#I say I love to exclude cody and then. here he is. in both these scenes.

[zackmartin]

1, 3 and 23 for the fanfic ask (if you already have answered these, feel free to answer any question you want)! ❤

You're actually the only one that's sent an ask so far so thank you, love! 💕

Send me an end of the year fanfic ask!

1) favorite fic you wrote this year I was slacking so much this year 😓 my favorite fics i wrote this year were pretty much the only ones I wrote (both unpublished ofc) But, I really love my new au I keep talking about, especially now that I've kinda changed the story a bit. Like, I think I could actually do something with it if I can just get life to give me a break and for my brain to work 😅 And I've slowly been working on my birthday prompts, and I actually really love one you sent me (Izzy stealing the car) cause I just really love writing for Izzy!

favorite line/scene you wrote this year I didn't get to write a lot this year, so I don't have a like, really significant line that sticks out to me. but, you know me, I love spoiling my stuff lol so I'm gonna post a scene from each fic from the answer above, but I actually realized while I was answering this that both scenes are my favorite because they (in my opinion anyway) encapsulate the dynamics. Like, even though they're brothers, I don't really write Zack and Cody a lot cause I always try to exclude Cody lmao But, in the first excerpt from my new au, i feel like it's so,, them?? unfortunately I don't think this scene will be included because I think it'll end up getting cut thanks to the story change but 🤷 This scene also shows what Zack's dynamic is like with Henry/KD in this fic too so I'm still including it 😅

And in the second excerpt I just love it cause it really showcases the dynamics that exist in the hartin house (although, I'm almost certain at this point that I'm including a third sibling but i haven't written them in yet)

I'm gonna put a read more cause it's already getting long and it's about to get a whole lot longer lol

Also, I guess I should warn that the first excerpt kinda sorta gives away some stuff so spoilers i guess alsdkjf (but lets be real, I'll probably never post more than just snippets here and there)

one more thing i'm sorry but wherever I put [...] were just some spots i needed to cut out because they're either major spoilers or it needs serious editing

“Okay, are you gonna help me out here?” Kid Danger asked as he glanced back at Ray. Ray’s gaze moved to the ground.

“I mean...if they take him in instead of us, it saves us the trip,” he replied with a simple shrug.

“Exactly,” Zack responded and Kid Danger narrowed his eyes before shooting a look at Captain Man who just shrugged. “Cuff him, Code Red,” Zack continued, keeping his eyes glued to Kid Danger.

“With what?” Cody mumbled, leaning towards him. Zack slowly turned to look at him.

“Didn’t you bring handcuffs?”

Cody stared at him incredulously. “Where would I have gotten handcuffs?”

“Then use a zip tie!” Zack snapped, feeling his patience wearing thin.

“Again... where would I get a zip tie? And why would I have brought one?”

Zack finally lowered his arm, letting out a sharp breath and squeezing his eyes shut before turning to face his brother. “You carry a million things in your pocket but you’re telling me not one of them is a zip tie? Or anything we could use to cuff this guy?”

Cody continued to stare at him in disbelief. “What would I need a zip tie for?”

“What do you need bear repellent for?”

“To repel bears!”

Kid Danger stepped in between them then. "I don't mean to interrupt, but your perp's getting away."

"Why didn't you stop him?!" Zack barked. Kid Danger put his hands up in surrender as he took a few steps back.

"Why should I?" he replied, his lips curling into a devious smirk, "You've got this."

Anyway, please forgive me for the stupidity of that snippet lasdkj also here's the one from the Izzy fic:

“Where is he, by the way?” Cody questioned as he sat down at the table in the chair closest to him.

“He’s around here somewhere,” Zack answered but before he had a chance to call for him, the two of them heard a door slam, followed by Izzy’s muffled voice yelling, “You’re not being fair!”

Zack froze as he met Cody’s gaze. “But, I have an idea of where he might be.” [...]

Izzy came storming into the kitchen followed by Henry a few seconds later.

“Whatever. I’m gonna talk to dad, he’s the fun parent,” she snarked, shooting a look at Henry before turning back towards Zack.

“Be my guest,” Henry stated calmly, clearly unbothered by her attitude as he sat down in the chair opposite his brother-in-law. [..]

Izzy put on her sweetest grin as she went to stand at Zack’s side. “Daddy,” she cooed, shooting him her best doe-eyed look.

“No,” Zack deadpanned without looking at her. She immediately dropped the act, her demeanor turning annoyed again as she stared at him, slack-jawed.

“That’s not fair, you don’t even know what I was going to ask!” she snapped.

[..]

“Uncle Cody!” Felix’s voice gushed a few seconds before he sped into the room with his golden retriever, Daisy, at his heels, the two of them appearing at Cody’s side. Felix met his gaze with an elated smile, his hands cupped in front of his chest.

“Hey, buddy!” Cody responded enthusiastically, turning around to face him, letting his arm rest on the back of the chair, “How’s my favorite nephew?”

“I’m your only nephew,” Felix pointed out.

“Well, that doesn’t mean you can’t still be my favorite,” Cody replied, and Felix’s smile grew.

“Can we get back to me, please?!” Izzy interrupted impatiently, slipping into the last available chair between Zack and Cody.

[...]

“Hey, Fe,” Henry interjected. Felix’s grin vanished as he immediately dropped his still cupped hands below the table, out of Henry’s line of sight, before slowly turning towards him.

“Yeah?” “What’s in your hand?” Henry asked, his tone indicating he most likely already knew the answer. Felix avoided his gaze.

“Nothing,” he responded softly. Henry kept his eyes locked on him.

“Felix,” he echoed in a calm tone. Felix sighed heavily, raising his hands above the table once more as he slowly uncovered one from the other.

“A centipede,” he mumbled as the now freed centipede crawled from his palm to the crook between his index and thumb.

“Oh, Felix!” Zack yelped, instinctively pushing his chair back, “What’d I say about bringing random bugs into the house?!”

“Sorry,” Felix responded sincerely, flipping his hand over as the centipede inched onto the back of his hand.

Izzy let out a heavy sigh. “Then, can I take Grandpa’s car?” she questioned, clearly losing any patience she had left.

Anyway sorry for all that lol

23) fics you wanted to write but didn’t oh man, so many. I had a lot of motivation for my fairy tale au and a ton of ideas but i just. ran out of steam. I had a bunch of motivation for my newest au then i lost it, now I found it again. let's see how long that lasts. i'm still really super upset that it's been over a year since I've posted a new chapter of DoD and I know it's probably never going to happen now but I'm not quite ready to give up on it. i'm also super upset that not a single one of my birthday prompts have been posted cause you guys sent me almost all of my favorites from that list, and maybe it was ambitious of me still, but i genuinely thought I would have at least one posted either on my birthday or around it cause a few of them are literally already halfway done! But, genuinely every au I've ever told y'all about I really love for one reason or another and I would sincerely love to write every single one or even just. one! but it just wasn't in the cards this year I guess. Also, I've been wanting to write a zack & london besties one shot for years now and it still hasnt happened, rip

[pyrokinesis]

So I lost the patience and watched Kizuna

! Major spoilers ahead !

Listen, I know I said I will wait until the Blu-Ray comes out, but I was impatient little bitch and I found a working Sample 3 link with English dub, so I said, fuck it! My brother joined me 20 minutes in, lol. Anyways, onto the movie.

I don't really know what to say, Digimon Last Evolution Kizuna was exactly what I expected from the movie of such name, a movie that promotes end of relationship between Digimons and their human partners.

I kinda didn't have my hope up, mostly because I rewatched Adventure & Adventure 02 last week and finally watched Tri, and the whole point of Digimon has always been, no matter what happens, Digimons and their humans will always stick and stay together, I think the quote goes "humans and Digimons forever" (?). I kinda was hyped up though, partly because of art style (it was much better than Tri, less dark and more symmetrical when it comes to faces and bodies, Tri was annoying at times with weird asymmetrical faces; also Yamato!!!! Yamato is so hot and pretty in Kizuna, wtf Toei leave this poor lesbian alone), partly because of Adventure 02 kids (my brother is so annoyed with me, but I'm a huge 02 fan, Wormmon is my baby and I can rewatch 02ep25 anytime, Stigmon's first appearance is fucking iconic).

Adventure 02 kids got much more screentime than I expected, especially Iori/Cody because he is sometimes really put aside. I love how they were staying in touch with Original Six/Eight through Yamato, and how Hikari and Takeru stayed part of their team (Tri lacked this so much, it was so weird to have Hikari and TK not knowing what happened to their friends when they were supposedly a new team/best friends). Also my baby Ken's hair (*le cries*), I miss his long hair. Both my brother and I expected Paildramon to appear near the end, but there were no DNA/Jogress evolutions besides Omegamon/Omnimon.

Yamato was so fucking hot it's unbelievable, he's become top Digi-destined to me, 2D character or not. He was so smart, so persistent, so consistent, so selfless, so cute, itty-bitty blind (those cute glasses that appeared on his face for a mili-moment during him being in uni classroom panel, all of my uwus gone), still has one of the best relationships with Gabumon (he plays harmonica for Gabumon, even after all these years, he keeps Gabumon by his side, and they both tried to find that bad-guy-turned-FBI-agent-guy sneakily, so so cute). Overall, Yamato is a emotionally much more main character than Taich is, probably because emotionally, Taichi was the main character of Tri.

Now onto our second main, Taichi. Honestly, technicall, both Yamato and Taichi are Kizuna's main guys, but emotionally, Yamato left much bigger impact. Taichi was the main character in the beginning, but as the story progressed, I could feel Yamato much better. Still, Taichi isn't left aside (like all other Original Eight kidz/people). He is a struggling university student who has no idea what to do with his life (my brother sorta compared him to me, LMAO). This is very consistent with Tri's Taichi, who is full of self dubts, abstract ideas of future, and melancholy when he thinks about his future self. Toei nicely showed it when they let us know Tai earns for his future by working part-time as a waiter (?) in an automat casino. He is kinda really down all the time when he starts realising he has to make huge choices about the future, even though he has no bloody idea or genuine thought what to do (also his porn stash, LMAO what was that Taichi, who even uses porn magazine after the age of 14).

Thinking back about it now, it's kinda underwhelming with how it actually, emotionally, focuses on the whole "Digimons have to leave their partners" philosophy. Like, it barely shows interactions between humans and Digimons (which Tri did at least, with I think all characters, so I would expect at least some focus on Yamato and Taichi). There were some interactions between Taichi and Agumon, and Yamato and Gabumon at the end, but it just felt uncomplete and unfullifying. Also whole concept is bullshit (did I mention it? Because if I didn't I will, because this whole thing really is). It all started with Tri, which felt like it was produced by random people who watched Adventure & 02 after fifteen years and decided to make their own spin on it, without actual respects for stories and characters Adventure & Adventure 02 were trying to make us feel and understand (though feelings of OOC-ness Tri had at the times were minimal in Kizuna, thank goodness for that).

Then, Kizuna continued it with the concept of "when Digi-destined grow up, their Digimon partners disappear because they are not on the same mental wavelengths anymore" which is the complete opposite of one of like three main Digimon philosophies, "Digimon and Digi-destined, together and forever"; like while I disliked 02 epilogue, it showed us that after all hardships, Digi-destined and their Digimons get their happy endings, together. Both my brother and I (we watched it together) groaned at the whole concept (along with predictive bullshit plot and plotholes).

While I understand the reason behind this (I read some spoilers on here afterwards, to broaden my post-Kizuna horizons), that humans/Digi-destined grow up, and Digimons kinda don't, it still makes me really dissatisfied. Tri showed us in flashes that, when given time spent with their and other humans, Digimons can grow and become mentally wise adults (cue to the cutest scene when Patamon closes his one eye because he understands the tension between Hikari and Takeru, as in, that they like each other and they might need some time "alone"), so Kizuna kinda fucked up all previous Adventure works by telling us everything is in vain, Digimons leave, their connection to humans they had will become meaningless and humans will have to move on. Bullshit plot(hole), but whatever.

The amount of screentime non-Taichi&Yamato characters can be underwhelming, especially if you don't read spoilers like I did. The movie starts with Takeru and Hikari as important as Yamato and Taichi, but as the movie progresses, they just fade in the background. Kinda happens to everyone else except Koushiro/Izzy, who kinda has a really leading role, considering how much screentime Taichi and Yamato have (I feel like wordcount apps will find Yamato&Taichi as my most used words in this rant review), and he is probably third most important role, until he undramatically disappears because of psycho main lady.

Now towards real ranting. I'll try to keep it short because I have no real emotions behind it and I feel some other rants might articulate it better. Anyways, the plot of the whole movie is so goddamn predictable. It starts so weirdly, with Taichi, Hikari and Takeru fighting Parrotmon (what the fuck was that even, btw???). Like, Parrotmon, again? It feels just very reused, and that feeling that doesn't leave even during the credits. Soundtrack—while nice, nostalgic, and very fitting—is also just reused Adventure 01 soundtrack, and it just brings kudos from my memory lane road nostalgia. Deja Vu is the feeling that sticks to your skin and bones, if you like me, watched Adventure 1-3 just before Kizuna, and understand how so many scenes are just reused wanna-be old seasons references.

From two older adults (I honestly thought there will be two goverment agents, again, and mentally groaned) sticking up into Digi-destineds' business like some omni-knows creature, same as agents from Tri, fucked up (female) main antagonist who pretends to be a good guy (lady?) for the sake of gathering intel and trust, who is a complete nutjob (full-time pyscho in Kizuna lady's case) because of the loss of her Digimon partner, to bullshit powered-up Digimon created from human coding (my brother pointed this one to me, and honestly, half of this movie is both Diaboromon movies rehashed/redone in 2020 shine), Omnimon fighting in some weird Digital World room powered-up creature (first Diaboromon movie straight up scene for scene), even that first scene with Parrotmon and this time completely unexplainable appearance of a Digimon in the real world, and Digi-destined having to fight it, and of course, bullshit new unexplained Digi-evolution with new (human???) mega forms of Agumon and Gabumon. All in all, it just feels very forced and all very already seen.

Now onto the less main, even less supporting characters. 02 teens are amazing, considering they have barely any lines and some little fighting moments. I love them, and I'm happy they got this, considering how they were blatantly forgotten in Tri, and how obviously nobody in the production of Tri even cared to hide that. Wormmon and Stigmon are my babies and I'm happy to see them have some screentime.

Original Six/Eight (excluding Taichi and Yamato) are kinda disappointing, though. I read some spoilers, so I knew Sora wouldn't appear much, but damn, even that was much compared to her actual screentime in Kizuna. She is almost as forgotten as 02 kids were in Tri. I get that she is shown to have moved on faster than other Original Eight kids, but still, they didn't even show her losing Piyomon (which did happen, and it was emotionally, overwhelming, in a fucked up sense when you realised Piyomon wasn't by her side). Jou, Mimi, Takeru, and Hikari were shown at the beginning of movie with so much potential screentime, but in the end they mostly were there for the dramatic cliffhangers (I didn't understand at the beginning what happened to Mimi and Jou, and I thought Hikari was murdered and that the FBI agent straight up shot Takeru), during that mini battle scene sometime in the Neverland, and of course, during the end credits. It was kinda really both overwhelming and underwhelming to see them during the credits when they could've had much more moments during the movie (I sorta had some hope because the movie is almost 2 hours long, and usually movies are like 20, 30 minutes long, but even during those one-episode-length movies there is more of main-supporting characters shown).

As mentioned, the ending is bullshit (my brother ended up crying and I had to put Adventure OST on to calm him down), Agumon and Gabumon dying is literally the most senseless thing ever since both Taichi and Yamato love their partners so much, and even among all the adulting and hassles in their lives, they try to make time for their Digimon partners (during their time in the restuarant, Yamato and Taichi literally talk how they don't have time for even their closest friends, hell Hikari even mentions Taichi should give their mother a visit, but Taichi still finds time for Agumon), so in the end both Taichi and Yamato were among the last people to lose their Digimons and I'm really disappointed in this concept, especially how they didn't show Gabumon and Agumon disappearing, Taichi and Yamato deserved explicit goodbyes.

Uh, I don't think I have anything much to add anymore. I read spoilers and some are pretty much novels from how much people put their thoughts in, this is just my ranting review, tbh. I dived into this hoping to get my heart mended from Tri (say what you want about Tri but it was too bad for six hour and half movies, especially general Adventure constistency-wise), but not with high expectations, having seen the trailer and having some spoilers read. All in all film wasn't too bad, but it wasn't too good, solid 6/10 rating from me, mostly for the animation and nostalgic soundtrack, but the whole plot was shit as fuck and the philoshophy behind it.

(Random, but I noticed straight people/shippers liked the movie better than gay people/shippers, is there any correlations between that)

ALL IN ALL, Digimon: Last Evolution Kizuna wasn't the best nor the worst Digimon movie/work, but it probably isn't something I will rewatch or recommend anytime soon (also wtf were those humanoid mega forms, like W T F).

[boredliondisorder]

The MU* Incident

I haven’t spoken in detail about this cycle just because I spent so long (over 10 years!) thinking I was completely in the wrong.

It was 2008 when I met someone I’ll call “Cody.”

I always seem to be attracted to people who readily compliment me without prompting. Of course, at that point I didn’t know I had BPD, or that one of my symptoms was that I felt a universal lack of appreciation in pretty much everything I attempted. Cody gave me what I needed--praise, admiration, time, friendship--and she’d tell me my art and writing were her favorite.

I should have realized something was wrong. I’d literally seen her do this with other people. Befriend them, get what she wanted from them, and then lose interest as if they were toys and she was a toddler. But I didn’t care. We’d RP together and create amazing stories. She was the first person online I ever gave my phone number to, and we’d call each other and text about further plans for RP. I felt loved.

For a while, the fact that I felt unloved by everyone else didn’t matter.

Even though I’d seen it happen before, I felt like my friendship with her was real. So I was confused and upset when she stopped talking to me--when she found someone else to fawn on. I think someone without the problems I had would have been annoyed, but could have eventually moved on. I couldn’t.

If you don’t know what a “favorite person” is, here’s a summary. They are your world. You rely on them for acceptance, validation, praise. For me, a FP is like a parent, though FPs for other people fill other roles. I didn’t know what any of this was at the time, but looking back, I can tell that Cody filled that role for me, and she abruptly decided to move on. She’d become best friends with one of the admin.

I was devastated. I remember staring out into a thunderstorm one night and calling her, only for her to give me one-word replies to nearly everything I said. I tried to win her attention back in any way I could, but she was always too busy. Maybe later, she’d say.

Still on edge from all this, I applied for a storyteller role on the MU* we both played on, because I needed that admiration and validation. I wanted to be able to do things for people so they would give me praise in return. (Yeah, it was unhealthy.)

Cody also applied for the storyteller role. We both got it.

At first I was thrilled, because I thought we’d be working together again. But she excluded me from most of the planning (instead bringing in other people and a couple of the admin.) When things reached their worst point, I demanded that I be included. I was so upset that I’d scratched deep trenches into my thigh, and I told them as much.

Cody called the police.

I’ve learned over time that people who call the police on you do not have your best interests at heart. They don’t want to help you. They are using this as a punishment, because they know what the police do to mentally ill people. I didn’t know that then.

I was scared when the police showed up at my door. They made me come with them. I asked what would happen if I didn’t; they said they would handcuff me and charge me with resisting arrest. So I went.

They took me to the hospital, and the hospital remanded me to a “closed ward.” That’s a mental health hospital that you can’t leave. The windows are barred, the doors are locked, and you’re trapped with all sorts of people--doctors and patients--of whom you’re terrified. One of the patients would find young women in the ward and masturbate in front of them. My roommate would talk all the time, 24/7, and would start shouting in the middle of the night when no one was paying attention. I wasn’t allowed to draw, or write, or read books, or anything.

It was 6 days before I saw a psychiatrist. He was very nice, and asked me pointed questions I no longer remembered. He finally diagnosed me with borderline personality disorder, and I was so relieved. This thing I did had a fucking name.

I couldn’t wait to get back to the MU* and tell everyone. I couldn’t wait to tell them that this shit I did had a reason behind it. That I was sick, and I could get help for this!

I told the psychiatrist that I had a job that I needed to get back to, or I’d be fired. Thankfully he agreed and put me into day therapy for a week, then giving me clearance to go back to work.

I was so relieved when I got home that I slept for a whole day.

When I tried to log onto the MU* to tell everyone one had happened, I found that they’d deleted my characters and logons. Just gone. Didn’t let me save anything from them. They were just deleted.

I wanted to know why. I messaged Cody’s best-friend-admin, and he said that he was done with hearing excuses, that he wanted me gone, that he didn’t care what I said, I was no longer welcome. He said that every time something happened, I came up with a new reason as to why, and at this point I needed to stop lying.

It wasn’t the first experience I had with being told I was lying. But it’s the one I remember most clearly... Because after that he said “maybe when you stop being such a spaz, we can be friends again.”

I told him I didn’t think that would be possible. I haven’t talked to him since.

At least karma took care of Cody. About a year later, there was a horrible storm outbreak in the area she lived, and she told everyone she’d lost her house and she was working 24 hour shifts at the hospital. People did some digging, discovered her house was still fine, and that she’d been fired from the hospital some time ago, which meant she was just sitting around lying about being homeless.

Now that I’ve really looked into BPD and how people treat those who suffer from it, I’ve started to realize I wasn’t in the wrong. I was undiagnosed and very upset, but that never gave anyone the right to treat me how they did.

[sugar-dolan-blog]

Describe your relationship with 5 of your best friends on Tumblr

Sorry this took me a while to answer, I wanted to do a good job on this😬

ALSO I PICKED SIX BC ALL OF THESE LOVELY LADIES ARE MY TRUE TRUE TUMBLR BESTIES I CAN’T EXCLUDE MY BABES IM SORRY BUT IM REALLY NOT

@milkymilkdolans: SYDNEY! IS! MY! MOTHER! FUCKIN! BESTIE!!!! I love her to bits and literally don’t know what I’d do without her. She’s so chill to just talk to about anything and we always have something to laugh about. I feel like most of our conversations are about how we embarrass ourselves or how stupid we both are LMAO. But we also just constantly hype each other up, like all the damn time. Annnnd I’m her mother so that sorta sums up our relationship too. But fr she a true homie and I love her till the day I DIE!!!

@sagittariustwins: SAM IS LITERALLY THE EXACT SAME PERSON AS ME. IDK HOW. We both are actually in love with sister Ian and he’s our husband and we ALWAYS TALK ABOUT HIM HAHAHA. But also we share the same love for Cody Ko like we’re both OG stans it’s so cool. She’s super duper funny and also super duper supportive and positive, we can go back and forth on the most random or the most deep topics forever. It’s such a wholesome friendship. She’s a true SHISHTAR!!!

@coconutethan: JOHANNA IS MY OG! She was the first person to message me on here and I’m forever grateful for her :))) She’s so kind and we’re always so supportive of each other, day in and day out. We usually snap back and forth complaining about how I don’t wanna go to school or how she doesn’t wanna go to work, and just end up being like “hey same dude we’ll get through this together” lmaooo. Oh and don’t forget about the daily ‘goodnight’ snaps we send! JOHANNA IS SUCH A FREAKING GEM!!!

@succulentpancakes: MIKA! BITCH ILY! She’s one of the funniest people that I know honestly, her comments are always so smart and witty and I’m always dying at whatever she's sending me. She never fails to have a good story to tell or give me some words of wisdom. Also whenever I say something that’s stupid we both kinda just end up making fun of me, so she’s kinda like my mom in a way? Truly though Mika is so awesome and I LOVE HERRR!!!

@goldendxlan: CASEYYY I love this girl she’s so EASY to talk to. We honestly have pretty deep conversations sometimes but it feels so casual and I love that about her. Also this girl loves ranting to me about how she’s running out of snacks in her dorm or how she would rather take an 8 hour nap than go to her classes. We’re always encouraging each other to do our work or just get through the day without literally dying lmao. It’s such a positive friendship, it’s so AWESOME!!!

@dtwritings: STEPH OMG. I LOVE STEPH. She’s so fucking funny and always making me laugh so hard omgggg. She’s always asking me how I’m doing, asking my favorite things, my dislikes, and ITS SO PRECIOUS!!! We love each other so much and always lift each other up when we’re having bad days. Steph is such a genuine sweetheart and so fun to have any kind of conversation with. We’re always giving each other life advice or talking about the highs and lows of our day, it’s so WONDERFUL!!!

[musicandpointlessthings]

My “Top Albums of 2016″

Wow, what the hell was 2016 in the world of music? You had your great releases, the shitty ones, and the other ones that were just thrown into a pile known as; “Somewhere in the Middle”. This right here is a ranking and album review of some of the bands that I enjoy the pleasure of listening to, who (with my luck) decided to release an album all in the span of last year. This is totally late, I know. I started this back in November but like with anything else I choose to do I put it off until I can’t stop thinking about how late whatever it is will be. You wouldn’t think that doing something like this would be as difficult as it turned out to be for me. SO enjoy this if you read this or at least try to because I tried. Show it to others and hopefully I’ve made them mad enough for liking a band that I “should’ve stopped liking back in high school”.

7. Green Day – Revolution Radio

Ah, these guys are at it again releasing something “out of this world”; Revolution Radio.

Billie Joe Armstrong seems to be following again and again the same format of “revolution” and politics in his song writing ever since American idiot. I remember when I really wanted the RSD release of “Demolicious” and once it got online and I heard a few tracks, it was over for me and not worth it after that. They just made “demos” (compressed and distorted their “best” songs) from Uno, Dos, Tre. Those three are way better than RR even though they forced those records in one year down everyone’s throat, but I am not here to review them.. There were a few hook parts that I did enjoy on Revolution Radio, but I couldn’t give you a favorite track off this. Some songs still held that basic “Green Day” melody. Not punk or wild at all, lyrically they did almost the same thing Blink-182 did but not as bad. Its just not the way these bands who are trying to “come back from the dead” should go about it. They were just corny for a huge part of it. It seems that Green Day did not try as much on this record, and neither could my patients so that is why this is at the tenth spot on my list. I love you green day I probably always will, but why was your last actually good release all the way back in 2009?

6. Lamb of God – The Duke

 I put Lamb of God at #6 because I couldn’t call this a favorite of the year at all. And I want to say that these guys absolutely killed it, but then again this was just a random EP consisting of five songs, two of which are new and then three live tracks. I like the idea that these guys had because you rarely see an EP from them. The two new ones titled “The Duke” and “Culling” separately give a new sound and then they bring back their original sound. The Duke is a very interesting song all together especially because (this hurts me to say this) it really sounds like a Disturbed song. That statement shouldn’t be taken as an insult because I think Disturbed isn’t a horrible band at all like a lot of people see them as. The whole intro is so Disturbed-esque. The song is just different as a whole. They went a completely different route with the song and I’m proud of that decision because they put it out and they obviously felt strong with their direction they chose. I will say though that I’m just not into the Randy Blythe “singing” thing, the lyrics rhymed too much for my taste because it was literally almost every line he was rhyming. Seriously. Look them up.

 “Culling” brought back their original sound and oh my god guys you killed it. I really liked this song. It was powerful and the lyrics were smart. They really surprised me with this one ESPECIALLY THAT DRUM SOLO TOWARDS THE END. It was so unordinary but really interesting. I honestly have nothing bad to say about this, it was just so different from The Duke. Completely different vibes from both. I guess you could check this EP out if you would like, it wouldn’t hurt if you did. It just wasn’t anything special. I’ll just leave it at that.

5. Joyce Manor - Cody

Sometimes I feel like you have to be a big fan of an artist to really enjoy all of their songs on their albums. Or like at least one of theirs. I don’t know, that sounded good in my head. But I think you get the point of where I’m going with this..

 Joyce Manor’s new album “Cody” is at my number five spot. I couldn’t put it last, but I would never put it at the top. Simply because, in my opinion, ONLY HALF OF IT WAS ACTUALLY GOOD. I see it as the first half being that weird “Joyce Manor” sound being off time or just odd lyrics, and the second half (excluding one) appeals to me more. Not too sure what it is but it just sounds catchy to my ear drums. The lyrics on tracks from 6-10, specifically ‘Stairs’, are NOT amazing. Can I see myself being emotionally attached to them? God no. Did I vibe with them well enough to listen to them on repeat to sing my heart out because the catchiness was SO eminent on the other half of this album? Yes. I really enjoyed those tracks. The one I excluded though was ‘Reversing Machine’ because the opening line and how he sang it was just flat out annoying. Sure there was a melody there in this minute and twenty-nine second song, but this was one of their short songs that I COULDN’T do. I honestly wasn’t feeling it. My personal favorite? ‘Make Me Dumb’. Currently listening to it as I type this. The chorus just felt right to me when I first heard this album, kind of like a shoe perfectly fitting but more in the sense of the melody of it, and vocally the flow was so even and he sang it really well. ‘Stairs’ was good too with it being totally indie genre-fied, especially the way the end of the song transitions from its chorus & bridge “rock” vibe. The lyrics are a bit weird and kiiinnndd ooffff paaatthhettiiicccc? I don’t think he feels the way he does being 26 and still living with his parents, not able to do the laundry, etc. Those lines are just corny than anything else, that’s the only word I could find that fits the lyrics’ description. I know I know, this was “ his old bands song blah blah blah…” I don’t care. Sure it’s cool he resurrected it and made it different from the original, but just the lyrics are just really “meh”.

4. Blink-182 - California

                     YES! YES! 90’S “”””””PUNK””””” REVIVAL!!!! WOO!!

One of what like 50 older bands trying to make a comeback and touch the hearts of a newer generation that I’m now not considered a part of? Blink-182 made a comeback in 2016 and they did it very well. Their new album “California” made it to the top of the charts at the #1 spot which surprised me because there were a lot of people who absolutely HATED this album. I have a few reasons why people really disliked it. Well for one it made people super butt-hurt that Tom was not in the band nor on the tracks singing with his “accent”. Sure, I was in that large group of people but I got over it. I have respect for Matt Skiba filling such a large void and basically being the safety net or ‘superglue’ for Blink-182. When I first heard this album I thought it was absolutely weird not hearing Tom, and just being ultimately confused on what in the world I was hearing. It didn’t sound like Blink’s last three releases, but people grow and things change and I learned to accept that and I feel that more people have come back around and feel the same way about this. It was interesting to hear the first time, so I put it on repeat for hours trying to comprehend everything that I was hearing. Unfortunately these guys were another band, like Green Day, with those “too youthful” type of lyrics but they were NOWHERE near as band as Green Day’s. Though that IS what bugged me on this album, because these dudes are about forty now I would say? And they’re writing lyrics of “partying” and going out at night and having fun with friends and it’s just very weird coming from dudes at that age and happily writing about these kinds of things but I feel that they’re just trying to reach the newer generation with those tracks that have those lyrics. Like the song ‘Sober’; “Fell onto the table as the neighbors just stared – We laughed out loud and smashed their lights – Digging with our hands in the dirt outside”. What is this? I can’t picture Mark writing such lines. He even stated in an interview they wanted this album to be catchy like ‘Blink has always “been”’, sure their older songs were catchy but these new ones rhymed at almost every end of the line. It’s cool though. I don’t have any other complaints other than lyrics like that. The only other thing I could say was that this album sounded way over produced even though they worked with John Feldman who has recorded so many hits and #1 albums that it was inevitable that this would happen on their album. Oh and well whatever the heck they did with the song “Los Angeles” … But it’s at my number 4 spot because it WAS catchy after I repeated the album a lot and in the end I loved it. Uh, my favorite track? I can’t pick a favorite one but I’ll give two; “Cynical” & “She’s Out Of Her Mind”.

3. A Day To Remember – Bad Vibrations

I was extremely hesitant on listening to this. “Bad Vibrations” is at my number three spot and I don’t have direct and specific reasons as to why. Okay. Do I like it? After a while of listening to it and warming up to it, sure. It’s not their best even though they claim it to be; not even close. But It’s good enough because that “A Day To Remember” sound is still heavily there. They did what any other band does after five albums, THEY TWEAK THEIR SOUND, and I didn’t like that at all. An album that decided to go in a different direction of writing, specifically the lyrics, and that direction was a weird reversal move on their part. Their lyrics now are about being “paranoid” and it felt like they unintentionally decided to write how they probably should have wrote when they were starting out but now they have all of these fans that no matter what they do now people will love them because throughout their fan base there’s a line, a whole song, or even an album that fits everyone’s tastes. “Naivety” though having that “Decedents” rhythm throughout the verses, they bring it back around with their pop-punk sound they are oh so good at doing. The lyrics on this track distract me a bit by Jeremy’s choice of words; “What I hate about getting older”, “Wonder when I’m gonna get taller”, “Wonder what it’s like not being sober”. They’re weird. They’re weird for A Day To Remember to be writing about things like that and it doesn’t make me comfortable, but that chorus is so good that I can sing along to it and it’s beyond catchy. Songs that I heavily dislike on this album (there’s a few, hold on to your seats); “Bullfight” – though they went a different route with the introduction/verse, I can’t get into it. That breakdown though? YES. I like. Especially that hammer and anvil ‘ding’ during it is a great added touch. “We Got This” is horrible. I listened to it once and I’ve never gone back. It’s so bad. “Turn Off the Radio” was ‘ok’ at one point but now it’s something that does NOT soothe my ears. I listened to the “deluxe edition” so I can hear the bonus tracks and to be honest I listened to them once and (again) never went back. I really never payed attention because they just didn’t excite me.

Now that I think about this while listening to the album again, I do have a reason why this album is at my number 3 spot. Easily because there are enough songs on here that outweigh and make up for the really crappy ones. Something that did excite me on this was the song “Justified” even though the intro was different and odd, they broke right into the verse with their pop-punk styling and as I first heard it, it was like they said ‘PLOT TWIST’ and went all heavy and I was never expecting that whatsoever. Favorites on this album; “Paranoia” because it’s the first single released and it’s literally good ol’ A Day To Remember right there. It’s their sound. You would know it’s them. “Same About You” is another one that reminds me of something that could have been on “What Separates Me From You” and I love that album. “Exposed” because it reminds me of “Violence (Enough Is Enough)” and it’s just a heavy hitter that it makes up for songs like “We Got This”. Last one: “Reassemble” because the intro really intrigued me and it really drew me to liking this song. The intro is so triumphant to me and makes me think of soldiers being face-to-face with their enemies before they battle. Corny to say that but it just makes me have that feeling. idk.

2. Every Time I Die – Low Teens

 AT NUMBER 2 IT’S THE HOMETOWN BOYS

EVERY TIME I DIE

“LOW TEENS”

Another crushing album that had me excited for its release, as I’m sure it did for all of their other fans. Strange to think that the older these guys get; the music gets heavier on each release. “Low Teens” definitely exceeded my expectations with songs like “Petal” that was only heard live until the full release of the album, and songs like “Map Change” that was a constant build-up to a triumphant chorus. Every Time I Die did a really great job on this album for those songs and how their structures had been tweaked ever so slightly but had better preparations especially with Keith Buckley’s lyrics. Though I can’t say this album was ‘absolute “gold”’. There were some of problems of course. “Two Summers” was a big hit in the face and my ears did not enjoy whatever the heck they were feeling for that song. Did anyone notice that the opening riffs for this track sound exactly the same to some parts in their song “Wanderlust”? I don’t know I guess that just bugs me because it sticks out so much. I did not “dig” this song. I will skip over this when I want to listen to this album front to back. There are people who listen to the music and the instrumentation of songs, there are those that listen to strictly the lyrics, or those who enjoy both. I on the other hand listen to more instrumentation than the actual lyrics. So naturally with listening to this album that’s what I listened to because I know Keith’s lyrics though are poetic I kind of just hum about until I can kind of grasp what he’s saying on a line here or there. So lyrically on this album nothing pokes out to me, but whatever I hear and what I’ve read isn’t even half of the embarrassment some of these other bands in this review/rank I’m writing.

Favorites on this would be “Petal” particularity because of the crushing riff and line that Keith seems to put his all into; “I’d better warm up my gun” and god that gives me chills. Another favorite “Map Change” for its sweet and everlasting but interestingly enough build-up structure. And “The Coin Has a Say” because WHY WOULDN’T YOU LIKE IT. Oh that’s right people are leaning towards “It Remembers” because it features Brendan Urie and Its completely different from their typical sound blah blah blah I KNOW. That one is good too, I’m not hating on it. Just not fav I guess?

1. Moose Blood - Blush

 Now to the number 1 spot here.

 “Blush”

I fully believe, with every bit of my being that THIS album right here is perfect.  After I got used to it I wanted more, I wanted more of everything. The songs on this are structured beautifully with the exception of some odd timings on parts and I just FEEEL that this album and this group needs to be heard. Or at least more than they already are. All of these 10 tracks on Blush are phenomenal in my opinion and of course you can disagree with that or tell me that this band sounds like every other band out there or the singers voice is weird but I really don’t care about what you think particularly on this album especially when comments like those are so negatively put.

It took me a couple listens just like with any other album to really soak everything in and try to get used to this entirely new music you are hearing, but in the end I really enjoyed the work they did with this.

My favorite song on this would be “Freckle”, the last track listed because the vibe and melody of the song all around makes me happy. Others included in my top ones would probably be “Sway” because it’s slightly different from their usual work and the bridge section to the ending is great with its great build-up back to its mellow chorus. And probably “Honey” which brings in that different sound but still keeping it “Moose Blood”

There hasn’t been an album like this for me in a long time where I’ve enjoyed every bit of it and this will definitely hold a special place in my heart. Definitely check it out.

BONUS REVIEW

 50. Upon A Burning Body – Straight From The Barrio

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking “why in the world are you reviewing this album, aren’t they irrelevant?” Well to answer your question, yes it seems that way. But at one point they were actually really good. And I want to say the “what’s up” with their latest release. Why at number 50? Because this album was so bad that I couldn’t even put it in a top ten.

Upon A Burning Body seems to me that they have found a lack of desire to do more on their newest full length Straight From The Barrio. Why do I say this? Well simply because the main issue once again is their lyrics; they are NOT good. And I mean this because It seems that the attitude in their writing has turn more into the styling of fronz from Attila by the way Danny talks about how much of “the shit” he really is and how many “fucks” he really doesn’t give towards the people who crap on them. Songs like “B.M.F.”, “Fake Plastic Smile”, and “D.T.A (Don’t Trust Anyone) are perfect examples to my thoughts on his lyrics. I feel like ever since their little “promotional” stunt they pulled when releasing The World Is My Enemy Now really got to them… I will say this though. Musically, this album isn’t as bad as I expected it to be. I did get bored halfway through the album because some of the songs kept opening up with the same drum fills and “fuck you” lyrics. The riffs, however, didn’t bore me too much. Some sounded the same, but others still excited me and I can tell they tried to at least try to change up their go-to style and bring some new things to the table. UABB included some acoustic/classical guitars in some of these tracks on SFTB, and even some instruments that would never make it on a traditional metal/djent(?) record. The last track on this record, “My Distorted Reflection”, was a change from the things they have put out in the past. This track was a straight forward “I’m not perfect” acoustic ballad with triumphant drums half way through was a much better added touch. I find this song to be very repetitive and his voice to be coarse well throughout.