#i can't even articulate all of them

[mahikamihan]

Alamat "ILY ILY" is beautiful

hi, I'm just gonna write something quick to process my thoughts and analysis bc this MV and the song is so good and dense with message.

For some vague contexts, OFWs or overseas filipino workers, are often heralded as “Bagong Bayani” (trans. the new heroes)  as they bring in millions of pesos every year to help with expenses and living costs back home. As of Nov 8 2022, $1 (US dollar) = roughly Php 58 (Philippine peso). I’m not sure how it’s changed over the years, but in 2010-14, at least for me, Php 50 can buy you an entire lunch meal in school.

ILY ILY is a multi-genre song by Alamat with the melody originally from a Hiligaynon folk lullaby "Ili Ili tulog Anay". I believe the song itself talks a lot about the sacrifices OFW parents make for the financial security and comfort of their children back in the motherland (Philippines). And the subsequent emotional consequences and psychological effects these have on the family. The irony of ILY ILY also doubles as "i love you, i love you" is not lost on me.

Starting off strong! "Ano ba?? Ganyan ka na lang pala!" -very common scolding terms, especially from a older guardian or parental figures.

"Hindi ka ba nag-iisip na may naghihirap doon..." - kind of guilt-tripping the child for crying, being angry, or generally just not feeling happy by bringing up their working parents (likely OFWs) and their sacrifices; generally an unhealthy way of soothing someone's frustrations over neglect or dissatisfaction.

I love how money comes out of the cake. Usually another way to soothe their children, is by bringing in more money, for more comfort. But that doesn't phase Lyca (the female singer).

presents for the children... again, to make up for not being their for their birthday or whatever missed celebrations (especially during formative years of their childhood)

I'm trying to figure out which specific Filipino festival this is refering to. I know a few filo street festivals that reenact the Passion of Christ (ex. Sinulog, Moriones, Salibatbat, etc.) which sometimes includes self-whipping, which the crown, candles, and ropes here are symbolizing.

The lyrics are so on point,

Gabi-gabi at umaga (every night, and every day) Pangungulila ang dama (feeling bereaved, "ulila"="orphan", which is on theme) Hihintayin ang araw na (waiting for the day) Tayo'y magsasama-sama ([where] we all get together)

This is supposed to remind you of the sacrifices people make for love.

^^^Can someone tell me what these are referencing? I feel like this is supposed to be something from a filipino film or something similar, but I'm blanking on where it might be.

I love the direct parallel of the filipino kid having a yaya (maid/ domestic helper) back home while the parent is the housekeeper in a different country. Just *chefs kiss* GENIUS!!🤌🤌

the lyrics shows how much the child/children cares about their parents. in the midst of happiness and abundance around Lyca, she can't help but miss her mom and dad.

Island Maid - from a quick online search, it's a domestic helper agency in Singapore. Upon looking into their website, they hire Filipino workers trained under Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). Beside R-Ji is a balikbayan box, large cardbord boxes used to deliver souvenirs, gifts, clothes, furniture, and other things back to the country.

The lyrics now talk about how the child (R-Ji) aspires one day to be the one to work so they can bring their parents back home. (And, in a way, isn't that a tragic cycle of poverty and capitalism? Parents have to work away to bring money and food home, and the child has to work in order to bring their parents back home.)

Very powerful imagery. The waste, the anger, the sadness, the loneliness, while surrounded by presents, money, comfort.

Sacrifices, all in the name of family and love.

I love this part. From what I've gathered, in here, Taneo talks (in Ilokano) to the tone of an eldest sibling, about how he's going to take care [of you] for now. The lyrics shift the emotional burden of parenting to a fellow child, with the parents abroad and likely, unavailable. He throws paper airplanes made of paper money out the window while an airplane (parents?) flies in the back. Lost childhood maybe?

Another strong imagery. Money in a kaldero (used to cook food, usually rice, stew, and other filipino cuisine) while everyone is situated in a Boodle Fight (eating tradition where food is served on top of banana leaves).

"they've been gone too long so I'll be your Dad and Mom for now", again referencing about the physical and emotional unavailability of parents that older siblings or family members have to take on to fill that gap.

"'Nang, 'tang, muli na kayu" (Mom, dad, please go home)

At the emotional crux of the song, the lines said over the "telephone" sound is so poignant. They need their parents to go home. But instead...

...All they got were more Balikbayan boxes.

...and all they can do is fight over who gets them. Empty boxes. empty gifts of love. God, I love this song. Stream ILY ILY.

[utilitycaster]

Long ago, the four tribes of the Ashari lived in unity. Then, everything changed when the wizards were like ‘hey can we have this mountain”

[babacontainsmultitudes]

So I made this post a little while ago regarding dndads characters and the tma entities and didn't really include any explanations cause that would have been very very long for a somewhat niche post. But, if you'll humor me, I feel compelled to make the quickest case for Vast! Taylor cause I'm thinking about him lol, and specifically without even getting into personality traits, I just want to point to Taylor's track record and note that he (off the top of my head):

Climbed to the top of the tallest tree he could find and shot a clone of himself off of it

Had to be physically held back from jumping off the highest floor of a twelve story building

Did a high-dive into an ocean of paper and abandoned Normal in said ocean of paper.

Had the chance to at least partially spare Scary from the damage of a very high fall. Didn't.

Submitting this as evidence to the court, people of the jury thank you for your time.

[saints-who-never-existed]

Y’all ever think about at what point in the story Blanky first took Hartnell under his wing?

Part of me thinks it was happening in the background from the very beginning.

Hartnell demonstrates a feel for the ice right from Episode One when he’s the first to notice the descending pack ice, to understand the significance of it, and to call for Blanky’s advice.  But he’s also at his most vulnerable in those first few episodes. He’s rudderless and no doubt still grieving the loss of his brother. That’s half the reason he falls for Hickey’s manipulations at first and I have a hard time believing that any of that would’ve happened if he’d already had Blanky’s support behind him. 

I think the more likely option is that it came about when they were abandoning/preparing to abandon the ships. 

Hartnell’s grown a great deal already at that point - instead of dwelling in the past he’s very much looking forward to the future. He’s gained confidence and maturity but most of all, he’s absolutely full to the brim with hope and courage and I can see that being just as important in Blanky’s eyes as a knack for reading the ice. 

At the end of the day, that hope and courage is what it comes down to. 

I don’t think Hartnell would take up the challenge of learning the skills of an ice master in the first place if he wasn’t hopeful and completely convinced that he was going to survive. 

But I also have to wonder if Blanky, particularly after his injury and particularly having a better idea than anyone of what lay ahead, decided to pass on his skill and knowledge because somewhere in the back of his mind he was convinced that he wouldn’t... 

[birdmenmanga]

@raventhekittycat

hi okay so I've been mulling this one over for the past day or two and I think I have the answer. not to be using hamburger to explain anything to an american but you're my detco mutual so I'm going to try and explain it in detco terms

There's a post going around recently about how if you've read detco and only detco, the first time hakuba shows up you're going to be totally flummoxed, because damn this guy is clearly important, he gets to be even cooler than Shinichi, he's got a half-page shot of him (in such a panel-dense series such as Detective Conan, no less!!) and he's got a fucking hawk. he's CLEARLY important. everything about the narrative is indicating that you need to PAY ATTENTION to hakuba and that he's the coolest guy and he's important!!!! and then he dies in the case lol (not for real. but still.)!! and you're like huh??? what was that. why did aoyama do that.

But with the context of magic kaito this totally makes sense. He's a beloved character that people have been waiting decades to see again. Of course Aoyama is going to hype him up!! It's his big moment after years of being locked in the backrooms!!!

Anyways reading birdmen for me was kind of like that. The author's previous series, Kekkaishi, was pretty one-dimensional at the beginning, and even after the main plot started picking up at around volume 6, it still felt quite understandable. I knew what she was trying to get at, and the spectacular job she did with the anthropocene and climate change metaphor towards the end of that series really made me interested in the rest of her works. That and the way she writes familial relationships is absolutely DEVASTATING. (I mean this with the highest of praise)

But when I read BIRDMEN for the first time, I was probably in... middle school, maybe? And I read it, sure, but I didn't get it. I could see what was literally happening on the page but the narrative choices were absolutely baffling at times. Why skip over the entire part of the plot where they figure out who the birdman that saved them was? She blatantly doesn't care about that. What does she care about then?? I knew I didn't get it, I knew there were parts of it that were important and I couldn't figure out why and THAT'S how it dug its pretty little claws into me. Even after I finished catching up it nagged at me a little bit, not often at all, but enough that every once in a while I go, huh, right, that was a thing, let me go read it again.

For the record this type of story haunting has happened to me twice. First time was the Heart of Thomas, second time was BIRDMEN. I think the thing is that these are both stories which are not what other people say they are and I think I came into both of these stories with a misconception, trying to look too hard for things that weren't important and therefore missing the things that were.

Because sure, BIRDMEN is about mental illness. Yeah, it's about an evil scientific organization growing mutants in a lab. Yeah, it's about what it means to leave your humanity behind. That's all technically correct, on a surface level, and the fandom at large likely agrees with these takes for the most part, but in my opinion none of that really delves into what the thematic messaging of the story is about.

There are cryptic conversations about authority and human extinction and peculiar outfit and ability choices. You can tell these choices weren't made to serve the purpose of "writing exciting shonen manga" because that was what she did for the most part in Kekkaishi and you can tell she wasn't putting her whole pussy into doing that here. So what was she doing? What's like. All of this. Waves my hands at this.

The short answer is that it's really about the interplay between capitalism (represented by humanity) and communism (represented by birdmen), and explores the role institutional white supremacy (EDEN) plays in enforcing capitalism. It is ALSO about queer liberation and the importance of community, but hey, that double-stacks conveniently with the communism metaphor.

But also take this opinion of mine with a grain of salt. As far as I know I'm the only one who really truly deeply believes that it is not only AN interpretation of the work, but one that was fully intended by the author.

So basically, I like it, because I think it says something true and beautiful that I also believe in, even if I didn't have the words for it the first time I read it. But I don't really think that's what people really look for in a media recommendation.

Do I like it? Yes, I love it. Will I recommend it to others? Yeah, sure. But do I think it's deeply flawed? Yeah, absolutely. It's flawed in the same ways as The Witch from Mercury— a rushed ending, too many threads that were opened and never tied together. The pacing and characterization is perfect in the beginning, and too rushed at the end. There are prerequisites you basically HAVE to read in order to understand the story (tempest for G-Witch and the communist manifesto for birdmen). I think a truly good story wouldn't have any of these things so if people don't like it I never blame them.

It's my personal experiences that make birdmen so profound to me. If you are not queer I just don't think Eishi coming out as a birdman to his mom will hit the same, just as an example. Sorry that I wasn't the kid you wanted me to be. I know you love me and you just want the best for me and that's why you're so controlling, because you think I can be saved by conforming to societal expectations. But I can't live like that. I can't be like that. And that's why I must go. etc.

Aesthetically I do love birdmen a lot. If I had to describe it in a few words it would probably be "chilling", "beautiful", and "powerful", which nicely coincides with the type of things I personally like to draw. It's also silly to a small degree but it's so serious and I know Tanabe can be way way way funnier (read kekkaishi for this. kekkaishi and hanazakari no kimitachi he were foundational to my sense of sequential art humor) so that's not really the standout trait of this series.

I can't let it go because I'm chewing this series like a bone. And it's taking me years but I am getting that sweet sweet marrow. By god. We are on year 3 of this shit and I am GOING to understand this series. and I'm going to make 3 video essays about it

[altruistic-meme]

Abram i was curious and i don’t think i’ve asked you this before, what are some of your favorite aftg fics? you know one of mine will always be yours (wit)jitp but… what are your faves???

-miels 💜✨

hiii miels my beloved <3<3 i am always down to share some favorite fics >:D

(side note: for a lot of these, i actually am not fully caught up with them due to my shifting hyperfocus meaning i wasn't reading them when they updated, so it generally goes without saying that i am planning on rereading and catching up on these all!)

Scared to Live (But I'm Scared to Die) by Major_816 this is my #1 favorite fic and i will scream it's praises until the day i die. it's so so good. i am wayyyy overdue for a reread, especially since it's got a sequel that i haven't started yet, but alas that will have to wait until next month. i will say though that it is DEFINITELY not for the light of heart. it is very trigger heavy and dark, and it still holds place as the only fic i've ever read that i have had to set it down and step away from it because of one scene. the tags on the fic itself don't say much about this, but i can always go into further detail if you want :) (as much as i can remember, anyway ;; or once i actually do my reread)

Flavors of Fall by NikNak22 i know i've mentioned Flavors of Fall in the past because i will always credit it for inspiring me to experiment with the way i write!! especially when it comes to (wit)jitp!! the limited pov in (wit)jitp is a direct result of this fic!! but the fic itself is SO WELL WRITTEN it makes me lose my mind. it's my perfect type of cozy tbh. i remember following along with the updates to the point where even my MOM knew what day it updated on bc i wouldn't shut up about it skdhvskhd

Promise of an Unbroken Boy by elesary this fic hhhhhhhhh this is probably my MOST reread fic bc every time it updates i reread it!! mostly as a reminder of where it left off but also it's just so enjoyable every single time around that rereading it is a joy every single time (i am also currently rereading it!!) this fic actually also has a scene that i usually skip over bc of graphic details, not half as bad as the scene in Scared to Live, i just have already read it and can skip it since i know what happens now this is also one of the fics that i know has influenced my writing! it was a while ago now, but i remember rereading this before and going "hey this wording is familiar" only to discover i had mirrored this story in my own stories!

the upper hand by plantelty i don't remember a lot of the plot of this one (alas it's been quite a while ;;) but i remember it having these very calm sort of dark vibes? not dark like Dark but it just felt like the type of story that takes place in the twilight hours. idk. it makes me smile. not quite as chaotic as some other fics (i will cry when we finally get the final chapter)

The Butcher's House by Fire_Bear ghost neil ghost neil ghost neil i love love love the mystery and story-telling in this one. it has set such a high precedent for ghost aus for me.

i think i will leave it here ;;; like i said, i am in the process of going through and rereading most (if not all) of these fics right now bc i've missed updates so i am SO down to talk about them

[ssspringroll]

Saddens me greatly that even with my giant/tiny slider, i will never be able to make my favorite ocs height-accurate. The tallest one is 20ft (6m). That's like a 2 story building. Game just can't handle dudes that huge ;-;

[khaotunq]

🥰

[icy-book]

Me on my way to go write a really cool concept for a fic I'll never finish but will daydream about for the next few months

[delivish]

‎

[nonstandardrepertoire]

it has been a week since i received this and i simply Cannot stop thinking about this AI spam e-mail that came to me thru my siddur website's contact form

[grahamdollton]

[kyliafanfiction]

so, I read the full fanlore page for that whole ‘fandom ghost’ thing about m/m and the way there’s this one character that keeps being written into every character over and over, across pairings, inserted into a usually minor or underdeveloped character, etc

and there was a section on a female ghost that also tends to show up in a lot of these m/m fics, a smart, sassy, beautiful female character who is also reduced to being an enabler for the m/m ship, etc. 

And while I don’t really read m/m, that does track with my limited exposure.

BUT, I think there is also a fandom ghost in f/f fic too. I honestly don’t read the wider f/f widely enough to articulate it as much, just what’s in my fandoms and I don’t really have an expansive set of them or add new ones that easily.

BUT in my experience, and from what I see in summaries and tags on ao3 and posts here on tumblr, there is a common character archtype wedged into characters regardless of if they fit, across a lot of femmeslash stories.

I can’t give a solid point by point as I write this at 5 in the morning, coming off stewing over the thoughts in my sleep, or so it feels, but like:

the m/m fandom ghost is a type a personality, controlled and tsundere and hypercompetent and gets wrecked by the messy guy that comes in and destroys their carefully crafted life, etc.

The f/f fandom ghost that I’ve seen is actually the opposite. That is, when given two characters that seem like a viable ship, one of the characters is whacked with a hammer until she fits a mold: an often clumsy or perhaps more accurately careless, butch (and made more so than her canon presentation), very muscular (again, more so than her canon presentation), often quite a ladies woman, very toppy, definitely plays opposite a more repressed or controlled character (but usually one who is bettered rooted in canon as being that), and destroys that character’s neat little world. They are usually, despite their butchness, a lot sillier or softer outside the bedroom, again, and they think sunshine comes out of the other character’s ass even before they get together and -

I’m starting to run into some limitations on the specific words because I just don’t read this enough to stop and articulate it (because I often close out of F/F fics that get too into wedging the characters into archetypes like this rather than the characters themselves (because it does happen a lot) but I very much do have a ‘I know it when I see it’ thing happening here.

I’ve seen it crop up in Buffy/Faith, Kara/Lena, Regina/Emma and in others I have read less extensively (there are F/F ships I’ve never seen it in, like Tara/Willow) that I’m not thinking of specifically

And like, there is a bit of a difference between the m/m fandom ghost, which is really the same character being dressed in a new skin over and over, and that skin usually being a minor or secondary character, etc, and this f/f one, which is more likely (but not always) to be fit into a fairly prominent character, and is less like one character wearing different skin and more many square characters being badly bashed into one round hole, but

I feel like I’m on to something here. For some femmeslash writers, there really are a lot of fics that feel like they’re not writing the two characters. They’re writing the one character and an archetype that may not actually fit the other character all that well, but damn the Torpedos and full speed ahead.

[trans-xianxian]

just saw someone say that older siblings are allowed to yell at their younger siblings because they had no say in them being in the family and it's "preparing them to be yelled at in the real world" girl what the fuck are you talking about

[octoagentmiles]

i hate when people try to say one octonaut is better or worse than the others. didn't you watch the mudskippers episode they are equals in every way because they are friends and love each other thank you end post <3

[pokemonruby]

finished the demo for octopath 2... i’m going to throw up i don’t think i can wait another 2 or something weeks guys. it’s so fucking good so far