#back to my point at the start of the audio books their was a song a different one for each book

[potter-inthe-tardis]

A hear me out, unironic bop!

I'm rewatching the series of unfortunate events show, and I remembered this song from my childhood, so I had to go look it up, and yes it's still a bop!

[bunchofrandomfandomsandbands]

Random KISS Facts

(That nobody asked for)

Gene

The first time Gene spit fire, he caught his hair on fire

Back in the beginning of KISS, Gene would do a trick with flash paper, but one night his aim was off and the paper blew up in a kid’s face

Paul

During the Hotter Than Hell photoshoot, Paul got so drunk, that Gene had to lock him in the station wagon to keep Paul from hurting himself

Ace

Ace punched Tommy Thayer in the face when he (Tommy) was manager, over Ace having his girlfriend in the dressing room

Ace Frehley almost drowned twice. Once in a hotel bathtub and another time in a pool. Gene saved him both times

A day before the Hotter Than Hell photo shoot, Ace got in a bad car accident and split one side of his face open so. Because of this, Ace couldn’t wear that side of his makeup, so all the shots were profiles

Around 2000, Ace Frehley missed a flight to a concert in Los Angeles and the band got manager Tommy Thayer ready to fill in for Frehley, in costume and makeup. Frehley made it to the show at the last minute via helicopter ride from LAX to the venue

Peter

Peter Criss hardly played during the Reunion/Farewell tour, so they put an amplifier on his drums to make it sound like he was actually playing. That’s why a lot of the crew members would say “don’t sneeze around Peter’s drum set”

Eric C.

After the Dynasty tour was over, Peter Criss left the band. So, after KISS announced his departure, they held auditions for a new drummer and selected Paul Carvello, later renamed Eric Carr

When Eric Carr had to sing “Beth” he called Peter to make sure he (Peter) was ok with him singing his song

When Eric Carr recorded his vocal for the re-recording of “Beth” in 1988, he sat on the same drum stool that Peter Criss used during the original recording of the song in 1976

KISS’s late drummer Eric Carr’s collar on his 1980 “fox” costume was made out of real fox fur

In Paul’s book Face the Music he says that “When the tour stopped in Manhattan for two gigs at the Ritz, Eric Carr came to one of the shows and sat in the balcony with his head resting on the railing through the entire show. Afterwards he came backstage, and out of left field, turned to Eric Singer, and said, ‘You’re going to replace me.’ ‘What are you talking about?’ I spoke. ‘He’s going to replace me in KISS,’ said Eric Carr, nodding at Eric Singer. ‘Listen, Eric, you’re the drummer in KISS, and he’s the drummer of my solo band.’” But as fate would have it, Eric Singer was the perfect fit

Tommy

March 11, 2000, through April 13, 2001, was the Reunion/Farewell Tour with Ace and Peter. Tommy Thayer was KISS’ tour manager at the time, and he had to retrain Ace and Peter all their parts, because they hadn’t played in years. It proved to be difficult, and Tommy almost gave up. But with the reassurance of Paul, he managed to reteach Ace and Peter all their parts

Album/Song Facts

Cannons were recorded and mixed into KISS Alive! to mimic the pyrotechnics that didn’t come through the microphones correctly

Alive! was recorded in multiple different cities with crowd audio combined to make the crowd sound bigger. Alive! was mainly recorded in Detroit

At one point KISS almost went under because Neil Bogart (KISS’ manager) had maxed out his credit card. With the combination of the special effects, levitating drum set (that seldom ever worked), the exploding drumsticks, and Neil’s gambling issue, the band almost went under, but when Alive! went Platinum, it saved the group

On Dynasty Anton Fig played on the tracks except for “Dirty Livin’,” written, and played by Criss even though he wasn’t involved in its production, Peter was still credited on drums, which left Anton Fig uncredited

Psycho Circus was the first album to involve all four original members (though Ace Frehley and Peter Criss only appeared on a select few tracks). "You Wanted the Best" is the only KISS song in which lead vocals are shared by the entire lineup

The radio news announcer at the start of “Detroit Rock City” is KISS’ producer Bob Ezrin. The main news report featured a fatal car accident, and is the backstory of the song, which was based on a reportedly true event that happened to a teen on his way to Detroit KISS concert in 1975

Paul’s yodeling at the beginning of “Heaven’s on Fire” is him warning up. He didn’t realize the camera was rolling, but they decided to keep it in the video

A number of songs from Crazy Nights were performed live during its supporting tour, but during and especially immediately following the tour, most of those songs were dropped and were never performed again

The famous song “Rock and Roll All Nite” was inspired by Slade’s “Mama Weer All Crazee Now”

Towards the end of the Reunion/Farewell tour, fans were shocked to see Eric Singer in full Catman costume and makeup, meaning Peter left the band again for the final time

During the music video for “Heaven’s on Fire” Eric Carr pops up behind Paul, and Paul looks at him for a split second before looking back at the camera. Eric did that randomly. It wasn’t planned. Paul’s reaction was genuine

Other

Neil Bogart came up with Peter’s levitating drum set and his exploding drumsticks

The KISS logo is altered in Germany because of the similarities to the Nazi S

Early in KISS’ career, Larry Harris worked an endorsement deal with Gibson guitars, and they provided free guitars that Paul could smash. In exchange, KISS put Gibson on the back of their album covers

Peter “Moose” Oreckinto, a KISS roadie in the early days, was loading Peter Criss’ exploding drumsticks, when one went off, causing a hole in his hand, his chin and his stomach. This accident almost caused Moose to lose his hand, but doctors were able to save it

KISS was nominated for a Grammy in 1999 for Best Hard Rock Performance for their song “Psycho Circus.” (It lost to “Most High” by Page and Plant of Led Zeppelin fame)

Despite the band’s massive 1970s success and again in the late 1990s, Rolling Stone magazine refused to put KISS on its cover until the band’s 40th anniversary in 2013

KISS refused to play shows in their early days without their trademark giant lighted logo. In some venues, its size required it to be stood up on the side of the stage instead of hanging above it

KISS has had ten members during its 50-year existence. Paul Stanley is reportedly the only member to have participated in every song released

The KISS Army started in Indiana when a local radio station refused to play any KISS songs in the early ‘70s. Protesting fans marched outside of the radio station forcing the radio station to play KISS

Facts are continually added

Tagging: @genesstankycodpiece, @solfihelpmi, @ericsingerisababycat, @foxykissworld, @spacefoxy, @sillyamyy, @ericcarrsworshipper, @2000-man1, @tanookikiss, @sluttery-withoutshame, & @daddycatcriss

[musicalmoritz]

Funniest headcanons?

Okay wow I have so many crack headcanons so prepare yourself. Take every negative thing I’ve ever said abt fanon and throw it out the window, this is about to get so unserious

• Hanako is a fudanshi. This applies to the whole Toilet Gang (except Nene would be called a fujoshi), they’ve got a little book club. Hanako is the most insane about it tho

• Aoi and Akane are a himejoshi/himedanshi couple

• Lemon and Akane smoke weed together on a regular basis (throw back to the time I looked up “slang words for marijuana” for my Terukaneaoi fic and ended up sounding like Skyler White)

• I feel like an average conversation between the Toilet Gang is the most insufferable, out of pocket middle school humor you’ve ever heard in your life. Those four make South Park look like a kids show

• Akane has a random lock of Aoi’s hair on a shelf in his room

• Since the Minamoto father is absent and the mother is dead, Tiara just kind of assumes Teru and Akane are her parents. Instead of correcting her on this, Akane decides to be the dad who stepped up

• Akane is one of those filmbros who does NOT play abt Pulp Fiction (me) (that’s the second time I’ve mentioned that movie in relation to Akane today)

• He’s also the type to ask you to name three Nirvana songs if he catches you wearing one of their shirts and if you even so much as think about saying Smells Like Teen Spirit, he’ll shoot you in the head

• Hanako is lowkey mad Kou and Mitsuba started dating without him

• In the TBHK universe, Mei is the one who drew the Miku Binder Thomas Jefferson image

• Nene writes reader insert fan fiction

• She’s also a BookTok girlie (not one of the really bad ones, just cringy. As in she would unironically love the book boyfriend audio)

• Sakura is rly into disturbing movies and they make Natsuhiko watch them with them just to make him nauseous

• Hanako and Kou jokingly flirt with each other and it makes Mitsuba and Nene genuinely mad. Like Hanako can ruin Mitsuba’s day with a single “I can take your man”

• Yk that one image of Cheryl Blossom wearing an “I ❤️ Boys” shirt? Teru owns that shirt

• Akane is the type of dude to raise his hand during a class discussion and say “I’d like to play the Devil’s Advocate”

• Aoi flirts with waitresses very poorly and it gives Nene severe secondhand embarrassment

• Once a week, Natsuhiko challenges Teru to a fight. She loses every single time

• Nene has one of those traumatic hamster death stories

• Mitsuba’s hair is dyed so whenever he’s being particularly annoying, Tsukasa tells him his roots are showing

• Kou and Nene have had one of those awkward “I have a crush on someone🤭 And it’s someone you know veryyyy well👀” moments

• Sumire used to climb to the highest places she could find to get Hakubo’s attention, and it gave him a mini heart attack each time

• OG Mei had a fursona. It was a dragon

• Yk in Spongebob when Squidward was confirmed to be the most miserable person in all of the Bikini Bottom?? In the TBHK universe that’s Akane except it’s for all of Japan

• Teru has given the “I’m vengeance, I am the knight” speech while exorcizing supernaturals AT LEAST once

• The Minamotos frequently watch Cinderella together bcuz Tiara is obsessed with it, to the point that it’s become Teru and Kou’s favorite movie as well. Teru drags his friends to watch it with him too but Kou refuses to admit he likes it

• Kou chews with his mouth open

• Mitsuba has cheesy romantic fantasies about Kou the same way Nene does about her crushes (I credit this one to one of my TikTok mutuals @/mads)

• Natsuhiko has an ASMR account (just like they do in the Monster Nursery au)

• Tiara doesn’t quite understand the premise of being gay or coming out so every day she congratulates Kou on being bi

• Kou straight up lies to Tiara about things, it’s an older sibling canon event. Teru does the same to Kou. For example I once told my sister you could dilute chocolate milk into regular milk by pouring water in it. And she believed me.

• Despite the fact that Kou’s been friends with them for many years, Teru regularly forgets Yokoo and Satou’s names

• Aoi and Nene’s mothers have a bet on when the two of them will reveal they’re secretly dating

• Mei is one of those ppl who’s allergic to almost everything. You order a plate of shrimp beside her and before it even hits the table she’s like “Keep that FAR away from me”

• Kako was homophobic until meeting Akane. A “I don’t support that lifestyle” kind of homophobe. Before meeting Akane’s baseball bat

• It’s okay tho he supports his bisexual son now!! He goes to pride parades and everything

• Mirai braids Akane’s hair when she’s bored

• Tsuchigomori has never felt the touch of a man

• If you say one bad word about Teru around Kou, you better be prepared for a full monologue. Stan Twitter wishes they could be as dedicated as Kou (Yokoo: I want to kms / Kou: Wait until the next student council election we can’t lose votes)

• To avoid tarnishing her popular girl image by coming off as rude, whenever Aoi wants to leave a conversation with someone she doesn’t like she pretends to faint

• Mitsuba breaks up with Kou every other day

• When Aoi and Nene are having trouble communicating their feelings verbally, they find a wrestling ring and box their feelings out

• Aoi and Nene apply to every job together, they are a package deal

• Kou is the designated bug killer for the Toilet Gang

• Yako can talk to other foxes. But only foxes, no other animals so the power isn’t all that exciting

• Natsuhiko hasn’t picked up on Mitsuba being gay yet so he keeps offering to set him up with girls

• Sakura has been involved in at least (1) unethical psychology experiment in the past. They administered those shocks for Milgram with a completely straight face

• The hands in Mitsuba’s boundary reflect his feelings so every time Kou comes to visit, they jump around him like overexcited dogs

• Tsukasa had a very intense Alvin and the Chipmunks phase

Okay I have homework that’s due in like 2 hours so I’m gonna have to end it there. I hope my terrible sense of humor amused some of you

[kazoosandfannypacks]

summary: percy finds a new favorite song

word count: 415 words

a/n: "hey juliet" by tufts beelzebubs has been on my percabeth playlist and lives rent free in my mind, so i decided to write a tiny little thing about percy with this song, set probably somewhere in between the second and fourth book. ideally, you could even listen to the song while you read the fic.

taglist: @laughingphoenixleader @jedi-nurse {if you’d like to be added to my percabeth/pjo taglist, let me know!}

also on ao3!

Hey Juliet

 Percy didn't usually listen to this kind of music, but this song in particular caught his attention.

 That's a huge deal, actually, at least for Percy. Not a lot of things could reliably catch or hold his attention. Usually he'd start listening to a song, and then his mind would wander, and then he'd find himself seven tracks ahead of where he was without having even noticed a thing about the songs he missed.

 But Hey Juliet by Tufts Beelzebubs was apparently an exception.

 He wouldn't go telling any of his friends that he liked a capella music now. At that point, just tell your friends you sing Broadway hits with your mom and watch opera on the weekends; you'll spare yourself some embarrassment.

 But this a capella song was a bit different. It was fast. It had a good beat. The audio had multiple parts to listen to— several people singing or making background noises at once, and the fact that there were multiple things to focus on held Percy's attention. He'd often throw it into the background on loop when he was doing his homework, giving him something to occupy the back of his brain while the front of his brain focused on his studies.

 But every now and then, he'd stop his work and listen to the words.

 "I just want you to know, I wanna be your Romeo. Hey, Juliet…"

 "I never got the big deal with Romeo and Juliet anyways," Percy mumbled, "some guy wrote a hard-to-read-play about two people who love each other so much that they die? What's the point?"

 But he knew there was a little more to it than that. Something about Romeo and Juliet's parents hating each other, but that those two main characters loved each other anyways, which apparently was interesting to most people.

 Percy Jackson, however, was not like most people.

 "That's actually ridiculous," Percy thought, "that would be like if I fell in love with the kid of one of my dad's rivals, like... like one of Athena's kids… like… oh shoot."

 He winced as one of Athena's kids came to mind: Annabeth Chase.

 "Yeah," he thought, "it would be as ridiculous as me falling in love with Annabeth."

 But ever since that moment, every time Hey Juliet came on, he found himself with another thing to focus on— the thought of Annabeth smiling at him, and the idea that maybe having a Juliet wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.

[sugawhaaa]

Theo one-shot

"Ex!?!?!"

Word count::1,025

Warnings::mentions of abusive relatioship, mental and physical abuse

Pairing::Theo x fem!reader

Genre::fluff

A/N: I had another part to this that was basically pure smut but I felt it ruined the cute boyfriend vibes so I cut it out lol (if you want it just comment and I'll post it)

The sound of light scribbles and tiktok audios filled the hotel room you and Theo were currently staying in. Taeyang is on break right now and as a little get away you and him booked a hotel in his hometown. Today he showed you around the city and showed you where he went to school, parks he played at and at the end you got ice cream together. It was honestly a blast but tomorrow was the day you'd meet his parents for the first time. Theo is only your second boyfriend but still you know that meeting the parents never goes well.

"You seem upset," Theo said, worried looking up at you. He set his phone down and held your hand gently. "Are you stressing about tomorrow?" He said with his hair down in his eyes.

"Kinda…" you said, avoiding eye contact and looking at your little sketch.

"It'll be fine, I'm sure they'll love you," he smiled warmly at you as he rubbed his warm hand against yours. 

"That's what they always say," you laughed.

"Either way, I don't care, I love you too much to care what my parents say," he smiled up at you and returned his gift. He kissed your hand and went back to his phone. "Remember if you need anything you can always talk to me," 

You nodded your head and went back to drawing as your other hand held Theo's. The room was so cozy, the dim lights, the rain outside, being with your boyfriend, it was perfect and the butterflies in your stomach went wild over Theos outfit. A short sleeved black hoodie and some baggy white pants. For some reason you loved it perhaps a little too much. You caught yourself staring at him when he looked up at you. You blushed and went back to drawing. Theo laughed.

"What's up with you? You acting so weird," he said as he set his phone down again. 

"I dunno, I guess I'm just tired," you said leaning back in your chair. 

"Okay let's go snuggle in bed then," he said immediately standing up. You were kind of surprised at how quickly he adjusted to your mood. He went over to the bed and you followed. You both crawled into bed facing each other. The warm blankets wrapped around both of you as Theo gently played with your hair as his eyes looked at you with pure love and adoration. "Did you ever meet your ex's parents…" he said randomly as he wrapped his arms around you.

"What? I mean yeah I did but why are you asking?" You said as you snuggled into his shoulder. He pouted before saying

"I want to be better than him,"

You laughed at him. "It's not funny!" He yelled.

"You're better than him in every way possible, you should know this," you said as you patted his head. He let go of the hug to look at you again.

"How can I know I'm better when you never tell me anything about him, I don't even know his name!" He pouted. Oh he can be such a baby sometimes. 

"Fine his name was yoojun, and he hurt me," you frowned at him when his face contorted. 

"He did what?" Theo looked at you sternly.

"He was just mentally abusive…mainly," you said awkwardly before showing him how upset you really were. He held you in his arms again.

"What would he do to you?" He said with a shaking voice. 

"He tried to keep me away from my friends a lot, and it was like only his life mattered. If I ever complained about anything he would go on a rant about how difficult his life is," you sighed as Theo rubbed your back to comfort you. "And I mean sometimes he'd hit me. One time he thought-" you paused because tears started poking at your eyes. You took a deep breath and swallowed your tears. "He thought I was cheating on him and he had valid points but I wasn't! I didn't know how to back myself up so he slapped me…" 

Theo's jaw dropped as his wide eyes stared at you. 

"What!? Why didn't you tell me this before," he said, clearly upset.

"I dunno," you stuttered. 

"What else did that bastard do!?" He said furiously.

"Whoa whoa relax baby it's okay, he's gone now," you put your hands on his chest. "But he did do some questionable things to me in bed," you said looking up at the ceiling. 

"Like what!" Theo said, grabbing your shoulders and shaking you. You laughed at him while he sternly looked at you. 

"I don't know, make me wear weird costumes and make rude comments about my body…" you softly spoke while Theo looked at you madly. 

"Do you still think his insults are true?" He calmed down a bit but he was still mad. 

"Kinda…" you said, biting your lip lightly. 

"Oh I'm gonna prove that bastard so wrong," he said clenching his fist. 

"W-what do you mean?" You said nervously watching him shift around in the bed. 

"I'm going to prove to you how amazing you are!" 

"But you don't even know what he said!" You said waving your hands around like a maniac.

"Alright tell me everything he said," Theo looked down at you while hanging over you. His face, inches away from your eyes, his body hovering over yours. You got flustered. 

"Are you sure you wanna do this n-now?" You blushed and put your arms around his neck casually.

"Yes. Now stop avoiding my question," he growled.

"Okay fine! He said I taste bad…" you blushed and looked out the window covered in rain. 

"Like your skin?" Theo said, confused.

"No," you blushed and let your arms fall above your head and rest on the pillow. 

"Your mouth?" Asked leaning down closer to you.

"Nope.." you said, playing with your own hair. That's when it clicked in his brain. His finger traced your lips as his eyes darkened. 

"I see now. I haven't gotten to taste that yet, would you mind lending me a bite?" He said with a bite of his lip. You blushed and looked up at him. 

"As long as you want to," you said, putting your hands in his hair.

[heathersproship]

I WENT AND SAW MEAN GIRLS YESTERDAY

Went in with low expectations, but hoping to like it. Listened to some of the soundtrack a few days ago and wasn’t exactly impressed. But I didn’t blame the rearrangements—not entirely. Some of it was questionable, but maybe it’d be like with NPMD where I’d like it more when I had the visuals to go with it (I vastly prefer The Summoning live, and also High School is Killing Me, rather than the studio audio). And for the most part, I was right! I had a nice time.

See below the cut for my thoughts on the songs, other details, and some Janis analysis.

First Things First

We started off strong with the garage setup and Cautionary Tale. The vertical screen on a horizontal one doesn’t bother me, so I love the whole bit with the phone, and Janis plays guitar!

What Ifs was a song I didn’t listen to beforehand, and I understood most of it til Cady got to school. Then I had no idea what she was saying, either because the music was too loud or she was singing too softly, or both.

Meet the Plastics (though really it’s just Meet Regina) was good. Loved the lights flickering and Regina’s hypnotic voice like a siren luring the unsuspecting Cady in. Or an anglerfish.

Stupid With Love was actually not that bad... in the first half. Once we were out of the classroom, it fell off for me. I suppose they were going for a dreamy walking-on-air cloud nine “too in your own little world to notice the world around you” vibe, especially at the very end, but Angourie’s soft vocals didn’t do it for me. I expected a burst of energy since they’re outside and have the freedom to move and be loud with it.

Apex Predator was beautiful visually. Musically, I’m still not sure what to make of Damian singing Cady’s lines when they were about Janis. It’s strange. Couldn’t even have her think them? Record Angourie in a booth to get a feel for how big she can go, play it over a few shots of Cady’s face or the scene in front of them, Cady looking at Janis as she secretly compares Janis and Regina while Janis and Damian are warning her about Regina? No?

The build-up to What’s Wrong With Me was good—love the usage of the music box—though the song itself was a bit awkward. It’s sad all the same though, and that’s the point.

Sexy was good. Blink and you’ll miss the Easter egg.

Someone Gets Hurt was visually stunning. My one gripe is that Aaron has ONE line. Just one. And he doesn’t even sing it because the actor just doesn’t sing (did they hire him for his looks? The fact that he was in TSITP, which I haven’t seen? Why hire someone who doesn’t/can’t sing... for a musical??). Couldn’t they get someone to dub him? It’s just one line. Was that too much to ask? Disguise Damian’s voice if you have to. Giving it to Regina was certainly a choice they made.

Revenge Party was a fucking banger. It’s so fun and hella camp, and I love that they reinstated one of the OG verses (two if you recognize the piñata line from another verse). Also like how the “yes, bitch!” line was also back, unlike in the Broadway recording, though I don’t think that exchange needed to happen twice. I love Janis just loudly popping up with “And ugly crying!” during the bit with the sprinklers like girl shut up you’ll blow your cover! But then there was also that weirdass decision to have it go handheld when Cady goes to get the candy cane. Did not like that, what the hell was that?

Damian singing the iCarly theme in French lmao okay sure.

Someone Gets Hurt Reprise was just as good as the original, I love it. My only nitpick is the wording. “Obsessed” rather than “in love with” though that might have something to do with the doll.

World Burn was epic. Except... okay. Regina waltzed right into school with the Burn Book in hand. What if someone saw her? And then her just deliberately dropping and leaving it on the floor. And people really walked past it before someone finally picked it up? Really? The payoff is excellent, just the setup was... questionable.

Now that I’ve seen it, I definitely like this version of I’d Rather Be Me a lot more than I did before. Especially how it ends. (Though Barrett is still bae.) There’s possibly an allusion to the music video with the running in the halls and going about the school. But my God, Auli’i fucking did that! And again, very glad they kept the curse in the OST.

If that was a reprise of Stupid with Love... here’s an idea: just stop. The horse is already dead.

I See Stars was? Fine? Tbh I don’t really remember it. Probably because the girl who doesn’t go there takes over halfway though. Way to pull your weight, Cady. Angourie did well for some things, but singing really isn’t her strong suit. Again, why hire actors who don’t have the range for a musical?

Other things:

I love that Janis does embroidery here. It just fits.

Did not like the sanitization. How can this be Mean Girls without one mention of “social suicide”? You can keep the bouncing boobs thing and blatantly asking if Cady wants to have sex with Jason, but the band geeks are “corny-horny” and not “sexually active”?

Heyy Ashley Park!

Cady scaring the shit out of Janis and Damian will never not be funny. They were even watching the same scene of the same movie!

I was really hoping to get a flashback of Regina and Janis, with Janis actually burning the doll, rather than Damian acting it out with the toys. Or at the very least, a shot of Regina’s backpack on fire (that would’ve been a great teaser image). So we can get an idea of what Janis was like before, if she went along with the fashion rules like “pink on Wednesdays” or if she was always a little off-beat and Regina pushed her further into it. Maybe even see if she was the queen bee as some people believe was the case back in the day.

Love the bit with music people in the tree and Janis telling them to stop lmao. I love when they do things like that.

Analysis:

So one of the main differences between this Janis and her predecessors is that once this Janis gets to a certain point, she’s satisfied and actually wants to stop so she and her friends can just enjoy their time together rather than asking Cady to take a single night off before, presumably, letting it go on longer. This makes the party betrayal hurt worse when Cady says she wants one more lunch with the Plastics, as it looks like she made the active choice to trade up rather than just forgetting about Janis and Damian in her attempt to ensnare Aaron. Janis’ satisfaction also makes her singing IRBM more justified than in the musical because the movie took away a crucial aspect of her character which made her a Mean Girl to begin with: her anger.

This iteration of Janis just doesn’t have the same level of pure rage that drives her the way Regina does—rage which made them two sides of the same coin—because in this version, Janis is actually gay. The whole conflict in the original was Regina labeling Janis as something she wasn’t, and 2004 being a more homophobic time in history was how it was able to fly. In the 2018 musical, when that was no longer the case, they had to add in another layer with Regina pretending the issue was that Janis couldn’t accept she wasn’t one of the six people invited to her birthday party, before revealing the real issue was the same as the first: Regina pushing a label onto Janis (though Barrett says she played Janis as a lesbian, this was not explicitly confirmed nor acknowledged within the show itself, and is therefore no more canon than Regina being queer because Renee Rapp says so, closeted or not). With Janis being canonically queer here, this takes all the power out of Regina labeling her a lesbian in the first place because yes, yes she is, and? Rather than the problem being about the label, now the problem became Janis’ reaction to the bullying that ensued.

While she had to leave school due to how bad the bullying was in all versions previously (frozen out in the original—according to Regina she dropped out; and having “space dyke” Sharpied on her locker in the musical—according to Damian her parents pulled her out) this is the only time we know of where she retaliated. By burning the plush (and also Regina’s backpack) with a Bunsen burner. Her own actions resulted in her getting kicked out rather than being forced out by circumstances beyond her control, and the choice to do it this way shows that a) while what happened to her was more insidious, she’s also slightly less of a victim than her predecessors, and b) she knows better than anyone actions have consequences—a line of dialogue explicitly absent in the movie’s opening number. She was content to stop where they were at, quit while they’re ahead, because her desire for revenge was satiated and she was ready to move on. Have lunch with Cady and hang out like they always meant to. She’s no longer a Mean Girl. While there was an injustice done upon her, she’s not so scarred by it she’s letting her rage get the better of her to the point it spirals out of control. She was ready and willing to stop. But Cady wasn’t.

And I don’t know how to feel about that.

I think that’s it.

[autisticempathydaemon]

(I’m re-typing this because I forgot some key information and I apologize in advance for any typos or confusion, I’m bad at typing)

Hi, idk if you still answer these but it looked fun to try! I hope you’ve had a good day/night, may your dreams be pleasant and your crops watered for the ✨harvest✨

* What song are you fixated on at the moment? What lyric or verse, and why?

I don’t currently have one favorite but “Never Coming Back” from Violet Evergarden, “The Road Not Taken” by Hoyo-Mix, “Smooth Operator” by Sade and “Control” by Loveless are currently the top 4 for the day (honorable mention to “Kapp’n Song” from ACNH) I don’t really have a reason and it’s kinda just what my brain chemistry currently likes

* What is your Enneagram type?

9?? I think, I’m not entirely sure sense I got confused trying to figure it out X~X

* Do you love gargantuan Youtube video essays, and if so, which is your favorite and why?

ABSOLUTELY!! I’m not sure if I have a reason? Maybe it’s because I can just sit and listen to something I’m interested in for a long time and just relax and focus on one thing?? I also like to listen to livestreams and other long videos, I tend to watch/listen to “AthenaP”, “EIsSocial” and a Persona 4 analysis from “Hiding in Private”.

* Tell me about your childhood imaginary friend.

My brain didn’t cook one up

* What is your go-to way to fall asleep?

Rotating like a rotisserie chicken, Comforter/Blanket on, Hugging a Plushie (usually this Peep I’ve had sense 2018 or my Wolf Build-A-Bear) and one earbud in either playing music, a rp audio (currently redacted) or an analysis video ive heard about 20 times

* If you had to change your name, what would it be, and why? (In tandem, if you have changed your name, why did you pick that one?)

I’ve been through a lot of names online due to my indecisive-ness but currently I was thinking KC/Kayce. I have a lot of memories associated with the name and I like how it sounds <3

* What is your favorite of Redacted’s audios, and why?

The Smash Tournament with the Shaw Pack, Sam Healing you after the Fight with the Two Vampires (or honestly any Sam Audio), and the Gameboi’s Anthology. I think it’s the comforting/close/intimate (in a way?not sussy intimate tho) nature of the audios

* What Redacted boy holds no appeal to you, and why? Like, not the one you hate but the one who you don’t get the hype for. (I won’t judge, I promise.)

I haven’t listened to most of the boys/stories and I tend to cater my listening to what I know I already like with little to no experimentation; so I don’t really have a boy(s) in mind that doesn’t appeal to me as of right now

* Tell me about that one book/movie/tv show you know all the words to.

either “Yuri! On Ice” or “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic”. I watched both of these shows WAYY to many times to the point it’s concerning!! YOI which reminded me of my love of figure skating (watching and ice skating in general) and then I got into MLPFIM when the Season 2 final (Canterlot Wedding) aired and was obsessed after that for like 6yrs and still have moments of fixation for a couple days.

* Which Redacted boy are you platonically attracted to? Like- forget dating, which dude do you want to be your best friend?

Probably Huxley, Lasko and/or Caelum.. and like all of the Shaw Pack (I’m indecisive)

* Do you have a go-to thing you ramble about when you’re tired, and if so, what is it? (For example, my boyfriend knows I’m ready to sleep when I start talking about space.)

If I still have energy to talk/think, Pokémon. Tired, Half-Asleep, My Own Funeral or Given the Opportunity, I will become the Yap King for about 3hrs!! Once I get my Communication Skills under wraps it’s over for Everyone! >:D

* Tell me your go-to gas station and drink combo.

I don’t go to the gas station more than like 3 times a year, but probably a carbonated drink.. or lemonade if available. I’m a self-proclaimed slut for lemonade 24/7, 365.

* Tell me about your favorite playlist at the moment.

If you mean the Redactedverse, then Sam, Porter (I made my own sense there isn’t an official one as of typing this) and Gamboi’s. But if you Music, then a playlist I made called “more tunes” and it has all my Emotion-Filled, Loud and Auditor-ally Stimulating Songs like “Enter Sandman” by Metallica, “Control” by Loveless and like 1/4 of 6arleyhumans Discography to listen to when I’m Under-stimulated or just Bored

* What’s your guilty pleasure media, and why?

Idk if I have a “Guilty Pleasure” but I have a “Angry Pleasure” and that’s Miraculous Ladybug. I waited 8yrs real time for some of the stuff that goes down and in their time it’s been like 9 months. I’m gonna cut myself off before I rant but damn do I have a love-hate relationship with this show

* And whatever else you think tells me about who you are!

I’m an INFP, I’m the Middle Child of 3, I have Psychological Parental Problems, I love the Stars and Anything Outer-Space themed/related, My favorite color is Blue, I’m more of a Listener then a Talker, I tend to think about my Past, I’m probably Mentally Ill (specifically, I think I have Depression, Anxiety, Autism and MAYBE BPD/Borderline Personality Disorder. gotta love multi-wielding these issues), Love the Mystery Genre and specifically I’m always down for a Murder Mystery at a Mansion, People Pleaser™, I like the Rain and Cold Weather, I prefer to binge rather than one at a time otherwise I’m probably never finishing the media in question, I own 2/3 cats (it’s complicated, their names are Lucifer, Hazel and Marbles <3), My favorite food is Ice Cream (yes it’s a food, fight me.) I’m pretty sure I gave up my dream to be a professional figure skater and go to the Olympics but I hope to ice skate more when I get the opportunity, and finally “It’s not the Heat, it’s the Humidity”.

Thank you for your time <3 (platonic heart for existing)

This was a hard one for me because I have an inkling that the boy I’m picking for you, you haven’t listened to. Ollie isn’t the most narratively interesting playlist on the channel, but I do think he’d be the most perfect for you.

First and foremost, Ollie is an openly communicative, affectionate, and supportive partner; these are really good traits when dating a Type Nine who are characterized by a desire for peace and harmony, the people pleasers of the Enneagram. When his Baby signs up for too much work or has family issues, he’s right there helping you however he can, uplifting you. Next, Ollie is definitely also an introvert, and I love that for y’all, that the home you made together is where you go to recharge. It’s a good home and a good life- no Inversion, no covert, just comfort and safety and fun.

Like, Ollie’s no werewolf, vampire, or daemon obvs. He’s just a guy, but he’s a guy who’d love your cats and introduce you to his own. He’d buy you a telescope and put it in his office so you could look at the stars together. He’d watch Yuri on Ice and Miraculous Ladybug for the first time with you because he wants to engage with your interests and is curious about what the person he loves loves. I don’t think he can figure skate for shit, but he goes with you all the time anyway no matter how many times he falls on his butt. What he is good at is games, and he hosts a murder mystery party for your birthday every year.

Song:

Hey, hey, hey, lover (hey-hey)/ You don't have to be a star/ Hey, hey, hey, lover (hey-hey)/ I love you just the way you are/ For love is just the same/ Without fortune or fame/ Just give me/ True love and understanding

This, to me, is the quintessential Ollie song, I think of him whenever I hear it. It’s cute, and the backing tracks are layered in a way I find so satisfying and I hope you find auditorily stimulating. I can imagine this playing through a shared set of earbuds or a little Bluetooth speaker while you hold his hands and help him stay upright on ice skates.

Runner-ups:

Camelopardalis is a really cute runner-up for you, because he’d be such a supportive presence for someone who identifies as a people pleaser. I also like pairing d(a)emons with people who love space, because it’s so cute to imagine them pointing out their constellation to you. Your other runner-up is, of course, Xavier who could make you an ice skating rink whenever he wants and happily would.

Note: I think you modified and submitted your entry a couple of times, so I picked the one that I felt gave me the most information to work with.

Read this post and send me an ask if you’d like a match-up of your own! 💌

[micalpixel]

May Flowers Game - June 2024 Progress Report

Another month has passed, so here’s another update on my gamedev journey. The goal is to create my first video game using the Godot game engine.

(Prior Updates: May, Initial)

Research

The main goal for June was research. Play other character/exploration-focused games with no farming or combat elements and see what they do to keep things fun. Here’s what I played (or watched others play)

A Short Hike: A game about a penguin climbing a mountain. Finding new people, new areas, and moving/gliding were very enjoyable. The game’s 3D environment with pixelated graphics was also a new experience for me. A very nice cozy game.

Rakuen: I love this game. You play as a kid stuck in a hospital, trying to help other sick patients, while also exploring a fantasy world described in a book. Lots of exploration, puzzles, and focus on characters. Catchy music too. Kind of exactly what I was looking for. I think Undertale fans would enjoy this one.

The Stanley Parable: A choose-your-own-adventure game. No NPCs, just movement and a very entertaining and well-crafted narrator.

Potion Permit: You play as a chemist who just moved into a town, and must make a living brewing potions while getting to know the town, its people, and the wilderness. The first life-sim game I’ve actually beaten. The lack of time limits was greatly appreciated.

Shenmue (Watched not Played): An important piece of gaming history. I watched a playthrough of this one, just so I could see this game at its best, and not miss any important events.

Freddi Fish 2 (Watched not Played): A point-and-click adventure for children??!… What’s this doing here?!?! Well, this one wasn’t on my original list, but I realized the point-and-click game genre had many similarities with the walk/talk/trade-items gameplay I originally envisioned. Plus this one had no game-overs and no frustrating trial-and-error like many do. Studying how a different genre handled that kind of gameplay, while making it very accessible and entertaining, was a good learning experience.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits (WIP): I started this one, more for fun than research, but haven’t finished it yet. Beautiful game. As others have noted, it’s like playing a Pixar movie.

OneShot (Not Started Yet): Ran out of time. 😒 Next month. Really looking forward to this one.

All in all, I took 10 pages of notes. Things I noticed, liked, disliked, wanted to think about.

Prototype

On June 20, I began work on an actual prototype (“Prototype 1”). Code from my earlier Godot projects was collected, combined, and improved. The goal is to implement every important mechanic in the game. Everything the player should be able to DO in the game, the prototype should have at least ONE place where the player can do it. In a very condensed environment that's easy to test. Physics and graphics can be fine-tuned later. This prototype is all about functionality. For example:

Walk in 8 directions.

Talk to an NPC.

Choose an answer when the NPC asks a question which triggers different outcomes.

Walk to the edge of a room and appear in an adjacent room.

And overall, things have gone very well! I have a page-long checklist of everything I want to implement in this prototype, and it’s about half-done. :D

Except menus.

And except puzzles.

Puzzle mechanics aren’t added yet. I realized the mechanics I was planning did not have much synergy and were very simple. I also want to review the notes I took during research and study puzzles in general. So, back to the drawing board, for now. Puzzles are the next major step. And I think I have a pretty good idea how I want to change them.

Audio

I made a text-blip sound effect (hear it in the video above) and a placeholder “song” of 6 notes to use for testing music. Since this game’s art style is based on the Game Boy, I did some research on the Game Boy’s sound capabilities.

It has four “instruments” that can play sounds simultaneously, aka “channels”:

Channel 1 and 2: Pulse Channel. Each can emit a quadrangular wave

Channel 3: “Wave” channel with user-definable waveform

Channel 4: A noise wave (think static)

Channel 3 is the most fascinating imo. You can define your own timbre of the sound to be played. If you ever played a Game Boy game that had a unique-sounding song that, chances are it was a custom waveform via this channel. (Also, if you ever played Mother 3, the movie theater part with the retro-sounding music did in fact use the original Game Boy audio capabilities in the Game Boy Advance, and also includes these sounds.)

There is software that can reproduce the capabilities described above in order to create Game Boy-sounding music on a PC. I’d like to experiment with that in the coming weeks. The Game Boy was capable of some really good music. Limiting my scope to its capabilities for the same of my own sanity, plus the flexibility of that wave channel to create custom sounds, seems like it can produce some really nice results, which is very appealing to me.

Graphics

I made a font! It only includes English letters, for now, but it works! I used it in the “Save Pointy” art earlier this week and the prototype video above, and intend to use it for everything going forward.

Closing

And that’s June! Have a nice July, everyone!

[kolbisneat]

MONTHLY MEDIA: May 2024

Hey it's May! Big X-Men month over here but also lots of other great stuff. Here's how I spent the last 31 days!

……….FILM……….

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) Impossible to live up to my expectations, given how much I love Mad Max: Fury Road. I liked the bits with new characters, I liked the bits that felt like Fury Road, and I surprisingly liked how it tied into the previous film during the credits. It's a different beast and given it succeeds as a prequel, I gotta respect it for what it is.

……….TELEVISION……….

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (Episode 1.01 to 1.06) Shockingly violent but it does a good job of setting the tone for the series in the first scenes. Love it when something fantastically (spy life) is used to highlight the mundane (stages of a romantic relationship). Big fan.

Delicious in Dungeon (Episode 1.18 to 1.22) Uuuuugh so close to the end of the season and I'm not looking forward to the wait between now and season 2.

X-Men '97 (Episode 1.08 to 1.10) Hey a really tight season of television! Maybe a little too tight at moments (strangely it feels like it could've benefited from 1 or 2 more eps in the middle there) but I really do prefer a fast pace over a slog. Now I'm gonna go read some X-Men comics.

Succession (Episode 4.03 to 4.10) Somehow avoided having the ending spoiled and it was a perfect culmination of great characters and writing. What I love about this series is how consistently it puts the core trio in the same room, and how the score is practically all just variations of the intro song. Loved it.

……….YOUTUBE……….

The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel by Jenny Nicholson I've been watching Nicholson's videos for years and it's great to see this one break out of its core community for a few reasons: 1. it shows that thoughtful and thorough art can connect and has value and 2. towards the end it becomes a scathing indictment of cynical corporations. Much like blockbuster cinema slowly dying, it confirms that the general public can discern art from content and won't support the latter. The Star Wars Hotel was overpriced content and it failed. VIDEO

……….READING……….

The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin (Compelte) I don't know what I was thinking when I read and disliked A Wizard of Earthsea. This and The Tombs of Atuan are so thoroughly fantastic that I feel the need to go back and reread the first book after I finish the series. Such economical and poetic storytelling.

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams (Complete) Big fan of the Hitchhiker's Trilogy but maybe that set the bar too high for this one. It never quite came together and if asked what the book was about, I'd have a hard time landing on something. Maybe that works for some folks and I'm in full support of the journey being the adventure, but it just wasn't for me.

House of X / Powers of X by Jonathan Hickman, Pepe Larraz, R.B. Silva, and Marte Gracia (Complete) Hey the new show has me in the mood to read some X-Men comics! I appreciated the series more on this reread but still find the pacing of the "reveal" to undersell the gravity of what it's suggesting. I'm keen to get into the rest of the series even though it's a convoluted jumble of multiple titles. Comics!

Dawn of X Volume 1 by Jonathan Hickman and a whole slew of talented folks (Complete) Reading single issues from different teams back-to-back really highlights individual strengths and weaknesses. I really dug some issues and was bored by others but I'm going to keep going with these collected volumes to see what sticks.

Delicious in Dungeon Vol 7 & 8 by Ryoko Kui (Complete) I really forgot most of these volumes. Izutsumi is such a good foil for the group (especially now that Marcille is barely resistant to eating monsters at this point) but I always have trouble with the moody loner types.

……….AUDIO……….

Hyperdrama by Justice (2024) You know I haven't listened to this since the start of the month. Some standout tracks but the album as a whole didn't leave me with much of an impression.

The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast (Podcast) The Lonely Island digital shorts were a foundational part of my youth and listening to how they were made, along with behind-the-scenes stuff with SNL, is a great listen.

……….GAMING……….

OZ: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) Tuesday crew is beginning to see the aftermath of their political assassination (you can read all about it here!) and the Mof1 crew is actively sabotaging a memorial to the lives lost in a catastrophic explosion they caused.

And that's it. See you in June!

[aurorabyler]

Masterpost: Stranger Things Theories (Mainly Byler)

Hi everyone!! I've been missing making theories and the energy of summer 2022 (and just any stranger things release era for that matter), so I thought I'd compile my theories and important posts into one big master post! Enjoy, and feel free to share :) I can't wait to make more theories and analyses once we get more content.

Will's First Lie and First I Love You: Musical Symbolism Analysis

This one is a personal favourite of mine--I really recommend you check it out. The Stranger Things soundtrack is more than just pretty synthwave songs...it is integral to the story and the repetition and remixing of certain soundtracks really shows the amount of love and care that has gone into the show. This post describes the connection between the songs "The First Lie," "The First I love You," and "Being Different."

Flashbacks in Stranger Things: When, Why, and How They Are Used (Long Analysis)

This analysis applies a lot of key writing skills to a byler-focused analysis, with an emphasis on the varying use of flashback as a literary device across the show. From my analysis, you'll see that the way flashbacks have been used across Stranger Things, and particularly season 4, tell an interesting story about the more "real" relationships in the show.

Destruction: Byler's Repeating Musical Motif (With Video!)

I feel like this post is kind of underrated, but it's such an important musical symbolism moment, much like "The First Lie..Love You...Being Different" connection! It's yet another repeating musical motif that actually spans THREE seasons of the show and started in season one. Give it a read (and a watch!)

Comparing David Harbour and Noah Schnapp's Interviews About ST5

There are quite a few striking similarities between the way Noah and David have spoken about the end of Stranger Things. Check them out here!

Interpreting the Surfer Boy Pizza Scene: Leading Up to Breakup

This analysis looks at the scene between Mike and El at surfer boy pizza and argues that if it was leading up to an "I love you" or them getting back together, there needed to be more emotional buildup to that during El's time at the Nina project or Mike's on the road.

Will Byers Has the Power Vecna Needs to Deal with What He Hates Most: Time Itself

Ooooh, I love this one too! This theory looks at the pretty much inevitable relationship between Will and Vecna, and how time could play a key role in that.

Parallels Between El and Will Feeling Different

A short one, but this is a key parallel between how El and Will both feel different, and how Mike responds to that.

Significance of "A Book of Letters"

Why it's important that Will specifically mentions El having "a book of letters" from Mike.

Willel: I'd Get Him to Swap Our Places

My thoughts on willel and the potential significance of "Running Up That Hill" to their connection

"You're The Heart" and "Her Heart Stopped"

A little analysis of the connection between Mike's failed monologue and Max's heart stopping.

Brenner and Mike: Superhero Discussion Parallels

I feel like this topic is underrated in the fandom generally, but it deserves more attention as it's probably one of the most outright parallels that we have...lol...it's literally spoonfed to us. Give it a read :)

My Fan Expo Audio of Finn Talking About Mike's Pocket

Just a fun little addition! Fan Expo was such a fun experience :)

Thoughts on Response to Finn's Acting From GA and Implications for Byler

"Finn is expressionless during Melvin scenes!" yeah...maybe because that's the point? LOL

Me Roasting Mike's Arc if Taken At Face Value

Just....LOL. It's just funny.

Endgame Ships Not Needing to Say "I Love You"

What do the seemingly endgame ships have in common? They show, not tell their love for each other.

I hope you enjoy reading my posts! <3

[caelum-et-ocean]

The little things that they do

𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄: 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐌𝐘 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆, 𝐏𝐋𝐒 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐋 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐆𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐈𝐏𝐒 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐃!!

FEATURING: Alphonse, Seth, Auron, and Finn (sorry Faust, Charlie, and Big Red fans, I either don’t have enough info or I didn’t listen to their audios yet)

Additional notes: help srry for not including much for Seth I didn’t have many ideas (_ _;) also this isn’t proofread

♡Alphonse♡

Seems like the person who would click his tongue a lot and tap his foot

Not even because he’s stressed or something it just happens on its own

Would also do that cool pen spinning thing during the (few) times he needs to write something down

Oh my god imagine both happening at the same time

Like just walking into the shop or something and then hearing that alongside the occasional pen falling out of his hand

Knowing him he’d probably show off the pen thing too

“Hey boo! Check this out!!” …*pen drops to the floor after like 10 seconds*

☆Seth☆

Bites his nails, probably bites pens and pencils too

He started to notice how fucked up they would get and eventually tried to just chew gum

But it just wasn’t the same (and the sound annoyed him a bit)

So eventually he switched back to just pens

That all being said, probably didn’t let anyone borrow his stuff during school because of all the bitemarks

Sorta unrelated but I also hc that he used to kick his dad’s seat in the car when he was really young 😭

❀Finn❀

Twirls and plays with his hair

Also does that thing where you twiddle your fingers

When he talks he probably also has a bunch of hand movements to the point where it almost seems like he’s acting out a story alongside telling it

This may or may not be a tie in with a certain bunny hc…but Finn seems like the guy who would stomp his feet when he gets angry

ALSO HUMMING, he often hums a tune around his shop when he’s cleaning up or just making arrangements

I like to think that he also quietly sings Orchid’s favorite songs while working since it helps make things less stressful when there are….annoying customers

༻Auron༺

Same with Alphonse, tends to twirl his pen around

Except since he’s more focused, he doesn’t drop it as easily

Paces around often too, helps him think and in general it helps with blood flow

At home he honestly seems like the person who would make sure everything was perfectly aligned and in the correct spot

Every book is on its correct shelf, and everything in the drawers are either neatly folded or put away

I have a feeling he does those silly yet cute stretches once in a while too

And when someone notices he just sorta. stares at them for a bit and proceeds like nothing happened 💀

[oswlld]

oswlld's monthly wrap up: march

note: i am trying something a bit different this year, so bear with me as i figure out how i want to format this. i wanted to spend more time sharing what i consume, beyond what i rb, and put my thoughts in one place. these posts are okay to rb

--

When We Cease to Understand the World, Benjamín Labatut [started 02/24, finished 03/14] What an outstanding example of blurring the lines between fiction and reality. I am content in never knowing what’s real and imaginary in the lives of these people. May we never forget that for every new idea challenged, there is a real person with real emotions and motivations behind it. 4.25⭐️ in storygraph. — No Stopping Us Now: A History of Older Women in America, Gail Collins [started 03/03, finished 03/30] This book makes some strong points, but comes off weak in its execution. By having it be told decade by decade, it becomes hard to follow along when so many names and events are being tossed around. Without a firm thread tying all the themes together, the achievements ended up feeling lackluster when it should leave you feeling a sense of pride and hopefulness. 3.25⭐️ in storygraph (I rounded up, but it feels more like a 3.15)

23.5 Degrees, GMMTV [started: 03/08, ongoing] What a breath of fresh air!! With my busy schedule, I managed to catch the first two eps and I’ve loved every minute of it. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, while still keeping a tight grip on its sense of identity. The series soaks up every aspect of its space theme like a sponge. Content specifically made for me, tysm! As much as I have tried refraining from consuming more high school settings, I couldn’t help but be enamored by what I have seen so far. I have paused this series for now, but hopefully I’ll be caught up before the end of April. I should be able to watch it live on Fridays in May. Until then, I will miss them dearly! — Always a Witch, Netflix [started 03/28, in progress] At this time, I have only seen episodes 1-5. So far, it’s a very straight-forward series. I am restraining myself from calling it predictable, because there are one or two things that really turns some tropes/themes on its head. But all-in-all, I am still waiting for this show to grab me. For a show that checks all the boxes that really makes a core jessi show, a series with time travel, magical realism, and found family, it has yet to completely sweep me away. Time really got away from me this month, but I will finish this series sometime in the next two weeks. We shall see if the latter half gets better.

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version) [watched 03/15 thru 03/18] I have seen this live and did see the original film in theaters last year, so this experience was more of a rewatch. This time around, my parents wanted to watch some of it with me so we made a whole evening of it on 3/15 so that was really neat. I will be traveling a lot in April and will be taking an audio copy of this to keep me entertained. — Oscar Nomination Season [started 02/17, ended 03/24] All of my initial reactions of what I managed to cover this Oscar season is in this post. Some of the strongest categories I have had the pleasure of covering this year were the Best Documentary (feature), Best Production Design, Best Live Action Short, Best Documentary (short), and Best Animated Film. I have several more films to tackle later this year, but my overall impression this Oscar season was just alright. One or two films have hit an extremely high note for me, but no worst of the worst.

BEYONCÉ, Beyoncé [relistening] During the pandemic, I really got into waching YT reaction channels reacting to full albums. One of my favorites is HTHaze and he is only beginning his listening journey through Beyoncé’s discography (yes, for the first time!) His reaction to Beyoncé’s self-titled made me want to relisten to it in full for the first time in years. I tend to only revisit a few songs through the years, but I do love going back to albums after time has past to recontextualize everything all over again. I’ve had my longtime faves from my 20’s but in my mid-30’s, the songs that hit harder now are: Pretty Hurts, Haunted, and Jealous. — Bewitched, Laufey [first time listening] The same YT channel got me to listen to this album. I am guilty in having my first listen be through his video first before diving into her album properly. With that said, the brain rot went FULL ROT. I love LOVE her compositions. Having learned from her Tiny Desk that getting a grand piano influenced the way she wrote her songs makes the whole conception so much grander. Her voice is soooo, it’s SOOOOO !!!!!!! I read a comment somewhere that her dream is to rejuvenate jazz the same way Taylor Swift did with country for a younger generation and that really spoke to me. I truly believe she is heading in the right direction in achieving that. My favorite run of songs goes from: Haunted, Must Be Love, While You Were Sleeping, Lovesick, California and Me, Nocturne (Interlude), and Promise. Those seven songs in that succession is so GOOD, ahH! — Once the Musical [relistening] Every spring, I fall into a Once spiral and it just gets deeper and deeper. This time though, I only tackled the core faves on YT rather than committing to the full audio (w/ Arthur Darvill and Joanna Christie). Although Arthur Darvill’s Leave will forever solidify his Guy as my Guy, Declan Bennett is The Guy of Guys for me. My mandatory relistening experience always goes: Arthur’s Leave, Arthur’s Say It To Me Now, Declan’s Say It To Me Now, Declan’s When Your Mind’s Made Up, Zrinka's If You Want Me, Once’s Spotify Jam Session. And it would all be on a loop lol. — Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé [first time listening] This is still fresh in my mind, having only listened to it in its entirety once through. My first impression is that it’s one of her most cohesive albums to date. Having had the first taste of what she would eventually achieve all the way back with Lemonade and The Gift, Cowboy Carter feels like a natural progression in her discography. I don’t have a top songs list to provide at this time, as I would need more time with the album. Fav songs come with time. Although, I did listen to 16 CARRIAGES when it was released several weeks ago and I knew then it would be a spectacular album. What a phenomenal single to lead a phenomenal homecoming.

Where’d You Go Bernadette, written by Maria Semple and narrated by Kathleen Wilhoite [started 03/22, finished 03/29] I… I didn’t like this. And that’s alright. Even if I didn’t like the premise or the characters, I did enjoy the format of the narrative and the narrator (especially her singing!!). But in the end, this was just not meant for me.

—

As it is still March when I am writing this, I wanted to endcap Women’s Month with a special shoutout to two women in my life that have been working with me to improve my overall well-being: Wendy (personal trainer) and Sofia (life coach). I am in a better headspace because of the work and trust they have in me to build a life I want. I cannot wait to see what I am capable of this time next year.

[skzhocomments]

In the Dark - Choi Minho SHINee Fanfic - Chapter 5 - Babysitter duty

General masterlist

Story masterlist - please consult it for the summary of the story, trigger warnings etc.

Wattpad | AO3

Chapter 4 | Chapter 6

---

Chapter 5 - Babysitter duty

chapter word count: ~4k words

~Minho’s POV~

“The main song’s production is completed, video is filmed, we are basically prepared for the release. How is the rest of the album going?” Mr. Kim, the man responsible for all the team in charge of production, video, graphic design and so on asked bluntly.

We were all seated around the table in the meeting room, and the air felt tense.

“The cover is still in-progress…” the designer spoke, but cowered noticing Mr. Kim’s burning gaze.

“The album release is less than two months away. Are you aware of that?” He asked harshly, and the designer just nodded.

“Whatever. Make sure to finish at least 20 sketches by Monday.”

“But it’s Saturday-”

“Did I stutter?” Mr. Kim raised his voice, and the designer just shut up. “Okay, now that the design is out of the way – how is production going? Mr. Choi?”

“Yes. We still have some of it to do. We’ve recorded almost all vocals by now, we just need a few backing vocals, and then putting them together. It’s essentially a puzzle at this point.”

“It needs to get done in maximum 3 weeks from now.”

“We are trying. You gave us 10 songs, though. That’s a lot.”

“You are a good producer, you can manage.” Mr. Kim shrugged. I was annoyed, but there was no arguing with him, unfortunately. After all, he summoned this meeting at 3 PM on a Saturday.

I just nodded as well and left the meeting, going to my studio and opening up the audio files, checking one more time exactly what we had already, or if there was anything else we needed to record before getting started on the overall production. Having everything ready in just 3 weeks meant coming to the studio every day and working almost non-stop. I could already feel the stress burning up my throat, anxiety rising from my stomach like acid and burning my insides.

After about two hours of work, an unknown number called my phone, delivering some horrible news that pulled me out of my trance.

My mother collapsed while taking care of Nari and was now in the hospital.

The words didn’t seem the register well in my head; the only thing I knew was that I jumped from my desk and somehow got in my car and drove as quickly as possible.

Nari was a crying mess when I got there, and mom was sleeping.

“Baby, what happened?” I hugged Nari tightly and let her explain how grandma suddenly started feeling dizzy, and then fell while making lunch for her. Nari panicked, but remembered how I taught her to use the phone and dial the emergency number.

Indeed, my mom was looking pale, and I knew she’s been feeling sick the past few weeks, but she offered to watch over Nari as graciously as ever while I went to work, and even assured me she was feeling well enough to take care of her.

Apparently not.

What the fuck was I even supposed to do now? Obviously, getting a babysitter, because I couldn’t take Nari to work, and I had to go back to the office no matter what.

Fuck, I also booked Flame tonight. I cursed in my head and quickly opened my phone and cancelled the appointment. The app didn’t let me add any reasons for cancelling, which annoyed me to no end, because I didn’t want her to think I didn’t want to see her anymore.

After speaking with the doctor and finding out that mom should get better after having proper rest for a while, and should just take it easy, I grabbed Nari and started walking with her towards the exit.

“Daddy.” Nari shook my hand, still crying. I went on one knee and hugged her. “Is grandma going to be okay?”

“Of course, she just needs to sleep for a little bit, that’s all.” I caressed her hair and spoke gently.

“What if… she will die?” She cried harder, making me frown. “That’s what happened to Nam-gil’s grandma!”

“Who is that?”

“The boy who sits behind me! I told you about him!!! His grandma went to sleep and never woke up!”

“Baby, that’s not going to happen.” I hugged her and tried to reassure her again. “Grandma’s fine. She’s just a bit worn out, but she’ll be fine, okay?”

“… okay. Are we going home, daddy?”

“Oh, baby… daddy has to get back to work for now… since grandma is sick, we will have to get a babysitter-”

“NO!” Nari shouted, making everyone around us turn their attention to us. “I WANT YOU!!! NOT A BABYSITTER!”

“I know, but please hear me out. We’re going to stay together the whole day tomorrow-”

“NO!” She shouted again, and pulled away from me forcefully, starting to run away.

~

~Jieun’s POV~

Raining again, huh…?

It feels like the sky’s been crying for weeks with no end in sight. The air was humid and cold, and each time I would go outside I felt like I had to tighten the coat around my body tighter and tighter.

Even if it was raining so much, the world didn’t seem to halt for even a minute. People were running busily from place to place, crowding themselves to shelter away from the rain at the bus stop, or jumping from cab to cab to get somewhere.

Even if it was Saturday, it was no different. I was no different. Everyone had their own errands, and my errand for the day was to buy some apple pastries – grandma’s favourites – and go to visit her in the hospital.

I felt bad for not visiting her as often as I would’ve liked. The doctor scolded me, too. He articulated so many times how important it was for cancer patients to not deal with the battle alone, but more than once per week felt too painful for me as well. It’s not like I didn’t want to come more often.

I just… couldn’t.

~

“Hey grandma! Looking good!” I winked as I entered the private hospital room. Charisma’s money ensured a level of comfort that I would’ve otherwise been unable to provide for my grandma no matter how much I tried.

“Jieun, dear!” She smiled happily seeing me. She looked well, her face not as pallid.

“I brought you your favourites.” I said, waving the bag of pastries around.

“Apple strudel? My granddaughter is spoiling me so much!” She smiled and patted the bed with her right hand, instructing me to come sit down.

I helped her sit up and brought her tray of food, placing the pastries on a plate and bringing her a glass of pomegranate juice – her favourite – and then I sat down on the chair next to the bed as well.

“How are you feeling, grandma?” I smiled, watching her eat the strudels happily. She had an appetite, which was a good sign.

“I’m doing so well lately; they brought out a new doc who’s really sweet. You should meet him!” She winked, making me whine.

“Grandma!”

“My dear, this old lady is not important, so you shouldn’t worry about me and should try to find yourself a partner.”

“Grandma… please, eat and leave me alone!” I covered my cheeks.

“I just feel bad, you’ve been working so hard for me… you should take advantage of your youth and go on dates and meet someone!”

“Don’t worry, as long as you’re healthy, that’s all that matters to me.” I frowned.

“Jieun, dear… how much have you been working to afford this big room? You should move me to a smaller one. I don’t need all this space for myself!” She looked at me with sad eyes, and that look almost made me want to throw up. Why couldn’t she just accept this and let me handle everything?

“Grandma, you really don’t have to worry. I want you to be taken care of as much as possible, until you can return home to live with me!” I started, then got startled by a hand on my cheek wiping my tears away.

Huh?

I haven’t even realised I started crying.

“My baby…” She spoke. “I love you so much, Jieun, but you have to start living for yourself as well…”

“I will, you just have to get better!”

My grandma smiled briefly, but something about the look in her eyes made me want to cry harder. Instead of continuing to look at her and cry like a fool, I decided to tell her I have plans with some friends and left the salon in a hurry.

Just as I exited the room, a notification on my phone caught my eye.

---

1 unread notification – In the Dark

Charisma has cancelled tonight’s meeting.

---

Great. This day couldn’t get any better.

I chuckled bitterly. I was looking forward to meeting Charisma and feeling a little bit better about myself, but I guess I couldn’t even do that.

As I was approaching the end of the corridor, a loud “NO” echoed throughout the hospital and soon enough someone bumped into me.

Looking at the child that fell on the ground in front of my legs, the familiar girl with brown hair and small figure started crying loudly.

“Nari?”

She was rubbing her eyes furiously, but after hearing her name, she raised her head and looked at me.

“Miss Park!” She cried and practically jumped on my legs, and I hugged her and tried to comfort her.

“What’s wrong, hm?” I asked her, but before she got the chance to reply, her dad found the corridor.

“Nari, God, I told you not to run away from me- miss Park?” He asked perplexed, seeing me embraced with his daughter.

Nari was still crying.

“Mr. Choi.” I smiled briefly.

“I’m sorry for this. Nari, come on, we really have to go.”

“NO! I DON’T WANT TO!” She cried in my arms and hugged me tighter.

“Baby, please. I have to go to work, I told you so many times-”

“NO! I’m not staying with a babysitter!”

I let Nari hide herself behind my legs while pitying Mr. Choi for this situation. I knew Nari could be a bit difficult sometimes, and he was probably going through a lot – being in a hospital and trying to sort things out while having to be at work.

“Don’t you like babysitters, Nari?” I asked while caressing the girl’s hair and turning around to face her properly.

“No! I hate them!” She shook her head, refusing to look at her dad.

“Hmm, but what if we spend some time together, hm? We could go get some hot chocolate in the mall, maybe even an ice cream! And we could visit the art shop to get you some oil paints, and then paint something together. Wouldn’t that be fun?”

Nari detached herself from me and I wiped off her tears, while she nodded in approval.

“Miss Park, you don’t have to-” Mr. Choi started, but I cut him off, while Nari was still agreeing with me.

“We should make sure to go fast, then! I heard the ice-cream shop closes at 8!”

“Oh no! Let’s hurry!” Nari grabbed my hand and started dragging me.

“Could you go to that vending machine and get us two chocolate bars first, though?” I asked her and handed her some cash, and she went happily.

“Miss Park, I really don’t know what to say… My mother was looking after her when she passed out, and…” Mr. Choi spoke.

“Don’t worry. You must be busy, so you should go finish up work and I’ll take care of her, okay?”

“You have no idea how grateful I am for everything you’ve been doing for us. I will text you my address and door code, so you can go there with Nari when you’re done shopping, and let me know how much money you’re spending today. Actually wait, I’m going to-” He reached for his wallet, but I placed my hand on his and stopped him.

“Don’t worry. We’ll figure it out later.”

“Thank you so much.” He said again, before Nari returned with three chocolate bars.

“This is for you,” she handed one to me, “this is for me, and this…” she hesitantly handed it to Mr. Choi, who went on one of his knees and hugged her tightly.

“Daddy is so sorry. I promise you we’ll spend the whole day together tomorrow, and you can have fun with Miss Park today, yes?”

“Okay, daddy.”

“I love you, princess.” He kissed the top of her head gently.

“I love you too, daddy.”

~

I took Nari to the mall just as promised, and after grabbing a small ice cream, we headed towards one of the playgrounds inside so she could play for a bit before heading home.

“Did you like the ice-cream?” I asked her and smiled. We were holding hands and walking leisurely through the mall, while I was trying to remember where the playground was located exactly.

“Yes, it was so- JIHO!” She shouted all of a sudden, startling me, and jerked her hand away from mine, starting to run towards another little girl.

“Nari, please don’t run away like that!” I scolded her for a bit, and she pouted.

“I’m sorry, Miss Park.”

“Now, who is your friend?” I smiled gently, when a couple approached us. A woman seemingly my age started speaking.

“Oh, if this is not Nari! And you must be… her babysitter?” She tilted her head and looked at the man on her left unsure.

“No! She is not my babysitter! She is my teacher!” Nari articulated every word and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

So cute.

“Yes, I’m Jieun, nice to meet you. Are you... uhm…”

“Oh, we are Nari’s Godparents.” The man chuckled. “I’m Jinki, and this is my wife, Ye-Jun. It’s nice to meet you, Jieun.”

We shook hands.

“We were just heading to the playground, would you like to come so the girls can play together?”

“We were actually going there ourselves!” Ye-Jun spoke.

“Oh, is that so?” I chuckled. “The more the merrier, let’s go together.”

We headed towards the play area and let the girls have fun while we sat on a bench outside the playground and observed them.

“So, Jieun… I was so shocked to see you with Nari, she usually hates being away from her grandma or Minho.” Ye-Jun said, and hearing Mr. Choi’s name spoken casually like that brought a chill down my spine, for some reason.

“From what he told me, her grandma collapsed and was brought to the hospital, and he has work…”

“Oh right, there’s an album release in like two months, I think.” Jinki added to my explanation, and Ye-Jun nodded.

“An album release…?” I tilted my head.

“Yeah, he is a producer. Makes songs, basically. If you ever listen to the radio, or watch shows or whatever, chances are you’ve heard something he made. He’s really good.” Jinki chuckled.

“Is that so?” I smiled. I knew nothing about Mr. Choi, after all. I didn’t even know exactly what producer meant on his business card, but he was apparently well-known and popular in the industry.

“I’m so sorry to hear about his mom, though. Is she okay?” Ye-Jun asked, worried.

“I think she will be, after she gets some rest…”

“That’s a relief.” Ye-Jun replied.

“I’m gonna go grab something to drink, would you girls like something?” Jinki stood up and headed towards a nearby coffee shop.

“I’m really glad to see Nari with someone else, honestly. It’s been so tough on Minho to take care of Nari all on his own, and he never accepts our help. He doesn’t want to inconvenience us.” Ye-Jun frowned.

“Sorry… on his own?”

“Yes, ever since Ellie died…” She frowned. “Ellie was his wife, and my best friend.”

“I’m sorry about your loss.” I touched her shoulder with sympathy.

“It’s been many years, but her loss is still felt by all of us. I always felt bad for Nari, growing up without a mother… Ellie died giving birth to her.”

“Oh…”

“Minho’s been blaming himself so much. She never wanted children, but when she got pregnant, he was so happy… she couldn’t bring herself to terminate. I was also pregnant with Jiho at that time, so…” A few tears made their way on Ye-Jun’s cheeks, and I felt bad for getting to this conversation and making her talk about it, since it still brought so much pain.

“Life is so unfair to us sometimes, isn’t it?” I looked at the playground absent-mindedly. Nari saw us and smiled brightly, waving at me. I waved back.

“Mhm. After Ellie’s death… he covered himself in work, and Nari… she never had someone to call mom. She grew up around babysitters, and…”

“That’s why she hates them.”

“Exactly. It’s really shocking to see her here with… someone new. I’m really sorry, Jieun, I’m probably overwhelming you with so much information.”

“No, not at all.” I put my hand on hers and squeezed. “Thank you for telling me, it’s easier now to understand Nari. I also grew up without a mom.”

“The world really is cruel.” She started crying harder.

“Woah, what happened?” Jinki ran towards us alarmed and I took the drinks from his hands so he could comfort his wife.

“I was just telling Jieun about Ellie and how sad it is for Nari to grow up without her.” She explained briefly, and Jinki hugged her tightly.

“Darling, what if Jiho sees you crying, hm?”

“But it’s so sad!” She continued crying, and Jinki threw me a compassionate look and mouthed a quick “I’m sorry.”

I waved my hand around and smiled compassionately.

“I’m really sorry.” Ye-Jun sniffled. “I’m pregnant and my hormones are all over the place. Minho doesn’t know yet, so please don’t tell him.”

“Sure, of course. That’s amazing, Jiho is going to have a younger sibling.”

“Yeah, we didn’t exactly expect it 8 years after Jiho, but…” Jinki smiled and held his wife’s hand tighter.

“That’s certainly- sorry.” I started, but got interrupted by my phone ringing. “Hello, Mr. Choi.”

“Hi, Miss Park, just checking in. Is everything alright?”

“Yes, everything’s fine over here. We are currently at the mall.”

“Oh, is Nari playing with other kids?”

“Yes, we actually ran into her Godparents, and she’s been playing with Jiho for 2 hours now.”

“Must be fun as heck.” He chuckled. “Are Ye-Jun and Jinki with you as well?”

“Yeah, they’re here. They said hi.”

“Poor you, Ye-Jun is a lot to take in for a first meeting. You’re a heroine.” He chuckled again. “Anyways, please send me your bank details so I can wire you some money for dinner and whatever else you’ve spent on Nari today.”

“Oh, but-”

“No buts. Listen, I gotta get back to work and I’ll try to hurry tonight, okay? I’m waiting for your details, send me a text. Bye~”

“Okay.” I chuckled. “Good luck at work.”

After I ended the call, I looked at Jinki and Ye-Jun, who were throwing me a curious look.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing, just…” Ye-Jun started, then looked at her husband, unsure.

“Why are you so formal with him?” Jinki asked amused. “Mr. Choi. It’s so… weird to hear someone call Minho that.”

“Oh, I mean… he’s Nari’s father, and we aren’t exactly friends or anything…” I scratched my nape.

“Still, you told us to call you Jieun, and were on a first-name basis with us.” Ye-Jun pointed out.

“That’s different.” I quickly retorted. “I met you two in other circumstances.”

“You’re cute.” Ye-Jun laughed and pinched my cheek.

“I think it’s time to get our kids, hm?” Jinki chuckled, and made a hand signal towards Jiho, who happily ran towards us holding Nari’s hand.

Jiho then let go of Nari and ran quickly towards Ye-Jun and shouted “Mama!”, jumping in her arms. For a split second, Nari didn’t know what to do. She watched the scene with downhearted eyes, and she reminded me of myself so much, of how many times I would watch my friends jump in their parents’ arms and shouting “Dad!” or “Mom!” and how sad that would make me feel.

And then, my grandmother would stand up from her bench and place on knee on the ground, opening her arms fully and shouting my name, which would make me so happy at that moment. So, so happy, I would run in full speed in her arms and crash against her body, and she would bury me in her chest and get up with me.

What I did next felt like automatism. I haven’t thought it through, and I don’t know what got into me, but when I saw Nari like that, watching how loved Jiho was by her mother from the sidelines, something broke in me. It felt like I was looking at myself, the lonely, parentless child from all those years ago.

I haven’t thought it through.

I just got on one knee and opened my arms, and I shouted “Nari!” and smiled, urging her to come in my arms, and she looked confused for a split second, before her whole face lit up, her lips turning upwards into the biggest smile I’ve ever seen, and she ran towards me in full speed and jumped into my arms, and I hugged her as tight as my grandma hugged me.

I got up with her still in my arms, and damn, was she heavy. Still, I kept her up and turned my head to her once she stopped hugging my neck.

“Should we go home and eat some dinner?” I asked her, and she nodded rapidly. “Okay then, let’s say bye bye to Jiho and your Godparents.”

She nodded again and I put her back on the floor, watching fondly as she hugged her best friend tightly.

I tried not to ponder on Jinki and Ye-Jun’s curious looks after my questionable action just now, and simply smiled and said my goodbyes as well.

~

“So, did you have fun with Jiho?” I asked Nari, who nodded enthusiastically.

“She’s my best friend!”

“I’m glad to hear. What do you want to eat at home? Do you want to order something?”

“Uhm…” Nari hesitated. “Usually,… grandma makes something for me…”

“Oh. Okay. What should we cook, then?” I smiled and caressed her cheek, and she smiled brightly and jumped in front of me.

“Potato stew!”

“Okay! Let’s do that, then!” I chuckled, and we went shopping together.

After shopping, we headed to the address Mr. Choi sent me. They lived in a pretty rich neighbourhood, and their apartment was large and looked really beautiful, decorated with modern furniture. I couldn’t take my sweet time exploring any of it, though, as Nari was too hungry and excited to help me cook.

We cooked and ate together, and I listened to her talk about anything and everything as kids tend to do. When we were done, I told her to brush her teeth and helped her into bed. She was already quite tired after crying in the hospital and then playing for hours with her friend, so she was almost asleep by the time her head hit the pillow.

“Miss Park, is daddy not coming home…?” She asked quietly as I tucked her in and caressed her head once more.

“He is on his way, I’m sure. But I don’t think daddy wants you to wait for him. He did promise you he’ll spend tomorrow with you, didn’t he?”

“Yes…”

“So, be a good girl and sleep, hm?”

“Miss Park… is grandma… going to be okay…?”

“Of course she is.” I smiled assuringly. “After all, she has to come back and take care of you.”

“When is she getting out of the hospital?”

“Oh, baby… I don’t know. But we can ask daddy tomorrow if you can go visit her, okay?”

“Okay…”

I kissed Nari’s forehead and watched her fall asleep quickly, then turned off the light and exited her room as quietly as I could.

Finally alone after a long day, I made my way towards the living room and sat awkwardly on the sofa in the middle of it. I didn’t exactly know what to do next. Obviously, I had to wait for Mr. Choi to come home, as I couldn’t possibly leave Nari all by herself, but… now what?

I was in an unfamiliar space, I already cleaned up the mess in the kitchen, and I didn’t know what to do here. I didn’t even know where the remote control for the TV was and there were no bookshelves in the living room so I could at least grab a book or something, and it’s not like I could snoop around.

I dimmed the lights in the room to make it more comfortable on my eyes and I took out my phone – its battery almost dead – and mindlessly browsed the internet for a while.

It was for the best that Charisma cancelled tonight, after all. I noted, after noticing how late it got. Mr. Choi didn’t tell me when he was coming home, and it was already way past 10PM, my usual meeting time with Charisma.

Why did he cancel? I kept pondering on it. Maybe he was busy. Maybe something unexpected came up.

Maybe he just changed his mind and didn’t want to see me anymore.

That was entirely possible.

---

Chapter 4 | Chapter 6

[todorroki]

Terrible Fathers The Series (Love Sea ep 3 thoughts)

i think this show is so funny. like i'm enjoying the beauty, the vibes, and the emotional moments for the first 50 minutes then suddenly BOOM peat's moaning then 5 minutes later i have a tear in my eye from fort's acting. i'm being swung around on Mame's Crazy Coaster. do not ask me what's going on. i'm having too much fun to answer.

also rip anyone who watches this ep on iq's web player. they're unable to display text in italics AND song lyric translations overtake actual dialogue. what is this terrible user experience. and you gotta pay for it!!!!!

if love sea is going to give me one thing, it's gonna be BEAUTIFUL SHOTS. my god i could go on and on taking so many screenshots of this episode especially.

i feel like we're getting more of the girls' relationship in the series compared to the book, which is a Good sign. last week's preview of 'will you be my girlfriend?' got me good. someone correct me if i'm wrong, but i don't remember fake dating happening in the book.

and the plot gears finally start turning this week! rak gets a call from his panicked sister about their father showing up, which causes him to hole up in his room. that in turn gives us serious mut (thank u for that.. fort looks So hot when he's being stern and assertive) and the sweet star gazing scene. i don't want to say much about rak's family because i feel like i might spoil something LMAO

one of my favorite scenes so far is when they go in the waters at night my GOD IM SO GODDAMN WEAK FOR A BRIDAL CARRY I CHEERED!!!!!! and the kiss in the water was ROMANTIC AS HELL. i'm so thankful for the entire production team for this scene. the waves were so strong yet they were all in the water doing their best to film. it must've been really challenging and difficult, so kudos to everyone. i, for one, am very proud of this whole part.

someone.. more peat in glasses please!! rak waiting for mut to fall asleep so he can cuddle him is sooo cute. i love their puppycat relationship. so many soft, heart-warming moments in this episode.

now onto the series of events in mut's house. plus points for the sunlight behind them in this kiss scene. idk anything about cinematography but it felt mesmerizing in a way.

the audible OH! i yelled when they REALLY started Kissing after mut's little trauma dump. I'M NOT COMPLAINING THOUGH comfort him every ep if you want >:) i'll take as many ncs as they wanna Give. i got duped by the first quick fade to black like 'oh ok so they're not-- NEVERMIND!'

gonna go into nc detail for a second here but i'm so glad we have nip sucking this ep. i was waiting for that. love sea Does Not miss in the nc department. ALSO DUDE WHEN DID FORTS TIDDIES GET SO BIG

AND THEN the best scene this episode: emotional mut, a showcase of fort's acting ability. i teared up a bit. it was soo so soft.

the angles, the lighting. BEAUTIFUL beautiful scene. i could not put it into words how much i adored this part. mut's difficulty in asking him to stay, rak telling him to keep being himself, them stroking each other's fingers with their hands intertwined, mut's little giggle when rak agrees, rak's laugh, the flurry of kisses after.. I LOVE ROMANCE!!!

i predicted right, we're going back to the city next episode. i can't say i'm too excited because i love the island setting too much, but the dreamlike vacation doesn't last forever!! the plot must move.

also ps they fixed rak's missing audio line in ep 2. i was rewatching a few days ago and finally heard it LMAO at least they're aware...

[i-am-the-oyster]

Accessing the Stowe School Recording

What is the Stowe School Recording?

On the 4th of April 1963 (two weeks after the release of Please Please Me) the Beatles played a gig at Stowe School in Buckinghamshire. One of the students present (John Bloomfield) recorded the gig, and recently rediscovered that recording. He donated it to the British Library, which means anyone can go and listen to it (see below for details).

Is it worth it?

Obviously your mileage may vary, but for me that answer is definitely yes. I wasn't expecting the recording to be over an hour long, but I stayed and listened to the whole thing. I reckon I'll go back again if I can fit it in next time I'm in London.

Alright, how do I listen to it?

The recording is free to listen to, and is available in the Sound Archive at the British Library in London. The building is about 2 minutes walk from King's Cross St Pancras. (map)

You need a Reader Pass to access the room. If you're a UK citizen you can just get one on the day, but if you're not then I recommend starting the process online before you go.

You will need:

Photo ID

Proof of address

They give you an ID card that's valid for 3 years. The process was pretty straightforward and the staff are very helpful. They have very good cloakroom facilities and free secure lockers, so if you have carry-on sized luggage with you, you can store it there while you visit.

They're very strict about what's allowed into the reading rooms, so plan to use the lockers.

Once you have your card, go to the Rare Books and Music reading room on Floor 1. Marvel at the ancient tomes people are carefully examining. Find a computer with a set of headphones attached (towards the back right of the room) and set yourself up. If you have your own laptop you can use one of the empty spots in that area.

Search the catalogue for something like "Stowe Beatles". There are pages and pages of other recordings you might also like to listen to.

What's the playlist?

I Saw Her Standing There Too Much Monkey Business Love Me Do Some Other Guy Misery I Just Don’t Understand A Shot of Rhythm and Blues Boys! Matchbox From Me To You Thank You Girl Memphis Tennessee A Taste of Honey Twist and Shout Anna Please Please Me Hippy Hippy Shake I’m Talking About You Ask Me Why Till There Was You Money (there's a section here where the tape got recorded over with an incredibly annoying song) I Saw Her Standing There (reprise)

My highlights

Stowe School was an all-boys school at the time, but it's clear from the recording that there are girls at the gig.

Boys! gets a huge response, and I'm pretty sure it's Ringo singing Matchbox immediately after. Later (around 55m) the crowd starts chanting for Ringo to sing again.

There's a good amount of banter between John and Paul, not all of it very clear. I'd love a chance to sit and listen to those parts over and over again, and see what I can make out. Alas I didn't have time, and I only had the in-browser audio player, which made it basically impossible to hop around.

The crowd starts shouting out requests at some point, and some boys shout for A Taste of Honey. There's some laughter, and the timing of it sounds to me like John is mugging.

Towards the end someone shouts for How Do You Do It and one or John or Paul sings the opening phrase, with an audible smile, but they don't sing it.

Anything else?

If you can, I recommend bringing your own laptop and headphones. There are computers and headphones there, but the browser interface is not ideal for going to specific timestamps, you have limited control over volume, and I think you'd get more out of it with medium to high end headphones.

If you want to skip the truly awful song that got recorded over a section of the tape, the original comes back in around 1:01:25.

In the same building they have some of Hunter Davies's donation on display in the Treasures Gallery. This was a small selection on the day I went, and I was pretty disappointed, but they do rotate those displays every six months. It may also be possible to access the other items for research purposes, I haven't investigated that yet.

[vestaloflight]

7, 11, & 21 for the art asks :3c

7. A medium of art you don't work in but appreciate Oh man, graphic design if that counts? Like, taking things and putting them together to get an idea across? Liiike I can edit a nice picture, or make a pretty palette but I really have no idea what to do to make a nice graphic that's visually appealing and informative for whatever point you're trying to make. I don't know if that really counts as a medium, but my eyes roll back into my brain when I think about making banners or web designing... But one that's maybe more sense-making, 3D visual arts. Like... paper-craft. Sculpting. Stuff like that. It's so neat and I do not know how to do it at all. I started doing resin-work but that still feels wholly different since I'm just picking colors and mixing stuff and pouring them into a mold. Starting from scratch? Wtf, I don't know how people do that and I'll be forever envious. 11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what I don't have anything specific that I listen to except it's like, always music, never podcasts or audio-books or anything. And I don't always listen to something sometimes I just zone out to the sound of whatever is on TV or the hum of the room. Sometimes I might get inspiration from a song and play that on repeat while I'm working, and sometimes I just let my "liked" collection shuffle. 21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways I think I like... pretty much Every art style that's not like mine... but let's see... I love a style that's got a lot of background work to it - I am TRYING to put backgrounds into my stuff when it makes sense but oh god it does not come naturally to me and some of my fav artists just make it seem so EASY... obviously it took loads of practice to make it look easy but still it just blows me away how simple or complex it can be and I'm just over here like "what color bubbles should I place randomly in the bg". Also LOVE a cartoon-y style. I'd say my art tends to be a pretty even blend of "anime" as my mom calls it and realism, but I have a REALLY hard time leaning into one or the other. Like how do people draw chibis. I don't get it. I can't make it happen. Idk if this is even really the right way to answer this, but it's what I'm doing. X'D