#visualist

[shapinginvisible]

Kim Taehyung Visualist - Weverse magazine

[creepling]

✒️ - “making fun of them for their favourite (movie/book/etc) then (watching/reading/etc) it because of them and ending up loving it” + johnny <3

(congratulations on 1k you’re writing is so immersive and the characterisation is always SO on point you deserve every note and follower <33)

omg anon thank you sm, that is so sweet. i love this prompt so much because i have been wondering what type of movies and books johnny would be into. hope you like the result<33

tags: ment of a clockwork orange. canon-set in 1974. johnny is smoking and gets a lil pissy at reader

"Surely you go to the cinema now and then," You scoff after Johnny admits he wasn't one to watch many movies.

"Nah, don't like 'em," He shrugged, resting his feet on the porch fence, and he swung on his chair. You watch as he draws his cigarette, shaking your head in amazement.

"Have you ever seen a movie in your life?" You tease, shading your eyes from the blazing sun.

Johnny frowned and exhaled the smoke from his mouth, "Of course, I have, dumbass. I'm not that stupid."

"Well, what's the best movie you've seen so far?" You ask, leaning back on the fence, your blinded eyes adjusting to Johnny's face.

He thought for a good while, sucking his cheeks and staring into space. "A Clockwork Orange," He blankly answered, returning to smoking his cigarette.

Your eyebrows knit in inquisitiveness. You have heard of it; it came out a few years ago. But everyone you know who saw it said it was disturbing, so you did not go and see it. "Isn't that the British one with a lot of violence in it?"

Johnny shrugged, "It wasn't that bad,"

You scoff out a laugh. "Trust the bad boy to like a movie with a lot of violence in it," You tease, earning a glare from him.

"You asked me my favourite movie, and I told you. Now you wanna get at me for it?" Johnny's defensiveness took you aback, causing you to laugh nervously.

"I'm only joking, Johnny. Damn, calm down." You say, but Johnny was already storming back inside the house. You took that as your message to leave and sulk back to your car.

In the week you were away from the Slaughter yard, you took the time to go to a midnight screening of A Clockwork Orange, thinking you owed Johnny some gratitude for teasing him. Once you left the cinema, you were amazed. Sure, it was violent, very violent. At times, you shielded your eyes from the screen. But for Johnny to like it, it was surprisingly visualistic. It was grotesquely beautiful.

The next day, you visited Johnny, approaching the porch like a dog with its tail between its legs. You were curious to know if Johnny was mad at you as he gave you a blank stare like he always does. In the same position, smoking a cigarette, you walk up to him and stand by his side.

"I saw that movie you like the other day," You begin, looking for his reaction.

He glances at you, keeping to himself. You lean down and wrap your arms around his shoulders, resting your head.

"It was terrific," You confess. Johnny's shoulders shifted as he chuckled. "What?"

"Trust you to tease me for liking a movie and end up likin' it yerself," He said amusingly, leaving a peck on your arm. At his return to affection, you smiled and hugged him tighter.

"I kinda wanna see it again. Maybe we should go together?" You suggest.

Johnny smirks as he rubs your arm and pulls you closer, "Sounds like a date."

[magicalmeily]

I've made a google doc collection of 150 useful design and art resources! Whether youre just starting commissions or want to make your workflow more streamlined, I recommend checking it out

The full list is below the read more, but I suggest looking at the google doc as well sincce it will be updated more often. 

This list was created by @MagicalMeily

I encourage you to share this list with other designers, artists, or even students via this tumblr post, the google doc, or my tweet. Links marked as ‘Free/Paid’ usually means the free version has a lot of features anyway and the paid just has some extra templates or storage space. *Disclaimer - I haven’t used all of these services myself, so please let me know if anything dodgy slipped through the cracks, or if you have any others I should add.

I do not support NFTs or AI Art generators, so hopefully you won’t find any listed. Always double check commercial usage rights

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

COMMISSION SETUP

Collection of designers rates - Graphic Design Rates Master Sheet

TOS Example, Free to use (by kawa_kunn) - Twitter / kawa-kun.art

Tiktok walkthrough of a commission TOS form - artofthecatt

Longer Video of commission TOS form - How to Create a Commission Form

Commission Advice (by AerlyaGraphics) - Aerlya Graphics

Merchandise/printing services (by @sunshinehoney6) - Merchandise Resources

COMMISSION TRACKERS/MANAGEMENT

(Free/Paid) Clients can see your progress - Trello

(Free/Paid) Single user or collaborative project tracker - Notion

(Free) General Commission Management - Commiss.io

TEAM DESIGN/COLLABORATION

(Free/Paid) - Zeplin

(Free/Paid) - Notion

(Free/Paid) - Figma

(Free for Individuals) - Box

(Paid) - Sketch

FILE SHARING

(Free) - Google Drive

(Free/Paid) - WeTransfer

(Free/Paid) - Jumpshare

(Free for individuals) - Box

(Free) - Blindsend

MOODBOARDS

Design Inspiration

Image search for inspiration - Muzli Search

Makes and automatically sets out moodboards - Visualist

DESIGN PROGRAMS

2d Animation (Free/Paid) - Cavalry

Graphics, Photo editing, Publishing (One -off payment) - Affinity

Graphics, Audio, Video (Free, Browser) - Artboard Studio

Graphics (Free) - Inkscape

Graphics/Layout (Free/Paid, Browser) - Canva

Graphics, Photo Editing (Free, Browser. Can open Adobe files) - Photopea

Vector making (Free, Browser) - Vectr

Vector making (Free, Browser) - Vector Ink

Wireframing (Free, Browser) - Moqups App

GENERAL HELPFUL TOOLS/PROGRAMS

Bulk file renamer - Bulk Rename Utility

Bulk image resizer - ImageResizer

File Converters - FreeConvert

Image Upscaler - Waifu2x

Floating view of reference images - PureRef

Timezone converter - World Time Buddy

Twitter image crop guide by @dripchirp - Twitter Crop Guide

Learning how to use the pen tool - The Bézier Game

PORTFOLIO HOSTING/WEBSITE MAKERS

Portfolio hosting (Free) - Foriio

Portfolio hosting (Free with Adobe Subscription) - Adobe Portfolio

Portfolio hosting (Paid) - Portfoliobox

Website builder (Free) - Carrd

Website builder (Free) - Google Sites

Website builder (Free) - Weebly

Website builder (Free) - Wix

Website builder (Paid) - Squarespace

Make a blog you can use as a folio - Tumblr

(Posts Selective Folios) - Bestfolios

(Posts Selective Folios) - PFolios

(Posts Selective Folios) - Pafolios

(Posts Selective showreels) - Showreelz

LINK AGGREGATORS

(Free) Linktree

(Free) Lnk.Bio

(Paid/Free) Later

(Free) Solo.to

(Free) Campsite.bio

DESIGN MARKETPLACES

BOOTH

Gumroad

Ko-fi Shop

COLOUR

Various colour palette tools - Adobe Color

Colour palette search and generator - Coolors

Colour palette generator - Color Space

Colour converter, make colour palettes - RGB.to

Displays big brands colour schemes - BrandColors

ACCESSIBILITY

General design accessibility tips - Lemonly Infographics

Font accessibility tips - UXdesign.cc

Accessible colour combination generator 1 - Accessible color palette builder

Accessible colour combination generator 2 - Color Safe

FONTS FOR DOWNLOAD

Google Fonts

Adobe Fonts

Pixel Surplus

Fontesk

Befonts

Behance

Gumroad

Free Japanese Fonts

BOOTH

TYPE TOOLS

Displays inputted text in fonts installed on your computer - Wordmark

Identifies fonts on a web page  - Fonts Ninja

Typography Resources - Typewolf

Font Pairing Help - Fontjoy

Examples of fonts in context - Fonts In Use

Font Management - FontBase

MOCKUPS

Mockup World

Mr.Mockup

Unblast

ls.graphics

Anthonyboyd.graphics

Anagram Design

DesignHooks

Mockups-Design

STOCK PHOTOS/TEXTURES

Pexels

Unsplash

Barnimages

LostAndTaken

Freepik

Rawpixel

PATTERNS

Pattern Inspiration - Pattern Collection

Customisable Repeating SVG Patterns - Pattern Monster

Seamless background pattern maker - Patternico

Mesh Gradient Maker - Mesh Gradient

Make and print your own grids - Gridzzly.com

Downloadable Patterns - Subtle Patterns

ILLUSTRATION LIBRARIES

Toools Design

Irasutoya / いらすとや

Open Peeps

Humaaans

Open Doodles

ICON LIBRARIES

Paid/Free - Streamline Icons

Paid/Free - Flaticon

INSPIRATION GATHERING

abdz

Mindsparkle Mag

Behance

Dribbble

Muzli Search

100 Archive

Design Inspiration

BP&O

Pentagram

It's Nice That

DESIGN ADVICE/EXAMPLES/BLOGS/ ARTICLES

(Free) - World Brand Design Society

(Free) - AIGA Eye on Design

(Free) - Creative Boom

(Free) - The Design Team

(Paid) - UnderConsideration

LOGO/BRANDING DESIGN

Company logos categorised by letter/number/symbol etc - Logobook

Logo/Branding Examples - Logoed

PACKAGING DESIGN

Kawacolle

Packaging Design Archive

Packaging Of The World

WEB DESIGN

Siteinspire

Httpster

Lapa Ninja

Best Website Gallery

Dark Mode Design

Awwwards

Dribbble

(Wireframing) Moqups App

PUBLICATION/EDITORIAL DESIGN

Zine Creation Tips Masterpost - How to Organize a Zine 101

Editorial Design Examples 1 - Formagramma

Editorial Design Examples 2 - Pentagram

POSTER DESIGN

Typographic Poster Design Examples - Typographic posters

Poster Design Examples - Poster Poster

CHARACTER DESIGN

Character Design Library, Challenges, etc - Character Design References

Anime Settei/Reference Sheets - Settei Dreams

Historical Costume references - OSF Costume Rentals

V-DESIGNER/V-ARTIST

‘How to Design Your Own Vtuber Logo’ (by the-tragic-heroine) - The-tragic-heroine

Discover V-artists/V-designers - Heartist

V-Artist/V-designers Catalogue (Hiatus) - VTuber Catalog

Vtuber Resource Collection (by VTResources) - VTuber Resources

View badges/emotes will look like on Twitch - Twitch Elements

Resize badges/emotes to actual sizes - Twitch Emote Resizer

Vtuber based commission hub (beta) - VGen

PAYPAL ALTERNATIVES

Square

Stripe

Wise (previously TransferWise)

Kofi

Direct Bank Transfer

OTHER RESOURCE COLLECTIONS

Vtuber Resource Collection (by VTResources) - VTuber Resources

Designer Resources Collection - Design Resources

Merchandise/printing services (by sunshinehoney6) - Merchandise Resources

Typography Resources - Typewolf

[the-far-bright-center]

Dystopian themes in the Prequels

“Looking back is helpful in understanding his work. Lucas started out in the 1960’s as an experimental filmmaker heavily influenced by the avant-garde films of the San Francisco art scene. Initially interested in painting, he became an editor and visualist who made abstract tone poems. His first feature, THX 1138 (1971) was an experimental science fiction film that presented a surreal, underground world where a dictatorial state controls a docile population using drugs. Love and sex are outlawed, procreation is controlled through machines, and human beings shuffle meaninglessly around the system.”

—Anthony Parisi, 'Revisiting the Star Wars Prequels'

The bolded parts in this description correspond with the Coruscant Underworld, the Jedi Order’s code, and the creation of the clone troopers, respectively.

Notably, in THX 1138's setting, emotions such as love and the concept of family are taboo:

I’ve always found it so interesting that Lucas incorporated the dystopian elements of his earlier sci-fi into the Prequels, taking place as they do in the context of the final years of the Repubic, with all its colourful and sumptuous visual spendour. In comparison, the post-apocalyptic ‘Dark Times’ of the Original Trilogy would seem on the surface to be the more outwardly ‘dystopian’ setting of the two—however, the actual story of the OT is a mythic hero's journey and fairytale, complete with an uplifting and transcendent happy ending. The OT's setting may be drained of colour, and its characters may be living under the shadow of the Empire, but as a story it is far from bleak or dystopian in tone. Rather, fascinatingly, it is the pre-apocalyptic era of the Prequels that is presented as the more dystopian storyline:

“On the surface, [The Phantom Menace] is an optimistic, colorful fantasy of a couple of swashbuckling samurai rescuing a child Queen and meeting a gifted slave boy who can help save the galaxy from the slimy Trade Federation and its Sith leaders. But beneath that cheerful facade is a sweatshop of horrors.” —Michael O'Connor, 'Moral Ambiguity: Beyond Good and Evil in the Prequels'

This is referring to the state of the galaxy during the Prequels era, including the fact that slavery is known to exist, but is largely ignored by the Republic and the Jedi alike due to being too economically inconvenient to combat. It also refers to how the Jedi of the Old Order come across as cold and distant atop their ivory tower on the artificial world of Coruscant, far removed not only from the natural world but also from the true realities of the people they claim to serve. And then there is the additional revelation in Attack of the Clones that love and family are 'outlawed' within the Jedi Order, creating an environment in which their own 'Chosen One' is unable to flourish, leaving him vulnerable to the Dark Side. Finally, there's the fact that the characters end up so distracted by fighting a civil war (something that goes against their own principles and involves the use of a slave clone army in the process), that they are blinded to the entity of pure evil that is guiding their every move...until it is too late.

“Without a clear enemy, the Jedi Order, the Galactic Senate, the whole of the Star Wars galaxy bickers and backstabs and slides around the moral scales. But there is one benefit to Palpatine’s pure evil crashing down upon the galaxy; against its oppressive darkness, only the purest light can shine through.” —Michael O'Connor, 'Moral Ambiguity: Beyond Good and Evil in the Prequels'

If anything, the Dark Times allows for the OT generation's acts of courage and heroism to flourish and succeed, because they are not hampered by the Old Jedi Order's restrictive rules, nor by its servitude to the whims of an increasingly corrupt Republic—so corrupt, in fact, that by the time of RotS, it is practically the Empire in all but name. Indeed, one of the key features of the Prequels, and what makes them so tragic, is that the characters are already living in a dystopia...they just don't know it.

There is, paradoxically, a level of freedom to be found in the midst of the Dark Times which had not been possible during the Twilight era, which allows Original Trio to rise above the tragedy that befell their predecessors. They are able to act as free agents (not as slaves of a corrupt government), serving only the fight for the liberation of all the peoples of the galaxy (not just citizens of the Republic), and are likewise free to live (and love!) on their own terms. Free to act on their positive attachments to one another, without having to hide the truth of their feelings. It's particularly telling that *this* is, above all, what makes the Prequels era so dystopian—the characters' inability to freely and openly participate in normal familial human relationships.

[thenotoriousscuttlecliff]

Lex Luthor is a character rather easy to get right. At his core he is a petty, insecure, entitled, envious person who craves not only the power Superman possess, but the love and adulation he gets. Lex believes that should be him for no other reason than because he is Lex Luthor. He should be the Man of Tomorrow, not Superman.

And yet Batman V Superman manages to bungle Lex Luthor. It wasn't interested in trying to forge any kind of relationship between the two, not even a basic rivalry, instead it makes lex opposed to Superman on purely a philosophical and ideological level, but doesn't have a clue how to convey that to the audience except with lazy imagery and long winded speeches about gods and devils that doesn't really get the point across. It's a typical Snyder attempt at looking deep and intellectual, but only in a superficial sense, because Snyder is nothing but a shallow visualist. For him, it's all about the appearance and nothing else.

[thelastseahorse]

New week, new schedule, new charity event!

TMNT Night will be a mix of TMNT games. At least one run through Manhattan Missions, One run of TMNT NES, and then... who knows!

Starting MGS 3 from the Donothon goals!

I combined Super Metroid / SOTN into a single day. I think Super Metroid is close to done. We'll move to SOTN after that is finished.

Charity VR Chat DJ set on Friday! Come hang out with Seahorse in a VRChat DJ world while I spin music. There will be a live visualist for the set as well!

All money raised is going to Trans Lifeline. You can check out more information at this link. https://tiltify.com/+beats-for-trans-lifeline/beats-for-trans-lifeline

[turtleations]

Pink Couldy Sky, Chapter 07 – Letter (Summarized) - Part 1

Note 1: Once again, the chapter is split into two parts. This first parts has the majority of it, but the secong part contains a long section that is actually, directly translated, and I will need more time to edit it properly. I hope to have it up before the year is over, but I can make no promises.

Note 2: This post contains pictures. I am not happy with how tumblr is sizing/cropping them on my screen. Click on them if they are not shown in full.

Chapter 00 - 01 Chapter 02 Chapter 03 Chapter 04 Part 1, Part 2 Chapter 05 Chapter 06 Part 1, Part 2

Under Professor Arakawa, REM’s days of acquiring knowledge as a dentist continued after graduation. He joined Arakawa’s study group where he gained practical experience on various cases and worked very hard on becoming an actual dentist. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to justify himself to his late mother, nor to hide and the other members of SAVER TIGER. Those feelings were his main driving force. The other members of his dentist-band AMIT also joined Arakawa’s study group and they pushed each other forward.

To REM, who was practical by nature, this study circle was very helpful. He learned about the technical aspects from a medical point of view, and also about mental self-discipline.

In this time, again thanks to Professor Arakawa, REM also met Beat Takeshi, aka Takeshi Kitano [born 1947, actor, director, comedian etc.].

He vividly remembers the first time they went drinking together. They met at Takeshi’s place and he took REM to a snack bar in Roppongi’s underground. Takeshi was in a good mood and sang a lot at karaoke. His way of singing was exactly as REM had imagined it would be. Song after song he got on the floor and fired off jokes in rapid succession.

Takeshi seems blunt, but REM thinks he actually has a direct and kind personality and is very aware of his surroundings. When REM showed him a photo from is SAVER TIGER days, Takeshi laughed and said, “You really were a dentist already. Time didn’t change you.” Then he got serious and said, “But it’s interesting. Do your best.” The timing and the delivery were exquisite. [Note: I’m guessing that there was a joke in there that I fail to make sense of.]

When they talked about hide and discussed music, Takeshi pulled out one creative idea after another.

“When Doctor REM does a live, I’ll secretly enter the stage with no announcement, sing one song, and leave again without saying anything.”

It was a very fun night of drinking. They separated with REM excitedly promising to make that song for him.

Come to think of it, this was just one week before that unfortunate accident befell Takeshi. [Note: This is likely referring to a near-fatal motor scooter accident on 2. August 1994, which may or may not have been a suicide attempt.]

After this, they met several more times, with Takeshi also coming to Yokosuka for drinks, and continued their exchange. Takeshi would probably scold REM for embarrassing him if he read this, but he truly is a generous and warm person.

-

Hide continued to call REM about once a month. When he called from overseas, REM had the habit of taking notes on his calls in his diary-substitute-notebook.

For example: “31. August. Call from hide in L.A. at 6:30 AM. Today, it seems Megadeath came to the studio and he listened to their rehearsal.

He chatted about various things with the former guitarist of Cacophony, who apparently speaks Japanese.

When they went to a Japanese-style iszakaya afterwards, Ron Wood was drinking there…”

Beyond that, he would always contact REM when he returned to Japan, come directly to his apartment from Narita airport, and drink until morning to combat jet lag.

In the first half of the nineties, “X” turned into “X JAPAN”. In this time, hide rapidly grew not only as a guitarist but as an artist in general.

In 1992, he showed his talent as a visualist with the publication of his solo-photobook “Mugongeki”. His stage turned from Budokan to the Tokyo Dome to the world. REM, on the other hand, having given up music, turned into a normal dentist.

However, whenever hide returned to Yokosuka, they would go drinking at Dobuita together – as drinking buddies, as best friends, as music companions who would forgive each other for every stupid thing said.

In a sense, it was a pretty strange connection.

Now, REM wonders if it wasn’t obvious that he was holding back around hide for fear of bothering him. To say nothing of the fact that the bitter feeling of not having been there for hide when he needed him most would not leave him alone.

But – and he thinks it may sound pretentious to put it like this – REM wonders if in this town of Yokosuka, where hide had been born and raised, all the cloudy hesitation and misunderstandings and strange fears weren’t blown away by the constant salty breeze from the sea.

REM couldn’t help but think that way.

When they drank at Dobuita until morning, there were no obstacles between them.

Hide always listened intently to REM’s silly music stories. Is that artist good or not, which CDs are cool – he always had an earnest discussion with REM about these things.

Looking at hide’s carefree smile, REM always heard a voice deep in his heart, saying, “Now I owe him again…”

Without his noticing, that murmur changed to, “No matter how, I want to pay him back. No matter how many years it takes, one day I will…”

One day when hide was in Yokosuka, REM went to “Parkside X” together with Professor Arakawa. He’d been thinking that he should introduce hide to Arakawa, so when they happened upon him, REM introduced him with the words, “Arakawa-sensei, this is hide.”

And Arakawa smiled and stood with, “My pleasure, I’m Arakawa.”

Hide, also standing, looked a little nervous, and said, “Likewise. Thank you for always taking care of REM. I’m hide.” He removed his trademark hat and sunglasses and gave a quick bow.

Then, he slowly put them back on and apologized for being impolite by wearing those things while drinking, and sat back down.

REM was astonished that he had taken them off at all, because at that time, he never did that in public. It seemed that hide was particularly respectful towards Arakawa because of the relationship he had to REM, and REM’s surprise soon turned into deeply moved gratitude.

After a night of drinking together and talking about all sorts of things, Arakawa also praised hide as a young man who, striking appearance aside, had firm opinions and was very polite. The way in which hide expressed his friendship that night had been typical for him.

-

In December 1995, REM announced that the was leaving his bachelor life behind and got married to a woman named Miwa. [Note: At least, that’s what I think her name is. REM gives the kanji for her name, but not the reading, which might differ drastically from the common (or even any sensible) reading of the characters.]

For the wedding reception, they reserved a cozy restaurant for their few dozen guests, which included family and only their closest of friends. One invitation was handed to hide, who was happy as if it were his own wedding and confirmed that he was definitely going to attend.

On the day of the wedding, REM was nervous and embarrassed like never before in his life. This was no fault of his bride’s, he simply had a raging case of wedding nerves, and it defeated him. As soon as the nerves hit him, he would drink any alcoholic beverage he could get his hands on. He honestly thought that since it worked on stage, it would work for getting married.

Hide had sent them a large bouquet of flowers in the name of “X Japan hide” but was nowhere to be seen in person.

In fact, it seemed that hide had chosen his timing well, considering the commotion that might have happened at the gathering place if word had gotten around that a member of X Japan was present.

An hour into the event, hide was there, just sitting casually in the front row in his hat and sunglasses. He grinned when he handed more alcohol to REM. At this point, REM was already blazingly drunk.

Hide for his part was fidgety and restless, talking to Jimmy and pointing out that it was time for the afterparty.

Then, during the preparations for said party, those two kept whispering to each other about something.

The wedding reception was not unlike a live show, with plenty of music buddies present. There were former members of SAVER TIGER, Hikaru, who used to be the bassist of X for a while during their indies days, and the current, much more famous X Japan-bassist heath.

SAVER TIGER served as the lead act. With hide jumping in, it was like the illusion of a SAVER TIGER revival session. The song they played was “Double Cross”.

The title of the song seemed a bit too fitting for the situation, but they chose it because it was representative of SAVER TIGER.

So REM, unsteady and hugging his guitar, started to play (“Ei!”) with the timing he was used to, only to be met with perfect silence from everyone else involved.

Thus, he declared, “It can’t be helped, you’re all doing it wrong,” regained his composure and started playing the phrase again.

Once again, hide and the others met him with grinning silence.

And REM thought, “I’m being deceived!”, finally realizing that he was falling victim to a prank, and that the prank smelled strongly of hide. Surely, hide and Jimmy had set this up when they were whispering to each other before.

In that moment, the room erupted into laughter and hide smiled earnestly at REM while looking very satisfied.

REM’s memory of the events after this point are essentially nonexistent.

Among the things that he vaguely remembers are heath getting up on stage and accepting a trophy he had won at their bingo tournament with a smile, and hide’s younger brother Hiroshi being delighted about having won a guitar.

From what REM could put together from the stories of his wife and the others, hide gave a musical performance that day, looking truly happy. This was not X Japan’s hide, this was an amateur at a free-for-all, lost in the spur of the moment, strumming his guitar with a relaxed smile on his face.

“At least, he was grinning as he played and looked like he was truly having fun.” That’s what Jimmy always murmurs when remembering that wedding reception.

[December 1995: REM's wedding reception. Photos exist for when your memory doesn't. (Click on the image for full view if tumblr cut it weirdly.)]

Due to REM’s work, the newlyweds couldn’t go on honeymoon right away. Only in the following year, in spring 1996, was he able to take the time off for it.

REM and his wife immediately agreed on the destination they wanted to visit. They both recalled at once how hide had told them to come to L.A. at least once, so that was where they wanted to go for the occasion of their once-in-a-lifetime, somewhat late honeymoon: The L.A. where hide was.

REM called hide over there at once. When he told him, “We’re thinking of travelling to L.A.,”, hide said, “Wait a second, I’ll call you back,” and hung up.

He had probably gotten a call for work, was certainly busy right now… REM and his wife speculated such while they waited, but when hide called them back after only a sort time, he gave them a list of the major hotels in Los Angeles, with information on their rating, how far they were from the airport, the price, if it was okay to smoke in there, what attractions were nearby…

After hanging up on them, hide had researched all that at the speed of light. REM and his wife were nothing but grateful. Hide, for this part, was very enthusiastic about their upcoming visit.

“What do you want to do when you’re here?”

The two of them told him they wanted to watch a Nomo Game [Note: Probably referring to Japanese baseball pitcher Hideo Nomo, who was playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers at the time.], visit the Universal Studios, and other things. And hide said brightly, “I got it! You don’t need to take care of anything, just make the reservations for the flights and the hotel…”, and then quickly hung up the phone.

The weather in L.A. was clear.

They arrived at the hotel they had picked from hide’s list, checked in, and rested in their room for about an hour before hide arrived, going “Yaa, yaa, yaa!”

Hide was in the middle of recording his solo single “Misery” at the time and hadn’t slept in three days, but you wouldn’t know it from the way he acted. He was wearing his usual hat and sunglasses, and his usual smile that lit up his whole face when he said, “So, what’s the plan?” He pulled out pen and paper and wrote down the schedule for their stay in the city, while asking REM and his wife for their wishes. Then, he asked, “How do you feel about Las Vegas?” and added his own recommendations, arranging everything from flights to hotel reservations.

He also insisted that REM’s wife, pregnant at the time, had to eat! And handed over a bundle of ten onigiri that he had brought for her.

Her due day happened to coincide with hide’s thirty-second birthday. Whenever he stroked the bulging stomach of REM’s wife, he would tell the unknown baby to better get born on schedule, so they could share their birthday.

In any case, to REM and his wife, hide was the world’s best tour conductor, taking care of every aspect of their journey. His thoughtfulness, attentiveness, kindness and warmth were extraordinary and he made sure that they got whatever they wanted. REM and his wife could only be grateful and impressed by his warmth that asked for nothing in return.

It was thanks to him that this trip became one of the best memories of the couple.

One day, after hide had left for recording, his manager at the time, Kudo-chan, took them downtown for dinner. After parking the car, they waited at a traffic light, discussing where they wanted to eat.

As they waited, REM spotted a man waiting at the opposite side of the road who looked like a musician to him, from the way he dressed to the way he wore his long, lustrous hair. Then, the signal turned to “WALK”, they did just that, and as the guy came closer, REM thought that his face looked like he had seen it somewhere before…

It couldn’t be. Here, on this giant continent of America, in the middle of this giant city of Los Angeles…But damn, if that guy did not look exactly like…

And so it came that REM and heath embraced right there in the middle of that pedestrian crossing in L.A., celebrating their unexpected reunion. Babbling along the lines of:

-“Hey, what are you doing here? No, this is where I… Where are we, anyway…”

-“N- no, I heard from hide-chan that you were in L.A., REM, but that I would meet you here…”

Since the time heath came from Osaka to Tokyo, REM had often gone drinking with him. Their meeting here was as much of a surprise as when hide had told REM that heath had joined X.

Thanks to this prank of the gods, they all went to a Japanese restaurant together, chatting happily. It was a day full of surprises and deep emotions.

Just two or three days before REM and his wife were to return home, hide invited REM to the studio and asked him to play the guitar solo of “Misery”. So REM borrowed hide’s guitar and contemplated the song’s guitar phrase there in that place.

And after he played it, hide said, “Well, REM-chan, let’s have you record it before you go home!”

Somewhat incredulously, REM agreed.

However, the next day, something urgent came up with X Japan and the recording of “Misery” had to be interrupted.

Looking regretful, hide told REM over and over that it would resume the next week. But REM’s work did not allow for the delay. And so, with painful reluctance, REM and his wife boarded the plane home.

The day before their return, hide somehow managed to take them out for dinner despite his busy schedule. Since REM’s pregnant wife couldn’t drink, REM and hide drank beer and wine for three. Afterwards, they returned to hide’s apartment building, hung out on the roof at the pool, and continued to chat while looking at the giant, illuminated HOLLYWOOD-sign.

At some point, without anyone noticing, hide had taken off his sunglasses. Hide, who had returned to bare-faced Matsumoto Hideto, and REM, who had returned to bare-faced Araki Masahiko, continued talking with a beer in hand for a long time.

It had been more than ten years since REM had first come to this city as a middle school student. Now, the L.A. night breeze was as fresh as it had been back then, and so dry they could basically hear it.

[2 May 1996: Last night in L.A.]

The next day, hide was driving the car himself when he picked up REM and his wife who were puking all over due to hangover and morning sickness respectively and took them to the airport.

Hide seemed to enjoy himself when he looked over his shoulder at their pale faces in the backseat and asked with a smile, “Honored passengers, how did you enjoy your trip?”

That kind smile of hide, that rare entertainer, was swaying before their eyes.

Hide had been serious about what he had said at the studio in L.A., as REM came to understand that the afterparty of the secret live hide and his band gave at the Yokosuka Art Theater that autumn. He had really meant for REM to play the guitar for “Misery”. REM had been baffled, and felt that now there was another major depth he was owing hide.

He murmured those words as he watched hide’s cheerful form fussing around. His wife, who had heard him, nodded in agreement. She was approaching her due date.

“He’s really supported us at every important point, hasn’t he?”

And so he had. When REM and his now-wife had been dating, it was hide who had looked at them and declared that they absolutely had to get married. He kept saying it. He even said it on New Year’s Day of the year they did get married, just like hide had predicted.

In that moment, REM and his wife likely had the same mental image: Of hide, cheerfully playing guitar at their wedding reception with a mischievous smile on his face, or his kind hospitality in L.A., happily going along with everything they wanted. REM’s thought of, “I want to repay hide for all he’s done” turned to “I must repay hide” turned to “No matter how many years it takes, one day for certain,” and finally arrived at “I must start at once.”

On the sixth of December, 1996, about one week before hide’s birthday, REM’s wife gave birth to their first child without problems. It was a boy, and they called him 柊衣. [Note: The Japanese names strike again. This is probably read either “Hii”, “Toui”, or “Hiragi”.]

Hide came to meet their beloved son the following year, in February 1997.

Hide loved children. Even now, REM remembers how hide played with their son tirelessly all day. He passionately gave this baby, only two months old, rhythm training and taught him how to hold a guitar pick.

This was another day when hide took off his sunglasses. It is their absence that REM blames for the fact that hide, holding the baby in his arms, looked so innocent and vulnerable it hurt.

Continued in part 2

[lumiidragon]

I was wondering if you could give name suggestions for the OC I'm making with one of your free bases? It's a blue, yellow, pink, white, and grey/black night fury base and I'm planning for the dragon to have a renegade and ballet sort of vibe maybe? I haven't decided the gender or sexuality tho.

Yanno what? Show me the OC when you're done and I'll toss a few name ideas your way.

(I'm a visualist, lol. I work better with a pic in front of me.)

[jungkookiexxx]

V the visualist

[behind-the-screen-of-bangtan]

Layover (part 2)

(←Layover part 1)

Slow Dancing

(end of the section, see part 1 for the rest please)

Several artificial details seem to hint the beach scene are a virtual reality created by the animator character we already saw in "Rainy Days" (cr.).

We notably have Yeontan's face in the trees (cr. #1, cr. #2), all the people being replaced by V on the polaroid (cr.), as well as a constellation made of the swimmers and representing a dancing couple (cr.).

The snails and jellyfishes we see throughout the video tell the same story : we have references in V's workroom, virtual templates on the TV and the actual rendition in the summer scenes.

Bangtan Greenhouse identified the flowers eaten by Quique (daisies, possibly chamomile) (Quique mentioned in an Insta story that he was called "flower-eating guy" in the script) as well as the ones in V's workroom (peace lily).

The scenes on the sailboat were filmed in the bay of Palma, aboard the Rafael Verdera, Spain's oldest functioning boat (website).

Slow Dancing (FRNK Remix)' Official MV

This MV features B-shots of the other MVs as well as snippets from 1930s cartoons:

Circus Capers

Tom and Jerry: The Tuba Tooter

Felix the Cat: April Maze

The Booze Hangs High

Mighty Mouse: Wolf! Wolf!

Santa and the Three Bears (1970, at 27:27)

Note that another scene from the Mighty Mouse episode could be seen in "Rainy Days" MV.

Blue

Release date: 13 September 2023

Teaser 1, Teaser 2

Lyrics

The MV was also filmed in Carabanchel.

Bangtan Greenhouse identified the plants appearing in the MV here.

For Us

Release date: 16 September 2023

Teaser

Lyrics

Fanchant

The MV is a mix of several behind-the-scene videos for Layover.

Promotion, interviews, and performances

W Korea Vol. 9: announcement, tweets, Instagram reels #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, digital content schedule, V's Instagram post, interview, Q&A (transcription)

POP Magazine: Instagram post #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, V's Instagram post

Weverse magazine: "V’s vocals evoke a world of fantasy"

Layover Introduction

Rolling Stone: "V Shares The Journey That Led to Layover – And How His BTS Members Helped Get Him There"

NME: "V – ‘Layover’ review: suave sophistication with a twist"

Weverse magazine: "V the visualist"

Spotify: tweets, "V makes it rain at Spotipoly", "V makes V poses and the world is good again | UNBOXING SHOW"

NAVER POP: teaser (eng), tweets, day 1 performance, day 2 performance, 'Slow Dancing', 'Love Me Again', 'Rainy Days', 'Blue'

230910 Inkigayo: "Slow Dancing", "Rainy Days"

슈취타: EP.18 SUGA with V

IU's Palette🎨: 'V'egin Again (With V) Ep.24

230914 M Countdown: teaser, "Love Me Again", "Slow Dancing", Yeontan Fancam, "Slow Dancing" behind

230915 Music Bank: "For Us", "Slow Dancing", Winner's ceremony

Tiny Desk Korea: tweets, performance, V's Instagram post

The First Take: tweets, performance

V's 20 second LIVE @ Gangneung

Band session: 'Love Me Again', 'Slow Dancing', V's Instagram post, Band & Dance Practice Behind

[screamingforyears]

MINI_REVIEW(s): The review template of choice for the TL;DR Tribe…

‘FLAMBOYANT NONVIOLENT’ is the debut LP from @fawn.music.official & it finds the PDX-based duo of vocalist/guitarist/bassist Ida No & keyboardist/percussionist @nat.walker.music celebrating “the uniqueness in every human” across 14 cosmically blissed tracks that pull all manner of synth_waving, lucidly hazed & girl_grouping under one neon colored ElectroPop umbrella as evidenced on the YES affirming “Simulations”

‘DELUXE’ is the brand new EP from @panthermodern__ & it finds the Los Angeles-based project of audio/visualist/Sextilist Brady Keehn going the fuck off across 4 FULL CAPACITY tracks that manage to further the PM sound while continuing the sweaty assed dancefloor vibing we’ve come to expect as you find yourself once again immersed in an EBM swirl of clarion synths, jungled beats & sassed vox as witnessed on “Last Wave”

‘SPIRITUAL CRAMP’ (@bluegrapemusic) is the long-awaited self-titled LP from @spiritualcramptv & it finds the veteran San Francisco-based outfit firing on all cylinders across a 10-track spread as vocalist Michael Bingham serves as our energized MC while holding court over all kinds of garage’y riffs, herky-jerky PostPunk-isms & modish/Clash-esque posturing as heard on the aptly titled “Clashing At the Party”

‘PARASITE’ is the nasty ass debut LP from @stomachdoom & it finds the Geneva, IL-based duo of John Hoffman (Weekend Nachos, LEDGE) & Adam Tomlinson (Sea Of Shit, Sick/Tired) serving up thee vibe across 8 gut-wrenching tracks that revel in their absolute bleakness as we’re lead down a path of power_violenced, savagely sudge’d & ferociously filth’d DoomMetal as evidenced on opener “Crawl Space (Loom Ext.)”

[dustedmagazine]

BCMC — Foreign Smokes (Drag City)

Photo by the Visualist

Each of the four pieces on BCMC’s Foreign Smokes, a full-length collaboration between the guitarist Bill Mackay and the multi-instrumentalist Cooper Crain, begins somewhere small — a few investigatory notes from Mackay’s guitar, a warm drone from Crain’s keys. Ideas are trotted out, the pace and intensity accelerating when both players latch onto something. There is little in the way of pyrotechnics, though the music never stands still or bogs down. This is improvisation as exploration and exchange; one player cuts a trail in a few directions, giving his counterpart options; gesturing with a question, rather than dictating anything.

At the outset of the third track, “Ripple in High Tide,” Mackay bends a few short notes, while Crain sets twinkling touches around the margins. They go on like this until a prodding two-note bass pattern rises up and marches forward. It is a steadying presence, a clockwork plunk of pebbles producing the titular wavelet. Mackay’s picking remains relatively plain, allowing Crain an opening to send shafts of glimmering synth down over the proceedings. Crain’s part established, Mackay takes another step, playing each note just a bit harder, sending the echo farther out. Halfway through, Mackay locks into step over the bassline, walking his guitar into compact bursts as synths sway and sparkle and the organ drone applies greater and greater pressure. This model for playing off of each other — a sonic wall built one intriguing stone at a time — allows either one of Crain or Mackay to incite the action without overshadowing what they’re creating together.

A pearly organ riff emerges from the opening ease of the last song, “Sunset Saturn.” After a few bars, Mackay joins in, sending picked guitar notes tailing out into the reddening sky. The pair trade the spotlight over a persistent drone until they’re deep in conversation; Mackay’s guitar is vivid and peaceful, strumming over a meandering organ which builds to a pleasant bluster, Crain letting loose like a cosmic prog-rocker. Throughout Foreign Smokes, Crain plays with great vitality and without ostentacion, allowing his parts to grow organically from the scene he and Mackay are forming, with the tangible excitement of ad hoc realization. Like his work in Bitchin Bajas, the space illuminated by his music is liable to shift; the ground you’re standing on is still solid, but look up and your surroundings have swirled and warped. What begins in tranquility can quickly turn sordid and eerie, dropping you somewhere more brambled and complex by the end. Sometimes, however, there’s unease from the start. Track two, “The Swarm,” is underlaid by drawn out minor synth chords, which are soon joined by tense squiggles of guitar. Fuller, ostensibly more charismatic guitar and organ parts strive to break through over the top, but the song’s anxious feel breeds on these shifting keys and billowing textures; the bright and the palpable unsettled by hoots from a threatening forest.

The sound of Foreign Smokes is deceptively straightforward considering the rich ambience and evocative moods the pair achieve. While it rewards multiple listens with novel wrinkles – cymbals that settle into the mist, a flinty synth stab that might’ve been shorn from a Depeche Mode chorus  – and is fleshed out and dramatized with a supporting array of synthesizers, the album’s greatest bounty is gathered from the immediate and simple interplay between Mackay’s lightly affected guitar and Crain’s similarly stripped down organ. The first time through, you hear Foreign Smokes in the familiar voices of those instruments, piped and plucked from around the corner, music filling a room you’re not sure you’ve reached until you’re at the center of it.

Alex Johnson

[seoul-italybts]

[✎ ITA] Weverse Magazine : Articolo - V, il Visualista | 10.09.23⠸

🌟 Weverse Magazine 🗞

V, il Visualista

__ Tra le ispirazioni del membro dei BTS ci sono il jazz, Ante Badzim, Colin Firth, le pellicole in bianco e nero e molto altro __

__ di SONG HOORYEONG | 10. 09. 2023

Twitter  |  Orig. KOR 

Nel video musicale di “Rainy Days” - uno dei singoli rilasciati nelle settimane precedenti all'uscita del suo primo album solista, Layover, V intinge una baguette nella vernice bianca e la usa per dipingere su un pannello di vetro. L'immagine che disegna potrebbe essere una qualche sorta di alieno o anche un autoritratto, ma, in ogni caso, l'intento è quello di immortalare emozioni ed umori passeggeri come solo V potrebbe fare. La sua tavolozza creativa gli permette, infatti, di esprimere frammenti della sua immaginazione attraverso foto, dipinti, il parlato, la recitazione e la musica. Inoltre, V può trarre ispirazione da ciò che vede, ascolta, sperimenta ed apprezza.

In questo articolo, abbiamo cercato di seguire lo sguardo attento di questo talentuoso visualista—maestro nel trasformare i sensi in immagini concrete.

Jazz

Non è un mistero che V abbia un debole per il jazz. Infatti, come ha spiegato in un'intervista con Weverse Magazine: “Quando hai una passione per qualcosa da lungo tempo, quel sentimento non fa che intensificarsi, e quando c'è qualcosa che mi piace, non posso non provare a farci qualcosa. Crescendo, ho sempre ascoltato molta musica jazz, che mi piace molto, ed è lo stile musicale che vorrei fare ora.” Il suo amore per il jazz è talmente profondo, da arrivare a definire la scena di High Society in cui Bing Crosby e Louis Armstrong cantano “Now You Has Jazz” una delle sue preferite in assoluto, quando ne ha condiviso un link. Inoltre, ha anche tessuto le lodi del genere su Weverse, dicendo che è “una vera e propria benedizione il potersi lasciar commuovere dal jazz”. Ha anche consigliato il film drammatico Born to Be Blue, visto il suo amore per Chet Baker, e ha postato un video Instagram in cui suonava in playback la tromba su “Autumn Leaves” - strumento che ha imparato a suonare durante delle video-lezioni seguite nella seconda stagione di In the SOOP. In un'altra intervista con Weverse, V ha parlato di tutta l'ispirazione che riesce a trarre dal jazz, spiegando che il jazz classico, come quello di Louis Armstrong, “mi permette di crearmi immagini mentali. Ad esempio, può capitare che io stia ascoltando della musica, mentre cammino per strada, di notte, e certe canzoni mi permettono di immaginare cose e quasi visualizzarle di fronte a me.”

Dato che V vorrebbe fare musica che “crei immagini sinestetiche dal senso di mancanza che si prova in assenza di qualcuno”, non sorprende che, per lui, la musica sia un medium attraverso il quale esprimere immagini in suono. Il jazz, specialmente quello del passato, non è servito solo ad infondergli una sensibilità unica, fin dalla più tenera età, ma anche a corroborare il suo immaginario. In un intervista con W Korea, V ha svelato che è proprio per questo motivo che il suo nuovo album, Layover, ha sonorità jazz e, per lo stesso motivo, ha anche cantato classici del genere, come “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” e “Cheek to Cheek” - nella video-performance “Le Jazz de V”, rilasciato in occasione della FESTA di quest'anno. V non si limita ad esprimere il jazz attraverso la musica, ma anche nel modo in cui sa trasporre il genere ed il suo immaginario nel mondo d'oggi.

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Vante

V ha preso il nome del fotografo australiano Ante Badzim e vi ha aggiunto il suo nome d'arte per crearsi il soprannome Vante, che usa quando posta foto scattate personalmente o per discutere di quelle di fotografi per cui prova ammirazione. Dopo che V ha consigliato alcuni lavori del fotografo tedesco Hannes Becker e del canadese Callum Snape, nel 2019, entrambi i fotografi hanno risposto postando degli scatti dedicati a V, accompagnati dall'hashtag #photoforvante.“Sento una certa affinità con gli artisti stranieri”, ha confidato V a Vogue Korea. “Credo la solidarietà sia importante. Apprezzare il loro lavoro e trarne ispirazione credo mi aiuti anche ad imparare qualcosa di nuovo.” Ed è vero, il membro dei BTS non tiene particolarmente in considerazione parametri come la nazionalità, il genere o il livello di fama, quando si tratta d'arte, comunicando invece con artisti di tutto il mondo, dato che ne ha una visione e comprensione tutta personale. In una occasione, quando era in America per uno dei tour mondiali dei BTS, V si è imbattuto in una mostra d'arte a Dallas e ha acquistato un'opera, poi ha preso la mano dell'artista - autore di questo lavoro - tra le sue, e gli ha detto,“Le auguro che la sua giornata sia luminosa”. Vante è nato come alter ego usato per parlare del suo hobby per la fotografia, ma, man mano che continuava ad usarlo per parlare dei suoi artisti preferiti e dei loro lavori, questo soprannome è diventato molto di più e ora V lo usa per discutere qualsiasi forma d'arte. Possiamo farci un'idea del suo personale stile pittorico, se prendiamo ad esempio la giacca che ha decorato di suo pugno, alcuni episodi di In the SOOP, di Run BTS o anche il suo profilo Instagram.

V ha sempre condiviso talmente tanto di ciò che gli piace con le/gli ARMY, attraverso quest'altra personalità, Vante, che non è difficile immaginare che tipo di opere potremmo trovare sotto l'etichetta “by Vante”. Tutto questo spiegherebbe anche come mai così tante persone hanno attribuito il dipinto creato usando una baguette, nel video musicale di “Rainy Days” - rilasciato l'11 agosto - a Vante. Proprio come è avvenuto per le origini del nome Vante, è facile intuire ciò che sta a cuore a V, se osserviamo ogni sua mossa - talmente è aperto alle influenze che trae dalle sue passioni e dal dialogo con altri artisti.

보라해, I Purple You, 紫

In “Blue & Grey”, una canzone di BE scritta da V, l'artista esprime i suoi sentimenti attraverso metafore legate ai colori: “Il significato di queste lacrime, riflesse nello specchio / È il colore che nascondo sotto il mio sorriso, blu e grigio.” In un'intervista con Weverse, V ha spiegato che il testo è anche espressione di ciò che provava quando ha scritto la canzone: “Quando mi fisso su pensieri simili, tutto mi sembra grigio ed io sono blu [*being blue = triste].” Nella canzone “4 O’CLOCK”, cui ha lavorato con RM, V descrive il passare del tempo usando vari colori, come quando canta “Tutto il mondo è blu al chiaro di luna” o quando descrive un canto udito in lontananza come un richiamo per il “rosso mattino”. Allo stesso modo, il testo di “Blue”, traccia del suo nuovo album, prende in prestito vari colori —"Verde, giallo, rosso e blu”—per esprimere i sentimenti di chi ascolta. E questo suo particolarissimo modo di esprimere emozioni attraverso i colori – quasi fosse un artista con una tavolozza di emozioni – non è esclusivo della sua musica, infatti lo ritroviamo anche nel suo modo di parlare. È stato V ad inventare la parola borahae (“I purple you”), che è ormai inesorabilmente legata ai BTS. Nel 2016, quando i BTS stavano tenendo il loro MUSTER – un grande evento studiato per incontrare le/i fan – V ha notato che le/gli ARMY nel pubblico avevano una pellicola viola attorno alle loro ARMY Bomb. Commosso a questa vista, V ha pensato all'espressione borahae perché, come ha spiegato, il viola è l'ultimo colore dell'arcobaleno e quindi rappresenta anche un legame solido e costante, basato sulla fiducia reciproca, che resiste fino alla fine. Questa parola, dunque, è diventata l'ennesimo simbolo di affetto tra le/gli ARMY e i BTS, e V ha poi ampliato la gamma di lingue in cui questo suo neologismo coreano poteva essere espresso, aggiungendo termini come “I purple you” e “紫” [*murasaki = 'viola' in giapponese], di modo che questo amore viola potesse essere percepito in diverse parti del mondo. Non solo! È diventato un simbolo talmente d'impatto, che l'intera Seoul si è tinta di viola in occasione del 10° anniversario del gruppo. Ma ormai borahae trascende il suo scopo originario – esprimere l'amore reciproco che c'è tra le/gli ARMY e i BTS – ed è entrata a far parte della coscienza pubblica come un'espressione usata per descrivere il legame che si ha con un'altra persona. È stato V a dare origine a boraehae, e l'ha fatto grazie alla sua speciale percezione del mondo tramite colori e parole.

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@thv

A soli 43 minuti dal lancio del suo profilo Instagram, V aveva già raccolto 1 milione di iscritti, e 10 milioni dopo 5 ore e 52 minuti, stabilendo un nuovo record mondiale. Ad oggi (5 settembre) V può vantare oltre 61 milioni di follower, il numero più alto tra le celebrità coreane. Tutto sommato, quindi, possiamo dire che V è uno degli influencer più noti al mondo. Secondo Lefty, impresa che si occupa di marketing, lavorando con e analizzando l'attività degli influencer, il post in cui V ha taggato il brand di lusso CELINE aveva un EMV, o earned media value [* il valore di guadagno stimato per un post o interazione social di successo] di $12 milioni, il più alto tra tutti i post creati durante la Fashion Week. Il suo profilo Instagram ci dà un assaggio di com'è la vita di una celebrità iconica come lui, selezionato, infatti, come ambassador di CELINE e, in seguito, anche Cartier, nonché solo il secondo cantante uomo – dopo Elton John - ad esser mai apparso individualmente sulla copertina della rivista di moda britannica Pop. Ma V usa il suo profilo anche per condividere regolarmente aggiornamenti sulla sua vita quotidiana con il suo sconvolgente numero di follower.

Nel suo feed possiamo trovare spaccati di vita come il post riguardo il ciondolo porta chiavi di Molang, appuntato alla tasca dei pantaloni, la borsa di plastica piena zeppa di snack che V regge tra i denti mentre Jung Kook è in posa con la mano sulla spalla di V o quello insieme al suo cagnolino, Yeontan, mentre l'artista esprime un desiderio di fronte ad una tavola rituale. Inoltre, V considera Instagram come un altro mezzo per comunicare con le/gli ARMY, che lui stesso descrive come suoi “carissimi amici”. Una volta, ha postato una storia in cui mostrava una sua caricatura disegnata da un artista di strada a Montmartre, Parigi, e in seguito ha regalato il disegno ad una fan, in aeroporto. “Ho deciso di postare solo ciò che mi piace”, ha detto in una precedente intervista con Weverse. “Su quel profilo, posso mostrare il mio estro e stile personale. E non credo di dovermi preoccupare di ciò che può pensare la gente.” Proprio come ha detto, il suo Instagram è una compilation di alcuni dei suoi momenti di vita preferiti—dove i tanti mondi di questa multi-sfaccettata star di fama mondiale e quello dello spensierato ventenne entrano in contatto, tutto quanto ben confezionato a nome @thv. 

Attore

V si reinventa in entrambi i video musicali rilasciati prima dell'uscita del suo nuovo album solista. Nella clip di “Love Me Again”, è in piedi, da solo, in quello che sembra un po' un assaggio di una performance live, le emozioni ridotte al minimo ed espresse unicamente attraverso lo sguardo ed un lieve tremito. Il video di “Rainy Days” è più rilassato e stazionario, con un'interpretazione del tutto naturale da parte di V.

Poi abbiamo il teaser di “Blue”, in cui crea un po' di tensione tra le rapide sequenze in cui cammina e poi guida, apparentemente ansioso di trovare qualcuno. In alcuni video passati, come il “The Most Beautiful Moment in Life on stage: prologue”, V doveva interpretare un personaggio con un'aura ed emozioni complesse, difficili a rendersi, e farlo nonostante non avesse particolare esperienza nella recitazione. Nel video musicale di “Spring Day”, è il primo ad apparire sulla scena e ha il compito di trasmettere, attraverso un primo piano, la profondità emotiva di questo brano, sfruttando unicamente l'espressività del suo sguardo. “In quel periodo, il mio modello era Colin Firth”, ha detto V nel libro BEYOND THE STORY: 10-YEAR RECORD OF BTS riguardo l'era The Most Beautiful Moment in Life. “Mi piaceva un sacco il suo stile, la sua aura, e anche io volevo trasmettere quel tipo di vibe.”

V ha sempre trovato ispirazione nel jazz, nella fotografia e nell'arte, ma prende spunto anche dalle performance cinematografiche di vari attori per capire come recitare al meglio nei video musicali e sul palco. In un'altra intervista con Weverse Magazine, ha detto di aver guardato tanti film adolescenziali e musical, in previsione di “Butter”, e ha poi cercato di riflettere la stessa atmosfera vista nel film Cry-Baby. Inoltre, ha anche improvvisato la scena all'inizio della performance di gruppo alla 64a edizione dei Grammy Awards, dove lo vediamo sussurrare qualcosa all'orecchio di Olivia Rodrigo. Un attore, quindi, sì, ma V è anche regista di se stesso per come trae ispirazione da altri interpreti nonché da una gran varietà di fonti per poter mettere in scena personaggi sempre nuovi.

Vintage

V adora tutto ciò che è analogico. Ha postato molte foto a pellicola, sui social media, spiegando che questo suo amore per gli scatti vintage è da attribuirsi all'atmosfera ed ai sentimenti unici che i colori di questo tipo di scatti possono catturare. V ha anche attraversato una fase in cui abbinava baschi, coppole, giacche doppiopetto, tracolle marroni e altri articoli decisamente vintage ai suoi abiti quotidiani. Il suo amore per il classico ed il vintage è ancor più evidente, se prendiamo in considerazione i progetti per cui V ha curato l'aspetto visuale. In un video intitolato “Me, Myself and V, 'Veautiful Days'”, parte del progetto BTS’s Special 8 Photo-Folio, V ha spiegato che, per il suo servizio fotografico, la scelta è ricaduta su uno stile classico perché gli piace l'atmosfera che trasuda da tutto ciò che è passato, come i film in bianco e nero, e ha aggiunto che è convinto che “tutto si rifà ai classici”. Inoltre, nei retroscena di questo progetto, ha spiegato che il suo obiettivo era mettere in risalto l'atmosfera vintage, e che quindi ha voluto usare esclusivamente la luce naturale perché il tutto sembrasse un vecchio film anni '80.

La sua visione artistica è evidente anche nei video musicali rilasciati, finora [*l'articolo risale a prima dell'uscita dell'album, n.d.t.], insieme a Layover: il teaser di “Blue” sembra un po' un vecchio film in bianco e nero, “Rainy Days”, una pellicola sgranata in stile vintage, “Love Me Again” richiama lo stile rètro attraverso gli effetti da vecchio schermo CRT. Grazie a questi video, V può esprimere appieno il senso di mancanza e solitudine—emozioni, queste, che sono alla base della sua musica.

Visualista

“Dare vita concreta ad un progetto o concept artistico fino ad allora solo immaginato è, senza dubbio, già elettrizzante di per sé , nonché una grandissima soddisfazione – sia che si tratti di video musicali o servizi fotografici.” ha detto V a W Korea, spiegando perché ha preparato un video musicale per ognuna delle canzoni di Layover, e perché sono usciti ben 4 round di foto concept per promuovere l'album. Nel 2021, quando - in occasione dell'intervista “Full Story”, riguardo i retroscena della produzione dell'album BE, dei BTS, gli è stato chiesto quale fosse la direzione della sua musica, V ha risposto, “Voglio esprimere con autenticità ciò che provo realmente, ciò che faccio nella mia vita e come la sto vivendo”. Recentemente, durante una diretta Weverse, V ha parlato molto candidamente di come sono state le riprese per il suo nuovo album, dicendo “Credo mi rappresenti al meglio... che dica 'Sono Kim Taehyung e questo è ciò che mi piace'.” Le riprese sono state piuttosto estemporanee, quindi V non era neppure truccato—molto semplicemente, la direttrice di ADOR, nonché produttrice generale di Layover, Min Hee Jin, ha chiesto, “V, domani hai un po' di tempo? … Usciamo un po'”. Essenzialmente, Layover è un catalogo di tutte le scelte estetiche per cui V ha sempre optato. Usando le parole della produttrice Min, “L'attenzione non vuol essere su quanto sia incredibile V, ma sulla sua semplicità”.

In fin dei conti, V è sia un musicista che un visualista che sa esprimere la propria musica anche attraverso ciò che mostra visivamente al pubblico. In passato, aveva già cercato di esprimere questo stesso sentimento in un'intervista con Weverse Magazine, dicendo: “Spero le/gli ARMY riescano ad immaginare qualcosa, quando ascoltano la mia musica, anche se non ci sono immagini specifiche cui far riferimento. Un po' come quando, ascoltando la colonna sonora di un film, ci tornano in mente scene della pellicola.” Layover, dunque, è una rappresentazione visiva del mondo di V e raccoglie tutti i sogni e desideri mai provati dall'artista nel sperimentare con ciò che ha a cuore ed è di suo gusto—nello stesso modo in cui l'immagine tratteggiata da V in “Rainy Days” ci restituisce una sua raffigurazione perfetta.

⠸ ita : © Seoul_ItalyBTS ⠸

[amittarora]

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[ma1less]

✾ •°* •°* •°* :::::::::::................  Fear of the Unknown, a WIP story ✾ •°* •°* •°* :::::::::::................ 

(owo the divider looks so pwetty)

Hi. I think it's better now than never to make something about my story, Fear of the Unknown.

Before I really say much about FotU, lemme tell you what it's about. Cuz, you know, it's what I gotta do as a story writer.

✾ •°* •°* •°* :::::::::::................  Synopsis-ish ✾ •°* •°* •°* :::::::::::................ 

After a moon of suspension, Lenard Hartmann finds himself caught in a club, or rather a department, he had never dreamed of signing up for: The Drama Department! With his timidness and his inability to speak up for himself, it's still a wonder why he was admitted in the first place.

With the help of Anastasia "Annie" Cunnings, a simple volunteer for the student council who transferred just last moon, Lenard began to understand just who he was and what kind of elf he should become with the support of his newfound friends. And only Crater knows how much he needed that support right now.

However, everything starts to spiral down during Lenard's little time within the Drama Department. Why was he put into it in the first place? Why did he go berserk last moon despite being so quiet and friendly? Why is he always going out of character when he's not acting?

And why, in the vast universe of Similia, is it always pointing back to Anastasia Cunnings?

✾ •°* •°* •°* :::::::::::................

The thing is kinda old but that's basically what the story is about -- just a little elf boy who needs the support and love of others. And someone pulling the strings behind the scenes.

And this entire thing is old too. 3 years old. This upcoming March will be the third anniversary of the creation of FotU...

...and I'm still at the damn beginning arc...!!!

*sigh* It's just because I couldn't make up my mind...

So a little history about the story since this is my first WIP post about FotU:

It was meant to be a Gacha Club series.

Yeah...

Gacha Club...

I'm a visualist. I love seeing stories come to life, whether that be through illustrations and animations or vocal and audio production. I just love to feel it.

And you can't do that through just words alone.

So that's why, even if I don't have any proper knowledge about animation and running a full-scale project, at least my story can come to life somehow!

Somehow...

Somehow...

In the end, I couldn't even make a Gacha series. Not because I didn't know how (I knew the basics thanks to a different community I shall not name cuz I despise it to its core) but because the community...

...the Gacha community itself is...

I've been in the community for a long time (almost 10 years now) and a lot of negativity is spread throughout it. I mean, every community can't escape the drama, but everything I saw was just negativity after negativity and I just couldn't stand it.

(I have enough low self-esteem with my art skills already. Imagine if I made a series and it flopped or it wasn't up to the community's nonexistent standards or anti-Gacha people just tell me to draw it instead...)

So that put me to a halt. What made me drift away was just because I felt restricted with my creativity.

Specific outfits I want for my characters doesn't exist, the angles I want for the series is restricted to a 3/4 right-looking angle (and just a mirror of it instead of an actual left-looking 3/4 angle but I don't count it), and there aren't enough props to create your own custom/interactive background.

So I decided, even with all this low self-esteem I had with my art, why not I just make it into a comic? It'll be awesome to read, my creativity isn't restricted, and it helps me visualize my story better! All I have to do is draw!

Draw...

I have to draw...?

I haven't even developed an art style I can plateau on and I'm telling myself to make a comic???

*sigh*

Obviously that didn't go well... I can't even make a background without overthinking it, what makes me think I can make a comic? Jeez... Such high expectations for myself, huh?

So I opted out of that right away.

But if I don't wanna be shamed for using Gacha, and I can't draw for the life of me, what the hell should I even do?

Novel.

I've written plenty of stories in novel form before. Surely it'll be easy!

Except... since the story started off as a visual story, meaning a visual aide is kinda needed, writing it into novel format is extremely hard...

Oh, I know! Make it into a light novel! It's a Japanese niche of books that feature anime art in their novels as a visual aide. I can certainly do something like that!

Am I forgetting something...?

Oh, right!

I can't draw.

So... novel...?

Nah, I'm going back to its roots and making it into a Gacha series!

Someone slap me in the face now cuz this is the reason why the story is taking 3 years to make and it's still in the beginning stage!

In the end, due to some personal issues, I decided to make it into a novel with no visuals. I just have to learn from my roots and write how I used to write when I was just a child.

Which is extremely difficult.

Better than nothing, I guess. At least I have a word count goal! Kind of...

(Don't tell anyone but I'm 2K words behind on my goal today;;;;)

My plans for the story is to get it self-published. Obviously, writer being a writer, I got distracted and ended up researching how self-publishing works, got even more distracted and caught up with another indecision, there's a bird, and forgot to write.

Yeah... Needless to say, I kinda got demotivated.

Kinda.

I mean, I've been writing ever since I was ten, and I haven't quit after writing over fifteen stories. Well, story ideas, since I never finished any of them and also got even more -- there's another bird.

Okay, it's gone. Now what was I saying...?

(Seriously, tho, I really got distracted with the bird cuz I put it on my Redbubble as a design lmfao)

But aside from self-publishing, FotU has two books. The first book, I'm writing, and then the sequel, which is planned. To be fair, the entire story is planned. All I need to do is write it.

Plotters, anyone?

Well, I shouldn't say that cuz I didn't exactly plot-plot a lot-lot. I just did the basic beginning, rising, climax, falling, resolution thing with a bit of notes of some good ideas I can fit in. Otherwise, I'm a plantser with more plot.

No, not that plot.

Can the anime titties please get out of my face? Thank you.

The first book, I named it as Fear of the Unknown: Project Action and the second as Fear of the Unknown: Mission Survive. I won't spill too much about book 2 since it'll spoil book 1. Let's just say that joining the Drama Department was the least of Lenard's worries.

Oh, right, I also need to talk about "the vast universe of Similia", huh? Well, the thing is, Fear of the Unknown is a series based within a universe I precreated for a story called Rewritten. Well, not exactly a series but more of a saga. It's already been, what, six years?

Just like FotU, Rewritten was made for a Gacha series but more for a Gacha fanfiction of Lunime's game Gacha World. I won't go too much into it since this isn't a Rewritten WIP post. Let's just say that I've plotted everything and need to write it.

Like usual.

But Similia is a universe made up of three galaxies that consists of elves, technicians, and hybrids. The similiens we'll be following for FotU will be based around elves!

I'll go more into the world in another post. Seeing how long this one is getting, I should be wrapping things up and finally be writing my story.

I know this post might be all over the place but I'm glad I made something for FotU. I'm not a person who updates her stories out of fear of... the... unknown...

That was not intended...

I just have difficulties trusting the internet after one of my stories was called a rip off of someone else's, and I ended up getting cyberbullied cuz of how defensive I was getting.

Hey, I'm very stubborn when it comes to my stories. If someone assumes something like that again, I'm still gonna end up repeating my mistake.

I mean, if you spent over a year or two creating and perfecting your story and you finally just made a synopsis of it only to have someone assume it was a rip off of someone else's story, wouldn't you get pissed off too? After the countless updates I put up, someone assumes it to be something I never made in the first place?

Now imagine if, after putting my synopsis out there for FotU, someone assumes the same bull again.

One year of work, I just got defensive. Three years, I'll go berserk. Rewritten with six years+? Hmm... Let's not get to that point, shall we?

Anyways, enough dwelling on the past. I gotta end things now so see ya later. Maybe.

(Don't know what it'll be about unless someone's curious about something specific since I only scratched the surface)

[grandhotelabyss]

A few weeks after the Kafka vogue, Andrew Martin considers the youth appeal of Osamu Dazai, as filtered through Soundcloud rappers and TikTokkers (repeat after me: "ironic metaphysical quietism"):

To someone with a great deal of interest in postwar Japanese literature and almost no working knowledge of TikTok, anime or manga (surely I’m not the only one), this combination of elements is baffling, if not alarming. What would it mean to unabashedly identify with a novel that turns on the Hobbesian epiphany that society “is the struggle between one individual and another, a then-and-there struggle, in which the immediate triumph is everything”? Why is Dazai, continually in print but long overshadowed in the United States by his philosophical and literary inheritor Yukio Mishima, now prominently featured on display tables at Barnes & Noble and prompting new translations and reissues of his 75-year-old back catalog from New Directions, the venerable independent publisher not exactly known for viral hits?

As a dilettante-generalist, I know equal amounts about postwar Japanese literature, TikTok, anime, and manga—more than the average person off the street but less than the expert or otaku. I'll pass on Bungo Stray Dogs for now; it sounds pretty distant from my interests, though "Kafka Asagiri" is a good name.

I was more or less ordered to read No Longer Human in 2019 by my Japanophiliac art students. One of them ruminated sagely, albeit with a bit too much east-west narrative essentialism of the kind we just saw Naomi Kanakia debunking, on the difference between a culture that prescribes No Longer Human and one that prescribes The Great Gatsby as a schoolbook. I liked No Longer Human, but I can also understand why Mishima overshadows Dazai. Mishima seems a superior novelist to Dazai in something like the same way Dostoevsky is superior to Camus: the former writers have more of the world in their books than the latter. This may render the nihilism impure, but then if your nihilism were pure, you wouldn't write a book in the first place.

Anyway, if any TikTokkers are out there, you may enjoy my essay on Dazai's No Longer Human—

Here we see the distance between Dazai’s fiction and contemporary narratives of the superfluous man, such as Todd Phillips’s Joker, whose delusional hero might have been saved by a good therapist and the love of Zazie Beetz, and who in any case manages in his mental illness to lead, however inadvertently, a legitimate social rebellion. On the absolutist terms offered by No Longer Human, this naturalistic faith in secular salvation, whether through psychology, love, or politics (or, for that matter, money and social status), is all nonsense.

—and my essay on the revered horror mangaka Junji Ito's graphic novel adaptation, into which I also folded a few skeptical thoughts on that overrated film Come and See:

Ito is too literal a visualist of Dazai’s verbal vision—almost as literal as a camera, the way the best comics and films never are. Dazai’s novel gave me more reason to ruminate than did Ito’s manga; likewise, Jerzy Kosinski’s novel The Painted Bird, for all its notorious problems, offers us all the horrors and then some—and all the horrified questions—of Come and See, with much more besides, including a philosophy of individuation that we experience by growing with the protagonist. This happens in the inner theater of the mind, where we feel and think it at once and as the same thing; but the film remains always outside, a beckoning or threatening spectacle that never becomes one’s own, a permanent dissociation of sensibility.

Do you think, in the age of "ironic metaphysical quietism," we can meme The Painted Bird into a TikTok sensation next? It could be said to combine Kafka and Dazai, though it may be too pornographic for our gnostic straight-edge puriteens.