#i just realised you can hashtag emojis too
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3 13 15 20!!!!
3. humbug or tbh+c?
THIS IS AN EVIL EVIL QUESTION AND I CANNOT BELIEVE OP WOULD WRITE IT OR THAT YOU WOULD ASK ME THIS!!!!!! humbug is so very immortal for its moody unabashed horniness but tbhc is so..Is So.....when it hits you it really hits you. it's so cinematic and i can't help but love that. BUT HUMBUG..ITS PIVOTAL TURN AND OBLIQUE LYRICS......but also the narrative and Imagery of tbhc. i dont know i dont know i dont want to give a cop out answer. OK IDK MAYBE HUMBUG??it has a range of sounds that are nonetheless cohesive + i love how he switches between obfuscating clever wordplay and kitchen sink slices of miserable time. very hashtag inspiration. my new homescreen in progress is literally tbhc tho so WAILING EMOJI
13. what are some of your favourite lyrics alex has written? (doesn't have to be arctic monkeys, can also include tlsp/ other artist collaborations/the submarine soundtrack)
OK SO I HAVE A CHANNEL IN MY PERSONAL DISCORD SERVER FOR LINES THAT INSPIRE ME BC SOME OF THEM PISS ME OFF IN HOW THEY FEEL LIKE I COULD HAVE WRITTEN THEM IF I WAS JUST A LITTLE BETTER AND MORE WIRED. here are some
when the heat starts growing horns / she's thunderstorms
in the backroom of a bad dream (i'll feel bad if it turns out miles wrote this one)
like in my heart there's that hotel suite / and you've lived there so long / it's kind of strange now you're gone
is that vague sense of longing kinda tryna cause a scene?
LIKE FUCKIN..first one drives me insane forever i dont even know why. for one thing i'm forever in awe of how he slots words into melodies like i can't write music man maybe i'll learn this year but it blows my fucking mind how he makes them sound so good And that they rhyme. and his imagery is just off the charts like u listen to it and ur like fuck that makes so much SENSE even as ur hit w HOW THE FUCK DID HE THINK OF THAT. i can't even articulate what it is about shes thunderstorms that gets me so bad.
2 and 3 are just. idk i love how he conceptualises these abstract places. like it brings these nebulous feelings and vibes and locates them in a solid place but also with surreal imagery. idkidk it just blows my mind im so mad maybe i should make a compilation of lines like these
4 just hits hard bc it's saur relatable LMAO. just fuckin the phrase "cause a scene" with the vague feeling of longing.......URGH. song made for aimless artists having an identity and existential crisis.
15. favourite arctic monkeys b-side?
UMUM UM . SO VERY MANY. ok the on brand answer would be catapult but TRUTHFULLY i find myself always going back to too much to ask. every time it comes on i have to loop it at least twice. im just soooo very enraptured by how he captures the mundane and the slow frustration the impending sense of doom. the whole song has such a like..inevitable vibe. the song trucks on at a steady pace all leading toward the ending realisation that really you could already see coming from the very first line.
20. favourite record ender track?
GOD it's gotta be a three way tie between that's where youre wrong, i wanna be yours and the ultracheese. actually perfect sense is in there too. four way tie.
thats where youre wrong to me really encapsulates this breezy sense of melancholy thats so distinctive of the sias album. it just moves so lightly like a clear day when spring is shading into summer but it's so undeniably Sad. it coming after sias is the perfect one two punch of this exact vibe.
BUT I WANNA BE YOURS. MY BABY. I LOVE HER BADLY the simplicity of it the pure unadulterated longing and desperation. i would fucking do ANYTHING to be yours i would make myself so useful and devoted just for you to deign to say you need me. it just brings you to another dimension man. blast it on your headphones at 3am and you will unlock a never seen before depth of hell called longing. it just strips the whole am album down to its core (ie pleaesepleasepleaspelepalseplease text me back)
the ultracheese. lies down. it's everybody's favourite. and for GOOD REASON. the insanity of ending on a gutwrenchingly honest confession after an entire album about fantasy and escape. WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT KIND OF ACTUAL FUCKING SICKO ENDS ON "but i haven't stopped loving you once." ARGHHHH and musically it's like it's so very tbhc. is the best way i can say it. the tbhc album's sound and atmosphere put to fucking Work.
perfect sense makes me want to walk off a cliff and lie down in the dirt forever and ever and ever. if ultracheese was a confession perfect sense is a rumination. i was going to say it's like relief if relief tasted like whiskey but idk if i can even really say relief it's just like. i think it's also quite special to me because i do sincerely believe that by and large things will work out in the end and something unremarkable in your past will come to be the perfect solution in your future and back then it appeared just as it was meant to. it's like going on a long journey so that you could learn that where you began is what you needed and that doesnt mean the journey was a waste because you needed it yknow. i know there were people being like ohhh oh no tc is their last album and like perfect sense has such end of movie vibes but only the kind of ending where you know the characters are going to continue on past the end of the reel. yknow.
so idk maybe i will say either perfect sense or thats where youre wrong because i listen to thats where youre wrong a lot but clearly i have Feelings about perfect sense
thanks for the ask bug!! <3
#ask#folaireamh#ask game#arctic monkeys#i feel many things about am.......also idk if any of this makes sense becaus emuch of what i feel is difficult to articulate..!!#gonna sleep now will check my inbox again tmr!!
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I doubt the writers and producers care about our issues with the writing or even realise that we have issues. Ninety five percent of comments on the hashtags and the producer's @ mentions on twitter seem to be composed of sycophantic praise, which the writers and producers often reply to in a self congratulatory, self satisfied manner. The few constructively critical tweets I saw were just buried in the white noise of uncritical adulation, easy for them to ignore among the rest.
Yeah, I wanted to talk about this because there's been an uptick in the same kind of preachy posts about "harassing" the cast and crew and I'm just finding a disconnect with the reality here.
I think there's some projection going on with some fans who say that the cast and crew will be upset by commentary when actually what they mean is I'm upset by commentary.
Hence posts trying to shame others and gatekeep cast and crew on social media, instructing others not to 'harass' them with upsetting content.
So who are we talking about anyway?
There's the top dog show producers, and let's face it. Alexi Hawley and Jon Steinberg are not crying into their cup o' soup at the end of a long hard day of being told their episodes are subpar by a random fan on Twitter.
They're just not.
They just won't even pay attention to most of it. Jon gives the image of engaging a lot but the volume is such that he's just not going to be leafing through this stuff taking notes. Most of the comments they get are just repetitive noise, anyway. Same questions and pleas. Plus he actually drives it with his misleading comments and emojis when he could just leave it well alone.
Ultimately these are very established industry professionals and middle aged men. They know how this goes. And they should be told when they're entering dangerous territory with their show content, which they are.
Now, cast members. I agree there's less point whining to them, because what can they do? They're trying to keep down a job and they don't make the rules here. But equally, do they need protecting from critical views? Probably not.
Eric's a 45 year old man who's spent his entire adult life in LA. He's been in this business 20 years. He's also deliberately stoking up fans with things like Cameo. He's just not going to sit there and cry over someone saying they think The Rookie has gone downhill. Plus, if you check his @s on Twitter, which I just briefly scanned for the last day's worth, they're fine. It's almost all praise. Same goes for Melissa, except I think actually 100% is positive for her, and she obviously knows how to keep a healthy distance from the intrusiveness of social media anyway.
Verified accounts also have more filtering tools and more ability to avoid the crap if they so choose. They have resources to tune it all out without Chenford fan #987 doing it for them.
So the final bucket is the smaller fish of random production staff and associated crew, and yeah, there's probably no point sending them your criticism because it's just not their wheelhouse. They give random tidbits on social media sometimes presumably because they enjoy the small buzz it creates around them but that's really it. I wouldn't agree with @ing them for anything other than their specialist areas. But I just don't think anyone is. It's too much of an outlier and not the obvious target for someone who wants a rant.
I should add also that I and others have asked where these so called harassment posts are, but I've never once seen anyone reply saying "here it is". I can only conclude that they're only able to point to the relatively moderate, polite questions and comments that have been directed at some writers and producers recently. In my view, there is nothing wrong with these and I'm just not convinced that anyone would seriously consider those 'harassment'.
Which leads back to the projecting.
It's not okay to accuse other fans of harassment if they're not doing anything of the sort. It's not okay to try and shut down politely and calmly expressed views you don't agree with because they are not your views.
You also cannot ask other users of social media to ensure you see only content you like.
If it is so upsetting to you to see differing opinions, it is your responsibility to remove yourself from that situation. Not make it worse by putting your anger and blame out there on the wrong targets.
So please just think before you post that judgy call to arms about not critiquing the show. Are you trying to shut down actual harassment, or are you looking for a disguise for saying "I don't like it so you can't say it"?
/endlecture
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Emoji Analysis 5x08
So it this has just come to my attention but Evan Kyle has posted this on Istagram:
And we all know what that means, we all have to drive ourselves crazy trying to decipher what these emoji’s mean (or is that just me) so lets pull out our magnifying glasses and put on our detective hats.
First though I just need to freak out about the ‘for love’ part and the barchiegang hashtag. We’ve also been told that this next episode is more about the ships than the mystery which obviously I am excited for but I do think it’ll be nice to have a little break from the mysteries and have more of a fun episode. So lets go through the emojis for each of the ships and I’ll tell you what I think each one means.
Cheronica: I think this one is most likely to do with that whole Chad, Archie scene. I doubt Vee is happy with Cheryl for starting the game. I am not really sure what else it could be to do with. Veronica never does seem to enjoy Cheryl’s party games the first one she ended up upsetting Betty by kissing Archie in the closet and the second it was revealed that her father had brought the drive in land. I feel like Veronica will see right through the game and will likely call Cheryl out for it.
Kangs: Well maybe its Kevin, Fangs and Reggie who are having the threesome then and we all thought it was going to be Archie, Chad and Veronica silly us. No I’m joking I don’t think anyone is going to be having a threesome. I actually think this could support my theory about Kangs either adopting Toni’s baby or that Toni is a surrogate for them. So basically 2 becoming 3.
Jabitha: So this one is interesting its the sleeping emoji I’m not as sure on this one. I mean it could be like a play on the word like they sleep together but that seems a bit sudden for them to suddenly hook up. But then this is Riverdale and they are potentially at a key party plus we know Jughead isn’t opposed to a hook up seeing as he took Cora home from a bar right after meeting her. (Just to be clear that isn’t a judgement on Jughead) The other theory that I have is to do with that still released showing Jughead coming out of the shower and a freaky ass alien mothman behind him. It could be that Jughead is having nightmares and Tabitha is either comforting him or he tells her about them and she helps him figure out what it means. We know from the synopsis that he is trying to make sense of his encounter from last episode so maybe Tabitha is the one helping him do this. I think the second theory is more likely than the first and in all honestly its the one I’d prefer. I do think Jabitha could be a really cute couple but I would like them to take their time building it up.
Varchie: Ok so this one I am little confused about, as you can see from my screenshot the emoji is a gift but then I saw some screenshots on twitter where the emoji is of a spanner and hammer. In all honesty the hammer and spanner emoji makes more sense as we have seen stills of them working on Veronica’s apartment. So construction together, hammer and spanner, makes sense. So I think maybe this is a kind of lost in translation type thing where if your device doesn’t have the spanner/hammer emoji then it shows it as a gift instead. If it is a gift then I am not sure what it means. Maybe the locket and watch they gave each other for Christmas in season 2 comes back into play somehow?
Choni: I really can’t think of anything for this one. I mean red lipstick is very Cheryl but I’m not sure how it could relate to Toni. The description says that the tension between Toni and Cheryl comes to a head. So maybe Cheryl kisses that Marble woman and some of her lipstick transfers over and Toni sees it, a kind of lipstick on your collar type deal. Or maybe Toni wears red lipstick and Cheryl tells her that red lipstick is her thing and no one else can wear it so Toni is banished from town. Who knows.
Bughead: This one shows a blonde girl running which I believe is the same emoji they used to tease the whole Polly going missing plotline. In episode 9 we know that they are investigating together so maybe that starts in this episode and Jughead finds the connection between the Mothmen mystery and the truck driver killer and talks to betty about it.
Barchie: I mean a ghost and a lightbulb is probably the most ambiguous of all the emojis. But taking a stab in the dark a ghost makes me think of ghost from the past. In RAS’ interview with Tvline he says ‘and people start having hard conversations that they’ve mostly been avoiding. Betty and Archie, in particular, are wrestling with what they mean to each other.’ This makes me think that Betty and Archie are going to be one of those people having a hard conversation and maybe this is about what happened on the porch in the pilot. I mean they are going to find themselves in a similar situation as they were in the pilot. Once again they are at Cheryl’s party and they are obviously playing a game that’s going to cause some drama. That could bring up memories for them just as I feel like it will for Veronica too as I mentioned above. As for the lightbulb that could be this idea of having an epiphany so maybe its one or both of them realise they have feelings for the other. Or it could be like to shed light on something so maybe its that someone sheds light on the fact that Barchie have been sleeping together.
Well that's the best I’ve got for you all. What are your best theories for what the emojis could mean?
Ok major Edit here. So apparently the writer was actually referring to Chad and Veronica when he put Cheronica not Cheryl and Veronica like I thought. But I do think it’ll essentially mean the same thing and its to do with that scene where he and Archie have a confrontation. It’ll be to do with more of his possessive behaviour that will likely make us all cringe and feel really uncomfortable.
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Putting this here just in case: Celebrity Klaroline, they are co-stars on a super popular show and have been secretly dating for years. They decide to reveal to the public that they are engaged via an Instagram-live during quarantine.
Thank you, luv, this one is so much fun and reminds me of Bob and Eliza my Bellarke babies : ) So, they are my inspiration. I hope you like it, it got a bit longer than I’d envisaged.
Do You Want to Know a Secret?
“So, let me get this straight,” she began. “You’re going to announce your engagement via Instagram Live?”
“Didn’t we just say that?”
“I was repeating myself to emphasise my point not because I didn’t hear you,” Rebekah growled, looking between them. Even via Skype she still had that scary ‘don’t mess with me’ demeanour. “Last time I checked I was your publicist and it’s my job to tell you when you are doing something stupid, today is case in point.”
“And while we appreciate the, uh, services you provide, little sister,” Klaus mumbled. “It really is up to us how we let people know about the engagement.”
“You’ve been secretly dating for years, not one paparazzi shot, not one late-night TMZ ambush, not one Perez Hilton catty headline, not one on-set insider account, not one secret, comic con moment, not…”
“We get the picture, Rebekah,” Caroline interrupted. “We’re stealth as Kol would say.”
“Did he put you up to this? Because on further reflection it seems like one of his immature, ill-conceived ideas.”
“I’ll tell him you send your love, Rebekah,” Klaus teased thinking about his little brother and manager.
Klaus Mikaelson and Caroline Forbes were co-stars of the most popular sci-fi drama on television. Their characters were engaged in an on-again-off-again romance but what the public didn’t know was their favourite on-screen couple were off-screen as well.
Not that it had started out that way, in fact it was more adversarial
2 years earlier…
“You did not just kick me there!” He growled, rolling around on the floor in pain. The director had just called ‘cut’ and the series leads were fighting, yet again.
The tension between them had been present from the first audition and the producers thought it was exactly what they needed in their two leads Cole Hamilton and Riley James.
As predicted, there was fireworks on-screen but off-screen was another story. The tension bubbling below the surface was threatening to boil over. The cast and crew were taking bets on when they were going to finally relieve the tension.
“Like I meant to,” Caroline replied, the slight smile tugging at the end of her lips was telling him otherwise.
“Maybe we should get you a stunt person if you’re going to be such a danger on-set, love?” He insisted, eventually standing up fully recovered.
“Maybe we should get you one of those protective cups for your privates, you know just in case the stunt person accidentally does the same?”
Their mouths were now within inches of each other, their intense gaze showing no signs of faltering.
As it turned out the tension did boil over in her trailer later that day. Bets were won and the couple found ways to relieve the tension, first as a physical arrangement but then they went and fell in love.
“Keeping our relationship out of the public eye has been amazing because we’ve been able to do things at our pace without any intrusion from the media, but it has also been the most difficult experience,” Caroline explained. “There’s only so many years of Uber Eats and Netflix I can handle.”
“Don’t forget the chill part, love,” Klaus murmured in her ear.
“Way to put me off my breakfast! Even I can hear you, Niklaus,” the familiar sound of his brother-in-law came over the speaker.
“Well Lorenzo, maybe you two should go and do that and we can….”
“Why can’t you just put up a cute picture and caption it with a ring emoji? I know it has all been done before but…”
“Everyone is doing Instagram Live, especially during the pandemic.”
“So if they all jumped off a bridge would you do that too, Niklaus? Also, don’t forget I have your Instagram password, Nik.”
“Unbelievable! How did you…” he trailed off before Caroline intervened.
“You don’t know mine. Look, Rebekah, we appreciate your concern but it’s time to go public. And what better time than during a world crisis? If you ask me people need some good news, now more than ever.”
“Fine, I don’t agree but if you’re going to do this you realise there’s no way to control things once you start? People will be going crazy, more so since they’ve been cooped up in isolation and had no idea you were dating let alone engaged.”
Two hours later
“We ready to do this?” She smiled, placing her hand on his. Yes, it was a completely unusual way to announce their engagement, let alone their secret relationship.
“As much as I’ve loved having this time to get to know you,” he murmured. “I’m excited for this next stage in our lives.”
“I know, it will be nice not to have to sneak around anymore,” she shared. “Although, I’m not looking forward to the hate I’ll get from all your female fans upset you’re off the market.”
“You’re worried about my fans, yours are absolutely rabid, love.”
“Well, at least we have the Ciley fandom,” he chuckled. “What do you think they’ll call our real-life ship?”
“The fact you’re asking that means you have been cooped up in quarantine too long,” she teased.
5 minutes later
Before they’d even started to speak the love hearts were flowing in a bright array of colour and the comments began and not just a couple, thousands within the first couple of minutes.
Turns out their fans didn’t need any words to work out what was happening given their steady stream of comments.
“Some of you might be wondering…oh looks like many of you have come to that conclusion already given the comment from @mark91,” Klaus began, “And yes, agreed, I’m a lucky dog.”
“What he’s trying to say is that…oh @jazzy39 glad you like my sweater. But…”
“I’m sorry @rayna001 but yes I’m taken,” Klaus read, a slight chuckle escaping his lips. “Funny you should mention that actually..”
“We wanted to announce that oh @arabella5700 looks like we don’t need to do that anymore.”
They looked at each other briefly before realising their news wasn’t really theirs anymore.
“Yes, we’re engaged,” Caroline murmured feebly, holding up her left hand which keen-eyed fans had already spotted within the first 30 seconds.
“And what better way to announce it than with out fans,” Klaus smiled. “Now, if only we had our own ship name…”
“Looks like @hermione1992 has already offered an option,” Caroline interrupted. “Klaroline, mmm interesting. What do you all think of that?”
After they’d fumbled through quite a few more questions, including what her dress was going to look like and if her co-stars Katherine Pierce and Bonnie Bennett would be bridesmaids, they finished the live stream.
“OMG,” Caroline moaned, flopping onto the couch next to him. “I’m exhausted.”
“It’s like the banks of the dam have given way and…”
“All those questions, it’s like two years worth of them all stored up,” Caroline murmured. “Your sexual prowess was one of my personal favourites.”
“Which you didn’t answer,” he pouted. “People out there are going to think I’m bad.”
“Yeah, because I was going to go into that on an Instagram Live,” she muttered. “I’m sure the parents of our younger fans would love that.”
“And after all that we didn’t get to make our own announcement,” he complained. “They are an observant bunch.”
“Well, give we’re all supposed to be in lock-down I imagine us being in the same place was a dead giveaway. We are now officially hashtag klaroline though,” she giggled. “It kind of has a nice ring to it.”
His phone beeped signalling a new message, Klaus didn’t have to be a genius to realise exactly who it would be. He picked it up lazily and consulted the screen.
“So, how did that go for you?”
“She’s never going to let us live that one down,” Klaus groaned.
#ask#thank you#bitchyandopinionatedteen#klaroline drabbles#misssophiachase#do you want to know a secret#my writing
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Conjecture |10|
Idol Reader Au, Enemies to Lovers AU
Summary: Your management refused to renew your contract unless you collaborated, so you ending up working with Min Yoongi. A guy you’d disliked from before both of your debuts. There is more to their past than meets the eye.
Links to all other parts in my Masterlist :)
Words:4311
Rating:18+
Warnings: SMUT!! (BDSM themes, restraints, toys, oral f recieving, masturbation, Slightly Dom Yoongi, Ice Play, Wax Play) Swearing.
if you want to be tagged let me know :)
Reblog, Like, Comment pwwwweeasse :)
//
- I hate I’m not going to see you properly until tonight -7:58am
- That’s if you can drag yourself from your studio when your home – 8:00am
- Hey I’m trying to get a hold of this whole work girlfriend balance thing okay. Stop being mean! :P – 8:04am
- I thought you liked it when I’m mean? -8:10am
Teasing Yoongi had been the main source of your amusement while he’d been away.
- Okay when I’m a begging panting mess underneath you then yes but not when you’re teasing me about actually being an adult. – 8:15am
Teasing you had been Yoongi’s main source of amusement while he’d been away
- Fuck off with that imagery! That wasn’t fair. I’ve not seen you for ages and first we have to do a bloody rehearsal. Hornyness aside I did really miss you, and can’t wait to curl up beside you (if you come to bed :P) – 8:16am
- Hey!
This was emphasised by the grumpy emoji
- I missed you too beautiful – 8:18am
You’d never get tired of him calling you that.
//
The single had topped the charts for the few weeks since it had been released, the video was almost doing just as well; the greedy industry was already screaming for more collaborations from the two of you especially since the announcement.
Safe to say both fandoms lost their shit for a while; neither had fully found it yet gauging by social media. The reactions from your fans were mostly positive which you kind of expected, there was already fan-fiction online about your relationship which was…interesting to say the least. The reaction from army was of course, momentous. You’d expected nothing less, the meme’s that had already been going viral were brilliant. Within hours of the announcement #KpopPowerCouple, #MoveoverBey-Z and #y/nXyoongi were just a few of the hashtags that trended with ferocious power.
As with the support there was obviously a lot of not so nice things circulating that you had to really absorb all the will power to not get upset or completely rage over; especially since the pair of you had been told to go silent online until the chaos had subsided. There were videos of fans in tears, devastated as ‘Yoongi was theirs’, even threats had been filtering through. The strain of the media blow up pushed you both into writing and work. It certainly didn’t help that the second the single was done; which was a few days after the announcement the boys had a couple of weeks’ worth of touring around Japan before they came back and prepped for the awards shows. You’re management had had you planning the next comeback stripping you of your two month hiatus that was planned. The MAMA’s were tomorrow, the boys only got back yesterday and they’d been chucked straight into their rehearsals for the awards. Yours and Yoongi’s dress rehearsal was the last of the day
*Knock Knock*
Your hand flew to hinder the cry that threatened to escape your throat as your body convulsed with sweet bursts, your leg hitched over Yoongi’s shoulder who was on his knees. Your nails clenching the make-up table you were leaning on having already knocked over half your make up.
“10 minute warning guys then you’re up” a soft muffled voice announced behind the door.
Your half-length leather jacket had nudged its way of your shoulders, the studded bra had thankfully been bypassed by Yoongi in his hunger to be in between your legs and remained intact, the leather high waisted shorts were launched somewhere on the floor. Yoongi’s licks at your clit became less forceful than before
You yanked the top of his head when your thoughts became clear
“You’ve made your point, you missed me I get it” you panted staring down into his blown out pupils consumed with desire, the glistening reward of your arousal on his chin tugged at the coil he’d just released.
“Uhuh, I think you can give me one more baby” his head leaned back in with a long kitten lick the whole length of your slit eliciting a breathy moan followed by curses in Yoongi’s name
“I can’t… we can’t” you managed
“Now look who’s the one who’s afraid of getting caught” he blew air onto your sensitive clit, the devilish smirk that you’d learnt spelt nothing but pleasurable trouble grew defiant across his face
“Were not at our companies, it’s a national award sh…FUCK!” Too enamoured by his smirk you’d neglected to realise the fingers that was digging into your thigh were no longer there. Your gaze slipped from his with your head dropping back onto your shoulders, your nails gripping onto the stability of the table again. The reach of his fingers in this position stroking at your velvet wall concussed you to everything else around you.
“There we go” he managed in between still light long flicks of his tongue, he knew your body like the keys of a piano, the second your quietened moans lowered and your hips angled into him as the sensitivity dwindled and the pleasure seeped back in, centring at your bud the speed and force of his tongue escalated. The coil in your stomach winding steadily back up, his lips wrapped and sucked at your clit, the pace of his fingers slowed just as your thighs began to tense. You felt a smirk grow against your soaked folds.
“Christ Yoon..” you slapped him on the head
“No time for teasing” you scolded in between pants. Out of nowhere his pace revved up to full, fingers tightly curling in his hair. Muscles tensing for the upcoming rush.
“Yoo…ngi Fu” You threw your head forward, your upper body freezing with your back arched forward. Both hands now grappling in his hair keeping his head where you needed his tongue to suffer all the aftershocks permeating out from your core.
*Knock Knock*
“Guys you’re up” spoke the same muffled voice
“Fuck” you whispered, dragging your hair out and back from your face.
“Grab my shorts” you hurried. He did as he was told albeit with a triumphant smirk and glistening eyes. He leaned into you holding your shorts just out of your reach
Asshole
The rolling of your eyes showed your half amused state.
“I’ve missed how good you taste, now I just need to feel you wrapped around me” he pressed into you aiming for a kiss, which you dodged with expert precision.
“You are not ruining my lipstick with my own cum Min Yoongi” Shoving him away with a light push, rushing to dress your bottom half with unstable, jelly legs. His eyes had grown with a slight bloom of defeat.
Such a pouter
“Well we’ll see, if you can pull yourself away from your studio I’m sure I can make sure your needs are met” you teased with dangerous intent in your eyes. Nonchalant in pretending that his dick wasn’t in the forefront of your own mind right now.
“Come on lets go” your legs managed full functionality by the time your reached the door.
“Shit Yoongi”
“What?”
“The doors been unlocked this whole time, I thought you locked it?” breathe hitching at the thought of the palaver being caught would land the pair of you in.
“No I thought you did?”
“We’ve gotta be more careful baby” voice softening to a low whisper as you approached the stage chaperones with coy smiles.
Finally you’d both arrived back at Yoongi’s apartment, the bounding bundles of Ted and Holly peppered the pair of you with licks and highly excited whines. You walked straight into Yoongi’s room and unburdened your bag. His bedroom and studio where the only rooms in the apartment that look inhabited, the others were barely used and could still double as a show room. His room was always presentable…ish, the shelves of anime and manga models were always dusted, the dark bed covers were never made, the huge walk in wardrobe was organised pedantically by colour apart from a few straggling hoodies which were always just launched on some part of the floor. Your behind sunk into the mattress as your stripped your top half and replaced the clothes with a light, red cami top, your trackies couldn’t slip off you fast enough in favour of some loose pink shorts painted with marshmallows.
“Cute” Yoongi voiced from the door before entering pulling his shirt over his head
“Have you been working out?” face scrunched up eyes scanning the definition appearing on his abs
“And what if I have?”
“You literally hate working out” he rummaged around in the closet for a loose v neck black shirt.
“Yoongi have you been trying to impress me? You teased, making your way over to him before he escaped into his studio
“You know I think you’re perfect the way you are right?” You made sure you gently scraped your nails at the new muscles. His arms locked behind your neck eyes content staring into yours.
“Hey nothing wrong with a guy wanted to look good for his girl” You leaned back into his arms
“Oh I’m your girl now am I?, I mean I appreciate the visual but please don’t feel like you have to” teasing at the first use of the nickname
“And last time I checked I was noona and older than you?” you added teasing glimmer radiating from your eyes, he pulled away from you in a fake huff
“You’re only noona in the bedroom” he added
“We’re in your bedroom” you teased
“You know what I mean, stop being purposely annoying” his half smile failing his seriousness.
“I’ll see you in a bit baby I just really wanna get this bridge down” he bid you farewell with a gentle kiss and left you and Holly in the bedroom. Yes Holly! Ted, the traitor followed Yoongi everywhere when he had the choice. You opened your laptop and began typing down an organised mess of lyrics.
Sam had you distracted fairly quickly , she’d just got a new job and was glowing with excitement as she told you everything about it over the phone
“Shit it’s like 2am has Yoongi not come to bed yet?”
“If he had would I be talking to you still?” you quipped back
“Rude!”
“I’m sure you can tempt him into bed” she added
“I think those talents would be lost on him if he’s working. And I wouldn’t want to anyway, I know how it is, I wouldn’t want to take him away from his work”
“I do it to you all the time and drag you out to save you from becoming a work hermit. Do you hate me or love me for that?”
“Both normally” you chuckled
“You end up thanking me before the nights out! And there’s no way he doesn’t want it. He’s a guy after all. You just gotta remind him what he’s missing out on. Now go do what ya gotta do, and if he doesn’t cave I’ll do your laundry for a month” Sam hated nothing more than laundry.
“Fine, see you in a bit”
You clicked off and stared at the buzzing white of your screen gleaming in the darkness of the room.
How can I pry Yoongi from his cave?
If you was at home the decision wouldn’t be an extensive as your toy box would certainly inspire a few ideas. Firstly you needed to gauge if he was near his phone. You started simple, removing your top and seeing if that would grab his attention.
-IMG.jpg – 2:10am-
No answer.
Needing to level up you switched your cute marshmallow shorts in favour of flower patterned lace crotchless underwear. You opened the studio door with a slow cautious move, peering your head inside. As expected headphones were snug to his head as it bopped loosely along to the beat hitting his ears; every few bars he paused the playback and scribbled something down in front him. His phone was on arm of the sofa well out of Yoongi’s range as you suspected it might be. You shuffled closer keeping your body behind his chair picking up his phone on the way, a constant smirk was locked onto your face. You primed your hand just above his head.
“Hey!” he exclaimed as you nabbed the pads from his head. Eyes blooming wide as they acknowledged your attire… or lack of
“Well…damn!” eyes greedy not stopping roaming up and down, within the blessed smirk he bit his bottom lip.
“Oh so me coming in here, nicking your headphones with no clothes on gets your attention” you jibbed dramatically, hand solid on your hip as the other offered him his phone. As he gripped the phone you leaned in kissed him sweetly batting away his hands that were trying to entrap you in a desperate ploy.
“Nope. You only get this out of the studio” For a few beats your eyes glimmered at each other, he knew exactly what you were doing. You turned and left him to stew.
Your phone vibrated before you’d even made it back to the bedroom
- I’ll be twenty minutes max, please don’t start without me- 2:20am
Ten minutes had passed and you were itching with impatience, even the cinnamon candle you’d ignited at your bedside did nothing to soothe your state.
- Couldn’t wait any longer, if I cum before you get here you won’t be using your tongue for a month. -2:35am
This text you cruelly decided needed a video, the video you sent consisted of nothing more or less than the view of your hand clutching your portable wand massager holding it in between your legs, your moans providing the tempting background music.
All you got as a response was line of skulls.
You kept the settings on low, you would rather avoid having to do what you threatened. The clicking of doors shutting finally signalling your victory.
You didn’t stop the wand when he finally walked in, but carried on pretending to ignore him. He couldn’t formulate a response as he slipped off his top, the bed around you depressed as he joined you on the bed. One of his hands wrapping around yours, taking control of the wand from you holding it where you had. A hand supporting him planted beside your head as he lent with a steady move to engulf your moans, the taste of coffee etched strongly on his lips. Your hand snaked free and allowed Yoongi sole control of the massager. Even in their new found freedom your hands became victim to the pleasure streaming through your body ending up anchoring harshly into his shoulder blades when he turned the power up, eliciting his name amongst a string of expletives from your throat. His head snuggled into the crevice of your neck, hot pants fanning across your skin.
“You going to cum for me baby?” whispering, tempting at your ears. You was already unravelling against your will, body falling apart under the power of the vibrations. The massager did not move as every nerve at your bud became washed with sensitivity, the muscle aftershocks soon caused whines to seep from your throat. Yoongi finally relented, turning the wand off and lightly launched it to the floor. Your grip on him grew weak and loose.
“Now, no more toys, just you and me” he announced, grappling your hands above your head and stifled your pants with a heated kiss.
“I think I like this more in control Yoongi” you smirked bottom lip between your teeth
“I just missed you so fucking much” he confessed nipping roughly at your neck and collar bone pressing his knee in between your legs to which you gratefully ground your hips against
I’ll let him have his fun for now
Trusting you to keep your hands where he put them his hands traced down your arms, your skin igniting in its path. He sat back on his legs before leaning over to one of the bedside drawers.
“Can I?” his face so innocent and meek despite asking what he was.
“Mmm please” you permissed holding out your wrists, eyebrows raised but evidently pleased as he secured the handcuffs with a click.
“I thought I’d have to work a lot harder to get you in handcuffs” he admitted as you sat up underneath him as a silk blindfold deprived you of your vision.
“I mean you worked pretty hard in the dressing room” you toyed
“You know what I mean! Now are you going to be quiet and let me take care of you or not?” he bit back shoving you back down on the bed.
“I thought you said no toys” you dropped your secured hands above your head with a light huff.
“I did” your head tilted to the sight slightly. He shifted his weight slightly, knee pressing harder between your legs
“Why am I tied and blin…” the freezing cold droplets landing onto your now hardening buds at the peak of your breast and running down your skin answered your question.
“Oh this shuts you up then” he teased, spikes of cold now pressed at your neck and followed the path of your collar bone to in between your chest. Inhaling sharply and allowing the ice against your skin to ignite a rush of goose bumps wherever it moved.
“God, I love how your body reacts” you tilted your hips grappling for the contact of his leg against your clit.
“Asshole” you breathed as he moved his leg back just out of reach. You pictured the smug smirk smacked on his face triumphant in irritating the hell out of you
“Oh insults now? We can’t have that” he preceded, dragging the ice in a strong line down your chest to your stomach and then to your throbbing bundle of nerves. You hissed through teeth and your back arched off the bed searching for any relief. What made is worse is the melting water that was flowing from the cube and running cold blissful daggers down your slit.
“Cold?” he asked
“Obviously” you breathed a tiny bit agitated.
“But your body’s not complaining” his fingers collecting a cocktail of the melted ice and your arousal before pushing them inside.
“Yoongi…” you whined.
“God, I missed you moaning my name as well” he got an extra dose of you swearing his name as he curled his fingers inside of you. Lips pressing tightly around your breast biting at your nipple.
You flung your arms down, entangled your fingers in his hair; the handcuffs clinking lightly at your wrist.
“Seriously?” Your brows knitting together.
“You’re really going to edge me after being apart for so long” you complained. His fingers had left you along with his lips leaving nothing but a sulky pout on your lips.
“Jesus what the fuck” you cried as his knee pressed into all your arousal and something burned at your chest for a moment before there was a small pinch at your skin. You cried out more in shock in than anything the first.
“Have you just tipped wax on me Min Yoongi?” you asked in a pause of contact, which you guessed he was waiting for a reaction.
“Well I said no toys so I improvised” You hissed through your teeth as the stung hit again, this time around your belly button.
“Do you want me to stop?” he questioned more sincerely. You ground your hips into his leg, your arousal spreading on hi skin as you groaned at the contact.
“Does it feel like I want you too?” your hips refused to stop, desperate in chasing any sort of release.
“Fuck you know that drives me insane”
//
-I’m so bored, why aren’t you here entertaining me!-
-I have better things than to make sure you’re occupied :p what would you have me do if I was there?
-I want you sat on my thighs grinding, I want to feel how wet you get, I want to feel it all on my skin as you get yourself off on me.
-is someone horny by any chance?
You sat amused in a conference room, trying to shade your expression as much as possible and act like filthy thoughts were ravaging your mind.
-Yes and I think you should help me
- So demanding! How much do you like it when I ride your thighs?
-so fucking much I can’t even tell you
-I mean your thighs aren’t here but does this help? MOV.mp4
The video was one you’d filmed for him to surprise him but you couldn’t have your man go without your help. You’d filmed yourself having some “alone” time with a new toy you’d wanted for when he was away. You made sure you was extra loud when you whimpered his name as you came.
-Fucking hell babe! I don’t deserve you! And yes it helped a lot! Do I get one every time I’m away? :P -
You’d received this response a good forty minutes later.
//
“On all fours” he demanded, his tone was crisp and saturated with a dominance and desperation that spoke and goaded to your already blazing fire at your core.
You fumbled as you obeyed him, a wide smirk concrete on your face, elbows sinking into the bed. Your arms cushioning your forehead, ass high in the air for him to relish the view. You felt his cock throb between your legs
“Stop making me wait and just fuck me pleaaase!” you pleaded desperation hanging on every syllable and he damn well knew it.
“Don’t move” he responded lining up at your entrance with just the tip making contact. All you wanted, no needed to do was just push back, but you wanted to see where he was going with this
You waited and waited. His weight shifted slightly, waiting had caused your skin to heat up, as well and your arousal only to heighten, the anticipation was ridiculous!. You did your best not to shuffle even a tiny bit further onto him.
“Beg!” he asked of you with a dangerous tone
“What?” you checked
“You said you wasn’t above begging, I wanna hear it properly”
Turning your head to the side so he could hear you
“Fuck Yoongi! You’ve gotta be kidding me I just need you to fuck me not tease me” He remained still.
“Please baby! I’ve missed how good you feel when your inside me, I need to cum around you, I want…”
Funnelling your breath out through your teeth almost hissing
“Ahh” you both exclaimed breathlessly, you’d pushed onto him, a muscle reaction to the surprise strip of wax he’d draped down your spine. God you’d missed how he felt, how perfectly you fitted together, how hungry you both were to please each other; craving each other’s satisfaction. His thrusts were hard and heavy against you; the grip of his hands at your hip grew tighter.
“God you’re so beautiful like this” he mewled one hand softly creeping up your spine and tangling and twisting in your hair before yanking you back. The pang of pain pulling a cry from you, sending a signal of ecstasy straight through to your core your walls clenching around him
“Fuck, if you keep doing that I’m really not going to last much longer” he warned. His and your hips quickly finding a peaceful rhythm, your moans were becoming strangled with your breathing muffled as your arms caved and he relinquished his grip on your hair. Your face covered by the sheets stifling your cries. You clenched tight around him again
“Tell me your close, please… cum with me” he choked, he’d slowed his thrusts nearly leaving you before slamming back into you each time causing a more drawn out whine passed your lips
“Mmm right there don’t…” the coil finally releasing four weeks of frustration ricocheting through your body. You stilled, the shock-waves dragged on blissfully with his hips still jerking into you a state of over-stimulation. His grunts slowly drowning out your labouring breathes.
“Fuck… I love you!” he panted collapsing beside you unlocking the metal from your wrist. You stared at him, pupils no doubt blown out. Your brows slowly knitting together before contorting into a smile and launching a pillow to his face.
Did he just?
No way!
“What?” the strands of his jet black hair slicked to his skin.
“You do not get to say that for the first time after you’ve just fucked me like that” your hand resting supporting your head as you laid on your side facing him.
“Why not?”
“Because!”
Am I even ready to say it to say it back? I mean I was near enough in love with him back then. The feelings that were once dormant have flourished exponentially over the past month.
I do.
Shit. But saying it out loud makes those feelings acknowledged and real. Opening me up to potential pain.
“Your bodies flowing with all those sweet chemicals right now” the ‘you fucking serious look’ he responded with made you chuckle
“I’m not accepting it. I will when you say it in a serious non sexual situation”
“Fine, fine” he conceded a flicker of light snuffed out behind his eyes.
Have I upset him?
“Good now please go and bring me coffee” you ordered amused
He saluted militantly
“No breakfast?” he asked before leaving the room.
“Not on an event day”. His eyes rolled before they bloomed a garden of concern
“Promise me you’ll at least have a little something before this evening?”
“Promise”
The first promise you’ll be breaking to Yoongi.
“I still can’t believe you’ve not showed me your dress”
“That would ruin the surprise now wouldn’t it” you once again attacked him with a pillow flying across the room.
“Now Coffee! Go!”
#bts#btssmutclub#kwritersworldnet#hyunglinenetwork#mygsnet#btsguild#networkbangtan#bangtanarmynet#kpopwonderlandtag#min yoongi#BTS suga#yoongi x reader#bts fanfction#bts smut
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this is about...
I’m fuming
but this isn’t about me
this is about the wet wipes and the brown nosers
forgive my Americanisms,
but this movement did start largely because of Americanism.
this isn’t about that
this is about the fashionable non-fascists
the neo-revolutionaries with their metre-deep activism
the bandanna wearing, intellectual sign waving
black boots for stomping
and big mouths to eat the establishment
type
motherfuckers.
I
see
you
because
you
want
to
be
seen.
but this movement is not about you !
it’s not even about me
and shit, I am Black !
this is about US.
this is about the millions of voices muffled under centuries of soil and sea
this is about the million roads to freedom, and their tall walls at the end
this is about being thrown into the circus and becoming the clown
this is about fighting and dying and fighting and dying and breaking the cycle
for good.
your thirst for constant visibility
is symptomatic of the sickness that has never known invisibility before
you are blocking the sun and we have grown weary of your long shadows.
this is about “I love my Black women”
but when push comes to shove,
Black means add a little milk and dilute it some.
this is about being taught that skin bleaching
and success in life
possess a positive correlation
this is about the relaxers and the texturisers they be selling
trying to sell us the Ultimate Black Girl
who, by the way, is actually Armenian
this is about your lip fillers
and your gym booties
and the criminal amount of fake tan you wear.
this is about assimilation
about laughing with Dan in the office that your home-cooked lunch really does smell bad
because the way it works is you need to stamp on the hands that brought you into the world
in order to ascend within it
this is about chicken thighs being delicious,
but chicken feet absolutely abhorrent.
this is about wondering if he is trying to be flattering or genuinely thinks of you as an exotic conquest into a foreign land
just like his ancestors did it
this is about wide-eyed stares in the lecture theatres because the wind and your hair got a little too friendly
and paying hundreds that you can’t really afford
so that no one gives you any shit for your hair.
this is about being asked about your passport in an ordinary conversation, as if you’re talking to undercover immigration police
this is about realising that the circus never really closed down
it just reopened under a different alias
this is about I don’t want to sign any more fucking petitions,
I petition you to fix the thing that I keep petitioning about
this is about knowing that decolonisation is a life’s work
and many came before us and were not finished
so we cannot be finished
so this is about getting your head out of your ass and getting tf up off the couch
this is about you doing more than taking to the streets
(yes, there is MUCH more to do than that !)
this is about you asking yourself the most difficult questions
this is about you having the most difficult conversations
this is about you reading the most difficult books
this is about recognising that Blackness is a limitless construct,
and that within that deep vortex are a multitude of voices that are all shouting the same thing
and have been shouting it since the days of white Adam and white Eve
this is about not clapping for yourself because you finally cleaned the wax out of your ear
to hear us.
this is about hashtags and Black fist emojis
which I sincerely hope you use to fuck yourself if you don’t dedicate every single day to becoming an amplifier
through which Black voices ring louder and clearer
this is about knowing that these acts can be as small as reading one more page of Fanon or Davis.
this is about Black people not having to think about being Black every fucking second
of every fucking day
this is about drying our tired eyes once and for all.
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see below for thoughts and so many fucking feelings on Bloody Mary
- ooooh, interesting way of picking! nice to see Jon coming up with something small to do against Beholding
- ahhhhh Eric! I have been wondering about him for so long.
- I love him! :D
- ... how would Gertrude not know? I guess she maybe wasn’t around but it’s her Archives, after all.
- interesting to hear that Elias was still not quite Head of the Institute even while he was working there. not sure if it’s a point in favour of the Elias-is-Jonah theory, I imagine something fairly drastic changed when he got monstered, but.
- Emma! who is Emma! I mean, clearly Gertrude’s third assistant, but.
- ... I’m glad that Eric never co-habited in the book with Gerry. He wouldn’t have liked that.
- ohhhh he’s actually qualified to work in the Archives! I like him even more, you go, library science
- Eric, you’re a monsterfucker
- I would love to hear more about how being an assistant was for Gertrude’s - Eric clearly tangled with the vampires, though I’m not sure how often those have come up in Gertrude-era stuff, and also met Adelard. She kept them out of the rituals until she didn’t, so was it more like S1 for them? Stumbling around in the dark and occasionally getting eaten?
- !!! that’s one of my theories! I have had that theory for years probably, that Elias could see through any depiction of an eye, I am so seldom right about these things, and I guess it’s not exactly confirmation, but Gertrude thought it at least.
- also that’s quite a step. I can’t see Basira or Daisy trying it - Daisy signed the contract willingly, and I expect Basira would also feel like she has more to do. Melanie might take it, out of all of them. Tim probably would have - and he would have rocked a service dog - if he’d found out before he got his second shot at the circus.
- Jon sounds so excited? he’s all. quick and rushing.
- and they’ve both got to say fuck! :D who hasn’t said fuck now? for hashtag reasons
- is. is he asking Martin to run away with him? because that’s my jam
- you and me, together can I say fuck now? I need to say fuck now
- Martiiiiiin D:
- I think it always did, fine, didn’t need my heart, whatever
- “I’ll be here” “I hope so” asdfghjkl. although I hope that hoping so is a good sign that Martin may in future go after that running-away-together-thing, and not a comment about Jon-being-Jon-not-the-Archivist. though knowing that Martin doesn’t expect to get out of this... where is my upside-down emoji, tumblr, I need it
- oh great, time to cross be productive off my list of things to do today because that is not happening. I just. Jon’s first instinct is to go to Martin and ask him to run away with him. I’m never going to be over that.
- god, I wonder if Martin even believes him? like, he clearly doesn’t think that Jon wants to gouge his own eyes out, but the other stuff? does he believe that Jon wants to run away with him? because I do and it hurts a lot and I’d really like him to know that Jon does indeed love him back. I think Jon means that part of it, at least, with everything he has. I don’t know about the rest of it, what would have happened if Martin had said yes, but he certainly seemed to want to want it.
- argh I really really hope that it’s not too late, that it won’t be, that Jon hasn’t realised his own feelings much too late. I hope this isn’t their last scene, and for fuck’s sake, I want them to get out together. I know they won’t, because horror and that, but I guess I’m invested and it wouldn’t be shipping it if I didn’t want, on some ridiculous fantasy level, for them to escape together and get a dog. If I could return to my previous sentiments - argh.
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Broduce 101: Episode 9 (Quick Livestream Recap)
Firstly, I want to apologise for the lateness of this recap. I’ll try to be more timely for the remaining two episodes, I’m sorry.
This episode is all about the concept evaluations and the live performances for the next eliminations.
We start off in the Produce prison mansion, where BoA visits the waiting trainees. They’re always a bit starstruck with her lol
She reminds them this is the last elims before final 11, casts a degree of doubt about whether the cut off will be the top 22 ranks, then explains the voting system and benefits.
Although at this stage, these godawful live voting stages are increasingly important for the rankings, they continue to be stupid and easily manipulated in favour of the popular trainees regardless of their performances. I know this is supposed to be a true reality show or whatever, but the idea of giving a young audience more organised than Mnet so much power gives me a stress headache.
Anyway. The team that gets the most votes for their performance gets a 20,000 vote benefit and the trainee with the most votes gets a 100,000 vote benefit. The team with the most votes gets to perform at M!Countdown.
Each song has to have 7 members, and since Mnet’s crappy planning meant the trainees got split into teams before elims, they have to be reshuffled so every song has the same number of performers.
In true Lord of the Flies fashion, the boys have the privilege of kicking out their own teammate by ranking their group from first to last. This means a chunk of them have spent a week rehearsing for a song they won’t perform
The teams short of members pick from those trainees in order of highest ranking. Open, which has the most missing members has Kang Daniel pick first, followed by Showtime’s Yoon Jisung and finally I Know You Know Kim Taedong.
The kids from Oh Little Girl and Never get together to beg appeal to not be kicked out from their song
Never has Haknyeon saying he’ll work hard to keep his spot and not hold back the team
Minhyun says, flatly, ‘Yes. Hwaiting.’
Dead.
Most of them want to vote themselves as best to help their odds lol
Yoo Seonho, who is self aware: I don’t want to be first, I just want to be 7th. No wait. 6th? I should be confident.
Open has lost most of their team. They went from having Kim Seonglee to not having any main vocals to carry the song. They retained Baekho and Yongguk, so still not too shabby.
Sidenote: Little Lee Woojin is so smol amongst his hyungs with that little yellow beanie.
Oh Little Girl keeps their visuals and token singers Sewoon and Gunhee, which is smart considering how average the song is. They’ll need their fanvotes to win the Mnet performance so they kick out Moonbok.
Sacrilege but c’est la vie.
Never retains their strengths with a good mix of popular and talented boys. This group had way too many competent trainees so it was a closer battle, I reckon. Emperor Hwang Minhyun’s picks in almost the exact order stay.
Sungwoon and Lai Guanlin tie for 7th, and the top 6 vote between the two.
It ends with Sungwoon joining Seonho, Haknyeon, Youngmin for the cast out kids.
He’s embarrassed because he’s efficient and skilled but I’m significantly more bitter. As much as I like Guanlin, this is a bit disrespectful for someone like Sungwoon, who’s literally known for having everything but height. Even though Never doesn’t need too many vocally adept trainees, it’s the bandwagon song and therefore likely to have public appeal.
He’s cute though, straight up pandering to the Open team when they have to pick their new members by singing the song.
Open picks up Im Youngmin, Seonho and Hakneyon leaving Moonbok and Sungwoon for the next team.
Disrespectful, straight up.
Showtime has Yoon Jisung doing a startlingly accurate impression of Daniel before they chose Sungwoon for the high pitched vocals.
Moonbok makes his way to IKYK’s practice room to join the underdogs, who’re excited to see Pocahontas hyung.
Oh Little Girl has a mournful bgm at rehearsals as they have to decide on final positions after eliminations.
Minki has to work to secure broadcast minutes that Mnet has carefully avoided giving him by trying out for centre, and his teammates vote him in place, unseating Jihoon.
Main vocal has Gunhee and Sewoon battling it out for the position. They’re both good choices - the demo singer even sounded like Sewoon, who hasn’t been main vocal even once despite strengthening the background vocals every mission. The team does pick Sewoon this time, fortunately.
Bae Jinyoung wants to be sub-vocal, and is worried about his falling rank. He’s not ambitious enough to try to be main vocal at least, but those vocal techniques confuse me with that inherent smooth tone. The kid is young, and can be easily improved though, maybe a few months of SM styled vocal boot camp?
Showtime has a still (rightly) pouty Sungwoon want to be centre in his new team. His whole team laughs, with co-HOTSHOT member Noh Taehyun cackling particularly loudly at his sheepish announcement.
Auntie Jisung references Jessi from Unpretty Rapstar, yelling, ‘THIS IS COMPETITION,’ and pinches his nose bridge like the drama queen he is.
Centre nominees try the guitar stringing ‘killing part’ to appeal for the spot and Brave’s Samuel wins the spot.
Sungwoon tries stealing the sticker out of sheer desperation OTL
Ah, I don’t like the song so much but this group has so many of my faves.
They actually start rehearsing and come to a realisation.
Noh Taehyun: The centre needs to be able to sing well too.
Kim Samuel, who is an extremely competent dancer by anyone’s standards, can’t sing above his speaking range. Again, easily fixed by a year or two of concentrated training. He’s only sixteen and his voice must have dropped like a summer ago
IKYK’s Kwon Hyunbin wants to be leader. The team votes him in over BNM Donhyun and he does Auntie Jisung’s clapping in celebration
Mnet, how many kids are you going to give the Sohye edit, this is getting out of fucking control.
Picking centre is particularly sad with most of the contenders well aware they’re going to be eliminated. They vote Taedong in, displacing poor Donghan.
Open team has Kenta, Seonho and Haknyeon do expression acting to appeal for centre. Kenta pulls a face to loosen his facial muscles before trying, and is embarrassed although he’s not bad. Haknyeon is good too.
Seonho can’t hit the notes and tries a vocal trick Shin Yumi taught the kids. This sort of stuff about the Cube chicks impresses me because they’ve really absorbed every learning opportunity on this show like sponges. They’re still far from debut ready and I wouldn’t want them to debut in BOI over the older trainees but it appeals to my Asian sensibilities to see them working hard if nothing else.
Baekho: You can’t ask someone to press down on your forehead on stage.
So it comes down to Jeju pig boy and Japanese puppy.
Joo Haknyeon gets voted as centre and then struggles with everything.
Pledis Dongho gets GodJonghyun edit, practicing with the kid to help him improve. He points out that Haknyeon’s confidence is far from being at par with his skill level.
Never team votes Emperor Hwang as centre over Guanlin. Not shocking, considering the difference in ability.
Ong-ssi hits the nail on the head as always as they practice, pointing out that they don’t really have to deal with shuffling and learning of the song so rehearsals are smooth and quick. It also helps that most of them are highly competent.
There’s a bit about Ong Sungwoo being Mnet’s human slate. Cute.
Also cute is Brand New Music’s Park Woojin finally being comfortable enough to be the kid he is, surrounded by hyungs. I found a subbed cut, which you can see here because I can’t do justice to this positive filler bit that I would be happy to see more of @mnet.
Important takeaway - Sweet puppy Park Woojin and gang are being taught variety by Ong-ssi
Final concept performance day!
Far out, look at the bank the show is making with those crowds. Girls are easily the backbone of capitalism. It’s amazing considering how much effort the industry puts into putting women down.
Anyway, kpop legend tiny Queen BoA looks fire emoji in her red pantsuit.
Aw seeing the eliminated trainees always makes my soul ache.
The composers are attending too. You gotta have all those unnecessary reaction shots am I right ha ha HA
The composers visit during rehearsals for a check in. Not many women there either lol Hashtag bitter female tears
Showtime gets primarily positive reactions at the check in. They have high energy while performing which suits the song’s up tempo disco vibe. Samuel’s vocal get a boost because his voice doesn’t waver.
The team’s live performance is enjoyable. The average skill ability in this group of trainees is also rather high. It looks very polished, and they all look like they’re enjoying the stage, which always makes me happy to see.
Sanggyun, who receives his usual amount of absolutely no screentime, is memorable in my opinion. So handsome.
The choreo is fun more than complicated. Easy standouts are Auntie Jisung dancing Pick Me and the inclusion of RBW puppy Dongmyung’s warming up limb flapping dance. Samuel does well with the dance break, the Ardor and Able trainees remain excellent performers as always.
They all keep calling it their possible last stage and Auntie Jisung looks like he’s going to cry again. It hurts because it could be true.
Probably the shortest screentime for the group with my personal faves. Deeply grateful as always, Mnet.
Next up is my top song pick for Concept evals, I Know You Know.
Their wardrobes are particularly pretty. Thank you stylists for Moonbok’s look.
At check in with the composers, they get a bit of shake down because of their lack lustre initial performance. I’m not surprised because Joombas is really high profile, someone who works with famous singers. The team has competent but not excellent trainees.
Hyunbin’s been getting a good edit as he makes up for the effort for the first evals where Mnet basically shoved him off a cliff, with a GodJonghyun inspired leader attitude.
It’s a bit annoying because good god don’t we have enough Brohyes.
Still, I’d rather this than kids being thrown sacrificed to the netizen flames.
Product placement.
The final performance is good. Kim Yehyun’s voice wavers out of place at parts but sweet boy Seo Sunghyuk is unexpectedly very stable considering the very energetic choreo. Donghyun, Donghan and Taedong remain reassuringly good and completely ignored. Hyunbin’s voice doesn’t sound as out of place as it did last mission while Moonbok proves he’s capable of idol rap with his smooth delivery. The choreo is exhausting but none of their voices are strained (they also probably have their studio recorded tracks playing so this may not be a matter of skill)
Open is next up, with the boys looking unreasonably good in their black suits.
Well, Daniel, Dongho and Kenta anyway. I take a minute to pray to the wardrobe team again. I’m not a Daniel fan in particular but my word, the boy looks fine.
Haknyeon messes up with typical Mnet camera focus at pre-performance check in. The composers can’t even pick one standout trainee.
The team convene to re-discuss centre with Haknyeon not being about to live up to his desire and confidence. Again, lack of training and age comes into play here, but wanting to take on things he can’t handle yet is not helping him.
Center swaps to Kim Yongguk, who doesn’t even get a clear shot of his face for the occasion.
Haknyeon gets Sexy Bandit’s thumbs up of approval at recording, after working hard for his second consecutive redemption arc.
It could be the editing, but Daniel hasn’t been a very effective leader this mission either.
Product placement.
They come to check out the stage during dress rehearsal with the bed and slick set.
Kenta: It’s rather adult (as far as I know, the word can mean dirty or sexy depending on context but I think adult sounds appropriate here).
I agree. Seonho’s too young for this one.
With the song and choreo being handed to them being what it is, this performance was looking to be one of my more anticipated ones, but the boys do a great job too. Daniel comes off more as centre than Yongguk but I can’t fault him because he does a really good job. Kenta is a visual standout too
It could be the editing, but Yongguk fades among the others although he keeps up well enough. Seonho’s vocals are satisfactory considering where he started out, there are bits where his dancing is still slightly awkward though. Same with Haknyeon, which is strange because I thought that was his strongest field. He’s visibly out of sync at times, even to my tired eyes. Maybe he doesn’t practice to beats, because he had the same issue in Right Round
This may be Sexy Bandit Pledis Baekho’s stage though. He’s beyond reproach. I’d call him oppa if he wanted me to.
They get an encore chant!
Fully deserved, because both the song and their performance of it was debut group level.
Oh Little Girl next
A lot of visual hype kids here. Costumes are terrible though, bits and pieces from earlier performances and maybe Park Jihoon’s personal closet?
That song name though....
Jihoon does the aegyo I’ve seen from the cute Monsta X rapper. It’s cringey on him too.
At performance check in, the producers acknowledge that the song may well have been tailored to Sewoon. Bae Jinyoung makes a few mistakes though.
Cue mournful music and cuts of his confidence issues.
Sewoon helps him practice and he’s better at recording. Kids like this usually are. He definitely could be a competent idol singer if someone gives him focused help.
In the practice rooms, Minki has some issues while rehearsing, and there’s friction between him and the younger kids. Jihoon leaves the room with a door slam that freezes the others, and they have to gather to talk because Jihoon feels like Minki is upset with him.
This time Minki slams the door behind him as he exits.
Sewoon is getting visibly worked up at this conflict.
Is Mnet finally getting genuine drama footage without manipulative editing?
No. It’s another one of those birthday camera pranks that Korean variety producers still think are entertaining.
Gunhee comes in with a cake and you can see the tension melt out of Jihoon’s face and he smiles the most genuine smile I’ve seen since his first time ranking first.
Lol Sewoon thinks the cake’s just for Jihoon and starts clapping until the trainees sing his name too. Cute.
Minki does his shoulder expanding thing for dress rehearsals at coach Shin Yumi’s request. Sewoon gets well deserved praise for his vocals and Bae Jinyoung gets his confidence boost since this is probably his team mission individual edit for the season.
The final performance is cute, easily carried vocally by Sewoon and Gunhee. The others are also good, no visible mistakes. The song is still rather average, the choreo elevated by the boys performing it. They’re all adorable, their good looks helping save the tragic outfits. Minki was an appropriate centre. Hyungseob pulled out a rose out of nowhere mid performance, which seems perfectly in character for the kid.
I wouldn’t seek the song out to listen to, it’s one of those throwaway b-sides on mini albums, but watching it this one time was really fun. This truly was Sewoon’s performance, it fit him well.
Kahi: Ai, cute~
Pretty much.
We get to the final performance, Never.
Hyuna visits the team to cheer them up at rehearsals and the boys are instantly distracted at the sight of her. Minhyun keeps practising while the boys start to greet, but later reassures the camera that he was excited too.
He’s probably seen all of SNSD and other prolific girl groups while promoting the last few years, it makes sense for him to be less fazed. He’s also from the company that (miraculously still) houses Nana.
But its Hyuna.
Meanwhile, the trainees outside gather outside, pressing their faces to the glass door to stare at Hyuna.
Baby chick Seonho: Oh, they’re from our company! :D
She turns to look at them and they almost faint in excitement. She cutely greets them as she exits, leaving behind an echo of longing sighs as she tends to do
At check in with all the composers, they do well enough. Kenta in particular is appreciative. A lot of trainees proceed to hype them up.
There’s something awkward about the blond Pentagon kid talking like an authority in front of the Nu’est members. I’m not the kind to go in for hierarchy over achievement but I’d be annoyed, like who are you brat lol
They go to visit Cube, and see Guanlin’s untidy locker with his Korean books
AND THE EPISODE HIGHLIGHT
THE CUBE CHICKS WERE ORIGINALLY GOING TO AUDITION FOR P101 WITH TROUBLEMAKER
Why didn’t they? I loved it! I’d have rooted for them earlier on!
Guanlin’s excited to practice a routine that requires skills he didn’t have earlier, at his company with his hyungs, who coo at him.
Every time Hyuna says something nice at studio recording, the boys flush with happiness.
Daehwi’s smile spilts his face when she praises his tone
The words “Guanlin sounds like a native Korean” are said, which make my eyes roll out of my head. I’ve said multiple times I love how much the chicks improved and it’s clear that Guanlin is finding his groove as a trainee, but let’s not exaggerate because he’s handsome. It is, however, true that his words are getting clearer and less obviously accented.
Jaehwanie can rap too! I look forward to seeing him get signed to a good company after this (@Starship, you don’t have any worthy female groups anymore so you might as well add to your male talents)
Park Woojin’s rapping is really good but he can’t sigh?? It’s endearing too. He re-tries at his interview. A true cutie. I hope he recovers quickly and gets to debut. This episode has made me triply fond of him.
The final performance begins after this extreme hyping and screentime allocation.
Three seconds in, Sunghyuk, calmly: It’s over (for us).
I’ve said multiple times I don’t like the song (I still can’t remember it as being anything special and the fuss around it makes me resent EDM even more), but I can admit that the performance was great. The collection of talent and visuals make the choreo work smoothly, a stage that could easily be an M!Countdown performance. Jaehwan and Woojin were particularly spectacular, specially considering that Woojin was ill. Daehwi and Minhyun deliver, as always.
The only negatives I have are that the while the costumes looked nice, they seemed ill suited to the concept and not the colours you usually see on broadcast performances. Beige? Come on. How do you work lighting for something like that? Green or a dark red would have been so nice.
We see a shot of Mnet staff counting the votes. Don’t worry, we don’t suspect you of anything here, Mnet. I’m blaming the live audience.
The results bring over the sheer shameless fuckery of the last mission.
5. I Know You Know 83 (Did I not call this?)
4. Showtime 135
3. Oh Little Girl 398
Totally warranted considering the number of popular trainees in each team.
BoA references Ong-ssi’s hyperbole speech when asking about his chances about winning, and he uses every single adjective again to express his confidence about his team placing first.
She then asks Baekho, and he one ups Ong-ssi by adding the Japanese adjective for ‘very’ (cut to Kenta laughing) as well as the Mandarin.
2. Never 443
1. Open 552
So there is some sort of fairness in the world! Thank you, good lord in heaven!
....female fans really like sexy concepts.
Kenta and Seonho’s handsome faces reach new levels of meme
Daniel is stunned. Getting banned from Never was an act of god for him and his fans.
Nation’s Leader Angel GodJonghyun makes an appropriately congratulatory comment.
Live vote rankings without benefits for individual trainee rankings are below:
Unrevealed
Maroo Park Jihoon
Brand New Music Park Woojin
Pledis Hwang Minhyun
C9 Bae Jinyoung
Unrevealed
Cre.Ker Joo Haknyeon
Brand New Music Lee Daehwi
CUBE Yoo Seonho
Chun Kim Yongguk
Brand New Music Im Youngmin
Next week, feel good fillers and third eliminations before heading into finale for top 11! Man, is this nonsense getting increasingly, unpredictably intense.
#p101#p101 recaps#p101s2#produce 101 season 2#produce 101#produce 101 recaps#broduce 101#broduce 101 recaps#p101 spoilers#p101se2 spoilers#broduce 101 spoilers
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Day six: Tweetstorm: a farce in one act
ACT 1
Scene 1
SETTING:
The stage is dark. Six figures stand on the stage in darkness. The figure in the centre of the stage, the NARRATOR, is illuminated. He's an upper-class man in a fine blue suit.
NARRATOR
(speaking to the audience)
Tonight, we present a tale of fortunes and misfortunes, of the dangers of modern telecommunications, and of heartbreak. Our story begins with a woman, young in years but old in dreams. It's an evening after studies are done and she sends a missive to her young friend. Our young woman's name is @JudithXOXO.
(The light comes up on @JUDITHXOXO, a young woman in her late teens. She stands on the stage.)
@JUDITHXOXO
(speaking straight forward and without tone)
Judith Whitaker, @JudithXOXO, Feb. 6.
@gibson89 Hey, did you see P.'s face today? What a dork.
(The light comes up on @GIBSON89, another young woman standing on the stage.)
@GIBSON89
(speaking straight forward and without tone)
Jenny Gibson, @gibson89, Feb. 6.
@JudithX0X0 LOL! Yes, his face has erupted like Mount Vesivius...
NARRATOR
(interrupting)
Sic.
@GIBSON89
He looks like a joke. I can't believe Stace got off with him on Satruday.
NARRATOR
(interrupting)
Sic. Some time later...
@JUDITHXOXO
Judith Whitaker, @JudithXOXO, Feb. 6.
@gibson98 Do you want to come over tonight? The parents are out.
NARRATOR
Ahhh, and herein the mistake. For our poor @JudithXOXO has directed her affections not at her intended @gibson89 but at the unknown @gibson98. And little does our @JudithXOXO know that the bearer of @gibson98 is not entirely a stranger to her.
(The light comes up on @gibson98, a teacher in her late thirties.)
NARRATOR
Her teacher from Sociology, Ms. Gibson. What is this, @gibson98 wonders? An invitation from young Miss Whitaker. Though young @JudithXOXO is scarcely of age, @gibson98 is tempted. She has seen the young woman's long brown curls from the front of the class. She has seen the exuberant lust in that young woman's eyes. And so, she replies.
@GIBSON98
World_Wide_Weber, @gibson98, Feb. 6.
@JudithXOXO Sounds like fun! I'll bring wine.
NARRATOR
@JudithXOXO in her carelessness, notices not the change of avatar, the telltale longform name, and the unusual offer of wine.
@JUDITHXOXO
Judith Whitaker, @JudithXOXO, Feb. 6.
@gibson98 Sweet! Come round any time from now. I'll get it all set up. #420blazeit
NARRATOR
Oh, the speed of young @JudithXOXO's fingers. Little does she know that her innocent hashtag is anything but. For on this night, #420blazeit is not an innocent invocation of that dank weed but a calling card for a group of lads looking for a party. And one, young @weedmantokes, knows of @JudithXOXO and where she lives.
(The light comes up on @WEEDMANTOKES, a young man.)
@WEEDMANTOKES
Weedman, @weedmantokes, Feb. 6.
@JudithXOXO @gibson98 Didn't know you were into this. I'll get the boys.
NARRATOR
But, alas, @JudithXOXO fails to see this young man's call. She has him muted for a transgression on @gibson89's good name just two months ago.
@WEEDMANTOKES
Weedman, @weedmantokes, Feb. 6.
#420blazeit at 18 Sycamore Street. Get some!
NARRATOR
Some time later...
@GIBSON89
Jenny Gibson, @gibson89, Feb. 6.
@JudithXOXO Yo, are you up for doing anything tonight?
@JUDITHXOXO
Judith Whitaker, @JudithXOXO, Feb. 6.
@gibson89 What do you mean?
@GIBSON89
Jenny Gibson, @gibson89, Feb. 6.
@JudithXOXO I'm bored. Feeling the need to #420blazeit.
@JUDITHXOXO
Judith Whitaker, @JudithXOXO, Feb. 6.
@gibson89 I thought you were on your way.
@GIBSON98
World_Wide_Weber, @gibson98, Feb. 6.
@JudithXOXO Just outside!
NARRATOR
Our young hero realises her mistake.
@JUDITHXOXO
Judith Whitaker, @JudithXOXO, Feb. 6.
@gibson89 Oh shit!
(The light comes up on @REVEREND_JOHN, a vicar.)
@REVEREND_JOHN
John Whitaker, @REVEREND_JOHN, Feb. 6.
Very disappointed in @princes_theatre for messing up our booking for this evening. Heading home early.
NARRATOR
The plot thickens.
@JUDITHXOXO
Judith Whitaker, @JudithXOXO, Feb. 6.
@gibson98 Oh no! I just had to go out.
@GIBSON98
World_Wide_Weber, @gibson98, Feb. 6.
@JudithXOXO There seems to be a light on in your house?
@JUDITHXOXO
Judith Whitaker, @JudithXOXO, Feb. 6.
@gibson98 I must have left it on.
@JUDITHXOXO
Judith Whitaker, @JudithXOXO, Feb. 6.
@gibson89 Shit, the lesbo from sociology is here. How do I get rid of her?
@WEEDMANTOKES
Weedman, @weedmantokes, Feb. 6.
#420blazeit is is kicking off!
NARRATOR
Sic.
@GIBSON98
World_Wide_Weber, @gibson98, Feb. 6.
@JudithXOXO Are these your friends outside? What is this?!
@JUDITHXOXO
Judith Whitaker, @JudithXOXO, Feb. 6.
@gibson89 OMG, now there's a load of dudebros outside. Barry is here.
@GIBSON89
Jenny Gibson, @gibson89, Feb. 6.
Lolling so hard at @JudithXOXO right now.
@JUDITHXOXO
Judith Whitaker, @JudithXOXO, Feb. 6.
@gibson89 Hey, I need help, dick!
@WEEDMANTOKES
Weedman, @weedmantokes, Feb. 6.
@JudithXOXO Open up! We need to bring this party inside. Getting pretty smoky out here.
@REVEREND_JOHN
John Whitaker, @REVEREND_JOHN, Feb. 6.
@sussex_police No answer on the phone. There's a huge group of people outside my house. I'm parked down the street.
@JUDITHXOXO
Judith Whitaker, @JudithXOXO, Feb. 7.
Being grounded is the worst.
@GIBSON98
World_Wide_Weber, @gibson98, Feb. 7.
Feeling poo emoji. Reading some classic Greer to feel better #womensstudies
@GIBSON89
Jenny Gibson, @gibson89, Feb. 7.
Still lolling tbh.
@WEEDMANTOKES
Weedman, @weedmantokes, Feb. 7.
#420blazeit next week. Need a venue. HMU.
NARRATOR
And so, our story ends. How quickly the smallest confusions can turn into something much grander. Please take care when typing lest @JudithXOXO's fate befall you too. If you've enjoyed our struts upon the stage, please... don't tweet us. Good night.
(BLACKOUT)
(END OF SCENE)
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How conversational interfaces are innovating banking
It’s probably fair to say banks aren’t particularly popular these days. What is Capital One doing to help change people’s feelings about their bank?
The first step is designing for people and keeping humans – with their full, messy stories – at the centre of everything we create. Every year we gather as a company for a TED-style speaker series where we share customer stories and insights, so we never forget who it is that we’re making financial products better for. It’s what drives us, and why so many of the most talented designers I know are working at a bank right now. Money is emotional, and it enables us to live our best lives. What better design challenge is there?
Capital One acquired UX pioneers Adaptive Path a couple of years ago. How is that influencing the design culture at Capital One?
We love Adaptive Path. Even before they joined our design team, Evelyn Huang began to teach and institutionalise design thinking at Capital One, so now you see 350 designers all working for a bank versed in things like human-centred design and service design, doing empathy research, testing early and often with real people.
Steph Hay, the head of conversation design at Capital One, leads what is now a weekly international meeting, where all 350 designers across the US (and a few in the UK) get together on a video conference and talk about our discipline and craft. All of these things together create a culture of empathy that starts with each other and ultimately drives us to create great things for our customers.
Another thing that we’re learning from Adaptive Path is how to be good hosts. Their events like UX Week have been beacons for how to run a good conference. This year, Brandon Schauer, Steph Hay and myself have programmed a new conference called Humanity.AI where we’ll gather people to talk about designing for the future of bots in a human-centred way. And when you have a powerhouse like Adaptive Path behind you, it makes you much more confident that the event will be great.
In her session at Generate New York Mindy Gold will talk about what it means to design for conversation
How does Capital One use conversational interfaces?
Right now we’re really digging into character development, which is particularly interesting in the context of money. How we use data and AI impacts the development of our character and how the character speaks with our customers. Sometimes, there’s a fine line between a character that feels like a stranger (who knows just a little too much about you) and one that you connect with in a meaningful way because it has context about your life and your personal relationship with money. And since we deeply believe that money is emotional, it’s important to get that right.
When we do, we move beyond transactional interactions that sound robotic and cold, to contextually relevant, meaningful conversations that evoke emotion and lead to relationships rooted in trust, empathy and understanding. Through character and conversation, we’re creating an environment where customers are comfortable and an experience that has them paying attention with their hearts as well as their minds. Stay tuned for more on that.
Do you think the industry is finally making headway with chatbots design?
If I’m being honest – and I know my buddy Chris Messina (of hashtag and conversational commerce fame) would agree – we’re not yet at the point of super-awesome best-in-class chatbots. We’re in the phase of exploring the cultural contexts that are making them more prevalent, testing use cases that work well for the new medium and weeding out ones that don’t feel authentic, and figuring out what new job roles this elicits (for example, the head of AI Design at Capital One was producing movies at Pixar not so long ago). So this isn’t me being pessimistic, it’s actually a really fun time of prototyping and it’s okay that not everything’s going to be great.
Could you give any examples of chatbots or conversational UIs that are getting things right? What do they do well?
I’ll throw some opinions out there. I should note that these are not Capital One’s opinions, by the way, just mine.
Slack /Giphy
Slack looked at the way people were already accomplishing tasks on their platform and designed a bot by learning from existing behavior. In this use case the task just happened to be sending the Dawson crying emoji to your coworker who’s complaining about the office being too cold.
Things I like:
It does one thing, and it does it really well
It simplifies a user flow by integrating discrete tasks so I only have to do one thing. Instead of going to giphy.com, searching for a GIF, copying and pasting it, and then sending it, it’s all done in one place
It’s delightful as heck
Giphy lets you send GIFs to your colleagues easily
Digit
Digit helps me go on more vacations and that’s all I need to say about that. Kidding. But it does. Digit learns from my behaviour and helps me save money by putting small amounts from my checking into a savings account. And then when I want to go on vacation I have a slush fund to pull from and I feel less guilty!
Things I like:
It meets me where I am by integrating into my messages. I don’t need to go to a separate app to do things like check my savings balance or transfer money
It designs for tensions in a thoughtful way. When you’re building a bot you have to think about things like, ‘What does this thing do in a push mode vs. pull mode?’ and ‘What interactions should it have daily vs. less frequently?’ I think Digit does this well, and I know that because it rarely annoys me
Digit lets you check your finances from within your messages
DoNotPay
In the fall of 2015, 19-year-old Joshua Browder launched a bot to help reverse parking tickets in London and New York City. So many things are amazing about this, but having chatted with Joshua a little bit (he’ll be speaking at Humanity.AI), he’s totally the heart of this story. In the first six-ish months, the bot had been used 9,000 times for parking tickets, so then Joshua started thinking of new use cases, like helping refugees seek asylum.
Things I like:
It started with one use case and nailed it before moving on
It guides you through a complex process, allowing both experts and novices to get the same value out of the experience
It keeps real human needs at the centre, instead of delivering pizza faster (which, I know, has its own value)
What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made in your career and what have you learned from it?
I received one of the most valuable pieces of feedback early on at IDEO – someone said, “We asked you to come in and help install some windows and instead you started ripping up the floorboards.” And though I didn’t realise it, it was true. I’d be asked to come in and polish some work, and the next thing I knew I was taking it all apart and trying to tell them they were wrong about some of their most foundational stuff. In trying to enforce my own sense of ‘truth’, I was the brakes and the bulldozer, and I wasn’t helping anyone move forward with momentum.
Now my mantra when it comes to design – especially in teams – is to be generous and generative. Or as one of our design leaders says, “Make stuff before you debate stuff.” I’ve learned recently that one of my top five strengths (according to StrengthsFinder) is ‘Arranger’. So I use that to remind myself that often the process is more art than science. Try. Build. Do. Design to prove new things, not disprove them.
What can people expect to take away from your talk at Generate New York?
On the conversation design team at Capital One, we use our expertise in storytelling and communication to bring humanity and clarity to every conversation we design, and that work manifests in happier teams, lower call-volume costs, higher NPS, and – most importantly – healthier customers.
Over the past three years, we’ve coached teams to design more meaningful, tailored experiences that feel like personalized conversations. Now with CUIs, a meaningful conversation isn’t just part of the design, it IS the design.
In this talk I’ll share some conversation design principles, best practices for adapting those to the new medium of CUIs, and some examples of what makes bots successful and not so successful.
What can designers do to make the world a better place in 2017?
If you’re reading this and have an idea and think I can help, please reach out to me. After the 2016 US election, many people were distraught. One thing I read that made me feel better was a Fast.Co article about how designers will be integral over the next four years. We tell the best stories. We structure information in a way that is consumable. We make sense of messes. We are inclusive, empathetic, and we figure out solutions based on real human needs. I think designers are going to be so important in 2017.
I recently saw a project where someone hacked an Amazon Web Services IoT button to make it easy to donate to the ACLU. Let’s do more of that – let’s design for buying toilet paper and also protecting our civil liberties.
If you can’t make it to Generate New York, there’s also a Generate San Francisco conference on 9 June featuring a talk about conversational interfaces by HUGE’s MD of Experience Design, Sherine Kazim.
This post comes from the RSS feed of CreativeBlog, you can find more here!
The post How conversational interfaces are innovating banking appeared first on Brenda Gilliam.
from Brenda Gilliam http://brendagilliam.com/how-conversational-interfaces-are-innovating-banking/
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