#females who rock

[rawrampmag]

LEILANI KILGORE @LeilaniKilgore #leilanikilgore #womenwhorock #nashville #BluesGuitar #GetHome #SingleReview

LEILANI KILGORE @LeilaniKilgore #leilanikilgore #womenwhorock #nashville #BluesGuitar #GetHome #SingleReview

LEILANI KILGORE is a musician, songwriter, and self-proclaimed riff bandit.The likes of Keith Richards, SRV, and Jimi Hendrix can be thanked for her initial draw to the guitar; being an only child, Leilani was envious of all the attention their music received from her father, so she thought that learning to play was the only way to divert his parental attention.After studying classical music as a…

[enbysiriusblack]

modern marauders would have the silliest social media usernames:

james potter- lilyevansbf

marlene mckinnon- lilyevansismywife

dorcasmeadowes- lilytheloml

remus lupin- lilyevanshusband

sirius black- lilyevansnoticeme

mary macdonald- futuremaryevans

peter pettigrew- lilyiloveyou

emmeline vance- lilyevansgf

lily evans- goingtokillmyfriends

[voidlessmaze]

ochako, screaming crying throwing up over the loss of toga:

izuku: uraraka!!!!

izuochas:

(…yall call bkdks toxic but i have never experienced them treating izuochas like this over deku screaming katsuki’s name (which happened like 500 times already but wtv)? and this isn’t you being happy over your ship maybe having a cute scene or becoming canon. i doubt any of them even care about izuku or ochako (cuz ochako is literally??? having the wORST time rn why would izuku confess to her?? why would ochako confess to him??) like atp i have seen several izuocha shippers butt in and go “what are you saying?? nothing happened and it would be inappropriate to confess” (and this is not me just being a bkdk shipper and not wanting izuocha to be canon. if this was katsuki and deku instead i wouldn’t want a confession either.) and it isn’t even about that. this is just gross and homophobic honestly…(yes homophobic cuz the amount of comments that are about them being boys is telling and the lack of comments of lgbtq people saying the same thing is also telling (actually i have seen several people say “i also hate bkdk with a passion but this ain’t it guys”))

[seyaryminamoto]

My latest completed commission may have been a bit ambitious... because I went wild with it. But I certainly relished in doing so :') Combining my favorite ship with my favorite-ever Disney movie is, uh... a dangerous concoction :'D

The commissioner specifically requested for Azula as Mulan, Sokka as Shang, and Xin Long (my OC dragon from Gladiator) as Mushu. The rest of the cast was up to me to choose, and I pretty much went wild rewatching this movie and picking out some of my favorite moments to recreate them in my style, with these characters. I came up with a lot of correlating characters between both ATLA and 1998's Mulan, but I couldn't hope to draw EVERYTHING, unfortunately. Still, if you want my reasoning for the cast correlation... check out the Read More! Beyond that, feel free to reach out to me if you'd like to commission me, or if you want to join my Patreon!

The Herbalist as Mulan's grandmother might feel arbitrary but she honestly felt like the ATLA elderly lady with the most similar personality to Grandma Fa. Fickle, with a unique connection with a seemingly perfectly ordinary animal, old and sassy? Figured it fit! So for once, the Herbalist is Azula's grandma! xD strange notion, I know, Azulon/Herbalist is not a ship I ever thought I'd accidentally put out in the world but there have been wilder ships than that in this fandom...

Momo became Cri-Kee, I wasn't 100% sold on it but when I considered that Avatar features soooo many hybrid animals... I figured he could be a hybrid cricket-lemur. Weird, I know, but eh? Better than nothing xD

Aang as Chien-Po was a no-brainer. He's the only character I settled on instantly, never even considered anyone else for the role. Their personalities line up really well, and Chien-Po's tendency to be OP and resolve things that are outside of other people's reach sounded like he was prime Avatar material! So, while their dietary preferences are an obvious difference between them, I decided to go for it nonetheless considering all their other similarities!

Kino (another Gladiator OC) is Ling, and he actually did give me a ton of trouble to choose. I considered many characters for the role right up until I realized that Kino's personality actually lines up fairly well with Ling's, down to being a class clown type (who ABSOLUTELY would have cut gym class!) and breaking out in song about the hypothetical woman he'd like to fight for? Yeeeeah that's right up his alley xD but there's another reason why I picked Kino...

... And that is my likely unexpected choice for Yao:

ZUKO.

ZUKO IS YAO.

YES.

I'M NOT EVEN SORRY.

(For the uninitiated, Aang, Zuko and Kino are best friends in Gladiator, very often together, and they make a really good team, so that's the extra reason why Kino became the obvious choice for Ling aside from having really similar personalities, definitely closer personalities than, say, Jet, for instance.)

People have likened Zuko to Shang a LOT since ATLA aired. This is the main reason why I'm even making this huge note! I suspect it's primarily because of the aesthetic, let's be real here, and because he becomes Aang's teacher, but people have exaggerated Zuko's alleged similarities with Shang, or taken them out of proportion, in many ways. I actually remember an AMV ages ago with "Be a Man" and it was Zuko "training the Gaang"?? It... didn't feel right to me. Obviously, someone might rebuff with "well, how does Sokka make MORE sense than that, though?" And believe it or not, I have arguments for that... (when do I not...?)

Not only is this what the commissioner specifically requested (and it obviously lines up with the ship we love!), but let's examine the actual reasons why Sokka as Shang adds up:

Sokka actually had to train a bunch of toddlers who weren't paying any attention to him. You know. Kind of how Shang had to train the unruly soldiers who weren't getting anything right. Sokka has a positive relationship with his dad (Zuko, ofc, does not). Shang also has a positive relationship with his dad! And not only this, but there's a military component to both relationships, specifically with Shang wanting to follow on his father's footsteps and aid him in the war... so much like someone else I know, who jumped at every opportunity to rejoin his father in the war, even wishing to join him as a child until Hakoda tasked him with protecting their Tribe instead (kinda like Shang is tasked with training soldiers rather than joining a battlefield).

And the final cherry-on-top that I'd loooove to hear Zuko fans try to argue against... is sexism :') didn't Sokka get characterized as a sexist guy for four episodes, which made people decide that this was his main character trait even if it went away that quickly? Um, yes, that happened. Shang literally sings the memorable song that's a crazy ode to masculinity, including the rather sexist line of "did they send me daughters when I asked for sons". Shang outright abandons Mulan once they discover that she was a woman all along (while, admittedly, choosing to abandon her rather than KILL HER, which as we saw from Chi-Fu, he was NOT supposed to spare her!)...

So, is this REALLY what Zuko fans, who willfully believe their boy is a feminist king (... why? beats me...) are trying to compare their unproblematic blorbo to? :'D Me? I have no problem linking Sokka with Shang due to Sokka's beginnings and due to the fact that both Shang and Sokka have similar growth when it comes to accepting femininity is as valid as masculinity, and as they both learn to respect women as fighters and potential heroes! (I simply do not believe Sokka's ENTIRE tenure in ATLA was about that, though, and that's what I continue to clash with the fandom over...) So... all this is why I've reasoned that Sokka is a VERY solid choice for Shang, in fact, better than Zuko could hope to be.

... but this isn't all.

Maybe some might accept my arguments for Sokka-Shang. And then, they might ask:

WHY ZUKO AS YAO, THO??

... And the truth is it took me long to see it, myself, but HOLY SHIT, DOES IT FIT!

What is the primary thing we remember about Yao in Mulan? This guy is constantly itching for a fight, to prove himself, surely riddled with insecurities that he exteriorizes through overcompensation of masculinity. He's funny as fuck, but he's taking himself 100% seriously as a manly man all the time, and he's always ready for violence. But there's one more thing...

He treats Mulan as his RIVAL.

And more often than not? SHE SCREWS HIM OVER. Intentionally or not.

What does that sound like? Why, yes, it sounds a LOT like Azula and Zuko's sibling relationship!

The fact that Yao is a temperamental dude who lashes out easily at things (oh, something he has in common with Zuko!), that he specifically resents Mulan (in this case, Azula, just as Zuko does!) and is either constantly looking to defeat her and prove his superiority over her (... wait, just as Zuko with Azula??), that he has a black eye perpetually across the movie, and it's his LEFT EYE (just as Zuko's scar is on his left eye! :'D), that he's friends with a pacifist he has basically nothing in common with, personality-wise (just like Zuko and Aang!), and that he pretty much has a REDEMPTION ARC in which he goes from a bitter, asshole rival to Mulan to treating her as a friend and ally, to the point where he was disappointed to leave her behind and THEN joined her at once when she says she has a plan? :') I have always been critical of Zuko's redemption arc, goes without saying. But if ANY of these characters redeemed himself in any significant way, it certainly seems to be Yao to me, and with people gushing NON-STOP about Zuko's redemption? Why, he ought to be the character who goes from bitter rival to loyal friend, right?

So. I'm not even sorry. Zuko is Yao. And I'd dare say that he should be flattered by the comparison, even, because Yao ends up being cool as FUCK!

I don't really talk about this much nowadays, but Mulan was my favorite Disney movie growing up, it ABSOLUTELY had a formative influence on me as a little girl, and Mulan was my favorite female character for a looooong time. Thus, any excuse to rewatch this movie makes me happy as heck. With the wisdom of age I know, of course, that it's not perfect, it's not what China wants, it's not the most thoughtful depiction of Chinese culture or the most faithful adaptation of Mulan's poem (... but I'd also dare bring up that the 2009 Chinese adaptation ISN'T all that faithful either...), but it has a kind of magic in it, a solid storytelling flow, so many memorable moments one after the next, that I could hardly choose which scenes to depict... Disney has never again seen the storytelling heights it reached with Mulan in 1998. I don't even care if that's a controversial opinion in any way... this is their best animated feature for me, and nobody can change my mind.

So... depicting Azula, my beloved, in all these scenarios as this character I adored and idolized as a child, was so damn fulfilling for me. While some might think that, personality-wise, these two ladies don't have much in common, the fact that Mulan is sent to a matchmaker who basically tells her she looks good but is going to be the worst wife ever...? Our girl Azula, with all those insecurities about being unloveable and a monster, probably would relate big time to that.

Mulan is also an INTELLIGENT soldier rather than a brawny one, which is how she starts to make progress in the army, it's how she manages to overcome the huns with that avalanche... and Azula's primary difference with most other antagonists in ATLA is that she's smart as fuck. She is very strong, no doubt, but a LOT of that strength comes from her intelligence, from assessing situations in unique ways, from planning and strategizing. The way Mulan finds the most unexpected solutions that still pay off reminds me a lot of how Azula achieves unexpected feats through rather unorthodox means, capable of taking over a city with basically no bloodshed while her nation has spent 100 years trying and failing to do so through major army incursions and who knows how much senseless violence. Obviously, I'm not saying what Azula did is GOOD and it's kind of dumb that we always have to point that out... I'm merely comparing the magnitude of the feats, and the fact that they both come from ladies who use strategy and intelligence to achieve their goals rather than muscle and physical power.

And while anyone would rage at me for the comparison between Fa Zhou (her dad) and Ozai, the truth is the dynamic between them CAN be compared, if loosely: Mulan literally goes to war to keep her father safe. Azula goes to war under her father's orders. Hell, she makes herself BAIT in the Eclipse to make sure the Gaang won't get to her dad?? While it's very much possible to say that both characters have different personalities and attitudes in life... I'd also bring up that their contexts are evidently completely different. I wouldn't say for certain that Azula, had she been raised outside a Royal Family, would be EXACTLY like Mulan... but they might have more similar traits than one might expect. Ultimately, though... I love them both. And this opportunity to swap their places was pretty much a dream come true!

Alright, that was plenty of rambling xD ultimately, I had a blast doing this commission, as I'm sure is obvious by now. So! If anyone wants to commission me, feel free to check out my prices right here and hit me up if you're interested!

[sugarandspite05]

those 2.6M views are literally all me guys

also pau’s performance of 23 is unmatched. like wdym you’re singing AND drumming at the same time?!? i can barely hold a sentence together

[thedepartmentofdiscoveries]

[queenofthemagazines-stp73]

⊹ ࣪ ﹏𓊝﹏𓂁﹏⊹ ࣪ ˖

[klarastjarnljus]

Dany of The Warning, Lisbon April 5.

[goturtongue]

PJ Harvey - Good Fortune

I seriously think about this music video at least once a day.

[taohs]

"Rei Hiroe in the Black Lagoon volume 12 interview: I had no character who would appeal to the female readers…. 😔 So I created the mascot ditzy wizard guy side character Lotton. That will appeal to them for sure!

Black Lagoon’s entire female/nb fanbase: *simping for Balalaika, Revy, Eda, Shenhua, Sawyer, Eda’s boss at the Rip-off Church, and possibly even Roberta so hard we overtook the entire AO3 section*"

As a woman who isn't even attracted to women, I'm lusting over the female characters rather than the male characters. Which says a lot about me.

god black lagoon women are truly on a league of their own... revy and balalaika alone has half the fandom in a chokehold

[thefugitivesaint]

Give this piece a read and then go and acquire Jessica Hopper’s book, The First Collection of Criticism By A Living Female Rock Critic from 2015.  “It has been 70 years since Big Mama Thornton put Hound Dog on the American charts, yet the primacy of women’s roles in popular music is still woefully underchronicled and undercredited, ever-shadowed by Great Man legacies that blot out women’s innovation. Perpetual outsiders, women are somehow forever arriving, forever an insurgent force, rather than rightly credited as totemic figures who shaped every facet of rock, blues, soul, country, jazz, the avant garde, hip-hop, disco, punk, new wave and whatever you’re likely listening to now.

All that vital lived history is so rarely told by the women who lived it. I have seen far too many documentaries where women artists offer compelling testimony of their creative mission, only to be followed by an A&R guy or a name brand industry titan whose account is offered as if to verify her truth. Yet, as anyone who loves music and studies popular music history knows, the industry men have their own ideas about who is deemed a real artist, who counts as canonical, with standards long tainted by sexism, racism, homophobia and mythology that largely served to bolster their authority. 

All of these known knowns, this hunger, this desire to know what women artists experienced is what informed my work as a director on the four-part docuseries Women Who Rock. I made the conscious choice to exclude the opinions and accounts of those titanic men, and show women artists as the reliable narrators of their own history, of music history itself.”

[kitschydoll]

[mummer]

a good man goes to war probably the Most doc who episode of all time. The epic highs and lows of moffat. it’s possible that trying to combine your screwball high flying funky star wars homage episode with your self serious very important character and plot development episode is stupid and does not work… or maybe it does? But of course combined with one of the most insanely dumb plot reveals of all time, to have ever happened on this earth. But also karen gillan acting down. But also… flesh baby. Look how they impregnated my girl literally probably the most fucked up and evil thing to happen to a companion like whatttt is this? BUT ALSO THE INTRO OF VASTRA AND JENNY AND STRAX. But also flesh baby…..Unless flesh baby is secretly awesome? im coming around to flesh baby. But also amy trapped in a well george lucas gave his girls more agency in the 70s moffat you freak. Is this episode legendarically terrible is it Really cool and awesome and ambitious and doing the most all the time are there themes. Can we unpack this. No. Like it’s literally all in service of some stupid bullshit really.. But what if it wasnt

[thescummanifesto]

while we're on the topic of dave grohl not being a loyal husband can we discuss how he was always a little bit sexist towards courtney, and realistically she had every right to not like him despite the fact that her husband did

[prototypelq]

@fluffypichu876, @jemichi90, @dmc-questions-anon, @darcy-draws, @stashoflostsouls, @technodjent

Pretty sure y'all gonna like this one

[hot-for-rock]

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