#you could watch this film in not your native language and 100% everything that is going on. i don't know if that's good or bad.

[wandringaesthetic]

I watched Requiem for a Dream this morning because of..... Reasons (I had it confused with What Dreams May Come and when I realized it was not that film, I was like "well this is still the one that music comes from let's give it a watch")

Here is my review:

In one scene Jennifer Connelly wears a black sweater dress with cut out armpits that is really cool

[itsrottenwork]

Hiii mj!! Secret Santa here!! Hope that the start to your weekend was a good one!! ✨

That’s is very true, yes!! It’s very much everything but relaxing at times. But it’s been relatively good so far!! It’s not too too hot like I had initially expected the island to be. Love that you’re going on a vacation of your own for the holidays!! Hopefully everything goes smoothly for you, hun!!

I know exactly what that’s like!! More times than not, I have my parents ask for things in Spanish when we go out only because I’m not confident in my Spanish to do it myself. Sometimes, I can. Others, it really depends. I agree 100% on learning a different language from the get-go at a young age in schools rather than having the mostly Spanish-speaking kids be separated for English lessons. Instead, they should do the same with native English speakers to help them speak/understand Spanish!! It promotes communication with both parties that way instead of alienating them!!

I’m so bad at remembering peoples names when I first meet them! They tell me their name and then five seconds later, I forget it and then get too embarrassed to ask again 🫠.

Speed Round Questions!! This is a funny one that had me reflecting a bit lol. What’s the worst fashion/style choice you ever made? In middle school, I had multicolored chino pants and I would wear shirts/sweaters that matched said pants all the time!! Now, I wouldn’t be caught dead with brightly, almost neon colored pants!! I get shivers just thinking about it!! What was your least fav. Food as a child that you actually like now? For me, it was broccoli and spinach!! If you could watch a movie/tv show for the first time, what would it be? TV show: The Society; Movie: The Amazing Spider-Man 2!! If you had an ability to take a lap around the earth from space or dive to the deepest depths of the ocean, which would you choose? While there is still so much we haven’t learned about the ocean, I agree that we should just keep it that way lol.. lap around the earth for me!! 🎄✨

yes yes, just finishing packing lol!! I get to see my parents tomorrow for the first time since september, I'm really excited 😊 I'm glad pr isn't too hot, like a nice warm is perfectly fine as a break from all the wintery weather but if it's too hot then it's just annoying in the other direction haha. how long are you there for? what're you most excited for while you're there?

yeah I remember the esl (english as a second language) kids were always like, taken out of my classes to go do...I dunno really what they did, english lessons I assume, but then the main class never learned anything else and that would've been so good. my third grade teacher always used to give us the option of doing the pledge of allegiance in either english or spanish, and I'm really annoyed to have forgotten the spanish version of it, but that was it really

speed round answers!!

bad fashion: okay so the year is 2009 ish, my wardobe is very much made up of camisoles and other brightly colored things to layer on top of them all got from justice for girls, and for some reason it was also really trendy to have like, stuff in your hair? like glittery strings or feathers or whatever, don't ask me why. but my mom wouldn't let me actually get stuff in my hair, so I had like a purple feather on a hair clip, I don't actually remember wearing it but I do remember thinking it was really cool (it was not)

food you like now: herbs, 100%. I used to be that kid that wanted pasta with only butter, chicken as plain as possible, and now it's like, the more seasoning the better honestly. also I can't believe you came around to broccoli, I have always hated broccoli and I always will like it legit makes me gag haha

watch a show/film again for the first time: my favorite show is the west wing, and I've watched it through several times now, but I remember being sooo invested the first time. for a film, this is gonna sound silly but spirit stallion of the cimmaron 😂

deep sea or space: that's a really tough question, I think space is absolutely mesmerizing so my instinct was to say space, but I watched this really cool documentary where they went to like, the bottom of the ocean and all the bioluminescent animals down there are incredible!! did you know that at a certain point, blue is the only light that can make it that far down so no matter what color things actually are, everything looks like it's blue? so yeah I'm torn, I think as long as I'm safe both would be really really cool

[starilicious]

ishq wala love (echo x gn!reader)

》 summary: reader comforts an insecure echo after the end of tbb episode 4 "cornered" about having mechanical parts as part of his body.

》 word count: ~2.2k

click here to read on AO3

》 warnings: slight sensory overload, mild panic attack (i think it could be classified as relatively vague in regards to the description), insecure echo about his body, a teensy bit of in universe swearing, lots of flufffff and a dash of angst here and there, no use of y/n [if i should add more warnings, please let me know!]

》 spoilers: extremely mild ones from tbb episode 4 "cornered"

》 a/n: hello! this is my first tbb fic, so i really hope i do the show, the characters, and the fandom justice hehe ^_^ over the past few days, i've become obsessed with tbb fics, particularly the echo x reader ones bc my GOODNESS this man is such a soft bean who deserves all the love in the galaxy. as a result, please enjoy this sleep-deprived frenzy of a fic that i wrote at 1 am and let me know your thoughts! :)

》 misc. notes:

• title of the fic is from the hindi song "ishq wala love" from the film student of the year. i've linked the song (in blue) with some pretty good english translations in case you would like to take a listen, but it isn't necessary for the fic–i just thought it fit well!

• i kind of got way too invested in building up the environment at the beginning, so apologies if it seems like a slow start! i just had to indulge in having the other characters there too <3

• please ignore the inaccuracies of the havoc marauder. i don't really know what the ship looks like, especially the living quarters, so i unintentionally ended up using the ghost from swr to guide my writing for that part.

• what the reader says at the end about the word in love in her native language is true. the language i'm referring to here is hindi, and we have several different words for love. in my very humble opinion, i think it’s one of the many characteristics of the language that makes hindi so sweet-sounding and poetic :)

• THANK YOU FOR 100 NOTES OMG AHHH YOU ALL ARE TRULY AMAZING 😭<333 (7/1/2021)

After Tech piloted the Bad Batch away from Pantora and safely entered hyperspace, you all decided to turn in to get some rest–or at least attempt to. With the bounty hunter scare, you and the boys figured it would be best to discuss what to do tomorrow morning, for Omega’s sake.

You tucked Omega in with her doll and offered her a comforting smile. “Don’t worry ‘Meg,” you said softly, running a gentle hand through her cropped blonde hair. “You’ll be safe, I promise. You’re stuck with us for life.”

Omega smiled sleepily at your teasing and held her arms out for a hug, one which you gladly indulge. “Sweet dreams, love,” you murmur as you let go. You shut off the lamp in her makeshift room and closed the curtains as you climbed down the ladder.

You turned around to find Hunter looking at you from his seat in front of the blinking controls. You raised an eyebrow as you plopped down in front of him unceremoniously, the exhaustion of the action-packed day catching up to you.

"You're good with her," he murmured as you both glanced at the light beige divider and you shrugged in response.

"Just looking out for her. Besides, you're not so bad yourself. She mimics your every move," you grinned. Hunter chuckled fondly as he recalled the memory where they were all stuck in the Kaminoan prison cell and Omega copied his every gesture.

The two of you lapsed in a comfortable silence as you mulled over the day's events, the hum of the ship thrumming beneath your feet.

"We'll be okay. It's tiring and difficult and none of us know how to raise a child, but we'll be okay," you said, breaking the quiet with optimism. You placed a hand on Hunter's shoulder and smiled. "Crosshair will be okay too. Have faith."

Hunter sighed but nodded in agreement as he put his hand over yours. "Goodnight," he said as he stood up, stretching his muscles.

"Sleep well."

You sat at the small table for a few more minutes to think before standing up yourself. You quickly checked in on Tech in the cockpit since he was on watch, and he immediately shooed you away, insisting you get some sleep. You had a feeling he only did so to optimize the ship in peace without distractions.

Nevertheless, you obliged and left him alone. Walking to the back of the ship, you completed your rounds. Wrecker was snoring loudly and you stifled a laugh. At least he was sleeping well–it was all you could ask for really. But frankly, you had no idea how Crosshair was ever able to sleep through it. Thinking about him and seeing his empty bunk made your heart pang in loss, but you were as determined as the rest of them to somehow bring him back. You had to.

You opened the door to Hunter and Tech’s shared room to find Hunter already sleeping soundly and you quickly left. With his enhanced senses, he was already a light sleeper, and compounded with his responsibilities as a leader, he rarely got any rest. You worried for him.

Last stop was your and Echo's room. You stepped in to find the light still on. Echo was sitting on the floor in front of your bunk, staring at the ground.

"Hey there handsome," you joked lightly in an attempt to get his attention and mask your unease. Echo usually only came near your bunk when something was wrong and after everything that happened today, it was safe to say you were concerned.

Echo didn't respond. Did he hear me? You make your way over to your lover and sit down in front of him. You place your hands on top of his.

"Echo, honey?" You said softly and finally finally he looked up at you. Your heart dropped into your stomach.

"Oh, darling," you breathed and you moved to his side to envelop him into a hug, his head resting comfortably in the crook of your neck. You didn’t say anything more–you saw the deep pain swirling in his eyes, the grief, the loss. The anger. You let Echo take the lead; you knew how difficult it was to wrangle raging thoughts and muster them into words.

You didn’t know how much time passed of you two sitting on the floor, breathing each other in before Echo spoke.

“Today… when we went on the supply run, I was dressed as a droid.”

You bit your lip, knowing exactly where this was going. But you didn’t interrupt, letting him continue. Your thumb rubbed absentmindedly on his arm as you listened.

“That vendor we were talking to wouldn't take what we had. And then he saw me,” Echo took a deep breath. You stayed quiet, holding his hand in a manner that you hoped soothed his anxieties at least a little bit.

“Hunter sold me as a droid to him. I-I know he doesn’t see me as a droid. I know that. But–” Echo’s voice cracked. He cleared his throat of the emotion building up. Echo didn’t know how to express what he wanted to say. He didn’t even want to speak it aloud–that would make it feel too real. And Echo severely doubted he could handle the heartbreak. Can I do this?

“Cyar’ika,” he murmured and you hummed in response. Echo pulled away from you, his hand still in yours. Now or never. “I need you to be completely, absolutely, 100% honest with me,” he whispered. Echo steeled his expression, doing his best to hide how terrified he truly was.

You nodded because of course you would be. When were you not?

But the way Echo gazed at you threw you off. Something was wrong, very wrong. You were almost scared of what he would say next, but you made a gesture for him to say what was on his mind. Clearly, this was important.

“Do you really want to be with me when I’m just–” Echo struggled with the last few words and you strained to pick them up with how they caught in his throat. “–a pathetic, disgusting, hybrid machine?” It’s out, I said it. I said it. Echo felt like he couldn’t breathe, the pressure on his chest too much, too much. He stared down at the floor, face flooded with shame.

You stared at him in blatant disbelief, eyebrows furrowed and mouth open from a shocked laugh. No no no Echo. You’re nothing of the sort. You didn’t move. Echo’s breath hitched as he looked back up at you, broken and open and raw.

“Don’t lie, please don’t lie to me. I know there's no way you could ever love me when I… when I look like this,” Echo whispered, but he may as well have shouted with the way the blood was rushing through your ears.

And then something in you snapped.

You removed your hands from his and placed them on his cheeks, pulling him in until your foreheads were touching. “Echo, you need to listen to me,” you instructed and heaved a breath as you tried to sort your own rushing thoughts into articulated words. But the effort was futile as your careful speech turned into a haphazard and passionate stream of consciousness.

His eyes glistened with unshed tears and your heart broke into pieces. Echo gave you all of his attention. What are you going to say? He didn’t want you to agree, but he would understand if you did. Echo felt disgusted with himself. The walls were closing in on him. Breathing was getting harder.

“You are the best damn thing that has ever happened to me. I don’t give one flying banthashit about any of your mechanical parts. If anyone ever says anything about them, they’re di’kuts and you can send them my way because I will not hesitate to punch some sense into them,” you spat with pure determination, not even noticing the Mando’a slip. After being surrounded by clones for so long, you absorbed bits and pieces of the language. You didn’t even register how Echo picked up on the word, much too focused on getting your point across. You were a person on a mission and nothing would stand in your way.

The knot in Echo’s stomach was loosening a bit, the storm in his mind beginning to break. The walls were a bit farther from him. He wasn’t drowning in his own presence anymore.

“Because you know what? You’re still my Echo. You’re a man, my dear. Not a machine. You never were, and never will be. These parts?” you gestured to his scomp link, his legs, the cybernetic implant in his head. “They mean nothing. Absolutely nothing. Don’t focus on them.”

You smiled sadly as you rubbed your thumbs gently on his cheeks. “I fell in love with you, Echo, not your body. I love the way you make me laugh, the way you comfort me, the way you cry with me. As much as I kriffing hate that you have been through so much pain because of those damned Separatists, I’m grateful for the fact that I’m in love with a man who would do anything for his family, for his brothers.”

A tear slipped down your cheek as you remembered Fives coming back home from the Citadel but no Echo in sight. You would never admit it to anyone, but you swore a piece of you had died that day.

Echo felt like he was going to cry. The pressure that had been building up in his chest was releasing. He could breathe again, slowly, slowly. His only focus was you, was your words. The artificial lights didn’t seem to be as glaring now. They were softer, calmer.

“Echo, my love, even through it all, you not only survived, but you came out on top, victorious,” you paused, briefly overcome with how much love and gratitude you had for this wonderful man. “You came back to me, Echo, and you’re as handsome as ever. I have never stopped loving you, and never will. Don’t you ever forget that darling.”

Echo drew in a shaky breath. The harsh cold of the floor grates was biting into his skin, but he didn’t care. It grounded him as much as your warm touch on his face. He could breathe again. My cyar’ika.

Your fiery and passionate emotional speech came to an end as you stared into your lover’s eyes. There was so much more you could say, but you feared words would not be able to convey it all. You hoped your eyes would be enough to soothe his pained and tired soul.

Silent tears trailed down Echo’s face and you gently brushed them away as you pulled him into a tight hug. It was all you could do to not cry yourself. Echo was always so strong–you admired him for it.

“Thank you,” he whispered, voice thick with appreciation and love. You didn’t say anything. There was no need to. The charged air between you both was enough. The two of you sat in a comfortable silence on the floor of the Havoc Marauder, deep in your own thoughts.

“Ishq wala love,” you muttered fondly after some time, still caught up in your own mind.

“Hm?” Echo questioned, curious as to what you said. The soft sound gently pulled you out of the clouds and back to the man in your arms as you attempted to explain.

“There’s a phrase in my native language, ishq wala love. You see, in Basic, there’s just one word for love, which is love. But back home, we have several different words for love, each with their own subtle, but distinct meaning,” you blew out a breath as you tried to figure out what to say. Echo was hanging on to your every word.

“There’s… there isn’t really a direct translation, but the best I can come up with is that the love that we have, ishq, is much deeper than just romantic love. It’s deep and strong and pure and unyielding. It–it reminded me of us,” you admitted, a bit sheepish. Your fingers dance along Echo’s scomp link, nervous.

Echo took a moment to process your explanation before smiling. You felt your heart stitch itself back together again after seeing that beautiful smile. You would do anything to keep it on his lovely face.

“Ishq wala love,” he echoed, his pronunciation a bit off. You giggled in response. “Close enough,” you teased and Echo simply beamed. You leaned in and planted a chaste kiss on his soft lips, rubbing his metal arm gently.

Echo stood up then, offering a hand to you to help you up. You took it and he led you over to the bunk you shared together. You both quickly climbed in, relaxing in the warmth of the well worn blankets and the other’s presence.

Your head was near his chest and you could hear the soothing dull sound of his steady heartbeat. Your arm curled over his waist protectively and your head rested comfortably on his flesh arm. Echo shut off the light and you were ensconced in black velvety darkness.

“Goodnight, cyar’ika.”

“Sweet dreams, Echo. I’ll be here, waiting for you.”

please consider reblogging! it really helps me and is super encouraging ^_^

[vulpes-incendium]

I made this long time ago, but I thought it's a good time to share it here for @aphasiaweek!

I chose 《Hoi Sam☆Nice Guy》over 《Maji Kandou☆Hong Kong Night》because there are more stuff about HK in it. So let's see if the lyrics are accurate in a native's point of view!

Spoiler alert: it's very accurate

Hoi Sam = Happy (in Cantonese)

Guy = sounds like street in Cantonese (gaai1)

“Yooooo, so since there’s a song… while I’m at it I kinda put some effort into my costume… I think I’ve got like, serious swag Pardon? You can’t see me…for real? Woah!!!!”

FASHION: yes, HKers love to be trendy, always want to be on top trends! Trends come and go very very quickly, it's seriously really hard to follow trends in HK.

MIXING ENGLISH WITH CANTONESE: yup, we do that a lot, we almost couldn't finish a sentence without English, some words just sound "uncool" in Chinese lol (it’s always about being cool in HK lol), but we don't really say “pardon” unless we are speaking English

Sup-sup-sup-sup-sup-super mobile (snap snap) It’s my hobby to take pics and collect them (I guess) Not gonna lie, everyone’s got a mobile phone, penetration rate (highest in the world) Yeah! If you’re going sightseeing then Nathan Road! (Fuu~!)

TAKING PICS WITH SMARTPHONE: Aph HK loves taking (embarrassing) photos (of China lol), but in real life HKers do love taking pictures, or videos too (it's dangerous if you misbehave, people would film you and post on Youtube or Facebook)

MOBILE PHONE PENETRATION RATE: I couldn't find data for HK, but I think I heard on average, each HKer carries at least 2 cellphones! So this could be true!

NATHAN ROAD: It's the longest street in HK and there's so many things, good food, good shopping places and yup sightseeing! (A lot of our streets are named after the Governors during the colonial time, this street is named after Sir Matthew Nathan for example)

Welcome this makes me kinda happy (Check it out!) Learned this from England - tea in the afternoon (high tea) Welcome, this is kinda fun (Shake it up!) Yum cha, Hong Kong milk tea, cha-cha Nice culture (frivolous)!

AFTERNOON TEA: Yes, it's still a tradition for us to have tea time, we call it 3:15, workplaces would have tea breaks, restaurants do tea time menu during 2-5pm, it's really cool and cheap! We usually drink HK milk tea (evolved from British milk tea) during tea time and there are so many delicious snacks like French toast, pineapple bun and of course egg tart!

YUM CHA: It literally means “drink tea”, but Chinese tea this time. It's a tradition for us to go Yum Cha every Sunday with our family! Dim sum is part of Yum Cha! We just eat and catch up with each others for HOURS!

Oh. My. God. “LOHAS LOHAS” Oh. My. Mind. “Gonna take a pic~” Take away “Is this delivery service for real?” Like, seriously, even if it’s way out of the way, no problem man

LOHAS: I didn't know what this refers to for a long time, I finally found the answer. This refers to LOHAS park, an eco-friendly residential area newly built few years ago. But what's so special about it? Is it famous in Japan?!

DELIVERY SERVICE: Well delivery service in Asia are generally good anyway, but I guess we are good and fast?! (but I think Korea too!)

Super Feeling unlucky? If it’s getting to you, go villain hitting at Ngo Keng Kiu A medium will perform an exorcism, and hit a paper doll with a shoe For fortune telling, go draw fortune sticks, or get a divine answer by throwing moon blocks at the temples… at Wong Tai Sin, light the fire of your incense! If you’re feeling tired, maybe you can give Feng Shui a try or something? A spiritual site in Lantau Island The Wisdom Path…is super Awesome for meditation, but there aren’t any toilets, so watch out Gold fish, bring me luck! (In money!)

NGO KENG KIU: Generally HKers are not THAT superstitious, but the culture still lives within us. I have never known anyone who did the villain hitting, but it's still quite a thing (and a great tourist spot). It's mainly for people who backstab you (we call them "small people" siu yan), but I guess evil spirit too.

WONG TAI SIN: Again, it's more for older generation who are still a bit superstitious. People like to go to Wong Tai Sin Temple during Lunar New Year to wish for luck in the new year. It's still quite popular!

See I told you we have natural landscape (source)

WISDOM PATH: I've never been there lol. Apparently it's a "path lined with 38 wooden monuments inscribed with the Heart Sutra prayer". In general, HK has a lot of nice hiking trail, our landscape is actually amazing, it's just we focus too much on making money...

P-Pe-Pe-Pearl of the Orient is me! (I guess?) Got completely wasted? Ended up in a dress (totes sick) Not gonna lie, population density is highest in the world in Ap Lei Chau Yeah! If you’re going sightseeing then Hong Kong Island! (Yeah~!!)

PEARL OF THE ORIENT: It's the nickname of HK, the Philippines is Pearl of the Orient SEAS

(Ending up in a dress refers to this comic, thanks parallel France!)

POPULATION DENSITY: Yea, that's what we are famous for really, small place lots of people (HK is a very hilly city, surprise, surprise), we have the most expensive estate price in the world 🤦‍♀️, not sure if Ap Lei Chau is particularly population-densed, but the whole HK is like that!

Good luck in everything this makes me kinda happy (Check it out!) Learned this from England - how to be a gentleman (ladies first) I wish you good health, this is kinda fun (Shake it up!) Typhoon, Kung Fu, WA-TAHH Supplements, Chinese herbal medicine (healthy~!)

LUCK: The newer generations are less superstitious now, but luck is still kind of important for us? It's more like a tradition than a belief, we do them just in case (like Feng Shui).

TYPHOON: As a coastal city, we get typhoons a lot in summer, but they are not as strong in comparison to the Philippines or Indonesia.

KUNG FU: We are known for our Kung Fu films, as the actors are all trained martial artists! Bruce Lee (WA-TAH was his catchphrase), Jackie Chan and Donnie Yen are great examples! Because of the wars and Cultural Revolution, many people fled China to HK, resulting the influx of high quality martial artists (eg. Ip Man).

HERBAL MEDICINE: As western as we are, we still believe in Chinese Medicine, but more in a preventative way.

Oh. My. God. “Air conditioning in full blast!” Oh. My. Mind. “That’s not eco-friendly…” Oh well “The air will become cleaner, I think?” Seriously a Mistake, but, no problem man

STRONG AIR-CONDITIONING: This line had me laugh die (Imao in Cantonese)! It's so accurate! You can catch a cold from the airconditioning in HK! And that's why we always carry a jacket even in summer! It's not very eco-friendly and our government is trying resolve that.

AIR POLLUTION: Yes we have smog (smoke + fog), it is becoming quite the problem really. The root of the problem is that Shenzhen, the city next to HK, is developing rapidly and a lot of factories moved there, so the smoke is blown towards HK (we don't really have many factories left, it's too expensive here).

Awesome Riding on a roofless bus, cruising through the neon streets If you want to, like, go shopping… at Ladies Market There are stalls with cute stuff, souvenirs (lots and lots of them) Talk the price down! Haggling is what really counts For some more miscellaneous and deep junk, more for the adult and thrilling The street where mystery thickens… Temple Street Would you like to try some cheap eats at the street stalls? Absolutely delicious! Asian food is the best!

NEON LIGHTS: You've all seen the stereotypical HK streets full of neon lights, but it's actually decreasing, because there's no newcomers to the industry (the lights are handmade).

LADIES MARKET: You can find so many stuff there indeed, for a cheap price! Branded stuff, fake stuff (we don't make them but yea you can find a lot of them), food and goldfish. Yes, there's a goldfish street. Why? I dunno, for luck I guess?!

TEMPLE STREET: Similar to ladies market, it's also great for shopping. This street is also known for (illegal) prostitution and triad, but it's still safe to visit, never in my life have I encountered any of them.

“Yoooooo, Mister, so I kinda sang this song, but seriously, rapping is surprisingly, like, tough?” “It’s also a shame that no one can see what I’m wearing, I’ve got serious swag, y'know.” “Phew… I kinda want to go home already… I mean, the peach buns are gonna be sold out.” “…can we go now?” “…can’t we go yet?” “Haah…” “Okay fine, like, whatever.”

One, two, three!*

PEACH BUN: They are actually eaten on birthdays, for longevity (that's what peach represents in Chinese culture).

*this line was spoken in Mandarin in the song, which would be the only critism I'd give. Yes a lot of people may understand Mandarin, but Cantonese and English are preferred and they are our official languages. One, two, three in Cantonese would be "yaat, yi, sam".

Oh. My. God. “The rent is really expensive…” Oh. My. Mind. “It’s not easy…” Why oh why? “It’s like, the highest in the world” We have serious inflation, but, whatever

EXPENSIVE RENT: We are the most expensive in the world, thanks to the high population density (and foreign buyers 😶), it's really not easy to afford a flat in HK, that’s why most HKers live with their parents until they get married (it’s also a cultural thing).

INFLATION: Stuff are still relatively cheap, but they are getting more expensive really quickly, mainly because of the rent of the shops.

Super they’re so adorable it hurts, the perfect balance of black and white pandas that bring you happiness… we sell them, sort of So fluffy and cute, such big round eyes The kinda? Make you Happy! Uh-huh

PANDAS: We actually only have 2 pandas here like everyone else, in Ocean Park (it's like an amusement park and zoo). They finally successfully mated recently, probably because of Corona shutdown lol!

There are over 100 of them, Tin Hau Temple, so super Before I head there, I seriously wanna eat… mango pudding! So many gods, like, one in every street Pay homage at the temple, light the fire of your incense!

TEMPLES: We still have the temples built before the colonial time! Hopefully, we are able to keep them too...

MANGO PUDDING: It's so good yes! Our dessert culture is just the best seriously! We have so many restaurants just for desserts! They are great places to hang out with friends after work or school!

The air conditioning at its max, the fire burning strong A steaming hot pot made with a carefully chosen soup base If you want to detox, have a Chinese herbal hot pot Absolutely delicious! Asian food is the best! Riding on a roofless bus, cruising through the neon streets If you want to, like, go shopping… at Ladies Market There are stalls with cute stuff, souvenirs, lots and lots of them Talk the price down! Haggling is what really counts Absolutely delicious! Asian food is the best! Every minute Happy☆Nice Town (Guy)

HOT POT: We love it! We basically love when a lot of people sit together, talking, sharing food (like Yum Cha), it's the harmony and atmosphere that we like so much! And yes, there are a lot of different soup base you can choose from!

BARGAINING: Yes do it, especially if you're in places like Ladies' Market and you're a foreigner, they do price things up if you don't look like a local.

***

Shout out to Takagi Motoki, the voice actor of HK, his voice fits the character perfectly! (and please get a new va for the new season please funimation) And how can he speak so fast?!

[selfcareparker]

okay fghsgdj yes you can say girl ! my pronouns are she/her :) okay but fr pause, i read this like 3 minutes after you posted it (or at least my notif said 3mins lmao) bUT IM IN BED AND I USUALLY HAVE MY COMPUTER OPEN WITH YOUR RESPONSE SO I MAKE SURE I ADDRESS EVERYTHING AND THEN SEND IN THE ASK ON MY PHONE HDGSJSH anyway, time to get my ass up 😔 but wait i find you so funny like honestly, reading that cracked me all the way up. and i feel the “lol” thing so hard!!!! idk why i do it all the time (i’m tryna stop) but i’ll say something with lol at the beginning and lol at the end... it might be a defense mechanism at this point lol (😔) AND (i need to stop with the uppercase too it’s not funny anymore) I DONT KNOW WHY I LAUGHED SO HARD JDHSK WHEN YOU SAID ALSO AGAIN HAHAHAH LIKE UR HAHHAH also my sleep schedule is not pretty either lmao but i’m homeschooled so i never have to get up for anything? hhdhsis idk but i’m glad you slept!! you need sleep!!

also (pls no i cannot) why did i not know what ykwim meant until i reread this?? like it makes so much sense- anyway! i think it’s so cool that you’re excited for university! idk why but i do lol like you’re getting ready for the future (masters degree and all that) & you’re (maybe) going to england anyway so that’s cool haha (hopefully when you go you can see your relatives 🤞🏾)

the fact that you get happy seeing my asks i- 💓💓

you make me wanna go to London & England so bad urghhhh like i’ve only been out of the country once (to Canada for a family reunion) but it sounds so prettyyyyy & i’m so sorry that cov*d is messing everything up and i hope you can see your relatives soon :(

now to address the whole english speaking/writing: I FIND THAT SO WEIRD DUHSKSJ i don’t know how an english speaking person could say that if you don’t write it 100% grammatically correct.... that it’s wrong? when literally, over here at least, WE’RE SO GRAMMATICALLY INCORRECT HAHHAAH in both the way we talk and write!! and lol you’re welcome,, AND THE PARAGRAPH DID MAKE SENSE HDHSJSH & your rant is fine because... that is actually a bit ??? bc no one writes with 100% grammar lol

OH MY GOSH (see this uppercase thing is addictive) YOU STUDIED LATIN FOR 6 YEARS??? that’s really cool 🥺 the way that you know/speak 3+ languages i- NOT EVEN 3+ LIKE 6+ (german, english, latin, french, serbian, italian, and everything that comes with latin lmao) even if it’s just a tiny bit like wowee. it is really fascinating!!! i had the opportunity to take latin and i... didnt. i took art instead BUT ONLY CUZ MY FRIENDS WERE IN THAT CLASS AND ART LOOKED FUN IM SORRY

PLEASE WHY DO YOU KNOW EVERYONE?? that sounds so fricking cool tell your mom (mum or mama it’s really fine lol) that she sounds awesome. i think Jamaica would be fun either way!! i mean it looks pretty from pictures? i was a baby so i honestly have no recollection hahaha

LMAOO NOT U SAYING THIS IS LONGER THAN SOME OF MY FICS- PLEASE GIRL IM TELLING YOU I VERBALLY LAUGHED HAHAHAHAHAH but yea you really don’t need to apologize i like reading everything you say 🥺 HDKSHS AND UR FINE WE WERE JUST TALKING ABOUT ME BEFORE uhhh hmm uhh lemme think i, well, i saw chaos walking yesterday (big tom holland fan over here) and it was alright.. my mom acted a fool at all the jump scares LMAO but it was funny... since i’m talking about movies (this is hella random i know) but i like shark movies HDKJSSJ my favorite is the meg (it’s so good ohmigosh) and the 47 meters down movies aren’t bad either... i have two younger brothers... iiiii AM IN LOVE WITH MUSIC PHEW anddd i’m homeschooled (i think i mentioned that lol) i think that’s a good amount ahahaha AND IM HUNGRY RN JDHSJ

now. please. let me address the edit. i just want you to know that.. when i talk about your fics and i finish them and everything i’m not looking for more? like obviously if you’re writing i’m gonna read it but you don’t need to feel pressured or anything (idk if you do) to put more fics out lol like they’re great and i’m just sending the praise bc i love the ones that are there :’) but i’m so happy you’re working through your writers block!!! yay so so happy for you!!! and PUHLEASE anything you write is fantastic, i feel the exact same way when i write but girl. you’re fine. it’s gonna be great. (idk if this made any sense but... okay)

(and my cousin calls her mom mama so it’s really okay hahah i even call my mom mama sometimes) (and where you got the number “16 sentences” beats me but i still cracked up) (is this me pretending i had tags? maybe) HAHAHAHA OK BYE ❤️❤️ why did this take me so long to send i have no clue, AND WHY AM I OVERTHINKING EVERYTHING I SAID SHAJSHSJ ANYWAY BYE btw i love us too... like iconic // lovely anon 💓

me reading this:

also the dedication you put into sending me stuff— like with the laptop and phone and ahsksk 🥺🥺🥺

i’ll update you when i’ve started uni btw, i’m getting more and more excited every single day haha but i still have 3 weeks until it starts and even then I’ll obviously have to get used to it and everything, but you’re making me even more excited about it sksjshsg

yeah i wanna go to england too dkshsh let’s be sad together over the fact the we can’t travel eksjsh😔😭 but hopefully the wait will make it even better in the end <33 also i talk to loads of relatives over the phone at least once a week so it’s not too bad for me! but i miss their house 😭lmao

and i knowww snshsh so many native english speakers just make so many mistakes— and obviously i get that some things are slang but some things are simply wrong ajsh, the thing is no one has ever told me that my english is bad (i know it’s not bad anyway, but i’m still insecure) or no one has ever pointed out any mistakes, but yeah it’s mostly just insecurity dkshsg but yes thanks for saying what you said (previously as well as in this ask)😌🥰

Okay now for latin— girlll i don’t blame u for choosing art over latin esp. when all of your friends are doing art as well!! I’d choose art over latin as well lol skshsg but in year 6 we had to choose between latin and french, and at the time i didn’t like french? which was dumb of me and now i wanna learn french ekdhs but i don’t regret choosing latin at all bc if i properly learn french one day then i’ll already know understand loads of stuff (or at least some stuff lol) just thanks to latin 😌😌 but still, art>>>latin skskshshgs

I wanna watch chaos walking too!!! But i don’t get when/where/how it’s out lmao, cinemas are still closed here so i’ll either have to wait or find it somewhere online... il*egally 🥰 i don’t have high expectations at all btw but i like daisy and tom and the dog🥺 so i think i’ll enjoy it

GIRL SHARK FILMS SHARK FOLMS SKSJSHSHS okay so there are a few classics i haven’t watched yet, and also a few new ones that i haven’t seen yet BUT I LOVE SHARK FILMS SO MUCH SKSHSGSGSKK the first like proper shark film i ever watched was the shallows (which i like but my brain is still too small to comprehend what happened at the end (i mean i get it but i just can’t imagine it— idek if you’ve seen the film but skshhs)) and after watching it three times it does get a bit boring (but now whenever i see pictures or videos of big waves i’m just waiting for a shark to show up like come ON SKSJSG

^^^that pic/scene really traumatised me sksjsh but i still like the film

I only watched jaws like a few months ago, and i get that it’s a classic and also that it’s old and they just didn’t have the best.. equipment or special effects or whatever but i mean... look at meg and then look at jaws.... no disrespect to jaws at ALL but the meg is so much cooler. (That one scene on the boat where the shark just JUMPS OUT OF THE WATER AND SKSJSHHSUSJHA i get such a shock every time it’s so good (and the dog aww aksjshssli 🥺🥺🥰 and the boy with the ice cream lmao he’s iconic)

47 metres down, wow, i liked that film too. (i’ve only watched the original/first one i think) i mean that is such a fucking nightmare scenario like ALSJDHSNEMSKDJSHSJSKWBALSODUEWBSLDKHDJSNSKSKSHSGEBWKAISGSHEKEKSKLDJDJDHDHSHAGGA (that’s the best way i can express my feelings about that scenario lmao)

oh and i’ve recently been watching more horror films but i don’t know if they’re for me... I like the thrill and whatever but i just end up being scared for my life when i have to go to the bathroom at night or when i’m trying to sleep bc suddenly my mind is flooded with all the scary shit from the films 💀💀💀

and music i mean... you know those people who just don’t listen to music? WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEM???? i honestly like all genres especially in the last year, i am IN LOVE with Nicki Minaj + Megan andddd Stormzy and i like Harry Styles but i prefer his first solo album (and obviously one direction has bangers i have a throwback 1D session at least once a month), I also love MGK especially his new stuff and otherwise i mostly listen to german artists lmao. So who do you like?💖 (WHY DO I FEEL LIKE YOURE GONNA SAY SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SKAHAGUS IF YOU LISTEN TO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT MUSIC DONT JUDGE ME AJSHDJS) (i know you’re not gonna judge me but)

++ @ the thing you said about writing, don’t worry, i don’t feel pressured at all!!! (not by you and not by anybody else.. except myself sometimes lol) and i’m just very happy that you liked my fics 🥰🥰🥰 and if i start telling people that i’m writing a fic then sometimes it puts a bit of (healthy) pressure on me. like yes sometimes it really is writer’s block, but sometimes i really am just lazy ddkshhd so now that i’ve told you i’m writing a fic i might get my ass up quicker than i would if i hadn’t told anyone 😌😌😌

[techbranding]

Does My Startup Need A Tech Branding Agency?

We recommend having bi-weekly check-ins to discuss the process, open questions, etc. However, we prefer to present results and updates asynchronously − it saves a lot of time for both sides. SketchesAt this stage, we explore concepts and general directions on how the logo could look. We follow Visual positioning and Brand expression findings and recommendations. This stage helps to examine a lot of concepts and shapes fast. These Terms of Participation permit you to join the Discussion only https://craftandroot.com/industries/tech-startups/.

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Tonal launches 300% ahead of target by bringing the digital into the physical. Launching the most important insurance brand since the birth of the internet. A $4.5B HR Tech startup and the biggest brand comeback of 2017. Everything you need to know about rebranding your business - and avoiding costly mistakes. Everything you need to know about rebranding your business-and avoiding costly mistakes.

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The tone adapts to communicate with them while upholding the overall voice’s focus. (Namer is pretty close — after all, a name is a very, very short poem that captures a brand’s eidos.) When not creating kickass names, she may be found kayaking with her son or making music with her husband.

We are not condoning or admiring this approach but it’s almost certainly part of a bigger strategy. Intel uses video to spark emotion and create a connection with their audience. Health care workers, ventilator makers, teachers, drivers and key workers. It’s a play on their key messaging “what’s inside” but it’s on trend and very smart.

Watch our event replay from Tuesday, January 19, where we continue to discuss and answer questions on the new coronavirus relief bill and how it pertains to small businesses. CO— aims to bring you inspiration from leading respected experts. However, before making any business decision, you should consult a professional who can advise you based on your individual situation.

Gift card fraud can be a gateway to stolen payment credentials, drained bank accounts and even stolen identity. Certain projects, images, and products are trademarks of and/or copyrighted by their respective owners. Develop a Personality.Your business has a personality – a tone that it uses to communicate to the audience. Many businesses don’t sufficiently develop a personality, or don’t keep it consistent. Yes, send me the BizBuySell SellerNewsletter, which contains advice on selling a business and email only promotions. We are sorry, we were not able to submit your issue for this listing at this time. The information in this listing has been provided by the business seller or representative stated above.

Brand Name Creation

Taco Del Mar gets a brand refresh and a fresh new point of view. Their expertice created additional revenue we would have received from traditional advertising alone. Two entrepreneurs came to us with a new app that puts power back in the hands of patients. The brand we developed helps consumers get on the right path when navigating their healthcare. We are data-backed creatives who get the most out of every click. All TOP agencies combine deep subject expertise with world-class execution. Applying consistency in your brand’s voice and tone helps build your reputation, trust, and ultimately stronger brand recognition.

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If your startup can bend light, slow time, or stretch infinitely, we should talk. Established in 1996, the website is an international marketplace of businesses for sale.

A play on okey-dokey, Mochidoki makes use of the product descriptor in a fun and playful way, all while recalling the product’s Asian roots and sounding bite-sized and delicious. Designed for business owners, CO— is a site that connects like minds and delivers actionable insights for next-level growth.

Cast a wide tech branding agency net at first and bring the top three back to go through the process with you. Be incredibly clear about the goals and objectives of the project. Tap your network, do your research, check the rankings to see what firms measure up. Omni-channel marketing campaign showcasing the “connecting” benefits of being able to access Tower Health’s growing health system. Thank you for Trajectory’s splendid healthcare rebranding work. You’ve done an outstanding job blending respect for the past with gentle nudging of inherently sensible and winning ideas. Our health system brand is an emotional lightning rod for many, and you navigate it extraordinarily well.

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See how they perform while juggling multiple responsibilities. It can be either a small internal project or an external one. Moreover, they offer a free audit in case you would like to refresh your brand rather than building it from scratch. You will enjoy collaborating with them for your small business or startup. Their process starts with an expansive review of your brand’s current status. Afterwards, they run a collaborative workshop with you and your stakeholders to define the organization’s goals. Then, target audience research and competitive analysis follow.

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Thanks for sending that over, one of our team will be in touch real soon. Go from over 15,844 agencies to a shortlist with Agency Spotter. Firebrand has given my team the bandwidth to focus on what's really important. Webgamma produced effective deliverables that contributed to significant growth of our brand.

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With a BA in English Literature from Dartmouth College and an MFA from the University of Massachusetts’ English MFA for Poets & Writers, Stevie is also no stranger to the power of words. As head of Catchword’s East Coast operations, he’s typically the project lead on all right coast accounts, and recently managed projects for Volkswagen, McDonald’s, Kellogg, and First Alert. He graduated from Brandeis University with a BA in History, and earned his JD from the State University of New York at Buffalo. is a collection of ultra-premium brandable dot-com domains—merging the best in messaging, memorability, length, and flow. Our linguistic and cultural evaluation is backed by an international network of native speakers in more than 100 languages. And, when Catchword first sampled Gordon Dessert’s new line of mochi , we knew we were naming a truly category re-defining confectionary.

Let us guide you on how to use the appropriate tools to reach your marketing goals. Abundant growth opportunities; little to no marketing up to this point. We apologize, but the feature you are trying to access is currently unavailable.

Payment schedule should be adjusted to the project you are running together — so the initial investment on your side is reduced. What I would like to show you is that with a right partner you can focus on your strengths and outsource other tasks without losing business. More than that, you can expand your service line and utilize your talents on new platforms that you did not have an access to.

BizBuySell has no stake in the sale of this business, has not independently verified any of the information about the business, and assumes no responsibility for its accuracy or completeness. We partnered with Oculus to pioneer VR’s mobile and social future.

Their posts aren’t strictly oriented to the product but are tied to events and occasions that people everywhere find significant and interesting. You have an innovative, ground breaking idea – now it’s time to share it with the world. A full-spectrum agency leading the legal profession into a future of equal justice. Class action firms benefit from the speed with which we can launch your initial marketing campaign. We have been working together for several years now, helped them revamp their brand, built a new website and campaign sites, and most recently a transit campaign that can be seen all over the Bay Area.

We provide a cost-effective route to market for business owners and their representatives and a one stop shop for aspiring entrepreneurs and business buyers. You will receive newsletters, updates and offers about business and franchise opportunities. We will also send you information about related business and franchise events. BusinessesForSale.com is committed to protecting your privacy. Ticking this box means you are consenting to us sending you marketing emails. You can change your mind at any time by clicking unsubscribe in the footer of our emails. Just because you don’t have time to deal, doesn’t mean you have to completely give the work away.

They keep their brand voice highly practical and focused on solving prospects’ pain points. They use demo videos to educate and inspire confidence in their products. This is an example that companies do not need to invest their energy into all available channels, but rather pick one or two to focus on. Partner testimonials, PRs on closed deals, fundraisers and case studies by the likes of Yahoo Finance and Harvard Business Review communicate the reputation and importance of this brand. Communicating diverse topics across different channels whilst maintaining voice consistency and brand integrity. The Facebook page features a cover video with main takeaways of what the company stands for and a striking summary of their offers. They connect their user base with immersive food and beverage tours, skip-the-line tickets for attractions, craft classes, niche offerings and other immersive experiences.

[egg2k16]

40 Fanfic Q’s Answered

the server wants answers, and they want them now!!! from this post

1. Describe your comfort zone—a typical you-fic.

Smut and pining all the way. Also, falling in love via laughing

2. Is there a trope you’ve yet to try your hand at, but really want to?

Eh...I don’t think so, I’m always 100% self-indulgent, so what u see is what I want

3. Is there a trope you wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole?

Anything that has to do w mega sadness, I just Don’t. I can’t write anything sad, and if I do, there’s certainly gonna be A Lot of comfort afterwards

4. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Care to share one of them?

I have 91 wips, motherfuckers!!! My latest wip is a daddy month fic!

5. Share one of your strengths.

I think, since I’ve been trying to be sparser in my words, I’ve been able to better emphasize what isn’t being said

6. Share one of your weaknesses.

No action scenes from me are ever good, lmao

7. Share a snippet from one of your favorite pieces of prose you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

It was late at night, when he started to cry.

He didn't want to cry, but he did.

It's been years since he's last let himself feel, or was it since he was last allowed to feel?

He choked on his sobs, uncomfortable with his tears. He's forgotten how to properly cry. His entire body is shaking, and the connections between flesh and wire hurts.

He stops crying. He starts crying again.

This continues for another few minutes, until he feels as if he can't possibly have any more tears.

He wipes his face, pulls the covers up to his chin, and falls asleep.

(from Twilight on the Sea) I really like this bcus I don’t think I’ve ever really typed out crying in this way, n I tried to make it feel like it was a lot

8. Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

Cass was quiet for a moment. “... you know what? Maybe I’ll just go up there and surprise you.”

“If you do, then you already ruined the surprise, haven’t you?”

“Eh, I dunno about that. Seeing my beautiful face is a shock for many people.”

“Oh, I’m sure of it.”

“Hey, Koda? I don’t know about you, but it’s really late here.”

“Really?” Koda asks, then remembers that time zones exist. “Oh crap, what time is it over there?”

“It’s midnight. What about you?”

“It’s eight o’clock. Only four hours difference?”

“Oh hey, that’s not so bad.”

“It reduces our time,” Koda said, a bit whining.

“Not if I have anything to say about it.”

“What are you going to do? Move here? Send for me?”

“You’ll see.”

(from Together) This was a gift for one my best friends on here, @suncatchr​ , and it’s about his ocs!!! I love this a lot bcus while it’s a soulmate au, it’s not ur average soulmate au, and I tried making it as original as possible! And this blurb, I just wanted them to effuse so much love w/o having to say love...cries

9. Which fic has been the hardest to write?

If this is by posted fics, then I remember writing Look What You’ve Done to Me was very very difficult, bcus, since it’s also a gift, for @daniel-bryan​ , I wanted to write it Good, n since my buddy usually wrote from the love interest’s pov, I felt a weird pressure to write Daniel Bryan’s pov as good as I could

10. Which fic has been the easiest to write?

2 of my fics in Spanish!!! My oc centric one, Rayos y Centellas, and my shyan one, oye cariño, solo pienso en ti ! Turns out writing in ur native tongue makes everything easier

11. Is writing your passion or just a fun hobby?

It’s a very passionate hobby!!! I just!!! try to pour all of my love into everything I write!!!

12. Is there an episode above all others that inspires you just a little bit more?

I’m not sure!!! I just watch movies n quietly scream to my gay lonesome bcus No One Ever Watches Movies ;-;

13. What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever come across?

To just keep writing n not stop for details or forgotten lore, bcus it’s important to write down what’s firing u up Right Now. Of course, it’s very difficult following that ;;-;;

14. What’s the worst writing advice you’ve ever come across?

“No adverbs!” “No ‘said’!” “It has to make grammatical sense!” sometimes things Need those

15. If you could choose one of your fics to be filmed, which would you choose?

Was gonna say my rewrite of the end of The Rover, but actually, my SPN fic Ube . Shit was peak inspired

16. If you only could write one pairing for the rest of your life, which pairing would it be?

Eridirk (Eridan Ampora/Dirk Strider from Homestuck) all the way. The one otp that’s stayed thru thick n thin <3

17. Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order?

A little mix of both, and tbh it depends on the fic, but I tend to write chronologically

18. Do you use any tools, like worksheets or outlines?

I’ve started bullet pointing my ideas out before writing my fics, and so far, it’s been helping me be more streamlined n get my things written out faster n clearer!

19. Stephen King once said that his muse is a man who lives in the basement. Do you have a muse?

Is the need for representation in all the niche movies I keep watching a muse?

20. Describe your perfect writing conditions.

In my dark room, w music blasting from my laptop, the TV w a soft hum, I have the perfect playlist to get the mood right, curled up in my blankies, n my plushie Sweet Pea by my side

21. How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

Zero, we rely on autocorrect & editing while typing and die like men

22. Choose a passage from one of your earlier fics and edit it into your current writing style. (Person sending the ask is free to make suggestions).

YOU DON’T SEEM SCARED.

Del Rio shrugs. “Working as a cop, it makes you numb to some things. It’s good, it lets you react to things as you should, and not how you’d want to.”

YOU SOUND SAD ABOUT THAT.

He makes a noncommittal noise. “It is what it is.” He eats another spoonful of his ice cream, then gets a thought.

“Can you show up?”

HOW SO?

“Can you,” he tries, waving his spoon around, “Manifest?”

I DON’T KNOW. I’LL TRY.

“I’m sure you’ll do just fine,” Del Rio assures, and he can feel the air around him smile. The...world, he thinks, around him shifts just slightly, and there seems to be a chink in the armor for a moment before it goes away, as if someone had wiped the glass clear. He realizes that this is her, trying to show up in a physical form, step out of the phone.

He doesn’t know where to look, but then his confusion wanes when a butterfly shows up, fluttering towards him. It lands near his phone, skitters a bit, flaps its wings.

“Lucy?” he asks, transfixed on the butterfly. Its orange wings are bright under the sunlight.

I THOUGHT I’D TRY SMALL, FOR MY FIRST TRIAL.

“Well, you certainly nailed it.” He smiled warmly at the butterfly, and he had the crazy notion that it smiled back at him.

(adapted from The Policeman , the first fic I posted!)

23. If you were to revise one of your older fics from start to finish, which would it be and why?

Yeah, probably The Policeman lmao, I remember it today n I cringe a little at the very obvious refs to other fandoms I made. Despite that, it continues being one of my best hits!

24. Have you ever deleted one of your published fics?

Never

25. What do you look for in a beta?

I’m just thankful to have gotten a beta in general in life at all

26. Do you beta yourself? If so, what kind of beta are you?

I beta’ed once, and since English is my 2nd language, I pointed out syntax confusion, typos, n continuity errors

27. How do you feel about collaborations?

Can be done, it’s just that I am frightened. Tried doing that, it fell thru, n the new thing that came up, I still have to hold up my end of the bargain ;;-;;

28. Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.

cries omg ok so!!! Chancy_Lurking ( @lurkerviolin​ ) is one of my faves, n we’ve become friends, n their Felix+ Sense8 series is the reason for it all, and u know it’s good if it managed to make a friendship that’s last its good while, and also they’re so nice, and we vibe so well!!! thegoatz ( @daniel-bryan​ ) is also now one of my bestest friends ever, and I wuv him so much, he is such a good kid, n he’s so enthusiastic about writing, and I hope that spark never goes out!!! And adamwhatareyouevendoing ( @skatingthinandice​ ) bcus she’s doing a rewrite of The Last Kingdom where it’s all gay where it should be and vnjkdfsnvkd God, what a wonderful friend!!!

29. If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose?

I actually technically am working on a sequel to @rettaroo​ ‘s A New Kind of Touch ! Another promise I have to hold up eventually ;;;-;;;

30. Do you accept prompts?

Sure!

31. Do you take liberties with canon or are you very strict about your fic being canon compliant?

I try to follow canon as much as I possibly can!

32. How do you feel about smut?

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

33. How do you feel about crack?

Eh, it’s alright. I don’t normally look for it, so I don’t really have a solid opinion on it

34. What are your thoughts on non-con and dub-con?

I don’t want to read it, but I have so far encountered it twice very amicably: once here in a ficlet, and another in a longer fic on AO3, and they were both very good

35. Would you ever kill off a canon character?

Probably not, I don’t like sad things!

36. Which is your favorite site to post fic?

AO3! I’m RedLlamas on it!

37. Talk about your current wips.

Lmao which one. The one I’m currently working on is an impregnation kink turned “oh no I actually do wanna have a family” feelings fic!

38. Talk about a review that made your day.

Gonna be real w u, the best comments I’ve gotten have mainly been from my friends, who either write a paragraph or two going into detail of the fic, or just send a one sentence comment that’s just “screams!” I’ve gotten very few paragraphs from other people, n they’re always so!!!

My friends are the realest :’)

39. Do you ever get rude reviews and how do you deal with them?

The perks of being a rarepair writer is that the only people who read my fics are the ones actively looking for content!!! And they can’t complain about my work because No One Else Is Writing For It!!!!!!

40. Write an alternative ending to [insert fic title] (or just the summary of one).

All my fics are masterpieces, so I’ll do a summary change! For don’t you just know (exactly what they’re thinking?)

Dakota finds himself in unexpected heartbreak, and the universe decides to bring him in the direction of a night club with a dancer with stars on his skin.

[kurtty-drabbles]

Tails au (part 11)

N/A: This goes on, I suppose. Kurt deals with Jelly, Amanda is going cray cray, Lance asks Kitty out and Tabby is the one sane here. Also, I promised myself a bit of Romy and I should keep it.

@djinmer4

Rogue is a slouch on the coach too akin of a cat and lost in the narrative of her book and only manages to notice she was smiling when Kitty enters in the room and mentions her big and goofy smile. “Hey, was the date that good?” Kitty teased and Rogue frowns back and puts the book down.

“Ah not dating him…Ah mean” now Rogue pauses for a moment and looks at the poker card Remy gave to her on their first meeting. “Ah don´t know anymore…that damn swap rat does not seem to mind that if he kisses me he´ll be knocked out” Rogue concludes and Kitty, putting her jacket down and now is organizing some of her material for her art class.

“Isn´t that a good thing?” Kitty asked as her ears tingle a little and the tip of said cat-like ears are asking to be treated and Kitty, silently complaining about that and a bit curious, managed to pet her own ears and is proud for not have pour after that.

And Rogue bites her lips tasting the black lipstick she used and then she confessed. “Ah´d not know. Ah don´t want to hurt him…and at any moment he can get tired of a girl he can´t really kiss…” Rogue now looks defeated and Kitty can´t leave her friend feeling like that.

“There´s a show called Pushing Daisies where the main couple can´t physically touch themselves for magic reasons so they use plastic film to touch…here an idea” Kitty suggested and Rogue tosses a pillow at Kitty, but, she is indeed considering the idea.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

When Lance finally asked Kitty out it seems as if a spell as cast and the Brotherhood seems to get a case extremely good luck for all the mutants presents in this group, for example, Quicksilver won´t have to deal with his father anymore (a huge relief for his mind), Toad and Fred are getting more simple tasks and Mystique is not being too harsh with them, Mystique is too busy doing whatever and is not using them …which is a huge relief and finally, Lance is on cloud nine.

“Someone is in love” Pietro states on the couch watching TV. The house is in better shape than before and the mutants of this group vow to leave the house in such a way for as much as possible. “What you´ll do in this date?”

And then Lance stops smiling and thinks about his only plan of dialogue. “Talk about how the X-men sucks?”

“No!”

“Talk about something else?”

“Yes”

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Jean Grey was playing with her powers and lifting the key to Scott´s car when someone rings the doorbell of the mansion and Logan, the one closer of the door, is not happy to see a member of Brotherhood with flowers and ask for Kitty. His claws speak for himself.

“What are you doing here?” Logan is not happy. His claws make sure of that and Lance is no fool to think he can take down Wolverine. Jean, wanting to avoid bloodshed intervenes.

“What´s going on?” she asked and she can put one and one together but is better to have all the facts first. Kitty arrives quickly and she told how Lance asks her to a date and she said yes and again, is vital to point out, Logan is not happy about it.

Jean is neither, but, she is diplomatic enough. “And where you two will go?” she asked neutral and the answer seems innocent enough, a movie date, and well, Jean is not her mother.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Kurt was doing his chores when he heard Logan´s growls and is quick to teleport to see Lance with flowers and talking about a movie date with Kitty (for some reason, he really wished Logan would tear the flowers down along with Lance-and yes, this thought scares him a little) and is not happy when Kitty did confirm this movie date.

Will you let her go, Jean?

What you want me to do? Say no? Kitty grows up to deal with her own business…

And Logan is the one interrogating the boy, Lance, and not being very approving of this movie date, but, if no one else will oppose (and he can´t dictate who she dates or not) then he´s bound to let Kitty go to Lance, much to Kurt´s dismay.

“Ok, thanks for not murdering, Lance” Kitty speaks. “and see you later, Kurt” and she waves at the dark corner where one Kurt Wagner was hiding and wonders how she saw him there.

Kurt smiles fakely at that and watches her go. Lance is sending a death glare at Kurt and Kurt pretends to not notice.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

“I´m just saying…this movie is really dumb” Lance speaks a bit loudly to Kitty.

“You said you were fine with my choice of the movie”

“Yeah…but that movie was really, really dumb, next time you could write something less dumb”

“Oh, next time?”

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Amara was listening to some Brazilian songs her own mother send to make sure her daughter is not completely alienated from her culture and while some songs are embarassing, and Amara refuses to translate some parts, it has some comfort in hearing a song in your own native language.

Tabitha does not speak Portuguese, well, only the basic and she can´t quite place her finger on what the lyrics are saying, but, if Amara is that adamant in not translate the song… “Is about sex, isn´t it?”

Amara blushes and refuses to acknowledge that. “Oh, so is about sex, ok, then I´ll study even harder to understand” and Tabitha concludes by snickering at her girlfriend´s expression.

“Really? You rather learn my language just to know what the song is about?”

“No, I want to do for you…but the song is a nice plus”

“Dork” and Amara now rest her forehead against Tabitha as their lips touch each other kindly. In moments like this, is so easy to forget the rest of the world, when you have someone you love…everything gets better.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Amanda Sefton is not happy as Kurt is not answering her calls, again, and is not very pleased even less so when she got a text of one of her followers showing a rather ugly picture, if you ask Amanda, about a certain Kitty Pryde and a boy named Lance Alvers.

It seems Kitty was not having a good night. Is what the legend says with a distress Kitty with a boisterous loud Lance who is talking loudly about something and is not paying attention to his surrounders.

“Is she cheating on Kurt? Whatever, I must make her and Lance be together no matter what…” and she takes her phone and calls to Info-chan. “What do you know about Kitty? How can I make her stay with Lance forever?”

“I would recommend glue, but, I´m afraid you would take literal, look, just show her she could do much worse…and props up Lance´s qualities, Lance is her first boyfriend ever and the girl wants to have a boyfriend like every other girl”

“Oh, thank you, Info-chan”

“You´re welcome”

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Tabitha enters in the kitchen to get more popcorn and sees a very angry elf aggressively cleaning the dishes and muttering something in German and by the look of it looks something that is better of without translation.

“Blue boy?” and this jolts Kurt a little, but, his aggressiveness remains. Not phasing him, not literally, Kurt calms himself down and greets Tabitha. “Hey, the popcorn is over”

“Damn, ok, we can take snacks…but are you ok?”

“Kitty is out with that Lance…I´d not like him” and the way he phrases this sentence makes it seems as if he does not understand why and Tabby would find funny if it wasn´t the second time she sees him acting like that.

“Kurt, you´re completely green of jealousy. Green! Soon Hulk will be here and will be mad you took his colour”

“I´m not jealousy…I´m just worried for her sake…what if Lance tries to hurt her?”

“Funny, you didn´t seem all that concern when Rogue go out with Remy…Again, you´re green, Kurt, 100% green and denial go so forward, now, stop being a dumb blue boy and don´t take out on the dishes” Tabitha spoke and leaves with two snacks in her hand.

@everykurt @dannybagpipesarecalling @bamfoftheundead

[blacklinguist]

you’re not taking language classes, you don’t have a native target language speaking best friend who also excels in explaining obscure grammar points, and you have zero idea where to begin without a textbook, so what do you do? the following tips are a hodgepodge of techniques i’ve used over my last five years of self-studying various languages...maybe they’ll be somewhat helpful for you as well!

The Beginning aka “Taking a Peek”

find exciting media: do you like to read? watch movies? listen to music? chances are that free ebooks in [X] language will give you the reading material you want [if your local library doesn’t], kanopy is a fantastic Netflix-like site that works with public libraries and universities to bring indie films [with captions] to you for free [and not just in the United States; New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Canada are some of the other countries supported], and Youtube has...nearly everything else. It’s the only place I can satisfy my need for japanese 80s pop...

pronunciation guides / syllabaries / alphabets: go ahead and hunt these down as well. the last thing you want to do [mainly non-Latin system languages here] is rely on romanization, especially non-standardized versions of what a word ‘might’ sound like. don’t do that yourself! take the time to learn the proper writing system. for pronunciation, find videos explaining the sounds as well. don’t rely only on transcriptions [unless they are in IPA, they could be inaccurate]. if you come across sounds that are unfamiliar, there are likely videos of comparisons from native speakers that will help you. obviously, there are exceptions, but as long as you do the best you can, that’s all you can ask.

start!: read that book, watch that horror film, and repeat that song 100 times. enjoy the content, and also start to pay attention to what is being said. are you noticing certain words being repeated over and over, and catching on to the pronunciation? have you looked up an interesting phrase in the dictionary? or maybe the chorus of that song is super catchy, and you want to take a look at the lyrics? do so! the more you engage with the material, the more you learn. 

The Other Beginning aka “Should I Study Now?”

I ‘took a peek’ at Korean for two years before I thought of studying it ‘officially’. Same for Japanese. I’ve been peeking at French for four years [I think I forgot to take the next step!]. There’s no minimum or maximum in language learning. If you have a goal in mind, do what you need to!

grammar: full disclaimer here in that I love grammar, have loved grammar for the past five years, and I will always advocate for learning grammatical terms, and preparing yourself to actually study how things work in another language. language learning became a lot easier for me when I was able to compartmentalize a language into building blocks. there are so many resources that go into detail, but because they use terminology beyond many people’s school knowledge, they go untouched. it could definitely be worth it to spend time learning what an adjectival phrase, or conjunctivizer-something is [thanks Korean]. you don’t have to start out with an ‘Advanced X Language Grammar’ book, but there are websites that will explain enough that you aren’t wandering in the dark about the difference between des and du and de l’.

vocabulary: another disclaimer here, but I'm not the best with vocabulary. even in my spanish class, my professor commended my use of grammar, but asked whether or not I could switch my vocabulary up, and try something different. I think I’m more interested in how something is said, versus what is actually being said, and that’s a flaw I’m happy with, haha! I know most vocabulary because I would find myself missing a word, and search for it. At the very least, I use what I normally say in my native language, and find those words in other languages, and generally avoid massive vocabulary lists. Memrise and Anki are particularly good for plugging away at new words, and if anything, you can certainly start with the 625 most common words in a language, or 100 most common verbs, etc. Those lists work well for me.

The Middle of Forever

Use it, use it, use it. That’s my best advice [and what I tell my students every week]. Book studying will always pale in comparison to actually using the language, whether you are writing it or speaking it. But, what if you’re doing all of this alone?

Record yourself: My voice memos are still full of my ramblings in Spanish. Until I felt confident with my cadence and speed, I would listen to myself [gives me shivers still]. I don’t have too many people in my day to day life who speak the languages I study now, so talking to myself is most helpful. If you don’t want to record yourself, you can still speak, or think in your target language. I find myself narrating my actions, and sometimes my thoughts will switch over to a target language without me consciously doing so. Get used to existing in that language. Your mind will take over soon enough.

Write: I’ve always been an on and off journaling queen, but journaling in another language is an entirely different experience. I’ve always been dismayed to learn that I can’t really write much of anything, because my thoughts reach past my vocabulary. This exercise forces me to think IN the language I’m learning, and only speak about what I can conjure without using my native language. Sometimes, I do pick up a dictionary and search for words, because I know it’s something I should probably know, but other than that, thinking simply, and not pressuring myself, is the best way to go. There are apps like HiNative and Slowly that allow you to write with others and ask questions, and they can be really helpful. Joining a Discord to practice with like-minded learners was one of the best things I did for my studies last year.

Anything else?: Not really! Language learning seems much more magical from the outside than it really is. There aren’t any secret paths to building your self-discipline, and no potions for waking up fluent in your target language. It’s a lot of work. And, it’s only when you look back that you can actually see how far you have gone. You may not notice your progress every day, but when you re-watch that film after two months and pick up on familiar words, or read that book again and notice complex grammar, you can feel proud of yourself. Don’t give up because you can’t see anything yet; you can’t see the view from the bottom of the hill!

[lonelypond]

Moonlight Becomes You: Apocalypse Midnight Dance Party, Ch. 5

Love Live, Love Live Sunshine, NicoMaki, 3K, 5/?

Touched By The Divine

Yoshiko was on the roof, leaning against the chimney, flicking her fingers to spark. The wind was picking up and teasing the feathers of her wings. Goosebumps on her bare arms, Yoshiko stepped forward, sweeping her arms out in a T, wings unfurled and unhidden, angelic sight seeing multiple futures in the clouds that were piling up, drawn to this moment, gray covering white, wisps of almost black like a fist closing around a treasure. Almost her dream, but aeromancy was never an exact science for Yoshiko. She could gather mood and threat and promise from the weather, but only the most background tones. Dreams and other tools would fill in too few blanks on days like today, days when the wind shrieked omens in a language Yoshiko could not heed…

“Yohane is a mere vessel, humble before the majesty of the heavens and her fate, open to the trumpets of Fate, to summon the wisdom of her prophet.” Yoshiko knelt, head bowed in a suppliant posture, then she pulled out an embroidered black silk bag, opening and tilting it, scattering dice sized from 4 sides to 100, orange fires flickering deep in the blood red resin, and Yoshiko’s eyes closed as if they had slammed into her gut.

“No, not now, there’s too many signs, but Yohane can see it, there, a future disappearing unless…” Yoshiko grabbed a random dice, throwing it, ears pricked for the sound as it rolled across the roof, the skips were the message, not the number, as her eyes followed a blue gray twist of storm threatening as thunder began to cry. Yoshiko opened herself up to the wind, to the darks, to the rising air, to the gravity that pulled her downward from her ancient home, and her mouth wide, the words screamed out, punching through time and space, ruffling angel feathers, bloodying demon horns...Yoshiko was no more, Yohane screamed and swooped, her ears melted back into her skull as protection against the voice of the divine that chose this moment to speak through her, to scar eternity with a warning, to wake the future in the hope of avoiding the woe now shadowing all the souls of Yohane’s earthly domain.

“Mothers Love, and the same…” Yoshiko muttered, and then with another cry rose higher, “Lili, it makes no sense...but you know her, there...and she’s her mother…” Yoshiko’s wings drove her higher, her screams raw and frustrated, “LILI!”

MEANWHILE, IN THE FUTURE THE LIBERALS WANT

It was happening again. The voice, the swoop of wings, the screamed “Lili” shoving through her brain like a flood through a flimsy, windblown leaf dam. Sakurauchi Riko pushed back from the piano she was composing at, on her feet, hands gripping the body of the piano as if she could pick it up and toss it through the window of her Los Angeles studio. Right hand gripping to funnel the pain of the explosion in her head into the wood, her left grabbed a pencil and scribbling quickly the first words and notes that came into her head across the sheet of music paper. She’d learned it was the only way to clear this mood, to let herself see “Yohane” flying up toward Heaven, huge dark wings beating madly, mouth open wide, frenzied, frantic, ears bloody, then watch the angel fall down from the heights, again, crying out words only the sky and Riko could hear…

Riko had no idea how she’d found that bookstore, but she’d been in search of a rare doujinshi and it had suddenly popped up in her search result. The owner, Hanamaru, sounded confused, but shy and sweet, and while the demand that Riko appear at the shop at an incredibly specific time was unusual, Riko had decided to assume whimsy and shown up. And then SHE had swept through, while Hanamaru was serving Riko tea, shadows of magnificent wings hovering behind her, purple eyes weeping spectral fire, muttering, seemingly unaware that anyone might be caught in her wake. And then Hanamaru had spilled some tea on Riko’s hand, coughed, “Guest” and when Riko glanced up, a tall woman with jet black hair in a side bun and guilty, unshining purple eyes, hands shoved in the pocket of her biker jacket, jeans torn, tank top paint spattered was staring at her.

“I didn’t see you.” It was a bleat of confusion, not an apology.

Hanamaru was chiding, “I left you a note. Ms. Sakurauchi is here about that rare manga. She is also a Tokyo native transplanted here to Los Angeles.”

“Well not so much transported as occasionally travelling here for business. I’m a producer. For music.” Riko was as nervous as a first date, except first dates had never involved wanting to scratch off your ears because they were burning. Riko found herself rubbing them with her knuckles. Both Hanamaru and the biker looked concerned. The biker had reached into her pocket for a crystal, which she held out to Riko.

“Have you seen this?” The question was gentle and Riko shook her head, drawn to the color, almost amethyst, that seemed to be sparking with an internal luminescence. It was restful, like watching fireflies at dusk in a hidden field.

When Riko looked up, Hanamaru was alone and the crystal was on the table.

“Do you have lucid dreams?” Hanamaru asked suddenly, her voice sharper.

Was this bookstore a front for something? Riko hadn’t smoked anything since college, but…

“I’m not interested in…I’ll have a beer sometimes but.. .”

Hanamaru was suddenly flustered, “No no no. That’s not what I meant...at all…” Hanamaru poured herself some more tea with shaky hands, Riko suspected it was merely a delaying tactic while the bookstore owner figured out what to say, “Yoshiko…” Hanamaru pointed to a space near Riko, as if the other woman were still standing there, “just thinks you might be sensitive to…” Hanamaru sighed, her voice picking up a rustic accent, “I grew up in a temple, zura, my grandparents were very pious, and I learned, sometimes, there are people who are…” Hanamaru’s amber eyes were innocent and kind, Riko felt an instinctive trust, “open to the divine.”

Riko smiled, relaxing. “I think I know what you mean. When I was a child, we visited the Ōura Church in Nagasaki, and I wouldn’t leave. I told my mother there were angels flying around and I was going to stay until one of them landed and talked to me.”

“You can leave now.” Hanamaru muttered, closing her eyes.

“Huh?” Riko had been about to reach for her tea cup.

Hanamaru shivered, “The gods have strange plans for all of us, zura.” Hanamaru pushed the crystal at Riko. “If you ever...hear or see...things you don’t understand, hold this in your hand, over your heart and wait.”

“What do you mean?” Riko could feel her ease turn into suspicion.

Hanamaru stood, bowing politely, “I have another appointment; I’ll have to ask you to leave. Let me wrap the manga for you.”

Riko stumbled as she rose, trying to follow the store owner, “But we haven’t discussed payment. I’m waiting for a royalty check right now but I can…”

Hanamaru gestured, waving a hand dismissively, “Consider it small compensation for the inconvenience we have caused.”

We? This afternoon was getting crazier and crazier, Riko starting to wonder if there weren’t some kind of questionable incense at work in the air and she’d wake up at home with a bad headache and all of her bank accounts hacked.

The wrapped book was in her hand, Hanamaru had maneuvered her through the door, and the last things Riko heard before the door shut solidly behind her, “Hand over your heart.”

In the five years since, many odd things had happened to Riko, but slowly unravelling the stories of Yoshiko and Hanamaru had been the spine running through them all. Humming the tune that was weaving together all the chords and sharps from her latest vision, Riko reached into her bag for the crystal. She had decided, 5 years ago, that being flicked with the divine, scarred by a burning brush with the celestial aura that still clung to Yohane, had been MEANT. To have seen one of the angels she’d spent her childhood dreaming about, to have literally been brushed by a spark of divine fire...surely that had been fated. She could do without the headaches though and being haunted by visions of Yohane’s ageless eyes swooping nearer, but those visions had lessened when Riko started staring regularly into a different pair of purple eyes, those of her writing partner and lover, Kazuno Sarah. That was a purely mortal thrill, one Riko could melt into in a very delicious, very very of this plane experience that she preferred to repeat as often as possible. Which meant, right now, getting Yohane’s latest prophecy out where Hanamaru could deal with it.

She glanced down at the paper...daughter of the Princess and the Star, someone she knew? Grabbing her bag, she reached for the crystal, focusing on the song that was creating itself in her head. And then suddenly, Yohane’s deepest tones reverberated everywhere, “NOW.”

###

Kurasawa Dia hated flying. It wasn’t so bad when Ruby and Leah were with her, or her mothers, they always needed Dia to help them organize something. How they had ever managed before Dia was old enough to take care of everything they missed, Dia could not figure out. And she’d tried. What were they like before Dia? Had Mama always been so prone to shrug off schedules and conflicts and glare at everyone who wanted NicoTime™️ when they were in Los Angeles. Had her momma always been so prone to pile on 5000 things to do before Dia and Ruby were born? Dia had become firmly convinced at the age of 5 that Ruby would be lost with the luggage on the way to one of Nico’s movie sets if it weren’t for her. So she’d grown up raising Ruby, teaching her, keeping her safe while their parents attracted crowds and coverage EVERY time they spent time in LA. Finally, when Ruby reached school age and was getting more anxious every year, her mothers had decided to move their family to a small, seaside town in Japan, changing their name, and disappearing from public view as much as possible with Nico still shooting films. Dia had approved. Ruby thrived in Numazu.

Ruby had grown up nicely, thanks mostly to Dia’s influence, and surprising everyone, fallen in love with a fellow school Idol and decided to go pro as a singer after high school. She and Kazuno Leah were adorable together, on stage and off, Saint Smile topping the charts a couple of times a year. LA was a second home for them and their songwriting team, Leah’s sister Sarah and her girlfriend, Sakurauchi Riko. Dia was industriously working on her medical degree in Japan, aiming to take over the Nishikino family business from her grandparents. But right now, she was on a vacation to see Ruby and Leah’s new tour kick off in LA. And Ruby was meeting her at the airport.

Out of customs, a tall, dark haired woman caught her eye. A chauffeur’s cap was tilted at a rakish angle over worried, amethyst eyes, and as tall as the woman was, she seemed to curl and uncurl in a series of nervous fidgets that couldn’t help drawing Dia’s attention. The driver was holding a sign with ‘Kurosawa Dia’ scrawled on it. Dia reached into her pocket to check her phone. No message from Ruby...had something happened?

Dia stood as tall as she could after the cramping of a flight from Tokyo and hurried to confront the woman, “Can I help you?”

“Kurosawa Dia, daughter of Nishikino Maki and Yazawa Nico?” A close examination, too close, Dia could have bitten off the tip of the woman’s nose.

Dia started to panic. Had something happened to her mothers? Was that what the growing unease in her stomach, the queasiness was some kind of weird reaction to? Had she flown through a quiet night into a day with dire news. Her voice quivered as she snapped out questions, “I left them in Japan? Did something happen? Are they all right? Is there a tsunami?”

“Oh good, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to find you.” A clawing hand gripped Dia’s arm with a bruising strength and started to drag her away from the crowds.

“Hey, let me go! BZZZT” Dia barked.

Her kidnapper stopped, whirled, not letting go of Dia’s arm, and eyes that Dia would swear had the sudden glint of golden flames captured her complete attention, “Come with me if you want to love.”

Dia dug in her heels, “What the hell?”

The kidnapper started to stutter, as she curled into the tightest ball a person could and still be standing, “I mean...welllll...there’s a chance that…” then, drawing in a huge breath, she uncurled, taller than Dia, strange shadows above her shoulders, eyes aflame, “Yohane commands you to FOLLOW.”

And Dia only heard the echo of “FOLLOW” and the airport rushed by, people falling away and sounding like the Chipmunks arguing over Christmas presents, and dark and fog was falling as the earth rose up with a crack and then everything dropped away and Dia had no mass, as if a feather had touched her and infected her with its airiness, and the queasy feeling in her stomach was worse, nearly bringing up a lunch from two days ago, the disorientation as bad as it had been the time she’d snuck onto a roller coaster she was too small for and once again there was nothing underneath her feet and she was yelling for her mothers and racing upwards….

Heavy, Dia felt heavy again, and aware, she looked up to see a dark silhouette, winged against the sun, blinding her, searing her retinas, and she hadn’t known she was on fire, but now the air was cool and she was still screaming and pain smacked into her back as water opened to claim her. She thrust her arms out, swallowing too much before she could end the scream and now it was a struggle to climb free of so much cold, wet weight pressing in on her and breathe.

THE NOW

Nico rolled to the right and Maki tore through the fabric of the cabana. Someone had fallen in the pool, screaming until the water choked them off, arms thrown out, grasping. Maki hit the water at the same time as Nico, both swimming to the distressed...woman. Not dressed for swimming. Maki tried to pull the woman toward her, Nico was fighting to get an arm around the stranger’s chest, fingers scraping her cheek as the woman struggled, now gasping for breath. A third person entered the pool, with a sharp command, “Keep her head above water. Get her to the side of the pool. She’ll grab onto anything. Watch out.”

“Yeah…” Nico muttered, now backstroking her way to the side of the pool, the woman slipping out of her grasp, Maki trying to hold the struggling swimmer afloat but having to fall back when a kick nearly connected with her eye. You swooped in, her arm overlapping Nico’s, her other hand bracing the torso, and two powerful kicks bringing them all to the side of the pool, while Maki pulled herself out to help the woman, who was shaking her head and coughing, still struggling to clear out water.

“You’re all right, just hang on.” You’s voice was crisp, “We can work our way over to the ladder.”

Maki, kneeling by the side of the pool, reached both arms down, “I can pull her up, if you help support her weight.”

Another coughing fit, and then “Ma..Ma...?” and more coughing as Maki looked increasingly confused.

Nico froze, her hand white where it gripped the pool edge.“You know Maki? Who are you?”

The woman, green eyes wide, turned her head to stare.

“Nico asked you a question. Who are you?” Nico’s voice got shrill, adrenaline and annoyance adding a tremble.

You was unprepared for the taller woman to suddenly become a dead weight, fainting and sliding back into the water, her wet hair clinging to You’s neck. For once, You couldn't manage calm as she readjusted her grip, Nico ducking under to help maneuver their rescue into a manageable position, “What the heck…Kanan, call 911 or something.”

But Kanan was in the water too. Counting the heads in front of her, Maki made a quick decision and ran back to the cabana, where she'd left her phone, "Get her out. I'll call."

Another cough, and the green eyes fluttered opened briefly, the voice wavery and uncertain, "Momma? I'm sorry."

"Did she hit her head?" Nico asked.

"Ambulance is on the way." Maki was back at poolside as You and Kanan hefted the unconscious woman out of the pool.

"Get a blanket or towel or something." Nico ordered, pulling herself up, shivering. "She'll be in shock."

You nodded, impressed at the return of Nico's calm. "Yes. Kanan, can you help?"

Kanan had her phone to her cheek, "Mari's on it."

"Good."

You let Kanan and the others deal with the rescued woman and paced a little to the side, searching the skies. She'd felt Yoshiko's presence, the tingle in the air, the darkening of the sun. What was the connection?

A/N: I gotta be me. Seems to be cliffhanger season. Hang in there...

[hello123deutschus-blog]

Learn German Online In 30 Days

How I Learned German in 30 Days

This post is my summary of an experiment that I started in January 2015: learn German in 30 days.

Before I begin, I feel compelled to list some resignations:

"I learned German" means that I can have basic conversations in German, as well as understand German quite well (both written and spoken). I definitely have not learned to speak German perfectly.

I do not claim originality of everything in this text; I have been very inspired by the writings of other language students, such as Barry Farber and Benny Lewis.

My mother tongue is Norwegian. This gave me an advantage, since it is closely related linguistically to German.

If you want to learn a language as quickly as possible, you must continue reading. In addition to giving some general advice and, hopefully, inspiration, I have created some resources that I will share in this text that will help you learn German quickly.

I spent between 30 and 60 minutes a day in my 30-day period, so the time investment was not huge.

Now, let's start.

Five principles of effective language learning

I had the hypothesis that there are five important principles to learn a language effectively. One of the purposes of my experiment was to test if these were good. The five principles are:

Set a clear goal

Speak from day 1

Focus on frequent words

Immerse yourself

Track

Below I will explain exactly how I used these principles to learn German.

1. Set a clear objective

I followed the Key Objectives and Results (OKR) approach to set a goal. My overall goal was to learn as much German as possible in 30 days. More specifically, I wanted to achieve these key results:

Learn the 1000 most frequent German words

Learn 10 German songs by heart

Being able to have basic conversations with my German friends

1 and 2 are good because they are measurable, but the most important key result for me was number 3, which was a bit vague. To make it more tangible, I booked a ticket to Berlin and decided that I should spend the whole weekend with an old friend (German), who spoke only German.

Also, once I decided that I would go ahead with my plan, I basically announced to the whole world that I was going to learn German in 30 days. The purpose of this was purely psychological, since I would have to stick to the plan so as not to seem like a complete idiot. In fact, during my 30-day period, people asked me "how is the German study going?" To which I could always reply "Sehr gut, danke!"

(I also secretly decided that I would record a video in Berlin speaking in German, which I did on the 29th, but I will save you the discomfort of the video that I finally posted on Facebook).

2. Speak from day 1

I think that one of the biggest mistakes you can make when learning a language is to postpone speech until "you're ready." Learning languages ​​is like going to the gym: if you want to build muscles, anything other than exercising is just postponing.

Specifically, what I did to speak from day one was to find friends who spoke German or wanted to learn German. Then I told them that I would be online for 30 minutes to appear. Every day at 8 p.m. and I gave them my own custom URL. I told them that I would love to practice German with them there. I got 5 people to join in total. None of them were native German speakers, although some already spoke fluently (which I thought was very important!), and some were just beginning like me.

In order to remain in our target language (German) and not return to English or Norwegian, I created a cheat sheet containing essential phrases. This sheet prevented me from being blocked and, in general, was incredibly useful in our online conversations.

Following the analogy of "language is a muscle", I also repeated out loud everything I heard or read in German when I was studying on my own. Compared to just "passively" receiving (listening, reading) German, I think this really makes a difference to strengthen those German synapses in your brain.

3. Focus on frequent words

If you are not familiar with Zipf's law, you will be surprised to know that only the 100 most frequent words represent approximately 50% of all words spoken in German films. Take a moment to reflect on this amazing fact. Basically, this means that any other word you hear in a German movie is a word from that list of the top 100. The obvious conclusion? You need to know those words!

Here I found a list of the most frequent words in German subtitles, and created my own GoogleDocs spreadsheet with the 1000 most frequent words. These words represent ~ 75% of all words in German subtitles. My simple task was to complete the "meaning" column for each word before my 30 days have passed. In other words, I had to learn about 30 words per day. I made intensive use of cognates from English and Norwegian to learn them, and exported the words I had learned to Anki once a week to make sure I didn't forget them.

The frequency list is one of the things I did that worked best. It served as a good anchor on which I could focus my learning.

To test my vocabulary in the real world, I sometimes tried to read German newspapers or books, highlighting words I didn't understand. After reading a page or a paragraph, I would count the words I knew versus those I didn't know, and then calculate the proportion of known words / total words in the text. Towards the end of my study period, I registered about 80–85%, cognates or context that helped me overcome the 75% I obtained from the list of the best 1000.

4. Immerse yourself

I changed my language from Facebook to German. We watched many videos of Yabla.

But what worked best for me was my Spotify playlist with 10 German songs.

Once I learned the lyrics of these songs, I could play them every time and be exposed to German every time I could listen to music. I even recorded myself singing and playing these songs on the guitar. Again, I will save you the shame.

It's hard to choose the lyrics of just listening to the songs, so I would study the lyrics separately before trying to memorize something. I used Lingq, which meant I had the lyrics available on my iPhone, and I could easily track what words were new when studying a new song.

5. Keep a record

The My 1000 main words spreadsheet was excellent for knowing approximately how many words I knew at any given time. Since I had the frequency of each word, I could calculate the total "mass" of German I knew, not just the total number of words, which I found quite motivating.

I also kept a simple journal in Evernote that listed my activities by day. In the end there was only one day when I did nothing at all.

I hardly did any grammar study, which I think was a good decision, since I was only 30 days old and had no ambitions to speak perfectly. However, one thing that I would have liked to do to learn German cases is a set of 4 sentences of the type "Man gave the book to the child", a sentence for each gender + plural. Memorizing these four sentences would probably have been much easier than trying to remember a table of cases.

Summary

Once the experiment was over, I would say that I achieved my goal.

I learned the 1000 most frequent words (and probably some more that I didn't track). That's! Either this gave you some inspiration to start your own 30-day language adventure or you think I'm crazy. In any case, let me know what you think of my experiment!

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[denimini]

Hey! You probably remember when JK called JM "baby" in bv2. I saw a twitter post by a big V/K account with a compilation of BTS calling each other Baby. Namjoon and V saying "JK is a baby", Namjoon calling Tae "Baby", Hobi calling JM "baby", and then JKs "let's go baby". I actually think there is a difference with the older calling the younger baby and the younger calling the older baby. What's your opinion on this? I actually think that KM moment was made insignificant with that post..

Hey, Anon! 

It’s so cute how you say like maybe probably I remember JK calling JM “baby” as if I don’t have this moment tattooed on the back of my eyelids. Seriously, I’d probably be 95 years old and on my death bed and my last breath would go for muttering “Jungkook said ‘Let’s go baby’ to Jimin”. Good one, Anon 

All jokes aside this is a major moment for us KM supporters and a personal top 5. If you ever doubt its significance, just know that when this happened k-ARMYs freaked over it for days. They, the native Korean speakers and SK citizens, couldn’t believe it had really happened. 

No-one, no matter the number of twitter threads or analyses posted, can twist and turn this moment to takes its significance away. 

I’m going to prove it to you right now as precisely as I can without this turning into a 5 pages essay (it will probably turn out 10 pages but oh, well if there’s one moment that deserves it, it’s this iconic one) 

An Important disclaimer: I am not a native Korean speaker nor a citizen of SK. I don’t have the extensive language knowledge that one who is those things would possess. I have, however, done my research and I believe my opinion is well-informed and objective despite the lack of extensive knowledge a native speaker has. (some links to check out at the end). I have a certain level of apprehension answering this ask, but I will try to do it as truthfully as I can and to the best of my knowledge and understanding of the topic. Please, take this with a grain of salt still. I’m open to your corrections. 

There is more than one word in Korean that translates to the English “baby”. There’s   아기 (agi) , 아가 (aga) , 애기 (aegi) . The first one being perhaps the most general of the three, being used both in writing and conversationally but each of them can be used in the meaning of  baby = child, kid with different nuances (which I won’t try to describe in details, note the disclaimer). The words for “baby” are perhaps not really a typical way for adult men in Korea to address each other, however, we have on more than a few occasions heard members of BTS using different words for “baby” to refer to or call another member directly, example NJ to (about) Tae, Hobi to (about) JM, JM to (about) JK etc. 

Note that in all of this cases “baby” is used by the older person for his dongsaeng. You don’t hear Jimin addressing Jin or Yoongi like that for example (for a good reason, I’ll get to in a bit). Because it is done by the older one and because BTS are very close to each other and not really your “average” Korean men, this (”baby”) doesn’t sound so strange or untypical. It’s a way to say “This kid” or “Hey, kid” in a friendly but still close (for males) way. It’s acceptable and not that big of a deal. What Jungkook did though is different for a variety of reasons. 

Let’s start with Kook’s exact words to Jimin: 

가자 (gaja) (let’s go)    애기야 (aegiya) (baby)      가자 (gaja) (let’s go) 

As you can see, he does use the word  애기 (aegi) for  baby, coupled with the ending 야 (ya) which is used informally between friends and people of the same age (or younger), in this case to call to them. 

Now, the next question is what did Kookie meant by calling Jimin 애기야 (aegiya) and is it even a big deal, considering we’ve established BTS have used “baby” before? Obviously, I’m not Jungkook, so I can’t tell what he was thinking but I can assure you that it is, in fact, a big deal. 

The first thing that many salty people and shippers of other ships will try to tell you is that Kook used  애기야  to Jimin as a “child” and that “baby” in Korean doesn’t have the same romantic connotation as in English (aka “babe”). While we can’t speak instead of JK, we can speak of what “baby” can mean in Korea. “Baby” (all words for it, to my knowledge) certainly can be used in the literal sense =a child, a kid, but they also can be used in a romantic context as a term of endearment between romantic interests/couples. “Baby” can be both platonic and romantic in Korean.  

Furthermore, the particular variation of “baby” that Jungkook said 애기야 (aegiya) is in fact famous as exactly that - a sweet, even a bit cheesy and corny endearment between partners. This is absolutely easily proven by watching the Korean film “Lovers in Paris” (2004) where this exact word, actually this exact phrase 가자 애기야 (gaja aegiya) (let’s go baby)  is said by the older male protagonist to his younger girlfriend. 

So you see, 애기야 (aegiya) can certainly be romantic. Even more, because the film was very famous and this particular line became iconic, “aegiya” also became famous for people to call their partners sweetly like that and exactly because of the popularity of the film and line 애기야 (aegiya) holds even more romantic connotation that the other variations of “baby”. Of course 애기야 (aegiya) doesn’t have to be used romantically either but its pretty well-known reference to the film gives it a rather sweet and cute vibe and romantic implications. 

I think I am right when I say that while every word for “baby” might not be the preferred way for Korean adult men to address each other,  they would definitely hesitate to use  애기야 (aegiya) exactly because of its cutesy tone, reference to the film and subsequent popularity as a term of endearment between couples. It’s just not a bro thing and it doesn’t sound very platonic.

Some of you may ask now: “If “Let’s go, baby” is a famous movie line, isn’t it possible JK was just quoting it?” - Yes, it’s possible. It’s a popular movie and an even popular line and Kook has quoted famous drama lines to Jimin before (see their vlive) so it’s not entirely out of the question but there is a difference between their live and this moment. 

The other times when JK used cheesy pick-up quotes to flirt  fluster JM, he did it in a particular way - he had a look, a tone of voice and an entire demeanor set, and he was intently watching for Jimin’s reaction which didn’t disappoint as well. JM was giggling, slapping him, covering his face shyly, overall the behaviour of someone who’s been affected by the flirting teasing. In BV2 we see none of those things. 

Firstly, JK doesn’t simply throw the phrase as a joke (though I’d like to emphasize this is not the typical joke a “bro” would probably use anyway), he means it literally. He literally is telling JM to move his cute ass and get going. It is also delivered especially casually, like any other way to say “let’s go” would be but this isn’t any other way as we’ve established. JK doesn’t even look at how JM will act so most likely he’s not just “joking”, “teasing” for no other purpose than entertainment. 

Even more telling is Jimin’s reaction or more accurately - his complete lack of one. Except that he starts to walk, there is nothing to indicate he was taken aback or fazed by the phrase or the word 애기야 (aegiya) (baby). Tae doesn’t seem very surprised either. All in all, it’s business as usual for all of them. Probably exactly because this isn’t that unusual of a situation. 

Whatever meaning the entire thing or just “baby” might have, from the looks of everything this isn’t the first time Jimin hears it. Even if Jungkook’s just quoting the movie, this apparently isn’t the first time he’s done it and that’s saying a lot for their dynamics. 

Leaving aside the meaning behind “baby” for a second, there is another, more telling and interesting detail about this moment that cannot be overstated enough. As you all know in SK age is a big thing, there is a social and age hierarchy in place and certain ways younger people are to address their elders (and vice versa). It is highly unusual for a younger person in Korea to call an older male   애기야 (aegiya) in whatever meaning one can use this word. It is a breach of hierarchy and sign of very high closeness for this to even happen: the dongsaeng to call his hyung “baby” and on top of that so informally, coupled with “ya”. 

This isn’t something you just go around and do as it can be insulting to the older person and can come out very rude. It’s not just a thing you simply say, you must be allowed or you must be very close to that person to be sure that you will get away with it. It’s a big big thing for the younger to be able to use such level of casualness and informality with the hyung. It speaks volumes for the depth of the relationship. So much so that in fact even when 애기야 (aegiya) is used as a term of endearment between couples, it is still mainly used by the older person regarding their younger partner. Completely opposite of what is happening here.  

So, you see now what I meant earlier when I said that no-one (except perhaps Kook himself) can take the significance away from this moment. Jungkook could have meant with that sentence that he was calling JM “a kid”, or used “baby” as a term of endearment (aka “babe”), or quoted a movie line as a joke or using that famous phrase to tell Jimin to move but in the end that “Let’s go, baby” stays pretty f*cking iconic. Younger males don’t go around calling their hyungs “kid” informally, they don’t usually joke by referring to each other as “babe” either, even by quoting movie lines; even in a relationship the younger one would typically be the one called “baby/babe” and not the other way around. 

Think of it this way: you know how we KM supporters always freak out about JK dropping the “hyung” and calling Jimin “Jimin-ah” or “Jiminie” or “Chimchim”. This is the same, only at least a 100 times bigger ! (100 may be a small number) 

No matter which way you turn or twist this the conclusion is always the same - 

Jungkook and Jimin must be very very close for this to happen

(probably the closest within the group or at least JM is the one JK is closest to as he doesn’t act this way with anyone else)

After we’ve talked about what JK said, what he possibly could have meant by saying it and what significane it may holds, there is one last question left: Why did Kook say it in the first place? Why choose these words when there are so many other ways to tell Jimin to move? Why is he using precisely this telling and controversial wording? 

The very easy answer is: it slipped his tongue. But if it really was an accident, not intentional, then the question arises of how often Jungkook says this (or similar things) for “baby” to so easily come out of his mouth. What is the reason he talks to JM like this in the first place (be it intentionally or by accident)? My assumption is this: 

Because he can and he likes doing it. 

Kook has shown a number of times that he feels and wants to be seen as an equal to Jimin. He doesn’t mind being the baby of Bangtan but when it’s Jimin calling him like that, JK immediately goes “I’ve been an adult”, “I’m an adult”, “Little kid Jungkook is not here anymore”. For whatever reason he wants people and JM to see him as someone of an equal footing and Jimin lets him. In other words, Jimin has allowed Kook to feel and act as if they’re on the same age and social level and Jungkook likes to flaunt this privilege. This again leads to our earlier conclusion: they are pretty damn close. 

Take-away messages: 

“baby” can be platonic or romantic 

it is not a common word of address between adult males

애기야 (aegiya) is even less common 

“Let’s go baby” is a very famous movie line 

younger people don’t call their elders “aegiya”

the exception to that rule speaks of a very close relationship

JK speaks informally to Jimin the most 

such breach of hierachy Kook has never done with anyone else

Jungkook and Jimin are very close 

Check these awesome posts by a trustworthy, native Korean speaker: here and here . You can also find some information on the way “baby” is used in SK here

P.S. Do correct me if I’m wrong somewhere. As I said, I am not Korean and I may have made some mistakes. 

[marias-studyblr]

hi maria! so, i've been studying english for years now but it's been a while since i stopped speaking bc i have no one to talk to. the thing is that i'm going to be traveling soon and since i'll have to do all the talking i'm afraid i might forget certain words or not fully understand what they're saying, besides not pronouncing things correctly. so, do u have any tips for practicing when you are already at an advanced level? i feel like anything could help a lot rn :') ♡

hello! 🌱

I encourage you to watch english movies/ tv shows with a more complicated language (compared to the mainstream rom-coms, action films) with english subtitles on. Such as The Hobbit, Mad Man, Fringe, Sherlock, House of Cards, Downton Abbey, Silicon Valley, The Theory of Everything, etc. if you don’t know a word, you can stop the movie and look it up. it’s a great technique. 

you can also watch Ted Talks which are normally in english and always have english subs.

this is what has really exposed me to new english expressions and vocabulary that I can later replicate/recognize in day to day life!

 🐤 but listen to this: i am 100% sure you will do really great.

most natives when talking use the most common expressions of the advanced english level and no one will judge you if you mispronounce something because… you’re not a native!! it’s OKAY.

just the fact you learned english and know how to speak something other than your own language is a-ma-zing. 

so reassure yourself by watching more english spoken videos, that’s my tip. as well as not stressing too much about it. Travelling abroad is an amazing experience to cherish and treasure so ENJOY your time!! have fun interacting/talking with the people there because don’t forget: it’s part of the fun not understanding certain words / expressions, being kind of lost, asking for help, and learning new things.

you don’t have to know everything and especially don’t have to dominate a foreign language completely. so have fun!! you’ll be fine 🌹💛

hope this helps even a little, have a great day/night! :))

PS: someone in the comments added something that completely slipped my mind but is REALLY useful and that I also do: podcasts. “Try listening to some podcasts (preferably by native speakers) while you’re doing chores just to get used to the sound of the language.”

the only downfall is that it doesn’t have subtitles. but it’s so fun.

there are a ton of podcasts free on youtube out there and I bet you can find something for you. I recommend The Ricky Gervais Show. every single episode also has animations added to the podcast (the animations make everything 10x funnier) so it’s not really a podcast… but it’s the BEST thing ever. and they use a ton of new expressions I’ve never heard before.

i also listen to interviews like Impact Theory and Health Theory by Tom Bilyeu, any life lessions by Oprah like this Stanford interview or this speech when I’m making my bed, cooking, printing stuff, commuting, etc. ✨🐤

//thanks to @abundanceofwow 😊

[theburningbright]

XAVIER DOLAN By Jessica Chastain (interview magazine)

When Xavier Dolan presented his first directorial effort, I Killed My Mother—an autobiographical psychodrama about an unruly teenager and his teetering, at-wit’s-end mother—at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009, he had just turned 20. The film received an eight-minute standing ovation, and the labels subsequently affixed to the now 25-year-old Québécois writer, filmmaker, and actor-wunderkind, enfant terrible—certainly spoke to Dolan’s precocious emerging voice. But in the past five years (and with four more feature films), he’s put together a body of work and a distinct point of view that might just make him contemporary cinema’s next great hope.

The stories he’s told—a pair of best friends falling in love with the same man (Heartbeats, 2010); a transgender woman and her partner coming to terms with her choice to transition (Laurence Anyways, 2012); a twentysomething menaced by the brother of his dead boyfriend (Tom at the Farm, 2013); and his latest film, Mommy, a scrappy widow and her troubled son fighting against the world for self-preservation—examine the intimate experiences of characters typically beyond the range of quote-unquote normalcy, moving toward emotional or revelatory catharsis.

Last year at Cannes, Dolan’s film won the Jury Prize (an honor he shared with Jean-Luc Godard), but it wasn’t just the jury who was impressed. Jessica Chastain, who saw the film at the festival, reached out to Dolan via Twitter, and not only have they embarked on a friendship, Chastain will star in Dolan’s first English-language feature, the upcoming showbiz drama The Death and Life of John F. Donovan.

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In late November, while she was on a brief break from promoting her film Interstellar, Chastain phoned Dolan at his home in Montreal to talk about growing up among women, the intoxicating power of James Cameron, and Mommy, Canada’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

JESSICA CHASTAIN: Hi, sweetheart! This is the first time I’ve ever been on this side of an interview. The first time we properly met was in New York, but I saw Mommy at the Cannes Film Festival this year and I was so blown away. I tweeted, not even really expecting anything, how much I loved the film, and then you and I had a very funny exchange.

XAVIER DOLAN: Should we have a recollection of that?

CHASTAIN: I think people should know how charming you are. I think we should tell them, first of all, that you’re my beard. Is that correct?

DOLAN: [laughs] There’s an awards season coming, and if I’m a part of it, I’m going to need a beard!

CHASTAIN: If you ask me, I am there for you, babe, 100 percent, but you have to take me to dinner first. Do you remember the video you sent me?

DOLAN: Celine Dion—is that it? I first sent you “Take You” by Justin Bieber, and then I deleted it because I was ashamed. How provincial of me, to send you our national treasure. Justin Bieber, Celine Dion—generations of Canadian national gems.

CHASTAIN: You wooed me with Justin Bieber, and so now I am forever your beard, my friend. [laughs] Okay. So where were you born?

DOLAN: I was born in Montreal at the Children’s Hospital. It sounds very cute, but that’s the actual name.

CHASTAIN: Did you grow up in an artist household?

DOLAN: My dad sort of did everything. He’s a musician, a composer, an actor—he’s an artist in all possible ways. He drew and painted—he still does. But even though he was composing his music, they were pop songs, like “Take You.” [both laugh] Not the same budget, though. My parents divorced when I was very young. My mother moved to a faraway land—suburban Montreal. I was brought up in a mainstream environment, culturally speaking. I watched all the kids films—Matilda [1996], Jumanji [1995], Home Alone[1990].

CHASTAIN: What brought you to acting?

DOLAN: My aunt Julie was a production manager and she heard of an opening. Some show was looking for children to run around the house or whatever. I auditioned and got the part, and I showed up in all of my monstrous energy, bouncing everywhere like an electron. I loved the experience, and I think it was important to my mom because she watches every show on TV, like 20 of them, and records with her VHS—yes, that’s correct, VHS. Anyway, sorry, I got lost on my mom again. I digress on my mom. Then I just started auditioning for commercials and shows and films. I got a part in a package of commercials for this big drugstore, from the age of 6 to 10. For four years I shot those commercials and old ladies would stop me on the street and grab my cheeks. That’s how it started.

CHASTAIN: So you digress to your mother. [laughs] It’s interesting going through your films—I want to know how much of it is autobiographical. You were just talking about your mother recording television shows. In your films, the television is an obstacle for bonding between a parent and a child. Is that something you directly took from your life?

DOLAN: In what movies have you noticed that?

CHASTAIN: Laurence Anyways and I Killed My Mother.

DOLAN: You’ve seen I Killed My Mother?

CHASTAIN: Of course, honey! I do my research.

DOLAN: [laughs] Well, I’m very flattered that you would research. When, at night? [laughs] How very extrastellar of you to watch these. Well, you’re right. I Killed My Mother is autobiographical. I would say the percentage of accuracy is 250 percent. I’m kidding—it’s, like, 240. The other films aren’t really. I’m very far from Laurence Anyways. I haven’t experienced heterosexual love and then a gender switch. I haven’t been held hostage like Tom is in Tom at the Farm. I haven’t lived any of these things, but every character is very personal because there’s a lot of me in their anger, their loneliness, and in their rage against society, against people who ostracize people who are different. Even the characters that seem so far away intellectually or socially, for me, when they speak, it will always be my words. There’s a lot of my mom in these characters because you write characters with the things that you’ve watched. As an actor, I’ve been recording forever. I’m a watcher. I’m a stalker. I love everything about people: the way they walk, the way they talk, the way they cry, the way their mouth is distorted whenever they do this or say that. It’s always been a passion for me to observe.

I’ve been recording forever. I’m a watcher. I’m a stalker. I love everything about people . . . It’s always been a passion for me to observe. Xavier Dolan

CHASTAIN: You started acting when you were 4. What brought you to writing and directing?

DOLAN: I always wrote. I’ve written stories since I was 9. We didn’t have a computer at home, but my aunt Magda had one. Whenever I’d go to her place, I was in the basement working on her computer, writing stories. Then I would save them on a … Fuck, what would you call these? They’re so gone right now.

CHASTAIN: Floppy disks?

DOLAN: Exactly! Yes. [both laugh] Floppy disk. I love you for bringing the words to my illiterate mouth.

CHASTAIN: Stop it! You have to remind everyone that this is not your native tongue.

DOLAN: My first language is French. I just love words so much, and in French it feels like I can say whatever I want however I want. In English I feel like I’ve got some words … [laughs] It often feels like I’m lacking the precise term, and it’s really annoying to me. So I would save these stories on a floppy disk until the next time I would go to my aunt’s, when I could continue to write the story of guardian angels sent to Earth to protect the mere mortals.

CHASTAIN: Oh my gosh.

DOLAN: That was the sort of stories that I would write, called The Indispensables or whatever else. There was one called Pink Wings. It was very, very gay. There were always angels.

CHASTAIN: How old were you when you wrote this? You’re saying it was pretty gay—at that time, did you actually know that you were?

DOLAN: I think I always knew. But, then, I didn’t know. I had girlfriends when I was young. [laughs] I was a crazy child. It was such a special childhood. When I was 8, I saw Titanic [1997] with my mom—I rarely went to the movies with my mom—and then we saw Finding Nemo [2003]. One day she brought me to see As Good as It Gets [1997], and I was pretending I was going to the bathroom when I was actually watching Titanic again in another room. When we saw the movie, it transformed my childhood into something else. I was a dreamy kid, and I was dressing up and pretending to be characters, and I was acting out and everything, but when I saw the movie, it made me crazy. I started designing costumes, drawing something like 2,000 outfits. All of that stemmed from seeing the costumes and all the production design and how big it was. It was so vast. It had such a huge impact on my childhood, telling me that it was legitimate to dream that big. The other kids were playing hockey, and I was drawing these clothes and writing letters to Danny DeVito and Leo DiCaprio. “Dear Leonardo. I’m 8 years old. I go to school. I love school.” The letters started like that. Anyway, he never answered, and now it’s too late.

CHASTAIN: Aw.

DOLAN: There will be hell to pay. [Chastain laughs] I didn’t know I was gay, but I knew I was quite different—and not in a special way. My obsession with DiCaprio and [Kate] Winslet and the costumes and everything was so disproportionate. It scared everybody. Actually, I think everybody knew but me. I knew for sure when I was 11 or 12. I came out to my cousin when I was 13. I said something so stupid. If a kid said a line like that in a TV show, the screenwriter would be fired and killed immediately. I told her, “I love women in my heart but not in my undies.” Something like that.

CHASTAIN: No, you did not! [laughs]

DOLAN: She reminds me of that often. It was horrible.

CHASTAIN: Do you feel that with your writing and directing and acting you can delve into what it was like to be that 8-year-old kid watching Titanic and trying to figure out their sexuality? Is it a way for you to explore that within yourself?

DOLAN: I think it’s a way to channel rage. I was a very violent kid. I think movies and writing and art have been a way of channeling this. But I have this will to defend people—it can be all sorts of people. In Laurence Anyways it was a transgender woman; in I Killed My Mother it was an adolescent who was rejecting his mother because he is going through his coming-of-age crisis; in Mommy it’s a more existential thing. These characters are expressive and they’re flamboyant, but they have nothing to do with the other characters from the other movies—it’s always about the things that marked me when I was young. Batman Returns [1992], Titanic, those are the movies that have printed something very deeply into me. I recently realized that most filmmakers start making movies when they’re 30. So they’re looking to the films that they saw when they were 17, 18, 25. Most of them have an education, and if they don’t, they spend years watching films. The only years I’ve spent watching movies were the years when I was a kid, and my father brought me to Jumanji. He didn’t tell me, “Kid, I’m going to show you Bergman and Eisenstein and Citizen Kane.” No.

CHASTAIN: Mommy was in the main competition at Cannes, and it won the Jury Prize. This is your fifth feature film that you’ve made, correct?

DOLAN: Yeah.

CHASTAIN: How old were you when it won the Jury Prize?

DOLAN: I was 25, the age I am right now. And by the time this interview is published, I will still be 25. I will be 25 forever.

CHASTAIN: First of all, congratulations, because Mommy has been selected as Canada’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards, which is huge, hello. The film hinges on this imaginary Canadian law that allows parents to give their children up to the state without involving the courts or a fee. What brought this to your mind?

DOLAN: That law is something I read about that had been voted on in Nebraska in the early 2000s. It’s been abrogated, but it was a Safe Haven law that applied to older children. It was used by parents who were barely scraping by, but were also endangered by their behaviorally disordered children. I read about that through a mother’s story, a mother who had abandoned her child in one of those hospitals. She was completely helpless. Her son was younger than the one in Mommy. She had another son, I think, and her son would be very violent, physically and verbally abusive, to her other son and to her. He was a good-hearted kid, of course, and he was mentally ill, and there was no health care whatsoever. She’s completely at the end of her rope, and she sees a future where one day she won’t be able to stop her kid from killing himself or killing someone, so she brings him to this place. I was really moved by the story and thought, “Well, that’s one for a movie eventually.” Then one day I shot with Antoine-Olivier Pilon, who is the lead in the film, in the music video for “College Boy” by this French band, Indochine. I had a major artistic crush on him.

CHASTAIN: He’s also in Laurence Anyways, right?

I was a very violent kid. I think movies and writing and art have been a way of channeling this. Xavier Dolan

DOLAN: He appears briefly in Laurence Anyways. He was already strikingly charismatic and impressed everybody. He really impressed me. I saw him and I was like, “This is the kid from this movie I’ve been planning on doing.” He was one of the elements that impelled me toward writing Mommy. Him, and hearing Ludovico Einaudi’s song “Experience”—he’s an Italian composer; that is the piece you hear in the movie when Diane, the mother, dreams of the future. When I first heard it through a friend at a random party, I was like, “Oh my God. This is a song for a mother who sees the future that she will never have, who dreams the life that she will never have.” I wrote that scene not knowing it would be in Mommy.

CHASTAIN: Anne [Dorval]’s performance is so incredible. Everyone’s performance in the film—Suzanne Clément … In all of your films, the female characters are so inspiring to watch. They’re not stereotypes of an idea. You allow the women in your films to have flaws and strengths. Speaking as an actress, I can tell you it’s very rare to get scripts like that. When you won the prize in Cannes—and the president was Jane Campion—you said, “The Piano [1993] was the first film that I watched that defined who I am … [It] made me want to write films for women, beautiful women with soul and will and strength.”

DOLAN: I was brought up with my grandmother, with my great aunt, with my mom, with my babysitters. All the ladies, “All the single ladies.” [both laugh] It’s who I am. They are the people I want to talk about, they’re the people I want to protect, they’re the people I want to put in my movies and see fail or win. As a writer, as a human being, and as a young man, it’s easier for me to express my anger, to ask questions, to seek answers, to talk, to cry as a woman in a movie. I connect with those figures more than I connect with men. Men are born privileged in the scale of things—I’m generalizing, but it’s true. Women have to define themselves in the eyes of men. They have to fight for their rights, especially in a society that will pretend that there is no fight or no battle, that it’s a cliché, that feminists are reactionary, all these things. As a young man who struggled to find his identity and to find his place, I relate to that quest for belonging in society. With mothers, especially, with their flaws, the way they have made huge sacrifices in order to be good moms or just moms. They probably sacrificed a part of their career, they sacrificed some desires, some dreams. I cannot relate, but I love to talk about it.

CHASTAIN: Where have you been all my life?

DOLAN: Well, I’m here now.

CHASTAIN: Thank God!

DOLAN: And I’m not going anywhere.

CHASTAIN: In I Killed My Mother, your character leaves a note that says that he can be found “in his kingdom.” I’m wondering where your kingdom is.

DOLAN: I hope you’re not disappointed by the answer. Geographically, I can’t name a place, so I will talk artistically and emotionally. My kingdom is on a set. It’s the only place on Earth where I feel I’m not waiting for something. Except when I’m waiting for the touch-ups, the fucking touch-ups.

[janiedean]

Anyone who think Kit is a good actor is an idiot. And there's so many of them. That's why the world is getting worse and will be dominated by robots 🤖

oddmy dearest @the-bitter-gremlin hopefully you’ll get the tag because I really wanna make sure you see this reply :’DDDDDD

now, point the first: thanks for calling me an idiot! :D I mean, okay, not that grades mean anything of course but given that I went as far as graduating HS in the top five of my class, that I have two degrees one of which with the highest possible vote in a field that’s technically not too easy and that it’s even certified that I speak at least one language at native-tongue level and I can get by in two others other than mine I think my brain is fine enough, thank you.

I also watched more movies than the average person (no, I did, really, I considered studying cinema instead of going to proper uni for real), my top ten favorite movies is all stuff made before the nineties except for one and all my favorite actors are Certified Good Actors Like For Real and I got called a snob for my movie/actor taste more times than I can count. the only reason I’m doing this long-ass preamble is to inform you that if someone can’t act, I can recognize it and I have absolutely no problem admitting it even if it’s someone I like as a person or whose work I enjoy. for one, I can 100% admit that my favorite italian actor when he was nine back then was pretty atrocious (he got better admittedly but I haven’t followed him in a while, so who cares), and I still enjoyed his movies anyway even if he was terrible and I even knew it, but hey, he was hot, so who cares, right? and I enjoyed a fair amount of horribly acted italian fiction because it was fun, so really, I don’t have anything to lose here.

this was all a long preamble to tell you that yes, my favorite actor is marlon brando not the first idiot passing off the street, and yes, kit is actually good at what he does and no, people are not idiots for thinking that.

now, never mind that idek if you saw him in anything that’s not GOT, but the only movie of his I’ve seen where he was really meh was the spy movie and that was because the entire plot sucked ass and the character was terrible but everything was terrible. for the rest, he certainly pulled a better american accent than half of the british actors I’ve heard (it was brimstone by the way, excellent movie, watch it), he can do comedy (watch seven days in hell :D) and ah, yeah, he’s just making a movie/finishing a movie with xavier dolan who’s like… not someone known for picking bad actors. also, uuuh, he went to school for that actually, but not just anywhere -

ah, wow, HE WENT TO THE SAME SCHOOL WHERE LAURENCE OLIVIER, VANESSA REDGRAVE AND JUDI DENCH WENT but okay, sure, they’d totally take someone talentless according to them? and actually:

In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise the majority of Central’s submission was judged “world leading” or “internationally excellent”. The school has been ranked highly by The Guardian, placing it sixth in its league table of specialist institutions[9]and ninth for Drama and Dance.

LOOK AT THAT, TOP-NOTCH SCHOOL.

now, what is that british acting schools prepare people for? theater.

which means that he’s a theater actor first and foremost, which shows in his damned acting because if you notice he does half of it with his voice, but I guess you were too busy thinking he’s too good-looking to act, right?

except that not counting theater stuff, GOT was the first job he had *and* his first job on tv, which means that of course he wasn’t as good as the others in the beginning, because a) acting for the theater and for tv aren’t the same, b) it was his first job and not everyone is named leonardo dicaprio and can act their way out of a what’s eating gilbert grape at seventeen.

thing is: while at least one of his co-stars hasn’t improved in the role they have (imo but it’s also the writing) and most of the others GOT actors are either seasoned professionals or had acted for the camera before and had less issues adapting to it, he actually got better, and he actually acted a lot better when he was feeding off other people. case in turn:

that’s jon and jaime in s1. admittedly, not kit’s best effort unless you interpret it as jon being so lovestruck by jaime being around him that he’s like 404 page not found, and he had one scene with NCW from then until S7, and they didn’t even interact. NCW is miles better than he is here, obviously, but like, NCW has been in the job since the early 90s and I assure you his first danish movie isn’t his best acting effort either even if it’s not bad. BUT, let’s go to another S1 scene:

jon and sam discuss sex, yey! here he’s with a guy - john bradely - who’s probably (at this point) better than him at reciting on screen, but with whom he’s had a lot more scenes and that is playing his best friend and with whom he presumably hung out a lot and with whom he’s had a lot of time to work with. and even if it’s still S1, if you look at it it’s miles better - he does a lot more of microexpressions, he never looks at the camera (first sign of bad acting btw, he didn’t do it in the previous scene either but there he looked starstruck all the time, here he doesn’t) and like, you can already see that there’s a vast difference in between the two. and it’s the same season, five episodes apart - supposedly they also filmed it later and he’s already more at ease with it. 

now, small pause to remind you that at this point jon doesn’t have too much extra baggage BUT that kit actually read the damned book and you can see it because he makes very precise choices ie in the book after jon burns his hand he flexes the fingers of the hurt one every time he’s nervous or he’s about to lie or something, and he does the exact same thing (link here btw), and fyi, with the exception of partially alfie and gwen, no one in the cast actually went as far as that so HAHAHAHAHA WOW SUCH BAD ACTING, INNIT? anyway, that was season one. I’ll spare you and myself S2/¾ also because if I link you the jon/ygritte scenes I’ll shoot myself in the head. instead, let’s go to season five and 5x02, as in the season where I literally would have quit the fucking show if it wasn’t for jon’s storyline.

if you look at this, he doesn’t even say a fucking word until the ending, and you can see exactly what he’s thinking just looking at his damned face, because if you pay even the slightest bit of attention you notice that he changes expression minutely with every damned word sam and thorne say, you can see his eye movements, then he goes from complete sour to sad to angry to surprised to delighted to worried to happy again in the span of four minutes without even talking once and it’s miles better than anything he did in S1. 

or you could also rewatch the scene where he punches ramsay in S6 where he does a lot of microexpressions that speak for him without even talking, again, in an episode where he did all the stunts on his own same as the rest of the show, and that’s really not little given all the work it goes into being, uh, the main character, who also happens to have to be a seasoned fighter and use swords and so on. (I can’t link but I think I exhausted my limit for linking videos on tumblr so whatever *SHRUG*)

guess what: HE IMPROVED. GREATLY. IT SHOWS. learn to watch the damned thing, it doesn’t take going beyond GOT to realize it. and now, two last things I have to say to you before I finish this because I honestly wasted too much time on you already.

one: he might not be the best actor around - fair enough -, but kit’s definitely good imo. not passable, not decent, not average - he’s good. and he’s learning and he’s improved tremendously in the last eight years and it shows, and he put enough effort into this role to a) read the canon, b) incorporate the canon into it, c) actually changing scenes so that they fit canon more, d) do all his own stunts, e) carry 60% of this whole damned liver-destroying show on his shoulders since at least S5 in which his sl was the only saving grace of the entire thing and he executed it perfectly, so kindly fuck off and don’t go to people calling them idiots because they think an actor is good.

(ps: I

two: going into people’s askboxes and calling them idiots because they enjoy something and insulting what they enjoy is a) rude, b) uncalled for, c) an asshole move.

next time let me/us/whoever enjoy this guys’ acting in peace and keep your fucking opinion to yourself, because honest, if I could spend twenty years out of almost thirty of my life keeping my mouth shout about how much I hate HP to a) my rl friends, b) my internet friends and I could keep myself from informing them that I think it’s really bad under their posts or in their inbox or to their face because I’d be an asshole if I decided to shit on what they like, then you can pay me the same favor (or about anyone else) and not go around dissing stuff people like to their faces when they said openly they like them.

sayonara and call me when you get an emmy nomination :’)

[ninetyonekz]

Interview from guys to the the-steppe.com portal. 23/08/2017

August 24, to the big screen will be presented a film by Askar Uzabayev, in which the events of the formation of the famous Kazakhstani group are recreated: strong pressure, threats from envious persons and opponents and, of course, the path to fame. About how the film was filmed, is it hard to play yourself and why fans should see the movie Ninety one, the musicians told in an exclusive interview to Aray Amankulova.

- I remember the moment when the press reported that Ninety One will be shooting a full-length movie very well. Then it seemed to me that the audience was divided into three or even more camps. Someone was intrigued, some thought it was not serious, but there were those who vehemently poisoned your team. But despite the different opinions and comments, the cinema was shot, edited, and the outdoor advertising around Kazakhstan is full of your posters,  tomorrow there will be a big premiere. What was your first reaction when you were announced shooting a movie?

ALEM: My first reaction was  a surprise. I was shocked. Of course, being a child I dreamed of doing a movie, to develop like an actor. But in reality, it  scared me a little.

AZ: As an Eminem fan, I sometimes fantasized that it would be cool if NINETY ONE would shoot a movie like "8 Mile", but when we were told about the shooting, I thought that it was too early for us to film our musical story, that we have not reached the required level yet. Although, perhaps, these doubts were caused by the fact that we are not an actors. ZAQ: I was against it, not only that I did not see in myself acting abilities, I also do not really like the camera. It is even hard to me to make a selfie. I'm camerophobic, it's difficult for me to act in clips, I break myself, try to close or not to notice that they are shooting me.

ACE: I was certainly surprised, and for a second it even seemed to me that we were being pranked, especially after those events when our concerts were cancelled and various comments were sent to us. BALA: And I thought about is there anything we could film a movie on? Then we conferred with the guys and with Yerbolat-aga (the aga means older brother, it’s also often used to the older male person you have close relationship with but he is not a family member. Also, if someone doesn’t know Yerbolat is producer of the band.) and realized that we have something to tell and share. Well, I also thought about the acting courses (smiles).

- Filming in clips and in TV shows definitely give good experience on the camera and relieve the fear of the public, but the big movie is a completely different story. Tell us how you prepared for the shooting and where there any difficulties ? BALA: We, in the period of preparation for the shooting, have passed a small course of acting skills from the remarkable actress of the Lermontov Theater Olga Landina. AZ: Yes, her classes have always been very fun. And despite the fact that the lessons were in Russian, and I do not have a good knowledge of the language, I was comfortable, I did not feel constrained, I gave my best in the program and completed every  task. It was a great experience.

ZAQ: And I did not expect that the lessons of acting can be so interesting. Every time I was on the scene, I discovered something new in myself. To be honest, I could not overcome the fear of the camera, although I feel much more confident today.

ALEM: Because of the tight deadlines, Olga taught us on an unusual system. We went from the most difficult to the simplest. In general, everything was upside down (laughs), and it was then that I realized that sometimes playing something simple is the most difficult task. I mean, Olga says: enter to the room and say hello to the guys, I go in, follow her directions and it's somehow not natural, although you understand that you just have to say hello, but in fact, it sounded artificial.

Ace: I think a lot of worries caused that. Inside ourselves, we were very worried about the upcoming shootings. The fact that we will work with a team of professionals who have shot a lot of films, and because we are not actors, we could fail the film crew, ant expectations of our producers and our fans.

- But as far as I know, this was also an interesting experience for Askar Uzabayev, when all the main characters on the scene are non-professional actors. To avoid a conflict , he invited actors to supporting roles without much experience too. Those who watched the first version of the edit noted that this director's decision gave his zest and made the picture live and honest. You believe to the movie! And what was your aftertaste when you first watched the movie?

ALEM: Honestly, when we went into the hall for the preview, we expected that this movie will stop us from wanting to communicate with the cinema for ever. We all objectively understood that we are not actors. However, when we looked at the first version of the edit, we were in shock. We a hundred times, probably, thanked the director and producers for the fact that they still decided to shoot this film. AZ: When I watched "NINETY ONE", I had a shivers through my body, because we played ourselves in the past, so many things changed, people, events, and, most importantly, our world perception, we were completely different. Indescribable feelings.

ZAQ: I'm self-critical: I saw all the shortcomings of my acting, all my mistakes. I noticed where I could act better, but I did not. I saw where I had not act enough, I did not say enough. It's great that the film inspired us so much that after watching, we immediately went to the studio and recorded the soundtrack (song is called Mooz). We have not had such a thing yet.

- And what do you think, what will be the reaction to the movie from your parents and friends?

BALA: Honestly, I do not know. Many moments of my life I have not told to my mother, I did not want her to worry. She is very sentimental, I'm sure she will cry. And my father will be proud, because it was he who taught me love to the art. ALEM: I know that my parents will be happy for me. They are aware of all the events in my life. First of all, they will be happy that their child has achieved something, and he is on the big screen.

ACE: My family will be impressed, I'm sure of that. They will learn that I have not  told them everything. The main thing, I hope they will not cry. Otherwise,  it is good to buy a lot of napkins. (puzzled) AZ: Mom will definitely cry, and Dad will mentally ask me a question: "Son, have you really gone through all of this?

When I arrived to Almaty, I had no money, no relatives, no friends. There were moments when I stayed on the street, not finding where to sleep, I had to sleep in round-the-clock diners, right behind the table.

My mother is one of those women who feel their children. When I was ill, she always called and asked where I was, do I have money, do I need help. But I always said that I'm all right. Thanked for attention and again fell asleep where could.

ZAQ: When my family will see this film, they will be shocked, because I haven’t told them the whole truth - about the complexity, about my experiences. In any case, the film does not reflect 100% of the whole truth, the film has moments that are smoothed.

- The shooting of the film "NINETY ONE" consisted of 91 scenes and lasted 3 weeks. 21 shooting days without breaks and weekends. After such intense days, was it hard to return to your usual life?

ALEM: Right after the shooting of the film, we were loaded with studio work. Wrote songs, made clips. Then we began to prepare for the concert tour. After, to the shootings in the series, but still, the time that we spent during the shootings of a full-length film is a kind of little life that you will always keep in your memory.

Initially, we were told that it was difficult to act in films because everyone will argue around, and the director will shout at everyone. However, our experience was completely different. The director was very kind and delicate. He often joked, pranked us, told interesting stories, so when the shooting was over, it was even a bit sad. We have become friends with the crew so much that now we embrace each other as if we were relatives. AZ: Cool, when you are surrounded by creative people. Artists, director, cameramen, administrators, writers ... Even though, I am closed person, however the film crew became to me such native, that now I  miss them very much.

- After you made your debut in the cinema, did you change your attitude towards it? ACE: Of course, I have changed the attitude towards cinema in general. Now I look at films differently: from what angle are they filmed, what plan is chosen, how actors pronounce dialogues, how much they are believable. ZAQ: I used to enjoy the movie, but now I'm constantly looking at it. Recently I watched horrors, they did not frighten me. I looked and started imagine how the cameraman comes with the camera to film the actor in makeup (laughs).

BALA: It seems to me that every person who has been on the set, will not be able to watch films, as before. When you know how it's done, how many times many details are important and how much effort and labour is invested in every scene. ALEM: While watching the movie I can completely lose the thread of the plot, distracted by the work of cameraman,  costume designer, artist (laughs). I do not know if this will work out, but I really want to link myself to the cinema, at least in part. This is my childhood dream. Now I only know the basics of this profession. But I want to learn, grow, learn more and more.

BALA: Well, since we have already started talking about dreams, my dream was to become an Asian version of "Spider-Man". I love this movie from childhood. And would love to play with Kirsten Dunst (smiles)

- It seems to me that you are gradually realizing all your dreams. If you drop various incomprehensible comments and situations, your life is like a fairy tale. You are being admired many people, millions of girls go crazy over you, you create great music and work with super producer Yerbolat Bedelkhan. In addition to musical history, the full-length movie was created about you shot, where you were the protagonists of the picture. Today, if you look back, what advice would you give yourself 4 years ago, when you just stepped on this thorny and difficult creative path?

BALA: Do not be afraid, do not stop, do not be lazy! Do what you love. And do not get distracted by anything. If I gave these advice myself then, 4 years ago, then the present Daniyar would be much better. ALEM: Be yourself. No need to adjust to anyone. Do not try to please everyone, because it is just impossible. You have to be honest and do not lie to yourself. If I understood this then, my path of development would be faster.

AZ: Believe in yourself and give yourself to work! Keep going till the end! ACE: Azamat, be true to your sincere desires, follow your heart and know that everything that's done is for the best! ZAQ: Be confident and do not be afraid of anything. Fear hampered me, I realized in years that the person who is going to the intended goal, will never fail.

- Well, summing up our conversation with you, why does the viewer still have to watch the movie NINETY ONE?

ACE: I want that this movie will help to look at us from different angle, people will look at us and our creativity from different perspective. BALA: I think that this movie will answer all the questions that constantly hang around our team. Because there are no answers, people are divided into two camps. And from the film it becomes clear that we are simple guys from  the simple Kazakh families

ZAQ: My sister was a fan of K-POP. I did not recognize them before, I looked and thought: strange boys with makeup, dressed incomprehensibly. Then my sister showed me a TV show about them. And I was imbued. I realized that this is art. AZ: Often, our image and opinion about us is made up of rumors and gossips. I think after watching this movie, many will change their point of view. As a child, I was told, rap will not bring you money, it's a hobby, you need to do something serious. And I still believed in myself and my dream. We are children of not rich parents, we have achieved everything by ourselves. I, for example, once worked as a loader. And only because of perseverance and purpose I have - I am today the one who realizes his desires and deals with his favorite business.

ALEM: Maybe for motivation. Motivation is one of those things that everyone needs in order to achieve their goals. I want to motivate young people. Not to dye your hair, no. The main moral of the film: "Guys, never give up, and boldly go to your goal." Our film will help people to look a little wider at this world. Do not set limits and boundaries for yourself

Hope you enjoyed it, me myself while translating have learnt a lot of new thing about guys. Also,as soon the movie will be uploaded to the internet i’ll try to translate it. xoxo