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smolbeandrabbles · 4 years

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Kiss Me Quiet - Nolan Sorrento x Reader (Ready Player One)

GIF Credit: X @wltz-bby @happyskywhale

‘Tell me something good’ is fantastic line context for later... FYI.😏😏

Author’s Note: Requested by @slurpin! Thank you SO much for your request! Especially as it’s Nolan 🥰🥰🥰

Well if there’s one good thing to come out of my slight writing (and life in general) spiral, it’s the first few paragraphs of this fic!

Also this went through three songs before I landed on this one, by accident on youtube as ever, and I loved it *so* much that it had to be the one I used. Kiss Me Quiet - Jess Moskaluke

Disclaimer: RPO naught to do with me / Of course we’re referencing Lacero again / gifs & lyrics not mine Premise: There’s been a lot weighing on your mind recently, even though you’re on holiday. Nolan Sorrento wants to cheer you up, and he’s got a good bottle of wine... Words: 2727 Warnings: sexual connotations / some sexy shenanigans / dirty talk / swearing / drinking.

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You're laying back chill, biting your tongue Taking it in, looking like you love Listening to me run my pretty little mouth And the sweet soft sound as the words fall out

Oh it's a sexy little dance You watching me talking with my hands Oh and you know I won't quit That look like you're trying to resist my lips says

Tell me what you want, where you wanna go Tell me who you are, what you think Yeah you're smiling like you wanna know All my crazy friends, boy I'll make you laugh Talking 'bout Panama City, best spring break I ever had Baby I know what you want When you crank my favorite song So I'll sing along, yeah, sing along Sing up a riot 'Till you kiss me quiet I'll keep going on and on until you kiss me quiet

Can you keep a secret, I'll whisper in your ear Boy, I'll make you hang onto every word you hear I'll keep spilling it, you keep listening till you can't hold back no more

I'll tell you what I want, where I wanna go Tell you who I am, what I think Yeah you're smiling like you wanna know All my crazy friends, boy I'll make you laugh Taking 'bout Panama City, best spring break I ever had Baby, I know what you want When you crank my favorite song So I'll sing along, yeah, sing along Sing up a riot 'Till you kiss me quiet

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“How are you feeling?” Was such an odd question to be asked when on top of a hill, in the quiet, in sunshine, looking out over the serene view of Sorrento and the sweeping bay. Gorgeous sapphire blue sea stretching out towards the rest of mainland Europe. It wasn’t that he was asking you how you were feeling, but the tone Nolan was asking it in.

“Hmm?” You looked up at him, the way his blue eyes studied you with careful interest. There was a lot of concern there too. But he stayed sitting where he was; he didn’t want to get closer, didn’t want to smother you if it wasn’t needed or wanted. “You’ve been quiet for a while, nearly all holiday.” “I’m fine.” And you meant it, “Nolan you know me, I just... have quiet spells.” “I was starting to think it was me.” He murmured his thought almost guiltily. And you shook your head. No, no it wasn’t. It was just he, nor the view, could really cheer you up right now. You were fine, that was true, but you couldn’t say you’d raise it above that. Not quite yet anyway. Nolan Sorrento could probably change that around if he wanted; it was already clear by the fact you were up here that he was putting the effort in. Nolan always did. He knew how to break through that, so he could get to hearing the sweet sound of your voice again. Which was certainly one of his favourite things – something he could associate with the comfort of home, calm and welcoming after a long work day, soothing and delicate as you’d hold him and tell him it was all going to be okay, how loud you got when you talked a on and on around something you were passionate about, or when you got mad, or drunk… the way you laughed. That slight waiver you always tried to hide when you were sad that he could pick up on immediately to quiet your fears, or work on making you smile again. Luckily it wasn’t present right now, but Nolan was afraid of hearing it. Then that shake… a delightful thing to be able to draw from you: beside him, on top of him, pinned under him… it didn’t matter where; just that moment. And how it sounded over the phone, how you’d make the tone of your voice sweet, sultry… sexy - everything you would say when he was a little too far away from you for a little too long… Nolan shuffled uncomfortably for a moment where he was sitting and cleared his throat – painfully aware he’d thought on that for a little too long. All he had to do was get you talking about something that made you happy, something that would bring you back to life. Pull you from whatever had got you so far gone… Maybe he could flirt with you, maybe he could even get you blushing. Nolan knew that he’d have to be careful with that one though; one false move and you’d be driven away, or you’d snap at him. That was a fine line, he’d just have to be careful and coax it out of you. Luckily the planned date was a picnic up here, so, admire the views all you want but cracking open a good bottle of wine was going to change all that; even if your only thought was put to teasing him about it. As you heard him rummaging around you couldn’t help be curious: Nolan muttered to himself - in Italian you had to note - as he uncorked the bottle, and although your first thought was ‘I hope he isn’t expecting us to drink the whole THING?!’ you couldn’t help but tip your head. Okay, you knew what he was doing, but you’d bite. “Let me guess, that’s Sorrento made?” “Sorrento?” God damn him for rolling the r’s like that, “Close…” He pulled out a glass and skilfully poured it like you might see a mixologist do behind a fancy bar. Party trick? You guessed he’d probably picked it up somewhere. “And what, it’s 1999?” “Oooh…” He smirked, “She’s close, once more.” He held the glass out to you, “But no dice.” “Then what!?” You took it and Nolan showed you the bottle, “Oh. My birth year? I thought it was only good if it was ’99.” “Usually. But, it’s not about me. This time.” He gave a gentle wink, and poured himself a glass before placing the bottle back, “So, to you. And trying to cheer you up!” For a minute your stare at him was blank, before you blinked slowly, “You are… infuriating.” “Ah, so it’s working?” “NO.” Although you couldn’t help but smile into the glass as you sipped. “Look whatever it is, you know I’d do anything to fix it. You do, don’t you?” “Nolan…” you sighed gently, “It’s not you. It’s just… a mood I get into sometimes.” “I know you might not think so,” His head tipped, blue eyes soft, “but I’m a good listener too. Like for like, you listen to me enough. About time I did the same.” You were quiet, staring back at your glass, the reflection of yourself in the red liquid – before you took a deep breath: “I don’t know. Work, I guess.” “Mm?” He raised an eyebrow. “You put in effort and, either no one recognises it or they just take the credit, then you wonder why you bother or… Is this it? Is this the life I’m going to live?” “Well, not everything’s bad right?” You could hear that slight hurt that you would do anything to take back. “N-No. Oh, Nolan, yes I have you! But… I can’t pin all my happiness on you. That’s not fair.” He very nearly tipped the whole glass back, “Fuck ‘em. Come work for me.” You immediately snorted, “Oh no, no no no, I’m not working for IOI.” “What!? Why?” “No way. I couldn’t!” You shook your head vigorously. “You’d be a damn sight better than most of them!” He sounded more desperate than persuasive. “Oh no, I’ve heard so many horror stories!” “Really?” “Yeah, especially about their CEO.” You couldn’t keep a straight face, and began to giggle. His eyes narrowed, smile knowing, “Is that right?” Then you couldn’t help but laugh, “Yes. Can confirm-” “Confirm?!” You waved your hand, laughing at his outrage, “-None of those rumours are true.” “You are on such thin ice!!” Nolan shook his head at you, but was grinning, then indicated to your glass, “Well?!” “Oh,” you looked to it, “you really don’t need me to tell you how good it is, do you?” “Eh, I dunno, feed my ego.” “It’s delicious. I wouldn’t trust anyone else to pick wine for me in a million years.” “That’s my girl!” He smiled, pouring himself another glass, then held it out to toast with yours, “Now I’ve got a smile back on your face, c’mon… let’s talk about something a little nicer!”

So, talk started to turn to other holidays, you’d both been to Sorrento before, both together and alone. In fact one year you’d come out here with your friends and explored the Amalfi coast before heading up to city areas like Rome and Milan; your ‘little’ Italian road trip. Apparently, that didn’t compare to being here with him – and you noticed that smirk – or your ‘best spring break ever’. He’d met your friends and each and every one of them was crazy: it’d been a lot to take in for him at once but once they’d broken through the play-it-straight businessman they all seemed to really like him. He’d never got vibes they didn’t, although Nolan knew why they were protective of you, and you’d never had the inclination to tell him they didn’t like him. But the stories about your adventures together? Downright hysterical. You’d been fairly lucky growing up in ways that Nolan hadn’t. He’d surely worked very hard in a very short period of time to become who he was. You’d always lived fairly comfortably; you at least had no complaints. So, Nolan lived all his wild spring break adventures through you. Much more likely to have spent his own fixing up old gaming and projection systems, or looking after his little sister. You’d had a lot of near misses and dodged bullets and you were the fairly careful one of your friends. Pretty soon you were both crying laughing and Nolan had to ask you to stop for just a second so he could catch his breath. He wasn’t averse to talking about some of his favourite things either, even if they were more recent memories. Even if some of them were just travels he’d got to take with IOI. Even just something he was building or planning for the OASIS. Nolan often had the imagination, but no means of execution. Even with the millions IOI made, he was fairly restricted by the happiness of his shareholders and the board of directors. You’d read his little book of plans that he’d kept ideas in ever since his earliest day of interning with Gregarious Games, and one day you hoped he’d be able to put all of these things into production. For now, Nolan was content and that was all that mattered to you. And all yours on weekends, and holidays. He was not allowed to bring work home with him and, on the rare occasions he did, Nolan always asked your express permission – not that you were going to say no when he was giving you that face. Although by this point, he had his tablet out and was shuffling through your playlist. You weren’t all alone up here, but other visitors to the site were far enough away for it not to disturb them. Nolan nudged the conversation back to you though, so that he could hear your voice, talking about anything and everything, now you were focused on Sorrento, on the view before you. Your tone dreamy and far off; his favourite person talking about one of his favourite places on earth. With fine wine and good Italian food, it was altogether a perfect mix. Nolan was focused so much on your body language, the way you moved, the sounds you made, every nuance of your face that added so much colour to what you were saying… whatever you were saying, because he wasn’t hearing words. But you were clearly talking to him, and asking him questions because the next thing he knew you’d turned your beautiful eyes on his awaiting an answer. “-Nolan!?” “W-what, I’m… I’m sorry I-” You folded your arms with a gasp, teasing, “You weren’t even listening to me?!” “No that’s not it… I was… listening so hard that I didn’t hear a word.” “…That- doesn’t make sense!” “Admiring… the way you say things, not… the what. Who you are. It’s- it just makes me happy. I guess I’m just thinking about you… a lot.” “Oh…” Your voice got quiet for a minute, and you looked to the blanket with a small blush. Ah… there was one…a perfect moment. And a good first chance. “I mean… I can’t figure out whether I like you best on top of me, beneath me, or next to me. What do you think?” Your eyes widened for a second, before flicking back up to meet his. The single beat you missed was to work out if Nolan was being serious, but it was obvious by the glint in his eyes. “I don’t really care, but I do know if these people weren’t around, I would jump you right now!” The slight shock on your face turned into a very pointed smirk. “If you were quiet I’m sure no one would notice…” “I have no intention of being quiet if I’m going to rip through the buttons on your nice shirt, Mr. Sorrento.” “This shirt was pretty expensive. You’re lucky I could cover the cost.” But he winked, “I hope you’ve eaten enough, because trust me you’re gonna need all that energy. I think I’ll go with beneath me. I’m sure there’s a tie somewhere I can bind your wrists with…” The blush across your face deepened and your body immediately latched onto that with an oh! that you were glad didn’t make its way out verbally. “Now I just want you to come over here and fuck me.” “Don’t care who’s watching?” “No.” “Imagine that one in the Columbus papers tomorrow…” Nolan breathed deep, “It’d almost be worth it!” You whined, tipping yourself back onto your hands with a pout. Nolan had this look in his eyes like he knew exactly what he was doing to you, and he wasn’t wrong; he was succeeding in turning you on. “God, I just want my hands all over you.” “Finish the bottle and I’ll consider it.” He sipped gently at his glass again, “I’m not wasting a vintage this good.” “Just pour it on me then.” “Red wine?!” He looked repulsed for a second, “Honey, there’s plenty of things I would lick off your body but red wine is not one of them. I do have a little bit of class.” “Nolan-!” Your protest of his name was breathless. “If it were Champagne, I’d consider it.” “You’re fucking killing me.” “Or just fucking you…” He smirked again, watching the way your chest rose and fell heavily, he could bet on the sweet ache between your thighs right now; touché, Nolan had one of his own that he was trying to control behind that façade. He pulled the bottle out of the basket again and studied the level in the sunlight, “Half glass each aughta do it…” You held yours out eagerly, making Nolan smirk a little harder as he turned to pour it, but his pour was agonisingly slow and he left the bottle tipped as he finished the measure. “C’mere…” He coaxed you gently; he’d been holding back what he really wanted to do all day, Nolan wasn’t about to now. And you weren’t about to resist him, as he pulled you into a wine-soaked kiss. You immediately grabbed his shirt, pulling him closer to you and hardly caring that you were probably spilling a good amount of this glass everywhere, even though Nolan himself had managed to carefully place the bottle back down, drawing your body closer his hand travelled beneath your skirt and he brushed his fingers delicately over your panties. This time your moan was into his kiss. Nolan pulled back with a chuckle, but his fingertips lingered there and he continued to tease you, “Mmm… I thought so. You’re already so wet, for me.” His voice was husky and you couldn’t help shiver in pleasure. “Nolan…” Your face was red and he wasn’t sure if it was the wine finally getting to you, or your blush was just that deep, but you looked gorgeous, and your voice was at a needy pitch. Yes, it was getting hard to control himself… He allowed you to kiss him again; and that wine tasted even better from your lips. “I know I shouldn’t be saying this on holiday but can we go back to our hotel room?’ Your voice was quiet, and your hands were steadying your body against his as he continued to touch you. Nolan’s smile was soft, as if you were sitting across from him at a fine restaurant and he was being an absolute gentleman, “Ab-so-lute-ly.” He circled your sweet spot with every syllable and you bit back your whine this time. “Will you speak Italian to me all the time too?” If there was one other thing that could get you off, it was that. You couldn’t trust him to speak Italian in anything less than the sexiest manner possible with his only intent to get you to push him against a wall, or beg him to find a quieter place at the party to get a little quick and dirty. He smirked deliciously once more, “Va bene.” And you cursed, shivering as Nolan leant forward to kiss your neck. Your stomach gave a flutter as he removed his hand from between your thighs – not for long… Soon your clothes would be strewn all over the floor of your hotel instead…

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Thank you for reading my lovelies! 😘😘

#slurpin #Nolan Sorrento #Nolan Sorrento x Reader #Ready Player One #Ben Mendelsohn #This website needs some new Nolan gifs...#TBH Nolan is just one big struggle after the other #Promise the other request is longer than this by *quite* a large margin #Smol Bean Drabbles #Linzi Writes Requests #Linzi Writes #There will never be enough Nolan Sorrento on my blog #Using all my favourite Nolan tropes here: Wine Connoisseur + Speaking Italian #+ Secret Softie #+ Sorrento in Sorrento #+ Fixer of retro stuff + little black book of ideas and inventions #+ That one reference to Lacero #192

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bretthowden · 6 years

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hi il your gifs! can you give a tutorial??

Wow thanks so much! 💖💖Under the read more, I managed to put together a gif tutorial that I (hope) makes sense. Let me know if you have any questions. I rambled a lot in this and wrote most of it at like 1:30 in the morning, so apologies in advance if it gets weird lmao.

Keep in mind, I have been using photoshop for years, but I really have only been making gifs for like, 8 months and I still think I can improve in soooo many ways. But, that being said we all gotta start somewhere!

Let’s make a gif!

Alright, y’all. Let’s make a fucking gif. You will need:

Photoshop. Kind of a given lol. I use Photoshop CC 2018 and I pay 9.99 a month for the photoshop/lightroom package that you can get online from Adobe. I used to use a downloaded version that I found on tumblr for the longest time as well. So if you don’t want to pay monthly, there are free versions out there that work. Just download at your own risk!

A basic knowledge of photoshop. In this tutorial, I’m just gonna assume you have used photoshop before and know how to use its basic features. If not, I’d recommend finding some beginner photoshop tutorials to help you out! Also you can totally feel free to shoot me any questions if you need me to clarify anything, and I’ll do my best to answer them!

Patience and practice. Making gifs can be frustrating and tedious sometimes. If you don’t love what you’re making or aren’t having fun with it, it can be really difficult. I literally love making gifs for some weird reason, which is really the number one reason why I make them. Also, remember that every gif isn’t gonna come out perfect. I make so many gifs and then look back and think ugh that coloring was awful wtf was I thinking?? But it’s important to keep practicing and keep at it because that’s how you’re gonna get better!

Alrightyyyyy let’s get started!

STEP ONE: Download your video. You’re gonna need the video of whatever you’re trying to gif saved to your computer. If you’re giffing a video from youtube/social media or something, there are a bunch of different websites out there that will download videos for you. However, I’m a fucking weirdo and usually just screen record whatever I want to gif because I just think it’s easier. I use Quicktime to screen record which is included on Macs!

We’re gonna be making a gif of my angel rookie Brett Howden for this tutorial. I just screen recorded his postgame video that I wanted to use and saved it in 1080p.

[PRO TIP: Keep in mind, if you want your gifs to look nice and HQ, it starts with a high quality video, and that means, using videos that are 1080p. I very rarely will gif anything in 720p, unless it’s something I really really want to gif, and I def won’t use anything below 720p because it just looks really low quality no matter how much you try to edit it, imo.]

STEP TWO: Open photoshop and go to file -> import -> video frames to layer and this window will pop up

These are the settings I use. I choose selected range only so that it will only select what I want it to, and not the whole video. I also limit to every 2 frames because for the most part, using every frame is unnecessary. See those little toggle icons at the bottom of the screen that I’ve circled in red? Drag those around to select what part of the video you want to gif. Then click ok.

Here’s what you’ll get once you hit ok.

As you can see, your timeline with all your frames are on the bottom. On the right are all the layers!

STEP THREE: Select all the frames, and set your frame delay. The frame delay basically just controls how fast or slow your gif is gonna move.

Select all the frames and click on the bottom of one of the frames (where i’ve awkwardly circled in red) and you should get the dropdown menu shown above. Click other. I almost always choose 0.07 for my delay because it’s not too fast and not too slow and that’s how we want our gifs to look, right? 0.07 is a good starting point and you can always adjust slightly if need be. I wouldn’t recommend going below 0.05 because it’ll look way too fast.

STEP FOUR: Convert that shit. We’re gonna convert to a video timeline by clicking the button in the lefthand corner of your timeline window. I’ve circled it in red. Make sure all your frames are still selected!

Then we’re gonna convert the layers for smart filters. This makes it easy to edit and color the gif because it’ll basically condense all the layers into one. Select all your layers and go to filter -> convert for smart filters. Bam, converted.

STEP FIVE: Crop and resize your gif!

Tumblr has specific dimension sizes that are pretty important when cropping your gifs, so you’ll have to decide what kind of gifset you’re making. If you’re making a gifset with just one gif across (example), the width needs to be 540px. If you’re making a gifset with two gifs across (example), the width needs to be 268px. The height doesn’t matter and can be whatever ya want!

For this gif of Brett I’m going to be cropping it to 540x270 (my personal standard gif size that I use for gifsets with one gif across). After that, go to image -> image size and adjust the width and height to 540x270.

After all that crap, we’ve now got a very basic, unedited gif!

This gif looks okaaay, but looks kinda flat and plain and dull. Which brings us to……

STEP FIVE: The most important step, sharpening and coloring.

To sharpen your gif, go to filter -> sharpen -> smart sharpen

I use the same settings as everyone on this website which is this:

This is what the gif looks like now. Brett is looking SHARP.

Sharpening is so important and it’s literally the best like look at how much better this gif looks already!! But we still gotta color it.

Coloring is a different ballgame than sharpening. Everyone has their own preferences on how to color and what they want their gifs to look like. There’s no right or wrong way to do it imo, as long as you like the way they look! Some people like really bright, vibrant gifs with whites so bright they’ll blind ya, and some like gifs with more muted colors. My personal preference depends on what I’m giffing and the lighting. If you look through my gifs you’ll see that my coloring changes depending on if it’s an on-ice video, a locker room interview or something else.

When I first started making gifs, I downloaded different psds from tumblr, which are basically just colorings you can download and use on your gifs. They’re a really great starting point if you have no idea what you’re doing and also just super convenient. A quick google search “tumblr psds” “tumblr photoshop resources” or even just searching “psds” on tumblr, will give you tons of stuff to choose from.

Anyway, if you’re not gonna use a premade psd, the two biggest settings that I use to color (and as a beginner they’re really the only settings you need to use) are brightness/contrast and selective coloring.

First, we’ll add some contrast. Go to layer -> new adjustment layer -> brightness/contrast. For the most part, my brightness/contrast settings stay the same and look like this:

My contrast almost always is set to 60. I’m all about high contrast in my gifs. My brightness setting is set to 0 in this gif because it’s already bright enough (just look at the light reflecting off Brett’s forehead lmao) Oftentimes I’ll set the brightness to 10 or 11 if the gif seems too dull or dark, but I usually won’t go higher than that. Just play with the setting until it seems right to you!

This is what it looks like now:

Looks good! But it still looks pretty yellow and Brett’s face is still too bright. This is where selective coloring comes in. Selective coloring basically helps you enhance or change specific colors in your gifs. It comes in handy a lot with videos that have shitty or weird lighting (looking at you, Rangers video department).

Go to layer -> new adjustment layer -> selective coloring. Like I said before, every gif is different so there’s no one specific way to set your selective coloring settings. My biggest thing with selective coloring is making sure the subject doesn’t look too yellow/red and enhancing the darker colors to create more depth/contrast. Play around with the colors until you like what you see!

And this gif is done! Brett looks beautiful and so does this gif. But we have one final step

STEP SIX: Save your gif.

To save your gif go to file -> export -> save for web (legacy) and this window will show up.

For your gif to work on tumblr the file needs to be under 3M otherwise when you post it, your gif will be frozen and won’t move and uh, that’s not ideal. The lower left hand corner will show you how large your gif is. Mine is 2.817M so we’re good.

Finally, please, please PLEASE make sure your looping options (found in the lower righthand corner) are set to forever.

If you don’t have your gif set to loop forever it literally will stop moving, so it’s real important you remember to check that it’s set to loop forever. One time I forgot to do that and now there’s a dumb gifset of Nolan Patrick that only loops once and then freezes and I didn’t notice it until it already got a bunch of notes and it’s just out there on fucking tumblr dot com and it drives me crazy and makes me so mad that I forgot to loop it. So don’t be like me and remember to loop your gifs! lol.

Anyway that’s the tutorial! I hope this helped! Again, sorry it’s so long and full of rambles. Remember you can ask me ANY questions you may have and I’ll do my best to help!

#asks #anonymous #gif tutorial #photoshop tutorial #i really hope this helped!#i probably rambled too much #long post

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imjaebumaf · 7 years

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☆…SHOULD WE KNOW US A LITTLE BETTER TAG…☆

Tagged by: @eyesoftheshinigami CHLOE MY PRECIOUS 💘💖💜💙💗💙💜❤️💝💚💓💞💕💫💛💚💘💖💜💙💗💙💜❤️💝💚💓💞💕💫💛💚

Rules: you must answer these 92 statements and tag 20 people

THE LAST: 1. Drink: strawberry kiwi capri sun bc i’m a child 2. Phone call: little sister 3. Text message: shawn my gbf 4. Song you listened to: later - rick bridges 5. Time you cried: yesterday while watching scandal lol 6. Dated someone twice: no 7. Kissed someone and regretted it: no 8. Been cheated on: nope 9. Lost someone special: yeah 10. Been depressed: i’m always lowkey depressed 😊 11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: 2 or 3 times, the red velvet cake incident was the most memorable :-)

LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS: 12-14: robin’s egg blue, seafoam green, & lavender

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU: 15. Made new friends: yes like chloe who tagged me <3333333 16. Fallen out of love: no 17. Laughed until you cried: every day 18. Found out someone was talking about you: i would’ve been better off not finding out??? :///// 19. Met someone who changed you: yeah 20. Found out who your friends are: i’ve always known ☺️ 21. Kissed someone on your Facebook list: I WISH @ my lab partner last year 😫💕

GENERAL: 22. How many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: a lot of them are middle and high school people i like saw in the hallway and we kinda know each other’s names but aren’t actually friends lol 23. Do you have any pets: no but i want a cat so bad :/ 24. Do you want to change your name: yeah i think it’s so boring lmao 25. What did you do for your last birthday: the squad took me to a new korean restaurant and it was so delicious and really nice to hang out after a while :’) 26. What time did you wake up: HI HELLO IT’S ME YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD NOCTURNAL I WOKE UP AT 5PM TODAY 💀💀💀 27. What were you doing at midnight last night: watching scandal lol 28. Name something you can’t wait for: there’s nothing exciting coming up lol, i can’t wait to stuff myself at the restaurant we’re going to for father’s day? 😂 29. When was the last time you saw your mom: like 2 weeks ago, i’m home for the summer but i stay in my room to avoid seeing her… in our own house 💀 30. What is one thing you wish you could change in your life: i’d really like a redo of college lol, i know i’m smart but i’ve wasted so much of my potential doing dumb shit and i really wish i had known what i do now so that i would’ve been more motivated to do well these past 3 yrs 31. What are you listening right now: later - rick bridges lol issa bop 32. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: i’ve known a thomas since elementary and he was the biggest dork until he completely transformed into a hunk in high school plus he’s super nice and really funny so srsly the whole package 😫💕💕💕 33. Something that is getting on your nerves: this one mutual who says a lot of things i disagree with but they make a lot of nice gifs so i don’t wanna unfollow :/ 34. Most visited Website: tumblr ofc!! 35. Elementary: was a great time, wouldn’t change a thing 36. High school: would also like to redo :/ bc of a boy but still :/ 37. College: REDO REDO REDO 38. Hair color: boring black :/ 39. Long or short hair: longgg i love sm 40. Do you have a crush on someone: his name’s jaebum and he’s the LOML!!! 41. What do you like about yourself: i’m really good with my hands 😏 jk i mean artistically 42. Piercings: 3 on ears 43. Blood type: idk :/ 44. Nickname: an-eye and ‘the demandor’ i hate my friends 45. Relationship status: #foreveralone 46. Zodiac: pisces 47. Pronouns: she/her 48. Favorite TV show: PRISON BREAK 🗣🗣🗣 49. Tattoos: 0 but i want some :/ 50. Right or left hand: right 51. Surgery: 0 52. Piercing: ears 53. Sport: what’s a sport 55. Vacation: canada and vietnam 56. Pair of trainers: vansss the shoe of my life

MORE GENERAL: 57. Eating: com thit kho 😋 58. Drinking: orange juice 59. I’m about to: watch scandal lmao 61. Waiting for: myself to change :/ 62. Want: whataburger patty melt and fries 63. Get married: maybe 64. Career: dental

WHICH IS BETTER: 65. Hugs or kisses: HUGS they’re so warm 😢 66. Lips or eyes: eyes specifically jaebum’s eyes 😢😢😢💕 67. Shorter or taller: i’m a midget so taller 68. Older or younger: preferably same age to a couple yrs older …or a sugar daddy that’s cool too i need to pay off my student loans 😊 70. Nice arms or nice stomach: NICE ARMS MAKE ME N*T 71. Sensitive or loud: loud to counterbalance me lol 72. Hook up or relationship: relationship 73. Troublemaker or hesitant: hesitant, i hate cleaning up other’s messes lmao

HAVE YOU EVER: 74. Kissed a stranger: no 75. Drank hard liquor: i love rum 76. Lost glasses/contact lenses: nope 77. Turned someone down: omg the most memorable one was in hs when a sorta-friend confessed and my other friend called me heartless afterwards bc i didn’t change expression at all while rejecting him 💀 78. Sex in the first date: nope 79. Broken someone’s heart: i still think about it :/ 80. Had your heart broken: not irl but when a character i’m attached to is killed off in a show/movie/story… 💔💔💔💔💔💔💔 81. Been arrested: nope 82. Cried when someone died: i’m lucky that no one close to me has died 83. Fallen for a friend: that’s how it always happens :’)

DO YOU BELIEVE IN: 84. Yourself: less and less as i get older :/ 85. Miracles: no 86. Love at first sight: no 87. Santa Claus: lmao no 88. Kiss in the first date: sure 89. Angels: no

OTHER: 90. Current best friend’s name: my #1 is carolyn <333 91. Eye color: turd brown :/ 92. Favorite movie: um i’m still not over GOTG2!!! and all christopher nolan films

Tagging: aldjflasdfj i’m always scared of tagging people in case they’ve already done it and bc i don’t wanna bother them 😢 but if anyone wants to do this just do it and say i tagged u ☺️

#tagged

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biofunmy · 5 years

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For Modern Strikeouts, Pitchers Veer Outside the Strike Zone

Earlier in his career, whenever he fell behind in the count against some of baseball’s best hitters, the Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander would do some on-the-mound calculus. He would often opt to fire a down-and-away fastball, willing to concede a single rather than something worse — “Here you go, take your hit to the opposite field.”

But recently, even those pitches have started flying out of the ballpark.

“You have to miss bats now,” Verlander said. “The game’s changed.”

Pitchers’ targets have changed, too. The universal edict among pitching coaches, from Little League up, is to implore their charges to throw strikes. But more and more in the modern big leagues, that doesn’t mean throwing the ball in the strike zone.

The result is a pitching paradox in the majors: Even as M.L.B. is on a pace to set a strikeout record for the 14th straight season, the rate of pitches actually thrown in the rule book zone has decreased almost as consistently.

In 2002, 54.2 percent of all pitches were thrown for strikes. That figure in 2019 is a record-low 42.2 percent. The odds of a pitch going in or out of the strike zone hasn’t been a binary 50-50 proposition since 2008. (Swings are not included, just pitch location. All data is collected by Sports Info Solutions and posted on the analytics website FanGraphs.)

“That number actually blows my mind,” Giants second baseman Joe Panik said. “Looking at 42 percent and it’s like, ‘All right, then why don’t we just take every walk?’ But, the pitchers, it’s a credit to them of how they’re very skilled as to how they create the movement.”

Mike Dunn, a veteran reliever for the Rockies, said some scouting reports specifically call for a “strike-to-ball pitch” that looks like it will land inside the zone and then ends outside it. “Our goal as pitchers might be to get that number lower,” he said of the 42.2-percent figure.

What’s behind this evolution? It’s largely because baseball’s incentive structure has shifted, with teams increasingly prioritizing hitters with home run power and pitchers with elite velocity.

“With more max-effort deliveries, some guys are focused more on the speed and action of the pitch as opposed to the location of it,” said Cardinals starting pitcher Miles Mikolas, before adding: “You’ve got guys throwing real hard, so some hitters seem like they make up their mind, ‘I’m going to swing, or I’m not going to swing,’ and it doesn’t really matter where the pitch is.”

That also means more wild pitches and hit batsmen — both are on track for record highs — although there has not been a corresponding growth in the number of walks. Instead, at-bats are lasting much longer, with deeper counts: Batters are seeing a record-high 3.91 pitches per plate appearance this season.

Pitchers are no longer peppering the margins of the zone as much as throwing deliberately outside it — usually north and south rather than east and west. Throws targeted for the inside and outside corners have been replaced by fastballs that rocket up above the zone or breaking balls that dive below it.

M.L.B. is taking at least one small step to coax pitchers back to the strike zone. In the independent Atlantic League, which has partnered with M.L.B. to test new rules, a new rule allows batters to try to advance to first base after any bounced or dropped pitch, not just on a third strike.

But in the majors, many pitchers have adjusted drastically. In Verlander’s first five big league seasons with the Detroit Tigers, from 2005 to 2009, nearly two-thirds of his pitches were fastballs. In 2019, his fastball rate is 51.7 percent, even as he continues to post an elite strikeout rate. Batters are swinging and missing at a third of his pitches, the highest rate of his career. He’s also allowing more home runs than ever.

“That’s why I’m throwing more off-speed,” Verlander said, because those pitches induce more swings and misses.

Overall swing percentage has remained relatively flat in the last two decades, with hitters taking cuts between 45 and 47 percent of the time, but there has been a jump in swings at pitches outside the zone: from 18.1 percent in 2005 to 31.2 percent in 2019.

“Pitchers’ stuff is really good, so they’re O.K. with throwing that pitch that starts as a strike and turns into a ball because it looks good to hit, and then when you go to swing, it’s not,” Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado said. “And you’re already committed, so you’re in trouble. And there’s hitters that you don’t really need to throw strikes because they’re going to chase — including me.”

Modern scouting reports are highlighting hitters’ tendencies to swing outside the zone. Mets first baseman Pete Alonso said his simple goal of making “quality swing decisions” is harder knowing the volume of advanced data pitchers can use to prepare.

“One of the products of analytics has been showing the chase areas are getting more and more extreme for all the hitters, and there’s an exploitation of that that’s being done very effectively by pitchers across the board,” said Astros Manager A.J. Hinch.

With two strikes, the trend is exaggerated. Sports Info Solutions reports that barely over a third (36.2 percent) of two-strikes pitches this season have been thrown in the strike zone.

“The stuff has gotten so good in the league,” said Kyle Boddy, the founder and director of pitching at Driveline Baseball. “It’s just really difficult to hit behind in the count. I think a lot of hitters are swinging early, so a lot of pitchers are realizing we just don’t need to throw so many strikes.”

Compounding matters for hitters is an emphasis on pitch tunneling, the effort to give different pitches the same trajectory — as if traveling down the same tunnel — for much of their flight toward the plate before veering off in different directions. High-speed cameras, pitch-tracking cameras and radar have helped pitchers concentrate on this skill, and certain corners of the internet are populated with GIFs showing two different types of pitches overlaid on top of each other to emphasize their shared start to the plate.

“They are able to present balls as strikes longer than I remember when I was coming into the league,” Rockies first baseman Daniel Murphy said of major league pitchers.

This deceit makes hitters’ decision-making that much harder. Boddy hypothesized that the analytics-fueled emphasis on walks and on-base percentage had faded, leading to more chasing: Strikeouts are accepted as a byproduct of home runs, so hitters don’t change their approach with two strikes.

One more effect is the pace of play; all of these long at-bats have helped drive the average length of games further north of three hours.

“It’s not the pitch clock,” Giants catcher Stephen Vogt said of the purported need to hasten the interval between deliveries. “It’s the fact that we’re throwing so many pitches now.”

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reneeacaseyfl · 5 years