#even when the interviewer clearly DOES understand english

[sabrinasideblog]

might be niche but every time i hear roger taylor talking he sounds like he’s speaking to someone who doesn’t understand english

[pickingupmymercedes]

Get me out of here - Lewis Hamilton

Part 2 - Let's get out of here

Request: "I enjoy reading your posts so much, I wanted to maybe request? I love angst, maybe a Lewis one shot where the reader gets in the cross fire in the media kind of like Kate Middleton but with the Ferrari news?" - anon

pairing: Lewis Hamilton x Reader!

warnings: Angst, Lewis to Ferrari, Toto being an ass.

wordcount: +1k

a/n: Hi anon, thank you for the request and the support, it means the world! I loved writing that, but then again I love me some angsty, hope you like it ❤️.

As always, I'm open for feedback, come say hi!

______________________________________________________________

“You bastard, how could you?”

You entered the farm style house in the English countryside seeing red. Newspaper on hand and phone on the other, blazing through the formal reception rooms until you found Toto and Lewis talking in the sunroom at the back.

“Woah there, what’s that language?”

“I thought I could trust you Toto” Your voice coming out stronger and louder than even you expected, facing him to see it in his eyes he knew exactly what all this was about. You couldn’t help but whisper, almost to yourself “Gosh, I really did.”

“What’s going on? Why are you shouting?” Lewis interjected as he got up and headed towards you, his arms reaching for your waist to try and calm you down

“Ask him! I’m not the one who gave the damn interview.”

“I didn’t say it like that, you know how they twist our words” The Austrian reasoned as you paced in the room

“Enough you two. What the hell is going on?” Susie emerged from the adjoining room, still in her workout clothes, towel in hand.

You threw the paper on the desk in front of them, eyeing Toto as Lewis read the headline “Source of Ferrari’s leak: Toto’s former right-hand and Lewis’ girl”

“You thought I wouldn’t see it? That I wouldn’t know that you told the press I leaked about Ferrari ?!” Exasperation written in your eyes as you tried to understand why would Toto sell you out like that.

“C’mom, it’ll blow over. By Barhein no one will even remember” His german accent echoed through the room as he tried to impose himself

“You tried to throw me under the bus for someone you’re clearly trying to cover for, that’s the issue here”

“Who sold the story to the press, Toto?” This time it was Lewis’ voice that cut the air, his tone stern and demanding.

“Does it even matter? He clearly has more respect for whoever it was than he does for me.” Your voice full of disdain throwing Toto off as he looked at you with surprise in his eyes at the tone you were using.

“Don’t be like that.” Susie pleaded from the corner, still as confused as Lewis to the events unfolding.

“Why?! Does it hurt him? I can guarantee it doesn’t hurt as much as it did when I read that stupid interview” Your voice coming out in sharp pufs as you tried to hold back the tears that fought hard to fall.

“Toto, who told the press?” Lewis pressed him once again and you were about to blow out at him when you heard the Austrian confessing “I told them.”

Your head starting spinning and all you could do was march back to the car in the driveway, not really listening to anything they were trying to get through to you. You started the car while Lewis tried to talk you out of driving, his pleading shouts heard through the glazed windows.

Your sobs came out all at once when Lewis managed to get into the passenger seat and hold your trembling hands down, getting them away from the steering wheel and into his chest for you to feel his heartbeat, your frantic eyes finally finding his soothing ones.

“Get me out of here, please” was all you could whisper mid sobs, sliding to the other seat when Lewis jumped out to get to the other side, your peripheral vision catching a glimpse of the commotion in the doorsteps of the house, with Toto exasperatedly motion to a now infuriating Susie and a few other people.

It felt like hours before Lewis pulled over, a small countryside village in the distance and a herd of sheep around. One of his hands gripped the leather of the seat, his free hand smoothing your arm and his stare focused on the road ahead.

“He did it to protect the brand. They’re gonna have a whole year to bring George forward, to switch things around…”

“Why are you defending him?” You cut him mid-sentence; your voice toneless although your eyes showed your emotions were all over the place.

“Because we need to think this through, babe. Toto’s not one of us anymore, you saw it.” He turned to you, clutching your hand into his, breathing in before continuing.

“We can’t expect anything from him anymore, least of all you.” His stare pierced yours and you knew what he meant.

You and Toto had known each other for as long as Lewis had. You had made your way up from being just an intern all the way to actually being poached by AMG and then Daimler, the whole path closely followed by Toto’s advices, and even in the years you lived in Germany the F1 GPs were always a familiar home you got to come back to, because of Lewis and Toto.

“Why did he say it was me though?” You questioned after getting out of the car and sitting by a rock fence, your voice small, much like how you felt while you leaned into Lewis’ embrace.

“To get back at me, maybe?! I really don’t know.” He breathed out after a while, leaving a kiss on your head before looking out at the fields in front of you two. It was a typical English day, cold and humid but at least the sun tried to fight its way through the clouds.

“I’m sorry he made you feel like you had to leave” you looked up at him as you brought up the subject, it was still a sore one for him.

“I always thought I’d finish my career there” He didn’t look at you as he mumbled his response, his gaze lost to the horizon

“It’s going to be a long year, isn’t it?!” You thought out loud after a while of silence and just feeling each other’s breathing.

“Yeah… and I need you there, by my side, head held high” This time he turned to look at you, loving doe stare embracing you in his warmth, no idea what the future holds but sure he will be there.

______________________________________________________________

TAGLIST - @saturnssunflower @xoscar03 @chocolatediplomatdreamerzonk

If you’d like to be added to my taglist you can leave a comment or send me a dm/ask.

[notfreetoday]

The Importance of Amae in My Personal Weatherman

Masterlist || Language Analysis Part 1

I have seen a lot of discourse in the English-speaking fandom surrounding Segasaki's apparent dismissal or trivializing of Yoh's desire to pursue his manga, and most of it is negative. His comments about wanting Yoh to remain dependent on him, or that Yoh does not need to earn money are seen as patronizing or controlling at best and oppressive at worst. It appears that Segasaki does not understand nor respect Yoh's need for independence, and that is what strains their relationship.

But what if I asked you to consider that Segasaki's behaviour is actually an invitation to Yoh to reinforce their relationship? And what if I told you that Yoh's withdrawal from Segasaki constitutes a rejection of that invitation, and it is that rejection that strains their relationship instead?

Of course, the end result is the same - a strained relationship - and in reality there is never one side wholly responsible for this. The point of this is to simply challenge the cultural notion that a successful relationship is the coming together of two equally independent individuals, as opposed to the co-creation of a relationship formed by two interdependent individuals.

"If only you could stay drunk forever..." "It's okay to feel down again for me too you know" - Segasaki, Ep 4, Ep 5

This isn't about Segasaki wanting to keep Yoh is helpless and dependent on him, but about wanting Yoh to be able to be true to his feelings and express his own desire for affection honestly, without having to hide behind "I hate you" or rejection.

Or, let's try and talk about how Segasaki and Yoh reinforce their relationship through the use of amae (featuring a brief mention of tatemae/honne) who am I kidding this is not brief at all

First: Cultural Context

The way people conceptualize and make meaning of the Self differs between Western and East Asian cultures, and this plays into the differences we see in the basis for our self-esteem, the personal attributes that we value, and even what constitutes the behavior of a mature individual. Broadly speaking, Western cultures tend towards the Independent Self Construal (whereby the Self is a distinct entity separate from others) whereas East Asian cultures tend towards Interdependent Self-Construal (whereby the Self is connected to and defined by relationships with others). Thus, in the West, expressing one's individuality is very important for one's self-esteem, and being able to communicate clearly and confidently is valued and a sign of maturity. Conversely, in the East, one's ability to integrate and become a member of the group is prized, and contributes significantly to one's self esteem. In order to be seen as a mature individual, one must learn not only to read a social situation but also how to modify one's behavior in order to respond to the changing demands of that situation, with the ultimate goal being to maintain group harmony.

tl;dr - In East Asian culture, behaviors and attitudes that emphasize interdependence and promote group harmony actually play a big role in reinforcing relationships and one's membership towards the group.

Segasaki is an expert at this - his "public mode" that Yoh refers to actually shows us how good he is at social interactions. This is the Japanese concept of tatemae/honne (crudely translated as public self/private feelings) - which I could link to a bunch of articles for you, but I'm going to suggest you check out this 9 min street interview instead. At 6:41, one of the interviewees comments that another is sunao, or "honest" (we'll cover this later too) and at 6:49 specifically talks about how reading situations is important as an adult. Segasaki reads the room well, but most importantly, he reads Yoh well.

Yoh is not good at this, at all. In Ep 6, we see that he does not integrate well with the group, and he doesn't realize how he might appear to others when he stares and sketches from afar. Yoh does not read the room well because he doesn't pick up on social cues and does not adhere to social norms (I'll point these out in Ep 6's corrections). He cannot read Segasaki, and especially cannot read Segasaki's amae, or his attempts at reinforcing their relationship. Part of this is because his low self-esteem causes him to withdraw from Segasaki's affection as a means of self-protection, and so he valiantly tries to deny his feelings for Segasaki. As Man-san commented in Ep 4, Yoh is not sunao - he has difficulty with being true/honest about his feelings, even to himself.

Sunao is another term that usually pops up when talking about feelings/relationships. It can be used to describe one's relationship with oneself, as well as the relationship with another/group. With oneself, it is usually used to mean "being honest/truthful/straightforward/frank/open-minded about one's feelings". With another person/group, it is usually used to mean "to cooperate/listen/be obedient, or "to be humble/open-minded". In essence, the word encompasses an ideal virtue that is often taught from early childhood - that we should treat both ourselves and others with humility and honesty, because that is how we accept ourselves and stay in harmony with other. This is what becoming an adult, or gaining maturity, means (not gaining independence, as adulthood is often equated to in the West - do you see a running theme here 😂). Of course, that's actually really hard to do, so you'll often hear children (and immature adults too) chided for "not being sunao" (this can therefore sound patronizing if you're not careful). We'll revisit this in a little bit.

Second: What is Amae?

Amae is a key component in Japanese relationships, both intimate and non-intimate. It happens every day, in a variety of different interactions, between a variety of different people. But it is often seen as strange or weird, and those unfamiliar with the concept can feel uncomfortable with it. This stems from the difference in self-construal - because independence is tied so strongly to an individual's self-image in the West, it is very hard to fathom why behavior that emphasizes interdependence could be looked upon favorably. It is telling that every possible English translation of the word "amae" carries a negative connotation, when in Japanese it can be both negative or positive. The original subtitles translated it as "clingy", for example. Other common translations include "dependence", "to act like a child/infant", "to act helpless", "to act spoiled", "coquettish", "seeking indulgence", "being naive" etc.

From A Multifaceted View of the Concept of Amae: Reconsidering the Indigenous Japanese Concept of Relatedness by Kazuko Y Behrens

*Note - the word "presumed" or "presumption" or "expectation" or "assumption" used in the above definition and in the rest of this post, can give the impression that all of amae is premeditated, which adds a calculative component to this concept. Whilst amae can indeed be used in a manipulative manner (benign or otherwise), it is not the case for every single situation, and often amae that seeks affection is often spontaneous and without thought, precisely because the situation allows for it to appear organically. This is the amae that Segasaki and Yoh most often exchange - so think of these assumptions and expectations as "unconscious/subconscious" thought processes.

Third: Amae Between Segasaki and Yoh

Yoh shows a lot of amae when he is drunk:

He whines, buries himself into Segasaki's embrace, refuses to move or let go of him, and keeps repeating "no". In these interactions, Yoh wants Segasaki's affection, but instead of asking, he does, well, this, and he presumes that Segasaki will indulge his behavior. Leaving to get some fresh air might not be as obvious - but it is a form of amae as well, because Man-san is his guest, not Segasaki's, and he shouldn't be leaving Segasaki to entertain her. The expectation that this is okay, and that neither of them will fault him for it, is what makes it amae.

Segasaki obviously enjoys indulging Yoh when Yoh does amae, because he recognises this as Yoh's request for affection from him. It's not that Segasaki enjoys Yoh in this drunk, helpless state; it's not even that Segasaki feels reassured by Yoh's requests for affection. Segasaki knows Yoh likes him, and recognizes that Yoh is struggling with those feelings. That Yoh is actually able to do amae to Segasaki is what delights him the most, because it is something that requires a lot of trust in Segasaki and a willingness to be vulnerable in front of him. This is how amae reinforces relationships - when a request for amae is granted, both the giver and the receiver experience pleasant feelings.

That said, an amae request can also be perceived negatively - if amae is excessive, or if the person responding feels they are obligated to do so. In Ep 5, Man-san chides Yoh for his amae - the fact that he expected to do well from the beginning, and became upset when he failed. He told her about his unemployment, presuming that she would comfort him, but alas.

Segasaki also does amae - but unfortunately Yoh misses many of his cues, and so neither of them really gain pleasant feelings from the interaction (ok so maybe Segasaki does, but I will argue that is more because Segasaki also enjoys it when Yoh obeys him - see @lutawolf's posts for the D/s perspective on this!).

Did you catch it? Segasaki wants Yoh to pass him the Soy Sauce, which, clearly, he is capable of getting himself. He tells Yoh to feed him, because he wants Yoh's affection. And the real kicker - he asked for curry, and expected Yoh to know he wanted pork. In all these interactions, Segasaki presumes that Yoh will indulge him and do for him things he can do himself perfectly well (and even better at that) - this is what makes this amae. But look at Yoh's reactions:

Yoh just stares between the Soy Sauce and Segasaki, between Segasaki and his food, and then just at Segasaki himself. He doesn't recognise any of this as amae, and in the case of feeding Segasaki makes the conclusion that this is somehow a new slave duty he's acquired. And therefore, he does not gain pleasant feelings from it.

In Ep 3 we see a turning point in Yoh's behaviour - his first (sober) attempt at amae (the argument in Ep 2 is debatable - it's not amae from Yoh's POV, but Segasaki responds as if it were, with a head pat and a "when you get drunk, you talk a lot don't you?").

Here, Yoh wants to express his desire for Segasaki's affection, but he can't bring himself to say it aloud. Instead, he dumps bedsheets on Segasaki's lap, as if the bigger the scene he makes the greater the intensity of his desire he can convey. It is the presumption that Segasaki will understand him that makes this amae. And then, we get this:

Not only a happy Segasaki and a sweetly shy Yoh, but also a Yoh who's emboldened by Segasaki's response, and who finally, for the first time, reciprocates touch, and considers the possibility that Segasaki might actually like him.

With every episode, Yoh gets more and more comfortable with doing amae towards Segasaki, because Segasaki picks up on his cues and always responds to them. In Ep 5, Yoh's amae comes out naturally, triggered by the stress of his unemployment, and we see it in all those moments he sounds and acts like a child, and as I mentioned, Segasaki spends the whole episode reassuring Yoh that his amae is welcomed, and that Segasaki likes responding to it. If you've been wondering why the relationship between Segasaki and Yoh can, at times, feel somewhat parental in nature - this is it. It's because Segasaki sees the contradiction between Yoh's childlike insistence that he does not like Segasaki and his desire for Segasaki's attention and affection, for what it really is - Yoh's struggle with accepting himself. When Yoh is able to be sunao, he does amae naturally, and Segasaki responds to him in kind.

Now, all we need is for Yoh to recognize when Segasaki does amae, which will likely happen soon, given that Yoh has grown with every episode.

As always, thank you for reading :))

[ghostingcrows]

Okay because generally I’ve been seeing a lot of fighting a weirdness I wanted to talk about this for a second

Hobie Brown is not an adult

Please stop being weird about him!!

More explanations under the cut

I’ve been complaining about this a lot and for people that don’t understand this situation essentially in an interview one of the directors said that an early concept of Hobie design was that he was supposed to be like the cooler older kid and as the example used for this he stated the ages 19/20

Because of this many people took it as still being canon which has led to a large bit of debate in the community between people about his age

The people who have taken this reference to the early concept as canon have started bashing people who ship Hobie with others in the group (mainly Miles and Pav which is important and which I will come back to later) as well as used this as an excuse to sexualize Hobie because hes an adult

A barely legal one which even if this was true is its own separate issue

However the issue with this specific take is that its wrong

For a variety of reasons

1) For starters people say that since the director said he was 19/20 it must be true however another director/creator of the film has stated that Hobies age is up for interpretation meaning he doesn’t have a specific set age

However, it is very clear based off of everything else that Hobie was still meant to be in the teenager range in terms of age 

For starters the actual movie

Throughout the first half of the movie Hobie is referred to a couple times by both Gwen and Pav and later Miles

Every time he is talked about in this context it is always with the undertoned implication of him and Gwen supposedly having a romantic relationship with both Pav and Gwen treating it as a sort of thing that could potentially cause friction or other issues in regards to Miles and Gwens relationship

If Hobie really were 19/20 this would be, cannot stress this enough, incredibly weird and creepy on the writers part

Unlike Hobie Gwen does have a confirmed age and she IS a minor and the movie imply that she had a relationship with Hobie whether she actual did or not and treating it as a joke would be weird and out of place if he was an adult

Not to mention that a lot of people referred to Gwen, Hobie and Miles dynamic as a love triangle which again weird and gross and uncalled for if Hobie was an adult

2) The art books both in the english and Japanese translation refer to Hobie in a way that either implies hes a kid or outright uses terms that mean hes a child

In the English translation of the book Hobie is referred to as the cool slightly older boy the girls want to date

Meanwhile the Japanese translation literally spells it out

3) I’ve heard a variety of different deflect in regards to all the above mentioned stuff

“Hobie doesn’t look like a kid” people age differently. I’ve met kids in high school who were the same age as or younger than me with full ass beards and mustaches as well as people who are well into there 20 who look like they’re still 15 he simply just has a structured face

“He was bit at 16 in the comics and said he was spider-man for 3 years in the movie” We aren’t in the comics universe though and in this iteration Miles was bit at like 13 and Gwen at like 14 meaning that in actuality the kids are usually bitten really damn early and the actual facts are that we don’t know how old he was when he was bitten and since we very clearly aren’t in the comic universe as these movies are significantly different from the comics you can’t just go off of that

“Just because it was a concept doesn’t mean it was changed it could still have been kept” While it is true that yes sometimes things from first draft concepts are kept a lot of times they aren’t such as Hobies best friend Pavitr who was supposed to be 13 in his concept but very clearly isn’t in the movie (I don’t actually have solid evidence for that claim I just think it would be weird that they make comments about Pavs body and show him shirtless if he was still 13 in the final-) both Pav and Hobie had a shit ton of changes done to them  alongside basically all of the main 4 (Hobie, Pavitr, Gwen and Miles), except for maybe Miles but he was already an established character, so using his concept as hard and fast evidence when he very clearly was changed a lot and everything else points toward him being a kid just doesn’t work

“He mentions going to a pub so he has to be at least 21” first Hobie is British and the legal age in Britain is 18 also you don’t have to be of legal drinking age to go into a pub you just have to be old enough to actual order drinks which doesn’t even account for the fact that this is also Hobie we’re talking about who would not give the slightest fucks about the legal drinking age “But they show him with a beer in his montage and they wouldn’t encourage that in an underage character” Hobies montage is so fast paced and colorful that I genuinely don’t even know if thats true because you can barely comprehend the stuff that happens in that scene the first time you see it and not to mention that he also flips off the cops in that montage so I don’t really think they were too concerned about encouraging certain behaviors or not since half of Hobies speech in that scene was about overthrowing governments saying ACAB

So in conclusion

Hobie doesn’t have a confirmed age but based off off all the information we are given he is probably actually closer to 16/17 as his age

Now as a side tangent something else I want to address is the inherent homophobia and racism undertones that came with the initial spreading of his false age

Because when people initially heard that age they’re first instinct wasn’t to jump at the actual movie for imply a ship with Hobie and Gwen or even on the people make jokes about but was instead to jump on the people shipping Hobie with Pav and Miles

Both other male characters who are also characters of color

Odd that the first though was the (honestly at that time) relatively new and unpopular gay poc ships (Yes I know the ships are more popular now they had BARELY any content at the time of the interview)

Like genuinely the absolute giddy JOY I saw some people have at the idea that people who were minding their own business would have had a ship they liked ruined for them was insane and still is to me

[lostcauses-noregrets]

Why is the answer always "Levi said this Levi did this" whenever one asks about the signs of Eruri in canon? Levi's side is pretty clear, but every time I talk to an Eruri and I ask "but why do you think Erwin loved Levi" the answer is very long but it's mostly empty and just "I am sure he did" or "but Levi loved him so Eruri is canon". Sorry this isn't a "hehehe your ship is one sided it's not canon" type of question. It's more of a writing-wise question, since you are a writer yourself I thought you'd give the best answer to this.

I am wondering, is this because of lack of Erwin's pov in aot manga or anime? I know Erwin is important and plays an important role and story revolves around him in s3 p2 and all that but when you look at the bigger picture he's mostly just there. He's in the story but you don't see his pov. We don't get to see the inside of his head until the end. Is this why "does Erwin love Levi" question is a hot topic in aot fandom always? Or are there any side stories like smartpass aus that suggest Erwin had feelings for Levi? I'm sorry I don't know those very well I only know the manga and the anime.

Lastly, I am sure you answered this before but my question is very specific, do you actually believe it was mutual? After all it's fiction and you don't need their love to be mutual to ship them. People ship characters who barely interact. It's what fandom is and that's totally normal and valid. I guess I am wondering if you ever doubted, th ship or even yourself which I do a lot (in a "oh I love this so much and I read so much fics I made myself believe" way) Thanks I hope this doesn't sound rude or offensive, my English isn't very good so if I sound rude that must be it it's not my intention :)

Ooof there’s  a lot of different questions here but I think they boil down to the following: 

Are Erwin and Levi’s feelings for each other mutual? / Does Erwin reciprocate Levi’s feelings?

Why do people question Erwin’s relationship to Levi? 

Do I personally believe their relationship was mutual, and have ever “doubted the ship”?

I’ve answered the first question many, many times over the years. You can read all my various answers here.  In short I do think that Erwin reciprocated Levi’s feelings and I think the evidence is there in the manga, the official guidebooks, the Smartpass stories, and the side content for anyone who cares to see it. I’m not going to list all the side content here, but there’s a very old post by @erbeansandravioli that links to a lot of it: Eruri receipts.

As to why people question Erwin’s relationship to Levi, well that’s an interesting one.  Some people clearly just don’t get Erwin’s character (see the previous ask I just answered), they don’t understand his role in the plot or the significance of his relationship to Levi.  For example I’ve seen people arguing passionately that Levi’s vow had nothing to do with Erwin, which is just mind boggling to me. It’s certainly true that Erwin is a much harder character to read than Levi who very much wears his heart on his sleeve.  Erwin is more reserved, and holds his cards closer to his chest.  However the fact that Levi is the only one who he reveals his true self to is significant. Daisuke Ono put it beautifully when he said in an interview that the amplitude of Erwin’s feelings is so great that it can be hard to see.  

It could also be that some, perhaps younger, readers just don’t recognise their relationship for what it is. It’s certainly not a typical shounen romance, but it is a deeply believable adult relationship; one that is based on mutual trust, respect and understanding. This is from a previous ask I answered on the subject:

It frustrates me enormously when people deny their canon relationship, despite Yams being at paints to explain it repeatedly in the guidebooks. I want to shake them and ask what the hell they think a relationship looks like when you’re an exhausted 30 + year old war veteran who has spent their entire life fighting for survival.  It looks like this; finding someone who you can trust with your life. If you were to ask me what characterizes a successful adult relationship I would say it’s exactly this; mutual trust, respect and understanding, and when push comes to shove, the willingness to do everything in your power to help the person you hold most dear, even if that means letting them go. 

And as to whether I’ve ever doubted the ship, the answer to that would be no, never.  Sure we’ve never seen them swear undying love in canon (though some would argue with that and point to Erwin’s "Arigatō Levi".) I wrote this in response to an ask about Eruri canonicity: 

Do you mean that you don’t believe they’re canon because we never see them kiss? Because they never marry?  Because the main focus of the story isn’t romance?  All those things are true, but in my opinion, they’re also not the only things that make a relationship canon.  Particularly when that relationship is between two war-weary 30 year old men who have been fighting for survival almost their entire lives. The irony is that, in some ways, Erwin and Levi’s relationship is actually quite conventional. They really do behave a bit like an old married couple.  They have a long standing relationship that has matured over many years, they have their own weird sense of humour, they’re not afraid to challenge each other, but they care about one another deeply, and they also trust each other unconditionally.  That’s all the canon evidence I need tbh.

Having said that, you are absolutely right that you don’t need any canon evidence to ship a couple.  Hell, I’ve had great fun written Hanji and Petra as a side ship and I don’t think they ever even interacted in canon.  In Erwin and Levi’s case though there is more than enough evidence in canon to attest to the significance of their relationship. 

Hope this answers your questions.

[honorthysalad]

Some people on tiktok are saying they feel hgns is turning into queerbaiting, because in 25-1 yoshiki is basically the reincarnation of the wife that was brought back to life and so its like the 2 of them are just the modern day equivalents of the husband and the wife, whats your thoughts on this? I probably didn't explain it very well but do you think the story is also going to take that direction or do you think its an over reaction ? I don't have the best analysis abilities so i was curious what you thought

I'm going to preface that I have not seen the original video making this point, and so I am working off talking points I've seen other people using.

I think hgsn has always had a problem with this. Not queerbaiting, but instead that when people are recommended this manga by other people, they are told it's a horror BL. Hgsn is not a BL. It was, but then after chapter 3, Mokumokulen removed the BL tags, and the official website where hgsn is hosted has not had it listed as a BL for a long time. It is currently listed as outsider, horror/bizarre, mystery/thriller. However, English sites continue to list it as a BL, probably for lack of an LGBT tag. Hgsn has not been a BL in a long time, and while yes, the pilot (<- btw the pilot has no bearing on the current manga. A lot of things have been changed from the pilot aside from the BL elements) and first three chapters have a lot of BL signaling, Mokumokulen has clearly changed their mind on having a romance between Yoshiki and 'Hikaru'.

Does this make it queerbaiting? I'd say no because the characters are still visibly queer. There have definitely been retcons, but Yoshiki being gay has gone unchanged. I've seen a few people pointing to Ch21 as proof that Yoshiki is heterosexual because when he looks at 'Hikaru's collarbone, he says "I don't feel anything in particular anymore". I feel the important part of that being is 'anymore', meaning he once did. This part of the chapter is a reflection on their sexualities, wherein 'Hikaru' tells Yoshiki he doesn't understand romantic or sexual attraction and Yoshiki, while he refuses to say outright, isn't straight. He was attracted to Hikaru's body and says he has feelings for Hikaru that 'Hikaru' wouldn't understand. This chapter makes it clear that Yoshiki is gay and 'Hikaru' is aromantic and asexual. They are still queer characters, the story is still fundamental a queer story of feeling othered in a small town and the terror of discovering your sexuality, and not having a romantic relationship between Yoshiki and 'Hikaru' doesn't take away from that.

I think an important part of queerbaiting is that despite being promised queer characters, the media has none or features them very little. Think of The Rise of Skywalker where the queer representation the director claimed was in the movie during press interviews is actually a kiss between two women limited to a background shot in a crowd shot. That two-second scene wasn't representative of anyone, was hidden away in the background, but then touted as a LGBT+ representation because the directors and company wanted the movie to be seen as progressive. That's queerbaiting and that's definitely not what hgsn is doing. Queerbaiting is not expecting a romantic relationship to develop between two characters and never having it actualized in canon. That's just being disappointed, which is still reasonable but not really grounds to accuse the author of something greater.

(I'm not going to touch much on that ancestors point. I think that Yoshiki actually being straight because he has the soul of a woman is a strange conclusion to come to, especially when we don't know if he even is a reincarnation of Hichi yet, and has really weird implications. And then the original sin being trying to bring someone back from the dead is the only thing that makes sense narratively because the danger of refusing to accept death as a natural part of life is a key theme in hgsn.)

So to just wrap it all up- is changing your mind mid-story about the genre messy? yeah, definitely. Is hgsn perfectly written? no- oh my god, no. Is hgsn queerbaiting? No, because Mokumokulen might have changed their mind on a romance, but they did not change their mind on having queer characters, and non-romantic stories of queer people are still important stories to tell.

And then if you disagree with people who are disappointed that hgsn isn't a BL, don't just start insulting them or their intelligence. They were picking up on exactly what the author wanted them to at the time. The introduction sets up the tone for everything that follows and hgsn changed its mind mid-introduction. Being told by the manga 'look at all these romantic implications!' and then a few chapters later getting told 'actually nvm' is going to be confusing for any reader. I think mokumokulen has put a lot of work into making this a gradual change (the real breakdown of a possible romantic relationship comes in vol2's bonus chapter and concludes in ch21), but it doesn't removed what was already there in the first chapters. And like- if you don’t like someone’s take, block them. Easy way to not see takes from them anymore. Or just like ignore it. Complain to a friend about it. Draft up a reply and delete it. No need to be a dick to them.

[onboardsorasora]

Regarding Daniel and his use of English I think that he also tends to "hide" his accent so people can understand him better, if you hear Jack or Blake or Scotty or even Oscar you can hear that strong accent but Daniel is easy to understand, maybe that's why it takes him sometimes more time to come up with a word because he wants to make sure that it isn't from the Lingo.

This is my opinion as someone who consider English as a 3rd language and fins it hard at first to follow native speakers, but Daniel is the first English native speakers that I've ever understand from the get go

omg yes! I was having a similar thought last week! When that video resurfaced of Will asking Daniel to 'say something in his native language' and it was like a code switch! (if I stumble upon it again I'll link it. I just remember it was Renault!Danny and he was wearing a mask the LOVELY @ayu1708 found it!!)

I absolutely think he purposely neutralizes his accent to be better understood and as someone who also does it, I get it, because its annoying af when you keep needing to repeat yourself because someone can't hear past your natural accent.

He DOES try to use non-slang and he's always trying to confirm that the words he's considering aren't slang I think I read an old interview once about him knowing that there are people listening to him speak who aren't native English speakers, who would have a hard time following him.

I'll never forget an interview I watched (that I know I won't be able to find unfortunately). It seemed to be a smaller scale publication and i don't want to assume where they were from but the interviewer's accent was thick. And Danny spoke so slowly and clearly and you could see him thinking about the words he chose, in a 'I know this is going to be translated into their language so let me be sure to use the easiest words to convey my meaning' way. And I remember thinking that that was SO SO considerate of him!

[miya-on-the-roof]

Rant about the finale (or the million reasons why I'm disappointed)

Spoilers alert so don't keep reading if you don't wanna see them.

Didn't see a lot of people disappointed with the finale for the same reasons as me so just gonna throw it out there: I am disappointed mainly because of how they portrayed Stede and his relationship with Ed.

First thing, I am NOT an Izzy fan. If anything I'm probably an Ed fan and I came to the show for the brilliant writing, the masterly use of comedy as a genre, and the unprecedented celebration of queerness in season 1. This means that I am not devastated by his death. BUT I am disappointed in their decision to kill him off. I saw David Jenkins' interview and discussion about how narratively it makes sense for him to die as a closure of the redemption arch and final consummation of Ed letting go of the old life. YET this show was never about structurally sound narrative, was it? The charm was always the characters' growth and how they embraced queerness - embraced themselves. And that theme was embodied by Izzy this season. I can see potential in him as a perfectly comic and beautifully queer character after his transformation but that potential died with him. It is abrupt, it is rushed, and it does not make any sense for the spirit of the show even when it makes sense for a symbolic narrative.

Second, the main thing - even though Stede is the lead character of the show, the finale does not treat him as one. From previous episodes we see a new side of him emerging. He was caught up in the rush, the same way Ed probably did so many years ago, and was unawarely soaking up some toxic masculinity even though it was because he pursued piracy as the ultimate means to release his queerness and find community. And there lies his new conflict with Ed: two people who love each other deeply but find themselves on different life paths. There was not really any conflict of interest that couldn't be solved but they needed time to figure things out. Stede needed a reality check, and he needed to understand Ed's "it's everything about fishing" - it's everything about how Ed was setting out to find a new identity, and how he fears that Stede is taking up his old path in misguided glory and will not come with him. And Stede needed to learn to respect Ed's choices even if it means they take different paths for a while, which also means that he needed to confront his own fear of incompetence, abandonment, loneliness, and rejection first (which hasn't really been addressed in this season yet). He needed to find confidence and faith - in his own identity and competence, and in Ed's love for him.

All this to say - he has a long way to go in his character development to justify resolving the conflicts in their relationship. Yet in the finale, he was not given any space or time to achieve the growth. We see him rushing through a plan of rescue with Zheng doing most of the work. We see him coming up with a plan to camouflage and escape the English, the portrayal of which did not show his wit or courage or anything profound about his character. Then we see him getting that happy ending with Ed, and somehow just... accepting giving up piracy, accepting Ed's change, accepting everything happily when he was clearly lost and confused before. And we were not given any explanation or portrayal of his inner conflicts. He, of all people, gets the least emphasis and character growth in the finale.

Again, I just see so much potential to really discuss the character's deeply-rooted psychological issues going to waste for the sake of a narrative structure. A happy ending is great but it's covering up so many unsolved tensions and conflicts - opportunities for character building - which would have been handled much more carefully (albeit in comedic style) in season one. Given that we might not get a season 3, this is worse than leaving me with a cliffhanger or temporary tragedy that makes sense for the character's path to growth.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

So, I saw all the posts about the promos for this thing coming from the John Oliver side of Tumblr, and I wasn't really planning to watch it despite my general interest in John Oliver, because I just don't understand the appeal of watching people eat and/or make and/or talk about food. I've said before that I couldn't get into Off Menu, or something like Bake Off, because of triggers I have from my years of cutting weight for sports, which is true but doesn't even really apply in this case. One 30-minute video of eating wings isn't going to trigger me (I do eat and talk about food without a problem, it's just doing long deep dives into that bothers me). It's just not interesting to me. John Robins and Elis James have started this feature on their radio show called Tick of a Taste where they try something unusual (and usually challenging, in similar ways to hot wings) and then describe it, and it's the only part of their radio show where I kind of tune out. I just don't get the appeal of turning food into entertainment.

So I was going to give this one a miss, but then it actually aired and @lastweeksshirttonight alerted me to the fact that there's a bit of Edinburgh chat, and obviously I cannot skip potential Chocolate Milk Gang content. So I watched it, and was not disappointed.I don't know who that interviewer is, and I did not expect to like him, given that he's an American man who makes, I assume, a whole series based on filming celebrities eating spicy food. I'm vaguely aware of that sort of "content creator" genre of YouTube, and it doesn't sound like fun. But I have to admit, he conducted a surprisingly great interview for a man sitting across from some hot sauce bottles. Asked good questions, they were insightful and interesting and displayed an impressive level of knowledge about his subject.

At this point, I'd like to take a brief moment to use this video as an excuse to slag off Marc Maron:

Marc Maron interviewed John Oliver in 2012, an episode that I listened to because John was fascinating in it but Marc was absolutely insufferable, as he's been in all the WTF episodes I've heard (which I believe is four: John Oliver, Andy Zaltzman, Stewart Lee, and James Acaster). And this is far from the main reason why Marc was insufferable, in fact it was a tiny thing that didn't matter, but Marc was so weird about the differences between British and American English. He kept stopping John to ask for the definition of British words that might not be common in North America, but should be more than easy enough to work out from context, and Marc couldn't just do that, he had to stop and treat it like some weird exotic thing that John said the word "headteacher". At one point in the interview, John is talking about the place where he plays a game that some call football and others call soccer, and you can hear him say "the p-field". Clearly started to say "pitch" and then realized that this annoying interviewer would pick him up on that so he changed it to field. That's what I thought of when I saw the above video clip - a fun example of the opposite of that. Well done to the hot wings interviewer for not being like Marc Maron.

The hot wings interviewer still pronounces Edinburgh about as badly as Marc Maron does, but I'm starting to think I should be a bit careful about complaining when Americans do that, because I'm not 100% sure that I say it correctly. I know how it's supposed to sound, so I can tell when someone says it wrong. But I think it might just be a hard word to say in a North American accent, so it's possible that I also mess it up, and six months from now I'm going to be in Edinburgh and probably at some point saying that word out loud to people who will know how it's meant to be said, so I might want to start saying now that it's fine if you do it wrong. I don't do it as wrong as that guy does, though. I'm pretty sure the word "bro" doesn't come into it when I say it. I also say it better than Marc Maron does.

Anyway, that is not the main point of this post, the main point of this post is this:

How the fuck have I never heard that story before? This is my exact period of specialty - John Oliver in his Chocolate Milk Gang years - and I have gathered up all the references to it that I can possibly find, and yet I'd never heard him tell that one before. I'm so glad I watched the weird hot wings video, just for that. I wish he'd tell us who the other comedian was. I have several guesses.

You know, I hadn't really thought before about the fact that John Oliver would have done his own material at those Late 'n' Live gigs. I knew he ran around taking cows apart, and I knew other people did their actual sets, but I hadn't thought of the fact that at some point John would have been on stage by himself telling John Oliver jokes. I don't think the stage where they took the cow apart was really the place for early 00s-era John Oliver jokes. I'm not surprised it went badly.

John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman do have a long list of stories of gigs they've done that have gone very badly (one gig in particular, the stories of which I made into a compilation nearly two years ago now), and I know all comedians have stories like that, but it doesn't surprise me that Zoliver have more than most. 00s-era Zaltzman and Oliver, individually and together, were not club comedians. Or at least, they didn't have club material, but they were not yet quite famous enough to never do clubs. London has a much larger and more diverse comedy scene than we do around where I live, but still, I think I can use my local comedy club as some kind of basis for comparison. And if someone stood up at my local comedy club and started telling Zaltzman and Oliver jokes, they would be met with baffled silence at the absolute best. They might get stabbed.

What jokes was he telling at Late 'n' Live? Was he doing his Political Animal material? He had a bunch of political and topical stuff back then, but that's not all he did. John Oliver definitely had more mainstream material in his arsenal than Andy Zaltzman did, I guess he could have brought out his train story and the one about not eating peas as a kid. Though actually, even the peas story is basically a political joke. Was he doing the stuff about crying at sporting montages as early as that?

Actual recordings of the stand-up John Oliver did in Britain are rare, though I've managed to find a few. Most notably the one of him and Zaltzman doing their full 2004 Edinburgh show, in 2005, that got released on The Bugle in multiple pieces but I stitched them together into one file, and… I mean, you can't do that at Late 'n' Live. I know I haven't been there, but if you could do that at early 00s Late 'n' Live, then I have drastically misunderstood the nature of the event. You can't do that. You'll get stabbed.

The other source of information about early Oliver stand-up is reviews, which are worth reading because they're often quite funny. @lastweeksshirttonight, I can't remember if I've ever sent you the Steve Bennett review of his debut Edinburgh show, but I'm tagging you because if you haven't read it before then you definitely should. It's hilarious. I don't always agree with Steve Bennett's opinions or approach to the mechanics of the English language, but I have to admit: "John Oliver has based his debut Edinburgh show on death, a concept he can be no stranger to, given the lukewarm reception his obscure observations receive," is a sick burn.

Was John doing that at Late 'n' Live? You definitely can't do what was described in that review at Late 'n' Live. You probably shouldn't do that anywhere, really.

There are better reviews from the next few years, like these ones, which both basically boil down to: Zaltzman and Oliver are intelligent guys who write well and it's all very clever and even at times funny, but God, they're both really annoying. So annoying. It was funny but I didn't like them because they were annoying. Did he annoy the people at Late 'n' Live that way? Is that why the man wanted to stab him?

Steve seemed to like them better in 2005, but still, I don't think you can do that at Late 'n' Live. "Oliver and Zaltzman are at the vanguard of a new wave of satire taking vast global issues - fair trade, the apathy paralysing democracy, immigration - and trying to simplify them to expose their flaws, which suddenly seem so blindingly obvious when put in such clear terms." Yeah, John, obviously the guy threatened to stab you if you tried to do that to him when he was drunk at 1 AM. Obviously.

What did you do to them, John? And while we're at it, what did you do to the people of York that one time?

Anyway, the whole Hot Ones interview was pretty interesting, they touched a few times on that side of John Oliver that I find particularly enjoyable, as he discusses the way he really enjoys tension and doing fucked up things and getting in trouble, but also has a socio-political worldview that says venerating that stuff is bad, and this creates its own tension. It's something I've heard him talk about before, I've always enjoyed it, I wasn't expecting to hear it explored so much in a hot wings interview, but here we are. Thanks for the recommendations, John Oliver side of Tumblr.

[chiskz]

CHICHI THEN VS CHICHI NOW - TWITTER THREAD

♡𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭: @alyszaen , @smh-anon , @neohyxn , @stealanity , @alixnsuperstxr , @kimcheon-sa , @hafsa-hoofsa-heefs , @qtnoaly

______________________

➥ 𝟏. 𝐉𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐍

The loudest situation with laughing at her Japanese accent occurred after her first live performance with Hellevator. Chichi took over W00jin's lines and according to her pronunciation, "Hellevator" sounded like "Herebeta", which agrees with the word's notation in katakana. A huge wave of criticism was then poured on Chichi. "Even non-English-speaking members pronounced it better. You are fluent in English, and you were defeated by one word? You should have stayed in Japan." From then on, Chichi gave up her lines and for a long time did not sing at all during the song.

𝐍𝐎𝐖

These days, her Japanese accent is no longer as audible when she speaks Korean or English. She has retained it only with some words, mainly when pronouncing group names (BTS -> BiTiEsu, TWICE -> TuAiSu, Stray Kids -> SuToRei Kizzu, etc.), but everyone now considers it her charming point. Funny, isn't it?

➥ 𝟐. 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐁𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐍

One of Chichi's habits (easily picked up) was confused blinking when someone in her presence spoke too fast in Korean. She also did this during variety shows when the rules of games were being explained. This was probably simply related to her not being able to understand everything.

𝐍𝐎𝐖

Now she does it much less often, being apparently more comfortable with the language.

➥ 𝟑. 𝐁𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐍

Chichi didn't speak much. She always tried to stand as far to the side or behind as possible, so that others would shadow her. This was also because virtually no questions were directed to her during interviews. On some videos, you can see her trying to say something, but quickly giving up. You can also find fragments from interviews where the fact that her microphone is turned off is clearly visible - Chichi sometimes didn't even turn it on.

𝐍𝐎𝐖

Chichi is currently one of the loudest members (together with Han they create pure chaos). She speaks freely in interviews when she has something to say. Even if she can't speak her thoughts in Korean, she tries anyway and uses word substitutions.

➥ 𝟒. 𝐁𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐍

During one of the behind-the-scenes recordings of Stray Kids' song, Chichi could be seen staring at a sheet of paper with the lyrics, then looking at Chan and saying something like "Shouldn't I.N sing this? I can't do it." Chan says she should try, but Chichi gives up after half a line, close to tears. Similar situations also occurred later, with Chichi often trying to give away her lines to other members.

𝐍𝐎𝐖

In the latest Channie's Room, the reason for Chichi's transfer to vocalracha was finally revealed - Chan wanted Chichi to sing more, because she is willing to and able to, but afraid of doing so. He didn't do it without her consent, of course, and as we can see, it worked out well for her. Chichi now sings much more often and more, but she finds herself better at rap, in Korean, which she was so afraid of. She has also released a solo digital album, where she mostly sings alone. Her voice is now considered one of the most distinctive in the kpop industry. She is also willing to take up singing during her lives.

➥ 𝟓. 𝐊𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐓𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐍

Chichi was seen with Korean textbooks almost all the time and everywhere, at the airport or during group activities. She also often carried a dictionary with her. In Stray 9th, she could be seen transcribing Korean pronunciation into katakana so that she would be able to pronounce the words, which also probably translated into her audible Japanese pronunciation. She confessed that she continued to do so for some time after her debut.

𝐍𝐎𝐖

Now Chichi no longer uses them. As she confessed, she now feels much more comfortable with asking members for advice on language issues, something she used to be very shy about.

➥ 𝟔. 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐍

Chichi found it quite difficult to control her stress on stage, except when she didn't have to sing, just dance. Her hands shook a lot when holding the microphone, causing her to often hold it much tighter than she should to cover it up.

𝐍𝐎𝐖

She no longer has any difficulty with this. Her stage presence is so on point, she is much more confident and watching her on stage is a pure experience.

➥ 𝟕. 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐌𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐍

Chichi did not know how to accept compliments, often denying them. She choreographed dances so that she herself was as invisible as possible.

𝐍𝐎𝐖

She has become really confident. She realizes her mistakes, admits them, and tries to correct them and keep improving. She is already able to occasionally give a killing part to herself during choreography.

➥ 𝟖. 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐇𝐚𝐢𝐫

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐍

Chichi keeps her hair short all the time. If we assume that the story shown in The Sound Story Ver. MV is her story then it is probably related to trauma.

𝐍𝐎𝐖

She still does it, except that now she's fine with hair extensions during photoshoots or video recordings.

➥ 𝟗. 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐁𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐜𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐲 𝐊𝐢𝐝𝐬 𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐍

I left the saddest for last. Chichi was not treated as a member of Stray Kids at all in the beginning. During fansigns, some fans skipped her completely going straight to the next member. Her photocards at one time were the cheapest, often sold for not even half the proper price, some of which were added as freebies to other orders. Also, for a while her name was omitted from fanchants. Fortunately, it was not a long period, but it was certainly very painful.

𝐍𝐎𝐖

Currently, Chichi is the most popular member in Japan, whose merch can be sold out in minutes. She is credited with collaborating with J-HOPE of BTS, is the first Korean person featured in Omosan Street Magazine, is the first female idol invited to SUGA's SUCHWITA and successfully sold out all the showcase slots for her first DIGITAL album. She was honored as an ambassador for Kawasaki city, and took part in one of the most popular recent series - Alice in Borderland.

《 ♡ 》

[gayzuko]

sorry had to put more of my kinnporsche ep10 thoughts somewhere

hehehehehehe

Chay making me physically cringe breaking out the L-word bestie this guy kissed you on the cheek one time and then u had a cuddle calm down (he’s cute it’s allowed but also I did cringe)

Speaking of KimChay if the reason they didn’t kiss properly last ep is because of the age gap between the actors like I understand but also. why did you cast actors with such a big age gap then. obviously they’re both amazing but weird choice if it means that KimChay can’t actually even act like they really like each other

Okey more dramatically: BIG. “Kinn really loves you” aaaaaaaaa

I’m curious about if we’ll see any more of the characters that died in this episode later in flashbacks and stuff. like Nodt mentioned in interviews that Big is in love with Kinn and ik that’s a thing in the books but afaik it wasn’t addressed in the show :( I would liked to have seen that. I didn’t expect Big to die because i thought he still had that storyline to explore! sad :(

Rlly interesting that Big wasn’t the mole like in the books but he still died :( rip king ur hair was so cool and u were so gender :(

more importantly to me personally and my own actor bias, plsssss I don’t want that to be the last we see of Ken :( i want flashbacks pls :( the mole reveal was So good and i was especially so excited because i thought it’d mean more screen time for my bestie Perth and then lmaooo immediately he was brutally murdered. SAD.

i really hope we’ll see more about why he was the mole cause that wasn’t explained at all! what was his motivation? I LOVED that Vegas seduced Tawan to get him on his side and i think that’d be soooo funny if that was also what happened with Ken lmao

like i’m picturing Vegas juggling his pathetic little men that are giving him information - and they both end up dead and he doesn’t care and it creates an inchresting comparison to Pete 👀 who he does care about

okay possibly I am thinking this because I think Bible and Perth should kiss. i just think they’re both neat. sorry ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

side note Perth just tweeting “hehe” today. sir.

oh back to Chay i’m soooo glad they changed the kidnapping situation from the books. still dramatic but significantly less horrific, thank u KP writers.

WHEN WILL WE HAVE THE SPIDERMAN MEME MOMENT OF KINN AND PORSCHE AND KIM AND CHAY ALL REALISING THEY’RE FUCKING EACH OTHER’S BROTHERS PLSSS IT’LL BE SO FUNNY

i’m vibing with VegasPete lmaooo WHY did Pete suddenly look sexy this episode his fight with Porsche in the beginning of the ep was Really Cool and also he looked Hot. and then when he was tied up in Vegas’ weird room at the end I was like 👀 (also cock and ball dorture real?)

finally like every episode i have to ask. WHY DO THEY CENSOR THE SUBTITLES?!?!?! I KNOW THEY ARE SWEARING IN THAI AND A LOT OF THE TIME VEGAS OR KEN ARE SWEARING IN ENGLISH SO WHY DO THE ENGLISH SUBTITLES PRETEND THEY’RE NOT SWEARING ITS SO CRINGE

no but for real it was especially bad this episode because all the characters were so tense and clearly swearing a Lot and then the subtitles made them sound like they talk like children hrrr it really takes me out of the show because it’s so much less dramatic when i’m laughing because they’ve translated stuff as “what the flip” dhsjsjsjsn

Vegas yelling, in English “THIS WASN’T THE FUCKING PLAN” while the subtitles say “this wasn’t the freaking plan” lmaooooo

[lameravigliadoro]

oh so you're learning french, Twitch edition : 5 french streamers

you have some kind of basis in french, but you want to go further with fast-paced, advanced level vocabulary? here's a non-exhaustive list of some of the best french speaking streamers to improve your language skills and understanding of the language in a native context, as well as discover interesting people and expand your knowledge on french culture and history!

domingo : video react, most popular talkshow on twitch & League

fun, easy-going livestreams! he hosts a talkshow every Tuesday evening (8pm-10pm, +1) called "Popcorn" : in fact, it's the most popular talkshow on the french twitch and you can get introduced to most of the streamers with interviews of singers, actors, or even a football player, games, worldwide news ("les actus de PA" --'PA' is actually Domingo's real name alias, Pierre-Alexis --'actus' means 'news'). He talks clearly most of the times, though is pretty fast-paced.

here's a video extract in which Ponce (brown-haired, rond glasses), Baghera (blond girl), Simon Puech (brown-haired, black t-shirt) and Domingo (on the far left, black beard and beige sweatshirt) talk about alcohol consumption in France as well as regional clichés and their own relationship with alcohol.

littlebigwhale : singer & pubg

she actually livestreams in english sometimes! she mostly plays PUBG and other games, and on sundays she sings during her karaoke. she doesn't talk that fast so don't hesitate to go and see for yourself! if you want to sing and have fun, she does karaoke nights every so often with another streamer, Zerator, (available on youtube too, just search "littlebigwhale zerator karaoke and you should find two or three streams).

here's a stream from a among us night when pokimane joined some french streamers! littlebigwhale is the one wearing bear ears and glasses.

etoiles : culture & smash bros

smash bros player and host. also, he has a thing called "la nuit de la culture/la nuit de la cult'" (= the culture night) during which he watches a "Question pour un champion" episode (="Going for Gold" french version on the national channel) and tries to answer the questions to perfect his general knowledge skills and he spends hours looking up stuff he doesn't know --a very fun and smart way to actually get more knowledgable on french culture and history, expand your vocabulary in sciences, gastronomy, botany and just be in a friendly, positive mood on saturday nights! the culture night is every saturday from 8pm to midnight or even more. ==> fun fact : the Question pour un champion host (called Samuel Etienne) is actually livestreaming on twitch too after Etoiles showed him! his channel is samueletienne and he reads french press every morning, it's very fun and interesting if you want to be in touch with french news in an easy way.

jean massiet : french politics expert & pilot

he's one of my favourite streamer! he's a specialist in the french political life as he worked for several secretaries of state (in french, des "ministres") as a parliamentary attaché. he often does news roundups, livestreames every wednesdays debates at the Assemblée Nationale (national assembly), and is careful about democratizing politics to the youth, making it easy to understand. he's been hosting a political talkshow on his twitch channel too (named "Backseat", every thursdays, starting at 19:30, though the season finale was in last june, let's hope it gets renewed in september), i highly recommend you try and watch some episodes! they invite french politicians (ministres, députés, chefs de parti, porte-paroles) and interview them. when i say they, i talk about the commentators who are on the show with Jean and who are all knowledgable, politicised and funny and come from different political backgrounds to respect a sort of 'neutrality' : this way, ideas and visions from the far-left, left and centre-right are freely expressed on the show. another thing i appreciate is that, nevertheless this neutrality, they refuse to invite far-right politicians and fascists, even when it comes to popular candidates for the présidentielle.

rivenzi : sport games, history & all kind of nintendo games

he's famous for broadcasting and commentating sport matches (football, rugby, he also commentated the Olympic Games in Tokyo!) so if you like sport games go check him out he knows a lot and can make everything interesting! rivenzi also organises history lives as well : the one i've linked below is one amongst many on his channel in which he invites a french historian to talk informally and in-depth about subjects like nazism (like this one), the Algerian war, etc. there's more history live replays on his Spotify account so don't hesitate to check it out! i love these history lives because rivenzi is also knowledgable (he went to the uni to study history) and interested in history, so these conversations are gold mines, especially for people who know nothing about the subjects, the goal is to democratise and vulgarise difficult and heavy topics!

+ he's one of the funniest people on this platform (according to me) + he's also Breton and is very proud of it (we all are)

for this history live, rivenzi invites the historian and college lecturer Nicolas Patin to talk about his book, "Kruger, un bourreau ordinaire" (= "an ordinary executioner"), a biography about the nazi chief of the S.S and police in Poland during the WWII and is responsible for the mass deportation of Polish Jews.

don't hesitate to ask for clarifications, i tried to be as clear and consice as possible! for most twitch lives, you can find a lot of free replays on their twitch channels or even on their youtube channels, don't be afraid to do your own digging! also, i know it can be intimidating to watch un-subbed videos in french, but the more you'll hear spoken and native french, the more you'll get used to the natural speaking flow and internet slang vocabulary. finally, i restricted the list to 5 streamers, but i'm sure that if you watch a few of these streamers' videos or even catch them on live, you'll hear about other streamers as they pretty much all know each other and are friends, like Mister MV, Ponce, Zerator, Ultia, AngleDroit, Gotaga, Maghla, DFG, RebeuDeter, Aminematuer, Squeezie (most famous french youtuber and streamer), Horty, BagheraJones, etc.

have fun! :)

[king-shango-the-great]

As a contrast I would have certainly interviewed her. We black people have been judged by so many others only by the basis of our appearance for centuries most times based only on the color of our skin and yet we do the same to ourselves. Jim crow much sir? You should be ashamed of yourself because you cant even put together and intelligible sentence without stumbling several times yet you judge that woman based on her shoes? How do you know it wasnt all she had? When in fact they could have been borrowed just so she could show up there. At least she showed up. Perhaps she put up a fuss because she really needed that opportunity. Everyone isnt as educated or able to speak publicly as you may be but that doesn't make them less than you. The fact is youve lowered yourself way beneath her. Her taste in attire has little to do with her ability to perform the tasks assigned her. Our inherent genius has nothing to do with our appearance or circumstances. How many of Americas greatest inventions were conjured up by slaves clothed in rags and hard working former slaves but credit was given to some white man? How many geniuses are housed in penitentiaries? You speak with a lot of self hate sir. While most times giving someone a chance indeed does blow up in our faces there are those times when it pays off in great dividends. While I do admire your blog here sir what you did was categorically wrong. For all you know god directed her there to test you and to bless her. Now you publicly shame her based on nothing more than her appearance? All youve done is put the true depth and quality of your own character in doubt.

LOL, This is a wild accusation.

First, 40% of my team is Black (from around the Diaspora, which includes Black Americans). So there goes this weird "self hatred" accusation.

I would love for my team to be 90-100% Black, but unfortunately alot of our people can't get their acts together. Quit acting like you don't know this.

What part of "the appearance was included in the instructions" did you not comprehend?

Also, I ✌🏿shamed✌🏿her because she:

Couldn't follow instructions

Made a scene in our lobby

Left a poor impression of herself as a Black person, which effects other Black people (for all the reasons you actually named)

It wasn't just about the clothes. Which I clearly explained in the OP. People come with poor clothing looking for a job all the time. But those people usually try to explain to us up front, that they've fallen on hard times, so they may not have the proper attire. We understand this, & even work with them.

But that wasn't this chick, & nothing in the story I shared indicated that it was.

Furry boots is not considered "poor clothing", & neither is gold teeth, Gucci belts, pink/red/neon fucking green Jordan's with matching fitted hats, or any of the other goofy shit that Negropeans wear to these job interviews.

But I asked this next question in the replies, but I'll ask it here:

You say you would have interviewed her.... Why, when A) HR didn't want her (& I answer to HR), B) I wouldn't have been able to place her in front of any of our clients (& our reputation with our clients means everything), & C) She was being unruly.

What would you hire her for? How would you ensure she got past HR?

Why would ✌🏿god✌🏿be testing me with her? If "god" doesn't know what our predicament is with our people, then he's not any God that I believe in.

I don't know how many geniuses are in prison, because I've never been to prison myself, & clearly some of these folks weren't smart enough to keep themselves out of prison 🤷🏿‍♂️

And fam, that accusation against my intelligence is nothing but laughable. We both know that you don't believe that about me. I have a Bachelor's in English. You can question my personal character all you want (not that I agree), but you won't fool anyone here by questioning my intelligence. That just sounds like a petty ad-hominem to me, that is almost not even worth responding to. It was even more weird that you claimed that I'm "educated & publicly well spoken" just a few lines later. So which is it? 🤔

But it sounds like you're not in a position to hire people. Otherwise, you'd know the frustration those of us hiring managers who happen to be Black have, because we do try our best to service our own people, but our people many times A) don't do the basic leg work to get the job, & B) fail to maintain the job if they do manage to get it.

Again, quit acting like you don't know this. In fact, your diatribe makes me wonder if you aren't one of those people yourself. 🤔

Also, quit acting like Negropeans don't go to a job knowing they won't get it, just so they can say "they ain't tryna give a Ni@@a no job". This self-sabotaging shit happens all the time.

There was no reason for you to catch feelings about any of this. Negropeans fuck up in the work place all the time. They do & say dumb shit to jeopardize their chances quite often. Why should I risk my own reputation (let alone my actual JOB) to help people who show all the signs that they don't wanna be helped?

Make it make sense, Sir.

You trying to concoct this imaginary scenario where this loud, rude, uncouth chick with expensive Wookie boots is somehow an undercover genius sent by "god", is just beyond silly. Sometimes a spade ♠️ really is a spade, & a duck 🦆really is a duck.

I'm wondering if I should even bother telling you how often I've worked with young Black kids (high school & college level), helping them get their resumes together FOR FREE, so that they can get jobs at some point. Or how I show up at job fairs & pass my business cards out to every black person I see. I ALWAYS scan the crowd for the sharpest Black people in the room first, & snatch them up when I can.

But nope, none of that matters. I'm just a self hating (LMAO), Jim Crowing (this is funny; Im accused of being too Pro-Black at work), unintelligible man of poor character 🤷🏿‍♂️

Fam, my activism isn't the same as yours, & nothing requires it to be. I WOULD say I'm willing to bet that I both qualitatively AND quantitatively, help more or our people than you do.... But I won't say that, because this isn't a contest.

[jasonwu0602]

Nailing Your English Job Interview: A Vital Preparation Guide

Preparing for an English job interview is like studying a new language. It demands practice, preparation, and a lot of fortitude. Just like the Austin Korean classes near me or the Austin German classes near me, you need to put in the time and effort to be proficient. From learning how to answer standard questions fluently to practicing good non-verbal communication, diligence is necessary. Heck, even the Austin Arabic classes near me and Austin Hindi classes near me need a certain level of dedication! Just as studying foreign languages requires focus on syntax, pronunciation, and grammar, so does preparing for an English job interview. Just like the Austin English courses near me, you need to focus on speaking clearly, structuring your responses, and using appropriate professional vocabulary. So, put your best foot forward and make a solid first impression by prepping correctly!

Mastering the Art of Interview Preparation and Presentation

When embarking on the journey of landing your ideal role, being well-prepared for the interview process is crucial. This involves researching the company and planning your responses ahead of time. Here are a few tips on how you can articulate your qualifications and work experience more effectively.

Do your homework: Research the Company

Understanding the company's mission, culture, products, and overall brand identity can set you apart from other candidates. Take your time to:

Explore the company's website, social media, and recent news.

Familiarize yourself with the company’s values and interests.

Understand the company's products, services, and target customer.

This will help you tailor your answers and show the interviewer that you're serious about the opportunity.

Plan Your Responses: Show Off Your Skills

Well-prepared responses can demonstrate your skills, experience, and overall suitability for the position. Here's how:

Anticipate likely interview questions and prepare concise, focused responses.

Use real-world examples to illustrate your skills and experience.

Practice your responses to ensure you present them naturally.

Remember, your goal is to convince the interviewer that you have the skills, knowledge, and experience to effectively perform the role.

Articulate Your Qualifications: Be Specific

When talking about your qualifications:

Mention the specific qualifications you hold and how they're relevant to the job.

Describe how you have utilised these qualifications in your past roles.

Offer examples of projects you've worked on or successes you've had because of these qualifications.

Discuss your Working Experience: Tell a Story

Your work experience is more than just jobs and dates. Use it to tell a compelling story:

Highlight key roles and responsibilities you've held.

Discuss the skills and knowledge you've gained.

Show how your past experience will help you succeed in this new role.

Remember, it's not just about what you did—it's about how you did it and the impact you made.

By doing diligent research, preparing your responses, and articulating your qualifications and work experience effectively, you stand a better chance of making a positive impression and securing the job you desire. Happy interviewing!

Navigating English Interview Questions With Confidence

Are you gearing up for an English-language job interview? While it's perfectly normal to feel nervous, a bit of preparation can go a long way in boosting your confidence. Here, we'll guide you through common interview questions in English and help you plan your responses. Remember, an accurate and appropriate use of English is key to acing your interview.

Common English Interview Questions

Check out the following common English interview questions:

Tell me about yourself.

Why should we hire you?

What are your strengths and weaknesses?

Where do you see yourself in five years?

Why do you want to work here?

How do you handle stress and pressure?

Describe a difficult work situation and how you overcame it.

What are your goals for the future?

Why are you leaving or have left your job?

How do you evaluate success?

Planning Your Responses

Now let's break down how to effectively plan your responses:

Be specific: Avoid generic answers. Instead, share specific experiences or accomplishments that demonstrate your skills relevant to the position.

Use the STAR method: Situation, Task, Action, Result. This technique is particularly useful for behavioral interview questions.

Tailor your answers: Shape your answers to align with the job requirements and company culture.

Practice: Record your answers and listen to them. This helps to verify your language proficiency and the quality of the content.

The necessity of accurate and appropriate English use in an interview setting cannot be overstressed. It's not just the content of your responses that matter, but also how you communicate them. Fine-tune your English proficiency and increase your chances of acing your interview by investing in one-on-one tutoring sessions with qualified teachers on AmazingTalker. No contracts, transparent pricing, and flexible lesson options are guaranteed. Plus, you can have a discussion about the course content with the teacher before classes. Don't leave your interview success to chance. Prepare today with AmazingTalker.

Seizing Success: The Value of English Test Preparation and the Role of AmazingTalker

Whether you're interviewing for a job, applying for a scholarship, or seeking top-tier university acceptance, your ability to communicate effectively in English is crucial. Hence, preparing for English tests not only sharpens your language proficiency but also provides the competitive edge that sets you apart.

Confidence Boosting Benefits

Imagine walking into an interview and impressing the panel with your fluent English. Test preparation:

Helps you demonstrate your language capability convincingly,

Increases your self-confidence,

Enhances your comprehension skills, and

Showcases your dedication and discipline.

Introducing AmazingTalker: Your Personalized Learning Partner

While an EF SET Certificate might help, there's a platform that offers an approach tailored to your specific needs: AmazingTalker. As an innovative language learning platform, AmazingTalker provides:

Personalized one-on-one teaching with customized materials,

Transparent qualifications and experience of tutors,

No requirement of contracts along with transparent pricing, and

Flexible lesson options to accommodate your schedule.

You can select a teacher based on your budget, requirements, and available slots. The platform also facilitates discussion on course content with teachers before classes. To ensure that you're making an educated choice, it even offers a 25-minute trial lesson.

AmazingTalker is not just confined to English—it proudly offers online courses in 48 different languages, including Japanese, Korean, Spanish, French, and German. So whether your ambition drives you towards becoming a polyglot, or you're focused on mastering English, AmazingTalker is the answer to your language learning needs.

Refining English Speaking Skills Through Practice

When learning a new language, the importance of practice cannot be overstated. It's not just about memorizing words and phrases but also getting the chance to use them in a real conversation. This can help boost your confidence and refine your speaking skills. One effective method to practice your English is by speaking aloud or recording yourself.

Speaking aloud allows you to hear how you sound, giving you the chance to correct any pronunciation mistakes you may make. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. The more you practice, the easier it becomes to form sentences and express your thoughts in English.

The same goes for recording yourself. By listening to these recordings, you can identify your strengths and areas that need improvement. You can also see your progress over time, which can be a great confidence booster. This will also help you to become more fluent and natural in your speech.

Here are some tips when practicing speaking aloud or recording yourself:

Make it a routine. Set aside time each day for practice.

Start with easy words and phrases, then gradually move on to more complex sentences.

Listen to English speakers and try to mimic their pronunciation.

Don't be too hard on yourself. Making mistakes is part of the learning process.

Keep a positive mindset. Believe in your ability to improve.

Remember, practice is key in mastering any language. With consistent effort and the right strategies, you'll be speaking English confidently and fluently in no time.

How AmazingTalker Assists with Interview Preparations

AmazingTalker, a pioneering online English tutoring platform, provides an array of services to help you prepare for interviews. This platform offers personalized one-on-one teaching, allowing learners to focus on specific areas they wish to improve. Whether it's honing your English communication skills or understanding the nitty-gritties of cracking an interview, AmazingTalker has got you covered.

Personalized Learning Experience

One-on-one teaching: Tutors provide individualized attention, helping you to focus on your areas of improvement.

Customized materials: Tutors prepare personalized resources tailored to your specific needs and goals.

Transparent and Experienced Tutors

Transparent qualifications: AmazingTalker provides complete clarity on the experiences and qualifications of its tutors. This transparency allows you to choose a tutor who meets your requirements best.

Experienced tutors: AmazingTalker houses a pool of experienced tutors trained in various fields, including interview preparation.

Flexible and Transparent Pricing

No contracts: AmazingTalker does not bind you in contracts. Enjoy the flexibility of learning at your own pace.

Transparent pricing: All prices are clearly stated, with no hidden charges.

Flexible lesson options: Choose a lesson package according to your needs and schedule.

Choose Your Own Teacher

Selecting teachers: AmazingTalker enables you to select a teacher based on your budget, requirements, and schedule.

Discuss course content: You can discuss the course content with the teacher before starting the classes.

Trial lesson: For your comfort, AmazingTalker offers a 25-minute trial lesson. This helps you to understand the teaching style of the tutor and align your expectations.

Despite its focus on English teaching, AmazingTalker also offers online courses in 48 other languages including Japanese, Korean, Spanish, French, and German.

In a nutshell, AmazingTalker opens a world of opportunities to boost your interview preparation journey. With personalized teaching, experienced and qualified tutors, transparent pricing, and the flexibility to choose your teacher, AmazingTalker empowers you to approach your interviews with confidence.

Harness the Power of English Mastery with AmazingTalker

In conclusion, preparing adequately for an English job interview is paramount. A lack of preparation can be detrimental, hindering your chances of landing the job. From communicating eloquently to understanding the nuances of the English language, every aspect counts. It's not just about knowing the language, it's about showcasing your skills and presenting your best self on the big day. So, why limit your potential due to a language barrier? With AmazingTalker, you can expertly boost your English proficiency. The platform offers personalized learning experiences that align with your individual needs, ensuring you become confident in your English speaking ability. So, take the plunge today. Be daring, be persistent, seize your opportunity with AmazingTalker. With the right resources and guidance, you can bring your A-game to any English job interview and secure that dream job. AmazingTalker is here to help you turn your goals into achievements. After all, your success is a reflection of your preparation. Let's make it count!