#grae's old interests<3

[oraclefreak]

I think we, DPS fans, don't talk about Charlie during the school's tribute to Neil enough.

He's not singing.

Meeks, Pitts and Knox are singing, letting all their feelings out.

Cameron is singing a little calmer. You can see the sadness in him though.

Todd is stuttering words, not even singing—but he's trying.

Charlie does not sing.

I'm sorry for the picture's quality.

At first I thought he didn't sing because he was angry at Neil for leaving all of them; the Dead Poets, Keating and his dreams of becoming an actor. We saw at the beginning of the film how Charlie tried to convince Neil to speak up to his parents. I think he really wanted Neil to be happy, and he knew he wouldn't be if he stayed silent and pursued being a doctor because of his father.

During Neil and Mr. Keating's talk in the office, Neil mentioned Charlie: "We are not a rich family like Charlie's" (quoted by memory). Charlie tried to make Neil pursue acting when they had different social backgrounds; Charlie could go against his parents and not ruin everything. But Neil was an only child from a family that was mantained by his father and no one else... and not particularly wealthy either.

Even if they had those differences, they didn't separate them. And both of them were boys with dreams they couldn't follow easily. Charlie was more rebellious (especially when it came to school's authorities). Neil was more of the type to go with whatever people wanted. Charlie was more risk-taking. Neil's risk in the whole movie was participating in the play (yes, the club wasn't a Neil risk; it was all of the poets').

Charlie was really proud of Neil for finally following his dreams.

"He's good. He's really good."

Sounds familiar?

"I was good. I was really good."

This parallel makes sense to me, especially if we analyze the very first scene of Charlie and Neil in the movie. As I said, Charlie wanted Neil to speak up to his father. And when he did and it all broke apart; Neil said words Charlie had said about him during the play.

Obviously, Charlie disliked Neil's dad. We can be sure about that, definitely.

The school's tribute to Neil was either Mr. Perry's idea or he gave the permission to do it. The authorities thought of Neil's death as the institution's problem. Keating was suspicious from the beginning because of his unconventional teaching methods (plus Mr. Perry thought Keating told Neil to keep his place in the performance, which he did—but he made it look like it was a real problem... 1950s, let's go).

Charlie didn't think this event of singing words of grief and so on was for Neil. Neil didn't die to be missed. Neil died because he would miss out on what he wanted to do. But that reasoning didn't even come across the authorities' heads.

I think of Charlie as a person who has an internal philosophy, a reasoning that most people wouldn't think of. So, when every single one of his friends are singing because they miss Neil; Charlie does not sing because this is a way to pay respects to Mr. Perry for losing his son. A way to say the authorities are right. A way to say "Neil... poor boy." Neil was miserable because he wasn't free. And his only way to be free was... not living.

I believe this "Charlie wasn't singing" thing can be interpreted in many, many ways. I probably overanalyzed it because 6 years of DPS make someone go insane eventually. What I do think is clear is that Neil and Charlie's friendship was very obvious from the start. And yes, the not singing thing is something to observe and think about... but their whole friendship isn't very talked about in the fandom! And I had the idea to write about not only the movie's scenes that have both of them, but also how I perceive it (hence why I would describe this post as a theory rather than facts).

I would love to see other people's takes on this subject too !!

[trickerxlife]

My officiall unofficial tracker! For all to see and decide whether they ignore or not hehe. Please lemme know if any thread needs to be dropped <3

Now! Well, I planned to do it tomorrow when I have a few more replies done but... my draft to queue ratio is pretty even now so I will do it now and allow people to know they will be having their reply soon enough. Everything will be under read more and for the sake of my sanity and saving time, I will NOT link my replies because it will take ages and some people may have changed their names and such so... yeah. What I will do is write the ship name and tag the person. Replies can be found under your tag on my blog but if you need help please message me privately and I’ll link you the reply.

p.s. I have a lot of starters I replied to that never got replied back. Some I will include in the list (if I and mun have interacted otherwise) and some won’t (if we haven’t because then I assume they just didn’t want to rp with me.)

ON WE GO!

Aiden interactions!

Waiting on replies from:

@r-omanov (from River)

@hailyutae (from Yuta)

@fallinghanas (Cherry x 2)

@hclfmoon (it’s a few starters I took from you but I’m not sure if you are interested in replying to them... 1 is from Annabel Lee, 1 from Akali also I took a starter on behalf of Minjun. 1 from Eunha for Lucky too)

@lcvemedc (from Hajoon)

@moonaeraa (Aera x 3)

@unusualadventures (From Nick)

@dxtsy (from your old blog-- a reply from Nemo)

@sunlitaura (from Keon)

@virxle (from Shin)

@witchtyranny (from Ezra)

@kkxai (from Kai)

@gnhwa (from Levi, Bentley)

@iudicxum (from Ryan, Miles)

@hcrizon (from Woojin)

@flvwershower (from Hyuk)

@liyabbay (from Daehwi)

@engulfedintheflames (from Valentine)

@tenderlovc (from Zhangjing)

@morbidcores (for Chul - I believe 2 from Aiden and 2 from Lucky)

@rubcosis (from Damien)

@filtcr (from Bomi)

@psiichos (from Minji)

@jinnic (from Taylor)

Drafted:

@mccnxhild (for Yumi)

@fallinghanas (birthday reply)

@kkochiie (for Jakyung)

@botrusanimarum (for Sawyer)

@flvwershower (for Jae)

@multiplythatbyinfinity (for Minjae + Haeil.. actually all my replies to you are drafted right now!)

@infernoath

@sorcicre (for Taemin)

On queue:

@goodevcning (for Dalbit)

@mxgicum (2 replies for Kota)

@hopcless (for Moon)

@ofashcs (for Emerson)

@nvmjvs (For Inseol)

@ambitiousxmonsoon (for Ellie)

@bloodjunkies (2 for Grae)

@milkiwaes (for Rex. I think we have another thread between Rex and Aiden where it’s your turn to reply but I’m not certain)

@lethmargic (for Mika)

@holyfields (for Alexander)

Dustin interactions!

Waiting on replies from:

x

Drafted:

@resentfuldrcgon (for Wuxian)

On queue:  

@bloodjunkies (2 for Grae)

@xiiaoshuo​ (for Brigham)

@bineindispus (for Eunbi)

@ofashcs (for Alex)

Lucky interactions!

Waiting on replies from:

@filtcr (from Bomi)

@milkiwaes (from Jamie)

@morbidcores (from Chul x 2)

@redrumurder237 (from Saemi)

@wcnderlnd (from Jaein)

@miyabis (from Morrigan)

@nvmjvs (from Han)

@accxlades (from Siddel + Daejung)

@goodevcning (from Dohyun)

@prcssvre (from Rae)

@bluclights​ (from Mioh + Seulgi + Bora)

@sweetmarzipan​ (from Juno)

@lxstbodies​ (from Donghyun)

@fclssgny​ (I can’t find to whom it was but I continued an ask of yours)

@filtcr​ (from Bomi)

@dittoditta​ (from Suzy)

@gnhwa​ (from Maxie)

@engulfedintheflames​ (from Domino)

@hopcless​ (from Sohee)

@wildeycs​ (from Nic)

@amissums​ (from Jihye + Lucifer)

@pseudonyist​ (from Damen)

@liyabbay​ (from Siyu)

@enchaxxted​ (from Lilith)

@sereune (from Raven)

@spellbks (from Taemin)

@abimcpectcre (from Esme)

@l0vedheart (from Dahye)

@rubcosis (from Seho + Jiyoon)

Drafted:

@ofashcs (1 for Shadow + 1 for Theon)

@clairdclunc (1 for Minho + 1 for Nox)

@multiplythatbyinfinity​ (1 for Daehyun and 1 for Kibum)

@thxvclvxts​ (for Ileanna)

@psiichos​ (for Minji)

@atinystar​ (for Lucifer and Gyuri)

@vousmevouyez​ (for Yena)

On queue:

@blccdking (for Asher)

@mccnxhild (for Reina)

@flvwershower​ (for Reagan)

@needfuldreams​ (for Jun)

@wildeycs​ (for Alana)

@hopcless​ (for Daehyun + Minjae)

@multiplythatbyinfinity​ (for Jaehyun)  

Minjun interactions!

Waiting on replies from:

@hclfmoon (from xiaojian)

@infidclitys (from Aiden + Jae)

@nvmjvs (from Yoojin)

@denouae (from Uriel)

Drafted:

@psiichos  

On queue:

@ofashcs (for Changmin)

@psiichos (for Yesung)

@zitao-ia (for Zitao)

@hcilpaimon (for Aiden)

@hyggclig (for Jaehyun)

@dcmaged (for Sungmin)

@holyfields (for Julianna)

Jiah interactions!

On queue:

@xxj0kerxx

@ofashcs

[david-gonzo]

2020: Favorite Albums Thereof...

For big chunks of the hellscape that was 2020 I struggled to have much interest in new music.  Much of my listening time was spend in the comfort of old favorites of all sorts.  But there were still several albums that were great and managed to grab my attention. This is my top ten favorite albums of 2020.

  Venom Prison – Primeval

Technically all but 2 of these songs are rerecorded versions of tunes off their first two Eps, but it delivers the definitive versions of these hearty slabs of riffs.  The two new songs giving an exciting glimpse into where they’re heading in the future.  The quality within elevates it from, what on paper would seem a pandemic year stop gap album to something that stands well aside their other two full length albums. In my book one of the leaders in modern death metal.

  Blake Mills – Mutable Set

The singer/songwriter/guitarist/producer’s latest solo record deftly straddles two aspects of his multi-faceted musical personality…that of singer/songwriter and of ambientish experimenter.  Mostly understated tunes covering many genres in the pursuit of honesty and chill.  He’s probably considered a near virtuoso at least on the guitar, but he rarely shows off with flashy licks.  Everything is to support the song.  Sometimes that creates subtly complex lines, sometimes ambient soundscapes.  Always enjoyable.

  Run the Jewels - RTJ4

The beats are all next level bangers.  The rhymes balancing the line between juvenile humor and sharp political statements. This album grabbed me from the first listen and immediately imprinted itself on my brain.  RTJ Forever.

Boris – NO

This has been the first Boris record that I’ve really connected to in quite a while.  I’d have to go back to 2008’s Smile to find a Boris album that I enjoyed more than this one.  Just ripping rage and roars from start to finish on this punk/thrash leaning effort.  

Budos Band – Long in the Tooth

Just funky afro jazz funk tunes like we’ve come to expect from the Budos Band for decades now. This album sticks to that already ripe territory like glue, but in doing so does what it does best.  Firing on all cylinders funk that always elevates the mood and moves my ass to a more joyful state than I started in.

Aesop Rock – Spirit World Field Guide

This album just clicked into my brain like a Tetris piece and has been there ever since.  Several tunes on here feel like I’ve known them for years…something that also happened with his last LP Impossible Kid.  1 hour and 3 minutes of beats and rhymes that just get me. Or rather I just get Aesop Rock.  In my old age it seems like most of the hip hop that speaks to me is by dudes approaching or over 40.  Oh well. I got heavy into hip hop again the latter part of this year and I’d say the big push for that came from this album.

Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist – Alfredo

It’s a Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist joint.  How is not making the top ten?  Freddie is the other MC out there that pretty much pushes all the buttons for me (at least the one’s Aesop doesn’t always).  Soulful beats, classic hooks and technical without even trying street story raps from the best in the game.  

Esoctrilihum - Eternity of Shaog

A late intro in the year to this guy, probably the most psychedelic black metal I’ve ever heard. The production on this album is next level shit, with the aural spacing really jumping out at you.  Such a feeling of depth makes listening to this feel like a VR experience with just the audio (good headphones the best way to go…but it slams in the car as well).  A feeling of moving through different spaces, like a Doom in hell sort of first person shooter vibe.  The music itself is amazing, very progressive passages throughout, and featuring perfect usage of violins and orchestral sounds that blends perfectly with the drum blasts, beautiful and riff-tastic guitar work along with keys and everything else.  Just seamless.  Definitely the best metal album of the year for me.

Moses Sumney – grae

Considering Part 1 and 2 as one album (as intended) this is yet another monumental step in the hopefully long on epic career of young Moses Sumney.  He’s stepped into the realm of being his own genre like Bjork, Fiona Apple, and Primus.  The description of soul music always works, in the wide stance of Moses covering jazz, R&B, funk and more with an experimental but comforting spirit.  Not a casual listening album, it demands attention…so despite the fact that I don’t listen to it as much as others, it lives in my subconscious the other times.  

Fiona Apple – Fetch the Bolt Cutters

A narrow line if I was picking the best album of the year between this and Moses Sumney.  Fiona is an all time favorite artist for me and this ranks up there with her best albums.  Such a warm intimate sound and feeling she captured in her home recording studio.  The arrangements are simple but so expansive and complete.  Heavy Balloon and Cosmonauts are two of the best songs of the year, but this one is packed with instant classics.  Classic Fiona, she never disappoints.

A lot of honorable mentions and runner ups, a lot of which I didn’t even find until late in the year.  Number one and almost made the top ten was Oranssi Pazuzu - Mestarin Kynsi...Awesome krautrock psychedelic metal.  Others include Skeleton - Skeleton, Wormhole - The Weakest Among Us, Raspberry Bulbs - Before the Ago of Mirrors, Feminazgul - No Dawn for Man, Fluisteraars - Bloem, Pallbearer - Forgotten Days, Perfume Genius - Set My Heart on Fire Immediately, Paysage d'Hiver - Im Wald, Yves Tumor  Heaven to a Tortured Mind, REZN - Chaotic Divine, The Deftones - Ohms and Sturgill Simpson’s two bluegrass albums as well.  Got to mention Inter Arma’s great covers album Garbers Days Revisited with their version of Southern Man probably being my #1 favorite song of the year.  There was a few dark months there where I would listen to this song on repeat daily just to get a feeling of happiness.

Fuck off 2020.

[survivor-tierradelfuego]

Ep. 13: “I just want to bury my head in a mountain of blankets and sleep.” -  Sarah

Najwah

Well, that was shit. I feel as though I really tried to get Amy to vote with us but Pedro wanted to get her out so everyone just decided to write her name down too. Also, she basically used my name as a decoy too. And I used Maddison as a decoy too so she could flush Olivia's idol. It worked. I had my superidol at the ready too. I feel like this game is just going to get more insane from here on out. We are so little people in the game. So close and yet I'm content with just being here. In the final seven. This feels good. I'm glad Pedro is with us and I wish we had gotten him on board a while back. We haven't told anyone else about our idol and superidol yet. I wonder if Amy really gave Pedro the fake idol lmao that would be hilarious. Anyway. I'm just going to carry on playing I guess. Amy had crazy big plans and I loved them but I felt like her allegiance to Maddison ruined our common goal. I wish she'd just been on board with us voting Maddison like she wanted to when we voted Grae out. That's when it all started. That's when we were causing waves in the game without anyone even knowing. Sigh. I wish things could have been different. 

Olivia A

So it looks like Maddison and I got Pedro to agree to work with us!! This is very very exciting. We can get Aimee to flip easily (even though she does keep going back on that promise) and have a majority. Assuming it goes as planned, Maddison and I will then have our pick of who to go to the final 3 with (Aimee or Pedro). I have felt 100% solid with Maddison from day 1 and we have made every single decision together. I don’t wanna be at the final 3 with anyone but her.

Aimee

All Maddison had to do was play her idol on Amy and Cody would of went home. Maddison was scared that Old Hanuha was lying to me again and that those 3 were voting Maddison and Pedro and I would be left out and vote Amy. I wanted to put Cody’s down but I knew it would of been rocks, four versus four vote.

Dang I wish I would of known about the idol sooner so I could of had Old Hanuha put the votes on Maddison and get Cody out that way. It would’ve been such a huge game move for me and Maddison that would have looked super great for the jury, and if Cody left this game would be wide open again. Also it would’ve been believable that Pedro ratted the vote out to Maddison instead of me so I could’ve hid behind that too and old Hanuha never would’ve known I told Maddison the vote. But I get it and Maddison was nervous it was her. We still have an opportunity to flip this on the next vote too. It just requires Pedro and the personal connection I have with him to flip with me. He will have to put personal things aside with Maddison and Olivia if he wants to be more than fourth or fifth in this game. He knows the best he can get here is fifth with them....he even told me this straight up. I wish I didn’t have to flip because I love these people but I know that Cody Najwah and Sarah are a final 3. And I’ve been wronged so many times before that it would be a nice little treat for Ben and everyone else hahahaha. Actually Sarah flipping would be great for her own game too but I’m not sure if she is really going to do that or just is waiting for the right moment to maybe flip with me and Pedro as well. It’s interesting with Sarah because it’s almost like we are both staring at each other waiting for the other to say we wanna flip. Wonder if we are thinking the same thing and maybe planning the same moves. Wouldn’t surprise me, Casanova 👑 has a really similar game to mine, even if it’s portrayed differently.

Aimee

Also, after listening to that podcast. WHOS THE TOP PISCES NOW, ZACK! https://64.media.tumblr.com/ce6ed38bc4ad9c69ee92e5e764c19e5e/tumblr_njj8unqiGl1sqbiv1o5_400.gifv

Sarah

From three days ago but I just got it to upload.... https://youtu.be/w5g35793Bkc

Sarah

From last night... https://youtu.be/IBPzYsGfIRU  Najwah I had a brain fart at the end of that game and I said something so ridiculous. I just want to bury my head in a mountain of blankets and sleep. 💀💀 What a fun game though I enjoyed it! But... Embarrassed for life. 

Aimee

https://rainbowkarolina.tumblr.com/post/616209748381122560/ I wore my jacket looking fancy for this immunity challenge. Too bad my mood was shit. Oh well. Congrats Cody!! 🥳🥳🥳 https://64.media.tumblr.com/b1324cd7cf8c621547f61c8cb20d5fda/eaeee04a03e6c254-72/s540x810/eaf80576f97d63015f9a99cffb28fe7b46e888cb.gifv

Najwah

No ones ever going to see that video again so let's write a better confession. Here's the thing, I am playing for fun at this point. After hearing and having time to listen to Zack's podcast, I realised how intense I was initially too. How I'd do anything to win. Whether it was stay up until 6am, avoid my job, accidentally stay without food, stay in bed, not call my parents for weeks, blindsiding James just to get to merge. I no longer feel stressed and angry. One thing I liked about Zack's podcast segment was that I have a whole new perspective on a lot of things right now. I'm here, in the fucking top 7. Never thought that would ever happen. I have made friends and gained so much from this. At some point in this game you get to a crossroads and you have to decide who you are. Are you a vicious blindsiding, backstabbing bitch or do you want to see your people WIN more than anything. Tonight Cody won immunity. He fucking deserved it. I'm so happy he can go spend time with his nieces and nephews and not worry about being a target. Me? Oh I'm burning to use my damn superidol so that I can at least try to win ONE immunity.

Everyone in the game right now has won individual immunity except Pedro and I. Which is funny bc I always thought of Pedro as a challenge beast. I miss Amy. I don't like not seeing her in this game. I've been thinking about how we left things all day. Why did she want me to vote her? Why did she trick me about the vote or was that just her protecting me? Either way, we played the same game at each other as our last play. The double decoy. I don't know if I mentioned this yesterday, but Amy wanted to vote Olivia out so that we could form a 4 person alliance with Pedro and Maddison. I've never spoken to Maddison ever. And Pedro is a loose cannon. I don't see how that would have ever worked. And she said our first play would be to get the strong players out: Cody, Sarah.. Like? In my opinion Maddison is the strongest player in the game. If Maddison were at the end, I wouldn't hesitate voting her in a heart beat. I didn't get how she wanted. To hide behind Maddison forever and not take control of her own game. I didn't get that she wanted Maddison out but whenever it came down to it, she would hesitate to get her out? She's told me every one of Maddison and Olivias advantages and idols etc. She's spilled so much tea while I've never told her anything negative about the people I'm working with because I didn't want them out? Ugh. I guess some day I'll ask her. If this were a real game of survivor perhaps I'd take Sarah or Aimee out, like I'd flip on them for a million bucks maybe coz they're strong players but as long as this is an online game ima be cheering everyone on bc this game is long and tough and we have been through things together, ya know? 

Olivia A

Just talked to Aimee about flipping to work with Maddison, Pedro, and me. She said she’s in for now but still wants to talk to og hanuha people and see their plan for this tribal. She still said that she realizes if she doesn’t flip all of our games (including hers) are done. So even thought she hasn’t given full agreement, I think we’re all solid on this. We are planning to vote Sarah out. I think this will completely turn the game around. I don’t wanna think too far ahead but I’m starting to see my trajectory to FTC pretty clearly. Don’t wanna speak too soon though so if I get voted out don’t hold this against me lol.

Pedro A

trying to break the trio...have a bad feeling about this tribal ....working with maddison and olivia isnt the best....i hope they dont lie AGAIN....at this point..if i get out....they are next...so its kinda dumb to vote....BUT IF I LOSE....i will scream ALELUIAAAAAAAAAAAAAA...cause damn im exhausted 

Aimee

This song is dedicated to Cody and his immunity win!!!!!🙌💚🖤 https://youtu.be/weRHyjj34ZE Sharika - Whenever, Wherever Our humor knows no distance 😻🌵🌈💞 😅I’m trying my damnedest to get Maddison and I as far to the end of this game as possible. So sorry about the confessional about me wanting the idol to work to get you out. https://64.media.tumblr.com/562258ad5eb14f6498ceff24aa8392e7/984582d2a107588c-d2/s540x810/1b6cf1576e95c3672122cfb7887ffd5a644d87da.gifv So I hope no hard feelings! I love that we can laugh over pop divas, gay culture and just life in general. 😂 We are gonna tear up the city as soon as we can hang out in person. I hope Texas and Ohio is ready for this! Olivia A

Pedro being so paranoid about Aimee’s commitment is getting frustrating. Since we brought this plan to him we’ve told him she’s 100% in she’s been talking about flipping forever and he still gets so nervous. I understand the paranoia bc it’s a big move but I wish he would listen to what we’re telling him and trust our intuition. That doesn’t really matter though bc tonight we are voting Sarah and it’s going to work! :) Oh also Maddison and I keep saving up coins to buy things that end up being nothing it’s getting really frustrating but oh well!

Pedro A

Sarrah says she wants to vote maddison...and now aimee..is trying to get me to vote...with maddison and olivia who want to take out sarah.....(i already know about the plan, i made the plan lmao)......somehow i feel like im the one GOING HOME TONIGHT

Maddison

I’m putting trust in someone that I never wanted to have to trust. Pedro, here’s to you bud.

Aimee

https://kasugano.tumblr.com/post/154832341580 Well I figured I would try! I will do everything in my power to keep Maddison here on Skype survivor island. https://rainbowkarolina.tumblr.com/post/612534208936755200/ I just keep losing one close friend after another in this game. I’ve honestly become numb to it at this point. I just see that light at the end of the tunnel. 2 weeks just 2 more weeks. I don’t plan on going to jury. I’m just so excited to finally reconnect with my people at the end. I’ll keep fighting like I’ve been doing since day 1. I feel like Maddison being voted out just kicked me into overdrive. The adrenaline is here and I’m ready for what’s to come next. This lady is strong and a fighter. https://rainbowkarolina.tumblr.com/post/613061232697753600/

Cody A

https://youtu.be/S8iY2_ho8-Y

[everysuperherofighting]

The Best Music of 2018

2018 was a strange year for me. It should go without saying that the politics were grim, as the United States continued to embrace gestapo-esque tactics and concentration camps as a way of dealing with the “immigration crisis” (a lot of this happened under Obama too of course). The planet continued to slide into a dystopia of global warming as more and more animals became endangered or went extinct all-together. The mid-terms happened, with typically mixed results. Elon Musk called someone a pedophile on twitter for some reason.

On a personal level, in 2018 I moved to Ohio from Oregon (again). My band put out an EP. And I lost my father, something that I still grapple with on a daily basis, though it gets less present over time.

I’ve become interested in how I discover new music, as I’ve gotten older and can’t really consider myself to be fully plugged into any sort of youth culture, sub or otherwise. Finding new music has become a very intentional process; if I didn’t seek it out deliberately, I probably wouldn’t end up hearing much of anything. But that’s always kind of true for arty-weirdos like me.

For better or worse I discovered a lot of music the last two years through Youtube. As you probably know, if you play a song or an album on Youtube, there’s an autoplay feature that will automatically play something else when it’s done. I’ve found a lot of my favorite music lately this way, and in some ways it’s kind of filled the role that “cool record store clerk” or “late-night college dj” might have filled in the times past. This is not necessarily a good change. I’ve heard you can find a lot of white supremacists that way too.

Youtube has also become invaluable if you’re someone who wants to make a list like this one, and can’t afford to spend hundreds of dollars on albums. I think sometimes the artists even get paid a minuscule amount for the clicks! Hooray free information! I hope we can all find decent jobs someday.

1) CAMP COPE - HOW TO SOCIALISE & MAKE FRIENDS

I debated with myself about whether to put Camp Cope at number one, as they’re not the most musically complex or adventurous of my favorite albums this year. However I can’t think of another band that felt like it lyrically captured the zeitgeist of the times in such a powerful way. The whole album is great, catchy and upbeat jangly indie/punk with tinges of early 90s midwestern emo, made by three woman from Melbourne, Australia. Singer Georgia McDonald has a great voice, imbued with urgency, and her accent is a lot of fun to listen to too. Her lyrics have that same emotional rawness and honest specificity that early emo has as well - on “The Omen” she sings about loving someone since they were 17 and wishes for rescue dogs and a house by the sea, while on “I’ve Got You,” she bounces from the death of her father to police shootings, the loss of her childhood home, and the grappling with mental illness, and it all feels thematically relevant as this great moment of exhaled catharsis.

The stand-outs for me, however, are “The Opener” and “The Face of God.” “The Opener” is a scorching indictment of the indie music scene, as McDonald calls-out all the garbage women in bands have to deal with, from accusations that they only succeed based on their gender, to men continually explaining things, to men showing up to lay down a big steamy pile of unrequited love BS. These aren’t new observations, but hearing them all laid out in a row like this highlights their invulnerability and their ubiquitousness, the daily microaggressions that lead up to a larger picture of persistent inequality. On “The Face of God,” McDonald narrativizes the Me Too movement from the perspective of an abused fan, musing “could it be true? You couldn’t do that to someone. Not you, nah your music is too good,” her tortured delivery capturing the rage, shame, disbelief, and sadness of all the Me Too revelations about artists that we liked, and who abused that power again and again and again and again and again and again and again an

2) IDLES - JOY AS AN ACT OF RESISTANCE

Image by Paul Hudson via Flickr

Idles was one of my favorite discoveries of last year. I was actually a little concerned with this album since I’d heard the band was “embracing positivity” , and what I loved about Brutalism was their raw, unhinged sound and clever but cynical and pissed-off lyrics. There’s also a recurring thing for me of finding a really cool raw sounding band, punk adjacent but not necessarily fully in the scene, who then get less “punk” (and to me, less interesting) with each subsequent release as they sort of turn into just another indie dude band who like Big Star or the Replacements. This band sounds raw as fuck, I’ll say, and then later they’ll put out their fucking mandolin album.

Joy as an Act of Resistance is dope though, as their music continues to embrace a raw, chaotic sound of guitars that both swirl and jab like shards of glass, pounding “Lust For Life” toms, and stripped down basslines, while frontman Joe Talbot howls sarcastic indictments of masculinity, homophobia, and racism. In a similar way to last year’s Pissed Jeans album, they tackle ugly toxic masculinity with ugly, tough sounding music, hearkening back to a punk rock that was less rigid in sound. There’s this infectious positivity that runs through the whole thing however, a joy that comes from casting off the fixed roles that the patriarchal society tries to put upon us and embracing our (ironically) gentler natures. “I wanna be your best ever friend forever” Talbot says, sincerely on “Love Song.” “Let’s hug it out,” he repeats on “Never Fight a Man With A Perm,” and though the song is making fun of a coked out bruiser, I have a feeling it’s a sentiment he would share.

3) THE ARMED - ONLY LOVE

The synthesis of hardcore punk with electronic music is something I’ve been anticipating. There’s definitely been forebearers (Horse the Band comes to mind, though there’s probably other stuff in the underground), but this is the first time I’ve heard it done so well. The Armed sound like if you took one of the better mid-2000s screamy hardcore bands and mixed it with the noisiest and most frenetic parts of a chip-tune song. That may sound like a nightmare to a lot of you, but again, it’s done so well here that it just sounds like a noisy chaotic mess in the best and most elegant possible way. This is not to underplay the tightness of the song-craft at work here - the chaotic sound seems to me to be carefully orchestrated. Glitchy, brutal, climatic, and beautiful. (And the parts where the lady sings remind me of Blatz. The world could use more Blatz.)

4) SCREAMING FEMALES - ALL AT ONCE

Image by Jason Persse via Flickr

This band is kind of a mainstay on my year end list at this point, but I feel like they continually top their previous efforts, a rare quality for most bands. Incredible vocals, incredible song-writing, incredible guitar playing, as they reach ever greater levels of accessibility and hookiness, while still maintaining that slight edge that would put them forever as at home in a basement as a venue.

5) KALI UCHIS - ISOLATION

Kali Uchis lands at that sweet spot where pop, hip-hop, jazz, soul, and psychedelia intersect that’s occupied by similar weirdos like Janelle Monae, Miguel, and the Internet. It’s no wonder that one of the all-time prophets of future-looking pop, Boots Riley, shows up on one of the singles. There’s a real bossa-nova, latin jazz vibe on a lot of these tracks, and a kind of retro-sheen even as it pushes into the future. “It’s no fun to feel like a fool,” Kali Uchis croons while straight up wall of sound style saxophones blurp in the background. “Pussy is a hell of an addiction.”

6) THE INTERNET - HIVE MIND

Another year-end list staple for me, the Internet have been consistently putting out some of the best, solid-ass R+B since 2011. The whole thing is smooth as hell, but weird or tasteful in all the right places; the “hoo hoo” on “Humble Pie” or the building horns on “Mood.” And retaining just a hint of that old Odd Future off-kilterness around the edges. OG Dungeon Family poet “Big Rube” shows up on “It Gets Better (With Time).”

7) JEAN GRAE AND QUELLE CHRIS - EVERYTHING’S FINE

Quelle Chris is a new one for me, but I rocked Jean Grae when I first started getting into indie rap back in high school. I always wondered what happened to her since then, but apparently she’s been putting out a steady stream of mixtapes and underground releases pretty much the whole time, self releasing a lot of them through bandcamp. She’s a wicked lyricist, and her and Quelle Chris trade off bars of dense wordplay and biting commentary on the current age of “self-care” and neoliberal hellscapes over beats that are just weird enough. Much of their verses are delivered through a lens of ironic detachment, but it’s especially affecting when the irony cracks into real urgency or emotion, as in “Breakfast of Champions,” a reflection on the grueling, consistent presence of racism in America. “It’s bound to wreck your body or straight burn your body out” they muse, and then later, as if realizing the gravity of it all, “it’s like damn, shit, fuck, wow…”

Also Quelle Chris apparently taught himself to program 8-bit video games for one of the videos.

8) SELF DEFENSE FAMILY - HAVE YOU CONSIDERED PUNK MUSIC

Yeah dude, you know I like punk rock that don’t follow no rules. This is definitely more in the vein of Fugazi, or maybe even a slightly more jagged Wilco, than a NOFX or 7 Seconds, with nods to Americana and a vocal delivery that reminds me of a raspier Craig Finn. A central preoccupation of the album seems to be the delicate balance between art and maturity, made all the more so when you’re tied to a subculture that’s only “supposed” to last you through your early 20s. There’s some great lines throughout: “ “Explaining motherhood to a man, cold observation but he’s not capable of understanding; detailing math to a dog, won’t retain a word but if you’re lucky he may be a good boy and nod” and “The world’s not turning for you and the road never rises, you’re eking out a living like every other asshole” are highlights for me, but I think my favorite bit of cleverness is actually just the juxtaposition between the titles of tracks 6 and 7. “Have You Considered Punk Music?” asks one. The other: “Have You Considered Anything Else?”

9) SINGLE MOTHERS - THROUGH A WALL

Image by CRUSTINA! via Flickr

And here we have a release that’s a little more meat and potatoes, with steam-rolling drum beats, distortion, and yelled vocals about the desperation to be found in modern life’s mudanities, “dog parks and IPA.” This album’s just some fucking ferocious non-screamy hardcore, with that same relentless quality that the best hardcore albums have. “Catch and Release” even has some double kick on it. Interestingly, I find some of the core anxieties the same as in the album above however: “Better people than you or I have lost that spark for life,” Andrew Thomson bellows on 24/7, a Cassandra portending the potential pitfalls of age.

10) HOP ALONG - BARK YOUR HEAD OFF, DOG

Singer Francis Quinlan has an incredible voice, powerful and worldly, and she paints quick snapshots of narrative with her lyrics like a Lydia Davis story. The music has shades of mid-western emo, with some kind of funky, almost Jackson 5 style guitar lines. This one is definitely a step up in terms of instrumentation from their earlier records, with strings, acoustic guitars, and other orchestral touches. The title refers specifically to a dying dog from one of the tracks, though it also seems to apply to all the characters briefly given voice throughout the album.

11) CINDER WELL - THE UNCONSCIOUS ECHO

Beautiful, haunting folk from Amelia Baker of Blackbird Raum (and a few other fellows mostly from the folk punk/bluegrass scene). A little more straight folk than Blackbird Raum’s high energy mix of folk, metal, and hardcore. Stripped down and evocative, with one foot firmly in an irish folk tradition. Like Blackbird Raum, there is a foreboding quality to much of the music, like a warning of dark things to come.

12) NONAME - ROOM 25

A micro-trend I noticed in hip-hop this year was short albums, notable from a tradition that often includes massive releases and mixtapes stuffed with skits and interludes. This is the first of example of this on my list, clocking in at a respectable 34:48. Noname is a great rapper with an intricate flow, technical without being too dense for a more casual listener, keeping her ideas and narratives clear and present over funky neo soul beats. At times she can be extremely candid, rapping about her sexual escapades, emotions, and insecurities. In one of my favorite moments, the track titled “No Name,” she discusses the spirituality behind her stage name: “When we walk into heaven, nobody’s name gon’ exist; just boundless movement for joy, nakedness radiance.” She’s funny too though. “I’m just writing my darkest secrets like wait and just hear me out; saying vegan food is delicious like wait and just hear me out.”

13) JEFF ROSENSTOCK - POST

More noisy power pop from former Bomb the Music Industry frontman Jeff Rosenstock (though I suppose by this point his solo career is at least as significant; Bomb albums never made it to Pitchfork). I think this one’s a little less varied than “Worry” before it, and a little rawer around the edges. The title is seemingly referring to the time post-2016 election, though it seems to often be more interested in profiling the anxious mood than making specific political points (which you probably all know anyway). I can’t think of another song writer off the top of my head that more consistently exemplifies the anxieties of the millennial generation, whether it’s the mid-20s woes of joblessness and friend loss often detailed in Bomb the Music Industry, or this current outing. On “Yr Throat,” he talks about the ease he has talking about relatively frivolous matter like video games and vinyl records, verses more important matters. One of my favorite lines in the song is a little more direct however, commenting on you-know-who: “It’s not like any other job I know; if you’re a piece of shit they don’t let you go.”

14) DEATH GRIPS - YEAR OF THE SNITCH

Image by Montecruz Foto via Flickr

Supposedly the album title has something to do with Charles Manson, at least according to their very vocal and sometimes uncomfortably affiliated online fanbase. It’s pretty rare that I can fully decipher what a song is about, other than generally surreal lyrics that hint toward a dirty and unsettling underground, whether urban, suburban, or solely online. Death Grips, if you don’t know, make experimental and abstract hip-hop, featuring dark and somewhat unconventional beats, with a live drummer, seeming to draw as much from the tradition of noise music than from rap. For as weird as all this is, however, there’s usually a pretty solid song structure underlying each track, and they create some sticky hooks out of all the electronic chaos and bellowed raps. This time around there seems to be a bit of a shoegaze influence as well, which…. doesn’t quite fit their aesthetic? But is pretty interesting all the same.

15) RAVYN LENAE - CRUSH

Steve Lacy from the Internet (the band) produced this 5 track long EP of retro/future funk and R+B. “Sticky” is as catch a song as ever there was, and Ravyn Lenae does a great job kind of floating over the beat, mixing up her delivery. These artists nod a lot to 70s R+B and funk, and I love that they preserve the strangeness of a lot of that stuff, that otherwordly vibe, whether it’s the “oooo-HOO-hoo-hoo” on “Sticky” or the blunted synth stabs on “4 Leaf Clover.”

16) HINDS - I DON’T RUN

Image by Paul Hudson via Flickr

Indie rock from Madrid with several lady vocalists that’s just a tad sloppy, in a good way. Catchy and relationship oriented, but scratching at something deeper beyond the surface. I love the way the vocal mics all seem to distort slightly. Maybe I’m just an old now, but it makes me nostalgic for college in some way, smoking cigarettes and being heartbroken. Which was probably not actually as fun as I remember it.

17) JPEGMAFIA - VETERAN

Hard as hell raps over jittery noise beats that sometimes merge into moments of dreamlike beauty from a hip-hop auteur who handles all the production himself. This kind of reminds me of when Pitchfork called Odd Future “/b/ boys” (referring to 4chan). This is the new Extremely Online hip-hop, endlessly irony poisoned, vaguely left-wing but mostly cynical, inside jokes upon inside jokes. It seems like there’s some real anger in here too, and his raps often involve promises of violence, usually upon various members of the alt right: “Look, it’s the young alt-right menace; What’s the pistol to a pennant?”

18) MILO - BUDDING ORNITHOLOGISTS ARE WEARY OF TIRED ANALOGIES

Milo reminds me of the best of the older backpacker rappers, dropping classic lines so fast that you miss about 2/3rds of them the first couple times through. Equally at home dropping a reference to a video game, a philosopher, the harshness of race in America, and the Guggenheim fellowship, like one of those memes that eradicates the distinction between high and low culture by putting references to existentialist philosophers over a picture of Spongebob. Of course, hip-hop has always been doing that, hasn’t it?

19) EARL SWEATSHIRT - SOME RAP SONGS

Image by Anna Hanks via Flickr

Another notably short album, at a brisk 24:39. The songs are short too, often coming across as sketches, though really this is the kind of project made to listen to in one sitting. Like a lot of the rap albums on here, this is a project that takes the beats as well as the rhymes seriously, pushing forward into avant garde territory, but in a mellower way than JPEGMAFIA or Death Grips. They have an almost hypnotic quality to them, as Earl raps in his slightly aloof manner, though here the aloofness feels more like a mask only thinly hiding a deep sense of melancholy. The samples on here are thick with that old record hiss - even the vocals are hissy, like a transmission from someplace far away.

20) SUDAN ARCHIVES - SINK

Sudan Archives is a violinist from Cincinnati who makes pop music that sounds like nothing else out there, though it takes cues from hip-hop, R+B, electronica, and world music. The beats are stripped down but still lush sounding, the violin often leading in a way that sounds strange and otherwordly, utilized for it’s ability to create rhythmic hooks, while her lyrics meld the personal with the empowering with the political.

21) TEYANA TAYLOR - K.T.S.E.

Kanye West produced 5 different 7 to 8 track albums this year, with mixed results. A lot of people stan Pusha T’s Daytona, but this one was my favorite, a short and sweet album that’s mellow, romantic, and a little dirty. Teyana Taylor puts in a very versatile performance, and her voice is perfectly suited to ride over the old soul samples that make up the bulk of the production. Kanye’s musical output was of course overshadowed by his various bizarre political statements and right wing flirtations, but it would be a shame for this gem to get lost in the fray.

22) CHURCH OF THE COSMIC SKULL - SCIENCE FICTION

I don’t always love heavily conceptualized “revival” type bands, but this one is so much fun, not just doing pitch perfect 70s hard rock, but also spoofing (at least, I think it’s a spoof) the phenomenon of 70s cults. The members seem to dress in all white, and look like they just stepped off some Jesus-dude’s farm/compound. Of course it wouldn’t work if the music wasn’t so damn hooky. Harmonies, heavy organs, and hella riffs.

23) VINCE STAPLES - FM!

And another super short hip-hop album from one of contemporary rap’s best. Vince’s projects usually feature stripped down beats that would sound good in a car or a club, but the lyrical matter is dark as hell, another example of what a strange genre gangsta rap is when viewed from the outside. It’s hyper-masculine and braggadocios, but also equally often an expression of black pain that is then commodified into bangers for clubs, cars, and house parties full of white frat boys to dance and drink to. The contrast is all the more apparent every time Vince mentions one of his dead friends. I dunno dude, maybe I’m just getting old.

24) JANELLE MONAE - DIRTY COMPUTER

This didn’t grab me as immediately as her previous two full lengths, trending a little too close to mainstream pop for my tastes. But underneath the added sheen, it’s still a Janelle Monae album, bouncing gleefully from Prince-style funk jams to buoyant electro tunes. Monae drops the cyber-punk robo future concept to make an on-the-nose, album length celebration of queerness (though I think there may be some sci-fi on the Dirty Computer short film, which I haven’t watched yet.) The celebratory nature fits the larger, more conventional pop moves here, a sort of “queering” of mainstream pop. There’s also more rapping here than ever, and it’s always fun to hear Monae drop some bars.

25) FUCKED UP - DOSE YOUR DREAMS

Image by CRUSTINA! via Flickr

Similar to the above, this is an album from a long time favorite of mine that didn’t grab me as much as their earlier efforts, and that also seems to be making some moves toward a more mainstream pop sound, though here of course it’s pop music featuring a bellowing, gravel voiced hardcore singer and a bunch of loud Cock Sparrer style guitar lines. This is a concept album, apparently about a character who quits his job and goes on a drug fueled odyssey through the nature of reality, learning to reject an oppressive capitalist society, which sounds like the plot of an 80s British comic book, and hey, the cover is basically ripped straight from the pages of Watchmen, so there you go. They try out a lot of different styles here, which can be a bit hit or miss, but the core of Fucked Up, the interplay between Abraham’s bombastic bellows and huge sounding guitars, is as raucous and triumphant as ever, if a little more familiar.

[carmellaprather-blog]

I Can't Receive Expecting With A Boy Child.

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Baseding on recently discharged stand-in documents, Lead revealed that for the first time, it recommended from Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) control earlier this year to require the company to mention on weather adjustment; the fund provider had certainly not earlier uncovered its own vote.

The terrific aspect of historic fiction manuals is actually that they take you to a time period that was actually actual and remodel that for us - opening both interesting stories, plus additionally updating our company from the genuine past history from the areas, opportunities as well as people - commonly with precision and also attention to historic accuracy. Still, the "brilliant" as well as "biggest of perpetuity" tags are as well promptly affixed to Em at the cost from even more substantial old-fashioned rap artists like Kool G Rap and Major Father Kane, in addition to contemporaries like Dark Notion, Kool Keith, Jean Grae and Pharoah Monche. Having said that, momentarily where more dark heroes, like Luke Cage and Black Lightning, are actually locating their way right into the limelight, Dark Panther's connection with the black community and its past history makes an option to educate nonblack children regarding the dark expertise. In the event from buyer advertising and marketing, fifty percent from the drawback was because only one customer didn't would like to reside in the exact same family members after our team gained the AT&T and allegedly AT&T Time Detector company, considering that they thought awkward certainly not due to anything AT&T mentioned to us. Our team are going to pattern via that.

I have actually presently experienced 3 opportunities of electrocution, and if you ever before find me electrocuted you might really rolling on the flooring chuckling aloud because my entire physical body are in break dancing without popular music. So your business we've International company our experts possess - is carrying out alright, yet it is a daunting segment and also our team surely invested a lot of time paid attention to that - about that location.

[oraclefreak]

[oraclefreak]

Meeks and Pitts queer platonic relationship (both of them are in the aromantic spectrum). Send post.

[oraclefreak]

I'm not going to lie; I do hate on Richard Cameron. It's a classic in the DPS fandom. But when you start looking a little bit more into his character, there is something that tells you you can't just hate this kid.

The way Cameron was always excluded by Charlie, and the Dead Poets would laugh because he would say funny jokes at Cameron's questions and comments. Even if Cameron was Neil's friend, that was mostly outside the group. He truly was the one that didn't fit between the Poets, and the reason he even got to be in the meetings was because of Neil Perry.

Neil connected the Dead Poets Society. One wouldn't think to make meetings with a really chaotic dude who hates a really stuck to rules guy, and that last guy in question being invited too. But the meetings weren't even terrible, Charlie threw some comments about Cameron and viceversa here and there.

Charlie punched Cameron after Neil's death, which is something completely different than a funny remark.

I've talked about Charlie and Neil's friendship, which was a lot more portrayed than what we can see of Neil and Cameron's. Charlie's grief has to do with the fact that Neil couldn't be an actor because of Mr. Perry. Cameron's grief has to do with the fact that Neil is never coming back, and there has to be a guilty one.

Cameron doesn't only think of Mr. Keating as the culprit because of the authorities, but also because he wasn't very fond of his form of teaching in the first place (for example, Cameron asked to the Poets if he would test them on something, and Charlie responding that he didn't get it). And that's another thing they don't have in common; Charlie adores Mr. Keating, Cameron does not seem to be very fond of him.

Taking these into account, Cameron's grief, along with disliking Mr. Keating, and also that he doesn't have the ability like the other Poets to just question authority--he snitches on everyone.

And that was... terrible of him, we know that. But Charlie quite literally made the Poets known before he even snitched. And that isn't talked about in the fandom. Like, yeah, I adore Charlie and I think he's amazing and bla bla, but the double standards kinda hit on this one.

Unpopular opinion much? Probably. I am not defending Cameron's actions by any means, but let's not forget these are 17 year-old boys. And Cameron had to deal with Neil's death in his own way. As I said, he didn't question authority or rebel against it like the others; Cameron wasn't a poet, but he was in the Dead Poets Society.

I am also NOT hating on Charlie. I hope my wording isn't terrible. I love all of the Poets (there might be favorites though(

I think I should elaborate on this at a much more decent hour (it is currently 3am). Please don't leave me hate comments while I sleep, I prefer to read them with my eyes open...

[Youtuber voice] Like and suscribe if you want me to do a part 2 video of this!!!

[oraclefreak]

Dead Poets Society boys headcanons I thought of while showering: showering edition (sounds ironic)

Charlie: bro uses an IRRATIONAL amount of shampoo. Most probably has finished one entire bottle in a matter of 4 days before (shampoo prices must not be an issue for him, I guess). His hair somehow isn't damaged, and not even god knows why. Takes an hour for him to finish showering. He talks in the shower, and if it's in Hellton showers he will talk to someone else while showering (Knox and him get idiotically philosophical; call it shower thoughts that are actually spoken)

Cameron: this mf measures the amount of shampoo he uses. I never knew someone who did this, but I can DEFINITELY GUESS that Cameron has a measuring cup just for shampoo. His showers are short compared to the others, probably because he doesn't think about other things rather than to finish showering. Uses more hair products outside the shower (the youngsters would call it 'styling').

Meeks: he's a little more normal. But DEFINITELY has realizations while showering, it's just that he doesn't say them out loud. Suddenly his mind speaks to him about how to set up the DIY radio to work or something like that and he won't talk to anyone after the shower until he has it sorted out (will go RUNNING like he's running out of time to tell Pitts). Probably 25 minutes long showers because he also uses a product to keep his curls okay.

Knox: who told this dumbass that putting on perfume while the water is running and he's still showering is okay? Multiple people had told him that IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE, but he's like "no, guys, I swear it works... because the other day-", and he's mentioning an event that has nothing to do with putting on perfume in the shower. I can imagine one of his talks where he goes OVERLY philosophical and Charlie just tells him that he's 'talking stupid'. He takes (slightly) less than one hour just to not be called the one who takes the most time in the shower (a.k.a Charlie Dalton)

Neil: WHO put theater kid music in here? Social anxiety fears this dude. Not only he sings his favorite musicals, he also mumbles the dialogue for his next play. I'm certain that more than 7 people in Hellton have memorized at least one line from his dialogue just by listening to him (even if it's mumbling people can still hear him). Takes like 40 minutes for him to finish showering, and most of it is him trying to remember his parts in the play (sometimes Todd, who has them memorized after reading the script multiple times, tells him the next word and Neil yells it with excitement in an 'eureka' type of way). I think he would do a little skincare while showering, maybe just one product to clean his face and then wash it off.

Todd: always takes him 19 minutes straight to finish showering, some of the poets wonder if he has a watch to know when to come out (it has been proved scientifically that he does not take less or more than 19 minutes). Has a panic attack every time the soap slips. For some reason also uses conditioner... Who told him that he has to use it? I don't know (your hair isn't even that long, dude). Has the typical writer struggle of having an awesome idea but not having anything to write at the moment (has suffered the pain of forgetting what the idea was). Unlike the other poets, he does not do much after showering rather than brushing his hair and then dissociating (partially canon, I guess)

Pitts: he tried to get the shampoo out violently once, and it ended all over the place except his hand. He's more conscious about it now and it didn't happen ever again since then. He's a thinker, but not a philosophical one (like Charlie or Knox) or a genius one (like Meeks). His thoughts range from "did I turn off my desk lamp", to "TRIG HOMEWORK IS DUE TOMORROW AND I DIDN'T FINISH IT YET". Awfully specific but probably uses two brands of shampoo (I don't know where the idea came from but I can see it). Takes him a little bit more than 25 minutes to finish showering but does not usually reach 30 minutes long showers.

I don't know where all of these came out of.

[oraclefreak]

Me, about to take a Physics exam, sighing: Steven Meeks from Dead Poets Society (1989) would be proud of me.

[oraclefreak]

First date idea: I play my silly little games in my silly laptop and silly phone and you are far away from me, in another room or whatever so I don't lose focus on my silly little rhythm games that I'm trying to get a full combo in. You stay SILENT so all the music blasts in the place and I can listen to the notes. You DON'T look at me so I don't feel pressured under your gaze because I AM GAMING and LOSING.

[oraclefreak]

Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase MBTI analysis: The Battle of the Labyrinth.

Annabeth as INTJ

Ni > Te > Fi > Se

Percy as ESFP

Se > Fi > Te > Ni

I think The Battle of the Labyrinth showed their cognitive functions really well. I am actually still doubtful about Annabeth being ENTJ or INTJ, but this book made me think of Se as her inferior function because of how much she questioned Percy for relying purely on it.

Se can work as more of an 'action' function, while Ni inclines more towards analyzing.

Strong Sensing users rely on their five senses, whether it's Si or Se doesn't matter because that description works for both of them. The main difference is that Si is about the past, whereas Se is about new experiences.

Se + Fi combo in Percy is obvious to me. He takes every action he can almost impulsively (or at least that's what it looks like to Annabeth), he trusts Rachel because he has witnessed how useful she was when he found her in The Titan's Curse. He knows she can see the monsters even better than him, so every little and big action and/or decision he takes is based pretty much on his friendship with Rachel; Introverted Feeling (Fi) took quite a bit part of his whole behavior, and the fact that he has Extroverted Sensing (Se) as dominant function just made him decisive, which for Annabeth was recklessness.

During the whole time Percy trusted Rachel "blindly", Annabeth couldn't help but analyze every single future event. Her Introverted iNtuition (Ni) was at its peak, and I can see this when they encountered a new path: Rachel said it was over there, Percy immediately started following her with no previous analysis other than the fact that Rachel helped him (therefore was his friend) and sensed everything much more clearly than him. But Annabeth was very suspicious of Rachel, not because of some jealousy, but because she perceived (N) everything around her and stated that it was a very dangerous path because of how it looked or that they went there before.

She has the ability to connect dots really fast. And in other scenarios where she explains Percy something, he can't catch the hint quickly, but to Annabeth is almost obvious because her thinking (Te - Extraverted Thinking) relies on her perception of things and what will happen in the future (Ni). But Percy has Ni as his inferior function, which I believe, in his case, means that it's not very well developed or he doesn't use it at all times like her.

Taking this last point into account, Annabeth's inferior function (if we follow the idea that she's INTJ) is Se. In The Battle of the Labyrinth she's suspicious of a lot of things and feels at ease when it's something she knows she's good at (e.g: when Hephaestus' spider was leading them and she was terrified, but felt immediately comforted when she had to do a physical thing she's good at — I read it in Spanish idk the translation and I'm too lazy to search it up but ikyk the moment, right?). Obviously, this could look like a strong Si, but because her Ni is showed from the beginning of her appearance (she knew Percy was a kid of the Big Three before he was even claimed). Inferior Se can look like a Si if the person is too ashamed of it, or if it's really bad developed, or if they rely excessively on their dominant and auxiliary functions. I think the latter is Annabeth's case.

I think this book made their strongest cognitive functions shine. Of course I'm not saying Annabeth is indecisive, she's actually a very analytical person who knows when to take risks. Whether she's ENTJ or INTJ doesn't matter a lot to me, but in this specific case I think Se was her inferior function (which applies to INTJ). I also don't mean that Percy isn't analytical, he analyzes things differently. He's not dumb at all, it's just that his way of thinking doesn't primarily rely on connecting dots like Annabeth. Percy is most likely to see the big picture whereas Annabeth looks at tiny details, and I think this is why they are a very good duo and their relationship is well developed even though they are different.

Think about it like a workplace: they are working for the same goal and are put together to achieve it (which is similar to what actually happens, they just happen to want the other to be there most times). Annabeth does take more of an analyzing role, but sometimes her analysis reaches a tight situation where they have to escape somehow, and most "crazy" solutions come from Percy — and he does use his thinking (Te) for that, but has the perception and decisiveness quite characteristic of Sensing users and the fact that he's Se dom just makes him look like a total impulsive person to Annabeth most times, yet she's able to see his reasoning but can feel doubtful of it at times because of how much she tries to predict things.

I think this could be a little confusing for people who don't know cognitive functions... I am willing to answer questions! I also would like to know other people's take on this, but please keep debate in a respectful level (don't find me typologytok).

[oraclefreak]

Dear Floyrid hurt/comfort fic I finished reading at 3am: I love you I hate you and I need to reread you in 2 months.

[oraclefreak]

Reached a point where my whole speech is a Dead Poets Society reference. I made an uquiz totally unrelated to the movie and a friend pointed out "this is DPS coded"— bro, I didn't EVEN THINK about DPS consciously while writing that. It's unconscious now. Soon enough I'll only speak in Dead Poets Society quotes. Give me some development and it'll be my whole form of expression.

[oraclefreak]

[ao3]

---

"I like you." Neil confessed.

Todd felt nervous. Did he want to hear that again or just disappear in that exact moment? He couldn't remember any other time someone said that to him—well, at least not in the tone Neil said it. Because he could sense some sort of sweetness, like honey. He knew he was being honest about it; that he liked him.

And then Todd panicked, because he wasn't sure he could say it as well as Neil.

Neil Perry was an actor. A 'one of a kind' guy.

Todd Anderson was just an attempt of a writer. Even if his roommate loved his works, deep inside he knew they weren't that good. Obviously, Neil would insult him if he said that out loud, so he kept his insecurities locked in just so he didn't have to worry. And Todd hated when people were concerned about him.

Neil's beautiful brown eyes stared at Todd's blue eyes, and the latter could only wonder where the hell was he allowed to look at. He ended up avoiding Neil's gaze.

Neil was full of warmth. A kind of warmth that Todd didn't know if he wanted to seize or burn with. And who was Todd? The Andersons were cold... he was born cold. In fact, the moment he got to know about Neil's family problems in contrast of his usual demeanor; he felt confused. How can such a depressing family make a son out of pain, and then the son turn out to ease other people's mysery?

Neil was a mystery.

Even when he was staring at Todd, saying that he liked him, and both of them sat on the same bed as sun streaks leaked through the windows of their bedroom... Todd still felt Neil was an enigma.

"..."

Silence in the room.

How could he look at him so patiently? He didn't even wait for an answer. Yet, Todd felt like he owed Neil something. But what could he give? He was just a writer, a mere observer who documented and expressed. But how could he express himself if not with ink and paper? How could Neil say the most beautiful words he had ever heard, and Todd couldn't even stare back at him?

His roommate repeated himself, now with a slightly wider smile: "I like you."

This time, Todd looked back at him. He was back on Earth, back on his and Neil's bedroom.

Neil looked at Todd's blue eyes that shined beautifully because of the light. He didn't mind staring too much—perhaps Todd was his favorite person to stare at. Perhaps, he really liked him.

And the common Neil Perry would've thrown a monologue about how he realized how much he liked Todd Anderson. As the theater kid he was, he could only spit his feelings out with dialogue, yelling and movements. But the moment was so calm; he didn't want to stop staring at Todd, he didn't want to stop having him close (even if they weren't really that close at that moment), he didn't want to stop observing every single thing he did.

He also didn't mind if Todd stopped staring at him. But the fact that he was doing so only made him happier.

If Neil had to describe Todd, he would say he was incredibly talented and didn't appreciate himself much. Todd didn't need validation, but courage to do whatever he wanted. And Neil always made sure he could get out of his comfort zone; trying to get him into the Dead Poets' meetings, talking with him outside their room, and plenty of other things that, he knew, helped Todd to be in his senses.

Todd was always too careful about things. Neil noticed how he carried a watch with him everywhere, just so he knew the time. He also noticed how even the littlest sound made him jump, at least slightly. Or how he really didn't get scared when Neil was approaching anymore. He felt safe with him.

Both of them were each other's safety.

After some minutes that felt like hours of staring, Todd decided to speak. "Where did that come from?" He chuckled.

"You know, just stating the obvious" Neil responded with his characteristic smirk.

And maybe the staring already made everything obvious. Todd didn't need ink and paper to express how he felt now, neither did Neil need a monologue.

Maybe they just needed each other, and being beside the other was enough. No written, or spoken words needed.

Because if Neil could speak,

Todd could note down.

If Neil could recite,

Todd would listen.

If Todd could write,

Neil would read.