's call subversion, anon. Something that he uses quite a lot to think he is a hot shit writer that nobody has done before. It's not like he has to follow exact beats of Moby Dick for Eridan. If he did, then what would be considered Eridan losing a leg? He's still able-bodied. Closest other nautical aquatic theme the violetblood gets is the unrequited love like it was in the original The Little Mermaid. Another is that in Mindfang's journal, despite that Dualscar was her ex-kismesis, she laughed and pity about Dualscar's demise not being as grand as others like how the Sufferer/Signless was shot to death or how Redglare died from mind controlled subjects. But it could also be the case the Mindfang is an unreliable narrator. Everything about the history of the Ancestor prior to Doc Scratch's own telling was through her eyes. There could be bias and she decided to make fun of Dualscar even if they weren't as close as they were. So maybe it shouldn't be taken too seriously if the 8tich herself is just as shady. And true, Paradox Space comics is considered questionably canon. There are some stories like Vrisky Business, The Town Mouse and The Country Mouse, or Crowbar's story here, that actually give an interesting take of things we wish we could have seen or had wondered how those certain characters acted behind the scenes of the webcomic. And then there's stuff like Relation Shipping, Con Faire, or Horseplay, which are more gag stories that shouldn't be taken seriously. Paradox Space might just fall into the category of pick and choose which is considered canon or not. After all, people probably wouldn't take this part of Summerteen Romance as an actual thing of how the troll reproduction works. Just like how with Hussie, you have to pick and choose what he says is to be taken seriously or not.

[fibula-rasa]

Favorite New-to-me Films—March ‘24

(listed in order pictured above, L to R)

READ on BELOW the JUMP!

Forbidden Fruit (1921)

[letterboxd | imdb]

C.B. DeMille and Jeanie MacPherson’s second swing at this modernized Cinderella story about overcoming a bad husband, now with eye-popping fantasy sequences designed by Natacha Rambova. [Gif sets incoming!]

Mary Maddock (Agnes Ayres) does seamstress work and takes in laundry to support her layabout, no-goodnik husband. Her wealthy clients (Kathlyn Williams & Theodore Roberts) hatch a scheme to use a social event to settle a business deal with handsome young entrepreneur Nelson Rogers (Forrest Stanley). Mary accepts the job to keep Rogers occupied, with the unintended consequence of the two falling in love. When Mary’s husband makes a surprise appearance, the jig is up. But, after her husband’s chicanery has deadly consequences, Mary and Rogers are free to live happily ever after. CW: a pet bird is killed.

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The Woman King (2022)

[letterboxd | imdb]

Giving an epic treatment to fitting subject matter, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Maria Bello, and Dana Stevens tell the story of the Agojie, a real-life group of warriors from the kingdom of Dahomey in West Africa, and General Nanisca (Viola Davis), a fictional leader of the warriors. The Woman King has a creative approach to history, to which a lot of critical attention has been paid—it’s certainly worth seeking education on relevant historical topics. 

That said, it was a gutsy and risky proposition to tell a story tied into the Transatlantic slave trade focused entirely on the West African and Portuguese side for an American (and English speaking) audience. Also, as an avid fan of Xena: Warrior Princess and the Eddas/sagas of Iceland and Scandinavia, I appreciated the filmmakers taking a legendary approach to this location and time period. In its deliberately extra-historical engagement with history, The Woman King also brought to mind for me Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène‘s Ceddo (1971), which I highly recommend. (Obviously the films have wildly different tones/styles tho!) 

As you might imagine from the description, heavy CWs for violence (including SA), blood, and slavery.

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Why Change Your Wife? (1920)

[letterboxd | imdb]

A month ago, I wouldn’t have believed you if you told me that I’d be putting not one but two DeMille movies on my new-to-me favorites list! I initially watched them as reference for the cosplay I mentioned in the last monthly round-up post, but ended up enjoying both! Often there are elements of DeMille’s films that hamper my ability to enjoy them fully, whether it’s goofy class politics (hello Saturday Night), racist depictions (hi The Woman God Forgot, which I also watched for the first time this past month), or that I simply rarely enjoy christian bible epics. 

That’s not to say Why Change Your Wife? is somehow perfect—it features pretty sexist attitudes. But, having learned a little bit about DeMille’s unconventional marriage, I see it less of a story of wives failing and more of a story about how two people who have a solid partnership can lose themselves when they lose each other. Here I’m referring to the first part of the film, before Swanson’s Beth and Meighan’s Robert get divorced. Beth isn’t being true to herself when she’s on her mental-improvement kick—there are sufficient details thrown in that show that she and Robert have drifted apart and she’s responding to it by morphing into a maiden aunt type. The film could’ve made Robert’s role in their marriage’s demise a little more overt, but I do think DeMille and screenwriters Olga Printzlau, Sada Cowan, and William DeMille must have been concerned about the American public’s response to a story that normalizes divorce in 1920. For context, we didn’t have no-fault divorce here in the US until the 1970s.

Anyway, why should you watch it? Gloria Swanson and Bebe Daniels offer fun and energetic characterizations as the two Mrs. Gordons, and they share a pretty wild fight scene. The costumes by Natacha Rambova are funky and interesting. The film features an absolutely adorable dog too! (If anyone recognizes the dog please LMK!) [Gif sets for this film are also on the way!]

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Intohimon vallassa (1947)

[letterboxd | imdb | ELONET]

Teuvo Tulio don’t miss. 

The heir to the biggest farm in the county, Aino (Regina Linnanheimo), is forced into an arranged marriage, but the man she really loves, Olavi (Kullervo Kalske), sticks around and becomes the town blacksmith. Years pass and Aino’s husband becomes an alcoholic and an abuser. Olavi keeps his distance as Aino’s marriage implodes in a particularly disturbing fashion. CW: domestic abuse, alcoholism, implied death of dog

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023)

[letterboxd | imdb]

Look at me watching more than one movie this year that was made in this century! Anyways, I’ve been a turtle fan as long as I can remember (photographic evidence below) and I love that the comics have been re-adapted so well in the last 15 or so years for younger generations. (The 2012 show is very cute btw, worth checking out especially if you have kids.)

This take features a unique and kinetic animation style with an accessible story touching on what makes someone an outcast and how both adults and kids can navigate that. Mutant Mayhem features probably my new favorite depictions of April and of Splinter. Also, even though the non-turtle characters are almost all celebrity voice actors, the voice acting quality is very high.

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Montana Moon (1930)

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Sweet romantic story with comedic elements about a millionaire’s willful daughter (Joan Crawford) who, fleeing an awkward situation on a train ride with her family, runs into a cowboy (Johnny Mack Brown). The two quickly fall in love and are married, but the newlyweds face challenges when the differences in their lifestyles come into sharp relief. I love Crawford’s costuming and styling in this and her performance elevates the material. There are extended sequences with classic country-western music tho, so if that grates on you, you might want to take a pass on this one.

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Leda – The Fantastic Adventure of Yohko (1985)

[letterboxd | imdb]

Yoko Asagiri is a young girl struggling to confess her feelings to the boy she likes. She decides to confess via a song she composed herself, but the song turns out to be a key to another world. Yoko teams up with a talking dog and a tiny warrior girl with a giant robot to fight the villainous Zell, who wants to use Yoko’s song to conquer her world. The animation and designs are top-notch as is the music. I personally enjoyed all of the Oz vibes suffused throughout the OVA.

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Tomatos Another Day (1934)

[letterboxd | imdb | Eastman House]

Also known as “It Never Happened,” this is ostensibly a short film about a woman carrying on an affair and said affair being discovered by her husband. What Tomatos Another Day actually is is a send up of early talkies conceived and executed by independent filmmaker James Sibley Watson Jr. and collaborator Alec Wilder. If you’ve been around my blog for a while, you probably already know that I love Watson’s Fall of the House of Usher (1928) [Gifs/Stills]. However, I haven’t seen much else of his work! Thankfully, Eastman House has preserved and digitized a couple of his films and I plan on watching more soon. The link above has the short film with an introduction and outtakes!

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Past Lives (2023)

[letterboxd | imdb]

Past Lives is a quiet but emotionally-rich love story by Celine Song that spans decades but also a single eventful week. I loved the way that the story was structured and how much the film relied on thoughtful pauses to communicate complicated emotions. The actors, Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, and John Magaro, all put in great work here. If you haven’t seen it yet, but plan to watch it, prepare to cry a bit.

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The Mind Reader (1933)

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Warren William plays a carny with a different gimmick for every town in the midwest. When the Depression affects his take, he and his cohorts, Frank (Alan Jenkins) and Sam (Clarence Muse), come up with a new scheme: fortune telling. As Chandra the Great, the crew start to rake it in, but when Chandra falls for an upright citizen (Constance Cummings), the scheme and their freedom is put in jeopardy.

I’m not accustomed to William playing this particular brand of sleazebag, but he really kills it as Chandra/Chandler/Munro. I appreciated how creative and adventurous the cinematography and editing is—not an especially common trait for pre-code films. I also made some still sets for the film!

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Honorable Mention: Hard to Handle (1933) [letterboxd | imdb]

This film gets honorable mention because while I didn’t think it was particularly good, a few call outs are deserved. The bad: the plot was unnecessarily convoluted and the recurring sequences with fat people were iffy at best. The better: Ruth Donnelly shines as the comedically base mother of Mary Brian and she even gets to do a bit of physical comedy. Donnelly, Brian, and Cagney have a nice chemistry together throughout. In terms of costuming, the matching outfits of Brian and Donnelly are funny, but made funnier by the sheer quantity of mother-daughter ensembles they wear. The neutral: the film is packed with topical Depression-era references: notably Florida investment swindles and trends like dance marathons and the grapefruit diet. All-in-all, the filmmakers could have done less and achieved more.

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The only big post I completed this month was a massive undertaking: Lost, but Not Forgotten: Omar Khayyam / A Lover’s Oath and a timeline for the film’s production and release.

Otherwise, I made themed gif and still sets from:

Torture Garden (1967)

The Marriage Circle (1924)

Le Altre (1969)

The Mind Reader (1933)

As for April, the cosplay I mentioned should be up very soon. If I have the time, both Lost, but Not Forgotten and How’d They Do That should have new installments posted and I have a few movies/shows on my themed gif/still agenda.

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[standardquip]

Heat Guy J Live Reacts

While watching Gungrave I remembered this show existed. Here are a compilation of discord messages I sent while watching the show over the course of ~2 weeks.

Key points: - This just might be an escaflowne AU - werewolves heck yes - better women than gungrave - surprise "tomatoes in anime" research

do I watch Heat Guy J (26 eps, similar to gungrave) or do I watch Black lagoon (29 eps, sexy guns starring a lady) I'm leaning toward Heat Guy J for my grey haired man quota I'm playing Heat Guy J ep 1 now so far the music is good lol kill bill inspired or kill bill was inspired bythis? I don't remember when either of those came out wow the voices are so much cooler sounding in japanese they just sound lame in english but english uses less brain power so I'll deal I'm gonna play all these at 1.5x speed because I'm on a strict schedule wow the cgi in this anime did not age well

I think this show shares a character designer with escaflowne … I might have to get this soundtrack damn this ost is all over the place but in a good way I'm only 12min into the first ep this is crazy ok alan schezar

hey look, it's Chid Freid all grown up

shut up, emo dildandau

also, they call the don of their mafia "vampire" (that's the title of the position) That's pretty neat

I'm pretty sure that's just a simplified bra design but this is the 2nd time she's shown up and all I can think of when I see her is "furry boobs"

this dude [Claire] seriously is dilandau straight up psychotic

werewolf or werecat? Hmmmmm

WHAT prisoners have their dna altered so when/if they escape prison, their faces are altered to look like beasts That is such an INSANE policy who puts sunflowers on a grave wtf

I started Heat Guy J I'm just starting ep 3 Here's my thoughts so far:

Surprisingly way more interesting than I thought it would be

The OST is god tier imo

Character design is very similar to vision of escaflowne

the android design is unique and cool bonus: at least one werewolf

ep4 it is a werewolf hecc yeah

"Have you seen my bunny?" I think I found Van

oh If we take personality into account This guy is actually folken

hot

this irish jig thing they have for the fight scenes is really entertaining

the russian roulette guy is the werewolf And I'm going back on the folken thing He's definitely Van ep5 I think this will be the last one for me tonight

fun times

[someone else says: Heat Guy J episode 1: October 1, 2002. Kill Bill Vol 1 premiere: October 30, 2003 ]

gonna try and get the next 5 eps of heat guy j done starting with ep 6 alright what's with the tomato symbolism in anime this didn't just come out of nowhere in new anime and now it's in heat guy j

[someone says: So Google has no idea why tomatoes I thought there would be like some sort of analysis on tomatoes as a symbolic device in anime ]

No it's probably not that direct like maybe japan exports a ton of tomatoes or something?

like if potatoes show up in some irish show There's a lot of history behind that (because of the potato famine) regardless of how they are actually used in the show There is a reason Just like how english is always saying "oh my god" or why they say "bless you" when you sneeze That seems benign but the reason for it is because english speakers are/were predominantly christian

Nobody's going to write an essay about why english speakers use "oh my god" or "bless you" in mass media It's something ingrained in the culture, so you'd have to look in a different context (different from its connection to why it shows up in tv shows a lot) to find the answer you're looking for

I guess ep 6 is "the stock market episode" oh boy they're really hamfisting the lessons in this one already oh boy they just explained the difference between stocks and commodities they also explained shorts (without calling them shorts)

J just caught a bullet with his BARE HANDS and it wasn't even a special scene or anything IT JUST HAPPENED

WHAT dilandau is like "I don't want you around anymore" to his butler so the butler is like "ok" AND THEN PUTS A GUN TO HIS HEAD FOR SUICIDE that's fucking crazy just leave the organization It was a free pass

ep7

cool he's got a scar now also it was just confirmed that THIS ONE is a cat

Back to tomatoes in anime: https://tasteofculture.com/2023/07/17/tomatoes-in-japan/ not as in-depth as I was hoping for

but my armchair guess is it symbolizes a gaijin making a big change to the culture and succeeding maybe an underdog story that also happens to look pretty

I wonder if this is why the tomato is getting spotlight in new anime https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Science/Japan-approves-gene-edited-super-tomato.-But-will-anyone-eat-it

why do japanese love the tomato so much? :skeptical fry.jpg: https://www.bbcspirits.com/gb/other-alcohols/729-liqueur-japan-la-tomato.html

ok so [person] might be onto something with the "it's just pretty" thing https://www.ishs.org/ishs-article/100_10 this abstract makes it more clear that tomatoes were grown primarily because they were pretty. They didn't start eating them until the 1920s!

starting ep 10 now

alright Let's see if I can get to ep 15 I want to start a different series

ep11 was about mind control You know, it's been awhile since we saw the werewolf guy I wonder if he'll be in ep12

Heat Guy J is way more entertaining than the trailer made it seem but there's no real over-arching plot so I'm kind of bored of it now But not bored enough of it that I am ok abandoning it without finishing HELL YEAH WEREWOLF GUY IS IN THIS ONE oh lame they reused the animation from the other episode 😔

ep13 (yay) if I could finish this series today, that would be cool idk if I can keep focused on it much longer though I actually kind of want to go to bed… :reigensweat: (it's only 6pm here)

Starting ep15 The last one for today oh damn they legit destroyed heat guy j they just gave the main character super lsd

… j will make a full recovery damn plot armor

damn MC's (Daisuke) got plot armor from the super lsd too what a letdown

well ep15 is over and nothing has fundamentally changed I'm going to bed I guess And by "Bed" i mean laying down and browsing reddit on my phone til I fall asleep

ok let's see if I can get through 16 - 20 of heat guy j tonight

ep16 MC's brother, alan with glasses, was shot and is in the hospital. I guess he doesn't have plot armor. Meanwhile, dildandau's organization tries to overthrow him because he's too psychotic I wasn't paying much attention, I'm not sure if it succeeded or not

ep17 continues this plot MC & J leave the city and MC smells clean air and grass for the first time He doesn't like nature smells one random side character is the voice of those toonami music video narrator's (outlaw star narrator?) and it's sooo weird

hell yeah werewolf is back werewolf guy aka van is actually just a deus ex He only appeared for 5 seconds to make plot armor for MC 😩 ep18 MC got fired from the special unit. So he and J are now no longer partners alan is out of the hospital I think MC is going after the gang organization that dildandau used to be head of. is currently head of? It's still confusing

ok looks like dildandau is uhhh not present mentally and is maybe on the run So I guess the coup succeeded lol dildandau's character name is claire rival crime gangs are all after claire because they need his eyes to defeat some retinal scanner to access a ton of gold

J has been re-activated to be the plot armor for MC, who happens to be in the same room as clair currently while this gang war is going on yadda yadda somehow MC got the special unit formed again ep19 MC trying to recruit werewolf to the new special unit oh werewolf history episode yay

werewolf joined them yay ep20 Probably the last one before bed tonight There's 26 eps total, so maybe I can finish it tomorrow ep20 today we learn lightsabers just casually exist in this universe oh There's also an evil clone of J apparently

the evil J is trying to kill the MCs but normal J is nowhere to be found I wonder why that is oh there he is finally J vs J battle has commenced J is so OP evil J is dead now ehhhh let's watch ep 21, then call it some random side character has lost his black cat, named juliet aaaand now he's dead

juliet sees it And with his dying breath, he reaches for the cat "I have to make sure that you get home" Sad surprisingly powerful for random side character who has never shown up before oh wait He has shown up before lmao his name is romeo of course he'd name his cat juliet poor juliet

ok ep21 done bed now finish heat guy j tomorrow hopefully

alright let's see if we can watch the last 5 eps of heat guy j today beginning ep 22 this time the killer machine is A WOMAN! you know, this show has more women than the last one (Gungrave), which is good, but so far every single "evil" woman has been mind controlled meaning apparently women don't have the power to be bad of their own accord So that's kind of weird that it's happened twice now

the mechanic for J is very obviously in love with him I mean it was obvious from the first ep she was introduced but now it's even more obvious This looks like it's going to turn into "the beach episode"

oh shit, the island's owned by sephiroth! 😂

ep 23 There's a reoccuring small girl photographer character. She sells photos from a carriage on the street with a mule. So we start this ep with her carriage (which is also her house) burning to the ground girl is stoic, mom is crying and sobbing Girl says "Darn. I forgot my camera. I bet I could've sold a photo of this to the news for some money"

monica (the girl) now lives with the special squad and she is spitting some straight facts J has agreed to pretend to be monica's dad She is using him as a stage performer so she can get money LOL Now she's using him to gamble haha

so you're telling me that in all the years MC has been carrying this bullet pendant around his neck, he never once tried to open it? give me a break Monica opened it and found a memory card inside which is a thing MC needed to solve a crime anyway, ep24 time woman assassin! is she acting of her own accord though? Let's find out

Turns out MC's brother, Alan (actually named Shun) was the evil one all along! Oh Female assassin is actually J's technician! womp womp and shun just killed her sad trombone.mp3 and now he's controlling J!

oh no.jpg

ep25 begins (second to last episode) claire/dildandau makes a triumphant return, to tell MC his brother is the one behind this! Because MC was too dumb to figure it out himself for some reason rather than MC fighting J, beautiful werewolf deus ex appears out of nowhere and forces J into sleep mode

something weird is happening with alan's voice I'm predicting he is actually an android as well Let's see if this bet pays off dildandau got his organization back

same face syndrome killed me the assassin was shun/alan's assistant, not J's technician time to start the final ep, ep26

this is dumb the anime is too episodic now what do I want to watch next? (even though ep26 is still going on in the background) - High Card - Link Click season 2 - Blood Blockade Battlefront - Grenadier - Noein - Black Lagoon

Currently I am interested in lots of guns and gray haired men idk which is more important so maybe a good 50/50 ratio is perfect 🤔 well if we go in download date order, I should do Black Lagoon next… MC to evil brother: "The only think I'm here to kill… Is your anger" 😂

plot armor is in full effect in this episode now there's fireworks because some random deus ex kills everyone that mattered to the coup evil brother tries to kill himself nothing matters evil brother is not an android sad evil brother does not die and decides to not be evil anymore they gave him amnesty This has less stakes than an MCU movie MC goes on a kino's journey without J series ends super lame I am going to make a very nonsensical decision and start High Card next oh no its japanese with subs only! 😩 I don't want to deal with that right now Guess I'll go with Black Lagoon

I finished Heat Guy J It's too episodic for my tastes Also the plot armor was super thick I have started Black Lagoon I'm on ep9 currently It's much better (Heat Guy J OST was still amazing though) the only thing black lagoon is missing is a silver haired guy

well there's 29 eps... More than enough time for one to show up

[overdecorated-furniture]

Writer Introduction

Greetings, fellow writers of Tumblr! I thought I should introduce myself, as I have been lurking quietly for a while now, and you all seem like excellent writers with interesting projects.

About Me

I’m a teenage English girl, with a passion for history, literature, the odd cosplay, and storytelling. I’ve been making up roleplays with myself since I was small, and my stories have always kept me company.

I’ve grown up reading Shakespeare since I was seven, as well as the more traditional children’s classics, and have since found that my passions lie in fantasy worlds, historical fiction, and detective fiction/murder mysteries, although I like to dabble in all genres if I get the chance.

My WIPs

I am currently in the middle of writing two novels, a short story that has accidentally turned into a novella, and various short stories, flashfiction and any other bits and pieces that take my fancy.

The Jack of Diamonds

This is a historical fiction set in 1890s London, and focuses on the criminal classes, and the anonymity of personal and public life that is so prevalent across Late-Victorian Literature.

The plot centres around a young Aristocrat called Philip Devlin, and the double life he leads as London’s most infamous criminal. It’s still very much half formed, so I can’t be amazingly accurate about everything that’s in it, but it might be your cup of tea if you like:

Close Male Friendships that fall apart unexpectedly.

A strong female character who doesn’t fall in love with the protagonist.

The adventure/mystery style of Conan Doyle and Maurice LeBlanc.

And the inevitable morally grey Venetian of all good stories.

Echoes of Eternity (Working title)

This is a fantasy/folklore work, centred around the Arthurian legends, and has a time travel/time slip element to it. There is also an exploration of power and the damage it causes, as well as how death affects the living.

This is still mostly at a world-building stage, although I have written the odd scene out, so the plot is still fairly nebulous, but it follows the dual paths of a young mage called Amser from Arthurian times, and the story of Rose and Jay Fleetwood, as they attempt to right the wrongs of the past together. This might be up your street if you like:

A Morally Grey protagonist with dubious motives.

The magic of King Arthur and his knights.

Magic systems similar to those used in The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series by Michael Scott.

And randomly angry ghosts leading to time travelling quests

A Monstrous Regiment of Women

This is historical fiction meets fanfiction, with a good helping of biographical info thrown in. It’s set during the Napoleonic Wars, and examines the place of women in that society, the psychological effects of war, and how the Napoleonic Wars shaped Europe.

I Have reimagined Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington as women, Letizia Bonaparte and Francis Wellesley respectively, and have imagined how their lives would look if they had still enlisted in the military. This is probably the most complete of my major WIPs, as all the information and plot is already available in history books, I just need to jig it around. You might like this if you enjoy:

Stories with good depictions of battles in them.

Regency Literature, or pastiches like Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

Strong female protagonists acting outside societal norms.

Sweeping story arcs that cover a character in a range of situations and moods.

Other Bits and Pieces

I often write short stories, and most of them end up on my AO3 account. It’s a rather eclectic mix, with a lot of crossovers, but I enjoy writing them a lot. You can find it below:

I am more than up for being sent asks, participating in tag games etc, and love writing socially. I’m also happy to share any tips or prompts I think up, although those will be very sporadic given all my writing to date has been mostly self-governed. Generally speaking I’m somewhat uncomfortable with NSFW type prompts, asks etc, so avoid those if possible.

Finally, I look forward to chatting to you all and sharing my creations. Happy writing everyone!

[boysplanetrecaps]

The Great Produce 48 Rewatch: Ep 4, Very Very Very (IOI) Challenge

Welcome back to the thing I’m doing for some reason: The Great Produce48 Rewatch Recap-ma-jig! When we left off, we saw the penultimate teams perform Twice’s Like Ooh Ah. In this post, we’ll focus on the two performances of Very Very Very, featuring many future members of Iz*one, IVE,  Purplekiss, and Le Sserafim. Let’s do it!

Lee Seungki announces the next song as being “meaningful” -- and it is. Very Very Very was the song that made I.O.I. into what they were, and paved the way for IZ*one. He calls the two teams up on stage as the Avengers theme plays, I assume in the theater itself. Jeremy is like, “Wow, Sakura is in one of those teams.” Hey, Jeremy? Sakura is ranked 5th, which is respectable, but Yujin is ranked SECOND and Kwon Eunbi is ranked THIRD and I don’t see you mention either of them. And when Gaeun went up for Peekaboo, you didn’t mention her at all, even though she’s ranked FIRST. I know, I know, the filming was a little ahead of the voting, so they didn’t know what people would be ranked, and Sakura was the center, but she was the center, not like, actually Iron Man. 

It’s so weird the way these shows pick a person to be the whole show. I got it when it was Sung Hanbin from Boys Planet, as he is not just perfect looking but also an excellent dancer and a great singer and someone whose tears crystalize into diamonds that could refract light itself into champagne. But Sakura, despite being a sweet, cute, hardworking girl, isn't unusually talented or charming as far as I can tell. 

Anyway! To get us back up to speed, here are two teams. 

Yujin’s team, which was formed second overall introduces themselves as “Mixed Fruits”.

Left to right:

Honda Hitomi, 16, the super cutey who worked her way up from C to A and is currently ranked 47th.

An Yujin, 14, future member of  IVE who rose from B to A and is currently ranked 2nd overall. Wow! And she’s 14, you guys. I always forget how young she is here. 

Jang Wonyoung, future Wonyoung, known for being Wonyoung but currently with her original face, who has stayed in B and is ranked 4th.

Choi Yena, 18, friendly Yena from Yuehua who kept us company for a lot of episode 1, fell from A to B, and is currently ranked 6th. 

Shiroma Miru, 20, future visitor to Queendom Puzzle, who fell from B to D but is ranked 22nd. 

Na Goeun, 18, future Purplekiss, A class girl, and ranked 20th. 

Sakura’s team, which was formed first overall, introduces themselves a “Very Raspberry” (in English). It’s weird how many pairs of teams ended up with thematically similar names. 

Left to right:

Kwon Eunbi, 22, the future soloist, fell from A to C, is currently ranked 3rd

Motomura Aoi,  21, sweet faced Aoi from Never Ending Ferris Wheel, who rose from D to B and is ranked 42nd. 

Kim Minju, 17, a Very Pretty Girl, rose from D to C, ranked 17 

Kim Choyeon, 16, fire-eyes girl and future Bugaboo, fell from A to C, ranked 75 

Miyawaki Sakura, 20, THE SAKURA, future member of Le Sserafim who stayed in A and is ranked 5th. 

Lee Chaeyeon, 18, future soloist, who stayed in A and is ranked 10th.

Clearly, both teams are pretty stacked. But Yunjin’s team is just maybe that little bit more stacked, despite being formed second. I actually don’t remember who wins, but my 2024 knowledge implies it might have something to do with Wonyoung. 

Red Team’s Miru says, in Japanese, that their cute members will blend to make the sweetest juice, so bring it on! Blue team’s Sakura says that their team is the closest and that will make their performance best, and throws in a “fighting!” at the end. 

We jump back to Red team’s dance practice with Dance Bae, but this will be more about Blue team. Give it a moment.

Original face Wonyoung’s cute wiggling and winking earns a smile from Dance Bae, and it looks like everyone is doing a good and cute job. Dance Bae mentions the center, then after a pause says that they chose the right girl for it. 

We see Kim Choyeon, who is the center of the other team, reacting with concern to how good Wonyoung is. Poor Choyeon. Imagine having to go up against Wonyoung? In ANYTHING? It just wouldn’t go well. And the fact that Choyeon doesn’t quite meet Korean beauty standards -- despite being, in my opinion, a striking looking girl -- doesn’t help. 

Choyeon interviews, “Wonyoung’s facial expressions are all so natural. She’s so pretty and she does a good job standing at the center. I’m a bit anxious.”

It’s group 2’s turn, and Dance Bae tells them that she’s happy to see all of them since this is a team with a lot of skilled members. She expresses a bit of surprise that Choyeon is the center.

Center: Choyeon  Left of Choyeon: Aoi Right of Choyeon: Lee Chaeyon Behind Choyeon: Kim Minju Kneeling, left to right: Eunbi, Sakura

The editors present us with a weird-face-off between Choyeon and Dance Bae. (I mean a weird-face off, not a weird face-off, if you feel me.) 

When they’re done, Dance Bae says, “Choyeon, I’m sorry, but you were overacting. You made me feel so uncomfortable, I had to look at someone else.” Choyeon nods. I think she kinda knew. 

The editors keep doing that “swallowing” noise thing and I hate it nomu nomu nomu nomu much. 

Bae goes on, and she really, really lets them have it. She says, “What’s ironic is, you guys dance better than the other group. You have more famous members, too. But I sense that there’s a different vibe. You guys aren’t so fresh compared to Group One. I think it could be a problem of the center member. For the team, I think it’s better to select a new center member. Girls, you have to be careful choosing a center member. Why don’t you all think rationally? Don’t be swayed by what other people think.”

Afterwards, there is a lot of crying. Motherly Eunbi holds Choyeon while she sobs. Everyone else hovers nearby, patting her vaguely. 

Cut to dress rehearsal and we see that now, Sakura is in the center. Ahn Yujin voice overs that it makes sense to her that Sakura would be in the center, and really, it makes sense to all of us.

Soyou asks about it, and almost sounds angry, but that might just be her shouting to be heard from the distance. Kwon Eunbi explains that they decided to change to Sakura recently. 

Side note: Doesn’t Choyeon look pretty with her hair like this? 

Her face is one of those interesting faces that can go either way, and I think that’s cool. A lot of runway models are like that. She just needs, I don’t know, the right hair and the right styling and the right attitude to be like yeah, my eyes are lasers, get into it!

Cut back to the group meeting -- one of those Criss-cross-Applesauce-Crescent-Moons of Doom. It’s a CACMOD, if you will. 

Eunbi asks the group who should be the center, and Aoi sweetly says, “Choyeon,” which makes Choyeon smile for a second before immediately starting to cry. Even in her interview she is overcome with sobs. She tries to smile, though. She wants to do what’s best for the group.

The group smartly decides to record themselves six times, each time with a different person in the center, and then watch the recordings. Afterward, Lee Chaeyon says she thinks that Sakura should be the center. And at that moment, a thousand ‘ships were launched! Everyone nods, and Choyeon herself speaks up to agree that yes, Sakura should be the center. Pretty Eunbi agrees, and the decision is made.

They applaud, but Sakura is full of mixed emotions about taking over her friend’s part. 

She also has to learn the rap. We see that she has the rap written in katakana, the Japanese writing system designed for foreign words. 

She’s learning it phonetically, basically, and it’s not going to be easy, but she sits with the others and practices the pronunciation and dance as hard as she can. 

We cut back to dress rehearsal and Sakura is making a lot of mistakes with the words. When they’re done, Cheetah lets her have it, which I just think is mean.

 “That wasn’t good. I can’t hear anything. I can’t make out what you’re saying. Why did you have to change positions and make the rap part horrible?” 

Like, she doesn’t speak Korean, lady. It’s obvious she’s having trouble. I’d just say, “Well, it’s obvious you need a lot more work on the words. What is your plan to learn the lyrics by performance day?” And then, AND THEN, Soyou of all fucking people says, “Because of Sakura, everything was ruined. Her pronunciation was bad, and her dance was offbeat.” She goes on and on and on, and Sakura begins literally flinching as the words hit her in the face. 

Ugh. I think a lot of this is production interference. They know that they want to show a lot of both of these teams, so they need as much drama as they can get, and they want a lot of it to center on Sakura so they can put Sakura’s face in the middle of people’s TV screens. 

It must be so hard for Sakura. She seems to genuinely want to learn, and then she gets alternately praised and lambasted for roughly equivalently good performances. Audition offkey and with extremely simple choreo? Into A class! Not learn a 20 second rap in a foreign language in 2 days? MAKE HER FEEL LIKE SCUM YOU FOUND ON YOUR SHOE. 

Thanks, judges. Thudges. 

Kindly Jeremy asks, in Japanese, do you think you can do ok tomorrow? She answers, “I think Choyeon should be in the center.” 

Commercial break! In the Spanish video you can see this inexplicable advertisement featuring AI idols dancing to Nekoya. (23:30 or so)

In an interview, she cries as she says that she feels bad that Choyeon missed out on her chance to be center, but I’d argue that this isn’t entirely Sakura’s fault. Choyeon couldn’t figure out how to smile naturally, Sakura. I mean, harsh, but like… true.  

Now, in this interview, she’s wearing her actual performance outfit, not the outfit she was wearing in dress rehearsal, which had a blue collar. I can’t help but wonder if this interview, in which she says that Choyeon would have had more time to rehearse as center if it weren’t for her -- I wonder if this interview was recorded AFTER their performance. Because it would make sense if it were. It would put a different cast on it when she says that she thinks everything is her fault. 

Side note: I wonder why Eunbi was never really floated as a center for the performance? She looks a little like Irene from Red Velvet, in my opinion, and she can sing and dance. She would have been a great center. Maybe it’s because she’s not quite as twig-thin as the other girls….? IDK. 

Anyway, they decide to switch back to Choyeon, and Sakura voice overs that she feels much better about it. Eunbi voice overs that the team has gotten really close and they work well together. Minju voiceovers that she wants to make the performance perfect, and I’m like, “oh, is that what your voice sounds like, Minju? I had forgotten.”

And then it’s time for the performance. 

Here’s PD48 Editing’s blessed edit.

Standing: Aoi, Sakura, Lee Chaeyon Kneeling: Minju, Choyeon, Eunbi

My thoughts: 

Overall, they did great. Some of the vocals weren’t perfect, and not every facial expression exactly worked, but overall, great. 

Choyeon must have practiced a lot in the mirror because she was definitely much better than she’d been in that first rehearsal, expression wise. It still was a little awkward, alas. She is a great dancer and a decent singer (though I don’t love her vocal color), but she just isn’t a gifted smiler. It’s a bummer for her because I know she really wants this. 

Eunbi was flawless. No notes. She should have been the center. I don’t get it.

Lee Chaeyon was main vocal, ya’ll. Let that sink in -- the girl known for her excellent dancing was the main vocal on the team. Facial expressions, mini dance break, ad libs, all on point. Who is she, Kang Seulgi over here? I think she should have worn her hair down or curled or something maybe, and had a brighter closer to her face, but that’s the stylist unnie screwing her over. She’s just a queen when it comes to performance. 

Aoi was frickin’ adorable, of course. 

Smiles, pouts, finger wiggles… she gives Nako a run for her money. Dancing looked fine, and her one or two lines of vocals were fine. And the little part at the end when she blows the glitter at everyone -- seamless. She’s good at this, ya’ll. And it seems, for the record, that the audience appreciates her too, even if MNET gives her zero time or attention.

Minju just looked kind of scared a lot of the time. 

Use your finger to cover up her mouth in this picture and just look at her eyes and I think you’ll see what I mean. Her rapping vocal color is kind of offputting, too. She was on beat and I think she did it correctly but it didn’t work for me. Someone had to rap I guess. But she did the thing and was pretty, and that’s what she was there for. 

Sakura was super cute and had great facial expressions. She vocals were on key, though her vocal color remains unpleasant to me. Still, she did her Sakura thing and it was fine. I just don’t quite get why she’s the one that everyone is obsessed with compared to some of the others on the team. Nothing against her. I mean, it’s not just the MNET edit that makes her seem important -- when she sings her first few notes, you can hear a reaction in the live audience.

The MNET edit is about what you’d expect. There’s a cute moment when Jeremy says, “Chaeyeon is stable at everything,” which, yes, she is. The judges also praise Minju, which is their prerogative. I guess. No kind words for Eunbi or Aoi though, because MNET hates them I guess. 

Afterward, it’s all smiles and applause from everyone, and we see some signs in the audience for Choyeon, so that’s great! The judges are relieved that they changed the center back.

We cut almost immediately to Team 1, and all the way back to day 1, when they’re distributing parts. 

So you don’t have to scroll up, this team is made up of (left to right around the circle)

An Yujin, 14, future member of  IVE who rose from B to A and is currently ranked 2nd overall. 

Honda Hitomi, 16, the super cutey who worked her way up from C to A and is currently ranked 47th.

Shiroma Miru, 20, future visitor to Queendom Puzzle, who fell from B to D but is ranked 22nd. 

Na Goeun, 18, future Purplekiss, A class girl, and ranked 20th. 

Choi Yena, 18, friendly Yena from Yuehua who kept us company for a lot of episode 1, fell from A to B, and is currently ranked 6th. 

Jang Wonyoung, 14, future Wonyoung, known for being Wonyoung but currently with her original face, who has stayed in B and is ranked 4th.

They are having trouble figuring out who could do the rap, and Na Goeun wonders aloud if the rap should be done in Japanese (at least according to the on-screen captions in Korean). Maybe if a Japanese member did the rap, she’d be allowed to do it in Japanese…..? Not sure. Regardless, the Japanese members don’t want to do the rap. 

An Yujin volunteers to try, and then she does a pretty perfect job on her first try. Wonyoung teases her, “I thought she went to the back to practice first.” She ends up with the part, and is laughing about it in her interview before she adds, with mock seriousness, “I’m good at everything.”

It’s obviously a joke, and I really, really, really hope she didn’t get shit for that. But people are the way they are I guess. Also, she’s not wrong. 

We join them at an early vocal/rap rehearsal, with long-hair Cheetah. Yujin gets a little in her head for the rap and messes it up a bit, but Cheetah cuts her slack for trying to do it without looking at the lyrics. 

We go to dance rehearsal, where Dance Bae praises their performance and says they suit the song. They’re all happy to hear the praise. 

It looks like their rehearsal is fairly relaxed and they have time to joke around. 

A few of the girls interview that they think they can win. 

And it’s time for the performance! 

PD48 Editing’s blessed edit 

My thoughts:

Well, obviously this was basically perfect. 

From Wonyoung’s very first wiggle and “Sorichira!” (scream!), it was clear that this girl was born to be a Kpop girl group center. What would she have done in cave man days? Unclear. But in 2018 and 2024, she can wink at us and wiggle around cutely and voila! A star is born. Do I love her vocal color? Not really. Is she that great at dancing? The editing makes it impossible to tell. But she’s Wonyoung, and is somehow super engrossing. 

Na Goeun held down the fort as sub vocal 1. A lot of the time sub-1 sings more lines than the main vocal does and kind of sets the tone for the song. Think Nayeon as opposed to Jihyo in Twice, for example. Goeun kept the overall vocals good, and also pulls off all the aegyo with aplomb. 

I’m kind of surprised that Yena ended up the main vocal, with Goeun on the team, but she does a great job. I do think that her makeup doesn’t do her any favors, and I think this hair style is wrong for the shape of her face. She’s normally a super pretty girl, and I blame the stylist unnies for that. Perhaps because she was styled wrong, or maybe for some other reason, her facial expressions don’t quite work as well as those of her teammates, which is weird because she’s naturally super cute in normal life. She doesn’t do a bad job or anything, don't get me wrong, and her vocals are sweet and on key, but there was just something a little off about this.

But I live for this ending fairy. 

Yujin is wasted in this concept, but she can do anything she sets her mind to, and she does this, too. I don’t think the pigtails suit her though. 

Miru and Hitomi both fade into the back a little, with small parts, but they’re both cute in a super natural and straightforward way, and as far as I could tell, did the choreo well. Miru in particular has never had my favorite vocal color but they were both on key and seemed happy to be there. They both contributed in their way by bringing energy and cuteness, which is what this performance called for.

I actually don’t have any serious criticism for any of them. I’d like to have a word with stylist unnie, but that’s the main thing.

The MNET edit is in love with them. I mean, they were even left for last, even though they obviously performed before the other team. We see the audience and the other girls cheering for them. When they’re done, the judges sigh and say it’s really close because both teams did so well. 

Then Dance Bae says something really foolish: “One of these groups will not receive extra votes and not make it through.” As if those 1000 votes MATTER when you’re Sakura or Wonyoung? Come on. These benefit votes only ever matter for the people on the bubble -- people within say two spots of the cut off point, plus or minus.

The girls head to the results restroom to learn whether they will literally live or literally die!

Naturally, super cute Yena beats the not preferred Lee Chaeyeon. That’s how people do.

Surprisingly, Na Goeun beats Kwon Eunbi, which just is a factor of there being so many awesome girls on both teams and people only getting one vote. Maybe Eunbi looked a little too old for the concept…? She looks like a woman in a group of girls. Not that Goeun did badly at all. In fact, I’d have wanted both of them to get more votes, but that’s how life is. Poor Eunbi is like, “I failed,” and no. No, you were great, girl. 

Miru is up against Sakura, and they both do amazing. I don’t know why you’re looking unhappy, Miru-chan! You got 112 votes! That’s a lot higher than the average, which, by the way, is 69. (Wooooooooooooo!) 

Hitomi wins over Aoi and Yoojin wins over Minju. So far, except for Sakura beating Miru, red has beaten blue in every match up. 

At that moment, before they can reveal the results of the center battle -- Kim Choyeon versus Jang Wonyoung -- Choyeon over on blue team says, “Congratulations.” Red’s Yujin shakes her head to disagree, but Choyeon says, “Group one won. I’m not confident.” This makes everyone on red team look over sadly, shaking their heads… 

…. but Choyeon just looks down at her hands. 

She voice overs that this could be her last stage, as sad piano music plays. 

And then bam! Bam! They quickly reveal the final points -- Choyeon got a respectable 54 votes, second highest on her team and quite a lot considering her immediate competition amongst these 12 talented and popular trainees. But Wonyoung got 90, and red team won, 440 to 356.

Red Team: Choi Yena 64 Na Goeun 42 Shiroma Miru 112 Honda Hitomi 70 An Yujin 62 Jang Wonyoung  90

Blue Team: Lee Chaeyeon 34 Kwon Eunbi 24 Miyawaki Sakura  164 Motomura Aoi 46 Kim Minju 34 Kim Choyeon 54

That’s Wonyoung hugging Choyeon.

The girls all hug and applaud each other, and Wonyoung voiceovers, “I felt bad because we all worked hard together.” They do all rehearse together in the same training room, even though they’re two different teams, and probably all get to be at least sort of friends. So in a way, this was a proto-IZ*one challenge. 

Most of the blue team is crying now, including Minju. But Choyeon voiceovers that she doesn’t have regrets because she knows they all did their best. 

Ok, friends! That’s about it for this post. In my next one, I’m going to finish out episode 4 and do a bit of analysis of the challenge overall, including my personal rankings and some math. After that, I think I’m going to pause the P48 recaps for a bit while I watch Build Up, but I guess we’ll see about that either way. 

Also, as a side note: Here’s Kep1er doing Very Very! They do a great job, I think.

Thanks, chingus and dongsaengs, for reading! I’ll see you soon. 

Xoxo BPR Unnie

[tophthedaydreamer]

three ocs that have been knockin' around in my noggin since... january i think?

the story is still in development (i have no clue what i'm doing! *does a jig and jpeg explodes), but i at least have these three goobers. from left to right, we have gale hawkins, charlie, and phoebe peng!

gale and phoebe are FBI agents who are tasked with taking down an underground terrorist organization (what a mouthful) in the tense political climate of the early 2000s. charlie is an agent from that organization who is an artificial human with destructive psychic powers (you will tear the evil lab trope from my cold dead hands). he's agreed to join gale and phoebe on the condition that he can get safe passage to a different country and start a new life.

if this were ever an animated series, it would definitely be adult oriented, on account of the epic violence, swearing (charlie has a chronic dirty mouth), and mild suggestive jokes.

extended character bios below bc this is getting a lil long:

gale is an amnesiac detective regarded as a genius by the populace. he's deaf and communicates using sign language (also an expert lip reader). only speaks when he has no other option, as he's self conscious about his voice (he has a deaf accent). gale cares very deeply about the common folk, as he was taken in by a poor family when they found him alone with no memories. very noble guy who will do what it takes to help others, but also really wants to know where he came from. deeply cares about phoebe and sees her as a little sister. ambivalent towards charlie, but becomes trustful of him. cool and slick during a fight, he can probably shoot up the bad guys like the free bird scene from kingsman. almost as if he can sense what's coming towards him...

phoebe is gale's headstrong student who dreams of becoming a detective. her family is from Hong Kong, having moved to the USA when she was three. as a result, she's bilingual (Cantonese and English)! athletic and full of energy, phoebe tends to leap before she looks, often landing her into scrapes (gale teaches her patience). she's also impulsive with her words and very protective of her loved ones (type of person to say "her pronouns are they/them!!!!", think for a second, and then apologize profusely lol). she has a personal tie to this case, as she lost her older brother in an attack done by the organization. she's livid and wants revenge, but she must learn to control her emotions. she and charlie have an enemies-to-friends arc.

charlie is a living weapon (codename: the warhead, charlie is a name he picked for himself) rather than a willing soldier (he does not want to be here!). the result of the recent perfection of artificial biological lifeforms science, his one purpose is to assassinate, blow up buildings, and not ask questions. he's not treated very fondly on account to his defective nature. originally intended to be telekinetic, charlie lacks a component that lets him regulate his psychic energy, meaning that when he uses his powers, they're on 100%. it's like instead of gently picking up a soda can, you squeeze it with your full strength until it pops. out of frustration and crushing guilt, charlie deserts the organization with the intent to disappear... until he is arrested by gale and phoebe. he only agrees to work with the FBI on the condition they'll let him go free once they take down the terrorists. stiff towards gale and deeply annoyed by phoebe, but he'll learn to open up.

apologies for the wall of text. if you read this, i give you a hug and a cookie. hopefully i'll figure out a proper story for these dudes. maybe i'll draw them more eeeeeee

[ssnakey-b]

Coming soon... the return of the Final Fantasy VIII English-French Translarison!

Well... it has NOT been four years since I last touched this, is all I’m saying.

Okay, so it’s been four years. My, how time flies. But I really want to continue it. I guess I just... recovered my mojo about it?

Anyway, I am currently working on part 25, literally as I am typing this, after finally being able to make sense of how I organized my save files (pro tip: don’t go on a four-years hiatus in the middle of a gaming project) which will see us start the CD 3 content. Oooooh! Really looking forward to it. No promise on when exactly it’ll go up as it does take a lot of time but I’m hoping to post it sometime today or tomorrow.

Also, I figured since it’s been a hot minute, it’d be a good idea to compile every entry so far, so that you and all of your loved ones to whom I’m sure you’ve been sending every update to religiously may have one hub to find them all and refresh their memory.

I also intend to of course update it with every new entry, unless I forget or can’t be arsed. Anyway, with no further ado, click the “see more” bit for the list and see you soon for part 25! Oh, and don’t hesitate to tell me if a link is broken or wrong or what have you.

Part 1 - Back to... University?

Part 2 - The field exam

Part 3 - Dream Daddy

Part 4 - President Evil

Part 5 - Laguna Vice

Part 6 - Student exchange

Part 7 - Quistis’ skewed priorities

Part 8 - Do lapdogs dream of romantic sheep?

Part 9 - Make it Raine

Part 10 - oh Zell, you’re such a (prison) riot!

Part 11 - The Great Escape

Part 12 - Going with a bang

Part 13 - School Drama

Part 14 - Romantic Cruise

Part 15 - FURURURURURURU

Part 16 - Horizon Event

Part 17 - Nothing says “romance” like an Irish jig

Part 18 - A tribe called Side-quest

Part 19 - the one that took entirely too long to make

Part 20 - Shumi what you’ve got!

Part 21 - Mother Trabia

Part 22 - dinner with a side of quest.

Part 23 - Battle of the Gardens

Part 24 - Return of the Translarison!

[binch-i-might-be]

I usually lurk bc that's all by brain has energy for these days (brain function? horrendous. interaction? Loathsome.) but sometimes you see something so egregious that you have to hop on the soapbox and do a little dance.

"you write fanfic about a work of fiction but don't care about amrev history how embarrassing" is a loathsome take because it fails to account for the diverse spectrum of fic writers that ranges from "i counted every hair on george washington's ass" to "i saw a hamilton poster here's my flowershop AU", bOTH of which are equally valid because is the point of creative expression not to have fun??? god forbid people have hobbies ffs ADDITIONALLY I cannot express how little discussion in grad seminar or archival research is about the minutia of legal tax details unless you're specifically doing law or economic history. about 89% of my archival work is screwing up the courage to ask my advisor "hey is this a description i can take at face value or is it a synonym for dick because I need to know if franz whatever's estate really was massive or if. you know."

relatable 😭

ohoho thank you for blessing us with your little soap box jig!

honestly these are my thoughts exactly, expressed far better than I could. we are operating on a very big spectrum of interest and investment and knowledge of SO many topics. not everyone will have the exact same set of interests and that's GOOD. imagine how boring it would be if we all were blogging and writing about the same topic exclusively

LMAO GREAT POINT. yeah I AM sorry that my tenth grade english class in bavaria, germany didn't sufficiently go into the nuances of colonial america taxation issues

also that is incredible. men really were out there in every period talking about how huge their meat is. thank you for sharing 🙏

[pandolfo-malatesta]

Notes for “Rhythm of My Heart”

First things first: I have never been to a ceilidh, so as usual I looked a bunch of stuff up and then took artistic liberties.  My exhaustive search of Scottish ceilidh bands for hire revealed that many bands these days offer a ceilidh + disco package, where the first portion of the party is the traditional band and dancing, and the second part is the pop music.  This is a little along those lines.

Runes!  Props to NOVA Online for picking these extremely Merida-appropriate colors for their runic name transliteration results.  Below is how they say “Merida” would be spelled.

More important is the following, an actual real-life runic inscription (known as Bryggen B017) found in Bergen, Norway, and dating to the latter half of the 13th century.

That transliterates to “ost min kis [or kyss] mik,” which means “My love, kiss me.”  Some sources.

Slàinte mhòr = Literally “Great health,” a toast in Scottish Gaelic

I didn’t want to name all of the dances that people share, but they are: Merida and Fergus: Riverside Jig (I don’t have ones for Merida and Stoick or Merida and Gobber, whoops) Merida and Jamie: The Dashing White Sergeant—chosen because it seems like it has a great capacity for carnage Hiccup and Elinor: St. Bernard’s Waltz—as Elinor says, it’s less aggro than many others

snakebite and black = half lager, half (hard) cider, and a bit of blackcurrant cordial

Attentive readers may have discerned that I have a bit of a soft spot for Young MacGuffin.  The version of him that lives in my head is a good boy who deserves to be able to rebuild a crofter’s cottage as a little treat.  A croft is a farm; many of them seem to have been as remote as I’ve described.

(I also have a bit of a soft spot for Young Macintosh, precisely because he is kind of an asshole.)

Up Helly Aa is a real thing in the Shetland Islands and they sure do dress as Vikings and burn down a replica longship.

picture source

“Flower of Scotland” is the unofficial national anthem.

“Loch Lomond” is a folk song.  However, the version here is by rock band Runrig; apparently it’s popular at Scottish weddings. 

Merida’s translation is straight from here.

I give you the gift of having Ho, ho mo leannan Ho mo leannan bhoidheach stuck in a loop in your head forever. 

Let me tell you that I love you, and I think about you all the time is from “Caledonia,” written by Dougie McLean.

And finally, our title track. 

But LJ, “Rhythm of My Heart” was originally written for and recorded by a Dutch artist, and Rod Stewart’s version wasn't released until 1991. Rod Stewart isn’t even Scottish!  How appropriate is this for a ceilidh, and how likely do you think it is that that song would be known enough for people to be singing along? A. It wasn’t until last week, when I was scouring YouTube for covers, that I even began to suspect that Sir Roderick’s version was not the original. B. Though Rod Stewart was born in London his father was from Edinburgh.  In late 2022 he received an Outstanding Achievement in Music Award at the Scottish Music Awards; in an interview he said that “there’s a huge part of me that loves Scotland.  It’s undeniable.  I love this place,” and at the ceremony itself he said “I’ve received many awards before, but none from the land of my beloved father, so this is very special to me.  I’d love to think that despite my English accent that I’m one of yous.” C. In 2014, when Glasgow hosted the Commonwealth Games, a version of the song was performed for the Opening Ceremony and was listed as an “unofficial anthem” of the games, proving that it is known in this century.  I firmly believe Merida would have heard it then.

But if Oh, I’ve got lightning in my veins alone didn’t convince you, nothing I can say will.

[sacred-stanning]

An Interlude between chapters 7 and 8

When we left off, Eirika and Seth had just entered the castle where they'd heard Ephraim was being held.

Seth cautions Eirika to hold back when he hears someone coming.

Who could it be?

Orson! Thank goodness he's safe, but why is he here?

Orson relates to Seth and Eirika how he's escaped from the castle prison just now, but he believes that Ephraim is still locked up there.

Eirika relates how Ephraim has the same bracelet as her and that he is in danger because Grado is trying to get it.

Orson: "Bracelet...?"

Orson comes up with a very reasonable idea. Since Grado is trying to get the twins' bracelets, maybe Eirika should give hers to someone she trusts, like Seth, or Orson himself.

And this is when Seth steps in.

"Orson, before we go any farther, give up your weapons."

I've always liked this scene because I think it shows us a bit more of Eirika and Seth's characters.

Eirika, as we've seen, has never actually experienced war before, and she has found the whole situation--with people doing horrible things like trying to feed civilians to monster spiders, etc.--to be really hard to accept.

She wants to believe in the good in people, and she hasn't had much life experience up until now that would teach her to be cautious in these situations, so she is genuinely relieved to see Orson, and immediately trusts him. She trusts him to the extent that she mentions the importance of the bracelet even though just before this, Seth told her that it was a huge secret that the king had only told him.

Seth on the other hand, is a trained knight who has battle experience and has probably seen people do plenty of bad things. He also has a strong sense of duty towards keeping Eirika safe.

So Seth picks up on all of the things that Orson says that don't quite add up.

Why aren't there any enemy soldiers here even though we were just fighting them outside to get in?

Why was Orson able to escape and Ephraim couldn't?

Why does Orson know about the connection between the bracelets and the sacred stone? (Eirika mentioned that Grado was trying to get the bracelets, but she didn't say that it was because they were the keys for the sacred stone vault. Yet, Orson seemed to know this already somehow.)

And finally, Seth has also picked up on the knife that Orson is hiding under his clothes...

So the jig is up, and when asked how he could betray Renais, Orson gives this cryptic response:

"Once more, I will be able to spend happy days with my wife..."

At this point, Tirado shows his face. He thanks Orson for his help, and then proceeds to spill the beans that, actually "lol, Ephraim isn't here. I made it up and spread rumors to get you to come here so I could capture you".

He then orders the bridge destroyed, trapping us in the castle.

(Seth: "I'm not trapped in here with you. You're trapped in here with me.")

As bad as it looks in the cutscene, in the actual map, everyone is there, not just Eirika and Seth. Imagine if they actually had made the map an escape map with only Seth and Eirika? It would be very Thracia-esque.

But before we can start the map, Ross has an announcement to make! Look how strong he's gotten!

Since he hit level 10 in the last map, he can reclass into a real beginner class now.

His two choices are Fighter, like his father, or "Marinethief". (It's "pirate" in the English version, which is what the word is in Japanese. Evidently, someone took the Japanese word, which is made of the characters for "sea" and "thief" and translated it very literally for this screen.)

Of course we're going with Marinethief! It's more unique, and it gives us a fun reclass option later on in the game.

Next time: Let's take Marinethief for a spin! And what happened to Ephraim anyway?

[allthingsfook]

ship? :)

Hiii! I've read all of your ships and they seem so accurate so I would love one of my own!

I'm on the shorter side with an hourglass figure. Curly dirty-blonde hair and light brown eyes with a few freckles. My style is more on the grungier side, lots of dark colors.

I'm a pisces and my friends always tell me i'm the funniest person they know. I loveee music and I love to hang out with friends.

I also absolutely love to travel, it's one of my favorite things to do. I also like to discover new music and movies.

I'm the type of person that is down to do absolutely anything and I'm always up for something to do!

TYSM

Awe thanks!!! I hope I can make yours special for you 💕

I ship you with….

Jake 😁

I think the grungier style is most like Jake. Lots of dark colors/black in his wardrobe. He almost rides the line of grunge and English in a homesteader way 😂😂 grunge in the colors, English in the pieces, and homesteader in the material 😂 I hope that makes sense!

I’m these most recent tik toks we are getting to hear and see Jake’s goofier side. I think he spends a lot of time taking the music industry so serious because the man is literally living his dream! All that hard work is continuing to pay off! —Which by the way, you’d be extremely proud of and remind him of that often. He’d blush and shake it off, but you’d reinforce your words until he accepted them.— Getting to see the BTS (behind the shit) is reminding everyone that Jake is just as comical as Josh and Sam. After all, he is always surrounded by the people he most loves and trusts in the world!

Don’t get me wrong, this is a Jake ship, BUT for how close they all are, you’d realistically be spending a lot of time with all the boys. Having a good sense of humor and large supply of socialization is very important with these guys in your life. When you want a dance partner, promenade josh along! He’s always game for a little jig 🕺🏻🕺🏻 When you want a stiff drink, ask Sammy for his special brew! Plug your nose when you drink it 🍸And when you need to sit back and recharge the social battery, relax with Danny. His calming demeanor will sooth your cramping belly from laughing so hard 😁☺️

Having an infinity for travel is a must to be with Jake. Not only because of the touring, but because he loves to see the world. Whether it’s vacationing in the tropics, a cruise in Alaska, or a quick trip back to Frankenmuth, he keeps you busy and entertained. I can see him lounged in a beach chair on a quite cove. His sunglasses hiding his chestnut eyes, his wispy hairs blowing in the soft breeze and his belly glistening in a thin layer of sweat. To cool off he’d grab his surf board to see if he still has a knack for it!

Well I hope I hit the nail on the head! Please let me know, I like to know what everyone thinks 🥰

[dying-suffering-french-stalkers]

wendy again no problem (18 jan. 2022)

“I should make this a regular thing!” she said and failed and also died

ANYWAY, first blog-shaped post of the new year, hopefully I will be able to do this about once a week but I ain’t promising a particular day just yet

READING: I have not done as much reading lately as I would like :/  I am still chipping away at Star Wars: Ronin and enjoying it so far.  I also acquired MDZS vol. 1 and physical copies of Gideon and Harrow the Ninth (I read the latter two late last year), as well as the complete storyboards for Hayao Miyazaki’s Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979).  Someday my will to sit down and read will return long enough for me to make some gosh dang progress.

EDIT: Ah, I almost forgot!  At work this week I read some of The Secret History of the Mongols, an epic 13th century Mongolian text on Genghis Khan.  You can read it in English for free here.  This reading choice was inspired by the listening section below.

WATCHING: @stardustalix and I are still slowly streaming The Untamed together; I believe we just finished Episode 15.  I think we both lost it a little at the Homoerotic Cave Scenes (TM) a few episodes ago.  Unfortunately I don’t think I have anything constructive to say about the show at this point, but I’m at least having fun!

I watched some more of Lupin III: Part 6 despite my better judgement previous lack of investment.  I watched the second Mamoru Oshii episode (ep. 10) just for funsies: it was weird, but nowhere near as weird as I’d expected it to be, and it was a surprisingly good Fujiko-centric ep.  After that, I skipped right past eps. 11-12 because I really could not give less of a shit about the Sherlock Holmes arc and reading the Wikipedia episode summaries was enough for me.  Episodes 13 and 14, however, were rather shockingly decent; it’s the first time ANYTHING this season has felt like Lupin to me, and they did so with a good helping of domestic LupGang (esp. JigLup) content to boot!  We got to learn another piece of Lupin’s backstory, and so far, it seems competently written and I actually don’t hate it!  We shall see how the rest of this arc plays out.  I quite liked Mercedes, Lupin’s one-off, pink-haired rival here, and I really liked seeing a darker side of Lupin at the end of episode 14 even if he ultimately pulled his punch, so to speak.  Now that’s something I’d love to see explored more, especially if they’re going to restrain themselves and do the gd character work instead of just pure, unexplored edge.  (Unrelated to whatever Lupin’s up to, man, this must be a rough season for Zenigata stans.  The man’s barely showed up at all and he’s always accompanied and restrained by other characters instead of getting to be his true, unhinged, Lupin-obsessed self.)

I need to watch more of the new Lupin III: Part 1 dub, which thankfully seems to be getting better after the disastrous first episode (though to be fair that’s a rough episode all around).  I LOVED the episode 7 dub, especially the iconic ending scene with Lupin and Goemon, but the whole thing was honestly great.  Lang and Ruff in particular never disappoint.

Since I haven’t made one of these since last year, here are all the movies I’ve watched so far in 2022: The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), Lupin III: Dragon of Doom (1994), Encanto (2021), Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), Nightmare Alley (1947), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), and about half of Vertigo (1958) before I got too sleepy and had to stop for the night.

LISTENING: This past week or so’s albums of choice (for my morning and evening commute) were:

The Gereg - The Hu (recommended tracks: “Yuve Yuve Yu”, “Wolf Totem”, “The Great Chinggis Khaan” - Xiran Jay Zhao mentioned Mongolian rock in one of their videos, blessedly reminding me of how much this band slaps)

Sketches of Spain - Miles Davis (recommended track: “Concierto de Aranjuez” - Lupin fans, if you like Jigen’s “Tornado” theme, this is the piece it took inspiration from)

Blue in Green - Miles Davis (secretly Jigen at it again, because the title track was mentioned in this fantastic fic which everyone should read)

Encanto - soundtrack (all the sung tracks are bangers but “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” has gone particularly viral for a reason)

I did take a history of jazz course in college which left me with latent semi-informed Jazz Enjoyer Tendencies, so while it was weeb reasons that brought me back to it this week, I was glad to be reminded that hey, I like this music, I should listen to it more often.

PLAYING: A rare category!!  This week I finally, finally started playing Disco Elysium after @sybilius, @jacopo-belbo, and @venhediss all enthusiastically recommended it to me over the last year or so.  Stat-wise, I went with 2 Intellect, 3 Psyche, 4 Physique, and 3 Motorics, with Visual Calculus as my Signature Skill.  Gameplay-wise, I haven’t even gone to look at the body in the courtyard yet because 1) I’m being thorough and 2) this game ate my laptop battery for some reason (will try turning down the graphics more next session), but I have at least talked to Kim (!!) and Garte the Cafeteria Manager.  So far the vibes and the soundtrack are impeccable.  I also discovered that I’ve been mentally mispronouncing Revachol for over a year (while I’d had the stress right, I’d assumed the ch was more of a k, like in cholera or alcohol, certainly not sh).

I’ve also been kicking relative ass in Duolingo Japanese, so, there’s that.  I made it all the way to the Amethyst League but I’m not sure if I’ll bother keeping up with the leaderboard as much at this level; we shall see.  Material-wise, I’ve mostly got the hiragana down and am beginning to learn the katakana, and I have learned a few conversational basics (poorly explained as Duolingo is wont to do, but a lengthy Discord call with my brother helped clear some things up and give me a preview of some grammatical stuff that might appear soon).

OTHER: It snowed here!!! :D  I also made very tasty ramen for everyone on Thursday or Friday night and then a big batch of beef stew on Saturday.

Goodnight mes amis, sleep well, I’ll most likely subject you to more of the usual nonsense in the morning.

[scotianostra]

On November 21st 1835 James Hogg, the poet known as the Ettrick shepherd, died in Ettrick.

It’s quite sad that some poems by the likes of Hogg and Tannahill are often mistaken for Burns, Scotland has a rich vein of great poets through the centuries. Whilst Burn’s wrote in the Scots vernacular, Hogg wrote in both Scots and English. As a young man he worked as a shepherd and farmhand, and was largely self-educated through reading earning himself the nome de plume The “Ettrick Shepherd”, a nickname under which some of his works were published.

Hogg is primarily known today not only as the author of a series of pastoral poems, but also as the writer of the novel, Confessions of a Justified Sinner, widely regarded as the first piece of modern Scottish fiction. A contrary figure in real life, Hogg almost bankrupted himself in attempts to be a successful shepherd - leading to his literary friends dubbing him “the Ettrick Shepherd”. There were two main strands to Hogg’s early cultural experience: folk traditions and religion. The family were church-goers and his father was an elder, while his mother was steeped in the oral tradition, relating to her children folk tales and songs of kings, knights and supernatural beings.

With no media ,as we know it back then Hogg would have listened reel off tales of Scottish history and legends as he was growing up. As a young man Hogg worked as a shepherd in Selkirkshire and Dumfriesshire, becoming interested in literature in his early twenties, when he attempted writing songs and poems, some of which were published in The Scots Magazine. He moved to Edinburgh in 1810 to pursue a career as a full-time man of letters, after having published poetry and non-fiction while maintaining his day-job as a shepherd. However, in 1813 he returned to Selkirkshire, where he lived and worked in the Duke of Buccleuch’s Altrive Farm in Yarrow. He continued to publish regularly while maintaining a contentious relationship with the Edinburgh literati, including his friend and some-time mentor, Walter Scott.

A wee connection to yesterdays post about William Blackwood, many of Hogg’s stories and poems appeared in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, or Maga as it was affectionately known.

Hogg continued to write, publish and farm until his death in 1835. He was buried in Ettrick Churchyard, appropriately next to his grandfather, Will o’ Phaup, who is reputed to have been the last man to converse with the fairies.

The statue of Hogg to be found near Tibbie Sheils Inn  at the southern end of St Mary’s Loch.  

Many of you will know the poem/song I have chosen today, Cam Ye O'er Frae France (Roud 5814) is from Hogg’s  Jacobite Relics of Scotland Roud refers to  Steve Roud, who compiled a list of  nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition.

Cam ye o'er frae France? Cam ye down by Lunnon? Saw ye Geordie Whelps and his bonny woman? Were ye at the place called the Kittle Housie? Saw ye Geordie's grace riding on a goosie

Geordie, he's a man there is little doubt o't; He's done a' he can, wha can do without it? Down there came a blade linkin' like my lordie; He wad drive a trade at the loom o' Geordie.

Though the claith were bad, blythly may we niffer; Gin we get a wab, it makes little differ. We hae tint our plaid, bannet, belt and swordie, Ha's and mailins braid—but we hae a Geordie!

Jocky's gane to France and Montgomery's lady; There they'll learn to dance: Madam, are ye ready? They'll be back belyve belted, brisk and lordly; Brawly may they thrive to dance a jig wi' Geordie!

Hey for Sandy Don! Hey for Cockolorum! Hey for Bobbing John and his Highland Quorum! Mony a sword and lance swings at Highland hurdie; How they'll skip and dance o'er the bum o' Geordie!