#ba reviews

[william-ba]

Non-Spoiler Review of The Bobbiedots Conclusion

Howdy! I haven't done one of these in a while, but I got this book early a few days ago! If you see images of the back cover, those are my nails! (Don't ask why they're dirty, I swear I cleaned em before buying the book). I just finished it and I don't think anyone else besides entom has received a copy and fully read through it, so here I am! Overall I'd say this is a pretty good book, although it has its moments. As for the stories themselves...

GGY - I think it was pretty good! I liked Tony Becker a lot, and I think it was a neat mystery. I know most people are hesitant to accept a big spoiler from this book, but I actually like the reveal! I hope this reveal doesn't cause people to ignore or blindly bash this story as a result. One thing I didn't quite enjoy was that Tony never attempted to create a motivation for GGY, and therefore the story itself never supplies one. I get the argument against giving a motivation to GGY, and I can understand that some like having at least one small piece of the puzzle still open for future debate, but for me, establishing a motivation is just as important as establishing the suspect's actions and goals, so to have this key part of a mystery left out gives me iffy vibes. Still, I really enjoyed it.

The Storyteller - Okay, let's start with a good. I like the interactions between Mr. Burrows and Edwin Murray a lot. I think both are pretty neat characters, and I liked reading them for the most part. I also liked the ending a bit, but there are some issues with it. As for the rest of the story... eh. Despite my previous praise for Edwin, I also think he's the biggest issue with this story. Why? Because the story is incredibly vague and secretive about his backstory. Now, this isn't necessarily an issue at first. I loved Frailty and The Man in Room 1280, and those stories are rather vague and secretive about stuff. However, those two stories are still able to establish their stakes and threats. This story never properly establishes just how dangerous its title antagonist and the code it's running can be. It is clearly causing issues, but none that are anything too threatening until the very end. Also, something Edwin does at the end of the story is incredibly confusing. Interesting concept, but the execution isn't great.

Bobbiedots, Part 2 - The continuation of the previous Bobbiedots story does not disappoint! This story immediately throws the readers in, and gives them a tense and action-packed conclusion! The Pizzaplex segments are always fun, although in this one they eventually loosen up on Abe doing work in the Pizzaplex to instead focus on developing his relationship with his new love interest, Sasha. These two are great together, and I really enjoyed them! Sasha is also able to offer a new twist on the story that I think is used nicely! Overall a really big fan of this one and easily my favorite from the book.

[kruspp]

Is Anyone Reading The Boy Wonder by Juni Ba?

I just read the second issue of Juni Ba's The Boy Wonder and was absolutely DELIGHTED holy shit. Is anyone else reading this run? Because a fairytale type story is such a good format to re-tell each Robin's origin and the tun is also such a nice Damian character study. I honestly feel like I understand Damian as a character so much more even just from these first couple issues.

And it's not just Damian either! Dick in the first issue and now the second issue with Jason. Through this fairytale lense Ba deconstructs each of them and really gets to the core of each former Robin in such a way that is so easy to understand and is absolutely true to their characters.

Like, Juni Ba GETS it, oh my god.

I literally CANNOT wait for the next issue which features Tim! (I'll admit he's my favourite).

And his character designs make me wanna eat glass because they're so good. Sincerely some of my absolute favourite Batfam designs like ever. Actually made me like the Red Robin cowl suit. Like...hell yeah. Speaking as an artist myself, his line work and inking is so beautifully stylized and so controlled that it takes my breath away everytime I look at it.

So I guess the tldr of this post is this:

If you are a fan of the Robins, this is a MUST read, and if you do, talk to me about it because I'm going bonkers over it.

[earthstellar]

Brave Bang Bravern!: A Review for Transformers Fans

I've seen so much about this on my dash that I had to give it a try, and I gotta say, as someone who hasn't watched any new anime series since around 2008 at the most recent and I also hate the fucking military, this is a pretty good show.

THERE WILL BE SOME MILD SPOILERS. Nothing major. I'm not gonna spoil anything critical or mention characters that are introduced later etc. At of time of writing, only 6 episodes have been released.

Understanding Genre: The Trailer is A Lie

Now, while there is a trailer here, I want you to largely disregard it.

Why is that? Well, we need to talk about the "big two" robot show genres in Japan, which are as follows:

Real Robot -- This refers to a typically military setting or other serious setting, in which robots are handled as realistically as possible in terms of how they work and how they are applied. There tend to be less individual/sentient robots and more "suit" type mechs right along side human-made, more realistic machinery and mech designs, although that isn't entirely unique to this genre. Usually this stuff is labelled as sci-fi/action outside of Japan.

Super Robot (THIS IS THE SHIT TRANSFORMERS FANS GENERALLY WANT) --Essentially borderline seemingly magical robots with their own rules and in universe backstory for how they work, which isn't necessarily tied to realism. Usually this stuff is labelled as sci-fi/fantasy or space fantasy outside of Japan, since a lot of these tend to be space robots. They can be "driven" by pilots or just straight up sentient robots who are vibing with some human companions, although it's not exclusively that. It can be both, it can be neither, but no matter what, Super Robot shows are less about strict realism and more about really cool shit with robots that are basically their own people and exist according to their own rules.

Now, the trailer for BBBB (the acronym for the show is based on the Japanese title, which is Bang Brave Bang Bravern) is a COMPLETE FUCKING LIE.

It wants you to think this is going to be some dumbass GI Joe shit.

While there are elements of dumbass GI Joe shit, this is largely just to set up the premise for why shit is happening in the first place, and to help introduce the main threat (alien space creatures with fucking light beam lasers) as well as bring in our main characters under the premise of everyone having to work together to address this alien threat to Earth.

What we care about here amongst Transformers freaks is gay space robots, and this show delivers.

Getting Into Bravern: First Episode, Mild Plot Spoiler Summary

It wants you to think this is a Real Robot show.

The first episode sets things up as though it will be a Real Robot show.

There is a threat to Earth, a mystery space alien mechanical enemy, and nobody knows what the fuck to do. A military exercise between multiple nations using Titanostriders (which look very much like Shiro Masamune Appleseed-style mechs, human made in nature) to practice battle drills who are now instructed to swap over to real ammunition and go to fucking town.

Nobody knows how to do that.

They're skilled with the Titanostriders, sure, but it turns into a shit show. The alien mechanical enemies are using fucking space laser shit, it's a disaster---

--And then Bravern drops in from the fucking sky and it IMMEDIATELY TURNS INTO A SUPER ROBOT SHOW.

There's a "get in the robot, Shiji" moment where one of the Titanostrider operators, Isami Ao, is encouraged by Bravern to get inside of him.

He does. And immediately has no idea what the fuck is going on, Bravern is largely in control, and starts to blast his own theme song inside his cockpit as diegetic music while Isami is generally losing his shit, as one might do.

Humanity's reaction to Bravern is Real Robot genre type, where it is handled seriously by all the characters and organisations involved in universe, however Bravern is very much a Super Robot genre character who brings more of a Super Robot energy to the show at large.

The serious elements are mostly balanced by how fucking silly Bravern is, and there are some excellent moments in this show (currently only 6 episodes have been released) which make it entirely worth a watch.

Fun Things About Bravern Himself

Braven is very, very, very gay for his pilot.

Chances are, you've seen the screenshots of some of these moments on Tumblr already, but the delivery of these lines is magnificent.

Bravern sings his own theme song. It's the voice actor for Bravern doing the vocals, and the song itself is reminiscent of 1970s orchestrated big band energy mecha themes. For Transformers fans, it has a very Transformers Victory theme kind of vibe to it.

You gotta hear it, it fucking rules. The album cover shows Bravern holding a giant microphone.

Bravern is generally light hearted, doing his best to motivate his pilot while not hesitating to enter the action and try to defend humanity.

Now, why does Bravern care about humans so much? We don't know, but we'll talk about some mysteries in a later section below.

He is surprisingly insightful at times, while also fucking around and enjoying himself. (You may have seen screenshots going around Tumblr of Bravern with a loop of hot dogs strung around one of his chevron points on his forehead. This follows a scene in which he wants his pilot to take a break and associate with his peers for once, as a way to relieve stress. So they go to a bar, it turns out reception is positive and someone even brings weenies out for Bravern since he's too big to fit inside, lol.)

Generally, he's a very interesting mech, because we have so little information about him. He's fun, and clearly vibing, but he's also borderline if not outright obsessed with his pilot and has unknown origins, which has lead to some darker interpretations and audience discussion.

A lot of people have compared Bravern's energy to Rodimus, and generally I would agree with that. He has his high-energy silly moments, and his more serious personal moments (primarily with Isami, but also with Smith), and I think these aspects of his character work well to create a fun mech with the potential to be deep in a believable and effective way, with an equal capacity for being a doofus.

Bravern is obviously the number one reason to watch the show for most people, and I would say that if you're purely here for a giant gay space robot, then this is going to be a decent watch.

The Military Sucks: There Are Militaries Involved Yet Somehow This Is Still Watchable

I hate the fucking military, so at least the military here is depicted in an acceptable way (so far, at least). In episode 2, they waterboard Isami to interrogate him for information he doesn't have regarding Bravern, which is a realistically shitty and awful thing for the military to do-- They don't sugarcoat how fucked up the military is. These people very much have the capacity to harm their own staff, and they will do so if it means they might get an edge over the enemy.

At the same time, the actual characters in the military are depicted as primarily doing this shit out of a genuine personal desire to defeat these horrendously destructive space entities, which have attacked at least some of their home towns and home countries, so it's more personal rather than purely being a military directive that people are being forced to follow.

In this way, it's not really realistic, but everyone is on board for their own largely humanitarian aid type of reasons (there is a mission which is basically just locating survivors of an attack and then getting the fuck out) which makes the military context feel less oppressive and shitty.

Part of why this is more OK than other military depictions is because the military forces involved here are international (collaborating to defeat a global threat rather than kill each other's civilians) and because the military is clearly losing this war.

Because it's an international effort, this brings more diversity to the show-- There's a surprising amount of English interspersed between dialogue in Japanese here and there, and the military board consists of representatives from multiple nations, including some Germans who at first believe Bravern is some kind of secret American operation, lmao.

Bravern calls the military out on its shit, and essentially tells the military board to stop with the suspicious infighting bullshit and drop the internal tension because otherwise they'll all die to this mechanical nightmare creature threat.

They actually listen, which means this is an unrealistic portrayal of the military, lmao. I think they struck a good balance so far between showing that the military sucks and has problems, while also making sure that you're not really cheering for any given military force, but rather, you cheer for individual characters who just happen to be stuck doing this military shit as a premise for anything to be going on in the show at all.

So it's not the worst when it comes to the military shit; At least so far, it's watchable, which as someone who passionately hates the fucking military, is surprising to me.

It's less GI Joe and more "we just needed a reason for these characters to be involved in this situation".

Of course, your mileage may vary, but personally I found it easy to tune out or just skip through any military shit that got grating and I didn't miss anything important by doing so. At the very least, you can skip around and ignore a lot of this stuff and get right to the gay robot if that's all you want to do. It becomes clear pretty quickly what's going on if you skip around a bit, so no worries there.

Fun Speculation: What is Bravern?

Only 6 episodes are out at the moment, so there's tons of shit we don't know yet.

Bravern has a notable resemblance to a type of enemy in the show, called a Death-Drive.

Death-Drives are mecha who are distinct from the "minion" type enemies (which almost resemble flying saucers with laser gun arms and light shields), and have their own unique character designs and names.

Why these things are here, how they are here, why they are interested in Earth, and everything else is currently unknown.

Bravern looks like he could possibly be of the same mechanical species, although we don't know if that's true (yet). He has abilities that the other mecha don't seem to have, but how far this goes and what it might mean is not yet clear.

Bravern also seems to have knowledge of human media (he references The Abyss at one point and he likes 3D printing figures of sentai show characters lmao), and was immediately able to speak to the humans using language they would understand, so it's unclear if Bravern may have been studying Earth for some time before his arrival or why.

He is obsessed with his pilot and cares for him so much that he extends some care towards others purely based on their relation to Isami as co-workers; Why? What makes Isami special?

How does Bravern know seemingly every human language? How does his piloting system work? How similar is he to the Death-Drives-- Are organic beings critical to them in some way? If so, why are the other mechs killing so many of us? (These are big questions especially by the end of episode 6, due to some spoilers and a spoiler character who shows up later.)

We know little to nothing about a lot of the key elements of the show, including any motivations for the Death-Drives or what they are, what's up with the fucking UFO looking laser things, etc.

There's more to speculate on, but that would be getting into deeper spoiler territory so I'm gonna hold back on that for now.

Summary: It's Gay and Cool and Has Interesting Ideas

Bravern's not the sole source of gay vibes in this show, but it's fun that he is also a source of gay vibes in this show.

The designs are great, the Titanostriders remind me of Appleseed style mechanical suit designs which is nice, the Death-Drives are super interesting, Bravern is fucking fabulous but he's not too goofy to take seriously, and the military is unfortunately present but it's clear that they suck and are generally losing (and since the conflict is not between different groups of humans but rather is about human collaboration to defeat a non-human shared threat to our entire planet, this goes a long way to make the military shit tolerable).

It pretends to be a Real Robot show but has so much Super Robot show sprinkled in that you might as well consider it a little bit of both which the show balances pretty well.

I haven't watched an anime since around 2008 at the very latest, so I don't know how this might compare to any other robot animes since then and I am certainly not an anime expert by any means LOL, but this has been a fun show to watch so far.

It does have its problems, of course, but if you can get past the setup for the first episode (when it's still pretending to be a Real Robot show), from the moment Bravern arrives towards the end of that first episode, the show gains momentum and starts to get interesting very quickly.

It has some issues. But we're only 6 episodes in, so at the moment, they have plenty of time to potentially address those issues and we'll see where things go.

I'd recommend it if you want to give it a try!

I think there's enough here to appeal to the usual Transformers crowd and you might end up liking it, or at least having fun while watching it in the background.

If you end up wanting to to tap out then no worries-- I think it's worth giving it a shot and if it's not your thing, no problem.

Each episode is around 25 - 30 minutes, so while the first episode might feel like a slog to get through because fuck the military, once Bravern shows up the show actually gets started and I wouldn't blame anyone for just skipping to that point in the first episode and going from there, because there's nothing in that opening that you won't be reminded of or be able to figure out. It mostly just sets up the intro to the human characters and the collaboration training session, introduces the Titanostriders as a thing, and you can always go back and watch that part later if you want to.

All in all, pretty decent! Obviously we're Transformers people so we're here for the robots, and the robots are interesting and fun, and that's all I need to have a good time.

Hopefully this was a useful summary if you're interested or have seen Bravern stuff on your dash! :)

Thanks for reading!

BONUS: I forgot to mention this somehow, but there's a lot of overlap between Transformers and other Brave shows involving actual Transformers re-used in Japan for these shows; There's a good video about it here on YouTube which explains some of this, but if anyone's wondering, yes Bravern has a grounder alt-mode and it's pretty cool. Will we get a transforming Bravern figure??? We can hope!

There's another video here which mentions some of the Transformers elements in other Brave shows/Yuusha, which might be interesting for those of you who are unaware. :)

[fuck-i-like-too-much-stuff]

Ik MDL is very unhinged but why is that every time i open 4Minutes reviews it is either a list of 10 star strings of praises or 2 star words made kind for the sake of public posting

[arttsuka]

I watched Inside out 2. Here are some thoughts (maybe a spoiler free review but not really)

So much secondhand embarrassment it's insane. I almost couldn't watch certain parts of the movie :')

Riley's thoughts and emotions (not the characters) hit pretty close home, especially in the end.

The plot was ok, just like in the first movie in a way, but bigger.

The movie had the same problem a lot (if not all) sequels do; it was a bit too much. I mean, it was intense. And that's not bad but I don't think it's a movie with very high rewatchability (spiderman across the spider verse is the same to me).

Riley should go to therapy actually.

It was actually a pretty solid movie, I don't regret going to the cinema (except there were so many teens and wouldn't respect that when you go to the cinema you have to sit there quietly. Ruined the vibe of the sad part of the movie because they were laughing?) I would recommend it 👍 if you liked the first movie do give it a try.

[nostalgia-tblr]

i am not a historian but i like to think i'd appreciate this meme if i was:

[nani-nonny]

I’m Blue ch.12 snippet

(and 5 min asmr if you like…)

I wrote 1.5k words in 40 min… not my best but I managed to salvage 5 min of it to share :) I almost fell asleep cutting the video down to size because listening it was relaxing lol I should listen to it more often haha! Anyways, teaser!

Big Yellow chimes in with her own answer, “Maybe it’s a trauma response. You know, to protect himself. He didn’t continue his attack when Blue stopped moving. And he didn’t lay back down until Blue backed up.”

Great… A sleep-fighter seems to be what Big Blue is dealing with. How wonderful…

He sighs and whispers, “Alright, if this doesn’t tell you we should call it quits, then I’m going to need your help. Don, you need to restrain him–maybe some handcuffs. Mike, I’ll need your help in connecting to his mystic core faster.”

Big Blue doesn’t wait for their response and steps forward. He doesn’t hesitate to dive headfirst into the tent, and is immediately greeted with a metallic fist wrapping around his face. The cold fingers grip tightly to his cheeks over his mouth, silencing any possible sounds he may make in the attack.

Big Blue responds in kind by grabbing the slider’s wrist and fighting to push it down to the ground. He’s quick to catch the free hand that aimed for his throat, and struggles to push it away from succeeding. “Now… would be a great time…!” He reminds the voices in his head.

Immediately, a purple handcuff manifests around the wrist that Big Blue manages to pin to the ground. Big Blue uses this chance to lean forward and headbutt the sleeping warrior’s forehead, disorienting not only himself but the elder long enough for the other cuff to restrain the other hand. The purple cuffs tighten over the elder’s front, and just before the elder’s foot reaches Big Blue’s head, a red hand manifests from his shell and catches it.

A yellow flame shoots from Big Blue’s chest and erupts into a long chain that connects his mystic core to Barbarian’s.

Big Blue acts fast and closes his eyes, he ignites the electricity of his ninpo like always and lets himself be consumed by the shared connection.

He doesn’t stop igniting his ninpo, even when his ears are met with silence. But he stops when he hears Big Red, “Look.”

Big Blue opens his eyes, meeting that familiar abyss that he has yet to forget despite the years. But a short distance from where he stands, he sees a blue figure lying on its back. Its hands rest over its stomach as he stares up at the empty black side without a single feature on its face to signify sight. If it weren’t for the figure’s legs and arm, he wouldn’t be able to dictate which direction the figure was facing.

[incalamity]

it would be so fun to have persisting interests.....but alas.....employment

[cristalconnors]

45. Here (Bas Devos, 2024)

Lots of thoughtfully composed images of nature and civilization converging. Too overly languid to really land (these 82 minutes seem to go on forever) but is formally strong and the ending got me. Stefan Gota hot. Rating: 7.7/10

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 13/04/2024 (J. Cole's Might Delete Later, David Guetta/OneRepublic)

Hozier’s “Take Me to Church” peaked at #2 for four weeks. The first week, “Uptown Funk!” blocked it, but for the most part, it was halted by Ellie Goulding’s “Love Me Like You Do”. This week, just under a decade later, Hozier can finally claim his UK #1 as “Too Sweet” lands its first week at the top, skipping straight up from #4 last week. I’m personally not complaining as it’s a great song, but I will be complaining because under it, we have J. Cole. Welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

Rundown

As always, we start with our notable dropouts, those being songs exiting the UK Top 75 (which is what I cover!) after five weeks in the region or a peak in the top 40. This week, we bid farewell to: “exes” by Tate McRae, “I Remember Everything” by Zach Bryan featuring Kacey Musgraves, “vampire” by Olivia Rodrigo, “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus and some long-term bottom-feeders like “Someone You Loved” and “Everywhere” by Fleetwood Mac. Like much of everything else this week, it’s a bit of a mixed bag.

We only have one returning entry, but it’s pretty interesting and surprisingly high: Thanks to the specific surge of TikTok traction to a Summer Walker remix, “Hell n Back” by Bakar, which peaked at #20 just last year, is back for another run at #26, already nearing its peak position that I honestly expect it to surpass soon enough. As for the gains, we see healthy boosts for “We Ain’t Here for Long” by Nathan Dawe at #49, “Worth It.” by RAYE at #46, “Jump” by Tyla, Gunna and Skillibeng at #43, “if u think i’m pretty” by Artemas at #39, “Saturn” by SZA at #30, “Happier” by The Blessed Madonna and Clementine Douglas at #21, “Back on 74” by Jungle at #19 - really glad this is still at it - “Belong Together” by Mark Ambor at #14 and finally, of all hits, “Austin” by Dasha finds its place in the top 10 at #8. Maybe this is a fluke, or maybe Dasha is a pop star in the making. I guess time will tell.

As for our top five, we start with… Artemas, joy, and “i like the way you kiss me” at #5, then the usual suspects: “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims at #4, “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM” by Beyoncé back to down to #3, Bentley Boonemobile with “Beautiful Things” at #2 and of course, Hozier at the very top. Now for whatever debuted on the rest of this chart this week… trust me, it’s mostly not very good.

New Entries

#67 - “Cry” - Benson Boone

Produced by Malay

Bento Box’s debut album with a name stupider than the nicknames I give him on this show debuted surprisingly low at #16 - that’s lower than Feeder, man. And I like Feeder. Regardless, I did like those two singles, I have yet to hear the record, but I’m sure there’s some good on it, and I’m happy to say that this would be included in that. Now why is pretty simple, it starts with a melancholy ballad produced by Frank Ocean’s go-to, Malay, but that doesn’t last long as it’s scrapped for a more propelling pop rock chug. The lyrics go from woe-is-me to bitter and toxic bitching about his ex, in icky falsetto deliveries only accentuated by an ugly, distorted vocal chop that does not fit at all. There’s an obvious vocal glitch that was kept in and doesn’t sound intentional in the first verse, but it adds to the genuinely infuriating song full of straining and one-note riffing, as well as a second fake-out with him briefly trying to see her perspective. The song’s ugly, it doesn’t flow and it makes me hate the guy singing it, but that seems to be the intention, with which it completely succeeds. Three-for-three, Ben 10, keep it up. I wish you were comfortable with swearing though, it would hit a little better… I know, that’s rich coming from me.

#64 - “Good Luck, Babe!” - Chappell Roan

Produced by Dan Nigro

With Olivia Rodrigo’s producer and some sleeper traction for her debut album from last year, Missouri singer Chappell Roan seems primed for a big 2024 breakout, especially since she’s on tour with O-Rod. Her last album was a bit of a queer concept record and this seems to be following in similar footsteps, being about compulsory heterosexuality, feeling like you are conformed into heteronormative behaviours despite being queer. It details a secret relationship wherein love cannot be fully reciprocated due to that circumstance, and it’s treated tastefully with enough drama for most of the song for it to feel both worthwhile and not mundane, as well as not making some grander statement. The bridge irks me a tad, not allowing for the nuance of gay women marrying men and framing it in a way that seems more bitter and honestly self-serving to her narrative. Even if it’s from a different perspective, it seems a bit tasteless and awkward tonally with the rest of the song, especially given this is a classic synthpop track in the vein not of the retro pastiche or indie revival but standing damn near to Wham!’s “Last Christmas” and struggling to tell the difference kind of synthpop. That makes it slightly unique but in terms of the vocal melodies Ms. Roan lays on top of that sound, it fails to capture me all too much, and I’m also really struggling not to hear a mashup on the verses with “I Just Called to Say I Love You” by Stevie Wonder. The lyrics sharing soime similarities aren’t helping either. This is far from bad but both sonically and lyrically, it trips over, in a way that seems like it might be on purpose, and I do want to give this song credit for tackling an interesting, niche topic and having a morally grey depiction of it. That’s impressive for the pop charts, I just don’t really enjoy the final product. Sorry.

#59 - “Feel It” (From the Original Series Invincible) - d4vd

Produced by Gray Toomey, Noah Ehler and Sam Homaee

For some brief background, Invincible is an Amazon animated series based on the comic books starring Omni-Man, and the second part of its second season has just concluded, with the crew recruiting d4vd of… “Romantic Homicide” fame, because, of course, for a soundtrack single. Now for the song and okay, this is quite similar to the Benson Boone song from before. Firstly, it vaguely aligns itself with alternative R&B and indie pop in its groove, guitar tones and delivery and secondly, on a lyrical and vocal level, I’m pretty sure I’m also supposed to find d4vd a bit overwhelming and annoying, given how this girl thinks he’s crazy and he’s being inescapable to her. There are a key differences: A) this is not a rock song, it’s a synthpop haze with too much reverb, echo and overdubs - probably enough studio manufacturing to kill a small elephant. B) d4vd is neither funny nor really aggressive, he is simply being a nuisance towards the woman in the name of love, and has some creepy undertones regarding how she treats the woman in this story being uncomfortable with his advances, even if this relating to a fictional character in the series, it fails to translate beyond that. C) there is not much space left in this mix for any real emotional resonance, because he’s half-rapping and the song is filled to the brim with effects. It’s difficult to even focus on the narrative given the sheer amount of layers. Finally, D) this is a pick-up, not a rejection, so the annoyance feels like encroaching on territory rather than having any solid catharsis. All this is to say that the song just fails on all of its levels, but fails honestly. I can absolutely see someone liking this even having over-analysed it like I have, and its crime is not translating well to an audience it didn’t really intend to have, considering I’m not a d4vd fan and I’ve never seen this show. I can envision this getting pretty big and whilst I do not like the song one bit, it’s hard to complain about, really. It’s just refreshing, especially in a J. Cole week, to have a song that I don’t like for storied but largely impersonal and constructive reasons. To put it simply, I just don’t feel it.

#53 - “Crocodile Tearz” - J. Cole

Produced by T-Minus

I wrote a pretty extensive and scathing review of J. Cole’s latest mixtape, Might Delete Later. It’s #7 on the albums chart this week, and debuted three songs here this week. I am going to keep these entries brief as can be, because that review is there for you to read on my RateYourMusic 2024 listening log, the account’s exclusivelytopostown. Most of that log is in a scattered first-impressions style but that review is very thought-out, reflective and in-depth, so I’m quite proud of it. I’m tempted to format it and upload it separately as a review to this blog, though I don’t want to flood my page with such negativity. To cut it short, I think this mixtape is frankly embarrassing, as even moving away from stagnant and dire trap-adjacent production mostly headed by a clearly tired T-Minus, Cole is so unconvincing and insecure in his flexing that it becomes difficult to listen to, especially when he has all the technical lyrical skill and little personality to back up those flows, so they end up soggy and awkward. When he in any way attempts to be conscious, introspective or even commenting on his “place in the rap game”, he becomes downright insufferable and really just shows his ass rather than his pen. This song in particular has some of the dullest production Cole has ever rapped over though there are not many particularly corny lines here, other than how his dogs only shed tears in emojis and how he’s so much better than those girls on Instagram, right? Cole’s insistence on claiming himself superior to entire groups of people based on an intellect or higher spirituality he shows no proof of existing never gets old.

#38 - “7 Minute Drill” - J. Cole

Produced by T-Minus, Conductor Williams, Al Hug and Elyas

Okay, genuine question: how do I ethically tackle a song that has been rescinded by its artist, that days after release, has been disowned by the person who wrote and performed it, expressing live on stage that he regrets it and wishes it to be removed? Surely giving harsh criticism to a song that already makes him feel bad is just kicking a man when he’s down. Firstly, if you consider Cole’s position to be “down”, then you and me both are in the trenches and secondly, whilst I understand that the industry demands quick responses and can make the bureaucracy of releasing a track based on heated emotions quite frustrating, there is the option of just leaving it alone and not releasing anything, especially because “7 Minute Drill”, referring to the song process used to make it, not its runtime or genre, is framed more as a warning shot than a full-on diss. He didn’t even send the angry message before deleting it and walking it back with apologies. If anything, this song, like really the whole album, proves Cole’s insecurities about his self-instated “middleman” promo package and media representation. Cole just doesn’t have either the heart, or lack thereof, to make an actual diss track and also has nothing but good things to say about Kendrick - even in this diss track, he praises his musical output and fabricates outright lies about the albums’ reception to make it appear disrespectful. If you want any sonic criticism, the T-Minus beat is a practically unlistenable parody of “Like That” but Conductor Williams, as he always does, pulls a smooth piano jam in the back half that sadly cannot save the pathetic bars placed upon it. Next.

#37 - “I Don’t Wanna Wait” - David Guetta and OneRepublic

Produced by David Guetta, Brent Kutzle, T.I Jakke, Tyler Spry and Timofey Reznikov

Sigh… I quietly predicted this to myself. Once I’d seen EDM do-overs of “Gangsta’s Paradise”, “Better Off Alone” and “I’m Blue” hit the charts, a sinking feeling inside of me knew that O-Zone were not safe, and by God’s, Guetta has gone and done it. And he bought the hacks at OneRepublic with them, so no, let’s talk about that original song, because I think it’s genuinely great. Those synths glitch and buzz out more than you remember, having some pretty cool interplay with the deeper-voiced verses, and whilst yes, there is a nonsense hook, and the rest is in the band’s native Moldovan dialect of Romanian, you don’t need to know the language to find yourself humming the refrains in your head. The flip-phone beep after he says “beep”, the call-and-response “Alo! Salut!” and obviously both the “maiya-hee, maiya-hoo, maiya-ha” and “numa-numa-ey” choruses, they are so embedded into my brain, and that can’t just be by memetic coincidence, it’s a brilliantly written song and well executed. And obviously it was a hit - in the UK, their only hit, peaking at #3 in 2004 whilst Mario Winans’ “I Don’t Wanna Know”, also a classic, was #1. What’s most frustrating about this Guetta rendition is that “Dragostea din tei” was already milked dry for sampling, long before his 20-year anniversary last year. Most famously, it was sampled in a Newgrounds meme, but other than that, T.I. took it to #1 in the US with Rihanna on 2008’s “Live Your Life”, which was already a comical attempt at making it serious (consider it starting with T.I. shouting out the troops in Iraq), but you know what Tip and Rihanna DIDN’T do? Remove the nonsense lyrics - Rihanna does re-sing real lyrics in the nonsense melody, but they start and end the song with the original sample, there’s no hiding where it came from. They work because they’re nonsense, we do NOT need a Ryan Tedder rewrite! “Live Your Life” peaked at #2 here, but it was blocked by a single from The X Factor so it’s basically an honourable #1, I don’t like it much but it has a heart and charm that Guetta and Tedder could not successfully pull off even in their “prime”… which coincides pretty comfortably with when T.I. released that song. Have fun chasing the past, boys, maybe you’ll find your talent and creativity hidden back there.

#29 - “H.Y.B.” - J. Cole and Bas featuring Central Cee

Produced by DZL, T-Minus, Cedric Brown, AzizTheShake and FNZ

I quite like Bas. He doesn’t exactly a consistent brand of sound, instead shifting through a pretty eclectic array of pop-rap styles, though often maintaining both trap and Afrobeats influences, and therefore, his work tends to be a bit hit-or-miss when you consider the full-length projects. Regardless, he has genuine pop perfection on those albums - what ties his albums together is Bas, a lighthearted but experienced presence who is full of hooks and catchy flows, as well as often genuine heart that makes the variety of styles feel connected via that vocal throughline. This is his first top 40 hit in the UK, and it really bothers me that Cole do not push Bas further, as this could have easily been at least his second given he released a Jersey club-inspired single with AJ Tracey last year that could have absolutely smashed over here. It was one of my favourite songs of 2023, and still gets me really excited - if there’s anything Bas is great at, it’s just letting you loose and allowing for a dropping of the same pretence that has defined J. Cole’s every move. Cole puts Bas on his albums as a gesture but is seemingly unwilling to promote the man’s solo music. This may be because of how obvious it is that Bas, whilst maybe not as technically lyrical, has the pop edge over Cole, and could honestly be way bigger if given a chance to a mass audience or even bigger features like Cench over here, who is completely fine in his verse. This is just a sample-drill track wherein Cench does fine, Bas is cool but is only granted the hook - telling - and Cole embarrasses himself by reciting the alphabet without the letter L because he doesn’t take those. You got outcharted this week by two Benson Boone songs, Teddy Goddamn Swims and the song that dissed you in the first place still at #11. Please, stop lying to yourself, it’s not healthy.

Conclusion

Guess Best of the Week Boone strikes again with “Cry”. Jesus, I thought I was better than that. It’s even the only song I actually like out of our debuts, which is fantastic, so there won’t be an Honourable Mention. Instead, we can throw out a Dishonourable Mention for J. Cole’s “Crocodile Tearz”, whilst he ties for the worst. Both “7 Minute Drill” and David Guetta’s “I Don’t Wanna Wait” with OneRepublic feel like very cynical and regretful songs, made not for response but reaction and no, in art, those aren’t necessarily the same thing. Hopefully, we’ll have a more pleasant week on the horizon, there are pop girls by the dozen with Dua Lipa, Perrie of Little Mix, Sabrina Carpenter, Mimi Webb and perhaps most importantly, Future and Metro dropped the sequel. For now, thank you for reading, long live Cola Boyy, and I’ll see you next week!

[firespirited]

Booping you 20 million times because I love your blog, it’s so cosy <3

🌟🌷🌟

[mwebber]

looove when u can hear the progression of an artist's sound between their albums. dpr ian veering away from the slick guitar + smooth vocals dominating k-rnb/k-hip-hop and getting bigger w synths and strings and dipping into rock while keeping the razor-sharp articulation that defines his bops all on top of building the narrative he started two albums ago ROARRR

[blackgirllovesdramas]

Ya girl is loving Between Us right now, but Love Bill The Series is making a play for my heart. Run don’t walk to it.

[opopnomi]

J'ai publié 3 352 fois en 2022

112 billets créés (3%)

3 240 billets reblogués (97%)

Les blogs que j'ai le plus reblogués :

@chromatic-lamina

@some-piece

@opopnomi

@oopensandwich

@heyitsdoe

J'ai étiqueté 3 271 billets en 2022

Seulement 2% de mes billets ne comportaient pas de tag

#opfanart - 2 253 billets

#mugiwara - 663 billets

#donquixote doflamingo - 394 billets

#trafalgar law - 381 billets

#writing - 294 billets

#roronoa zoro - 291 billets

#monkey d luffy - 257 billets

#donquixote rosinante - 252 billets

#corazon - 246 billets

#unf - 244 billets

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#i needed to see the rb from a mutual to be like - oh ? some new doffy content from doe with doffy ?????!!! wait why is it my avatar on it ?

Mes billets vedette en 2022 :

n°5

STEAMPUNK-CEMBER 2021 - DAY 17 Professor Law

@rivvd-art asked:

Voir l'intégralité du billet

62 notes - publié le 4 mai 2022

n°4

STEAMPUNK-CEMBER 2021 - DAY 13 Cyberpunk Zoro

Not a request but this cyberpunk design of the marimo was so great

Tag List: @vemuabhi

Steampunk-cember 2021

66 notes - publié le 24 janvier 2022

n°3

Since I have no new stuff, let me present you with this quick doodle of the Ray of Sunshine himself in this trying times

72 notes - publié le 9 décembre 2022

n°2

STEAMPUNK-CEMBER 2021 - DAY 14 Doflamingo

Some self-indulgent flamingo in corset, because of reasons

Tag List: idea inspired by @coolannepotts - @softrozene @dressroba @vemuabhi

Steampunk-cember 2021

74 notes - publié le 31 janvier 2022

Mon billet n°1 en 2022

I may not be a Big blog but I wanted to reminds this blog is a safe space for Trans People, nonbinary and other people with all genders and body types.

I may have not drew in some times but requests are still open, and I'd glady try to do stuff for you and for anyone. I dont assure the qualité of it, since I am still learning a lot, but you are free to Ask and would be very happy to try.

This also goes for selfship stuff

I am open to almost every kind of requests, dont hesitate to Ask or dm me.

I am not totally ready to get back to drawing right now but I would keep it preciously in my askbox.

Really, dont hesitate ♥️

78 notes - publié le 31 mars 2022

Obtenez votre année 2022 en revue sur Tumblr →

[lonestar-badash]

I posted 3,141 times in 2022

That's 3,141 more posts than 2021!

478 posts created (15%)

2,663 posts reblogged (85%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@badinfluence-damngoodtime

@rrh90-2

@romantic-n-naughtysoul

@midntrydr

@veraroaddixie

I tagged 1,164 of my posts in 2022

#l-ba - 923 posts

#spotify - 216 posts

#tiktok - 206 posts

#jlyop - 183 posts

#my asks - 117 posts

#country - 84 posts

#tagged - 71 posts

#p2 - 70 posts

#submission - 54 posts

#jot that down - 44 posts

Longest Tag: 69 characters

#because if it’s stuck in my head then it should be stuck in yours too

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Peace ✌🏼 • Love ♥️ • America 🇺🇸

Leave a little sparkle wherever you go. Shoot for the stars. Don’t let your light fade. Go out with a bang.

- Advice from a Firecracker, L-BA 🌟

137 notes - Posted July 4, 2022

#4

Not every “Holy Shit” message I send is a negative thing, B 😉.

See the full post

146 notes - Posted May 26, 2022

#3

• First, I have tried numerous times to change the “still” of this video and cannot figure it out.

• Second, I’m very up front in the beginning of any friendship that I’m not for everyone… If you’ve talked to me personally, you already know that. But if you stay and I let you into my life, it’s worth it, I promise.

• Lastly, while this video is not my voice, it was sent to me by a friend because when she heard it I was the first thought in her mind… because it is 110% me.

See the full post

166 notes - Posted April 13, 2022

#2

Let’s get those tan lines that JLYOP was known for.

200 notes - Posted March 23, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

For those of you that have made comments about my thighs, privately or publicly, this is for y’all (and Thigh Thursday).

They are thick. They are powerful. I work on them every day for 1-2 hours, maxing out the bike. It’s not easy, but I got that grit.

* I do not own rights to this music *

332 notes - Posted March 17, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[fideidefenswhore]

also:

“History tells us a few things, mostly about men and war,” a title card announces at the movie’s beginning.

+

It opens with a statement that we know history via men and war, and anything else is “often wild” conjecture. There is much here that would make historians raise a learned eyebrow and the wild speculation on display somehow diminishes Catherine’s importance while trying to raise it.