#i think it's because the music has that. well. mysterious quality to it

[vroomvroomwee]

Aziraphale's vest

I'd like to take a second and talk about his vest because I think it's a really good metaphor for Aziraphale's internal feelings.

At first glance it's obvious the vest is quite old. Really old in fact if you note the way it's practically disintegrating.

And it got me thinking a bit. The way the white practically bleeds from the edges of the neck, shoulders and buttons, going further and further, one day if he's persistent enough to wear it, it might even take over the entire vest. You could say that that, somehow, mirrors Heavens influence over Aziraphale. Slowly, slowly, biding their time, until it has completely ridden him of any colour. Until it has completely washed him of his identity, of his originality, of his character.

Take a look at his clothing when he's up in Heaven.

Completely and utterly white. Every piece of clothing he's wearing is pure and untarnished white. Upon entering Heaven, against his own accord, it has stripped him of his uniqueness, of anything that might distinguish him from any other angel who blindly follows orders and who's sole purpose is to do Heavens bidding.

Now, he could miracle the white patches on the vest away easily. But he doesn't want to.

The thing is. He likes the imperfect. He likes partaking in human activities and pleasures, like food, music, etc. Likes to indulge himself in earthly things Heaven would label as sinful or "sullying." And as someone who bas been on the receiving end of Heavens ridicule and passive aggression for millenia, as someone who for centuries has been told that he's underperforming and needs to do better, as someone who is all too aware of his own impurity by the standards an angel should hold and of the quite frankly unholy behaviour in performing immoral temptations and directly going against Heavens orders no more than a few times throughout the eras, it's no wonder he finds comfort in the imperfect.

He keeps the deteriorating edges because they are a perfect representation of his own internal feelings and image. After all, there's no rule that says he can't. And a big kudos to the costume department, for the patches perfectly encapsulate his religious trauma. Without it, he would probably be a very different person. He wouldn't be the same Aziraphale we know and love. The same way he likes being old-fashioned with his clothes and how that is a part of who he is, his trauma is a part of him as well, along with Heavens influence that has shaped him into who he is today, whether he likes it or not.

Every part of the vest illustrates Aziraphale's character and internal feelings, which brings me to another point I want to draw attention to, and that is the BACK of the vest.

It's DARK. And I don't think I'm mistaken when I say that most of us didn't expect it to look like that from behind. We all just assumed that it would be the same beige colour as the front, which is in tune with the rest of his attire. After all, seeing him wearing a dozen different outfits all throughout history, all of them some shade of white, it was the logical conclusion.

But no.

It's not white. It's a dark, slightly viridian or a dark blue colour. "Dark blue suggests a more mysterious depth or ominous quality. Power and authority: Dark blue signifies power and responsibility. "

Not what we would have expected that colour at all. Similarly to how one wouldn't expect an angel to perform temptations or be gluttonous, or envious, or slothful, or hedonistic. Not at first glance anyway.

Not unless you look carefully.

Not unless you know him.

The coat almost acts like a cover. The light over the dark. Almost as if it's trying to hide something. The only times we see Aziraphale not wearing the coat is in his bookshop. Which is logical, of course. You wouldn't wear a coat indoors, obviously. Except he DOES. He wears the coat when he and Crowley are drunk, he wears it when he's reading Agnes Nutter, he wears it when Gabriel and Sandalphon pop in, he wears it when he's talking to the Metatron, he wears it when he's listening to Shostakovich, he even wears it at the Ritz where it would be custom to take off your coat while dining. And it's worth noting that during the events happening (at least in the first season), the season is summer. Which would make it quite ridiculous to be wearing so many layers everywhere you go and therefore risk boiling. But he still wears the coat.

The only times he doesn't wear it is in the first episode after the sushi, when he's all ALONE, and in season 2 at the bookshop when Crowley comes back and in 1941.

And there's something oh so personal about that.

I don't think it's a coincidence that the darker part is specifically the back of the vest. There's always been this natural human instinct to protect yourself by never ever turning your back on a foe. And I don't think this is a conscious effort on Aziraphale's part, but rather genius writing, directing and costume design, and anyone who's watched and read Good Omens knows that almost nothing is coincidental.

Note this is probably the first time Aziraphale has called Crowley his friend, seeing how uncertain and doubtful he was to even say the word in this scene and how quick he was to deny their friendship in the Shakespeare scene. And the camera immediately cuts from Crowley to Aziraphale, who is turned away, whose back is turned to Crowley oh so casually without a care in the world. Just before he calls him his friend. His back is turned, and so is the dark part of his vest.

The dark part he only shows in his bookshop, when he's alone and there's no one there. The part that he now only shows to Crowley as well. Crowley who knows him so well and who's been with him through everything. "I won't tell anyone if you won't." And "you said trust me""and you did". Just this small motion of Aziraphale depicts exactly how much trust he has in Crowley not only that he'll keep him safe and protected but to accept him just as he is, to not judge him, to not demean him for his imperfections as an angel. Practically mirroring Crowley's self-protection mechanism that is reflected in his motions to hide his eyes with his sunglasses (there's a wonderful meta on this by @simply-brightly-zee here )

And it might just be clothing, or it might just be genius symbolism, but note how self-aware Aziraphale is of his looks when Gabriel pops up.

The desire to impress is almost unconscious in this scene, and how does he go about doing it? By making sure he looks presentable. Presentable, despite the white patches and the vest that is falling apart, he doesn't even realise it. Therefore, it's clear Aziraphale puts thought into his clothes, whether consciously or unconsciously.

I personally dont think any of this (the coat, the patches, the way he turns his back, when, where and around who he's most comfortable) is a deliberate and intentional act on Aziraphales part but rather creative brilliance from the directors and producers. So him being shown to expose the back of the vest only in scenes with Crowley (and the one in s2 infront of an amnesiac Gabriel with the intelligence and awareness of a squirrel) is a master move on the costume department's part. The symbolusm being so small and imperceptible, but holding so much meaning. This small metaphor shows how much Aziraphale trusts Crowley and how comfortable he is around him. Crowley who knows about Aziraphale's transgressions, sins, unholy behaviours, lack of interest and dedication to his job, and overall "incompetence" as Aziraphale might put it and how he's "just enough of a bastard to be worth knowing". Crowley, who will accept him and love him no matter what. Not despite those things, but because of those things.

They have found their "own side".

Edit: Not that important, but I just want to mention how, despite being tattered and falling apart, the vest is still in perfectly good condition. No matter the white seeping in and draining its colour, the vest doesn't have a single seam torn, not a button lost, perfect as the day it was bought. No matter what it's been put through, it's still kicking, whether by miracle or sheer willpower. Very much like the person wearing it.

[starsopinions]

The Minecraft movie........

I've been playing Minecraft for as long as I can remember. My brother and I would spend hours on Hypixel, our survival world, and building escape rooms for each other (the exit would no doubt be behind a painting). As a movie fanatic, a film about Minecraft sounds like such a fun concept with great potential yet from the look from the teaser trailer it seems like all that potential will remain unused.

Link to the trailer if you haven't seen it yet!

Plenty of people have already commented on how it looks, which let’s be frank, is terrible. This post, however, is not about the look but the story so here is a summary: The set design is quite nice except it does not look like any Minecraft biome. The people look extremely out of place, especially Steve who is supposed to be part of this world. Last but not least, there are moving, working windmills. Anyone who has played Minecraft will probably feel the same way about this, which is not happy. This is the main problem, the makers have maybe watched 1 Let’s Play. They don’t know the Minecraft experience. They haven’t played hardcore survival and felt the pain when you die because your elytra breaks, they have never gone mining at 2 am on a rainy night or have built a beautiful base they a proud of.

Which brings us to the soulless plot. For anyone unfamiliar, this is what Warner Bros. describes it as: “Four misfits—Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison, Henry, Natalie and Dawn—find themselves struggling with ordinary problems when they are suddenly pulled through a mysterious portal into the Overworld: a bizarre, cubic wonderland that thrives on imagination. To get back home, they’ll have to master this world (and protect it from evil things like Piglins and Zombies, too) while embarking on a magical quest with an unexpected, expert crafter, Steve. Together, their adventure will challenge all five to be bold and to reconnect with the qualities that make each of them uniquely creative…the very skills they need to thrive back in the real world.”

That made me throw up in my mouth a little. Minecraft is such a fun and unique game and this is what they come up with? Minecraft is a game about being creative and there are literally endless possibilities. This plot has nothing to do with the actual game and could be applied to any video game. Speaking of other games, it hasn’t escaped anyone’s notice that this is the exact plot of the movie Jumanji.

I’m secretly hoping they pull a Sonic and fix the movie at the last minute but I don’t think that is realistic. I don’t think all is lost though, Emma Myers (who plays Natalie) is, in my opinion, a great addition to the cast and is funny and talented. The rest of the cast isn’t much to write home about, unfortunately. As stated before, I do think the set has a cool look to it, it is just a shame that it doesn’t look like Minecraft.

Here is what I would do if I were in charge:

Firstly the whole cast is going. I would make it an animated film, Minecraft isn’t a realistic game and it doesn’t come across well in live-action. Steve and Alex would be the main characters.

The movie would have an entirely different plot and would either focus on Steve and Alex trying to defeat the Enderdragon for the first time, etc. (I think this is a bit basic but sometimes less is more)

Or it could be about the lore of the Enderdragon, Endermen, Ghasts, etc. and what happened to them and how they ended up where they are. There are so many theories about this online and it’s a side of that Minecraft hasn't been explored yet.

Another option could be about the villagers and pillagers. It would be cool to see more of their history and maybe Steve meddling to make peace or something in that direction. Think about how cool raids could be in movie form.

(see how I just thought of 3 way more original and fun plots off the top of my head when the writers couldn’t think of a singular one in months)-

A MUST for me is the classic Minecraft music. It should be in the trailer, in the movie, it should be everywhere. It is so nostalgic and everyone who has ever played Minecraft knows how iconic it is. (not saying it is not in the movie right now, I obviously haven’t seen it yet but wanted to include this point)

I think it could be cool if, for example, Steve would find a new biome or a new item and then we would get it in the game in an update. It would show a real connection between the movie and the game which is missing right now. (again not saying they won’t do this but I’m not getting my hopes up)

Besides all this, it would be amazing to see jokes and references to the actual game. Think forgetting to set your spawnpoint, inventory being full, etc.

And lastly, I NEED to see Minecraft YouTuber's references. I think they might do this, I’ve seen multiple YouTubers talk about the movie and I know Mumbo visited the set, so there is a possibility. Minecraft has one of the biggest YouTube communities, not referencing it would be a missed opportunity for sure.

I don’t think this movie will be especially bad, from the looks of it, it’s going to be a whole lot of meh. I do want to say that I have not seen the movie yet as it isn’t out yet, this means that a lot could still change (please please please). I will be in the cinema on April 4th with low expectations but high hopes, I have never wanted to be wrong more. Let me know what you think and thank you for reading all the way to the end <3

As always, this is MY opinion. Feel free to disagree but remember: It is a game about blocks, it's not that important (she says after ranting about it for like 2 hours lmao).

[dustofthedailylife]

i hope you dont mind a question/me ranting bc i desperately need to keep my mess of a mind busyyyyyyyy

what do you think hsr boys' music tastes are (specifically Dan Heng since we all know how i am for that man)? he'd probably listen to the more romantic side of classical music, or just super soft music in general imo

<3

Ooooh I love this question! I included pretty much all of the HSR men.

For Dan Heng, I immediately thought of Lo-Fi music. He likes to have some background noise while working but nothing that would disturbs his thoughts. So Lo-Fi music is the perfect fit for that. The dreamlike and calm sounds are the perfect atmospheric sounds for concentrated work.

I can see Jing Yuan being an Alternative Rock guy. It's music that keeps him awake when he needs it and the songs are just so catchy. I have this picture in my head of him just making breakfast (topless ofc) and singing My Chemical Romance or Fall Out Boy while scrambling eggs.

Blade listens to Metalcore. And he does so with the most straight face ever. Just some quality screams paired with some good vocals definitely get his blood pumping and he can pour his bottled-up emotions fully into the music.

Luka is also a Metalcore/Metal guy. He just seems tough and like someone who loves training. Nothing gives you quite as much of an energy kick like some good heavy guitar riffs and vocals.

Welt without a doubt listens to J/K-Pop. Now, hear me out here! You probably think I'm insane, because you look at him and think "classic". But this man was an animator who has created anime and likes everything surrounding the anime/manga culture. Definitely a J/K-Pop man.

Gepard likes Pop music. Just whatever just comes on the radio that you can casually jam to and gets stuck in your head. He'd find himself humming or quietly singing the songs he likes most every now and then when he's spacing out (incredibly embarrassing to him if anyone hears him). I think he's secretly a Swiftie.

I think Sampo would listen to EDM. Just something energetic with a melodic hook and not too many lyrics that you can groove to. The drops are exhilarating and he is someone who loves the thrill - this applies to his taste in music as well.

Luocha... now he's one I cannot really tell. I think he kind of listens to a bit of everything. Whatever is on he listens to. A mysterious man with a mysterious taste in music.

[butchsophiewalten]

03/16/24 Twitter Space Recap

There was a (pretty long!) twitter space yesterday, feat. Martin & Eva, with a later arrival of Crystal, and a (relatively brief) appearance from Coral. Kyle was going to join, but was experiencing technical some problems, so ended up sitting this one out.

-Martin starts the space proper by asking Eva to post some "Jack Walten Photoshoot" images he made back in May of 2022. Here they are:

-Someone asks if Martin could possibly release unfiltered versions of the Walten Files episodes, and Martin said that at one point, back in 2020, he sent HD versions of episodes 1 & 2 to Eva, but later deleted them, thinking 'why would I bother keeping this around, it's all on my computer anyway,' and then his computer died, and they were lost. He says he thinks he has an HD version of TWF3, but that for TWF4, the VHS filter was applied to the scenes individually before the episode was edited together, so there is no 'HD cut' of the entire episode.

-Martin reads a question, "Is it possible you could describe what happened in the Welcome to Bon's Burgers trailer? I swear I saw it back in 2020 after Sagan Hawkes released his his video." and answers, "Uh, the Welcome to Bon's Burgers trailer was basically like, uh, a very low-quality, movie-style trailer with like, royalty free stock trailer music that was like, really action-packed. And it was like, 'We can stop him, Sophie! Welcome to Bon's Burgers!', and it was so cool. I'm not making this up, this is literally what the trailer was like."

-Martin and Eva joke back and forth about Sophie doing really cheesy action movie stuff in the WtBB trailer, like saying 'fuck you!' to Bon, and throwing a grenade at him. Eva than starts explaining some context for those jokes, saying, "Back in 2021, we like, desperately tried to, like, make Sophie this, like, badass epic horror protagonist, and it- it's just really funny, because that's just not who she is, at all. She's just some loser!"

Martin laughs, saying, "We were talking- we were like, she would not be like this, she would not be like this at all, she would be so awkward."

Eva responds, "She's literally just some awkward, like, mentally unwell loser. She wouldn't be this, like, badass epic hero."

Martin responds, "I think it was- in my opinion, that stemmed pretty much from like, Walter White, because we were on like, our peak Breaking Bad phase. And it was like, Walter White originally was so awkward, and loser, and then he becomes 'badass' and 'cool', and we wanted to, like, replicate that.

Eva laughs, saying, "...Now she's literally just some loser- loser girl. And she's like, way cooler now," to which Martin says, "I love Sophie, she's one of my favorite characters."

-Martin reads a question, incredulously, "'Out of the entire cast, who would like yaoi the most?' Nobody! Nobody would like yaoi the most... Well, maybe Brian."

-Somebody asks something about Showstoppers Inc, and Martin says that the series is currently on hold, so he can finish TWF5.

-Someone asks what Martin's favorite non-canon episode is, and he says it's definitely The Mysterious House. He says out of every episode of The Walten Files, The Mysterious House and TWF6 are probably tied for his favorite. He talks a bit more about it, saying, "I know it's not the best- Maybe it hasn't aged perfectly, but just- it just has that vibe. It just has a really cool vibe, that I really dig."

Eva responds saying, "It's such a fun episode. I like how it just all goes to shit.", to which Martin asks, "Wait, are you talking about Six, or The Mysterious House?" and Eva replies, "Well, both. They both go to shit."

Martin says "Yeah. Technically, Six- we've talked about this in private, but Episode 6 is very inspired in The Mysterious House. Like, I wanted to have that feeling The Mysterious House had, because I really love that."

-Eva reads a question asking what Edd & Molly's relationship was like, and she says she likes to think of them as siblings that just fight all the time. Martin agrees, saying he thinks it happens a lot that Molly is really annoying, and Edd gets angry with her very easily.

-Felix's new VA, Connor, sends some audio to Martin and tells him to share it with the space. Transcribed, it went as follows:

"Uh, hey, Jack, it's Felix. You probably won't be able to answer your answering machine, it said it was full, but it's still letting me leave a message. I'm not entirely sure- I already called the police, uh, nothing's wrong, uh. Well- there is something wrong, I- I can't take your kids home. I'm drunk. Uh, and- you've gotta be pissed out of your mind right now, that's- that's fine. Uh, I'm sorry. And if there's a way- way I can make it up to you- I know, that, like, why the hell would you trust me, after I fucked up the first time, but, I tried to take Edd and Molly home, bad idea. I swerved a bit- we didn't- nothing crashed, nothing happened, I just- I lost my balance. The kids seem okay, I hope they are. They didn't seem to notice, but, in that instance, I just- I couldn't do it. I can't. So, uh, if you can, just- I'm near Saint Joanne's right now, y'know, the forest near section 95, but. Uh- hang on, hang on, kids, give me a minute. They're trying to get my attention. We pulled over on the side- Luckily there was a payphone- there was like a gas station maybe a walk over from the highway. Ope, and they're coming out, they want to say hi to you. Well, I'm gonna hang up now, 'cause I don't have the- Hang on! I'm just gonna hang up. Uh, I am so sorry. I- I really am. And again, if there's anything I can do, if there's a future favor you need, I will- not fuck it up. I'd be fucking foolish to. I'm just so embarrassed, I'm sorry."

Martin was surprised that the audio was so genuine and sad, since he hadn't listened to it before playing it on the space, and thought it was going to be kind of joke.

-Eva reads a question, "'Which character would be into some real good yuri?' Jenny."

-Martin talks about "Raw Bunny", a character which originates from The Walten Archives. He says there were originally going to be two dolls, "Raw Bunny" and "Raw Tammy", and that Edd was going to possess Rocket, and Molly was going to possess Tammy. He has no explanation for why they were called "Raw".

-Martin asks Eva if there's any autistic characters in The Walten Files, and she answers, "Uh, Sophie, I guess, Maybe?"

-Eva reads a question, "'Would Sophie read yuri and yaoi?' I don't think she knows what those are." to which Martin says, "Do you think Sophie would respond, like, 'I've never listened to that band'?"

-Someone asks for character birthdays, and Martin tries to joke that Jack and Rose's birthdays are both on February 31st, but misspeaks and says "21st", which later lead to this very funny twitter interaction:

-Eva reads a question, "What did Sophie do in college?", which leads Coral (who has joined the space by now) to say they don't think Sophie ever went to college. Martin says, "She did. She did go into college, but she got kicked out, because she shaved one of her colleagues' head bald... Like, Sophie really fucking hated this one girl in college, so one day, at night, she goes to her bedroom and starts shaving her head." The original question never gets answered.

-Martin keeps talking about Sophie, saying, "I can't remember if it was in school or college, but I had it written down that she broke someone's arm one time, because the person was bullying her." Then a couple minutes later, goes, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember! Yes, it was in school. I had it written down, because I remember, uh, this was after- of course, I can't get too much into it, because we do cover it in the series, but it was after the crash that someone was bullying her, and since she wasn't in a really good headspace right now, she broke a kid's arm. And that's how she got kicked out of school. I don't think she ever, like, returned to school after that."

Coral responds, "She was forever just wandering," and Martin says, "That is very Sophie Walten. Sophie Walten is always just wandering."

-Eva asks, "Which Walten Files character would've had an emo phase?" and Martin says, "If we were talking like, a year or two ago, I would've said Sophie, but now I think- uh, probably... y'know what? Ignoring, like, the time period and everything, if a character were around to have an emo phase, I think it would be Rosemary, since Rosemary's, like, the most artistic. She would just be like an emo for like, a year or two, and then she would be like, the most jolly person ever."

-Coral jokes that it'd be really funny if Charles had an emo phase, and Eva says she thinks it's funny to imagine Jenny going through an emo phase, because she's such a colorful and friendly person. Crystal says "I feel like [Jenny's] the kind of person that will, like, fully commit to, like, a fashion aesthetic, like 110%." to which Martin responds, "Actually, yeah, definitely."

-Eva says, "I like to think Jenny is like, really good at fashion and shit, meanwhile Sophie just dresses like absolute shit." Coral says, "I don't think Sophie knows how to dress," to which Martin responds, "No, I think she doesn't, but I don't- I don't think she has, like, bad- I wouldn't say 'bad style', because I definitely don't think she has any style. But I don't think she wears bad combinations, y'know? She has like, 5%-2% style."

-Martin says, about Sophie, "Her brain is one ketchup tall."

-Martin asks everyone to say something they think Sophie would actually be really talented at. Eva jokes that she'd be good at "Eating spaghetti.", but Crystal says "I feel like she would, like, be a surprise good cook," and Martin says, "Yeah. I feel like, since she worked at the meat store, so I think she would know how to work with all that." Crystal jokes that someone would think her cooking is really good and ask her for a recipe, and she just completely mentally blanks.

-Eva reads a question, "Would Ashley and Sophie be friends?" and Martin says, "I think Sophie would hate Ashley. I think, Sophie- I think she would stand Ashley, but I think Sophie wouldn't be able to stand Ashley like, actually going blindly into a fucking- I think Sophie would be, like, really annoyed at Ashley's obliviousness, to me. I'm not saying Ashley is stupid, I don't think Ashley is dumb in any way, but I think Sophie wouldn't be able to relate to Ashley's, like, motivations and shit."

-They start joking about Sophie getting high? Martin says that she could never be allowed to get high, because she'd freak the fuck out and have the worst trip of her life. Martin says, "I think if Sophie got high, imagine she's, like, looking horrified at the door frame, and she's grabbing Jenny's hand, and she's like 'Jenny, Ronald Reagan's here. He arrived. He's taking me away, Jenny.''

Martin keeps going, "Imagine- imagine Sophie holds Jenny's hand, and she's like, 'Dude. Jenny- I cracked the case. I cracked the case. Jenny- Jenny, c'mere, I cracked the case. I think Bon killed Kennedy. I think Bo-Bon kill- Jenny I think Bon killed John F. Kennedy.'"

-They start talking about if Sophie would drink, and Martin says "I think Sophie drunk, like, at a party, like- imagine it's like, the only time she goes at a party, and it was just because she was, like, going with Jenny, who was invited. And she gets drunk, and then she's like, 'Uh, here's my car. This is my car.' and she doesn't even have a car. She's just trying to, like, break into a random car on the street."

Martin jokes, saying, "The entire friend group is like, talking about, like, 'aw, yeah, dude, y'know, when my grandma passed away, it was so sad,'- and then Sophie goes like 'Dude, when JFK died, it was like a national tragedy.'"

-[Eva] "Sophie would hate The Irishman. If she watched it."

[Martin] "She wouldn't watch twenty minutes of it! She would be like 'Jenny, I don't get this. I don't get this.'"

[Eva] "She would be like, 'I'm turning this off, this sucks.'"

[Martin, laughing] "And Jenny would be, like, so offended."

-Martin says, "I think Jenny would be more, like, artistic, and, like into experimental films. And Sophie would just watch, fucking, I don't know, fucking-" and Eva interrupts, saying, "Sophie would enjoy Adam Sandler movies if she was, like alive today. She would enjoy Adam Sandler movies." Martin laughs, saying, "Do you think Sophie would watch Ted and be like, 'Ohh, that's just like me...'?"

-Eva says, "I just had the worst idea. Sophie would, like, watch those stupid fucking Sigma Male movies, like Taxi Driver, and shit like that, and be like 'oh, that's me. that's me.' Martin laughs, saying, "That is so accurate! Imagine Sophie watching American Psycho, and for an entire week, like quoting the movie." then later says, "Imagine she does the fucking Taxi Driver cut, for like two days, and then starts crying because she regrets it."

-[Martin] "Someone- someone once said- Did I ever tell tell you, Eva and Crystal, that there was this one time when I was high, and I- I heard someone on Twitter going like, 'oh Sophie would love Weezer,' and I started crying. I started crying."

[Eva] "She would! Sophie would love Weezer!"

[Martin] "No! No she wouldn't! And I started crying, because I realized I failed as a creator."

-[Eva] "Someone asked, 'Does Jenny get high?' Yeah, Jenny would get high. Jenny would be stoner."

[Martin] "Yeah. No- I think she- she was probably, like, back in like, the late 70's she was more of a stoner, but then, when she started living with Sophie, she kinda just, started like, just settling down. Into a jolly- Into a silly, jolly lifestyle."

-[Eva] "Sophie would get really irrationally angry over video games, I think."

[Crystal] "I feel like she wouldn't, like, say anything. She would just stare really angrily at the screen."

[Eva] "She would, like, pick up a thing on her desk and just crush it."

Martin says he wants to draw that, and later posts this:

-Eva reads a question asking what Sophie's fears are. Martin says, "I think Sophie's fears, um, to me- and, of course, I cannot explain where this originates from, because again, it's spoilers. But I think one of Sophie's, like, fears she has- I wouldn't say it would be 'losing control', but not being able to decide what happens to her. Like, the idea of not being able to have control of her future. To me, I feel."

-Eva says "[Bon] would occasionally vomit blood, as a treat."

-Martin says "I think Sophie- I mean, I don't think she would be completely competitive, but I think Sophie would secretly be a bit competitive, when it comes to playing games. And Jenny would be more like 'Hey, it's just having fun!' and that's just because Jenny is like, the best gamer ever."

-Someone asks if Jack or Rose would experience road rage, and Martin says, "A lot of, uh, Jack, when I first wrote Jack, was a lot of inspiration from Me and my dad, because both me and my dad have had to deal with anger issues, and we both had to, like, y'know, go treat that. But I will forever remember how my dad would act during fucking road rage. I think Jack would act like that, just- Jack would fucking punch the fucking steering wheel, going 'God FUCKING DAMN IT!', and he would like, get out of the car, and- because this is something my dad would do- Jack would get out of the car and walk to the fucking thing that's causing the traffic jam. And go, like, 'Hurry the FUCK up, HURRY UP!'"

Martin goes, "I think Jack would go up to the driver that's causing the traffic jam, with the most polite, gentle look on his face. He'd ask him to, y'know, put the window down. And then he would poke his head through the window, and he would go, "Heya, man. KILL YOURSELF!!!!"

-Martin goes, "Why do Jenny and Sophie say 'fuck' so many times in BunnyFarm?" to which Crystal responds, incredulously, "You're the one who wrote the script, what do you mean!?"

-Martin says, "I think Sophie would eat the Forever Weed Brownie."

-Eva asks if Sophie would have the same anger issues as Jack, and Martin says, "No, I don't think she would have anger issues, but I do think she would have a big- a big fuckin' temper."

Eva responds, going "Well, no, she fucking broke some kid's arm and saved some girl's head, she probably does have, like, some anger-" and Martin goes, "Well- yeah, yeah. To be fair, yeah."

-Martin says, "I've told this to Eva, Sophie was a shoplifter, for a while."

-Martin says he changed Sophie's height again (For what, like the third time?) She's about 5'6-5'7 now. Jenny's height has increased proportionally, Martin doesn't give a number for her, but says she's still taller Felix, who's 5'7.

-Eva talks about how she was asked to sing a song as Bon for an episode, and the song Martin had sent her had some sexual undertones, so he changed it to be more kid-friendly and told her to perform the new lyrics. But she fucked up, and just sang the normal song, so they're just using that audio anyway, and it's really funny to both of them.

-Martin says, "One idea I had, back in TWF2, that I really want to repurpose someday- Originally, there was going to be a funny scene where Kevin, Hilary and Ashley would, like, play around with the robots, and dress them up, and make them do fucking goofy poses and shit like that. And I think, If i ever get the chance to do it again, I would probably do something like that... I would really love doing a scene like that, in The Walten Files. The caretakers just absolutely doing goofy shit in K-9."

-Eva talks about how she's a bit mildly uncomfortable with cutesy ship art of Felix and Linda, and asks Martin if that's weird of her. Martin says, "I don't think Felix was abusive, per se. I don't Felix, like, abused of Linda. Y'know, I don't think we was, just, uh- intentionally taking advantage of Linda's emotional state, for his own benefit. But I do think Felix was a very neglectful person, who- the way I see it, he was just with Linda just because, y'know? He didn't really- It was just a thing of, 'Oh, there's a guy and there's a girl. It makes sense, yeah, it should be a couple, yay,' Y'know? And the way I've always seen it is that Linda and Felix had, had, a good dynamic. But I don't think it was a good romantic dynamic.

I think they just- They took what could have been a could've been a potential good friendship as romantic feelings, and that was their downfall. And by being a couple they didn't really help each other, and Felix being neglectful eventually took a toll on Linda. Which- is bad! It's a very bad behavior. And I don't blame people who consider that to be emotional abuse, but to me I don't feel like Felix ever had that intention. But it's not a good couple, because they're not healthy for each other."

-Martin continues, "I feel like Felix didn't know how to be- Felix didn't have a couple before Linda. And I feel like, to me, Felix never properly learned how to love? So, to me, it would be like, uh, he wouldn't be emotionally connected with Linda. He wouldn't open up to her, and he wouldn't really try to be close to her. Both in an emotional and a physical way. It would just be like, every now and then, that he remembers, 'oh yeah, my wife', and just, like- a kiss, every one in 500 years."

-"I do think that Linda was a very independent person. And does- she wasn't like, too focused on, 'oh, how much does Felix care about me?', she was just, like, doing her own thing. I think it was later down the line that she started realizing how neglectful Felix was, and started, like, actually trying to reconnect with him, in a way. And since Felix had become worse and worse, he just kinda kept brushing her away until he ended up confronting her, and ended up hurting her feelings in a really bad way."

-Martin reads a question, asking, "Why did Felix start drinking, anyway?" and answers, "Uh, without revealing it too much, I think the reason he started drinking was because, uh, there was a problem, to Felix, that was starting to build up, and he started isolating himself on that problem. And, uh, when he started isolating himself, he started losing all the things he had, to like- all the shoulders he could lean on. So, without nobody he could actually go to, to reach out to them, he started drinking. Because it kinda numbed away those feelings, it kinda helped him control all the frustrations he had about himself, and the kind of person he was. And thus, at first he was just, like, 'Oh, it's just, every time I feel some kind of hatred towards myself and the person I am.' And it kept escalating, to the point that-- The moment he started fully hating himself was the moment he started completely drinking all the time. To kinda, just numb away those feelings."

Martin says, "To me, uh, the way I see it is like The Shining, where they refer to alcohol as a medicine. And to me, I feel like Felix saw it as a medicine, too. Like, as a way that, hey, it's an easy way to be happier with the person you are and the decisions you've made."

-"I feel like, in a way, the way I see Felix as a character- I like to think that he's someone who isn't happy, wasn't happy with the kind of person he became and the kind of decisions he took, because I think he saw a lot more potential in him that he didn't- that he didn't actually use. And, it's like, I feel like that frustration was the one of the reasons he got into drinking. Because it's like, just the idea of, 'Hey, I wasted so many years away not doing the stuff I wanted to do. So what's the point anymore?', Y'know."

-"Felix has- In my opinion, a very realistic, kind of like- I want to say a middle-aged crisis. As like, a way of being depressed over- I like to think Felix is sad that he didn't get to savor his young age very much. Because, to me, it's like, one second it was him and Jack going, like, 'Hey! We gotta do this project, and it's going to be so cool, so great and everything!', and then the other second it's like, having to worry about the paperwork, and the idea that- Yeah, sure, Jack and him are still best friends, but Y'know, Jack has his family now. Jack has other priorities, it's not the funny, 'Hey, we're young, we have our whole future ahead of us!' because now the future is happening, and Felix doesn't know what the fuck he's about to do, what the fuck is going to happen to him. And thus, he instantly thinks it's all doomed, it's too late for him to choose a different way to be, a different person to be with, a different goal to have. He thinks that all the decisions he made lead him to this, and he can't change it, because it's too late for that. I think that's what kinda dooms him, in a way."

-Martin says, "To me, when [Felix] had a low point, instead of trying to get himself out of it, he just accepted defeat, because he thought he couldn't get any lower than that. And, there was another rock bottom, and another one, and another one." He says, "I'm always going to say this- and this is kinda like, a message from The Walten Files- It's not a priority, but it's a message that you cannot live a future you do not want to live. You cannot force yourself to accept and settle down for a future you don't want to live, because you're only going to live in constant- you're going to be miserable with yourself! And you're going to be constantly looking to the past, instead of trying to fix your future.

And I think the main flaw with Felix- and you can even notice now, in the current content, that Felix looks a lot in the past, and he's stuck in the past, and he's so unhappy with the place he is right now, that he doesn't try to get himself out of it. And it's just like, "Ah, maybe if I just keep doing what I'm doing, it'll just magically get better on it's own!', and that's not how life is, so yeah."

-Martin and Eva talk about how it's kinda funny, how for them, Felix's hangups have served as a sort of cautionary tale, because his experiences and struggles are so human and so relatable, that his behavior helps them to understand why you need to work against the kind of thinking he succumbs to.

-Eva goes, "I can't wait until we can have long ass discussions like this, publicly, about fucking Jack." and Martin goes, "God! Jack is so cool, too!"

-Some asks if there's any "canon trans rep" in The Walten Files. Martin says, a little regretfully, that No, there aren't, not because he thinks there shouldn't be transgender people in The Walten Files, but because he doesn't go out of his way to think about applying those sorts of labels to characters as he makes them, he just lets them develop naturally, and sometimes ends up applying concepts like that depending on what he thinks feels natural for them. He says, "I never actually touch the territory of, like, their gender identity and all that. So, I guess you could headcanon any character you want as trans. That's totally fine."

-Martin says, "Felix, his main issue was not talking to people and getting help when he needed it the most, and I feel like the way I wrote it stemmed down from the way that a lot of- especially in that era- there was a lot of toxic masculinity around the idea that you cannot show weakness around other people. That you have to be, like, the strong person that takes care of everyone else. You have to be, like, the man in the group, the man in the family, and you cannot, like- you cannot be vulnerable towards anyone else. And I feel like Felix kinda grew up around that mentality, and he isolated his issues from everyone else, because he felt like showing any kind of, uh, vulnerability and just any weakness at all would make him lesser.

And I feel like that problem amplified itself when he met Jack, who was this collected, smart person, who always knew what he had to say. He was charming, he always had an answer for everything, and Felix felt like- if he- if he showed vulnerability towards Jack, Jack would see him as someone lesser than him, y'know? As someone weak. Not worthy of being Jack's friend, y'know?"

-Eva reads a question that asks, "What're some genuine flaws about Jack, besides his anger issues? Has he ever done something he ended up regretting?". Martin pauses for a while, then says, pretty definitely, "Yeah. He does."

Martin then says, "I feel like we could answer some flaws about personality. I think, like, the one thing I could say is that Jack also stems a lot from that mentality of, like, that you shouldn't be weak, you shouldn't show vulnerability to anyone. And I feel like, uh, he- the only person to me, that Jack was ever vulnerable to, the only person that Jack could tell 'I'm scared', to was Rosemary. And, uh, I feel like Jack is a person who wants to always be in control of everything. He cannot lose control, because when he loses control he feels weak, and he doesn't like feeling weak.

And, uh- He kinda, like- One of the bad things that happened, is that, to me, I feel like he kinda passes those bad habits to Sophie, who also doesn't like the idea of losing control. And doesn't like the idea of showing other people that she cries, and that she's vulnerable. And I feel like that stemmed a lot because of Jack."

-"I think one of the worst things with Jack is that he has a problem with communicating stuff. He cannot, for the life of him, just let out a vulnerable side of him. And the way I wanted to show that is that he's always shown smiling in photos, he never tries to frown. He never tries to show any other face, other than just him being okay, him being happy."

-[Eva] "I find it cool how, like, Jack wants himself to be perceived as like, this ideal dad type-guy, which is also how Felix-"

[Martin] "The perfect- the perfect person."

[Eva] "... In reality, Jack would be like, very- very flawed. Very, like-- I don't know how to describe it. His brain would be very, like- emotionally he'd be very fucked up. Not, like, evil- I mean like. his emotions and shit, he has a really bad way of expressing them, and stuff like that."

[Martin] "He doesn't know. He doesn't know how to express his emotions. And to me, Jack, I feel like- I feel like one of Jack's greatest flaws is that, to him, everything is appearances. He really cares a lot about appearances, and he cares about looking like the perfect role model, like the fucking 1950's magazine, cut-clear perfect dad, and his cut-clear perfect family where everything is fine, and nothing can ever go wrong. That's one of, like, Jack's fears. But if we talk more about it, we'll go into spoiler territory!"

-They talk about how frustrating it is to be so interested in and passionate about these characters, but so little of their stories have made it to the audience so far, so they have to be really cagey about everything. Martin says, "I think, mostly because of Sophie, because to me, the way that Sophie is shown in The Walten Files 3, that's just scratching the surface. That's not an ounce of, like, her character. And I really, really want to show what she does, and how everything goes down, but I can't."

-[Eva, reading] "Which character's story goes the deepest? Which character has the most depth?"

[Martin, immediately.] "Jack. Definitely Jack. (pause) No- Jack and Sophie. I think it's Jack and Sophie."

-Martin says, "Bon is so- a much worse person than Felix, but I really like that he's not as unlikable, because Felix knows what he's doing wrong, and apologizes and says he wants to change, but he doesn't. Whereas Bon is a delusional prick, who fucking- doesn't regret anything. And that's so cool to me." Later, he says, "I wouldn't say [Bon] has regret, but he has a lot of, like, emotion about what he's doing. He's not like a cold, heartless killer."

-Martin answers one last question, "What was your original plan for The Walten Files?" and answers, "The original plan for The Walten Files was actually very different, because it was- first of all, I had two original ideas. Originally, it was going to be just a compilation of, uh, footage of Welcome to Bon's Burgers, and I was just gonna plaster a VHS effect on it, and just be like, 'hey, look at all this cool stuff!' But then, when I scrapped that idea, there was The Walten's Archive, which was gonna be, like, a documental, that was, like, a retelling of the events that happened. Like, a 1990s documental, like, a dramatization of everything that happened, and that's why you'd see everything in like, a cinematic light and everything. And it was going to be, like, ten episodes. And I still have that document, and some of the ideas carried over to the actual stuff, but not all of them."

-Eva wants to answer one last question, too, saying, "Someone asked, 'Is "Bon" a 'it's for the greater good' type of person when it comes to his killings?' I'd say yes. Whenever he's like, killing someone, he definitely knows that they're afraid and that they don't want to die, but he'd kinda like, think of it as 'Oh, you don't know what's good for you,' or 'This is for the greater good,' like, when he's killing them. That's kinda like, a way he would justify it in his mind. Like he would just think, 'Oh, yeah, you want this, you just don't know it,' like shit like that."

[bonzos-number-1-fan]

What R# Means: The ABC's of Fear.

The grading system used by the OIAR is one of TMAGP's more central mysteries. The show is rife with administrative work that's obfuscated even to the employees that assign each case's rating.

I have my own theory about DPHW that I think is proving more and more likely each episode, but as of yet I don't think a comprehensive theory on CAT# or R# has been given. CAT# is still proving a hard to crack but I now think I can take a strong stab at the meaning behind R#.

Spoilers for TMAGP 1-7 below the cut.

For the people who aren't keeping close track of this I'll break down how those terms are used. Each incident the OIAR assesses is assigned a case number in the following format CAT#R#DPHW. CAT, short for Category, is assigned a value of 1, 2, 3, or any combination of those three digits (12, 13, etc.). R, short for Rank, are graded C, BC, B, AB, A, or S (potentially AS but it's not come up). For DPHW each letter is a category itself and replaced with a digit from 0-9 for its grading. So there are 6 separate statistics that the OIAR uses to assess each incident.

If I'm correct about DPHW it's a ranking based on the qualities the incident presents. That's obviously very valuable information. Because of how CAT# is formatted we know it's likely three non-mutually exclusive facets. I had some idea about what it could be but it's proving quite tricky to nail down.

However it's R# that is the topic of today's post and it's something I've had a few ideas on before. We know can assume from its formatting it's a linear scale. C is the "worst/weakest/etc." while S is the "best/strongest/etc.". Initially, I thought that R# was simply a straight forward ranking of potency or threat. Higher the rank, spookier the incident. Very early on that seemed like a strong idea. It was quickly disproven but I then had the idea that Rank was instead the scale of the effect. Higher the rank, wider the incident. Also quickly disproven.

Now I'm thinking it's graded on how hard it is to deny an incident's supernatural nature. Simply put, an outside observer can more readily find a believable rational explanation for an incident of lower rank than of higher rank. Either via their own conviction to believe the supernatural isn't real, or based on the story the OIAR cooks up to explain it.

For that to make sense it needs to tick two boxes. It needs to be able to be pre-assigned to an incident as all CAT#R#DPHW's seem to be, and it needs to be useful information to track. As they're operating under the assumption that CAT#R#DPHW's can be pre-assigned then they're operating under the assumption that each type of incident is relatively stable. Meaning that the likelihood that it can be rationally explained is also relatively stable. Tick 1. There is also a really strong reason for the OIAR to use this as a grade. They're the Office of Incident Assessment and Response, the Response Department might be dead but it was a part of the initial plan. Grading each incident on how likely they are to cause concern should the details go public is very useful for deciding how to approach any given case. Tick 2.

It being useful is all well and good but it does also need to have some evidence so let's look at our highest ranked incident to this point: CAT23RAB2155 - Transformation (Eye) -/- Trespass. A man grew eyes over his body. That's pretty tricky to explain away as a medical mystery. On the other end of the scale we've got CAT2RC1157 - Dolls (Watching), or CAT2RC3338 -Agglomeration (Miscellany) -/- Congregation†. Just a creepy doll and some crappy antiques. I think of all the incidents the one that's the least immediate fit is CAT3C7494 - Collection (Blood) -/- Musical. Most of that incident is very easy to slot in here. "It's just a violin that has sharp strings, so what?". But it's also a violin that made some people eat some other people. However, mass hysteria events do get reported every so often IRL and do have a very long history. So in the grand scheme of things I don't think the details of the event are necessarily all that outlandish. It's really in the realms of urban legend and witch hunts than it is definitive proof of the supernatural.

With all that out the way this is the broad strokes of how I could see this breaking down. C ranks are things you can entirely write off as urban legends, freak accidents, and stress. Potentially things that might not need any covering up at all. I think the majority of events people could entirely say didn't happen will end up in C. "Of course the doll wasn't watching you, dolls aren't alive". B ranks are things that are harder to entirely discount as things that happened but are themselves still relatively easy to excuse as mundane. "Sure, the circumstances of that blogger's disappearance are strange but people go missing all the time, doesn't mean a monster did it". We don't have any A ranks but given the AB rank we do have I'd say A's are things in which no rational explanation can account for it, and as such require more extensive covering up, if it indeed happened. "Okay, maybe the supernatural is real because people don't just grow eyes like that".

As I mentioned early, an S rank does exist. We've not seen this attributed to anything in the show yet and so it might prove to be a special case. However on Klaus' sheet‡ from the ARG it's attributed to an interesting incident. A CAT1RS[No DPHW] with the note Mr. B. And, well, if you know, you know.

From Klaus' sheet we also know that the higher ranked incidents happen less often than lower ones and that idea generally tracks with what we know of TMP and TMA. The supernatural tends to be something you can explain away. It often is explained away. Incredibly overt manifestations are a rarity.

This one will be a slow burn to see if it bears out. Much like with DPHW's it's only really interesting when things go against the theory. I'm not as certain on this one as I am the DPHW theory but I do think it's got legs with our current data.

† This did also feature people who seemed to erase their physical features from your memory after you interacted with them. This isn't something I mention in the theory because it's not taken into account by the header and case number. A major flaw in the OIAR's methodology here is that all incidents are only ever one thing. So the case number is based solely on the presence of lots of miscellaneous objects, rather than the mind-wiping people carrying them.

‡I have made an incident master doc here, containing all the current cases, their CAT#'s, R#'s, DPHW's, etc. It has about as much information on each as I think is reasonable, including who narrates it, a link to its episode, and any other relevant notes, as well as headers for incidents we didn't hear. Additionally it also contains the Klaus sheet (German and English) and links to it when an incident matches. It will be updated each episode after the episode is publicly available.

[pandorasword]

Chaeri as the 8th and youngest member of BTS.

Chaeri's Masterlist

Web article

June, 2023

The K-pop community is abuzz with questions and speculations as Chaeri, the only female member of BTS, and the leader of Ateez, Hongjoong, have not been seen together for quite some time. Adding to the intrigue, recent reports suggest that Chaeri's contract as Ateez's choreographer with KQ Entertainment has come to an end.

Fans are left wondering about the reasons behind Chaeri's departure from her role as the mastermind behind Ateez's captivating dance routines. While she proved her talent and left an indelible mark on the group's performances, the sudden silence surrounding her professional life is leaving many perplexed.

Furthermore, the once inseparable couple of K-pop is raising eyebrows with their apparent absence from each other's lives. No sightings, no public appearances together, and no social media interactions have fans concerned about the status of their relationship.

In a world where idols' every move is scrutinized, the mysterious circumstances surrounding Chaeri and Hongjoong's recent actions are only fueling the rumor mill. Fans are eager to know if there's a rift between the two or if they are merely keeping their personal lives private.

As the duo's fans eagerly await any updates or official statements, the K-pop world is on edge, hoping for clarity and reassurance. Until then, the question marks continue to grow, and the mystery deepens, leaving everyone to wonder what's next for Chaeri and Hongjoong.

Twitter: Search results on #Chaejoong

💭 The total lack of updates about Chaeri and Hongjoong is seriously, like, causing me to lose it! Seriously, somebody, anyone, pretty please, shower us with some news about our nation's couple 🥹

💭 I am totally convinced that they're taking a break from the spotlight to have some super sweet quality time together, just the two of them! 🥰💕 Ahh, my fangirl heart is bursting with happiness at the thought! 😻💖 I'm beyond excited for their comeback, 'cause I know they'll be back stronger and happier 🌟💪 Let's all send them all the love and support they deserve

💭 I can't even deal with the fact that Chaeri won't be Ateez's choreographer anymore ❤️‍🩹

💭 I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Chaeri and Hongjoong to surprise us with some good news soon! They've been through so much together

💭 It's strange not seeing them together lately. I hope they're both doing well and that their relationship is as strong as ever!

💭 I hope Chaeri's decision to leave the choreographer role was her own choice and not due to any conflicts with Hongjoong

💭 I hope the media will give them space and not speculate too much about their relationship. They deserve to have their privacy respected

💭 Honestly, I think Chaeri and Hongjoong would be better off without each other. They don't seem to fit together, and it's time they moved on

💭 I can't wait for them to break up. Maybe then we can stop hearing about their relationship and focus on the music

Hongjoong at the airport after the article was published

Twitter: Search results on #Chaejoong

💭 Hongjoong's response has me even more anxious. I hope everything's alright with Chaeri

💭 Those who are fans of Hongjoong know that that smile on his face is a facade. HE WAS REALLY NERVOUS

💭 Maybe it's just a private matter they don't want to share with the public. Let's trust they'll handle it together

💭 Stop saying he was upset because they broke up, the reporter was clearly invading his personal space and assuming false information, Hongjoong did wisely to ignore him

💭 I won't believe they broke up even if they release an official statement. they are THE match

💭 I hope they're taking care of each other. It must be hard for them to deal with rumors and speculation

💭 I hope Chaeri finally realized that she deserves better 🤡

💭 We should remember they're not obligated to share every aspect of their lives with us

Chaeri on Weverse

Bouncy Challenge

Comments section

💬 ATE AND LEFT NO CRUMBS

💬 Yunho and Mingi don't care if their captain and Chaeri are still dating, they will keep being their babies 😩

💬 lets all clap for this woman who, before leaving her role, blessed all of us by putting together this choreo

💬 The fact that she can perform male group choreography better than men 😮‍💨💀

💬 we deserved a challenge with Chaeri and Hongjoong

💬 BABE WAKE UP CHAERI BOUNCY CHALLENGE JUST DROPPED

💬 I WANT THE BEHIND THE SCENES OF THIS TIKTOK

taglist: @alixnsuperstxr | @bts-dream | @enchantingbrowneyedgirl | @ycuvi | @cosmicwintr

[jovenshires]

endless au edits: smosh theatre's seasonal lineup (1/4)

SMOSH'S SEASONAL LINEUP: A COMPLETE GUIDE by mac kahey smosh theatre, a musical theater company known for its diverse and inclusive productions, has just announced its show lineup for the year, and it is safe to say that fans are far from disappointed. starting off strong, the company kicked off its announcement with its winter showcase: a production of hadestown, led by stars damien haas and jacklyn uweh, and directed by none other than returning smosh co-founder, anthony padilla. padilla made his comeback to smosh a little over six months ago to collaborate with his fellow co-owner on their spring and summer musicals. this will be padilla's first solo show at the playhouse in nearly six years - and what a show to start off on. coupling this tragic tale of love lost with padilla's edgy direction style is a bold move, and fans are, rightfully, excited. the casting choices are also impeccable. the star-studded lineup includes previously-mentioned damien haas, an openly neurodivergent and queer actor making waves for representation everywhere. he'll be taking on the role of orpheus, a hopeless romantic, poet, and musician, and as someone who had the pleasure of sitting down with him for an interview last spring, all of these qualities describe haas to a t. this will be his first time leading a show with smosh in his near-six-year run at the company, and his first time working with padilla as a director. the actor shared the show to his instagram and expressed his excitement for the production, saying, "anthony is such a great director. it's been an honor to work with him and my amazing castmates." speaking of his castmates - his leading lady is none other than superstar jacklyn uweh. returning from her recent stint touring with the cast of spring awakening, she has rejoined the smosh cast for another performance that's sure to be amazing. the actress is known for advocating for women of color in theater spaces and never being afraid to speak her mind. she also, notably, has one of the most incredible singing voices of our generation. taking on the mysterious yet powerful role of eurydice will be no easy feat, but somehow, i think she has the power to manage it. just with this one casting, smosh has shown that when the perfect cast falls into their lap, they aren't foolish enough not to utilize it. the stacked cast doesn't stop there, though. playing hermes, the play's narrator and father figure to young orpheus, is ify nwadiwe, a booming comedic actor who has been known to feature in smosh productions. his fun-loving demeanor and natural swagger are sure to bring a natural carefree energy to this rendition of hadestown. he, too, spoke of the production fondly on social media, posting on x: "this is one of the greatest things i've ever been a part of. come see us next december to february at the smosh playhouse for one of the most incredible, f***ed up things we've ever done." long-time smosh player keith leak jr is taking on the role of hades, the rich, powerful, and egotistical king of the underworld, and his friend and partner in all things theater, olivia sui, will be beside him once more as persephone, hades's free-spirited yet suffering wife. watching these two together is always a delight, and i cannot wait for their dynamic to shine through the characters that they play. as far as the winter production is concerned, the community's shared high hopes for padilla's return may very well turn out to be grounded in reality. with an all-star cast and an incredible crew, such as returning stage head erin dougal, it is easy to see that padilla knows what he's doing. though only time will tell, i am confident that this production will be a huge success, and very well may be my favorite show of the year - although, i must mention the other productions first - because they all have incredible potential.

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Genius is nothing other than the ability to retrieve childhood at will.

Charles Baudelaire

Is this all there is to art? A kind of solipsism? An inability to get past the egoism of infancy?

In Fellini’s masterpiece 8+1/2 the answer seems to lie with unraveling the mysterious phrase ‘Asa Miso Nasa’. Up front I will admit the film is not easy to follow as it doesn't really have a great plot and it does feel like episodic that gives it a disjointed look. But that doesn't mean there are no grand narratives underpinning it because there is.

The film, released in 1963, is about a movie director named Guido. His latest project has stalled before filming has even begun. Played by the incomparable Marcello Mastroianni, Guido is suffering from anxiety and creative block. It’s no wonder. He has sown chaos in his love life, and his creative indecision is producing near-mutinous levels of angst among actors, agents and crew. But all of this is mere surface tumult. Guido is haunted by something deeper. Something to do with . . . what? His parents, his childhood, the Catholic church? Feelings of shame and bliss? Death? All he has to answer his question is the phrase 'Asa Miso Nasa' to unlock answers but something he doesn't quite get.

In many ways ‘Asa Miso Nasa’ is a red herring, a sort of wild goose chase to nowhere. Like "Rosebud" in Orson Welles' Citizen Kane, or the madeleine in Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time, "Asa Nisi Masa" is a Hitchcockian ‘MacGuffin’ - a convenient object upon which the plot turns. In Fellini’s film it’s used as a gateway to crucial memories of the central character - even though it is itself peripheral to the central story.

Fellini’s answer is, I think, with his apprehension that the urge to make art is connected to a time in our lives when we were lifted and carried about, lowered into baths, tucked into bed; when we first used our lips to suck and to kiss; when we flapped our arms and kicked our legs; or when we danced without unrestrained joy. In other words, when we felt ourselves to be unique in our childhood.

Why should that be so? James Fenton, the great poet and critic, provided a plausible answer, even if he was writing about something else.

“Because,” wrote Fenton - and here comes the part that Guido, the anxious, grown-up filmmaker, must reckon with - “there follows the primal erasure, when we forget all those early experiences, and it is rather as if there is some mercy in this, since if we could remember the intensity of such pleasure it might spoil us for anything else. We forget what happened exactly, but we know that there was something, something to do with music and praise and everyone talking, something to do with flying through the air, something to do with dance.”

Something Fellini-esque, you might say.

Art is more than a pathetic desire to revert to childhood bliss. It’s true that the self-centredness of great artists - and by no means just male artists - is bound up with their desire to find again the treasure in the corner of the childhood bedroom, and the only sound is the children’s chant: “Asa Nisi Masa.” But what do all artists want if not to be understood.

But here we run into a problem. For all the attention artists seek, there is a kind of shame for them in being “understood.” Being “explained” is never more than an inch from being “explained away,” rendered redundant, losing the vital quality that makes one unique. Their egos can't handle that. So we can never judge beauty in art if we limit ourselves to just the life and meaning of an artist. If anyone ever says they don't like this art because of this artist was not nice or was abusive or held questionable beliefs then they are either illiterate fools or as shallow as the unfunny Hannah Gadsby is about Picasso.

There is much, much more to art, which, at its best, is always about transcending solipsism and reaching for beauty.

For Roger Scruton, the great philosopher of aesthetics, “Beauty is an ultimate value - something that we pursue for its own sake, and for the pursuit of which no further reason need be given. Beauty should therefore be compared to truth and goodness, one member of a trio of ultimate values which justify our rational inclinations,” Scruton developed a largely metaphysical aspect to understanding standards of art and beauty. For Scruton, the purpose of art is to save the sacred - the beautiful.

For Scruton, beauty is wrapped up in his view of the sacred. The sacred begins with the fundamental nature of man as an end, not merely a means - here childhood memories are a means not an end. Scruton then, is able to apply this concept of ends to beauty. The ability to place meaning on things is what gives man his sacredness and makes him an end unto himself. The sacred gives us a glimpse into eternity, and provides man with the cure to his temporal misery. In a manner almost Platonic, Scruton describes the sacred as pulling man out of the world of things and into the transcendental realm. It is an attempt not so much to find a glimpse of our childhood so much as to find Eden again, even if only in a finite temporal way, and to “prefigure our eternal home.”

Thus, it is this sacred nature of ends, not means, that Scruton puts forth in his understanding of beauty. In this Scruton echoes those philosophers of that past. Some like the Greek philosopher, Plotinus, beauty is seen as an ultimate value, pursued for its own sake, and the way in which the “divine unity makes itself known to the soul.”

Beauty is the glue that holds cultures together. It transcends individual places and ages. Light shining through stained glass in the Notre-Dame Cathedral, the face of Mary in Michelangelo’s La Pietà, a Bach orchestral suite, or a Frederico Fellini film (and none more so than the playful but sublime 8+1/2). Our experiences of these things connect us to the experiences of so many others over the decades and centuries since their creation. The beauty links us with a sense of profoundness and awe.

[doodle-pops]

Hey girl! 😁

How you’ve been?? I hope you are doing great and that things are easy.

I wanted to ask if you had any advice for writing Maedhros and a little bit of Namo as well? While I have my own thing going on I don’t think I like it and wanted to know if you have some tips and tricks.

With my love! ❤️🫂

Heyo! My life has recently been a tragedy as a series of unfortunate events (nothing severe, more comical) keep occurring to me. All my years of being accident-prone have caught up to me. I hope you’re doing better than me 👁👁🫵

Description & Dialogue:

But onto your question. Everyone has their view on a character's personality, and for both Maedhros and Námo, it seems pretty evident in the source material what their traits are.

Maedhros

Prideful & Tempered

Determined & Ambitious

Brave

Burdened

Compassionate/Caring

Intelligent

Enduring

Conflicted

Propriety-based

Family-oriented

LOYAL

Reserved

Námo

Authoritative

Solemn

Stern

Just

Omniscient

Detached & Reserved

Respectful

Wise

Mysterious & Enigmatic

Those are also the personality traits I tend to use when writing their character with the inclusion of them having a bit of humour, ie; their sense of humour. It is also important to remember that it’s fanfiction, so you have free will to alter their personalities a tad bit based on the genre and AU. At the same time, keep certain traits they are renowned for having.

Example: Maedhros being the son of Feanor enables him to have the classic Feanorian temper and pride. Furthermore, taking a look at his role during their exile, he becomes driven and feels burdened by the weight of the war. In any situation for Maedhros, we can assume that’s the qualities he’ll display for sure, not just in exile.

When writing, dialogue or describing an action is a great way to display their quality. For most people, dialogue tends to be easier than going through the trials of describing. It all depends on you the writer and the scene you’re setting. There are times when description is better than dialogue and vice versa because show and not tell. So, ensure the scene you’re creating focuses on whichever is your strong point.

Writing Tips:

I sometimes feel like I’m the wrong person to give writing tips when I write like a mad woman when inspiration hits me out of nowhere. So:

Create lots of headcanons to make writing scenes and personalities better, and then include them in the stories. Eg: Námo reacting to you falling into Middle Earth, Maedhros Meeting Modern Reader (Valinor or Beleriand), Námo adopting Reader…

Play around with the timelines and find which suits you more, which would give you more room to create, or source material. You can turn it into Canon Divergence, an AU or the 4th Age when everyone returns.

Write down dialogues and descriptions when they pop up and note the scene it would occur.

Make lots of drafts and edit over and over and over again until it’s to your standard.

Get yourself into a writing mood. Listen to music, watch a show/movie, or a cartoon, go for a walk and let your mind wander. It’s terrible writing a story or creating a plot on an empty brain.

Sometimes the original plot you had in mind for the fic doesn’t work out. That’s alright. Do a little more brainstorming, rewrite the storyline or lastly, alter the plot.

Let me know if you require any more assistance! 😊

[kurov1864]

Purson dating hcs!!

I love this lil guy fjdskhfkjds

Before we start, I just want to mention that this probably would not be 100% accurate because I think that Purson is just the cutest lil guy ever, and this would probably show in my writing :D

- Purson is... something

- Mysterious and cold at first, but once he starts talking he just won't stop. The first time you talked to him it caught you way off guard, causing you to laugh in his face (The gaap moe-)

- Yeahh, probably not the best first impression

- You guys got it sorted out, though you never stopped liking that cute trait of his

- Once you two started dating, Purson became a lot more comfortable talking around you

- He gets shy easily as well, so PDA is probably a no-go. Unless it's something like holding hands or occasional hugs, if you asked him for a kiss out in public, he would freeze up and then heat up like a supernova.

- Honestly, I think he would be the type to get shy in private as well? Definitely more relaxed than in public, but he's just not used to this dating stuff

- You love taking advantage of this, always teasing and flirting to see him get flustered

- I can see him being super supportive in his own way as well. Whenever you're feeling down, he would gently take your hand and lead you to some place quiet and isolated, cuddling up with you and patiently waiting to see if you feel like venting. If you don't, that's fine too. Just know that he'll always be with you, a silent yet comforting presence.

- Purson definitely has a mischievous streak though, and he would drag you along with some crazy pranks (Like sticking a post-it note on the back of Kalego-sensei, which although both of you got caught, it was so worth it to see his victory smile when he thought he'd succeeded). That doesn't mean that he wouldn't prank *you* though, so be prepared to get jump-scared every once in a while.

- Oh and you remember how I said he gets flustered easily? He's also not the type to back down easily.

- Then comes the competitions. You both would compete to see who can make the other person more flustered, all while blinding the misfits with cheesy love lines and annoying the ever-living heck out of Kalego.

- Personally, I feel that Purson's love language would be quality time

- You don't even have to be actively engaging with each other, just being in the same space, maybe with an arm or a leg over each other, doing your own separate thing and that would be enough to make him content

- This also means lots of little dates!! Picnic dates, music dates, movie dates, cooking dates, it really doesn't matter as long as he can spend some good one-on-one time with you, preferably alone without people.

- Don't forget that he's an aspiring musician. If you can also play an instrument? Perfect! You two would have duets all the damn time, despite the fact that Purson enjoys trumpeting at his own pace. Doesn't matter if your instrument usually doesn't pair well with the trumpet, you two will make it work, forming an unorthodox yet beautiful melody. If you can keep up with his ridiculously fast pace? That's even better. Now he can truly let himself go free, not that he minds slowing down for you.

- Oh, but don't worry if you can't play anything. Purson isn't as shallow as to not like you just because you can't do anything music-related. In fact, he might like it even more! Now he can surprise you with stupid cheesy love songs (yippee!)

- Sometimes you might need to comfort him about his insecurities and troubles though. We all know that Purson not only has social anxiety but also is self-conscious and sometimes conflicted. Whenever he starts to overthink about everything, ranging from how much he talks, to if he's making the right decision, choosing both music and family, to even if his wings are too small, you better be there to help him through it. Purson seems like the type to self-isolate, (a direct opposite to his love language if you didn't notice), so when he gets anxious and depressed pull him out of his loneliness and comfort him!!!

- Of course, you also need to identify when you can do that,,, since he also needs time to think. If you accidentally cross his boundaries one too many times without apologizing, you'll probably be given a stern talking to by the misfits (yes, including Iruma, as your brother and Purson's first friend he has a duty to guide both of you onto the right track). It'll take some time to track him down, and you might even have to end up talking to an empty room without any response but don't doubt that he hasn't heard your apology (And you better damn well apologise properly, not just a single sorry). Purson's just taking some time to think things over.

- When you reveal that you're human,,, that would really come as a shock to him. He'll contemplate it for a while, before ultimately deciding that it really doesn't change things between you and him. In retrospect, if he knew that humans existed, he probably would've connected the dots long ago. After all, he's really observant, and has already taken note of you and Iruma's shared quirks. (It just makes you all the more lovable in his eyes though)

- BUT, because of this, he'll definitely be rushed to do more research on humans. Stuff like customs, physiology, and once he finds out from Balam that humans are generally weaker than demons and you don't possess wings? You better buckle in for a lot of fussing and interrogating, because this man is going to (unintentionally) grill you for every single detail about humans. This is all so that he can ensure that he didn't and doesn't do something that would offend or hurt you in any way, and oh boy he would become way more protective of you around others. Your juniors want to speak to you? They can do it while he's by your side. You're participating in a sports/magic class? He'll be hovering nearby whenever possible, a protection spell on the tip of his tongue and his wings ready for takeoff.

-

Honestly, Purson is such a cutie.

[who-do-i-know-this-man]

Alright, looks like my dearest blorbo lost, so here's my long anticipated post mortem propaganda post for her and the 15 dollar game bundle that blew me away. For decency's sake, i'm sealing the meat of this post behind a read more, so as to not accidentally colour of the skies everyone who follows this tourney. (Or at least i'm going to try to. Tumblr is weird, and apologies if it does not work.)

One fateful day, I purchased the Bundle For Ukraine from itch.io. While I was initially put off by the seemingly bargain bin quality of most of the games, I ultimately decided it was worth it. I donated, got the games, and perused through them for anything eye catching. I found Celeste, Zeroranger, a couple of cute tools…

And a little game called Crosscode.

I was… intrigued. I'd saw this game once or twice before, and I was curious. Figuring that it couldn't hurt to try it, I downloaded the game and started it up.

Crosscode turned out to be a very good game.

And most of that was because of the main character:

Lea.

In summary, Crosscode is an action rpg game made by Radical Fish and released fully on pc in 2018, with console ports later. It follows the story of Lea, a woman who wakes up inside a futuristic MMO set on a moon in a distant galaxy, where players physically control avatars made out of a high tech substance known as Instant Matter (think hard light holograms, and that's pretty much it.), as she's guided by a programmer in order to recover her lost memories. I can go on and on about just how amazing the game is: how the plot takes a turn from "generic mmo isekai esque" to if someone decided to adapt one of the better black mirror episodes into an action rpg, how polished the combat and puzzles are, and how incredible the music is, but that's not what the main purpose of this tourney is. It's to tell you just how good of a character Lea is.

Lea is the main protagonist/player character, a rather shy woman with a real competitive spirit and a cheeky attitude, once she warms up to someone. A major part of her character is due to a major glitch in her avatar's voice module, she's mute (aside from a couple of hardcoded words her programmer friend could put in). "A silent protagonist?" you may ask me. "Like, a player avatar that is deliberately left without any strong characterisation as to allow nearly anyone to insert themselves into?" Nope! Instead of being a blank slate for projection, Lea expresses an incredible amount of character through simply inflection and facial expression.

This is only a PART of her spritesheet! Only a smidge, and i'm not even getting into the special sprites she has for certain story events.

Throughout the story, Lea has to tackle difficulties with not being able to communicate as well with players and NPCs, along with typical mmo difficulties, all while she unravels the dark mysteries of what's really going on behind the scenes of Crossworlds...

Despite her difficulties, she's always treated with respect by the game's narrative, which can be seen with the many interactions between her and the surrounding cast (all mainly expressed through her many sprites).

A few of my favourite moments of hers include:

Annoying her programmer friend:

Her reaction to her horns:

Her absolute freak out at being held by a five year old:

Her absolutely intending to get into more antics after a certain sidequest:

And if you need any more motivation to play this amazing game, here's the special reactions she gets when you turn on the New Game Plus cheat that gives you insane damage with every hit:

Yes, the devs made specific sprites just for when you play new game plus with a certain cheat.

Please, do yourself a favour and play Crosscode. It's like twenty bucks on steam without a sale. It's what Sword Art Online would be if it didn't completely suck. It's disability culture. It's the world's best single player MMO. It's a Black Mirror's White Christmas episode adapted into a video game.

And most of all... it has Lea.

Wow. Well unfortunately it seems that read more does not work in asks.

[amemenojaku]

quick write-up on Q by Diao Ye Zong after a full listen of the album + the bonus content

(spoilers: it's really good. buy it)

I've skipped some of DYZ's releases in the last few years like Shirushi/Mukui/Atsume out of lack of interest, so it's very possible that I missed a hidden gem, but anyway I think Q is their best recent work. It's as good as Hohuri or △ imo (and Hohuri is like. my favorite DYZ and favorite doujin music album overall so.)

Agatha ChrisQ suddenly and completely disappears, shrouded in as much mystery as when she started releasing novels. The narrator sets out in search of the truth through 6 of ChrisQ's unpublished murder mysteries, each a reflection of their writer's feelings.

Q is a seed // Q is an outcome - Waiting to germinate into fantasy // Imposing the results of your ego on all.

It is, of course, a must-listen (or must-experience, rather, since it's not limited to music) for any Akyuu fan, but I'd also recommend it to fans of DiPP, Umineko specifically but mystery novels in general, and interactive fiction (there's branching endings). Oh and yuri. Akyuu/Kosuzu has been a fairly recurring pair in DYZ works (I can think of at least 5 songs off the top of my head, that's recurring to me lol) and this is no exception.

The album is gorgeous, jewel case and booklet and everything, all B&W with beautiful arabesques and elegant lettering and the occasional lines written in red. Hanadahyou's art is even more gorgeous than usual in the lyrics booklet (and if you've ever looked at a DYZ album you know the booklet is part of the experience)!! I love the small detail of the page with Akyuu's portrait, not the one with ChrisQ's, touching the page with the picture of Kosuzu and Akyuu as children...

The tracks are very good, pleasant to listen to from beginning to end (in my case there's just one I have a problem with because of the singer's voice... T_T lol). If I had to pick just one it'd be the Kosuzu song, Imaginary Friend (spoilers in the translator's notes), obviously everything in it makes me want to cry and scream and bash my head into a wall but ESPECIALLY the line where 'it was love at first sight' and 'I set upon you all my fantasies' are both said at the same time in the most beautiful wordplay I've seen in a while.. I also really like the Hieda servants' song (Murasaki Hotaru's voice <3) and the Reimu song is super fun (there is no way Reimu holding a knife next to Marisa's body in the booklet art isn't a nod to the reimari songs from Hohuri - and with the Birlstone Gambit theory referenced in the song itself, well...). But even then all the other tracks are interesting too. Very solid album.

And then there's the secret bonus content. I will only say that I love both choices very much but Imaginary Friend -> My Beloved Q did permanent damage to my heart <3 <3 <3 (suffering

ANYWAY, if any of this sounded intriguing to you then Q is absolutely worth the money! So go support the artists!! The regular version without the secret content will probably end up for free on spotify at some point (edit: it is now, including the last two secret tracks), but in my humble opinion it's one of those DYZ albums that are 1000% better if experienced with a real hardcopy of the CD because of how high-quality the product is, the gorgeous art, the bonus content etc... Personally I am never getting rid of my copy it's just SO beautiful.

[nickssidewitch]

What do you think is Matt and Chris's type based on their charts?

Good question! They all have very similar charts since they’re triplets! Every placement is important to take note of when it comes to love and relationships, since you usually give your all in a relationship. The planets I magnify the most, however, are their Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Mars. I look at the 7th house when it comes to partnerships as well. I could look at their asteroid placements, but I’m not super confident about their birth times.

These are their placements in those planets & houses:

Moon: Virgo

Mercury: Virgo

Venus: Leo

Mars: Pisces

7th house ≈ Aries (could be one up or down since I’m not quite sure of all of their times of birth)

They would do well with someone with Virgo, Gemini, Pisces, Aquarius, and Leo placements, or at least placements that can reflect the qualities of those signs. They would want a “ride or die”: someone who will support them through anything good, bad, or ugly. They would want someone who can put them on a pedestal in a way (praise-kink maybe?). I feel that they do have specific types appearance-wise, but I can’t know about that and will also not be sharing those details anyway because that’s super invasive and not for anyone to really know without their permission.

They also like someone who’s a bit mysterious. Someone who you constantly have to converse with in order to learn something new about them every day. It intrigues them to know that this is someone who isn’t a super open book when it comes to personal details.

They want someone who can keep up with their banter and who they can hold seamless conversations with. This can also hold true when it comes to conversations of their emotions, as they really need to trust you to communicate those with you. They can get deep about their feelings, however they really have to trust you and you have to promise not to judge them or betray them. They have a tendency to bottle things up inside, so being with someone who seems receptive to hearing them out would be helpful to them.

They would hate being with someone who pushes them too hard in an argument. They’re truly not argumentative people, so if they’re pushed too hard to react all the time, everything will bubble up inside of them and then they might spill out everything explosively, and that argument can really be hurtful and won’t help the relationship move forward. And if you’re the type to want them to “yell more” or “stand their ground more”, they’ll immediately be disgusted by that. They’re natural pacifists who would much rather use logic and patience to diffuse a situation because they know that if they don’t think things through, they would explode. They are the type to rather daydream about how an argument could go than actually go through with those thoughts unless they are pushed to do so. They’d rather be with someone who can sit down and talk them through conflict , patiently hearing their side, and vice versa. They’re not the type to necessarily solve the problems and conflicts immediately, so they’re attracted to people who can solve problems and conflicts with ease.

They love someone who can appreciate art. I truly have a feeling that music is one of their love languages, so someone sharing their favorite songs at the time can really be a turn-on for them. Liking the same type of music or even putting them onto newer artists they know they would like is also attractive. They would love to go to museums, movies, plays, or things of that nature to really appreciate the beauties of their world, and to learn what the other person values and finds beautiful as well. If they’re religious or spiritual, they would be attracted to someone who has the same religion or spiritual perspective as them. That doesn’t mean they’re not open to new ideals, they would just feel so comfortable with someone who shares those perspectives with them. They want to have those late-night conversations with someone who can really understand what they’re talking about, and who they can build their ideas off of and vice versa.

✨ All in all, they love someone who is:

a pacifist

logical and problem-solving

patient with them

witty

open about emotions and conflicts

allows them to be open

not afraid to praise them

independent and allows them their own independence

Same/Similar spiritual values

Please let me know if you have any more questions! ✨🤍

[plscallmeeren]

H A P P Y A N N I V E R S A R Y

Loki Laufeyson / Odinson x Reader

Request: None I just had this lying around from ages ago

Summary: Loki is thoroughly fed up with his birth family and comes to you (his witchy spouse) for comfort

Warnings: none

Word Count: 900+

You shuffled around the kitchen, deep in thought, unaware that you were humming a soft tune. You hung yet another bunch of thyme to one of the hooks by the window to dry, taking in its scent for a moment.

Today had been a day of tireless planning and you found comfort in the familiar cooking up of a magical brew.

It was nearing Loki and your fifth anniversary and while he might as well have forgotten, (he had a mysterious principle concerning 'anniversaries are no more special than any other night of courtship',) you were determined to make it your best one yet.

The two of you were both quite the romantics and appreciated the quality in one another greatly, although your shared evenings often had to be spent hidden from prying eyes. You were not the kind of witch Freya was, and as supportive as your husband's mother was of your marriage, Odin - and with him the entire kingdom, apparently - was not.

Therefore, it had been a significant struggle to shape plans that for once didn't take place in an abandoned field or a faraway forest - not that those wouldn't forever be your favourite nights.

But you had a plan now that ought to work. A stunning golden ring, a homemade dinner, a fancy bar with trusted workers, a ballroom reserved just for the two of you with a magical source of music... Yes, it would do just fine.

Tearing you from your thoughts you heard rapid knocking that you assumed stemmed from Loki. Not many even knew the whereabouts of your expertly hidden cottage.

Quickly drying off your hands, you hurried to the door, soothingly calling out: "I'm coming, love. Just a moment."

You fingered the unusual door handle for a few moments before the door swung open, but your cheery smile was met with a menacing scowl.

"What's wrong, my beloved?" you spoke softly, closing the door behind him and then taking his face in your hands. "What has that damned father of yours dared this time?"

A moment's silence, in which he led you to the kitchen, slumping into a chair so that you sat across from him.

"I can't believe him!" he said suddenly, taking you momentarily off guard. "And Thor could have stood up for me, too, you know. But he's just a bloody oath, isn't he? Couldn't say a word against his father. Not until he has the crown, at least."

You laid a gentle hand on his knee, tilting your head so that he might continue.

"It's... That- That man spent minutes listing all the reasons I couldn't have claimed the throne even if my brother couldn't take it before me. I wasn't even speaking of it! I get the feeling he brings it up as often as possible just so that he can humiliate me concerning that topic again and again.

'He said- Oh, so, you see, apparently I'm incompetent, weak, do not know the line where negotiation must end so that war can ensue... and much more, of course. And to top it all off, he said I was unfit for the throne simply because at times I may think and be as a woman might. What reason is that? As if my mother couldn't rule infinitely better than him, not to mention you, or even Sif. He has no right!"

You could see the tears collecting in Loki's eyes so you stood to firmly wrap your arms around him.

"It's not right," he murmured against the fabric of your shirt.

"No, my love, it's not." You glanced back at the kitchen, quickly rethinking your plans. "Let's stay in tonight. I made dinner."

You couldn't completely dispel the tinge of disappointment you felt from all the work that had flourished into planning, but it didn't matter. Whatever he needed.

"Thank you," he said absently, staring through the window. "Do you agree? Is Thor truly that much better? Would you rather have taken-"

You cut him off before he could finish: "No, of course not. I love Thor like my own brother, but he is not clever or witty or handsome like you... neither can he recite poetry or negotiate with a wild bandit as well as he could defeat them. That's all you, darling."

He stared up at you from where he sat, still teary-eyed and nearly awe-struck. "Thank you," he said again, but this time it was barely a whisper.

"I need you to understand that for any fault you may have, I would take you over any other in this world or the next. Do you? Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"And even if you were not fit to be king, which I do not believe, you would be a better one than your father, and you will find yourself talented enough to do anything you set your mind on. All of it."

His hand reached up, cupping your jaw as he smiled, pulling you down gently so that your lips brushed against one another.

"Happy anniversary, love," he breathed.

"Thank you," you answered.

[therosefrontier]

TWST Family Lore: Heartslabyul Part 2

Continued from Heartslabyul part 1, because I forgot doing the whole dorm at once would make this huge... Again, spoiler warning for JP server content! But there isn't anything too story-specific for the events here.

Cater Diamond

And now, following our freshmen duo and their positive relationship with their families, we get to move on to Cater! Whose relationship with them is, uh, mixed at best? Anyways, we have mention of his father and mother, and he has two older sisters of unknown exact age, as well. His father is a banker for a large company, and we learn that because of his job, the family moved frequently, about once every two years, to branches all around the world (Halloween vignette). Cater's homeland is stated in his profile to be the Shaftlands, so that's probably where his family is from and it might be where they are living currently, but he seems to have lived in other countries, as well. This alone appears to have had a negative impact on Cater…with him moving so often, he felt that he was never able to make meaningful connections with anyone, so he stopped trying, instead going for quantity over quality. We also get a little story in Silver's Halloween vignette, when he remembers finally meeting a friend at school only to find out right afterwards that they were going to be moving in a month. He mentions in his birthday boy vignette as well that he "never knew" when they were going to move again, and given the one-month thing, it seems normal that it was on pretty short notice. He talks about this impact on him to his Pop Music clubmates in his Halloween vignette, saying that he met many people from around the world, but the common thread was that "I would always leave, and they would always stay."

(image credit: NightCrow)

Cater talks about his situation in a positive light, saying that it was better that he had all these connections through Magicam and could just socialize casually, on his own terms, but at the end of the vignette, the story goes a little different. Cater watches Lilia have a very family-like moment with the rest of the Diasomnia crew and feels a sense of isolation and maybe jealousy...earlier, Lilia told him he was wise for acting as he did, but Cater sees this and feels that Lilia cannot know the way he feels, because he does have these kinds of bonds, which Cater thinks he can never truly have.

But Cater's relationship with loneliness is, again, is a whole essay in itself! Back to Cater's family!

He talks some about his sisters in his birthday boy vignette, in which he describes how he felt pressed in between the two of them (seemed described a little differently in official vs. fan translations? As the official has him saying "give a guy some space" whereas the original may have been more along the lines of 'squished between them', to reference Mystery Shop), and also, how they'd give him a bunch of "cute" things as a birthday present which was more on lines of what they liked than what he liked. But, he does say that they're better about it now and will actually ask him what he wants. He also assures they didn't mean anything by it.

(translation by Otome Ayui!)

But of course, there's more! Multiple other mentions of his sisters seem to involve them asking him to do stuff...

Will do things like go shopping and leave him with the bags, or get a random craving for ice cream and ask him to go get it (birthday jacket vignette). Cater says they can be "pretty demanding," but he amends this story by saying that they will also treat him to stuff while they're out, like pocket money, food, or clothes.

Asked him for a Scalding Sands body scrub that had been "all over Magicam" since he was there for Fireworks Fest (Silk Adorned voicelines)

Cater would cook for them, making pancakes from a store-bought mix (although this might not have been a request; he could have just wanted to) (Apprentice Chef vignette)

At the start of book 4 (chapter 3), when everyone is going home for winter break, Cater says that "going home is kind of a drag for me, too," talking of how he knows his sisters will "run me ragged," so he makes a weak bid to go to Trey's house instead. When Trey lightheartedly counters that his family would put him to work too, Cater backs out of the idea.

Cater's not wanting to go home slides its way in a couple of other mentions, too... in his dorm uniform voicelines, he asks the MC if they're homesick and gets the question thrown back at him, to which he says that he isn't, citing his "annoying" older sisters as the cause. In slight contrast, in his New Year's voicelines, he says that it’s “not too bad to work during the holiday seasons once in a while” because “sure, it’s fun to go back home, but it eventually gets boring.” So this time, it's just 'boring' and not a family issue, but honestly, with Cater, the shifting story doesn't feel out of place. And definitely, it's up for interpretation...he doesn't seem to hate his sisters, but he doesn't really want to be with them, either.

Now, back to the birthday boy vignette! We get another little story, the reason why Cater doesn't like sweets so much: his mother and older sisters got really into making homemade sweets all the time, and they would feed them to him until he was sick of them. Even if he didn't want any, he felt like he had to eat it because they'd be sad if he didn't.

And then, there's his lab vignette... Cater describes the relationship his family as a whole has with "cute" things: “in the Diamond household, everything's judged by one simple question: ‘But is it cute?’ Day in and day out, no matter what I did, if it wasn't cute, it didn't cut the mustard! Drawings, handicrafts, store-bought sweets, you name it!” And thus, the instinct to make it cute was "burned" into Cater's brain.

So, you could say that "trendiness" runs in the family. But also, this does...raise some questions, I'd think? Again, it really is up for interpretation, but Cater specifically saying "no matter what I did" seems to suggest that he felt like the stuff he bought and things he did, including his own drawings and crafts, would be dismissed if they weren't "cute." Like the reason the instinct is burned into him is because that's what he had to do to earn attention. It also feels a little telling that this is the Cater-tries-to-hide-his-sadness vignette, in which one of the mandrakes he grows in the lab, which are supposed to reflect on the mage growing them, turns out gloomy, and he tries hard to deny that this means anything. But as for what all this says about his relationship to his family...I'd guess that perhaps, he feels a little invisible with them. It's not like he doesn't care about them, or that they don't care about him, necessarily (neglect but not on purpose?), but he doesn't seem to feel like his own wants are ever really seen, and the disconnect is to the point that home is not really a place he wants to be. Maybe, one day, he'll open up more about this, but with Cater, I don't think it'll come easy. But who knows...

TREY CLOVER

And now, Trey's family! He lives with his father and mother, and he has two younger siblings, a sister and brother. His sister is four years younger than him (platinum vignette), but we don't now how old his brother is. His parents run a patisserie bearing their name: Clover Patisserie. They are bakers, and likewise, Trey grew up learning how to cook from them, and in his apprentice chef vignette, he seems to imply that his siblings know their way around the kitchen, too. Also, we do have canon[?] designs for Trey's parents! We get art in the appendix of the last volume of the Heartslabyul manga:

(thanks to Honeyworks on Twitter for the image!)

The illustration is credited to Yana Toboso, whose notes, as run through Google Translate (I do not know Japanese...), describes Trey's mom as an "active woman with short cut, tall" and his dad as having "mild droopy eyes." In this appendix, we also get ages for Trey, Chenya, and Riddle at the time of the incident (that is, the big backstory as seen in book 1 of Trey inviting Riddle to try a tart at the patisserie but then they lose track of time and Riddle gets caught...that whole thing...). Trey is almost ten, Chenya is nine, and Riddle is eight, which seems to suggest that this happened in fall, in between Trey and Riddle's birthdays (Riddle on 8/24 and Trey on 10/25). Trey describes the event in more detail in his dorm vignette: he says that Riddle's mom "stormed" into his house and lectured his "whole entire family for five hours straight." (which is an insane amount of time...how did she come up with that many things to say!?) Also, to clarify, there seems to be a serious translation discrepancy with this? Because in the official English Trey says that it was his parents who lectured him for that time, but that doesn't even make sense in context... The quote I used is pulled from Mystery Shop's translation, and YuuRei has a good post on this, too. Anyways, the scene is also referenced in chapter 17 of the manga with Trey's flashback:

Which is...quite devastating, but anyways! As far as I can see, we don't really have much indication of what Trey's parents felt about all of this, but in the manga at least, they appear to be pretty stressed...maybe even cowed by Rosehearts's laying into them like that, and who can blame them?

But, moving aside to happier times! Continuing with Trey's parents, we get a little mention of what they were like as teachers through his apprentice chef vignette. Trey is doing the Culinary Crucible to better learn how to teach cooking to his dormmates, and he comes to a realization: his parents would watch him cook, but sometimes, they wouldn't correct him when he did something wrong until after he failed, because that way, through failure, he would remember, and he would learn. That was what Trey was not doing with his dormmates: he would always step in to fix things rather than let them have that experience.

Trey also talks of his really beginning cooking days in his platinum vignette: when he was four, he helped his parents bake a fairy cake after his sister was born, which they ate with family and neighbors, that being a Queendom of Roses tradition. Trey says that looking back at the pictures, the cake was pretty terrible, but he was excited about helping and thought the cake tasted great at the time, and all the adults complimented him on it, too. After that day, he would join his parents in the kitchen to help bake cakes, although he said he really just made a mess of flour and probably was a "huge bother" for his parents. That said, from the sounds of it, it seems implied that they were pretty patient with him, though?

Trey gives a different food-related story in his birthday boy vignette: his favorite food is candied violets, and he had one for the first time when he was "really young," before he started elementary school. He was amazed at the idea of flowers being edible, and his parents tell him that he "drove them nuts" via repeatedly trying to eat random flowers and weeds after that. Trey has no memory of this. But he does remember snacking on violets at home that were meant for cakes and his parents getting on his case about it. Eventually, they started setting some aside from him, and now, they send some to him at school in the occasional care package.

(image credit: NightCrow)

Trey also mentions his parents in one of his Silk Adorned card voicelines, saying that they love trying out new ingredients, and that perhaps, they should take a family trip to the Scalding Sands one day. Also, in both his birthday jacket vignette and his outdoor wear voicelines, he mentions that he's gone on camping trips with his family before, during summer vacation.

In Trey's Halloween vignette, we get a little story involving all of his family: he once tried half-rimmed glasses similar to the shape Azul wears, to mixed results. His mother and little sister said that they didn't like the glasses because they made him look "angry," and his dad and little brother said that he looked cool in them... because the glasses made him look like a "movie villain." Therefore, Trey rejected the glasses. He has also considered getting contacts, but similarly, his sister says he looks "sinister" without them.

(image credit: Songstress Studios)

Trey has several mentions of his siblings: they seem to have spent a lot of time together growing up, although also, it seems Trey did a lot of looking after them and taking care of them, too.

It was Trey's "job" to make sure his younger siblings brushed their teeth properly, as them being exposed to sweets so much via the patisserie made it a necessity (school uniform vignette)

Trey would make his siblings' costumes for Halloween. He says he's "not great" at it, but he can sew basic things (Halloween voicelines)

Trey would bake his siblings' cakes for their birthdays (birthday boy voicelines). He also mentions in Ace's school uniform vignette that his siblings would often "pester" him to bake for them, and he says in his birthday boy vignette that he would usually cook dinners for the family back at home, since his parents were busy with the patisserie. His brother and sister would ask for his hamburger steak all the time.

Trey helps his siblings with their homework when he's home (Winter Break Calendar 2023)

Trey and his siblings would often play with fireworks together (Silk Adorned vignette)

Once, Trey took his little brother to a Spelldrive game to fulfill his Starsending wish (Starsending voicelines)

In one of his labwear voicelines, Trey says "you all remind me of my younger siblings. They're always running around and giving me a hard time.” So, it does seem that they certainly tire him out. Again, going back to book 4, chapter 3, as mentioned in Cater's part, Trey responds to Cater's request by saying he's welcome to come to his house, but his family would run him "just as ragged." (but, if he was serious about that, that would suggest that Trey knew that his parents wouldn't mind Cater coming over!) It appears that, with the patisserie family business, it can be an 'all hands on deck' kind of affair, with Trey at least helping out with running things. There's also a little mention in Ace's school uniform vignette, in which Trey says that he's used to carrying heavy things because of shopping for ingredients for the patisserie.

Which is all rather interesting to me, really… both Trey and Cater describe their family as 'running them ragged' in some way and relying on them to do stuff, but with very different tones. For Trey, the 'older brother' instincts are so ingrained in him that he doesn't seem to think twice about it much of the time, such as we see in his school uniform vignette, in which he acts on those same instincts with his peers, Ace and Deuce, in insuring that their teeth are clean, and Deuce notes that he has that "kind older brother" vibe and has a "knack for looking after everyone." Which is interesting in that Trey doesn't really seem to be trying to volunteer for everything, and he certainly isn't trying to stand out, but he will take on everything in pursuit of keeping this ship running smoothly, all the same.

That said, he does seem to have a very positive relationship with his family! Although their busy lives might have led to a bit of a he-raised-his-siblings kind of dynamic. Trey seems to be usually very relaxed when talking about them, thinking back on the stories with a kind of fondness. We don't quite have too much to go on yet when it comes to actually deducing the personalities of his siblings as individuals, but from the general mentions, they do seem quite energetic, for sure! And perhaps, much like so much of the Heartslabyul dorm, will instinctively rely on Trey without a second thought...

RIDDLE ROSEHEARTS

And now, last on the Heartslabyul roster...Riddle. The ever-infamous family of Riddle. A lot of what we know comes from Book 1 of the main story: he's an only child, and both of his parents are medical mages—famous ones, too. Trey says that where they're from, everyone knew their names. Riddle's father is mentioned, but we hear little of his involvement in Riddle's life—the main player on this stage is his mother, who rigorously trained Riddle up to follow in her steps.

In chapter 18 of book 1, Trey first describes what it was like for Riddle: his mother mapped out his schedule to the minute, "from the moment Riddle woke up to when his head hit the pillow at the end of the night," and in the flashback sequence in chapter 25, Riddle describes it in much the same way: "my day was planned, down to the minute." Riddle's mom tailor-made an education program for him and appears to have implemented it herself, and Riddle, in an effort to please his parents, followed every rule they made. He became a prodigy, mastering his signature spell by age ten.

Riddle's mom was very strict with his diet, as well—she kept to very healthy foods, limited Riddle to under 600 calories per meal, and absconded sugar entirely. And thus comes the point of conflict...in the story, Riddle, who was eight at the time, was invited by Trey and Chenya to come outside to play during his one hour of independent study time (in which he was supposed to be studying alone in his room), and then, he started playing with them in secret every day, and it became his favorite part of his day. Then, one day, Trey invites Riddle to try a tart at the patisserie, and they lose track of time...and then, Riddle's mother finds him. She was furious, both at his skipping independent study time and his eating a "mountain of sugar." And then, as mentioned in Trey's section, she goes on to lecture Trey's family for five whole hours.

In this scene with Riddle and his mom, Riddle tries hard to apologize, but she cuts him off, telling him to be quiet, and then forbidding him with playing with Trey and Chenya ever again, and also taking away his independent study time in favor of keeping closer watch on him. In Trey's dorm uniform vignette, he describes Riddle's mom as being "impossible to deal with once she flew off the handle." And so, Riddle was left to just strive to follow the rules she set down, believing that she must be right, for "she was the most accomplished mother in the city, and therefore, the most correct," and he didn't want to lose anything, not again... He also quotes her in chapter 22, saying that "a man who cannot follow rules is a man who cannot achieve anything."

In book 4, chapter 3, we see that Riddle is feeling some dread over going back home for the winter break, but he also does resolve to try to talk to his mother, not that he's confident she will listen. We don't have any mention of how that talk actually went.

Interestingly enough, we don't seem to have that many mentions from Riddle about his family outside of the main story in his voicelines and vignettes, compared to some of the others. He does talk some about his upbringing in his birthday boy vignette: his parents both raised him to take up the mantle and be a medical mage like them one day, which he describes as being a "highly demanding profession." He said that they would tell him over and over "When you grow up, you'll be just like us, Riddle!" Before NRC, Riddle never questioned this path for him, but now, he says that he has developed some interest in law, so he may actually pursue that instead.

In one of his suitor suit voicelines, Riddle mentions that wearing this makes him think of the parties he used to attend with his parents. He also gives a mention in his halloween vignette that his mother taught him social dancing, so it seems like the three of them did go to formal social functions from time to time.

He also mentions his parents in another suitor suit voiceline, talking about how he reads that the Queen of Hearts had an amicable marriage, and he wishes he could share that secret to his parents, which would suggest that their marriage is not doing that great, actually.

Anyhow, social functions aside, it seems like Riddle probably has not had any "real" vacations with his family, or just fun gatherings/outings in general. In one of his Masquerade voicelines, he says "I'm not very accustomed to festivals...especially not ones in other countries. It's difficult to know how to participate and have fun.” And this comes up a lot, it seems, in the 'Lost in the Book' Stitch event, where Riddle is quite unfamiliar with the concept of a vacation at the beach. In one of his beachwear voicelines, he says “Having dinner with everyone while gazing at a sunset on the beach like this… This must be what it means to go on vacation. This is the first time I’ve experienced anything like this.” (Mystery Shop's translation)

In book 6, we get another brief mention of Riddle's mother: upon being invited by Ortho and Idia to play video games to pass the time, Riddle says that his mother told him that video games are "addictive and can hurt academic performance." They had neither a gaming console nor a TV at home. Riddle hasn't read much, if any, fiction aside from classic literature either, from the looks of it. It comes up in the second Halloween event, Spectral Soiree: Ruggie and Ortho, whom Riddle is traveling with, get excited over the prospect of this being like a treasure hunt, with so many tropes coming to life, and they quickly find out that Riddle is wholly unfamiliar with what they are talking about. He says that he has "no exposure" to comic books and video games like the rest of them.

He then goes on to say that he is missing out on absolutely nothing, has read many things, and was reading medical dictionaries by the time he was "Ortho's age." Whether that Ortho's real or perceived age is unclear, as literally, he might be about six? I think Idia finished building him when he was twelve? But Riddle may not know that—obviously, Ortho being what he is gives him a great kickstart in mental development, besides being given memories of the original Ortho, so as far as perceived age goes, he's akin to the freshmen. But saying all that to say! I also wouldn't be surprised if Riddle really was being handed a medical dictionary at age six, honestly.

So, in a general sense, you could conclude that Riddle has a great unfamiliarity with the concept of "fun," which gives a bit of a picture as to his parents and his mother specifically. It was as if everything had to have some sense of necessity; it wasn't enough for something to just be enjoyable. Riddle was put to a strict standard of performance, and in turn, he expects the same of others, in a way he seems to have to take some effort to unlearn. In his dorm vignette, for instance, we see him helping Cater, who was struggling in his practical magic class, with his studying. At first, he makes this insanely long study guide (300 pages), and he gets annoyed when Cater says that this is far too much for him to read, because this is exactly what he is used to doing, thinking that if you don't want to do something, you should just force yourself to (which I imagine is the philosophy his own childhood education took). But then, after a talk with Trey, he realizes that he can't expect everyone to learn like he does, so instead, he makes a plan to teach Cater through pictures and Magicam hashtags so that he could remember them, and it works! And then he goes right back to giving Cater a bunch of textbooks at the end, but hey, it's a start :)

That said, Riddle's development is easily a whole essay on its own! The takeaway here with his parents is that both of them put a lot of expectations on him and are probably very success-driven themselves. In a way, it 'worked' for them, because they are very successful and famous, but their general happiness may be another story. Again, we get little of Riddle's dad specifically except that his relationship with his mom is not great, but with his mom, we get the impression that she is just...very high-strung and obsessive? Her rigorous training of Riddle goes beyond just wanting him to have a good education—she obsesses over his progress in a way that seems to invoke that if anything goes in a way other than what she envisions, Riddle would be hopelessly failed. It's "care" in the worst kind of way... I think that she really does believe that everything she does is for him and his wellbeing, but doing things like that, it becomes a whole lot about herself too, I'd think. Riddle is an extension of her, and therefore, he must be perfect. We know little of what she is like outside of her relationship with Riddle, but it doesn't seem hard to believe that she would have some measure of that strictness and my-way-is-the-only-way attitude with everyone else in her life, although it may be comparatively muted, as it is with some people who will treat their children with a special kind of possessiveness, even if only subconsciously. I do wonder if anyone else ever got the equivalent of the five-hour tirade she gave to the Clover family, but of course, that's all speculation. The silver lining is that it didn't work for Riddle like she wanted it to...he's still his own person, and after he finally came to the point of admitting, at the end of book 1, that he was wrong, and that by extension, the things his mother did to him were wrong (although not so outright), he has become in a better position to grow and move on, although unfortunately, he still has to go back home at the end of the day, and his mom has not changed. It could be a difficult road for a long time yet... but still, I like to think that Riddle is on a better path now, and that, if he ever does become a parent one day, he'll be a better one than his own parents were.

[rainbowsky]

Hiiiiii. I'm here again!💛 My question is: what are your top 3 solo dance performance of Web?

Mine includes his recent interpretative dance of Like the Sunshine, opening dance during SDOC4, and the classic Versace on the Floor, duh! 😘

You're anonymous so I have no idea who you are, but hello! Nice to see you! 😊

I absolutely love this question, thanks so much for asking it! DD's dance performances are always exciting, and something I eagerly anticipate - probably more than anything else from him!!

#1 Like the Sunshine

There can be no other winner. Truly the most memorable performance he's ever given. So special on every level. Even though I've been unable to watch it since January (long story that I talk about in my post* about the song, which is still in drafts), I think about it a lot. Exceptional, beautiful, powerful.

*Sorry to bring up a mystery post, it WILL be published eventually!

#2 SDOC3 Captain Dance & Rehearsal

I loved this practice version because we got to see DD dancing out of costume, and he looks so fucking amazing (he really can rock a tight-cuffed pant, windbreaker and ball cap like no other). This clip holds a special place in my heart. I love watching his practices. DD in his own clothing, just being DD, being a great dancer.

Both the practice and the live performances show DD's strong skill, professionalism, and talent. (DD's starts at 12:40).

After the captains' opening performances the dancers all voted with their towels to choose the best one. DD ended up getting the fewest votes of all the captains.

If you rewatch the performances you can see that other performances weren't nearly as intricate, coordinated or frankly 'cool' as DD's, but we got to see these performances from a very different vantage than the dancers, so I'll cut them some slack for being so blind. There were even some comments after the fact, that they couldn't see the complexity of it from where they were sitting.

It's crazy to me to think that he ended up in the bottom from this, and he even made a statement about hoping to improve. 🥺

This dance was so good, he performed it so well. It really shows that perspective is everything.

#3 VOTF

It feels like this performance wasn't meant for our eyes (😅), but I love it anyway. For all the same reasons everyone else does. It's just so smouldering and sexy, and he looks godly here.

My CPN post about the performance can be found here.

Special Mention: YH Practice Clip

This practice dance has to be mentioned because it's been a favorite of mine for years. Not just because he looks so stellar in it, but also because more than a lot of other videos out there, this one really shows DD's exceptional gift for dance.

If you watch the presence/power of his performance vs the two dancers behind him, you can really see how much he stands out - how much star power he has just based on his overall demeanour. He has such beautiful lines, precision, musicality and quality of movement. He hits every beat and every step effortlessly, while giving so much swagger and fluidity. His transitions are unbelievable - so smooth and so strong. It's mesmerizing to watch.

It's crazy to think it's only 1 MINUTE of dance. It feels like an entire epic story of movement.

The same is also true with the Swalla video that is popular among fans. Same thing. You can really see DD's talent in these clips. I fervently wish he'd release more of these, although I understand it's not likely to happen again. It would be a feast for me if he did.