#without that post I would've said 2010

[pyreflydust]

Actually, if you can't remember, this post should tell you when you signed up.

deletes don’t count. this is how long you’ve known about/been part of this website. if you left and came back say when you made your first blog even if you no longer have access to it (but also tell me how long you were gone for because i’m nosy like that)

[synergysilhouette]

10 Disney hot takes/unpopular opinions (Part 5)

I did not realize how many unpopular opinions I had until I started back on part 3. Anyways, here are some more, and be sure to check out part 4 here.

Merida should NOT be part of the Disney princess roster--I mainly say this because Disney over time has become conflated with the companies it owns, resulting in people calling Marvel, Pixar, Lucasfilm, Fox, etc. "Disney," despite them all having different creatives and teams. While "Brave" was made after Disney buying out Pixar, I feel like making Merida a Disney princess contributes to the conflation, and I feel like the DP line should only be something Disney has for their own company, especially when you remember the fact that Disney doesn't really market or promote Merida as much as the other princesses (and Pixar barely acknowledges her film), though I will say it's probably because her film isn't a musical, similar to how underrated Raya is, despite being a Disney princess. Speaking of which...

2. Raya should only be marketed with one cultural background, two at the most--The fact that her film is a mix of Southeast Asian cultures without defining barriers or specific influences has gained polarized reviews for generalizing the culture, and some people have even surmised it was so Disney could market her in various Southeast Asian clothes rather than just one. While Kumandra is kind of a mess, I do think it'd help to present Raya (at least in dolls/associated merchandise) as having a specific cultural influence to her, maybe two if her mother was from a different land than her father. I am biased towards making her Vietnamese due to the whole "dep la" verbiage between her and Namaari, as well as Raya's voice actor and one of the writers for her film being of Vietnamese heritage. That said, I could also see her being marketed as Malaysian, due to the other co-writer being of Malaysian heritage and Raya's name being Malay for "celebration."

3. "Frozen" is Disney's "Shrek"--At least on the animated side; "Enchanted" is the true rival to "Shrek" overall (and can we PLEASE get a 2D film with an art style like they did?! Alphonse Mucha's art is gorgeous!). While the meta moments sometimes felt heavy-handed, it felt like the foil to classic Disney the same way that Dreamworks had done, and honestly I feel like it worked in it's favor. I'm glad the sequel didn't try to copy that, though.

4. Pocahontas is one of the best Disney protagonists--Yes, the film was inaccurate and included a sexualized lead (who had several non-Indigenous women as her physical influence) along with including a romance that never happened. I get why people hate this movie and her. I'm just saying I love her personality, her spitiuality, athleticism, kindness, intelligence, and reverence for her culture (because it would've been very easy to make the "dissatisfied character forsakes their culture in favor of another one"). NGL, I feel like if her deerskin outfit was longer, a significant portion of her criticism would cease.

5. "Oz the Great and Powerful" should've been animated--Given the success of "The Wizard of Oz" and "Wicked," it seems that Disney doing a take on "The Wizard of Oz" would've been a hit, but as "Return to Oz" and "Oz the Great and Powerful" will tell you, they did not reach those heights. While OTGAP wasn't spectacular, had it went through the Disney Animation pipeline during the 2010s (the best part of the revival era; another hot take?), I think the writing and story would've been better. Bonus points if it was a musical! Of course, the main idea for the film could've easily been used for an original property instead of one related to "The Wizard of Oz." I also think "Hocus Pocus" should be animated, but that's another post.

6. Disney should take a break from Europe for a while--While getting more specific with European cultures recently with "Frozen" (Not sure if was specifically Norwegian or just Scandinavian in general) and "Wish," I do feel like it's a bit played out, at least for now. With growing cultural awareness, Disney's diversity with "Moana," "Encanto," and even "Raya and the Last Dragon," I do want to see Disney explore more cultures outside of Europe. I mentioned in my "Part 3" post that I'd like diversity for the next musical, but this part goes beyond that; I feel like the next 5 films after "Frozen 3" that are set with real-world influence should take place in countries outside of Europe. Asia and the Americas have my vote, but if Disney makes an animated musical in Africa with HUMANS, I'll be very happy. In fact--

7. Disney should've used Beyonce's "The Gift" and Lin-Manuel Miranda's work on "Mufasa" for their animation department--Both of them crafted really gorgeous work, but they used it for films that's existence has gained mixed responses due to Disney's live-action remake trend. Imagine if Beyonce and Lin worked together on a soundtrack!

8. John Musker and Ron Clements need more work--It ASTOUNDS me that they directed "Moana," one of Disney's best-received films EVER, and have been behind several other classic Disney films, but over the past 20 years, they've only directed and/or written two films for Disney. Can we circle back to that "Swan Lake" idea the duo overlooked in the 90s? (Note: It'd be cool to explore an Eastern European culture since the composer was Russian, but as per #7, that'll have to come later. Plus political situations probably mean Russia itself isn't an option for now.)

9. Collaborate with other creatives--I've made fanmade posts about potential Disney films, and they included using well-known directors and songwriters. I really feel like it'd be nice for Disney to work with these creatives for something fresh and fun. AND GIVE THEM SPACE TO WORK!

10. More "Making of" documentaries--"Frozen 2" was EYE-OPENING, and I'm sure Disney isn't eager to earn the ire of the fans again, especially if they explain why their recent movies have been the way they are, ie why "Raya and the Last Dragon" had a major upshake 7 months from release, why "Wish" is so different from the OG concepts, how the crew for "Moana 2" adapted to making the show a film with only 10 months, etc. "Making of..." would make a fun series on Disney+; I'm sure it'd be VERY popular.

[acklesdiaz]

oh and and don't get me started as every time i mentioned i didn't like that steve left so soon after danny hospital leave a nice horde of people jumped down my throat with the same old 'but steve has so much traumaaa and ptsd and lost people he loved 🥺 can't you see he's hurting 🥺 you're dumb and don't understand anything' - as if danno hadn't also gone through horrible stuff too (wanting to k-ll himself after rachel served him the divorce papers, matt worried he might off himsellf so he stayed with him - and later in colombia letting both guards and inmates do w/e they wanted w him) that goes even more unadressed - they both need to heal!! therapy!! and rest!! and the support of family!! not the cia agent that reminds steve of doris!! - - and speaking of divorce and children if it's ok to link this story https://archiveofourown.org/works/22752415 it's the firehouse being supportive of danny when rachel confesses charlie's real father is, and remember steve just going 'don't be angry, think of the kids!!! (basically 'your feelings don't matter here danny, your kids do' as if danny had ever done anything ever without thinking of his kids first i'm just- he needed a friend to vent to steve :_ not more dismissals - this another thing that annoyed me among other things - but!!! I love mcdanno and steve and danny and the family - just some things tick me off) (((my apologies if this shows up 4 times in your inbox tumlr is telling me 'your message could not be sent

I only got 2 times, but no problem lol

Really? I was so angry watching the episode the first time that I called him a lot of bad names lol now I dealt better, but I still don't hate this ending.

Like I said, I know he had ptsd and he needed to do that, but the least he could have done was waiting for Danny to be fully healed. In the ideal world, he would've acted like a grown man, staying and looked for treatment, finding a veterans ptsd program or something, but I think that's too much to expect from a male centered 2010s show.

But what I think it made even worse was Catherine coming into the fucking plane. She is a younger Doris, a personification of Steve's mommy issues, he is not healing himself like this!

And about the Rachel hiding Charlie thing, I don't see as Steve dismissing Danny's feelings, I think he was trying to be the peacemaker of the situation.

Now, what I think is really dismissive and makes really angry is the team reaction post the leaver transplant. Danny saved the day and Steve and they all basically ignore him in the hospital room. That was horrible. One of the moments I hate the most after the finale.

Anyway, I love mcdanno too. I just hate Steve leaving in the ending, team treatment to Danny in season 6 and Steve partnering with Lou half of the time then.

[littlealeta]

Spellbound (2024) Review [Spoilers]

Long post! Scroll down for a TL;DR and Aleta Rewrites Version!

I, at first, didn't want to watch this movie. But after hearing some surprisingly decent reviews, I decided to give it a chance. Coming out of it, I can understand why it resonated with some people, even if the writing is ultimately a mess. I think if this came out earlier, in the mid 2010s, without all the controversy John Lasseter has got into as well, I think this could've done a bit better among other simplistic films such as Home and Secret Life of Pets. And I probably would've liked it better myself back then, but alas, I am not a slightly mindless 17 year old anymore, and we live in different times where cute, heartfelt stories are not the only things a movie needs to be good. So, I must view this film objectively as it is.

I will have to say, though, the trailers hid way too much. It's not as horrible as they made it out to be, but still mediocre.

Story

So much to say here...

The story is a real mess. It literally pops off with the parents being monsters. We know nothing of their life beforehand at this point.

There are some good ideas here, like the dark emotions tornado. the parents being monsters concept and having the child be the one to parent their own parents sounds like it could be ridiculously funny, but the problem is, it doesn't do much to set it apart from other stories that have done this before, Brave and Spirited Away with the parents being creatures concept, Wonder Park with the dark emotions symbolism, and It Takes Two with two fighting parents going on an adventure. The monsters at the start could just be Eileen's annoying pets and there would be no difference.

I also like that the main conflict revolves around divorce, a theme that is rarely touched upon in media, especially for children. It's unfortunate that this doesn't come into play until halfway through the story. The message is very heartfelt and a good lesson for children going through this same situation.

There are some good scenes here. Like there's some creative and beautiful segments like the echo or the Look for the Light scene. Most of the humor is actually well-written, although, I probably could've done without the freaky friday thing as it doesn't really contribute to the story. There are a couple times where I felt the humor is tacked on, but other than that, most of them felt natural.

One thing that doesn't make sense about the story, though, is the parents gradually getting their humanity back after it was said that they would get it back at the lake. This was never explained. I believe I could subtly see the reason why that may be the case. The parents and Elliaan are starting to accept the reality of the marriage. But, there's not enough implication to connect that reasoning to the story, and it just feels contrived.

The way conflict gets resolved is often anticlimatic. Like, in the echo scene, the parents suddenly saying "Girl" for no reason and getting their humanity back felt rushed and contrived as well as Bolinar being able to somehow call in the other flinks during the big climatic moment.

Characters

The characters either don't really have much personality or feel one-note.

Princess Elliaan is just your typical Disney protagonist. She's cheerful, optimistic, good-natured, and a bit clumsy. She lacks any flaws, quirks, or depth to help her stand out.

The parents only show their personalities when they're fighting. They, too, have nothing to make them stand out.

The only characters who kinda have a personality are Bolinar and the Oracles, but even they feel a bit one-note. Bolinar's only characteristic is that he's perpetually negative, and he really doesn't contribute anything to the story. The Oracles, being minor characters, aren't very memorable.

Flink is just your average trouble-making Disney sidekick.

Animation/Music/Voice Acting

I love Princess Eileen's design, I think she's very cute. However, that is all the positives I have in regards to the animation. There are some different artistic styles used in some of the musical segments, but most of the animation is just your average 2010s 3D animation.

Music is alright. Most of it is not memorable. There are a couple of weird moments where it seems like the characters were talking more than singing. My personal favorite would be The Way it Was Before. It's catchy, and the sweetest and most heartfelt song out of them all.

The voice actors do well with both funny and serious moments. I have to give props especially to Rachel Zegler, for both her singing and her ability to convey emotions. I really felt her character there.

Overall/TL;DR

I give Spellbound 5.4 bells out of 10

The story takes too long to reveal itself and get interesting. There is barely a concrete arc there, it could easily be seen as a movie where "things happen". A lot of the conflict is resolved anticlimatically, too. There are inklings of a deep, emotional, and creative movie in there, but it needed some more drafting to get there. The comedic timing is mostly well-written, though, besides a few tacked on moments.

Characters feel pretty one-note and Elliaan is just your average Disney princess.

Besides a few artistic musical segments, the animation is mostly generic. Although, I think Princess Elliaan is very cute.

Music is ok, quite forgettable. The only catchy one being the heartfelt The Way It Was Before.

Voice actors did their jobs well, especially Rachel Zegler in terms of both her singing and emotional range.

It's passable enough for kids and those who want to Netflix and chill. It's a simple movie with a good heart and there's nothing wrong with that, but in terms of story and characterization, it's pretty bland with nothing much to make it stand out from other animated kids fare.

In an Aleta Rewrites story, I would of course start off with the parents being humans. Elli is harboring resentment for them due to their constant fighting and planned divorce and just wants everything to be peaceful again. Due to Elli's resentment, the parents themselves are having trouble going through with the divorce because they want to "stay together for the kid". Their fighting causes the parents to turn into monsters because this is how Elliaan sees them. At the start, I would try to do something a little more creative with the parents being monsters concept to set it apart from other movies that have done this before. Like, maybe instead of just having them be rambunctious creatures, show more facets of their personalities. Like, maybe the parents' personalities are still somewhere in there and they're trying to talk to Eileen or trying to help Eileen, but their monster sides just keep coming out and it just all ends in the wrong way. Also, show more of the parents fighting as monster forms instead of just acting like pets causing trouble around the castle.

Let Elliaan's growth happen more naturally instead of at the last minute. And her growth (her acceptance of the changes the parents want to make to their marriage) is the reason her parents slowly gain back humanity. Their adventure is a representation of Elliaan and her parents' journey to accept the truth that the marriage is not going to work out well. Show more symbolic elements of Elliaan's resentment and her growth similar to how you showed symbolic scenes of the parents fighting with the quicksand and the echo.

I would also have Bolinar be more of the foil who often ditches and kinda gets in the way of Elliaan and her parents' adventure. His selfish attempts at trying to get back his body hurt their plans (more scenes like the acorn trail scene), until he grows to be more helpful in the adventure and realize his selfish ways.

[batsplat]

I think this should be a fun one for you: rank 00’s-early 2010’s spanish atp tennis players from most beloved/underrated/least beloathed to your most behated.

I love when you’re mean about atp 🥰

incredible hater ask. love to see that me just endlessly lobbing potshots at male tennis players has finally found an audience. the inclusion criteria for this list is extremely vibes-based - they need to have had some of their career-best results in the 00's or early 2010s and I can't primarily associated them with 90's or 2020's. so no moya or alcaraz... rba marginal inclusion but not pcb. (ramos vinolas would've come top but he just... didn't really get going until late 2010s.) cut-off is top twenty peak ranking. so let's go

MOST BELOVED/UNDERRATED/LEAST BELOATHED

bautista agut: horse girl!! horse girl!!! a bit of a journey of how I learned to stop worrying and love the pusher. I've occasionally had a slightly troubled history with the guy, not least because sometimes it does feel like he crawls out of the woodwork literally just to piss me off? like, I'm sorry, check out this string of results from last year (I've conveniently highlighted the irritating result)

first time since JANUARY he'd strung together back-to-back match wins. feels a little personal!!

beyond spawning out of nowhere to hand medvedev a yearly defeat, he has also been done a fair bit of torturing of murray. that 2022 match at doha with the foul scoreline... that being said, if you're a fan of a high-ranked player it is extremely poor form to be too annoyed by this kind of thing. medvedev should maybe consider stop losing to inferior pushers and even at the time I did find it pretty funny, rolled my eyes but fundamentally idc that much about how he does in halle. and I am obviously a big supporter of pushing... rba is quite an un-spanish players in some ways - doesn't play with a lot of spin, not bad at clay but it's not where he shines. idk I'm a big fan of pushers, rba has been a stalwart representative of the pushing lifestyle on the atp tour, he's kind of in that gilles simon camp where I was always happy enough to put on a match with them in it. and y'know, he seems like a nice enough guy. a fixture of the atp tour who I'm just kinda fond of

ferrer: always felt kinda sorry for him. destined to be #2 spaniard forevermore. thing is, with his game, you do have to say he didn't massively underachieve - like in a way a slam final is a pretty impressive showing. he's not one of the players TO ME where it feels super painful they never won a slam, even though arguably he's had a better career than some of the guys I'd put in that camp. funny how that works out!! I actually quite like ferrer's game, it's very bread and butter, spanish clay court style... and y'know, I grew up on clay, it's probably still my favourite surface all things considered, and we did always joke about the grinding from ten metres behind the baseline thing. I respect it. gets annoying when someone is nadal-levels good, but ferrer is very much not that so I quite enjoyed watching him play. idk, I did always vaguely like those second tier players during the big four era - childhood nostalgia of watching them in a bunch of slam matches without my negative feelings towards the big three. he's not my favourite of those, but he's all right. just quite inoffensive really

costa: oh man, I just don't really have any particularly strong feelings towards this guy. I think it's pretty funny how he won a slam and does just reflect where the clay game was at for a few years before nadal, like none of the post kuerten pre nadal rg winners were particularly serious characters. still, beating ferrero in that 2002 final is something I will gladly applaud, especially absolutely walloping him in the first two sets. this is very firmly before my time and perhaps a year or so before I even held my first tennis racquet as a kid, and while I obviously have quite a few past players I have strong feelings about... costa is not one of them. he is not actively offensive to me, let's put it that way (which I retroactively realised I'd put for two players in a row, but I'll leave it because it's funny that this is how I classify spanish players)

verdasco: now, look. verdasco doesn't hate nadal, but I am more than happy to do so on his behalf. I wasn't a sentient enough person yet in 2009 to have particularly sophisticated takes on the tragic inevitability of sports narratives, but if I HAD been I think I would've gone insane at some point during That Australian Open Match. basically redlined for hours and it still wasn't enough, never reached another slam semi, just kinda sucks man. (not that it matters but I'm glad he did at least manage to beat nadal in five at ao 2016 in the first round, just for the vibes.) I do also have a fair bit of sympathy for him over the two month doping ban he got in 2022 for failing to renew the therapeutic exemption thingy he had for his adhd medication - that was just so obviously a case of someone not really doping and tbh a lot of people (including some players!!) were pretty cruel about that shit

all that being said, can't say I've ever particularly been a fan. idk he was just one of those vaguely frustrating players to me who theoretically had a lot to their game but never was quite... on it enough. I do like some players who build their games around big booming forehands, but it's not really what I've ever gravitated towards. I think we have now reached the part of the list where most of these guys get a bit of a nadal tax. as in, I've seen them pal around with nadal, it has been forced in front of my eyeballs, and I simply do not support that kind of behaviour. (true of ferrer too but he has just about enough accumulated good will to be ranked higher up.) it's nothing personal, it's just that they're associated with nadal in my mind. I don't like it

robredo: is it bad if I say I got him confused with verdasco as a kid. too many spaniards. well, first off, go watch the valencia 2014 final against murray (I got a kia ad for nadal when I tried to open this video which ramped up my internal haterism for what is to come). what people sometimes forget about this horrifically painful final is that it was the second time in like?? a few weeks?? where he was playing murray in a final... I think he blew five matchpoints in both which. ouch. anyway the point is that valencia match is great - and unlike when the big three inflict horrendously painful defeats on their opponents, this was good and moral and fun. robredo was probably the most... invisible of this lot, if that's not too mean. his biggest contribution to tennis history is defeating federer once and only once at the 2013 us open, ensuring that federer and nadal wouldn't play - which ensured they never played at the us open which means it is an incomplete and quite frankly fraudulent rivalry. they missed out by one match on six occasions. the list of players who stopped them reads murray, djokovic, del potro and.... robredo. a hero tbh

other robredo thoughts... I mean, he was a bit top twenty filler if we're being honest. the thing where he won three consecutive slam matches from two sets to love down was pretty neat. he's basically ferrer but worse. I rank him at basically the same level as verdasco but I remember more verdasco matches than robredo so. there we are

ferrero: okay. look. I'm aware some of this might be coloured by my extreme irritation at his presence in alcaraz's coaching box these last few years. man will simply not shut up. I can't help it - sometimes this stuff colours my opinions on someone

(not a player but the swiftest downfall in this regard has been darren cahill, who had a base fondness for as 'notable agassi coach' that he's steadily pissed away in this sinner partnership. zero respect for how he dumped anisimova so soon after she hired him because he just couldn't handle the strains of travel, throwing himself a pity party... before almost immediately linking up with sinner. a tangent irrelevant to this post but I just needed to get that in there!!)

I get that coaching's legal now!! and I am NOT a conspiracy theorist about the timing of that change happening right during the golden boy's rise to the top, but!! it's still obviously been pretty convenient, like surely the umpires could not have ignored that for all that much longer lol. and I hate the rule change, idc how little practical use it is - it's antithetical to the spirit of tennis. I know coaching happened before then too but it makes a difference if you have to at least be sly about it (not that this guy ever really was). also beyond my principled opposition, he's just annoying. it's annoying. I'm sick of his face by now. get him off my screen

but to rewind twenty years, it's still aggravating that his one and only slam came at the cost of what would have been one of the all-time great slam fairy tale runs. it should have been verkerk!! ik that it wasn't even particularly close, I don't care. verkerk also just had a more compelling run to the final - sure jcf beat defending champion costa but he wasn't in particular good form, and verkerk took out both moya and coria. some random dutch bloke took out former champion moya in five sets... should have gotten the title. I'm sure you'll be delighted to know the match is indeed on youtube. isn't this cool:

don't you want to root for this guy!!

anyway yeah idk you're a top player for years you win one slam and THAT is how you won it? by stomping on a fairy tale? the counter-argument is that jcf SHOULD have won in 2002 but, well. just an awful performance wasn't it. like I know I said I like grinders and chokers but the first two sets of the first slam final you compete in being 1-6 0-6... hm. idk man. just don't think he was a good enough player to have earned a slam or indeed to have been number one, and in that case I would prefer the fairy tale slam. I will say he was an underrated hard court player, but yeah just didn't like his playstyle. a lot of these spaniards are way too big on their forehands. and I cannot forgive his role in blighting the game with another spanish prodigy. we're just never going to be free

lopez: okay, look, admittedly the fact that he seemed so close to nadal didn't make me particularly keen on him, but it's more than that!! another one where his activities post-retirement have hardly done much to endear him to me. I do unironically loathe this guy for his work running the madrid open, I think he's an incompetent sexist cunt who needs to be kept far away from women's tennis as possible. these last couple of years have made me more and more furious about the current situation with women's tennis - the game is in an excellent place but it might as well be being sabotaged by the people who are supposed to promote it. it's disgraceful he is still even in the job after the women's doubles finalists were prevented from speaking during the trophy ceremony, and it's as good a demonstration as you're going to get of the wta's luck of power. just makes me sad man

also, I never liked him as a player. idk man hating's not rational but I'm trying to come up with something I feel like I can defend a bit more than 'I was sick of people talking about how attractive this guy was to women'. but well, I was! oh wow, he's a heartthrob?? you think he's good-looking?? you want to make a joke about how he makes the ladies swoon?? original! never heard it before! look, I support straight women in their lifestyle choices even if they differ from my own, but more than anything else I just find this shit cringe. 'deliciano' is cringe. calling a bloke vain can be a pretty charged insult, but in this case I stand by it - shallow man with shallow tennis. just this gross macho energy that I personally have always found off-putting. he's also a commentators' pet where they want him to unlock his inner potential and become the player he could be with all that talent inside of him... literally shut up

nadal: if nadal has a million haters, I am one of them. if nadal has five haters, I am one of them. if nadal has one hater, that is me. if nadal has no haters, then I am no longer alive. if the word supports nadal then I am against the world

I ended up writing paragraphs and paragraphs worth of why I hate him for One Match Specifically but then I realised that wasn't really part of the remit for a jokey hater post and was also getting a wee bit TOO earnest and emotional. it has been cut out but lmk if you want to read an extended scream into the abyss I suppose lol

anyway! my number one enemy. djokovic might be the worst of the big three on moral grounds, federer's whole aesthetic and vibe is horrendous, but as an actual tennis player? oh, nadal, they could never make me like you. instinctively the least appealing playstyle... I love watching djokovic move around the court, even I can appreciate clean federer hitting. nadal is just... well, look, I'm not a forehand girl. and when I AM a forehand girl, I tend to like mine a bit flatter. penetrating. I can appreciate nadal's forehand is a great shot, but it doesn't really do much for me. all the good and appealing parts of nadal's game... low key are better from djokovic. the athleticism, the counterpunching, high margin game etc. if I want this stuff, I go to djokovic. also, look, I don't like the grunting - but what I really don't like is how completely accepted it is to hound wta players for grunting while nobody bats an eyelid when nadal sounds like a flock of seagulls is dying in his throat every single point. and I get that the double standards aren't exactly his fault, but you know what is his fault? his repeated and consistent opposition to equal pay in tennis! admittedly women's rights aren't exactly an issue you want to interrogate too closely with any of the big three, see the utter cowardice and moral void surrounding the zverev case

which I think gets to the part that really pisses me off about nadal. it's just... the hypocrisy. his pr is all about being this big fighter, big fighter, big fighter, he's so tough, he never gives up, what a fighter. such a big song and dance is done about what a great sportsman he is, him and federer obviously - how respectful they are, how civil and composed and isn't it great that we have two such great role models for the sport. people won't stop banging on about the fucking racquet smashing thing, as if we have to declare sainthood because a multi-millionaire tax evader has decided not to break a stick that clocks in at maybe a hundred fifty quid retail price. I'm biased in that I like racquet smashes, I think they're funny, they're ultimately not that serious - I don't particularly mind giving them a code violation but I do think it's remarkable that breaking a racquet isn't allowed but smashing up your own body with a racquet is. which is a separate issue! point being, it's one of those things that get used to paint nadal as the fairest most respectful most humblest bestest sportsman of all time. but he's not!! of course he engages in gamesmanship, of course he did some blatant time violations every time he could get away with it, of course he loved disrupting the rhythm of the other player serving, of course some of his medical timeouts were awfully convenient. of course it's pretty rich of him to complain about other blokes grunting

which I literally would not mind - I am a justine henin fan - if it weren't ignored due to this guy's insane pr. I also think it is awfully like tennis, in all its hypocrisy and fundamental conservatism, to judge someone's moral character over the number of racquets they have smashed - rather than literally anything else. this OBVIOUSLY isn't his fault, but I find the way many of his fans glorify the abuse his uncle subjected him to as a child beyond distasteful. federer fans are the cockiest and at times most fanatical (though For Some Reason they've quietened down these past few years), djokovic fans are the most flat out insane, but I find something about the conservatism of the nadal fanbase particularly pernicious. all in on the macho culture, endless wanking off to his masculinity and traditional values and whatever other bullshit

and to bring it back around - he's also fucking boring lol. like at the end of the day all this stuff just eats away at his appeal for me. so committed to never saying anything controversial he never says anything at all. I've already expressed this opinion before on this blog, but I firmly believe if you are an athlete that good and that dominant then you NEED to have more going for you. you need more character, more narrative juice, more interesting interpersonal relationships with your fellow competitors. tbh I think it's probably quite hard to keep me invested if you're THAT dominant, but let's be honest - men's tennis hasn't even been trying since agassi and sampras retired (rip to my men's tennis goats). serena on the women's side is way less annoying because she faced a changing cast of characters throughout her career, everyone in noughties wta had crazy narrative juice, and she is also exponentially more interesting than the big three combined. she really WAS an asshole at times, and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible!! all the gamesmanship people use to insult her honestly just makes me like her more. people complain about the chaos at the top of the wta tour but like... first of all, obviously we've left that era, and secondly I'd take that any day over stagnation at the top of the men's. the big three for all their incredible tennis have stifled the men's game, nadal's the worst of them, glad he's retired

MOST BEHATED

[acaplaya-musings]

A random selection of old VoicePlay live performances

I had vaguely considered making separate posts for each of these, but eh, let's just throw em in together.

Want something to help entertain yourself while you wait for any new VoicePlay/Geoff content? Well here's a small selection of live show recordings that I stumbed across over the past month or two! I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

4:2:Five - Frankie Valli Four Seasons Medley

This one isn't technically VoicePlay - it's pre-VoicePlay! Aka the group under their former name, 4:2:Five. Apparently this was for some "Celebrity Cruises, CLIA award dinner" (just based on the first couple seconds of the video), all the way back in 2010! So we have Geoff, Layne, and Earl all looking very young (baby Geoff! 💜), and then they're also joined by former members Danny Alan and Ryan Reed (shoutout to one of the Patrons in the Discord server for identifying them for me!)

I knew every song here, and I loved both the singing and the bits of choreography, but the first time I watched this it took me an embarrassing amount of time to fully realize that "oh wait this isn't actually acapella" 😅😂

VoicePlay - Boy Band Medley (Acapella) (from 2013)

Last month (back in December) I happened to hear What Makes You Beautiful by 1D on the car radio. My first thought was "god this song must be over 10 years old now" (correct - it's 13 years old), but my second thought was thinking that VoicePlay would be great at covering the song. I said this in the Geoff's Patrons Discord server, and someone else was like "they have covered it", and of course I was like "link???"

I still think a cover of "What Makes You Beautiful" done by the current lineup now would be amazing (with either Omar or Anthony as the collaborator maybe?), but this was definitely fun as well! Honestly it's kinda fun to go into a medley like this, not knowing for sure what songs are gonna be used, and so you have like one or two seconds of uncertainty when a new song starts, and then it clicks and you're like "oh my goodness"

If you're reading this without watching the video and you're being like "what do you mean you weren't sure about the song lineup? Isn't it just more or less the same as their 2019 boy band medley?" Nope, there's only three songs here that also make it to their Boy Bands In 5 Minutes video (also the 1D song they replaced WMYB with, Best Song Ever, hadn't even been released yet when this live performance was done! As it came out in July 2013, while this was January 2013).

As I watched this video, I quickly realized that if I had somehow known about VoicePlay in this early era (and had been like 2 or 3 years older than what I actually was in 2013), Geoff wouldn't have been the one who would draw my eye the most… I would've been giving most of my attention to Tony 😅 (what can I say - he can dance and he looks great in eyeliner)

Kinda amusing to see that apparently the joke about Geoff being "old" has been going on even since his short-hair days.

'WOW HITS' VoicePlay on The Sing-Off Tour 2015

When I asked for the link to the previous video, this video ended up being shared in the chat soon after as well, and I was like "alright sure, might as well watch it", and yeah it's pretty great 😄 (And also Utterly Ridiculous)

Was so blown away by getting a Layne rap section that I kinda hadn't fully processed what song it was, and so the drop into the "chorus" with the background choreo movements from the other four guys fully kicked me in the face 🤣

I wasn't fully familiar with every song here like I was for the previous two medleys (never heard of "Drunk On A Plane" before in my life), but hey, it's still overall a good time (even if I feel like I'm missing a bit of context with the "WOW album thing, lol)

Voiceplay - Oogie Boogie Song Live 12-20-19

This one was also shared in the VP Discord server back in December last year, though the original video of course comes from 2019, and it's a live Disneyworld performance! (I think)

Look, if you're a big VP fan like me, then you likely know Oogie Boogie's Song off by heart. And if you watch as many reaction channels as I do, then you perhaps may even know it inside out and backwards. But this video is still worth a watch in my opinion! (Though note that the audio is a little iffy, and there's a bit of a feedback noise when Geoff goes for the E1 sub)

I've mentioned this back in my Voiceplay Visuals post I did for Oogie Boogie's Song, but basically that video is one of the few videos where my brain struggles to fully comprehend Geoff as "Geoff". It's hard to explain. I still know it's him, obviously, and it's not like a Song Of Durin situation or a Hide And Seek situation, but with the heavy face makeup and the costuming and the in-character theatrics and all, he's very much being a different person (or, well, Boogey Man, I suppose).

All of ⬆️ the above point to say that this video is honestly really something! Like seeing Geoff looking like his regular self (no costuming or face paint), but with him still acting in-character and just looking like he's having a good time? Man it's almost too much for me to handle, I love him so much <3

[aihoshiino]

I’m curious as to what your opinions are on the ships in ONK. I’m guessing you’re not an Aquaruby fan (neither am I) but what do you think of Aquakana? Or any other ships in ONK! Personally my favorite is Ai x Happiness :)

AI X HAPPINESS IS THE ONLY OSHI NO OTP THAT MATTERS YOU'RE SOOOO RIGHT ANON

Out of the "official" OnK ships tho, you're right in that I don't really care for AquRuby, at least as presented in the text. It was never going to be a ship I was on board with since I'm just too exhausted with anime being the way it is about sibling incest to even pretend to take it seriously but the manga itself also seems to have the same attitude. Since 123, Ruby's feelings for Aqua have mainly been treated as a joke that relies on having Ruby act out a caricature of an archetype that was ALREADY shallow and dated in the 2010s lmao. I think Ruby -> Aqua would at least be interesting to read about if the story was actually willing to take her seriously and properly examine her feelings in a way that feels consistent with her character and to actually dig into the reality of a person developing incestuous feelings in a society that condemns incest rather than using her as a gag prop. I care less about it being incest and more about it being badly written incest basically LOL

AquAka I think it's interesting on paper and there's a lot of elements to it I think are really neat to chew on in discussions and character analysis but as a ship, it doesn't really work for me in execution. Part of it is that I don't really like how Aka handled most of Akane's stuff post TB and most of it is just that the majority of their "real" relationship happens like... offscreen, in a time skip? So there was no real time to get attached to their dynamic as a real couple and I'm the kind of person who mostly gets invested in ships based on the strength of their moment to moment banter and rapport. AquAka have a lot of big, dramatic moments but I didn't feel like they quite had the necessary downtime rapport to serve as the connecting tissue that would've made it land.

It also doesn't help that I feel like, a lot of what *I* think is interesting about AquAka is really not what the fandom sees in it LOL So it's really hard to discuss the elements I like without people getting Genuinely Angry At Me for daring to say the relationship is unhealthy or that both Aqua AND Akane completely fucked up and that's why it didn't pan out. That conflict and tension and the simmering undercurrent of codependence and toxicity that both of them unintentionally brought to the relationship is sooooooo fascinating but I feel like so many people actively talking about AquAka just kind of ignore that and treat it as an entirely wholesome, uncomplicatedly good relationship and Akane as completely flawless within its context. I think that's both unfair to Akane and kind of boring but I've also really drifted away from the question here, huh...

Anyway! AquKana is the 'canon' OnK ship I like the most by far! I wouldn't say I'm like Actively Shipping It in the sense that I go out of my way to seek out fanworks about it, but I think they're cute together and I like them, especially in the anime - I've said before it was the adaptation that made me actively a fan of Kana and that goes for AquKana, too. Like I said up there, a couple's moment to moment banter and dynamic is really important to me and that's a big part of the AquKana appeal to me. I really like the way they bounce off each other and I particularly enjoy the way Kana encourages Aqua to be a better version of himself - not necessarily in an "I can fix him" way but in that his friendship with Kana encourages him to be better out of respect and fondness for her. Kana serves as a sort of window into life as a normal boy for Aqua, with no revenge or ulterior motives, and in that space a lot of Aqua's worst traits that are exacerbated by trauma get softened and filtered through a kinder lens. I also really love the ways Aqua's support helps to uplift and encourage Kana to do her best - she was such a lonely person for so long, seeing the way she glows once she has someone to shine for is so sweet.

I definitely don't feel as strongly about it now as I did coming right off the anime because it's been pretty out of focus for a while... Honestly, come to think of it, I think that's part of why AquAka didn't really hook me at all. It's hard to get invested in something that's making a character you already liked more feel so bad LOL

Circling back to Ai, though... Ougghh it really does kill me there's no straightforwardly lovey dovey ships for her in OnK. I'm a lifeform that draws sustenance from seeing my faves getting loved and doted on, especially when they're someone as starved for love as Ai... don't get me wrong, I love KamiAi and AiNino because yandere love is pure love but sometimes I just want to see nice things happen to her...!!!

Anyway this is the part where I pull out my License To Be Cringe And Free and admit that I do have a whole bunch of crosscanon OTPs for Ai that I've written with friends LOL Honestly I do feel very spoiled with how many I've gotten to write and how good they've been... I've even commissioned some art here and there. So if you're ever on an internet walk and stumble across a piece of art that makes you go "hold on, why is Ai holding hands with Rinne Amagi from EnStars" or something, you have this bitch to thank!!!

[dazzle-expandism]

There's a lot of things I want to talk about on here.

Opinion Bashers - I don't understand opinion bashers, hating on you just because you don't like something they enjoy. I saw some opinion bashing on here over My Little Pony and all that. And I gotta confess something. I don't really understand this whole "Hellpark" fandom. Is this something made up to be a "spin-off" of South Park? Either way, it rubs me the wrong way.

Rule 34 Haters - These are people who hate the 34th rule of the internet "if it exists, there's porn of it" people want it banned because it's inappropriate. Most of these haters are kids who were told sex was bad by their mothers. But I have something to tell you, you can't stop it. It's gonna exist until the end of time. There's nothing you can do about it. And fixing it won't help either.

Fetish Artists - Oh boy, this is what I am! But I'm talking about the fetish artists who make fetish art of minors. I saw fetish art of a SIX YEAR OLD, specifically Cream from the Sonic franchise. Like, I did NOT want to see that and I'm NOT sorry for calling out RidiculousCake on this shit, not to mention I've heard they stalked a kid too! And there are some fetishes that set me off. Like who the fuck is into people vomiting??? Or people pissing themselves??? Hell, there's even a fetish for mosquito bites! What the fuck is wrong with some people??

Age Regression - I have nothing against these people, just the people who do it for a fetish. This is gonna be short. I know some people mentally regress due to trauma or abuse when they were younger, and I respect and support them. But the people who do it for a fetish... wtf?

Fill-In Memes - Okay, fill-in memes. These aren't really memes. Aren't memes supposed to be funny? These "memes" aren't funny at all. There's lots of these. Including denying the "apologies" of characters or people the OP doesn't like. A lot of these characters don't even apologize for stuff at all. Don't get me started on the reaction memes. There are reaction memes of 9/11, politics, famous people's deaths, and even incidents like the titanic sinking.

Kphoria - God damn, this user has his own topic on here! I'm pretty sure you guys know who Kphoria is. If not, let me tell you. He was on DeviantArt and YouTube, and he makes vore content. I bet if you were a Sonic fan in the early 2010s (which I was) then you would've most definitely saw his content. This guy awakened my vore fetish and did the same for many. I should've mentioned this guy when I was talking about people who fetishize minors, but no. This guy has his own rabbithole. The character I remember getting used as the predator a lot was Amy Rose, who is TWELVE YEARS OLD. Thank god he got terminated on DeviantArt. He was also said to be the Elsagate before Elsagate got its name.

DeviantArt As A Whole - Okay, now we got the site known for fetish art itself! There's so many toxic people on there, and some people even defend horrible people. I can't even search for art of something I love without seeing fetish art, which is not a problem. It just depends on what the fetish is. I like any fetish involving stomachs as long as it isn't that extreme, and I have no opinion on the fetish for tickles or feet, but the fetish for heartbeats? No no no. Disturbs me.

Sleep Fetishes - Yes. There's a fetish for sleeping. Mostly women because apparently "they are nothing but sex dolls" as a female myself, this disturbs me. Why can't men and women have some equality when it comes to fetish art? Most of it I see are of female characters. But back to the topic of sleeping kinks, I've seen these posts that go under the Fill-In Memes topic too. Basically it's of a character watching another sleep. These characters watching them are always South Park characters and probably OCs too. I've seen these "What If" things to where a character goes into a deep sleep. This is OBVIOUSLY so the OP could fap to it.

Plushophiles - I am not gonna talk about these people. But just a quick explanation, these are people who do unspeakable things to plushies.

Hate Art - Okay, hate art. Something I've seen so much of. Basically killing a character or person you don't like. I've seen a lot of hate art of characters, mostly from kid shows like Peppa Pig, Caillou, ect ect.

Favorite To Least Favorite Lists - These are people making a list to tell their opinions on things, and they are mostly kids. And there are some that hate on kids shows because they're for kids or babies. There ARE opinion bashers in the comment section of some of those lists hating on the OP for hating something they like or liking something they hate, sometimes for hating something that's popular. And a lot of people actually respect their opinions.

I'm pretty sure we all know what pedos and zoos are so I'm not gonna talk about it.

People Who Steal Art - This is pretty self explanatory. People who steal art.

Self Shippers - Okay, I'm fine with these people (since I am one too) but there are some people who take it to the extreme by making a "child" and that makes me uncomfortable.

FurAffinity - It's basically DeviantArt, but for furries. No offense against furries, not all of them are attracted to animals.

Okay, the final topic. (I'm adding it for fun)

BUTTERFLIES! - 🦋The butterflies! There are many kinds even... heh.. Mon- oh god I can't even say it without getting a nosebleed. It's basically the butterflies with the orange, black and white wings. Pretty sure we all know what I'm talking about. I like moths too, they so fluffy and adorbs!🦋

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Chris Evans returning to the MCU in AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY...

And KRAVEN THE HUNTER being the end of the "Sony Spider-Man Universe", their series of Spider-Man adjacent movies about the webhead's antagonists...

Well, that's certainly the end of an era. VENOM kicked off this uneven series of 2000s pseudo-edgy throwbacks back in 2018, a year that was excellent for almost every CBM/superhero movie on the block, from the three MCU entries that year (BLACK PANTHER, INFINITY WAR, ANT-MAN/WASP) to the animated films (INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE, the TEEN TITANS GO! movie, INCREDIBLES 2) to the other stuff (Fox's DEADPOOL 2).

The VENOM movies seemed to get by on the buddy movie pairing of Eddie Brock and the symbiote creature, but the same couldn't be said for hacked-to-death-in-post movies like MORBIUS, MADAME WEB, and now KRAVEN... Set to flatline on opening weekend, with abysmal reviews to boot, against a $110m+ production budget. Sony is now focused solely on the fourth MCU Spider-Man movie and BEYOND THE SPIDER-VERSE. (Yeah, I heard today that Miles G. Morales' voice actor Jharrel Jerome hadn't recorded his lines for BEYOND yet... It's a non-story to me. The movie is far from ready, let's put it aside for the time being.)

I feel like, in addition to the MCU starting to see some big money-losers (like THE MARVELS) and relative underperformers (ETERNALS, QUANTUMANIA), it's another brick pulled from the 2010s superhero movie Jenga tower. That whole Spider-Man Villains Without Spider-Man Universe seemed to be building towards nothing, and to me it always felt like a weird attempt at riding the MCU wave.

The whole appeal of the MCU, to me, was that it took characters' whole worlds and bridged them together. Whether it was the techy world of Tony Stark to the New York neighborhoods of Spider-Man to the cosmic high fantasy of Thor... You get the idea! Spider-Man's world and all the people/villains he knows, that's not a shared universe to me. They would, logically, share a universe w/ Tony Stark and his network, Thor and his network, etc. These movies were little more than just spin-offs of a Spider-Man film franchise that didn't exist. Were they in Tobey-Spidey's universe? Andrew-Spidey's? Some live-action Spidey we hadn't met yet? It was never really clear. And I guess it won't be, unless some internal plan leaks out now that this series is kaput.

So now that leaves, going forward... The MCU (which Tom Holland-Spidey is a part of, unless he got throttled into another universe after AVENGERS 5/6), the nascent DC Universe spearheaded by James Gunn and Peter Safran, the Matt Reeves Batman "Crime Saga" Whatever-Verse, the MUTANT MAYHEM TMNT universe, and the SPIDER-VERSE series.

I think if those Sony movies leaned harder on the 2000s weird-edgy-too cool angle, they could've really stood out from their contemporaries. Nostalgic for a time that included Ben Affleck DAREDEVIL and Halle Berry CATWOMAN for sure, but still would've been unique to the MCU, the DC movies, and everything else. Hell, MADAME WEB took place in 2003. Would've been perfect... But alas, they did not go this route.

The MCU bringing back Chris Evans has been painted as desperate, given the send-off Steve Rogers got in AVENGERS: ENDGAME. Now unless he's returning as another Johnny Storm variant and not the one that got horrifically nerfed in DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE, this... Uh... It shows how last-ditch a lot of this all seems to be. Bringing back Robert Downey Jr., now Chris Evans, teasing this massive crossover of several familiar characters, etc.... All because the plans with Kang really did not work out. This feels like Disney desperately trying to squeeze out one more hurrah from this flailing franchise, instead of going smarter, smaller, and focusing on the characters again. Like, why is the supposedly on-the-ground political thriller CAPTAIN AMERICA 4 going through yet *another* round of reshoots that have apparently ballooned its budget to $375m+??? What the heck is going on here?

It's kinda telling that little DOG MAN from DreamWorks, done on a presumably tiny budget, could probably be one of the more successful superhero movies of next year. How the Gunn-Safran SUPERMAN kick-off of the DC Universe movies (since it started recently w/ animated Max series CREATURE COMMANDOS) performs remains to be seen. I think animated comic book movies will weather this sea-change quite nicely, as MUTANT MAYHEM 2 and BEYOND THE SPIDER-VERSE should turn out good.

But it's amusing to me how two titans of 2010s comic book movie, the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Universe, are the ones to keep an eye on like this... to see if they can crawl out of the early 2020s maelstrom that claimed the likes of BLACK ADAM, QUANTUMANIA, SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS, THE MARVELS, AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM, MADAME WEB, and JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX... And keep going, maybe even adapt and change. DC - both Gunn's universe and the Reeves Bat-verse - looks kinda primed to do that, not sure about the MCU, though.

[rubyreadd]

Aaaaahhh I was almost gonna add "at least he's a wec champion!!!" to my tags but didn't end up doing so. I think it's so tragic how many wdc group pics he's in, bcs he was truly the odd one out. But I'm so so so happy he did end up getting to win a championship, he seriously deserved it out of anyone. But also at the same time, I find it so impressive how relevant he still is for a non-wdc, like I can't really think of any non-wdc other driver, especially from that time, that's sooooo widely known! He won the champion of peoples hearts and minds

I saw an instagram post a while back that asked if you could change the outcome of any race, what would it be? And without a whisper of a doubt I would've changed Abu Dhabi 2010 to make so that Mark took the championship. Not that Sebastian was an undeserving champion, but god there would've been something about the man that was told he was too old and too tall to race, who was dubbed the "unluckiest man in F1", who was sidelined within the team he'd helped to build, defying those odds and becoming a world champion.

But a WEC championship is still an incredible achievement, and so deserved as you said. This isn't the post for it, but I have thoughts about the "pedastooling" of F1 to the detriment of all other motorsport series. It will probably always be the pinnacle of motorsports, but Indy and Formula E are doing equally as exciting things with their engineering, and Rally will always deliver thrilling racing.

Yet these series still so frequently go underappreciated, which in my opinion is due in part to the trend of F1 drivers retiring and then going to other series (like Mark himself did); presenting them as almost support series to F1's greatness. As well as the "celebritisation" of f1, which has been part of the culture for decades, but with the advent of social media renders F1 even more so as an aspirational lifestyle.

I mean, when was the last time you saw a Kardashian attending a rally?

Anywho, you're also entirely right about the remarkableness of the cultural relevancy Mark still possesses over a decade after he retired from f1. He still gets recognised, he still gets asked to sign merch, he still gets named as people's favourite driver. Champion of people's hearts and minds indeed.

[purpldazed]

Sept. 21, 2024

Dear Ela,

I don't have the guts to send another email after what I sent the last time. So, I'll cope with writing another unsent email of mine. I thought of this idea when I was commuting earlier from Mauban and here to Lucena. It's not easy to write my heart out, much less to be honest on paper if it means baring myself out in some way. Somehow it was easy to open up in each and every last email I sent you. I guess this will be some type of journal now. 

The weather felt nice today. Not too hot but, not too cold either. Mauban is still as homey as ever. Just fairly balanced in all the right ways. How are you? Have you been doing well these days? How's Tayabas? Are you still babysitting? Is EU still rowdy and magical in all the best (and worse) ways? Or has it been getting old now? I hope you've been doing well. 

Honestly, I'm still stuck on why you told me about your feelings in ninth grade. Maybe I misunderstood. I'm half-hoping that I did and didn't— I'm half-hoping I can move forward from you. In a way, I wondered if my truth will be the end of us. Life is such a beautiful dichotomy, you know? Confessing to you meant that a lot of questions will be asked and lots will remain unanswered at the same time. But holding myself back would mean that it'd fester and root deeper if I didn't get to confess my unsaid answers to your questions. It was a risk, a gamble at best on my part. But, what's life without being unapologetically honest? That's what I always think about. I just wonder where the line between truth and secrets ends. 

It's 2:39AM. It's not that I can't sleep, but my thoughts are keeping me up. Many things changed in the past few years. I even got in a motorcycle accident and people think I've turned religious now after I almost died. I wonder if you'll still know me or will I be another stranger left in the past for you? I don't want to dwell and we both know that neither do you. Move forward was what you've said. There's just lots of questions on my end and I can't imagine what you hold either. 

It'll pass, right? It's funny that a friend said that I'm truly my cousins’ sibling because of that sentiment. “Kapatid ka nga ng mga kapatid mo,” was the true gist of it. “It’ll pass,” turned out to be our always. I find myself dwelling on the fact that you said it'll pass— what will pass? Your care, your hold on your unanswered questions, your hurt? Maybe curiosity did kill the cat for me. At least, it's killing me inside. But, I think that I understand you when I feel how easier it is for us to see each other from afar. Like we're keeping each other at an arm's length is much safer than becoming too close to be comforted yet again, just to part ways for the nth time. 

I didn't lie when I said I may have many Dorotheas in my life. Sure, you can come back in my life and you'd have your own space always waiting for you as if nothing changed. Obviously same goes for Dhapne and Abby. Just like how it has been and always will be. But, I know you're the one and only Alewife in my life. Alewife had been coined in my life because of you and your story that it's because of Clairo's friend (if I remember right.) Not because you were the only person who was there in my worse moments but because I think of you fondly like a city girl who can't stop herself from buying a cheap 15 peso coffee off a two-way street in the downtown of a small cozy town where nothing can ever go wrong. 

If there had been enough time then I really would've gone in detail on my unsent email in that damned Tumblr dump. Too bad, Tumblr has a word count limit. I swear that site went to shit after that internet censorship stunt in the early 2010s. Anyway, I posted on my finsta on the same day I wrote that message. It was titled: “there's just some places we won't walk.” Call me fatalistic and defeatist— which none are  who I am but, I truly believed it had ended when I left. Maybe that's why I risked becoming bankrupt and hollowed in the mess that was Kacie. I thought there was no before, during, nor after once you guys weren't in my life anymore. I kept thinking that I risked so much and can only give so little after a long while, why let it all amount to nothing? I was just stupid, of course. But truly, I saw no future once I lost you guys.

Before the year ends, I want to do it right this time. I'll be painfully honest and hopefully we'll be set free if we aren't yet. Would it be so wrong of me to visit Boston, Massachusetts and go to Alewife? I think by then, everything would come crashing down. I think I'd truly feel everything dawn on me even if it'd be years from now. But for now, I don't know when I fell in love with you, Ela. I really don't and the questions of why, how, and when only filled to the brim when you asked me too. 

I always thought that love itself felt consuming in a way, not gentle nor domestic. Growing up, I often thought of love like the feeling you feel after a long day drowning in day-to-day life then coming home to a homemade meal. Or maybe the feeling is reminiscent of that nostalgic early 2000s Christmas season. I was wrong. At first, I honestly thought what I felt was just completely platonic and reminiscent of admiration of some kind. Seeing you in your element whenever you asked me to hang around while you did your work felt... right. Not right, like how friends felt. There was a certain distinct feeling that felt “more,” I just didn't know what until Kacie came and I wasn't in your lives anymore. 

I wasn't sure whether I should've talked about my attachment but I guess my reluctance stemmed from shame and BPD being stigmatized. I don't think you were my favorite person and that's not how I became attached to you in every way. If it was BPD, I would have mourned and not felt anything after. But I feel your absence on days when I know you'd like the view of the sea. I feel the space you left in my life in the coffee shops that you'd judge the drinks as if you're a coffee connoisseur. The absence you left is felt deeply even by the people in my life whenever I speak of you and the regrets that come thereafter.

How could my attachment be anything but withstanding? It's not just a momentary flux. Although I'm sorry if I carry it like a sin in need of absolution. It's not, I don't really feel sorry for the way I feel. It's just that— an accidental influx of chemicals made in the silhouette of you. Love feels like a benediction for me— contentment from afar. An admiration of some kind laced with remembering, just like when a painter finds all the hues for the perfect picturesque likeliness of his muse on a blank canvas.

In a way, you're the color white in the color wheel. The hex code of #FFFFFF, or (255, 255, 255,) for decimal if you work like that digitally. Why? You're that base in every canvas behind every other hue or silhouette, like a foundation of some kind. A tried and true making of that uniqueness solely your own to beckon and call. I say these words with only the utmost truth I've withheld but cannot dare to keep any more than I already have because I see so much in life and think, “Oh, this. This. It's made for Ela.” Whether it's the music you once shared, the artwork in museums you haven't visited, or the paths still untread— some things just scream “you.” Rough on the edges, soft in the seams, and ultimately like a love letter in the same likeness. You're uniquely you in all the best ways. Just steadfast, tenacious, and yet, completely reminiscent of a soft bloom in metamorphosis. I know it should be called germination but, I digress. You're the artist with the creative mind between the two of us but in the years I've known you, I always had that one recurring yet singular thought that you're made to be the muse in your everyday life. 

Being a Sagittarius feels like there's always a certain need for adventure, for more. Patterns grow boring over time and so does routine that ends up feeling like a damning chore. It's just how life felt whenever things reoccurred without change. Geez! I feel incorrigible by how much I've yapped and yap even more but thank goodness, this is just. Coffee, books, and growth through spirituality felt enough for someone like me who always went to chase the newest high. 

I felt content with you, Ela. I didn't want any less nor did I want anything more. It was enough. You were perfect on lazy days, much more on days where there was a planned meetup. You were enough when you couldn't give and when you felt too much for yourself. But for me, I've never met anyone who had that balance of never becoming a cup filled half-full or half-empty. I always thought that we'd never meet the same person even in the same individual but, I never had once felt that way about you. 

Remember when you ghosted me or when things went in disarray between us? I left after eighth grade and I remember we weren't friends after that. I only had Dhapne and even she didn't know what went wrong between the two of us. Still to this day, I don't. Does it have to do something about what you told me? Anyway, the point is that you stayed the same even with the distance and time in that separation of a friendship break-up. What I mean by you stayed the same is that you were always there but, comfortably at a distance. Like, I saw you in all your likeness even when you weren't physically there. 

When we became friends again, you were still that driven and excitable in your endeavors. You were still that same hue despite the fact that life often seems to change the best of people. But, you didn't become anything that you never were. When you spoke of passions, it gleamed ever so brightly like it always did. When you carried weight, it passed so silently as if it wasn't there at all like the breeze of the wind if you don't pay attention enough. And God, you were still that same girl I met who laughed heartily at dumb small dogs especially with those videos of dogs dancing or that one dog that jumped to bite the bell and shake its body to ring it.

Unchanging and evergreen is what you've always been. Whenever you'd change, it's still in your likeness and closer to the real essence of you. It's still your brand and screaming “you, you, you.” And, that's what I mean by you've always been enough and balanced. There's nothing else to ask for more of you, really.

Alright, it's been a long message. It's already 6:14AM and I haven't slept. We still have to move out of our apartment so I'll end this here. I hope you guys are doing fine and that you're happier these days. It's the least you guys deserve. Happy Saturday! I'll be off to catch up on sleep now. Honk shoooo mimimimi 😴

— A. 

[synergysilhouette]

10 Disney hot takes/unpopular opinions (Part 8)

As usual, these opinions of mine are something that the Disney fandom may or may not agree with. I think some things here might poke a nerve or two. If it does--see title of this post. Check out part 7 here.

The fanbase is kinda overrun with toxic nostalgics--Probably my most argumentative hot take. While I disagree with Disney doing live-action remakes for most of their films and would LOVE to see a return to 2D animation (without neglecting 3D animation), I feel like some people just dislike remakes and 3D simply as a concept. I've ran into people who say a Disney movie would've been better as 2D, and while that's up to personal taste, I never really understood why they say it like it's a fact, like having 2D automatically makes for better storytelling. And I remember talking with people who say Disney "isn't as good as the renaissance." I think it's VERY clear that we're not gonna get another renaissance, but that doesn't mean successive works aren't as good (plus the renaissance did have flaws, imo; still one of Disney's best eras, though, if not the best). While Disney has had some creative issues since the 2010s with writers/directors/songwriters, when they're allowed to explore and create, they soar.

2. Disney should make another superhero film--I know superhero fatigue has been present since the mid-late 2010s (ironically, this is also the time when some people fell out of love with Disney Animation), but making it animated would probably get some attention. Given the success of "The Incredibles" and "Big Hero 6," Disney making another superhero film has great potential--though it should probably be an original film, since BH6 was a rare case of a short-lived, mostly unknown comic (as far as I know). And personal bias, but I'd prefer they have superpowers; it's more engaging for me, personally. And a unique and distinct costume is a must!

3. Kingdom of the Sun could've prevented the end of the renaissance--When "The Emperor's New Groove" was still being planned as an epic musical called "Kingdom of the Sun," it was noted that Disney execs were iffy about the concept. They felt like doing ANOTHER epic musical would've made the studio feel redundant after the 90s, as well as "Pocahontas" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" not making as much as they hoped and making them feel concerned about undertaking another one. Post-renaissance Disney films ended up staying away from musicals, and were either underperforming serious films or comedic kid films that most people stereotype with animation. That said, if KotS had been released as intended and brought successful musicals into the modern age, I think the trajectory of the post-renaissance would've changed, with some films never being made and others being changed to ride the successful coattails of KotS. Can't say how or where it'd stop, though.

4. "Brave" should've either been moved to WDAS, or at least kept Brenda Chapman--As many Pixar fans will tell you, "Brave" felt more in-line with the fairy tale/medieval fantasy stories that are made by Disney. It doesn't feel ENTIRELY Disney to me, but I do agree that it felt more Disney than Pixar, especially keeping in mind that Brenda Chapman said it took influence from the Brothers' Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson stories. I definitely would've enjoyed seeing Disney accept this project over Pixar, though the odds of Disney accepting it and it not being a musical nor having a love interest at that point in time were kinda unlikely (to be fair, "Frozen" came out the next year and Elsa was single, but Anna had romances; we didn't get a non-musical, single-at-the-end Disney princess until Raya in 2021). Or at the very least, I would've preferred Pixar kept Brenda Chapman on the film as sole director, rather than bringing in Mark Andrews, who removed a lot of fantasy elements because he felt it affected the environment.

5. Petty vendettas shouldn't affect creative output--I'm talking about two situations in particular, even though I'm sure there are more: "The Prince of Egypt" and "Tam Lin." Originally, Disney had Stephen Schwartz doing the music for "Mulan," but when Disney discovered he was working with Dreamworks on TPOE, they gave him an ultimatum of working on their film or working on Dreamworks'. When Schwartz refused, Disney kicked him off the project, and while I LOVE the 4 songs we got, I do wish we'd gotten to see what he would've done with the film. Then there was the situation of "Tam Lin," where the director of "The Lion King" pitched the fairy tale to Disney, but CEO Michael Eisner rejected it since he was in a corporate struggle with Roy E. Disney and saw the film as Disney's baby. Such a shame that their quarrel resulted in a film being rejected despite it being pitched by the co-director of their most successful film (at the time). Ironically, the film did move to Sony with Brenda Chapman working on it, but it didn't end up being made.

6. Pixie Hollow was a missed opportunity for a theatrical film--While I'm not saying we need to directly connect this with Peter Pan, it astonishes me that Disney hadn't decided to make an animated theatrical film about fairies. I'd EASILY take this film over "Bolt" (which came out the same year as "Tinker Bell"), and with some polish, it could've definitely been a memorable epic film, perhaps something nostalgic with 2D animated like "The Princess and the Frog."

7. Disney should look into more (grown) adult leads--This is kind of the crux of my other issue that major animation film companies in the west don't really cater to young adult/adult fans of animation, and this is something that ties into it. I really wish we'd get more Disney adults, perhaps some in their 30s. Life doesn't end at that age, and you can still have an epic adventure (and you don't need to already be married/have a family, but there's no shame in depicting the lead as such).

8. Disney needs to stop shoving comedy into their films--I'm not saying every film needs to be dark and brooding, but it does feel like they just use comedy for the younger audience, and they don't do it well. The only time I really enjoyed their comedy was when it was with "The Emperor's New Groove." It's almost like comedy is a prerequisite for Disney, Dreamworks, and Pixar. NGL, even some of Disney's classic films have comedy that I either don't care for, or I like but suspect it may be tied to nostalgia (like would I still like it if it was made now?)

9. Disney needs more serious opening songs--I CANNOT stress this enough. I feel like "Wish" really showed me this. Upbeat opening numbers can be very addictive, ie "Where You Are" (If you count that as the opening song instead of "An Innocent Warrior") and "The Family Madrigal," but I feel like some of Disney's musicals could've been better-suited for a more serious vibe. I rave about the openings for the "Frozen" films, but it's true; I want something haunting, something soaring, something that sets the scene for an amazing tale.

10. Disney making a new movie every year isn't helping them right now--They've done this for decades now, but I don't think it's helping them to make a new film almost every year now, seeing how so many films seem to be sabotaged during production. I feel like it'd be less stress on their teams to have a bit more time between movie releases, especially if feedback can be used to better the next movie.

(Oh, and don't get excited about this image; I pulled this off of Deviantart, and Penelope/Bluebeard have just been rumors for a few years now. Of course, Jennifer Lee said in 2023 that 10 projects were in development, so they could be possible--but "Bluebeard" is SUPER unlikely to me unless they massively change the story. It'd make for a good parody film, but I'd prefer we get a "Rumplestiltskin" musical; it fits with Jennifer's desire to make a Disney movie about a mom.)

[theaccursedninth]

♥ What’s the WORST thing that has happened to you rp wise? (dunno if it’s the same answer as what I think it is)

//ohhh it is. Trust me, nothing I've ever experienced online was worse than that.

TL;DR to anyone else reading: Dotty and I have known each other for a LONG time and originally met on a proboards forum back in the early 2010s. It was my first time Roleplaying in a group with an ongoing story and at first, I had a LOT of fun. If you've read any of my stuff here, you know I love a good story and interconnecting character relationships.

However...this forum is where I'd ultimately meet someone I've come to refer to as my arch nemesis--and I mean that seriously. I don't really want to air out my dirty laundry on tumblr; it was a long time ago and even though I've grown up and matured a lot since then, I'm still traumatized by the whole incident. So let me summarize:

This artist I was a fan of for a few years joined the forum and we became friends. She picked a character to compliment my main and for a while things were great. However, as the years went on, I realized she was an incredibly unstable person who could not take even a tiny bit of criticism or respect boundaries without flipping out and victimizing herself. This began an eight year long on-again, off-again feud with this person on multiple platforms that dragged a bunch of my other friends into it as well. I was always the bad guy, me and this person I was also incredibly close with; we were very VERY young adults at the time and this person was in their mid twenties.

Now, my close friend and I didn't handle things exceptionally well, but like I said, we were young and had a lot of our own irl trauma we were working through. I acknowledge this and there are some things I would've done differently. That doesn't excuse how this person stalked my friend and I, constantly shared passive aggressive posts about us, spread lies about us and took any polite requests I tried to make as an attack. They also kept making multiple accounts we would find by accident through the shared fandom tag we liked and every time we blocked them, they'd accuse us of stalking--AND they shared WAY too much about their personal life that they probably shouldn't have at the age I was, even though I was technically an adult.

There was a lot more involved, including another extremely toxic person even older than she was who bullied me as well, but that was much more short-lived compared to this person. Along with some personal creative projects that got muddy and shut down due to this person's inability to accept rejection, but it ultimately ended with me dropping off all but tumblr for a LONG time.

I have no idea what happened to this person and I don't really care. It seems like they've quieted down, but I've done my damndest to make sure they don't recognize my online footprint now. I really hope it stays that way.