#The third poll has three songs

[lieutenant-amuel]

Hey, guys!

Some info regarding the Best EoA song poll. I pick up two winners from each poll (because the contest lasts longer in this case and I think it makes it more fun) and since some polls have several “silver medalists”, I’ve decided to arrange extra rounds to determine the ones that go further.

I’ll post the first part of the extra round today, as usually at 9PM (UTC +3), so keep your eye on it, since I make them last only for 24 hours!

Let the fun continue!

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity 1996

"Virtual Insanity" is a song by British funk band Jamiroquai, released on 19 August 1996 as the second single from their third studio album, Travelling Without Moving. The song interpolates parts of Jocelyn Brown's 1984 post-disco hit "Somebody Else's Guy". "Virtual Insanity" was a number-one hit in Iceland and reached number three on the UK Singles Chart, as well as becoming a top-10 hit in Finland, Ireland, and Italy, the song also climbed to number 38 on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart upon the single's release in the US in 1997. The song also earned the band a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. Thematically, the lyrics are concerned with issues like overpopulation, human genetic enhancement, eugenics and ecological collapse. In the beginning of the song's album version, a sound that is sampled from the 1979 sci-fi horror film Alien appears. It is the sound sequence when the S.O.S. signal appears on the screens of the spaceship Nostromo at the start of the film. The music video for "Virtual Insanity" was directed by English filmmaker, director, and screenwriter Jonathan Glazer. At the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards it won 4 out of 10 nominations; Breakthrough Video, Video of the Year, Best Visual Effects and Best Cinematography. In 2006, it was voted 9th by MTV viewers in a poll on music videos that 'broke the rules'. In addition to heavy rotation on MTV and other music television networks, the video for "Virtual Insanity" has amassed more than 250 million views on YouTube as of August 2023 and has seen renewed attention on TikTok, gaining millions more views through various memes and remixes. It has been parodied, referenced, remixed or imitated in countless music videos, television shows, and internet memes. On a personal note, I love each and every one of you who tagged the poll as "#rearranging furniture" in your reblogs! 😂💖 "Virtual Insanity" received a total of 80,7% yes votes!

[rpgchoices]

The WINNER of the Tournament of fav tumblr rpg male romances is...

The Master of the Vollante

The Babe of Frontiers

The Heart of the Gate

WYLL RAVENGARD

Enjoy this two minute FANVIDEO DEDICATED TO HIM (don't miss the final quote, it is my favorite), I used the most appropriate song ever. Congrats, Wyll with a y!

(he is the hero, but he also needs a hero to sweep him off his feet, get it?)

With about 1235 votes, Wyll beat Garrus in the finals of the tournament. This gives him the title of best tumblr rpg blorbo and babygirl.

(more under cut about the Wyll's sweep and his character)

Wyll jumped into the tournament qualifying among 69 total characters, and being the most voted of his section in round zero! Wyll was also the most voted OVERALL in round one where he got about 6420 votes against Cullen (88% of votes). Round two saw him winning a very close competition against Zevran, and in round three he won with almost double the votes against Astarion! Again with double the votes he won against Dorian Pavus in the semifinals!

Very appropriate for him to win as his character is truly a romantic at heart and his actor even revealed in an interview that the romantic scenes were his favorite to film.

Wyll is a companion and romancable option for any gender in Baldur's Gate 3. You will meet him while he is in pursuit of a devil, just to find out that the honor and code he is trying to live by might be clashing with the path he could be choosing.

Wyll's romance has a kiss that has been nominated (and won) for "favorite kiss ever in a rpg game by me and for my opinion only and I just love it".

Man who will crack a joke when you least expect it

EVEN WHEN IT REALLY IS NOT THE TIME

Just to turn around and offer you the most heart shattering and unwavering support

Monster smasher (in all senses) hero, who truly needs someone at his side who makes sure he fights his own battles too, not just the trials of the coast!

Very happy to see he is currently (with all the biases and limitations of such polls, of course) the favorite romance in the rpg fandoms here on tumblr (for male characters)!!

Please, make sure to also jump in the female characters tournament!!

Also, CONGRATULATIONS TO GARRUS who came second in the tournament, and FENRIS who came third! (as he had more votes than Dorian, in the semifinals)

*In the fanvideo there are the seven clips that are not from Wyll games. I wanted to write them down as this is supposed to be a rec for his romance, so I don't want to trick people!

00:16 I modded Wyll into Karlach and used Astarion as player character (Karlach romance scene act 3)

00:38 Astarion romance scene, I played as Wyll but I flipped the character with the ring of metamorph mod so Wyll could pick up Astarion

00:50 Like the first clip, this is Karlach scene from act 3

00:51 I modded Karlach into Wyll, this is her scene from act 1

00:53 I modded Shadowheart into Astarion and I was playing as Wyll, this is Shadowheart romance scene in act 1

00:59 This is Astarion romance scene in act 2, I was playing as Wyll

01:07 The hug is from Astarion romance, epilogue, where I was playing as Wyll

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Juanita Moore (Imitation of Life)— She was the third black actress to be nominated for Best Supporting Actress! She was also friends with James Baldwin (!) and got her other friend Marlon Brando (!!) to finance his play. She also met her husband of fifty years by nearly being hit by his bus which should be in a romcon, tbh. There's also a whole documentary about how she'd been ignored and overlooked due to Hollywood racism, so she deserves more attention!

Gina Lollobrigida (Solomon and Sheba, The Hunchback of Notre Dame)— One of the highest profile movie stars in Europe across the 50s and 60s. International sex symbol. Starring in European and American movies. She appeared in movies alongside Hollywood stars such as Humphrey Bogart and Rock Hudson. Was in 54 movies by 1970. A MOVIE STAR in every essence. Has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Won three David di Donatello, a Golden Globe two Nastro d'Argento, and six Bambi awards. And nominated for more.

This is round 3 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Juanita Moore:

Gina Lollobrigida:

She was an international sex symbol once dubbed as The Most Beautiful Woman In The World. She acted in films in both Italy and France before starring in Beat The Devil with Humphrey Bogart. When portraying soprano Lina Cavalieri, she sang all of the songs in her own voice. This role won her the very first David di Donatello Award for Best Actress, Italy's academy awards.

She was one of the highest-profile European actresses of the 1950s and 1960s, a period in which she was an international sex symbol. Humphrey Bogart once said of her: "She makes Marilyn Monroe look like Shirley Temple."

Literally starred in a movie called "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World". I rest my case.

[whumpofalltime]

friends, enemies, lurkers, we've made it to the

Whump Of All Time Finals!

What's the whumpiest whump of all time? Help us decide!

Find links and propaganda under the cut. Quarterfinalist and later match-ups are untagged, so your votes and reblogs matter! Make sure you click through to the main blog to find the run-off poll to crown third place, as well!

ROTK:

(spider attack, rescue)

"The Lord of The Rings, when Frodo gets bitten by a giant spider and left for dead by Sam at the end of The Two Towers, and then when Sam finds him in The Return of the King being held prisoner and whipped by an orc."

The Young Blood Chronicles (Save Rock and Roll's music videos, Fall Out Boy):

(link)

"Everyone gets bloodied, bruised, beaten up, tortured, rescued, limbs are amputated - it's brutal. Alone Together is particularly strong."

sorry for being late, but you want YBC propaganda? then you're getting YBC propaganda. I know you're a FOB fan, but I will be writing this for the benefit of those who don't know what YBC is, for better propaganda purposes! and yeah this is gonna be LONG. sorry.

So! The Youngblood Chronicles (shortened to YBC) is a series of 11 music videos made by the band Fall Out Boy, for their album Save Rock And Roll (you know this album, it's the one with My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark on it). The whole thing is quite short, less than fifty minutes long (even shorter if you don't count the uncut version's credits!!), and every single music video has some element of whump in it. This propaganda is gonna break down each individual music vid, and at i'll also talk a little bit about the irl context the album was written in, and why even THAT can be a little bit whumpy if you're insane like me!

(note: i'm going in the original release order over the uncut order, hence why i'm starting with MSKWYDITD instead of The Phoenix)

My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark: Arguably the least whump-y out of all of them, but man, seeing all of Fall Out Boy's discography and memorabilia be burnt while people are dancing around the destruction? Man, when you know the real life stuff (the reception the band had in 2009, leading to them to take a three year hiatus)... and at the end, you see four guys bound in the back of a van!! And that van is getting burnt!! Burn everything you love and burn the... ashes.

The Phoenix: NOW here's the first of MANY whump tastes you'll get. Patrick Stump, the singer/cutie of the band, gets kidnapped, tied to a chair, has his hand CHOPPED OFF and mailed to his bandmate/best friend Pete Wentz, then gets tied down and utterly tortured by women who are laughing at his misery the entire time, getting prodded and stabbed by tools for... well, you'll see. By the end of the video, Pete and the other two members of FOB (Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley) have been kidnapped by these mysterious women too, with Pete specifically getting kidnapped by the blonde woman he was in bed with when Patrick's hand got delivered to him. If you enjoy cute boys getting tied down, covered in blood, and writhing around like worms while getting tortured... well you'll enjoy all of YBC but specifically you'll enjoy this!! I did :D! The war is won, before it's begun, release the doves, surrender love...

Young Volcanoes: Good news, FOB has been reunited! Bad news, by the women who dismembered Patrick! And now all the band members are tied to chairs, hooked up to IVs full of god knows what types of drugs, and blindfolded (all except Patrick). They are then forced to drink, snort hard drugs, and are force fed Patrick's organs! Yep, all four of them are forced to eat their lead singer's guts, and are so fucking drugged up they don't even realize what's happening (and now you know what the women were doing to him in the last mv, and you even get a nice little shot of the hack job of stitching him back up)!! Patrick hallucinates everyone having fun, but of course, at the end, all of them are knocked out because of the drugs. Americana, exotica, do you wanna feel a little beautiful baby?

Alone Together: This is the song the OG propaganda mentioned, and for good reason. All four of them are shipped off into little personalized torture rooms, and, well, tortured! Pete is able to break out and even steals the hook from the girl who was torturing him, but little does he know that'll be his own undoing... also, in general, this song has some whumpy elements, specifically the line "my heart is like a stallion/they love it more when it's broke-in"... but notice how easy it is to hear "broke-in" as "broken"! At the end of the video, Pete is at least able to find Patrick (Joe and Andy have NOT been having a good time, either!! But sadly, they aren't found by Pete, but Pete DOES find Big Sean), and is even able to attach the hook to the stump (ha!) where his hand used to be. But something is clearly wrong with Patrick now. His eyes are yellow, and as the song ends, we hold on him, sneering and twitching. This is the road to ruin - and we're started at the end...

The Mighty Fall: First off if you say this is the worst song off of SRAR I will hunt you for sport. OKAY ANYWAYS, chronologically this comes after MSKWYDITD, and yeah, the four guys are the members of FOB. Pete is able to free himself with Patrick's new hook hand, and is able to get the other three out while Pete is hacking up a lung from the fire they just barely escaped. But they're not done getting their shit rocked yet. A gang of children show up (the leader being the kid Patrick waved at right before he was kidnapped back in the Phoenix MV), and proceed to separate them and beat the living shit out of them. The leader kid who's chasing Patrick plays something on a boombox... which triggers Patrick to go yellow-eyed again (from here on out i'll call it "going Youngblood" or "Youngblood self"). It was confirmed in the commentary track that ANY music would cause him to go Youngblood. And knowing Patrick IRL fucking loves to create/compose music... yeah! Take something he loves and turn it into something that drives him insane!! I'm normal!! And also the irl parallel you could draw to his solo career doing the same thing to him (on a less uh Dramatic level but you know)!!! Ouch!!!! Big Sean is able to save Patrick, but at the cost of his own life (and a killer rap verse... HELL YEAH I'M A DICK GIRL, ADDICTED TO YOU). Oh, how the mighty fall in love...

Just One Yesterday: The last vestiges of comfort you're gonna get for a WHILE. The four are separated, getting even more beaten up, Pete vomits up a snake, Andy gets his shit rocked by a homeless guy, Joe has to use white sheets as a makeshift tourniquet bc his leg got fucked up in The Mighty Fall MV, and Patrick is picked up by a kind stranger (hi Foxes! you have a very pretty voice! PLEASE KEEP YOUR HANDS ON THE STEERING WHEEL!). And finally, finally we get a hope spot. Fall Out Boy is reunited (the part where Andy just grabs onto Patrick's arm, in disbelief they're both alive... augh!!! AUGH!!!!), and for a moment, it seems they've been delivered to a hospital... before Foxes' eyes go completely black, looking at Patrick... and turns on the radio. She's able to trigger the Youngblood. And now Patrick is gone. The other three scramble into the hospital, Patrick not far behind, determined to kill them to stop the noise in his head. If Heaven's grief brings Hell's reign, then I'd trade all my tomorrows for just one yesterday...

Where Did The Party Go: Patrick, now fully consumed by the Youngblood brainwashing, is now stalking his bandmates in a hospital. Patrick is seeing visions of the hospital as an abandoned party, Andy has to painfully disinfect the wounds he's gotten, Pete is able to call for the police, and Joe... oh, poor Joe. He barricades himself into a room, but not well enough. Patrick finds him, and kills him, slitting his throat with the hook hand, showing no remorse at all... until Andy and Pete find them. The Youngblood wears off, and Patrick looks to what he's done, and is horrified at what he's done to his friend. And, bad news for him, the police are here, ready to arrest the murderer. All Andy and Pete can do is watch as tears roll down Patrick's eyes. And for the extra IRL context, this was the first song written for the album that made Pete and Patrick realize they had to get FOB back together... so lets match that with a music video where the member who helped get the band together in the first place dies. By the hands of the kid he found. Let's fade away together, one dream at a time...

Death Valley: Joe gets... uh, a little comfort? I mean, he thinks he's getting sent to heaven but goes to hell, buuuuut I think doing drugs in rock and roll hell with Tommy Lee is actually a pretty sweet deal, better than the deal the other three got! Pete and Andy are being interrogated while Patrick is in a jail cell. We find out that the cult that kidnapped them, Silence the Noise, is lead by Pete's girlfriend from WAAAAY back in the Phoenix MV, Courtney Love. And at the end of the MV... Patrick is bailed out of jail by Silence the Noise. They have him again. And this time, they're not gonna let him walk out until he's fully under their control. 'Cause tonight it's just fire alarms and losing you...

Rat a Tat: Silence the Noise has Patrick, and they utterly brainwash him, A Clockwork Orange style, with electroshock stimulation to keep him from looking away or closing his eyes, until there is nothing left. Patrick Stump does not exist anymore. Only the Youngblood, pliant under the control of Silence the Noise, tasked to destroy what he once loved; music. Andy dies at the hands of the cult, and now Pete has to protect a briefcase, the thing that got them into this mess, and keep it away from Silence the Noise, all while his best friend hunts him down. Are you ready for another bad poem?

Miss Missing You: THE WHUMPIEST OF THE WHUMP. What if we were best friends but you've been driven insane and I know the only way to stop you is to kill you and it was my fault you got into this mess and I was the one who gave you the weapon that will be my own undoing. What if we both died at the same time. What if we died, both of us failing the mission we had before us. What if that was a reference to one of their first music videos. What if this song was originally written for Patrick's solo album but he realized it was more of a Fall Out Boy song so it was scrapped until now. What if there's a legit argument to be made that half the lyrics for this song was written by Patrick. What if we were both boys. Grips walls, yeha i'm normal. If you don't watch ANY other music vid, watch Miss Missing You. Sometimes before it gets better, the darkness gets bigger. The person that you'd take a bullet for is behind the trigger.

Save Rock And Roll: And our final track gives us a final bit of comfort. Patrick is able to overcome the Youngblood, and gets into heaven, where all of FOB is finally, finally reunited. God (aka Elton John) gives them new instruments and brings them back to earth, so they can do what they love; play music together. Which just so happens to release people from the control of Silence the Noise! But, because we can't have nice things, a cult within Silence the Noise got a hold of the briefcase, and summoned a spirit that starts to kill everyone. FOB stands together, and blasts the evil spirit, the blood coming up to the gates of heaven and covering Elton John in it. And... that's how it ends. No true resolution. Just Elton John covered in blood, as the song fades out. Oh, no! Wherever I go, go! Trouble seems to follow! I only plugged in to save rock and roll!

UH. AGAIN I APOLOGIZE FOR THE LENGTH. but i really wanted to express just how much WHUMP they manage to fit into less than fifty minutes, all backed by an amazing album colored by the three years they were apart. colored by how they grew, colored by how bad the hiatus was for Patrick specifically, colored by how Confessions of a Pariah got Pete to reach out to help him, and this album came out of it, Fall Out Boy came back out of it, and now here we are, ten years later, with the title track being performed every night for their concert, with all the band singing the final lines together, and the line you are what you love, not who loves you hitting every single night.

SORRY. LISTEN TO FALL OUT BOY. thanks for letting me rant.

[broadwaydivastournament]

Broadway Divas Tournament: Semifinals

Two-time Tony-winning, newly three-time nominee, dancer-extraordinaire Bebe Neuwirth (1958) is best known for her winning role as Velma Kelly in Chicago (1996) alongside her beloved Annie Reinking. After playing Velma off-and-on for some years, she then took on Roxie, and later Matron "Mama" Morton. Bebe has also won for Sweet Charity (1986), and is a two-time Emmy winner for, of course, Lilith in Cheers. Other credits include Here Lies Jenny (2004), Fosse (2001), and Cabaret (2024), which opened to glowing reviews for Bebe, and dismal reviews for basically everything else. In addition to her beloved stage, Bebe is a devoted cat-lover, and activist. She founded the Dancers' Resource program to provide support for injured and/or aging dancers. She is *THE* living Dancing Diva of Broadway.

Seven-time Tony nominee, two-time winner Bernadette Peters (1948) has a sixty-plus year stage career of monumental proportions. Considered the foremost Sondheim interpreter, their collaborative works include Sunday in the Park with George (1984), Into the Woods (1987), Gypsy (2003), and Follies (2011). She has a thriving concert career, and was a co-founder of the beloved Broadway Barks event each year in Shubert Alley. She has an honorary third Tony (Isabelle Stevenson Award) for her outstanding advocacy and philanthropy. A true Broadway Baby at her core.

NEW PROPAGANDA AND MEDIA UNDER CUT: ALL POLLS HERE

"Are you truly a Broadway Diva if you haven't appeared on the cover of the biggest queer magazine of its age? I am just over the moon with all the Bebe Neuwirth buzz going on now. She got her third Tony nomination for Cabaret, she's about to embark on a whirlwind press tour, she's the critic standout of that whole show. I need her in every magazine, newspaper, and photoshoot right now. And here she is, in the semifinals against the Bernadette Peters herself. She's swept every poll up until this point. It's been a lovely run."

"I don't care that it's from a movie. This was my gay awakening. This song right here (along with "A Lovely Night"). At three years old, I saw this little redheaded bitch of a stepmother and decided, yeah, that's the blueprint. And it was. I proceeded to fall in love with Broadway Divas in movie musicals for the next few decades. I do love a petite, curly-haired, fair-skinned Diva with a unique voice... This poll hurts me personally because Bebe is my favorite and Bernadette was my first."

[linagram]

linagram season 3 announcement!

hi hi everyone! thank you so much for waiting! i'm glad to say that linagram season 3 is finally starting!! this post will contain a short summary of season 2 that you can read in case you forgot anything or if you don't know much about linagram but still want to participate and a list of everything you can expect from season 3 (things like voice dramas, interrogations, you get it).

you can read about the first season here.

linagram has (or more like.. used to have) two guards and ten prisoners. the guards' names are (last name, first name order) sanada eiji and andou miki. the prisoners' names are miyagawa akio, hanasaki aimi, ishizu shun, chiba naomi, sanada kei (yes, him and eiji are brothers), yoshioka eiko, yano asahi (who is actually miki's brother), maruyama yurika, kuroki riku and himura reina.

however, season 2 was.. quite intense. because of an injury that happened because the prisoners were somehow able to touch him (and it later turned out to be a punishment for not being a "good guard") sanada eiji had to take a break from being a guard, so the new guard came to take his place- ah, but not, like, completely replace him! he's just here to help miki so that she doesn't feel too lonely, haha..

anyway, i hope you will greet the third guard of the milgram prison, kuroki hinode (riku's older brother), with open arms.

the trial results were much more polarizing than the season 1 results too.

if season 1 ended with seven innocent prisoners and three guilty ones, season 2 ended with five innocent prisoners and five guilty ones. (though to be more specific, one of them actually got a 50/50 verdict, so in the end we went with her canon trial 2 verdict: guilty).

the five innocent prisoners are miyagawa akio, hanasaki aimi, sanada kei, yano asahi and himura reina.

the five guilty prisoners are ishizu shun, chiba naomi, yoshioka eiko, maruyama yurika and kuroki riku.

a lot happened after the trial too. since sanada eiji, who was responsible for punishing the guilty prisoners, got injured, it was kuroki hinode's responsibility to come up with a new punishment. he decided to go with something that the guards simply call a "memory machine": a small device that they can use to "steal" the prisoner's memories. they can take any memories they like and they can give them back whenever they want. i sure wonder how that went..

the prisoners also got some presents in the christmas special and uh.. this may sound weird, but i think you should pay attention to those presents more. they are actually kind of important.

one prisoner even found out that her parents are most likely associated with milgram and they may even be responsible for all of this.. how scary..

but oh well! that's all for season 2!

now, let's take a look at what awaits us in season 3.

i know that it would most likely be better to post a schedule and i know that people can miss something but. i find schedules too stressful, because my life is just. like that and i'm afraid i won't be able to follow it. (i know i can just queue stuff or something but the tumblr queue has failed me before. i do not trust it)

but if you need to know when you can expect an update, i try to post stuff weekly or at least once in two weeks.

i use tumblr polls and everyone's trials last a week simply because 1) i am impatient and 2) i just think that's enough.

the prisoners' voice dramas usually get posted once in a week (but there may be exceptions) and each pair's interrogation usually gets posted a week after the both prisoners' voice dramas. (all interrogations have already been written) each voice drama also includes the prisoner's music video description and a poll.

anyway, this is how season 3 will go!

- linagram season 3 albums info (album covers, original song titles, cover songs, album trailer + song trailer voicelines)

- linagram season 3 designs info (this time we're going without the character profiles, apologies for that. instead of that, i will simply put all designs in one post and talk about them a little bit. hopefully i can show how the characters have changed through their designs and the voice dramas.)

- pre-t3 voice drama #01 (the linagram verdict system will be explained. i've made a poll earlier and asked if people would prefer the verdict system to be revealed or to stay a mystery and the first option won)

- pre-t3 voice drama #02 (this one is the usual discussion of the previous trial's verdicts and how they have affected the prisoners)

- miyagawa akio's trial

- hanasaki aimi's trial

- akio and aimi's interrogation

- ishizu shun's trial

- chiba naomi's trial

- shun and naomi's interrogation

- sanada kei's trial

- yoshioka eiko's trial

- kei and eiko's interrogation

- yano asahi's trial

- maruyama yurika's trial

- asahi and yurika's interrogation

- kuroki riku's trial

- himura reina's trial

- riku and reina's interrogation

- the end of the third trial voice drama

- [REDACTED]

-[REDACTED]

anyway yeah, that's it! please be careful with your verdicts everyone. this is the last trial after all.

(and no, voting them all innocent won't make it any better... sorry </3)

[alexturne]

The Car - Track by track: A test-drive of The Car

Article in Focus which goes through the album track by track. Shared and translated by Smilion:

1. There'd Better Be a Mirrorball

Let's get straight to the point: The Car is not a new Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, the album with which Arctic Monkeys radically turned its back on the arena rock of predecessor and chef d'oeuvre AM (2013) four years ago. Tranquility Base was Arctic Monkeys in space, a concept album like a Stanley Kubrick soundtrack. The Car is equally cinematic, but a lot wider, lighter and – yes – more accessible. Or as Alex Turner put it in the British street newspaper The Big Issue: 'The sci-fi is off the table, we're back on Earth.'

The proof is immediately provided in opener and forward single There'd Better Be a Mirrorball. No disco, but a break-up song packaged like a Bond number from the sixties. “Do you wanna walk me to the car?” Turner wonders. Walking to the car with your loved one will never be the same.

2. I Ain't Quite Where I Think I Am

Turner once again wrote the picket fences of the new Arctic Monkeys record solo, from behind his Steinway & Sons. It was only later that the rest of the group was brought in. More specifically during the European Football Championship of 2021, where they watched with the entire band between the recordings. (Turner gave his comeback interview earlier this year to the French sports newspaper L'Équipe for a reason.)

"In the summer of the European Championships, we spent two or three weeks with the boys as a band in the English countryside," says Turner. “I then stepped away from the piano for a while and enjoyed playing wahwah guitar again.” It's that wahwah guitar you hear in I Ain't Quite Where I Think I Am, a song that is just as much of Turner's side project The Last Shadow. Puppets could have been. Of everything you'll find in the trunk of The Car, this is by far the funky and catchy.

3. Sculptures of Anything Goes

Dark, cumbersome but fat: with a little good will you can consider Sculptures of Anything Goes as a distant relative of Humbug (2009), the third of the Monkeys produced by Josh Homme. Although the deep bass and pulsating electronic drums are actually unreleased Arctic Monkeys, and in that respect the song is more reminiscent of that rare time when Nick Cave – in Rings of Saturn from Skeleton Tree – suddenly started flirting with electronica.

More than anywhere else on the record, Alex Turner's on-again, off-again relationship with rock music is highlighted here. "I wanted to turn the rock band bit on and off," he told The Guardian. “On Sculptures, the rock band slide is opened here and there for a measure or two, only to be pushed back in.”

4. Jet Skis on the Moat

Summer 2014. A Canadian journalist speaks with Alex Turner and drummer Matt Helders in front of a concert hall in Toronto, on the shores of Lake Ontario, but sees his interview cut short when suddenly two men on a jet ski pass by and start calling for the Monkeys. (Things like, 'Which band is playing tonight? The Arctic Monkeys? Is that you?' To which Alex Turner: 'You bet!') Turner apparently had so much fun seeing Jet Skis on the Moat – there's the wahwahgi cakes again! — could be based on that particular interview from eight years ago. At least, that's what some Arctic Monkeys fans on the internet claim. Or they just have too much time.

5. Body Paint

The second pre-sent single, and according to many fans "the best thing Arctic Monkeys has played since AM", the British newspaper The Independent polled. Anyway, Body Paint is the most versatile song on the entire album, half a rock opera in which Turner croons like the Bowie of the mid-seventies over keys, guitars and strings. Lots of strings.

Turner wrote a large part of the string arrangements for this album himself and had them edited by Bridget Samuels, the artistic director of the London Orchestrate who previously produced soundtracks for films such as Under the Skin (with Scarlett Johansson), Jackie (with Natalie Portman) and Midsommar (with Florence Pugh) supervised. You immediately know why The Car sounds so cinematic and grand.

6. The Car

From big to small: title song The Car is one of the quietest on the record. Acoustic guitars predominate. The 'sleepy amigos' about whom Turner sings here only reinforce the mariachi feeling.

Incidentally, the album title came after Alex Turner saw a photo of patented hobby photographer Matt Helders with a car on the roof of an abandoned parking garage. "I immediately got the impression that that had to be the next cover," says Turner. "And if you get the chance to call an album The Car, you have to grab it with both hands."

7. Big Ideas

Or as Turner calls it in the text itself: 'The ballad of what could have been'. The Arctic Monkeys frontman imagines himself to be a brilliant composer who, on his mandolin and with the backing of an orchestra, devised the theme song to a film about twins received by mass hysteria. Or something.

Big Ideas had a modest live premiere last week during the Arctic Monkeys showcase at Studio Brussel, but you can expect an even dreamier studio version.

8. Hello You

Besides I Ain't Quite Where I Think I Am, The Car's one and only uptempo song. The Arctic Monkeys from the time of R U Mine? will never return, as Matt Helders indicated in an interview this spring, but the guitar riff of Hello You is very reminiscent of Knee Socks, one of those other crowd favorites from AM.

Hello You, by the way, contains one of the funniest lines of text that Alex Turner wrote for The Car: 'I could pass for seventeen if I just get a shave and catch some Zzz.'

9. Mr. Schwartz

Brian from Brianstorm. Arabella from Arabella. Receptionist Mark from Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino. Alex Turner has featured many characters in his songs over the years. Mr Schwartz's turn is on The Car. From the first time Arctic Monkeys played the song glued together by fingerpicking guitars live last summer, the identity of Mr. Schwartz has been conjectured. The most plausible guess came from a Reddit user who stumbled upon an Arctic Monkeys-linked Spotify playlist titled "Del Schwartz"—again: Monkeys fans obviously have a lot of time—and googled Delmore Schwartz, the late American poet. and short story writer who taught Lou Reed. Turner spoke to 3FM about 'a huge coincidence' and claimed that he had simply seen the name Del Schwartz 'on the back of a nineties Alfa Romeo'.

10. Perfect Sense

Favorite Worst Nightmare (2007) had 505, AM had I Wanna Be Yours and Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino had The Ultracheese. Well-aimed closing songs are a thing at Arctic Monkeys. Perfect Sense is also such a well-known ending, one where you can see the credits roll across the screen. And one in which Alex Turner repeatedly wishes you good night against the background of a battery – there they are again – strings.

Of all the songs on The Car, this would be the most suitable to perform with a string ensemble. Although it must be said right away: that will not happen. The Monkeys skillfully rejected an offer for a TV special with an orchestra. "Too predictable."

However accessible Arctic Monkeys in 2022 may sound, the spirit of the obstinate rock band is still there.

[yridenergyridenergy]

Live report - Dir en grey tour22 From Depression to____ at Kawasaki Club Citta [2022/10/25]

Setlist

Rasetsukoku (2011 ver.)

Ash (2018 ver.)

T.D.F.F.

Wake (2018 ver.)

OBSCURE (2011 ver.)

The Perfume of Sins

Kodoku ni Shisu, Yueni Kodoku.

Oboro

13

Ain't afraid to die (2022 ver.)

DRAIN AWAY

Merciless Cult

-Saku-

THE IIID EMPIRE (2018 ver.)

Encore:

G.D.S.

C

Kodou

[KR]cube

Hageshisa to, Kono Mune no Naka de Karamitsuita Shakunetsu no Yami

CHILD PREY

--------------------

Up until the very second Shinya walked on stage, opening the way for the rest of the band, I kept thinking this was a dream and could not really be happening.

Three years since I last saw Dir en grey. I'd said it: as soon as Japan opens the gates, I will be there. Here I am. And yet, there were so many variables that could have gone wrong until the very last minute: I did my part of being very careful not to catch COVID-19, I monitored my overly-high Canadian body temperature (they totally did not check, in the end), but with the last couple of weeks' Tsutaya autograph sessions, I could still be let down by just one of the members or staff getting infected.

Fortunately, at last, they were still alive and well!

It seems like somebody stomped their foot and decided: "Fuck the fans, we don't want to play I'll", although tomorrow's setlist will be different, so I am sure that some still have their fingers crossed.

In fact, I came into this show not only starved from Dir en grey and sukekiyo, but I also have not looked at the "BEST SONGS" ever since the final results of the song battle polls were posted. All I knew was that Phenomenon was out, as well as most of the last ten years... Anyway, I felt like keeping that surprise of what songs should be featured in the setlist would get me more excited.

While we were waiting for the show to start, instead of playing some background songs picked by Kaoru from other bands, it was a few of Dir en grey's remixes. I can remember CONCEIVED SORROW (unplugged?), Dozing Green before construction, embryo, Filth, the fucking good Gyakujou no tannou keloid milk remix from the Drain Away single, etc. The onr that sounds like the Matrix soundtrack in the second half.

As always, eventually we hear the last remix's volume double, the tell-tale sign that the lights will get shut and the band will appear on stage!

Shinya wore a white top as usual. His hair was quite purple/pink. Die wore probably a brand T-shirt, but he had cut it so, so wide that within a minute and for the rest of the main set, we literally saw his right nipple! He also wore a black shiny necklace, the kind that drops in the shape of a triangle toward the chest. Toshiya wore a white prince jacket with black flourishing, tight black jeans. Kaoru had a rather professional suit top on but he wore some ample scarf or whatever underneath, and a dress shirt of course. The suit was black I think, whereas the stuff underneath was bronze-ish.

As for Kyo, he had black tight leather pants under a long green checkered dress. I think it was open on the sides, below the waist. It looks like some of his Madara Ningen dresses? He had a red knot bow at his neck but man... Above the shoulders? His hair has grown and is still blond, and he styled it super spiky. His hair seriously looked close to Cloud Strife in that sense! The masterpiece of it all was his makeup though. The eyes were heavily shadowed with white dots or "piercings" to the side and below+under them. Above each eye was a wide blue trail, not too sure. The eye shadows were linked on his forehead by a an upside down U, like an arc, and there seemed to be something dead in the centre but I wouldn't say it was a third eye. His mouth was well highlighted with dark makeup and elongated with thin lines horizontally on each side. Going back to his eyes, he wore red eyelashes and he had white contact lenses at least in the main set, so when the stage was bathed in red light, he seemed to have dead empty eyes, enlarged by all the red.

Already anticipating a huge nostalgia trip that the band would reluctantly play, it did not seem like much of a surprise to hear the first notes of Rasetsukoku. Kyo had said at his Tsutaya signing session that that was the ome song he was looking forward to play this tour, when a fan asked, so I thought that they wanted to start with that to pump up everyone and themselves, rather than to do the dreaded I'll first. But no, it just kept getting fucking better!

New Ash, new TDFF, new Wake... As you can see above, I got a bruise on the back of my right hand from pumping my fist/hand so fucking hard at these songs despite wearing a bracelet with metal. In Wake, it was only near the end, progressively, that some people joined in putting their hands up. My deltoids did not ghost me, I was able to keep a strong arm up the whole show, alternating between the two, sometimes putting up both. The band was on fire!

Toshiya was so demanding in the beginning, and he did all the mouthing that we have seen him do in the DVDs. It's weird, having had just that to experience these past three years. But yeah, for the main part, they were all exactly like how I'd watched them hah.

In Obscure, Kyo did his traditional hand-thrown-up kind of headbang. You know what I mean. I think Toshiya spun around after the first heavy part as usual, but I was busy following Kyo who had also seemed to spin toward the right side of the stage and stopped himself short of backing into Die, who wasn't looking.

The Perfume of Sins started and I was so glad that we had accurately predicted that they would play some songs from Phalaris, because those songs were not part of the polls, right hah?

Kyo set his mic on his vertebral stand and the moment he sings: "NOSE", the atmosphere turns HEAVY. The Perfume of Sins is performed to make it the literal heaviest song ever. He leans backward with the mic on stand for each word in the introduction, then the band members all get laser focused playing at such a fast pace. Shinya was crouched on his drums, I really hope that song isn't the death of him.

Then, when singing the first real verse, Kyo gestured the "hitotsu", from what I remember, like his two index fingers were coming into or out of his eyes. After that, for "oboete hoshii", the fingers move outward as though expulsed from his ears, and for "soko no inochi", those fingers which were levitating in mid-air start disintegrating downward.

When that part is repeated in the second half, suddenly Kyo became a dysfunctional, agitated pantomime or robot, both arms swaying mechanically up and down disorderly.

One last thing I remember for that song is that in between his verses, at some beat, Kyo leaned forward with his mic supportinh him in the opposite direction (like a long upside-down V) and seemed to almost pant with the rythm.

Kodoku ni shisu, yueni ni kodoku was played next and I could not believe my luck! Another song I love, a high-energy one. And this time, it made up for the way too soft version I had heard in mode of Withering to death. in Kyoto Rohm Theatre in 2017. This time, what had to be screamed was screamed, there was no rest for Kyo's throat, he was all the way into it, without stepping over board and cutting though.

I remember that in one song, Kyo stroke his mic into the crate and simultaneously, Toshiya had to adjust his left ear piece. Coincidence? Hopefully his ears are fine since that time he had COVID, but it did seem like the bang affected him.

Next was Oboro and we were still clapping the whole band but we quickly shut up when Kyo began heavily breathing, almost sobbing with his mic on his chest. He gets so emotional throughout this song all the time, his voice cracks up even further when mentioning the tears/namida.

And then, and then, and then .......... !

13! They played thir-the hell-teen!

I don't think Kyo was still using the stand by that point. He actually sang quite softly, more than the recorded song already is (one interviewer had said it sounded like Kyo made a conscious effort to sound young, which Kyo denied). Nevertheless, it still held all the emotions of this recent song that he is fond of.

Ain't afraid to die was nice. Hm, did Kyo bring back the stand for that song? I just remember that there are green beam lights in the beginning before the band joins. I think it was also in that song that the backdrop video showed a lot of "depression"s typed. He sang it very sincerely too, not as emotional as Oboro but he definitely felt it. The dark makeup on his lips, it really served to exaggerate how wide his mouth could open, highlighting his own instrument.

It may have been at the end of this song that Toshiya hugged his bass, but more like crossing his arms in front of his chest. He has held his bass more intimately and this time wasn't exactly like that. By this point, Toshiya had taken his prince jacket off and was wearing a long-sleevd black shirt, maybe with a turtle neck?

Drain Away felt like the band's one "old" gift tonight. I just felt the energy that they were projecting it for the audience rather than necessarily playing it for themselves too.

Merciless Cult next! Holy hell, they were ruthless tonight. Kyo asked us to do more and he got up front demanding us to sing but like... we couldn't hah? So I clapped. He even removed his ear pieces either here or in the encore but... Please hear my clapping?

Saku was heavy, heavy, heavy. I can't remember anything specific other than so much energy.

In The IIID Empire, Toshiya threw his mic stand in the second part but he must have gotten a cable stuck in his bass because it took him too long to turn to us and his expression seemed a bit tense hah.

The first part ended and I could not believe it. First of all, I was busy trying to look at the other energetic members for the finale of The IIID Empire and when I looked back at the centre of the stage, I could not see Kyo. I thought he had dropped to the floor but he had done it before the final beat, so it would have been odd. But no, he never got up, so he had in fact left extremely swiftly before the song even ended.

We started 'clapping the encore' immediately. It took a little while, because eventually we were so impatient that our clapping was not slow like for: "en-co-ru", it was full-on fast clapping just like when the band members appear on stage. For them to get the message hah. We did that twice but, eventually, G.D.S. started playing! Everybody got super hyped. All the band members wore the tour T-shirts except Kyo, who took his alice auaa Androgynos outfit out from his closet again! He still had his main set makeup.

C seemed to hold a very special meaning. That or another song, but there were lyrics about being able to scream that Kyo directly reflected on us, who had to stay silent.

Next was Kodou, to everyone's enjoyment of course. Kyo only sang that first heart-shattering scream, but the song was so strong nevertheless.

For some reason, on three occasions in Kodou Toshiya flipped his bass upward as though to create a special effect by rotating it back to its original position, slamming it, but I could not hear anything or see what he was doing with the cords in front of his face.

KR Cube elicited some cheers in the crowd despite the order to be quiet in the venue. In the beginning, when Kyo does that "ooeh" sound, he crouches backward with a hand on his inner thigh. He got really teasy and energetic in that song. He even seemed to nod at people like: "Yeah yeah, you know what dance move, do it but I won't", but he was definitely dancing throughout it while doing grimaces.

Hageshi sato was great to hear again, but it sucks because you're stuck multi-managing the band almost all coming up to the stage and responding to the song itself because Kyo would not have it otherwise hah.

The last song came way too fast. Kyo stared at us and stomped his foot widely once, twice, maybe even threw times. The audience responded by stomping too, but he was clearly not satisfied. Eventually, he hit his chest with his mic very strongly. It was only when he really did seem pissed still, as his deafening silence throughout that minute implied, that people actually stopped stomping and you could hear the huge contrast in volume of clapping now. Like what the fuck were people expecting? What were you doing before? Then he announced: "Last song!"

Child Prey had the backing vocalists actually really stoic, it seemed. It was kind of a blur, because Kyo also left way, way promptly. Nonetheless, I think he saw my energy throughout the show, but I can't control the rest of the audience or maybe even just his personal mood that day.

For the goodbyes, listen to this: Toshiya stood up on Kyo's crate after throwing his bottle cap+straw planted in it into the crowd, then he drank a gulp of water and poured he rest of it on his head. There was a lot left! He must have realized that his shirt was uncomfortable wet, or he wanted to anyway... But he took off his shirt! Damn he is back to being really ripped. In fact, the short sleeves of the Shinichi Sakamoto shirt he wore were clearly made to show how muscled Toshiya's arms still were. Damn. And no body fat, I can tell you that hah. Oh and he also threw his T-shirt wet from water and sweat into the crowd. Screw COVID apparently hahah.

As Toshiya was leaving, Kaoru pointed backward with an expression like: "Wow" It wasn't clear if he was referring to his fellow band member's muscled chest or the back screen which showed: "Dir en grey 25th Anniversary", or both hah.

Die actually left before Kaoru after throwing a knotted towel very far in the back of the audience. Then, Kaoru teased us and threw so many picks, going back to his stand to rip a few more from it again. He looked really grateful.

We stayed for a very long time clapping ferociously to demand a second encore, but alas.

And now, as you can see in the picture above, I also sport a bruise in my palm from clapping very energetically. You can't claim that I don't put my all into it hahah. Especially not after three years yo.

Can't wait to see what differences tomorrow will have!

[k3fanblog]

Best K3 song bracket: KKJ edition!

Overview group stage

Overview round 1

Overview round 2

Overview quarter finals

Overview semi finals

Overview finals

Results

I hope we all had fun in the full K3 song bracket, but because the og songs were dominating I suggested to hold separate polls for the other 3 generations and over 20 people thought that was a fun idea, so here is the first of the three competitions: The KKJ bracket.

KKJ have 61 songs on my last count, so I chose to do a 32 song bracket, where similar to the big K3 bracket, all singles automatically qualified, that is harder to determine but I got to 23 songs, leaving 9 spots for other songs which we'll again determine through a group stage:

The winner of each of these groups will place for the tournament the other 4 songs will be chosen from the songs that placed 2nd and third in those groups, they will be divided over 2 groups, the winner and runner-up of these two groups also place*

Similar to the earlier bracket, all polls will again last a week.

FAQ:

What will you tag the polls?

All polls will be tagged #Best KKJ song bracket

When does the tournament start?

I'm planning to start on July 31st

How did you seed the bracket/make the groups?

I seeded the bracket based on the songs' performance in the big bracket. (See this post for a full ranking of all 128 songs.) I did a similar thing for the group stage, but that was more coarse, as many songs only got 1 vote in the original group stage, so I got to also shuffle them around a bit to get a proper division of the different albums.

Why is De revolutie in the group stage? It was directly placed for the original bracket

De revolutie was a tough song, as it was originally an og single, but was only released on the MaMaSé album. Since a poll under the followers of this blog showed that most considered it also a KKJ song, I included it in the bracket, but that because it was only released as a single by the og, it would have to go through the group stage.

How did you determine what songs are singles?

A combination of the Discografie van K3 Wikipedia page and looking at what songs have video clips. With clips from specials it was a bit confusing, because not all felt like they should be counted as singles? However the group stage should make sure all actual popular songs get through to the main bracket.

Why is this in English?

Because I want to leave the option open for non-Dutch speaking people to be(come) K3 fans.

What happens if a poll ends in a tie?

I will let them face off in a 1-day poll, if that doesn’t give a winner, both will continue.

*OP reserves the right to switch the order of the group winners in the final bracket based on results in the groups/earlier rankings (Because Winner Group 1 has a better rank than Winner Group 5 right now, while maybe Winner Group 5 proves to be much more popular. Though this was probably a bigger problem in the original bracket, where Winner Poule 20 was up against Tele-Romeo, the later number 2, and Winner Poule 1 was up against Bubbel which ended in 75th place.)

[chaos-has-theories]

WIP Tag/Reblog Game

Thank youuuuu @aidanchaser!

List the titles your top five priorities for WIP updates (link your fics for new readers!)

An upcoming scene, event, or detail in each fic that you're looking forward to writing

Bonus: make a poll for your followers to vote on which top 5 WIP they are most excited to see an update on!

Then tag 10 writer friends!

WIP TITLES

Specifically 5 fanfics this time around - the things that are loudest about rattling my head at the moment.

Timetravel AU - Septimus Heap After a series of escalating deaths, Marcia and Septimus use the House of Foryx to travel back in time and - hopefully - fix things.

Merlin Resurrection AU - working title "I Refuse" Merlin has been alive for a thousand years, and he just found out that the rest of the gang is back. The problem is, none of them fully remember anything: It's only just enough to spook Arthur hard enough that he cut contact with all of the others and is trying his hardest to just be an obnoxious college student.

Three is Company - Septimus Heap, role swap AU. Prequel/Equel to The Long Way Home. Answers such thrilling questions as "how did Septimus get adopted by the Queen?", "how much trauma can you put into one freshly-minted EOW?" and "What exactly IS going on between Marcia, Milo and Cerys?"

The Egypt Agenda Part 4: The Distant Goddess I have yet to properly write out my Egyptian analysis of Nona the Ninth! Also I've been meaning to put the other parts on Ao3 for a while

Gideon the Musical Ohhhh boy I just rediscovered this while going through my drafts and?? I mean no there's pretty much nothing in that file yet but now I really want to pick it up again

UPCOMING SECTIONS

I am two-thirds through the scene in which Septimus and Simon infiltrate the Young Army to rescue 412. I'm not sure why I haven't kept working because technically I'm at such a juicy point? 412 thinks he's about to be thrown into DN1, Septimus can't tell him what's really going on, and Simon is being told to do a spell that this-timeline Simon has no reason to know. It's GOOD I think I'm just scared I can't hit the correct balance for it

sgahjhgsshfdg Merlin just met Gwen and the Knights at a metal concert and they made their way backstage to greet Morgana and Morgause but like. Morgana is half-convinced he'll try to kill her again. Gwen is crying. Merlin is inwardly screaming because if THEY'RE all back does that mean Arthur is as well??? I probably COULD skip the explanations and just continue the scene where he confronts Arthur. I'm just.... not sure how to resolve it yet. Stubborn Prince is being Stubborn.

Milo just fished a baby from the river and is walking towards the Palace to greet his wife and newborn daughter. He is about to a) be accosted by a very panicked Marcia b) have to fast-talk his way past the Supreme Custodian and c) find out that his daughter is very dead. Noone is having a good day, except maybe for me, because all of this is setup for some VERY stupid miscommunication.

DID YOU KNOW that there's an actual myth in which "Alecto" runs off to live in a land where "John" has no direct jurisdiction so he has to send "Ianthe" to cajole her into coming back? YEAH. THAT

Act I works pretty well! Even Act II is fine! It gets more difficult after that. Anyway I have decided there's going to be a song called "To the Floor" and then it can have reprise elements in all the other duel scenes. How? I dunno whatever gave you the idea that I know what I'm doing

No way I can think of 10 and I don't know if any of you have already been tagged but hmmmm - @echo-has-queries @into-september @trainsinanime @liesmyth @septimus-heap

[irrealisms]

every martyr in this jungle liner notes

fic here if you haven't read it!

okay so this first point is, like, barely a liner note for the fic proper. but did you know i have spent the past several weeks engrossed in the mcyt-trio polls. i have written two fics for it and made a web weave and i'm already planning a third fic for the finale next round as a thank you to the mods. shit's crazy. i rushed the editing timeline on every martyr in this jungle because i wanted to publish it before the time on this poll runs out. vote eclipse federation if you haven't already, with the disclaimer that it's got like 16 hours left as of me writing this, and keep an eye out for a bench trio fic coming soon to a blog and/or ao3 near you

anyway! fic time!

the most-used word in this fic that is not a name (the top three words are of course Vitalasy, Zam, and Subz) is again. this is on purpose. during editing i deleted an instance of "again" due to awkward phrasing and i had to double-check before doing so that it was still winning in Word Frequency or else i would've added it back in somewhere else. they have had this conversation before. maybe not in its details, but in its shape. they are having this conversation again, again, again.

vitalasy has so many issues around zam being afraid of him, even though (a) vitalasy hasn't actually done anything to anyone other than himself*, (b) zam is the one who killed vitalasy. some things i was drawing on for character inspiration here: the song hold no guns by death cab for cutie, the poem ON BEING RAISED ON FAIRY TALES IN WHICH YOU ARE THE MONSTER by a.m.h. *sorry for the planetlord erasure

zam...isn't actually as afraid of vitalasy as vitalasy thinks he is. zam is, like, a normal amount afraid of all social interaction, due to who he is as a person. he is an incredibly scared and jumpy guy, because he has an anxiety disorder, but he isn't actually particularly scared of vitalasy qua vitalasy anymore. vitalasy just...has issues from when he was.

relatedly: if this were from zam's pov, every time there is the slightest pause in the dialogue you'd get his internal monologue, which is approximately "oh God oh fuck this is going so terribly what do i say why am i so bad at talking to Vitalasy what do i do" the entire time. he's trying! and the tension on his end is much less "aaaa Vitalasy who I am scared of is here" and much more "WHY DO I KEEP SAYING THE WRONG THING. WHY AM I SO BAD AT THIS. OH NO HE'S EVEN SADDER NOW?????"

it did need to be vitalasy pov, though. as soon as i got the idea i knew it had to be vitalasy pov. i knew it had to be vitalasy pov because the previous one was zam pov and they're mirrors. here they are, at the grave, (again!) but now it's vitalasy standing vigil, and zam awkwardly showing up to put flowers on it.

the way it is still, constantly, about subz. vitalasy gets mad at zam for this, because zam cares so much more about subz than him, but he's just as bad--every two seconds he's thinking about subz's death, subz's note. the grave is the space between them. the grave is the only thing bringing them together. this is a bit of a continuation of the last fic. it is about zam and vitalasy but it is also about the ghost of subz.

the moon-representing-subz has Less of a presence in this one vs the last one, except for at the very end. the moon is rising. subz will be back soon. (well...it rises once zam leaves. this, too, is a metaphor.)

also related to the ghost of subz: i considered bringing up the fact that zam's been [hallucinating? haunted?] seeing subz everywhere. it didn't quite work but it's a fun little detail that is, btw, canon. canon in a "one-off line that was a little bit a joke" way but nonetheless canon enough to make me crazy about it.

the note about zam fidgeting a lot to the point of half-dancing around mapicc and spoke is about his lunar client emotes . and how he does them Even More Than Usual (which is already a lot) when he is around ppl who are also being silly w lunar client emotes <3

the thing where... they know each other. they know each other so well. they are, both of them, trying. this does not fix anything, it just makes it hurt worse.

sort of related to that and sort of related to zam's Fear (in general, of vitalasy) and sort of its own thing, zam is.. mm. zam's got certain expectations of people. and it's easy to assume they're about his [past issues in relationships] or even about [the person he is presently talking to] but they're...not, really. they're not zero about those things but they're not only about those things either. they are in large part about what zam, personally, thinks he deserves (punishment, death, bad things, etc). (occasionally when zam feels better about himself it's about how zam is a Victimhero Martyr and everyone else is a sort of prop in that, which vitalasy also has a huge complex about, but that's less relevant in this fic specifically than the...thinking he deserves for vitalasy to hurt him & on some level he wants vitalasy to hurt him as a weird self-harm-by-proxy thing & therefore vitalasy is probably going to hurt him)

the song the title comes from is Estate Sale Sign by the Mountain Goats. it's one of my #1 eclipse federation songs, tbh it's also one of my #1 s4 zam songs in general--i also am fond of it for team awesome. the title, though--that's all eclipse fed. they are all martyring themselves. they have all either banned themselves off or seriously considered it. they remember loving each other and now they still love each other but they are giving away that love. mm. [i remember when we loved each other day and night//and high above the water/the eagle spots the fish/every martyr in this jungle/is gonna get his wish]....man. also thinking about ["This is a song about, um, you may find it necessary to get rid of all your stuff, at some point."] and vitalasy burning all his stuff before his suicide. that's less relevant to the fic, though.

the series title is really funny to me. credit to angel qfitmc on tumblr for making this joke on hyperbeam chat and me cracking up every time i remember it. the thing is. while vitalasy and zam are being so fucking angsty and miserable about subz's suicide. subz IS playing dark souls. also elden ring. jump king. etc. bro killed himself in minecraft to become a variety streamer and i think that's beautiful. he's just chilling. this was of course epitomized when zam tried to bring him back but he was too busy playing dark souls and so he just Didn't. point is you don't have to stand at his grave and weep he is LITERALLY doing a pokemon nuzlocke run right now on twitch dot tv. unfortunately this is not stopping these two. from standing at his grave. and weeping

[diamondcrownacademy]

DCA Info Part 6: Idol Performances and Mechanics

The art used is from this post originally posted on August 4th, 2020.

Idol Performances

As mentioned before, Diamond Crown Academy is renowned for its idol performances that are viewed worldwide. On occasion, students go wild with their songs and performances.

It was initially prohibited to display this kind of energy during the school festival. That was the case until Headmistress Citrouille pulled a poll for the two magic schools and most of the votes said "Yes".

Fans now go wild and fanclubs get new members. The merch sales are off the roof and it's just a somehow chaotic outcome. But in a good way. Evonie being the rockstar fan she is, secretly performs rock concerts and uses a mask to hide her identity. Her fans dubbed this rockstar persona of her's "The Masked Maiden" (仮面の乙女). (Phoenix joked that this is similar to the double life of Hannah Montana).

Star Muse

Because the academy is known for the idol performances and competitions a ranking system keeps track of all the students and who is currently the Star Muse of the dorm and academy. In the dorm, the Star Muse has at least three seats, one of which is taken by the dorm leader as they are at the top of their game during performances. The two other seats will have students of that dorm compete so that they can move on to compete with other dorms' Star Muses. The most challenging round of idol competitions have all elected Star Muses to compete against each other to be crowned the top five, Stella Nova. The low ranking idol competitions are kept within the academy while the higher ranking competitions are performed on a venue outside the or a live show held at the academy where civilians can purchase tickets to attend the show.

Stella Nova

The five seats that are reserved for the winners of the top five idols. Stella Nova Muses are awarded a crown with a unique gem attached to it that has an ensemble that is of Premium Rank. The ensemble changes depending on the person who wears the crown, it also has it's own custom wings that are unique to the wearer.

The current top five who occupy the seats are:

Briar - Diamond Crown

Vidya - Topaz Crown

Evonie - Quartz Crown

Cerule - Ruby Crown

Ella - Sapphire Crown

If one of the Star Muse contestants were to beat one of the Stella Nova Muses, the latter muse must give her crown to the winner. The gemstone crowns are ranked by rarity, Diamond as the first seat, Topaz as the second seat, Quartz as the third seat, Ruby as the fourth seat and Sapphire as the fifth seat.

Performing in Groups & Idol Versus Matches

Idols usually face against each other on separate places except they sing the same song. Their score will depend on how many people cheer for them. There is always a camera around the stage, broadcasting their performance to an online audience. The idol with the most number of cheers are declared the winner and are rewarded a styling jewel or points in order to increase idol rank.

Idol Points - These are accumulated points after winning an idol match. As the idol goes up a rank, the more idol points they need to acquire in order to advance, which means participating in a lot of matches.

Cheer Points - These are points gained from audience who watch the performance live or online. The ones who attend the venue of the idol are the base points, the ones online vote for which one they liked better. DCA is able to keep track of the points each student has and has an application that students download on their phone to keep track of their scores.

In an idol group performance, the contestants will be ranked on teamwork, harmony and synchronization. This is much harder since casting illusion appeals takes more practice because it needs to be done by everyone in the team, they lose points if one member is either too early or too late in casting their illusion.

But there are group performances who are there for entertainment in order to build up their likeability to the public, same rule applies to the idols who perform solo.

Idol Groups

Students often form groups but this applies to entertainment performances, the public has a group they favor and will want to keep track off. The group name is registered by the staff by sending a form to fill out, writing down the group name, and who the members are.

The group style is unanimous and must not stray away from the motif of their group name. This is for stabilizing their name in the public and changing styles would create confusion and lessen likeability. Forming a group allows the students to introduce themselves to the public and gain likeability faster so if they were to perform solo or in another group, the fans who favor them will want to vote for them which can be an advantage to win the match.

The student can be a part of more than one group. It's a strategy to gain even more likeability among the public.

List of Idol Groups

Bravery Crest (ブレイバーリクレスト) A trio with a cool princely motif, an aesthetic of empowerment and breaking from the norm.

Members: Allison, Evonie and Vidya.

Butterfly Moon (バタフライムーン) - A duo group who as an elegant vibe, they depict the aura of a woman who is always at the top and paves her own empire.

Members: Evonie (as The Masked Maiden) and Vidya.

Candy Shell (キャンディーシェル) - A duo group who has a rather bright and bubbly vibe to them, showing off the carefree and whimsical world under the sea.

Members: Allison and Cerule

Spring Drop (スプリングドロップ) - A trio who depicts the beauty of the forest with it's simple yet warm atmosphere.

Members: Elu, Perrine and Evonie.

Glass Moon (グラスムーン) - A duo that shows the beauty of maidens who hold a mysterious aura, tempting curiosity.

Members: Ella and Rozeline.

Platinum Queen (プラチナクイーン) - A quartet who have an elegant motif, to show the world the power of a queen.

Members: Vidya, Briar, Cerule and Jinlong.

Passion Festa (パッションフェスタ) - A duo who has a cultural vibe that shows the different cultures coming together to create a unification.

Members: Jinlong and Perrine.

Baroque Rose (バロックローズ) - A trio with a dark gothic motif, displaying an alluring yet sorrowful performance.

Members: Rozeline, Briar and Evonie.

Idol Mechanics

At the start of school, there are at least 4 months to prepare for the beginner debuts. This is only held in the school and is not broadcasted, this is to scope out the abilities of the freshmen as upcoming idols.

The freshmen are given enough time to choose their outfits from the starting brand and time to rehearse using already made songs.

Passing would allow them to be moved to a training class for idols and magic for their actual debut.

Those who fail are given a chance to try again in another 4 months or they can choose another role to help out in the idol performances through either writing songs, making outfits or even stage prep.

Students who pass the beginner debuts are given 4 months to train themselves for their proper debuts. They can go solo only if the teachers think their abilities are up for it, but mostly it is kept in groups of 3-5. This is broadcasted in a special venue where there are many cameras filming the students for the world to see.

The studies aren't too straining for the students to keep up with idol work as it all relates to magic training.

First years are limited to using the beginner brand until they reach second year. That is when they get to either pick from the available brands or establish a new brand.

In their second year, the students have the choice to form an idol group or go solo in the upcoming performances they will be chosen to perform at. The staff will inform the chosen students ahead of time of the venue, whether it be solo or a group.

The performances are spread throughout different kingdoms with approval from the authority managing the area the school wants to perform in.

This is to showcase the student's capability in magic so they may be scouted in the future, as well as promote their academy to increase favorability among the masses.

Forming Idol Groups

Idol groups can either have permanent members that last until graduation or have members that alternate in different idol groups.

What's special about the idol groups is that each idol's preferred brand would collaborate to make ensembles exclusive for that idol group.

But of course, the process of forming a group is tricky, because students aren't paired with the people they want.

You have to go through measuring your synchronization with others, this is done through a simple vocalization class where a large group of students who wish to form groups would harmonize in one room.

The students are given enchanted music sheets that measure their vocal compatibility. The names of the people in the room would also be on the music sheet and after the exercise, compatibility percentages would appear beside the names.

They would then group up with those whose compatibility percentages are closer to their own.

An Idol's Regalia

"Regalia" is what you refer to an idol's aura that appears if the idol has full concentration of magic as well as focus on rhythm.

This is a spell taught to the DCA students very early on and what they will train on mastering during their idol rehearsals. It was said to be used to cloak a certain area with illusions to avoid any enemies from trying to invade, or so they heard.

It can be difficult to pull off for first timers and even difficult to maintain throughout the performance. It can be stabilized with another idol's Regalia, hence why some would start off as groups.

Solo idols are considered veterans when it comes to summoning their Regalia. Most dorm leaders can do a solo performance, though there was no shame in a dorm leader wanting to perform in a group more often.

The Regalia appears like a large crown overhead the idol, below the crown is a "Curtain" that contains an illusion magic that changes the environment within its radius.

Above the crown is the idol's "Symbol", it can take the form of anything that represents the idol.

Think of it as parts of a Merry Go Round. The top part is the Crown, the middle where the rides are is the curtain where the illusion effects are and the bottom is the radius.

Each idol has a different Regalia which makes it a delight to the audience on what each one would look like everytime new students would perform.

Hybrid & Themed Regalia

A Regalia can merge with another idol's, creating a "Hybrid" of the crowns along with the symbols and curtains.

This is a bit tricky as the group needs to have the same endurance. If one of the idol gets too tired to keep up the Regalia then only that idol's Regalia would fade from the group while the others remain.

However, to create a Regalia that is completely different to their own is an incredibly difficult feat.

Only the highly skilled would be able to cast this.

An example would be a "Themed Regalia" that the group would have to imagine and synchronize in order to manifest it.

Trying to guess what your group mates are imagining is the hard part as well as the focus to keep the spell up during the performance.

Starting idol groups would only appear with their own Regalias and won't merge at first.

Then with a little more training they can merge the Regalia designs during a group performance. When the group is in perfect sync they can accomplish summoning a Themed Regalia.

The size of the Regalia can also depict the idol's current magical capabilities. The student can increase the radius with enough training and focus.

Small radius means you are a beginner, the bigger the radius is then it shows how far your capabilities are.

If a Regalia disappears somewhere along the song then it's a sign that the idol is nearing exhaustion of their magic and their body is subconsciously trying to prevent any more stress.

Warning: A student is NOT allowed to resummon their Regalia if it disappears, Regalia uses up magic and accumulates blot like any other magic.

DCA Students' Regalia

🍎 Evonie

- Crown: Curled branches of a tree decorated in leaf-shaped gemstones

- Symbol: A bright apple-shaped gem with blue birds flying over it

- Curtain: A shower of white flowers

🖤 Masked Maiden (Evonie's Idol Persona)

- Crown: Black tiara that looks like a cage

- Symbol: A raven on top of a red heart

- Curtain: Black feathers and red smoke

👠 Ella

- Crown: White pumpkin vines with stars

- Symbol: A mini castle

- Curtain: Glitter and blue flowers

🐰 Allison

- Crown: Ring of sweets that are shaped like card suits

- Symbol: White rabbit in a teacup boat

- Curtain: Silhouette of Alice in a caucus race

🌹 Briar

- Crown: Green rose vines with stained-glass roses

- Symbol: Three colored roses (Red, Blue and Green)

- Curtain: Rose petal shower

🐠 Cerule

- Crown: Lines that form waves with pearls decorating the sides

- Symbol: Open shell depicting Ariel's silhouette

- Curtain: Faint illusions of the waves with fishes splashing around

📚 Rozeline

- Crown: Black thorns wrapped around an iron gate

- Symbol: Caged rose

- Curtain: Floating candles that glow a gold hue

🏝️ Vidya

- Crown: Ring of towers resembling the ones of Agrabah's palace with clouds surrounding the ring

- Symbol: A crescent moon that shines like a gem

- Curtain: Shower of gemstones

🐲 Jinlong

- Crown: Chinese lanterns and silk

- Symbol: Dragon circling around a jade crystal

- Curtain: Small ember sparks

🍂 Elu

- Crown: Leaf ring with wings

- Symbol: Four arrows mimicking a compass

- Curtain: Illusion of a forest

🐸 Perrine

- Crown: Flower ring with musical notes

- Symbol: Dancing frogs on a lily pad

- Curtain: Fireflies hovering in a ring

👑 Darling

- Crown: White and blue feathers in a ring

- Symbol: A swan encased in a crown

- Curtain: Illusions of ducklings in a tutu twirling around

🗝️ Maddison

- Crown: Dark green heart-shaped hedges with dark pink roses

- Symbol: Bleeding gem heart with a sword in it

- Curtain: Shadows of a sharp-toothed grin

[scotianostra]

On June 13th 1831 James Clerk Maxwell was born in Edinburgh.

James Clerk Maxwell was no ordinary child, considering what he achieved! He attended school in the city and was nicknamed ‘daftie’ by his classmates, due to his home-made clothing and rustic accent. Despite the teasing, he excelled at the school, producing a scientific paper at the age of just 14, he later studied at the Universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge.

He graduated with a degree in mathematics from Trinity College, Cambridge and soon after started his career as a Professor of Physics in Marischal College, Aberdeen. He then switched to King’s College, London and then at Cambridge as the first ever Professor of Experimental Physics.

Ask physicists to rank their heroes, and Maxwell is in the top three, standing a shade below Newton and Einstein. But when it comes to being celebrated by the public, somehow Maxwell got left behind. Einstein’s image is well known and Newton’s pilgrims regularly flock to his tomb at Westminster. But few of us would recognise Maxwell’s face.

His theories on the composition of the rings of Saturn was so far ahead of it’s time that they were only confirmed to be correct in the 1980s when the Voyager space expeditions allowed closer examination of Saturn. He also predicted the existence of radio waves. Maxwell gave us the first colour photograph in a collaboration with Thomas Sutton, and of course being a Scot he knew the best thing to capture different colours would be a piece of tartan!

It has been said that Maxwell was one of the most likeable men in the annals of science. How can you not like a man who sends a heartfelt letter of condolence on the death of a friend’s dog? A man who patiently nursed his dying father, and later his wife, and who regularly gave up his time to volunteer at the new “Working Men’s Colleges” for tradesmen? It seems that everyone who knew him thought of him as kind and generous, albeit a little eccentric. He was “one of the best men who ever lived”, according to his childhood friend and biographer, Lewis Campbell.

It seems a sin that a man held in such high esteem in the scientific world hardly gets a mention in our history books, even in death he is very understated, his grave is a simple affair in Parton Kirk, Galloway, granted, there is now a statue of Maxwell Clerk in George Street but it is relatively new affair, and I wonder how many actually know about him as they pass him on the way in and out of St Andrews Square.  Maxwell was ranked 91st on the BBC poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, a figure way too low for a man who inspired people like Albert Einstein, another poll put him in a more favourable light, when a survey of the 100 most prominent physicists saw Maxwell voted the third greatest physicist of all time, behind only Newton and Einstein.   Einstein himself described Maxwell’s work as the “most profound and the most fruitful that physics has experienced since the time of Newton.” Einstein kept a photograph of Maxwell on his study wall, alongside pictures of Michael Faraday and Newton.

Most men of science are portrayed as dour serious folk, that is certainly not the case with James Clerk Maxwell, he has been described as funny, flippant and charming.

As a great lover of Scottish poetry, Maxwell memorised poems and wrote his own. The best known is Rigid Body Sings, closely based on Comin’ Thro the Rye by Robert Burns, which he apparently used to sing while accompanying himself on a guitar. It has the opening lines:

Gin a body meet a body Flyin’ through the air. Gin a body hit a body, Will it fly? And where?  

A collection of his poems was published by his friend Lewis Campbell in 1882.  I’ll leave you to go find the full verse for that and give you my fave by the great man.

Song  Of  The  Edinburgh  Academician

If ony here has got an ear, He’d better tak’ a haud o’ me, Or I’ll begin, wi’ roarin’ din, To cheer our old Academy.

Dear old Academy, Queer old Academy, A merry lot we were, I wot, When at the old Academy.

There’s some may think me crouse wi’ drink, And some may think it mad o’ me, But ither some will gladly come And cheer our old Academy.

Some set their hopes on Kings and Popes, But, o’ the sons of Adam, he Was first, without the smallest doubt, That built the first Academy.

Let Pedants seek for scraps of Greek, Their lingo to Macadamize; Gie me the sense, without pretence, That comes o’ Scots Academies.

Let scholars all, both grit and small, Of Learning mourn the sad demise; That’s as they think, but we will drink Good luck to Scots Academies.

[castershellwrites]

Ghost of Tsushima CYO Fic

Please enjoy this fic, there's a poll under the cut to vote for what you want to happen next. This fic will reach no higher than a teen rating and pairings (if any) will be determined by votes.

This fic is set after the events of the main game and the Iki Island DLC, there will be spoilers. Jin is on Iki island deciding what to do now that the island is free.

Fic and poll under the cut:

Jin Sakai sat atop Kaze, his bay stallion, while the ocean breeze whistled though the plates of their armor. Their armor because Jin had on The Ghost armor made by his late friend Taka, and Kaze’s tack was covered by the armor of his late father’s horse. That armor filled out the still fattening frame of his horse. Kaze certainly wasn’t Kage… he was leaner, faster, and more stubborn… but he was proper samuai’s steed and a loyal companion.

When they’d first been stranded on Iki, Kaze had truly proven himself a capable fighter in his own right. Now, months after the Khan’s defeat and having finally freed Iki from the looming shadow of the Eagle, Jin and Kaze fought together as one. They were of the same mind. Tenzo had commented on it with awe and some jealousy. Jin had only shrugged, unable to come up with a platitude that wouldn’t be condescending or remind them both of the vast difference in their stations.

The ocean waves crashed against the sands and rocks of the coast. The tide was coming in. If he left for Fune’s Refuge now, he’d probably arrive at its zenith, meaning the rocky path would be treacherous and slick. He needed to return to Tsuhima soon, but not at the cost of his life from slipping off a rock and drowning. He’d had a near enough experience to that in Zasho Bay and was loath to trust his luck a second time. Third if he counted falling off the bridge almost  year ago as his first near drowning. Jin shuddered and pointed Kaze inland.

Without realizing it, Jin found their travels took them to Hachibee’s house. He was drawn out of his head by the constant low buzzing. The bees seemed agitated today. Was it the weather? Or perhaps this was their swarming season? Hachibee had many freshly carved logs set at intervals around the clearing and through the nearby forest, prime real-estate for any queen seeking a new home.

Jin dismounted, and chuckled.

Kaze immediately retreated away from the little insects that filled the air. His ears twitched with annoyance, but perked forwards to listen once Jin began playing his flute.

This would likely be the last time he played here, for Hachibee’s bees, or—a second flute joined in harmony as Jin knew it would—with Hachibee. Three songs later Jin stopped for breath and to embrace the feeling of warm sunlight on him. He felt warmed to the bone the same way he had when Hachibee had offered him tea sweetened with honey.

“You’re leaving soon?” the apiarist asked without preamble.

Jin raised an eyebrow and answered the question with another, “How did you know?”

“Your flute sounded melancholy, my lord—uh—Jin.”

“It’s fine. I think half the island knows I’m samurai now.” Jin didn’t voice that only a handful on the island knew his clan. Fune and Tenzo had done well in keeping their own council on the matter.

Hachibee held his flute across his lap and bowed his head. “You don’t deny you’re leaving.”

“I am leaving, soon. I wished to say farewell to you, Hachibee, and to your charges.”

“Safe travels, Jin. Before you go”—Hachibee sprang to his feet, feigning lightness and levity—“allow me to give you a parting gift.”

Jin knows those on Iki don’t have much. He also knows better than to reject generosity and kindness when it offered freely. He accepted Hachibee’s gift gratefully and with a deep bow of his own. The small jars were heavy.

“Honey,” Hachibee proclaimed, “for wounds, medicine, eating. For whatever you need, Jin. Please, travel safely.”

He didn’t ask for Jin to write. Jin never bothered to find out if he was literate. He may try to send a letter back regardless. Hachibee has been a good friend.

“Thank you. Your kindness is appreciated. I will miss playing music with you, and your bees.” Jin bowed again, and waited for Hachibee to rise from his own reciprocating bow before taking his leave. That was one farewell made. His next stop would be Fune’s refuge.

[siglai]

Michael Holbrook Penniman Jr.[6][7][8] (born 18 August 1983), known by his stage name Mika (/ˈmiːkə/ MEE-kə, stylised as MIKA), is a Lebanese-born British singer-songwriter.

After recording his first extended play, Dodgy Holiday, Mika was named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2007 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2007.[9] Mika released his first full-length studio album, Life in Cartoon Motion, on Island Records in 2007, which sold more than 5.6 million copies worldwide and helped Mika win a Brit Award—winning Best British Breakthrough act—and receive a Grammy Award nomination.[10] He topped the UK Singles Chart in January 2007 with "Grace Kelly". He has since gone on to record four more studio albums (most recently My Name is Michael Holbrook released in October 2019), as well as serve as judge/mentor on both the French version of The Voice and the Italian version of X Factor. Mika has also starred in his own television variety show in Italy, Stasera Casa Mika [it], which won the 2017 Rose d'Or Award for Entertainment, and co-hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.

Contents

1Life and career

1.11983–2006: Childhood and early career

1.22007–2008: Life in Cartoon Motion

1.32009–2010: The Boy Who Knew Too Much

1.42010–2014: The Origin of Love, X Factor Italy and Songbook Vol.1

1.52015–2018: No Place in Heaven

1.62019–2020: My Name Is Michael Holbrook

1.72021–present

2Personal life

3Discography

4Filmography

5Tours

6Awards and nominations

7References

8External links

Life and career

1983–2006: Childhood and early career

Mika was born in Beirut, the third of five children (three sisters Yasmine, Paloma and Zuleika and one brother Fortuné), to an American-born Lebanese mother and an Israeli-born American father, Mary Joan "Joannie" (née Mouakad, daughter of John Mouakad and Odette Farah) and Michael Holbrook Penniman (son of William Frederick Penniman III and Dorothy Dyar). His father was a banker[7][11] and was born in Jerusalem, where his own father – Mika's paternal grandfather William Frederick Penniman III – was a diplomat.[11][12] Mika's maternal grandfather John Mouakad was Syrian (from Damascus).[13][14]

When Mika was a year old, his family was forced to leave war-torn Lebanon and moved to Paris, France.[12][15] The first piano piece he learned to play was "Les Champs-Élysées", by Joe Dassin.[12] At the age of 7, he wrote his first song, a piano instrumental called "Angry", which he describes as "awful".[7] The family moved to London when he was 9 years old. There, he attended the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle, where he experienced severe bullying. He also had problems with dyslexia. In response to these experiences Mika was home-schooled by his mother at the age of 12, for six to eight months.[7] He then attended St Philip's School in Kensington, where he was the head of the Schola Cantorum (the St. Philip's Choir). Later he attended Westminster School and the Royal College of Music, which he left to record his first album at Casablanca Records.[16] As a child Mika was trained by Alla Ardakov (Ablaberdyeva), a Russian opera professional.

Mika's first single was a limited 7"/download release called "Relax, Take It Easy" (2006). It was play-listed by UK's BBC Radio 1 and was made Record of the Week by DJ Scott Mills. The Dodgy Holiday EP also became available for download. The song "Billy Brown" was available for free download for a week from the iTunes Store. A song titled 'Over-rated', which was recorded in 2004, was "unofficially" released online. His debut radio appearance was on Dermot O'Leary's BBC Radio 2 show in September 2006.

2007–2008: Life in Cartoon Motion

WHO