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river-bottom-nightmare · 4 years

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I am incapable of writing ANYTHING BUT ANGST. but really this is all elle’s fault, she asked for the fic, I provided. it’s under the cut, have fun with it. it’s on ao3 here.

tag list: @anothertimdrakestan @comicsandhoney @yesboopityboop @dangerduckjpeg @astroherogirl @birdy-bat-writes @thebatsandbirdsofgotham @subtleappreciation

Tim had never been afraid of his mind. His ruthlessness was sharper than blade and his detective skills were keener than a bullet. He wasn’t some sort of super-genius, but he didn’t have to be. He was enough.

Sure, sometimes the wide, disbelieving eyes of his teammates made him a bit uncomfortable. But at the end of the day, he was keeping them safe, wasn’t he? Their comfort was a small price for their lives.

And now? Now he was damn grateful.

“Cloning attempt forty-five unsuccessful. Samples discarded.” The cool voice cut through the greenish-gloom, cold and mechanical. At times, Tim wished the voice held at least an ounce of warmth. He’d take any bit he could get, and wrap it around himself like a tattered blanket, just willing it to do its job and keep him safe. Other times, Tim was glad the robotic voice was frigid, impersonal. He couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t break down at the first sign of kindness.

“Diagnostic,” Tim said, bent over a computer.

“Protein link breakdown at twenty-three hours and thirty-seven minutes. Full destruction at twenty-four hours and twenty-eight minutes.”

“Solutions?”

“Suggested stabilizer: trehalose.”

“Run it, next trial.”

“Cloning attempt forty-six initiated.”

_________

“Tim, come on! Cut me some slack!” Kon was trying to pout, but one look at Tim’s raised eyebrows caused him to double over laughing. “It’s not fair!”

“It’s totally fair. You just suck at this.” Tim was straightened up from Street Fighter II, arching his back like a pleased cat.

“You’re not supposed to use your superhero name on this,” Kon said, looking at the blinking line of text that said Robin at the top of all the scores.

Tim scoffed. “Why don’t you say that a little louder, Superboy? ” Kon’s own name was fourth, blinking a little less vibrantly.

“Whatever. I’m hungry,” Kon announced.

“Oh, so now you’re hungry? After losing for the billionth time, you finally want to get some food- hey! ” Tim let out a choked gasp as Kon grabbed him under his elbow, ruffling his head roughly.

“Perfect timing, huh?”

Tim could hear the laughter in Kon’s voice, so he elbowed Kon in the gut, roughly. “Mhmm, it really is.”

“I’m dying, Tim. Dying. You killed me.” Kon was still bent over, arm over his stomach.

Tim grabbed Kon’s other hand and laced their fingers together, thinking nothing of it, tugging to get Kon walking to the food court. “Yeah yeah, complain about it to Cassie. C’mon, I want nacho fries.”

Instead of responding with a laugh and a jibe about Tim’s taste, Kon just started coughing. And coughing and coughing and coughing before he was on the ground.

Suddenly, they weren’t in the arcade anymore. It was a field, calm and peaceful and quiet and Tim was about to throw up because he knew this field.

Kon was lying ahead, staring listlessly to the side with dead eyes.

“No, no no no no, ” Tim rushed over to him, too late, always too late. But the field kept stretching out longer and longer, and Tim couldn’t reach Kon. He made one desperate leap for him, and hit the ground hard.

There was blood all over his hands, Kon’s blood. Seeping into his skin until his fingers had turned dark crimson, spreading down to his palms, his wrists, his arms. He scrubbed at the colour desperately, trying to get it off. Itching and scratching and God why won’t the blood just go away.

Tim let out a desperate, wordless shriek, and the world tilted, turning on its axis and throwing Tim into the air. He woke up gasping, fresh tear tracks on his face.

_________

Tim was sitting in a rolling chair in front of his computer, cross-legged. His eyes were drooping, but he forced them open. He’d caught a lead in his search for Bruce, somewhere in north Chile. He’d take a week, poke around, then come back here.

Sighing, he turned his chair, back still bent in an awful crouch. There was a glass case right next to him, a black and red T-shirt displayed proudly. He had a couple, but they were all back in his room at the manor. This specific one was the softest, and his favourite. But he couldn’t bring himself to take it out of the case, bundle it up in his arms, and bring it close to himself like he so desperately wanted to. Taking it out of the case made it real.

“Cloning attempt sixty-two unsuccessful.”

Tim let out a near-uncontrollable cry, swinging his arms out wildly in a rare fit of anger. His fist flew towards the computer, and he managed to direct the hit to the wall next to it. The sting of pain brought him back to his senses, and he stared down at his hand, shocked.

Taking in a deep breath, he shook his hand out and shoved his hands through his hair, ignoring the flashing Trial Failed sign on the screen.

It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair. He always knew that he’d lose Kon eventually. Everyone he knew, everyone he loved always left him, voluntarily or not. He didn’t know why he played a losing game.

You know why, his brain told him. You’re selfish. So, so selfish. You just a part of him for as long as he could give it. But it was never going to be enough.

“No,” Tim said aloud to the empty room. “He’s not gone, he’s not .”

“Unknown command,” the automated voice system responded.

Tim held back another fit of rage, then bit out, “Diagnostic.”

“DNA synthesis failure at forty-eight minutes. DNA structural collapse at fifty-nine minutes.”

“Solutions?”

“Retry experiment. New strand of DNA recommended.”

“Run it.”

“Cloning attempt sixty-three initiated.”

_________

“Tim, come on! Cut me some slack!” Kon was trying to pout, but one look at Tim’s raised eyebrows caused him to double over laughing. “It’s not fair!”

“It’s totally fair. You just suck at this.” Tim was straightened up from Street Fighter II, arching his back like a pleased cat.

“You’re not supposed to use your superhero name on this,” Kon said, looking at the blinking line of text that said Robin at the top of all the scores.

Tim scoffed. “Why don’t you say that a little louder, Superboy? ” Kon’s own name was fourth, blinking a little less vibrantly.

“Whatever. I’m hungry,” Kon announced.

“Perfect timing, huh?”

Tim could hear the laughter in Kon’s voice, so he elbowed Kon in the gut, roughly. “Mhmm, it really is.”

“I’m dying, Tim. Dying. You killed me.” Kon was still bent over, arm over his stomach.

Tim grabbed Kon’s other hand and laced their fingers together, thinking nothing of it, tugging Kon to get him walking to the food court. “Yeah yeah, complain about it to Cassie. C’mon, I want nacho fries.”

“No,” Kon was straightening up now, shoving Tim away.

“Kon?” Tim asked, a little confused and a little hurt.

“You killed me. You killed me.” There was a venom in his voice that Tim had rarely ever heard, and never directed at him.

“I, I didn’t mean to,” Tim was stumbling back now, wide eyed, as Kon advanced on him.

“Yes you did. You know what happens to people you loved, and you loved me anyway.”

Tim shook his head desperately. “I never said I loved you.”

Kon’s laugh was humorless. “You never had to. I knew. You really thought you could hide this from me?”

Kon was backing him against a wall now, arms on either side, effectively trapping him. Tim could get out, of course he could. But he couldn’t make his feet move, no matter how hard he tried.

“Don’t, please don’t,” Tim begged when Kon leaned closer. “Kon wouldn’t, not if I didn’t want to.”

This Conner, one with a cruel, angry glint in his eyes, tipped Tim’s chin up with his finger. “Well it’s a good thing I’m not your Kon then, isn’t it?” His lips were brushing Tim’s now. “Besides, you always had a penchant for torturing yourself.”

Then Kon was devouring Tim’s mouth, and it was everything Tim had ever wanted, and everything Tim hated. Kon was possessive, passionate, biting his lips with a hunger that took Tim by surprise before licking into his mouth hungrily. His fingers were gripping Tim’s jaw, rough and firm, tilting his head to get a better angle. Tim had melted into it, letting Kon take and take and take.

It was wrong. It was all wrong.

Because Kon would have been gentle. He would have cradled Tim’s face in his fingers like he was something precious. His first kiss would have been tentative but sure, letting Tim know much he meant to him. He would have pulled back and smiled at the wonder in Tim’s eyes before ducking down to give him another soft kiss, chaste and oh-so-loving.

Kon had just drawn back to sink his teeth into Tim’s collarbone when Tim woke up with a sob, out of breath and heaving.

He fell out of bed and ran towards the main room, ignoring the flashing light that noted the progress of the latest cloning attempt. He kept running and running until he reached the glass case, where he brought his fist back and slammed it into the glass as hard as he could.

It didn’t even crack. Of course it didn’t, it was reinforced. Tim threw another couple of punches, before spotting a spare piece of piping lying on the ground. He grabbed it and swung, with every mite of strength left in his body, and crashed it into the case.

The glass splintered. He hit it again and again, until shards rained down around Tim, leaving small cuts in his wake. He grabbed the T-shirt, yanking it out of its stand and bringing it close to him, hugging it the way he’d wanted to for so long.

Tim bent over the ground, letting his tears seep into the fabric.

He wanted everyone back. His parents, Steph, Bart, Bruce, Kon. He wanted them all back.

“I’m close,” he mumbled, voice muffled by the T-shirt. “I swear it, I’m close.” He didn’t know if he was talking about finding Bruce or cloning something close enough to Kon. One of them would happen, and it would be enough. He’d stop losing at this rigged puzzle that was his life, he’d stop trying to play this losing game, and it would be enough.

_________

“Cloning attempt eighty-nine unsuccessful.”

Tim was wearing the Superboy T-shirt. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d gotten out of it. His fingers played along the hem, twitching. His attention darted around from one screen to the next, taking in a map of Norway one second, and reading over the cloning file in the next.

“Diagnosis?” He prided himself on how steady his voice sounded.

“Proteins from Subject: Lex Luthor failed to fully integrate into Subject: Clark Kent, Kal-el. Possible problem: invulnerability of kryptonian genes.”

“Solution?”

“Kryptonite injections suggested.”

“Do it. Run it.”

Tim’s own voice had become as robotic as the computers. It was hoarse, raspy. He’d forgotten the last time he’d truly spoken, barring instructions to the computer and the cries torn from his throat in the middle of a night. Concerned messages from Dick sat unread on his phone.

“Just, run it again. Run it again, try again.”

“Cloning attempt ninety initiated.”

_________

“Tim, come on! Cut me some slack!” Kon was trying to pout, but one look at Tim’s raised eyebrows caused him to double over laughing. “It’s not fair!”

“It’s totally fair. You just suck at this.” Tim was straightened up from Street Fighter II, arching his back like a pleased cat.

“You’re not supposed to use your superhero name on this,” Kon said, looking at the blinking line of text that said Robin at the top of all the scores.

Tim scoffed. “Why don’t you say that a little louder, Superboy? ” Kon’s own name was fourth, blinking a little less vibrantly.

“Whatever. I’m hungry,” Kon announced.

“Perfect timing, huh?”

Tim could hear the laughter in Kon’s voice, so he elbowed Kon in the gut, roughly. “Mhmm, it really is.”

“I’m dying, Tim. Dying. You killed me.” Kon was still bent over, arm over his stomach.

“Wait,” Kon’s fingers tightened around his own.

“What?”

“You don’t need food right now, do you?” Kon tugged him towards a corner, partially hidden by a column and an arcade game.

“I sure would like some,” Tim raised his eyebrows.

In response, Kon let out a chuckle, small but warm, the edges of his eyes crinkling in the way that made people fawn over Superman but made Tim fall even further and further in love with Kon.

“Well yes I know that, but I was just wondering...”

“Wondering what?”

Kon bit his lips before catching Tim’s eyes. “Maybe you’d like to taste something else?”

Tim stared at him for a second, stunned silence between them, before collapsing into laughter. “ Kon, oh my god!”

Tim looked up to see lips turned out in an adorable little pout. “What! I’m being serious, and it was a good line.”

“It most certainly was not a good line.”

“Cut me some slack here, Tim.”

“You mean like at Street Fighter? The way I cut you slack then?”

“Oh shut up. You cheat. I don’t know how you do, but you cheat .”

And suddenly Tim found himself in Kon’s arms, leaning into the taller boy. Kon tightened his grip around Tim, fingers finding Tim’s waist, and cradling him gently.

“It may have been a terrible line,” Tim smiled up at Kon, “but it worked.”

He leaned forward, placing a kiss to Kon’s lips, delicate but not at all fragile. Kon looked awestruck for a minute, before swooping back down and capturing Tim’s lips again. Passive at first, Tim soon pressed back, letting the push-pull rhythm come naturally. They slowed down, came to a stop while resting their foreheads against each other, Kon bent over and Tim on his tip-toes and arched back, but not uncomfortable at all.

“Okay but did my line actually work?” Kon asked against Tim’s lips, biting his own nervously. “Can I do this again? Because I’d really like to do this again.”

Laughter bubbled out of Tim, easy as breathing, and he pulled back to catch the other boy’s eyes. “Yes. We can do this again. But nacho fries first. Food, then kisses.”

Kon nodded. “Food, then kisses.”

Tim blinked awake, still curled up under the thin covers and swallowed by the pillows. This time, he could feel the tears pricking at his eyes, and he let them fall. “Take me back,” he wasn't sure if he said that aloud, but then again, there was no one there to hear it. “I want to go back.”

He squeezed his eyes shut in vain, trying to will himself back to sleep. Then, he remembered the little bottle sitting in the bathroom, sleeping pills Dick had given him once that he refused to use. He threw the covers back and found the thing resting on the sink. He tore it open and shook one, two, three, four pills into his hands. Tipping his head back, he swallowed them dry, then stumbled back into bed.

“The arcade,” he said to himself, burying his limbs under that T-shirt that still somehow smelled like Kon. “We were at the arcade.”

_________

“Cloning attempt ninety-seven unsuccessful.”

“Diagnostic.”

“Protein failure in link-”

“You know what? No. Forget it. I don’t want to know. Just run it again.”

“Suggested solution-”

“I don’t care! I don’t care, just try. Again.”

“Cloning attempt ninety-eight initiated.”

#scribbles from the swamp #tim drake #red robin #robin #kon-el #conner kent #superboy #timkon #dc #tim drake fic #tim drake fanfic #red robin fic #red robin fanfic #robin fic #robin fanfic #timkon fic #timkon fanfic #dc fic #dc fanfic

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takaraphoenix · 5 years

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1, 6, 15, 17, 23, 41 aand 44 please

Thanks for playing! <3

1. What was the first fandom you got involved in?

The first I got involved in? Not wrote, but just... involved. Mh. It’s gotta be One Piece, that’s where I discovered fanart and fanfiction for the first time. First fic I ever read was some self-insert love-triangle between a Mary-Sue and Luffy and Ace and I absolutely loved it because the mere fact that here, for free, I just got to read about my favorite characters and my favorite anime was absolutely mindblowing.

6. List your OTP from each fandom you’ve been involved in.

Holy effing shit this one alone will take A LONG TIME. Okay. Cutting this short to actually involved in, as in I actively read or wrote in that fandom, not every time a ship caught my fancy. And only one OTP per fandom, the top OTP.

Also, alphabetical order.

Ace of Diamond: Miyuki Kazuya/Sawamura Eijun

Arrowverse: Mick Rory/Leonard Snart/Barry Allen

Avatar - Legend of Korra: Iroh II/Bolin (I never really got into TLA when it came to fanfiction)

Ben 10: Rook Blonko/Ben Tennyson (HIGHLY UNTERRATED SHIP!)

Beyblade: Yuriy Iwanov/Rei Kon (my second-ever fandom where I actually got active as a writer! ;^;)

Card Captor Sakura: Spinel Sun/Keroberos

Charmed: Cole Turner/Phoebe Halliwell

Chicago Fire: Kelly Severide/Matt Casey

Danny Phantom: Danny Phantom/Danny Fenton (...and here, you can see exhibit A as to how I got into selfcest)

Death Note: Yagami Light/L

Descendants: Prince Pen/Carlos de Vil

Detective Conan: Kuroba Kaito/Kudou Shinichi

Digimon: Motomiya Daisuke/Takaishi Takeru

Dragon Prince: Soren/Callum

Entourage: Ariel Gold/Eric Murphy

Eureka: Nathan Stark/Jack Carter

Fairy Tail: Loke/Lucy Heartfilia (it’s my OTP, but it’s not the ship I was reading xD)

Fast and the Furious: Dominic Toretto/Brian O’Conner

Free!: Yamazaki Sousuke/Nanase Haruka

Glee: David Karofsky/Kurt Hummel/Noah Puckerman

Grimm: Eddie Monroe/Nick Burckhardt

Haikyuu!!: Kozume Kenma/Hinata Shouyou

Harry Potter: Fred & George Weasley/Harry Potter

Heroes: Gabriel Gray/Peter Petrelli

Hetalia Axis Powers: France/Germany

Hunger Games: Cato/Peeta Mellark

Imposters: Richard Evans/Ezra Bloom

Inuyasha: Kouga/Inuyasha

Jungle Book: Shere Khan/Bagheera

How to Train Your Dragon/Rise of the Guardians: Hiccup Haddock/Jack Frost

Killjoys: Prima Dezz/Johnny Jaqobis

Kim Possible: Shego/Kim Possible

Kingdom Hearts: Axel/Sora

Kuroko no Basuke: Takao Kazunari/Kuroko Tetsuya

Lord of the Rings: Gimli/Legolas

Lucifer: Mazikeen Smith/Chloe Decker

MacGyver: Jack Dalton/Angus MacGyver

Magi Legend of the Labyrinth: Sinbad/Alibaba Saluja

Marvel: it’s a tie between Loki/Tony Stark and Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark

Maze Runner: Newt/Thomas

Merlin: Gwaine/Merlin

Miraculous Ladybug: Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Adrien Agreste

Musketeers: Porthos/Athos/Aramis/D’Artagnan

One Piece: Trafalgar Law/Monkey D. Luffy

Percy Jackson: Nico di Angelo/Percy Jackson

Pitch Perfect: Kommissar/Beca Mitchell

Prince of Stride: Suwa Reiji/Fujiwara Takeru

Psych; Carlton Lassiter/Shawn Spencer

Ranma 1/2: Ryoga Hibiki/Ranma Saotome

Riverdale: Jughead Jones/Archie Andrews

Road to El Dorado: Tulio/Miguel

Royal Pains: Boris Küster von Jürgens-Ratenicz/Henry Lawson

Sailor Moon: Kou Seiya/Tsukino Usagi tied with Tenoh Haruka/Tsukino Usagi

Scrubs: Percival Cox/JD Dorian

Shadowhunters: Magnus Bane/Jace Herondale

Sky High: Warren Peace/Will Stronghold

Sleeping Beauty: Maleficent/Aurora

Smallville: Oliver Queen/Clark Kent

Teen Wolf: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski

Transformers: Ironhide/William Lennox/Sam Witwicky

Trollhunters: Draal/Jim Lake

Twilight: Edward Cullen/Jacob Black

Vampire Academy: Mason Ashford/Christian Ozera

Voltron: Takashi Shirogane/Keith Kogane/Lance McClain

Wicked: Elphaba Thropp/Glinda of the Arduennas

Young Justice: Roy Harper/Dick Grayson

Yu-Gi-Oh!: Kaiba Seto/Jonouchi Katsuya (the first ever ship I wrote for!!!)

15. Is there an obscure ship which you love?

I mean. 75% of the ships I love are “obscure”. I... I always find the very obvious mainstream ships... boring. I mean, sometimes I find them nice in canon, but mostly I find canon to provide enough about them that I don’t really need fandom to get more of it, you know? Or, which also often happens, I find the mainstream ships have more of a very strong friendship-dynamic, or even a sibling-dynamic in some cases, and I just can’t really find it in myself to want to see them in a romantic way.

So, if I have to pick an, as in one, obscure ship, I will have to go with my top OTP. Jagnus. Jace and Magnus literally lived together, in both the show-canon and the book-canon, yet somehow it is an “obscure” ship. I mean, not somehow, we all know why. It’s the unwritten fandom rule of “canon mlm shall NEVER EVER BE BROKEN UP HOW DARE YOU SHIP ONE WITH SOMEONE ELSE”. You have no idea how often that rule has come between me and my OTP. Basically every time there is a canon mlm ship, really.

And this in no way or shape means to criticize those who only ship canon and are content with it, you do you, but I do find the lack of creativity in shipping in fandom where there is a canon mlm ship... really damn boring. Fandoms without canon mlm representation have the wildest constellations of ships, have a far broader variety of content, but when there is canon mlm, the majority of a fandom tends to just happily sit down with it and hug it and prefer not to be creative with the content and the shipping. And as a certified multishipper, I don’t really get that - like, even if you like the canon, you could have multiple ships?

17. Who was your first OTP and are they still your favourite?

My first OTP was Shere Khan/Bagheera, because gods do I love Jungle Cubs. And while other ships I interact more with have pushed it off the throne, if I see any form of Sheregheera content, I am immediately sucked in, no questions asked, no hesitation. I am utterly in love with this very rare, small, very obscure actually, ship and I will always love it and it still is one of my favorites.

23. Name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of & explain why you like it.

Ooof. Interesting one. I’ve done a variety of PJO fics I’m particularly fond of in previous versions of such a question, so let’s go with something else this time. “The Lost Soulmarks”. It’s, at this point, probably my own personal most reread story. I just reread it the other night, actually. It just - it hits all of the right spots in what I want from a fic. Very often, I write to please my readers, with “What do my followers like most?” in my mind at least to a certain degree, but some things are absolutely self-indulgent. And I should really write more absolutely self-indulgent fics because those are the ones I myself keep coming back to. It has ABO-verse, it has soulmates, it’s Jace-centric, with lots of love, misunderstandings but not the kind where one of them is to blame but rather where it’s due to the circumstances, it’s really emotionally painful, but pays off in the end. It’s... seriously those are all the things I love.

41. List and link to 5 fanfics you are currently reading:

Uuuhm so like five WIPs where I am desperately waiting for updates?

Shadowhunters, Jagnus: “Non-Fat Frappuccino With Extra Whipped Cream” by @kimmycup - it’s my top OTP and my best friend gave it to me but now she is slowly murdering me with the wait for part 2

Shadowhunters, Jimon: “Strings” by annhamilton - I looove this story, only recently discovered it and fell in love with it and am now not-quite-patiently waiting for the next chapter

Avengers, WinterIron: “(Iron Is A) Star Killer” by RayShippouUchiha - a fic I read... a while ago and recently rediscovered with the latest update and am now desperately waiting for more!

Avengers, WinterIron: “An Unempty Nest” by gryvon - same as the one above, I read this a while ago and forgot about it and recently rediscovered it for myself and still love it

Avengers, Steve/Bucky/Tony/Tony: “Second Chance (at happiness)” by SailorChibi - I got this fic recommended and devoured it in one sitting and have since then checked nearly daily for updates because I greatly enjoy it!

44. What ship do you feel needs more attention?

*bangs potts and pans together* JAGNUS JAGNUS JAGNUS SERIOUSLY THEY LIVED TOGETHER. THEY LITERALLY WERE ROOMMATES. IN ANY OTHER FANDOM THAT’D HAVE TAKEN OFF LIKE NOTHING ELSE. THE PARALLELS BETWEEN THEM!! LET. MY. GOLDEN. EYED. BOYS. FIND. HAPPINESS. IN. EACH. OTHER.

Fanfiction Ask Game

#Fanfiction Ask Game #send me asks #Anonymous

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recentanimenews · 3 years

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FEATURE: How ODDTAXI's Animals Take on Adult Loneliness and Coping

There’s a lot of good anime airing this season. Do you like intense war stories? Go watch 86 EIGHTY-SIX. Found family stories starring giant robots? SSSS.Dynazenon. Austere slice of life about a girl riding a motor scooter? Super Cub. But for those true blue anime-heads searching in vain for the shock of the new, the defining series of this spring for me has been ODDTAXI — an ongoing show about a walrus riding a cab that combines the rapid-fire prattle of Pulp Fiction with Twin Peaks’ sudden swings between comedy and festering horror.

There are many reasons to love ODDTAXI. There’s the contrast between the humorous dialogue, loaded with references to everything from YouTube to Bruce Springsteen, and the lurking darkness that seeps in when you least expect it. There’s a diverse cast of characters, which includes down-on-their-luck comedians, indebted llamas smuggling meds, and gacha-mad cats out for revenge. It’s a show about many things: social media, the generation gap, the entertainment industry, organized crime, and mental illness. I’ve known older anime fans who are tired of shows about and for teenagers who want work targeted at their specific age bracket. To which I say: What kind of adult are you? A struggling college student? A working adult? No anime I’ve seen produced in the past decade explores the contradictions of modern adult life as thoroughly as ODDTAXI does.

But there’s something else about ODDTAXI that commands my attention. Folks I follow on the internet have been keeping a close eye on the taxi driver Odokawa, trying to figure out if the show’s animalistic character designs are nothing more than his hallucination. But outside of Odokawa, you just have to ask: is everyone else on the show doing okay?

Just look at Shigaki and Baba, known together as the comedy duo "Homosapiens." Nobody wants to make it big in the comedy world as much as Shigaki does. Baba, his hapless partner and friend, is along for the ride. But when Baba begins to try out for other roles in the entertainment industry, he quickly eclipses Shigaki in fame. Baba doesn’t want success nearly as much as Shigaki, yet success falls right into his lap; despite working his butt off, Shigaki struggles to get by as a radio comedian. All Shigaki wants is to be recognized for his efforts, yet that recognition is always just out of reach. Will he die before he receives the acclaim he thinks he deserves?

Or see Tanaka, a game developer haunted since childhood by feelings of insufficiency — never cool enough to be someone’s friend, never smart or skilled enough to be worthy of love. He redirects those feelings first into hunting rare erasers as a child, and then into spending all of his savings on a gacha game. Desperately trying to obtain a rare dodo character in the game, he loses his job, his pet, and his own sanity. What kind of life would one have to live for a crude computer image of a dodo to be your white whale? Tanaka wants the dodo, but what does he need?

Plenty of anime characters have ambitions. Some characters in ODDTAXI, like Shigaki, have ambitions, but others just want things. Some need money to pay their dues. Others buy CDs to support their favorite musical acts. Like many working adults who seek comfort in routine so as to avoid looking at the gaping hole at the center of their own lives, much of the cast of ODDTAXI participate in unhealthy coping mechanisms so as to forget their lack of control. They do so to escape the debtors breathing down their necks, the perceived happiness and success of their friends, and the fact that the idol you support will never really know or care about you.

Since this is a show about adults, it’s also worth thinking about the elephant in the room: the ticking clock of age. Shigaki isn’t a Luffy or a Naruto, and he’s running out of time to make it big. What would Shigaki do with his life if he never does? What would someone like Tanaka be willing to sacrifice in order to prove that his life meant something? Meanwhile, the protagonist Odakawa is liked by others, justly or not, because he is reliable: as a 40-year-old taxi driver, he makes decisions according to his own principles and rarely succumbs to the insecurity chasing everyone else. Of course, we’ve seen hints that Odakawa is nursing an even deeper wound. We just don’t know.

There’s a ghost haunting Odakawa’s town. The teenage girl that goes missing at the start of the series, and whose presence is an ongoing mystery. But it’s also a hollow that torments every member of the cast in their own special way. A mysterious broken promise. It’s something that I know, and you know. The miracle of the city, the chance to have what you’ve always wanted, always out of reach. As ODDTAXI reaches its midpoint, we have already begun to see the human cost taken as the city’s linked strivers plot and counterplot on the streets for that shining impossible thing.

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine on Twitter compared ODDTAXI to Paranoia Agent, Satoshi Kon’s bizarre 2004 drama about a vicious social contagion. I thought that comparison was on point, which is shocking: How many other shows are out there like Paranoia Agent? Nothing, until now. ODDTAXI is comparatively small and cheap, a show about a 40-year-old walrus who drives a cab. But if we see another show this year that strives as boldly to capture the social malaise that dominates capitalist city life — that futile longing, that gnawing hunger leading to self-destruction — I’ll be very surprised.

Are you watching ODDTAXI? Who is your favorite character? What’s the most regrettable decision you’ve ever made playing a gacha game? Let us know in the comments!

Adam W is a Features Writer on Crunchyroll. When he isn't thinking about Beastars, he sporadically contributes with a loose coalition of friends to a blog called Isn't it Electrifying. You can find him on Twitter at: @wendeego

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a feature, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: Adam Wescott

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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weekendwarriorblog · 5 years

Text

WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND August 30, 2019 - Labor Day Blahs

I was trying to decide whether to do one of these this week, because it’s Labor Day weekend, and this is likely to be a particularly short column because I HAVEN’T SEEN ANYTHING! In fact, I’m not even doing my regular Box Office Preview column over at The Beat, because there just doesn’t seem to be much point to it. There used to be a time when studios would release movies over the four-day holiday weekend but not so much anymore, and this is a particularly weak Labor Day with no new movies opening in 1,000 theaters or more. No, it’s more about reexpanding movies already in theaters like Spider-Man: Far from Home in order to try to make more money before the summer is over. But if this is boring, you can also read my 2019 Summer Box Office wrap-up over at The Beat.

The only new “wide” release is BH Tilt’s latest release DON’T LET GO, a thriller directed by Jacob Estes (Rings) and starring David Oyelowo and Storm Reid from A Wrinkle in Time, and it’s not even opening in 1,000 theaters. It might not even get into the top 10. Apparently, BH Tilt is now going as “OTL Releasing” but I don’t think this movie has as much buzz as Leigh Whannell’s Upgrade, released by Blumhouse’s distribution branch in June 2018 to make $4.7 million opening weekend and $14.4 million total domestic. I don’t see Don’t Let Goopening that big as its plot is far vaguer, and I think if this make more than $4 million over the four-day holiday, it would be considered a coup since it’s only playing in less than 1,000 theaters. Who knows? I might even go see it on a lark.

Interestingly, there are two foreign language films from other countries (because as hard as it might be to believe, they speak other languages in other countries!) getting moderate releases this weekend: Sujeeth’s Bollywood action-thriller SAAHO (Yash Raj Films) and from Mexico, Ariel Winograd’s Spanish language TOD@S CAEN released by Lionsgate’s LatinX division Pantelion Films. I will be the first to admit that I’m not the best person to gauge interest in either movie because they’re not my communities, so I rarely see much marketing for these films.

Opening on Thursday, Saaho actually looks pretty cool, and if I can find three hours of time over Labor Day, I might actually check it out. It’s being released in three languages versions: Hindi, Telugu and Tamil, all with English subtitles, and that seems very groundbreaking, and it will also be in IMAX theaters. This could be another hit for Yash Raj ala the “Dhoom” series—Dhoom 3 opened with $3.4 million in 239 theaters in 2013 -- and possibly the studio’s widest release since 2018’s Thugs of Hindostan.

Check out the Hindi trailer below:

youtube

(Oddly, Saaho was supposed to be released on India’s Independence Day August 15, but then was pushed back to American Labor Day. Bollywood films tend to get day and date releases nationwide to avoid piracy.)

Tod@s Caen (pronounced “todos caen” – don’t yell at me! It wasn’t my idea!) stars Omar Chapparo, the hot Mexican star from Pantelion’s hits No manches Frida and its sequel plus How to Be a Latin Lover. No manches Frida grossed about $11.5 million after its $4.6 million opening over Labor Day in 2016 while the sequel opened slightly bigger this past March but grossed less. Latin Lover was a huge crossover success for Chapparo and Pantelion, grossing $32.1 million. This is likely to be more in the former category and opening in 365 theaters, it probably can make around $3 million or more.

STREAMING AND CABLE

There aren’t many movies I can recommend, but at least I can recommend the new Netflix series THE DARK CRYSTAL: THE AGE OF RESISTANCE, which is a prequel to the 1982 Jim Henson movie that was made quite lovingly using the same puppeteering techniques as well as some of the same designers from the original movie. Plus the series has an absolutely brilliant voice cast that includes Taron Egerton, Helena Bonham-Carter, Anya Taylor-Joy, Alicia Vikander, Sigourney Weaver, Natalie Dormer, Lena Headey, Jason Isaacs, Theo James, Mark Strong, Toby Jones, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Simon Pegg and many, many more. As someone who wasn’t really a fan of the original movie, I found myself quite wrapped up in this series, having watched the first five episodes so far, and I think fans and non-fans alike will dig it.

You can read my interview with the writers over at The Beat.

(Netflix is also releasing a movie called Falling In Love, starring Christina Millan and Adam Demos... but that title... I just can’t!

Amazon Prime will begin streaming its own fantasy series, the very different Carnival Row, starring Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne, on Friday. It’s a steampunk noir crime series in which Bloom is an inspector trying to solve some Jack the Ripper style murders of the city’s fae and puck population, fantastical creatures who act as the city’s slave labor. I didn’t enjoy this nearly as much as it just doesn’t feel like my kind of thing even though I do love Victorian era stuff usually. I think it just hasn’t found its footing in the couple episodes I’ve seen. I also interviewed a few of the actors which will be on The Beat later today.

LIMITED RELEASES

Okay, I definitely lied as I’ve also seen Kim Farrant’s ANGEL OF MINE (Lionsgate), an amazing psychological drama starring Noomi Rapace as a woman whose daughter died but whom thinks that her neighbor’s daughter is actually her own. Also starring Yvonne Strahovski, Luke Evans and Richard Roxburgh, this mostly Australian film is actually a little like the recent After the Weddingin terms of the strangeness of its premise but it’s handled more like a thriller and Rapace gives another stirring performance. It will be in select cities starting Friday, and I recommend checking it out, especially if, like me, you’re a long-time fan of Ms. Rapace.

youtube

Never got around to seeing Gavin Hood’s new movie OFFICIAL SECRETS (IFC Films), because I’m such a fan of Keira Knightley, and in this one she plays Katharine Gun, a British intelligence specialist handling classified information in the lead-up to the Iraq War in 2003. She receives a shocking memo from the NSA seeking help in collecting information on UN Security Council members to blackmail them into supporting an invasion of Iraq.

Hannah Pearl Utt’s BEFORE YOU KNOW IT (1091) stars the co-writer/director as stage manager Rachel Gurner who lives in her childhood apartment with her sister Jackie (Jen Tullock), father Mel (Mandy Patinkin) and preteen niece Dodge (Oon Yaffe) above the theater they own and operate. After a tragedy, the two sisters find out their mother, long thought dead (Judith Light) is still alive working on soap operas and they need to come to terms with that. The movie also stars Mike Colter and Alec Baldwin and it opens in select cities.

Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst also has a new movie as director, a thriller called THE FANATIC (Quiver Distribution), starring Devon Sawa from Final Destination and John Travolta. Travolta plays movie fan Moose who is obsessed with his favorite action hero Hunter Dunbar, played by Sawa. With the help of his paparazzi photographer friend Leah (Ana Golja), Moose tries to find Moose as his interactions with the celebrity become more dangerous as Moose becomes more obsessed.

Liam Hemsworth from “The Hunger Games” stars in Malik Bader’s Killerman (Blue Fox Studios) as a New York money launderer who wants to find answers after waking up with no memory and with millions in cash and drugs, as he’s chased by a team of dirty cops. The movie also stars Emory Cohen, Diane Guerrero (“Orange is the New Black”) and Suraj Sharma from Life of Pi, and it’s getting a small theatrical release in select cities.

Now playing at New York’s Film Forum is Marjoline Boonstra’s doc The Miracle of the Little Prince (Film Movement) which looks at the sustained global popularity of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince in the eight decades since it was first published.

Opening in IMAX theaters Thursday and then nationwide Sept 6 is the Chinese animated film Ne Zha (WELL Go) about a young boy with superpowers who must decide between good and evil.

There’s a couple other things but I’m so behind for the weekend that I’m done.

REPERTORY

A few rep things to mention before we get to the regular theaters. The Wachowski’s original The Matrix will be celebrating its 20thanniversary with a rerelease across the nation in Dolby theaters, so I’ll be seeing that Thursday night. The Alamo in Brooklyn is also screening a special 70mm print of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, and that’s where I’ll be on Saturday.

METROGRAPH (NYC):

On Friday, the Metrograph will begin screening a 35mm print of Eric Roehmer’s 1986 film Le Rayon Vert, but there lots of series continiung through the weekend including the “Shaw Sisters” series which is fairly interesting so far. Angie Chen’s Maybe It’s Love (1984) plays again on Thursday evening –that’s a weird one—and Ann Hui’s Starry Is the Night (1988) will play tomorrow and Sunday and a few others. If you want to see a weird and really bad but very funny horror film, you have to check out Angela Mak’s The Siamese Twins on Saturday night, plus there’s a few more I haven’t seen. The Metrograph has also expanded its “Godard/Karina Late Nights” series so that you can see Alphaville (1965) and Pierrot Le Fou (1965), both beloved classics, through the weekend, as well as this weekend’s offering to the series, 1962’s Vivre Sa Vie. This week’s Late Nites at Metrograph is Leo Carax’sHoly Motors (2012) and Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue but you can also see the late Japanese filmmaker’s excellent Paprika (2006) through the weekend, as well. This weekend’s Playtime: Family Matinees is another Ray Harryhausen classic, 1963’s Jason and the Argonauts.

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

The New Bev ends its month of mostly showing Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood before returning to repertory fare next week, but its Weds. matinee is the 1953 Western comedy Calamity Jane, this weekend’s KIDDEE MATINE is Disney’s The Ugly Dachsund (1966) starring Dean Jones, and then on Monday, you have two chances to see Michael Mann’s 1995 crime-thriller Heat, although you’ll have to see it at 9:30AM cause the usual 2pm matinee is sold out.

AERO (LA):

Thursday begins a “Sellers and Southern Double Feature” series (?) of Dr. Strangelove (1964) with The Magic Christian (1969), Friday is a double feature of 1999’s Office Space with Kevin Smith’s Clerks(1994) and then on Saturday is a Mad Max TRIPLE Feature of the first three movies: Mad Max (1979), The Road Warrior (1982) and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985). Sunday is a special screening of Thom Anderson’s 2003 film Los Angeles Plays Itself, and Monday begins Aero’s “Heptember Matinees” series as in Katherine Hepburn, and it kicks off with 1940’s The Philadelphia Story.

FILM FORUM (NYC):

Marty and Jay’s Double Features runs through next Thursday and there are one or two of these double features every day with a mix of classics and esoteric and rare stuff. You can click on the link to see all that’s playing.

FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER (NYC):

“Make My Day: American Movies in the Age of Reagan” continues up at Lincoln Center through Tuesday with highlights like Robocop, David Cronenberg’s Videodrome, Scorsese’s The King of Comedy and The Last Temptation of Christ, Conan the Barbarian, First Blood and more.

IFC CENTER (NYC)

This week’s Weekend Classics: Staff Picks Summer 2019 is the original, classic King Kong, while Waverly Midnights: Staff Picks Summer 2019 is Office Space (1999) and Russ Meyers’ Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970). Late Night Favorites: Summer 2019 is Aliens, Suspiria and Eraserhead, just in case you missed any of those the dozen other times they’ve been shown.

BAM CINEMATEK (NYC):

Saturday’s “Beyond the Canon” offering is a double feature of Haifaa Al-Mansour’s Wadja from 2012 and Wim Wender’s 1974 film Alice in the Cities. BAM is also showing the second part of its “Programmers Notebook: On Memory” with offerings like Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life, Christopher Nolan’s Memento, Kurosawa’s Rashomon, Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (of course) and more!

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

“See It Big! 70mm” will screen Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One on Friday and Saturday evenigs but ALSO, they’re showing one of my favorite comedies It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) in 70mm on Saturday afternoon.

ROXY CINEMA (NYC)

Tonight and Sunday, the Roxy is showing the 1965 film Juliet of the Spirits. On Saturday, the theater is showing Agnes Varda’s 1965 film Le Bonheur.

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART (LA):

This week’s Friday night midnight film is Miyazaki’s Spirited Away.

This weekend, the Egyptianin L.A. is taken over by the Cinecon Classic Film Festivaland you can find out what that consists at the official site.

Next week, New Line releases It: Chapter Two, which I probably will have seen by the time you read this but probably will still be under embargo.

#WhatToWatchThisWeekend Movies Streaming Repertory

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fire-fira · 7 years

Text

Tagged by the fantastic @puddingmcmuffin

PICK YOUR TOP 10 SHIPS WITHOUT READING THE QUESTIONS

No real order to these tbh:

Bluepulse OT3 (Jaime Reyes/Khaji Da/Bart Allen - Young Justice)

Devilfish (Lagoon Boy/Kid Devil - crackship from YJ and DC more in general)

TimKon (DC comics and pretty much any iteration thereof)

HarleyIvy (DC comics)

VRichie (Static/Gear- Static Shock)

Shatt (<<<I hate this ship name, Shiro/Matt- Voltron)

Silvergifting (Tyelperinquar/Mairon - Tolkien)

Koy (Roy/Kaldur- Young Justice)

Fem!Shepllura (Fem!Shepard/Allura- crack ship from Mass Effect and Voltron)

FenHawke (Fenris/Hawke- Dragon Age II)

DO YOU REMEMBER THE EPI/SCENE/CHAPTER THAT YOU FIRST STARTED SHIPPING 6?

Tbh it wasn’t until after I’d seen all of season 1 and was RPing with @dizsasqua that it just sort of fell into place and made sense. And what’s more, it makes so much sense to me that now it’s pretty much impossible for me to ship Shiro with anyone else.

YOU EVER READ A FIC ABOUT 2?

roflmao Are you kidding? I thought up the ship in the first place. Seven of the 8 fics that currently exist I wrote alone (and yes, have read multiple times), and the 8th one I co-wrote with @onyxdragonx. I have even more in the works (two currently in progress), and if anyone else ever writes fics for the Devilfish ship I will probably be shrieking for days and re-read them 500 times and more.

HAVE A PICTURE OF 4 EVER BEEN YOUR SCREENSAVER/PROFILE PICTURE?

Noooope. I don’t tend to have ship pics as my profile pic, screensaver, or even background. I usually prefer more nature-y stuff for things like that. Though I do tend to go for having a single character I like as my profile pic, but I’ve never had one with Harley or Ivy (mostly out of maintaining a certain amount of distance so I’m less likely to get ‘she’d XP).

IF 7 WERE TO SUDDENLY BREAK UP TODAY, WHAT WOULD YOUR REACTION BE?

Silvergifting - Considering that in canon Mairon killed Tyelpe and used him as his banner that would probably be an improvement. In the best iterations though, I would have to wonder what happened just because they’re one of those unbreakable couples. (Needless to say, I only really go with the best iterations.)

WHY IS 1 SO IMPORTANT?

Bluepulse OT3- OMFG. They are adorable, they are wonderful, and they are a perfect example of a healthy poly relationship where everyone has a say and boundaries are respected across the board. They know how to play around and goof off, they’re always there for each other, and they’re wonderfully supportive of each other without any bullshit jealousy creeping in. And OMFG they are so good about communicating with each other so that none of them end up feeling neglected and just- fffffrrrrraaaaaaaaa I can’t even put it into words! I LOVE THESE THREE.

WHICH ONE HAS THE STRONGEST BOND?

Uh... All of them? I kind of have a thing for ships with REALLY strong bonds to the point where they’re unbreakable.

HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU READ/WATCHED 10’S FANDOM?

FenHawke - I’ve seen a playthrough of the game once (thanks to my fiance @radioactive-earthshine) and we’re going through for the second time. I’m still relatively new to the Dragon Age fandom, so I haven’t gotten all that in-depth yet (though thank you fanfiction and all of the various fantastic authors).

WHICH SHIP HAS LASTED THE LONGEST?

I’m tempted to say HarleyIvy or TimKon, but if we go by how long a relationship lasted in canon, it would definitely have to be Silvergifting (definitely not going to argue with a relationship lasting a couple hundred years at least).

HOW MANY TIMES IF EVER HAS 6 BROKEN UP?

Shatt- They kind of weren’t even together when they got abducted by the Galra Empire, so unless they kind of got together while they were captured, not really ever. If they did get together, then once, when Shiro escaped.

IF THE WORLD WAS SUDDENLY THRUST INTO A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE WHICH SHIP WOULD MAKE IT OUT ALIVE, 2 OR 8?

Devilfish vs Koy - lol What are the chances it’d be the two ships with atlanteans? Seriously though, while I think both ships would stand a good chance of surviving, I think the thing that would give Eddie and La’gaan the edge over Roy and Kaldur is the fact that Eddie is a pyrokinetic and could set fire to any zombies before they got anywhere close to him or La’gaan (and for La’gaan and Kaldur it doesn’t hurt that they have really durable skin that’s comparatively hard to cut or break). Where Kaldur and Roy would have the disadvantage is the fact that if Roy got bitten (being that for the most part he’s a normal human) they would be screwed.

DID 7 EVER HAVE TO HIDE THEIR RELATIONSHIP FOR ANY REASON?

Silvergifting - rofl OMFG YES. Most of Tyelpe’s remaining family were absolutely convinced that Mairon was evil and didn’t trust him even before Tyelpe met him. So yeah, you can bet that their relationship initially was pretty freaking quiet.

IS 4 STILL TOGETHER?

HarleyIvy- YES. AND THEY’RE CANON! *insert maniacal laughter here*

IS 10 CANON?

FenHawke- If you play the game through that way, then absolutely hell yes.

IF ALL 10 SHIPS WERE PUT INTO A COUPLE’S HUNGER GAMES WHICH COUPLE WOULD WIN?

It would be between TimKon and Silvergifting, with VRichie and Bluepulse OT3 coming in second. TimKon because holy fucking shit TIM (he would assess everyone’s weaknesses and have contingency plans from hell in very short order), and Silvergifting because Mairon and Tyelpe working together are damn near a force of nature and terrifyingly intelligent. Both Virgil and Richie are pretty freaking smart, but they both lack the sort of laser-precision Tim and Mairon have. Khaji Da has that sort of laser-precision, but he’s got some blind spots that would cost him, Jaime, and Bart if they went up against Tim and Kon or Mairon and Tyelpe-- otherwise the three of them would have it in the bag.

HAS ANYBODY EVER TRIED TO SABOTAGE 5’S SHIP?

VRichie- Both of them to a certain degree; mainly due to Virgil being oblivious and chasing after his minor crushes (at least three girls-- Frieda, Daisy, and Shanice/Shebang) like a goober and not realizing that Richie had it bad for him, and due to Richie feeling like he initially couldn’t be open about the fact he was gay and assuming that there was no way in hell Virgil would be interested in him. So they more sabotaged themselves than anybody else sabotaging them.

WHICH SHIP WOULD YOU DEFEND UNTIL DEATH AND BEYOND?

I will ride or die for all of them.

DO YOU SPEND HOURS A DAY GOING THROUGH 3’S TUMBLR PAGES?

TimKon - I haven’t gone through their tag on tumblr all that much, but I have combed through what’s available on Ao3. Several times. Even spent time looking through fics on Ao3 while I was in a class that I eventually dropped because there was just too much work for me to keep up with.

IF AN EVIL WITCH DESCENDED FROM THE SKY AND TOLD YOU THAT YOU HAD TO PICK 1 OF THE 10 SHIPS TO BREAK UP FOREVER OR ELSE SHE’D BREAK THEM ALL UP FOREVER WHICH SHIP WOULD YOU SINK?

I’m echoing pudding on this-- that witch is dead.

Tagging: @radioactive-earthshine, @dizsasqua, @weirdnonsensefandomstuff, @angrylittlerainbow, @onyxdragonx, @insuffera6le6itch, and anyone else who cares to do this. n.n

#meme #pairing meme #long post #Bluepulse #Bluepulse OT3 #Devilfish #TimKon #HarleyIvy #VRichie #Shatt #Silvergifting #Koy #Fem!Shepllura #FenHawke

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introvertfox · 5 years

Text

Read/ Watched

About time I do this so my goldfish brain doesn’t forget their names. I hate banging my skull against the wall whenever I come across old books/ shows I love but forgotten their titles because I fall into new ones pretty quick. (Guess the name or cry in shame is not fun)

Also, to not interrupt scrolling, I’m using the thing...

I’ll keep editing this. Anyways, in no particular order, here goes nothing~

note: the italics* are a little ***** you know over 18/21

Books

Kane Chronicles

Percy Jackson/ Heroes of Olympus/ Magnus Chase

Harry Potter

Hunger Games

Daemon Hall

Darren Shan

Enid Blyton

Shattering Glass

Dandelion Clocks

13 Reasons Why

...

Manga/ Anime

Hunter X Hunter

Fairy Tail

Edens Zero

One Punch Man

My Hero Academia

Nenene

Horimiya

GANGSTA./ :Cursed

Magi

Noragami

Natsume Yuujinchou

Spy X Family

Hirunaka no Ryuusei

Sugars

Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet

Tsuyukaoru

My Roommate is a Cat

Orange

Doodle

Ao Haru Ride

Koi to Uso

Go-Toubun no Hanayome

Way of the Househusband

Hare Kon*

Anonymous Noise

Diabolik Lovers

Kaichou-wa Maid-sama

Kaichou-kun no Shimobe

....

Webcomics/ Webtoons/ Lezhin

Something About Us

19 days

Tamen de Gushi

Land of Lions

Killing Stalking*

Perfect Half*

Lilith’s Cord*

Sow*

Orange Marmalade

Days of Hana

I Love Yoo

Siren’s Lament

Let’s Play

Silent Screams

Phantom Paradise

Spirit Fingers

Bluechair

Fragmented

Your Letter

The Colours of Youth

My Dear Cold-Blooded King

........

Cartoons/ Animations

Adventure Time

Regular Show

Teen Titans

Totally Spies

Winx

Lilo and Stitch

American Dragon: Jake Long

Kim Possible

.........

This “list” will never be complete. Materials will be consumed until I am no longer able to do so.

If you’re not me reading this, thanks for taking your time. Please don’t @ me for the ***** reads.

Istg Lezhin has the best ***** ones

#list #long post #fandoms #read #watched #will edit again and again

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theexperiment-hq-blog · 6 years

Photo

Conner Kent / Superboy, played by Basil

OOC Info

Name: Basil

Age: 20

Pronouns: they/them

Triggers: [redacted]

IC Info

Muse Name and Alias: Conner Kent/Kon El

What is your primary canon(s) for this character? 90s Comics

Approximate Age: 23, but looks barely 18

OTPs, BroTPs, NoTPs: all of the ships do it go

Give us a bulletpoint outline for what your character’s history might look like:

Conner was made in Cadmus labs by Lex Luthor using his own and Superman's DNA. He was initially to be a replacement for a 'dead' superman, which ended up being a complete failure given his lack of actual kryptonian abilities as well as not responding to mind control and being broken out early and escaping.

Conner is mixed and on the darker end of the spectrum, which is why he draws so much attention compared to friends like Bart who are on the same wavelength of obnoxious. On top of it, he's very out about being bisexual, which is a huge problem for most people since the last thing you need is someone who looks like a perpetual party boy kissing other boys on TV broadcasts. It's why some people can't stand him, even if Superman's initial stance on him didn't affect them. It's a race and queer thing, and he knows it is, but is very unapologetic about who he is.

Conner is closer than Lex than he is Clark for a variety of reasons; Clark initially rejected Conner, which forced him to go to Lex instead for practically everything from parental comfort to getting a piercing gun that would make it's way through his skin. He does easily find himself at odds with Lex given they both have different goals, but when it comes down to it, he knows he can count on Lex to have his back. He did initially get closer with Clark once he realized Conner wasn't completely terrible, but if he had to pick, Conner would still side with Lex in terms of the preferred parent.

He doesn't have superman's powers at all, but rather tactile telekinesis, which allows him to manipulate anything he touches, including himself. That's what gives him the ability to 'fly' and have 'super strength'. He is technically half kryptonian, meaning kryptonite weakens him, but he's 'normal' aside from that compared to other kryptonians.

Interview (Must be answered in character, third person, including both narrative and dialogue. Answer these as if you’re responding to a roleplay reply. Feel free to write as much as you like, but make sure there’s at least a good paragraph for each.)

What would it take for you to switch sides? (hero to villain; villain to hero; neutral to either)

"Well... Honestly?" Conner asked quietly, slouching back in his chair as if he was overly comfortable rather than off put at the question. "It's kind of something I quietly fight with all of the time." He admitted softly. "Heroes and villains are kind of this concept of right versus wrong, and if a lot of people think doing the right thing is wrong, then I guess I'm a bad guy." He quietly laced his gloved hands over his torso, as if preparing to settle in for a long nap. "Like with all of the current stuff going down on earth... Like Kaepernick for example-" He started, sitting up and holding his hands out to explain as if the answer was right in front of him. "The football guy who takes a knee over standing for the anthem? There are people who literally send this guy DEATH threats because of what he's doing. People think he's in the wrong- that he's a bad guy all for KNEELING because people are being KILLED. So again..." He shrugged quietly, as if it were obvious, yet terribly painful. "It's all perspective, so... it doesn't really matter- to some people we're ALREADY the bad guys. I'M already a bad guy..." He corrected softly, slouching forward on his knees and lacing his hands together, eyes locked on the floor. "As long as I'm doing what I want, it doesn't really matter... does it?" He asked, quietly looking up with a grin on his face, yet nothing about his expression said he thought this was funny- everything about it said this topic hurt.

How would you describe yourself? How would your friends describe you? How would the public describe you?

"Describe myself?" He asked with a laugh. "Dude, I’m a FULL TIME superhero and ‘Superboy’ is TRADEMARKED- Like there is an honest to god TM there, I'm a walking billboard for myself! Like I have friggin merchandise and shit, my guy. I don't HAVE to describe myself, Google me." He said with a hearty laugh as if this was genuinely funny to him. "My friends would probably say I'm a big meme, but it's whatever. If the worst they think I am is funny then I lucked out given genetics." He joked as if proving the point, giving a wide, brilliant smile. "The public's opinion can be swayed depending on the media they consume. I'm sure to some people I'm this really obnoxious punk kid who needs to get shot in the head," He made a gun motion and put it to the side of his head, sticking his pierced tongue out. "And I'm sure to others I'm a roll model- which is wild considering, but also at the same time like... I could be seriously worse." He leaned back with a wide grin, having fun with that question in particular, more than willing to show off his narcissism.

If you could gain any superpower/swap your superpower for another, what would it be and why?

"Oh man- actual Supes' powers, hands down." He quickly answered. "Like I'm basically a knock off man, everyone knows that. So like having legit xray vision that aren't in my shades or like heat ray vision or frost breath? A total package- the powers, I'm already the whole 9." He snickered, showing off his perfect teeth with a wide grin. "Sooo, this is where I make a plus one joke if you're free sometime." He added, winking at the interviewer.

What is a secret you have never told someone?

He paused, considering this. "...I mean a secret is generally something you try not to tell people, but... I mean considering, I guess now is a good a time as any to bring it up. Even people with super powers aren't like... invincible and unaffected. At the end of the day, we have to go home and deal with what happens, good or bad... and there's a lot of bad shit in there, you know?" He grumbled softly, shaking his head and resting his elbows on his knees. "Like you don't see the stuff we do- know people are being hurt and that you can help but for some reason couldn't and just... walk away from that unscathed. It messes you up. It's why good people go ape shit- they just can't do it anymore. You get PTSD and depression and like... I should probably be on meds or whatever, but..." He leaned back in his chair. "...Sometimes there are just days where I can't do sunshine and good times acts. Sometimes I gotta sit there for a week in the same shirt and not do my hair and live in a blanket cocoon while beating playing GTA seven times with some weird movie on in the back. I'm not always okay... and I guess the first step to handling that is to talk about it. I'm used to making a big scene, so... may as well let other people know that even superheroes need help some time, right?" He offered, giving an almost apologetic smile as if it was his fault he wasn't okay.

If there was one choice in your past you could change, what would it be?

He paused to think, reliving a few moments. "...I duuno. There's a lot of shit I probably shouldn't have done or changed." He admitted with a laugh. "Is this just one fuck up or can I fix a few? Because some part of me always regrets the firecracker incident." He said with a soundless snicker as he covered his hand with his mouth. "Uh... I'm not... gonna say what it is, but even though it's funny now it put my stupid ass in the hospital for a little bit because I'll basically let Tim talk me into anything because he's my favorite kind of cute." He couldn't help but snicker the entire time he was talking, occasionally pausing to wheeze at the memory. "Ohhh, man... I cannot believe I'm still such a hot mess, I'd probably still do that now if I got trashed enough because it's so funny. So I guess never mind on that? I dunno man there's serious shit I can think of too but like... Jeezus christ I can't even think now." He dissolved into laughter again, covering his face with his hand while he couldn't stop himself from laughing so hard.

If you had one day where you could do anything you want, free of consequences, what would you do?

Conner paused, thinking quietly about all of the good he could do. How he could handle the root issues of wars. How he could have Tim help him hack into obnoxiously rich people's bank accounts to solve socioeconomic issues- literally fix things like world hunger with that alone. How he could hurl some people into the sun- kiss girls and guys and anything in between without them getting upset for some reason or another. How he could take a damn day off without feeling guilty about it- maybe catch up on playing some NES games he hadn't touched in a while. So many ideas came to mind at the concept of it being 'consequence free'. But no. He could do something much more devastating. Something that would state the little terror that was always nagging at him to shove someone off of a roof or punch someone into a yard or steal a dog just because it was cute. A wide grin grew on his face that said he was very much Lex as he was Clark. "...I'd give Lex Luthor a wedgie so hard he's underwear would rip and then would leave him hanging from some really public place where everyone could see him." He couldn't help but laugh half way though his sentence, the idea fucking hysterical to him.

Extras

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Eminem's 'Revival': Track-by-Track Guide to New Album

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Eminem's 'Revival': Track-by-Track Guide to New Album

Craig McDean

Eminem, the best-selling rapper of all time, returned at midnight with Revival, his first album in four years. The new LP sprawls across 19 tracks, touching on rock, gospel, pop and, of course, hard-bitten hip-hop. Eminem veers from sassy to self-deprecating, dependent to dismissive, murderous to politically conscious, uncontrollably lusty to borderline repentant, sometimes all within the same song. He raps over skeletal, golden-age beats courtesy of Rick Rubin and stirring piano ballads from longtime collaborator Alex da Kid; he teams up with locally known artists like Phresher as well as global stars like Beyoncé, Pink and Alicia Keys. Across it all, Eminem remains intent on convincing listeners that he’s still at the top of his game: “Will I ever fall off/That day’ll never come.” Here’s a guide to understanding the album’s producers, songwriters, guests and key themes.

1. “Walk On Water” feat. Beyoncé Back in 2000, Eminem opened The Marshall Mathers LP with a sarcastic public service announcement: “Slim Shady does not give a fuck what you think!” It got nastier (and funnier) from there. But that was the old Marshall, and it turns out the new Marshall really does give a fuck what you think. Revival starts in a way that would have been unimaginable in the old days, with solemn piano chords, an honest-to-god gospel chorus from Beyoncé, and Eminem earnestly asking, “Why are expectations so high? Is it the bar I set?”

There’s no punchline. This is a serious, vulnerable track about the doubts that nag at a rap god late at night. He’s heard your criticisms of his latter-day work, and they hit home. In the second verse, he makes the stakes he’s chosen for Revival explicit, referencing the critical and commercial high-water mark of the original MMLP (“It’s the curse of the standard/That the first of the Mathers discs set”) and describing his writing process in relatable terms: “It always feels like I’m hitting the mark /Til I go sit in the car, listen and pick it apart/Like, this shit is garbage!”

Beyoncé comes through with humility and grace, and storied producer Rick Rubin (along with co-producer Skylar Grey) provides a sound that’s closer to the albums he made with Johnny Cash than the tougher-than-leather Run-DMC/Beasties beat he served up for “Berzerk” on Em’s last album. Mathers plays along, bringing a thoughtful tone and flow to match.

Then he snaps out of it in the track’s final seconds: “Me and you are not alike/Bitch, I wrote ‘Stan’!”

2. “Believe” Trappish snares and a minimal piano line courtesy of frequent foil Alex da Kid (“Love The Way You Lie,” Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive”) give Revival‘s second track a more contemporary feel – this is the sound of a rapper in his mid-40s doing his best to keep up with the kids. He’s pretty comfortable in this new setting, even sneaking a not-groanworthy use of the word “lit” into his first verse. A bit later, he gets off some great internal-rhyme runs in a thuggish-ruggish Midwestern cadence: “But I still remember the days of/Minimum wage for/General labor/Welfare recipient as a minor/Look how government assistance has made you!” That verse builds up to one of his more memorable recent solo choruses, with shades of “The Way I Am” and “Cleaning Out My Closet.” The lingering questions that he emphasized on “Walk on Water” are still in the picture here (“Man, in my younger days, that dream was so much fun to chase….But how do you keep up the pace and the hunger pangs once you’ve won the race?”). But he’s off and running now.

3. “Chloraseptic” feat. Phresher Fans flipped out when they saw that the only guest MC featured on Revival‘s tracklist was Brooklyn’s own Phresher, best known for his street hit “Wait a Minute,” which blew up about a year ago and subsequently got remixed by everyone from Remy Ma to Riff Raff to 50 Cent to Royce da 5’9″. The latter connection likely explains how Eminem ended up calling in a hook from the NYC up-and-comer. “The record is about just spitting, man…Just cutthroat, at your throat music,” Phresher told Complex, adding, “It’s raw as fuck.”

True enough, Eminem gives a revved-up performance, dubbing himself the “Simon Cowell of rhyming foul,” memorably declaring “I’m Schoolly D, you’re Spoonie Gee” and providing a detailed description of how he plans to murder you using the wire from a notebook full of your weak-ass rhymes. The rumbling beat from his old friend Denaun Porter (a.k.a. Kon Artis from D-12) brings out his energetic, mischievous side.

4. “Untouchable” If any alt-right Eminem fans out there were hoping to forget about his Trump dis at the BET Hip Hop Awards, here he comes with even more vitriol. This six-minute song is Em’s most ambitious political statement ever, expanding and deepening the critique of American racism that he started outlining 15 years ago on “White America.” He spends the first half of “Untouchable” rapping from the perspective of a racist white cop, laying out exactly how he profiles and terrorizes black communities. The guitar-sampling beat from longtime cohorts Mr. Porter, Emile and Mark Batson makes this part of the song feel something like verse two of Jay-Z’s “99 Problems” with the viewpoint shifted to the state trooper’s side.

Then the beat switches to a moody piano loop, and Eminem raps from the perspective of a black American man in 2017. He gets fired up denouncing police brutality, segregation, hiring discrimination, flag-waving hypocrisy and other forms of systemic racism: “Fuck your Republican views/Pull ourselves up by the bootstraps, where the fuck are the boots?” It’s a lot to take in, and early reactions to “Untouchable” from within the rap world have been divided.

5. “River” feat. Ed Sheeran According to Ed Sheeran, much of “River” was recorded in March 2016 while he vacationed at actor Russell Crowe’s farm in Australia. “I used the studio at Russell’s house,” Sheeran told Billboard. “Played the drums on it, and then played the guitar, and then recorded the thing and wrote the chorus and did the piano on it, and then sent it off and then didn’t hear anything back.” Produced by Emile Haynie, the final version of “River” opens with Sheeran’s lament about being “a liar and a cheat,” then flows into Eminem’s lyrics about one-night stands, and the guilt and recriminations that follow. “Now that I got you I don’t want you/Took advantage and my thirst to pursue/Why do I do this dirt that I do?” he asks.

6. “Remind Me” (Intro) 7. “Remind Me” The cheeky hard rock of “Remind Me” is reminiscent of his 2013 single “Berzerk”: Both rely heavily on a sample of Joan Jett & the Blackhearts’ “I Love Rock & Roll.” And just like that Billboard top 3 hit, he uses “Remind Me” to unleash his horndog id, crowing about a big-booty woman with silicone breasts as big as the late Anna Nicole Smith’s. “Excuse me ma, I’m just too raw,” he raps. Still, he avoids referring to his conquest in derogatory terms, and the track seems more fun-loving than an expression of Slim Shady’s misogynist impulses. In a conversation with Elton John for Interview magazine, he talked about his relationship with the track’s producer, Rick Rubin. “[Rubin and I] were talking about a song or something, and he said, ‘I don’t really consider myself smart enough to know what everybody’s going to think, so I just do what feels right for me,'” Eminem remembered.

8. Revival (Interlude) 9. “Like Home” feat. Alicia Keys With a soaring chorus from Alicia Keys and production from Alex da Kid, “Like Home” continues the anti-Trump war that Eminem kicked off on last year’s single “Campaign Speech,” and reignited during the BET Hip-Hop Awards. “This chump barely even sleeps/All he does is watch Fox News like a parrot and repeats/While he looks like a canary with a beak/Why you think he banned transgenders from the military with a tweet?” he raps. (Critics of Eminem’s past lyrics about LGBTQ people may be surprised at his implicit support for transgender soldiers.)

Eminem also takes some blame for Trump’s past appearance in “Shady Convention,” a mock political video ad that promoted his then-new Shade45 satellite channel. “Take it back to the Shady national convention/Wish I had spit on it before I went to shake his hand at the event/Or maybe had the wherewithal/To know that he was going to try to tear apart/Our sacred land we cherish and stand for.” When he spoke to Elton John for Interview, he elaborated on his antipathy towards Trump. “As long as he’s got his base, he does not give a fuck about anybody else in America. But guess what? There’s more of us than there are of them. I still feel like America is the greatest country to live in. This is my opinion. But we have issues that we need to work on and we need to do better.”

10. “Bad Husband” feat. X Ambassadors Eminem has often picked at the volatility of male-female relationships in uncomfortably scabrous terms, most memorably on his 2010 hit “Love the Way You Lie.” But the Alex da Kid-produced “Bad Husband” has a disturbing ring of truth, if only because it mentions Hailie Jade Mathers, Eminem’s daughter with his ex-wife Kim Scott. “We carry on with our public spats,” he raps, perhaps referencing to the avalanche of tabloid press that chronicled Eminem and Scott’s tumultuous relationship in the late Nineties and early Aughts. “You hit me once, and that I would use/To continue the pattern of abuse/Why did I punch back?/Girl, your dad is a scumbag,” he raps as he alternates between addressing Hailie and Kim. Then he continues a pattern of repentance for using his family as artistic fodder that started with 2013’s “Headlights,” his memorable apology to his mother. “But I’m sorry Kim/More than you can ever comprehend/Leaving you was fucking harder than/Sawing off a fucking body limb.” A chorus and backing arrangement from X Ambassadors, the “Renegades” rock band that first worked with Em on “Wicked Ways,” conjures a melancholy sound of redemption.

11. “Tragic Endings” feat. Skylar Grey Eminem remains in his comfort zone – exploring a vicious codependent romance – on the arena-rap ballad “Tragic Endings.” “There’s just something ’bout her/ That makes me not able to function without her,” Eminem admits. But don’t think this is happily-ever-after: “The idea of seeing me happy destroys her in itself,” he raps. “To see me falling to pieces brings her joy.”

The claustrophobic hook of “Tragic Endings” is provided by Grey, a frequent Eminem collaborator. She helped write the rapper’s Number One smash “Love the Way You Lie” along with “Tragic Endings” producer Alex da Kid; she also penned Revival blockbuster Beyoncé collaboration “Walk on Water.” She works in lockstep with Eminem on “Tragic Endings” to drive home the suffocating nature of this relationship. “I’m dying to breathe and all you do is strangle me,” she sings. “What a relief.”

12. “Framed” For “Framed,” Eminem reaches back to early tracks like “’97 Bonnie & Clyde” in both sound – relying on the simplest of beats, just two guitar licks and an unchanging drum loop – and violent content: The rapper offers advice here on how to get away with homicide. “When murdering females better pay attention to these details or you could be derailed,” he warns. “Better wear at least three layers of clothing or be in jail.”

Back in “’97 Bonnie & Clyde,” Eminem was driving through the night with his longtime antagonist – and ex-wife – Kim dead in the back, but this time he envisions tangling with Eighties supermodel Christie Brinkley and the President’s daughter: “Dog, how the fuck is Ivanka Trump in the trunk of my car?” “Framed” wraps up with a half-hearted declaration of innocence. “There’s a missing person, so what? He’s got nothing to do with me/ I’m almost certain I was framed.”

13. “Nowhere Fast” feat. Kehlani Eminem faces off with a frantic string section, agitated hi-hats and the apocalypse on “Nowhere Fast,” defying terrorist attacks at one moment and his rap competition the next: “For MCs it’s a funeral when I’m devising this rhyme/ Cause I’m awake and you’re mourning, that’s why I rise and I shine.” Eminem may be 45 years old, but he has little interest in reflecting on his own mortality. “To the pine box: Bitch, fuck you,” he raps. “I’m better than I ever was.”

Kehlani joins Eminem to provide the atmospheric melodic accompaniment that he appears to favor everywhere on Revival. She sings sentimental lines about living fast and dying young: “Never looking back and we’re never getting old/ ‘Cause the skies are black but our hearts made of gold.” “Honored to be on this album, and in such amazing company,” she wrote on Instagram when Eminem shared the Revival track list earlier this month. “I can’t wait for the world to hear this.”

14. “Heat” After slamming President Trump throughout Revival, Eminem finds surprising common ground with him in “Heat,” one of the album’s lustiest songs. “Grab you by the [meow sound effect], hope it’s not a problem, in fact,” he raps. “About the only fact I agree on with Donald is that.” Eminem is single-mindedly priapic here, so even when he takes a moment to shout out this track’s producer, Rick Rubin, he twists the tribute into a pick-up line: “Come on, little mama, you’re hot enough to melt Rick’s beat.”

Rubin provides the sort of skeletal rap-rock accompaniment he served Eminem four years ago on The Marshall Mathers LP 2 track “Berserk” – distorted guitar and scratching vinyl sputter high in the mix. The primary riff is pulled from the Boogie Nights soundtrack’s “Intro (Feel the Heat),” a song performed in the film by John C. Reilly and Mark Wahlberg. “Heat” also ends with a brief snippet of Boogie Nights dialog from Wahlberg’s character that fits easily next to Eminem’s verses: “It’s my big dick, so everybody get ready right fucking now.”

15. “Offended” “Offended” features Revival‘s most technically impressive passage, a blistering display of speed near the end of the song– countless syllables crammed into 12 or 13 seconds – that aims for the record books. The rest of the track rises from the same fertile ground as “Just Don’t Give a Fuck” and “Bad Influence,” old songs in which Eminem turns listeners’ hatred of him into a badge of honor – or maybe a suit of armor.

As always, antipathy spurs him to cross even more lines and break even more taboos; here he describes himself with allusions to men accused of sexual assault (Bill Cosby, R. Kelly) and child murder (Justin Ross Harris). And yet again, Eminem guns for Trump, still annoyed that the President did not reply to his BET freestyle. He also goes after Ivanka and Melania. “Shit’s on, bruh,” Eminem declares. “… Ivanka, stiff arm her/While I’m hittin’ on Melania/And this song’s for all ya.”

The MC alternates between hard, low rapping and nursery-rhyme sing-song on “Offended,” borrowing his hook from a bleak source – “The Knife Game Song.” The taut, jumpy, brassy “Offended” instrumental was crafted by Illa da Producer, who also helmed Lil Pump’s “Pinky Ring” and French Montana’s “Have Mercy.” Eminem takes a moment to compliment the beat-maker’s work, noting that, “These drums and hard snares bring out the worst in me.” “I’m so narcissistic, when I fart, I sniff it,” he adds a few lines later. “Do a fake dab to smell my armpits with it.”

16. “Need Me” feat. Pink “Need Me” is Eminem’s second collaboration with Pink. But in contrast to the playful “Revenge,” off of her October album Beautiful Trauma, “Need Me” is a bombastic power ballad dominated by Alex da Kid’s cavernous percussion. Pink sings two verses and choruses before Eminem comes in for the song’s one lengthy, intense rap verse. But something happens in the first half of “Need Me” that’s rarely been heard in Eminem’s many collaborations with female singers: he harmonizes with Pink, his voice gradually appearing during her second verse. Darting in and out of the track’s lurching waltz rhythm, Marshall vents about a dysfunctional relationship: “Starting to think we were made for each other/ But one of us in this relationship is raising the other/ You remind me of my mother.”

17. “In Your Head” “In Your Head” opens with Dolores O’Riordan’s voice beamed in from 1994 as a sample of the Cranberries hit “Zombie,” and runs underneath the entirety of the track. The song is produced by Scram Jones, a New York-based MC/producer who’s been chopping samples for Jadakiss, Ghostface Killah, and others since the early 2000s, but has never worked with Eminem before.

Em spends most of “In Your Head” castigating himself over career missteps: “Fuck it, I’ve done enough in this rap shit, Recovery brought me nothing but back to where I was/ And perhaps this could’ve been my victory lap if I wasn’t on the verge of Relapse.”

18. “Castle” feat. Skylar Grey “I built this castle, now we are trapped on the throne,” Skylar Grey sings at the opening of “Castle.” Each verse of the song is a letter, complete with pencil and paper sound effects echoing “Stan.” But this time, the letters are from Marshall Mathers to his daughter Hailie; the first letter is a few weeks before her 1995 birth, the second is a year later, and the third is on her 12th birthday. The third verse ends with Eminem at a low point in 2007, overdosing on methadone and nearly dying. “Your dad’s at the end of his rope/I’m sliding down a slippery slope/Anyway, sweetie, I better go, I’m getting sleepy…Love, Dad, shit, I don’t know.”

19. “Arose” “Arose” opens with a loop of a young LeAnn Rimes’s 1997 recording of “The Rose,” best known as the title song from Bette Midler’s 1979 album and film of the same name. Picking up where the narrative of “Castle,” ended, Eminem is recounting his 2007 overdose, speaking to his family and to his longtime D12 groupmate Proof, whose 2006 death “tore me in two.” Four minutes into “Arose,” Eminem declares “To rewrite a mistake, I’m rewinding the tape” and the song abruptly stops, and the third verse of “Castle” begins again. But this time it ends differently, “I’m pledging to throw this methadone in the toilet.” The album concludes with a new day dawning, and the sound of a toilet flushing.

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