#but some kind of arrangement for a show/channel or commercials

[randomly--accessed--memories]

Vox and Niffty couple up so quickly that those who don't Know assume that they must've worked together under Alastor before, while those who do Know guess that they might've known each other back in their overlord days. They're both wrong though– this is the first time Vox and Niffty have ever met, they just happen to get along as if they're old friends.

[sparkytheandroid]

ABOUT NEW 50% OFF CONTENT

Hey sorry to get your attention like that, kind of a scummy move but bare with me a few moments. I’m the other person who made 50% Off, Sparky the Android, I also voiced Haru and Rin and some other small things. People usually just call me PJ now cause I don’t really make content anymore. Speaking of content Alex, Octopimp, decided he was going to make some new 50% Off content this past week and I would just like to explain some things as to why this is a real legitimate slap in the face to me personally. I want to stress that I was not sexually abused, physically abused, or in any major danger in my long creative partnership with Alex, he was just a scumbag who acted like an asshole and treated me really poorly over the course of the show forcing me to eventually quit. I was willing to just walk away from this stuff. Close the door, yknow? Get some closure but Alex seems intent on opening it by posting new 50% off content without talking to me about it first in any capacity. I have not spoken to Alex in several years but I was and always have been an equal creative factor in 50% Off, so him releasing new content without me feels especially insulting.   Alex came to me ten years ago asking if I would be interested in making an abridged series at the time because I had a background writing comedy and went to school for film. This was under the pretense of an equal partnership. We’re both funny, I’m a good writer and a decent voice actor, Alex is a decent writer and a good voice actor. He bought me my first voice acting microphone and we set to work developing the show with me refining a lot of our ideas into actual scripts to read from. As the series progressed I started taking on the larger writing work and Alex the larger editing work. Episodes went from 4 minute goofs (the original concept) to more longform almost 20 minute episodes at a time where characters had their own throughlines and stories progressing. It was a large task for the two of us, especially the difficulty of editing for Alex specifically. I don’t want any of this to seem like I did all the work, or that I never fought with or insulted Alex because that’s far from my point. Both of us were supposed to be partners but Alex consistently treated the show as SOLELY his in increasing amounts. I had to ask him to stop saying things like “I sign your paychecks.” or to stop insulting me in videos when he would add in insults against me without talking to me about it first. I can take an insult! I wrote some content insults about Alex too! But I was always up front and he would slip his insults in, or little jokes that were not in my scripts, without ever talking to me about them I would see them in the video premiers. He consistently minimized my involvement, I had to argue with him to get my name on the end slate, I wrote the theme rap, I wrote 90% of the material, I wrote our dumb tshirt commercials, the show is unequivocally so much of MY VOICE and I was begging to get a little more limelight or recognition. Alex took guest appearances at cons without talking to me. We did a panel at anime expo where HE was the guest and when I asked him about a badge to get into the con he informed me that he was giving the other pass to his girlfriend at the time. And while he did end up purchasing me a new badge to try and make good, just the act of not thinking that that badge should have been mine was so insulting. When we went to funimation he consistently bore it down on me that i was LUCKY that he flew me out so we could go to Funimation even though he would not be going in the first place without my scripts and voice. He made content without talking to me. He kept me at arms length in an arrangement that was supposed to be equal and I never spoke about it publicly because even a small amount of internet fame warped my little idiot brain and I wanted to keep being famous and cool on the internet. 

I never saw our official earnings numbers or even had access to the channel and took it on blind faith that I was being fair. When I quit the show because it was seriously becoming a real detriment to my mental health I walked away from any earnings the show would make after. 

It sucked. It sucked because I wanted to make more of the show. I wanted to finish season one. I promised people I would. It sucked because for some of it I was having fun! I was going to voice actor parties and people were paying attention to me. Selfishly I thought I could right the ship and turn it into a real career but I know that was never really an option. And it sucked because Alex and I WERE friends. I did some of my best material with him. Times hanging out with him where he was a genuine person were great. And I tried so many things! I realized arguing with him wasn't working so I figured it must be my fault. I tried being more supportive of him, supporting his streams, cheering him on at game tournaments, etc. But he just kept using me and the people around him to further his career. I just couldn’t take it anymore and I took the only ownership I really could and I walked away. The show stopped and, I’m sorry to the people who loved it, I think it should have stayed stopped. Nagisa is a fuckin racist caricature, one I actively contributed too regardless of the actions I took to make Nagisa smarter, more artistic, less of a one note joke about drugs and crime. Hell his final speech about how he felt about fetishizing MLM content at the time was feelings I WAS HAVING as a person coming to real terms with their queer identity. Alex is not a queer person! I am! I gave that speech to Alex to perform. I gave him MY VOICE. But it's still a racist caricature rooted in the past that is my fault for perpetuating.  

And again I’m not an angel. I argued with Alex a lot and said a lot of mean things to his face. Some stuff I regret because I’ve spent the time after the show specifically not shoving myself down another pipeline of making online content. The attention makes me stupid and I act like a jerk! I made mistakes while doing 50% Off and I’m sure I’ve hurt people too. I’m sorry to anyone who crossed my path when I was hopped up on stupid internet fame. You met one of the worst versions of me and it was my own doing. I’m sorry to Alex even for some of the stuff I said. But Alex leveraged his position of power over me as an excuse to treat me like shit. I’m in a good place in my life and I just wanted to shut the door on all this but Alex is intent on opening it after all these years and STILL minimizing my contributions. Saying things like “I just don't have the time/resources to make full episodes anymore.” He can’t make full episodes anymore because he would have to replace my voice in them but more than that replace my entire writing style. I was willing to let him upload a short like w/e its 2023 like whatever right? Tell your joke dude I don’t care. Then he posted another acting like he was going to do even more new 50% Off stuff and a close friend spoke with him saying it wasn't a good idea and he agreed. Then he posted them on youtube! And is saying stuff like this to people in the comments.

Like implying that the only reason he can't continue to produce 50% Off in full is because he doesn’t have the energy or schedule. He can’t continue because it would be continuing without me and I know deep down he KNOWS he shouldn’t. I don’t want any fucking clout or want you to watch any of my content because I don’t MAKE any. I wasn't sexually assaulted or physically abused. Alex was just a huge dick to me and a lot of my friends and we all just let it slide for all of our own personal reasons. Hell I was content just walking away the way I did, making the split seem amicable so there wasn’t a bunch of drama, letting the show stay up, and still field questions for people curious about it. I took my gdrive with every script i ever wrote for the show and just closed the door. I’m just tired after all these years of this guy actively ignoring my involvement in the show that is partially responsible for his internet fame. Tired of him pulling this bullshit “uwu i would love to make more but i just can't!” attitude to lie about why he can't actually make more. Tired of him opening that fucking door. 

A few years ago Alex got in contact with me through a friend with an apology. At the time he sent it many streamers were facing backlash for how they treated people in the past, ones closer to Alex, so this seemed suspiciously timed. The apology I got sounded like every other apology Alex had given me over the years. A lot of avoiding his own culpability in his actions. I told him that if we were to resume being friends it would take a lot. I think anyone who makes the effort deserves the chance to be redeemed, but I had absolutely zero trust in him and thought it was unlikely that he really wanted to make an effort to be a real friend to me. After that we resumed not speaking and when people asked me about him I still tried to make our split seem at least somewhat amicable and I try to generally avoid projects he is involved in. 

Imagine my surprise when he walked out on that Jerma stream. 

I want to thank everybody who watched 50% Off honestly and truly. I think some of it still shines as some of my best work. I got to do a lot of cool things like have my voice in a real anime, and I met tons of people who cared about me and my role in the show specifically. Those people were like life preservers while I felt like I was sinking in Alex’s shadow. It’s undeniably cool to have people respond to your work so well and I know I wouldn't have seen that happen without Alex’s skills as an entertainer and producer. Alex has hurt me personally as a friend, as a business partner, and has hurt several of my other friends in various ways with his behavior. The way I felt on 50% Off became truly harmful to my mental state. I struggle personally with imposter syndrome and RSD and at the time of making the show I had gone through very little therapy to help me develop healthy coping mechanisms for those things. It was just like pouring gasoline into a fire. And I really wanted to put it all behind me for the sake of my own mental health and life because all things considered I’m happy where I am now. I’ve worked really hard on myself personally and have been so lucky to have emotionally intelligent friends help me and give me so many chances I should not have deserved. I’m fortunate to be able to support myself and my cat, and I get to make personal art I love without having to push myself into the internet game because if I’m being honest I had a bad addiction to social media. I apologize I don’t have a nice resolution for you, I’m not asking you to stop watching 50% Off, or watch anything I make, or hell even stop watching Alex’s personal content. I just felt like I had this intense pit in my stomach seeing him parade around in the other half of our two person horse costume and insist he’s wearing the whole thing. Yknow? After all these years I just wanted to say SOMETHING about the way I was really treated so I could finally get some closure for myself. Thank you for your time and again to all the people who DID support the show thank you sincerely. 

[rhtech4you]

Sonic review -100 million playlist podcast build in 60 seconds.

Introduction Sonic review

wrlcom to my Sonic review. sonic is Fundamentally, an AI tool that fabricates a music, podcast, or radio streaming service in minutes via a click of a button. In the sonic ,undefined There is no need for coding or design skills . Sonic will help you to do any kind of streaming business online. you can purchase this Sonic product at a very low price to run your long term business .

I am going to show you a brand new Sonic this product helps you please read Sonic app review post if you are interested in this product.

 Sonic review - Sonic overview

Product- sonic

Creator-seyi adeleke

Official website  - click here

Front end price -$16.99

Recommendation-Highly recommended

Niche- software and app

 The amazing streaming app is developed by seyi adeleke. He he had more than 7 years of experience in the digital marketing and software app creation industry okay now come down to the next section of Sonic review where I will explain its .

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Sonic works only simple 4 steps

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This product is a complete training and arrangement for fast online success. Purchasing this product will give you success overnight. Inside this product you will find many systems that are consistently easy to generate revenue and traffic. It is perfect and well-designed. After receiving this training you can start business online. You will learn how to create 100 Million+ Playlist, Podcast & Radio Channels .No need to worry if you are a new entrepreneur. Here are some tips to help you improve your online business. You’ll see things like secret business files online. You can double your revenue, content and traffic shortcuts if you use this product.

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SonicThe best training program at the moment is the perfect solution for any targeted traffic. If you want to provide traffic solutions for your online business then you must choose this software and app .sonic No previous work skills or marketing experience is required to use the product. There is no risk here as it provides you with traffic for online business. If you can manage traffic then all your problems with online marketing are solved.

Sonic Follow the simple instructions to get results by purchasing . Those who are new to online buy different types of softwareand app . But no software works to provide built-in traffic. If you want to change your hard life, choose this kind of proven system and take the step- by-step training. I assure you that you will not be disappointed, lose or fail when you purchase sonic 

If you want to make money online , you have to go the right way. If you are a new then I think this system helps you a lot. Not only newcomers but also advanced marketers can grow their business fast. The person who created sonic has created it after a lot of experimentation. So buy this sonic product without any worries.

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The faster you purchase this product, the faster your profit will be. sonic Anyone can choose to get huge target traffic. If you are new then there is no problem. By purchasing this product you will be able to understand everything consistently.

I do not guarantee you it will be 100% effective for you. If you are an active marketer, You can get results to create this  app and software. I share everything inside this sonic review post. So, I guarantee you will not have any loss if you buy this product.

Frequently Asked Questions  (F&Q)

Do I Have to Install Anything?

= Sonic is completely cloud based app. Just login, set up with zero coding  or design knowladge and click publish button then start creating pages.

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No. We don’t believe in imposing restrictions on you to grow your business. Once you pay this low one time fee, sonic is your streaming app or platform . You can use it as much as you want. No restrictions.

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Sure,sonic is going to be around forever. But, unfortunately it won’t be available at this one time price. There will be 1 time low price .

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That’s hard to believe! But just in case that happens, rest assured, it’s as easy getting a refund on sonic within 30 days as buying it right now.

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We have made sonic as the simplest app and sofware to work with. There are video tutorials to help you in case you get stuck somewhere. But even if that doesn’t help and you need more assistance, there guys are more than happy to help.

Sonic Is There Any Guarantee Of Refund?

You will buy sonic to improve your business.sonic If you think this product is not working after purchase. Then you can return this sonic . You will receive a full refund if you return the product within 30 days of purchasing it.

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Thank you for patiently reading my sonic review. Although you are all already clear about this brand new product that it is a complete solution for an online business. If you purchase this product today and start marketing. You can earn commission instantly. You will receive step-by-step training after purchasing this product which makes it easy to operate. I support you to purchase the  sonic product from my long 5 year experience.

Most people run after various fake promising methods . But that product is of no use to him.If you want to do business online for life then sonic is highly recommended for you or everyone. Thank you so much for reading my sonic. 

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[visacollect]

Guide to Getting a Morocco Tourist Visa: Expenses and Procedures

Arranging travel to Morocco calls for various processes, one of which is obtaining a tourist visa. This thorough information will assist you to better appreciate the expenses and procedures required in getting a Morocco Visa.

Types of Moroccan Tourist Visas

Many kinds of Morocco visas are based on your reason for travel. The most often used visas among visitors are:

Tourist Visa

Processing Time:  3-5 days

Validity: Upto 90 days

Entry: one single one

Fee: 4,149/- (varies) 

This Visa is for people who want to go to Morocco for leisure or to see friends and relatives would find this visa perfect.

Essential Documents

Obtaining a Morocco visa will require you to possess the following:

Authentic Passport: Valid for a minimum of 6 months, three blank pages. 

Visa Application Form: Completed and signed.

Photographs: Two recent colour pictures using a white backdrop with a matt texture.

Personal Covering Letter: Explaining the reason for travel.

Bank Statment: Stamped and updated with bank seal for the last six months.

Air Tickets: Evidence of return airline tickets from and back to your own country.

Hotel Reservation: Documentation of your entire stay's lodging.

Supporting Information Based on Visit Type and Occupation: Extra supporting documentation may be needed based on your line of work and the reason you are here. These can be invites from Moroccan hosts, commercial paperwork, or job papers.

Steps to Apply

Pay Online: Pay the visa cost online using a secure payment channel.

Submit Documents: Send your documents online or at the visa application centre.

Processing: The embassy will check thoroughly and handle your paperwork.

Receive Visa: After being accepted, you will get your visa.

Why Pick Expert Services?

Choosing a competent visa agency like VisaCollect will help to simplify and speed up the procedure. Some advantages are as follows:

Expert Advice: Skilled experts may help you through the procedure to guarantee accurate submission of all documentation.

Convenience: Services can involve document collection and drop-off, saving you time.

Confidentiality: Professional services guarantee that your personal information is kept private.

Tips for a Successful Application

Verify Every Document Is Complete: Incomplete applications could cause delays.

Follow Photo Guidelines: Check your pictures to see whether they satisfy the requirements.

Share accurate information: Verify every material to prevent any disparities.

Get ahead of things: Well ahead of your intended trip dates, start your visa application procedure.

Additional Costs to Consider.

Apart from the visa cost, think about other expenses, including:

Travel insurance: Covers unanticipated medical bills, trip cancellals, and emergencies, therefore it is very advised for any kind of travel, including international travel.

Travel expenses: Reserve a return ticket to validate your trip intentions.

Accommodation The application for the visa requires proof of booking; hence, budget appropriately.

Local Expenses: Plan for everyday needs, including food, local transportation, and events.

Final Thoughts

Getting a Morocco visa is easy if you have all the appropriate paperwork and follow the proper procedures. The price is reasonable, and with careful preparation, and help from VisaCollect can guarantee a seamless application procedure.

Discover Morocco's rich culture, breathtaking scenery, and kind hospitality on your vacation there!

VisaCollet’can assist you with your application and provide further specific information and advice. Safe journey!

Traveling around Morocco

Morocco is an exciting place well-known for combining contemporary and traditional elements. Morocco's architecture, gastronomy, and celebrations show her rich cultural legacy. From tagines to mint tea, savour the regional tastes and let the vivid culture of Morocco define you.

Understanding the visa application procedure and making appropriate plans will help you guarantee hassle-free and fun travel to this North African treasure.

[crybaby-bkg]

sᴄᴏʀɴᴇᴅ | ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴇʟᴇᴠᴇɴ (ɴsғᴡ)

Bakugou x f!reader Warnings/Tags: humping/frottage, nipple play, feelings of insecurity, loads of kissing, mention of past attempted assault Word Count: 5.1k Minors/blank/ageless blogs DNI!

Main Masterlist AO3

A month has passed since you told Bakugou that you would be his girlfriend, and about six weeks since you started training to become a hero. It was on the verge of becoming overwhelming at first, having to always be around Bakugou, but as the days pass on, you find the routine you two fall in to be more of a comfort. You go on patrols together, kick some ass, come home and cuddle on the couch. It was a better arrangement than you expected it to be. 

It hasn’t gone farther than that, though, which both disappoints you and calms you. You knew Bakugou wasn’t here only for your body or to take advantage of you, but sometimes your mind gets too loud. It makes you believe things that you know aren’t true, because it wants to protect you. But from him, you know you don’t need protecting. 

“Come up with a hero name yet?” Bakugou asks you where he sits beside you on the couch. It makes your hazy eyes focus once more, remember that you were snuggled against his side and under his chin as you watched some TV together. He flips to the news channel when the show you’re watching has a commercial, and they’re covering the villain you two took down that day. They highlight your amazing accuracy for weapons, talking amongst themselves about this new up and coming hero, wonder just who you are as you haven’t made an official debut yet. 

“Nah,” you shrug halfheartedly. “It’ll come to me when it comes to me. Those fuckers won’t rush me.” You murmur, wrapping an arm loosely around his middle. You can feel more than hear his soft chuckle as he pulls you in closer, his hand reaching around to tilt your chin up in his direction. 

He looks at you with this gentle kind of look, his crimson eyes soft around the edges. If someone were to ask you ten months ago if you could see yourself dating and falling in love with Dynamight, you probably would’ve shot them in the foot. But now, as he holds you close to the warmth of his flank and leans in slowly, you can’t help but melt into the kiss, wonder how you’ve survived so long without the taste of him. 

Fuck, he’s making you such a sap. 

You pull away from him with a lick of your lips, lids hooded as you take in his expression. You can tell there’s a pull in him, in his gut, dragging him toward you. You can tell he fights it every time your hand wanders a little too low, every time your breath hitches when he bites on your lower lip, when your hands curl into the roots of his hair. 

It all goes unsaid, but the way his mouth pouts ever so slightly whenever you pull away tells you more than he’s willing to admit. It’s sweet, honestly, the way he holds himself back even though you push the limits whenever you two find yourselves alone. You recall the day he forced himself away from you after you pulled him tight against you in his office while kissing him stupid, how disoriented he looked while announcing that he’d have to shower before you guys go home. 

As you stare at his pink, swollen lips, you find yourself blurting out before you can really think about the gravity of your words, 

“You aren’t making the first move because you want my consent first, right?” You find your own eyes widening as your words spill out, the heavy tension between you two fizzling out as Bakugou pulls away slightly in surprise. He blinks at you a few times before a blush spreads across the apples of his cheeks, around to his stupid big ears that he hides with a brush of his hair. 

“The hell are you on about?” He asks you, but you know that he knows what you’re talking about. You sit up on your knees, as you always do whenever it comes to conversations like this, so you’re eye to eye with him despite the way he tries to duck his head down. You scoot closer until you hover over him, hands on his shoulders as you force him to face you. 

“You know what I’m talking about, Bakugou.” You say seriously, eyebrows screwing up as your lips tighten together. They soften though, when he reaches out to hold your hip, stealing a quick kiss from you. 

“Katsuki. You know you can start calling me Katsuki now, right?” He asks you against your mouth, pulling away when his words leave his lips. You’re still dazed from the tenderness, blinking a couple of times before deflating a little, digging your nails into the hardness of his shoulders. 

“I know,” you nod, thinking it over in your head, before you perk up. “And don’t try to change the subject!” You chide him, poking him in the middle of his chest. He only looks down at your finger before looking back up at you through his lashes, making your face warm at his look. 

“I’m talking about sex.” You lose steam as the words flow from your mouth, body suddenly unsure as you can’t seem to look him in the eye anymore. 

“What about sex?” Bakugou—Katsuki asks, voice quiet under the soft murmuring coming from the TV. You feel your lips pouting as you mull it over in your head, tossing the words around as you try to gather all of your thoughts, verbalize them in a way that doesn’t make you implode from embarrassment. 

“Us.” You whisper, fiddling with the nonexistent lint on the strap of his tank top. “Having it. Doing it. You’re not making the first move, because you want me to?” You ask more than state, finally finding the courage to look at him again. His face has fallen, soft in understanding, full body turning to face you as both hands hold your waist in his warm grip. 

“I figured you’d wanna initiate something like that.” Katsuki shrugs, nodding his chin in your direction. “Didn’t wanna pressure you into something you might not be ready for.” He tells you, voice laced with honesty. 

It makes you think back on the night where you told him your story, of everything bad that happened to you, that made you into who you are today. And you wanna squeeze him, for his thoughtfulness, his constant consideration of your feelings and comfort from the moment he first met you. He had never pressured you into doing anything—moving in with him, becoming a hero, dating him—and something as intimate and vulnerable as this was no different. You run your hands through the hair at his nape the way he likes it, feel how his body relaxes under your touch, wonder when you both started looking at each other with so much love bleeding from your eyes. 

“I don’t,” you start before having to pause, swallowing thickly as you gather your words. “I don’t think I’m ready to go all the way yet. But I do think I’d like to try some things with you, if that’s okay.” You ask Katsuki, looking at him from under your lashes at your confession, your other hand slowly inching down from his shoulder to his chest. You feel just how rapidly his heart beats under your palm, watching how he nods quickly at your words. 

“More than okay.” He reassures you, making the tiniest smile hint at your lips. You waste no time in sliding your hand down further until it stops at the waistband of his sweats, undoing the tie in them quickly. Katsuki jumps at that, eyes wide as he looks between your now paused hand and wide eyes. 

“Wait, right now?” He asks you incredulously. You look off to the side, unsure, before glancing back to him with a shrug. 

“Yeah? Should we schedule it for another time?” Your voice falls sarcastically between you two, making him roll his eyes as he helps ease you into sitting on his lap fully. 

“No, I just wasn’t expecting you to damn near grope me like that.” He scoffs at you, his own hands finding their way up the back of your shirt, fiddling with the strap of your bra. 

“Sorry,” You chuckle, watch his own lips quirk up as he laughs through his nose at you. Silence befalls the two of you as your hands start to wander each others bodies. You’ve never gone farther than the middle of his back and his stomach, and he to the arch above your ass, never too high or too low whenever he touches your skin with his warm fingers. 

But now—but now you unhook your bra and lay it on the couch beside you two, feel his excitement jump underneath you at just the sight of the fabric, orange in color. Your hand creeps up his shirt to feel at his hardened stomach and abs, creeping up to find the softness of his chest. And he does the same to you, his eyes low as he takes in your every expression, hesitates before his hot palms cup your breasts in his hands, making you gasp from the coldness of your skin meeting his heat. 

He kneads them, softly, leaning forward to lick at your bottom lip, and you grant him access to you, head tilting as one hand falls from his chest, down to his lap. You’ve felt…it thickening under you, pulsing whenever your hips twitch in his lap, when you tweak at his nipple, when you moan into his mouth. You stop though, when his waistband is loose after you undo its knot fully, hand hovering over his exposed boxers, at the print that lies beneath it. 

“I don’t,” you start before swallow thickly again when his hips tilt up to brush against your own. “I don’t know what to do.” You confess to him, voice shaky as he starts teasing your nipple between his forefinger and thumb, pulling softly at the taut skin. 

“You wanna just keep doing this?” He asks you, and when you go to ask him what in particular, he grinds his hips up into your own again. You gasp, already nodding your head as he continues to speak against your cheek. 

“We don’t have to take off our clothes yet, if you’re not ready.” He whispers to you, his lips finding the skin of your jaw and neck, peppering sweet kisses against the warm flesh. You tilt your head so he can have more access, your hand that was at his lap finding its way to his nape again to hold on when he grinds up against you. 

“I’d like to see it, actually.” You mumble, face heating up at the thought of what’s to come, at the sound of your own voice. It’s so unfamiliar, your tone, your breathiness, the vulnerability and want that rests in the words you utter to someone you hated just a year ago. 

“To prepare myself for future endeavors.” You nod, try to gather yourself together to sound more serious, but Bakugou only chuckles at you. Bites at the thin skin of your windpipe, your head tilted back as he squeezes the fat of your chest in his palms. 

“Okay, nerd.” He teases you, moaning himself when you pinch at his nipple in retaliation. 

“Shut up.” Your murmur, helping him pull your pajama shorts from your legs, watch how he pulls his own sweats down until they bunch at his knees. You swallow, nerves suddenly overtaking you as the gravity of the situation starts to settle in your bones. 

He’s never seen you naked, never got a glimpse of anything after your showers. What if he doesn’t like what he sees? What if he thinks you’re ugly? That your chest doesn’t look right? What if—

“You can keep whatever you want on, to make yourself more comfortable.” His words slice through your invasive thoughts, snapping you back to the present. You look to him, watch how his face softens at your expression, makes you relax a little at his gentleness. You mull it over in your head before you nod to him. 

“I’m just gonna pull my shirt over my chest, but I’m gonna keep it on. Is that okay?” You ask, pinch yourself for not telling him that it is okay, and if it isn’t with him, then you can stop this whole thing. You find yourself irritated with your own words, for giving him power over you, power that he could take advantage of. But he doesn’t (he never has, has he?).

“Is that okay with you?” He throws back at you, eyebrow raised in question as he pulls his own shirt over his head, your eyes dropping down to take in his scarred and marbled flesh. “This is all about your comfort and pleasure. You tell me what you wanna do, and I’ll be fine with it no matter what.” 

“Even if I told you I wanna stick a finger up your ass?” You counter back smartly, toying with the hem of your shirt in nervousness. Katsuki only fixes you with a look before he shrugs, making you gasp and hit at his shoulder. 

“Fuckin’ freak,” you mutter under your breath, both of you laughing quietly. When that dies down, you find each others eyes again in the dim light of the room. He’s patient, his look tells you, like he’d wait a lifetime for you if he had to, and you believed that he would. It helps give you the courage to pull your shirt over your chest, tucking it until your breasts are exposed, but the softness of the cotton still rests against your skin in a comforting, blanketed manner. 

You both take the other in—your crimson ink of Medusa sitting in the middle of your chest, surrounded by other scars you had gotten from your captors and other men who had done you wrong in the past. Your breasts that sit so prettily against your skin, your nipples tightening in the coldness of the room. His chest thick and muscled, but soft in its relaxed state, his brown nipples sitting just as pretty against the flesh. He has his own scar that sits jagged in the middle of his chest, its shape almost explosive. 

You both reach out to touch each other at the same time, you to trace the edges of his scar, and he to find the outlines of your tattoo. The moment is quiet, vulnerable, makes your heart thump wildly against your ribcage as he leans in to press his mouth against yours. 

“You’re so fuckin’ pretty,” he whispers against you, hips grinding into yours once more. You gasp, the feeling much more intense this time with only the thin layers of your underwear separating you. 

“So are you.” You moan into his mouth, hips dropping down just the tiniest bit to get some friction going between your legs. You feel insatiable already, haven’t even gotten a taste of the full thing, of what’s yet to come, and you don’t think you can go another minute without feeling him against you. 

“I’m gonna just pull my panties to the side,” you whisper, standing up on your knees to do just that. Bakugou groans when you sit back down on him, the wetness of your hole already seeping through the thin layer of his boxers as your lips spread. He only nods to you, wordless, before he hooks his thumb in the waistband of his underwear, pulling it down slowly as he watches you watch him. 

Your eyes widen when his cock springs out of its confines before it weighs down to point at your bellybutton, bowing under its own weight. Your breath gets caught in your throat at the intimidating sight of it—the dripping head, the forking veins, the way it twitches when you gasp at the sight. 

“You ready?” Bakugou asks you, pulling you in even closer until your chest presses against his own. His nose brushes yours, head tilting as you suck in his breath, shuddering at the feel of his cock snuggled between both of your stomachs, smearing your bellybutton with precum. 

“Uh huh,” you whisper, can barely get the words out before he grabs your hips in his hands and gets into the proper position. He scoots down until you sit directly on top of the underside of his cock, perched in his lap as you rest your weight on him, hands propped up on his shoulders. 

Katsuki looks at you once more in confirmation, and you nod at him, before he starts. He rolls your hips against his own, both of your gazes locked where you meet, your mouths dropping open when your clit glides against his cock. You cover him in your wetness, tainting him with the essence of you, and for some reason, the claim of his body to yours makes the feeling all the more sweeter. 

“Ya look so fuckin’ gorgeous sitting on top’a me.” Katsuki grunts out, pulling you down by your nape so he can capture your lips, as you hump against each other. Your eyebrows screw up in pleasure, nails digging into every inch of his skin as you gasp into his mouth. Your words escape you, only the noises of your arousal filling up the gap between you two. 

Katsuki grinds you against him, your cunt sliding along his shaft until it makes a crude noise, wet and sound in the quietness of the room. He licks and nips and bites at every exposed inch of skin he can find, his nails digging into the fleshiness of your ass to keep you grinding against him, his thighs flexing beneath you to hump up into you. 

You can only hold onto him, face pressed against his, your arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders. You shudder when you feel his nipples rub against your own, your clit catching the underside of his tip, making you both groan loudly in unison. 

“Think I’m gonna cum,” you whisper against his mouth. Katsuki grunts at that, hips picking up speed as he keeps you tight against him, his balls slapping your ass with the intensity of his thrusts. You bury your face in between the crook of his neck and shoulder, eyes clenched shut as the familiar feeling that you haven’t felt in forever comes washing over you. You’re quieter than he expects when you cum, tiny little whimpers and long sighs escaping you, but your body tenses all over and you nails bite into the skin of his shoulders. 

He follows you not too long after, with a grunt as he stills you against him, before a sticky warmth splatters across both of your stomachs. It continues for a few moment or so before he falls limp on the couch, sighing loudly as he holds you close to him. You can feel his cum starting to roll down slowly between you, making a mess of both of your pelvises, but you can’t find yourself to care much in the moment. 

“That was nice. Good. Really good.” You mutter after a while of silence. Katsuki snorts at that, pulling you away by your nape so that he can kiss you, long and hard until you both lose your breaths. He tells you that he’ll clean you in a minute, but for now, the two of you lay there, basking in the afterglow of your first intimate experience. 

…

The next day, you have to go into the agency again. But, this time, its for some physical training with Kirishima. Bakugou stands close like the guard dog that he is, voicing his frustrations when you smile big at Kiri with a huff and kiss to the corner of your lips. Kirishima only cheers for the both of you, explaining that he hadn’t believed Todoroki when he claimed he walked in on the two of you kissing all those weeks ago. 

Once training finishes, Kirishima heads out for patrol, leaving you and Bakugou to ice your knuckles in the open gym. You sit on the mats in the middle of the floor, your spread legs resting over his as he scolds you for trying to get a cheap shot on the literal unbreakable hero, when the doors swing open. You both look up, Bakugou ready to snarl at whoever it is for interrupting the time he reserved, when both of you pause. 

“I knew you looked familiar on the news!” A voice calls out, one you hadn’t heard in so long, a voice that saves you in every bad dream you try to run from, a voice that has comforted you on too many nights to count. Your eyes instantly water at the sight. 

“Miruko?” You ask softly, voice barely a whisper as you raise shakily to your feet. Bakugou helps you when you wobble one too many times, his eyes jumping between the two of you in surprise. 

“In the flesh.” The bunny hero says with a smile that lights up her entire face. She doesn’t have to say anything else before you’re charging at her at full speed, running into her open arms with a broken sob you haven’t let out in so long. 

Being in her arms brings back both amazing and terrible memories. In her arms; you’re a victim again, you’re running from men who promise to have your head, you’re paralyzed in fear, you’re covered in splatters of their blood from her stomping their heads into mush only a few feet behind you. In her arms; you’re safe, you’re protected, you’ll be able to go home again, you’ll never be in their grasp again, you’re taken care of, you’re safe, you’re safe, you’re safe. 

You feel conflicted, as you cry into the soft jacket she wears, holding onto her for dear life. You fear she may push you away for ruining what she wears, but she only holds you closer to her, shushing you as she smooths your hair back from your face. She holds you tight in her arms, doesn’t rush you until you’re ready to poke your head out from the comfort of her chest. 

“How’ve you been?” She asks softly when you finally get your shit together. You chuckle, wiping your face with the back of your hand, glancing at Bakugou when he offers you a small hand towel he was using to ice your knuckles, before he steps away again. 

“Definitely better than the last time you saw me.” You murmur, glancing up at the kind expression she holds for you as she nods. She looks over to Bakugou next, stepping over to him to pull him down by his ear, putting him in a tight headlock to rub her knuckles in his hair. 

“And what about you, ya little shit?” She asks him, cackling when he tries to pull away from her strong grip. He yells out a few expletives before she releases him, pouting as he stands back to try to fix his already explosive hair. 

“Dumbass,” he mutters under his breath, flipping her off when she acts like she’s gonna lunge at him again. Miruko laughs heartily, before the sound dies out, her arms crossing as she focuses on you again. She takes you in for a long time, and you can’t stand the silence for any longer. 

“I can’t believe you even remember me.” You blurt out after a while, chucking in disbelief. She raises her eyebrows in surprise, her smile widening. 

“Of course I remember you, kid.” She tells you. “You were that terrified lil bunny when I first rescued you.” You can tell she thinks back on how you were when she saved you, versus how you are now. You no longer cower in fear, you wear clothing that fits you, shirts that are in once piece. You hold yourself high, even though you lean against Bakugou’s front when he stands behind you, comfortable. It makes a warmth bloom in her chest at the sight. 

“I was looking for you, after I reached out to the apartment complex that I put you in, and found out that you weren’t residing there anymore.” Her head tilts as she speaks, and you can feel the pit in your belly start to tighten as you think back on why you had to leave. 

“Can I ask what happened? Mr. Riku said you just up and left for no reason, and I just wanted to make sure everything was alright with you.” Her face falls into one of concern, and you can feel Katsuki stiffen behind you. You had shared why you left with him a couple weeks ago, and it took everything in you to keep him from exploding the creepy fuckers face. 

“Ya gotta start checking the people you have around victims better, rabbit.” Katsuki snaps, before shaking his head, holding his hands up in defense when both of you tense at his tone. But Miruko doesn’t seem to be angry at him though, more upset at his words as she looks at you sharply. 

“What happened?” She asks quickly, taking a step toward you as you frown, eyes casted to the floor beside her feet. 

“Did Mr. Riku also tell you about the busted left nut I gave him after he tried to assault me for being late on the rent?” You mutter, arms crossing over your chest defensively. You know you should’ve reached out if you still needed financial help, you know you shouldn’t have been late on the rent, but—but that didn’t excuse him for being a fucking creep. 

You jump when Miruko suddenly lays a hand on your shoulder, squeezing you tightly for her to look at you. Her face is serious as she ducks her head down to maintain eye contact, wiping away the lonesome tear that slides down the curve of your cheek. 

“I’m sorry for not protecting you more, but I promise you that that asshole will be out of a job come morning.” She guarantees you, nodding when you do as she takes a step back. But you follow her to hug her once more, tight against you. 

“Thank you, Miruko.” You whisper into her hair, before you finally pull back with a shaky smile. She matches you, looking between you and Bakugou before you speak up. 

“How’d you find me, though?” You ask with a tilt of your head when Bakugou reaches around to swipe at your still damp cheeks with the rough pads of his fingertips. 

“I made a couple of calls to the people who helped me situate you, and they directed me here, and that’s when I put the pieces together! You’re that new hero without a name.” She punches your shoulder lightly, both of you grinning all the while. You shrug faux nonchalantly as you nod at her. 

“Yeah, I took those self defense classes you helped me with and made something out of it.” You tell her, even though you both know that it wasn’t just those lessons that turned you into who you are today. Miruko takes you in once more, her hands resting on her hips as she smiles softly at you. 

“Words can’t describe how proud of you I am.” She says truthfully, and it makes your eyes water once more. “To see you go from that terrified kid to this strong, amazing hero. It’s like you rose straight from the ashes.” She says lowly, bowing her head to you in admiration as you do the same, the tears falling once more. 

“Well, I gotta get outta here before the higher ups start buzzing for me.” She tells you both, wrapping you up in a hug once more before she goes to Katsuki next. You hear her whisper for him to take care of you, and she sends him a knowing wink when she pulls away. His face goes beet red, realizing that she knows, and is the first one out of everyone to know that you’re officially together. 

Miruko waves as she exits the gym doors, before disappearing into the busy lobby. You and Bakugou watch her go, and you turn to him first, excitedly, as an idea comes to you. 

“I figured out what my hero name will be.” You whisper to him, eyes rounded as you hold his hands tightly in yours. He looks surprised to hear that but perks up quickly. 

“Yeah? Better be good.” He teases you. 

“Yeah, it’ll be better than lord explosion hero god, or whatever that one dumbass hero is called.” You roll your eyes playfully, laughing when he runs his hands up your flank to tickle you. You squeeze his hands once more though, in seriousness, as you hold your chin up high. 

“Firebird.” You tell him simply. “Like a phoenix, as I rose from my own ashes of being victimized, to being a vigilante, and now, I’m something stronger.” You explain to him, pulling him into you so that you can wrap your arms around his waist as he does the same to you. He thinks about it, nodding slowly before capturing your lips in a kiss. 

After a few seconds, does he pull away, pecking at your cheeks and nose and jaw and chin. He hums under his breath in approval, before murmuring, 

“Would Firebird like to join me as my date to the annual hero gala?” He asks it so nonchalantly, as if this wouldn’t be the biggest premier of your life. Not only would you be coming as yourself, identity revealed, but you’d also be coming under an actual hero name, and as Dynamight’s partner. It begins to overwhelm you suddenly, the anxiety of it all creeping in on you but you stop. Take a deep breath, level your head, and push away all of the negative thoughts that want to smother you. You’re stronger than them. 

“I would love to join you, Mr. Dynamight.” You nod with a smile, grinning even wider when Bakugou matches you, smashing his lips to yours in a kiss. You laugh against his mouth, wrapping your arms tightly around his neck as he pulls you into him. Even though the idea of being so exposed terrifies you, you know everything will go right. It has for the last couple of months for you, what could go wrong? 

Everything, your mind tells you, but you choose not to believe it. At least, for the moment. 

chapter twelve

please do not repost or rec on tik tok!

tag list: @endlessfreaky @iamaconfusedpan @blueshome

[botanyshitposts]

whats the deal with proven winners?

okay. so. this is actually how i got into botany in the first place; i got an unpaid internship at a greenhouse in high school and realized, very quickly, that we live in a jurassic park hellscape where big companies breed plants solely for their looks and performance, and i found that so fucking weird that i couldnt get enough of it and fell down the rabbit hole. i don’t find them bad per say; i find them weird and how they manage their product in terms of policing their retailers is very sketchy to me, but they’re not like, monstanto-level off the shits (yet). with mother’s day next weekend we’re coming up on one of the biggest greenhouse/ornamental plant industry sales days of the year, next to valentines’ day (which favors the rose industry especially), so this is an exceptionally convenient time to talk about this. 

proven winners is one of the biggest ornamental plant companies in the united states, possibly the world. you might know them from their patented white flower pots. they’re centered in california (as, actually, a lot of these large flower producers are) and they manage a HUUUUUUGEEE network of giant industrial flower greenhouses. 

like, you have to understand, all garden retailers have to buy their shit from somewhere, and although the centers and local greenhouses selling proven winners stuff are often small and independent (unless ur talking like...flowerama or something), a large portion of the plants themselves, like many things in capitalism, form an industry of their own dominated by a handful of oligarch corporations, of which proven winners is one. small retailers order bulk products from these companies, should it be through full-color paper catalogs (which exist, btw, and are wild in and of themselves to look at; i actually have a few back home that i keep around solely bc they’re incredibly fascinating in a slightly offputting jurassic park kind of way), online, or through a sales representative for their region. 

it depends on what they’re ordering, but they can buy seeds, plugs (the black trays of like....tiny plants you buy at garden centers to put in planters? the ones that come in, like, six packs? those are called ‘plugs’), and in the case of perennials, woody plants of various ages, among other things. these plants are bred, marketed, and sold on a goddamn industrial scale. it’s wild. 

now....this is where it gets absolutely fascinating to me. this isn’t just proven winners, but proven winners is one of the top contenders of this. some highlights of how plants are actually marketed on an industrial scale: 

-plants come out in collections. like, you have horticulturalist designer people who put their names on some stuff and they all go out as like, The New Hot Thing(tm). 

-they always promote their top selling stuff, and the plants that won awards, and like, the most popular flower arrangements and stuff. this in and of itself, again, isn’t like.....bad, it just feels weird how plants are marketed as objects rather than living things, you know?

-these plants are 100% bred and optimized for their commercial value and how they look. see the above point about how it feels like they’re treating them as objects. 

-every year, there are new plants, which are put at the front of the catalogue and like, show them off as the Hit New Products. these are all part of the year’s collective collection, so like, proven winners has their 2019 collection all ready on their site in a special little tab: 

FUN INDUSTRY SIDE STORY: looks like they have some new orange petunias this year, which reminds me fondly of the 2017 purge ordered by the USDA of a ton of illegally GMO orange petunias....

you see, orange petunias don’t exist naturally, so what companies do is either 1. systematically breed orange into them, which can take years, or 2. take red petunias and just put in some coding for yellow from the maize genome, which makes them orange. usually, you have to submit all this paperwork and go through a ton of government red tape to sell GMOs, including required trials conducted by the federal government, but what some of these large ornamental seed companies were doing was just....not telling the government and just kind of...pretending that they bred them. so in 2017, a netherlands team noticed that these were like....kind of Suspicious(tm), and started doing some tests....and accidentally uncovered like, this huge international orange petunia scandal across all these companies, over 30 varieties of illegal petunia being sold internationally. they had to alert the actual EU, which then alerted the USDA, who then gave an actual government order for these large companies to literally burn, bury, or otherwise destroy all their industrial stock of the proven illegal GMO orange petunias. 

small retailers who had bought them assuming that they were legal were allowed to keep and continue selling what they bought, but the actual producers were ordered to just fucking. violently destroy everything. the USDA informed these companies that they could sell them again, but only if they were put through the proper government channels and received proper certification. i checked the old recall list and didn’t see these, so i’m assuming they’re like...Legit, but. im 👀 somebody test these lol

AAANNNNYYway that aside, if you would like to see the Proven Winners 2019 Flower Collection Showcase(tm), they have a bunch of......weird kind of ads on their youtube channel showing artsy pics of their new shit. to this day i can’t pin down exactly what about them makes me feel slightly uncomfortable, but you really do get a sense that they’re selling an object to preform, which i guess is the point, but...idk, it’s just a very different view of plants, i think, then i personally have. very sci-fi-y, if you will. all their ads are like this; these video are essentially very similar to what you get from their print sales booklets, but in video form.

see, last but not least, my biggest beef with proven winners is the weird way they handle their company. 

you get inspected by the plant police.

im not kidding. for those not very familiar with plant reproduction, you can grow vegetative clones of plants through a process called taking cuttings, where you cut off a part of the plant and put it in a new pot under the right conditions, and it develops a root system and becomes a genetic clone to the parent. obviously, anyone can do this with a lot of the proven winners plants, especially because PW plants, as i’ve noticed, tend to be bred to be more vigorous. 

proven winners wants to ensure that there’s no Illegal Plant Downloads taking place, so they literally like....send people out to these small retailers and ask to see their stock to make sure that all the plants are going in the Patented Proven Winners White Pots(tm) with the Patented Proven Winners Information Tags(tm). you MUST plant proven winners stuff in the pots they send you, with the instructions they send you, and they will check you for this. the first time my internship mentor ordered from them, they accidentally planted the plugs in generic brown pots instead of the white ones, and the weird proven winners police rolled in unannounced for an inspection and told them that the next time it happened they wouldn’t sell to them anymore. what they’re worried about happening is that the growers will order a small amount and then just make a bunch of cuttings without paying them, and it’s just......weird. like i get why they do it but that’s always struck me as really, really shady lmao

[georgemackayhey]

Like Real People Do

“Hii can you do an imagine, "Your first time with George" maybe as an insecure/uneasy reader"

"Can you pleeaaassse write more nsfw stuff? More Than A Night Out gave me my rights"

Alright yall, heed the 18+ warning! 

Seriously, I really don't want to block anyone (I love yall!) On that note... I wouldn't say this theme is my strong suit, nor have I been in a good headspace, but boy did I try my best ♡ 

w/c: 3k

───※ ·❆· ※───

You didn't date.

You called off meeting up with strangers in bars and listening to them tell half-assed life stories, embellishing in hopes they'd get to have their way with you in the same evening.

You were happy to mingle among friends on weekends and at parties, but going home alone felt safe. Keeping to yourself was the best bet, having learned your lesson by now. You recalled more unpleasant domestic experiences than ones that left you daydreaming of more. So you simply stayed single.

Some of your friends didn't regard your limits, tricking you into double dates and the like. Other friends understood but still gushed over their brothers and cousins in hopes you'd be intrigued by their qualities and demand to be introduced with wedding rings on standby.

And then there were the friends who never asked or bothered you about it at all. George was one of those friends.

He was your ride to your friend groups monthly movie theater meet up's. And he always let you take home his leftovers after dinners he wasted chatting with your mutual friends about books and culture.

In turn, you let George borrow your favorite albums. And you'd always saved him a seat in the back of bars you had to show up to for friend's birthday parties, while they threw themselves between strangers on the dance floor. Times like then were when you got to know George best.

And during the last month of summer, George invited everyone to take over a beach house big enough for your ever-expanding group and more. Apparently some of his distant family owned the property but were hardly ever in the area to enjoy it. So they gave George a spare key, and insisted he treated the place like his own.

And thankfully, then, between your friends racing to the shore in the witching hour, and when everyone split up into pairs for the evening, George kept you company. You made a habit of joining each other on the rickety front porch, sharing a drink, and usually sitting in silence.

But there were nights you talked about the constellations you could see above the roaring ocean. And where you'd like to live if you had an unlimited budget. Where you'd come from and what you wanted, and didn't.

You went home to the most dreary September of all time. You used to adore the solitude of your dull apartment. But you missed waking up to your friend's laughter, having someone, if not many more, to enjoy market runs and mealtimes with. You had never felt more lonely. And you couldn't stop thinking of George.

When he came round to give you a lift to the movie theater, your usual ride together was quiet. The silence between you was heavy- you wondered if he noticed. You sat together in a boring film. Or maybe it was the best of all time. You could only focus on how close George was to you, how you'd recognized the feeling of his company. You wondered how to ask him to come around more often, without sounding pathetically desperate.

Luckily birthday parties and Halloween bashes kept coming. And you kept finding quiet places to listen to George tell his stories. And he would always share his drink, and ask about your family, and how you were doing.

One night when he invited everyone around to his flat and only a couple of your friends managed to show up, they headed out soon after dinner. You were left alone in George's kitchen to help clean up and wonder what to do with the rest of the early blue evening.

And even though your heart beat in your throat, and everything you thought to say sounded stupid in your head, you determined it was time.

During a much too easy card game at Georges table, when a conversation about some of the horrifically silly things George had witnessed you manage in the past; you decided to stop testing the waters, and address them.

"I can't believe you put up with me." You grinned, peering past your hand of playing cards to the guy sat beside you.

"I just like you," George answered simply, his ocean eye flickering up to meet yours for a beat.

"Really?" You asked, pushing for him to say more, hoping he got the hint.

"I really do." George grinned shyly, turning his attention back to his hand of playing cards he kept accidentally giving you glimpses of. You watched George bite his lip and fiddle with the cards as if he were arranging them just so.

"What if... I like you too?" It wasn't just his tousled yellow hair, or the way his smile was warmer than a ray of sun. It was his lame jokes. His soft answers. Him.

"You don't date." George rose a brow, keeping his eyes turned away. He wasn't bittered or mocking. He was accepting. George laid down his cards, to a game you weren't focused on at all anymore.

"I like you, George." You admit in a hush. His stunning eyes met yours. He seemed to consider your words, and much more. He started to speak a couple of times as he searched your features.

"So maybe... we can start slow..." You offered. You had never planned on opening up to anyone. But George had stuck around. He was always there when you needed him even when you hadn't known what you needed. He didn't make fun of your unreasonable anxieties and he always laughed at your jokes. Even the ones you knew weren't funny. You hadn't expected to ever let anyone close enough, you hadn't trusted anyone could feel like home. But before you could even decide, it was as if your heart grew a mind of its own and lept right out of your chest into George's orbit. So since he already seemed to have you, it seemed like common courtesy to at least let the guy know.

With a shy smile, George bore his brilliant blue eyes into yours, searching them for assurance. As you looked to each other you felt his knuckles brush yours, the back of his hand nervously creeping closer. George took one of his fingers and looped it around one of yours while he agreed that it would be silly for two people who felt the same way about each other to do nothing about it. So you did.

George started coming around when there wasn't any reason to, sometimes bringing take away, or asking you on walks around the park. Sometimes you'd sit in silence next to your favorite old tree and enjoy that last purple swirls in the dusk sky. And sometimes you'd watch films, one after another, pausing only to argue over the ending or make silly predictions.  And times like then, you curled into George's side like a sleepy cat. He'd carded his warm hand through your hair as you drifted off, content.

You got snowed into his flat when you showed up a few hours before the first-holiday party of the season; to help bake treats for everyone. As ice froze everyone's doors shut, the party was swiftly canceled but your plans for the evening weren't ruined at all.

George set up his den with extra blankets, finding the holiday channel on the telly, standing to refill your cup of tea during commercials so you didn't have to move. He kissed you that night, soft and kind, and slow. You both fell asleep on the floor among the mess of all the blankets he owned, while snow piled up and over the window sills.

You spent New Year's Eve much like the past couple before, watching your wild group of pals take shots and dance to bad music. George listened to you talk as you waited for the new year to set in, and he kept one of his fingers looped around yours almost all night long.

When the snow started to melt and your group of friends started squeezing into their cut off jeans from the year before, George invited everyone back to the beach house. He set a date and sent out invitations in the mail like it was the damn 1800's. Most every rsvp got sent back with the box labeled "going "grossly marked up.

George offered to give you a lift there, a day early so he could stock up on emergency snacks and soaps and even more DVDs in case the rains came and ruined your fun on the shore. You agreed happily and walked through the isles of a department store together, picking out essentials based on how well you knew your group of friends who might need them.

And while you laughed and helped and listened, you grew increasingly more fucking terrified. Because you'd never spent so long enjoying one person's company. You were enamored with George yes, but what's more, was- you trusted him. You never thought it was possible. But you really did. And the thing that you were most scared of, was having to accept the possibility that he didn't feel the same way.

Things like this had gone wrong before. Granted, things had never gone remotely close to this right before, either. But you still prepared yourself to hurt. It was always a possibility you were too afraid of risking. But George was different. You somehow knew even if he hurt you, it would be the loveliest heartbreak you'd ever feel.

You got to the beach house, completely abandoned since the last time you left it. You found your someone's favorite lost t-shirt in one of the bathrooms, and a lot of dust on the shelves. After clearing away some of the cobwebs and unloading all your groceries to their respective places, night began to fall.

The sky was still blue enough to admire the roaring ocean from the front porch. George brought out a couple of drinks, and you sat there together like you had the summer before. Only now, it was a little too chilly. So you said goodnight to the scenery, making a note of spending extra time to soak up its beauty the next morning.

And on your way inside you joked about how someone was bound to forget to pack something they needed, or bring one of the things George asked them to. You were wrapped up in laughter as you turned out the lights and drifted to settle in.

When you headed to the bedroom where all your bags had been discarded, you scurried off to the ensuite shower. This was the room George stayed in last year, a space you'd never stepped foot near until tonight.

And when you stepped back out into the bedroom, you realized you didn't want to leave.

George was busy turning down his bed covers to the dim night light in a far off corner. A dark shine beamed in from the moon in the window next to the quilted bed, and George never looked more beautiful- perfectly tousled hair. Kind, sleepy eyes. Yeah, you'd let him break your heart.

"What?" He laughed in a warm low rumble, catching you staring. You bit back a chuckle and crossed the room to meet him.

"I just love you. That's all." You informed, circling one of your fingers around his, gazing up to the guy.

You'd said so in passing, during game nights he helped you win and in the middle of lunches he'd managed to talk you into ordering. But nothing prompted you now, and the statement held an all-new kind of weight.

"I love you, too," George whispered in turn, raising his other hand to your cheek.

"Can I stay in here? With you?" You asked, keeping your gaze set and your voice low even though no one else was around to hear.

"I'd like that." George assured with a tiny grin.

You clamored into the big bed, pointing out the window to the moon over the ocean. George eased in behind you, gazing all the same. You tangled your hands together staring out the window for a while, giggling over nothing every now and again. He was so impossibly close, so warm next to you.

"George." You turned your head slowly, catching his attention. He looked at you, silently wondering what you wanted. But somehow you didn't need to say.

Somehow he knew to lean in for a kiss, soft and sweet. When he pulled away, you could tell he didn't want to. When George looked at you, you could tell he longed for more, but still kept his distance, kept your meek nature in mind. He was too kind, too considerate. There weren't words to convey how you felt. You knew what came next. You wanted George.

You reached for his hand, and brought it to rest in the dip of your waist. He kept his eyes steady on yours while his thumb brushed over the skin exposed where your shirt had ridden up.

"Kiss me again?" You asked, barely a whisper. George leaned in, almost before you could finish asking, to press his mouth against yours. You grabbed a fist full of his shirt to pull him closer while George let his hand travel to the small of your back, holding you perfectly against him. He kissed you slow and deep like he was trying to put you in a trance.

Whether he meant to or not, you wondered if it worked, as you melted into the mattress all while lazily pulling him almost all the way on top of you. This was as far as you'd ever taken things with George, yanking at each other's clothes while you kissed until you couldn't breathe.

So when you gently pushed George away, he started to retract back to his side of the bed without putting up a fight. But you sat up too. And George watched on in wonder when you sheepishly slid into his lap, your knees on either side of his hips.

Without a word you pulled George's shirt up, silently suggesting he take it all the way off.

When he did, you didn't relish the sight long before you dove in for another kiss. His skin was burning, and you could feel his heart hammer when your hand traveled across his chest. You moved your kisses to his neck, reveling in the feeling of being so close. George kept one arm gently wrapped around you as your teeth grazed a spot under his ear that made his breath catch in his throat.

"Y/n. Are you- Do you..." George began, keeping his hold around you all the same. You pulled away, gazing to George through your lashes while your heart teetered on the edge.

"Do you not want to?" You worried. You were so finally sure. But George might not have been. So you prepared to be let down gently, knowing George would at least be kind enough to break your fall.

"Yes." George let out a breathy laugh, reaching to hold your head in both of his hands. "Of course I want to do this. But I know how you feel and if you don't-"

"I trust you, George." You nodded, searching his eyes while a smile bloomed across your face. You'd been so nervous for a moment like this to come true. But everything was different with George. He made you laugh when you never expected to, he made you think about things in ways you'd never even considered. He was so the one for you.

You wrapped your fingers around George's wrist, bringing his plus to your lips. You watched George's eyes flutter as you planted a small kiss there, before moving his hand to your hip.

"Just go slow." You nodded, watching George's eyes open to meet yours. You leaned your forehead against his while he nodded, making you laugh.

He decorated your cheeks with gentle pecks and moved his hands under the hem of your shirt as you leaned in to capture his lips with yours again. And because you spent a while that way, you weren't nervous to act upon taking things even further.

Kisses turned seering as George wrangled your shirt off. His lips traveled down your throat as you settled deeper into his lap, shocked by how easy this was. Your kisses grew longer and sloppier while your layers started to collect on the floor.

You impressed yourself by how effortlessly you reach to pull away George's trousers. He managed to kick them aside while you kept your lips on his, laughing between breaks for air.

But when he pulled you back into his lap, when his fingers danced around your waistband, you were suddenly swept up in the realization that this was happening. Like, really happening.

"Uh, wait a second." You halted in a shaky breath. You didn't want to stop, not completely. You just needed to assess things for a moment, to catch up with this new reality in which this wasn't upsetting or dull or any of the things being with anyone else ever was.

George stalled in an instant, nuzzling his head into the crook of your neck. "Do you want to stop?" He asked gently, hands firmly pressed against your back, eyes glowing right into yours.

"No way." You breathed with a grin. You knew it would be better than before, with George. Probably the best. It already was, you realized with a smile, encouraging George one more time. Your hips rolled against his, causing his heavenly sigh in your ear.

He wriggled you out of the last of your clothes and made you feel like a wonder of the world, tracing the shapes you were made up of with his pretty fingers. By the time you were laid against the pillows admiring the halo of light ringing around George's waves of hair, he asked again if you were sure about this.

"So long as you are." You swallowed.

"Of course I'm sure. God, I'm so sure." George pressed a kiss to your face between sentences, making you giggle and swoon all at once. "I've never been so sure of anyone but you. I'd like to keep it that way." George rambled, peppering a few more loving, gentle kisses to your cheek. "But if you want to stop for any reason, we'll stop. Just say so."

"Thank you, George." You grinned after a beat, knowing he really meant it. Recognizing how deeply he really cared for you, watching him search your face for validation. Watching George watch you, contentedly, like he had dozens of times before now. He gave you a slowly sleepy blink, ocean blue eyes shining brighter when they opened again.

George leaned closer, hovering over you with his eyes locked on yours. He molded a kiss to your lips before anything. Then to your cheek. Then his eyes fluttered to meet yours once more.

"Slow." You rose a brow, whispering a reminder, but it was really more of a green light for him to finally take the next step.

George repeated you, in a barely audible hush, soaking up the look in your eye. A lithe grin painted his lips while you held your breath. You accounted for the feeling of his fingers loosely tangled in your hair, his thumb brushing across your temple every now and again. You'd nearly forgotten everything else while swimming in those warm icy eyes of his. He didn't break you from your reverie when he gave a small nod. The gesture only settled you further, as you responded by lacing your fingers around the back of his neck.

George kept his hand nearly cradling your head as he pushed closer. His thumb brushing across the pulse of your temple was keeping you grounded while your heart threatened to soar into the clouds. While your breathing grew deeper, while he moved as close as he could until he couldn't anymore.

"You okay?" George asked, his voice beautifully strained.

"Uh-huh." You gazed at him through hooded eyes as you adjusted everything, including the realization that this was happening. He wasn't even moving yet. And he waited until you had to ask him to, with his head buried in your neck. After a couple of breaths, you looked to George, giving him a nod. He pressed his forehead against yours and moved his hips.

A tame, steady pace set in as you stopped George from asking if you were alright, again, assuring him you were really, very good. Your raspy encouragement must have given George the sound authority to go about awing you further.

He kept one hand against your temple while his other trailed down your side, fingers deliberately pressed into your skin as he brought your leg around his hip. George's strong-arm hooked under your back to keep you secured against him. He picked up the pace as your hands tangled in his hair, around his shoulder, holding on to the moment. To George.

You wondered why you waited so long to feel this damned good, while George spoke low in your ear. He listed off all the things he liked best about you, and why. He planted clumsy kisses to your lips. He made you see stars brighter than all the far off constellations you were used to pointing out from the shoreline. You seemed to float among them, above everything. Time slowed down while your heart sped up, somehow, and while everything around you faded into an impossibly dull background, you still had George.

His weight was warm and secure. His breath was hot on your neck. His voice was saccharine in your ear.  When he eventually eased next to your side in a heap, the cool of the night was still shielded by him.

You snuggled to his chest, like an old sleepy cat while he kept repeating how he loved you. You said so too, as many times as you could manage before drifting to sleep all tangled together.

The next morning came slow. You made coffee and watched the sunrise above the waves from the porch. When your friends started showing up in pairs and trios and more, they all seemed sort of relieved to find you and George attached at the hip. They greeted you as if you'd always been a packaged deal, and they didn't bat an eye when you stuck together to roam the vast empty beach. There was no fighting over choosing partners when someone broke out a new board game that night. When your friends were all gathered around the dinner table, and all the extra snacks and gifts and surprises for the summer were stored away, you still had George.

Maybe things wouldn't always be so easy. There would likely be fights and upsets and questions that didn't always have answers. But George was worth it. You had him now, you loved him and he couldn't stop reminding how dearly he loved you. Nothing had ever hurt so good before. You decided to keep it that way.

───※ ·❆· ※───

[peanuts-fan]

'A Charlie Brown Christmas' at 50: The Making of a Classic Soundtrack

Producer Lee Mendelson, drummer Jerry Granelli reflect on enduring seasonal favorite

By Liz Pelly December 9, 2015

“The fact that it's become such a permanent part of the holiday season is surreal," says original 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' producer Lee Mendelson. United Feature Syndicate Inc./ABC

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The legend goes like this: In 1963, producer Lee Mendelson made a documentary about Peanuts cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, for which he needed music. One night, Mendelson was driving over the Golden Gate Bridge, tuned into a San Francisco jazz station. "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" came on the air, a drifting cut where melodies appear and then disappear, and bouncing elation is matched by tiny moments of despair. The track was pianist Vince Guaraldi's mini-hit that year, and Mendelson was struck by how it sounded simultaneously adult and childlike. The next day, he called up the San Francisco Chronicle's jazz critic, Ralph J. Gleason. "Do you have any idea in the world who Vince Guaraldi is?" Mendelson asked. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I'm having lunch with him tomorrow," Gleason said. Mendelson met Guaraldi a few days later, and they agreed to work together.

The documentary ultimately didn't sell. But two years later, Coca-Cola, who had seen the doc, called up Mendelson, and asked if he'd ever thought of making a Christmas special. Mendelson said, "Absolutely!" and hung up the phone, then called Mr. Schulz. As Mendelson remembers it: "I said, 'I think I just sold A Charlie Brown Christmas.' And Schulz said, 'What in the world is that?' And I said, 'It's something you're going to write tomorrow.' There was a long pause, and he said, 'Alright. Come on up.'"

The rest, of course, is history. A Charlie Brown Christmas aired 50 years ago today, on December 9th, 1965. Over the years, the special has become a perennial classic: the 25-minute story of wistful Charlie Brown and his struggle to find the true meaning of Christmas in the face of holiday-season commercialism. "I almost wish there weren't a holiday season," he sighs, at the story's beginning. "I know nobody likes me. Why do we have to have a holiday season to emphasize it?" The genius of A Charlie Brown Christmas was the way it channeled the looming sadness and anxiety that come with the holidays — and the way its timeless, best-selling soundtrack by the Vince Guaraldi Trio tapped into that narrative seamlessly, with muted, melancholic jazz.

Indeed, to create such an unabashedly anti-consumerist story with the backing of both Coca-Cola and CBS was a subtly radical accomplishment in 1965, as it would be now.  The executives at CBS were displeased with the finished product: its slow-moving animation, its religious undertone, its jazz soundtrack. They had no choice but to air it, though — they had already advertised it in TV Guide.

"They wanted something corporate, something rousing," says drummer Jerry Granelli, the lone surviving member of the Guaraldi combo. "They thought the animation was too slow. They really didn’t like that a little kid was going to come out and say what Christmas was all about, which wasn’t about shopping. And then the jazz music, which was improvised — you know, the melodies only take up maybe 30 seconds." Yet A Charlie Brown Christmas was an immediate, massive success.

The first of many specials that Schulz and Guaraldi would collaborate on with Mendelson and animator Bill Melendez, A Charlie Brown Christmas came together in just six months. "We brought Vince Guaraldi in to reprise the music he had done for the documentary, plus some Beethoven and some traditional music," Mendelson says. 

Employing his background in easygoing, West Coast jazz, and working with a local children's choir that sounded perfectly off-key at times, Guaraldi crafted future classics through original compositions and re-arrangements of holiday standards. Like the characters themselves, the songs merge bits of Schroeder's bookish sophistication, Charlie Brown's heavy heart, and Snoopy's unpredictable mischief. The songs are both smooth and snappy, with Granelli's brush and stick sounds pushing them steadily along.

"Guaraldi never wasted a note," says author Derrick Bang of the pianist. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

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"We went in and did it in three hours," recalls Granelli, who was only 24 at the time. "That's just the way jazz records were recorded. I think we even went to work in a club that night." Some of the songs were already part of the group's repertoire. "We were improvising all the time, so each night, the song kind of evolved."

The trio's version of the 1824 German carol "O Tannenbaum" exemplifies this process. Guaraldi, Granelli and bassist Fred Marshall took the song's harmonic foundation and ran, moving the composition into more explosive, bluesy territory. In the special, the song plays as Charlie Brown and Linus look around for a Christmas tree. "This doesn't seem to fit the modern spirit," says Linus, when Charlie Brown picks out the smallest, most dilapidated one he can find. The funny sound of flat piano keys chirp as the tree's twigs fall to the ground.

"Linus and Lucy" was one of the holdovers from the Schulz-documentary days; in A Charlie Brown Christmas, it is the centerpiece of the soundtrack, capturing a moment when inner anxieties subside and the season feels fleetingly fine. "My playing is really very simple on that record, but it's exactly what captures the story," says Granelli. "It moves the music forward doing very little. Just the way the brush starts on 'Linus and Lucy,' so it doesn't conflict with the bass line, and then it goes to the Latin part, and then it goes back to the left hand, the conga drum part."

"Christmas Time Is Here" was originally an all-instrumental piece. "Guaraldi had written a very beautiful melody for the opening skating scene, but about two weeks before it was about to run on the air, I thought, 'Maybe we could get a lyricist to put some words to this,'" remembers Mendelson. "I called a few lyricist friends of mine, and everyone was busy. So I sat down at my kitchen table and I wrote out a few words, and we rushed it to the choir that Vince Guaraldi had been working with in San Francisco. And he recorded it, and we got it into the show about a week before it went on the air."

"They really didn’t like that a little kid was going to come out and say what Christmas was all about, which wasn’t about shopping." —Jerry Granelli

"It's deceptively simple, but at the same time, impressively complex, kind of the way Charles Schulz approached his newspaper strip," says Derrick Bang, author of Vince Guaraldi at the Piano and multiple books on Peanuts, of Guaraldi's soundtrack. "He never wasted a line; Guaraldi never wasted a note. Every note was important."

"We’re living in times where so much is done to manipulate us," reflects Granelli. "And things last for, what, a news cycle? A few minutes? This [album] is something that’s lasted 50 years. And not only lasted, but grown ... I think there’s just a humanness."

"The whole thing from beginning to end has been surreal," Mendelson says. "The fact that it's become such a permanent part of the holiday season is surreal. And every time I hear it on the radio, or I hear it in a store, or someone says, 'wah, wah, wah,' I realize we're very lucky to have been associated with Mr. Schulz and his characters. It all comes back to his characters, and his philosophy, and his humor."

© 2015 Rolling Stone

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http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/a-charlie-brown-christmas-at-50-the-making-of-a-classic-soundtrack-20151209?page=3

*Note: The picture at the top of the article is NOT from “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, it is from another cartoon, probably “It’s christmastime again, charlie brown”.

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[cxhnow]

THE KIDS ARE MORE THAN ALRIGHT: CHLOE AND HALLE ARE KILLING IT

At only 21 and 20 years old respectively, Chloe and Halle, the sister singing duo signed to Beyoncé’s Parkwood Entertainment, have an almost preternatural poise and polish. You see it in on-camera interviews, their big smiles never breaking, or when they’re singing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl, their harmonies as sweeping and pristine as harmonies can be. Even in the homemade YouTube covers which made them Internet-famous as adolescents — a cover of Beyoncé’s “Pretty Hurts” (a song, interestingly enough, about the demands on young women to be flawless) caught the attention of Queen B and got them signed in 2015 in the first place — they have a peaceful and almost uncannily seasoned presence.

This seeming perfection has made them into major role models to young fans, and one of them into a future megastar fronting the massive Disney machine, as the younger Halle takes the lead role of Ariel in the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid expected out in 2021. They’ve had real world ambitions for the entirety of their teen years, starting their YouTube channel when Chloe was 13 and Halle 11, criss-crossing the country multiple times as the opening act for their mentor Bey, and dabbling in acting, with roles on Kenya Barris’ sitcom Grown-ish.

But beyond the sheen they’ve developed, it’s nice to hear, on a quarantine Zoom call one Friday morning, that they are more steadfastly committed — even dogged — about their craft than they are the presentation. They write, arrange, and produce much of their own music in their home studio in Los Angeles. While their sophomore album, Ungodly Hour, features guestwork by super-producers Scott Storch and Mike WiLL Made-It, the sisters executive produced the whole thing, and still brought unfinished collaborative tracks home from sessions to tighten them up in their own way, on their own computer software.

Though their debut, The Kids Are Alright — an unlikely but satisfying cross between SZA and Björk — hinted at this artistry, Ungodly Hour is the true breakthrough. It’s a grown-up album in a number of ways, with lyrics about hook-ups, break-ups, and mess-ups. But it’s also just undeniably and straightforwardly cool. In the choreography-heavy video for the excellent “Do It,” their astonishing maturity begins to look more like bravado. They mine sounds from late-’90s R&B, recalling forebears like Aaliyah, Destiny’s Child, TLC, and Blaque, but have come up with something refreshing and personal. There are no lags on Ungodly Hour, no saccharine ballads or misplaced attempts at massive over-the-top pop — just easily enjoyable bops with silky harmonies and relatable themes. That’s an achievement for an artist of any age.

In conversation, they are, yes, incredibly composed, but also engaged and interested in talking about a range of subjects, from 808s and Atlanta to politics and pain. Here, the two sisters offer a little glimpse into their lives — and how they got to be so on top of everything to begin with.

Note: This interview occurred after the death of George Floyd but before demonstrations surrounding the killing fully heated up across the country, and the sisters have since delayed the release of the album from the original June 5 to this Friday, June 12. At the bottom of this Q&A, we’ve included some questions and answers the two responded to by email this week concerning moving the release date and their solidarity with the protestors.

Have you been quarantining together?

Halle: We are quarantining together in Los Angeles. We’re in our family home, so it’s really nice to all be together.

Chloe: I think, you know, with any family being in close spaces, you all have to relearn each other. You can’t, like, escape and go to your own corner.

H: We’re learning more every single day in quarantine what not to do [laughs]. We know the trigger points for both of us. We both love to get our feelings out, so once we do that, I think it’s good.

Let’s get into the album: In the past, your music has had an innocence about it, but this album is pretty grown.

C: You know, with anything in life, we never like to force it. Halle just turned 20. I’ll be 22 in July. Naturally, the music will just grow with that. We’re sharing our experiences, sharing what we’re going through, whether it’s heartbreak or falling in love or our insecurities — what makes us tick. People only really know us as, like, little sweet angels and all of that. And everyone is multi-layered.

“Busy Boy” is about a guy who sleeps around and sends you unsolicited late night photos of, well, a very particular body part of his. Are lines like this born from real life?

H: Absolutely. All the songs on the album are pulled from real-life experiences, real-life relationships. And for “Busy Boy,” everyone can relate to knowing this guy who is just so hot, he is just A+ everywhere. But everyone knows him as a player. They know he jumps around from girl to girl. It was funny to talk about that because in our little girl group [of friends], sometimes we do find that one dude who has tried to talk to all of us. And we laugh about it and we kiki about it.

Are you able to find time to date and have fun, and do what young people do?

H: Of course!

C: You know, we explore. We date around. We’re learning as we experience life. And it helps stimulate the lyrics.

There’s a lot of tense back and forth between the sexes on the album, and I wonder if you thought of it as a kind of break-up album.

C: It’s that back and forth because that’s how it was in our lives at the time when we were creating this album. You know, my sister and I, we’re at that age where you’re learning yourself through relationships, learning how people work. Even though Halle and I are a year and a half apart, we were going through the same thing at the same time when we were writing. We were heartbroken and putting that into the music. But we also wanted to come from a point where we don’t have to be these weak girls crying over it, but instead take our power back.

H: Love is a huge theme of the album. But also feeling alone, and the rawness. These were all themes that we hadn’t really talked about before in music. Our deepest, deepest feelings. The title, Ungodly Hour, stemmed from everything that happens during those hours, you know, in the middle of the night when you’re about to go to sleep. You’re thinking of all your insecurities — your mind is swimming. You’re thinking of lustful things, you’re thinking of heartbreak.

C: It feels conversational because when we were writing it, we were simply having a conversation. My sister and I tell each other everything when it comes to these things. And as we’re sitting down, explaining, “I’m pissed because of this,” or, “I’m happy because of this,” we would just write it into the music.

You worked with the 2000s producer Scott Storch on “Do It,” and there’s almost a nostalgic feel for that time in R&B and pop.

C: He’s really a legend, and just seeing him on the keys when we had multiple sessions together, we were always left in awe. Production-wise, I’ve always been inspired by experimental sounds and the weirder side of music. But while we were making this album, I really started falling more and more in love with ’90s music and early 2000s production; listening to a lot of Kelis. We wanted this album to feel fun and flirty, but also grunge, in a way, and a little dark and mysterious and sexy. And I really feel like ’90s production with beautiful melodies on top truly embodied that. [‘90s producers] weren’t afraid to experiment.

How do you balance creative freedom and experimentation with what I imagine to be a lot of pressure to make a hit?

H: We were feeling a little bit, like, “So where do we go from here? What do we do now?” We were a little bit stuck at the beginning, because we were hearing from the label about doing songs a bit more commercial. Whenever we are given direction, it always throws us off. Whenever somebody tells us what to do, we don’t like it. At the beginning, we were making songs that didn’t really sound like us. And we realized we were trying to please everyone else.

So then we were like, You know what? Scratch that. Let’s go back to the beginning. Let’s remember why we’re doing this. Let’s make the sounds that make us happy. Let’s go back to doing those experimental things that have made us so happy all the time. With these sessions with [Ariana Grande songwriter] Victoria [Monet] and Scott [Scorch], we can also add a bop or two in there and find a beautiful way to do it without sacrificing our musical integrity. We never want to feel like we’re selling out.

You taught yourselves how to produce, arrange, write, and record your music at a very young age, but now that there is this bigger spotlight, is it important to still create in that more organic way?

C: Absolutely. Yeah. If we didn’t keep that, I don’t think we would even have finished this album. We love creating at home so much. You know, [our first album] The Kids Are Alright, we created the whole thing in our living room. [For this album], we converted the garage and carpeted it up and made it into our little studio here. We always prefer home and working on our laptop and arranging all the weird harmonies together and recording each other.

We worked with so many amazing producers and songwriters on this album, but at the end of every session, we would take the stems, and we would revamp them up and really add, like, our sauce to the songs afterward so it really felt like us. But also, half the album is strictly just us and our production and writing as well. We executive produced it. That’s the only way to do it. If it starts to feel forced or bad, we walk away.

What programs do you use to produce on your laptop?

C: I’m a huge Logic Pro girl. When we do live shows, I use Ableton, but when we’re recording each other and I’m making the tracks, it’s all on Logic.

You’re known for your harmonies, and you also produce all your own vocals. How do you think about the resonance and affect and power of your voices? What are you aiming for with a vocal?

H: There’s something really special about singing with your sibling, or singing with somebody who has the same blood as you. The Clark Sisters are one of our favorites, and every time we listen to their harmonies, it just takes us to another world. And I don’t know what it is, but every time I sing with my sister, I do feel like it’s a power, like it’s something special that’s happening when the two of us are singing together. It’s different than when I’m just singing alone.

C: We know how to fit and blend with each other. Usually I’ll take like more of the lower notes, and Halle will take a lot more of the higher ones. For me, ever since I was a little girl, I loved Destiny’s Child and Toni Braxton and Nina Simone. Our family would always play Erykah Badu and Jill Scott around the house. So I have grown up loving soulful tones. As I got older, being a female producer, I was really inspired by other female producers, like Grimes and Imogen Heap and Merrill Garbus of Tune-Yards, and I really started appreciating and loving alternative music, where they use different experimental sounds. More recently, I was listening to a lot of Kelis and Missy [Elliott] and Timbaland production, and Aaliyah and all of that. All of my inspirations… I love how it’s in contrast with my sister. Because, you know — and she’ll tell you this — she is a huge jazzhead. She loves jazz melodies. And when the two worlds come together, it kind of creates us.

You mentioned Erykah Badu and Jill Scott as influences, so I gotta ask — what’d you think of the Erykah and Jill Verzuz on Instagram?

H: We loved it so much. We put it on our TV and watched the whole thing.

Who do you think won?

H: They both won. You know, you could sing those songs every single day and never get tired of them. We want our music to live on like those songs live on.

You both have childhood roots in Atlanta, which has become essentially the musical epicenter of America in the last 20 years. Does that influence your sound?

C: Oh my gosh, yeah. Atlanta music is so incredible. We’ve always been so inspired by OutKast. Ciara. Donald Glover.

H: Janelle Monáe.

C: It’s so much soul and rhythm and bounce. And I think that’s why I love big drums and 808 so much. We are true Atlanta girls at heart. And I think that also comes into why we’re really kind. It’s just southern hospitality.

You’re signed to Beyoncé’s management company, Parkwood, and I’m curious what kind of creative notes or advice she gives you when you’re working on an album.

C: She allows us to grow and flourish on our own. And, you know, as we’ve been finding our sound through the past five years, she’s just kind of sat back in the wings and let us do what we want to do. When we feel like we got the music to a special place, we always want her input. It’s Beyoncé! She has the experience, she’s incredibly talented, and she has such good instincts.

With her notes, a lot of the time, we’re on the same page. Whether it’s about what she hears in the layers of the production, if she thinks the production should change on one part, or how we sang a certain word or something, she’ll always recommend, but it’s up to us whether we want to do it or not. She allows us to do what we want to do, musically.

When we sent this album to her, she didn’t have any notes. Halle and I were like, whoa. She must really, really like it. And she could give us as many notes as she wants! She’s Queen Bey.

Halle, you’re about to be Ariel in the live-action version of ‘The Little Mermaid’ for Disney. What is it like wearing the mermaid tail?

H: [Laughs] Well, I can’t really .. [laughs] … that was a good try [laughs]. I can’t really tell you about that [ed. note: Disney is notorious for strictly enforcing a code of silence about a future production]. But it’s really cool being able to play one of my favorite characters from my favorite Disney movie. And show other little black girls that, yes, you can be Ariel too. That the part is not just for anyone who does not look like us. We can do it too.

There was a really dumb conservative backlash when Disney announced it was casting a black woman in the role.

H: Yeah, well, I don’t really pay attention to that stuff. People are hurting right now, so a lot of the times people take their hurt out on you. And you can’t do anything about that. We just gotta move forward in love and light and say a prayer for them, you know?

On one very serious note, you posted a cover on Instagram that blended the hymnals “We Shall Overcome” and “Lift Every Voice and Sing” as a tribute to George Floyd. I’m wondering how you’re viewing what’s happening in America right now?

H: [That] week was very difficult for us. Just that video of George — I couldn’t watch it. This keeps happening to our people. When I see George, I think of my father, and I think of my little brother, and I think of them just wanting to live and to not be killed just for living their lives. I don’t think we will ever understand why it keeps happening. I don’t think we could ever wrap our heads around it.

So we just thought, What can we do? What can we do to make ourselves feel better? What can we do to make everyone feel better? And we decided to sing those two songs that have been sung for many, many years. It made us feel a little better, but it didn’t take it all away. It’s crazy that this keeps repeating itself. [That] whole week was kind of wonky for us.

When I see you two on camera and in interviews, I’m struck by how poised you both are, from such a young age. You present yourself almost perfectly. But I wonder if that ever feels like pressure? You’ve had to be really mature since before most kids ever really do.

H: It’s not a persona. It’s not something that we turn on and we turn off. It’s just the way that our parents raised us. Sometimes, we do get compliments, like, “Oh my gosh. You guys are always so happy and positive. You guys are angels!” And, you know, that’s one side of it, of course. I know some people put us on a pedestal. And I think that what hones us in on continuing to just be positive beings and lights is the way we grew up, our parents constantly reminding us that all of these things don’t matter. All of these grand things don’t matter.

But there’s also the other layers of us that people don’t see when we’re not in the spotlight. We do overthink. We do have insecurities just like everybody else. And that’s what with this album in particular we wanted people to get through their heads. Like, hello, we are just like you. At times, yes, it does get overwhelming. But that’s just a part of life. And that’s more fuel for inspiration for us to write.

As previously noted, the original interview occurred before demonstrations surrounding the killing of George Floyd reached full steam. Here, the two sisters followed up by email more recently in a joint statement to address changing the release date of the album in light of the uprising and how they are participating in protest.

Originally you were meant to release the album on June 5, but now it is coming out this Friday, June 12. How’d you come to that decision?

These past two weeks have definitely felt like an emergency call to justice that is much needed. It was important for us to push our album and bring awareness to everything else that’s been going on. We didn’t want this moment to be about us, but rather about getting justice for our brothers and sisters and making a change.

What are you feeling in heart and mind about what we’re witnessing?

Honestly, it has been very, very difficult for us this past week. Having to witness someone’s life being taken away just because of the color of their skin is just traumatic. Even though these days have been hard, we are thankful that people are now seeing what has been happening for a while. And we are grateful that the world is finally doing something about it! Seeing these protests happening all around the country and world truly makes us hopeful that a change is coming. We are so much stronger than we think and so powerful when we come together.

It’s your generation that’s in no small part fueling this movement — how does it make you feel to see people in your age group activated in this way?

It makes us so proud to see our peers standing up for what’s right. We are the future and deserve to be in a world that protects us, rather than harm us. We deserve to live a life not in fear.

How are you two approaching contributing to the protests — what do you find effective?

We are doing everything we can to speak up for what’s right: signing and posting petitions online, donating, etc. We will not let anyone silence us. We have also been singing a lot more, trying to use our voices as healing for the world right now. Music always tends to be the best therapy.

Where are you turning for information, solace, discussion, leadership, and creativity in a moment like this?

Social media has definitely been one of our main sources. We’ve been seeing and sharing content from our peers who are actually out there protesting on the frontlines and experiencing firsthand. We can now view videos and photos and form our own opinions, instead of being swayed by mainstream media. There’s a lot of stuff that’s not being shown on the news, that we may find on Twitter or Instagram. Because of social media and technology, more light is finally being shed on the injustices being done to our people. It’s helping change our world for the better!

Though it’s an invigorating moment in a lot of ways, it’s also a difficult one, and I’ve been hearing from people that they’re excited to be protesting but also feeling anxious and not sleeping well. How do you keep your mental and physical health up while staying activated around the movement?

As much as it’s our main source of information, we also take frequent breaks from social media. We will delete the various apps from our phones and almost block out the world, in a way. And when we really begin to feel hopeless, prayer and mediation has been so beneficial during these times. As well as working out, to clear our heads and let out any built-up frustration.

Do you have recommendations for your young fans of readings, songs, or movies that they can watch to further educate themselves on racial justice?

The movie American Son shows firsthand what it feels like for a mother to lose her son to police brutality. The book The Water Dancer reminds us of how our ancestors overcame slavery and found freedom through the pain. And even though Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On album was released in the 1970s, it’s still so relevant to what’s going on now in the year 2020.

[Photos were retouched by High Snobiety to make the girls appear lighter. I have included two of the original versions where they are unretouched.]

[kirliancamera1]

Rede Vamp Brazil (https://redevampirica.com) interviews Elena Alice Fossi of Kirlian Camera (English text attached hereunder) 🔥🔥🔥

Question 1: Be very welcome to AcessoRedeVamp, it's a true honor to realize this interview with you Elena Alice! You are a great singer and more every time we see you on stage your performance transmits great emotion and this electrifies all of us! You tell a real story with your performance and this is amazing and rare these days! At the same time, we perceive an expressive revolt against an old world and its stagnant postures. How have you handled 2020?

*** EAF – First of all, I wanna thank you for your words. Being able to communicate with the people who follow us is the most important thing to me. Singing becomes ephemeral if doesn't convey a message. Also for this reason I consider that the stage is the base of a musician, so you can imagine how I miss it. In this sense, it can be said that the category we belong to is very unlucky, not only because it's forced not to work, but rather 'cause concerts are pure lifeblood for a musician's soul. In any case, both Angelo and I can't stand self-pity people, so we immediately jumped into new musical projects, putting top concentration on composition. At any rate, we couldn't be simple observers of an event on this scale, so right from the beginning we tried to dig deep, looking for, and comparing news, data, statistics, whether they came from mainstream channels or from alternative sources. In Italy, for example, the economy has been torn to pieces and furthermore, the same politicians who mourn the dead on TV... cut so many funds for health facilities for a long time, so they may be considered taking part in such a mess. This situation has created a real drama, especially for families who have lost their loved ones without even having a chance to say goodbye one last time. But, it's also true that the worldwide exploitation of this pandemic has given us, we citizens, an opportunity to wake up. No need to use words such as anarchy or rebellion to understand that the old world is showing all kinds of holes. "Divide et impera" is the motto of several governments, so we citizens must not fall into the trap of making war on each other, each nonsense comes up! This is the time to show ourselves united. And, most of all, it’s time not to turn ourselves into servile dogs of a “Power” becoming more and more antidemocratic.

Question 2: Do you feel that the marks left by the year 2020 will bring some effective changes to this "abstraction" called humanity? Will there be a "new normal" or will we just return to an average 2019 when this whole pandemic passes?

*** EAF - If I’d been told about what we have experienced for almost one year, I’d have thought it was a joke, bullshit. But unluckily this is not the case. Such an event has brought much grief and is ruining the economic system of many nations, as already said. But in addition to the injury, here it comes the insult from the absurd and chaotic dictates imposed on us. I'll give you some examples of what's happening here in Italy. “Don't go out after 10 pm”. While people keep on getting sick or even dying, here comes the policeman with a ticket 'cause you left home for a goddam moment. I have this picture on my mind, of a person in pajamas, carrying the garbage bag full of stinking mussel shells at less than one hundred meters from home in a totally deserted night. At that point a flash on him. It’s the police who writes a ticket to that dangerous criminal. And then, for everyone's sake, the Christmas mass was moved from the usual midnight to 8 pm. How the hell can you think it's not a mockery? And... the last “gag”! Before Christmas, our Minister of technological innovation made an appeal to telephone companies so that video calls were free on Christmas days... But what year does she live in? But... is she not able to understand that in Italy almost everyone has either unlimited gigas or wifi? Nothing changes if the telephone companies for a couple of days give us video calls because we already use free services such as Whatsapp, Skype, Zoom, Telegram, and so on and so forth... Ok, in a vain attempt to avoid death, they are putting us in an induced coma! Seriously, all this offends our intelligence! And, when you realize you are inside a joke, you don't like to discover you're the main character, do you?! So, to answer your question, I couldn't foresee how a post-covid society will be reshaped, but the severe weakening that now is burdening us will have some major impact, no doubt. Currently, most folks are obsessed with fear, so are unable to reflect on the consequences of unconstitutional actions such as those foolishly propagated by many States. Furthermore, the pharma companies, the giants of the online shopping industry and many other powerful satanic puppet masters who are used to appear as philanthropists are ready to get their hands on everything, well pleased with the next “big reset”. So, after the pandemic, things will change a lot! For sure, from a human point of view, the feelings will be devitalized.

Question 3: Hologram Moon is a great name! Evokes conspirations like what really is the moon and this strangeness opens a vast creative field to find answers or even new questions... please tell us a bit more about this album, his name, songs...

*** EAF - "Fake is your face" is one of the phrases that most resonate in me when I sing "Holograms", or when in “Lost Islands” the old world said “Goodbye”! It's as if you had to face a new reset, as if you discovered everything you've always believed is swept away in an instant. There's the awareness that in the face of a new and suffocating truth, when the sky collapses, only true love can resist and guide you. In this sense, the final track of the album, “Travellers’ Testament” is a real stone on my heart, as it describes a fantastic journey to a planet. The astronaut is now impatient to fulfill his dream, but he will never arrive on that planet. The landing will take place on a space station. The moon landing's been questioned over and over again and certain evidence of the fact's inconsistency eventually seems credible. But we cannot say what reality is in any scientific way, especially when we're already prepared to believe a reassuring source. This is a simple starting point to embark on our history. More than finding answers, our sacred duty is to open the door to new questions, ask doubts, not take anything for granted. “Hologram Moon” is a purely poetic vision, but also a way to question everything. The mind can atrophy very easily. Habit, for example, can be complicit in this and the so-called comfort zone can be just complicit as well. The hypnosis that we suffer every day without realizing it, also grinding so many and bad TV shows, and so on... So, let's remain thinking and dreaming! This is a message from us.

Question 4: How was the experience of working with Covenant's Eskil Simonsson on the beautiful "Sky Collapse"?

*** EAF - We had come across Covenant several times before doing this collaboration; on festival occasions, in the dressing rooms... But it was a chaotic situation, so... we gave each other a fleeting smile, a kind greeting, but nothing more. Then, when Angelo and I wrote “Sky Collapse”, we immediately thought that a deep and sincere voice like Eskil's would add something precious to the song. Even before recording the two-voice song, we met at a charity festival. We had called him as a guest just to sing this song together, which was yet unreleased. He made himself available immediately. It was a nice gift for us and when the moment came, I think that on stage you could feel my strong emotion all the way down the hall!

Question 5: Well, I think now we will have our fan moment! Let's talk about some Kirlian Camera songs that our DJs and the audience of the REDE VAMP love it? Do I speak the name and may you tell a little about the meanings, influences, or a curious story?

*** EAF ***

>>> NIGHTGLORY. It refers to the triumph of the night, perhaps as a momentary spiritual retreat. I'm talking about that precious moment that regenerates your very existence into yourself. The music of this song was born in a symphonic form, very different from how Nightglory was then arranged. This is a song and an album that has been appreciated by many people only after some time, partly because of a promotion that described the album as the most commercial in our history, which is absolutely harmful and misleading. Invisible Front and Eclipse were even more listenable, for example... Sometimes words spoil your work. It would be better to listen to music only, ignoring its promotional presentation. Fortunately, Nightglory has recovered over time till becoming one of the most requested live songs of ours.

>>> BLACK AUGUST. In this song there are various hints coming out from a dark moment in my life, I mean a period that risked devouring me. Wounds that take time to heal. Sky Collapse can be considered the final act of that period, even if the music of the two songs sounds very different, as you know. Black August blends various stylistic dimensions in a single “body of music”, so many didn't know how to label it at the time, as it effectively goes running free, out of the box. A very atypical song that has gained some actual success despite its distinction, which has also brought us closer to fans of dark metal and so-called electronica.

>>> HELLFIRE. I chose this piece to add an echo to the dark period I was talking about above, in order to exorcise all that negativity, so we went to deal with a theme showing gospel traits but containing some demonic references in the lyrics. Then I didn't know THE 8th PRESIDENT was waiting for us at the SCARLET GATE OF TOXIC DAYBREAK, with his COLD PILLS! A wordplay whoever is following us will understand!

>>> K-PAX. I wrote this piece in a night when everything seemed dreamy and I almost didn't realize where I was anymore. No, I wasn't under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but all my memories were mixing in tremendous chaos that needed to reinvent itself and turn into an immaterial fog, in a light but lost dream. Angelo literally translated the music and melodies I had written on the staff, giving both them and my voice the perfect terms to guide the journey. In fact, it's not a complete and static text, but a sequence of dreamy and painful phrases at the same time. I felt that Angelo listened to me attentively since he knew how to translate my notes so perfectly into written sentences as if he were sending me back into my music. It was magical and at K-Pax Angelo and I discovered the other life of ourselves, bringing to light so many breathtaking emotions and it was just the departure, after the suffocating mists of Still Air, an album we love, and the crepuscular decadence of Stalingrad Valkyrie.

Question 6: There is a cover of Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd from Kirlian Camera that is a true work of art. The Mad World cover performed by Spectra Paris is fascinating. Are there more covers from other bands that you would like to record?

*** EAF - Well yes, there are ideas, but we prefer to evaluate which are the best. Meanwhile, I tried to produce a version of a Johnny Cash song and I made Angelo interpret it: I really like the result. It may be used by Stalingrad Valkyrie.

Question 7: I love your lyrics! What can't Elena be missing when creating new lyrics or musical arrangements? Are there any poetry, films, books, comic books, or other influences?

*** EAF - Mostly everything happens unconsciously. You don't know how many times I realize why I wrote a certain phrase only after a song was released! But I can say that my imagination works mostly by processing images. So, the movies are very helpful in this. Similarly, Angelo and I tap into imagery that could be part of the quantum physics new era, where multiverse and multidimensionality are both playing an important role. This world appears like a really tiny thing when compared to everything else.

Question 8: Elena, I read in an older interview about a "Young Ladies Homicide Club" I found an undeniable reference to the films Noir and the figure of the characters called "Vamp" and all the charm and spectral magnetism ... but I was a little curious. .. what is this "Young Ladies Homicide Club"?

*** EAF - Let's say I imagined an unreal club created by apparently dead or so to say "disappeared" models in order to get rid of fashion people who were acting a bit too naughty! The work to clean up that world wouldn't be lacking, as, after all, it happens in all professional areas. As for myself goes, I gladly opted in a flash and without second thoughts for singing and making music, leaving everything behind, buying a couple of synths and a decent microphone, which I then enriched with various electronic devilry, kicking away possible easy money, foolish nights, cocaine, heroin, stereotyped relationships, and absurdly worshipped wines! Every so often I like to play with the ridiculous and grotesque ghosts of some fashion designers, photographers, and evil spirits, then going to recreate noir stories in which everything happens. I also drew some digital comics with a noir-glam flavor, a few years ago... It was a fun pastime, while with Kirlian Camera I'd been exploring deeper and more fundamental universes.

Question 9: Is there more news on the way for the incredible Spectra Paris and also for Stalingrad Valkyrie? May you talk a bit more about them?

*** EAF - Stalingrad Valkyrie is a project I am very fond of, in a special way. So I insisted on getting it back to life after a period of hibernation which lasted too much in my opinion. "Martyrium Europae", the most recent album, proved me right, even if it’s not a commercial project. Well, it seems our listeners have appreciated the attempt to combine different musical sources in a unique style, certainly linked to the more symphonic and dramatic Kirlian Camera pages, but also quite free to express itself on his own, trying to avoid the most standard patterns of neofolk, progressive and industrial, without on the other hand completely ignoring their now distant origins. So, in its small way, the new album turned out to be a success and I'd really like this project to keep on living with further fresh ideas. We're currently working on a new chapter that will be released on vinyl and some digitals, which contains previously unreleased songs and versions.

Question 10: Elena, our Rede Vamp is a platform about Cultural Vamp and Vampires production ... and there is a question that our interviewees never escape. Is there a character or perhaps a vampire story that you never forgot?

*** EAF - Needless to say the vampire who most impressed me over time can't be anyone other than... Angelo Bergamini!!! Not many know that Angelo was the leading actor in a short film entitled "Himre Bakai", shot in the late nineties or so, directed by Antonio Bocchi, the later owner of the dark-electronic project Lux Anodyca and author of detective books. I don't think the film is regularly available or downloadable at the moment, but I know it was also screened at the time in various festivals and reviews, also getting some good feedback! Angelo (Himre) and Antonio told me that one day the film "will see the light ”, but at the moment... he lies in the dark, by the book, of course!!!

Question 11: Elena, thank you so much for your time and generosity! You and Kirlian Camera have many fans on our events and radio shows, please leave a special message for our audience! Are there plans for a new gig in Brazil after all this pandemic?

*** EAF - While it's true that we've never been able to play in Brazil so far, I'm sure your Land is actually right for us, 'cause I can feel that's full of feeling and passion, so we'd love to perform for you very much, 'cause in spite of the fact it's so far away, I feel a deep affinity and a certain familiarity with your world. And while we wait, confident that sooner or later we'll succeed in our aim, I wanna greet all those who had the kindness to listen to me, with a quote from the American scientist and politician Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

[d-criss-news]

When it was announced that The Rosie O'Donnell Show would be back for one night only with a guest list of about 15 million Broadway talents, many of us wondered, would it be a return to the glory days of her multiple Emmy-winning daytime talk show or more like her ill-fated attempt to resuscitate the primetime variety format on NBC in 2008. It turned out to borrow from both those predecessors while evolving into something completely different — a low-tech lovefest that felt like eavesdropping on a group chat among friends looking out for one another in a time of need.

It was spontaneous, messy and blighted by some of the worst audio glitches imaginable. Yet it was often affectingly intimate, and even over an endurance-testing three-and-a-half commercial-free hours, also strangely addictive. The lack of slickness seemed to carry through to the relaxed manner of the guests, and their refreshing unpretentiousness.

Conceived by actor-producer (and occasional tech-support helpmate) Erich Bergen and live-streamed on Broadway.com and the website's YouTube channel, the show was a benefit for The Actors Fund, the charitable organization founded in 1882 that supports performers and behind-the-scenes theater workers. It raised more than half-a-million dollars, O'Donnell announced at the end of the marathon, sitting in a Hamilton hoodie and offering a champagne toast in a glass emblazoned with the face of Barbra Streisand.

She conducted the entire show from behind a laptop in her New Jersey garage, its floor spattered with the paint spillage of countless craft projects. "I'm a little bit of a Broadway nerd, I admit it," said O'Donnell, establishing her dual role as host and superfan.

Part of the show's unique pleasure was seeing favorite Broadway performers chilling in their own homes, almost all of them dressed down, with little visible attention to makeup or hair, and zero concern about unflattering angles. It was a great equalizer, proving that even artists who can hold packed theaters in the palm of their hands with a song are housebound and trying to make the best of a bad situation just like the rest of us — staying close to their families, killing time, learning to cook, wondering how long this unnerving isolation will last. Or how much longer we can put off that shower.

It was kind of comforting to see Idina Menzel sitting by her microwave and confessing, "I guess I'm going a little bonkers," while lamenting a failed lasagna attempt and sharing the challenges of homeschooling her son when she's no math genius. Likewise, hearing Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker talk about watching Columbo reruns or catching up on The Crown, while SJP begged for no spoilers on the final episode of The Sopranos, which she may now get to at last. Seeing Annette Bening on her Los Angeles balcony wearing a "Make America Kind Again" baseball cap was as much a tonic as watching Neil Patrick Harris do a card trick with his adorable twins. And who doesn't want to meet Gloria and Emilio Estefan's cute rescue dogs or hear about Lin-Manuel Miranda's kids' reaction to their first exposure to Singin' in the Rain?

Then there were the musical interludes.

Where else could you catch Patti LuPone, in magnificent voice, singing the urgently upbeat 1930s standard "A Hundred Years From Today," unaccompanied while sitting by the jukebox in her basement? Or Kelli O'Hara nestled into an armchair honoring Stephen Sondheim's 90th birthday by wrapping her crystalline soprano around "Take Me to the World," a hymn to unity from��Evening Primrose? Or husband and wife Audra McDonald and Will Swenson duetting on the Charlie Chaplin evergreen, "Smile," from their Westchester living room? Or Darren Criss pouring his heart into another Sondheim classic about the desire for connection, "Being Alive," from Company, accompanying himself in a lovely pop arrangement on acoustic guitar from the sofa of his Los Angeles home? And while sound problems plagued Barry Manilow's selection of hits, ending with "I Made It Through the Rain," I was tickled to see his Judy Garland Kleenex dispenser.

Many of the song choices were thoughtfully apropos of the current crisis, offering comforting reassurance of the eventual return of resilience and togetherness while people in major cities all over the country self-isolate as the infection rate of the coronavirus pandemic continues to climb. Maybe Tituss Burgess at his home keyboard singing "The Glory of Love" is exactly the kind of uplift we all need right now.

Even in the seemingly random numbers, the entire enterprise was characterized by a spirit of generosity and sharing.

Kristin Chenoweth celebrated a Starbucks romance in "Taylor the Latte Boy." Matthew Morrison goofed it up on ukulele to a mashup of "The Bare Necessities" and "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" from his Disney Dreamin' album. Alan Menken whipped through a medley of his songs from The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Little Shop of Horrors, among others, at the piano. Ben Platt, also at the keyboard, did Bob Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love." And Adrienne Warren, the sensational star of Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, growled out "Simply the Best" from her bathtub. That was on the third attempt during a particularly troublesome audio patch, by which time her bubbles were history.

Prompted by O'Donnell, more than one guest reminded viewers that The Actors Fund is not just about Broadway artists pulling star salaries but also stagehands, makeup artists, wigmakers and ushers who work in what is very much a gig economy. The organization provides emergency financial assistance, social services, affordable housing, healthcare and insurance counseling and addiction support.

"Everything's a one-off," said Tony-winning actor Brian Stokes Mitchell, who serves as chairman of The Actors Fund. "That's how we get by, and many people are living on the edge right now."

"We're all just one, two, maybe three paychecks away from bankruptcy," added Billy Porter, whose mother is in an Actors Fund nursing home. "In this community, our whole job description is insecurity," said Judith Light.

Porter, along with Lea Salonga and longtime activist Light recalled how Broadway was on the frontlines of another life-threatening struggle during the early days of the AIDS crisis. All of them urged viewers to stay strong and take the time to reflect on the value of solidarity.

While O'Donnell has never been shy about her opposition to Donald Trump and everything he stands for, the show was remarkably light on politics, with just the occasional dig slipping through. She opened with a little celebratory "Yay!" while admitting she had missed the president's daily coronavirus press update, and then explained that she and her guests were not there to talk Trump. When Harvey Fierstein, O'Donnell's 2005 stage husband in Fiddler on the Roof, reminded her of all the election work still to be done, she said, "Let's all just know, we deserve a leader who tells the truth." And the delays in making coronavirus testing more widely available prompted a comment that the government should have gotten busy on that back in January when the writing was already on the wall.

Mostly, however, the hastily revamped Rosie O'Donnell Show was about bringing people together at this time of anxiety and isolation, as the host reconnected with artists whom she has championed since her reign as the Queen of Nice. "Everyone in the community loves you," she told Chita Rivera in a particularly effusive greeting. "You are our queen mother!"

Many of the performers would have been decompressing after rehearsals or Sunday matinees if the Broadway shutdown hadn't happened — Criss in American Buffalo, Broderick and Parker in Plaza Suite, Warren in Tina, Lauren Patten and Elizabeth Stanley in Jagged Little Pill. Sunday would have been LuPone's opening night in the gender-flipped revival of Company. Gavin Creel, who abruptly ended his London run in Waitress to fly home and is in isolation in a cabin in upstate New York, revealed the fear that he might have contracted the virus, given that several others in the cast have fallen ill, with one of them testing positive.

The show bridged the gap separating us from artists whose work we normally experience on the other side of the footlights. Most of us will never again get to see Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber exchange greetings in song on the birthday the two composers happen to share. From those celebrated veterans to rising-star newbies, the common denominator here was everybody facing the crisis just like us, reaching out a hand of friendship, albeit from a mandatory safe distance.

[weebtarurights]

Itaru Chigasaki R (Taruchi Channel)

--------This is a backstage story from Mankai Apartment event in which the story takes place in alternative universe and the boys addresses Izumi as landlord/landlady instead of director.

Story Title: “ Number of Views Goddess “

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ PART 1˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

Yuki: I bet it's about the topic of his videos. 

Banri: Must be it. 

Citron: Itaru will do punctual move for his videos. [1]

Tsuzuru: You mean, mutual love? 

Itaru: I haven't said anything yet. 

Chikage: Heh....Is it wrong?

Itaru: No, that’s not it.

Izumi:  Come to think of it, I haven't watched Itaru's videos. What kind of videos are you doing?

Itaru: I am mainly doing reviews on newly-released games, some hardcore and retros. I’m also introducing game goods too.

Banri: Game companies are totally sponsoring it from behind.

Itaru: That's right. I am receiving new games and goods from them.

Izumi: That's amazing.

Itaru: But lately, the number of views and channel subscribers  isn't increasing at all.

Itaru: So I'm looking for interesting video material.

Tenma: Wouldn't it be better if you just show your face?

Yuki:  It's the only way to make it work out.

Kazunari: That's gonna blast the number of subscribers.

Itaru: That’s doable  but I want to avoid showing my face. It's going to cause a lot of trouble.

That's why, I need you guys to suggest video materials that will increase the number of views. I've gathered so many diverse people here so there should be something, right? 

Izumi: Materials for video?

Tenma: How about making reviews about bonsai? There’s no else doing it and it’s refined. I think it’s good.

Chikage: Viewer’s average age will go up all at once.

Tsuzuru: That's way too hardcore.

Tsumugi: How about flower arrangement? It might look gorgeous in video.

Yuki: How about fashion code? Your style isn't bad either and it'll be interesting to wear different clothes.

Chikage: How about trying spicy foods from different countries. I'll lend you my secret special spicy sauce.

Izumi: I see. It might be nice to eat curry from different countries.

Tsumugi: Isn’t that our usual thing….

Banri: You, curry duo, do it somewhere else!

Citron: You can do 1 content a day! It’s virus marketing! [2]

Tsuzuru:  Viral marketing  is no good !

Itaru: Hmm... . My main goal certainly is to try something new. I wonder if it’s worth doing to earn more views.

Itaru: Fashion code and bonsai is all good...

Next is, spicy curry review…Can I even do this? If only I had an absurd tongue. 

....None of them is good enough. Aren’t these way too strange? It's especially difficult to judge whether it’s interesting or not cuz the target audience is too small.

...Anyways, let’s up it for now…. 

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ PART 2˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

Izumi: (I need to buy detergent and toilet paper. Speaking of, we need to change the lightbulbs too.)

Chikage:  Is this supposed to be interesting? I don't understand anything at all.

Tsumugi: Uh...Hmm...

Banri: Isn’t this revolutionary in a sense?

Izumi: (Everyone's gathering around. I wonder what happened...)

Seems like everyone is getting excited. What's going on?

Kazunari:  Itarun made a video following our advice earlier !

Citron: Itaru did his best but it is kinda strange.

Tsuzuru: The comment section is different from usual too. Everyone is rather baffled...

Izumi: Eh? Is that so?

Comment 1: [Taruchi, what a sudden change of  direction.]

Comment 2:  [Why tho ? lol ]

Comment 3: [Somehow, it’s getting off topic, isn’t it?]

Banri: The number of views is also lower than usual.

Tsumugi: I wonder if giving him advice was the right thing.

Tsuzuru: What do we expect? They were suddenly shown a bonsai when they came to see a game live.

Chikage: I think a video about spices is good in its own way.

Banri: Stop being delusional.

Izumi: It's surprisingly difficult to make the number of viewers increase.

Kazunari: Ah, landlord-chan.  Are you going to shop for house supplies?  Can you buy sweets from the convenience store on your way home?

Citron: My manzai notebook is getting stiff too. I want to buy a new one.

Izumi: Understood. I'll buy them.

Izumi: (Seems like we're running out of equipment too. I might as well check the warehouse)

Itaru: It's Taruchi~.

Kniroun's new capsule toy was finally released~. 

I splurge on 100 pieces this time  so let's start unboxing ~

First one is--- 

---

Itaru: So far,  I got 15 normal pieces, 3 copper pieces, and 1 silver piece. I got a silver piece so I think my pace is pretty good.

 Next, moving to our 20th piece.. Huh? This is....

-----(Door opening)

Izumi: .... Ah!

Itaru: ......!

Ahh Seriously?! I can't use this video anymore.

Izumi: A-Are you filming your video in this place?

Itaru: Sigh... HP-1 .

Izumi: I don’t really get it but I'm sorry...  Umm... How about editing it?

Itaru: But in unboxing videos, there's the feeling of joy and sorrow while opening the piece. Doing it in one go is my policy.

Izumi: Right? What is an unboxing video in the first place?

Itaru: It's a video where you open blind items one by one. You have no idea what's going to come out so there's a feeling of excitement.

I’m doing an unboxing video for 100 pieces everytime a new product is released.

The number of viewers for this series is stable. That's why it's solid material to earn an audience.

Izumi: It sure takes so much hard work, doesn't it? 

Ah, by the way,  I'll go shopping later. Can I buy new pieces in exchange for the ones you opened earlier?

Itaru: Really? I’ll gladly accept your offer then.

Izumi: Don't get angry if I don't get good ones, okay?

Itaru: It's totally fine! That’s what makes whaling interesting after all. [3]

Izumi: For tomorrow’s agenda, I have a meeting with Sakyo-san in the afternoon and--

Ah speaking of, I wonder what happened to Itaru's unboxing video?)

Kazunari: Haha! This is insane!

Banri: Ain’t this a godly pull?

Izumi: Everyone is lively today.

Citron: Oh ! You're just in time. Itaru’s number of views is footing up! [4]

Banri: You mean, shooting up! Landlord-san helped with the video without knowing.

Izumi: Huh? Ah, could it be the one earlier?

Chikage: This one. Aren't  the views about to reach 1 million?

Yuki: Compared to the hack's previous suggestion, the difference is heaven and earth.

Kazunari: The title is "Kniroun Capsule Toy Unboxing ~feat. Landlord-san". It's going viral! It’s crazy!

Chikage: Landlord-san, watch with us.  The merit goes to you in this one.

Izumi: I-Is it really that great?

Itaru: [The last 20  capsule toys are from landlord-san! Let's see-- Ehh?! Wait? Seriously?! Woah! ]

Itaru: [A super-rare gold Knight-kun came! ]

[Is this a sign for me to continue whaling? Landlord-san is too much of a cheat!]

Comment 1: [ Landlord-san is amazing.lol]

Comment 2: [Taruchi's so hyped. lol ]

Comment 3: [Maybe, landlord-san a goddess? lol]

Itaru: [That's the end of it.  Maybe I should have her pull the next gacha too?]

[Please look forward to my next video. ]

[Ah.. If you like it, don’t forget to  subscribe to my channel~ ! ]

Izumi: Uhh.. I'm glad I could be of help.

Kazunari: Landlord-chan just became a celebrity! Congrats!

Itaru: Ohh, everybody's been watching me? Didn’t it turn out well this time?

Citron: G'job on your video!

Chikage: That's the power of our landlord.

Kazunari: At this rate, the dream of breaking your record again might not be far away!

Itaru: Thanks to landlord-san's help, the numbers are looking good.  I’d love to do more landlord-san series so I’m counting on you.

Izumi: I-I don’t mind helping sometimes…?

Itaru: Thanks !

 Ah, everyone,  subscribe to my channel~! 

Yuki:  ...Just who are you talking to?

NOTES:

1)Citron refers to"掃除相談” (Sōji sōdan) which literally means ‘cleaning consultation’. In which Tsuzuru tried to correct him to "“相思相愛” (Sōshisōai) which literally means 'mutual love’.

2) Citron used the term "人炎上" (hito enjo) which literally means 'flaming person.’ Tsuzuru corrected him and said “炎上商法” (Enjō shōhō) or Enjo Marketing, meaning ‘flaming commercial law’: an advertisement technique that aims to produce cliche content that are as shareable as possible.

3)Itaru used the term "ドブ" or "ドブる", a slang word for the act of throwing money on several pulls to get a high-rarity items/ cards from a gacha or capsule machines. In short, whaling.

4) Citron mistook  鯉のぼり(carp streamer) for"うなぎのぼり" (on the rise or skyrocketing).

[ingek73]

Feb. 27, 2020

A Royal Instagram Mystery

Image

Credit...Photo Illustration by The New York Times; Getty Images (royals), Shutterstock (stool)

Two royal couples, two Instagram accounts, one conspiracy theory.

By Caity Weaver

Of all the tricks humankind employs to concoct the illusion of security, the most vital to the British royal family is hierarchy.

Hierarchy is what makes an elder brother more important than a younger one, a newborn more powerful than his 33-year-old uncle. A minor tweak to the laws of succession requires the consent not only of British Parliament, but of 15 other nations.

While sovereignty operates under hierarchy, it survives by public support. What happens, then, when monarchical order is pitted against social popularity?

On Instagram: a mystery.

This is a tale of two social media accounts, both alike in dignity, yet cast as star-cross’d competitors on Instagram, where we lay our scene.

@KensingtonRoyal was established in January 2015. Crucial to our saga, it was a shared account for Prince William, his wife, Catherine (formerly known as Kate Middleton), and his younger brother, Harry. (William and Harry are the only children of Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales; Charles is first in line for the British throne, making Prince William second in line.)

When the younger Prince Harry became engaged to the American actress Meghan Markle in 2017, @KensingtonRoyal began functioning as a shared account for the two couples. It remained as such through Harry and Meghan’s wedding in spring 2018 (when they were formally given the titles of Duke and Duchess of Sussex), and for several months beyond.

Until April 2, 2019.

That date marked the appearance of a newer, more sprightly Instagram account called @SussexRoyal. This was a new official handle for Prince Harry and Meghan alone.

It has served ever since as their base of social media operations, and as a channel for direct communication with the world. It was where, at the start of this year, Harry and Meghan posted their surprise announcement they intended to “step back” from the British royal family. It was where, in the wake of the hectic negotiations that followed, they posted a screenshotted statement from Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, to show that she expressed support for their decision.

In the latest development, the couple will be required to relinquish use of the word “royal” in their branding, commercial and charitable activities, and presumably, Instagram handle; that change in status is scheduled to take effect on April 1.

But let us back up a year, to when one royal brand was cleaved into two. That’s when things got weird.

From the outset, @SussexRoyal was runaway popular. It set a Guinness world record for reaching 1 million faster than any account in Instagram history — in 5 hours and 45 minutes. (Only Jennifer Aniston has improved on that time, when she created an Instagram account later in 2019.)

Tabloid writers and royal reporters began to forecast the moment that @SussexRoyal’s follower count would overtake @KensingtonRoyal’s, thus crowning Harry and Meghan the definitive winners of an unofficial couples’ popularity contest.

It seemed inevitable; already, when it came to Google search interest, Harry and Meghan towered over William and Kate. (From November 2017 until the end of January 2020, Harry-and-Meghan-related searches accounted for 83 percent of the world’s curiosity in the two couples.)

The Instagram eclipse would happen in April or perhaps May, with the birth of the couple’s first child, royal watchers speculated.

It happened in neither, it turned out. Nor in June. Nor July.

Every day, without exception, from April 2, 2019, until Jan. 21, 2020 — through Guinness world record growth, the birth of Harry and Meghan’s baby Archie, and the seismic rupture that was their public departure from royal life — the size of Harry and Meghan’s Instagram audience failed to exceed that of William and Kate’s.

Was it coincidence that Instagram popularity appeared to align so unwaveringly with monarchical hierarchy? Or was there invisible mischief afoot?

A conspiracy was at play, conspiracy-minded corners of the Internet murmured.

A cross section of social media analysts, researchers and product developers disagreed about the degree to which the British royal family’s two most prominent Instagram accounts invite suspicion.

Some felt the growth and engagement patterns between the accounts could be explained by the unknowable workings of Instagram, which regulates the spread of content with the invisible force of a deep ocean current. Others saw in the data a possible shadow campaign, perhaps intended to inflate the appearance of one couple’s popularity over the other.

Representatives for both royal houses denied strenuously any suggestion that their social media teams had manipulated follower numbers.

Here is what we know:

April 2019, the month @SussexRoyal announced itself on Instagram, marked eight years since the first royal wedding of this generation: that of the first brother Prince William, to Kate Middleton. In those eight years, a trio of births had knocked the second son, Prince Harry, down the ladder of succession to his current spot, sixth in line to the throne. But the public’s longstanding affection for Harry (as indicated in public polls) remained. It — combined with the sparkling addition of his new romantic partner — meant that, since their engagement, Harry and Meghan, whom the younger prince met in 2016, had been channeling public energy and enthusiasm like palms on a plasma ball.

To wit, the day before Meghan first appeared on @KensingtonRoyal in November 2017, the account gained 981 followers, bringing its audience to just under 2.27 million. The day Meghan’s engagement was announced (her debut appearance on the account), it gained 104,092.

It kept gaining, steadily and in occasional frenzied bursts. Over the three-day period that consisted of Meghan and Harry’s wedding weekend in May 2018, plus the Monday morning release of their nuptial portraits, @KensingtonRoyal acquired more than 1.5 million new followers. In the period after Meghan was effectively incorporated into @KensingtonRoyal, that account’s following more than tripled in size.

For the remainder of 2018, the two couples surfaced on their single account smiling radiantly — or, on the prescribed days, staring off in solemn remembrance — in an easy rhythm. The impression was of companions casually interspersed throughout one another’s lives, locked in a perpetual couple’s staycation behind the walls of their shared palace, with participants slipping out now and then to pursue their philanthropic passions.

In 2019, however, Harry and Meghan began a process of gradual separation.

They extricated themselves from their joint “royal household” arrangement with William and Kate, moving their administrative offices out of Kensington Palace, and hiring new staff. They formed a charitable foundation separate from the one William and Harry had founded in 2009, which had been the locus of both couples’ philanthropic efforts. And, most visibly, on April 2, they introduced a stand-alone Instagram account.

Though Meghan was by no means a global star before her marriage, she had maintained an active and successful personal Instagram account, its profile buoyed by her regular role on a moderately popular American cable legal drama. That account boasted around 2 million followers before its deletion following her engagement (not far from the approximately 2.27 million followers @KensingtonRoyal had when the engagement was announced).

From its very first post, Harry and Meghan’s new Sussex account was distinct from @KensingtonRoyal — and seemed unmistakably the work of an Instagram veteran. It established a signature color palette (royal blue) and typography (a hybrid of caps-locked roman and lowercase italics). These kinds of personalized elements were absent from @KensingtonRoyal.

Over the next several months, the two accounts would diverge even further in style and tone.

According to data provided by CrowdTangle, a social media analytics tool that, like Instagram, is owned by Facebook, nine of the 10 most-liked posts ever shared by either @KensingtonRoyal or @SussexRoyal showcase some combination of Harry and Meghan (and/or their son). The single outlier is an image of William and Kate’s two eldest children taken on Princess Charlotte’s first day of school in 2019. (It came in eighth.)

Data generated by the media monitoring software Cision, which tracks online media mentions, found that, from the date of the announcement of Harry and Meghan’s engagement in November 2017 to January 2020, Harry and Meghan received vastly more global online attention than did William and Kate. (Recall, too: They crushed them in Google searches.)

(William and/or Kate did receive more online attention than Harry and/or Meghan on a handful of dates, such as: the day Kate wore a green gown to the BAFTA awards ceremony, out of step with the event’s unofficial all-black dress code to express solidarity with victims of sexual misconduct; the period immediately before and after the birth of William and Kate’s third child; and their daughter’s first day of school.)

Thus it is perhaps not surprising that, from the date of the @SussexRoyal debut until Harry and Meghan’s bombshell announcement this past January, @SussexRoyal’s Meghan-and-Harry-centric posts received more total likes than @KensingtonRoyal posts centered on Kate and William. According to CrowdTangle data, the Sussexes came out around 13.5 million likes ahead.

Of course, on Instagram, likes are only one measure of engagement. Another is comments.

Harry and Meghan won that by an even bigger margin: In the same time frame, their account received more than double the number of comments that @KensingtonRoyal did, despite @KensingtonRoyal laying claim, perpetually, to hundreds of thousands more followers.

Likes and comments are a quick way to eyeball an account’s success. Divide that combined figure by an account’s number of followers, and you can calculate an interaction rate. A high interaction rate suggests a highly engaged following, which suggests high popularity — or at least a lot of interest.

@SussexRoyal’s interaction rate was nearly twice that of @KensingtonRoyal’s. Its audience was rapt, active and, within a month and a half of the account’s creation, numbered more than 8 million users — a figure it had taken @KensingtonRoyal more than four years to amass.

With good reason, perhaps. Unlike @KensingtonRoyal, @SussexRoyal established early that it operated largely independently of the British press. While @KensingtonRoyal released coveted family images in concert with members of the media, @SussexRoyal surprised its followers with images royal reporters could not get. From time to time, it even broke news.

Yet it seemed, from the outside, that no matter how many followers @SussexRoyal gained, it could never quite catch up; rather, it appeared eternally on the cusp of doing so.

On the date @SussexRoyal was created, @KensingtonRoyal had an audience of about 7.3 million. But the older account’s prolonged dominance cannot be attributed to its head start. Accounts created later often overtake popular “partners.”

For instance, Michelle Obama surpassed her husband’s Instagram account within months of him leaving office. Kaia Gerber, 18, overtook her supermodel mother, Cindy Crawford, within months of her own runway debut.

Furthermore, follower growth for one account does not necessarily portend a comparable increase for a similar one.

Few accounts are as closely related as those of Jonathan and Drew Scott, the identical twin brothers who jointly star in their own home real estate television franchise, “The Property Brothers.”

CrowdTangle data indicates that, after years of virtually complete growth overlap, one Property Brother’s account began blazing an upward trail at the end of last year. Its associated Property Brother (Jonathan) had recently revealed he was dating the actress Zooey Deschanel.

It is a quirk of digital popularity that social media accounts with large followings can reasonably expect to lose a very small percentage of followers immediately after sharing new content. The appearance of said new content, regardless of format or platform, will inevitably lead some portion of followers to conclude they don’t care about it. It will inspire decisive action — to unfollow.

It is therefore not unusual that, when @SussexRoyal posts a photo of Prince Harry, a typically well-performing subject — on horseback at about 2:40 p.m., London time, on a Friday — it will lead to a brief exodus of followers. In this case, of something like 420 accounts in the first hour, according to timestamped data.

A successful post will quickly make up this difference as new users discover it and elect to follow the account. In this case, the horse post resulted in a net gain of about 1,200 new followers in the first five hours, plus over 420,000 likes.

It is less explicable that when, for instance, @KensingtonRoyal shares a low-resolution image of a painted portrait of the late Queen Victoria — who is neither a common nor immediately recognizable subject for the account — at 6:47 a.m. the same day, it should immediately gain over 730 followers in the first hour.

It is even less explicable that it should experience a net gain of roughly 3,500 new followers in the first five hours, especially considering it garnered only around 283,000 likes total.

That means that although the somewhat obscure portrait of Queen Victoria was apparently enchanting enough to draw droves of new followers to @KensingtonRoyal, it received far fewer likes than a photo of Harry on @SussexRoyal — a photo that, paradoxically, despite receiving hundreds of thousands more likes than Queen Victoria, enticed far fewer people to follow the account.

Curious!

Before Harry and Meghan’s account existed, @KensingtonRoyal might gain something like 1,000 followers on an average good (but not astronomically good) day. But between Jan. 1 and March 31 of last year, its following shrank by nearly 10,000 accounts.

The creation of @SussexRoyal seemed to reinvigorate it — and then some.

On May 12, the day @SussexRoyal posted a photo of Meghan’s hands holding newborn Archie’s cute tiny baby feet, the account of Archie’s aunt and uncle, @KensingtonRoyal, gained more than 42,000 followers. This despite the fact @KensingtonRoyal had posted no content, as well as the fact that the Sussex post was in honor of a holiday few in Britain were observing: U.S. Mother’s Day.

For comparison, the day @KensingtonRoyal shared its hugely popular — for it — first day of school post, which featured Charlotte and George hugging adorably in impeccably clean uniforms, it gained slightly over 40,000 followers. (@SussexRoyal, which shared no post that day, gained about 10,400.)

May 21 marked the first time @KensingtonRoyal’s growth rate began regularly outpacing @SussexRoyal’s. The differences were slight — often hundredths of one percent — but they appeared to manifest irrespective of the content posted.

On back-to-back dates when neither account posted anything, Kate and William’s account growth rate might inexplicably increase from 0.06 to 0.11 percent. Or, on a date when @SussexRoyal content received roughly 10 times the number of likes and comments as @KensingtonRoyal content, Kensington’s growth rate might still outpace it by 0.01 percent. From May 21 on, CrowdTangle data showed the accounts’ followings growing in lock step — with @KensingtonRoyal permanently ahead.

Matt Navarra, a British social media consultant, was unconvinced that either account exhibited suspicious follower activity. “I don’t think there’s anything in it,” he said — but added, “I wouldn’t put my life on it.”

Samuel Woolley, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin whose research focuses on social media political propaganda, said that while manipulation was impossible to confirm without more account information than is publicly available, the CrowdTangle data is “pretty damning if we are looking for inauthentic activity.”

Others consulted were in agreement that several scenarios could explain the follower gap:

Scenario 1

Despite @KensingtonRoyal’s prior lackluster performance and oddly low engagement rate relative to @SussexRoyal, it maintained its follower advantage with no manipulation. More real people simply elected to follow William and Kate over Harry and Meghan.

Scenario 2

@KensingtonRoyal was given better placement on Instagram’s “Who To Follow” list, a curated selection of accounts presented to new users — a variable known to drive tremendous numbers to specific accounts with virtually no effort from account owners.

Scenario 3

@KensingtonRoyal was the beneficiary of a concentrated fan-driven campaign to keep its numbers high. (No evidence of such an effort could be found.)

Scenario 4

@SussexRoyal’s initial follower takeoff was supplemented by bot followers, and its growth slowed when no new bots were bought to replace them. (This would not seem to explain Kensington’s sudden and sustained increase in popularity relative to Sussex — unless, perhaps, Kensington began acquiring followers at the same time as Sussex, and for several months after.)

Scenario 5

@KensingtonRoyal was receiving follower boosts in the form of bots.

Several researchers observed that some inauthentic activity is bound to plague any prominent social media account: Following popular users is one tactic bots use to mimic humans.

While no one consulted knew of a reliable way to keep numbers artificially low by suppressing genuine follower activity, all agreed that it’s easy to make them appear artificially high with bots. As part of a recent NATO study, researchers acquired more than 3,500 comments, 25,000 likes and 5,000 followers, all for roughly $330.

It is also possible to use bots to inflate social media accounts even if you are not the owner. Anyone can buy bots on behalf of anyone else, or send them to an account with which they have no affiliation.

But inauthentic activity is somewhat unverifiable. One of the biggest challenges of unearthing fake followers, for the layman, is that many of the tools for doing so have disappeared.

Alex Taub, a founder and the former C.E.O. of the social media analytics company SocialRank, described the current social media landscape as “like a black box.”

It stems from the spring of 2018, when TechCrunch reported that Instagram had abruptly limited the amount of user data developers outside the company could access. (Mark Zuckerberg was about to testify before Congress regarding the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which a political consulting firm collected and sold the personal data of nonconsenting Facebook users.)

The move impaired the ability of third parties to perform widespread data analysis. In so doing, it granted all Facebook and Instagram users more privacy — including those accounts operating as bots.

“Overnight, almost all audience tools were killed,” Mr. Taub said of the Cambridge Analytica fallout. “It’s very hard to see who follows who, on the granular level, unless you manually go into the account and click on followers.”

Mr. Taub sold his analytics company in December — a development he said allows him to “talk more freely” without worry of “Facebook or Instagram taking away” access to the interface that, in its original form, enabled independent developers to collect user profile data for audience analysis en masse. (A spokesperson for Facebook said: “We revoke access for third parties when they abuse our terms of service.”)

Mr. Taub said: “If it was 2016 and you said, ‘Hey, Alex, I want to analyze the Duchess in Essex and all this whatever,’ it would take probably a day or two, and I could come back to you and show ‘These are the followers they share in common. This is the percentage of fake followers this one has. This is the breakdown of locations. This is the amount of fake followers in a location.’”

Now, the only people with access to such information work inside Instagram.

Mr. Woolley, the professor at the University of Texas at Austin, echoed Mr. Taub’s sentiments. “It’s so frustrating to not have better access to the data” of public figures, he said. “Especially in an era when social media, particularly Twitter, is the favorite mode of communication for some politicians. It’s not just Trump. It’s people like Modi in India and Bolsonaro in Brazil.”

“What it comes down to is manipulation of public opinion,” Mr. Woolley said.

Yes, but back to Kate Middleton.

Jay Owens, a social media researcher in London who evaluated the CrowdTangle data, said she was “certain to a 95 percent confidence interval” that there was no mass follower purchase on behalf of @KensingtonRoyal since April 2019 — in part because a graph of its follower counts did not feature hallmarks of bot acquisition. (Those hallmarks include large, inexplicable surges of thousands of followers, and plateaus of growth that suddenly drop off.)

Mr. Woolley was less deterred by the lack of obvious indicators of bot activity.

“Most people leveraging fake followers these days — especially at the behest of well-resourced groups or individuals — are being very careful to avoid suspicion, detection and deletion,” he said.

The new goal is not sudden popularity, but mathematical untraceability: In a sophisticated campaign, fake followers are more likely to be added more frequently, in smaller quantities.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve seen accounts gain 50,000 followers overnight,” said Mr. Woolley. “That doesn’t really happen anymore unless it’s organic.”

To him, @SussexRoyal’s initial explosive growth seemed genuine. But the fact that @KensingtonRoyal’s follower count grew by large numbers on days of popular @SussexRoyal posts — the day @SussexRoyal shared the shot of their baby son’s feet, for instance — made him suspicious of the older account.

Then there was the matter of the fans. Anna Gebremedhin, a data analyst specializing in Instagram commerce, found that, when William, Kate, Meghan and Harry shared one Instagram handle, their respective Instagram fan accounts grew in ways that largely mirrored @KensingtonRoyal. But after @SussexRoyal was created, that pattern collapsed.

“Major fan Instagram accounts for William and Kate, which previously corresponded to the popularity of their official page, did not see growth aligned with their official account,” Ms. Gebremedhin said. Followings of Meghan and Harry fan accounts rose in proportion to @SussexRoyal’s following, but @KensingtonRoyal’s numbers grew faster than William and Kate’s fan pages.

Ms. Gebremedhin called this “a deviation from historical growth.”

On Jan. 21, 2020, there was a breakthrough:@SussexRoyal, at last, surpassed @KensingtonRoyal’s follower lead — two weeks after the Sussexes’ semi-departure from the royal family.

Direct comparison of the accounts is hindered by a final peculiar fact.

@SussexRoyal is classified as an Instagram “creator account” — a free designation that grants owners (and, to a more limited extent, other users) the ability to view some account metrics.

@KensingtonRoyal, on the other hand, is designated a “personal account” — a setting a celebrity digital media strategist who was granted anonymity by The Times to protect client accounts called “bizarre.” These accounts do not have access to advanced publishing capabilities and other account management tools.

“Why would the most prominent figures in the world, basically — or among the most popular and prominent — not have that? With dedicated social media teams, it doesn’t make sense,” the strategist said.

The mystery remains; the parties of suspicion, neither condemned nor excus’d.

Of course, any bots present could have come from anywhere. They could have been purchased by someone in another country, with no connection to the royal family.

We cannot even assume that bots added to one account were intended to make that account look good, or enforce a hierarchy of any kind. Perhaps, an account was receiving bot infusions, only so that its growth would fall off a cliff if (when?) they stopped being added.

“If you really want to be in a position of power and just mess with people’s social media presence, you spend a while intentionally inflating another’s presence, and being a kind of puppet master,” said David Berkowitz, a marketing consultant for technology companies. “Then, you just start taking this stuff away.”

Over the last two months, with media glare bright upon the Sussexes, @KensingtonRoyal continued its usual drip of tasteful, anodyne photos of William and Kate.

Yet on Feb. 17, it regained its follower lead, propelling itself past @SussexRoyal. As our tale draws to a close, the accounts are neck and neck.

Correction: Feb. 28, 2020

An earlier version of this article, using information from Instagram, referred imprecisely to the data that is available to “personal” Instagram accounts. Verified “personal” accounts created before January 2020 have access to data profiles; it is not the case that all personal accounts lack access to their data.

[topbestreviewer]

website improvement

This is the way toward advancing your site to "rank" higher in internet searcher results pages, consequently expanding the measure of natural (or free) traffic your site gets. The channels that profit by SEO incorporate sites, websites, and infographics website improvement.

There are various approaches to move toward SEO to produce qualified traffic to your site. These include:

On page SEO: This kind of SEO centers around the entirety of the substance that exists "on the page" when taking a gander at a site. By exploring catchphrases for their pursuit volume and goal (or significance), you can respond to inquiries for perusers and rank higher on the web index results pages (SERPs) those inquiries produce.

Off page SEO: This sort of SEO centers around the entirety of the movement that happens "off the page" when hoping to upgrade your site. "What movement not on my own site could influence my positioning?" You may inquire. The appropriate response is inbound connections, otherwise called backlinks. The quantity of distributers that connect to you, and the relative "authority" of those distributers, influence how exceptionally you rank for the catchphrases you care about. By systems administration with different distributers, composing visitor posts on these sites (and connecting back to your site), and producing outside consideration, you can procure the backlinks you need to move your site up on all the privilege SERPs.

Specialized SEO: This kind of SEO centers around the backend of your site, and how your pages are coded. Picture pressure, organized information, and CSS document enhancement are altogether types of specialized SEO that can expand your site's stacking speed — a significant positioning component according to web crawlers like Google.

1. Content Marketing

This term indicates the creation and advancement of substance resources to produce brand mindfulness, traffic development, lead age, and clients. The channels that can have an impact in your substance advertising procedure include:

Blog entries: Writing and distributing articles on an organization blog causes you show your industry aptitude and produces natural quest traffic for your business. This at last gives you more freedoms to change over site guests into leads for your outreach group.

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This training advances your image and your substance via web-based media channels to build brand mindfulness, drive traffic, and produce leads for your business. The directs you can use in web-based media showcasing

In case you're new to social stages, you can utilize devices like HubSpot to associate channels like LinkedIn and Facebook in one spot. Thusly, you can undoubtedly plan content for numerous channels immediately, and screen investigation from the stage too.

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3.Pay Per Click (PPC)

PPC is a strategy for directing people to your site by paying a distributer each time your promotion is clicked. Perhaps the most widely recognized kinds of PPC is Google Ads, which permits you to pay for top spaces on Google's web search tool results pages at a cost "per click" of the connections you place. Different channels where you can utilize PPC include:

Paid advertisements on Facebook: Here, clients can pay to modify a video, picture post, or slideshow, which Facebook will distribute to the newsfeeds of individuals who match your business' crowd.

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This is a sort of execution based publicizing where you get commission for advancing another person's items or administrations on your site. Subsidiary advertising channels include:

Facilitating video promotions through the YouTube Partner Program.

Posting partner joins from your web-based media accounts.

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Local publicizing alludes to commercials that are principally content-drove and highlighted on a stage close by other, non-paid substance. BuzzFeed-supported posts are a genuine model, however numerous individuals likewise consider web-based media promoting to be "local" — Facebook publicizing and Instagram publicizing, for instance.

6. Promoting Automation

Promoting mechanization alludes to the product that serves to robotize your fundamental showcasing activities. Many showcasing divisions can mechanize tedious assignments they would somehow or another do physically, for example,

Email pamphlets: Email computerization doesn't simply permit you to naturally send messages to your endorsers. It can likewise help you recoil and grow your contact list depending on the situation so your bulletins are simply going to individuals who need to see them in their inboxes.

Online media post planning: If you need to develop your association's quality on an informal organization, you need to post regularly. This makes manual posting a cycle of a wild interaction. Online media planning instruments push your substance to your web-based media channels for you, so you can invest more energy zeroing in on content technique.

Lead-supporting work processes: Generating leads, and changing over those leads into clients, can be a long process.You can robotize that interaction by sending drives explicit messages and substance once they fit certain standards, for example, when they download and open a digital book.

Mission following and reporting Marketing efforts can incorporate a huge load of various individuals, messages, content, site pages, calls, and that's just the beginning. Advertising robotization can help you sort all that you work on by the mission it's serving, and afterward track the presentation of that mission dependent on the advancement these parts make over the long haul.

7. Email Marketing

Organizations use email showcasing as a method of speaking with their crowds. Email is regularly used to advance substance, limits and occasions, just as to coordinate individuals toward the business' site. The sorts of messages you may send in an email showcasing effort include:

Blog membership pamphlets.

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Client invite messages.

Occasion advancements to dedication program individuals.

Tips or comparable arrangement messages for client sustaining.

8. Online PR

Online PR is the act of protecting procured online inclusion with advanced distributions, web journals, and other substance based sites. It's similar as conventional PR, yet in the online space. The channels you can use to augment your PR endeavors include:

Columnist outreach through web-based media: Talking to writers on Twitter, for instance, is an extraordinary method to build up a relationship with the press that produces acquired media openings for your organization.

Drawing in online audits of your organization: When somebody surveys your organization on the web, regardless of whether that survey is positive or negative, your intuition may be not to contact it. Despite what is generally expected, connecting with organization surveys causes you refine your image and convey incredible informing that secures your standing.

Connecting with remarks on your own site or blog: Similar to the manner in which you'd react to surveys of your organization, reacting to individuals who are perusing your substance is the most ideal approach to create beneficial discussion around your industry.

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10. Supported Content

With supported substance, you as a brand pay another organization or element to make and advance substance that talks about your image or administration here and there.

One famous kind of supported substance is influencer promoting. With this sort of supported substance, a brand supports an influencer in its industry to distribute presents or recordings related on the organization via online media.

Another sort of supported substance could be a blog entry or article that is composed to feature a theme, administration, or brand.

[gershwinn]

Cole Sprouse on How ‘Riverdale’ Transformed Him From Disney Child Star to Leading Man

Most child actors don’t thrive in Hollywood past puberty. Cole Sprouse opted out on his own terms. The 2005 hit Disney Channel sitcom “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody” turned Cole and his twin brother, Dylan, into the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen of their generation. But after the series and its spinoff wrapped, Cole was ready for something new.

Sprouse tells this story between cigarette breaks while sitting on the “Riverdale” set in Vancouver. The show became an instant hit for The CW Network when it debuted in the winter of 2017. Sprouse’s role as the sardonic narrator Jughead has allowed him to reinvent himself as an actor in his 20s. This year, he starred in his first grown-up film, “Five Feet Apart,” as a man with cystic fibrosis who falls in love with a patient down the hall. The drama, distributed by CBS Films in March, became a sleeper hit, grossing almost $46 million at the domestic box office.

“It’s very difficult to make the jump from Disney child star to serious leading man in Hollywood,” says Justin Baldoni, the director of “Five Feet Apart.”

Sprouse spent the first 18 years of his life acting, guided by other people’s decisions. “My mother and father divorced at a young age,” he says. “I never knew them to be together. Our mother was really the main fuel for us to pursue acting. We booked a diaper commercial, and that got the ball rolling.” One of his earliest professional memories is from the ABC sitcom “Grace Under Fire,” where he shared the role of the family’s infant son with his brother. “Oh, we were exploiting child labor laws,” Sprouse says with a smirk Having two identical boys meant that they could collectively work a full day, by splitting the job in half..

That was an arrangement they used often — although sometimes they’d take roles on their own (such as when Cole portrayed Ross’ son on “Friends”). Their big break was getting cast together in the 1999 comedy “Big Daddy,” playing an abandoned kid adopted by a boorish bachelor in the form of Adam Sandler. Sprouse recalls how one night during the shoot, a fire alarm went off in the hotel the cast was staying at in New York. “Adam Sandler carried me on his shoulder down 45 flights of stairs, which was really cute,” he says. “We were taught every single bad word. So when my brother and I went back to school, we swore like sailors.”

Most of the time, they were homeschooled. “I don’t feel like I missed out on the United States public high school education,” Sprouse says. “My brother and I both have ADHD, and I needed one-on-one attention from a tutor.” Getting their own sitcom on Disney Channel made their careers explode. “It was the golden ticket,” Sprouse says. “At the time, being the leads of a sitcom as kids was the most stable job we could think about in the industry. In terms of technical acting, it’s only 30 minutes long. My brother and I were really thankful for it.”

They were able to avoid the scandals that consume other Disney stars because of their strong family network. “Cole and I had each other,” Dylan says. “We were blessed to have someone experiencing the same thing at the same time, as an objectivity to the reality of it all.” Dylan recalls one day, as a teenager, getting into a drag-out fistfight with his brother between takes — it was broken up when a fan asked them for a photo backstage. “It was such a weird and funny moment that we actually calmed down, laughing at each other.”

They spent six years at Disney, with three seasons on “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody” and another three on the spinoff, “The Suite Life on Deck.” Despite an offer to do a third series with Disney, Cole and Dylan knew they wanted to attend college, and both were accepted to NYU. Still, it took some adjustment. “The amount of rumors that were spread about Dylan and I were incredible,” says Cole, who heard stories about how he’d fallen down the stairs at the school library. “When you’re a public figure, people use you to build their identities. And I think that was a bit daunting. But also because I’d been homeschooled, I had no idea what it was like to interact with other people socially.”

(..) But Sprouse isn’t in a hurry to graduate from “Riverdale.” He says the show has given him a renewed appreciation for acting, one he couldn’t have when he was younger, because he was so focused on being his family’s breadwinner.

“I’m somewhat of a workaholic,” Sprouse says. “Maybe that’s my child-star brain, where I just can’t stop thinking about being a commodity.”

On the day of our set visit, the four “Riverdale” actors are shooting at a house on the outskirts of Vancouver that’s been converted into an ominous location. This episode, which will air in the fall, is a tribute to Luke Perry, who played Archie’s dad and died in March at the age of 52 from a stroke. Sprouse has talked about what Perry meant to him, and how his passing affected him deeply. Between takes, the actors are mostly quiet.

Sprouse says that these scenes — which involve Jughead helping Archie say goodbye to his father — have required some thought. “The important line we’ve all been trying to draw is how to separate, how we can portray real emotions, but in the eyes of the characters,” he says. “If I was making this an entire sob story about my relationship with Luke, it wouldn’t be a job well done. My job is to do it in the eyes of Jughead.” And he doesn’t think Perry would approve of tears. “Luke was the kind of guy who would not like people crying about him,” Sprouse says. “I hope this episode does him justice, but I think the way we lived with him does him justice as well.”

Dylan thinks that Cole could become “a great cinematographer or director.” When he’s not acting, Cole sidelines as a professional photographer, shooting spreads for magazines and fashion brands like Moncler, which sent him to Iceland for a campaign. “Most of the people that I speak to initially don’t know him from his acting,” says his photography agent, Glenn Wassall, who represents Annie Leibovitz. He describes Sprouse’s aesthetic as “fashion within landscape,” as in a portrait of a woman bundled in a glamorous coat against a backdrop of ice-covered mountains.

Cole could see himself working again with Dylan, who has also gone back to acting, with an indie film, “Tyger Tyger,” out next year. “We’ve talked about it,” Cole says, adding that it wouldn’t be a reboot or a reunion for Disney. “The whole kitschy twin thing, I don’t think that really sells anymore.” He explains what would convince them: “It’s about feeling passionate for acting again. If it’s a cool project, I don’t have a problem with that.”

Source: Variety