#i know not all of those artists are technically pop but whatever it's not my genre

[lastflowerofyourhouse]

i've had luck with this before so: does anyone have any songs that remind them of ianthe's weird little crush on harrow? i'm working on a playlist and i've got a song for basically everything else but i'm lacking a harrow song. preferably sadgirl pop or sadgirl pop adjacent (ex: lana del rey, marina and the diamonds, lorde, halsey, etc).

[incorrectbatfam]

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆

He~llo ˄·͈༝·͈˄ This question popped up in my brain, like, a month ago and I am now asking you:

I have noticed that you gave Duke an interest in mediaeval fantasy stuff (DnD, the duke (hehe) renfaire outfit, ect.) and I wonder if there is any reason for it or is it just shits and giggles?

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆

I tend to do that a lot, where I extrapolate from canon and use that as a running theme for the characters (or just random recurring headcanons) because I guess that's my way of playing around with the source material and putting my own spin? Idk if that makes sense

Canonically Duke is into puzzles, movies, and trading card games. Obviously that's not everything but for this ask I'll focus on those.

Technically, for movies, he's canonically more into Tarantino films, however I can see him enjoying fantasy and sci-fi franchises—especially since it's also canon that Bruce watches Star Wars (and presumably some of the other bats are similar), meaning Duke would have someone to share his interests with (the Star Trek/DC crossover comics complicate things a bit but anyway).

DC also has its in-universe version of Dungeons and Dragons, though I'm not sure Duke specifically has played it in canon, but it's not a stretch to say he'd enjoy it considering it's a game combining logic (puzzles and math), creativity (he's a good divergent thinker), and storywriting (he likes to write).

Also, from how he acts in the comics (excluding WFA), Duke is one of those kids who don't look punk but has the energy (plus he listens to metal). As someone who is active on both scenes, there is a lot of overlap between the alt music people and the DND/fandom nerds. Not sure whether it's the common artistic personality or the shared experience of being outcasted or whatever.

He would get along with Hobie Brown

From all that, I came up with things like cosplay and threw it in for fun. Again, it's not a big stretch knowing what we're already given in canon, plus it opens up more room for the silly/absurd stuff that you typically see me do.

[k2ntwo]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

A bunch of writers that I follow have already been tagged and responded @helloliriels @khorazir @7-percent @discordantwords @totallysilvergirl to name just a few. Now I have a few new things to read that I somehow missed the first time around as well as a bunch of old favorites to go and re-read. So much good fic is out there by so many talented writers!

In the spirit of adding to folk’s ever growing MFL list I’ll just pile onto the bandwagon with my answers as well.

 1.  How many works to you have on AO3?

56 although there are several collections of snippets that technically could be counted separately. On AO3 I'm KtwoNtwo.

2.  What’s your total AO3 word count?

496,860

3.  What fandoms do you write for?

Primarily Sherlock Holmes (most all iterations from ACD to Sherlock) and James Bond.  However, I dabble in a good number of other fandoms upon occasion.

4.  What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Metamorphosis

Conversations from Q-Branch

50 Reasons (The Q-Branch Edition)

A Rare Breed

Brothers Three

5.  Do you respond to comments?

Yes, even if its just a “I’m glad you liked it.”  The only ones I don’t respond to are the generic solicitations to join some random contest or fic publishing website.  Those get blocked and reported.

6.  What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Well, I don’t really write major angst but The Four Riders has got a bit as does the poem Gun in the Drawer though they both end on a hopeful note.

7.  What’s the Fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most of my fics have happy endings but probably A Toast to the Science of Deduction resolves the happiest of the lot.

8.  Do you get hate on fics.

Nope.  Only got one anonymous troll alleging trademark infringement due to a title.  I fired back a factual rebuttal: basically "there is no book by that name by that author, there is no lawyer by that name, you didn’t provide contact information and btw trademark doesn’t work the way you allege" then added a set of quotation marks to the title.  Never heard anything more about it.

9.  Do you write smut?

I have but I’m not terribly good at it.  Most of the time the characters look at me then politely, or not so politely, shut the bedroom door in my face.

10.  Do you write crossovers?

Oh God Yes!  Technically I think I write fusions, where both fandoms end up in the same universe, as opposed to crossovers but I’m rather unclear on the difference between same so I tend to just call 'em crossovers and leave it at that. 

11.  Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I could find or prove.  I did have a couple of strange search results pop up with my use name and some fic titles attached but the websites all seem to be defunct now.

12.  Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not to my knowledge.

13.  Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No.

14.  What’s your favorite ship?

Sherlock Holmes/John Watson

15.  What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

There’s a fic based on a song by Abney Park that I’ve got an outline for but it never seems to go anywhere.

16.  What are your writing strengths?

I can merge and/or crossover all sorts of different fandoms. 

17.  What are your writing weaknesses?

Typos and punctuation.  Being slightly dyslexic I can’t spot the former and I never know if I’m using commas correctly or not.

18.  Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I actively avoid doing so because I’d butcher it badly.

19.  First fandom you wrote for?

Emperor’s Edge by Lindsay Buroker.  I will admit that I wrote in my head, but never got around to put on paper, a number of Star Trek stories when I was significantly younger.

20.  Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

I like all of them for different reasons.  The one I’m most proud of however is The Emerald Falls my Study in Emerald inspired ACD Fic.

I'd love to have some of the artists/podcasters respond to this with whatever modifications are necessary to fit the medium involved. Hours of podcast or number of artworks as opposed to number of words for example. @podfixx @bluebellofbakerstreet if you haven't responded to this thing already and I just missed it.

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2024: #06 & #05

06. SWEDEN Loreen - "Tattoo" 1st place

Decade Ranking: 19/116 [above Halo, below Adrenalina]

Alright, fine, we've arrived at Loreen. There are plenty of conflicting emotions swirling around in my head, but overall, yeah, you know how I feel about her. It hasn't changed. She's very good, but I'm not obsessed with her. This is where those entries rank.

Let's tackle the elephant in the room: Tattoo is a good song and a boring, uninspiring winner. The two aren't mutually exclusive. Loreen's victory was determined the second she won Melfest, by default. It was unsatisfactory for two reasons:

(1) The moment Loreen was picked the casuals that remembered "Euphoria" immediately started praising her while ignoring everyone else, and this of course snowballed into the biggest jury coronation since Salvador. Lol that the same casuals that were obsessed with Tattoo preshow became upset when she beat Käärijä. What else did you think was going to happen? it was YOU who kept touting her as the best without giving as much as dismissive look at her competition, of course the Eye of Sauron was fixated on her and no one else.

(2) Käärijä. For better or for worse, this year will be remembered as the year Cha Cha Cha was robbed by the juries for the sake of Sweden. Käärijä was not without his own set of problems which directly led to his demise (which we'll tackle when we get to him because this post is about Loreen), but he WAS the year and it was his loss specifically that left a bad aftertaste in many mouths. It's always better when the underdog beats the overdog, and not the other way around.

Once the dust settled, everyone pledged fealty to the crazyparty Fin while "Tattoo" was quickly replaced as the basic gay anthem by "Padam Padam".

However, neither of those things are particularly Loreen's fault?

What I can ascertain is that Tattoo is not Euphoria, obviously. A lot of the love for Tattoo was spillover Euphoria nostalgia. That's fine, but I meant their thematic differences went understated - Euphoria was an ode to the eternity of love, while Tattoo specifically is about the love fracturing apart and Loreen's inabilty to move on - in other words "Euphoria" was a victory, while "Tattoo" always felt like more of a defeat. It's a subtle difference, but one that should always lead to Euphoria being ranked AHEAD of Tattoo, jesus christ ESC250 voters.

However, this is still Loreen, and a lesser Loreen is still lowkey epic. Eventhough "Tattoo" is probably the least good Loreen song, (technically because it's a Cazzi Opeia song with a Loreen sound - "You're stuck on me like a tatoo-oo-oo that is a Cazzi hook if ever there was), it is still a good song. Loreen proved although she's now at an age where her memory is starting to fail her, forgetting essentials such as clipping her fingernails and paying her taxes, she still has the attitude and flat stomach of a cougar ready to pounce. All credits for Tattoo's successes belong to her, SJB and no one else.

And, not unimportantly in a audio-visual medium such as Eurovision, Tattoo also looked really good on the stage. It had A Vision, which is what every winner needs nowadays. Again, the staging is great but also... not that grat lol - it's not the best staging ever. It's not better than Euphoria's or even Vesna's that we'll talk about later. Nevertheless, the song was beautifully framed under the confined space of that impromptu photocopier and Loreen's choreography. The staging was dynamic, artistic and gave the impression real stakes were involved. It Understood The Assignment. It made the song *pop*.

I specifically really LOVE the wide shot during the bridge that really anchors the devastation and desolation she sings about.

It's one of those money shots linger in your mind after the song has ended.

So overall, yeah, Loreen is not my winner or even a top fiver for me, but oh well, whatever? She was a dull winner compared to Käärijä but not an undeserving one. She's still a solid eight-and-a-half out of ten. She alone provided the triple threat of Good composition, Stunning Act and Killer Execution, so ofc juries flocked to her if they're instructed to assess the overal package. If you still think they robbed Käärijä (they did not.) remember that Loreen was solidly second in nearly every televote behind him. If he were destined to always lose Eurovision 2023 like I now believe he was, it's definitely only Loreen who should have taken the W here.

-------------------------------

05. AUSTRALIA Voyager - "Promise" 9th place

Decade Ranking: 17/116 [Above Adrenalina, below Manizha]

Sometimes the reason is "I like music." Many were surprised Voyager came top 10, but not I. To repeat a common question one final time:

HAVE YOU HEARD THE SONG?!?

Well-executed ProgMetal, at Eurovision! By a charismatic lead! Of course it was going to get a good chunk of jury votes from a group of people that know more music beyond what gets radio airplay. As Danny sings, if you haven't done anything like this before, you haven't been alive, sillies!

Going into the contest though, I wasn't fully sure Australia would grab the top 10 I envisioned for them. Like sure, I saw the vision. But my predictions come from Antwerp, not Delphi and the visions I see don't always come to pass. Voyager were hit the hardest by the fandom's latent misandry for daring to be men (+ Simone). Then again, if the fandom got their way, "Padam Padam" would win every year (lol can you imagine what a nightmare that meta would be? especially because "Padam Padam" isn't even that good to begin with) and not songs that are effectively Synthwave with Metal instrumentation. This is a combo that leads to immersive moodpieces, and not the high energy spikes you might expect from metal.

But what this blog if not for its appreciation for moodpieces and what was "Promise" if not A Mood immortalized by Voyager into An Experience. Danny playing the keytar on the bonnet of his delorean, or nearly choking on a chicken sandwich while getting 12 Portuguese points, THOSE are MY little joys in life.

Everything on stage suits a wholesome song about ~promising your loved ones you're in this life's adventure together, ride or die~, which as a message hits home even harder since Danny's cancer diagonosis (not like this affected their placement here - Australia were coming 5th on this ranking since the beginning).

And let's be honest, "Promise" is a just really good song that doesn't need frills or embellishments, but it got those anyway with everyone's fun adlibs.

It's like S10 or MARO, not the flashiest entry nor the most iconic staging, but never the less, the personality came through well enough to merit revisitations when I have a craving for it. Besides, we need a diverse array of genres at Eurovision, to ensure the bar remains high and we don't get a year full of Liars and Firefighters. "Promise" defo fit that bill well. It was good to have A Real Song into the mix, and one that was very deservedly was rewarded with a top ten placement.

If you think that a bad result, then that's fine. I agree with you, but mostly because I think Australia should have come top five and were robbed by the televote. 🙂

THE RANKING

[euniexenoblade]

Favorite music of 2023 :)

I've found myself dealing with a wave of writer's block, and in my desire to get past it I've decided to write whatever I can. Some people said they'd be interested in me talking about my favorite albums of 2023, so here's a short write up about albums I really liked and I hope everyone will give a try.

I found 2023 to be a pretty spectacular year for weird and interesting music. With artists like Lil Yachty doing a neo-psychedelia album (fantastic, give it a listen) and Avenged Sevenfold doing some progressive avant garde adjacent metal album (I think people are wrongly hating on it, it's spectacular), it shouldn't be too surprising to imagine that the bands the mainstream hasn't really heard of are making wild soundscapes unlike anything you've ever heard.

Kicking this off with one of my favorite Korean bands, Parannoul released two albums this year and they were spectacular - both in my top 10 of the year. Parannoul are a wonderful shoegaze band that create these songs that almost feel hypnotic, they create this dream like state for their songs in ways no other band seems to be able to. After the Magic, their third album, is no different in this, but brings a new warmth, brighter instrumentation, and just in general doesn't feel as self loathing and depressed as previous works. The other release, After the Night, is a live recording, which shows that the band can produce the same dreamlike style on a stage, but do it even better. My second favorite album of the year, this live album is so incredible, zoning out to the 46 minute "Into the Endless Night" while high was probably one of my favorite experiences of the year in and of itself. (Also, if you do chose to check them out, please listen to To See the Next Part of the Dream, it's one of my favorite albums ever made.)

Using Parannoul as a sorta link between things, I also found that they worked on a song on the new Turquoisedeath album, Se bueno. I won't claim to be an expert on drum and bass, but I had a killer time listening to Se bueno. When I discovered Se bueno, I also discovered a few other, more abrasive, albums that I kind of group together in my head. Namely Chaser by femtanyl (digital hardcore) and Sisterhood by lostrushi ("digicore" feels like a frantic version of trap). If you like this kind of music, give them a try, all three are on my list.

Everyone's top albums of the years seem to have their one and two spots stolen away by Javelin and Scaring the Hoes. Starting with the latter, Scaring the Hoes by JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown is cool as hell. Beats unlike anything I've heard in hip hop before, and the flows of both men really bring it all together. It's a great album (it's my third favorite of the year), but I also think some focus on some other hip hop titles might be cool. Integrated Tech Solutions by Aesop Rock is just as impressive and interesting and deserves your attention. Alongside that Michael by Killer Mike is a fantastic listen, though it doesn't compare to the previously mentioned two, it's still a great album that deserves your time - he won those awards for a reason. The man got arrested at an award show, the least you can do is stream his album once.

Now, as for Javelin by Sufjan Stevens, it's a great album, but it's also such a sad album. His pain is horrible, and he does a great job at making you feel it. However, the music never really hit me like other albums of the year had. The lyrics murder your heart, but I'm a tad past gay pains and want gay joys. Which is why I want you all to listen to Ultra Paradise by Angel Electronics. Half Ada Rook of Black Dresses, half Ash Nerve (I doubt you know him) this is a trans and gay power pop album that's just beautiful and fun. Songs like Return to the Sky and One Thousand and One Nights are fun ear worms, and the rest of the album just has a level of repeatability and a level of joy and fun that most other albums this year didn't have. Is it as technically impressive as Javelin? No. But, shit, it's nice to be happy for once.

Continuing off of this idea, in 2023 we saw transphobia become horrifically rampant, the right wing are really intent to get rid of us. You can't avoid how much this world hates us now and it makes you want to just scream. It creates this feeling of anger, a desire for violence, like we're past being sad and nice and understanding. In 2023 the Hirs Collective put out an album on par with that emotion. We're Still Here is an aggressive grindcore album put together by trans, gay, queer people in general. My favorite release from the band to date, it's fantastic to see Hirs screaming "We're still here!" as the world tries to erase us. This is my favorite album of 2023, please listen to it, please give Hirs your money, they deserve it and you deserve their music.

A few more albums I wanna recommend that I can't really think of anything in depth to say: God Cum Poltergeist by Crisis Sigil (Ada Rook) is a fantastic grindcore album, Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete by Crosses is a fantastic synthpop adjacent album and I got to see it performed live and it's amazing music, Reborn Superstar! by Hanabie. is a great Japanese metalcore album, and go listen to Kikuo Miku 7 for some rad Hatsune Miku bullshit.

My top 50 music releases of 2023:

We're Still Here by Hirs

After the Night by Parannoul

Scaring the Hoes by JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown

Dogsbody by Model/Actriz

Desire, I Want to Turn Into You by Caroline Polachek

After the Magic by Parannoul

Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete. by Crosses

God Cum Poltergeist by Crisis Sigil

uma by betcover!!

Ultra Paradise by Angel Electronics

Reborn Superstar! by Hanabie.

No Joy by Spanish Love Songs

Saved by Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter

Live in Japan by Mass of the Fermenting Dregs

93696 by Liturgy

Resistance and the Blessing by World's End Girlfriend

Kikuo Miku 7 by Kikuo

Javelin by Sufjan Stevens

Integrated Tech Solutions by Aesop Rock

Poil Ueda by Poil & Junko Ueda

Enola Gay by Asia Menor

Upal by Kostnateni

The Loveliest Time by Carly Rae Jepsen

Michael by Killer Mike

Exul by Ne Obliviscaris

Hellmode by Jeff Rosenstock

Hometown to Come by Minhwi Lee

Life is but a Dream... by Avenged Sevenfold

Chaser by Femtanyl

Sadness / Abriction by Sadness / Abriction

O Monolith by Squid

But Here We Are by Foo Fighters

Stone by Baroness

History Books by The Gaslight Anthem

Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? by Kara Jackson

Rookie's Bustle by Ada Rook

Futility by Yakui The Maid

Let's Start Here. by Lil Yachty

The Age of Pleasure by Janelle Monae

Bee and the Whales by Galileo Galilei

Zach Bryan self titled

Everything is Alive by Slowdive

Let's Hope Heteros Fail, Learn, and Retire by Alice Longyu Gao

Se bueno by TURQUOISEDEATH

Yoshitsune by Poil & Junko Ueda

Perfect Picture by Hannah Diamond

January Never Dies by Balming Tiger

Jenny From Thebes by The Mountain Goats

Never Falter Hero Girl by Katie Dey

Sisterhood by lostrushi

[clark-reviews]

Album Review: 👍��Recommend

Lana Del Rey, Incense, The #1 Male Sex Toy in the World, and the Auto Play feature on YouTube Music?

The secret recipe for turning people into Taylor Swift fans isn't once size fits all, in fact, when it comes to the moment a talented artist grabs your attention for the first time, I think of it more like a meet cute. Cupid doesn't care who you're with either, he's sneaky like that. I had no intention of listening to "Midnights". In fact, Taylor Swift wasn't even on my Pop music radar until she infiltrated my bedroom solo act, with Lana's masterpiece, "Born To Die", as the sonic backdrop I had consented to.

As though Lana had lovingly snuck Taylor into the room and revealed her as a surprise birthday gift, "Snow On The Beach" auto played right after Lana's album ending track, "Lucky Ones". I have to admit, as though I was audibly blindfolded, when Taylor's track started, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I couldn't tell them apart! "Snow On The Beach" has Lana's red lipstick-stained cigarette butts all over it. She seamlessly weaves in and out of Taylor's (surprisingly) sultry vocal delivery, never taking control of the song. But she's there in the room, the whole time, making sure I'm still okay with this cunning sleight of hand.

My second order of business for the night was to check and see if Lana had just silently dropped an album on me without telling me first. One that included this new song. To my surprise, it's on Taylor Swift's new album!? As a man who appreciates a good musical rabbit hole, I delved further and started "Midnights" from the top. Because "What's the big idea?" and whatnot.

To be perfectly honest, I chuckled at the title of the first track "Lavender Haze". My mind immediately connected it to "Purple Rain" and well... It was a cute moment. I've since read that this album contains Easter eggs, albeit, this may not be one of them. I hit play though and I got smacked in the face with the most uncannily Dua Lipa sounding song on the whole album. This is a good thing though, we like Dua Lipa. And it's refreshing to know that Taylor might have taken some influence from her, and chose to give her a lovely nod to begin the album.

"Maroon" is an interesting track as well, because it's always the second track that sets the pace of an album, in my opinion. Just as a single note isn't a melody until there's a second note to compliment it. In music theory this is called an interval. And in this case, the previous track was in B-flat Major, and "Maroon' is in G Major. Not to get too technical, but this interval the first two tracks created is called a "minor 3rd" (m3). For reference, the first two notes of Moonlight Sonata form a minor 3rd. I already know this album is going to be a little bit sad. And boy did it deliver! Because "Anti-Hero" is in E Major, and we now have a descending diminished arpeggio taking us into the third song. Taylor is building suspence with this track order!

In most albums, you'll find that the third track is almost always a single. "Anti-Hero" comes in loud and clear. Taylor's voice is now front and center with that gorgeous verse melody. The starting lyric is "I have this thing where I get older but just never wiser" and her command of that falsetto on the word "thing" sells the lyric to me at full-price every time. What a mature delivery, to attach to such a doubtful line about oneself, but sing it so confidently. There's something special about this song. It's a song about insecurities, and I'm humbled to hear it sung so proudly. Whatever she was going through, seems now resolved. We enjoy those moments, don't we.

After "Snow On The Beach" we have a few more tracks that seem to explore even further -Taylor's latest pop sensibilities, with "Bejeweled" being the bubbliest one of all. For my personal preference, I wasn't too impressed with it. The song seems a bit crowded with too many lyrics and Taylor seems to breathe between words at odd moments. It's probably more suitable for fans of her previous bodies of work. Let's just say that if "Bejeweled" had played after "Lucky Ones", I wouldn't be writing this review, and I would have never heard one of the most hauntingly beautiful pop songs I've ever listened to, and it's been on repeat since 11:47pm last night...

*Song Spotlight*

That song is "Labyrinth", and it has the honor of a spotlight. Let's listen together.

If Labyrinth doesn't successfully heal any emotional wounds of yours, then it'll proceed to inflict one, clean it, dress it, and kiss it for you.

This song took me back to 2012. I'd met a beautiful young lady at an airport terminal in Copenhagen on my way back from visiting my mother in Norway. We had a meet cute that led to us spending the next 32 hours holding hands, loitering the airport, waiting for her to tell me to smile again and again, and wishing to never go home. As I finally boarded the flight that separated us, she kissed me on the lips for the first time since we'd met. It was at that moment that "Labyrinth" should have started playing over the loudspeakers. Because in my mind, when I think of that moment, this song belongs to it. This song gave me closure, and I'm grateful.

To close out the album, we have the cleverly celebratory lyrics of "Karma", the rich and sweet nostalgia-inducing "Sweet Nothings", and "Mastermind" could have very well been the first song on the album, because it perfectly encapsulates the lyrical pretenses of every song on this album. She's acknowledging that she's in control of every rushing memory she penned to the sheet, every winding road she willingly drove while sitting in the driver's seat.

Taylor Swift took me on a ride with this album, and I'm inspired to take her up on her next foray into the throws of adult womanhood. I have trust in her now.

[sentavoarts]

hey, ur oc is super cool! got any hcs w/ them in adwd? i’d love to know!!

HI THANK U FOR THAT but yeah i have some:

His name is Sen btw! (where i basically got my name from)

Post will include these things: -Basic info about him (fav color, food, music taste, etc) -More detailed things (previous jobs he worked, body details like scars and tats, etc) -Hcs with them and grim (uses his actual name)

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ

Basic stuff:

-He/they pronouns

-Sennes is his actual first name with Sen being a nickname

-Fav color is this specific shade of blue ( 8BECFF)

I can't even explain why he likes it he just does and thinks that's awesome of him.

-Fav foods would be those local filipino noodles (pancit canton if u wanna look it up) and that samanco ice cream

-His overall genre of music would be a mix of indie , jazz and, somewhat pop

-Fav artist is arctic monkeys or laufey!! (projecting here)

-He doesn't really have a style he just wears whatever he thinks looks good on him but it may range from vintage to things those skateboard boys wear!

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ

More detailed things about him:

-He's quite scared actually not sure if it was seen that much in that art but he has a scar across his face from accident (technically an attempt of casp trying to take his soul) from when a wine bottle fell on his face.

-On the note of wine he actually had a bartending job while he was in college to help pay for his rent. He's had some other previous jobs before this one and here they are in order: flower shop cashier > cafe barista > bartender.

-Honestly the job i was gonna give him wasn't in the list of jobs (psychiatrist) but if i were to pick in the list it would be mortician i just think he would probably kinda enjoy it??? because if you think about it being a mortician is like those asmr tiktok games where you give a make over to a zombie or smth...

-Tattoos! All over his arms! And on his nape:

the one on his nape is inspired by a song called "crying lightning" by arctic monkeys!!!!

-He has a mole on top of his eyelid and freckles everywhere.

-Actually pretty buff as he can bench press around 291 lb (strong baby boy)

-He's actually had some self defense training from his parents when he was younger and picked up boxing and fencing as a hobby.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ

Hcs with Casper!

-Like one of the options in the game, Sen would absolutely ENJOY putting little ribbons all over Casper's hair. He might even play around a bit and make him have goofy hairstyles (that Casper would KILL him for but we ignore that).

-He calls Casper "Casp" because he just thinks its really cute. Along with "Cas" "Buwan"(filipino for moon) and "Vinegar" (Teasing)

-Inspired by that convo in their official discord server, They would have a BLAST doing each other's skincare/ make up while listening to 2015 white girl songs!

-Following the one before this they would ROCK karaoke night.

-Sen is a avid music listener and would probably try and get Casp into so many other artists.

-(based on the game) Sen's teased Casp about his plush Azrael but really Sen has a whole ARMY of plushies and Casp REALLY gets back at him for that. Basically would go like:

"Your not really all BIG and SCARY with that plushie thats so PINK and CUTE!"

"Says the shithead with a army of plushies on his bed... seriously why do you need that many"

"SHUT UP DON'T SAY THAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN"

"THE CHILDREN??????????????????"

-Idk why but i feel like he would let Casp use markers to color in his tats!

-Sen would 100% bring him on a whole road trip to a more country/rural place to just enjoy the peace and quiet (Like one of those aesthetic vanlife tiktoks

-Sen is pretty decent at drawing and i feel like Casp would be too if he tried hard enough but i just imagined them giving each other lil drawings they made (could even be on little notes left on the fridge or little letters scattered everywhere)

-On those days Casp is in the soul sickness time will be spent snuggled in bed and having nice warm meals!

-Sen would probably always ask Casper for a sparring session because that seems like it would actually be fun! Plus we don't really know much about how Casp fights so... that would be interesting (he would be butt hurt if he loses).

-Their def a >:| and :3 duo

-I feel like deep in my bones Casper would probably like playing guitar/bass. So basically what im saying is they could sing and play TOGETHER! YIPPPEEEEEEEE!

nyways i think i better stop here because this list is getting LONG. And currently thats all the hcs i can think of.

THANK U FOR ASKING THIS AND READING THIS WHOLE INFO DUMP!!! YIPPEE!

[spaceorphan18]

Glee Musical Retrospective: What It Feels Like for a Girl (Power of Madonna)

Sung by: New Directions Boys Original Artist(s): Madonna

Glee is a little dubious when it comes to conversations about women - but I do think this episode handles it (possibly) better than most of the time. I still have slightly conflicting feelings about this one -- in that it is going to kick off an uncomfortable trend where the show tries to have men use women's music to explain women's issues -- but, this one is more so about teaching the boys a lesson, and I feel much better about it than, say, how they're going to just botch it up two seasons from now...

Story Analysis

At the beginning of this - Will gives this long speech about how the boys are treating all the girls like crap. A lot of the time - they do, but it's funny, other than the Artie/Tina story line - where he's just terrible to her, and Puck being his usual brand of misogynistic, the guys (as a group) didn't necessarily need the lesson. However - the show is going out of its way to support women and empowerment this episode, so sure, why not.

Girls can wear jeans And cut their hair short Wear shirts and boots 'Cause it's okay to be a boy But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading 'Cause you think that being a girl is degrading

Finn and Artie say these lines at the beginning. I do appreciate the sentiment the song is trying to share -- that there is a double standard and that even in a modern age, women are still considered second class citizens. I like that Artie seems to get it (as this lesson is main for him) and that he starts to understand as he sings.

Now, I really don't think this song is going to magically change any minds (the lyrics are just too thin) and while there's some attempt to put yourself in someone else's shoes - I think it takes more than singing a pop song once to really internalize the lesson. But Artie does walk away understanding that he's been a jerk at least. And Finn is at least trying when Puck throws a hissy fit after the song.

But secretly You'd love to know what it's like, wouldn't you? What it feels like for a girl?

These are the lines that Kurt speaks and, oof, do I have some thoughts. Ryan Murphy wrote this episode -- and he's admitted through interviews that Madonna was something sacred to him when he was growing up. This feels so, so much like something Murphy probably internalized -- and thus gave it Kurt to speak.

Because, honestly, I'm going to push back here -- and say that there's a difference between sexuality and gender. Sure, Kurt's more effeminate in his mannerisms (especially S1 Kurt) but as he's going to say in a few episodes - he's still a guy. Kurt doesn't really have any issues with gender.

I will concede though he does feel more at home with the girls, and wishes, like a girl, he could have a boy interested in him. I'll also say that sometimes sexuality and gender can blur a little bit -- and this is why I think this line is so Ryan Murphy - because I do think he's struggled with those lines.

So, yes, I get it, and get why Kurt says it, I still roll my eyes though...

Lastly, I'll at least give Will a little bit of credit for trying. I'm glad that he didn't try to fix the girls and their attitudes, but did try to help the boys. Will's not great, himself, when it comes to women. But at least he's attempting to be a better role model here.

Technical Thoughts

Not sure if anyone else notices these things but -- did you notice the drum beat and all the synth going on? In order to say that it wasn't coming from the ether, they put a black box on the piano and Brad Ellis is playing the mini synth/electric piano/whatever it - to simulate the sound as accompaniment. I'm curious as to when they're going to stop implying that there's 'real' music to accompany the singing.

So - the boys sound really good on this. Their voices mesh really well, and since there aren't any huge leaps, and the range of the song is pretty simple, they can focus on having some great harmonization. I don't know who is really singing - I can definitely here Will, Artie, Finn and Puck. I'm not sure if I hear Kurt or not, and I kind of doubt Mike and Matt are actually singing (but I could be totally wrong). But anyway, my point is the arrangement of this great and vocally they really kill this one.

I like a lot of the acting choices, too. Kurt's looking adoringly at Finn. Puck is just over it and does not care about the 'lesson'. Mike is just having the best time because he's just that guy. And Will just gets into it - nice to know he just gets taken away by all the music.

vs. The Studio Version: There's a second verse! Led by Artie! Poor Artie - so much of his singing gets relegated to the second verse of the studio version. We also get a reprise of the chorus. There's a good two minutes added on to the song. I also kind of wonder if they're doubling tracks again - it almost feels like there's a full choir added in there.

vs. The Original Version: When doing research for the song (yes - I do research for all of them!) I found that there were two different versions. The one I linked is the softer, radio edit, that's a lot more like the Glee version. Again, Glee keeps pretty close to the original -- only adding in harmonies since it was sung by multiple people. They also toned down the synth sound so it can feel more HS-ish (though I'd argue keeping the synth sound still makes it sound produced...).

Just as an fyi, I didn't link the official video -- which is more a techno, clubbing version. The video is dark and very violent. Kind of Madonna wanting to be edgy to say that girls can be hyper violent, too, I guess. Anyway, just wanted to throw on that TW in case you seek that one out.

[daisyachain]

Convinced dad to accompany me to Orville Peck as a social experiment. Not an artist I’m that familiar with but hey I know a few songs and he’s a good enough performer on a technical level that it’s entertaining just to watch him and the supporting band do their thing. Kept half an ear on the lyrics out of curiosity as to how identifiably non-heterosexual they were, since it’s kind of part of the (cattle) brand and dad went in with no prior knowledge.

What was interesting is that many of them weren’t strictly clockable and many of those were intuitively clockable. Heterosexuality is so intensely mediated by gender roles that a song about a love interest who drives a rig isn’t as easy to (mis)read as m -> f as a song about a love interest who serves coffee. A song that positions the narrator as a hanger-on or a side piece reads as m -> f when the the narrator is angry or vengeful and less so when the narrator is quietly sarcastic. A love interest that provides comfort or security doesn’t read as female even when a male singer can’t possibly be referring to anything but.

Logically there would be about as many woman truck drivers as gay, but both of them are equally hard to fit into our schema of a truck driver. It’s difficult to imagine a model of heterosexuality not intensely mediated by misogyny; it’s hard to imagine a pop culture narrative or even my real life friends’ relationships position a woman as solid, smart, reliable, or protective. Like with the doctor-fishing accident puzzle, there is a push and pull between misogyny and homophobia in trying to interpret songs/stories that don’t match the societal mold.

Given the historical roots of homophobia in misogyny—homophobia as a violent reaction to relationships with no clear superior in the cases of Edward II(?) and James I, four-thousand-year-old European top/bottom discourse, the conflation of trans women, crossdressing men, drag artists, and gay men as well as the (euro/Anglo but also present elsewhere) societal fixation on that image—I love to wonder if heterosexuality exists.

One common thread through studies of specifically male gay history is that superior/inferior male relationships (distinctions of age, position, or class, cf badgays episode I thiiiiink Qutbuddin Mubarak Shah on slaves being considered boys no matter what age) exist on a different level of social acceptability compared to what we in the present day consider a gay relationship. Superior/inferior relationships aren’t enshrined as heterosexual marriage is and are marginalized as frivolity/peccadillo/improper behaviour, but these still generally have a level of acceptability or at least widespread acknowledgement. Romantic or sexual entanglement between two men of equal status, on the other hand, creates a formal uncertainty where neither is guaranteed to be the superior, where class or position is called into question, where the laws of a patriarchal society cannot apply because the prerequisite does not exist.

Following that thread, a ‘real’ gay relationship is between two men of equal standing. So it goes with the modern conception of lesbian relationships, which have not historically fallen under the same level of scrutiny wrt woman-woman power dynamics because that would require historical writers to consider women having thoughts, and the modern heterosexual relationships.

Except, historically the m/f relationship has been considered (by men) (in many but not all societies) to be a superior/inferior relationship. Many if not most men in the most gender-equal societies today consider it to be superior/inferior, a very real affection born from protectiveness/benevolence/patronage/cuteness aggression as a teacher might feel for a student or an aristocrat for a valet + that just also happens to have a sexual component for reasons of whatever biology. Again, looking at real life people who I know and their rancid dating histories, a lot of men approach dating as a Roman emperor might approach a handsome young house slave.

Following this train of logic: it’s commonly accepted today that the superior/inferior m/m model (often expressed as pederasty) is not strictly ‘gay’ in the modern sense. It’s its own form of relationship that doesn’t really exist in the current conception of love (For Good Reason) but does exist in the current conception of abuse (be it boss/employee sexual harassment or child abuse). Many m/f relationships are conceived of as superior/inferior by the participants. Many, not most, m/f relationships do exist as abusive structures and can only be conceived of as abusive.

Therefore, due to whatever misogyny, historical baggage, and social constraints, ‘real’ heterosexuality is a rare phenomenon, and we have only just recently witnessed its birth as a culturally understood idea. Only with the reform of divorce laws and property ownership in the mid-20th century in a very few countries did real heterosexuality become possible. Most men have not yet achieved it. Straight Men Are Our Smallest Minority Group.

[roxannepolice]

A little bit of GOS2 criticism crossed my dash, mostly of the not like the book variety (not plot-wise, obviously, only in the sense that it went away from the spirit of the book). Leaving aside the fact as a Stanley Kubrick* fan I don't find this a compelling argument at all, I'm really not raging against the fact that there are people who dislike the things I like, not even blocking anyone, that's for politics, filtering serves just perfectly. But I think I see a pattern in the criticisms original/classic material fans levy against adaptations/continuations in Good Omens (that sometimes includes the first season too), Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes fandoms. If you bite your way through the overgrow of whatever social policy is on the menu it boils down to overfocusing on characters, and in the case of GO overfocusing on characters that aren't even strictly protagonists. And if you've followed me for a while you may have noticed that this sometimes annoys me, too. Sometimes I dress it in fancy wording of precession of simulacrae, sometimes I just bitch about TTC. So I started thinking about why it doesn't bother me, and in fact is a thing that fills me with insane feuertrunkenness** when done right - by which I mostly mean 2nd season of Sherlock, RTD/early Moffat era of Doctor Who, and the 2nd season of Good Omens. So, obviously, I started thinking of Francisco de Goya y Lucientes.

Say hello to my icon and one of most favourite works of visual arts. The simple truth about Goya is that he was an absolute genius in realistic painting. He was flexing away his way across the Spanish court with his compositions, and fabrics, and wrinkles, and light work. He was straight up academically and technically brilliant. He was a product of the European fashion of the time. And yet he could also, especially as his own health and political situation in the country deteriorated, he could also do so. much. drama. So much vision, so much phantasmagoric nightmares. So much introspection. Without even for a moment falling down the chute of sentimentalist navel gazing that the romantic era so often went down.

I don't really like periodization, good art is good art, but paradigmatic shifts are definitely a thing. And there are those amazing artists who bring the older, more established, more as Jung would put it, externalized paradigm to perfection and push it further without losing the sight of it. This is Goya, this is Botticelli, this is Goethe, this is very late Mozart, this is Beethoven. Wagner is a great example because there's this definite moment around the Flying Dutchman and Lohengrin when he finds his style without overpompousing it. And this is an extremely difficult rope to walk! Falling down the rabbit hole of overthinking your own work, and especially overthinking pop cultural phenomena is way way wayyyy too easy for anyone to walk it. The temptation to overpower them is way too strong for mere mortals to resist it.

But it is possible. RTD showed it is possible to do so for over 50 hours of material. The point be that the drama, the sturm und drung and lebenschmertz and whatnot emerge naturally from the story, rather than fitting the story specifically to make it dramatic and navel gazy. It'll be a bit mean now, but it's the difference between the self made tragedy of the last of the time lords and a literal species ready to change reality to find out the Doctor's true name, which matters, but not, but does.

And I think Neilman did hit that sweet spot in the second season. Yes, people are complaining about Aziraphale and Crowley coming off as "too important", especially Crowley***, which is completely contrary to the book, but this remains elegantly within the realms of interpretation. It's introspective and dramatic without navel gazing and tragedy for tragedy's sake. And knowing his other works I feel fairly confident he won't be falling off that rope.

And I wouldn't be a McLuhanist if I didn't mention that television is a medium naturally more likely to focus on characters because of its episodic character (stories end, banter is forever) and the fact it was the first medium where characters were literally at people's homes.

* Don't inform me that he wasn't the nicest person but was a veritable nightmare to work with, I mean his FILMS.

** Sorry for the German vocab, but what can I say, they really made a point when they started splashing words together.

*** My three cents on pre-fall Crowley's archangelic status is that I still like the inversion and irony, but I liked it better when the theory was getting excommunicated as *checks notes* too classist, rather than sth you vagued Neilman about on Tumblr.

[libertys-lovers]

*sharp inhale*

HAPPY BIIIRRRTTTHHHHDDDAAAYYY!!!!

Another year has passed for these six goobers! Another year of being silly, another year of being goofy, and another year of being jobless little NEETS! 🥰 (Even though they’re technically not jobless? They work on their own show, don’t they? Anyways-).

I know I’ve talked about it before, but these 6 have had such a huge influence on my life, it’s almost embarrassing. Their show is easily the most consistent fixation I’ve ever had, and their lives are a nightmare-scenario that I am so damn happy I get to indulge in. In self-ship lore, I’m proud to call them my friends. In real life though, damnit, I’m just glad I heard of them at all. Perhaps I shouldn’t get too personal, but every single brother’s had some sort of influence on me.

…

And, of course, that includes the catalyst brother for all of this.

As you can imagine, Kara is especially important to me. He’s somehow a culmination of what I am and what I want to be. We’re both really dramatic & artistic in a way, and we both act despite how others perceive us; I just really need his confidence! And, of course, he’s important to me purely based off the fact I wanna smooch him silly. But… there’s another part of it too:

Kara, to me, represents two of the most influential aspects of my life; self-shipping and Oso-San. He may not be my first F/O, technically; Ichimatsu was my first official F/O, and Dororo may as well have been an unofficial F/O since I was a kid. But, Kara is the earliest on the list, he somehow came back on the list after being removed during a rough-ass time, and he has caused the most brainrot without a damn doubt. In a way, he kinda summarizes the entire self-ship experience for me. And, ya know, the Oso-San representation is self explanatory. I have other “most influential” franchises, like Homestuck or FNAF, but Oso-San is the most persistent hyperfixation I have. It got me through high-school & through the pandemic, and it’s by far the series I revisit most.

I’ve been thinking about that a lot recently, and I realized that Kara even represents my closest friendships (well, 2 of them anyway!). The two fixations he represents are closely tied to my friends; I wouldn’t be hitched to him if it wasn’t for one friend, and I wouldn’t even know about him if it weren’t for the other. I still remember watching clips of the show with @vhshipping , which actually caused dreams that literally gaslit me into watching the show NWKEKD; we ended up binging a bit of the show together, which I think solidified its place as a fixation in me lol. And I remember @self-shipping-payaso asking about the lil men I was posting about on my story, leading to them helping me realize that they could be F/Os! It’s crazy that a single character can bring back so many wonderful memories with such wonderful people. I hope those two realize how damn important they are to me, outside of their wingmaning as well! They better! I’m sending this to them so they should! You! You two! I fucking love you! 👋🥹

Needless to say, this has greatly increased his value as a character for me.

But… the question might pop up of “why are you talking about all of this in a birthday post?”, and the short answer is that “this is my blog and I’ll do whatever I want!”. But, if it wouldn’t kill me to be serious for five minutes, well, I guess it’s to showcase why I bother to make birthday posts about the bros in the first place. I usually don’t make big deals about fictional character birthdays, but these guys have had such an influence on me that I almost feel obligated to do it for them NAKDMDKFK. Maybe this is all my way of trying to justify why I’m so attached to them, idk.

Truth be told, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to properly explain everything they mean to me, but this was certainly a valiant effort!

So uh… TL:DR… Happy Birthday to the Matsunos~!

[d-r-a-w-k-w-a-r-d]

Crusty Engineer Advice Pt I?

The first thing about being an engineer is this: it's all about the artist. Everybody new to the game wants to know "what's the magic plugin?" "what are the settings that make a vocal pop?" and a whole bunch of other questions like that. And -to a certain extent- these things are important. But they're not things that get you repeat clients right away. People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. Maya Angelou said that, and it's true. In the end, 90% of your clients won't hear that 3dB that you added to the final mix. They'll remember how they felt in the vocal booth. They won't care that the computer hard drive was almost full, leading to fragmentation, or that some newbie saved all his sessions on the desktop, slowing the whole system down. They won't care that a fuse in the power supply blows, or that there aren't multiple hardware headphone likes run to the vocal booth, or whatever. What they WILL remember is how you handled the session. EVERYTHING that happens is on you. Even if it's a hardware failure, even if there's "no way someone could reasonably expect this" or whatever excuse you're using.

If you're a pro, there ARE NO excuses. Period.

The job of an engineer is this: to remove obstacles between the artist's vision and the final music. That's why you're there at all. Your job is to anticipate issues before they happen.

Here is a bit of advice I gave another fellow: Many, MANY young folks ask about assisting, interning, etc. All the time. Maybe they're a musician on the track, maybe they're a friend of the artist. But when they hear good things being done with the music, they start asking, "hey, what compressor are you using? Is that the SSL EQ? Hey, man, can I sit in on your sessions? Like, assist you?"

The vast majority of these people are looking to GET something. They want free lessons on how to be an engineer. They want tips, names of plugins, lists of "presets" (don't get me started!) and to tell their friends that they are "working" in Xyz Studio. These people get told to leave their info with the front desk.

Every once in a while, you come across somebody different. Very seldom, maybe only once or twice a year, you meet somebody who wants to GIVE something. That's a different thing. Now hang on— I'm not talking about taking advantage of somebody. What I mean is, for example: The artist's friend Billy (who played keys on a couple of songs, or whatever) is at the sessions. Many artists like their people there for vibe. Whatever. But let's imagine that Billy comes up to me and says, "Hey, I notice that every time you come in, you switcf each phraseto the chair without the little armrests, and you put the pop filter on a separate stand. Are you interested in having me take care of that next time?"

Now, that is the sort of job that interns get to do: move mic stands, brew coffee, run headphone lines, and so on. And ANY intern will do that, when you tell 'em "hey, I need some more coffee. And can we get TWO sets of cans in the booth for those harmony singers, please?" But the guy or gal who already HAS the other headphones ready just in case, or who starts the coffee when your mug is getting cold, that shows that they care about contributing to a creative and technical environment. It's not all about THEM, it's about the session. About the music. These people's numbers go into my phone.

For example, I was working in Studio A where everything was hardwired and mounted in the walls. Big Name Vocal Talent wanted super-loud headphones. But there's just the jack in the wall. So I wanted to put a headphone amp right next to him so he can crank it up when he wants to. (a good idea in many cases anyway, but it wasn't my job there to tell the studio owner to rewire his room while the talent was waiting. It's my job to fix the damn problem as quickly as possible and not make anybody think about technical issues.)

I had two interns in the room. I said to both of them, "I need to run an extra feed into the big room. Please find me a couple of XLR-phono adapters so I can just use the direct lines." (Again, this place's choice of wiring connectors is not the issue here.)

First dude comes back in a few minutes, "Nope, we don't have any of those in the supply room." Really? Ack! I grab a couple of cables from my go bag and run a feed from the drum room to the vocal room. It ain't pretty, but it'll get the job done. Time for mic check.

Maybe twelve minutes after that, the second intern comes in, all sweaty. "Hey, man, we didn't have any of those, but check it out: can you just plug in to the MIC lines (backward!) and use these gender changers I found, hooked up to direct boxes to switch it back around in the vocal room? Here are phono cables already hooked up." My man.

The first guy got to go back to his Xwitter at the front desk without being inconvenienced, the second guy had an unexpectedly long night because I requested that he assist me for the remainder of the sessions. He's now an engineer in his own right.

TL;DR: Have something to offer, even if it's just the fact that you know you'll need to bring napkins when you walk the pizza back to the lounge room. Or be WILLING to watch for what the SESSION needs (not just what YOU need as info to work on your own tunes.) Too many interns/assistants do only what they're told, only when they're told it. Don't go off doing things without asking the engineer or confirming that it's the right time. But damn, show that you're about something besides yourself.

I can't remember the last time I looked at somebody's resumé first thing. Lack of knowledge and experience can be worked around. But lack of work ethic is a serious flaw. Some of the worst people I've worked with have had degrees from Big Name University and have been unwilling to even consider the possibility that there's another way than theirs. A couple of the best have been mostly self-taught.

[purplesurveys]

1726

Do you plan your meals in any way? Given how little I eat, the concept just sounds so foreign to me. I have one meal daily and just go with whatever's available at home – I don't decide on what I eat until I'm already in front of the fridge or pantry.

Have you ever been front row at a concert? Which one(s), and how was the experience? Just once, when I saw Paramore in 2018. It was incredibly fun, and because of that experience I know I'd still be willing to do it again with an artist I really admire.

Initially it felt daunting because I went alone, but once you're there you realize how nobody really gives a fuck about that kind of stuff – you're all there to have fun. That said I let loose as soon as the band showed up and I ended up having a wonderful time.

What's the strongest earthquake you've ever experienced? I'm just not sure about 'strongest.' I've felt more earthquakes than I can count, but they've all been more or less the same magnitude. There have been earthquakes that last quite a while though and it's those that have made me more nervous than usual.

Do you know your best friend's middle name? Both of theirs, yes.

If you have a passport, where do you store it for safekeeping? I have a mini drawer that stores all the Very Important Life Documents I Should Never Lose, so like my passport, birth certificate, NBI clearance and all that stuff.

What's your favourite kind of juice and when did you last drink some? I'm not a fan of juice.

Were you in the scouts when you were young? I wasn't.

How long are your fingernails right now? They're growing out-ish but they don't look too gross yet. I'd trim them before it gets to that point.

Do you like the Scream movies? I was obsessed with the first as a teenager, but I never held the same attachment with the sequels.

What sort of music have you been listening to lately? K-pop, what a surprise...

Are there any bills you need to pay? Not bills but I do have to pay the balance for K-pop merch I recently got by the 25th.

Have you ever been told you look like a celebrity? Yeah I've gotten Olivia Rodrigo and Frankie Pangilinan who themselves are lookalikes. I've also heard Anna Akana more times than I can count.

How many people could sleep in your home? (Not counting floor space, beds and couches only) Around 10, I'd say.

Are you a fast reader? Yes. I may have dropped reading years ago but I've never lost how quick I can be at reading.

Do you own a leather jacket? No, absolutely no use for it in this country.

Is there a university campus in your city or town? It's not technically in *this* city, but then again the Philippines is relatively super small that Metro Manila, where most of the big universities are, is just a stone's throw away. The university I attended is only 30 minutes away on a good day and I drove to and from home everyday.

Who last called you on the phone? Did you pick up? If so, how long did you talk? Somebody related to work, and no I did not pick up. Besides the fact that I had been driving, I don't appreciate people calling because 99.9% of the time it'd work out the same way if they just texted.

What grocery store/supermarket do you shop at most frequently? S&R.

Do you know how to play the card game Hearts? I don't think I've even ever heard of it.

Are you a more of a light or heavy sleeper? Very heavy.

Have you ever done freelance work? What did you do? I have not.

Name four things you can see right now. My electric fan, pillows, handbag, and TV.

Do you charge your phone every day? Well...yes. I usually do by the end of the day since it's also the time when it typically becomes close to dying.

Is your washing machine currently running? No.

How's your energy levels today? Pretty low.

Have you ever torn a muscle? Nopes.

Do you have any cereal in your house at the moment? As far as I know, no.

When was the last time you went out to eat? Where did you go and who with? Monday, I was with Celeste at S Maison and she picked a Chinese restaurant for our dinner.

Is the street you live on short, long, or somewhere in the middle? Short.

Should you be in bed right now? Not necessarily but this is also the last survey I'll be taking for the day. It's currently 11:30 PM so it's still pretty early, but I do already want to snuggle in bed and start watching IG Reels (my usual pre-sleep routine) but I don't think I'll start trying to fall asleep until 1 or 2.

[autumnalfallingleaves]

What are your head cannons for the Plantars? Also, what are some of your critiques about s3?

Polly is a polyglot (lol) and knows 12 languages by the time she's fifteen. Her first language is English (or whatever it's called on Amphibia), her second is Thai (which she writes her most secret mechanical projects in because she knows she's the only one on Amphibia who can read it), and she's actually pretty fluent in Ancient Newtopian.

If the worlds aren't separated, she elects to go to school on Earth and eventually gets into MIT. Her family is incredibly proud of her :)

She can skateboard.

If it's the canon 'verse, someone eventually realizes that Polly actually has the same hair shape as Anne and tells her. It makes her pretty emotional because she really misses her big sister but knowing she somehow retained a bit of her? Makes her feel a bit better.

She starts wearing a bit more green as she gets older. I like to think that Sprig and Polly are a more healthy version of Strength and Wit for Anne? I'd say Sprig's pretty emotionally strong and Polly's fucking smart. Also, Sprig's green and pink. Polly wears more green as a symbol that she's associated with being really fucking smart.

She also stole one of Anne's sweaters from out of her bag right before she had to leave forever to have as a reminder. It's Polly's favorite item of hers and she wears it whenever she needs that comfort.

She doesn't stop trying to make a new portal so they can get back to Earth. An idea I have is that Sprig saved the leaves Anne's first body dissolved into, and they're absolutely saturated in Calamity Energy, enough so that Polly's able to use them to power a new portal. She also cannibalizes several frogbots for the Calamity Energy they've got in them.

Polly turns the old tunnels under the house into her workshop, with the central area being the New Wartwood town square after the townspeople move back out of it. It's already there and set up, so she takes advantage of it. Plus, she can raid her ancestors' old stuff for weapons and tech and stuff.

Sprig's not a genius like Polly, but he's pretty damn smart himself. I mean, he's ten in the majority of the series and he's quite smart for a ten-year-old.

He gets quite adept at reading people and can really tell when not to trust someone, or when someone is trustworthy, or when someone is hiding something. Combined with Anne's charisma and ability to charm most people, they're a deadly duo.

It's canon, but he's a really good artist (look at the doodles he has in the basement during the Amphibia timeskip in The Hardest Thing! I bet he drew those and they're so good!) and he illustrates the book he writes about all the adventures he had with Anne. He's eventually convinced to get it published, and it becomes a bestseller in Amphibia.

If he could still go to Earth, Marcy would ask him to do a guest comic for her webcomic. Her fans love it :D

Related: he'd totally make a Tumblr for himself. Yes, people know he's a frog. (An ask: wait are you really a talking frog / Sprig: yeah?? why would I lie about that)

He takes over the farm after Hop Pop retires. The avocados make it so they don't have to worry about money anymore, and Sprig's learned a lot since trying to take over the farm in s1. Polly handles the technical side of things, and Sprig does the business side of it. He stops doing as much adventuring because of this, but he doesn't really mind.

The bandana he wears in the timeskip is one he stole from Anne.

After Anne left for good, Sprig spent the majority of the time down in her old basement room as a way to feel close to her. He eventually makes it his new room because he just feels more comfortable down there. It's not lost on him that it's the room he was in when his parents were killed, but it's now just... Anne's room, and that brings him comfort.

Edited to add: my headcanon is that Sprig is transmasc and biromantic asexual, and Polly is agender aroace and usually goes by she/her pronouns but doesn’t really care. She honestly doesn’t give a fuck about gender.

The Plantars are a lot more respected after the events of the series. Not only are they Anne's family, they're just genuinely good people and Wartwood starts to recognize that. It also comes out that the first Plantar was a close friend of the king's back a thousand years ago, so that's also something.

Those avocados are insanely popular.

A bit sadder: after Anne leaves, Hop Pop keeps accidentally making food for four, instead of three. He's just so used to Anne being there that he'll make more food than is needed for the three of them, but it gets packaged up as leftovers once he realizes. It's still sad, though. He misses his eldest grandchild something fierce.

He starts writing plays, and they're really good! They actually draw in wide acclaim, and even get put on in Newtopia.

And I think that's it for now!

(See this previous ask for the second part of this ask)

[lovejustforaday]

Gay Pride Anthems (According to Me) - Your Disco Needs You

Your Disco Needs You (Casino Radio and Clubs Remix) - Kylie Minogue

Genres: Euro-Disco, Nu-Disco, Dance Pop

IT'S PRIDE MONTH BABY!!!!!!!! 👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨🌈⚧️🌞🕊️🗣️🏳️‍🌈💃🏻🪩💪🏽🥵

Technically, where I'm from, "Pride Month" as a concept basically exists more between the second half of June and the first half of July (SO I'M NOT LATE THIS TIME, MMMKAY?). Our city's parade happens halfway through July every year, so I guess my definition of Pride Month is a little skewed.

Actually, we didn't get a parade last year. As is the case with a lot of other smaller cities, we're big enough to have an out and open, vibrant queer community, but small enough that seemingly everyone in it happens to have petty drama with each other. Hence, our local pride organization's executive board basically self-destructed and went kaput last year because of infighting.

But from the ashes of its implosion, a newer, hopefully better, and brilliantly flaming phoenix emerges and baby I am SO READY!!!! We also just got a new gay bar after basically having none in the city ever since 2020 *cough* happened.

But if I'm being honest, I feel like there's a lot of stress at this time of the year for a lot of gay/trans/bi/nb folks. Folks in the closet feel a greater pressure to come out. Rightwing nutjobs double down on their anti-Budlight campaigns or whatever the fuck they're on about this time around. Lonely gays gotta deal with watching all the happy gay couples being out and proud everywhere.

And of course, there's the """""discourse""""" every year, surrounding everything with the the same arguments over "kink at pride" to "straights frequenting gay bars" and basically every other beating-a-dead-horse topic that the social media algorithms push like crack to feed our brains' collective addictions to ragebait. Sometimes it can be as much of a headache as it is a good time for any of us, and the increasing corporatization and commodification of what was originally a very radical tradition in our community can be disheartening. It seems that we have been undergoing a reckoning with a fundamental shift in this community over the last decade, as our proximity to comfort through class, race, and perceived "queerness" has created two very different kinds of "pride".

But idk, this year I really wanna just focus on feeling those good pride vibes extra hard, and not worrying about all the drama for once (Don't get me wrong though - no cops at pride, just Florence and her sword). Things have been looking pretty up for me ever since I've fallen in love with the most wonderful boy in the world, and I want this year to be a gay ass celebration, dammit!!

And so, I've decided to focus on something that we can all agree on - the fact that gay pride anthems fucking slap!!! Every year, one of the main things I look forward to is going to venues that'll actually have a chance of playing some good fucking music!

So I thought, why the hell not? I've got a music blog I barely touch outside of the year-end list season. Let's do some funky little reviews about ✨ gay pride anthems ✨

Now, what you and I consider to be a ✨ gay pride anthem ✨ may be very different. In this informal and unranked list, I will obviously be including songs with explicitly LGBTQ+ themes and by LGBTQ+ artists, but I am also taking the liberty of covering songs that are either culturally or historically significant to the broader queer community, or personally significant to my own self-discovery journey as a gay man.

I'm also going to throw in a couple of songs that just kinda exude gayness, queerness, and transness as per my own "gay ass music" barometer. You are free to disagree with my selections on any of these reviews, but I should let you know in advance that if you do disagree then you are simply WRONG.

Okay, with that outta the way:

THE ARTIST

Kylie Minogue really needs no introduction. If you're gay, live in an English speaking country, and are older than like, 22(?) then it should go without saying that Kylie Minogue is one of the most beloved and celebrated of the many, many queer-ally pop divas of the last five or six decades.

Ms. Minogue really kind of is the platonic ideal of her archetype. Her music is bouncy, playful, sleek, passionate, and unafraid to go camp. The Australian queen of pop just seems to get us, in a way that never feels pandering or cynical.

Perhaps what is so particularly affective about her appeal is her ability to adapt and change her sound without ever really appearing as if she's trend-hopping. Every change in her career (at least, post-self-titled) feels organic, and she always seems to enjoy whatever it is that she's doing.

Compared and contrasted (and I apologize for doing this in advance) with the career arc of her most obvious (and much more famous) counterpart Madonna, I've never once gotten the feeling that Kylie phoned it in, or just did a new sound because other popstars were doing it.

She's managed to stay relatively down to earth and focused on making fun and memorable pop music, while Madonna frankly continues to dilute her artistry with weird takes, cynical career moves, and whatever this is.

I'll admit that, while I'm familiar with many of her singles, I've really only listened to Impossible Princess, Light Years, Fever, and DISCO as far as her LPs go. But what I have heard in full, I've always enjoyed, especially her punchy yet highly introspective Impossible Princess, which is one of the most underrated and totally left-field records to have ever dropped from an established name in the pop mainstream.

Today's cut is a more well-known remix of a song off of her 2000 LP Light Years, perhaps her funnest record, which I just listened to in full last week in preparation for writing this review. And by the way, I'm covering the remix because it's bigger, better, and gayer, so don't @ me if you prefer the album version mmmkay?

THE SONG AND WHY IT SLAPS

"Your Disco Needs You" is an unabashed, unashamed celebration of all things glorious and free. And no, I don't mean whatever crappy country you live in, F patriotism - I'm talking about the dancefloor at your local gay bar.

"Camp" is an understatement, and probably too obvious to describe it. No, this song is BRAZEN and FLAMING. It has no interest in being subtle; it is a fervent call-to-action. Your goddamn motherfucking disco needs you dammit! You have been officially conscripted to get off your ass and serve your dancefloor. Make haste, you gays!

Flashy euro-disco with triumphant marching band trumpets, horny big man military chants, gratuitously french-spoken bridges, and insanely well-executed key changes are always gonna get my stamp of approval.

But it is perhaps the nasally way she sings "YOUR DIS-KOH" as she chants along during the chorus that really just seals the deal. Forgive me, but she sounds so vaguely somewhere from mainland Europe - It immediately makes me think of one of the crossover successes during the golden age of disco, like "Yes Sir I Can Boogie" by Baccara or "Dancing Queen" by ABBA which is a gay disco BEHEMOTH in its own right.

Everything about this song is everything it needed to be, and it all comes together exactly the way it should. Credit goes to Kylie's larger than life presence, as well as kudos to the backing vocalist for their thundering command, and huge HUGE kudos to the producers for getting it to sound exactly like an updated version of what it pays homage to, down to the last beat.

And have you seen the music video?!? An army of Kylie Minogue clones marching in tights towards disco glory is the only military campaign I will ever gladly endorse.

According to Kylie herself, the song was apparently "too gay" and "too camp" for the label to release it as a single in the United Kingdom. I mean, come on, how fucking punk rock is that? "TOO GAY FOR ENGLAND" is a badge of honour that I'd readily have permanently tattooed on my forehead if I were ever the recipient of such a prestigious title.

Oh, and anyone who thinks this is wholly ironic needs to GTFO now. We are now several light years ahead of when broader Straight™ society suddenly and viciously turned on the great big, glossy old-school disco in the early 80s. We should all be able to understand by now that this is a love letter to everything that was dramatic and overly-extravagant about that era. And it's all the better for it.

WHY IT'S GAY

This is the first on the list, but definitely will not be the last, of a set of songs that are really just blunt and in-your-face with its production and manner of delivery. There is something among LGBTQ+ folks, particularly among drag queens, femme gay men, and men-attracted transfemmes, where being unapologetically bold with your personality and image is widely common and celebrated.

And it makes sense; spending so many years hiding who you are because of society's prejudice means that there is a whole stock-pile of self-expression that hasn't been given its proper outlet until one's coming out eventually happens. There's also the exhilarating thrill of recent liberation that makes you just want to flaunt your colours everywhere.

There is an especially potent emphasis in most cultures on performing masculinity "the correct way" and a strong disdain for those perceived to be "sissies". To be an out and proud feminine man or woman with XY chromosomes, one must be very bold. Or as black and queer NYC ballroom pioneer Junior Labeija once put it "it do take nerve" to be who you are when you are gay/bi/trans/etc.

That amount of nerve is often doubled when faced with the extra added challenges of being poor or belonging to a racial minority, which is why a lot of the boldest and most ground-breaking underground dance music (such as the origins of House music, or the aforementioned NYC ballroom scene) originates from predominately black and brown, lower-class queer communities.

Likewise, music that feels gay is not just dance music, but dance music that often feels bold and fearless. We celebrate and laugh in the face of prejudice and adversity. Dance music that plays to this striking, defiant confidence immediately sets off our "gay barometers" because it reflects how many of us feel inside when we are partying amongst ourselves.

Kylie just gets it. She may not be one of us per se, but she understands that radical, defiant confidence and boldness that is what really makes a legendary dancefloor banger for gay bars everywhere. And okay, something also has to be said for the chants. I dare you to listen to those burly, jovial voices and tell me you don't immediately conjur up the image of a rippling 80s leather daddy muscle stud with the handle bar mustache and bikers cap. They knew exactly what they were doing when they made this.

And so I rest my case. Tis gay, your honour.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go serve my country dancefloor.

[dojae-huh]

not attaching the link but I saw a twt criticizing ty for outshining the mebers with choreo ....comon.. .it's ty..he was born to do that...sometimes I really dont get the fans...

anyway I want to ask about mark..did he ever outshined the members with the choreo?? I mean as an artist I respect and admire him...he works hard..his rap is powerful and also he dance well too...but I never get the feelings that he have an impactful aura in dancing..for me jae has it sometimes , when mark is better than him..u knw what I mean is right...even if he dances he cant take full control over the stage..ty can just stand there and make the whole stage his....even dy who is far from all mebers of 127 in dancing gives me the vibe of a charismatic personality when he performs on stage...ofcrs I knw mark is way better than anyone I mentioned..I am not trying to demeaning him with his skills..but u knw like sometimes his face overpower whatever hairstyle nd colour he is having...with his face I cant notice his hairstyles nd colour..that much power his face can hold..but why there is no an overall impression or the power of stage controll..if he is ur bias or bias of any readers here please dont be offended I am just sharing my thoughts....thankyou...

I think this is a question for those who learn dance.

Personally, I can't name such a case. (Maybe in Dream?) He is very withdrawn in himself when he dances, head low, he is not projecting to the audience. He is more noticeable and commanding as a rapper, he is good with power stances (like in Resonance).

Many people who do dance rankings place him above Taeyong. As I understand, he has clean lines, his movements are sharp, the footwork, and other technical things. But then again, it seems to me (street, hip-hop and other modern genres) dancers respect the control of the body, groove, tricks, difficulty, musicality, creativeness (and Mark can freestyle some). Meanwhile the commonfolk like us are more attracted to stage presence, personal flavour, small details with hands Taeyong does or fluidity of the body, foxy smiles, sexyness Ten shows. Or Doyoung's facial expressions as of late, pointed hand gestures during his solo parts.

Personally, I'm not into dancing as an artform or a kind of sport (something cool to show off). Maybe it's because I'm a zoologist with love for animals, but I'm most captivated with the power in the movement, agility, hand gestures. For that reason I like Chinese traditional dance. And for the same reason I enjoy Jaehyun. Like he shines in the front of the final Resonance line-up. All power and vigor. I will prefer k-pop dances like this one to the type WayV sometime does (with all the unnessesary "story telling" movements).

Mark is very boyish, same as his face, he doesn't really change. In any concept his true self shines through. And a boy is not a king. He lacks gravitas. Remember how many times it took him to do that scene with red revolvers for the Sticker MV? Heh. Mark can do evil, for example (his Super M promos, eh, I miss the group...), but that off stage, before the camera, as an actor.

I guess with dancing it is his eagerness? diligence? I don't know wich word to choose to describe... anyway, "he is doing his best, 100% energy" that what I get from the way Mark dances and performs. There is little room for artisticity. He moves from one move to another without a pause. Taeyong, on the other hand, sprinkles everything with some creations, ideas. A smirk here, a twirl there, a play with fingers or a fleeting facial expression. That's why he draws attention.

As shy as Tae is, on the stage he turns into another being. Mark stays himself.