#it's also so weird because they were from right at the beginning of 2020

[true-bluesargent]

girl accidentally reads some of her diary entries from when she was 17 and can only distantly remember being that person 636 dead 3727 injured

[welcometothejianghu]

Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 重啟之極海聽雷/Reunion: The Sound of the Providence/The Lost Tomb Reboot/this thing has too many names

Reunion (I'm just going to call it that) is a 2020 action drama about the most specialest little babygirl in the tomb-raiding world, his two husbands, and the cadre of assorted weirdos they pick up as they try to follow a set of directions left by a dead (?) man in the thunder.

Imagine if someone showed you the Mandalorian, and you were like, gee, that was a neat little sci-fi one-shot! because you'd never heard of Star Wars. That was basically my experience watching this show, having no idea that the Lost Tomb franchise (DMBJ) was even a thing. Turns out that not only is there a whole big continuity out there with these characters, but that Reunion takes place a few years after the main story's resolution. Don't worry, though -- Reunion doesn't spoil you for that resolution. It doesn't spoil you for much, period. Look, DMBJ has a weird relationship to endings, okay?

I have written a more thorough where-to-start guide for DMBJ as a whole, so if you want to consider other entry points, well, that information is there for your consideration. Yet it is my opinion that this is the best entry into the overall franchise, and a fun thing to watch just in general, and I'm here to make my case for both of those.

The rest of this rec will assume that you have no familiarity with the DMBJ series. That's okay; you don't need any. All you need is to trust my five reasons you should watch this.

1. Old Man Yaoi

As you begin this show, you are introduced to the Iron Triangle. That's them in the picture up there. Left to right, you have: Xiao Ge, magically tattooed immortal hottie who just got back from ten years in [scene missing]; Wu Xie, our protagonist, who's just a little guy and it's his birthday; and Wang Pangzi, the literal best.

(And yes, Wu Xie is in his 30s and Pangzi is in his 40s, which is not technically old man anything, but ... look, if you watch, you'll see why I think I'm justified in calling it that.)

They are extremely married. They are a disaster trio of disasters so disastrous that no one else should ever be subjected to their chaos. They're going to make sure lots of people are, though, don't you worry about it. Sometimes those people even deserve it.

However, because the show (tragically!!) decides that Xiao Ge has somewhere else to be like 95% of the runtime, most of the relationship you get to see is between Wu Xie and Pangzi.

I'm saying this now as an old gay nerd who just this year celebrated her 15th wedding anniversary: I have never, never felt so represented in media as I have watching Wu Xie and Pangzi interact. There's a little wake-up song they sing together near the end of the show, and it just ... it packs so much character development into thirty seconds. These boys have been living adjacent lives for so long that they've made up their own little shared songs about the mundanities of daily living. That is just what happens when you marry your best friend and then decide to get old and weird together. Ask me how I know.

Look, if you want to know whether this show is for you or not, watch to the end of the first episode, to the part where Pangzi flips over the table. If your heart is filled with joy (as it should be), keep going.

Love makes a tomb-raiding syndicate family.

2. A fun-filled action-packed romp of nonsense!

If you're familiar with Hellblazer canon, this will make sense to you: Reunion is Dangerous Habits. If you're not familiar with Hellblazer canon, try it like this: Reunion is a terrible place to start because it plays on your extant affection for a character who gains a terrible status effect almost immediately. It's a also great place to start because it throws you right in the action with measurably high stakes and gives you a reason to build that affection very quickly.

I'm also going to warn you right off the bat: The plot of this show got cut to ribbons by censors.

See, the DMBJ books, being books, are allowed to get away with supernatural shit! So you've got zombies and ghosts and curses and monsters and immortality and all your other standard ooky spooky semi-urban fantasy trappings. But the DMBJ adaptations, being live-action, are heavily regulated in their content. This is why, in the early Reunion episodes, our heroes are menaced by human-looking creatures that are actually ancient mannequins made of leather that are piloted, mecha-style, by evil clams. Because evil clams are more scientific than zombies. I guess.

So yeah, the plot of this book already had to get mangled into a more "science"-compliant shape even before it made it to filming. The real problem is that a whole lot more of it got cut after it was all filmed and put together. I have read an explanation of what the actual storyline was supposed to be, and yeah, if you know what you’re looking at, you can see (and hear) the scars where major elements got hacked out with a weed whacker.

Therefore: You cannot expect this plot to make sense.

But that's okay! You're not here for the plot to make sense! You're here to watch some characters you love run around through ridiculous and sometimes beautiful labyrinths, trying to solve puzzles you're never given enough information to understand, all in search of the resolution to a mystery that had half its guts torn out before you got to see it -- and you are here to love it. If you have ever laughed and cheered your way through a Mission: Impossible film without pausing to care too much about the plot holes it’s dodging left and right, you are in the correct frame of mind to appreciate this. Just believe that whatever engaging nonsense the show tells you is correct for the time being and go with it.

You cannot watch DMBJ and care about the laws of physics. You simply cannot.

Do not, however, let me give you the impression that the shoddy plotting is accompanied by equally shoddy performances. A major part of this show’s incredible watchability comes from how the cast is shockingly good. There are some serious heavy hitters among the actors. A major part of why this Wu Xie and Pangzi are my favorite together is the incredible chops both Zhu Yilong and Chen Minghao have, to say nothing of their real-life affection for one another. (See that scar on Wu Xie's neck? That scar is there because Zhu Yilong commits to the bit.) Effortlessly charming Mao Xiaotong turns potentially irritating wunderkind Bai Haotian into a perfect precious weirdo baby. Wu Erbai's entire second-season character arc could have been unintentionally comedic, but veteran of queer cinema Hu Jun sells even the undignified moments as relentlessly tragic. And of course Baron Chen absolutely kills it with...

3. This giant fucking loser

This is Hei Xiazi. That's not his name, but it's close enough. Allow me to do a dramatic reenactment of my watching his first scene:

[camera pans over to him]

me: Ugh, I recognize this kind of wannabe badass character design. I hate his type. He's self-important, hyper-masculine, and just a big jerk, and the show thinks he's soooo cool. Barf.

[thirty seconds later]

me: Oh no. I was so wrong. I love him forever now.

This is because he is (as indicated above) a giant fucking loser. Yes, he's a good fighter who knows lots of things. He's also a wet potato chip of a man. Sure, he can get you into a headlock, but he can also annoy you into submission, and that's honestly more fun for him. My wife has used the phrase “Vash the Stampede-coded” to describe him. My wife is not wrong.

And the kind of ridiculous thing is, being such a loser is what wraps back around to making him cool again. He's a loser because he just doesn't fucking care. His masculinity is the opposite of fragile. You tell him to wear a dress and makeup, he'll do it -- and sure, he'll complain, but only because he enjoys complaining. He has no dignity. He’s tits-out. He's gender. He's the worst and also the best.

Hei Xiazi is a major character in the other installations, to the point where he and his boyfriend (more on him later) even have their own movie. But of course, I did not know this on my first watch, so I kept expecting the show to explain his whole deal. It does not, but you don't really need it to. He sees better in the dark. He doesn't age. He's a thug for hire. There, that's all the bio you need.

One of the things that makes him great is that he is the least sexually threatening person ever. Across all the properties he's in, he spends a fair amount of time with women -- sometimes in very close quarters -- and they are perfectly safe around him. I actually wrote a whole post about it once upon a time (warning for tiny spoilers for a series that isn't this one) wherein I claim that not only Xiazi but Reunion in general is the television equivalent of the shirt that says I RESPECT WOMEN SO MUCH I DON'T HAVE SEX WITH THEM.

That said, this loser does get a sort-of romance plot here -- and honestly, I find it very cute! It's not even the only instance in this series of a bisexual guy in a long-term same-sex relationship getting a girlfriend, and I like that other one too! Look, the handle of my DMBJ sideblog is @katamaricule because I joked that Wu Xie treats polyamory like a katamari, and if you don't move fast enough, you're going to be rolled right up into his gay little cuddle puddle.

This is not a show for exclusive ships; this is a show for inclusive ships. The Jiumen Association is a polycule. You don't even have to know what the Jiumen Association is to know it's true.

4. The power of friendship

This show has a lot of characters.

I'd say the supporting cast is divided into three categories: characters who have been in previous installments, characters who have not been in previous installments, and characters who probably should have been in previous installments (or at least mentioned) but who were only created for Reunion so we have to pretend like we've known about them all along.

There is no way to tell which is which -- which is part of my argument that this series makes a good entry point to the franchise.

Take Huo Daofu. Huo Daofu is a brilliant doctor masquerading as a donut stand operator who treats Wu Xie with all the cold disdain of a man confronting the person who left him at the altar years ago. On the one hand, yes! We do know Huo Daofu from a previous series, and we've known he's both a doctor and a bitch. On the other hand, oh, we have no idea why he's like this about Wu Xie, and we probably never will. The show just treats it like it's for an excellent reason, and you know what, from what you know about Wu Xie, it probably is.

Consider also Jiang Zisuan. One of the show's principal antagonists, Jiang Zisuan turns out to be the brother of ... well, let's just say it's someone whose having a brother really should have come up before this. It has not come up. (And that's even before we get into the issue of his surname.) His stated identity as that person's brother is so bizarre that my favorite interpretation is that he isn't actually that person's brother -- all the flashbacks we see are just his delusions about a relationship he's completely invented. But there's no way you'd know how fucking weird this is on your first run.

Then there's our friendly little support himbo, Kanjian, who shows up to all occasions with two tickets to the gun show and not a thought in that beautiful head. (His name just means "vest," which is par for the course when it comes to the author's naming conventions.) He was a lot more menacing in the last series (where they kept putting sleeves on him, geez), where most of what we learned about him is that you can loan him out to other tomb-raiding families. Now he's a golden retriever with great aim and a slingshot. It's an upgrade.

The trick is, you cannot be surprised when someone shows up and the show treats them like you should know who they are, even when there's no possible way you could know who they are. I mean, for heaven's sake, Liu Sang arrives in the middle of an obvious beef with Pangzi, the origins of which are never satisfactorily explained, while also having a giant do-I-want-to-fuck-him-or-do-I-want-to-be-him crush on Xiao Ge, which is also never satisfactorily explained. Whatever, you just roll with it. He's got good hearing, a bad attitude, and questionable taste in idols. Now you're good to go.

(I should throw in a special note here that Liu Sang is many, many people's little meow meow, and not undeservedly. For a fuller explanation of why that is, please consult this other post I made.)

Part of the fun of this big cast is the adorable interactions you get. All the characters have appropriately big personalities, and the show loves letting people you wouldn’t expect bounce off one another. It’s not your typical action-hero show where nothing happens without the protagonist in the room. There are lots of exciting combinations and tons of charming dynamics! Unlikely friendships form all over the place! Enemies become allies! Allies become friends! Friends become friends with other friends! Some friends become enemies again! You'll need a scoreboard to keep up!

This is not to say the show treats all its characters perfectly or equally -- one of the precious few main female characters doesn't even get a real name, for heaven's sake, and the less said about the brownface racism, the better. It is, at its heart, a dude show for dudes made in China, with all the troubling decision-making that implies. Where it does deserve credit, though, is in understanding that its supporting characters are actual people with personalities apart from their function in Wu Xie's narrative. Sometimes the show just asks "what if [random character A] and [random character B] had to interact?" and has fun considering the answer! Which is almost always a delight to watch, and sometimes even breaks your heart.

5. Amazing rewatch value!

And by this I mean the experience of watching this show is remarkably different once you have any understanding of the rest of the DMBJ universe.

For instance, there's a point where two characters are scuba-diving past some submerged coffins, and one character tells the other whose coffins they are. Working only on information Reunion has given you, you're like, oh, that's where they buried the guy who built this creepy place, that's a little weird. Once you recognize that name from other series, though, your reaction is far more, excuse me, they did WHAT to WHOSE corpses?

Or another point where a character you've already met is on a train, and there's a handsome gentleman who just happens to be riding with her. He hands her his business card! Aw, that's sweet, he seems like a nice guy! Well, no, Xie Yuchen is not nice, but he is one of our allies, and he's Hei Xiazi's boyfriend, and a lot of what he's doing hits real different when you have a fuller grasp on why he's doing it and for whom. (Honestly, a major reason to watch Reunion first is so you're not fully and appropriately upset by how your black/pink gays merely have one teeny tiny scene together.)

From the way the series treats the persistent absence of Wu Sanxing, Wu Xie's third uncle, I absolutely, 100% assumed that he was a completely new character to this installment of the series, an extremely long-lost relative that we've somehow conveniently managed to never talk about before now. So imagine my gobsmacked surprise when I went to watch a different series, set much earlier in the timeline, where the opening scene prominently features Wu Sanxing as an actual character in the present-day narrative! ...Well, sorta. Look, there's a lot of fuckery with his identity in earlier parts of the story, and fortunately you need to know none of it to understand Reunion. But when you do, it suddenly makes a lot more sense why Wu Xie talks about someone who was a major part of Wu Xie's adult life like he died when Wu Xie was nine.

AND THE FLASHBACK SCENE WHERE A-NING GETS KILLED BY THE SNAKE, AND YOU'RE LIKE, OKAY, AND THEN YOU WATCH ULTIMATE NOTE AND IT WASN'T LIKE THAT AT ALL look, I know there are kinda reasons for this, different production companies and all, but seriously, what the fuck

All of which to say is that the experience of watching Reunion the first time is, hey, this self-contained romp is a lot of fun! The experience of rewatching it after watching any of the other DMBJ installments is a transcendently wonderful head-clutching avalanche of one moment of recognition right after another.

And here's the thing: You will watch more. Reunion is a gateway drug. If you are interested enough to make it through all 62 episodes, you're going to be interested in watching more. Which is great. The English-speaking fandom needs more people. Come down into the tombs. It's great down here. We've got snakes and arguably unintentional homoeroticism. Join us. Join usssssssss

Are you ready for an aventure?

There are a couple different ways to watch the first half, but there's (weirdly) only one way to watch the second, so for both of them, I'm going to send you straight to iQiyi: Season 1 (32 episodes) and Season 2 (30 episodes).

And just so you’re ready when Reunion is done, here’s how you find the rest of the DMBJ series, in the absolutely non-chronological order in which I, personally, think you should watch them:

The Lost Tomb 2 (AsianCrush, YouTube)

Ultimate Note (iQiyi)

The Mystic Nine (iQiyi, Viki)

Sand Sea/Tomb of the Sea (Viki, WeTV, YouTube, also YouTube)

Also, there's a lot of movies and side series and other pieces that are worth seeing, and even a couple of full series I've left off the list, and you can just slot them in wherever. And maybe we'll get Tibetan Sea Flo-- IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE! And someday maybe I'll actually have time to watch it! What a concept.

They're so perfect. Perfect triangle. Perfect boys.

[the-heart-of-a-monster]

I’ve been gone for so long but I have so much to say and idk how to say it so please be prepared for an absolute mess of an ask lol

First, I just really wanna give appreciation for Super Emeralds (The comic creator) and their dedication to THOAM. I’ve been on Tumblr for just a little more than a year at this point, and I only joined in the first place because of this comic. I got into it way back in… What was it, 2020?? 2021? And I fell in love immediately with the concept! Sonic feeling insecure about his new Werehog form? Chip being an active member of the team and a great friend?? TEAM DARK??? SONADOW DONE RIGHT?????????? Ohohoho! You can bet I was completely on board! I tried my best to comment on every page, because I just love giving positive feedback for things I enjoy, and took note of how Super Emeralds evolved their style as the years went on. I wasn’t there during the beginning, and I really wish I was, but the time I’ve spent following this fun little comic has made me feel so much appreciation not just for Super Emeralds as a person, but for the entire Sonic art community as a whole! Art is a creative endeavor, a passionate career, and sometimes it’s really hard to just. Draw. Comics are especially hard as I’ve discovered. So just… Good job to Super Emeralds for sticking around all these years and for giving us such an incredibly thought out and beloved series. And thank you.

…

ALRIGHT ENOUGH OF THAT MUSHY GUSHY STUFF AND LET’S TALK ABOUT THE BLUE BOY HIMSELF THAT IS NOW NO LONGER JUST BLUE MUAHAHAHAHASHEHEHEKEFHEOFHFFPWEHFLFHD

I’ve been a bit absent from Tumblr for the last few weeks due to sickness and lack of interest so I am undoubtedly missing a page or two from the equation but OH MY GOSH. POOR SONIC. Bro wakes up from like a 2-day long nap and the first thing he sees is his little brother screaming in his face at 3AM. He’s so confused haha! I noticed he isn’t as insecure or he isn’t really freaking out as much as I assumed he would way back during the exposition pages. This is obviously due to the confusion and whiplash after waking up as his “Normal” self again, but I feel like it’s just him putting on another fascade around his friends. To an extent, at least. He isn’t aware of the new pink markings all over his body and he isn’t aware of just how worried all his friends were. All he knows is that they know about his new form and they for some reason aren’t acting weird about it, so he’s likely just playing along to make sure nobody gets overly concerned. It just seems like something he’d do. Or maybe I’m just grasping at the angst straws, idk.

OMEGA IS FIXED BY THE WAY I DO NOT WISH TO GLOSS OVER THAT FACT. THE BOY IS BACK!! THE ROBO BOYO IS BACK!!! I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE ALL THE CRIMES HE’LL BE ABLE TO COMMIT ONCE TAILS GETS THOSE ROCKET LAUNCHERS WORKING AGAIN HEHEHEEE

Also let’s not gloss over how Omega doesn’t care that Sonic mauled him to death. Let’s not gloss over the fact that Omega clearly cares for the others because of his ignorance to Sonic’s rampage.

Yeah if you couldn’t already tell I’m a sucker for this kinda stuff-

Uhhhhh I don’t really have much else to say, honestly. Maybe I will later, but right now I’m on a time crunch so I gotta keep this all pretty concise. Thank you so so much for reading all the way through, I know this was a really really long one. And again, thanks to Super Emeralds for being able to last this long and not losing motivation for the comic. I know I would’ve given up after just 5 pages! (I actually tried to make a comic of sorts and I literally gave up after 5 pages I am not kidding.)

Aight I gotta go now bye bye!! 👋

ur gonna have a field day in 2-3 weeks depending on when u decide to go on rampage haha

[bengiyo]

La Pluie: Thoughts on the Queer Subtext and More Patts Reflections

It feels a bit weird to begin this post talking about the queer subtext in a show full of men kissing each other, and implied sapphic love. Still, I have thoughts about Warun and Yad, and how their relationship represents a break with traditionalism as well. There are many articles and historical analyses about the “surge” in divorce in America once it became legal for women, and especially for women to have their own bank accounts. I personally don’t think traditions are useful at the point where they continue to harm people asked to uphold them. Yad and Warun also seem to be reconciling that reality for themselves.

Warun and Yad

I posited in Episode 5 that Warun might be queer based on my read of his mannerisms. I think that read holds even through Episode 11, but I think it’s good for the show not to confirm his queerness in any way. Because this show has not had any form of overt homophobia, it would confuse any of the previous messaging to make his queerness text. However, his line, “I can’t change myself,” reads so loudly as queer to me that I can’t let it go.

With Yad and Warun, we had two people come together and form a soulmate marriage and successfully raise four children together. However, they ran into the kinds of problems many couples do, principally over work and family time. What fascinates me is that Yad is the primary breadwinner for their family. She is becoming a powerful tech executive and doesn’t want to forego her career because of the goals she has for her family. Is she not supposed to provide the best financial outcomes for her children?

Warun has become the primary caregiver, and he worries that the boys are not getting the connection with their mom that both she and they need. As I watched their fight, I thought about Nagisa in his (2020) and his fight with his wife, who was also the primary breadwinner of their couple as well. Eventually, they realized they couldn’t be the partners they wanted to be to each other and separated. I think, because Warun was the caregiver, he didn’t want to feel like he let his boys down and ended up giving Tai a huge complex.

I think it’s extremely lovely of this show to show that Warun and Yad were better once they separated from each other and let go of the idea that they’re supposed to be married forever because of their rain connection. (@liyazaki) I love that they still find meaning and connection in their rain connection and hold it significantly between them. I love that Nu is completely unbothered by their connection, and only wants to find his place in this family.

Tai

Oh, Tai. This was not a great week for him. Despite showing some wisdom with Lomfon, and reconciling with his brother, he continues to hold onto this false notion of love.

I will say this plainly. I think Tai has been an asshole for the last two episodes, and it was time for the narrative to gently, but firmly, pull his head out of his ass. He has punished everyone in his life because he’s mad at his parents, refusing to form any meaningful relationships with many people because he’s not allowing himself the complexities of human connection.

I am glad that he was forced to confront the chip he carries around on his shoulder and recognize that his parents faced a terrible internal struggle. He needed to see that it was unfair of him to punish them for dealing with something that difficult. I also think it’s useful for him, with all of the mess he’s created, to have the support of his closest brother.

Now, he’s got to make things right with Patts, but he doesn’t have the benefits of the rain connection to find him. I’m eager to see that boy run around and do the goddamn work required to be in a long-term relationship with someone next week.

Tai is learning the hardest lesson we learn as queer people: the rules and traditional expectations of relationships don’t fit for us. We have to figure out our relationships ourselves and do the work.

Patts

You know I was going to defend my boy!

I think it was excellent of the show to have Patts go to Tai and see him being chummy with Longfon. Though I think Patts’s friends were wrong about him needing to go reconcile with Saengtai, Patts isn’t the kind of person to just let his problems fester. It’s not in his nature. He must go to him. He has to see Tai talking to Lomfon and misunderstanding it so that he makes the only reasonable choice and attempt to move on. I love Patts. He will always try to do the right thing even if it hurts.

My man ugly cried next to a window as his friends held him because he’s done everything he possibly could and it still wasn’t enough. He asked last week and I’m still asking, “Why is it so hard to choose me?”

Reading Patts as bisexual, I like the choice for him to walk away at this point because it’s exactly what he told Saengtai. Tai said he wanted Patts to see his actions over any words he won’t speak. I don’t care that Tai was clearly trying to fix things for Tien. If he was going to fix any relationships, he needed to go to Patts first.

On to the Finale!

I may be limited in my commentary next week since I’ll be busy, but I am genuinely excited about this finale. Tai is finally being forced to grow up and stop waiting for love to fall into his lap. I’m ready to see that boy Japanese BL Run for his love.

Tagging @lurkingshan, @neuroticbookworm, and @wen-kexing-apologist for chatting with me while I got these thoughts out.

[plasticflwrs]

—﹒ ∬ ﹒PLASTIC FLOWERS RETURNS TO BAR PERFORMANCES AT CHEEKY'S IN SEOUL!

—﹒ ∬ ﹒DESCRIPTION TAKEN FROM AN ALLKPOP PUBLISHED JULY 15, 2023.

In 2023, Plastic Flowers made their return to their hometown bar CHEEKY'S for a new era of live performances! Located in Gangnam, Seoul, the bar takes takes inspiration from the bar culture of Nashville and has been in operation since 2017.

Cheeky's popularity began to rise with the attendance of Plastic Flowers on weekends soon after their lead vocalist, Oliver, became a legal adult in 2019. Plastic Flowers performed there for three years straight ( 2019 — 2021 ) until their 16 month hiatus from public life. Since then, Plastic Flowers has become a mainstream success both domestically and internationally with multiple tracks peaking at number one since 2022.

In a surprise post from Cheeky's Instagram, they announced that the band would return on July 14, 2023 for the rest of the year. The five band members and even their agency were quick to repost the news to confirm.

—﹒ ∬ ﹒IF YOU WANNA GET IN, YOU GOTTA FOLLOW THESE RULES (TAKEN FROM A TIKTOK POSTED BY JUNYEONGLUVR ON JULY 18, 2023)!

"So, you want to attend a Plastic Flowers performance at Cheeky's in Seoul? Here is everything you need to know to avoid getting kicked out!

First: don't be weird with the band. They are normal people and are here to make money and have fun on stage. This is not time to have an Y/N fantasies about the members falling in love with you. Unless it's Junyeong, then you probably have a chance at sleeping with him.

They are keeping the same rules about requests from 2021! Unless specified otherwise, all requests are 25,000KRW. The more money you pay, however, the more likely they are to play that song sooner and you can request a specific member to sing that song! For example, back in 2020, I requested a cover of Clario's BAGS with SERIN as the lead vocalist and got it pretty quickly for 40,000KRW!

However, there are multiple songs that will cost 100,000KRW because they are requested at every show. This is often achieved through crowdfunding and is very rarely paid for by a single person. The songs that cost 100,000KRW are ANY OF THEIR TITLE TRACKS, FREE BIRD by Lynyrd Skynyrd, anything by DEATH VALLEY, and MIROTIC by TVXQ.

You can also buy the members drinks! They are always so thankful for this and every one has their own favorites. There will (hopefully) be a sign of all their drink orders at the bar since they have changed since 2021.

Don't be afraid of audience interaction! Oliver and Salem particularly love going into the crowd and taking pictures and videos with fans. Sing along and dance like an idiot, it makes them more excited to be performing if the audience is also having a good time."

—﹒ ∬ ﹒THE MUSIC.

Coming into the nights, Plastic Flowers does have a set list they prepare for the beginning of the show and requests are just starting to come in. If you like the darker side of Plastic Flowers music, this is the perfect place for you as they often cover old emo hits from the 1990s and 2000s. For the right price, they will truly play anything unless it's by nature controversial or a weird request.

The full set list has not been reveled yet and all the songs played are always complied by their many UPDATE ACCOUNTS across Social Media. Because of all the difference audience they play, no set list is ever truly the same and is either played in a different order or features completely different songs. Some common requests and songs played include: FOR YOUR LOVE, I'M ALIVE, READY TO FLY, 505, FREE BIRD, MAMA, NO SHAME, and BALLAD OF MONA LISA.

Depending on whose in the crowd, you can also get some COVERS of songs by their friends and other idols in the audience!

They also often play UNRELEASED songs that will either never be played again or make it into the next few albums, it's a fun guessing game with them! Songs previously unreleased that were performed here include: WAR , THE CHAIN , SINNERS & SAINTS , SOBER , and NORMAL PEOPLE.

[she-karev]

Quarantine (Andrew DeLuca x Alex Karev’s Sister Covid Imagine)

Age Rating: 12+

Chapters: Two of Three

Fandom: Grey’s Anatomy

Ship: Andrew DeLuca x Amber Karev (Alex Karev’s Sister)

Canon Episode: Season 17 Episode 4

Summary: Amber continues to quarantine in her hotel room and gets a surprise visit from Andrew outside the door who gives her a care package. She is bitter towards him at first but begins to soften when he tells her why he cares so much about her.

Words: 1880

April 15th, 2020

Amber Karev is in her hotel bed watching Netflix with the curtains open revealing the city life at night which to Amber is more entertaining than what she’s watching right now. She kept hearing about this Riverdale show and decided to give it a shot but she soon started to regret it. Despite how bad it is Amber can’t stop watching it while she blows her nose for the 20th time tonight.

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m weird. I’m a weirdo

Amber groans at that sulky line from the Disney kid, “More awful than covid.” She takes a big sip of her water bottle before she hears a knock in her door, “Finally my soup. I’m coming!”

Amber stands up feeling the body aches, but the call of room service is stronger as she pulls her white cardigan around herself and grabs her mask. She coughs on the way before reaching the door and looking through the peephole to see it’s not room service to her displeasure.

Andrew DeLuca is outside her door wearing his casual clothes and black mask. He is carrying a black backpack and a white takeout bag with a dragon symbol on it. Amber inhales as much as she can and exhales to keep her anger in check. She thought this morning would be the last time she would see him for the next two weeks but as usual she knows there’s a force out there that wants her to suffer more and sent her ex to help.

“What the hell do you want?” Amber asks annoyed in a nasal voice due to her stuffy nose, “I was already checked by a nurse an hour ago and another one is gonna take my blood tomorrow.”

“I saw this morning that you were lacking in things other than a TV, clothes and oral hygiene so I thought I would get you a care package for the next 11 days.”

Amber pinches the bridge of her nose over Andrew not taking a hint. No matter how many times she tells him she doesn’t want to be with him he still tries to crawl back into her life with sweet gestures that do nothing to mend the pain he caused her.

Not seeing her reaction he continues, “I got you a couple of Harry Potters a couple of new releases and some spicy chips. I figured you needed something to spark your taste buds for a few seconds. Also, I got you that chicken soup from that Chinese joint at Weller you love so much.”

“What part of ‘get what you need and leave me alone’ do you not understand?” Amber asks with venom in her tone that catches Andrew off guard, “I am sick and I am tired and I don’t need you coming in trying to butter me up when I’m lonely hoping I’ll get desperate and let you in this room on day 14.”

Andrew tries to set the record straight, “Amber that’s not what I’m-”

“Because it has been months since I have touched another human being, but I am not desperate enough that some soup is gonna make me forget all the pain and have one gross night with you. Despite how low you think of me I respect myself enough not to whore myself out to you.”

Andrew closes his eyes in frustration, “Look can you let me-”

Amber keeps going in anger overlapping with Andrew, “So this whole concerned ex act is not gonna work on me so just take your freaking soup leave me the hell alone. It’s like you said to me the night you kicked me out I don’t want you here and I don’t need you here!”

“Will you just let me talk?!” Andrew yells back from his side catching Amber by surprise. She inhales and stays silent letting Andrew say his piece expecting him to piss her off again. Instead, his next words take her by complete surprise.

Andrew inhales from behind his mask before starting, “My nonna and two of my uncles died over the past few weeks because of covid.”

Amber is caught off guard by that fact and guilt immediately replaces her anger. She has been so angry with him and so distant she never considered that he’s suffering in silence because his home country is a hot zone for the pandemic. She never considered that she wasn’t the only one worried about her family in this scary time.

Andrew sighs in grief but continues, “I said goodbye to them over Zoom but still I wish I could have gone there and taken care of them in person. It might not have done much but at least I could feel like I did something to help instead of crying over a damn webcam. And then there’s my father, I’m scared for him, I’m mad at him but that doesn’t mean I don’t care. You and I both know he is probably ignoring the rules and not caring about the consequences without me and Carina there to help.”

Andrew clears the lump in his throat outside Amber’s door not seeing her leaning against the door listening to him. She shakes her head at herself for giving him a hard time when he has so much on his plate as it is. And hearing him telling her about his turmoil makes her feel sympathy towards him. She almost wants to open the door and hug him but knows it’s not safe for either of them.

Andrew continues, “Look I’m not here for an agenda, I’m not here because I’m hoping there’s a reward for me at the end in your bed. I’m here because I can be, and I don’t want to waste it. If your gonna keep insulting me and letting me know what an ass I am then so be it because I can’t lose you. I can’t lose you; I won’t survive and nothing you say is gonna make me stop feeling that way.”

Amber closes her eyes at that statement hearing the Andrew she fell in love with instead of the manic man who brought her down. It’s hard to believe that those two are the same person but for now she’s glad to hear the one who makes her feel loved and seen.

Andrew assumes Amber is still dismissive from his side of the door, but he continues, “I know you don't want me around but I'm not gonna stop caring about you. I might not be able to touch you or hold you but I’m here for you. No matter what you need. So, I’m gonna leave the backpack and soup out here in your door, I’m gonna keep a safe distance so I can make sure you get it because I put a lot of thought into it, and I know whatever your watching is making you want to kill yourself.”

Amber rolls her eyes at her ex knowing her so well but hears shuffling and footsteps from the other side. She looks through the peephole and sees no one there telling her Andrew is down the hall. She puts her mask on, cautiously opens the door and sees the backpack and takeout bag on the floor right outside her door.

She looks to her left to see Andrew two doors down looking at her in worry. Amber sniffles before focusing on her gifts and grabs both of them before closing the door behind her. She puts the backpack on top of the dresser drawer and unzips it.

Andrew was telling the truth as she sees her favorite Harry Potter books, Prisoner of Azkaban and Order of The Phoenix inside. There are two books as well that she is not familiar with and knows Andrew probably grabbed them from the new releases section. After pulling out the books she sees a big bag of Takis inside that she hopes she can taste.

In the small pockets she pulls out the essential needs for her condition. There are cough drops, Nyquil severe cold and flu PM, packets of lemon tea bags, travel size aloe tissues, spare masks, and ibuprofen for her headaches. The sight makes her inner doctor nod with approval.

She opens the white takeout bag next and is silently thrilled at the sight of the sealed container inside. Amber takes the lid off confirming its chicken soup to her joy. She inhales the rich aroma deeply loving the special soup so much it might make her quarantine bearable. Amber moves back to her door that is the barrier between her and Andrew.

“Are you still here?” Amber asks nasally.

“Yeah I am.” Andrew confirms from his side.

“You do realize this backpack is gonna have to be burned after this right?”

Andrew chuckles lightly, “All for a good cause. Do you need anything else? I don’t mind being your own Postmates, it probably pays more than what we make.”

“I’m okay for now thanks…and I’m sorry for what happened.”

Andrew nods, “Yeah me too. Do you need me for anything? Are you feeling worse?”

“I feel like my body has turned on me but that’s not new from this morning.” Amber tells him in a numb tone, “I’m fine it’s nothing I can’t handle, you can go if you want.”

“Okay.”

Amber sips her soup container tasting the rich liquid for a few seconds until her loss of taste kicks in to her disappointment. She has to remember to cancel room service since their soup is subpar to the one in her hand. Amber stands by the door for a few silent moments and can still feel Andrew’s presence outside.

She moves closer till she’s near face against the dark wood, “Andrew?”

“I’m still here.”

“You can go if you want.” Amber repeats more requesting than demanding, “I’m gonna have a nurse come in the morning and I still feel better than most right now anyway.”

“I know I just…” Andrew sighs and confesses his fear through the door, “I am afraid that if I leave, and you fall asleep you’re not gonna wake up this time and this is gonna be the last time I’ll see you.”

Amber’s heart swells at this confession as she can tell he is sincere in his worries. She decides to comfort him and make it clear that she is not going anywhere.

“It won’t be.” Amber tells him from her side, “I’ll call you in the morning and let you know how I am. I promise. You should go and get some rest before you go to work, and I should enjoy this soup you got me.”

Andrew grins at that, “Okay, I’ll be back tomorrow night and check on you. Call me if you need anything I don’t care what time it is, I’ll come.”

“I know.” Amber says with a grin as she can see he’s making an effort to make these a tolerable two weeks, “Good night.”

“Good night.” Andrew says with a grin before walking away from the door to leave Amber to her quarantine hoping this is the start to them reconciling while Amber is in her room beginning to see Andrew in a way she never thought she could again.

Next Part Here

[wigglesforonce]

my onesided beef with the f1 wikipedia pages

entirely silly and not at all long time enemy building over hundreds of hours trawling through the pages of the f1 wiki...

1. URL INCONSITENCY

The base URL of the season pages changes format randomly between 1980 and 1981. Why. i dont understand. this prevents people from simply editing the year in the url to get to the new page. why. i just want to know

2. FORMATTING

The column widths are often inconsistent between seasons and sometimes even inbetween races. Look at the table for the 1957 Standings:

whilst it Could make sense in the 50s when drivers shared cars and therefore results, wikipedia literally does it for the Season After That, where the columns are a lovely standardised size, despite the shared results.

And when the entire column for the driver names is double length (firstname and surname on different rows), it makes checking the results from those seasons an Awful experience.

They also have no reason for this, as for the more recent seasons with 20+ races, they either make the table go off screen (e.g. 2021) or implemented the ability to scroll the table left to right (2022+)

This is also an issue with the Entries/Driver and Constructor Tables, which results in large empty spaces being left near the beginning of the page for a handful of seasons (e.g. 1981, 1989)

3. CONSTRUCTORS TABLE

this caused a spreadsheet rage quit at one point in my life.

In 2014 after the drivers were able to have customised driver numbers, the consutructors championship table switched from recording results for each driver in each team seperately

to grouping and sorting the teams performance per race. for a reason I do not know.

it really doesn't matter unless you dont Realise they did this and you record 4 seasons worth of team results for a spreadsheet by hand and realise you have to redo it all. ouch

4. CONTENTS LIST/LAYOUT

When you navigate through similar pages everyday, you assume you know where everything is. if you try to do this with the f1 wiki pages, you are proved a fool frequently.

There are Inconsistent Section Header Names and Grouping (often switching between having regulation changes being its own Header to part of the race by race season report). They cant seem to decide on a consistent format, or what consitutes a Header, a Subtitle or just to be mixed in with everything else

(1989,2007,2020)

They are infact so inconsistent, here is a list of All the Names they use for the Same Thing:

Championship Summary (1950, 1952)

World Championship Season Summary (1951)

Championship Report (1953-1956, 1958-1959, 1962-1970, 1972, 1973)

Season Summary (1957, 1971, 1997-1999, 2001, 2003, 2020-2024)

Season Review (1960-1961, 1979, 1995)

Season Report (1974-1978, 1980-1990, 1996, 2004-2007,2013-2019)

Race-by-Race (1991-1994)

Report (2000, 2008-2011)

Race Summaries (2012)

N/A: 2002

Heres a visual aid i made because its so weird

IN CONCLUSION

I have missed some things off this list due to a) this being too long and incomprehensible already, and b) i forgot.

Anyways. All to say I spend too long on this wiki and I would just appreciate some consistency aorund here. I don't know how you become a Wikipedia editor but as soon as i figure it out maybe i can fix all of this. Hopefully someone enjoyed reading through all of this!

[sayonaramidnight]

Do you find that your interpretations of your character changes as you get older/learn more about the world around you? For example, a soft character may have started innocent but they (and, by extension, you) choose to keep them that way despite the harshness of the world? Does your character's expertise on a subject change as you become more familiar with it, etc.?

This question has made me think a lot and my thoughts went many different ways, so please forgive me if I get incoherent and/or start digressing~

In general, I'd say my interpretation of my characters kind of depends on my mental and emotional state, but also on where I am with my life and what kind of stories and motifs I'm currently into, and what I'm fed up with. There was a time when I thought of kind and gentle characters as too sweet and naive, but later I learnt to admire them. How about those who are serious and brooding? Younger me thought they were So Cool. Older me wanted to make fun of them. Current me just waits and sees what they do.

That said, most of my characters have been with me for many years, decades even - and then there's Helvi, who's only been there since, 2018, but I started playing for serious in 2019! Given that time is a weird soup and the years 2020-2023 have blended into one short period of time in my mind, it feels like two years at most, so I'm not sure whether I got older or more experienced in such a short time XD

But! One of the very few things I've known about her since the very beginning is that she follows Menphina and it makes love one of the big recurring themes of her story. It got me wonder, how to interpret her faith, because, really, there are so many ways you can go to express it! Will you share your love with your family? Friends? Paramour(s)? Nation? Random people you meet on your way? Do you pray for everyone's successful love life or just focus on your own? Seek your fairy tale romance or indulge in daydreams? Have many lovers or commit to one relationship, or maybe fill your heart with pure love for the whole world instead? So many possibilities and for a long time I didn't know what to choose...

Then it turned out there was room in her heart for all of the above, to some extent.

But let me tell you it wasn't easy to figure out for quite a while. See, from Heavensward to Shadowbringers I played with no long breaks. I had all these expansions, so I jumped from one story right into another and didn't give myself much time to sit down and think. After the emotional rollercoaster that was HW, I mostly ran Helvi through SB on autopilot, and then another rollercoaster came along... And she felt so tired most of the time, so exhausted and still the kindest soul ever, but distant and withdrawn at the same time. She spent a lot of time grieving and self-loathing And I asked myself: is she going to get better? Can she get better? Can she fall in love again? Does she even want to? And at that time, the answer was 'no'. She seemed.. resigned to her fate. Reached into her own soul and found darkness, and decided to embrace it and use it to fight. And it seemed like she would be hardened that way.

Then, there was a long break between ShB and EW, and I could finally think in peace, share my thoughts with friends and answer their countless and valuable questions, and even write a few snippets, putting her feelings and some events from her life. I let her go back and do some thinking in peace too. She let herself laugh heartily again. She didn't stop being a dark knight, but simply added red magic and dancing to her fighting skills and thus found the balance she needed. She made peace with herself. She even fell in love again, after all, and is not going to let this love go. Now, in any friend group, she's that friend who gives away hugs freely and dotes upon everyone, and dances like no one's watching, and also defends you fiercely.

I know I'm rambling, but all I want to say there is a big difference between playing with or without long breaks and it may change your perspective and interpretation of your character :D

[bandzboy]

Different anon, but. Look, I was already boycotting the song itself and everything from the day it was announced. But at this point, I feel this really weird uneasy feeling that I can only describe as: I'm not sure if I want to be a STAY anymore.

With things going the BTS Americanization Route (with extra Zionism), it just feels so starkly different from the SKZ and 3Racha that I admired originally. Not that changing music style is bad itself (they changed quite a bit from the start of 2020 to 2023). But it feels less like a change made from growth, and more like getting stripped of what made their whole thing appealing originally.

And I see it with parts of the fandom too. Yes, there's still some nice fans. But now we have a bunch that are so focused on streamings and chart ratings and big numbers, rather than if they actually like the music.

I miss when most Stays would joke about how their view counts were all ''organic''. Now they're raising money to get collab songs on the charts. I miss when most Stays were proud multistans, and their v-live fan forum would regularly be sprinkled with posts about Ateez or TXT or Day6, or even Limesoda.

And the weird thing is: I told myself back in the late 2010s that I wouldn't get caught up too much in the celebrity fandom thing. That I wouldn't put SKZ on a pedestal, so that I wouldn't get disappointed if things went south somehow. But now, I subconsciously hesitate to listen to even their other songs, even if it's through unofficial or pirating means. And I feel like I'm over-reacting, and it's frustrating.

Sorry for the rant. I just feel like I need a second opinion on this.

i think this is honestly a valid reaction and feeling this way is valid too because even i feel this way about kpop in general and kpop groups like even before all of these boycotts started to unfold i was just SO jaded with this "community" if we can even call it that. the way some people are behaving lately towards this boycott is unveiling the fact that some people just care about streaming and buying and that's it! that's their whole purpose as a fan and then also shun people that don't wanna do it and for what reason? also, the fact that i've seen so much racism come to light with this! people getting harassed for wanting to stand for something and being pro palestinian, palestinian fans getting harassed for calling shit out because yes their feelings are super valid and especially when the group they stan is saying nothing and the company they are under is employing zionists, they can feel betrayed like idgaf about what people say! even before this when fans would call out idols for being ignorant these fans would be racist to these fans for being hurt like?? what is this culture we are creating in these spaces is what i am asking?? i knew it was like that even before all of this but lately it's like i am getting hit with realizations left and right it's so insane how some people are acting. whether some people like it or not, we are allowed to feel disappointed and criticize them. even i feel stupid for these types of things bc it's like you mentioned we should know better and yet we put these people on pedestals and for what? it's all very valid concerns to have especially this time around! so many companies want groups to be international but then dgaf about international fans' opinion and they never did to begin with how do expect people to want to stan these groups when they do disrespectful shit and you pretend we don't exist unless we give you money

[foxymoxynoona]

You know, if I had a nickel for every time BTS made me stop listening to them due to their actions- I’d have 2 nickels. Which isn’t a lot- but it’s weird that it happened twice. Neither of these occurrences are recent so feel free to ignore this but I need to rant because I found out about it last night and it hasn’t left my mind since. And I’m ranting to you because you seem to have a pretty strong moral compass and you seem to be able to handle some bad stuff and I respect you. Also if I were to post this on my main- I’m afraid that some ARMYs would doxx me. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Anyways this’s got me all in a huff bc last night I found out that during the period I stepped away from supporting them (originally because they worked with Nikki Minaj while she was actively defending her brother who raped his 11 year old stepdaughter. Here’s the link to an article about it, should you want to know more: https://www.essence.com/celebrity/child-rape-trial-begins-nicki-minaj-brother-jelani/. I know now that this was probably less their decision and more their companies but I was also 17 when this info came out and I’m happy that I stuck to my guns then, but I digress) that yoongi fucked up and he fucked up big time.

Anyways- during 2020, when he was releasing his second mixtape, he and two other producers thought it would be a good idea to sample one of Jim Jones’ sermons. And I say him because at the end of the day he’s the artist; it’s his name this will all come back to. Not only that but you have to pay a LOT of money to get any of Jim Jones’ sermons/speeches when you’re not using it for educational purposes (for example in a true crime documentary or a podcast). You have to hunt to get that shit, and it’s not like there’s a lack of information about Jonestown available. This isn’t to say that you can’t employ the words of bad people in media- but you’ve got to do it right. An example that comes to mind is post Malones (not that I’m a big fan of his but he has a catchy song every now and then) song “Jonestown.” Granted, that song still feels icky but Malone demonstrates a knowledge of what happens and that he’s invoking it for a reason. Yoongi doesn’t do that. He picked a soundbyte from a mass murderer and decided to add it to a track that had nothing to do with the context behind the clip. There was no purpose, there was no reference to the harm done during the song. It was a song about “flexing on his haters.”

What he did was stupid. Plain and simple. Because either 1: he didn’t check the source (and he’s notorious for producing his own stuff so this is on him either way) for a soundbyte in a language he doesn’t speak fluently. If this is the case, it reeks of a rookie artist which yoongi is not. He’s seasoned and BTS had been in enough controversies during their early years to know that they should research.

Or 2: he knew and he didn’t care. Unfortunately, due to some comments made after the song was initially released, this seems pretty likely (ie: saying that he was using it because Jim jones was racist to Koreans. Which Jim Jones was known to be racist via a white savior complex and it was mostly focused on black and brown people during the civil rights movement but that still doesn’t have anything to do with the context of the song. It feels like a lazy excuse because he liked the aesthetic of the soundbyte).

But you know what, everyone fucks up now and then. You don’t know what you don’t know- but you can help repair the damage after gaining insight. And the best place to start that process is with an apology, right?

Apparently not, because while bighit released a statement in Korean and not on their main profiles (which is an odd choice because it seemed like it was mostly western fans upset at the usage). Despite saying that they vet the sources seriously, somehow they let this one slip through. You can’t have it both ways; you either vet it or you let stuff slip. And that yoongi was “embarrassed.” If he’s embarrassed he can say that himself. He was 27 at the time, which is far old enough to know better and to be able to take responsibility. In fact, it would probably get him a lot of brownie points if he humbled himself, but he didn’t. He stayed quiet and that was what really set me off.

These are grown men. Adults- Jin was in his late teens to early 20s when they debuted. They’re not stupid- they’re UNICEF reps for gods sake. Yoongi should’ve known better and the group isn’t in the precarious position they were in when they had their first controversy over Namjoon wearing a Nazi cap. That’s when you let your company protect you. This is not like that. I’m sick of the fan base treating these adults like they can’t think for themselves and that they should be protected from the harm they’ve caused.

So that brings me to why I’m telling you all of this as well as how I found this information out 4 years after the fact. It was through a meme. You know that one that’s used mainly for FICTIONAL characters that are evil but well loved (read: hot)? It’s the “my little meow meow” one. So one of the first uses, if not the first use, was an ARMY using it to defend Yoongi’s actions. Why they thought this was appropriate, I don’t know. But that’s what it’s from.

Now why am I telling you this? Well i know that you joined the fan base in like 2021, right? So this would’ve passed you by theoretically. And if I knew that someone I supported fucked up pretty massively, I’d want to know about it. This is also a reminder (not necessarily to you but to the fan base as a whole) that these are men. They fuck up and they don’t need you to defend them. We don’t know them, we have an idea of who they are in our heads but that image is incredibly manufactured. Fanfic and fan art aren’t as serious because they have personas they put on for the camera. But when it comes to posting about the members and sort of glorifying them (again, not you directly but I feel like this could start an interesting conversation) it feels like you’re letting the harm go unnoticed

Anyways that’s my rant. I feel better now. Again, feel free to ignore this. I just trust you with the info because you’re an adult and you seem to show a lot of compassion and a good moral compass not only through what you post on here, but also through what you write

I am actually aware of this and also felt severe disappointment because what I know of it seemed like an example of creatives hyping themselve up and doing something "edgy" without thinking of the real world response, then hiding behind a smokescreen to protect the artist. The apology didn't feel like there was accountability --unlike Namjoon's response many years ago the response to I think War of Hormone and sexism where he went to learn more and self reflect.

There is definitely this harmful cycle that can happen with celebrities where people are willing to forgive them for just about anything, and in turn they are surrounded by people who enable them to drift further from reality and do things that are less acceptable. I have worked with the music industry for 14 years, I cannot emphasize how many hours i have spent debating whether we should/should not work with this or that artist, whether what they did was bad enough to refuse, who has a right to draw those moral boundaries, etc. It's distressing how much of the industry have done really regrettable things --and that's just the stuff we know about. The profits enabel it.

Everyone has to decide for themself what the limits and application of their morality are, who they choose to support and in what fashion. Supporting someone doesn't mean you can't be critical of their mistakes, and everyone has their own line of "I admrie this person but they fucked this up and I want to see evidence of them doing better" and "I absolutely cannot support this person any longer."

Personally, I do think Yoongi learned and grew from this experience becuse while I don't admire that the self reflection was not public in a way that felt sincere, I don't think I've seen repeat behavior since that incident years ago. Could I be wrong about that? Totally. We make the best choices we can with the knowledge that we have.

That meme use is inappropriate and I don't doubt that there are always plenty of folks who are unbothered by what another person considers an egregious behavior. I think that's what you meant about glorifying, those who act like the people they admire can do no wrong. It does both ourselves and the artists and the whole value of "famous" people a disservice: they like us can make mistakes they learn and grow from, and we can learn and grow alongside them, but the hard part for them is that their mistakes are incredibly visible. I don't envy them that.

I'm glad it made you feel better to get this off your chest! And I'm touched that you consider me a safe place to vent your feelings to 😊

[bloodmaarked]

the thursday murder club // richard osman

first published: 2020 read: 16 june 2024 - 20 june 2024 pages: 377 format: paperback

genres: fiction; adult; mystery (cozy); crime; comedy favourite character(s): joyce and bogdan least favourite character(s): ian ventham (great antagonist!)

rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗 thoughts: recently i've been on the verge of a reading slump, with me not having been blown away or massively enthusiastic about my recent and current reads. in fact, i had to DNF a book because of it (back to black by kehinde andrews, which i do plan to go back to). so i really needed a book to pull me back from the edge, something brilliant that could excite me. and on top of that, i wanted to try and limit myself to books that i already own. i hoped that the thursday murder club would be a good bet, given the constant praise and massive impact it's had, and thankfully, joyfully, it absolutely lived up to the hype.

where to begin? the plot, of four elderly friends who get together, solve murders, and poke their noses in places they generally don't belong, sounded right up my alley. i'm much more interested in the cozy mystery genre right now given my first introduction to it through vera wong's unsolicited advice for murderers, which i read last year (and vera wong would fit in brilliantly with this cast, by the way!). i was down for a good mystery and silly, goofy fun and richard osman delivered. the humour was spot on, and i don't remember the last time i read a book that made me laugh, out loud, repeatedly. the humour is very british, and to be honest i have no idea how non-brits are getting their heads around this one, but i loved it. the chapters are short and punchy, so it was easy to fly through this book. the mystery itself was so good, filled with twists and turns and fake outs and reveals. the midpoint twist at the end of part one? jaw on the floor. i thought i knew where it was going, and of course i was wrong every time.

the characters, i loved them all. of the main gang, elizabeth (followed by joyce) was given the most attention and felt the most fleshed out. in the next book i would like to see more development of the others, and especially more interactions and relationship development between the characters (we got a bit of this with elizabeth and joyce, and ibrahim and ron, and i would like more!). even the characters outside the four were enjoyable to read. donna and chris i loved, bogdan and ian i loved. there were quite a few secondary and tertiary characters that i got a bit lost with remembering the names of. the cast is actually quite big, and it could potentially be trimmed a touch?

but really, i had so much fun with this and it’s easily one of my top reads this year. someone at book club had said it was a joy to read, and i wholeheartedly agree. i was getting excited to read book two before i’d even finished, and i can’t wait to get my hands on it. as for the movie adaptation, i’m excited to see what they do with it (i feel like it might’ve been better as a show?) but it’s also going to be weird to see considering i headcanoned half the characters as black 😭 but we shall see. for now, it’s an enthusiastic 4.5* to the thursday murder club, and an excited wait for my copy of the man who died twice to arrive!

[promptcorner]

Okay, this is the first chapter of my figure collecting series…

(Chapter One)

So,👏

I have a lot to cover here, so let’s get this right out of the way. Obviously, I’m a noob, a junior collector, if you will (idk if that’s a thing but I’m gonna keep it, I’m probably gonna call this series my Junior Collector’s Guide, idk).

I have made a hashtag #Junior Collector’s Guide so this series will be easier to find.

With that in mind, know that I do have help.

My Mimi likes to collect glass figurines and other fragile objects. She helped me pick out a case, and I’ll make a chapter for that experience later.

My two grandpas are of help as well. My Dad’s Dad collects records and my Mom’s Dad is just a big-ass nerd for anime and superhero stuff. He doesn’t collect, but he understands figures and dolls.

My uncle, who I like to call Uncle D, is the biggest help in all this. He collects figures and knows the Collecting World pretty well. That means he knows where to look.

I didn’t seek his assistance in the beginning, because I forgot he buys this stuff. Oops.

But hey, now I remember and have been seeking his advice!

With that in mind, this story I’m about to tell is from my experience as a beginner who didn’t and still doesn’t know shit. But hey, we all start somewhere.

This is an ongoing quest of mine, specifically for this one figure.

Forget the mermaid figures for a bit, because that is a bigger project.

My big quest right now is to find a Damian Wayne Robin Figure in the wild.

Now, you would think this would be easy, but NOPE!

You all probably know this fact, but I’m gonna say it anyway, there aren’t a lot of Damian Figures out there. There are a few, but the sculpts are a mixed bag. Here are a few screenshots:

The best figures that I can find are Mcfarlane brand figures. Most of them look and feel like him. But the vampire one isn’t my vibe, I’ll be honest. The face sculpt is a bit weird to me.

But there are a couple others that I like. Like the Unmasked Robin, the Multiverse Rebirth Robin, and the DC Multiverse Robin.

The rest either look like Tim or someone else.

The big problem is that I am impatient and don’t want to wait a week or more to get a figure unless I have to.

So, I looked up where I can find Multiverse Robins, and found that BestBuy sells them!

I took that as a sign, and after a loooong day of work, I drove out to the closest BestBuy in search of my son. I eventually found the toy section, but it was ransacked. However, I kept making circles around the section, hoping to find him hidden somewhere.

I eventually found this fully gray figure after the third or fourth lap around. I looked at the box and saw it was the Robin that I was after! But, it was not in color at all.

I was like, “Ummmm, why is it all gray, am I gonna have to paint it?! I don’t want to paint figures!” I then noticed this little badge on the box.

I was like, “Wtf? Is this figure rare or something?” Then a retailer walked by and asked if I needed anything. I asked what this Platinum Edition meant, and he googled it and found this:

This article was written in 2020, it’s 2024. So, I was kinda shocked that I found this in the wild. It wasn’t in color, but I wanted it and I was ready to pay $20 or thirty, heck, forty. I was ready to pay up.

I get up to the counter to pay, and the cashier said that since it was in Clearance, it was $8.

Eight. Bucks.

Holy shit! This was the cheapest Robin I had ever come across to this day!

As I’m writing this, I have bought more Robins that I’m gonna show later, but they were all $20, $15, or $50! This guy was eight. What a steal!

I’m still reeling, I don’t think I’ll ever stop feeling the rush. I felt transported to when I bought Monster High Dolls back in Gen One.

So, I went home with a skip in my step and showed my folks.

My uncle later told me that Mcfarlane has some great figures. He also said that BestBuy and GameStop are great places to find/collect stuff for decent prices. Which is good to know.

I still wanted a colored Robin, so I searched seven stores a few days later and could find a single Robin. I had the only Robin in that entire tristate area. Like, the fuck?!

Anyways, I gave up and just bought the rest online.

So, in the end, I ended up doing both things.

I’m well aware that opening the box makes the value drop. But I want to hold what I buy. It might be a rare figure, but he was a lucky find either way, and he deserves to be out of the box. I still have said box and it’s in good condition. Pinky promise.

[aritamargarita]

GOLDEN || 001

ALL RISEEE!!!

it’s been two years. TWO YEARS. in the works. im cutting right to the chase

different superstars = more romance different opportunities. let’s get this bread. some of the events are kinda mashed up but im trying to make it in a way that’s just..fun?

this the “mycareer” saga istg. what’s next, 2014-2020 era?...maybe. regardless, if you’ve read my previous fic attitude you know what’s up. these installments aren’t set in the same like universe. so things won’t overlap and some things are set to change. im mushing most of the years all together. i will also kind of skip over some events and things at times but other than that, i hope you enjoy! kinda goin on my own flow. just know WE GOING TO THE SLAMMYS Y’ALL!!! GET YOUR FITS TOGETHER!!!!

FROM ECW TO THE WWF, you’re here to try and prove yourself. To make some sort of change. You’re different. A woman who is confident in her wrestling skills. It’s about time for you to truly shine.

BACKSTAGE // 7:01 PM

It’s so quiet.

You checked yourself in the mirror. Tonight was your night. It was hard getting through to the WWF in the first place. You’ve tried so hard, practicing and training for this very moment. Putting your best in a damn ring just so someone could scout you.

....It’s finally paid off!

Everything you’ve worked for, from the bottom of the barrel towards the tip top. You checked your face in the mirror, making sure everything was a-okay. Feeling confident enough, you gave a goofy smile (with two thumbs up!) to your reflection. You thought you looked amazing tonight, no one could tell you otherwise. No one could deter your spirit.

Despite your debut in the WWF being in a weird shift period, you thought you joined at its peak. Things seemed to be heating up, but you were just so excited to start a new journey.

Your beginning in wrestling itself was nothing short of an interesting one. You had been working in the most extreme company for at least two years now. ECW, to be specific.

Most would say the WWF ‘stole’ you from them. Others would say it was a smart business decision. This little ECW invasion wasn’t happening without certain superstars making their move into the company. The first time you’ve ever stepped into their arena was when Paul E. Dangerously and Jerry Lawler were going at it at the ring.

You captured the eyes of many, in the crowd and even backstage. It was incredibly obvious that WWF was keeping their eyes out for people who could possibly bring more attention. WCW was kicking their ass at this point, so what could they lose bringing in a couple of “misfits”?

Your experience at ECW wasn’t too bad at all, but you’ve taken way too many bumps to count so far. Now, you weren’t exactly afraid of getting hurt, but you always end up cursing yourself out for the pain you felt after the adrenaline was gone.

The stinging pain of a paper cut pales in comparison to being hit with a chair, on accident, mind you.

On a much lighter note, you’ve met so many amazing and odd people there. However, being a manager to interchangeable wrestlers got really tiring. Not only that, but being chanted at to take off your clothes was just another can of worms. Were there really that many low lives out there?? That or they never get any action at home. You were used to it at this point.

It got to a point where you debated no-showing. Someone just has to put you through a table. It’s always: “Oh, [Name]! I’m going to put you through a table!” or even “Oh, [Name]! I’m going to swing at you with this bat with barbed wire!”

Why do they wake up and choose violence? Actually, that was the gist of wrestling, but hey, ECW wasn’t called extreme for nothing!

To be honest, you were just frustrated because of the lack of activity you got while you were there.

People always considered it a “mans sport”, which irritated you to no end. Anyone could do it. Anyone could wrestle!

You’ve met Francine and Beulah who were also fierce managers like you, but you’ve also came across Sunny at one point. She was with the WWF, and as a matter of fact, she may even be here tonight. Her visiting the promotion seemed to be a brief stint.

After all, she only had a few appearances here and there. At times she would be nice, then suddenly act like you didn’t exist. You’d ask her about her experience in the WWF and she never gave you a straight answer.

It was weird and it rubbed you the wrong way. But she was acting that way because she came from an entirely different company? You didn’t know. Makes you wonder if all superstars here were like that.

Anywho, everything seemed to be right on your end. You stood up and turned around in the mirror, doing a slow 360.

Suddenly, the door slams open, startling you.

“That bitch! What am I going to do!?” A woman donning leather clothing was absolutely seething, walking around hastily.

Did she even know you were there?

This was quite the awkward encounter. The tone in her voice indicated that she was absolutely pissed.

You moved out of her way so that she could reach for a whip that was located on the side of the vanity. This woman looked familiar, so it couldn’t hurt to ask who she was. “Hey, do I know you? Or maybe have seen you around? I’m new.” You went straight for the kill and she turns to you slowly.

Did you set yourself up to be in her path of rage?

She wasn’t offended that you didn’t know her, just a little surprised. “You do look like a new face.” She quipped, putting her hand on her hip. She seemed to analyze you for a moment. “But I’m sure you don’t know me.” She reached out her hand for you to shake. “I’ll give you the honor. It’s Sable, if you have to know.”

“[Name],” You introduce, taking her hand and shaking it. “It’s nice to meet you, Sable. I hope we can be friends.”

Sable lets go of you at the mention of friendship and scoffs. You were seriously here to be buddy-buddy with people? “Friends?” She smirks as she waved her hand and saunters over to a bag that was in a cubby. “Right, friends…”

This Sable woman seemed nice! But you couldn’t help but to notice the catty tone in her voice. Oh well. Not really your problem. Or is it?

You had no malicious intention towards her and you damn sure hope she had none toward you. Watching as she packs a couple of her things, you finally open your mouth. “Hey. Why were you mad any….?” Before you could ask your question, she quickly leaves the room, slamming the door shut.

“….Nevermind. Alright then, bye Sable.”

That whole experience was weird.

You probably should step outside too, get to know some more of your co-workers. You step out of the women’s locker room, heading right down the hall. You were pretty sure the show was going on, so when it came to meeting new people, you’ll take what you could get.

“Excuse me, miss?”

A croaky voice had made you stop immediately. Turning on your heel, you saw a haggard-looking man with a mask on his face, holding up his hand which seemed to be covered with a sock.

“I’ve never seen you around here.” He says, turning his head towards the sock. “Have you, Mr. Socko?”

He then makes his voice a little higher pitched to respond: “Nope! Who is this lady?”

You…

Yeah, you don’t really know what to say at all. You just look at him in bewilderment. He seems to notice how confused you looked and makes a noise. “Oh. I’m sorry, I forgot we had to introduce ourselves…I’m Mankind. And this is Mr. Socko. We’re best friends.”

Mankind makes Mr. Socko nod, and you could only wave.

“Hi.” You greet. ECW had its weird characters, but you’ve never seen something like this. “I’m definitely new! My name is [Name].” You reach out your hand for him so he can shake it. “Wouldn’t uh, wanna smother your best friend.”

He takes it using his free hand and shakes it firmly. “You’re very considerate, [Name]. But I can say for Mr. Socko that he wouldn’t mind being smothered by you, it makes us feel tingly all over.”

Do they have a psychologist here??? Something?? This guy’s one hell of a character.

“Hahah. Right. Riiightt.” You say, a strained smile on your face.

“I live in the boiler room.” He randomly adds. “And George likes friends. You should visit. Nothing leaks anymore!”

“George?” You repeat in confusion. “Who’s that?”

“My pet rat!” Mankind exclaimed, making you wince slightly. “Mr. Socko and I spend time with him a lot. He’s very nice…”

You nod slowly. Mental note, try to stay away as far as possible from this “Mankind”, in the future. He scares the hell out of you. “Pet rat, huh? That’s nice! I’d love to stay and chat, but unfortunately, I left my stove running and it’s gas. Everything will explode. I’ll lose everything I love. And to top it all off, I left both my sink and bathtub running. So not only will I lose everything, I’ll be flooded out my own home.”

“I see…” Mankind seemed to believe your extravagant lie, giving a nod. “Wouldn’t want that to happen.” He rasps out. Lifting Mr. Socko up, which you still couldn’t believe it was a literal fucking sock, seemed to have some words for you too.

“Have a nice day!”

After that very strange encounter, you find yourself staring at the match card for the day.

HUNTER HEARST HELMSLEY VS. GOLDUST

AHMED JOHNSON VS. OWEN HART

BRET HART VS. KEN SHAMROCK

BILLY GUNN & ROAD DOGG VS. THE NEW BLACKJACKS

MARC MERO VS. FLASH FUNK

THE LEGION OF DOOM VS. LOS BORICUAS

Great. Very good. Very nice.

Problem is, you didn’t even know who half of these people were. The only person you knew was Sable, who not only was a valet for this Marc Mero guy, but she also had a segment.

It was something about a possible magazine cover. No wonder why she seemed a bit familiar.

You weren’t really expecting yourself to be on Yhe card, but it still was a bit of a disappointment. What’s the fun in standing around backstage if you couldn’t even go outside in the ring and have fun?!

Hell, you’d be pleased even if it was some sort of small ringside fight!

Letting out a sigh, you stretch your arms. Today was going to be a long day.

“You’re [Name], correct?”

Someone else? Oh boy. Who’s next? You hope it’s not another weirdo. Or someone who could be incredibly rude towards you. Looking over, you’re immediately startled to see the owner of the company. “Holy—“

You bite your tongue, taking a deep breath. He scared the hell out of you. Though you were caught off guard, you tried your best to get it together. Automatically, you had begun thinking you did something wrong.

“Good afternoon.” Vince greets.

“Good afternoon.” You greet back, setting a hand on the wall. Cool, calm, and collected. Just act like it’s not bothering you as much. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

He cleared his throat and shook his head at your question. “No, no.” He mutters. You thought the room had gotten colder before he continued. “Do you have any experience in wrestling?”

Already, you inwardly cheer. That must mean that you were getting somewhere. Maybe they did their research before hiring you. “Yeah. And I’m pretty good at it, I’d say. I know the basics, but I’m ready to learn more.”

He nods, but he doesn’t look impressed. You really couldn’t gauge how he felt. “How interested would you be in working on a storyline?“ He asks. “On a scale of one to ten.”

“Probably eight.”

“We’re thinking of giving you..a purpose.” He says. “You have no gimmick, just a fresh face. The creative team will get back to you later.”

That was definitely a blunt way to put it. All you can really do is nod your head.

He outstretched his hand and you hesitate to reach your own out to shake his. Deal is sealed.

“Are you going to make me wrestle?”

Your question makes him raise an eyebrow. “Wrestle? Well, we don’t have many woman competitors.” And you figured as much. “We’ll see what we can do. You’ll be a valet at best.”

Fantastic.

Unbeknownst to the both of you, a certain group was listening to your conversation nearby.

“Think she’s gonna last here?” A man asks, looking at both his partners. “She’s got some guts, if you ask me, just asking Vinny Mac to put her in a ring.”

The woman crossed her arms, waiting to hear what the two had to say first. The other man shook his head, clicking his tongue.

“You heard what Vince said, Shawn. That chick’s just going to be another valet. Your thoughts, Chyna?”

“....” She stayed silent at first. “It’s not any of my business and it isn’t any of ours.” She simply says. “Let’s get going already.”

“You guys can go,” Shawn says, leaning on the wall. “I’m gonna lay down the law with her.”

“Keep it in your pants for once.” Chyna rolls her eyes. “You can’t flirt with everything that—“ She doesn’t get to even finish her sentence before Shawn saunters off towards you.

Before you could ask Vince another question, a new voice enters into the fray. “Vinny Mac! And who’s this lovely lady you’ve got with you? Never seen her around before.”

“Shawn.” Vince greeted him only by saying his name, giving a curt nod. He doesn’t answer his question about you. “Come to bother me again?”

“Of course not, old pal! Just wanted to see what’s new in the neighborhood.” This Shawn guy, who the hell was he? He looks you up and down for a moment. “Not bad, not bad. Where’d you pop up from?”

“ECW.” You respond. He was starting to make you a little nervous, so you fold your hands behind your back. “I’m very new.”

“Has anyone showed you around yet?” He asks, lightly setting a hand on your shoulder. “Why don’t I do the honors?”

Of course, you couldn’t refuse.

[codecicle]

Read the intro post

wow what a cool and awesome person...

FUCKING 14 YOU ARE A CHILD MY GOOD SIR??? /LH

1: YOOOOOO YOU THINK IM A COOL AND AWESOME PERSON?? THANKS MAN :DD and 2: LMAOOOOOO YEA I AM!! I've been on here since I was like, 11-ish? not sure. my friend introduced me to tumblr during the beginning of my 7th grade year! (and fun fact: that same friend is both my mutual and the person that gave me my nickname actually!! which turned into my url ^_^)

anyway, I'm going to rant underneath your ask about being a child now im so sorry 😔

It's always been so weird being as young as I am both on tumblr and in the fandom space I'm currently a part of. Like realistically, a 14 y/o boy liking minecraft/mcyt sounds really normal but I don't know anyone my age that is open about being a part of this space. I think growing up on tumblr instead or twitter or tiktok honestly really helped when it comes to being happy in my intrests, since almost every other freshman to ever exist has no idea what this website is and they have no chance of ever finding my posts to make fun of me with them. I still use the other two, but I don't post and I only really open them when a cc like Charlie or Ted posts.

It's hilarious to me that because of my current intrests (jrwi and charlie in general) almost everyone that I'm friends with on here are much older minors or adults, mainly because charlie has a pretty mature and well rounded audience (THANK FUCKING GOD 🙏🙏), but also because everybody else my age that are in this fandom are on tiktok. Using tiktok for me and actually posting is kinda unsafe because of the way the tiktok contact sharing works? if someone from my classes finds it through "recommend accounts" then they can look through my account and harrass me if they recognize who it is. Not to steal a Charlie Slimecicle quote for a second, but I was rewatching an old podcast episode from the very beginning of 2020 and he described it as "elevated highschool" which I 100% agree with. Even 3 years later it's still very much just a higher form of highschool bullshit to have to deal with.

But since I don't post on tiktok I don't really have much to worry about!! My account is blank and it's the same @ as my url so nobody should recognize it and put a face to a name which im grateful for. However, being on tumblr isn't the greatest either;

People on here are all adults and I feel a little bit intimidated? In a sense? I understand that I'm a LOT different than most kids my age and I don't typically have anything to worry about but!! I feel like that's what makes it worse. The other people my age that were or still are on here don't understand tumblr etiquette, don't understand not to act like this is twitter and not have stupid cubito discourse, or just aren't funny? Idk I've just never found anyone my age (with the exception of like 3 of my mutuals you guys are amazing and I love you) that I can really talk to on here, so all of the friends I've made are much much older. I'm smart with who I talk to and how I talk to them so I'm safe don't worry!! My parents raised me right and online safety is such a wonderful thing, but one of my closest mutuals on here is in college right now, and the others are juniors or seniors in highschool. I kept my age out of my bio for so long but honestly that was because I was terrified I would scare away the people that I trusted so much because literally obviously it's going to feel weird for them to be mutuals with a genuine honest to god child. I'm relatively close to turning 15 so I'm getting less and less worried about stuff like that happening but eh that was still a real fear for a while.

Anyway sorry for the rant!! TLDR; highschool sucks, I'm scared of being this young on a platform and fandom full of adults and I have to be extra careful, and also charlie slimecicle is a pretty cool guy to look up to so I feel like him being [vine boom sound effect] my COMFORT STREAMER kinda works out in my favor ngl :D

[maxverstepponme]

Steppy, I thought about something:

initially, I just wanted to ask how you think Max found out that Kelly felt something for him since he was barely an adult when they are in a relationship many years after, if they talked about it when they got together or if it was because of the Vogue article, because I can't wrap my head around this article.

from her Vogue interview: hoe hebben jullie elkaar ontmoet? 'Max was bevriend met mijn broer Nelson en we gingen een avond met 'n allen uit eten in Monaco. Dat zes jaar geleden, in 2016'

[how did you meet? 'Max was friend with my brother Nelson and we went out to dinner one night together in Monaco. That was six years ago, in 2016']

'Toen was hij nog erg jong. (Max Verstappen is nu 25, red). 'Ja, maar er was al iets magisch die avond. (Lacht) En daar laat ik het even bij: Onze connectie begon toen. Misschien dat we ooit het hele verhaal onthullen maar ik ben voorzichtig met wat ik zeg, op internet ontspoort alles zo snel. Is fijn om sommige dingen tussen ons en ons all te houden'

[He was very young then (Max Verstappen is now 25, ed). 'Yes, but there was already something magical that night. (Laughs) And I'll leave it like that: Our connection began then. Maybe one day we'll reveal the whole story but I'm careful what I say, on the internet everything derails so quickly. It is nice to keep some things between us]

these sentences freak me out: "but there was *already* something magical that night" and "our connection *began then* (Laughs)" which means that she kept in touch all this time. she is aware that he was barely an adult back then when she was 27-28. did she ask her brother to meet him? and did she keep an eye on him since to 'live her magical connexion with 2016 Max'?

then, I thought about the fact that she may have really 'fallen' in ""love"" with him but he was already with someone so she got into a relationship with someone else as well and that was why they never "dated" before. she confirmed her relationship with Daniil in early 2017, so not long after her "magical night", but there are also rumours that she tried to be with Carlos and Daniel as well at that time. if these are true, she tried with the three other Red Bull/Toro Rosso drivers, and who's part of Red Bull's team? Max. could it be a kind of "I can't have you, but I stay close to you until I can have you" thing? she was in the paddock all this time so not that far from him and lived in Monaco with Daniil, where Max lived too. [and except Carlos, Daniel also lived there, apparently they were neighbors]. so she could have seen him in the city because all the drivers go at the same places anyway. and she may had "access" to him through her brother.

somthing that always sounded weird to me was the leaked picture and her caption "that's how rumours start". how could she, on October 30, write that about the beginning of a rumour when there were none at that point? (Max liked a couple of her posts and maybe left a comment or two, but so did Lando so 🤷‍♀️ + Max also liked other girl's posts back then), and *strangely* it's a picture from this exact same night that starts everything 🤨 (and she wears her clothes only once so it's for sure from this night out) so it's hard to believe she just wanted to be a "baddie" and just wrote that caption because it sounded nice. if she waited since 2016, once she finally got him, I'm sure she couldn't wait for Max to annonce it, so to not look bad and loose him and his trust because she wanted to be the "lion hearted girl" so bad, she used a fake account (and her family as well, they couldn't stop posting him when he was in Brazil end 2020) to reveal it to the world.

so I just wanted to check if the serendipity twitter account, the one that leaked the pic with Max, did it the same day Kelly posted her "that's how rumours start" post but she deleted it, it's totally gone from her account, which is weird, right? [someone saved it on pinterest and it leads nowhere so she really deleted it]

so I thought, if she can plan to leak their relationship that way and to do it through fake accounts (1 twitter account and 2 instagram ones) she could have planned to be with Max since she met him, back in 2016, and that's fucking scary.

we know her history with fake and burners account and how bad she is managing her many identities. so the fact that the twitter account posted about P after, for me, can't prove it's not Kelly, because what would you do to prove you're not behind this account? posting something disgusting like this, because "it's common sense a mother would never do that" seems to be the better solution, right?

we talked about Hailey Baldwin crazy obsession with Selena, how bad she wants to be her so she copies everything she does and is and even maried her boyfriend (for her it's more about Selena than Justin imo), but I think Kelly might have done something similar [the fake accounts were following so many Dilara fan pages, she dressed like her too many times for it to be accidental, copied some pic of Di, took the same pictures with Max that Max did with Di, has the same Cartier bracelets (Max' aren't gifted by Kelly) and on and on; either she was obsessed because she was Max' girlfriend or because fans loving Di more than her 🤷🏻‍♀️). no healthy person would say what she said in this interview because it's giving obsessive person and borderline grooming. usually, these sick people choose people that are isolated from their closed ones: Max lived alone in Monaco, his family lived in other countries, as did his childhood friends, he had a traumatic relationship with his dad and went through a break up after years in a relationship (even if it seemed like it wasn't too brutal as Dilara still interacts with his family), has a kind heart: it's child's play for manipulative and toxic people.

I used to believe she was just after the status of "f1 wag" and wanted the lifestyle that goes with it, but it seems like it's more than that and it makes me sick to know that there is nothing that can be done about this. absolutely nothing. she's creating drama with his family all the time so it's harder for them to do something [when you're in a toxic relationship, you're manipulated so you blindly and dumbly believe them when they play the victim card, against your own family and friends, who were right since the beggining], she moved in so quickly that he's stuck with her [this is a typical toxic people behaviour], her daughter's sake is a massive argument to not end things and she's basically everywhere in his life, she takes all the room [number 1 rule for how these people act], do you remember how she acted like she got the title herself? he can't have anything without her - she even took many planes sick to got the FIA event last year. she seems to be really obsessed with the fact of being Max Verstappen's girlfriend and keeps trying to portray their relationship as perfect, it's really giving unhealthy obsession.

I want to cry because it looks like she planned it all, and that's really scary and so messed up.

Now that you mentioned this, it doesn’t sound that crazy at all and now I’m scared

[jess-moloney-malarkey]

There is a picture that proves that Jess has been stalking Jamie since 2015, she was behind Jamie and Matilda at a concert in 2015 she was looking at Jamie strangely if it's not a coincidence that Jess has been dating Jamie since 2021.

Jess followed Matilda on Instagram and she liked her posts and when Jamie and Matilda broked up, Jess unfollowed her and she was probably following Ruby on Instagram when she was dating Jamie and when they broked up in 2020, Jess unfollowed Ruby the same way she unfollowed Matilda because she was obsessed with Jamie, she was stalking him by following Matilda and Ruby on Instagram and Jess wasn't interested in Matilda and Ruby otherwise she would have continued following them both after their breakup with Jamie.

I was thinking, when exactly did Jess move to Los Angeles before Jamie, at the same time as Jamie and Ruby in 2019 or when she started dating Jamie, because if Jess moved to L A when she knew Jamie was installed, is that for me it is stalker behavior.

First Jess stalked MGK because she was obsessed with him and MGK probably refused to date with her and weirdly she started stalking Jamie from 2015 by following him because he looks like MGK (in my opinion), what she didn't have with MGK, she had with Jamie, she took advantage of the fact that he broke up with Ruby and she started getting closer to him on Instagram in 2020.

I had nothing against Jess when she started dating Jamie en 2021 but for almost 2 years she has been drawing attention to herself at conventions using Jamie and and he doesn't realize she is manipulating him to become famous through his success.

Oof I’m so sorry for how long this reply is gonna be. I’ll put a read more. But hear me out… (tl;dr for most of it, the gist is that we simply don’t know a lot of things for sure. That’s my main point. Have your opinion of how things might have gone, whatever, but understand that that may be vastly different than the reality of it all because we weren’t there.)

I know what photo you mean, but proves stalking? I don’t know about that. A single photo of Jamie and Jess at the same event does not effectively prove she has been stalking him since then. Possible? Sure. But I wouldn’t call it solid proof of that, especially when they’ve both been in the world of fashion for at least a decade. All it only really proves definitively is that they were attending the same event in 2015.

And how do you know when these unfollowings took place? Do you know if they were really right after a breakup, or if they were months/years later? If Jess was a nobody before Jamie, none of us were probably aware of her to keep tabs on her likes and follows. We wouldn’t be able to know. Again, not saying it’s impossible she unfollowed directly after the respective breakups, but without timestamps, we don’t know for sure. You even said yourself that she “probably” followed Ruby, but we don’t know that.

I think the last few paragraphs of yours are much more a personal feeling on things. From an objective view, she apparently worked with MGK in some capacity. Somewhere along the way, the relationship (to whatever degree it was, we do not know for sure) ended. That’s the facts, that’s what is definitively out there. We also don’t know for sure how or when exactly Jamie and Jess became close enough to begin dating. Your opinion is yours to have of course, but objectively, there’s a broad range of scenarios that could have taken place because we realistically have no idea what actually did.

I also wouldn’t say she has been drawing attention to herself at conventions. Fans go up to her, fans approach her and ask for photos. She hangs around her partner who is working there because that’s her partner, it’s not weird. She doesn’t have to wait back at the hotel or avoid him, you know? Going to EVERY con is a lot but hey, we don’t know what conversations they have had about her attending them all.

And in my opinion, if she was using him to gain fame and success, she really ought to have aimed higher than Jamie. He’s popular yeah, but if she were REALLY after all that for herself, and was this narcissistic gold digger type, wouldn’t she hop around to whichever hot new thing there is in Hollywood, like someone who is in higher demand?