#i rewatched that shit 50 times on god

[goldenpinof]

i'm rewatching the video for the 1st time and oh my fucking god! i'm pausing every 30-40 seconds to make notes. Grindr?? how did i miss it. 50 shades of Phil's natural laughter. so many references to random shit. SO MANY. we actually learn interesting things about them?!?!! "you cannot handle when people are mysterious" BRO, thank you. "Dan pie chart of crushes" coming from Phil! yo, how is this real life.

[moviebloggg]

What I noticed TSN rewatch🤪

Eduardo coming to Marks dorm looking concerned at TWO AM. “You and Erica split up” Why r u checking his blog at 2:08 am… - 12:33 and his CONCERN the whole time “it’s on ur blog :(, Are you alright :(, I’m here for you” like damn

Dustin’s adorable wave to Wardo :((( - 12:34 and DUSTIN LAUGHING AT THE “i’m here for you. no i need the algorithm” LMAOO - 12:43

Wardo waiting for him after the face mash meeting :( sitting down, headphones in, clearly been there for a while - 20:32

EDUARDOS DADDY ISSUESSSSS. “You have no idea what that’s gonna mean to my father” - 37:04 AND THEN MARK SAYING “Sure I do” LIKE HE KNOWS AND CARES TOO. Also, “My father won’t even look at me. (1:40:03) and there’s one more time i know he mentions it i just don’t know where😭

“have you slept yet?” (36:06) even after mark made him wait and in that tone like aw

BRO THE FREAKING BEER THING. stop aaron sorkin david fincher you fucking menaces how dare you put that there. (46:58)

Eduardo’s “oh my god…” at 51:29 when he realizes that they are in the stall next to them

THE LOOK AT 52:09. OMG KILL ME RN.

Eduardo’s sad and painful look at Mark after Sy brings up animal cruelty, like ‘really, you went that low?’ - 1:12:39

Marks tap on Sys shoulder saying ‘stop no don’t go there’ - 1:12:42

The parallel of how happy and jokey Mark is when in the dorm during the chicken scene with Wardo being put side by die with how hostile they are and how sad he looks in the deposition scenes. he never once smiles.

Marks sad look at Eduardo after being exposed - 1:14:39

Eduardo’s disbelief at Mark going so low as the chicken thing 1:14:41

Mark opening his mouth to protest against 1:14:43

the pain in Eduardo’s eyes after Mark makes a half joke that probably would used to make him laugh. also the look of betrayal and the eyes that say I don’t even know you anymore. 1:18:17

The disconnect between Mark and Sean. “Ever think about that girl?” “No???” 1:23:52

How so genuinely happy Mark looks when greeting Eduardo in Cali. The little grin. The surprising him. The wack on the arm. the ‘Wardo’. - 1:30:50

“I want- i-i want- I need you.” aaron. sorkin. what. the. fuck.

“I didn’t know whether to dress for the party or the business meeting, so i kinda dressed for both.” (1:41:51) Um aaron you did not have to go so deep with that one my god do you ever think of our feelings.

The piano coming in at 1:43:46 after the reveal is just so heartbreaking.

The PAINNNNN in his voice at “You set me up 😕” (1:43:51)

Throughout the whole confrontation scene, Mark looks like he’s going to cry. so so badly. especially at 1:44:50 like PAIN. And 1:45:27, “Yeah” - 1:45:50, and the REPEATING “You didn’t have to be that rough on him.” (1:46:00).

When he hit 1,000,000 people on HIS OWN WEBSITE he looks downright depressed. not happy in the slightest. he just hit this amazing milestone. should be like the happiest moment of his life. yet he looks like he wants to cry. I wonder why. 1:47:10-1:47:20

Marks outfit during the deposition w the Winklevi being a collared shit and sweater, outfit during the first deposition with Eduardo being a half zip up, and then wearing a FULL SUIT for the second one?? okay then

You don’t really realize it but I think it’s fitting that the last we see of Eduardo the whole movie is the confrontation. Like chronologically, he’s in it for way after, but with the actual editing and all the time skips, his last line is “Makes me look so tough” and thats the last we see him. pretty cool.

through the whole movie just THEIR FACIAL EXPRESSIONS DURING THE DEPOSITION. the SADNESS and REGRET constantly portrayed in mark. the PAIN AND BETRAYAL constant in Eduardo.

THE MOTHER FUCKING NORTH FACE ZIP-UP. WHAT THE HELL DAVID FINCHER. yeah this was genuinely insane tho. like that was unhinged. aaron sorkin, david fincher, AND WHOEVER THE BLESSED COSTUME DEISGNER WAS, reached new levels. we could’ve chalked everything up to gay people always looking for gay people in film, for exaggerating things that were only slightly there because of the need for more representation. but the north face zip up?? come on. I need to get me one of those now. the timeline makes so perfect sense too. We see Eduardo first wearing it when chilling in his dorm - 31:25. Then we next see him in it when at the intern “interviews” - 1:16:20. Then we don’t see if again for a little while, until MARK wears it during the business meeting - 1:33:52. This happens AFTER Eduardo visits Pao Alto. So he goes to Cali, presumably leaves the zip-up, (maybe even gives it??) and then ever since then Mark wears it in almost EVERY SINGLE scene. Because he misses Wardo. ITS INSANE. Like, the business meeting, then the phone call to Wardo. - 1:36:25. Then he wears it during the whole conformation, and is still wearing it later that night when Sean calls him. Like wow. That right there? Insanity. Purely CANONICAL gay insanity

and finally just some more character noticings. I really just love Divya omg. and the winklevii. like they r just so comedic at times. the first time i watched i viewed ty and cam as like one entity, but this time i really payed attention and like they r so different. cam usually takes the lead and he is very level minded and calm, while tyler is very hotheaded.

The first time andrew garfield just captivated me. i mean duh, he’s andrew garfield. but this time i just, wow. JESSE. he was perfect. PERFECT. best actor should’ve been his hands down. every single word he said was so calculated and made so much sense for his character like. and the real best part of his acting was his reactions, to everything that everyone else said. like he knocked it out of the park completely.

[goodbyeapathy8]

Rewatching the Legend of ShenLi (与凤行, Yu Feng Xing native title) cuz I can't get over it. (Spoilers below for episode 24)

Xingzhi really went through all 5 stages of grief starting from General Shangbei's report of Shenli's death. Starting from denial to anger to grief (but also, what did our General SB do to you, man, don't shoot the messenger 😭).

Then he went flitting off to the sea like wifey, I'm coming~~~

*superman fly scene*

Then he tried calling out for her like ShenLi, I'm here now, stop hiding, not funny anymore~

*can't hear shit over the waves*

FUCK YOU, I CAN'T HEAR SHIT

*stops the entire fucking sea*

GIB ME BACK MY WIFEY

The first time I watched this episode, I thought he kinda overreacted. Okay, really overreacted.

But during the rewatch, I realized it was compensation for the times he held himself back before, with ShenLi and it included all the regrets he had for the times he didn't go "all in" with his affections for her.

This was the moment we watch him go from hero (who cares for ALL living beings) to villain (fuck everyone else, I only want *her* to be alive and well and happy, preferably with me and our 50 million children).

This was Xingzhi's villain moment, the turning point. So yeah, tiny bit of a delayed reaction 😅

It's a very interesting scene and what differentiates Yu Feng Xing from other xianxias that I've watched.

Every other xianxia has never had the villain moment. The ancient god (usually, the god of war) never gives up the world for the love interest. It usually ends in self-sacrifice to save the world, knowing the love interest will suffer.

Xingzhi, knowing the world will suffer, does not give a flying fuck.

Even Furong (the previously selfish and spoiled grandson of the Heavenly Emperor) reminds him of the East Sea's suffering but XingZhi doesn't care.

Xingzhi really said, I thought the world meant something to me but she was MY world.

There's a lot of grief when he also understands he has his limitations when faced with the vastness of the world and he can't find her.

From Furong's perspective, this matures him as well. He witnesses what love is like for Xingzhi and that, while he admires ShenLi and has a crush on her (in the drama not the novel), it doesn't amount to anything near what Xingzhi feels for her. It makes sense then, that afterwards, he becomes one of their strongest shippers LOL

Furong like I AM GOING TO PROTECC THIS SHIP pffffft (+1 for Youlan lol)

Anyway. Reasons why I can't let go of this drama, like Xingzhi with ShenLi 😭😭😭

Dunno who all is gonna read this but I needed to verbal vomit my thoughts on this beautiful drama. I will remember it for a long time, like KinnPorsche.

[andromerot]

my pedro almodóvar marathon. thoughts, feelings, tier list

or, i spent like 50 hours on this so i better get to post about it

well, i'd be lying if i said i set out to do this with any clear goals in mind. i sort of just wanted to watch movies. this year i set out to watch through a couple of directors entire works, but ran into complications or got bored. so anyway when i finished my term i decided id try a third time with my best friend pedro. i had watched five of his films already but was mostly unaware of other things he had made. on the 22nd of november i started with matador, then went on and in exactly a month i had watched all of his feature films yayyy

so this is how i ranked them on letterboxd and this is a tier list. this doesnt really sum up my thoughts though so im leaving a little review for each below the cut, in the order i watched them in this month hope someone cares :) thank you

matador (1986): ohhhhhh my god. absolutely unexpected how insane this movie made me. many people say its not very good, i dont think that's true. transgressive, erotic, camp, necrosexual, implicit faggot tension, beautiful costuming, insanely talented cast of so many characters sick in the head. watching this one first really hyped me up to keep at it and to close out the month i rewatched it the other day and though it was less surprising than the first time i watched it its maybe my favorite now :) it has structural flaws i suppose. but i love it

¿que he hecho yo para merecer esto? (1984): pretty funny! not bad at all, i remember enjoying it as i watched it, it just wasnt very memorable. i enjoy every performance by carmen maura, chus was stellar as always and forqué was really sweet in this one too, i liked it. i literally forgot half of the plot though. did anyone remember the telepathic child or the faked hitler diaries? i didnt until i looked it up.

la ley del deseo (1987) (rewatched): showed this one to my friend, god its iconic. some of my favorite chiques almodovar. so fun to watch and so silly even though its not quite a comedy. the fact that antonio is just called antonio in this one makes me unwarrantedly happy. MAURA THE WOMAN THAT YOU ARE!! very hot all around. i think i liked it better this time than the other two i had watched it.

pepi, luci, bom y otras chicas del montón (1980): everyone talks about how sexually transgressive 80s almodovar is and i was like yeah whatever until i watched this one. straight up trilogy of trash shit. so beautiful. i wish every movie was like this. no one likes it but i adored it. erecciones generales will stay in my mind forever and i loved the musical numbers. and the piss, of course.

entre tinieblas (1983): also somewhat forgettable, though i watched it while pretty worried about something else so maybe i didnt give it the attention it deserved. its not a bad time but i wouldn't rewatch it. based on the premise you think it'd be better.

la flor de mi secreto (1995) (rewatched): OH GOD. until last month my favorite almodóvar, its been outdone but it still destroys me. its terribly underrated. i dont even know what i can say about it... marisa paredes is stunning at doing desperation. the boots, the scene at the protest, the initial meeting with ángel, the poem in the car, that moment in the hall. it's beautiful and breathtaking. lesbian film history, i promise.

todo sobre mi madre (1999): like, its good, but i dont get what people see in it that makes it so acclaimed. again paredes is great in this, but penélope is somewhat tame compared to what she does later, and this is the point in the list where i have to admit cecilia roth is not very good to me and all my compatriots start throwing rocks at me. listen i just wish she'd stop doing that stupid accent its so fucking bad cecilia sincerate seguro sos de villa crespo. anyway its fine if a bit weird about trans women, but hes always a hit or miss w that

átame (1989): took a big break between the last one and this one for some reason. anyway, pretty funny, except it really drags in the middle. shouldnt have been that long, but victoria abril always slays and the last scene is wonderful.

tacones lejanos (1991): WOAHHHHH! really cool i liked it. i love a mother daughter thing especially this mother and this daughter. really fun doppelganger story and i love how it was told, i found it both melodramatic and subtle? miguel bosé makes a really pretty girl, this will inform my every subsequent rewatch of suspiria. big fan of his gender. dance number fucked obvs

kika (1993) (rewatch): ok, i know why people don't like this one, but its so silly... cmon. it sillay. once again incredible abril performance, the costuming my god.... her character makes the whole movie i wish i was her. lesbian rossy de palma was wonderful and every forqué performance is a delight. pedro getting hitchcockian with it to slightly trick the audience is a staple of his 90s filmography, fucks.

carne trémula (1997): the title made me think it would be better! there was barely any carne. i didn't really see the point of most of it tbh, though based on how the movie starts and ends there might be some spanish historical context that im missing that makes it more interesting. strangely reminiscing of the buenos aires affair to me, but puig is better. yeah it was just pretty boring.

laberinto de pasiones (1982): YAYYYYYY i had some trouble torrenting so i watched it really out of order this but its SO FUN. obviously in the same vein as pepi luci bom but i liked it slightly more just for how unnecessarily elaborate it was. the one major role i dont mind roth being in and im a big fan of antonios gay terrorist with an ultradeveloped sense of smell character and arias is really into his very silly character too – he works well in secreto as well, i wish hed been on more almodovares, i should finally watch camila. liné was hilarious too. the problematic incest storyline was really funny to me sorryyyyy and i got a lot of gender out of the musical performances. hey can you believe that beautiful fag covered in blood is a franquista now. i can

hable con ella (2002): ehhhhhhh. some people really hate this one for the couple scenes i found most interesting, others love it for reasons i cant parse. its got parts that caught my attention a lot, but mostly it was eerie in an unenjoyable and uninteresting way and the backstories dragged on too long, especially grandinetti's. like i just don't care sorry. THE scene is quite disturbing though. i appreciated he decided to show rape in a more subtle light for once, it made it a lot more cruel and a lot more interesting.

la mala educación (2004) (rewatch): sighhhh. i really wish i liked this one. its got so many elements i am into – the colours are obviously spectacular, the unreliable multiple narrations and the disassembled timelines are always enjoyable to me, the attempt at social commentary is appreciated, some scenes are stunning (fictional ignacios head split in half is unforgettable) but quite honestly the characterization is so bad it bores me. i liked it more the first time i watched it just because of how confused i was, once i wasnt it lost its magic. maybe the worst in what is considered the "somewhat autobiographical movies about directors" trilogy (i think there's four of them but we'll discuss that later) probably because the character of enrique is so bland. i know its more but it feels that you only spend like five minutes with him. ángel/juan's motivations for anything are so puzzling, ignacio is just a caricature at this point and probably the character with the most depth is berenguer, which is ironic, i guess

volver (2006): WAHHH. its hard to talk about it honestly. it was so unexpectedly beautiful. the acting is so on point – penélope cruz and that beautiful carmen maura comeback are self evident, but blanca portillo is also stellar. it was fascinating from minute one and i couldnt keep my eyes off it. its written with such care and love. i suppose the plot itself is nothing out of this world, but the way it is handled is explosive. i really adored it.

los abrazos rotos (2009): the fourth bastard on the self insert series! cmon, its way more about himself than la mala educación. anyway, its good at some points, not very in others. the strong point is obviously the relationship between mateo, judit and diego, their refusal to be tied as a family and their desire to be tied by love is reaaaally interesting. the scene at the sea... but penélope and her millionaire and her millionaires son do nothing interesting at any point, im afraid to say. sad! surprisingly not very memorable, even though i didnt dislike it as i watched it. like i remember i liked some things but if a couple weeks later i dont remember what they were its probably the movies fault

la piel que habito (2011): AUGHHH OK. fuck. THIS ONE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE GOOD. it wasnt it was really mid. when it started i was like oh is pedro trying out his hand at cronenberg and i was really excited because im SURE he can do cronenberg better than cronenberg but he didnt. it was worse. how are you giving your women less agency than that guy??? honestly probably the first ever film of his where this is a noticeable problem, though penélope in the last one should give us a hint. ughh it should have been good. im mad about that. no desire to question gender or power and the unchronological storytelling does nothing for me. BAD! if anything i recognized its sexual power for if banderas character was a woman i would be throwing up and convulsing on the floor. i hope vicente and his lesbian coworker had a beautiful romance i guess. i cant believe some people call this one one of the most controversial of his work....

los amantes pasajeros (2013): hm well everyone was like THIS is the bad one and i was like i bet you guys are just being mean but no yeah this is the bad one. its not funny and it drags on so long...i can usually defend the rape scenes in his movies, even in kika or hable con ella, but this one just sucks so bad. i was prepared to defend this movie but i cant. as soon as the movie started i was trying to guess where all the threads would connect, how all the characters would be linked and they mostly... weren't? also the reference to the gazpacho scene in mujeres made me groan out loud.

julieta (2016): well i dont really know what this was supposed to be....it feels on the surface it could have been really good but something about it felt so emotionless. it was an odd experience, watching it, because i expected to be moved by so many scenes and i never was. i dont know what the point of it was.

dolor y gloria (2019): ok yeah this one was sweet! didn't blow my mind or anything but it was very cleverly made...a really more beautiful way to do the childhood-as-movie thing than in mala educación, i really enjoyed it. nostalgia bores me sometimes but i feel hes not being annoying about it. long live old man yaoi (and finally an argentinian actor i DONT hate...) and that beautiful beautiful cave and that mind gripping apartment bringing in the characteristic insane set design but in a new way...i had a good time

madres paralelas (2021): oh this could have been so good! it wasnt but honestly i dont remember exactly why i disliked it. i suppose i didnt connect to the characters and that it is a story that requires that to engage you – their motivations were really out of place and unlike other movies that bothered me. really interesting premise, didnt work out. im sad about it. could have been cool.

yeah so that's it i only realized while writing this that i forgot to rewatch mujeres but obvs that ones very good, proper classic, quote it every time i eat gazpacho and such. also extraña forma de vida is a snore i refuse to watch it again. i hope this works as a rec list for someone. and i am ready to be stoned by my wrong opinions by the rest of you

[daeyeol4you]

The Chay Rewatch

As part of my KP Rewatch, I’m going to be commenting on each episode and analyzing the different Chay scenes. He’s my favorite character, and I thought I’d put down my thoughts (as well as timestamps for his scenes) as a fun way to express that.

Episode 1

Our first glimpse of Chay as a character is the baby photo at the 17:24 mark when the camera pans over an old family photo – the next photo shown is Porsche and Porchay, much older – speaking to the role Porsche was forced to take on as a young child and the clear love between the two.

Time: 17:40- 19:28 - My favorite boi appears!!

Chay being the designated family nurse – he’s never the one hurt but he deals with every single hurt his family goes through, constantly shown that everyone is putting themselves at risk while he just sits there

Arthee saying “If not, Chay would’ve been hurt.” as if he and his gambling issues aren’t the direct cause of the financial troubles Porsche has that caused the rent/debt payments to be late – Porsche’s blind eye that he turns whenever someone close to him does something bad is wild to me, but I digress, this is about Chay

The look on Chay’s face during the whole conversation about paying Chai is very important as he’s clearly a witness to what happened off screen, but he stays silent even during an exchange where he definitely would have something to say. He silently reassures Porsche that he’s okay, but its like he’s biting his tongue because anything he’d say would cause an argument or burden Porsche.

One of the many times we see Chay completely shut down his natural reaction and feelings, something that happens a lot around Porsche. He’s usually so upfront about what he thinks, wants, and feels, so this moment of quiet self-censorship is very telling, to me at least, in how Chay tries to protect Porsche or lighten the load. Chay clearly feels a lot of guilt about how much he’s costing the family.

His first words: “Hia, I’m sorry.”

This whole scene is such an interesting intro because Chay is here to show exactly what Porsche is fighting for and what he has to lose. Without Chay, Porsche doesn’t join the mafia. Without Chay, Porsche doesn’t end up falling in love with Kinn.

Time: 25:45 – 17:18- the celebration pizza scene!

His Shirt: Today is a good day – the costumers really weren’t going for subtlety here

The costumers really like putting Chay in white, maybe to show his innocence or that he’s Porsche’s one light before he falls for Kinn.

Porsche getting to squish Chay’s face – hate to see others living your dream

Chay with the milk, I’m sorry I laughed

Porsche really still sees Chay as a baby – he will have a heart attack if he ever learns that Chay was drinking at a club and nearly took drugs

Time: 31:50 – 32:25 - The Call

Chay I love you, but why would you tell your brother this? I understand he called you, but my dude… just say you’re in the bathroom

shows a lot of Chay’s childishness alongside how unaware of the mafia world he is

His Outfit: Not really distinguishable, but I’m assuming its the same shirt from later on in the episode

Time: 42:53 – 43:33 - Post Disaster Chay

Chay cleaning up the records is honestly so sad. They’re not something he or Porsche would buy as Chay likes idols and Porsche doesn’t seem that interested in any form of art, and the record player looks like the one my dad has in his childhood bedroom (ie that shit old) which means that these are their parents’ records. Chay was barely a toddler when they died meaning he has no memories of them. Porsche, however, does and has elevated their parents to a near god-like status throughout Chay’s life to justify how he pushes Chay to succeed. Chay cleaning those records first when the rest of the house is a mess is him trying not to spare Porsche even just that tiny bit.

Also I wonder if Chay’s love for music stems from these records. Maybe Porsche put them on and said our parents loved these records so that Chay could at least share something with them.

Look, if I were Chay and my brother disappeared the night after saying hey was it Kinn’s people who destroyed the house? I would simply try to find out who Kinn was.

Chay’s outfit: I’ve seen other’s discussing this but the statue of Nike on his shirt continues the trend of the costumers choosing the weirdest thematic shirts to put Chay in.

Time: 48:06 – 54:58 The Beach Bar

Sidenote: all of the trinkets in this house are so thematically interesting

Nefertiti: She shows up in 2 different trinkets. There’s replica of the famous Nefertiti bust, and there’s a picture of the bust in the collage next to the computer. She’s one of the most famous queens in history and one of the most famous pieces of art from Egypt (honestly only beaten out by Tutankhamen’s gold funerary mask, Tutankhamun is also her son – read from this what you will). Korn later contemplates the queen piece as he states that all of the pieces are complete.

The white bird statue on the bookshelves: Nampueng is painting a white bird when she meets Porsche and Porchay (I think) and white birds symbolically usually signify freedom

The silver knight chess piece: this I’ve also seen commented on, but I genuinely think this is so important for Porsche’s role in Korn’s game. Porsche has the symbols of the most famous queen in Egyptian history and a knight chess piece so heavily connected to his home. Also silver is the same color as the Major Family's signet rings. I’m definitely going to keep an eye out for these going forward.

Chay’s Outfit: still in the Victoire de Samothrace shirt, and honestly this entire scene is full of so much history and antiquity in the set and costume design it has to be intentional right??

This whole scene is honestly the best brother scenes in the show, Apo and Barcode are the best at portraying fictional brothers. Chay’s judgmental looks whenever Porsche does something weird to make him laugh – that’s Barcode and Apo full stop.

On a serious note, this scene shows that Chay doesn’t always want to follow Porsche’s path, even though he eventually respects his brother and listens to him. He’s a teenager, and try as Porsche might, he’s not as naïve and innocent to the world as Porsche, who tends to only see the baby in his baby brother, would like. He knows that his schooling is causing a lot of trouble, and he’s trying to pull his own weight. Which Porsche sidesteps in the way only a parent with a crying kid can do.

Sidenote: Porsche refusing to move out of the house is very telling about his character. He was forced to grow up very quickly, but he’s holding onto the house and his parents’ ‘dreams’ (as if their parents didn’t want both their children to go to college and be happy) in a vaguely childish manner that isn’t talked about as much. He wants the life he couldn’t live, and since he can’t have that, he’ll hold on to the idea of it.

Chay’s cries way too many times throughout this series, and he makes me tear up a little bit every time. This scene in particular because its such a realistic scene. Barcode definitely draws a lot of himself up when filming these crying scenes which is why it hurts so much.

Chay Crying Counter: 1

“Don’t forget, you’re not alone in this. And you’re not the only one fighting.” – Chay is constantly bringing up how Porsche isn’t alone, how there are two of them in this family (pool confrontation speech anyone?), but I think this also says a lot about Chay’s character throughout the show. Often times, non-main characters (I’m not gonna say minor even though technically Chay’s screentime puts him closer to minor when compared to other characters) get treated like dolls who exist only to forward the main pairing’s story. Chay states right from the get go that he’s his own person not just an extension of Porsche. He’s fighting as well. He’s a driving part of this story too. (I may be getting a bit too passionate about this one quote, but c’mon! I love when characters assert their own autonomy within the narrative!)

Chay trying to involve himself in Porsche’s troubles (and the narrative), trying to get Porsche to let him in only to be gently shut down and then not so gently left behind. IDK I love analyzing the different Chay’s we get because like Kim & Wik, Chay has different personas that he puts on with different people. With Porsche, he’s the sweet, agreeable baby brother who has to live out their parents’ dreams. He gets good grades, and he goes to the university interview because that is what Porsche wants. And yet, the second he’s no longer in front of Porsche or where Porsche can keep an eye on him, he drops the mask and allows his real emotions to show (I’ll do more analysis as we get to later episodes because this is getting long)

Chay is so attentive to Porsche’s dreams. The beach bar is definitely something he’s pieced together from different things over the years. Porsche talks a lot, and Chay definitely listens. They’re like that Into the Spiderverse meme.

Chay how tf do you not have neck issues. His head is literally laying on his shoulder while he’s laying on the bed.

Not me also analyzing the jazz posters on his walls – Chay was definitely in the Jazz band in school which is why he needs guitar tutoring. He probably plays the saxophone. Most of the saxophone players I know are unhinged in fruity and delightful ways so this is a compliment.

Chay’s Outfit: His satin matching pajama set compels me even though it does not fit his character at all. They definitely realized he needed pajamas and stole something from the costume rack for the major family. They would wear satin pajamas (Kinn does wear satin pajamas I think at one point)

The first thing Chay does when he leaves his room is call for Porsche, somebody sedate me. But what was he trying to do? Was he trying to continue the conversation from the night before? Does Porsche normally wake him up for school? I need answers…

Chay reading the note breaks my heart because its so clear that Porsche is lying. The morning after Chay brings up them running away to run a beach bar and Porsche is suddenly going to an out of reach beach bar? Chay knows this is bull because Porsche would have said something the night before. Chay knows Porsche is doing something so bad that he feels the need to lie to Chay. The deep sigh Chay let’s out as he stares into the yard biting his lip (or pouting? Idk) shows that Chay isn’t fooled. He’s aware that Porsche is in deep shit, and he’s upset that Porsche has gone on his own to fix it. But Chay can’t outwardly express that because he’s spent his whole life being the perfect baby brother trying not to be a burden. So Chay just sits and sighs in his empty house away from the narrative his existence kickstarted (because Porsche would have never joined the family if he wasn’t so desperate to take care of Chay)

Chay is so interesting to me because he is so important to the plot as a whole, but he is constantly kept far away from the main plot. I saw someone say once that he’s in a completely different genre from the mafia story he’s a part of, and I agree.

Overall Chay Rating (Chrating): I give this episode an A- 

 It’s a great intro into Chay’s character by giving you a lot of setup for his character, particularly in relation to who he is around Porsche. There’s no Kim, but I like that we got introduced to Chay before his romantic interest comes onto screen. Chay’s styling this episode was cute, but not my favorite looks. This episode stockpiles Chay fans with lots of Chay screentime to survive the harsh winter (the episodes without him) coming for them. It’s not the best Chay episode, but its definitely up there.

[found-wings]

fit would have the Worst time traveling with resident Sillies incorporated (codebreakers) because its physically impossible for the two of them to adventure without the 15 stops they make along the way like omg. rewatching The codebreakers vod (july 13th one) and oh my god it takes them like triple the amount of time to get to the location on the map because of how often they find random structures to explore. (bonus is phil stopping to look at a tree tallulah likes and etoiles making fun of him for being hyped at wood before realizing the wood was pretty and taking some LMAO) and the only reason they skipped some structures- was bc phil needed to go to sleep soon 😭😭

with how fit (literally in canon too) is Very used to reeling phil back in when he gets distracted, I can't imagine this man having to deal with TWO OF EM with adventuring with codebreakers and etoiles who will see any structure that isn't garbage and stop the boat to go there with everyone since he doesn't explore with others often 😭) and with how they adventure for hours at a time ???? (not even including phils 2 hour sunbird chase from the recent streams. . .)

like quite literally in lore, 100% the only way for fit to quit the adventure which clearly isn't going anywhere without just straight up leaving (or praying someone messages him and gives him an excuse from these mfs who can't stay on topic for shit) would be to hope that they get a boring massive ocean and phil falls asleep on the ride which gives them an excuse to head back home, or for a code to sweep by at spawn and get messages in the chat which means etoiles would have to warp there 🙏🙏 other then that, he'll def be stuck with the sidequest lovers over here with no hope of seeing their destination before sundown (especially with how fit leaves earlier then everyone else on streams) - 💿

GOD I LOVE THESE THREE AND THEIR DYNAMIC SO MUCH RAAAH

Thank you Fit for who would somehow probably ( barely ) have so much patience with these two sillies that are both equally as all over the place sometimes 🙏🙏

Etoiles 100% makes Phils wandering off even worse, they are just. all over the place if they notice anything barely interesting - Phil seeing something shiny and Etoiles tagging along for the hopes of a good dungeon maybe, disappearing from Fits sight within seconds AJAJAJ

Also the thought of Phil falling asleep while traveling through a giant, albeit boring ocean is <333 unless it‘s Phil driving the boat. then I‘d be hella concerned WHEEZE

I do adore the thought though of Phil dozing off as he listens to Etoiles and Fit, or the rushing of wind & splashes of waves as his eyes slowly close, staring off at god knows what. This usually ends up in a 50 50 chance at either Phil falling asleep or instantly waking up again if anything of interest flashes through his vision

( this has probably resulted in Phil suddenly jumping up out of his half slumber, pointing aggressively at whatever he saw and going either 'STOP THE BOAT, LOOK!! :D' or just straight up launching himself out of the boat before either of the other two can react. he needs the shiny )

Conclusion : Never go on a roadtrip with the silly Codebreakers, because you‘ll either have to constantly drag them along or quit the trip not even halfway there JAHJA

[wonderlandleighleigh]

96 Thoughts while rewatching the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Pilot.

1. Midge graduated college early, got married and had her first kid in like a year and a half holy shit girl.

2. That fat joke not great. But ASP is ASP.

3. monogrammed butter pads. Like Disney World!

4. lol the bleaching.

5. Why did the man have to be Joel?

6. Midge why was Joel a gift from god? He was not. He was not a gift from god, the best thing he did for you was help you recognize Lenny when you eventually got thrown in the same cop cruiser.

7. The airplane gluuuueeeeee lol

8. The suit they put Luke in is too big on purpose, to try and make him look older and less attractive and it uh...doesn’t work.

9. Against a tree. Ugh. Not comfortable.

10. “we’re very happy” I love Abe so much.

11. So many angry Jews about shrimp.

12. YOU SHOW ME WHERE IN THE BIBLE WHERE GOD SAYS YOU CAN’T EAT SHRIMP.

13. I wish I lived where there was a dedicated butcher.

14. Poor Midge has no idea that she and Joel are skint because he hasn’t told her shit. God dammit.

15. Spending hours on that brisket. Hours to get it perfect.

16. He hates you, Joel, because you’re a terrible comedian and you don’t deserve a better time.

17. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” You’re gonna find out, asshole.

18. Penny Pann cannot use an electric pencil sharpener. She is so fucking dumb. How did she figure out sex if she couldn’t figure out- you know never mind.

19. The music slaps.

20. Remember that no matter how in love Joel is acting in this moment, he’s been fucking Penny for months.

21. MONTHS.

22. He winds up so angry about Midge handling everything for him, but he let her. He enjoyed it. He barely had to lift a finger.

23. Oh Susie.

24. Oh Midge.

25. I owe my soul to the company stooooooore

26. “I should be kissing the brisket!” Fuck you.

27. Jackieeeeeeeeeeeee

28. Blugh.

29. Blugh Joel.

30. Susie knows what’s up.

31. “I was great.” Holy fuck.

32. One standing ovation everyone goes home pregnant. lol

33. We’ve never met Aunt Bertha. I want to. I deserve Aunt Bertha.

34. Fuck, Midge’s routine is so brutal. Paranoidly staying awake until Joel drops off, and then doing her entire routine and sneaking back into bed. Getting up before the sun is up to redo her whole look and then pretending to be asleep. Jesus, not thank you.

35. COMPLETE WITH FAKE EYELASHES UGH.

36. She really thought this was supposed to be her life forever. That this was it.

37. Morning Ethan. Ethan. Ethan. Ethan. E-

38. Rose and the forehead. Ugh. Just the - the physical expectations...so much yikes.

39. lol schnorror

40. Oh Imogene.

41. Again. The every day physical demands are insane. And Midge puts this on herself for the most part, but I do get the feeling that Joel...didn’t help.

42. “I made curry but I also ordered Chinese.” BITCH NO! NO! YOU MAKE DINNER HE EATS WHAT YOU COOKED WHETHER HE LIKES IT OR NOT AND IF IT IS TRULY UNPALATABLE YOU ORDER OUT TOGETHER. God damn, the shit this woman would go through just to make this horrible man happy. Fuck’s sake.

43. Poor Midge, realizing that Joel is stealing material. Thinking at first that someone stole his stuff.

44. THERE IS AN ENTIRE ENORMOUS BOWL OF LEMONS ON THE TABLE! Are they wax? Jesus that’s so many.

45. “It’s fine, everybody does it.” Feh.

46. “When I found out June Friedman stole my meatloaf recipe I almost stabbed her in the eye with a fork.” Big Lorelai vibes.

47. “You’ll learn.” Fuck you, Joel.

48. Midge made another brisket when Baz asked for latkes....

49. Midge is never on time. Just FYI.

50. Joel not getting his way gets shitty. We start to see how terrible he is here. The cracks of her being berated for things she can’t control. Like ted the moth.

51. He’s not a comedian, Midge.

52. LOL Susie. “THE CLEARYS ARE HERE?!”

53. The jerkoff motion lol. Love it.

54. Who here likes Hillbilly polka?! Me! I do!

55. SPOKANE!

56. Watching Joel bomb is rough. I absolutely hate this scene. If there’s one thing this show does well, it’s showing people bomb. And how bad it can be. It really is like chewing tin foil. Like nails on a chalkboard.

57. No one cares about your holey sweater, asshole. You cannot tell a joke.

58. It is so hard to watch. It is so hard to watch. Holy shit. Holy shit just stop stop Joel stop no no no no no no no no no.

59. And of course he blames Midge for his bad performance. Everything is her fault. He cannot take responsibility for his lack of talent. It has to be her fault.

60. And she’s trying to be supportive. She’s trying to be kind about this. And he’s just...awful.

61. Like i get that this was a bad night for him, but his lack of ability to deal with his life is atrocious.

62. And he’s leaving her because suddenly this isn’t what he wants, even though he’s been relying on her for their whole marriage. He loves it when things go right. He cannot deal when things don’t go his way.

63. “Nobody’s happy, it’s Yom Kippur.”

64. “he was in Buchenwald, throw him a bone!” lol I love this line. It’s a particular bit of very Jewish gallows humor that’s hard to come by in pop culture, and it’s what sold me on the show when I watched it for the first time.

65. She had no idea this was actually his dream. He never told her. They never talked about his dreams, or her wants. They don’t talk to each other.

66. BECAUSE YOU KILLED IT. It’s true.

67. “Do you know what a dream is?” What a terrible - god dammit.

68. YOU NEVER TALK TO HER ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS YOU PIECE OF SHIT! YOU NEVER TALK AND SO SHE HAS NO IDEA! You fucking asshole. God damn. 

69. You cannot expect your partner to know everything without telling them. That’s just moving the goal posts around day after day. Jesus.

70. “I will be better. I will do better.” Poor Midge. god dammit.

71. He is so awful. I cannot believe I sit through scenes of this terrible man. He is the fucking worst. And he has been from fucking jump, and he’s only gotten marginally better.

72. “SO YOU”LL TELL YOUR PARENTS FOR ME?!” WHAT THE FUCK!

73. Joel Maisel is the WoooOOOOooOOOOOOooorst!

74. “I’m sorry.” You’re not sorry at all.

75. Though I think that was the only time he ever really said it.

76. I love how much Abe loves television.

77. “What did you do?” Ugh. Ugh.

78. “That was about deli, too.” lol

79. omg Rose. Her character development is amazing.

80. “You cannot survive this.” Yeah she can.

81. Girl I’d get drunk too.

82. favorite gif:

83. It’s a Pyrex. My Pyrex.

84. Joel did not want to be challenged. He wanted to be coddled.

85. Midge her shirt was on inside out because she put it back on after fucking your husband girl.

86. THEM TITTIES

87. LENNYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.

88. For how much of an unforgiving hardass Susie can be, she also is very sympathetic to Midge when she’s falling apart

89. One standing ovation, everyone goes home pregnant.

90. lol eating chips on Yom Kippur mood.

91. 10 in the morning?!

92. You’re not my wife.

93. Their chemistry from jump was just amazing. He was only supposed to be a bit part and...yeah. They just...the way they look at each other, even from the beginning.

94. And she just waits patiently for him to finish his schtick. She knows he’s just gotta work through his little song and dance to get to her answer. They have a rhythm from the beginning.

95. THE FUCK BOY SHRUG.

96. Yeah. He loves it.

[eriexplosion]

Andddd we're getting into the end game of season one with War Mantle.

GREGOR MY DARLING <3 Having a terrible time of it. I'm still desperate to know what fills in the portions between the whole 'getting exploded' and this. Anyone like EXPLAINING HOW TECH LIVED WOULD TAKE TOO MUCH TIME - they could always do a Gregor and JUST NOT EXPLAIN SHIT.

Omega trying to copy Hunter's knife tricks is so cuteeeee

NO MONEY MEANS NO FOOD Tech has been trying to convince them of this all season.

Also Wrecker in this scene is why i can't see the batch dynamic without Tech working like imagine Hunter and Echo at odds about what to do and Wrecker is just like You Both Have Points :) Things would simply not get done quickly.

"Ensure every viable clone is mobilized" I am SO SAD ABOUT ALL THE LITTLE TUBIES? AND THE LITTLE CADETS... I am VERY CONCERNED about those babies.

Hunter is the most hesitant bitch in the world. We're banking a lot on a clone we don't even know. The way this man would bundle his squad into a bindle and carry them off into a cave forever.

More Mysterious Tracking Skill. Smell a stick, get a full picture of what happened.

OKAY SO AS I'VE SAID BEFORE, I WATCHED TBB COMPLETELY BLIND, NO IDEA ABOUT TCW OR THEIR ARC IN THAT. WHICH EXPLAINS THAT HUNTER HAS ELECTROMAGNETIC SENSITIVITY. So let me tell you. When he goes from sniffing the ground to being like THERE'S SOMETHING HERE. INSIDE THAT MOUNTAIN. All I could do was go 'okay whatever you say!' but I had no idea how he would have made that determination. Magic mountain vision.

"We do not know for certain if CC-5576 is even in there... or if he is still alive." the way Tech has this line and then Echo saying that if there's even a CHANCE they have to try to get him out... if Echo doesn't go searching for Tech I'm calling bullshit. If there is even a chance, Echo will take it.

God the confusion over only 50 clone troopers and 1000 'TK troopers.' Just genuinely unaware that the clones are being replaced, and it's such a foreign idea that they don't even consider it.

"That's CAPTAIN traitor" is one of my favorite lines in the show

Perfect screenshot, no notes

Love the exchange between Tech and Gregor. Yes he was captured, AFTER he made it out!

Gonky sounds like he's worried about Omega I know all he can do is waddle and gonk but I will apply anthropomorphization as necessary.

I'm SURE THEY GOT EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL! *Hard cut to the batch NOT IN CONTROL OF SHIT*

SCORCH. This is my first time rewatching since playing Republic Commando and my intense affection is mixed with 'baby this isn't you someone help him'

Gregor getting shot in the chest and surviving like yeah doesn't this tell you something about perhaps not going into battle in a FUCKING TANK TOP I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE REBELS KILLED HIM LIKE THAT

No show that made Hunter take this fall without a single scratch on him is going to kill Tech with a fall into the clouds unless they truly TRULY somehow ran out of ways to kill someone. Hunter bounced down that like he was in a pinball machine.

"Glad we're not going that way!" one of you is

The fact that they don't even think of using Gonky until Omega plugs him in like that's how utterly detached they are from what Gonky is actually SUPPOSED TO BE DOING. He is a friend they just love him!

When Gonky got fried I was actually super worried for him the first time.

Hunter telling them to leave without him and bringing in "That's an order" while Omega BEGS TO GO BACK. GODDDDD MY HEART.

The way she does exactly this when Tech falls in Plan 99

Lama Su's uncertain doom is done so well

LAST MOMENT WITH CROSSHAIR AND HUNTER I AM SCREAMING STILL.

I was hoping for the whole squad (because I'm agonizingly lonely) but you'll do

[vro0m]

vro0m's rewatch - 170/332

2016 Chinese GP

Okay so they reverted back to the old quali format, Lewis had a problem with his PU and he's last on the grid meanwhile Nico is on pole for the first time of the year… He's sharing the first row with Ricciardo. Raikkonen is behind them alongside Seb. Valtteri is fifth, then it's Kvyat, Perez, Sainz, Verstappen and Massa. 

From the drivers' truck Lewis tries to say hi to the crowd but they can't hear him. Johnny asks if he's ready for the race and Lewis says he doesn't have a choice. It reminds him of going to races with his dad and a shit car and starting from the back but this time he has a good car.

It's gonna be a challenge but he'll give it everything he's got. He hopes it's entertaining because he doesn't plan on staying where he is.

He knows he has great fans who will be on that journey with him. Johnny asks what result he'd be happy with today. Lewis says with a laugh normally you're never happy with anything other than first.

But considering where he's starting he just wants to make sure he gets points. He acknowledges the work his guys put in the night before, putting the car back together, so getting the most possible points is a reward for that. 

The build up isn't very interesting. There's a segment about Haas' good results in their first two races, and an Alonso interview

They're on the way to the grid. Crofty says nobody has ever won from the back of the grid, but John Watson, in 1983, started 22nd, so same as Lewis that day, and won. At the time, there were 28 drivers total. 

Okay. It's time for the race. 

They are racing! 

Ricciardo overtakes Nico while I see Lewis overtake at least two cars at the back. The Ferraris struggle! They got very close and Kvyat overtook them both. AND THERE IS CONTACT BETWEEN THE TWO FERRARIS! Oh it's chaos, the top 10 is in shambles. Apparently Lewis also got damage? HE LOST HIS FRONT WING omg. It's stuck under his car. Horrible horrible weekend. Seb is on the radio saying he made contact. He says the RedBull was coming up the inside "like a madman" and that's why he hit Raikkonen. At the end of the first lap, the order goes Daniel, Nico, Kvyat, Perez and Hulkenberg, Sainz, Massa, Seb, Jenson, and Valtteri. Raikkonen pits from P20 and Lewis is nowhere to be seen, unfortunately. Oh here he comes in as well. And Nico overtakes Ricciardo just as Ricciardo's tyre BLOWS UP! Completely delaminated 2013 style. Kvyat overtakes him as well, of course. And it's a safety car. There's too much debris on the track. That's good for Lewis because it brings him right back near the other cars but he's complaining of how the car feels. A bunch of people pit, of course. Including Seb. Loads of traffic in the pitlane. On the start replay we see Lewis ran over the debris from the Ferrari collision and then got hit by Nasr. We also see Seb overtaking two cars in the pitlane entry and then Lewis pits again?! They put him on supersofts now (he started on softs and then got back on softs after they changed his nose). I guess the idea is he needs to be able to overtake at the restart… On the radio, Bono says : "We have a plan, nothing wrong all part of the plan." – "Sorry I’m boxing again now?" he asks. OH MY GOD HE IS ACTUALLY PITTING AGAIN?! . "Affirm, we’re going to fit the soft so we don’t have to use any other compounds," Bono answers. It's not even lap 10 and they pitted him THREE TIMES already?! I mean I get it but it's not like he's gonna be able to do 50 laps on softs, is he?! Well I've shown over and over on this blog that I'm a terrible strategist so we'll wait and see and trust their experience but right now I'm mostly just baffled. Seb is still talking about the collision. "Kvyat's attack was suicidal, there was always going to be a crash. No way with the speed he had he could have done the corner." I haven't really watched the collision carefully so idk. I guess we'll see in the postrace. The journalists aren't convinced. Also Ted is about as convinced by Mercedes' strategy as I am because we get from the radio that they don't wanna use the mediums. Ted says getting to the end of the race only on soft tyres would probably necessitate 3 more stops, for a 6 stop strategy ultimately. So… Yeah… in the meantime we see all the traffic jam in the pitlane earlier. It's insane. Nowaday that would be a bunch of penalties. So many collisions were barely avoided. The safety car is about to come in. Here we go. Seb is making moves.

On lap 10, Nico is in the lead followed by Massa, Kvyat, Alonso, Wehrlein, Gutierrez, Perez, Valtteri, Pal ? Who's Pal? Oh it's Palmer, right, then Jenson is P10. Seb is currently P12, up two places in one lap I believe, Ricciardo is P15, Raikkonen is P18 and Lewis P19. And Seb overtakes Sainz for P11. Raikkonen overtook Magnussen for P17. Lewis overtakes him as well, quite aggressively. Seb is up in P10 in the meantime. Nico is cruising ahead but Valtteri attacks Perez who's on the tail of Gutierrez, Seb is just behind, now in P9, biding his time. LEWIS OVERTOOK RAIKKONEN! Good job. It would have been difficult having to follow him up the pack. Loads of action I can't keep up. Palmer and Ricciardo are battling over P12 and Ricciardo won, at least for now. Seb attacks Valtteri but can't quite make it. These four are very close to one another. Lewis is up in P15! Seb finally gets Valtteri for P8. Wehrlein is overtaken by Perez for P5, just as Seb makes up another place by getting ahead of Gutierrez. At the back Lewis overtook Palmer for P14. And as we're watching replays of his overtakes, Seb overtakes Wehrlein and puts himself in P6. Kvyat gets P2 by overtaking Massa and Lewis is P13 after getting Hulkenberg. Next step is Ricciardo. And here he attacks! Not enough yet… Daniel is also attacking Gutierrez for P11, they're wheel to wheel… It's done, down the inside, Lewis follows through and HE's now wheel to wheel with Gutierrez. But he has to wait for a couple more corners to do it from the outside. He's immediately catching Ricciardo. Seb overtakes Perez for P5! He's so close to Alonso he's basically tapping him on the shoulder. He attacks! He's ahead down the straight but Alonso gets the slipstream and tries to attack back. The straight is too short though. That's P4 for Seb. BUT OH HO some pieces flew off his car! Raikkonen pits. He wasn't able to follow Lewis up the field. Lewis overtakes Jenson for P10! He's 25 seconds away from Nico now. Alonso pits and that puts him on P9. Seb is chasing P3. Oh he pits. He's out behind Lewis, in P13. It might be interesting if they battle. But Lewis probably will pit as well. 

Alright that was a busy 10 laps, now we're on lap 20, and the top 10 currently reads Nico, Kvyat, Massa, Valtteri, Sainz, Oh but Kvyat pits wait. There's a three way fight between him as he gets out of the pits, Seb and Verstappen. So as I was saying. Nico, Bottas, Lewis now up in P3 somehow?????!?!? /? //// seriously what? Last I checked he was P9?! Anyway Jenson is P4, Kvyat P5, Verstappen P6, Seb P7 AND NICO PITS. So we wait again. And Seb overtook Verstappen and where is Kvyat?! I CAN'T KEEP UP. WAIT A SECOND SO I CAN RECAP THE TOP 10 PLEASE. Seb overtakes Jenson. 

SO. THE TOP 10. Nico, Valtteri, Lewis. Kvyat is now P4, Seb P5, Jenson P6, Perez P7, Massa P8, Ericsson P9, Alonso P10. No idea where Max went so I guess he pitted. Someone is being investigated for driving too slowly in the pitlane but I don't remember who and now we're informed some unsafe release concerning Perez will be investigated after the race. Lewis pits! He's now P14… P13. P12. P11. He attacks Raikkonen for P10. There's a three way battle for P5 between Perez, Valtteri and Jenson. A bit later, Raikkonen overtakes Jenson for P9, and then Lewis as well as he pits. He's back in the points! He attacks Raikkonen again! He still can't make it, Raikkonen is making it hard. But Perez pits so that's P9 anyway. 

That's lap 30. Nico is still ahead of course, followed by Kvyat again, and Seb. Massa and Valtteri are next, then Daniel, Sainz, Raikkonen and Lewis, P10 is Verstappen. On the radio we just hear Lewis say "I am." which is confusing. The transcript shows it was in answer to Bono telling him to give it everything he has. Oh yeah NOW we hear the complete exchange. He pits again and this time it's for the mediums so what was the point of the weird strategy earlier? He's back in P10 quickly enough but as the commentators– well it's P9 now. As the commentators point out though, most people ahead of him will not pit again so he's gonna have to work for it on track. Again. Kvyat and Seb pit. Nico pits but literally nobody cares at this point. There's a battle for P3 between Kvyat, Raikkonen and Seb. Seb overtakes Raikkonen pretty quickly and then Kvyat in about as little time. He's P3. Raikkonen pits. 

On lap 40, Nico, Seb, Kvyat. Four way battle for P4 between Max, Massa, Valtteri and Lewis. Daniel is P8, Perez P9– Massa overtakes Verstappen and Verstappen pits, Lewis attacks Valtteri, P5 ! Daniel is getting into the action as well. Oh that's an easy overtake on Valtteri, dangerous for Lewis. His tyres are fresher. But Valtteri strikes back! Oh he can't… ohhh there we go Daniel is right on Lewis… He defends, he defends, but Daniel has the pace… Lewis locks up again… He's looking for a way past Massa… and Daniel overtakes him. Now he's under pressure from Raikkonen… he's attacking Massa but can't make it and now Raikkonen is attacking him! 10 laps to go. He attacks again… Yeah. That's another lost place. Raikkonen overtakes Massa as well and Lewis is back to chasing the Williams. 5 laps to go now. The ending is pretty anticlimactic. 

And it's the end of the race. 

Nico wins again. In the end the rest of the top 10 was Seb, Kvyat, Daniel, Raikkonen, Massa, Lewis P7, Verstappen, Sainz, Valtteri. 

As usual Seb speaks with Nico in German. I don't understand German despite studying it for like 10 years but I think he mentioned "schlafen", to sleep. They watch the screens. Seb says something about Lewis, but I can't hear because Nico is shaking the camera and the mic makes a noise. Kvyat says something we can't hear as well. Seb turns to him. "You! Asking what happened at the start?!" he says, half stunned, half amused. "(Inaudible) to the left you crash into us and we all flew (inaudible)." – "Well," Kvyat starts but Seb interrupts. "No, not 'well', you came like a torpedo!" – "Well that's racing," Kvyat laughs like a 13 year old boy joking about boobs. "Uh that's racing but you know if I keep going the same line, we crash," Seb says. "Well don't keep going," Kvyat says with the same hollow laugh. Seb is not amused anymore. "Yeah but there was a car on the left also," he says. Nico is all smiles behind them. Kvyat says he didn't see that because he only has two eyes. Seb shrugs. He says they could have crashed if that's how he went at it and Kvyat says "we didn't". "YOU didn't!" Seb corrects him. They keep going. Seb says sure it's racing but he's gonna get damage if goes at it like he's crazy. "You were lucky this time!" – "Well I'm on the podium so that's okay," he answers again with the same equal cocky smirk. He's annoying. Seb raises his eyebrows. This conversation is going nowhere. Unfortunately the video glitches and I can't hear the end. 

On the podium they basically replay the same conversation. I'm over it. Oh apparently Nico almost got kicked out of his plane from Mexico because he was partying too much. Embarrassing tbh. 

I only have a partial post race. Hopefully we at least get Lewis' interview? We do, it's the first interview we hear.

He smiles as she says it hasn't been his weekend. He says he got a good start but it's always difficult from the back not getting caught up in what happens ahead. He tried to fight his way through but everytime he had to pit he had to do it all again. "But anyway, that's racing and uh… Not a great finish for us this weekend but uh, you know, hopefully onwards and upwards." She asks if in hindsight maybe one of the stops wasn't needed. He says he just got out of the car so he doesn't have any hindsight. She asks how difficult it is to follow the cars in front in the Mercedes. He's not enjoying the question. He hums. He says he talks about it all the time. The track is good because you can overtake but the car was pretty damaged. He suspects there was suspension damage as well. 

Toto says there's some stuff they need to work on but he's happy RedBull is back in the mix and it was exciting to see three teams battling for the podium. 

Out of the press conference, Ted says Kvyat has moved from laughing it off to standing his ground while Seb still can't let it go. He also confirms that Lewis not being able to do longer stints on his softs tyres (12 laps compared to Nico's 23) was due to the damage to the front of the car that was shredding the tyres.

At the end of the notebook, Ted mentions Lewis saying something about fighting himself during the press conference. He then says Toto said Saturday night during the Mercedes press conference that Lewis was so one with himself and it was fantastic to see so they asked Lewis about it. Apparently he said it was nice to hear that from Toto. "He's a very big part of the journey I'm on, you know earlier in my life, throughout my life my friends used to say to me 'Lewis you don't know who you are, it's like you're searching for yourself.' but now I've found myself, I've found my identity". And I think that's a very important thing to mention in this rewatch. 

That's it for now! 

[boysplanetrecaps]

Produce 48 Recaps: Auditions Begin (episode 1)

When we left off in my probably-unnecessary-but-still-necessary Rewatch Recap of Produce 48, the 96 girls had made their entrance into the huge studio, and the judges were just about to reveal themselves. Let's get to it!

The judges come out!

First, it’s Lee Hong Ki, a powerful vocalist, here to teach them to sing. He’s from FT Island, and amazingly, was in the *second* K-drama I ever watched, You’re Beautiful, which was fun at the time, but which I cannot actually recommend. I will say that Hong-ki is the best part of it despite his, let’s say, broad acting choices. 

The character he played on You’re Beautiful was named Jeremy, and I can’t help but think of him as Jeremy. So just understand that I will be calling him Jeremy for the duration of these recaps. Thank you. 

Here he is as Jeremy. He’s ACTING! 

Next, it’s Soyou, from Sistar. She was overshadowed by Hyolyn but is an excellent vocalist in her own right. She’s here to be the other vocal trainer. 

It wouldn’t be an MNET show without this asshole:

I don’t want to learn his name but he’s that choreographer/dance teacher/ sociopath who always makes sure that all of the trainees’ mental health is hanging on by the merest of threads. I’m going to call him Psychopath. Seriously, fuck this guy. I’ll note that he comes across as sweet and loveable in this episode but I can’t forgive him for the shit he pulled during Boys Planet. Nope. Never. He has earned my undying hatred. To be clear, I do not support sending him hate messages or harming him in any way. I will just quietly, and personally, hate him on my Tumblr which gets maybe 5 or 10 readers. 

And then there’s her:

Bae Yoon Jung! She’s also pretty intense, and I know she’s mean to them on the first day, but she has the capacity for normal human empathy, as I recall. I’m going to call her Dance Bae. That doesn’t mean that I co-sign on her casual cruelty. It’s just that it’s literally her name and it’s easy to remember.

I don’t remember this lady:

Her name is May J Lee and she’s also a dance trainer. She’s cute. Here’s to hoping she understands that the trainees are human beings!

It’s Cheetah, here to be the rap trainer! God, I love her song Villain so damn much. The video is great, too, but trigger warning for violence. “I could fix you, but I won’t.” HECK yeah. 

And special one-day trainer, Kahi, who was the dance trainer for PD101 Season 2.

Kahi was in After School, then “graduated” in June 2012, right around the same time that Gaeun joined. They undoubtedly have spent time together, so it’ll be interesting to see if they interact much in this episode. (Maybe Gaeun being on the show this season meant that Kahi couldn’t really be the judge for the whole time?) 

The judges glare holes into the trainees while explaining that they’ll be sorting them into groups -- A, B, C, D, and F -- based on skill level, with the ultimate goal of bringing them all up to A-grade. And now it’s time for these would-be performers to perform, and of course, they don’t want to actually perform. 

41:50 The Auditions Begin

The girls are nervous. Yoon Hae Sol (윤해솔), 20, former member of Aqua, lets out a gusty breath. And this girl is nervous too, whoever the heck she is. 

Kim Chaewon, it says on her nametag. Well, she’s cute. Meanwhile I’m fascinated by the shoe behind her. WHOSE SHOE IS THAT? WHAT IS THIS SHOE? 

The AKB-48 girls are even more nervous. Oda Erina, 21, in a stylish bob and a blue, yellow and white jacket is intimidated by the Korean girls. Mogi Shinobu, also 21, a living meme with blue furry sleeves, is so nervous she looks like she might cry. We love you, Shinobu.

Time for the first audition! Or at least, the audition that the editors have moved to the beginning of the episode, even though it was probably not the first one to happen in real time! Because they wanted to front-load excellent Korean auditions to emphasize the skill gap between the Korean and Japanese contestants! 

Audition 1: Yuehua

Kim Si Hyeon (김시현), age 18, in the long sleeved shirt, now a member of Everglow. 

Choi Ye Na (최예나), age 18, with her hair in a ponytail.

Wang Yi Ren (왕이런), age 17, pink shirt with black edges. She’s Chinese and is now a member of Everglow. 

We see a clip of the Yuehua girls back stage, where Choi Yena accidentally draws on the camera with red marker and then apologizes profusely. AND SHE NEVER WORKED IN KPOP AGAIN!!

Then we get a flashback of Gross Guy personally watching the auditions of all 96 girls prior to the filming of the first episode. He’s so gross. Ugh. He makes JYP seem like a sweet, safe guy. Anyway we find out that after Choi Yena performed her song, she asked to do an extra performance. She begins speaking in what sounds like decent Japanese and does a little miming routine with sound effects. She’s pretty charming, actually. 

Cut back to audition day. The Woolim girls are backstage waiting for their turn when they recognize Sihyeon from her time on PD101, Season 1. Sihyeon interviews that she’s embarrassed when she looks back at herself on PD101 and that she’s gotten a lot better since then. In fact, as we find out later, she got an F in that season. 

Link to full audition on Youtube

Song: Move by Little Mix 

My Thoughts: They do great, in my opinion. Siyheon has a great clear, strong voice and her English pronunciation is mostly pretty good. Yena and Yiren don’t sing as clearly, but their dancing is great and they have a lot of presence. God, Yiren sparkles so much! I feel like she’s getting bad advice from whoever is around her now, because in more recent Everglow performances she always seems so muted. Seeing this, I can see she’s capable of great stage presence -- I hope she finds her way back to this. I dig Everglow and just want them to keep living up to their potential. I would have given Siyheon an A and the other two Bs, I think, though it’s hard without seeing the other trainees to compare. 

The MNET Edit: The editing emphasizes Yiren and Yena more, but overall the editing is kind to all three. We see some of the Japanese girls saying “why is everyone so good”, almost as if this ISN’T the first team to go up. (Also, we see that other girls are already wearing their grade name tag, though they’re blurred out.) The judges give Yena an A and the other two get Bs, which I guess reminds us that as long as you *kind* of sing while you also dance a lot and are very charming, then…. you get an A. Anyway, A and B are fine.

The editors really want us to know that the Japanese girls are very worried about their auditions. It is true that they generally don’t have the training the Korean girls have -- I’m not commenting on their inherent worthiness, just their preparation. But the show really, really focuses on that. I’m sure at least some of the Korean girls were nervous too, but we don’t seem to be seeing clips of that on the show.

Auditions 2 and 3: Woolim and WM Entertainment

Next, the MNET editors decided to further confuse anyone who has previously confused WM Entertainment with Woolim Entertainment by overlapping these two agency’s auditions, same as they did when the girls entered the auditorium. Thanks, MNET editors! Thmeditors. We learn that Woolim manages Lovelyz, while WM manages Oh My Girl (their rivals), though now in 2023 I think we all know that Oh My Girl kind of won that particular fight. Apparently the girls view each other as rivals? ...? But do they, though?

Woolim is up first. They take a moment finding their places, and we learn that Eunbi is their leader/mom who brought them medicine and Japanese phrase books. What a good unnie! 

Left to right: Suyun, Eunbi, Sohee, Chaewon

Kim Chae Won (김채원), age 17   now: Le Sserafim   wearing a short sleeved white top, tie Kim So Hee (김소희), age 14  now: Rocket Punch  wearing pigtails Kim Su Yun (김수윤), age 17  now: Rocket Punch   wearing short sleeved black top Kwon Eun Bi (권은비), age 22   now: soloist wearing a tie, cardigan

Link to full audition on Youtube

Song: Ah-Choo by Lovelyz / Bad by Infinite

My thoughts: It’s always awkward when you have one member who’s 14 (and looks 12) and one who is 22 (and looks 25) -- they’re always going to sort of make one another look bad. But overall, this is actually a really good audition.  I watched it multiple times and didn’t pick up on any mistakes or bad moments. All four of them had kpop acceptable vocals that didn’t stand out as fantastic or terrible. Chaewon’s a tiny bit shaky on the high notes, but they are really high notes. Little Sohee’s dancing was less powerful than the others’, even during Ah-Choo, but that’s fine considering she’s so much younger. I did think they looked a tiny bit silly doing that super powerful choreography to Bad while still dressed to perform Ah-Choo, but the goal was to display different skills and they did that. Knowing how deep the hole can go, I think I would have given all these girls As or Bs, maybe a C for little Sohee. It’s hard to know for sure since it’s not always clear what is live singing and what’s the backup track. 

The MNET Edit is fair. The rest of the trainees appreciate their performance. 

Backstage, Lee Chaeyeon says Eun Bi caught her eye the most. I actually noticed Suyun a lot too, but her time will come later. 

The judges compliment their synchronization and ask to see them perform something else. They launch into a second performance, which seems equally well rehearsed. I don’t recognize the song off hand (if any of you do, feel free to let me know!) but they do a great job with it. Dance Bae says, in an almost irritated way, “why haven’t you debuted yet? You seem ready to me.” I think she’s speaking mainly to Eunbi, who smiles wide at the compliment. We won’t hear their grades until later, but I’ll tell you their grades now, because I just love subverting the MNET editing monkeys. Kwon Eun Bi gets an A, ChaeWon gets a B, and the other two get Cs. Maybe I’m just biased toward Suyun from knowing her now? It’s hard to say. But I still think a B would have been fairer for her. 

Next, WM Entertainment. The girls come out on stage and the judges immediately tell Chaeyeon she looks familiar. She acknowledges having been on Sixteen with Somi (2015) and on Kpop Star 3 (2013). She says that this time she really wants to show us what she’s got. The other girls are excited to see her dance.

Trainees: 

Lee Seung Hyeon (이승현), 17 now known as Riina in H1-Key, in the black shirt Lee Chae Yeon (이채연), 18, currently a soloist, in the pink shirt  Cho Yeong In (조영인), 16, in the white Link to full audition on Youtube

Song: Shower, originally by Becky G

My thoughts: All three of them do well dancing wise. It’s not surprise that Chaeyeon would dance well, and she certainly outshines the other two, but Seunghyeon holds her own and Yeongin doesn’t look bad. I think vocally, Seunghyeon does the best job, but Chae’s belted note sounded good. Yeongin’s vocals were noticeably shaky compared to the other two’s. I think I would have given Yeongin a B or C, Chae would get an A, and Seunghyeon an A or a B depending on what the dance teachers said. Overall though it was a good audition. 

The MNET edit is again pretty kind. Everyone focuses on Chaeyeon, of course. When they’re done, the judges ask her to freestyle to Instruction by Jax Jones featuring Demi Lovato, and she dances in a style that’s really appropriate to the song. Everyone’s impressed. The judges announces the grades. Chaeyeon gets an A, which seems completely correct. The other two get Bs, which is ok. 

The editing is setting Kwon Eun Bi and Lee Chaeyeon up to be rivals. Surely, they must hate each other, if they’re both good dancers and their agencies are on the same street in Seoul! 

In the audience, Kojima Mako says to her friend, “It’s so amazing that I’m not even nervous anymore. Our friend Juri says to Shinozaki Ayana,  “I feel like I’m just watching a TV show.” Me too, Juri! We stan a relatable queen. But yeah, it’s more of the whole “the terrible, silly, weak Japanese girls are in awe of the mighty, powerful Korean girls” narrative that MNET’s editing monkeys keep pushing. 

Auditions 4 and 5: The Very Pretty Girls

Next, we have the introduction of two Very Pretty Girls:  Kim Min Ju (김민주), age 17 from Urban Works, in her colorful striped shirt, and Kang Hye Won (강혜원), age 18,  from 8D Creative in a blue mini dress with a big pink and white collar. The other trainees think that these two girls look like actresses, so maybe it’s no surprise that now (2023), they are in fact both actresses. I renew my complaint from earlier that I don’t understand why certain girls are considered prettier than the others, and remind you that this isn’t an insult to them, as they are certainly very pretty, but more of a compliment to the others, who I view as equally pretty. Isn’t Kwon Eun Bi just as pretty? Is she not? I don’t understand. I will be saying that a lot in these recaps so I guess I’ll just call it my Particularly Pretty Problem (PPP) and leave it at that. 

Agency:  8D Creative

Trainee: Kang Hye Won

In a pre-show interview, they ask her such questions as “were you always pretty?” and she says that yes, she is. This is the part of kpop I like least. She says that the position she wants is 청정 or purity. I guess I understand that -- there is usually a sexy member of a given group (see: Kai in Exo, Hyunjin in SKZ, Joy in Red Velvet, Soojin in G-Idle) and there’s usually a funny or approachable one (see: Chanyeol, Changbin, Wendy, Yuqi), so I could see there being a sort of pure or extra cute one. It’s not as crazy as it might sound.

Link to full audition on Youtube

Song: You and I by IU (2011)

My Thoughts: Well, that was pretty terrible. There’s room at the bottom, but she barely dances and she only kind of sings. The singing is breathy, faint, and pitchy. The dancing is half hearted and my grandma could have done this choreo even after her stroke. She has negative stage presence. Also, to me, she always looks confused. There’s something about either her facial features or her expression that make her look bewildered. I’m sorry if she’s your favorite. She may have charming personality traits that I don’t know about yet. She’s just not particularly skilled in either singing or dancing. She should get an F. 

If you can’t handle me saying that about this audition, then I really suggest that you just not read any more of my recaps because I’m going to say stuff like this about bad auditions. I don’t care if she’s “pretty”. I don’t care if she has gone on to be successful. Other people -- Eun Bi, for example -- are pretty and they can also sing and dance. I believe that if you make your living as a singer and/or dancer, you should be able to sing and/or dance. 

The MNET edit:They don’t do her any favors, zooming in on her non-dancing and focusing on the judges’ reactions to her shaky high notes and nearly stationary body. When she’s done, she stands there with this look on her face, which is the way I always remember this girl looking and how I recognize her in her more recent endeavors. 

Dance Bae says, “Purity is all you have. F.”  Done and done. 

Agency:  Urban Works

Trainee:  Kim Min Ju 

Link to full audition on Youtube

Song:  No Matter What by BoA

My Thoughts: This was so much better than Hyewon’s audition. For one thing, she actually danced. She showed a variety of different actual dance steps, including legs, body, arms, head, face. She danced! The singing was extremely faint and I think a lot of it was the backing track, but this was leagues ahead. Without being able to clearly discern her singing, it’s so hard to tell, but I think I’d put her in C territory. 

The MNET edit:They show the judges adjusting their ear buds and looking bored or put off, and focused on a part where she dropped into a squat and looked a little awkward. But that was just the dance move! This was originally done as a partner dance and it was adapted for a single person (I think? Unless it was just made new, whole cloth?), so maybe they should have just cut that squatting part out -- it’s not her fault. They also show a girl in the audience looking bored (maybe cut in from a totally different performance). It’s not kind. Minju, you deserved better. 

They give her a D. I don’t know. Seems like they’re punishing her for being pretty. But maybe the singing was worse than I thought. 

I’m not going to comment on it every single time it happens, but just assume that after every performance there will be a reaction/voice over from a Japanese girl saying, “If that didn’t get an A, I’m going to get an F for sure” or “the Korean girls are so much better than me” or something like that. It’s constant. 

Auditions 6 and 7: The Punching Bags

These next two auditions are shown mainly to mock these trainees. Neither of them do a stellar job, but both deserved a little better than what they got.

We see a scrap of  the audition from Shin Su Hyun (신수현), a 22 year old represented by FAVE Entertainment. 

She’s performing Playing with Fire by Blackpink. I watched her full audition, but we only see a little bit of it in the actual show. She started off with rapping, which the edit doesn’t show; I think she’s going for a rap position, not a singing one, which helps excuse why her singing was weak. The dancing wasn’t great -- she was a beat or two ahead of the choreography (something I only noticed because I know the song so well). But I thought she at least had charisma. I think a C wouldn’t have been out of line, but I don’t know the rubric. The edit replays a part where she sort of does a chicken-dance wiggle during the chorus when that’s not quite what the choreo is like, but I had to go back and rewatch the original to see that the original choreo is different. The PWF choreography is kind of weird -- I’ve always thought so. What’s with the dogpaddling in the chorus, or that weird “drawing a line with your finger” at the end? Anyway, my point is that the edit makes her look even worse than she actually did. 

They intersperse her audition with the audition of Cube’s Han Cho Won -- she’s only 15 here, but you may now know her as one of the most popular members of Cube’s youngest girl group,  Lightsum. The edit here make her look like a complete idiot. If you watch her full audition, you’ll see that, yeah, it’s not great, but there are some extenuating circumstances.

The biggest problem is that the song was a poor choice. Red by Hyuna is a HYUNA song. Like a third of the lyrics are “red is Hyuna”, and there’s a whole 10 second segment where Hyuna just sits on the ground and flirts with the camera. It’s all about being sexy and having a nice body, specifically a nice butt, and the choreography is very core/waist/butt centered. It seems that Chowon just can’t quite move her body that way, and at 15, maybe just isn’t up the task of embodying the universal sex symbol that is a full-grown Hyuna. I don’t know who is! 

Anyway, I think Chowon should have done Pepe by CLC, assuming she was going to stick to a song by a Cube artist. The song has a fun retro feel and it would have been more appropriate for a 15 year old who doesn’t know how to twerk yet. Or maybe Pretty Pretty by Pentagon -- I bet Hui would have helped her remix something for the show if the agency had asked him to -- he's a good sunbae -- and the song has quirky, funny choreography that might have made the judges smile. Sigh. 

Poor Chowon -- it wasn’t a great audition, but I blame whoever either told her to do this song, or allowed her to do it if it was her choice. The whole point of having management is to get smart people to help you make decisions like this, especially when you’re fifteen. But that’s asking too much from Cube, I guess. Kahi even says that she had been at Cube briefly and that they don’t teach you anything, which checks out. Cube is just the WORST. 

Both Chowon and Suhyun get a lecture on needing to learn (or review) the basics and both get a D. It’s not totally unfair -- it’s just that I know that there is so much worse to come. 

More discussion about how the Japanese girls aren’t really given any training and just learn to perform by watching their sempai/sunbae/seniors. Dance Bae says it’ll be fun to watch them grow. 

And now it’s time to see the AKB48 girls perform. We see that they’ve changed out of their entrance outfits -- those plaid monstrosities -- into different outfits, most of which are also monstrosities. 

Audition 8: Get You!

See, it's a play on words because the song is called Get You and also MNET wants to get them

Agency:  AKB48

Trainees: Oda Erina 21, and Nakano Ikumi 17

Erina, left, with the shorter hair and Ikumi, right, in the blue shorts.

The judges comment that Erina is known for her singing and Ikumi for her dancing. 

Link to full audition on Youtube

Song: Get You! by Morning Musume (a different J-pop idol group)

My Thoughts: Well, this wasn’t terrible. They do sort of take turns either singing or dancing, and rarely do both at the same time. The choreography they do is mostly extremely simple and not super well synced, but they do throw themselves into it. They have a lot of energy, which I know is important in J-pop. If you asked me, “which of these is the singer and which of these is the dancer?” I wouldn’t be able to tell you. But neither of them assaulted my ears. Judged by J-pop standards, this was great. By K-pop standards, not great. I’d give them a C and see how they do learning the choreography for the signal song.

The MNET edit: The edit makes it seem much worse than it really was. Honestly, it wasn’t that horrific. They were more fun to watch than Kang Hye Won for sure. 

The judges ask Ikumi to freestyle dance, which she agrees to with an English “Yes!” They play “Look What You Made Me Do” by Taylor Swift. She tries to do a sort of interpretive dance thing, and I appreciate that she at least tried. She has lovely body lines and seems to understand rhythm and tone, anyway. They keep showing her trip a little on her platform sneakers. God, those things look hard to dance in. After a bit she seems to give up, pulling her hair over her face, and the judges call it. Her AKB-mates are impressed, but the judges aren’t. 

Dance Bae compliments her on her energy, but says she seems to not know what to do with it. “I’m not sure that the fact that you danced to the beat warrants you having won first place in a large competition,” Dance Bae scolds. “If you keep continuing like this, you won’t ever be able to perform on stage.” 

Ikumi gets a D, and Erina gets a C. We don’t actually see that, though -- I had to look it up. It’s not part of the narrative to see that neither of them got an F, I guess.

Next, we have a mini montage of various girls, especially Japanese girls, saying that Dance Bae is the scariest judge, known for her terrifying line: “You really want to be a singer?!?” Which I think is a fair question! So many people get into the Idol Biz because they want to be actors or tv hosts -- I wish there was a pipeline to celebrity for people like that that didn’t involve them humiliating themselves on a show like this. 

Auditions 9 and 10: What’s Your Name and Knock Knock

We cut to another audition, in progress, with a caption that seems to imply that this is just a preview (“Coming up…”) but no, this is the actual audition, as much of it as we’re going to see.

AKB: What’s Your Name?

Here’s the original song being performed by 4Minute. Things were different in 2013 -- this was before Catch Me If You Can by SNSD came out so nobody yet knew that women were actually able to do intense choreo, I guess. But even for 2013 standards, What’s Your Name has easy choreo. I mean, it barely has choreo aside from just sort of bending over and displaying your butt. Also, the lyrics are three quarters “what’s your name/ ireumi mwoyeyo?” So it’s a really good choice for a rookie group!

Here’s their audition.

Left to right: Manami, Ayana, Chiyori, Miho, Shinobu

Ichikawa Manami, 18, in the blue top, red skirt Shinozaki Ayana, 22, in the light blue skirt Nakanishi Chiyori, 23, in the pink fluffy skirt Miyazaki Miho, 24, in the sparkly top, navy skirt Mogi Shinobu, 21, in the turquoise skirt, fluffy blue sleeves

We just met Shinobu earlier, when she was talking about how scary Dance Bae is, got her name wrong, an apologized profusely. She's our living meme and we love her. We also almost met Miho; she was the one who knows how to write in Korean.

My thoughts: Oh no. There’s something so incongruous about someone in a sparkly cupcake skirt and Mary Jane shoes doing a pelvic thrust. These outfits look like… Ok maybe this is a deep cut but do you know those fashion plate toys? I had my cousin’s old one and I was obsessed. It was like stencils, but you had a head and a top part and a bottom part, and you’d choose one of each and then stencil over it to make a picture you could color.

That’s what these outfits look like. Like someone went nuts with a fashion plate and glitter glue and then just brought it to life.

Left to right: Shinobu, Chiyori, Ayana, Manami, Miho

It’s so hard to pay attention to their performance in those outfits. And the shoes! Those shoes I noticed behind Chaewon earlier are Shonbu's! And I’m obsessed with Ayana’s red-shoe-and-patterned-socks combo.

Also Miho’s and Shinobu’s… furry… peplums? And the quilted skirts? And how none of the tops seem to go with any of the bottoms, even though they appear to be dresses? Question Mark? It’s so bizarre to me. What. Is. Happening. Each dress is awful alone, they’re worse together, they're even worse with the shoes, and they’re the worst in the context of this particular song, which is meant to be sort of swaggy hiphop. 

When I try to focus on the actual singing and dancing, there isn’t much there to judge. The song itself is kind of a nothing-burger tune wise and there’s hardly any choreo to speak of. They have energy, I’ll give them that. No one strikes an obviously horrendously bad note or falls over. They manage to do what they’re doing in some reasonably high heeled shoes, and they’re singing a song that is at least mostly in Korean. It’s clearly not up to the standard expected from debuted Kpop artists. I feel like I’d have to see them in normal clothes to be able to really judge. None of them stands out as better or worse than the rest. I give them an E for effort and I’d probably give them all Ds. They were still better than Hyewon. 

Dance Bae gives Chiyori and Miho both Ds, and the rest get Fs. (We hear Dance Bae saying that they all get Ds, but the on screen caption says otherwise, and my internet sleuthing agrees with the on screen caption.) I think, watching it back, that Chiyori and Miho got Ds for just taking on a big role in the performance and trying that little bit harder. Miho seemed to be the main vocal, sort of, and Chiyori was the center. 

Ok, let’s take a peek at some of the youngest -48 girls, singing the Japanese version of Knock Knock by Twice.

Asai Yuka is 14 and from SKE48.  We met her earlier when she walked in with Jurina. Umeyama Cocona is also 14 and is from NMB48. 

Left to right: Cocona with the big bow, Yuka with the blue ribbon

My thoughts: Aww, they just little babies! They probably practiced by themselves in a hallway or something for a few hours with no help. There’s not much to judge here. They’re obviously underskilled for this show and would have to be given Fs but it’s not their fault. I’m not going to make fun of a couple of 14 year olds who signed up for an adventure, not knowing how hard it would be. I sense tears in the future. 

I wrote that, and then watched Dance Bae give them both Fs and say, at a pre-show meeting, “I think these girls will cry a lot while they’re here.” Perhaps she’d be pleased to know that poor Cocona withdrew from the show before the second evaluation even took place! There's also some potential back story here. Per reddit:

From what I’ve heard (and I’m not sure how credible it is), Jurina and Yuuka planned to perform together for the first evaluation, but the producers wanted Jurina to do a solo, so Cocona got pulled from the NMB group [that performs Funny People] and her and Yuuka did this. That may explain why they did…particularly bad, to the point where it looks like they don’t even know the song.

That does sound like something MNET would do, and it also would explain how these two girls ended up in a performance together despite being in different groups (SKE48 and NMB48), giving it the ring of truth. So I'm going to be even more sparing of my criticism of the girls. They do come across as unprepared, but I think that's just because.... well, they were, through no fault of their own.

In any case, Cocona is one of the Japanese trainees who withdraws early in the process. It's probably for the reasons we'd imagine -- flying back and forth from Japan is taxing, and she's young enough to need to go to school still. She probably just wanted to go through so much stress just to get insulted and yelled at. Can't blame her!

Since we’re not going to see much of Cocona again, let’s find out what happened to her after she withdrew from the show. She went back to NMB48 and continued performing with them for a few more years, graduating at a special concert on March 26, 2022. She did some modeling for magazines in 2020, so she might still be pursuing that. Here’s her instagram -- she has 95,000 followers and seems to post influencer-esque content with lots of hashtags.

 Ganbatte, Cocona! Happy trails and much success to you!

10 auditions down, about 30 to go! Thanks for reading so far -- feel free to do all the things: like, reblog, comment, share, blah blah blah. Tune in next time when we continue the auditions, and stay warm, my friends!

[hayscodings]

hi!! i know i probably sound insane at this point, but i love your posts so i have a few svetlana questions. if svet and yevgeny had stayed until the series finale what do you think would have happened with their characters? what would svetlana do when mickey gets out in season 10? would she and yevgeny attend the gallavich wedding? would svetlana stay in the thruple or get her own place or would something else happen? what would be a proper ending for her?? she’s such an interesting character and we were so robbed when she left with such a bad ending

Noooo I love your asks and asks in general, I am always more than happy to talk about Svetlana.

So before I get into these questions, I just want to preface this by saying that, even though I'm on my third rewatch, I still don't have a good "big picture" concept of each season, especially past S8. So I probably won't get into timeline specifics because my general recollection of the timeline is...not great. I've also never really thought about how Svetlana's storyline would have played out if she'd stayed on the show, so this will be entirely off the cuff.

Personally, I would have liked to see the throuple to work out. I think, because it was executed imperfectly, that there was a lot of potential to work out those kinks and improve on what needed improving. I think they should have delved into each of those dynamics more and showed us how they complemented one another. One of the things I missed in S7-8 was Kev and Svetlana's friendship. They bonded in S5 and worked alongside each other all of S6, but then as soon as they all became a throuple, the focus shifted to Svetlana and V (to the point where you almost forget that it was initially Svet and Kev who made a connection).

All three of their feelings, concerns, etc. should have been properly explored (one short therapy session scene wasn’t enough) and their issues should have been addressed and gradually worked out over the course of the season. I would have liked to see more meaningful conversations between them, not just short little disagreements that conveniently resolved themselves by the end of the episode without them getting to the actual root of the issue. Svetlana wasn't a good communicator, Kev would resort to immaturity any time he got angry, and V frequently put Svetlana on a pedestal while neglecting to consider Kev's feelings. They all had things they could work on.

As far as how it would all play out, I think it would have been good for Svetlana to be on her own for a bit. She could focus on herself and raising Yevgeny and maybe reflect on where she went wrong in her relationship with Kev and V. So let's say that by the end of S8 she's living in the apartment above the Alibi with Yev and her aunt. (She's not paying rent because Kev and V owe her that much after reporting her to ICE and generally treating her like shit.)

When S9 starts, she still owns 50% of the bar and is working alongside Kev and V. Maybe there's still some awkwardness from the whole breakup, but for the most part they're doing okay. I honest to god don't remember what Kev and V's plots are this season, but I think this is the one where Amy and Gemma start acting up and one of them says something about how they don't remember the girls behaving this way when Svetlana was around? I thought it was odd that they didn't consider that the twins missed their stepbrother and stepmom, so...Amy and Gemma start acting up, and they realize it's because the 'divorce' really affected them.

They talk to Svetlana about this (Yevgeny misses his sisters too) and decide to arrange playdates with the kids. I always felt that Svetlana just taking off to marry that old dude was too clean a break. I mean, they made no mention of a divorce, didn't have to deal with custody, didn’t bring up Svetlana’s 50% ownership of the bar, and never had the kids see each other again? That’s so lazy. So anyway, this gradually ends up bringing them all closer together again. They discuss putting the kids in the same preschool and it's all very full circle to S5.

Another thing I would have liked to see for Svetlana is her no longer having to depend on another person for a visa. The show never addressed her and V getting a divorce, so I have no idea when that happened, but let's say that they get one in S8. I am not an expert in immigration law by any means, but my guess is that Svetlana would be left in a similar position as she was in S6. So, she does some research, applies for a T Visa, and ends up being eligible for one. This is a huge relief for her because it's the first time that her status in the country is legitimately secured. By the end of the season she's saved up enough money to get her own place (the room above the Alibi isn't big enough for three people), so she rents a nice little apartment where Yev can have his own room. She also enrolls him in some sort of activity— maybe dance or gymnastics, whatever he shows interest in.

Come S10 she's thriving. Once again I have no idea what happens this season other than Gallavich wedding, so I apologize for not being able to incorporate more plot-relevant storylines. I'll come back to this ask once I’m further in my rewatch. Anyway, this is the season where shit really starts going her way for once— she's doing pretty good money-wise, she's officially back on good terms with Kev and V, and Yevgeny is thriving. She's got lots of ideas for bringing in business to the bar, and maybe a couple of side hustles for good measure. She's still in touch with most of the girls from the massage parlor and one of them ends up giving her the number of a therapist who specializes in helping survivors of human trafficking. She sits on it for a long time but finally brings herself to call when she gets news from her mother in Russia that her father passed away.

She finds out about Mickey getting out of prison from Ian. They end up reconnecting and talking somethings out and Svetlana tells Mickey that if he wants to have a relationship with Yev, whether in a parental capacity or otherwise, then the door is always open. He asks her about the whole throuple situation— teases her about how he would have loved to be a fly on the wall— and she assures him that that ship sailed and that she blew it. She gets invited to the Gallavich wedding and attends with Yevgeny. Mandy is also in attendance, and the two of them get to talking and wonder why they didn't bond sooner.

S11 is when she's finally a place where she's ready to try and make a relationship work again. She's grown and healed a lot since S8, and she's no longer dependent on anyone for security so that anxiety has ceased being a motivating factor for her actions. Kev and V have since apologized and made up for everything that they put her through, and Svetlana understands why they felt betrayed about the bar and apologizes for hurting them. The three of them start to rebuild their relationship throughout the season, determined not to make the same mistakes as last time. Eventually they decide to move in together and buy a place somewhere away from the Southside, though still not too far. It feels like a proper fresh start.

Ian and Mickey start to be a part of Yev's life and Svetlana considers them family. She also becomes very close with Mandy and encourages her to go back to school so that she can get a better job. She’s relieved when Mickey informs her that Terry died, but attends the funeral in solidarity. His mixed feelings remind her somewhat of her own when her father passed.

Post-series, Kev and V get to practice the little Russian that Svetlana has taught them when they finally meet her family (her mother and grandmother fly out to Chicago to see her and meet Yev for the first time). They’ve learned to embrace her culture. Yevgeny is fully fluent and the tries to teach Amy and Gemma. He’s also inherited his mom’s mathematical prowess. Svetlana is safe and happy and finally has what he always wanted for herself and her son— a loving family. Several years down the line she’s able to obtain citizenship.

[myshredda]

Hi again, I'm the anon that asked about names and I'm working on my thing, but I've been rewatching both seasons a ton to get characterization right and oh my god. I finally get the implications at the end of Love. Do you have any fluffy headcanons to distract me bc I'm lowkey freaked out right now lmao. I will never be able to look at Shrignold the same again oh my god

Hello! Glad to hear you're still working on your fic 🥰 I hope it's going well! And yes. The love episode... the one with the catchiest song and the creepiest undertones :/ (I don't think there's concrete vibes of what's supposed to be 'implied' tbh, i think it's mainly commentary on how cults can prey on the venerable with a weird fucking unnerving bit at the end for some good gore/shock value shots, or at least that's what i'm telling myself to feel better lol)

A lot of my fluffier headcanons are already in a couple of my fics or are being kicked around on this blog!

Duck cooks the most (based on his curry and the lovely chicken picnic) in my AU specifically he's started to cook more carb-y foods because he wants to make sure they're all eating enough, much like a grandma immediately feeding you the second you step foot in the house, it's how he shows love

Red is the designated tall person and is always the one that has to get things down from high places. He'll also take things away from the other two and stash them up high if they're annoying him or fighting over something, and will leave it up there until everyone's calmed down

Due to the significant lack of lips in this family they can't really 'kiss' each other so Red's taken to headbutting as a form of endearment (which is something I do!) and will kind of press his forehead onto the other persons and leave it there. Duck pretends not to like it but he loves it. Yellow loves it so much he gets excited and will accidentally headbutt the others at like 1000 miles an hour and potentially knock himself and the other person out

Duck specifically preens the others as a form of endearment, and he loves playing with the other's hair in the way birds preen other bird's feathers. He'll help Red get knots and things out of his yarn and he likes to fiddle with Yellow's hair if he thinks it's too messy (all while scolding them for looking sloppy of course)

(sometimes he'll nibble at them with his beak if he's feeling especially lovey-dovey, it's all very adorable)

(Yellow really REALLY loves it when he does that and just shrieks with laughter the whole time)

Red and Duck's love language is bickering and bitching at each other, all in a very passive aggressive british way of course. Very much old married couple vibes there, but in a way where they'll tell each other to shut the fuck up with love and then make dinner together while drinking wine or whatever it is old men do

Duck and Yellow also like to bicker with each other and make jokes, Yellow loves to call Duck old because he gets all pissy about it and Duck will make him do extra chores as punishment for being disrespectful but will usually help out if he thinks Yellow is being too slow (which he always does) This relationship is heavily based on the relationship I have with my mother, everything's a joke and we're always talking shit until it isn't and then it's all love

Also 100% my mother would bite me and give me rabies if I was pissing her off I don't think that affects Duck's parental status that's like normal and also they're british so....

Red is a HUGE snuggler, especially in my AU where he's getting chubbier and learning to be happy. He uses his bigger size to kind of pounce on whoever he wants to hug and squeeze them and shake them around because he can't contain or verbalize how much he cares about them

If Yellow has any trouble sleeping he just crawls into one of the other's beds (he's in the middle so it's usually 50/50 who he'll go to) and immediately steals the blankets and puts his cold feet on their legs. The other two are usually don't care (red) or claim they're too tired to move him (but actually doesn't mind that much) (duck)

They all stim. Duck rocks in his chair or flaps his wings, Red hums and fiddles with whatever's in his hands, Yellow kicks his feet and flaps his hands, he also has the tendency to dance around when he's happy.

Yellow would 100% be that kid that loves Minecraft and slime

He tries to make slime one time and gets it caught in Red's yarn and cries his eyes out because he thinks it's going to make Red bald and bald people scare him

Duck makes Red wash his head in the sink and somehow gets it all out and then Yellow cries more because he's happy Red isn't going to be bald

Duck 100% watches old lady british soap operas and BBC murder series like Midsomer Murders or Vera or Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (Australian but whatever)

Yellow watches kids tv shows on PBS or HBO Family, Documentary series about animals (or any other NPR smart people show) the news, numbers stations, and british morning talkshows

Red watches whatever is on tv that the other two want to watch and I feel like he probably likes to watch footy

they all love each other very much because I SAID SO

[unofficial-sean]

I was baked and rewatched Knowing Better's video on the history of the cigarette industry in the U.S. and I kept seeing vivid, disturbing images of people in dark hospital rooms, alone, wheezing on respirators as lung cancer slowly ate away at their life, in my mind's eye. It was horrifying.

Now, any time I hear a mid-20th century advertisement man voice (you know the one) or any TV recording from the 50's-80's, all I can see is that room of death.

Entire decades are now reminders that businesses will sell people poison and fight tooth and nail to keep doing so. When the government mandated that, for every cigarette advertisement shown on TV, an anti-smoking ad would also have to be played, cigarette companies lobbied to have cigarette ads banned entirely. Why?:

1) the public would be further uninformed of the deadly hazards of smoking

2) smaller cigarette companies couldn't grow and further solidify the power of established brands

They didn't need to advertise their product anymore. They had entire generations addicted and created a lingering culture that pressures teens and adults into the habit. You wanna know when I first smoked? I was fucking 14. I hated it, though. I literally ran home to wash the taste out of my mouth with milk. 14!!

It's fucking disgusting. These companies threatened the family of a chemist who was hired by one of them to research and develop a "cleaner cigarette" after he tried to blow the whistle. Fucking mob shit.

Camel marketed their cigarettes as the "doctor's choice."

My sister still smokes. She does it in the backyard where the smoke drifts in through the only screened window in my room and exposes me to this shit. And my frogs. One day, she will be in that dark, lonely hospital room, wheezing with every breath. I've heard her raspy voice. I've heard her cough. These goons have cut my sister's life short, and maybe mine, too. Millions of people are being sold poison, still.

Fossil fuels are just like this, too. Don't underestimate the ruthless manipulation that comes with profit motivation. They suck the life from you with a god damn smile on their face and that friendly, low fidelity voice coming through the TV. These scum knew what their product did to their consumer's health and they kept going anyways and did all they could to keep them ignorant.

It's as angering as it is terrifying. These people aren't human. They're evil itself, if there ever was such an entity.

[captains-price]

Tag 9 people you want to get to know better

Saw a few other people doing this and wanted to do it too because I always love getting to know my mutuals better!

Three ships: the urge to put my ocs x my favorite characters is so real

1.) Chris Redfield x Leon Kennedy(chreon): they’re my babygirls <3 I love their dynamic, their interactions, I love Leon “it’s rotten work” Kennedy being paired with Chris “not to me. not if it’s you” Redfield. They make me feel things.

2.) Bruce Wayne x Hal Jordan(batlantern): workplace enemies to lovers speedrun when?? Listen. they fight, they disagree on a lot of stuff, they probably secretly hate each other in canon but they’re also in love and I stand by that :)

3.) Johnny MacTavish x Kyle Garrick(SoapGaz): if there’s 100 SoapGaz fans, I’m one of them. If there’s 50 fans I’m one of them. If there’s one SoapGaz fan, I am that fan. Golden retriever x golden retriever boyfriends fr and also their height difference?? Yes please!

(And the bonus otp: Mileena x @tiffanyvalntine )

First ever ship: the first ever pairing I remember ever looking at and thinking ‘for the love of god please kiss!’ was probably Soul x Maka from Soul Eater. But they baited the hell outta fans so I feel like it was justified

Last song: Alcohol by Sisyphus. That shit is 6 minutes long but the beat slaps so y’know

Last movie: Nope for the fifth time lmao what can I say it’s very appealing to me(and OJ x Angel is another ship I go crazy over but I didn’t feel like including them)

Currently reading: Aliens vs Predators: Ultimate Prey. It’s an anthology series so it’s a little easier for my monkey brain to focus on lol and I just love Predator related stuff

Currently watching: I’m not really watching anything new at the moment. But I’ve been rewatching New Girl, Derry Girls, and the IT Crowd

Currently consuming: idk water? I should actually be asleep rn but I’m doing this instead so water is all I can give myself

Currently craving: a tiramisu sounds kinda good rn I guess

Tagging: @j-hauke @gaytwoface @jewishroach @just-another-siimp @lesbeanphoenix @archaengell @salstray @killerspinal @chadillacboseman @velvetcrucifix @deadbranch and whoever would like to as that’s what I did!

[nonhumanhottie]

Return of the jedi rewatch

'Andor would be so mad' - Housemate about the second death star

Palps is like an absent dad to the empire lmao

Jabba smoking that dank shit

'In awe at the size of this lad' - Housemate @ Jabba

Manwhore boba let's go

Salacious b crumb has me screaming every time i love him

'His new haircut is not it' - Housemate @ Luke

'Death rattle' caption hits so hard

How this gang saved the galaxy I'll never know

Palps walking stick slays where is that these days

'Strong with the force but not that strong; is such a good line strengthened by the prequels and Anakin's obsession with stopping death

The last 50 years of yodas life have been dominated by skywalker drama he deserved to die

Obi-Wan giving the Vader backstory actually gets me especially after Obi-Wan Kenobi, which isn't good but it adds to things like this at least

Oh I love lando and han they're the best boys

Mon!! I fucken love you

Ackbar is so fucking slay I love him

Sneeping and snooping around the forest

This movie is a fucking comedy they're all so stupid

Luke uses his lightsaber like a baseball bat go off king

Leia and Wicket friendship is everything

Leia is so much more chill now that she's not hiding her horny feelings

Luke's hair glowed down and Chewie's glowed up

Threepio deserves to be a god

Han has such Indy energy in this film

Leia looks so fucking good in her endor outfit queen

Han is literally having flashbacks as threepio tells his story

I know it makes no sense but I like Leia talking about Padme (I know it's not padme but still)

Leia is so fucking disgusted about Luke revealing Vader is his father

Leia and Han love each other so much oh my god shut up

Rex! That old guy us Rex right like we all imagine that's rex? If so slay

You really can feel Vader's expression at this point of the film and it is always stressed

Palpatine is serving such cunt oh my god

I don't care what anyone says I love the ewoks

Wedge I'm so glad you're alive and slaying

I would die for ackbar

'I will never emotionally recover from watching that ewok die' - Housemate

Obi-Wan would be so fucking mad if he saw Vader throw his saber like that

I love how long Vader takes to yeet Palps

Anakin you egg

Han is so emotionally mature shut up he loves leia so much

God I fucking the ending so much it'd so cute let them be happy

[scrunkore]

Scrunkore Media "Thread" 2023: Part 5

I got burnout and never got back into it so I'm hella simplifying it lol shit happens

the scrunko core has burned out, rebooting

50) Wendell & Wild (Movie, 2022)

A lovingly crafted stop-motion animated movie with some good old kid-friendly horror vibes and a punky attitude, even starring a pretty nice transmasc character that I'm super happy to see. It's a nice story with a good visual style and a lot of heart, and I think Key and Peele being involved is pretty funny honestly. [4★]

51) Murder by Numbers (Switch, 2020)

Decent enough Picross game with a basic detective narrative stringing it together that I'm not really a huge fan of, but it does its job and I appreciate the adorable robot as well as some of its representation. And no idea how they got the composer from Ace Attorney and Ghost Trick, lmao [3★]

52) Pokémon Picross (GBC, Unreleased)

Yeah, this was better than the 3DS one, it's just basic Picross that doesn't do much (only real mechanic it adds is being able to change the music) but that's still better than the shitty mobile game model. They really should have just released this, it was straight-up finished and I even got a cart that works on original hardware because I think that's neat. [3.5★]

53) Paper Mario: The Origami King (Switch, 2020)

Going to be killed for playing this as my first Paper Mario but who cares, this game is cool in spite of its awkward battle system (which DOES kinda suck). Just a fun adventure with typical quirky writing and some surprisingly powerful moments, plus an excellent soundtrack, I'm sure some of the earlier games are better but I did play this one and did enjoy it. [4★]

54/55) Knives Out/Glass Onion (Movies, 2019/2022)

Incredible pair of detective movies, both full of really engaging writing and directing work that keeps you invested and never stops being entertaining to watch, surely still really good on a rewatch too. They also really fuckin' hate rich people, especially the second one which is woke as hell and has one of my favourite endings in anything, so that's what some might call "based". I can't wait to see what Rian Johnson does for the third Benoit Blanc movie, which is apparently meant to be a 2024 release. [5★]

56) Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW Comics, 2018-Present)

These are some damn enjoyable comics, telling some fun and generally quite well-written stories set after the events of Sonic Forces with a cast of really cool characters. Honestly kind of ride or die for Tangle and Whisper, but original villains like Dr Starline are great to read too. Early highlight is definitely the Metal Virus arc, but the more recent stuff with Surge was excellent too. Safe to say the team behind these stories know their shit. [4.5★]

57) Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Movie, 2023)

They really did it, they went out of their way to make a bigger and better sequel to one of the greatest animated movies I've seen, and it's very possible that they succeeded... but we won't know until the second part comes out, which looks unfortunately unlikely to be any time soon because production sucked. Still, what we did get is yet another gorgeously animated spectacle with a cool storyline, everyone knows that. [4.5★]

58) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Movie, 2023)

One of the only parts of the MCU that I cared about more or less concluded with this movie, and fuck it might be the best one in the trilogy. Rocket's harrowing backstory really hits out with that theme of some jerkass playing god, and the core adventure of the film is pretty engaging too, just as cool as ever. Plus it's now confirmed Vocaloid exists in the MCU lol [4.5★]

59) The Suicide Squad (Movie, 2021)

Another instance of James Gunn making an actual good superhero movie, this time making a good adaptation of something that previously had a bit of a shit one. I appreciate the kinda edgy nature of the titular squad that was handled solidly here, and their antics are honestly pretty funny. Fun action sequences too, and it's honestly really cool how much the movie thinks rats are awesome (they kind of are tbh). Peter Capaldi, the best version of Doctor Who, playing a mad scientist role is also just... really good. [4★]

60) Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (Movie, 2022)

Man fuck Disney, this is obviously the best version of the Pinocchio story and their attempt to overshadow it was lame as hell. I quite like the darker take on the story with themes of death and war around Italy's rise of fascism (Tom Kenny Mussolini is crazy btw), and of course the stop-motion animation is really quite excellent. Always love to see movies made in such a way. [4★]

61/62) Sonic and the Secret Rings/Black Knight (Games, 2007/2009)

Yeah, I get why the storybook duo of games have a bad reputation, because the motion control gimmicks kinda suck, but Secret Rings suffers from it far more than Black Knight, and that still has the cool ideas and solid writing combined with a great soundtrack (both games have this). Maybe the mission-based level structure isn't great, but there's some fun stuff to be found in these. Wish they were better though. [2.5★/3.5★]

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