#like when that article was first released i saw some people question it and say that his statement didn’t make sense

[hobismilitarywife]

.

[heritageposts]

[...] More specifically, the cycle of violence in The Last of Us Part II appears to be largely modeled after the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I suspect that some players, if they consciously clock the parallels at all, will think The Last of Us Part II is taking a balanced and fair perspective on that conflict, humanizing and exposing flaws in both sides of its in-game analogues. But as someone who grew up in Israel, I recognized a familiar, firmly Israeli way of seeing and explaining the conflict which tries to appear evenhanded and even enlightened, but in practice marginalizes Palestinian experience in a manner that perpetuates a horrific status quo. The game's co-director and co-writer Neil Druckmann, an Israeli who was born and raised in the [occupied] West Bank before his family moved to the U.S., told the Washington Post that the game's themes of revenge can be traced back to the 2000 killing of two Israeli soldiers by a mob in Ramallah. Some of the gruesome details of the incident were captured on video, which Druckmann viewed. In his interview, he recounted the anger and desire for vengeance he felt when he saw the video—and how he later reconsidered and regretted those impulses, saying they made him feel “gross and guilty.” But it gave him the kernel of a story. “I landed on this emotional idea of, can we, over the course of the game, make you feel this intense hate that is universal in the same way that unconditional love is universal?” Druckmann told the Post. “This hate that people feel has the same kind of universality. You hate someone so much that you want them to suffer in the way they’ve made someone you love suffer.” Druckmann drew parallels between The Last of Us and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict again on the official The Last of Us podcast. When discussing the first time Joel kills another man to protect his daughter and the extraordinary measures people will take to protect the ones they love, Druckmann said he follows "a lot of Israeli politics," and compared the incident to Israel's release of hundreds of Palestinians prisoners in exchange for the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011. He said that his father thought that the exchange was overall bad for Israel, but that his father would release every prisoner in every prison to free his own son. "That's what this story is about, do the ends justify the means, and it's so much about perspective. If it was to save a strange kid maybe Joel would have made a very different decision, but when it was his tribe, his daughter, there was no question about what he was going to do," Druckmann said.

And continuing, on the security structures featured in the The Last of Us Part II:

Besides the familiar zombie fiction aesthetics of an overgrown and decomposing metropolis, The Last of Us Part II's main setting of Seattle is visually and functionally defined by a series of checkpoints, security walls, and barriers. There are many ways to build and depict structures that separate and keep people out. Just Google "U.S.-Mexico border wall" to see the variety of structures on the southern border of the United States alone. The Last of Us Part II's Seattle doesn't look like any of these. Instead, it looks almost exactly like the tall, precast concrete barriers and watch towers Israel started building through the West Bank in 2000.

Illustrations, from the article:

The first barrier Ellie and Dina encounter when arriving in Seattle / West Bank barrier.

. . . article continues on Vice (July 15 2020)

Backup -> archive.today link /archive.org link

[eyeheartboobiez]

-> 𝗃𝖺𝗌𝗈𝗇 𝗍𝗈𝖽𝖽 𝗑 𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀𝖾𝗋!𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋

-> 𝗌𝗈𝖼𝗂𝖺𝗅 𝗆𝖾𝖽𝗂𝖺 𝖺𝗎!

-> 𝖺/𝗇: 𝗈𝗄𝖺𝗒 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗂𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖫𝖠𝖲𝖳 𝗍𝗂𝗆𝖾 𝗂𝗆𝗆𝖺 𝗎𝗌𝖾 𝗏𝗂𝗇𝗇𝗂𝖾 𝗁𝖺𝖼𝗄𝖾𝗋 𝖺𝗌 𝖺 𝗃𝖺𝗌𝗈𝗇 𝖿𝖺𝖼𝖾 𝖼𝗅𝖺𝗂𝗆 𝗂 𝗌𝗐𝖾𝖺𝗋😭

Jason Todd and ex girlfriend, Artemis Grace, spotted outside a club together just hours ago! May this old flame be finding its spark again? (8/20/2022 3:14 AM PT)

For months now, people have been buzzing after Gotham elite Jason Todd and singer Y/N Y/LN hinted at being in a relationship. Ever since this past March when they were initially spotted together, fans have done nothing short of obsessing over the two.

Artemis Grace, former girlfriend of Jason, had gotten into some hot water recently when insiders claimed that the singer had something to do with leaking Y/N’s unreleased track, Fantasize.

As mentioned in former articles, TMZ investigators came to the conclusion that Artemis was involved in publishing the song as a way of “getting her lick back”. Time logs show that the dubbed “rival” singer entered the same studio as Y/N not too long after she left for the night.

Many people online have been more than vocal about their love for the song, despite the fact that it was released without the artist’s consent.

While Artemis has yet issue a statement regarding the accusations, she seems to have plenty of time to be out partying with her ex.

Fast forward to last night, when just hours ago, Jason and Artemis were seen leaving a nightclub together and looking very close for comfort. Onlookers were not only shocked, but absolutely gagged when they saw the two hugging each other goodbye.

With their late night rendezvous breaking headlines, some fans are starting to question if Jason may have also played a part in helping Artemis, or if they ever really broke up at all!

The exes, who were romantically involved for almost two years, have a long history of being toxic towards each other. Their on-again-off-again relationship was notorious for its dysfunctionality, making it hard to keep up most of the time.

It wasn't until late last year when both Jason and Artemis officially called it quits by posting an announcement on their respective Instagram accounts (although many were skeptical to believe it).

Despite the initial shock of the situation, it begs the question: Where does Y/N stand in all of this?

Fans of the singer songwriter were quick to come to her support, majority of whom expressing their clear disappointment in Jason.

“I was really betting on these two,” says Twitter user @y/n’scoochiehairs. “I feel like a child of divorce…”. The fan account, while only just a few months old, grew exponentially due to their constant posts about the alleged couple.

Many sentiments like this have been circulating the internet once the pictures from last night began to surface. Y/N is notorious for putting her emotions into her songs, so at least we know she’ll be releasing new music soon, right?

— replies —

user1: oh she really aint playing...

user2: COOK HIM GOOD SIS!!

user3: girl this is a whole bar put this energy into a song or sumn😭

user4: sooo what im hearing is that ur single🤔

⤷ user5: ntm on my wife now..

user6: this next album bouta be BIBLICAL

user7: genuinely hope youre doing okay🥺🫶

user8: ily queen🩷

people you may know!

liked by b_zarro and 613,189 others

@artemisofmighdall: last night was a dream✨

View all 25,846 comments

user1: first you mess with her music then you mess with her man.. if bold was a person…

user2: the hell is she smiling so damn big for?? ain’t shit funny😐

user3: girl you betta PRAY i don’t catch you in these streets…

user4: “last night was a dream” yeah and you in for a rude awakening cuz wth💀

user5: these comments killing me😭

user6: you already going to hell for being a ginger now you just making it worse for yourself🤦‍♀️

— creator has turned off comments—

end notes: is jason involved or is he just being framed👀 lmk what you think!!

[definitelynotafurinasimp]

Them with a reader that tries to be Santa Claus

alternatively: Them with a reader that dresses up to hand out gifts

characters: Charlotte / Clorinde / Furina / Navia x gn!reader (separate)

warnings: none, just fluff

a/n: Soon is christmas eve, aka the day I celebrate christmas on, so Merry Christmas everyone! And Happy Holidays/a nice weekend to those of you that don't celebrate! I hope you all have a great time!

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Charlotte

The moment Charlotte first heard about the series of break-ins happening all over Fontaine, she set her mind on investigating them and writing a piece on them once she found the culprit. It wasn't every day that such an interesting case revealed itself after all, and letting it go to waste was the exact opposite of what a self-respecting journalist would do.

All of which was to say that meet-ups between you and Charlotte became rarer as her entire focus shifted towards her new project. So when you finally got the chance to meet, you wanted to make the most of it, getting each other up to speed on what you had been doing these past few days as quickly as possible before moving on to different topics.

“Now that I remember! I saw this really funny red and white coat and hat at that store recently, so I–” you were in the process of rambling while bending downwards and trying to fish the aforementioned hat out of your bag, when Charlotte suddenly interrupted you, her eyes wide open as she seemingly just remembered something.

“That reminds me of something! Have you heard of the recent break-ins all around the city? I’m currently investigating them, I’m sure it will make for a fantastic article, maybe even one of my best.” She asked, causing your head to tilt slightly as you stared at her in confusion, trying to recollect whether you’ve heard of them or not.

“Break-ins? Sorry Charlotte, this is the first I’ve heard of it. What made you remember it all of a sudden, though?” You returned the question, still bent down as you looked up at her.

“Apparently the perpetrator was seen wearing a red and white coat by eye-witnesses. It didn't seem like they wanted to remain hidden at all, especially since they left behind items each and every time, spanning from children’s toys to pieces of clothing… Oh! Maybe they are trying to threaten their victims!?”

The moment you heard Charlotte’s description, you froze, staring at her with increasingly wider eyes while slowly returning to your original position, putting the red hat back onto the bottom of your bag while shifting its contents around until it was covered by another item.

“Oh! Sorry for interrupting you, I just really wanted to tell you about it before I forgot, so I kinda ran my mouth. What were you saying about the hat and coat you saw while shopping?” Charlotte shifted her attention back to you, her usual big smile on her lips as she apologized, causing your face to nearly start blushing.

“O-oh yeah… I thought about how weird they looked. Like, who in their right mind would buy something that stupid looking? Right?” You nervously laughed it off before quickly changing the topic.

Maybe– just maybe –today wasn’t the day to tell Charlotte about your brilliant idea to surprise people with gifts.

Clorinde

It was fair to say that if someone had asked Clorinde how she imagined her evening to go, “having to convince the guardes to release you after they had to fish your half-conscious and yet still screaming body out of some families chimney after you got stuck in it upside-down” definitely wasn’t going to be her predicted response. And yet here you were anyway. Having to explain the whole situation to a pair of justifiably disturbed parents and their child was exhausting enough, but having to do the same to Fontaine’s police force was a completely different story.

“Miss Clorinde, you want to tell me that the subject attempted to climb down someone’s chimney to… deliver them a present? I know the two of you are close, but are you absolutely sure that your perception of them might not be skewed by your relationship? Having to confront the fact that a friend or partner might not be as kind or innocent as thought can be a difficult process.” The guard asked her once again, a compassionate look on his face, only for Clorinde to shake her head resolutely.

“I’m absolutely sure of it. They may do questionable things from time to time, but there’s no doubt in my mind their intentions were well-meaning.” She responded, causing the guard to let out a deep sigh before putting his signature on the piece of paper in front of him.

“If that’s the case, you can pick them up over there… just please make sure to tell them not to do anything like it again. When it happens once, it could be a misunderstanding… if it happens twice, there’s no excuse.”

-

When the two of you finally left the building, you were holding on to Clorinde tightly, tears rolling down your face as your whole body trembled.

“I’m never doing it again. I thought I was going to die there! Can you imagine how scary it is to be stuck in such a tight place? I couldn’t even move my arms!” You finally managed to form a few coherent sentences, taking deep breaths every once and again as you didn’t seem to calm down until Clorinde reluctantly put one of her arms around you.

…There was nothing wrong with showing weakness, but could the two of you please go home please?

“Why are chimneys so small in the first place?” You eventually asked, not specifically aimed at Clorinde, rather any chimney Archon that might be eavesdropping on your conversation, causing her to let out a small sigh she didn’t realize she had held in before starting to move.

“Let’s get you home first before we discuss architectural matters.”

Furina

If you had asked her on any other day, Furina would have shot down your idea in an instant. The mental image of the former Hydro Archon donning a red hat, coat and fake white beard before handing out small presents to the residents of Fontaine passing by on the street being horrible enough to make her visibly cringe. And yet, when you asked in what was a conversation littered with jests, she jokingly accepted, thinking nothing more of it and quickly forgetting your proposal… that was until she opened her door on one winter day, only to find you standing there, dressed in the same outfit you had described all this time ago, with a second one in your bag.

While you seemed to have the time of your life, talking with a child and their parent in as deep of a voice as you could muster before showing them a big smile, letting out the same laugh she had at one point found amusing before quickly growing sick of it and handing them a small toy, the same could not be said for Furina. 

Sure, she did her best to imitate your cheerful act, her career as an actress making her performance perfect enough that Furina was sure no one was able to tell it was just a charade, but saying she was having a blast would be far from the truth…

“And? Is it as bad as you thought it was going to be?” You asked her in what was barely more than a whisper, making sure nobody around you would be able to hear your voice.

“This is embarrassing. I cannot believe I actually agreed to this. Aren’t you scared someone will find out who you are?” Furina responded in kind, only for you to let out your deep laugh once again, nearly causing her to cringe then and there. 

“Anyone looking for Furina would look for someone clearly just acting. So throw your worries out the window and just embrace the ridiculousness and you won't have to worry about a thing”, you explained, before giving her an amused smile. “Try it.”

“Try what–” Furina asked you in a confused manner, only for it to click the moment the words left her mouth, “--No. I’m not doing the laugh.”

“I promise you’ll start to enjoy this whole thing if you just do it.”

“I–... I cannot believe I’m actually starting to consider it.” Furina cut herself off with a sigh, before once again opening her mouth and finally following your advice. Letting out as deep of a laugh as possible while approaching the next parent and child she saw, only to receive a smile from you in response.

“Ho Ho Ho! What’s your name? Let me take a look at my list to see if you were a good child this year.”

Navia

Handing out gifts was one thing both you and Navia appreciated. No matter how much money you had, seeing someone’s eyes light up when they received a present was enough to turn even a middling day into a good one. And if there was one demographic besides your loved ones that felt great to give gifts to, it were children, so when you pitched your idea of dressing up and delivering presents to Navia, she was quick to take you up on it.

Having the outfits designed and made, as well as putting enough money to the side to buy enough toys to hand out to a all children of Poisson and Fleuve Cendre as well as a few of Fontaine’s overground took quite a bit of time, but once it was finally done, you and a few of your colleagues were ready to head out.

As Navia sat in her office, nervously glancing at her clock every now and then while waiting for you to return, she couldn’t help but start to worry. Making a few rounds in the Fleuve Cendre shouldn’t take that long. Sure, the canalisation could be a bit disorienting from time to time, but you had been down there often enough to know its layout like the back of your hand. Maybe you just made a quick stop somewhere along your way? No, you wouldn't be two hours late if you did… or maybe you ran into trouble?

Just as Navia was about to start imagining horror scenarios however, a knock on her door interrupted her thoughts, and when you waltzed into her office with an apologetic smile, she let out a sigh of relief.

“Where’s your costume?” Navia’s attention shifted to your clothes once she finally calmed down, only to find the red coat and hat missing. With a slightly embarrassed smile you signaled to the bag in your hand, previously full of toys, now containing nothing but your outfit. 

“A few kids asked me to play tag… and I kind of– Heh, tripped and into the water.” You nervously explained as Navia observed the clothes in your bag. “The parents of the child didn’t let me leave before I washed up and they could clean my costume, saying it would be wrong after everything the Spina did to help them… so that’s why I was late.”

“When I took a walk around Poisson I saw a lot of smiling children today. I’m sure your idea brightened many days, so thank you. Welcome home.”

[babyhedonistt]

Too Close to Touch // FOUR

Warning : violence, swearing

Three Years Ago……

“Fine then just walk away like you always do!” You yell at him as he leaves out of your bedroom, your door hitting the wall of your bedroom as he stormed into the hallway. “If I don’t walk away I’m going to say something I regret.” Noah grumbles, not turning to face you as he grabs his car keys off the island. “You won’t even listen to me!”

“I don’t need to. I saw everything I needed to.” He scowls. You run in front of him and block the front door before he could exit. “Y/N, move.”

His eyes were glassy. They were half open but his jaw was as clenched as he could make it. He was holding back his tears. He was angry.

“No. You always run when you feel this way. It’s not fair to me.”

“How do you explain this photo then?” He asks, holding up his phone. I snatch the phone out of his grip before zooming in on the photo he pushed into my face. “Noah, this isn’t even me.” You look at him dumbfounded. “Yes it is. The tattoos match. “

Your mouth went slack in disbelief. Your boyfriend was accusing you of cheating on him, and considering you can’t see the faces of these people in the news report, claiming you specifically were cheating on your rockstar boyfriend, you couldn’t believe the accusations leaving Noah’s mouth right now.

“Well, since you’re so fucking smart, you would know that I have a butterfly tattoo behind my right ear.” You say, pulling your hair over your shoulder to show him. “I know that.” He scoffs. You zoom into the side profile of the woman in the photo to reveal no tattoo on the woman’s neck.

The color leaves Noah’s face before he looks up at you. “Y-Y/N, I’m so-“

You throw the phone at his chest with a toss. “Don’t even start that shit.” You shake your head at him. “This is the third time you’ve accused me of cheating on you Noah. And the three times you have, you’ve been wrong consistently. Answer me this,” You fold your arms across your chest.

“Are you trying to make me leave? This is a serious question, don’t bullshit me.”

He should have said no. He should have said no without any hesitation.

But he did. He hesitated.

“Y/N.. It’s not that.” He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You can’t bear to break up with me that you have to find some way to make it my fault? Why? Why can’t you just be honest with me and tell me you don’t want to be with me?!” You point at his chest.

“Y/N..” He starts and tears start pouring down your cheeks. “Do you know how many news articles I’ve seen about how many women you’re supposedly with?! Oh! Noah Sebastian spotted with a new woman! Oh! Noah Sebastian flirts with reporter, any new sparks? Did you ever stop to think about how THAT makes ME feel? As your ACTUAL girlfiend?”

He bit his lip before shaking his head. “Y/N, you know how I feel about you.”

He looked like a kicked dog with a tail between his legs. He knew he was wrong, but there was something he wasn’t telling you that you needed to get out of him.  “I don’t think I do, Noah. You’ve been so busy working on your new album this is the first time I’ve gotten to spend time with you in 2 weeks! I never see you anymore and right now it seems like I’m the last person you want to be around.” Your cheeks were soaked with tears. He finally snapped. He grabbed your arms, pulling you in front of you, gripping your arms tightly.

“You have no idea how hard it is to do what I do.” He claimed, holding his gaze with mine. “I thought you’d be more supportive than this.”

“Get your fucking hands off me.” You squirm in his grip, but he keeps you in place. “Folio was right. Maybe I shouldn’t have gotten involved with you.”

Ouch. That…

“Let GO.” You release yourself from his grip before going over to open the front door. “Get the fuck out of my house.” You don’t even look at him. “Y/N, I didn’t mean-“

“You don’t mean a lot of things apparently. Now get out. And never talk to me again.”

Part of you wished he denied leaving. You wished he refused to leave and fix things, but he didn’t. He walked out of the house and you slammed the door behind him. He went no contact.

And you received the NDA proposal in the mail a week later.

To be continued...

Yall might get a double post today lol. I thought this flashback needed to be by itself. :) Much Love <3

[humanuser0613]

Damn. I've really been considering this and saw this article posted. It seemed like the sign I needed to post my thoughts.

The "will they or won't they" isn't the point of this post.

They don't have to. They shouldn't have to.

Fans who claim to want to hear it from their idol directly are very much DEMANDING a response that they are NOT PRIVY TO. YOU, AS A FAN, ARE NOT OWED AN ANSWER.

And it seems most people say they'll only listen to Tae as a means of denying the very obvious pictures that have been unleashed upon us.

Speaking of those pictures, yes, it's them. Yes they're dating. (And, again, no, we don't need confirmation.)

That means that gurumi (who wasn't found yet as I previously posted) was telling the truth. And it means various scary and sundry other issues related to the invasion of the idols' privacy. I don't even want to hear from the "they signed up for this" crowd. 😡

What point am I getting at?

1) They've deliberately chosen not to publicly confirm their relationship. That doesn't mean they aren't dating. It means they want privacy.

2) The person who tried to sabotage them last year, and is STILL running around free, may attempt to do so again. We have no idea what their ultimate aim was in the first place.

3) The people demanding an answer from Tae or Jennie are actually leaving them open to this kind of blackmail.

Most *normal* people use their eyes and ears and brains to understand the context of the things around them. To make sense of it all. When the pics dropped and were VERY CLEARLY those two, the demand was for them to publicly confirm the relationship and to stop "playing with fans' hearts" 🙄 or some other bullshit.

Fans had two good choices at that point and one bad choice: 1) accept 👍, 2) ignore 👍, and 3) deny 👎.

1) those who accept just want their idols to be happy, to be able to live life normally, or they were people who already shipped them and felt they won at life. 😐

2) those who ignore any dating info are not into the gossip and just vibe with the personalities and music.

3) those who denied gave more ammunition to gurumi to post more pics. The pressure to disprove the pics grew to involve even more idols having private pics released. And complete strangers were harassed, and had their own pics stolen so fake accounts could be made to deny, deny, deny! (One being an account gurumi warned people about a full year before it was used to deny, yet again, taennie pics.)

They also resorted to hating on the idols' bodies, clothes, and personalities all to deny the dating info. So much libel was going on, and for what?

And now they wait for Tae to confirm. Not even Jennie can say anything. It has to be Tae. And how does that make them different than gurumi demanding a public statement?

Those who accept or who ignore take away the power of the person(s?) trying to expose them. Cause they don't need the statement. They'll support the idols anyway.

Those who deny are the ones who hold the idols hostage. Will they continue to support the idols? Is their support conditional on the idols dating only their band members? Or not dating at all? Or dating only people they approve of (y/ns included)? Are they actually supporting the idol by denying the relationship? Or are they actually denying the idol freedom to their own emotions and choices? Are they supporting their idol by talking shit about their partner or are they disparaging the choices of someone they claim to love unconditionally?

What are they personally trying to save by denying the happiness of someone they claim to love?

I can't answer some of these questions.

Tae solos, jenlisas and taekookers undoubtedly don't want to have their fantasies destroyed. It can emotionally hurt a body to have been so deep in a fantasy and to be wrong about it.

But I can't figure out why ARMYs are denying what is so obvious. What do they get out of these denials?

[maxverstepponme]

Let’s breakdown the timeline of these last few weeks or so. (I’m not lazy anon but I am lazy so sorry if I get some dates wrong)

- Sometime the week of the Azerbaijan GP Marina Bay anon and Lens anon show up. This starts a chain of lots of “insider anons” showing up. Some are definitely fake but some seem real

- Kelly posts a video of her and P in New York on the 28th but Steppy finds an ask form the 26th that’s says Kelly’s in New York(days before she ever posted she was there)

- Also on the 28th the Daily Mail released the article and the fake pap pics and are hinting Kelly is attending the Met Gala(Side note: Her bag and shoes are form her friends company and dress from a brand that has affiliate codes with the DM)

- Also sometime around here Deuxmoi posted anon asking if any insiders had anything on Max and Kelly

- Black and White anon makes two appearance on the 28th too. Once to confirm what Marina Bay anon is saying and later to say it was weird how quickly someone wrote into Deuxmoi. (I’m going to be honest I looked through all of Deux’s stories from April and can’t find the actual anon and I don’t remember what it said. Sorry

- I forgot to mention this earlier but a week before the Azerbaijan Gp Kelly was trying to make it seem like her and Max were on a weekend get away but he actually went to Holland for his Heineken sponsorship

- Back to the 29th. Kelly posted her and P in NYC again. This time P is pictured on a faceless man’s shoulder and in a stroller. Lots of discussion about both but K only addresses the stroller thing

- On the 30th an anon is sent saying Victoria unfollowed and re-followed Kelly

- Just Another disappears

- Max comes second in the Azerbaijan GP and Kelly doesn’t make a congrats post

- Max immediately flies back to Monaco after the GP instead of Miami or NYC like people had been speculating

- Black and White anon shows up again this day(Also take these with a gran of salt because who know if it’s the real one. Same of the other one too)

- Lens Anon up again to answer questions.(Lens Anon we need you to come back and give us Miami tea please🙏🏻)

- Yasmin and Nelson Jr both confirm they are going to Miami

- May 1st, Met Monday, lots of discussion on if Kelly is going is she not?

- Sophie comments “💗💗” on Kelly’s post after only 15 minutes

- People say she’s overcompensating for Vic unfollowing Kelly and to shut down rumors

- Kelly goes in a blocking spree after a bunch of comments asking if she cheated on Max

-She deletes all the ones asking if she cheated and if Max broke up with her but leaves the comments asking if she broke up with him(Side note: Steppy also noticed that Kelly had unblocked her but reblocked her even though she never commented or anything)

- Met Gala happens and of course she wasn’t there

- This is where I’m having trouble. I have no clue when Kelly announced the “meet and greet” with PatBo but It seems like it was announced on the 1st(I can’t say for sure)

- On the 2nd Steppy confirms that Marina Bay anon has sent her proof and seems to be real

- Max leaves for Miami and doesn’t land till around 7:00 EST

- Disco Anon shows up and sends proof to confirm that they are real. (Check the #disco anon to see all that was talked about)

- Kelly, Dafne, and Patrica host a PatBo influencers lunch event on the 3rd

- Everyone is talking about how Kelly looks completely different in every picture and how the botox and filters are getting out of hand

- There’s also lots of discussion about how Kelly looks very unhappy and tired and everyone hopes she doing ok

- On the 4th Max gets pap leaving his hotel and it’s the same agency that pap’d him and Kelly in Miami last year and St. Barths the second time

- An anon sends an ask saying they saw Max and Kelly the night before and took pictures with Max but Kelly ignored them. In a later anon they send in two pictures as proof.(Side note: Max and Kelly aren’t interacting in these pictures. The first on is Kelly a few feet in front of him getting in the car and the second is him standing outside of the car and he appears to be talking to a guy I’m pretty sure was Raymond)

- The Kelly meet and greet happened and is seen in a video just awkward standing in the back

- She also only posted 1 or 2 stories from the meet and greet.

- That night the Piquets go out for Sylvia’s birthday and Max isn’t there

- The day after Kelly reportedly ignored a fan multiple people post pictures with them and a “fan” even wrote about how Kelly was really sweet but they say they didn’t want to interrupt her so they waited till she was leaving to ask for pictures but end the message with “and then she went back to get dinner”

- Yesterday the 6th nothing really happened except Kelly went out with Patrica and Dafne and Max wasn’t there again

- Also somewhere in there an anon noticed that Verstappen.com deleted their last post with Kelly

- FINALLY!!! Today the 7th. Max and Kelly didn’t walk in together but Max does walk in with Nelson Jr

- Kelly posts a picture from the RB garage and a weird distorted picture of Max

- Max wins the GP and hugs all of his team and Martin but doesn’t hug Kelly back

-He talks to Martin instead of Kelly and people are saying they’re giving ChaCha in Abu Dhabi vibes

- Kelly posts now 14 stories from the GP when she usually only posts a couple

- Everyone is discussing how it seems like she’s really milking it

Oof Steppy this took me forever. Sorry it’s soooo long and sorry if I messed up any of the dates. I just thought since these last couple of week have been so messy that we need a recap. Imo the vibes for the last few week have been off and the vibes today were off the charts wacky and weird. Definitely still think thinks aren’t right with them and that Kelly is trying to get all she’s can before it’s too late. Anyway have a good night Steppy and Nonnie I’m going to sleep

👀.

Do you want me to tag this?

[popculturebuffet]

Lion King II: Simba's Pride Review (Birthday Review for WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy people and it's time once again for that annual tradition where I celebrate Kev, my client turned friend and client who comissions much of the reviews you see on this blog, exactly how he likes.. by talking about lions for a while. And after covering the rather abismal interquel 1/2 last year, we're finally onto the sequel this year, Simba's Pride.

Simba's Pride is my first time covering one of Disney's various DTV sequels. And while many a kid can recalled having to suffer through these things , I honestly don't have a ton of experince with them. I saw about 6 as a kid: the aladdin sequels, extremley goofy movie, this one, pocahantas and hunchback. I saw them advertised sure but I was more a toy story kid. I watched and was scarred by that one way more than most other disney films outside of say Aladdin, which I remember watching all the time .That and the aristocats. MOstly for that bitching opening

So i'ts not a suprise the only ones I really remembered were the aladdin sequels.. and extremley goofy movie, which is likely responsible for me loving goofy so much. Yes over the orignal , I just headbanged to the aristocats what makes you think I just magically turned into this one day?

That said.. I was curious to revisit this one when the time came as Lion King II has one of the better reputations among the disney sequels, feeling both SLIGHLTY more necessary. It's well liked to the point that when lion king sequel series LIon Guard happened, Lion King 2 was kept fully canon, to the point season 3 goes out of it's way to explain why the new crop of chracters from lion guard are absent during this film.

So the question is does this film hold up... or is it simply good by comparison to Mulan II: Everyone Woke up On the Wrong Side of the Bed This Morning? Find out with me under the cut.

We're Doin a Sequel: I almost didn't have much of a production section this time, but thankfully wikipedia provides.. in this case an old LA Times article from when the movie was in pre-release. It's not DEEP into production but it least it gives me some insight into how the sausage was made on this one.

The first was this pretty damming line from Buena Vista Home Entertainment's president, which sums up the DTV boom in a nutshell

“We look at the feature animation business as a way to set up the original story,” said Michael Johnson, president of Buena Vista Home Entertainment Worldwide. “Their energies are absorbed completely in new productions. So we have set up a division through the television animation group to do the sequels. . . . That’s not to say this isn’t good enough to go theatrical.”

This.. may be one of the grossest things i've seen disney do. It's not homophobia gross, it's not "making a feature film next to a concentration camp" gross, but it's still horrible to make a division just to make cheap sequels you don't consider anything but money , not only discrediting the work done by the animators on these films, but also admitting your making a shoddy product just to get money from parents who trust your brand. Am I saying this is the first or last time any company, disney included, pulled this kind of shit? No. Not even close. Even GOOD movies have done greasy shit to their animators, see the shoddy conditions on across the spider-verse. But this is still a special kind of wrong and set up a whole industry of wrong in these cheap half assed sequels. If antyhing could remind me WHY we need the writers and actors strikes, this is a big flashing symbol as to why as execs haven't really changed how they treat animation, just the tactics for being shitty to it.

That being said as always it didn't stop the team from trying hard, as Sharon Morill, then vp of DisneyTVA which also ran these things, was determined to break the stigma. It sadly didn't happen, but I can't fault her for trying. And Lion King II did try. It had a four year development cycle, which for animation seems pretty normal, but for one of these films is twice the length. They also changed up some things along the way but we'll get more into that with the film itself. The film released to mostly good reviews, with no one liking it more than the first but still finding it a fine sequel. So what'd I think of it? Let's explore that shall we? A Good Idea at The Time The core of Lion King II isn't terrible. it has some cracks just from the foundation but it's a solid idea for a sequel: We focus now on Kiara, Simba's daughter, played by the star of one of my faviorite franchises and a huge get for the time, Scream star Neve Campbell, who was just coming off scream 2 when this film came out no less. She does a great job once we get to the present with what she has, suprising no one. This honestly wasn't a bad move: unlike most disney sequels the setup for one is there in the finale with Kiara's cornoation, which is where this film picks up before going into her life as a cub, then spending most of the film on her as a young adult. Not only that the film does have the clever idea to play off Simba's trauma: he's overprotective of his daughter and Nala can see it.. and it wears on her more and more with time, with her finding pride rock confining and being annoyed he constantly sends her gay grandpas to go spy on her. You can see both sides: To kiara the pridelands have become a cage her dad's keeping her in but you get that simba still has lingering trauma from both Mufasa's death and his own buffet of near death experinces. Simba is wrong to smother her like this, but you can at least see why he's like this.

This time though there's ANOTHER lead, Kovu, played by disney legend and goof Jason Marsden, which sets a trend: While Cambell is a big flashy name most of the cast are either returning form the first one or are vetran voice actors or tv stars. Nothing wrong with this as the cast with one glaring exception we'll get to all does a fantastic job. The only one not to return is Rowan Atkinson, whose replaced by Fraiser Vetran Edward Hibbert and who does.. fine. He's not as good as rowan, but he's not bad and Zazu isn't in the film enough for it to be a real issue.

Kovu is one of the outcasts, a group of lions who were banished from the pridelands for supporting scar wholeheartdly. I'm a bit torn on the outsiders as the concept: I like the idea Scar had actual supporters, that Simba, given how much scar had done to him, overreacted and banished them all instead of trying to work with them, giving them legit reasons beyond WE EVIL to hate Simba and want him dead. That said.. their also a MASSIVE retcon that makes zero sense in the context of the original film. What lionesses we saw hated Scar and resented him, the pridelands were dying so it's hard to see why anyone would support him, even a small pack , EXCEPT simply being evil, and NONE OF THEM did anything about scar being eaten by the hyenas nor against the rest of the lions, nor tried to start a war when Simba exiled them. The Hyenas are also conspciously absent as , despite Cheech Marin being tapped to return, they were apparently written out.

There's also a massive elephant in the room: See if you look at Kovu you notice he kinda LOOKS like Scar and his mom, the leader of the outcasts and one of the best parts of the film Zira, played by Suzanna Planchette to vllanous resentful perfection, acts more like a vengeful widow. Surely i'm just reading too much into this and Disney didn't SERIOUSLLY consider making a film about incest right?

Yes. I wish to Mufasa up above I was kidding. Granted this info is midly suspect as neither tv tropes nor wikipedia have a link for it.. but givne Kovu looks like scar, how Zira acts about her former leader and lover, and how it seems very weird Scar wouldn't just sire an heir outright and just pick some random baby, i'm feeling it's true and it's laughable they got as far as they did before someone said "Wait isn't this incest' Which yes, yes it is. It makes the romance between the two feel weird as even with the film trying to act like Kovu isn't scar's son just his heir... it still very much comes off like Kovu IS scar's son and no one brings it up becuase lions apparently give a much of a shit about incest as the writers of this flim did.

Zira and Kovu are fascinating though: Zir ais as clever as scar, has a swagger to her and seems just at all times like a snarling engine of vengance. Her husband is dead.. and so his murderer shall burn. She's not deeply complex, but she is incredibly fun to watch and sometimes tha'ts all you need. Kovu meanwhile has a LOT of fascinating layers: he shows up hostile to kira as a cub and it's clear with how the outsiders function that he's been raised as a weapon his whole life: only to fight an dsurvivie with what scraps they have out there. And his transition to adulthood is shattering: Kiara is just herself but older, simply less willing to take her dad's shit after a lifetime of it. Kovu by contrast goes from a fairly sweet innocent kid.. to a revenge engine modled by his mom to infiltrate the lions and kill simba. Marsden gives a truly awesome performance, with just what Kovu has become being clear.. but also that beneath that what he could get from Simba's side of things.. could be better.

The problem is that while the setup is really good, the first third of the film having the two as kids and setting up the situation, and it's enough that I just ignore the massive leaps needed for the outsiders to exist or the fact their basically the hyenas but as lions, the rest of the film... does almost nothing with it. Instead of diving into these two characters and especially Kovu's very complciated crisis of concious.. they just do things in the most most cliche and tired way possible: Kovu finds his new life almost instantly better and plans to tell Kiara asap but can't, his clan gets tired and attacks, Simba blames Kovu and tries to clamp down harder and kiara leaves, theyg o back to stop a war. it's basically west side story or romeo and juliet but speedran so all the actual conflict and emotoin is gone. Kovu dosen't even kill anyone, the death is on Simba for Kovu's brother.

Oh and since we have to talk about him at some point let's talk about Kovu's brother. His brother is Nuka, a shabby lion who thinks he should be heir but proves every second why he shoudln't and why his mom didn't choose him, basically being comedy relief. They then try to give him a tragic death scene which would work.. if it were not for one clear error. one horrible mistake that ruins the character. They cast Andy Dick to play him

Yeah even putting aside his harassment , general creepiness and the fact John Lovitz had FRESHLY punched him in the face for making a crack about Phil Hartman post death (AFTER also enabling Hartman's wife's drug addiction), WHY would , even for the price of a nickle, you cast ANDY DICK for a dramatic death. Even before we knew he was somehow even worse, Andy Dick's whole existance was to be a punching bag. you hire him to annoy your audience and your characters. You CAN have a comedy characters death mean something and be truly gutting, take 24's death in venture bros or even among disney hooty getting turned into a puppet during owl house. But you have to make us care about that character on some level beyond being a joke no one takes seriously first. With Nuka.. he's just a dick who envied his brother and stupidly challenged Simba to a fight. And even as much of a dick as Simba is in this film, more on that in a moment, Simba STILL tried to just bat Nuka away. Simba, despite being ambushed, despite his hatred of the outsiders, despite everything you'd expect.. WENT EASY ON HIM. He didn't want to kill anyone. He only started getting serious when Nuka, somehow, proved to be an actual opponent and didn't even kill him on purpose. The idea of Simba being forced to that is good, but it just dosen't work when the character is nothing and had no personality other than "Pralines and Dick". Fuck em. And most good ideas end up like Kovu or Pralines and Andy Dick. Kiara is mostly wasted, mostly just wanting to bone her cousin and having a fairly sterotpicla disney princess arc, Rafiki is just there to push the main couple together, and Simba .. simba gets done kinda wrong. While the idea of him turning to his worst impulses over trauma is good, the film has so much going on instead he just comes off as a massive prick whose prejduiced, judges Kovu because he , in the context of the film HAPPENS to look like his arch enemy and isn't related to him, and treats his daughter like shit. Brodrick tries but there isn't enough depth given to Simba or anyone for this flim to work. The film just feels half assed...

It dosen't help despite not really giving the story time to breathe.. it also spends a LARGGGGEEE MEATY CHUNK of the storytelling on musical numbers. There's about as many as the original.. but I can barely recall them, with all just feeling like half hearted rehashes of the originals And unlike the original films songs which were all vital to the plot in some way (Circle of Life set the tone and theme of the film, I Just Cant' Wait To Be King fully sets up Simba's character for the first act and has him ditching Zazu, Be Prepared fleshes out Scar and sets up his big plan to kill Mufasa while also revealing at it's start that Scar was working with the Hyenas and by it's end reveals the Hyenas as a real threat, Hakuna Matata handles the time skip and sets up Simba for the third act, and Can You Feel the Love Tonight? has Simba and Nala begin their romance, which is key in getting him to go home. ). In contrast while these numbers COULD commuincate key stuff, they all go on so long they just pad out a film that REALLY didn't need padding, it needed a liver and some kidneys to help it function better.

The one thing the film does really well.. is the animation. Seriously while you can tell this isnj't a theatrical budget.. you can also tell the animators stretched every dime they had to make this LOOK theatrical grade. While some shots i've seen, or some sequels i've seen outright look like they were made cheaply, Lion King II looks damn good and worthy of the original. Despite all the challenges it'd bring the characters still look expressive, colorful with just that hint of real animal movements that made the original's animation so damn good. It may not look as good as the original but for what they had to work with it looks as close as they could possibly get and that's DAMN impressive.

So yeah overall this film isn't great. I wanted to like it I did: It sounded good.. but the final product , even acknowlding the struggles they likely had, is so padded and full of wasted potetial it just makes me sad. It's still probably one of the better Disney Sequels as it both had a reson to exist, good ideas and the animation is again fucking beautiful. But it sadly isn't as much as it could've been. Hopefully when I get to Lion Guard at some point, we'll see what a lion king followup truly could've been. For now.. we can only watch this and see someone almost but not quite make it. Maybe if disney wasn't treating these like disposable money factories this could've actually worked.

[simemeoww]

Body art as an opportunity to leave a mark of his own on you

Author's note: This is based from my character Mateo, who happens to be a yandere. I made a visual novel where he is one of the main characters. If you wanna play my game(to what i will be really happy) here is the link: https://simemeow.itch.io/love-stuck

You sat with Mateo in the hall looking at his various magazines. "Wow! Your magazines are so unusual! Very colorful,” you described. And in fact, it was true, a lot of these magazines can be used as a reference for drawing. The photographs and articles published in these magazines could be described as a creative boom. The minds of these people fascinated Mateo, the way they played with lighting, people, added elements of creativity, masterfully edited photographs, creating small masterpieces.

"Yes, that is right. I really like their serial releases. Whenever I have trouble creating any ideas, I look through these magazines and with renewed enthusiasm, I pick up a pencil and sketch. I will be honest, sometimes making a sketch can be a challenging task, with a lot of experience, I still face this problem,” he confessed.

You listened carefully to his problem, not to say that you really understood what he was talking about, but you still felt sympathy for him. As you mulled over his reasoning, you began to imagine some ideas in your head to help him overcome his misfortune. At this time, Mateo turned the page, and you saw a very strange thing. “Why is he not wearing clothes, and besides, why is there paint on him from head to toe?” - you asked.

“Ah, this? This is one of the types of art, it’s called body art,” he explained. Your eyes were glued to this strange art, you had never seen anything like it before, much less heard about it. Mateo watched your interested reaction, deciding not to turn the page yet so that you could watch the man outlined to your heart's content.

Your cheeks turned a soft red shade, various thoughts regarding this man entered your head. “Was he ashamed when they painted on his naked body? Was it ticklish? How did the person feel who painted on it and used it as a personal canvas?” - all these thoughts raged like waves.

And then it hit you. It was a bold idea, but you weren’t sure you could handle it. Just one thought made the blob in your cheeks turn a couple more shades darker.

Mateo let out a chuckle, his eyes carefully scanning yours, amused by the faces you unconsciously made, showing the awkwardness you felt inside.

"What are you laughing at?" - you asked angrily.

Because of your straightforward question, Mateo could not restrain himself and fell into an uncontrollable laugh.

“What a bastard you are! I've been thinking of all sorts of ideas to help you with your art block. And you!" - you pressed him.

"Is it true? And what kind of ideas did you have?” - the interest in his voice again made you come to your senses about your shameful idea. “Um… Haha…” your tone told him that your idea might have been a little awkward to just say out loud. Connecting the dots, he understood perfectly what your thought was, a smile appeared on his face. “Aren’t you weak?” - he joked.

“Why the hell is it weak?” - you shouted at him in defiance.

"Well, I don’t know, if it’s hard for you to say your thoughts out loud, then acting on them will be even harder,” he teased you.

You gave him an irritated look that screamed not to joke with you. “Bring your brushes and paints, now we’ll do Body Art,” you said arrogantly.

-Hm? - Mateo did as you said.

You stood opposite each other, waiting. You didn’t dare make any movements, all the clothes you were wearing were still covering your body.

“You know, you don’t have to do all this to help me. Especially since it causes you such inconvenience. Let’s just limit ourselves to some part of your body that you are not ashamed to reveal,” he suggested. His proposal was reasonable, standing in front of him naked for the first time would be quite embarrassing for you. That's why you decided to wear shorts and give him complete freedom to do whatever he wants with your legs.

“Okay, if you want to rest, tell me, okay?” - he warned you.

Mateo took a thin brush and began to make a rough sketch of whatever came to his mind. The sensations from this brush were twofold, because on the one hand you were relaxed, which made you sleepy, and on the other you were ticklish, which is why your hips twitched a little, which in turn forced Mateo to paint over this place repeatedly.

In some places you looked at what Mateo drew, it was an image of a dove and a raven fluttering in the sky, which were decorated with bizarre shapes of clouds.

“Beautiful,” you commented. “Thank you, be patient a little longer, I’ll finish soon,” Mateo asked.

He took a larger brush and dipped it in green, leaving a lavish sized painting of his own on you.

“I’m done,” he answered joyfully. “Thank you for being my model,” he said. You immediately got up from the couch to look at his creation, the first thing you noticed was his name, which he wrote in capital letters. “I wanted to add the word property there, but I think you wouldn’t appreciate it,” he joked. “Of course I wouldn’t appreciate it!” - you shouted.

“What do you think of the drawing overall?” - he asked.

"It’s good,” you answered.

Mateo lit up with happiness, his smile was passed on to you. “I’m so glad, especially because I could leave something of my own on your body. “You can’t imagine what a pleasant feeling this is,” he began to explain to you in one breath. And from his appearance it was clear that he was really happy that he could write all over your leg.

“Well, if it makes you so happy, then you can continue drawing on me,” you suggested. Mateo’s smile became even wider, and he hugged you, which is why the undried paint was imprinted on his clothes. You both laughed because of this situation.

From now on, on some days Mateo draws on you, sometimes what you ask, but mostly he draws something of his own. A great way to combat art block isn't it?

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Chortle headlines, anyone?

This is hilarious to me, because I remember that episode of Question Team. I think it was filmed during Acaster's sort of lost years, between Cold Lasagne and Heckler's Welcome, when he quit social media and almost quit stand-up. He did this round on Question Team that, to be really honest, I didn't even find all that funny (I did enjoy a lot of Question Team, but it could be hit or miss as it changed every round, and I thought James' was a bit of a miss). But James got so excited during it, he kept repeating that he'd stopped enjoying comedy but this was great, it was the most fun he'd had doing comedy in ages. I kept thinking that the obvious assumption is he's saying that for a joke, doing a bit on a panel show, but it he was so committed to it, and it was so accurate to other stuff that Acaster was saying around that time (talking in interviews about being disillusioned with stand-up), that I wondered if he maybe he did actually mean it.

...Apparently he meant it. Enough to base a whole new show on it. Good for him, I guess. I don't intend to watch but I hope everyone involved has a good time.

Two pieces of great news, I look forward to the release of both these things. If anyone has not yet watched Cunk on Britain/Earth, go fix that immediately.

The sight of this picture (plus names beside it, since Fern Brady isn't in the picture) is the first thing that has ever, in my entire life, made me even slightly interested in watching a food-based TV show. Not interested enough so I actually will watch it, but still. Someone let me know if Adam Hills starts yelling at DO'D to take a cow apart at any point, and then I'll tune in.

Frankie mentioned in his latest newsletter that he'd be starting a podcast soon. I got excited about that, because I think The Promethiad is the best thing Frankie Boyle's ever done; I think he works best just on his own, talking into a recording device. So I did experience a very brief split second of disappointment when I saw the promised podcast is not that, it's a chat-based thing. Then I remembered that Susie McCabe is the best, and it can never be bad news if Frankie Boyle and Susie McCabe are going to talk to each other about anything at all and record that conversation. I also like that, as stated in the body of that article, it won't have any format points or anything. Just talking.

I like Christopher MacArthur-Boyd too. I recently watched his special and was slightly disappointed by the first half as I'd read a lot about how funny he was and thought it didn't quite meet expectations, but then the second half was better, and I think if I'd gone in with normal expectations I'd have thought it was great. Also, I think he might be one of those people whom I liked better than his comedy. As in, I didn't absolutely love his stand-up special, but I did really like him, just his general approach to things, so I'd be happy to listen to him talk some more about stuff.

I have already subscribed the podcast, first episode's supposed to be out next week.

You won't get me this time, Chortle, I will not be fooled again. It happened like four times in 2022-2023 that I'd see something about Jonathan Pie, think "Oh this looks interesting, someone known for being a creative and angry political comedian but I'd never heard of it before, I must look this guy up", then I do and remember it's Andrew Doyle from GB News, and then I forget about it and get interested again the next time I see it. Not this time! Go away!

I so often hear jokes making fun of "comedian wins major award for show in which said comedian complains about getting canceled". I hear those jokes so often than I should be sick of them by now, I should consider them trite and overdone. But I don't think they can get overdone when the absurdly over-the-top thing they're making fun of keeps unironically happening. Guess we'll have to keep the jokes going for a while longer.

Hello Edinburgh I am an artist may I have cheap accommodation?

Genuinely, though, this seems like a very good thing. Good for them. Also, I booked my Edinburgh accommodation in November and got pretty lucky to find a place at a fairly reasonable price, compared to the stuff I've read about how overpriced accomodation during the Edinburgh Festival is (not as cheap as the prices quoted in that article, but still, not bad).

There were also a bunch of headlines about Elis James and John Robins doing some new thing that I don't understand, I wish they would go the way of Frankie Boyle and just record themselves talking with no plan.

[chuuwtoy]

Hi, I would like to know what do you think about Wesker having a undeveloped picture of Rebecca in his desk. Many people say it's only a non canon easter egg and he never showed any interest in her but some people say it's there to show that he's a creep

hello! ≽^•⩊•^≼

just a bit of backstory on the rising rookie.

the easter egg was first introduced in Resident Evil 2 (1998), you had to check the desk 50 times before you'd receive an undeveloped film roll of a very cheeky-looking rebecca.

this debate on whether it's canon or not / why it's there in the first place has recently come to life after the release of Resident Evil 2 Remake (2019). here's what you had to do (this is taken from a gamerant article):

To grab the picture of Rebecca, players will need to find the game's hiding place film, which can only be picked up once they've reached the sewers. After picking up the T-Bar Valve Handle and riding the Workroom Lift, the film roll can be found on a table in the upstairs room. Once that roll is brought back to the R.P.D. and developed, it will reveal two photos of different hiding places in the Raccoon City Police department, including a shot of Wesker's desk. With the photos developed, the player should head to the S.T.A.R.S. office and take an immediate left into the private room. In the left-hand side of the desk, a drawer can be opened that will provide the player with a wooden box, which is part of the hiding place quest. However, players with keen eyes will notice that there's still a roll of film visible in the desk drawer when picking up the box.

is it canon? well, i'm not quite sure as it was never explicitly stated to be canon by the developers, not in any JP interviews or Q&A either. although, we do joke around that some devs ship it, especially with Resident Evil 0, and only Resident Evil 0, getting its own Wesker mode 7 years after its release 笑笑笑笑笑.

is wesker a creep? well, yes. have you seen the crimes he's committed? but i think you meant in the "is he a sexual deviant?" sense. possibly, possibly not? nothing's ever been confirmed in that regard so that part is up to you to decide or headcanon. wesker never did show much interest in rebecca, it's quite sad that she survived the train incident and instead of acknowledging her a bit he just shot her!

seeing as capcom is a little reluctant to create new romantic relationships in the world of resident evil, i doubt that photo will have much significance. the film is undeveloped, so it's not like if whoever took it knew what exactly was on it.

when i first saw the easter egg my immediate thought was, "oh, was it enrico who put it there?" he is her captain, saw her more often as well, and the office (or deskspace, depending on which version you're talking about) was also shared with him. but because enrico is a minor / forgotten character no one thought of him first ૮₍ •⤙•˶ !

did you know that Resident Evil Vendetta had its own novel too? but that wasn't very popular since it didn't get it's own english release. there's a funny paragraph that sticks out:

"Work like this makes her feel nostalgic and full of emotions she can’t quite describe. She opens her desk drawer and pulls out the few photos she keeps in there. The first one she lingers on is a group shot of Bravo team from her S.T.A.R.S. days. It’s a commemorative photo of the full team, kitted out in uniforms, lined up in rows in front of the helicopter. The other is a more casual shot of Wesker himself taken during training. Chris, Jill, and Rebecca are in the background laughing about something. Rebecca looks at it and smiles a bittersweet smile."

cute! but it's a little conflicting since during the events of Resident Evil, Rebecca doesn't even know who Chris is haha! I guess this is why they say the movies and novels aren't canon?

i hope this answered your question! it's not really canon until capcom says/implies something about it, thank you and feel free to send more asks. 🎀

[septembersghost]

Old quote- quite poignant "(When I ask Swift if she tried to get her masters from Big Machine, her whole body slumps with a palpable heaviness. “It was either investing in my past or my and other artists’ future, and I chose the future,” she says of the deal she struck with Universal.)" vogue(.)com/article/taylor-swift-cover-september-2019

she did so many good, insightful interviews for lover, i hope eventually she feels like doing a bit of press again because i always value hearing her thoughts and more about her process. this was so foreshadowing of, "he's got my past frozen behind glass/but i've got me." she banked on her future and she was right, and she's managed to forge ahead while triumphantly claiming that past anew. it doesn't mean it's all been easy or erase this hurt, but she's really flown free.

this part too:

"IT'S ENLIGHTENING to read 13 years of Taylor Swift coverage—all the big reviews, all the big profiles—in one sitting. You notice things.

How quickly Swift went from a “prodigy” (The New Yorker) and a “songwriting savant” (Rolling Stone) to a tabloid fixture, for instance. Or how suspect her ambition is made to seem once she acquires real power.

Other plot points simply look different in the light of #MeToo. It is hard to imagine that Swift’s songs about her exes would be reviewed as sensationally today. I wonder if, in 2019, any man would dare grab the microphone out of a young woman’s hands at an awards show. I stared into space for a good long while when I was reminded that Pitchfork did not review Taylor Swift’s 1989 but did review Ryan Adams’s cover album of Taylor Swift’s 1989.

I ask Swift if she had always been aware of sexism. “I think about this a lot,” she says. “When I was a teenager, I would hear people talk about sexism in the music industry, and I’d be like, I don’t see it. I don’t understand. Then I realized that was because I was a kid. Men in the industry saw me as a kid. I was a lanky, scrawny, overexcited young girl who reminded them more of their little niece or their daughter than a successful woman in business or a colleague. The second I became a woman, in people’s perception, was when I started seeing it.

It’s fine to infantilize a girl’s success and say, How cute that she’s having some hit songs,” she goes on. “How cute that she’s writing songs. But the second it becomes formidable? As soon as I started playing stadiums—when I started to look like a woman—that wasn’t as cool anymore. It was when I started to have songs from Red come out and cross over, like ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ and ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.’ ”

Those songs are also more assertive than the ones that came before, I say. “Yeah, the angle was different when I started saying, I knew you were trouble when you walked in. Basically, you emotionally manipulated me and I didn’t love it. That wasn’t fun for me.”

I have to wonder if having her songwriting overlooked as her hits were picked apart and scrutinized wasn’t the biggest bummer of all. Swift: “I wanted to say to people, You realize writing songs is an art and a craft and not, like, an easy thing to do? Or to do well? People would act like it was a weapon I was using. Like a cheap dirty trick. Be careful, bro, she’ll write a song about you. Don’t stand near her. First of all, that’s not how it works. Second of all, find me a time when they say that about a male artist: Be careful, girl, he’ll use his experience with you to get—God forbid—inspiration to make art.”

Without question the tenor of the Taylor Swift Narrative changed most dramatically in July 2016, when Kim Kardashian West called her a “snake” on Twitter, and released video clips of Swift and Kanye West discussing the lyrics to his song “Famous.” (No need to rehash the details here. Suffice it to say that Swift’s version of events hasn’t changed: She knew about some of the lyrics but not others; specifically, the words that bitch.) The posts sparked several hashtags, including #TaylorSwiftIsASnake and #TaylorSwiftIsCanceled, which quickly escalated into a months-long campaign to “cancel” Swift.

To this day Swift doesn’t think people grasp the repercussions of that term. “A mass public shaming, with millions of people saying you are quote-unquote canceled, is a very isolating experience,” she says. “I don’t think there are that many people who can actually understand what it’s like to have millions of people hate you very loudly.” She adds: “When you say someone is canceled, it’s not a TV show. It’s a human being. You’re sending mass amounts of messaging to this person to either shut up, disappear, or it could also be perceived as, Kill yourself.”

An overhaul was in order. “I realized I needed to restructure my life because it felt completely out of control,” Swift says. “I knew immediately I needed to make music about it because I knew it was the only way I could survive it.”

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

Do you think Harry and his team have been navigating this stage of his career well? I feel like there have been some miscalculations in terms of publicity/public image but I can’t quite put my finger on it. It just feels like the few big press events / interviews / editorials could have been handled much better to give less of an impression of “jack of all trades, master of none”…

I have always been very frustrated with the way fandom approach the question about whether members of their teams do a good job.

It is impossible to know whether someone is doing a good job without knowing their aims and their limitations. You might look at something someone has done and say 'oh that's terrible', but not known that they had an hour to do something that would normally take five and in fact it would show their skill.

And that general principle becomes heaps more complicated when you're assessing something as broad as managing Harry's career.

For starters, it does sort of depend what's going on behind the scenes. If Harry is often an absolute asshole to people he meets - then his team is doing a stellar job of hiding that. If Nathan Hubbard is right and there are lots of women upset with how Harry has treated them, then his team are doing an amazing job. I don't think either of those are true, but there might be aspects of Harry's life that they're doing a very good job of hiding from us and the definition of them doing a good job is that we don't know we're doing that.

We also don't know what Harry wants and doesn't want. To give an example, which is very close to what I think is true, if Harry wants to play stadiums, keep his current ambiguity about his sexuality, and also play Tom in My Policeman - then it's not like his team can just magic their way out of that set of contradictions with their powers.

In addition, the goals of Harry's team are very different from the goals of fans. As It Was broke records. Harry's album has spent most of the first six months in the top five in both the US and the UK he's selling out residencies. The fact that people are making fun of him is not the end of the world and does not need to be top priority for his team. It may cause fans distress when people say mean things about Harry, but it's not a team's job to make sure that everyone only says nice things about a client.

I will answer the question in a second, but first I do want to address one last assumption I feel is in your post - when it comes to individual events - a celebrity and their team don't have complete control. Would it be easier for Harry if he hadn't made completely inaccurate comments about gay sex in movies? Probably, but people say things and journalists write them down. Was Venice a cluster fuck? Sure, but there were so many moving parts, so much surveillance, and so much bad faith reading that nobody is going strategise the way out.

So that's all reasons why I don't think it's that useful to try and evaluate their teams in that sort of straightforward way. I'm much more interested in asking why, then deciding whether they're good or bad. If I think I can see what motivates a particular set of decision, or why it might work, I'll talk about that. But I'm never going to have enough information to say this is a bad strategy. The most I'm ever going to say is that something doesn't make sense.

Anyway having said all that I'll try and answer your question. I think it's worth separating two things - the first is that some people are enjoying dunking on Harry on twitter. That is pretty inevitable and not that important. As big as he is it was that sort of reaction is inevitable. (I also think it's worth being very clear sighted about what has changed and what hasn't. I saw somoene say that Harry used to be the critics darling and now people are making fun of him. And then post an article saying exactly the same things critics have been saying about Harry since he released his first album)

The other question is have the contradictions got too much? In the current environment, is the way he's trying to engage with queerness and keep his fantasy boyfriend issue sustainable. That's far more important that people being mean about him on twitter, because it'll affect ticket sales. I think it does get harder and harder to exist in the space he's in, but I don't know if anyone will be able to predict when it becomes impossible, before it becomes impossible.

[alarrytale]

A little while ago you answered an anon about HL becoming an IT couple and you said something along the lines of that they shouldn't leave it too long to CO as a couple because people will move on from them etc, and you mentioned your worry about a younger out couple swooping in before them. I can't remember 100% what was said but it was along those lines. I just wondered how long do you think they have got to CO before people move on from Larry. Larries have been good PR? for them. I don't know if PR is the right word but Larries will promote their projects on social media, they get viral tweets and viral videos. They make it to media articles, even if for negative reasons. They bring more attention to HL. They also help with Harry's ambiguous image. So although they are together and now and then they make negative comments alluding to Larries (which I think is for the purpose of pitting the fandom against each other) they do both Larry bait a lot, especially when releasing a project. It has always worked but more recently fans are calling them out on it, especially with P*easing. Fans are getting tired of being used. Whereas before they only saw Larry signaling but now I think they are coming around to realize that they do bait Larries while also throwing them under the bus for solo fans to abuse. Even Harry wearing his 'stunt jacket' is really boring to me now. Fans used to see it as him signaling to us that it's a stunt, and I think it did start out that way, but now it's overdone. I think HL did have the best intentions at first but now it feels like we're being taken for idiots. I wondered how long do you think Larries will stick around before moving on? Most were still around after Holivia but Louis' documentary seemed to tip them over the edge. So many have left now. What do you think will happen?

Hi, anon!

What a difficult question to answer. So this answer is long.

It's hard to predict because it depends on so many factors. Idk how long they have to come out before someone gets there first and takes all the attention. If Hen*y Cavil* and Sh*wn Mend*s came out as a queer couple tomorrow (or two similar A list celebs with huge social media following/or fandom) it would be too late maybe. Or perhaps a more larry adjacent fandom like Nick Galizine and Kit Connor? The three fandoms already have an overlap in fans. A lot of larries might shift their attention away from larry. It's hard to tell.

Yes, larries are a main driving force when it comes to fan promo, keeping up engagement and namedropping. Both their teams take advantage of larries, bait us and throws us under the bus, as they see fit. It's exhausting and people are tired of it. People are starting to notice the baiting, but idk if it's stopping them in doing their teams bidding. I think people still spend their money on them, regardless.

People are also stunt fatigued. Pr stunts in general is so overdone nowadays. It's being called out more and more. Like, is anyone but tmz buying Kylie and Timmy? I don't know how long H can keep the stunts up before people leave. It depends if he gives us something to be excited about or look forward to, to distract us. So far, nothing. And all the rumours we get about him doing this or that is just 'please, dear god, no'. Maybe those who leave H will just be replaced with new fans who dosn't know he's stunting. I think L should be very careful stunting on top of bg. I see some fans saying that it will be the last time they see L i concert. They're pretty much done. Will L be able to replace his fans? Idk. The pushing of aotv is discouraging.

Idk how long people will stick around, and if they do, if they'll help promote or give them their money. People have different boundaries and level of patience. It's the veteran larries and the biggest blogs/accounts leaving that will make the most damage. I think some fans don't see a way forward that's not more of the same bs that we've already had. They've stuck it out, but are now looking at other fandoms that aren’t given crumbs and then discarded. The grass might actually be greener on the other side. It’s perhaps the first time i've seen this lack of engagement and general disinterest in H and L. But they are on a break now and their future plans are unclear. And other fandoms are active. We'll see if people return, but it's really hard to tell.

[anexlarrieblog]

Hello. I am still new to the fandom and I'm trying to figure things out on my own. And as far as now I'm inclined towards believing that Louis is not really a father. ( According to what is presented to me as proofs) and today I stumbled on your blog while searching the bbg tag.

You've said that Freddie's name is mentioned in Jay's death statement and and it is utterly fucked up if a fake kid's name is used in Jay's obituary.

And I have some points that I can't let go of regarding this. First we never saw the official obituary but we saw internet based obituary, announcements and articles. And every internet article and obituary was the same. The obituary details were mentioned and the names of who she left behind included the names of all her kids but not Freddie. The family statement was released the next day and nothing was said about Freddie in it too. Freddie's name was only taken in the media statement made by Dan Deakin. And can we really trust him??

Dan Deakin is a fucked up man. He sold the dream family house that Jay bought in 2013 just after 18 months of Jay's death and earned a huge profit, he sent his dick pics to Lottie and made a public Instagram post about how Lottie should just forget it and she should not act like she's still mad, Louis and all his siblings broke all the contact with him after Jay's death and he was not even allowed in the VIP area where Louis's whole family was there to support him and he ranted publicly about this "Misbehaver" with him. So Dan is really an asshole and he was the only one who mentioned Freddie in Jay's death statement so can we really rely on this??

Freddie was not mentioned anywhere except Dan's statement and we can't put it past him that he actually got some money to mention Freddie. I'm not questioning your choice but I have seen many people using Jay's obituary as a solid reason for them to believe that Freddie is actually Louis's. But does Dan's statement be counted?? I'm not questioning your opinion or your choice but seeing many people use this and saying Freddie can't be a fake child because he's mentioned in obituary is not even a reason.

Hope I didn't said anything rude. I just want to hear your thoughts on this, as I said m still new and doing my own research rather than believing already made masterposts. And I would really appreciate it if you can keep your answer to this particular topic and not any other topics related to Freddie because there are so many other proofs we can talk about and it will never end. So pls do tell me what you think about Dan's statement.

There are so many things wrong and fucked up with this ask I don’t even went to get into it. I have, very fortunately, never had to suffer the pain of loosing a parent and cannot even imagine what those who have go through when they do. You do understand that this is Louis’ mother we are talking about. Dan was her husband at the time of her death (regardless of his actions since then). So you honestly think that Louis and the rest of his family would just stand by and allow Johannah’s name and memory to be used for the sake of keeping a ‘stunt’ going to forcibly closet her own son against his will… If you believe that then you are honestly just a despicable human being and I can’t help you and I don’t want to.

[lgcmedia]

i’ve been a fan of this youtube channel for the past few weeks and when they dropped two videos this week, i was shocked because in the first video, “the worst customer in a convenience store” i couldn’t stop admiring over the female lead! i thought she was really pretty and a good actress but when i read through the comments, people kept mentioning “SEOHYUN” and i thought it was the name of the character (which wasn’t the case). then in the second video, “[relatable] things attention seekers do”, i saw the comments mentioning legacy entertainment. i put the two together and realized that these videos featured a legacy actress and three of the trainees! 

i thought both of the videos were probably two of my favorites from the channel, but the fact that a channel like this got a chance to hire some people from legacy is just… shocking… 

with a bit of help from my friend, we’ve gathered some details about the four actresses in the two videos! the first one i mentioned was KANG SEOHYUN, who supposedly is under the subsidiary, lgc agency. there isn’t much on her since she joined the subsidiary recently, but after seeing her in the video i’m a fan of hers! i hope she’ll appear in more acting projects since she has a lot of potential! ♡♡

the second person i saw was CHA SORI, who played as SEMI! seeing both the second video and her intro video on legacy’s youtube channel, i’m curious to know whether she’ll continue pursuing the idol path or switch to acting... i personally think she might go with the idol path given her skills, but maybe she’ll be an idol-actor in the end? 

the third person is YU MILAN, who played as SEOHYUN (don’t get it mixed up with the actress, SEOHYUN ㅋㅋ). her character was so damn relatable… ㅠㅠ her acting skills weren’t too bad either, i’d probably say the middle between the three girls in the video but they’re all good in my eyes!! i saw her intro video too and she has such a cute personality! definitely worth one watching for in the future too.

and last but not least, the fourth person is JO SUNHWA, who played as SEOYOUNG. a few of you may have read that one article that was posted over here lately… op wasn’t kidding with SUNHWA’s visuals because my friend was saying how she wishes she was her and i agree. ㅠㅠㅠㅠ i think she was the best in acting next to SEOHYUN since she really shined in the video? i hope she continues to the acting path, but i can see her going to the idol path too. she would make a great center if she was an idol… omo…  

this brings up a question though...... do you think legacy will continue to collaborate with them and release additional videos in the future?

[ + / - ] seriously??? legacy partnered up with some indie youtube channel to create some short films and invited some of the actors and trainees to participate in it??? daebak… that company sure has a lot of resources to do such a thing…  [ + / - ] we’re clearly watching two different things. you can tell how all four of those girls were amateurs when it came to acting. i don’t get why they would get some unknown people to join this when they could have helped the channel even more by getting actors that are more well-known?? [ + / - ] thanks to op, i found some new people to stan!! i skipped out on watching future dreams and the truth untold so i didn’t know who were the next gen of actors and because of these videos, i’ve found my new biases!! ♡

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(  A/N: this article is curated by the lgc team !  for completing their requirements CHA SORI, JO SUNWHA, KANG SEOHYUN, and YU MILAN are awarded +3 NOTORIETY and can include this post in their points pages for reference ! )