#repost some of my greatest hits and improve on some others

[kumoriyami-xiuzhen]

Hakuoki Tsukikage no Shou - Kazama Final Chapter Translation

So. [im going to swear.]

I tried doing something truly fucking insane. I wrote and copied out almost every single stupid shitty word in Chinese from the CH subbed video for this (99% of everything of this was done w/o freaking copy and pasting since it was too fucking hard to locate every stupid duplicated word that i wrote) with my mouse onto google translate (I don't have any other way to input words cuz i don't have a damn input device) before i went and translated this. 

at the time i did this, writing out every stupid shitty word was a lot fucking faster than using an ocr text extractor at the time since i kept having problems with the one i was using... and my fucking gawd did this feel soooo freaking tedious and it really did hurt my hand and arm for a while.... to the point that i’ll still complain about it despite how that was done back around the time i did the tsukikage countdown video....

i fucking demand that everyone who reads this thank me for hurting myself for the sake of getting this stupid chapter translated lol... all in all, i wrote out over 4600 stupid fucking Chinese characters of this in one sitting....

oh and i think i might have forgotten about copying some of the punctuation but idfcrn.

some words/phrases i don’t wanna write in excess ever again: 1) 知道 2) 就 3) 然 4) 一族 5) 着 6) 这 7) 在 8) 我 9) 萨摩 10) 里

you guys better fucking enjoy this lol. or im going to flip a fucking table. or ten. hahaha lol. seriously (not really lol). 

on that note, i also found the Hakuoki stage play with Chinese subs but I refuse to do anything with it as long as those words aren't in text since that's more than 2 hours long, and i’m not that masochistic or insane xD. if anyone wants to volunteer as tribute though to copy/isolate the text though that’s another matter. 

also i had to go read up on more damn history than i'd have liked to in order to translate this damn thing cuz i couldn't understand several words in Chinese since they were Japanese terms which made doing this even annoying since that meant extra work for me to do... and omfg i hated writing this out despite the fact that doing so did save me a significant amount of time cuz I was still pretty bad at using photoshop when i did this...  though I can definitely say that this will be the absolute fucking first and last chapter of anything that i’ll ever write out again since i can say that my photoshop skills have improved enough so that i can extract text at a significantly faster pace and with more accuracy...

images used in this post were snips of the some video of the chapter aside from the last 2 which were from the cgs i posted a loooong while back.

if someone decides to repost this elsewhere, i will seriously stop posting my translations publicly (also i will curse you) :D

(p.s. i don’t have the chapter intro since that wasn’t translated for any of the final chapter tls that were posted online, and as always, edits will be done later)

Hakuoki Tsukikage no Shou - Kazama Chikage - Final Chapter

Translation by KumoriYami

Eighth year of Meiji 7th month

Six years later after what later generations would refer to the "Boshin War." Chikage-san took me away to live at his village within the Satsuma Domain. This is a story of what happened 5 years after I married into the Kazama family.

Eighth year of Meiji, 7th month

My eyes were unfocused.

I was quietly mending something——

Kazama Chizuru: That hurt......!

I accidentally hit my finger with the needle.

Kazama Chizuru:......Messed up again.

This type of housework, would usually be finished quickly.... But today my concentration, from the start until just now, wasn't here.

I know the reason why.

Kazama Chizuru: Ah......

I stopped/lowered my hand and softly sighed. Recently, Chikgae-san has been increasing his visits to human villages. 

It seems that Amagiri-san has also been frequently rushing around to collect information. The oni in this village saw this, and one after another, they began talking about 

——Soon, there will be no more war with humans.

The female oni were especially scared of war.

However I didn't think it wasn't improbable......

But there was no way to say that war wouldn't happen again.

It's hard to think that the world's become so peaceful.

When I was thinking about these things. (door slides)

There was the sound of a door opening.

I didn't need to confirm who this person was——

Kazama Chikage: I didn't see you, so this is where you were.

Kazama Chizuru: Chikage-san......

The instant I saw him, I immdiately felt relieved...... I couldn't help but smile.

Kazama Chikage: What is it? Is there something funny?

Kazama Chizuru: No, That's......

Kazama Chizuru: I always think it's unimaginable in how I am able to recognize you by your breathing, Chikage-san.

Presumably my answer probably surprised him since Chikage-san's eyes widened......

Kazama Chikage: Of course I am also able to recognize you by your breathing, you and I are husband and wife.

If this had been before, I probably would have immediately denied Chikage-san's words.......

Kazama Chizuru:......That's right/Is that so.

There's no need to deny anything now.

Because Chikage-san and I have already had our marriage ceremony in the Kazama village to become husband and wife.

Kazama Chikage: What are you doing here?

Kazama Chizuru: Sewing clothes.

Kazama Chizuru: If the children's clothes aren't taken care of, they might get torn when caught on a branch or from falling down. 

Kazama Chikage: this sort of housework, you can just give it someone else to do.

Kazama Chizuru: But, I have happen to have time......

Kazama Chikage: Accompany me for a walk.

Chikage-san raise his chin, and spoke with an indisputable tone of voice.

Kazama Chizuru: Wait a moment, let me tie this knot......

Kazama Chikage: That thing can wait and be done later, come with me for a walk first.

Really......

Chikage-san's unyielding personality hasn't changed since [even before] we married.

Kazama Chizuru:......I understand, I'll come with you.

Anyway fighting is useless, so I followed him.

It was slightly hot when we reached the forest.

As small birds could clearly be heard chirping nearby, Chikage-san and I walked together.

Kazama Chizuru:......You seem to be so busy lately, have things calmed down yet?

I spoke to him in this way......

Kazama Chikage:............ [he sighs/breathes out  here]

Not hearing my words, Chikage-san showed a distressed expression, and was silent.

Kazama Chizuru: Chikage-san....... Chikage-san.

After using a slightly heavier tone, he finally stopped.

Kazama Chikage:......What's wrong?

Kazama Chizuru: To ask me what's wrong......

Kazama Chizuru: Just now I called you several times just now and you didn't respond, it's very concerning

Kazama Chikage: So it's like that, I apologize.

Kazama Chizuru: No, I'm not upset......

Kazama Chizuru: What's bothering you?

Kazama Chizuru: If it's alright, you can talk about it with me.

Kazama Chikage:............ [he sighs/breathes again here... this one sounds more like a sigh imo]

Kazama Chizuru: If there's anything that's difficult to talk about, I won't force you to say anything.......

Kazama Chikage: No.......it's not something that cannot be said.

Kazama Chikage: As the leader's wife, I think you should know about this matter.

It felt like there was a different weight to the way he was saying "the leader's wife."

After moving to this village, Chikage-san has told me those words [in that manner] several times...... The subjects that followed afterwards, were matters that directly concerned the village.

As I nervously waited for his next words, Chikage-san spoke in a solemn and careful tone.

Kazama Chikage:......There are rumours, that the Satsuma shizoku has been engaging in suspicious activities. [check audio]

Kazama Chizuru: Shizoku......?

After entering the Meiji era, former samurai are now referred to as "shizoku"...... No longer able to receive an official's salary, I've heard that they have had difficulties in securing their livelihoods.

Kazama Chikage: After last year's "conscription notice," it is said that official talks to forbid carrying of blades were given with the "conscription notice."

Kazama Chizuru: Forbidding the carrying of blades? That is to say......

Before I asked my question, Chikage-san nodded.

Kazama Chikage: Banning the wearing of katana

Kazama Chikage: [Meaning] Depriving warriors of the rights associated with them.

Kazama Chizuru: Doing that sort of thing...... aren't the Satsuma shizoku unlikely to accept that?

The Satsuma shizoku were [perhaps: had been] proud to be part of the Meiji Restoration, and before I heard that it was their greatest pride. They had overthrown the Shogunate with great difficulty, but they [however it seems that they] haven't received a decent reward [pay-off is prob more accurate]......

If they are deprived of their privileges that they had and are again forced into having difficult lives, it is obvious that there will be resentment.

Kazama Chikage:......Last year, reportedly Saigo's defeat at the central government and his return to the Satsuma, appeared to be the cause of riots breeaking out in human villages. [refers to Seikanron]

Chikage-san's words caused me to let out a cold breath.

I've heard that Saigo is the Satsuma's most powerful individual.

If indignant warriors gather assemble together under his banner——

Kazama Chizuru: Then, where are you going [probably planning?]?

Kazama Chikage: Come on...... let's walk for a while.

Speaking like that, Chikage-san urged me......

No mater what, I wanted to confirm this matter.

Kazama Chizuru: Chikage-san......

Kazama Chikage:......Nn?

Kazama Chizuru: Will Chikage-san have no choice, but to once again move for the Satsuma?

Kazama Chizuru: Just like when the Shogunate was destroyed......

Because there is a sense of righteousness and companionship with the Satsuma [i'd assume this is more sense of gratitude and debt based on Kyoto Winds/Edo Blossoms], there's nothing to be done on the matter......

If that’s the case, I don't want Chikage-san to once again be dragged into humanity's wars.

He is my beloved husband—— we have many precious things to protect now.

Kazama Chikage:......Do not worry, our Kazama family/clan has promised to help the Shimazu clan.

Kazama Chikage: There is no involvement in the Satsuma right now. I have no plans to be involved in wars between humans.

Kazama Chizuru: Really?

Kazama Chikage: Have I [ever] lied to you?

Kazama Chizuru:.......No

Kazama Chizuru: Chikage-san, thank you. Hearing what you said just now, I can be at ease.

Even so I felt that nothing was stronger than the promise he made just now.

Chikage-san will certainly use all of his strength to protect us.

Kazama Chikage:......Perhaps, in the near future, war may occur in the Satsuma. [the Satsuma may go to war is likely more accurate given the Satsuma Rebellion]

Kazama Chikage: In order to prepare for such a situation, [we] must consider temporarily moving into hiding elsewhere.

Kazama Chizuru:......Yes

The oni of the Kazama village...... everything must be done to protect them. In the past my clan——the disaster that befell the Yukimura clan's oni must not be repeated.

(scene changes to ocean) ~3100 words by now

Afterwards, Chikage-san and I arrived at place....... a place outside the village and near the beach.

The deep blue sea could clearly be seen in the distant horizon, as well as the rolling waves. It's was a symbol and scene of peace and stability.

............However.

Kazama Chizuru:......Is war really going to erupt again?

It seemed as if war would break this sea of tranquility.

Kazama Chikage: I am afraid that it will.

Kazama Chikage: But do not worry. I will certainly protect you all

Kazama Chizuru:......Nn, I believe you.

Our conversation drew to a close once more, but it didn't feel out of sorts.

The sound of the tide carried away all of my worries.

In this way, looking out towards the majestic sea......

Kazama Chizuru:......This reminds me of when the two of us disembarked back then.

Chikage-san was quiet as he turned towards me.

His pair of red eyes looked at me, almost as if to ask for the truth of what I meant just now.

Kazama Chikage: The people [or officials?] from the Satsuma fled, similarly to how the warriors of Aizu did.

Kazama Chikage: It wasn't only the Aizu. The former Shogunate who fought the Sat-cho probably also hated the Satsuma and wanted to go to war with them.

Kazama Chikage: They were pardoned, no longer are they an enemy seeking revenge......

Kazama Chikage: For what reason would they need to repeat a disastrous policy/the same mistake......

Kazama Chizuru:......Yes. I also......don't understand

Kazama Chizru:......However it's already...... fighting between humans, oni must not participate again.

Kazama Chizuru: That's what I think, ever since I chose to live here as an oni.

Kazama Chizuru:.....Yes. Even though——

Kazama Chizuru: Even if  there's a new battle, the surviving members of the Shinsengumi might take part in it, as will others who are the same——

Among them, I heard that some of them had been pardoned.

That possibility of that is entirely possible.

But——

I've truly observed the conclusion to the Shinsengumi's existence.

They cannot be involved, they can no longer live while fighting against the trajectory [of history? alt:against the flow/tide]/ They can't——it's not possible for them to get involved again, and they can no longer survive against the tide.

Right, though it's difficult to say that/sorry/sad to admit to that.

Kazama Chikage: In front of me, you don't need to be strong [put up a brave front]

Kazama Chizuru:......It's alright. I'm not trying to be strong.

Kazama Chizuru: It's true that I have nothing to do with the Shinsengumi anymore——

Kazama Chizuru: Because of that, there have been things [that I have] obtained.

Kazama Chikage: Oh? Such as?

Kazama Chizuru: Yes......

Options

(Choosing to live together with you)<--- (Understanding how samurai/warriors chose to live)

Kazama Chizuru: Your...... being at Chikage-san's side, it was my choice.

Kazama Chikage: Usually you're only complaining, today you're being quite frank.

Kazama Chizuru: Com-complaining......! I didn't say [anything like] that.

Kazama Chizuru: You and the children never listen and don't even know it......!

I tried to argue——

Kazama Chikage: No need to speak. Come. He took me by my arms then held me tightly.

Kazama Chizuru: Ah......!

There wasn't enough time to respond since I was confused, and he grabbed my chin [face/cheek looks to be more accurate] with his fingers.

(Kazama's kiss with Chizuru cg 1)

Kazama Chizuru: Nn......

It was like saying that everything I was belonged to him, as he gave me a fierce kiss.

I also used my lips to respond to his warmth.

Kazama Chikage:......You don't need to be worried.

Kazama Chikage: Even if the Satsuma ['s lands/domain] becomes a battlefield......

Kazama Chikage: I will do everything to protect you, the children, as well as the village's oni.

Although he spoke in a natural tone......

He however was shouldering the fates of me and the children, and of the entire clan.

[To be the one] dealing with this huge amount of pressure, I couldn't imagine it.

Kazama Chizuru:......I will support you. 

While living as a human, then recalling the everyone from the Shinsengumi, I feel sad, although there are times [Although there are times I feel sad when I think of when I lived as a human, and recall everyone from the Shinsengumi......]

But I, have chosen to to support him on this path.

Kazama Chizuru: As a wife...... as an oni, I will do everything to support you......

So, as long as I'm alive, I will always support him.

Kazama Chizuru: Ah. Please stay at my side. You absolutely will not regret it.

(kiss cg 1 again) ——He never broke his promise.

Chikage-san will stay with never go against this agreement, and will stay with me for a lifetime.

So I shall make a promise to him here.

Kazama Chizuru: I will forever be at your side......

——This is the promise of an oni.

——Tsukikage no Shou Kazama Final Chapter End—— 

maybe i’ll go translate yamazaki’s final tsukikage no shou chapter... in like 2 years. or something. if someone hasn’t done it by then. lol. unfortunately, tsukikage is not on my priority list since 95% of what CH TL I’ve seen is only available as videos... and while I’d very much prefer to translate Saito’s ginse no shou route, the only thing that I’ve found with CH TL so far is a short clip from the 2nd common route chapter.... plus, i still have ssl to worry about... and even then, there are some dramas that i really wanted translated along with the rest of kyoka-roku... 

final edits will be done when i start caring about them... later.

also this is chapter 8 for kazama’s route. each route in tsukikage and ginsei no shou has their own unique ending music.

p.s.s. i always love to complain about unnecessary extra free labour.

[carbootsoul]

i was tagged by @katarahairloopies!!! thank u :mwah:

name: leo! @/zeitgeistofnow on ao3, @lazypigeon & @timetohope on here, altho i’m considering uh switching back to not having an art blog :/ i have to think abt it.

fandom(s): ace attorney is my main one rn bc i’m replaying the games with a friend of mine and it’s reminding me how invested i am in the characters!! a lot of my recent fic is atla stuff, altho i’ve been distancing myself from the fandom bc i’ve kinda exhausted my interest in it. finally i’ve been reading a lot of mp100 fic but i don’t think i’ll ever write for it. i just love how dumb all the characters r (with the dubious exception of ritsu)

where you post: ao3!! tbh i always get suprised when people say they write/read fic on any other platform like i haven’t messed around w wattpad or ff.net since middle school... catch up........

most popular oneshot: going just by “one chapter” as the definition of a oneshot, the firestarters, bc it’s fluffy and modern au :) i wouldn’t necessarily call it a oneshot tho bc to me a oneshot shows like, one scene? so like by my definition and your sweet sweet sun makes me crazy (i wanna lay you down and see how you amaze me is my most popular!! (also @ kit u thought UR fic titles were unnecessarily long??? i’ve hit the ao3 LIMIT for characters in titles. it’s about the aesthetic

most popular multichapter fic: sdkjflakjlkj it’s two crowned kings; and one that stood alone, which is a w359 fic i wrote back in late 2017. it’s literally the last fic i haven’t orphaned from when i actually wrote podcast fic (i have 4 other podcast fics but they were all borne out of nostalgia and written after i stopped participating in the fandom). i rewrote all but the last chapter? the last two? about a year ago and i fucked up halfway through so like chapter 6 and 7 are repeated and there’s something missing but i’m too lazy to fix it. no one’s going to read it now anyway :) it WAS the top minlace fic for a little while tho which i take great pride in.

favorite story you’ve written so far: oh that’s a hard question akfsldkfj i honestly like most of them!! and i write a LOT so there’s a lot to choose from. tonight, we are young is def one of my favorites- it was fun to write and i got to explore the ways zuko and yue r similar, which i LOVE to do outside of a zukka/yukka view. you can lean on my arm as you break my heart  is one that i’m really proud of? the whole “cooking as an expression of bato’s love” is definitely some of my favorites. a lot of my ace attorney fics would be categoried as my favorites if i hadn’t improved, too, if that makes sense. like they’re no long my favorites because i can see where my writing is shitty and it bothers me, but if i had written them a month ago they’d be my favorite.

fic you were nervous to post: figures 1-5: killing gods def!! it’s a lot more purple-prose-y than most of my fics and it was also written before i’d kinda like emersed myself in the atla fandom so i didn’t have as good a grasp on the general understanding of zuko’s character as i do now. tbh it’s one i’m rly happy w tho!! i have a few people leave really nice comments on it and rereading them makes me really happy. also it was the start of me hating the position of fire lord and being at least passively anti-it in my fics.

how you choose your titles: they’re almost all song lyrics!! only 14 of my 50 words AREN’T song lyrics and about half of those are from before i started writing ace attorney fic lol. sometimes i go into a fic with a song in mind for the vibes and then i usually go with lyrics from that (like in ‘cuz we’re the greatest /they’ll hang us in the louvre), but otherwise i usually pick an artist i’ve been listening to and go through their songs until i find a lyric that fits. sometimes the lyric doesn’t even really fit the fic and i just chose it at random or because i searching up the word “fly” in my spotify library or whatever. honestly i like coming up with titles? i know a lot of fic writers hate it but being able to just use song lyrics is v soothing for me and while i know that most people won’t search out a song just bc it’s a fic title like.. seeing that the title of a fic is a hozier lyric does affect how i read it and i kinda like that.

do you outline? i outline my long form/multichaptered fics with varying strictness. usually anything over ~8k will have some kind of outline. sometimes i go into it with every single scene planned out, sometimes it’s just notes on the side of the google doc that say “it's about MORE family. about how it's not betraying your existing family to find more” and “scenes i want to include: [...]” and “vampires... ngl kinda hot.” i’m trying to outline super strictly less bc i’ve found it’s less fun? but i do try to keep a plot arc in mind. since most of my fics are more character-driven than plot-driven, that usually just means keeping track of what character development i want to happen or what is motiviating the characters. 

complete: um everything posted on ao3 i guess. also the MULTITUDE of orphaned fics out there asksfjldkj i always click ‘leave my pseud on’ so if u look up my username you see all of my fics and then a. lot of other ones.

in progress: - a fic titled ‘dad phoenix’ that is actually just a no DL-6 au with defense attorney miles edgeworth and single dad bartender phoenix where neither of them want to date for A While but phoenix gets wrapped up in one of miles’s cases. it’s about family. it’s about writing teenagers. it’s about the background franmaya which is ALWAYS what i’m here for in wrightworth fics - a franmaya werewolf/vampire au because i’m ~gay~ and love rivals to lovers and also franziska and maya both being angry their older brothers r dating each other. - my secret santa fic!! which i can’t talk about much but it does feature toph and zuko and also piandao and jeong jeong???? idk where they came from but they are Part Of The Fic Now also i forgot iroh existed for half the fic and wrote piandao as zuko’s father figure and now i’m in too deep. - a 5+1 bakoda fic (maybe a bato/hakoda/kay fic??? i need to decide. that’s part of why this fic is still incomplete bc i can’t decide which relationship dynamic i prefer) that’s 5 times bato said he loves hakoda and one time hakoda said it back. possibly i have already written him saying i love u back and i need to change the title a little. - retail au klapollo where klavier works at an overpriced boutique and apollo comes in to buy earrings for nahyuta’s birthday. klavier gives him a punch card (one that the store doesn’t actually offer anymore as a bid to get apollo to come back) and all of apollo’s family come in to use the punch card and also give klavier variations on the shovel talk/find out if he’s actually into apollo. - a LOT of atla fics that i don’t think i’ll ever finish :(

coming soon/not yet started:  - i want to write some blackmadhi bc they’re.. cute..... and it’s a good excuse to also write athena and i love her - my stuff for yueki week!!! i have NOT prepped enough but hopefully i’ll remember in time! i wrote the prompts in a way that kinda set up stuff i’ve already wanted to write (don’t look at me lol) so hopefully i’ll get at least two or three fics finished in time. - i want to rewrite the wrightworth fic i have about them not getting married bc it was interesting and i like what i wrote about but i think i could have written it better and made it more interesting. rewriting fics is hard tho bc i’m never sure if it makes sense to just edit in the new work or to repost it? and then if u repost it do u delete the old one? conflicting so i might just not

do you accept prompts? totally!!! a disclaimer tho i’m not super into writing atla stuff anymore (most of the atla stuff i’m still writing is  something i made a commitment to finish) so if your prompt is an atla one i probably won’t do it :/ basically anything else is fair game tho!! podcasts/aa/sa/uh i don’t remember anything else but like if you search a fandom on my blog and come up with more than two posts about it chances r i’d be happy to write fic for it!

upcoming work that you’re most excited about: oh huh i mean probably the no dl-6 au!!! it’s the longest ace attorney fic i’ve written already and since it’s wrightworth it’ll get more attention than any franmaya fic i write. my standards r so high now tho after getting to much feedback from atla fans... love u all... obviously i have no choice but to pressure my atla mutuals into playing ace attorney. pls ask abt it bc i WIll Give You A Sales Pitch about why you’d like it in relation to atla

tagging: i’m not rly tagging anyone!!! @deadflora if you still consider urself a fic writer also consider urself tagged! also any of my other mutuals who write fic i just can’t think of anyone rn

[drtwit]

Character Arcs: The Four Points of Establishment

Reposting old essays, so information discussed might be a bit out of date, but the core is still relevant.

I want to explore character arcs from a mechanical perspective and break down what I see as the most fundamental elements to making a successful one, because RWBY doesn't really handle them well.

Now, I'd say the easiest way to describe a character arc is that a character overcomes a hindrance of their own design. You can boil a character arc down to a journey across four separate points; lets calls these the 'Four Points of Establishment' that character arcs tend to hit in that order.

Establish Hindrance - You must show the audience what the hindrance is, what's holding the character back and how hard a thing it could be to overcome. What is the goal of said arc. Pretty basic, you start out most things by establishing what they are.

Establish Need - This is important to getting the audience to get invested in the arc, you need to establish why the character needs to have this arc. What happens if the character does not complete their arc? Why is this important to the character? Fundamentally, I'd say that the need should conceptually be that the hindrance is in some way challenging the character's role in the narrative. The character is the leader who takes their job very seriously? The need can be that their hindrance endangers their team and holds them back as a leader, their role as the leader in the narrative is being challenged because of their own flaws.

Note - I'm not saying that the hindrance can't be internal or personal, I'm trying to say that if it's presented too 'internally' you run the risk of keeping your audience out of the loop and not actually experiencing the character's situation. It's something we assume is naturally happening off screen. The need is a matter of presentation more than anything. When I say that, at worst, they'll bad, I misspoke, as I was trying to demonstrate that the story is doing nothing to present them feeling bad as a driving force or something to care about, because it's assumed rather than experienced. Hope I'm coming out clearer. 

Like, how Ruby is supposed supposed to have a problem where she's hiding the pain behind her positive attitude. But it's harder for us to give a damn about Ruby supposedly going through this because aside from Ruby having a token mention once or two to say 'I'm totally suffering and it's real hard guys', we're just told to assume that all the interesting internal problems she's experiencing are happening, we just can't see them. In a show where you can't get inside the character's head, you need a more external showing of your character's state.

Establish Catalyst - The audience needs to see why the character changes, the journey that they're taking and struggling through to prove both how important the arc is to them and how it's not something that they could have easily dealt with before they wasted your time for an entire season of development. This usually goes hand in hand with displaying the need. Back to our leader example, they at first deny such a hindrance exists, but because of the character's hindrance, the team is put in danger, the character is faced with this and works to overcome this.

Establish Result - The final stage of an arc is showing us the culmination of this journey, what has changed in the character now that they have overcome their hindrance. The most basic way this is done is have a repeated situation where the character at the end of their journey is placed in a similar position to one they had at the start only to make a different decision. If the other points have been established well, this should easily be satisfying because not only has the character improved, but you got to feel just how important it is to the character that they did.

Now, where do I think RWBY falters on this? Lets use the tension between Blake and Yang in volume 6 as an example.

Hindrance - Yang and Blake have unresolved tension because of a mistake made in the past, one that neither reacted well too because of their tragic backstories. Blake is too used to seeing herself as a worthless danger to those she loves and thus runs to protect them, while Yang has abandonment issues and deep insecurities that make Blake's disappearance in her greatest moment of weakness devastating as well as ptsd on top of that.

Need - Now, this is where many people, Rooster Teeth included, falter. It's not that they don't establish a need, it's that the need is more self contained and assumed. The need here is that if Blake and Yang don't resolve their problems... They'll probably feel bad. The hindrance only really hurts them on an internal level that, at worst, will have them verbally say 'Dag nabit, this is not good'. It doesn't effect the story or any of the characters around them, it doesn't really effect them because their attitude and action remain the same. Yang and Blake, as character, are not challenged or inhibited by this arc not being completed. Their teamwork isn't dampened, their interactions don't change and it only comes up when they're safe.

Catalyst - As a knock on effect of the need being so minimal and self-contained, the journey there is empty. They can't struggle or have actual self-reflection because the lack of struggle gives them nothing to think about or anything to change. Yang and Blake get over it because the plot says they're over it now, but there's not journey to this point. it's pay off without build up.

Result - See why these are in a specific order? Because it effects the entire flow. There is no result. They were never externally effected by the hindrance and thus there can't really be any resulting change to satisfy anyone. If you cut out this entire arc, you wouldn't notice at all because the character remain the same as they were and nothing was allowed to effect the narrative.

Rooster Teeth seem like they play it too safe with their character arcs. They want the characters to develop, but they also don't want to make the characters face any sort of consequence that puts them in the any sort of wrong. When I look at RWBY discussions where a character has any sort of screw up or lapse in judgment, there's always a legion of excuses for what the character has done. Which, in my opinion, is a terrible thing for characters. Your character should do something where they're in the wrong and it can't be excused, where they have to realize what they've done and apologize. Rooster Teeth likes to have it that both characters involved in the arc are in the right, but that just makes it so that their improvement seems pointless. If they're both right, what's the hindrance?

To better illustrate my thinking, I'm gonna put up an old piece I wrote up about how I'd improve the Yang/Blake conflict:

You know, I keep seeing people, commenting on Yang and Blake stuff, scoff at the idea of Yang getting mad at Blake for abandoning them. "Blake had good and understandable reasons for leaving, so it would just be stupid for Yang to be mad at her"

Yeah, THAT'S WHY IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A GOOD PIECE OF CONFLICT

Yang has abandonment issues and won't look at it in the calmest and logical light, her getting mad at Blake for this would be a rather mean-spirited and narrow-minded thing to say; which is a good thing for character-writing. It would be character conflict that comes naturally from what we know of the character instead of the Telltale 'Character suddenly becomes an asshole to get a conflict going'.

With this, one of two things would most likely happen:

1:

Blake would defend herself and point out how unfair Yang was being to her, with maybe even Weiss jumping in to have her speech from Volume 5, leading to Yang being a bit of a grump towards Blake for a lot of Volume 6, having her either avoid or be blunt whenever Blake tries to talk to her. Their teamwork is also affected by this. You have scenes of Blake trying to patch things up, only to fall flat as Yang gives her the cold should, ending with Blake giving up and just snapping at Yang. Then the Adam fight happens, Yang comes busting in on Bumblebee, Adam takes advantage of their souring teamwork to own most of the battle. Adam gets a shot at Yang, but Blake get's in the way, taunts Blake about the scar, prompting Yang to realize that Blake probably feels just as vulnerable as she does after losing that arm; realizes she's been a prick, apologizes and promises to be a better partner.

2: Blake would, despite not being in the wrong here, agree with Yang and accept the blame. Blake has a lot of self-loathing and is used to blaming problems on herself (And this would be a good situation where it wouldn't come off as a martyr complex). Hell, this would be a good time to enforce the consequences of the abuse Adam supposedly heaped on her, how she's become just so used to her loved ones being hurt by her. For Volume 6, she spends her time disconnected from everyone else because her self worth has reached an all-time low, her combat ability hampered by her now inability to work with her team and her blaming every small failing on herself. When the Apathy happens, it comes mainly to illustrate just how far she's falling, where the Apathy's influence makes her near suicidal ("Everything's fine, Ruby..."), which afterwards has Ruby or Weiss confronting Yang in private about the clear issues her partner is having.

Yang is unsure of how to proceed or how to even make things better. When she goes to try and apologize to Blake, Blake just keeps deflecting everything and saying that Yang was right, she deserves a much better partner. Then, Adam happens. Blake barely fights back, Yang enters and... She hears Adam's taunts, she hears him ranting about all the promises that Blake broke, all the things he did for her, how she hurt him worst of all. And then Yang remembers all the way back in volume 3, after she broke Mercury's leg, where Blake told her that Yang reminded her of someone. This makes Yang fully realize Blake's situation, the effect Adam had on her and Yang's own actions. Yang is forced to confront what she could become if she let her emotions drive her and keeps herself bound by that one tragic incident where her own flesh and blood abandoned her, as well as what she's done to Blake.

Adam charges up a moon slice and goes in to end Blake, but instead of Blake pulling another clone trick, Blake makes no move to try and dodge. She's alone with the two people she 'betrayed' and she's willing to accept the punishment she deserves. However, Yang jumps in the way and the moonslice once more cuts off her arm, the robot one this time, leaving Yang shaky and handicapped. Blake cries out in terror at Yang's predicament, but Yang stops her to yell back her own apologies. She's sorry for the way she acted, sitting that she failed Blake as a partner and only now realizes what Blake was going through. There's a speech about Yang letting her judgment get clouded, how Blake isn't worthless, how Yang was just so afraid of being abandoned again that she couldn't see the reasons why Blake left, ect.

"Right now, we have a restraining order to file on an ex. But, I seem to be missing an arm, so... I'll need a partner. Know anyone, Blake?"

The two work together to beat Adam, they make up, they promise to be better partners and Blake crying about how she won't leave again makes sense this time.

Both of these not only force Yang to confront her issues and how they still affect her, but also bringing full circle what Tai was trying to teach her: She originally took his advice about not letting herself be emotionally driven as just something to apply to combat, but it also applies to how she interacts with her friends as well (This would also semi-relate to how in the other fight happening, Corvo endangered an entire city simply due to letting her wounded pride and anger drive her) as well as semi-relating to the Faunus storyline of letting one situation paint every person's action.

And that's my piece that's gone on way too long in the tone of that english lit teacher you wanted to throw out of the window. To complete this joke I will remind you that I EXPECT YOUR HOMEWORK ON MY DESK BY FRIDAY, NOON, AND NOT A SECOND AFTER!

[yessoupy]

annual writing self-evaluation (2019)

i. Optional if applicable: link to last year’s self evaluation:

here’s the 2018 eval!

1. List of works published this year (in the order that they were posted):

your skin makes me cry (the walking dead, daryl/jesus)

yellow (harry/reader)

and.... that’s it!!!! yeesh.

2. Work you are most proud of (and why):

Not that I have a lot of works to choose from, but I’m genuinely proud of YSMMC, my very first longfic. I put so much into that fic and actually FINISHED it. And I’ve re-read it a few times top to bottom and STILL love it. It’s probably my favorite piece of my writing ever.

3. Work you are least proud of (and why):

I like them both, lol. But I guess I can say I wished I’d been able to write more.

4. A favorite excerpt of your writing:

I re-read YSMMC on the plane so I could do this. This is my favorite passage, from Chapter 16 (warning: scene is explicit, and why I’m cutting the rest):

Daryl felt him, all over, from the tips of Paul’s hair slipping over his shoulder to brush against Daryl’s chest to Paul’s hand grazing up over his ribs and up his good arm to intertwine their fingers… “You feel fuckin’ amazing,” he groaned, clutching Paul’s hand.

“Shut up,” Paul hissed, hips stuttering and hand clenching tight.

Daryl swept his free hand down Paul’s side and on around to his ass, pulling him closer. “That an order?”

“That’s a ‘shut up or I’ll come before I get to fuck you like I want to.’”

“I make you feel that good?”

“Fuck. You have no idea, do you?” Paul panted, pulling out all slow and gentle, making Daryl’s toes curl and his eyes squeeze shut when he thrust back in. “Hottest thing I’ve ever seen, you lying here for me. You hear those sounds you’re making? Like you can’t help it, like what I’m doing is just what you need—”

“That’s right—” And it was, more than he’d thought it could be, a return to what he’d been denying himself, or maybe wasn’t ready to give himself, for all this time. He blinked open his eyes and Paul was right there. “You’re right,” he breathed.

“Shut up,” Paul repeated, eyes soft and full of something Daryl knew how to name.

“Shut me up,” he ordered, letting himself feel it instead of naming it, taking the moment for the rest of what it was—Paul inside him, finally, like the final piece in a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle he was afraid he’d lost pieces of. That’s right, he thought, eyes rolling back as Paul took him in hand. That’s right.

5. Share or describe a favorite comment you received:

@gaydaryl left my favorite comments on YSMMC over on AO3. I’m reposting all of them because it felt like everything i had consciously tried to do and put into daryl’s character was getting picked up and appreciated. 😍 v affirming [spoilers ahead.... lol]

on chapter 18:

this entire fic is like a warm hug and makes my entire body get the weak gay tremblies!!!! desus's dynamic is so good the entire way through and also daryl having had a husband before and it never being a point of contention and paul getting it and talking about jesse with him... god. it's so beautiful

also i've always been a sucker for "asshole but trying to be a good brother" merle characterization, and this Hit The Spot

i love this !! so much!! i can't wait to see the rest

chapter 19:

OH MY GODDDDD this was MORE than worth waiting for it's BEAUTIFUL i LOVE this fic their complete faith in each other is so good. and daryl's line about negan losin to TWO? SEXY OF HIM

chapter 20:

this fic the entire way through felt like such a breath of fresh air. having daryl be confident in his being gay, having had a long term relationship before, the absolute softness with which you wrote it all... it's so good. i loved it so much and it's one of my fave fics ever, i think, because the characterization is so utterly perfect and feels so real. thank you so much for writing it! 

💜💜💜

6. A time when writing was really, really hard:

That last chapter just did NOT want to get figured out. Didn’t help that I was heading into the worst mental health of my life. And then after I finished that fic in September, I ... stopped writing. I’m only just now getting to a place where I can imagine again.

7. A scene or character that you wrote that surprised you:

Reader, lol! Yellow came from a dream I had and the feel of it wouldn’t leave me so I had to translate it into words somehow. It only made sense to write it from that point of view, which was not one I ever thought I’d find a use for.

8. How did you grow as a writer this year:

From last year’s: “It’d be great to actually have the ability to write something long. I feel like the ideas I have are for short pieces.” I 100% accomplished that. I feel much more comfortable writing explicit scenes, although they still take so much more effort than basically any other isolated scene. 😩

9. How do you hope to grow next year:

I want to contribute to more fandoms. I have been nudging along at a timestamp for YSMMC, I’d like to write more in-universe TWD (not canon, because Fuck Canon is my refrain for like, everything), I want to venture back into Star Wars and positively contribute there, and of course baseball!Harry. Maybe even... Prodigal Son? Who knows! the Chappy/Olson from 2018 needs a sequel.

10. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc):

For the second year running, @chasm2018. My go-to beta is not as comfortable with helping to improve explicit scenes and Hannah volunteering to not only offer help with those but also the rest of the fic... invaluable! Couldn’t have done it without her. And I definitely owe her baseball!Harry.

11. Anything in your real life show up in your writing this year:

Anytime you see something about a character being insecure in some way about their queerness, that’s me. an example, from your skin makes me cry:

There was a rainbow flag tacked up over his desk. Daryl had known because of what Rick had said when they were out for drinks, that Paul never tried to hide and managed to avoid any bullshit about it because he was so good at his job, but it was another thing to see those bright colors just out there for everyone to see.

“Problem?” Paul asked, a hard edge to his voice.

Daryl had been caught staring at the flag. Fuck, now Paul probably thought he was some ignorant hick homophobe. “No, ‘course not.” He cleared his throat. “Me too. Nice to have some company, ‘s all.” He wanted to punch himself, wanted to slink away out of sheer embarrassment. He hated every time he had to do this. In his head he knew that Paul wouldn’t think less of him, but he couldn’t help but think he didn’t exactly look like he belonged with all the other people who could put rainbow flags up over their desks. Only places he ever felt like he really belonged was out on his bike or in the shop. Only places he felt like he belonged anymore, anyway.

Paul didn’t say any of the worst things he could have said. Daryl had heard them all from well-meaning people who didn’t realize how all of those phrases cut him in different ways. “Oh, I could tell,” was just as bad as, “Oh, I never would have guessed,” if for different reasons. Paul just smiled and said, “Thank you for telling me.” Then they walked together the short distance down the hall to Eugene’s office where Paul told him to let him doing the talking.

12. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers:

Same as always: write what you want to read. And don’t be intimidated by the writing of others. :)

13. Any new projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year:

I left Poe and Marek alone for ANOTHER year. I keep opening those docs and poking at them and now with the sequel trilogy done maybe I can shape them up. 

[olgagarmash]

The friendly greeting from the receptionist. The smile and nod to familiar faces in your weekly bootcamp. The collective huff when an instructor shouts out another round of burpees. Even for those of us with a get-in-get-out mentality, the gym provided more social interaction than we likely realized. That made it a shock to the system when we were forced to transition to solo living room workouts nearly overnight.

This transition was an even harder hit to those who met friends for classes after work, engaged in locker room banter with other regulars and fed off the energy and motivation of a class full of people.

Among the (many) mental health challenges of a year-long pandemic is the loneliness and isolation of social distancing — and digital fitness platforms have emerged as a way for people to find meaningful connection with others.

“COVID-19 altered the way people spend their time. We are no longer commuting to large offices, meeting friends for happy hour or interacting at special events,” said Kinsey Livingston, vice president of partnerships at ClassPass. “For many people, physical activity and connectedness top the list of our mental health needs, and we are turning to virtual, outdoor and distanced studio workouts as a healthy coping mechanism for pandemic stress.”

Related

Online communities: From underutilized feature to lifeline

Fitness has always had a strong community aspect, but being able to tap into this connection digitally has been a lifesaver for many.

“The role of community features on fitness platforms is gaining importance. Many people are seeking to re-create that feeling they used to get in group fitness classes,” said Liz Kelly, a licensed social worker for Talkspace, an on-demand therapy app. “With so many individuals trying to balance working from home, parenting young kids, supervising their children’s virtual learning and facing other stressors, fitness platforms offer a chance to engage in convenient self-care and find some normalcy.”

And the fitness industry has responded to this demand. “It’s been incredible to see the fitness community unite. Whether it’s instructors hosting Zoom workouts to keep the community together or fitness professionals across brands hosting coffee chats and interviews via Instagram live,” said Tanysha Renee, SoulCycle Instructor on Equinox+. “People are creating challenges and teams and reposting and tagging each other. I think in the end, the fitness family on a whole has found a new way to keep each other motivated and accountable during these unprecedented times.”

Follow TMRWxTODAY on Instagram for live workouts

At one time, the community component of digital platforms was an underutilized and sometimes snubbed feature — but when the pandemic hit, it quickly became a lifeline to the outside world.

“I think there was a time when online communities were thought of as a less-than form of connecting with people, maybe even a crutch for things that were missing in our ‘real’ lives,” said John Malangone, from West New York, New Jersey, who purchased a SoulCycle at-home bike and connected with the community on social media when in-studio classes were canceled. “Today all of that has changed. Through quarantine, remote connections were all we had and out of pure necessity have gone from taboo to being an actual tool that, if used in a positive way, can foster meaningful connections that we never had access to before.”

This shift is one that Sydney Miller, founder of Housework, an on-demand and live-streaming workout class, noticed more and more people willing to make as the pandemic wore on. “We’ve been living socially distanced lives for almost a year now and people are craving connection and are more willing to go outside of their comfort zone to meet others.” Miller said. “I think it’s still possible to find these connections even though we aren’t all in a sweaty room together; it just of course takes more of a willingness to form them.”

Related

Re-creating the camaraderie of in-person fitness

“Group fitness classes offer a chance to be with others focused on improving their health and wellness and giving each other support. Those high-fives and cheers from a workout buddy are really meaningful,” Kelly explained. “Group fitness offers adults a chance to reclaim some of that feeling we had as kids on the playground with our friends. It is an opportunity to interact with new people that we may not otherwise encounter in daily life.”

Miller said she founded Housework in hopes of bringing the energy of in-person fitness classes to mobile devices, and she expanded the offering to include Zoom classes as well during the pandemic. “In my Zoom classes, I do everything in my power to create connections and foster the same community experience that you would find in a boutique studio prior to the pandemic,” said Miller. “Before and after class I’m on Zoom chatting with people and introducing them to each other. Over the last year, it’s been amazing and rewarding to be able to form relationships with clients that I’ve only ever met through virtual workouts, and likewise to watch them become ‘friends’ with others in the class that they’ve never met before either. Once a week, I host more formal coffee chats after class where we stick around after the workout and get to know each other better — just like we would grab coffee after class pre-COVID.”

Getting a virtual high-five or sharing a cup of coffee through a screen may not be quite the same, but in a world where most of us are socially distanced from others, it’s creating opportunity for the social interaction that’s so vital to our mental health.

“The community has filled such a void for me. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss in-person studio workouts, but Housework has this magical way of giving us that feeling on Zoom,” said Colby Berman, who lives in New York City and has become a regular in the Housework Zoom classes. “In the spring of 2020, I made more of an effort to join the ‘Housework + Coffee’ classes — we stick around after class and socialize — as well as follow my fellow members on Instagram. From there, I’ve formed great friendships and accountability partners. The community has played such a big role in my mental well-being, allowing me to feel like I’m back in a studio with dozens of people even though it’s all virtual.”

“Group fitness offers adults a chance to reclaim some of that feeling we had as kids on the playground with our friends.”

Liz Kelly, LCSW

Rodney Waites from Missouri City, Texas, took multiple SoulCycle classes a week with his wife, Missy, before the pandemic. Over the past year, he’s been accessing classes from home on Equinox+. “Live classes allowed us to get back to a routine,” he said. “Stuck in the house, these classes gave us someone to see outside of our home and a much-needed sense of normalcy. And that was huge.”

Waites began to follow and interact with instructors he liked on Instagram in hopes of taking their classes in person once gyms opened again. “Granted, it was mostly via social media, but many of the instructors made our family feel that we are getting through this thing together,” he said. And the digital interactions mirrored in-person connections.

“Junior reached out to us and asked how we enjoyed the reggae-infused playlists and asked Missy (who is of Guyanese descent) who her favorite artists were. Another instructor saw a video I posted and immediately hit me back and gave suggestions to correct my form to get more out of the ride,” he shared.

“One of the greatest benefits of being part of a community is recognizing that you are not alone,” Kelly explained. “I have personally seen many individuals gain insight and perspective from online support groups. It can be incredibly healing to have someone else validate your emotions and experiences.”

More than ever, we are craving companionship and support, and this is something that the fitness community has always provided.

Miller said that she makes it a point to still incorporate the aspects of in-person group fitness classes that make it special. “During live classes, I still love to make people feel seen during the workout by calling out their name and cheering them on. … I like to spotlight people in the class so that it is not all about me — it’s about everyone who showed up for the workout and that makes it feel even more like we are all in a room together,” she said.

While Malangone said he misses the in-person interactions he once had — like hanging out before class, grabbing brunch or making Trader Joe’s runs with other members — live classes are helping to bridge the gap. “Live classes have been a great way to re-create some of the same in-person excitement of planning and attending a class with friends. Many of us use social media to plan our rides together. We post photos, give virtual high-fives, celebrate milestones, and show gratitude to our instructors,” he said. “Social media has brought the missed connection back to life and while we can’t wait to get back to the actual studio, we still love showing up with each other anyway we can.”

Finding an emotional support network during a tough year

For many, the connections found through fitness go much deeper than simply sharing health goals.

Malangone said the connections he made in the studio carried over into his life beyond the gym. “Something about sharing the intensity of a class together creates a bond that’s palpable. We cheer for each other both in and out of the studio. We stand up for each other. We celebrate each other,” he said.

The community continued to be an emotional support network for him, even when shutdowns and quarantines kept him out of the gym.

“I’m very vocal about my struggles with anxiety, depression and alcohol abuse and how finding a community of like-minded friends to support me in my journey has been a critical part of my recovery,” said Malangone. “When the pandemic took that away from me I struggled and I relapsed. Not just with drinking, but emotionally. Like many others, I found myself in a pretty dark place.”

He turned to Facebook with the goal of re-creating a community to meet other at-home riders and found many others looking for the same thing. “Today I use the online communities to post jokes and memes, but I also try to highlight other riders and instructors so everyone can share a moment in the spotlight,” he said. “Over the past year I’ve also tried to harness a little of the collective power of the community to promote fundraisers for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ nonprofits and, most recently, to help feed families suffering from the financial impacts of COVID.”

Waites was surprised to find the instructors so invested in the mental well-being of members. “In one conversation, the instructor Chris from Austin told us he saw a post regarding the police and George Floyd. This meant so much to us because he reached out without even truly knowing me, but knowing my family was hurting; he asked if he could do anything to help,” he said. “The SoulCycle instructors have meant so much more to us than just telling us to ‘double-tap body roll.’ The playlists and inspirational words have given us an escape by providing us our own little ‘Soul bubble’ in our home.”

Related

Berman also recounted leaning on her online community during the pandemic: “At the tail end of 2020, my best friend tragically and suddenly lost her dad. Housework and the community were there for both me and her during that time of unparalleled emotions,” she said.

Renee said that an online community has the potential to be just as powerful as in-person connections, and she has seen that play out over the last year. “Members are so interconnected that some have even gotten others interviews for jobs, emotionally supported each other through personal illness and family loss and much more,” she said. “During the height of some of the darkest days of 2020, particularly surrounding the untimely deaths of BIPOC, the community came together to host discussions for educating and healing. All of this was initiated and organized by community members.”

And an online community may even allow people to make deeper connections than they were able to face-to-face.

“Prior to the pandemic, much interaction was limited to chats before or after class, whereas now, we all have a bit more time to connect,” Renee added. “People aren’t physically racing to the next meeting or to drop off their kids etc., so there is more time to share. Share more laughs, share more selfies and share more personal details such as new pregnancies, new promotions, break-ups, mental health struggles … Having a more in-depth connection has allowed me to truly see the members of the community and in turn, I have an even deeper appreciation for their presence, knowing all that they are juggling.”

via Wealth Health

[loki-of-war]

On the future of TWD

(EDIT: Reposting due to a formatting error)

So I’ve seen a lot of people commenting and sharing their opinions lately on how Chandler’s departure will affect the show, if it will survive this hit or not, for how many seasons more will TWD run, etc, etc. And I decided, now that I’m thinking more rationally (I hope) and I’m able to form understandable sentences, to share my honest thoughts with you lovely people on this entire mess.

Which is as follows: I give the show a minimum lifespan of ten seasons (meaning, the show will end in two more seasons) and a maximum of twelve seasons in total. This is my verdict, feel free to disagree with me.

Now onto explaining why I think this is so:

I can sort of see why old fans who left and people who have never liked Carl or feel lukewarm about him are happy this death is going to happen. But on the other side I'm thinking this kind of mentality is the reason why the show gets away with terrible decisions and why they keep making them over and over, declining in quality. I don't think it's right to condone mediocrity; this is from someone like me who has stayed on the TWD's side so far hoping they'd find the right footing at some point this season  (then, obviously, because why wouldn’t they, my patience and tolerance was rewarded with this haha). And as I mentioned in a previous comment I made on YT, no matter what the public's feelings for Carl are, they won't change the importance of his role in the plot and his fundamental connection to Rick (this latter element has an effect on the whole cast, for better or for worse).

But anyway, Carl's death is going to change the entire mood of the series from now on so it definitely will never be as it once was and I think because of that the story will slowly bleed out. I mean, Carl has been the greatest determinator for every single one of Rick's decisions the entire show, and not only that but what he symbolised as a character, the hope for a better future, is gone now. What do children, sons, daughters, symbolise in every universal story? The next generation, what comes after, that not everything is going to be screwed up forever; especially after seeing how unmerciful TWD's world has proven to be for children and having Carl be the only exception to this 'kids cannot survive this world' rule has sort of become a moot point thanks to the...current circumstances.

Rick's and Lori's speeches to Carl in seasons 2 and 3 respectively justify this way of thinking: that after everyone from their generation (the adults) dies, Carl will have to take the reins and move on. I refuse to believe any writer with common sense would write such important pieces of dialogue just because they felt like it, just because they're emotional words without any other kind of meaning behind them. That is just lazy and awful writing in my opinion. Why write these poignant moments only to have the kid killed long before the end of the series? Why write/do anything if those things are going to be ignored later down the line, nevermind that every piece in a story must connect with the others? Why bother teaching him this morality lessons if they're all going to go to waste anyway; if he will never have a character arc/storyline that is plot relevant where his morals are challenged? (Good on you, whoever made the call, for missing out on possible great storylines for Carl that would have improved viewing and the quality of the show). That doesn't make a bit of sense, unless that what they were looking for was to give the events leading up to his sudden death some twist of irony, and that'd be perfect and all, except that Carl dying was so not part of the plan (the improvisation is so obvious it hurts me in the balls I don't have) and even the way his death was set up was graceless-the bite- and not something one would expect from the same people who made/directed/wrote/produced Season 4. In other words, killing him was basically flipping off the idea of a future in the face, whether they meant to do that or not, and this is bound to turn the overall mood the series to a much grim and darker tone to an already heavy themed and toned series. Many people won't find themselves too content with that heavier tonal change, I think, if the ratings for season 7 are to be trusted.

Ignoring that the conclusion to this was having him die though,  I do have to say the actual set up in the mid season finale itself was beautiful and emotional (Chandler's acting was on point, he was the star of this episode), but the chain of actions leading up to it was lackluster. With lackluster I mean that he is a very important character that has literally been wasted for far too long; if you look at his progression throughout the seasons you'll realize he has not done much from a plot perspective despite being a main character. Therefore, his death feels unsatisfactory and empty because one can't help but feel that he hasn't nearly done as much as he should have. What he did to save his people in the mid season finale was amazing but it wasn't enough to make up for a notorious lack of screen time over full eight seasons, moreover if the motivations that drove him to that point, to that mentality, to that philosophy, don't make sense because his personality has made a one eighty from how he was the previous season with no type of prior explanation as to why that happened.

It may not seem like it but I'm actually a huge fan of angst and favorite-character-slaughter. I love when books, music, movies, videogames, series make me suffer (great examples of this are my undying love for Hannibal the tv show and that my favorite videogames are the ones directed by this one man, life destroyer actually, called Yoko Taro). Perhaps that is another reason why I'm being so critical with the choice to kill Carl (asides from the horrible decision-making and poor writing), because I love being hit in the feels in the best way possible, without holding back any punches, just go straight for the kill and make me cry like a newborn. However, I don't like tragedy when it's done for shock value, or when it's done simple-mindedly. If a favorite character of mine is going down, it has to make sense and they must have had filled out their purpose in the story, reached a state of character development we're all satisfied with so that when they die one can accept it and be happy despite the possible trauma that could ensue after (well, one can't exactly pin point when that happens, when enough is enough, but to have had the character embark on a lot of adventures even without them accomplishing their purpose, is enough to embrace their death). I guess what I'm trying to say with all this is that, while on one hand I would have preferred him outliving everybody else, if they were still so adamant on having him die at some point of the story (as if killing Carl had actually been part of a long term plan and not some last minute decision) they should have developed him first and foremost, and then assign him a proper death in later seasons, most preferably before the last season ends given that him dying before Rick is several different levels of wrong; if he wasn't such a huge part of Rick's character then fine, do it, but putting and end to him is equal to neutralizing Rick for literally years, which is time that both a comic and a tv show cannot afford, so to do it near the end of everything would be a better fit.

And, I don't know, even having Judith fill the void won't be of much help either, because we haven’t and we won't see her grow the same way we did Carl, her relationship with Rick will be vastly different, and so on. Probably this is just me but I'm not really attached to her; Judith so far is to me only a concept and not actually a person (yet). The fact that they keep changing the little baby girls who portray her doesn't really help, that gets me out of the story everytime. She just can't replace Carl, she might take his future storylines but it won't be the same. Besides, by the time she grows up, she’ll already be deep into this world, this is her normal life and probably by that time things will have changed.

So basically, not only in killing Carl they destroyed the image of a future, they have killed a foundational part of the essence that made The Walking Dead be The Walking Dead we all knew and loved, and that will never return. Also, allow me to point out that for those who think that The Walking Dead is about people dying whenever and wherever, and the cruel injustice that is life, I am not going to say that your interpretation is wrong but it is an incomplete one. The audience doesn’t watch TWD only to see tons of MC’s get murdered on a daily basis. Otherwise, why bother with investing time on a plot and just have them all killed at once. The soul of TWD is not about senseless killing and murder and tragedy and sadness. Simplifying it all to ‘this show is about the possibility of anybody dying/gore/zombies/etc’ is a great disservice to the show and the fans. Obviously, I am not neither the writer of the show or Robert Kirkman to claim to know to a T what the central theme of The Walking Dead is, and for full disclosure I have not read the comics. Nonetheless, basing my personal opinion on the tv show alone, I would like to think one of the core themes the show has explored and returns to time and time again is the topic in regards to the essence of human nature, and how in spite of apparent doom and the horrible circumstances we are forced to face, humans will always find the way to move forwards and stay strong, ergo, the message is a positive one, not a negative one, depressing, nihilistic one. And what better character to portray this versatility of human nature, this capacity for change, other than Carl Grimes, a child of transition, a child who was pulled out of his normal childhood and thrown right into the chaos of the apocalypse? A boy who has witnessed inhumane things, horrible things, has killed his mother, his second father figure, has done awful things himself, has always been toeing the line between right and wrong, cruel and kind, because of all the experiences he has had to process in a very short period of time? He was obligated to grow in a decaying world, watching his father and the ones surroundind him make mistakes, learning from them, evolving, seeing close ones die, starving, surviving insane experiences... If someone like that manages to grow in such a hostile environment and still remains true to himself and still has not lost faith in the world and humanity, and keeps close all the meaningful, important things his family and friends told him in the course of his entire life and not only that, but also applies them... What does that mean for you, to you? What does it mean for us? What does it say about human nature that hasn’t been told before or not quite in this manner?

Well, that is the point. I guess we will never get to find out in the Tv Show the answer to those questions. Regrettably.

If, and just if, the show manages to recover from this point onwards, I still have no idea how I'd feel about having the show thrive on the tails of throwing under the bus such a key character with no legitimate reasons behind the choice (don't even get me started on what they've done to poor Chandler). I'll still watch the show but I would be incredibly uncomfortable if that is how it turns out to be.

Finally, I apologize for any grammar mistakes or awkward phrasing you may find, it’s way too late to be doing such a long post and English is not my main language. Please don’t be afraid or feel awkward about replying to this post, even if it’s to hate on it. I really don’t mind having a long conversation about this topic with you all since I’ve literally been dying since Sunday night to discuss it.

Thank you so much for reading!

[geekprincess26]

The Straw Clue: Why I Believe Jon Snow is Undercover

A/N: This is a repost of the meta I published yesterday.  I’ve edited it for clarification and because the original post eliminated a couple of key details that I wanted to include.  Hence the revised and (I hope) improved version of this weary Jonsa fan’s attempt to organize her thoughts about the “Undercover Jon” theory and overcome her meta writer’s block once and for all:

Over the past few weeks, I’ve explored all manner of amazing metas and discussions on Tumblr that delve into the “Undercover Jon” theory.  It’s taken me a while to process them all (not to mention calm my nerves, which were so rudely jangled by the season finale) and figure out where I stand on the continuum of opinions among my fellow Jonsa fans, which seems to range the gamut between these two opinions:

1) Jon is a hopelessly honorable Northern fool, just like Ned Stark.  He made the same mistake with the Northern lords this season that he did with the brothers of the Night’s Watch in season 5, when he allowed the Wildlings through the Wall against his brothers’ wishes because he believed with all his heart that it was the right and honorable thing to do, and it would serve his end goal of fighting against the White Walkers.  This season, he made another highly unpopular decision – leaving Winterfell and heading south to Dragonstone – because he believed, once again, that it would serve the higher purpose of saving the North, and all of Westeros, from the White Walkers.  Once at Dragonstone, he found himself outmaneuvered and in over his head.  He found himself imprisoned and Daenerys (mostly) unresponsive to his appeals for assistance and recognition of the demonic force about to envelop Westeros in its icy grasp.  He initially chose to embark on a suicide mission rather than give away his people’s freedom, but over the course of that mission, Daenerys helped him, saved his men’s lives, and lost one of her precious “children” in the process.  Her sacrifice won his trust and respect so completely that he decided she was a worthy ally, worthy enough to rule the North as well as the rest of Westeros.  Trust and respect turned to love, or at least deep admiration, and the boat scene happened.  In other words, he acted like a noble idiot, just as his “father” Ned Stark did.

2) Jon Snow’s time with the Wildlings and his experiences with Northern politics have made him a capable deceiver.  He’ll never be in Petyr Baelish’s league because he is honest and honorable at heart, but he’s become pragmatic and practiced enough to use deception when he deems it necessary in the service of a greater good.  Before heading to Dragonstone, he (with Sansa’s counsel and approval, probably) formed a master plan to spend his time at Dragonstone (a) persuading Daenerys to believe and help him, and, in the event that failed or took any significant length of time, (b) learning every nook and cranny of Daenerys’s and her allies’ strengths and weaknesses so he could use them as leverage to persuade her, if necessary.  He failed to carry out the first prong of this strategy at first, but he succeeded spectacularly at the second.  He observed a great deal about Daenerys, but played the “quiet, brooding Northerner” card so that she could not discover any weaknesses to use against him.  Eventually, he discovered that her crush on him was her greatest weakness, and he took advantage of it to the hilt in episodes 6 and 7 by pretending to bend the knee and convincing her that he returned her affections.  However, he meant none of it, and he doesn’t trust her or her dragons as far as he can throw any of them.  He only did what he did because it was necessary for him to gain her trust and assistance against the White Walkers, and he’ll abdicate the Northern throne in Sansa’s favor if he has to in order to ensure that the North stays free and independent.

The more “Game of Thrones” fans’ opinions I encountered, both within and outside of the Jonsa fandom, the more I also observed a sharp break not too far past point 1) on this continuum.  People who congregate back toward 1) from that point believe some variation of the opinion that Jon truly fell for Daenerys and will be content to relinquish the North to her permanently, even if he initially did not intend to do either.  On the other side of the break are those who believe that Jon’s quick relinquishment of the North and rush of apparent affection for Daenerys are too implausible and inconsistent with his character to be taken at face value.  Therefore, the only plausible explanation for his actions is that he is deceiving Daenerys to some extent in service of his plan to defeat the White Walkers.  People on this side of the continuum may disagree as to the extent of that deception – did he have a master plan complete with backups before he headed off to Dragonstone?  Did he go there with every intention of gaining Daenerys’s assistance by honest means, only to find himself backed into a corner by her skepticism and insistence that he bend the knee, and see deception as the only way to get out of that corner and gain the friendship of a foreigner he didn’t trust but did need in the only way he felt he could?  Was it some odd combination of the two?  However, everyone in this camp seems to agree that at some point Jon decided he could not get Daenerys to help him by employing any means other than deception (whether about his affections, his willingness to bend the knee, or something else), and eventually he did so in order to accomplish the greater good of defeating the Army of the Dead.

When I first watched episodes 6 (ugh) and 7, I found myself in the first camp, and that hit me right in my tender, Jonsa-shipping heart.  Jon Snow may be a man of few words and know how to play his cards close to his chest, but Kit Harington has always managed to convey his emotions beautifully with his mastery of non-verbal cues.  Look at the way he cradled Ygritte’s lifeless body in his arms at Castle Black, or the internal war revealed by the way he grimaced while she was ripping him a new one about being loyal to “his woman” while he and the Wildlings were preparing to climb the Wall.  He looked so defeated at the end of the tent scene before the Battle of the Bastards, when Sansa threw his offer of protection back in his face, that I wanted to leap through the screen and give him a hug.  When he pleaded with the Northern lords to understand his reasons for going to Dragonstone in episode 2 of this season, I disagreed with him, but that sad, hurt look of resigned determination on his face made me want to yell at the Northern lords for ganging up on my poor kicked puppy.  Jon Snow may not speak much except at need, but when he does, he’s usually as honest as they come.  So even though I was very disappointed in his acquiescence to Daenerys, I initially couldn’t find any other explanation for his actions more plausible than “he meant it, because he said it, and Jon Snow’s always been a little too much of a Ned 2.0.”

But then I read countless metas and discussions and thought some more about this season in general and Jon’s behavior in particular.  I re-watched a number of scenes that intrigued me.  That was when it happened: I finally made the leap onto the other side of the continuum break.  I had a number of reasons for doing so, but the factor that tipped the scales – the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back – was the way Jon acted during his final scene in episode 6, when he (seemingly) offered the North to Daenerys without even being asked to do it.  No variation of the “honest Northern fool” theory could account for his behavior to my satisfaction, so that left only one alternative explanation: namely, that Jon meant to secure Daenerys’s aid by using any means necessary, including flattery (“I’m so sorry about your dragon”; “they’ll see you for what you are”), the (likely false) implication that he would hand her the Northern throne, and any other deception he thought necessary to perpetrate.  How exactly did the thought process of a reluctant convert work?  More or less like this:

During his last scene of the episode “Beyond the Wall,” I watched Jon Snow, heretofore one of my favorite “Game of Thrones” characters, disappear before my very eyes.  Gone was the skeptical, strait-laced, reluctant (and not always competent) diplomat who had to that point stubbornly refused to hand his beloved North over to the mercurial Daenerys Targaryen, whom he had plenty of reasons not to trust.  As soon as he opened his eyes from his berth on Daenerys’s ship to see her staring at him, he was replaced by the character I now refer to as “Doppelganger Jon.”  He turned on a dime into a starstruck, lovelorn knight all too willing to abandon his every promise to the North and especially to the only family he had left (Sansa, Arya, and Bran) in order to please his temperamental, untrustworthy, but suddenly irresistible lady love.  From that point until the rest of the season, his voice softened and his eyes lit up practically every time he saw Daenerys.  He coddled her, reassured her, made love to her, and made me wonder just what manner of creature had body-snatched the King in the North - especially when episode 7 and The-Scene-That-Shall-Never-Be-Named came along.  

And I found that behavior to be even more inconsistent with Jon’s character even than outright deception.  Jon has shown a willingness to deceive others (albeit reluctantly) in the service of a greater purpose, but he’s never shown the slightest bent toward falling head over heels into the bed of a woman he told to take a hike two episodes prior.  This is the man who refused to bed a very willing prostitute because he was afraid he’d father a bastard; the same man who refused a very willing Ygritte until faced with the possibility of blowing his cover to the Wildlings; and the same man who refused a very willing Melisandre because he was still mourning the only woman he’d ever loved.  It took him quite some time even to fall in love with Ygritte, at that, and in the end he left her regardless in order to keep his Night’s Watch vows.

By season 7, Jon had become even more of a skeptic about love and about people in general than he was back in season 3, when he fell for Ygritte – and therefore, in my book, even less likely to turn on a dime and fall swooning into Daenerys’s arms.  His stint in the Night’s Watch taught him both how to betray others (Ygritte and the Wildlings) and how little he could trust even his sworn “brothers” (in the cases of the mutinies against himself and Jeor Mormont).  Therefore, it would take a lot longer than two episodes for him to go from telling a woman he clearly didn’t trust to stick her bend-the-knee demands where the sun didn’t shine (”Eastwatch”) to bedding her with wild abandon.  Even though she did agree to help him, it was in a moment of overwhelming emotion, and her past behavior had given Jon more than enough reasons to look upon that agreement with his usual healthy skepticism.  What if she went back on that agreement in a moment of anger?  What if she decided to use her dragons on a recalcitrant North that refused to follow its king’s lead in bending the knee?  No, Jon needed to ensure that Daenerys’s willingness to help him was permanent, and the most logical way for him to do that was to use her strongest possible motivation, i.e., her desire for a romantic relationship with him.  And even if, for argument’s sake, he did grow a sudden infatuation, or even affection, for Daenerys, he would not prize it above his ultimate loyalty to his family, his people, and the survival of Westeros if he had to choose between the two.  He left a woman (Ygritte) before for the sake of his “brothers,” and he’d do it again if he had to.  He needed to win Daenerys over and to ensure that she would stay on his side, but it wasn’t for love.  It was for the sake, once again, of a greater good: the survival of Westeros and the North and his family.  The Jon Snow we’ve known for six and a half seasons would die on that hill, and his sudden apparent retreat from it at the end of episode 6 was too bizarre a turnabout for me to swallow, even accounting for the season’s exceptionally bad writing.  It was the straw that broke my camel’s back and made a convert out of me.  To what extent his deceptions were planned and to what extent he flew by the seat of his pants, I’m still trying to sort out in my own mind, but I believe this one thing to be true:

Jon Snow is undercover, y’all.  It is known.

[snowtheme-moontheme]

A is for Animals...and being not Actually sure what’s occurring here

I follow some cute, fashionable (imo...let’s be clear about what is fashionable in my very humble opinion before we start) ladies on Instagram who post pictures of their outfits with all these wonderful hashtags: things like the #joyousdressing challenge and #wearwhatyoulove. I have no issue with dressing joyously and wearing what I love, it’s one of my favourite pastimes (nb. I also like dossing about in a pair of Brendan’s boxers) – however, I am entirely shit at hashtagging stuff convincingly. Is this normal? I get cringed about hashtagging even though it’s not cringe at all – you came here to see my face drinking wine so #facewine should be chill – but I’m just inherently uninventive and hit my tagging wall (not a real creative wall, actually) straight away. My avatar picture stumped me the other day after #purple and #beer and, although I love my new collection of piss-head Barney the Dinosaur followers, I decided I would stop trying to hashtag myself until I become able to be adorable/wear my clothes in an adorable manner. I’ve given up hope of becoming rich and famous on the ‘Gram. The truth hurts. BUT I really want to do the #dressthealphabet outfit challenge sooo that’s one of the reasons I have come here and written this thing.

The other, bigger piece which brings me back to Tumblr is self-motivational. I’m notoriously shit at getting out of bed in the mornings – me and Brendan both are tbf – I just love that snooze button. Comfort over productivity, every day. With lockdown it was starting to get out of hand considering PJ bottoms are acceptable attire in the home office. I’m doing lots of positive, life-enriching things during this period (think I’ve had a ride on pretty much every bandwagon?) but I was becoming concerned that post-lockdown I would dump it all because I wouldn’t be able to pop out for a jog or bake a cake in the middle of the day owing to being At Actual Work. So, I bought this special Morning Sidekick Journal – I’ll talk about this more at a later date – for me to convince myself that mornings are rad and so that I can do all my wellbeing shit in the early AM. Thus far it’s working. I’ve got up when I’ve told myself I would on the vast majority of occasions (not all, I’m not Jesus) and been able to do stuff in the morning then smash through my work tasks for the prescribed bit of the day – so far so good.

Anyway, I’ve done short story long here…basically this journal suggests that one of the things you should do each morning to improve your life is to write. I haven’t been committed to writing anything which is both proper and fun for years now (‘fun’ to exclude performance reports at work, ‘proper’ to exclude heartfelt birthday card poems thought up when a gin deep). The last time I forayed into blogging was here on Tumblr. I was having a look at my old accounts under this login: ‘moontheme’, my primary, a collection of brooding images reposted by my little bruised heart of ’14; ‘moonthemeishappy’, when I did the #100happydays challenge and re-learnt joy (I will DEFINITELY talk about this at a later date, it’s important); and ‘moonthemedrinksbeer’, a fantastic archive of us doing the Reading Ale Trail, a.k.a. the most ultimate and greatest treasure hunt, a couple of years ago. I thought I would cringe, as with my attempt at being natural whilst hashtagging or similarly when finding a VERY old LiveJournal that my 14 year old self apparently wrote (it’s gone now after frantically resetting a long series of passwords), but I didn’t. I recognise well all three of those versions of ‘moontheme’, the ‘moontheme’ of today is a combination in equal parts of those three girls. I decided that I would both take the magic morning journal advice and start to blog again, and also that I’d do it shamelessly alongside my old selves.

Apart from my username is always ‘snowtheme’ now. Both names are both bare old instrumental songs by Journey - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1Tm6--XyXQ. Yeah.

SO HELLO to myself or whichever small number of individuals I might get drunk and show this to at some point – it’s self-motivational, habit checking, outfit sharing, probably mostly a load of shit – good to see you again!  

ANYWAY #DRESSTHEALPHABET – A is for Animals (my favourite piece of clothing, in the whole world, from Harkel Clothing). I’ll probably write more about the clothes going forward. Or I might not. As long as I write something.

[fywdh]

( TRANS ) 170103 — interview with ajunews

translated by fy!wdh + originally from ajunews by choi songhee please do not repost translations on tumblr and always credit page 712, or fywdh when posting elsewhere. please obtain permission before translating into other languages. click here for an alternate version with accompanying images. 

It’s an expected stanning accident [unexpectedly became a fan]. If you have watched the film 'Master' (director by Jo Uiseok · produced by Zip Cinema · distributed by CJ Entertainment), then they should be words that you might have uttered. 

At some point the new slang 'stanning accident', which combines the words 'stanning' and 'car accident', started following actor Woo Dohwan (25), and with his mere few minutes of screen time, he "hit" ["ran over"] viewers. Viewers suddenly became mesmerized with Snapback and Woo Dohwan, as if they had become a victim of a sudden stanning accident. 

Rookie actor Woo Dohwan, who has only just stepped into the entertainent industry, is nothing but fascinated with the reaction from viewers. "Working with director Jo Uiseok and actors Lee Byeonghun, Kang Dongwon, and Kim Woobin" already seemed like a dream, but the interest he was showered with from viewers after the film hit cinemas was something unbelievable [to Woo Dohwan]. 

"Honestly, I'm [Woo Dohwan] a bit embarrassed. I didn't know that people would show me this much interest and like me so much. I really never would have imagined it. I'm thinking of nothing else but that I should work hard." 

Woo Dohwan played the role of Snapback, a devoted follower of president Jin (Lee Byeonghun) in the film 'Master' which depicts the chase between the intellectual crime investigation team chasing the con artists involved in a billion dollar fraud case, the largest case of fraud since the founding of the country. 

The tension between you and Mother Kim (Jin Kyung) left a really great impression. I requested an interview with you without even knowing you, or your character's name. wdh: Hahaha. The name of the character was Snapback. I'm happy that a lot more people are looking for me than I expected. 

Our interview with director Jo Uiseok really helped. wdh: Ah! I never would have imagined. The director is a really great guy. He's gentle, generous and always laughed at everything I did. He's the savior of my life. I would like to repay the favor someday. 

Did you get the role of Snapback through auditions? wdh: I joined the movie through auditions. I only found out that I was given the role of Snapback after I passed the auditions. I wanted to show every side of myself at the auditions, so I showed them a bright, and cold side etc. The director said that he 'was looking for a kid who was child-like, but could kill without hesitating'. I think I was lucky. I think I appealed the fact that I really wanted to join the film. 

What was your first impression of Snapback? wdh: I was really nervous. He's someone who is quiet [of few words], driven by money, and can turn his back on people easily. Seeing that side of him made him [seem] more like a child to me. I wanted to keep portraying that child-like side of him, even if no one saw it. After being cast, I went to the gym everyday. I exercised in order to appear like a killer, and thought seriously about 'what can I do in order to pull off the character better'. 

Your external appearance was very strong. Did you input any ideas into Snapback's external appearance? wdh: I wanted him to have a fierce [looking] tattoo. I told the director, and it turns out he was already thinking the same thing. Our opinions on things like hairstyle and costume were similar as well. The director, costume director and makeup director did everything, I was just lucky. 

Snapback is a character who makes you curious about their past. We're curious about his countless cases of internal struggle as well. wdh: A lot of it came together [when he was] with (Park) Haesoo hyung who played the role of the man in the helmet in the movie. From the moment after I was cast, to during action school and until the moment the [filming for the] movie ended. We thought about the kind of environment the two of us [their characters in the film] met in, and the reason behind why the two of us move together. There wasn't much of a character description [to work off]. I think I tried to give off a certain kind of chemistry with Haesoo hyung. 

You must have relied a lot on Park Haesoo. wdh: Hyung [Park Haesoo] and I are from the same school (Dankook University), which I think made it more comfortable. We talked a lot, and I learned a lot. If hyung wasn't there, I think the filming in Manila would have been been difficult as well. 

Your chemistry with Park Haesoo's character was great but the thing that caught our eye first was your chemistry with Jin Kyung. wdh: I had hoped that I would come off as more 'child-like' in the scenes that I appear with Jin Kyung sunbaenim. Originally there was a scene where I smiled when President Jin asked me 'who are you going to save?', but that was edited out. I think there would be a different interpretation [of his character] if that scene had been shown. There's always something that could be improved - I feel like I wasn't able to do as well as the director wanted from me.

We heard that there was a scene that you frequently caused an NG over because you were so nervous? wdh: Because of a mobile phone. Hahaha. I was supposed to pull out my gun immediately after getting a call from President Jin, but my thoughts were different to what the director had in mind. I was going to look at the phone in my right hand, and shoot the gun with my left, but the director said to pull out my phone with my left hand. Maybe it was because I [his character] was supposed to be nervous for that scene, but I actually became nervous [in real life] and my hands got mixed up.... hahaha. Jin Kyung sunbae and the director comforted me so I was able to get through it [the scene].

You must have been very nervous acting between actors Lee Byeonghun and Jin Kyung. wdh: I'm still nervous. Just thinking about it! Hahaha. I was already shaking from the script reading, and was nervous even during the costume fitting and on the filming site. It was even more so because they are such big name actors and model actors to me. To think that I was going to be acting with these actors? I couldn't believe it. I really learned a lot. 

Is that what they call learning just by watching? wdh: With Lee Byeonghun sunbaenim, you would be surprised just by hearing his voice. When I saw his acting during the script reading, I had nothing to say except for 'he's amazing'. I really think he's the greatest actor. I have no idea how he makes people focus on him like he does. I could never fall asleep the night before filming.

What aspects of acting did you get help on? wdh: I learnt how to shoot a gun. No, actually, it would be a slight overstatement to say that I learnt. I still couldn't do it even though they taught me. I technically did learn [how to shoot a gun] in my previous production 'Operation Chromite', but I thought that there would be a difference between a soldier and killer so I asked Lee Byeonghun sunbaenim for advice. I asked him 'What do I have to do to appear like a killer?', and he loaded the gun [to show him] without saying a word. The moment I saw him do that, I thought 'ah, I won't be able to copy that'. I ended up just handling and playing around with the gun in my own way - in order to appear like I was familiar with it [the gun]. 

In the film, Snapback is involved in the tight war of nerves between President Jin and Mother Kim. Did you do anything in particular to ensure that you didn't overpowered in that situation? wdh: I thought really hard about how I should open my eyes [keep his eyes open]. I thought a lot about what the eyes of a kid whose job it was to be a killer would be like - I think I worked hard in that aspect as well. Firstly, I wanted to make the most of that job, so I tried to act rebelliously without it seeming too exaggerated. The acting of the sunbaenims [is something that] would make you lose your breath simply by watching them. Will I ever have the day when I become like that? 

You were the youngest on set. Actor Kim Woobin frequently mentioned that he was 'the second youngest'. wdh: My eyes were opened to the things that the youngest has to do [on set] by watching Woobin hyung. He looked after me really well, and taught me a lot as well. Since he was an actor that I really liked before I became an actor, I didn't know what to do with myself when he called me 'my [Kim Woobin's] dongsaeng, my dongsaeng'. 

We can't not talk about Kang Dongwon, then. wdh: Kang Dongwon sunbaenim is really good looking. Hahaha. I totally fell for him after watching 'A Wolf's Temptation'. It even made me subconsciously think that 'high schoolers are that cool'. Kang Dongwon is truly a pro [professional]. There's a scene where a fight breaks out between him and Park Haesoo's character, and despite filming 3 days consecutively, he was always smiling. His passion for acting was extraordinary as well. There was seriously a lot to be learnt from each and every sunbae.

According to what you've said, your life as an actor seems like it would be a dream. Filming a movie with the actors and directors you like. What was the start of this 'dream'? wdh: I started acting when I was 19. I think I was influenced by my father who was previously involved in theater. With an unclear wish of simply just wanting to act, I started attending acting school, entered university, and ended up at my company (Key East). I think I was just always lucky. My father says 'it feels like you're making my dream come true on my behalf, so thanks'. I'm also just thankful and happy for everything. I'm trying not to forget my roots [where he came from/his original intentions].

From films to dramas, you've mostly been given strong [fierce] characters. For an actor, gaining a [certain] image could be either beneficial or detrimental. wdh: I don't have any burdens or regrets about being stuck with a certain image. It actually makes me more thankful. However, there is a bit of regret in that I feel like I should have expressed it [those feelings] better. I'll be preparing so that I can do even better if I'm given a different image or character. 

If you were to make a personal promise until we meet you again in your next production? wdh: I would definitely like to try a youth centric production next time. I want to wear a school uniform. Hahaha. I will work hard so that the next time we meet, I can greet you through a production and character that expresses the school days well.

[lumiere-visuals-blog]

Why You Need to Be on TikTok if You Make YouTube Videos

TikTok

I don't think you'll be surprised to hear that video is all the rage right now online.

What's more--if you haven't heard--is TikTok.

And no.

Not the Kesha song.

TikTok is a new up and coming social media platform that focuses on short-form video content.

If you remember Vine from way back in the day (Logan Paul's humble beginnings), it operates in a similar manner.

Users are able to upload videos with popular music as their soundtracks that range anywhere from 5 to 60 seconds.

15 seconds seems to be the sweet spot from what we've seen.

"Is this related to Musical.ly or Vine?"

Yes, yes it is.

TikTok is big on videos that are very similar to vine--gymnastics, pranks, and the like--while also simultaneously incorporating the music-focused elements of musical.ly, such as lip-syncing and dancing.

Musical.ly was founded in 2014 by two Chinese entrepreneurs before getting acquired by ByteDance (Beijing-based media and tech company) for a whopping 1 Billion.

ByteDance, who had launched TikTok in 2016, realized that while their app was reigning in Asia, acquiring Musical.ly (which was popular in the USA and Europe) and subsequently merging the two apps would be an excellent business move to broaden their audience.

"Why is this important to me?"

If you make videos online, for any reason, then you NEED to be on TikTok.

Okay, you don't need to be on TikTok, but it would be in your best interest to do so.

In September of 2018 and September of 2019, TikTok was announced as the most downloaded social media mobile app worldwide on both iOS and Android with over 60 million downloads.

Bear in mind though, that 44% of these downloads were in India and 8% were in the USA, so not every account or install may be done by an actual active user.

Before intense moderation systems are set-up, it's common for new-ish platforms to experience surges of botting users to inflate post likes and stats.

Secondly, Generation-Z seems to be the most active audience on this platform, so if your brand, product, or service appeals to this audience, you cannot afford to skip out on TikTok.

Well, technically you can, but it isn't recommended.

"Is anyone already using it for marketing?"

Yes!

At this point in time, whenever a new social media channel arrives on the scene everyone involved with internet marketing will begin to storm the beaches.

Using a fresh social media platform can ultimately be the spark many businesses need to get the 'sales-fire' burning.

Pay attention closely, below we're going to share some crazy video marketing stats with you and why TikTok is an excellent place to continue to upload your content to.

Video Marketing Trends (Source)

Video will form 82% of internet traffic by the year 2020

Instagram has over a billion users and 500 million daily active users

TikTok with one billion app downloads--across Android and iOS in 2018--has surpassed Instagram and Facebook to become the most downloaded app in 2019

Twitter attributed half of its 2018 Q1 ad revenue to the video format

Twitter launched 6-second video bidding for advertisers this August

Users prefer to watch videos without sound, according to WordStream's compilation of video marketing statistics

Mobile video consumption is at an all-time high, coupled with videos that are 15 seconds in length or shorter.

Moreover--like Instagram--TikTok gives users the opportunity to go viral by clever use and placement of hashtags.

If video content is going to form 80% of future internet traffic alongside a constantly shortening attention span, TikTok's popularity will only continue to grow in the coming months.

TikTok is not just another video marketing trend that will fade away.

Kids (Gen-Z) and TikTok (Source 1, Source 2)

If your target audience includes anyone in their teens or early 20s, chances are they're hanging out on TikTok.

The majority of TikTok's userbase is currently under 30 years old, and to top it off, spend the longest average amount of time on TikTok compared to other social media apps.

Furthermore, TikTok has already released a beta version of the TikTok Marketplace to help companies connect with relevant influencers for sponsorship purposes.

Monetizing your business or brand via a social media channel has become the new norm and the developers are responding in kind.

TikTok is an illustration of what the future holds for social media marketing. Additionally, to reach younger audiences effectively, getting a foothold in the 'latest and greatest' app will always be a necessity.

"Alright, I get it. TikTok is a great marketing opportunity. So what should I do?"

Don't overthink it.

If you haven't yet dabbled in video marketing yet, an expensive studio set-up is not at all required.

In fact, we'd discourage it.

Video marketing is all about creating rapport.

Rapport is created through trust, relatability, and authenticity.

If all you have is your iPhone and some natural light coming through a window, trust us, almost everyone will be able to relate to that.

Don't get us wrong here, there is a time and place for a quality set-up, but when you first begin it isn't necessary whatsoever.

To start, keep it simple.

Try uploading the same content you would upload to youtube or make short trailers for the content you already have posted there.

By the same token, see what's trending in your niche and create similar content that touches on the same topic.

From there, you can experiment with what works and what doesn't inside your niche.

"What if my brand/business/[insert project here] doesn't 'work' with TikTok?"

We get it.

Not every niche or project will be compatible or appropriate with TikTok.

It may still be worth a shot though.

You can always post snippets of longer videos if the length concerns you, and likewise not even go with the 'theme' of TikTok at all.

In other words, if you're running a bodybuilding YouTube Channel, don't feel pressured to lip-sync your workout playlist for the sake of uploading a TikTok video.

Snippets of your primary videos should do, or even simple announcements of new content postings on other channels.

And as mentioned above, if you really can't think of anything to post, look around and see what other content creators in your space are doing and then do that. Simple.

At the end of the day though, if TikTok really doesn't work for your niche, it isn't the end of the world.

Video platforms will come and go, but video itself will most likely be here forever.

So if TikTok isn't in the cards, stick to YouTube and then branch out to BitChute, D.Tube, IGTV, and other similar platforms.

Our new favorite video platform is BitTubers--be sure to check out that one too!

"Is it too late to become famous on TikTok?"

We were initially not going to address this question, but we feel like it is beneficial to briefly touch on this.

No.

It is never 'too late' for anything.

It is worth noting though that while hitting a platform hard when it is new and fresh will greatly improve your chances of becoming a 'famous influencer,' this fact should not deter you from trying.

In other words, if you're arriving late to the party, it is still in your best interest to give it all you got.

You never know what can happen or how the algorithms can suddenly work some magic in your favor.

As the old adage goes, 'The harder you work, the luckier you get."

On the plus side, if you're already thinking along these lines, you're all set to take action on the next new platform.

And trust us.

There will be one. There always is.

Pour Conclure

If you make videos, give TikTok a shot.

TikTok combines both the trend of video marketing and its beloved partner--shorter attention spans--into a lovely union.

If your target audience is under thirty years old, you have nothing to lose by trying it out, and you'll likely see some great gains.

Not to mention if you're looking for fresh influencers for your new physical products brand, TikTok may be the place to look.

At the least, repost your content used on other platforms there and see what happens.

It can't hurt.

We're rootin' for ya!

-Alex @ Lumiere Visuals

P.S.

If you're looking for some snazzy accessories to accompany you on your video-marketing journey, grab one of our popular ring lights or take a browse through our catalog.

[booksbroadwaybbc]

[Social anxiety] Current steps I'm taking + Current challenges/worries via /r/selfimprovement

[Social anxiety] Current steps I'm taking + Current challenges/worries

This is a repost from the advice thread on inceltears. Trying to get more eyeballs to look at my situation and my worries. I know it's a long post, but any and all advice is welcome.

Status: 25+ years old, Western EU, no experience with intimacy whatsoever. Hugged a girl once as a friend, and that's it. The typical works: shy, socially anxious, low self esteem, ugly, easily scared of interacting with people, both offline as online. Never been an incel, PUAer, redpiller, mysoginist, MGTOW. Just too scared to be open and romantically forward with girls/women, for my entire life.

My current steps for improvement:

- indoor cardio for weight loss. Went from 82 to 76 kg. WIll try to keep this up until my belly disappears. Unfortunately can't lift weights, so I'll have to do it the slow way.

- Cooking lessons. Local cuisine + southern Mediterranean cuisine. Will give me both practical cooking experience + something to show off in the future. Anxious and slightly stressed about this project, but I know I have to force myself through those feelings.

- Gonna go to a female friends art event. I've gone to her events before, and she appreciated it, so I feel safe going there without feeling weird. She's the only female friend I can drop a message to online without feeling scared about it. Big deal to me.

- Trying to post more on Facebook. Just little things. Ever since dropping out of college (I did return to end up with a MSc later) I've felt too ashamed to post on it. Maybe useless.

- Planning on moving closer to work next year, renting an apartment in a small city. I'll be "throwing away" money, but I feel it's worth it to attain more independence and get out of my parents all-seeing and always judgemental presence. Living abroad for several months, on my own, was the greatest experience I've had so far. I need that space with parents back. This is a long-term step unfortunately, due to economic reasons.

- After moving out, I'm throwing myself at online dating. I heard it has ridiculous low odds, but its low barrier of entry appeals to me. I don't know how to meet women in any other way.

My challenges and questions:

- Post-college isolation is hitting me hard. I have a few "friends", but honestly, we make plans to meetup 3 times a year somewhere, drink beer and just talk about our lives and random stuff. They all have rich social lives + relationships beyond these meet-ups. I'm probably more of a 'college acquaintance' to them than a friend. I have nothing else. I don't even have a stereotypical online group of friends to talk about games, anime, … with. Integrating into communities is hard for me. There is no social sphere at my place of employment. How do I break through this isolation?

- The few social skills I built up were all designed for the classroom. This allowed me to make classroom acquaintances, including those friends. At the end, there was a group of people, both girls and guys, who I could always sit with. I never felt alone during those times. Some girls once waved me over when they saw me entering the lecture hall to show me where they were. This is my most valuable college memory, in between stress over coursework and not dropping out a second time. (Pathetic, I know). Now I'm out of the classroom, forever, and my social skills are useless, back to 0, or even the negative seeing how I'm 25+ and should have figured all this out already. Don't know how to behave and meet people in clubs, bars, festivals, events... Don't know how to learn without having friends to do these things with. I'm stuck in a loop here. How do I develop these skills all on my own? Where do I gain the confidence to do so without retreating back into my shell?

- Without friends, and without a social sphere, I have no one to talk to about these things. Interacting with my parents makes me feel even more alone, and my family has splintered apart. I haven't seen another family member in over a year. I don't feel secure at all in my "friendships" to bring this stuff up. I have no source of confident interpersonal relationships. I'm sailing a lonely ship through life. Where should I go for a source of comfort? Am I doomed to being my own comfort, somehow?

- I don't have any good pictures. I have pictures from abroad, where I look ugly and overweight. But once (if) I lose this weight, I don't know how to take appealing pictures of myself as a half-recluse in a social situation. I could travel (I like traveling) and make travel photos, but that's quite a bit of work before my dating profile would be ready. I have never taken a selfie in my life. How to look presentable?

- I sometimes get really anxious when I compare the long road ahead of me to get where most people my age already are. Just by the end of the list above, I'll probably be one year older already, and one year more away from the "standard guy" girls will expect at my age. I feel like the longer it'll take, the more and more difficult it will be to find girls that want to date someone with my profile, the more and more work I will have to do get there, ad infinitum. I feel the walls of my social ineptitude closing in on me. How do I stop worrying about all this? Do girls really care about social successes? Do really-late-bloomers still have a shot? Can I ever still be normal?

- I don't feel confident, or worthy. I have a degree, a full-time job, and my own car, next year I hope I will have my own place (albeit rented), I can live independently on my own in a different country. None of these have made me feel more accomplished or valuable. I was lonely before those things, and I am now even more lonely after them. I've never had BBQ sessions with friends, went to the beach with friends, gone on summer holidays with them, never been to music festivals... I've never dated, kissed, hugged romantically, had sex, cuddled, felt any form of intimacy. How do I build worth and self-esteem, knowing I have somehow missed out on all those experiences? Knowing I'm practically less of a human being, and more of a cog studying and working his way to absolute mediocrity? Again, can I ever still be normal?

I know this is a long post, but I hope the bullet points have made it more readable. I've been having tons of my mind this past weekend, and I really need someone outside my bubble to look at this and give me pointers. Secretly, my biggest desire, other than finding a girlfriend, deep in my heart, is getting hugged by a girl, telling me I'm ok, I'm valuable in this life, I'm an alright person. It's a testament to my current failure that this fantasy seems nearly unreachable from my current vantage point. I can't even find warm, gentle companionship. How will I ever find the love I seek?

Submitted August 07, 2018 at 02:47PM by Looking4Nightingale via reddit https://ift.tt/2ORNul0

[chriswatkinsphoto]

#Repost @wuftnews (@get_repost) ・・・ Most would never think he was ever homeless, battling addiction and struggling to survive on the streets of Brooklyn, New York, during a particularly dark time of his life. * He hung on to his fragile existence by couch hopping and sleeping on cold Brooklyn benches. He realized New York was not the place for him, but he wasn’t going to let it stop him from pursuing his dreams. * Bryan Mercer is an actor — he faces unemployment 12 times a year. * He has dug ditches, cleaned houses and poured sweat inside a Mickey Mouse costume in 100-degree heat to earn some extra cash. * Within the acting and theater world, Mercer has worked as a singer, pianist, composer, musical director, puppeteer, sound designer, production designer, stage director, sound healer and folk painter. * He’s willing to do whatever it takes to stay afloat while out of work, waiting to audition for the next gig. * As an actor, “You do it. You show up and do these crazy things,” he said. * Mercer was born and raised in Ocala, Florida and has lived in Atlanta and New York, but he felt "such a presence of art" in Gainesville, a presence he didn’t get in New York or Atlanta. * Mercer first came to Gainesville 12 years ago as a musician to "build the tracks" for “The Greatest American Trailer Park Musical” — one of his biggest hits. * He returned to Gainesville, or as he calls it, his "sort of heaven," last month to join the Hippodrome Theatre as the musical director on the show “Forever Plaid.” * To stay grounded, the 57-year-old actor looks beyond the stage to immerse himself in things that are not as "egocentric as acting." * He travels the country leading workshops to improve people’s self-esteem through the method of performance. * Mercer wants to use his life lessons to help others, to reach younger generations and "save them a couple of years," by teaching them through the theater. * "Theater changed my life, and I’ve made enough mistakes now to go back to a different generation and save them a few years of that,” Mercer said. “I know how powerful this medium is.” * 📸 & story by: @sydneybrodie23 * #ourgainesville

[olgagarmash]

How virtual fitness classes are providing much-needed community right now – TODAY

The friendly greeting from the receptionist. The smile and nod to familiar faces in your weekly bootcamp. The collective huff when an instructor shouts out another round of burpees. Even for those of us with a get-in-get-out mentality, the gym provided more social interaction than we likely realized. That made it a shock to the system when we were forced to transition to solo living room workouts nearly overnight.

This transition was an even harder hit to those who met friends for classes after work, engaged in locker room banter with other regulars and fed off the energy and motivation of a class full of people.

Among the (many) mental health challenges of a year-long pandemic is the loneliness and isolation of social distancing — and digital fitness platforms have emerged as a way for people to find meaningful connection with others.

“COVID-19 altered the way people spend their time. We are no longer commuting to large offices, meeting friends for happy hour or interacting at special events,” said Kinsey Livingston, vice president of partnerships at ClassPass. “For many people, physical activity and connectedness top the list of our mental health needs, and we are turning to virtual, outdoor and distanced studio workouts as a healthy coping mechanism for pandemic stress.”

Related

Online communities: From underutilized feature to lifeline

Fitness has always had a strong community aspect, but being able to tap into this connection digitally has been a lifesaver for many.

“The role of community features on fitness platforms is gaining importance. Many people are seeking to re-create that feeling they used to get in group fitness classes,” said Liz Kelly, a licensed social worker for Talkspace, an on-demand therapy app. “With so many individuals trying to balance working from home, parenting young kids, supervising their children’s virtual learning and facing other stressors, fitness platforms offer a chance to engage in convenient self-care and find some normalcy.”

And the fitness industry has responded to this demand. “It’s been incredible to see the fitness community unite. Whether it’s instructors hosting Zoom workouts to keep the community together or fitness professionals across brands hosting coffee chats and interviews via Instagram live,” said Tanysha Renee, SoulCycle Instructor on Equinox+. “People are creating challenges and teams and reposting and tagging each other. I think in the end, the fitness family on a whole has found a new way to keep each other motivated and accountable during these unprecedented times.”

Follow TMRWxTODAY on Instagram for live workouts

At one time, the community component of digital platforms was an underutilized and sometimes snubbed feature — but when the pandemic hit, it quickly became a lifeline to the outside world.

“I think there was a time when online communities were thought of as a less-than form of connecting with people, maybe even a crutch for things that were missing in our ‘real’ lives,” said John Malangone, from West New York, New Jersey, who purchased a SoulCycle at-home bike and connected with the community on social media when in-studio classes were canceled. “Today all of that has changed. Through quarantine, remote connections were all we had and out of pure necessity have gone from taboo to being an actual tool that, if used in a positive way, can foster meaningful connections that we never had access to before.”

This shift is one that Sydney Miller, founder of Housework, an on-demand and live-streaming workout class, noticed more and more people willing to make as the pandemic wore on. “We’ve been living socially distanced lives for almost a year now and people are craving connection and are more willing to go outside of their comfort zone to meet others.” Miller said. “I think it’s still possible to find these connections even though we aren’t all in a sweaty room together; it just of course takes more of a willingness to form them.”

Related

Re-creating the camaraderie of in-person fitness

“Group fitness classes offer a chance to be with others focused on improving their health and wellness and giving each other support. Those high-fives and cheers from a workout buddy are really meaningful,” Kelly explained. “Group fitness offers adults a chance to reclaim some of that feeling we had as kids on the playground with our friends. It is an opportunity to interact with new people that we may not otherwise encounter in daily life.”

Miller said she founded Housework in hopes of bringing the energy of in-person fitness classes to mobile devices, and she expanded the offering to include Zoom classes as well during the pandemic. “In my Zoom classes, I do everything in my power to create connections and foster the same community experience that you would find in a boutique studio prior to the pandemic,” said Miller. “Before and after class I’m on Zoom chatting with people and introducing them to each other. Over the last year, it’s been amazing and rewarding to be able to form relationships with clients that I’ve only ever met through virtual workouts, and likewise to watch them become ‘friends’ with others in the class that they’ve never met before either. Once a week, I host more formal coffee chats after class where we stick around after the workout and get to know each other better — just like we would grab coffee after class pre-COVID.”

Getting a virtual high-five or sharing a cup of coffee through a screen may not be quite the same, but in a world where most of us are socially distanced from others, it’s creating opportunity for the social interaction that’s so vital to our mental health.

“The community has filled such a void for me. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss in-person studio workouts, but Housework has this magical way of giving us that feeling on Zoom,” said Colby Berman, who lives in New York City and has become a regular in the Housework Zoom classes. “In the spring of 2020, I made more of an effort to join the ‘Housework + Coffee’ classes — we stick around after class and socialize — as well as follow my fellow members on Instagram. From there, I’ve formed great friendships and accountability partners. The community has played such a big role in my mental well-being, allowing me to feel like I’m back in a studio with dozens of people even though it’s all virtual.”

“Group fitness offers adults a chance to reclaim some of that feeling we had as kids on the playground with our friends.”

Liz Kelly, LCSW

Rodney Waites from Missouri City, Texas, took multiple SoulCycle classes a week with his wife, Missy, before the pandemic. Over the past year, he’s been accessing classes from home on Equinox+. “Live classes allowed us to get back to a routine,” he said. “Stuck in the house, these classes gave us someone to see outside of our home and a much-needed sense of normalcy. And that was huge.”

Waites began to follow and interact with instructors he liked on Instagram in hopes of taking their classes in person once gyms opened again. “Granted, it was mostly via social media, but many of the instructors made our family feel that we are getting through this thing together,” he said. And the digital interactions mirrored in-person connections.

“Junior reached out to us and asked how we enjoyed the reggae-infused playlists and asked Missy (who is of Guyanese descent) who her favorite artists were. Another instructor saw a video I posted and immediately hit me back and gave suggestions to correct my form to get more out of the ride,” he shared.

“One of the greatest benefits of being part of a community is recognizing that you are not alone,” Kelly explained. “I have personally seen many individuals gain insight and perspective from online support groups. It can be incredibly healing to have someone else validate your emotions and experiences.”

More than ever, we are craving companionship and support, and this is something that the fitness community has always provided.

Miller said that she makes it a point to still incorporate the aspects of in-person group fitness classes that make it special. “During live classes, I still love to make people feel seen during the workout by calling out their name and cheering them on. … I like to spotlight people in the class so that it is not all about me — it’s about everyone who showed up for the workout and that makes it feel even more like we are all in a room together,” she said.

While Malangone said he misses the in-person interactions he once had — like hanging out before class, grabbing brunch or making Trader Joe’s runs with other members — live classes are helping to bridge the gap. “Live classes have been a great way to re-create some of the same in-person excitement of planning and attending a class with friends. Many of us use social media to plan our rides together. We post photos, give virtual high-fives, celebrate milestones, and show gratitude to our instructors,” he said. “Social media has brought the missed connection back to life and while we can’t wait to get back to the actual studio, we still love showing up with each other anyway we can.”

Finding an emotional support network during a tough year

For many, the connections found through fitness go much deeper than simply sharing health goals.

Malangone said the connections he made in the studio carried over into his life beyond the gym. “Something about sharing the intensity of a class together creates a bond that’s palpable. We cheer for each other both in and out of the studio. We stand up for each other. We celebrate each other,” he said.

The community continued to be an emotional support network for him, even when shutdowns and quarantines kept him out of the gym.

“I’m very vocal about my struggles with anxiety, depression and alcohol abuse and how finding a community of like-minded friends to support me in my journey has been a critical part of my recovery,” said Malangone. “When the pandemic took that away from me I struggled and I relapsed. Not just with drinking, but emotionally. Like many others, I found myself in a pretty dark place.”

He turned to Facebook with the goal of re-creating a community to meet other at-home riders and found many others looking for the same thing. “Today I use the online communities to post jokes and memes, but I also try to highlight other riders and instructors so everyone can share a moment in the spotlight,” he said. “Over the past year I’ve also tried to harness a little of the collective power of the community to promote fundraisers for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ nonprofits and, most recently, to help feed families suffering from the financial impacts of COVID.”

Waites was surprised to find the instructors so invested in the mental well-being of members. “In one conversation, the instructor Chris from Austin told us he saw a post regarding the police and George Floyd. This meant so much to us because he reached out without even truly knowing me, but knowing my family was hurting; he asked if he could do anything to help,” he said. “The SoulCycle instructors have meant so much more to us than just telling us to ‘double-tap body roll.’ The playlists and inspirational words have given us an escape by providing us our own little ‘Soul bubble’ in our home.”

Related

Berman also recounted leaning on her online community during the pandemic: “At the tail end of 2020, my best friend tragically and suddenly lost her dad. Housework and the community were there for both me and her during that time of unparalleled emotions,” she said.

Renee said that an online community has the potential to be just as powerful as in-person connections, and she has seen that play out over the last year. “Members are so interconnected that some have even gotten others interviews for jobs, emotionally supported each other through personal illness and family loss and much more,” she said. “During the height of some of the darkest days of 2020, particularly surrounding the untimely deaths of BIPOC, the community came together to host discussions for educating and healing. All of this was initiated and organized by community members.”

And an online community may even allow people to make deeper connections than they were able to face-to-face.

“Prior to the pandemic, much interaction was limited to chats before or after class, whereas now, we all have a bit more time to connect,” Renee added. “People aren’t physically racing to the next meeting or to drop off their kids etc., so there is more time to share. Share more laughs, share more selfies and share more personal details such as new pregnancies, new promotions, break-ups, mental health struggles … Having a more in-depth connection has allowed me to truly see the members of the community and in turn, I have an even deeper appreciation for their presence, knowing all that they are juggling.”

source https://wealthch.com/how-virtual-fitness-classes-are-providing-much-needed-community-right-now-today/