#charlie k / introspection.

[goodheartt]

CHARLIE KELLY - a web weave featuring quotes from the show & songs that remind me of him. credits under the cut.

always sunny - season 4 episode 6, mothers by daughter, gans media retro games by hot mulligan, always sunny - season 3 episode 9, haldern by black country new road, mononokay by sorority noise, always sunny - season 15 episode 8, gilded lily by cults, always sunny - season 1 episode 7, sober haha jk unless by hospital bracelet, using by sorority noise.

[benjaminxmikaelsonxx]

☆ﾟ.*・ ◞tom holland / male / british white / he/him ——— is that charlie mikaelson on bourbon street ? the 20 year old Vampire who stay in the neighborhood ? i heard their biological parents are elijah mikaleson and hayley marshall. they are notoriously known for being organised and trustworthy , but also stubborn & hot-tempered . which is probably why they are considered the party boy around town.  i wonder if they had their tarot cards reading, yet? either way, the cards on the table will reveal their fate soon enough // ooc TK, 31, he/him, GMT

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐄:

𝐅𝐔𝐋𝐋 𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄: Charlie mikaelson 𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄: Chucky, Chaz 𝐀𝐆𝐄: 20 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄: November 23rd 𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐍: new orleans 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄: new orleans 𝐎𝐂𝐂𝐔𝐏𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍: student 𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐍𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓: neutral 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: tba.

P E R S O N A L I T Y

traits:  (+)Organised & Trustworthy, (-) Hot-tempered & Stubborn

B A C K G R O U N D

Charlie Mikaelson, son of Hayley Marshal and Elijah Mikaelson, embodies a complex blend of traits. Despite his love for photography and his pursuit of a college degree in the field, Charlie's temperament is a mix of hot-headedness and stubbornness, juxtaposed by trustworthiness and organizational skills. Known as the life of the party, he exudes a magnetic charm that draws people to him, ensuring he's always present at every social gathering in town. With a striking resemblance to Tom Holland's Spider-Man, Charlie's protective nature extends to his siblings and parents, showcasing a deep love and loyalty towards his family. While excelling in social scenes, his academic responsibilities falter as he finds himself entangled in the allure of the party lifestyle. Despite his shortcomings, Charlie's dedication to his loved ones and his passion for photography form the intricate layers of his captivating persona. Despite his inclination towards partying and socializing, there are moments of introspection when Charlie's thoughts drift towards his family. His love for his siblings and parents is a steadfast anchor in the stormy seas of his life, grounding him in moments of uncertainty and providing him with a sense of purpose and direction. In their presence, his protective instincts awaken, and a sense of responsibility settles over him like a comforting cloak. As Charlie navigates the complexities of college life, his emotions ebb and flow like the tides, shaping his experiences and melding his character into a multidimensional tapestry of passion, loyalty, and love. Though despite all that, his stubbornness and hot-tempted does get him into quite a bit of the trouble in town.

[kimyoonmiauthor]

The Lie: You can only make a story around character or events nothing else~~

USian Lit professors ruining writers again and World Lit with it. This isn’t one of those posts where I say, “If you start with character or events you’re wrong.” It’s about my core philosophy OPTIONS~~~ Options. The ones that everyone railed against after the 20th century and people turn their noses up at because, ya know, questioning status quo as PoCs, Women, queer people, disabled people–i.e. the majority of the writers and readers when you put the market together, yet somehow the publishing industry doesn’t want to cater to us... were told flat out if we do it, we’re being snobby, Literary, or Ohhh... insurrectionists. (Or whatever, mostly called “inferior”) And if you don’t believe me, go read Robert Scholes’ writing book where he thinks that only white straight men can write... (OK, maybe I’ve read too many of these bozos.)

My exact problem is being told we’re wrong for doing it another way. And that this way is too snobby, when it’s probably one of the oldest methods in the history of literature. So strap in, let’s get into it.

I get it, some people are going to act like victims at this point and say are you saying that it’s wrong? Or even, what do you mean this method was invented by a bunch of prejudiced white men who often tried to take credit from less privileged people? I cover that in the other series of posts so you a see how we got here (and I warn you I found it super depressing. Especially slapped with blatant racism, sexism, anti-queerness, etc.)

What I think is you can accept the origin story of where “It’s either events or character” comes from (Great Man Theory, BTW, which is imperialistic), delve and QUESTION it heavily, and then challenge the origin more deeply by thinking about it critically and how you would like to overcome that and make their story.

Questioning what’s handed to you critically is the whole point of the Worldbuilding and Worldwide Story Structures post. Doesn’t say it is wrong. It just gives you more options to think about and engage in.

Morals

Honestly, when it has the answers and is reinforcing the status quo, rather than questioning it, it is often boring.

Pros: It engages directly one of the two tenants (when done well), Makes people think. The secondary is then makes them feel.

Cons: When done badly, it can feel preachy, rather than introspective. And people often hate their morals being questioned so may refuse to engage. It’s also prone to getting banned.

Authors who stated they use this: Ursula Le Guin (Who gets hated by Structuralists)

Toni Morrison (Who said so on Charlie Rose--why would you think it’s conflict?)

Star Trek... most of it.

Some of the early writers of Star Wars.

A lot of Sci-fi writers including Octavia Butler.

A Tree with Deep Roots (K-drama) also engages in this.

As a secondary, Outlander often asks questions about Morality (Diana Gabaldon)

Making a story around this would look like finding a central moral question and then breaking that moral question into parts and then finding characters and events to address those parts.

You start from the widest point down and deliberately make it so.

Ways to Live

More common with Indigenous Peoples of N&C&S Americas, not all tribes/nations of course. And particularly with Plains tribes such as Zuni. Also common to Aboriginal people. A tad bit to some Polynesians, and parts of Africa (scattered)

Pros: When done well it makes you ponder on it for days, because often there is a central value, which is not a moral, and you’re turning it over in your head over and over again.

Cons: You have to craft the story very, very carefully, and it may take some time before you get it to land just right. This may not go over well for people who improvise their writing. Because when the story is well put together it suddenly has this clicking feel to it which is difficult to achieve.

Also kinda better for shorter stories (or I’ve never seen it done in novels yet--if you have one, drop it in the comments please~~) and made up folktales...

Themes

Thematic plotting is where you take a central theme and then kind of snowflake it out from that, similar to morality plotting. Often thematic plotting and morality plotting has overlap, meaning they often are done together.

But a theme can be anything like fairies, divorce, marriage, disability, etc. And then you’d break it down for each of the parts and figure out how to represent that through character and events.

So, let’s say your central theme is disability. You might break off Neurodiversity and put that to the side and ask if it is a disability. Then you might want to find someone to represent that and the views about it.

You might also then take someone who is a wheelchair user and then decide you need a character for that.

But you also may want someone who is in a walker.

Then you might decide that you need someone who is disabled, but doesn’t “look” disabled.

Then you might think about what does disability mean for each of them and how are you going to address disability rights in your story. So say the Neurodiverse person you’ve made has Sensory Processing Disorder. You might ask, “Is this really a disability?” And about ableism and disablism. From that, you might formulate an event to demonstrate this.

You can also do it from events. So for example, you think that a disability rights rally about X issue is needed to show the different views. But overall, it always loops back to the theme.

Pros: Engages the reader to think, primarily. Feel is kind of second on the list, if the theme is teased out well and focused. Generally the ones that do well are philosophical and delve deeper on an idea. Say motherhood. What does it mean to be a parent. Something with an endless well to talk about that interests the author. I love theme babies and when done well it can do things like make you cry over a damned potato. Or even rocks on a cliff. Damn you both. I’m tearing up thinking about it. WHY!? Why am I crying about rocks with googly eyes with text on the screen?

Cons: Themes that don’t grow beyond the base idea often feel stagnant. It’s better to let your themes evolve over the course of the story. If you choose a theme you don’t have a lot of ideas on it can feel too sparse. And if you over pack it without any kind of organization, it can feel chaotic, rather than organized.

Generally people who use milestones--or set out event points in the road do better with this one. Pure improvisers tend to dislike this, though it can work if you’re sure you can hit the points in an organized fashion.

Authors: 

Divorce Testimony by Na Hyeseok (Theme is divorce and marriage, and a memoir)

Hong Sisters (especially Greatest Love. Crying over a potato...)

Everything Everywhere All at Once (Primarily theme first, then tone).

Tone

I have to say Japan does it best... but I’ve also seen tonal theming from Indigenous peoples, Magic Realism, as a secondary on other East Asian drama regions, in Horror, as a secondary in some African Lit and West Asian Lit. It is really difficult to nail if you start with character+event. And honestly USians, in particular, have a really hard time nailing tone, in general.

Pros: Emotions come first and hits you directly in the feels first, which might make you reel in your head for quite a while. It’s much, much harder to guess plot points from the outside looking in. The bubble effect I refer to often in Japanese dramas which makes me envious is much easier to achieve. Because tone takes a while to develop over the course of the story, guessing ahead becomes near to impossible. You don’t know what the final effect will be until it hits you square between the eyes. And then the emotions are overloaded, when done well.

Cons: Tone takes a while to develop. It often dies a quiet death because of the whole “I NEED EVERYTHING ON PAGE ONE” mentality from US pressuring other regions to do the same. It does not work well with impatient people. Also, it takes a high amount of skill to do well, and usually command of tone on all levels is a last, not first skill for writers of all regions. Hitting people in the feels the same way across the board is HARD. Really hard, which is often why it’s paired with thematic and moral plotting.

Authors: 

Natsume Soseki Botchan is a master class in this.

(Central Story driver)

Sometimes, some regions just go by the central story driver which then dictates the rest of the events and character. Honestly, I think conflict is probably the worst for this because people don’t generally love it. Conflict is not on the list of things that makes things go viral. People LOVE cooperation, for example. But often people will go by a central tenant of the story driver and choose from there. Absurdists might think about ways to subvert the conflict to make a joke.

Other methods

For example, Diana Gabaldon takes pieces from her research, makes a scene from it, and then writes characters around it, and then slowly stitches it together. She started out originally with character, however, the bulk of her writing, according to her is done through research then write method. The downside of this is huge word count since integration is not the first concern.

Some people start with interesting subjects they’ve found such as Guy Gaviriel Kay. He starts with research, then works on integration. Similarly, Ordinary People by Judith Guest was started from a newspaper clipping.

Some authors start with a sharp image, rather than event or character.

Some authors start with setting. Since there are so many parts to “What makes a story” theoretically you can start with any of them. The only thing I would think you really have to think over is how will it hang together.

The point is, while starting with character or event is not wrong, finding other methods to plot might make your story stronger depending on how you command the tools. And let’s not forget that writing is a craft, so why not utilize as much of the toolbox as possible?

[dashnite]

What’s the Jacob Discourse? I am strangely intrigued…

I think we will both regret talking about the Jacob discourse but k let’s do this

So, if you pay attention on the novels, Jacob never actually *cares* about Bella, she’s a trophy to him, an object like his motorcycle. We know how he thinks since we had that POV of him in Breaking Dawn (partially caused by Renesmee but I digress).

He romanticized the girl who was his friend every summer growing up and had a Manic Pixie crush on her. Bella fits the category, she’s shy, introspective, likes to read, all a guy could want in a Manic Pixie fantasy. Also, I have to note that Bella fully blocked all their child interactions in her mind because they were traumatic for her and initially she didn’t even know who he was, she had to be reminded by Charlie. And Bella is not just “book girl” or “shy girl”, she’s a human being. Meanwhile Jacob fails to humanize her, instead putting her in this weird trophy-wife(girlfriend?) pedestal.

He successfully gaslights her over and over. Before the Eclipse battle against Victoria, he managed to gaslight and trick Bella into kissing him, going all “🥺🥺 well guess I’ll die in this battle 🥺 because u don’t love me 🥺🥺 u could kiss me to reassure me 🥺” and our girl, DESPERATE to keep her best friend alive, kissed him trying to give him hope of something happening in the future (also a huge pls don’t die), even though she was playing right into his hand.

After this happens, Edward reads the thoughts of Jacob as he’s running to battle and chuckles. Because the tone of his thoughts are smug. He’s gloating in his thoughts, knowing full well Edward is reading them. It was never about Bella having to choose, it was all about besting Edward, and Edward picked right up on that. That’s the reason he doesn’t get upset with her, he knows she was played.

And don’t even get me started with Renesmee and the imprinting. Bullshit. BULLSHIT!!! Jacob didn’t deserve to be “a part of the family” and the fucking relationships on the family tree got all imbalanced because of him (he takes stacey’s mom to another level, “oh yeah i dated your mother for a while but dw babe jm dating you now” I MEAN WHAT). I get this was Meyer’s try to give all her characters a “happy ending” but this one is seriously fucked up.

Tl;dr jacob did not deserve a happy ending

[johnrossbowie]

LEAVING TWITTER

I wrote this earlier in the fall, before the election, after dissolving my Twitter account. I wasn’t sure where to put it (“try up your ass!” – someone, I’m sure) and then I remembered I have a tumblr I never use. Anyway, here tis.

How do you shame someone who thinks Trumps’ half-baked policies and quarter-baked messaging put him in the pantheon of great Presidents? How do you shame someone so lacking in introspection that they will call Obama arrogant while praising Trump’s decisiveness and yet at the same time vehemently deny that they’re racist? How do you shame someone for whom that racism is endearing and maybe long overdue?

You don’t. It’s silly to think otherwise.

Twitter is an addiction of mine, and true to form, my dependence on it grew more serious after I quit drinking in 2010. At first it was a chance to mouth off, make jokes both stupid and erudite and occasionally stick my foot in my mouth (I owe New Yorker writer Tad Friend an apology. He knows why, or (God willing) he’s forgotten. Either way. Sorry.) I blew off steam, steam that was accumulating without booze to dampen the flames. Not always constructive venting, but I also met new friends, and connected with people whose work I’ve admired for literal decades and ended up seeing plays with Lin-Manuel Miranda and hanging backstage with Jane Wiedlin after a Go-Go’s show and exchanging sober thoughts with Mike Doughty. When my mom passed in 2018, a lot of people reached out to tell me they were thinking of me. This was nice. For a while, Twitter was a huge help when I needed it.

I used to hate going to parties and really hated dancing and mingling, but a couple of drinks would fix that. Point is, for a while, booze was a huge help, too.

But my engagement with Twitter changed, and I started calling people my ‘friends’ even though I’d never once met them or even heard their voices. These weren’t even penpals, these were people whose jokes or stances I enjoyed, so with Arthurian benevolence I clicked on a little heart icon, liked their tweet, and assumed therefore that we had signed some sort of blood oath.

We had not. I got glib, and cheap, and a little lazy. And then to make matters much worse, Trump came along and extended his reach with the medium.

There was a while there where I thought I could be a sort of voice for the voiceless, and I thought I was doing that. I tried very hard to only contribute things that I felt were not being said – It wasn’t accomplishing anything to notice “Haha Trump looks like he’s bullshitting his way through an oral report” – such things were self-evident. I tried to point out very specific inconsistencies in his policies, like the Muslim ban meant to curb terrorism that still favored the country that brought forth 13 of the 9/11 hijackers. Like his full-throated cries against media bias performed while he suckled at Roger Ailes’ wrinkly teat.  Like his fondness for evangelical votes that coincided with a scriptural knowledge that lagged far behind mine, even though I’m a lapsed Episcopalian, and there is no one less religiously observant than a lapsed Episcopalian. But that eventually gave way to unleashing ad hominem attacks against his higher profile supporters, who I felt weren’t being questioned enough, who I felt were in turn being fawned over by theirdim supporters. If you’re one of these guys, and you think I’m talking about you, you’re probably right, but don’t mistake this for an apology. You suck, and you support someone who sucks, and your idolatry is hurting our country and its standing in the world. Fuck you entirely, but that’s not the point. The point is that me screaming into the toilet of Twitter helps no one – it doesn’t help a family stuck at the border because they’re trying to secure a better life for their kids. It doesn’t help a poor teenager who can’t get an abortion because the party of ‘small government’ has squeezed their tiny jurisdiction into her uterus. It doesn’t help the coal miner who’s staking all his hopes on a dying industry and a President’s empty promises to resurrect it. I was born in New York City, and I currently live in Los Angeles. Those are the only two places I’ve ever lived, if you don’t count the 4 years I spent in Ithaca[1]. So, yes, I live in a liberal bubble, and while I’ve driven across the country a couple of times and did a few weeks in a touring band and am as crushed as any heartlander about the demise of Waffle House, you have me dead to rights if you call me a coastal elitist. And with that in mind, I offer few surprises. A guy who grew up in the theater district and was vehemently opposed to same-sex marriage or felt you should own an AR-15? THAT would be newsworthy. I am not newsworthy. I can preach to the choir, I can confirm people’s biases, but I will likely not sway anyone who is eager to dismiss a Native New Yorker who lives in Hollywood. I grew up in the New York of the 1970s, and that part of my identity did shape my politics. My mom’s boss was gay and the Son of Sam posed a realistic threat. As such, gays are job creators[2] and guns are used for homicide much more often than they are used for self-defense[3]. I have found this to be generally true over the years, and there’s even data to back it up.

“But Mr. Bowie,” you might say, though I insist you call me John - “those studies are conducted by elitist institutions and those institutions suck!” And again, I am not going to reason with people who will dismiss anything that doesn’t fit their limited world view as elitist or, God Help Us, fake news. But the studies above are peer-reviewed, convincing, and there are more where those came from.

“But John,” you might say, and I am soothed that we’re one a first name basis - “Can’t you just stay on Twitter for the jokes?” Ugh. A) apparently not and B) the jokes are few and far between, and I am 100% part of that problem.

I have stuff to offer, but Twitter is not the place from which to offer it.

After years of academically understanding that Twitter is not the real world, Super Tuesday 2020 made the abstract pretty fucking concrete. If you had looked at my feed on the Monday beforehand – my feed which is admittedly curated towards the left, but not monolithic (Hi, Rich Lowry!) – you’d have felt that a solid Bernie surge was imminent, but also that your candidate was going surprise her more vocal critics. When the Biden sweep swept, when Bernie was diminished and when Warren was defeated, I realized that Twitter is not only not the real world, it’s almost some sort of Phillip K. Dickian alternate timeline, untethered to anything we’re actually experiencing in our day to day life. This is both good news and bad news – one, we’re not heading towards a utopia of single payer health care and the eradication of American medical debt any time soon, but two, we’re also not being increasingly governed by diaper-clad jungen like Charlie Kirk. Clouds and their linings. Leaving Twitter may look like ceding ground to the assclowns but get this – the ground. Is not. There.

It’s just air.

There are tangible things I can do with my time - volunteer with a local organization called Food On Foot, who provide food and job training for people experiencing homelessness here in my adopted Los Angeles. I can give money to candidates and causes I support, and I can occasionally even drop by social media to boost a project or an issue and then vanish, like a sort of Caucasian Zorro who doesn’t read his mentions. I can also model good behavior for my kids (ages 10 and 13) who don’t need to see their father glued to his phone, arguing about Trumps incompetence with Constitutional scholars who have a misspelled Bible verse in their bio (three s’ in Ecclesiastes, folks).

So farewell Twitter. I’ll miss a lot of you. Perhaps not as badly as I miss Simon Maloy and Roger Ebert and Harris Wittels and others whose deaths created an unfillable void on the platform. But I won’t miss the yelling, and the lionization of poor grammar, and anonymous trolls telling my Jewish friends that they were gonna leave the country “via chimney.” I will not miss people who think Trump is a stable genius calling me a “fucktard.” I will not miss transphobia or cancelling but I will miss hashtag games, particularly my stellar work during #mypunkmusical (Probably should have quit after that surge, I was on fire that night, real blaze of glory stuff I mean, Christ, Sunday in the Park with the Germs? Husker Du I Hear A Waltz? Fiddler on the Roof (keeping an eye out for the cops)? These are Pulitzer contenders.). Twitter makes me feel lousy, even when I’m right, and I’m often right. There’s just no point in barking bumperstickers at each other, and there are people who are speaking truth to power and doing a cleaner job of it – Aaron Rupar, Steven Pasquale, Louise Mensch, Imani Gandy and Ijeoma Oluo to name five solid mostly politically based accounts (Yes, Pasquale is a Broadway tenor. He’s also a tenacious lefty with good points and research and a dreamy voice. You think you’re straight and then you hear him sing anything from Bridges of Madison County and you want him to spoon you.). You’re probably already following those mentioned, but on the off chance you’re not, get to it. You’ll thank me, but you won’t be able to unless you actually have my email.

_______

[1] And Jesus, that’s worse – Ithaca is such a lefty enclave that they had an actual socialist mayor FOR WHOM I VOTED while I was there. And not socialist the way some people think all Democrats are socialist – I mean Ben Nichols actually ran on the socialist ticket and was re-elected twice for a total of six years.

[2] The National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, “America’s LGBT Economy” Jan 20th, 2017

[3] The Violence Policy Institute, Firearm Justifiable Homicides and Non-Fatal Self Defense Gun Use, July 2019.

[matpisound]

key signatures: what’s the difference? part 1/2

Y’all may have heard me talk about key signatures a lot, especially if you know me personally. Some of you may be thinking things like “Ok, what does that mean?” or “How are these to keys different?”. Well then, my friends, prepare to learn some things about sounds today.

First, let’s talk about what a key signature is. I’ll keep this brief because today isn’t for defining things, but a song’s key is the central musical scale it’s based around. What key the song is in can dramatically change the song’s mood, and a lot of artists employ this effect by changing keys at certain points during the song. This is basically gonna be a list of the 24 commonly used keys and modes and what kind of feelings they spark. Of course, this is gonna all be from my point of view, so feel free to discuss what certain key signatures sound like to you.

Anyway, we’ll start with the major keys. Also, called the Ionian mode by music nerds, the major keys are typically associated with happy songs. To me, they often give off a brighter color than their minor counterparts. Without further ado, let’s start talking about sounds.

C Major - While there is a lot you can do with this key, it gives off a feeling of home and contentment. It’s got a nice sky blue color to it, which sort of adds a sense of relaxation and restfulness to some songs that use it. A few songs that use this key include “House of Gold” by twenty one pilots and “All the Small Things” by blink-182.

D♭ major - One of my favorite keys, this one is similar to C major in conveying a sense of contentment or stagnation, but this one can pack a ton of emotion into it as well. The specific emotions packed into this key vary by song, but pretty much any song you hear in this key will be full of it. Take a listen to “Sasanqua” by Afterglow or “Amaryllis” by Shinedown to get a feel for what I mean.

D major - This is a very sunny key to me, evoking feelings of getting up and doing things and just seizing the day sort of. It’s definitely a very happy key signature, and you can see this in songs like “I’m Not Alright” by Shinedown or “Stars” by Andrew Huang.

E♭ major - A versatile key, E♭ major can convey a wide range of emotions, from nostalgia, to inspiration, to wonder, and many others. Overall, it carries positive and hopeful undertones, and songs in this key typically help me during a rough patch. You've probably heard this key in a lot of songs, such as Coldplay's "Fix You" and Imagine Dragons' "Demons". Another song I definitely recommend is "This Isn't The End" by Owl City, which starts off in E♭ and is just a beautiful song overall.

E major - Like E♭ major, E major has a ton of versitality. The main difference here is that this key cranks it up to 11. All emotions are amplified listening to songs in E. Especially nostalgia; any nostalgic song in E major just feels so much more so than almost any other song. "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey and "Counting Stars" by OneRepublic are perfect examples of this.

F major - One of my favorite keys, there’s a lot of ways it can be used. It lends itself to the meaning of the song and amplifies whatever emotion it conveys. You see this in songs like “Just the Way You Are” by Bruno Mars and “21 Guns” by Green Day. It’s hard to really pinpoint a specific set of emotions conveyed by this key because it’s so damn flexible, but the one thing that remains consistent is that it’s an extremely beautiful key. It is the musical equivalent of the word “beautiful”. Take a listen to ONE OK ROCK’s “Wasted Nights” or LiSA’s “No More Time Machine” and you’ll know exactly what I mean.

G♭ major - Come to think of it, there aren’t many songs that I’ve heard in this key. There are several songs in its relative minor key, E♭ minor, but the major key is almost devoid of music I’ve heard. So based on the few songs I have heard, those being “All Star” by Smash Mouth, “A Sky Full of Stars” by Coldplay, “Y.M.C.A.” by Village People, and of course “ZEAL of proud” by Roselia, I’ll try to come up with something. The one thing these songs (well, three of them) have in common is the sentiment of getting back on your feet, so it’s definitely a very uplifting key signature, and listening to “A Sky full of Stars”, which is a much different song thematically than the others in the list, the uplifting undertones are very present within the song. So there we have it. G♭ major exudes uplifting vibes.

G major - These next few keys are gonna be a lot clearer than the past few have been. This one definitely evokes the feeling of returning home after a long journey, and the way that home is defined, as well as the way it manifests within the song can vary a lot. Take, for example, “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd and “Welcome to the Black Parade” by My Chemical Romance. They both have that feeling of coming back home, but differ wildly in how it’s expressed. Also listen to “The Messenger” by Linkin Park and “Sanctuary” by Roselia.

A♭ major - Alright this was one of the clearest of these 24 keys in terms of the feeling evoked by it. Pretty much every single song in this key conveys a sense of longing. Whether it be for love or for better times, that sense of longing is ever present in every single song. If you needed a few examples of this in action, take a listen to “One More Light” by Linkin Park, “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran, “American Idiot” by Green Day, or “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay.

A major - Now here’s a key that just screams emotion. Songs in this key can make you an emotional wreck, send you into a tsunami of nostalgia, or both. It definitely depends on the song, but A major is just filled with these kinds of emotions, and they hit especially hard for the songs that mean a lot to you. You’ll feel this in songs like “Heavy” by Linkin Park and “Take On Me” by a-ha. As for songs with a lot of personal meaning, one of my personal favorites in this key is “U&I” by Ho-Kago Tea Time, as well as the stripped down arrangement of it featured in the ending of episode 20 of the “K-On!!” anime’s second season.

B♭ major - This key is known for conveying a sense of familiarity; sort of like visiting a place that was important to you in the past. In that sense it conveys a lot of nostalgia as well. I’ve noticed a lot of popular movie themes are either in this key, or its relative minor key, G minor. That, I believe, has to do with the familiarity conveyed by this key. For themes in B♭ major, take the main themes from Star Wars or Jurassic Park, both composed by the legendary John Williams. As for other forms of music, “Charlie Brown” by Coldplay, “Karma Chameleon” by the Culture Club, and “Battle Symphony” by Linkin Park are great examples of songs in this key.

B major - This one’s kinda hard to pinpoint. If I had to pick a word to describe it, I’d use “introspection”. Why? A lot of songs in this key feel give of the vibe of looking in towards oneself, like “Shadow Of The Day” by Linkin Park, “Yellow” by Coldplay, “Holding on to You” by twenty one pilots, or even “Learn to Fly” by the Foo Fighters. That said, there are some very notable exceptions to this, including “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC. But for the most part, you’ll feel a lot of introspectiveness from B major, and perhaps a mountain of emotions as well.

Anyway, in order to keep this from getting too long, I’ll split this into two parts, and I’ll get the minor keys in next time. So before I go, I wanna say that music is subjective, and this kind of thing applies to myself. I’d love to hear y’all’s opinions on music, and how certain songs make you feel. With that, I’ll see you at the double barline!

[eeraygun]

Top 246 Sonic Releases of 2020

001. Perfume Genius - Set My Heart On Fire Immediately 002. Splash Pattern - Sentinel 003. Pontiac Streator - Triz 004. gayphextwin & Pépe - gayphextwin / Pépe EP 005. Various Artists - SLINK Volume 1 006. Echium - Disruptions of Form 007. Henry Greenleaf - Caught 008. Sega Bodega - Reestablishing Connection 009. Summer Walker - Life on Earth 010. Charli XCX - how i'm feeling now 011. Various Artists - Physically Sick 3 012. Autechre - Sign 013. Off The Meds - Off The Meds 014. Brent Faiyaz - Fuck The World 015. Luis Pestana - Rosa Pano 016. Reinartz - Ravecoil 017. pent - - 018. Mark Leckey - In This Lingering Twilight Sparkle 019. Various Artists - Sharpen, Moving 020. Vanessa Worm - Vanessa 77 021. Aho Ssan - Simulacrum 022. Lyra Pramuk - Fountain 023. PJ Harvey - Dry Demos 024. Felicia Atkinson - Echo 025. Arca - KiCK i 026. Space Afrika - hybtwibt 027. Ambien Baby - Mindkiss 028. The Gasman - Voyage 029. Inigo Kennedy - Arcadian Falls 030. Raft of Trash - Likeness on the Edge of Town 031. OL - Wildlife Processing 032. Fyu-Jon - Furrow 033. Desire Marea - Desire 034. Octo Octa - Love Hypnosis Vol. 1 035. Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher 036. Jesse Osborne-Lanthier - Left My Brain @ Can Paixano (La Xampanyeria) OST 037. Various Artists - She's More Wild 038. Various Artists - Days Of Future Past [White Material] 039. Foul Play - Origins 040. Late Night Approach - The Naus Investigation 041. Amazondotcom & Siete Catorce - Vague Currency 042. Davis Galvin - Ntih / Icia 043. Patiño - Actually Laughing Out Loud 044. Various Artists - 2nd Anniversary Compilation [All Centre] 045. St-Antoine, Feu - L'eau Par La Soif 046. Xozgk - skllpt 047. Various Artists - The Sun is Setting on the World 048. DJ Python - Mas Amable 049. Peter Van Hoesen - Chapter for the Agnostic 050. Tracing Xircles - Air Lock 051. Ben & Jerry - Formant Fry 052. still house plants - Fast Edit 053. D-Leria - Still Standing 054. Florian T M Zeisig - Coatcheck 055. Hanne Lippard - Work 056. Shedbug & Rudolf C - Honey Mushrooms II 057. Carl Stone - Stolen Car 058. Ruth Anderson - Here 059. Sid Quirk - Ginnel Talk 060. Various Artists - Fluo I [Kindergarten Records] 061. Pump Media Unlimited - Change 062. VC-118A - Crunch / Plonk 063. Beatriz Ferreyra - Echos+ 064. Bearer - Precincts 065. PARSA - PAƬCHƜȜRKZ 1 066. Holly Childs & Gediminas Žygus - Hydrangea 067. Cosmin TRG - Remote 068. Obsequies - Carcass 069. Jake Muir - the hum of your veiled voice 070. No Moon - Set Phasers to Stun 071. Olli Aarni - Mustikoita ja kissankelloja 072. E-Unity - Duo Road EP 073. Benedek - Mr. Goods 074. Extinction Room - Extinction Stories 075. Hodge - Shadows In Blue 076. Various Artists - Tiny Planet Vol. 2 077. Floco Floco - On m'a dit 078. Breather - Ceremonies Of Aporia 079. Unknown Mobile - Leafy Edits Vol. 2 080. Wetman & Sword of Thorns - Apt E Vol 2 081. Borderlandstate_ the Best Kisser in L.A. - Hello Mainframe 082. Kiera Mulhern - De ossibus 20 083. Mads Kjeldgaard - Hold Time 084. Тпсб - Whities 031 EP 085. Network Glass - Twitch 086. a2a - A2A¹ EP 087. Wata Igarashi - Traveling 088. Joey G II - Pub Talk 089. Atom™ - <3 090. Valentina Magaletti & Marlene Ribeiro - Due Matte 091. Ewan Jansen - Island Diary 092. HOOVER1 - HOOVER1-4 093. Nazar - Guerrilla 094. Paradise Cinema - Paradise Cinema 095. Daisies - Daisies in the Studio with DJ Rap Class 096. Alloy Sea - Petrichor 097. Flørist - Intermedia 1 EP 098. Nandele - FF 099. Pro.tone - Zero Day Attack 100. Michael J. Blood - Introducing Michael J Blood 101. Various Artists - RV Trax, Vol. 5 102. DJ Plead - Going for It EP 103. Strategy - The Babbling Brook 104. Various Artists - surf000 105. Deft - Burna 106. Various Artists - WorldWideWindow 107. Lucy Liyou - Welfare 108. O-Wells - Ebecs 109. Special Request - Spectral Frequency EP 110. Anunaku - Stargate 111. Scott Young - Ket City 112. Various Artists - Stir Crazy Vol.1 113. Syz - Bunzunkunzun 114. Oozy Zoo - Sabertooth 115. Vanessa Amara - Poses 116. Carl Finlow - Apparatus 117. Al Wootton - Snake Dance EP 118. Oi Les Ox - Crooner qui coule sous les clous 119. aircode - Effortless 120. Tristan Arp - Slip 121. Andrea - Ritorno 122. Russell Ellington Langston Butler - Emotional Bangers Only 123. The Lone Flanger - The Photon's Path 124. SHelley Parker & Peder Mannerfelt - Decouple ]( Series 125. Esplendor Geometrica - Cinética 126. Casey MQ - babycasey 127. Gacha Bakradze - Western Arrogance 128. Fatherhood - Big Boy 129. Blawan - Make A Goose 130. Roza Terenzi, Roza - Modern Bliss 131. AceMo - SYSTEM OVERRIDE 132. Meitei - Kofū 133. Penelope Trappes - Eel Drip 134. Adult Fantasies - Towers of Silence 135. Plush Managements Inc. - Magic Plush 136. Further Reductions - array 137. Ben Bondy & Exael - Aphelion Lash 138. Pugilist - Blue Planet EP 139. Dylan Henner - The Invention of the Human 140. Cindy - I'm Cindy 141. Ulla - Tumbling Towards a Wall 142. EMMA DJ - PZSÅRIASISZSZ TAPE 143. BufoBufo - Potholing 144. Model Home - Live 5-12-20 145. Low Budget Aliens - Junk DNA 146. Paranoid London - PLEDITS#2 147. Emra Grid - A System A Platform A Voiid 148. J. Albert - Pre Formal Audio 149. Dawl - Break It Down 150. Oall Hates - Tranceporter 151. Mystic Letter K - Cosmic Clearance [MLK4, 2020] 152. Coco Bryce - Lost City Archives Vol 2 153. Hagan - Waves 154. Various Artists - ON+ON+ON 155. INVT - EXTREMA 156. C Powers - Redirections Vol. 1 157. Significant Other - Club Aura 158. Client_03 - Thought disposal 159. Ghost Phone - LOCKDOWN BODY EDITS 160. Two Shell - N35 161. Rhyw - Loom High 162. EAMS - Demode 163. Various Artists - Woozy001 164. Society Of Silence – Réalisme Viscéral 165. HVL - Alignment 166. Alan Johnson - Material World 167. Matthew D Gantt - Diagnostics 168. DJ Detox - RM12009 169. Critical Amnesia - Critical Amnesia 170. Neinzer - Whities 025 EP 171. Despina & Ma Sha Ru - Polychronia 172. Divide - Computer Music 173. URA - Blue [NAFF008, 2020] 174. Forest Drive West - Terminus EP 175. Glacci - Alzarin _ Lavvender Rush 176. Fergus Sweetland - Fergus Sweetland 177. Various Artists - C12 - Social Distancing 1.1 178. A-Sim - The Puppet Master 179. Chlär - Power to the Soul 180. Will Hofbauer - Where Did All The Hay Go 181. Protect-U - In Harmony Of An Interior World 182. Instinct & 0113 - Instinct 11 183. Ribbon Stage - My Favorite Shrine 184. Zenker Brothers - Mad System 185. 2Lanes - Baby's Born To Fish... - Impish Desires 186. Nebulo - Parallaxes 187. Martyn Bootyspoon - Lickety Split 188. Erik Griswold - All's Grist That Comes To The Mill 189. Alex Falk - Movefast 190. DJ SWISHA & Kanyon - Club Simulator EP 191. Happa - Ls14 Battler _ 36Th Chamberlain (Remixes) 192. Svreca - FRUE 193. Anz - Loos In Twos (NRG) 194. James King - rinsed - installed 195. Catartsis & Ōtone - Mechanical Gesture 196. Daniel J. Gregory - Life Is A Bin 197. Desert Sound Colony - Pulled Through The Wormhole EP 198. Floral Resources - TS00000? 199. Alex R - Last Attempt 200. Notzing - The Abuse Of Hypnosis In Dance Environments 201. Brain Rays & Quiet - Butter [SR081A, 2020] 202. Benjamin Damage - Deep Space Transit 203. BROSHUDA - Contemplative Figuration 204. Various Artists - Radiant Love IWD Comp 205. Paradise 3001 - Low Sun Archives 206. 011668 & S280F - Os 207. Kubota, Kazuma - Mind 208. HATENA - HANDZ 209. Leonce - Seconds & Fifths EP 210. Furtive - Sympathies IV 211. French II - Time / Tracker 212. qwizzz - slag ep 213. Gag Reflex - The Fae 214. Luca Lozano & Mr. Ho - Homeboys 215. CONCEPTUAL - Introspective Research 216. Xyla - Ways 217. Minor Science - Second Language 218. Fana - Karantina 219. Current Obsession - XXX 220. K. Frimpong & Super Complex Sounds - Ahyewa 221. Ali Berger - The Stew 222. Sleep D - Smoke Haze 223. Nick León - MAZE 224. DJ Delish - Khadijah Vol. 6 225. Sputnik One - Kerosene 226. OOBE - SFTCR 2 227. Burrell Connection - Breaks That Strung the Camel Back 228. Wayne Phoenix - Soaring Wayne Phoenix Story The Earth 229. D.Dan - Mutant Future 230. Distance Dancer - Distance Dancer 231. Nikki Nair - Number One Slugger 232. Vinicius Honorio - Metamorphosis 233. Tracey - Microdancer EP 234. Ntu - Perfect Blue 235. Bliss Inc. - Hacking The Planet 236. JLTZ - Tools From Another Mother 237. Omnipony - GHOST1 238. WTCHCRFT - ACID EP vol. 2 239. Mike - Weight Of The World 240. Hypnaton - Hypnaton 241. Granary 12 - High 1987 242. Elisa Bee - Orbit EP 243. Stones Taro - Pump EP 244. Alexis - Refractions 245. Ntel - The Dilution Effect 246. X.WILSON - YUK

[am-i-right-marines]

My personal (slightly late) Day 2!

Day 2: Unidentified/ Instinct

“Bravo 7-Actual, Alpha 2-6.”

“Go for Actual, 2-6.”

“We’ve got unidentifiable contact at grid Charlie-3-Zulu-9. Alpha 2-Actual orders you to investigate. Over.”

“Copy 2-6. Moving. 7-Actual out.” Staff Sergeant Elliot Reynolds clicked off his radio channel and flashed a hand signal to his Corporal, who nodded and began passing orders to the rest of the platoon. Normally a Sergeant wouldn’t command a platoon, but their Lieutenant was dead.

All around him, he heard the slight grunts of Marines standing up and weapons clicking into position. After a moment, his Corporal returned and nodded at him. Nodding back, Elliot raised himself to a combat glide position and began heading towards his ordered position.

To his left, right, and rear, the twenty five remaining men of Third Platoon, Delta Company, 5th Battalion, 12th Marines spread out in two horizontal (in relation to Elliot) lines of twelve men, five meters between each man. The remaining man, the communications specialist who somehow survived the ambush that wiped out half of Third Platoon, was at the back of both lines.

The fifth man in the first line, Elliot took a position about a meter forward from his line, and he heard the gap get closed behind him. Moving quickly through the thick underbrush, he blinked into the limited HUD Marines had and activated his IFF tag for any nearby friendly forces. “Bravo Squad, with me. Sergeant Winters, you have tactical command. Spread out twenty meters north of our current position an intersperse yourselves with the bushes and rocks. Advance on my command.” Elliot ordered into his helmet mic, crouching in the onyx black night as he paused to give the orders over the radio.

“Lima Charlie.” His fellow Sergeant over the radio.

Leaves and grass crunched softly as heavy boots moved quickly over then to get into position. Elliot led his personal squad forward into the night, then suddenly: “Fifty meters, 11 o’clock.”

The seven marines dropped to a kneel and raised their weapons as the squad’s unofficial marksman called out the sighting. “Indentify.” The Staff Sergeant muttered into the night at his team member.

“Silhouettes, Sarge. Nothing concrete. Too dark.” The woman replied.

Elliot opened his mouth to respond, but he heard something crunch off to his right and his instincts suddenly screamed at him to move.

The Marine rolled forward as a plasma bolt flew through the air where he had just been. It was so close he felt the skin on the back of his neck heat up. Stopping himself at a kneel again, he raised his MA5B assault rifle and pulled the trigger, aiming at the blobby silhouette in the darkness.

His rifle opened up with an ear-splitting roar, spitting 7.62 millimeter bullets into the night. “Contact contact contact!” He barked into his radio as his rifle muzzle flashed.

In the half a second that had passed, dozens more plasma bolts flew at his squad from different directions. Then something else.... bullets. Why were the Covenant using bullets?

A plasma bolt zipping last his visor reminded him that now was not the time for introspection. “Winters, get up here!”

“Reynolds we’ve got contact too!”

Sure enough, several muzzle flashes appeared along the line that Sergeant Winters had set up the rest of the platoon.

Next to him, a younger Marine caught a bullet to the face and the boy collapsed in a shower of blood. “Squad on me! We have to get back to the others!” Elliot roared over the din of rifle fire, and then began an all out sprint back towards the rest of the platoon, firing at the shadows all the while. Every once in a while he’d hear the distinct sound of an Elite, Grunt, or Jackal succumbing to UNSC ordnance. That further reinforced the question: Why in the ever-loving fuck, were the Covvies using human weapons?

“Winters! We’re coming up on your left flank’s 10 o’clock!” The Staff Sergeant snapped into his microphone.

“Copy that!— Watch your right! —Check fire! Check fire left flank!” The Sergeant shouted back, cutting off mid-sentence to shout a warning to a fellow Marine.

Pink glows in the trees, some from Jackal shields, others from various weapons of armor let him know where the Covenant were in the night. He shouldered his weapon as he ran and let loose two five rounds bursts into the darkness, and was rewarded with an alien squawk as a Jackal’s head exploded into a pulpy mass.

A few more meters and bullets started flying at Bravo Squad, a second member caught three bullets in the chest-plate. “Blue, blue!” Elliot barked towards the cluster of rocks that fire had come from.

Two heads peaked out from behind it and one waved them closer. Glancing back at the fallen Marine, Reynolds saw she was fine, being helped to her feet by a second Marine. “C’mon! Let’s move!”

Elliot picked up his pace, only to watch a pink crystalline needle pierce the eye of the Marine who had waved them forward, and then detonate in a shower of gore; The unfortunate Marine’s headless body fell to the ground in a heap. “Get to cover! Now!”

Bravo Squad finally got behind the minor safety of the long line of boulders and thick shrubbery, and Reynolds left his Corporal in charge, sprinting down the line of Marines standing and kneeling while firing into the dark. “Winters! Sergeant Winters!”

The veteran turned around from where he was helping the SAW gunner reload. “Reynolds, we’re taking heavy casualties!”

“Where the hell is Alpha?!” Elliot shouted to be heard over the cacophony of roaring automatic weapons.

“Idle, dead, I don’t know! We couldn’t get a message out. Comm guy says everything but local frequencies are jammed.” His fellow Sergeant replied.

“The only thing we can do here is die! We need to fall back!” He yelled. His instincts were telling him this position was untenable.

“No, we can still do this!” Winters retorted.

“If I give you an order, it is the goddamn mission!” Elliot roared.

Winters opened his mouth to retort, only for a shout to register a ways down the thin line.

“They’re in the trees! They’re in the trees!”

Before either Marine could react, an Elite Minor de-cloaked and leaped down from a tree above them, energy-sword crackling to life.

The massive saurian warrior let loose a roar the was absolutely bone-shaking at this range, then swung his sword, bisecting Sergeant Winters in one clean stroke.

“Sergeant! Sergeant!” A young private shouted in panic.

“Take it down! Take it down!” Elliot barked, holding his trigger and pouring bullets into the Elite’s shield, which flared blue as it absorbed the damage.

The Staff Sergeant’s weapon clicked empty right as the Elite’s shield dissolved, and he had to dive to the side to avoid the deadly sword. As the Elite focused on the other Marines, Elliot quickly ejected his spent 60-round magazine and inserted another from his belt into the weapon and stood up, racking back the bolt with a simple flick of the wrist.

When he turned back the Elite, he found a second Marine skewered through the chest by the energy-sword of the Minor. “Corpsman! Corpsman!” Someone shouted.

Elliot growled, then dropped his rifle and let it hang from his strap, pulling out his K-Bar and charging the unshielded Elite. He slammed into the towering creature with the force of a speeding truck and dug his knife into the rib cage of the Elite. The alien roared in pain as he withdrew his purple blood covered knife, and he ducked under the sword swipe, stabbing it in the back, then stepping back when two fellow Marines each put a five round burst into its chest, sending it to the ground.

Sheathing his knife, he took up his rifle again and raised his voice. “Fall back Marines! Double time!”

One by one, they broke off their fields of fire and started running out of the forest. Every few seconds a Marine would catch a plasma bolt or a bullet in the back and collapse with a scream.

When they pierced the tree line and reached the open field that surrounded it, the remaining ten or so Marines all started running even faster.

Then Elliot heard something.

A quiet whistle.

His instincts screamed again and he dove to the ground. “INCOMING!”

All around him, his fellow soldiers all dropped to their stomachs with him. But they didn’t get obliterated by a heavy plasma bombardment. Reynolds looked over his shoulder.. and saw dozens of M145D Rhino artillery shells slam into the Covenant as they advanced out of the forest.

“That’s our stuff! It’s comin’ in from behind!” A Marine from the planet of Tribute shouted, his accent thick.

“Our boys! That’s our boys!” A female Marine shouted, pointing up at the sky.

Sure enough, two olive green D77-TC Pelican Dropships emerged from the clouds, each with spotlights on their noses and M808C Scorpions hanging from their rear overhang vehicle mount. Rocket pods on the wings of both Pelicans lit up as a Covenant Wraith tank emerged from the forest, and instantly got vaporized by four ANVIL-II missiles, two from each Pelican.

On the ridge a little ways behind them, engines roared, and then seven M-12 Warthog LRVs came flying over the ridge, each one carrying Marines, and headlights bright. A second later, dozens- no, hundreds of Marines came charging over the ridge on foot, shouting the UNSC Marine Corps battle cry: “Semper fi! Do or die!”

The two Pelicans dropped their Scorpion tanks to the ground, which both immediately opened up with their mounted machine guns and heavy canons. Following that, two nylon ropes dropped from the back of each Pelican... and then Marines started jumping out of the back of the dropships sliding down the ropes to the ground; Even as the Pelicans let loose more missile barrages and raked the tree line with automatic fire from their nose guns.

A Warthog zipped past the last few members of Third Platoon, blasting a Covenant Banshee out of the sky in a ball of purple fire with a gauss canon. A Scorpion swerved in front of a cluster of Marines and shook as a Fuel Rod canon blast slammed into the turret. That driver had just saved a dozen lives.

Reinvigorated, the Marines of Third Platoon, Delta Company, 5th Battalion, 12th Marines all reloaded their weapons and joined the fight.

Two B-65 Shortsword Bombers zipped overhead, dropping hundreds of pounds of heavy ordnance on the Covenant positions in the forest and tree line, sending a rousing cheer through the Marine ranks.

And Elliot’s instincts told him that no matter the situation, the UNSC Marine Corps would prevail.

“Semper Fi.”

[thanksforthedinosaur]

june 2020

[edm/kawaii future bass] 1. ducky - hyper bloxxd 2. yukiyanagi - achondrite 3. nghthyp - quake 4. mameyudoufu - progress 5. zekk - oxygen 6. protostar - galaxies 7. awfuless - redemption 8. sanaas - polestar (junk remix) 9. c-show - realize 10. lafale - what if i'm not good 11. milkoi - where we go 12. couple n - shine 13. nakamura sanso - fluffy 14. reno - connect 15. ranasol - gone days 16. you - painter 17. snail's house - twinklestar 18. such - magic sign 19. happy kuru kuru - natsu no hi no labyrinth 20. emocosine - magenta potion 21. miruku - damn it she's cute 22. aice room - compiling (2019ver.) 23. cute girls doing cute things - ideal 24. kakeru - nostalgic 25. yuc'e - ghost town 26. tekalu - yourself 27. gaburyu - seek 28. cosmo@bousoup - mow*mow*abduction!!! 29. picco - lonely pop 30. camellia - looking for edge of ground 31. lola disco ☀ - dreaming 32. ev.exi - stellae 33. desired - being an idol

[j-pop/k-pop/j-rock/etc] 34. april - lalalilala 35. oh my girl - nonstop 36. steve aoki - play it cool 37. kyary pamyu pamyu - kamaitachi 38. 4s4ki - suck my life

[electronic/electropop] 39. qrion - mars 40. soleily - passenger trains 41. cloudnone - lights out 42. direct - opal 43. fehrplay - spaces 44. durante - 13 voices 45. jubee - joyride (km remix) 46. elohim - vacuum 47. llll - note to you 48. eva - deci - delà 49. 박혜진 park hye jin - like this 50. the bilinda butchers - low 51. namasenda - dare (am) 52. charli xcx - claws 53. carly rae jepsen - felt this way 54. kim petras - malibu 55. xjk. - blood moon 56. pacific coliseum - turquoise

[ambient] 57. briana marela - forgiveness 58. aether - she isn't here 59. kaitlyn aurelia smith - the spine is quiet in the center 60. park bird - new place, same people 61. daisuke miyatani - film 62. talsounds - opening 63. gia margaret - barely there 64. julianna barwick - inspirit 65. okada takuro - waterfront (up-01) 66. flying solo - dos días después 67. lights & motion - separated hearts 68. akisai - repetition 69. this will destroy you - fair breath 70. mogwai - major treat 71. sleepmakeswaves - time wants a skeleton 72. marika takeuchi - out looking in 73. [.que] - glimmer 74. southern shores - estrisa

[indiepop/electropop] 75. austra - i am not waiting 76. haim - i know alone 77. breakup - in my head 78. emily blue - aperture 79. baths - mikaela corridor 80. prince innocence - sadie & maud 81. frida sundemo - anything 82. oh wonder - oceansize 83. dominic pierce - vivid 84. kitty - baby pink 85. pink skies - st tropez 86. cobalt road - one of these nights 87. blondfire - climb 88. chvrches - forever - separate but together 89. gfoty - by my side 90. oohyo - brave (single cut) 91. munya - boca chica

[indie rock] 92. varsity - fine forever 93. candace - great basin 94. winter - here i am existing 95. hikaru station - first date 96. hayley williams - why we ever 97. the 1975 - tonight (i wish i was your boy) 98. thao & the get down stay down - how could i

[lo-fi hip-hop] 99. tatsuya maruyama - park 100. yutaka hirasaka - glass 101. oatmello - smiles 102. kuranes - magnolia 103. the field tapes - paper trails 104. funkonami - looking for you 105. yoshino yoshikawa - isolation blues

[hip-hop/r&b] 106. misogi - falseawakening 107. yung lean - dogboy 108. taeyoungboy - naminoue 109. crush - mayday (feat. joy) 110. qveen herby - check 111. little simz - might bang, might not 112. jean deaux - recipe! 113. megan thee stallion - savage remix (feat. beyoncé) 114. h.e.r. - wrong places (from songland) 115. parisalexa - 2 optimistic 116. mahalia - brb 117. kllo - insomnia 118. kehlani - water 119. ayelle - got love 120. umi - introspection 121. miknna - jaded 122. keiynan lonsdale - i confess my love 123. tala - control 124. l.e.j - pas l'time 125. yelle - je t'aime encore 126. ximena sariñana - una vez más

[soft indie/acoustic] 127. ghostly kisses - where do lovers go? 128. lianne la havas - paper thin 129. madeline kenney - sucker 130. katie von schleicher - wheel 131. owen - a new muse 132. field medic - better way 133. johanna warren - twisted 134. lucy rose - question it all 135. squirrel flower - take it or leave it 136. land of talk - compelled 137. big thief - love in mine

[j-pop/k-pop/j-rock/etc] 138. 熊川みゆ - sixteen 139. aaamyyy - home 140. cheeze - today's mood 141. 笹川真生 - 産声 142. she her her hers - s 143. lucky kilimanjaro - 光はわたしのなか 144. mei - spriterain - henry remix 145. gesu no kiwami otome - 蜜と遠吠え 146. pinoko - トーキョーブルース 147. mei ehara - どちらにピントを 148. österreich - i'll take you everywhere 149. penguinrush - 色彩 150. yonige - あかるいみらい 151. cö shu nie - supercell

[pop punk/emo/math rock] 152. mikey erg - bon voyage 153. the bouncing souls - world on fire 154. new found glory - himalaya 155. dream wife - so when you gonna... 156. jeff rosenstock - scram! 157. diet cig - stare into the sun 158. joyce manor - house warning party 159. mush - plaza hell 160. trophy scars - artist. artists. 2020 161. options - don't mind 162. mouse on the keys - room 163. covet - parachute

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5qSE2Pgcxl1XxUEfBKzPX6?si=m2kTx45VTlumUCnXKZdntw

[sohannabarberaesque]

Meanwhile, at a truck stop in as unlikely a place as it can get as Breezewood, Pennsylvania

(Wherein we find no less than the CB Bears, as in Hustle, Bump and Boogie, sitting down for a rather substantial breakfast of the sort truckers are bound to go for before continuing onwards on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, a/k/a I-76, whose rather convoluted junction with I-70 made it even more of a tourist trap than when it was in the salad days of the Lincoln Highway, alias US 30, when, in close proximity to the table of the ursine heroes--)

FREDDIE JONES, leader of the Scooby-Doo crew and no less surprised: Can you believe that--the CB Bears are sitting close to us?

HUSTLE, in his capacity as the CB Bears' head honcho: And can you imagine the Scooby-Doo crew sitting close to us as well?

SCOOBY-DOO, somewhat perplexed: Is rhat rearry the RB Rears rhose by our rable?!!

BOOGIE, rather small but nonetheless taken in amazement: Even Scooby-Doo can't help but be surprised at our appearence, just before we're ordering breakfast!

BUMP, likewise beweildered: And it's obviously not an accident that we managed to meet!

FREDDIE: Glad we managed to cross paths, guys.

HUSTLE: And we share the same sentiment.

FREDDIE: At any rate, my name's Freddie Jones, and I happen to be the leader of such a motley-looking crew as ourselves who has taken considerable pride in exposing thousands of "ghosts," "monsters," "space aliens" and suchlike as being no better than outright scammers and swindlers for the most part!

DAPHNE BLAKE, trying to explain herself: I'm Daphne, who more or less stumbles on cluedos by accident; blame a fondness for stiletto heels and dumb luck, let alone a misplaced fashion sense which can fool monsters unaware.

VELMA DINKLEY, orange turtleneck sweater and all: Velma is my name ... intellect is my game! [Aside] Not to mention a fondness for pulp detective and mystery fiction at its most esoteric, and the second-hand bookshops with musty odours, accented by outdated air-conditioning besides, to match!

[Laughter from the ursine trio]

NORVILLE "SHAGGY" ROGERS: And I happen to be rather legendary for having a rather impressive appetite; I assume you know me as much by face and appearence as by said appetite--and don't get any ideas!

SCOOBY-DOO: Rawwwwww, Raggy rove me ...

HUSTLE: Now, if I may explain ourselves ... we're guided by a certain "Charlie" on citizens' band radio as much as by text messages to various absurd and illogical mysteries as turn up out of nowhere!

BUMP: I happen to be the driver of our mobile bivouac, otherwise known as the Perfume Wagon--

VELMA, interrupting: Otherwise known as the sorry-looking, otherwise on the verge of collapse and breakdown second-hand garbage truck in the parking lot not too far from The Mystery Machine of ours--

HUSTLE: Which we acknowledge a certain respect for, I have to say.

BOOGIE: And I acknowledge doing most of the leg and water work on the mysteries ... did I ever mention the time where I was in SCUBA getup to crack a mystery about an island in the South Pacific suddenly risking submersion into the ocean by unexplained means?

FREDDIE: I think we are aware of it somewhat....

DAPHNE: And who wouldn't?

SCOOBY-DOO: Reah, roo rouldn't?

HUSTLE, turning somewhat introspective: And yet I have to wonder how much longer it will turn out to be before The Perfume Wagon gets hauled away by the police for Unsafe or Unsound Vehicle!

VELMA, somewhat stunned at Hustle's revelation: Which can certainly be amazing, considering that we have such a rare chance for crossing paths with another detective team of a most unlikely sort!

DAPHNE, interjecting: As if having such a sorry-looking garbage truck for bivouac wasn't awful enough, they don't call me "Danger-Prone Daphne" for nothing, as if much of the Blake millions essentially subsidises these missions!

SCOOBY-DOO: Reah, rand reeps me red rall rhis rime!

"SHAGGY:" Yet I have to wonder myself if I should check in to the Mayo Clinic sometime to see what explains such binges of appetite on my part and parcel!

BUMP, more or less as an aside to Hustle: By contrast, I just hope we have some serious appetites--

[It just so happens that a Pennsylvania State Police officer from Turnpike Division, in a manner of arrogance worthy of stereotypically incompetent Southern law enforcement, is approaching the CB Bears' table as if seeking to be the Cassandra of the moment.]

STATE POLICE OFFICER: Now who among you is the leader of the group, may I ask?

HUSTLE: I happen to be, sir.

STATE POLICE OFFICER: I'm afraid to have to be the Bearer of Bad News--you the owner of a sorry-looking garbage truck known colloquially as "the Perfume Wagon"?

HUSTLE: You could say so.

STATE POLICE OFFICER, handing Hustle certain papers: I'm afraid that your Perfume Wagon is having to be hauled away even as I speak.

BUMP, somewhat unnerved: For what exactly?

STATE POLICE OFFICER: To put it bluntly, said Perfume Wagon happens to be in An Unsound or Unsafe Condition for Continued Operation on Public Highways, thereby Posing a Clear and Present Hazard to Road Safety.

HUSTLE, stunned: So where are the complaints about our Perfume Wagon being a road hazard, to begin with?

STATE POLICE OFFICER: Kindly refer to the papers I just handed you ... in any event, the Perfume Wagon is hereby impounded and seized as an Unsafe or Unsound Vehicle, and be aware that you may be held liable for towing and scrapping charges under the Pennsylvania Highways and Turnpike Code...

HUSTLE: Looks like we're going to have to kill time in some cheesy motel in such a cheesy town as this for awhile!

VELMA, taken aback at the scene: And so the Scooby Snak crumbles apart ...

"SHAGGY:" Yeah, like I was destined to have a rather substantial, stomach-filling breakfast until such a development came along!!

[goodheartt]

i feel like when charlie comes back from ireland he is more of a shell than he is charlie. yes, the gang did come back for him and help him, but they left him in the first place. his father, who had been missing for his whole life, had died. he also discovered the childhood pen pall he had was his father all along, not some kid that lived in ireland. he went through so much in the span of a few days. charlie isn't good with processing his emotions to begin with, but i feel like that's a lot to really digest. he isolates a lot, which is difficult due to frank living with him. most of the time when he's at work, he's in the basement drinking or huffing glue or doing anything to numb his thoughts. there's some nights that he never ends up going back to the apartment, he just sleeps in the basement or back office of paddy's.

he doesn't talk about shelley at all, he doesn't bring it up. in fact he doesn't bring up ireland at all, it's like it never happened. every time one of the gang brings it up charlie just kind of goes quiet, nonverbal. he's not sure if he forgives the gang for leaving him, for not helping him pay respects to his dad. he's not sure if he forgives his dad for abandoning him to begin with. he's not sure if he forgives frank for ( essentially ) killing his father, fully taking away the opportunity to form a relationship with his absent father for the first time in his life. instead of trying to confront the gang about it, or talk about it, he just drinks it all away and huffs it all away. i could see the gang being concerned about his behavior but ultimately not doing much about it. after a few weeks, charlie just goes back to "normal", adjusts to his typical lifestyle again. if someone brings up the trip, instead of growing quiet he gets angry, snapping at them and telling them not to talk about it, most likely storming away.

[troyplaysbass]

We’ll Grow Stronger Making Room and Sharing Space: 2019 In Review

It’s the end of the year and the end of the decade (more on the latter in this post). It’s the time for me to reflect on the year and think too much about lists. Some things will never change.

Music I Worked On This Year

Jeff Schaller and the Long Way Home - “Younger Years” (guitar, recording, mixing, mastering)

Apocalypse Quest - Paradoxes (mixing, mastering)

Sloth Hands - Vacation’s Over (mastering)

Apocalypse Quest - “Mediocre Boys” (recording, mixing, mastering)

Flora Self - “Didn’t See It Coming” (bass, recording, mixing, mastering)

Pelafina - “Blue and Gold” (guitar)

Apocalypse Quest - “CEO Blood” (recording, mixing, mastering)

Apocalypse Quest - ERBA (recording, mixing, mastering)

My Favorite Albums of 2019

I’ve had a one-sentence review of my number one album, Breakup Season by Future Teens, in my head for a few months: If I had heard this when I was seventeen, I might have been a better person. That sounds hyperbolic, but I haven’t been able to shake the idea. I know I could have used this album as a teenager. It’s so honest and introspective about heartbreak and sadness and dealing with those emotions in healthy ways. I’m so happy that a band like Future Teens exists. I’m jealous of the kid that hears Breakup Season this year and connects to it like I connected to The Upsides. Future Teens will be that kid’s first favorite band, the soundtrack to their formative years, their inspirations and role models. I keep likening this album to The Upsides, probably the single most influential album on my past ten years. It feels like a torch-passing at the end of the decade, and it’s all the more apt because I saw Future Teens open for the Wonder Years in October.

The rest of my list feels as varied as my year, spanning genre and scope from emo debuts to the biggest pop artist in the world. As always, I think there’s a lot to love on this list, so pick something and give it a spin.

Future Teens - Breakup Season

Charly Bliss - Young Enough

Pedro the Lion - Phoenix

The Menzingers - Hello Exile

The Mountain Goats - In League With Dragons

Jimmy Eat World - Surviving

Taylor Swift - Lover

Origami Angel - Somewhere City

The Get Up Kids - Problems

Telethon - Hard Pop

Proper. - I Spent the Winter Writing Songs About Getting Better

Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties - Routine Maintenance

Ceres - We Are a Team

Oso Oso - Basking In the Glow

Better Oblivion Community Center - Better Oblivion Community Center

The Dangerous Summer - Mother Nature

Somos - Prison On a Hill

Dave Hause - Kick

American Football - LP3

Bruce Springsteen - Western Stars

Junius Paul - Ism

The Maine - You Are OK

Nervus - Tough Crowd

Great Grandpa - Four of Arrows

Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride

My Favorite EPs of 2019

Better Love - All I Ever Wanted Is To Be Where You Are

Mineral - One Day When We Are Young

Ruston Kelly - Dirt Emo, Volume 1

Rat Tally - When You Wake Up

Bosley Jr - No More

My Favorite Songs of 2019

Here’s a playlist on Apple Music and Spotify of songs I loved this year. It’s vaguely in order (at least the top ten or so).

My Favorite Shows of 2019

I went to 63 shows this year, 35 of which I played. Here were my favorites. These were all great, but the John K. Samson show is a contender for my all-time favorite performance. He doesn’t tour much, so make it a priority to see him if you have the chance.

John K. Samson and Christine Fellows - 11/23 at Beat Kitchen

The Wonder Years, Future Teens - 10/20 at Metro

Ruston Kelly - 11/1 at Thalia Hall

Mineral - 1/24 at Lincoln Hall

Pedro the Lion - 5/18 at The Castle Theater

Jacob Sigman, Jetty Bones - 3/29 at Beat Kitchen

The Sidekicks, Adult Mom - 7/7 at Subterranean

Spanish Love Songs - 5/19 at Cobra Lounge

Los Campesinos! - 7/6 at West Fest

We Were Promised Jetpacks - 7/13 at Bottom Lounge

My Favorite Podcasts of 2019

Two Headed Girl is the best new podcast I listened to this year. It’s a chronicle of gender dysphoria, transitioning, and marriage. Hosts Alex and Matthew Cox are unflinching in their honesty with each other about their lives, health, and feelings. It’s kind of amazing that they recorded all of this and are willing to share such a personal journey with the world.

Elsewhere in the podcast world, two of my favorite long-running podcasts hit new highs in 2019. On episode 102 of Reconcilable Differences, “Preparing the Way,” John Siracusa buys a refrigerator. The two-hour chronicle of this harrowing adventure is everything I love about the podcast format. And The Watch, Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald’s twice weekly talk about movies and TV, transitioned from purely critique to a behind the scenes look at making a TV show as Andy called in from the set and editing room of his upcoming show, Briarpatch.

Finally, I’ll recommend Michael Lewis’s Against the Rules, a meticulously researched exploration of societal rules and the people who make and enforce them. Unlike the long-running conversational shows I typically like, the tight format and high production value make Against the Rules feel more like an audio book.

My Favorite Books of 2019

As usual, I read very few new releases this year, but the few I did read were fantastic: Hanif Abdurraqib’s latest poetry collection, A Fortune For Your Disaster, Mark Z. Danielewski’s children’s book for all ages, The Little Blue Kite, and Mischa Pearlman’s One Day When We Are Young, a retrospective on the emo band Mineral and a companion piece to their first new music in over twenty years.

The best book I read this year, regardless of release date, was The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.

My Favorite Television of 2019

I started 2019 with the vague goal of “keeping up” with TV, but I quickly realized that’s impossible. There’s just too much great TV. With that in mind, I just want to highlight a few of my favorite shows of the year, all remarkable for very different reasons, which also happen to be short and digestible.

Fleabag - Season 2

A tour de force of emotion and energy, every episode left me thinking that writer / producer / star Phoebe Waller-Bridge might be the most talented person alive.

Watchmen

Every frame of this show is immaculate. I’m a longtime defender of the endings of Lost and The Leftovers so I had confidence in Damon Lindelof and his team to pull this sequel/remix, and my expectations were still far exceeded.

When They See Us

Ava Duvernay’s docu-drama about the Central Park Five is a heart-wrenching examination of injustice. The opening sequence alone is worth the price of a Netflix subscription.

Chernobyl

A different kind of bleak docu-drama, set on the opposite side of the world as When They See Us, Chernobyl is equal parts moving, gruesome, frustrating, and deeply sad.

And I can’t leave the TV section without giving a shout to Baby Yoda on The Mandalorian, constant cause of delighted squeals (both Liesi’s and mine) every time he’s on screen.

My Favorite Movies of 2019

As always, I'm very behind on movies at the end of year, but Knives Out is a masterpiece. 1. Knives Out 2. Marriage Story 3. The Irishman 4. Booksmart 5. Midsommar 6. The Report 7. Toy Story 4 8. Us 9. Dolemite Is My Name 10. High Life

Next Year

I haven’t made a formal new year’s resolution in quite a few years, but I do have some plans for 2020.

Pelafina will be releasing a new EP in the next couple months. More on that very soon.

The Long Way Home are deep in the process of recording our next album. That will hopefully be out later in the spring.

I didn’t make a single blog post this year, and I want to change that. I don’t have a clear structure in mind, but I just want to write more.

I’m going to listen to more jazz.

[chacmar]

K H F B!

thank youuuu!!! :)

K:  What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with? ummm pretty much every fucking time i write abt dennis (specifically macdennis) it’s angsty af, but like... you give a mouse codependency, trauma, alcohol abuse, & mental illness... you get angst, ya know???

H: How would you describe your style? oh god. idk man. i don’t think i have a style??? straight forward? I guess? introspective? unedited?

F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.  

so this is a little long, but:

“Wawa’s got buffalo chicken fingers now. That's good enough.”“What are those anyway? Like is there a half buffalo, half-chicken animal that has human hands?”“No, definitely not.”“I don't know why else they'd call them that.”“Let's not fight again tonight, Charlie.”“Alright, yeah. I'll let you know if I find one of those hybrids, though.”“Where the hell would you find that?”“The back of Wawa, where they keep the animals.”

this is in Charlie Finds Mac a Boyfriend (which I promise I will finish eventually), which honestly I just like most of the dialogue in, because I really feel like I got the mood of the characters down pretty well in that fic. I like this little bit a lot just because it’s a very funny image and sounds like a convo Charlie and Mac would have, honestly. 

B: Any of your stories inspired by personal experience?  not hella, but lightly. like writing childhood Charmac is cool b/c i think abt fun things I did when I was little in the city (but like the sunny version). I also project a lot of my trauma onto Charlie & Dennis, so that’s a factor. (and any unrequited love is absolutely about my own life 3)

[onestowatch]

Grimes: 7 Ones to Know If You’re a Fan of Her New Single, “We Appreciate Power”

From bedroom-crafted bouts of pop wonderment to hyper-futuristic takes on the genre, watching Grimes evolve over the past eight odd years has been nothing short of fascinating. Today sees the art-pop auteur releasing her highly-anticipated new single, “We Appreciate Power.” The experimental and addictive single, which features HANA, marks the Canadian artist’s first new release since her acclaimed fourth studio album, 2015’s Art Angels. It is crazy to think that it has been over three years since we last heard from Grimes, outside the context of unexpected K-pop collaborations and dating a certain tech entrepreneur, but we’re certainly happy to have such a visionary artist make her welcomed return. 

And while we wait for what is hinted to be a new album, we have just the thing to keep you occupied until Grimes delivers more pop magic unto the world. These are seven artists you ought to know if you are a fan of Grimes + a playlist for continued listening pleasure.

LOONA

Truth be told, we’re still figuring out K-pop girl group LOONA ourselves, but we know one thing for certain--their music is beyond infectious. Comprised of a dozen members, which then breaks down into three subunits, Loona 1/3, Loona Odd Eye Circle, and Loona yyxy, Loona’s sparkling style of pop combines ‘90s R&B and hip-hop influence with electronic dance music to wonderful effect. Then there’s also the fact that subunit yyxy released their first ever track with the help of none other than Grimes herself.

Nicole Dollanganger

Southern Ontario singer-songwriter Nicole Dollanganger has carefully developed a cult-like following with her self-released gothic dream pop songs. Most of Dollanganger’s earliest work was first released on her blog, but it was her fifth album Natural Born Losers that would result in Grimes creating Eerie Organization for the sole purpose of seeing the album released. It’s no wonder why Grimes and the Internet has taken to Dollangager so much, as her music strays the line between childhood fairytale and the macabre in perfectly beautiful fashion.

Kailee Morgue

Kailee Morgue is not your conventional pop star in the making. The tattoo-adorned, anime-obsessed artist first struck upon success when a video of her performing a previously unreleased single went viral overnight. The viral demo would turn out to be “Medusa,” a hypnotic pop meditation on a misunderstood mythological creature. And “Medusa” has proven to be no one-chance fluke for Morgue, as she continues to impress with her penchant for crafting into existence dark spellbinding works of pop magic, including the most recent to-date single, “Siren.”

Alice Glass

Gothic starlet Alice Glass first came to prominence as the electrifying frontwoman for Crystal Castles, but it is her recent endeavors that are turning heads. We originally praised Glass for striking such a perfect balance between meticulously crafted pop and chaotic, dark production in her self-titled debut EP. An intoxicating mixture of volatility and vulnerability, Glass’ solo work moves at a breakneck speed, launching between moments of candid introspection and spine-tingling darkwave at a moment’s notice.

Kero Kero Bonito

Sung at times in English and Japanese, combining underground UK dance, indie rock, and twee pop, it’s difficult at times to pin down Kero Kero Bonito. The effervescent project of Sarah Bonito, Gus Lobban, and Jamie Bulled, the London trio manage to bridge a wealth of influence and inspiration into a singular project that is nothing short of a resoundingly amusing time. Even with the release of their sophomore album, Time ‘n’ Place, earlier this year, we’re still never sure what to expect from Kero Kero Bonito. But therein lies part of the reason we’ve come to love the band so much.

Yaeji

Yaeji’s meditative and dream-evoking house numbers provide a different sort of solace found on the dance floor. Sung softly in English and her native Korean over production that sways between dream pop and slow-burning underground club music, Yaeji’s music proves that the dance floor can be a place to both reflect and lose ourselves. From a melancholic remix of Drake’s “passionfruit” to two phenomenal and critically-acclaimed EPs, Yaeji has shown us in just the span of over a year why she is currently one of the most innovative figures in dance music. 

BloodPop®

The American producer and songwriter BloodPop® ranks amongst one of the most listened to artists in the world, but chances are you’ve yet to hear of him. Previously going by the name of Michael Diamon, Blood, and Blood Diamonds, the Grammy Award–nominated producer found his start collaborating with the likes of Charli XCX and Grimes and would spur on Grimes’ earliest shift into experimental dance music with the track, “Go.” Today, BloodPop® works alongside the likes of Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, and most notably, Lady Gaga. Although, we’d be lying if we said we didn’t miss the occasional past collaboration between BloodPop® and Grimes. 

[darlingandmreames]

For the reading game: 28, 45, 55

28. a book you wish you could read as a beginner again

A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick. I remember being absolutely CAPTIVATED by it when I first read it in high school and I wish I could go back and experience that wonder all over again. The deeply introspective and slightly meandering way Dick writes in that book has unquestionably influenced how I write.

45. a book featuring the friends to lovers trope

I actually really struggled with this one 😅 I'm not usually a huge fan of books with strong romantic plots/subplots. The one that really sticks out in my mind though, even though it's not really a full 'friends to lovers', is Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. I think the relationship between Charlie and Sam is fascinating and it's development over the book is really interesting.

55. a book with a satisfying ending

I'm not sure "satisfying" is the right word (sorry, you're getting all of the 'sorta but not really' answers agdkdhs), but the ending of 1984 by George Orwell is one of my favourite endings of any book I've ever read, and it's the only book where I remember the last line verbatim. It's not a happy ending, but it's one that's stuck with me over the years and I think it probably always will.

Book rec asks!

[ao3feed-snape]

Contingency

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/3jcWMcr

by lpbecerra

"To have a conscious is one thing, mi amor. To use it ー to listen to it ー well . . . that is something much more special."

Words: 2295, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Other

Characters: Harry Potter, Original Muggle Character(s), Original Female Character(s), Original Female Character(s) of Color, Hermione Granger, Severus Snape, Ron Weasley, Remus Lupin, Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, Minerva McGonagall, Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, Nymphadora Tonks, Bellatrix Black Lestrange, Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, Lavender Brown, Cho Chang, Alice Longbottom, Original Male Character(s), Original Male Character(s) of Color, Draco Malfoy, Sirius Black, Albus Dumbledore, George Weasley, Fred Weasley, Molly Weasley, Charlie Weasley, Arthur Weasley, Percy Weasley, Bill Weasley, Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, Hogwarts Students, Pomona Sprout, Frank Longbottom, Horace Slughorn, Dolores Umbridge, Bartemius Crouch Sr., Filius Flitwick, Penelope Clearwater

Additional Tags: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Friends to Lovers, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Bullying, Found Family, Family, Family Secrets, MACUSA | Magical Congress of the United States of America, Ministry of Magic (Harry Potter), Slow Burn, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Trauma, Fluff, Whump, Panic Attacks, Anxiety, Depression, Book 2: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Book 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Male-Female Friendship, Female Protagonist, Bisexual Female Character, Female Character of Color, Strong Female Characters, Bisexual Male Character, Gay Male Character, Male Character of Color, Male Friendship, Parent-Child Relationship, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Fix-It of Sorts, Canon Compliant, Canon Era, Recovery, Canon-Typical Violence, POV Third Person Omniscient, Humor, Introspection, Idiots in Love, Dorks in Love, Sharing a Bed, Rivalry, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Good Slytherins, Mental Health Issues, Men Crying, Therapy, Work In Progress, I'm Not Sorry J.K.Rowling, J.K.Rowling can suck it, Bilingual Character(s), Bilingual, English, Español | Spanish

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3jcWMcr