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yinaeun · 2 years

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・❥・looking for love ? ! (1)

wherein genshin characters are on a reality tv show, "looking" for love. (1)

genre : more on comedy, good vibes

characters : rosaria, raiden, albedo, beidou (randomized)

au : modern

pairs : plat!rosakae, kindof!albecrose, BEIGGUANG, 'mom' beidou & her 'son' kazuha

warnings : NOT AT ALL ROMANTIC, JUST FOR FUNSIES !! a bit ooc, and it's my first time writing these sort of stuffs <3 anddd, this takes place in a tv show, and idk a crap abt how those things work !! own hc's!! very short stories :<!! some characters are very much from fanon roots LOL

note : no criticisms pls ´͈ ᵕ `͈ ♡

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rosaria ⨾ "KAEYA?!! "

"we're going live in 5!" one of the camera crew reminded everyone.

"rosa, sit here." kaeya assists his friend, rosaria, on a chair. but seeing thousands of people infront of her, she can't help but ask. "kae.. what is this.. wait, why are we here again??" she asks as she sat down on a comfy chair.

"4!"

"oh, don't you worry about it!" kaeya gives her a reassuring but.. somewhat evil smile.

"3!"

"just answer the host's questions whenever he asks, alright? he's going to sit the chair across you." kaeya explains, this made rosaria more confused. "... what questions are we talking about?"

"2!"

a crewmember shouts, kaeya then proceeds to walk backwards, almost as if he's avoiding something.

"1!"

the host swiftly sat down on his assigned seat across the very confused lady. the behind-the-scenes crew pointed its camera's and lights to the two, making rosaria look away.

"HELLO! HELLO! welcome back to tonight's show, 'LOVE TALK.' we have here another guest looking for true love. and it seems like she knows her style! very 'gothic!' introduce yourself, please."

and at this moment, rosaria popped up from her seat as she grasps what's happening right now.

"KAEYA?!!"

"i guess this is my cue to.. GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE." kaeya runs, bumping to everyone he encounters, and knocking some equipments.

"we'll take a 5 minute break.." the host announces with a defeated look.

5 minutes later

"and after some *ehem* minor incidents, we're ready to start tonight's scheduled program!" the host announces with a smile plastered on his to reassure his audience.

"let's start off with introducing yourself." the host then looks at rosaria with a smile but with a threatening aura. "rosaria. tattoo artist. and just so you all know, i was FORCED to be here." she says glaring at everyone with her arms crossed. "*ehem* so! i see you're quite an interesting.. character! with your style and.. manners, you'll surely get along with our chosen candidates!" the host says with a smile. rosaria lets out an audible 'ugh.'

so let's just say that it didn't go well, and the candidates were all.. 'flamed.' rosaria was banned from ever coming to reality tv shows. her reaction?

"they wanted reality, i'll give them MY reality."

but, needless to say, she gained quite some fans, and became a 'trending' character. her tattoo business is currently BOOMING ever since her appearance on the tv show.

overall, she won. she never has to set foot on tv shows, and she also gained money from her appearance on one.

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raiden ei ⨾ "mmf? "

"sara.. i really don't think this is necessary.." ei said tugging on sara's coat like a little child. "ms. ei, this isn't entirely unnecessary, this can promote our business, this is a business strategy, trust me." sara reassures while looking at her checklist.

whilst the host was already hyping up the audience, sara and ei were waiting for their cue to come up on stage.

"without a further ado, let's call in today's guest, an esteemed businesswoman, raiden ei!" as the host welcomed their guest, ei comes up on stage, the audience roars. ei sits down, an adorable, shocked expression plastered on her face. "now you all know 'eternal bliss,' right? here we have the VERY ceo of the company." the audience roared louder as ei waves at everyone. "now, now, everyone, this isn't a concert, we're here to talk LOVE!" the host jokes, making the audience laugh.

as the host starts explaining the show's concept and what they do, ei spots a delicious treat on the table infront of them. 'are these.. free to eat? ' ei thought. but without hesitation, she took the cupcake and munched on it, no one took notice. 'so it is free.' ei continues on munching as she cups her cheeks. 'these are shoo.. sweet..! ' her eyes sparkles as she continues to ramble on her seat.

"do you get it now, ms. ei?" the host turns to look at ei.

"mmf?"

ei puts down her cupcake, her mouth smeared with frosting.

"aha.. i see you're busy with our cupcakes? you know, you have a scary look but i had no idea you had a sweet tooth!" the host said, making ei fluster. the audience simultaneously lets out an 'aweee!'

while the show was ongoing, sara, in the backstage, was holding her laugh, her hand covering her mouth. 'i-i'm so sorry ms. ei! ' she thought.

the show ended after ei chose a candidate who shared their love for desserts. their interaction was cute, and everyone thought they would be better off as friends who'd go and taste sweets everywhere they go.

yae miko, who was watching the show from home, had a funny reaction.

"oh my! our ei's in a reality show?? i should do an article about this!" her writer's instinct sparked.

meanwhile at ei's workplace, she was being ridiculed by her employees. they're quite lucky as they didn't get fired.

but atleast sara was right, their business was booming. but anonymous gifts were always stuffed on the company's p.o. mailbox, they were all nothing but delicious sweets. ei decided to host a company get-together to share the sweets.

sara, who was tired with organizing the anonymous gifts: "maybe let's close our p.o. mailbox for now.."

ei, stuffing herself with desserts: "hmmf? let'sh kweep it ofen.."

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albedo ⨾ "i can see our love having chemistry.."

"let's welcome in, mr. albedo! a well-renowned scientist!" the host welcomes their guest, a well-suited albedo makes an entrance. "oh my! how fancy~ please sit down mr. albedo." the host invites albedo. "you need not an introduction mr. albedo! your works have truly taken over the world!" the audience cheered, a smirk plastered on albedo's face. "what can i say, 3 years ago i said 'i WILL take over the world,' but being on this show.. i guess taking over the world includes taking everyone's hearts too." albedo winks, gaining screams from the audience. "ohoho! then let's explain today's program, yes?" the host says, suddenly a projector flashed visuals in an empty space on the walls. "so we have 3 candidates chosen for you, talk love to them, entertain them, anything! the challenge here is to make atleast make one of them fall HEAD OVER HEELS FOR YOU!" the host explains. as albedo looks at the screen, he massaged his chin. "ahehe, i guess i can do it." albedo accepts. then the host pointed towards an empty space on the stage, it let out smoke, then appeared the 3 candidates.

"well then, mr. albedo, take their hearts will ya?" the host left albedo alone on the stage, the audience was quiet as albedo picks a lady to choose. albedo then chose the candidate at the middle.

"why, hello there, dear." albedo smiles, his eyes closed. and of course who wouldn't feel their knees wobbling when you're at that situation? albedo chuckles on the lady's manner and went on to the 1st candidate.

"you're quite a bea-" albedo gets cut off by an univited guest who somehow got on the stage.

"you-!" the unknown shouts at albedo, this made the audience turn to look at.. another albedo??

the other albedo was.. well.. untidy. his glasses positioned in an awkward position, he was still wearing his lab coat, and at his back was..

"a-albedo.. you're causing a scene.." sucrose says, whimpering and slouching behind the 'other albedo.'

'the other albedo' went on the middle of the stage, everyone was puzzled. "good day, everyone.. i apologize for the rude entrance, but there's been.. a 'minor' mishap.." albedo pauses, "the albedo flirting around with the candidates is a prototype of.. me. science and alchemy is what made him." the audience gasps.

sucrose went near the prototype albedo and injected some substance in its arm, the prototype albedo immediately landed on sucrose's arms. they then took off, leaving the real albedo alone on the stage.

"my, mr. 'real' albedo.. i didn't know your creations can actually fool us all!" the host jokes, but albedo genuinely felt bad. "well, since you're already here, should we get back to the show?" the host invites albedo, and with albedo's usual poker face, he nods.

albedo went near to the 3rd candidate as he fixes his lab coat.

BADUMP, BADUMP -- the heart of the candidate beats.

"i can see our love having chemistry.."

suddenly a 'THUMP!' is heard from backstage. it was sucrose dropping the prototype albedo from shock. 'albedo not a pun!! ' she mentally facepalms.

just when we thought things were getting awkward, the audience suddenly screamed in delight. "mr. albedo, you're so cute!!!!" someone shouts. albedo smiles.

LABORATORY

'i can see our love having chemist-" the tv shuts off. the remote being held by albedo. he was leaning on the doorway.

"gaaah! albedo.." sucrose shouts. "mm.. sucrose, were you watching the show?" albedo asks, sucrose nods defeatedly. "you don't have to get so shy about it. i should be the one getting embarassed.. but atleast we won the grand prize." albedo says, sipping on his coffee. sucrose went to a table to experiment with her vials. "albedo.. the one who won the grand prize for us was the prototype albedo.." sucrose says, gaining a chuckle from albedo. "hehe, you're right. though, having the prototype albedo at our workplace is quite.. tiring. i've had multiple dm's from all of the candidates saying they'd pay for the prototype albedo.." he shares, making sucrose laugh.

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beidou ⨾ "..i'll be going with ningguang, thank ya."

"beidou, this isn't like you.. ever since you and ningguang broke up, you've been a nervous.. wreck.." kazuha pats beidou on the back while mentally laughing about the pun he made on the last word. "gaah! i need to take my mind off of her.. i can't be always seen surrendering to her." beidou says, shaking her head. "mhm.. and this 'fight' you had with her.. was it really serious?" kazuha asks observing beidou's expression fading into a 'not really' expression. "okay! but still, she made such a big fuss about it!" she crosses her arms. "but that doesn't mean you have to give up on her like this, right?" kazuha says with a smile, his adorable dimples showing. beidou looks at him, rethinking her decision. "d'AWW! you're so cute, kazuha.. and.. you're right, i shouldn't give up! i'll-!" she then gets cut off by the director. "your cue, ms. beidou!" a small push was felt by beidou, then all of a sudden, she was at the stage.

the crowd cheered for beidou as she walks awkwardly to her seat. 'that director.. i swear-' her thoughts were interrupted by the host's voice. "welcome, captain beidou!" the host gestured a salute.

"heya! so.. look-"

"so what we have here are 3 candidates! 'love the talk? see them fall!'"

'i swear to god i keep getting interrupted.' she thought, her fists ready to punch someone. but her fists fell as she saw one of the candidates,

ningguang.

with surprise, she stood up, the host notices this. "oh? i see you've taken a liking to one of the candidates? fufufu.. you're the one who's supposed to make them fall for you, but it seems like you're the one who fell inlove." the host jokes, the audience letting out an audible 'aww! '

ningguang, who was looking somewhere else, takes notice to the audience. 'what are they 'aww'-ing about? ' she asks herself. she then looks at the guest, beidou. ningguang's eyes largens.

"ning- what are you doing here?" beidou asks the candidate. ningguang ignores her question as if she didn't hear it. the host forgets their lines and starts to indulge in the drama. the audience does the same.

"ning, answer me." beidou insists. ningguang heaves a sigh. "beidou, we'll continue this after." ningguang says, this doesn't falter the latter. "ning, please, we can solve this now, we can just go home and cancel this."

the host hears the word 'cancel,' then quickly went back to the scheduled program. "ahaha! alright, ms. beidou, please proceed with the program." the host reminds, a hint of nervousness in their voice.

beidou looks over to the host, her eyes a determined look. "no need, i'll be going with ningguang, thank ya." she then goes near ningguang, who was still mad about the past argument they had. "beidou, stop. we're live-" beidou gets ahold of ningguang's wrist.

no one was stopping them, it's as if this was more interesting than the show itself. 'the people will consume this type of media! ' the director thought, grinning.

beidou lifts up both ningguang's hands. "ning, i'm so sorry, i shouldn't have argued with you further, i know you didn't mean ill about me, i just got mad because the ship went through a serious wreck.. and i shouldn't have took the stress out on our argument. i promise, i can do better."

a long pause encapsulates over them.

"hun, you can stop blabbering now, ahehe. and i understand. i am at fault too and i should've considered what you felt while we were arguing." ningguang reassures, the huge waves were finally calming down.

"ugh.. this is so embarassing." ningguang says, watching the drama they caused at the tv show they were in. beidou suddenly pops up behind her, "but don't you think we were so romantic about it? man, look at spark in our eyes." beidou says, observing the scene. "hmp, beidou, don't you still have a ship to tend?" ningguang reminds her. "oh right! then, i'm off to the docks! i love you my boo-boo-bear~" beidou kissed ningguang goodbye, 'ugh..when will she stop acting so immature?? ' she thought as she smiles at herself, her rosy cheeks brightening.

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END

NOTES !

hello hello !! this is my first time to actually commit on something that has to do with writing short stories (i think LOL)

anyways, my grammar and wordings are not perfect, but i hope it's understandable enough <33

also!! these short stories are supposed to be funny and i'm not really taking it seriously LMFAO.

please!! read the warnings and note on the top of this post :<

REQUESTS !

if you'd like to request characters, you can!! my requests are open <33

want 2 be tagged for the next part, or just be tagged randomly? Σ(￣。￣ﾉ)???! reblog this post :D!

GOODBYES !

cya!! thank u 4 reading !!

R Y U N ★

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fantasyroyalfamily · 3 months

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Sims 4 Sleeping Beauty Story part 2

When the high priestess received a special guest at the door, she was surprised to see her adopted daughter, Shana, who was now the Empress Regent of Komomajo. (NOTE: click this link to find out about Shana, and Komomajo: https://www.tumblr.com/fantasyroyalfamily/744121214928388097/mulan-jjjjjjj?source=share)

Shana overheard both arguments, and rumor has it that Maleficent was at the palace, saddened by Aurora's demise. Shana decided to go to the palace and had an idea that might break the curse.

Shana arrived at the palace and was met with an attack from Malificent who was trying to protect her beloved. Shana used a special magic to counter the attack and explained to Malificent that she had come in peace and had a solution to help remedy her mistake. Malificent listened and Shana encouraged her to kiss Aurora as it was the only way to break the curse. Initially, Malificent was scared and rejected the idea because she knew that Aurora did not love her back. However, Shana continued to encourage her, explaining that it was true love. Despite her initial resistance, Malificent eventually gathered the courage to kiss Aurora, willing to do anything to break the curse.

Upon waking Aurora, Maleficent and Aurora confessed their love for each other, but their happiness was short-lived when a barrier arose between them.

Prince Kano declared that they cannot be together due to the pain Malficent brought to the Kingdom, so Malificent was enforced to leave the palace.

A month had passed, and Queen Kimana was growing worried for her daughter. The princess had spent the entire month isolated in her room, mourning for her beloved and wanting to leave the palace.

However, something miraculous happened. A surprise that touched Aurora's heart. Malificent appeared again, but in a male version of herself. Malificent was born as an intersex person, and her mother, Queen Elna of Enkanto Karri (Sims 4 World: Newcrest), cast a spell on her so that her inside would match her outside. Initially, Aurora found it hard to believe that this stranger was indeed Malificent, but after they kissed, she realized that it was true. Eventually, Aurora and Malificent got married, but she introduced Malificent as noble lord from Enkanto Karri named Duke Archer. They had a secret wedding, and at the time, Aurora became pregnant. Queen Kimana was furious, but had no chose but to accept the marriage.

Five years later, Pandora and Aurora lived a happy life with their twins children, Tamoro (Male) and Talia (female). However, tragedy struck the family when Aurora found Pandora dead only finding one clue left behind. A strand of golden hair at the scene.

(Left to Right: Queen Kimana, King Kae, Prince Consort Nolan, Princess Aurora, and Prince Edric.)

After mourning for a year, Aurora found the strength to keep going for the sake of her twins. However, her mother forced her to marry Duke Nolan against her will. Aurora gave birth to her son, Prince Edric, a year after the marriage.

However, Aurora was disgusted by her husband. One night, she drank so much and woohooed with her husband's nephew, Lord Philip. She gave birth 9 months later to her daughter, Audrey.

She was concerned over her twins safety and since her family did not agree her marrying a fairy lord, Aurora decided to send the twins to Queen Elna for protection. Heir to Elvenburg is in question since there are two princess that can be the next in line to the Kingdom, Princess Talia and Princess Audrey.

There is also the question as to who murdered Pandora, and will Aurora ever find happiness again.

To be continued......

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dbom · 1 year

Video

12 INCH MOTION // 100 Animated Album Covers from Felix Neumann on Vimeo.

12 INCH MOTION is an homage to the art of the album cover. In short and subtle animated loops the project brings the original cover art to life. After a little more than one year, these are the first 100 animations. A big shoutout and thank you to all artists, musicians, labels and animators involved. On to another 100 loops!

For more info and further credits go to 12inchmotion.tumblr.com or follow @12inchmotion on Instagram.

/// Guest submissions (in order of appearance) :

/// Full list of album covers (as posted on tumblr):

[001] Suff Daddy - Suff Sells [002] CØDA - Between The Lines [003] Jerz & Stel One - Home Grown [004] Schoolboy Q - Oxymoron [005] Pierre Sonality - Magdeburg [006] The Notorious BIG - Ready To Die [007] Nosaj Thing - Fated [008] Andy Stott - Luxury Problems [009] Figub Brazlevič - Oldschool Future [010] Deafheaven - Sunbather [011] Audio88 & Yassin - Das Gleiche wie immer, bitte. [012] Apollo Brown - Clouds [013] Wun Two - Rio [014] SBTRKT - Wonder Where We Land [015] Scarf Face - Achtung Achtung [016] Fink - Hard Believer [017] Shlohmo - Dark Red [018] SSIO - BB.U.M.SS.N [019] Madvillain - Madvillainy [020] Nils Frahm - Screws [021] Flying Lotus - You’re Dead! [022] S.Maharba - S.Maharba [023] Joey Badass - 1999 [024] Nirvana - Nevermind [025] Lapalux - Nostalchic [026] The Ahmad Jamal Trio - The Awakening [027] Build Buildings - There Is A Problem With My Tape Recorder [028] JJ DOOM - Key To The Kuffs [029] The Maccabees - Colour It In [030] Metronomy - The English Riviera [031] Julien Mier - When Will They Wake Up? [032] Tycho - Awake [033] A Thousand Years - Patterns, Colours, Textures, Emotions [034] This Will Destroy You - Another Language [035] Metome - Phreatic Surface [036] The Doors - Morrison Hotel  [037] Future Islands - Singles [038] Yung Hurn - Krocha Tape [039] Mount Kimbie - Blood And Form [040] Jungbluth - Lovecult [041] Town Portal - The Occident [042] Synapson feat. Anna Kova - All In You [043] Flying Lotus - Pattern + Grid World [044] Feist - The Reminder [045] Oneohtrix Point Never - R Plus Seven  [046] Heathered Pearls - Body Complex [047] The Alchemist - Israeli Salad  [048] Shlohmo - Vacation EP [049] A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory // Midnight Marauders [050] Fink - Perfect Darkness  [051] King Geedorah - Take Me To Your Leader [052] Kakkmaddafakka - KMF [053] Fulgeance - Cubes [054] Mark Morrison - Return Of The Mack [055] Four Tet - Beautiful Rewind [056] Hiob & Morlockk Dilemma - Kapitalismus Jetzt [057] blink-182 - Enema Of The State [058] The Police - Outlandos d’Amour [059] Tahiti Boy & Mr. Oizo - Wrong O.S.T. [060] SOHN - Tremors [061] Lullatone - Songs That Spin In Circles [062] Audio88 & Yassin - Halleluja [063] Mammal Hands - Floa [064] Tegan and Sara - I Was A Fool [065] Gold Panda - Good Luck And Do Your Best [066] Kafka Tamura - Nothing To Everyone [067] Mndsgn - Breatharian [068] Hubert Daviz - Another Backstein Invazion 01 & 02 [069] Robot Orchestra - Chasing Rainbows [070] Yosi Horikawa - Vapor [071] King Krule - 6 Feet Beneath The Moon [072] KAYTRANADA - 99.9% [073] Kodak To Graph - ISA [074] Dummer Lump - Dummer Lump [075] Kreʞрek - AudioDope 03 [076] DJ Shadow - The Mountain Will Fall [077] Vessels - Helioscope [078] Nosaj Thing - NO REALITY [079] GoGo Penguin - Man Made Object [080] Rival Consoles - Night Melody [081] Hawk House - A Handshake To The Brain [082] Fever Ray - Fever Ray [083] Fresh Selects - Tight Songs [084] Touché Amoré - Parting The Sea Between Brightness And Me [085] MF DOOM - OPERATION: DOOMSDAY (Original Version // Remastered) [086] Fulgeance - To All Of You [087] Sleepy Eyes - Burnout [088] SOHN - Signal [089] Paper Tiger - Sonic Boom Head Zoom 3 [090] FKA twigs - LP1 [091] The Thermals - The Body, The Blood, The Machine [092] The Whitest Boy Alive - Dreams [093] Wun Two - Penthouse [094] Fulgeance - homecooking [095] City and Colour - Bring Me Your Love [096] Shout Out Louds - Our Ill Wills [097] Shout Out Louds - Howl Howl Gaff Gaff [098] Editors - The Back Room [099] Flamingosis - Bright Moments [100] Moses Boyd - Rye Lane Shuffle

/// Music: Dreamchild - Fantasies | soundcloud.com/soundsofadream/fantasies-1

/// Joy Division-GIF made with this generator by Garrett Finucane: garrettdreyfus.github.io/unknownpleasures

/// 12inchmotion.tumblr.com

/// Berlin, 2015-2016

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nijjhar · 2 years

Video

youtube

Punjabi - Family and land belong to a Jatt and not to Muslim, Sikh or Hi... Punjabi - Family and land belong to a Jatt and not to Muslim, Sikh or Hindu Jatt. Vote for a Jatt only. https://youtu.be/wAjYoUKHvEM Punjabi - If Korean are uniting together why can't our most stupid Jatts unite to form Jattistan? UNITED JATT PARTY OF INDIA AND PAKISTAN JAATTRRA SAE KAATTRRA; APNA HEE GHAR GHALAE SAE – JATTS DESTROY THEIR OWN HOME, THE UNITED PUNJAB. Hi Jatt brethren, Let us revive our United Jatt Party that flourished under our lion of the Punjab Chaudhry Chhotu Ram Ohlyan Jatt and this is how we can do it:- 1. Jatt is our tribe, Qom, Jaati, Qabila, clan, etc. and we are of the same bloodline whether we are in India, Pakistan, Iran, etc. But these satanic shopkeepers; Lala M.K. Gandhi, a Baniya, Lala Tara Singh Malhotra Khatri and Lala Mohd. Ali Jinnah, a Babla Bhatia, hypocritically divided us in 1947 in which we killed each other under religious fanaticism. As the tribal father cannot be changed, if Jatts call themselves Hindu Jatt, Sikh Jatt, Muslim Jatt, etc., then by changing their Jatt tribal father, they become Shankar Varniye super bastard fanatic devils and they will kill each other again. 2. Jatt is a person born of a Jatt tribal father and farming, Kirsaani, agriculture, is our main occupation called KITTAH. 3. Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Christian, etc. are the religious ways of life and they are changeable but our tribe Jatt is not changeable. We are born a Jatt and as Jatt we will die and not Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Christian, etc. 4. It is wrong to call ourselves Hindu Jatt, Sikh Jatt, Muslim Jatt or Christian Jatt. The house and the property belong to Jatts whilst to Hindus belong the Mandirs, Sikhs the Gurdwaras, Muslims the Mosques and Christians the Churches. 5. When a Jatt dies, then people go to his Jatt tribal home and not to the communal Mandir, Gurdwara, Mosque, Church, etc. to mourn. 6. During the Partition of India in 1947 and in 1984 sectarian riots, Jatts killed their own Jatt brethren under the impression that they are Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims. Such fake religious people of appearances are called Shankar Varniye Haraami (super bastards) and they did the work of Haraamis in which they killed their own tribal people. 7. Tribal father protects whilst mother land feeds you. During the Partition of India, we were in our village Dhannuana, 91RB and my father told 2000 Arian who came to kill us that Sikh and Muslim are spiritual selves and we tribal people Jatt and Arian are going to kill each other. If there is any enmity, then let us fight. The headman told my father that Arian and Jatt are friends and he ordered his 2000 Arian to look after us as their Guests. He even asked my father; to let us go to Lahore to stop this Partition. The Dirty British in collusion with the three Lalas caused this bloodshed. 8. More serious sectarian riots are looming in the air and unless we wake up to the protection of our Jatt tribal father, we will again kill each other. 9. Atomic war is expected on 14/05/2023. The Chosen People of Israel tell us everything that will happen – Matt. 13v24-30 is taking its shape. 10. The second coming of Jesus, who was the first Christ = Satguru of the world, was Satguru Nanak Dev Ji who was born in 1469 among the most spiritually sick greedy satanic people of Khatri tribe (Kings and Emperors of Darkness) and they became his staunch enemies as the people of Judah tribe, the Princes of Darkness, were of Christ Jesus. We Jatt like the Samaritans Bhagats supported both the second Sikh Panth and the Third Khalsa Panth the most. The First Panth is Hindu in which you become the sons of Shiv called Shiv Sena – Brahm kae Baette – DEH SHIVA VAR MOHAE………. Is sung by the Khalsas. 11. Ariya is a race called Nassall and not a Samaj or community into which anybody could join. 12. Sikh being a Sewadar of the order of Bhai Ghaniya Ji, they cannot be soldiers. In the Sikh Regiment, they are mostly Jatts and it is fanatically wrong to have a “Sikh Regiment”. Turban and beard don’t make you a Sikh. Such fake Sikhs with turbans and beards died during the riots. Sikh is a “NAADI ROOP”, inwardly or what comes out of your mouth and not the “BINDI ROOP”, outwardly that is born and will die. Maharajah Chaudhry Ranjit Sansi Jatt ruled Punjab for forty years and not the Sikh as propagated by the satanic Khatris. Finally, both Satgurus = Christs Jesus and Nanak have stressed this in their Sayings:- But he answered and said, “Every plant, person, which my heavenly Father, Yahweh, Brahma, Khuda, etc. hath not planted, forgets his tribal identity in Adam, shall be rooted up, killed”. Satguru Nanak Dev Ji Said, “Beeo beej patt lae Gaye; abb keun ughwe daal”. This planet earth is for the peaceful habitation of the tribal sons of Man, Aadmi dae Puttran liee Hae and not for the sons of Satan. This Kalyug belongs to the most Satanic people of the Judah tribe, Princes of Darkness and the Khatri tribe, the Kings and Emperors of Darkness. QOM Ghhattak and Hajj. https://youtu.be/eecOd_CgiZY

#youtube

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thehouseofhouse101 · 2 years

Text

Kaeloo Season 5 Predictions

I don't know why I'm doing this so suddenly, but I figured why not. Season 5 of Kaeloo's coming in at least next year I believe, so I'm crossing my fingers that we get the reveal this year before it officially releases. So for the time being, I piled up a bunch of things I want or at least expect to happen during Season 5!

Side note, but this may be a spoiler if any of these were to happen, but who knows, this show can be very unpredictable at times!

Anywizzle, here's my list! 1. Episode Concepts:

An episode about a sport they never played yet, for ex hockey, bowling, American football

An episode about a winter game like sledding or skiiing

An episode on a new setting like an amusement park, pool, or spa resort

An episode on interesting duos as the focus (Mr. Cat and Olaf, Kaeloo and Eugly)

Seriously a Cat and Olaf episode, surprised that never happened yet, it would be a great idea!

An episode about the buddies' couch being stolen??

An episode where the main cast hang out like having a boys-girls sleepover

An episode that parodies a movie or genre, like a reality show format or a serial drama

An episode that has an A and B plot and blend together perfectly

An episode where they focus on a character's birthday (like maybe Mr. Cat or Kaeloo)

An episode that does a fairy taie episode like Beauty and the Beast or Cinderella

An episode that tackles another holiday like Halloween or Valentine's Day

An episode where they just tackle fashion again

An episode where they do another musical episode

An episode that goes experimental with the art style via guest animation

2. Predictions/What Could Happen:

Kaeloo and Mr. Cat's relationship finally becoming official, either at the end or at the start of the season

Revelations about Mr. Cat's backstory

Continuing the mystery about Quack Quack's family

We'll get a bit of a glimpse of the real world??

Further note, we'll get a glimpse on the buddies' parents??

We'll get a new character??

The alien sheep thing being a big deal and having the series tackle a major story arc

If there will be a half hour episode, it may tackle that scenario, or perhaps around Kae and Cat's relationship??

Ursula making a on-screen appearance??

Mr. Cat getting into another epic fight scene

Mr. Cat and Bad Kaeloo fighting together in said epic fight scene

Mr. Cat and Kaeloo singing a duet

Furthering some character development for the cast, like Cat and Kae

Pirates and Desperados getting sequel episodes

And that's pretty much from the top of my head, I may add more if necessary!

#kaeloo #house talks

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newmusickarl · 2 years

Video

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Album & EP Recommendations

It’s been a quiet week for new album releases, as it looks like everyone’s been saving their album drop for the end of April. This means unfortunately there’s no new recommendations this week, but on the bright side the next couple of weeks are looking very busy indeed. In the meantime, here’s a recap of some of the albums I’ve really enjoyed in the last month:

The Line Is A Curve by Kae Tempest

“I had a hunch from the teaser tracks that this was shaping up to be my favourite of Kae’s records and one of the Albums of the Year so far, and it seems indeed that my gut was right. Stunning, exquisitely crafted instrumentation and delicate, spellbinding lyrical majesty.”

Listen here

Fear of the Dawn by Jack White

“This man simply doesn’t know how to make a boring record, and like his other work this one is well worth your time. Fear of the Dawn will have you glued to your headphones, with mind-melting guitar work and astonishing sonic wonderment aplenty.”

Listen here

Never Let Me Go by Placebo

“The songs are some of their most accomplished and memorable for a while, and they don’t shy away from tough, hefty subject matters either. Die-hard Placebo fans will of course be ecstatic with this one, but I think even those familiar but maybe not completely invested will also be left pretty damn impressed.”

Listen here

Melt My Eyez See Your Future by Denzel Curry

“Denzel has outdone himself yet again, serving up his most artistically nuanced effort to date and easily one of the finest hip hop projects of the year thus far. Hugely cinematic with each track seamlessly segueing into the next, brilliant songwriting and A-list guest appearances from the likes of Slowthai, Thundercat and JID, it’s a frequently awe-inspiring front-to-back listening experience.”

Listen here

Present Tense by Yumi Zouma

“This is gorgeous, string-tinged dream-pop that will frequently move you and whisk you away to some place magical, with Mona Lisa, If I Had a Heart for Chasing, In the Eyes of Our Love, Haunt and Astral Projection just five of the many highlights here. So spare 30 minutes and give this one a spin.”

Listen here

Also out, also great: Ramona Park Broke My Heart by Vince Staples (read my review for Gigwise here), Reborn by Kavinsky (read my review for Gigwise here)

Tracks of the Week

Heart Attack by Editors

It may have been quiet on the albums front this week, but thankfully we were gifted a tonne of great new tracks to tide us over, led by this excellent new one from Editors.

Heart Attack arrived alongside the news that award-winning electronic artist Blanck Mass has now joined the group full time, following 2019’s Blanck Mass Sessions, which featured reimagined versions of their last studio album Violence. He is not wasting any time making his presence felt either, as Heart Attack is a pulsating, synth-driven mini-epic, but with a typically Editors’ style anthemic chorus to keep the old school fans happy too.

It’s a sensational track, but it’s elevated even further by the mind-melting and utterly hypnotic AI-generated video that accompanies it. Created by pioneering director and visual artist Felix Geen, it’s a psychedelic, colourful and utterly dazzling work of art that simply must be seen to be believed – probably my favourite music video for a long time.

Watch the video above or listen to Heart Attack here

Free In The Knowledge by The Smile

The project from Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, as well as Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner, has been creating a wild buzz ever since their electric debut on the Glastonbury livestream last summer. With great track after great track continuing to drop since, anticipation for the upcoming album has been locked at fever pitch for a while now - and thankfully we now have a date for its imminent arrival.

On the 13th May, their debut album A Light for Attracting Attention will finally be made available, with all previously released singles - Skrting On The Surface, The Smoke, You Will Never Work In Television Again and Pana-Vision (which recently debuted on the Peaky Blinders’ finale) - all making the final tracklist. Alongside the album news, the band also gifted another track, Free In the Knowledge, which may just be the best one yet.

Acoustic-driven with some hugely atmospheric and spellbinding orchestration, it arrived alongside a cinematic video filmed by director Leo Leigh – son of legendary filmmaker, Mike Leigh.

Listen and watch the video here

Sidelines by Phoebe Bridgers

The woman who continues to do no wrong – to coincide with her performances at this year’s Coachella in which she was joined by 2021 Mercury Prize winner Arlo Parks for a couple of duets, Phoebe also released her typically stunning new track, Sidelines. Taken from the soundtrack to Hulu’s new adaptation of Sally Rooney novel Conversations With Friends, it sees Phoebe further broadening her sonic landscape and offers fans possible insight into where she may be heading on her next record.

Listen here

Down by Hot Chip

Elsewhere this week, Dance heroes Hot Chip announced their new album Freakout/Release, due to drop this August. The first teaser for the album is the opener, Down, which features an addictive groove reminiscent of their early hit Over & Over, but with some added soul-influence provided by a brilliant sample of Universal Togetherness Band’s More Than Enough.

Listen here

When We Were Young by Architects

Shortly due to embark on their first UK Arena tour, metal behemoths Architects have dropped an anthemic new single this week. Their first new music since last year’s apocalyptic metal opera For Those That Wish To Exist, the band have hinted this is the start of their new era rather than an off-cut from that project. If it is the start of the next phase, then they continue to be as hard-hitting as ever, with the track boasting a huge singalong chorus and pummelling heavy riffs.

Listen here

Memory Fracture by nothing, nowhere

Another heavy one, as emo-rap superstar Joe Mulherin (AKA nothing, nowhere) dropped this brutal banger this week. With melodic rap verses, but gut-punching, heavy rock swells and distorted vocals on the chorus, Mulherin’s music continues to have no boundaries. This is another excellent track from him and with each new release he continues to showcase his talent for innovative, emotive, genre-bending songwriting.

Listen here

Morbid Fascination (Piano Version) by Blood Red Shoes

And finally, one of my favourite tracks of the last twelve months has had an ambient makeover this week. With the original song taken from their excellent 2022 album Ghosts On Tape, Blood Red Shoes have now re-released the album’s lead single as a haunting piano ballad and it’s, somewhat incredibly, even better than it was before – stunningly atmospheric and completely jaw-dropping.

Listen here

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chanoyu-to-wa · 3 years

Text

Nampō Roku, Book 6 (25): the Seat for an Hitotsu-mono [一ツ物] on the Daime-kiri is Explained in a Secret Teaching.

25) [On the daime-kiri, because there are various seats that may be occupied by things like an hitotsu-mono (一ツ物), one must conscientiously decide where to place them.]¹

In the case of the seat for an hitotsu-mono on the daime-kiri, there are various ku-den². [However,] if one only understands this [matter] in a general way, [that person] will [likely] make a mistake³.

The kaki-ire [書入]:

① A yin hitotsu-mono, [displayed] without a tray⁴. And also, when a small tray is present, this [position] is used⁵.

② When a tray is used it should be a kuguri[-bon], because there is no mizusashi⁶.

③ When a tarai[-mizusashi], or [another] large mizusashi is being used that will cross [several kane], an hitotsu-mono is [displayed] here⁷.

④ When a mizusashi that does not cross [several kane, an hitotsu-mono is displayed here]⁸.

⑤ [These show] yin hitotsu-mono⁹.

⑥ The central [kane]: putting [the chaire] deeper is the way to treasure it¹⁰.

_________________________

◎ This is an extremely confusing sketch, produced either by someone who had a less than clear understanding of the sizes of some of the utensils involved; or, perhaps, as a way to restrict access to these teachings to the initiated (or those with access to a teacher). Also, the texts of the kaki-ire lend themselves to being misunderstood (especially by people who do not understand the details of the kinds of utensils being used).

Nevertheless, the sketch seems to have been produced as a way to illustrate the numerous ku-den that are associated with this matter (and so rendering verbal explanations unnecessary). It is possible that this drawing was added to the collection later, as an explanation of the statement that I have repeated (from the previous installment) at the beginning of this post, and so was the product of the Enkaku-ji scholars (rather than Nambō Sōkei or Rikyū).

¹This sentence is repeated here from the previous entry, since it appears to be the beginning of these introductory remarks.

²Daime-kiri no hitotsu-mono no za ku-den shina-jina ari [臺目切ノ一ツモノヽ座口傳シナ〰アリ].

Ku-den shina-jina [口傳品々] means there are various ku-den.

The ku-den are the points illustrated in the drawing (with additional information supplied by the kaki-ire).

This and the following sentences constitute the text that is written to the right of the drawing.

³Oyoso ni kokoro-ete ayamachi-suru nari [凡ニ心得テアヤマチスル也].

Oyoso ni kokoro-ete [凡そに心得て]: oyoso ni [凡そに] means only roughly, approximately; kokoro-ete [心得て] means to know*, or (ones) knowledge.

Ayamachi-suru [過ちする] means to commit a mistake, fall into error.

In other words, if ones experience is limited to practices based on the common or average sort of understanding, one is likely to make a mistake when displaying an hitotsu-mono in the daime-kiri setting. __________ *Kokoro-ete [心得て] is past tense, and signifies something that one (believes he) knows or understands before the fact -- that is, before he has been made aware of to the deeper teachings.

⁴In no hitotsu-mono bon nashi [陰ノ一ツ物盆ナシ].

Bon nashi [盆無し] means “there is no tray.”

In other words, when the chaire is a treasured piece that has not yet been paired with a tray, it is displayed in this position when it is a yin hitotsu-mono*.

This part of this kaki-ire is possibly unrelated to the second part (and that is why I decided to separate them in the footnotes).

Regarding the absence of a mizusashi, this is seen in several of the ro-temae that are discussed in the Nampō Roku. While the precedent is always the gokushin-temae† (the ro-temae is generally based on the gokushin-temae -- even the modern schools hold that the ro-temae “is derived from the daisu”), the point that concerns us here is that things remain as they are until the end of the temae.

Whenever, during the temae, the host needs to cool the kama (in other words, the points at which cold water is traditionally added to the kama during the ro-temae), he does so by lifting a hishaku of water from the kama, holding it above the mouth of the kama for several seconds‡, and then returning it: this yu-gaeshi will be sufficient to restore the shōfū [松風] sound.

At the end of the temae, after placing the chaire, chashaku, and shifuku out for haiken, the host removes the koboshi and chawan to the katte, as always**. Then, at the time (in the modern temae) when the host brings out a mizu-tsugi, he brings out a small mizusashi (either the mage-mono kind, of a ceramic one of noticeably small size -- many look more like kashi-bachi with lacquered lids than mizusashi, and, indeed, are too small to be used as such during the temae). This is either placed within the kamae (in the usual spot occupied by the mizusashi, 9-me from the heri and centered between the two yū-yo [有餘]††), or it is placed on the mat that adjoins the daime, to the right of the ro‡‡ (as shown below).

A hakobi-mizusashi [運び水指] (a mizusashi that is moved from the katte into the room) should never be filled more than 70%, to help prevent splashing.

Immediately after bringing the mizusashi out, its lid is opened, and then that of the kama, and two hishaku of cold water are added to the kama. Then the lids are closed, and the mizusashi is usually returned to the katte***.

The utensils that were inspected during the haiken should not be returned until the mizusashi has been removed (especially if the mizusashi had been placed to the right of the ro). __________ *This would mean an object displayed as an hitotsu-mono when it must be yin (in order to give a chō [調] value to the goza).

The goza should be chō when serving tea after dark, on occasions when tea is prepared as part of a Buddhist ceremony (in other words, when tea is offered to the Buddha), as well as on sad occasions (such as the memorial of a death).

†In the gokushin-temae, the mizusashi is not opened until the very end of the temae -- after the chaire, dai-temmoku, chashaku, and nagabon have been placed out for the guests to inspect. At that time, the mizusashi is opened and its water is used to clean the chasen in the kae-chawan; and, after that, two hishaku of cold water are added as a token replenishment of the kama. (The reader should remember that, in its original conception, the gokushin-temae was used to prepare a single bowl of koicha, which was offered to the Buddha. Thus the kama would not be emptied to the same extent as when serving tea to several guests.)

In the gokushin-temae, the haiken is performed immediately after the host has finished cleaning the temmoku, its dai, the chaire and chashaku, and the nagabon. These things are arranged on the nagabon, which is put out on the mat that adjoins the utensil mat, and the guests come forward to inspect the utensils in situ. While they are doing that, the host cleans the chasen in the kae-chawan and replenishes the kama. Then he lifts the nagabon back onto the utensil mat, and returns both the temmoku and chaire to their shifuku (tying the himo in a different, “locking” knot), and then the nagabon and other utensils are lifted back onto the ten-ita of the daisu.

‡The length of time is not fixed, and should be as long as possible (since the more the water in the hishaku cools before it is returned, the greater its effect will be -- especially if it is a large kama) without destroying the tempo of the temae.

**When removing the utensils, he should be sure to leave behind the hishaku and futaoki (with the hishaku resting on top of the futaoki) -- perhaps placing them on the left side of the kamae as shown below.

After adding water to the kama, the hishaku, the hishaku and futaoki may be left on the mat, in the same place as before.

††The two yū-yo [有餘] are the 5-bu at the far end of the kamae, and the 2-sun that extends across the mat from the naka-bashira.

The distance between these two spaces is (of course) 1-shaku 4-sun, and the mizusashi is usually centered in that space.

‡‡This was the inspiration for the nagashi-date [流し立て, or 流し点て] (though that temae is usually performed in a 4.5-mat room, rather than in the daime setting). Nagashi-date is a temae, usually performed when there is only one guest (in a 4.5-mat room) -- the idea being that this arrangement allows the host and guest to sit facing each other, resulting in a more intimate sort of gathering. (Rikyū is said to have originated this temae when serving tea to Hideyoshi on the night of Tanabata [七夕].)

The mizusashi is placed to the right of the ro, with the futaoki directly in front of it. When brought out, the chawan and chaire (or other tea container) are placed on the utensil mat, on a diagonal and to the left of the ro (this is the same line on which the tea container and chasen rest during an ordinary ro-temae). The temae is otherwise the usual ro-temae, though the chawan is offered to the guest by lifting it out between the mizusashi and the ro. (While the modern schools usually restrict this temae to usucha, Rikyū seems to have created it as a koicha-temae, with usucha following during the same temae.)

***If the mizusashi was placed within the kamae, then it is not necessary to remove it (and during the Edo period, it became customary to allow it to remain there, so that the guests could inspect it before leaving the room); however, if it is placed on the mat beside the ro, then it must be removed immediately, so the guests can return the chaire, chashaku, and shifuku to the same place where they had been offered out by the host.

⁵Mata ko-bon no toki mochiiru [陰ノ一ツ物盆ナシ、又小盆ノ時用].

When the chaire is displayed on a ko-bon [小盆]*, the chaire is also located here.

In the original sketch that is found in the Nampō Roku, the outer red circle is supposed to be the tray, which surrounds the black dot (that represents the chaire). While the sketch shows the bon-chaire as a yin hitotsu-mono, the relative sizes are completely unrealistic†. __________ *The ko-bon [小盆], as it was defined by Rikyū, should be 2-sun larger than the chaire on all four sides. The smallest of the ko-tsubo are 1-sun 9-bu in diameter, so the smallest ko-bon would be 5-sun 9-bu in diameter -- meaning that, when the chaire is centered on the yin-kane, the tray will contact the yang-kane on both sides, making it a kuguri-bon in this instance.

†When the chaire is displayed in this position without a tray, it is a yin hitotsu-mono. However, when a chaire is displayed like this, but resting on the kind of small trays known to have been used by Rikyū (and mentioned in his kaiki and other writings), it becomes a yang hitotsu-mono (because the tray will contact the yang kane on both sides of the chaire, thus making anything placed on the tray also yang).

Shibayama Fugen comments here that the bon-chaire could be a yin hitotsu-mono, but only if the tray were less than 4-sun 9-bu across.

Now, there is a small, dark-red Ikkan-bari [一閑張] tray that is 4-sun 9-bu in diameter, that was owned by Sen no Sōtan (who claimed that it had been handed down from Rikyū). Putting aside the fact that Hiki Ikkan [飛來一閑; ? ~ 1657] was a friend and contemporary of Sōtan’s (who is said to have been the one who encouraged the indigent Ikkan to take up this particular trade), and not known to have had any association with Rikyū, if the tray was 1-sun 5-bu larger than the chaire on all four sides, this tray would accommodate a chaire 1-sun 9-bu in diameter (many of the old Seto katatsuki produced during the second half of the fifteenth century were of this size).

That said, while it is certainly possible that Rikyū was experimenting with this kind of thing (perhaps near the end of his life -- most of the things owned by Rikyū that came into the possession of Shōan and Sōtan were things that he was using during his last several years), there are no documents to support Sōtan's assertion, or that this kind of arrangement was ever used by Rikyū.

Furthermore, the second kaki-ire (which actually provides some additional input regarding the tray -- please see the next footnote) clarifies that, when a mizusashi is not present, the tray should be a kuguri-bon. This would seem to contradict any speculation that the tray being referred to here was intended to fit in between the kane (despite the impression created by the sketch).

⁶Bon ni te kuguru-koto mizusashi nashi no toki nari, Kyū kufū ni te kite-shidashita [盆ニテクヽルコト水サシナシノ時也、休工夫ニテ被仕出].

Kuguru [潜る] means to pass through, or pass across*, and refers to an object that crosses two kane of the same sort (i.e., one large enough to cross two yang kane, or two yin kane).

This is saying that, since there is no mizusashi, the tray should cross two yang kane, and so make the chaire yang.

While Rikyū’s ko-bon (which was 2-sun larger than the chaire on all four sides) is technically a kuguri-bon (since a tray of this sort paired with even the smallest chaire would be larger than 4-sun 9-bu across), the Nampō Roku generally is referring to a larger tray when this expression is used -- such as a chaire-bon that adheres to Jōō’s specifications (3-sun larger on all four sides), as shown above.

Kyū [休] is the usual abbreviation of Rikyū's name.

Kite-shidashita [被て仕出した] means to bring into being, originate (literally, "undertook the creation of"). __________ *The word is commonly used to mean “dive” (as in, into the water) today, which confuses some readers of the Nampō Roku.

⁷Tarai ka mata dai-naru mizusashi ni te kuguri-taru toki, hitotsu-mono koko ni [タライカ又大ナル水サシニテクヽリタル時、一ツ物コヽニ].

Tarai [盥] means a basin. Containers of this sort used as mizusashi were usually around 8-sun in diameter (or slightly more).

Dai-naru mizusashi [大なる水指] means a mizusashi of the larger sort -- one that is 5-sun 8-bu in diameter or larger. This kind of mizusashi is often referred to as a kuguri-mizusashi [潜り水指] in the Nampō Roku, because it crosses two yang kane (when centered on half of the mat -- as when placed beside a ko-ita furo, or a mukō-ro).

This sentence is saying that when the mizusashi is large enough that it crosses several kane (since it is placed 9-me from the heri, in this case it will cross two yin kane, and the yang kane in between), the chaire should be displayed in front of it, on the right-most of the two yin kane, as shown above. Because the mizusashi is yang (on account of its resting on a yang kane), the chaire will also be a yang hitotsu-mono (since it partakes of this quality of the mizusashi: the two are counted together as a single unit for the purpose of kane-wari).

⁸Kuguranu-mizusashi no toki [クヽラヌ水サシノ時].

Kuguranu [潜らぬ] means (the mizusashi) does not cross (several kane).

This would refer to the small mage-mono mizusashi (or mizusashi made of other materials of the same size) -- a mizusashi no larger than 4-sun 9-bu in diameter.

When the mizusashi is not a kuguri-mizusashi, an hitotsu-mono will be oriented as shown below.

⁹In no hitotsu-mono [陰ノ一ツモノ].

The sketch shows three possible positions, which parallel the arrangements for the yang hitotsu-mono (see the following footnote): the chaire can be displayed near the front of the kamae, farther back, and even farther back (as indicated by the dots in the original sketch) -- with the deepest position indicating the greatest degree of respect for the chaire.

Presumably these arrangements were supposed to be done with a mizusashi present*; and Shibayama Fugen states that his source also indicated that the chaire is centered on the second, third, and fourth horizontal kane. While all of this works nicely when the chaire is arranged on the central kane, the deepest of these is simply not possible if a mizusashi is present†, when the chaire is being displayed on the yin-kane.

In the above sketches, the shallow arrangement is at the top, and the deepest is on the bottom‡. Here a small (4-sun 9-bu diameter) mage-mono mizusashi is shown, though even in this case, the deep arrangement would be too close to the mizusashi to be practicable**. __________ *Since otherwise, the chaire would presumably have been displayed on the part of the mat usually occupied by the mizusashi (at least according to the other kaki-ire).

†Though nothing explicitly states that a mizusashi is used -- on this, or on any of the other occasions when a chaire is displayed as an hitotsu-mono (and, indeed, none is shown anywhere in the original sketch) -- mention is specifically made when a mizusashi is not to be used; and, in that case, the chaire is displayed in the part of the kamai that is usually occupied by the mizusashi (as in kaki-ire ① and ② -- since both of these notes address the same mark on the original sketch).

While both Shibayama Fugen and Tanaka Senshō have previously cast doubt on the historical authenticity of arranging the mizusashi 9- (or 11-) me from the heri, suggesting that this was a more modern innovation, their assertions appear to have been based on the order in which this teaching came to light (usually believed to have been from a poem in the Chanoyu hyaku shu [茶湯百首], which is popularly ascribed to Rikyū, and which first became known to the interested public around the middle Edo period). However Rikyū also mentions this placement in several of his densho -- and these documents are consistent in their explanations, despite their having been preserved in vastly different places, and usually secretly (often unknown to the person in whose archive the document was housed), since shortly after they were written. Because of this constancy, we must accept that this placement for the mizusashi had been fixed upon, by Jōō and Rikyū (since the daime-kiri was a joint project), shortly after the time when the daime-kiri was created (at the time when the fukuro-dana was removed from the kamae -- which was probably attempted not so long after the setting was originally devised, as a wabi modification).

The point in time at which any given teaching has come to light usually has little to do with when it was actually formulated, and introduced into more or less general practice. Unfortunately, the conservative nature of chajin often makes it difficult for them to put aside teachings (as they were previously understood at the time when the chajin was training), and replace them with more historically accurate ways of doing things (we must remember that, taking the beginning of chanoyu as it is now understood as occurring with the creation of the cha-kai [茶會] during Jōō’s middle period, we are talking about close to 500 years of development over which it has continued to evolve and change). In Japan, this has often resulted in attacks, even on the writings of Rikyū himself -- and often initiated by the very people whom one would suppose would be the most adamant about protecting his legacy.

It is equally true that Nampō Roku scholars often remain (or actively keep themselves) insulated from everything but the particular collection of texts with which they are associated -- even when much necessary information cannot be found in those texts. As I have written many times before in this blog, the teachings of Rikyū cannot be found in any single collection, including, somewhat paradoxically, in his own writings. Rather, we must look to the cycle of the Hundred Poems, the Three Hundred Lines, Rikyū’s densho, and the Nampō Roku -- while ignoring the machi-shū writings that sought to undermine Rikyū’s teachings and replace them with the ideas of Imai Sōkyū and his followers: it is not that everything from the early days is equally valid, but that we must use discretion, at least if our purpose is to arrive at a good understanding of Rikyū’s own teachings.

‡As the most likely time when the yin hitotsu-mono arrangements would be used would be after dark, one might wonder whether or not the deepest placement might make the chaire too difficult to see (even if it were possible to arrange the kamae like that -- if a sufficiently narrow mizusashi, much smaller than the small mage-mono mizusashi, could actually be found). We must remember that the kamae is illuminated by a te-shoku [手燭], whose flame is centered between the mizusashi and the kama. That would throw at least a partial shadow on the chaire, which would be reprehensible. It is possible, therefore, that the dot indicating the deep version of the yin hitotsu-mono was added to the sketch in error (with the artist focused on this being a parallel case to the yang hitotsu-mono, rather than on the mechanics of actually creating this kind of arrangement).

**While both Shibayama Fugen and Tanaka Senshō devote a certain amount of their commentaries to a discussion of all of the different ways that an hitotsu-mono can be displayed within the kamae, both of these scholars completely ignore these three yin hitotsu-mono arrangements in their comments (Shibayama does include a small sketch, but his sketch shows dots arranged on a vertical line, and is missing any suggestion of a mizusashi) -- suggesting that they, too, are unsure about them (and, especially, about the deep version).

As discussed above, it is possible that the sketch was miscopied, or inadvertently modified at some point in time. The problem is that the sketch, as it is shown above, was taken as the absolute authority, without any thought being given to things (like the mizusashi) that were not included in the drawing.

¹⁰Chū-ō, oku [h]e ire wo shōgan to su [中央、奧ヘ入ヲ賞玩トス].

Oku [奧] means deep (in the sense of deep within an enclosure).

Shōgan to su [賞玩とす]: shōgan means to treasure, appreciate, revere, respect; to su [とす] is a contraction of to suru [と爲る], meaning “to do.”

Here, the chaire is displayed on the central kane, the kane of honor, meaning that this series of three placements is the way to show the deepest respect for the treasured chaire -- with the reverence increasing as the chaire is moved deeper into the kamae.

At the top, the chaire is displayed near the front of the kamae; in the middle, it is placed a little deeper; and at the bottom, it is deepest. In these sketches, the large size of mage-mono mizusashi has been depicted. __________ *Measuring 8-sun 5-bu in diameter.

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margumis · 8 months

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mars idk if you’re a lana fan but every time i see you on the dash “shades of cool” pops into my head (this is a compliment btw!!!)

this IS a compliment, THANK YOU!! omfg everytime i hear the shades of cool riff i ascend a little

my first instinct to assigning you a lana song was “fishtail” which is so underrated in my humble opinion

#guest appearance: kae!#have i told you i love you yet today

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ohprettyweeper-moved · 5 years

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Fluff & Scruff

Summary: You stop Tyler from making a change to his appearance. Pairing: Tyler x Reader Word Count: 615 A/N: This fic, both scenes, was borne of a convo with Kae and Sav. Thanks for the inspo, frens! Hope everyone enjoys reading this :) Oh, and I apologize for the bad sizing on the gif, I really loved it for this drabble and couldn’t find it in a tumblr friendly size :(

GIF found via Google Image Search.

“TYLER ROBERT JOSEPH!”

You ran up to the guest bathroom from the basement faster than you had ran in a long time. The moment you heard the clippers buzz, you knew what was going to come next. You hit the doorway of the bathroom just in time.

Tyler was frozen in place, the clippers in one hand, and his other hand running through his hair. He looked over to you, brows raised. “What’s up, babe?”

A little breathless, you pointed a very stern finger in your husband’s direction. “Don’t you dare buzz your hair.”

“Why not?” he looked confused, and you couldn’t blame him.

You crossed your arms over your chest. “Because not only will you cause an uproar within your fandom, sweetheart, but you will have a very unhappy wife. You know that I love you, hair or not, but if I can intervene, just this one time, I’m gonna do it.”

Tyler fiddled with the length of hair on top of his head again. “You really think it looks good?”

Convinced he was dropped the idea of buzzing his head again, you took a seat on the bathroom counter and took the clippers from his hand. “Let’s put the clippers down, shall we? I love your hair when it’s longer. It’s soft and I can run my fingers through it when you’re begging me to scratch your head to help you sleep. I love you, buzzed or not, but I really like it when you have your longer hair.” You rubbed your hands lightly along his chin and cheeks. “Especially when you’ve got the scruff to go with it.”

He moved between your legs and cupped your face in his hands. After kissing you sweetly, he sighed. “I can’t really say no to you.”

“You’ve never been able to.”

Tyler chuckled. “That’s the truth.” Sighing, he surveyed his hair in the mirror once again. “What if I just … shaved the sides? Not really a mohawk, but something like it.”

You thought on that for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, I like that idea. But, I better stay here and supervise. Wouldn’t want to leave you alone and have you ‘accidentally’ shave it all.”

Tyler laughed again; you knew him too well.

* * * * *

At the next show, fans were anxious to see Tyler. As some sort of prank, he had hinted on social media that what his fans referred to as “the floof” was gone. You were tempted to let everyone know you had saved it, but why ruin the fun?

Josh was already sidestage, waiting to get things started with his lighted torch. You and Tyler were in an area essentially under the stage; the roar of the crowd was dulled but not silenced.

“They’re waiting for you, sir,” you chuckled.

Tyler held his hand out to you. “They can wait a minute — my cue’s not even up yet. Hold my hand till I have to go.”

When you had first started dating Tyler, butterflies permanently fluttered in your stomach. You loved him now more than ever, but moments like this brought back those butterflies. You clasped your hand with his while the two of you waited for his cue to take the stage.

“When they are all excited for your new haircut, make sure you give me credit. Tell them I said ‘you’re welcome’,” you teased.

“I will,” Tyler smirked. He pulled you close for a quick kiss, then sent you on your way.

You didn’t always stick around to watch the show like you had in the beginning, but tonight, you just couldn’t resist the fans’ reaction to the fluff and scruff combination you had managed to stop Tyler from shaving off.

#twenty one pilots fanfiction #twenty one pilots fanfic #twenty one pilots fic #tøp fanfiction #tøp fanfic #tøp fic #tyler #tyler joseph #reader #reader insert #tyler x reader #tyler joseph x reader #fluff #tyler fluff #tyler joseph fluff #literally it's about the floof #fwp #can you save my heavydirtyqueue

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ahiddenpath · 5 years

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Nanowrimo Update

Hey baes! I haven’t done my writing for today, so as of 11/8, I’ve written 15,039 words. I’m a day ahead, and I’m hoping to build another day’s buffer over the weekend.

Writing talk/excerpt/upcoming giveaway/life talk beneath the cut, wall of text ahead.

Writing Talk

So far, this has been the most painless Nanowrimo ever. I’ve been doing this since 2008, with one year off in 2011 (Skyrim released on 11/11/11, and I knew nothing could compete with it). I dunno why I’m doing so well, especially given that I’ve struggled to even sit down and write for... gosh, months? Like two years? I’m not even sure how long anymore. I’m almost... mad? Like? Was I actually able to write this whole time, or...? Did I only need some kind of deadline????

But, I’m trying to just roll with it instead of analyzing. I can tell you that, like most Nanowrimo drafts, it’s repetitive and... pretty bad, just dialogue with stage directions. But I know from lots of experience that fixing a terrible first draft that you enjoyed writing is much easier than agonizingly piecing together a decent first draft, so I’m just letting it flow.

Excerpt (Please forgive my unedited Nanowrimo draft, lol! This will be the first scene of the Eimi in Tri fic.)

Eimi and the Izumis took their seats at a round table with a linen cloth. Eimi kept glancing at Koushiro and his parents, trying to figure out how to act. She had never been to such a fancy restaurant.

Their host, an older, handsome man in a tuxedo, helped Kae into her seat and said something Eimi couldn't parse. After a few seconds, it registered as French with a Japanese accent. Koushiro responded slowly, with a heavier accent, and Eimi nearly tripped on a table leg.

Stunned, she took her seat, quite missing that the host meant to help her next. When he departed, she leaned into Koushiro, who sat beside her.

"You don't speak French," she hissed.

He offered a sheepish smile. "I prepared with a phrase book for tonight."

A server appeared by her shoulder with a water carafe. Eimi leaned back to make way for her. How long, she wondered, had Koushiro studied his phrase book? Had he perused it for an afternoon and produced passable French? For years, her language skills had surpassed his. But they were first years in high school now, and the older he grew, the more Koushiro's brain expanded. It was like watching the Winchester house growing and rearranging in its heyday, but with fewer occult references.

Not knowing what else to say, Eimi nodded and opened her leather-bound menu... Which was entirely in French. She swallowed a sigh that might have tarnished Koushiro's pleasure.

It was Kae and Masami's twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, and Koushiro had taken pains to make it special. Although he would never admit it to his parents, he had poured over restaurant reviews for weeks, comparing menus, ambiance, and service. And apparently, when his choice turned out to be a French establishment, he had brushed up on the language.

His adoptive parents made it clear that Koushiro didn't owe them anything a biological child wouldn't. This didn't penetrate Koushiro's natural sense of gratitude and appreciation, and here they sat, dressed up and smiling indulgently at Koushiro. Everyone at the table knew that he was overdoing it... except for him.

Eimi caught Kae's eyes and had to fight down a laugh. No one would call Koushiro out on this; he was being too damned cute.

Koushiro opened the menu and blinked. "Ah, hmm. Well, I can translate this."

That familiar look of pride and wonder transformed Kae and Masami's faces. Eimi stared up at the chandelier overhead, struggling against laughter once more. As much as she admired Koushiro's ability to pick up conversational restaurant French on a whim, she was objective enough to temper it with his inability to foresee the language barrier as an issue for his guests... If only just.

Upcoming Giveaway

I’ve mentioned my AlphaSmart 3000 a few times, but short version: it’s a portable word processor that runs forever on three AA batteries, boots up immediately, and does nothing but store your typed words. I can write about x1.5 as many words in the same time frame on an AlphaSmart compared to a computer, because all it does is word process. You also can’t edit effectively on it, which slowly teaches you to focus on forward momentum while writing

What I didn’t know is that AlphaSmart created newer models before discontinuing their products in 2013. I did some research and found that the AlphaSmart neo 2 has a more ergonomic keyboard than the AlphaSmart 3000 and has a word count feature. Because I spend about two hours a day with this device, I decided that spending $30 was worth it to protect my hands.

So now I have an AlphaSmart 3000 that needs a new home. While I feel a little strange about giving away the older model and keeping the newer one for myself, well... I think it’s a great tool, and I’ve used it so much in the last six years. It could definitely be helpful to one of my writer followers.

First, though, I need to track down a cable for it, because the Ebay seller of my new AlphaSmart neo 2 failed to include the promised cable. In the meantime, if anyone has any ideas for the giveaway, I’m all ears.

Life Talk

I’m in a great place mentally recently, which I know is linked to being creative daily again. It’s funny, because when you have anxiety (or depression, I imagine?), doing things sounds impossible, even if it’s something you love. But doing things you love eases anxiety and depression, so if you continue to not do the things you love, your anxiety gets worse! It’s a vicious cycle, and now I’m like... Bruh. Was a freaking deadline all I needed this whole time?!

I mean, regardless, I still needed therapy. I still needed to learn the things I’m learning now. But going forward, I’m definitely going to create a daily deadline for myself, even if it’s only 500 words/day (roughly 15,000 words per month, as opposed to the 50,000 words required by Nanowrimo).

However, lately I’ve been a storm of hormones in a tight bag of skin. I can tell it’s not my mental state, which is calm and... honestly, shockingly receptive. It’s something physical, and I’m going to get a hormone panel as soon as I can at my therapist’s recommendation.

To give you an example... A few days ago, when I came home from work, a car was in my assigned parking spot, so I couldn’t park. This is annoying, yes, but all I had to do was park on the street and talk to my neighbors until I found whoever owned the car and got them to move it.

Instead, I pulled over and shut down for about ten minutes. I was so furious, I had to sulk/brood/talk myself down. And then my anxiety was like, “I can’t talk to people, can’t talk to people,” while my rage (which is foreign to me) was like, “I WILL SCREAM AT THEM, HOW DARE THEY.”

In the end, I called my husband, and he came out of the house and drove us to dinner, and the car was gone when we came home.

This isn’t normal for me at all, and it sounds like some kind of hormone imbalance. I can’t know for sure until I get it checked out. In the meantime, I’ve taken to telling my husband when I’m feeling vulnerable/defensive/irritable. I don’t want to snap at him over nothing, so I try to say something like, “I feel angry for no reason, and I need to be alone,” or “I feel defensive, and I can’t talk about this subject right now without being unreasonable.”

I dunno, maybe this sounds like I’m falling to pieces, but it’s separate from actual anxiety/stress. It’s like... A fake, sourceless thing. I’m actually doing really well, it’s just that my body is bonkers. But addressing it is simple, so at least there’s that. And really, I should have had this done a long time ago.

And that’s all my brain is giving me right now! I hope you’re all well :D

#hidden's life

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iamappiagyei · 4 years

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Yaa Yaa delivers stellar performance on UTV’s United Showbiz – WATCH

Yaa Yaa

Ghanaian singer-songwriter, recording artist and actress Yaa Yaa over the weekend appeared on UTV’s finest talk show ‘’United Showbiz’’ which is hosted by Ghanaian actress and TV presenter, Nana Ama McBrown.

On her interview with Nana Ama McBrown, Yaa Yaa spoke about her music background and how her family is filled with passion for the creative arts. She said, ‘’My mother is part of a choir in church, my big brother (Kankam) is a musician like myself and the last born is a choreographer who happens to teach ballet. We all (happen to) play instruments too’’. When also asked about her view on the industry’s support for women, she responded ‘’Yes, people want to support you, but it’s the quality of the support that matters. People’s motives may be very different, like unprofessional or very wrong, and if you choose not to comply with their conditions; say they want to marry or date you, your chance at success is limited’’.

The highlight of the show was Yaa Yaa’s spectacular performance and energy which wowed guests on the show, leaving a host of positive reviews under UTV Ghana’s Instagram post and hers as well. The songbird performed a host of original songs off her vast catalogue of hits.

Speaking to the ‘Kae’ hitmaker about her endearing performance and time on ‘’United Showbiz’’, this was what she had to say: ‘’It was an elevating and freeing experience for me. I’m grateful that Nana Ama McBrown gave me her platform and the opportunity to share my gift and music with the world! I’m so humbled by the feature, and the fact that a lot of people enjoyed what I did makes me really happy. I thank them all’’.

Yaa Yaa

In reference to her time with the show’s host, Yaa Yaa added: “Nana Ama McBrown and I bonded pretty well. We talked about what I’ve been up to lately, ‘’Agoo’’ which is my debut album and one I take a lot of pride in. I also shared with her and the audience how the COVID-19 situation stifled effective promotion beyond its February release and how that’s no longer a problem. I proceeded to give out CDs of ‘’Agoo’’ to present guests and Shop Yaa Yaa which is a business I’m running also came up. I was so delighted to give Nana Ama McBrown some samples: a pair of wooden earrings with cowries just so she could get a feel of our awesome line of products. My time on the show ended great, and I sounded my socials amid urging fans to go check out ‘’Agoo’’ which is currently on all digital streaming platforms worldwide!”

Earlier this year on February 14, Yaa Yaa released her debut album ‘’Agoo’’, a greeting in the Akan dialect which is to signify the star’s official arrival. The 9-track album boasts of songs like ‘No Gin’, ‘Time Will Heal Us’, ‘Mmusuo’ and ‘E Be Money’ amid other treats to mention a few. Watch Yaa Yaa’s performance and be sure to stream/download her debut album ‘’Agoo’’ on all digital streaming platforms worldwide here: http://smarturl.it/listenagooalbum on Aftown: https://efie.co/5yaMX

WATCH THE PERFORMANCE HERE

View this post on Instagram

Grateful for the opportunity to share my gift and music with the world on @utvghana lastnight. Thank you to everyone who watched and for all the lovely messages God bless you all. #fabebom

. Big ups to my sisters in the game @sista.afia @msforson_gh You guys are amazing

Great seeing you again @bullhaus . Backing vocals: @tina__teena

A post shared by Yaa Yaa (@yaayaaofficial) on Sep 27, 2020 at 2:42am PDT

The post Yaa Yaa delivers stellar performance on UTV’s United Showbiz - WATCH first appeared on KwameWeb.

source https://www.kwameweb.com/2020/10/yaa-yaa-delivers-stellar-performance-on-utvs-united-showbiz.html

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caressaiswhere · 6 years

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Umbrella ea hau e kae? (Where is your umbrella?) Much Ado At Initiation Ceremony

The first time I made a friend in my training village, the opening conversation, half in English and half in Sesotho went something like this:

Me: Hello ausi (sister). How you are you?

Local Girl: I am fine, how are you?

M: I’m great! What is your name?

LG: Tshidi Kheleku

Me: Ohhh **(tries hard to hear the name right and so I can repeat it during future interactions. ** Well, I am ausi Bonolo.

T: Yes, I know … where are you going?

M: I am going to Maputsoe to go shopping.

T: With whom?

M: Baithaopi.

T: It’s hot. Ausi Bonolo, where is your umbrella? Why do you not have it?

M: I don’t have an umbrella.

T: Would you like one for 15 Rand?

M: No thanks, I am fine. I must go or I will miss the taxi into town. Bye-Bye Ausi.

T: Bye-Bye ausi Bonolo.

And thus, began a good acquaintanceship and the beginning of a never-ending train of people wanting to know 1) where I am going and 2) why I don’t have my umbrella.

Now that I have settled into by village in Botha-Bothe, the question is constant. Those who know me, ask me in English. Those who don’t know me, or who don’t speak as much English, ask me in Sesotho. I am well versed in answering in either language that no, I don’t have an umbrella and no, I don’t need to borrow one. Because of the hot summers here in Lesotho, many Basotho don’t go anywhere without some kind of wide-brimmed head covering/hat or an umbrella. Some, women especially, have both. As an American who enjoys the sun, even if it beats too hot on my head, I used to find the concept of hats and umbrellas to be superfluous. I’m darker-skinned and don’t usually experience the negatives of sunburns. I like to sweat and fell the sun-beating down on me, signs that I am alive and living through a second consecutive summer. But for many that I encounter, my behavior seems to be absurd. People shake their heads at the laughable black girl heading down the street for an hour walk with absolutely no protection from the sun. Women laugh and try to give or sell me theirs. I always refuse. The umbrella isn’t my style.

However, on the 14th of January, I took up a woman on her offer, to pretty dissatisfactory results. On the morning of the 14th, I agreed to go with a co-teacher to an initiation school ceremony. Initiation school, also known as circumcision school, lasts from mid-July to mid-January. During this time, the boys undergo traditional rites of passages and emerge, culturally speaking, men. The first three months are spent in the village until the warmth of late spring/early summer leads them into the mountains. In addition to becoming circumcised by traditional doctors, they learn a myriad of skills deemed to be important for becoming a strong Basotho male. At the ceremony, I had the privilege to ask the traditional doctor questions with the help of my co-teacher as translator. He spoke of how the men learn skills such as sewing, hunting, and tasks related to physical strength. Through the usage of traditional medicine, the men are not only strengthened but sanctified. Basotho are thought to have been protected during times of Civil War and international wars due to their men being trained and protected by the traditional doctors. War is seen more about which doctor was the best at spiritually protecting and strengthening his men. The ceremony in January is their homecoming ceremony, where the boys-turned-men return to their villages with their new skills and knowledge in tow.

I, of course, knew nothing about this before heading to the ceremony. My counterpart just kept asking me if I wanted to go to the ceremony at the next big village area since I had missed the local one due to miscommunication. What the ceremony entailed and who it was about was a mystery to me revealed only on the long walk towards the taxi/van areas. Of course, the first thing upon meeting me on the main road that my co-teacher asked me was “Why did you not bring an umbrella?” I laughed because 5 minutes prior, my host-mother had asked me the same thing when I went to let her know where I was headed. And the co-teacher’s daughter had asked me the same thing 3 minutes prior when she came to let me know that her father was waiting for me on the main road. To both of the females, I had simply replied that I did not have an umbrella and that where I come from, I am not accustomed to using an umbrella, not even when it is raining. However, my co-worker was more concerned. He was like “why did you not ask your host mother to borrow you one?” I laughed, reiterated that I am not accustomed to umbrellas and prefer the heat of the sun, even on hot days.

I thought the matter was solved, but when I arrived some time later to the ceremony grounds, it was clear that it was not. One of the traditional doctor’s wives (he has two) let me sit next to her. She fed me motoho, a sour (citrusy) porridge served at occasions such as this. Then she immediately instructed one of her friends to loan/give me an umbrella. Unsure of how to refuse politely in Sesotho and not wanting to appear rude by assuming she spoke English (she does), I took the umbrella and thanked her. I knew she was being generous and sharing, the only thing to do in the situation as a Basotho.

Because I was not a man who had paid a fee to take picture of the event, I will try to describe what I saw. Before me was a tent, in which about 20 young men were sitting on the floor, in red patterned blankets. They were facing a crowd of men, who I was later told were those who had already completed initiation school. The women and kids were sitting off the left, a little south of the tent. Behind the tent was a section that was supposed to be filled by boys who had not yet attending initiation school. But since it was early in the day and not many were attending the ceremony yet, a few women and girls were sitting there as well. The open-tented area was surrounded by sticks covered in red colored medicine at the tips. I later learned that the sticks were there as protection for the ceremony. Anyone inside would be protected from any evil spirts or ill-wishing. Only those currently finishing initiation school were typically allowed to dwell in the center, while everyone else sat outside the boundaries of the sticks, except during the time when the entered to present gifts. At the front of the covering where the initiation school attendees were sitting was one male standing at the front, leading the singing. The ceremony most consists of boys-turned-me being announced to the crowd. That particular man then stands up and leads the whole group in singing. He may sing for as long as he wants. The length of singing sometimes depends on the number of gifts being brought up while he is singing. Gifts are brought to the left corner of the tent where one of the teachers blesses it before giving it to another teacher who collects and organizes the gifts. The blessing is done by taking the tail of a cow and dipping it into a bucket holding traditional medicine prepared by the traditional doctor. The water is then dripped/sprinkled from the cow’s tail onto the gift. This protects the gift so that even if it had evil spirits meant to do the boy-turned-man harm, the boy would be protected. Then, and only then, will the teacher pick up the gift and present it to the initiated. The gifts were a myriad of things. The idea is to present whatever you have to give in support to the initiated. My co-teacher joked that I could even lay down my eye-glasses. The gifts are given to the family of the male, so laying down something like glasses would only work if I was supporting someone in my own family. Once I was allowed to move closer, I saw so many types of gifts being given:

· Thin brightly colored plastic bracelets

· Mardi-gra like-beaded necklaces

· Safety-pins

· Matches

· Maluti coins (Maluti is the local currency)

· Thick warm blankets ( Both the kind worn around Basotho during cooler

weather and the kind you would use for your bedding only.)

· Bandana-like cloths

· Towels/mini-blankets decorated with tiny mirrors, beads, and the like

· Sun-caps

· Winter caps and hats

· Walking staffs

· And one time, a cell phone battery

From the comfort of the shade provided by my borrowed umbrella in the women’s seating section, I watched only the tail-end of a young man singing before the group took a break to use the bathroom and rest.

View from the women’s seating. The beauty of the event is spoiled by my poor camera quality and picture taking skills.

During the break, however, my co-teacher called for me. He wanted me to sit within the circle, at the front side of the tent. There, I would have a better view and would be allowed to talk with the traditional doctor who had lead this year’s initiation 6-month initiation school and had prepared the blessing-medicine. At first, I was reluctant. I was being treated as a special guest that I was, but I was also a female and the type of special guest whose outward appearance did not separate her from local Basotho. I’m not accustomed to being treated as a special visitor, especially not an American and I felt weird being seated in a position where most people are not allowed. But I knew that my co-teacher wanted me to have the best experience and his connection to powerful people in the initiation school community allowed him to ask for a special seat for me.

As I gathered my things to relocate, I tried to hand the woman back her (bright red) umbrella. She insistently shook her head and the doctor’s wife told me that I should take it with me. To her, it was an embarrassment to have the guest seated in the special place just outside the shade of the tent without any sort of protection from the sun. I took the umbrella with me, with every intention of not using it. But when I got there, my co-worker and the doctor insisted I use it. For the first hour, I simply asked questions and took notes. Eventually the doctor left to sit at his original seat because where we were sitting was unshaded and hot. Sitting so close to the ceremony, I was able to hear the songs of the young men clearly, although I could not understand most of them. My co-worker informed me of some of the songs meanings. Some were songs of tragedy that sometimes happen in the mountains. Some were songs of jubilation from good experiences in the mountains. One paid homage to the local priest, mixing traditional faith with newer faiths. One song was specifically about having bad, ominous dreams where the young man reports of seeing the dead fathers (forefathers?) in his dream. There are so many traditional songs to be sung that I did not hear many repeated.

From my closer seat, I got to see the participants clearer and got to see their individualized outfits. In addition to the gifts received during their time to sing, each young man was adorned in various clothing accessories that they had learned to make on their own during initiation school. Some young men were wearing winter knit hats with plumes on the top. Others were wear leather or cloth satchels. A few were wearing handmade cloths pinned to their blankets. The teachers wore more elaborate outfits. They wore well-made crotchet hats and satchels. One wore an outfit made entirely out of glued or woven together beads in addition to the beaded necklaces like the ones given to the newly initiated men. The teacher in charge of collecting gifts wore a standard tank-top but his shorts were fashioned from red cloth decorated elaborately with designs from safety pins. A teacher sitting on the side, who was in charge of crowd control and announcing the young men was shirtless but draped in beads and memorabilia made from commonly used materials. The teacher blessing the gifts was wear plain clothes with the exception of his handmade hat. All teachers were the gumboots worn by shepherds and men working in the fields. All men involved in the ceremony were covered in a reddish-brown paint the same color of the medicine on the protective boundary sticks. This was to signify their completion of initiation school as well as the spiritual protection that such completion implied.

My closer view gave me the chance to ask question, actually hear the songs, and otherwise better experience the on-goings of the ceremony. However, it also placed me in the same spotlight as the initiates themselves. Behind me were all of the bo-mme, or women, who were either mothers, grandmothers, aunts, cousins, sisters or even teachers of the young initiates. Some most likely had to see past me in order to see the initiates they supported. Directly in front of me was the growing crowd of men who had already completed initiation school. Their long stares were many until one of the more accomplished and well-known boys began to sing a song that they all loved and appreciated. To the right of me were the initiates themselves and their teachers. They were largely unaware of my presence and paid me no mind.

I had come to the ceremony under the impression that I was going to come for an hour or two and then head back to my village. As time passed—one hour, two hours, three hours, three point five hours—it became clear to me that the teacher accompanying me intended for me to experience the entire ceremony. My discomfort grew. The umbrella was heavy and while it provided shade, it also provided increased temperature underneath it. As I am not accustomed to holding umbrellas all day, I had the urge to simply close it. However, my fellow teacher was counting on it for his shade as well and it seemed rude to discard the thoughtful gift of the local woman.

As my discomfort grew so did the discomfort of the men directly in-front of me. As new men joined the crowd later in the day and more alcohol flowed, it became clear that some were not aware of my reason for sitting so close to initiation group. After around the 4-hour mark, (around 2:30pm), a man who had been wandering around came up to me and told me I had to put down my umbrella. When I asked why, he said that it was blocking the view of the women behind me. I attempted to place the umbrella on the ground, but my fellow teacher (who was on the phone at that time) simply grabbed it from me and restored it to its original position. His reasoning, told to me after hanging up the phone, was that if the women had a problem seeing, they would not be shy and would come to me directly. He chalked it up to the inebriation of the man and left it at that. But it was not a matter to be left alone. After another 15 to 20 minutes, a different man tried to ask one of the initiation teachers to instruct me to put down my umbrella. He ignored them of course.

This time my fellow teacher got more involved. He got up and went to the men, explain to them that I was a special guest here to learn about Basotho culture and they were not to disturb me. He informed me that the umbrella was just an excuse. The real complaint was that they wanted me to move someplace else. It appeared that due to my complexion and attire, the men thought I was a local woman who had broken time honored seating arrangements. Women were not supposed to sit where I was sitting, especially when even men like them could not sit so close to the ceremony. Although my fellow teacher was not forthcoming with further explanations, I wondered briefly if their problem was with my gender as a whole, or the combination of my gender and complexion. If I had looked more obviously foreign, would they have accepted my presence as a visitor more readily? Or would my status as a female still have caused problems? Either way, I longed to place down my umbrella as to not give anyone an excuse to complain.

To my relief, the ceremony soon took a break. The initiates stood up together and walked off towards the rightmost hill. It was “lunch time”, although it was already past 3pm. To my surprise, my fellow teacher informed me that I would be following in the direction of the crowd of initiates. We had been invited to the local doctor’s house to eat with his family. I gratefully closed my umbrella, put it in my bag, and followed the crowd of men. After a short walk, we reached another hill with two houses on it. Outside the first house were all of those performing in the initiation ceremony. This house turned out to be the first house of the doctors. He had two families, with his second wife living in the lowermost house.

We journeyed even higher up towards the second house, the one housing his first wife and family. There I was seated under an awning of sorts with all of the elder men from the ceremony. The doctor was there as well. They all sat on small seats with a giant bucket of papa (local food staple, made of maize meal) and another giant bucket of beef. I, being a female and honored guest, was given a separate plate from which to eat. It too was laden with papa and beef. I whispered to my fellow teacher in panic that I couldn’t possibly eat so much food. His response was that it was okay. The family would be happy that I accepted and ate their food, regardless of the amount I actually ate.

My plate of papa (a stable of Basotho diet) made this time with yellow maize meal and nama ea khoho, beef. This is after I made an honest attempt to eat as much as possible! I gave the plate back like this! :(

The meal was short. Everyone ate quickly, and spoke seldom. What was spoken was in Sesotho. The doctor made sure to ask my co-teacher to let me know that they were so happy that I was here and that I should tell everyone I knew about the importance of this ceremony. I was to tell people about the great culture of Basotho.

After the meal, the doctor’s wife called me to her and lead me back to the ceremony, which had just resumed. As we walked, she introduced me to one of her daughters, a young girl who would be attending my primary school. We chatted a little in English, though it was clear that she was shy and just beginning to learn the language.

Back at the ceremony, I was faced with the dilemma of where to sit. Without my co-teacher next to me, I did not feel confident enough to sit back in my original seat. Plus, I wanted to sit near the doctor’s wife and ask her a few questions in English. So, I sat on the ground with the women. The umbrella, so kindly gifted to me, remained in my backpack.

The rest of the ceremony was lovely. More people had joined the audience now that it was evening time and it was becoming cooler outside. As time went on, the gifts became more extravagant, mostly because the son of the doctor and a family member of the local chief were the next two initiates to sing. The doctor’s son received at least 6 blankets and sang for over an hour to much crowd appreciation.

When it started to get dark, I walked to the road, caught the next available taxi/van, and quietly slipped home. On my seat on the ground I left behind my new umbrella.

#howiseepc lesotho

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wyrm-wolf · 7 years

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Rapunzel

Another day, another day. I still can't believed how overly excites I am getting about this event. Think you @thesilverqueenlady for making the event! Alone. That's how Will wanted to live out the rest of his life, just alone. No more FBI, no more Jack, no more dead bodies, and no more human contact. No, no, no, and most importantly, no. So that's why he left Wolftrap to find a new home, deep, deep in the woods. A place where no one could hear a person scream, okay wait that makes it sound like he's a killer, no, Will just wanted a place to relax, fix boat motors and play with his pack. Which he did of course, sure sometimes the nightmares would still linger, but he was most at peace then he had ever been. His pack had grown from only five to now adding onto nine dogs, who all loved and adored Will. Each week he would leave once a day, only to coke back with a large enough kill to last him and the dogs a week. He had started growing most of his vegetables, and cut down on a once a month shopping trip. People had stoped calling him, so he cut off electricity in his life, which was marvelous since he no longer had to worry about Jack showing up on his door one day. So when the day came that four weirdly robed people stood outside his door, he was not expecting a roommate to be added to his house. "I'm sorry, what did you just say?" "Will Graham, under the super vision of you I am putting this criminal in your custody, he will not harm you in anyway. We have already put ruins on this house so he cannot run away or use any powerful spells." The bald head leader said, which he thinks was called the Ancient One. Man, cosplayers are getting really weird lately. "And if I say no?" "You won't." Will sighed, knowing that they were probably right, so he stepped back and opened the door for them. "As long as he doesn't bother me, he can stay." The Ancient One then smiled, and motioned to the two men who were holding onto a single man to cone forward, they then threw the man in roughly to Will's house, where his dogs began to sniff and inspect him. "When will you come back for him?" Will asks turning to find that the strange robbed people are already gone, he groans closing the door to face the- "HOLY HELL!" Will finds himself being pressed against the door by the man who had been thrown in his house. The man growls at Will, grabbing his arms and throwing them over his head, before-did he just fucking sniff me? "Yup, this is completely normal, allowing some stranger in my house, who immediately starts sniffing me. Good job, Graham." He says to himself. Things could not get possibly worse as the man sniffs him like a dog, Will whimpers and stays still until the man is satisfied and releases him before stalking off into his house. Will falls to the ground, and groans into his hands. His dogs come up to him curious and a little scared as to what had just happened. "It's okay guys, we're just going to have some unwanted company...for awhile." He hopes. Instead of mulling over what to do with the unwanted guest, he gets up and begins to make dinner for himself and the dogs, and...for the stranger. Who he now needs to get a name from. After making a nice sandwich, and some soup, Will walks down the hall to find the stranger in an empty bedroom doing a ton of push ups. He stops in the middle of another push up, and looks at Will with a glare. "Hey, don't give me that look. I don't want you here either, so get over it. We're both in a loophole, so here, I made you some food. Eat it, or don't care." Will snaps, setting the food down. and leaving as quick as he can. Lord give hum strength. The next days are, to be put kindly, Hell. Will wakes up the next all but thinking the yesterdays events was just a bed dream, only to find the stranger doing pull ups on the door. He stares, because one, that man has a body of a God, and two, because who in there right kind exercises all day? He leaves the man to his...work, and makes himself a cup of coffee so he can scald his tongue and focus on that all day. Then spends the rest of his day ignoring the man, as he fix motors and plays with his dogs. It goes like that for a week, until Saturday arrives and Will's shoving his socked feet into his boots, and pulling on his gun. The man doesn't come out to check on him, since he's still brooding. Because that's exactly what with all that intense exercise, the man is definitely brooding over something like Barman would. Will goes out into the cool morning. and spends most of his morning hunting down a deer. Once he catches it, he drags the body back to his cabin where he'll proceed to cut it up, and skin it. Use everything it has to offer like a hunter would do in the ancient times. When he comes back he finds the house wrecked, furniture turned over, and the dogs are whimpering. "What...Hey!" He finds himself being enveloped by strong arms, and an elegant long nose pressing against his curls. The man is...crying. And then it clicks, his empathy reaches out to the man, and he feels his loneliness, and his fear that Will left him. He sighs, and let's the stranger hold him and comfort himself. "I wasn't going to leave you, if that's what you were thinking. I just needed to get some food, you know that thing we eat." Will says, when the man releases him. "You're going to have to clean up your mess though, because I am too tired to clean up." "Kaecilius...my name is Kaecilius." "Will. I'm Will." The strange robed man looks up at Will, like actually looks up from the grey locks of hair on his head and looks at Will. He has to gasp as the sight before him, because Kaecilius is a marvel to look at. With sharp, defined cheekbones that make him appear as a Greek statue, but the real interesting thing is his eyes. Yes, GIS eyes are something Will's never seen before, there a deep maroon but surrounding the eyes are a purple-blue hue of colors. Like a bruise that sparkles. "Wow. Do you have an eye disease? Man I hope it's not contagious." Will blurts out, Kaecilius frowns a little before laughing at him, and shaking his head. "Humans." "Excuse me, but if you have any complaints about my species then you can leave it at the door." After that the two begin to lighten up to each other. Will walks into the kitchen the next morning to find Kaecilius trying to figure out how the coffee maker works, he takes note how the man seemed to have cleaned himself up a bit. His hair had been brushed and pulled back into a ponytail, and his face looked cleanly shaven. "This contraption, how does it work? I see you make some black liquid with it every morning, and it smells awful yet delicious." Kaecilius scrutinized, rubbing the bottom of his chin. Will snorts, and presses a single button on the coffee maker. He watches as Kaecilius eye's brighten with interest when the machine starts to brew coffee. "It's called a coffee machine, and it makes coffee. One of the seven wonders humans had discovered in our conquest." "Interesting. Tell me more about this coffee." "Well, it has healing qualities that lifts the spirits of humans, and helps us work for hours on end in the morning, even when we had like three hours of sleep." Will explains, trying to hold back a smile. "It was gifted to us by an angel I'd the lord, after many years of sacrifices and war we had won, and he gifted us with coffee. Now it has become our sanctum." "Really?" "No, it's just a bean we ground up, and puts caffeine in our body which gets us moving. Wanna try some?" "I can see why not." Will watches as the man sniffs at the cup handed to him, before taking a sip and spitting it back out. He laughs, bending over and holding onto the counter so he doesn't fall. "This taste like shit, ugh, how do you drink this? Kudos to you for ruining your taste buds with this." Kaecilius says, snacking his lips as a way to get rid of the dull taste. "I may have forgotten to mention the little fact that coffee taste like crap, until you add sugar or sweetner to it." Will snickered passing the jar of sugar to Kaecilius. Kaecilius shakes hic head, and sets the coffee down. "I think I'll stick with tea." "Whatever. You're just missing out." Over the weeks spent loving together, and actually talking Will learns a great many things about Kaecilius, and where he's from. Even if it hurts his brain from processing the whole thing over, and over again until it clicks. Then comes the time where Kaecilius actually tells him why they placed him here, complaining how it was down right dumb of him to trap him here and he did nothing wrong. "Kaecilius, you tried to destroy the world, what do you mean you did nothing wrong. You did like the number one most wanted thing wrong, of course your going to get punished." Will tells him, laughing when the man scrunched his nose at him in distaste. "Yes, well when I escape from here, I'll make sure to make a space for you in ny world conquering for you and your dogs." "Aww, really? Kae, your going to soft on me." Will jokes pushing at the man's shoulder and laughing. "No, it's because I love you." "Wha-mhhhmmm." Kaecilius leans over and plants a nice warm kiss to Will's lips as they sit in the couch together, and when he pulls back, Will grabs at him and pulls him in for another kiss. The kiss, and kiss, and soon there moving into Will's room for a more private area. And when the morning comes, Will walks outside with a cup of coffee in one hand and a cup of tea in the other, as he watches Kaecilius do push ups in the freezing snow. Naked. Will stands there watching him, without even announcing his presence, but Kaecilius seems to notice him as he stops to look at him. "Something the matter, Will?" "Oh, no, don't mind me. I'm just enjoying the view, that's all." Kaecilius aborts, standing up and walking over to Will, planting a kiss on his forehead before taking the cup of tea to sip at. Will winks at him, and moves back inside of the house, because it's way too cols for a man only in a robe to be standing in. Of course, there is a downfall to their love story. Each day Kaecilius rest and grows stronger, soon practicing spells and forming ruins. And then the day comes when he breaks the ruins on the house, gives Will one last kiss, and just like that is gone. "I'll be back." He said, before opening up a portal and leaving. Will waits, and he waits and he waits. Each day he grows worried, and his heart aches. Falling back in step with the days where he lived his life alone, and happy. Now the absence only makes him sad and weary. It isn't until he's in town one day, and sees the news about some attack going on in New York. Dropping everything, he gets into his car and drives. Next thing he knows, he's running through a crowd of screaming pedestrians, and marching right up to where Kaecilius is fighting some blue robed man. "Kaecilius!" Will yells out, trying to get the man's attention. When he doesn't get so much as a glance towards his direction, he opens his mouth taking in a deep breath before yelling. "KAECILIUS, YOU BETTER GET YOU ARSE DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW, BEFORE I GO OVER TO YOU!!" Both strangely robed men look down at Will, before Kaecilius glances at the blue robed and flies down to Will. Marching over to him, and speaking. "Will you shouldn't be here, it's dangerous." He says, worry seeping out into his words. "Oh no, if you think you can just waltz into my life, and make yourself a home in my heart, then try and leave me for world domination. You are out of your mind." Will growls, crossing his arms over his chest and stomping his foot. "Now come on, we're going home right now." "I-" "No." "But-" "Ah!" "Will-" "Right now, Kaecilius. Say good bye to your arch-nemesis, because we are going HOME." Kaecilius's head drops and his shoulders slump, but he gives Will a nod. Turing back towards the blue robed man who has just landed next to them, and is staring confused at Will. "You were a good for, Mr. Doctor, bit it is time for me to return back game with my lover. Until next time." Kaecilius says, like he just didn't get his pride told by a puny human. "That's it? You're just going to give up like that, because some human told you?" "I'll have you know that I have been dealing with this man for the past couple months, and had to endure as much pain as anyone would with his sappy arse when he was first dropped off. But we got through things together, and fell in love." Will hissed, shoving a finger in the smirking man's face. "So if you think I'm some puny human, then put down the magic tricks, and come fight me like a human. Cause I assure you that I will kick your cape wearing arse." Kaecilius snickers from where he's standing as the blue robed man stares at Will with shock, and makes a incoherent sound when Will tugs Kaecilius down and kisses him. After that Will watches as Kaecilius makes a portal that leads straight into their home, and they walk through it, together. Back to the dark tower that had held them both from seeing the world, and where they will enjoy a long, non world dominating, life together. Hope you all enjoy Kaecilious, what a great man he is. Tomorrow is "Snow Queen" and what I have prepared might just break your heart, might

#my writing #hannigram #hannibal #hannibal lecter #will graham #hannibaleverafter #doctor strange #kaecilius

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tinymixtapes · 5 years

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Column: Favorite Rap Mixtapes of November & December 2018

With a cascade of releases spewing from the likes of DatPiff, LiveMixtapes, Bandcamp, and SoundCloud, it can be difficult to keep up with the overbearing yet increasingly vital mixtape game. In this column, we aim to immerse ourselves in this hyper-prolific world and share our favorite releases each month. The focus will primarily be on rap mixtapes — loosely defined here as free (or sometimes free-to-stream) digital releases — but we’ll keep things loose enough to branch out if/when we feel it necessary. (Check out October’s installment here.) Soooooo many dope mixtapes these past two months that even as TMT’s year-end coverage wrapped up like gifts bursting from Santa’s sack, our squad still jumped at the chance to pile on some final blurbs of 2018 before the ball-drop. “Overbearing?” Maybe. “Hyper-prolific?” Definitely. Multiple puns in that first sentence? Two for the price of one, hon. To that, before we get into our November and December favs, here are some “honorable mentions” that didn’t get a write-up below but are no less deserving of a spin this New Year’s Eve: Semiratruth - WAIT!, Demahjiae - Ghetto Blessings, SPNDA x Kae Tea - Mosaic EP Lil Durk - Signed to the Streets 3, City Girls - Girl Code, The Diplomats - Diplomatic Ties, Roc Marciano - Pimpstrumentals, Grimm Doza & SpaceGhostPurrp - The Haunting in New Jersey, Wiardon - Numba1Viktim, Chris Crack - Just Gimme A Minute and Thanks Uncle Trill, Bloodmoney Perez - Time is a Motherfucker, CL King - Waiting 4, and Defcee - A Mixtape As God Intended, Vol. 1 … also, three (!!!) Young Thug leaks. –Samuel Diamond --- Red Daughter, Trap Funk & Alivio - Red Funk Alivio 2 [STREAM] It’s mixtapes like this one that have us quietly missing the days when the word “rap” wasn’t in this column’s title. W/o wasting too many words justifying this tape’s inclusion, let’s just say rap is a big part of it. But so too are Afrocentrism, feminism, indigenous pride, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Brazil, baile funk, Jersey club, house, footwork, and many more elements than an admittedly limited worldview can readily identify. One hesitates to revisit clichés like the dance after the revolt or “if this doesn’t get you moving, you’re already dead,” but, well, while Google Translate tells us that alivio is Portuguese for relief, our ears, eyes, and noses tell us that the club is flooding with oppressor blood. If you missed the first drop, catch up. –Samuel Diamond --- Tommy Genesis - Tommy Genesis [STREAM] We the undersigned/unwashed jabberers at TMT have a tastynasty habit of measuring years out in loosely-themed song mixes. I bet some super astute comment section glob thinks it’s an arbitrary habit. I humbly submit that when we cycle artifacts through a series of spaces, patterns emerge. Assumptions get split. Moods and usages cross and swerve. The exceptional artifacts fit every space. Tommy Genesis, the Vancouver rapper’s debut album, pumps blood and caresses muscles like GYM, cycles want until it subsumes self, a party in the VOID. “Drive” flecks acoustic strings at the CLIFF’s edge and Charlie Heat’s ballast production on “Play With It” turns the ALLEY concave, sends come-on invocations city-wide, supercharged fuel for the COUPE. Tommy Genesis sounds like a whole damn year — wanting more is loving living. –Frank Falisi --- Peewee Longway - State of the Art [STREAM] A glaring omission from our Favorite Cover Art feature (putting him at two for the year), State of the Art finds Peewee Longway rapping as well as he ever has, retaining his distinctive style while adapting to the ever-evolving sound of the moment. Longway’s sound has always tracked the mainstream not directly but as a point of divergence; while likely not distinct enough to make him anyone’s absolute favorite rapper, he’s well-positioned for the reliable production of quality, personable raps. State of the Art is split between showpieces for relatively stock guest spots from the likes Gucci or members of Migos, and far more idiosyncratic one-offs; “Lets Be Real” (with Maxo Kream) is a Molly anthem reminiscent of some of Longway’s stranger inclinations, while “Top of the Bank” marries an Otis Redding interpolation and a cooing, celebratory hook without either seeming out of place. Longway’s more likely to retire from rap (yet again) than blow up any time soon, but State of the Art is more than enough proof that the roundest rapper working has got plenty left to give. –Corrigan B --- Adé Hakim - On To Better Things [STREAM · DOWNLOAD] In a year of SlumsNYC triumphalism — see the series of landmark releases by navy blue, King Carter, MIKE et al., culminating with Earl Sweatshirt’s Some Rap Songs — Adé Hakim a.k.a. Sixpress has been like a silent partner to the movement. Featured on most of the aforementioned and having released a couple of short but no less notable mixtapes on his own this year, Hakim closes out an already-headway-making 2018 with his most complete and progressive work to date in the aptly titled On To Better Things. Low-key, high-impact beats, rhymes, and life insights from the birthplace of hip-hop coalesce here in a freely collective but clearly self-defined gestalt. Where do we go from this? Just listen. –Samuel Diamond --- AJ Suede - Darth Sueder II: Goth Marciano [STREAM] Don’t let your current intake of “lo-fi” hip-hop begin and end with Earl’s latest album. Rapper/Producer AJ Suede has perfected his own take on the subgenre with his latest tape, Darth Sueder II, chopping lightly treated soul samples to set his seasick verses adrift on a lemon-lime sea. What he’s doing sonically isn’t boundary-breaking or avant-garde, but his ear for memorable loops that settle into the backdrop is impeccable. On “Lovable,” a meandering organ shuffles against hi-hats that eke out what should be an un-rappable rhythm; somehow, though, it’s the perfect vehicle for Suede to wax romantic about autumn leaves before launching into asides about gentrification and white people who are too quick to call the cops. Ideas are scattered throughout the brief tracks, but each one’s focused, bridged by some of my favorite punchlines in recent memory (“I was in that county fair/ Like that kid apparently.”) If you’re not scared off by references to esoteric Christianity and MK ULTRA, give Goth Marciano a spin — it’s a fresh take on minimalistic East Coast hip-hop, especially for someone often entrenched in the distorted cloud rap favored by his brethren in the Underground Dust Funk collective. –Jude Noel --- Big Twins - Grimey Life [STREAM] Although Big Twins f.k.a. Twin Gambino has experienced something of a second life thanks to today’s boom-bap revival, one need look no further than the guestlist on this tape to recognize his Infamous Mobb credentials. In addition to features from fellow Infamous rappers Godfather Pt. 3 and Ty Nitty, as well as Mobb affiliate Big Noyd, Grimey Life includes a posthumous appearance by Prodigy, which finds the late icon far from phoning it in, with lines such as “I handle bars like lifers or motocross bikers.” For those keeping track, Havoc also lends a verse (to Knxwledge-produced eulogy “Memories”), and The Alchemist produces the fittingly ghostly “Phantom of the Opera.” In spite of these bigger names and many other features, the project is first and foremost a product of Big Twins whose often imitated but never duplicated voice remains the unmistakable audio definition of grime — inflicted pain inflected. –Samuel Diamond --- Bbymutha - Muthaz Day 3 [STREAM] The cover art of Muthaz Day 3 is a photo of Bbymutha with her two sets of twins all dressed in red robes, surrounded by candles and sitting on what appears to be a pentagram. You’re in her domain now. Welcome to a world full of sinister instrumentals and trap beats that slither underneath the Chattanooga rapper’s spellbinding flow; a world where a single mom with two sets of twins doesn’t have to be bound by the traditional ideas of what a parent should or shouldn’t be; a world where confidence is the lifeblood of all things. On Muthaz Day 3, Bbymutha continues to champion her independence and forge ahead on a path that she’s laying brick by brick, all by herself. –Sam Tornow --- DaBoii - Neva Lookin Back [STREAM] We should be thankful that this was even made into a playlist. For a little over two years, the members of Bay Area juggernaut SOB X RBE have operated as an essentially YouTube-only outfit; while enjoyable, both recent albums (GANGIN and GANGIN II) scan more as fulfillments of label obligations than as faithful documents of the group’s most essential, often online-only work. As obsessives were left to parse the steady stream of loosies from individual members and all possible combinations thereof, there were few safer bets than a DaBoii solo track. DaBoii raps with purist appeal, his style a charismatic but unornamented amalgam of the Bay’s long history of singular rap figures. The videos, courtesy directors Tyler Casey and BGIGGZ, are often as entertaining as the songs themselves; Neva Lookin Back corrals three of DaBoii’s best from the past year (“Ridin’,” “Onna Gang,” and “Sum it Up”) alongside a further nine new tracks, offering an imperfect but better-than-nothing document of DaBoii’s 2018. Still, it’s probably best to rip your own copy of this while you still can. –Corrigan B --- Curren$y, Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist (Fetti?) - Fetti (Roma?) [STREAM] A tangential anecdote that bears repeating: in a recent interview, rapper Milo reminisced about driving around Chicago with rapper Serengeti, listening to Freddie Gibbs and Madlib’s Piñata, which Milo recalled inspired ‘Geti to say, “I don’t know if it gets better than this.” Word. Although pairing with the Mad Liberator might’ve made Gibbs your favorite rappers’ favorite rapper, heads have been waiting for a Gibbs-Curren$y-Alchemist album since the trio first came together on 2011’s “Scottie Pippen.” Thankfully, Fetti does not disappoint nor does it rest on the laurels that the three artists have received independently of each other in the seven years since. Which brings us to another point not yet fully addressed in this tape’s coverage to date: none of the three artists’ names appear on the cover, yet the word “Roma” does, leading one to believe that it might in fact be the title to this, the first release by a rap supergroup named Fetti. Fingers crossed, lighters up. –Samuel Diamond --- Warhol.ss - Chest Pains [STREAM] Has it really been two and a half years since Warhol.ss dropped “Speed Racer?” Although it feels like little time has passed since the Chicago emcee broke into the SoundCloud mainstream, the platform’s predominant ethos has experienced so much change it’s easy to forget the potential that brief track packed. Surfing Brentrambo’s undulant percussion, Warhol.ss stood out with a gruff cadence and unflinching confidence that offset the bubblegum aesthetic that overtook 2016. Despite a handful of collaborations with tastemakers Pi’erre Bourne and Cole Bennett, he’s yet to recreate his initial brilliance — an understandably difficult feat for someone so ahead of their time. On Chest Pains, we find Warhol.ss exploring the lanes that lead him back to prominence: he’s at his most accessible muttering plosive-tinged one-liners on the Kenny Beats-produced “Bird’s Nest,” but “War Ready” proves to be the tape’s most fascinating venture. Kick drums stumble over bars as Warhol lines the off-kilter rhythm with a nimble collage of triplet flows. It’s difficult to wrap your head around, but it’s hypnotic if you can. This new crop of cuts doesn’t include an obvious hit, but it does appear to be a step toward something greater. Trust the process. –Jude Noel --- Black Josh - Yung Sweg Lawd [STREAM] Is it acute homesickness or latent agoraphobia that causes some people to become physically ill every time they leave their old stomping grounds? Or maybe just plain, ordinary travelers sickness? My brother, who works in an airport, told me that a few months back a flight touched down with every passenger and crew member sick, like vomiting sick… quarantine sick. Yung Sweg Lawd is that sick, bro. It’s dark. Absent a better frame of reference (my fault), it’s Wu-Tang on Tim Westwood in the 90s, blacked out, using the words “dark” and “horrible” as slang praise, having likely just learned it. Pharma-grade smoke clouds billowing like factory stacks, it’s the acid rain; Black Josh a climate-change centaur moving (in) packs. –Samuel Diamond --- The-Dream - Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3 [STREAM] Weird times that we’re living in when an artist can release a three-volume, 42-song mixtape and it’s not anticipated or received as their magnum opus. In fact, I don’t even think that R&B heavyweight The-Dream announced Ménage à Trois beforehand beyond hinting that he was working on something. Thus Ménage à Trois, thematically billed as a three-part “sex tape,” with album art to match, lands as another long project from another major artist (which is the standard in The Age of Streaming), but it’s one worth sifting through if you like R&B even just a little bit. Singers-turned-rappers and/or rappers-turned-singers are a dime a dozen nowadays (i.e., that Drizzy-/Ty Dolla-esque hybrid style, which, make no mistake, I do enjoy), which is to say: for all the suave-crooning purists like myself, R&B proper has seen better days on the charts. Luckily, The-Dream gives us 2.5 hours of sultry singing (mostly) sans rap harmonies here while still delivering much stylistic variety. Think The Weeknd’s Trilogy except every song is about sex, with a modus operandi that overall seems to be downtempo and lush. Dig through this behemoth until you find something to cuddle up with — there’s bound to be stuff you’ll have on repeat. –Alex Brown --- Boosie Badazz - Boosie Blues Cafe [STREAM] From the Thanksgiving release date (announced two days prior) to its very concept, the actual existence of Boosie Blues Cafe was far from certain until the moment we had it in our hands. Not that expectations were tempered to match, of course. While not “bluesy,” per se, the cathartic baring of the soul has always factored heavily into Boosie’s work; he’s the man with a song for everything, a Baton Rouge legend off his ability to speak directly to the city’s youth. The prospect of him stepping fully into the region’s other musical tradition, then, was immensely appealing, if less out of optimism than sheer curiosity. It works OK — with the exception of absolute slapper “I Know How to Have a Good Time,” most of the tracks are identifiably Boosiean to a fault; Boosie’s got such a long history of rapping this stuff in a compelling way that translating it to a blues idiom can feel a bit rote. A worthwhile experiment, however; Boosie’s passion projects are by default a thousand times more interesting than someone else’s re-hashing of the very crowded Rap Caviar lane. –Corrigan B --- Sir E.U - Merry christmas my nigga! / Thc / To This Day / Cries for help [MCMN · THC · TTD · CFH] Earlier this year, I was talking to an artist who shall remain nameless about the inclusion in this column of a tape by another artist who shall remain nameless. The artist I was kibitzing with took issue with the included work, saying something to the effect of “If you throw enough shit at the wall, eventually some will stick, but that doesn’t mean it’s any good,” which is more than fair. To be honest, my understanding of noise sets and DJing in general isn’t nearly adroit enough to tell if Sir E.U’s massive output over the last two weeks is an example of the aforementioned criticism or of a mix master purposely and methodically laying waste to two-turntable fundamentals. Either way, though, the shit bangs. And the sheer quantity of his year-end sound dump is something to behold. Dig in. –Samuel Diamond http://j.mp/2GM5GfC

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