Why KPop Demon Hunters pops

Jul. 15th, 2025 12:06 am
ljwrites: A close-up of Jinu in full demon mode from Kpop Demon Hunters (jinu)
[personal profile] ljwrites

KPop Demon Hunters was an experience for sure. It felt slightly weird to watch because it uses distinctly Korean materials but from an outside perspective. The girls' exaggerated comic acting was very Western animation-y, and the traditional Korean medical clinic scene bore no resemblance to real life, obviously.

Even with Korean dubbing it had the distinct feel of a foreign film, because it was! Korean-speaking actors and dubbing artists speak very differently, and the voice acting was obviously dubbing-style because the original was in English.

I also felt like the story had a lot of potential that it didn't quite reach, and foreshadowed things that didn't actually happen. But that's pretty deep in spoiler territory so maybe I'll go there in a different, spoiler-cut post.

Where the movie truly shone was its stylish, energetic representation of K-pop, including in no small part its earworm soundtrack. Fans have been pointing out all kinds of K-pop tropes like the tiny powerhouse rappers Zoey and Baby, the similarity of the two bands to legends like Blackpink and BTS, and the way the male band debuted with a catchy bop ("Soda Pop") before coming back with a darkly cynical, technique-heavy number ("Your Idol").

It wasn't just the stars who got the spotlight; so did the fandom and community, from the fans who filled stadiums for their faves to online challenges and breathless anticipation for new releases. The movie also went into some, though by no means all, of the darkness behind this adoration, and made a good case for the potential destructiveness of such massive franchises and fandoms.

The love of the genre and the fandom, backed up by extraordinary music and production, was what gave the movie its heart and turned what could have been a gimmicky throwaway into a snapshot of an era. The depiction in KPop Demon Hunters of the love and fragility, the beauty and hollowness at the heart of K-pop was arguably more powerful than its scripted story. That's not a knock on the story so much as a statement on the nature of the narrative: K-pop is an age to be experienced in all its glory and corruption, not a tale to be told from a comfortable distance. It is one's own story to live and not someone else's to watch, and that is arguably the true power of KPop Demon Hunters.

It's Alive!

Jul. 13th, 2025 09:48 pm
dhampyresa: (Default)
[personal profile] dhampyresa
Gonna run the Ukraine auction again.

If anyone wants to run a similar event (watermelon_auction?), I'm happy to share whatever I can (my backend post-automating code is already available here, though I haven't used it since).
duskpeterson: The lowercased letters D and P, joined together (Default)
[personal profile] duskpeterson

There is much to look at in the sanctuary, but let us start with the altar. It recreates the altar where drugged captives were once placed before undergoing the Rite of Death, which represented their entry into a Living Death. It was at this stage that new slaves had iron masks locked securely onto their heads, which could not be removed except in the unlikely event that they survived long enough to be freed.

Here on the altar, if you wish, you may place a piece of the jackalfire tree, representing your wish that the evils of the past may be transformed by all of us in the present, bringing about rebirth.

[Translator's note: Yet again, Death Mask is the place to learn more about such matters.]

badass_tiger: Charles Dance as Lord Vetinari (Default)
[personal profile] badass_tiger
Whenever I think about summer, I always think about strawberry picking. I really love strawberry picking (and fruit picking in general), which I used to think was because I love strawberries, but lately I've come to realise that, cliche as it sounds, is actually because I just love being out in the fields with my friends and family. When I was younger, the Muslim community in Ireland used to arrange a fruit picking trip for the whole community every year, so I could rely on being able to go on a trip with my friends outside of school, or to do something with them even if we didn't go to the same school.

The British Muslim community thing is camping, by the way, which is happening as usual this year but I'm not going because ... I don't really fancy camping right now lol.

Anyway, speaking of strawberries, I used to just eat them but these days I make desserts with them, so here's a recipe for a Victoria sponge with homemade jam.



Read more... )

We did it :)

Jul. 9th, 2025 01:20 am
allekha: Garnet lifting Pearl, both smiling (Happy Garnet/Pearl)
[personal profile] allekha
After a morning of wondering if the seller would work things out with the title company in time, a lunch break full of signing lots of documents and asking questions about them (we got a refund on one of the fees, always good to ask), and an afternoon of wondering when our wire transfer would go through, suddenly a bunch of savings blipped away from us, and we were able to go pick up our house keys 😊

We went over tonight to get started on cleaning the place - it's been empty for a while, and it's covered in dirty footprints and spiders - and in the midst of thinking about a bunch of things that we need to fix up and work on, I stepped into the backyard for a break. A foggy moon was rising over the trees, and the yard was covered in fireflies that must be enjoying all the plants that were left wild, blinking so quickly it looked like the bushes were glittering.

It was a very stressful process, and there is a lot going on in general, but I feel really happy right now.

(And bonus, a big paper that we've been working on that represents two years of work got accepted today after our second round of revisions!)

New desk, more tasks

Jul. 9th, 2025 12:27 am
ljwrites: Carefree whistling. (whistle)
[personal profile] ljwrites

A couple of days last week went by in housework to get my new desk set up and change the furniture arrangement. This was after an all-nighter to send in my Soul-Sucking Neverending Work Assignment of Doom From Hell in the morning followed by a nap to sleep it off, so that was certainly a choice I made.

In the afternoon I rose from the dead to clear out the old desk and brought in the assembled pole-mounted desk, wiping down the desks and floor in between. I also moved my secondary Dell monitor from the old desk-mounted monitor arm to the new pole-mounted one (after snapping a pic of the old setup so I can sell the old arm on the flea market app Danggeun), then moved my computer housing to serve as a side desk. More wiping because the inside of that housing had gathered some dust over the years. The monitor was plugged in on its brand-new arm, and I turned it on to check the power supply-

And nothing! The monitor wasn't turning on! I wasn't sure if the monitor itself had somehow met its demise while being moved to its new mount or something was wrong with the power supply. So I dragged our cable hoard out of storage to see if I could find a matching power cord, which there was. Two of them, actually. Changing the power cord got the monitor working again, whew. Maybe I'd kept the monitor power cord too tightly curved on the old mount, or maybe its time had simply come.

Anyway it was a good thing we had the extra cord on hand, but the cables had become a tangled mess in storage and I somehow had the energy to group them into different plastic bags and tag them by categories like "power cords" and "charging cables." It doesn't make an immediate difference right now, but future-me will thank past-me the next time a cable needs to be found.

The old, bigger desk wasn't being dumped; rather, it replaced the side table of the living room couch. The couch-side table had been hanging on in bad shape for years after a younger Tater had jumped up and down on it, tilting sadly and precariously from a missing wheel, so it was a mercy really. (Why are kids?) I dismantled the old couch table and replaced it with the one I'd been using in the office. Also wiped down the living room floor while I was at it. After putting away or tossing a bunch of stuff, the new setup was more or less complete. I even took a night to do a deep-clean of the keycaps and board, a process I live-tooted on fedi.

Before and after pics! )

I'm very satisfied with the new setup, despite all the work it took. The desk layout is more compact than before, the computer housing no longer gets between me and the monitor, and everything I need is within reach when I'm sitting at my desk (or desks, rather). The change was a while in coming and I'm relieved to have it over with.

Some literal ups and downs

Jul. 7th, 2025 07:47 pm
allekha: Two people with long hair kissing with a heart in the corner (Default)
[personal profile] allekha
Skating has been going well, despite ongoing boot issues (and I'm probably not going to get new ones from Graf before they go on summer vacation). I'm finally getting my free leg in front in spins! I conquered the stupid cassette tape crossover mohawk pattern!

Then, last week, I slipped on the stairs and fell the equivalent of three to four steps onto one foot. Be careful about stairs, everyone, that's not the first time in my life I've hurt myself on them.

I tried to look up sprain types out of curiosity and I... am not sure I actually sprained it because the pain was primarily in the front of my shin. Either way, I learned a month ago at my workplace that RICE is not really evidence-based, but we don't have much of an alternative that is. I did ice it at first to help with the pain, and I spent a day hopping around the house; heat seemed to help after the first few days when it started feeling all bruised. It's almost back to normal now, and I'm definitely looking forward to spending time on an ice rink again with the heat we've been having.

Z and I had a relaxing weekend of packing, making a snickdoodle cake, and on the second try (first ended with an anxiety attack) traveled out a bit to a pick your own lavender farm. The lavender plants were up on a beautiful hill overlooking a valley below with a swimming pond looking temptingly close.

lavender laying in basket
We thought we had two bundles, but they only charged us for one. (We also thought we had two varieties, but we were told they were both 'true blue' at different stages.) They smell amazing.

And finally, we are sooooo close to closing on the house. In fact, we were told we were going to close tomorrow! And then today I got a call saying that there were last minute issues that everyone involved was trying to wrap up. So we may or may not close tomorrow. We will learn in the morning. (I also had a stressful time because I don't have a bank branch locally, but my bank's website said you can't wire transfer the amount we needed. Turns out they can if you just call them and carefully spell out every name to the operator. At one point the operator had me on hold, I put their hold music on hold because the lawyer was calling and I wanted to let them know I had figured it out after all, and also a meeting I needed to be in was starting.)

So, may or may not have a house tomorrow, we'll see! Would really like to move in before Battleship starts, especially given that I already took time off for doing so 😅

Sunshine Revival Challenge - Love

Jul. 6th, 2025 12:15 pm
badass_tiger: Charles Dance as Lord Vetinari (Default)
[personal profile] badass_tiger
Fun fact, my real life name means love! That's why this dragon here is my self dragon.



Her name is Ai which means love in Japanese. My name means love in a different language but Ai definitely Aidentify with this name too. Besides, dragons with 2-letter names are coveted on Flight Rising as it's no longer possible to give 2-letter names to dragons (unless it's your progenitor which can't be sold) so she's pretty special.

This dragon's name also means love in Irish which is technically closer to me as I'm Irish (this is not my name either lol)



She is also a special dragon due to her ID being 7 digits long and the fact that she's an Earth element Imperial. When I noticed that we share the same birthday, I had to buy her right away, and named her similarly to my name.

As soon as the genes Love and Affection came out, I knew they had to go on the dragons that represent me so I slapped them on these guys right away. You can't see it that well on Gra since she has a full body skin but it's the symbolism that counts! (tbh you can't see it that well on Ai either but see my previous sentence lol)

Warning for small mention about mental health )

Dear Jesus

Jul. 5th, 2025 07:14 pm
enchantedsnowforest: (Default)
[personal profile] enchantedsnowforest
Dear Jesus,

Please forgive me. Forgive me for bringing debt onto this family. Help me to have an attitude of thankfulness.

In Jesus Name
Amen 
badass_tiger: Charles Dance as Lord Vetinari (Default)
[personal profile] badass_tiger
I'm replaying the game and just got to Kai's level 6 bond event and it just ... gets me every time, man. Not that I fall for his prank again or anything but everything in there is ... oh it just hits. GoA is not lacking in feels when it comes to the storyline, like I really love Kanata's bond event with Sorano, and Murasame's with Appare feels significant as well, but, well, I guess that's the reason that I went with Kai. It's because his bond events just get to me.

Read more... )

Intro Post

Jul. 3rd, 2035 11:02 pm
badass_tiger: Charles Dance as Lord Vetinari (Default)
[personal profile] badass_tiger
First things first, here's a list of some useful resources on my journal that you might be looking for:
- Alphabetical list of Havelock Vetinari/Rufus Drumknott fanfiction
- Music of Princess Tutu (abridged)
- Galehaut and Lancelot 5-minute summary

Anyway this is a lil post about me so you know what you're getting into. Feel free to comment here if you need anything from me!

Name: Rufus
Pronouns: she/her
Age: 30...ish

Links:
- Flight Rising
- [archiveofourown.org profile] youtomyme

About me: Hello, my name is Rufus and I love writing. I tend to dabble in a lot of fandoms as I go through them but some will stick longer than others. I don't always post my fics here so please do follow my ao3 if you enjoy them but I will sometimes post fics here long, long before I post them to ao3, if ever, usually because I don't like them enough to go onto my ao3 until I do. These days, I write original work the most. I love writing slow burn romances. In real life, I am a practicing Muslim and a psychologist specialising in childcare, development, and education.

Important note: I have two major triggers which I ask you to respect when interacting on my journal which are suicide and self harm. Please avoid referencing these topics here. Thank you!
In addition, discussions about personal medical health like lab tests and illnesses make me deeply uncomfortable unless they are with close friends so I generally avoid these as well. This is just to let you know why I may avoid engaging with certain posts.

What you'll find on my journal: Fics, exchange letters, the occasional blog post. I am trying to make those more frequent!

My fandoms )

Favourite characters )

Favourite ships )

Other things I like but am not necessarily fannish about )
badass_tiger: Charles Dance as Lord Vetinari (Default)
[personal profile] badass_tiger
Title: Words hard to say
Fandom: Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma
Pairing: Valiant Herald of Rebellion Kai/Kaguya
Summary: For Kai, worry sets in slowly.
Notes: Contains major spoilers for the post-game

Read more... )
badass_tiger: Charles Dance as Lord Vetinari (Default)
[personal profile] badass_tiger
This was kind of a hard one. I don't seem to think in terms of goals even though I have things like daily to-do lists. Here are a few things I managed to think of:

Goals )

And here's a fic although ao3 is down right now, I somehow managed to post it 20 minutes before maintenance which must be really annoying for people who got it in their notifications but can't read it right now so I'll post it here too (I mean why not)

Title: Words hard to say
Fandom: Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma
Pairing: Valiant Herald of Rebellion Kai/Kaguya
Summary: For Kai, worry sets in slowly.
Notes: Contains major spoilers for the post-game
Links: On AO3 and on my journal

Work stress and furniture

Jul. 2nd, 2025 07:40 pm
ljwrites: animated gif of person repeatedly banging head on keyboard. (headdesk)
[personal profile] ljwrites

My current interminable work assignment is draining the soul out of me. Like I need the work and am grateful to have it, but also just ughhh. I'm just barely keeping myself functioning by mainlining the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack, plus all kinds of music from my collections that I haven't browsed in a while.

Another way I'm relieving stress is by obsessing about furniture of all things, specifically a new desk that'll replace my current one which has been oversized ever since I changed things around to a split-desk layout for more comfortable seating. Changing the furniture is one of those middle-aged female coping mechanisms I didn't understand when I was younger, along with a taste for trashy drama about getting comeuppance in the face of unjust family situations. I'm turning into my mom in my middle age and I guess that's not a bad thing lol.

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