#A Celebration of Storytelling

[knownsome]

I'm sooooo over people in live-play fandoms being 'annoyed' at players making non-optimal decisions like. Jesus Christ.

It's literally a game and no one REAL PERSON is at their best 100% of the time and YOU DON'T KNOW THEIR CHARACTER BETTER THAN THEY DO, YOU ENTITLED PARASOCIAL WEIRDO. Maybe they had a good reason!! Who fucking cares it's adult pretend!!!!

If you were invited to a real tabletop session to watch and you critiqued the players at the table even half as scathingly as these folks online seem to think they're entitled to, the GM (and the players) would not invite you back and you would be lucky if you weren't ejected immediately.

Let's also not forget the vast majority of online critique of live-play tabletop players seems to be directed at people traditionally gatekept from ttrpg spaces IE poc/women/trans&nb folk/openly queer players. I fucking see you, gatekeeping assholes.

Celebrate and uplift people kind enough to share their live-play experiences.

[girl4music]

Happy 29th anniversary to the pilot episode of XENA.

Original air date: September 4th, 1995.

Directed by Doug Lefler. Written by Robert Tapert.

Lead starring Lucy Lawless as Xena.

and Renee O’Connor as Gabrielle.

I will watch and write meta about other TV shows.

I will watch and write meta about other TV ships.

But nothing I watch or write meta about in this world will ever come close to matching my fan passion and loyalty to the TV show ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’ and the TV ship Xena and Gabrielle. They are my one true love.

What ‘Sins Of The Past’ does once you’ve seen the whole TV show and watch the episode back over is it shows you how intertwined these soulmates already are as the event of them meeting saves their lives and once you are aware of the wheres and whys of this - the show itself completely changes into something more valuable than you initially saw and understood. I recommend people go back and watch it and only view it as a love story from the very beginning because the way it hits you when you do is just mind-blowing.

They set up a beautifully complex and layered WLW love story between Xena and Gabrielle without really realizing that that’s what they were doing because it’s such a very natural and authentic queer storytelling of two strangers that find home in the soul of each other.

"There’s not a word yet, for old friends who’ve just met” is a lyric in a song written by Paul Williams and Kenny Ascher from ‘The Muppets Movie’. Writer and co-executive producer, who wrote many of the most formative episodes of ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’, Steven L. Sears affectionately ascribes that lyric to Xena and Gabrielle because he believes it perfectly describes the incredible soulmate connection that the two main characters share right from the very beginning of the TV show. And I would have to say that I agree with him on that because no matter what alternative Universe, Uber timeline, reincarnated lifetime or afterlife it is, they meet each other and they develop an attraction to and affinity for each other that seemingly goes way beyond basic friendship and romance and they have a dynamic that is so strong, so substantial and so damn profound that the studio gave up on censoring them. It’s a dynamite chemistry that can be felt so viscerally that you can watch the episodes countless times over and still pick up on fresh new things about the way these two characters are with one another and how they balance and complement each other so perfectly that they’re basically the human representation of yin and yang. And you can read my Xena and Gabrielle: Character study thesis to learn what I mean by that.

Their relationship is incredibly well-written in that it’s so carefully and conscientiously slow-burned and evolved from friends into lovers that it will make it impossible not to ship them together. Believe me - even if you’ve seen Xena before, you haven’t seen it like this. You haven’t seen it as a WLW love story from the beginning to the end. But once you do, you will be attached to it in ways that will make you just like me.

That is… Lifelong dedicated to and enamoured with it.

This is a TV show that finished airing in the year 2001 but it’s been my everything since I first discovered it at 5 years old just flicking through the UK channels bored out of my mind or so my parents have told me.

I cannot even begin to imagine of who I’d be without this TV show and TV ship in my life and I know no other will ever come close to it or them for me for the rest of my life. So all day today I am spending my time celebrating not just the TV show’s anniversary of its pilot episode but also Xena and Gabrielle’s anniversary of meeting and becoming the greatest love story ever told in TV art/entertainment history. They’re iconic and legendary in the LGBTQ community for a reason. That reason is that they’re the first and, honestly, still the best WLW/queer representation that can ever be witnessed and engaged with on the TV screen. The factors as to why that’s true are many,… but mainly… it’s because they were allowed to exist and evolve together as the only lead main female characters in such a way that no other WLW ship on TV ever would or could do so again. They may have been severely censored as an explicit romantic and fully maintext confirmed and committed couple on screen but the creators never let that prevent them from providing a depiction of an all-encompassing love that was much like a romance and still went beyond a romance. Xena and Gabrielle’s love went way beyond the boundaries of romance. I’m not ever saying it’s not that. I’m just saying that it’s more than that and that’s exactly what makes it even more romantic than anything else ever created at least in the TV format and paradigm it was.

Since then, the landscape has changed so drastically that TV WLW/queer ships are never given what they got. Which was a 6 seasons, 22-24 episodes-long epic journey of them just being each other’s absolute EVERYTHING. You can see, hear and feel every single moment of that in who Xena and Gabrielle are as both individual main characters and as a main character dynamic because they do not ever neglect any real and raw aspect about them. The only thing you do not ever get to see between them - although it is heavily implied often - is sexual intimacy. That really is not a loss because everything else that should or needs to be there is there way more than it is with any other WLW/queer TV ships in any other TV shows because they’re lead main characters. In fact… they’re the only lead main characters that are credited throughout the entire run of ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’ and, honestly, sometimes I do wish TV ships in other TV shows would censor themselves every now and again so that they would be forced to dig deeper into the nuances and details as much as they did with Xena and Gabrielle.

I know many would disagree with me here but I’m adamant that the censorship helped them more than it hindered them because what you got instead with them was such a powerful representation of true love that didn’t have to rely on sex to represent it. I know that they couldn’t be shown to be sexually intimate because it wasn’t allowed to be sexual. Nowadays it can but I find that sex is used too much now when it shouldn’t be because a real life WLW/queer ship is more than sex and that’s why Xena and Gabrielle is still better representation even in this day and age.

It’s a combination of queer censorship, unbelievably strong chemistry between the leads and the creator/cast/crew’s sincere intention with queer storytelling that gave us the truly EPIC WLW love story that we got with XENA and I wouldn’t have it any other way because, for me, that is everything I could ever want.

So if you love this TV show and TV ship, please join me in celebrating the timelessly magical experience it is by writing meta about what these things mean to you.

XENA: “You know, I’m sending you home in the morning.”

GABRIELLE: “I won’t stay home. I don’t belong there, Xena. I’m not the little girl that my parents wanted me to be. You wouldn’t understand.”

XENA: “It’s not easy proving you’re a different person.

*Gabrielle eyes her curiously, Xena throws a bundle of blankets at her, gestures to the other side of the fire*

You can sleep over there.”

XENA: “You know, where I’m headed, they’ll be trouble.”

GABRIELLE: “I know.”

XENA: “Then why would you want to go into that with me?”

GABRIELLE: “That’s what friends do. They stand by each other when there’s trouble.”

XENA: “All right, friend.”

[beckyblah]

the revelation that tom simons had literally no clue what was going on with the dsmp or with his character at any time is absolutely not shocking in any way but it's also so... hmm..

[pyrosomatic-metamorphosis]

for context for how long the ghosties have been waiting for bbh to die, btw- i cannot remmeber when exactly his head wound appeared on his skin, but he first started being injured by the soul vultures in the following WEEK that the eggs first disappeared. we thought he was going to die before we even knew MAX was going to die. this has been such a slowburn storyline thats taken so many hits and bumps and modifications from other storylines or holidays or irl events, but we're at the finish line for this arc. and like. that's fucking incredible. there were so many opportunities for ccbbh to get discouraged, or too tangled up in the strange ways stories crisscross over when there's complications, but he's finally at the climax. he's finally killing his cubito. we're finally going to see what happens when a demon dies. fucking bravo to ccbbh for successfully getting the story to this point i cannot WAIT to see what he'll cook up for the aftermath

[thebramblewood]

Read an exclusive excerpt of "Chapter 5: The Mysterious Cal and Lily" from Tangled Vines: A Complete Investigation of the Vatore Disappearances, the bestselling phenomenon sweeping Sim Nation!

The advent of the Roaring '20s put a new city on the map. Prohibition was in full swing across the nation (though often loosely and selectively enforced), but citizens were more eager than ever to revel in excess. Producers of alcoholic beverages (including the Vatore family itself, having swiftly resumed business operations despite the loss of its future inheritors) transitioned to an outward emphasis on medical spirits while moving recreational production underground. Equally clandestine speakeasys began cropping up by the dozens, but one city's winding sidewalks, grimy storefronts, and labyrinthine system of underground tunnels made it particularly well-suited to hosting these secret locales. Soon enough, San Myshuno was the pinnacle of glitz, glamor, and elegant debauchery. All who attended a party wanted to be seen. Curiously, though, two of the names most often uncovered in tabloid archives, Cal and Lily, seemed to fully avoid the increasingly ubiquitous flash of the camera. While other frequenters of the speakeasy circuit often found their grainy black and white faces in print, providing endless fodder for the burgeoning gossip rag industry, this pair remained elusive, which of course sold even more papers. Fellow partygoers pitched first-hand accounts to the highest bidders, and readers clung onto every salacious word. Lily and Cal were always observed to arrive together, but she would soon make a beeline for the gramophone while he settled in at the bar. Nearly every report calls Lily an exquisite beauty with an almost supernatural ability for drawing men into her orbit. In some instances, partygoers describe a herd of suitors nearly erupting into fisticuffs as they competed for her attention. It is impossible to say how many of these accounts are exaggerated or even fabricated. Nevertheless, it is clear she was quite the force. At the end of the night, she would leave with her chosen companion, stupefied by his stroke of good luck, on her arm. Meanwhile, Cal would watch listlessly from a distance, nursing a glass of whiskey he was never observed to actually drink. The relationship between the two was unclear, as was his reason for accompanying her, as he seemed to have little interest in the raucousness surrounding him. He rarely engaged with other guests or even Lily herself, though there is at least one report of an argument in which he seemed with little success to be dissuading her from leaving with yet another man. One cannot help but draw parallels to a certain set of siblings with suspiciously similar names. Despite being younger, Caleb Vatore was always said to be protective over his sister Lilith's interests, even if she rarely heeded his advice. Digging into the newspaper archives at Myshuno Meadows Library unearths several more disturbing accounts. Increasingly, there were whispers that the men Lily seduced completely vanished from San Myshuno society after coming into contact with her. While there was a small spike in unsolved murder cases at the time, a concrete connection between the victims and the mysterious Lily cannot be made. In one story, which admittedly reads like a hallucinatory drug trip, Lily is described as a succubus with glowing red eyes and sharp blood-stained teeth. This account was clearly dismissed, for its revelations were never entertained further. All at once, the champagne and glitter dissolved into a more sober era, and these socialites vanished from public life just as swiftly. In isolation, similarities between Cal and Lily and the disappeared Vatore siblings may seem like mere coincidences. In truth, it cannot even be proven that they existed. No official records matching either individual have been discovered. One could argue that they were works of fiction concocted to boost sales or composites drawn from several individuals. However, considered alongside the evidence to be presented in later chapters, the theory that this duo and the Vatores are one and the same becomes too tantalizingly probable to dismiss.

[holocene-sims]

next // previous

may 10, 2013 6:00 p.m. the entrance to hell

is binn béal ina thost

sweet is the silent mouth

[x-heesy]

𝙿𝚎𝚗é𝚕𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝙲𝚛𝚞𝚣 𝚙𝚑𝚘𝚝𝚘𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚙𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚉𝚘𝚎𝚢 𝙶𝚛𝚘𝚜𝚜𝚖𝚊𝚗 2024

𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚁𝚞𝚕𝚎𝚜 - 𝙾𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝙼𝚒𝚡 𝚋𝚢 𝙴𝚍𝚞 𝙸𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚘𝚗, 𝚂𝚞𝚝𝚓𝚊 𝙶𝚞𝚝𝚒𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚣

[ineffablymischievousscamp]

Michael Sheen - Master Storyteller

In today's digital world, celebrity interviews are in abundance - especially when you consider newer mediums like podcasts that have skyrocketed in popularity over the past decade. You can find panels from conventions, access talk shows from other countries, read magazine articles from across the pond. There are so many one-dimensional, disconnected, or just plain boring celebrity guests in this oversaturated market. Michael Sheen is NEVER one of those guests.

Storytelling is an underappreciated skill. In this realm, it becomes obvious that Michael has harnessed this skill exceptionally well. As a master storyteller and world-builder, he captivates with the effortless ease of a raconteur, transforming an ordinary interview question into immersive journeys that leave you utterly enraptured.

You can't help but be drawn in by his passion. It's not just in the words he chooses or the exact experience he is relaying, but the ebb and flow of his narrative voice - a voice that exudes warmth and conviction, vulnerability and authenticity, humor and hope.

Like an artist crafting an epic, he makes it so that you feel like an active participant in the tale - present in the narrative being woven - instead of just a listener. Each story feels like a memory being created in the moment with you, rather than just a mere recounting of events.

I absolutely love when he takes a seemingly simplistic interview question that one would assume would result in a stale, depthless answer, and somehow delivers a story so engaging that you are now on an unexpected adventure alongside him. It doesn't matter the topic - he is just that magical and skilled. Michael must be a dream for interviewers. In a lot of ways, the man practically interviews himself. His tangents are so entertaining, refreshing, and enriching - delivering delicious opportunities to dive deeper into his narratives should the interviewer find themselves brave enough.

Outside of his masterful storytelling, Michael truly just seems like a wonderful human to have a conversation with. He is insanely charming, marvelously chaotic, unabashedly honest, perpetually curious, intensely thought-provoking, and deeply caring.

Do yourself a favor and listen to some Michael Sheen content this week. You might laugh until you hurt. You might sob uncontrollably. You might find yourself impassioned over a new topic. You might leave with a fresh perspective. You might find your faith in humanity restored. You will not regret it.

In closing, we all know that age-old ice breaker question - If you could have a dinner party with any 5 famous people (dead or alive), who would they be and why? Well if it isn't obvious yet, one of my answers would unequivocally be Michael Sheen. He'd be riveting in his own right, but can you imagine the stories he'd draw out of the other guests too?

Bonus Content:

For all of those that made it to the end of my TedTalk... enjoy this instant serotonin boost brought to you by Sheenie's Smile!

And yes, at my dinner party I'd 100% tell him "You've had such a profound effect on my life!"

[bardic-tales]

Good morning! I hope that you have a wonderful Saturday. As I mentioned in my taglist post, the Creators’ Club is to foster a community between like-minded individuals.

I want to thank everyone for making this a really fun first week for this.

Every day, there will be a theme: such as Blorbo Blursday where it is encouraged you go into each other’s ask boxes or even a post on your blog asking about each others’ weekly project or muse.

This project is not to promote your work – even though that will happen organically – but to support the other Tumblr members. It’s to foster a community. You don’t need to participate every day, as I know how it’s important to focus on your health, but please try to interact with each other.

Also, please remember to be kind to everyone and their characters / WIPs. No drama in the creative pool.

Much like most of the week, Friday's themes are on rotation too. We have three events that we have for our members: Sitdown Saturday (share fan factoids about your characters and wips), Spotlight Saturday (where you share your work), and Storyteller Saturday (get to know each other as a authors / creators).

These week, we will be getting to know each other more. After all, the aim of the Creators' Club is to support each other as a community and make friends / connections. 🙂

How to participate: Send an ask to a fellow writer starting with "Happy STS" and ask about aspects of their storytelling.

Please remember to tag @bardic-tales, so I can add your answers to this post, as well as reblog them.

Our members' answers.

@themaradwrites: distinct voices & personalities

@nightingaleflowlibrary: characters and growth

@bardic-tales: why I write fan fiction

@bardic-tales: story behind FWC

@aalinaaaaaa: favorite themes

@megandaisy9: canon or canon divergent

@sliceoflifeshepard: themes

@watermeezer: tropes

@asirensrage: fave fic

@serenofroses: fave trope

@pinkevilwriter: character flaws

@pinkevilwriter: favorite season

The following are the current members of our club:

@watermeezer @nightingaleflowlibrary @megandaisy9 @sliceoflifeshepard @themaradwrites

@serenofroses @kricketbee @pinkevilwriter @asirensrage @aalinaaaaaa

To sign up for the Creators’ Club, please see this post on @bardic-tales’ blog about it:

Creators’ Club Tag List

Thank you for your interest, and we look forward in getting to know you and your works.

[mollysunder]

The Inx: Jinx's Great and Terrible Devotees in Spite of Conv/rgence

The most annoying thing about Conv/rgence as a game is that it introduces great concepts, like the Inx, but just fumbles the execution of them and the overall story.

In Conv/rgence the Inx are a new chempunk gang of Zaunite teens and young adults that idolize and borderline worship Jinx to the point where they're said to spread chaos in her name. But the Zaun that Conv/rgence establishes tells a different story about the Inx from the intended description.

The first time the Inx appear is in the Conv/rgence comic, where the lead members like Chadd play at the Triumph Festival. It's supposed to be a Zaunite festival to celebrate Jayce's defeating Viktor, the Machine Herald. If the Inx follow Jinx's lifestyle why would they even play at such an event to celebrate a Piltovan, and why would Zaunites think the Inx wouldn't make trouble over it? I could go on about how weird it is for Zaun to host a festival to celebrate Jayce, a Piltovan champion for a fight unrelated to them and their wellbeing, but that would take too long.

For people who admire Jinx's boldness, the best they can do in the comics is pretty harmless vandalism where they just graffiti Jinx's monkey tag over some walls. The Inx are also nowhere to be seen in major events like the Scraptown Run, which apparently all Zaun gangs participate in.

Then there's members like Moshpit Meg. Meg's a diehard Jinx fan that loves Jinx's attitude and dedication to explosions. Before that Meg was admired Vi, the enforcer, because Vi's gauntlets reminded Meg of her own naturally big fists and it made her feel less self conscious about her own hands. That second half begs too many questions I don't have time for.

Outside of aesthetic choices there isn't really anything about the Inx that says they're people who stake their identity around Jinx. This is largely because Conv/rgence's universe works hard to sanitize Zaunite grievances against Piltover which directly undermines the central class conflict between Zaun and Piltover. It also largely impacts the motivations and general existence of characters like Jinx and the people who follow her, like the Inx, because they wouldn't exist in the absence of Piltover's oppression.

To avoid addressing any real conflict between the two cities the Inx are only vaguely make sense in the story, especially the game. All except for one element, Chadd. I need to say this...

Chadd is Accidentally (on Purpose?) Great

The brief moments the audience gets to know Chadd's character gives us an interesting glimpse at the people Jinx inspires.

The first thing we know about Chadd is that he's a musician, and it's neat trait that connects him to the musical roots of Jinx's character. In League, Jinx was the first champion in League to debut with a music video. It was through Jinx's character that Riot and Fortiche begun experimenting League with music. So it's very fitting that Convergence creates a chorus of sorts for Jinx to continue that musical tradition. To add to that, the game's promo posters decided to reestablish Jinx's connections by making her a talented karaoke singer.

The next thing to know about Chadd is that he was the one who planne and organized the Inx to transform a rundown theatre into an airborne concert arena. Red, Ekko's close friend and romantic interest in the game, confirmed that it was Chadd who was the one to make it happen, within a week too. It's an impressive creative feat that's clearly in homage to "Get Jinxed's" aerial imagery. Despite how cool a stunt that was I couldn't see how it was meant to impress Jinx, she was the most destructive thing in the theater... until I read the transcript "Hold me like a Fermata".

A shotgun, a flame thrower... who's funeral were you planning Chadd!??!? Just for context this was a transcript Ekko found of Chadd and the Inx talking about a new weapon (and sound system?) Chadd seemed to have made. I'm sure Chadd was the one who made it because the Fermata is also the name of a musical note that represents a pause (sometimes dramatic) in a score.

If you're familiar with music you might also know that the Fermata has more than one name, it's also referred to as "the Cyclops Eye". That kind of reference to Silco used on a weapon for a later act to honor Jinx couldn't have been lost on the writers because the Eye of Zaun was already found on an Inx hangout.

When I finally noticed all these details I finally got that Chadd is dangerously devoted to Jinx. All the points in his character can only lead us to conclude the real plan wasn't to just play obnoxiously loud music when the theater reached Piltover's heights, it was to destroy Piltover with all the weapons they equipped on it. That's the best idea I can come up with because Jinx immediately throws bombs at their plan to cause havoc in Piltover... for reasons. It does match Jinx's track record at least, usually other dangerous or apathetic champions tend to appreciate her, like Urgot, Renata Glasc, and Khada Jhin.

Even Chadd's concept art communicates that he's probably more devoted to Jinx than rest of the Inx. The way his early design evolves to reflect Jinx's influence could even tell a story. The more this douchey glam rocker finds inspiration in Jinx the more he changes himself and his art to reflect Jinx's impact. Chadd grows his hair out, wears his tattoo of Jinx in the same place she wears hers, and even dresses more like her, but he still retains his own diva personality.

One last thing, the funniest thing about Chadd is the fact that both Ekko and Red seperately ask him to explain himself and what "statement" he's trying to make with the Inx. Chadd just flat out refuses to answer, and even breaks up with Red over that. I thought he was being douche (he was), but then I remembered Jinx doesn't explain herself in game either about the mayhem she causes, she just taunts anyone who asks. The student learns from the master I guess.

Tldr: In the Converegence game and comics the Inx are characterized by mild vandalism and pretentious artists. And I could almost get behind that idea if only Convergence wasn't so heavily biased towards Piltover the dynamics of a group like the Inx could have had a more interesting exploration in their motivations and goals. Also, Chadd is a dipshit and he makes a great follower of Jinx!

[tomaturtles]

Happy one year anniversary of me reading campus apocalypse for the first time and being so normal about it

[thirdtimed]

unfortunately if i ever developed the lifeseries orv au in my head in earnest i would in no capacity whatsoever manage to be normal about it at all and like. i mean it

[edge-oftheworld]

remembering how careful luke was with substances back when they first started out, it is actually heartbreaking that he did end up struggling with addiction. (I feel like we can often stereotype and box artists in, find excuses why they may end up using like it's their fault and if they happen to overdose and die then well, they should've not gotten into it in the first place. i can't shake that moment, in the 10yr podcast i think (don't quote me) he mentions he wasn't even into weed in 2015. just another 19yo aussie getting drunk and pretending to be tough like every other 19yo aussie, way more conservative and cautious in terms of substances than he probably would ever have admitted at the time.) how well he's always seemed to look after himself physically vs how much he'd given up on himself for so long. the fact he's always loved food and yet struggled with eating. actually I think diamonds should break our hearts. so should bloodline and heck, even baby blue. I think we should listen to starting line and be like hey, maybe we should treat our celebrities better. our artists. we all enjoy what they create, tear themselves apart so we don't feel alone in whatever we're experiencing and yet did we ever stop to think, how can we make this system work for everyone? how can we make fame be less deadly?

I think we should look at songs like motion and repeat when we're thinking of, hey, how should we approach this conversation about mental health? especially in the workplace with pressure to perform and take every opportunity lest we miss out on a big break and that's not only in creative industries. STEM can be like that too. and don't get me started on business/finance. we should look at the way we interact with each other--are we creating a space that's safe to feel and be honest with ourselves and each other and breathe enough to do that? or is it 'r u ok' and it's all about feelings and if you feel to numb to even know what you're feeling, then you're probably fine? we're hopefully beyond blaming parents for everything their children go through by now, but if ever we're not, we can listen to mum and see that you can have this beautiful relationship with your parents and still struggle, still blame yourself and be drowning in it and have the best morals around personal responsibility and still in a bad season be able to weaponise them against ourselves sometimes and only see our mistakes. still put on a farce for the world. still fear that people will leave whenever we take that off. are we creating a world where we're free to be ourselves, and I mean all of us? slip away and place in me should break our hearts even more when listened to in context.

and maybe these insights seem obvious to you but how are we really going at living as if this is what we need to be doing as humans? do we really live like we believe none of us are that invincible but at the same time are so, so capable and should be given the chances and accommodations every person, no matter their unique needs, need to really fulfil that (of course without being blamed for their perceived failures)? or are we still being ableist? are we still deciding we have a bar of perceived success for people we see to be 'like us' and feel like everyone else is somehow doomed and unable to succeed and so we don't need to worry about caring for them too? they either have to pretend to live up to our standards or slip into oblivion and shame? don't you see how this, something we often don't realise we're perpetuating, simply causes even more harm?

and maybe this is a lot to be dragging out from one (expertly done) album. or maybe we have someone who's told their story and we'd be foolish not to listen to it, not to think twice about the connotations of what we're seeing. maybe part of beholding this masterpiece is to use a bit of that same overthinking that went into creating it and do something productive with it. because luke's okay. things did get better for him, and he's coping, just like the rest of us. but what about the next young artist who is thrust into stardom from oblivion, who, clinging to music as a lifeline in a chaotic, unpredictable and lonely world, basks in it and chases it so hard without a thought to its dangers. what if they don't have a loving home away from the chaos to return to, and a close knit, unshakeable group of friends going through it with them? I don't get how you can listen to wfttwtaf and not think of this. also, luke didn't need to share any of these things with us. but I bet, in a world of facades and roles to play that others create for us, simplistic and superficial and suffocating, it's a relief to simply be honest. maybe it's just me. maybe he shared it just to get some money from his art, or to help others feel less alone. but either way he did share it. and he did give incredibly vulnerable descriptions of each song (to apple music i believe it was) which he didn't have to do either. but he did and so let's heed the protest intrinsic in it and cultivate that sense of empathy, be respectful and encouraging to him and the band, yes, but also think. if we have a case study on how to protect and better care for young artists and creatives, are we just going to let it entertain us and then do nothing about what we hear? wfttwtaf is a protest album. it might not mean to be. it might be the saddest and least angry one we've heard. it might be pure in that it pulls at our heartstrings and demands nothing from us. so let your impact be that pure and free of demands too and just. be kind. not only to the people you see in person, but everyone who might be impacted by your individual and collective actions--not only kind but smart about what is actually helpful, actually encouraging. it's pretty simple isn't it? or is it just the wild ideas of my intuition?

[houseofwestwood]

Lily Lockhart welcomes AD into her Del Sol Valley home after newly renovating her baby's room. 🦢🌼

[catsinthebagdesignposts]

What Love Says… Begin

The first heart beat, first breath, first thought, myriad and innumerable beginnings all formed through endings. A finite life inner-stands endings are beginnings and beginnings are endings.

You catch a glimpse of birth, of death through conscious awareness moment by moment. Every moment is an opportunity to end an experience, an emotion, a challenge you choose to bravely create a beginning.

Life brings opportunities to begin again, to celebrate challenges by dancing in the rain. A spiralling up and outward from the depths of love you choose to begin..

Begin in the song of any moment, accept any challenge as a gift that inspires creativity as you embrace joy, excitement and passion, a new way to be.

Allow unconditional love that you are to courageously play with beginnings and endings. You will discover a loving balance, a mixture of possibilities and potentials bringing you deeper in the knowledge of your authentic self. It is time to begin.

Brave bunny, hop to the life you prefer embracing beginnings and endings with oodles of love!

What Love Says… 2024 by Jennifer R. Cook @catsinthebagdesignposts Daily messages from animal spirit guides assisting human beings to embrace all facets of love. Each post includes delightful animal illustration.

[roryoaklow]

some sketches of @gunthermunch's guys i think theyre pretty neat