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the-untamed-obsession · 3 years

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When Someone Flirts With You!

Hello! Little disclaimer: This is the same format used on two different blogs, they’re both mine (if you’ve seen them). This is just a really fun thing to do, so I always try to do them for new fandoms I join and whatnot. I hope you like it!

Sidenote: Normally, I have banners just cuz they look nice but I’m not sure if I wanna make em for this blog, yet.

Includes: Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji, Wen Ning, Lan Xichen, Jiang Cheng, Xiao Xingchen, Song Lan, and Xue Yang.

Come one, come all! See what happens when someone flirts with you in front of your mans!

Wei Wuxian:

One day, you were at a tavern waiting for your boyfriend to get back. He had left for only ten minutes and someone had already swooped in to bother you. No matter what you said or did, they just wouldn’t back off.

Like people don’t know who he is-

Normally, he won’t jump in immediately. He’ll stay back and just let you handle it if you can. If you can’t handle it, just look at him. He’ll know the second you make eye contact.

He prefers to stand next to the person and joins them. Of course, they’re uncomfortable and ask what he’s trying to do and he’ll respond with something like “flirting with my partner, they’re cute, aren’t they?”

Yeah, that usually doesn’t work. Unless people KNOW him and are scared of him, they would just brush him off.

He doesn’t like that. Not one bit, especially when you’re getting more uncomfortable by the minute.

He’ll try to do the same thing again, but the SECOND someone tries to touch you, he slaps them with his flute. No, he ain’t playing it, he’s swinging it. In one whole second, he’s in front of you and the person is most likely on the floor. 10/10 would recommend.

“Don’t ever touch my (y/n) ever again, ok?”

Lan Wangji:

You followed Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji on their adventures often and always tried to stay close to the duo. The ONE TIME you decided to go off on your own, you found yourself cornered. Thankfully, both Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji were just around the corner.

Oh dear.

He glares. He just idles at glaring at everyone. So even before you ask for help, he’ll just glare at the person. But if you need help, feel free to call him.

He’ll immediately stand between you and the offender. He’s not scared, he’s not arguing, just glaring silently.

50/50, he’s actually pretty scary so most people are freaked out.

In the unlikely event it doesn’t work out and they continue to push you, he’s fighting. But it’s Lan Wangji, he doesn’t have to try. It’s just… smack and they’re down. 10/10 would recommend.

“...”

Wen Ning:

During his adventures with Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, Wen Ning often tends to go off by himself. You always followed him, trying to keep as close as you could. There was one day where you were hungry, so you went to buy some snacks. Wen Ning didn’t come with you and you definitely regretted not asking him to join you. Someone had cornered you and they just wouldn’t let you leave so you had to call out to your boyfriend.

Even as fierce corpse, he’s pretty hesitant at times. So normally, he’d just wait it out to see what you do, mainly because he doesn’t want to be THAT boyfriend... you know the one who just does too much.

If you need help, just call him or look at him. He’ll be in front of you in a second, hiding you behind his form. He’ll at first just ask someone to leave you alone.

0/10. Never works, he just LOOKS nervous. So people will either try to push him out of the way or just roll their eyes and ignore him, while still trying to talk to you.

Wen Ning doesn’t care if people ignore him, it’s not the first time. What does really bother him though is when people can’t take a hint. He hates when you’re uncomfortable, so if someone is making you feel like that ON PURPOSE, he hates it.

The thing is, they can’t shove Wen Ning out of the way. He’s actually pretty strong and so the second they try to (especially after they ignore him), he just grabs their arm and twists it, holding them in place until they apologize to you.

8/10, usually very effective but if it still doesn’t work, he’ll just throw them out of the establishment. He warned them TWICE, he ain’t doing it again.

“Are you ok? I’m glad... I was worried I was too late.”

Lan Xichen:

He had invited you to an event with him, one where you did your best to stay close to him. You’d already seen some weird stares, ones that made you very uncomfortable. Unfortunately, Lan Xichen was called away for one second, but that’s all it took for someone to immediately come bother you.

He’s very observant, so he’s always got his eye on you. He worries more than he likes to admit, only because he doesn’t want to overdo it. You’re an adult, who can handle themselves.

However, if you do need help, just call for him. He’s on his way. He’ll immediately stop them by grabbing their arm and pulling them away, claiming they’re making you uncomfortable.

50/50 and it depends on whether they know him. Most don’t so they’ll kinda brush him off, which he doesn’t appreciate.

He’ll try again, not wanting to resort to violence. There are times where people just quit, finding him bothersome, but there’s always ONE person who wants to try again.

One person even tried to touch you once, roughly grabbing your arm and yanking you away from Lan Xichen.

Oh boy, he had his sword out faster than you’d ever seen. The person immediately let you go and you hid behind your boyfriend.

“Do not touch people without their permission.”

Jiang Cheng:

You were with Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji, and Jiang Cheng on one of their numerous adventures. They had left for maybe thirty minutes and you were keeping busy doing your own thing, when you felt a hand grab you. You thought it was Jiang Cheng, but boy were you wrong. However, your boyfriend wasn’t too far away.

He is PROTECTIVE.

The last thing he wants to see on your face is discomfort, especially when it’s caused by some creep.

He’s in front of you in a second and he’s usually pretty aggressive. The last thing you want to see is him fight, so you often just grab his arm and hide behind him.

Just that alone, usually makes people back off. It’s kinda obvious you’re already his. BUT. There’s that one fool…

They often move closer to you, ignoring Jiang Cheg, and ask if you’d like to “upgrade” to someone better. Before you can even answer, they’re on the floor.

“Yeah, like you’re any better. Come on, (y/n).”

Xiao Xingchen:

Normally, you’re glued to the hip with Xiao Xingchen, since you two were so close. There was one occasion where you stepped away from him to gather some flowers. He wanted to talk to someone about something, nothing you often concerned yourself with. That’s when someone took their chance and swooped in.

So he can’t see you, but he can hear you. All you gotta do is call for him and he’ll be at your side faster than the speed of light. He’s not immediately jumping to fight and often prefers to talk things out, instead.

0/10. It never works. Not one time has that ever worked. People just don’t back down, especially those who tend to bother you.

They usually just shove Xiao Xingchen aside, thinking he’s just a blind man who can’t do anything.

This is one of those things that just… bothers him. Xiao Xingchen can’t understand why, but when someone bothers you, it really makes him upset.

He’ll once again try to stop the offender through a more pacifistic way, but there was one time when someone roughly grabbed your hand and yanked you away from Xiao Xingchen. The squeal that left your mouth was something that just made him draw his sword.

It really was an accident. No one was hurt, but the person was scared away. 69/10 would recommend.

“Are you alright? Good, I’m sorry they hurt you.”

Song Lan:

You had often followed him and Xiao Xingchen on their adventures, doing your best to stick close to them both. One day you saw a flower that intrigued you more than it should have. So you walked over to it and you were gone for maybe ten seconds, but when you turned around, you couldn’t see Song Lan or Xiao Xingchen, but you did see another person blocking your path. He found you pretty quickly.

He’s usually always on high alert. He’s extremely protective of you, sometimes surprising himself.

He’ll usually step him, keeping you hidden behind himself so the other person can’t see you. If someone is holding your wrist, he’ll use his sheathed sword to separate you two. He mentions you’re uncomfortable and tells the person to leave.

2/10, it’ll work sometimes but rarely. Usually offenders shrug him off and just pretend as if he’s not there. Even if you hide behind him, they’ll walk around and try to get at you that way. If they touch you, it’s almost as if they touched Song Lan and he really doesn’t like that.

The second they try to grab you, they’re on the floor unconscious. They don’t stand a chance.

10/10 works every time. They’re not unconscious EVERY SINGLE TIME it’d about 90% of the time.

“Let’s go. No they’re fine, don’t worry about them.”

Xue Yang:

Xue Yang is obviously protective and he doesn’t like it when people touch/bother you. You belong to him, nobody else. There was one day you strayed too far and got in some trouble with 4 people.

LMAO

Xue Yang usually laughs when he steps in, telling everyone they should leave before he kills them.

Of course people don’t listen. Usually, they just brush him aside and go back to “impressing” you.

Xue Yang warns people ONCE. One warning and that’s IT. If they don’t listen, their funeral. Literally.

The worst occasion was when someone shoved Xue Yang away and pushed you against the wall. You screamed and felt something touching your chest. When you looked down, it was Xue Yang sword poking you which had been stabbed through the offender’s chest.

10/10 they’re literally dead?

“I warned you about touching what belongs to me.”

#mdzs x reader #wei wuxian #wei ying #lan zhan #lan wangji #mdzs headcanons #lan xichen #wei wuxian x reader #lan wangji x reader #lan xichen x reader #wen ning x reader #jiang cheng x reader #xiao xingchen x reader #song lan x reader #xue yang x reader #mdzs reader insert #mdzs wei wuxian x reader #the untamed x reader

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ceilingfan5 · 3 years

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for the au thing i don’t know if it counts but i want more facts about the teacher au

you’re INDULGING ME I KNOW THIS but im gonna LET YOU bc i CARE SO MUCH ABOUT THIS AU

LET’S GO

1. taako never intended to be a teacher, he just sort of fell into it bc of a job he had in college, and then he started subbing and he was like. oh shit. oh. oh man. i could do this. and SWITCHED HIS DEGREE AT LIKE THE LAST MINUTE AND HAD TO DO A LOT MORE SCHOOL but he was SO MUCH FUCKING HAPPIER

2. part of the reason he got into it tho is that he was considered a “challenging kid” and he has So Many complaints about his teachers throughout the years. of which there were many bc he and lup got shifted around so fucking much, which didnt help with him being an absolute little shit who just needed someone to notice he needed support

3. he had a whole ass identity crisis when he student taught, and he was so scared, like. am i gonna fuck these kids up?? am i going to ruin their tiny little futures??? he actually started in middle school and went younger when he Had To Get Out of a job and he was like fuck it it’s only one year, i can find another school when this year is over if i have to BUT HE FUCKING LOVED IT!!!!! THESE TINY PEOPLE ADORE HIM!!! AAAH

4. he loves teaching them big words he loves teaching them weird shit to say to their parents he loves wearing weird shit to school he loves getting drawings he loves watching the lightbulbs come on he loves watching them learn to read he loves completely abandoning the lesson plan and doing a whole day on a weird question he loves saying batshit nonsense and backing it up he loves getting down with them and playing aaahh

5. also in this au kravitz works at a casino!!! ive done kravitz as a high school teacher in the past but i thought this would be fun also. he has a lot of fun with it and it’s both nice and hard that he works later in the day. like in the minific he could bring taako lunch!!! but then it’s hard that sometimes taako has to go to bed without him. it’s a tradeoff. he works in guest satisfaction and gets lots of gifts from his high rollers and fucking loves to treat taako and take him out to nice restaurants and stuff!!! idk how they met in this one but it was something stupid and theyve been head over heels ever since. everyone was like. oh my god thats not going to work. but it DID so THERE!!!! krav loves to listen to taako gush or complain about his kids and his day and hes so supportive and full of love fuck i love them so much guys

PLOT TWIST! YOU THOUGHT I WAS DONE BUT IM FUCKING NOT!!!!!!! @herbgerblin mentioned taako with tiny WIZARD STUDENTS can you IMAGINE!!!! FUCK!!!! SAME AU BUT MAGICER 1. they all have tiny wizard hats and lil safety star wands and taako complains every year that that shit is on the supply list but then they show up on day one all excited and vibrating and he has to try really hard not to cry about it

2. he still teaches fucking math and reading and science and art and shit FUCK a certain particular series. education rules. also i care so fuckin much about this listen i have an original story about a teacher in a super power universe and shes a villain but you probably didnt want to hear about that youre here for taz but if you want to press that button you’re fuckin in for it pal (ailem i know you personally love that particular thing and i love you) but THIS IS ABOUT TAZ

3. GOD that would be so stressful ALSO having to teach magic?? jesus when is there time for intervention?? FUCK! but LISTEN!!!! teaching 25 little tiny kids cantrips and shit!!! oh my god!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! draw a picture of your handsome teacher with mage hand everybody!!! no! handsomer!!!!!!!! jamie you’re doing perfectly sweetie

4. this could have gone in the top half and would have made more sense but first draft only draft amirite BUT taako’s so fucking good with the “challenging students” bc he GETS them and especially in this au tweest he’s so good at calming a kid whos like. getting overwhelmed and having like a magic storm and like other teachers might be like god i cant believe i had to deal with another tantrum today and taakos meanwhile like sat on the floor with the kid and calmed them down and reminded them he’s there and made them laugh and cool down

sidenote listen maybe they arent all wizards. or dnd wizards. sit down. let’s talk about the class system. i have a lot of thoughts actually. what do you MEAN you want me to move on

5. IMAGINE MAGIC PROJECT BASED LEARNING!!!! FUCK!!! IMAGINE LETTING THE KIDS LOOSE ON THE PLAYGROUND TO PLAY MAGIC TAG BUT HE STARTS AS IT!!!!!!!!! IMAGINE A KID WHO STRUGGLES W READING FINDING THEIR FOOTING IN MAGIC AND TAAKO BEING SO FUCKING PROUD AND USING IT AS A WINDOW TO GET THEM TO LIKE STORIES!!!!!!! IMAGINE

okay im calm.

#idk what to tag this as but i love u #thank u for letting me go off

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anothersievefistedfind · 3 years

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Photo © by Michael Koenig

Fugazi, 40 Watt, Athens, GA USA 12/18/1999 (FLS #0959)

This recording documents the last out of eight times Fugazi performed in Athens, Georgia, which played out at the 40 Watt Club as it did every single time since their first show in Athens on June 3, 1988.

As per Ian, “until recently, I think there were two cities in the country that we had played like numerous shows but always at the same place, one was in Austin, Texas at the Liberty Lunch, and the other one is right here at the 40 Watt, and we’ve gotten word that the Liberty Lunch has been shut down or it’s all over […] but the 40 Watt is still here so, here’s one, I guess we just wanna say thanks to the 40 Watt for having us some many times over the years.”

Clocking in at 1 hour and 55 minutes, this recording surely preserves one of the longest, perhaps even the longest performance in the live history of the band.

During the introductory remarks, Ian addresses someone in the crowd, asking if he is “the guy that played the 3 hours of Fugazi today”, adding: “Well, thanks. I am surprised you’re here actually, I’d think you’d be fucking sick of us by now…” while towards the end of the show, Ian reiterates that “it just occurred to me, if you played Fugazi songs for 3 hours today, you’re working on your fifth fucking hour of us” and grants him a request by way of “reward” which results in Great Cop. It appears that the “DJ” in question is John Farrar, current co-host of the Live On 4 Legs podcast which pays tribute to the Pearl Jam live repertoire.

While the recording sounds excellent overall, as noted (see submission below), I find that a good part of the set is a bit of a hodgepodge and it is not until Break that it really starts grabbing my attention. But those last nine songs are pretty much perfect and elevate the overall performance.

It certainly offers really good live versions of a number of songs, yet absolute highlights in my book include KYEO, a song “particularly appropriate given the fact that people in Seattle try to make us think about a somewhat dubious World Trade Organization, so-called civilized American police force shot them with rubber bullets, and a so-called truthful American media portrayed it as a bunch of fucking thugs breaking windows but the thugs are on the other side of the badge, so just when you though it was safe… the troops are quiet tonight, but it’s not alright cause they are planning something…”, as well as an early live rendering of Ex-Spectator in instrumental form and a standout performance of Sweet and Low which features various nice additional yet subtle touches and embellishments on guitars and drums (accentuated by sound-man Nick Pellicciotto) and unusually ends with some drawn-out guitar feedback.

While the set list draws from all available work at the time (or even the Argument album and Furniture EP unreleased at the time), note that it includes just one song off of Margin Walker EP and 7 Songs debut EP each, as well as just two songs off of Repeater.

(Words below submitted by Antti Väärälä)

“I gotta say, this is definitely one of the best sounding FLS offerings I've had the pleasure to listen to so far. There's some mix settling going on during Number 5, but after that it's a breeze. So I would easily rate this as ‘excellent’. The mix breathes, the stereo field is fully utilized and every instrument and vocal is clear. The drum sound is as good as it gets. The added effects are not over-used, but instead add some very nice color and atmosphere.

Be prepared that there is some minimal digital crackling here and there. It didn't really bother me though, as it's only a few times.

The band start off with some amusingly casual chatting. A pretty classic show structure follows at first in the form of flowing rockers with Place Position being a personal highlight. As a sidenote, I'm pretty sure you can hear Brendan yelling in delight behind the kit on a lot of songs which is a lot of fun.

Stacks is a perfect addition to the set and after that it's all a highlight for me, as the band practically flies through awesome performances one after another. A psychedelic Floating Boy merging seamlessly into a superbly dynamic Argument is just pure Fugazi bliss for me. Another really cool seamless merge is from Oh to Closed Captioned. More of these merges follow but I don't want to spoil them all.

The band play a really long set, representing basically their whole repertoire. A lot of tight rockers are balanced with some sweet moments. The final encore shows this especially well with punk fury, rocking wit and tenderness all thrown into play. Ex-Spectator is starting to be very confident albeit still instrumental here. Sweet And Low is definitely one of the coolest versions I've ever heard.

I gotta give a special mention to how amazingly Fugazi utilize dynamics in their performance at this point. A recording of this caliber really shows that off.

A highly recommended mammoth of a show!”

The set list:

1. Intro 2. Number 5 3. Cassavetes 4. And The Same 5. Place Position 6. Styrofoam 7. Public Witness Program 8. Interlude 1 9. Stacks 10. Recap Modotti 11. FD 12. Furniture 13. Floating Boy 14. Argument 15. Give Me The Cure 16. Song #1 17. Arpeggiator 18. Oh 19. Closed Captioned 20. Runaway Return 21. Interlude 2 22. Five Corporations 23. Interlude 3 24. Turnover 25. Bed For The Scraping 26. Caustic Acrostic 27. Break 28. Forensic Scene 29. Pink Frosty 30. Target 31. Interlude 4 32. KYEO 33. Encore 34. Ex-Spectator Instrumental 35. Interlude 6 36. Great Cop 37. Do You Like Me 38. Sweet and Low

#FLS1999 #fugazi #fugazi live series #dischord #40 watt #athens #georgia #ga #liberty lunch #austin #antti väärälä #ian wright #the alphabetical fugazi #john farrar #live on 4 legs

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delfinodreams · 3 years

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OKAY i said i would make a post about my thoughts on paper mario a while ago and im finally writing it out

ill put it under a break because its probably gonna be long-ish

update: yea this bitch is LONG

okay so overall i really really enjoyed it!! it was really solid for the first entry in the series and i could definitely see the inspiration that ttyd later took from it. one thing that i didnt know about was partners not having HP, which threw me for a little bit of a loop. partners as a whole in this game don't play as active of a role as i wouldve expected because they have so little lines but using them in battle is still very fun! another small thing but i also hadn't expected mario to be completely silent, but it later grew on me!

i'm also gonna list my experiences and opinions on each chapter so here we go!!

chapter 1 - pretty alright for an introductory chapter! i didnt find anything especially notable, apart from getting 2 partners in one chapter. navigating the koopa bros. fortress was fun, and i loved the battle at the end!! their theme is SUCH a banger i had to sit back and listen to it for a bit when the fight actually started ehe

chapter 2 - not quite a fan of this one imo? i liked the first part through the mountain, but the trek though dry dry desert kinda took it out of me. BUT the addition of my favourite partner made up for it! parakarry my beloved <3 also the cutscene where dry dry ruins rise up??? that shit was SPECTACULAR. i absolutely loved how it turned dark when it first came up, i wish it stayed like that for more than just until you entered the ruins. the boss itself wasn't too exciting for me, probably because there wasnt much of a story?? i dont know how to describe it. actually its like that for quite a few of these bosses, but its the first entry for this series, so i wont fault it too much.

chapter 3 - this might be my FAVOURITE chapter- the suspense buildup throughout the entire chapter was AMAZING holy moly!!! first through the forever forest when you have bootler ask for you, and then wandering the mansion itself. i TOTALLY thought that boos were gonna be actual enemies when i saw them floating around. sneaking around tubba blubba's castle was so so fun to do, and i legitimately panicked when you ran into him in the hall and also when he wakes up and chases you back to the windmill. i didnt actually think the heart itself was the boss, just a miniboss, so i freaked out when i left the windmill and was immediately thrown into a battle with tubba blubba. i cannot express just how much i enjoyed this chapter, seriously!!

chapter 4 - coming back to toad town with the music change threw me for a bit; i wasnt expecting action to pop up so soon! figuring out that you could actually go into the toybox was such a "wait, what??" moment for me, but like, in a positive way. it was really cool to navigate this chapter and the lantern ghost encounter genuinely creeped me out at first because it was COMPLETELY dark. the fight against general guy is also a BANGER i could listen to it all day

chapter 5 - man i LOVE the whale. just a big guy willing to take u across the ocean :^) i really appreciated how you weren't stranded on the island too, like how you were on keelhaul key in ttyd. the ravens are also funky little guys, love them too. again, the lava piranha didnt really have any substance to it BUT it was a nice fight nonetheless! when it popped up again i was shocked but i made it through!! also fuck kolorado he doesnt deserve his wife

chapter 6 - this one's formatting is really neat- one central area with lots of branching paths, which i hadnt seen in my past pm experiences! i loved the quest leading up to the big beanstalk, plus the environment was so pretty!! the little part with the sun tower popped out to me, i'm not sure why though. maybe it was the music, it was so different from the flower fields theme. at first i had actually expected to go up to the clouds earlier, maybe like midway through the chapter. i thought that would be the "dungeon" of this part, so i was a little bit let down when i realized that the fields were the majority. however, the bit of the clouds we do see is SO good i LOVE the atmosphere!! huff n puff was actually relatively easy, using parakarry and lakilester for their all-around attacks. the guitars were a nice touch for his theme as well!

chapter 7 - oh dude i LOVED this chapter. i didnt know what i was expecting when i first went into the pipe in the sewers, whether it would put me into a village immediately or if i would have to make it through some screens before. needless to say, i was relieved when it popped me out into shiver city. the whole place felt "warm" which was really nice!! i was comparing it to ttyd's chapter 7 and fahr outpost which i didn't really vibe with, so it was a nice change! the whole murder plot was also unexpected but i enjoyed the whole "whodunnit" mystery! omg as im typing this i realize just how many aspects of this chapter i love this is gonna be long,, the entire snowy atmosphere is just so PRETTY and starborn valley felt so solitary to the rest of the land, like its own little bubble. i also had no idea that ninjis were in this game so when i saw one at merlon's i was like HUH?? anyways the way up the mountain to the crystal palace kept me on my toes; i thought that was the dungeon at first! the small bit where you see madam merlar and she tells you the story of the palace really got to me i have no idea why. the music and mysticality of it all was just SO good. dont even get me started on the crystal palace itself HOLY MOLY. the whole reflection bit was SO SO clever and the moment you realize its NOt actually a mirror?? fucking magnificent. this has to be my favourite dungeon in the whole game because it has such a NEAT gimmick!! it also has my favourite mario enemies, duplighosts! FUCK the crystal king though. he stunlocked me with his freezing move because i could not get the hang of blocking it. my partners really carried me for that battle; thank god for quick change

chapter 8 - THIS CHAPTER DELIVERED. the buildup for the entire game leading to this point. OUTSTANDING. i had to sit back and admire star haven because its so pretty- did i mention i love the water graphics in this game?? it has a pixelly look but it works SO WELL. going to the ship to take you to bowser's castle really felt like a "this is it" moment. the entirety of bowser's castle was So Good, it kept me on my toes the entire time!! slowly advancing as the music got more intense REALLY pumped me up. tracks that start off with only a couple instruments and eventually add more as you progress is one way to make me go BONKERS. the one bit where you make your way outside on the bridge and the music dials down and then you re-enter on the other side to it SLAMMING you in the face- that was Great. and then the complete silence as you get outside peach's castle HOLY SHIT. and then you actually enter the palace and the music is SO EERIE and youre like OH SHIT THIS IS REALLY IT. seriously, the buildup for this entire castle is done SO magnificently. i hadn't expected to fight bowser twice, i guess it was the game's way of letting u level up One Last Time before u got to the big bad. that being said, i wasn't too worried on getting a game over since i was fucking stacked on items. but that's besides the point- the fight itself got my heart POUNDING. the effects for the star rod and the star's powers were really nice to see in action, and the little section with peach and twink was so cool! i was expecting a little interlude where you would get your stats maxed out because thats how its like in every pm game, but it was still moving :)) bowser's final battle theme fucking SLAPS. the guitar especially sounds AMAZING. you really see him as a threat here and its so badass. his healing move fucked me over multiple times- i probably ended up having to deal with double his base HP over the course of the fight.

after the fight was over and you got to see peach's castle float down with the soft music in the background, it really hit me that its done, its over. again, the effects in this game are so pretty and theyre utilized SO well for the n64. visiting toad town one last time with all the npcs was a really nice touch- for some reason i really loved being able to interact with vanna t. (chuck quizmo's toad assistant) she's ADORABLE and i will probably end up drawing her sometime :)) the credits were also something that i really enjoyed- i LOVE the ongoing theme of parades at the end. seeing everything and everyone in the game condensed into a short 8 minutes really got me, i cant remember but im pretty sure i was smiling the whole time! and a small sidenote- TOADS WITH GLOWING SPOTS ON THEIR HEAD HELLO?????? I WANNA DRAW THAT SO BAD.

the ending screen with peach and mario looking at the fireworks made me really soft and i teared up a little because i was finally finished. the addition of pop diva's solo in the track was also so touching, it was my favourite sidequest in the game so hearing it again brought up Emotions :')

one thing i wasnt sure of was if there was a post-game mode and my completionist heart was disappointed a little when i found out i couldn't advance from the end screen and was forced to reset. although not many games from this era had post-game content so i cant dock too many points for that.

the paper mario series has a fond place in my heart, and finally being able to play the game that started it all really was a special experience. it really cemented my love for the original formula and i could see many places where ttyd took inspiration from. this game really is fun, and i would highly recommend playing it yourself if you have the means!

#i just finished typing this out #i did not mean for it to get this long omg #i just have Many Thoughts #and you guys get to deal with them #i just checked and this is nearly 2K WORDS HELLO??????#paper mario #paper mario 64 #dreamy convos

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rwby-nwbe · 4 years

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Just Finished RWBY Volume 2...

...and HOLY HECK IT GOT BETTER.

[Warning: Spoilers for Volume 2 and Long Post.]

New antagonists! More huntsman action! More characters and interactions! And the fights, tho. THE FIGHTS!

*Ahem* Okay, clearly I just need to start from the beginning...

Episode 1

We start the new season by being reintroduced to our new antagonists, Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black. They may be villains, but they're also obviously teens (Mercury radiates prick energy) and they're dynamic is entertaining. Also, RIP Tukson, he seemed like a nice dude...

We then cut back to Team RWBY and JNPR, who are apparently on break at the moment. It's also nice to see Sun again, and we also get to meet Neptune. Anyways, someone throws a pie in Weiss face, and you know what that means...

FOOD FIGHT!!!

Seriously, THESE KIDS ARE CRAZY. Ruby can apparently surf on lunch trays! Weiss used ketchup and a freakin' swordfish like Myrtenaster! Blake used baguettes and a sausage link like Gambol Shroud! Freakin' YANG was punching things with TURKEY! JAUNE... threw a melon, that was cool; nice to see that he's losing the noodleness of his body. NORA RIPPED OUT A PIPE, STUFFED IT TO A MELON, AND CALLED IT MAGNHILD! Note to self: never challenge Pyrrha to a fight near a vending machine (or anytime, really). Ren can kick WATERMELONS, and fight with LEEKS. HOW CAN THEY EVEN DIGEST ALL THAT FOOD!?

RIP Neptune's hair though, I hear grape is hard to wash out...

Then we cut back to the White Fang and Torchwick, who are then met with Mercury, Emerald, and later the great Cinder Fall herself. I'll admit, Mercury's funny but a jerk, and Emerald... I'm pretty sure I was mentally screaming "YOU'RE BEING MANIPULATED" when I saw her and Cinder. First she doesn't give Emerald a hug, then she tells her to not think and just obey? RED FLAGS. RED FLAGS EVERYWHERE.

Oh, speaking of Cinder, while she does radiate boss energy, I'm glad that I don't personally like her. I don't know what it is, but it might be the fact that she's treating everyone else like her pawns (and considering she used a chess piece later in this volume, I wouldn't be surprised). I mean, good villain, but like any good villain, I want her to get roasted, though that might not work given her Semblance.

Also, Roman Torchwick, you beautiful jerk, never change. I love ya, but I also love seeing you get dragged, which is what Emerald did to you at the end of this. Yep, I'm on board for this season!

Also, the new opening. I thought nothing could top "This Will Be The Day." I was wrong. Haven't listened to all of it yet, but "Time To Say Goodbye" SLAPS.

Episode 2

So, several things. There's board games, insert Yu-Gi-Oh reference here... Yang has too much power. Also, if I remember the lingo right, then this is also the episode where the White Rose shippers got crumbs, the White Knight shippers were once again denied, and where the Iceberg shippers were born (while the rest of us were titling our heads in confusion with Jaune). Jaune continues to be a social dork (what's with the blonde boys blowing Blake's secret? Don't think I've forgotten about Sun...). Blake is being consumed with the burden of RESPONSIBILITY. I feel that Blake. Oh, and the ending...

Why do out villains have to be clever enough to infiltrate the actual school!? And Weiss' "We're doomed." I hope that's not secret foreshadowing...

Episode 3

Jaune fails yet again at wooing Weiss (at least Yang comforts him at the end), and the gang begins their espionage. We meet Penny again, Weiss deals with her past, albeit briefly, and Penny... oh boy. She's hiding something, and the hiccups make it obvious. What could it possibly- oh...

Episode 4

Most of us had our suspicions, what with Penny's awkward demeanor and ludicrous super strength, but yep, she's a robot! Aw, get yourself a real one like Ruby. Oh, and Neptune's useless with Yang around. Speaking of, HEY, good to see you again, Junior! So Blake and Sun intercept the White Fang rally and... oh fudge they got giant robots. BAIL! We also get to see Neptune's weapon and Sun's semblance (before they nope off the road and leave the rest of the fighting to RWBY, while they go off and get ramen, the jerks...). Also, nice to see that they have team attack names (I believe some of them double as ship names), and this is where we get to meet the Ice Cream Queen Neopolitan (not to be confused with the now officially dubbed Ice Queen Weiss Schnee. If even the villains are calling you that, then congrats, you have a new title)! Neo then proceeds to give them the slip, and I personally believe that Yang only disliked Weiss' pun because it highlighted her failure.

C'mon Yang, at least she's TRYING!

Episode 5

Pyrrha is a combat queen. 'Nuff said. Suck it, CRDL.

Oh no. Mercury is both a smart aleck AND smart. This will not end well.

Blake, take a break. No, seriously, working yourself to death just because you think you can doesn't mean you should. You will only feel worse. TAKE A BREAK.

Well Jaune, mission failed. You'll get her next time.

Pyrrha Nikos. Sweetie. We're talking about Jaune Arc here. He's not gonna get the hints you're dropping unless that "hint" is a full blown irrefutable confession so obvious that even he can't screw it up. I know you want to help him because you like him (and yes, even like like him), but it's clear Weiss isn't interested, at least not now. Capitalize on that!

And our villain group continues to be dastardly. *Chuckles* We're in danger.

Episode 6

The dance draws near, and it seems that both Blake AND Jaune could use a pep talk!

Poor Blake. It appears your faunus trait makes you more cat-like than just the ears.

Also, poor Ren. He just wants a nice bath, but alas, the power of bromance.

Oof, tough love from Yang. Pretty good flashback, though. Also, Pyrrha, your selfless nature will be your undoing, listen to Nora.

...oh God, if I'm saying "listen to Nora" when the world isn't ending, we might ACTUALLY be in danger.

Aw, the dance looks fun. Poor Jaune, tho. Don't worry, at least Yang, Blake, and Sun are having a good time (and this is the part where I realize I'm becoming a SunnyBee shipper, crap). Poor Ruby, having to wear heels. Don't worry, Ozpin will keep you company.

Oh crap, the villain kids are here! What are you up to!?

Episode 7

This one gets the runner up for my favorite episode. Alternatively, I give it the title "Team Leaders Know What's Up."

Jaune, you may be a dumbass, but you're the rare "Surprisingly Competent Dumbass With A Heart Of Gold," and you get my respect for that. Being socially awkward with Ruby? Comedy gold. Putting things into perspective for Neptune? Props, my dude. Comforting Pyrrha? Friendship goals (even though it should be more than friendship goals, but hey, you put on the dress, I'll give you that). Nice dance moves, by the way, JNPR.

As for Ruby... drinking Jaune's punch? Iconic. Noticing Cinder sneaking away? Nice. Fighting her in heels of all things? You, my dear red reaper, are on another level. A shame that Ironwood couldn't get there faster and that Cinder had to bail, but oh well.

Also: Penny continues to be heckin' adorable. I will never NOT stan.

Episode 8

HEAR YE, HEAR YE, THE NOBLE DOG ZWEI HAS GRACED US WITH HIS ADORABLE PRESENCE. Tremble before his ability to fit in boxes and melt Weiss' heart. Oh, and RWBY gets exposed to Ozpin, but surprise! Even Ozpin doesn't have to play by the rules! Though that could get him in trouble with Ironwood later...

Why does this show keep showing me characters that I want to get to know better in record time!? Team CFVY looks so interesting, and it's nice to see Velvet again! Ooh, I hope we see them more later...

Also, Professor Oobleck, I know we saw a bit of you in Volume 1, and I wish we got to know you better. You seem delightful.

Episode 9

Okay, my previous statement of DOCTOR Oobleck still stands. I love this chaotic fast man.

He's both funny AND deep! His reaction to Zwei? Comedy gold! Him picking apart RWBY's motives and the Grimm? Disturbingly thought provoking, but enjoyable. Also, Ruby, you're great, but you're not entirely a genius, you're just a little bit lucky.

In conclusion: there are a lot of characters to stan in RWBY. Dr. Oobleck is one of them.

Episode 10

We learn about WBY's motivations, now excuse me while I go crying in the club right now.

OH NO, RUBY GOT KIDNAPPED! AND SHE DOESN'T HAVE HER SCYTHE! FRICK, it's a mindset kind of deal! Without her scythe, she thinks she's useless! Oh, and Roman's there too, that's not good.

...that is REALLY not good, Oobleck! Get down there, all of you! Wait, is your thermos... your WEAPON!? HOW THE FU-

(Sidenote, I looked up the name, since most weapons have them and I'm impatient for them getting name dropped. "Antiquity's Roast," eh? Fitting...)

Episode 11

So... this episode.

Poor Ruby. She failed to fight back, she almost ran away but then it turns out Melodic Cudgel is also a GRAPPLING HOOK. Thank god Yang and company finally busted their way in.

...why are Roman and the White Fang going kamikaze with those train car bombs? Oh right, the Grimm. Crap, that ain't good.

Ah, Oobleck. You may have accidentally repeated Ruby's line, but a swig of your thermos/club/flamethrower and then using it to bat Zwei into a cannonball of death redeemed you!

So Neo's back. She's skilled, sassy, has something going on with her eyes... Oh boy, Yang's getting outclassed by a pipsqueak. That's gotta suck.

Does every faunus (baring Blake, Sun, etc.) hate the SDC? Seriously Weiss, what did your father DO!?

Roman, do not get flirty with Blake. Junior tried something similar with Yang way back in the Yellow Trailer, and he got socked in the face. You deserve that kick in the head.

Oh look, Yang's mom is here! Nice, now Neo can't kill her (don't you dare, you little ice cream, I swear...). Oh. OH. That's a big sword. Yeah, ya better run, Neo. You ain't winnin' this fight. Great, now I want to know what Yang's mom's deal is. Figures she just warped away afterwards...

And now the Grimm are above ground. Yeah, seems like a good time for the season finale.

Episode 12

Now THIS is my favorite episode.

Look at that, Jaune's getting good instincts! And it's nice that Team JNPR was able to help RWBY. Also nice that Jaune can actually kill a Grimm now. Good job, man. You earned Pyrrha's smile of approval.

As much as I'm wary of the antagonist trio, I'll admit, they can fight good. Especially Emerald, her guns are sick. Why am I warming up to her so fast? What is this magic!?

...CFVY. CFVY. WHY ARE Y'ALL SO BADASS? Seriously, Yatsuhashi's carying an entire sword and a half. Fox just pulled a Ren and caused a Grimm to explode. Coco... God, Coco- WHY DOES RUBY HAVE SO MANY QUEENS, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!?

"You just destroyed my favorite clothing store. Prepare to die."

I-FREAKING-CONIC!

And she just murders Grimm with a BRIEFCASE. That turns into a GATTLING GUN. BECAUSE OF COURSE IT'S ALSO A GUN. (BTW, Gianduja is a really cool name for it.)

And now I want to know Velvet's weapon! It doesn't look like much now, but apparently it took a semester to build. And we know that Velvet can fight based on what we saw with her and Fox, so how does she ADD to that!?

THAT TRACK IN THE BACKGROUND, TOO! "CAFFEINE~" HELL YEAH!!!

Ooh, Port and Oobleck teamup! Oh no... THE GLYNDA IS MAD PEOPLE. I REPEAT, THE GLYNDA IS MAD! SHE HAS NO PATIENCE FOR YOUR GRIMM BS!!!

Welp, Roman got handled, though I doubt it's for long... Yay, RWBY finally gets a break! Oh boy, trouble brewing between Ozpin and Ironwood, that ain't good.

...bull man's back. Uh, guys, Adam's back! And he's helping the bad guys! THIS IS REALLY NOT GOOD.

...oh, so your name is Raven? And that's what you look like under the mask. There's the resemblance... Oh boy, where have you been all of Yang's life?

...

So all in all, Volume 2 was even better than Volume 1, in my opinion. It's like they took the first volume and amped it up to 11. Longer runtimes, great comedy, great action sequences, great CHARACTERS. It's just a complete trip! 10/10, would ride again. Welp, it's getting late, so I can't immediately start Volume 3. But what Volume 2 gave us is good enough to tide me over.

...I am so glad I started this series. Well, this is goodbye for now. Cheers, internet!

-Mathewton, the RWBY Newbie (22 March 2020)

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baddcop · 4 years

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I’m gonna scream abt a few of my friends now bc I wuv them and this anniversary got me emotional a lil bit oop.

@urfaustus / @fuckinurl !!! CYD !!!

Hewwo, we have been friends for like 7 years and I wuv u. I know you’ve been going through it recently and I’m really sorry about that, but I wanted to let you know I love you a lot and I love all the stuff we’ve developed on discord casually for these boys via short rp’s and talks in voice chat over a few games of Overwatch. (sidenote thank you for carrying me u_u I'm but a lowly Mercy main and I can’t Exist without u to protect me bc I suck at videogames) BUT!!! You’re always so much fun to write with, I like how we can casually shoot the shit and talk and develop muses casually and have short little rp’s with our three-thousand muses combined hsdjbfhsd. But seriously, I love you a lot, I love talking and playing videogames and watching movies together and I hope things get better for you soon. You’re the bestest thanks for putting up with me since 2013 ♥

@carbonandiron !!! MIDDY !!!

You’re one of the first people I’d followed and met in this fandom and you’ve always been absolutely delightful. I love you a lot and I hope you’re doing well, I love talking to you abt our boys and asking you headcanon questions and bugging you on discord and I’m !!! so happy for you and your comic !!! you work so hard and I hope now that the first issue is finished you can take a nice well deserved rest and get all the praise and attention you deserve for how hard you’ve worked. I have no idea how to manage comic book panels and make the eyes follow them like you did, seriously you’re so good, and your paintings and style are so well defined and recognizable and absolutely gorgeous. You’re doing amazing Middy, I love you and I hope you’re doing alright while on your break from Tumblr! ♥

@renzao !!! YZMA !!!

YOU !!! are absolutely so talented and I adore you ok. You’re a delight and seeing you on the dash makes me so happy, your writing is impeccable and so lovely to read and I love batting ideas back and forth with all our ships!!! I love how you don’t pull punches on how strong your Connor is, both mentally and physically, I appreciate the absolute vibe of power and sweetness he has and I wuv seeing you on dash. You’re super fun, you’ve got a wonderful sense of humor, you’re sweet and cool as hell, and your art is absolutely astounding. (srsly I can’t draw Connor for shit let alone any au’s for the mans how you do that op.) You !! are a delight !! and I appreciate you so much.

@deviatiions !!! SAM !!!

I wuv watching you stream and write for The Boy! You’re super chill and funny, absolutely a sweetheart and I love how much thought you put into Connor. He’s got a real vibe of having such tender spots while trying to remain strong on the outside, but he’s still got that sense of care and compassion and I love that for He. u__u I’m sorry Gavin bullies him I have no excuse it’s just Gavin being a brat. You’re super smart and a joy to talk to, I love the memes you send me !!! I’m bad at conversation and sometimes I’m sure it seems like talking to a brick wall but I’m just big ol shy but I wanted to say You !! are doing wonderful !! you’re doing amazing things working as hard as you are, and I’m glad you finally get a much-deserved rest after those finals!

@sgaradh !!! CLAIRE !!!

i !! love bugging youuuu and your Connor ok. Thank you for putting up with my prodding and curious questions. I worry I may bother you but I’m just interested in getting to know all about your boy! I adore your writing and portrayal, you’re a treat to see on the dash and I absolutely love the enemies to friends trope plan we got going for Gav and Connor. I see a lot of careful balance of his guard with his care for doing the right thing, and his slight nervousness that I notice in his demeanor at times. I enjoy that he’s got boundaries that he has hidden beneath the really in control calm demeanor he has, things that have to do with his intimacy that are really well written that would affect the way and speeds at which he bonds with others in that way. You put lots of care and love into him and it’s so very obvious by the way you write him and his character, plus you’re always an absolute delight to talk to over discord!!! I look forward to bothers you more about your portrayal with lots of questions and buggin you in discord with potential thread ideas and au’s for the boys to Bond™ in.

#* [ out of character. ] » ⟨ 𝙙𝙪𝙢𝙗 𝙤𝙛 𝙖𝙨𝙨. 𝙥𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩. ⟩#me into a megaphone: I LOVE MY FRIENDS I LOVE MY FRIENDS I LO

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shirtlesssammy · 6 years

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7x23: Survival of the Fittest

The Road So Far:

I just want to give a GIANT shoutout to everyone in fandom that survived this and stuck around. I know in my heart my interest would plummet without Cas. Season 7 was brutal.

Now:

We find Crowley and Dick Roman sharing a business Scotch and negotiating how they’re going to divvy up Earth once the Leviathan master the human race. Demons get Canada. Leviathan need America though. (“They’re so fat.”)

In return for this generous offer? Crowley must give “Frick and Frack” imposter blood (as part of the cocktail that will kill Dick Roman.) They agree, and because Dick Roman doesn’t “kiss on the mouth” to seal his deals, Crowley unfurls a standard writer that stretches 10 feet. Lol.

Sam and Dean, meanwhile, are on the road trying to locate a righteous bone. Sam suggests contacting Cas again. For the record, I believe when Dean says “Dude, on my car” he’s making an oath that Cas made an appearance naked and covered in bees, not that he showed up naked, covered in bees, on Dean’s car. Either way, Dean was there and Cas was naked. But there were bees.

The boys arrive at a nunnery crypt and find the perfect bone, Sister Mary Constant. “Let’s bone this nun.” Oh Dean, always a way with words.

Crowley and Roman finish their negotiations.

Sam and Dean perform a summoning spell for Crowley. (Ah, was it during Dean and Crowley’s summer of love that they finally got him on speed dial?) Crowley doesn’t show, but Meg does. And she has a friend along with her: Cas.

He’s currently jamming out to some serious emo soft rock in the car.

(Sidenote: Cas and Jack wave the same way. My heart.)

Dean is showing very, very, very little patience for his dear, damaged friend, but I know he cares so I’ll let his posturing and toxic attitude slide for right now. Cas does have serious questions about monkeys and cosmetics. Indulge the angel, Dean.

Once inside, Cas continues to act and say strange things. In his own broken way, he lets the brothers know that the angel garrison protecting Kevin is gone. Dean, in his usual football coach aggression, scares Cas, who does not want to deal with conflict. (I do love Dean’s line “We’re worried.” His worry manifests itself through anger throughout the series.)

Meg notices the demon summoning spell materials and is about to ditch when Crowley finally makes his appearance.

Crowley is less than pleased to see the angel. Cas dives into a nice, rambling diatribe about insects and honey (and a THOUSAND Cas + bees fics were born.) There is meta out there about this but I just can’t find it right now. Sigh, it was really good. Crowley doesn’t want to torture Cas if he’s not all there, so he hands the boys his blood, or is it? He says it is, but also says not to trust anyone.

He then tells Meg that she can stay with Cas until they handle Dick Roman.

Meanwhile, Bobby in the body of a hotel maid, is well on his way to becoming a vengeful spirit.

Dick Roman makes plans in case Crowley double crosses him. It involves an arm.

We briefly check in with Kevin Tran at SucroCorp Headquarters. His allies aren’t the sharpest blades in the drawer.

The brothers soak the righteous bone in the blood.

Nothing happens so Sam and Dean have no idea if it worked. Cas flaps in (I miss his wings) to present the (I proofread that as “his”. Brb, weeping) brothers with sandwiches. (His monitoring of the ingredients and comforting the pig before slaughtering it? Don’t touch me.)

And when Dick Roman asked for the arm, he meant a literal frozen arm, wristwatch still intact.

While Kevin awaits his fate, he’s presented with dinner, a Biggerson’s burger. “I’m a vegan.” Not for long, buddy. You’re going to be living off of hot dogs soon enough.

Kevin escapes with the help of his purloined hairpins and overhears a board meeting fronted by Dick Roman. He's discussing business strategy, including how they're going to divide America up to perfect their plan of industrialized leviathan feeding. This is all delivered in a cheerfully upbeat business-speak manner as they enjoy sushi made from fresh orphan.

When Kevin's heard enough, he heads straight for the exit, but is confronted by Dick's assistant.

Dean and Sam sit in a car and tap into Sucrocorp's security cameras. (They thank Charlie for it and I smile just to hear her name mentioned.) To their dismay, they discover that Sucrocorp is now overrun with Dick Romans, or a bunch of dicks, as the show might phrase it.

In the boardroom, Dick has Polly take off her dress and draws attention to her slight build. (Gross) He injects her with a drug that will be targeted to all skinny Americans. As it takes effect in Polly, she begins to spasm and foam at the mouth. She collapses quickly to the floor.

Sam notices a truck pull up outside of Sucrocorp and recognizes the maid as she gets out of the truck. He sees ectoplasm dripping from her, puts two and two together, and bails on the stakeout so he can go retrieve Bobby. He confronts Bobby in a back alley as the security camera whirls around. Bobby brandishes the knife at Sam, telling him to leave. When Sam refuses, Bobby slams Sam against the side of the car and chokes him. It's only when Bobby sees his reflection in the side of the car that he withdraws, horrified.

Back at the cabin, we learn that the woman Bobby possessed is doing much better. Sam then switches over to talking about the leviathan hunt and reveals the multiple Dicks. Cas looks perturbed by the news. “Hey, Shifty, what's your problem?” Dean asks. DEAN

“Do we need a cat? Doesn't this place feel one species short?” Cas says, deflecting. (Me: But seriously, YES) He refuses to get involved since he destroyed everything.

“Nobody cares that you're broken, Cas. Clean up your mess,” Dean shouts. This causes Cas to flap off and Meg informs Dean that Cas is the only one who can recognize the real fake Dick. They need him.

Later, Sam and Dean spin their wheels trying to figure out how to tackle their Dick problem when Bobby appears. He tells them he's going vengeful now that he's in the Veil, and begs them to burn the flask. Cut to a little while later, standing around a bed of hot coals. It's all feelings and no hugs in this little funeral scene and Dean chucks Bobby's flask into the coals. As the flask burns, a light illuminates Sam's and Dean's face. And then...Bobby is gone.

Jump to later, where Cas is busily playing games when Dean approaches him for help. He's not asking for a soldier. Instead, he just needs a lift to get to his car. They flap into a little storage garage with a covered car. Cas muses on their approaching assault on Sucrocorp. If Sam and Dean die, they're heroes. But if Cas dies he's just doing what he can to fix his own stupidity. Although, he also entertains the possibility that he'll die and get brought back again. “It's a punishment,” he tells Dean about his last three resurrections. OUCH, man.

Dean delivers his own brand of pep talk in reply. “I'd rather have you, cursed or not. Nut up, alright? We're all cursed. I seem like good luck to you?” He's angry and defensive, but Cas starts to smile anyway. He detects a note of forgiveness in Dean. Cas vows to go with Dean and help out.

It's gray, it's rainy, but that doesn't stop Baby from squealing tires and generally being amazing. The Impala tears into Sucrocorp headquarters to the strains of Born to Be Wild.

Meg emerges, armed with borax and a knife. Dean, Castiel, and Sam are already inside, having slipped in while Meg distracted security outside. They hastily go from room to room checking for Dick Romans.

Outside, demons accost Meg. Crowley is moving in.

Sam rescues Kevin, who convinces him to stick around and blow up Sucrocorp's lab. In the lab, Dick is delicately sampling lethal creamer when Dean and Cas show up and slice up the chief lab tech leviathan.

Dean pulls out the bone weapon, Dick lunges for Dean, and Cas tosses Dean out of the way and hurls himself at Dick. Dick easily chucks Cas across the room. This gives Dean the perfect opportunity to stab Dick right in the chest, but it seems to have no effect. Dick's still walking and talking and being smarmy. But then Dean opens his jacket and pulls another sharpened bone from a front, inner pocket vast enough to hold and conceal a giant bone (who MAKES these coats and where can I find one?) Cas pulls Dick's head back, baring his throat long enough to allow Dean to stab Dick right through the neck.

Dick Roman snarls angrily and begins to pulse with energy. He cackles before exploding into black goo.

Sam picks up his head to look around the lab moments after the explosion. It's empty of anyone but him and Kevin. While it's spattered with black goo, Dean and Cas are gone.

Enter Crowley, who happily tells Sam that without Dick Roman leading them, the leviathans are easy picking for his demon army. The bone weapon had a kick and dragged Dean and Cas off to Purgatory. Crowley nabs Kevin for his own, then leaves Sam alone in the lab as he silently freaks out.

Dean wakes up in a forest to Cas tersely ordering him to wake up. Cas tells Dean that they're in Purgatory and it's full of monsters and...even worse...leviathans. Dean turns to see red eyes glowing in the woods and tells Cas it's time to go...but Cas has already flapped away, leaving Dean alone.

Random findings and food for thought:

7x23/13x10 parallels

Dean needs Cas to get Dick

Starry, Starry Quotes:

Here we are, negotiating like proper psychopaths.

Let's bone this nun

Go ask him, he was your boyfriend first.

How important is lipstick to you, Dean?

You have no sense of poetry.

Where's the fun in clobbering a ball of wet fur? Text me when Sparkles here retrieves his marbles

Please accept this sandwich as a gesture of solidarity.

We should play Twister.

I see now. It's a punishment resurrection. It's worse every time.

Want to read more? Check out our Recap Archive!

#spn recap #spn rewatch #spn 7x23 #survival of the fittest #dean winchester #sam winchester #castiel #cas #bobby singer #crowley #meg masters #dick roman #kevin tran #supernatural season 7

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fourjokersandajudge · 3 years

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Impractical Jokers, Season 1, Episode 4 "Boardwalk of Shame"

Liveblogging observations/opinions:

Not sure when they started using their current opening credits, but it was one of the best moves ever.

CHALLENGE ONE: DON’T I KNOW YOU?

The guys are back in one of the many NYC parks. They have to get a stranger to admit that they know the joker. During this process, they have to rely on embarrassing cue cards created by the other guys. If they can’t get the stranger to admit that they know them, they lose.

Q’s turn - I just love it when Q looks right into the camera just before he starts his turn. And I also think that it’s hilarious how he refers to the other guys as “J.O.s”. LOL!! Q's target turns out to be a young man from Copenhagen. So funny how the mark repeatedly refers to Q as “sir” when conversing with him. The cue cards that he is given are:

(from Sal) “You’re my ex-wife’s friend.”/(from Joe) “Farted at the dinner party”

For Q’s second target, he picks an older man. The cue card that he is given is:

(from Sal) “From the circle jerk”

Q ultimately told his second mark that he didn’t know him and got a thumbs down.

Murr’s turn - the cue cards that Murr got for his approach were:

(from Q) “Night Court”/(from Sal) “President of the Dakota Fanning fan club/(from Joe) “On Broadway in Spartacus”/(from Q) “Proctologist/(from Sal) “I showed you my toe nail collection”/(from Sal) “I got diagnosed with SARS”/(from Sal) “Stole that baby’s diaper”

Sal’s turn - For Sal’s first approach, the cue cards that he got were:

(from Joe) “The clinic”/(from Murr) “Waxed Stallone’s scrotum”

For Sal’s second attempt, he got the following cue cards:

(from Joe) “The Christmas party”/(from Murr) “Peed in the holy water”/(from Q) “Run a cock fight”

Sal finally gets the young man to admit that he knows him. LOL! Most of the time, I think that these folks agree just to get away from the “weirdies”. LOL!! Sal gets a thumbs up. Sal’s strange bow at the end of his turn was funny.

Joe’s turn - Joe picks a young lady for his first try and gets the following cue cards:

(from Murr): “Spin class”/(from Q) “I exposed myself”

For Joe’s second attempt, he selects another young lady and gets the following cards:

(short montage of various quotes)/(from Q) “Ate a live squid”/(from Sal) “I make stars out of Spanish children”/(another short montage of various quotes - the other guys are very amused and laugh heartily at his attempt)

Joe fails to make headway so he gets a thumbs down.

LOSERS - MURR, JOE, and Q

Sal gloats over the other three as he is the only one to secure a win for this challenge. He appears to be very proud of himself. LOL! And Joe slyly slides in a couple of “your mother” jokes. HA HA!

CHALLENGE TWO: TOWEL CRASHERS

The guys are back out at the beach and have to find a way to sit on a strangers beach blanket laid out on the sand. If they are asked to leave, they lose.

During their turns for this challenge, the guys all wore “glasses cameras” to record their adventures. Sidenote, I have a thing for guys in glasses...and all four look VERY nice in them.

Q’s turn - (Wow, Q...what the heck are you even wearing? LOL!) In a very dejected manner, Q trudges across the beach, complaining about the beach and sand repeatedly. He picks out a particular blanket and lies down on it. Two women who were sitting in chairs right next to the blanket spot him and immediately ask him to leave. Q gets a giants thumbs down as he heads back towards the boardwalk.

Joe’s turn - Joe peruses the beach goers to find his best chance at a win. He decides on a blanket on which a couple are lying down on their stomachs. The man immediately rejects Joe’s attempt and starts packing up his things. Joe gets a thumbs down.

Murr’s turn - Murr pretends he’s on an argumentative phone call with his girlfriend as he plants himself on a blanket on which a couple of young ladies are lying on their stomachs. After he hangs up the phone, he reclines so that he’s lying on his back on the blanket. The other guys look on in amazement and Sal declares “that motherf****er....I hate his guts!” LOL!!! The two women go back to relaxing and Murr gets a thumbs up.

Sal’s turn - Sal, who’s carrying a floaty toy with him, wanders around the beach looking for what he believes will be his best opportunity for a win. He picks a blanket that is not in use at the moment. “Yeah....this looks nice!” LOL @ the other three guys hoping that the blanket belongs to a large man who would pound on Sal. A woman eventually returns to the blanket and sees Sal asleep and snoring on the blanket. She wakes Sal up who immediately says “Oh, hey bro!” HA HA! Bro?!?! The lady lets him stay. Sal strikes up a pleasant conversation with her and then takes another nap. He asks her to wake him up in a half hour. She lays down and reads her book. Sal gets his thumbs up.

LOSERS - JOE and Q

It’s nice to see Murr and Sal be able to bond with each other in the commonality of a win over Joe and Q. It just warms my heart.

I’m still annoyed at the stupid doodles that they draw over the Joker’s faces on the loser board tally. Grrrrr...

CHALLENGE THREE: REPEAT AFTER ME

Now, the guys are at a grocery store where they have to strike up a conversation with a stranger and insert a specific word into the conversation provided by the other guys. The goal is to get that stranger to repeat that specific word back to the Joker. If they can’t get the word said, they lose.

Joe’s turn - His word is “oodles”. He starts speaking to a woman and inserts his word several times. Unfortunately for Joe, the woman never repeats the word, so he gets another loss. Joe’s reaction to the loss is a super cute blend of him recognizing his failure in frustration, and smiling at one of the cameras mounted in the store.

Sal’s turn - His word is “nougat”. Sal approaches a woman in the market and asks her where to find nougat in the store. She eventually says it back to him, so he gets a win. He delivers a smug smile to the camera.

Murr’s turn - His word is “bolognese”. Murr approaches a shopper and asks him if he knows where to find the bolognese sauce. After some really ridiculous and pathetic attempts to get the man to repeat it back, Murr fails and takes the thumbs down. The other three guys are greatly amused and applaud Murr’s failure.

Q’s turn - His word is “vis-a-vis”. Q approaches an older woman and asks her where to find coconuts while inserting vis-a-vis several times into his sentence. After a few seconds, she repeats the word back. Q’s little celebration is amusing.

LOSER-MURR and JOE

CHALLENGE FOUR: JUMP IN THE TRUNK

Now, they are at Route 23 Automall. They are posing as car salesmen with the goal of getting customers into the trunks of the cars at the dealership. If they fail to get someone into the trunk, they lose.

OMG...the intro is so cheesy, all of the guys look like used car salesmen still stuck in the 1970s. LOL!!! What the heck, Q!?!? Nice pornstache.

Murr’s turn - Murr is in the backseat of a car with a couple sitting in the front seats. He tells the couple that the car is good for if they want to “get it on”. He proceeds to point out that the seats recline. He works hard at getting the couple into the trunk by some interesting moves. But the lady gets out of the car. Thumbs down for Murr.

Q’s turn - He tries to get an older gentleman into the trunk of a Nissan Sentra by demonstrating the roominess himself (and getting in the car’s trunk). LOL @ his pretending to be a victim of a mob hit. The man walks up to the trunk of the car and shuts the lid with Q still in it. Thumbs down.

Joe’s turn - Joe is trying to sell a Ford Explorer to a woman who is sitting in the driver’s seat. The guys tell Joe that every time the woman asks a question, Joe has to “go and ask his manager”. Ah ha...we get our first LARRY mention when Joe hops out of the car to look for Manager Larry! So funny!! Then Joe and the woman move over to a Nissan Sentra. Joe gets into the trunk and tries to encourage her to get in too, but she refuses. Joe loses.

Sal’s turn - Sal approaches a couple of guys. He gets one of them into the front of an SUV and keeps on lowering the price to entice the guy to buy. He’s a terrible negotiator. LOL! Sal and the customer get out of the front of the car and goes to the Sentra. He encourages the customer and his friend to try to get into the trunk and they both agree. I love his laugh after his win.

LOSERS-JOE, MURR, and Q

HA HA! I love how Sal put the three losers in the back of the Sentra and closes the trunk. “I’m in the dark with Murray! Open the trunk!”

EPISODE LOSER - JOE

Punishment time - They return to the beach. It’s fun to see the four guys get out of their do-it-yourself ride - a BMW (which Q drove). Joe has to wear a sandwich board telling everyone about how he lost a bet and to ask him what he has to do. (OMG...Murr’s “Come at me, bro!” half shirt. LOL!!!!) The guys also give Joe a bunch of envelopes. Whenever someone approaches him, that person has to pick one of them and Joe has to do whatever the envelope says. A lady approaches Joe and takes one of the envelopes. She opens it and tells Joe that he has to put one of her toes in his mouth. The guys are all horrified and amused at the same time. Someone not on camera is dry-heaving the entire time Joe is putting the lady’s foot in his mouth - I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if it was Sal! LOL!! OMG! Joe’s look at the camera while the toe was in his mouth was hilarious!!

Number of belly laughs: 9

My personal rating - 6 (out of 10)

#impractical jokers #season 1 #episode 4 #commentary #opinions #s1e4 #review

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clarkesablake · 6 years

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As Promised...

I rewatched the episode this evening and quickly typed out my rereactions in chronological order. Please like this post if you’d want to see it again next week. It’s probably slightly messy, because I’ve never done something like this, but it was fun, and it’s a good insight into my inner monologue. I’ll also get better as the season goes on. Ik I love reading stuff like this on other people’s blogs.

Overall, I liked the episode. It was slightly underwhelming, because we already knew most of what happened, but it was cute, and I’m excited for the story this season. (and, as someone who has never actually said or believed this before: It really is Our year Blarkes!)

· Clarke looking at maps, nice callback to s1, #1 earth skills student

· “at least I don’t have to swim” I didn’t think about the fact that she was at Becca’s house, the ocean dried up, makes sense

· She’s so freaking pretty I’m sorry wow

· I always assumed she wouldn’t even try to dig up the bunker until after 5 years, I didn’t realize she’d try to join them at all

· I’m wishing we saw some of her first moments/days after praimfiya

· Is it a coincidence that the rubble collapsed after she looked at Lex.a’s throne? I think not lol.

· “how the hell am I gonna make it 5 years?” they did a good job conveying how hopeless her situation seems, and how long that time really is when you’re alone

· MAYA AND JASPER ghfbgrkeu I’m so sadd, I’m sooo glad she’s getting to mourn

· I hope Monty gets to read his letter

· “realll cheerful clarke, ignore me” loll this cracks me up, so relatable, coping humor

· “I’m proud of you” *insert sobbing* she thinks she’s gonna die, she Loves him

· These landscapes are really cool!

· Her eyes are so blue

· Idk who she’s thanking for the rain, but I love seeing her smiling at the little things abt earth such as rain, it’s a lot like s1 really when they breathed real air for the first time and the delinquents celebrated the first rain

· The radiation storms remind me of acid fog in s1 too, I wonder if they’ll continue to be a thing, probably not after 6 years I guess

· SO the solar panels are destroyed, why does the rover work later in the episode? I’m kinda confused about that

· Sidenote: the wandering through the desert reminds me of Holes

· It’s really difficult to watch Clarke breaking down like this, but how much she’s fought thus far shows us that she really does want to survive deep down, it’s just hard

· Is it weird that I smiled when she killed the bird? I strangely enjoy going back to the basics of survival, finding resources, again, like s1. I had missed that aspect of earth being just earth, nature in its purest form, beautiful and terrifying

· She’s being reborn in the water <33

· I love Madi’s little village, I hope they use a lot of that set

· “God this would be so much easier if I knew you were alive, If I knew I was gonna see you again” GAHHHHH

· “Positive thoughts Clarke,” gfeuwcvke I love it

· I even missed Trigedasleng what even

· Baby Madi is adorable and terrifying

· It’s an interesting thought that Madi was trained to avoid the flamekeepers and that’s why she was never found, I love little details like this!

· I would love hearing her talk more about her childhood and parents

· Okay It’s great that Clarke’s using medical skills again, but she didn’t clean the wound, and she most def should have lost her leg from infection without sterile equipment

· Madi in the window like a horror movie actually made me jump

· How many times will they use the same tree shot from the pilot lmao

· Clarke is lucky Madi didn’t stab her w/ that spear tbh

· “child from hell” lollllllllllll

· Clarke’s not the only one good w/ kids, I love how she left the drawing without saying Anything

· She’s also hella good at manipulating people (in this case it’s in a good way)

· Little Madi’s smile awwwww

· Clarke looks so Good in her tank top and w/ the fish Madi taught her how to catch, she’s gonna have so many more Grounder skills now!

· Still wondering how they fixed the rover

· Also confused as to why Clarke wants Madi to speak only English (other than for the purposes of the show)

· “Do you think they’ll come back too?” Because priorities <3

· Triple G: Green’s green goop <3 + Make algae not war, Te Amo Monty

· Emori being happy and joking w/ the others and being excited about spacewalks and defending her new friend Raven this is Everything

· I’m also glad they made a system to avoid talking about the time, and considerate because of how hard this is on Raven

· I was so surprised by the whole Murphy being separate from the group thing! But it makes sense. I still love him SO much. And despite him struggling a little bit rn he’s still a smiling adorable idiot

· “you’re not worthless Murphy” SAY IT LOUDER FOR EVERYONE IN THE BACK

· “We make decisions as a team here” Emori has grown so much I can’t

· Dropship Parallelsssss

· “All of them” Clarke’s first instinct = ALL the guns, Bellamy would be so proud

· Madi hiding in the whole is a Clear Octavia parallel this is gonna be so Interesting

· “Only choice” ((((ALSO AN OXYMORON BY THE WAY))))

· Zeke is beautifuul and smart, ((((((((((JUST LIKE RAVEN REYES AHHHHHHHH))))))))))))

· I wonder if we’ll learn more about the two other non-violent offenders

· “for starters cause she’s a kid” GOOD REASON thx reasonable man, it’s unfortunate you died

· “There are no good guys” a dangerous rhetoric to teach a kid Clarke, there might be consequences for that in more ways than one

· Just let Monty be HAppY, he just wants to be safe and w/ the people he loves

· I don’t really get Marper but I’m so glad she’s there for him

· I love Raven and Emori friendship!

· Murphy knows he done fed up something good he’s just too proud to deal w/ it rn

· Murven <333 I’ll take them how I can get them, and I love that she doesn’t put up with his bs

· Ik I’m supposed to be mad at bech.o but I love seeing Bellamy happy and hopeful and smiling and having someone there to support him (plus do yourself the favor of appreciating his kissing skills and imagining Clarke there)

· Octavia looks terrifyingly beautiful oh my lands

#clarkesablake #the 100

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idealisticrealism · 6 years

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Blindspot 3x04 recap

Aka ‘You probably should have just watched 3x03 again, Laura’

Okay, clearly I don’t do well with deadlines. Despite having 2 weeks to do it, I’m still doing this last minute, so it’s gonna be a fairly short one. Not to mention that this wasn’t exactly my favourite episode, so I may have fewer thoughts about it than others... but there’s definitely a few thoughts I do wanna share, so here goes.

At first I thought that little girl was Alice but then realised all the many reasons why that made no sense. Instead we get introduced to a bomber guy who is clearly gonna be relevant to the ep despite just seemingly blowing himself up...

Oooh Jane came out with the truth about Roman calling her. Nice, honey. I’m proud of your openness. I wonder if Weller noticed she was acting weird last night, since it’s morning now? Also dude she gave him yet another perfect opening to tell her about Berlin and he didn’t take it!!!! Literally no matter what happened in Berlin, his staying silent about it is bad enough in itself. Dude you are setting yourself up for a big fall here!

Naww I love that Zapata is always checking in on Patterson. Ugh, these sisters. And instead of forcing her to take a break, like all the others would have tried to do, she just asks how she can help. I just love these two. I love that Zapata helps her see things from a different angle and gives her a plan to follow. Poor Patterson is so determined to make it up to Stuart and she needs all the help she can get

God I love Hirst’s accent. But dude what is happening with this scene. How have she and Reade been on such close terms that they had a bet that involved potentially shaving her head?? That’s the kind of thing you agree on whilst drunk. Have these two gotten drunk together?? What is going on. Also she legit takes the ugly jumper thing and agrees to wear it to a meeting?? At work, at the FBI?? With executive people?? That just feels very unlikely. Also dude she basically just said ‘hey Reade if you’ve done any shady shit make sure it’s buried deep because we’re gonna have people looking into us’. Wow.

Anyway my lil genius has cracked a tatt, which relates to the bomber guy we just saw before. Lol the guy’s ex wife nailed him by recognising his handwriting and tipping off the cops. You go, girl. Now though Patterson’s smarts they’ve found a van in some particular car park in Brooklyn, and lol Weller’s doing the bombsquad thing for some unknown reason. All that’s in the van is a letter though-- to the bomber’s daughter, from the bomber. He’s not really dead. Dun dun dunnnnnnn (lol get it bc his last name is Dunn haha)

Oh boy we’re actually seeing the wedding video. I don’t know whether to roll my eyes or melt into a puddle, but tbh I’m a little more leaning towards the eye rolling. I like that Zapata and Reade are doing theirs together, because I imagine they were both like ‘you go first, no you go first, no you go I don’t know what to say’ so they just went in together. And lol ‘what do you even do in Colorado’ (right tho??) and ugh they’re so looking forward to being part of Jeller’s future and Reade even tells them he loves them (sidenote I like his earrings) and they say ‘don’t screw this up’ which kinda just hurts to hear because man did they screw it up real bad. Also Patterson ‘videobombing’ is the best lol. But I wanna know what happens in between the cuts! Where’s the director’s cut of this vid? haha

Lol Zapata giving Weller shit about the bombsquad thing (right tho????) and then also giving Jane shit, saying that she was surprised she didn’t squeeze into the suit and go with him. Ugh Zapata is so great this season already, can she just be like this forever? I’m still confused about Hirst’s ugly sweater sitch and why this is even being included. Is it to show her bond with Reade/the team? To show she’s a good sport?? Why Gero what are you trying to sayyy. Also they found the bomber’s daughter (who has had some trouble with the law herself) and they’re gonna bring her in to try find the bomber or whatever

Roman is looking dapper and heads into some fancy event as his new Tom persona. And then he meets Blake, the gorgeous hostess of the event, and who was also another former ‘LA Complex’ character-- fun fact she played the long-lost sister of Jonathan Patrick Moore’s character, so technically her and Roman’s siblings kind of dated. Ish. But ugh he’s being all cute and charming and weirdly Australian and she’s clearly liking it. She has such a great smile, it lights up her whole face. Aaaand the moment she walks away he’s off doing something sneaky, bc of course he is.

The bomber’s daughter is being recalcitrant, naturally. Goes with the territory. Weller and Reade are interrogating together which is nice, I like my good boys playing together. Glad to see Weller isn’t being such a butt. Anyway turns out her dad doesn’t drop the letters himself but has someone do it for him, and there’s an emergency signal for if she needs help. So they go to the park and they’re so cute all loitering about ‘undercover’. And I like that Jane can tell from across the park that Weller isn’t happy with the situation. Naww, so married. Based on Weller’s gut they all move out, looking for the drop guy. Of course it’s Jane that spots him-- and does he spot the daughter, or Jane?? I can’t tell which he’s looking at. She loses him momentarily and then next thing he’s got a gun on her-- only he recognises her, his tone surprised but not hostile when he says ‘Remi?’ So they knew each other in the Sandstorm days?? He’s definitely not pleased to see her working with the cops though…

Oh boy. Now Weller is on the wedding vid and okay it’s pretty damn cute. And ugh he said the thing about her being his starting point AND end point and ughhh how many of us included a line like that in our fics?? But ugh he loves her so muuuch and he’s so emotional and amazed and happy to be marrying her ugh

Okay after that brief interlude we’re back to the suspect guy. What has this guy been in? I recognise him. And he seems to actually like Remi/Jane, which is why I think she is able to get the jump on him. I always love Jane being a badass. I wanna know what happens right after this tho-- like does she radio/call the team and be like ‘hey guys come to the house across the street I’ve incapacitated our suspect’ and Weller is all like ‘are you okay?????’ while the Reade is hoping that she managed to do it without drawing attention or injuring him too badly, and Zapata’s just miffed bc she didn’t get to kick any butt lol. Back at the lab Patterson fills them in-- he’s a dude that’s wanted in like seven countries for “like, all of the crimes” hahahaha. I love the way she said that. Zapata’s kinda impressed with him since according to the CIA he’s the go-to guy for forged documents. Then Reade sends Jeller in to do the interrogation and tbh I’m kinda getting used to Reade giving the orders. It’s pretty much like hearing Weller’s voice come out of his mouth lol. And then aw their suspect is kinda sad that Jane doesn’t remember him, bc he was like an uncle to her? And then omg he says “that summer, in Kalispell, up on Flathead lake” and dude I was literally just there in July??? My friend has friends like an hour from Kalispell and we all went rafting together at Flathead. Yayyy Montana. I love when slightly more obscure places I’ve been get mentioned haha. Jane tries to get him back on track and he just keeps reminiscing. Clearly he knew them when they were pretty young-- he says he did her adoption, so however old they were when Shepherd took them in I guess? Sounds like he wasn’t a huge fan of Shepherd tho which I approve of haha. Too bad he won’t tell them anything about the bomber guy.

Again Patterson and Zapata are having one of their little vibing moments and they realise the suspect must have had a ‘go bag’ somewhere. And Zapata being the kickass FBI and CIA trained badass that she is, realises that it’s hidden in the seat of his car. Lol she even uses the CIA lingo. And then omg Patterson just whips out a butterfly knife from her pocket?? Lord that is so damn cool. I wish I could be cool like her and carry one of those around but alas carrying knives is illegal in my country. Ugh then they find his stuff and high five over it and I just love them so much

Hirst is arguing with some bigwig guy who wants to take away their suspect bc of his other crimes and ugh I could listen to her talk all day. I’m proud of her for saying ‘you all’ and not ‘y’all’ to him haha. Lol Weller tries to tell the dude he can’t take them and errrr Weller I think he’s a little above you on the foodchain, buddy. Anyway Patterson calls them into the lab-- they stuff they found includes a coded ‘black book’ of his transactions. I love that she calls Zapata ‘00Z’ haha. And then they figure out from the cypher thing that the bomber is in Ithaca, bc Patterson is a genius, of course

Uh oh. They’ve arrived at the place in Ithaca and the local fuzz are all over it instead of keeping the perimeter-- they apparently found a bomb which has also supposedly already been disarmed. Well that was quick. Also omg the guy calls Tasha darling and her face is all ‘bitch please’ and Weller shoots her a look like ‘please don’t kill him, please don’t kill him’ lol. And Reade puts a hand out to settle her lol. They get in and it’s a pretty basic bomb, then as the dudes go to lift it Weller realises it’s a decoy and yells for everyone to get out-- and good thing it’s a room with a lot of exits bc Weller and the main cop go through one, Zapata pushes another cop through another, and Reade and Jane go through another. Not sure about the last cop, but he’s probably fine bc ~magic~

Oh now it’s Jane’s turn for the vid. And omg she immediately makes a sex/dirtytalk joke??? Wow girl, you’re really opening up, aren’t you? But ugh she never thought she would have this and she’s so emotional about it and she’s like halfway through a sentence when Weller walks in?? And I know this should be adorable and all but I’m kinda mad about it? Like he already had his chance to share everything he felt without being interrupted, but now whatever she was gonna say is lost bc he felt that he was entitled to butt in?? And then she jokes that he thought she’d run away and he said he’d never let that happen bc he’d ‘never let her out of his sight’ which tbh I do not like??? Firstly it hurts bc she DOES leave, but also it feels kinda weird and possessive and like a ‘you will never be free of me’ kinda thing? Feels more stifling than romantic. But whatevs just gonna let that one slide right on past

Back at the bomb house, Weller is immediately searching for Jane, and belatedly remembering to check on everyone else haha. Zapata emerges, lookin kinda fine with all those soot stains, then a cop stumbles past and Reade stands up. Assuming the other cop who was saved by Zapata gets out fine, then that just leaves Jane. Who is unmoving on the floor, and ugh Weller’s voice gets all small and wobbly and he’s all ‘no, no’ and goddammit writers can you not? Then she miraculously regains consciousness under his touch and he cups her face in his hands as she tells him she’s okay and then he hugs her to his chest and nope I do not need this in my life please stop

Why do these guys all look so great covered in dirt and soot?? They’re back to the NYO with the news that their bomber guy has a bunch of bomb stuff (surprise!) and is likely planning an attack. They split up and Weller finds Jane in the locker room icing her bruised ribs, and he knows right away that it’s not the injury that’s bothering her-- it’s Roman. Nice hubby senses, Weller. Ooh interesting she says that she doesn't care about her past bc she finds nothing but pain in it, which makes me feel like this Rossi guy is going to reveal something big and kinda positive to her about her past. And then ugh she says that right now, them, is what she cares about and ughhhh why they gotta be so cute? Tho again I take issue with Weller-- this time with calling her perfect. Jane knows she’s not perfect, so why not say that he loves her as she is, imperfections and all? But whatevs. He promises her a lifetime full of perfect moments though and okay that’s pretty sweet with the heart eyes and the hand kissing and ugh he loves her so much and yet he’s STILL lying about Berlin and I haaaaate it

Oooh we’re back at Roman’s charity event. And ugh Blake is so cute and she’s a good auctioneer and she auctions off a little bracelet and she clearly knows the little girl who made it quite well, and cared about her particularly, I think? And her jokes are so sweet and I love that she gets them to start bidding and then bam here’s ‘Tom’ with a $20,000 bid and says that he ‘likes wishes’ so cutely and omg the way she’s looking at him rn is just so-- Oh no I ship it. Why do I ship this I mean it’s like a terrible idea but wow I do. Oh noooooooooo

Patterson called Zapata to the lab even though their tests re the bomber are still ‘marinating’, because she wants to talk to her about Operation Cuttlefish (aka their investigation into Stuart’s murder) and lol she tries to give a nerdy explanation of cuttlefish’s camouflage ability but Zapata is like ‘good lord just show me’ lol. Turns out a bunch of things have been meddled with and now they both wonder whether there could be another leak in their taskforce. Man, this office is leakier than a damn sieve….

What, Hirst even made a video entry? Really? Ok, I guess. I do love listening to her talk. And lol she says ‘y’all’ this time. Patterson again videobombs with shots and also to inform everyone that she met a guy named Jonathan Walker Blue and that they’re in love and I was literally about to make a comment about how that’s a weird name and that I wanted to hear more about this guy, when I suddenly realised that I’m an idiot and she was referring to Johnnie Walker Blue. The whiskey. Lord that went right over my head the first time haha. Then Hirst goes on to say that they’re an amazing team and even though they’re gonna have hard times, they’ll lean on each other. “To the good times and the bad, may love rule mightily over both” and lbr that’s totally gonna be a theme for the season (and the show as a whole) isn’t it

So they’ve discovered that the bomber is planning to bomb a university in the city within the next hour, and while they were about to waste a lot of time evacuating all the campuses, Patterson discovers that the colours on the materials that the bomber had on his workbench were the same as the colours for the metro university so he must have been making an ID badge for there, giving them their target. And lol Weller is giving all the orders and then is just like ‘okay you heard the boss’ (meaning Reade) and it’s like well I think we all know who is really running the show here…

Aaaaahhh Blake comes to deliver the bracelet personally to Tom bc she has the epic hots for him and omg THIS FLIRTING IS SO FREAKIN SMOOTH I CAN’T. And then she gets all earnest and is trying to ~understand~ him (because she liiiiiiiiiikes him) and ugh they move in closer and there’s more flirting and then he tells her about Tom’s backstory of fighting in Afghanistan and inheriting money from a friend who died and wanting to use it for a good cause and oh god she’s falling like a rock for him and I DIG IT. FOR STUPID MASOCHISTIC REASONS. Seriously gimme more of this, Gero. (Ship name: Take?? Blam?? lol). And then ugh he asks her how the wish bracelet works and then when she explains he ties it on HER wrist and tells her she deserves the wish more than he does and I’m????? So into this???? Which is ridiculous bc it’s all a total lie but damn it’s just so cute and she’s basically swooning and then she offers to buy him a drink and they joke about the open bar and ughhhhhhhhh why. Why must I want this. And then he says he can’t because (sadly) he has a plane to catch and ughhh I’m bummed about it. But then again, the old ‘leave em wanting more’ thing does have merit, so maybe we’ll see…. Oh aaaaand he’s tracking her with a GPS he planted in the bracelet bc the whole thing was a ruse. Of course. Dammit, Roman, why you gotta crush all my dreams

Back at the lab, Patterson realises that Roman gave them the clue to crack the bomber’s manifesto, because all the older manifestos use the same code. Also literally how was anyone meant to crack that code without that very random and specific picture?? But eh. So now they know that the bomb is under the medical building at the university and man that’s just mean. You know how hard it is to evacuate a hospital??? That crap takes forever. But anyway damn Zapata and Reade are looking like a really badass team rn. Zapata gets slammed into the wall by the bomber guy (rude) but Reade shoots him just before he can shoot her. Phew. Unfortunately now this means that Jane and Weller are disarming the bomb on their own….

Lol it’s finally time for drunk!Patterson to get to have her say on the video, and of course she mentions D&D. Apparently Jane is an elf paladin and Weller is a dwarf monk. What’s the bet that Ashley herself chose those characters? I kinda wanna look up their abilities and characteristics now. And ugh she just loves them and believes they can do anything and she’s just the sweetestttttt

And now Jeller have 80 seconds to disarm the bomb, which has an anti tamper device which requires them to work as a perfect team in order not to set it off haha. Symbolism, symbolism everywhere. Also lol Weller, saying ‘steady’ over and over doesn’t really help buddy. And then they pull each of their wires (as advised by Patterson, bc no one would get through anything without her) at the exact same time, staring at each other as the timer hits zero. Sidenote but anyone here used to watch Castle?? Can’t help but think of the scene in S3 where Caskett hold hands in front of the bomb and then Castle disarms it by yanking out all the wires. Anyway, different OTP, different time. Then Jane is giving Weller a look and tells him that disarming the bomb with him was kinda hot and he pulls her into his arms and lol they’re getting off on this and Patterson is like ‘Mom! Dad! Stop, I can hear you!’ hahaha. But they don’t care bc they’re already making out haha.

Ooooh the fancy schmancy dude from the other organisation is back to tell them that Rossi escaped from his custody, which they’re all pissed at him for, bc now they have to help fix his screw up. But I only care about Patterson not-very-subtly pulling Zapata away from the bullpen mouthing ‘CUTTLEFISH’ lol. And lolll Zapata's like ‘god I’m the only adult in this place’ haha. Patterson has discovered that the anonymous tip from their last case (the one from Karen about the train crash, I assume, not Rich’s sneaky fake tip lol) was wrongfully marked as low priority on the database-- so someone in the FBI is doing this tampering? Idk I don’t think I’m following along very well lol

Ugh I’m actually mad at Weller for fast forwarding through Patterson’s message on their wedding video??? Like clearly he’s watched it before (probably many times, whilst drunk, and always laughing bitterly at the part where he tells her he won’t let her out of his sight, and ouch I made myself sad) but Jane clearly hasn’t seen it since she asks how long it goes on for. And then they basically ignore the rest of what Patterson’s saying anyway in favour of having a little chit chat. Sigh so rude. It is cute though how Jane is teasing Weller about not ever saying lovely things like in the video. And dude clearly I am wired a little bit oddly but for the split second when he moved fast I almost thought he was going to hit her, which makes no sense at all and once that tiny fraction of a second passed I was like ‘aww he’s playing around with her and being cute and silly, how adorable’ and then I’m sure he was gonna say some more sweet things and then demand apology kisses, but instead suddenly there’s Roman on the screen. And mmmmmm isn’t it symbolic that the two of them, having been all tangled up in each other, suddenly separate when Roman appears?? I see what you did there, Gero. But okay I literally cannot get over Roman’s little decorating effort. Like I know this is supposed to be a grim moment but I am almost wheezing over his lil fairy lights and flowers and handwritten sign?? He could have just appeared in front of a blank wall but nope he is just that Extra. I love him. Not cool of him to tell Jane she’s broken and tell Weller that their relationship is built on lies, though. But omg he literally toasts them with what I assume is champagne and lol this is hilarious. Err, I mean, it’s terrible, sorry Jeller….

Oooh Zapata wants to hang with Reade for drinks but he tells her he’s already home-- only for her to see him a moment later with fancy schmancy dude from before, and immediately gets all suspicious. My head says we’re supposed to suspect there’s dirty dealings going on but my heart says ‘gay love affair’. Though lbr there could be some dirty dealings involved in that, too lol

A mysterious envelope has been slipped under the Jeller's door. And Jane, seasoned FBI consultant and ninja warrior, just goes right ahead and picks it up with her bare hands. Really? No thought for fingerprints or anthrax or anything? Fine, whatevs. But hold up, it’s from Rossi, about some secret that he thinks she deserves to know. Weller comes over just as she pulls out some birth records-- and BAM, turns out Rossi organised the adoption not of Remi and Roman, but of Remi’s daughter, 18 years ago. Ohhhhhhh boy. I feel like Gero is actually literally Oprah rn-- you get a daughter! And YOU get a daughter! Daughters for everybody!!!! And as legitimately terrible as this plot decision is, I hate it somewhat less given that Weller’s spawn also exists. I mean, at least instead of just one of them having a child outside the relationship, then now both do, which balances things out a bit? I literally can’t believe I even am in the situation of having to write that sentence but this is where we are now. This is what you did to me, Gero. Ugh.

Well. Interested to see tonight’s ep. Here’s some spoilers you might not have caught yet: Reade’s estranged twin, Duane, comes demanding that Reade donate him his kidney or he’ll die; Zapata falls into a brief coma after a rollerblading accident and awakens only able to speak German; Patterson turns out to be a chihuahua piloting a very convincing android; and Hirst admits that she is actually Canadian and not from the South at all, eh. Can’t wait!

#Blindspot #Blindspot recap #Jeller #*sighs eternally*#That Blam tho

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p101recaps · 7 years

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Broduce 101: Episode 8 First Half (Quick Livestream Recap)

Since I missed the first half of the livestream, here’s a quick recap off the raw. I’ll link this to the second half recap too.

Before elimination heartbreaks, they’d served some fanservice to numb the pain with a bit from when BoA came to visit before position evals.

She brought them pizza! The boys had a collective breakdown of food appreciation, and we see a brilliantly photoshopped press picture of BoA holding up pizzas like an angel, like Kim Youjin clearly imagines.

Jung Jung, at the brink of tears: WHY IS IT SO DELICIOUS

They’re just happy to be around her, which is fully understandable. She does a little happy dance as they chant for her, and mingles with the trainees (there’s a nice shot of the Amazing Kiss group talking to her) before leaving them to their food.

Sidenote: the cameras always catch Noh Taehyun in the background, and he’s always unintentionally pulling the ugliest faces possible, unaware he’s in the shot.

Cube Chick Yoo Seonho is by far the happiest, putting away as much pizza as he could to compensate for only getting three meals a day at dorms. He’s obviously at that age where you eat everything in sight, it reminds me of my brother.

Cut to eliminations day and shots of tears. Okay, the warm and fuzzies have disappeared.

The trainees all do their entrance into the Ceremony Hall of Crowned Chairs.

Kim Donghan did a move from Shape of You, then a heart and wink combo.

Starship boys did something weird, ofc

Brand New trainees did the point choreo from Twice’s comeback song, Signal. Cute.

My man Ong-ssi transitioned from a very stiff and formal bow to his high note meme face from Get Ugly

FNC Yoo Hwiseung did his lip-swipe

Cube chicks, whose backstage hwaiting needed to be redone three times for them to be in sync, did the Shugo Chara frame.

Pledis’ Nu’est boys did hearts and more Twice references.

Hashtag that Twice relevancy

Bae Jinyoung did the ear flapping move too

So did Maroo Park Jihoon. I suddenly miss Kwon Hyeob, seeing him up there alone.

ONO Moonbok, who looked ridiculously pretty btw - I hope they stick to styling him like this, did something that looked like Red Velvet’s Rookie or Lovelyz’s WoW, and held up his lovely hair in two pigtails. Adorable. The trainees were KO’d

Star Empire Takada Kenta looks more like a puppy than ever.

The Yuehua kids shot hearts and Ahn Hyungseob acted like he got hit by one

S.How trainees used their minimal screentime references - Namhyung did his finger to the lip with elevated pinky detail that had impressed Lee Seokhoon, while Dongsu did the plucking from the air bit from the Amazing Kiss stage.

MMO trainees, extra as always, integrated Auntie Jisung’s clapping move with Twice’s Signal.

Baby maknae Lee Woojin did his meme face and finger heart from the Be Mine stage. A worldwide cutie.

C2K Kim Seonglee did finger hearts with the Very Very Very head bobbing

YGK+ Kwon Hyunbin tried a headstand before just rolling over like a cat in a blanket

Real Performers Ardor and Able Noh Taehyun and Ha Sungwoon did a finger point choreo before moonwalking off the stage in sync

RBW puppies referenced fallen trainee Dongmyung by doing his warm up flapping dance and hearts.

Protect Them.

Tension building and then cut to concept evaluation song distributions.

They keep playing up the fact that Jihoon dropped ranks...are they egging the fangirls to have a flatout fight?

This way of arranging missions, with distributing trainees into teams and then shuffling after half of them leave is stupid and could be avoided if they split up the mission footage better. The show could fully have filler episodes between missions at this level of popularity so the vote timing and mission preparation could be allocated efficiently.

Imagine working at a song and then having to start over a few days later. It’s ridiculous.

Songs are introduced by their producers. The viewers have been voting to match the songs to their favourite trainees for this mission.

I’d said earlier that the idea was just going to incite some kind of fuckery, with fans not used to this amount of legitimate power. Sure enough, there was cheating involved so Kang Daniel, Lee Kiwon and Kim Dongbin were banned from their leaked song preferences.

Honestly, the cat emoji morse code was great. It’s one of my top controversies this season.

First up is my personal favourite of the song concepts, I Know You Know, produced by heavyweight producer Joombas (who is famously responsible for Exo’s Growl, SHINee’s Dream Girl and also apparently worked with HOTSHOT). I’m all about the funky R&Bish vibe: not the kind of song that tops charts, but probably stays there a while. Watch this song be ignored though lol

Second is Oh Little Girl, a name even the producer draws quote marks around. This is the song for the hip-hop concept, and has a jazzy easy listening feel.

Next is Showtime, coming from a trio of newer or less popular producers. This seems catchy, but it sounds very familiar - not a song I’d remember. The choreo looks fun though, and they reference Dongmyung’s warm up! The trainees love it, cracking up as they mimic the move.

Fourth are another famous producer group, Devine Channel, who I believe do a lot of SM’s songs. They’ve also done a lot of very trendy title songs, including BTS’ Fire and VIXX’s The Closer. I think the English title for this song is Open? Correct me if I’m wrong. It sounds great, oddly like something I might have heard from Nu’est. I’m looking forward to this too, the choreo looks great.

Fifth song is from the producers that get the most hype, Hyuna’s new charity project from Cube, Triple H’s Never. Auntie Jisung decides he wants the song because Hyuna is involved, which, honestly, same. The EDM structure also feels overdone but I have a sneaking suspicion this is going to be the song that gets maximum hype since there’s no ballad.

Trainees get allocated their songs in envelopes and have to go to wait in separate practice spaces for the rest of their team.

Jaehwan doesn’t want to be in same team as Hyunbin, which I understand, considering that he’s had to carry him twice already. Like the other trainees, he wants to work with GodJonghyun.

Pretty boys Bae Jinyoung, Park Jihoon and Ahn Hyungseob get sorted together. Maybe their fans have been working in sync. They also get excited puppy Gunhee, which means their vocals will be taken care of.

Once the trainees all gather, their songs are revealed. Byun Hyunmin decides to rip the sticker for his room and accidentally pulls off the whole thing.

Byun Hyunmin: :O

Noh Taehyun: Everyone, we’re not singing.

Hyunmin retries.

All the trainees: cAREFULLY

The group gets Showtime, which was Samuel’s pick. He’s ecstatic.

Minhyun’s room has their sticker peel by Emperor Hwang to reveal Never, which pleases most of them.

Park Jihoon’s room has a breakdown before Dongbin peels the sticker to show Oh Little Girl, a song I can see Sewoon do well in. The Yuehua trainees are all in this team too.

Moonbok has a braid in his lovely hair this segment, it looks fire emoji.

Hyunbin’s room has I Know You Know. Taedong, who has a lower range than the song needs, is nervous.

Baekho’s group gets Open, which most of the trainees are excited about. Seunglee in particular is relieved, since it was one of his picks.

We go into centre struggles for the killing part.

Oh Little Girl has Jihoon battling Euiwoong and Minki. They all demonstrate, and vote Jihoon and Minki as their preferred centres.

Euiwoong is getting worried. He’s one of the only initial popular trainees that seems to be dropping down ranks every week. Kahi gives him a much needed confidence boost at dance check in, and Don Mills praises him at vocal check in too.

Product placement break.

Open team wants a dance focus trainee as leader because of the high level choreo and elect Daniel, who now probably understands what he needs to do to lead his group after faltering last mission.

But the team has so many people that they split into two halves while leaning choreo and one team falls behind since Daniel doesn’t split his attention between the two initially

Kahi calls them out on the distinction, with one group lagging while the first one does great. The second half, which has Park Sungwoo, who we know needs a lot of focused help, starts to catch up after the whole team gets scolded.

There are so many trainees in this team that won’t survive eliminations, oh god.

Kim Seunglee, you deserve better.

Showtime group has a lot of strong singers. Woodam wants to be main vocal, and Yoo Hwiseung needs that vocal hype boost since his rank is risky too.

Auntie Jisung: I want to try to do it too.

They start talking about the need for facial expressions and singing, Samuel wants to lowkey be centre. They need to have impact to bring the concept across, they decide.

Auntie Jisung: I still want to try though!

They ask the trainees to sing and do some face expression to pick centre and main vocal. Jisung and Samuel share centre while Woodam and Hwiseung share main vocal.

Coach Shin Yumi likes Hwiseung’s control over the notes better. He’s a lot more stable than Woodam, maybe because his natural tone is stronger?

Yoo Hwiseung gets some screentime for the first time.

Far out, Mnet. You really annoy me.

Never team has Ha Sungwoon being worried about being in a team with high ranking trainees, most of who want to be centre.

They all battle with facial expressions but the trainees vote for Guanlin and Minhyun as centre.

At dance check in with Dabbing Ajusshi Kwon Jaesung, however, Sungwoon is the first one to volunteer to dance.

He gets some well deserved praise for it, which honestly, the kid needs. Being in a group of trainees that are all popular is awful enough, but he’s a true all rounder. Without enough screentime or helpful editing, he’s been fading despite being good looking and a consistent performer.

More product placement.

I Know You Know team has the underdog feel straight up, with the lower ranking trainees. I called the song as not being the kind to be popular.

Appealing time for the centre spot. RBW Hwanwoong stands out. Ah, my heart. Donghan and Hwanwoong get centre.

Dance check in with Kahi has her appreciating their hard work. Hyunbin’s dancing seems to have improved, I guess being cyber bullied has that effect on you. She also thinks Hwanwoong is a good centre choice, which is some well deserved praise.

Tears and mournful instrumentals are abound as the low ranking trainees recount their experience before for upcoming eliminations. We get flashbacks for some of them, which should prepare you for what’s coming.

We all know where this is heading. The rest of the recap can be found here.

#p101 #p101 recaps #p101s2 #p101 spoilers #p101se2 spoilers #produce 101 season 2 #produce 101 #produce 101 recaps #broduce 101 #broduce 101 recaps #broduce 101 spoilers #livestream recap

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arickert93 · 7 years

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Life in Japan: Weekly Update 2

Hey y’all! I’m back a little more than a week later after the first weekly update! Someone gave me a like, and someone reblogged me, and someone told me this week that they read my blog (because I shared it on Facebook) and that it was, and I quote, “pretty good.”

I think I’m a celebrity now.

Anyway, this week was a little bit busier than normal. I wasn’t able to take ONE desk nap, and you know that is strange for me. Our school English club was preparing for a prefectural debate tournament so, naturally, I got roped into doing a bunch of research for them and editing their writing. I finally forced them to start putting all of their work into one google document after finally losing my mind from all the scattered papers that they were giving me. Most shockingly, none of my students (who are juniors) had personal email addresses that I could send the google doc link to... Which shocked me because I was already messaging strangers on the internet and living on MySpace by the time I was in junior high school.

LMAO Japan

This week’s funny Japan moment is a Japanese manga that a friend lent to me a few months ago and I finally got around to opening and it is hilarious. It’s called Junjo Ito’s Cat Diary starring Yon and Mu, and it is the greatest thing ever.

The manga artist is more famous for other horror manga, and a lot of his drawings have a horrific element, but the story is about Junjo and his crazy cat-obsessed wife getting into a new house. Almost immediately upon moving in, his wife gets an eerie look in her eye and begins asking her husband whether or not he’s a cat or dog person. He nervously replies that he’s more of a hamster person, and two days later his sparkling new house is completely covered in plastic wrap to prevent scratching and the news that his wife’s demonic childhood cat will be coming to live with them, along with a fluffy kitten she adopted to keep him company. Although he initially resents the cats, even to the point of fearing them, he then starts to grow fond of them and even competes with his wife for their attention.

If you can find an English translation, I thoroughly recommend it. The Japanese in it is actually simple enough to catch the gist of the humor, if you’re feeling adventurous. It definitely has that WTF element of a lot of Japanese stories that has become so dear to Japanophiles around the world.

Being Cultured and Stuff

On Friday, I was reminded that I reserved a ticket to an English-accessible Kabuki production a few months ago, and I fortunately hadn’t fucked it up with any other plans and was able to go! I took an 1.5 hour train to the national theatre in Tokyo, and got whisked away into the magic of Kabuki.

The production was called “Kenuki” or “The Tweezers,” and was prefaced with an English explanation of the art, sound and tradition of Kabuki. The main thing you need to know is that Kabuki features a male-only cast (meaning all women parts are played by men), is generally based on stories hundreds of years ago, has super dramatic speaking that even Japanese people have difficulty understanding, and has really cool music and live sound effects.

The best part of this production was a small scene in which the hero of the story tries to seduce one of the adult sons of the household under the pretense of teaching him how to mount a horse, with lots of ridiculous innuendo ensuing. After being rejected for being a super creeper, the hero then tries to seduce one of the maids of the house (who is being played by a man), and is again rejected. After both rejections, the hero apologizes to the audience for being such a fuck-up and the story moves on as though nothing happened... It was obviously hilarious.

On a sidenote, it illustrates the fact that it wasn’t uncommon for samurai to have romantic and even sexual relationships with other men hundreds of years ago. I mean, we can’t say that they were gay because it’s not like boy samurai moved in together and had brunch on Sundays and went to pride parades, but we can say that human sexuality has historically been just as varied as it is today! Isn’t that FUN?!

How I Cope

I’m renaming this segment, but it is essentially the same thing as before. Living abroad is fun, exciting and wonderful, but it can also be super stressful and it’s easy to get homesick! This week, I have two things that helped me relax. First was the fifth season of Orange is the New Black. Netflix is available in Japan, and it is so nice to binge on American TV shows while occasionally checking out various obscure anime that aren’t available in the US. I remember I watched all of Friends during my first round of the winter blues last year, and Orange is the New Black has also been a great comfort.

The new season is also just REALLY GOOD. I won’t spoil anything, but the pace and general playfulness of this season is really fun. I do have some confusion regarding time during the season, considering that it’s over the course of a few days and food runs out really quickly, and the inmates are constructing super elaborate things in a matter of a few hours, when basically all I would be doing is lying around moaning for sustenance. But, whatever, it’s a TV show.

Next is IKEBANA!

This is my fifth ikebana project I’ve done at my school’s ikebana club! They made me an honorary member and even included me in their club photo! It has been really fun being more of a committed member to the club, and it’s really low stress because they only meet once or twice a month.

This one didn’t turn out as great as I had originally hoped, especially now that I’m eyeing the photo more critically while typing this article, but whatever. It was relaxing and I’m slowly gaining more independence. I’m actually really interested in bringing ikebana skills back home and maybe volunteering at Japanese culture fairs or something, but I will need a lot more practice. Ganbarimasu (I’ll do my best!)

See you next week! Until then, stay cultured!

Also, check out my YouTube channel if you’d like to go prematurely blind:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHDCHOziuCAPpbb3hdgapNg

#Japan #weekly update #life abroad #jet program #jet programme #ikebana #manga #cat diary #junjo ito #kabuki #kenuki #discover kabuki #blog #culture blog #japanese culture

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dingoes8myrp · 7 years

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Dawson’s Creek in Hindsight: 1.1

I’m rewatching Dawson’s Creek. I haven’t seen it since it originally aired. Here are my thoughts 9 years later.

1.1 - Pilot

This recap is long. It’s the kickoff and I have a lot to say about it.

A creek at sunset. A pretty nice house. Dawson Leery and Joey Potter are side by side on his bed watching E.T.

The opening scene, over-inflated teenage vocabulary aside, is great. It sets the tone for the entire show. This isn’t a story about teens inexplicably going to a night club on a school night (I’m looking at you, Buffy the Vampire Slayer). It’s established that it’s Saturday night and two childhood friends are hanging out in his room watching movies. That’s what me and my friends did at fifteen. It’s what me and my friends do now.

As Dawson switches over to the news, Joey gets up to leave, prompting the following exchange.

Dawson: “Where are you going?” Joey: “Home.” Dawson: “Spend the night.” Joey: “Can’t.” Dawson: “C’mon. You always spend the night.” Joey: “Not tonight.” Dawson: “Why not?” Joey: “I just don’t think it’s a good idea for me to sleep over anymore. You know?” Dawson: “No, I don’t know. Come on, you’ve been sleeping over since you were seven. It’s Saturday night!”

In hindsight, I’m upset Joey and Dawson don’t end up together. The bulk of this exchange is Joey confessing her non-platonic love for Dawson.

Two things are being established here. One: Joey and Dawson have been friends since they were kids and this is a long-standing routine. Two: Joey is breaking this routine for unknown reasons and Dawson is baffled and disturbed. We’re also being given insight into each of these characters. Joey has clearly thought a lot about Dawson and how things are changing between them. Dawson is oblivious, wondering why she’d think that. He’s much more comfortable talking about how Steven Spielberg was robbed of an Oscar than acknowledging Joey’s feelings (which will come back to bite him later).

Joey: “Things change, Dawson. Evolve.” Dawson: “What are you talking about?” Joey: “Sleeping in the same bed was fine when we were kids, but we’re fifteen now.” Dawson: “Yeah?” Joey: “We start high school Monday?” Dawson: “Yeah?” Joey: “And I have breasts!” Dawson: (laughing) “What?!” Joey: “And you have genitalia!” Dawson: “I’ve always had genitalia.” Joey: “But there’s more OF it!” Dawson: “How do you know?” Joey: “Long fingers. I gotta go.”

*Sidenote: this is the first of many instances in which the characters go to painstaking lengths within the dialogue to tell the audience “by the way, these characters are teenagers.” This is something that shouldn’t have to be pointed out and it miffs me every time they do it. This first time is forgivable because it’s the pilot and we’re setting the stage, but it’s the first of many instances.

This conversation further emphasizes the different headspaces of the two characters. Joey clearly feels that something is changing (or has changed) between them while Dawson insists everything’s the same. A gap begins to work its way between Dawson and Joey. This is the heart of our story.

Dawson: “Woah, Jo, don’t hit and run! Come on. Explain yourself.” Joey: “I just think our emerging hormones are destined to alter our relationship and I’m trying to limit the fallout.”

Joey being Joey, this is the closest we’re going to come to a love confession at this point in the storyline. She’s talking about his genitalia and hormones and their relationship, for crying out loud. She’s very nearly beating him over the head. His response?

“Your emerging hormones aren’t developing a ‘thang’ for me, are they?”

It’s important to note the mocking tone he uses and the Ben-Affleck-in-Gone-Girl-before-Ben-Affleck-in-Gone-Girl grin accompanying it. Joey’s dipping her toe into the waters of confessing her complicated feelings, and her target responds my mocking her. Naturally, her response is to attack him by pointing out a few flaws.

Joey: “A ‘thang?’ No, I’m not getting a ‘thang’ for you, Dawson. I’ve known you too long. I’ve seen you burp, barf, pick your nose, scratch your butt… I don’t think I’m getting a ‘thang’ for you.” Dawson: “So, then, what’s the problem?” Joey: “We’re changing, and we have to adjust or else the male female thing will get in the way.”

Again, Joey is drawing attention to the fact that something is different between them, at least on her end. Once again, Dawson is oblivious. And I don’t think it’s an act on his part. I think he’s genuinely oblivious to her strange behavior. Yes, he knows something’s off about her, but he has no idea what it is, and he doesn’t pick up anything she’s putting down to point him in the right direction.

Dawson insists they’re friends and that they should sleep in the same bed like they always do to prove it.

Are those Magic: The Gathering cards taped to Dawson’s headboard? Somebody answer this for me.

As Dawson and Joey settle in to sleep both of them are noticeably uncomfortable. Dawson finally says “Why’d you have to bring this up, anyway?” Now he’s thinking about it, too.

This is not my theme song. What kind of mind-fuckery is this, Freeform?

Note: I actually looked into this. The song played on streaming versions of the show is “Like Mad” by Canadian folk artist Jann Arden (source: IMDB). The original theme song I grew up with was “I Don’t Wanna Wait” by Paula Cole.

Joey sunbathes on a dock and is dragged into the water by a cheesy monster a la Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s revealed that Dawson is filming a movie he plans to enter in a festival. We meet the man behind the monster, their friend Pacey Witter. There’s an interesting dialogue exchange here:

Joey: (to Pacey) “You did it again, you grabbed my ass!” Pacey: “Like you even have one.” Dawson: “Guys, we are way behind schedule.”

Again, Dawson is completely ignoring Joey’s feelings. She’s very irritated, claiming Pacey groped her. Dawson’s only focus is on how this affects his film. To be fair to Joey, we’ll soon learn that Pacey has a habit of over-sexualizing and objectifying women. The fact that she says he did it “again” implies this isn’t a one-off. To Joey’s credit, Pacey was wearing a cumbersome monster costume, complete with awkward mask. It’s very likely he didn’t know what he was grabbing. I’m leaning toward this explanation because, given what we’ll see of him later in the episode, if he had grabbed her ass he probably would have made some macho crack about it. I’m more inclined to believe he didn’t intentionally grab anything and had a nose full of water while they were arguing, and therefore was annoyed she’d accuse him of that under the circumstances. The world may never know the truth.

This is also some nice probably unintentional foreshadowing, since Pacey later ends up dating Joey, much to Dawson’s surprise.

By the way, how did Joshua Jackson not drown in that mask? Is it just me, or does it sound like he’s delivering his lines while coughing up water?

Enter Jen Lindley.

Note: she arrives in a cab. No one picked her up to take her to her grandparents’ house. Nobody seems to notice this.

Dawson is the first to notice Jen. Pacey’s quick to follow his gaze. While Pacey and Dawson eagerly introduce themselves, Joey hangs back, regarding Jen with suspicion. Competition.

Can we talk about the clothing here for a minute? Joey is wearing shorts and a bikini top covered by a button-up shirt. Jen is wearing a dress strategically buttoned to show off both her legs and her chest. Granted, Joey is sort of in costume for the film they were just shooting, but Jen has no excuse. This could be part of her character. She was a wild child in New York and now she’s been shipped off to the grandparents to straighten up. The conservative, wholesome dress may not be her idea and the strategic de-buttoning could be her tiny way of rebelling.

Moving on.

Jen: “I’m Jen.” Dawson: “Oh, the granddaughter from New York, okay.” Jen: “Right.” Dawson: “Wow, you look… different.” Joey shoots Dawson a glare no one seems to notice. Joey: “Hi, I’m Joey. I live down the creek, and we’ve never met. Ever.”

The entire time Jen and Dawson are talking we focus on Joey, who is focusing on Dawson. It’s painfully obvious she’s jealous of Jen on some level. Jen points out to Dawson that they’ve met before and he hadn’t remembered. Although this is likely because they’ve both grown up since then, it also broadens Dawson’s obliviousness. It’s not limited to Joey.

Dawson: “So you’ll be going to school here, then?” Jen: “Yeah. Tenth grade.” Pacey: “Cool. Us, too.”

*Once again, we need to be reminded these are high school kids. Just pointing it out.

Joey makes very little effort to hide her displeasure at Jen’s arrival, or more importantly Dawson’s interest in Jen. Props to Katie Holmes for epic facial expressions.

Unfortunate “You gonna nail her?” discussion between Pacey and Dawson on their way into the Leery house. We get a glimpse of Pacey’s attitude toward women here.

Dawson and Pacey walk in on Dawson’s parents being all passionate on the coffee table and we learn Gail Leery is also the news anchor we saw on Dawson’s TV earlier. Dawson is mortified while Pacey sort of flirts with Dawson’s mom. Ew, right? This dude has issues. Again with the foreshadowing. More on that later.

We visit Joey’s house, indeed on the other side of the creek. Fun fact: I grew up near a lake and would have loved to kayak back and forth to someone’s house as a teen. My parents would not have been thrilled with it.

The Potter residence is cute, but modest compared to Dawson’s home we saw earlier. Here, we meet Joey’s pregnant sister, Bessie, and pregnant sister’s boyfriend, Bodie, who is the first black person we’ve seen in Capeside so far. We’ll learn later this is kind of a big deal to some people. Now we’ve established the unconventional family situation of the Potters. A stark contrast to the Leerys.

Ah, a video store. How retro. Remember the nineties? Notice the I Know What You Did Last Summer poster below the register.

Pacey has a back-and-forth Xander-and-Cordelia-esque conversation with the apparently popular/rich Nelly to establish he’s super unpopular or something. I don’t really know. Kind of a clunky, unnecessary exchange in my opinion.

Enter Ms. Tamara Jacobs, who immediately catches Pacey’s eye. Dawson remains professional, but seeing Pacey’s eagerness to talk to the woman, leaves him to it.

Sidenote: Dawson’s actually kind of a shitty wingman. He left Pacey to flounder while Nelly chewed him out, and left him to stammer his way through the Ms. Jacobs conversation. This isn’t obliviousness. This is deliberate.

Pacey makes a hilarious attempt to flirt with Ms. Jacobs, which she may be encouraging. It’s hard to tell. She makes a crack about The Graduate, which could either be flirting or a joke on her part, amused at seeing how bumbling Pacey is. The fact that she seems a bit flustered (nearly forgetting her credit card) tells me she might have been flattered and sort of encouraging him.

Dawson finds Jen sitting on the dock, a lovely silhouette. We get a sense of Jen here as she explains her grandmother’s the praying type. “I don’t do the whole God thing,” she tells Dawson. Jen asks about the handful of movies Dawson’s carrying.

Dawson: “It’s research. I’m making a movie.” Jen: “Really?” Dawson: “Yeah.” Jen: “Kind of young to be so ambitious.” Dawson: “Fifteen.”

*Again, we’re reminded via dialogue these two are fifteen.

Dawson shows Jen his room, which he refers to as his studio. He displays an unhealthy obsession with Steven Spielberg. Jen seems a bit worried by this. Dawson’s character can be summed up in his statement: “I believe that all the mysteries of the universe, all the answers to life’s questions, can be found in a Spielberg film.” Dawson has an unrealistic view of things, seeing everything through the lens of film. The visual of Jen looking out the window as Joey hides on her way in is wonderful.

Posters seen in Dawson’s Room: Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jaws, E.T., Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, The Color Purple, 1941, and Always (all of which he proudly points out to Jen).

Joey climbs a ladder to Dawson’s room, which makes me wonder if Dawson’s parents are aware she’s been spending her nights in their son’s room for the past several years.

Since Dawson has clearly planned a movie night with Joey, inviting Jen over was inconsiderate on his part, particularly considering her odd behavior the last time she was there.

Dawson, watching his mom anchoring the news, speculates whimsically that his mother may be sleeping with her co-anchor, Bob. Little does he know. It’s odd that someone so oblivious to most things would inadvertently pick up on that.

Interesting comment from Joey when she refers to Mr. Leery as “the perfect male specimen.” Dawson doesn’t seem to notice. I’m not sure what it means. I just found it odd for her to say.

We get a peek into Jen’s living situation as she checks on her sleeping grandfather, who’s just had heart surgery. Interesting foreshadowing here that, again, was probably unintentional. Jen sits by her grandfather’s bedside tracing the scar along his chest. Considering her eventual fate, this is eerie in hindsight.

Jen has breakfast with her grandmother, Evelyn Ryan, and it’s established that these two don’t know each other very well at all. Jen takes the opportunity to get all the dirt she can on her new potential friends, namely Dawson and Joey and what their deal is. Grams refers to Dawson as “trouble” and announces Joey has been “crawling in the bedroom window” of Dawson for ten years, which retcons Dawson’s earlier statement that Joey has been sleeping over at his house since she was seven. We’ve been reminded three times so far that these kids are fifteen, remember, so it’s not my fault I picked up on that slip. Grams doesn’t think too highly of Jen’s new friends. A funny moment as Grams nudges Jen to say grace at breakfast and Jen refuses. Grams asks “Is there some reason you don’t want to thank our Lord this morning?” Jen announces herself as an Atheist, which is hilarious. Poor Grams is bewildered.

Capeside High. Jen meets Nelly Olson, the one who ripped Pacey a new one at the video store. Very Cordelia-and-Buffy. Jen establishes she doesn’t drink or do drugs and she recently quit smoking. Dawson walks her to class. What a gentleman.

Pacey re-encounters Ms. Jacobs as his new teacher. That’s awkward. Jen sits next to Joey in class, trying to make friends. Also awkward. Ah, high school.

Hey, look! There’s another I Know What You Did Last Summer poster in the background of the classroom Dawson enters. He reveals his movie obsession isn’t limited to Spielberg as he rattles off some tid-bits about Hitchcock. Dawson attempts to be admitted to a film class, which he was denied due to seats being reserved for upper classmen. Dawson comes off entitled here, claiming he deserves admittance into the class simply because he’s passionate about it. A resounding no, and deserved.

Walking down the hall, Jen outright asks Joey if she and Dawson are more than just friends. So far, I love how Jen is navigating things. She’s respecting the fact that she’s a wrench in the works of an established dynamic of friends, and she’s going out of her way to be diplomatic. Joey insists she and Dawson are just friends even though we’ve seen she’s obviously mixed up about it. For someone so guarded around Jen, Joey’s quite open with her, saying her mother died of cancer and her father’s in prison. Joey reveals to Jen that Dawson likes her, very selfless on Joey’s part considering her budding feelings for Dawson. She’s still a good friend. She’s protective of Dawson while trying not to get in the way of his happiness.

Pacey attempts to flirt with Ms. Jacobs, which she seems a bit too amused by. Holy foreshadowing, Batman!

Pacey insists to Dawson he’s going to lose his virginity to Ms. Jacobs. He’s taken a few brief encounters and weaved them into a fantasy of epic proportions. Both Pacey and Dawson have established that they’re living in fantasy worlds. Pacey mentions he has three sisters. This makes his view of women a bit baffling.

Dawson sees Jen talking to a guy in a letterman jacket so we know he’s a jock. Seriously, none of the athletes in my high school wore their jackets all the time just because.

Dawson asks Jen to the movies, feeling nudged by another man’s interest. She accepts.

Dawson ambushes Joey on a bike to ask her to double date with he, Jen, and Pacey. Joey is not thrilled, but agrees. Again, she sacrifices her own happiness for Dawson.

Note: Dawson is wearing a New York Yankees hat. As a Massachusetts dweller, I object to this, since Capeside is supposed to be in Massachusetts. Clearly, that should have been a Red Sox hat. But, I digress.

Grams tries to manipulate Jen into going to church on Sunday. This is the first inkling we get that Jen has a checkered past of some kind. Grams thinks Jen needs church after what she’s done in New York. Jen mentions keeping her “rebellious nature” in check.

Dawson and his dad have an awkward sex talk in which Dawson reveals he’s based the importance of sex entirely on the fact that Spielberg doesn’t put sex scenes in his movies. Oh, Dawson. You poor boy.

Bess gives Joey adorable lipstick advice. This is one of my favorite scenes in the show, one of the few I remember even now.

Awkward walk to the Realto. Joey’s overly aggressive toward Jen and it makes Dawson uncomfortable and annoyed. Joey is likely embarrassed when Jen points out that she’s wearing lipstick, and her defense is to attack Jen’s hair color being unnatural. It just escalates from there. Oblivious Dawson is oblivious.

As they sit in the theater waiting for the movie to start Joey painfully watches Dawson debate holding Jen’s hand. Joey intervenes, asking Jen about her feelings on penis size. Again, I love how Jen navigates things here, quipping back but remaining cool. Dawson finally figures out something’s amiss and drags Joey out. Meanwhile Pacey ambushes Ms. Jacobs in a totally inappropriate stalker type scenario. Ms. Jacobs is understandably thrown, saying “I was only renting a movie” in a hushed tone (which implies maybe she wasn’t only renting a movie). Through a misunderstanding, Pacey gets punched by some dude. Hilarious.

Meanwhile, Joey flips out at Dawson in another part of the theater. Raise your hand if you didn’t see that coming.

Dawson: “What is your problem?” Joey: “My problem is that from the moment Little Miss Highlights showed up you haven’t said one word to me!” Dawson: “Crap! That is pure crap and you know it!” Joey: “All I know is that all your blood is rushing down when you can’t even acknowledge that another human being is even present!” Dawson: “I like her, okay? Sue me! I thought you were my friend. Where is a little understanding?” Joey: “Oh, I understand everything! I’m tired of understanding! All I do is understand.”

Joey reveals her frustration at being overshadowed by another woman who’s entered Dawson’s life. Dawson is surprised, despite all the signs that have led up to this. But, he’s concerned, at least.

Dawson: “Joey!” Joey: “Nothing penetrates with you, Dawson. You’re so far removed from reality you can’t even see what’s right in front of you.” Dawson: “What are you talking about?” Joey: “Your life. It’s a friggin’ fairytale and you don’t even know it. You just want conflict for that script you’re writing. Stop living in the movies. Grow up.”

Damn, Joey. A little harsh. This argument started with Joey’s murky feelings for Dawson and went down a hard road with Joey voicing resentment toward Dawson and straight up attacking him while he stands there bewildered. Instead of saying what she means, Joey deflects, which is frustrating in itself.

Dawson walks Jen home, saying “It was a really repulsive evening.” I’m guessing the date didn’t get much better. Dawson goes to kiss Jen and she interrupts, saying she feels responsible for how the night went. Dawson insists it was his fault. Grams appears in the front doorway to end the night.

Pacey walks along the dock, presumably on his way home. He runs into Ms. Jacobs, who feels bad about how things went. Pacey is bitter and throws a few jabs her way. He feels used by her.

“You’re a well put together knock-out of a woman who’s feeling a little insecure about hitting forty. So, when a young, viral boy such as myself flirts with you, you enjoy it. You entice it. You fantasize about what it would be like to be with that young boy on the verge of manhood.”

A shining moment for Joshua Jackson here. Well delivered. Like listening to Matthew McConauhey’s closing argument in A Time to Kill.

And then Ms. Jacobs kisses him! Who knew Pacey would be right? It makes his entire monologue go from the rantings of a whiney, pervy teen to a justified tell-off. By the way, that’s not how that’s supposed to go! Pacey’s not supposed to be right about this. Ick.

Dawson returns to his room and finds Joey in his closet. Very Lori Strode of her.

Dawson: “What is going on between us?” Joey: “I’ve no idea.” Dawson: “I know I have this incredibly perfect life and I completely underappreciate it.” Joey: “Yeah, you do.”

Unbeknownst to Dawson, his “life” has become a metaphor for his relationship with Joey. That makes the rest of this conversation very awkward.

Dawson: “I don’t want to lose you, Joey. What we have is the only thing that makes sense to me. When I saw you at the movie theater with that lipstick on I remember thinking how pretty you looked.” Joey looks at him, surprised. Dawson: “I mean, I ignored it. But I thought it.” Joey: smiles hopefully. “Yeah?” Dawson: “But that was it, Jo.” Joey is visibly disappointed. Dawson: “It didn’t go any further than that.” Joey: (recovering) “When I saw you going for Jen’s hand I… I mean, it’s not like I wanted to be the one holding your hand. I just didn’t want HER holding it.”

Again, Katie Holmes’s expressions say so much more than Joey’s actually saying. While Dawson’s trying to reassure her that he doesn’t see her as anything more than a friend, she’s hurt to hear that! It’s all over her face and Dawson doesn’t even see it. Or, maybe he does. When he says “But that was it, Jo. It didn’t go any further than that,” there’s a gentleness to his voice that suggests he may not know how she’ll react to hearing that. If he weren’t so damn oblivious I’d say he was trying to spare her feelings.

This leads to Joey insisting they can’t be friends the same way anymore because there are things they can’t talk about, asking Dawson when he “walks the dog” and how often. When he doesn’t answer, Joey leaves, upset.

To me, this comes off as Joey having a crush on Dawson and a) being overlooked for someone else and b) being told he doesn’t see her that way. Rather than confessing her feelings (that she may not be entirely aware of yet) she buries them and makes the problem about something else – first Dawson’s life compared to her own, and then this new person coming between them.

Then Dawson peeks out his window to answer Joey’s question, much to her relief. They can still be friends!

And then Joey sees Dawson’s mom making out with her co-anchor.

Dun dun dun.

Final thoughts.

While Joey is frustrating as all hell with her lack of communication, I relate to her. Who hasn’t had feelings for someone and not known how to say it? Who hasn’t been afraid of losing a friend if you tell them the truth? As she’s running from Dawson’s house at the end of the episode, she’s crying hysterically. She’s not just upset that Dawson doesn’t have a romantic interest in her (though that’s part of it). She’s mourning the loss of a friendship, of someone she loves dearly. Because she doesn’t know how to be friends with him anymore, which she states a number of times in a number of ways. All she knows for sure is things can’t be the same as they were “before.”

Dawson, you self-centered ass. I share a similar fondness for movies, but other than that I can’t relate to him at all. He’s just so selfish and completely oblivious to everyone around him. Joey is pouring her heart out to him and he barely notices until it gets in the way of his date with Jen. He knows nothing about Jen, who apparently has some kind of weird rebellious past he hasn’t even inquired about. He’s barely asked her anything about herself, actually, aside from her name and whether or not he’d see her in school. His buddy Pacey hits on his mom and a forty-year-old woman who turned out to be a teacher and Dawson laughs it off and gives a “yeah, whatever” type response. Dude, everyone around you is a mess. Get a clue!

Ohh, Pacey. I appreciate your sense of humor most of the time, but man, are you a pig. I defended you back there when Joey claimed you grabbed her ass, but who could blame her for thinking that, the way you talk to and about women? I think Pacey is starved for affection, so he’s seeking it out in all the wrong places. He puts on this macho air of “I’m gonna get laid!” but really there’s a sensitive person under there, as evidenced by his speech to Ms. Jacobs. He has a low opinion of himself, which isn’t helped by her manipulation.

Welcome to Capeside, where all the high school kids are in their twenties and video stores are still alive and well.

1.2 - Dance

#dawson's creek #dawson leery #joey potter #pacey witter #jen lindley #dingoreviews #dingometa

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