Because Empty Fame Is Evil. That's Why.

Fandom 50 S4 Post 32: A couple more videos of BTS at variety shows.

Sat, 26 Sep 2026 16:58:55 GMT

During their time in London, BTS split and filmed two things. RM went to Bella Freud's show while the rest of the Tannies sat down for "an English tea". Behold the wackiness:

Way earlier in the year, IIRC this was late March, RM and Taehyung visited Sanghoon and had a v. mellow convo. This is the ideal video to watch on a lazy afternoon and/or when you want something super calm.

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A whole new batch of books I've read?!

Wed, 23 Sep 2026 19:20:08 GMT

Re-reads. HUH

* Rule of Three by Kelly Jamison (Rule of Three #1, M/M/F Contemporary Romance) - After dating for a year, Chris and Kassidy have moved into a new condo in Chicago. Chris is super excited cuz Dag, his BFF circa their college days, is gonna visit v. soon. After a bad first impression, Dag and Kassidy are confused at how attracted to each other they feel. Even "weirder" is that Chris has no problem with this and even suggests having a threesome...

It's truly LOLARIOUS that later in the day AFTER I posted that I didn't think I'd reread anything else, my library psst psst at me with "hey, we've got this book you might want to borrow? :D?" And I said, "sure, let me go revisit a novel I read a whole decade ago, why not?"

In some ways, I did enjoyed the read: this is a v. emotions-heavy M/M/F with a robust selection of sex scenes. OTOH, this book (first published in 2012) had Kassidy realizing her own "Not Like Other Girls" attitude and working to overcome it. Plus Chris's own internazlied biphobia is not addressed to the extent it should've. Oh, and the other guy's name actually being Dag. Lorde, I'd totally forgotten abt that. Oh, and some of the sex scenes were ridic (would someone who had gotten DP'd really be up for it the V. NEXT MORNING? IHNI.)

Opted to, once again, skip the rest of the series. The second book is an angsfest (over something ridiculous) while the third book deals with issues of fertility and pregnancy (including all of the dangers of it). In any case, I gave this book a 3 out of 5. Again. 😛

I DNF'd

NONE! Though I could've bounced from either of the books I mention in the next section, really. *Pouts*

Had an awesome time at first (but it all went downhill from there).

* It Had to Be Him by Adib Khorram (Love on the Vine #2, M/M Contemporary Romance) - After getting dumped by his boyfriend, Ramin decides to spend two months in Italy. Sometime in the first couple of days, he runs into Noah, the guy he'd had a crush on all the way in high school...

Another well-written and extremely readable (I finished it in a day) book by this author. Lots of gorgeous descriptions of different cities in Italy (and the foood!!!!) The MCs' intimate scenes had an extra yummy layer of (extremely mild) kink (D/s, humiliation/degradation, roleplay) that I gave 👍🏾 to.

OTOH, I did have some issues with this novel

1. There was NO conflict in the ENTIRE story!

For this, I'm gonna give a few vague examples of scenes from the book

* Noah is on vacay, Ramin is working remotely (for a marketing firm.) There's only one (1) v. brief scene of Ramin "spending a few hours on his laptop for work". He never mentions any projects, assignments, deadlines or work communications.

What's more, Ramin is also able to leave on day trips (and random overnight ones too!) w/o worrying abt his job. Which is WEIRD cuz the story happens across 2 weeks and change, but whatevs! It would've worked much better had he been on vacay as well, IJS.

* The MCs plus two other ppl travel to a city that's a few hours away. Everyone's left stranded in that town due to really bad weather. BUT that's no problem! Ramin had already reserved a room in a nearby hotel (he'd planned to stay overnight) and he's able to find an additional room for the other ppl. *Hands*

* A secondary character has a MEDICAL EMERGENCY that results in actual surgery. The character is seen walking around like everything's fine something like THREE WHOLE DAYS LATER. O__o?

And so forth. Basically, any time a reader would think "oh, no, here comes the drama!", the book would sidestep the issue in an odd way. This even happened for the (usually) Inevitable Yet Temporary Break-Up scene!

2. Those damn flashbacks!

Every chapter had 1 or 2 scenes of the characters during their senior year in high school. I wish the author hadn't given into the compare and contrast between the MCs at 18 y.o. and them 20 yrs later.

Those flashbacks were hella disruptive and super unnecessary.

3. MCs moved (emotionally) FAST!

Sure, they'd been casual-ish high school friends, so they sort of "knew" each other. However, the last third of the story reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally pushed things in the believability scale after the book itself points out that the story happens across 14 or so days.

3.5 I also missed the rest of Ramin's friends. Having them Facetime each other every so often wasn't enough for me.

In the end, I was v. :| abt the story, so I gave it a 2 out of 5.

* Tender Roots by Alix Marren (Book 1 of the Uprooted Series, F/F Contemporary Romance) - Following a v. nasty meltdown at work, Adelaide's BFF books her a weeklong stay at Heartwood Retreat so she can recover. While there, Adelaide meets Thea (who works as a landscaper of sorts) and a connection happens. But the clock is ticking and Adelaide will be leaving by week's end . . .

So, this book has good writing and likable characters. It's also a hella quick read (I finished it in an afternoon!)

HoweverI did have three issues with this novel. A major one and two smaller-yet-equally annoying ones.

1. This book has NO ANGST.

Once again, the lack of conflict ended up being a huge disservice to the actual!plot.

The first 60% of the story is abt Adelaide's week at the wellness retreat. Like the rest of the book, the story is told from both Adelaide and Thea's POVs.

So I was ready for things to get a bit bumpy in the last 40%, i.e. when Adelaide returns to her regular life . . . but, once again, the story eased her path. And then we get a HEA. Hooray?

This story NEEDED friction! Because IF there are 0 stakes, THEN there's no emotional payoff. BTW, the overall dullness extended to Thea and Adelaide's sex scenes. They were OK, but again, lacked actual/real passion.

2. The so-called "age gap"

Adelaide brings up how she's 41 while Thea's 36 and OMG, SHE'S NEVER BEEN WITH SOMEONE YOUNGER!. This is something that comes up at least 3 times in the story. A few side characters do tell her to get a grip since FIVE YEARS isn't the vast age gap Adelaide thinks it is.

3. Speeding into falling in LURVE

Though I do appreciate that Thea and Adelaide acknowledge they're moving FAST, they're also super into the idea of sharing a life together, etc. ASAP.

Readers are told that the MCs have a lot of phone calls and deep conversations during the months they're apart AND that they discuss things once they're together for realsies. But none of this is shown on the page. Which clashes with the book pushing the idea of Thea/Adelaide having some grand romance. IJS

I gave this book a 2 out of 5 and that was mostly for the writing.

It was . . . fine?

NONE. This was one batch of novels I had strong opinions abt (positive and negative), I guess.

Good vibes all around

* Not That Complicated by Isabel Murray (Not That #1, M/M Romcon with a dash of a murder mystery) - A year has passed since Ray broke up with his cheating boyfriend. He's lonely, but NOT DESPERATE (he truly is not!) enough to consider having something-something with Adam (the man who Ray's boyfriend had cheated Ray with). But then, someone finds a dead body in Ray's home . . .

Someone had recced the 3rd book in the series, and I figured they would be interconnected via the mystery. So I decided to start with this one. Had a blast from start to finish.

This novel worked on EVERY level: writing, worldbuidling, and plot. I liked all of the characters, the humor (which was juuuuuust at the edge of (bad) secondhand embarrassing at times), the romance (so yummy and banter-heavy!), and the MCs sex scenes (which were HOT AF via mild D/s featuring a younger!Dom even!). Also really appreciated that the blurb made it super clear to not focus on the mystery too much (the blurb was right!)

The mystery is hella creepy and, IMO, quite gruesome. So, yays?

It's so odd cuz I was able to shrug off things that would usually bother me. Frex, Adam being a v. mature 23-y.o. who is super gaga for 32-y.o. Ray. My reaction: "all right!: XD

🎉This book earned a FULL FIVE STARS OUT OF FIVE from me.🎉

* Not That Impossible by Isabel Murray (Not That#2, M/M Rom-Com with a splash of mystery) - Jasper is a personal trainer AND a journalist (well, the latter is kinda up in the air). He's also been deliriously (and obsessively) IN LURVE with Detective Chief Inspector Liam Nash. It's been six years (give or take) and now Jasper discovers that Liam is NOT (as Jasper thought) straight nor is he married anymore. Does Jasper have a chance with the surly man of his dreams OR will he have no other choice but to continue writing RPF AUs abt Liam?

The first 15% of this novel was proving to be a v. interesting reading experience. The writing quality hadn't dipped and I'd already met the MCs, so why wasn't I enjoying the story? I stopped reading and began to compare what I'd read so far in this book vs. my YAYS for the first novel.

Realized two things.

1. The first book is a screwball comedy. Lots of witty banter, plenty of zany goings on, and a protag whose POV can be rather OTT). Meanwhile, this book is a sex comedy. More specifically the Marilyn Monroe kind (Seven Year Itch, How to Marry a Millionaire, etc.) Not in a 1:1 way, but when it came to the mood: protag is tremendously good-looking/desirable, the LI is (v. stubbornly) trying to fight off the attraction; there are v. obvious double entendres in the dialogue that leans toward the sexual; there's also (despite all the lust happening) an undercurrent of sweetness.

2. Jasper is a himbo AND a freak (FTR, I'm saying both in a non-derrogatory way). Interestingly enough, Liam is ALSO a freak. And his story arc is all abt acknowledging who he is (in terms of being a freak, I mean) and fully bonding with Jasper. Which explains why he's so hot-and-cold with Jasper. Liam acts like a dick (in some way he does straddle the line of jackassery, NGL), but this feels like the first time someone has not only seen him for the weirdo he is, but has also loved him because of it. This is a 100% FREAK4FREAK ROMANCE.

I know the blurb makes it looks v. grumpy/sunshine. It kinda is . . . on a superficial level. Cuz, in reality, this is a Like Attracts Like couple. They're both weirdos and hella fascinated, hot for, AND in actual luuuuuuuurve with each other. Their sex scenes were greatness too (mild humiliation kink, D/s, and some body worship), heheh.

So, once those two thoughts popped up in my mind, everything the characters did made complete sense and I was able to thoroughly enjoy this novel. Yes, even Jasper's tremendously bad RPF fanfic.

As for criticisms, I'm on the fence on retreading the events of the 1st novel. Though, since now everything's from Jasper's POV, there are enough changes (such as what a goof Adam is, Liam's ferociousness not being all of his personality, and Adam's extreme guardedness.). Speaking of, if the mystery was a secondary plot in the first book, in Jasper's story the murder mystery was pushed back even further.

Also, even though it's a lengthier novel, I do wish we'd known a bit more abt Liam's romantic history. Why did he get divorced, frex, is something I'm curious abt.

Finally, the humor isn't as front-and-center as it was in Book 1, but I did LOL'd a few times. I ended up giving this book a 4 out of 5.

Current fic tally

Have picked up 151 fics, DNF'd 71. Still reading some longer fics. Have not had any issues. NB: There haven't been any changes since my last book post. I'm still reading them longer fics. *Hands*

Some thoughts

Manged to read the last of the KU list (up to Tender Roots, I bought the two Not That novels). And I feel this was the right time to close the KU window until next summer. There's a certain . . . sameiness in what gets recommended that made me go 🙅🏾‍♀️

On top of that, I truly don't know what's going on, but several of the contemporary romances I read had the characters go from thinking each other is hot to FULL BLOWN 'I LOOOOOOOVE YOU's in 2 weeks or less. Not to mention the lack of DRAMARAMA.

I guess this works for ppl who want ZERO angst, but there was nothing balancing out all the fluff is what I'm trying to say. Not to mention an overall flattening of what could've been really interesting novels. This double trend gets a 👎🏾👎🏾👎🏾 from me!

The WORST part is that there really isn't any way to avoid these kinds of novels (unless it's clearly labeled--which I do appreciate tons!) No one can pick up from a book sample that the story will be all comfort/no hurt. >:(

Last time

Right now, I've got the 2nd M/M book by Khorram, a scary (?) F/F novel, a mature F/F romance, the Singh mystery, and two historical romances. So enough to keep my mood reading on track. :P

Finished the Khorram and "mature" F/F romances (that was Tender Roots). Returned the scary F/F novel cuz the writing was getting on my nerves 3 pages in (LOL) and one of the historical romances (I suddenly wasn't in the mood for it.) Everything else got renewed or not deleted from my reading apps.

Up next

Have already begun the third book in the Not That series. DON'T JUDGE ME! 😅 I had considered waiting to start it (cuz I've legit picked up on some literary leimotifs), but I'm also hella curious abt the pairing. Especially cuz one of the MCs has only showed up 2 scenes so far (one in book 1, the other one in the second novel) while the other MC was introduced in the 2nd book. Most reviews have been hella mixed so I'm going into this book with an open mind. (Part of it is also to see if my "this book is like XYZ rom-com subgenre" theory will hold or not.)

Still have the Singh book, a M/genderqueer historical romance, also an Ilona Andrews, and a comic book. So Juuust abt enough to keep me reading. I'm planning to read some queer horror next month, so there's that.

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Dear Podficcer 2026

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 16:15:13 GMT

AO3: GlitteryV

Tumblr: glitterv4

Hi ya!!!

I’m excited to listen to your voice. Something tells me that your gift will be superfab!

General info

I am only interested in shippy, i.e. romantic, stories.

If you go down the porny route, I’m way more into Porn with Plot and/or Porn with Feelings vs. Porn Without Plot. The idea of seeing how the characters feel about their needs and desires and communicate all of that to their partner(s) is hella fascinating to me. Also, people being goofy and/or laughing while having sex is awesome. I find super SRS BIZNESS sex scenes very meh.

Having said all that, although I do prefer Explicit stories, it’s totally okay if you want to stay at a G or PG level, i.e. fade-to-black intimate scenes or have the characters kiss/makeout only. I enjoy when characters show their affection with physical acts as well as being supportive. That also goes for dynamics between characters who are solely friends. So, hugs, hand holding, and the like are A+ in my book.

Do you want to add music to the podfic(s) or any kind of special audio f/x? Go for it! No worries if you don’t want to either!

Finally, even though I have blanket permission, this is the one time I don’t want to receive a podfic of my fics (even as a treat.) If you have any questions, you can ping the mods to communicate with me. As long as you avoid my DNWs, I am sure that I’ll like whatever you end up creating. :D

Kpop RPF (BTS)

This is my main fandom.

I’m crossing all fingers and toes in the hope you choose fic(s) among the many wonderful ones that exist in this fandom. ;________;

My two biases are Yoongi and Taehyung, so I’ll be more <3___<3 if either or both are a part of the main ship.

Shipwise, I LURVE Taegi (Yoongi/Taehyung), Taegimin (Taehyung/Yoongi/Jimin), and Sugakookie (Yoongi/Jungkook). At the same time, no one does it like Vmin (Taehyung/Jimin), Yoonmin (Yoongi/Jimin) or Namgi (Namjoon/Yoongi). But if you happen to find a NamJin (Namjoon/Seokjin) or a JinKook (Seokjin/Jungkook) fic that you think I’d enjoy listening to, don’t let me stop you from recording it! Same goes for any OT3+ combo up to and including OT7 since, as you can see, I sure love these guys.

That said, I can run v. hot-and-cold when it comes to Hobi-centric stories, so if you’re inspired to record a fic featuring Hobi as part of the ship, I suggest going for rapline OT3 (Yoongi/Hobi/RM) or VHope (Taehyung/Hobi) fics.

BTW, I’m A-OK with post-disbandment fic as long as the story’s ending is a happy one. Same goes for enlistment and post-enlistment fics. I don’t mind them, but happy endings only. Meaning NO conflicts or estrangement between the members by the end of the story.

I’m not at all comfortable with fics in which the guys aren’t native-born Koreans. Same goes for fics set in countries other than Korea (aside from touring).

Clarification:

Premise A: The story’s about BTS touring the UK. Hotel shenanigans happen –- I’m A-OK with this.

Premise B: Jungkook was born in (any USian city). Now that he’s at (USian university), he meets Namjoon, Hoseok, etc. –- This story is NOT for me.

When in doubt, go for stories set in Korea OR, if not possible, then set in a nondescript city or even outer space.

Legally Blonde

Ah, this is a blast from the past. Deffo one of the movies I’ve rewatched a ton of times. I really like how Elle Woods was a kind person throughout the story; that she reveled in her idea of femininity without putting other women down. Also her female friendships!

That said, my ONLY interest shipwise is Elle Woods/Vivian Kensington. It’s a typical Enemies to Friends set up , what’s not to love? As awesome as Emmett is, I like stories in which Elle and Vivian end up together.

As for things to avoid, I’d say Legally Blonde 2 (it’s fine, but the first movie’s my fave) and the musical (which I know is good, but it also goes into other side stories, etc.) Stick to stories for the first movie only, please.

Big Eden

ANOTHER old skool fandom! And a tiny one at that! Here, I love the canon ship (Pike Dexter/Henry Hart). My interest fanworks-wise is with post-canon stories. What happens after the movie is over?

I know that the bulk of the stories in this fandom tend to be chill and introspective (just like the movie), and I’m fine with that.

My one DNW here is any story in which Dean Stewart has an important role. I detest that character!

FAVE TROPES!!!

Families of choice

Porn (especially when the story has lots of sensory details)

Kinkfic (D/s, kink discovery and exploration, edging, orgasm control, and consensual somnophilia are some of my bulletproof faves)

Failboats in love

Most AUs (I’ve pointed out the ones I don’t like in my DNWs)

Gentle!dom

Tentacles

Banter

Soulbonds

Established couple brings in a third

Crackfic

Self-cest

Enemies-to-friends-to-Lovers

Sugar Daddy/Sugar Baby (accidental or not)

Praise kink

Trope inversions (example: two people without soulmarks fall in love in a soulbond AU)

Competence kink

**SQUICKS/DNWs**

Anything Covid-19 and/or Pandemic related (including quarantine and lockdowns)

Noncon

Cheating (Emotional or physical partner betrayal)

Incest (including between cousins, foster, and stepsiblings)

Jealousy

Hanahaki disease

Filk

Excessive crying (some tears are fine, but if the characters keep crying every other paragraph,I do get annoyed.)

Deathfic, i.e. Major Character Death

Character bashing

Heavy angst (A reasonable amount of conflict is welcomed. What I’m referring to here are stories in which the characters suffer for 95% of the time.)

Unhappy endings

Cannibalism

Bullying (especially if it’s presented as a romance trope)

Animal Harm

Open/Ambiguous endings

Poetry

First or Second person POV

Underage

Any fic with the Dead Dove: Do Not Eat tag

Kink NOPES

Bestiality (including in fantasy settings)

Sounding

Cuckolding

Age play (sexual and non)

Vore

Waterports or any other bodily fluid-based kink. (Comeplay is A-OK, anything else is a nope.)

CNC

Enemas

*Please AVOID these AUs*

HYYH-centric (this is a canonical BTS AU)

Apocalypse

Exes get back together

Zombies

Horror

Gaming AUs (especially Overwatch)

D&D and any other kind of tabletop roleplaying game

Sport!fic (but especially hockey)

High school

Coffee shop

De-aging

Characters are any of the following: serial killer, ghost, ghosthunter, a cop, doctor, nurse, rock star and/or part of a rock band.

Characters have a romance, FWB or other kind of relationship with a cop

Sex Pollen

Catholic AUs (including demons, angels, and priests)

Omegaverse (I do love this trope, but I’m also v. particular about it, so I’m erring on the side of caution and including it here.)

Slavefic

Fuck or Die

Harry Potter and/or Hogwarts settings

Reader/character(s)

Teacher/Student

Boss/Employee

Hospitals and mental institutions

Weddings

Christmas (it’s okay-ish if a fic is set in December but please, please no ‘magic of Christmas’/discovery about the 'spirit of Christmas’ and fics of that vein).

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Fandon 50 S4 Post 31: My 2025 Top 10 Songs

Wed, 16 Sep 2026 17:14:16 GMT

Yes, I'm nearly a year later. Life, you know? 🤷🏾‍♀️

Anyhoo, 2025 was an odd year musically speaking. At least in Kpop spaces (since that made the bulk of what I listened to.)

General trigger warning for most of teh MVs: lots of visual effects (including distortion) from beginning to end. I'll throw extra warnings if I feel it necessary.

In ascending order...

10. MEXE by Pablo Vittar (featuring NMIXX)

Unexpected. Which is an adjective that will always apply to anything NMIXX does--including collabos as seen here. I've know Pablo V for years now (thanks to Charli XCX featuring Pablo in a few of her songs), so I was v. curious to see how NMIXX would work. The result was fabulousness, really.

9. YUM by Kep1er

A Japanese single that showed a side of the group and made me feel quite 😍 and 😵 at the same time. LOVED the cinematography, Kep1er's fits and choreo (plus their singing, obvs), and the overall vibesssss. IHNI what's going on, but IDC.

8. I DO ME by KiiiKiii

This is a group of extremes for me: I either really like OR truly hate their releases. No idea why. Anyways, the dreamy harmonies riding the synthpop melodies throughout have made this my fave song by them.

7. GO! by CORTIS

As I've said before, I legit don't like their MVs, but this dang song has the catchiest hook ever!

6. Killin' It Girl (featuring GloRilla) by J-Hope

Kinda low for a BTS-adjascent entry, but there we are, LOL! Anyways, this is, hands down, my ult fave of Hobi's English Trilogy songs. The music + A++++ rapping from both Hobi and Glo, THAT HOT AF MV . . . Everything's perfection, really.

5. Kiss a Kitty by CHUU

Technically speaking, it's a song abt an actual cat and her cuteness. HOWEVAH, I don't know a single person who didn't pick up the sapphicness all over this tune. Love everything abt it.

4. Spaghetti by Le Sserafim (featuring J-Hope)

When the teaser dropped last October, everyone LOST IT. Not only was there new LSF music in the horizon, but HOBI WAS SOMEHOW INVOLVED TOO????

Additional trigger warning for HEAVY FLASHING LIGHTS AND STROBE LIGHT EFFECTS. The camera sweeps and circles around v. fast too

Was it v. intense EDM? The kind that you hear at truly underground raves sometime past 3 a.m.? Was the song "Eat It Up"? How did this come about???

Soon enough, the actual song dropped and it legit made everyone O__o not only at the visuals, but also the music, Hobi's verse, and the vibes from beginning to end. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the (to my knowledge) first wave of LSF songs calling out the haters.

In this case, it's abt how they legit love to eat up (i.e. pay attention to) everything LSF does even if they think it's bad. The deeper you go into the lyrics, the more you discover that makes the song a ton more clever than it may appear to be at first listen. Hobi's part was amazing as expected too. NB: I'll be talking some more abt this song tomorrow. ;)

Additional warning for this MV in that there's a scene that includes ppl's heads exploding (in a sort of comedic way? YMMV), lots of visual effects. The song includes a sound similar to gagging and the choreo includes a movement that mimics that.

3. PHoenix by NMIXX

Love the musical chaos of this song down to its riotous beat.

2. 'bomb' brand film (little monster MV) by ILLIT

Oh, this song! This precious gem of a tune that's all abt acknowledging our fears and anxieties, and then discarding them. The lyrics get to the core of things carried by the members' sweet voices. And then, there's the MV! It reminds me a ton of the Bjork MVs circa her Post era? Or the kind that Michel Gandry directed. YMMV.

AND THEN, there's the whole Magical Girl trope as a kind of identity and a community as well. It's extremely touching, NGL. I always, ALWAYS, tear up by the end.

1. Blue Valentine by NMIXX

This is THAT SONG! The one that takes you on a journey of sweeping emotions via a soft dance beat, excellent singing voices, and enough contrast to keep you feeling O__O from start to finish.

And then, there's the MV: cheeky, sapphic (here and there), and fantastical. Though I don't know their exact lore, I've picked up enough from watching this group's MVs to know there's a story here that connects to the larger NMIXX 'verse.

Deffo (and solely IMO), this was the best of the best of the songs I listened to last year.

Additional Trigger Warnings for the MV: a quick scene of a member opening her mouth and a lot of thick blood (or what looks to be blood) dripping down. Another quick scene of a member having gone thru a car windshield after a crash crash; the member is UNINJURED. She's seen typing on a laptop computer.

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Fandom 50 S4 Post 30: ILLIT attack!

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 16:35:53 GMT

A super adorbs variety show in which Illit's surprised a girls' school. I loved seeing the different fandoms doing presentations, ILLIT's reactions to everything happening onstage, and the happy reveal of them performing.

Please note that there's a LOT and I do mean a LOT of v. happy screaming. I think that the show's PDs tried to balance the noise out a little. BUT I do have to make it clear that, once ILLIT shows up on stage, the audience is HELLA THRILLED from beginning to end. It didn't bother me, but I get why it'd be annoying for others.

English subtitles are available.

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Fandom 50 S4 Post 29: Jungkook and snacks

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 16:54:40 GMT

A few months ago, Jungkook went to Japan as part of his brand deal with Calvin Klein. Vogue Japan took the opportunity to film Jungkook trying out and rating various Japanese snacks.

Which is an ideal type of content for him since he LURVES snacks in general. Off the top of my head, abt the only kind of flavor he is less enthusiastic abt is tart and/or lemon-y one. This has English subtitles.

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Been Hitting The Books . . .

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 17:38:19 GMT

Re-reads. HUH

I'd started to dive back into KJ Charles' A Gentleman's Position cuz something had reminded me of Richard and Foxy Davy. But then I looked at my immediate TBR (totaling 10 books) and returned Richard and Foxy Davy to the library, LOL. Truthfully, I'm not much of a re-reader to begin with, but there we are. 😅

I DNF'd

* An Earl, His Valet & Their Wife by Nicola Davidson (Book 2 of the Regency Menage series, M/M/F historical romance) - After a health scare, Michael's mother asks him to PLEASE get married and produce an heir ASAP. Michael isn't fully convinced, but he does make it clear to his parents that he will have to discuss this with Gerard, his valet, because he respects their relationship.

MEANWHILE, Gerard is thinking abt how much HE misses being intimate with women, but that he wouldn't cheat on Michael, his partner of 5 yrs. He's also, v. coincidentally, wishing they had a baby to raise together. 🙄 SO, once Michael tells Gerard abt his parents' request, Gerard is like LET'S GET YOU MARRIED! And even goes as far as to suggest a woman as a future wife: Lady Katherine.

Unlike the first book in the series, this one was v. heavy in the coincidences. Also Lady Katherine's whole personality seemed to be centered around her love for gothic novels and not much else. Finally, the author decided to write Gerard's dialogue phonetically (he's Scottish). NO, THANK YOU!

* Spellbound by Allie Therin (Book 1 of the Magic in Manhattan series, M/M Historical Urban Fantasy Romance) - Arthur is, despite having no magical powers, focused on getting and securing magical artifacts so that they won't be weaponized by evil folks. He's got a new item, but doesn't know what it's for. Rory is a guy with the power of telemetry, a gift he hides from society save for the woman whose antique shop he works for. Arthur and Rory's pathS cross; they end up teaming up (and starting to fall for each other) in order to prevent an actual weapon from decimating the island of New York . . .

This is a book I'd been wanting to read for at least 5 yrs. Dunno why I waited to do so. On the positive side, the writing and editing are excellent. HOWEVAH, the pacing is agonizingly slow.

FTR, I fully believe that a relationship where there's a pronounced unevenness in a romance novel CAN make for a fascinating dynamic to read. Sadly, the contrast between Arthur being rich, handsome, in his v. late 20s, and wordly while Rory is 19-y.o., poor, and has an innocent/naive personality didn't work for me at all. Mainly cuz Arthur's whole deal (at least for the first 20%--which was where I bounced) was "I know better than Rory, so I will decide for the both of us". This extended to keeping VITAL information that would help them both. I just...NOPE. It was enough for me to stop reading this book and move on. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

* The Labours of Lord Perry Cavendish by Joanna Chambers (Book 4 of the Winterbourne series, M/M Historical Romance) - Wanting some peace in order to sort himself out, Perry accepts Lysander (his BFF)'s open invite to spend a fortnight at Lysander and Adam's huge estate. When he arrives, he meets Jonny, a member of the nobility. Sparkage happens even though both men are v. wary for different reasons . . .

So, both Jonny and Perry get introduced in the second novella of the series. Jonny's intro is a short but pointed scene that shows his sassiness and close bond with both Lysander and Adam.

Meanwhile, Perry is (per Adam and Lysander's POVs in that other novel) a tall and handsome guy who is protective of his younger sister and has a v. serious demeanor . . . except when he's interacting with Lysander. Then, his personality turns warm AF. By the end of the second story, Perry comes out to Lysander and even claims having had a crush on his bestie.

Which meant I was excited abt reading a story in which two folks who are opposites (flamboyant/butch, extroverted/introverted, etc.) get together.

Unlike the image of Perry in the second story, the Perry in THIS book is a guy who spends half of his time on the boxing ring (huh?) and the other half getting drunk AF. It's gotten to the point that, after one too many blackouts, Perry accepts a standing invite to Lysander and Adam's estate.

The Perry 2.0 version in this story felt sudden and disjointed. IIRC, there was no hint of Perry being super into brawling or getting smashed in book 2.

THEN there was the insecurity angle. For Jonny, it was abt how tired he is abt being in relationships with men who either want to keep him a secret or try to push him into getting rid of his femme-y behavior. Meanwhile, Perry's extremely low self-esteem was split between dislike at his physical self (he's brawny) and deep humiliation at his "lack of smarts" (like other readers, I do believe Perry has some kind of undiagnosed learning disability.) I pushed myself almost to the halfway point of the novel before throwing in the towel. *Hands*

* The Girl Who Bit Me by Valerie Hunter (Book 1 of the Girl Who Bit Me series, F/F Vampire Romance) - Aster and Sylvia have been besties for 600 yrs. They've gone thru a lot of ups and many downs across centuries. Unfortch, they're running v. low on capital. So they come up with a plan to con a billionaire. Awesome!

I really wanted to like this. The premise sounded SO fun. Alas!

It needed more developmental editing. There was NO worldbuilding (everything was nondescript to the point of being excessively smoothed out.) Also, the characters behaved AND talked like they were in a generic sitcom. Nothing abt the plot made any sense either.

What really got on my last nerve was how ATROCIOUS the writing was. Think of someone publishing their first draft w/almost NO editing. Like, that's the kind of prose that existed in this book. It wasn't so bad as to make it completely unreadable, but there was a heavy fandom-y voice that grated to no end.

The funny (?) thing is that I couldn't quite figure out WHICH fandom it was from. Later on I did and was like "ah, I see. That's why the author made everyone so quippy for NO FUCKING REASON." >:(

Let me be clear that I was A-OK with this book being a P2P. There have been several P2P books I've read that have been fabulous and some that aren't. Unfortch, this one fell in the second category. There is a sequel (featuring another couple), but I'm steering clear from anything else by this author.

So, rather than push myself into continuing reading this mess, I gave up somewhere in Chapter 5 (out of 36.)

* Rivals In Love: A Queer Victorian Romcom by Will Flynn (M/M Historical Romance) - Nicholas' bestie (Amelia) has a younger sister who is started to get courted by the infamous rake Tristan! Nicholas HATES Tristan, so he tries to figure out a way to break up any and every connection lest Amelia's sister ends up disgraced . . .

Both the writing and the worldbuilding are fine. As a fan of banter, I did enjoyed how much of that was in this story (as a matter of fact, it WAS the banter what kept me reading past the moment I should've dropped this book. 😔)

On the negative side, there were abt 5 different plots going on all at once. Also both MCs annoyed me for different reasons (Nicholas was too naive for his own good while Tristan's prankster persona was OTT.) I DNF'd at the end of Chapter 7 (out of 32, IIRC)

Had an awesome time at first (but it all went downhill from there).

* Getting Away With Murder by Shari LaPena (Crime Thriller) - THIS NEXT THING IS NOT A SPOILER AS IT'S PART OF THE BLURB AND IS SOMETHING THAT OCCURS IN THE PROLOGUE!!!

Ted and Jill's luxe life is on the verge of going over a cliff due to dire financial problems. And then, Ted has the "inspired" idea of inheriting his older brother's fortune. The first thing they gotta do is get rid of him . . .

There's something to say abt wanting comfort via familiarity. Such as in the case of this book. The high readability factor (finished this in a literal afternoon), the 10 POVs, and the promise of a good domestic thriller featuring rich white ppl acting ridic were the reasons why I picked this book up. I've been reading this author's books for years and, despite the WTF-ry of it all, I do get excited abt something new from her.

Let me tell y'all, I was CLOWNED V. HARD from around the 20% mark (of a 320-something page book) onward. 😔

IMO, it was around then that novel started to plateau and continued on that flat line all the way to the end. Things did happened, but the overall storyarc was stuck in the mud. Especially once the repetitiveness went up to 11.

ON TOP OF THAT, a character who was seriously TSTL landed on their feet for reasons that I'm still WTFing abt.

Finally, this author is KNOWN for dropping bonkers-type of reveals and/or OTT twists. There were NONE here. The only 'twist' was something that didn't alter the plot in any way. The ending was the blandest, weakest, driest wrap-up I've seen in a while!

Joke's on me cuz I read this book even though I've given 2 stars to the last three books by this author. Even worse, I finished it when I could've just as easily DNF'd it. Obvs, I kept wishing the story would change course, that the author would throw a wild curveball, etc. only for none of that to happen. Me: 🤡

The one reason why I'm disappointed and not pissed off is that I didn't pay for this book. Yays to libraries for saving one's coins, heheh. Will I pick up her next book? Yeah, but as a kind of 'last chance' type of vibe. If her next book is as much of a 👎🏾 as this one, I might end up moving on from reading her stuff altogether. 😓

I gave this book a 1 out of 5.

It was . . . fine?

Nothing I picked up quite fit this category.

Good vibes all around

* Winging It by Mike Lawson (M/M romance) - Callum is 36 y.o. flight attendant for a grubby airline from Manchester. After getting dumped by his evil (now ex) boyfriend, he decides to fuck around. That is, until he meets Olly, the airline's new engineer. There's attraction and simpatico between them. Will Callum finally get out of his own way?

I LOL'd a ton (as in cackling IRL) during the first half of the book. The humor did pushed into secondhand embarrassment situations, but there wasn't any actual!meanness in the comedy. This book also had excellent worldbuidling. And that's something that can be difficult to do while not bogging down readers with too many details. The world Callum and the rest of the characters move around has a tactile and vivid quality. Finally (for the positives), the writing was good. It had a friendly tone and good pace for the majority of the novel. I hadn't expected to get sucked into the goings on from page one and yet!

Sadly, I did ended up having other issues...

For a book whose full title includes the word "spicy", there was v. little actual!sex included in the book. It is true that Callum has a v. active sex life (he mentions his many hookups, muses abt hook-up culture, and talks abt sex toys). THAT SAID, I did find it odd that a 300+ page book had 2 sex scenes. One of them is a literal paragraph long while the other one is abt a page and half. Hmm

No one would be expecting, IDK, a fuckfest from chapter 1. But, at the same time, adding a "spicy" tag but not really diving into that was A CHOICE.

ANOTHER THING: Olly was smart, flirty, sweet, and was v. attracted to Callum. All great things. But then, when the Inevitable Temporary Third Act Breakup (TM) happened, a lot of what had made Olly a wonderful character got put on pause. Especially his (previously) good communication skills. I also felt that he gave up on the relationship with Callum too fast given everything that had been shown before the ITTA Breakup?

The ending was meh. For me, at least.

A character messed up and was forgiven too fast. To explain,

I gotta go to SPOILERS

Callum's ex-boyfriend is The Worst (TM). Said ex sets Olly up to make it look like he's been unfaithful to Callum. Because of his insecurities, Callum takes the bait and breaks up with Olly in a bombastic way.

Later on, he tries to make up with him but is unsuccessful. After regrouping, he decides to do a Grand Gesture to win Olly back for reals. It goes well and they're a couple again. The thing is that, immediately after reuniting with Olly, Callum tries to apologize TWICE abt having been an ass. And twice Olly shushes him and says "oh, don't worry abt it. Everything is okay. You don't need to apologize." The END.

And, like, that's sweet in theory, but Callum did ZERO GROVELING while Olly basically shrugged everything off and now they got an unearned for HEA.

So I finished the book feeling less enthusiastic abt Olly/Callum. Wished there had been an epilogue--if only to round out the story properly. I gave this book a 3.5 out of 5.

* She Came for the Pack by Darva Green (Urban Fantasy F/F romance) - A decade after she escaped the evil Alpha who wanted to marry her for her magical Omega power, Sheila needs help if she's going to make it to a safe territory.

Quinn, an Alpha who is also Sheila's Fated Mate, helps her. This is DESPITE the fact that 10 yrs ago, Sheila broke their bond for plotty reasons. . .

I picked this book up cuz of the cover. IDEK.

Thankfully, both the writing and the worldbuilding were 👍🏾. I liked the way the author wove the mutual lore of witches and werewolves in a way that made sense. Sheila and Quinn were v. likable together and apart. Their intimate scenes were HELLA HOT too, heheh.

As for the bad, there were enough small things that aren't addressed in this novel that made me go HMMMM. Also, for all of the build-up, the final confrontation with the Big Bad was a total snoozer, IMO.

In the end, though, I gave this one a 3.2 out of 5.

Current fic tally

Have picked up 135, DNF'd 62. Been reading some lengthy fics (80k+). In a way, it's felt like I haven't finishing a ton of stories. OTOH, I've liked most of what I've started, so I'm feeling good abt how my fic reading is going.

Some thoughts

I KNOW it looks like I DNF'd a lot... but, in actuality, there are 10 other books I bounced from within the first 3-8 pages. LOL. All those were novels that ranged from 260 pages to around 400. Since that wasn't even 1% of the overall novels, I've chosen to not count them as DNF's. Like, I read enough to find out that I was not clicking with the story/writing/set-up, but not so much as to be specific in my criticism of those novels.

One thing I gotta point out is that, with the exception of the LaPena book and one of those ghosted book I'll mention in the next section, everything I read was from Kindle Unlimited. (Had an offer of 3 months for $1 and I said "sure, why not?). Therefore, giving up on all of these felt easier/less burdensome than if I'd paid even $1 for each book.IJS

It's been a weird time readingwise. Yes, I've not finished more novels than usual, but I'm not feeling like I'm a slump either. In any case, I'm trying to do some late Summer and early Fall reading before October (where I want to focus on queer horror novels. I'm a scaredy cat, so 🤞🏾 for me!)

Last time

I've got the (now infamous) F/F Second Chance romance, a contemporary M/M romance, an F/F 'dark romance', another danmei, and a regular cishet secretly magical dude with a magic cat (?). So a bit of everything.

Uhhh, okay, let's see . . . I gave up on the F/F Second Chance romance (for a final time) cuz the writing was NOT it. The contemp M/M was Winging It. The F/F 'dark romance' was the vampire besties one (DNF), the danmei I don't recall (maybe New Year, New Hell?), and the regular cishet mgical dude with a magic cat was a dud (think of the most generic Urban Fantasy written by a cisdude. Yeah, exactly.)

Up next

Have a Nalini Singh mystery (giving her a second try cuz the Psy-Changeling series was a No Go for me), a celeb memoir, and around 10 books from KU (mostly M/M & F/F romances and a mystery novel.) My goal is to finish all of these. Wish me luck!

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Been readin'

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 17:53:10 GMT

Re-reads. HUH

* Persuasion by Jane Austen (Classic romance) - It'd been a long while since I'd last read this novel, so I decided to borrow a copy from the library. Unfortch (for me), the only available version was an audibook. Don't get it twisted: I LOVE AUDIOBOOKS! Howevah, the narrator for this version had a way-too-mature voice that was discordant whenever she voiced Anne Elliott.

Overall, it lowered my enjoyment of the story despite already knowing what was gonna happen. So I lowered my 4.6 (from the last time i read it some 6 yrs ago) to a 2.8 *Hands*

I DNF'd

* Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy (Book 1 of the Wildersongs Trilogy, M/M Fantasy romance) - Leovander (who has small magic abilities) gets accidentally soulbonded to his no.1 enemy at magic school: none other than the ultra-talented Sebastian. They gotta figure out how to break the spell and not die, I guess.

Had been hearing abt this novel long enough that I was v. excited when I was finally able to read it.

The writing style was simple. Also v. average (as in not good nor terrible.) I did liked some aspects of the magic system.

Unfortch, I couldn't stand Leovander, much less the idea of having to see things from his perspective for the entirety of the novel. I didn't think he was funny nor had anything personality-wise that made him interesting or likeable. Ditto for Sebastian who was a v. flat character.

I was also v. ??? as to how old the characters were cuz, based on this book tagged as "Adult", I'd guessed the MCs, their friends, and schoolmates were 20-22 and enrolled in magical university. HOWEVER, everyone behaved and talked like teenagers at a magical high school. The YA vibes were strong enough to make me go 🙅🏾‍♀️🙅🏾‍♀️🙅🏾‍♀️

Ended up bouncing around page 97 (out of 416) cuz I love myself too much to keep trying to see if I click with this mess.

NB: I've also read a lot of reviews abt how this is a whitewashed version of MDZS/The Untamed, but I can't confirm that as I haven't read the danmei or watched the drama. But three different ppl in that fandom have said that the similarities are pretty c&p.

* Rebirth of a Movie Star by J112233 (M/M romance) - After a deep betrayal, Bai Lang has a heart attack and dies. He wakes up 10 years in the past and decides to change his fate.

I found myself unable to rate this book not because I DNF'd it, but due to how unreadable the translation turned out to be. :(

FWIW, I'm unsure if there are other translations around nor am I invested enough to go seek them out (if they exist.)

In any case, I felt it'd be unfair to rate something where my problem had nothing to do with the story itself. So, here's a rare NO RATING from me. At the same time, I don't feel like reccing it unless (general) you have no issues with weird-sounding prose. You do you, etc.

Had an awesome time at first (but it all went downhill from there).

* Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood by Maureen Ryan (Nonfiction) - Six years after accusations against POS harvey weinstein began, Ryan dives deep into some of the reasons that abuse is so rampant in Hollywood still.

It's v. clear that this author did a LOT of research. She also interviewed many ppl who are in the TV and movie business: screenwriters, critics, stylists, actors (both famous and lesser famous), well-known executives, producers, and directors.

All of this built up a clearer picture of how deep the abuse in Hollywood goes, who the enablers are, and what can or has been done to address the ongoing abuse (in terms of action and not just pretty speeches.)

The best chapters were the ones that focused on a specific media: Lost, Sleepy Hollow, and Saturday Night Life. An argument could be made for the one abt Lucasfilm and Marvel, but that chapter was among the weakest too. So there's that.

Each of the 15 chapters covered a specific theme or topic. Frex, something like "Hollywood is not a meritocracy (and that's why the majority of the most successful people in the Hollywood ecosystem is nothing but nepo babies.)" At some point in the chapter, the author would detour into essays that went on for 3-4 pages AND THEN, she'd return to the chapter's main theme.

This made for a v. frustrating read and a super disorganized book.

Also, starting chapter 8, there was a certain repetitiveness that helped me realize this book would've been better had the author deleted 100 or so pages before publishing it.

I truly wish this author had gotten a strong editor who could've worked with her in condensing all of the info (names, dates, data, etc) in a more digestible format for the reader. I felt truly overwhelmed while reading the ebook version. I dread to think how excessive it must have felt to have listened to the audiobook! I gave it a 2 out of 5

It was . . . fine?

* The Missing Page by Cat Sebastian (Book 2 of the Page & Sommers duology, Historical Mystery M/M) - James returns to his uncle's house some 20 years after his last visit. At the reading of his uncle's will, it's stipulated that the larger portion of the inheritance will be for the person who solves the decades-long disappearance of James' cousin. Leo shows up after his latest mission to help uncover the truth.

To me, this book leaned heavier into the romance aspect of the series (when compared to the first book.) What made it more interesting was seeing both (but especially Leo) acknowledge their feelings and hopes for a future together.

The unexpected queerness was great too. I'm 🤐 abt this lest I spoil things. The point where the book ends made a lot of sense AND was satisfying as well. The solution to the mystery was pretty cool.

BUT, I also felt that the book took a while to really get going. And I felt like Leo had regressed in terms of characterization (he's gonna quite the spy business! No, he's not!, etc.) I ended up giving this book a 2.7 out of 5.

* Introducing Mr. Winterbourne by Joanna Chambers (Book 1 of the Winterbourne series, M/M Historical romance) - Lysander Winterbourned is tasked with introducing rich mill owner Adam Freeman to society.

Taking in consideration that this less than 100 pages long, I was a lot more forgiving with the fast burn aspect on the romance front.

As expected from this author's previous works, this story had good writing and worldbuilding. The HFN ending did feel brusque, but then, this is a short story. I gave it a 3 out of 5.

* Mr. Winterbourne's Christmas by Joanna Chambers (Book 2 of the Winterbourne series, M/M Historical romance) - A year and a half after the events in the previous short story, Adam and Lysander get an invitation to Lysander's family home for Christmas.

A fairly strong (if fluffier-than-expected) sequel that, despite the idiotic misunderstanding between the MCs, was actually solid enough for me enjoy the overall story. The plot did move fast, but I didn't mind that a lot. BTW, despite the title and the season the story is set in, this has low Christmas vibes. I was A-OK with that, tho. I gave it a 3 out of 5.

Good vibes all around

* Adulthood is a Gift! by Sarah Andersen (Book 5 of Sarah's Scribbles series, graphic novel) - 140 pages of one-panel comics in which Andersen comments on daily life.

One of the strongest books from this artist. I loved every single one of the comics within.

The sections with her essays were pretty interesting to learn abt her creative process, thoughts on how her art has developed/evolved, and her general aim with this book.

Some of the humor falls on the darker side, but there wasn't anything I'd call triggering. I laughed, teared up a few times, and generally had a fantastic time reading this. I gave it a 4 out of 5.

Current fic tally

Have picked up 104, DNF'd 45. I've slowed down a bit--which is normal whenever I've been reading professional fic and regular nonfiction stuff. Overall, I feel things are A-OK...though I do want to dive back into some meaty fic reading, heheh.

Some thoughts

A much better reading batch (despite the lower ratings.) My one frustration had to do with Rebirth of a Movie Star which I had been so eager to devour. Alas, sometimes things simply don't work out.

Last time

I have a nonfiction, an M/M fantasy romance, the F/F Second Chance romance, another M/M mystery fantasy one, and a memoir of a queer actor. So a bit of everything! Me at books: 😍😍😍

The Maureeen Ryan book's the nonfiction (#SadTrombone), I've renewed teh F/F Second Chance (please, cross your fingers that I'll get around reading it before I gotta return it for realsies. ;__;). Dunno which is the M/M mystery fantasy book and I returned the memoir cuz someone else wanted to read it and I didn't want to be a bitch abt keeping it just cuz. Will (hopefully) read it next month? IDEK at this point. #The Perils of Being a Mood Reader. Sigh.

Up next

I've got the (now infamous) F/F Second Chance romance, a contemporary M/M romance, an F/F 'dark romance', another danmei, and a regular cishet secretly magical dude with a magic cat (?). So a bit of everything.

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Fandom 50 S4 Post 28: Concert observations from a casual fan

Tue, 16 Jun 2026 17:29:31 GMT

TBH, I have zero idea how I found this channel, but anyways! 놀꾸야 NOLGGUYA's YouTube channel is abt her attending a ton of different concerts in Korea. It so happens that, among her many other videos (covering everything from TXT to Day6, exo, etc), there were these three which feature BTS (both individually and as a group).

In chrono order for funsies.

Jin's concert September 2025.

I really liked hearing from someone who had gone to Jin's concerts in Seoul thinking that it was gonna be OK . . . only to end up realizing how amazing he is as a performer. Also how unique his concert was. FWIW, I think that a lot of ppl (ARMYs included) had the same kind of awakening to Jin's AWESOMECAKINESS and talents, heheh.

A good review of the BTS comeback performance on March 21st, 2026.

This one was interesting due to how, because she's not an ARMY (though she knows and enjoys BTS music, but, again, in a v. casual way?), she talked abt the negative aspects of BTS' comeback show in Gwanghwamun. The lines, the extreme security measures that ended up inconveniencing way too many ppl including herself and her mother.

THAT SAID, she enjoyed BTS' performance (and really dug the addition of "Arirang" into "Body to Body".)

NB: A lot was discussed abt the way the police and the city of Seoul organized the crowds to the point of driving everyone bonkers. OTOH, however, there were zero reports of ppl being harmed--an important point given the Itaewon crowd crush tragedy a few years ago.

Could things have been a bit looser? Maybe, but there we are.

BTS' first concert in YEARS. Seoul Day 1 of the ARIRANG tour.

Let me point out that, in addition to this being the literal first concert and all the pressures that come with that, the weather did its best to be HORRIBLE. It was chilly (46F / 7.7 Celsius) AND there was non-stop rain. So the stage was potentially slippery. Due to the condensation and other things associated with moderate, (again) non-stop rain, some of the effects (especially the smoke) went sideways. There was a steady fog for the first Act, frex.

ANYWAYS, NOLGGUYA had some opinions (a few criticisms that feel valid (to me) and tons of praise) on the show.

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Fandom 50 Post 27: Taking another dive into Arirang the album

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 16:21:17 GMT

Happy 2026 FESTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

Ahem.

This is yet another excellent video essay from Boracity Magazine. She does a song-by-song comparison between the tunes in Arirang and other points of BTS' discography. It's fascinating to see how the music connects, references, then gets on a new lane.

For ARMYS, this album is v. new (since it touches on a lot from Chapter 2 (solo era) while ALSO doing finger guns at a lot of BTS' AWESOMECAKES discography.

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Fandom 50 S4 Post 26: a local's perspective on BTS

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 16:22:24 GMT

OK, some background first: out of all of the concerts (so far), the Standford dates (which totaled 4 concerts) are somewhat known for being the ones with the most locals/mundanes/general public. A big reason for this is that, since the stadium IS part of Standford University, a lot of students (who are non-fans) got a chance to buy a ticket to the concerts at a steep discount.

FWIW, I'm not upset the way other ARMYs seemed to have been. For one thing, no matter what, BTS will put on a SHOW, their discography is PERFECTION, and ARMYs are (generally speaking) a fairly welcoming fandom. Add to all of that an AWESOMECAKES ALBUM that offers songs across several genres and well, yeah, it'll be a blast no matter what.

This video is from a Korean law student who went to the concert out of curiosity more than anything. He interviews a few ARMYs and then goes to have the time of his life, heheh.

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Fandom 50 S4 Post 25: "Butter" in piano mode!

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 18:06:15 GMT

Erskine Hawkins III, a keyboardist who has toured with a TON of artists, had to come up with a piano tune while listening to "Butter"'s drums and vocals ONLY. This was his first time listening to the song. It's a pretty cool way to see musicians approaching one of BTS' most popular songs. And seeing how someone will build up the song to a fairly accurate approximation of the actual!single.

A+ music nerdery video for sure!

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Fandom 50 S4 Post 24: BTS in a cool 1960s style.

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 18:03:13 GMT

Matt Dusk is a jazz singer and musician who took a shine to "SWIM". Among the many, many covers for Arirang's title track, Matt's definitely stood out. Per what I know, Taetae even reblogged it on Insta. :P

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Fandom 50 S4 Post 23: Epik High and Namgi sit down for a chat

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 17:10:17 GMT

After some 400 yrs of ppl 🙏🏾 and 🤞🏾, RM and Yoongi FINALLY showed up at Epik High's EPIKASE variety show for an HOURLONG episode. It had some cool insights, plenty of laughs, and a moment in time of deep conversations between two groups of LEGENDS.

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Fandom 50 S4 Post 22: A chatty dinner with Taehyung.

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 15:05:41 GMT

More Arirang promo variety shows! This time, it's Taehyung's turn. He appeared in Jung Jaehyung's web show Fairy Jaehyung a year or so later after Hobi's guest appearance.

This is a super mellow episode in which Taehyung's unusually shy (or, better said, shyer than he tends to be around ppl he doesn't know.) Though he does light up whenever Jaehyung's doggy shows up (the show's filmed at Jaehyung's house.)

The conversation is pretty laid back--with some occasional LOLs courtesy of Taehyung's impish personality. English CCs are available.

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Fandom 50 S4 Post 21: Hobi and Kani, or a meeting of two minds!

Sun, 07 Jun 2026 17:23:18 GMT

I first knew of Kani via her guest appearance in an episode of I Live Alone featuring SHINee's Key. They're besties from way, way back and deffo have a good simpatico between them. Kani is also a choreographer (which is how she met Key.)

Anyways, she's also known for having a V. EXTROVERTED personality. Which is showcased in her show where she meets different celebs and idols.

For the last episode, Kani invited Hobi (who, like I've said in previous posts, was doing promo for the new album.)

Now, Kani is a v. energetic person and Hobi's public persona is the same. This was a Like Attracts Like-type of situation since both played off really well of each other. Even the surprise!host ended up being drawn in by their collective charm. Deffo a must-see even if you have no idea who these folks are! English CCs are available.

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Fandom 50 S4 Post 20: Dance teacher!Jimin vs. the Ahjummas

Sun, 07 Jun 2026 17:11:51 GMT

Lee Sooji is a female comedian who has a web show called Hot Issue Ji. Back in late March of this year, Jimin showed up for a 15-min skit that went off the rails and left me with a stomachache from laughing so hard.

There's a little build up before Jimin shows up at this local hair salon (which is hella entertaining). Once he does appear, things get even wackier. Kudos to everyone--especially Jimin for keeping it together for as long as he could. :P

English CCs are available.

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Fandom 50 S4 Post 19: Jin in the snow 🥶

Sun, 07 Jun 2026 17:03:33 GMT

All seven members started to pop up across several variety shows as part of the Arirang promo rollout.

In this instance, Jin hung out with his former boss*, comic author and entertainer Kian84. They chatted a bit and then played a few games while being buried in the snow cuz OFC. Randomness aside, the interactions between Jin and Kian84 remain lulzy AF. . . English CCs are available.

* Jin was one of the two only employees that Kian84 managed for Kian's Bizarre B&B last year. The show's available on Netflix.

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Fandom 50 S4 Post 18: Jungkook and Calvin Klein

Sat, 06 Jun 2026 16:04:14 GMT

I'm old enough to remember ~~two~~ three distinct points of Calvin Klein (as in the brand itself) being uber-popular: in the 80s when they dropped the Obsession perfume and in the early 90s when they had Kate Moss as one of their main models. Oh, and how CK Be was one of THE main perfumes of the 90s with its branding of being an unisex fragrance as a huge selling point.

Aesthetically, it's been a label whose clothing has never been interesting to me. Even back when CK himself was the head designer. It's lots of clean lines and (almost extreme) minimalism that I've never found exciting.

However, something abt all of that simplicity not only appeals to Jungkook, but also works really well with his aesthtic. He does tend to wear 90% black, loose and/or sporty clothing, and lots of jeans.

One of his first campaigns was this 2023 one which remains my fave. He's v. much WHAT IS GENDER (from the vibes to the haircut to that difficult-to-explain quality that's uniquely Jeon Jungkook's.)

Then, last December, there was this new campaign that I also like a ton (and it's the one that inspired me to do this post!). One of the things I dig is how well it represents current, post-military enlistment!Jungkook: he's an adult who loves riding bikes but also the fluidity of dancing. The song choice get an A+ for good nostalgia vibes. Oh, and all the reds and blacks...

And, ofc, one of the most interesssssssssssssting things abt both of these ads is that everyone decided Jungkook's TIDDIES were an important element of the marketing. J'approve! >:)

P.S.: CK dropped a new campaign featuring Jungkook dancing in a record store. Oh, and Rosie Perez is the store owner? Despite finding it cute, I didn't think it fit with the previous two ads, so I didn't include it.

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Fandom 50 S4 Post 17: Hooligan Performance video

Sat, 06 Jun 2026 15:44:10 GMT

One of the FESTA gifts that the Tannies have presented is this video showing the full choreo to "Hooligan". It deffo made me appreciate all of the lines and formations, the way the movements match not only the beats but also the lyrics, and (the most endearing part) how BTS continues to fail at lipsyncing 13 years into their career, heheh..

Trigger warnings: Flashing lights in the background that go on and off throughout the entire 3 minutes. Some zooming in/zooming out camera movements too.

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Fandom 50 S4 Post 16: BTS actually getting good interviews from western media?

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 17:07:41 GMT

Like many ARMYS already know, western media's interviews when it comes to BTS tend to be either insipid or extremely superficial.

So I was shocked when I watched these two sit-down conversations.

FTR, Zane Lowe is someone that rubs me wrong way. Everything abt his persona reads as trying too hard to be a Cool Dude (TM) and his voice sounds v. swarmy to me. So, only the Tannies would get me to watch this 43-min video.

I will admit that he allowed the guys to answer questions and attempted to give everyone at least two questions. Despite the casual vibes, the interview itself turned out a bit more formal than not (in terms of structure), but I did enjoyed the guys' candidness.

This next one was kind of a multimedia thing in that there was this group interview as well as ones with RM, Jin, SUGA, Hobi, Jimin, V, and Jungkook.

Gotta give props to Brian Hiatt, the journalist, for establishing a good rhythm that allowed BTS to be friendly and goofy.

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Fandom 50 S4 Post 15: BTS' work as discussed by Korean producers

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 19:05:35 GMT

Kicking off 2026 FESTA with the first of 13 or so posts abt BTS with this fairly short (12-mins) video from three guys who are involved with the creative side of music.

Kin Jungwoo, dude on the right (with the long hair), is in a rock duo (Toxic). He also works as producer.

37 Hong Jungpyo (the guy in the middle with the blond hair) is a producer.

Jung Hootae, the dude on the left, is part of an indie rock group (Monni) that's been going since 2004 (!) and he also produces.

This is the video where the clip abt BTS setting the pace/signaling potential trends in Kpop for the next 6 months after a major release like Arirang comes from. There's also a discussion as to whether Arirang is a Kpop album or no. I thought it was interesting, IDK.

It's got English CCs.

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Fandom 50 S4 Post 14: Interview with the Vampire-a-go-go! 🧛🏾‍♀️🧛🏾‍♀️🧛🏾‍♀️

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 12:08:21 GMT

[Trying to post this almost 7k-word thing abt IWTV before S3 begins AND right on the cusp of 2026 FESTA kicking off.]

An AMC TV series in which Louis Point Du Lac (played by Jacob Anderson) sits for a new interview with Daniel Malloy (played by Eric Bogosian).

FTR, this happens 50 yrs after their first interview--which Louis considers incomplete and not the true story. Back then, Daniel was doing drugs and Louis hadn't come to terms with certain things abt his past . . .

Before I begin my yappin' let me go ahead and show My fannish Vampire Chronicles/IWTV credentials so y'all know where I'm coming from.

I've read several of Anne Rice's standalone novels: Cry to Heaven, Belinda, Exit to Eden, what was then the Sleeping Beauty trilogy (though there's now a 4th book out), and the first book of The Mummy: or Ramses of the Damned duology.

The only one of her books I've DNF was The Wolf Gift (the first of the werewolf novels.) Last time I read anything by Anne Rice (for the first time) was 2012 (the novel I DNF'd.)

As for the Vampire Chronicles, I read up to The Vampire Armand. So I stopped at the halfway point (finished book 6 out of the 13 written by Rice.) By 1998, I'd fallen out of love with her floral writing style. It'd become pretty clear to me even one book earlier (Memnoch the Devil) that she had an editor in name only. The more I read, the more I noticed how OTT and purple her writing had become. And so I grew distant from the whole saga. Every time she published a new book in the series, I'd consider picking it up, but never got around it then. And now I doubt I'll ever will.

Have read IWTV 4 times through years. It's pretty clear in my memory. I'm abt a week away from borrowing a copy of The Vampire Lestat. This will be my 1st reread of that book since the mid-90s. Although I remember the overall story, I kinda want to refresh my memory a little before S3 kicks off in a week's time. My general feelings abt it have always been v. neutral, IDK.

FWIW, I met Rice at a couple of book signings. She was v. gracious. IDK. In short, was a big fan of her books, kinda fell out at some point, and so now here I am!

OFC, when the Neil Jordan movie came out in 1994, I went to the premiere decked out in my best goth gear. It was a big fucking deal. Owned the soundtrack, owned the movie in VHS and DVD. Have lost count of how many times I've watched it.

When the Queen of the Damned movie premiered, I went to the theater. I have OPINIONS abt it, but I liked it too, hahah. My point is that I'm usually OK-to-enthusiastic abt Vampire Chronicles adaptations. :P

ANYWAYS, at some point during Pandemic Year One, I began hearing abt the TV series. NGL, I had some SRS BIZNESS DOUBTS cuz the CASTING WAS SO IMPORTANT. ESPECIALLY Lestat.

TBH, I've never heard of Sam Reid. I was v. ???? cuz he didn't look like the version of Lestat in my mind.

As for Jacob Anderson getting cast as Louis, I was 100% excited.

The first season premiere and took off in Fandom to the point that I could feel my "hypebacklash button" abt to get activated. So I pulled back and worked hard at ignoring anything abt it. Long story short, it wasn't until earlier this year that I remembered both seasons are available on Hoopla. I figured "eh, let me go watch it" . . .

First impressions abt the show

First of all, Jacob and Sam were FANTASTIC.

I liked Bogosian as Daniel. Especially how determined he was at getting Louis to answer his questions.

One boon from the TV show was that it gave Claudia a richer backstory. Following her along as she aged mentally while locked in the body of a 14-year old girl. Her attempts to work thru all of that plus the trauma that resulted from the uniqueness of her situation. OOF!

She was my fave character HANDS DOWN. Both actresses did a fantastic job in showing Claudia realizing the true consequences of being a vampire. It was heartbreaking and enraging AND SHE STILL WENT TOE TO TOE WITH LESTAT TO THE POINT I GOT GOOSEBUMPS, Y'ALL.

The cinematography was top notch. Set design was impeccable and all of the clothing was amazing too.

One of the things I enjoyed the most was how, despite my familiarity with the story, the changes (including Louis being Black and moving the story forward in time) were brilliant moves. Kicking off the past timeline in 1910 obvs underline the historical aspects BUT, at he same time, it was so far back (compared to 2026) as to feel too ancient.

The vampires WERE vampires and so the violence was pretty in your face. None of the gory scenes (which include disembowelment) made me queasy, but I do have to say it was A LOT.

Comparing both seasons

Here on out, there will be spoilers for the book, the movies, and both seasons of the TV show

S1 had a stronger emotional impact because so much abt it centered on Louis cutting ties with his family; the introduction of Claudia; the underlining of Louis/Lestat being The Worst (™), etc.

S2 opted for a different approach. It focused more on the psychology of certain characters. Louis was the heart of S2 (whereas in S1, it was Claudia's main role). The exploration as to how if a character is a vampire that had survived abuse, how far could they go before they break, and how would they pull themselves from darker moods was all excellently done.

Having said that, I'm not sure which season I liked best. For S1, as toxic and bad news for each other as they are, the romance between Louis and Lestat was chef's kiss (SMH AT MYSELF.) It's rare and beautiful, really. I liked how they show it thru words, actions, and behaviors. Even by the end of S2 where, for however vicious, selfish, and bratty Lestat is, he did care abt Louis. Now, was the love ENOUGH to keep Lestat from being horrid to Louis? NO. The abuse during the 7 or so yrs that Claudia left was grueling to sit thru.

MOVING ON

The ending brought Louis and Lestat together at a detente, meeting each other as best as they could, with Lestat showing some vulnerability (cuz he gotta be manipulative.) In some ways, he was something like a v. beautiful yet dangerous animal. In that he'll allow others to pet him until he got bored and then he'd destroy whoever was trying to love him. That's his nature, I guess.

Do I have any criticisms?

FOR S1

The last episode had so much building up to the climax--with plans on top of plans on top of plans--and, honestly, it dragged. I knew they had to do the set-up for S2, but I didn't end up enjoying the episode like I was meant to. IDK.

The two new vampire characters. Bruce and Antoinette. I was v. ???? abt why he showed up. And, I never warmed up to Antoinette as a fledging. She was such a doormat and her "behold! I'm a vampire who's Lestat's "true" ride or die!" scene in the last ep of S1 was so ridic. She was so unimpressive.

For Season 2

I never really vibed with Madeline. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Speaking of, I hated (HATED) that there was confirmation Claudia had gotten raped many times by Bruce. It did explain a little of where her anger in S2 came from, but I still disliked that, NGL.

Do I recommend it?

FUCK YEAH! The show has completely surpassed the source material. All of the changes have been for the better, the casting is PERFECTION, the level of gore is abt right, I could legit go on, y'all.

S1 gets at 4.8 out of 5 from me.
S2 gets a 4.6 out of 5. I found it less emotionally-engaging for me. Louis trying to deal with his trauma from Lestat without being aware that Armand's manipulating him. Ooof!

I know AMC is promoting this show as a part of "The Immortals Universe" (which is LULZY AF given how the whole franchise thing is v. out of fashion circa at least 7 yrs ago.) And I know they've tried (and failed) to launch a Talamasca series (that's been since cancelled) while still keeping The Mayfair Witches show alive. [For some reason, I never got around reading the books. They never caught my attention. Funnily enough, just as I was considering reading the MW books, I had already fallen out of love with Anne Rice's writing. So I kinda put the idea of reading the novels away.

At this point, there hasn't been anything that has caught my attention, so I'm not watching the show. 🤷🏾‍♀️]

Queerness level:

Pfft! It's thru the roof. 'nough said.

OK, next up, I'm looking at different versions and taking a deeper dive into characters and plot. SPOILERS GALORE!

The one thing I had to keep in time when looking at all three (sometime four) formats was that there was a limited amount of time for the movies. Whereas, as of the time of this post, there are 15 or so hours of the TV show for the same canon. It's a bit unfair, but there's nothing I can do abt that.

BTW, I'm also including 2002's Queen of the Damned since some of the characters in the show and 1994 movie do appear in that film as well.

LOUIS

Book version

Overall, I think he's okay, if somewhat too whiny for the majority of the time. It was interesting to see him waxing poetic abt the philosophy of murder and his own inner turmoil, etc. I remember liking him a ton back when I first read the book, but have cooled off in the years since.

Now, this is a truth that I've had in my heart since I first read the IWTV book: Louis is a loser. He did get a bit better (in the book) when he got turned into a vampire, but his loser tendencies were then amplified by the end of that novel. IMO, he did achieve a certain level of stability in subsequent books, but there we are. It wasn't until my first reread of the novel that I understood why it was Lestat and not him that became the main protag of the series. :P

Movie version

Brad Pitt toned down the wah-wah from book!Louis a little bit. Physically speaking, I do think he resembled the way Louis was described in the book.

Despite my dislike of Brad Pitt's public persona (and turning out to be a generally shitty person), I can't deny the guy did what he had to do with this role. So it worked good enough. Also, he and Tom Cruise had good chemistry.

AFAIK, Louis never showed up in the Queen of the Damned movie. There was a character who I used to think it was Louis cuz of his proximity to Lestat? However, the credits say that character was Armand, so I guess Louis decided to travel to Outer Space or else was in deep sleep underground.

TV version

To no one's surprise, this was the SUPERIOR Louis. Jacob played him as someone who was a relatively good person (he's one of the 'better' characters in terms of morals, maybe?) BUT he's also in denial abt the terrible things he did over the years. I like that he was less conventional moody (or theatrical?) than Brad Pitt's take on the same character.

Even though, realistically, there's only one (1) episode of Louis as a human, so much was shown of him back then that viewers got to see he was pre-meeting Lestat. So, once he's a vampire, it's easy to understand his behavior. AND EVEN THEN, the show still dropped enough surprises to build up layers that showed Louis was just as messy as Lestat but in a different way.

Some of this was cuz he'd been so repressed (as a queer man) for YEARS when he was human. He moved through an in between space: he could and did 'hang out' with rich, white ppl because he made money for them, BUT would never be accepted due to being Creole.

He's also a deeply closeted gay man who paid a sex worker to help him keep a 'manly' reputation (even though all they did is sit down and talk.) Finally, he's someone who loved his family, but also rejected the obligations that come with being the main breadwinner (such as getting married to a woman, getting her pregnant, etc.) So he juggled all of that AND compartmentalizes to the point that, by the time he met Lestat, he was completely lost.

Particularly because right at that moment, he's in mourning someone he cared abt a lot, his mother was blaming him for something that it's not his fault, and he's simply tired of everything. Which was the moment when Lestat showed up dangling a solution to all of that pain. Allegedly.

So I get why he made the choice (despite it being a bad choice overall.)

Another thing is that, even though he got powers once he's a vampire, none of that had healed the hurt of being the target of racism and homophobia. He's got ways to fight back now, so to speak, and was v., v. rich, but he's not an omnipotent being either.

LESTAT

Book version

Everything abt him was from Louis' POV, so it's v. much abt Lestat starting as a dreamy guy who turned out to be a monster. Lestat was clearly positioned in the book as a potential villain/frenemy of Louis. It's pretty understandable why he was so miffed abt his 'mischaracterization' in Book 1 to the point that the following book was all abt HIM and his life story, haha. He's such a DIVA, I swear!

Movie version 1

Tom Cruise's portrayal was greatness. IHNI what was in the air or what kind of notes he studied to embody that character. All I know is that this was one of his BEST roles hands down! He looked great with that blond wig--which supported the HIGH CAMP FACTOR that Cruise brought into his acting. Cuz, at the end of the day, one of the biggest reasons why he's a fave of many has to do with being a character that's v. impulsive and bratty. Cruise got that down pat.

Hell, I was rooting for him FROM THE GET. Which is hilarious cuz I was a Louis girlie back when I first read the book in the early 1990s. But in the MOVIE? I was all for Cruise's Lestat and his ridiculousness. Additionally, Cruise's Lestat was a hedonist and he carried that as a badge of pride, LOL. IDEK, y'all, other than having to make peace with the fact that I'll always have a soft spot for the movie because of Tom Cruise of all people. o___O!

Movie version 2

Stewart Townsend in Queen of the Damned had the arrogance that's part of the character's inner world. Unfortch, he didn't look like Lestat (he wasn't blond for reasons that only the production team could explain. IF it was a case of him looking ridic with blond hair, then they should've cast someone else!)

ANYWAYS, he also took this role way too seriously. His whole presentation of Lestat ended up weaker out of everyone in the cast. And that's despite exuding a somewhat interesting/aloof vibe. Lestat's snobbishness was legendary, but there was more to the character than that. Townsend didn't bring much to the role. He lacked the range AND talent. ಥ_ಥ

TV version

Sam Reid surprised me. Yes, he had the look, vibe, and mannerisms that were necessary to present Lestat to 2026 audiences. In some ways, he was a good in-between the two movie versions AND also having an extra layer from the book canon. He played up the camp with a side serving of arrogance. So he's my fave version of Lestat after Cruise. Occasionally, I like him a bit better than Cruise. It depends on my mood, LOL.

Whereas Cruise's Lestat was shallower (personality wise), there was a lot more substance on Reid's portrayal of Lestat. By logic, he's got 7-8 hours per season to showcase all of the character's inner world, so he could go every which way in his acting without worrying that he'll run out of time. This meant there's a coherence in his performance that made it much more attractive to watch.

Just like with Jacob's version of Louis, I liked how much Sam understood his character and respected that character's journey. Lestat was someone who had BEYOND RIDIC LEVELS OF CHARM and an occasional rococo-style of dialogue that takes skill to perform convincingly enough for the camera. Sam played this character in a way that's ambiguous as to whether he wants to seduce you or kill you, LOOOOOL. He really liked to 'play with his food."

Abt the only thing that did throw me off was the deepness of his voice. At the same time, it wasn't enough for me to put me off the show.

CLAUDIA

Book version

She got turned at 5. Which was something I hadn't picked up the first time I read the novel. But I certainly felt disturbed abt Claudia kinda falling in love with Louis when I picked up the book the 2nd time (FTR, I'm aware of what was the basis for the character.)

Movie Version

Kudos to Kirsten Dunst in the movie cuz she was able to say so much abt Claudia's storyline with the limited amount of time she had. Whereas there's a lot of time in the TV show.

Kirsten's approach was that of a much more blatantly tragic figure. She looked slightly younger than TV show's Claudia (who was more of a pre-teen). Her interactions with Armand were fewer. And yet, she had the talent to reflect Claudia growing up mentally yet staying trapped in a little girl's body..

TV version

S1 was played by Bailey Bass was AMAZING. I liked that the character had been aged up to 14. Bass' level of acting SURPASSED Dunst's in terms of the mental age vs. physical body duality. She did a jaw-droppingly good job at that. And butted heads with and poked at Lestat in truly electrifying scenes. Also her love (which was less parental and more of a sibling bond) with Louis was comforting too.

I liked S2 Claudia out of all 3. It was her fury what got me to root for her (despite knowing what was to come.) The fact that it was so intense she'd pretty much shut down. The show didn't make it easy either. Such as the warped result of her live in Paris.

DANIEL

I'd say that both book and movie versions seemed fairly similar. Or, at the v. least, they felt like that to me to the point of not wanting to make separate sections for them.

TV version

Finished both seasons and I remained still at odds with him. OTOH, I liked that he called out EVERYONE: Louis, Lestat, Claudia, Armand, hell even Santiago for what they did to each other. Rarely got distracted by all of the obfuscating, blatant lies, and distorted memories. Just like with Claudia, the series provided him with the space to show more of his background.

OTOH, I was unable to say that becoming a vampire has changed my opinion abt him.

ARMAND

Book version

Per the description in the novel, he had a youthful face, but was also the oldest vampire. His (emotional) romance with Louis made sense. FWIW, I've always found it interesting that it took forever and a day for Louis to realize how deeply fucked up Armand actually was.

He was one of my fave characters for the first 4 books in the Vampire Chronicles.At least until his own book--which immediately left me doing this at him 🙅🏾‍♀️ (That book is LEGIT BAD!)

Movie version 1

I'll be the first one to say that the filmmakers should've gone with someone else and not Antonio Banderas. FTR, yes, Banderas was game to play up Armand's fluid sexuality AND he was v. beautiful at that time. But he also looked older. Additionally he either pissed someone from the wig department off OR there was v. little left in the budget after Lestat and Claudia's wigs. Cuz he's doing a relatively good job with the role . . . with a fancy Party City wig. 🙃.

Acting-wise, though, Banderas showed the character's world-weariness and desperation quite well. I've watched this movie many times and I'm STILL conflicted abt the way this character was portrayed. Go figure.

Movie version 2

Queen of the Damned's Armand (played by Matthew Newton) was who I'd assume was Louis. My best guess was that the movie combined Armand and Louis into one character. Which confused the fuck out of me. I kept looking at the character thinking "OK, there's Louis. But where's Armand?". Because I remembered him having an important role in the novel.

He had a Robert Plant (during the height of Led Zeppellin) look that made NO SENSE. I didn't get him or liked him. FWIW, he had less than a paragraph's worth of dialogue, but IDEK y'all.

TV version

Assad Zaman's Armand was all abt self-preservation. Maybe because of everything he'd live thru in all of his years (he's one of the oldest vampires around), he was just as selfish as Lestat (though in a subtler way.) Zaman was great at highlighting many facets (both goodish and bad) of an already interesting character. He was a lot more manipulative from the start. Not to mention ridic handsome too (like the rest of the cast.)

MADELINE

In the novel and movie, Claudia's a little girl and there's a whole thing abt how Madeline's gonna be the mother that Claudia needed. IIRC, by the time Claudia met her, Madeline had lost a child.

But, in the show, Claudia (who is stuck in the body of a 14-y.o.) and Madeline's dynamic was blurrier. Louis even asked them if they're companions (the way he had been with Lestat and was currently with Armand). Their reply was a little odd: Claudia mulled her answer while Madeline said yes v. enthusiastically. It's pretty much a given that they were lovers. I was like 😬🤔😶 cuz it was playing too fast and loose with lines.

I do think that the (canonical) maternal version of her wasn't gonna be a good fit for TV!Claudia. Ultimately, TV!Madeline was an enigma for me. I think I preferred the movie version over the book or TV one.

SANTIAGO

Book version

Even though he did become a crucial character to the latter part of the novel, I can't say Santiago registered as someone I've kept track of whenever I've picked up the novel.

Movie version

Stephen Rea did the most with the v. few scenes his character was in. His version was a bit more of buffoon that (eventually) turns v. vicious.

TV show version

Ben Daniels was really great in this role. He was devious and fascinating every time he poked at Louis. Their interaction was so yummy because it was tense 99.9% of the time. He also wasn't subtle abt wanting to take over the coven and was, instead, biding his time. Which added a layer of WTF-ry cuz Armand had kinda accepted it?

RAGLAN JAMES

I was v. ??? abt the TV version. Dunno if it was cuz it's Justin Kirk or the sliminess of this version, but I was quite 🙅🏽‍♀️ abt him. THAT SAID, I did liked the seeds (so early on) for Book 4. IJS. OJO

At the same time, I finished both seasons still at odds with his tiny!storyline. Was he really in Talamasca OR was it just a con job he was pulling on Daniel?

The Two Main Ships (I acknowledge the OT3, but I'm also kinda neutral abt it, so I'm skipping it this one time.)

Louis/Lestat

OK, this is v. uncool, dare I say problematique of me, but I ultimately loved them. They're TERRIBLE for each other, but the kind of chemistry they've got? FETCH ME MY SMELLING SALTS! I WAS SWEATING WHENEVER THEY GOT ALL LUSTY WITH EACH OTHER!!!

Both actors went for the emotional core of every scene and that heightened the INTENSE AF attraction to each other. ON TOP OF THAT, it was super clear that both actors trusted each other. Neither one was uncomfortable with or reluctant abt the romance or intimacy.

If someone asked me, I wouldn't call them a Power Couple cuz they were so gorram messy and toxic! Frex, the high levels of manipulation from Lestat, pockets of resentment from Louis' perspective, their constant push-and-pull until things got extremely violent. They're deffo NOT #CoupleGoals.

Louis/Armand

In the movie, Louis mentioned that he and Armand had traveled for a while, but that eventually he'd realized that Armand didn't have anything else to offer in terms of wisdom.

In the TV show, he and Louis had been together for around 70 yrs. So they've got their domestic vibes down. You could tell they're together, but it was almost like they were playing-acting as a couple. Instead of being an actual couple. I feel that Armand was always aware that he couldn't (much as he wanted to and tried to) sever the BOND between Louis and Lestat.

See also Louis obsession with Lestat to the point that Armand flat out told him how sick he was of hearing that name. And, by that point, it'd been DECADES into their own relationship.

FORMAT

The TV Show reigned ✨supreme✨.

The movie was slightly better than the book. It condensed a lot of the main plot into a 2-hr space while still hitting enough emotional beats.

The book was v. much "of it's time".

Are non-readers missing anything from it if they decide to skip it? I'm gonna say no. In part cuz, compared to the TV show, the book was on a whole 'nother galaxy w/r/t the story arcs. Also, the protags were super chill abt being racist and (in Louis' case) slave owners (😬). All of this was presented as "it was part of the culture/society at the time." 😒😒😒. Also, the writing was V. OTT/flowery.

SETTING

The novel began right as the US became an official republic.

Both movies were set in contemporary times. IWTV had a v. heavy 90s aesthetic. Every time I've watched it, I can't deny a twinge or two of nostalgia. QOTD went into nu-metal vibes that kinda worked? There's a lot of opulence as well. I appreciated it, IDK.

TV show's S1 was set in the Progressive Era (1890s-1920s) which was when so many things like urbanization and certain reforms happened such as when (white) women got the right to vote. Alongside, ofc, as to massive corruption and a lot of the upper classes trying their best to keep the lower classes oppressed, etc.

One thing I didn't catch at first was how quickly WW1 happened in the show (IIRC, it's relegated to one or two eps?) Which was an interesting shorthand for how human events were unimportant to Lestat, Louis, and Claudia.

S2's focus on WW2 and its aftermath was also well done.

PLOT

Book version

Everything was told from Louis' perspective. It dripped with purple prose. There were some parts filled with beautiful writing, high emotions, etc. But Louis did turned out to be something of dud, IMO..

Movie version

It distilled a lot from the canon in a way that made more sense than not. There were whole chunks of mini-storylines (such as the whole deal with Lestat's father) that were swept away. Usually for the better. The movie still managed to tell a good yarn.

TV show

One thing that had me ???? over the past year and a half was seeing ppl pick up the novel after watching the series and criticizing the novel. I came across many reviews where folks mentioned their disappointment at how cheesy the novel was or how certain things (such as Louis owning slaves and running a plantation) had been glossed over thru the years by the Vampire Chronicles and/or Anne Rice fandoms.

They also couldn't believe that so many of the things that made me a fan of the show (such as the topics that the show dives into) didn't exist in the book.

However, after watching the show, those readers' reactions made so much sense! The depth of WTF-ery they must have felt while reading that novel must have been ridic, hahah.

Particularly with how the show wove in themes of race, queerness, politics, community etc. Things that didn't appear in the novel or movie. The fact that Louis was Creole was a big deal. And I loved that there was purpose behind casting a Black British actor for a role. Same as casting Bailey Bass and Delainey Hayes as Claudia. It mattered. Racebending the characters was cool, sure, but it also meant that sooner or later (IF TPTB behind the show really did care abt these changes) would have to address race. And they did in a way that had me SITTING UP EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

It didn't talk down to viewers. Instead, it invited viewers to reflect on how things were back then and how they're now.

Several of the scenes had Louis trying to explain to Lestat that his reactions (both as a human and, later on, as a vampire) had to do with racist bullshittery. And Lestat didn't get that because he's a white guy. I love that the plot didn't pull away from that point of tension.

Now I'm gonna say something that might upset some, but it's gotta be said: it's been chilling and infuriating to see the way a lot of fans (especially white ppl) have reacted to this show. Cuz some have been upset abt Louis, Claudia, and Armand no longer be white (nevermind that, canonically, Armand wasn't white? But I digress.) Also, there's been a really weird (and I do mean really weird and gross) not-quite-hidden racist push even among ppl who claim to ship Louis/Lestat or Louis/Armand. I guess racist ppl gotta shake out their racist ya-yas for everyone to see? 👎🏽👎🏽👎🏽👎🏽🍅🍅🍅🍅

FWIW, the original text still exists. IF ppl want to go and read abt the slaves and the plantation, Louis' white skin, the white genteel ideas of the South (including the idealization of slavery times), it's still there. Same as with the movie and things like the idea that Louis' slaves were respectful and liked him a lot until Lestat showed up.

Whereas in the show, the topics of race, the horrors of slavery, and how both shaped a lot of who Louis was as a human and continued to exist as a vampire were front and center. I truly and deeply appreciated that.

Season 2 Plot Points

* I loved seeing Louis going from someone who was completely at sea, lost, and depressed. His skepticism abt other vampires. Even though he's not for or against the larger conflict in WW 2, it still touched him (and Claudia). Such as the areas they travelled thru had checkpoints and they had to keep coming up with reasons why they're in Europe. There's a point in which Louis was talking on the war to the point that humans' blood tasted wrong, sad, and was full of despair. OTOH, it still fed him and Claudia. OTOH, they were also barely alive themselves because the quality of the blood was so poor. Which, yeah, the bodies, minds, and souls of ppl who live in a constant state of being retraumatized (be it because of war or something else) were gonna be affected. It was a small but great observation. To me, it pointed out the level of detail that the screenwriters went into.

* I liked Louis' journey in S2 as he tried to process two different traumas from two separate times in his life and yet both traumas were interconnected. His determination to keep on surviving once he and Claudia get to Paris. See also him trying to figure out what he really wanted. And this was where Delainey Hayles as Claudia also pushed him in a good way. She asked him something like "who are you now that you're away from Lestat? Who are you if I am (potentially) gone to do my own thing?" I wouldn't quite say he was successful at answering either question, but that made sense to me.

THEN, there's the WHOLE LOTTA MESS of his relationship with Lestat. They were TERRIBLE for each other, but they're also connected, bound in a way that they couldn't even explain. So his psyche was even messing with him with imaginary!Lestat. Such as in ep. 5 when, hundreds of years later, Lestat did reached out to him and, despite being unable to communicate all the way thru, Louis was DESPERATE to hear something from Lestat.

* The Armand that showed up in S2 was HORRIBLE, but in the best way, LOOOOOOOOOOOOL. His backstory included years of abuse and trauma. As one of oldest vampires around, he'd seen so much and didn't even know what to do anymore. His connections to Lestat and Louis are MESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSY to the point I kept going "lorde, here we go with the chaos" every other scene, LOLsob.

I did liked that he never clicked with Claudia.

* The whole thing with Daniel was nasty in the worst way. Starting with how it'd gone back DECADES? I got it cuz Armand was v. sensual and manipulative (derogatory). Assad was amazing in the role, tho. He had off-the-charts chemistry with pretty much everyone.

Just like in S1, I remained frenemies to Daniel. OTOH, he did bring out what needed to be said (such as Lestat having been abusive toward Louis--despite Louis trying the hardest to dismiss that). Also the way Louis, Armand, and Lestat were interconnected in all kinds of ways didn't help Louis any. In certain ways, Daniel did aimed for honesty.

OTOH, I didn't like how much snark he threw whenever the conversation topic was Claudia. I remember this being more obvious in S1, but his reactions abt her were always weird (to me, at least). I'm still not sure if it was a case of him being disturbed abt Claudia's love for violence OR if he was suspicious of Louis' gentler/rose-colored glasses-like recollections of her.

Final Thoughts

I will most deffo continue on w/S3, a.k.a The Vampire Lestat. Although, because of this year's FESTA, I will most likely be abt 3 weeks or so behind everyone else. BTS will always get my attention no matter what.

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New Book Post!

Mon, 18 May 2026 18:06:38 GMT

Re-reads. HUH

* Season's Pass by Joanna Chambers (Historical M/M romance) - This is a short story that happens in between Books 1 and 2 of the Enlightment series. I'd read (and loved!) the first 3 books around 12 yrs ago. But hadn't paid much attention to it afterwards. Only to find out that the author had published additional novels. So I decided to refresh my memory a bit.

This one is a moderately angsty story from Murdo's POV as he considers his feelings for David. It also works as a prologue of sorts for Book 2. I gave it a 3 out of 5

* Unnatural by Joanna Chambers (Historical M/M romance) - OK, funny story abt this one: I borrowed it from my library since I hadn't read it before. Which turned out to be FALSE. According to my Goodreads, I'd already gone thru it a DECADE AGO (no, really, WTF IS TIME?!). And yet, my brain was all NEW PHONE, WHO DIS? when I started reading this book.

ANYWAYS

After the original trilogy (which focused on one couple only), the author began to publish spin-off novels with friends, acquaintances, etc of Murdo and David. THIS novel is abt James and Iain, two guys who have been BFFs since childhood. As they grow up, both men realize they're not (in the modern parlance) straight. What follows is a push-and-pull, slow-paced (but NOT slow burn) romance between the two guys. I liked the (eventual) lovey-dovey stuff fine and the sex scenes were cool as well.

That said, this book is a bit of a tricky read cuz it works 2 timelines (the present being 1824 and the starting point of James and Iain's bond back in 1808) AND 2 POVs. It was a little confusing at first, but I got the hang of it by Chapter 3.

My one (1) annoyance was Iain's indecision abt being in a relationship with James.

What annoyed me the most abt him was a SPOILER:

despite neither character is a virgin, James is the one with the least sexual experience. And, whenever he approached Iain with curiosity abt what sex with men was like OR where he could meet like-minded men, Iain would throw a HISSY FIT FOR THE AGES. Which was already shitty enough.

BUT THEN, HE WAS ALSO A BIG HYPOCRITE since he's scandalized abt James seeking out sexy times with others all the while Iain has been having sex with a lot of men. To the point that he joined an exclusive gentleman's club for men who like having sex with men.

FTR, it's not the fact that Iain had quite the robust sex life. Also there was no cheating happening since he and James didn't become a couple until much later. AND James had been intimate with a few dudes too. But I did find it RIDIC AF that Iain would be such a jackass because, in his mind, James was some kind of pure/virginal being (even though James was, again, NOT a virgin.) IJS.

I also got the sense that the author wasn't sure how to solve that mess and kinda took a shortcut that lessened a lot of the groveling. IDK. In the end, I gave this book a (new) rating of 3 out of 5 (or, 1.5 less that I gave it a decade ago. *Hands*)

I DNF'd

* One Night in Hartswood by Emma Denny (Historical M/M Romance) - Book 1 of The Barden trilogy--with each book focusing on one of the three siblings' romances.

In this novel, Lily has entered into an arranged marriage with a guy she's never met. Her brothers Raff and Ash escort her to the castle where the nuptials will happen . . . only to find out that the groom-to-be has run away. Pissed off abt the snub, Raff decides to go look for the guy and bring him back. Along the way, he meets Penn who, ofc, is the v. same guy Raff is searching for. At some point, love will blossom between the two. [NB: this is NOT a spoiler since it's presented as such in the blurb.]

I was v. OJO abt this premise. Sadly, this book turned out to be a dud. The story is set in 1360's Europe, but the worldbuilding is incredibly weak; there's NO sense of place. This is something I could've ignored had the writing not being so MID. Oh, and the writing is weirdly modern too?

Since both story and protag (Raff) were meh to me, I chose to stop reading 50 pages in rather than push myself in the hopes that something (anything!) would catch (and hold!) my interest for the next 200+ pages.

Ended up returning to the library, then read samples for the next two books. Opted to give the 2nd one (an F/F) a pass cuz I couldn't stand the protag. BUT I got verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry interested in the 3rd novel (an M/M/nonbinary person) to the point that I ended up buying a copy. 🤞🏾 and all.

Had an awesome time at first (but it all went downhill from there).

NONE for this batch! \o/!

It was . . . fine?

* What the Wife Knew by Darby Kane (Domestic Thriller) - 27-y.o. Addison has become a widow less than 6 months into her marriage to Richmond. She's v. upset. Not abt his death, mind you, but abt the fact that she'd been planning to kill him ONLY FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO MURDER HIM INSTEAD! Now she's got to find out who (amongst the many ppl with good motives) 86-ed Richmond and why . . .

Good writing. Also, this is deffo a page-turner of a story. There's a mix of dread and paranoia permeating the entire novel with v. few moments to relax for a bit. One thing I appreciated is that the internal logic held regardless of what was revealed at the end.

Addison was an excellent protagonist (and her backstory was a meaty one.)

OTOH, I didn't enjoy the handful of Richmond POV chapters. Dude was a TERRIBLE PERSON and I hated being in his head. Thankfully, though, the bulk of the story is told from Addison's perspective.

Now, the ending was a good one. OTOH, though, something popped up that legit pissed me off to no end. But, in order to vent abt it for a bit, I gotta talk abt a

HUGE SPOILER

*takes a deep breath* At a point in one of the last three chapters, Addison found out that she'd married her own father. This information was given to her from Lizzy, Addison's mother, herself.

Prior to that reveal, both Addison and Richmond (via their respective POV chapters) made it v. v. clear that there was never any kind of sexual activity between them. Theirs was a marriage of convenience (and blackmail, but there we are). FTR, there were two moments in the novel, back when Addison and Richmond first met where Richmond tried to seduce Addison. She deflected his advances, tho.

So, it was a father-daughter marriage, but (per what I remember) they never even kissed.

When Addison (who was RIGHTFULLY as disgusted as I was abt the whole "oops, you married your father" thing) tried to chew her mother out for allowing this (despite knowing that Addison and Richmond were blood relatives), Lizzy shrugged it off.

NGL, I had to put the book down for a second and try to stop seeing red. It was SUCH AN UNNECESSARY thing to drop into the story! I don't like reading abt incest and ABSOLUTELY DETEST 'surprise!incest' even more. YMMV, you do you, etc.

Even now I'm not sure if the author wanted to remind readers that Lizzy was a Horrible Person AND Shitty Parent or what..

So yeah, I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaated that so much that I had to bring the rating down of what, up then had been a groovy read. Ended up giving this one a 3.5 out of 5.

* Hither, Page by Cat Sebastian (M/M Historical cozy mystery) - Book one of the Page & Sommers duology.

James returns to his job as a doctor at his childhood village after being a medic in the frontlines during WW I. Someone who was generally disliked dies in a mysterious way. James is trying to figure out what happened when Leo, a former ~acquaintance and current spy, shows up to help him. . .

I might be hot-and-cold with this author's bibliography (have enjoyed some of her books, DNF'd others), but one thing I can't deny is that she can most deffo write a good story. In addition, both James and Leo were fully-developed characters, so cheering for their (eventual) HEA (not in this book, btw, but I can see it going there) was easy. T

The mystery had layers, several Red Herrings, and (once the reveal happens) the murderer's motivations made a lot of sense.

OTOH, after one super interesting start, the story sort of meandered for a while. It could be interpreted as the author wanting readers to feel what James (more than Leo) was experiencing back in the small town. But that didn't make it into an entertaining read.

THANKFULLY, things began to kick off for realsies by the halfway point.

The romance took a while to get going too.

OTOH, James and Leo ARE attracted to each other from the second they meet. Tho, the book makes it v. clear why both of them gotta be extra careful abt whatever will eventually happen between them.

OTOH, things on the romance track went so slowly that my patience felt TRULY TESTED. And then, as the ending drew nearer, James/Leo's whole deal sped up. FWIW, this is an extremely low heat romance. I didn't mind that aspect because both characters (though, again, especially James) had extremely valid reasons for not giving into their feelings and attraction. I gave this one a 3.2 out of 5.

Good vibes all around

* The Bequest by Joanna Chambers (Historical M/M romance) - This is another short story from the series. It's set in between Books 4 and 5. Murdo receives some news that shake him up and then som.

IHNI why I hadn't read this before, but it turned out to be a real treat. Loved seeing Murdo and David; they remained as lovely as ever. Their love was v. palpable (and the sex scenes were hot tooo, heheh.)

It was also quite neat to find out additional connections between the two of them and other characters in the series. Another thing I appreciated was an expanded version (told from Murdo's POV) of that Easter Egg scene in Book 4.

Finally, the angsty notes toward the end (which had to do with Murdo's life and NOT his relationship with David) added exactly what was needed to keep the plot from becoming tooth-achingly sweet. I gave this one a 4 out of 5

* Restored by Joanna Chambers (M/M Historical romance) - Book 5 of the Enlightenment series. 23-y.o. Kit has a one-year contract with 29-y.o. Henry, Duke of Avesbury in which Kit will be taken care of in exchange for coin and some property at the end of the deal. things are going fine until, upon receiving some horrible news, Henry leaves London (and Kit) v. suddenly.

18 years later, Kit now owns a club for gentlemen who enjoy the ~company of gentlemen. Henry returns to London only to discover he left Kit pretty much destitute. He's now desperate to meet and talk to Kit, but will Kit give him a second chance???

NGL, I was a bit wary when I started this one due to Book 4 not quite achieving the YAYS I'd felt the first time I'd read it. BUT this was a brand new (to me) novel, so I dove right back into the Enlightenment 'verse.

Joanna Chambers' fantastic writing style kept me GLUED to the story. Everything from the settings to the characters felt real. Also, the pacing was SUPERB! the plot didn't move too fast OR way too slow; things happened at a normal pace--which I loved. The obstacles to the HEA were solved in ways that made sense.

Even though I really liked both MCs, my heart gravitated to Kit a lot more often over Henry. Mostly because it was neat to see him assess situations from a practical point of view AND STILL show vulnerability when the plot required it.

As for Henry, he felt (to me) like a more typical historical romance character? Which I was fine with.

One of the best things abt the story was seeing their interactions and side plotlines with other characters. Again, especially Kit. I was fascinated as I saw him navigate a meeting with a frenemy of sorts AND also his close friendships too. There was only one (1) character I 🙄 at.

ANOTHER THING I liked was that they're both in their 40s. (Kit's 41 while Henry's 47 for the majority of the story). They're not a Power Couple, but they're still Awesome Together. I legit ate up all of their convos (from the snarky/banter-heavy ones to the softer and more intimate ones). They've got HIGH LEVELS of chemistry AND brought out all of the gooey soft, romantic feelings I often look for (but don't always find) in romance novels.

The kink aspects were brought up in super interessssssssssssting (and hot) ways too. >:)

As for the things that didn't work for me...

Caroline (Henry's wife) appears in a single scene in Chapter 2. And yet, her name does pop up several times in the book. OTOH, it was neat to learn that she and Henry had come to an understanding that included her being OK with him seeking pleasure elsewhere. Theirs was a happy marriage for the most part.

HOWEVAH, the one (1) scene in which Caroline appears she gives Henry really bad news.

MEGA SPOILER

After revealing her terminal diagnosis to Henry, she pressures him to leave London for the countryside (and break things off with Kit) THE V. NEXT DAY. After mustering as much compassion for her situation as I could, I sort of get why Caroline felt overwhelmed and (IMO) a bit chaotic abt moving away. Which, realistically, would take a bit, I'd think.

Henry, who was v. devoted to her, gets swept away by Caroline's OTT sense of urgency* and disappears from Kit's life for EIGHTEEN YEARS.

* This might sound cold, but Caroline was quite stable when she's urging Henry to leave and wouldn't pass on for abt another 6 months or so. This leads me to wonder WHY THE HURRY? IDK, it all made me kinda side-eye her perhaps unfairly, but there we are.

Then there was this whole thing in which the book asks its readers to go along with the idea that Henry had ended things v. abruptly with Kit, left for the countryside, traveled to London a few times, but it wasn't until EIGHTEEN YEARS LATER that it occurred to him to go see what had happened with Kit (after crossing paths with a mutual friend of both.)

The one good thing is that Kit did confront Henry abt disappearing for almost 2 decades. Though, ultimately, he did forgive Henry given the huge (and logical) misunderstanding due to a third party who had since died.

But, when I sat down and thought abt this aspect of the story, I was annoyed enough to lower the overall rating a bit. YMMV, etc. I mean, in the end, I still gave this one a 4.7 out of 5, so it's not like I had a bad time.

Current fic tally

Have picked up 82, DNF'd 37. I've read a few more new-to-me authors and, surprisingly, not everything I've read has been BTS fics. BUT there have some hella bad/unreadable fics too.

Some thoughts

I'm happy that, DNF aside, the majority of my reading has turned a corner so to speak. BUT then, BTS' comeback REALLY slowed me down (the guys are everywhere, there's a new album, and now the tour is underway!). Have opted to be a little more disciplined cuz I had to return 7 (it's always the freaking 7, haahah) books to the library that I couldn't renew cuz there were others rarin' to check them out. All in all, I"m hopeful that things will stabilize a bit.

Last time

An F/F Second Chances romance, an M/M mystery, a historical M/F romance, and the first (?) book in a sci-fi series. 🤞🏾🤞🏾🤞🏾

Had to renew that F/F Second Chance romance. The M/M mystery was the Cat Sebastian one. I . . . legit have ZERO IDEA as to what the other two books are. 😅

In any case, I have a nonfiction, an M/M fantasy romance, the F/F Second Chance romance, another M/M mystery fantasy one, and a memoir of a queer actor. So a bit of everything! Me at books: 😍😍😍

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Fandom 50 S4 Post 13: BTS' ARIRANG (a review and slight deconstruction)

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:44:18 GMT

Here are some thoughts on the album as we've entered BTS in Chapter 2 - Group Era*

[*AFAIK, Chapter 2 was initially used for the interesting combo of enlistment + first solo eras. However, as soon as they were all discharged from the military, BTS themselves began using "Chapter 2" when referring to the here and now. I'm not gonna argue with the Tannies. If that's how they see things, then that's how they see things and it's up to everyone else to clarify if the "Chapter 2" era is the solo or the group one. *Hands*]

The only hint abt what ARIRANG was probably gonna sound like was a good 16-second clip in the animated teaser. So, most ppl (myself included), were preparing for some booty-shaking music. Only to then get v. confused after clips for "SWIM" dropped...

As soon as the first notes began playing, I was ON THE FLOOOOOOOR. This is an album that gives listeners 41 minutes of AMAZING music. It's also meant to be listened to from top to bottom if you want to appreciate it to its fullest extent. This is a v. grown up album and I love that for all of us.

One of the coolest things is the bouquet of genres happening:

* Do you want songs that make you feel like you're getting down at the club with hella loud beats? "BODY TO BODY" and "FYA" are deffo the ones for you.

* Do you like rap and/or hip-hop that goes IN? Then go check out "HOOLIGANS", "Aliens", and "2.0"!

* Is meditating your thing? "No. 29" is THAT BITCH that'll give you all the peace and quiet you need.

* Are you a fan of easy listening pop music that you can chill out OR drive to? "SWIM" is there for you.

* Is your playlist filled with songs that are slightly off-center or alternative rock? "Merry Go Round", "NORMAL", and "Like Animals" will fit the bill.

* Maybe you're in the mood for dance music that makes you feel sexy? "One More Night" will make you shimmy every which way.

* Is your thing music that's r&b but make it weird? "they don't know 'bout us" is the one tune you'll want to check out.

* Are you into YEARNING-centric, r&b songs? "Please" is the song for you.

* Do you like 70s rock/anthem rock? "Into the Sun" gets the spotlight easy.

IMO, this is an album for those ppl that like music in general. The breadth of genres the Tannies have tapped into is something I haven't seen in a loooooooooooooooong time.

ANOTHER THING this album has done v. effectively is being played out and abt in the world. Within the first 3 weeks of ARIRANG, I've heard:

1. "SWIM" at my local CVS* and at a supermarket. [* The CVS part I was expecting as, whoever's in charge of making the playlists for CVS, they keep selecting BTS English song circa "Dynamite". To date, I've heard: "Permission to Dance", "Butter", "Seven", "Like Crazy", "Slow Dance", "Don't Say You Love Me", "Running Wild", "Sweet Dreams", "Mona Lisa", and "Killin' It Girl".]

2. A car was blasting "2.0" down the main street by my apartment building. There's a stoplight and that's how I managed to have enough time to realize that some dude was playing BTS at top volume, LOL

3. I took one of my elderly aunts to go grocery shopping at Walmart. There's a tiny store inside that specific Walmart that repairs cellphones and sells accessories as well. As we were leaving, I heard "One More Night" playing.

Please note that I don't live in a city that's particularly K-Pop friendly? Like, we're lucky if we get one K-Pop concert per year. And still random songs from the album are playing here and there.

So now I'm gonna go into the criticisms and well, why some ppl are WRONG.

FTR, folks ARE allowed to dislike this album and/or BTS' music (solo and group). I understand (to a certain extent) that there will be ppl who don't vibe with the music. And I'm OK with that as long as it has to do with musical preferences. There are certain beats and styles that set my teeth on edge too. Saying "I don' like this cuz it's not for me" IS a valid reason.

HAVING SAID THAT, tho, there have been certain "points" that have come up enough times for me to sit there and 🤔

Complaint no.1: BTS is Too Westernized/has been too Westernized circa the English Trilogy

The "funny" thing abt that is the majority of times I've seen it being brought up, it's been by non-Koreans (meaning non-Native OR diaspora Koreans). And I'll give those folks a hard 😒. Cuz "too Westernized" according to WHOM?

Doubly so because BTS has gone out of the way to reinforce the idea that they're proud of being Korean and their culture (see the album title, the vinyl album covers, the connection they've reinforced between the real story of the (real life) 7 Korean men who sailed to the US in 1896 and recorded "Arirang" at Howard University, and other details (up to and including concert sets, VCRs, and their individual fits.)

Complaint no. 2: OMG, there are too many songwriters. With the majority of them being Western songwriters! WHY couldn't the members just write and/or produce everything?

To which I gotta say, if you look at the credits, out of the 15* songs, RM has 14 credits. The only song he doesn't have one is "No. 29" (which has no lyrics.) 5 of the remaining members have at least 2 songwriting credits in the album. The only one w/o any credits is Jin**.

[**NB: per Jin himself, he'd been in the middle of his solo tour while everyone else was writing songs. And it would've been extremely selfish on his part to ask them to wait ~3 months until he was done to then start the songwriting process. He's a bit bummed out he couldn't be a part of that aspect of the album. HOWEVAH, it's v., v. clear that he was hands-on when he joined the Tannies in California AND afterwards.

(*Re the 15th song: there's a hidden track titled "Come Over" that (as of the time of this post) is only available in the Deluxe version of the vinyls. There doesn't seem to be any current plans to release it on streaming platform (though there are some campaigns asking Yoongi and co to please do so.) It's part of the current leg of the tour setlist.]

Now, as for BTS having too many outside songwriters, one only needs to go back to 2016's "Save Me" to see that they were already working with non-Korean songwriters and producers. Also, a lot of the big songs in BTS' repertoire (such as "IDOL", "Euphoria", "Black Swan", "Boy With Luv", and "Mikrokosmos") have multiple Western folks credited too. IJS

Complaint no. 3: It doesn't sound like the "old BTS"

This specific complaint is over something that doesn't exist. Because BTS has never had a specific sound. Pre-2015, their songs were more hip-hop heavy. 2016-2019 had more abt EDM beats. Their 2020 music onward has had a blend of the two and then some.

At the same time, the "old sound" criticism has had a lot of pushback from some fans saying that ARIRANG (especially the first half) reminds them of BTS' 2014 album Dark & Wild.

So, again, this is one of those "ppl complaining cuz they've got nothing else to complain abt" type of things.

Complaint no.4: There's NO message

This is ridiculous. Also an indication of a reading comprehension fail. Head on over to Doolset's amazing translations and then try to say the songs are vapid. PFFFFT!

Complaint no.5: There's TOO MUCH Autotune

?????? Yes, there's Autotune--which is a tool that talented ppl like BTS have used in amazing ways. They're not the only ones as seen in BIBI's "Kazino" or anything by T-Pain. When it comes to BTS, Yoongi does like using AutoTune the most, but it's not a crutch. Rather than it being weird, its addition to the songs enhances the music.

AutoTune has gotten a bad rep because many 'singers' have relied on it as a way to hide their lack of talent. It does serve a purpose, though, whether ppl want to accept that or not

Outside of all of that nonsense, I think many of the ppl who have been v. negative toward this album fall into one of these categories:

A. Those who wanted this to sound exactly like every other Kpop bg album. And I get that cuz we do like familiarity. It's also the reason why some groups are known for having a specific sound. And, again, BTS is not in that category (please note that this isn't me putting down other groups while elevating the Tannies. It's simply an observation.) Even if you were to go from album to album, it's v. hard to pinpoint what makes an album a BTS album since they, again, don't have a signature sound AND they also dabble in a lot of genres.

B. Ppl who expected a return to a heavier EDM sound because that seems to be the "sound du jour" among a lot of Kpop releases. Kinda like how Jersey Club was EVERYWHERE 4 yrs ago.*Hands*

C. Some ppl didn't listen to any of the Chapter 2 (solo era) works. There's a lot of their individual albums being represented here.

Interestingly, a lot of the (initially) lukewarm opinions some had abt ARIRANG changed once they saw the Tannies perform the songs LIVE either on the Netflix comeback special (which is still available to watch) OR any of the concerts livestreams.

This is something that happened to me a few years ago with "Permission to Dance". I don't care much for that song. BUT, when BTS did the PTD Onstage in Los Angeles, Seoul, and Las Vegas, they closed out their concerts with PTD and that's when I got it! The trick to that song was experiencing it live. FWIW, I still pretty much whatevs abt it, but there we are.

So, if you don't like any of the songs, maybe check out the Netflix comeback and your opinion might change. Maybe it won't. IDK, you do you. XD

NGL, even after many listens, I'm still in awe with BTS and what they've done with this album. Realistically, they could've dropped anything and it'd have still been well-loved by ARMYs. Instead, they chose to not do the typical/expected "reunion album". They switched lanes into mostly new soundscapes at the same time they reinforced the idea of the OT7. Which brings me to the FACT that this is group album. There are no subunits or solos anywhere. EVERY. SINGLE. MEMBER. GETS. HIS. MOMENT. IN. EVERY. SINGLE. SONG!

And this goes down to the infamous ~line distribution angle. All 7 members have abt the same amount of time in ARIRANG. And that's a hella impressive thing to do when you've got SEVEN different ppl and 15 songs to do. [NB: Even better is how BTS has incorporated the group idea into their performances. Their current tour has NO solo or unit songs and it all makes me feel v. shiny-eyed. UwU.]

This is an album that invites the listener to ride the groove as it switches from rap to r&b to rock to easy pop. IMO, it's one of the most accessible in the Tannies' album discography. The songs feel v.much of the here and now instead of falling into a nostalgia trap. Give it a spin and you might end up digging it too. :D!

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