media consumption (may-june 2021)
Jul. 14th, 2021 08:55 pmlate as hell and (kinda) long as hell but here we are
WATCHING (shows, 90s anime, kpop misc.)
SERIES: SEX EDUCATION - S1 (2019) ★★★★☆
okay so i actually watched this back in 2019 when it first dropped on netflix! i don't really remember if i finished season 1 or not, but i don't think i stopped watching bc i didn't like it; in fact, i remember quite liking it a lot. probably something something adhd attention span and like.... school or whatever who knows. my pasta strainer goldfish birdbrain memory not helping with this at all. point being im currently rewatching it and it's just as fun as i remember; there's something just so loveable about most of the characters in spite (actually most of the time because) of their flaws, and even the characters i don't love still have compelling backgrounds and motivations.
disclaimer that i've only gotten halfway through s1 in my re-watch so im basically in the same place as my first watch, plot-wise so everything i say will be from that perspective. currently my favorite dynamic def goes to maeve and otis.. like i know they r both cute with other people but if there's one thing im gonna do it's tinhat/tinhet/be delusional. maeve is seriously one of my favorite characters and i love how her confidence, sarcasm and wit play off of otis' bundle of nerves and reluctant earnesty, if that makes sense. i vaguely remember the eric adam storyline and remember quite enjoying that as well. um i also think gillian anderson is hot as fuck. a milf in every sense of the word. anyway looking foward to catching up esp since s3 is coming out soon! i think!
SERIES: GOSSIP GIRL - S1E1 (2021) ★☆☆☆☆
ok i literally didn't want to watch this at all but then my friend basically
i'll list my grievances out from most to least severe and end with the (few) parts that i enjoyed/am actually interested in:
ANIME: DETECTIVE CONAN (1996 - ongoing) ★★★★★
started (re)watching this last month with dw user rhodochrosite in our quest to find out Who Drives The Plane in shinkai (shinichi/kaito) aka markmin. yes, the founding basis of this content consumption is kaito jaemin. as guys who have Strongly Fixed Preferences this is perfectly valid reason to start watching a franchise with 1000+ episodes. in fact, this isn't even my first re-watch LOL. i remember rewatching all plot-relevant/canon episodes during sophomore(?) year of high school and it took me roughly... half a year? iirc. idk time is fake so that could be totally wrong but...
anyway. watching with a friend is! so much fun lmfao (even if i have to hold myself back from spoiling when the occasional memory of an impending plot twist comes up). thoroughly enjoying all the haptics and proxemics along with rediscovering and attaching names to my favorite tropes and relationships that come up within conan including but not limited to:
- conan/kogoro murder magnet
- chotto toire, ahrere, aka conan's kindergartener-cosplay
- Killers activating conan's "where's the proof i did it" trap card
- Did He Deserve to Die? most of the time yes, it seems.
- osaka-tokyo prodigy detective polycule
- haibara is the Killer (non-derogatory)
- shinichi/haibara workmarrieds + schrodingers' power struggle
- shinichi/kaito rivalry (in love, evenly matched, intellectual foreplay)
- shinichi/heiji rivalry (bros, men in mens business)
- shinichi/kaito/ran triangulation (fellas is it gay to cosplay as ur rival's love interest)
- etc etc there is probably more but these r most notable To Me
AESPATENT (vogue, seventeen, huya, basically everything from next level era)
it's funny to think about this ("this" referring to being a MY or whatever. im aespa paen is what im trying to say) now after being neutral to neutral-negative about aespa from debut to uhh honestly right before next level. but god when your multimillion dollar company fucks up ur debut by getting u embroiled in plagiarism controversies and barely does anything to stem the bullying rumors that is what happens...
they are just sweet girls! even tho giselle really looks lost sometimes. i know i and the tl have somewhat affectionately dubbed her "friendly neighborhood abg" and like it's true. what are you doin here girl! you should be hosting the gbm for kasa or something! or getting tickets to uh, edc, i dont know! she's cute tho i am always reminded of how just how online she is whenever she posts shit on bubble that's so clearly from stan twitter. idk! mixed feelings! sometimes shit is crazy on here and i wish she wouldn't have to see it!
ningning has superior music taste to like, all gen z idols, [insert that one tweet about how ningning is who yang2 wishes he could be], takes the best it-girl pictures, IS the moment... she's seriously one of my fav idols currently. also the fact that she ~coyly checks herself out when she's monitoring her own performances (according to winrina it's like she's trying to seduce herself??? LOL). and the weirdass face she made on that radio?? she's like chenle in that they both 沒有偶像包袱/aka have little regard for idol image... i love it. also stayed up to watch aespa's first huya live and not that i ever doubted it but she really is 10x funnier in chinese. the whole live she was getting teased by the huya commenters bc she said she's played pubg for 4-6 years but it... clearly didn't show LOL. she sucked at it (affectionately). the entire floating comments section for her stream was "hahaha 4-6 years?" (countless 哈哈哈這是五六年的水平嗎?). but she's perfect. to me.
karina karina... ah the burden of being the ace. like she really is so good tho, despite whatever u might think of her bc of the uhhhh controversies. aespa's knowing bros ep was basically lackluster as hell, not to the fault of any of the girls, but like. the weird set up and overly male focus made it nearly unwatchable. the few parts i did enjoy were the talent bits where the girls got to show a bit of what they got and karina was certainly. well. she made a point. she makes several points in the tiktok challenge video actually. (ik winter won somehow, but lbr karina Killed those dances). also her hair is mesmerizing in the studio choom video for next level. idk she just seems like a very image-conscious well-meaning leader. she does give off queen bee vibes upon first watch/introduction, but with my recent dive into aespatent i feel like that's not really her at all.
winter's awful extensions were a point of constant complaint for me this entire era but more importantly im obsessed with her evil girl look... it's very sexy to me and i wish they would just let her have short hair!! somebody tell the stylists it's okay if not all four members of a girl group have waist length hair... ok i'll shut up about the hair. also she's clearly one of the most variety-savvy members of the group, she's quite quick to come up with responses (reminds me of haechan a lil) and i think she's blunt in a way that could potentially make people not so fond of her but personally i like it... also the fact that she just has cat snacks in her purse at all times so she can feed the cats from the hair salon they go to automatically gets points from me.
idk how this turned into A Review Of Each Aespa Member rather than like cataloguing aespa content specifically but to be fair most of this was watched in may and i already do not remember specifics. anyway, im aespa paen.
*DREAMTENT to be separate post (if i ever get around to it) ♡
READING(ish)*
*still more webtoons/visual novels/webnovels than actual novels but uh. i read!
webnovel: remarried empress (ongoing) ★★★★☆
this is truly in the same category as trashy ya romance novels that middle school/high school me read bc i literally read anything and everything back then (not saying i have any better taste now but it was just more excusable back then. you know.) but like? the story is compelling!! maybe it's that the author uses the universal desire of satisfying and justified revenge as impetus for the entire storyline, but i am enjoying the ride! maybe it's the added visual aid of the webtoon that helps me more vividly imagine and experience the novel but like, sometimes you just want ur beautiful hets (a queen estranged and cheated on by her shitty husband of a king with a social climbing former-slave girl mistress + a young single charming charismatic etc etc king from the neighboring kingdom with lots of persona fuckery and magic powers and SECRETS) to get together... i'm totally rating this by how i feel and not how objectively good it is (prob more like 3.5/5) but it's honestly decent. like on some level this IS guilty pleasure but it's not THAT guilty. im not ashamed to admit i like reading it ctfu.
webtoon: see you in my 19th life (ongoing) ★★★★☆
one of my favorite webtoons by far! i do love me some reincarnation trope. there's something so melancholic about it when it's done right (to me). the korean title is 이번 생도 잘 부탁해 or "please take care of me in this life as well" which is a mouthful i suppose, but i just like it a lot more. this author was the same one who did "it's a good day to be a dog" and i liked that one as well so i knew i could trust their storytelling with this one... bam jieun (main char who undergoes reincarnation) is just the perfect amount of shameless and Cool Girl that gets me completely. not to get political but jieun definitely α while seoha (male lead) is either β or Ω... idk again it's about the "one guy knowing everything while the other guy knows nothing." it's so good.
miscellaneous
stuff i read but either haven't finished or don't really feel the need to expound on (or both) include: (novels) mexican gothic, the chaos of stars; (visual 'reading') omniscient reader's pov, solo leveling, other assorted webtoons from the line webtoon app, assorted bl manhua/hwa/ga
LISTENING
music for the last 30 days (i so so wish you could do 60 days):
top artists:
1. nct dream
2. olivia rodrigo
3. doja cat
4. mr. hong
5. magdalena bay
top albums:
1. hello future - nct dream
2. sour - olivia rodrigo
3. cafe p.m - mr. hong
4. a little rhythm and a wicked feeling - magdalena bay
5. amala - doja cat
top tracks:
1. life is still going on - nct dream
2. bungee - nct dream
3. tia tamera (ft. rico nasty) - doja cat
4. hello future - nct dream
5. brutal - olivial rodrigo
lisgo is first, as deserved!! seriously best song ever i will love and defend it forever.... although bungee is also very good and i like hello future a decent amount as well. my stats kinda fucked up bc i would probably never have streamed sour out of my own volition but anon asked me for my thoughts on it and i was like... why not! since this is the last 30 days this is really missing my uhhhh doja cat and magdalena bay streaming party from early june/late may... killshot and tia tamera have been constantly on repeat for me (or at least they were) until dream came barreling in with helpyu repack.... not that i am complaining. it's okay if my scrobbles get fucked up for dream! also i want to say last.fm isn't the best representation of all my music intake bc i do a fair bit of it on youtube as well!
IN CONCLUSION
re: writing.... um i've basically been today i give you nothing and tomorrow i also give you nothing for the past two and a half months. i keep wondering where my time is going and what i'm doing if not writing but ummmm it turns out i've probably answered at least 100 ccs in the past week, 200 in the past month. so that's where all my time and typing is going. not that i don't love engaging in some thoughtful discussion re: dreamtent with anons bc i really do! buuuuuut i probably need to control the impulse to type out giant cc essays when i have n amounts of wips that need finishing... nahyuck sequel has been 85% done since like the beginning of may and i'm just procrastinating big time on it... i need to stop promising it'll be done by x date lmao bc i think that's a sure way to guarantee that i won't finish it by that date ㅠ_ㅠ i wish it weren't so but... it is what it is...
also kinda meta but typing up this post itself was actually an effort and a half! serves me right for letting my media consumption pile up but seriously cataloguing 2+ months of content into one post is Not Very Fun... although i did have some fun being a hater in the gossip girl section, which is what inspired me to finally finish this up and post it. anyway, i'm hoping to get the sequel out by at least this month and then... it will be wip roulette to see what gets done next. (sorry model au).
here's to a more productive and focused july (i say like july isn't half over)!
catch me on twt or cc ♡

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Date: 2021-07-15 06:01 pm (UTC)also i read the curiouscat thing about sour and i agree about the ballads being a little much... my top songs are the same that you liked lol i just prefer the upbeat stuff more i guess
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Date: 2021-07-16 02:59 am (UTC)haha yeah im really balladhater69 i will never change never improve and that is a promise... brutal and jealousy jealousy are seriously the best songs on the album. not to push my agendas tooo blatantly, but if you're into upbeat stuff i would highly recommend any of the new songs from dream's hello future repackage (aka life is still going on, bungee, and hello future)!
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Date: 2021-07-18 10:25 pm (UTC)also with winrina i think they're closer to my otp, but otp in the sense that they're my favorite ship in the group rather than like my favorite kpop ship i guess. karina's definitely my favorite member but i love her dynamic with winter so i guess that makes them my aespa otp lol. i'm not THAT into shipping tbh even though i have written a couple idol fics, but winrina got me from the start lol
currently i'm without headphones (cat chewed them the other day and i haven't been able to get another pair orz) so i haven't been able to listen to these recs in their entirety yet, but i have watched the mv for hello future and it was a lot of fun! it reminds me of the (admittedly few) txt songs i've heard, and i always love it when boy groups do brighter lighthearted concepts so i enjoyed it a lot. will check out the other songs as soon as i can ^^
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Date: 2021-07-16 12:13 am (UTC)also the section on remarried empress got me very eyemoji i can be easily baited by trashy ya romance... added to to read list
also also i promise i will respond to ur reply on my Killers post when im out of apps hell!!
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Date: 2021-07-16 04:31 am (UTC)and re: remarried empress hehe you should get into it!! it's a pretty easy brainless read and satisfies that ya (royalty au) romance sweet spot... idk if u prefer to read webtoon or webnovel but they're both readily available to binge. and of course hehe Killerism can wait for a bit, gl with apps <3
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Date: 2021-07-16 01:28 am (UTC)what aespa content would u rec watching bc their more polished variety content (kbros weekly idol etc) is so awful… do they actually show personalities/do variety stuff elsewhere. u alr know i am NINGSQUARED FAN! and slowly becoming endeared by karina too against my will
hope u finally get nahyuck/model au/other misc wips up and going… u can do it!
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Date: 2021-07-16 05:04 am (UTC)for aespa, i feel like their own youtube stuff, particularly backstage videos like this or this or this all show a fair amount of dynamix and just how they interact in general without specific prompts and stiff old (male) mcs... and idk if i have tunnel vision but TO ME it really sells u on the ningrina esp @ 5:31 in the second video and the entire third video (ningsquared is just rina's big baby T__T its so cute!!). haha yes join me n cha in being karinaist!! would love 2 know what u think of these vids/their dynamix after u watch~
and thank u sm! hoping the best for ur writing ambitions as well!
i cant believe i am commenting on something
Date: 2021-07-16 04:41 am (UTC)i am LOVING revisiting sex education, what a truly fantastic cast, characters, COSTUMING, um i could go on (the lighting in the scene w milf n dilf [yes i could look up the names of the characters but its funnier. do it for the bit]), i am very excited for mocha to see s2 because i remember adoring it as well. super excited to see what you two think of the upcoming plotlines (look how spoiler free i am!!!)
and like you said. how excellent is it that we are watching this alongside gossip girl. because. well. yes everything you said regarding GG's quality is correct. we have discussed this at length but like i said... imo the way they write "gossip girl" back into the plot while keeping it in-universe was a smart idea, HOWEVER it simply does not work as teachers vs students. poor adults vs rich minors does not work as a central plot conflict... they are still children. i do not understand how these scripts got past the preliminary editing and that's ignoring the total failure of every reference and missed joke. the "tee hee, we're making cp" lampshading is also bizarre to me? i was reading some reviews on other sites & i saw that used as a positive point for the self awareness of the show.... uhhhh yeah okay.
THE CASTING. THE CASSTTTINNGGGG. i suppose i will reserve judgement before we have more characterization on the other girls in the main group (audrey is ak's girlfriend, ok, but the other two girls are just the other two girls). oh well wikipedia calls monet the "intimidating and powerful lesbian" so let's see how that goes. i am a fan of dykes........... ok i got sidetracked basically the casting is awful imo! i do not enjoy seeing anyone onscreen act, the age differences are WILD and while i am honestly not someone who gives a fuck about casting adults as teens, whatever, but when the two main characters (sisters with a single year age gap) are played by two actresses who have a 10 year difference??? AND THEY LOOK IT?
not to mention how fucking UGLY the men are omfg. MAIN DUDE'S HAIRLINE? they look so fucking ancient i seriously haaate knowing what's coming.
let's give it 2 more eps. mostly for the disaster throuple. i was hoping for a more fun disaster a la riverdale but alas. it just misses the mark in every conceivable way. thank u for the cameo ;)
I CAN NOT BELIEVE I JUMPED HEADFIRST INTO BECOMING MY. AESPAZEN. A WINNING ENJOYER. but what a truly fun group to watch? i'm so upset about all the uhhhh everything surrounding aespa/the avatar shit bc i'm shocked at how funny they are, i was Not expecting their chemistry and hilarity together but fucking SM ENTERTAINMENTTTTTT WHYD U CURSE ME AS A TEEN...
giselle is so fucking funny i can't believe one day sm was about to debut their blackpink then realized they only had 3 girls and noticed her walking by the window (this is actually her casting story. my uncle works at sm). she is truly just a girl and judging from her media taste she is just a girl who is 100000% on ao3 reading abo fic. teen wolf? girl. GIRL. ningning is the IT GIRL and i hate that term but call me when YOUR 4th gen girl sends a video of her touching cat balls on bubble. UNRIVALLED. dude icb how sweet karina seems to be lmao if all the [static noises] are true? well fuck she better get on that acting career. although i think her face would distract me... also im mouth agape at the winter = haechan comparison i uh, i understand. i see. that is my girl. i would say a billion other words abt them but at this point in my comment maybe i should just make my OWN post huh (i wont hahaha)
(i am sending u a comment though our mindlink about bl you're reading) :smirkes: :addict:
tia tamera being a top track is very hilarious to me.
in MY conclusion... it was lovely as always to hear u type this all night/morning/whatever time is now. i am always sending u positive but also evil energies for nahyuck. u can do it. although i am aware i may be a certain distraction at times.
anyway beloved.... guess what aired tonight. xoxo.... see u in hyperbeam <3
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Date: 2021-07-22 06:48 am (UTC)i love how we were like (well YOU were like) let's give it 2 more episodes and then we watched the second one and promptly decided no we are not doing this any longer... ep2 was simply disaster dumpster fire and besides all the aforementioned plot gripes and casting gripes and etc, it simply demonstrated to me that um neither julien or zoya have the complexity or drive or petty bitchiness that blair or serena had to keep this "rivalry" interesting.... and even the disaster throuple + disaster bisexual was like. every time they came close to delivering something we wanted they would shy away from it or ""subvert"" it which was annoying asf like maybe i do want to see him get into messy entanglements with the elective teacher hello? and not just have it be hinted at? it was sooo frustrating to me lmfao. not that i don't love watching things with u bc i do but ummm i am very glad we are not gossip girling anymore...
YES please make aespa post!! i was contemplating it but like i really need to be working on 93482094 other things instead of random insane unhinged dw posts for my audience of like five people. like that's the comforting part about making dw posts but also like...u know. its fine. anyway im encouraging u to make ur aespa posts and ur top chef posts etc etc bc u know i love enabling. ALSO LOL GISELLE DEBUTING UM WELL NOW WE KNOW THE WHOLE STORY like wild. but also not wild lol wbk. this is nothing revolutionary.
hehe pls update me on how the bl reading is going :smirkes: back at u.
ty for the posi-evil energies ♡
also thank u for getting hyperbeam premium for me (ok ik its not for me but i will pretend it is) HONORED TO BE UR FIRST COMMENT TY FOR COMMENTING <3
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Date: 2021-07-21 04:31 pm (UTC)I love all the dcmk tropes you pointed out lol I feel like conan is def a show where you just completely have to suspend all disbelief ofc bc of the shrinking premise but like how, ,, ,H OW can someone just happen to always be at the scene of a crime right before its committed?? also have you seen the school trip episode? it's a bit late in the series so idk if you saw it before the rewatch but there's a moment where shinichi forgets he's not conan atm and goes for the ahrere and it just fckn kills me. ++ i did not realize until i watched that ep how much i love the shinichi/heiji dynamics i just want to go back and watch my teenage detectives do teenage detective things
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Date: 2021-07-22 04:58 am (UTC)re: dc suspension of disbelief lmao definitely.. but you do get used to it after... countless episodes of the same shit... and yes the school trip ep is sooooo! actually when conan was turned back into shinichi for the first time bc of the paikaru, he went to school with ran the next day and met the detective boys, called out to them like he was still conan and idk why that moment really stuck with me... like once you form habits it's truly so hard to change... also I KNOWWW i savor the episodes where he's shinichi + with heiji SO MUCH.... heiji's lowkey obsessed wtih him it's kind of cute but also a little pathetic but i love it...