#five-punch pablo | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

spammreviews · 8 months

Text

Radiohead Ranking

Here is a Rating of all of the Radiohead songs, from worst to best, and I mean all the Radishead songs, not just the album tracks.

162. Palo Alto:

This is a song from OK/NOTOK

It might have Thom’s worst vocal performance.

His voice is grating and obnoxious, making him sound like a sarcastic 8 year old. The mockery in his voice is reminiscent of one of the worst tracks off of Pablo Honey.

Everything about this song is brash and overdone. The electric guitars are over-the-top and also terribly mixed, being about five times as loud as Thom’s voice. The chorus to this song makes me want to vomit because we get these very simple, very distorted guitar parts just punching us in the face. There’s an impact on every beat, and it sucks.

All of the electronics are similarly obnoxious and over-the-top as they randomly jump in and out of this song. I suppose the idea is that this song is chaotic and everything, but the electronics are also mixed way too high, so they always take over the song for the five seconds when they appear.

The idea of this song is that in society, we’re all busy all of the time, and that sucks. The song basically just says that. It’s not subtle.

It also doesn’t go any deeper than that. It’s extraordinarily surface level.

It also seems more like its mocking all of us who are in the predicament of living in modern society then it is at being angry at society or feeling bad for living in society.

The song’s called Palo Alto and it mentions California, but it then does nothing with that.

There are a million songs and movies and TV shows and books about California, and Radiohead couldn’t think of one thing to actually say about Palo Alto- possibly because they are British and they’ve probably only been to California while on tour. Trust me, I’m from California. I’ve been to Palo Alto. There are things to say about it.

For one thing, the traffic is awful. Actually, that’s all of California.

Maybe this song is actually about traffic, as it makes me feel the same feeling that I feel when I’m stuck in traffic.

This whole song is just so extraordinarily on the nose in every aspect.

Did I mention how shitty this song sounds? The different instruments do not mix well together. It’s like the band members recorded all of their parts in different rooms and then slapped the recordings on top of each other.

The song starts off sounding extraordinarily messy, and it never stops sounding like it.

Everytime I listen to this song, I get a fucking headache.

Fuck this song. It is practically unlistenable.

161. Planet Telex (L.F.O. Remix):

This is an unnecessary remix which is just grating on the ears. The synths are obnoxiously shrill and the chaotic mixing gets old after two seconds. This song is what electronic music sounds like to people who don’t like electronic music.

The drumming to this song is also obnoxiously simple, with an impact on every beat.

This song also makes it so that the only lines are “you can crush it” and “Oh”.

It gets so tiring so very quickly.

This whole remix is basically what electronic music sounds like to people who don’t like electronic music.

160. How Do You?:

Somehow, Thome Yorke’s voice sounds annoying on this track, coming off as really whiny, especially on the choruses. His voice is too nasally, too on the nose, and while he’s trying to sound angry and pissed-off, it comes across as disingenuous.

A very big problem is that the vocal melody is really happy, but Thom is singing it in a really angry way. This makes his vocals sound even more disingenuous.

The whole song doesn’t seem to know what emotion it wants to be. I didn’t know why it felt so confused, so I did some looking up.

According to ultimate guitar.com, https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/radiohead/how-do-you-chords-58358

The chord progression on the intro is just “Amaj7sus2 A” on repeat. That’s a simultaneously very simple chord progression and a very complex one. It only has two chords, but one of these two chords is a rather jazzy chord, especially considering that it is being played on these very distorted guitars. When a chord like that is being played on a really distorted guitar, it will often sound very sludgy.

The chord progression on the verses is “A E F#m” , a pretty happy sounding chord progression, but the way the distortion is used makes it seem like the band wants it to be angry.

The chord progression of the chorus is straight up bizarre, going “G Dsus4 A5 A” You don’t usually go from a sustained chord to a power chord in music. This probably explains why the chorus sounds especially strange. Sustained chords build tension, and 5 chords do the opposite. It’s also a circle of fifths chord progression, which means that D and G and A and D have the same relationship, and that relationship is a boring one.

However, despite having a very unique composition, this song somehow manages to sound extraordinarily generic, which is impressive. I think that’s because of the way the chords are used, using a boring beat and boring dynamics. The band is just going through the motions of standard grunge, without any sense of what emotion they’re actually trying to convey.

Also, the lyrics of this song are just plain inane. “And he was a stupid baby, turned into a powerful freak” sounds like something a teenager would say in a shitty 90’s kids cartoon.

While Radiohead has many lyrics which are confusing in an intriguing way, the nonsensical nature of these lyrics just comes off as stupid,

“He’s a dangerous bigot, but we always forget.” What? Huh? How?

Also, that line comes right before, “And he’s just like his daddy.” I never want to hear Thom say the word “daddy” again.

I think the point of that line is to be mocking, as is the entire song. I don’t like that. Presumably, the person being mocked is the anonymous jerk the lyrics are describing, but when you hear a man yell in a snarky tone for two minutes, it sounds like he’s being snarky at you. Also, the song is very unspecific about why this person sucks. He’s a dangerous bigot, but we don’t know how he’s dangerous or who he’s bigoted against.

This song is garbage in every way.

159. Thinking About You:

After years of shitting on Pablo Honey, music nerds across the globe have been re-evaluating the album, with many coming to the conclusion that it’s “not that bad”. Now, I can appreciate people changing their minds. However, I’m here to take a stand and loudly proclaim my own opinion, Pablo Honey is that bad. This is the fifth song on the album, and by the time I get to it, I’m already sick and tired.

Anywhoo, this song is laughably dull. The rhythm guitar is so boring and generic, and for most of the song, we’re only listening to that and Thom’s singing, which is also pretty uninteresting.

And the lyrics? Whoo, boy…to start off with, “thinking about you” seems like the name of a parody of a pop song. Moving on, the lyrics lack the interesting imagery, the creativity, or the specificity which one wants in a song. The narrator says he’s thinking about someone, but why? What’s so appealing about this person? Also, why should we care? I can’t empathize with the narrator because I barely understand what’s happening. He broke up with someone, and this person is now more successful than him, even though it’s unclear what they’re successful at. The song is uninterested in actually telling us the story it is trying to tell. As such, it’s completely empty.

Not only that, but the lyrics are about a breakup, but nothing about this song communicates any form of sadness or anger. The composition doesn’t have any emotion, and Thom sounds pretty bored. While we assume the narrator of this song is sad about the breakup, we never see that in anyway. It’s not like “True Love Waits” where great pain is taken to describe how the narrator believes he is wasting his life and how hard it is to find hope.

Also, this song has a reference to masturbation in the lyrics, “Still see you in bed, but I’m playing with myself”.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with that, that’s just something I wouldn’t expect of a Radiohead song.

However, somehow, even the reference to masturbation in this song is generic.

Other than that oddity, you can listen to just five seconds of this song and instantly tell everywhere it's gonna go. I don’t know what else to say, because I forgot everything else about it.

Oh, also, the hook in this song sucks, it’s barely a hook.

158. Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors:

I suppose I can congratulate this song on its artististry, but I don’t know what the artistry to making the worst sounding piece of music ever is. The way the vocals are high pitched makes it sound like you’re listening to Alvin and the Chipmunks on drugs. The layers and layers of distortion and bizarre effects just feel like the band was messing around on a music editing software for a few minutes.

157. Transatlantic Drawl:

This is a track off of the Pyramid Song Ep.

This song is shit. The guitar gives me a headache.

Every instrument in this song is shrieking and sobbing and it’s just awful. There are all of these sounds whose origin I don’t know and I don’t care to find out, as they all sound like a drill very close to my ear. This song sounds like multiple drills near my ears.

This song starts at 100% and never lets up except when it does, randomly, in the middle of the song, where it suddenly becomes an ambient track. That part is…actually really cool. It’s eerie and weightless and it makes me feel like I’m an astronaut floating through space without a tether. I love the way it occasionally sort of fizzles, it’s really cool. It sounds a tiny bit like Treefingers or untitled off of Kid-A.

I feel like these two opposing halves average out to a D.

156. Faithless the Wonderboy:

This is a song included as the B side for Anyone Can Play Guitar.

The verses of this song are calm and acoustic.

However, when we reach the chorus, electric guitars suddenly jump in.

I think Radiohead were wanting the song to kind of explode into this frenzy. However, the choruses are not very frenetic. Also, the addition of the electric guitars is so abrupt, it sounds more like a jumpscare.

It also doesn’t help that the vocal melody of the verses are really repetitive.

In terms of lyrics, this is a song about a kid who’s jealous of other kids who have nice stuff, and also I think he’s being pressured into doing drugs but he “Can’t put the needle in”. The chorus is just Thom saying those words over and over again, so I assume there must be some sort of point to them.

The outro to this song also lasts too long, as it’s basically just a minute and a half of a pretty dry and uninteresting guitar solo that’s devoid of any real energy.

155. Stop Whispering:

I kind of like the pre chorus to this song, where Thom sings “there’s nothing to say and there’s nothing to do”. The vocal melody is actually kind of nice, and Thom sounds alright.

However, that’s the only really nice thing I can say about this song. The rest isn’t even a generic grunge song, it’s a generic song, with uninspired instrumentals and a limp and watered-down hook which feels like it was bought off Walmart. The lyrics are so vague and uninteresting. The vocal melody everywhere other than the pre chorus is boring. The guitar solo in the middle is fun and energetic, but it also sounds like a million guitar solos I’ve heard before, and it’s also weirdly short, so it doesn’t even get the chance to build.

This song also does something a million songs have done before, slowing down as if the song is going to end, only to then spring back into action. Now, that’s been done amazingly before. However, the problem is that at this point, I just want the song to end. The part where the energy increases is supposed to be exciting, but it just feels hollow, as the excitement seems disingenuous. Thom barely seems to even care. He’s yelling in this part, but there’s no emotion in his voice. The guitar is loud and distorted and fast, but you need more than that for an exciting guitar part.

This song is also five minutes long. Now, that wouldn’t be a problem, but, as I previously stated, it sucks.

154. Coke Babies:

With the name “Coke babies” you’d assume that this song would be silly. It’s not.

In fact, other than the name, this song is just nothing. I would say that the lyrics are little more than random strings of words, but that makes them sound too interesting. They’re “Easy living, easy hold/ Easy teething, easy fold”.

The instrumentals are basic and boring, except for the guitar which has some sort of effect applied to it that makes it sound like a car is speeding right next to you. It sounds awful.

153. Killer Cars:

This is an early B-Side.

This song would not be notable if it weren’t for how loud and distorted it is. All of the beauty we would expect from Thome’s voice is gone as he screeches about cars.

The song is devoid of energy or any sort of musical ideas.

The hook is not even really a hook.

There’s this whole wall of sound thing going on with this song. That can work in some contexts, but with this song, it just means that everything mixes together into a tasteless mush.

This is not a song which is fun to headbang to.

Also, like many other early Radiohead songs, this one is too over-the-top.

However, the guitar solo has a fun, very angry energy to it.

152. Inside My Head:

Inside My Head is a B-Side off of the Creep Ep.

The vocal melody is barely a melody. The sound is extremely generic, with a pretty generic guitar solo.

The lyrics of this song are about how the narrator is thinking about a person.

It feels like half of the lines in this song are just filler lines.

The rhythm of this song makes it sound almost like a new wave song, and that does not work well with Radiohead.

Also, at this point, Thom had not worked out what to do with his voice, being way to nasally.

151. Million Dollar Question:

This is a B-Side off of the Creep Ep.

It’s another blandly composed song with no real musical ideas other than LOUD.

The lyrics of the song are about not wanting to go to work. It’s not exactly a profound statement.

150. I Can’t:

I can’t think of much to say about this song.

The chorus of this song…yeah, sure. It’s nice, I suppose. It almost has a breezy quality to it.

However, the whole song gets very tiring very quickly.

It’s got the same problem as other songs on Pablo Honey: uninspired composition and production, instrumentals lacking in creativity, dull lyrics, a lack of actual energy, angst that doesn’t feel genuine, and almost bored vocals. There’s no musical ideas.

149. India Rubber:

This is an early B side.

The drumming here has an interesting rhythm to it, even though it sounds too high in the mix at points. There’s also some extra percussion in the form of what I’ll just say is some maracas.

The biggest problem with this song is that I don’t know what it’s trying to do. It’s too harsh to be pretty, too abrasive to be pleasurable, and too low-energy to be fun.

I also hate the outro, which features someone laughing. I can’t explain why. It’s just so out of left field. Also, the laugh is an annoying laugh. This outro also sees a bunch of weird atonal meddling that feels kind of purposeless. I don’t know what the point of it is.

148. Maquiladora:

Uninspired, generic rock off of the High and Dry/Planet Telex EP.

Thom’s voice is annoying and there’s a lack of syncing with him and the guitars, as the two gain energy at completely different points.

147. The Gloaming (3.33333 Remix):

This song is the Gloaming, but with the electronics turned up to extreme levels, making it sound like a large amount of machines are misfiring in my near vicinity while a 100 Gecs sound blares on a busted-up radio.

146. Lewis:

This song is off of the My Iron Lung Ep, and it has Radiohead’s worst lyrics.

It’s about a man named Lewis who is about to kill himself. At least, I think it is. We get the lyrics “Don’t do it, don’t jump”.

The song doesn’t seem all that sad about this.

Honestly, other than that, this song doesn’t sound all that awful, even though it does feel messy, with these extremely frenetic guitars and drums all fighting for attention.

145. Kinetic:

Despite being a very weird song, it still feels kind of calm, mostly because it lacks all energy.

It’s kind of repetitive and lacking in any emotions. It sounds more like an electronic jam session than a song.

144. Bones:

The problem with Bones is that it comes immediately after Fake Plastic Trees, which is a hard act to surpass. However, it would still suck anyways. In that way, it’s basically the Andrew Johnson of Radiohead songs.

Bones is a basic grunge song. Now, it may appear that I dislike grunge, but I don’t. However, Radiohead’s approach to grunge always feels so unexciting, and most of their grunge songs don’t really want to be grunge songs. Good grunge songs have this specific energy which exists even during the slowest of moments. However, Radiohead usually doesn’t have that energy, so they always sound unenthusiastic. There are a few exceptions, but Bones is an example of them failing.

All of the beauty one from Thom’s voice is gone and replaced by him yelping erratically. It sounds so annoying, especially when he squeaks, “WHEN YOU’VE GOT TO FEEL IT IN YOUR BONES!”

The guitar work just sounds sludgy, and the lyrics are just nothing. They’re probably about something, but I don’t care enough to think about it.

This song sounds like it’s trying so hard to be edgy and cool and harsh, but it just comes off as childish. This whole song feels like what goes on in a 14 year old’s head when…something.

Maybe that’s why it sounds like Thom’s voice is cracking violently.

143. Melatonin:

This is a song off of OK/ NOTOK, and it’s called melatonin because it puts you to sleep.

This song is too ethereal and too spacey. It’s massively overdoing it with the dreamy synths, I can barely hear Thome. The reverb and the effects layered onto the synth just make it feel way overproduced. It’s too ornate and too pristine. Where’s the edge? Where’s the tension? Where’s the emotional power?

Oh, also, the drums don’t fit in with this song at all. They’re mixed in very strangely, making it sound like Phil just randomly started drumming.

Lastly, Thom is singing kind of weirdly on this song, sort of pausing between each word. He. Sounds. Like. This.

142. Planet Telex (Karma Sutra):

This song is trying to sound “Indian”-esque with the sitar and the drumming.

Instead, it ends up sounding like a Gong song if they sucked. It feels very cheesy.

I don’t like the effects on Thom’s voice.

There’s a part where I think this remix is trying to have a hook, but it just sounds like the song is randomly and abruptly changing what it sounds like.

This whole remix is pointless.

141. I Promise:

Yaaaaawn.

This is a track off of OK/NOTOK

The rhythm guitar is extraordinarily boring. The march-like drumming is rather unique, but it gets old extraordinarily quickly. The vocal melody is really simple, and so are the lyrics in general. The lyrics are basically the narrator saying that he’ll be better, and that’s not something that I find very interesting.

That’s fine, but it’s just that the whole song has so little going on in it. The part with the organ and the strings near the end is very pretty, but at that point I was ready for the song to end.

One of the other biggest problems with this song is that it has no real build or hook or anything, so it just kinda ends up feeling very dull and empty. It’s repetitive, that’s what it is.

The only thing which threatens to break up the monotony is the part with the strings and the organ, which serves as the climax of the song. However, it starts very quickly and goes away just as fast. It also really doesn’t communicate any kind of emotion, it just sounds sort of pretty.

140. Dollars and Cents:

The intro to this song sounds like “Knives Out” played very quietly. Then, we get this violin which sounds, for lack of a better term, too loud. Thom, for some reason, is deciding to sing as quietly as possible. It sounds like he’s holding back, never really letting his voice actually soar. There’s a part near the end where different tracks of him singing are stacked on top of each other, and it just sounds like a giant mess. The whole song feels kind of messy, like a bunch of random ideas are just being squished together, with the violins and synths and drum and guitar and vocal harmony just stepping on each other instead of working together. There’s no sense of structure or movement. It goes from semi-ethereal one moment to semi-harsh the other moment, with no real rhyme or reason.

That could have worked to create a storm of storm-like affect, but the vocals sound so muted, as does the guitar, so the whole song feels restrained.

This song has no core, no central musical idea or instrument holding everything together. It’s like a cookie baked without eggs.

What were they even trying to do with this song? Were they hoping to have some sort of atmosphere or vibe, or were they wanting it to be funky and danceable? I don’t know, because the song just doesn’t do anything. It feels…kind of half-assed. I’m sure Thom put a huge amount of effort into the vocals on this track, but I can’t tell because his singing is so reserved and so emotionless. I don’t think even he knew what kind of emotion this song was supposed to express. Also, there’s some vocal affect placed on his voice which buries any human aspect that could arise.

139. I Am Citizen Insane:

This is just harsh and grating electronics for 3 minutes. If you like that sort of thing, then you’ll love I Am Citizen Insane.

138. Pop Is Dead

This song doesn’t suck. I like the beginning with the cool jazzy guitar and the sweet vocal melody.

Then, the drums kick in, and man oh man are they way to loud. It’s another case of Philip putting emphasis on every beat, and it sounds utterly atrocious. The rythm guitar is similarly abrasive and over the top.

However, the whole thing is over-the-top, so brash, so absurd, it’s kind of funny. The lyrics are bizarre. It’s like the band is making fun of pop music, but also they just are not.

The only complaint this song leverages against pop is that it is “dead”, and it don’t even explain why it thinks that.

137. Feral:

Much has been said criticizing the sound of “The King of Limbs”, which I must admit, is an album with an awesome title. While there are many compliments to be given to “The King of Limbs”, Feral pretty much embodies all of the negative aspects of the record. There is simply too much going on.

The drums stacked on top of each other feel…well, Feral, but they also sound like a bunch of random nonsense, like a bunch of people who don’t know how to play drums are randomly improvising. Now, this couldn’t be further from the truth, the drumming is very precise, with all these crazy polyrhythms and everything, but that’s what it ends up sounding like. While this song is technically impressive, it’s too technical, losing any chance of communicating some sort of emotion. All of the weird stuff going on with the looping and the effects just feels like one giant mess. There’s no emotionality to this song, no sense of atmosphere, because it's all lost within this massive jungle of weird noises.

The sad fact is, there’s such a thing as being too complex. Sometimes, having a strong key center can mean your song fits in well with a vibe because the audience’s ears can recognize the song as minor or major or phrygian. However, if your chord progressions sees you going from an Emaj7#4 to a F7b2 to a F#m7, then the song is just gonna sound like nothing (that’s the chord progression for Aja by Steely Dan by the way, I was too tired to look up the chords to this song).

C-:

136. How Can You Be Sure?:

This song is kind of bland. The drumming is boring, and it takes up most of the space in the mix, as is the rhythm guitar, which is devoid of any interesting texture. The vocal melody is uninspired, and Thom is doing nothing with his voice.

There’s also an organ in this song, but you can barely hear it and it’s bland and emotionless anyways.

The hook in this song just doesn’t work.

This whole song is just devoid of emotionality or atmosphere.

The lyrics are this usual generic breakup song routine.

This song also has an outro which is way too long, and serves no purpose at all.

135. Where Bluebirds Fly

This song is similar to I Am Citizen Insane (being from the same EP) but the electronics at least kind of create a sense of atmosphere. It does sound a bit like the band aren’t just randomly improvising and are attempting to create a cohesive song.

It still hurts my ears, however.

135. Fast Track:

The weird, sharp, hissing quality of this song is, at the very least, unique. It sounds like hell, and I hate listening to it, but I have to admit that it sounds awful in a way which no song has sounded awful before. The sound is also a lot more calm and a lot less shrill than the first half of Transatlantic Drawl

Fast Track also does imitate the vibes of commuting in a city fairly well, with the random voices coming in and out and all these sounds coming and going like people and vehicles passing us. There’s a whirlwind quality which I have to commend the song for. I still don’t like listening to it.

134. Molasses:

This song has a weirdly ragtime quality to it. There’s no piano, but the electric guitar sounds like it’s playing a classic ragtime quality, and Thom’s kind of bouncy vocals add to this.

As a result of this, the song sounds whimsical in an annoying way.

There’s also whatever happens after the end of the two verses. There’s this intense drumming and weird electronic riff.

The biggest problem with this song are the lyrics. The first line is, “Shake hands.” Okay, that’s a good line. The next line gives us, “Genocide”. Oh, well, that was a turn. Then, the line after that is “Molasses.” What? Huh?

Also, they say the word genocide twice in the same song. The first time it doesn’t even rhyme with anything, and then the second time it is rhymed with “fat houseflies”.

This whole song is just a shit post.

132. You:

The opening guitar line to this song is actually quite pleasant, and I like the way it continues a bit even after the other shrieking guitars come in.

The guitar work overall on this song is actually quite fun, with a great sense of energy.

Thom’s vocals are definitely not his best. He sounds like he’s putting on a voice and also holding back in a lot of places. Even the part where he lets out this sort of yell feels a bit underwhelming.

The guitar bit which serves as the hook to this song is also quite nice the first time you hear it, but by the third chorus, it’s just tiring.

The lyrics to this song are also pretty plain, not really saying anything.

Overall, this song isn’t bad, but it’s also pretty disposable.

131. Backdrifts:

The electronics in this song are kind of boring. They’re repetitive, emotionless, and hollow sounding. As such, this song has no sense of atmosphere. It just sounds like a lot of crinkling and cracking and glitching.

I wouldn’t mind it that much if the song was short, but it goes on for almost six minutes, and I’m tired of it by the third minute.

This is also another song where Thom’s vocals are too muted and reserved.

Also, this song has no sense of dynamics, never increasing in intensity or volume. It starts out as one emotion, and then never changes the emotion.

130. Up On The Ladder:

This is a track off of In Rainbows Track 2.

Yawn. Musically, this is a very boring song. The electric guitar is dry, repetitive and uninteresting. It also does not mesh well with Thome’s vocals at all. The backing synths are also pretty bland, sounding like free stock audio you can put in a home sci-fi movie. That made no sense. Whatever. You see what I’m saying.

Lyrically, this song is weird, referencing Doctor Who. Other than that, they’re just as boring as the rest of the song. Not only do they say very little other than “I’m not happy” they’re devoid of any interesting imagery or worldplay or anything to make them remotely memorable.

129. Hunting Bears:

This song is just some simple guitar playing with a really weird and harsh distortion effect added to it, at least, I think it is.

I guess it serves as an inter-whatever…but like, does it? Amnesiac could have gone from Dollars and Cents to Like Spinning Plates, and it would have been fine.

129. Paperbag Writer:

This song is cool before the electronics kick in, as there are some unsettling strings and unique percussions that create a sinister atmosphere.

However, all atmosphere is lost when the electronics come in, as they have this very annoying snapping quality that I do not like. They are also way too loud.

The guitar also sounds like a robot farting.

128. We Suck Young Blood:

Perhaps I’m being too harsh on this song. It does sound…well, nice. The chord progression is very pretty, and the piano playing has an ethereal quality to it (get ready for me to say the word “ethereal" a bunch more times). However, this song is a one trick pony sonic-wise, and this trick gets old very fast. We begin in this hazy dream-like state, we continue in that state, and then we end in that state. It doesn’t help that Thom is singing liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis throooooooooooughout. It takes him half a minute to say a single line. It gets even worse by the end because Thom begins to make his voice all scratched up. He sounds like he’s trying to impersonate a vampire when he says “We want the sweet meat”. It is extraordinarily silly.

Also, the clapping feels very cliched.

Not only that, but this song hasn't aged well politically, at least for me. There’s nothing wrong with the messaging, the entertainment industry does take advantage of young people. However, the whole vampire thing connects this song with weird, anti-semetic conspiracies which have recently entered the public eye. Obviously, this was not intentional, and it’s really not the band’s fault, nor the fault of the song.

It just makes it hard for me personally to connect with the actual message Radiohead wanted to send, especially because the song doesn’t say a whole lot more than “The entertainment takes advantage of young people, draining them, and this is kind of like vampires.”

Not only is this a message we’ve heard before, the song relies so heavily on this one metaphor and one observation, never making an attempt to explore it further. Also, the vampire/leech for society/entertainment industry/the government/capitalism is an extremely common metaphor.

“We Suck Young Blood” is sort of a poor man’s “Welcome to the Machine”, a song wich doesn’t just stay on one metaphor and then drain it of all that it’s worth (see what I did there?).

The final result is that “We Suck Young Blood” is a rather tedious song to get through, backed up by lackluster lyrics.

127. The Gloaming:

While the Gloaming is impressive from a technical standpoint, it’s still a rather dull affair. The backing beeps and bloops don’t communicate any real emotion. Not only that, but the song keeps feeling like it will build up to something, but it never does. Yeah, the band keeps on adding more instruments into the mix, but this never makes it feel like the song is increasing in energy or intensity, the song just goes from feeling empty to feeling messy, probably a result of all of the rhythmic shenanigans occurring. It’s definitely commendable that Radiohead were able to make this piece, but I generally skip it when listening to Hail to the Thief.

Actually, let’s talk about Hail to the Thief.

The Head of Radio is consistently interested in portraying emotions, and Hail to the Thief fits into that. While many of the songs are about investigating why certain political issues exist, many of the songs also capture what it feels like to experience these issues, like in “Wolf at the Door”.

The problem is, this means that their thoughts on politics can be rather vague, with it being unclear exactly what Radiohead dislikes. Something a song writing teacher told me was that good songwriting is specific, and I think that applies to this album, and also specifically this song.

Let’s look at OK Computer for a second. That album cites specific details about living in modern society which paints a specific portrait. There is a job that slowly kills you, and there’s a pretty house with a pretty garden.

Now, let’s look at this song. It makes the point that we should be aware of the problems, “Your alarm bells should be ringing”, and there is bad stuff happening right now, “It is now the witching hour.”

And, that’s about it.

The Gloaming doesn’t say anything specific, and as such, its lyrics ring hollow for me.

Also, the best Radiohead songs are the ones who exist in their own worlds. Some songs on Hail to the Thief fit that description. Most notably, both “Wolf At the Door and “2+2=5” both take place in these surreal dystopian fairy-tale worlds.

However, songs such as the Gloaming are definitely lacking in the world building department. The Gloaming doesn’t seem to be taking place in any reality at all. There’s very little imagery, and there really isn’t any sort of atmosphere.

Essentially, The Gloaming just sounds hollow and meaningless, especially in the context of the album it is on.

126. Meeting in the Aisle:

This is another song from OK/NOTOK.

Similarly to We Suck Young Blood, the gloomy and ominous vibes of this song are quite nice, but soon get tiring.

The way the various instrumentation all fades together has a cool ethereal quality, but there are many moments near the end where the mix gets too crowded, and all of the colors just turn to mush. Obviously, they were trying to go with a crowded sound, but the crowded nature messes with the emotionality.

Still, when the song isn’t too hazy, it is quite pleasant to just soak up all the various sad instrumentation going on. Does it kinda just sound like hold music? Yeah, but it’s pretty hold music, and it also has that nice dystopian quality to it.

125. Morning Mr. Magpie:

This song has the same problem as Feral. Once again, I can appreciate what the band were trying to do, and all of the effort and technical skill which went into making this song. However, once again, this song just comes off feeling like a mess, and a repetitive one at that, with the loops making it feel like we keep on going in circles through this weird haze of noise. There’s no human aspect to this song.

This song also starts out very weird and is consistently weird throughout, making it all blend together.

I guess the idea is that all of these loops are trance-like, but they don't feel like that to me. They just bore me.

There’s so much going on in every single second of this song, I just become numb to everything by the ten second mark. I have the same problem with Moulin Rouge.

124. Little by Little:

This King of Limbs song is a little less cluttered than Morning Mr. Magpie, so I guess that’s nice. Also, the almost out-of-key sounding guitar is a neat touch, and the percussion is some sort of instrument that I don’t think I’ve heard before.

Also, it’s usually at this point in my King of Limbs listening that I get a headache. My brain is already chaotic enough, it does need the sonic equivalent of ten shots of espresso.

123. Gagging Order:

This is another B-Side from the Hail to the Thief era.

The acoustic guitar has a sweet, clean sound to it as a result of the simple composition.

However, this song is just Thom’s voice and the acoustic guitar. Despite that, Thom is doing his usual soaring vocals, and they kind if clash with the very intimate guitars.

Also, the lyrics are about nothing, and they aren’t even pretty nonsense. I suppose the vocal melody is much more important, but the melody is pretty basic. It feels like Thom thought of a nice guitar bit and then quickly slapped some lyrics to go along with it.

124. Anyone Can Play Guitar:

The lyrics of this song are one of the more interesting on Pablo Honey, I guess. It’s about wanting to be famous (I’m assuming) and the cult we have around famous rock stars.

It’s also kind of funny that Thom says he wants to be Jim Morrison, a singer who did not play guitar.

However, musically, it’s just whatever. The melody is fairly catchy, I suppose, and the guitar backing is rather unoriginal but still enjoyable. The guitar solo is also fun even if it doesn’t communicate anything.

125. Ripchord:

This song is alright. The lyrics are about the failure of missing out on life, realizing there’s no way out after you’ve jumped from the plane. That’s something fairly interesting.

The drumming on this song is also quite nice, with a fun frenetic energy to it. Thom also seems to be having some fun with his vocals, especially during the chorus.

Plus, the guitar is gleefully angsty and melodramatic in a way that feels rather untethered.

There’s a rather unconstrained feeling to the instrumentals, which I suppose is neat.

Unfortunately, it still feels pretty basic.

120. Sulk:

The beginning of this song has these very dystopian sounding fan- sounds that mix in very well with this guitar bit that sounds straight out of a midwest emo song.

However, after that, the instrumentals don’t do anything interesting, instead being rather repitive. As such, the chorus of this song is lacking in any sort of hook.

The very crunchy guitar solo is fun, even if it sounds like it could be the guitar solos to a million other songs.

The song is about being sad and how that sucks.

The lyrics are repetitive and unsubtle in that very early Radiohead way. The song never goes beyond that singular idea of being sad, nor does it explore this idea in any way.

119. The Bends:

Why did they make this song the title track of The Bends? No, seriously why? I genuinely do not know, because this song is just so…eh.

It’s your standard grunge song, something which wouldn’t be out of place on the previous record.

The lyrics are also really simple, as “Oh, oh my baby’s got the Bends, I know” not being exactly Pulitzer-worthy material. I’m really glad that he felt the need to tell us that he knows.

Also, there’s the line “The planet is a gunboat in a sea of fear.” Wait, are aliens attacking us?

But, what is this song about? Well, it’s about that feeling when you’re stressed and unhappy and you don’t like what is going on.

It’s not that deep.

There’s so little to talk about with this song.

118. I Am A Wicked Child:

This is a B-Side from the Hail to the Thief era.

This is a rather cynical tongue in cheek song, very indicative of the nineties. This sarcasm is kinda cute, but also kinda annoying with how on-the-nose it is.

117. Bloom:

Remember everything I said about the other King of Limbs songs? That applies here.

However, I like the reverb on Thom’s vocals. Also, the bridge in the middle of the song is, dare I say, quite haunting, mostly because of Thom’s very pretty humming. He’s a great hummer. The beginning of the section reminds me somewhat of MK 1.

The end of that section is also fantastic, as it has a horn section. I fucking love horn sections. This horn section is drenched in reverb and all sorts of other effects, making it sound extraordinarily ethereal.

However, it’s still not worth it.

116. Yes I Am:

This is one of the most interesting sounding songs on the Creep Ep.

The band are actually playing off each other very well, with the use of drums in this song being especially pleasant.

Also, this song does have a build in it.

There’s a sense of constrained energy to this song which I quite like, with this energy slowly being released over the course of this song.

Thom’s vocals in this song actually have some emotion in this song.

Also, this song has two guitar solos. The first is definitely not anything new, but it does a very good job of communicating this very specific kind of anger which is within this song. The second is also definitely not anything new, but it is rather technically impressive and also distinct among Radiohead guitar solos, sounding kind of like a solo you’d expect from a hair metal song. It works well as a culmination of the build-up the song was working on.

The lyrics are pretty simple, about hating someone.

This song isn’t great, but there’s nothing it really does wrong, and the beat is rather fun.

115. Stupid Car:

I’m starting to suspect Radiohead dislikes cars. Or, perhaps they like using them as metaphors for modern society, like how The Great Gatsby does.

Anywhoo, this song is off of the Drill EP.

It’s very basic. It rhymes “car” with “far”. Comparing this song to The Great Gatsby is giving it way too much credit, as it’s more so using the car as a metaphor for a relationship that is going downhill… at least, I assume it is, with lines such as, “You put my brain in overload. I can’t change gear.” It’s not exactly brilliant writing.

However, you can’t say that Thom’s voice in this song isn’t pretty with the way it soars, and you can tell he’s trying very hard. However, the problem is, the vocals in this song are much more energetic than the rest of the instruments, which are just a rhythm guitar.

Still, it’s nice to listen to Thom belt his lungs out.

114. Planet Telex (Hexidecimal Remix):

Why are there so many remixes of Planet Telex? This song takes Planet Telex, a pretty fun yet quite average alt-rock song, and adds a bunch of effects which makes it sound very spacey.

It also extends the intro into the territory of “too long”.

Also,Thom’s vocals don’t mesh well with the electronics, making this song feel very disjointed.

This remix is just kind of boring. There’s so much going on, but none of it is interesting, so it all sort of fades into nothing.

113. Supercollider:

At seven minutes and one second, this is Radishhead’s longest song, and it’s a single they released in 2011.

Does it earn its length? No.

The electronics are repetitive and hollow, and

it’s got that weird rhythm that a lot of the King of Limbs songs have.

Also, despite being seven minutes and one second long, the song never really goes through any different phases.

The lyrics of the song are not even worth talking about.

112. Vegetable:

The clean guitar work on this song is fun, I suppose.

At this point while listening to Pablo Honey, I’m just so tired of the album. Every song in this album is so similar.

Lyrically, Vegetable is about being tired of not letting oneself get angry. I suppose that’s fairly interesting.

111. Prove Yourself:

Man, they really like songs with instructional names.

Unlike other songs off of Pablo Honey, this song sees Thom actually put some emotion into his vocals.

This may just be a result of me listening to this song on an iphone, but I think the electric guitar may be too high in the mix during the chorus, as it kind of steps over Thom’s vocals.

Still, that guitar is quiet fun, as is the crunchy electric guitar solo. I also appreciate that the electric guitar changed tone and distortion levels during this song. That’s kind of the bare minimum, but oh well.

110. Worrywort and 109. Fog

These two songs are off the Knives Out EP.

They are both nothing songs. The electronics aren’t grating, but they also have no real effect at all.

These songs seem to be trying to go for some sort of atmosphere, but they’re too sparse and too chill to create one.

There’s a tambourine in Fog. That’s the only really interesting detail.

108. Pearly:

Despite being an OK/ NOTOK song, this would not sound out of place on The Bends, as it’s a pretty simple heavy rock song. It’s a good time, and I really like the way Thom’s voice is layered on top of itself, but it’s still not anything stellar.

This song does have some very fun, very frenetic drumming in it.

Overall, I could definitely see enjoying this song while listening to it in a burger joint with a big bar.

107. The Butcher:

This song is the B side to Supercollider.

Thom says the word “bitch” in this song, which I think is new for him.

It also stands out because this song had that King of Limbs sound, with the unstable rhythm, haunting humming, and unearthly electronics. It is for this sound, and the weird juxtaposition with the lyrics, that this song is this low.

106. Fitter Happier:

It’s kinda hard to judge this song, as it’s not really meant to be picked apart on its own. Within the album, it serves its purposes. Everything I can critique about it is sort of the point. Yeah, the robotic voice is creepy, and yeah the music concrete is not nice on the ears, and yeah, don’t call me a pig. I guess I can critique it on the grounds of being very on-the-nose in a way that feels a bit…Reddit-y, I suppose. I know that’s a silly thing to say, since this is Radiohead of all bands, but that is the way it comes off. Yeah, society treats us like farm animals, what else is new.

However, at the same time, whatever. If we could only use completely unique metaphors, then 99% of all writers would be out of a job.

I like the line “No killing moths or putting boiling water on ants.” I can’t believe they don’t let us torture insects. We truly do live in a society.

I do think some of the weirder instructions serve well to spice up the otherwise very unsubtle lyrics.

105. These Are My Twisted Words:

This is the most Radiohead song Radiohead made. I don’t wanna say it’s like a parody, but it kinda is. It’s not bad, it just does what so many of their other songs do, the lyrics are despondent, Thome’s voice is high, the music is ethereal-ish. The only problem is, it doesn’t do any of this in a unique way. The lyrics aren’t anything special, and the song never figures out what it wants to be about. I guess it’s about songwriting and making music itself, but it doesn’t say anything about the process. Thumb York gives a nice vocal performance, but he’s not doing anything stellar with his voice, just singing in his unique way. The music does have a nice quality, but you can also find this quality by searching “ambient music for a rainy day” on Youtube.

104. Packed Like Sardines In A Crushed Tin Can:

Packed Like Sardines is a song with a lot of desperate elements which combine together to make nothing.

The song ends up feeling extraordinarily repetitive, with no change of mood or sense of building up or anything. The lyrics are also extremely forgettable, and Thom’s singing is way too reserved in this track. It sounds like he’s asleep, and the synths are also just as loud as he is, so his restrained vocals are buried.

However, I can admire the uniqueness of the song, as I really can not think of a single other song that sounds exactly like that. Despite that, the song just feels like nothing more than a novelty.

103. Myxomatosis:

Myxomatosis is another song which just ends up feeling mostly hollow. The main guitar riff is pretty cool, but it gets tiring fairly quickly, as it’s not cool enough to be repeated a bazillion times, and once again, it’s pretty devoid of emotion. It also does sound a bit like a robot fart, and when the buzzing electronics are on top of it, it just sounds messy. When you pile distortion on top of distortion, then it sounds scratchy, and it really, really clashes with Thom’s vocals. By the end of the song, I was really sick of the electronics, which just gave me a giant headache.

The best parts of the song is when the guitars cut out and we only hear Thome’s voice and the drumming, as the drumming is quite nice. Unfortunately, those moments are few and far between.

Also, this might be one of Thome’s most middling vocal performances. It’s too nasally, and the way he says Myxomatosis is almost, dare I say it, annoying.

The lyrics…eh. They feel like a bunch of random ideas thrown together. Myxomatosis is reportedly a disease in rabbits, in case you were wondering.

The band also sound like they’re trying too hard to be edgy, as they’re basically saying “Oh, I’m a dangerous animal, I have a disease, I’m rapid, I’m going to attack you.” It reminds me of late-era Green Day lyrics, especially because it feels vaguely political, but it doesn’t really say anything or provide any insight into any issue. It just uses phrases like “used in a photo in Time magazine” which seem like they’d be political. However, there’s no actual point being made. Perhaps Radiohead is expressing something, but I don’t know what they’re expressing, and I don’t really know what emotion they want us to feel.

102. Planet Telex:

“You can force it, but it will not come.” Is a very Radiohead-esque opening line.

Anywhoo, the guitar work on this song sticks out, using all sorts of effects to create this very chaotic feeling.

I also really like the part where we hear a piano play, and the echo used is similar to the one applied to the guitar.

However, everything other than that is just “eh”.

C+:

101. Lurgee:

This Pablo Honey song might actually be good. Both the vocals and the instruments actually manage to communicate an emotion. The guitar solo is definitely lacking energy, but that was definitely unintentional, as it works to create a feeling of despair.

100. Blow Out:

Blow Out is a pretty neat tune. Of all the Radiohead songs, this one sounds the most like a bossa nova record. There’s definitely a rather unique texture which sets it apart from the rest of the songs on Pablo Honey. Not only that, but the composition actually sounds interesting.

It’s also the most interestingly produced song on Pablo Honey, with multiple recordings of Thom’s voice being placed on top of each other. This is something that Radiohead would go on to do all of the time.

Unlike many of the other songs on that album, Blow Out actually has a vibe and an atmosphere.

Not only that, but this song also has some surprises, namely the ending, which has this guitar bit that sounds like ten thousand ghosts shrieking. It’s pretty cool.

It’s still not all that great, with the lyrics feeling rather flat and Thome’s vocals feeling stiff (I think that’s the best way to describe them, as it sounds like he’s holding back, hitting all of the notes, but not injecting much emotion into them).

The song’s lyrics are worthwhile, if rather one noted. They’re about feeling like the sadness in your life is inescapable. It doesn’t say that in the most interesting way possible, using a metaphor of turning everything into stone, but at least it’s saying something specific and unique.

99. A Reminder:

This is an interesting song off of OK/ NOTOK. The beginning uses field recordings and mixes it with these glistening ambient sounds.

It’s very pretty.

Then, the guitar, drums, and Thon’s voice are added on to that, and at that point, the song starts to feel messy.

The lyrics to this song are about how Thom wants this song to be a reminder of how he was once “cool” and full of energy and joy. Okay…that’s a neat idea, I guess.

The song also has a very abrupt end which is weird after its very languid beginning.

98. Electioneering:

It’s fine. There’s nothing Electioneering does wrong. The percussion with the…I think it’s a cowbell? Has a very playful quality I like, which matches with Thome’s almost mocking vocals and the kind of lullabye-esque vocal melody. The guitar line also has a really nice stinging quality to it. It feels harsh and angry, but also kind of euphoric and silly.

However, like… whatever. These elements are nice, but not memorable in any way. Plus, the lyrics don’t do much for me, as they don’t say a huge amount. The smartest observation is the “When I go forwards, you go backwards, and somewhere we will meet.” Like, yeah that’s what happens, society is moving ahead, and a lot of the young folk have progressive ideas, but we keep on getting these people with reductionist policies, and we then have to meet them in the middle. That’s something people don’t talk about a lot, and it’s said in a simple and eloquent way.

However, nothing else in this song says a whole lot. Yeah, politicians lie. That’s not a unique statement.

Also, parts of the song are just the band listing a bunch of political terms, and that’s not political satire. What about voodoo economics? What even is that? Okay, I looked voodoo economics up, and it’s something George HW Bush said to mock Regan’s economic policies. Okay. That’s not very meaningful. That’s not meaningful at all.

Also, while I complimented the way the cowbell matched Thom’s vocals, it does feel like the rest of the song does not match with his vocals. The guitar’s sound is so much more energetic than Thom on the verses, and even during the choruses, it still sounds like the band are recording from different worlds. Also, the cowbell does eventually go away. :(

This does add to the rather messy quality to the song. The band doesn’t really sound all that in sync, and it’s just overwhelming. I suppose that’s the point, but it gets tiring very quickly. My ears don’t know what to focus on, so all of these elements mix together into a glop.

97. Sit Down, Stand Up:

The album “Hail to the Thief” is notable because of how much repetition there is with the lyrics. Now, this can work, like with 2+2=5, where it sounds like a chant. It’s reminiscent of “The World is a Ghetto”, another very furious and cynical album.

Also, in today’s information age, it can feel like the same buzzwords are being yelled at us repeatedly. The repetition sells the feeling of being overwhelmed by issues.

However, sometimes the repetition can just get tiring, especially in the beginning of this song. It’s rather low energy, so it doesn’t feel like a chant, nor does it have the feeling of being overwhelming

However, I don’t dislike the beginning of this song. It has a dystopian, robot-like atmosphere, and the inclusion of the sparkling Christmas-y bells somehow manage to fit in well. I also really like the build up in the middle of the song. It sounds like a giant alien spaceship is slowly casting a shadow over the entire song. Yes, that is the metaphor I’m using.

Of course, that buildup then sends us to Thom repeating “the raindrops” over and over. I don’t know what the meaning of that phrase is, and I kind of don’t care. I think the idea is that the vocals are just another instrument being used here.

We also get this insanely frenetic drumming and squealing synth, and it feels like aliens are pouring out of the ship and shooting at us.

Despite being cool musically, super frenetic drumming like this gets tiring very quickly, just look at The King of Limbs. The overwhelming nature of it means that I soon just grow numb.

It definitely doesn’t help that this part of the song lasts for a minute.

Maybe it’s just because this song comes immediately after 2+2=5, another song which starts off with a dystopian atmosphere and then explodes into violence. However, everything Sit Down, Stand Up does, 2+2=5 does with much more creativity and power, as I’ll talk about later.

96. Separator:

I feel like the drums in this song are too loud, and they kind of take over the rest of the song. Despite being very interesting rhythmically, the drums get rather tiring.

This whole song is not really anything spectacular. There aren’t any musical ideas that I find particularly interesting, and it doesn’t make me feel anything.

I suppose the lyrics or some of the most colorful on King of Limbs like with, “Fallin’ off the giant bird that’s been carrying me” but it’s still not anything to write home about. A lot of the lines feel like they’re just filler, like with “If you think this is over then you’re wrong”.

It’s fine if the lyrics have no discernible meaning, but it would be nice if they’re still interesting.

That’s a problem I have with The King of Limbs overall, it’s an album that seems kind of uninterested in saying anything.

Obviously, there’s that vague feeling of sadness throughout the album

“So why does this still hurt?” (Bloom), “Now you’ve stolen all the magic/ took my melody” (Morning Mr. Magpie),

However, it’s rarely concerned with dissecting this sadness. Occasionally, it will dive into the reason for the despair, like with “Routines and schedules, a job that’s killing you” in (Little by Little). However, that’s a “No Surprises”-esque line in a song which is definitely not “No Surprises”, as that line is the only line in the song about the idea. The rest is just abstract lyrics, “The last one out of the box, the one that broke the seal”. It’s not even very pretty abstract lyrics.

There’s a lot of references to relationships throughout the album, “You’re mine” (Feral). However, nothing is ever said about relationships.

There’s two exceptions to this.

The first is Lotus Flower. “There’s an empty space in my heart where the weeds take root” is a line which actually seems to make a specific statement: the absence of meaning in my life leads to my vices growing.

The second exception is “Give Up The Ghost”, as I suppose you could say it’s about being afraid of entering a relationship for fear of being hurt.

95. Like Spinning Plates:

The story behind this song is cool, as it’s I Will being played Backwards.

It’s a cool concept.

The song definitely has an atmosphere, that atmosphere being a sense of haunting dread, soul-crushing horror, and unexplainable pain.

I don’t enjoy listening to it, but I don’t think it's meant to be enjoyed.

Thome’s voice when he says the title does have a certain unexplainable quality to it, as does the rest of the song.

94. Permanent Daylight:

This song is off of the My Iron Lung EP.

The guitar riff in this song is nice.

However, there’s a weird vocal effect on Thom’s voice that mutes it and makes it all garbled up.

Other than that, I don’t have anything to say about this song. It is a well-put-together piece of music that did not bore me.

93. Bulletproof (I Wish I Was):

“The Bends” is too long. It’s not the longest radiohead album or anything, it’s only 49 minutes. However, there are songs on it that didn’t really need to be on it.

Bulletproof (I Wish I Was) is an example of this.

Not only that, but this song comes after “Just” and “My Iron Lung” which are both very high energy, so it feels like a sudden plunge.

This isn’t a bad song, but it is very low-energy, and very languid.

In terms of positives, I like the sparkling guitar and overall breezy quality of the song, and Thom is doing his usual routine with the vocals.

It has everything you’d come to expect from a Radiohead song.

92. Staircase:

This is a B side from 2011.

It has a very nice bass which is fun to tap one’s feet too.

There’s a rather chaotic quality to it which is fun.

The violins are also a nice touch.

91. The Amazing Sounds of Orgy

This song is going on in all sorts of directions. The percussion is crazy, Thom is singing in the key of “existential dread” and the whole thing sounds like I assume the Phantom Zone sounds like.

This entire song is scary

The effects on Thom’s voice scare me. The reverberation on the drums is spooky. The quick screams of organs send shivers down my spine.

This song is about capitalism, I suppose. I guess it is the rich people who are having an orgy, and we are forced to listen to their amazing sounds. We truly do live in a society.

90. Bangers+ Mash:

The opening to this In Rainbows Part 2 song sounds like the kinks “You Really Got Me Going” mixed with Bodysnatchers.

The coarse guitars and drums in this song are instantly gripping, and they fit Thom’s yelping delivery, but they lose their grip pretty quickly. In fact, all of this song really gets tiring pretty quickly. As nice as the guitars and drums are, they’re pretty repetitive.

The only time when this song changes up is during the bridge, which is honestly kind of annoying. The backing gets chill, but Thom’s vocals stay the same way, and it just feels jarring. They also add other bits of…something during the bridge, making it feel messy, and also, this song does that thing where the music abruptly cuts off and starts again, which is kind of a pop song cliche, despite this not being a pop song.

89. 15 Step:

15 Step is kind of an underwhelming way to begin In Rainbows. That electronic...thingee..is repetitive and gets old very quickly.

Also, the cheering crowd of kids is very random and adds nothing to the song. Seriously, what was the point of the cheering kids?

Also, the lyrics are kind of “meh”, not really saying much.

However, I do like how we get the line “you reel me out and then you cut the string.” This si because in Videotape, we get the line “And you are my center when I spin away.” These lines are basically opposites.

Not only that, but the last part of this song feels extraordinarily messy, with the vocals and the guitar and the electronic thingee stepping over each other.

88. I Might Be Wrong:

Out of all the Radiohead songs, “I Might Be Wrong” sounds the most like a “Black Keys” song. It’s got this slick, rock and roll riff and a danceable beat.

However, it’s also just kind of empty. There’s no real sense of atmosphere or mood, and there are no musical moments in it that I find memorable.

I don’t have anything else to say, because there’s nothing else to talk about.

#radiohead

2 notes · View notes

grazhir · 1 year

Text

Sandrock

So...

During this conversation it's Winter of Year 3. Our obligatory time in Sandrock was over near a year ago, Mi-an. Do you never look at a calendar?

(For some weird reason I thought I was in year 5, probably because I tend to use certain Main Plot quests as checkpoints and avoid doing them until I've built up plenty of raw materials and base refinements—also why I'm just shy of level 70, I expect.)

Huh... Well, okay? That Pablo is the one to say it makes me wonder. For some reason.

I saved first, of course, though I never needed to reload. Dang but it's a pain to get to this spot (I had to pause to punch some hyenas along the way), but it does provide a lovely view for asking someone to marry you.

It was odd? I had 3 hearts with Fang when I proposed, it jumped to True Love, but it went down to 2.5 hearts? Does not compute, but I'll just keep gift giving until it's maxed out.

I do find it odd that my wedding anniversary is that exact day (I guess Friday Saturday, 6 Winter), despite getting married the next day at the church.

And sure enough, Fang was sleeping right next to me that night. (Or rather, he was there beside me the next morning.)

You have Coco, X! Geez. Do various cats and such count? Because I have five pets, not including you.

And speaking of X, why do I not have the option to construct a perch for him in our home? (Or is it that X simply stays at the clinic?)

Sadly, the door I have on the home is something Fang spent quite some time walking into rather than through. He was hung up on the side post?

I'm afraid to re-watch the ceremony (yes, I put on all three wedding pieces, plus the swan necklace, minus my cape) because of the people I've seen saying that Amirah is subbed in despite who you married.

But it was lovely having Burgess perform it, and everyone (like, the entire town was present [minus a certain few] was happy. Even the pets showed up, and Deputy Captain.

#my time at sandrock

9 notes · View notes

mickeytheticklee · 1 year

Text

Lost control

Pairing: Maria x Lee!Reader

Summary: You and Maria get into an argument after you fought Pablo at school

Warnings: Tickling, fighting, angst I think idk what that is tbh, yelling and cussing bc that's in Control Z, short mention of blood, this isn't proofread sorry :/

Note: I haven't finished this show and idk if I will bc I got spoiled so yeah ❤️, there's fluff in the end y'all dw

“Y/N! STOP!"

You stop by Maria's demand. You two were in the middle of the hallways, no one was around. You turn around, your bruised up face looking at Maria. Five minutes ago you were in a fist fight with Pablo over her constantly bothering Maria. When Pablo tried to push her that's when you intervene, throwing the first punch. She was mad at both of you. Pablo for being in her personal business but at you for encouraging his behavior and wanting to fight. She expected more from your nice nature to not fight back.

“I know what you're going to say and I don't want to fucking hear it." You say, walking away but Maria grabs your wrist. She pulls you back to the other side, seeing your face again. You got a black eye, your nostrils filled with dry rigid blood as your lip was busted too. All you gave Pablo was a black eye, seeing he was a much better fighter than you.

“You should've had done that! You would've gotten expelled!!", Maria says, raising her voice at you. School fights have been much more stricter after the old principal resigned. Any acts of violence under school grounds would get expelled, regardless of who fought first. It didn't matter to you if you got expelled by the school, it would be worth it to protect Maria. “Well maybe I want to if it meant protecting you!!", You yell back at Maria.

She rolls her eyes, thinking you have missed the point of your irrational decisions. “Gosh you're so stupid!! If you fight then you're snooping to Pablo's level!! You'll easily be an asshole if you contribute to his actions!! Why is that so hard to understand!!" Maria, says, still yelling. Her finger points to your shoulder for emphasis. She never means to yell at you, it's mere frustration and fear that if you leave school you'll never return. In your mind you wish Maria could understand how much you'll sacrifice to see herself blossom in confidence like the first time you met her. She's been so quiet, allowing herself to be pushed by her sister or Pablo. You've both been non confrontational buddies but when Pablo was insulting her that was your last straw. Whispering profanities in her ear and blaming her for everything as if he didn't cheat on her.

“I DO THIS BECAUSE I LOVE YOU MARIA!" You say, tearing up. No students were in the hallway, as they were avoiding the argument but secretly eavesdropping from the corner. A silent pause came from both of you. Maria couldn't even get a word out, her mind was still processing what you said.

“Your the best thing that has happened to me. I'm not going to let people say shit behind your back and not doing anything about it. I may be a terrible fighter and I'll fight for you and make sure that fucking idiot leaves you alone. I LOVE YOU! WHY CAN'T YOU KISS ME AND TICKLE ME WHILE YOUR AT IT!"

Oddly enough she followed your demand.

Her lips clash with yours in the middle of the school hallway. Her lips were cold, being able to calm down your hot temper. It was such a romantic moment, passionate lips as you two were unaware of the background noise. All the students were watching you macking tongues with Maria, even Pablo. “Wow, she's got game." Rosita, says commenting on the kiss. Your lips parted, and all you paid attention to was her beautiful eyes. Maria caressed your jaw, touching your bruised lips. You wiped out the bit of blood from the corner from her mouth. You both giggled, seeing how you both make irrational decisions.

“I'll see you this afternoon." Maria says, smiling at you. She gives you a short kiss on the cheek before leaving the other direction. You smiled once she left, excited that your going to be wrecked after school. It'll be a fun afternoon, since you love a bit of roughhousing. Plus you know under that love there's deep seeded revenge from Maria after that tiny argument. The school bell rings, two periods left until you reunite with Maria. You skip to class, having that big grin on your face the entire school day.

“STPPMARIAHAHAHHA."

Maria skitters her fingers across your tummy, giving you a taste of your own medicine. You're laughing all over the place, moving around even if Maria is on top of you. Her thighs straddling your waist giving you a deep tissue massage on your belly, near your bellybutton. You yell out her name several times, in which she hears clearly but doesn't care. It brings her joy whenever you say her name while lovely laughter fills the room.

“Oh baby it hasn't even passed five minutes yet. How will you survive an hour of this?" Maria says, stopping the tickles to tease at your weakness. You give her soft kisses, a few of the residual giggles letting out. You did it to give a steady break from the tickling but Maria won't give in too easily. As she bends down, kissing you her hands remain on your sides, her thumbs inches away from your hips. Your hands go over her red cheeks, smiling but it soon went to laughter. Your head swung back at Maria pinching deeply into your helpless sides.

“Trying to let my guard down? I'm afraid it won't be that easy." Maria says, pinching your sides. You were laughing, but it wasn't belly laughs that you wanted. She was only warning you up, for the next fifty-five minutes it will be nothing but torture only. In which you liked, since you talked about this beforehand to her.

“Can you at least give me a kiss before you begin?" You say, pleading with your pouty lips on display. Maria gets close, her nose coming into contact with yours. You can feel her hot breath in her face. The tension tight, you felt her lips right there all she needed to do was kiss you. Then she got you, tickling your tummy while you laugh harshly, your belly moving up and down to her fingers. The ability to keep your hands away from Maria's fingers was a talent. But it's only because if you did interfere with your punishment she'll tickle you longer.

“COMEONONONHAJAHHA!!" You say, laughing but whining that Maria didn't kiss you. She tickles your tummy like an orchestra piano, sinking her claws into the right spots of your tummy. You hands cling to her forearms controlling the urge to keep doing and not tickle her. “No worries my sweetheart, once we're all done I'll give you all the kisses you want." Maria says while tickling you.

She went to your armpits, rummaging her hands thru them with her short nails. You shrieked, the tickling was unbearable but you absolutely loved it. The thrill of the tickling and Maria demanding so much out of you was fun. “NONONOWEDISCUSSEDTGIS.!!", You say, urging her to stop but she instead continues. Your arms fall down to your sides, acting like t-rex arms towards the sensation.

“We only discussed how long I was tickling you, not the spots. Keep those arms up honey or else I'll tickle you longer." Maria says, insisting you'll listen to her. You kept them up, your hands touching the headboard of the bed. Maria was loving this time, although she was worried, wondering if you'll last an hour being tickled. But again you discussed it and you can communicate to her if you've had enough. She gives you a short break, letting you breathe and fanning herself from all the work tickling you.

“Tired already love?" You say, making a snarky remark. Your voice was getting raspy from the laughing. She shakes her head, getting you by attacking your ribs. You were laughing, almost screaming as it was too loud for the door to be open. Her sister was downstairs, studying but secretly finding ways to get money. Maria covers your mouth, muffling your giggles so Natalia won't be disturbed.

“Be careful, my sister is downstairs." She says, sushing you. Yet you tease her once the hand gets released off your pants. You scream loud enough for Natalia to hear as it pisses Maria off.

“HELPHELPSGESHAHHAHHAH." You yell out but Maria ends up tickling you. It didn't help shutting you up because the laughing was just as bad as the yelling. You end up tackling her, tossing her over and using your stealth eye coordination to to make sure she doesn't tickle you back. You poke her a couple of times, hearing her sweet giggles before you purposely lose the tickle fight. She got your stomach when you got curled into a ball, her jumbling fingers scratching around your tummy.

“AHHAHGAHAHHA!!!", You laugh out, your body laying back on the bed. Maria was using all her strength to get you pinned down. Her ponytail went out, showing her long black hair that she was pulling back. She looked more intimidating when her hair in front of her face. Looking like the ghost coming out of the TV, but you can see her smirk covered within the depths of her hair.

“Why must you be so naughty hm?" She asks, her voice feeling faint.

“Don't know." You respond, sort of smiling at her.

The smile gets bigger when she pins your wrist, tickling your sides once again. You laugh loudly, cursing with all your might. Maria sticks her thumb under your pants pocket, digging into your hips. Your feet kick, body swaying with a bit of tears rolling down your face. It didn't alert Maria as she knew this was the goal when she tickles you. “FUCKFUCKFUCK!!", You yell while laughing at her pocket tickles. She enjoys every bit of your suffering, laughing under the long hair and stopping you even if the timer is up. She hugs you, giving you loads of kisses while your out of breath. Coming upstairs was Natalia, feeling irritated but jealous of the two of you having fun.

“Can you two cut it out?? I'm trying to study! Ugh!" Natalia says, leaving with her stomping downstairs. You two continue to be cute with your display of affection until a buzz came from Maria's phone. She picks up the phone from her nightstand and sees it's from her friend, Javi.

“Its Javi, he says he can't find Sofi." She says, looking at you. You both get worried and get dressed into some warm attire, getting ready to leave. Maria brushed her hair, putting it back into a ponytail and grabbing her sneakers from near the bed.

“Hey, want me to tickle you more when we get home?" She asks, lightening up the mood.

“Yes."

#trying something new #so much is going on wth #control z is so good but i miss claudia and maria #after this I'm going back to fluff #bc i can't write like this damn #tickle fic #control z

6 notes · View notes

playlistsbybunny · 16 days

Text

8w7

the nonconformist

past lives - borns

do re mi - blackbear

love runs out - onerepublic

gold digger - kanye west

know me too well - new hope club

renegades - x ambassadors

icarus - bastille

welcome home - radical face

paradise - george ezra

check it out - oh the larceny

oxytocin - billie eilish

pon de replay - rihanna

i think i’m going bald - rush

take me to church - hozier

mykonos - fleet foxes

everyday - buddy holly

psycho - jack kittel

mirrors - justin timberlake

under the influence - eminem

freak show - punkinloveee

imma kill u - insane clown posse

if u seek amy - britney spears

freek-a-leek - petey pablo

i’m yours - isabel larosa

alibi - sevdaliza

come and get it - i prevail

the light behind your eyes - my chemical romance

hero - chad kroeger

bad company - five finger death punch

leave the pieces - the wreckers

link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1YuJrlPP0IVag9wjwLD7F5?si=3bc90b17a2f3435c&pt=07c2e9687f39ea275cf04ff0cf66f516

#8w7 #playlist #enneagram

0 notes

twins2994 · 3 months

Text

Detroit Tigers-Minnesota Twins Series Preview

7.2.24-Tarik Skubal LHP (9-3) 2.32 ERA Vs. Simeon Woods Richardson RHP (3-1) 3.41 ERA

7.3.24-Jack Flaherty RHP (5-5) 3.24 ERA Vs. David Festa RHP (1-0) 9.00 ERA

7.4.24-Kenta Maeda RHP (2-4) 5.76 ERA Vs. Bailey Ober RHP (7-4) 4.30 ERA

The Tigers At A Glance- The Tigers were above .500 in April and have had two rough months in a row. Detroit went (10-17) in June and have fallen out of the American League Central race. The Tigers just snapped a four-game losing streak with a win over the Angels on Sunday. Andy Ibanez hit .341 in the month of June. Riley Greene was one of their most consistent hitters with nineteen RBI this past month. Javy Baez is working his way back from a back injury and could start a rehab assignment this week. Kerry Carpenter has also been out with a back injury. Detroit hit .213 as a team in June. The Tigers starting rotation has been solid with a 3.72 ERA, which is eight-best in baseball. Kenta Maeda has been roughed up with a 5.76 ERA in fourteen starts. The Twins will face Tarik Skubal and Jack Flaherty, who have been very good. The Detroit bullpen owns a 4.27 ERA, which is 20th in MLB. Justin Foley has locked down thirteen saves with a 2.76 ERA. Will Vest and Alex Faedo have been good set-up men from the right side. Tyler Holton and Andrew Chafin are a good punch from the left side.

The Twins At A Glance- The Twins had a nice June with a (15-12) record. They went (6-3) on their latest road trip and return home for a week. Carlos Correa had a great June with a .388 average, five homers, and twenty-one RBI. His wrist is fine and he had a scheduled day off on Sunday before the day off at home on Monday. Carlos Santana hit four homers with sixteen knocked in June. Byron Buxton was getting hot during the road trip. He hit .421 with three homers and nine RBI in his past seven games. Chris Paddack threw a bullpen session on Sunday as he works his way back from a little stint on the injured list. Brock Stewart and Justin Topa are slowly working their way back from injuries. The starting pitching is getting better as Joe Ryan has been great all year. Pablo Lopez is finding his form and Bailey Ober is being a little bit more consistent. Josh Staumont hasn't allowed a run in seventeen innings with the Twins.

What To Watch For- The Tigers are (4-3) against the Twins this year. The two teams split a four-game series in Detroit then the Tigers took two of three at Target Field in mid-April. Tarik Skubal is (3-3) with a 3.53 ERA in ten starts against the Twins. Byron Buxton has two career homers off him. Simeon Woods Richardson has a 2.45 ERA in two starts against the Tigers. Jack Flaherty has a 3.00 ERA in three starts versus the Twins. David Festa obviously has never faced the Tigers. Kenta Maeda is (1-0) with a 1.64 ERA in two starts against his former team. He has a 3.49 career ERA at Target Field. Manny Margot has two career homers off Maeda. Bailey Ober is (2-2) with a 4.21 ERA in nine starts against Detroit. The Twins need to pick up a few wins over the Tigers, who are in a bad rut lately.

-Chris Kreibich-

#Twins #MnTwins

0 notes

theblotsays · 3 months

Text

The Crow Fine Art Giclee Print by Pablo Olivera x Bottleneck Gallery

Today, Bottleneck Gallery teams up with artist PabloOlivera to take us back to Detroit to rock out and squawk out with this fantastic new alternative movie poster for Alex Proyas’ The Crow! As BNG explained, “Few fictional pop culture characters have helped define entire subgenres of fashion and aesthetics as Eric Draven aka The Crow. Whether from the original poetic gut-punch of a graphic novel from James O’Barr, or from Alex Proyas cult hit film, The Crow is a character that carries a lot of pop culture weight. Pablo’s print spotlights the inimitable Brandon Lee in his trademark getup, along with his guitar and trusty crow. Oozing pure cool, Pablo’s print pays perfect homage to a character, actor, and film that we still hold near and dear to this day.” The Crow by Pablo Olivera is an 18”x36” hand numbered fine art giclee print. The Regular Edition is limited to 150 pieces and will retail for $50, while the Neon Variant is limited to 75 pieces and will retail for $60, and the Green Variant is limited to 85 pieces and will retail for $60. There is also a Black and White Variant limited to 50 pieces, which will retail for $60, and an Acrylic Panel Print with archival pigment on a 4mm thick acrylic panel, which is limited to 30 pieces and will retail for $125. All five colorways will go on sale at 12pm ET on Thursday, June 13th, at BottleneckGallery.com. http://dlvr.it/T8fBkj

0 notes

suchananewsblog · 2 years

Text

Mexican actor Pablo Lyle gets prison for road rage death

Mexican actor Pablo Lyle was sentenced Friday to five years in prison for involuntary manslaughter after fatally punching a man during a road rage confrontation in Miami in 2019. The sentence came almost four years after Lyle was charged with murder in the death of a man he struck during a traffic incident. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez announced the sentence two months after…

View On WordPress

#en/lifestyle/movies #Movies - English

0 notes

lovinghiddleston · 2 years

Text

Cupid ; Peter Parker

Ned pretends to be Cupid and tries to get you and Peter together.

Pairings: Peter Parker x fem!reader

Word count: 2,6k

Warnings: none, pure fluff.

You gave Ned a confused glance. He was your best friend since you could remember, he was always there for you and he was so funny you laughed with him all the days along. Peter was your friend too, but things were a little more complicated than that. You already knew that he was SpiderMan, since you and Ned were so close, it was impossible for him not to tell you. So, one day, after school, Ned and Peter went to your house to watch Star Wars movies and they revealed the secret.

You were totally fine with Peter being a superhero, - not that you were fine with him being punched by bad guys, that part wasn't good, but you always noticed his big and pure heart. He was always there to help people and now that he had a cool superhero suit, he was still the same boy you had fallen in love with. Damn, you couldn't remember when your crush at him started. Maybe it was in the Halloween party you organized and only a few of your classmates appeared. He was a silly boy back then and you were too young to recognize your feelings yet.

Now that you were a little older and Peter too, it was obvious that you were in love with him. And that sucked, because you were sure that Peter was in love with this cute girl of the decathlon. That's how you ended up in Ned's bedroom, he was staring you with a weird look, as if he was thinking about something that included you. You took one of the Lego pieces and threw it in his face.

"Hey, that hurts!"

"Fine, you were acting weird."

Ned's smile got bigger.

"I realized something, you know. Everytime I say a name that starts with a P, you are the one acting weird."

"Paul? Pablo? Pamela?" you joked, trying to avoid the topic of the conversation that involved Peter and you.

"Peter Parker, you dumb."

"What about Peter? You asked, looking at your nails without showing interest. You knew that it was getting harder for you to pretend that your heart didn’t beat for that brown-haired boy with brown eyes, it was impossible not to pretend to be disappointed when he treated you like a friend.

"You know what happens with Peter. Don't try to fake it, I know."

"Oh, now you are clairvoyant?"

"No, I recognize when my friends are falling for each other."

Damn, you didn’t know where Ned got that, you didn’t know when he realized it and read through your face. Ned opened his mouth in surprise and leapt from his bed as he shouted.

"It's real, oh my god!"

"What? But you…"

"I wasn't really sure, but now I know. You love him, you love Peter."

Just in that moment, you heard Ned’s grandmother’s voice, saying that Peter had already arrived. You gave Ned a look, making him promise not to say anything, and he wouldn’t embarrass you in front of the guy you liked. It was common that on weekends you organized a night with your friends, you watched movies and spent time acting as some weird fans of vintage movies and sagas that seemed never to end. Barely five seconds later, Peter entered Ned’s room and his eyes set on you, then passed to his friend.

"Hi, Peter, look who's here." said Ned, pointing his finger at you.

"Yes, I'm here. Stop acting weird." you said, as you gave a hateful look at your best friend. Then, you looked at Peter and smiled at him." Hi, Peter, how are you doing?"

Just a couple minutes later and the three of you were watching the movie start, you were thinking about Ned knowing about your feelings for Peter and you felt so nervous about that. Ned was a good friend but he didn't know how to keep secrets. Just days after he knew that his friend was Spiderman, he kindly forced Peter to tell you too. On the other hand, he was always telling secrets he heard about other people and gossiping with you. Sometimes it was cool to know things about your school mates but other times, you wished you never knew things people kept in secret for a good reason. However, your revealed secret was something that you didn't want to share so soon and you prefered to keep for yourself.

Peter was seated next to you, your head was on his chest, while you watched the movie on screen. You loved these moments with Peter, those moments when you both were so comfortable with the other that no boundaries existed between both of you. That was your big dilemma, sometimes you wanted to tell him the truth but what if things went too complicated after telling you like him? Just in that moment, his hand went through your hair and started doing a hairstyle. You had taught her how to braid a year ago, and ever since then, he took the opportunity to braid them every time you lay on her chest. His hand in your hair calmed you and made you close your eyes, because you could think of nothing but him.

"Mm if you keep doing that, I think I’m going to fall asleep all over you, Peter." you whispered, as you yawned.

You looked up and Peter was staring at you in silence. He was too cute to be real, his brown eyes were magical. As you looked at him, you were afraid that a thread of drool would come out of your mouth, but the boy just watched you as if you were the only girl in the world, not caring about the movie at all. Before you could say anything, Ned jumped out of his place and made you miss the moment you were sharing. Ned was scared after seeing a scene in the scary movie you were watching. You took advantage of the interruption to get up and go to the bathroom.

You looked at yourself in the mirror and thought of Peter. You felt comfortable with him, it was like you could spend all your days lying on his chest and with his hands in your hair. He gave you peace, your heart beating for him it was impossible to reverse. You were in love with Peter Parker, aka Spiderman.

A few minutes later, you came out of the bathroom and went back to Ned’s bedroom. The door was ajar and you heard that the two boys were talking low. You didn’t want to look nosy, your intentions weren’t to get into what they didn’t tell you, but you thought it was weird that your friends were talking when you weren’t there. They usually tell you everything.

"I’m not interested in her, Ned. I like her and I like spending time with her, but I’m not interested romantically." the silence was abrupt, but then, he kept talking." Besides, there’s someone else I like."

Your heart broke into hundreds of pieces. Ned must have said something to Peter, your best friend must have told Peter how you felt about him. But hearing his rejection was worse than what you could have imagined. Your eyes filled with tears and you walked away, avoiding making sounds. You didn’t want to go back to Ned’s bedroom now that your heart was broken, it was much more than you could bear. So you went downstairs and said bye to Ned’s grandmother, and you added that something had come up at the last minute and you’d see Ned at school.

The next morning, you struggled to walk to school. It wasn’t just because you felt sad, but because you were ashamed. Shame on what Peter could tell you, shame on looking at Ned. You didn’t know the whole story, you’d just heard a piece of the conversation before you left, but it was enough to know that Peter was in love with Liz and that he just saw you as a friend. It was nothing new, but no matter what, your heart was still sore. You didn’t know how you could see your friends now that you knew the truth. Maybe you would have preferred ignorance.

The first class you had was math and you noticed that Peter greeted you from a distance, his smile lit up his eyes and you thought he looked like a puppy. Other days you would have raised your hand, and the fact of seeing him in class would have done everything to make your day better. However, he being there was a constant reminder that he was not romantically interested in you. So you just sat in a chair and avoided paying attention to him for the rest of the class. At recess, you locked yourself in the girls' bathroom so you wouldn’t have to talk with Ned or Peter. However, Ned sent you a bunch of texts, saying that Peter was worried and that he was too. He asked if something had happened to you, and after 20 messages he started ringing your phone with calls. Your only solution was to turn off the device and continue to ignore your friends.

The next class was PE, which you also shared with Ned and Peter. You wanted to skip and go home, but you couldn’t miss class. So you tried to ignore them once more, as you watched Liz sit in the bleachers, talking to her friends. While you were doing an exercise, Ned came up to you and Peter looked at you like a fucking stalker from a distance.

"What 's going on?

"I heard you talking yesterday."

Ned started smiling. "That’s great! So why are you ignoring us? I’m the fucking Cupid himself."

Yeah, Liz and Peter would make a nice couple, you thought sarcastically. You got up off the floor and continued with the class, while Ned came back to Peter’s side and told him he didn’t know what the hell was going on with you. The next attempt was Peter’s. He approached you in the same class and ran his hand timidly through his hair.

"Are you alright? D' you have your period? I thought it was gone last week."

You were embarrassed by the fact that Peter knew that detail, maybe you should start to control a little of the things you said in front of your friends, but you denied with your head.

"I’m fine, Peter, I’m not menstruating."

"So what happens? I’m worried."

"I think you have other things to worry about, like superhero stuff, not the things that happen with your friend."

"But you worry me too."

You shook your head. "I’m fine, believe me."

In the distance, Ned knew it was time to talk to you and Peter.

Ned advised Peter to walk you home after school and you’d refused, saying it wasn’t necessary because you only lived a few blocks away. Peter seemed really confused by the fact that you were denying spending time with him. On other occasions you would have said yes, although now everything felt bittersweet. Anyways, you walked the streets in absolute silence, not wanting to interrupt the quiet walk. Peter threw a lot of glances at you but you kept yourself seeing your own feets moving. Once you got to your front door, you whispered goodbye and Peter took your arm, stopping you.

"Wait."

You turned at him, you felt the electricity running through your skin and for a moment, you wanted him to feel the same for you. You looked at his face, he wanted to read what was going on in your mind. A part of you wanted everything to go back to normal, to see him smile again. You wanted to send to the trash your pride and your own thoughts, you didn’t like being apart from Ned and Peter.

"What 's up, Pete? It’s late and I have to do math homework."

Peter shook his head and didn’t let go of your hand. "I know something is happening to you, and if I was the one to blame I…"

"You’re not the one to blame, it’s not like you can change your feelings, anyway."

You shut your mouth and cursed, you didn't want to reveal what you felt about him but you had been all the morning trying to hide your feelings, that now was hard to keep pretending you were fine. You weren't fine with Peter dating someone else, you weren't okay with Peter thinking of you just as a friend.

"What feelings do you have?"

"The feelings I have for you that you clearly don’t have for me. You have that kind of feelings for Liz."

"Liz?"

Damn, Peter’s confusion was starting to irritate you.

"Yeah, the girl who drives you crazy."

"Liz doesn’t drive me crazy. You bring me crazy."

It was your turn to get confused.

"I heard you talking yesterday, Peter. You obviously have feelings for Liz and you see me as a friend."

He spent a few seconds in silence, Peter looked confused. You wondered if you heard wrong, if maybe your own illusions had caused you to hear things that hadn’t happened. It was impossible for Peter to have feelings for you. Almost as if he was reading your thoughts, he continued to speak, unable to separate his hand from your arm.

"I was talking 'bout you. You’re the girl I like. You're the girl who is always in my mind. Ned suddenly asked me about Liz when you weren't around and I told him that I saw her as a friend. I'm not interested in her, not the way I'm interested in you."

"So… I misunderstood the whole conversation?"

"You did." as he answered your question, he smiled like a puppy. Damn, he was cute just like a puppy.

Realization came to your face, you had heard a small part of your friends' conversation and regretted not staying a while longer. You’d avoided the boys because you thought Peter wasn’t interested in you, and now that you knew the truth, your heart started beating like crazy. His hand was still attached to your arm and you were so close that it didn’t take much effort to get even closer. You stared at his lips, you asked yourself if it was okay if you both kissed each other.

"Now stop acting like two idiots and kiss each other, please."

You both looked at Ned, who was standing a few feet away from you, listening and watching the whole scene as if it were a romantic comedy. He even had his cellphone recording your conversation. You didn’t know when he arrived, maybe he'd been all the way behind you and you hadn’t even noticed. You laughed, because Ned really felt like Cupid among his friends.

"It's weird if you look at us while we kiss." you said to him, showing your point and Peter agreed with you.

"But I'm Cupid, I'm the one who did this for you."

"Get out!"

Peter and you yelled at him, and Ned turned around while you stared at each other. You could hear the boy whispering that you were terrible friends but you were focused only on Peter. It was weird to kiss him, you had imagined a lot of ways you could do it and nothing looked like the situation that was happening at the time. You held your hands to Peter’s cheeks and his lips brushed against yours, until the kiss was consummated. It was soft and cute, just as Peter.

"Yes, I'm fucking Cupid!" you heard Ned yelling in front of all the people in the streets.

You and Peter laughed in the middle of the kiss.

#peter parker #peter parker x reader #spiderman #spider man: no way home #tom holland one shot #tom holland x reader #peter parker fluff

64 notes · View notes

the-technocracy · 2 years

Text

Dream.ai Series: 001.

Whilst this isn't the first subject matter I picked for my forays into AI created art, this is the first set of images I'm posting as part of my Dream.ai series here:

Ash Williams (Evil Dead franchise), As Illustrated By Various Artists.

Simon Bisley set.

I was absolutely thrilled with these, although in actuality, I generated about a dozen, but this selection really captured the controlled chaos of Bisley's brushwork. I think the set of covers above would make for a great set for an adaptation of the teased, but never materialised season 4. . .

Botticelli set.

This was, in fact, the first set of Ash images I had generated. I don't know why Botticelli was my first thought as an artistic interpretation, but it worked out reasonably well. It didn't really capture Botticelli's style quite so much, but I was impressed enough to save five of the ruddy things!

John William Waterhouse set.

I think this is the set that impressed me the most, that genuinely made me go "Wow!" The Pre-Raphaelites is (are?) one of my favourite artistic movements, and John William Waterhouse, one of its foremost representatives, and I think his talent is captured pretty well in this set, if not precisely. I was most impressed by the second in this set, and surprised by the piece I called "Alternative Ash", as it definitely seemed to be an interpretation of my prompt, but still in Woodhouse's style. It was also literally the only one of about ten pieces that portrayed Ash as a woman - and I thought the result was pretty cool. Perhaps it's actually his daughter, Brandy. . .

Yusuke Murata set.

This set was admittedly a bit hit-and-miss, although I'm very fond of the second one. I do genuinely feel that, if there ever was an Ash comic, then One Punch Man's Yusuke Murata would be absolutely perfect for it!

Artgerm (Stanley Lau) set.

I'm quite an admirer of Artgerm and love his work (to the point that I bought his Marvel Portfolio and have a number of comics he painted covers for, waiting to be framed and hung on my walls!). Unfortunately however, these two images were the best it could muster, the other four or five I generated looking less than stellar.

Katsuhiro Otomo (left) and Rumiko Takahashi (right).

These two I've admittedly mixed feelings about, but they have their merits; I rather like to think the Otomo version is an homage to the Ash vs Evil Dead series, and the other two characters we see are Kelly (*sighs dreamily*) and Pablo. The Takahashi version I simply wanted to include as an artist who, on paper, might be antithetical to Ash's world, but would really probably not be; this is a mangaka who, from the 1970s, made her living from horror, high action and sex comedy stories; Ash would probably be a cakewalk to her! Unfortunately, any other attempt I made to incorporate her style, as with Otomo, looked bloody awful.

Hayao Miyazaki set.

Grossly inaccurate, but fun. These were the only three I made. Miyazaki-sensei would truly be antithetical to the world of Ashley J Williams, but what an interesting experiment it would be!

HR Giger set.

These were a little disappointing, tbh. I'd rather hoped that, owing to Giger's surreal, dark and often disturbing style, we'd get something similar out of these, but alas no. The first one tries, I guess, with some kind of interpretation of Ash's chainsaw arm, but they were rather lacking in Giger's creepy, skin-crawly weirdness. They still have a certain je ne sais quoi about them though, so I'm including them here.

Hope you enjoyed.

14 notes · View notes

thirsty-flygirl · 3 years

Text

Touch Me

Formerly The Textile Series

A Javier Peña x f! Reader Romance

Rating: Explicit - language, sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll. You know the drill, no one under 18 allowed.

Word Count: 2168

A/N: Look, it’s no secret that I would let Javi absolutely ruin me so here is The Textile Series, back again with a few changes, so I can simp some more over my favorite DEA agent.

******

Part IV: Leather

You slammed the shot glass down, proudly popping the lemon between your salt-swollen lips. Tequila always tasted good and, with one of Escobar’s most notorious sicarios now in US custody, it tasted even better.

“C’mon, Javi, take a shot with me,” you shouted across Murphy to your other partner, who offered you his signature smirk, the corner of his lips lifting as he regarded you. Steve placed a palm against your face and playfully pushed you back, grimacing.

“Christ, woman, you’re gonna make me go deaf,” he complained. You poked a finger into his ribs, gleefully watching as he doubled over. “Ah! No tickling, that’s not playing fair and you know it.” He clambered off the barstool and pointed to the now-empty seat. “Sit. That way you don’t have to scream at Javi.”

You shuffled about and made yourself comfortable on the stool, offering Javier a grin. His smirk shifted into a full-blown smile, that sweet little dimple popping, and your stomach flipped at the sight. Your feelings for Javier were getting out of control, strengthening each day you spent together. You’d nearly kissed him right there at the President’s ball last night, in front of your superiors, not giving a second thought to the damage it could affect on your career. You had worked hard, damn hard, to get where you are, despite the sexism and harassment you’d received because you were a woman. Hell, Steve and Javier were two of only a few men you could think of that didn’t treat you like your only worth was between your legs.

But there you were, hunting down Colombia’s most notorious drug lord, and all could do was simper like a teenager every time Javi smiled.

“You’re drunk,” Javi offered, shifting in his seat to lean on the bar next to you. His elbow brushed against yours, leaving your skin tingling from where your bare skin met. As usual, the top buttons of his shirt were undone, leaving his chest on display. Your eyes roved over his form hungrily, slipping down to see the smattering of dark hair on his chest, before settling on his gorgeous face.

Up close, Javier was disarmingly beautiful. His dark hair fell over his forehead as he leaned into you, eyes searching yours as though they could see every secret etched on your heart. A smattering of freckles dotted his face, barely visible, but you had stared so long and so hard at him that you had every perfect imperfection memorized. His hand wrapped loosely around his tumbler of whiskey and you couldn’t help but imagine that hand wrapped around yours, tethering you to him as you finally gave into your desires.

“I’m not,” you finally managed, finding yourself inching closer to him, a coil of desperate need beginning to unfurl within you. Taking his glass, you let your fingers brush against his, watching his pupils dilate. You took a sip of the biting liquor, letting it trail a path of fire down your throat. “I’m just feeling good.”

Javi reached up to wipe a drop of whiskey from your lips with his thumb, raising an eyebrow. “Feeling good, hmm? And why’s that?”

You let out a soft whimper at his touch, just loud enough for Javier to feel the vibration on your skin. His eyes darkened and he let out a deep sigh. “You’re gonna get me in fucking trouble one of these days.”

The two of you sat staring stupidly at each other, as though you were the only two people in the crowded bar. Heart pounding and cunt throbbing, you let your fingers settle on his thigh, trailing them toward the seam of his jeans and so close to the place you felt pressed against you last night.

You leaned forward and closed the distance, whispering in your partner’s ear “I heard you like—”

“—Okay, it’s time to go,” Steve thrust his arm between the two of you, setting his empty beer bottle on the worn, wood bar with a loud thump. You and Javi sprung apart like kids caught necking, a wave of embarrassment crashing over you along with the realization that you had been so wrapped up in Javier that you’d forgotten you were in public.

Javi pulled back like he’d been punched, the naked desire written on his face shifting back into a closed, unaffected expression. Nodding at Steve, he avoided your eyes and stood.

“Yeah, it’s late.”

Your stomach lurched at the speed with which Javi could turn off any sign of being interested in you. It was like hot and cold with him, and you were starting to wonder if he even thought of you as more than a potential fuck. You weren’t blind; you knew exactly how your partner managed to get such reliable intel. It wasn’t like you could fault him - you had no claim on him and you knew he was just trying to get one step ahead of Escobar. But the thought of his body bringing another woman the kind of pleasure that you could only imagine, while you lay in your bed at night writhing on your fingers? That was enough to send a wave of jealousy surging through your veins.

You clambered off the stool, leading the way to the door in silence. If Javi wasn’t affected by you, well, you could at least act as if you felt the same. You emerged from the warm bar into the cool night air sweeping over your heated skin like a balm. You continued walking down the street toward the Embassy apartments; the bar wasn’t far from where all of you lived and, while Steve had driven over after work, you wanted to clear your head a bit. Decidedly ignoring their calls to “get in the damn car” (Javi’s words, not yours), you managed to get nearly a block before a hand closed over your elbow.

“What the hell are you doing?” Javi demanded, his dark eyes flicking around to the dark, run-down buildings surrounding you. As much as you wanted to fall into his arms, you pulled away and continued meandering down the street toward your apartment.

“What does it look like I’m doing?” you called back flippantly, “I’m walking home!”

Javi groaned in a mixture of exasperation and defeat, jogging a few steps to catch up to you. “Not alone, you aren’t,” he muttered, mostly to himself. “Here, at least take my jacket,” he ordered, shrugging off his worn, leather coat and placing it around your chilled shoulders. He sighed loudly as you continued walking, calling after you. “You’re a pain in my ass, you know that?”

You spun around in a circle with your arms out, laughing into the night. “I’m a pain in YOUR ass? Javier Peña, you are, without a doubt, the most confusing, irritating man I’ve ever met!” You continued down the street shaking your head and laughing into the night while you continued your rant.

"What I don't understand," you threw over your shoulder in his direction, "is how you can just change direction and act like we don't have anything here. . . like you weren’t about five seconds from fucking me right there in the bar. . . .” Trailing off, you felt the fight leave you. Exhaustion crept through you in its place, and all you wanted now was to get home and sleep your buzz off.

“Hell, maybe I’m just imagining things,” you mumbled tiredly.

You heard Javi's steps come up beside yours, somehow felt his warmth even from feet away. You hated the feeling of tears building in your eyes. The last thing you wanted was to be an emotional wreck in the face of Javi's aloofness. His warm hand closed around your elbow once again, but this time you let him pull you back.

“You think this is just some goddamn game to me?” Javier whispered fiercely, tugging your arm so that you fell forward against him. His free arm curled around your waist, holding you in an approximation of the exact position you had been in while dancing last night.

“Do you have any idea what you do to me?” he gritted out, those deep, brown eyes glittering with fire. Javi brought his hand up to cup the back of your neck, holding you in place while he continued, and all you could do was stand there, transfixed by his words and the sheer emotion behind them. “You think it’s easy for me to stay away? To act like I’m not thinking about you every goddamn minute of the day?" He shook his head with a defeated expression.

“All I want is to have you,” he continued, his thumb stroking the sensitive skin just under your ear. He paused and your eyes fluttered closed, waiting for the moment when you would finally feel his lips on yours.

Without warning, he released you, leaving you cold and wanting as your eyes flew open. Looking at his face, you saw pain etched in every line, agony reflecting in his eyes.

“But I can’t give you what you want.”

He turned away, looking down the street, jaw clenched. You felt tears prick your eyes, frustrated with his words. “Javi,” you began, reaching out, “You’re what I want, I don’t need—”

“No,” he insisted, refusing to meet your eyes. “I need to catch Escobar, that’s the only thing that matters. I’ve been so distracted and I—” He broke off, his hand coming up to massage at his neck in a gesture so familiar it hurt. He dropped his head with a frustrated sigh and gently pushed at your shoulder.

“Come on, we need to get home.”

You let Javier walk a few steps ahead of you, mind spinning and heart squeezing painfully in your chest. You had felt so warm in his arms, so alive, like every one of your nerve endings buzzed when you were pressed against his body. Now, even with the worn leather of Javi’s jacket pulled around you, you felt chilled, lonely, incomplete.

Down deep, you knew Javier Peña was a selfless man. He wanted to do good, be good, but always felt like he was falling short. He had one mission in Colombia: to capture Pablo Escobar. Anything beyond that was unnecessary, a distraction; something you understood well.

But your heart was selfish - you wanted both. To find Escobar and have him extradited and locked up with a maximum sentence, definitely. But on those lonely nights and the moments in-between when you could imagine something other than the gritty underworld of Colombian drug trafficking, you wanted Javier. Wanted his arms around you, his mouth against yours. You wanted to trace the lines of his neck with your tongue, wanted to run your hands down his torso, then lower, lower, until you breathlessly gripped him and slid down, finally finding home in the middle of the madness.

At an impasse and emotionally drained, you stayed silent for the remainder of your walk, watching Javi turn his key in the security door and shuffling in behind him. You began up the stairs, the feeling of Javier’s gaze burning through you, before you remembered the coat curled around your body.

“Oh, I forgot,” you mumbled, moving to the bottom step while shrugging the garment off. You held it out to Javier, keeping your eyes on the floor, silently begging him to just take it so you could lock yourself in your apartment and break down in private.

“Keep it,” Javi replied, the gravel in his voice still sending a thrill of arousal through your body despite the fact that you felt like he was slipping away from you. "Something to remember me by when we get out of this shithole."

You smiled sadly, reaching out to place a hand gently against his chest, your palm settled over the steady beat of his heart.

Javier stared at you, the longing in his eyes so tangible you couldn't stop the tears from falling. He gently swiped them from your cheeks, a sad smile on his lips.

"Don't cry over me, Sweetheart. I'm not worth your tears."

He leaned in to place a chaste kiss on your cheek, letting his full lips linger for a moment before taking a step back, the inches between you feeling like an impassable chasm. You stood silently, afraid that the tenuous grip you held on your emotions would break if you tried to speak. Javier turned and entered his apartment, never giving you a backwards glance, and you were left standing on the stairs alone.

With no reason to hold back you let your tears fall, your knees giving way as you sat down hard on the dirty step beneath you. You buried your face in the bundle of soft leather you held, weeping over a love you never had in the first place. Eventually, once your sobs calmed, you made your way up the stairs to your apartment and fell into bed exhausted, still clutching Javier’s jacket in your arms.

#javier peña x you #javier peña x reader #javier pena x reader #javier peña imagine #javier pena x you #javier pena imagine #javier peña #javier pena narcos #narcos fanfic #narcos imagine #javi x reader #javier x reader #pedro pascal characters #narcos fic

102 notes · View notes