#i enjoyed it! maybe not my absolute fave out of the trilogy but i like it!

[leopardsealz]

thinkin abt h.ttyd 3. obvs ppl have the right to criticize, & the movie does have its issues, but at the same time. its a bit exhausting everytime i go into the tag to browse, & i see so many posts complaining no matter how many "salt" tags i block

[whoblewboobear]

💖🖊📥 📊 💭 🍰 🌝 hi I couldn’t help myself I got carried away

AWHHH THANK U, JANELLE 💖🥹

~

💖 What do you like most about your own writing?

I always love the dialogue~ it’s usually what I start with and build out around it. I’ll just be driving and a convo between like Jace & Porter will come to mind. It really sets a scene and a tone of voice for each character. I love it, like of my dialogue doesn’t make me feel something it’ll get rewritten until it feels right.

🖊️ Post a snippet from a current WIP

This is from part 2 of Religion’s in your lips 👏👏 my beloved period fic that purely exist for Zara to give Jace head while he’s on his period

“I’m staying.. For him,” he breathes. “Plan’s off.” Zara rolls her eyes, using her heel to push Porter back a bit.

“What changed? It has taken minutes to go back on what you’ve planned for how long? Years?” She couldn’t just accept something nice when it fell into her lap, could she?

“Zara, hear him out. There’s more,” Jace beams. Porter groans, glancing back at Jace. “You tell her, it’s your thing.”

“No, it’s technically your thing,” Jace corrects. 

“I-“

“Porter doesn’t mind sharing!” Jace blurts out before clamping a hand over his mouth. “Sorry!” 

“So I’ve been told. Under far more professional circumstances.. And yet I still see jealousy. Jace, my dear. I appreciate the enthusiasm, I do,” she smiles at him before turning her attention back to Porter, frowning. “But I do not want a relationship with you. One time was enough.” Rude. He wasn’t that bad of a lay, he was just off his game that night. Besides, Jace never complained. 

(I love when Zara is so mean to Porter 💖 it’s how she flirts)

📥 What is your fave fic to receive comments/messages on?

I absolutely love seeing comments on Wiiimdfy I love seeing which parts people really enjoyed. It always makes my day! Yours are always so incredibly sweet too aghhh~~

📊 Current number of WIPs

just 3~ Wiiimdfy, Religion’s in your lips, and then the fashion model!Jace au. I’m always writing little blurbs too

💭 What is a headcanon you have about your own work?

ough so I have this teeny tiny headcanon that ZaraJacePorter will be endgame in wiiimdfy timeline. It’s way too far out of the scope of wiiimdfy itself and the place Jace and Porter will end up. This is their story but it’s also setting me up if I wanna write more in the future about Zarajace and how they navigate that with Porter being back. I think they buy a house together somewhere nice and live out their days happily.

🍰 Name one of your fave comfort fics

Oooh! So I used to be a huge 1d!Larrie and I swear the fic Another Hazy May by deLILAh is so sweet and lovely. I haven’t read it in a while but I need to come back to it. It’s so sweet. Also omg Who Painted the Moon Black by throughthedark it’s a beautiful Larry fic that weaves in really well with the hunger games universe. For years it felt like such a great companion piece to the original hunger games trilogy. It’s so beautiful and it fits so well. Louis and Finnick are friends in it and it makes me so happy. It’s such a love letter to the hunger games through the lens of a boy and placed into the world. Looove it 💖

🌝 Who is one character you haven't yet written for that you would like to?

OOOOOOH. Now that I’m into IWTV I’d love to write something for Claudia 🤧 I need to get into her head I just adore her. I’d also like to write from Zara’s perspective! Maybe something with just her and Jace meeting in a city and being friends to lovers roommates 🤧 I wanna make Jace soooo gender too. Maybe it’s a cute college au and they’re going BCU. Lots of nights out and just vibes ughhh I need it now.

[mediumlargedarkpizza]

Hey so I've been a Monkees fan for most of my life, but I've never delved much into Mike's solo stuff. Recommendations for where to start? Personal faves? Thanks!

HELLO sorry in advance this got longer than I expected grab a juice get comfortable

I'm a typical start from the start bitch so if...I'm right he started first national band stuff first then second national band then did solo stuff

I feel like watching some music videos is a good start cause he has great ones!

I was gonna recommend one but really the whole first national band trilogy release between 1970-71 slaps so you've got magnetic south, loose salute, and Nevada fighter

Second national band I have not listened to as much 👀

My fave albums from solo are infinite rider on the big dogma (figures lol) and pretty much your standard ranch stash. Infinite is a bit more rock and most of his stuff is more typically country. I haven't listened to from a radio engine to the photon wing and tropical campfires as much tbh

And he released rays in 2005 which was inspired by vaporware??? I believe and it's absolutely wild hahah pls listen to Boomcar it's the best song

He did a bunch of like...write a book with accompanying soundtrack thing which I admittedly haven't checked out lmao so that's the garden, the prison, the ocean

And he did a soundtrack for a movie called timerider in the 80s and it..sure is a movie soundtrack all right and also his first album was technically The Wichita Train Whistle Sings which was him organising an orchestra to play Monkees songs

I'm sorry I feel like I'm so bad at stuff like this maybe @seconddoubt @head1968 @lugosis @csny @columbosunday @lesbianmikenesmith @lesbianpetertork or someone else they know can (if they feel like it) be a better guide or submit their personal input or correct any details in here I may have messed up which I'm sure I probably did djsbdjd (sorry I forgot everyone's url and can't keep track I'm pretty sure they would be fountains of knowledge SORRY IF NOT I honestly had to look up mike/Michael on my blog and be like YEAH THESE PEOPLE LOL)

He also did tv stuff lugosis uploaded elephant parts

Thank U have a nice day enjoy your mike journey

[wooahaes]

i get you 💕 oh that's such a nice one for your first! my first tattoo was a cat, i need to get it redone though as the original tattooist kinda ruined it :( a sunflower would be so beautiful, i love sunflowers 🌻

i was watching one of their mafia games and it's the one where mingyu, vernon & dino are the mafias and hoshi is basically A GENIUS at figuring out who's who i love him !!

ALSO HOSHI IS IN MY BIAS LIST. I WAS UNSURE BC I WAS SWITCHING BETWEEN HOSHI AND VERNON BUT HOSHI IS IN THE LIIIIIIST 🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡

woozi is so funny, his laugh makes me laugh, it just has me in absolute fits of laughter 😭😅 svt are really so supportive to other groups and i love that. they're so positive and so sweet and they're like a big family. honestly the carat fandom and the teume fandom are just so so nice 💙 i feel like they have less drama than other fandoms and the way svt and carats clown 🤡 each other is just SO funny 😭 a treasure-svt interaction will be utter chaos 😭

i honestly feel like i could have the deepest conversations with vernon </3 but i would probably talk to hoshi the most bc i don't think you could shut either of us up cause i talk far too much 😭

OMG YES MEN WHO LOVE CATS, just melts my heart honestly <///3 wonwoo is very much a bias wrecker for me. whoever i don't bias in svt, they bias wreck me instead. but i do absolutely love all of them ♥️

aw :( i hope you get it redone soon then!! but aaa ty!! idk if i'd go with a sunflower specifically (i'd also consider forget-me-nots because they're my fave flower <3) but i just want something small n pretty <3

i really need to go back and watch all of gose tbh... hoshi's either incredibly funny as the mafia or he's usually pretty good at figuring out who the mafia is imo :0

also yay!! i love my horanghae man hehe <3

literally i think i'm the kind of person who tends to laugh when other ppl laugh and woozi's laugh just. clears my skin. all of their laughs do tho <3

omg literally... trsr-svt interaction will end me personally but i want it SO bad. i think they'd have fun <3 i'd jokingly say "there rly should be a leader swap series somewhere for groups that aren't actively promoting" or something (maybe just some sort of game situation? who knows) but god... the chaos potential there....

also YESS i've said it SO many times before to friends that i'd love to sit down and just have conversations with vernon. just talk abt life or what movies he's been enjoying n stuff. also i want to share dumb memes w him. hoshi i would subject to the entire hsm trilogy. he needs to see it <3 also tbh i'd subject vernon to the hsm trilogy. all of svt needs to watch hsm right now and i need to be there to document reactions.

men who loves cats and men who are good w kids/babies... i am describing skz lee know rn ... there's just someting so attractive n sweet abt men who are good with both <3 but i felt tht entirely!! svt is my main three main biases (one of which tends to cycle between wonwoo and vernon) and then the rest are bias wreckers. they're all so good <3

[ryttu3k]

End-of-the-year book asks! Check out 2022's and 2021's, too.

1. How many books did you read this year?

Okay let's break this down by length! Novels: 26. Non-fiction: 3. Novellas: 3. Novelettes: 3. Zines: 10. Not including novelettes and zines in that, a total of 32!

2. Did you reread anything? What?

Nope, all new stuff.

3. What were your top five books of the year?

Top three is easy - Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White, Space Opera by Catherynne M Valente, and Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle. For the last two, let's go with Jeff VanderMeer's Wonderbook, which is a wonderful craft book especially for SFF writers, and the incredibly bonkers My Volcano by John Elizabeth Stintzi.

4. Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?

See the first three above! I already have Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle on preorder, and I've just bought The Spirit Bears Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White!

5. What genre did you read the most of?

Comfortably in my SFF hole, tyvm.

6. Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to?

*laughs in excessively long TBR*

7. What was your average Goodreads Storygraph rating? Does it seem accurate?

4.24, or approximately 8.5. Yeah, that works!

8. Did you meet any of your reading goals? Which ones?

Read more novels, which I did! I also managed a nice little nonfiction month.

9. Did you get into any new genres?

Nnnnnot really, haha.

10. What was your favourite new release of the year?

Camp Damascus my beloved. (The other two faves were 2022 and 2018).

11. What was your favourite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read?

Wonderbook came out in 2013.

12. Any books that disappointed you? 13. What were your least favourite books of the year?

✌️

14. What books do you want to finish before the year is over?

There's only two and a half days left I'm good.

15. Did you read any books that were nominated for or won awards this year (Booker, Women's Prize, National Book Award, Pulitzer, Hugo, etc.)? What did you think of them?

I read NK Jemisin's Broken Earth Trilogy (which would have been higher up in my listings but I'm kinda salty over her stance over the library thing and that tarnished them retrospectively) and they won. Everything. Three consecutive Nebulas, and The Stone Sky also won the Locus for Best Fantasy (as did The City We Became by the same writer), and the Hugo, with The Fifth Season and Obelisk Gate also nominated for the Hugo, and The City We Became for Nebula. Jeff VanderMeer's Annihilation won a Nebula, Space Opera was nominated for a Hugo.

I'm gonna throw hands if Camp Damascus doesn't win something next year, by the way.

16. What is the most over-hyped book you read this year?

Mmm, maybe Annihilation? I enjoyed it! I actually have a copy now because I spotted an uncorrected proof at a second-hand store for $3! But also I just thought it was 'cool, really interesting' and not like. The greatest in existence.

17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

Honestly, not really! Most seemed appropriately hyped?

18. How many books did you buy?

24 ebooks, 12 physical.

19. Did you use your library?

Yup, both for physical and ebook.

20. What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?

Camp Damascus, and absolutely. Go read it.

21. Did you participate in or watch any booklr, booktube, or book twitter drama?

No, because I value my sanity <3

22. What's the longest book you read?

The Fifth Season, at 498 pages.

23. What's the fastest time it took you to read a book?

I mean the novelettes didn't take long XD

24. Did you DNF anything? Why?

Nope!

25. What reading goals do you have for next year?

Keep reading. Try not to lose mind too much over Alecto the Ninth. Fail to not lose mind too much over Alecto the Ninth.

For some extra fun, statistics! I worked out each month by page count, so I can work out when I read most and when I… didn't. It works out to:

January: 2,105 pages (5 novels, 1 zine)

February: 463 pages (1 anthology, 2 zines)

March: 1,342 pages (3 novels, 1 anthology, 1 novella)

April: 1,034 pages (2 novels, 1 anthology, 1 zine)

May: 834 pages (1 novel, 1 collection, 1 anthology)

June: 688 pages (2 novels, 1 zine)

July: 1,155 pages (1 novel, 3 nonfiction books, 1 zine)

August: 652 pages (2 novels, 1 novella, 1 zine)

September: 712 pages (2 novels, 1 zine)

October: 911 pages (3 novels, 1 zine)

November: 192 pages (1 novel)

December: 408 pages (1 novella, 3 novelettes, 1 zine - note that this is inflated, the novella is shorter in wordcount but the layout means it's more 'spread out')

Month with most pages read: January, with over two thousand pages over five novels and a zine.

Month with least pages read: November, with one (shortish!) novel.

Month with most out-of-the-ordinary content: July, the month where I focused largely on nonfiction. It also had Camp Damascus <3

Months with the shortest reads: Aside from November, February only had one (novel-length) anthology and two zines, and December had a novella, three novelettes, and a zine.

Most condensed reading month: Aside from November again, October, with all four reads over the course of the one-week cruise.

[blinkaftermidnight]

oh holy shit 😭 this is where i admit a deep shame that i didn’t get into star wars until tfa came out, and still didn’t really Dive into it until i did a full binge of the series before RoS (which i absolutely do not want to speak of lmao). i genuinely haven’t picked up a star wars book until alphabet squadron a few weeks ago 😟 but it’s definitely encouraged me to start going through more, so i’ll have put your favs down on a list for myself ! mostly i reaallly want to fully read the rots novelization just to put myself through that pain

alphabet squadron is just trauma and chaos and like … fully, casually queer which is a joy

Better late than never!! There's so much stuff coming out now that it's a great time to be alive lmao. Okay wait Alphabet Squadron is trauma, chaos, AND queer?? It's moving up the list lmao.

And you have just opened the floodgates for recommendations, depending on what you like, of course. I'm generally a prequels/Clone Wars era bitch (though I read all over the place). Matthew Stover's RotS novelization is GREAT, absolutely read it. So again you didn't ask, but I'll throw a bunch of books I've enjoyed under the cut.

Dark Disciple by Christie Golden - if you like Asajj Ventress, this is a must. If you don't like Asajj Ventress, idk if we can stay friends lol

Ahsoka by E.K. Johnston - A++ and Ahsoka gives gay vibes so what more could you ask for?

Phasma by Delilah S. Dawson - look, I'm not crazy about the sequel trilogy, but this novel was great especially since we get so little of Phasma in the movies

Star Wars: Darth Plagueis by James Luceno - literally tied for #1 alongside Kenobi. If you're interested in the Sith at all, this is the book

Labyrinth of Evil by James Luceno - Anakin + Obi-Wan right before RotS begins. Also been a while since I've read it but it's been a fave for a long time

Kenobi by John Jackson Miller - as I said, tied for #1 with Plagueis. I wasn't expecting to like this one but I blasted right through it and also Obi-Wan ❤

Queen's Shadow by E.K. Johnston - I still have to read the books that follow this one but it's about Padme and I enjoyed it

Master and Apprentice by Claudia Gray - Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon!! idk why I can't remember anything about this book apart from the fact that I liked it lmao

The Approaching Storm by Alan Dean Foster - I'm just desperate for Luminara Unduli and Barriss Offee content and I read this one a long time ago so idk lol depends on who your fave obscure Jedi are

These are just my personal faves but maybe you'll find something you like on here! Also had a friend I trust highly recommend Lost Stars by Claudia Gray (which is on my list of books to read)

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

What are some books you genuinely enjoyed and think are really well-written?

Liking things?? Me?? Unheard of!

So these are pretty much all SFF because that’s the majority of what I read. Contemporary bores me to death rip

Young Adult:

Shadow glass by Rin Chupeco

I liked the first two books a lot! Unfortunately I think it didn’t really stick the landing in the last one? But the first two are fun, I enjoyed the worldbuilding particularly. And it’s told through a framing device where the protagonist is relaying the story several years in the future, where the circumstances are *completely* different and it’s cool to try to figure out how things are going to turn out the way they are. And like trying to predict how the protagonist is going to inevitably spiral and what is the cause of her falling out with the majority of the people in her life.

The Diabolic by S J Kincaid

This is probably my favorite YA book series? Ever? It’s kind of like… Hamlet in Space if Ophelia was a super soldier bodyguard pretending to be the *real* Ophelia. It’s incredibly YA, it’s incredibly soapy, and an absolute roller coaster. It’s also hard for me not to point out failings in the things I like, and I do think this series makes some… choices, but I do generally love it for how wild it is.

Also the last book came out at some point last year and while I read it on release I’m still percolating on how I feel about it lmao. So I’m still undecided there.

Adult:

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

Her writing style >>>>>>

I adore the imagery in all of her stories and the atmosphere. I’m incredibly picky about fairytale retelling and I’m generally pretty damn bored with them at this point, but this collection is just so good.

The titular story is a Bluebeard retelling and it’s just so evocative and brutal! Idk I love it. Erlking and Lady of the House of Love were notable faves.

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

This is such an ambitious, odd little space opera! The story follows a colony ship, housing the last of humanity, on a desperate journey to find a safe planet to settle down in.

Meanwhile the chapters alternate by showing us the gradual development and evolution of a society of telepathic matriarchal spiders? Idk it’s impossible to succinctly describe everything this book deals with but it’s very compelling! I felt like the ending was… mildly a cop out? But it’s a very cool book

The Poppy War by RF Kuang

I went into the first book somehow under the impression that it was YA because of the initial academy setting and then it really. really. was not lmao. It lifts heavily from Chinese history, and while it’s not a 1:1 it’s really interesting how it engages with real events. The second book is probably my favorite. Bring me all the naval warfare lol.

But yeah it’s an absolutely gutting series. And like the protagonist commits actual legit genocide. The trigger warnings list is… very very long. So maybe check that out before getting into it.

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

I’ve yet to finish this series but I looove the worldbuilding and the protagonist is fucking stone cold omg.

I’ve heard this book described as econipunk? It’s everything I love about court intrigue and getting into the real nitty gritty of how government *works.* Basically the protagonist tries to rise up the ranks within an evil empire that colonized her home country. And she’s just a fantastic Machiavellian type. I love her so much.

Misc:

Anyway I ran out of bandwidth to go over everything else in detail rip but I also love most of Haruki Murakami’s work! NK Jemisin has the coolest ideas, and Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, while def her most uneven work, as a debut, also left a huge impression on me. The Broken Empire trilogy by Mark Lawrence is also extremely grimdark with a villain protagonist but I enjoyed it a lot! Another one where I suggest checking out TWs first. Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo is REALLY GOOD it’s also a fairly short novella and I’ve yet to read the sequels. The world buildinggggg. The authors other books also look promising.

I’m also a huge fan of the Vampire Chronicles though…I wouldn’t call them necessarily well written.

Honorable mention to SJM’s first Crescent City book, not because it was necessarily groundbreaking but I was so astonished to actually like it. I haven’t read the sequel yet so idk if that’s going to ruin it for me.

Also to rattle off some classics: the Philip Marlowe series by Raymond Chandler, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, Dracula by Bram Stoker (surprising no one). My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier.

[elsecrytt]

i lovelovelurrre your writing so very much. one day i'd like to compare favorite works of literature with you because pleaseohplease let me pick your brain, but until then i'm so happy to enjoy the products of your talent and know you're out there existing

awwhhh! that's so nice of you to say, i'm glad you like my work!!

dfkjlhghdf i used to read a LOT of novels back in the day - mostly checked out from libraries, so i don't remember that many specific stories,,, but let me see,,

i had a MASSIVE dragon/dragon rider phase so i read the eragon/inheritance cycle as it came out. i remember it being changed from a "trilogy" to a "cycle" and hey - it meant more books for me to enjoy!

paolini also wrote a sci-fi novel relatively recently - To Sleep in a Sea of Stars - relatively hard sf, too, but a perfectly digestible read to someone who doesn't get into much sci-fi. i actually prefer female protagonists heavily these days, and that was a great read.

i liked eon and eona - eona definitely had some maaajor hero/villain shipping, too, and the dynamics between eona and ido, plus eona and kygo? augh. top tier.

also foundational was shadow and bone - i only read the books, haven't seen the series yet. but anita and the darkling? augh. my thing my thing my thing hehe

oh! another series i remember REALLY getting into - when i was younger - was the Fablehaven chronicles. it did wonders for my young, fantasy-starved heart; so many fun fictional characters, a pair of ~special~ protagonists who i could relate to

OH MY GOD also speaking of things i read as a child and related to. molly moon hahaha. that might have been part of what got me started on my still-going-strong power trip idea, the delicious fantasy of wish-fulfillment and just Getting Everything You Want. of course there were also morals to the story, it was for kids, but it was my gateway drug for sure

Leviathan (I forget what the trilogy was called, but it was this steampunk AU thing set during an alternate WWI, by Scott Westerfeld) was another really neat sci-fi ish thing that had some very fun secret keeping between the main leads, some small but fun illustrations here and there and just.

There were some wonderfully fun, creative ideas about critters and scientific advancements and everything. Gateway to monsterfucking maybe? None of it was sexy but it got me past the initial hurdle of "ew, gross monster" and into "awh,,, monster is fwiend!!!"

gosh, i'm just certain i'll remember more novels and series that were wayyy bigger in my mind right after i post this, but that's absolutely just how it be skljdhfghdfg

but anyways, thank you anon~ i am very much of the opinion that my writing is an amalgamation of all the things (mostly fics) i've ever read and loved, and if i'm even a little bit like my faves then i know i'm doing something really right <3

thank you for your high praise!!! i got a few works in progress that i'm hoping to publish soonish, and so hopefully you'll have more to enjoy~ <3

[marvelingjules]

I watched the old guard this evening. I guess I had been expecting something like a superhero movie, a big budget action flick where everything is second to the fight scenes. instead I am absolutely floored by the depth of this film. I could write an essay about all the feelings I have, if your inbox would fit it. I still might. when the movie finished, I had to, no joke, sit there in silence for 15 minutes and just think about the lives of these characters that I have been made privy to. wow.

You are more than welcome to. You can message me it too which may be easier word limit wise lol.

Listen. I don’t know WHAT I expected when I watched it. I’d seen the posts about how good it was, how well it did this or that, and so it was on my list but in the absent “whenever I’m bored and kinda interested I guess” way. Then one night as I’m scrolling my tumblr dash I see a post with a video, and I played it, and it was the armored van scene. It was Joe’s speech.

And I was like “well. Okay then. Now I’m actually more than absently interested.” So I waited for a night I didn’t have to go to work following and watched it and look. It’s been not quite a week, I’ve watched it three times, I’ve watched snippets of my fave scenes on YouTube, I’ve listened to the soundtrack almost nonstop (I find I always enjoy a movie more when I can enjoy the music used too), I have read SO MUCH FANFIC. I convinced my coworker to get out tech department to order the graphic novel for the system (which got the okay!).

I could write essays back. I could write about the emotion on Andy’s face after the first round of killing in the church. (There’s something a little desperate, a little aching there.) About the micro-expression shift in Nicky’s face when they revive after the ambush - the relief that twists into the slightest of snarls because he’s PISSED now. About Booker’s punishment and how he insisted he was alone even with them there and so they basically were like “I’ll show you how alone you weren’t.” About why and how I think maybe the loss of immortality works, possibly. About Nile, and the way she has no time for anyone’s shit (every time I have watched it I have snorted and cackled at her “are you fucking kidding me? Seriously?” head tilt and expression when Copley tries to excuse/validate why he sold them out even knowing all the good they had done. That scene in the store room, the way it doesn’t try to hide what the message of the movie is - we’re not meant to be alone, to stand alone, to not reach out to help others just for the fact that we’re all human and here and no one should have to earn kindness.

Look. I don’t know what I expected going into it, but it wasn’t what they gave us. I don’t know how to explain what kind of movie it is to people in a way that could effectively convey what it is. It’s a well paced, well plotted, character driven action movie. It doesn’t have less violence than others. It doesn’t shy from the violence. But the violence isn’t the point or the focus even, and that I think it the crucial difference. It’s so fantastically well paced. Balancing the driving action and the exposition and the quieter moments so fucking well that there’s not a moment I zoned out or lost focus.

The last time I was this into a movie so intensely right from the first moment I watched it, I think, was the first Hobbit movie (I saw it four times in theaters).

There’s so many wonderful little moments. The characters are all so well done. I love them all. It’s all so so good and I really hope and can’t wait for there to be a sequel, for it to be a trilogy like I read somewhere was the ideal plan.

Just. It’s all I could want in a movie - romance and action and well developed characters and a solid plot and humor and a good soundtrack - and I am so glad I did watch it and plan to drag as many people into also doing so as I can:

[bigdreamsandwildthings]

Review: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (Suzanne Collins)

Rating: ★★★★★/5

"It's sooner than later that I'm six feet under. It's sooner than later that you'll be alone. So who will you turn to tomorrow, I wonder? For when the bell rings, lover, you're on your own. And I am the one who you let see you weeping. I know the soul that you struggle to save. Too bad I'm the bet that you lost in the reaping. Now what will you do when I go to my grave?" I wasn't sure how I'd feel about reentering the world of the Hunger Games, but my god, I enjoyed it immensely. I'm so pleasantly surprised. Coriolanus Snow has lived through the war with the districts. He lives in a penthouse suite, he goes to school at the Academy, and he has a bright Capitol future ahead of him. When he's assigned to mentor the girl from District 12 at the 10th annual Hunger Games, Coriolanus sees it as a challenge, and his ticket to university - because underneath the facade he presents, the Snows' money is dwindling, and his future could very well be at stake. But Lucy Gray may be more than he bargained for, and his future even less certain than he already believes it to be. The thought of a prequel novel about Snow, of all people, left me feeling very lukewarm when I heard about this one. Yes, he was a decent villain, I hated him SO MUCH, but was he interesting enough to warrant an entire novel? Turns out: fuck yes. Oh my god. I love how Suzanne Collins can work such structure into her novels and mixes the familiar with the new. We know Panem from the 74th Hunger Games 64 years in the future - this is the time of the 10th, and so much is different. This novel really bridges the gap between what Panem becomes and where it started, namely as North America as we know it. So, we know the format of the Hunger Games from the series, and that is indeed present here, but it's done in such a different way. Without the glitz and glamour of the future, without the mandatory watching and spectacle of it all, it somehow hits so much harder, knowing where it's all heading. This is a punishment for the districts, and it's horrible, but at the same time, no one seems to know what happens beyond the reaping. Fascinating. I thought I might find it hard to read from Snow's perspective, but I empathized with him more than I wanted to, and maybe even more than I should have. He's a vain person, very concerned with status, but he grew up in a war - he has faced hardship in his life, and his reaction to that has been to control things. To make it so that he can't be hurt again, no matter what that costs him. And I just...I get it. It's so wonderfully conveyed here that even when the eventual twist came and I had to hate him, I still just understood, and I can appreciate him so much more as a character in the original trilogy now. As for Lucy Gray and the Covey, what a wonderful addition they made to this otherwise quite beige/gray/bland world. They were the colour that this story needed. Lucy Gray's songs are also an absolute highlight of this one for me; I felt like I could hear them when I read those lyrics, and it made it so very engrossing and atmospheric. And the Hanging Tree! I got full body goosebumps at the scene of her writing it. She is lovely, and motivated so differently than Coriolanus that the balance was almost a relief. Their relationship was sometimes hard to read, but I believed it. What drives this from an engrossing, intense read up to the level of a fave for me is the moral philosophy that Collins weaves through her words. How she presents us with this character who has to choose control, has to fight the chaos, in order to move on in life because he is so convinced that human beings are ultimately selfish and no better than animals. That we'd all kill each other without some kind of overarching controlling figure to tell us not to. The path that Panem has taken to reach Katniss's time is now just so much clearer; it's because of Snow. At the end of the day, I just really enjoyed this. I know others have said it's meandering, dull, etc. but I truly never found myself bored. I wanted to read this, and when I wasn't reading, I was thinking about it. That is enough for me as a reader, but this book goes above and beyond that to being actual quality in terms of writing, plot, and characters, too.

[incomprehensiblelentils]

Lentils’ 2020 Christmas Movie Rankings

My wife and I watched a lot of Christmas movies this year, and I thought it would be fun to rank them based on which ones I think were most watchable and enjoyable. I’ve left out a few that we watched during this time period, which are classic Christmas movies (Miracle on 34th Street), action movies set at Christmas (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Iron Man 3), or older romances set around Christmas (While You Were Sleeping and You’ve Got Mail), because it’s not fair to rank these amongst, well, some of the movies we saw.

my top 5, for those of you who don’t like reading (which is fair): The Princess Switch: Switched Again, Dashing in December, The Princess Switch, Jingle Jangle, Happiest Season.

my top 3 Chaotic Christmas Movies: A New York Christmas Wedding, 12 Pups of Christmas, The Princess Switch: Switched Again. Please watch these movies if you enjoy chaotic plots. Please especially watch the first two I listed because holy shit my summaries do not properly convey the chaos.

The Princess Switch: Switched Again (2020): Some people on the internet have been VERY RUDE about this movie and I’m sorry they don’t appreciate a true chaotic holiday gem when they see it. This movie involves two Vanessa Hudgenses, Scheduled Vanessa and Spontaneous Vanessa, who are distant cousins and not twins, switching places to try to facilitate Spontaneous Vanessa getting back together with her ex the baker, but Scheduled Vanessa is intercepted by a third cousin Vanessa, Horny Vanessa, who wants to take Spontaneous Vanessa’s place as queen. I don’t want to spoil anything that happens in this movie so that you can experience the batshittery for yourself, but I found every second absolutely delightful. It also has two very good romantic couples who are cute and who genuinely seem to like each other, which is not something I can say for every movie on this list!

Dashing in December (2020): This movie has gay cowboys, is set on a ranch, and features a squaredancing scene, so if that isn’t your bag, you are probably not going to like it very much. I found it deeply charming and the only reason it isn’t #1 is that three quarters of the way through, the lead suddenly turns back into a giant jerk for no real reason and that was very upsetting. But it all works out in the end. The main romance is very cute, there are horses, the horsemanship doesn’t totally suck ass, and there are some fun side characters. It’s not reinventing the wheel, but it’s pleasant.

The Princess Switch (2018): Again, some people are mean about this movie and they shouldn’t be because it is CUTE GODDAMMIT. It is absolutely The Prince and the Pauper but with two Vanessa Hudgenses, but also, it shows the aforementioned two good romantic couples falling in love and they are delightful. I am not saying this is a great masterpiece of romance, but the filmmakers actually tried to give these characters reasons to like each other, which, again, is not true for some of the movies on this list.\

Jingle Jangle (2020): I kind of feel bad putting this movie on the same list as TV movies that were obviously just shit out by Hallmark or whoever, because this clearly had a lot of love and heart put into it, and it really shows. I was so immediately charmed by this movie that I didn’t even mind when it immediately went in very silly directions. I don’t know if the plot makes sense at all (a cute robot shows up for seemingly no reason other than that cute robots are fun!) but it doesn’t have to, because everyone is having so much fun and there’s so much joy in this movie that I was just happy to be along for the ride. Also, I would love to see an entire movie in the stop-motion style from the opening scene.

Happiest Season (2020): I absolutely understand why some people didn’t like this movie, and I don’t want anyone to feel like they can’t dislike it, and also, it’s MY movie, and I love it, and I’m not interested in fighting about it. It helped me come out to my parents and also featured two of my faves kissing and that’s all I need. 

Noelle (2019): I was previously under the impression this movie was bad, and I don’t know why, because it’s a little embarrassing and cheesy at times, but it’s sweet. I suspect what will make or break it for you is if you like Anna Kendrick, and because I like Anna Kendrick, I like watching her play a neurotic Claus sibling trying desperately to fix the problem she accidentally caused. One weird thing though: this movie tried to convince me about halfway through that she was both spoiled and selfish, and I don’t actually think that’s true at all. I think she was a little naive and sheltered and wanted people to like her way too much, but she’s not really shown to be a selfish person - she’s constantly paying attention to other people in the real world and her brother is the one who refused to admit that he wasn’t cut out for the Santa gig and instead fucked off to “find himself” or whatever. It was weird! But anyway, I liked this movie a lot.

I’ll Be Home For Christmas (1998): So this movie...one Christmas Eve when I was in high school, I was having trouble falling asleep for whatever reason so I went downstairs to get some water. My mom happened to have the TV on and this movie was just starting, and she invited me to join her. Fun fact: this movie went to theaters and it stars Jonathan Taylor-Thomas and Jessica Biel. It is one of the dumbest movies I’ve ever seen in my life and at no point does anyone in it actually behave like a human being. It’s about a smooth-talking jackass who has to be bribed to come home for Christmas and then, after one of his dumbass moneymaking schemes lands him in hot water, he gets abandoned in the middle of the California desert wearing a Santa suit and glued-on beard. He then has to beg, lie, and cheat his way home for Christmas dinner so that his dad will give him a vintage Porsche they fixed up together. I have no defense for this character; he is insufferable and only becomes marginally less so by the end of the film. But also, I have to watch this movie every year (usually with my mom, although not this year for obvious reasons) or it doesn’t feel like Christmas. 

A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish (2019): We own this on DVD and have seen it three times. In our defense, we wanted to support Gregg Sulkin from Runaways and Isabella Gomez from One Day at a Time, both of whom feature prominently in this movie, and also sing songs. This is just Cinderella But At Christmas, and if that doesn’t sound like fun to you, I don’t think anything I can say will change your mind. I will say that the songs are amusingly autotuned, there’s a disabled dog that’s very cute, and I personally think that the leads have slightly better chemistry than some of the pairs on this list. But it is literally just another Cinderella Story movie.

The Knight Before Christmas (2019): This movie is Thor (2011) But At Christmas, and it would have been slightly higher except I always forget about the plot where at the end the knight becomes a cop. Bad, obviously! But anyway, the plot of this movie is: nice but clueless dude crash-lands on Earth for Reasons and bumbles around trying to figure out what’s up, while falling in love with a nice lady. That’s just Thor and you know I’m right. And for as dumb as this movie is, at least it’s ambitious. I have learned that Christmas movies can do one of two things to please me: a) have actors that have decent chemistry and charm and are fully committed to whatever nonsense is going on, or b) have absolutely batshit chaotic plots. This movie is like a 4 out of 5 on the chaos scale and I like it a lot, besides the copaganda. I hope this also gets made into a trilogy and Cole isn’t a cop anymore.

A Christmas Prince 3: The Royal Baby (2019): I will get into my problems with the first two Christmas Prince movies later, but my main criticism is that they are kind of boring and not chaotic enough. This one decided to make up for that by incorporating a missing ancient treaty, a curse, and a ghost, as well as a subplot about Girl Power (I use this semi-ironically) and a subplot about cousin Simon potentially committing treason again. I was so excited that things were happening in this movie the first time I watched it that I may be a little biased, but oh well. Oh, I was also absolutely terrified it was going to be racist and it is...mostly not? There are a few questionable moments but like mostly it’s fine.

Christmas With the Prince (2018): I wanted to watch this because the summary on Netflix did not match the summary on Google at all, and that’s because, uh, they’re both sort of right? Ostensibly this movie is about a pediatric oncologist who comes back into contact with an old almost-flame, who just happens to be the prince of a tiny European country, because he fucked up his leg and needs somewhere private to stay. And apparently a pediatric oncology ward is the best place for that? But then after they fall in love this random Russian lady shows up and is like “that’s my fiance.” This happens maybe twenty minutes from the end. Anyway, this movie isn’t great but I liked the lead guy way more than I thought I would and it has some cute kids in it.

A New York Christmas Wedding (2020): I...am at a loss for words to describe this...motion picture. On the surface it is a cute idea: a young Black woman, Jennifer, is getting married to her boyfriend on Christmas Eve, but she’s given a chance by her guardian angel (stay with me) to go back in time and redo her life, after losing touch with her childhood best friend, Gabrielle, who she was always in love with but never confessed her feelings to. She wakes up in an alternate timeline, where she and Gabrielle have been together for years and her beloved father is still alive. Then the movie, uh...veers off into some very odd places! They go to their Catholic priest and ask him to marry them, and he is like “but the Bible” and they are like “but that’s bullshit” and he’s like “shrug” and then later during a sermon he’s like “actually that IS bullshit, everyone gay in this church come stand up here with me. We love you. Also we’re going to perform a wedding now” and then he marries Jennifer and Gabrielle. And then Jennifer’s angel shows up and is like “you have to choose between this life and your old life now” and then uh...I really hate to spoil this next thing. It is the weirdest choice I’ve ever seen a movie make and if you’re even the slightest bit interested in this movie, I think you should experience this plot point for yourself. I’m going to put the batshit spoiler in ROT13 in case you want to avoid spoiling yourself. (GJ: fhvpvqr) Wraavsre'f thneqvna natry erirnyf gung ur vf gur fba bs Tnoevryyr, jub va gur bevtvany gvzryvar tbg certanag nf n grra naq ure snzvyl frag ure gb n ahaarel. Fur zvfpneevrq naq fhofrdhragyl qvrq ol fhvpvqr. Uvf anzr vf Nmenry Tnovfba. Anyway, uh, this movie isn’t very good, unfortunately, the adult leads have no chemistry and Gabrielle’s adult self is actively unlikable (the teen versions of them are cute!), but I think it’s 1000% worth a watch for the sheer chaos of it all. I...recommend it for that, I guess? Oh, also there’s a sex scene that plays a slow sexy version of “O Christmas Tree” in the background and I felt like I was losing my mind. 

A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding (2018): As I said in my commentary on the third movie in this series, the worst sin this movie commits is being kind of boring. It also manages to make the romantic hero, Richard, even worse than in the first movie, where he was just kind of useless and petulant, because in this movie he is actively failing to do anything to revive the failing economy of his country. I have seen people complain that the prince in The Princess Switch and Cole in The Knight Before Christmas have no personalities; they are delightful compared to the wet paper bag of a man in this movie. Rose McIver is adorable and I don’t think any of this is her fault, she’s doing her best in these movies, but woof.

12 Pups of Christmas (2019): The Google summary of this movie, which we found on Hulu, is this: “Struggling to keep his dog GPS locator company afloat, Martin expects his new hire, Erin, to help him save the company and find homes for 12 puppies that were left behind after a photo shoot. As they work together, Erin and Martin begin to discover each other's positive qualities and find love just in time for the holidays.” My wife and I love dogs, so we put this on, expecting cute dogs. This movie contains approximately 80% chaos and 20% cute dogs. It opens with our heroine, a canine therapist, coming home from work to have dinner with her fiance and best friend. We find out that Erin and fiance are moving to California soon for her new job (they live in New York). Fast forward a few days to their courthouse wedding, at which point her fiance and best friend confess to having an affair, and she is dumped. Heartbroken, she moves to California alone, and ends up moving into the company-provided house. It is just a two-story house (??) that the CEO’s sister owns (???) and rents out to employees (????). Also Erin is, as the Google summary says, expected to come up with some grand idea to save the company. And there are 12 random puppies also. They are cute puppies. Oh, also Martin, the CEO of the dog collar company, hates dogs for some reason. Martin’s sister is aggressively friendly towards Erin in a way that I interpreted as sapphic. At one point, after they find a home for dog #3, Erin’s former BFF shows up on her doorstep (?????) begging to be let in. She insists that the fiance was also two-timing her, and she has proof that he had FIVE OTHER GIRLFRIENDS ALL AROUND THE COUNTRY - “that’s why he’s a traveling businessman”!!!! Erin never asks to see her proof, but I guess she believes her, because she lets her inside and then makes her take care of the remaining eight dogs out of spite. I guess they make up at some point. Anyway, somewhere in here Erin and Martin are starting to fall in love and also come up with a way to rebrand the business, so hooray for them. We also learn that the reason Martin hates dogs is that his beloved childhood dog, uh, ran away? Disappeared? Got eaten? He insists that “not knowing [what happened to him] was the worst part,” but I was out here expecting to see the child finding an actual dead dog like it’s John Wick or something so this was a little anticlimactic. They go on a business trip to New York talk with Important Japanese Investors, during which they fuck (it is? romantic? allegedly?), and then the morning of their meeting Erin’s shitty ex shows up in the hotel lobby to bother her. Martin decks him square in the face for not leaving her alone, and then someone calls the cops, because I guess this movie said ACAB, and both dudes get arrested and Erin has to do the presentation alone. And then in the last five minutes Martin gets out of jail and Erin says that she gave the presentation to the investors...in English, and their translator was twenty minutes late, and so the investors understood none of what she said. Thankfully we are spared actually seeing this “joke,” but they do play racist music over her explanation. Then Martin reconnects with his rich dad who bails out the company instead, and also he adopts the four remaining dogs. This movie was fucking bananas and very bad and I need more people to understand exactly how bad. Watch this movie.

A Nutcracker Christmas (2016): Amy Acker has two Christmas movies and this one seemed more palatable than Dear Santa, so here we are. I like to watch Amy Acker be cute and dance, and she has an adorable teenage niece in this movie that she’s helped raise. In this movie she’s a former ballet dancer whose sister (hilariously, one of the Wynonna Earp lesbians) died in a tragic car accident, and she never got to dance the part of the Sugarplum Fairy. Spoiler alert: she gets to by the end of the movie. Unfortunately the love interest is basically Satan incarnate and does not deserve her at all, so unless you like yelling at romantic leads I can’t really recommend it. 

Godmothered (2020): This movie is just, uh, Enchanted but worse, and also it should have been sapphic and it isn’t? Poor Jillian Bell is doing her best and is adorable, but it’s not enough to save this movie for me. If Disney were not cowards she would have fallen in love with single mom Isla Fisher. Oh, it also ends with the very white younger daughter doing a public cover of “Rise Up” by Andra Day that the audience joins in on, which, considering its use in the BLM movement the last couple years, felt, uh, not great to me.

A Christmas Prince (2017): It’s maybe not far to compare this to the rest of the Netflix Christmas Cinematic Universe, because it was the originator. But also, it’s pretty boring. Sorry. Simon, or Fiddles (Fake Hiddles/Tom Hiddleston) is the best character.

Married by Christmas (2016): Apparently an alternate title for this is The Engagement Clause, which is sort of funny. Anyway, this has Jes Macallan and we, being big fans of Legends of Tomorrow, lost our shit when we found this on Christmas Day and had to watch it. The plot is that Jes’ character runs the family business, but their shitty grandma died and left a clause in her will where the business goes to the husband of whichever granddaughter gets married first. You would think that Jes’ sister and her fiance would postpone their Christmas Eve wedding to give Jes time to set up some kind of platonic wedding for business purposes, since Jes’ entire life is this stupid business, but nope, they immediately turn into monsters who are determined to get their hands on the business for ???? reasons???? It’s not very good, as you can tell by how low it is on the list. Jes Macallan is not a convincing straight businesswoman. I wouldn’t even really enjoy this movie as an Avalance AU.

A Princess for Christmas (2011): Here we are, the worst one Christmas movie I watched this year. I don’t actively harbor any ill will towards Katie McGrath, although I confess to feeling a bit “her?” but it’s fine. I was hoping this movie would enlighten me to her appeal. Instead, this movie actively got on my nerves in multiple ways, including trying to pass Katie McGrath off as a normal American retail worker instead of an Irish vampire/sorceress/supervillain/fairy/whatever she is. Her accent is shockingly awful, which I’m not sure is actually her fault, is there a reason her family wasn’t just British? That wouldn’t have saved the movie but it would have made it just slightly more palatable. At every turn it makes the worst choices, including a scene where Katie’s character puts on a rap song and she and the prince dance to it in an attempt to show them “loosening up,” and then the mean grandfather comes in and demands that they “turn this ghetto music off.” YIKES. I know these movies are the whitest movies ever by design but was that racism necessary? The only Black people I actually saw in this movie were some of the servants, I think? Speaking of the servants, at the end of the movie there’s a grand ball and Katie’s dress gets fucked up, and she’s about to leave the country, and then the servants are like “don’t go! We pooled our money to buy you another nice dress!” which, also yikes! This movie has a real classism problem. It also was so boring I zoned out of it multiple times, and I have sat through Manos: The Hands of Fate and Birdemic multiple times. This movie has no chaos whatsoever and I hated all the characters. 0/10 do not recommend under any circumstances.

[smolie]

in december i wrote a 2020 year music review for myself that i intended to post here BUT...because i was infamously restricted twice last year, i didn’t bother since you wouldn’t be able to read it anyway because it was not possible to view my blog hjfdhfd

now that my restricted era is (hopefully forever) over i just want to post it here for the sake of completion since i want to do the same thing this year

this is really long so if you actually read it ... idk you are insane in the membrane and i love you... but i genuinely don’t expect anyone to read this hjfdhjf i just like reflecting on the music i have listened to and be able to look back on what i enjoyed in certain stages of my life! okiiii bye 💗

january

mac miller - circles (album) it’s a bit funny that i worried putting my thoughts down about this album and now it turns out to be first on the list, chronologically of course … oh bittersweet irony </3 listening to this album is such a double edged sword, either way i am always hit with a truckload of feelings when i turn to this release.

this album came to me in a time of my life where i was slowly but surely sliding down towards rock bottom again just after i got out of it and thought i was okay. the times i’ve listened to this crying in the bathtub with a glass of wine….girl let’s not lol…. it’s almost strange how much i can relate to the thoughts another person brought to paper. the comfort this album brings me is otherworldly, i feel so understood by mac’s words and it’s my go-to “wallow in self-pity for a bit then come out stronger than before” album. then again, i feel a little sting when any of mac’s songs come on shuffle. a friend of mine said she cannot listen to artists who have passed because it feels too strange and most of the time i agree but this time, it’s so so different. this album would have been mac’s salvation, i can feel it. everything would have been a bit brighter and lighter for him after this, it would have had to be. i feel like i would do him a disservice if i did not listen to this album, so i will cherish this final gift from him as his legacy and my comfort. i miss him incredibly and am all the more thankful he shared his heart with us.

album favs: circles, good news, surf

tiny meat gang - broke bitch (single) MAN I TELL THAT BROKE BITCH IF YOU WANNA GET IN TUNE BETTER CHANGE YOUR WHOLE PITCH LIKE WOAH !!!!!!!!!! did that give you whiplash? hehe funny to say this about a song called broke bitch by a duo called tiny meat gang but this song actually means a lot to me! it came out shortly before their show in berlin and i almost exclusively listened to it on my 7+ hours train ride from one side of the country to the other to see my meat boys. this played out of the fat ass speakers at the venue when they stepped on the stage and i will never forget meeting them :’) also the song fucking slaps obviously

february

loona - [#] (mini album) ah yes, the most controversial loona release to date! i’m not gonna lie and say this sounded anything like i expected it to. but also, i have come to terms with the fact that loona release noise music now and personally i am here for it. why not did not have the endless energy of hi high or otherworldly vibe of butterfly, but it’s a hype song and i am always there for hype. i also have to say the b-sides were not as strong for me as on previous releases but i think i have to come to peace with the fact that loona will never top their debut mini for me. though if i can wish for one thing…… let loona have title tracks with a chorus in 2021? pls? crumbs?

album favs: so what, oh (yes i am)

tame impala - the slow rush (album) *lights cigarette* i’m listening to pretty underground music….i don’t think you’ve heard of this band….they are called tame impala *intro of the less i know the better starts playing* yes i am a basic white bitch and listen to like 3 alternative bands but damn i listen to them religiously. like any other basic bitch on this planet i found out about tame impala through the less i know the better and checked out their music. i wasn’t too much into this album as i was into currents but towards the end of the year, i was in a moody alternative music slump that took me back to this album and i like it a lot more now! most importantly, tame impala fulfills my primitive urge to listen to songs that exceed the 4 minute mark. something clicks in my brain when i see a song that is like 6:34 and chances that it ends up as one of my faves on a album are high. i enjoy tiktok like everyone else but this trend of 2:50 long songs needs to be stopped immediately.

album favs: borderline, lost in yesterday, it might be time, is it true, posthumous forgiveness

honorary mentions: onlyoneof - dOra maar, everglow - dundun

march

nct 127 - neo zone (album) ah, yes. the album that fundamentally changed me as a person <3 i’ve been listening to nct for a while, matter of fact i checked my top tracks 2019 playlist on spotify and cherry bomb was on there lol. i remember trying to get into them in 2018 when they released their regular-irregular album but the endless member & unit concept scared me off, so i only listened to a handful of songs without looking into them march 2020, the fateful month in which they released kick it and screencaps of jaehyun’s sexy ass tiddies in the kick it mv landed on my tumblr or twitter and i HAD to look up who this man is…...remember when i thought jaehyun was my ult for like, 2 weeks? me neither, johnny suh only in this house <3

anyway, i checked out this album and by god, is this pure kpop perfection. last time i listened to a god tier no skip album like this was … maybe the perfect red velvet? hype songs, well crafted ballads, love songs that make me wanna learn the lyrics, genuinely fun and interesting pop songs, this album has it all. somehow, the way this album is crafted greatly reminds me of brown eyed girls’ sound-g, it has the same vibe, concept and mix of genres to me, i’m not entirely sure how to explain. anyway, this album is one of my favorites of all time and even though i’ve obsessively listened to it (lastfm says 1.4k scrobbles as of today, december 7th…) i am still not tired of this. i recommend this to anyone who loves kpop tbh, you will have a good time with this!

other than being just a musically solid album, the emotional ties i have with this are …. isabel stop making albums your emotional support 2021 challenge. i’ve listened to this release all spring lockdown, this basically played at every waking hour for all of march and april. the promotion time of this era and lockdown are deeply intertwined for me and so i am always remembered of all the nct content i consumed during that time which inevitably cheered me up so much. this album really means a lot to me :’)

album favs: kick it, mad dog, love song, boom

honorary mentions: itzy - wannabe,

the weeknd - after hours (album) my dear melchanoly, was one of my favorite releases of 2018, so i had been desperate for a new release by abel and boy did he not disappoint. the perfect thotty, dirty emo 80s, making it clap while crying in the club album! this is a no skip from top to bottom and all i can say is that the grammys can go to hell <3 abel aoty! there is really not much i can say about this album, the flawless production, lyrics and sound speak for themself. my only criticism is that i feel overwhelmed by 14 songs, especially when some of them are really long. a few songs greatly overshadow the weaker tracks on the album for me but i still love this to death.

album favs: escape from LA, blinding lights, after hours, faith

dua lipa - future nostalgia (album) after the weeknd’s masterpiece of an 80s inspired pop album i was really looking forward to this. i greatly enjoyed the pre-releases, i played don’t start now and physical up and down, they are still some of my favorite songs released this year! when i first listened to the album i really liked it, songs like boys will be boys or pretty please sound like fillers to be but the rest is solid. yet a month after release you couldn’t catch me listening to this and i cannot even really tell you why. i think it was a combination of the following: 1) i greatly overplayed dsn and physical to the point where i didn’t want more of the pop 80s sound that the album has 2) there were other releases at the time that caught my attention and interest more like neo zone or after hours 3) dua herself….girl….she really gave it her all this year to make herself as unlikeable as possible. nationalist propaganda and the constant traveling during a fucking pandemic were really the kicker. i can barely stand seeing her on my instagram feed anymore, much less listen to her album. her having the nerve to go “we’re in a pandemic lol” when people asked about an animated music video …. if you don’t shut the hell up lmao … also, she takes the crown for the corniest album opener of all time. i nearly closed spotify when i heard future nostalgia (the song) lmao

album favs: don’t start now, physical, levitating, hallucinate

honorary mentions: megan thee stallion - savage

april

apink - dumhdurum (song)

listen, i’m not gonna sit here and pretend like this mini album interested me in the slightest but god, the title is such a banger.i’m so sick, eung eung and dumhdurum are a holy trilogy that i will defend until the end of time! i really hope apink stick to this mature, elegant concept, it suits them so well and goes well with their new sound. come back soon queens <3

rina sawayama - xs (song) i feel like i’m gonna catch some hands here … xs is an absolute banger, the guitar riffs and disruptive sounds really get me going every damn time! but the rest of the album … tell me why it doesn’t catch me?! i literally cannot explain. i need to take an hour, sit down and do nothing but listen to the album from top to bottom once again and see if my thoughts change but right now i only care about xs.

chungha - stay tonight (song) drama! vocals! dance break! choreography! this release served it all. i listened to this obsessively during the time of the release and it still holds up today. can we talk about the run chungha had with gotta go > snapping > stay tonight? lord have mercy.

honorary mentions: april - lalalilala, nct dream - ridin’

may

lady gaga - chromatica (album) the immense disappointment i have in this album is tough to put into words lol. any other artist might have gotten away with this release but gaga having the discography that she has, well … she doesn’t get away with it. this has underwhelming all over it. i enjoyed the pre-releases and my hope was high but the rest just doesn’t live up what i expected, i can’t even say why. it’s just underwhelming pop for someone of gaga’s calibre. i listened to this album during release week and then never again till december to write this list and i can see why.

album favs: rain on me, sour candy ft. blackpink, stupid love

baekhyun - delight (mini album) it’s confession time … this is a name i never would have expected on any of my music lists to end up. exo has always been one of those boy groups i casually listened to. i greatly enjoy their title tracks and a handful of side tracks, i have a few members that i keep an eye on more than others but that’s about it. baekhyun was never one of those members i had any interest in, matter of fact i always thought he was kinda vanilla and boring 😭 i didn’t even plan on listening to this release if it wasn’t for his association with superm and thus nct, so i gave it a shot and we have no choice but to stan. his voice is like butter and can cut sharp at the same time, his versatility is insane. i dived a bit more into baekhyun related content and he is so likeable, it’s almost ridiculous. this production is absolute god tier, not a single skip on this mini. late spring/early summer i had this weird urge to listen to songs with mellow voices but still a banger instrumental and i wholeheartedly blame this release. matter of fact, this album is so good, i had to buy a physical copy. Y’ALL. THIS IS A BIG DEAL. i haven’t bought a kpop album of anyone that’s not holy top 3 (brown eyed girls, loona, nct) in like … idk, 5 years?! baekhyun’s impact. i’m a fan now <3

album favs: candy, r u ridin’?, love again

ak aussenkontrolle - in meinem benz (song) this … is very unrelated to this entirely list but i had to put it on here. i miss my ex boss and our 3 hour drives to meetings in the south of the country where we would blast trashy german rap music </3

nct 127 - neo zone: the final round (repackage) *airhorns* REEEPACKAGE TIIIIIME!!! my first nct era that i experienced from start to finish! i remember watching nct 127’s beyond live with luna where these mfs performed punch and we finished the concert having no idea what this song sounded like. the structure is so unusual and the intro catches me off-guard every time just to hype me up beyond compare. not gonna lie, the fact that johnny has exactly one (1) line hurts but! it’s my favorite line of the entire song! possibly related to the fact that it’s his line but let’s ignore that ….

album favs: punch, make your day

kim woo seok - red moon (song) i’m not even gonna lie to you. i have not a single idea who this man is. you could put him right in front of me and i wouldn’t know … all i know is that he has a banger song. i saw him perform this on a music show that i watched for nct and i ended up loving the song … thanks for your service sir, whoever you are ...

june

stray kids - go live (album) 2020 was kind of the year of boy groups for me, i’m so sorry … stray kids promoted simultaneously with nct 127 so i ended up hearing their title track and holy hell, is that a song. god’s menu is hype from start to finish. it reminds me of good ol’ 2nd gen noise boy group song a lá b*g b*ng fantastic baby. just pure hype and fun noise. i am forever grateful to witness the birth of the line cooking like a chef, i’m a five star michelin. the title track impressed me so much that i ended up checking out the entire album which i rarely ever do with boy groups and what is even rarer is that i enjoyed the b sides lmao!!! it’s not an album that i would put on and just enjoy from start to finish but it has some really solid tracks! this release made me want to keep an eye on stray kids, they seem like a really fun bunch.

album favs: god’s menu, TA, airplane

seventeen - left & right (song) the boy group run continues … same thing with stray kids, seventeen promoted during punch era so i heard their song while watching some music station show for nct and i heard this and was sold. solid, fun pop with the catchiest pre-chorus in history and a banger chorus. i listened to the entire mini and can’t say it really caught my interest so this is a title track only release for me.

dishonorary mentions: twice - more & more (i hate this song so much lol)

honorary mentions: ryu sejeong - tiger eyes, monsta x - fantasia, chloe x halle - do it

july

irene & seulgi - monster (mini) this is a weird release because it’s good. the title track is fun enough, the b sides are dope. but my issue with this is that it’s nothing new. this sounds exactly like a red velvet release. i get that they didn’t want to a  joy, seulgi, irene, yeri release only and went for the sub-unit route instead, but why not be experimental and stray away from the usual sound of the group? also, whoever made monster and not naughty the title track deserves to be spat on. at least the choreography here is more interesting and “experimental” for kpop standards. also, why only a seulgi solo and no irene? i have no idea how reveluvs reacted to this release but this has rushed written all over it.

album favs: monster, naughty (i’m counting this to the mini idc), uncover

exo-sc - 1 billion views (mini) doing my part as a filthy casual exo listener. this release goes in the same category as baekhyun’s delight where i like the album so much that i HAD to get a physical copy. i don’t know what they put in the title track for it to be so diddly darn addictive but it clearly worked. the only bad thing about this release is how criminally mismanaged it was by sm, when i get you lee sooman ...

album favs: 1 billion views, on me, say it

baekhyun - garden in the air (song) i told you i’m a loyal baekhyun fan now <3 king releases and i listen, that’s just how it goes now! this is a cover of a boa song and i really love his version. there is not much to say except that it’s a really smooth song and his voice absolutely carries the track. i enjoyed this much more than i thought i would!

hyoyeon - dessert (song) YOU KNOW WHAT I DESERVE??? DESSERT!!!!!!! *insert tik tok challenge here* imagine if miryo featured on this instead of the ethnic hip girl … why can’t we have nice things. anyway, a banger!

johnny - sunny side up episode 1 set (spotify playlist, actual set) johnny being the skilled, talented, multi-faceted king that he is has been dj-ing since before debut (not me acting like i was around at that time lmao) and thus he decided to bless our quarantined, lockdowned asses with an online dj set! that was the most turned up sunday morning i ever had in my entire life. this set kicked off an edm/house/techno affinity that i had for the following couple of weeks. this set is an absolute banger, i would go insane to this in the club. he has an amazing ear for transitions and drops and i still just put on this set on the regular when i have cleaning to do or so. he could fill the void that rona and thus no clubbing in 2020 left in my heart and i’m so happy he decided to share this with us <3 now … john … sunny side up episode 2 pspspspspsps

honorary mentions: gfriend - apple, jessi - nunu nana

august

cardi b ft. megan thee stallion - wap (song) late summer 2021. we are vaccinated, icu beds are free, barely any new cases, clubs are open, this song plays and i can finally make it fucking clap.

troye sivan - in a dream (mini album) a cute mini album! nothing life-changing or as exciting as previous releases but easy (haha!) to enjoy. i really, really enjoy easy, can always count on troye for a dreamy sound.

album favs: easy

honorary mentions: itzy - not shy

september

wonho - love synonym pt. 1: right for me (mini album) honestly? i know like, 3 monsta x songs. i never bothered to get into them and maybe i never will, but it was difficult to ignore the whole wonho & monsta x mess that went on. i have absolutely no memory of why i decided to check out this release, i guess i was curious what he was going to do and … i was positively surprised lol. open mind is the exact time of song i had been so desperate all summer (remember mellow vocals with banger instrumentals? yeah) and uhm … can’t ignore the obvious … mr wonho is fucking fine. sir, you just gained a fan … now, where is love synonym part 2?? huh?????

album favs: open mind, i just, losing you

joji - nectar (album) this one is on tiktok. i heard gimme love in a bunch of tiktoks and had to look up the song and here we are. what an album! it came right as seasonal depression started to hit and accompanied me for a good chunk of autumn. at this point one has to ask if joji can ever really miss? the entire album is a no skip, it’s almost difficult to narrow down my favorites if my favorites weren’t so damn god tier!!!

album favs: gimme love, ew, tick tock, pretty boy, your man

super m - tiger inside / 100 / drip (songs) okay, listen. technically tiger inside & 100 were already released in august. instead of those three songs i was gonna write about the entire album until i realized i really don’t give a fuck about it 😭 i really only care about those three songs. and YES, i unironically like 100. is it a good song? no. but neither is jopping and that fucking bangs. i don’t turn to superm for life-changing, profound music, i turn to them for a good time LOL and that’s what they deliver every time! that being said, taeyong’s VROOM VROOM, UHMM UHMM, GRRRAHHHH verse is life-changing and profound! speak your truth king! also i wish drip was a b side for nct 127 that song is so damn sexy

taemin - never gonna dance again act 1 (album) this isn’t kpop, this is taemin pop. taemin never misses and the fact that hw*s* won dance performance over taemin is a literal hate crime. i will never forget the industry for this daylight robbery … anyway, nice album!!!!

album favs: criminal, black rose, waiting for

stray kids - in life (repackage) *airhorns* REPACKAGE TIIIIME 2.0!!!! i was on the edge of my seat waiting what stray kids were going to deliver after i greatly enjoyed god’s menu. i was still not over listening god’s menu when the repackage came out so i didn’t listen to it right away and now i greatly regret the few days i could have listened to back door earlier </3

album favs: back door, any

jackson wang - pretty please (song) i’m not gonna pretend like i ever listened to a song by jackson ever before. he is short king from got7 in my head and that’s all! i don’t even remember why i listened to this song but all i know is that it slaps severely. i love the wong kar wai inspired music video and the choreography is fun too! i’m gonna check out more of his music <3

honorary mentions: fromis9 - feel good, knk - ride

october

blackpink - the album (album, duh) i don’t even know what to say about this … this might be the weirdest release on the list for me. there are song i absolutely fucking hate (ice cream …) and songs i get my life to (pretty savage) on here and the discrepancy just gives me massive whiplash. i would never put this album on and listen to the whole body of work, i just cannot with the brain damage it gives me. i am still stuck in 2016, begging for bp to release music like whistle/boombayah/stay/playing with fire but i think i need to give up on that wishful thinking … i am just grateful we a got a title track with actual lyrics in the chrous for once.

album favs: pretty savage, lovesick girls

nct - nct 2020 resonance pt. 1 (album) this era was … a ride. nct 2020 happening was near inevitable but with covid it got pushed back so far, i started to believe it wasn’t even going to happen. i was semi-terrified of what was going to happen during a comeback with 21 (now 23!!) member group since i only experienced nct 127 comebacks so far and uhh … a LOT happened lmfao but let’s keep this about the album … i had no idea what was going to hit me. johnny having effectively 3 lines in nct 2018 did not give me much hope and after he got denoted to no line treatment in punch again, i was ready to not even have any expectation but this release changed everything. make no mistake that most of my favorite songs are units with johnny, we knew that was gonna happen lmaooo they dropped the teaser video for misfit and i thought i had my favorite song in the bag and then faded in my last song happened. y’all. JOHNNY SINGS? LIKE? ACTUALLY SINGS? DOESN’T GET FORCED TO RAP OR TALK-SING? MY MAN’S VOCALS??? OH MY GAAAAHD! this song is dramatic, theatrical, emo, it serves vocals and rap, it has catchy english and korean lyrics, this is THE song, the ULTIMATE song. i love this song so much, i want to belt it on top of my lungs in the pouring rain. apart from fimls, i also loveeee misfit, that was to be expected after i was going completely insane over the track video. johnny has like 3 lines but again they are iconic (WARNIN’! NCT WE MOBBIN’!) and i just enjoy the track too much to be upset over that. nectar. holy fuck. nectar!!!! wayv never disappoints with their thotty songs, they now have an absolute god tier hoe-ly song trinity with love talk > bad alive > nectar. the first chorus and hendery’s first verse (CHOP CHOP CHOP!) get me every time, this song is so insanely good i am severely upset i cannot sing along to it :( music, dance has nct 127 written all over it in bold letters, it’s so inherently 127’s sound!!!! i love this song so much, it’s so fun, upset and has massive dance-ability, i wish we had gotten a stage for it but i guess you can’t have everything in life </3 make a wish……………………………..the cursed unit. i don’t want to say anything about this except that, unfortunately, the song is fun and i enjoy it. the end. overall, this album is so insanely solid. i know i talk about my favorites A LOT but i genuinely do not dislike a single song on here, this is an absolute no skip album! that’s it. see you for resonance part 2!!!!!

album favs: FADED IN MY LAST SONG !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, misfit, nectar, music dance, make a wish

loona - 12:00 (mini album) controversial loona release 2.0! i don’t know what it is, but somehow they managed to lace the words di da dam di dam di dam dam dam dam di dam (yeah) with pure crack. i fucking love why not, i would even go as far to say it’s my 2nd favorite title track. that is right, i think it’s better than butterfly (btw: hi high > why not > butterfly > so what). so much was strange this comeback, from the inexplicable concept + teasers, the outfits, the styling (yves….i mourn your hot girl era) but the title track is just SO good, SO fun, SO catchy that i am willing to ignore it all. i also enjoy the b sides much more than on #, they are much more memorable to me. and now … HASEUL RETURN…………….i purely live to see the next loona comeback at this point

album favs: why not, voice, universe

twice - i can’t stop me (song) thank fuck twice released a good song this year. if more & more had been the only 2020 release, that would have been the real tragedy. not gonna lie, i still haven’t listened to the full album, it just keeps slipping my mind. but! i’m going to! until then i’m gonna bop to i can’t stop me.

ariana grande - positions (album) the way this album has people upset is so funny. i am a huge dangerous woman fan myself, it’s my fave ariana album to date but she has said repeatedly that this is not the sound she is striving for. now she has her coin and can do whatever she wants in music and if that is r’n’b then fuck! we have to live with it! lmao! i can live with the sex theme of the album because it’s delivered in a fun way? but it’s getting a bit old...if the next album is about riding dick only too idk how much i would enjoy that. i would probably always come back to ari because i like her voice so much but girl, there are other topics to sing about, i promise! anyway! i like this album, it’s one of those where i can hit shuffle and enjoy it in the background while doing other stuff.

album favs: positions, 34 + 35, love language, my hair, pov

tiny meat gang - sofia (song) ayyy, it’s my meat boys :’) ending the year the same way they started it, with a banger! i absolutely love the guitar instrumental, the melancholic love song type sound paired with the theme of singing about loving a robot … yup, that’s creativity and talent right here! this makes me so freaking desperate for a new ep and i genuinely have no idea how far or close we are to one but!!! i am always waiting!!!

noel - push (ep) this is something i absolutely did not expect. noel (of tiny meat gang!) released his first ep ever and i was absolutely wowed. noel has it all, the voice, the talent, the creativity and all it took him was the confidence to finally put something out and i’m so happy he did. he gets real personal on bus back, more than ever before and i always get a bit emo listening to this track </3 this man is gonna go places and i’m so happy to witness his journey.

album favs: crow, head sunk, bus back

honorary mentions: sam smith - diamonds

november

taemin - never gonna dance again act 2 (album) i’m gonna say it. idea is better than criminal. the chorus drop???? when he goes MY AH AH  MY AH AH MY AH MY IDEA MY MY IDEAAAAAA A-A-A A-A-A???? bitch … tell me you can sit still, i won’t believe you. i like part 2’s title track more, but part 1’s b sides are more interesting to me. either way, taemin delivered as expected!!

album favs: idea, impressionable, exclusive

nct - nct 2020 resonance pt. 2 (album) part two, baby! we made it! part 2 had more mellow, ballad-y songs with my everything, i.o.u. and all about you, overall less drama than part 1 but i still enjoyed it. work it is one of those controversial songs where you despise it with your entire being or you defend this top tier noise till the end and i am absolutely the latter. the agony of not being able to listen to it and seeing the timeline so divided nearly killed me, but i have concluded that people who hate work it have never felt joy in their life <3 honestly my opinion cannot be counted because i eat up anything johnny participates in … biased ass… what i’m not gonna talk about is resonance (the song), this absolute mess of a “remix”. the audacity sm had to release this as a single is insane. anyway!! this era was a rollercoaster ride. all the interactions truly made me interested in members of other units more. hendery (the rise and fall …), yangyang my beautiful son, jeno aka blue hair guy, chenle the chaos kid and xiaojun after he made make a wish his bitch in particular! all the interactions between the units were so fun to witness and it was fun while it lasted but i am … so glad it’s over lol. i miss nct 127, i miss some peace, i hope the boys get to rest for a bit and so does my bank account.

album favs: work it, 90s love, i.o.u., raise the roof

miley cyrus - plastic hearts (album) not in a thousand years would i have expected a miley release to be on here. this girl does everything to be absolutely unlikeable in my eyes but after severely banging out to her heart of glass cover, i was really excited for this and it did not disappoint. what is disappointing is that it took her so long to find a sound that fits her like a glove. i believe many people miss out on this release after her previous history and i nearly would have done the same. this alt/rock influenced pop does her voice so many favors and i really hope she sticks to this direction, i love this album greatly!!

album favs: heart of glass, midnight sky, night crawling ft. billy joel, wtf do i know

kai - kai (mini album) just. imagine debuting with an album like that. lol. what a god tier big dick move. we all knew whatever this release was gonna be, above all it was going to be sexy and boy were we RIGHT!!!! mmmh is exactly as thotty as i needed it to be and the b sides give me everything from r’n’b to trap. i love this release and i love that it’s only the beginning of kai! like!! he is only gonna gain even more experience and become even more powerful!! what the fuck!!!!!

album favs: mmmh, ride or die, hello stranger, nothing on me

honorary mentions. gfriend - mago

december

nothing? wtf?? 😭 no interesting release happened,,,,half the time i listened to christmas songs anyway lol

pre 2020 releases i only found this year

mgmt - little dark age (album, 2018) & oracular spectactular (album, 2007) another tiktok serve. i found little dark age through a tiktok trend and ended up really liking mgmt. they fit perfectly into my autumn/winter moody alt/rock mood that i had going on and i’m happy they have so much more music that i can check out!

artist favs: little dark age, electric feel, time to pretend

tame impala - currents (album, 2015) everyone’s favorite basic alt bitch album! i enjoyed this more than the slow rush for a good chunk of time, it also fit right into my alt rock autumn mood. i really love this album, like previously mentioned it has my favorite long ass tracks on there but also a good amount of short or medium long tracks. i’m still busy enjoying currents and the slow rush but i can’t wait till i finally take the leap to dive into their other releases because i’m loving everything i’ve heard so far.

album favs: the less i know the better, let it happen, new person same old mistakes

joji - ballads 1 (2018) after liking nectar so much, checking joji out was a given and i just love this album. only when i listened to this i realized i heard slowly dancing in the dark a few times on tiktok lmao that cursed app man … i would say i love nectar a bit more but this is still a fantastic album!!

album favs: slowly dancing in the dark, attention, test drive, yeah right

jus2 - focus (mini album, 2019) in my “mellow moody bangers” phase i was scouring playlists for more songs and i think i found focus on me first which fitted right into the niche i was looking to fill and i ended up enjoy this whole release! only later i realized this is a sub-unit from got7 lmao how come i enjoy solo or unit releases by got7 members but their group discography never interested me? anyway, very sexy ep!

album favs: drunk on you, focus on me, love talk

knk - sunset (song, 2019) part of my mellow bangers playlist. very sexy, i can imagine this as a runway song! i have no idea who knk are but given the fact i enjoyed two of their songs so far maybe i should look into them lol

baekhyun - city lights (mini album, 2019) i am repenting for my sins of missing out on baekhyun releases by consuming his music at an exorbitant rate. un village is one hell of a title track that i didn’t appreciate before, but i feel like in 2020 my music interests started to vary and i love the groovy r’n’b and string sound of this song so much. i also love stay up to death, the vocals baekhyun serves here are unreal. his BABY WE CAN STAY UP!!!!!!! gets me every single time!!!! what a mini!

album favs: un village, stay up

mac miller - swimming (album, 2018) i’ve listened to this album before 2020 but i had the urge to put this on here. this is going to sound so corny, but if i had to pick one song to be my life’s title track, it would be ladders. the hope this song gives me is unreal, it feels like a light at the end of the tunnel. this album is so fantastic, i love the upbeat instrumentals paired with sometimes gloomy lyrics are so incredible, mac was truly one of the greatest artists of our time. this album is  so outstanding and i miss him every day.

album favs: ladders, jet fuel, 2009, self care, perfecto

doja cat - hot pink (album, 2019) i can never decide if i like doja or not but the album slaps lol that’s it come on tiktok queen

album favs: say so, juicy, like that, streets

my fav 2020 playlists

slapping mellow

neo culture technology

malcolm

why go to therapy when this playlist exists?

top songs 2020

(by spotify)

[keycrash]

so i just finished the zero escape trilogy blind and i absolutely loved iiit tho i am seriously annoyed at the lack of epilogue for d team and the fact that kyle's importance was totally dropped (i get that the another time pov was supposed to be the player an dpossibly the 'god' of free the soul/delta that akane had revealed to her but that doesnt explain kyle's absence)

i’m glad you liked it!! i’m surprised you managed to stay unspoiled if you followed me beforehand lmao. but yeah those two critiques were really common following the game’s release-- as for the kyle thing, i will add that part of uchikoshi’s explanation for that was that the “another time” part of vlr was added fairly last minute (it wasn’t even voiced in japanese) as a means of creating a more ‘hopeful’ ending in the wake of the tsunami that hit japan, iirc. it was never made clear to english fans until after the fact, but it was meant as meta-commentary rather than actual events taking place in the game, apparently. a lot of us were still disappointed, but. yknow.

rest of the messages:

carrying on my previous message im not disappointed a lot was lef tot figur eout e.g. that delta was probably lying about the nuclear war (unless he caused it himself) in line with the 'fanatic bio r = fabrication' thing, and the fact the 'final choice' is solely up to the player i.e. Delta's god, and that the 'way for clover and alice to return from the another time ending in vlr' is implied to be the transporters Akane recovered in the VLR timeline

yeah i actually did really like the fanatic bio r/fabrication thing being ambiguous in isolation, i just felt a little weird about it in the context of delta’s motives; it seemed like the game was intentionally as confusing as possible about his motives in order to make them appear complex instead of actually building them logically

wrt the last thing, this made me come up with a theory that i think is sound but is like HOLY SHIT, i.e. alice and clover get sent via transporter thousands of years into the past and then Alice becomes the original priestess of amen-ra who via ~shenanigans~(involving antarctic ice?) then becomes all-ice and either via clover (transported) or delta/phi shes saved in the 20th century and eventually leaves the mandrake root for hongou to manufacture soporil-b and make all three ZE games possible

i had this theory too before ztd came out!! that alice was gonna get sent back and become all-ice. since it was never touched on in ztd i just kind of dropped it but it’s still fun to think about

last note, i am soo conflicted on akanes portrayal in ztd, on the one hand it is sort of a nice synthesis of her pragmatic self and her bubbly self, on the other hand i feel like it severely undercut how awe inspiring she became in both the 999 and vlr endings that felt like she was a being that existed supeceding timelines and was on par with delta/brother (phi shouldve also had a similarly pivotal role in ztd too tbh)

oh trust me i hate how akane was portrayed in ztd; i think showing a bit of her everyday personality & banter with others would be a great idea, but when i imagine that kind of akane i imagine more like the akane of end or beginning-- she’s practical, pragmatic, a bit morbid, teasing. not the hyper-emotional impulsive reactions that ztd akane had. taking away any sense of power or control from her without even justifying it made her jarringly different from her past two iterations. it didn’t even seem like she had a plan going in to save the world!! and yeah, phi was totally dropped in ztd; she was in character for the most part, but narratively her arc led nowhere, she was painfully absent in the latter half of the game, and the developments we got concerning her had more to do with the material state of her existence/past rather than any emotional trust or opening up by her.

uhhh overall on ztd its weird because with both 999 and vlr i found them kiind of tedious and full of stuff i hated for a large part of the game, and then as they got to the end with the last few hours everything came together so perfectly it blew my mind. zts lacked that completely, but it was also more enjoyable the entire way through, so maybe i cant say i enjoyed it less than the others

for this one it’s more personal taste (i found 999 very fun to play through, though i DEFINITELY agree it gets tedious if you’re playing the original and can’t skip puzzles you’ve already done, but vlr is very much tedious either way); i will agree though that ztd is actually fun to play all the way through with the fragment system, even if the fragment system both adds to and detracts from the story A Lot in different ways

vlr is prooobably the best game i think, which makes sense bc my four favourite characters are akane (no.1, incredible metafictional mastermind ascends to ultimate self), sigma ('congratulations. you played yourself' on loop for 45 years), diana (principled will of steel, "do no harm" even if it creates the apocalypse), and phi (i need so much more phi content), 2 of which are from VLR jfieofuefji. yes D team is my fave

you’re valid, i loooove the vlr characters & story even if the actual experience of playing it knocks it down a few points below 999 for me-- d team is a beautiful little mess and they deserved better treatment in ztd kasmdflaksjdf

[midnight-in-town]

Are there manga/anime you didn't expect you like it, but you did?

Hello! Haha, omg, actually I hardly ever start a series if something in the summary or the art style doesn’t intrigue me, so I always go in because I’m interested in a thing I read or saw about it.

However, there are definitely series I didn’t expect to like as much as I first thought I would. The series I blog about the most (be it manga, animes or games) are generally such cases of “wow I didn’t expect to like it so much and now I’m doomed forever”. xD

I’m supposing you are looking for some examples, so here we go for the ones I remember the most vividly:

Ace Attorney

I received the first game as an unexpected gift when I was a teen, even though I knew nothing of the story or its characters. 

Played the first case, was like ‘uh ok it’s nice and funny’ then things start to kick in in case 2 (’spirit mediums????’) and until the end of the game, which had me yelling everywhere in excitement considering how good cases 4 and 5 were. Then I played JFA, loved it obviously and T&T was not yet out in English by then. 

That being said, it only took the first game to dive pretty far into the well crafted world that is Ace Attorney, but I always enjoyed how the universe expands with each game.

And today, aside from the DGS prequel games which I haven’t played, I know the series by heart! It’s my first Internet fandom and still a favorite: I love how the games evolved (even if the first trilogy remains my fave), I love how good the character developments in these games are, I love the plot twists, the slight supernatural powers, etc. 

Still a fave to this day and probably 5ever! Also these games are the reason why & how I became fluent in English and, just for that, they changed my life quite permanently, haha. xD

The Suzumiya Haruhi series

My first anime! 

Kinda related to Ace Attorney actually because, at some point in the Suzumiya Haruhi anime they make a parody of AA as they’re solving a “murder case”, and that’s how I discovered the series (as I was browsing about AA on youtube).  

So I started watching it with no real idea in mind, but as it turned out, I loved how awkward it is, haha! The movie (an adaptation of the fourth light novel) is also my absolute favorite as far as animated works go. 

UDDUP

My first manga! And quite a great one at that! I remember finding the first volumes in a bookstore, thinking “wow the covers are so pretty?”, which is why I started reading it, haha.

Thanks to it I came to discover manga, so I’ll always love it a lot, just for that.

What I enjoyed the most though is how realistic and well-built the universe is. The cast of characters is also quite diversified, which is not something you find often and a very enjoyable fact. You can read more about it here and here.

Berserk

I already expanded on how I came to discover it here. :)

Blade of the Immortal

Ah, my latest favorite discovery! I had seen panels and screenshots of it passing by on my dash for years, but the summary had never struck me as that interesting. How wrong I was, haha.

Then someone I follow was asked about it and answered something about how “it was too violent” for them despite how enjoyable the story was. So I thought “hey maybe I should check this out”, which I did. 

I only have one advice: go read it!! It’s truly a masterpiece on the level of Berserk or Urasawa Naoki’s Monster!

Pierre Bottero’s Multiverse

He is a French author, so I doubt you’ve heard of him. He used to be quite famous in France in the fantastic/fantasy realm of fiction writers. 

His multiverse is made of 4 different trilogies and a stand alone book, which was supposed to be an introduction to a final trilogy tying everything together, but then he died in a car accident.

These books are probably my favorite book series ever. I read the first one thinking “okay it’s good but” and then I went to read the rest of the first trilogy and I absolutely loved it. 

I didn’t know back then that he intended on developing his ideas into multiple books, so I ended up following his book releases for years quite faithfully, until his death actually. May he rest in peace. <3

Katekyo Hitman Reborn

One of these series I started because I was bored & everyone was yelling that it was super good. 

I checked the anime for a few episodes, ended up bored out of my mind and dropping it for a few months. Then I came across some characters’ design (the Varia’s to be precise) and I was here like ‘??? where are these characters in the anime?’ so I went back to see more of the anime from where I had stopped.

As it turns out, the episode I had stopped on was quite good and I ended up watching it for all the laughs that it caused me, until the actual plot kicked in after 20 episodes or so. xD

Anyway, there was a reason everyone was yelling it was super good despite how peculiar it is at times, haha, and I ended up being no exception and drawn to its charms. x)

Avatar: the last Airbender

Ahhh, well, this is one series I discovered rather late! I was away on vacation with some friends and we were discussing stuff from our childhood that we still liked today, when this one friend started to mention ATLA.

And the thing is, I remembered watching some TV episodes but I couldn’t envision that this was a series with a particular or well-defined plot, because it left me no impression at all as a kid. 

But my friend was quite eager about how good it was and our other friend was watching LOK at the time (without knowing about ATLA) so they both made me want to check what ATLA truly was like. 

I ended up watching the whole thing a few weeks after in, like, two or three days, without being able to stop screaming about it, haha. :))

There you go Anon. :) I actually have many more examples, because I hardly ever know what to truly expect whenever I start a series. The MO is: the more it surprises me, the more I tend to love it!

Have a nice weekend!

[hamliet]

Hello! Have you seen TROS yet? [Spoiler alert] I was really devastated by the ending - coming out the theater feeling upset and disappointed. Do you have any thoughts on it? Or maybe any plan to write fix-it fic? Thank you!

I am seeing it tomorrow. That said, I’ve read the plot summary, and no good execution can save that. So I was planning on posting this after I watched it with amendments made as I hope to enjoy it, but I’ll just post it now and amend this as necessary based on the film as I see it. (I still believe I will enjoy the film, even if I don’t think it’s a good film. I do think that. I really do... I hope.)

BASED ON THE PLOT SUMMARIES ALONE (grains of salt everywhere!): 

I think it’s technically… messy writing at best and downright bad writing in other parts.* 10/10 it’s a blockuster-y, JJ Abrams-esque, (hopefully) fun, messy narrative movie that will be forgotten in 0.3 seconds.

Disclaimer before everyone comes after me: if you like it, AWESOME. If you think it’s good writing, great! Good writing and bad writing are inherently subjective; that said, there are general consensuses among literary studies about what constitutes bad and good writing. Hence, I’m relying on those consensuses when I call it messily written.

Before we get into specifics, I’ll compare it to two other major pop culture endings: Game of Thrones and Avengers: Endgame.

TROS is similar to the GoT final season in that it attempts to incorporate every aspect of fan speculation ever. However, it’s more like Endgame in that it is still somewhat true to the themes and characters—but unfortunately also like Endgame, it is not transformative or particularly interesting as a story on its own. In fact, it’s rather boring and honestly… bad storytelling. It tries to rehash Return of the Jedi but it doesn’t succeed in any way because the world and the overall story has grown since the early 1980s, and so the same story doesn’t work anymore.

Showing a cyclical story remaining cyclical with no sign of that breaking–instead, the cycles are even reinforced–does not give optimism nor does it give hope.

Redemption=death needs to die already. If we really want to reach people and tell them that the message is that you can always make a better choice (as Daisy Ridley and JJ Abrams have said about Kylo’s arc), maybe don’t send the message in each and every story that you have to die to redeem yourself. Look outside of cultural secular Calvinism, for the love of God and the betterment of the world and stories as a whole.

Now let’s talk Rey’s parentage.

We know Rey Palpatine wasn’t planned from the beginning (Trevorrow, the original write/director of IX, who was thankfully fired, said that he never planned for Palpatine to return), which means Rey’s parentage was most likely retconned from TLJ and there was no real plan for the sequel trilogy’s overall character arcs (save for Kylo’s, according to the actors and writers).

Listen to me. You don’t have to have everything planned when you start a three-film saga, but you gotta know the major beats.

This is like a sad game of movie telephone. 

Yes, I know the OT Star Wars didn’t have a plan either and it’s like one of the only examples I can think of where no plan worked out–albeit not without hiccups (Leia kissing Luke, anyone?) If you expect lightning to strike twice in the same place, I’m sorry, but you are hopelessly naive.

Having Rey decide she wants to carry on the name Skywalker at the end is lame as shit. It’s a way to appease fans while being like nah she still isn’t related. Trying to please every fan is a sure way to guarantee that you will please no one. It might make for a perfectly pleasant film experience (I really hope it does), but not good, lasting storytelling (though not like, horrific either). It’s meh. It’s like… giving someone who is starving oatmeal. It will get the job done but will it satisfy and enthrall people? Not quite.

And let’s switch gears for a minute to Finn and Rose, my first and third favorite characters in this trilogy (Kylo is second, Rey is fourth). The sidelining of Rose is nothing short of a terrible attempt to please the white-supremacist-aligned Fandom Menace. Let’s not pretend it’s anything else. JJ’s lipservice about how wonderful it was that Kelly was cast at SW Celebration is, in hindsight, absolutely nauseating.

Shame on JJ. Shame on Disney.

But the main problem I have with this film is this:

Why did it need to exist?

The answer is money. Obviously. I know, I know stories exist to make money. That doesn’t mean I can’t criticize the fact that the story was sacrificed on the unholy altar of capitalism and Disney’s desire to own our souls. (Disney–the reason I like your movies is that a lot of them are good stories. I’m not interested in pandering soooooo.)

The Rise of Skywalker does not enhance the Star Wars narrative. Nothing about this film satisfies the Skywalker Saga nor the sequel trilogy, and it kind of all comes down to Kylo Ren’s death being the nail that sunk the entire world of Star Wars.

Keep in mind Kylo is not my favorite character when I’m saying this. Finn is. But I never spoke about Finn as much because the story didn’t utilize him properly. I never had concerns about Finn getting a happy ending while I was worried for Rey and Kylo’s arcs. (Finn’s arc, however, did have a ton more potential than was capitalized on; in particular, he would have been better if he was more conflicted over say, shooting other stormtroopers. His whole character humanized the usual red shirts, which when paired with Rose’s everywoman character, had so much potential I could shriek about it all day. That he didn’t lead other brainwashed stormtroopers into rebellion and freedom saddens me. Also, his ending again seems to bring about a good victim/bad victim dichotomy when it is compared with Kylo’s. The reason these two are my faves is that they were brainwashed as kids which, well, I can kinda sorta heavily relate to.)

Kylo Ren and Rey’s relationship doesn’t really get much better than it did in The Last Jedi. It actually rehashes that arc significantly. We already knew Kylo would fight for Rey and the galaxy, so… how was this different? Now, if he had lived, it would have been different, because it was the after the fight that proved that Kylo wasn’t ready to redeem himself in The Last Jedi. It was Kylo’s choice to stay at the expense of Rey and the Resistance that was literally the set up for conflict in the next film. This… turned it into nothing? Their conflict is rehashed and then whoo-hoo! Easy way out! Kill him so that they don’t have to deal with the “after” this time! They never have to deal with the conflict literally set up in The Last Jedi.

That’s bad writing, fam.

Life is infinitely more interesting. Leaving the story open with a living Skywalker instead of killing literally everyone involved with the Skywalkers except Rey who now adopts that name is… so unsatisfying I can’t even. Even if later material shows him showing up as a Force Ghost, like: cool saw that with Vader so this… adds nothing to the existing films. It doesn’t really reconcile anything.

It also… does not help the Rey=Mary Sue argument. She is NOT a Mary Sue, and that is a sexist term itself, but in no way is it a satisfying ending to her arc, because it isn’t a well-written ending which means it isn’t a well-written arc. The problem with Rey’s ending is a mirror of my problem with Kylo’s ending: it’s the very much a combination of her ending in The Last Jedi and her life before The Force Awakens.

She and Kylo are now separated (permanently this time).

She’s has her Resistance friends.

She’s alone on a desert planet.

But wait! Now she’s now happy!

Uh, why? The only reason I can think of is that the narrative demands it. Because honestly, what changes? The family she chose–the Skywalkers–are just as dead as her Palpatine birth family, soooooo. I suppose she reconciled with her heritage and come to peace with it and so that’s why she’s happy now, but… I can’t lie. It’s not hopeful. It’s not optimistic. It’s not Star Wars and it isn’t consistent for the message (especially if this is supposed to be the ending to the saga!) to be both:

life sucks for the Skywalkers and then they die–seriously, look at Shmi, Anakin, Padmé, Leia, Luke, Han, Kylo–it is LITERALLY ALL OF THEM; and

deciding to be a Skywalker means you’re at peace.

I can only assume Rey’s life will suck and then she’ll die, tbh, unless of course she is better off because of her blood… which negates the point of her being a Skywalker and is a really gross idea.

YOU CAN’T HAVE BOTH IN YOUR ENDING. PICK ONE.

Rejecting the Skywalkers would be anti-Star Wars, for sure, but marrying into them as a way of bridging the unfinished pain between Anakin and Padmé and Leia and her father? Much better. Or just leave it open. Honestly, leave it open for Kylo and Rey to both be alive and see each other again.

But you’re just upset your ship didn’t get a happy ending!

No, I’m upset about the storytelling, of which shipping is a part. A canonical part just as much as the lightsaber fights are. Anakin and Padmé. Leia and Han. Finn and Rose. Poe and Zorii. Rey and Ben.

The Force created Anakin, remember? All films–even the spin-offs–encourage our heroes to trust the force. “May the force be with us.” But the Force created an ENTIRE FAMILY THAT LIVED LIVES THAT SUCKED AND MADE LIFE SUCK FOR EVERYONE AROUND THEM AND THEN THEY DIED.

May the Force stay far the f*ck away from me, amen.

But seriously I can’t trust the world of a galaxy far far away or its narrative anymore. It’s a contradiction that causes all nine films to unravel. Why?

Again, let’s return to my earlier GoT comparison, because there is one thing TROS does that is more similar to GoT than to Endgame: Endgame drew together a bunch of unique distinctly separate stories into a crossover. TROS, just like GoT, relied on cliffhanger, incomplete endings to its films and therefore the ending matters a hell of a lot more than a stand-alone story.

I’m not dying to rewatch it like I am with stories where I realize I might learn more the second time. And by “rewatch it” I mean the entire nine-film saga. Knowing that canonically Leia, Luke, Han–they all die and their last descendent dies, the last descendent of Padmé and Anakin–for me, it’s personally gonna be hard to watch again. It’s gonna be hard to watch TROS going into it the first time.

And so the saga of bad endings continues.

Game of Thrones remains the worst at a -100 out of 10. It’s followed by Tokyo Ghoul:re which is still 2/10, and Star Wars is, on paper (meaning after I see it I am hoping it rises a few notches) now… 4/10. Endgame is a solid 6.5/10.

Banana Fish, sweetie, I’m sorry you were ranked down there. Your ending is a 7/10 but the rest of your story is like, 10/10 so you are sprung from this list.

Help me, Shingeki no Kyojin. You’re my only hope.

[frenchibi]

hey, so i thought maybe you could tell us a little what you're currently interested in? ♥ like, what have you been doing during quarantine, are there any new shows you watched that you enjoyed a lot, did you maybe take up a new hobby or something? :)

Hello!! I did not forget this lovely message, I was just in no state to answer (who’d have thought that recovery from surgery is, y’know, taxing) BUT I’M BACK NOW and ohhhh do you know what you’ve unlocked by asking me this question...?? I cannot give you a comprehensive list but I can tell you a couple of the things that I got into during quarantine, and the things I am currently super passionate about! My memory is, uh, not great but thankfully I do journal and write down things so I am confident I can answer this for you :D (plus I do always love recommending things so - aaa??? Thank you for this ask????)

Putting things under a cut because I physically cannot chill but if tl;dr I want you to take away one thing from this it’s that everyone should read Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. Thoughts below.

(Also. I would love to go off about my interests more on here but am not sure what... shape that should ideally take? Text posts? IDK pls give me suggestions, help me out?? dfhasjkldf)

Movies

I have not seen many, but I can and will scream about The Old Guard over and over because... it was everything I never knew I needed in an action movie?? I don’t reblog many things about it anymore but I love love LOVED it!!

Also, upon recommendation by one of my friends from India, I have been delving into the world of Bollywood movies and WOW Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara was so fucking good??? idk if it’s on Netflix in every country but it is in mine and I highly recommend it. It’s thoughtful, honest, emotional and shot absolutely gorgeously, and it also has that cheesiness that is just... so good... sometimes you just need the cheese y’know???

(Side note, 2020 was the year I saw Pride and Prejudice (2005) for the first time and I am a changed woman. It is now my ultimate comfort movie. Please see it if you have not, I cannot believe it took me this long. I saw it for the first time on an airplane (in january... a lifetime ago) and have seen it many, many times since.)

TV Shows

So, to everyone’s shock but especially my own, I have not really been into TV lately? I watched The Boys because my brother recommended it (it’s good, but gorey and pulls no punches, the R rating is deserved), and recently started watching Jujutsu Kaisen because my sister recommended it (I haven’t watched a new anime in like a year which is kinda wild to me? But I am enjoying this one - the opening SLAPS and what I’ve seen so far has been fun! Plus I’m watching it with my sister and I like sending her reactions xD),,, and that’s pretty much it for this category?? I am aware there is a LOT of good shit out there I just.. .don’t seem to have the attention span for multiple episodes of a Thing these days. Meh. I’m sure it’ll come back to me eventually ^^

Musical Theater

One of the main reasons I think I haven’t been big into TV is because my Musical Passion is in FULL SWING (haha get it). Probably because the only thing that has remained for me during this quarantine is my singing lessons (and lemme tell you... over skype, that shit is ROUGH but still better than not singing at all) and I have been obsessing over learning new songs and finding shows through recommendations and compilation videos on youtube... So.

Shows I listen to a lot these days include Starry, Anastasia, The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals, Come From Away (I made a post recently specifically about musicals, you should be able to find it under #French speaks) - specific songs in my range that I am currently learning and obsessing over include “Bring on the men” from Jekyll and Hyde, “The Mad Hatter” from Wonderland, “Show Yourself” from Frozen 2 (I liked it ok I DID), and “Go Tonight” from The Mad Ones (this one makes me cry... I’m making my sister duet it with me bc I can’t stop thinking about it).

Also, if you’re interested in hearing me sing things, head over to my instagram where I post covers (and also art)!!

(Musical people, I am curious to hear opinions about Great Comet, and also The Count of Monte Cristo - two shows I’ve been meaning to check out!)

Video Games

Listen. Animal Crossing New Horizons is awesome and I’m glad I have it (...give me Brewster back, Nintendo, or I WILL RIOT), but I have been branching out into other games for the Switch (might as well make this purchase worth it amirite) - current faves include Celeste (which is SO HARD but also SO FUCKING FUN) and Spiritfarer which I specifically bought to play at the hospital bc I knew I was going to be there for a few days, and let me tell you - best decision of 2020. Please watch the trailer if you haven’t heard of it, it’s GORGEOUS and beautiful and emotional and I loved every second of it. Both of these can also be purchased for PC and I think they are definitely worth the investment!!

In other news I’m back on my Stardew Valley bullshit. It’s just so calming.I revisit it a lot lmao

Books

So... I have been reading. A LOT. I read over 70 books this year, which for me is... average tbh? I have had some less productive reading months but overall I have torn through stuff and BOY do I have recommendations if you want them?? For the sake of brevity I will only mention a few here:

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir “Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space”. That is all. This was my first five star fiction book of the year and I will never be done screaming about it. There is a dedicated but smallish fandom here on tumblr and it deserves SO MUCH MORE. Please, please please. Everyone should read this damn book. It’s confusing in the beginning but I promise it’s worth it IT’S SO GOOD!! And also the sequel is out and it’s also confusing and SO GOOD!!!

Educated by Tara Westover. This is an autobiography and it’s one of those books that like. Stick in your mind for months after you’ve read it. It’s about how this woman escaped an abusive household that was religiously oppressive and also like... survivalist (prepping for the apocalypse) and avidly believed in conspiracy theories - by educating herself, working her way up to going to Harvard. Nothing I say could do the emotional impact of this book justice - and also just, the perspective this book gave me?? Incredible. Education is the most powerful tool and this woman grabbed it by the hair and did not let go and I was FLOORED. Everyone should read this. I don’t even usually read biographies but DAMN.

The Winternight trilogy by Katherine Arden.(Book 1 is called The Bear and the Nightingale). This is a bit of a slow burn type deal - it’s a retelling of a Russian fairy tale (I think?? Or like a folk... story? Something like that) and it is just. So magical. It’s not fast paced but it works up to FANTASTIC moments, the focus is on family and magic and change and “making your own way” and all three of these books were wonderful. It reminded me of Naomi Novic’s Uprooted and Spinning Silver (both of which I also loved back in 2019 and would highly recommend) and they are PERFECT winter reads if you’re looking for something to get cozy with. I liked book 1 well enough but books 2 and 3 knocked it out of the park. Fantastic. Loved them.

I have many more recs but this will do for now hahah

Music

Gonna keep this brief too - my music taste is all over the place, but here are some songs I have been obsessed with recently!! Beware of genre whiplash though because these are Very Different from one another (and different from the musical theater stuff above)

Factories - Autoheart (that bridge gets me every time, idk why. This is one I could have on repeat for hours and not get tired of it either. Something about it just gets me!!)

History Read - The Altogether (The lyrics!! Tbh the entire Silo album is GREAT, but this one is my fave. Their music is so... mellow, in the best way??)

Weather Man - Valley of Wolves (ok this one is just a banger. I’m a sucker for a good sing-along-able hook (that’s not a word. you get me though right) and this fucking DELIVERS. I also just think “I make these dark skies blue, I make these mountains move, let the rain come down, I’m pushing through.... [pause] ... ‘cause I’m the weather man” is such good execution of a concept?? That PAUSE GETS ME it’s just SO FUN?!?! idk man I like a good upbeat banger and this is that.)

I believe (get over yourself) - Nico Vega (this one is just a callout at myself tbh?? “you’re a fool” I AM and I needed to hear it?? It’s also SO FUN to sing!!! We love a banger.)

Kiss me you animal - Burn the Ballroom (mentioning this mainly because it reminded me, lyrically, of Gideon the Ninth and I need someone to confirm this for me before I go insane?? “everybody knows that home is where your teeth sink, love” - I mean c’mon??? Also it’s a banger. I do like some rock from time to time... and this also has a killer driving bassline. This is super fun to drive to, too!!)

((If we have overlap and anyone wants to exchange playlists with me - I am SO here for it. Always looking for new music!!! I mean it!!))

Youtube

Last and certainly not least... meet my newest hyperfixation!!! I have always loved watching video essays, and booktube videos, and arttube videos - and my current niche of favorite creators is the Polygon video team!! They made videos about video games and board games and anything gaming-related and I just. I’m only peripherally a “gamer(TM)” but I love anything and everything they create. (Also you don’t have to know much about video games to enjoy all of their content!! A lot of it is still accessible to Non-Gamers(TM) or casual gamers!) BDG is my new favorite creator, the Unraveled series he does on the channel is a work of genius - but I have also started watching their streams and older series and I am enjoying myself SO MUCH! I love boardgames so their series on them, Overboard, is so fun and entertaining (and I already know a bunch of games I want to buy based on seeing the gameplay), and it also made me invested in the other creators - particularly Simone, I would die for Simone?? And Pat? And Jenna? They each have their niche and they work really well together too and their videos are my Main Serotonin Machine in these trying times(TM), thank you for coming to my TED talk.

Also. If you’re already following me here and you are familiar with Polygon things I BEG YOU TO COME AND TALK TO ME ABOUT THEM because I am like, bursting, but I also don’t want to flood my dash with stuff that 99% of my followers are unfamiliar with y’know??

...I think I’m going to leave it at this - it’s already a lot!

But thank you once again for asking and for letting me Go Off about things I am interested in!! I just... I very often wish I could do this more, but I’m not sure how to go about it? Should I just do text posts about things?? Would that be interesting to anyone?? Or is that like, annoying? Should I start a review blog or something? dhfajkldhf I just want to talk about things that excite me, but whenever I’m here I often just stick to reblogging other people’s stuff... help?? What do y’all want to see??