Why do you think Kyman gets so much hate? I can understand some things about what people don’t like about it but some of the things they say, the harassment is so out of pocket. Especially on Tik Tok! It is like a battle ground out there and they all will shoot you down immediately if you SAY anything. I just wanna love Kyman without it seeming like a punishment 😭😭

Dude I totally feel you. It's so much easier to live and let live so I don't understand how these ppl have the energy to be so aggressively hurtful all the time. This has been said before ad nauseum but for god's sake, it's JUST a fucking tv show. I'm too old for this shit.

(longer explanation under the cut! like... extremely long lol I'm so sorry my thoughts about this have been building up for a while 😅)

I think the extremely aggressive kyman hate is a symptom of growing poor media literacy and the larger "purity culture" trend that's been present online for a while now. It's very reminiscent of American Evangelicalism or Puritanism, where members of the church have to follow a very specific set of rules for behaving and thinking and if you deviate from those rules in the slightest, you're shot down immediately by the community and shamed for being sinful and blasphemous, all to keep you on the "righteous path" and avoid burning in hell for eternity. This is why so many puritanical christians in the US hate themselves for doing what most of the world sees as normal behavior, and simultaneously force that self-hating worldview onto others to "save" them. (For example see this video by FD Signifier on youtube explaining how hardcore religious ppl/conservatives are doomed to be bad in bed because they see sex as "evil" when in reality it's a normal part of human behavior 😬 It's long but very good).

Though, it's important to note that ppl who think this way may not even be christian themselves, but the behavior is so pervasive in american culture that you absorb it even if you're not a puritanical christian. (for example, to quote Ian Danskin, athiests may think "I don't believe in god, but the god I don't believe in is Jehovah). Tons of the first generation of white USAmericans were exiled British puritans who were kicked out of their home country for essentially being self-righteous assholes and trying to force their shit worldview on everyone else lmao. And I think because so many online spaces are so USAmerican-centric, people from all over the world have started adopting that purity culture as well.

Now, South Park is extremely popular (duh). It's been around for decades so it has a ton of fans both old and new. Unfortunately a lot of new fans, especially young people, follow the show for very different reasons than the average normie/not-terminally-online viewer does. They take the characters out of their original context, use them like dolls to make their own stories and fan content, and ignore all the other blatantly controversial shit that's been going on in the show since day 1 (which is why so many exclusively make blasé creek fanworks imo). They want to keep their thoughts "pure" and only engage with content that's approved by the puritanical online community

It's extremely fitting but also sad that Cartman is the scapegoat for everything wrong with South Park, both in the show and in the real world. Either ppl don't want to acknowledge he exists, or ppl latch onto him and project all of that puritanical hatred toward him or anyone that likes his character. Hell, even I'M guilty of this kind of thinking before I watched the show and understood Cartman's character better.

Kyman in particular is a target BECAUSE it involves Cartman, but also because people boil it down to shipping a nazi with a jew which, at the surface level, seems horrible! But if you've ever actually WATCHED the goddamn show, you know that is an extremely reductive and inaccurate interpretation of their characters. It's horribly poor media literacy. These ppl CANNOT seem to comprehend that you can enjoy watching a character who's a "bad person" without condoning their actions, and that enjoying the shipping dynamic of such characters DOES NOT make you a bad person by proxy.

A huge role of fiction as media is to explore ideas that may be harmful in the real world in a safe way because... *gasp* it's imaginary!! It makes you think and experience emotions you may not have the opportunity for otherwise! However, in the eyes of puritans, the fact you're even thinking about something like that makes you a sinner. It's a thought crime, which is why they consider us mentally "sick" for shipping kyman. So, they send hate at the drop of a hat and publicly vilify kyman shippers to reinforce that behavior with each other, all to say "Hey look at me!!! I'm a Good Person! see how much of a Good Person I am??? I'm gonna go to HEAVEN, and YOU'RE going to HELL". Like I said before, it's not that they necessarily believe in heaven or hell, but that's the general root of the behavior. It's performative puritan dog-piling. Also, because they haven't even fucking watched the whole show, they conveniently ignore all the other horrible shit the show portrays because random kyman shippers online are easy targets while Matt & Trey are gajillionaires who are essentially un-cancellable for things they do on the show at this point because, to quote Trey: For anyone to go up and go "Did you see this thing on South Park? That was really offensive" someone's gonna be like "Dude shut up 😒 that's just South Park".

Geez man this got super fucking long lmao. But my advice is to please take care of yourself because, and this super cliché to say, but FUCK the haters dude 🖕🖕🖕 You're engaging with media that brings you joy and exploring interesting ideas with a community of awesome artists/writers/meta-analysts and more. This is supposed to be FUN!! Anyone who tries to take that away from you or shame you into stopping is a fucking immature, holier-than-thou asshole who needs to get a fucking life. The block button is your friend, so use it early and often. You have the power to curate your own online space, and you shouldn't subject yourself to dealing with these dickheads (this is a big reason why I don't have a tiktok lol)

Good luck dude, and keep on shipping kyman 😎🤘❤️💚

a few informal thoughts on accent in written media and accent in translation

in light of a recent rb about dialect in haikyuu (which i recommend reading since i'm sorta responding to it but it's not required), i wanted to write down my quite complex thoughts about how "accent" is conveyed in written media, and how "accent" or "dialect" is translated cross-linguistically. it's really not a simple issue...

the biggest issue is that the very notion of an accent or a dialect as most non-linguists conceive of them is rooted in some form of bigotry, because there is almost always an underlying supposition that an "accent"/"dialect" exists in opposition to or as a deviation from the "standard." in written media, what that means is that some characters - often the main characters or the pov characters - have the privileged of their thoughts and words transcribed with standardised spellings and english teacher approved grammar (for the most part), and some characters - often but not always a character from a marginalised background or a character that is some way othered - are transcribed with intentional "errors."

(lmao readmore is deffo warranted this is a long one xx)

i want to give a very clear example of what i'm talking about, and i'm sorry to cite harry potter but it is a treasure trove for this kinda thing. also like... is it any surprise that jkr is particularly egregiously guilty of this... but anyways, look at that following passage from the philosopher's stone and watch the corresponding scene (hopefully the vid starts at the the part i want sorry youtube sucks)

“I'm a what?" gasped Harry. "A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good'un I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be?”

now to my american ears, both harry and hagrid in this scene have noticable differences in pronunciation compared to how i might say the same lines - there are so many ways their speech might be written differently (from my pov; from a british pov i'm sure they'd have some changes to make in writing down my speech i'll never be free from the wodder boddle jokes).

what i think is particularly interesting tho is that harry says the word "what" twice in the clip, with two different pronunciations. the first time he says it, he actually doesn't pronounce the /t/ at the end of the word (in technical terms, it's an unreleased unvoiced alveolar plosive), and the second time the pronunciation of the /t/ is exaggerated for emphasis (a particularly aspirated unvoiced alveolar plosive). but this difference in the way harry says these two words is not conveyed in the text of hp. harry simply says "what."

i wish i had a more direct example, but a very similar sort of thing is going on when hagrid says the word "and," which he pronounces with an unreleased voiced alveolar plosive - almost exactly the same as harry's first "what" - but instead of "and" being written with standard spelling, jkr opts to replace the "d" with an apostrophe.

it's essentially the same linguistic phenomenon, but because harry is supposed to be middle class and from surrey, his linguistic quirks are not conveyed in the writing because he speaks "proper" english - whereas hagrid's linguistic quirks (in this case it is the same quirk present in harry's speech) are meticulously documented because he is working class and uneducated, and his language is deemed a deviation from the standard. harry's english is unmarked and deemed unaccented because his variety is very close to the enforced standard. and the "standard" is just the speech of the privileged classes. sorry that reasoning reads a bit circular, but it isn't supposed to be logical, it is in fact a very illogical line of reasoning.

a lot of times, authors will justify their choice to transcribe accents because accents are often integral to a character's identity. and i do not disagree that many people take pride in their accents or that accents aren't used as a way to index for group/regional identity. but the issue is, when are accents faithfully being transcribed and when are they assumed?

as an example of this, look at these two passages from another problematic author, cassie clare in the clockwork prince:

"You think I’m a fool,” Molly went on. “This is a trap, innit? You Nephilim catch me selling that sort of stuff, an’ it’s the stick for Old Mol, it is.” “You’re already dead.” Will did his best not to sound irritable. “I don’t know what you think the Clave could do to you now.” “Pah.” Her hollow eyes flamed. “The prisons of the Silent Brothers, beneath the earth, can ’old either the living or the dead; you know that, Shadowhunter." (tid.ii, prolouge)

and

"We’re in the Pyx Chamber,” he said. “Used to be a treasury. Boxes of gold and silver all along the walls.” “A Shadowhunter treasury?” Tessa was thoroughly puzzled. “No, the British royal treasury—thus the thick walls and doors,” said Jem. “But we Shadowhunters have always had access.” He smiled at her expression. “Monarchies down through the ages have tithed to the Nephilim, in secret, to keep their kingdoms safe from demons.” “Not in America,” said Tessa with spirit. “We haven’t got a monarchy—" (tid.ii, chapter 1)

i pulled these passages basically at random so maybe there are lines of dialogue that prove the point better (or disprove my point tho i doubt that, just based on my memory of these books), but in passage one, there are two speakers: an cockney woman from east london and a welsh man from an upper class background. i won't go line by line, but it's essentially like with the difference between harry and hagrid, where old molly has her shibboleths all written down whereas will is written with unquestionably grammatical speech.

in passage two, there are three speakers: the same upper class welshman, a lower middle class american woman, and a british-chinese (likely well off) man. we're told at certain points that will has a welsh accent; we can assume that tessa has an american/new york accent; i don't even know where i'd begin to describe jem's accent but it's probably not welsh or american. however, if you look at their dialogue, there is no way to discern any of these differences. their regional identities are all ostensibly important to them, as they are mentioned many many times in the narrative, but for some reason, it wasn't important enough to even make nods to their different accents? meanwhile, a random side character has their accent carefully laid out, dropped 'h's iconic slang and all? why? why is old mol's accent important enough to faithfully write down, but tessa and will's aren't? it couldn't have anything to do with classism could it...? surely not... (they say, with extreme sarcasm)

now, after all that. you might think my stance is that "accent" should never be written down because it necessarily involves classist/racist/otherwise bigoted judgement on what is marked and what is unmarked speech.

if only it were so easy.

honestly the biggest issue with jkr and clare's choices here is that it's so clearly coming from a place of ignorance and/or prejudice. there's nothing wrong with the way hagrid or old molly speak, and writing systems are inherently messy and inaccurate; there shouldn't be anything wrong with trying to more accurately convey utterances. before writing standardisation, people would just write what they thought a word sounded like, resulting in many if not dozens of accepted spellings for each word (sidenote: i've lost the email but i once spoke with someone that was attempting to reconstruct an older variety of english spoken in MA based on "spelling errors" in books from a small new england printing house it was a very cool project).

also, i am not african american so i can't fully speak to the accuracy of the AAVE, but i've seen discussion of how the AAVE and codeswitching in the hate u give by angie thomas was used to convey nuances in identity, and political realities in the US. the way people speak, the variety of language, and the attitudes they and others have towards that variety, are often extremely important narrative tools. as a black girl that also exists in white-dominated spaces, starr carter is aware of her speech and the changes she makes to fit in with white peers, but that doesn't mean that AAVE isn't a part of her, that it isn't important and valid. wouldn't it also be a bit disrespectful to write the AAVE in the hate u give as if it were standard english, when it is such an important part of starr's identity that it's not? AAVE is just as legitimate as a dialect as the dialect that starr's white peers speak, so on what grounds can anyone insist that it not be faithfully written down for its speakers? and lastly and most importantly, who am i, and who is anyone exterior to a linguistic community, to say how community members ought to write down their own speech/dialogue??

this is just one specific case, but i think when someone is writing from an in-group perspective, that changes things. it changes things immensely. there are so many reasons why a writer might choose to feature distinctive accents in their writing, and i don't think it's possible on their presence alone to make a judgement call on if the accent is being featured respectfully and/or with good reason, or if it is bigoted and unnecessary.

and this brings us to the somehow even more difficult question of what to do with "accents" when translating dialogue. not only do translators have to convey semantic meaning, they have to try to convey pragmatic meaning, cultural meaning, implications, and so on and so on. there is also the very important question of what is the role of a translator? i think that answer will depend on the individual, and unfortunately how one answers will have an impact on how they think translators ought to convey accent.

if the author of a text writes a character's dialogue from a prejudiced point of view, like jkr has done with hagrid, is it the role of the translator to dutifully convey the same (or as close to the same as possible) prejudiced implications in their translation? or does the translator have more of an editorial role, allowing them to convey the meaning in a way that won't carry the same connotations in the new language? does it matter what connotations were intended by the author? is the translator at fault for assumptions made by the audience of their translation due to the choice to convey an accent in one way or another? it is impossible to perfectly convey cultural nuances in accents so do we settle for the closest thing or do we forego it entirely and leave it up to something lost in translation? what about the translators own biases and prejudices, what do we do then?

honestly there are so many questions, and i don't have many answers. i err on the side that says the role of the translator is to be as faithful to the meaning of the text as possible, regardless of the translator's personal feelings about what is being conveyed. if an accent is being used purely for comedic effect, i do not think that the translator has the jurisdiction to say "well i think that's rude and ignorant so i won't include it," but at the same time, i think there should be multiple checks and balances, like sensitivity readers, that ensure that the translation is not introducing more prejudiced elements or pushing things even further than the source text.

what initially got me thinking about this was the post linked above about kansai dialect in haikyuu. the only characters that are written to not speak in tokyo dialect (otherwise considered the standard in japan) are the characters from inarizaki, a school in the kansai region. since they are the only characters to be explicitly written to be speaking a regional dialect, i would say it is probably an important - or considered an important by the mangaka - part of their characterisation. regardless of whether or not there should be cultural connotations to a particular variety is unfortunately not relavent in this instance.

i do think translators should not exaggerate the presence of an accent. from what i can tell from forums online, inarizaki's accents are pronounced but more than understandable, so i am liable to suspect some prejudice or mis-informed opinions when i see panels of the miya twins that are barely intelligible. but in general, i am of the opinion that translators should try and match as closely as they can the connotations of the source text, even if the source text is itself problematic. obviously there is not perfect choice. obviously a translation is never going to perfectly capture the original meaning.

in the end i guess these are two different discussions but i do think there is connection between the two. i understand the upset over egregiously translated accented dialogue, but at the same time, i do not think it is the translator's call entirely whether to translate it or not, however they do have a duty to at least try to match contexts as closely as possible. and as for the presence of accent in written media at all, it is really a case-by-case basis if i think it's being done well and with good cause or if it is just an example of ignorance, and i do think there should be room for nuance in this discussion.

come back next time when i ramble about how people write on the internet is a case study for how accent could be written in fiction lol xx

Lmao not Harry saying William, out of all people, formulated his opinion about Meghan through the media, sorry BRITISH media. American, actress, divorced, biracial - I'm here like, how is that an opinion? She's literally American, actress, divorced & biracial, these are indisputable facts. This interview is such a ride I'm so sorry for people who watch it

Literally Harry ignoring the fact that his brother MET Meghan and formed an opinion that way.

Charles and William also reportedly met Meghan *before their relationship was public* meaning BEFORE the press had written anything.

And also, the press - at the beginning - was all about “Meghan will be a breath of fresh air”

you are like the one person i can go to about this who understands who stupid this is but i needed to get it off my chest because it made me so irrationally angry LMAO but i saw a tiktok this morning from a "fan" about their "two british boyfriends" and i thought it would be either price and gaz or price and ghost or ghost and gaz but NO it was price and SOAP. BRITISH? SOAP? WHEN HE LITERALLY SAYS IN GAME "fucking brits" after ghost recommends getting a tea in the coffee shop?????? (i'm sorry for venting but like how do these new cod fans call soap british when he is sooooo openly scottish!!!!!)

omg the absolute brain sludge that is on COD tiktok. 💀

lmao yeah Soap does not identify with being a Brit. I think some Scots do (I am not an expert on this at all)? but Soap clearly doesn't from that dialogue in "Alone." and he at least likes to point fun at the cultural and linguistic differences (especially linguistic, lol). and obviously we don't know anything about Soap's politics, but he is canonically Roman Catholic. And the history of Christianity and religious politics in British history and in shaping what it means to ~be British~ has been... fucked up to say the least.

anyway, that scene of him saying "fuckin' brits" is quoted and included in edits so much. i find it hard to believe people haven't run into it at some point. even if they're the type of fan to just watch edits and read fics and haven't played the games—because it's included in edits and fics all the time too! like come on!! i think it's people just being lazy and not caring about this differences. which i know annoys some fans from the UK/Europe who see US-American fic writers writing the 141 as acting very US-American or saying very US-American things. like part of being a writer is doing your research on what you're writing!!

ALSO even in other missions where you're fighting Mexican cartel, you hear them referring to Soap as "el escocés" (the Scottish one) instead of "el británico" (the British one). so, clearly they recognize he's Scottish! but then I'll never forget hearing a Shadow call Soap something along the lines of "the leprechaun" lhskjfhs. so, clearly everyone's having problems understanding where Soap's from. 😭

Lastly, if you go to Neil's social media—mainly his IG—you'll see the Scottish flag 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 everywhere in his posts promoting Soap and MWII, much more than the Union Jack.

the rage i see feel when i see dumb crap on COD tiktok is so real. so i feel ya.

1, 5, 8, 16, 18, 26

thanks for asking!! lemme take you to the most gorge country in the world (in my opinion)

1. favourite place in your country?

It's so hard to choose - the natural beauty is incredible. It's a toss up between three - the first is Five Fingers Point in Co. Donegal - I don't get up here too often because it's so far away from where I live, but it's genuinely breathtaking. Nearby is a beach with amazing coloured stones that the Nat Geo flagged as a place of interest. The sound the waves make when they drag these pebbles in and out of shore is amazing. Here's some pics from recent holidays.

Second is Inis Mor, an Island off the West of Ireland. A small walk away from the main tourist area and through farmland is an amazing pool formed from limestone - incredibly, it's been naturally formed into this perfect rectangular shape. It's a dangerous place to swim if you're not confident, but luckily I am hehe. Here's me and my boyfriend swimming there last year.

Third is Tintern Abbey in Wexford. In the spring the woods just erupt with bluebells and sometimes when I'm there I feel like I might start crying.

5. favourite song in your native language?

Bacach Shíol Andaí - Ye Vagabonds.

On my 25th birthday these guys played in my town and I stood there transfixed in the audience thinking I must be dreaming.

8. do you get confused with other nationalities? if so, which ones and by whom?

Hahaha yes - always British. That's why I poked fun at it in my most recent chapter of Lucky Girl. The story Evie tells about Jude almost getting beat up in Thailand actually happened to my brother. The whole world hates us until they realise we're Irish - then they love us.

16. which stereotype about your country you hate the most and which one you somewhat agree with?

Obviously the violent drunks who have 20 kids is not my favourite. Yes, we have an alcoholism issue but no more than any other country. Also birth control is legal now.

I agree with the emotional thing, Irish men can be very intense if you catch them at a certain moment. (Although they pretend they aren't as hard as they can)

18. do you speak with a dialect of your native language?

Tá! I'm from the south east, so we speak a dialect known as Munster Irish. It's the most common and recognisable one I think.

26. does your nationality get portrayed in Hollywood/American media? what do you think about the portrayal?

Yeah and it's usually shockingly awful and offensive (looking at you, Leap Year) We're actually sometimes advised not to watch Hollywood films about Ireland. They're fantasy films for Americans who like to pretend that the quaint land of their ancestors still exists, and that we still don't have electricity or whatever. Also the Irish accent (which doesn't exist generally - only regional accents) is one of the hardest to imitate, so I wish non-native actors would stop trying. Please, Hollywood, hire Irish actors. We ALWAYS know when they're putting it on.

(These films make me sick lmao)

35. What’s a petname/title you really like that isn’t popular?

49. What’s a porn category you wish existed but doesn’t?

<3

thank you sm for putting the questions in the ask you actual angel<3

35. What’s a petname/title you really like that isn’t popular?

I'm british so we do a lot of "my love" and "sweetheart" and "love" which you don't get as much online and also....I'm sorry @ Americans but they sound weird when they're not in the accent I've heard them in my whole life!!!!!!! I'm sorry!!!!

otherwise most things tend to be relatively easy to find online? So I'm not sure how I'd define "not popular"

ALTHOUGH recently i've also been really into being called kitten but like...it's hard to find that in a way that isn't furry stuff, and I'm solidly not a furry? Like don't get me wrong, I can appreciate some funky filthy art and breeding kink, but I cannot think of myself as a furry lmao. So that's a toughy.

49. What’s a porn category you wish existed but doesn’t?

"Porn where whoever is being penetrated actually enjoys it"?

"homemade porn where the person in frame doesn't seem like they're being held at gunpoint"?

I'm sorry but - i get off on people enjoying themselves? and porn is...often not about that. that's why my ideal porn tends to come off social media like tumblr (where things are independent and therefore people tend to actually be enjoying things) or people with a really small audience on sites like chaturbate. i love a cheeky bit of audience interaction:P

also like half the weird kinks i find are just because if someone is doing it then they're genuinely into it? so it's hard to find like. actual porn categories per se

it's a bit of a pipe dream to think i would be well known one day, but i would hate to become known as a 'british animator' or 'british writer' whose work reflected on the vibrant culture of this shithole of a dead empire. if my work doesn't say on some level "this country is an unmitigated evil in the world and all its institutions and traditions must be violently overthrown" I'm doing something wrong! this seems to be true of e.g. most of the interesting british comics writers. being british should be seen as an unfortunate fact about my background, like, 'oh this explains a lot about how depressing her work is' lmao

anyway this makes me kind of think... obviously i am into a lot of japanese animation and games, and i certainly don't want to make some silly claim that every anime creator i like is some badass radical because that's obviously not true, but also like, promoting an image of 'cool japan' is a literal policy of their seemingly eternal far right government and i don't really want to enable that! i would hate to sort of shackle someone to a nationalist project they don't uphold in appreciative critical writing.

a couple weeks ago i saw an fairly big name webgen animator on an animator discord expressing resentment about being held up as an up and coming filipino animator when, in his eyes, he had seen no support from his country and taught himself everything through the internet. he saw his community as international web animators. and while i don't want to be idealistic, his attitude appealed to me. i feel much more comfortable thinking of myself as a creature of the internet, with all the flaws that entails... i can't really remember a time where i didn't spend much more time reading and talking to people in other countries (mostly Americans, but also a lot of people from other European countries on the old Blender forums) and i guess that played a huge part in my particular path of 'socialisation'.

one thing I've found quite striking since getting more involved in the like, 'indie animator subculture' is that there the balance of countries ppl are from is much more south american and southeast asian, much less USian, than most online communities I've been in, which is honestly a p welcome change. it's a bit of a cliché but i do feel like the internet really is demonstrating its potential to create certain kinds of international connections not mediated through mass media localisation in the way of the last hundred years of capitalism, and as much as corporate near-monopoly media production - The Industry - still dominates the landscape in so many ways, it's still really exciting to see what sort of art movements are going to grow in this ecosystem...

but of course, i realise this feeling of being part of a cosmopolitan international culture or w/e is such a class thing. the UK, by virtue of its place in the world economy and the last few centuries of colonial plunder gets both the most modern comms infrastructure and the benefits of its language being widely considered the path to wealth and privilege, a structure which perpetuates itself long after the period of direct rule... especially since its immediate successor as "top dog empire" also uses English. the people i talk to are either from other rich countries, or often the comparatively well-off people of colonised countries who are coming to speak to me in my language rather than the other way round. there's not much i can immediately do about the distribution of power in this situation, but i don't want to have illusions about it. and if i can figure out the right, sustainable means of motivation, it would be really good to learn to visit the non-English-speaking parts of the web.

what is to be done about all this? idk. just mulling this one over. i very much admire someone like @anarcha-catgirlism who seems to pick up languages as easy as breathing out of an intrinsic love of it (i'm sure she finds it harder than it looks from the outside lol), but I've never had that facility and comfort with language learning the way i did with, say, maths.

it's very hard to figure out how to get a proper habit of practice going the way i have with drawing and animation lately. what happens is, i think one day, oh no, not done this in a while, let's make an effort to get back into practicing kanji, knock a couple hundred off my wanikani queue, and then it won't occur to me to do it again for like, weeks. other languages I've tried i have fared even worse; at best i get a period of hyperfocus and then it collapses, or the excuses for language classes you get in british schools. i don't know how to summon the determination that keeps me coming back to draw even when I'm unsatisfied with my skills. I'm certain it's possible to learn languages even with unmedicated 'adhd', but i haven't figured out the trick of it and continue to be an embarrassing monoglot...

anyway, enough moping. time to draw.

who would you cast for toph. mai , azula and ty lee in netflix live action?

hi, anon!!! first of all thank you for asking and sorry it took me so long to respond, my modem died and i had to wait for a new one in the mail!

anyway, i'm not so great at fancasting roles that would preferably be played by kids since most child actors do mostly children's media, which i don't really watch (and yes i recognize the irony of saying that as an avatar blog). but tbh i don't think i'd have any idea who to cast as toph even if i did. she is by far the most likely character to be played by a complete unknown imo, since there isn't exactly a wealth of roles to be played by a 10-14yo blind asian girl. (there is every possibility that they cast a sighted actress to play toph, but considering the effort netflix is putting in to find an actor for teo who uses a wheelchair, i do think they will strongly prefer a visually impaired actress for toph)

azula i think has already been booked by Momona Tamada (age 15, japanese canadian), but if she wasn't, I'd maybe consider Emily Delahunty (age 16, i think. filipino-british canadian), I've never watched her in anything, but she has a ton of credits for a girl her age, which speaks well of her. it also looks like she is followed by Gordon Cormier, and the azula and aang actors having a rapport would be a nice perk. face-wise she wouldn't be bad for ty lee, either. another option for azula could be Miya Cech (age 14, japanese american) who looks the part and similarly gets booked a lot.

in my dream world a nationally ranked junior gymnast would decide to retire from the sport and take up acting to play ty lee, lmao. i think Zoé Allaire-Bourgie (age 17, thai canadian) is living her best life right now, so i'll leave her alone. i really like Sophia Hammons (age 14, asian-pacific (i think indonesian, specifically) american) for ty lee. she has booked a part on netflix before as well as playing a starring role in a dcom, and lists herself as being skilled at dance and kickboxing; also, she really has the face for it imo.

mai is kinda tricky because you want her to form a cohesive unit with azula and ty lee (who i'm casting with actresses age 14-16) while also looking appropriate paired romantically with Dallas Liu (age 21). so i'd guess someone who's 17-19 rn, since they'd be 18-20 by the time book 2 would film. Madison Hu (age 19, chinese american) could definitely be a contender. while mai is obviously east asian in the cartoon, i think she (or ty lee) could end up being played by a south asian actress in the live action, since there are indian influences in the fire nation that they might want to reflect with characters who are ethnically indian (subcontinent) but Azula would for sure remain east asian since the rest of the fire nation royal family are. Saara Chaudry (age 17, indian canadian) is quite accomplished for her age.

BONUS: i know nothing about these two girls because they don't have a strong online presence, but Asia Au-Yeung and Chloe Ling have both done background parts on netflix originals (like Ian Ousley) so I would not be surprised to see them pop up in atla

Hey, I'm that guy from ao3. I was wondering, do you have a specific place you get inspo for monsters in Auckland? I'm making a DnD campain in the J&D world, aaand I kinda need help haha. Yours are like perfect <3 (Also, if you wanna join us, you can, we haven't even had our zero session and we're not playing actual DnD, I don't know how to play that, so it's ok if you don't know that, it's super easy and fun i swear, you can get a link to our discord, love you)

:0 oh shit hi !! a jdate DnD game sounds cool as fuck! im really bad at games like that tho so im gonna politely pass on that one but wish y'all the best of luck!!! 

as for making monsters my inspo is Kind Of Weird? i mean i look at a lotta horror art for sure (my favourite artist atm is Trevor Henderson aka slimyswampghost on most medias, u may know him as That Guy Who Made Sirenhead but he has a lot of other fantastic art as well!), but since i dont wanna feel like im rippin other people off i actually Dont often use that as inspo! aaaand heres where its gonna get a bit weird

aside from the times i pluck a creature from my nightmares (and boy, do i have a lotta material to work with there), i usually either look into folklore (bein mindful of closed cultures like, i believe most Native American monsters are off-limits for non-Natives to write; im white as hell so i try to stick to british/irish/more recent american shit) or... i look to this one game i played Obsessively when i was in elementary/middle school: Spore (which you can find on Steam i think or their hilariously hasn't-been-updated-in-a-WHILE website). I literally played it so much I can just kind of... imagine the whole creature-creator process. I think it’s a curse. I think Todd Howard cursed me for the crime of Having No Friends.

Now, if you dont wanna download a probably-poorly-aged EA game from 2007 (i dont even know if it’d run anymore if you Just Now bought it, i remember the security measures that thing had damn near broke the game before i could even play it, thanks EA) and play through the first two stages (theyre Long) to unlock the creature creator and all the Bits for it, you can either watch people play that shit on YouTube (Monster Factory is a favourite of mine, they did I Think a 3-video run of Spore) or, 

You can also do somethin that I once did as an assignment for Character Design class: go to a random animal generator, let it spit out 2-3 animals (or as many as you like, i guess, but i find 2-3 to be a Manageable number) and mash those motherfuckers together! Hell, you can even start to mix in stuff like objects/minerals/whatever the fuck too. Make something that’s a dog, hammerhead shark, and the concept of entropy. Go nuts! Here’s an example, some shit I made for that class (which mayyyyyy appear in Auckland...... perhaps. if i feel like it) :

They can range from “cute” to “nightmarish” as you please! Fun fact, that spider/shark/scorpion is meant to be the size of a house. I honestly come up with a lot of messed up shit by just asking myself "What's the worst thing I can think of right now?" and then I just Go For It with whatever my brain's thrown at me. I did that with Nightmare E.T. and the fucked-up ostriches. 'Scary' is often a sort of personal thing for people, like phobias and shit, you know? Lookin inward can be pretty helpful there. Not like you have to make something of your phobias, just maybe run with something that disturbs you a little. If you press yourself for why it bothers you sometimes you can find something deeper and maybe more universal in it. I'm not talking about unearthing trauma or anything tho that likely Wouldn't Be Healthy just like... if you think spiders are creepy, ask yourself Why: is it the eyes? the legs? the venom? the way they just kinda creep up on you, like, you dont notice em til you see them? etc.

As for the monsters in Auckland while most of them aren’t gonna be references (maybe a few more in future chapters...) I will admit the “morning wood monster” is a reference to the Pokémon Trevenant; the "most fucked-up dog [Dave had] ever seen" was a creature from The Moomins just described as horribly as possible--I can't find it on the wiki anymore??? it was from the 2d animated one, though; the Shitsucker is a regular ol’ Wraith (following a specific mythos where they aren’t just Random Ghosts but beings that feed off negative emotional energy, I can't re-find which one I'm sorry lmao); and the haunted ship thing at the beginning is a vague reference to the Buzzfeed Unsolved episode on that big ass boat. Isn't directly tied to it (obviously, 'cause Buzzfeed Unsolved never has much Actual Ghost Activity, let alone one Throwin Shit At Em jhgfds), more just inspired by it.

Maybe when the thing is done, I’ll sort them all into one of three categories--references to stuff/folklore, things i had nightmares about, and things i just kind of thought up. Make a post on here about it, idk

wow! this was fuckin long. i hope at least some of that is helpful!! also im adding this here cause i just remembered some people use Spore to sculpt like?? beautiful monsters and shit?? like i Know i watched a “speedrun” of someone creating a beautiful ass dragon in it. there’s probably a whole community of people out there making epic and/or fucked up shit and you could watch them build it or just scroll through thumbnails for inspo, but i do feel like Building Stuff Yourself is best, cause it just kind of Feels Nice to make something yourself and go “hey man, look how fucked up this is ! scary, right?” and get that Success Feeling when the other guy recoils and goes "yeah man what the fuck though"

You said "I hate it here" in response to an ask mentioning the US, I took that to mean you were american. Previously I had indeed assumed you were British. I'm a big Brandy Clark fan and I know she has shows in the UK, so you can't be the only british country fan.

ahh fair lmao i get u, i meant more in general ... like the uk is also. very complicit and also does war crimes. i also hate the media landscape that normalises this kinda stuff...

and woo!! noice! i gotta find some others lmao

Hey dude! Do you have any recommendations for LGBTQ+ movies in the romance genre that have like a happy ending. I really don't care how old they are. I'm feeling the Gay™ hence I need the Gay™. You feel me?

HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII NONNIE

First sorry for taking so long, not only did I have to timeline this :) but :) my computer :) froze :) after writing like :) 2 pages :) and I had to do it again :)

So anyway let it be said, the LGBT dialogue is one of osmosis and shared growth and awareness. Some of these films will be very poorly dated, but as you (thankfully) mentioned that them being old wasn’t a *problem*, expect a lot of old stuff. Because one of the most important things to have under your belt when talking about the LGBT media representation battle is the actual journey from A to B – be that incrementalization, subtextual inclusion, text-breeching features, outright evocative and groundbreaking films at the time (which is what MOST of this list will be) and an improvement in our dialogue; let us never forget that while tr*nss*xual is considered a slur and transgender is proper, tr*nss*xual was at one point the politically correct way to speak it – things like that breach in our growing understanding of the spectrum of human sexuality. 

I *WILL* disclaimer these aren’t all romance, so if you explicitly want romance, google them and take a look if it sounds to appeal, but I’m taking this as a general cinema history plug considering what a confused mess fandom conversation about LGBT history in film or modern text as applicable, accepted or not.

Wonder Bar (1936) (I wouldn’t really call this queer cinema, but if you have the time to watch it too, I think it was the first explicit mention of homosexual engagement even if it was fleetingly brief. You might even call it Last Call style. A blink and you’ll miss it plug that was still decades ahead of its time)

Sylvia Scarlet (1936) (Again, I wouldn’t call this queer cinema, but a lot of the community takes it as the first potential trans representation on TV due to the lead literally swapping gender presentation, even if the presentation is… not what we would modernly call representation IMO)

Un Chant d'Amour (1950) (Worth it for the sheer fact that it pissed off fundies so bad they took it all the way to the US supreme court to get it declared obscene.)

The Children’s Hour (1961) (also known as the 1961 lesson to “don’t be a gossipy, outting bitch”)

Victim (1961) (The first english film to use the word “homosexual” and to focus explicitly on gay sexuality. People might look on it disdainfully from modern lenses, but it really helped progress british understanding of homosexuality)

Scorpio Rising (1964) (Lmao this one deadass got taken to court when it pissed people off and California had to rule that it didn’t count as obscene bc it had social value, worth it for the history if nothing else)

Theorem (1968) (Because who doesn’t wanna watch a 60s flick about a bisexual angel, modern issues and associations be damned)

The Killing of Sister George (1968) (by the makers of What Ever Happened To Baby Jane)

Midnight Cowboy (1969) (…have I had sassy contagonists in RP make a Dean joke off of this more than once, maybe)

Fellini-Satyricon (1969) (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA THIS)

The Boys in the Band (1970) (This… this… this made a lot of fuss. Just remember leather)

Pink Narcissus (1971) (a labor of love shot on someone’s personal camera)

Death in Venice (1971) (This is basically a T&S prequel but whatever, based on a much older book)

Cabaret (1972) 

Pink Flamingos (1972) (SHIT’S WILD)

The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972) (The title doesn’t lie, be warned)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) [god I hope you’ve at least seen this]

Fox and His Friends (1975) (some really hard lessons that are still viable today, that just because someone acknowledges your sexuality doesn’t mean they give a shit about you as a person, and that some will even abuse the knowledge for gain)

The Terence Davies Trilogy (1983) (REALLY interesting history look it up, it’s sort of one of those “drawn from own experience” story short sets)

The Times of Harvey Milk (1984) (Documentary)

Desert Hearts (1985) (Pretty much the first film to put lesbianism into a good light as a true focus based on a novel from the sixties)

Parting Glances (1986) (the only film its creator got out before his death from the aids epidemic)

Law of Desire (1987) (two men and a trans woman in a love triangle, kinda ahead of its time)

Maurice (1987) (This one’s really interesting, cuz it was based on a book made about 15 years before it, but the book itself had been written half a century earlier and wasn’t published until after the guy died, he just thought it’d never get published Cuz Gay, so basically it’s based on a story written in like, the 20s finally getting screen time. It has a bittersweet but positive-leaning-ish ending without disregarding the cost that can come with it and even addresses class issues at the same time 100% DO RECOMMEND)

Tongues Untied (1989) (a documentary to give voices to LGBT black men) 

Longtime Companion (1990) (This one’s title alone is history, based on a NYT phrasing for how they talked about people’s partners dying, eg longtime companion, during the AIDS epidemic)

Paris Is Burning (1990) (Drag culture and related sexual and gender identity exploration as it intersected with class issues and other privileges explored in a documentary)

The Crying Game (1992)( I should correct this that I guess it’s more, 1992 considered, “SURPRISE, DIL HAS A DILL!” – I guess I really didn’t do that summary justice by modern language and dialogue as much as how people in the 90s were talking about that and that’s a my bad. LIKE. SEE, EVEN I CAN FUCK UP MY LANGUAGE I’M SORRY CAN I BLAME THE STRAIGHTS T_T) #90skidproblems – I guess I should call it a trans film. And this alone tells me I should go watch it again to recode it in my brain modernly rather than like circa de la 2000 understanding.

The Bird Cage (1996) (So you mix drag culture, otherwise heterosexually connected lovebirds, and then realize the girl comes from an alt-rightish house and the guy comes from a Two Dads Home and does cabaret, how to deal with the issues OF this conflict when it’s between you and your happiness, even if the fight isn’t even your own as much as it is that of the person you love. The answer is PROBABLY NOT to dress in drag and pretend to be straight, but what are you going to do? – while played for laughs we’d consider modernly crude, the fact that they even dared to approach this narrative was pretty loud)

The Celluloid Closet (1996) (Ever heard of the Vito Russo test for LGBT representation? This is based on a book by Vito Russo.)

Happy Together (1997) (Ain’t this shit an ironic name; a mutual narrative, via chinese flick, of hong kong ceding to china and an irrevocably tangled MLM pairing as a giant mirrored metaphor)

Boys Don’t Cry (1999) (one of the most groundbreaking films about trans identity at the time)

Stranger Inside (2001) (As easy as it is to recoil to the idea of “black gays in jail”, the film makers actually went and consulted prisoners and put a great deal of focus into intersectional african american issues that really weren’t around even in straight films at the time)

Transamerica (2005) (While it made a bit of a fuss for not casting an actual trans actor, it was one of the first times a big budget studio really tried to tackle it which really pushed us forward)

Call Me by Your Name (2017) (since I’ve apparently leaned really heavy old cinema throw in a modern one lmaooooo)

Also honorable The Kids Are All Right (2010) mention for the sake of the fucking title alone. 

And to any incarnation of “On the Road” by Kerouac, which

Was originally a book

Released a sanitized de-gayed edition because of the times

Later released the full homo manuscript

had a few film adaptations

Was one of Kripke’s founding inspirations for Supernatural once he left behind “Some reporter guy chases stories” and took the formula of Sal and Dean (and tbh later, Carlo) in a beat generation vibe gone modern as we know it today.

Reading both versions of this can actually help some folks currently understand that when you get confused over some shit (WHY IS CARLO SO UPSET? WHY IS HE ACTING LIKE AN UPSET GIRLFRIEND??? WHY IS HE SO JEALOUS AND SAD WHEN DEAN IS AROUND GIRLS???? WE JUST DONT KNOWWWWWWWWWWWWW) it’s because some big money asshat bleached the content, and sometimes, it takes a while for the full script to come out and again, surprise, it’s been GAY, they just didn’t want to OFFEND anybody. *jazz hands*

Now if you wanna go WAY WAY BACK, during 191X years, a bunch of gender role flicks came out like Charley’s Aunt, Mabel’s Blunder and the Florida Enchantment.

Also where is @thecoffeebrain-blog to yell about the necessity of watching Oz, for the next few hours? But no, seriously, just look into the entire LGBT *HISTORY* of Oz.

Beyond that though I’m gonna stop here cuz hi that’s a lot. I really don’t know how much counts as “happy ending” but if I had to give an LGBT cinema rec list, that’s it as a sum. I don’t really have like, a big portfolio of UWU HAPPY ENDING GAYS because 1. there aren’t a lot of those but 2. to me, it’s not about the ending, it’s about the journey. Be that in flick or through culture and history itself.

If you want more happy ending stuff, you definitely have to look at 2010+, but it’s not like we’re in a rich and fertile landscape yet so honestly just googling that would probably serve you better since I don’t explicitly explore romance genre or happy endings to really have a collection. LGBT life is hard and film often reflects that if we’re making genuine statements about it and really representing it, and we’re just now getting to a point of reliably having the chance at a happy ending. That or maybe someone can add like “Explicit happy endings” lists after this that has more experience in that subgenre.

Also, I can’t emphasize ENOUGH to remember what was progressive then is not what is progressive now, and frankly, what some people think is progressive now they’ll probably look back on what they said and feel really fuckin’ embarrassed. See: “It’s not text because by alt right homophobic dialogue, M/M sex isn’t gay if you do the secret handshake” MGTOW kinda crazy ass dialogue or parallel narratives they inspire that encourage self-closeting and denial based on the pure idea that being gay makes you somehow lesser, so It’s Not That. Like. I am. 99% sure. At least half of the people talking in this fandom. Are going to regret that the internet is forever. And maybe hope hosting servers end in the inevitable nuclear war that will annihilate this planet.

Also, edit: Speaking of mistaken dialogues and words aging poorly, I’d like to apologize from the poor description I rendered “The Crying Game” with, but that really goes to show how deep-seated the issue is we can so casually fuck up identifying a trans narrative as SURPRISE DICK IS GAY when we were all absorbing the content like 20+ years ago and HOW HARD it can be to de-code yourself from that kind of programming because here I am, writing a giant assed rep post and fucking it up because my brain hadn’t soaked that movie since Y2K. Guess what, time for me to go watch the Crying Game again.

@ anyone defending emma watson by using "she's not american" as an excuse: i'm not american either. i think half the people i follow here aren't americans either. whilst there's a lot we can't do, there's also a LOT we can do and sharing info online and making a stand on social media is the very least we can do. not to mention that several other british celebs have been talking about current events & posting info & protesting all week. so if y'all wanna defend her, come up with something else.

I know lmao. Also Emma literally went to college in America she isn’t just some random english celeb. This is all over twitter and all over instagram and literally everywhere. There’s no way that these celebrities have gone online and not seen what’s going on. even if they aren’t american, if you see injustice you should speak out against it even if it doesn’t directly impact you. which is all I was saying (specifically about emma watson!!! that’s who my post was about!!) somehow that turned into: not everyone knows about what’s going on in america fuck you you’re so conceited I don’t have to care about the slaughtering of innocent black lives because I am not american

Would you have any recommendations on where one could hear/learn a German accent? I'm learning the language but my most recent teacher said that my accent/pronunciation is not very good despite being at a B1 level. I think this is probably due to I have not one, not two, but THREE separate American accents already because of how many times we moved when I was younger, so adding another accent is hell my mouth cannot keep up. Thanks for your time.

Hey sorry that I took my time answering this.Okay, first of, Josie’s personal opinion time (feel free to skip this lmao): It’s not bad to have an accent. Everyone has an accent - not just because of your native tongue but also because of the people around you, your class, family, friends or whoever you practice with. I have a German accent and probably always will have, because I learnt English from teachers with German accents, with partners and fellow pupils who had a German accent and now I study English at a German university and people around me still speak with the same accent. 90% of the conversations I hold in English are German-accented English. But at this point, I refuse to consider my accent “inferior” to...a Yorkshire accent or a New York accent just because those are “native” accents. Of course, it’s also not bad or anything to want to sound like a native speaker and I’m not going to tell you that if you truly want to speak like a native-speaker you shouldn’t pursue that interest - but it’s something few people really 100% accomplish, so pls make sure you’re not putting the actually important things like vocab, grammar and you know - enjoyment - on hold to pursue something really elusive that your teacher thinks is important. It is very hard to accomplish especially for someone not living in Germany and Germany is a country with a lot of different regional and foreign accents, so most of us have some experience with different pronunciations - so you will most likely be understood.

Now, the my actual answer to your question: 

Listening to people always helps, so does talking. I noticed it when I was still in school. I started watching American shows and it strongly affected my vocabulary and pronunciation - mind you, we were taught to speak strictly British English, American English was an evil taboo - but later I discovered my love for British films and tv shows and I reverted to the English I learnt at school, for the most part (not regarding the language level but the variety). So I definitely recommend exposing yourself to native German-speakers bc otherwise, your main influence will be your fellow students.

There are a lot of German shows on Netflix - you can check if some of them have English subtitles, I know “Dark” for example does. (I’m not sure about Vorstadtweiber, but if you want to get a taste of a Viennese accent, this might also be fun to check out. “Extra3″ is a German satire show that puts all its episodes on Youtube and with a VPN you can also access the ZDF Mediathek and RTL-Now, two very big German tv channels). 

It’s especially helpful to watch out for words you’ve so far only seen in their written form so that you know you struggle with. If you hear them, maybe stop the video and try to repeat it. If you’re interested in specific accents from specific regions (which might be a bit hard, mind you) you can also look for some source material from different regions. For example the German audio of “My Fair Lady” has her speaking with a very thick Berliner accent instead of Cockney, so that’s something you might find interesting bc it’s a film you might already be familiar with. Another tip: I noticed about myself that I easily start thinking in another language, even if I’m really far from fluent and miss words. And doing that I noticed that my inner monologue still has a German accent but it’s much weaker than when you know. my actual physical mouth is involved, for some reason. I can also imitate different English accents in my head much better than I can when I speak - you might try that and even talk to yourself. If there’s no one to tell you you are doing it wrong, it becomes much easier to experiment and have fun with language. 

In my experience, it also helps to imitate the accent the speakers of your target language have while speaking your language: I noticed that when I was practising Russian on duolingo: Now, duolingo makes you repeat sentences to practice your pronunciation and my Russian pronunciation was horrible - until I purposefully tried to sound “Russian” - suddenly Duo understood what I was saying. So you might try to speak German with what feels like an exaggerated German accent to you, even if it feels weird at first. (I do the same when I want to sound British)Another thing that helped me (much more than teachers ever did) is to watch English people contemplate and imitate and play with German accents - because even if it’s something I made fun of a lot these last days, it’s interesting and helpful, because if done for comedic or storytelling purposes (I’m going to give an example of that later on), it often highlights the aspects that make it sound different from a native pronunciation and help you localise these aspects in your own language use. That said - the reason I make fun especially of British people playing Germans is that their accents are often based on other British people pretending to be German, not actual Germans so it sounds...very different from the way we speak English. So keep in mind that it’s not always authentic. (Personally, I still think I learnt how not to pronounce the word “convenience” from an episode of Blackadder but that’s another story)

Okay I threatened that I would add an example on how accents in media might help you understand your own accent better:

There are many examples of English-speakers pretending to speak German, but since you are already at B1 and probably speak better German than most of them (many just say stuff without knowing the words or even...just make up sounds that they think sound German), so I picked a film scene that I mentioned in a post a few days ago: the pub scene from Inglorious Basterds (which I saw on youtube is apparently popular for language teaching purposes). 

It’s interesting because Michael Fassbender is half-German and knows the language somewhat so he at least knows what the words he’s saying mean. Also, he’s surrounded by native speakers which make for good comparison material. (mind you, Inglorious Basterds is obv. a film about the NS-era so while the German they speak sounds rather modern, I can understand if you would like to avoid that content. Especially since the second video ends in a shooting.)  I couldn’t find the whole scene online but if you have the DVD, you might want to look into it, because it’s much longer than the excerpts I found online and maybe you can spot more of the language patterns I will point. (It also has Christoph Waltz in it and his Austrian dialect which might also be interesting to you)

Now, what you need to know is that Fassbender plays an English spy pretending to be a German officer - but when someone points out his accent, he tries to pretend to be Swiss. He does a pretty good job speaking German actually and a German would understand every word he is saying (unlike we do with some other actors pretending to speak German) - but it’s also very obvious with every word that he’s not a native speaker (and no one would actually mistake him for Swiss.) (btw if you want to check out what an actual Swiss dialect sounds like: (x) (I could imagine it’s very difficult for English speakers, because it has a lot of “ch” sounds and is very guttural. 

Now, back to Inglorious Basterds:

The first thing that’s very interesting to look at is the first 30 seconds of the first video because it’s clear that they made Fassbender exaggerate his accent because in that scene it leads to a German soldier he’s talking to noticing and pointing out his strange pronunciation. At 0:35 in the first video it’s very, very obvious when he yells the word “zurückkehren” (which finally makes the soldier address the issue)- because he pronounces it “zurück-kerr-än” - a very typical pronunciation with an English accent. Whereas a German would usually say: zurück-kehr’n”  (You can compare it to one of the Germans saying “zurückkehren” at minute 2:30) It is also interesting to compare how Fassbender pronounces an “r” vs. how the Germans do it - because he pronounces it like you would in English, while the German “r” sound is a bit harsher and produced a little bit further back in the throat. (Tip: If You can feel it vibrate in your mouth, you’re doing it rrrright). 

When he says “rrrrrüpelhaft” it seems as if he’s trying to pronounce the “r” like a native speaker there - but overdoes it. (Fassbender does the same exaggerated “r” sound at 2:56 with the word “Regisseur” and at 2:33 with “Riefenstahl”) - which just sounds a bit off. Compare it to Til Schweiger at 1:00 saying “betrunken (oder völlig) verrückt”. btw If you compare the way Schweiger says “sprechen” in that sentence with Michael Fassbender saying “sprechen” at 2:35 you will also notice the difference in the way they pronounce the “ch”.In that sequence at 2:30, Fassbender also says “gesehen” a lot - and always pronounces it G-esehen, while a German would probably pronounce it ge-seh-’n

Something that many German learners struggle with - that you can observe in these videos as well - is the pronunciation of infinitive verbs. German verbs, as you know, usually end in “-en” (gehen, sagen, sprechen, hoffen. etc). Now, German speakers usually barely utter the second “e” at all, it’s often: geh’n, sag’n, sprech’n - it*s something that sounds a little off sometimes when Fassbender speaks, because he often puts more emphasis on it than a German would for example when he asks “Haben Sie den Riefenstahl Film gesehen?” or at 3:24 in the second video when he says “aufsteh.en.”You can also observe the impact of the native English - at 2:50 when he says “Brüder” it comes out as “Brüddr” which sounds a lot like “brother” - while in German, the “ü” is stressed and the “r” is almost inaudible.I think the biggest challenge for English-speakers is the “ch” (which unexperienced speakers often turn into a “k” sound - for example turning “Nacht” into “nackt”, always fun). You can see Fassbender struggle a little with that a few times as well (it’s particularly important to keep in mind that there are two “ch” sounds - the one produced in the front of your mouth like in “ich” or “frech” or the one produced farther back in your mouth like in “Nacht” or “Bach” - so if you encounter a word with a “ch”, it’s best to check out which one it is.You can also see him struggle with the long words in German - he basically forces “tausendjähriges” out very quickly which sounds very strange and mechanical and at 3:20 in the second video he has a different strategy and stresses EVERY part of the world Hauptsturmbannführer: “Haupt. Sturm. Bann. Führer.” which sounds ... strange even when done for dramatic purposes. You can compare that to the way the German actor says the same word at 3:31. (especially if you pay attention to how they pronounce “Führer” you will notice the proximity issue. “Führer” is a word that many English-speakers find difficult to pronounce and I think it’s a) because many English-speakers are familiar with the word “Führer” but never heard a German pronounce it b) because of the close proximity of an “ü” and two “r” sounds. When Fassbender pronounces “Führer” it sounds very much like an English person would pronounce the world in an English context while the German guy pronounces it like a German does - that’s something else to keep in mind, that words you might be familiar with like “Volkswagen” or “Weltschmerz” or any of the others are usually pronounced with an accent when English-speakers use them (The same is, of course, true for any other loan words)

There*s a similar scene in First Class also with Michael Fassbender sitting in a pub with Nazis (seriously that’s... a huge part of his repertoire it seems) which you might want to check out bc again, he speaks German and the other guys are native speakers so if you want to keep looking for different pronunciations and accents, it might be interesting. 

(Also “Auslautverhärtung” is a big issue with English-speakers and German-speakers. The reason why German speakers tend to say things like “sayin-k” and “goin-k” and “leavin-k” is because the last sound of a word is usually spoken harsher in German than it is English. English-speakers often have the opposite problem and swallow the last sound a little. I didn’t notice particularly jarring examples of that in these scenes, but it’s still something to keep in mind)

All of that said and done and dissected, I think natural development and interacting with native speakers is much more effective and fun than just trying to avoid certain pronunciations or imitate how other people sound, especially bc I don’t want to bore you with technicalities or even worse, make you nervous about speaking because honestly? Accents are fun and everyone has them. Don’t worry too much about it

If you speak slowly, people will understand you and if you spend some time around native speakers, it will help a lot, it has a strong impact on the way you speak (so obviously i recommend listening to a lot of spoken German, watch films, shows, youtube etc.) And yes, pronunciation is important - you need to be understood after all - but having an accent is natural. Everyone has at least a regional accent and I don’t understand why foreign accents are automatically considered a flaw or a sign that someone isn’t able to communicate fully in that language they learnt. 

I recommend you focus on words and grammar and listening and reading comprehension and let things grow naturally and don’t actually enjoy having an accent. There’s nothing wrong with it.

Yeah I’m always struck by how commonplace it is for UK tabloids, especially big ones like the sun and the daily Mail, to have famous people’s exes, family members etc give quotes on the record. People/Us Weekly/E Online would never do that. It’s obviously a reciprocal relationship since celeb publicists frequently leak to the UK tabloids and set up pap strolls, but it’s strange how US media tends to comparatively be much more…tactful? People obviously wants to stay as the go-to PR mouthpiece, but I wonder why UK tabloids are less concerned with undermining those relationships.

I’m not surprised they’d seek out an ex of Simone’s. I see similar stories for like Love Islands contestants all the time lol. I wonder how much they paid the mom though, if at all. Did she just want to be in the papers? Also rolling my eyes at the age difference w the ex (24 to 37?) who seems like a loser and not hot enough for her.

I think part of it could be that the US tabloids report largely on US stars, some of which tend to have a lot more of a global presence and dominance than British celebrities do. And in turn, they have more clout and more money to spend on legally pursuing American tabloids when they upset them. I don't know if there are different legalities regarding privacy--but I know that People stopped sharing photos of celebrities' kids without permission a while back after some bigger names called them out for it. That's also, again, because for publications like People it's important to have a very tight relationship with the celebrity. And these celebrities do directly call them out when they report things that weren't permitted--Jennifer Garner did that a while back when People reported that she was heartbroken over her divorce or something. Now, I'm sure a million smaller outlets have reported the same thing, but because Jennifer expected a partnership from People, they got dogged out. I think they actually apologized for it lmao.

Idk, while the U.K. tabloids definitely work with celebs (Diana famously would call them all the time when she wanted them to catch her walking out and about or hear a bit from a "source") there's not as much of a "you scratch my back I'll scratch yours" level of... complicity, I guess? Because in turn, Diana had no control over the tabloids when they bit her, beyond prohibiting access... And she only had so much control over that.

I do think it's weird that they devoted time to Simone's ex's mom, but it could just be a slowwwww celeb news day for them.

So, this other story i'm subscribed to follows this brat as he leaves a scifi world into a fantasy world. The early world building is great as ir explores the impact of 6000 years of chinese development by magic instead of science. About a month ago, i started questioning it as characters started showing up from different countries like Greece and Japan. Tonight, the translation introduced Egypt and ermagurd it's worse than Rowling

See, I’m always wary whenever any author starts introducing elements outside their own experience, because like. Alright, best case scenario, you get something like Phoenix Wright (I live in California, and by that I mean Japan), where it says it’s located in one place, but there is absolutely no attempt whatsoever made to actually use the setting’s culture, it is 100% done as if in-universe, their culture just happens to be the same as the author’s.

Worst case, you get... well. Yeah.

This is why I do not write things that are not in my wheelhouse, lmao. I don’t even write American characters that aren’t from the South. The only non-American Southern people I will write are either Mexicans, because... Texas, and I will dabble in the UK because let’s be honest, a significant portion of my media consumption for all my life has been British. My husband calls me a “UK weeb.” I had to tell him there’s a word for that. Also, like. Who cares if I get the Brits a lil wrong, considering *gestures to colonialism*

They got it coming, is all I’m saying.

i'm punishing you for not loggin on in so long: 1-50

Oh shiiiiiiiiiiiit okay let’s do this

1. What’s your favorite candle scent? I like musky candle smells, usually with names pertaining to trees or the woods. They remind me of business men shaving their beards on a crisp fall morning. 2. What female celebrity do you wish was your sister? This is weird to answer bc my fav celebs are all so much older than me so to have them as siblings would be...odd... but I’ll say Jennifer Aniston. 3. What male celebrity do you wish was your brother? Normally I’d say my one true love Eminem, but since Jennifer Aniston is now my sister, that means Jason Bateman has to be my brother. They’re my fav together. Em can be daddy ;)4. How old do you think you’ll be when you get married? Shit idk probably like 25 5. Do you know a hoarder? NOpe6. Can you do a split? Thanks to 15 years of being a dancer, I can 7. How old were you when you learned how to ride a bike? Honestly like 14 or 15. I’ve rode a bike maybe 5 times. My parents never taught me. 8. How many oceans have you swam in? 2 for sure (Pacific and Mediterranean) and possibly the Atlantic when i was really little but idk9. How many countries have you been to? Excluding the one I live in I’ve been to 8. (England, France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Italy, Germany and Greece.)10. Is anyone in your family in the army? No11. What would you name your daughter if you had one? Shaye because it’s my sisters middle name and she’ll name her daughter, if she has one, my middle name. :)12. What would you name your son if you had one? Tyler, Max, Alex or Jayce. Those have probably always been my fav guys names. 13. What’s the worst grade you got on a test? 0% for straight up not taking a test but for actually trying, probably like 13%14. What was your favorite TV show when you were a child? This is a tough one. I loved everything. Ed, Edd, n Eddy, Cow and Chicken, CatDog, Courage, all those cartoons on cartoon network. 15. What did you dress up as on Halloween when you were eight? Literally have no clue. Either a Teletubby, and Angel, or Scooby Doo. 16. Have you read any of the Harry Potter, Hunger Games or Twilight series? Nope, Nope, Nope, not interested. 17. Would you rather have an American accent or a British accent? I’ll stick with my American accent. 18. Did your mother go to college? Yup, she went to ASU. 19. Are your grandparents still married? No20. Have you ever taken karate lessons? Yeah, I think i got up to purple belt. 21. Do you know who Kermit the frog is? Ofc. Who doesn’t? 22. What’s the first amusement park you’ve been to? Walt Disney World in FL. 23. What language, besides your native language, would you like to be fluent in? Sign language, Spanish, and Italian. 24. Do you spell the color as grey or gray? Idk I think I use them both equally without reason. Whatever I’m feeling that time I guess lol25. Is your father bald? No he’s got nice thick hair. 26. Do you know triplets? Noooope27. Do you prefer Titanic or The Notebook? LMAO I’VE NEVER SEEN EITHER ONE IF THAT DOESN’T TELL YOU HOW OUT OF THE MEDIA LOOP I AM THEN IDK WHAT WILL. 28. Have you ever had Indian food? No but I’d like to try it. 29. What’s the name of your favorite restaurant? Subway. Idc if u think it’s not a restaurant subway will forever have my heart. 30. Have you ever been to Olive Garden? Yes and honestly the food is so over priced and their breadsticks aren’t even that good. Like they’re usually hard and dry. I can get $3 pizza hut breadsticks that taste better and I don’t even like pizza hut. Nothing against Olive Garden tho, I like to eat there. The fried lasagna is bomb af. It’s an appetizer but I get it as my meal. 31. Do you belong to any warehouse stores (Costco, BJ’s, etc.)? No but my mom has a Sams Club membership so that’s where we go if we’re going to any of them. 32. What would your parents have named you if you were the opposite gender? Tray or Joshua 33. If you have a nickname, what is it? Nik, snick, Nik Nak, snickerdoodle (hence my url) 34. Who’s your favorite person in the world? My sister. She’s my best friend and I couldn’t live without her. 35. Would you rather live in a rural area or in the suburbs? Suberbs hands down. I need business, night life, chaos, and constant noise. 36. Can you whistle? Yes?37. Do you sleep with a nightlight? No but I wish I could sleep with one because sometimes I’m afraid of the dark. 38. Do you eat breakfast every morning? It’s rare that I eat breakfast type foods and it’s more rare that I eat in the morning. So no. 39. Do you take any pills or medication daily? No. I probably should be on some type of adhd medication though. 40. What medical conditions do you have? Your common, anxiety, depression and adhd and your not so common anisocoria and dermatographia. The only one that I haven’t been officially diagnosed with is dermatograpia but that’s only because I haven’t been to the dr since I discovered it. 41. How many times have you been to the hospital? 5 I think

42. Have you ever seen Finding Nemo? Yes

43. Where do you buy your jeans? Walmart usually 44. What’s the last compliment you got? My boyfriend told me I was cute a couple hours ago while I was playing league. 45. Do you usually remember your dreams in the morning? If I sleep long enough to have a dream, yes.  46. What flavor tea do you enjoy? All of them. But I really love mint. 47. How many pairs of shoes do you currently own? Like 15 probably48. What religion will you raise your children to practice? I’ll raise them in a Christian church but it will be up to them what they believe in and decide to practice.  49. How old were you when you found out that Santa wasn’t real? Pretty young. Idr exact age. 50. Why do you have a youtube? Because I like to troll and start shit in the comments. Also because I used to make videos and it was really fun for me and a good release.