#i have a unique hatred for youtube shorts | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

avaliveradio · 1 year

Text

Groundbreaking Hip Hop Tracks of December 2022 to Blow The Roof off

Hip hop has come a long way. What we once knew as hip hop has gone through multiple divisions that pulled it apart and put it back together again in very unusual ways. We are seeing layers of sounds and spiritual elements as well as influences of Heavy Metal and cyber trap. The directions that Hip Hop artists are going with their music is diverse and unique so we gathered a short list of favourites we heard in December 2022.

NOW PLAYING

A.V.A Live Radio is ranked in the top 5% most globally shared podcasts on Spotify. Radio Listeners in over 79 countries including the US, Canada and Europe. 1.4 million minutes viewed and currently in the top 10% of video viewed on Spotify over their entire podcasting platform. We launched 86% more music than any of Spotifys affiliated music program with a goal of doubling that for 2023.

Radio host Jacqueline Jax blows the roof off with some Groundbreaking Hiphop tracks that just arrived for December 2022. Hip-hop has come a long way. What we once new hip-hop has gone through multiple divisions that pulled it apart and put it back together in unusual ways. This edition of our hip-hop show offers you some very diverse and unique new songs.

Discover Hip hop on our playlist updating daily..

Featured Artists..

WhoBe - Suck the Blood

Release date: Dec 08, 2022

Genre: Trap (Hip-hop)

Other: Brostep

Similar artists: Travis Scott, Lil Uzi vert, Rick Ross, Skrillex

Suck the blood is a classic trap song which ends with a surprise. This Visionary Sound design fused with Spiritual enchantments and ritualistic rhythms brings the artists Cyber Trap sound to light as her pulls from influences like Travis Scott, Playboi Carti and Michael Jackson. WhoBe draws inspiration from Heavy Metal acts like Slipknot and Ozzy.

TikTok - Instagram

Nicki Knightz -Bigger Things

Release date: Dec 13, 2022

Genre: Rap, Old-school Hip-Hop, Alternative Hip-Hop

Similar artists: Young Ma, FLOHIO, Little Simz, J Cole, LEX AMOR, Enny, Jeshi, Slowthai, Loyle Carner

'Bigger Things' a reflective, smooth track describing the mindset of an artist balancing working a dead end 9-5 job and also having ambition/dreams of pursuing a music career. A nostalgic sultry piece accompanied by vocals from Ivohé.

A voice for the outcasts, routing out of Hackney, rapper Nicki Knightz’s emotional turmoil is easily identifiable through her husky tone and self-descriptive lyrics over demanding, bass fuelled alternative production. Inspired by ‘B.I.G’s’ smooth flows and low tones, Nicki’s voice is still nothing short of ‘unique’ and raw, accompanied by her partner @hennyknightz left-field production, making her ‘sound’ even more of a breath of fresh air categorising it underneath the genre – Alternative Hip-hop.

SoundCloud - TikTok - Spotify - YouTube - Instagram

KOSHA DILLZ - Rise Up

Release date: Dec 02, 2022

Genre: Hip-Hop / Conscious Hip-Hop

Similar artists: mac miller

"Yo! You wlll dig a strong hip hop song with quality lyrics about fighting all the horrible anti-semitism and standing up for yourself but it sounds fire!!! Something different but needed! With all the rising antisemitism in the pop culture market, Kosha Dillz has released the follow-up for his song Death Con 3 which dissed Ye for his original remarks. The viral song hit millions of views and of course, the follow-up The hip-hop song has a core bounce to attack all the haters and it is a good time for all to rise up. You can hear it all in the lyrics he spits on the chorus.

"They appear to have flavor it's all disguised. Hatred is what I hate when kids got it normalized. I'm trying to live every day and lead a normal life cuz we started from the bottom and up is where we rise."

SoundCloud - TikTok -Facebook - Twitter - Spotify - Bandcamp - Instagram

Otilefty - Follow Me

Released by: Otilefty On The Beat

Genre: Afrobeats / Afro-pop / Afro-fusion

Similar artists: Wizkid, BOJ, Burna Boy, Rema, Omah Lay

“Follow Me” is a single from my upcoming EP titled “Pree My Life”. I intend on releasing this project at the end of January. I also produced and engineered this track to showcase my versatility. This single is part of my upcoming EP i intend on releasing in January 2023. So far it has been playlisted on audiomack Africa official playlists. I intend to promote this track as much as i can and possibly seek to get a publishing deal going forward for this track and my upcoming EP that is yet to be released.

Producer, songwriter and sound engineer born in Lagos, Nigeria. Lefty as he often prefers to be addressed moved to England in his early teens and continued to nurture his sound and blend music from Nigeria, US & UK into his own. “Music is all about Simplicity” he often says. Dive into his unique sound where creating vibes yet catchy melodies that communicates directly to the soul.

TikTok -Twitter -Spotify -YouTube -Instagram

Roman Toyi - LAF (feat. Justy)

Release date: Dec 07, 2022

Genre: Rap Hip-Hop / Conscious Hip-Hop/ Alternative Hip-Hop

Similar artists: Justy, Chris Patrick, Redveil, Kenny mason, Wakai, Alex Wiley, The Mind & Cj fly

"This begins the rollout for my upcoming project with features including mick Jenkins, cam the artisan & producer/ artist Origami beats & Gami.

LAF short for “life ain’t fair”, is the lead single from the upcoming “Shades: The Gray Area” project. Life ain’t fair is a gray topic, set with questions of why and how come and even prompting solutions that seem so simple but in reality are harder to obtain that given credit. The hook “ Life ain’t fair I’m aware that anything goes, Life ain’t fair I hope you aware of that tho” is a reminder that we all operate in this space, unfair, unjust and simple yet complex.

Through Almost a decade or creating music, Roman Toyi has made a clear point that Style and lyricism are the only tunes he understands. Utilizing his vocals as an additional instrument beyond the beat is not an aspect new to music but as a Rapper or Hiphop creative the notion can be overlooked more times than less. Roman offers honestly from his life while setting the tone of invoking true emotion from an audience.

TikTok - Spotify - Instagram - Apple Music

Pelligroso -Street Poetry

Release date: Dec 09, 2022

Released by: Give A Beat Records

Hip-Hop / Conscious Hip-Hop

“Street Poetry” is the debut single by the talented multi-instrumentalist Pelligroso (whose birth name is Koeppell McDade) and the second single launched by Give a Beat Records.

Incarcerated for four years and released in September 2020, Pelligroso’s inspiration for writing the track came from his experience behind bars. He hopes listeners will take away a new understanding of the incarceration system with this first release. “Music is my therapy,” the artist expressed.

“Street Poetry” came to life as Pelligroso collaborated with L.A.-based rapper and producer Zeroh. “He knew exactly what he wanted to do going into it, which made it very easy to drop in and have fun during the recording and editing process,” Zeroh explained. “Sessions like that don't feel like work really; there's enough space to have more meaningful conversation that ultimately helps to illuminate the artist's message/vision."

Zenodro - Ven Aqui feat. Zano

Trap (Hip-hop)Rap

Moods: Energetic, Aggressive

Similar artists: jack harlow

An upbeat song, with a catchy chorus and great lyrics. "This is my third new song. Rapper from New Jersey. I have an eclectic style, being able to rap over any type of beat.

Facebook -Twitter -Spotify -Instagram

Pj Panda - Christmas In The Livin’room

Release date: Nov 25, 2022

Trap (Hip-hop)

Other: Holiday Music, Trap (EDM)

Moods: Energetic, Happy

Let the fun and dope times begin this holiday with Pj Panda’s Christmas In The Livin’room

TikTok Spotify - Instagram

#Hip Hop Music

0 notes

dragonsareourfuture · 3 years

Text

Death Note as Stand-Up Comedians

Mello

- he’s allowed to complain about Near in front of an auditorium full of people as long as it’s in the form of a joke — of course he loves it.

- He has a lot of passion up on stage. The audience loves it because it makes them feel really immersed into the show.

- Mello has a tendency to get really loud when he gets really into a joke or bit, so the tech crew has gotten used to lowering the volume on his mic as the show progresses and he gets louder and louder.

- Mello has a harsh sense of humor, often using exaggerations and sarcasm to accentuate a point.

- He would tell stories from his time at Wammy’s house, mainly the chaos moments with Matt because the rest is pretty traumatizing for him.

- It’s his style that draws people in and his sense of humor that keeps them there. He has a very unique clothing style and, even when his managers suggested he dress down for the show as to not scare people away, he refused. He said that he would rather show who he is upfront and let the public decide whether or not to invest time in him than fake his personality for people he doesn’t know or give a shit about. They got the hint pretty quickly after that.

- He would sometimes do joined shows with Matt, which is quite interesting. Their dynamic works perfectly on stage and they even weave jokes that weren’t scripted into the show to keep each other on their toes.

Matt

- He’s a pretty chill guy, so I picture his sense of humor as pretty dry. Not in a bad way, of course. For instance, he tends to say the most hilarious things with a straight face and flat tone, which somehow makes the joke even funnier.

- He likes to involve the audience a lot, so gags where he (with permission) takes an audience member’s phone and reads their texts aloud are common. Somehow he can make jokes about the most mundane of text conversations and have the audience howling.

- Like I mentioned earlier, he and Mello’s contrasting senses of humor work for a perfect dynamic when performing, so shows where they’re together are the audience’s favorite. But even though Mello’s wild passion can take the spotlight at times, Matt is never overshadowed as they’re both sure to include the other in any bit or joke they do.

- For no reason at all I think Matt it great at imitations and impressions of different people. So, like when he’s doing a bit and speaking for someone else he can assign voices for everyone and the audience knows who he’s supposed to be speaking as in that moment. Usually these people are only known to him and Mello, so the audience can’t tell how exactly spot on he is. His impression of Near gets Mello wheezing, and his Mello impression gets the audience wheezing with Mello constantly claiming “I don’t sound like that, idiot!” With the audience shouting “YES YOU DO!”

- L’s sense of humor tends to require a specific taste, which is why he would probably be one of the least successful of the bunch.

- Don’t get me wrong, his sense of humor is adorable and one of the best aspects of Death Note in my opinion, but it comes in short and random bursts. He’d be talking about something serious and then crack a joke (“yEs tHat mUst Be dArK”), so it requires patience to really get to his sense of humor.

- The audience, I feel, wouldn’t have the patience to stick around and wait for his humor to surface.

- But L would have a cult following of a specific group of people that appreciate his talents.

- I’m picturing a show in which he starts off by talking about some cases, and transition to jokes from there. Due to his occupation, many jokes involve a darker sense of humor but also contain surprisingly innocent little remarks or comments. I can’t really explain it better, it makes sense in my head but I’m not too sure how to put it into words.

- Most of the show he keeps his straight face, but when he gets the audience going from something he said he can’t help but crack a little smile and chuckle into the mic pretty bashfully.

Near

- I’m sorry but Near doesn’t have too much of a sense of humor. But he does do or say some of the most hilarious shit on accident.

- It was actually Halle that convinced him to take up stand up comedy, as she got to spend tons of time just sitting and talking with him, cracking up at something Near said while he just stared at her in confusion.

- She had complete and total confidence that just plopping Near on stage and telling him to “just talk” would get the audience going, so she took him to a bar that did stand up comedy nights. Near absolutely killed it.

- Eventually he learns what the public finds funny through experimentation and tells those kinds of jokes more often, learning to perfect his craft. Through this method he is able to go from ‘accidentally funny’ to ‘intentionally hilarious’.

Light

- I wholeheartedly believe that Light has no sense of humor. Period.

- Sure, he’s accidentally funny sometimes but not enough to fake it ‘til he makes it like Near did.

- So he gets someone else to write his show for him. He’s just a pretty face, and the person who wrote his show is mentioned once or twice but who really cares about them? It’s Light who’s doing all the work, obviously. He’s the one getting sweaty up on stage.

- Honestly he barely has a sense of humor he’s probably just do it as a side thing for recognition or like most youtubers who write a book or start a podcast.

Matsuda

- Okay so, I definitely think that Matsuda would be one of the most successful stand up comedians out of all of them.

- He’s just so bubbly and kind and just genuinely a wonderful person so who could walk out of a show if his unsatisfied? No one. That’s who.

- My mans here has the opportunity to make so many self deprecating jokes due to how the task force treats him and how he’s just overall looked at as inferior to everyone he works with. And guess what? He doesn’t take that opportunity at all. He thinks self worth is the most important thing in the world and instead focuses his jokes around break room stories and observations of every day life.

- However if he ever does make a self deprecating joke, it’s never with any hatred towards himself. Like, he’ll joke about how his recklessness got him in trouble with Yotsuba, but instead of cursing the trait he has, he always expresses his hopes to get better and learn from his mistakes. Meanwhile the audience is dying at how he tells the story with so much energy and just— ...he’s wonderful.

- He just reminds me of John Mulaney when I picture a show of his.

- He’s pretty goofy by nature and you can tell that he’s enjoying himself up on stage, watching him laugh at his own jokes and beam at the audience with a smile so bright it could rival the spotlight shining down on him.

- He also really likes the attention, having been pushed to the side for so long.

- He’s just overall a really nice and positive guy while also being hilarious to listen to. 10/10.

Misa

- With her already existing music career and fashion career, people know her pretty well. Therefore, there is a HOARD of people waiting to see how she fairs at something so different from her previous career paths.

- And y’know what? Misa’s great at it.

- I’d like to imagine she’s out of her terrible relationship with Light in this au and realize how messed up he was, so I think she’d do a lot of clowning Light in her shows.

- She will kinda mix the comedy with valuable life lessons on relationships, so a lot of fans come up to her and thank her because they let their kids watch her shows and they’ve learned so much from her while being entertained for a good hour.

- Also her voice is so cute and pleasant to listen to I would gladly listen to her talk for a week let alone an hour.

- I imagine her style of show and humor to be along the lines of straight up ranting and just talking her heart out. You know that friend that can talk for hours but it’s okay because they make everything, even the most mundane things, sound dramatic and fun and lively? Yeah, that’s her.

#death note #death note headcanon #Misa amane #death note misa #matt death note #mihael keehl #mello death note #Mail jeevas #nate river #near death note #light yagami #l Lawliet #l death note #touta matsuda #matsuda death note #comedian

101 notes · View notes

popculturebuffet · 3 years

Text

One Year Anniversary: Top 12 Ducktales Episodes!

Happy anniversary all you happy people! Yes it was one year ago today I started reviewing animation and it’s been a ride to be sure. I’d always WANTED to be a reviewer: I love going on and on about stuff I love, really digging into it and picking it apart... but I could never get started. I tried youtube but I didn’t have the money for the equipment nor a proper shooting space to record, so my efforts.. were not great. And while I TRIED text reviews, my own looming pile of self hatred meant every attempt I made was shot down when it got hard as me not being good enough.

But one year ago I finally got past that. I’d already been reviewing a bit, doing invididual issues of comics... but got way in over my head trying to do the current line of X-Men comics as it came out, and wisely bowed out of that. But that left a gap: I had nothing to cover week to week and with a demanding new job, I drifted into just doing in charcter chats, little fan fictions script styles. Not bad work, I should do some more at some point and I even got a comissoin once in a while, but nothing I could really live on and not what I wanted to do with my life.

Enter Ducktales. I’d always WANTED to review the show.. and when the double premire happened, I decided fuck it, and put up my thoughts. And then decided.. hey maybe I can do this every week.. and slowly.. my work evolved, getting better and better, getting more and more likes. I picked up Amphibia when that came by week to week.

And eventually.. this went from a hobby, if one I was passionate about to a career. Not a largely paying one, as only one person was really intrested in paying me for it, friend of the blog and our fincial backer @weirdkev27, but .. it’s money and i’m now making about 30 dollars a month due to a comination of comissions and patreon. Other contributers are always welcome mind you, my patreon is here if your curious and comissions are 5 dollars an episode, but i’ts just nice to have money coming in. To have gone from simply WANTING to review things and make a living off it.. to simply doing it.

And it’s been one hell of a year.. and not just because 2020 felt like hell or 2021 began with a full on insurrection. I feel like i’ve acomplished a lot in the year i’ve been doing this: I finished what I started with Ducktales season 3, getting better and better as I went. And I didn’t stop there with ducks: I started covering what brought me to Ducks in the first place, the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, and while that retrospective has slid a bit on the schedule, I intend to get it back on track this month. I reviewed a bunch of Darkwing Duck episodes leading up to the Just Us Justice Ducks.. chronologically anyway. The actual airing order reads like someone took 50 issues of a comic, made it rain with them, then just started reading whatever ones they picked up randomly. I also covered some of Duck Master Carl Barks work with the classics Night on Bear Mountain, A Christmas for Shacktown and Back to the Klondike, with more to come.

And the Duck didn’t stop at just reviews I did on my own: Kev comissioned two MASSIVE retrospectives from me: My first for him was Ride of the Three Caballleros where in just a few short months I covered the boys entire televisied careers together from the movie, to house of mouse, to mickey and the roadster racers, to ducktales (again) and finishing with the wonderful Legend of the Three Caballeros. It has probably the worst Daisy imaginable, but otherwise is really excellent and i’m glad I finally watched it. I also covered Don Rosa’s two stories with the boys as part of it. It was a fun ride and I enjoyed every minute of it... okay most of them again Three Cabs Daisy is the worst. And once that finished Kev started up another idea: Shadow Into Light: a look at Lena’s character arc from start to finish that has gone on to be my most popular series on this blog, and that finishes next week. And there’s more to come as after that there’s a short breather with a look at Lilo and Stitch’s crossover episodes.. folllowed by me looking at all three of season 2′s ducktales arcs. And I fully intend to have covered every episode of the series by this time next year, so stay tuned.

Outside of ducks though I didn’t slow down. I restarted my Tom Lucitor retrospective, covering what i feel to be one of Star Vs’ two best characters, tied with eclipsa, and my personal faviorite as he redeemeed himself, found love and I bitched a lot about the horrible directions the series took and probabably will more as that’s still not done yet. I did what I always wanted to do and started looks at some of my faviorite comics ever, starting with Life and Times and adding in New X-Men and Scott PIlgrim. I also threw in the awesome comic Blacksad. I did pride month for the first time and not only came out publicly, but also did two whole arcs i’m proud of with The Saluna episodes of Loud house and the rednid episodes of OK KO, and generally just had myself a good old fashioned time as an out bi man reviewing childrens cartoons.

I started Season 2 of amphibia with it’s lows of an endlesss road trip and highs of adding Marcy to the cast and giving us more of the silky voiced keith david. And finally Patreon wise Kev’s taken me on a hell o fa journey: In addition to the restrospectives i’ve covered some additional darkwing duck, and a simpsons homage to the duck comics... but also got a bit weird and obscure with detours like the lost animnaics sucessor Histeria, the apocalyptic comedy where Santa dosen’t know how doors work Whoops! and the adventures of Santa’s bratty teen daughter jingle belle. In short.. it’s been a long year but damn has it been fun and there’s more to come. I’d like to thank all of you for reading, thank my Patreons Kev and Emma for supporting me, and thank my family for doing the same. So with that out of the way, I figured the best way to celebrate was to do something i’ve been wanting to do for a long time, something honoring the show that gave me this calling in the first place. And with Season 3 sadly being the last, and enough weeks having passed for me to digest it between the finale and today, I could think of nothing better than my top 12 episodes of Ducktales.

Ducktales is one of the best cartoons of the 2010′s. Brilliantly taking EVERYTHING that had come before, the comics, the original cartoon and every bit of duck media period to craft a masterful, unique and wonderful reboot. It was funny, it was insane, and it had damn good character arcs. By the end every member of the main cast along with major supporting cast members like Fenton, Drake and especially Lena, had changed and signifigantly at that. The show was everything I could’ve dreamed of and more and I miss it terribly, hoping DIsney will do a revivial movie at some point. For now though, Frank and Matt’s run on ducktales, as they called it and I do too since i’m a massive comic book nerd, it’s time to look back on my favorite tales of ducks. So grab your sharks, your number one dimes and your friendship cakes with clear gay undertones and join me under the cut as I celebrate one of my faviorite shows and my anniversary in the best way possible.

12. House of the Lucky Gander!

So as i’ve gone on about before and no doubt will again, Donald kinda got the short end of the stick in season 1. While Frank and Matt had good story intentions, keeping Donald away from adventure since he had no interest in it, in practice it meant a beloved Disney Icon who they and disney HEAVILY promoted as part of the series and whose being here this go round was a big draw for fans of the comics.... was only in a quarter of the season and only got TWO plots centered around him in 23 episodes, with only one being the main plot of the episode. The PIlot and Finale both centered around the family more as a whole if your curious how I counted those so while he got plenty of focus in both, it’s still not a day in the limelight sort of thing.

But unusually for Donald, he lucked out as his one big starring role for Season 1 was both one of my faviorites and one of Season 1′s most inventive outings. A lot of the episodes enegy comes from a one two punch of a great guest star and one of the series best settings. The guest star is of course everyone’s faviorite overly lucky himbo Gladstone Gander. The show adapted the prick perfectly: The original Gladstone from the comics.. was the worst asshole imaginable, utterly insufferable. And for a villian, and Donald’s rival, that’s all well and good.. but his super luck meant he RARELY , if ever, suffered any consequences for being just...

The 87 series simply made him nicer, while Going Quackers simply removed his luck. No adaptation really got how to make this fucker work.. until this one. Here Frank split the diffrence: Gladstone is still smug.. but he’s no longer actively malicious. While he is an insensitive prick to Donald in this one, unlike the comics he’s not constantly bragging about his luck or how great he is or actively BAITING Donald to fight with him or trying to ruin his relationship or a million other reasons he sucks and I hate him.

This version by contrast... is generous. He’s not the most empathetic, because he doesn’t get how life works, but he does share the riches of the casnio with everyone and in a cameo appearance in “Treasure of the Found Lamp” gladly offers his nephews some diamonds. He’s got a nice surface level charm to him that makes you understand why people like him.. but it’s also clear ther’es nothing UNDER that of value, making you equally understand why Scrooge and Donald hate him. Gladstone in this reboot is a perfect example of why we need reboots or new adaptations in the first place: Because sometimes the original got something wrong or something can be done much better by the new writers.

He’s perfectly paired with the setting: The House of Lucky Fortune, a mystical casino with an East Asian astatic based in the country of Macaw and provides two great plots. Donald’s really highlights his character: His understandable jealousy at gladstone earning the boys love through nothing while he struggles to make a living for them, and how he feels like a looser and like Gladstone is simply showing that off instead of just not knowing what empathy is. Having Louie be the one to bond with Gladstone was also just pitch pefefct, as is showing some depth for the boy by having himr ealize his hero is an asshole and be the one to help donald in the end.

The other plot is just pure joy though and is where the setting REALLY shines: Scrooge and the rest of the kids try to leave.. but can’t find the exit. This is where the creative part comes in: The Casino simply morphs to keep people trapped, and caters to them, giving them whatever they want to keep them trapped. In the cases of the kids it’s all hilarious and adorably in character: Huey becomes entranced by a fancy water show, in one of his best bits of the season, Dewey gets a pet tiger who sadly did not come home with him and Webby gets to live the dream we’ve all had of stuffing her face directly in a choclate fountain. Scrooge’s escape is likewise clever: He simply prepares to get a room.. then books it as the check in desk is ALWAYS near the front.

We then find out Gladston’es trapped get the whole mystical contest with absolutely gorgeous animation, i’ll talk about it in full some time but this episode is just a treat to watch, has a great arc for donald and had some memorable gags. I can’t help but smile when I watch it.

11. The Dangerous Chemistry of Gandra Dee! As I mentioned before i’m a superhero nerd so naturally Fenton was one of my faviorite parts of the show. Frank and Matt were just damn good at crafting superhero stories, and like gladstone improved fenton turning him from an awkward donald stand in to an awkward peter parker-esque science nerd who just wants to be a good person and the best hero he can be. He got into science not just because he thinks it’s neat, but because he honestly wants to help people and you can’t help but foot for him whenever he pops up. Lin Manuel Miranda is a large reason for that, bringing his incomparable a-game to the character. While we sadly didn’t get a ton of gizmoduck focused episodes, the fatct we got AS MANY as we did and that Lin didn’t drop out for a minute even with his busy schedule was a miracle and I’m acknowledging that.

As for why this one, I feel it builds brilliantly on the previous Fentoncentric episode Who Is Gizmoduck?! which just BARELY didn’t make this list and uses the fact we haven’t seen fenton in a while as both a plot point and to move some things forward without having to spend screentime they clearly didn’t have. By having Fenton be just burnt out on superheroics it finds a way to both explain where he’s been, he’s been busy with his new job, and give us an interesting angle to the old “superhero is tired of the life” thing. He never once complains about saving people or stuff... it’s just like any job it gets tiring after a while. As someone who has his dream job but has struggled with it from time to time, I vastly relate.

Though while I love my boy and Lin is game as always, the episodes real MVP is my other boy Huey. The episode has moved Huey up from being simply Fenton’s fanboy to being his best friend, and adorable as hell relationship. The two clearly respect and appricate each other and Huey is looking out for his buddy the whole episode. His love of love is also just really cute. Added in the mix is Webby, who in one of my faviorite gags of the series, finds out Fenton is Gizmoduck because Huey is incredibly and insanely blatant with his unecessary coverup. But she of course is game to help while Fenton is trying to play it casual. We also just get a waterfall of great gags as everyone overdoes it wingmanning for fenton: Huey sets up an itallian bistro and tries to purposfully create a lady and the tramp situation, and sings opera (With Manny on acordian), the wonderfully 80′s suit from Fenton’s dad his mom gives him to wear, and Launchpad, who gives us a tremendous list of his exes, and plays my favorite song of the series: It’s a Date, a micheal mcdonnel riff.

This episode also wisely ups Mark’s Beaks game as Fenton’s arch enemy, still keeping him hilaroius, with the guy acting like a bored teenager and guzzling so much nanite jucie he turns into a hulk, as well as said hulk mode leading to a ton of great gags from kidnapping the children (”I got your kids.. are they your kids? I don’t know how this family works), to “take that coach dad” to eating a pie with tins and all and wondering about said tins. But he’s an actual threat now, taking on fenton in one hell of a fight, and having an utterly transcendent scene where he hacks his way past gyro’s security while dancing.. and dabbing because of course he does. It’s a fun, well done character piece that’s mostly here for i’ts laugh but Fenton’s struggle with Gizmo overtaking his life, and finding out someone he truly hit it off iwth only wanted him for that.. it’s really good stuff and Lin’s delivery after Fenton finds out, the pure pain and betryal in his voice, is just excellent. Also that opera scene is poetry.

10. Quack Pack!

One of the episodes that started my career naturally landed here. Not for that reason though: Quack Pack is a fun riff on sitcoms, specifically the tgif ones of the 90′s that Disney Afternoon Kids no doubt also watched, the kinds Disney Channel still makes today, and most importanly the kind the Disney Afternoon itself made like Goof Troop and well... Quack Pack.

Riffs on sitcoms are nothing new and the last year has been FULL of them. 2020 gave us this episode, Beef House and the wonderful “The Perfect House” episode of Close Enough, and this year gave us WandaVision, my second favorite MCU project so far, right behind Black Panther, which used the sitcom deconstruction to create one hell of a character study.

So you’d think with a year having passed and this concept happening as an entire mini series would dull this one.. but no. it’s still damn funny, having fun at the cliches while, again like WandaVision, having one of the main cast be responsible by accident but go along with it. The episode pivots from glorious affectionate parody of cheesy sitcoms, to that plus horrifying “Humans”, and a character piece for Donald. This brings Donald’s hatred and fed up ness with adventure to a head revealing his fondest wish is just to have a normal life and not loose anyone again.

It takes one of his best friends to snap him out of it. Look Goofy is my second faviorite of the sensational seven, an episode with him was already an easy sell for me.. but the episode uses him really well. First for laughs as he’s gentically dispositioned to be a perfect sitcom neighbor.. but also for heart. With his family preoccupied and a bit hurt, i’ts Goofy who cuts to the heart of the issue, pointing out NO ONE is normal and even his normal domestic life raising Max, who we see go to prom with roxanne eeeeee, has all sorts of chaos. Normal is what you make of it and pining for some ideal that will never happen was just tearing donald apart piece by piece and by letting go of that.. he finally begins to grow as a person throughout the season. It’s also a great thematic tie in to the season’s overall plot with Bradford and what Makes donald, despite also disliking the chaos his family gets into, different. Donald accepted it and grew as a person.. Bradford clung to his hate and it ate him alive. Or turned him into a non-sapient kind of vulture. Before I close this part out Jaleel White is also excellent and I wish eh’d get back into voice acting. He’s so freaking good at it. Seriously man i’d love to see him and ben in a sonic property together as a mythology gag. Same with Jims cummings and carey. Just think about it whoever owns the sonic movies.. think about it.

9. The Last Adventure!

Look I knew this was coming, you knew this was coming. But it had to be on here. The Last Adventure is not perfect: The lack of a build up episode like the previous two finales had really hurt this one: even at about 70 minutes, it still feels rushed in places and Huey, one of hte main characters of the season, dosen’t feel like he has a full payoff to his character like Dewey and Louie got.

But despite those flaws.. this episode is just a damn good ending. Almost everyone gets a big moment paying off their character arc, everyone in the party that comes to rescue webby and huey, along with the two themselves, gets a moment to show off, and everything comes together to give us one last epic sendoff. There’s just moment stacked on moment stacked on moment from Launchpads heroic second wind and donning of the gizmoduck armor, to Webby’s tearful confrontation with Beakley, to Huey using the greatest adventure of all line to foil bradford in one of the most deligfhully nuts moments of the series, I could go on for days with just how triumphant this finale felt. While it left a lot of doors open.. that feels like part of the design. It’s the end of the fight with FOWL.. but our heroes will never stop adventuring, never stop going and never stop being in our hearts and the curtain call at the end is now my faviorite bit of end credits ever, perfectly giving the main cast and friends one last chance to take a bow in their own unique ways. I will always miss this show but I will never be disapointed by the note it went out on.

8. The 87 Cent Solution!

Look some episodes are show stoppers, some are heartfelt tearjerkers, some are all this and more.. and some episodes are just clever and hilarious. The 87 Solution is the second funniest episode of Ducktales with me and my go to episode when watching the show. It’s just pure fun and with a clever premise: Scrooge notices 87 cents have gone missing, and already coming down with a cold, goes mad with paranoia as the kids slowly don face masks, something that has become even eeerier given everything, one by one realizing he needs to stop.

While David Tennant is an EXCELLENT dramatic actor, his comedy timing is really something that shoudln’t be ignored and i’ts on full display here as his performance gets more and more deranged, to thep oint he thinks an 8th dimensional imp is repsonsible. He nicely balances the disturbing side of Scrooge’s paranoia, his distancing from his family, with plenty of great gags about it too, the standout being when he offers 2 million dollars to whoever took the money like he’s publicly appeasing kidnappers. It’s fucking brilliant.

But while David is awesome as ever what really, truly makes the episode is my boy, one of my faviorite characters on the show if not my single faviriote FLINTHEART GLOMGOLD. Keith Ferguson is ALWAYS a dream as the character but this is his best performance by far. Part of this is the addition of Zan Owlson, Kev who I mentioned earlier’s faviorite Ducktales character. She’s not only throughly likeable in her own right, but provides the one thing Flinty was missing; a straight man.. or woman in this case. Scrooge wasn’t TERRIBLE in the roll, but can easily step away from his shit or foil it. Owlson has to put up with Glomgold’s nonsense while desperatly trying to stop him from undoing all her hard work with sheer force of jackass. The two jut play off each other brilliantly, Glomgold not getting sh’es not his employee but his equal and Owlson constnatly snarking at him.

And of course both things hit their peak in the climax with the family staging a fake funeral (Though no one told donald it was fake), and we get the funniest scene in the entire fucking show as Glomgold burts in in a white suit, money shades and full dance number to “All I Do Is Win’, which when first watching this I was convinced the song was somehow accidnetly on in the background but nope. They got it after using it in the test phase and the scene is better for it. Glomgold twerking on Scrooge’s casket, trying to get on it to dance, and having to be placated like ac hild is the icing on this very rich cake

And the reveal scene is also gold as Glomgold gets into a YEARLONG staring contest with a baby, fails to steal more than the 87 cents and, in my faviorite touch, put on an imp costume just to make scrooge seem crazier... then keeps the damn thing on the rest of the time for no explicable reason. The episode is the show at it’s comedic peak while giving Glomgold a chance to be a genuine threat and that’s Glomgood.

7. Let’s Get Dangerous!

Frank’s Rebooted Version of Darkwing Duck is probably his greatest achivment with the show. While this show is a team effort, something I slowly realized as I reviewed the show, it’s very clear from the way he talks, how well he knows the show and how much effort was put into porting Darkwing into the reboot that this was his baby. While redefining ducktales for the 2010′s was clearly a huge dream of his... doing the same for the master of suprise was an even bigger goal. And as a huge fan of superheroes i’ve seen my fair share of half assed takes on laired and complex characters. The XCU alone is one giant grab bag of missed opportunities for me.

So i’ts no exageration when I tell you Frank.. nailed it. In one of the most brilliant moves i’ve seen for a superhero work Frank worked his love of the show into the reboot.. by having Darkwing have been a show, one Launchpad loved.. and so did Drake, who was inspried by the show to become an inspriation himself and while his attempt to do that through a zack snydery reboot failed, Launchpad encouraged him to do it for real. Drake was still himself, but the meta aspect and the toning down of some of darkwing’s more obnoxious traits that didn’t work in a universe that, while patently rediciulous still took it’s characters seriously, he made a BETTER version of the character.

This is where all that comes to it’s peak, and hoppefully convinced Disney to let Frank , and possibly matt, run the reboot. And no, even if Point Grey is producing that dosen’t stop that: Thanks to Invincible i’ve now realized that Seth and his friend Evan producing the show dosen’t mean it’ll be RAN by them, nor unrelated to this. It just means their helping make it and if anything given how lush and gorgeous invincible’s animation is, it’s a VERY good sign their helping out with it if it’s true.

But wether this versoin continues or not, Frank gave it his best shot. Part of his diffrent angle is having Drake as a rookie here and as such here we see him truly struggle: he’s had his origin, he ahs the cape, he has the gadgets (in a brilliant turn thanks to fenton, who he actually likes... but is so far the ONLY person to not get he’s Gizmoduck), and the city.. but no crime to fight and no real idea how to go about his lifelong dream. The events of the episode slowly shape him: WHile he already had the spirit for darkwing, never giving up, looking good in a cape etc, this episode gives him the heart the same way it gave his original it: With Gosalyn. Dimantopolis and Beatriz just play off each other perfectly, as the two go from neimies to slowly bonding as Drake realizes this kid needs him and that he needs to fight for more than just filing the ohle inside, and goes to hell and back to help her get her grandpa back, with one of the best moments of the episode to me being when Launchpad helps her realize how hard he’s been working at it, an exausted drake refusing to acccept that he can’t get her grandpa back because he promised. He grows from simply trying to live the dream.. to surpassing the original. We also see more from Launchpad, who grows into his new family and helps push his boyfriend and newa dopted daughter in the right directions. The episode really evolves these characters from the simple disney afternoon versions, who while awesome were made into fully fleshed out characters. Gosalyn still has her edge but now has a hard lesson to learn about doing the right thing, forced to give up someone she loves for the greater good but finding a new family in the process.

Part of what makes the episode work though as while it is funcitonally one big darkwing duck reboot pilot that’s awesome, heartrending and a joy to watch... it’s still a ducktales episode in parts without either part hurting each other. Huey plays a vital role, figuring the ramrod is too good to be true.. and discovering just how it is, then when captured, slowly unravling why Bradford’s there and being at least in part responsible for outing him as a FOWL agent. While this is largely Drakes story the rest of the cast is still vital to it: Scrooge trusting in huey, Louie serving as his logical counter and Dewey meanwhile bonding with team darkwing and helping Gosalyn, knowing exactly where she’s been and providing a nice foil. The episode is just one long and impressive love letter to the original show while creating it’s own thing and that’s really this reboot in a nutshell. It also has some of the best fights of the series, with the first fight between darkwing and bulba, where our hero, unlike his original counterpart, easily troucnes bulba using his speed and skill, is the standout.

6. Woo-Ooo!

I covered this one recently so I won’t go on for too long.. but I will say I hold this one up as the gold standard for first episodes. In one hour, hell even in jus the first half we get a sense of the whole cast, the tone of the show, and the world we’ve been thrust into. It gets all the table setting out of the way by weaving it into a compelling story of Scrooge getting back in the game, finding a reason to get back to what he does best in those he loves most and setting up the season long arc effortlessly in the process. The worst I can say about the episode is it sets the bar a bit high for Season 1 and a lot of the first half really struggled to reach these heights. This episode is a masterwork and the perfect showcase for what the series would be at it’s height.

5. Moonvasion!

Speaking of Golden Standards, Moonvasion is one of the best season finale’s i’ve seen. it’s not THE best.. but that’s a really high bar to clear and that spots currently taken in my heart by “The Crossroads of Destiny” from Avatar the Last Airbender. But while not the best of it’s kind, it’s sitll the best the series put out and is an utterly satisfying epic that ties up season 2.

While I love the Last Adventure, it had a LOT to tie up and was really hampered by having to do all of that with no direct lead in. Moonvasion by contrast hits the ground running with the Moonlanders arriving on earth and all hell breaking loose, and the episode itself breaking into two stellar plots. Scrooge leading an army of every ally he has against the invaders, and Della seemingly going for reinforcements.. but really just trying to keep the kids safe from it, to their anger once they find out.

Both sides end up going badly: Scrooge looses most of his army as Lunaris was one step ahead of him and is left iwth Beakly and Launchpad, while Della ends up marooned.. and finds Donald. The reunion between the two is the highlight of the special, as the two argue as you’d expect (And Dewey cutting in seemingly to stop it.. only to rant at Donald for costing him “ten years of turbo” is the best gag of the episode), before embracing.

Our heroes naturally find ways to bounce back though. Louie, capping off his growth for the season, convinces his mom they can’t just hide.. and in the second best scene of the episode sings the lullabye she wrote.. one Donald sung them every night

And no sooner than Della gets her step back and realizes that dangerous or not she and her newly reunited family have to get back in there, do the cousins show up on Fethry’s giant shrimp/girlfriend Mitzi, and our heroes head back.

Scrooge’s plot hits i’ts peak though as he’s forced to accept the help of an unlikely and unwelcome ally: Glomgold, who turns out to be exactly what they need: While his plan is as stupid, short sighted and insane as you’d expect, complete with forcing Scrooge to dress up as santa just to piss him off and dressing his sharks in parkas (”I call them sharkas”), the sheer lonacy throws Lunaris off as he dosen’t know how to deal with this and Glomgold not only gets the better of him but gets his company back as part of his scheme. “You were prepared for our best but not our dumbest!” “And i’m the dumbest theirs ever been! Muahahahaha! Wait...”

And of course our other heroes arrive just in time to save things.. and the episode still manages to pull off what many works struggle to, something tha’ts very hard to: a SECOND climax. Lunaris decides to just say fuck it and blow up the earth and i’ts up to our core family to kick his ass in space. Epic space battles, Della’s girlfriend meeting the family and more insues and an emotoinal, action packed and fully satisfying finale is had by all... and it’s all topped with one of the best sequel hooks i’ve ever seen as FOWL makes themselves known to us.. and prepares to strike.

4. How Santa Stole Christmas! This one will also be short as i’ve talked about this one.. a lottttt. The initial review, my best christmas specials list and my best of 2020 list. I stand by all of that: this is a unique and wonderful christmas special, i’ll be watching it every year, and i’ts full of charm, humor and gay subtext. In short it’s this series but on christmas footing.

3. Last Crash of the Sunchaser!

Another one I covered very recently, this episode is a master piece of suspense, slowly building tension as our heroes get closer and closer to the truth about Della.. and to death, the simple but deadly stakes making this an absolute nailbiter from start to finish. This is some of the series best pacing bar none... but what seals it is the ending: the masterful flashback finally explaning whatever happened to Della duck, our heroes lashing out at each other.. all cumilating in the best Scene of the show. I said it might be in the review but no I can confirm: Scrooge bitterly ruminating over things while we find out just how much he’s lost... ending with him tearfully and angrily sitting once again alone in one hell of a powerful shot echoing Scrooge’s first apperance. Damn fine stuff.

2. Escape from The Impossbin Only one episode not only matches Last Crash in mounting tension and atmosphere but suprasses it. With FOWL and Bradford’s true nature now out in the wind, this episode uses that to create tension and rattles it’s two most unshakable characters: SCrooge’s normal boundless confidence is shot, not sure he can win this time against an opponent who knows him as well as he knows himself while Beakly slowly unravels, pitting Webby against the boys.. and pitting herself against Webby when Webby sees her terroizing them is only dividing them. Both plots start out funny enough but slowly escalate in tension and stakes until by the end your on the edge of your seat. The Beakly plot is the standout of the two, giving Bentina the starring role she badly needed, having gotten even better in light of the finale. Everyone is at the top of their game and everything builds up to one hell of a twist ending and one hell of a badass boast from our heroes: Their down.. but their far from out and this is far from over.

1. Nightmare On Kimotor Hill!

I”ll be reviewing this episode in full later this week as part of my Lena retrospective, but I stand by putting it up top. This episode is ducktales in it’s purest form and focuses on it’s best original character as Lena grapples with her self hatred and her past. That core helps anchor an amazing concept: going into the Kid’s dreams and finding out their greatest desires. The results.. are all gloriously rediclous and are easily the best gags of hte series as a whole: Dewey’s high school musical santa claus is going ot high school nonsense from getting a’s in Dewology to running away from the abstract concept of a love intrest, to not getting the sybolism of himself crying a moon made of his own tears. Louie quite literally becoming garfield, and my faviorite scene of the show: Huey, wanting to be the tall older brother..g iving himself horrifcly long leg. While everyone else is just understandably baffled, what makes the scene is the banter between Dewey and Huey, with Schwartz and Pudi at their best as Dewey first freaks out and then asks what the hell man, while Huey defends his weird decision (”I”m not good at imagination stuff okay!”), and then tries to get a jar of pickles. Each dream is just so oddly and wonderfully specific to each kid and each one of the triplests dreams, as well as violets being color coded down tot he backgrounds is a very nice touch. The visuals here are just peak ducktales, using the setting for all it’s worth and the climax is utterly emotoinal and heartbreaking... and Lena’s break from her abuser, finally realizing she has the power now is not only a wonderful metaphor... but also just so damn cathartic. And that’s why this one’s the best to me personally: it just packs so much into 20 minutes: some of the series best and most creative jokes, a gripping emtoinal arc, and so much more. It’s just that damn good and tha’ts why it’s the best... that and starting Huelet for me. Seriously that LIbrary scene is so fucking cute.

Thank you all for reading. If you liked this artcle, join my patreon and help me get to my stretch goal for monthly darkwing duck reviews, a review of super ducktales and more after! Until the next rainbow... it’s been a pleasure.

64 notes · View notes

bloodstained-ballgowns · 3 years

Note

saw your black widow post and i loved it too and like any other marvel movie it has flaws but my god its just like men really only have negative things to say about the film.

i get being disappointed that taskmaster wasnt the original comic book guy or feeling the character was under utilized but man guys really act this was some horrific thing.

i found 4 videos on youtube, that i havent watched, when you search black widow that are titled "how black widow failed" , "dumb and disappointing", "the problem with black widow", and black widow is a bad movie" (those titles may be slightly inaccurate).

plus dont get me started on the tweets....

i dont get why men are so butthurt. like you dont have to like a movie but its really disheartening.

Hi anon. Sorry for not replying for a few days, my headspace has been all over the place recently.

My feelings in full on Taskmaster are stated in this post but in short, they really are acting like the ten minutes Taskmaster was on screen ruined the entire 2hrs 15mins for them. It’s disappointing and discouraging, but not entirely surprising.

I've seen the same videos, anon, and have scrolled quickly past similar titles. "Everything Wrong With Black Widow" is a recurring one. The way some people not only can, but relish, sitting through fifteen minutes of purely negative feedback (with a helping of misogyny), is sickening to me. There's seeing both sides of the argument, and then there's drowning yourself in nonsensical hatred.

I don't have Twitter because my mental health could not survive that toxicity, but I can completely imagine the kind of stuff those numbskulls are typing out.

All movies deserve criticism, Black Widow is not exempt there, but not all movies deserve the magnified fault-finding that so many female-starring movies are subject to. As far as many reviewers were concerned, BW’s main problems were to do with the weak overly-CGI third act, but this is a symptom that most Marvel movies suffer from, whereas it was made out to be a crime unique to this film. Cruella suffered the same heightened examination.

I don’t think there really is a way to ‘get’ this specific brand of male backlash. It’s illogical and resistant to reason, and consistently confounding as to how so large a percentage of the male audience fails to relate to female characters.

#black widow #replies #fuck you dudebros

6 notes · View notes

danwhobrowses · 3 years

Text

One Piece 1000 - 10 Confessions as a One Piece Fan

Although we did the Initial Thoughts a week ago (a long week ago, damn) which you can read here I wanted to do something for the official release of One Piece’s 1000th Chapter At first it started out to be ‘10 things I wanna ask Oda that I don’t think we’ll ever know’ but I couldn’t think of 10, then I was gonna do a General opinion post about it, but didn’t want it to come off too negative. So I am settling on a confessions post, which will have elements of these anyway.

So as we have a happy 1000, let’s talk about some stuff I usually don’t get to talk about in One Piece

Note: There will probably be spoilers so make sure you’re up to date

10. Late Beginnings I think the first confession I have to have is that despite being older than One Piece I am unfortunately not a ‘Day One’ fan. In fact I think I mainly got into One Piece around mid-Whole Cake Island arc, before I had of course known about One Piece, it was a ‘Big Three’ anime after all but the most I knew about it was that they had a guy named Luff-y and another called Zorro, and it was about ‘Pirates who can’t swim’. My curiosity only developed when in a youtube deep-dive of anime clips I kept being recommended One Piece clips, and decided to give a couple a go. Most of them were Paradise arc stuff from the anime, the dub voices were mostly atrocious so I stuck to sub. I was happily surprised about the amount of fun and emotional weight these clips gave me, which led me to check where One Piece was as of current and backtrack from there (Ironically I did the same with Beastars). I did eventually get caught up around the time of the Mafia Meeting and I’ve kept up with each chapter since.

9. I mostly still prefer the Pre-Timeskip looks When I first felt this I thought it to be pretty controversial, nowadays not so much. I understand that Oda wanted to change the look for many characters but some of them did feel like a downgrade. I think the ones who got it worst was Franky, I think it’s the bulbous shoulders, Franky was no stranger to body horror from Enies Lobby to Sabaody but I kinda preferred that he still had a lot of his humanity rather than looking like an action figure. Otherwise I think Robin, Nami and Chopper had it bad, maybe Brook too but his was more fashion than design; the women in general took heavy hits by Oda’s proportion design - I mean I get it boobs are nice but proportions are what make them better - but Robin also underwent a skin color change in the anime, who pre-timeskip shaded her skin darker than in the manga and corrected it to match the manga, I think most of us would’ve preferred Robin to have kept the darker skin tone and possibly even the fringe, Robin’s hairstyle (and her fashion in general) can be hit and miss. I go to and fro about Nami, other than the general waist and bust adjustments I think it fits her character to use her sexuality a bit, she was no stranger to that pre-Timeskip, sometimes though I can’t tell whether I preferred her with short or long hair (Short was definitely better on Nojiko), I do think though that Oda could have her show less skin, she is still very pretty in outfits such as Water 7, Thriller Bark and even her fake pirate disguise in the early chapters/episodes. Finally with Chopper I think it was a bad move to alter the hat, that was a memento from his father figure Hiriluk, it’d be like if Luffy altered his straw hat or Zoro replacing Wado Ichimonji, I do also feel that the design for Chopper’s points while easier to draw don’t look as good, I think a lot of it is the scruff, or lack thereof in favour of smoothness, Walk Point is fine but Heavy Point, Guard Point and Horn Point seem less threatening, Monster Point especially too, in Enies Lobby he looked like a cave painting of menace and destruction, now he’s smoother and his scruff lighter so it’s not as good. The rest of the designs I’m quite fine with though.

8. I wish some markings stuck as well Tattoos and Scars seem to be optional in the One Piece world sometimes, unless it’s branded in molten heat like the Dragon’s hoof, Sun Pirates logo or an attack from Sakazuki. While Nami’s redesigned tattoo has stuck around and Luffy and Zoro’s scars persist, they are mainly character reminders/mysteries for huge moments in the story, and I kinda wish that some of the Straw Hats had littler markings, not just scars either. For instance, the Alabasta X on the arm, I really wish that stayed on each of the Alabasta characters’ arms since it was a symbol of friendship with Vivi, I also wish that Luffy kept the 3D2Y mark on his arm. In terms of scars though it would’ve been nice to see the characters a bit more battle-worn; Zoro’s ankle scars from Mr. 3 have faded and frankly he should be covered in little and long scratches given his fights with Mr. 1 and 2 years of Mihawk Training, Nami’s shoulder scar is hidden completely by her tattoo and she has no scars on her hand (from fake stabbing Usopp) or foot (from blocking Miss Doublefinger), Usopp himself could’ve used some small scratches because lord knows how there’s even still bones in his nose plus he was in murder island for 2 years, Chopper could at least have a small bald patch from when his shoulder was impaled and burned by Shura’s fire lance too, other than that there’s just Jimbei’s potentially missing shoulder scar from Marineford, though Oda has kept it obscured a lot so maybe that is still there. I understand why Oda doesn’t or forgets to, but it would’ve been nice if we lived in a vacuum of no time limits and whatnot.

7. Dead End Adventure is my favourite One Piece film I don’t know what it is, but Dead End Adventure just gives me the most fun out of the One Piece films. It has a good side plot and the side character Shuraiya was a blast of a character. Granted, Gaspard wasn’t too good of a villain side for actually harming the straw hat and his defeat was a bit underwhelming but the race, the settings it was all fun. It is not to say I don’t enjoy any other One Piece movies, I delight in the horror fuel of Baron Omatsuri - and that killer final punch - and Z’s tragic tale of a fallen marine, Strong World has that epic entrance to the party and Stampede also had some great team up moments and fantastic writing for Usopp and Smoker but Dead End Adventure always feels like the movie I could watch in any mood.

6. Skypeia and Fishman Island are some of my favourite arcs While I can understand the criticism of the Long Ring Long Land arc (especially since the anime dragged out the Davy Back Fight) it surprised me that people found Skypeia and Fishman Island arcs to be boring or less entertaining than previous arcs. Everyone has their preferences of course but I felt that Skypeia and Fishman Island were very powerful arcs especially with the theme of racism. Both had glorious setting design different to the common customs of the world we had seen, Oda made both Skypeia and Fishman Island feel very much lived in with its own budding culture and prejudices, with a villain who was dead set on destroying everything just to have their way. With Enel and his priests we were able to push several characters to newer limits, with Robin showing her fighting capabilities, Zoro learning his projectile slashes, Chopper having to endure fighting 3 priests and even Usopp growing all the more braver in the face of seemingly indestructible opponents and later gaining access to the dials. With Fishman Island it was different because it was basically a ‘flex arc’: where the main villain is meant to be a stepping stone rather than a threat but even then the symbolism of the enemy is what’s significant with them, the inherited hatred of humans. But at the same time we do learn new strengths from the crew; Red Hawk, the use of armament Haki, Skywalk, Hell Memories, Franky Shogun, Usopp’s pop greens, Nami’s weather eggs, Brook’s Soul Solid and his new DF power (which is possibly an awakening), as well as the first true steps of Jimbei joining the crew. The biggest strength of both arcs is the flashback as well, like Wano would in present time both arcs demonstrated that Oda can carry a story without his main characters and still keep it as captivating as ever, be it the friendship of Noland and Calgara, the tragedies of Otohime and Fisher Tiger or the life of Kozuki Oden and the man who would be Pirate King. And the impact of Fishman Island and Skypeia’s flashbacks both come back around in Dressrosa with the dwarves and Koala, and Fishman Island really does kick off the whole Yonko saga with Luffy challenging Big Mom, these arcs were definitely significant as they were entertaining with silly faces, strong fights, challenging themes, lorebuilding, good side characters and unique twists. And the overall message of healing from the past is still significant to this day. Through Wyper’s sacrifice and the Bell ringing to Jimbei giving blood and the Ryugu royals wanting to attend the Reverie, it is all very powerful stuff and while the arcs are similar in nature its their similarities that make me love them. Also the cover stories with Enel and Gedatsu on their own mini adventures are fun

5. I really want to know where Ghin is Ghin/Gin was such an interesting character in Baratie. Given that this was right before Arlong Park too so we had not seen a character conflict with different loyalties in One Piece until then, his gratitude to Sanji against his loyalty to Krieg created a fantastically complex character, but then he left and we didn’t hear about him ever since. Did he survive Krieg’s poison gas? Is he still with Krieg? One reactor of the episode said “maybe he’ll become the next Don” which was a concept I kinda really liked. The guy was pretty strong given that he had bested Sanji at that time, and since he didn’t appear in a cover story my mind does wonder. It’s not just Ghin either, a lot of the early East Blue characters kinda fell off the map; where is Morgan? Last we saw he was sleeping as he sailed past Jango, where is Kuro? For someone wanting to resume piracy after some years off he has been very quiet, where is Krieg? Only Arlong and Morgan were arrested and the latter escaped so the rest of these characters are a mystery. Recently in Wano I am still wondering where Law’s crew that he brought to Onigashima went, as well as Caribou - where is that slippery bugger?

4. Basil Hawkins is probably one of my Top 5 Supernova There’s something about that dude I gravitate towards, which makes it quite frustrating when the anime decides to add extra malice and creepy faces to him. Hawkins in Wano is still a victim, if anything he is simply a prisoner with better working conditions, if he thought he could survive escaping Kaido he would but he doesn’t so he won’t, he’s also gonna feel sore about Drake betraying him and letting Law cut him up, so it annoys me that Hawkins is seen like a villain. Not only does he have an extremely interesting Devil Fruit and creativity with it but he’s also audaciously confident in his fortunetelling, even Luffy ran from Kizaru at Sabaody while Hawkins looked at his cards while Kizaru was about to boot him to holy hell and said ‘nah I’m not dying today’, you gotta respect that moxie. At the same time though as a pirate he has that shades of grey element, he’s okay with letting some of his crew be disposable and we don’t even know to what end, he doesn’t look like a guy too concerned about being Pirate King or having riches. I also get a good laugh in that his hobbies are interior design, it makes me really want to see what the inside of his ship looks like. I think as a top 5, I have Luffy, Zoro, Law, Hawkins and then Kid, Bege, Killer and Bonney are not far behind with Apoo dead last because fuck Apoo. Kid and Killer are cool but I do feel like they need a bit more character, Bege earned some points in being funny and his care for his family in WCI and then there’s Bonney - I really hope we dig into Bonney’s significance, she feels really important and that mystery keeps her fresh whenever we see her. Drake too has only really started to become interesting because of SWORD, we could still see more fleshing but for now he is like bottom 3. It’s a shame Urouge has to be so low, he’s not bad but he’s not spectacular either, gotta admire his hobby of lovemaking though, you do you Urouge.

3. I don’t think that either of the ‘Most Beautiful Women in the World’ are the Most Beautiful Women in One Piece The in-world consensus seems to be that the Most Beautiful Women in the World are Boa Hancock, Komurasaki and Shirahoshi, and granted they are very pretty, but the most? Not for me. I mean, y’all know that Nico Robin, Nami and Vinsmoke Reiju exist right? Makino as well is stunning, as are Tashigi, Bonney, Margaret, Ishilly, Nojiko, Vivi, Rebecca, Pudding, Perona, Cosette and I’m sure a few others, realistically I think they could all give them a run for their money. I get how for those three their beauty is a plot point (Boa it’s drilling home Luffy’s obliviousness to it, Komurasaki it’s the swerve of her not being awful and for Shirahoshi it’s due to Vander Decken IX pulling the creep factor on her) but it would’ve worked the same way without the ‘world’ hyperbole I think. As much as Oda is iffy with proportions and rarely writes women with as much attention as the boys he sure knows how to make them attractive.

2. Some of my favourite individual Straw Hat scenes aren’t in Canon If I were to have a top 5 moments of each character, it may surprise you that some of it comes from movies or filler episodes, particularly Sanji’s flexing on Jessica in the G8 Arc (in fact, Jonathon is one of my favourite marines, T-Bone is in there too, but I don’t have room to fit that). Some are of course obvious because of how iconic they are but it does go to show that sometimes filler isn’t all bad. Since you’re probably curious: As a Group Goodbye Merry [Enies Lobby] Entering Shiki’s Palace [Strong World] Walk to Arlong Park [Arlong Park] Entering the Grand Line [Reverse Mountain] vs a Stuck Oars [Thriller Bark] Jimbei Giving Luffy Blood [FMI] Vagabond Drill on Big Mom [WCI] Leaving the Big Mom Pirates [WCI] Returning in Wano [Wano] Trying to argue with Luffy [FMI] Brook vs Chess Soldiers & Big Mom [WCI] Flashback [Thriller Bark] Breaking Mother Carmel’s Picture [WCI] Baron Corpse vs Dog Minks [Zou] Hysterically laughing at seeing Duval [Sabaody] Franky vs Senor Pink [Dressrosa] Playing with the Kids [Punk Hazard] vs Fukurou [Enies Lobby] Freedom Roller [Wano] Trapping Caribou in the Barrel [FMI] Robin I Want to Live [Enies Lobby] Clutching Spandam [Enies Lobby] Throwing Usopp under the bus [G8] vs Yama [Skypeia] Clutching Tequila Wolf guards [Amazon Lily] Chopper Monster Point [Enies Lobby] Flashback [Drum Island] Chopper Man (& Minoru Kazeno) vs Usobada [Chopper Man Special] Don’t blow the whistle: Immediately blows whistle [Skypeia] Dr Chopper the definitely Human Doctor not wearing fake glasses [G8] Vivi w/ Karoo (she counts okay!) Goodbye speech [Alabasta] Escaping Bon Clay [Alabasta] Karoo Digging Luffy Out [Little Garden] Luffy Fan Club Meeting [Reverie] Slapping Usopp awake [Drum Island] Nami vs Kalifa [Enies Lobby] Standing by the kids [Punk Hazard] Saying goodbye to Bell-mere [Arlong Park] Helping Luffy vs Cracker via Lola’s Vivre Card [WCI] Luffy WILL be Pirate King [Wano] Sanji ‘I needed a light’ [Skypeia] Flexing on Jessica [G8] Saving the Vinsmokes [WCI] O-Soba Mask [Wano] vs Doflamingo [Dressrosa] Usopp Alabasta speech [Alabasta] Awakening Observation Haki [Dressrosa] Sogeking Theme Song [Enies Lobby] vs Perona [Thriller Bark] Saving Luffy from the fire [Stampede] Zoro Nothing Happened [Thriller Bark] vs Ryuma [Thriller Bark] vs Mr. 1 [Alabasta] vs Gyukimaru & Kamazo [Wano] “He’s sweeping our floors that fiend!” Test of Luck [Loguetown] Luffy ‘On the Sea, you fight Pirates’ [Wano] Red Roc [Wano] vs Katakuri [WCI] Haki clash with Doflamingo [Dressrosa] Punching Saint Charloss [Sabaody] I will have to say that for some characters I could go to 20 so if one’s missing it may’ve just missed the mark, such as Usopp and Nami vs Enel or Luffy putting back a Zombie or Stealth Luffy, I mean it is 1000 chapters as well as movies and filler episodes/specials...

1. I’ve learned quite a lot due to One Piece Since my fascination started with a deep dive of checks, I did start to learn a hell of a lot more not just about the franchise itself (you know it’s almost catching up BATMAN on total sales, which has been around more than 3 times longer?) but I also learned a lot about stuff Oda has used as a reference key; folklore, actual pirates, actual practices, the amount of detail Oda puts in is astounding. Which does lean into another thing I’ve learned, One Piece has changed the way I approach some of my ideas for writings and whatnot, before I would be afraid of either spoonfeeding or being too vague, Oda’s mastery not only in storytelling but character development, character quality and pacing has both helped and intimidated me a lot of times, I mean consider this: it took hundreds of chapters to get a proper backstory on Luffy, the main character, how unprecedented is that? Often I could fall into the trap of making sure you knew everything about the main character from day one but now I wonder about what’s necessary for the now and what can I work on. Another thing that both inspires and intimidates me is his drawing, I suck at colours and still do, and a lot of Oda’s attention to detail is incredible considering he’s gotta whip that out on the weekly, but at the same time you see some of his rough sketches and they’re pretty similar to a rough sketch of my own, so in a way it’s a ‘there’s still hope for you’ moment seeing those. I can’t say I’ve learned Japanese from listening to One Piece, but I have picked up on some stuff, some hiragana there, some phonetics here, I also appreciated some of the stuff kaizokuou-ni-naru does (I won’t tag them in case that’s a bit rude to do it out of the blue but check out their tumblr) when it came to deciphering the Japanese of chapters and the little puns and hints Oda puts in his native tongue. And of course any One Piece fan has learned one thing above all else: Patience. Oda himself included, it took over 20 years to get to 1000 chapters and we still have plenty of questions to ask, plenty of islands to see and thus plenty of chapters to go. So Straw Hats off to you Oda, and a happy 1000th!

14 notes · View notes

topconfessions · 3 years

Note

How can you do witchcraft? Also How can you protect yourself from negativity and bad pple??? I got horrible family members and their negativity always got me sick(different illness and stuff) I ask to someone and this person say they envy me and bring this negative emotion to me so I need to protect myself from them do you know how this work? Also, Do you know if witchcraft bring negative mindset to the people that do this?? Sorry all the question I love your mindset so I want to know ur opinion

I would have to make a separate text post about this. You make spells basically. I'll list some YouTube channels of the ones who make a variety of spells for different objectives and situations. And yes that happens all the time in life and a lot of us have had this put on us whether we realize it or not. Distance yourself from them if you are allowed to physically and financially

I understand some people live in secret unique situations where they can't just up and leave a toxic household even if the toxic abuser allows them to but the best defense to that is not make yourself a pawn to them. It may take months or years but these people cast negative energy on you to kill you they want to weaken you and keep you in a chaotic anxiety riddled insecure state of mind and emotional state so you never leave and amount to nothing in life. It's a form of ownership and abuse.

You have to not react to them no matter how hard or at least put up a facade of them not affecting you even if it does. They feed off of and need your reaction. Witchcraft or not you need enough self esteem and grit to make it known somehow verbally or silently whatever their hatred is towards you does not apply outside of the family and household. Period. They want to ingrain this into you so whenever you get to a positive place or somewhere far from them you are still mentally trapped in the bubble of envy and mean things they threw at you. You can't carry that everywhere so if you can't escape this toxic situation, so long as these words don't start a physical fight at home (if you can afford to leave and you get hit, leave and don't stay!) Let them know to their faces that their opinion isn't what others see and you leave all the drama at home.

LOL. I had someone in my life try that shit with me but she knows deep down her opinion don't apply and I won't let it apply. I learned pretty fast abuse can only go as far as you allow it to socially in the real world. When your leave toxic enviorment and for example take a short trip for a day downtown somewhere or to a new place you never been to before: people don't know you. They are only going off of what you yourself present yourself as. Whatever hateful things you experienced at home becomes a blank slate when you meet new people or at work if your job isn't a local town thing. That's your chance to build yourself up again.

I will make a post soon by this weekend.

Look up protection spells and spiritual cleansing baths. Invest in crystals you can buy them online or on amazon, buy Sage and burn it in your home just spreading it in the air in your room. Get your self an evil eye necklace just to ward off negativity. As silly as it may sound say prayers and rebuke negativity towards you. Listen to Subliminals on YouTube as well. Good Vibes Binural beats has many different type of Subliminals to help in almost any situation. Get into manifesting as well and making vision boards.

3 notes · View notes

evilelitest2 · 4 years

Note

I had voted for Trump in 2016. In my defense, I was very young, barely past voting age, hadn't knew much about politics or modern history; and wanted to be part of intellectual elite - and, sadly, my concept of "intellectual elite" back then was formed by people like Sargon (the youtuber, not the king). Now, anytime someone talks about Trump, I feel the same way Horace Slughorn felt when someone had talked about Voldemort :-(

I mean I think that is probably the best way to feel honestly. Sorry I didn’t respond for awhile, I wasn’t quite sure how to respond beyond saying, you made a very bad call but i’m glad that you are moving in a better direction. Since I don’t want to kick somebody while they are down, I think you should take this as a learning experience, because you got sucked into an intellectual cult, so the advantage of that experience to avoid traps in the future. Almost everybody winds up falling into a stupid trap that they later regret, so you could use this as a way to avoid that in the future. Here are some hints I think

1) If you hate something, study it. Sargon, Thunderf00t and that lot made a big deal about talking shit about “Feminism” and “Social Justice ‘as these super evil forces that seek to like...wipe out masculinity or some shit. And if somebody knows even a little bit about feminism, you can tell that these guys are fucking conmen. So any time somebody tells you in the future (and they will) oh no, X group hates you and wants to do Y thing to you, you should take that as an opportunity to look up their beliefs, their values, and experts on the subject. LIke A lot of democrats were telling me about how bad Objectivists were, so then I looked them up, I read Atlas Shrugged, I looked up what people had to say about it, Looked at the prominent theorists and then I was like “oh man...I hate them”. Never ever hate somebody because a different person told you too, always look up who they are in their own words...and then hate them

2) Trust experts. Anybody who has spent their life studying a subject intensely is somebody you should at least afford some degree of respect. They might be wrong, but if experts are saying “This is a bad idea” you should at least make the best effort to listen to them

3) Authority is not granted through rhetoric. In shitty times and places, people want to turn to authority in order to find comfort but the problem is that we have a bad way of gauging it As they say in The Big Short

“People want an authority to tell them how to value things, but they choose this authority not based on facts or results, they choose it because it seems authoritative, and familiar”. Conmen rely on very obvious but compelling tricks to get you to trust them, but they are all super the same. Constant dissertation of their unique power, refusal to every admit fault, reliant on getting you to identify with them, and relying on your hatred of some sortof enemy

4) Anybody who busy into conspiracy theories is somebody you cannot trust. Conspiracy theories are like a mental short cuts, they prevent you from having to change your beliefs. LIbertarians don’t believe in climate change because there isn’t a small goverment solution to Climate Change, Birthers don’t want to acknowledge that America is changing ect ect. Try to learn how to avoid those in the future and that will take you further than most Americans frankly

Also i’m curious, what got you out of the Sargon Trump cult?

#ask EvilElitest #Trump #Cults

7 notes · View notes

fairylynel · 4 years

Text

[Dystopia : The Tree of Language] by Dreamcatcher - Album Review

So I’m finallly doing this! To be honest, after Deja Vu, my expectations for this comeback were extremely high and I was hoping to see something quite amazing from the girls and, to be fair, I believe they totally delivered. Not only were the teasers for this album absolutely beautiful and ethereal, very unique, in my opinion, they also went on a slightly different direction music wise, as this album isn’t as dark as the rest of Dreamcatcher’s discography, but still has their flavour.

I would like to also add that this is only my opinion. Please, don’t take any of what I say too personal.

Intro (1:20) : This is a very short track and it feels quite menacing to listen to, a bit like a horror movie OST, but the good type. It gave me chills, but left me thrilled from what it was going to come next, especially as it softens it’s melody completely in the end.

Scream (3:24) : I want to talk about the music video, the choreography and the lyrics regarding this track as I believe they all add to the full experience. So the MV was preceded with wonderful teasers about the story of this particular album and as a sucker for things like this, I fell immediatly in love with those, which led me to fall head over heels with the video. Aesthetic wise, I couldn’t ask for anything more, besides that I wish some scenes were recorded outside of a studio. Apart from this, the colours, clothes, hairstyles and shots are absolutely amazing. Gahyeon was the one who caught my eye the most this time around, specially in her part at 1:30 and 2:17. The plot wasn’t completely understandable throughout the music video, but I believe that is for Insomnias and other viewers to make theories of their own.

The choreography is so powerful and much more sensual, in the chorus mostly, compared to their previous ones. I think they absolutely did amazing and, once again, pulled this concept really well. Not only this, but they’ve also managed to incorporate Handong’s position in it, which is truly a really sweet thing from them. I think it’s better seen in the 'Scream' Dance Video (연습실 ver.) , as the girl with the mask on represents Handong.

When it comes to the song, this is obviously very different from, for example, Deja Vu and PIRI. Even so, this has quickly become one of my favourite comebacks from them. Vocal wise, Siyeon and Yoohyeon did amazing and sing beautifully and powerfully, while Gahyeon and Dami absolutely destroyed in an awesome way with both of her rap bits. The song is quite balanced and the build-up is really well done, while the drop that follows makes everything so much more enjoyable.

Lyrically, the song tells the story of someone who goes through a lot of pain to want to inflict the same damage on their perpretator. It goes from someone who was compeltely terrified from another person to want to defend themselves and stand up to their abuse. My personal favourite is:

“Tricks behind the mask, ridiculous freaks The growing hatred gives birth to random targets I swallow up the burning thirst but hypocrisy says it’s my fault The end is sitting at the edge of a cliff It’ll be a choice that only remains regret “

Tension (3:11) : Ah, the beginning of this song alone left me thrilled, the guitars made it so awesome! Listening to the song, it feels a bit like something that would fit really well in one of their first albuns and that sort of feeling of nostalgia makes the track quite enjoyable. I don’t think this one is very memorable though, as fun as it is. The build up gets tiring after a while, but, nonetheless, still a really good song. It also reminds me a lot of those old anime intros for a shounen genre anime type!

Red Sun (3:05) : This is by far my favourite song of the whole album. It’s absolutely amazing just from the start it has, it feels creepy, reminding a bit of Chase Me or GOOD NIGHT eras. Afterwards that, Dami comes and completely wrecks the listener, she sounds powerful, sexy and amazing. I think the main reason for this to be my favourite is because it mixes a lot of favourites from Dreamcatcher. It captures that sentiment of eeriness, while having a sort of fun, but calm type of melody in it’s chorus, reminding me a lot of Wonderland and July 7th . This is a track I definitely recommend listening to.

Black or White (3:24) : This song is so cool and I believe it goes well with the vibe that the group initially had on their debut. It’s a bit different from Scream but it still has the power and tenacity one expects from Dreamcatcher. The chorus is extremely catchy and fun, in my opinion, and Dami’s parts, as well with Siyeon’s and Yoohyeon’s, are definitely my favourites. The only complain I have is that when the melody softens, the song kind of loses the grip it once had on the listener in the beginning.

Jazz Bar (3:34) : The title is completely appropriate as it truly feels like I’m listening to this song in a badly lighten bar, smoke clouds surrounding me, a wine glass in my hand, while watching these beautiful women perform a lovely song, calmly and elegantly singing. My biggest criticism with this track would be the fact that Black or White creates a lot of momento and excitement that is lost with the quietness of this song.

SAHARA (3:10) : I really wanted to like this song as, except for the chorus, this is something rather different from what they’ve done before, but I genuinely feel this track comes off as a bit messy and kind of cringy in my opinion. The best part for this song and for sure, the most epic of it, was from minute 2:45. The momento is slowly build up and things get cooler, to only end very shortly after.

In the Frozen (3:16) : The beginning of this song does not prepare the listener for the amount of noise that the track itself has. However, it can still be enjoyable. To be honest, the first time, I listened to this, I got a major headache from the chorus alone, but it’s still quite awesome and the vocals mixed with those sounds work just fine. Just like the previous song, it starts getting real good in the end, to just be ruined with this dubstep mess, sigh. I do not advise you to listen to this, if you are a bit sensitive as I am.

Daybreak (3:03) : Once again, a bit like Jazz Bar, this track breaks the mold of the album with it’s calm and soothing melody. To be fair, it was a genius take to put it after In The Frozen, as it will heal the headache you’ll get. Anyway, Daybreak is a good, cute and addicting song. The girls sing in a very delicate way as if they are almost trying not to hurt the one listening in some instances.

Full Moon (3:09) : This song is a bit of a Chase Me 2.0 in a softer light and I love it for that. I truly loved that song and I’m happy that sort of vibe and metal-ish sound is back in a track. I kind of wish that the song would have been a bit longer as I feel like it was rather short and could have been developed a bit more, but even so, the chorus and bridge sounded amazing.

Outro (1:03) : Compared to the Intro, this “last” track is much calmer. I believe it ends the album well, still having that eerie vibe that mostly followed each song here.

Paradise (4:03) : I wanted this ballad to be much more than it is. As soon as I listened the first bit I was a bit unimpressed, but it grew a lot in me throught the many, many versions that were posted by HappyFace Entertainment on Youtube (White Version, Black Version, Piano Version and Original Version). The chorus can become quite tiring after a while, but I understand why many loved this song as Siyeon won the lyrics and beat very well with her vocals. My criticism goes mostly towards to how boring it sounds, despite the quick rhythm. It just feels very generic to me.

Rating: 8/10

#Chisaijosei speaks #Dreamcatcher #Siyeon #yoohyeon #handong #Sua #gahyeon #dami #jiu #kpop #kpop girls #kpop girl groups #[Dystopia : The Tree of Language] by Dreamcatcher - Album Review #review #album #album review

9 notes · View notes

a-woman-apart · 6 years

Text

Guilt Trip to the Pity Party

Ah, here we go again. It’s approaching 8pm on a Saturday night, and I’m engaged in one of my “favorite” activities. It is the game where I mentally review everything that I’ve done wrong, and am currently doing wrong, with laser focus on bad habits that I have tried to reject, yet continue partaking in. I think of my promises to myself to budget better, eat less fast food, and just overall take better care of my life and myself. I rip into myself for not applying myself more at school, even though these self-directed lectures never seem to get me to sit down and do what is required.

Of course, there is a silver lining. I have started going to the gym. I have cut out subscription services that I am not using. I have been meeting with my classmates to go over the music, and this week I have done a lot better about practicing by myself as well. I have taken on extra hours at work and subsequently received a nice boost to my paycheck. In the past two days I have paid my rent (early) and gotten my car inspected. Also, I have continued to do well, even though my rent was raised by $80 in January.

Despite my accomplishments, though I feel guilty. I feel guilty about hastily scarfing down fast food instead of taking time to make proper meals. Granted, sometimes I do better. Sometimes even at the fast food places I choose the healthier options. Or I’ll eat frozen dinners at home instead of going out (not healthier, just cheaper). Then I read online about the health benefits of a plant-based diet and think about my slightly higher than average cholesterol, wondering vaguely about the possibility of heart disease down the road. I am overweight, but my goal isn’t to lose it necessarily, but to just look and feel better. I’ll take even a minor improvement over how things are right now.

I also feel guilty about any down time that I have, when I’m not studying, writing, or working on school projects. I seem to have it deeply imbedded into my subconscious that any time not spent being actively productive is time wasted. I know that I’m not lazy, but the little voice in my head tells me otherwise. I know objectively how important it is to have times for rest and leisure, but I think I have a hard time just being “with” my lonesome self. The solution could be to spend less time alone, but sometimes even in the presence of others my mind is preoccupied with melancholy

The good news is, that despite my guilt and self-pitying “Why can’t I just be better?” feelings, there is another voice that is rising up to combat the nagging, critical one. Sometimes I tell myself, “It’s okay to do nothing for a little while” or “Look at everything you’re doing right” and “Just breathe”. I try to remind myself not to compare myself to other people I know, whom I perceive to be doing better in life. I encourage myself to focus on the present, and if necessary, the near-future, but to forgo trying to predict years down the line.

After all, there are a lot of things that seem insurmountable when you’re looking at them, but they become achievable once you commit to action. At the library, I was shifting books over to make room for some other books on the shelves, and it seemed like the task would take forever. I wasn’t sure how much I would be able to do before it was time for me to leave, but I decided to jump into it. I began with just a handful of books at a time, lining them up neatly as I moved along. By the time it was time to leave, I was about 85% finished. It wasn’t nearly as difficult as I had anticipated. Changes must be made incrementally.

YouTuber Connor Manning once said, “You’re not going to cut down the whole tree in one chop.” I think that this is a sound piece of advice. Everything you do, from dietary changes to moving to a new place or changing careers, requires a series of steps to accomplish. It all starts though, with just being willing to take that first step. Just do a little bit first. I’m reminded that when I started at community college, I would only do one or two classes a semester, but when I changed jobs and started working on better time management, I was able to do either three-quarters or full-time for most of the other semesters. Sometimes I downplay this, but that was actually a really huge deal for me.

In Amy Cuddy’s book “Presence,” she talks about New Year’s resolutions failing primarily because the goals that people set for themselves in the new year are not sustainable. Instead of saying “I’ll run 5 miles every day”, when you aren’t used to running at all, just try saying, “I’ll run as much as I can endure 2-3 times a week.” Instead of cutting out all sugar from the get-go, try replacing some sugary treats with something low-sugar or a piece of fruit, or just choose to eat a small piece of candy instead of the whole candy bar. You aren’t going to be able to make the right choices if you are constantly feeling deprived. If total abstinence from something is necessary, make sure you have plenty of support and/or ways to affirm and motivate yourself through the process.

In the end though, you just need to take that first step. Going to the gym started with me finally walking in and signing up after two months of talking about wanting to do it. The next important thing is to be self-forgiving, because you know that you are going to mess up from time to time. Sometimes, I might go a week without going to the gym. Other times I might skip going to the grocery store and go instead to the drive-thru. It is almost guaranteed that I am going to end up procrastinating on some assignment at school and doing it at the last minute. The laundry isn’t always going to get done when I want it to, but I am going to do it. Consistency is the goal, but “to err is human.”

In Dan Ariely’s book “Predictably Irrational” he takes the reader on a journey into “behavioral economics” and explains how market forces, social norms, and our biased perspectives shape the way that we behave in the world. In the book he explains why we often choose short-term pleasure over long-term rewards, and why we tend to self-sabotage. I really enjoyed his unique perspective. He talked about how poor judgment affected him, even though he had studied so much on how to behave logically. He explained that these pitfalls are common to all of us, because our brains trick us even when we “know” better. Even so, we still have a bit of an edge when we are at least aware of some of the errors in our perception.

I’m not perfect. I will never be perfect, but that’s okay. At the peak of my most recent “pity party”, I thought about just “not trying” anymore. I thought about eating any way that I wanted to, sleeping my time away, showing up late (or not showing up at all), and just giving a lackluster effort on the job. I thought about not putting any effort into my personal relationships. Of course, that’s no way to live. That would be allowing depression to take over, and that is definitely not what I want to do.

Please note, though, that if you have depression and that’s what your life looks like right now, I am not trying to call you out. I have been there, and it is an incredibly difficult place to be, and an even more difficult place to pull yourself out of. I hope that if you are in that dark place, you have people that you can turn to for support and have at least enough strength to be able to call on them when things get too rough. A lot of the self-help and “positive thinking” movement isn’t always healthy for people who are struggling with a mental illness. Sometimes it takes more than just a willful attempt to change your attitude for you to get relief, and if you are struggling, I understand.

In my case, it is my desire that I someday be “over” this. I want to one day magically become happy and well-adjusted, even though I know that that is probably not realistic. Every day is a struggle to be the best self that I can be, and in that struggle, there will always be some sadness and disappointment. I am probably always going to have days when I look in the mirror of my mind and hate what I see there (or days when I don’t like what I see in the actual mirror). There may always be days when self-doubt and self-hatred are the overruling emotions that I feel. I just need to realize that those are just feelings, and they will pass. As a person with bipolar disorder, I am going to experience highs and lows. It just comes with the territory. I must just learn to navigate these treacherous waters carefully.

So, on this guilt trip, I don’t think I’m going to go to the pity party. Just drop me off here. In fact, just take me home. You and I won’t be traveling together again any time soon.

#guilt trip #pity party #depression #dealing with guilt #living with mental illness #schizoaffective disorder #mental illness #self improvement #presence book #Amy cuddy #Predictably Irrational #dan ariely #how to be better

1 note · View note

deadcactuswalking · 4 years

Text

REVIEWING THE CHARTS 2020: 10/01

So: REVIEWING THE CHARTS 2020. We’ve got the second episode here, and we’ve already stagnated. Hey, I’m not complaining. It’s really boring and we’ve got nothing to talk about with the exception of the top five new arrival, but let’s agree that we’d really not want to talk about that one either. Here’s the top 10.

Top 10

Stormzy’s “Own It” featuring Burna Boy and Ed Sheeran is still at the top for its second week at #1. I can’t really see a threat to this as of yet, but we’ll see.

“Before You Go” by Lewis Capaldi hasn’t moved at number-two, the runner-up spot. To be honest, I don’t see this hitting the #1 but the charts are pretty unpredictable right now, so I can’t decide as of yet.

Dua Lipa’s “Don’t Start Now” sticks at number-three. I doubt it’ll get there, but let’s hope this hits #1.

“ROXANNE” by Arizona Zervas is at number-four, the same from last week.

Now for our first and pretty much only headline here, “Yummy” by Justin Bieber, his new song that despite a massive promotional push, only debuted at number-five. You’d figure that Bieber would learn a lesson from Taylor Swift’s “ME!”, which is that pop veterans can’t just release Godawful singles and rely on name recognition anymore in the streaming era, at least enough for a #1. It’s his 45th Top 40 hit if I recall correctly (which is crazy), and about his 17th top 10, and somehow not his worst.

“Dance Monkey” by Tones and I is down one spot to number-six.

Surprisingly up a spot due to... well, seemingly no reason at all, “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi has rebounded up eight spaces to number-seven. It’s been nearly a full freaking year since this song first charted and it won’t go away.

Sadly, due to “Yummy” and “Someone You Loved” rising, Billie Eilish’s “everything i wanted” is down two spots to number-eight but it could very much propel back up next week.

“Adore You” by Harry Styles is also a victim of the two songs, down two to number-nine.

Finally, we have a one-spot boost for “Blinding Lights” by the Weeknd, which has reached #10, marking his ninth top 10 hit in the UK.

Climbers

There are actually a couple here, seemingly from “end-of-year UK hits” YouTube playlists? I don’t know; this happens often after the Christmas songs fade away because there are all of these playlists and different end-of-year commemorations. It would explain “Ride It” by Regard and “Bruises” by Lewis Capaldi both up 12 spaces to #11 and #12 respectively, as well as “Memories” by Maroon 5 up eight spots to #13, “Lose Control” by MEDUZA, Goodboys and Becky Hill up 16 spots to #31, “South of the Border” by Ed Sheeran featuring Camila Cabello and Cardi B up 15 positions to #17, and finally “Circles” by Post Malone up seven spaces to #19. It doesn’t exactly explain “The Box” by Roddy Ricch up 24 spots to #16 though.

Fallers

There are quite a few honestly pretty surprising and unexpected fallers here, once again because of end-of-year commemorations allowing songs from the past year to have some sort of artificial boost. This leaves actual upcoming hit songs pretty much in the dust, such as “Pump it Up” by Endor down eight spots to #14, “This is Real” by Jax Jones featuring Ella Henderson collapsing nine spaces to #18, “Lose You to Love Me” by Selena Gomez tripping down 10 spaces to #20 just to rebound next week because of the album, “My Oh My” by Camila Cabello featuring DaBaby, as well as “Falling” by Trevor Daniel, seemingly losing all of their momentums since they’re down eight and nine spaces respectively to #21 and #23. The same seems to apply for Stormzy and Harry Styles as they’ve had pretty bad weeks: “Audacity” featuring Headie One is down 10 to #26, “Vossi Bop” is down 12 to #24, while “Watermelon Sugar” is down 12 to #29, and “Lights Up” is down 14 to #32. “Don’t Rush” by Young T & Bugsey with Headie One is down 11 to #31, as is “Gangsta” by Darkoo and One Acen at #33. “Heartless” by the Weeknd is also struggling down 13 spaces to #38, which is unfortunate as the song has only grown on me since its debut. Oh, and “In the Unknown” by Idina Menzel and AURORA from the Frozen II soundtrack is down 18 spaces to #37. Yikes.

Dropouts & Returning Entries

The climbers and fallers aren’t the only result of the end-of-year commemorations though, as we do have returning songs straight from the end-of-year list (Which I have ranked and will post on my Twitter as soon as possible). Those are “HIGHEST IN THE ROOM” by Travis Scott and remixed by ROSALIA and Lil Baby back at #25, “I Don’t Care” by Ed Sheeran featuring Justin Bieber at #27, “Beautiful People” by Ed Sheeran featuring Khalid at #28, “Senorita” by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello at #30, “Ladbroke Grove” by AJ Tracey at #36, “Turn Me On” by Riton, Vula and Oliver Heldens at #39 and “Outnumbered” by Dermot Kennedy back at #40. That does mean a hefty list of drop-outs however, including “Lucid Dreams” by Juice WRLD out from #27, “River” by Ellie Goulding thankfully out from #28, “No Cellular Site” by D-Block Europe also thankfully out from #29... in fact, I’m not complaining about any of this really. I can’t be upset about “Better Half of Me” by Tom Walker out from #30, “hot girl bummer” by blackbear out from #35, or even “No Idea” by Don Toliver out from #39. “Netflix & Chill” by Fredo is out from #34, and unfortunately, J Hus had both of his singles from the forthcoming album drop out this week: “No Denying” is out off of the debut from #33, and “Must Be” is out from #37... and that’s all other than the new arrivals, so I’d like to note that despite momentum being slashed in half by all these returns, there are some songs within the UK Top 75 that are promising; not all of them are good, but you can expect these songs from the tail-end of the top 75 debuting in the coming weeks after a good rise, probably even next week: “Up All Night” by Khalid, “Say So” by Doja Cat, “BOP” by DaBaby, “Ballin’” by Mustard featuring Roddy Ricch, “Suicidal” by YNW Melly and “July” by Noah Cyrus. I figured I should start doing this. Now for the new arrivals:

NEW ARRIVALS

#35 – “Savage” – MIST

Produced by Swifta Beater and Zeph Ellis

MIST is back... I guess. I’ve never found MIST very interesting, well, musically – I saw the dude on a really awful ITV2 comedy panel show thing, and he was pretty charismatic, so I have no idea why that’s not present in his music whatsoever. This is his fourth UK Top 40 hit however, and “So High” with Fredo has grown on me a bit since its release, so I figured this could be somewhat interesting... and you know what, MIST might have won me over with this one. The chipmunk vocal samples are catchy and the beat coming in so abruptly after the first line is just perfect. MIST’s content isn’t exactly all that unique, but some of the description of him shooting this man is pretty specific and intimidating. The beat is heavy with plummeting 808s and a sporadic trap drum pattern, and the part in the first verse where after he mentions his gun, a sound effect (Of said gun) plays, and the next line is a pitch-shifted “Cabbage (Bang)”. It’s just really funny, and adds some needed humour to the otherwise pretty menacing song. In fact, all of the three verses in this very short song (2 minutes and 26 seconds) have a really intense delivery from MIST, who really surprised me with his angry cadences and overall emotive performance here. The production is great but the mixing is at times slightly dodgy, so the bass does start clipping, but that’s mostly during the chorus, which is a repetitive vocal sample that does sound good, but at first is somewhat jarring and the sample is way too quiet to work as an anthem. The first two verses follow a strict rhyme scheme that is limiting but MIST makes the most of it, calling himself a “Birmingham assassin”, which again is a comedic turn of phrase to depict something that’s genuinely very dangerous. The third verse does feel out of place but I’d like to say that the rejection of the rhyme scheme and a calmer flow represents him abandoning the “Gangsta all the time” mantra and ideology that runs through the track. It still could sound better if there was some kind of beat switch, and in some way it does make the song seem underdeveloped, especially since the song fades out, which is just a really odd decision that doesn’t fit the song’s mood at all. Still, it’s a good song, a surprising one at that, and definitely my favourite from MIST.

#5 – “Yummy” – Justin Bieber

Produced by Poo Bear, Kid Culture and Sasha Sitora

On January 3rd, Justin Bieber, one of the biggest pop stars of the millennium, a viral star who has been a polarising figure in music for 11 years straight due to legal issues and a tsunami of online hatred. He released the single alongside a music video and a trailer to promote his new documentary, that also was a trailer for the song and his tour. Bieber joined TikTok and encouraged his fans to make TikTok videos of the song, him doing so as well, raking up millions of views not only on the app but on YouTube compilations. Four days later, he released autographed cassettes, autographed picture discs, SIX unique autographed CDs and FIVE unique autographed vinyl records. They were only available for 24 hours. There were also FIVE additional music videos released other than the official music video upon release and the audio. If that wasn’t enough, Billie Eilish suddenly started promoting the song, and soon afterwards, Bieber posted on Instagram a fan-made image asking for his fans to manipulate streaming numbers and get a VPN if they are not in the US, proving that this isn’t just a promotional push, it’s the #1 that Bieber and Scooter Braun want; whether it’s because Braun wanted the #1 to undermine Taylor Swift or because it’s bragging rights and label politics, we don’t know. This meant it was ever so funny when “Yummy” by Justin Bieber debuted at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, below a non-single without a music video, “The Box” by Roddy Ricch, celebrating its first week at #1 with a triumphant “err, ooh”. In fact, it’s never hit #1 in any country at all (As of yet). That’s just a beautiful moment when the entirety of the world unites to refuse streaming this garbage fuel of manufactured, plastic trash with headline-chasing references to Megan Thee Stallion and a falsetto from Bieber that’s as weak as ever. This is as out as touch as pop music could have possibly ever been in 2020. It’s a new decade but it seems like we’re regressing.

Conclusion

Yeah, it should be obvious that Worst of the Week is going to “Yummy” by Justin Bieber, but surprisingly, and also by default, MIST’s “Savage” takes Best of the Week. Good stuff; I hope it’s not a fluke. Follow me on Twitter @cactusinthebank, I’ll see you next week.

REVIEWING THE CHARTS 2020

0 notes

glorykrp · 7 years

Photo

SHOWING RESULTS FOR: BELLA.

✩ Arabella Siyeon Kwon ✩ May 23rd, 1996. ✩ Seattle, USA ✩ anti

RELATED SEARCHES.

» Nebula Black » Rêverie Album » Bella Controversy

PERSONAL LIFE.

i. bella’s mother always told her she was a child of rain. she was born in the midst of a thunderstorm, her little lungs working to wail over the shuddering booms in the sky. she loved trudging along trails in the mountains near oregon, periwinkle boots splattered with mud. there was fire within her that stoked a passion for adventure, but her zeal was often brought back down to a simmer before it could ever boil. in other words, she never quite finished what she started. in other words, the sky was always at war with the earth inside of her.

ii. if there was one thing bella held onto throughout her childhood, it was music. while her brothers took engineering tracks through high school and had their sights set on the world of technology, bella found herself fascinated by much more ambiguous things. but even then, she burned through instruments in a matter of months, abandoning piano for guitar; guitar for saxophone; saxophone for piano again. she’d compose her own songs, then scrap them after writing half a verse. sometimes she’d beg to take classes to learn an instrument, then change her mind overnight. she was still a child of rain, finicky and fleeting through the endless possibilities granted by the sky. even as a grade schooler, she couldn’t keep a friend for more than a few months, growing disinterested once she had someone figured out. her father worried she’d never buckle down and find something to make a career of. then he worried about the obsessiveness that clawed out of her when she finally chose something worth doing.

iii. she moved to her parents’ homeland, leaving her college-bound brothers behind to pursue performance, cameras, the glory of influence. she was still young, just twelve years old when she auditioned for the first time, and consequently rejected by many companies. but for once, bella found herself snagged by the hooks of idol life, the promise of fame and a lifetime of doing what she loved most: singing. although her grades suffered heavily and her parents worried constantly for her future, she often locked herself in her room after school to practice. she learned dance routines and visited the karaoke two floors down whenever she could. her reflection became the target of her hatred, flaws standing prominently on her skin. when she was finally taken into nebula entertainment, a sweet miracle in the midst of her obsession and self-loathing, bella was already too deep to dig herself back out.

iv. at first, the goal was perfection. days and nights, endless hours, weeks and months were all devoted to nailing this choreography and hitting that one note and memorizing those lyrics. it was almost methodical, the way she deconstructed each movement and line to fully understand them, absorb them into her very bones and breathe them. she made friends with other trainees, the ones with noticeable talent that could guarantee their debut if the process was that simple. where she lacked in talent and experience, she learned from her peers. when she was finally selected to debut, she realized bitterly that all she could really do when faced with crowds and cameras was smile and make it convincing for the sake of the company.

v. nothing went exactly according to plan. she enjoyed a few years of praise, setting trends and establishing her place in the industry with the girls of anti. people loved her honesty and self-confidence, applauding her talent and personality. but what was once a torrential downpour has eased into a hazy drizzle. failure settled deep in the cavity of her chest following a flopped comeback, resulting in a hiatus that only made the disappointment eat away at her confidence. she’s withdrawn from the public eye and the reach of her fans, her once-enviable boldness twisted into arrogance by anti-fans and the press. despite the overall success of her recent duets, some have accused her of leeching off of other artists’ popularity by participating in collaborations; naturally, other rumors began to surface as well. even though anti’s been given a second chance, a large part of her conscience is already convinced that the end is near for them all. her once-boiling passion is now stuck in a perpetual simmer, and there’s no escape that she can see from the downward spiral she’s been caught in.

STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES.

musicality. bella’s strength lies in her voice, which she has always made good use of to keep herself relevant in the public eye. she often releases short covers on her social media, which was part of the reason why she garnered so much attention online when she started to use sns. her vocal talent was what got her into the training program at nebula, as her dancing skills were fairly weak when she started off. she’s been praised for her unique sound and use of techniques and is often sought out for collaborations, and she has also participated in composing songs for anti after showcasing her talent for production.

personality. at first, her confidence and outspokenness was a strength. she was incredibly active on sns, connecting with korean as well as international fans on a much more personal level than most idols would. however, she’s received plenty of warnings from management to take care of her image more, particularly by refraining from cursing or being too honest and opinionated in some remarks she made about other celebrities and controversial issues. though she was once considered bold and daring for defying idol standards, some have twisted her personality to be conceited, self-centered, and attention-seeking. she can’t say they’re wrong; she isn’t as friendly as idols are portrayed to be, and there is still some greed left in her for the spotlight despite anti’s impending downfall.

2017 INTERVIEW.

fame was what enticed bella into pursuing idol life, but it has definitely come to be something she doesn’t know whether to love or hate. though there will always be a part of her that seeks the spotlight and being the center of attention, there are many restrictions that come with fame that she’s been forced to acknowledge over the years. the public will always be watching her every move, waiting for her to stumble so they can pounce and drag her down. it’s exhausting to keep up a facade, something she didn’t start her career doing but now has been advised to by management to keep her image from crumbling completely. at times, bella feels as if she’s bitten off more than she can chew; the reality is that she will never be able to return to a normal life without cameras at every corner and the gaze of millions weighing heavily on her shoulders. it’s only a matter of time before she snaps under the pressure.

#glr: retired

1 note · View note

theriannation · 7 years

Text

Cringe Worthy Cringe Transcript

Video Available on Youtube: https://youtu.be/pxxhSajqnzY

Shannon: Welcome to Therian Nation. I'm your host Shannon Jackson.

George: And I'm your host George Ross. We felt like doing something a little different today.

Shannon: There has been an increase in cringe videos and antikin blogs ridiculing Therians and Otherkin. Those videos are filled with false and misleading information. Yet, this is unfortunately where a large portion of the general public is getting their first impression of us.

George: In response, Therian Nation thought we should point out what's wrong with these videos and correct the misconceptions found in them.

(Opening and Title screen)

George: Let's just get right in to analyzing the content of cringe videos and blogs.

Shannon: Parroting and Unoriginal Content. From video to video or blog to blog, the content is always the same. These haters like to copy each other. This way, they don't need to spend time researching, learning, finding, or creating their own content. The last three or four videos that I've personally seen were almost identical to each other, but repeating false and misleading information doesn't make it true.

George: Questionable and Unreliable Sources. When cringe videos and antikin use sources like Wikipedia and sensational news, it means that they are criticizing something which they don't understand. They don't care to learn either. Their only goal is to humiliate and offend.

Shannon: Use of Unrelated Content and No Links to Sources Clips of completely unrelated subcultures or events are often thrown in to purposefully confuse the audience about Therianthropy and Otherkinity. In truth, the Otherkin and Therianthrope communities are filled with well thought out essays about our experiences. But antikin would never share links to those sources. They wouldn't want to provide that information because their audience might actually decide to make their own informed decision about Therians and Otherkin.

George: Content Edited and Out of Context. Cringe videos generally use short clips that are heavily edited to be out of context. This tactic is used to confuse the audience because they don't get the full story. Clarifying points are often omitted in cringe videos in an effort to distort the concepts that Therians and Otherkin are trying to get across.

Shannon: Use of Fake Troll Accounts for Misrepresentation and Overgeneralization.

Fake troll blogs are used because antikin want to falsely represent hundreds if not thousands of unique individuals within the Therian and Otherkin communities. In truth, one Therian or Otherkin that is singled out in a cringe video does not represent all of us. One individual's views on a Tumblr blog does not indicate that every Therian or Otherkin believes the same or behaves the same. One person's views only represents that individual. Unfortunately, it's hard to get the general public to understand that.

George: Dramatized and Sensationalized Content. When we recorded this, all of the cringe videos at the time had used only the Nano cat girl video and a VICE article “Otherkin Are People Too; They Just Identify as Nonhuman”. The problem with media like this is that it's always dramatized and sensationalized in an effort to get views. And the makers of cringe videos have further sensationalized it by insulting and mocking us.

Shannon: Use of Shock Content. VICE and other media outlets choose information and edit their stories to shock the audience. They don't care about representing us in a truthful manner. Stories are exaggerated and embellished in an attempt to catch the audience's attention and get higher ratings and more views. Media and cringe video creators and anti-kin blogs always pick young, gullible, possibly vulnerable people as well.

George: No Range of Content and Use of Only Extreme Examples. Creators of cringe videos generally use the most extreme examples that can be found, usually of young children. Clips of younger individuals are used because antikin can't accept that the Otherkin and Therianthrope communities are also made up of adults. The creators of these videos fail to find content that is representative of our communities.

Shannon: Cringe Creators and Anti-kin Seek Attention. If they weren't seeking attention, they wouldn't be creating this kind of content that degrades and insults a group of people who simply fall outside of societal norms. They do this while claiming that Therians and Otherkin are the ones seeking attention. Projection is a common occurrence in cringe videos and antikin blogs.

I'd also like to point out that cringe videos usually get more views than content created by Therians or Otherkin. I guess people just don't want to hear the truth about us from us because it's really not that interesting. So just remember that if you watch a cringe video, they are only using the most extreme examples that they can find to get themselves attention at our expense.

You may be wondering, “If you're not seeking attention then why are you on the internet?” Maybe you haven't noticed, but everything takes place on the internet now. It's an easy way to communicate and keep in touch.

Therians and Otherkin kept more to ourselves on private forums during the 1990's and early 2000's. Yes. these subcultures were taking place long before Tumblr, which antikin lie about and refuse to accept. Unfortunately, forums move too slowly for the younger generations and so discussion moved to Facebook and other social media sites including Tumblr. This was a natural progression.

The majority of Therians and Otherkin do not put our essays and experiences on Tumblr to seek attention from the public. We share our experiences there so that it's easier for our fellow Therians and Otherkin to find it. We didn't want cringe videos to screen capture our blogs and videos without permission.

Cringe videos and antikin blogs are created by bullies, bored kids and bored adults. Seriously, the adults who are doing this should know better than to pick on kids and teens who are going through the natural process of discovering who they are. However, cringe videos creators and antikin do it to get attention at our expense. And sadly, a large number of people enjoy watching a person hurl insults and hatred at other human beings.

George: Now, we would like to cover some of the main misconceptions repeated in every cringe video and antikin blog.

“You can't use the internet if you're an animal. You can't type with paws.”

No surprise there. We are physically human. We were physically human yesterday, and the day before, and we have been physically human our entire lives. We will remain physically human for the duration of our lives. No denying that. I suppose all the anti-kin making cringe videos want an award for pointing out the obvious.

People who say this clearly have a fundamental misunderstanding of what Therianthropy and Otherkinity really are. This is about experiencing life as a human and also as something nonhuman. Yes, it's strange, but that doesn't mean that we aren't going to be thankful for and enjoy and take advantage of the human life we have been given.

“Otherkin are all mentally ill and should seek help.”

We do not have delusions of physically being another creature or of having transformed into that creature. Therefore, Modern Therianthropy and Otherkinity are not mental illnesses or clinical lycanthropy.

Quote Card: First and foremost, if you are not a psychologist or psychiatrist, you are not qualified to diagnose mental illnesses.

George: “If you think you're an animal, you should commit and go live in the woods.” or “You're not an animal. You wouldn't survive in the wilderness.”

While many Therians and Otherkin do wish that they could live off-grid and be more self-sufficient, this is not unique to Therians or Otherkin. Plenty of regular people have chosen that lifestyle. Therians and Otherkin may express a love for the outdoors. This is also not unique to us. Average people are enthusiastic about hiking and camping and roughing it for a while.

Also, it's not impossible for humans to learn to survive in the wilderness for extended periods of time, but this takes years of learning bushcraft and preparing yourself mentally and physically. Because most Therians and Otherkin are busy with school or working or both, not all of us have the time or resources necessary to pursue learning bushcraft. There are some Therians and Otherkin who are not interested in the outdoors at all. We know that we are humans, and we can appreciate the comforts of human society.

Shannon: My most favorite quotes from anti-kin must be “You can't have the soul of an animal!” and “Being an otherkin is not scientifically recognized, so it’s bullshit.”

Quote Card: We can experience phenomena without them being scientifically understood or proven. There are plenty of mental, cognitive, behavioral, social, natural, etc. phenomena that can be experienced or observed that science doesn’t completely understand yet.

Anyone is welcome to have a personal opinion that animals don't have souls or that animal souls can't be in human bodies or that souls don't exist at all. The existence of souls has neither been proven or disproved. We'll be keeping our own personal opinions and personal beliefs. We won't be changing them just because someone out there doesn't like them or agree with them.

On that note, some Therians and Otherkin believe that we might have atypical neuropsychology causing us to interpret aspects of our lives as nonhuman. This is just a hypothesis of course. But if there are some differences in our brain structure or brain function, then hate and insults can’t change that about us either. And just be to clear, atypical neuropsychology or atypical physiology does not equal mental disorder. It just means that our brains might not function or be structured like what is considered average.

While science has not verified the existence of souls, or verified any of our communities' psychological hypotheses, scientists have recognized and written about Therianthropes and Otherkin. Links to those in the description to some of those articles.

Quote Card: If studied properly by knowledgeable professionals and scientists, there are many Therianthropes and Otherkin who are willing to accept the findings related to our non-human experiences, even if those findings were to be different from the way we have previously thought about and understood Therianthropy and Otherkinity.

George: Our advice for dealing with the people who create cringe videos and antikin blogs is to simply ignore them. Don't give them the attention that they are seeking. Lack of attention will hopefully make them bored of the subject and they will move on.

Shannon: If you must engage with antikin, try to stay calm and use proper English and grammar. Have some sources ready too.

George: To all of my fellow Therianthropes, animal-people, and Otherkin, be true to yourself. Stay strong.

Shannon: Leave us a comment and let us know what else cringe videos and anti-kin get wrong. Therian Nation is researching methods to help you decide for yourself whether or not you a Therianthrope, and we're also putting together information about how to discover your theriotype.

George: There's a lot more to it than meditation! Subscribe to stay informed and remember to click the bell to receive channel notifications.

Shannon: Thank you for watching.

See the end of the video for a few bloopers.

Sources

Project Shift - http://project-shift.net/

Werelibrary - http://werelibrary.com/

Therian Wiki - http://therian.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

Therian Timeline - http://theriantimeline.com/

“An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Identity in the Therian Community” Timothy Grivell , Helen Clegg & Elizabeth C. Roxburgh (2014) Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262685394_An_Interpretative_Phenomenological_Analysis_of_Identity_in_the_Therian_Community

Bricker, Natalie, "Life Stories of Therianthropes: An Analysis of Nonhuman Identity in a Narrative Identity Model" (2016). Senior Theses. http://publications.lakeforest.edu/seniortheses/63/

“Understanding the Otherkin”, Gavia Baker-Whitelaw, The Daily Dot, Feb 22, 2015. http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/features-issue-sections/11866/otherkin-tumblr-definition-pronouns/

“Born in the wrong species” Nano the cat girl original video, January 26, 2016 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWeBunPiIzo

“Otherkin Are People Too; They Just Identify as Nonhuman” VICE, July 16, 2015. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/from-dragons-to-foxes-the-otherkin-community-believes-you-can-be-whatever-you-want-to-be

Hasty Generalization https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/100/Hasty_Generalization

“Applause 7” by Free Sound Effects - https://www.freesoundeffects.com/free-sounds/applause-10033/

“Award Icon” by Free Icons PNG - http://www.freeiconspng.com/free-images/award-icon-32903

#therian #otherkin #anti-kin #cringe

8 notes · View notes

hermanwatts · 4 years

Text

Sensor Sweep: Hall of the Giant King, Henry Kuttner, William Stout, Alex Nino

RPG (Grodog): Thinking through the mega-dungeons I’m familiar with, the stand out qualities that I love to play through, and the mega-dungeons that bring that to the table are: Best Environments to Explore and Map: Castle El Raja Key, Maure Castle, Caverns of Thracia, Foolsgrave. Most-Fun Encounters: Castle Greyhawk, Foolsgrave, Rich Franks’ mega-dungeon. Most-Fun Puzzles, Enigmas, and Centerpiece Encounters: Castle Greyhawk, Maure Castle, WG5, ASE1/2-3, Undermountain.

Science Fiction (Alexandra Rowland): I was groomed and abused by Scott Lynch and Elizabeth Bear for several years. For a long time, I never wanted to talk about this in public. I didn’t want anybody to know about this. I only began rethinking yesterday and I was still considering what to do about it, but… …Apparently I don’t have that luxury anymore.

Art (Modiphius): The Art of Robert E. Howard’s Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of features a selection of some of the most incredible art associated with the classic barbarian hero ever assembled into one set of covers. With one of the most successful gaming Kickstarter campaigns of all time, Conan set out to be the definitive treatment of Conan in games: central to that was recruiting a stellar lineup of artists for covers and interior illustrations. The Art of Conan presents a variety of art drawn from the incredible core rulebook and the expansive line of sourcebooks and supplements, organized by book, allowing players and fans of amazing sword-and-sorcery art to enjoy this fantastic art on its own.

New Release (DMR Books): Cahena is a historical novel (with fantasy elements) dealing with the brave and beautiful warrior queen who reigned over the Berbers in the seventh century. The Cahena, as she was known, was believed to be a sorceress and prophetess. She led an army forty thousand strong, wielding javelins and scimitars, in a valiant struggle against the Mohammedan invaders who were fresh from their conquest of Carthage. Rich in historical detail and dramatic action, this is a story to rival the great war epics of all time.

Publishing (Amatopia): There’s been talk on social media by Big Prominent Authors who’ve been paid a lot of money to write stuff about how hard it is to stay prolific in these totally unprecedented and difficult times. These writers–whose only job is to write–can’t seem to squeeze in a page or two amidst the chaos. It’s emotionally taxing do perform their job, you see. It’s so hard because evil bad people who may or may not be orange keep them from focusing. What a bunch of weenies.

Genre (Pulprev): Today when people think of science fiction and fantasy, chances are, they think of two separate genres. Science fiction, the genre of starships and computers and technology. Fantasy, the genre of knights and dragons and castles. Two distinct genres, and never the twain shall meet. The meeting of the two, science fantasy, was the exception, the red-headed stepchild, never part of the mainstream. This wasn’t always the case.

Art (Heavy Metal): William Stout has had a long and eventful career as an illustrator and production designer—you can read all about it in the biography on his official website. His work has run in numerous publications, including Heavy Metal. And then there was Masters of the Universe. The 1987 movie seemed like a good idea, given the popularity of the toys, but the Cannon Films production, starring Dolph Lundgren as He-Man and Frank Langella as Skeletor, was a flop.

Paleontology (Phys.org): Lions were once far more widespread than they are now, with several subspecies of lions dividing the world between them. They were found in much of Europe and Asia including the Middle East, in Africa, North America and maybe South America. Previously, the cave lion Panthera leo spelaea was found across much of Eurasia and as far as Alaska and Canada. But cave lions died out 13 000 years ago, perhaps partly due to humans, although paleontologists suspect that climate change played a major role. The American lion P. leo atrox suffered the same fate.

T.V. (Kairos): Loyal readers know that a key mission of this blog is shedding light on Hollywood’s hatred of their audience. Much as A Bridge Too Far proves Pigman’s Caine-Hackman hypothesis, the1998 movie Pleasantville epitomizes Hollywood Death Cultism. YouTuber Devon Stack, who reviews movies with a keen eye for both literary criticism and propaganda, explains this superficially innocent film’s subversive depths. “As much as the baby boomers fought to overturn and rebel against and eventually destroy the American culture that existed before them, one thing that I have always found interesting is how much the same champions of counterculture that sadistically dismembered their heritage and mocked every tradition their parents have gifted them, but at the same time romanticize this same culture they worked so hard to undo.”

Science Fiction (Adventures Fantastic): “Trog” appeared in the June 1944 issue of Astounding. It has never been reprinted. The story is set in 1956. Civilization has been collapsing for four years. The general consensus is that humanity has a collective, mass consciousness that has tired of civilization. It takes over people at random and causes them to destroy things. Supply lines have been disrupted. Food is scarce. Things that break cannot be replaced. People destroy things. Those that do are called trogs, short for troglodytes.

Book Review (Marzaat): In the summer of 1565 on the parched ground of Malta, the future of Western Civilization was decided. Would the Moslems continue their expansion into the Mediterranean, preying on European ships and taking Christian slaves as far away as England? Or could they be held back? It was an epic struggle, an astounding tale of resolve and leadership, of disunity in command and disunity among allies.

Tolkien (Notion Club Papers): Tolkien and The Silmarillion by Clyde Kilby. Lion Publishing, Berkhamsted, Kent, UK. 1977 pp 89. (US edition, 1976.) This is a hardly-known, slim, minor, but fascinating contribution to the writings about Tolkien. Its centre is an account of the summer of 1966 which the author spent meeting with the seventy-four year old Tolkien a few times per week, ostensibly to provide him with informed and enthusiastic secretarial assistance to get The Silmarillion ready for publication.

Pulp Magazines (Black Gate): This third installment of the Weird Tales deep read covers the eleven stories in the October 1934 issue, including the first Jirel of Joiry story by C. L. Moore. Her flame didn’t burn as long in the Unique Magazine as the Lovecraft-Howard-Smith trinity’s did, but it did burn as brightly. Moore had sixteen stories in Weird Tales between 1933-1939, twelve in an incredible burst of creativity in the years 1934-1936.

Travel (Last Stand on Zombie Island): Outside of Moscow, reportedly on the location of one of the principal stavkas of the 1941 defense of the city from the German invasion, now stands the so-called Main Cathedral of Russian Armed Forces. Built by popular subscription (with lots of help from the military and government) the immense Eastern Orthodox church is a living, breathing memory to the Russian (not Soviet) effort against Hitler in the Great Patriotic War.

Art (DMR Books): The result was The Fantasy Worlds of Alex Nino, which came out in 1975, just a few short years after Alex began doing work for American comics. The publisher was Christopher Enterprises, a somewhat shadowy company about which I’ve been able to discover little. They emerged on the scene in 1975, put out portfolios by Nino and Michael Kaluta, then followed that with a Bernie Wrightson portfolio in 1976. Also in 1976, Christopher Enterprises published several awesome posters by Wrightson and Stephen Hickman.

Weird Tales (Tellers of Weird Tales): I first wrote about Earl Peirce, Jr., on May 17, 2017. I misidentified him then as Earl Monroe Pierce, Jr., based on his age and his residency in Washington, D.C., where Peirce/Pierce is known to have lived. A month later, an anonymous commenter let me know that I had the wrong person and provided a link to an online discussion about the right one. I removed what I had written and promised an update and correction. By then it was too late: my mistake was memorialized in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDb) and you can still find it there today. I pride myself on doing good work.

Old Science Fiction (M Porcius): Here at MPorcius Fiction Log we are beating the heat and staying off the streets by reading old issues of Thrilling Wonder Stories at the internet archive. In our last episode we read three stories by Leigh Brackett; those tales of rough men trying to master their environments and find or create a place where they belonged–and the women who loved them–were later reprinted in Brackett collections and theme anthologies. Today we read three stories by Henry Kuttner that have not been quite so widely reprinted–you might call them “deep cuts.”

RPG (R’lyeh Reviews): 1978: G3 Hall of the Giant King. 1974 is an important year for the gaming hobby. It is the year that Dungeons & Dragons was introduced, the original RPG from which all other RPGs would ultimately be derived and the original RPG from which so many computer games would draw for their inspiration. It is fitting that the current owner of the game, Wizards of the Coast, released the new version, Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, in the year of the game’s fortieth anniversary.

Sensor Sweep: Hall of the Giant King, Henry Kuttner, William Stout, Alex Nino published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/

0 notes